Evolution of Universe in Sānkhya Darśana

Sāṅkhya is one of the six ṣada-darśana-s or the orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy which accept Vedic corpus as the valid epistemological source. It is a kind of a dualist doctrine and forms the basis of its sister school Yōga and subsequently the Ayurvedic tradition. In the Sankhya philosophy, everything emerges and evolves from an Absolute Reality (Puruṣa) which is the witness consciousness that is attributeless and thus beyond deśa (space), kāla (time), and kāraṇatā (casualty). The only extant ancient text of this school Sāṅkhyakārikā describes Puruṣa as a single 'point' that encompasses everything and something which cannot be perceived by the mind or described by a human language. All śakti-s and sāmarthya exist within the Puruṣa in an unmanifested state. From this absolute evolves a relative reality, a sublime creative force called the Prakṛti, which is often roughly translated as Nature. The sole difference between the Absolute and Nature as described by Sāṅkhya is that the former knows itself to be identical to the latter but not the vice-versa which perceives a difference between them. This passive awareness of the difference then evolves into an undifferentiated intelligence called Mahat, a faculty through which this difference is actually perceived. Thus intelligence is Nature's unlimited self-awareness. This undifferentiated intelligence then individuates into discrete bundles of limited self-awareness known as the Ahaṃkāra (ego). Each of these is self-aware but only of that limited parcel of being with which it identifies. Nature, as manifested through individual bundles of Ego, has 3 Attributes (guṇa-s): Sattva (equilibrium), Rajas (activity), and Tamas (inertia). Sattva evolves into the thoughtful mind, the five senses of perception, and the five senses of action (communication, manipulation, locomotion, procreation, and excretion, represented in the human body by voice, hands, feet, genitals, and anus respectively). Tamas evolves into the objects of the cognitive senses—sound, touch, form, taste, and odor, which, in turn, produce the Five Great Elements (pañca mahābhūta-s) which make up the physical universe: Ether, Air, Fire, Water, and Earth. Rajas is the force that brings the senses and their objects together. I go to sleep as “I” at night and wake up as “I” the next morning because Ahamkara identifies “I” with a particular body, a certain set of habits and preferences, and specific desires and disgusts. Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas are the three powers through which Ahamkara creates self-image. When these three are equal, the evolution stops happening which paves way for the Sankhyaic mokṣa - Kaivalya which is best expressed in the text by the verses पुरे शेते स: पुरूष: - Purusha is what it is (without the bondage of Prakṛti).

Further Reading:- Shastri, Sivanarayana: Sāṅkhya Tattvakaumudī with commentary