In my view, Purusha/Prakriti are two aspects of consciousness, the experienced and the experiencer, and do not need any special metaphysics to explain them. They are two aspects, not two realities, which are mutually exclusive in our experience–a cognitive illusion. And like a visual illusion, only one aspect can ‘pop’ into view in any given moment.
If you need some background on these concepts, you will have to delve into Samkhya for clarification. Yoga’s metaphysics is based on Samkhya. It is an atheistic AND dualistic school of thought. I like that first part, not so keen on the latter
My view places Purusha/Prakriti firmly in the natural world and rejects the metaphysical implications of a dualistic point of view.
From my comments on FB about this post: The dualism of Patanjali (and Yoga) is slightly different than the dualism of Western Philosophy. However, I don’t think the difference is worth going into, because it’s essentially the same problem, which is– Is there some facet to the universe which must concede to supernatural explanation? Thus far, I see no reason or evidence which points to this concession. Even though, I do think there is probably a REAL limit to our ability to understand the universe. Quantum phenomenon is a perfect example of that limit. As popular as it has become to use quantum mechanics to draw metaphors for the reality that we experience at the human level of interaction, the fact is that quantum theory is more math than metaphor. And all our attempts to visualize this math is frustrated by a complete lack of an innate ability to do so. We will continue to run into these limits, perhaps…or evolve the ability to burst through them