SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
brahmaṇy ādhāya karmāṇi
saṅgaṁ tyaktvā karoti yaḥ
lipyate na sa pāpena
padma-patram ivāmbhasā
‘Whoso performeth acts, ascribing them to matter (brahma), and abandoning all attachment, is not touched by sin, like unto the lotus-leaf unwetted by water.’
The term brahma here signifies prakṛiti (matter). That such application of the term obtains, is exemplified by such passages as:—
‘The great brahma (matter) is my womb (seat)’ (xiv-3). Whoso performs work, reflecting that all activities such as hearing, seeing etc., pertain to matter, and matter’s modifications into the organized forms of senses; and whoso therefore, performs work imputing it to brahma (matter), and, renouncing all attachment, thinks ‘naught do I do,’ he remains uncontaminated with the sin that arises from the misconception of taking matter for ātma, —that causes bondage.
The analogy to this idea is that of the lotus-leaf and water. Though they are in contact with each other, water remains intact with reference to the leaf.
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