Chapter XIII · Śloka 22
पुरुषः प्रकृतिस्थो हि भुङ्क्ते प्रकृतिजान्गुणान् ।
कारणं गुणसङ्गोऽस्य सदसद्योनिजन्मसु ॥
कारणं गुणसङ्गोऽस्य सदसद्योनिजन्मसु ॥
puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān |
kāraṇaṃ guṇa-saṅgo'sya sad-asad-yoni-janmasu ||
kāraṇaṃ guṇa-saṅgo'sya sad-asad-yoni-janmasu ||
The puruṣa, dwelling in prakṛti, experiences the guṇas born of prakṛti; attachment to the guṇas is the cause of its birth in good and evil wombs.
This is the mechanism of saṃsāra: the pure witnessing consciousness, by mistakenly identifying with the guṇas of nature, becomes bound. This attachment — not consciousness itself — is what propels the soul into repeated births in high or low forms of life.