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Shloka 17

Sāṅkhya Enumeration of Tattvas, Distinction of Puruṣa–Prakṛti, and the Mechanics of Birth and Death

सर्गादौ प्रकृतिर्ह्यस्य कार्यकारणरूपिणी । सत्त्वादिभिर्गुणैर्धत्ते पुरुषोऽव्यक्त ईक्षते ॥ १७ ॥

sargādau prakṛtir hy asya kārya-kāraṇa-rūpiṇī sattvādibhir guṇair dhatte puruṣo ’vyakta īkṣate

ဖန်ဆင်းခြင်းအစတွင် ပရကృతిသည် သတ္တဝ၊ ရဇ၊ တမ ဂုဏ်သုံးပါးဖြင့် အကြောင်းနှင့် အကျိုး—သိမ်မွေ့နှင့် ထူထဲ—အလုံးစုံလောက၏ ရုပ်သဏ္ဌာန်ကို ခံယူသည်။ အဗျက္တ ပရမပုရုရှ၊ ပရမာတ္မာသည် ထိုပြောင်းလဲမှုထဲ မဝင်ဘဲ မျက်စိတစ်ချက်သာ လှမ်းကြည့်သည်။

सर्गादौat the beginning of creation
सर्गादौ:
Adhikarana (अधिकरण)
TypeNoun
Rootसर्ग-आदि (प्रातिपदिक: सर्ग + आदि)
Formपुंलिङ्ग; सप्तमी एकवचन (Locative singular) used adverbially; समासः अव्ययीभावः (सर्गादौ = सर्गस्य आदौ “at the beginning of creation”)
प्रकृतिःmaterial nature (prakṛti)
प्रकृतिः:
Karta (कर्ता)
TypeNoun
Rootप्रकृति (प्रातिपदिक)
Formस्त्रीलिङ्ग; प्रथमा एकवचन (Nominative singular)
हिindeed
हि:
Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
TypeIndeclinable
Rootहि (अव्यय)
Formअव्यय; निपात (emphatic/causal particle “indeed/for”)
अस्यof this (universe)
अस्य:
Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/षष्ठी)
TypeNoun
Rootइदम् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
Formपुं/नपुंसक; षष्ठी एकवचन (Genitive singular pronoun)
कार्यकारणरूपिणीhaving the form of effect and cause
कार्यकारणरूपिणी:
Visheshana (विशेषण)
TypeAdjective
Rootकार्य-कारण-रूपिन् (प्रातिपदिक: कार्य + कारण + रूपिन्)
Formस्त्रीलिङ्ग; प्रथमा एकवचन (Nominative singular); समासः बहु-तत्पुरुषः (कार्य-कारणयोः रूपम् यस्याः)
सत्त्वादिभिःby sattva etc. (the guṇas)
सत्त्वादिभिः:
Karana (करण)
TypeNoun
Rootसत्त्व-आदि (प्रातिपदिक: सत्त्व + आदि)
Formनपुंसकलिङ्ग; तृतीया बहुवचन (Instrumental plural); समासः तत्पुरुषः (सत्त्वादयः = सत्त्व-रजस्-तमांसि)
गुणैःby the qualities
गुणैः:
Karana (करण)
TypeNoun
Rootगुण (प्रातिपदिक)
Formपुंलिङ्ग; तृतीया बहुवचन (Instrumental plural)
धत्तेassumes/holds
धत्ते:
Kriya (क्रिया)
TypeVerb
Rootधा (धातु)
Formलट् (वर्तमानकाल); प्रथमपुरुष; एकवचन; आत्मनेपद (Present indicative, 3rd sg, Ātmanepada)
पुरुषःthe Puruṣa (conscious being)
पुरुषः:
Karta (कर्ता)
TypeNoun
Rootपुरुष (प्रातिपदिक)
Formपुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा एकवचन (Nominative singular)
अव्यक्तःunmanifest
अव्यक्तः:
Visheshana (विशेषण)
TypeAdjective
Rootअव्यक्त (प्रातिपदिक)
Formपुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा एकवचन (Nominative singular); नञ्-तत्पुरुष (a- + व्यक्त)
ईक्षतेsees/observes
ईक्षते:
Kriya (क्रिया)
TypeVerb
Rootईक्ष् (धातु)
Formलट् (वर्तमानकाल); प्रथमपुरुष; एकवचन; आत्मनेपद (Present indicative, 3rd sg, Ātmanepada)

The Personality of Godhead is not subject to transformation like the subtle and gross material elements. Thus the Lord is avyakta, or not materially manifest at any stage of cosmic evolution. Regardless of the specific method of cataloging the material elements, the Lord remains the ultimate creator, maintainer and annihilator of the total cosmic situation.

K
Kṛṣṇa
U
Uddhava
P
Puruṣa
P
Prakṛti

FAQs

This verse says Prakṛti becomes the cause-and-effect basis of creation by taking on the three guṇas, while the Puruṣa remains unmanifest and initiates creation by His glance.

In the Uddhava-gītā teachings, Kṛṣṇa explains the metaphysics of creation and the guṇas so Uddhava can understand the Lord’s transcendence and become detached from material identification.

Notice how goodness, passion, and ignorance shape your thoughts and choices; cultivate sattva (clarity, discipline, purity) to support devotion and reduce being driven by rajas and tamas.