Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13, Verse 22

Chapter 13 – Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

पुरुषः प्रकृतिस्थो हि भुङ्क्ते प्रकृतिजान्गुणान् ।
कारणं गुणसङ्गोऽस्य सदसद्योनिजन्मसु ॥

Transliteration

puruṣaḥ prakṛtistho hi bhuṅkte prakṛtijānguṇān .
kāraṇaṃ guṇasaṅgo.asya sadasadyonijanmasu ॥

Meaning

The Purusha, seated in Prakriti, experiences the gunas born of Prakriti; its attachment to the gunas is the cause of its births in higher and lower wombs.

Word meanings

पुरुषः – the Purusha, the individual self
प्रकृतिस्थः – seated in Prakriti, identified with the body
हि – indeed
भुङ्क्ते – experiences, enjoys
प्रकृतिजान् – born of Prakriti
गुणान् – the gunas, as pleasure, pain and delusion
कारणम् – the cause
गुणसङ्गः – attachment to the gunas
अस्य – of this (Purusha)
सत् – good, higher (such as divine births)
असत् – evil, lower (such as animal births)
योनि – womb, kind of birth
जन्मसु – in births

Anvaya (word order)

पुरुषः हि प्रकृतिस्थः प्रकृतिजान् गुणान् भुङ्क्ते । अस्य सदसद्योनिजन्मसु गुणसङ्गः कारणम् ।

Explanation

This verse is one of the central statements of Chapter 13, for it names the root of the whole cycle of birth and death. The previous verse said the Purusha is the cause of experiencing pleasure and pain. But how does that which is conscious, changeless and beginningless become an experiencer at all? The answer is one word: prakritistha, seated in Prakriti. When the self takes its stand in nature, treating body, senses and mind as I, it begins to experience the play of the gunas as its own. It is like someone who sees a smudge on a mirror and believes his own face is dirty.

To experience the gunas means to undergo the pleasure born of sattva, the pain born of rajas and the confusion born of tamas. These belong to nature, yet through identification the self takes them as its own experiences. Then comes the decisive second line: karanam guna-sango 'sya, its attachment to the gunas is the cause. Experience alone is not bondage; sanga, clinging, is. Attachment leads to action, action leaves impressions, and those impressions draw the self into sad-asad-yoni, higher births among gods and humans or lower births among animals. Chapter 14 (14.18) describes this in detail: those steady in sattva rise, those in rajas remain in the middle, those in tamas sink.

For Shankara, the self being seated in nature is avidya, ignorance. The Self is by nature unattached, asango hy ayam purushah, as the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (4.3.15) declares, but through ignorance it mistakes itself for the body. Attachment born of that ignorance is the seed of samsara, and discriminative knowledge burns the seed. Ramanuja regards the union of soul and matter as real: through beginningless karmic tendencies the soul is bound to nature, and its attachment to the gunas brings it body after body. Madhva also takes bondage to be real and holds that the Lord's grace is decisive for release. All three agree that attachment is the cause of rebirth.

Hidden in this verse is great hope. If the cause is guna-sanga, the remedy is clear: let go of the clinging. The Gita repeatedly says sangam tyaktva, abandoning attachment (2.48, 5.10). Contact with nature continues as long as there is a body, but attachment can be released. The lotus lives in water yet is not wetted by it. The seeker who understands this lives in the body without being prakritistha, established instead in the Self.

Context

Krishna is explaining to Arjuna the distinction between matter and spirit. In 13.21 he said Prakriti causes action and Purusha causes experience. This verse explains why the Purusha becomes an experiencer and what causes rebirth. The next verse, 13.23, describes the Supreme Purusha, the Paramatma, dwelling in this very body.

Life lesson

The root of suffering is not the world but our clinging to it. Body, comforts and circumstances may remain, yet our attachment to them can be loosened. The more we rest as the witness and act without clinging, the lighter and freer life becomes.

Key terms

Prakritistha: seated in nature; identified with body and mind
Guna-sanga: attachment to the gunas and their fruits
Sad-asad-yoni: higher and lower forms of birth
Bhokta: the experiencer of pleasure and pain
Asanga: unattached; the true nature of the Self