prakṛitim

न हि कश्िचत्क्षणमपि जातु तिष्ठत्यकर्मकृत्

prakṛiti-jaiḥ — born of material nature

No one can stay for even a moment without acting. Everyone is made to act by the strands of nature, whether they will it or not.

सदृशं चेष्टते स्वस्याः प्रकृतेर्ज्ञानवानपि

prakṛiteḥ — modes of nature

Even one who knows acts according to their own nature. All beings follow their nature. What can suppression do?

अजोऽपि सन्नव्ययात्मा भूतानामीश्वरोऽपि सन्

prakṛitim — nature

Though unborn, though imperishable in nature, though the lord of all beings — I take my stand on my own nature and come into being.

भूमिरापोऽनलो वायुः खं मनो बुद्धिरेव च

prakṛitiḥ — material energy

Earth, water, fire, air, space, mind, understanding and the sense of self — these are the eight divisions of my lower nature.

अपरेयमितस्त्वन्यां प्रकृतिं विद्धि मे पराम्

prakṛitim — energy

That is the lower. Know that I have another and higher nature, mighty-armed one: the living, by which this world is upheld.

सर्वभूतानि कौन्तेय प्रकृतिं यान्ति मामिकाम्

prakṛitim — primordial material energy

At the end of an age all beings merge into my nature, son of Kunti; and at the beginning of the next I send them forth again.

प्रकृतिं स्वामवष्टभ्य विसृजामि पुनः पुनः

prakṛitim — the material energy

Presiding over my own nature, I bring forth this whole multitude of beings again and again, helplessly, by the working of that nature.

मयाऽध्यक्षेण प्रकृतिः सूयते सचराचरम्

prakṛitiḥ — material energy

Under my oversight, nature brings forth all that moves and does not move. By this cause, son of Kunti, the world turns.

मोघाशा मोघकर्माणो मोघज्ञाना विचेतसः

prakṛitim — material energy

Their hopes are vain, their actions vain, their knowledge vain, their minds astray. They have taken the side of what deludes and destroys.

दृष्ट्वेदं मानुषं रूपं तवसौम्यं जनार्दन

prakṛitim — to normality

Seeing this human form of yours again, so gentle, I am gathered back into myself, and I have returned to my own nature.

प्रकृतिं पुरुषं चैव क्षेत्रं क्षेत्रज्ञमेव च

prakṛitim — material nature

Nature and the person, the field and the knower of the field, knowledge and what is to be known — these I wish to understand, Krishna.

प्रकृतिं पुरुषं चैव विद्ध्यनादी उभावपि

prakṛitim — material nature

Know that nature and the person are both without beginning. Know too that the changes and the strands arise from nature.

कार्यकारणकर्तृत्वे हेतुः प्रकृतिरुच्यते

prakṛitiḥ — the material energy

Nature is said to be the ground of cause and effect and of doing; the person is said to be the ground of the experience of pleasure and pain.

पुरुषः प्रकृतिस्थो हि भुङ्क्ते प्रकृतिजान्गुणान्

prakṛiti-sthaḥ — seated in the material energy

The person, seated in nature, experiences the strands born of nature. Attachment to those strands is the cause of birth in good wombs and bad.

य एवं वेत्ति पुरुषं प्रकृतिं च गुणैःसह

prakṛitim — the material nature

One who thus knows the person and nature together with the strands is not born again, however they live.

क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोरेवमन्तरं ज्ञानचक्षुषा

prakṛiti-mokṣham — release from material nature

Those who see with the eye of knowledge the difference between the field and its knower, and the freeing of beings from nature, reach the highest.

सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति गुणाः प्रकृतिसंभवाः

prakṛiti — material nature

Clarity, restlessness and inertia — these strands, born of nature, bind the imperishable embodied one to the body.

ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूतः सनातनः

prakṛiti-sthāni — bound by material nature

A fragment of my own self, eternal, becomes the living being in the world of the living, and draws to itself the six senses, the mind among them.

न तदस्ति पृथिव्यां वा दिवि देवेषु वा पुनः

prakṛiti-jaiḥ — born of material nature

There is no being on earth, nor among the gods in heaven, that is free from these three strands born of nature.

यदहङ्कारमाश्रित्य न योत्स्य इति मन्यसे

prakṛitiḥ — material nature

If, taking refuge in your own pride, you think “I will not fight”, your resolve is empty.