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
V17 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 V17'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.
V17 is the positive counterpart to V16: V16 = the deluded sole-doer who is bound; V17 = the non-ego actor who is free even while killing. This verse directly answers the problem that opened the entire Gita (Ch.1: Arjuna refuses to fight, fearing sin from killing relatives). V17 declares: the act of killing itself is not what creates karma-bondage; the ego-identification with the killing is what creates bondage. Arjuna's solution is not to stop fighting (tāmasic tyāga from V7) but to fight with nāhaṃkṛto bhāva (V17's liberation-in-action).
Na lipyate (not tainted) echoes the lotus-leaf image from Ch.5 V10 (padma-pattram ivāmbhasā = like a lotus leaf by water). The buddhi is the lotus leaf; karma is the water — it slides off the untainted surface. Shankaracharya connects V17 to the Advaita teaching: the ātman is by nature akarman (non-acting); when the individual acts without identifying the ātman with the kartā, the action is the five-cause mechanism functioning, not the ātman acting. Na hanti therefore is literally true: the ātman is never the killer.
Advaita lens
V17 is Shankaracharya's favorite Gita verse for the advaita-karma synthesis. The ātman is nit ya-akarman (eternally non-acting); all action belongs to the five-cause mechanism of the body-mind-prāṇa complex. When the jñānī acts, it is the five causes functioning — the ātman is the unchanging witness (sākṣi), never the hatvā (killer). Na hanti is literally true from the Advaita standpoint: the Self never acts; what kills is the body+organs+prāṇa+destiny complex.
Bhakti lens
For the devotee, nāhaṃkṛto bhāva = the consciousness of being the Lord's instrument. 'I am not the agent — the Lord acts through me.' This complete surrender (samarpaṇa) removes the ahaṃkṛta-bhāva that creates karma-bondage. The warrior-devotee fights because the Lord directs the battle; the outcome is the Lord's; the bondage is zero. Na nibadhyate = the fruit, released to God, cannot bind the devotee.
Karma-Yoga lens
V17 is the karma yogin's ultimate practical goal: to act in full engagement (hatvā api — even killing!) while maintaining nāhaṃkṛto bhāva (no ego-ownership) and na-lipta-buddhi (untainted discriminating intelligence). This is what V9's sāttvic tyāga produces over time: the outer action continues fully; the inner actor-claiming-doership dissolves. The result: na nibadhyate — free from karma-bondage while in the midst of the most demanding action.
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
Rājasic tyāga: abandoning action as painful/from fear of body-trouble — obtains no fruit of tyāga.
Unable even to act for My sake? Then take refuge in Me, abandon all fruits of action — with self-restraint.
No embodied being can abandon ALL action; the true tyāgī is the karma-phala-tyāgī — the fruit-abandoner.
One who — given the five causes — sees the self alone as doer due to unrefined intellect sees not; that is durmati.
Abandon all dharmas, take refuge in Me alone — I will liberate you from all sins; do not grieve.
No effort on this path is ever wasted — even a little progress protects you from great fear.