Ajati Vada
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Gaudapada
firmly states that ajati-vada is rooted in the Upanishad-s,
which clearly, repeatedly, and definitively declare
that the ultimate reality is Brahman which is non
dual, self known, self evident, and eternal; while
difference, duality, plurality, and origination
is nothing but mere appearance:
•
"There is no second to Atman"
(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, IV, 3, 23).
•
"Brahman is one without a second"
(Chandogya Upanishad, VI, 2,2).
•
"This self is Brahman" (Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad, II, 5, 19).
•
"How can delusion and suffering touch him
who sees the non dual Self everywhere"
(Isavashya Upanishad, 7).
•
"The knower of Brahman becomes Brahman"
(Mundaka Upanishad, III, 2, 9).
•
"He goes from death to death who sees any
difference here" (Katha Upanishad, II,
1,10)
•
"He goes from death to death who sees multiplicity
in It. This, verily, is That" (Katha Upanishad,
II, 1, 11).
•
"In utter darkness are those who worship
the creation" (Isavashya Upanishad, 12).
These statements of the Upanishad-s agree in teaching
the non-dual reality of Advaita by proclaiming and
praising the non difference between jiva, Atman,
and Brahman.
Not only by the authority of scriptures but also
by independent reasoning, says Gaudapada, ajati-vada
can be proved. Thus, in his exposition of Advaita
he guides the seeker with many arguments, step by
step, to the Supreme Truth – that nothing
whatsoever is born or created.
No-creation (ajati) implies that causality is an
illusion. But for whom is it an illusion? It is
for him who has realized the truth of non-duality.
From the standpoint of those who take the pluralistic
universe to be real, the world and its changes,
the soul and its states, cannot be easily and completely
dismissed. Nevertheless, before one undertakes enquiry
into the Truth, one should at least understand theoretically
that the dualistic world, though it appears, cannot
be real.
The seeker who has understood the Advaitic teaching
will realize that the question of cause never arises.
The consideration of maya and avidya is only a temporary
compromise for the immature seeker to satisfy his
longing for an explanation of the world. In every
individual case the presence of avidya can be traced
to the absence of enquiry into the Self or Truth.
The doctrine of maya and avidya is offered only
to help the aspirant to rise to the plane of absolute
oneness.
It should be remembered that from the Absolute point
of view (paramarthika-satya) Brahman neither creates
nor destroys, He only is. Thus, according to Mandukya
Karika, the Upanishads, and other ancient Advaitic
texts, the final truth regarding Brahman and creation
is that Brahman is Birthless (aja), in the sense
that it is the ever existent, and that creation
is "birthless" (aja) as well, but in the
opposite sense, that it never really exists.
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