The Positive Sciences of the Ancient Hindus c4.s1.2

c4.s1.2

*Prakriti: the Ultimate Ground.*—The manifested world is traced in the Sáṅkhya 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 a mere abstraction; it is in reality an undifferentiated manifold, an indeterminate infinite continuum of infinitesimal Reals. These Reals, termed Guṇas, 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, the Essence, in other words, 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.