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Written by Sri Swami Chandrashekarendra
Saraswati |
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“Causes" or "karanas" are divided into two categories: "nimitta" and
"upadana". You need earth or clay as a material to make a pot. So earth
is
the upadana for the pot. But how does it become a pot? Does it become
a pot by itself? It has to be shaped by a potter. So the potter is the
causehe
is the nimitta. (The "nimitta" we spoke about in jyotisa is different.)
Nyaya and Vaisesika believe that Isvara created the universe with the
ultimate particles called "anu-s". Here Isvara is the nimitta-karana and
the
"anu-s" are the upadana-karana. To shape the clay into a pot a potter is
needed. Without him there is no earthen pot, or in other words, the pot
without the potter is non-existent. So when he shapes it out of clay he
is
the cause and the pot the effect. This is called "arambha-vada" or "asatkarya-
vada". "Sat" means that which exists (the real) and "asat" that
which does not. There is no pot in mere clay. The non-existent pot is
produced from the clay. It is in similar fashion that Isvara created the
universe with the "anu-s" -what he created did not exist in the
particles.
This is the doctrine of Nyaya.
Adherents of Sankhya, as we know, do not believe in an Isvara. According
to them Prakrti itself exfoliated into the universe. Such a belief is
not to
be mistaken for the contemporary athestic view. I say so because
Sankhya also postulates a Purusa who is jnana, similar to the Nirguna-
Brahman. According to it the inert Prakrti can function in such an
orderly
fashion only in the presence of Purusa. The presence of Purusa is the
cause but he is not directly involved in creation. Crops grow on their
own
in the sunshine. Water dries up, clothes become dry and it is all
because
of the sun. Does the sun worry about which crop is to be grown or which
pond is to be dried up? Your hand becomes numb when you hold a lump
of ice in it. Is it right to reason that it is the intention of ice to
benumb
your hand? Similar is the case with Purusa for he is not attached to
creation. But with the power received from him, Prakrti creates the
world
out of itself. There is no Isvara as a nimitta-karana. According to
Sankhya,
Prakrti has transformed itself as the created world. This is called
"parinama-vada".
While asat-karya-vada is the principle on which the naiyayikas base
their
view of creation, supporters of Sankhya base their theory on sat-karyavada.
Adherents of the former believe that the clay is the upadana
(material cause) for the making of the non-existent pot while the potter
is
the nimitta or efficient cause. The sat-karya-vadins belonging to
Sankhya
argue thus: "The pot was there in the clay in the beggining itself. The
oilmonger
presses the sesame seeds to extract the oil that is already
present in them. Similarly, the pot concealed in the clay emerged as a
result of the work of the potter. It is only by using the clay that you
can
make the pot. You cannot make a pot with sesame seeds nor do you get
oil by pressing the clay. The pots are all anu-s of the clay; they came
into
existence by the anu-s being shaped. "
Our acarya says: "There is neither arambha-vada nor parinama-vada here.
It is the Brahman, with its power of Maya, that appears in the disguise
of
creation. For the potter who is the Paramatman there is no other entity
other than himself called clay. So the arambha-vada is not right. To say
that Paramatman transformed himself into the cosmos is like saying that
the milk turns into curd. The curd is not the same as the milk. Would it
not be wrong to state that the Paramatman became nonexistent
after
becoming the cosmos? So the parinamavada
is also not valid. On the one
hand, the Paramatman remains pure jnana, as nothing but awareness,
and, on the other, he shows himself through the power of his Maya as all
this universe with its living-beings and its inert objects. It is all
the
appearence of the same Reality, the Reality in various disguises. If a
man
dons a disguise he does not become another man. Similar is the case with
all these disguises, all this jugglary of the universe. With all the
apparent
diversity, the one Reality remains unchanged. “This argument is known as
"vivarta-vada".
There is vivarta in the phenomenon of a rope appearing to be a snake.
The upadana-karana(material cause) that is the rope does not change
into a snake by nimitta-karana(efficient cause). So the arambha-vada
does not apply here. The rope does not transform itself into a snake;
but
on account of our nescience (avidya) it seems to us to be a snake.
Similarly, on account of our ajnana or avidya the Brahman too seems to
us as this world and such a vast plurality of entities.
Nyaya lays the steps by which we may go further to realise the truth on
which our Acarya has shed light.
Nyaya and Vaisesika teach us how we may become aware of padarthas
(categories) through reasoning and become detatched from them to
realise "apavarga" in which there is neither sorrow nor joy. But they do
not take us to a higher realm. Dualism also has its limitations thus. To
grasp the One Reality that is non-dual and realise inwardly that we too
are that Reality is to experience absolute liberation.
It must be said as one of the distinctive features of Nyaya that it
inspires
us to go in quest of apavarga by creating discontent in in our worldly
existence. Another of its distinguishing features is that it employs all
its
resources of reasoning to contend against the doctrines of the
Buddhists,
the Sankhyas and Carvakas to establish the principle of Isvara as
Karta(Creator). |
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