Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18, Verse 9

कार्यमित्येव यत्कर्म नियतं क्रियतेऽर्जुन । सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा फलं चैव स त्यागः सात्त्विको मतः

kāryamityeva yatkarma niyataṃ kriyate'rjuna | saṅgaṃ tyaktvā phalaṃ caiva sa tyāgaḥ sāttviko mataḥ

Translation

Whatever obligatory work is done, O Arjuna, merely because it ought to be done, abandoning attachment and also the fruit, that abandonment is deemed to be Sāttvic.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

kāryam

ought to be done

iti

thus

eva

even

yat

which

karma

action

niyatam

prescribed

kriyate

is done

arjuna

O Arjuna

saṅgam

attachment

tyaktvā

having abandoned

phalam

fruit

ca

and

eva

even

saḥ

that

tyāgaḥ

abandonment

sāttvikaḥ

sāttvic

mataḥ

is thought

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

"Abandoning attachment and the fruits": these words of the Lord form an authority which declares that obligatory (nitya) works produce fruits. The aspirant should abandon all attachment for, and all fruits of, obligatory works. The object of this section is to praise the abandonment of the fruits of works as compared with the abandonment of works. By despising the two sorts of the abandonment of works as Rājasic and Tāmasic, the abandonment of desire for the fruits of works is praised as being the Sāttvic abandonment.