🪷 Bhagavad-Gītā · 4.14

Chapter 4 · ज्ञानकर्मसंन्यासयोग · Jñāna-Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga · "The Yoga of Knowledge & Action-Renunciation" · Verse 14 of 42

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न मां कर्माणि लिम्पन्ति न मे कर्मफले स्पृहा।

इति मां योऽभिजानाति कर्मभिर्न स बध्यते।।4.14।।
— Bhagavad-Gītā 4.14 · the yathārtha śloka (Devanāgarī Sanskrit · canonical)

🪷 English Translations

Five authentic English voices · each from a distinct sampradāya · together revealing the verse's full śabda-tattva.

Shri Purohit Swami · Poetic English · 1935 · public domain · Cosmo Press tradition
4.14 My actions do not fetter Me, nor do I desire anything that they can bring. He who thus realises Me is not enslaved by action.
Swami Sivananda · Direct prose · Divine Life Society
4.14 Actions do not taint Me, nor have I a desire for the fruit of actions. He who knows Me thus is not bound by actions.
Swami Gambīrānanda · Word-key glosses · Advaita Ashrama · Śaṅkara-school
4.14 Because of the absence of egoism, those karmani, actions; na limpanti, do not taint; mam, Me, by becoming the originators of body etc. And me, for Me; na sprha, there is no hankering for the results of those actions. But in the case of transmigrating beings, who have self-identification in the form, 'I am the agent', and thirst for actions as also for their results, it is reasonable that actions should taint them. Owing to the absence of these, actions do not taint Me. Anyone else, too, yah, who; abhijanati, knows; mam, Me; iti, thus, as his own Self, and (knows), 'I am not an agent; I have no hankering for the results of actions'; sah, he; na badhyate, does not become bound; karmabhih, by actions. In his case also actions cease to be the originators of body etc. This is the import.
Swami Ādidevānanda · Śrī-Vaiṣṇava perspective · Rāmānuja school
4.14 These actions of varied nature like creation etc., do not contaminate Me i.e., do not bind Me. For the distinctions of gods, men etc., are not brought about by Me, but by the particular Karmas, good and evil, of created beings. Therefore by the process of discriminating between the acired and the inherent, it will be found that I am not the author of this varied creations etc. The created or embodied selves, who are endowed with bodies and organs at the time of creation in accordance with their own Karmas springing from attachment to fruits etc., experience all enjoyments available in creation. Thus for them (embodied selves) alone there is desire for the results of creation etc., and for the results of their Karmas. There is no desire in Me for it. The Sutrakara says to the same effect: 'No partiality or cruelty on account of there being dependence (on the Karma of souls for inealities' (Br. S., 2.1.34). Bhagavan Parasara also says so: 'He (the Lord) is only the operative cause in the creation of beings. That from which the creative forces spring constitutes the material cause. Leaving aside the material cause, the being that becomes embodied does not reire the help of any other thing whatever. A thing is led into the condition in which it is, O best of ascetics, only by its own potentiality' (V. P., 1.4.51-2). The Supreme Person is only the operative cause with regard to the creation of those to be created, i.e., the selves in the bodies of gods etc. The material cause for the differences into gods etc., is the potentiality in the form of previous Karmas of the selves to be created. Therefore, leaving aside the operative cause, i.e., the Supreme Person, the creator, the embodied beings do not reire anything else for causing difference into conditions of gods etc. For these selves are led to take the forms of gods etc., by the potentiality of their own old Karma with which they are connected. Such is the meaning. He who knows Me thus to be the agent of creation etc., and still a non-agent, i.e., as one who has no desire for the results of the acts of creation etc., - such a person is not tied by previous actions, i.e., he is freed from the old Karmas which obstruct the undertaking of Karma Yoga by causing attachment to results. Such is the purport.
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Academic precision · modern scholarly
4.14. Actions do not stain Me; nor do I have a desire for the fruits [of actions] also. Whosoever comprehends Me as such, he is not bound by actions.

🪷 English Commentaries · The Ācārya Voices

The classical commentary tradition rendered in English · each ācārya speaks from their own sampradāya · the seer chooses the depth of darśana.

Swami Sivananda · Verse-by-verse word-keys with Sanskrit anchors
4.14 न not? माम् Me? कर्माणि actions? लिम्पन्ति taint? न not? मे to Me? कर्मफले in the fruit of actions? स्पृहा desire? इति thus? माम् Me? यः who? अभिजानाति knows? कर्मभिः by actions? न not? सः he? बध्यते is bound.Commentary As I have neither egoism nor desire for fruits? I am not bound by actions. Wordly people think they are the agents and they perfrom actions. They also expect fruits for their actions. So they take birth again and again. If one works without attachment? without egoism? without expectation of fruits? he too will not be bound by actions. He will be freed from birth and death. (Cf.IX.9).
Swami Gambīrānanda · Advaita-school commentary (Śaṅkara tradition)
4.14 Because of the absence of egoism, those karmani, actions; na limpanti, do not taint; mam, Me, by becoming the originators of body etc. And me, for Me; na sprha, there is no hankering for the results of those actions. But in the case of transmigrating beings, who have self-identification in the form, 'I am the agent', and thirst for actions as also for their results, it is reasonable that actions should taint them. Owing to the absence of these, actions do not taint Me. Anyone else, too, yah, who; abhijanati, knows; mam, Me; iti, thus, as his own Self, and (knows), 'I am not an agent; I have no hankering for the results of actions'; sah, he; na badhyate, does not become bound; karmabhih, by actions. In his case also actions cease to be the originators of body etc. This is the import.
Swami Ādidevānanda · Rāmānuja Śrī-Vaiṣṇava commentary
4.14 These actions of varied nature like creation etc., do not contaminate Me i.e., do not bind Me. For the distinctions of gods, men etc., are not brought about by Me, but by the particular Karmas, good and evil, of created beings. Therefore by the process of discriminating between the acired and the inherent, it will be found that I am not the author of this varied creations etc. The created or embodied selves, who are endowed with bodies and organs at the time of creation in accordance with their own Karmas springing from attachment to fruits etc., experience all enjoyments available in creation. Thus for them (embodied selves) alone there is desire for the results of creation etc., and for the results of their Karmas. There is no desire in Me for it. The Sutrakara says to the same effect: 'No partiality or cruelty on account of there being dependence (on the Karma of souls for inealities' (Br. S., 2.1.34). Bhagavan Parasara also says so: 'He (the Lord) is only the operative cause in the creation of beings. That from which the creative forces spring constitutes the material cause. Leaving aside the material cause, the being that becomes embodied does not reire the help of any other thing whatever. A thing is led into the condition in which it is, O best of ascetics, only by its own potentiality' (V. P., 1.4.51-2). The Supreme Person is only the operative cause with regard to the creation of those to be created, i.e., the selves in the bodies of gods etc. The material cause for the differences into gods etc., is the potentiality in the form of previous Karmas of the selves to be created. Therefore, leaving aside the operative cause, i.e., the Supreme Person, the creator, the embodied beings do not reire anything else for causing difference into conditions of gods etc. For these selves are led to take the forms of gods etc., by the potentiality of their own old Karma with which they are connected. Such is the meaning. He who knows Me thus to be the agent of creation etc., and still a non-agent, i.e., as one who has no desire for the results of the acts of creation etc., - such a person is not tied by previous actions, i.e., he is freed from the old Karmas which obstruct the undertaking of Karma Yoga by causing attachment to results. Such is the purport.
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Modern academic scholarship
4.13-14 Catur-varnyam etc. Na mam etc. How can there be taint of actions in Me Who remain like the ether ? The comparison with ether is due to the absence of desire [in both]. As such etc. : whosoever, with this sort of thought, takes refuge in the Bhagavat i.e. contemplates everywhere at all times on the Bliss-dense Supreme Lord as 'There exits nothing othe than Vasudeva [the Absolute]' - for him can there be any bondage by actions ?
Swami Chinmayānanda · Chinmaya Mission · modern Vedantic teaching
।।4.14।। नित्य शुद्ध और परिपूर्ण आत्मा को किसी प्रकार की अपूर्णता का भान नहीं हो सकता जो किसी इच्छा को जन्म दे। इस दृष्टि से श्रीकृष्ण भगवान् कहते हैं कर्म मुझे दूषित नहीं कर सकते और न मुझे कर्मफल में कोई आसक्ति ही है। इच्छा अथवा कर्म का बन्धन जीवअहंकार के लिये ही हो सकता है। मन और बुद्धि की उपाधियों से युक्त चैतन्य आत्मा ही जीव कहा जाता है। इन उपाधियों के दोषयुक्त होने पर जीव ही दूषित हुआ समझा जाता है। इसे एक दृष्टान्त के द्वारा हम भली भांति समझ सकेंगे।यदि किसी पात्र में रखे जल में सूर्य प्रतिबिम्वित होता है तो उस प्रतिबिम्ब की स्थिति पूर्णतया उस जल की स्थिति पर निर्भर करती है। जल के शान्त अस्थिर अथवा मैले होने पर वह प्रतिबिम्ब भी स्थिर क्षुब्ध अथवा धुंधला दिखाई देगा। परन्तु महाकाश स्थित वास्तविक सूर्य पर इस चंचलता अथवा निश्चलता का कोई प्रभाव नहीं पड़ेगा। इसी प्रकार इच्छा आसक्ति आदि का प्रभाव अहंकार पर ही पड़ता है। नित्य मुक्त चैतन्य स्वरूप आत्मा इन सबसे किसी प्रकार भी दूषित नहीं होती।आत्मविकास की वैदिक साधना का यह अर्थ नवीन प्रतीत होता है। क्या इसके पूर्व किसी ने इसका आचरण किया था उत्तर है

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सर्वम् कृष्णार्पणम् — this verse is one maṇi (jewel) on Krishna's thread (BG 7.7)