Chapter 3 - Verse 27

प्रकृतेः क्रियमाणानि गुणैः कर्माणि सर्वशः ।
अहङ्कारविमूढात्मा कर्ताऽहमिति मन्यते ॥ २७ ॥

prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ .
ahaṅkāravimūḍhātmā kartā’hamiti manyate .. 27 ..


Actions are wrought in all cases by the energies of Nature. He whose mind is deluded by egoism thinks ‘I am the doer.’
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Nature (Prakṛti, Pradhāna) is the equipoised state of the three gunas or energies, viz., sattva (goodness), rajas (activity), tamas (darkness). It is by the gunas or the modifications of Nature, manifesting themselves as the body and the senses, that all our actions, conducive to temporal and spiritual ends. are done. The man whose mind (antahkarana) is variously deluded by ahamkara, by egoism identifying the aggregate of the body and the senses with the Self, i. e., who ascribes to himself all the attributes of the body and the senses and thus thoroughly identifies himself with them—he, by nescience, sees actions in himself : as regards every action, he thinks “I am the doer.”

But as regards the wise man :