Sanskrit
दुःखमित्येव यत्कर्म कायक्लेशभयात्त्यजेत् । स कृत्वा राजसं त्यागं नैव त्यागफलं लभेत् ॥ ८ ॥
duḥkham ity eva yat karma kāyakleśabhayāt tyajet sa kṛtvā rājasaṃ tyāgaṃ naiva tyāgaphalaṃ labhet
Translation
He who relinquisheth an action from fear of physical suffering, saying "Painful," thus performing a passionate relinquishment, obtaineth not the fruit of relinquishment.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The middle case: relinquishing action from fear of physical hardship — calling it “painful” and quitting — is rajasic. Such a person may look identical to the sattvic relinquisher from the outside, since both stop acting, but the motive is self-protection rather than clarity, and Krishna is explicit that this earns no reward: the passionate relinquisher “obtaineth not the fruit of relinquishment” at all.