Avyakta / Vyakta

Avyakta is the Vedantic term for the unmanifest; vyakta is the manifest. The distinction is foundational to Vedantic cosmology: manifestation arises through differentiation of the unmanifest, not through addition to a void.

The picture is recovered in physics as superposition collapsing into definite outcomes, in Kabbalah as the contraction of Tzimtzum, and in Christian apophatic theology as the via negativa's approach to the divine plenum by stripping away what is not.

The Upanishadic formula neti, neti — “not this, not that” — is the apophatic technique that brings the avyakta into view. Brahman is approached by removing inadequate concepts, not by adding accurate ones.