Question: In the Gita verse 2.47 (“Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities…”), does it mean that we are not the producers of our results? Does the sanskrit word “hetuh” = “cause” essentially mean the “producer” or does it imply something else?
Answer by Romapada Swami:
Yes, BG 2.47 says precisely what He means to say: the jiva is not the cause of the results of activities.
Please carefully read BG 5.14“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.”
“Hetuh” means cause. We read in Ch 18 of BG that there are 5 factors to action. See BG 18.14. In verse 13 the word “Karana” is used, while in verse 15 “Hetavah” (plural) is again used.
Souls have a role to play in action. To think of ourselves as the sole cause (hetuh) of results is illusion.
