Q. I was reading the Bhagavad Gita and I am not able to understand something which I feel like there is a contradiction. Please help me dispel my doubt.
In BG ch 5 text 14, Krishna says “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”. Srila Prabhupada writes in his purport and I quote a specific line “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”. Krishna clearly states that the embodied spirit does not create activities which means I can understand that the soul is not the doer.
When I read BG ch 18 text 14, Krishna says “The place of action [the body], the performer, the various senses, the many different kinds of endeavor, and ultimately the Supersoul – these are the five factors of action”. Srila Prabhupada in his purport says (I have copied portion of the purport) “The word adhishthanam refers to the body. The soul within the body is acting to bring about the results of activity and is therefore known as karta, “the doer.” That the soul is the knower and the doer is stated in the œruti. Esa hi drashta srashta (Praœna Upanishad 4.9). It is also confirmed in the Vedanta-sutra by the verses jño ‘ta eva (2.3.18) and karta œastrarthavattvat (2.3.33).” In the purport, Srila Prabhupada says that the soul is the doer and he calls it “karta”.
So I am finding an apparent contradiction from chapter 5 text 14 and chapter 18 text 14 about the doership of the soul? Can you please explain the difference between the two slokas?
Answer by Romapada Swami: The soul is “one” of the 5 factors of action, meaning that he is not the only doer or an independent doer. The living entity has the ability to will, to choose and to endeavor, as opposed to a stone which is completely inert and is moved entirely by superior force. But the tiny soul’s willing capacity is also miniscule — when he desires to enjoy apart from Krishna, he is placed within the material energy, which then moves everything around the living entity based on his freewill choices, combined with his guna-sanga and karma. In this sense, we say that the soul is under the control of material nature not the ultimate cause of action.
If we were to suppose that the statement “The soul is not the doer” implies that he is completely controlled and has no role to play and no freewill, then there is no meaning to the injunctions and prohibitions of the shastras.
The very fact that scriptures guide us: “Do this, don’t do this, this action is prescribed duty, this action is forbidden” etc implies that we have some volition, some ability to exercise our freewill to follow or disregard such injunctions. This is the import of the statement “karta sastrarthavattvat” (quoted in 18.14 purport)
However, the soul is not the doer in the sense that he is not independent; he is completely dependent upon the other factors of action and ultimately upon the sanction of the Supreme Lord. Thus Srila Prabhupada writes in 18.14p that Krishna is the “Supercause.”
In this connection, Srila Baladeva Vidyabhushana also comments that we are doers — our activities do spring from our own free will — but our endeavor is not the independent cause of actions: (Cf. Bhurijana dasa’s “Surrender Unto Me”) “The jiva receives from the Supreme Lord a body and senses endowed with specific potencies, of which he then becomes the proprietor. Acquiring those potencies, the jiva exerts his free will and assumes control of his body and senses for the purpose of fulfilling karmic endeavors. The Supreme Lord, present within all these coverings, sanctions the jiva’s activity and inspires him to act. In this way there is no contradiction between the Supreme’s control and the jiva’s having his own willpower to act or to refrain from acting.”
Below are further discussions from previous digests on this topic:
Digest 16F: “One who can see that all activities are performed by the body, which is created of material nature, and sees that the self does nothing, actually sees”. Why is it said that the self does nothing and that the body is the doer?
The soul is being carried on the machine (yantra) of prakrti, or material energy, like a chariot carries a passenger. The body is performing activities, or prakrti is the performer, not the soul.
The soul’s activity or business is to desire. We can also ‘endeavor’. See BG 18.14 the living entity is called the ‘karta’ (doer) in the Secondary sense of one who makes an endeavor (cestah). Action is actually being carried out by material nature: See BG 5.14.
Digest 78: Apparently we are doing the activity. So how do we reconcile that “I am not the cause of my activities”?
In Bg 18.14, Krishna explains that there are five factors of action, only one of which is our self, the others being the senses and instruments, the field of action, the different endeavors and ultimately the Supersoul. As said above, everything required for performing an activity, including our own intelligence and strength comes from Krishna. Our independent will constitutes one of the factors, but we are miniscule and dependent on the Lord for every movement and can act only under His sanction. Thus, with a little introspection, we can understand that we are not the cause or doer. We may be an immediate or intermediate cause, but the ultimate doer is Krishna.
See also 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.”) Material nature is creating the fruits of all material activities, not the soul. We have the capacity to perform work, we make various endeavors, material nature creates results…and material nature works under Krishna’s direction (BG 9.10).
