The world is
described as an illusory transformation of the Ultimate Reality or Realities,
according to this philosophical model.
The Advaita Vedanta philosophical school is known for its
vivartavada model.
The Advaitins believe in a causal model known as satkaryavada,
which assumes that effects already exist in their causes and that when they
appear, they are simply transformations (parinama) of those causes.
Milk is transformed into curds, butter, and clarified butter
as a classic example.
Each of these effects was already present in the cause,
according to proponents of asatkarya, and emerges from it through a natural
transformation of the cause.
The Advaita school adheres to the philosophical position of
monism, which holds that everything is merely different manifestations of a
single Ultimate Reality.
Despite the appearance of difference and diversity in the
world, Advaita proponents claim that reality is nondual (advaita), that is,
that all things are "actually" nothing but the formless, unqualified
Brahman.
The Advaitins' belief that an effect already exists in its
cause is based on the principle that all things in the universe ultimately rely
on Brahman as the first cause.
Simultaneously, the Advaitins refuse to acknowledge that
Brahman ever changes because this would negate its eternal and unchanging
nature.
As a result, they talk about a fictitious transmission
(vivartavada).
The Advaitins believe that Brahman never truly changes
because it is eternal and thus unchanging; the apparent changes are only
illusory, based on human ignorance through shifting superimposition patterns
(adhyasa).
Advaitins are able to maintain Brahman's transcendence while
also accounting for (apparent) changes in the phenomenal world in this way.
Proponents of a different approach, which portrays the
perceivable world as an actual trans creation of this unified reality, argue
against this stance.
Proponents of the Samkhya, Vishishthadvaita Vedanta, and
Bhedabhada philosophical traditions, who, like Advaitins, believe in satkaryavada,
hold this position.
Each of these three schools thinks that the world as we see
it is real, that it is rooted in a single ultimate source, and that this
fundamental principle undergoes a genuine metamorphosis through which the
universe is born.
This parinama connection permits these schools to explain
the phenomenal world, but in a manner that undermines the transcendence of
these initial principles by incorporating them within it.
Philosophically, they struggle to explain how the sublime
might become commonplace, then transcendent again.
You may also want to read more about Hinduism here.
Be sure to check out my writings on religion here.
