In order to explain how the contact with the guṇas thru beginningless ignorance creates bondage, the Lord speaks about the method of appearance of the field and the knower of the field. The cause of the world is the mahat-tattva or prakṛti (brahma) composed of the guṇas. The mahat-tattva is the total cause of the total cosmic manifestation; and that total substance of the material cause, in which there are three modes of nature, is sometimes called Brahman. The Supreme Personality impregnates that total substance, and thus innumerable universes become possible.
In order to explain how the contact with the guṇas thru beginningless ignorance creates bondage, the Lord speaks about the method of appearance of the field and the knower of the field. The cause of the world is the mahat-tattva or prakṛti (brahma) composed of the guṇas. The mahat-tattva is the total cause of the total cosmic manifestation; and that total substance of the material cause, in which there are three modes of nature, is sometimes called Brahman. The Supreme Personality impregnates that total substance, and thus innumerable universes become possible. This prakṛti is the womb, the place which holds the seeds (yoniḥ). It belongs to Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of all, and the creator of millions of universes. In that prakṛti, the Lord places the multitude of small particles of consciousness. Earlier Kṛṣṇa had described (7.4) prakṛti as bhūmir āpo ‘nalo vāyuḥ, which comprises dull matter and it is referred here as mahad brahma. What was called conscious prakṛti with the words itas tv anyāṁ, prakṛtiṁ viddhi me parāṁ (7.5) is here called the garbha since it is the seed of all living entities. From this it is understood that there is a mass of consciousness, the jīva prakṛti which is called the tataṣṭha śakti. The Lord is the one who joins together the conscious, enjoying entities with the material prakṛti which serves as the field for their enjoyment. From the combination of the two prakṛtis or from the offering of the jīvas into the mahat-tattva, the birth of all entities from Brahmā down to grass takes place.