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Tattva 13 — Primal Nature (Prakṛti)
Primal nature: the single unmanifest source-stuff from which all mind and matter unfolds.
Prakṛti is primal nature — the single, unmanifest source-stuff, woven of the three strands (guṇas) of clarity, energy, and inertia, out of which all of mind and matter unfolds. It is the objective counterpart to the individual subject: the raw material of every experience and every thing. In the Sāṃkhya scheme prakṛti is one of two ultimates; in Kashmir Shaivism it is one tattva among thirty-six, itself a product of the higher descent from consciousness.
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