Bhagavatpadabhyudaya by Lakshmana Suri (study)
by Lathika M. P. | 2018 | 67,386 words
This page relates ‘Theory of Causation’ of the study on the Bhagavatpadabhyudaya by Lakshmana Suri: a renowned Sanskrit Scholar from the 19th century. The Bhagavatpada-abhyudaya is a Mahakavya (epic poem) narrating the life of Shankara-Acharya, a prominent teacher of Advaita Vedanta philosophy. This essay investigates the socio-spiritual conditions of 8th century AD in ancient India as reflected in Lakshmanasuri’s work.
Theory of Causation
The theory of causation as is known in Indian philosophy is based on two views: that the effect is pre existent in the cause prior to its creation, and that the effect doe snot pre-exist in the cause. Consequently, there have been two main theory of causation Satkāryavāda[1] (the doctrine of pre-existance of the effect in the cause) and Asatkāryāvāda (the doctrine of non existence of the effect in the cause). The cārvāka system, Hinayāna Buddhism, Nyāya and Vaiśeṣika systems advocate Asatkārya vāda. For the Asatkārya vādiṃs, effect is a fresh creation, a new thing. Kārya or effect is asat or unreal before its coming into being. Satkāryavādiṃs claim that Kārya is sat or real even before its manifestation, since it exist in the cause in a potential form and is the actualization of what ever is potential in the cause. Satkaryavada again comprises two different schools of thought. One school maintains that the effect is the apparent transformation of the cause, and the other belives that the effect is the real transformation of the cause. The Advaita philosophy accepts the former view, which is known as ‘Brahmavivarta vāda’. Brahman being the only true cause, the world is a distorted appearance of it.
A five-fold argument supports the Vedanda theory of causation
1. The non–existent can never be made an existent object.
2. The product is not different from the material out of which it is produced, e.g: the pot is not different from its material which is clay, the statue is not different from the marble out of which it is made.
3. The product exists in the shape of the material before it comes in to being, e.g: the cloth exists in the form of thread, the pot in the form of clay.
4. The efficiency of the cause lies in its necessary potency, which is to say, that which does not have the potentiality to produce can never be regarded as an efficient cause.
5. The effect and the cause are the same nature.
Bhagavatpādābhyudayam does not go deep into such philosophical intricacies.