In plain words
Hear My decisive teaching concerning Tyāga, best of Bharatas. For Tyāga, tiger among men, is declared to be threefold.
Word for word
Hear from Me the conclusion there, concerning tyāga, O best of the Bharatas; for tyāga, O tiger among men, is declared threefold.
निश्चयं शृणु मे तत्र त्यागे भरतसत्तमत्यागो हि पुरुषव्याघ्र त्रिविधः सम्प्रकीर्तितः
Other commentaries
The commentators
▸Bhagavadgītābhāṣyam
तत्र एतेषु विकल्पभेदेषु —
निश्चयं शृणु अवधारय मे मम वचनात् ; तत्र त्यागे त्यागसंन्यासविकल्पे यथादर्शिते भरतसत्तम भरतानां साधुतम । त्यागो हि, त्यागसंन्यासशब्दवाच्यो हि यः अर्थः सः एक एवेति अभिप्रेत्य आह — त्यागो हि इति । पुरुषव्याघ्र, त्रिविधः त्रिप्रकारः तामसादिप्रकारैः सम्प्रकीर्तितः शास्त्रेषु सम्यक् कथितः यस्मात् तामसादिभेदेन त्यागसंन्यासशब्दवाच्यः अर्थः अधिकृतस्य कर्मिणः अनात्मज्ञस्य त्रिविधः सम्भवति, न परमार्थदर्शिनः, इत्ययमर्थः दुर्ज्ञानः, तस्मात् अत्र तत्त्वं न अन्यः वक्तुं समर्थः । तस्मात् निश्चयं परमार्थशास्त्रार्थविषयम् अध्यवसायम् ऐश्वरं मे मत्तः शृणु ॥ ४ ॥
In plain words
Now, among these differing alternatives —
Hear this, and take it in fully — my own word on the matter. As for that choice between relinquishment and renunciation we've already laid out, best of the Bharatas — 'Relinquishment, indeed' — with this the Lord means that the two words 'relinquishment' and 'renunciation' really point at one and the same thing, and so he says: 'Relinquishment, indeed.' Tiger among men, it comes in three kinds — tamasic and the rest — as the scriptures rightly declare. Why three? Because for the ordinary agent, the one who hasn't yet known the Self, this shared meaning of 'relinquishment' and 'renunciation' really does split three ways along the lines of the three guṇas — but not for the one who has actually seen the ultimate truth. This is a subtle point, hard to grasp, and so no one but the Lord himself is fit to state it plainly. So hear from me — from Me alone — this settled certainty, whose whole scope is the highest truth of scripture, my own divine conclusion.
Close to the Sanskrit
There, among these divisions of alternatives —
Hear, ascertain, my [conclusion], from my own statement; there, in the alternative between relinquishment and renunciation as has been shown, O best of the Bharatas, most excellent of the Bharatas. 'Relinquishment, indeed' — intending that the meaning expressible by the words 'relinquishment' and 'renunciation' is one and the same, he says — 'relinquishment, indeed', thus. O tiger among men, it is threefold, of three kinds, well proclaimed by types beginning with the tamasic, rightly stated in the scriptures, because, by the distinction beginning with the tamasic, the meaning expressible by the words 'relinquishment' and 'renunciation' is threefold for the qualified agent, the non-knower of the Self — not for the seer of the ultimate truth. This point is hard to know; therefore, in this matter, no one else is capable of stating the truth. Therefore hear from me the definite conclusion, the resolution, whose scope is the meaning of the ultimate scriptural teaching, belonging to the Lord, from me.