Verse 18.17

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 18.17:

यस्य नाहङ्कृतो भावो बुद्धिर् यस्य न लिप्यते ।
हत्वापि स इमाल् लोकान् न हन्ति न निबध्यते ॥ १७ ॥

yasya nāhaṅkṛto bhāvo buddhir yasya na lipyate |
hatvāpi sa imāl lokān na hanti na nibadhyate || 17 ||

yasya–whose; na ahaṅkṛtaḥ–without false ego as the doer; bhāvaḥ–consciousness; buddhiḥ–intelligence; yasya–whose; na lipyate–is unattached (to the result of action); hatvā–killing; api–even though; saḥ–he; imān–these; lokān–people; na hanti–does not slay; na–nor; nibadhyate–he is bound (by the result of action).

Even if he kills living beings, he who is free from the ego of being the doer and whose intelligence is not attached to the results of his activities does not truly kill, nor is he bound by the result of his action.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

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

“Who, then, has purified intelligence, and who actually sees?” In response to this, Śrī Bhagavān speaks the verse beginning with yasya nāhaṅkṛto bhāvaḥ. “One who does not possess the false ego of being the doer does not become attached to thinking, ‘This is pleasing; this is not pleasing.’ Therefore, he does not become bound by the results of karma. What more can I say in this regard? Whether the work he performs is auspicious or inauspicious, in reality, he is not the doer of that work. From a material perspective, it may seem that he kills people, but from his own perspective he does not, because he is not motivated by selfish desires. Therefore, he does not become bound by the results of karma.”

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

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

Those who know themselves to be subservient to Parameśvara and who perform their work without a desire to reap the fruits and without the false ego of being the doer, are certainly intelligent. The results of karma cannot bind them.

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura quotes Kṛṣṇa as saying, “O Arjuna, you were only in illusion about this battle because of your false ego. Had you been aware that the five factors I have described are the cause of all action, you would not have become so bewildered. Therefore, those whose intelligence is not implicated by the false ego of being the doer do not kill, even if they kill all of humanity; nor do they become bound by the result of such killing.”