________________
ONTOLOGY
129
the cause. The difference between the cause and the effect is that the latter connotes a specific type of arrangement (saṁsthānabheda) of the former. The element of identity found between the cause and the effect is considered to have such a lot of significance in the system that the importance of difference itself gets diminished.
A Visiştādvaita : The very name of the system, viz., qualified non-dualism indicates to us the view of Reality that it takes. Reality or Brahman is not non-dual but is a complex whole which incorporates within itself unity as well as diversity. In contrast to Sankara's view of absolute identity in which difference gets obliterated, in Rāmānuja's system difference is not set aside as a mere construction of the mind, and therefore as illusory, but as being integrated with an abiding entity.
The complex whole is constituted of the ultimate triad, acit, cit and Isvara respectively standing for the principle of material objects, the principle of individual spirits and God. The relationship between God on the one hand and cit and acit on the other is analogous to that which holds between a substance and its attributes. The attributes themselves do not have significance apart from the substance but all the same they are different from God just as a body is different from it soul. The Absolute is thus a complex which consists of one cosmic soul and its dependents -- the world and the individual selves — which serve its purpose. P. N. Srinivasachari notes the significant distinction between the Višișțādvaita view of difference and the Buddhistic and Advaita views on the other : "The Buddhist view of quality without substance is countered by the monistic view of substance without qualities and these extremes find their reconciliation in the Višiştādvaita theory of the world as the višeșaņa of Brahman."4
Vaiseșika view : The system is known for its emphasis on difference or viseșa, and the significant fact is that difference is referred to as one of the six categories of Reality. The categories
e: substance (dravya), quality (guna), activity (karma), generality (sāmānya), difference (višeşa) and intimate relation (samavāya). From the fact that the system itself is designated after the ontolo cal principle of difference, it is obvious that viseșa is not treated as one among the other categories, however significant the inclusion
4 Višişțădvaita, p. 230f.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
