Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13, Verse 20

Chapter 13 – Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

प्रकृतिं पुरुषं चैव विद्ध्यनादी उभावपि ।
विकारांश्च गुणांश्चैव विद्धि प्रकृतिसम्भवान् ॥

Transliteration

prakṛtiṃ puruṣaṃ caiva viddhyanādi ubhāvapi .
vikārāṃśca guṇāṃścaiva viddhi prakṛtisambhavān ॥

Meaning

Know that Prakriti (nature) and Purusha (spirit) are both without beginning; and know that all modifications and the gunas are born of Prakriti.

Word meanings

प्रकृतिम् – Prakriti, primal material nature
पुरुषम् – Purusha, the conscious self
च – and
एव – indeed
विद्धि – know
अनादी – beginningless
उभौ – both
अपि – also
विकारान् – modifications, such as body, senses and mental states
च – and
गुणान् – the gunas: sattva, rajas and tamas
च – and
एव – indeed
प्रकृतिसम्भवान् – born of Prakriti

Anvaya (word order)

प्रकृतिम् पुरुषम् च एव उभौ अपि अनादी विद्धि । विकारान् च गुणान् च एव प्रकृतिसम्भवान् विद्धि ।

Explanation

Here Krishna restates the teaching on the field and its knower in the language of Prakriti and Purusha. His first point is that both are anadi, beginningless. There was no first moment of matter and no first moment of spirit. In 7.4–5 the Lord called these his lower and higher natures; so although both are without beginning, they are his powers, not independent rivals to him.

The second point is that every vikara, every modification, such as the body, senses, mind, desire, aversion, pleasure and pain, and the three gunas of sattva, rajas and tamas, arise from Prakriti. The Self has no modifications and no qualities of its own. Whatever changes we notice within ourselves are happening in the domain of nature; the witness remains untouched. This discernment is the first step toward freedom.

The acharyas differ in nuance. Shankara regards Prakriti as the Lord's beginningless power of maya, the cause of the world, while the Purusha is ultimately Brahman itself, appearing as an individual through limiting adjuncts. Ramanuja sees both matter and souls as real, eternal, and forming the body of the Lord, wholly dependent on him. Madhva too holds both to be real and eternal, yet completely subordinate to Vishnu.

The teaching resembles Sankhya philosophy, but the Gita does not stop there. In Sankhya, Prakriti and Purusha are the final principles; the Gita places above them the Supreme Self, Purushottama, who will be described in 13.23 and more fully in Chapter 15.

Context

Krishna is addressing Arjuna. Verse 13.19 closed the account of the field, knowledge and the knowable. This verse opens a fresh treatment in terms of matter and spirit, and 13.21 will explain that Prakriti is the cause of action while Purusha is the cause of experience.

Life lesson

Anger, greed, pleasure and pain are waves of nature, not our true identity. The one who watches them is distinct from them. Once this is recognised, the turbulence of the mind loses much of its hold over us.

Key terms

Prakriti: primal material nature, source of body and world
Purusha: the conscious self, the experiencer
Anadi: without beginning
Vikara: modification of nature: body, senses, mental states
Guna: sattva, rajas and tamas, the three strands of nature