Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4, Verse 14 (BG 4.14) — Meaning, Translation & Commentary

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).

The eternal, pure, and complete atman cannot be touched by any sense of incompleteness that might give rise to desire. From this perspective, Lord Krishna declares: actions cannot defile me, nor do I have any attachment to the fruits of action. Bondage through desire or action can only bind the individual self—the jiva. The conscious atman, clothed in the sheaths of mind and intellect, is what is called the jiva. When these sheaths become defiled, the jiva alone is understood to be defiled. We can understand this clearly through an illustration. When the sun is reflected in water held in a vessel, the condition of that reflection depends entirely upon the condition of the water. When the water is calm, turbulent, or murky, the reflection too appears steady, agitated, or dim. Yet the actual sun in the vast sky is in no way affected by this restlessness or stillness. Similarly, desire, attachment, and such things affect only the ego. The eternal, conscious, self-luminous atman is in no way defiled by any of these. This meaning of the Vedic discipline of atman-development appears novel. Whether anyone had practiced this before—the answer is...