Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 5: Renunciation in Action

Bhagavad Gita 5.14

na kartṛtvaṃ na karmāṇi lokasya sṛjati prabhuḥ | na karmaphalasaṃyogaṃ svabhāvastu pravartate ||

The Lord does not create agency or actions for the world, nor the link between an action and its fruit. It is nature that does all this.

Modern context

This verse closes off an easy excuse. The Lord does not make anyone the doer, does not assign actions, and does not fasten results to deeds. Nature does all of this, meaning each being's character and the way things work. So no one can say 'God made me do it' or 'it was fated'. What we do comes from what we are, and results follow from what we do. That is sobering, and it is also where freedom begins, since character can be worked on.