गोविन्द भाष्य (श्रील बलदेव विद्याभूषण - अचिन्त्यभेदाभेद वेदान्त ब्रह्मसूत्र भाष्य सटीक)

Purport by Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa
As a carpenter performs actions, employing both his own power and a host of
tools, so does the individual spirit soul, employing both his own power and the
various life-airs. Thus the soul employs the material body and other instruments
also, to perform actions. It is the pure spirit soul who thus uses the modes of
material nature to perform actions. That is why the scriptures sometimes say that
the modes of material nature are the performer of actions.
That the individual spirit soul is indeed the performer of actions is confirmed
in Bhagavad-gītā (13.22), where it is said:
kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya
sad-asad-yoni-janmasu
"The living entity in material nature thus follows the ways of life, enjoying the
three modes of nature. Thus he meets with good and evil among the various
species."*
These words explain the scripture passages that declare the modes of nature to
be the performers of action. It is foolish for a person to think himself the sole
performer of action and ignore the five factors of action. Of course it is not that the
individual spirit soul never performs any action. The idea that the soul never does
anything is clearly refuted by the many scriptural statements urging the soul to act
such a way that he may attain liberation. When in the Bhagavad-gītā (2.19) the
Lord says:
nāyaṁ hanti na hanyate
"The self slays not nor is slain."
that does not mean that the individual spirit soul never performs any action, but
rather that the eternal spirit soul can never be cut or slain. The meaning of the
statement that the soul never acts has thus already been explained.
In both this life and the next the devotees perform various actions of devotional
service to the Lord. Because these actions are free from the touch of the modes of
nature, because they are under the jurisdiction of the Lord's spiritual potency and
because they lead to liberation, these actions are said not to be action, for they are
not material actions. This is explained by the Supreme Lord Himself in these
words:
sāttvikaḥ kārako 'saṅgī