Chapter 5 Shloka 15

नादत्ते कस्यचित्पापं न चैव सुकृतं विभु:।

अज्ञानेनावृतं ज्ञानं तेन मुह्यन्ति जन्तव:।।१५।।

That Omnipresent Lord does not accept

the sin or virtue of anybody.

Knowledge is enveloped by ignorance;

because of this, all beings are deluded.

Chapter 5 Shloka 15

नादत्ते कस्यचित्पापं न चैव सुकृतं विभु:।

अज्ञानेनावृतं ज्ञानं तेन मुह्यन्ति जन्तव:।।१५।।

Now Bhagwan proceeds:

That Omnipresent Lord does not accept the sin or virtue of anybody. Knowledge is enveloped by ignorance; because of this, all beings are deluded.

Vibhu (विभु)

1. That Supreme Atma, indestructible, indivisible and eternal, is devoid of all attributes.

2. That one is also beyond sense perception, immeasurable, matchless and the Whole Truth.

3. Being Silence and Luminescence Itself, no aberration or camouflage can conceal That One.

4. The Lord of all, That One could be said to be beyond comprehension, immovable and ever detached.

5. That One is blemishless and uninfluenceable, beyond duality and totally devoid of enmity.

On the other hand, the jiva, born of Maya and veiled by Prakriti, is like a puppet. That Supreme Brahm is not a participant in the jiva’s dream-like game of virtue and vice. Actions or the fruits of action do not belong to that Supreme One – they take place in accordance with the rules of Prakriti. Aberrations, attachment, moha, likes and dislikes, the fear of death, ego – all these go hand in hand with the body idea and defeat the jiva’s intellect. Thus the jiva, who is essentially a non-doer, a gunatit and of a stable intellect, becomes embroiled in desires instead; he becomes proud and starts serving his own body. Then he becomes affected by good and bad deeds. When he claims actions, those actions create seeds and become vitalised.

From those seeds springs forth the jiva’s next birth, a new body subjected to a destiny constituted of the seeds of past births. Having obtained the reflection of consciousness from That Supreme Consciousness, the jiva appears to be conscious and begins to perform actions. It is ignorance which again veils knowledge of the Truth and makes him claim his deeds.

The foolish, covered by the veil of ignorance, are oblivious to:

a) the knowledge of one’s true Self;

b) the differentiation between the inert and the conscious;

c) the essence of the gunas that constitute one’s nature;

d) their own reality.

1. They know not the nature of moha nor its method of working.

2. They do not even know what attachment is and what it does.

3. What constitutes action? What is not action? They do not know.

4. They are unable to comprehend reality and differentiate it from what is unreal.

5. They cannot distinguish the possible from the impossible.

6. What is knowledge and what is ignorance? They know not.

7. They know not what should be known, and have no desire to know it either!

8. On the other hand, they make continual efforts to know that which is not worth knowing.

Such foolish individuals seek to be satiated but tread the path of non-fulfilment. They wish to be eternal, but walk the road of mortality. They seek bliss, but gather sorrow. They claim that they want to be established in the Truth, but they tread the path of untruth.

Little one, you must understand another point here. Sin and virtue are in the hands of the individual. The Lord gives the individual full freedom to tread the path of his choice. He does not tell him to change his nature, nor does the Lord impose any changes Himself. Whatever a person’s innate nature may be, whether it leads him to sin or virtue depends on his sentiment. Even if he has a bitter nature, if he uses it for the benefit of the other, it becomes a virtue; and the most commendable nature, if used only for selfish ends, becomes a sin. Thus it becomes clear that virtue and sin are dependent on the person’s own attitude.

Seen in another light, consider that you are the creator of your own mind. Whether you merge it with the higher intellect or degrade it through attachment to sense objects, is entirely up to you.