“Prakriti does all action. It is the Gunas that operate. Owing to ignorance the body is mistaken for the Self. Egoism of man asserts at every step, nay, at every second. Just as the motion of the clouds is falsely attributed to the sun, so also the movements of the body and the Indriyas are falsely attributed to the Self. The Self is always silent and is the witness of all actions. He is Nishkriya or Akarta. You will find in the Gita: “All actions are wrought by the qualities born of nature only. The self, deluded by egoism, thinketh: ‘I am the doer.’ But he, O mighty-armed, who knoweth the essence of the divisions of the qualities and functions, holding that the qualities move amid the qualities, is not attached.” Ch. III-27, 28.” — Swami Sivananda
“Prakriti or Nature is that state in which the three Gunas exist in a state of equilibrium. When this equilibrium is disturbed, creation begins and the body, senses and mind are formed. The man who is deluded by egoism identifies the Self with the body, mind, the life-force and the senses, and ascribes to the Self all the attributes of the body and the senses. In reality the Gunas of nature perform all actions.” — Swami Sivananda
“Whosoever wants to be born again, whosoever wants to achieve Final Liberation, must eliminate the three Gunas of the Prakriti from their nature.” – Samael Aun Weor, The Esoteric Treatise of Hermetic Astrology