Sanskrit
ब्रह्मण्याधाय कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा करोति यः । लिप्यते न स पापेन पद्मपत्रमिवाम्भसा ॥
brahmaṇy ādhāya karmāṇi saṅgaṃ tyaktvā karoti yaḥ lipyate na sa pāpena padmapatram ivāmbhasā
Translation
He who acteth, placing all actions in the Eternal, abandoning attachment, is unaffected by sin as a lotus leaf by the waters.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The chapter’s single most quoted image. Placing actions in Brahman, rather than claiming them as one’s own doing, plus abandoning attachment, is what keeps the yogi as unstained by action as a lotus leaf is unwetted by the water it floats on — the leaf’s surface repels water rather than absorbing it, an apt image for action that touches the doer without soaking in. It’s the same discipline chapter 2 states in its “your business is with the action only” formulation, here given its most memorable metaphor.
Concepts