Devanagari
अस्ति चेदीश्वर: कश्चित्फलरूप्यन्यकर्मणाम्
कर्तारं भजते सोऽपि न ह्यकर्तु: प्रभुर्हि स: ॥ १४ ॥
Verse text
asti ced īśvaraḥ kaścit
phala-rūpy anya-karmaṇām
kartāraṁ bhajate so ’pi
na hy akartuḥ prabhur hi saḥ
Synonyms
asti
—
there is
;
cet
—
if hypothetically
;
īśvaraḥ
—
a supreme controller
;
kaścit
—
someone
;
phala
—
rūpī — serving to award fruitive results
;
anya
—
karmaṇām — of the activities of other persons
;
kartāram
—
the performer of activity
;
bhajate
—
depends upon
;
saḥ
—
He
;
api
—
even
;
na
—
not
;
hi
—
after all
;
akartuḥ
—
of one who performs no activity
;
prabhuḥ
—
the master
;
hi
—
certainly
;
saḥ
—
He .
Translation
Even if there is some supreme controller who awards all others the results of their activities, He must also depend upon a performer’s engaging in activity. After all, there is no question of being the bestower of fruitive results unless fruitive activities have actually been performed.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Even if there is some supreme controller who awards all others the results of their activities, He must also depend upon a performer's engaging in activity. After all, there is no question of being the bestower of fruitive results unless fruitive activities have actually been performed.
KB 10.24.14
Mahārāja Nanda and other elder members argued that without satisfying the predominating god one cannot derive any good result simply by material activities. This is actually the fact. For example, it is sometimes found that in spite of first-class medical help and treatment by a first-class physician, a diseased person dies. It is concluded, therefore, that first-class medical treatment or the attempts of a first-class physician are not in themselves the cause for curing a patient; there must be the hand of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Similarly, a father’s and mother’s taking care of their children is not the cause of the children’s comfort. Sometimes it is found that in spite of all care by the parents, the children go bad or succumb to death. Therefore material causes are not sufficient for results. There must be the sanction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Nanda Mahārāja therefore advocated that in order to get good results for agricultural activities, they must satisfy Indra, the superintending deity of the rain supply. Lord Kṛṣṇa nullified this argument, saying that the demigods give results only to persons who have executed their prescribed duties. The demigods cannot give any good results to the person who has not executed the prescribed duties; therefore demigods are dependent on the execution of duties and are not absolute in awarding good results to anyone. So why should one care about them?
Purport
Here Lord Kṛṣṇa argues that if there is a supreme controller, He must depend on a performer of activity to reciprocate with and must therefore also be subject to the laws of
karma,
being obliged to award happiness and distress to conditioned souls according to the laws of good and evil.
This superficial argument neglects the obvious point that the laws of nature that prescribe the good and bad results of pious and impious acts are themselves creations of the all-good Supreme Lord. Being the creator and sustainer of these laws, the Lord is not subject to them. Furthermore, the Lord is not dependent on the work of the conditioned souls, since He is satisfied and complete within Himself. Out of His all-merciful nature He awards the results appropriate to our activities. That which we call destiny, fate or
karma
is an elaborate and subtle system of rewards and punishments meant for gradually encouraging conditioned souls to evolve to the stage of perfect consciousness, which is their original, constitutional nature.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead has so dexterously formulated and applied the laws of material nature governing punishment and reward for human behavior that the living being is discouraged from sin and encouraged toward goodness without suffering any significant interference with his free will as an eternal soul.
In contrast to the material nature, the Lord exhibits His essential nature in the spiritual world, where He reciprocates the eternal love of His pure devotees. Such loving affairs are based completely on the mutual freedom of the Lord and His devotees, not on a mechanical reciprocation of coinciding selfish interests. The Supreme Lord, assisted by His pure devotees, repeatedly offers the conditioned souls of this world the opportunity to give up their bizarre attempt at exploiting the material universe and go back home, back to Godhead, for an eternal life of bliss and knowledge. Considering all these points, the atheistic arguments given here by Lord Kṛṣṇa in a playful mood are not to be taken seriously.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
But how can inanimate karma alone give results? There must be a dispenser of the results of action, a lord. This verse answers this objection. If such a lord exists, he must give results to those who perform actions. Then he makes his logic stronger by negation. That lord cannot give results to a person who does not do action.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
If a Lord who gives results (phala-rūpī) exists, he follows after the performer of action since he gives results according to the performer’s actions. This is emphasized by stating it in the opposite way. This is because (hi) it is not possible to give results without the performer.