God Does Not Punish Us, Action Does!

The Bhagavad Gita gives us a vision that is both simple and profound where in the 15th verse 5th chapter it gives an important principle that the Lord neither claims our virtues nor assumes our faults; each being reaps the outcome of his own deeds.

नादत्ते कस्यचित्पापं न चैव सुकृतं विभु: |

अज्ञानेनावृतं ज्ञानं तेन मुह्यन्ति जन्तव: ||15 ||

“The Lord does not take upon Himself anyone’s sin or merit. Knowledge is covered by ignorance, and beings are deluded because of it.”

This verse changes the way we understand life. God does not punish or reward anyone. He is not sitting somewhere keeping a record of what we do. The universe itself is governed by a law that never fails and yes we call it the law of karma. Every action brings its own result, just as every seed bears fruit of its own kind. We are not punished for our actions; we are punished by our actions.

Think of fire. When we put our hand into fire, it burns us. The burn is not a punishment from God. Fire has no anger, no partiality. It simply acts according to its nature. In the same way, when we act wrongly, we suffer. When we act rightly, we experience peace a