Samkhya approaches reincarnation through its dualistic vision of Purusha and Prakriti. Purusha, as pure, eternal consciousness, is described as unborn, unchanging, and essentially inactive; it does not itself move from body to body or undergo birth and death. What appears as an individual undergoing repeated lives is the association of this witnessing consciousness with a subtle body that belongs entirely to Prakriti. Because of ignorance of its own distinct nature, Purusha seems to identify with this subtle apparatus and with the experiences that arise within it, giving rise to the sense of “I” and “mine.”

The actual vehicle of transmigration is the subtle body (often called linga-śarīra or sukṣma-śarīra), composed of intellect (buddhi), ego-sense (ahaṃkāra), mind (manas), the subtle senses and elements, and the impressions formed by past experience. At physical death, the gross body falls away, but this subtle complex endures, still “accompanied” by Purusha as its witness. It carries samskaras, vasanas, and the residue of merit and demerit, and on that basis it becomes linked with a new gross body. The character of the next embodiment—its form, circumstances, and inner tendencies—is shaped by these accumulated impressions and the dynamic interplay of the guṇas within Prakriti.

This process of rebirth continues so long as the confusion between Purusha and Prakriti persists. Because of proximity to the subtle body, Purusha seems to be affected by pleasure and pain, action and consequence, though in truth it remains untouched. From the standpoint of lived experience, however, this misidentification is powerful enough to sustain an entire cycle of bondage, as the subtle body repeatedly takes on new forms and environments. Each life thus expresses a particular configuration of past karma and latent dispositions, all unfolding within the domain of Prakriti.

Liberation, in the Samkhya view, consists in the arising of discriminative knowledge (viveka-jñāna or viveka-khyāti), a clear discernment that consciousness is utterly distinct from the changing processes of matter and mind. When this insight becomes firm, the identification with the subtle body falls away, and the chain of karma is said to come to an end. For that liberated Purusha, Prakriti has fulfilled its purpose and no further embodiment occurs; after the present body’s end, there is no more rebirth. Reincarnation, therefore, is understood as a drama entirely within Prakriti, continuously witnessed by the same unchanging Purusha until true knowledge brings the cycle to a close.