Devanagari
देहानुच्चावचाञ्जन्तु: प्राप्योत्सृजति कर्मणा
शत्रुर्मित्रमुदासीन: कर्मैव गुरुरीश्वर: ॥ १७ ॥
Verse text
dehān uccāvacāṣ jantuḥ
prāpyotsṛjati karmaṇā
śatrur mitram udāsīnaḥ
karmaiva gurur īśvaraḥ
Synonyms
dehān
—
material bodies
;
ucca
—
avacān — high- and low-class
;
jantuḥ
—
the conditioned living entity
;
prāpya
—
obtaining
;
utsṛjati
—
gives up
;
karmaṇā
—
by the reactions of his material activities
;
śatruḥ
—
his enemy
;
mitram
—
friend
;
udāsīnaḥ
—
and neutral party
;
karma
—
material work
;
eva
—
alone
;
guruḥ
—
his spiritual master
;
īśvaraḥ
—
his lord .
Translation
Because it is karma that causes the conditioned living entity to accept and then give up different high- and low-grade material bodies, this karma is his enemy, friend and neutral witness, his spiritual master and controlling lord.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Because it is karma that causes the conditioned living entity to accept and then give up different high-and low-grade material bodies, this karma is his enemy, friend and neutral witness, his spiritual master and controlling lord.
KB 10.24.17
“All living entities achieve higher or lower bodies and create enemies, friends or neutral parties only because of their different kinds of work.
Purport
Even the demigods are bound and limited by the laws of
karma.
That Indra himself is subordinate to the laws of
karma
is explicitly stated in the
Brahma-saṁhitā
(5.54)
:
yas tv indra-gopam atha vendram aho sva-karma-bandhānurūpa-phala-bhājanam ātanoti.
The Supreme Lord, Govinda, awards all creatures the appropriate results of their work. This is as true for mighty Indra, the lord of the material heavens, as it is for the germ called
indra-gopa.
The
Bhagavad-gītā
(7.20)
also states,
kāmais tais tair hṛta-jṣānāḥ prapadyante ’nya-devatāḥ.
Only those who have lost their intelligence because of various material desires surrender unto demigods rather than worship the Supreme Lord. In fact, the demigods cannot award benefits to anyone independently, as stated by Lord Kṛṣṇa in the
Gītā:
mayaiva vihitān hi tān
. All benefits are ultimately issued by the Lord Himself.
Thus it is not altogether incorrect to say that demigod worship is useless, since even the demigods are under the laws of
karma.
In fact, this is the case. But Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Absolute Truth, is not subordinate to the law of
karma;
rather, He can independently offer or withhold His favor. This is confirmed in the verse from the
Brahma-saṁhitā
quoted above, the third line of which is
karmāṇi nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhājām:
“The Supreme Lord burns up all the accumulated
karma
of those engaged in His loving service.” Not only is Lord Kṛṣṇa above the laws of material action and reaction, but He can immediately dissolve these laws for anyone who satisfies Him through loving service. Thus the almighty God is supreme in absolute freedom, and by surrendering to Him we can escape the bonds of
karma
and stop accepting their dismal rule as supreme.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Action, based on previous impressions, gives all results. Therefore it is worshippable. That is the intention of this and half the next verse.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Living entities accept and give up bodies by previous actions. One’s action sometimes shows itself to be the enemy, sometimes becomes the friend and sometimes is neutral. “Since there is no inclination to action without knowledge, one will need a teacher to obtain knowledge.” Action is the teacher since without good karma one cannot attain a teacher and since without good karma results cannot be accomplished, even having attained instructions. “Since action is without consciousness, the giver of results must be the Lord.” Actions is the Lord since even the Lord follows after action, that being the power of action.