संत साहित्य
Work in progress. Translations and commentary are AI-generated and may contain inaccuracies or hallucinations — please use your own judgement and check against the original sources.

Cluster 0475 — BG-13.20 — *kārya-kāraṇa-kartṛtve hetuḥ prakṛtir ucyate — puruṣaḥ sukha-duḥkhānām bhoktṛtve hetur ucyate*

BG-13.20

Sanskrit

कार्यकारणकर्तृत्वे हेतुः प्रकृतिरुच्यते । पुरुषः सुखदुःखानां भोक्तृत्वे हेतुरुच्यते ॥२०॥

Translation

PRAKṚTI IS-SAID the HETU on the action-side (KĀRYA-KĀRAṆA-KARTṚTVA — what-is-done + with-what + by-whom); PURUṢA IS-SAID the HETU on the experience-side (SUKHA-DUḤKHA-BHOKTṚTVA — pleasure-pain experiencer-ship). The classical SĀṄKHYA prakṛti-karoti puruṣo bhunkte — PRAKṚTI does + PURUṢA enjoys.

Function

BG-13.20 delivers the iconic SĀṄKHYA-DOER-EXPERIENCER-BIFURCATION. The verse's pedagogical-architecture is precise:

(i) FIRST hemistich — PRAKṚTI as action-side-hetu. PRAKṚTI is the HETU for the 3-fold action-trichotomy: KĀRYA (what-is-done/effect) + KĀRAṆA (instrument) + KARTṚTVA (doership). The material-principle does the entire DOING.

(ii) SECOND hemistich — PURUṢA as experience-side-hetu. PURUṢA is the HETU for the SUKHA-DUḤKHA-BHOKTṚTVA — the conscious-principle is the SOLE EXPERIENCER of the sukha-duḥkha-stream that PRAKṚTI's doing generates.

This is the classical SĀṄKHYA prakṛti-karoti puruṣo bhunkte doctrinal-summary in precise BG-formulation, prepared by BG-13.19's prakṛti-puruṣa-anāditva and deepened by BG-13.21's guṇa-sanga-doctrine + BG-13.22's upadraṣṭā-anumantṛ witness-formula.

Jñāneśvar's 12-ovi Treatment

Jñāneśvar's treatment (13.969-13.980) renders the verse in five precise sub-blocks:

(i) 13.969-13.972 — PRAKṚTI-3-Fold-Action-Definition Block

  • 13.969 — KĀRAṆA-side defined via Marathi-Sānkhya-psychology: tētha icchā āṇi buddhi — ghaḍavī ahankārēmsīm ādhīm — maga tiyā lāvitī vēdhīm — kāraṇācyā (ICCHĀ + BUDDHI first-forge with AHAṄKĀRA, then drive into the piercing-of-KĀRAṆA).

  • 13.970 — KĀRYA defined as sūtra-of-upāya: tēmcī kāraṇa ṭhākāvayā — jē sūtra dharaṇēm upāyā — tayā nāmva dhanañjayā — kārya paim gā (the SŪTRA-of-UPĀYA aimed at the KĀRAṆA is named KĀRYA, O Dhanañjaya).

  • 13.971 — KARTṚTVA defined as indriya-rāhāṭaṇē: icchā madācyā thāvīm — lāgalī manātēm uṭhavī — tēm indriyēm rāhāṭavī — hēm kartṛtva (ICCHĀ-in-the-place-of-MADA clings, raises MIND, drives INDRIYAS — THIS is KARTṚTVA).

  • 13.972 — closes the definition-block: prakṛti mūḷa hē rāṇā — siddhāmcā mhaṇē (PRAKṚTI is the ROOT-KING of all three — the SIDDHA-KING says).

(ii) 13.973-13.975 — Guṇa-Assignment-Expansion

  • 13.973 — SAMAVĀYA-doctrine: tihīmcēni samavāyēm — prakṛti karma-rūpa hōyē — parī jayā guṇā vāḍhē trāyē — tyācī sārikhī (by the SAMAVĀYA of the THREE — PRAKṚTI becomes KARMA-RŪPA — but the result is LIKE-whichever-GUṆA-PROSPERS).

  • 13.974 — SATTVA = SAT-KARMA + RAJAS = MADHYAMA.

  • 13.975 — TAMAS = NIṢIDDHA-ADHAMA (PROHIBITED + LOW).

(iii) 13.976-13.977 — Pivot to Puruṣa-Bhōga

  • 13.976 — the precise iconic bridge: santāsantēm karmēm prakṛtīstava hōtēm — tayāpāsōni nirvāḷatē sukha-duḥkha (GOOD-and-BAD karma arise FROM PRAKṚTI — FROM THAT the SUKHA-DUḤKHA FILTERS-OUT). The NIRVĀḶATĒ filtering-verb is precise iconic Marathi rendering of the experiential-residue-distillation.

  • 13.977asantīm duḥkha upajē — sat-karmīm sukha niphajē — tayā dōhīmcā bōlijē — bhōgu puruṣā (FROM ASAT → DUḤKHA; FROM SAT-KARMA → SUKHA; BHŌGA of BOTH is ASSIGNED-TO PURUṢA).

(iv) 13.978 — The Iconic SĀṄKHYA-Doctrinal-Summary

  • 13.978sukha-duḥkhēm jamvavarī niphajatī sācōkārīm — tava prakṛti udyamu karī — puruṣu bhōgī (as-LONG-AS sukha-duḥkha truly arise — PRAKṚTI does the UDYAMA — PURUṢA does the BHŌGA). The precise iconic Marathi rendering of the classical SĀṄKHYA prakṛti-karoti puruṣo bhunkte doctrinal-summary.

(v) 13.979-13.980 — Kuḷavāḍī-Āmbulī-Āmbulā Folk-Pedagogical-Closing

  • 13.979prakṛti-puruṣāmcī kuḷavāḍī — sāngatām asangaḍī — jē āmbulī jōḍī — āmbulā khāya (the PRAKṚTI-PURUṢA HOUSEHOLD-LIVING — UNSAYABLE when TOLD — the UNSAID-WIFE MATES — the UNSAID-HUSBAND IS EATEN).

  • 13.980āmbulā āmbuliyē — sangatī nā sōyē — kīm āmbulī jaga viyē — cōja aikā (the ĀMBULĀ-ĀMBULĪ have NEITHER ASSOCIATION NOR MATING — YET the ĀMBULĪ BEARS the WORLD — LISTEN to the WONDER!). The precise iconic SĀṄKHYA samyoga-without-samyoga doctrine in folk-paradox register, closing with CŌJA-AIKĀ wonder-marker.

Four precise Marathi elevations beyond the Sanskrit

  1. 3-fold-Sanskrit-term-decomposition via Marathi-Sānkhya-psychology (13.969-13.971) — the laconic Sanskrit kārya-kāraṇa-kartṛtve compound decomposed precisely: KĀRAṆA = icchā-buddhi-ahankāra-forging + KĀRYA = sūtra-of-upāya + KARTṚTVA = indriya-rāhāṭaṇē-driven-by-icchā-mada-mind. Purely Marathi pedagogical decomposition.

  2. SAMAVĀYA-doctrine + 3-guṇa-karma-trichotomy (13.973-13.975) — classical Vaiśeṣika-Sānkhya samavāya-inherence applied to PRAKṚTI's karma-stream-character, mapping the 3-guṇas onto SAT-KARMA + MADHYAMA + NIṢIDDHA-ADHAMA — anticipating BG-14 + BG-18.23-25.

  3. Precise iconic prakṛti udyamu karī puruṣu bhōgī (13.978) — the classical SĀṄKHYA prakṛti-karoti puruṣo bhunkte doctrinal-summary in precise Marathi formulation. Among Jñāneśvar's most-iconic doctrinal-summary lines in adhyāya-13.

  4. KUḶAVĀḌI-ĀMBULĪ-ĀMBULĀ rural-folk-pedagogical closing (13.979-13.980) — the SĀṄKHYA samyoga-without-samyoga doctrine rendered in folk-paradox register: the ĀMBULĀ-ĀMBULĪ have NEITHER ASSOCIATION NOR MATING YET the ĀMBULĪ BEARS THE WORLD, closing with CŌJA-AIKĀ wonder-marker. Bizarre, mnemonic, profound — among Jñāneśvar's most-iconic rural-folk-pedagogical elevations in adhyāya-13.

Arc-position

BG-13.20 continues the BG-13.19-34 PRAKṚTI-PURUṢA + KṢETRA-KṢETRAJÑA further-distinctions block. Chapter argument: BG-13.1-2 KṢETRA-KṢETRAJÑA-VIBHĀGA → BG-13.3-6 KṢETRA-DEFINITION → BG-13.7-11 JÑĀNA-19-VIRTUE → BG-13.12-17 JÑEYA-DEFINITION → BG-13.18 TERMINAL-SUMMARY → BG-13.19 PRAKṚTI-PURUṢA-ANĀDITVA (0474) → BG-13.20 SĀṄKHYA-DOER-EXPERIENCER-BIFURCATION → BG-13.21 GUṆA-SAṄGA-doctrine → BG-13.22 UPADRAṢṬĀ-ANUMANTṚ witness-formula. Cluster 0475 contributes the precise iconic doer-experiencer bifurcation + 4 precise Marathi elevations. Doctrinal-progression from 0474 (BG-13.19 prakṛti-puruṣa-anāditva): ANĀDITVA + VIKĀRA-GUṆA-from-PRAKṚTI → SĀṄKHYA-DOER-EXPERIENCER-BIFURCATION. The next cluster (0476) extends with BG-13.21's GUṆA-SAṄGA + SAD-ASAD-YONI-JANMA doctrine, deepening the bifurcation mechanism.