In plain words
The tyāgin, pervaded by sattva, wise and free from doubt, neither hates action that is not good nor clings to action that is good.
Word for word
The tyāgin, pervaded by sattva, wise, whose doubt is cut, does not hate action that is not good, does not cling to the good.
न द्वेष्ट्यकुशलं कर्म कुशले नानुषज्जतेत्यागी सत्त्वसमाविष्टो मेधावी छिन्नसंशयः
Other commentaries
The commentators
▸Bhagavadgītābhāṣyam
यस्तु अधिकृतः सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा फलाभिसन्धिं च नित्यं कर्म करोति, तस्य फलरागादिना अकलुषीक्रियमाणम् अन्तःकरणं नित्यैश्च कर्मभिः संस्क्रियमाणं विशुध्यति । तत् विशुद्धं प्रसन्नम् आत्मालोचनक्षमं भवति । तस्यैव नित्यकर्मानुष्ठानेन विशुद्धान्तःकरणस्य आत्मज्ञानाभिमुखस्य क्रमेण यथा तन्निष्ठा स्यात् , तत् वक्तव्यमिति आह —
न द्वेष्टि अकुशलम् अशोभनं काम्यं कर्म, शरीरारम्भद्वारेण संसारकारणम् , ‘किमनेन ? ’ इत्येवम् । कुशले शोभने नित्ये कर्मणि सत्त्वशुद्धिज्ञानोत्पत्तितन्निष्ठाहेतुत्वेन ‘मोक्षकारणम् इदम्’ इत्येवं न अनुषज्जते अनुषङ्गं प्रीतिं न करोति इत्येतत् । कः पुनः असौ ? त्यागी पूर्वोक्तेन सङ्गफलत्यागेन तद्वान् त्यागी, यः कर्मणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा तत्फलं च नित्यकर्मानुष्ठायी सः त्यागी । कदा पुनः असौ अकुशलं कर्म न द्वेष्टि, कुशले च न अनुषज्जते इति, उच्यते — सत्त्वसमाविष्टः यदा सत्त्वेन आत्मानात्मविवेकविज्ञानहेतुना समाविष्टः संव्याप्तः, संयुक्त इत्येतत् । अत एव च मेधावी मेधया आत्मज्ञानलक्षणया प्रज्ञया संयुक्तः तद्वान् मेधावी । मेधावित्वादेव च्छिन्नसंशयः छिन्नः अविद्याकृतः संशयः यस्य ‘आत्मस्वरूपावस्थानमेव परं निःश्रेयससाधनम् , न अन्यत् किञ्चित्’ इत्येवं निश्चयेन च्छिन्नसंशयः ॥
यः अधिकृतः पुरुषः पूर्वोक्तेन प्रकारेण कर्मयोगानुष्ठानेन क्रमेण संस्कृतात्मा सन् जन्मादिविक्रियारहितत्वेन निष्क्रियम् आत्मानम् आत्मत्वेन सम्बुद्धः, सः सर्वकर्माणि मनसा संन्यस्य नैव कुर्वन् न कारयन् आसीनः नैष्कर्म्यलक्षणां ज्ञाननिष्ठाम् अश्नुते इत्येतत् । पूर्वोक्तस्य कर्मयोगस्य प्रयोजनम् अनेनैव श्लोकेन उक्तम् ॥ १० ॥
In plain words
But take the one who is qualified to act and does act — daily, as duty requires — having dropped both his attachment and his eye on the result. Nothing muddies his inner faculty: no craving for outcomes, none of that whole family of stains. And the daily acts themselves keep working on it, the way a rough surface is polished. So it comes clear. Clear and settled, like water when the silt has sunk, it is finally able to look at the Self. For that man — his inner faculty made clear by keeping to his duties, his face now turned toward knowledge of the Self — the question remains: by what steps does he come to stand firmly in that knowledge? That is what needs saying now. And so the Lord says:
He feels no hatred for unwholesome, desire-driven action — the kind that, by launching him into another body, only fuels the cycle of rebirth — his only thought about it is 'what's the use?' And toward wholesome, obligatory action — which purifies the mind, gives rise to knowledge, and grounds steadiness in it — he doesn't cling either, doesn't feel fond attachment, even though he sees it as 'a genuine means to liberation'. That's all that's meant. Who is this person? He is the relinquisher — the one who already has that relinquishment of attachment and fruit; one who, having given up attachment to action and its fruit, still goes on performing obligatory rites — that is the relinquisher. And when exactly does he stop hating unwholesome action and stop clinging to wholesome action? The answer is: when he is pervaded by sattva — filled through and through with the sattva that grounds his discrimination between Self and not-Self. Because of this, he is also called wise — endowed with an intelligence, a discernment, marked entirely by knowledge of the Self. And precisely because of that wisdom, his doubt is severed — the doubt that ignorance itself produces — because he holds this settled conviction: 'abiding as my own true nature is the one supreme means to the highest good, and nothing else matters at all.' It is this very certainty that cuts his doubt away.
The qualified person — refined gradually, step by step, through the practice of karma-yoga already described — comes to fully recognize the actionless Self, free of birth and every other change, as his own true nature. Having reached that recognition, he mentally lets go of all actions; he neither acts nor causes anyone else to act; he simply abides, and in that abiding he arrives at the discipline of knowledge marked by pure actionlessness. That is exactly what this verse describes — and in this single verse, the whole point of karma-yoga, everything it was building toward, is finally revealed.
Close to the Sanskrit
But he who, being qualified, having abandoned attachment and the aiming at results, performs obligatory action — his inner instrument, not being made turbid by craving for results and the rest, and being refined by the constant actions, becomes thoroughly pure. That, purified and settled, becomes capable of looking upon the Self. For him alone, whose inner instrument has been purified by the performance of obligatory action and who is turned toward knowledge of the Self, in what way establishment in that may come about by stages — that must be stated; so He says:
He does not hate inauspicious, unbecoming, desire-prompted action — which, through the channel of undertaking a body, is a cause of transmigration — thinking 'what use is this?'. In auspicious, becoming, obligatory action, by virtue of its being a cause of purity of mind, the arising of knowledge, and steadfastness therein, thinking 'this is a cause of liberation' — thus, he does not cling, does not feel fondness — this much is meant. Who, again, is this? The relinquisher — possessing that previously-stated relinquishment of attachment and fruit; who, having abandoned attachment in action and its fruit, is a performer of obligatory action — he is the relinquisher. When, again, does he not hate inauspicious action, and not cling to auspicious action? It is said: when pervaded by sattva — that is, pervaded, suffused, joined by sattva which is the cause of the discriminative knowledge of Self and non-Self — this much. And precisely because of this, he is also wise — endowed with intelligence characterized by knowledge of the Self, with discernment, possessing that — the wise one. And precisely because of this very wisdom, one whose doubt — the doubt produced by ignorance — is cut off, because of whom, by the conviction 'abiding in one's own true nature as the Self alone is the supreme means to the highest good, nothing else whatsoever' — by this certainty, one whose doubt is cut off.
The qualified person, by the previously-stated manner, by the practice of karma-yoga, gradually, being one whose self has been refined, having fully realized the actionless Self as his own very nature, by virtue of its being devoid of birth and other modifications — he, having mentally renounced all actions, neither doing nor causing to be done, remaining seated, attains the discipline of knowledge characterized by actionlessness — this much is meant. The purpose of the previously-stated karma-yoga has been stated by this very verse.