Sanskrit
निराशीर्यतचित्तात्मा त्यक्तसर्वपरिग्रहः । शारीरं केवलं कर्म कुर्वन्नाप्नोति किल्बिषम् ॥
nirāśīr yata-cittātmā tyakta-sarva-parigrahaḥ śārīraṃ kevalaṃ karma kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣam
Translation
Hoping for naught, his mind and self controlled, having abandoned all greed, performing action by the body alone, he doth not commit sin.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Adds a further specification to verse 20’s portrait: such a person acts “by the body alone,” having renounced all acquisitiveness and controlled mind and self, and incurs no sin by so acting. It’s the same figure as verse 20, now described from the angle of what has been relinquished rather than what has been attained. Śārīraṃ kevalaṃ karma — “action of the body only” — means action that engages the limbs but not the acquisitive will; nothing is being gathered to a self. This is the concrete face of tyakta-sarva-parigraha, having let go of every kind of holding-on.
Study deeper
Word by word
- nirāśīrनिराशीः
- free of longing (nir-āśīḥ)
- yata-cittātmāयत-चित्तात्मा
- mind and self controlled (yata-citta-ātmā)
- tyakta-sarva-parigrahaḥत्यक्त-सर्व-परिग्रहः
- having renounced all possessions (tyakta-sarva-parigrahaḥ)
- śārīraṃ kevalaṃ karmaशारीरं केवलं कर्म
- action of the body alone (śārīram + kevalam + karma)
- kurvanकुर्वन्
- doing
- nāpnoti kilbiṣamनाप्नोति किल्बिषं
- incurs no sin (na + āpnoti + kilbiṣam)
Commentary
Site Commentary
“Performing action by the body alone” is a striking phrase: it locates the entire remaining engagement in the physical, mechanical layer, implying mind and self have already been withdrawn from the transaction of the act. This is describing a kind of doing that carries no psychological investment left in it at all — hands moving without the self being staked on how it turns out.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Try doing one routine task today 'by the body alone' — hands and attention engaged, but nothing of your sense of worth staked on how it turns out — and notice how much lighter the same task feels.
Professional
- For a purely mechanical task like routine reporting or a repeated deployment step, deliberately withhold your ego's stake in the outcome — do it competently with your hands, not with your self-worth wired to the result.
Family & Social
- Some family obligations, a chore or a routine visit, go better when you do them capably without loading your sense of being loved or valued onto how they're received — act, but don't stake yourself on the outcome.
Ask yourself
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