Shloka 25
वासुदेवस्वरूपनिरूपणं—सर्गक्रमश्च
Vāsudeva’s Nature and the Ordered Process of Creation
प्रकृतौ च स्थितं व्यक्तम् अतीतप्रलये तु यत् तस्मात् प्राकृतसंज्ञो ऽयम् उच्यते प्रतिसंचरः
prakṛtau ca sthitaṃ vyaktam atītapralaye tu yat tasmāt prākṛtasaṃjño 'yam ucyate pratisaṃcaraḥ
यद् व्यक्तं जगत् प्रलयकाले भेदातीतं भूत्वा प्रकृतौ विश्राम्यति, तस्मात् अयं प्रतिसंचरः ‘प्राकृत’ इति कथ्यते।
Sage Parāśara (in dialogue with Maitreya)
FAQs
This verse defines pratisaṃcara as the return of the manifest cosmos (vyakta) into Prakṛti during dissolution, marking the reversal of creation back to its material cause.
He calls this dissolution “prākṛta” because the manifest world comes to rest in Prakṛti—hence the process is named after its locus and material ground.
Even while the verse speaks in Sāṅkhya terms (Prakṛti, vyakta), the Vishnu Purana frames cosmic cycles under Vishnu’s supreme sovereignty—Nature and dissolution operate within the order upheld by the Supreme Reality.