📿 Shloka Collection

Anaditvat Nirgunatvat

Gita 13.31 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 13 — Kshetra Kshetragna Vibhaga Yoga
अनादित्वान्निर्गुणत्वात्परमात्मायमव्ययः ।
शरीरस्थोऽपि कौन्तेय न करोति न लिप्यते ॥
Anaditvat nirgunatvat paramatma ayam avyayah
Sharira-stho'pi kaunteya na karoti na lipyate
अनादित्वात्
because of being beginningless
निर्गुणत्वात्
because of being beyond the gunas
परमात्मा
the Supreme Self
अयम्
this
अव्ययः
imperishable
शरीरस्थः
dwelling in the body
अपि
even
कौन्तेय
O son of Kunti
न करोति
does not act
न लिप्यते
is not tainted

The Paramatma is beginningless — it has no origin point. It is beyond all three gunas. It is imperishable. And even though it resides inside this body, it neither performs any action nor gets stained by any action's result.

A lotus flower lives in water but is never soaked by it. In just that way, the Supreme Self lives within the body yet remains untouched by the body's deeds, its pleasures, its sorrows. This is its fundamental nature.

This verse summarizes the soul's non-doership and purity. The twin phrases 'na karoti na lipyate' — neither acts nor is tainted — encapsulate one of the Gita's core philosophical insights.

In the Gita Press edition, this is the thirty-first shloka. The next two verses provide analogies that make this abstract truth more tangible.

Chapter 13 · 31 / 34
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