184
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 6, Ch. 17]
“The bewildered soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself the doer of activities that are in actuality carried out by nature.” Actually a conditioned soul is completely under the control of material nature. Wandering here and there—always and everywhere—he is subjected to the results of his past deeds. This is carried out by the laws of nature, but one foolishly thinks himself the doer, which in fact he is not. To get free from the  karma-cakra , the wheel of the results of one’s  karma , one should take to  bhakti-mārga —devotional service, or  Kṛṣṇa  consciousness. That is the only remedy.  Sarva-dharmān paritya-jya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja.
TEXT 19
नैवात्मा न परश्वापि कर्ता स्यात् सुखदुःखयोः। कर्तारं मन्यतेऽत्राज्ञ आत्मानं परमेव च ॥१९॥
naivātmā na paraś cāpi kartā syāt sukha-duḥkhayoḥ kartāraṁ manyate 'trājña ātmānaṁ param eva ca
na —not;  eva —indeed;  ātmā —the spirit soul;  na —nor;  paraḥ —another (friend or enemy);  ca —also;  api —indeed;  kartā —the doer;  syāt —can be;  sukha-duḥkhayoḥ —of happiness and distress;  kartāraṁ —the doer;  manyate —considers;  atra —in this connection;  ajñaḥ —a person not aware of the real fact;  ātmānaṁ —himself;  param —another;  eva —indeed;  ca —also.
TRANSLATION
In this material world, neither the living entity himself nor others [friends and enemies] are the cause of material happiness and distress. But because of gross ignorance, the living entity thinks that he and others are the cause.
PURPORT
In this verse the word  ajña  is very significant. In the material world, all living entities are  ajña , ignorant, in different degrees. This ignorance