कर्मास्तुहेतु: सुखदु:खयोश्चेत् किमात्मनस्तद्धिजडाजडत्वे । देहस्त्वचित् पुरुषोऽयं सुपर्ण: क्रुध्येत कस्मै न हि कर्ममूलम् ॥ ५४ ॥
karmāstu hetuḥ sukha-duḥkhayoś cet kim ātmanas tad dhi jaḍājaḍatve dehas tv acit puruṣo ’yaṁ suparṇaḥ krudhyeta kasmai na hi karma mūlam
- karma
- one’s fruitive activities
- astu
- hypothetically granted
- hetuḥ
- the cause
- sukha-duḥkhayoḥ
- of happiness and distress
- cet
- if
- kim
- what
- ātmanaḥ
- for the soul
- tat
- that karma
- hi
- certainly
- jaḍa-ajaḍatve
- in being both material and not material
- dehaḥ
- the body
- tu
- on the one hand
- acit
- not living
- puruṣaḥ
- the person
- ayam
- this
- su-parṇaḥ
- endowed with living consciousness
- krudhyeta
- one should become angry
- kasmai
- at whom
- na
- are not
- hi
- certainly
- karma
- fruitive activities
- mūlam
- the root cause
If we assume that fruitive work is the cause of happiness and distress, we still are not dealing with the soul. The idea of material work arises when there is a spiritual actor who is conscious and a material body that undergoes the transformation of happiness and distress as a reaction to such work. Since the body has no life, it cannot be the actual recipient of happiness and distress, nor can the soul, who is ultimately completely spiritual and aloof from the material body. Since karma thus has no ultimate basis in either the body or the soul, at whom can one become angry?