Gita 04.13 – Krishna is the non-doer because he is non-discriminating

Away from him chatur varanyam vidya kartaram aungayam chatur varanyam maya srishtam guna karma vibhagasah chatur varanyam is four varanas maya srishtam, Krishna is saying I have srishtam created them, guna karma according to quality and activity or work vibhagasah, this division is made tasya kartaram I am the doer of that apimam although I do this vidhi akartaram aungayam know that I am the non-doer being imperishable, being unchangeable this verse is usually used to talk about how the caste system in India is a perversion, is a distortion of the original varanashram which was based on guna and karma not on birth birthright made the right wrong birthright the idea that by birth somebody can become a brahmana or somebody one gets into a particular varana directly simply by birth that idea made the right the varanashram is the right form of social division but it made it all wrong so Krishna is saying here it is a natural division there are two significant words Krishna is saying that is srishtam, maya srishtam it is made by me, made by me means that whatever is made by God we often call it as natural that's what exists in nature so Krishna is saying this is a natural division what does a natural division mean that means rather than seeing this as caste we can see this more as the divisions we can see this more as four human types four types of people who are existing in society and who are working for the purpose of uplifting society in various ways uplifting means not necessarily in a spiritual but even at a material level things tend to go down, things tend to get degraded and the way to avoid degradation, how to avoid disorder is to have people functioning in an orderly way and varanashram involves engaging people according to their natures so this gunakarma yuhagasha means people with brahminical interest, people with brahminical qualities and activities are given brahminical engagement so it's a natural division of labor wherein whatever a person is good at, that person is given the ability to do, the opportunity to do that activity so the principle of varanashram and caste system itself is a big subject we will not go into that, suffice it to say that it is a very orderly social division which is centered not on discrimination but cooperation the worst way to cooperate is there are A and B, two people have to cooperate and A is forced to do what he or she doesn't like to do and B is forced to do what he or she doesn't like to do and then both of them are told, just do it they will be miserable in cooperating but if A and B have to cooperate and if A is given the opportunity to do what A likes to do and B is given the opportunity to do what B likes to do and then both of them are told, you do these two roles and then together you can cooperate and work that is the most effective way joyful way to cooperate so varanashram does that, it engages the whole society to cooperate by engaging people according to their natural strengths now the important part in this verse in the Gita's flow the second half of this verse which is rarely emphasized or quoted also is what is important although I am the doer, know me to be the non-doer what is going on here Krishna is saying that some people have the brahminical nature some people may have Kshatriya nature, others may have Vaishya nature different people may have different natures but when they have such natures what is it that makes them act in their particular ways it is their own nature but who places them in that nature it is not that Krishna has discriminated and because Krishna likes some people so he has made them brahmanas others he doesn't like so he has made them kshutras no, they are placed in different positions according to their karma according to what they desire according to the way they have acted in their past the kind of karmic credits they have got accordingly they are given a position in society so Krishna is the kartaram and akartaram both he is the kartaram in the sense that nothing happens without his action but at the same time he is the akartaram in the sense that his action is simply in reciprocation to people's actions his action is not because of discrimination, it is because of reciprocation so we could say that a judge sentences a particular person to freedom and another person to jail the judge is not the doer, the judge is simply giving the just sentence to different people so what sends a person to jail and another to out of the jail is their own actions similarly, so the judge is at one level a doer because the judge just gives a sentence this is to be done, this is the sentence the judge just passes the sentence but at another level the judge is not passing the sentence because the judge is not doing that based on any personal agenda or based on any discrimination the judge is doing it because that is what the person deserves so when we understand this basic point that Krishna is the Krishna is disinterested, he is not partial he simply does whatever is the best for people involved over there and by that he enables them to move onward in their life so in this way he is able to keep moving he is the doer and he is the non-doer so if you look at the context of what is going on here earlier in 4.11 Krishna has said that all people are on my path so then the question may come up that what about those who worship the demigods are they on your path? Krishna will explain in the 7th chapter how even the demigod worshippers are also on his path because they are worshipping his representatives, the demigods are his representatives who are empowered by Krishna but at this stage Krishna says yes they are on my path but they are not directly coming to me because they have the desire for quick results then the next question may come up here which is answered in this reverse is that if all people are on your path then why are there all these different Varanas and then there are different duties based on Varanashram so what is the reason for all these different duties so Krishna says the people following Varanashram are also on my path because they are in a system which is created by me and that system is meant ultimately for their gradual spiritual elevation so how that happens is through the systematic growth in devotion so people may do their Varanashram but if they are guided by a spiritual guide if they know the ultimate purpose of scripture then they will do their Varanashram duties for the satisfaction of the absolute truth for the satisfaction of Hari they will do their Varanashram duties then by that they will be able to from wherever they are move onwards towards liberation so that is the speciality of Varanashram that from wherever a person may be that person can get elevated and ultimately liberated this verse essentially has two points therefore to conclude firstly it is a natural division of labour Varanashram which is created by God impartially according to qualities and activities of people and the structure is created by God ultimately whoever goes wherever in that structure that is also determined by God but why they go there is not determined by God it is by their own karma so in that sense Krishna is the doer and yet the non-doer that way Krishna is simply reciprocating with different people according to the actions that they have done in the past and he reciprocates within the structure of Varanashram with people according to the way they choose to act.