ajAti vAda

As far as creation theories are concerned, the most important adjectives in the
mANDUkya's list, in my opinion, are prapancopaSamam - that into which the world is
resolved, and ekAtma-pratyaya-sAram - the essence of cognition of the One Atman.
These words indicate that in the turIya state, the mistaken identification of the Atman
with anAtman has ceased, and there is no more external world perceived as separate
from oneself. The "oneself" that was previously talked about doesn't exist anymore, and
the world external to this "oneself" also does not exist anymore. Only the One Atman
remains. It is only at this stage that it makes sense to talk of ajAti. The word
prapancopaSamam indicates that the world-in-itself has no existence. It is as if this
world that was previously seen as external to "oneself", along with the "oneself" that was
previously mistakenly identified with things other than the Atman, is now resolved into
the One Atman, the one and only Reality.
The same idea is mentioned in the bRhadAraNyaka - yatra tvasya sarvam AtmaivAbhUt,
tatra kena kam paSyet? etc. leading to vijnAtAram are kena vijAnIyAt? In the state of
non-duality, the One Atman itself is the whole world; there is nothing other than this
Atman, so talk of a world external to this Atman does not even arise. The questions
posed by the bRhadAraNyaka indicate that there are no senses of sight, smell, touch etc.
that can operate at this state. Hence the question, vijnAtAram are kena vijAnIyAt? - how
is the knower to be known? i.e. not through the senses. The knower knows itself,
immediately, and there is no distinction between the knower, the means of knowledge
and the object of knowledge. I will restrict the urge to indulge in poetic fancy about the
ineffable nature of this vijnAtA, and the experience that defies words. Reverting to our
concern about creation, we can say this much. As the question of creation does not even
arise when the identity of Atman with brahman is known, it follows that nothing either
comes into being nor goes out of being - it is always self-existent. This is ajAtivAda. The
Atman is eternal, unborn and undying, admitting of no divisions. As the creation
(prapanca) has been resolved (upaSamam) into this One Atman Itself, prapanca can be
described as not created. This is the paramArtha. Returning to vyavahAra, one comes
back to the jAgrat, svapna and sushupti states, but the knowledge gained in the turIya
state remains, and the preliminary sRshTi-dRshTi view loses much of its significance.
Thus, traditional advaita vedAntins generally handle creation by provisionally
explaining it in terms of sRshTi-dRshTi vAda, followed by a subsequent ajAti vAda
argument, which denies that creation is an event that took place at some given point of
time in the past. This approach follows the adhyAropa-apavAda method (sublation of
superimposition), and is closely tied to the vyavahAra and paramArtha ways of
understanding reality. So far as the paramArtha is held to be the only Real, ajAti is
upheld. sRshTi-dRshTi is accepted only in the vyAvahAric sense, and needs to be
transcended along with the rest of vyavahAra, for the sake of moksha.
This description of creation theories in advaita holds true for those authors who want to
approach the paramArtha through the vyavahAra, i.e. from sRshTi-dRshTi to ajAti.
There are other authors like SrIharsha, citsukha and sukhaprakASa, who care not a whit
for vyavahAra, and do not feel the need to even talk about creation. These authors are
masters of dialectic, much like nAgArjuna, and are interested in demolishing the logical