यस्य नाहङ्कृतो भावो बुद्धिर्यस्य न लिप्यते ।हत्वापि स इमाँल्लोकान्न हन्ति न निबध्यते ॥
yasya nāhaṅkṛto bhāvo buddhir yasya na lipyate |hatvāpi sa imāṃl lokān na hanti na nibadhyate ||
- यस्य · yasya
- whose
- न · na
- not
- अहङ्कृतः · ahaṅkṛtaḥ
- egoistic, I-making
- भावः · bhāvaḥ
- state, feeling
- बुद्धिः · buddhiḥ
- understanding
- न · na
- not
- लिप्यते · lipyate
- is stained
- हत्वा · hatvā
- having slain
- अपि · api
- even
- सः · saḥ
- he
- इमान् · imān
- these
- लोकान् · lokān
- worlds, people
- न · na
- not
- हन्ति · hanti
- slays
- न · na
- not
- निबध्यते · nibadhyate
- is bound
“One whose sense of 'I am the doer' is gone, whose understanding is unstained — even slaying these people, he neither slays nor is bound.”
— Original plain-language translation
The famous and easily misread verse, echoing 2.19–2.21: freedom from ego and craving dissolves binding agency, not moral law. Spoken to a warrior with a just duty, it is no license for violence — the very state it describes (no I-claim, no stain of desire) makes selfish killing impossible. Read it as metaphysics of liberation, not permission.
— Reader's notes (original)