Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18, Verse 7

नियतस्य तु संन्यासः कर्मणो नोपपद्यते । मोहात्तस्य परित्यागस्तामसः परिकीर्तितः

niyatasya tu saṃnyāsaḥ karmaṇo nopapadyate | mohāttasya parityāgastāmasaḥ parikīrtitaḥ

Translation

Verily, the abandonment of an obligatory duty is not proper; the abandonment thereof from ignorance is declared to be Tāmasic.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

niyatasya

of prescribed

tu

indeed

sannyāsaḥ

renunciation

karmaṇaḥ

of action

na

not

upapadyate

befits

mohāt

from delusion

tasya

of that

parityāgaḥ

abandonment

tāmasaḥ

tāmasic

parikīrtitaḥ

is declared

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

Not proper: since it is admitted to be a purifier in the case of an ignorant man. To hold that a duty is obligatory and then to abandon it involves a self-contradiction. Therefore this sort of abandonment is due to ignorance and is said to be Tāmasic, inasmuch as ignorance is Tamas.