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Chapter 13 · Verse 21
🪈 Krishna speaks
Illustration for Chapter 13, Verse 21

कार्यकारणकर्तृत्वे हेतुः प्रकृतिरुच्यते। पुरुषः सुखदुःखानां भोक्तृत्वे हेतुरुच्यते॥

kāryakāraṇakartṛtve hetuḥ prakṛtir ucyate | puruṣaḥ sukhaduḥkhānāṁ bhoktṛtve hetur ucyate ||

Word by Word 9 words
कार्यकारणकर्तृत्वे
kṛ to do) — kārya (what is made, the effect kṛ to do) — kāraṇa (the means, the organs kṛ to do) — kartṛtva (doer-ness

in the doing of the body and its working organs

हेतुः
hi to impel) — hetu (cause, reason

the cause

प्रकृतिः
pra forth kṛ to make

nature, prakriti

उच्यते
vac to speak, to call

is said to be

पुरुषः
puruṣa the dweller in the body, the Self

the conscious Self, the witness

सुखदुःखानाम्
su good) — sukha (happiness dus bad) — duḥkha (pain, sorrow

of pleasures and pains

भोक्तृत्वे
bhuj to enjoy, to experience) — bhoktṛtva (experiencer-ness

in the experiencing

हेतुः
hi to impel) — hetu (cause

the cause

उच्यते
vac to speak, to call

is said to be

— nature — is the cause behind all the doing: it makes the body and the busy hands and feet and senses that get things done. But — the Self — is the one behind the feeling: it is the cause of experiencing the happiness and the hurt. Nature does the work; the Self is the one who feels pleasure and pain through it.

कथा

Who Feels the Bumps?

An original story

Hari Uncle's old bullock-cart rattled down the dirt track to the paddy fields, and Aarav sat up on the wooden seat beside him, holding on tight.

The two bullocks plodded ahead, swishing their tails. The big wooden wheels creaked and bounced over every rut and root in the road. Thunk. Thunk. A deep pothole sent Aarav nearly off the seat, and he yelped and laughed.

"Ow! Uncle, this cart is trying to throw me off!"

Hari Uncle chuckled and steadied him. "Tell me something, Aarav. When we hit that big hole just now — who felt the bump?"

"I did!" said Aarav, rubbing his side. "And you too."

"And the cart? Did the cart feel it?"

Aarav looked down at the rough wooden boards, the spinning wheels, the creaking axle. "No. The cart doesn't feel anything. It just... bumps. It does the bumping. But the bumping doesn't hurt the cart."

"Right," said Hari Uncle, guiding the bullocks around a stone. "And who does the moving? Do you move this heavy cart with your wishing?"

"No, the wheels do that. And the bullocks. The cart and the wheels do all the moving and the carrying."

"There it is," said Hari Uncle warmly. "The cart, the wheels, the bullocks — that is nature, . It does all the work. It rolls, it carries, it bumps along the road. It's the doer. But it doesn't feel the breeze or the jolts or the warmth of the sun. You do. The one sitting on top, awake — that's the rider. The rider feels everything: the bumps that hurt, the smooth stretches that are nice, the cool wind. The rider is — the one who feels."

They came out of the trees, and the paddy fields opened wide and green and glittering before them. A heron lifted off a flooded patch.

"So," said Aarav slowly, "my body is like the cart. My hands do the work, my legs do the walking, my eyes do the looking. But the real me — the one who's happy right now looking at these fields — that's the rider."

"And here is the secret," said Hari Uncle, stopping the cart at the field's edge. "When you remember you are the rider, not the cart, the bumps still come — but they don't throw you off. The cart can be old and creaky. The rider sits steady, watching the green fields go by."

Aarav looked out at the shining paddy and felt, for a moment, exactly like that steady rider, light and unworried, while the tired old cart cooled and ticked beneath him.

चिन्तनम्

Your hands and feet do the running and the work, but a quiet 'you' inside is the one who feels happy or sore. Can you notice the feeler inside you, separate from the body doing the action?