तत्रैवं सति कर्तारमात्मानं केवलं तु यः ।
पश्यत्यकृतबुद्धित्वान्न स पश्यति दुर्मतिः ॥ १८.१६ ॥

tatraivam sati kartāram-ātmānam kevalam tu ya: |
paśyaty-akṛta-buddhitvān-na sa paśyati durmati: || 18.16 ||

The non-acting Soul

Having exposed the pañcama factor and its role in the dhārmic and adhārmic endeavours alike, Krishna provides the true spiritual sublimation to all activities, by showing the non-acting Soul, reigning supremely within and above all activities:

Despite that, due to unrefined intelligence, he who views the Singular Self as the doer, is of ill-directed (perverse) vision. He does not verily see at all.

Whether righteous or unrighteous, all activities have their undulating fates. At the same time to think that this acting plane – the body, mind and speech – is the only one the human consists of, is grossly wrong.

Leave actions to their own limitations and fates and elevate the vision to the Eternal Soul. The Singular Soul is the least involved in any movement, action or its result. One who thinks that the Soul acts and hence is subject to dharma and adharma as well as its three-fold result, is perverted. He does not understand the truth at all. The identity denoted by the term ‘I’ always refers to the Supreme Soul, which as pointed out right from the second chapter, is non-acting, unaffected, immovable and full.

To use the word ‘I’ to denote oneself, one’s identity, at the same time not to understand what it represents is absurd or ludicrous. The body, mind, etc. are at best one’s possessions, but none of these is oneself, one’s Self. Being so, should not an effort be made to know and realize what this ‘I’ identity verily is?

While the body, mind, etc. are given to constant activity and its effects, the ‘I’, the Soul within, remains totally above all causal and actional processes. This is what Krishna emphasized in the guṇa-traya vibhāga discussion of the 14th chapter (14.19).

Krishna’s sole purpose is to discuss a subject and in the process elevate and sublimate the listener. In every chapter this is what he has attempted and achieved, keeping Arjuna in front. The most important part of the discussion is that the mind and intelligence should be elevated to the Soul-level. They must be able to interact with the world remaining anchored in the transcendental sublimity of the Soul.