Sanskrit
शरीरवाङ्मनोभिर्यत्कर्म प्रारभते नरः । न्याय्यं वा विपरीतं वा पञ्चैते तस्य हेतवः ॥ १५ ॥
śarīravāṅmanobhir yat karma prārabhate naraḥ nyāyyaṃ vā viparītaṃ vā pañcaite tasya hetavaḥ
Translation
Whatever action a man performeth by his body, speech and mind, whether right or the reverse, these five are the cause thereof.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Whatever a person does — through body, speech, or mind, whether proper or its opposite — traces back to these same five causes. Extending the causal analysis to speech and thought as well as physical deed closes an obvious loophole: this isn’t only about visible action, it’s about the full range of what a person “does” in any register. “Right or wrong” — nyāyya or viparīta — both alike have the five factors. The analysis is impartial: it does not excuse bad action, it dissolves the ego’s claim to be its sole source.
Study deeper
Word by word
- śarīravāṅmanobhir yat karmaशरीरवाङ्मनोभिः यत् कर्म
- whatever action a person begins (śarīra-vāk-manobhiḥ + yat + karma)
- prārabhate naraḥप्रारभते नरः
- with body, speech, and mind (prārabhate + naraḥ)
- nyāyyaṃ vā viparītaṃ vāन्याय्यं वा विपरीतं वा
- whether right or wrong (nyāyyam + vā + viparītam + vā)
- pañcaite tasya hetavaḥपञ्चैते तस्य हेतवः
- these five are its causes (pañca + ete + tasya + hetavaḥ)
Commentary
Site Commentary
This line quietly raises the stakes on every verse before it: if the same five causes and the same guna analysis apply to speech and thought as much as to physical deeds, then “sattvic action” was never only about what your hands do — an unkind word or a resentful thought, produced through the same five-cause machinery, is under the same scrutiny as a visible act. The chapter’s ethics turn out to cover far more of a day than the word “action” first suggested.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Apply the same scrutiny you'd give a big decision to your everyday words and inner self-talk — a resentful thought or a sharp comment runs through the same causal machinery as any visible action, so it deserves the same honest look at motive, not a free pass just because no one saw it.
Professional
- Remember that a dismissive comment in a meeting or a curt message counts as an action with the same weight as a shipped decision — if you'd scrutinize the motive behind a major call, apply that same scrutiny to what you say when you think it doesn't 'count' as much.
Family & Social
- A sharp word spoken at home in frustration isn't a lesser event than an action you'd apologize for — it comes from the same place and has real effects, so give it the same honest look at what drove it that you'd give any other choice you made.
Ask yourself
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