Bhagavad Gita 13.30

prakṛtyaiva ca karmāṇi

kriyamāṇāni sarvaśaḥ

yaḥ paśyati tathātmānam

akartāraṁ sa paśyati

 

All actions nature alone performs,

In countless ways, in countless forms;

Who sees the Self as never the doer,

That one truly sees—clear and sure.

 

My dear Lord, life’s most disturbing reality is its casual cruelty—how something I have devoted my life to building or protecting can be destroyed with such nonchalance, as if it never meant anything at all.

O supreme guide, you explain that all actions in this world occur under the influence of material nature, which acts through its modes. Depending on the mode I choose to be in, consciously or unconsciously, my worldview becomes correspondingly constructed—and constricted. Thereafter, when inexorable time acts to wreck whatever I cherish within that worldview, I feel as if my whole world has come crashing down.

O infallible Lord, that is why you urge me to rest my sense of identity in my indestructible soul, which is forever beyond the modes. You also urge me to rest my sense of life’s purpose in my connection with you—who not only transcend the modes but also act through the modes to transform me. Help me see you as the expert overseer of everything, who, through all the world’s upheavals, advances your compassionate plan for the evolution of my consciousness.

O benevolent Lord, empower me to appreciate your compassion as life’s most consequential reality—transcendental and transformational. Thus may I persevere faithfully until what seems like the world’s casual cruelty is revealed as purposeful pain, through which you draw me closer to you, my ultimate shelter, unfailing and unflinching.

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13.30 One who can see that all activities are performed by the body, which is created of material nature, and sees that the self does nothing, actually sees.