Mūla — the verse
Gita Press numberingTranslation
Swami Gambhīrānanda · follows Śaṅkara-bhāṣyaBeing without beginning and without end, O son of Kunti, this immutable, supreme Self does not act, nor is It affected [Also translated as tainted., although It exists in the body.
हिन्दी अनुवाद — Swami Tejomayānanda
हे कौन्तेय ! अनादि और निर्गुण होने से यह परमात्मा अव्यय है। शरीर में स्थित हुआ भी, वस्तुत:, वह न (कर्म) करता है और न (फलों से) लिप्त होता है।।
Pronunciation — Vaamshii
from VaamshiiWord by word
padārthaThemes
from The Thematic Companion to the Bhagavad GītāMeaning — Questions & Solutions
from Q&A with KnA“Being beginningless and without qualities (nirguṇatvāt), this supreme, imperishable Self, though seated in the body, neither acts nor is tainted (na karoti na lipyate).” The Gītā states it flatly: the Supreme Self has no guṇa, no form, no action. Whatever acting and being-tainted seemed to belong to it belonged in fact to Prakṛti (13.19–20). The Self “in the body” is like a king who owns a battlefield but never lifts a sword — present, sovereign, yet untouched. This is the final answer to the doer-delusion of 3.27: the true Self cannot be a doer, for doing belongs wholly to the guṇas.