Mahat

(“great one”) In the account of evolution
found in the Samkhya philosophical
school, mahat is the first evolutionary
stage. It consists of the initial disturbance of prakrti (primal matter)
transforming from its original state
of equilibrium. Mahat is called the
“great one” because prakrti remains
unchanged. Mahat is also known
as buddhi, the mental faculty for
awareness, apperception, and decision
making that is believed to be at the root
of mental processes. The mental
processes facilitated by buddhi spur the
development of the next stage in the
evolution, ahamkar or subjective consciousness, after which the division of
the world into subjective and objective
spheres proceeds.