Purusha

Purusha is pure consciousness - the unchanging witness that observes but never acts. In Samkhya philosophy, which underlies yoga, reality consists of two principles: purusha (consciousness) and prakriti (nature/matter). All activity belongs to prakriti; purusha simply observes.

The suffering of embodied existence arises from confusion between purusha and prakriti. We identify consciousness with the body, mind, and emotions, forgetting that we are the witness of these phenomena, not the phenomena themselves. This false identification (avidya) is the root cause of bondage.

Liberation (kaivalya) is the recognition that purusha was never actually bound - only apparently so through mistaken identity. When discrimination (viveka) becomes stable, consciousness recognizes itself as distinct from all mental content. This is not an achievement but a remembering of what was always true.