Bhagavad Gita Chapter 5 - Sanyasa Yoga - Sloka 15

The entire content of this mail is from Swami Chidbhavananda's translation of The Bhagavad Gita, published by Ramakrishna Mission.

Karma pertains to Prakriti & not Purusha 14-17

1 Gita Sloka every day - Chapter 5 -Sanyasa Yoga - Sloka 15

Na adatte kasya chit papam na cha eva sukrutam vibhuh I

Agyanena avrutam gyanam tena muhyanti jantavah II sloka 15

न आदत्ते कस्य चित् पापं न च एव सुकृतं विभुः ।

अज्ञानेन आवृतं ज्ञानं तेन मुह्यन्ति जन्तवः ।। श्लोक १५ 

The Omnipresent does not take note of the merit or demerit of any. Knowledge is veiled in ignorance; mortals are therefore deluded.

Prakriti or nature is constituted of 5 elements - akasa, vayu, agni, aapah, & prithvi (ether, air, fir, water and earth). Akasa which is equated with space, is the substratum on which the other 4 elements play their parts. Good and evil emanate from them in the course of their interaction;  but Akasa remains unaffected by these modifications. In the same way Iswara remains unaffected by the merits and demerits in beings. A crystal glass seems to take the hue of the flower brought to its proximity; but actually the crystal remains ever itself. Similarly, atman seems to take the characteristics of prakriti,  while it actually does not. People who are in ignorance impose the traits of prakriti  on atman and get deluded. 

The relationship between  purusha and prakriti is very well explained in these two verses. Iswara is bliss and perfect poise. Karma has no place in his blessedness. Prakriti gets itself vitalised in the proximity of purusha. Jivatman gets bound when he identifies himself with prakriti; he gets emancipated when he detaches himself from it. And this is the essence of vedanta.

The burning lamp gives light to one and all, all around it. Some use that light for cooking their food, others for reading sacred books and yet others for forging false documents. The merits and demerits in these several acts do not in any way affect the light coming from the lamp. In this way the consciousness equally present in all beings makes all sorts of activities possible in them because of its proximity. The good and bad deeds, however, of beings do not go  to the pure consciousness, which is Iswara.