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.
संत साहित्य · Jñāneśvarī · Adhyāya 13

Cluster 0484 — BG-13.29 — *prakṛtyaiva ca karmāṇi kriyamāṇāni sarvaśaḥ — yaḥ paśyati tathātmānam akartāram sa paśyati*

BG-13.29

Sanskrit

प्रकृत्यैव च कर्माणि क्रियमाणानि सर्वशः । यः पश्यति तथाऽऽत्मानमकर्तारं स पश्यति ॥२९॥

Translation

BY PRAKṚTI ALONE (prakṛtyaiva) all karmas are being-done in every-way (kriyamāṇāni sarvaśaḥ); and the one who SEES THIS and SEES the ĀTMĀ as A-KARTĀ (NON-DOER) — sa paśyati (HE TRULY SEES).

Function

BG-13.29 delivers the iconic SĀṄKHYA-AKARTṚTVA doctrine — PRAKṚTI is the SOLE-AGENT of all karmas; the ĀTMĀ is the NON-DOER. The verse's double-clause structure pairs:

(i) PRAKṚTI-clause — PRAKṚTI ALONE does all-karmas in every-way (the eva-restrictive particle locking the SOLE-agency in PRAKṚTI).

(ii) ĀTMĀ-clause — the ĀTMĀ seen as A-KARTĀ (NON-DOER) — the iconic privative-compound naming the SELF's NON-AGENCY.

(iii) Closing emphatic sa paśyati (HE TRULY SEES) — the iconic emphatic-doubling confirming the radical insight.

Jñāneśvar's 4-ovi Treatment

Jñāneśvar's treatment (13.1080-13.1083) renders the verse with precise pedagogical-progression: LITERAL → TWIN-SIMILE → METAPHYSICAL-PEAK → ILLUMINATIVE-YIELD.

  • 13.1080 — LITERAL-PRAKṚTI-CLAUSE: manō-buddhi-pramukhēm — karmēndriyēm aśēkhēm — karī prakṛti-ci hēm dēkhē — sāca jō gā (MANO-BUDDHI-LED — the WHOLE KARMA-INDRIYA-SET — does PRAKṚTI ALONE — TRULY-SEES O DEAR). PRAKṚTI's instrumental-deployment via the MANO-BUDDHI-HEADED INDRIYA-SET.

  • 13.1081 — TWIN-SIMILE: gharīmcīm rāhaṭatī gharīm — ghara kāmhīm na karī — abhra dhāmvē ambarīm — ambara tēm ugēm (DWELLERS MOVE IN HOUSE — HOUSE DOES NOTHING — CLOUDS RUN IN SKY — SKY STAYS STILL). The GHAR + AMBARA domestic + cosmic illustrative-pedagogy.

  • 13.1082 — METAPHYSICAL-PEAK: taisī prakṛti ātma-prabhā — khēḷē guṇīm vividhārambhā — yēthēm ātmā tō vōthambā — nēṇē kōṇa (SO PRAKṚTI is ĀTMA-RADIANCE — PLAYS in GUṆAS with VARIOUS-BEGINNINGS — HERE the ĀTMĀ is VŌTHAṀBĀ — knows NO ONE). PRAKṚTI as ĀTMA-PRABHĀ + the iconic VŌTHAṀBĀ-WITNESS-DROP ĀTMĀ image.

  • 13.1083 — ILLUMINATIVE-YIELD: aisēni yēṇēm nivāḍēm — jayācyā jīvīm ujivaḍēm — akartayātēm phuḍēm — dēkhilēm tēṇēm (BY THIS DISCRIMINATION — IN WHOSE HEART LIGHT-DAWNS — the AKARTĀ CLEARLY — HE HAS SEEN). The NIVĀḌĀ-discrimination + UJIVAḌĒṀ-LIGHT + AKARTĀ-clear-seeing rendering of the emphatic Sanskrit sa paśyati.

Four precise Marathi elevations beyond the Sanskrit

  1. MANO-BUDDHI-PRAMUKHĒṀ + KARMĒNDRIYĒṀ-AŚĒKHĒṀ qualifier (13.1080) — PRAKṚTI's instrumental-deployment named via the MANO-BUDDHI-HEADED full-indriya-set, precisely tracking the BG-13.5-6 kṣetra-anthropology.

  2. GHAR-house + AMBARA-sky twin-simile pair (13.1081) — purely Marathi domestic + cosmic illustrative-pedagogy. DWELLERS MOVE in the HOUSE — the HOUSE itself DOES NOTHING; CLOUDS RUN in the SKY — the SKY STAYS STILL. The twin-simile strategy confirms the doctrine from the everyday to the cosmic scale.

  3. PRAKṚTI as ĀTMA-PRABHĀ + VŌTHAṀBĀ-WITNESS-DROP ĀTMĀ (13.1082) — PRAKṚTI named as the ĀTMA-RADIANCE (distinct-but-derivative) PLAYING in the three GUṆAS with VIVIDHĀRAMBHĀ (various-beginnings) + the iconic VŌTHAṀBĀ DROP-WITNESS image naming the ĀTMĀ as the motionless-witness who NĒṆĒ-KŌṆA KNOWS-NO-ONE.

  4. UJIVAḌĒṀ-LIGHT-DAWNING + AKARTAYĀTĒṀ-PHUḌĒṀ-DEKHILĒṀ (13.1083) — the iconic Marathi inner-illumination-pedagogy: LIGHT-DAWNS in the heart of the discriminator + the AKARTĀ is CLEARLY-SEEN. Purely Marathi pedagogical-elevation of the emphatic Sanskrit sa paśyati doubling.

Arc-position

BG-13.29 stands within the adhyāya-13 PRAKṚTI-PURUṢA further-distinctions block (BG-13.19-34), following the FOUR-PATH-CATALOG (BG-13.24-25) + ĀTMA-VYAYA-doctrine (BG-13.26-28). The doctrinal-progression from 0483 (BG-13.28 na hinasti — NON-DESTRUCTION-of-SELF) to 0484 (BG-13.29 prakṛtyaiva ca karmāṇi — NON-AGENCY-of-SELF) is precisely from NON-DESTRUCTION to NON-AGENCY — two complementary moves naming the ĀTMĀ's transcendence: INDESTRUCTIBLE + NON-DOER. The next cluster (0485) extends with BG-13.30's iconic yadā bhūta-pṛthag-bhāvam ekastham anupaśyati — seeing-the-multiplicity-of-beings as ONE-LOCATED. The cluster pairs with BG-3.27 (original-statement of the doctrine) + BG-5.8-9 (TATTVA-VIT clear-seeing) + BG-14.19 (guṇebhyaḥ-param-vetti) as the iconic PRAKṚTI-KARMA-AKARTṚ doctrinal-architecture of the Bhagavad-Gītā.