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Bhagavad Gita · 18.16 · Yoga through the Perfection of Renunciation and Surrender·16 of 78

तत्रैवं सति कर्तारमात्मानं केवलं तु यःपश्यत्यकृतबुद्धित्वान्न 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.

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.

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

Related verses

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