नियतस्य तु संन्यासः कर्मणो नोपपद्यते।मोहात्तस्य परित्यागस्तामसः परिकीर्तितः।।18.7।।
दुःखमित्येव यत्कर्म कायक्लेशभयात्त्यजेत्।स कृत्वा राजसं त्यागं नैव त्यागफलं लभेत्।।18.8।।
कार्यमित्येव यत्कर्म नियतं क्रियतेऽर्जुन।सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा फलं चैव स त्यागः सात्त्विको मतः।।18.9।।
Abandoning one’s daily obligatory acts is not justifiable; giving up those through delusion is said to be rooted in tamas.
Whatever action one may relinquish merely as being painful, out of fear of physical suffering, he, having resorted to renunciation based on rajas, will surely not acquire the fruits of renunciation.
Whatever obligatory duty is performed just because it is a bounden duty, O Arjuna, by giving up attachment and the results as well—that renunciation is considered to be based on sattva.
Osho’s Commentary
What is this prescribed action, this niyat karma? It is that which must be done. To abandon it out of delusion is tamasic. It is to fall into inertia, into darkness. And he who abandons action because it is painful, out of fear of bodily discomfort—his abandonment is rajasic. He does not gain the fruit of true renunciation. He is simply running away from pain. His focus is still on the body, on comfort. But the one who performs his duty simply because it ought to be done, without any attachment, without any thought of the fruit—his is the true, sattvic abandonment. The world, my friend, is a great stage. You have been given a role to play. To play it with your whole heart, with your whole being, but to remember always that you are just an actor and this is just a play—this is the secret. The sattvic man acts with this awareness. He is in the drama, but he is not of it.