Srimad Bhagavatam — Ekadasha Skandha, Shloka 11
Sāṅkhya Enumeration of Tattvas, Distinction of Puruṣa–Prakṛti, and the Mechanics of Birth and Death
पुरुषेश्वरयोरत्र न वैलक्षण्यमण्वपि । तदन्यकल्पनापार्था ज्ञानं च प्रकृतेर्गुण: ॥ ११ ॥
puruṣeśvarayor atra na vailakṣaṇyam aṇv api tad-anya-kalpanāpārthā jñānaṁ ca prakṛter guṇaḥ
Gemäß dem Wissen in der Erscheinungsweise der Güte gibt es nicht die geringste qualitative Verschiedenheit zwischen dem Lebewesen und dem höchsten Lenker; eine Verschiedenheit zu erdenken ist nutzlose Spekulation, und dieses Wissen selbst ist eine Eigenschaft der Natur (prakṛti).
According to certain philosophers there are twenty-five elements, among which a single category is stipulated for both the individual living entity and the Supreme Lord. Such impersonal knowledge is declared by the Lord to be material: jñānaṁ ca prakṛter guṇaḥ. Such knowledge can, however, be accepted to establish the qualitative identity of the Supreme Lord and the living entities who expand from Him. Materialistic persons sometimes believe that there is a supreme spirit in heaven but also think that human beings are identical with their material bodies and thus qualitatively and perpetually separated from the Supreme Lord. Knowledge of the Lord’s qualitative oneness with the living entity, as described in this verse, refutes the materialistic concept of life and partially establishes the Absolute Truth. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu described the actual situation as acintya-bhedābheda-tattva: the supreme controller and the controlled living entities are simultaneously one and different. In the material mode of goodness the oneness is perceived. As one proceeds further, to the stage of viśuddha-sattva, or purified spiritual goodness, one finds spiritual variety within the qualitative oneness, completing one’s knowledge of the Absolute Truth. The words na vailakṣaṇyam aṇv api boldly affirm that the individual living entity is indisputably part and parcel of the Supreme Lord and qualitatively one with Him. Any philosophical attempt to separate the living entity from the Supreme Lord and deny his eternal servitude to the Lord is thus refuted. Speculation arriving at the conclusion that the living entity has independent existence separate from the Lord is described here as apārthā, useless. Nevertheless, the theory of twenty-five elements is acceptable to the Lord as a preliminary phase in the evolution of spiritual knowledge.
FAQs
This verse says that in pure consciousness there is not even the slightest essential difference; perceived difference arises from conceptual imagination, while mental ‘knowledge’ operates as a mode of material nature.
In the Uddhava Gītā, Kṛṣṇa teaches Uddhava discriminating wisdom (viveka) to transcend māyā—showing that divisive notions are mental constructions and that liberation comes by realizing the self beyond prakṛti’s guṇas.
Notice how identity-based divisions arise in the mind; practice seeing yourself and others as conscious beings, and use spiritual discipline (bhakti, meditation, self-inquiry) to step back from changing mental states that belong to prakṛti.