[Advaita-l] What causes samsara?

[V Subrahmanian]

Namaste Anand ji,

Many thanks for the truly valuable details provided by you.  I read the old
post of yours from the link you have given.  One think struck me there:

//The asadvAda holds that the world arose from nonexistence. By showing that a
bhAvarUpa-ajnAna or tamas (Darkness) gave rise to the world, this theory is
refuted. According to asatkAryavAda, an effect does not pre-exist in its
cause. Variants of this theory are accepted not only by Buddhist schools but
also by realistic schools such as nyAya-vaisheShika. This stands refuted
because the world. which is a combination of names and forms, existed in its
causal state, bhAvarUpa ajnAna, before creation. The world of names and
forms is a product of this bhAvarUpa-ajnAna, and not different from it.//

I have for long wondered why in some places Shankaracharya has clubbed
the Naiyayika
and the Bauddha for refutation.  He has also called them:
ardha-vainAshikaH and pUrNa-
vainAshikaH respectively.

Could you let us have your thoughts on this?  While the Bauddha holds
sarvam-shUnyam,
the naiyAyika does not.  So, where is the close parallel between them?
Is it only
on the basis of asat-kAryavAda?

Regards,
subrahmanian.v



On Sun, Mar 28, 2010 at 9:31 PM, Anand Hudli <anandhudli at hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> A couple of points could be added here to complement (and compliment!) the
> original
>
> article.
>
> There was some discussion on this topic sometime ago. Please see, for
> example:
> http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/2007-April/040250.html
>
> The nAsadIya sUkta of the Rg Veda (X.129) says तम आसीत् after it has been
> made clear
> that नासदासीत्. What the Veda is saying is that before Creation, only
> darkness was, even
> non-existence (asat) was not.