Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 5, Verse 15: Krishna to Arjuna — Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga
The all-pervading Lord takes on no one's sin or merit; ignorance covers knowledge, and by that covering creatures fall into confusion.
Bhāṣyakāra purports
- Śaṅkaraadvaita
The all-pervading (vibhu) Lord neither accepts the sin nor the merit of any being whatsoever — not even of devoted worshippers. Knowledge (jñāna), the capacity of discrimination (viveka-vijñāna), is veiled by ignorance (ajñāna); by that veil, worldly creatures fall into delusion, generating the false sense 'I act, I cause others to act, I will enjoy, I will make others enjoy.'
- Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita
The Lord does not remove the suffering (pāpa) of one's beloved — say, a son — nor does He remove the happiness (sukṛta) of one regarded as an adversary. Being vibhu, He is wholly impartial, belonging to no one's faction. All experience is the result of vāsanā (latent impressions); prior karma shrinks and concentrates the soul's natural knowledge (saṃkucitam), producing identification with particular bodies (devādi-deha-saṃyoga) and hence the wheel of rebirth.
- Madhvadvaita
The Lord — eternally distinct from all jīvas — neither accumulates their sin nor their merit as His own. As the independent (vibhu) sovereign, He acts as the inner impeller (antaryāmin) of all action, yet remains utterly uncontaminated. Creatures are bewildered because their innate knowledge of their own complete dependence (pāratantrya) on Hari is covered by primal ignorance.
- Vallabhaśuddhādvaita
Because the Lord is the ultimate agent (kārayitṛ) and all capacities — intellect (buddhi), senses (indriya), mind (manas), breath (prāṇa) — are His own powers, He neither participates in nor enjoys the fruits of sin or merit as an independent recipient. The ātmans of creatures are His own śaktis (twelve chief powers), subject to His command (ājñākāriṇyaḥ). They fall into confusion (muhyanti) because their self-knowledge (svarūpa-jñāna) is veiled by avidyā's first layer (prathama-parvan), and subsequent layers — identification with body, sense, mind — compound the delusion.
- Śrīdharabhakti
The Lord, even as the ultimate impeller (prayojaka) of all action, does not accept the sin or merit of any creature. The reason: vibhu means 'completely full, desireless' (āptakāma). He would only take on karmic results if He acted from personal want, but He has none. His governance follows each being's prior karma through His inscrutable power (acintyā nijamāyā). That creatures imagine partiality in God — favour for devotees, punishment for others — is itself the mark of ajñāna: they mistake the corrective grace inherent in punishment for inequity.
- Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti
In ultimate truth (paramārthatah), the all-pervading Lord accepts neither sin nor merit of any jīva, because at that level the jīva has no real agency and the Lord has no real causal-ship. The śruti and smṛti texts that seem to show Īśvara directing souls toward good or ill worlds describe only vyāvahārika (conventional) reality. Ajñāna — the māyā possessing both concealing power (āvaraṇa-śakti) and projecting power (vikṣepa-śakti) — veils the eternal, self-luminous, non-dual awareness (nityaṃ svaprakāśam saccidānanda-rūpam advitīyam). By this veil creatures superimpose the nine-fold saṃsāra: knower, known, knowledge; doer, deed, instrument; enjoyer, enjoyed, enjoyment.