Gita 5.14
Karma Sanyasa Yoga
न कर्तृत्वं न कर्माणि लोकस्य सृजति प्रभुः | न कर्मफलसंयोगं स्वभावस्तु प्रवर्तते ||१४||
na kartṛtvaṁ na karmāṇi lokasya sṛjati prabhuḥ | na karma-phala-saṁyogaṁ svabhāvas tu pravartate ||14||
In essence: The true Self creates neither doership nor actions nor their fruits—it is nature alone that acts, while the Self remains eternally uninvolved.
A conversation between a seeker and guide to help you feel this verse deeply
Sadhak-Guru Dialogue
Sadhak: "This verse seems to contradict everything I've learned about karma. If the Self doesn't create actions or their fruits, who is responsible for karma? Who experiences the results?"
Guru: "You've asked the question that unlocks the whole teaching. Let me answer with a question: When you dream at night and your dream-character does things—who is actually doing them? Who created the dream-actions and their dream-consequences?"
Sadhak: "Well... the dreaming mind creates everything. The dream-character isn't really doing anything—they just appear to."
Guru: "Exactly. Now apply this to waking life. The 'you' who appears to do things is like the dream-character—a pattern in consciousness that seems to act. But the real 'you'—the awareness in which this appearance happens—creates nothing, does nothing. Karma belongs to the character, not to the awareness hosting the character."
Sadhak: "But the consequences feel very real! If I make a mistake, I suffer for it."
Guru: "'I suffer for it'—examine this statement. When suffering happens, it happens in awareness as an experience. You—as awareness—are not suffering; you're knowing suffering. The distinction is subtle but everything depends on it. As long as you take yourself to be the character, you inherit the character's karma. The moment you recognize yourself as the awareness, you're free of it—not because consequences stop, but because your identification with them dissolves."
Sadhak: "What does 'svabhāva' mean here? My own nature operates—but what is my nature if not this character?"
Guru: "Svabhāva refers to prakṛti—material nature—as it has conditioned itself in your particular body-mind. Your genetic inheritance, your past experiences, your conditioning—all of this is svabhāva. It operates according to its own momentum. When you feel 'I want to eat,' that's not really 'you' (as Self) wanting—that's the body's nature expressing itself. When you feel 'I think this is right,' that's the mind's conditioned patterns operating. Svabhāva handles all of this. The Self merely witnesses."
Sadhak: "This sounds dangerously close to saying nothing matters. If I'm not the doer, why not just let the body do whatever it wants—harmful or otherwise?"
Guru: "Ah, but notice: even that question arises from svabhāva! Your nature includes ethical sensitivity, social conditioning, care about consequences. When someone truly sees they're not the doer, they don't become amoral—they become free of the ego's distortions. The body-mind continues to function according to its nature, which includes conscience, compassion, and wisdom. Often, non-identification improves action because ego-driven interference is removed."
Sadhak: "So the teaching doesn't say 'stop acting' but 'stop claiming to be the actor'?"
Guru: "Precisely. The sun doesn't decide to shine—it simply shines by nature. Yet it doesn't stop shining upon realizing this. Similarly, your svabhāva will continue to act. You don't need to manage it. The Self as prabhuḥ—as sovereign—never managed it in the first place. The whole assumption that you were ever the doer is the illusion. This verse removes the illusion. Action continues; the burden of doership is relieved."
Sadhak: "What about deliberate practice—like spiritual discipline? If I'm not the doer, how can I practice anything?"
Guru: "Spiritual practice also arises from svabhāva. When the mind is ready, the inclination toward practice emerges naturally. You feel drawn to meditate, drawn to study, drawn to serve. This isn't 'you' doing it—it's prakṛti configured toward liberation doing what it does. The beauty is that you don't have to worry about whether you're practicing 'enough' or 'correctly'—your nature will do what it will do. Your only task is to recognize what you truly are: the uninvolved witness of the entire show."
Sadhak: "The verse says 'lokasya'—for the world. So this applies to everyone, not just me?"
Guru: "Yes! This is universal truth. The Self doesn't create doership or actions for anyone—not for you, not for others, not for any being. All apparent doership everywhere is prakṛti. When you see another person acting, what you're seeing is their svabhāva operating. When you judge them as 'choosing wrongly,' you're missing the deeper truth: there is no one there choosing—there's only nature playing out according to its conditioning. This understanding brings tremendous compassion. How can you be angry at a flower for being red? How can you condemn a pattern for expressing its nature?"
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🌅 Daily Practice
Begin with a 'Non-Doership Inquiry.' Before rising, lie still and observe: the breath is breathing itself, the heart is beating itself, thoughts are arising on their own. Notice: you're not doing any of this. Extend this recognition: 'When I rise, that too will happen from svabhāva. When I eat breakfast, svabhāva will eat. When I speak, svabhāva will speak.' Set an intention: 'Today, I will observe all action as prakṛti's play. I am the witness—prabhuḥ—not the doer.' This doesn't mean passive fatalism; the body-mind will still engage fully. It means releasing the psychological burden of 'I am doing this.'
Practice 'Source-Noticing' with actions. Several times during the day, when you catch yourself in action, pause and inquire: 'Did I initiate this, or did the impulse arise on its own?' Notice that even 'decisions' emerge from conditions—you don't author your preferences, your thoughts, your inclinations. They arise from svabhāva. When you see someone else acting, practice the same recognition: 'Their svabhāva is operating—there is no one there who 'chose' that action apart from conditioning.' This isn't judgmental fatalism but compassionate recognition. Let this understanding soften your reactivity when others act in ways you don't like—their nature is doing what nature does.
Before sleep, do 'The Lord's Review.' Look back at the day and practice seeing all events as 'prakṛti interacting with prakṛti.' The meeting that went well—svabhāva interacting with svabhāva. The frustrating conversation—patterns meeting patterns. Throughout it all, you (as prabhuḥ) merely witnessed. Notice: did the sense of doership bring suffering today? Did you feel burdened by 'having to' do things, anxious about 'what I should do,' guilty about 'what I did'? All of this suffering rests on the false assumption that you were the doer. Release this assumption now: 'I never created agency. I never performed action. I never connected acts with fruits. It was always svabhāva. I rest now as the uninvolved witness.' Let sleep come as another natural arising—you don't 'make' yourself sleep; svabhāva handles it.