Verse 13.20

Verse 13.20: “In the matter of the origination of the body and the sensecentres, the Prakriti is said to be the cause; the Purusha is said to be the cause in the matter of (the consciousness of) being the experiencer of all pleasure and pain. (969)

Commentary called Jnaneshwari by Jnaneshwar:

There then (Prakriti) creates desires and intellect along with egotism, and then she leads them on to willing (things). The thread (agency) that is used as the means for making successful the willing, is called, Oh Dhananjaya, the effect (kārya). Then what makes the mind active (to rise up), through the intoxicated stage of desires and thus sets the senses to work, is capability (functioning). “Therefore,” the king among the perfected ones said, “the Prakriti is the origin of all the aggregate effects, capability, and the cause; (kārya, kartṛva, kāraṇa). Through this triad, Prakriti gets into activism. But her nature conforms to that Guna which is dominant. The actions performed under the domination of ‘Satva-Guna’, are good ones; those performed under the domination of ‘Rajas’ are ordinary ones, those taking place under the domination of ‘Tamas’ are definitely those prohibited and irreligious ones.

In this way take place actions, good or bad, through the agency of Prakriti, while the actions result in pleasure and pain. Wicked actions result in misery, while good actions create happiness, and Purusha experiences both these. Prakriti goes on performing actions and Purusha experiences their fruit, so long as pleasure and pain are created in a (normal) straight way. This arrangement of affairs between Prakriti and Purusha appears inconsistent in the narrative since whatever the wife earns, the husband simply enjoys. The wife and the husband do not associate with each other, nor do they agree (they are poles apart), yet the wife gives birth to the entire universe; and here is the wonder of the whole thing!