Verse 4.23

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 4.23:

गत-सङ्गस्य मुक्तस्य ज्ञानावस्थित-चेतसः ।
यज्ञायाचरतः कर्म समग्रं प्रविलीयते ॥ २३ ॥

gata-saṅgasya muktasya jñānāvasthita-cetasaḥ |
yajñāyācarataḥ karma samagraṃ pravilīyate || 23 ||

gata-saṅgasya–has given up attachment; muktasya–liberated; jñāna–in knowledge; avasthita–is situated; cetasaḥ–whose consciousness; yajñāya–for the worship of Viṣṇu; ācarataḥ–of one who performs; karma–fruitive action; samagram–completely; pravilīyate–is nullified.

For a person devoid of material attachments, whose mind is situated in transcendental knowledge, and who performs his every action for the worship of the Supreme, all the reactions to his past fruitive work are nullified. He becomes liberated and attains the stage of non-action.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

The characteristics of sacrifice, or yajña, will be explained later. Action performed for the sake of yajña is dissolved, and this results in a state of inaction (akarma).

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

(By Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja; the explanation that illuminates the commentary named Sārārtha-varṣiṇī)

Karma (work) performed for the pleasure of Śrī Bhagavān never becomes a cause of bondage to the material world. Such action for the pleasure of Bhagavān is described here as akarma-bhāva, the state of inaction.

Mere performance of religious activities, in the form of action as prescribed in the Vedas, does not in itself lead to the higher planets, nor do sinful activities lead to hell. Those who know karma, who accept the principle of pūrva-mīmāṃsā (that the cycle of birth and death is perpetual and the best one can aim for is a higher birth among the demigods), claim that actions produce an unseen subtle potency called apūrva, and it is this apūrva that causes the karma to give its results, life after life. Their conception–that these results can later be shared by others–is meant to establish the eternality of karma. This consideration, however, does not apply to one who selflessly performs work without attachment and offers the fruit of that work to Bhagavān.