Lord Krishna
Divine TeacherThe Supreme Lord, the charioteer and divine guide of Arjuna. Krishna delivers the eternal wisdom of the Gita, revealing the nature of the soul, duty, and the path to liberation.
Speaking: Chapter 7, Verse 4
Verse 4
The Yoga of Knowledge and Realization
Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego — all together these eight constitute My separated material energies.
Context & Meaning
Krishna enumerates the eight components of material nature — five gross elements and three subtle ones. These are His inferior energies (aparā prakṛti), the building blocks of the manifest world. Everything material is, in this sense, a part of the Divine.
Scholar Commentaries
2 commentaries · Public domainAdi Shankaracharya
AdvaitaThe eightfold division of prakṛti covers both the gross (pañcabhūta) and the subtle (manas, buddhi, ahaṃkāra). All of manifest existence is derived from this lower energy of Brahman.
Ramanujacharya
VishishtadvaitaThese eight are called "separated" because they exist as if apart from God, yet they are ultimately His body. The universe is the lower mode of the Lord's being.