Pralaya

Pralaya is a Sanskrit word that means "dissolution" or "melting away" (from laya: "to dissolve" and pra "away"). In Hinduism it refers to a period where the universe is in a state of non-existence, a state of matter achieved when the three gunas (principles of matter) are in perfect balance.

At the end of a thousand periods of four ages, which complete a Day of Brahmâ, the earth is almost exhausted. The eternal Avyaya (Vishnu) assumes then the character of Rudra (the destroyer, Siva) and re-unites all his creatures to himself. He enters the Seven rays of the Sun and drinks up all the waters of the globe; he causes the moisture to evaporate, thus drying up the whole Earth. Oceans and rivers, torrents and small streams, are all exhaled. (SD I, p. 370)

The Theosophical view of pralaya is similar in many aspects to that of Hinduism. Mme. Blavatsky explains:

There are many kinds of Pralaya, but three chief ones are specially mentioned in old Hindu books. The first is called NAIMITTIKA [Planetary Pralaya] “occasional” or “incidental”, caused by the intervals of “Brahmâ’s Days”; it is the destruction of creatures, of all that lives and has a form, but not of the substance which remains in statu quo till the new DAWN in that “Night”. The other is called PRAKRITIKA [Solar Pralaya]—and occurs at the end of the Age or Life of Brahma, when everything that exists is resolved into the primal element, to be remodelled at the end of that longer night. But the third, ATYANTIKA, does not concern the Worlds or the Universe, but only the individualities of some people; it is thus individual pralaya or NIRVANA[13]; after having reached which, there is no more future existence possible, no rebirth till after the Maha Pralaya. (SD I, pp. 370-1)

Occultism divides the periods of Rest (Pralaya) into several kinds; there is the individual pralaya of each Globe, as humanity and life pass on to the next; seven minor Pralayas in each Round; the planetary Pralaya, when seven Rounds are completed [See Section VII]; the Solar Pralaya, when the whole system is at an end; and finally the Universal Maha—or Brahmâ—Pralaya at the close of the “Age of Brahmâ.” These are the three chief pralayas or “destruction periods.” There are many other minor ones, but with these we are not concerned at present. . (SD I, fn., p. 172)

Not even Esoteric philosophy can claim to know, except by analogical inference, that which took place before the reappearance of our Solar System and previous to the last Maha Pralaya. (SD I, p. 369)