Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.22.14

puruṣaḥ prakṛtir vyaktam

ahańkāro nabho 'nilaḥ

jyotir āpaḥ kṣitir iti

tattvāny uktāni me nava

SYNONYMS

puruṣaḥ — the enjoyer; prakṛtiḥ — nature; vyaktam — the primeval manifestation of matter; ahańkāraḥ — false ego; nabhaḥ — ether; anilaḥ — air; jyotiḥ — fire; āpaḥ — water; kṣitiḥ — earth; iti — thus; tattvāni — the elements of creation; uktāni — have been described; me — by Me; nava — nine.

TRANSLATION

I have described the nine basic elements as the enjoying soul, nature, nature's primeval manifestation of the mahat-tattva, false ego, ether, air, fire, water and earth.

PURPORT

Prakṛti, or nature, is originally unmanifest and later becomes manifest as the mahat-tattva. Although the living entity is puruṣa, an enjoyer, the real process by which he can enjoy is by satisfying the transcendental senses of the Lord, just as the hand eats by supplying food to the stomach. Within material nature the living entity becomes a false enjoyer, forgetting his subservience to the Lord. The material elements as well as the living entity and the Supersoul are thus systematically analyzed to demonstrate to the conditioned soul his actual constitutional position beyond material nature.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
His Holiness Hrdayananda dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari
Dravida dasa Brahmacari