Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 7, Verse 5
अपरेयमितस्त्वन्यां प्रकृतिं विद्धि मे पराम् । जीवभूतां महाबाहो ययेदं धार्यते जगत्
apareyamitastvanyāṃ prakṛtiṃ viddhi me parām | jīvabhūtāṃ mahābāho yayedaṃ dhāryate jagat
Translation
This is the inferior (Prakṛti); but as distinct from this know thou My superior Prakṛti, the very life, O mighty-armed, by which this universe is upheld.
— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri
Word meanings
- aparā
- lower
- iyam
- this
- itaḥ
- from (than) this
- tu
- indeed
- anyām
- other
- prakṛtim
- nature
- viddhi
- know
- me
- my
- parām
- higher
- jīvabhūtām
- life-element
- mahābāho
- O great-armed
- yayā
- by which
- idam
- this
- dhāryate
- is supported
- jagat
- world
Śaṅkarācārya's commentary
This Prakṛti is inferior, impure, productive of evil, itself constituting the bondage of saṃsāra; but the superior Prakṛti is pure: it is My very Self, the Kṣetrajña, that by which life is sustained, that which enters within the whole universe and sustains it.