Bhagavad Gita · 18.15 · Yoga through the Perfection of Renunciation and Surrender·15 of 78
शरीरवाङ्मनोभिर्यत्कर्म प्रारभते नरः।न्याय्यं वा विपरीतं वा पञ्चैते तस्य हेतवः ॥
śharīra-vāṅ-manobhir yat karma prārabhate naraḥ
nyāyyaṁ vā viparītaṁ vā pañchaite tasya hetavaḥ
Sanskrit recitation
What makes an action · 18.13–18.28 · Teaching
Translation
Whatever action a person performs with their body, speech, and mind, whether right or wrong, these five are its causes.
Meaning
Nyayyam Right Not opposed to Dharma conformable to the scriptures justifiable.Viparitam The opposite What is opposite to Dharma and opposed to the scriptures unjustifiable.Even those actions, -- acts like winking and the like which are necessary conditions of life, are indicated by the term the right and the reverse, as they are effects of past Dharma and Adharma.Tasya Hetavah Its Causes The causes of every action.An objector argues In the previous verse it is said that the body, actor, various organs, etc., are the necessary factors of every action. Why do you then make a distinction in actions by saying whatever action a man does by the body, speech and mindOur answer is In the performance of every action, one of the three -- body, speech or mind -- has a more prominent share than the others while seeing, hearing and other activities which accompany or go along with life are subordinate to that one.Therefore all actions are classified under three groups and are spoken of as done by the body or speech or mind. The fruit of an actions also is enjoyed through the body, speech and mind and one of the three takes a more prominent share than the rest. Therefore, it is proper to say Whatever action a man performs with his body, speech and mind৷৷.
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 system, for the accomplishment of all actions.
- 18.14The body, the doer, the various senses, the different functions of various kinds, and the presiding deity—the fifth.
18.15Whatever action a person performs with their body, speech, and mind, whether right or wrong, these five are its causes.
- 18.16Now, 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.
- 18.17He who is free from the egoistic notion, whose intelligence is not tainted by good or evil, though he slays these people, he does not slay, nor is he bound by the action.
- 18.18Knowledge, the knowable, and the knower form the threefold impulse for action; the organ, the action, and the agent form the threefold basis of action.
- 18.19Knowledge, action, and actor are declared in the science of the Gunas (Sankhya philosophy) to be of three kinds only, according to the distinction of the Gunas. Of these, hear duly.
- 18.20That by which one sees the indestructible Reality in all beings, not separate in any of them—know that knowledge to be Sattvic.
- 18.21But that knowledge which sees in all beings various entities of distinct kinds as being distinct from one another, know thou that knowledge to be Rajasic.
- 18.22But that which clings to one single effect as if it were the whole, without reason, without any foundation in Truth, and is trivial—that is declared to be Tamasic.
- 18.23An action that is ordained, free from attachment, done without love or hatred, and without desire for reward is declared to be Sattvic.
- 18.24But that action which is done by one longing for the fulfillment of desires or gain with egotism or with much effort is declared to be Rajasic (passionate).
- 18.25That action which is undertaken from delusion, without regard for the consequences, loss, injury, and one's own ability, is declared to be Tamasic (dark).
- 18.26An agent who is free from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with firmness and enthusiasm, and unaffected by success or failure, is considered to be of a Sattvic (pure) nature.
- 18.27Passionate, desiring to obtain the reward of their actions, greedy, cruel, impure, moved by joy and sorrow, such an agent is said to be Rajasic.
- 18.28Unsteady, vulgar, inflexible, deceitful, malicious, lazy, despondent, and procrastinating—such an agent is called Tamasic.
Word-by-word→
- ete
- these
- vā
- or
- yat
- which
- karma
- action
- tasya
- their
- naraḥ
- a person
- pañcha
- five
- nyāyyam
- proper
- hetavaḥ
- factors
- viparītam
- improper
- prārabhate
- performs
- śharīra-vāk-manobhiḥ
- with body, speech, or mind
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