त्याग

Tyāga means letting go. In the Gita the word generally goes with fruit. In verse 18.2 the discerning call the giving up of the fruit of all actions tyāga. There lies a distinction: saṃnyāsa there is the setting down of desire-driven actions, while tyāga is the letting go of the grip on fruit.

The eighteenth chapter counts three kinds of tyāga. Dropping niyata action out of delusion is tāmasa (18.7), dropping action from fear of bodily trouble is rājasa (18.8), and doing action with the thought "it is to be done", leaving attachment and fruit, is sāttvika (18.9). Verse 18.11 says that while there is a body action cannot be wholly given up, so the one who gives up the fruit of action is called a tyāgī.

Other places join the word: the fourth chapter describes one who has given up attachment to the fruit of action (4.20), and the twelfth places peace immediately after giving up the fruit (12.12). That tyāga concerns fruit and that action goes on holds firm in all of them.

Common misreading: limiting tyāga to leaving work and responsibility.

Better sense: action goes on; what is let go is the grip on its fruit.

To read further, see the topic Relinquishment and Renunciation of Action.