Śrīla Prabhupāda cited 3.27 489 times: one of his ten most cited Gītā verses
Speaker: Śrī Kṛṣṇa
प्रकृतेः क्रियमाणानि गुणैः कर्माणि सर्वशः ।
अहङ्कारविमूढात्मा कर्ताहमिति मन्यते ॥२७॥
prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni
guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ
ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā
kartāham iti manyate
Word for word (synonyms)
- prakṛteḥ
- of material nature
- kriyamāṇāni
- all being done
- guṇaiḥ
- by the modes
- karmāṇi
- activities
- sarvaśaḥ
- all kinds of
- ahaṅkāra-vimūḍha
- bewildered by false ego
- ātmā
- the spirit soul
- kartā
- doer
- aham
- I
- iti
- thus
- manyate
- thinks
Translation
The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.
Defined in the Gītā
The three modes
Who has transcended the three modes of nature?
The Blessed Lord said: He who does not hate illumination, attachment and delusion when they are present, nor longs for them when they disappear; who is seated like one unconcerned, being situated beyond these material reactions of the modes of nature, who remains firm, knowing that the modes alone are active; who regards alike pleasure and pain, and looks on a clod, a stone and a piece of gold with an equal eye; who is wise and holds praise and blame to be the same; who is unchanged in honor and dishonor, who treats friend and foe alike, who has abandoned all fruitive undertakings—such a man is said to have transcended the modes of nature.
Purport
Two persons, one in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and the other in material consciousness, working on the same level, may appear to be working on the same platform, but there is a wide gulf of difference in their respective positions. The person in material consciousness is convinced by false ego that he is the doer of everything. He does not know that the mechanism of the body is produced by material nature, which works under the supervision of the Supreme Lord. The materialistic person has no knowledge that ultimately he is under the control of Kṛṣṇa. The person in false ego takes all credit for doing everything independently, and that is the symptom of his nescience. He does not know that this gross and subtle body is the creation of material nature, under the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and as such his bodily and mental activities should be engaged in the service of Kṛṣṇa, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The ignorant man forgets that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is known as Hṛṣīkeśa, or the master of the senses of the material body, for due to his long misuse of the senses in sense gratification, he is factually bewildered by the false ego, which makes him forget his eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa.
What this verse teaches
A karma-yogī works with detachment and doesn’t disturb the ignorant men who think themselves the doers.
In thematic compilations 2
- The bewildered soul, under the influence of modes, thinks himself the doer. (3.27 prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni...)
Śrīla Prabhupāda lectures 3
- Bhagavad-gītā 3.18-30 1968-12-30 · Los Angeles
- Bhagavad-gītā 3.27 at Town Hall 1974-06-27
- Bhagavad-gītā 3.27 1976-01-01
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International.