Prakriti is the executing force that does everything according to the wisdom and power or the secret intelligence hidden in her. This is self evident. It is threefold in its working. These are tamas or the principle of inertia, stability, rest,; rajas or the principle of kinesis, movement etc; sattwa or the principle of harmony and balance. It includes both human good and human evil. The lower nature operates on the principle of division and ignorance. Beyond this is the Higher Prakriti, which operates in the basis of unity and includes Wisdom, Compassion, Fearlessness, Beauty, Perfection, Delight.
The lower is a limited and distorted version of the Higher. Man must first pass through the lower and get prepared through it for the higher. Very simply we can say, it is the difference between present earth nature and the divine nature. It is very beautifully described in the Gita and elaborated by Sri Aurobindo in Essays on the Gita. There are some talks on it on Auromaa, not articles.
Affectionately,
Alok Da