Bhagavad Gita 18.16तत्रैवं सति कर्तारमात्मानं केवलं तु यः।पश्यत्यकृतबुद्धित्वान्न स पश्यति दुर्मतिः ॥
tatraivaṁ sati kartāram ātmānaṁ kevalaṁ tu yaḥ
paśhyaty akṛita-buddhitvān na sa paśhyati durmatiḥ
Sanskrit recitation
What makes an action · 18.13–18.28 · Teaching
Translation
Now, such being the case, verily he who, owing to an untrained understanding, looks upon his Self, which is isolated, as the agent, he of perverted intelligence does not see.
Hindi translation
परन्तु ऐसे पाँच हेतुओंके होनेपर भी जो उस (कर्मोंके) विषयमें केवल (शुद्ध) आत्माको कर्ता मानता है, वह दुर्मति ठीक नहीं समझता; क्योंकि उसकी बुद्धि शुद्ध नहीं है।
Meaning
The Self is always actionless. He is unattached like ether. He is always the silent witness. He is the spectator of activity. The egoistic man of little understanding only thinks that he is the real agent, and so he is bound by actions. He takes birth again and again to reap the fruits of his actions. For him who considers the body as consciousness, God or the Self, it naturally follows that the Self is the agent or the doer. He who identifies himself with the body, who has taken the body as the pure Self, has cast a net over himself, and he leads a deluded life of utter ignorance. He is bound by the fetters or bonds of Karma. He is ever shut up in the prisonhouse of this body.He who has not united himself with the Buddhi, who has got an impure or untrained understanding, who regards the Self as the actor or the agent is certainly a man of perverted intelligence. He is deluded. He is really a blind man. He sees not though he has eyes. He does not behold the essence of things. He has no idea of the supreme Principle (the Self) Which is Itself actionless, Which ever stands as a silent witness of the activities of all minds and all organs of all beings, Which moves the minds, organs and the lifeforce and the bodies to action, just as the magnet makes the iron pieces move
After Swami Sivananda
What makes an action· 18.13–18.28→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 18.13Learn from Me, O mighty-armed Arjuna, these five causes, as declared in the Sankhya…
- 18.14The body, the doer, the various senses, the different functions of various kinds, and the…
- 18.15Whatever action a person performs with their body, speech, and mind, whether right or…
18.16Now, such being the case, verily he who, owing to an untrained understanding, looks upon…
- 18.17He who is free from the egoistic notion, whose intelligence is not tainted by good or…
- 18.18Knowledge, the knowable, and the knower form the threefold impulse for action; the organ,…
- 18.19Knowledge, action, and actor are declared in the science of the Gunas (Sankhya philosophy)…
- 18.20That by which one sees the indestructible Reality in all beings, not separate in any of…
- 18.21But that knowledge which sees in all beings various entities of distinct kinds as being…
- 18.22But that which clings to one single effect as if it were the whole, without reason,…
- 18.23An action that is ordained, free from attachment, done without love or hatred, and without…
- 18.24But that action which is done by one longing for the fulfillment of desires or gain with…
- 18.25That action which is undertaken from delusion, without regard for the consequences, loss,…
- 18.26An agent who is free from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with firmness and enthusiasm,…
- 18.27Passionate, desiring to obtain the reward of their actions, greedy, cruel, impure, moved…
- 18.28Unsteady, vulgar, inflexible, deceitful, malicious, lazy, despondent, and…
Word-by-word→
- na
- not
- tu
- but
- saḥ
- they
- tatra
- there
- yaḥ
- who
- kevalam
- only
- evam sati
- in spite of this
- kartāram
- the doer
- paśhyati
- see
- ātmānam
- the soul
- durmatiḥ
- foolish
- akṛita-buddhitvāt
- with impure intellect
Read this when you feel
Related verses
- 12.11If you are unable to do even this, then, resort to union with Me and renounce the fruits…
- 18.52Dwelling in solitude, eating sparingly, with speech, body, and mind subdued, always…
- 2.57He who is everywhere without attachment, upon encountering anything good or bad, neither…
- 3.27All actions are wrought in all cases by the qualities of Nature alone. He whose mind is…