Miscellaneous - Religion   

Cause of creation

CHENNAI: The non-dual Absolute Reality (Brahman) is the cause of this universe of immense diversity. This may on the face of it seem contradictory to the evidence of sensory experience which unfolds such a manifold variety in this vast cosmos. As the Absolute is beyond the grasp of the human senses and the mind, the scriptures are the authority for gaining knowledge of the Absolute and also about how creation proceeds from Brahman.

In his discourse, Sri Goda Venketeswara Sastri said just as one inferred from seeing smoke that there was fire, one should also deduce that Brahman (the cause) was there in the multifarious objects experienced by the senses. The example of the cause-effect relationship between clay and a jar made from it to understand the origination of this universe from Brahman is helpful. One cannot demonstrate that the essence of a jar is something different from the clay it is made of. If another example like obtaining ghee from milk is considered, the effect (ghee) is so different from milk (cause) that it is difficult to see any semblance of relationship between them. The perception of difference in both the cases is due to ignorance (Maya) and so the cause (clay and milk) is the enduring reality. Similarly, the diversity in the world that is experienced by the senses is due to Maya and its cause, the non-dual Absolute, alone is the abiding reality.

The entire universe being the effect of the Absolute, is in reality nothing but Brahman, and does not have an existence apart from the Absolute. The Vivekachudamani states categorically that one who says that they are different labours under delusion.

Like a person, who knows how to cook a particular dish, sets about doing it without any difficulty, so also does the Supreme Being, who is omniscient, creates this universe and directs its functioning. In fact, when one develops the insight to comprehend how perfectly everything functions in God’s creation, he will be able to see the hand of God directing from within. Just as we accept worldly knowledge on the basis of scientific reasoning, Brahman must be known as the cause of creation on the basis of the Vedas.

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