In the Samkhya school of Indian philosophy, material nature and the soul.
Prakriti is material nature in its germinal state, eternal and beyond perception. When it comes into contact with the soul or self (purusha), it starts a process of evolution that leads through several stages to the creation of the existing material world. In the Samkhya view, only prakriti is active; the self, trapped in materiality, does nothing but observe and experience. The self escapes from prakriti by recognizing its total difference from and noninvolvement in the material world.