Devanagari
न कर्तृत्वं न कर्माणि लोकस्य सृजति प्रभु: ।
न कर्मफलसंयोगं स्वभावस्तु प्रवर्तते ॥ १४ ॥
Verse text
na kartṛtvaṁ na karmāṇi
lokasya sṛjati prabhuḥ
na karma-phala-saṁyogaṁ
svabhāvas tu pravartate
Synonyms
na
—
never
;
kartṛtvam
—
proprietorship
;
na
—
nor
;
karmāṇi
—
activities
;
lokasya
—
of the people
;
sṛjati
—
creates
;
prabhuḥ
—
the master of the city of the body
;
na
—
nor
;
karma-phala
—
with the results of activities
;
saṁyogam
—
connection
;
svabhāvaḥ
—
the modes of material nature
;
tu
—
but
;
pravartate
—
act.
Translation
The embodied spirit, master of the city of his body, does not create activities, nor does he induce people to act, nor does he create the fruits of action. All this is enacted by the modes of material nature.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
14. The Lord does not create doership of the jīva nor does He force the results of action on the jīva. This takes place by the jīva’s nature.
Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
14. The jīva does not create his own capacity as agent, nor does he cause others to act, nor does he bestow the results of action. This takes place by svabhāva.
Purport
The living entity, as will be explained in the Seventh Chapter, is one of the energies or natures of the Supreme Lord but is distinct from matter, which is another nature – called inferior – of the Lord. Somehow the superior nature, the living entity, has been in contact with material nature since time immemorial. The temporary body or material dwelling place which he obtains is the cause of varieties of activities and their resultant reactions. Living in such a conditional atmosphere, one suffers the results of the activities of the body by identifying himself (in ignorance) with the body. It is ignorance acquired from time immemorial that is the cause of bodily suffering and distress. As soon as the living entity becomes aloof from the activities of the body, he becomes free from the reactions as well. As long as he is in the city of the body, he appears to be the master of it, but actually he is neither its proprietor nor controller of its actions and reactions. He is simply in the midst of the material ocean, struggling for existence. The waves of the ocean are tossing him, and he has no control over them. His best solution is to get out of the water by transcendental Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That alone will save him from all turmoil.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
“Well if the jīva is actually not the doer of activities, then, from seeing the jīva doing and enjoying everywhere in the universe created by the Supreme Lord, I think that the Lord has created the jīva’s (illusory) doership and enjoying, forcing it upon the jīva. Therefore, injustice and cruelty must be present in the Lord.”
No, that is not true at all. He does not make the jīva do activities nor does He give the jīva the results of his activities. Rather the nature of the jīva in the form of his beginningless ignorance alone produces this. That ignorance makes the jīva assume the false identification as the doer.
Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
In this verse the Lord explains how the jīva with ātmā jṣāna does not perform action or cause anyone to act.
The master of the sense and body, the jīva (prabhuḥ), does not become an agent who makes other people perform action (kartṛtvam), saying “You do that.” Nor does he perform most desirable actions for himself, such as making garlands or cloth. He himself is not the doer. Nor does he create a relationship (saṁyogam) with the results of action, with happiness and distress: he does not become the enjoyer of results, nor does he cause others to enjoy the results.
Then who should we conclude acts or makes others act? It takes place by svabhāva. The jīva, in possessing the body and senses arising from previously described
pradhāna, by the impressions arising in pradhāna with no beginning(svabhāva), becomes the doer and cause of others acting. The jīva as an isolated entity is not the doer.
The slight doership attributed to the jīva even in its pure state, described in the previous verse with the words sukham aste, should be understood as arising in such things as perception or knowledge alone. The word kartṛ is a noun whose root denotes action. In this verse the impressions are said to be the doer, taking the chief import of the word.
Surrender Unto Me
The embodied soul does not create any activity, does not induce others to act, he does not create the fruits of action. All this is enacted by the three modes of material nature. He knows this, he knows that he is not the one working and he is not the one making others work ‑ he is completely aloof from this due to his knowledge. In the Purport, Srila Prabhupada says:"The temporary body or material dwelling place which he obtains is the cause of varieties of activities and their resultant reactions. Living in such a conditional atmosphere, one suffers the results of the activities of the body by identifying himself (in ignorance) with the body. ignorance acquired from time immemorial that is the cau bodily suffering and distress. As soon as the living entity becomes aloof from the activities of the body, he becomes free from the reactions as well. As long as he is in the city of body, he appears to be the master of it, but actually he is neither its proprietor nor controller of its actions and reactions. He is simply in the midst of the material ocean, struggling for existence. The waves of the ocean are tossing him, and he has no control over them. His best solution is to get out of the water by transcendental Krsna consciousness. That alone will save him from all turmoil."
He, the living entity, within the body ‑ that is the first doer. He knows that he is not the body but he is in the body.
He is usually considered the doer but in this verse he knows that he is not doing anything, he is not inducing people to act, he doesn't create the activities nor is he creating the fruits of action ‑ it is all happening by the modes of material nature.
This is pushing the blame of doership of all activities to the modes of material nature. But who is actually in control of the modes of material nature? That is the Supersoul.
The natural thought is: "If I am not the doer then who is doing everything? That is the Supersoul. And because He is the One who is doing everything ‑ He is responsible for everything that happens!" This is a natural progression of thought.
And therefore Krsna, to relieve Himself of the responsability for what happens, speaks verse 15.