Download Bhagwad Gita 3.27 Download BG 3.27 as Image

⮪ BG 3.26 Bhagwad Gita English BG 3.28⮫

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3 Verse 27

भगवद् गीता अध्याय 3 श्लोक 27

प्रकृतेः क्रियमाणानि गुणैः कर्माणि सर्वशः।
अहङ्कारविमूढात्मा कर्ताऽहमिति मन्यते।।3.27।।

English Translation - Swami Gambirananda

3.27 While actions are being done in every way by the gunas (alities) of Nature, one who is deluded by egoism thinks thus: I am the doer.

English Translation - Swami Sivananda

3.27 All actions are wrought in all cases by the alities of Nature only. He whose mind is deluded by egoism thinks, I am the doer.

English Translation - Dr. S. Sankaranarayan

3.27. The actions are performed part by part, by the Strands of the Prakrti; [yet] the person, having his self (mind) deluded with egoity, imagines I am [alone] the doer.

English Commentary - Swami Sivananda

3.27 प्रकृतेः of nature? क्रियमाणानि are performed? गुणैः by the alities? कर्माणि actions? सर्वशः in all cases? अहङ्कारविमूढात्मा one whose mind is deluded by egosim? कर्ता doer? अहम् I? इति thus? मन्यते thinks.Commentary Prakriti or Pradhana or Nature is that state in which the three Gunas? viz.? Sattva? Rajas and Tamas exist in a state of eilibrium. When this eilibrium is disturbed? creation begins body? senses? mind? etc.? are formed. The man who is deluded by egoism identifies the Self with the body? mind? the life force and the senses and ascribes to the Self all the attributes of the body and the senses. He? therefore? thinks through ignorance? I am the doer. In reality the Gunas of Nature perform all actions. (Cf.III.29V.9IX.9?10XIII.21?24?30?32XVIII.13?14).

English Translation of Sanskrit Commentary By Sri Shankaracharya's

3.27 Karmani kriyamanani, while actions, secular and scriptural, are being done; sarvasah, in ever way; gunaih, by the gunas, (i.e.) by the modifications in the form of body and organs; (born) prakrteh, of Nature-Nature, (otherwise known as) Pradhana [Pradhana, Maya, the Power of God.], being the state of eilibrium of the three alities of sattva, rajas and tamas; ahankara-vimudha-atma, one who is deluded by egoism; manyate, thinks; iti, thus; Aham karta, I am the doer. Ahankara is self-identification with the aggregate of body and organs. He whose atma, mind, is vimudham, diluded in diverse ways, by that (ahankara) is ahankara-vimudha-atma. He who imagines the characteristics of the body and organs to be his own, who has self-identification with the body and the organs, and who, through ignorance, believes the activities to be his own-, he thinks, I am the doer of those diverse activities.

English Translation of Commentary - Dr. S. Sankaranarayan

3.27 Prakreh etc. Indeed the actions are performed by the Strands, Sattva etc., belonging to the Prakrti. But the fool unnecessarily binds himself by wrongly comprehending I am the doer.

English Translation of Ramanuja's Sanskrit Commentary

3.27 It is the Gunas of Prakrti like Sattva, Rajas etc., that perform all the activities appropriate to them. But the man, whose nature is deluded by his Ahankara, thinks, I am the doer of all these actions. Ahankara is the mistaken conception of I applied to the workings of Prakrti which is not the I. The meaning is that it is because of this (Ahankara), that one who is ignorant of the real nature of the self, thinks, I am the doer with regard to the activities that are really being done by the Gunas of Prakrti.

Commentary - Chakravarthi Ji

The doubt may arise: how to distinguish the person in knowledge (vidvan) from the ignorant person, if the man in knowledge also performs actions. Two verses explain the difference. The ignorant person thinks that he is the performer of all the actions, which are actually performed completely by the material senses, which in turn are the products of the gunas (prakrteh gunaih).

Rudra Vaishnava Sampradaya - Commentary

An argument may be put forth that if the person situated in knowledge of the Vedas also has to perform actions then what is the difference between the ignorant and the wise? Lord Krishna apprehending such a doubt explains the difference between the two in this verse and the next. All actions are impelled by prakriti or material nature through the gunas being the three modes of sattva or goodness, rajas or passion and tamas or nescience and these are experienced by the mind when the senses make contact with sense objects. Thus the ignorant person believes that they are the doer of the actions because the false ego has accepted the physical body as the self and deluded by this egoism has superimposed the senses over the self in illusion.

Brahma Vaishnava Sampradaya - Commentary

The difference between the actions of a person of wisdom and those who are ignorant is explained now. The person of wisdom recognises that the whole material existence is operating under the auspices of the three gunas or the modes of material nature being goodness, passion and nescience. From gunas comes the word gunataih which indicates one who is influenced by their senses. This is the symptom of one who is in ignorance is that they are controlled by their senses. The sense are on a lower platform then prakriti or material nature and are influenced by the three gunas. The one who is in ignorance is dominated by the senses assuming that they are doer and cause of their actions and thus stricken with false ego they perform all actions with desires and attachment. That person of wisdom recognises that all actions are but the result of the interaction of the three gunas and material nature and remaining free of desires and attachment performs all actions as a matter of duty. This is what Lord Krishna conveys here.

Shri Vaishnava Sampradaya - Commentary

There is no commentary for this verse.

Kumara Vaishnava Sampradaya - Commentary

A question may be raised that the spiritually wise may sometimes perform actions that are also performed by the ignorant then what is the difference? Lord Krishna clarifies this point with the word prakriteh meaning the material nature which is impelling actions through the medium of the three gunas being the modes of prakriti known as sattva or goodness, rajas or passion and tamas or nescience. One who is perplexed by false ego believes that they are the physical body and that the physical body is the doer of all their actions. On the scriptural authority of the Vedas the atma or soul is the doer but this is fully experienced only when moksa or liberation from material existence is attained. The impressions of the atma filter through the medium of the physical body in proportion to the purity of the mind. In Brahma Sutra II.III.XXXIII we see in the verse that the atma is the doer. Yet because the knowledge of a person in ignorance is limited the filtering process is negligible and they perceive their physical body as the doer of all their actions when in actuality all actions are performed by the interaction of material nature, the three gunas and the false ego. Because of this the ignorant whose minds are completely bewildered by false ego believe falsely that they are their bodies and that they are the doer of their actions.

Transliteration Bhagavad Gita 3.27

Prakriteh kriyamaanaani gunaih karmaani sarvashah; Ahamkaaravimoodhaatmaa kartaaham iti manyate.

Word Meanings Bhagavad Gita 3.27

prakṛiteḥ—of material nature; kriyamāṇāni—carried out; guṇaiḥ—by the three modes; karmāṇi—activities; sarvaśhaḥ—all kinds of; ahankāra-vimūḍha-ātmā—those who are bewildered by the ego and misidentify themselves with the body; kartā—the doer; aham—I; iti—thus; manyate—thinks