Sanskrit
सर्वेन्द्रियगुणाभासं सर्वेन्द्रियविवर्जितम् । असक्तं सर्वभृच्चैव निर्गुणं गुणभोक्तृ च ॥
sarvendriyaguṇābhāsaṃ sarvendriyavivarjitam asaktaṃ sarvabhṛc caiva nirguṇaṃ guṇabhoktṛ ca
Translation
Shining with all sense-faculties without any senses; unattached supporting everything and free from qualities enjoying qualities;
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The paradox sharpens into explicit contradiction pairs: possessing the appearance of every sense-faculty while having none, sustaining everything while attached to nothing, free of the gunas — the three qualities of nature (sattva, rajas, tamas) that verse 20 will name explicitly — while somehow experiencing them. That last pairing anticipates verse 21’s division of labor almost exactly: prakriti supplies the qualities, purusha is what experiences them, without purusha itself becoming one of them.