Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 6, Verse 1

श्रीभगवानुवाच । अनाश्रितः कर्मफलं कार्यं कर्म करोति यः । स संन्यासी च योगी च न निरग्निर्न चाक्रियः

śrībhagavānuvāca | anāśritaḥ karmaphalaṃ kāryaṃ karma karoti yaḥ | sa saṃnyāsī ca yogī ca na niragnirna cākriyaḥ

Translation

He who, without depending on the fruits of action, performs his bounden duty, he is a Saṃnyāsin and a Yogin: not he who is without fire and without action.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

anāśritaḥ

not-relying (on)

karmaphalam

of action, the fruit

kāryam

that ought to be done

karma

action

karoti

does

yaḥ

who

saḥ

he

saṃnyāsī

Sannyāsi

ca

and

yogī

Yogi

ca

and

na

not

niragniḥ

without fire

na

not

ca

and

akriyaḥ

without action

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

He who is thus free from a desire for the fruits of actions and performs action — such as the Agnihotra or fire-sacrifice — as a bounden duty (nitya-karma), not as a kāmya-karma or action done with a motive, is superior to those who perform actions in a different spirit. With a view to impress this truth, the Lord says that he is a Saṃnyāsin and a Yogin. He is regarded as a Saṃnyāsin in a secondary sense because of his renunciation of the thoughts concerning the fruits of action; and as a Yogin because he performs action as a means of attaining to Yoga or because he abandons thoughts concerning the fruits of actions as causing unsteadiness of mind.