Verse 227

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

न च कर्तृत्वभोक्तृत्वे पुंसोऽवस्थां समाश्रिते ।
ततोऽवस्थावतस्तत्त्वात्कर्त्तैवाप्नोति तत्फलम् ॥ २२७ ॥

na ca kartṛtvabhoktṛtve puṃso'vasthāṃ samāśrite |
tato'vasthāvatastattvātkarttaivāpnoti tatphalam || 227 ||

“The soul’s characters of ‘doer’ and ‘experiencer’ are not dependent upon the state; hence, as it is the soul itself that remains the same through the various states, it is the doer of the act that always obtains (experiences) the fruit of that act.”—(227)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

Objection—If the Spirit (Soul) is of the nature of both states, the state that does the act would not be the same that experiences its effects; so that this doctrine also would involve the anomaly of the ‘destruction of what is done and the befalling of what is not done’,

The answer to this is as follows—[see verse 227 above]

The character of being the Doer—and that of being the Experiencer—are not dependent upon the state of the Soul; they are dependent upon the Soul itself; as it is the Soul itself,—not its condition or state—which does the Act and experiences its effects. Hence, for this reason, inasmuch as the Soul to whom the states belong remains the same and does not abandon its previous form, it is the Doer himself who secures the fruit of that Act.—So that this doctrine is not open to the said objection.—(227)