संन्यास

Saṃnyāsa means renunciation, especially the renunciation of actions. In the Gita the word and its forms occur in several places. For this topic a form of it occurs in verse 3.4: by saṃnyasana alone, by outward renunciation alone, a person does not attain perfection. In the same verse it is also said that merely not beginning actions does not bring naiṣkarmya.

The verse is no condemnation of renunciation. Verse 3.3 admits the commitment of knowledge as a path alongside action. Verse 3.4 says only that outward form alone is not enough. The word is defined further on, in the eighteenth chapter, where the wise are said to understand the giving up of desire-driven actions as saṃnyāsa (18.2). The comparison of saṃnyāsa and karma yoga, and what exactly is given up, will come in later topics.

Common misreading: confining saṃnyāsa to leaving home and family, or calling it the only or the lower path of the Gita.

Better sense: renunciation is the loosening of the inner grip; outward form is neither enough nor to be disparaged.

To read further, see the topic Can We Simply Stop Acting?.