Glossary · Philosophy
Purusha
पुरुष
What does Purusha mean?
Purusha means 'person' or 'spirit'. Where prakriti is everything that can be observed, purusha is the observer. Chapter 13 of the Gita frames the whole of spiritual knowledge as learning to distinguish the field (kshetra, the body-mind) from the knower of the field (kshetrajna, the purusha).
The Gita also speaks of the Supreme Purusha (Purushottama) — the divine person beyond both the perishable world and the imperishable soul, Krishna himself.