Verses on Sāṃkhya 61.3

61.3

nānāvidhair upāyaiḥ | śabdasparśādibhir upakartuṃ śīlam asyāḥ sā tathoktā | anupakāriṇaḥ puṃsaḥ | niṣkriyatvād iti yāvat | tasyopakāriṇī prakṛtis tasyopakṛtyāham anyā tvam anya iti nivartate (prakṛtiḥ) | kiṃ cānyat --- guṇavatī | sā sattvarajastamomayī | aguṇasya sataḥ | puṃsaḥ niṣkriyodāsīnāmūrtādilakṣaṇavattvāt | evam asya puṃso 'guṇasyāpi sataḥ (nityasya) seyaṃ guṇavatī artham apārthakaṃ carati | karoti | yathā kaścid anurakto mitrasuhṛttvam avalambya mitrārtham anuktam api pratyupakāram anapekṣya kurute | evaṃ pradhānaṃ puruṣasya dvividham api viṣayopalabdhimokṣātmakam arthaṃ kurute | pumān punaḥ pradhānasya kim api na pratyupakaroti | tat pradhānapuṃsoḥ śikhipicchavadekapakṣacitranyāyaḥ //

"By various means": that is, her nature is to render benefit through sound, touch, and so forth; thus she is described. "Of the spirit who renders no benefit": that is to say, because he is inactive. Benefiting him, nature, having benefited him, ceases [with the thought], "I am one, you are another." Moreover: "endowed with constituents": she is composed of sattva, rajas, and tamas. "Though he lacks constituents": because the spirit possesses the characteristics of being inactive, indifferent, formless, and so on. In this way, though this spirit lacks constituents [and is eternal], this [nature], endowed with constituents, "carries out, without benefit to herself, his purpose": she performs [it]. Just as someone who is devoted, relying on friendship and goodwill, accomplishes a friend's purpose even without being asked, without expecting any return benefit, so primordial matter accomplishes the two-fold purpose of the spirit consisting of the apprehension of objects and liberation. The spirit, on the other hand, renders no return benefit whatever to primordial matter. Thus between primordial matter and the spirit the maxim of the peacock's feather applies, where only one side is patterned.