Ajativada from Hindu net forum

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Ajativada, the " Uttama Satya " of Shri Gaudapada, is founded on the

following basic ideas:

 

prakRteranyathAbhAvo na kathaMciddhaviSyati

Nothing can ever change its nature; for, if it changed its natural

characteristic even slightly, it would cease to be the original

entity.

 

sarvaM saddhAvenAjam

All is sat and unoriginated. From the Upanishads, it is clear that

everything that exists is Brahman; and as Brahman, it could never

change its nature, and it must be regarded as ajaM sAmyaM vishAradam.

 

kAryakAraNabhAva cannot be proved to exist.

kAryakAraNabhAva implies that kAraNa and kArya are different, and

that kAraNa must have existed before kArya (i.e. kArya must have

been asat before its production). And both of these suppositions are

wrong. If kArya and kAraNa are different, anything can be produced

out of anything; and if kArya is asat, then it would always remain

asat. The nature of a kArya must be similar to that of the kAraNa.

Therefore a sat cannot produce an asat; an asat cannot produce a

sat; sat cannot produce another sat, for there would be vikriyA in

its nature during the process; and an asat cannot be produced from

an asat.

 

kAryakAraNabhAva cannot be proved by the maxim of " the seed and the

sprout " , where there is mutual interdependence and leading to the

conclusion that the series is beginningless. For we ought to be able

to know what comes first, the seed or the sprout, and in the absence

of this knowledge, no relation of cause and effect can be proposed.

 

Thus, there can be no origination. Since there is no relation of

cause and effect, and no change or transformation of one's nature

being admissible, we must rely on the only possible idea that there

is only one entity, which must be unborn, immutable, and all-

pervading. All duality can only be an appearance due to mAyA.

 

Whatever is in accordance with correct reasoning must alone be

accepted. The Shruti texts deserve respect, but not at the expense

of reasoning. Once ajAtivAda is accepted, there is no difficulty in

the interpretation of conflicting passages. Advaita is the highest

reality; and Dvaita can be a part of and based on Advaita, for

Advaita encompasses all and so can have no antagonism for Dvaita,

which is manifestly " imagined " but useful until the realization of

the Highest Reality as unoriginated.

 

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