Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 18, Verse 14: Krishna to Arjuna — Mokṣa-Sannyāsa-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  The five causes of all action are: the body (adhishthana), which serves as the locus of desire, aversion, pleasure, pain, and cognition; the agent (karta), defined by the limiting adjunct of the ego-sense and treated as enjoyer; the instruments (karana) of twelve kinds including the organs of sense and action; the manifold vital movements (vishta) such as prana and apana; and fifth, the presiding deities (daiva) like the sun that illumine and support the organs. None of these five belongs to the true Self. The wise person sees that the Self is the pure witness, not the doer, and that all agency is superimposed on the non-self (anatma) by ignorance (avidya).

  divergence: Shankara: 'adhishthanam icchadvesha-sukha-duhkha-jnanadinam abhivyakter ashrayah... karta upadhi-lakshanah bhokta... daivam adityadichakshur-adi-anugrahanam' — the body as support of cognition, the ego-sense as agent, the presiding deity as enabler of sense organs.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  Five factors co-operate in every rightful or prohibited action of body, speech, and mind: the body as the locus inhabited by the jiva-atma; the jiva-atma itself as the knower-agent, whose agency is established by the Brahma-sutras ('jno ata eva,' 'karta shastrarthavattvat'); the diverse instruments of action including the five karmendriyas together with manas; the fivefold vital airs (vayu) performing their distinct functions in sustaining body and organ; and fifth, the Paramatma as antaryami residing in the heart, whose sanction and consent is the primary and indispensable cause. Without that inner consent of Bhagavan no action reaches completion, yet the jiva retains genuine agency through its own effort — both realities coexist as upheld in the sutra 'kritaprayatnapekshastu.'

  divergence: Ramanuja: 'daivam ca eva atra panchamam... Paramatma antaryami karma-nishpattau pradhana-hetuh' — the Paramatman as inner ruler is the chief cause, corroborated by BG 15.15 and BG 18.61.

• Madhvadvaita

  The five causes of karma are: the body (deha) as the adhishthana; Vishnu himself as the true karta, since He alone is the universal agent and evidence for the jiva's non-agenthood has been stated; the instruments (indriya) as the karana; the actions (kriya) of hands and the like, including mental activity of meditation, as cheshta; and fifth, adrishta (the unseen karmic residue) as daiva. The Ayasya-shruti confirms: 'deho brahma arthendriyadi kriyash ca tatha adrishtam panchamam karma-hetuh.' The jiva does not independently act — all agency flows from Hari through dependent channels.

  divergence: Madhva: 'karta Vishnuh sa hi sarva-karta ity uktam jivasyakartritvepramanam uktam... daivam adrishtam' — Vishnu is the sole real agent; jiva's kartritva is derivative.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  The five causes operate in all lawful and prohibited actions of body, speech, and mind: the body as the first basis; the jiva-atma as agent endowed with self-sense, whose kartritva is real but entirely Brahma-gata, residing in it as a portion (amsha); the manifold instruments including the cognition-organs and action-organs; the varied movements of the vital airs as cheshta; and fifth, not mere adrishta as some (the Madhvas) say, but Krishna himself as antaryami — 'Krishnat param nasti daivam vastuto dosha-varjitam.' All five causes are pervaded by Bhagavan's will; the jiva's effort is the proximate occasion, but Bhagavan's gracious consent (pushti) is the supreme and indispensable cause that alone brings action to fruit.

  divergence: Vallabha: 'vastutastu panchasankhyapuranam uttamam antaryami-rupam karmamatra-nishpattau pradhanam... Krishnat param nasti daivam' — Bhagavan as antaryami fills the fifth slot, supreme over adrishta.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  The body (sharira) is the adhishthana; the ahamkara — the knot of consciousness and inert matter (cijjada-granthi) — is the karta; the manifold instruments such as eye, ear, and the rest are the karana; the operations of the vital airs — prana, apana, and their kin — are the cheshta, distinct in nature and function; and fifth, the daiva, which is either the presiding sun-deity that enables the eye and other sense organs, or the antaryami who drives all beings. Sridhara holds both senses as valid: the presiding deities of the organs as one reading, the inner controller of all as the deeper meaning.

  divergence: Sridhara: 'daivam ca karanam chakshuradyanugrahakam adityadi sarva-prerako antaryami va' — daiva as organ-enabling deity or all-impelling antaryami.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  The five causes of action are to be known as non-self (anatma), material, and Maya-projected — precisely so that the Self's non-agenthood (akartritva) may be established and these causes renounced in understanding. The body is the locus for the display of desire, aversion, and cognition. The 'doer' is the ahamkara — the inner organ, also called buddhi or vijnana — which, through superimposition (tadadhyasa), attributes kartritva to the Self. The twelve-fold instruments of knowledge and action constitute the karana. The five pranas (and five subsidiary breaths) are the cheshta, distinct from the inner organ yet not ultimately separate — the shruti declares both their unity and difference according to which power predominates. The presiding deities of body, organs, and pranas — enumerated exhaustively from Agni through Brihaspati — are the fifth cause, daiva. All five are non-self, material, Maya-fabricated; seeing them so, the jiva rests in its own nature as pure witness and is freed.

  divergence: Madhusudana: 'pramanaulani karma-karanani panchatmano akartrisiddhyartham heyatvena jnatavyani... daivam ca anugrahakadevata-jatam... evashbdas tathashabdena sambadhyamanah anatmatvavadharanarthah panchanam api' — all five known as non-self and maya-projected, serving the proof of the Self's non-agenthood.