13.30 Nature acts, the self does not Krishna speaks
प्रकृत्यैव च कर्माणि क्रियमाणानि सर्वशः
यः पश्यति तथाऽऽत्मानमकर्तारं स पश्यति
prakṛityaiva cha karmāṇi kriyamāṇāni sarvaśhaḥ
yaḥ paśhyati tathātmānam akartāraṁ sa paśhyati
One who sees that all actions are performed by nature alone, and that the self is not the doer, truly sees.
Explanation
Nature performs the actions; the self does not.
One who sees this truly sees — the second time in three verses the phrase is used.
Chapter 5 said it as a first-person report (I do nothing at all) and chapter 14 will say it as an observation (the strands are working). Here it is put as the content of correct perception.
Word by word
- prakṛityā
- by material nature
- eva
- truly
- cha
- also
- karmāṇi
- actions
- kriyamāṇāni
- are performed
- sarvaśhaḥ
- all
- yaḥ
- who
- paśhyati
- see
- tathā
- also
- ātmānam
- (embodied) soul
- akartāram
- actionless
- saḥ
- they
- paśhyati
- see
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