Chapter 5, Verse 14
न कर्तृत्वं न कर्माणि लोकस्य सृजति प्रभुः | न कर्मफलसंयोगं स्वभावस्तु प्रवर्तते ||५-१४||
na kartṛtvaṃ na karmāṇi lokasya sṛjati prabhuḥ . na karmaphalasaṃyogaṃ svabhāvastu pravartate ||5-14||
Meaning
5.14 Neither agency nor actions does the Lord create for the world, nor union with the fruits of actions. But it is Nature that acts.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna addresses a deep question: if the Self is not the doer, who or what is responsible for action and its consequences? His answer is that the Prabhu — the indwelling Self, the lord of the body — creates neither doership, nor the deeds themselves, nor the binding of action to its fruits. It is svabhava — one's own nature, the play of the gunas (the qualities of prakriti) — that sets everything in motion.
This teaching dismantles two errors at once. We are not the helpless authors of every karmic chain, yet neither is the pure Self the agent that acts. Action belongs to nature; the Self merely witnesses. Understanding this dissolves both the burden of egoic doership and the anxiety of being personally responsible for every outcome. The Self shines untouched, while nature, following its own laws, carries the activity forward.
💡 Key Takeaway
Action springs from nature's flow, not from the pure Self — release the burden of believing your ego authors it all.
Related Verses
ज्ञेयः स नित्यसंन्यासी यो न द्वेष्टि न काङ्क्षति | निर्द्वन्द्वो हि महाबाहो सुखं बन्धात्प्रमुच्यते ||५-३||
jñeyaḥ sa nityasaṃnyāsī yo na dveṣṭi na kāṅkṣati . nirdvandvo hi mahābāho sukhaṃ bandhātpramucyate ||5-3||
5.3 He should be known as a perpertual Sannyasi who neither hates nor desires; for, free from the pairs of opposites, O mighty-armed Arjuna, he is easily set free from bondage.
नैव किञ्चित्करोमीति युक्तो मन्येत तत्त्ववित् | पश्यञ्शृण्वन्स्पृशञ्जिघ्रन्नश्नन्गच्छन्स्वपञ्श्वसन् ||५-८||
naiva kiñcitkaromīti yukto manyeta tattvavit . paśyañśruṇvanspṛśañjighrannaśnangacchansvapañśvasan ||5-8||
5.8 "I do nothing at all," thus would the harmonised knower of Truth think seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, going, sleeping, breathing.
प्रलपन्विसृजन्गृह्णन्नुन्मिषन्निमिषन्नपि | इन्द्रियाणीन्द्रियार्थेषु वर्तन्त इति धारयन् ||५-९||
pralapanvisṛjangṛhṇannunmiṣannimiṣannapi . indriyāṇīndriyārtheṣu vartanta iti dhārayan ||5-9||
5.9 Speaking, letting go, seizing, opening and closing the eyes convinced that the senses move among the sense-objects.