यस्य नाहङ्कृतो भावो बुद्धिर्यस्य न लिप्यते | हत्वापि स इमाँल्लोकान्न हन्ति न निबध्यते ||
yasya nāhaṅkṛto bhāvo buddhir yasya na lipyate hatvāpi sa imāṁl lokān na hanti na nibadhyate
Translation
One who has no ego-sense of doership and whose intellect is not tainted — even if that one slays all these worlds, slays not and is not bound.
Interpretation
One of the Gita's most radical verses: one without ego-identification as doer, whose intelligence is not contaminated by ownership of action — even if such a one slays an entire world, they do not truly slay, and they incur no binding karma. This is not a license for violence but the deepest philosophical statement about doership and karma: karma attaches not to the action but to the ego-ownership of action. The surgeon cutting into a body 'hurts' but incurs no karmic harm because the action is motivated by healing, not by personal ego. The wise warrior fulfilling dharma with detachment does not create binding karma.