BG 13.21 karya-karana-kartrtve... cited

Expressions researched:
"Nature is said to be the cause of all material causes and effects" |"bhoktrtve hetur ucyate" |"hetuh prakrtir ucyate" |"karya-karana-kartrtve" |"purusah sukha-duhkhanam" |"the living entity is the cause of the various sufferings and enjoyments"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: "13.21" or "Nature is said to be the cause of all material causes and effects" or "bhoktrtve hetur ucyate" or "hetuh prakrtir ucyate" or "karya-karana-kartrtve" or "purusah sukha-duhkhanam" or "the living entity is the cause of the various sufferings and enjoyments"

BG Chapters 13 - 18

BG 13.21, Translation and Purport:

Nature is said to be the cause of all material causes and effects, whereas the living entity is the cause of the various sufferings and enjoyments in this world.

The different manifestations of body and senses among the living entities are due to material nature. There are 8,400,000 different species of life, and these varieties are creations of the material nature. They arise from the different sensual pleasures of the living entity, who thus desires to live in this body or that. When he is put into different bodies, he enjoys different kinds of happiness and distress. His material happiness and distress are due to his body, and not to himself as he is. In his original state there is no doubt of enjoyment; therefore that is his real state. Because of the desire to lord it over material nature, he is in the material world. In the spiritual world there is no such thing. The spiritual world is pure, but in the material world everyone is struggling hard to acquire different kinds of pleasures for the body. It might be more clear to state that this body is the effect of the senses. The senses are instruments for gratifying desire. Now, the sum total—body and instrument senses—are offered by material nature, and as will be clear in the next verse, the living entity is blessed or damned with circumstances according to his past desire and activity. According to one's desires and activities, material nature places one in various residential quarters. The being himself is the cause of his attaining such residential quarters and his attendant enjoyment or suffering. Once placed in some particular kind of body, he comes under the control of nature because the body, being matter, acts according to the laws of nature. At that time, the living entity has no power to change that law. Suppose an entity is put into the body of a dog. As soon as he is put into the body of a dog, he must act like a dog. He cannot act otherwise. And if the living entity is put into the body of a hog, then he is forced to eat stool and act like a hog. Similarly, if the living entity is put into the body of a demigod, he must act according to his body. This is the law of nature. But in all circumstances, the Supersoul is with the individual soul. That is explained in the Vedas (Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 3.1.1) as follows: dvā suparṇā sayujā sakhāyaḥ. The Supreme Lord is so kind upon the living entity that He always accompanies the individual soul and in all circumstances is present as the Supersoul, or Paramātmā.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 13.21 -- Bombay, October 15, 1973:

Pradyumna: Translation: "Nature is said to be the cause of all material activities and effects, whereas the living entity is the cause of the various sufferings and enjoyments in this world."

Prabhupāda: This is very funny, that you get the body according to your karma, but the, you are liable to enjoy or being suffering according to the body. The body is given by the nature. In another place it is confirmed, bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā (BG 18.61).

The living entity... Just like we, on this jeep car, we can move from here and there. Somebody has given you the car for movement. Similarly we are getting a yantra, a moving instrument, this body, with senses, different bodies. So I'm seated there and, but the movement is not in my direction. That is by nature's own way. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni, in another place it is confirmed,

prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni

guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ

ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā

kartāham iti manyate

(BG 3.27)

This is our foolishness. So long we are under the clutches of māyā it is just like pulling by the ear, "Come here, sit down," like that. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni. But the illusory māyā, by the influence of illusory māyā, the living entity thinks that "I am doing this, I am doing that."

Everything is controlled. The ultimate controller is the Supreme Personality of Godhead because īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61), bhrāmayan, bhrāmayan, the passive. He is causing to move or wander sarva-bhūtāni, all living entities under different condition of the body. So how much foolish we are that we are getting a particular type of body and the sukha-duḥkha, happiness and distress, is already fixed up. That is called destiny. As soon as I get a particular type of body, my happiness and sufferings are all destined. This is our position.

Lecture on BG 13.21 -- Bombay, October 15, 1973:

And we are not very much serious about this thing, that "I am part and parcel of God, sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). My, I am... Na jāyate na mriyate. "My position is that I never take my birth and never die." Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). "I do not die even after the destruction of this body." These things are my privileges, but I do not wish to take care of them. This is called māyā. We are satisfied in this abominable condition of life by a body given by the nature. We suffer or enjoy... No enjoyment. Everything is suffering according to the body, and the body is supplied by the nature. That is explained here. Kārya-kāraṇa-kartṛtve hetuḥ prakṛtir ucyate. Kartṛtve, my action, that is also directed by the material nature. Originally directed by īśvara, who is sitting within your heart, sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (BG 15.15), but it is being acted through the agency of material nature. Kārya-kāraṇa-kartṛtve hetuḥ prakṛtir ucyate.

Prakṛtiḥ. Just like one criminal is punished by the magistrate, that "This man should undergo six months imprisonment." So the judge or the magistrate superficially is the cause of his punishment, but actually he's not. He's giving him punishment according to law. I have created such a situation, I have made myself a criminal, and the magistrate, according to law, giving me punishment. So actually, directly, the magistrate is not the cause of my suffering. Why he should be cause? He's not your enemy. This is going on.

kārya-kāraṇa-kartṛtve

hetuḥ prakṛtir ucyate

puruṣaḥ sukha-duḥkhānāṁ

bhoktṛtve hetur ucyate

So bhoktṛtva, my enjoyment, because we have come to this material world for enjoyment. So everyone's enjoyment is not on the same standard. We can see that. Somebody is enjoying some way, another is enjoying... "One man's food, another man's poison." What is enjoyed by the hog is not enjoyed by other animal. This is going on.

Lecture on BG 13.21 -- Bombay, October 15, 1973:

Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). You do not know what kind of body you are going to... You completely under the stringent laws of nature. Here it is said, kārya-kāraṇa-kartṛtve hetuḥ prakṛtir ucyate. As soon as you give up this body, you are completely under the grip of material nature and you will get a type of body according to your karma. And then puruṣaḥ sukha-duḥkhānāṁ bhoktṛtve hetur ucyate. That puruṣa, the living entity, will have to enjoy or suffer according to that body.

So this is the science of Bhagavad-gītā. One has to learn these things; otherwise he's spoiling his human life. One must know that what is the importance of this human form of life. One must take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness to save himself. Try to understand Kṛṣṇa only. Then you are saved. Janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). The problem is janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānu... (BG 13.9). This problem we have set aside. We are busy for a few years life, fifty years, twenty years or... We have forgotten that we are eternal. We don't die after the destruction of this body. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). This is my problem, what kind of body again I am going to get.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 30, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Mad-bhakta. Not rascals. The mad-bhakta can explain these things, not others.

Dr. Patel: Yes. Now, now conclusion.

Prabhupāda: Is it clear?

Dr. Patel: Yes. Absolutely. I am a rascal. (Prabhupāda laughs) That is, I am reading.

Prabhupāda: You are a bhakta. How you can be rascal?

Dr. Patel: But sometimes I become. Prakṛtiṁ ca,

prakṛtiṁ puruṣaṁ caiva

viddhy anādī ubhāv api

vikārāṁś ca guṇaṁś caiva

viddhi prakṛti-sambhavān

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel:

karya-kāraṇa-kartṛtve

hetuḥ prakṛtir ucyate

puruṣaḥ sukha-duḥkhānāṁ

bhoktṛtve hetur ucyate

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.

Dr. Patel: This is very important. Puruṣaḥ sukha-duḥkhānāṁ bhoktṛtve...

Prabhupāda: Yes, as you, as you... Just like police. Police will punish you. You will have to suffer. But it is due to your criminal action police has arrested you. You cannot make police responsible for your suffering.

Dr. Patel: And here policeman is jīva, no? That is what my difficulty is.

Prabhupāda: No. The prakṛti... What is that?

Dr. Patel: Puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān... (BG 13.22).

Prabhupāda: Ah, that puruṣa means jīvātmā, jīvātmā.

Dr. Patel: Jivātmā, not Paramātmā. That's right.

Prabhupāda: Jivātmā is within this body, prakṛti. This is prakṛti, material nature, jīvātmā. So as you infect the quality of the prakṛti, you become, what is called, entangled.