Sanskrit
कार्यकारणकर्तृत्वे हेतुः प्रकृतिरुच्यते । पुरुषः सुखदुःखानां भोक्तृत्वे हेतुरुच्यते ॥
kāryakāraṇakartṛtve hetuḥ prakṛtir ucyate puruṣaḥ sukhaduḥkhānāṃ bhoktṛtve hetur ucyate
Translation
Matter is called the cause of the generation of causes and effects; Spirit is called the cause of the enjoyment of pleasure and pain.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Verse 20 established that neither principle creates the other; this verse divides their functions instead. Prakriti is called the cause (hetu) in the production of effects and instruments — everything the field-catalogue of verses 6-7 listed — while purusha is called the cause specifically of experiencing pleasure and pain. The asymmetry is the whole argument: prakriti acts, purusha experiences, and mistaking the second role for the first is exactly the error the chapter is building toward correcting by verse 30. BG 13.20 said neither creates the other; this divides their functions. Prakṛti acts, puruṣa experiences, and mistaking the second role for the first is exactly the error the chapter corrects by BG 13.30.
Study deeper
Word by word
- kāryakāraṇakartṛtveकार्यकारणकर्तृत्वे
- in the doership of effect and instrument (kārya-kāraṇa-kartṛtve)
- hetuḥ prakṛtir ucyateहेतुः प्रकृतिः उच्यते
- nature is said to be the cause (hetuḥ + prakṛtiḥ + ucyate)
- puruṣaḥ sukhaduḥkhānāṃपुरुषः सुखदुःखानां
- spirit, of pleasures and pains (puruṣaḥ + sukha-duḥkhānām)
- bhoktṛtve hetur ucyateभोक्तृत्वे हेतुः उच्यते
- is said to be the cause of experiencing (bhoktṛtve + hetuḥ + ucyate)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The verse’s two halves are grammatically symmetric — hetuḥ…ucyate, “is called the cause,” repeated for both prakriti and purusha — but the symmetry disguises an asymmetry underneath it. One is called the cause of producing effects, the other only of experiencing them; the matching sentence structure makes two very different kinds of causation look, for a moment, like equals.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Separate what actually produces outcomes in your life from what merely experiences them — conflating the two, thinking your reactions are the same thing as your circumstances, is the exact confusion this verse is built to prevent.
Professional
- Distinguish the system that generates an incident from the person who feels its pain — a symmetric-looking sentence like 'the pipeline failed and the on-call engineer suffered' hides an asymmetry worth naming before you assign fixes.
Family & Social
- When a family member is upset, separate what caused the situation from who is feeling the pain of it — treating the person's distress as if it were itself the cause only muddles the fix.
Ask yourself
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