Devanagari
नियतस्य तु सन्न्यास: कर्मणो नोपपद्यते ।
मोहात्तस्य परित्यागस्तामस: परिकीर्तित: ॥ ७ ॥
Verse text
niyatasya tu sannyāsaḥ
karmaṇo nopapadyate
mohāt tasya parityāgas
tāmasaḥ parikīrtitaḥ
Synonyms
niyatasya
—
prescribed
;
tu
—
but
;
sannyāsaḥ
—
renunciation
;
karmaṇaḥ
—
of activities
;
na
—
never
;
upapadyate
—
is deserved
;
mohāt
—
by illusion
;
tasya
—
of them
;
parityāgaḥ
—
renunciation
;
tāmasaḥ
—
in the mode of ignorance
;
parikīrtitaḥ
—
is declared.
Translation
Prescribed duties should never be renounced. If one gives up his prescribed duties because of illusion, such renunciation is said to be in the mode of ignorance.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
7. It is not recommended to give up nitya-karmas even for the sannyāsī. Rejection arising from ignorance of scripture ends in ignorance.
Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
7. It is not recommended that even the sannyāsī give up daily rituals. Rejection arising from lack of knoweldge ends in the mode of ignorance.
Purport
Work for material satisfaction must be given up, but activities which promote one to spiritual activity, like cooking for the Supreme Lord and offering the food to the Lord and then accepting the food, are recommended. It is said that a person in the renounced order of life should not cook for himself. Cooking for oneself is prohibited, but cooking for the Supreme Lord is not prohibited. Similarly, a sannyāsī may perform a marriage ceremony to help his disciple in the advancement of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If one renounces such activities, it is to be understood that he is acting in the mode of darkness.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Starting the description of the three types of tyāga, the Lord here describes tamasic tyāga. Giving up daily activities (niyatasya karmaṇaḥ) is not recommended. To reject the nitya-karmas out of ignorance of the meaning of scriptures (mohāt) is called tamasic tyāga. The sannyāsī can reject kāmya-karmas since they are not obligatory, but nitya-karmas are not to be rejected. That is the suggestion of the word tu. The result of such tamasic tyāga is ignorance, instead of attainment of knowledge, which was the very goal in rejecting the nitya-karma.
Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
Now the Lord speaks of the three types of tyāga that He promised to explain, in three verses. One should give up kāmya karmas because they lead to bondage. But one should not renounce nitya and naimittika karms such as the five daily sacrifices. [Note: These are the paṣca mahā yajṣas: offerings to brahman by chanting the Vedas, offerings to the devas by arcana, offerings to the pitṛs by tarpaṇa, offerings to guests by food, and offerings to animals by food. Nitya karmas are those prescribed for daily performance and naimittika are those prescribed periodically, such as monthly or yearly.] These should not be given up because they produce liberation through the knowledge inherent in them from aiming at ātmā, and they enable one to continue to support the material body. A person worshipping the devatās who are vibhūṭis of the Lord can accomplish maintenance of his body for pursuing knowledge of the truth, by taking the purified remnants.
If a person does the opposite of what was stated in Chapter three, in such statements as niyataṁ kuru karma tvam, and gives up those duties completely (parityāgaḥ) out of lack of knowledge (mohāt), thinking they will cause bondage, it is in the tamasic mode, since that moha is the quality of the mode of ignorance.
Surrender Unto Me
What is the result of illusion or acting in illusion? ‑ Simply further illusion.
These three kinds of renunciation are going to be described here and it should be clear by the end that Krsna is recommending one of these three kinds of renunciation. It is not renunciation in ignorance nor renunciation in passion.
Here, giving up prescribed duties out of illusion, is in ignorance.