प्रकृत्यैव च कर्माणि क्रियमाणानि सर्वशः / यः पश्यति तथात्मानम् अकर्तारम् स पश्यति
prakṛtyaiva ca karmāṇi kriyamāṇāni sarvaśaḥ / yaḥ paśyati tathātmānam akartāram sa paśyati
Seeing all actions done by prakṛti alone and the Self as non-doer — that is true seeing.
Word by word (3)
- prakṛtyā eva ca karmāṇi kriyamāṇāni sarvaśaḥ
- — Actions (karmāṇi) are being performed/done (kriyamāṇāni = present passive participle of kṛ) entirely (sarvaśaḥ = in every way, completely) by prakṛti alone (prakṛtyā eva) · Prakṛtyā = by prakṛti (instrumental case). Eva = alone, certainly, indeed. Sarvaśaḥ = completely, in every way. Every single action — physical, mental, verbal — is being performed BY prakṛti's guṇa-machinery. The puruṣa/ātman is not the actor in any sense. This is the vedāntic resolution of agency: what appears to be 'my action' is entirely the dance of the guṇas in the kṣetra.
- yaḥ paśyati tathā ātmānam akartāram
- — who sees (yaḥ paśyati) thus (tathā) the Self (ātmānam) as the non-doer (akartāram = a + kartāram = not the doer) · Akartāram = not-the-doer (a + kartṛ = agent/doer). Seeing the ātman as akartāram is the second liberation-vision (parallel to sama-darśana of V28). The practitioner who sees: 'this body-mind is doing/thinking/feeling, but the ātman within is utterly non-doing, a pure witness' — that seeing IS liberation from the doership-trap.
- saḥ paśyati
- — that one truly sees — the same certifying formula as V28's yaḥ paśyati sa paśyati · The repetition of 'sa paśyati' from V28 (in inverted structure: yaḥ paśyati... sa paśyati → yaḥ paśyati... sa paśyati) forms a ring with V28: two modes of liberation-seeing are declared with the same certification. V28 = seeing parameśvara equally in all; V30 = seeing the Self as akartāra. These are the same insight from two angles: (a) inward (the Self is non-doing), (b) outward (the Lord is equally in all).
The second liberation-vision alongside sama-darśana: non-doership. ALL actions — every movement, every thought, every word, every feeling — are performed by prakṛti alone (prakṛtyā eva, sarvaśaḥ = completely). The Self (ātman/kṣetrajña) is akartāram — the non-doer, the pure witness. To SEE this — to actually perceive 'actions are happening in the field; the ātman is not doing' — is liberation. 'Sa paśyati' = the same certifying formula as V28.
A modern analogy
The wind plays through the branches of a tree — every leaf, branch, and root moves in the wind. You are the tree. Now: is the tree doing the moving? Or is the wind (prakṛti's guṇas) doing it through the tree's structure? The tree stands; the wind acts. You are the witness; the guṇas act. Seeing this = akartāram paśyati = sa paśyati.
What it does NOT mean
Akartāram-vision does not mean 'I can do anything because I'm not the doer anyway.' The guṇas of prakṛti still generate karma when actions are done with identification (guṇa-saṅga). The point is not moral license but identity-freedom: knowing yourself as the non-doing ātman, you act through the kṣetra without the ego-claim 'I did this.' That freedom generates niṣkāma karma — action without karma-binding.
Yaḥ paśyati (V28 and V30) forms a ring: two modes of the liberating vision. V28 = sama-darśana (equal vision of the Lord in all = outward orientation of non-dual seeing). V30 = akartāra-darśana (non-doership vision = inward orientation of non-dual seeing). Same non-dual recognition from two angles: (1) looking outward at all beings = see the same Lord; (2) looking inward at the ātman = see the non-doer. Together they constitute complete non-dual vision.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
He sees, who sees that all actions are done by Prakriti alone and that the Self is actionless. [4]
[Arnold full chapter text; verse states he truly sees who sees actions done by Prakriti alone and the Self as non-doer] [7]
And he truly sees, who sees all actions everywhere performed by nature alone, and the self as not the doer. [9]
He truly sees, who sees that all actions are done by Prakriti alone, and the Self is not the doer. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
All actions are done by the gunas of nature. The ego-deluded one thinks 'I am the doer' — this is the root of bondage.
One with no ego-doer-sense, whose buddhi is untainted — even while killing all these beings, kills not, is not bound.
By bhakti one truly knows what and who I am; then knowing Me truly, one enters into Me immediately.
The Vedas deal in the three qualities of nature — go beyond them: free from opposites, self-possessed.
The fully self-realized person has no binding duty — their joy, satisfaction, and fullness come entirely from within.
For the fully realized: neither action nor inaction gains or loses anything. They depend on no being for any purpose.