Bhagavad Gita – Chapter 5, sloka 15
NAADATTE’ KASCHIT PAPAM NA CHAIVA SUKRUTAM VIBHUHU
AJNANENAVRUTAM JNANAM TENA MUHYANTI JANTAVAHA
The Lord does not receive either the bad or the good of any one. Knowledge is enveloped by ignorance and by it beings are deluded.
Having said that each individual acts on his own and the Lord is just a neutral witness, we now get another firm assertion from Him that He does not receive the
good or bad from the actions of any individual.
It is a simple statement of fact that good actions result in good results and bad actions result in bad results. We get the results of all the actions conducted by us. The Lord does not receive the results of any actions.
What is then “The knowledge” that is enveloped by ignorance?
The knowledge we should remember is that each one of us is truly “The Atman” within which is part of Parabrahman. Each one of us is “Tat”, so says the Mahavakya from Chandogya Upanisad, Sama Veda,”Tat Tvam Asi.” (Thou Art That.)
There are three aspects of “Ignorance” that hides this “Knowledge” and these are:
a) We carry forward results of a number of actions in our past including the past births. We did not get the results during that birth. The timing of receiving the results is “In His hands.” The ignorance is that we do not remember this truth.
In the past births of ours, each one of us has done both good and bad actions. The Lord does bestow the results of actions is also something that has been drilled into us by the sastras. Physical death in any one birth does not mean the end of all vasanas stored in the mind. We have to get the results of thoughts and actions in that birth and that of the past births too. The results will be given to us either in this present birth or later in the subsequent births we may have to take.
b) Whatever actions we conduct in this life should also bear fruits and these may be sweet fruits or bitter fruits as the case may be. Some fruits we taste in this life but many are yet to ripen and we do not know when they will ripen. We have even forgotten that we have sown the seeds for these fruits by our actions. Not only we have forgotten the past but we do not realise that our actions now will give us the fruits at a later date and we have to taste them. The ignorance is that we do not know this truth also.
c) Finally, the ignorance is that we have forgotten our true identity with the “Atman”. The absence of knowledge of these three aspects of our life is “Ignorance”. This
is referred to in the sloka with the statement “Knowledge is enveloped by ignorance and by it beings are deluded.”
Let us realise that the God does not sit on a high pedestal in a remote part of the universe and blesses the jivas with vanquishing of all the vasanas at the time of death.