Aparā Prakṛti
Aparā Prakṛti · aparā prakṛti, “the lower nature”
Akshara has other meanings too: see all meanings of Akshara.
Grammar: feminine noun phrase; aparā (lower, not the highest) with prakṛti (nature, the natural state).
Meaning: the lower prakṛti: the eight tattvas mahat, ahaṅkāra, manas and the five bhūtas, set against the parā prakṛti, the avyakta, which is the highest and first state of the Paramātmā.
In the scriptures: in the Brahma Purāṇa, Vasishṭha teaches King Janaka by the Sāṅkhya way, in the dialogue that Vyāsa tells the munis. Prakṛti, he says, means the natural state. The supreme state at the root of the manifest is the avyakta; it too is the prakṛti of the Paramātmā, but because it is the highest and the very first it is called parā prakṛti. The second stage is mahat, called Hiraṇyagarbha, whose nature is buddhi; the third is ahaṅkāra, which becomes manifest from mahat; the fourth is the five subtle, unmixed bhūtas that arise from ahaṅkāra. Mahat, ahaṅkāra, manas and the five bhūtas: these eight are called aparā prakṛti. The fifth stage is their expansion: the sixteen vikāras, the five viśeshas, the five indriyas and the whole physical creation. Dissolution comes in the reverse order, as waves dissolve into the ocean, and “this is the order of the creation and dissolution of the aparā and parā prakṛtis” (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 243).
In truth all is one undivided tattva, one prakṛti; only in vyavahāra (worldly usage) is there the distinction of aparā and parā prakṛti, kshara and akshara. When the jīva, grown weary of saṃsāra, knows by Sāṅkhya that he is nirguṇa and the parā prakṛti itself, he leaves the state of aparā prakṛti and becomes pure, free of all sorrow. Vasishṭha gives the words of the jīva as he awakens, who speaks of aparā prakṛti as “she”: “All this time I have been deceived by keeping company with this aparā prakṛti; I will not be deceived any more. In truth I am without change; I took on changes. This is not the fault of aparā prakṛti; it is my own fault. She, transforming herself into many forms, still commands me to stay sunk in her. I will not obey her command. So long as I rely on this aparā prakṛti, which has no awakening, I cannot reach sameness with the paramārtha tattva and be freed.” The apratibuddha, the māyā tattva, is the root of aparā prakṛti (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 244).
Related terms: Parā Prakṛti · Prakṛti · Mahat · Ahaṅkāra · Avyakta · Apratibuddha · Sāṅkhya
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 243–244