Verse 18.15

Verse 18.15: “By body, speech, or the mind, whatever act man takes up or rightful, or its reverse-these five are the causes operating therein. (354)

Commentary called Jnaneshwari by Jnaneshwar:

The sudden advent of Spring is the efficient cause of the new foliage (sprouting on the trees), bringing in its wake flowers and fruits. The monsoons bring clouds, and the clouds the rain, and the rain the abundance of com: or the East gives birth to the dawn (aruṇa) while the dawn brings the sunrise and the day gets fully lighted owing to the Sun; similarly the mind is the efficient cause, Oh Son of Pandu, of all the thoughts and ideas of actions, and these ideas kindle the lamp of the faculty of speech. When the lamp brightens the path of the aggregate of actions (to be performed), the doer (agent) sets about performing actions.

The body with the group of organs thus becomes the cause of the bodily actions, in the way the (very) iron-hammer hammers out iron, or in the way the threads inter-woven crosswise with other threads give the entire thread group the appearance of a piece of cloth. Similarly all actions performed by the mind, speech and the body spring from mind, speech and body, in the way the very gems constitute the gem-studded ornament. Certain persons might raise the doubt as to how the body and others which are the cause, could also be responsible for actions. Such ones should listen (to the explanation).

The Sun alone is the instrumental cause, as also the material cause of the light of the Sun, or the joints (in the sugarcane) perform the same function with respect to the growth of the sugarcane, or the faculty of speech is resorted to for singing the praise of the Goddess of Learning (Speech), or the greatness of the Vedas is required to be expressed by the Vedas themselves. In that way as we do know that the body-group is the material cause of the actions, so also is the unerring fact that the body etc. is also the instrumental cause of actions and when the two causes (both constituted of the body-group) combine together, there is set up the aggregate of actions and if this aggregate of actions strictly follows the course enjoined by the Scriptures, it becomes rightful (just), and is productive of rightfulness.

The rain-water automatically flows into a rice-field and gets absorbed there: yet in doing so it proves of immense use (to the crop); or one of unsound mind in the heat of wrath, thoughtlessly walks out of his house and (by sheer chance) happens to proceed along the road leading to Dvaraka [Dvaraka]; here although he gets physically tired, yet, not a single step of his can be said to be fruitless. In that way any action that issues from the combination of the causes and intentions is simply blind; yet if it is done strictly according to the enjoinments of the Scriptures, it is said to be done rightfully. If milk while being served, drops directly into the dish itself, it is spent; it is also spent when it is overboiled (falling outside the pot), but the latter does not constitute its proper spending.

In that way, if actions performed otherwise than as prescribed in the Scriptures, do not prove fruitless, why riches stolen away by the thieves should not be debited (in accounts) as spent in charity? Whatever the hymn, it can never be composed of alphabet outside the 52 (known) letters, Oh Son of Pandu; and is there any person, who, on some occasion or the other, has not uttered (all of) these 52 letters of the alphabet? Yet, so long as there is no understanding in the heart, of the essence of the hymn, there cannot be secured, Oh Kodandapani, (epithet of Arjuna) the (due) fruit (of chanting the hymn), even by one uttering entire the alphabet! In that way, so long as actions are performed out of erratic whim through the combination of the causes but are not (done) as prescribed in the Scriptures, they are not actions (truly) done even though they might be (technically termed) actions; in fact such an action is sinful (unjust) being a product of sin.