11 Jan 2025
[Prof. J.S.R Prasad asked:- Sāṣṭāṅga namaskāram Swami. You told that Karma Yoga consists of two parts:- i) Karma Samnyaasa, which is sacrifice of service or physical energy, ii) Karma Phala Tyaaga, which is the sacrifice of hard earned money or matter. In both, the sacrifice is common. In such case, we can call both as Karma Samnyaasa and Karma Phala Samnyaasa or we can call both as Karma Tyaaga and Karma Phala Tyaaga. Why You have used Samnyaasa in one part (Karma Samnyaasa) and Tyaaga in another part (Karma Phala Tyaaga)? Both Samnyaasa and Tyaaga mean the same sacrifice. --At Your holy lotus feet.]
Swami replied:- The word Samnyaasa is put in Karma Samnyaasa or sacrifice of service. The word Samnyaasa refers to Samnyaasii or a saint. Since the saint is begging even for his/her food, he/she cannot do the sacrifice of hard earned money. The sacrifice of hard earned money (Karma Phala Tyaaga) is possible only for householders and hence, the word ‘Samnyaasa’ is not mentioned in this sacrifice and an alternative word (Tyaaga) having the same meaning is mentioned in the case of householders. From the point of ability to do the sacrifice, the householder can do sacrifice of service as well as hard earned money and a saint can do only sacrifice of service and not sacrifice of hard earned money.
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