What is the exact meaning of the word 'prakruti'?

[Dr. JSR Prasad asked: Sashtanga pranams Swami. What is the exact meaning of the word ‘prakruti’? How does it influence qualities and deeds? -At Your divine holy lotus feet.]

Swami Replied: The word Prakruti has two meanings:- 1. The product born from a cause (praśastā kṛtiḥ), 2. The root cause of the product (prakṛṣṭaṃ kriyate anayā iti prakṛtiḥ, prakṛtiḥ mūlakāraṇe). In the Gita, God said that Prakruti influences the qualities that generate subsequently, the corresponding deeds (prakṛteḥ guṇasammūḍhāḥ, sajjante guṇakarmasu). God Krishna says Arjuna that Arjuna cannot overcome his Prakruti, which will make Arjuna to fight the war. God said that every soul comes under the influence of Prakruti only and nobody can control it (nigrahaḥ kiṃ kariṣyati). Since Prakruti or nature of a soul is so powerful, Arjuna will bend to the nature and fight since the nature finally controls every soul. Krishna also preached the Gita to Arjuna. We can infer that even Krishna preached Arjuna to fight the war because Krishna knows the nature of Arjuna.

There are three phases of the nature:- 1. The external phase constituting the materialized food having 1% influence and 2. The internal phase constituting the mind, which is a form of nervous energy having 9% influence, 3. The qualities of nervous energy only that accumulated from several past births having 90% influence. The first phase is gross and the second phase is subtle and both these phases come under Prakruti taken as product. The third phase is very very strong and comes under Prakruti taken as root cause. The second and third phases have commonalities:- A) both are in the phase of nervous energy, B) both are rectified by correct knowledge. The second phase is destroyed by knowledge gained in associations of good people and the third phase is destroyed by the knowledge gained from the Divine preacher or Sadguru. We can infer that the second phase is due to discussions with good or bad people and the third phase is due to the accumulated qualities collected from millions of births. The second and third phases belong to wrong knowledge and can be destroyed by the right knowledge with a difference that the second phase can be removed in the friendship with good people whereas the third phase is destroyed by the powerful right knowledge preached by the Sadguru. It is said that a diamond can be cut by another diamond only and hence, wrong knowledge can be destroyed by right knowledge. Since body and mind are connected, the state of mind is also influencing the materialistic nature of the gross body as well.

Gita says that food and association with people has influence, which means the 1+9=10% of the first and second phases (yuktāhāra vihārasya). Since Krishna is God, He can recognise even the 90% nature belonging to the third phase and hence, He told that Arjuna will certainly fight in the war. The nature or Prakruti referred by Krishna is the third phase only. In our hands, control of the third phase will not exist. We can control only the first and second phases.

The first phase is materialistic phase like bad food, which is purified by materialized medicines only. Of course, the second phase also comes under medical science only because the second phase is rectified by psychiatrists. Of course, the root cause is only the third phase that depends on the spiritual knowledge.

I want to clarify the above topic with a little more explanation. Gita mentioned food and association (Yuktāhāra Vihārasya). The meaning for the word ‘Vihaara’ shall mean association with good or bad people. This word shall not be taken as going to picnics because such picnic will not have any influence on the qualities of the soul. The qualities of the soul (good or bad or mixed) acquired from millions of births is another factor, which can be called as Samskaara Prakruti. Finally, there are three Prakrutis or natures.

1) Aahaara Prakruti:- The nature attained by taking food having 1% influence.

2) Vihaara Prakruti:- The nature attained by having association with good or bad people having 9% influence.

3) Samskaara Prakruti:- The nature attained from associations of people through past millions of births having 90% influence.

When Krishana warned Arjuna that Prakruti will force Arjuna to fight the war, it is this Samskaara Prakruti that was referred to in the Gita. Since Krishna is God and omniscient, He knows all the previous births of Arjuna (tānyahaṃ veda sarvāṇi… Gita). We cannot predict the bad behaviour of a good person taking good food (1%) remaining in good associations (9%) because we are unable to know the Samskaara Prakruti (90%) that was accumulated through past births.

The second and third types of Prakruti are based on the knowledge attained from good or bad associations and their remedy is also again good knowledge only. The weak second type-bad knowledge can be destroyed by good associations and the third strong type –bad knowledge can be destroyed by the preaching of the divine preacher. In fact, these two types can come under medical science only because psychological curing through a counsel of psychiatrists is a branch of medical science only. Anyway, the first type involving materialized medicines to cure defects of food comes under medical science only. The only point to be noted here is that the first two types are in the purview of our hand whereas the third type is in the hands of God only because the Sadguru is the human incarnation of God.

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