Bhagavad Gita 18.2

kāmyānāṁ karmaṇāṁ nyāsaṁ

sannyāsaṁ kavayo viduḥ

sarva-karma-phala-tyāgaṁ

prāhus tyāgaṁ vicakṣaṇāḥ

 

Renouncing acts born of selfish desire,

The wise call sannyāsa—life directed higher;

Giving up the fruits from all of one’s deeds,

They call tyāga—freedom from illusory needs.

 

My dear Lord, a subtle yet universal and almost inescapable pitfall on the spiritual path is my tendency to focus so much on the external aspects of spirituality that I neglect or even forget the internals. Please protect me from this pitfall.

O omniscient Lord, let me be wise enough to never dismiss or devalue externals. Lead me to acknowledge that engaging with externals is favorable, even essential, for my tangible progress on my inner journey. Help me remember that inner change and spiritual growth are often subtle and not easily perceivable by oneself, what to speak of being verifiable by others.

O all-pervading Lord, that is why you do not minimize, in your sacred message, rituals that are visible and verifiable. They comprise the concrete steps that can be taken externally to express and enhance the internals. I cannot know if anyone else is internally detached, yet I can see if they are externally renounced. Similarly, others cannot know my invisible detachment, but they can check my visible renunciation.

O supremely benevolent Lord, let me never equate the visible with the spiritual. Even if evaluating spiritual growth with external markers is convenient, it is never sufficient. Guide me to do both: commit conscientiously to the activities conducive to detachment and spiritual growth; and monitor methodically my actual inner growth. Through this dual diligence, may my heart thus turn from the world to you—intentionally, intensely, irrevocably.

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18.02 The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: The giving up of activities that are based on material desire is what great learned men call the renounced order of life [sannyāsa]. And giving up the results of all activities is what the wise call renunciation [tyāga].