5.10 The unwetted leaf Krishna speaks
ब्रह्मण्याधाय कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा करोति यः
लिप्यते न स पापेन पद्मपत्रमिवाम्भसा
brahmaṇyādhāya karmāṇi saṅgaṁ tyaktvā karoti yaḥ
lipyate na sa pāpena padma-patram ivāmbhasā
One who acts having placed all actions in Brahman, having let go of attachment, is not stained by wrongdoing — as a lotus leaf is not wetted by water.
Explanation
The lotus leaf, which this chapter is named for.
The leaf sits in the water. Not above it, not shielded from it. Water lands on it constantly and does not soak in.
Everything the Gita means by non-attachment is in that image. The alternative it is refusing — getting out of the water — is exactly what Arjuna proposed in chapter 1, and the leaf does not do that.
Going further
Word by word
- brahmaṇi
- to God
- ādhāya
- dedicating
- karmāṇi
- all actions
- saṅgam
- attachment
- tyaktvā
- abandoning
- karoti
- performs
- yaḥ
- who
- lipyate
- is affected
- na
- never
- saḥ
- that person
- pāpena
- by sin
- padma-patram
- a lotus leaf
- iva
- like
- ambhasā
- by water
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The lotus leaf, from which this chapter takes its title.
The leaf sits in the water. It is not held above it, not protected from it, not elsewhere. Water lands on it constantly and does not soak in. Of all the images available for non-attachment, the Gita picks the one that involves no distance at all — which rules out the reading where you keep your life at arm's length.