Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 13, Verse 19

प्रकृतिं पुरुषं चैव विद्ध्यनादी उभावपि । विकारांश्च गुणांश्चैव विद्धि प्रकृतिसम्भवान्

prakṛtiṃ puruṣaṃ caiva viddhyanādī ubhāvapi | vikārāṃśca guṇāṃścaiva viddhi prakṛtisambhavān

Translation

Know thou that Prakṛti as well as Puruṣa are both beginningless; and know thou also that all forms and qualities are born of Prakṛti.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

prakṛtim

matter

puruṣam

spirit

ca

and

eva

even

viddhi

know

anādī

beginningless

ubhau

both

api

also

vikārān

modifications

ca

and

guṇān

qualities

ca

and

eva

even

viddhi

know

prakṛtisambhavān

from matter, origin, whose, them

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

Prakṛti and Puruṣa, Matter and Spirit, are the two Prakṛtis of the Īśvara, the Lord. These two have no beginning. As the Īśvara is the eternal Lord, it is but right that His Prakṛtis also should be eternal. The Lordship of the Īśvara consists indeed in His possession of the two Prakṛtis by which He causes the origin, preservation and dissolution of the universe. The two Prakṛtis are beginningless, and they are therefore the cause of saṃsāra. All forms — all emanations from buddhi down to the physical body — and all qualities (guṇas) such as those which manifest themselves as pleasure, pain, delusion and other mental states spring from Prakṛti, Māyā, composed of the three guṇas, that Energy of the Īśvara which constitutes the cause of all emanations.