Chapter 13, Verse 20
प्रकृतिं पुरुषं चैव विद्ध्यनादी उभावपि | विकारांश्च गुणांश्चैव विद्धि प्रकृतिसम्भवान् ||१३-२०||
prakṛtiṃ puruṣaṃ caiva viddhyanādi ubhāvapi . vikārāṃśca guṇāṃścaiva viddhi prakṛtisambhavān ||13-20||
Meaning
13.20 Know thou that Nature (matter) and the Spirit are both beginningless; and know also that all modifications and alities are born of Nature.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Having described the knowable, Krishna now distinguishes the two eternal principles that interweave in every life: prakriti (nature, matter) and purusha (spirit, consciousness). Both, he says, are beginningless (anadi) — neither is a recent product; they are the perennial dyad underlying all existence. This is the great insight of the Sankhya vision that the Gita absorbs and transcends.
The key clarification follows: all modifications (vikaras) and all qualities (gunas) are born of nature, not of spirit. Every change you observe — your shifting moods, your body's growth and decay, the play of energy and inertia within you — belongs to prakriti. The purusha, the conscious self, contributes none of this churning; it simply witnesses. By correctly assigning all activity and change to nature, Krishna frees the self from false ownership. We stop blaming or crediting our deepest self for the endless flux and recognise it as the calm, beginningless witness of nature's dance.
💡 Key Takeaway
All your changing moods and traits belong to nature, not to the unchanging witness that you truly are.
Related Verses
अर्जुन उवाच | प्रकृतिं पुरुषं चैव क्षेत्रं क्षेत्रज्ञमेव च | एतद्वेदितुमिच्छामि ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं च केशव ||१३-१||
arjuna uvāca . prakṛtiṃ puruṣaṃ caiva kṣetraṃ kṣetrajñameva ca . etadveditumicchāmi jñānaṃ jñeyaṃ ca keśava ||13-1||
13.1 Arjuna said I wish to learn about Nature (matter) and the Spirit (soul), the field and the knower of the field, knowledge and that which ought to be known, O Kesava.
श्रीभगवानुवाच | इदं शरीरं कौन्तेय क्षेत्रमित्यभिधीयते | एतद्यो वेत्ति तं प्राहुः क्षेत्रज्ञ इति तद्विदः ||१३-२||
śrībhagavānuvāca . idaṃ śarīraṃ kaunteya kṣetramityabhidhīyate . etadyo vetti taṃ prāhuḥ kṣetrajña iti tadvidaḥ ||13-2||
13.2 The Blessed Lord said This body, O Arjuna, is called the field; he who knows it is called the knower of the field, by those who know of them.
महाभूतान्यहंकारो बुद्धिरव्यक्तमेव च | इन्द्रियाणि दशैकं च पञ्च चेन्द्रियगोचराः ||१३-६||
mahābhūtānyahaṃkāro buddhiravyaktameva ca . indriyāṇi daśaikaṃ ca pañca cendriyagocarāḥ ||13-6||
13.6 The great elements, egoism, intellect, and also the Unmanifested Nature, the ten senses and one (mind), and the five objects of the senses.