त्यक्त्वा कर्मफलासङ्गं नित्यतृप्तो निराश्रय: | कर्मण्यभिप्रवृत्तोऽपि नैव किञ्चित्करोति स: || 20 || |
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“Relinquishing attachment to the fruits of work, always content and not dependent, the wise do not perform any action even in the midst of activities.”
Commentary
When Lord Krishna speaks of action or Karma, it pertains to binding action—tied to sensory pleasures, people, possessions, outcomes, and experiences. You cannot be held responsible for another person’s actions because their body and deeds are distinct and not within your domain. Realizing that you are not the body, but rather that your body belongs to Nature, liberates you from accruing further Karma. Your body is a temporary loan from Nature enabling you to experience the senses due to past attachments. When you grow weary of sensory stimuli, allurements, and attachments, you return the borrowed body. If, upon relinquishing the body, you still harbor earthly desires, you are compelled to take another loan to settle and neutralize prior interests in a new life. Once man comprehends all lessons, surpasses all trials, and loses personal interest in worldly experiences except for the divine, he becomes eligible for promotion from the coarse Earthly realm to the refined Divine sphere.
Therefore, in the midst of activities, a yogi who feels the body that he wears is very different from his true nature, is not performing any kind of karma or ‘binding’ action.