Na tu drishtantabhavat II.1.9 (143) But not (so) on account of the existence of illustrations.
Na: not; Tu: but; Drishtantabhavat: on account of illustrations.
The ob jec tion raised in Su tra 8 is re futed.
By the word ‘tu’ (but) the pos si bil ity of the ob jec tion is set aside. The ob jec tions have no force. Why should an ef fect which is re - solved into the cause again af fect the cause by in tro duc ing the de - fects of the ef fect? When the ef fect is in volved in the cause, it does not at all taint the cause by its ef fects. There are in nu mer a ble in stances. If a good or na ment is melted into gold, how can the pe cu liar i ties of form of the or na ment ap pear in the gold?
When a jar made up of clay is bro ken and re ab sorbed into its orig i nal sub stance, i.e., clay, it does not im part to it its spe cial fea tures or qual i ties. It does not turn the earth into pots and pitch ers but it is it - self trans formed as earth. The four-fold com plex of or ganic be ings which springs from the earth does not im part its qual i ties to the lat ter at the time of re-ab sorp tion.
Re ab sorp tion can not oc cur at all if the ef fect, when re solv ing back into its causal sub stance, con tin ues to sub sist there with all its in di vid ual prop er ties.
De spite the non-dif fer ence of cause and ef fect, the ef fect has its self in the cause but not the cause in the ef fect. The ef fect is of the na - ture of the cause and not the cause the na ture of the ef fect. There fore the qual i ties of the ef fect can not touch the cause.
In stead of Brah man be ing trans formed into the world, the world is trans formed into Brah man, be ing merged in Him at the time of its dis so lu tion. Hence there can not be any ob jec tion to Brah man be ing ac cepted as the cause of the world on the ground sug gested in Sutra 8.
Though the world is full of mis ery, etc., yet Brah man is all pure, etc. He re mains al ways un touched by evil. As youth, child hood and old age be long to the body only and not to the Self, as blind ness and deaf ness etc., be long to the senses and not to the Self, so the de fects of the world do not be long to Brah man and do not per vade the pure Brah man.
If cause and ef fect are sep a rate as you say, there will be no in - vo lu tion at all. As cause and ef fect are one and the same, the ob jec -
tion that the de fects of the ef fect will af fect the cause is not pe cu liar to in vo lu tion alone. If what the Purvapakshin says is cor rect, the de fect will af fect the cause even now. That the iden tity of cause and ef fect of Brah man and the uni verse, holds good in dis crim i nately with re gard to all time, not only the time of in vo lu tion or re ab sorp tion is de clared in many scrip tural pas sages, as for in stance—This ev ery thing is that Self (Bri. Up. II.4.6). The Self is all this (Chh. Up. VII.25.2). The Im - mor tal Brah man is this be fore (Mun. Up. II.2.11). All this is Brah man (Chh. Up. III.14.1).
If it is said that the de fects are the ef fects of su per im po si tion of Avidya or ne science and can not af fect the cause, this ex pla na tion will ap ply to in vo lu tion also.
Co bra is not af fected by the poi son. A ma gi cian is not af fected by the mag i cal il lu sion pro duced by him self, be cause it is un real. Even so Brah man is not af fected by Maya. The world is only an il lu - sion or ap pear ance. Brah man ap pears as this uni verse, just as a rope ap pears as the snake. There fore Brah man is un af fected by Maya or the world il lu sion. No one is af fected by his dream-cre ations or the il - lu sory vi sions of his dream, be cause they do not ac com pany the wak - ing state and the state of dream less sleep. Sim i larly the Eter nal Wit ness of all states of con scious ness is not af fected by the world or Maya.
Equally base less is the sec ond ob jec tion. There are par al lel in - stances with ref er ence to this also. In the state of deep sleep, you do not see any thing. The soul en ters into an es sen tial con di tion of non-dis tinc tion. There is no di ver sity, but as soon as you wake up you be hold the world of di ver sity. The old stage of dis tinc tion co mes again, as ig no rance or Avidya is not de stroyed. Chhandogya Upanishad says, “All these crea tures when they have be come merged in the True, know not that they are merged in the True. What - ever these crea tures are here, whether a lion, or a wolf, or a boar or a worm or a gnat or a mos quito, that they be come again” (Chh. Up. VI-9-2 & 3).
A sim i lar phe nom e non takes place dur ing Pralaya or dis so lu - tion. The power of dis tinc tion re mains in a po ten tial state as Avidya or Ne science in the state of dis so lu tion also. So long as the ba sic Avidya or ig no rance is there, cre ation or evo lu tion will fol low in vo lu tion just as a man wakes up af ter sleep.
The lib er ated souls will not be born again be cause in their case wrong knowl edge or ig no rance has been com pletely de stroyed by per fect knowl edge of Brah man.
The view held by the Purvapakshin that even at the time of re ab - sorp tion the world should re main dis tinct from Brah man is not ad mit - ted by the Vedantins.
In con clu sion it can be cor rectly said that the sys tem founded on the Upanishads is in ev ery way un ob jec tion able.