Pariṇāminitya
From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia
By Swami Harshananda
Pariṇāminitya literally means ‘an entity which is real, but changing’.
This is a basic concept of the Sāṅkhya philosophy. The Upaniṣads accept the Ātman/Brahman as immutable and as the only reality. The world is said to have originated from It. Sāṅkhya philosophy considers this as self-contradictory, since what is real and immutable cannot undergo any change.
Hence it accepts two basic realities. They are:
- The puruṣa or the conscious self
- The prakṛti or the insentient matrix of all matters
The prakṛti, though real, is not immutable. It changes or evolves into this world. Hence it is called ‘pariṇāminitya’.
References[edit]
- The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore