Shloka

अर्जुन उवाच |
संन्यासस्य महाबाहो तत्त्वमिच्छामि वेदितुम् |
त्यागस्य च हृषीकेश पृथक्केशिनिषूदन ||१८-१||

Transliteration

arjuna uvāca .
saṃnyāsasya mahābāho tattvamicchāmi veditum .
tyāgasya ca hṛṣīkeśa pṛthakkeśiniṣūdana ||18-1||

Translations

Dr.S.Sankaranarayan

18.1. Arjuna said O Mighty-armed ! I desire to know severally the distinctive nature of renunciation and of relinishment, O Hrsikesa ! O Slayer of Kesin !

Shri Purohit Swami

18.1 “Arjuna asked: O mighty One! I desire to know how relinquishment is distinguished from renunciation.

Sri Abhinav Gupta

18.1 Samnyasaya etc. It has been delcared earlier that ‘He [alone] is a man of relinishment and is also a man of wisdom’ (II, 50); and ‘He [alone] is a man of renunciation and a man of Yoga; but not he who remains without his fires (VI, 1)’, and so on. Thus, becuase a man of relinishment and a man of renunciation are both found mentioned, now arises this estion from a person (Arjuna) who is desirous of understanding their difference. Now [by giving] the answer -

Sri Ramanuja

18.1 Arjuna said Both Sannyasa and Tyaga as a means for release are enjoined in such Srutis: ‘Not by rituals, nor by progeny, nor by rituals, nor by progeny, nor by wealth but by Tyaga alone do some attain immortality ৷৷.’ (Ma. Na., 5.14). Ascertaining the truth about the Supreme Reality from a knowledge of Vedanta, and becoming purified in mind by the means of Sannyasa Yoga, these Yatis (ascetics), at the dissolution of their bodies, attain the Lord who is higher than the freed selves and become liberated from bondage’ (Man. U., 3.2.6). I want to know separately the truth, viz., whether Tyaga and Sannyasa are synonymous or not.

The import is this. Do these two terms Sannyasa and Tyaga have different meanings or do they signify the same thing? If they signify different things, I want to know their different natures. If they are synonymous, their identical nature should be elucidated.

Then, in order to prove that the nature of both is identical and that it is such and such, the Lord explains, showing the disagreements among some disputants:

Sri Shankaracharya

18.1 O mighty-armed Hrsikesa, kesi-nisudana, O slayer of (the demon) Kesi; icchami, I want; veditum, to know; prthak, severally, through their mutual distinctions; tattvam, the truth, the intrinsic nature, i.e. the real meaning; sannyasasya, of sannyasa, i.e. the meaning of the word sannyasa, ca, as also; tyagasya, of tyaga, i.e. the meaning of the word tyaga. Kesi was a demon who had assumed the form of a horse, and Lord Vasudeva had killed him. Hence He is addressed by that name (Kesi-nisudana) by Arjuna. The word sannyasa and tyaga, used in various places in the preceding chapters, are not explicit in their implications. Therefore, in order to determine them for Arjuna who had put the estion,-

Swami Adidevananda

18.1 Arjuna said I desire to know the truth about renunciation (Sannyasa) and abnegation (Tyaga) severally, O Krsna.

Swami Gambirananda

18.1 Arjuna said O mighty-armed Hrsikesa, O slayer of (the demon) Kesi, I want to know serverally the truth about sannyasa as also about tyaga.

Swami Sivananda

18.1 Arjuna said I desire to know severally, O mighty-armed, the essence or truth of renunciation, O Hrishikesa, as also of abandonment, O slayer of Kesi.

Commentaries

Swami Sivananda

18.1 संन्यासस्य of renunciation? महाबाहो O mightyarmed? तत्त्वम् the essence of truth? इच्छामि (I) wish? वेदितुम् to know? त्यागस्य of Tyaga or abandonment? च and? हृषीकेशः O Krishna? पृथक् severally? केशिनिषूदन् slayer of Kesi.Commentary The teaching of the whole of the GitaSastra is summed up beautifully in this discourse. This last discourse is a brief masterly summary of all that is told in the previous chapters. Arjuna wishes to know the distinction between Sannyasa and Tyaga.Kesi was an Asura whom Lord Krishna slew. So Lord Krishna is addressed as Kesinishudana by Arjuna.The words Sannyasa and Tyaga have been used here and there in the preceding discourses but their connotations are not lucidly distinguished. Therefore Lord Krishna clearly explains to Arjuna the right significance of the two terms in the following verse.