Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18, Verse 15

शरीरवाङ्मनोभिर्यत्कर्म प्रारभते नरः । न्याय्यं वा विपरीतं वा पञ्चैते तस्य हेतवः

śarīravāṅmanobhiryatkarma prārabhate naraḥ | nyāyyaṃ vā viparītaṃ vā pañcaite tasya hetavaḥ

Translation

Whatever action a man does by the body, speech and mind, right or the opposite, these five are its causes.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

śarīravāṅmanobhiḥ

with body, and, with speech, and, with mind, and

yat

which

karma

action

prārabhate

undertakes

naraḥ

a man

nyāyyam

right

vā

or

viparītam

the reverse (evil)

vā

or

pañca

five

ete

these

tasya

of that

hetavaḥ

causes

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

Right: not opposed to dharma, taught in the śāstra. The opposite: what is opposed to dharma and opposed to śāstra. Even those actions — the act of twinkling and the like — which are the necessary conditions of life are denoted by the expression "the right or the opposite," since they are but the effects of the past dharma and adharma.