Chapter 13: Kshetra-kshetrajna-vibhaga-yoga – Distinction between Object Field and its Knower: Verse 20
प्रकृतिं पुरुषं चैव विद्ध्यनादी उभावपि।
विकारांश्च गुणांश्चैव विद्धि प्रकृतिसंभवान् ॥
prakṛtiṃ puruṣaṃ caiva
viddhy-anādī ubhāvapi
vikārāṃśca guṇāṃścaiva
viddhi prakṛti-sambhavān – 13.19
Know both Prakṛti (Nature) and Purusha (the Soul) as beginningless (transcending time). Know all modifications and qualities as born of Prakṛti alone. (Purusha remains ever the same).
Chapter 13: Kshetra-kshetrajna-vibhaga-yoga – Distinction between Object Field and its Knower - Verse 20
Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha
Prakṛti (Nature) consists of the five elements, pañca-bhūtas, which are beginningless. None can say when they emerged or evolved. So also the Purusha, the conscious source to mould them further into life forms with varying capacities, is beginningless.
Prakṛti, an aggregate, is subject to changes, as each of its constituents will act upon the others, leading to endless actions and reactions. But this is only within the elements of Prakṛti. As for Purusha, He only enables the whole process to be on, remaining a facilitator, not involved in it the least.
Time, causality, and changes – all are within the ken of Nature. But Nature as a whole and its conscious substratum, the Purusha, are eternal, transcending time.
