The Self is no Doer
27. prakyteh kriyamananmi
gunaih karmani sarvasah
ahamkdravinaudhatma
karta 'ham iti manyate
(27) While all kinds of work are done by the modes of nature, he whose soul is bewildered by the self-sense thinks "I am the doer "
prakrtih: pradhana of the Samkhya.[1] It is the power of maya[2] or the power of the Supreme God[3] The deluded soul attributes the acts of prakti to itself.[4] There are different planes of our conscious existence and the self which becomes the ego attributes to itself the agency for actions forgetting the determinism of nature. According to the Gita, when the ego soul is entirely subject to nature, it does not act freely. Body, life and mind belong to the side of the environment.
28. tattvavit tu mmahabaho
gunakarmavibhagayoh
guna guttesu vartanta
iti matva na sajjate
(28) But he who knows the true character of the two distinctions (of the soul) from the modes of nature and their works, o Mighty-armed (Arjuna), understanding that it is the modes which are acting on the modes, does not get attached.
Prakrti and its modes represent the limits of human freedom such as the force of heredity and the pressure of environment. The empirical self is the product of works even as the whole cosmic process is the result of the operation of causes.
29. prakrter gunasammudhcch
sajjante gunakarmasu
On akrtsnavido mandan
krtsnavin na vicalayet
(29) Those who are misled by the modes of nature get attached to the works produced by them. But let no one who knows the whole unsettle the minds of the ignorant who know only a part.
We should not disturb those who act under the impulsion of nature. They should be slowly delivered from the false identification of the self with the ego subject to nature. The true self is the divine, eternally free and self-aware. The false self is the ego which is a part of nature, which reflects the workings of prakrti Here the true self, on the Samkhya analysis, is described as inactive, while prakrti is active and when purusa identifies itself with the activity of prakrti, the sense of active personality is produced. The Gita does not support the Samkhya view of the withdrawal of purusa from prakrti by complete inaction. Discernment does not imply inaction but it involves action done in a way that does not hinder the attainment of release. If we realize that the atman or the true self is the detached witness, serene and impartial, no action binds us, though we engage in the great battle against imperfection and sorrow and work for world solidarity.
