प्रकृतेः क्रियमाणानि गुणैः कर्माणि सर्वशः । अहङ्कारविमूढात्मा कर्ताहमिति मन्यते ॥
prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ | ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate ||
All actions are done by the gunas of nature. The ego-deluded one thinks 'I am the doer' — this is the root of bondage.
Word by word (3)
- prakṛteḥ guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ kriyamāṇāni
- — all actions are performed entirely by the gunas of Prakriti · Prakṛti = nature (primordial material nature — the field of all phenomena). Guṇa = the three fundamental qualities/forces: tamas (inertia/darkness), rajas (passion/activity), sattva (clarity/harmony). Sarvaśaḥ = entirely, in every way. Kriyamāṇāni = being performed (passive present participle). ALL action — without exception — is performed by Prakriti's gunas operating through the body-mind instrument.
- ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā
- — the one whose self is deluded by ego/I-sense · Ahaṅkāra = the I-maker, ego (aham = I, kāra = maker). Vimūḍha = thoroughly confused, deluded. Ātmā = self. The compound: the self that is completely confused by the false I-sense. Ahaṅkāra is the mechanism that labels Prakriti's actions as 'mine' — creating the illusion of personal doership.
- kartā aham iti manyate
- — thinks 'I am the doer' · Kartā = doer, agent (from kṛ, to do). Aham = I. Manyate = thinks, believes (from man, to think). The core delusion of ignorance: the ego claims authorship of actions that were actually performed by Prakriti's gunas. This false claim of doership is the source of all karmic bondage.
All actions are entirely performed by the gunas (qualities) of Prakriti (nature). But the person whose self is deluded by ego thinks: 'I am the doer.'
A modern analogy
A wave rises on the ocean and thinks: 'I did that — I am powerful!' But it was the ocean's energy moving through it. The wave claimed authorship of what the ocean did. V27: the ego (ahaṅkāra) is the wave claiming doership of actions that were the ocean's (Prakriti/Brahman) all along.
Take with you
- The gunas (tamas, rajas, sattva) are doing the acting — your body-mind is their instrument.
- Ego-claiming of those actions ('I did it, therefore I am great/bad/responsible') is the delusion.
- This does not mean no accountability — it means the accountability should be for how you work with the gunas, not for claiming to be their source.
- Recognizing 'the gunas are acting' begins to dissolve the ego's grip on outcomes.
V27 is one of the Gita's most philosophically dense verses — the point where karma-yoga intersects with Sāṃkhya metaphysics. The Sāṃkhya framework: Puruṣa (pure consciousness, the witness) and Prakṛti (nature, matter) are distinct. All action belongs to Prakṛti (which operates through the three gunas). The Puruṣa is pure witness — it does not act, it watches. But ahaṅkāra (the I-maker) falsely identifies the Puruṣa with Prakṛti's actions, creating the delusion 'I am the doer.' From the Advaita perspective (Shankaracharya): the same principle operates at the level of Brahman — ultimately there is only Brahman, and all apparent actions are Brahman's play (līlā). The 'doer' is the false identification of the infinite with the finite.
Advaita lens
Shankaracharya uses V27 as key evidence for the Advaita position: the Ātman (true Self) is pure witness-consciousness — it does not act. Action belongs to the body-mind (anātmā) which is a modification of Prakṛti. Avidyā (ignorance) creates the superimposition of action-ownership onto the Ātman. Jñāna (self-knowledge) removes this superimposition — and the 'doer' dissolves. This is the mokṣa that karma-yoga points toward: not the cessation of action but the cessation of the false claim of doership.
Bhakti lens
For bhakti, V27's revelation that it is the guṇas of Prakṛti that do all actions is liberating in a specific way: if I am not the real doer, then I can offer all action completely to the Divine. The ego's grip on 'I am the doer' (ahaṃkāra-vimūḍha-ātmā) is what bhakti dissolves through love. The bhakta who has truly surrendered to the Divine stops claiming authorship of actions — not through philosophical argument but through the lived experience of being moved by a love larger than the individual self. V27 from the bhakti angle: 'I did not do this — You did it through me, my Beloved.' This is the heart of arpita (offering): the recognition that the actions were never mine to offer — they were always the Divine's own movement through this instrument.
Karma-Yoga lens
For the karma-yogi, V27 provides the inner mechanics of non-attachment. When you see clearly that 'the gunas are acting, not me,' the ego's desperate grip on outcomes loosens. You can give full energy to the action AND release the result, because you were never the author in the way the ego claimed. Tilak: V27 is not fatalism — it is the deepest understanding of human agency. Working with the gunas consciously (cultivating sattva, moderating rajas, transforming tamas) is genuine agency — far more real than the ego's claim of doership.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
All actions are everywhere being done by the qualities of nature. He who is deluded by the ego thinks: 'I am the doer.' [1]
All actions are performed by the gunas of Prakriti. He whose mind is deluded by egoism thinks: 'I am the doer.' [4]
All actions are performed by the qualities of nature. He whose mind is deluded by the ego thinks 'I am the doer.' [6]
The bonds of Nature work All action, but the fool, deluded, thinks He is the worker. [7]
All actions are performed by the qualities of nature. He whose mind is deluded by egoism believes 'I am the doer.' [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
The tattva-vit sees gunas moving among gunas and does not become attached. Knowledge itself produces liberation.
Seeing the Lord equally everywhere, one does not harm the Self through the self — and reaches the highest.
One who — given the five causes — sees the self alone as doer due to unrefined intellect sees not; that is durmati.
The Vedas deal in the three qualities of nature — go beyond them: free from opposites, self-possessed.
Seeing all actions done by prakṛti alone and the Self as non-doer — that is true seeing.
Equal in honor and disgrace, equal to friend and foe, abandoning all undertakings — he has gone beyond guṇas.