Prakrti

Durga is the personified external energy of the Lord

     The external potency of the Lord is called prakṛti or bahiraṅga-śakti, the energy responsible for all the material manifestations. It is thus defined by the śāstras:

gaur anādy-antavatī sā janitrī bhūta-bhāvinī

sitāsitā ca raktā ca sarva-kāma-dughā vibhoḥ

(Mantrikā Upaniṣad, 5)

            “The Supreme Lord’s external energy is the beginningless and endless genetrix, the source of the manifestation of all created beings. It is white, red, and black,  and is compared to a cow from which all desirable things can be milked.”

 

triguṇaṁ taj-jagad-yonir anādi-prabhavāpyayam

acetanā parārthā ca nityā satata-vikriyā

triguṇaṁ karmiṇāṁ kṣetraṁ prakṛte rūpam ucyate

(Viṣṇu Purāṇa, 1.2.21; Govinda-bhāṣya, 1.4.10)

“Material nature is beginningless, it is neither created nor destroyed. It consists of the three material modes and is the source of this universe. It is unconscious, eternal, unchanging, and meant for others. It is said to be the field where the conditioned souls perform their actions under the spell of the modes.”

 

The mode of goodness is the cause of illumination, self-satisfaction, knowledge, etc. The mode of passion causes misery, sensual desires, fruitive work, attachment, greed, etc. The mode of ignorance causes negligence, laziness, sleep, madness, darkness, illusion, etc. The balance stage of these modes in the universe causes the universal devastation. Their misbalance produces the creation of all material elements and the material bodies of the conditioned souls. Thus, everything that exists inside the universe is composed of a certain combination of the modes, among which one is always predominant. For example, in the animals the mode of ignorance is prominent; in the human beings, the mode of passion; and in the demigods, the mode of goodness. By the interaction of the modes, the mahat-tattva emanates, which is the substance from which all the material elements will further appear. By the interaction of the mahat-tattva with the modes, the ahaṅkāra becomes manifested, which causes the living entities to falsely identify themselves with the material body.  This is explained thus:

tebhyaḥ samabhavat sūtraṁ mahān sūtreṇa saṁyutaḥ

tato vikurvato jāto yo ‘haṅkāro vimohanaḥ

(Bhāgavatam, 11.24.6; Govinda-bhāṣya, 2.3.6)

“From these modes arose the primeval sūtra, along with the mahat-tattva. By the transformation of the mahat-tattva was generated the false ego, the cause of the living entities’ bewilderment.”

 

 By the interaction of the ahaṅkāra with the mode of goodness, the mind and the presiding deities of the senses appear. By the interaction of the ahaṅkāra with the mode of passion, the five knowledge-acquiring senses and the five working senses appear. By the interaction of the ahaṅkāra with the mode of ignorance, the five sense objects become manifest, from which the five gross elements appear, namely ether, air, fire, water, and earth.

vaikārikas taijasaś ca tāmasaś cety ahaṁ tri-vṛt

tan-mātrendriya-manasāṁ kāraṇaṁ cid-acin-mayaḥ

(Bhāgavatam, 11.24.7; Govinda-bhāṣya, 2.3, Adhikarana 7)

“False ego, which is the cause of physical sensation, the senses, and the mind, encompasses both spirit and matter and manifests, in three varieties: in the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance.”

arthas tan-mātrikāj jajñe tāmasād indriyāṇi ca

taijasād devatā āsann ekādaśa ca vaikṛtāt

(Bhāgavatam, 11.24.7-8)

 “From false ego in the mode of ignorance came the subtle physical perceptions, from which the gross elements were generated. From false ego in the mode of passion came the senses, and from false ego in the mode of goodness arose the eleven demigods.”

mahat-tattvād vikurvāṇād bhagavad-vīrya-sambhavāt

kriyā-śaktir ahaṅkāras tri-vidhaḥ samapadyata

vaikārikas taijasaś ca tāmasaś ca yato bhavaḥ

manasaś cendriyāṇāṁ ca bhūtānāṁ mahatām api

(Ibidem, 3.26.23-24; Govinda-bhāṣya, 2.4.6)

 “The material ego springs up from the mahat-tattva, which evolved from the Lord’s own energy. The material ego is endowed predominantly with active power of three kinds—good, passionate and ignorant. It is from these three types of material ego that the mind, the senses of perception, the organs of action, and the gross elements evolve.”

     In summary, prakṛti expands into mahat-tattva, false-ego, intelligence, mind, ether, air, fire, water, earth, the five knowledge-acquiring senses, the five working senses, and the five sense objects, thus totalizing twenty-four material elements, which comprise the field of activities for the living entity.