Bhagavad Gita 5.15नादत्ते कस्यचित्पापं न चैव सुकृतं विभुः।अज्ञानेनावृतं ज्ञानं तेन मुह्यन्ति जन्तवः ॥
nādatte kasyachit pāpaṁ na chaiva sukṛitaṁ
vibhuḥ ajñānenāvṛitaṁ jñānaṁ tena muhyanti jantavaḥ
Sanskrit recitation
Peace of the one who knows · 5.13–5.29 · Teaching
Translation
The Lord takes neither the demerit nor the merit of any; knowledge is enveloped by ignorance, and beings are deluded.
Hindi translation
सर्वव्यापी परमात्मा न किसीके पापकर्मको और न शुभकर्मको ही ग्रहण करता है; किन्तु अज्ञानसे ज्ञान ढका हुआ है, उसीसे सब जीव मोहित हो रहे हैं।
Meaning
Knowledge is enveloped by ignorance. Conseently man is deluded. He thinks, I act. I enjoy. I have done such and such a meritourious act. I will get such and such a fruit. I will enjoy in heaven. I will get a birth in a rich family.Of anyone even of His devotees.Man is bound when he is identifies himself with Nature and its effects -- body, mind, Prana or the lifeforce, and senses. He attains freedom or Moksha when he identifies himself with the immortal, actionless Self that dwells within his heart.When I does not act how can God accept good or evil deeds (Cf.V.29)
After Swami Sivananda
Peace of the one who knows· 5.13–5.29→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 5.13Mentally renouncing all actions and being self-controlled, the embodied one happily rests…
- 5.14Neither does the Lord create agency nor actions for the world, nor union with the fruits…
5.15The Lord takes neither the demerit nor the merit of any; knowledge is enveloped by…
- 5.16But to those whose ignorance is destroyed by knowledge of the Self, like the sun,…
- 5.17Their intellect absorbed in That, their self being That, established in That, with That as…
- 5.18Sages look with an equal eye on a Brahmana endowed with learning and humility, on a cow,…
- 5.19Even here in this world, those whose minds rest in reality overcome birth; Brahman is…
- 5.20Resting in Brahman, with a steady intellect and undeluded, the knower of Brahman neither…
- 5.21With the self unattached to external contacts, he finds happiness in the Self; with the…
- 5.22The enjoyments that arise from contact are only sources of pain, for they have a beginning…
- 5.23He who is able, while still here in this world, to withstand the impulse born out of…
- 5.24He who is happy within, who rejoices within, and who is illuminated within, that Yogi…
- 5.25The sages obtain absolute freedom or Moksha when their sins have been destroyed, their…
- 5.26Absolute freedom exists on all sides for those self-controlled ascetics who are free from…
- 5.27Shutting out all external contacts and fixing the gaze between the eyebrows, realizing the…
- 5.28With the senses, mind, and intellect ever controlled, having liberation as their supreme…
- 5.29He who knows Me as the enjoyer of sacrifices and austerities, the great Lord of all the…
Word-by-word→
- na
- not
- cha
- and
- eva
- certainly
- tena
- by that
- pāpam
- sin
- ādatte
- accepts
- jñānam
- knowledge
- muhyanti
- are deluded
- vibhuḥ
- the omnipresent God
- kasyachit
- anyone’s
- ajñānena
- by ignorance
- jantavaḥ
- the living entities
- āvṛitam
- covered
- su-kṛitam
- virtuous deeds
Read this when you feel
Themes
Related verses
- 5.5That place which is reached by the Sankhyas or the Jnanis is also reached by the Yogis…
- 2.57He who is everywhere without attachment, upon encountering anything good or bad, neither…
- 14.25Who is the same in honor and dishonor, the same to friend and foe, abandoning all…
- 6.14Serene-minded, fearless, firm in the vow of a Brahmachari, having controlled their mind,…