Text 10

brahmany adhaya karmani
sangam tyaktva karoti yah
lipyate na sa papena
padma-patram ivambhasa

Translation

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. 

Commentary by Srila Prabhupada 

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 sarvam hy etad brahma (Mandukya Upanishad 2), tasmad etad brahma nama-rupam annam ca jayate (Mundaka Upanishad 1.2.10), and, in the Bhagavad-gita (14.3), mama yonir mahad brahma indicate that everything in the material world is a manifestation of Brahman; and although the effects are differently manifested, they are nondifferent from the cause. In the Isopanishad 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 consciousness. 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 (3.30), mayi sarvani karmani sannyasya: “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.

Commentary by Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur

Moreover, he who, offering all his actions unto me, the Supreme Lord (brahmani), giving up attachment to actions, giving up false identification of "I am doing it", performs actions, is not contaminated at all by any actions, of which some could be sinful. Papena here represents all actions, not just sinful ones.