section_path: Themes covered/Theology/Asceticism, renunciation and ritualism
section_name: Asceticism, renunciation and ritualism
paragraph_text: Asceticism, renunciation and ritualism
  
  The Gita rejects ascetic life, renunciation as well as Brahminical Vedic ritualism where outward actions or non-actions are considered a means of personal reward in life, after-life or as a means of liberation. Instead it recommends the pursuit of an active life where the individual adopts "inner renunciation", acts to fulfill what he determines to be his dharma, without craving for or being concerned about personal rewards, viewing this as an "inner sacrifice to the personal God for a higher good".
  
  According to Edwin Bryant, the Indologist with publications on Krishna-related Hindu traditions, the Gita rejects "actionless behavior" found in some Indic monastic traditions. It also "relegates the sacrificial system of the early Vedic literature to a path that goes nowhere because it is based on desires", states Bryant.