Pralaya

By Swami Harshananda

Pralaya literally means 'dissolution of the world’.

The scriptures propound the cyclic theory of creation. The cycle of sṛṣṭi,^[1] sthiti^[2] and laya^[3] goes on endlessly. The dissolution, called laya or pralaya, is of four types:

Nitya - Nityapralaya refers to the daily deaths of beings that are born.
Naimittika - Naimittika pralaya is the dissolution that takes place at the end of a day of Brahmā, called ‘kalpa’ which is equivalent to 4.32 billion human years.
Prākṛtika - The prākṛtika pralaya is the dissolution of everything into prakṛti^[4] at the end of Brahmā’s life of hundred years equivalent to 1036 human years.
Ātyantika - Ātyantika pralaya actually refers to mokṣa or liberation wherein a jīva is liberated from trans-migratory existence.

References[edit]

↑ Sṛṣṭi means creation.
↑ Sthiti means preservation.
↑ Laya means dissolution.
↑ Prakṛti means the basic matrix of the universe, often identified with the māyā-power of God.

The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

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Deval Sancheti

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[1] Sṛṣṭi means creation.

[2] Sthiti means preservation.

[3] Laya means dissolution.

[4] Prakṛti means the basic matrix of the universe, often identified with the māyā-power of God.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]