अदृष्टगुणदोषाणामधृतानां च कर्मणाम्।
नान्तरेण क्रियां तेषां फलमिष्टं प्रवर्तते॥
adṛṣṭa-guṇa-doṣāṇām adhṛtānāṁ ca karmaṇām
nāntareṇa kriyāṁ teṣāṁ phalam iṣṭaṁ pravartate
adṛṣṭa-guṇa-doṣāṇām = produce good and bad karmic reactions which are invisible; adhṛtānām = and which are difficult to be individually identified; ca = and undesired; karmaṇām = one’s actions; na = not; antareṇa = unless; kriyām = we have factually engaged in those activities in the past; teṣām = of those actions; phalam = results; iṣṭam = the desired; pravartate = we do experience.
One’s actions produce good and bad karmic reactions which are invisible and which are difficult to be individually identified. We do not experience the desired and undesired results of those actions unless we have engaged in those activities in the past.1
1 Material activities lead to pious and impious karmic reactions which are known as puṇya and pāpa respectively, both of which are subtle, that is, invisible to our gross knowledge-acquiring senses. Because we engage in several material activities in one lifetime and each of these material activities produce puṇya and pāpa, it becomes difficult to individually identify which puṇya is due to which previous pious activity and which pāpa is due to which previous impious activity. Technical note: cād aniṣṭaṁ ca phalam.
1 As quoted in the note to Rāmāyaṇa 3.49.27, as a rule, the material activities performed by human males and females from the age of fourteen generate not less than ten future human births to experience the results of such material activities. Since the results of various pious activities lead to similar results of material happiness and since the results of various impious activities lead to similar results of material unhappiness, it is hard to decipher which pious activity in the past has led to which experience of material happiness now. Similarly, it is hard to decipher which impious activity in the past has led to which material unhappiness now. Rāmāyaṇa-bhūṣaṇa: adhṛtānāṁ purā evaṁ karma kṛtam iti niścetum aśakyānām.
Our current experience is due to our former actions. Therefore, there is nothing to lament [about our current experience]. This is the point.
“Good and bad karmic reactions which are invisible” refers to happiness and unhappiness. These [karmic reactions] cannot be perceived through our senses. They are difficult to be individually identified, that is, it is difficult to determine which exact activity was performed in the past [that brought about good or bad karmic reactions that fructify into happiness or unhappiness respectively.]1
Since we don’t undergo desired and undesired experiences without having engaged in some activity in the past [that brings about these experiences], what is the need of lamentation when result of our previous actions have begun to manifest now? This is implied by Śrī Lakṣmaṇa here.