History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c39.s1.7

c39.s1.7

The manifested world is traced in the Samkhya to an unmanifested ground, *Prakriti*, which is conceived as formless and undifferentiated, limitless and ubiquitous, indestructible and undecaying, ungrounded and uncontrolled, without beginning and without end. But the unity of *Prakriti* is mere abstraction; it is in reality an undifferentiated manifold, and indeterminate infinite continuum of infinitesimal Reals These Reals, termed *gunas*, may by another abstraction be classed under three heads: (1) *sattva*, the Essence, which manifests itself in a phenomenon, and which is characterised by this tendency to manifestation, in otherwords, which serves as the medium for the reflection of Intelligence; (2) *rajas*, Energy, that which is efficient in a phenomenon, and is characterised by a tendency to do work, or overcome resistance; and (3) *tamas*, mass or inertia, which counteracts the tendency of *rajas* to do work, and of *sattva* to conscious manifestation.