Text 14
puruṣaḥ prakṛtir vyaktam
ahaṅkāro nabho ’nilaḥ
jyotir āpaḥ kṣitir iti
tattvāny uktāni me nava
puruṣaḥ — the enjoyer; prakṛtiḥ — nature; vyaktam — the primeval manifestation of matter; ahaṅkāraḥ — false ego; nabhaḥ — ether; anilaḥ — air; jyotiḥ — fire; āpaḥ — water; kṣitiḥ — earth; iti — thus; tattvāni — the elements of creation; uktāni — have been described; me — by Me; nava — nine.
I have described the nine basic elements as the enjoying soul, nature, nature’s primeval manifestation of the mahat-tattva, false ego, ether, air, fire, water and earth.
Prakṛti, or nature, is originally unmanifest and later becomes manifest as the mahat-tattva. Although the living entity is puruṣa, an enjoyer, the real process by which he can enjoy is by satisfying the transcendental senses of the Lord, just as the hand eats by supplying food to the stomach. Within material nature the living entity becomes a false enjoyer, forgetting his subservience to the Lord. The material elements as well as the living entity and the Supersoul are thus systematically analyzed to demonstrate to the conditioned soul his actual constitutional position beyond material nature.