Sanskrit
प्रकृतिं पुरुषं चैव विद्ध्यनादी उभावपि । विकारांश्च गुणांश्चैव विद्धि प्रकृतिसंभवान् ॥
prakṛtiṃ puruṣaṃ caiva viddhy anādī ubhāv api vikārāṃś ca guṇāṃś caiva viddhi prakṛtisambhavān
Translation
Know thou that Matter and Spirit are both without beginning; and know thou also that modifications and qualities are all Matter-born.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The chapter’s second section opens with its central metaphysical claim: prakriti (nature — the source of all material form, activity, and the three gunas) and purusha (spirit — the witnessing self) are both anadi, beginningless, neither one produced by the other. This is classical Samkhya dualism adopted wholesale into the Gita’s framework, and it matters because it rules out treating purusha as an effect of prakriti or vice versa — whatever their relationship turns out to be in verses 21-23, it isn’t causal creation. The central metaphysical claim: prakṛti and puruṣa are both anādi, beginningless — neither one produced by the other. This is classical Sāṅkhya dualism adopted wholesale, and it rules out treating puruṣa as an effect of prakṛti (or vice versa): whatever their relationship is, it is not causal creation.
Study deeper
Word by word
- prakṛtiṃ puruṣaṃ caivaप्रकृतिं पुरुषं चैव
- nature and spirit (prakṛtim + puruṣam + ca + eva)
- viddhy anādī ubhāv apiविद्ध्य् अनादी उभाव् अपि
- know both to be beginningless (viddhi + anādī + ubhau + api)
- vikārāṃś ca guṇāṃś caivaविकारांश् च गुणांश् चैव
- and the modifications and the guṇas (vikārān + ca + guṇān + ca + eva)
- viddhi prakṛtisambhavānविद्धि प्रकृतिसंभवान्
- know as sprung from nature (viddhi + prakṛti-sambhavān)
Commentary
Site Commentary
This verse doesn’t argue for the beginninglessness of prakriti and purusha, it stipulates it — “know thou” is not an invitation to be persuaded, it’s an axiom being laid down before the reasoning starts. Everything the chapter builds from verse 21 onward depends on accepting this as a starting condition rather than a conclusion, which is itself a useful thing to notice about how foundational claims tend to get introduced.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Some foundational beliefs about yourself won't arrive through argument — you may simply have to accept, provisionally, that two things in your life are both just given, neither one caused by the other, before you can reason clearly about how they interact.
Professional
- When scoping a problem, sometimes the fastest move is to stipulate two facts as given — not argue them — so the team stops relitigating first principles and starts reasoning about how those givens interact instead.
Family & Social
- In a recurring disagreement, try treating both people's core temperaments as simply given, neither one caused by the other, before hunting for who started it — some dynamics need to be accepted as a starting condition rather than explained.
Ask yourself
A few ways to take this verse past reading. Ticks and the note stay in this browser.