Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 7, Verse 5

This is the lower Prakriti. But different from it, know, O mighty-armed, My higher Prakriti, the principle of self-consciousness, by which this universe is sustained.

There's a real distinction being drawn here, between what makes up matter and what actually makes something alive.

This introduces a second, different kind of energy, the one responsible for consciousness and life itself. It's described as genuinely superior to the material list just given, a real second category, not a variation on the first.