n the stage ceases to dance,
so does Prakriti cease when she has made herself manifest to the
soul." That is to say, when a soul once understands that it is
distinct from the material world, that world ceases to exist for that
particular soul, though of course the play continues for others.
"Generous Prakriti, endowed with Gunas, causes by manifold means
without benefit to herself, the benefit of the soul, which is devoid
of Gunas and makes no return."[751] The condition of the liberated
soul, corresponding to the _mokska_ and _nirvana_ of other systems,
is described as Kaivalya, that is, complete separation from the
material world, but, as among Buddhists and Vedantists, he who has
learnt the truth is liberated even before death, and can teach others.
He goes on living, just as the wheel continues to revolve for some
time after the potter has ceased to turn it. After death, complete
liberation without the possibility of rebirth is attained. The
Sankhya manuals do not dwell further on the character of this
liberation: we only know that the eternal soul is then completely
isolated and aloof from all suffering and material things. Liberation
is compared to profound sleep, the difference being that in dreamless
sleep there is a seed, that is, the possibility of return to ordinary
life, whereas when liberation is once attained there is no such
return.

Both in its account of the world process and in its scheme of
salvation the Sankhya ignores theism in the same way as did the
Buddha. Indeed the text-books go beyond this and practically deny the
existence of a personal supreme deity. We are told[752] that the
existence of God cannot be proved, for whatever exists must be either
bound or free and God can be neither. We cannot think of him as bound
and yet he cannot be free like an emancipated soul, for freedom
implies the absence of desire and hence of the impulse to create.
Similarly[753] the consequences of good and evil deeds are due to
Karma and not to the government of God. Such a ruler is inconceivable,
for if he governs the world according to the action of Karma his
existence is superfluous, and if he is affected by selfish motives or
desire, then he cannot be free. It is true that these passages speak
of there being no proof of God's existence and hence commentators both
Indian and European who shrink from atheism represent the Sankhya as
suspending judgment. But if a republican constitution duly describes
the Presi