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Chapter 13 · Nature, the Enjoyer and Consciousness · 35 verses

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Nature & guṇasChapter 13 · Nature, the Enjoyer and Consciousness

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 13.20

Prakṛti, puruṣa and conditioning

प्रकृतिं पुरुषं चैव विद्ध्यनादी उभावपि ।

विकारांश्च गुणांश्चैव विद्धि प्रकृतिसम्भवान् ॥ २० ॥

prakṛtiṁ puruṣaṁ caiva

viddhy anādī ubhāv api

vikārāṁś ca guṇāṁś caiva

viddhi prakṛti-sambhavān

Translation

Material nature and the living entities should be understood to be beginningless. Their transformations and the modes of matter are products of material nature.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
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Understand it

What this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.

Nature and the Living Entity

  1. 1Material nature and living entities have no beginning. Transformations and the modes of matter come from material nature.
  2. 2Prabhupāda explains that each living entity is a spiritual part of the Supreme Lord. Bodily changes do not change the soul.
  3. 3Use this chance in the material world to serve the Supreme Lord and prepare to enter the spiritual world.

Where we are

In the story

Chapter 13, Nature, the Enjoyer and Consciousness: prakṛti, puruṣa and conditioning.

What it teaches

Theme summary

The modes of nature condition behavior.

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Key ideas in this verse

The spiritual concepts this verse connects to.

Material nature

Material nature and the living entities are described as beginningless.

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Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

What does BG 13.20 establish in Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport, and how does it connect to nature & guṇas?

Practice

Observe which mode shaped your last decision.

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The story behind it

Mahābhārata episodes and stories from the purports that shed light on this verse.

All stories for chapter 13 ›
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Related verses

Keep going: verses that carry this teaching further.

Study notes are editorial summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport.

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