भूमिरापोऽनलो वायुः खं मनो बुद्धिरेव च ।
अहङ्कार इतीयं मे भिन्ना प्रकृतिरष्टधा ॥ ४ ॥
अहङ्कार इतीयं मे भिन्ना प्रकृतिरष्टधा ॥ ४ ॥
bhūmirāpo’nalo vāyuḥ khaṃ mano buddhireva ca .
ahaṅkāra itīyaṃ me bhinnā prakṛtiraṣṭadhā .. 4 ..
- Earth, water, fire, air, ether, thought (Manas) and reason (Buddhi), egoism (Ahaṃkāra) —thus is My Prakṛti divided eightfold.
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Earth stands for the subtile rudimental element or Tanmatra, the Prithivi-tanmatra or the subtile rudimental element of earth; and so water, fire, air and ether stand for the Tanmātras of water, etc. Thought (Manas) stands for its cause Ahaṃkāra or egoism : reason (Buddhi) for the Mahat principle, which is the cause of Ahaṃkāra; and Ahaṃkāra for the Avyakta, the Uumanifested, conjoined with Avidyā or nescience. Just as food which is mixed with poison is itself called poison, so the Avyakta, the First Cause, conjoined with the vasana, or latent unconscious impression, of Ahaṃkāra, is itself called here Ahaṃkāra inasmuch as Egoism is the impelling cause of all. As a matter of fact, we find, from our ordinary experience, that egoism is the cause of the activity of every being. Thus divided eightfold is My Prakṛti, the Māyā belonging to the Īśvara.