Weekly definition - Prakriti

[Guest guest]

Prakriti literally means before creation. Pra - before and kriti -

creation. I have seen this on the web but I don't know Sanskrit so

please correct me if it is wrong.

 

Swami Krishnananda :

The stuff out of which the world is made is called prakriti. It is a

general term, designating the matrix of all things. The basic building

bricks of the cosmos are variations of prakriti. (the following 2 lines

are not relevant to definition but I found them very meaningful and

good) There is no morality in prakriti - it is an impersonal power and

it becomes a characteristic of judgment only when it is individualised

subsequently. No question of judgment is possible in a cosmic set-up.

Prakriti or the matrix of the universe, animated by a reflection of

Consciousness or Brahman, divides itself into the cosmic forces called

Sattva (equilibrium), Rajas (distraction) and Tamas (inertia).

These three properties of Prakriti are really its very constituents, not

merely qualifications or adjuncts, and stand to Prakriti in the relation

of the three strands of a rope to the rope itself.

 

Swami Dayananda Saraswati :

Prakriti is that out of which any product, any creation, is ultimately

born and is the word given to the Lord as the material cause. The word

prakriti means that which has the essential capacity to create. Prakriti

is also called the cause. Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that I

have two prakritis :

 

Prakriti-1 (actually Swamiji calls it Svarupa prakriti) : Svarupa could

be translated as the very being of something. This is the cause for

everything; the truth of everything, without which nothing is possible.

This is the absolute prakriti. For example, ice is cold and that

coldness is its svarupa. You cannot remove it and still have ice. And

here similarly, atman cannot give up its nature, awareness. Awareness is

the svarupa of atman;it is not a quality. (Recall Atman is infinite

consciousness or the Spirit)

 

 

(This description is slightly edited to avoid more sanskrit words)

Prakriti-2 (Swamiji calls it Svabhava prakriti) : Svabhava could be

translated as nature or characteristic. It consists of 5 elements, mind,

body and intellect. Because the effect, karya is not separate from the

cause, it is also called prakriti. Therefore we have the expression

karya-prakriti. A physical body consisting of 5 elements is also

karya-prakriti as are the sense organs and mind. In other words,

anything created, anything put together is a karya prakriti. Again -

karya means effect. However, when we look upon prakriti in its causal

form it is also called karana-prakriti or svabhavika-prakriti.

 

Prakriti is the cause of both subtle and gross bodies of all beings. As

the child is born of the mother, similarly prakriti is the material out

of which this creation is born. But the mother herself cannot produce a

child without a father and so too, prakriti requires an efficient cause

- that is Brahman.

 

 

According to the Bhagavad Gita, Prakriti is uncreated or beginningless.

 

In the advaitin archives, I found a nice article on Prakriti written by

Prof V Krishnamurthy.

advaitin/message/668

<advaitin/message/668>

[Guest guest]

Dear Dennis-ji, Namaste ! Please see embedded comments

 

> Swami Krishnananda :

> The stuff out of which the world is made is called prakriti. It is a

> general term, designating the matrix of all things. The basic building

> bricks of the cosmos are variations of prakriti. (the following 2

lines

> are not relevant to definition but I found them very meaningful and

> good) There is no morality in prakriti - it is an impersonal power and

> it becomes a characteristic of judgment only when it is individualised

> subsequently. No question of judgment is possible in a cosmic set-up.

> Prakriti or the matrix of the universe, animated by a reflection of

> Consciousness or Brahman, divides itself into the cosmic forces called

> Sattva (equilibrium), Rajas (distraction) and Tamas (inertia).

> These three properties of Prakriti are really its very constituents,

not

> merely qualifications or adjuncts, and stand to Prakriti in the

relation

> of the three strands of a rope to the rope itself.

 

This is mostly from the following link

 

http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/maha/maha_04.html

<http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/maha/maha_04.html>

 

 

>

> Swami Dayananda Saraswati :

> Prakriti is that out of which any product, any creation, is ultimately

> born and is the word given to the Lord as the material cause. The word

> prakriti means that which has the essential capacity to create.

Prakriti

> is also called the cause. Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that

I

> have two prakritis :

>

> Prakriti-1 (actually Swamiji calls it Svarupa prakriti) : Svarupa

could

> be translated as the very being of something. This is the cause for

> everything; the truth of everything, without which nothing is

possible.

> This is the absolute prakriti. For example, ice is cold and that

> coldness is its svarupa. You cannot remove it and still have ice. And

> here similarly, atman cannot give up its nature, awareness. Awareness

is

> the svarupa of atman;it is not a quality. (Recall Atman is infinite

> consciousness or the Spirit)

>

>

> (This description is slightly edited to avoid more sanskrit words)

> Prakriti-2 (Swamiji calls it Svabhava prakriti) : Svabhava could be

> translated as nature or characteristic. It consists of 5 elements,

mind,

> body and intellect. Because the effect, karya is not separate from the

> cause, it is also called prakriti. Therefore we have the expression

> karya-prakriti. A physical body consisting of 5 elements is also

> karya-prakriti as are the sense organs and mind. In other words,

> anything created, anything put together is a karya prakriti. Again -

> karya means effect. However, when we look upon prakriti in its causal

> form it is also called karana-prakriti or svabhavika-prakriti.

 

The above portion of Swami Dayananda's definition is from this link

 

http://www.avgsatsang.org/hhpsds/pdf/Brahaman_Cause_Creation.pdf

<http://www.avgsatsang.org/hhpsds/pdf/Brahaman_Cause_Creation.pdf>

 

 

>

> Prakriti is the cause of both subtle and gross bodies of all beings.

As

> the child is born of the mother, similarly prakriti is the material

out

> of which this creation is born. But the mother herself cannot produce

a

> child without a father and so too, prakriti requires an efficient

cause

> - that is Brahman.

 

This para is from Chapter 14 of Swami Dayananda's Bhagavad Gita home

study course . (it is my understanding that it can be quoted in this

mailing list). I don't know if there is an ISBN for it but here are some

details about it.

 

http://www.arshavidya.org/programs_homestudy.html#gita

<http://www.arshavidya.org/programs_homestudy.html#gita>

 

>

>

> According to the Bhagavad Gita, Prakriti is uncreated or

beginningless.

>

> In the advaitin archives, I found a nice article on Prakriti written

by

> Prof V Krishnamurthy.

> advaitin/message/668

> <advaitin/message/668>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

i am going to use a different approach for defining this weekly

topic on Prakriti.

 

i am going to reproduce here verses from the Srimad Bhagvat Gita on

this topic 'Prakriti' and provide explanations.

 

What is Prakriti ?

 

Mama yonir mahad brahma tasmin garbham dadhamyaham,

sambhavah sarva-bhutam tato bhavati bharata.

Chapter 14 III

 

My womb is the great Brahma (Mula Prakrti); in that I place the

germ; from which, O! Bharata, is the birth of all beings.

 

Swami Chinmayananda explains this beautifully thus :

 

My womb is the great Brahma (Mula Prakrti) – Krishna, the Pure

Consciousness, is trying to explain the "One-Womb" from which the

entire Universe has arisen. On many occasions, in our discourse, we

had stopped to explain how the One-Consciousness, identifying with

various layers of matter, manifests Itself as different entities,

with different potentialities. A Prime Minister is also a voter –

just a single voter under the constitution of the country. But a

Prime Minister's powers are a million times more than any average

voter can ever hope to have. This omni-potency is gained by his

Office, because the voter in him has been successful in identifying

himself with the hearts of the majority of voters.

 

The Supreme, identifying Itself with the subtle vasana-s in an

individual, becomes an individualized "Ego." If any one of us (as a

single voter) can renounce his limited tendencies and identify

himself with total thought-life of the Universe (the total

aspirations of the Janata), the Consciousness that identified Itself

with `total mind' (the individual who identifies himself with the

majority of voters) becomes the Isvara (Prime Minister).

 

In the stanza, in the language of Vedanta, it is said that the total-

vasana-s of the world, meaning the "total-causal-body," is

the "Womb", which gets impregnated by the Lord. When life functions

as the "total-causal-body," it becomes dynamic and expresses itself

as the "total-mind-intellect"(Hiranya garbha).

 

It has already been explain that the light of consciousness

conditioned by the mind and intellect – reflected in the mental pool

of thought – is the sense-of-ego, the individuality, manifest in

each of us. The total potential factor, form which the world-of-

Matter emerges, is termed as Nature – Prakriti. The prakriti then is

called the `Great Cause,' because it embraces the entire Universe,

which is, but its effect, again, from Nature, the entire Universe

has arisen and the universe of names and forms is nourished and

fattened by the very source, which has given birth to it. Therefore

the total nature is termed here, as elsewhere in Vedanta, as the

Mahat (great) –Brahma i.e. Mula Prakriti – the total-mind-intellect-

equipments.

 

In that, I place the germ – This total potential Nature is the

virgin "Womb," in which, when the shaft of Consciousness penetrates,

the Light of Awareness that consequently plays in it, is Its act of

impregnation.

 

Thus vitalized by life, the inert Prakriti becomes dynamited, grows

and manifests itself as the spectacular Universe. Hence it is

said, "From which is the birth of all beings."

 

Every creative action owes its origin and progress to a tendency for

it in the artist. When this tendency in him becomes vibrant with a

part of the life in him, it becomes potential, struggles to express

itself in terms of ideas and feelings, and later on gets expressed

in the particular medium of art chosen by the artist. He may express

it through colors, as in painting; through songs, as in music;

through stones, as in sculpture; of through words, as in literature.

But a dead artist can no more express anything – evening terms of

artistic ideas or thoughts. The total universe of ideas and

tendencies (vasana-s), when graced by Life, becomes vigorous and

expresses as the Universe created.

 

The world of vasana-s, of ideas, of thoughts, and of actions,

together constituting the total Nature is aver controlled and

directed by the guna-s, and therefore, the three guna-s are together

called in Vedanta as Maya, the "cause of the Universe" Maya,

expressed in the individual bosom, is called `ignorance' (avidya).

The `ignorance' is, therefore the microcosmic expression of Maya,

and the total "ignorance," in its macrocosmic expression is, Maya.

An individualized ego is under the control of avidya, while Maya is

under the control of Isvara. This subtle theme is nowhere so

exhaustively explained in the world's philosophical literature as in

the Mandukya Upanishad and its Karika.

 

We are only to remember that we have been told already in the

previous chapter, viz., that the "Field" and the "Knower-of-the-

Field" are the two aspects of Nature (Prakariti), and both of them

function on the same Substratum, the Absolute Eternal Truth, the

Lord Krishna Himself. The Supreme, functioning in the "Field."

Becomes the Enjoyer-of-the-Field, and therefore, the "Knower-of-the-

Field," detaching from the "Field," rediscovers himself to be the

Pure Absolute Consciousness.

 

Continuing to elaborate this subtle relationship between Matter and

Spirit, and explained how the Absolute is the uncontaminated and

ever-vitalizing principle in both the "field" and in the "knower-of-

the-field".

 

The Kashmir Saivite Abhinavagupta reads 'maha brahma' as Shakti, the

instrumental power to create the entire universe. This Shakti is the

womb and is svatantrya-shakti, the Lord's `Great Power of Freedom' .

The Supreme Being places the seed (grabham) in the womb (yoni) as

the origin (sambhavas) of all beings (sarva-bhutanam).

 

to be continued

 

Hari Aum!