BHAGAVAD-GITA 5:10

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 5:10

 

brahmany adhaya karmani

sangam tyaktva karoti yah

lipyate na sa papena

padma-patram ivambhasa

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

brahmani--unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead; adhaya--resigning;

karmani--all works; sangam--attachment; tyaktva--giving up;

karoti--performs; yah--who; lipyate--is affected; na--never; sah--he;

papena--by sin; padma-patram--a lotus leaf; iva--like; ambhasa--by the

water.

 

TRANSLATION

 

One who performs his duty without attachment, surrendering the results

unto the Supreme Lord, is unaffected by sinful action, as the lotus

leaf is untouched by water.

 

PURPORT

 

Here brahmani means in Krsna consciousness. The material world is a

sum total manifestation of the three modes of material nature,

technically called the pradhana. The Vedic hymns sarvam hy etad brahma

(Mandukya Upanisad 2), tasmad etad brahma nama-rupam annam cajayate

(Mundaka Upanisad 1.2.10), and, in the Bhagavad-gita (14.3), mama

yonir mahad brahma indicate that everything in the material world is a

manifestation of Brahman; and although the effects are differently

manifested, they are nondifferent from the cause. In the Isopanisad it

is said that everything is related to the Supreme Brahman, or Krsna,

and thus everything belongs to Him only. One who knows perfectly well

that everything belongs to Krsna, that He is the proprietor of

everything and that, therefore, everything is engaged in the service

of the Lord, naturally has nothing to do with the results of his

activities, whether virtuous or sinful. Even one's material body,

being a gift of the Lord for carrying out a particular type of action,

can be engaged in Krsna consciousness. It is then beyond contamination

by sinful reactions, exactly as the lotus leaf, though remaining in

the water, is not wet. The Lord also says in the Gita (3.30), mayi

sarvani karmani sannyasya:

"Resign all works unto Me [Krsna]." The conclusion is that a person without

Krsna consciousness acts according to the concept of the material body

and senses, but a person in Krsna consciousness acts according to the

knowledge that the body is the property of Krsna and should therefore

be engaged in the service of Krsna.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.