FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Bhagavad-gītā 5.10

బ్రహ్మణ్యాధాయ కర్మాణి సఙ్గం త్యక్త్వా కరోతి య: । లిప్యతే న స పాపేన పద్మపత్రమివామ్భసా ॥ ౧౦ ॥
brahmaṇy ādhāya karmāṇi
[brahmany aadhaaya karmaani]
saṅgaṁ tyaktvā karoti yaḥ
[sangam tyaktvaa karoti yah]
lipyate na sa pāpena
[lipyate na sa paapena]
padma-patram ivāmbhasā
[padma-patram ivaambhasaa]
Word-for-word
brahmaṇi — unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead ādhāya — resigning karmāṇi — all works saṅgam — attachment tyaktvā — giving up karoti — performs yaḥ — who lipyate — is affected na — never saḥ — he pāpena — by sin padma - patram — a lotus leaf iva — like ambhasā — by the water .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
brahmaṇy ādhāya karmāṇi
brahmaṇi
unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead
ādhāya
resigning
karmāṇi
all works
saṅgaṁ tyaktvā karoti yaḥ
saṅgam
attachment
tyaktvā
giving up
karoti
performs
yaḥ
who
lipyate na sa pāpena
lipyate
is affected
na
never
saḥ
he
pāpena
by sin
padma-patram ivāmbhasā
padma - patram
a lotus leaf
iva
like
ambhasā
by the water .
Important Words
  • brahmaṇi — unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead
    Locative. The action is offered *into* the Supreme. Prabhupāda's gloss is doctrinally precise — brahman here points beyond impersonal absolute to the Personality, since you cannot meaningfully offer to a featureless absolute.
  • ādhāya — resigning, placing
    Absolutive of ā + √dhā — 'having set down upon.' The act is done after the placing; the offering precedes the doing. This is the inner gesture of every act of bhakti karma-yoga.
  • saṅgam — attachment
    The hinge word from 2.47 returns. Not the act but the saṅga binds. Drop the clinging, keep the action — that is the formula carried forward through the entire chapter.
  • padma-patram — a lotus leaf
    Padma — lotus. Patra — leaf. The metaphor is so foundational to Indic spiritual writing that the Gītā uses it almost as a technical term. Sanskrit poetry has named this exact phenomenon for millennia.
  • ambhasā — by the water
    Instrumental. The water is the would-be agent of staining; the leaf is the patient that refuses to be stained. The grammar makes the leaf's victory linguistically clean: na lipyate — pāpena... ambhasā.
One who performs his duty without attachment, surrendering the results unto the Supreme Lord, is unaffected by sinful action, as the lotus leaf is untouched by water.
Purport

Here brahmaṇi means in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The material world is a sum total manifestation of the three modes of material nature, technically called the pradhāna . The Vedic hymns sarvaṁ hy etad brahma ( Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad 2), tasmād etad brahma nāma rūpam annaṁ ca jāyate ( Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.1.9), and, in the Bhagavad-gītā (14.3), mama yonir mahad brahma indicate that everything in the material world is a manifestation of Brahman; and although the effects are differently manifested, they are nondifferent from the cause. In the Īśopaniṣad it is said that everything is related to the Supreme Brahman, or Kṛṣṇa, and thus everything belongs to Him only. One who knows perfectly well that everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, that He is the proprietor of everything and that, therefore, everything is engaged in the service of the Lord, naturally has nothing to do with the results of his activities, whether virtuous or sinful. Even one’s material body, being a gift of the Lord for carrying out a particular type of action, can be engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is then beyond contamination by sinful reactions, exactly as the lotus leaf, though remaining in the water, is not wet. The Lord also says in the Gītā (3.30), mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi sannyasya: “Resign all works unto Me [Kṛṣṇa].” The conclusion is that a person without Kṛṣṇa consciousness acts according to the concept of the material body and senses, but a person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness acts according to the knowledge that the body is the property of Kṛṣṇa and should therefore be engaged in the service of Kṛṣṇa.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
10. He who, giving up attachment, offers his actions to the Supreme Lord, is not contaminated by sin in those actions, just as a lotus leaf is not touched by water.
Commentary

Moreover, he who, offering all his actions unto Me, the Supreme Lord (brahmaṇi), giving up attachment to actions, giving up false identification of “I am doing it”, performs actions, is not contaminated at all by any actions, of which some could be sinful. Pāpena here represents all actions, not just sinful ones. [Note: Puṇya is also contaminating.]

Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa Gauḍīya
Translation
10. He who, giving up attachment and material identification, consigning his actions to the material energy, is not contaminated by sin in those actions, just as a lotus leaf is not touched by water.
Commentary

This verse elaborates the point. The word brahman here indicates the material pradhāna composed of three guṇas, for it is said tasmād etad brahma-nāma-rūpam annaṁ ca jāyate: this Brahman gives birth to food. (Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.2.10) Also the Lord Himself will say in the Gītā mama yonir mahad brahma: the material energy is my womb. (BG14.3) He attributes activities such as seeing, to the transformations of pradhāna in the form of body, senses, prāṇas, ego and fate, not thinking that these activities are part of his pure ātmā. He renounces desires for results and gives up the thought of being the doer (saṅgam tvaktvā). He, endowed with body and senses, thus performs activities, but is not contaminated with sin, with the thought of the self being the body. He is like a lotus leaf touched by water which is sprinkled on it but rolls off. Brahmaṇi should not be interpreted here as the paramātmā as was stated in a previous verse mayi saṁnyasya karmāṇi (BG 3.30) This is because it has just been stated in the previous verse that the doership belongs to the body and senses of the jīva arising from pradhāna, and not to the individual ātmā.

Bhūrijana Dāsa Gauḍīya
Commentary

Being situated in that knowledge, the jnana, then performing niskama karma, or doing one's duty in this detached faction as described in Texts 8‑9, seeing that everything is going on but seeing that one is aloof from everything. The body is acting, he is touching, working, moving about, the body is doing all these things, but oneself has nothing to do with it. Therefore one can perform one's duties without attachment and on a highest level ‑ surrendering the results unto the Supreme Lord. There is no sinful reaction that comes to him,"just as the lotus leaf is untouched by water". The flower of the lotus appears to be on the water but actually has nothing to do with it. Also the lotus has a waxy surface, any drop of water which falls on it, immediatly glides right off. Similarly, because of the detachment on the transcendental knowledge, of the one performing niskama karma, all reac glide off of him "as the lotus leaf is untouched by the water".

Classical Ācāryas
Śrī Śaṅkarācārya Classical
Translation
5.10 On the other hand, again, one who is ignorant of the Truth and is engaged in Karma-yoga, yah, who; karoti, acts; adhaya, by dedicating, by surrendering; all karmani, actions; brahmani, to Brahman, to God; with the idea, 'I am working for Him, as a servant does everything for his master', and tyaktva, by renouncing; sangam, attachment, even with regard to teh resulting Liberation; sah, he; na lipyate, does not get polluted, is not affected; papena, by sin; iva, just as; padma-patram, a lotus leaf; is not ambhasa, by water. The only result that will certainly accrue from such action will be the purification of the heart.
Śrī Rāmānujācārya Classical
Translation
5.10 Here the term, Brahman denotes Prakrti. Later on Sri Krsna will say: 'The great Brahman is My womb' (14.3). Since Prakrti abides in the form of senses which are particular off-shoots of Prakrti, he who, as said in the passage beginning with 'Even though he is seeing, hearing ৷৷.' (5.8), understands that all actions proceed from Brahman (Prakrti); renounces all attachment while engaging himself in all actions, reflecting, 'I am doing nothing.' Such a person, though existing in contact with Prakrti, is not contaminated by sin which is the result of the wrong identification of the Atman with Prakrti and is the cause of bondage. Just as a lotus leaf is not wetted by water, actions do not affect or defile a person with sin, if he is free from such identification with the body.
Śrī Abhinavagupta Classical
Translation
5.10 See Comment under 5.11
Swami Sivananda Classical
Translation
5.10 He who does actions, offering them to Brahman, and abandoning attachment, is not tainted by sin, just as a lotus-leaf is not tainted by water.
Commentary

5.10 ब्रह्मणि in Brahman? आधाय having placed? कर्माणि actions? सङ्गम् attachment? त्यक्त्वा having abandoned? करोति acts? यः who? लिप्यते is tainted? न not? सः he? पापेन by sin? पद्मपत्रम् lotusleaf? इव like? अम्भसा by water.Commentary Chapter IV verses 18? 20? 21? 22? 23? 37? 41 Chapter V verses 10? 11 and 12 all convey the one idea that the Yogi who does actions without egoism and attachment to results or fruits of the actions? which he regards as offerings unto the Lord? is not tainted by the actions (Karma). He has no attachment even for Moksha. He sees inaction in action. All his actions are burnt in the fire of wisdom. He escapes from the wheel of Samsara. He is freed from the round of births and deaths. He gets purity of heart and through purity of heart attains to the knowledge of the Self. Through the knowledge of the Self he is liberated. This is the gist of the above ten verses. (Cf.III.30)

Swami Gambhīrānanda Classical
Translation
5.10 One who acts by dedicating actions to Brahman and by renouncing attachment, he does not become polluted by sin, just as a lotus leaf is not by water.
Shri Purohit Swami Classical
Translation
5.10 He who dedicates his actions to the Spirit, without any personal attachment to them, he is no more tainted by sin than the water lily is wetted by water.
Related values & verses
Related values
Tyaga (Renunciation / Letting Go)Karuna (Kindness / Compassion)Ahimsa (Non-violence / Compassion)Tapas (Austerity / Discipline)Atma Nigraha (Self-control)Daksya (Resourcefulness / Skill)Abhaya (Fearlessness)
Related verses
BG 2.47 BG 9.27 BG 3.30 SB 11.2.50 SB 6.1.15 SB 1.5.32 CC Madhya 22.93 CC Madhya 22.100 CC Antya 4.67 Īśa Upaniṣad 1 BRS 1.2.255
Study Q&A referencing this verse
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
Offering all his work to Brahman, abandoning attachment, he is untouched by sin — as a lotus leaf is untouched by water.
Practical Applications
  • Frame each act as offering before performing it.
  • Cultivate lotus-leaf consciousness — present in the water, untouched by it.
  • Verify daily: am I in the water, or absorbed by it?
Reflection Questions
  • Where am I being soaked rather than untouched?
  • What single act today would I most want to offer?
Analogy

The lotus leaf sits on the pond all day, drenched a thousand times, and rises in the morning dry. Its surface has a microscopic structure that water cannot wet. So the soul that offers every act to the Supreme develops a structure sin cannot wet — present in the world, unstained by it.

Stories
Mahārāja Ambarīṣa

Ambarīṣa ruled the earth with full kingly responsibility — wars, judgments, marriages, treasuries — yet every act was first offered to Kṛṣṇa. The Bhāgavatam describes how he fixed his mind on the Lord's lotus feet, his words on the Lord's qualities, his hands on the Lord's service, his eyes on the Lord's deity-form.

When the angry sage Durvāsā tried to curse him for a minor breach of protocol, the Lord's Sudarśana cakra rose in Ambarīṣa's defense and chased Durvāsā through the three worlds. The king himself stood untouched — neither rejoicing in the protection nor lamenting the sage's flight.

This is brahmaṇi ādhāya karmāṇi made visible: surrender all actions to the Supreme, and even the world's fiercest waters bead off the leaf.

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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