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CreationThe real object of the description of creation The
Upanishads describe the creation, sustenance and dissolution of the
universe. This should not, however, be taken to mean that creation, etc,
are real. According to Advaita, creation is not real, but is only a
superimposition on Brahman, which alone is real in the absolute sense.
The universe, which is a transformation of maayaa,
is anirvachaniiya
. It cannot be described either as real or as unreal. It has empirical
reality only. The description of creation, etc, in the Upanishads is
only to bring out the truth that Brahman, the cause, alone is real. The
effect, universe, has no independent existence apart from the cause,
Brahman. The following passages from S’rii S’ankara
’s Bhaashya
bring out the real purpose of the statements about creation, etc, in the
Upanishads. Br.up.2.1.20.S.B.—tasmaat
upakramopasamhaaraabhyaam-------------------vaakyaani iti. From
the introduction and conclusion it is clear that the passages speaking
about the origin, sustenance and dissolution of the universe are
intended only to strengthen the idea that the individual self is the
same as the Supreme Self.
Br.up.2.1.20.S.B.—tasmaat
ekaruupaikatvapratyayadaarDhyaaya------------------paramaatmanaH Therefore,
the mention in all the Vedaanta texts of the origin, sustenance and
dissolution of the universe is only to strengthen our idea of Brahman
being a homogeneous entity, and not to tell us that the origin, etc, is
real. Nor is it reasonable to suppose that a part of the indivisible,
transcendental Supreme Self becomes the relative, individual self,
because the Supreme Self is intrinsically without parts. The theory of vivarta Advaita
Vedaanta explains the creation of the world by the theory of vivarta.
This theory is different from the theory of aarambha
vaada of Nyaaya-Vais’eshika and
the pariNaama vaada of
Saankhya. According to aarambha
vaada the effect was not pre-existent in the cause and is something
new which has come into existence. This theory is also called asatkaarya
vada, because according to this the kaarya,
effect, did not previously exist. According to the pariNaama vaada, the effect was existent in the cause and is only a
transformation of the cause. It is therefore also known as satkaarya vaada, because the kaarya, effect, was existent in the
cause. According to Advaita, the effect is not an actual transformation
of the cause. Brahman is immutable and there can be no transformation of
it. It only serves as the substratum (adhishThaana)
for the appearance of
the universe, just as the rope serves as the substratum for the
appearance of the illusory snake. This
nature of the universe as a mere appearance on Brahman is brought out
beautifully by Sures’vara in the following verses:- Naishkarmyasiddhi.1.1—I
offer my salutation to Hari, the destroyer of darkness and the witness
of the intellect, from whom the universe consisting of ether, air, fire,
water and earth has arisen like a snake from a garland. taitt.
Up. Bhaashya Vaartika.2.378—He, the Supreme Lord, the controller of maayaa,
having created the universe with His maayaa,
entered that very universe in the same way as a garland can be said to
enter the illusory snake projected on it. (By this, the statements in
the taitt.up.2.6.1 and the Br.up.1.4.7 that the Lord, having created the
universe, entered into it, are also explained). This
appearance of the universe is due to avidyaa,
or nescience, which conceals Brahman by its veiling power (aavaraNa
s’akti) and projects the universe by its power of projection (vikshepa
s’akti). The universe is therefore said to be only a vivarta, or apparent transformation, of Brahman. Like the illusory
snake with rope as the substratum, the universe is illusory, or mithyaa,
with Brahman as the substratum. But there is a vital difference
between the illusoriness of the rope-snake and that of the universe.
While the snake is purely illusory, or praatibhaasika,
the universe has empirical, or vyaavahaarika,
reality. That means that the universe is real for all those who are
still in ignorance of Brahman. It loses its reality only when Brahman is
realized as the only reality and as identical with one’s own self, or,
in other words, when identification with the body-mind complex
completely disappears. Bondage is nothing but identification with the
body-mind complex. This identification being due only to the ignorance
of the truth that one is really the aatmaa,
which is the same as Brahman, it can be removed only by the knowledge of
one’s real nature as Brahman.
Madhusuudana
Sarasvati therefore says in Siddhaantabindu that the following
statements in the s’ruti,
which say that bondage ceases when Brahman is known, establish by
implication the illusory nature of the universe:- MuND.up.2.2.8—When
that Self, which is the cause as well as the effect, is realized, the
knot of the heart is cut asunder, all doubts are resolved and the
effects of past karma are
destroyed. S’vetaas’vatara
up.3.8—By knowing that Self one goes beyond death. Ch.up.7.1.3—The
knower of the Self goes beyond sorrow. It
is further pointed out in Siddhaantabindu that the following statements
bring out explicitly the illusoriness of the universe:- Br.up.3.4.2—Everything
other than the Self is subject to destruction. Br.up.4.4.19—There
is no difference whatsoever in it (Brahman). Br.up.2.3.6—Now
therefore the description (of Brahman)—Not this, not this.
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