Shloka 123
एवमेवाप्यसंयुक्त: पुरुष: स्यान्न संशय: । जैसे कमलके पत्तेपर पड़ी हुई जलकी चंचल बूँद उसे भिगो नहीं पाती, उसी प्रकार विद्वान् पुरुष समस्त गुणोंसे सम्बन्ध रखते हुए भी किसीसे लिप्त नहीं होता। अतः क्षेत्रज्ञ पुरुष वास्तविकमें असंग है, इसमें संदेह नहीं है
evam evāpy asaṁyuktaḥ puruṣaḥ syān na saṁśayaḥ |
Vāyu-deva said: “So too, a person can remain unattached—there is no doubt. Just as a restless drop of water that falls upon a lotus leaf cannot wet it, in the same way a wise person, though moving among and dealing with all the guṇas (qualities of nature), is not stained by them. Therefore the knower of the field (kṣetrajña), in truth, is non-attached; of this there is no uncertainty.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The core teaching is inner non-attachment: the wise self (kṣetrajña/puruṣa) can engage with the world and its guṇas without being tainted, like water on a lotus leaf. True freedom is not withdrawal from action but freedom from clinging and identification.
Vāyu-deva is instructing the listener on the nature of the self and liberation. He uses a vivid simile (lotus leaf and water) to clarify that the realized knower remains untouched by worldly qualities even while living amid them.