यदाक्षैश्चरितान् ध्यायन् कर्माण्याचिनुतेऽसकृत् ।
सति कर्मण्यविद्यायां बन्ध: कर्मण्यनात्मन: ॥
yadākṣaiś caritān dhyāyan karmāṇy ācinute’sakṛt |
sati karmaṇy avidyāyāṁ bandhaḥ karmaṇy anātmanaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.29.78)
“[How is the mind the cause of saṁsāra?] When one repeatedly performs karmas thinking of objects attained [previously] by the senses, then, since karma [i.e., a karmic reaction] is present and thus [also] avidyā [i.e., the underlying basis of karma is also present], bondage to the karma of the non-ātmā occurs.”
Commentary
kena prakāreṇety ata āha—yadeti | caritān upabhuktān padārthān yataḥ karmaṇi ekasminn api bīja-rūpe sthite sati avidyāyāṁ satyām anātmano dehādeḥ karmaṇi bandho bhavati |
(Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā)
“How is that [i.e., how is the mind the cause of saṁsāra]? To this [question], this verse is spoken (yadākṣaiḥ …). ‘Attained’ refers to experienced objects [i.e., objects experienced in the past], since when even one karma is present in seed form [i.e., in the form of a vāsanā for a form of past experience], avidyā is present, and [thus] bondage to the karma of the non-ātmā, that is, the body and so forth, occurs [i.e., by meditating on objects experienced by the senses in the past, the jīva remains continuously attached to karma, since when karma is present, avidyā is necessarily also present [as it is the underlying cause of karma], and whenever avidyā is present, the jīva remains bound to the karma of the non-ātmā, that is, the body and so on; the mind is thus the cause of saṁsāra because it is the faculty by which this cycle functions in perpetuity].”