Pradhana means

Expressions researched:
"pradhana means"

SB Canto 4

Brahman is the resort of the mahat-tattva, which includes all material and spiritual entities. It is described in this connection that the Supreme Brahman, the Personality of Godhead, is the master of both pradhāna and puruṣa. Pradhāna means subtle matter, such as ether. puruṣa means the spiritual spark living entities who are entangled in that subtle material existence.

SB 4.8.78, Purport:

The mahat-tattva, or the sum total of the material creation, is to be understood to be the ultimate end of all universes, including all the living entities therein. Brahman is the resort of the mahat-tattva, which includes all material and spiritual entities. It is described in this connection that the Supreme Brahman, the Personality of Godhead, is the master of both pradhāna and puruṣa. Pradhāna means subtle matter, such as ether. puruṣa means the spiritual spark living entities who are entangled in that subtle material existence. These may also be described as parā prakṛti and aparā prakṛti, as stated in Bhagavad-gītā.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

The ingredients are there. That is prakṛti. And pradhāna means when they are not manifest, and prakṛti means when they are manifest.

Lecture on SB 3.26.17 -- Bombay, December 26, 1974:

When the Supreme Personality of Godhead glanced over the prakṛti, mahat-tattva, then the three guṇas agitated, and she begins to give birth in so many varieties of the twenty-four elements. We have already discussed the twenty-four elements. The ingredients are there. That is prakṛti. And pradhāna means when they are not manifest, and prakṛti means when they are manifest. And prakṛti, pradhāna, and above them, there is the Puruṣa. That Puruṣa is Bhagavān, sa bhagavān. Ceṣṭā yataḥ sa bhagavān. Wherefrom the prakṛti begins to manifest, that is with the touch of Bhagavān. How touch? Sa aikṣata: by simply glancing over, the prakṛti becomes pregnant.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

The material nature acts in two capacities as māyā and pradhāna. Māyā is the direct cause, and pradhāna means the elements of the material manifestation.

Room Conversation with Prof. Regamay, Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Lausanne -- June 4, 1974, Geneva:

The material nature acts in two capacities as māyā and pradhāna. Māyā is the direct cause, and pradhāna means the elements of the material manifestation. The first puruṣa-avatāra, Mahā-Viṣṇu, glances over the material nature, and thereby the material nature becomes agitated, and the puruṣa-avatāra thus impregnates matter with the living entities. By His glancing, consciousness is created, and consciousness is known as mahat-tattva. The predominating deity of mahat-tattva is Vāsudeva.