Shloka 15
Adhyāya 353 — Kathā-prāmāṇya (Authority of Transmission) and the Brāhmaṇa’s Ascetic Resolve
न लिप्यते फलैक्षापि पद्मपत्रमिवाम्भसा | कर्मात्मा त्वपरो यो$सौ मोक्षबन्धै: स युज्यते
na lipyate phalaiṣkāpi padmapatram ivāmbhasā | karmātmā tv aparaḥ yo'sau mokṣabandhaiḥ sa yujyate ||
Как лист лотоса, пребывая в воде, не намокает ею, так и Высшее Я остаётся незапятнанным плодами деяний. Но иное «я» — индивидуальная душа, считающая себя деятелем и связывающая себя с узами и освобождением, — стоит отдельно от того Высшего.
पितामह उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches the distinction between the Supreme Self, which is intrinsically unattached and unaffected by action-results, and the individual self that, through doership-identification, becomes entangled in notions of bondage and even liberation.
Bhīṣma (Pitāmaha), in his instruction during the Śānti Parva, uses the lotus-leaf analogy to explain metaphysical detachment and to clarify how the experience of bondage arises for the doer-self, not for the Supreme.