Verse 2.147

Sanskrit text and transliteration:

कालत्रयस्याविद्यायाः समुत्थानादहेतुता ।
कर्मदेवेश्वरादीनामत एवानिमित्तता ॥ १४७ ॥

kālatrayasyāvidyāyāḥ samutthānādahetutā |
karmadeveśvarādīnāmata evānimittatā || 147 ||

English translation of verse 2.147:

Time which is threefold cannot be the cause (of the world), because it comes into being from avidyā. For the same reason, karma, deity, Īśvara, etc., cannot be the cause.

Notes:

There are various views about the causality of the universe. But only four of them are mentioned in this verse.

There is the view that there is no cause for the world (kāraṇam nāsti). There are those who think that non-being (abhāva) or the void (śūnya) is the cause of the world. The Cārvāka explains the world in terms of naturalism (svabhāva-vāda). Some others who subscribe to accidentalism (yadṛcchāvāda) say that the existence of the world is an accident. The Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika philosopher holds the view that the constituents of the natural world are composed of material atoms and that God (Īśvara) is the prime mover of these atoms. According to the Sāṅkhya, Prakṛti is the cause of the world. The Yoga holds the view that God, who is one of the Puruṣas and who is not related to anything, brings about the connection of Prakṛti with Puruṣa which is necessary for the evolution of the world from Prakṛti. The Mīmāṃsaka maintains that karma or adṛṣṭa is the cause of the world. Some schools of Vedānta hold that God is the efficient cause of the universe and that Prakṛti is the material cause. Those who accept the reality of time say that time (kāla) is the cause of the world. Others who are the' worshippers of Prajāpati, Gaṇapati, and other gods (prājāpatya-gāṇāpatyādayaḥ) consider these gods as the cause of the world.

None of the views stated above is satisfactory. If there is no cause for the world, one could argue by the same logic that even a pot comes into being without a cause. This is absurd. So the view that the world exists without a cause cannot be accepted as it goes against the evidence of perception. Non-being (abhāva) cannot be the cause of anything; but only a positive entity can be the cause of some object. The view that a positive something comes out of non-being is contradicted by perception (abhāvāt bhāvotpattiriti pratyakṣa virodhaḥ). The view that the void (śūnya) is the cause of the world is no mere intelligible than the assertion that a plant comes into being without a seed. The variegated and the intelligently ordered universe cannot be an accident or a chance; nor could it be said that it comes into being of its own accord. Neither the atoms, nor Prakṛti, nor karma, nor kāla, can account for the universe, for they are all non-intelligent. If God (Īśvara) being only an efficient cause were to create the world out of some primordial matter which is different from, and external to him, he would be conditioned thereby. God who is one of the Puruṣas and who is not related to anything cannot be the cause which brings about the connection between Prakṛti and Puruṣa.

Since it is not possible to account for the world in any of the ways stated above, Advaita concludes that the world is an illusory appearance of Brahman due to māyā.