Śivasaṃhitā 5.223

The vision that each being acts from their karmic nature is the basis of the yogi’s equanimity in the world. There is no judgment of others because the yogi recognizes that each acts from their accumulated programming—as fire can do nothing but burn, the jīva acts from its karma. This vision produces not passivity but compassionate understanding.

Sva-sva = each one’s own (sva reduplicated for emphasis), karman = action and its accumulated fruit, vartante = are established in, proceed along, karma-sambhava = born from karma, produced by accumulated action. The Bhagavad Gītā (3.33) makes a similar observation: even the wise person acts according to their nature.

This verse articulates a crucial epistemological stance for the yogi in the world: seeing others’ karma not as moral errors but as natural expressions of their conditioning. This vision deactivates judgment and reactivity. When the yogi sees that all act from their vāsanās (latent impressions), they can respond with discernment rather than react from the ego.