rather why prak@rti should be disturbed is the most
knotty point in Sa@mkhya. It is postulated that the prak@rti or the
sum-total of the gu@nas is so connected with the puru@sas, and there
is such an inherent teleology or blind purpose in the lifeless prak@rti,
that all its evolution and transformations tike place for the sake
of the diverse puru@sas, to serve the enjoyment of pleasures and
sufferance of pain through experiences, and finally leading them
to absolute freedom or mukti. A return of this manifold world
into the quiescent state (_pralaya_) of prak@rti takes place when the
karmas of all puru@sas collectively require that there should be
such a temporary cessation of all experience. At such a moment
the gu@na compounds are gradually broken, and there is a backward
movement (_pratisancara_) till everything is reduced, to the gu@nas in
their elementary disintegrated state when their mutual opposition
brings about their equilibrium. This equilibrium however is not a
mere passive state, but one of utmost tension; there is intense
activity, but the activity here does not lead to the generation of
new things and qualities (_visad@rs'a-pari@nama_); this course of new

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production being suspended, the activity here repeats the same
state (_sad@rs'a-pari@nama_) of equilibrium, so that there is no change
or new production. The state of pralaya thus is not a suspension
of the teleology or purpose of the gu@nas, or an absolute break of
the course of gu@na evolution; for the state of pralaya, since it
has been generated to fulfil the demands of the accumulated
karmas of puru@sas, and since there is still the activity of the
gu@nas in keeping themselves in a state of suspended production,
is also a stage of the sa@msara cycle. The state of mukti (liberation)
is of course quite different, for in that stage the movement
of the gu@nas ceases forever with reference to the liberated soul.
But still the question remains, what breaks the state of equilibrium?
The Sa@mkhya answer is that it is due to the transcendental
(non-mechanical) influence of the puru@sa [Footnote ref 1]. This
influence of the puru@sa again, if it means anything, means that there
is inherent in the gu@nas a teleology that all their movements or
modifications should take place in such a way that these may serve the
purposes of the puru@sas. Thus when the karmas of the puru@sas had demanded
that there should be a suspension of all experience, for a perio