The perfect renunciation

Arjuna asks Krishna one last time:

I long to know the purpose of renunciation, and also the purpose of the sannyasa (renunciatee), O Conqueror of the monster Kesi, O Hrsikesa (another name of Krishna).

The Blessed Lord says:

Abandoning the fruits of any act is what the sages mean by this word, “renunciation”. And what the great scholars call “sannyasa” is the very state of the man who practices this renunciation.

Some sages say that all self-interested actions should be renounced, while others maintain that acts of sacrifice, austerity and charity should never be abandoned.

From My lips now listen to the nature of renunciation. The Scriptures distinguish in it three orders.

Acts of sacrifice, austerity and charity must not be renounced, but must be carried out. In truth, these sacrifices, austerities and charities sanctify even great souls.

But all these practices must be performed without expecting any fruit, only out of a sense of duty. This is My ultimate thought.

One must never abandon the prescribed duty. Of the man who, under the influence of illusion, abandons it, it is said that his renunciation is Ignorance.

And he who, through fear, or judging it to be painful, shirks the prescribed duty, is said to be dominated by Passion. Such an act can never confer the elevation which results from renunciation.

But he who performs the prescribed duty for the sole reason that it must be performed, without any attachment to the fruits of his act, his renunciation proceeds from Virtue.

The intelligent man, established in Virtue, who neither hates unfavourable action nor attaches himself to favourable action, has no doubts about his action.

Impossible, in truth, is for the incarnate being, the renunciation of any act. Therefore, true renunciation is practised by those who renounce the fruits of their actions.

The threefold fruit of acts, desirable, undesirable and mixed, awaits, after death, the man who has not practised renunciation. But the renunciate will neither enjoy nor suffer from such fruit.