ajAti vAda

very different from the traditional perspective shared by almost all religions - some
creator is usually credited with having created this universe. This creator is the
instrumental cause of the universe. What differentiates the standard vedAnta position
from such general theistic views is that brahman is simultaneously also the material
cause of the universe. In other words, creation is never ex nihilo, but proceeds out of
brahman Itself, although brahman remains unchanged.
Common-sense views of material causality always involve some kind of change. Thus,
for example, milk is said to be the material cause of curds. However, in the process of
curdling milk, the milk cannot be recovered. All we have at the end is the curds, the milk
being irretrievably lost. This kind of causality involving change is called pariNAma.
There is another kind of material causality. For example, gold is the material cause of an
ornament made out of gold. In the process of making the ornament, the metal does not
change into something else. It is only drawn into another form, from a lump to an
ornament; the gold remains gold. This kind of causality is called vivarta, where the
material cause itself does not change into something else. The chAndogya upanishad
makes very telling use of this kind of causality in its illustrations of how "Being" alone
is the original cause (sadeva saumya idam agra AsIt, ekameva advitIyam), and how all
perceived change is only in the realm of name and form, dependent on language
(vAcArambhaNam vikAro nAmadheyam). The reality of gold is quite independent of
what shape it is in.
Although SankarAcArya makes use of both kinds of causality ( pariNAma and vivarta)
in his analogies, he denies that brahman's role as the material cause of the universe
involves any change in the essence that is brahman. In the logical extreme, both
pariNAma and vivarta views of causality are deficient, as they presume a separate reality
of the effect, apart from that of the cause. Therefore, the most subtle arguments in
advaita vedAnta turn upon the ajAti vAda notion - that there is no real creation. vivarta
and pariNAma are both seen as convenient ways of describing causality, only if some
provisional reality is conceded for the notion of creation. Those who follow the dRshTisRshTi
vAda also maintain that brahman is beyond all causality. However, most post-
Sankaran authors, who teach in accordance with what is called the sRshTi-dRshTi vAda,
opt for a vivarta notion of causality, as far as accounting for all creation is concerned. It
should be remembered that the conception of brahman as both the material and
instrumental cause of the universe implies a very special kind of causality, one that is not
similar to any other, and that cannot therefore be captured completely by any analogy. It
is as if brahman has acted upon itself in order to produce this universe, that is full of
change. Yet, the upanishads abound with passages denying that any change is possible in
brahman, and indeed SankarAcArya denies that brahman really acts. brahman is also
described as devoid of all attributes, along with passages that glorify brahman as ISvara,
the Lord of this universe, with infinite attributes.
nirguNa and saguNa brahman -
To resolve such passages in the upanishads, advaita vedAnta maintains that really
brahman is devoid of all attributes, and is therefore known as nirguNa. brahman may be