Yog of Knowledge and Action
Chapter 4, Verse 14
na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti
na me karma phale spṛhā
iti māṁ yo’bhijānāti
karmabhir-na sa badhyate
Actions do not taint Me, nor have I desire for the fruits of action; he who thus knows Me is not bound by karma.
Krishna says, “I don’t have any attachment, any sense of possession, or desire for the fruit of My actions”. If one has the sense of possession or desire for the fruit of one’s actions, one will be automatically bound by the law of karma. But the Lord says, “I am not bound by karma.”
“He who thus knows Me is not bound by karma.” He says that the ones who are completely surrendered like the saints, who have come to know God’s Reality, by becoming pure and detached, they become like Him and are not bound by any karma. Whoever becomes a yogi, does their daily duty, surrendering it to the Divine. They still do their duties, but are not attached to them and don’t desire the fruit of their actions. They don’t say, ‘I’, ‘I’, “I am doing this!” They don’t let this big ‘I’, the ego, take over. They surrender all their actions, all the punya, everything to the Divine and say, “Krishna Arpanam: I offer all to Krishna.” Like I said in the previous chapter, at night you just need to close your eyes and offer everything to Him saying, “God, if I have done anything good in this day, I am offering it to you.” By offering this good punya, one becomes like Him. That’s why He says, “Whoever is surrendered to Me and attained My Reality; who has seen Me inside the heart, I live in them, and they live in Me. These wise people know Me; for them there is no karma at all. One rises above this limitation and is free.”
Maya doesn’t have any effect on the one who gets to know Him, to love Him, to surrender to Him – because He is the Lord of Maya. It is He who wills Maya to be manifested: only then Maya manifests. As the Lord Himself is living in the heart of the devotee, and the devotee has realised that the Lord is present in each action, what power does Maya have over the devotee? Maya doesn’t have any power.
Bhagavad Gita
