ब्रह्मण्याधाय कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा करोति यः | लिप्यते न स पापेन पद्मपत्रमिवाम्भसा ||५-१०||
brahmaṇyādhāya karmāṇi saṅgaṃ tyaktvā karoti yaḥ .
lipyate na sa pāpena padmapatramivāmbhasā ||5-10||
He who does actions, offering them to Brahman, and abandoning attachment, is not tainted by sin, just as a lotus-leaf is not tainted by water.
In simple words
Krishna gives Arjuna a beautiful image: "A person who acts as an offering to the divine, without clinging to results, is not touched by wrongdoing — just as a lotus leaf sits on water but never gets wet."
Word-by-word meanings
ब्रह्मणिin Brahmanआधायhaving placedकर्माणिactionsसङ्गम्attachmentत्यक्त्वाhaving abandonedकरोतिactsयःwhoलिप्यतेis taintedनnotसःheपापेनby sinपद्मपत्रम्lotusleafइवlikeअम्भसाby water
Contemporary scholarly and practical interpretations for modern seekers.
Swami Chinmayananda
Swami Sivananda
5.10 ब्रह्मणि in Brahman? आधाय having placed? कर्माणि actions? सङ्गम् attachment? त्यक्त्वा having abandoned? करोति acts? यः who? लिप्यते is tainted? न not? सः he? पापेन by sin? पद्मपत्रम् lotusleaf? इव like? अम्भसा by water.Commentary Chapter IV verses 18? 20? 21? 22? 23? 37? 41 Chapter V verses 10? 11 and 12 all convey the one idea that the Yogi who does actions without egoism and attachment to results or fruits of the actions? which he regards as offerings unto the Lord? is not tainted by the actions (Karma). He has no attachment even for Moksha. He sees inaction in action. All his actions are burnt in the fire of wisdom. He escapes from the wheel of Samsara. He is freed from the round of births and deaths. He gets purity of heart and through purity of heart attains to the knowledge of the Self. Through the knowledge of the Self he is liberated. This is the gist of the above ten verses. (Cf.III.30)
This interpretation draws on a specific tradition and may not represent the view of any single school. For authoritative guidance within a specific tradition, seek a qualified teacher.
# Verse 5.10 — Commentary Translation
The knowledge described in the two preceding verses may be true for those wise souls established in Brahman, absorbed in the nature of ultimate reality. However, a life of egolessness and non-attachment is not easily accessible to ordinary people. This is the very difficulty that confronts seekers of perfection. Those aspirants who wish to live the wisdom of the Gita—not merely discuss its principles—face this fundamental problem: how shall they renounce the ego? The verse under consideration resolves this difficulty, offering a path by which anyone can live a life of non-attachment.
It is impossible to become completely detached from the mind by offering it to Brahman, yet aspirants do not understand this truth. As long as the mind exists, it will remain attached to something or other. Therefore, the sole means of abandoning attachment to false things is to recognize the ultimate truth and endeavor to identify oneself with it. Revealing this psychological truth, the Lord teaches that all seekers should perform their actions with the consciousness of offering them to the Divine. Constant remembrance of an ideal means that a person becomes that very ideal. Just as in ignorance we maintain an unbroken remembrance of ego, so too, through constant remembrance of the Divine, the renunciation of ego becomes possible. Through unbroken contemplation of the Divine, we can rise above the sense of individual existence and experience unity with the Divine.
In brief: today we stand as souls identified with the body and life-force. The Gita's call is that we become life-forces identified with the Self. Once the pure nature of the Self is recognized, actions performed through body, mind, and intellect cannot generate any desires or bondage. Sin and merit belong only to the ego-identified being, never to the Self. The ugliness reflected in a mirror cannot be called my ugliness—the distortion of the reflection depends upon whether the mirror's surface is convex or concave. Similarly, the bondage of sin and merit binds only the individual being according to their own actions.
After Self-realization, the wise person dwells among objects and bodily conditions just as a lotus leaf rests upon water. Though the lotus leaf originates, grows, and perishes in water, it remains forever untouched by it—water cannot wet it. In the same way, a realized sage lives in the world like other human beings, engaging in all activities, yet remains forever untouched by sin, merit, attraction, aversion, beauty, or ugliness.
There are two means of transforming ordinary action into karma yoga: (1) the renunciation of doership, and (2) the renunciation of attachment to results. The first method is described here. This is no unfamiliar, novel, or strange principle. We experience it many times in our own lives. A surgeon, due to attachment, finds himself unable to perform surgery on his own wife, yet that same surgeon can skillfully perform the identical surgery on another patient the same day, because he has no attachment to that patient.
If a person acts understanding themselves as the Divine's representative or servant, they will discover within themselves that tremendous power and competence which they are now uselessly squandering due to the pride of doership. Therefore—