Bhagavad Gita - Chapter V:
Action In Krishna Consciousness
Text 8-9
Sanskrit working: English Wording:
A person in the divine consciousness, although engaged in seeing,
hearing, touching, smelling, eating, moving about, sleeping and breathing, always knows within himself that he actually does nothing at all. Because while speaking, evacuating, receiving, or
opening or closing his eyes, he always knows that only the material senses are engaged with their objects and that he is aloof from them.
Purport: Therefore, the Krishna conscious person is always free, even though he appears to be engaged in affairs of the senses. Activities such as seeing and hearing are actions of the senses meant for receiving knowledge, whereas moving, speaking, evacuating, etc., are actions of the senses meant for work. A Krishna conscious person is never affected by the actions of the senses. He cannot perform any act except in the service of the Lord because he knows that he is the eternal servitor of the Lord.
Text 10
Sanskrit working:  English Wording:
One who performs his duty without attachment, surrendering the results unto the Supreme Lord, is unaffected by sinful action, as the lotus leaf is untouched by water. Purport: Here brahmani means in Krishna consciousness. The material world is a sum total manifestation of the three modes of material nature, technically called the pradhana. The Vedic hymns and, in the Bhagavad-Gita, indicate that everything in the material world is a manifestation of Brahman; and although the effects are differently manifested, they are non-different from the cause. In the Isopanisad it is said that everything is related to the Supreme Brahman, or Krishna, and thus everything belongs to Him only. One who knows perfectly well that everything belongs to Krishna, that He is the proprietor of everything and that, therefore, everything is engaged in the service of the Lord, naturally has nothing to do with the results of his activities, whether virtuous or sinful. Even one's material body, being a gift of the Lord for carrying out a particular type of action, can be engaged in Krishna conscious- ness. It is then beyond contamination by sinful reactions, exactly as the lotus leaf, though remaining in the water, is not wet. The Lord also says in the Gita: "Resign all works unto Me [Krishna]." The conclusion is that a person without Krishna consciousness acts according to the concept of the material body and senses, but a person in Krishna consciousness acts according to the knowledge that the body is the property of Krishna and should therefore be engaged in the service of Krishna.
Text 11
Sanskrit working:  English Wording:
The yogis, abandoning attachment, act with body, mind, intelligence and even with the senses, only for the purpose of purification.
Purport: "A person acting in Krishna consciousness (or, in other words, in the service of Krishna) with his body, mind, intelligence and words is a liberated person even within the material world, although he may be engaged in many so-called material activities." He has no false ego, for he does not believe that he is this material body, or that he possesses the body. He knows that he is not this body and that this body does not belong to him. He himself belongs to Krishna, and the body too belongs to Krishna. When he applies everything produced of the body, mind, intelligence, words, life, wealth, etc.whatever he may have within his possessionto Krishna's service, he is at once dovetailed with Krishna. He is one with Krishna and is devoid of the false ego that leads one to believe that he is the body, etc. This is the perfect stage of Krishna consciousness.
 English Wording:
The steadily devoted soul attains unadulterated peace because he offers the result of all activities to Me; whereas a person who is not in union with the Divine, who is greedy for the fruits of his labor, becomes entangled.
Purport:
 English Wording:
When the embodied living being controls his nature and mentally renounces all actions, he resides happily in the city of nine gates [the material body], neither working nor causing work to be done.
Purport:
The embodied soul lives in the city of nine gates. The activities of the
body, or the figurative city of body, are conducted automatically by
its particular modes of nature. The soul, although subjecting him-
self to the conditions of the body, can be beyond those conditions, if
he so desires.
Owing only to forgetfulness of his superior nature, he identifies with the material body, and therefore suffers. By Krishna consciousness, he can revive his real position and thus come out of his embodiment. Therefore, when one takes to Krishna consciousness, one at once becomes completely aloof from bodily activities. In such a controlled life, in which his deliberations are changed, he lives happily within the city of nine gates. The nine gates are mentioned as follows: "The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is living within the body of a living entity, is the controller of all living entities all over the universe. The body consists of nine gates [two eyes, two nostrils, two ears, one mouth, the anus and the genitals]. The living entity in his conditioned stage identifies himself with the body, but when he identifies himself with the Lord within himself, he becomes just as free as the Lord, even while in the body."
Text 14
Sanskrit working: English Wording:
The embodied spirit, master of the city of his body, does not create activities, nor does he induce people to act, nor does he create the fruits of action. All this is enacted by the modes of material nature.
Purport:
The living entity, as will be explained in the Seventh Chapter, is one
of the energies or natures of the Supreme Lord but is distinct from
matter, which is another naturecalled inferiorof the Lord.
Somehow the superior nature, the living entity, has been in contact
with material nature since time immemorial. The temporary body or
material dwelling place which he obtains is the cause of varieties of
activities and their resultant reactions. Living in such a conditional
atmosphere, one suffers the results of the activities of the body by
identifying himself (in ignorance) with the body. It is ignorance
acquired from time immemorial that is the cause of bodily suffering
and distress. As soon as the living entity becomes aloof from the
activities of the body, he becomes free from the reactions as well. As
long as he is in the city of body, he appears to be the master of it, but
actually he is neither its proprietor nor controller of its actions and
reactions. He is simply in the midst of the material ocean, struggling
for existence. The waves of the ocean are tossing him, and he has no control over them. His best solution is to get out of the water by transcendental Krishna consciousness. That alone will save him from all turmoil.
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