Bhagavad Gita 18.17
Spoken by Krishna ☆ Key verse · Verse 17 of 78
यस्य नाहंकृतो भावो बुद्धिर् यस्य न लिप्यते । हत्वापि स इमाल् लोकान् न हन्ति न निबध्यते ॥
yasya nāhaṃkṛto bhāvo buddhir yasya na lipyate | hatvāpi sa imāl lokān na hanti na nibadhyate ||
One with no ego-doer-sense, whose buddhi is untainted — even while killing all these beings, kills not, is not bound.
Word by word (3)
- yasya nāhaṃkṛto bhāvo buddhir yasya na lipyate
- — one whose (yasya) inner state/disposition (bhāvaḥ) is not of ahaṃkāra (na-ahaṃkṛtaḥ = not-I-made, not ego-created), whose (yasya) intelligence/buddhi (buddhiḥ) is not tainted/smeared (na lipyate = is not touched/stained) — two conditions: no ego-authorship claim + untainted buddhi
- hatvāpi sa imāl lokān na hanti na nibadhyate
- — even though (api) killing (hatvā) all these (imān) people/beings (lokān), that person (sa) does not kill (na hanti) and is not bound (na nibadhyate = not-fettered) — the paradox: physical killing without ego-doership = no karmic killing; no binding
- na lipyate
- — is not smeared/tainted (lipyate = is smeared; na = not) — from the root lip = to smear/anoint; the buddhi that is not 'smeared' by doership-attachment remains transparent; karma cannot stick to it, just as oil doesn't wet a lotus leaf (Ch.5 V10's sarasiruha-valambitāmbhasā)
One whose disposition is without ego-authorship and whose intelligence is not tainted — even while killing all these people, does not kill, and is not bound.
A modern analogy
This is one of the Gita's most paradoxical teachings. A surgeon who operates with full technical engagement — removing diseased tissue that may cause a patient's death — but without personal ego-investment in the outcome, without the thought 'I am the life-taker or life-giver,' is performing this verse's nāhaṃkṛto bhāva in action. The action is real; the ego-claim to ownership of the action is absent. Karma cannot bind an action that has no owner.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
He who is free from egotistic notion, whose mind is not tainted — though he kills these creatures, he kills not, he is not bound. [1]
MISSING from index. SH and Ganguli used. [4]
He who has no feeling of egoism, and whose mind is not tainted — even though he kills all these people, kills not, is not fettered by the action. [9]
He that has no feeling of egoism, whose mind is not sullied, he, even killing all these people, kills not, nor is fettered by action. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
The duties of Brāhmaṇas, Kṣatriyas, Vaiśyas, and Śūdras are distributed by the guṇas born of their own nature.
Abandon all dharmas, take refuge in Me alone — I will liberate you from all sins; do not grieve.
Sāttvic tyāga: niyata karma done ONLY because 'this must be done,' having abandoned attachment and fruit.
Rājasic tyāga: abandoning action as painful/from fear of body-trouble — obtains no fruit of tyāga.
Hear My definitive word on tyāga, O best of Bharatas — tyāga has been declared three-fold, O tiger among men.
Even yajña-dāna-tapas must be performed having abandoned attachment and fruits — My settled, highest opinion.
Verse 17 of 78 · back to Chapter 18