{ "verse_id": "4.21", "mūla": { "devanāgarī": "निराशीर् यत-चित्तात्मा त्यक्त-सर्व-परिग्रहः | शारीरं केवलं कर्म कुर्वन् नाप्नोति किल्बिषम्", "iast": "nirāśīr yata-cittātmā tyakta-sarva-parigrahaḥ | śārīraṃ kevalaṃ karma kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣam", "chapter_position": "Chapter 4 (Jñāna-Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga (The Yoga of Renunciation of Action in Knowledge)), verse 21", "speaker": "Krishna", "addressed_to": "Arjuna" }, "word_by_word": [ { "surface_form": "yaḥ", "lemma": "yad", "grammar": "nominative masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "यः" }, { "surface_form": "punar", "lemma": "punar", "grammar": "", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "पुनर्" }, { "surface_form": "pūrva", "lemma": "pūrva", "grammar": "compound (compound member)", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "पूर्व" }, { "surface_form": "ukta", "lemma": "√vac", "grammar": "compound participle (compound member)", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "उक्त" }, { "surface_form": "viparītaḥ", "lemma": "viparīta", "grammar": "nominative masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "विपरीतः" }, { "surface_form": "prāk", "lemma": "prāk", "grammar": "", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "प्राक्" }, { "surface_form": "eva", "lemma": "eva", "grammar": "", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "एव" }, { "surface_form": "karma", "lemma": "karman", "grammar": "compound (compound member)", "senses_attested_in_panel": [ { "sense": "कुर्वन् न आप्नोति न प्राप्नोति किल्बिषम् अनिष्टरूपं पापं धर्मं च", "school": "advaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "shankara" ] }, { "sense": "कुर्वन् किल्बिषं संसारं न आप्नोति", "school": "viśiṣṭādvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "ramanuja" ] }, { "sense": "कुर्वन्न चात्माहङ्कारकृतं कुर्वन् भवति स चैवमनहङ्कारादिना केवलशरीरमात्रेण कुर्वन् किल्बिषं शुभेतरोत्थं प्रत्यवायसंज्ञं", "school": "śuddhādvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "vallabha" ] }, { "sense": "कुर्वन्नपि किल्बिषं बन्धनं न प्राप्नोति", "school": "bhakti", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "sridhara" ] }, { "sense": "कायिकं वाचिकं मानसं", "school": "advaita-bhakti", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "madhusudan" ] } ], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "कर्म" }, { "surface_form": "ambhāt", "lemma": "ambha", "grammar": "ablative neuter singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "अम्भात्" }, { "surface_form": "brahmaṇi", "lemma": "brahman", "grammar": "locative neuter singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "ब्रह्मणि" }, { "surface_form": "sarva", "lemma": "sarva", "grammar": "compound (compound member)", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "सर्व" }, { "surface_form": "antare", "lemma": "antara", "grammar": "locative neuter singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "अन्तरे" }, { "surface_form": "pratyak", "lemma": "pratyañc", "grammar": "compound (compound member)", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "प्रत्यक्" }, { "surface_form": "ātmani", "lemma": "ātman", "grammar": "locative masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "आत्मनि" }, { "surface_form": "niṣkriye", "lemma": "niṣkriya", "grammar": "locative masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "निष्क्रिये" }, { "surface_form": "saṃjāta", "lemma": "saṃ-√jan", "grammar": "compound participle (compound member)", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "संजात" }, { "surface_form": "ātma", "lemma": "ātman", "grammar": "compound (compound member)", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "आत्म" }, { "surface_form": "darśanaḥ", "lemma": "darśana", "grammar": "nominative masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "दर्शनः" }, { "surface_form": "sa", "lemma": "tad", "grammar": "nominative masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "स" }, { "surface_form": "dṛṣṭa", "lemma": "√dṛś", "grammar": "compound participle (compound member)", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "दृष्ट" }, { "surface_form": "adṛṣṭa", "lemma": "adṛṣṭa", "grammar": "compound (compound member)", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "अदृष्ट" }, { "surface_form": "iṣṭa", "lemma": "√iṣ", "grammar": "compound participle (compound member)", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "इष्ट" }, { "surface_form": "viṣaya", "lemma": "viṣaya", "grammar": "compound (compound member)", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "विषय" }, { "surface_form": "āśīḥ", "lemma": "āśī", "grammar": "nominative masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "आशीः" }, { "surface_form": "vivarjita", "lemma": "vi-√varjay", "grammar": "compound participle (compound member)", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "विवर्जित" }, { "surface_form": "tayā", "lemma": "tā", "grammar": "instrumental feminine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "तया" } ], "intertextual_panel": [ { "verse": "6.10", "type": "cross-chapter thematic parallel", "score": 0.8697, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8297, "theme_graph": 4.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 0.0, "stem_prefix": 0.0 } }, { "verse": "18.53", "type": "long-distance thematic echo", "score": 0.8697, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8497, "theme_graph": 2.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 0.0, "stem_prefix": 0.0 } }, { "verse": "8.3", "type": "cross-chapter thematic parallel", "score": 0.8629, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8529, "theme_graph": 1.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 0.0, "stem_prefix": 0.0 } }, { "verse": "5.21", "type": "cross-chapter thematic parallel", "score": 0.8627, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8527, "theme_graph": 1.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 0.0, "stem_prefix": 0.0 } }, { "verse": "14.16", "type": "long-distance thematic echo", "score": 0.8619, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8519, "theme_graph": 1.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 0.0, "stem_prefix": 0.0 } }, { "verse": "3.15", "type": "cross-chapter thematic parallel", "score": 0.8613, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8513, "theme_graph": 1.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 0.0, "stem_prefix": 0.0 } }, { "verse": "4.24", "type": "thematic-cluster continuation", "score": 0.8611, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8511, "theme_graph": 1.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 0.0, "stem_prefix": 0.0 } }, { "verse": "6.14", "type": "cross-chapter thematic parallel", "score": 0.861, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.841, "theme_graph": 2.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 0.0, "stem_prefix": 0.0 } } ], "doctrinal_projections": { "advaita": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "shankara_4.21", "anandgiri_4.21" ], "score": 0.5, "divergence_note": "Śaṅkara argues at length that 'śārīram karma' must mean 'action whose sole purpose is bodily maintenance,' not merely 'action done by the body' — otherwise the verse would absurdly permit any bodily action. Dharma is explicitly called kilbiṣa because it too produces bondage for the mumukṣu.", "english_rendering": "One who has shed all longing (nirāśīh), whose inner instrument (citta) and outer instrument-aggregate (ātmā) are both fully restrained, and who has renounced every form of accumulation (parigraha) — such a knower performs only that bodily action required for the body's bare continuance, utterly free of the conceit 'I act.' Since both merit (dharma) and demerit (adharma) are bondage for the seeker of liberation, performing exclusively such minimal action burns no further karma: the jñānāgni (fire of knowledge) has already consumed everything. This verse is therefore simply a re-statement of the fruit of samyag-darśana described earlier, not a new injunction." }, "viśiṣṭādvaita": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "ramanuja_4.21", "vedantadeshika_4.21" ], "score": 0.5, "divergence_note": "Rāmānuja reads 'kevalam śārīram karma' as lifelong karma-yoga itself — not a residual minimal activity after jñāna arises. The freedom from saṃsāra comes through that yoga directly, not through a prior jñāna-niṣṭhā stage as Śaṅkara requires.", "english_rendering": "The aspirant who has cut the cord of fruit-desire (nirāśīh), who holds mind and self together in check (yata-citta-ātmā), and who remains untouched by possessiveness toward any matter of prakṛti or its products — such a one, performing exclusively bodily action throughout life, does not incur the bondage of saṃsāra. Through this unmediated karma-yoga, conducted without the interposition of jñāna-niṣṭhā as a separate stage, the ātmā is directly perceived in its own nature as Bhagavān's mode (prakāra). Action here is not mere world-maintenance; it is kainkarya (service) stripped of every proprietary claim." }, "dvaita": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "madhva_4.21", "jayatirtha_4.21" ], "score": 0.5, "divergence_note": "Madhva's gloss is the most compressed on this verse; 'parigraha-tyāga' is specifically glossed as 'non-conceit' (anabhimāna), foregrounding the ontological dependence of the jīva rather than epistemological non-attachment.", "english_rendering": "The method for abandoning desire and the rest is here stated plainly: having restrained mind (yata-citta-ātmā, where ātmā means mind), having relinquished all accumulation — which means having shed the very conceit of ownership — and standing as nirāśīh, one who does not even entertain wishful action in imagination — this yati incurs no stain. The statement 'he does nothing at all' (4.20) is here glossed: what is meant is that he does not acquire kilbiṣa, because Hari, not the jīva, is the true independent agent. The jīva remains the dependent servant (dāsa), and service without ownership-claim is pure." }, "śuddhādvaita": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "vallabha_4.21" ], "score": 0.5, "divergence_note": "Vallabha uniquely foregrounds adhyāsa (superimposition of doer-ship) as the sole mechanism of bondage — what vanishes is not action but the false claim. This reflects Puṣṭi-mārga's insistence that worldly appearance persists inside Kṛṣṇa's līlā; the body never truly leaves the divine play.", "english_rendering": "The lower-grade adhikārī who has turned away from desires for heaven and the rest, whose citta and deha (body) are restrained by yoga, who has abandoned every worldly-mode (loka-bhāva) — performing only the body-performed action without the agency-superimposition of 'I am the doer' — incurs no prātyavāya (sin of omission) or other kilbiṣa. The superimposition (adhyāsa) alone falls away; the manifestation of Kṛṣṇa's own form within the world does not cease. Even if to all other minds the body appears to continue acting, the practitioner's own awareness rests in Brahman, dissolved as if in deep absorption — yet this is not dissolution, because Kṛṣṇa-prasāda sustains the presence." }, "bhakti": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "sridhara_4.21" ], "score": 0.5, "divergence_note": "Śrīdhara explicitly bifurcates the verse along two tracks: the jñāna-niṣṭhā reading (no agency-sense) and the yoga-ārūḍha reading (mendicant life exempt from obligatory-rite requirements). This bifurcation is absent in the other schools.", "english_rendering": "One from whom all desires (āśiṣaḥ) have departed, whose mind and body are restrained (yata-citta-ātmā), who has relinquished every form of acquisition — even while performing the action that the body alone executes, without the insistence of agency (kartṛtva-abhiniveśa-rahita) — does not reach kilbiṣa, the bondage of sin. In the yoga-ārūḍha reading: even when performing natural bodily acts like seeking alms (bhikṣāṭana), just sufficient for bodily maintenance, one does not incur the prātyavāya-doṣa that comes from failure to perform obligatory rites (viditākaraṇa-nimitta-doṣa)." }, "advaita-bhakti": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "madhusudan_4.21" ], "score": 0.5, "divergence_note": "Madhusūdana deploys the kaimutya-nyāya argument (inference from the stronger to the weaker case) not found in other commentators. He also uniquely specifies that verbal and mental action performed without agency-claim similarly yield no bondage — extending the scope well beyond 'bodily-only' interpretations.", "english_rendering": "By the argument a fortiori (kaimutya-nyāya): if even the maximally dispersive rite such as jyotiṣṭoma loses its fruit-producing power for the knower of Brahman, then the mendicant's begging-rounds (bhikṣāṭana) — which cause no dispersion at all — cannot possibly constitute a cause of bondage. Nirāśīh means free from thirst (vigata-tṛṣṇa); the citta (inner organ) and deha with its senses are restrained together through pratyāhāra. Even under the compulsion of prārabdha-karma, this one performs only scripture-sanctioned bodily, verbal, and mental actions — yet performs them as utterly agent-less, because agency is superimposed by others only, not claimed by the knower. Since merit (puṇya) too has kilbiṣa-character by virtue of producing undesired continued existence, both dharma and adharma dissolve for this one." } }, "prosodic_information": { "meter": "anuṣṭubh", "meter_shift_from_previous": true, "meter_shift_to_next": false, "pragmatic_context": { "vocative": "Tāta", "preceding_question": "", "following_response": "" } }, "theme_list_memberships": [ { "list": "अनिकेतः", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "12.19" ] }, { "list": "कर्मणि", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "2.47", "3.1", "3.22", "4.16", "4.18", "14.9", "17.26" ] }, { "list": "चित्त", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "6.10", "6.12", "6.14", "6.18", "6.19", "6.20", "10.9", "12.8", "12.9", "13.9", "16.16", "18.57", "18.58" ] }, { "list": "ज्ञान", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "1.1", "3.1", "3.2", "3.3", "3.26", "3.32", "3.33", "3.39", "3.40", "3.41", "4.6", "4.10", "4.19", "4.23", "4.27", "4.28", "4.33", "4.34", "4.36", "4.37", "4.38", "4.39", "4.41", "4.42", "5.15", "5.16", "5.17", "6.8", "6.46", "7.2", "7.6", "7.15", "7.16", "7.17", "7.18", "7.19", "7.20", "9.1", "9.12", "9.15", "9.24", "10.4", "10.5", "10.11", "10.25", "10.38", "12.12", "12.13", "12.14", "13.2", "13.11", "13.17", "13.18", "13.35", "14.1", "14.2", "14.6", "14.8", "14.9", "14.11", "14.16", "14.17", "15.10", "15.15", "16.1", "16.4", "16.15", "18.18", "18.19", "18.20", "18.21", "18.42", "18.50", "18.63", "18.70", "18.72" ] }, { "list": "नाप्नोति किल्बिषम्", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "18.47" ] }, { "list": "निराशीः", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "4.17", "6.10" ] }, { "list": "परिग्रह", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "4.5", "6.10", "18.53" ] }, { "list": "ब्रह्म", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "1.1", "2.72", "3.14", "3.15", "4.24", "4.25", "4.31", "4.32", "5.6", "5.10", "5.19", "5.20", "5.21", "5.24", "5.25", "5.26", "6.14", "6.27", "6.28", "6.38", "6.44", "7.29", "8.1", "8.3", "8.11", "8.13", "8.16", "8.17", "8.24", "10.12", "11.15", "11.37", "13.4", "13.12", "13.30", "14.3", "14.4", "14.26", "14.27", "17.14", "17.23", "17.24", "18.42", "18.50", "18.53", "18.54" ] }, { "list": "ब्रह्मणि", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "5.19", "5.20" ] }, { "list": "यतचित्तात्मा", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "6.10" ] }, { "list": "सर्वान्", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "1.27", "2.55", "2.71", "4.32", "6.24", "11.15" ] } ], "audit_trail": { "substrate_version": "v2.6-frozen", "fitted_weights": { "a": 1.0, "b": 0.01, "e_v": 0.005, "z": 0.2, "h": 0.0, "th": 0.01 }, "corpus_provenance": { "mūla": "Belvalkar critical edition (BORI 1947), via Ambuda multi-witness", "panel_witnesses": [ "bg-mula", "bg-shankara", "bg-ramanuja", "bg-madhva", "bg-vedantadeshika", "bg-vallabha", "bg-jayatirtha", "bg-anandgiri", "bg-sridhara", "bg-madhusudan" ] }, "extraction_date": "2026-04-21", "score_methodology_documented_at": "Paper 1, Section II.B", "word_by_word_parser": "ByT5-Sanskrit-multitask (Nehrdich/Hellwig/Keutzer EMNLP 2024)", "post_generation_repairs": [ { "date": "2026-05-03", "fix": "verb-lemma-misidentification (broader heuristic: prefix-√root canonical for all verb-tagged tokens)", "scope": "word_by_word[].lemma", "loci": [ "ukta: vac -> √vac", "saṃjāta: saṃjan -> saṃ-√jan", "dṛṣṭa: dṛś -> √dṛś", "iṣṭa: iṣ -> √iṣ", "vivarjita: vivarjay -> vi-√varjay" ] }, { "date": "2026-05-05", "fix": "meter_relabel", "scope": "prosodic_information.meter", "from": "other", "to": "anuṣṭubh", "source": "syllabification analysis by prosodic-caesura subagent (Macdonell §504-520, Apte App I)", "reason": "originally labeled 'other'; verse scans as anuṣṭubh (4 pādas × 8 syllables)" } ] }, "so_what_questions": [ "If even dharma (meritorious action) is called kilbiṣa for the mumukṣu, does the Gītā's ethics collapse into pure antinomianism — or is there a principled distinction between acting-for-liberation and acting-from-liberation?", "Śaṅkara's dialectic on 'śārīram karma' turns on what counts as the minimal action required for bodily continuance. How do we draw that boundary in a world of global supply chains, digital labor, and invisible systems of accumulation?", "Rāmānuja reads this verse as describing lifelong karma-yoga, not a post-jñāna residual state. Does that make the liberation on offer more or less accessible to a householder who cannot renounce all possessions?", "Madhva glosses parigraha-tyāga as anabhimāna (non-conceit) rather than literal non-possession. Can the Dvaita reading justify a devotee who owns property but holds it entirely in Hari's name, without any proprietary self-sense?", "Vallabha's adhyāsa framing says the superimposition of doer-ship is the only thing that falls away, not the body's activity inside Kṛṣṇa's līlā. What does this mean for the practitioner who makes a visible mistake — is the mistake also part of the divine play?", "Madhusūdana's kaimutya-nyāya (argument a fortiori) implies that cognitive and verbal acts performed by the knower are equally non-binding. Does this extend to speech that harms others — or does the non-binding character apply only to the karmic ledger, not to ethical consequences for the world?", "All six schools agree that agency-conceit (kartṛtva-abhimāna) is the binding mechanism, not action itself. If modern psychology locates the 'self' as narrative construction rather than metaphysical entity, does that convergence strengthen or weaken the Gītā's claim?" ], "everyday_applications": { "advaita": "Perform the single action the moment demands — answer the email, cook the meal, write the line of code — then let the hand return to stillness. Do not begin the secondary action of reviewing what you just did for its sign-value. The only permitted accumulation is the accumulation of bare attention; every other kind is parigraha.", "viśiṣṭādvaita": "Before each task, state inwardly: 'This belongs to Bhagavān.' Afterward, release the outcome completely — not as a technique for equanimity but because the outcome was never yours to begin with. The lifelong practice is not occasional detachment but a sustained re-orientation of every action as kainkarya, turning the ordinary day into unbroken service.", "dvaita": "Notice, concretely, the moment the thought 'I achieved this' or 'I will gain from this' arises. That is the anabhimāna (non-conceit) point. Replace it not with an abstract philosophical position but with a direct acknowledgment: 'Hari acted through this instrument.' Dvaita prescribes this as a daily discipline, not a permanent attainment.", "śuddhādvaita": "In Puṣṭi-mārga practice: while cooking, cleaning, or working, hold the sense that these hands are Kṛṣṇa's own instruments moving in His own household. Do not manufacture detachment from the activity. The activity itself is His prasāda — what you release is only the proprietary claim, not the joy of the doing.", "bhakti": "The yoga-ārūḍha application Śrīdhara points to: when you are fully established in practice, you are not accumulating new karmic debt even through actions that would ordinarily carry obligatory-rite implications. The practical instruction is to fulfill bodily necessities honestly and simply, without either anxiety about omitted duties or ambition for future states.", "advaita-bhakti": "Madhusūdana's kaimutya principle applied: if the big-ticket actions (ambitious projects, public roles, visible production) can be rendered agent-less by the knower, then certainly the small-ticket actions of daily life — conversation, hygiene, rest — carry no binding weight at all. Begin with the small. Let the verbal and mental actions of an ordinary hour be conducted without any self-promotional inner narration; the jyotiṣṭoma can wait." }, "primary_meaning": "Free from desire, with mind and body held in check, having released all possessiveness, doing only what the body requires, you incur no stain." }