Devanagari
हेतुर्जीवोऽस्य सर्गादेरविद्याकर्मकारक: ।
यं चानुशायिनं प्राहुरव्याकृतमुतापरे ॥ १८ ॥
Verse text
hetur jīvo ’sya sargāder
avidyā-karma-kārakaḥ
yaṁ cānuśāyinaṁ prāhur
avyākṛtam utāpare
Synonyms
hetuḥ
—
the cause
;
jīvaḥ
—
the living being
;
asya
—
of this universe
;
sarga
—
ādeḥ — of the creation, maintenance and destruction
;
avidyā
—
out of ignorance
;
karma
—
kārakaḥ — the performer of material activities
;
yam
—
whom
;
ca
—
and
;
anuśāyinam
—
the underlying personality
;
prāhuḥ
—
they call
;
avyākṛtam
—
the unmanifest
;
uta
—
indeed
;
apare
—
others .
Translation
Out of ignorance the living being performs material activities and thereby becomes in one sense the cause of the creation, maintenance and destruction of the universe. Some authorities call the living being the personality underlying the material creation, while others say he is the unmanifest self.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The cause of sarga, visarga of the universe is the jīva who performs actions out of ignorance and is said to possess a material body, or, alternately, possess a spiritual body.
This verse defines hetu. The cause of sarga, visarga etc of the universe (asya) is the jīva, who performs actions out of ignorance. Because the Lord creates the universe for the jīva, the jīva is called the cause. Some call the jīva the possessor of a body made of māyā. Anuśāyinam means “a covering of māyā.” Others, the devotees, say that the jīva who performs actions out of ignorance, when he is situated on the path of bhakti by devotee association, is the possessor of a spiritual body (avyākṛtam). The word uta means “on the other hand.” Nārada has said:
prayujyamāne mayi tāṁ śuddhāṁ bhāgavatīṁ tanum
ārabdha-karma-nirvāṇo nyapatat pāṣca-bhautikaḥ
Having been awarded a transcendental body befitting an associate of the Lord, I quit the body made of five material elements, in which karma had stopped. SB 1.6.2
At the beginning of the prayers of the personified Vedas Śukadeva said:
buddhīndriya-manaḥ-prāṇān janānām asṛjat prabhuḥ
mātrārthaṁ ca bhavārthaṁ ca ātmane 'kalpanāya ca
The Supreme Lord manifested the material intelligence, senses, mind and vital air of the living entities so that they could indulge their desires for sense gratification, take repeated births to engage in fruitive activities, become elevated in future lives and ultimately use their senses and intelligence for the Lord. SB 10.87.2
Ātmane kalpanāya means “so jivas would make an offering of their intelligence, mind, sense and prana to the Lord.” Thus the ninth characteristic previously mentioned, mukti, is the same as hetu. Muktir hitvānyathā-rūpaṁ svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ (SB 2.10.6) means to attain a spiritual form, and that is explained also in the present verse.
Purport
The Supreme Lord Himself creates, maintains and annihilates the cosmos. However, such activities are performed in response to the desires of conditioned souls, who are described herein as
hetu,
or the cause of cosmic activity. The Lord creates this world to facilitate the conditioned soul’s attempt to exploit nature and ultimately to facilitate his self-realization.
Since conditioned souls cannot perceive their own constitutional identity, they are described here as
avyākṛtam,
or unmanifest. In other words, the living entity cannot perceive his real form unless he is completely Kṛṣṇa conscious.