  We provide a physical prescription based on interferometry for introducing
the total phase of a mixed state undergoing unitary evolution, which has been
an elusive concept in the past. We define the parallel transport condition that
provides a connection-form for obtaining the geometric phase for mixed states.
The expression for the geometric phase for mixed state reduces to well known
formulas in the pure state case when a system undergoes noncyclic and unitary
quantum evolution.
