Prakriti produces changing qualities; consciousness witnesses them.
Krishna speaks to Arjuna
प्रकृतिं पुरुषं चैव विद्ध्यनादी उभावपि |विकारांश्च गुणांश्चैव विद्धि प्रकृतिसम्भवान् ||१३-२०||
prakṛtiṃ puruṣaṃ caiva viddhyanādi ubhāvapi . vikārāṃśca guṇāṃścaiva viddhi prakṛtisambhavān ||13-20||
Use this verse to begin guna awareness.
Meaning
Know prakriti and purusha to be beginningless, and know that modifications and gunas arise from prakriti.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
Nature produces the changes and gunas experienced in life.
Word-by-word meaning
Tap a word to see its meaning.
Explanation
Krishna introduces the relationship between purusha, conscious self, and prakriti, nature. The field changes through the gunas, while consciousness observes and experiences.
Read the traditional 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.
In daily life
Notice when your mood is a movement of nature, not your final identity.
A person feeling lazy can see tamas as a guna arising in the field rather than declaring I am lazy forever.
Try this today
Label your current state as clarity, restlessness, or heaviness.
I observe nature’s changes without losing myself.Reflect
Which guna-like pattern is active in me today?
Private — only you can see this
Quick check
What does ‘प्रकृतिम् पुरुषम् च एव’ mean in this verse?
Krishna on witness, in other chapters
- Verse 3.28When you see life as nature engaging with itself, you can participate fully yet remain inwardly free and unattached.
- Verse 18.13Understanding the many factors behind every action dissolves the ego's claim to be the sole doer.
- Verse 7.12All your shifting moods arise within the Divine, yet the Divine remains untouched — learn to witness your states rather than be ruled by them.
- Verse 14.10Your states of mind are passing weather, not permanent identity — so neither cling to the bright ones nor despair in the dark.
Swipe left for 13.21 · Nature acts; consciousness experiences.
Questions about Bhagavad Gita 13.20
Who says Bhagavad Gita 13.20, and to whom?
Krishna speaks to Arjuna in verse 13.20, in Chapter 13, Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga (Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 13.20 mean?
Know prakriti and purusha to be beginningless, and know that modifications and gunas arise from prakriti. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 13.20 for daily life?
Notice when your mood is a movement of nature, not your final identity. A person feeling lazy can see tamas as a guna arising in the field rather than declaring I am lazy forever.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 13.20 mean?
प्रकृतिम् पुरुषम् च एव — Nature (matter) and the Spirit; विद्धि अनादी उभौ अपि — know both to be beginningless; विकारान् च गुणान् च एव — the modifications and the qualities; विद्धि प्रकृतिसम्भवान् — know to be born of Nature.
Where does verse 13.20 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 20 of 35 in Chapter 13, Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga. The next verse is 13.21.