Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4, Verse 21

निराशीर्यतचित्तात्मा त्यक्तसर्वपरिग्रहः । शारीरं केवलं कर्म कुर्वन्नाप्नोति किल्बिषम्

nirāśīryatacittātmā tyaktasarvaparigrahaḥ | śārīraṃ kevalaṃ karma kurvannāpnoti kilbiṣam

Translation

Free from desire, with the mind and the self controlled, having relinquished all possessions, doing mere bodily action, he incurs no sin.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

nirāśīḥ

not hoping (wishing)

yatacittātmā

controlled, mind, and, self, and, whose, he

tyaktasarvaparigrahaḥ

abandoned, all, taking, by whom, he

śārīram

bodily

kevalam

only

karma

action

kurvan

doing

na

not

āpnoti

obtains

kilbiṣam

sin

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

He from whom all desires have departed, by whom the mind and the body have been controlled, by whom all property has been disowned, who does mere bodily action (action necessary for the bare existence of the body), without attachment even for that action — he incurs no sin which will produce evil effects. Even dharma is a sin — in the case of him who seeks liberation — inasmuch as it causes bondage. He is liberated from both dharma and adharma, i.e., he is liberated from saṃsāra.