Verse 7.4-5

Verse 7.4: “Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Ether, Mind, Intellection, as also the ‘I’—notion; such is the eightfold constitution of my Nature.

Verse 7.5: “This is (however) the Lower Nature; another than this understand as my Higher Nature, converted into, the Individual-souls, by which, O Long-armed, is this living-world sustained. (15)

Commentary called Jnaneshwari by Jnaneshwar:

Hear O Dhananjaya. Just as the body casts its shadow, so this entire mass of things are my own shadow,—my ‘Maya’—Cosmic power—the form of gross elements. This ‘Maya’ is called Prakriti (Primeval Nature). It has an eightfold form and from this springs the entire manifold created world. Were you to feel any doubt as to what these eight different parts consist of, do hear about them. Water, Fire, Sky (Ether), Earth, Air, Mind, Intellect, and Ego are the eight different constituent parts of the Prakriti. The state of equipoise of these eight together, constitutes my great Prakriti (matter) and it is called the Life (jīva), since it makes the lifeless matter alive, creates movements of living forms, and makes the mind feel grief and other blind impulses. The very power of awareness of the intellect is the result (making) of its contact with this ‘Maya’, while the sense of the Ego, arising out of the Prakriti keeps this universe in existence and in process.