|| 4.23 ||
गतसङ्गस्य मुक्तस्य ज्ञानावस्थितचेतसः। यज्ञायाचरतः कर्म समग्रं प्रविलीयते।।
gata-saṅgasya muktasya jñānāvasthita-cetasaḥ yajñāyācarataḥ karma samagraṁ pravilīyate
Word by Word
gata-saṅgasya (of one who is unattached) muktasya (of the liberated) jñāna-avasthita (situated in knowledge) cetasaḥ (whose mind) yajñāya (for the sake of sacrifice) ācarataḥ (acting) karma (work) samagram (entirely) pravilīyate (is merged/dissolved)
Translation
The work of a man who is unattached to the modes of material nature and who is fully situated in transcendental knowledge merges entirely into transcendence.
Meaning
Kṛṣṇa explains the total dissolution of karma for a person in knowledge. When a person is ‘gata-saṅgasya’ (unattached) and ‘muktasya’ (liberated), and their mind is constantly fixed in spiritual truth, their entire life becomes an act of sacrifice, or ‘Yajña’.
For such a person, all the results of their work ‘samagraṁ pravilīyate’—they merge or dissolve completely into the Absolute. There is no ‘karmic debt’ left over. It is like writing on water; as soon as the action is done, the trace disappears. No residue of ego remains to pull the soul back into another material birth.
Kṛṣṇa is showing Arjuna that the only way to truly finish with the material world is to dedicate every act to the Supreme. This turns ‘work’ into ‘worship’. If Arjuna fights for the sake of this sacrifice, his arrows will leave no stain on his soul, and his participation in the war will become his path to the infinite.