With this shloka, the introductory portion is over.

Verses 7.1 to 7.3 introduced the subject. Bhagavān said that Arjuna could know Him completely and doubtlessly. He promised both jñānam [saguṇa Īśvara knowledge] and vijñānam [nirguṇa Īśvara knowledge]. He also said that such knowledge is rare.

Now the main teaching begins.

From 7.4 to 7.12, Bhagavān reveals Īśvara-svarūpam [the nature of Bhagavān]. This is one of the most important portions of the Gītā, because Bhagavān is not merely being presented as a person sitting somewhere and creating the world from outside. Bhagavān is being revealed as the very cause of the universe.

The Upaniṣadic definition of Bhagavān is jagat-kāraṇam [the cause of the universe]. To understand this, we must understand that every created thing has two causes.

First, there is upādāna-kāraṇam [material cause]. This is the raw material from which something is made. A wooden desk needs wood. A clay pot needs clay. A cloth needs thread. Food needs ingredients.

Second, there is nimitta-kāraṇam [intelligent cause]. Raw material does not arrange itself into a finished product. Wood does not automatically become a desk. Clay does not automatically become a pot. Ingredients do not automatically become a meal. There must be an intelligent principle that shapes, arranges, and converts the material into the product.

In ordinary creation, these two causes are different. The carpenter is different from the wood. The potter is different from the clay. The weaver is different from the cotton. The cook is different from the rice.

But in the case of the universe, before creation, Bhagavān alone was. The entire creation, including time and space, had not yet emerged. Therefore there could not have been a second raw material outside Bhagavān.

So Bhagavān must be both the nimitta-kāraṇam [intelligent cause] and the upādāna-kāraṇam [material cause] of the universe.

As intelligent cause, Bhagavān is the creator. As material cause, Bhagavān Himself appears as the universe. The universe is not created by Bhagavān and then placed separately somewhere. Bhagavān Himself manifests as the universe.

This is why the teaching says that there is no world separate from Bhagavān. Just as ornaments are not separate from gold, and ice, water, and steam are only different conditions of H₂O, the world is not a second independent substance apart from Bhagavān. The universe is Bhagavān in a different configuration.

But Bhagavān is not merely matter. Bhagavān consists of two principles: parā prakṛti [higher nature] and aparā prakṛti [lower nature]. Together, these constitute Īśvara.

The present shloka introduces aparā prakṛti [lower nature]. Bhagavān says: iyaṃ me prakṛtiḥ aṣṭadhā bhinnā — “This prakṛti of Mine is divided eightfold.”

The eightfold aparā prakṛti is:

• bhūmiḥ — earth

• āpaḥ — water

• analaḥ — fire

• vāyuḥ — air

• kham — space

• manaḥ — mind

• buddhiḥ — intellect

• ahaṅkāraḥ — ego-principle

These must be understood carefully.

The five elements — earth, water, fire, air, and space — are not merely the gross physical elements we experience now. Bhagavān is speaking of the subtle material principles at an earlier stage of creation. They are the subtle basis from which the gross universe later emerges.

Similarly, manaḥ, buddhiḥ, and ahaṅkāraḥ should not be reduced to one individual’s personal mind, intellect, and ego. In this cosmological teaching, they are subtle principles belonging to the material side of creation.

This is important because we usually think of mind as “spiritual.” But in Vedānta, the mind is also part of aparā prakṛti. It is subtle matter. It changes. Thoughts come and go. Emotions rise and fall. The intellect decides differently at different times. The ego-sense changes according to roles: parent, student, worker, teacher, friend, devotee.

Therefore, the mind, intellect, and ego are not the changeless conscious Self. They are subtle instruments within the material side of creation.

This is why aparā prakṛti is called lower nature. It is acētana [inert], saguṇa [with attributes], and savikāra [subject to change]. It is useful, sacred, and part of Bhagavān’s manifestation, but it is not the conscious principle.

The conscious principle, parā prakṛti, will be introduced in the next shloka. That is the observer, the conscious principle because of which the body, mind, and world are known.

This shloka therefore begins the revelation of Bhagavān as the material cause of the universe. The whole material field — world, body, senses, mind, intellect, and ego — does not stand apart from Bhagavān. It is Bhagavān’s own eightfold aparā prakṛti, the lower material nature from which the changing universe emerges.