Samkhya
Samkhya is an atheistic dualism positing two eternal realities: Purusha (passive, plural consciousness) and Prakriti (active, unconscious primordial matter). All material and mental phenomena evolve from Prakriti through the interplay of three gunas (sattva, rajas, tamas), while Purusha remains the uninvolved witness.
I. Time
| Extent | Infinite |
| Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Grain | Continuous |
| Freedom | Deterministic |
| Traversability | Cyclical |
| Dimensionality | One |
| Direction | Uni-directional |
Time is emergent from Prakriti's transformations — it does not exist independently but arises as a measure of the gunas' activity. Time is infinite in extent because Prakriti is eternal and its cyclical manifestation and dissolution never cease. It is continuous, cyclical (alternating between cosmic manifestation and dissolution), deterministic (the gunas' interplay follows necessary patterns), and uni-directional within each cosmic cycle.
II. Space
| Extent | Infinite |
| Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Curvature | Flat |
| Dimensionality | Three |
| Locality | Local |
Space is emergent from Prakriti — it is one of the subtle elements (tanmatras) evolved from the primordial matter through the gunas' interplay. Space is infinite, flat, local, and three-dimensional at the macro level. Purusha, being non-material, is inherently non-spatial; it transcends all spatial categories.
III. Matter
| Extent | Infinite |
| Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Conservation | Conserved |
| Dimensionality | Three |
| Locality | Local |
Matter is substantival and infinite — Prakriti (primordial matter) is eternal, uncreated, and the material cause of everything that exists, from the subtlest mind-stuff to the grossest physical elements. It is conserved: nothing is created or destroyed, only transformed through the gunas' interplay. Matter is local and three-dimensional in its manifest forms. The distinction between Purusha (consciousness) and Prakriti (matter) is the central soteriological insight of Samkhya.
IV. Observer
| Time Instance | Single |
| Space Instance | Single |
| Extent of Knowledge | Immediate |
| Retainment of Knowledge | Total |
| Physicality | Disembodied |
| Agency | Passive |
| Number | Plural |
V. Energy
Infinite and emergent — energy is a manifestation of Prakriti, arising from the dynamic tension among the three gunas (sattva, rajas, tamas); it has no existence independent of primordial matter. Conservation: Conserved — Prakriti is eternal and indestructible; its total substance is neither created nor destroyed, only transformed through the gunas' interplay. Dispersibility: Reversible — the cycle of cosmic manifestation (srishti) and dissolution (pralaya) is endlessly repeated; all evolved forms return to the unmanifest equilibrium of Prakriti before emanating again.
VI. Information
Purusha (consciousness) is the witness of all information; prakriti (nature) encodes information in its evolutes. Information is substantival because both purusha and prakriti are eternal realities. It is conserved because prakriti's transformations preserve information (nothing is lost, only rearranged). It is continuous because prakriti's gunas (qualities) blend continuously.