न मां कर्माणि लिम्पन्ति न मे कर्मफले स्पृहा।
इति मां योऽभिजानाति कर्मभिर्न स बध्यते।।4.14।।
4.14 Actions do not taint Me; for Me there is no hankering for the results of actions. One who knows Me thus, does not become bound by actions.
4.14 These actions of varied nature like creation etc., do not contaminate Me i.e., do not bind Me. For the distinctions of gods, men etc., are not brought about by Me, but by the particular Karmas, good and evil, of created beings. Therefore by the process of discriminating between the acired and the inherent, it will be found that I am not the author of this varied creations etc. The created or embodied selves, who are endowed with bodies and organs at the time of creation in accordance with their own Karmas springing from attachment to fruits etc., experience all enjoyments available in creation. Thus for them (embodied selves) alone there is desire for the results of creation etc., and for the results of their Karmas. There is no desire in Me for it. The Sutrakara says to the same effect: No partiality or cruelty on account of there being dependence (on the Karma of souls for inealities (Br. S., 2.1.34). Bhagavan Parasara also says so: He (the Lord) is only the operative cause in the creation of beings. That from which the creative forces spring constitutes the material cause. Leaving aside the material cause, the being that becomes embodied does not reire the help of any other thing whatever. A thing is led into the condition in which it is, O best of ascetics, only by its own potentiality (V. P., 1.4.51-2). The Supreme Person is only the operative cause with regard to the creation of those to be created, i.e., the selves in the bodies of gods etc. The material cause for the differences into gods etc., is the potentiality in the form of previous Karmas of the selves to be created. Therefore, leaving aside the operative cause, i.e., the Supreme Person, the creator, the embodied beings do not reire anything else for causing difference into conditions of gods etc. For these selves are led to take the forms of gods etc., by the potentiality of their own old Karma with which they are connected. Such is the meaning. He who knows Me thus to be the agent of creation etc., and still a non-agent, i.e., as one who has no desire for the results of the acts of creation etc., - such a person is not tied by previous actions, i.e., he is freed from the old Karmas which obstruct the undertaking of Karma Yoga by causing attachment to results. Such is the purport.
Na maam karmaani limpanti na me karmaphale sprihaa; Iti maam yo’bhijaanaati karmabhir na sa badhyate.
na—not; mām—me; karmāṇi—activities; limpanti—taint; na—nor; me—my; karma-phale—the fruits of action; spṛihā—desire; iti—thus; mām—me; yaḥ—who; abhijānāti—knows; karmabhiḥ—result of action; na—never; saḥ—that person; badhyate—is bound
