kāryakaraṇakartṛtve hetuḥ prakṛtirucyate |
puruṣaḥ sukhaduḥkhānāṁ bhoktṛtve heturucyate ||13.20||
prakṛti is said to be the cause in the creation of the physical body and the instruments; puruṣa is said to be the cause with reference to the state of being the experiencer of pleasure and pain.
prakṛti is said to be the cause - hetuḥ prakṛtirucyate in the creation of cause and effect - kāryakaraṇakartṛtve. Kārya - effect is the modified form of the kāraṇa - cause, like clay is kāraṇa and pot is kārya. These cause and effect relationship as we know is very fluid. The same thing from one standpoint is a cause but from another stand point is an effect. Like ice is the effect of water when temperature drops to a certain degree, but from another standpoint, water becomes the effect of the vapour when it comes to rain. This dynamic cause and effect relationships filled up the entire world, and the cause is prakṛti. Therefore the reality we see from this world is only a standpoint, thus it is mithyā - can’t stand enquiry.
puruṣa on whom this prakṛti depends, is also not away from creation. If prakṛti has not modified to become the body-mind-sense-complex and the world, where contacts between them cause pleasure and pain, there is no samsāra at all. But for samsāra to be there, puruṣa must also be there, otherwise there is no conscious being to experience pleasure and pain, thus it is said that he is the cause with reference to state of being for experience pleasure and pain - puruṣaḥ sukhaduḥkhānāṁ bhoktṛtve heturucyate. If by being the very basis for jīva - individual to experience the world, that individual can say that brahman is the cause for enjoying pleasure and pain. Just like if I get pushed by somebody and fell down, and from my fall I cause a pot to break. If I don’t ever know I was pushed, I might think I am the one who is not careful and fallen to cause the pot broken. But if I know somebody has pushed me, I will not claim that action. I am kārta - doer and bhoktā - experiencer, all because of avidyā - ignorance.
Avidyā - kāma - karma - karmaphala, that is the chain of samsāra. Because of taking oneself as limited (avidyā), one desires to make oneself fulfilled (kāma), then action (karma) is to be done for enjoying the results (karmaphala). This chain is not just end in this life, it will carry on to next life, just how it was carried from past life.
This is what the next verse talk about.
puruṣaḥ prakṛtistho hi bhuṅkte prakṛtijān guṇān | kāraṇaṁ guṇasaṅgo'sya sadasadyonijanmasu || 13.21 ||
because puruṣa who obtains in prakṛti enjoys the attributes born of prakṛti it’s attachment to the attributes (is) the cause for birth in higher and lower wombs.
In verse 3.28 talked about the distinction between ātmā “I” and guna - attributes which include this body-mind-sense-complex together with all names and forms. Karma - action is activity where one guna (body-mind-sense-complex / subject) engage with another guna (names and forms / object) in its respective field. One who sees this fact that I am distinct from guna therefore I am not the doer of the activities of those guna, he/she is the knower of the truth. On another hand, one who sees body-mind-sense-complex as oneself who does karma, he/she is a deluded person.
puruṣaḥ prakṛtistho hi - because puruṣa obtains in the prakṛti as the very basis for existence of manifestation, but he doesn’t become samsārī, since he is asangah - free from attachment. But when the truth of consciousness is covered and identifies with the attributes born of prakṛti as the nature of oneself, he becomes enjoying the result which is another attribute of prakṛti - bhuṅkte prakṛtijān guṇān. Various conditions of the mind like happiness and sorrow are born of guna in contact with other guna, but we don’t experience them as “this happiness” or “this sorrow” as we perceived them, but experience as “I am happy” or “I am sad”. This is because of an association due to avidyā, one takes sukha-dukha experience on guna to be oneself. And there are further delusions, like “I am a lucky person” or “I am an unlucky person”, etc.
The basic cause is avidyā, but karma is said to be the immediate cause for assuming a particular body incarnation. A person is born in a given circumstance because of his/her karma, an unique set of cause because of which a particular body is born is called yoni. Some born of great punya like devatā, some born of pāpa like animals, and also as human being which is born of mixture of punya and pāpa. Because of punya we enjoy the faculty of choice, unlike animals, but also due to pāpa, there is a lot of distress in our life. The cause for yoni is one’s association and attachment with the guna. The root of this attachment to the gunas is the notion that one is the body and enjoys the result of contact. Because of attachment, that there is further kartrvam - doer-ship for karma to get the experience again, then bhoktrva - enjoyership comes along to claim the result which bring on the next body to be born - kāraṇaṃ sadasadyonijanmasu.
This wheel of samsāra continues and the cause is association with guna - guṇasaṅgah. It is clear that samsāra doesn’t belong to purusa who is ātma. Prakrti cannot have samsāra because it has no bhoktrva - enjoyer-ship, since itself is jada - inert. Only ātma can be bhokta - experiencer because it alone is conscious. But being unattached and free from attributes, how ātma becomes bhoktā with reference to guna of prakrti? It is only because of identifying himself with guna due to avidyā. Two different natures which are impossible to have connection but by somehow become connected. It is possible only because of taking that which is not mine become mine - tādātmya. The negation of samsāra takes place only when this false identification resolved by the correct knowledge.
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