195. Prakriti and Purush
K rishna says, “Know that prakriti (nature) and purush (spirit) are both beginningless. Gunas (qualities) and vikar (evolution or change) are born of prakriti (13.20). Prakriti is responsible for cause-and-effect; purush is responsible for the experience of sukh (pleasure) and dukh (pain) (13.21). Under the influence of prakriti , the purush keeps experiencing the gunas . Attachment to the gunas is the cause of birth in various wombs” (13.22). Evolution is the norm of prakriti where situations of yesterday are different than those of today. While change is the norm, we suffer because of our resistance to change as it involves changing ourselves. Living in the present moment without the burden of the past and expectations from the future is the way to transcend this. Prakriti is responsible for ‘cause-and-effect’ which is usually referred to as physical laws. The purush experiences them as pleasure and pain. When a stone is thrown up, it ...