प्रकृति

Prakriti, nature, is in the Gita that from which actions arise. All actions are performed by the modes of nature (Gita 3.27), and one who sees actions as done by nature alone, with the self as non-doer, sees truly (Gita 13.30).

The Gita's nature is not only the outer world. In the seventh chapter its eight divisions are listed: the five elements, mind, intellect and ego (Gita 7.4). So our body, senses, mind and temperament all fall within this nature. Even the wise act according to their own nature (Gita 3.33).

The usual misreading is that nature means trees, rivers and mountains. That misses the point that the mind which says "I decided" is itself within nature. This is where the illusion of doership arises.

Nature does not mean that choice or effort is useless. In the Gita effort stands as a cause of its own. How nature and the doer relate is read in Who Is the Doer?. Its three modes are the working parts, and the illusion is named ego.