Vedic Literature | Tatsat | Non-physical Matter | Prakrti

Prakrti

Prakrti (Un-manifest) is the world of change in its un-manifest state. For this reason it is called the Un-manifest (Avyakta). It is also called the Primary (Pradhana) as it is the source, the origin of everything therein.

Prakrti has three attributes – Sattva (serenity, tendency to manifestation), Rajas (activity) and Tamas (inertia, obstruction to manifestation). Everything in the world is the product of these three attributes.

Prakrti is considered to be in a state of dormancy when its three attributes are in perfect equilibrium. This is said to be the original state of Prakrti when there is no world of forms and names - objects. The Sankhya philosophy states that when the reflection of the Supreme Being (Purusa) is thrown in Prakrti, the latter is disturbed. This disturbance upsets the original equilibrium of the three attributes. As a result, any one attribute dominates the other two. Evolution ensues into the world of forms.

Ontologically, the attributes constituting Prakrti are ever active. But the stability of Prakrti like any other object or any society means that the forces inherent in it are in a state of equilibrium, none becoming dominant over the others, all being equally active and the activities of each force being harmonious with the activities of the others. Stability, then, does not mean inactivity, lethargy but harmony in activity. What is essentially and by nature force cannot but be active. What we call its in-activity may really be its pulsations of activity under the same conditions and in the same circumstances and pattern. In such an event, the change is not observable, though it always exists.

This is in consonance with what is called the Super-string theory, stated to be still in the process of development in the last three decades. As a violin string vibrates at many different frequencies called harmonics, and the different harmonics correspond to different musical sounds, it is postulated that the fundamental particles making up the fundamental forces such as the electrons, the gravitons, the photons, the neutrinos etc. cause vibrations in the universe in a perfect rhythmic harmony creating the seen objects of form called the cosmos. This postulation is subject to detailed study and empirical proof. It, however, corresponds to the normal physical process of materialization of objects arising from radiation through vibration.

Prakrti cannot be an object of perception. It is too subtle to be so. It can only be inferred from its effects. The inner sense, the outer senses and all the objects are its effects.

The Supreme Being (Purusa) carries in IT all of Prakrti, sometimes keeping its forces latent and other times patent, and identifying IT with its manifestations.

For the Supreme Being to throw reflection into Prakrti, Its consciousness must have a direction towards Prakrti into which Its reflection is to be thrown. The Supreme Being is, therefore, to hold Prakrti as Its innate part. This is best explained in Svetasvatara Upanisad that Prakrti is an ingredient of the Supreme I-am. This directionality or intentionality has its orientations within Existence itself, in which a split is introduced. We may not know why it has been introduced, but it is a matter of experience of its being. This experience cannot be explained without assuming transcendental implications pointing to the ultimate unity of Existence or Being.

From the point of view of ontology, Prakrti may be the process of the energy emanating from the Being, forming into objects all around. The split in the Being may be due to Becoming issuing out of Being, which the transcendental I-AM is. There is no Becoming without Being. The activity of Becoming has to occur in a field, sub-consciously stable in order to be recognized as the activity of Becoming. There can be no Becoming without a force behind. This force is to be operative in the Being Itself. There can be no other source for it.

If Prakrti is a dynamic force with the three attributes active, then the Being is also active. If the two are ultimately to be one, then the dynamism of Prakrti is to be a derivation from the dynamism of the Being and Prakrti must belong to the Being. There seems to be some primordial intention, inherent potentially in the Supreme Being to set Prakrti in motion. That potentiality is the potentiality of Becoming.

Prakrti is truly the inherent nature of the Supreme Being with the drive to become the world and also to return to the Supreme Being. The forward movement manifesting in the world and the return movement in dissolution are the two directions of Becoming. The two forms of the activity of Prakrti called evolution and involution are really the two forms of becoming founded in ‘Being’.