दैव

Daiva, destiny, is in the Gita the fifth of the five causes of action: the base, the doer, the many kinds of instruments, the many kinds of effort, and here, destiny as the fifth (Gita 18.14). In plain terms, it is what is beyond the doer's sight and control: unseen circumstances, and what has already been set in motion. The commentators explain it in different ways, but they agree that the doer cannot hold it in his hand.

The list covers every action begun by body, speech or mind, right or wrong (Gita 18.15).

The usual misreading is that destiny is a fate that decides everything, so effort is pointless. The verse does not say that. Destiny is the fifth cause and not the only one, and effort stands in the list under its own name. That destiny exists is a reason to loosen the grip on the fruit, not to stop trying.

Do not confuse the word with the divine endowment of the sixteenth chapter, which is about divine qualities. Here the subject is the cause that lies outside the doer's control.

The topic is read in Who Is the Doer?. The doer's claim that forgets the other causes is named doership.