---
type: Concept
bundle: cosmology-creation
bundle_version: "0.7.0"
id: avyakta
title: "Avyakta — अव्यक्त"
iast: "Avyakta"
devanagari: "अव्यक्त"
description: "The Unmanifest: the undifferentiated total potential of the manifest cosmos, prior to the emergence of Hiraṇyagarbha; the state of the cosmos during Pralaya when all manifest content has been reabsorbed; in Sāṃkhya, Avyakta = Prakṛti in its primordial undifferentiated state (also called Pradhāna / Mūlaprakṛti); in Vedānta, Avyakta is Brahman's creative power (Māyā-Śakti) in its dormant phase -- NOT the same as Brahman itself."
darshana:
  - Sāṃkhya
  - Vedānta
  - Purāṇic
school_scope: "Sāṃkhya: Avyakta = Mūlaprakṛti / Pradhāna -- the primordial matter-principle before its first evolution into Mahat; Vedānta (Advaita): Avyakta = Māyā in its causal (kāraṇa) state = the causal body (kāraṇa-śarīra) at the cosmic level; Purāṇic: the cosmic ocean/waters on which Hiraṇyagarbha floats = Avyakta made imageable"
text_source: "Sāṃkhya Kārikā 2-3; BG 8.18-20; BhP 3.5.24; Katha Upaniṣad 3.11"
tags: [cosmology, avyakta, prakriti, maya, srishti, pralaya, samkhya, vedanta, puranic]
not:
  - term: "Brahman / the absolute itself"
    why: "In Advaita Vedānta, Avyakta is the causal dimension of Māyā -- Brahman's creative power in its dormant state. It is a power OF Brahman, not Brahman itself. At Mahā Pralaya, even Avyakta dissolves back into Brahman. The distinction is: Avyakta is the 'most subtle manifest'; Brahman is the 'unmanifest even of the unmanifest.' The Katha Upaniṣad (3.11) places Avyakta above Mahat (the cosmic intellect) in the hierarchy but states that Puruṣa (Brahman) is 'higher than Avyakta and the highest.'"
  - term: "Śūnya (emptiness, as in Buddhist śūnyatā)"
    why: "Avyakta is full, not empty. It is the total potential of manifest existence in its dormant phase -- more analogous to a seed (which contains the whole tree implicitly) than to emptiness. Śūnyatā (Buddhist emptiness) is an absence of inherent existence in all phenomena; Avyakta is the presence of all potential in an unmanifest form. These are different metaphysical claims."
  - term: "the unconscious (Jungian or Freudian)"
    why: "AI training data frequently maps Avyakta onto the Jungian collective unconscious or the Freudian unconscious. These are psychological models of the individual mind; Avyakta is a cosmological category for the state of the entire cosmos before or between manifestations. Scale difference: one mind vs. the totality of potential existence."
related:
  - /concepts/srishti.md
  - /concepts/pralaya.md
  - /concepts/hiranyagarbha.md
  - /concepts/maya-cosmological.md
  - /concepts/trigunas-cosmological.md
timestamp: "2026-07-01"
okf_version: "0.2"
license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

# Avyakta -- अव्यक्त

**Not:** Brahman itself, Buddhist śūnyatā, the Jungian unconscious

## Two Avyaktas: Sāṃkhya and Vedānta

The word Avyakta (a + vyakta = not + manifest) appears in both Sāṃkhya and Vedāntic contexts with related but distinct technical meanings.

### Sāṃkhya's Avyakta

In the Sāṃkhya Kārikā of Īśvarakṛṣṇa, Avyakta = Mūlaprakṛti = Pradhāna: the primordial undifferentiated matter-principle. Avyakta is the first of 25 tattvas, the root from which all other tattvas evolve:

Avyakta (Mūlaprakṛti) → Mahat (cosmic intellect) → Ahaṃkāra (ego-principle) → [five tanmātras + five jñānendriyas + five karmendriyas + manas] + [five mahābhūtas]

In Sāṃkhya, Avyakta has three characteristics: it is not perceived (na dṛṣṭa), it is inferred from its effects (anumāna), and it has the three Guṇas in perfect equilibrium (sāmyāvasthā). When Puruṣa's proximity disturbs this equilibrium, Sṛṣṭi begins.

### Vedānta's Avyakta

In Advaita Vedānta, Avyakta is Māyā in its causal (kāraṇa) state -- the cosmic causal body. It is the power of Brahman's creative expression before it becomes differentiated. During Pralaya, the manifest cosmos reabsorbs into Avyakta; Avyakta persists as the "seed" until the next Sṛṣṭi. At Mahā Pralaya, even Avyakta dissolves into Brahman.

The Katha Upaniṣad (3.11) gives a hierarchy: senses < mind < intellect < Mahat (cosmic intellect) < **Avyakta** < Puruṣa (Brahman). Avyakta is the penultimate level -- the subtlest of the conditioned, prior only to the unconditioned Puruṣa/Brahman.

### Bhagavad Gītā's Avyakta

BG 8.18-20 uses Avyakta in the Purāṇic cosmological sense: "From the Avyakta (Unmanifest) all beings proceed at the beginning of the day [of Brahmā]; at the coming of night they dissolve back into that same Avyakta... Beyond this Avyakta there is another Avyakta, eternal, which does not perish when all beings perish."

This verse is crucial: it distinguishes two levels of Avyakta:
1. The lower Avyakta (= Mūlaprakṛti / Māyā in causal state) -- the cosmic reservoir that beings dissolve into and emerge from at each Kalpa
2. The higher Avyakta -- the "eternal" Avyakta = Brahman itself, which "does not perish when all beings perish"

This is the clearest BG encoding of the Brahman-Avyakta-Vyakta hierarchy.

## Avyakta During Pralaya

At Naimittika Pralaya (end of each Kalpa): the three lower worlds reabsorb into Avyakta (which persists at the subtle-cosmic level while higher Lokas remain).

At Mahā Pralaya (end of Brahmā's lifespan): even Avyakta dissolves into Brahman. The sequence of dissolution is the reverse of the sequence of Sṛṣṭi -- the gross dissolves into the subtle, the subtle into the causal, the causal into Brahman.

## Audience Metaphor

Avyakta is like all the songs that could ever be written, existing as pure potential before any note is sounded. Not silence (which would be Brahman without Māyā) -- but the total of all musical potential in an unplayed state. When a song is composed (Sṛṣṭi), specific potential becomes actual. When the song ends (Saṃhāra), it dissolves back into the infinite potential. The potential itself (Avyakta) persists between songs. Only when all possible music-making ends (Mahā Pralaya) does even the potential return to the silent absolute (Brahman) from which the very capacity for music arose.

## Citations

1. Sāṃkhya Kārikā 2-3 -- Avyakta as Mūlaprakṛti; inferred from effects; Guṇa equilibrium; see references/samkhya-karika.md
2. Bhagavad Gītā 8.18-20 -- dual Avyakta: cosmic causal state (lower) and Brahman (higher/eternal)
3. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 3.5.24 -- Avyakta as the state of the cosmos at the beginning of Sṛṣṭi; see references/bhagavata-purana.md
4. Katha Upaniṣad 3.11 -- cosmic hierarchy: senses < mind < intellect < Avyakta < Puruṣa
