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Study a Verse
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Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 13.21
कार्यकारणकर्तृत्वे हेतु: प्रकृतिरुच्यते ।
पुरुष: सुखदु:खानां भोक्तृत्वे हेतुरुच्यते ॥ २१ ॥
kārya-kāraṇa-kartṛtve
hetuḥ prakṛtir ucyate
puruṣaḥ sukha-duḥkhānāṁ
bhoktṛtve hetur ucyate
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.
Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.ioWhat this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.
3 study points
Material nature causes material causes and effects; the living entity causes its own suffering and enjoyment.
Prabhupāda explains that nature gives the soul a body according to its past desires and actions. Bodily happiness and distress are not the soul’s original state.
The Supreme Lord is so kind that He always stays with the individual soul as the Supersoul, in every circumstance.
Happiness and distress are due to purusa’s identifying with prakriti
Nature is the cause of all material causes and effects
Living entities is the cause of various sufferings and enjoyments in this world
Because of illusory oneness with matter, his desires and actions cause him to suffer and enjoy
Different manifestations of body and senses among living entities are due to material nature
Basis of 8.4 million species – They arise from different sensual pleasures and desires
Different bodies result in different happiness and distress
Conclusion – Material happiness and distress are due to the body and not to himself (the soul) as he is
Cause of being in the material world – Desire to lord it over material nature (cf. Spiritual world is pure and free from the desire to lord it over)
Material world is a place of struggle — provides different “residential quarters”
Everyone is struggling to acquire different kinds of pleasure from the body
Body is the effect of senses and senses are the instruments for gratifying desires
The living entity gets a body according to “past desire” and “activity”
Past desire and activity decide one’s “residential quarters”
Law of nature – once a body is attained, one comes under the laws of nature and behaves as a dog or a hog or a demigod etc.
Supersoul always accompanies us in all circumstances (in all bodies)
Ref. Vedas (Mundaka Upanisad)
Texts 13.20 & 13.21
The relationship between the living entity and the changes caused by material nature is elaborated upon in the next verse.
(Krishna addresses the 1st and 2nd questions)
Prakrti, Purusa (the “jiva” or ksetra-jna) and their union (13.20-13.22):
Material nature causes all material changes and effects, and
Living entity meets with good and bad according to the qualities he has acquired due to his association with material nature
Paramatma Purusa (ksetra-jna) (13.23): The Supersoul exists within all bodies as the overseer, the permitter, and the supreme proprietor.
Result: One who understands the prakrti, purusa and their interactions attains liberation from birth in material world
Other methods of obtaining liberation are jnana, astanga and karma (13.25 – 13.26)
Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.
The spiritual concepts this verse connects to.
Key ideas: prakṛti, guṇa.
Take one thing from this verse into your day.
What does BG 13.21 establish in Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport, and how does it connect to nature & guṇas?
Observe which mode shaped your last decision.
Mahābhārata episodes and stories from the purports that shed light on this verse.
Keep going: verses that carry this teaching further.
Study notes are editorial summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport.