Sublime

Puruṣa is the pure witness that has no attributes. All attributes are of the nature of Prakṛti, which is saturated with three fundamental qualities, known as guṇas. Guṇas are initially in perfect equilibrium, known as mahat. When Prakṛti is permeated by the formless Puruṣa, the guṇas go out of balance, exploding into the material universe.

Puruṣa is eternal and therefore not subject to changes such as bondage and liberation;5 in the Yoga tradition, the quest for liberation, in other words human agency, is a function of the prākṛtic mind, not of puruṣa.

These two categories are prakṛti, or the primordial material matrix of the physical universe, “the undifferentiated plenitude of being,”13 and puruṣa, the innumerable conscious souls or selves embedded within

the popular etymology which links the word to the roots man, “the mind,” and tri, “to cross.” The mantram, repeated regularly for a long time, enables us to cross the sea of the mind.

mantrams have different sounds and come from diverse traditions. But essentially they all do the same thing: turn us away from our dependency on what lies outside — money and things, awards and position, pleasure and comfort, selfish relationships and power — to the serenity and goodness within our own being.

18 I am the goal of life, the Lord and support of all, the inner witness, the abode of all. I am the only refuge, the one true friend; I am the beginning, the staying, and the end of creation; I am the womb and the eternal seed.