---
type: Concept
bundle: sankhya-darshana
bundle_version: 0.13.0
id: vyakta-avyakta
title: Vyakta-Avyakta
iast: Vyakta-Avyakta
devanagari: व्यक्त-अव्यक्त
description: The two phases of prakriti -- avyakta, the unmanifest root-state of guna-equilibrium, and vyakta, the manifest, differentiated world -- named here as the minimal structural concept needed to state prakriti's causal role, NOT a restatement of the full 24-tattva evolution sequence (already published across yoga-darshana v0.2, cosmology-creation v0.7, and ayurveda-consciousness v0.11).
darshana:
- Samkhya
tags:
- vyakta
- avyakta
- samkhya
- manifestation
- tattva
not:
- term: the full 24-tattva evolution ladder
  why: This file names only the two-phase structure (unmanifest / manifest) that underlies Samkhya's causal claims. The detailed evolutes -- mahat, ahamkara, the eleven indriyas, the five tanmatras, the five mahabhutas -- are already published as concept content in yoga-darshana (v0.2), cosmology-creation (v0.7), and ayurveda-consciousness (v0.11); this bundle deliberately does not re-author that ladder.
  instead: 'Point readers to the existing published treatments via related: links for the detailed evolutes; use this file only for the avyakta/vyakta distinction itself.'
related:
- /concepts/prakriti.md
- /concepts/satkaryavada.md
timestamp: '2026-07-10'
okf_version: '0.2'
license: CC BY-SA 4.0
---

# Vyakta-Avyakta -- व्यक्त-अव्यक्त

**Not:** the full 24-tattva evolution ladder

## What It Actually Means

Avyakta names prakṛti in its root, unmanifest state: the three guṇas held in perfect, undifferentiated equilibrium, with no separable qualities yet apparent. Vyakta names prakṛti once that equilibrium is disturbed and its guṇas begin to differentiate into the recognizable apparatus of mind, senses, and elements. The avyakta/vyakta pair is Sāṃkhya's own name for the boundary between potential and actual -- the hinge concept that satkāryavāda and pariṇāmavāda both presuppose.

## Audience Metaphor

Avyakta is a fully compiled but unexecuted program sitting in memory; vyakta is that same program actually running, its variables now holding real, differentiated values. Nothing was added at runtime -- the program's full logic was already there, unmanifest, before execution began.

## Citations

1. Samkhya-Karika 10-11 -- see [references/samkhya-karika.md](../references/samkhya-karika.md)
2. Cross-bundle pointer: the full 24-evolute ladder is published in yoga-darshana v0.2, cosmology-creation v0.7, and ayurveda-consciousness v0.11 -- not restated here
