Chapter 9, Verse 9
न च मां तानि कर्माणि निबध्नन्ति धनञ्जय | उदासीनवदासीनमसक्तं तेषु कर्मसु ||९-९||
na ca māṃ tāni karmāṇi nibadhnanti dhanañjaya . udāsīnavadāsīnamasaktaṃ teṣu karmasu ||9-9||
Meaning
9.9 These acts do not bind Me, O Arjuna, sitting like one indifferent, unattached to those acts.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
If the Divine creates and dissolves universes endlessly, does this immense activity bind him? Krishna answers: no. These works do not fetter him, for he abides like one udasina — seated as a detached witness, asakta, wholly unattached to the deeds. The Lord acts without the sense of personal stake that turns action into bondage.
This is the great secret of karma-yoga, now shown at cosmic scale. It is not action that binds, but attachment to its fruits and the ego's claim of doership. The Divine is the supreme model: perfectly active, yet perfectly free. For Arjuna, and for us, the lesson is intimate — we too can engage fully in the world's work while resting inwardly as a calm witness, letting our deeds flow without clinging to them.
💡 Key Takeaway
Action binds us only through attachment; work fully yet rest inwardly as a witness, and you remain free.
Related Verses
प्रकृतिं स्वामवष्टभ्य विसृजामि पुनः पुनः | भूतग्राममिमं कृत्स्नमवशं प्रकृतेर्वशात् ||९-८||
prakṛtiṃ svāmavaṣṭabhya visṛjāmi punaḥ punaḥ . bhūtagrāmamimaṃ kṛtsnamavaśaṃ prakṛtervaśāt ||9-8||
9.8 Animating My Nature, I again and again send forth all this multitude of beings, helpless by the force of the Nature.
मयाध्यक्षेण प्रकृतिः सूयते सचराचरम् | हेतुनानेन कौन्तेय जगद्विपरिवर्तते ||९-१०||
mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sacarācaram . hetunānena kaunteya jagadviparivartate ||9-10||
9.10 Under Me as supervisor, Nature produces the moving and the unmoving; because of this, O Arjuna, the world revolves.
गतिर्भर्ता प्रभुः साक्षी निवासः शरणं सुहृत् | प्रभवः प्रलयः स्थानं निधानं बीजमव्ययम् ||९-१८||
gatirbhartā prabhuḥ sākṣī nivāsaḥ śaraṇaṃ suhṛt . prabhavaḥ pralayaḥ sthānaṃ nidhānaṃ bījamavyayam ||9-18||
9.18 I am the goal, the supporter, the Lord, the witness, the abode, the shelter, the friend, the origin, the dissolution, the foundation, the treasure-house and the seed which is imperishable.