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 period there was a pralaya.  At the end of it, it is the same inherent purpose of the prak@rti that wakes it up for the formation of a suitable world for the experiences of the puru@sas by which its quiescent state is disturbed.  This is but another way of looking at the inherent teleology of the prak@rti, which demands that a state of pralaya should cease and a state of world-framing activity should begin.  Since there is a purpose in the gu@nas which brought them to a state of equilibrium, the state of equilibrium also presupposes that it also may be broken up again when the purpose so demands.  Thus the inherent purpose of the prak@rti brought about the state of pralaya and then broke it up for the creative work again, and it is this natural change in the prak@rti that may be regarded from another point of view as the transcendental influence of the puru@sas.

Mahat and Aha@mkara.

The first evolute of the prak@rti is generated by a preponderance of the sattva (intelligence-stuff).  This is indeed the earliest state from which all the rest of the world has sprung forth; and it is a state in which the stuff of sattva predominates.  It thus holds

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[Footnote 1:  The Yoga answer is of course different.  It believes that the disturbance of the equilibrium of prak@rti for new creation takes place by the will of Is’vara (God).]

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