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Chapter 5 · Action in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness · 29 verses

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How to study this verse, in six steps
  1. 1Remember who is speaking. Kṛṣṇa is speaking. Take the verse as He directs.
  2. 2Say the verse and its words. Read the Sanskrit, then each word with its meaning.
  3. 3Read the translation as it is. Let the translation say what it says, without adding your own meaning.
  4. 4Read the purport. Hear the verse through the disciplic succession.
  5. 5Bring your own question. Ask: where does this verse meet my life, my trouble, my doubt?
  6. 6Act on it, remembering Kṛṣṇa. Carry one instruction into your work today.
Read the full guide: how to read the Bhagavad-gītā ›
Duty & actionChapter 5 · Action in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 5.9

Detached action performed in devotion

Jīva · The soul

नैव किञ्चित्करोमीति युक्तो मन्येत तत्त्ववित् ।

पश्यञ्श‍ृण्वन्स्पृशञ्जिघ्रन्नश्न‍न्गच्छन्स्वपन्श्वसन् ॥ ८ ॥

प्रलपन्विसृजन्गृह्णन्नुन्मिषन्निमिषन्नपि ।

इन्द्रियाणीन्द्रियार्थेषु वर्तन्त इति धारयन् ॥ ९ ॥

naiva kiñcit karomīti

yukto manyeta tattva-vit

paśyañ śṛṇvan spṛśañ jighrann

aśnan gacchan svapañ śvasan

pralapan visṛjan gṛhṇann

unmiṣan nimiṣann api

indriyāṇīndriyārtheṣu

vartanta iti dhārayan

Translation

A person in the divine consciousness, although engaged in seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, moving about, sleeping and breathing, always knows within himself that he actually does nothing at all. Because while speaking, evacuating, receiving, or opening or closing his eyes, he always knows that only the material senses are engaged with their objects and that he is aloof from them.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

What this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.

3 study points

Senses in Kṛṣṇa’s Service

  1. 1

    A person in divine consciousness knows that the material senses act on their objects while he remains separate from them.

  2. 2

    Prabhupāda explains that such a person remains free because his senses serve Kṛṣṇa rather than seek personal pleasure.

  3. 3

    Use your senses to serve Kṛṣṇa, remembering that you are His eternal servant.

Further reading

How To Perform Niskama-Karma-Yoga

One performing Niskama-karma-yoga identifies

Neither with his body

Nor the activities that his body performs

By his detached actions, he is freed from the reactions of his activities

Chapter 5, section II: How To Perform Niskama-Karma-Yoga
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Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. nanever
  2. evacertainly
  3. kiñcitanything
  4. karomiI do
  5. itithus
  6. yuktaḥengaged in the divine consciousness
  7. manyetathinks
  8. tattva-vitone who knows the truth
3

Key ideas in this verse

The spiritual concepts this verse connects to.

Key ideas: karma, sva-dharma.

4

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

What does BG 5.9 establish in Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport, and how does it connect to duty & action?

Practice

Do one task today purely because it is right.

5

Related verses

Keep going: verses that carry this teaching further.

Live this todayWork in Service to KṛṣṇaA practice from BG 5.10, close to this verse

Study notes are editorial summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport.