Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya Charan

Bg 18.15

śarīra-vāṅ-manobhir yat
karma prārabhate naraḥ
nyāyyaṁ vā viparītaṁ vā
pañcaite tasya hetavaḥ

Synonyms: 

śarīra — by the body; vāk — speech; manobhiḥ — and mind; yat — which; karma — work; prārabhate — begins; naraḥ — a person; nyāyyam — right; vā — or; viparītam — the opposite; vā — or; pañca — five; ete — all these; tasya — its; hetavaḥ — causes.

Translation: 

Whatever right or wrong action a man performs by body, mind or speech is caused by these five factors.

śarīra-vāṅ-manobhir yat, so body mind and speech 

karma prārabhate naraḥ, the karma that a person starts that may sometimes 

nyāyyaṁ vā viparītaṁ vā, nyāyya that which is right, viparītaṁ, that which is wrong. So sometime these activities gives a good result sometimes it gives a bad result, but whatever the results are coming pañcaite tasya hetavaḥ, these five factors are involved in getting those results, 

So we will do activities with body, mind and word auspicious or inauspicious but these five factors are involved.

So Krishna is emphasizing the pervasiveness of these five factors of actions. 

Srila Prabhupada’s purport: The words “right” and “wrong” are very significant in this verse. Right work is work done in terms of the prescribed directions in the scriptures, and wrong work is work done against the principles of the scriptural injunctions. But whatever is done requires these five factors for its complete performance.

End of transcription.