Pravṛtti
Pravṛtti · pra-vṛtti, “turning outward, activity”
Grammar: feminine noun, from the root vṛt (to turn, to move) with pra (forth): “a turning forth”, activity.
Meaning: the turning outward into action: Vedic karma such as the agnihotra and the yajña, done for svarga and other fruits, the dharma of those who are still attached. Its pair is nivṛtti, the turning back: śama, dama and the path of those with vairāgya. The way of pravṛtti is the Pravṛtti-mārga.
In the scriptures: the Bhāgavata Purāṇa teaches pravṛtti with nivṛtti, and names it as the path of the gṛhastha.
Pravṛtti and nivṛtti. Satī tells Daksha that karma is of two kinds: pravṛtti, the agnihotra and the rest for svarga, for the attached, and nivṛtti, śama, dama and the rest, for those with vairāgya; one cannot follow both at once, and neither applies to Śiva, who is Parabrahman (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 4). In the stotra Śiva gives the Pracetas, karma has the same two forms, pravṛtti in yajña and the like, nivṛtti in śama, dama and the like (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 24). Kapila names nishkāma dharma in both its forms, pravṛtti and nivṛtti, among the many means that help one reach Bhagavān Vishṇu, with pūjā, kratus, dāna, tapas, the study of the Veda, sannyāsa, yoga and bhakti (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 32). The wives of Kāliya, praising Śrī Kṛshṇa, say that the pravṛtti seen in the avatāras beginning with Rāma and the nivṛtti seen in those beginning with Dakshiṇāmūrti are his own nature (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 16).
Karma for desires. Nārada tells Yudhishṭhira that pravṛtti karma, done for desires, keeps one wandering in saṃsāra, and that it is of two kinds, ishṭa and pūrta (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapter 15); it is the path by which the man of pravṛtti goes after death to the Candraloka and returns (see Pitṛyāna). Ajāmila heard both the Vedic pravṛtti-dharma from the dūtas of Yama and the pure bhāgavata dharma from the Vishṇudūtas (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 2). Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Uddhava that a gṛhastha devoted to pravṛtti-dharma who does his svadharma is a mixture of the guṇas, and that rajas produces attachment, the sense of difference and the nature of pravṛtti (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 25).
At Kurukshetra the kings said to the Yādavas: “Though you are on the path of pravṛtti, you see and touch Śrī Kṛshṇa, converse and walk with him, eat, sit and sleep with him, and are bound to him by marriage” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 82).
Related terms: Nivṛtti-mārga · Pravṛtti-mārga · Ishṭāpūrta · Karma · Pitṛyāna
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 32; Skandha 4, Chapters 4, 24; Skandha 6, Chapter 2; Skandha 7, Chapter 15; Skandha 10, Chapters 16, 82; Skandha 11, Chapter 25