Pralaya

Generally referring to four different phenomena,[1][2][3] it is most commonly used to indicate the event of the dissolution of the entire universe that follows a kalpa (a period of 4.32 billion years) called the Brahmapralaya.

[4][5] Pralaya also refers to Nityapralaya, the continuous destruction of all animate and inanimate beings that occurs on a daily basis, Prakritapralaya, the great flood produced by Prakriti (Nature) that ends all of creation after the completion of 1,000 Chaturyuga (four-age) cycles, and Atyantikapralaya, the dissolution of one's Atman (Self) due to its union with Brahman (Ultimate Reality).

[8][9] Nityapralaya refers to constant dissolution, the phenomenon that describes the daily entropy of the mind and the body of all living and non-living beings.

A pralaya is described to be an equal length of time, referred to as a night in the life of the deity.

[13] The Agni Purana describes that the resources of the earth are depleted by the end of the four-age cycle, leading to a severe drought for a century.

After the completion of 1,000 four-age cycles or a kalpa, a great flood is unleashed on Bhumi, the earth, by Prakriti, the personification of nature.

The Agni Purana states that such a dissolution may be achieved with knowledge acquisition, after recognising the suffering caused by one's mind.

This involves the recognition that most of the cause and effect that occurs in the phenomenal universe is maya, an illusion, and that all that has a beginning and an end is not real.

When one finally realises this truth, one's sense of self dissolves into and unites with Brahman, and one achieves mukti (liberation).

The word pralaya comes from Sanskrit meaning "dissolution" or by extension "reabsorption, destruction, annihilation or death".