Sāṅkhya describes the structure of experience through a precise model known as the tattvas, or fundamental principles of reality. According to this teaching, the manifest world arises through a gradual unfolding of prakṛti, beginning with its most subtle forms and moving toward the physical world. The first expression of prakṛti is mahat, the principle of intelligence or cosmic order. From this emerges ahaṃkāra, the sense of “I” that organizes experience around personal identity. From ahaṃkāra arise the mind (manas), the sensory capacities, the organs of action, the subtle elements, and finally the five physical elements that make up the material world. Altogether, Sāṅkhya describes twenty-four tattvas that explain how perception, thought, sensation, and the physical world come into being. This model is not meant to be a belief system but a way of understanding how experience is structured. By recognizing that all thoughts, emotions, and perceptions belong to the unfolding of prakṛti, a person begins to see that these movements are processes of nature rather than the essence of the self. This understanding brings clarity to how the mind functions and why certain patterns repeat in human life.