Chapter 4, Verse 21
निराशीर्यतचित्तात्मा त्यक्तसर्वपरिग्रहः | शारीरं केवलं कर्म कुर्वन्नाप्नोति किल्बिषम् ||४-२१||
nirāśīryatacittātmā tyaktasarvaparigrahaḥ . śārīraṃ kevalaṃ karma kurvannāpnoti kilbiṣam ||4-21||
Meaning
4.21 Without hope and with the mind and the self controlled, having abandoned all covetousness, doing mere bodily action, he incurs no sin.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna continues describing the one who acts without bondage. He is nirāśīḥ — free of anxious expectation; his mind and senses are governed (yata-cittātmā); and he has relinquished all grasping possessiveness (tyakta-sarva-parigraha). With this inner discipline, he performs only 'mere bodily action' — doing what the situation requires through the body, without the ego's involvement.
The assurance is profound: such a person āpnoti na kilbiṣam — incurs no sin, no karmic stain. When action arises from need and duty rather than from desire and possessiveness, it leaves no residue on the soul. This verse teaches that purity is not found in doing nothing, but in doing what must be done with controlled mind, no hankering, and no clinging. The body works; the inner being remains clean and free.
💡 Key Takeaway
Action done with a disciplined mind, free of expectation and possessiveness, leaves no stain on the soul.
Related Verses
वीतरागभयक्रोधा मन्मया मामुपाश्रिताः | बहवो ज्ञानतपसा पूता मद्भावमागताः ||४-१०||
vītarāgabhayakrodhā manmayā māmupāśritāḥ . bahavo jñānatapasā pūtā madbhāvamāgatāḥ ||4-10||
4.10 Freed from attachment, fear and anger, absorbed in Me, taking refuge in Me, purified by the fire of knowledge, many have attained to My Being.
काङ्क्षन्तः कर्मणां सिद्धिं यजन्त इह देवताः | क्षिप्रं हि मानुषे लोके सिद्धिर्भवति कर्मजा ||४-१२||
kāṅkṣantaḥ karmaṇāṃ siddhiṃ yajanta iha devatāḥ . kṣipraṃ hi mānuṣe loke siddhirbhavati karmajā ||4-12||
4.12 Those who long for success in action in this world sacrifice to the gods; because success is ickly attained by men through action.
चातुर्वर्ण्यं मया सृष्टं गुणकर्मविभागशः | तस्य कर्तारमपि मां विद्ध्यकर्तारमव्ययम् ||४-१३||
cāturvarṇyaṃ mayā sṛṣṭaṃ guṇakarmavibhāgaśaḥ . tasya kartāramapi māṃ viddhyakartāramavyayam ||4-13||
4.13 The fourfold caste has been created by Me according to the differentiation of Guna and Karma; though I am the author thereof know Me as non-doer and immutable.