---
type: Concept
bundle: yoga-darshana
bundle_version: "0.2.0"
id: prakriti-yoga
title: "Prakṛti (Yoga Darśana)"
iast: "Prakṛti"
devanagari: "प्रकृति"
description: "The real primordial substrate evolving into mind and matter alike — not nature, not matter, not Māyā."
darshana:
  - Pātañjala Yoga
  - Sāṃkhya
text_source: "YS 2.18-2.19, 4.2-4.3"
tags:
  - Yoga
  - Patanjali
  - Samkhya
  - primordial-matter
  - guna
  - evolution
  - prakriti-purusha
not:
  - term: "nature"
    why: "nature in English refers to the physical world; Prakṛti includes mind, intellect, ego, and all subtle realities — it is both the physical and the entire cognitive apparatus; calling it \"nature\" loses 90% of the concept"
    instead: "Keep Prakṛti (Yoga Darśana) untranslated; do not substitute the English term."
  - term: "matter"
    why: "matter in Western science is inert and unconscious; Prakṛti is primordially active (all three Guṇa-s are forces, not stuffs) and produces citta, buddhi, and ahaṃkāra — psychological as well as physical"
  - term: "energy"
    why: "energy is a physical quantity; Prakṛti is an ontological category prior to energy"
  - term: "universe"
    why: "the universe is the evolved form; Prakṛti is the unevolved source; conflating source and product erases the Sāṃkhya theory of causation (satkāryavāda)"
  - term: "Maya"
    why: "critical error; Māyā is the Advaita Vedānta term for the power of illusion-projection; Prakṛti in Yoga Darśana is ontologically real, not illusory — the world produced by Prakṛti is genuinely real within this framework"
related:
  - /concepts/purusha.md
  - /concepts/guna.md
  - /concepts/sattva.md
  - /concepts/rajas.md
  - /concepts/tamas.md
  - /concepts/avidya-yoga.md
  - /concepts/chitta-vritti.md
  - /concepts/kaivalya.md
timestamp: "2026-06-20"
okf_version: "0.2"
license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

# Prakṛti (Yoga Darśana) — प्रकृति

**Not:** nature, matter, energy, universe, Maya

The second of the two eternal principles in Sāṃkhya-Yoga metaphysics. The primordial source of everything that is not pure consciousness — including all matter, energy, space, time, and crucially: mind, intellect, ego, and memory. Prakṛti is real, active, and co-eternal with Puruṣa. Its entanglement with Puruṣa produces the appearance of experience; its separation is liberation.

> **Note on file naming:** This file is `prakriti-yoga.md` to distinguish it from any Advaita-context treatment of Prakṛti. The dharma-foundation v0.1 bundle entry for `prakriti.md` treats Prakṛti from a Vedānta perspective. In Yoga Darśana, Prakṛti is ontologically real — not a name for Māyā.

## Etymology

- *pra* — before, primary, forth
- *kṛ* — to make, to do (root of karma)
- *prakṛti* — that which was there before action; the primordial doing-ground; original nature

## Prakṛti's Three-Guṇa Constitution

Prakṛti in its unmanifest state (*avyakta*) is the perfect equilibrium of three fundamental qualities:

| Guṇa | Quality | Function |
|------|---------|----------|
| Sattva | Luminosity, lightness, clarity | Illumination; reflection of consciousness |
| Rajas | Activity, motion, passion | Energy; transformation; change |
| Tamas | Inertia, heaviness, obscuration | Stability; resistance; structure |

These are not "parts" of Prakṛti but interpenetrating modes. When in equilibrium (*sāmyāvasthā*), Prakṛti is unmanifest. Disturbance of this equilibrium — through the proximity of Puruṣa — triggers evolution.

## The Evolution of Prakṛti (Sāṃkhya-Sūtra sequence)

From undifferentiated Prakṛti, evolution proceeds in a fixed order:

```
Avyakta (unmanifest Prakṛti)
  ↓
Mahat / Buddhi (cosmic intelligence / individual intellect)
  ↓
Ahaṃkāra (the principle of individuation)
  ↓ ↓
Manas (mind) + Tanmātrās (subtle elements) + Jñānendriyas / Karmendriyas
                    ↓
            Mahābhūtas (five gross elements)
```

Everything in this chain — including mind, memory, intellect, and ego — is Prakṛtic. None of it is Puruṣa. This is what makes asmitā (the as-if identity of Puruṣa with Buddhi) the specific error Patañjali is correcting.

## Patañjali's Framework (YS 2.18)

*prakāśakriyāsthitiśīlaṃ bhūtendriyātmakaṃ bhogopmokṣārthaṃ dṛśyam*

"The seen (*dṛśya* — Prakṛti's domain) has the nature of illumination (*prakāśa*), activity (*kriyā*), and inertia (*sthiti*) — constituted of elements and senses — and exists for the purposes of experience (*bhoga*) and liberation (*apavarga*) of the seer."

Patañjali explicitly states Prakṛti's purpose: it exists *for* Puruṣa — first to give Puruṣa the experience of its involvement (bhoga), and ultimately to propel Puruṣa toward the recognition of its non-involvement (apavarga / kaivalya).

## Prakṛti vs. Māyā — Critical Distinction

| | Prakṛti (Yoga Darśana) | Māyā (Advaita Vedānta) |
|--|----------------------|----------------------|
| Ontological status | Real, co-eternal with Puruṣa | Appearance; neither real nor unreal |
| Cognitive instruments | Products of Prakṛti — real, though subtle | Appearances within Māyā's projection |
| Liberation | Prakṛti and Puruṣa permanently separate | Ātman recognizes no Prakṛti ever really existed |
| The world | Genuinely produced and real | Superimposed on Brahman, ultimately unreal |

Conflating Prakṛti with Māyā produces systematic errors: it falsely suggests that Yoga philosophy teaches the world is illusory, which is the Advaita position, not the Sāṃkhya-Yoga position.

## Cross-References

- [Puruṣa](purusha.md) — the other eternal principle; pure consciousness that is not Prakṛti
- [Guṇa-s](guna.md) — the three constitutive qualities of Prakṛti (Sattva, Rajas, Tamas)
- [Avidyā (Yoga)](avidya-yoga.md) — the misidentification of Puruṣa with Prakṛti's products
- [Citta-Vṛtti](chitta-vritti.md) — the fluctuations of citta, which is itself a Prakṛtic evolute
- [Kaivalya](kaivalya.md) — liberation: Puruṣa recognized as permanently distinct from Prakṛti

## Audience Metaphor

Prakṛti is the original codebase from which every program, operating system, hardware driver, and display pixel is compiled. The app you see (the world), the OS running it (citta, buddhi, ahaṃkāra), and the hardware it runs on (the five elements) are all compiled instances of the same source code. Puruṣa is the user who is observing the screen — distinct from, not a part of, the compiled stack.

## Citations

1. [Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali](/references/yoga-sutras.md) 2.18-2.19, 4.2-4.3
2. [Sāṃkhya Kārikā](/references/samkhya-karika.md) of Īśvarakṛṣṇa (kārikā 3-13)
3. [Yoga Bhāṣya of Vyāsa](/references/yoga-bhasya.md) on YS 2.18
4. Rajiv Malhotra — Sanskrit Non-Translatables (2020)
