Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 5: Renunciation in Action

Bhagavad Gita 5.10

brahmaṇyādhāya karmāṇi saṅgaṃ tyaktvā karoti yaḥ | lipyate na sa pāpena padmapatramivāmbhasā ||

One who acts after placing all actions in Brahman and giving up attachment is not stained by sin, just as a lotus leaf is not wetted by water.

Modern context

The lotus leaf is one of the best-loved images in Indian thought. It grows in water, rests on water, and is never wet. Drops roll off it. In the same way a person can live in the middle of the world's business without being soaked by it. The method is given in the first line: place your actions in something larger than yourself, and give up clinging. The lotus does not avoid the pond, and this kind of detachment does not mean leaving the world.