📿 Shloka Collection

Yasya Nahankrito Bhavah

Gita 18.17 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18 — Moksha Sannyasa Yoga
यस्य नाहंकृतो भावो बुद्धिर्यस्य न लिप्यते ।
हत्वापि स इमाँल्लोकान्न हन्ति न निबध्यते ॥
Yasya nahankrito bhavo buddhir yasya na lipyate
Hatvapi sa imal lokan na hanti na nibadhyate
यस्य
whose
न अहंकृतः भावः
no sense of ego — no feeling of 'I am the doer'
बुद्धिः न लिप्यते
intellect is not stained — not attached
हत्वा अपि
even having slain
इमान् लोकान्
all these people
न हन्ति
does not slay — incurs no sin
न निबध्यते
is not bound

This is one of the Gita's most striking declarations. Krishna says: the person whose mind carries no ego, whose intellect remains unstained by attachment — even if that person slays all these warriors, they truly do not slay, and they are not bound by the act.

The statement is addressed directly to Arjuna's predicament. He stands on a battlefield, dreading the act of killing his own kinsmen. Krishna's message is not that killing is trivial. It is that the binding power of any action — even the most extreme — comes from the ego's claim of doership. Remove that claim, and the chain snaps.

This does not mean action has no consequences in the world. It means the inner bondage — the karmic knot that ties the soul to cycles of birth and death — depends entirely on the attitude of the doer. When ego is absent and the intellect stays clean, the soul passes through action the way light passes through glass.

This shloka brings together the teaching of the sthitaprajna (steady-minded person) from Chapter 2 and the teaching of nishkama karma (selfless action) from Chapter 3. The egoless doer described here is the meeting point of both.

The phrase 'na hanti' (does not truly slay) does not deny that action occurs. It means the doer does not take on the karmic ownership of the act, and therefore is not bound by its consequences.

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