a playful boy, as yon shall learn by listening to his frolics.1
That chief principle (Pradhana), which is the indiscrete cause, is called, by the sages, also Prakriti (nature): it is subtile, uniform, and comprehends what is and what is not (or both causes and effects);* is durable, self-sustained, illimitable, undecaying, and stable; devoid of sound or touch, and possessing neither colour nor form; endowed with the three qualities (in equilibrium); the mother of the world; without beginning;^ and that into which all that is produced
1 The creation of the world is very commonly considered to be the Lihi (^^t^)? sport or amusement, of the supreme being.
2 The attributes of Pradhana, the chief (principle or element), here specified, conform, generally, to those ascribed to it by the Sankhya philosophy (Sclnkhya Karika, p. 16, &c.); although some of them are incompatible with its origin from a first cause, f In the Sankhya, this incongruity does not occur; for there Pradhana is independent, and coordinate with primary spirit. The Puriinas give rise to the inconsistency, by a lax use of both philosophical and pantheistical expressions. The most incongruous epithets in our text are, however, explained away in the comment. Thus, Nitya (f'TW)? 'eternal', is said to mean 'uniform, not liable to increase or diminution': f«t(4| ^f^cfil^lj W^nt^C^I*!, I Sada- sadatmaka (^^^T^TSTcfi) , 'comprehending what is and what is not', means 'having the power of both cause and effect' (ctli^- ^TT'JI^t^^W), as proceeding fronl Vishnu, and as giving origin to material things. Anadi ('^•fTf^), 'without beginning', means
- The literal translation is this: "That which is the unevolved cause is emphatically called, by the most eminent sages, prad/idna, original base, which is subtile prakriti, viz., that which is eternal, and which at once is and is not, or is mere process."
The Sanskrit is in note 2 of this page. I cannot translate prakriti.
