Samkhya presents Purusha and Prakriti as two eternally real and absolutely distinct principles, whose apparent union gives rise to all experience. Purusha is pure, inactive consciousness, the unchanging witness that never itself undergoes modification, and is multiple in number, corresponding to individual selves. Prakriti is primordial, unconscious matter, a single, ever-changing source of all physical and mental phenomena, constituted by the three gunas—sattva, rajas, and tamas. Even intellect, ego, mind, and the senses are understood as evolutes of Prakriti, instruments through which experience is presented to Purusha rather than attributes of consciousness itself. In this way, Samkhya maintains a strict dualistic realism: spirit and matter coexist eternally yet remain irreducible to one another.

The connection between these two principles is described not as fusion but as conjunction or proximity. Purusha does not act upon Prakriti in any literal sense; its mere presence, like a magnet near iron, disturbs the equilibrium of the gunas and sets Prakriti into motion. From this disturbance unfolds the entire hierarchy of tattvas: from Prakriti to cosmic intelligence (mahat), to ego (ahamkara), to the subtle and gross elements and the organs of sense and action. All phenomenal experience thus belongs to Prakriti’s side of reality, while Purusha remains the silent witness whose conscious presence makes that experience manifest.

Samkhya interprets bondage as a problem of misidentification. Purusha, though intrinsically free and inactive, becomes entangled in suffering when it mistakenly identifies with the body, senses, thoughts, and emotions that arise from Prakriti. This ignorance makes it seem as though Purusha is the doer and enjoyer, even though all activity and change belong to Prakriti alone. At the same time, Prakriti is said to evolve and display its manifold forms for a twofold purpose: to provide experience and ultimately to facilitate the recognition of Purusha’s distinctness.

Liberation, or kaivalya, occurs when discriminative knowledge arises and the radical difference between Purusha and Prakriti is firmly realized. When this clear discernment is established, the apparent bond is broken: for that particular Purusha, Prakriti “withdraws” its activity, having fulfilled its purpose. Purusha then abides in its own isolated purity, untouched by the play of the gunas, while Prakriti continues to function for other Purushas. Thus the relationship between spirit and matter is one of seeming association that endures only so long as the error of identification persists, and it is resolved through insight into their eternal and unbridgeable distinction.