Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 13, Verse 29
प्रकृत्यैव च कर्माणि क्रियमाणानि सर्वशः।यः पश्यति तथाऽऽत्मानमकर्तारं स पश्यति।।
prakṛtyaiva ca karmāṇi kriyamāṇāni sarvaśaḥ
yaḥ paśyati tathātmānam akartāraṁ sa paśyati
also searched as "prakrityaiva cha karmani kriyamanani sarvashah"
Translation
He who sees that all acts are done universally by Prakrti alone, and likewise that the self is not the doer, he indeed sees.
Vāṇi's rendering
Who sees that nature alone does every deed, and the self does nothing — that one truly sees.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| प्रकृत्याprakṛtyā | by nature, by the material world itself (joined with the next word as prakṛtyaiva) |
| एवeva | alone, only |
| चca | and |
| कर्माणिkarmāṇi | actions, deeds |
| क्रियमाणानिkriyamāṇāni | being carried out, in the doing |
| सर्वशःsarvaśaḥ | in every way, all of them without exception |
| यःyaḥ | who, the one who |
| पश्यतिpaśyati | sees |
| तथाtathā | likewise, in the same way (joined with the next word as tathātmānam) |
| आत्मानम्ātmānam | the self |
| अकर्तारम्akartāram | as no doer, as not the one acting |
| सःsaḥ | he, that one |
| पश्यतिpaśyati | sees — truly sees |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13 Verse 29 mean?
It means every action — breath, speech, war, work — is prakṛti moving within prakṛti, and the self that seems to author it authors nothing. Krishna calls the one who sees this the only one who sees at all. Action continues undiminished; the claim of ownership over it quietly falls away.
What does prakrityaiva cha karmani kriyamanani sarvashah mean?
By nature alone, and in every case, actions are being done. Not some actions — all of them. Krishna leaves no corner of doing outside prakṛti, which is why the verse ends by calling the self akartāram: not the doer. You are the seeing in which the doing appears.
If the self does nothing, why should I act at all?
Because the acting was never waiting for your permission. Krishna is not cancelling the deed; he is removing the false owner standing over it. Arjuna still lifts his bow. You still go to work, still speak the hard truth. What lightens is the weight of I, not the labour.
Does this verse remove my responsibility for what I do?
No. It removes your pride and your torment, not your duty. The Gītā asks for right action in the very next breath. Seeing prakṛti at work does not make you careless — it makes you clear. The hand acts properly precisely when nobody inside is grabbing credit for it.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Watch your own hand lift a cup. Muscle, nerve, habit, hunger — nature moving nature. Krishna is not saying you are helpless; he is saying the doer you imagine at the center of the doing was never there. The deed happens, thoroughly, everywhere, by prakṛti. What the self contributes is the seeing. Arjuna wants to know whether he is the killer; the answer strips the pronoun out of the act without stripping the act away. The arrow still flies. Notice, next time you say I did that, how much of it was actually done through you — and who was watching.