Indian Philosophy

Author(s): Sukhlal Sanghavi
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 55

The Nature and the Cause of the World
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object the same ought to belong to its cause as well while it goes without saying that a cause ought to be subtler than the effect concerned. Cogi. tating thus they ultimately came to the conclusion that the ultimate cause of a product made up of earth must itself be of the form of earth while the ultimate cause of product made up of water, fire and air ought to belong to the same class as the corresponding element itself. Whatever physical elements they posited in the form of this ultimate originating cause were of course considered to be of the form of atoms. This means that subtleness belonging to an atom is of the ultimate grade and it is not further divisible. Thus on the basis of a huge infinity of earthy, watery, fiery and airy atoms belonging to various classes and mutually dissimilar in an absolute fashion they accounted for the world of the form of an effect. However, subtle might be a cause but combining with other subtle causes belonging to the same class it gradually gives rise to more and more gross effects--this was the supposition on the basis of which they established the doctrine of original creation (=ārambhavāda); the idea was that as a result of the combination of two atoms there originates a new substance of the form of diad which, even while different from those two atoms acting as cause, resides pervaded in those atoms. Similarly, three diads go to make up a three-atomed (really, six-atomed) aggregate while four three-atomed aggregates go to make up a four-atomed (really, twentyfouratomed) aggregate - following which order they accounted for the gross crea - tion of form of mountain, river, sun etc. This doctrines differed from the doctrine of transformation (=parināmavāda) insofar as according to the latter the gradually manifested effects already exist in the originating cause and even when they become manifest the originating cause already remain pervaded therein. These manifested effects do not come into existence altogether anew, but while they orgiginally existed in the cause in an unmanifest form they become visible when suitable occasioning cause etc. become available to them. On the other hand, in the doctrine of original creation the supposition is that an effect is absolutely different from its cause and that it comes into existence really anew. The idea is that a huge infinity of atoms of various classes, while retaining their original form as such, give rise to numberless effects akin to themselves when an appropriate causal aggregate becomes available to them. In the doctrine of ori. ginal creation there is an absolute difference between a cause and its effect while in the doctrine of transforination protninence is given to their mutual non-difference. In the doctrine of original creation the cause of an
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9 Sad akāranavan nityan. Tasya karyam lingam. Kāranābhāvāt kāryābhāvah.
- Väiseşikadarśana 3.3.1-3 See the following statements occurring in Prasastapāda's account of creation and destruction : Tatah pravibhaktāḥ paramānavo' vatisthante. Evem samutpanneşu caturşu mahābhūteşu."