Shloka 6
Sāṅkhya: Categories of the Absolute Truth and the Unfolding of Creation
Tattva-vicāra
एवं पराभिध्यानेन कर्तृत्वं प्रकृते: पुमान् । कर्मसु क्रियमाणेषु गुणैरात्मनि मन्यते ॥ ६ ॥
evaṁ parābhidhyānena kartṛtvaṁ prakṛteḥ pumān karmasu kriyamāṇeṣu guṇair ātmani manyate
Thus, through forgetfulness (parābhidhyāna), the living being claims the doership that belongs to material nature; and the actions carried out by the guṇas he wrongly thinks to be his own.
The forgetful living entity can be compared to a man who is under the influence of disease and has become mad or to a man haunted by ghosts, who acts without control and yet thinks himself to be in control. Under the influence of material nature, the conditioned soul becomes absorbed in material consciousness. In this consciousness, whatever is done under the influence of the material energy is accepted by the conditioned soul as self-actuated. Actually, the soul in his pure state of existence should be in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. When a person is not acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is understood to be acting in material consciousness. Consciousness cannot be killed, for the symptom of the living entity is consciousness. The material consciousness simply has to be purified. One becomes liberated by accepting Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Lord, as master and by changing the mode of consciousness from material consciousness to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
FAQs
This verse explains that actions are performed by the guṇas of prakṛti, but the jīva—absorbed in material contemplation—mistakenly claims, “I am the doer,” attributing nature’s activities to the self.
Kapila is establishing Sāṅkhya clarity for Devahūti: bondage arises from misidentifying with prakṛti and its modes; liberation begins when one understands the self as distinct from material action and its results.
Notice when ego claims total authorship (“I did everything”) and practice offering work and results to the Lord, while remembering that body and mind function through nature’s modes—this reduces pride, anxiety, and karmic entanglement.