उपनिषद् · Śvetāśvatara 5.7
॥
देवनागरी
गुणान्वयो यः फलकर्मकर्ता कृतस्य तस्यैव स चोपभोक्ता ।
स विश्वरूपस् त्रिगुणस् त्रिवर्त्मा प्राणाधिपः संचरति स्वकर्मभिः
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
guṇānvayo yaḥ phalakarmakartā kṛtasya tasyaiva sa copabhoktā /
sa viśvarūpas triguṇas trivartmā prāṇādhipaḥ saṃcarati svakarmabhiḥ
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
गुणान्वयःguṇānvayaḥattended by the guṇas; following after the qualities
यःyaḥwho; he who
फलकर्मकर्ताphalakarmakartāthe doer of works for their fruit; who acts for a reward
कृतस्य तस्य एवkṛtasya tasya evaof that very thing done; of just what he has done
सः च उपभोक्ताsaḥ ca upabhoktāhe is also the enjoyer; he also reaps it
सः विश्वरूपःsaḥ viśvarūpaḥhe is of many forms; taking every kind of shape
त्रिगुणःtriguṇaḥof the three guṇas; woven of the three qualities
त्रिवर्त्माtrivartmāgoing by three paths; having three roads
प्राणाधिपःprāṇādhipaḥlord of the vital airs; master of the life-forces
संचरतिsaṃcaratihe wanders; he passes from place to place
स्वकर्मभिःsvakarmabhiḥby his own deeds; by the force of his own acts
अनुवाद
He who follows after the guṇas, who acts for the fruit, is also the enjoyer of what he has done; he is of many forms, of the three guṇas, going by three paths, lord of the vital airs — and he wanders by the force of his own deeds.
संस्करण
41cf26dbf701 · प्रकाशित 28 जुल॰ 2026, 2:13:46 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Here the subject is no longer the Lord but the soul, and its portrait is drawn with pitiless precision.
First: guṇānvaya — "following after the guṇas". It is not the guṇas that follow the soul but the soul that follows them; the moods of nature lead, and it goes.
Second: it is "the doer of works for their fruit" — and immediately "the enjoyer of what has been done". Both roles are joined in one line on purpose: he who acts for a reward also gets everything he has done, including what he did not want. This is the whole law of karma in a single phrase.
Third: he "goes by three paths", trivartmā — along the three roads by which souls diverge according to the prevailing guṇa; the same three paths were spoken of at 1.4.
And along with this he is called prāṇādhipa — "lord of the vital airs". Within its own body the soul is mistress: the prāṇas and the senses serve it. The irony of the situation is that the mistress of the body is a slave of the guṇas.
The verb at the end is saṁcarati, "wanders": the same image as in the first adhyāya, where the swan circled in the wheel of Brahman. Only there it was stressed that it is turned, and here that it wanders "by its own deeds", svakarmabhiḥ. Both sides are true, and together they dissolve the quarrel about freedom and predestination: the roads were not laid by us, but the feet are ours.