Theory of Evolution and Involution

[Ms Tercy Lonan]

Theory of Evolution and Involution
The Sankhya adopts the theory of evolution and involution. The cause and effect are the
undeveloped and developed states of one and the same substance. There is no such thing as total
destruction. In destruction, the effect is involved into its cause. That is all.
There cannot be any production of something out of nothing. That which is not cannot be
developed into that which is. The production of what does not already exist potentially is
impossible like a horn on a man, because there must, of necessity, be a material out of which a
product is developed, and because everything cannot occur everywhere at all times, and also
because anything possible must be produced from something competent to produce it.
That which does not exist cannot be brought into existence by an agent. It would be useless
to grind groundnut, unless the oil existed in it. The same force applied to sand or orange would not
express groundnut oil. The manifestation of the oil is a proof that it was contained in the groundnut
and consequently, a proof of the existence of the source from which it is derived.
The effect truly exists beforehand in its cause. This is one of the central features of the
Sankhya system of philosophy. Cause is a substance in which the effect subsists in a latent form.
Just as the whole tree exists in a latent or dormant state in the seed, so also the whole world exists in
a latent state in Prakriti, the Avyakta (unevolved), or the Avyakrita (undifferentiated). The effect is
of the same nature as the cause. The effect or product is not different from the material of which it is
composed.