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Chapter 5 · Action in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness · 29 verses

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Duty & actionChapter 5 · Action in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 5.9

Detached action performed in devotion

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
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Understand it

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

Senses in Kṛṣṇa’s Service

  1. 1A person in divine consciousness knows that the material senses act on their objects while he remains separate from them.
  2. 2Prabhupāda explains that such a person remains free because his senses serve Kṛṣṇa rather than seek personal pleasure.
  3. 3Use your senses to serve Kṛṣṇa, remembering that you are His eternal servant.

Where we are

In the story

Chapter 5, Action in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness: detached action performed in devotion.

What it teaches

Theme summary

Act dutifully without attachment to fruits.

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Key ideas in this verse

The spiritual concepts this verse connects to.

Key ideas: karma, sva-dharma.

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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.

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Related verses

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

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