Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13, Verse 22 (BG 13.22)

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कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते

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कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते

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Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13, Verse 22 — Meaning & Commentary | Live Gita

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पुरुषः प्रकृतिस्थो हि भुङ्क्ते प्रकृतिजान्गुणान् |
कारणं गुणसङ्गोऽस्य सदसद्योनिजन्मसु ||१३-२२||

puruṣaḥ prakṛtistho hi bhuṅkte prakṛtijānguṇān . kāraṇaṃ guṇasaṅgo.asya sadasadyonijanmasu ||13-22||

The soul seated in Nature experiences the qualities born of Nature; attachment to the qualities is the cause of its birth in good and evil wombs.

In simple words

Krishna explains why beings are born into different circumstances: "The soul, sitting inside a material body, gets pulled by the qualities of nature. The soul's attachment to these qualities determines what kind of life it takes next — good circumstances or bad."

Word-by-word meanings

पुरुषःPurushaप्रकृतिस्थःseated in Prakritiहिindeedभुङक्तेenjoysप्रकृतिजान्born of Prakritiगुणान्alitiesकारणम्the causeगुणसङ्गःattachment to the Gunasअस्यof hisसदसद्योनिजन्मसुof birth in good and evil wombs

Commentaries

Contemporary scholarly and practical interpretations for modern seekers.

Swami Sivananda

13.22 पुरुषः Purusha? प्रकृतिस्थः seated in Prakriti? हि indeed? भुङक्ते enjoys? प्रकृतिजान् born of Prakriti? गुणान् alities? कारणम् the cause? गुणसङ्गः attachment to the Gunas? अस्य of his? सदसद्योनिजन्मसु of birth in good and evil wombs.Commentary The soul residing in Nature and identifying itself with the body and the senses which are modifications of Nature acts through the alities of Nature and experiences pleasure and pain and delusion. It thinks? I am happy? I am miserable? I am deluded? I am wise. When it thus identifies itself with the alities? it assumes individuality and takes birth in pure and impure wombs.The soul (Jivatma) enjoys the sensual objects in conjunction with the body? mind and the senses and thus becomes the enjoyer. Brahman is the silent witness and nonenjoyer. The souls attachment to the alities of pleasure? pain and delusion is the chief cause of its birth. If you add the word Samsara to the second half of the verse? it will mean Attachment to the alities is the cause of Samsara through births in good and evil wombs.Good wombs (Sat Yoni) are those of the gods and the like evil wombs (Asat Yoni) are those of lower animals. The human womb is partly good and partly evil on account of mixed Karmas.Purushah prakritisthah Purusha (the soul) seated in Prakriti (Nature). This is Avidya (ignorance). Attachment to the alities of Nature is Kama (desire). Avidya and Kama are the cause of Samsara.Jnana (wisdom) and Vairagya (dispassion) will destroy ignorance and desire. (Cf.XIV.5XV.7)

Swami Chinmayananda

This interpretation draws on a specific tradition and may not represent the view of any single school. For authoritative guidance within a specific tradition, seek a qualified teacher.

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Commentaries

Contemporary scholarly and practical interpretations for modern seekers.

Swami Sivananda

Swami Chinmayananda

Although the Supreme Purusha, the Paramatman, has no world of His own, yet through the limitations arising from Prakriti, He becomes inseparably united with the experiencer nature and thus appears as the enjoyer. This is the Purusha dwelling in Prakriti. Cold and heat, attraction and aversion, pleasure and pain—these are the qualities inherent in inert Prakriti (the field). Yet because the Purusha identifies himself with these limitations through ego, he mistakenly regards them as his own nature and thus needlessly suffers. This makes clear that the Purusha's suffering does not arise from Prakriti itself, but from his identification with it. Through excessive attachment to the qualities of Prakriti, this Purusha takes birth repeatedly in countless auspicious and inauspicious, superior and inferior wombs. These innumerable births come to him according to the desires he accumulates through his actions and enjoyments in the world. Thus, though in truth he is of the nature of Sat-Chit-Ananda (Being-Consciousness-Bliss), through ignorance the Purusha becomes the agent, the enjoyer, the happy, the sorrowful, the wanderer between this world and the next—a bound soul in samsara. Ignorance of the Self and attachment to the qualities born of Prakriti are the cause of the Purusha's worldly suffering. Therefore, for the ultimate cessation of samsara, the path of knowledge has two essential aspects: discrimination and dispassion. The seeker should attain Self-knowledge through discrimination and renounce false attachments through dispassion. In the next verse, Lord Sri Krishna directly points to the Paramatman Himself.

This interpretation draws on a specific tradition and may not represent the view of any single school. For authoritative guidance within a specific tradition, seek a qualified teacher.

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13, Verse 22 (BG 13.22) — Meaning, Translation & Commentary

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