Moksha Sanyasa Yoga · Verse 16

Bhagavad Gita 18.16

Action has many causes; the pure self is not the lone doer.

Wisdom translation, edited by Ankur Shukla. Commentary AI-drafted, human-reviewed. Reviewed June 2026. Methodology →

तत्रैवं सति कर्तारमात्मानं केवलं तु यः ।
पश्यत्यकृतबुद्धित्वान्न स पश्यति दुर्मतिः ॥
Hindi · हिन्दी
परन्तु ऐसे पाँच हेतुओंके होनेपर भी जो उस कर्मोंके विषयमें केवल शुद्ध आत्माको कर्ता मानता है, वह दुर्मति ठीक नहीं समझता क्योंकि उसकी बुद्धि शुद्ध नहीं है ॥
English
But one who sees only the pure self as the doer, even though these five causes are present, has not seen rightly; such a confused mind does not understand.

What this verse means

Action does not come from the pure self alone. A confused person wrongly thinks the self is the only doer and misses the real causes at work.

Context & commentary

On the Kurukshetra battlefield, Krishna is dismantling Arjuna's confusion about action. After naming the five causes behind every deed, he warns that a person with muddled understanding wrongly blames or claims the pure self as the sole doer.

Why this verse still matters

You replay a conversation at 1 a.m. and decide, "I caused everything." Krishna cuts through that mental trap: one person is rarely the whole cause.

The takeaway

You can stop carrying the whole burden of authorship. Clear seeing brings relief from false responsibility.

Word-by-word translation

तत्र (there) / एवम् (thus) / सति (being present) / कर्तारम् (the doer) / आत्मानम् (the self) / केवलम् (only) / तु (but) / यः (who) / पश्यति (sees) / अकृतबुद्धित्वात् (because of unformed understanding) / न (not) / सः (he) / पश्यति (sees) / दुर्मतिः (confused-minded one)

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