Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4, Verse 14

न मां कर्माणि लिम्पन्ति न मे कर्मफले स्पृहा । इति मां योऽभिजानाति कर्मभिर्न स बध्यते

na māṃ karmāṇi limpanti na me karmaphale spṛhā | iti māṃ yo'bhijānāti karmabhirna sa badhyate

Translation

Actions pollute Me not, nor have I a desire for the fruit of actions. He who knows Me thus is not bound by actions.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

na

not

mām

me

karmāṇi

actions

limpanti

stain

na

not

me

of me

karmaphale

of action, in the fruit

spṛhā

desire

iti

thus

mām

me

yaḥ

who

abhijānāti

knows

karmabhiḥ

by actions

na

not

saḥ

he

badhyate

is bound

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

For want of egoism (ahaṃkāra), these actions do not pollute Me by necessitating incarnation; nor have I a desire for the fruit of these actions. On the other hand, it is but right that actions should pollute those men of the world (saṃsāra) who are attached to their actions, thinking themselves to be the authors thereof, and longing for the fruits of such actions. As I have none of these — viz., desire and attachment — actions cannot pollute Me. Any other person, too, who knows Me to be his Self, who thinks "I am no agent, I have no longing for the fruits of actions" — his actions too will not necessitate incarnation.