Nature

Nainam chindanti shastrani nainam dahati pavakah, na chainam kledayanty apo na shoshayati marutah

Weapons cannot shred the soul, nor can fire burn it. Water cannot wet it, nor can the wind dry it.

Na hi kashcit kshanam api jatu tishthaty akarma-krit, karyate hy avashah karma sarvah prakriti-jair gunaih

No one can remain without action even for a moment. Indeed, all beings are compelled to act by their qualities born of material nature.

Prakriteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani sarvashah, ahankara-vimudhatma kartaham iti manyate

The spirit soul bewildered by the influence of false ego thinks himself the doer of activities that are in actuality carried out by the three modes of material nature.

Tattva-vit tu maha-baho guna-karma-vibhagayoh, guna guneshu vartanta iti matva na sajjate

But one who knows the truth, O mighty-armed, about the division of the modes of nature and their actions, understands that it is merely the modes acting upon modes, and does not become attached.

Sadrsham ceshtate svasyah prakritir jnanavaan api, prakritiim yaanti bhutani nigrahah kim karishyati

Even a person of knowledge acts according to their own nature. All beings follow their nature — what will repression achieve? One cannot go against one's deep nature; transformation, not suppression, is the path.

Na kartritvam na karmani lokasya srijati prabhuh, na karma-phala-samyogam svabhavas tu pravartate

The Lord does not create the agency or actions of people, nor the union of action with its fruits; it is nature that moves and acts. God is not the author of bondage — the individual creates bondage through identification with nature's movements.

Punyo gandhah prithivyam ca tejas casmi vibhavasau, jivanam sarva-bhutesu tapas casmi tapasvishu

I am the pure fragrance of the earth, the brightness in fire. I am the life in all living beings and the austerity in ascetics. Krishna continues enumerating His divine manifestations in the natural world, showing how the Divine pervades all sensory and vital experiences.

Gam avishya ca bhutani dharayamy aham ojasa, pushnam caushadhih sarvah somo bhutva rasatmakah

Entering the earth, I sustain all beings with My energy. Becoming the moon, I nourish all plants with the juice of life. Krishna declares that He is the sustaining force within the earth and the moon — the very vitality that feeds plants and supports all living creatures — revealing the immanent divine presence in nature.

Sattvanuरूpa sarvasya shraddha bhavati bharata, shraddha-mayo 'yam purusho yo yach-chhraddha sa eva sah

O Arjuna, the faith of each person conforms to their nature. Human beings are made of faith; what their faith is, that verily they are.

yad ahankaram asritya na yotsya iti manyase mithyaisa vyavasayas te prakritis tvam niyoksyati

If, taking refuge in ego, you think 'I will not fight,' this resolve of yours is false. Your nature will compel you. The ego's decision to withdraw from duty is ultimately overridden by one's own deeper svabhava.

svabhava-jena kaunteya nibaddha svena karmana kartum necchasi yan mohat karisyasy avaso 'pi tat

Bound by your own duty born of your own nature, that which out of delusion you wish not to do — you will be compelled to do even against your will. One cannot escape the dharma written into one's own nature.