Ajativada
Encyclopedia
The Sanskrit
term Ajativada can be translated as "non-creation". Ajativada is one of several alternately-held creation theories
in Advaita
Vedanta
philosophy
. According to Advaita Vedanta, the world
of appearances
is considered an illusion
, and not to "exist
". The idea that the illusory world was not created is called Ajativada, or non-creation. The concept
implies that searching for a source of the origin
of the world in a creator is futile. Advaitins translate the concept of Ajativada with the phrase: "nothing ever happened" or: "Not even the appearance of creation exists". That is to say, not even the illusion of the world "exists". (Where does the world go in deep sleep,turiya, nirvikalpa samadhi
and nirvikalpa sahaja samadhi/meditation).
, or Being, Consciousness, Bliss. These are actually qualities, according to Ramana Maharshi, and therefore attributes and still within illusion. In other words not NirGuna Brahman,(or ultimate transcendental, indescribable 'Beyond', but still Saguna Brahman, ( or being or 'Consciousness' associated with 'manifestation'. According to some, the realisation of Saguna Brahman and NirGuna is simultaneous, unless the person is a Bhakta/Devotee of some 'God Figure' and a believer in form. Another term for Ajativada could be Para-Advaita,(not to be confused with other paradvaita term), comprising the fourth level of Vedanta, above Dvaita, Visishtadvaita, and Advaita; Being duality, partial duality and non duality respectively and finally above non duality. This takes the philosophy a step further than Adi Sankara does as he stops short of heavily expounding Para-Advaita/Ajata. Although Sankara's teachings lead to this logical conclusion, and probably weren't highlighted, as Sankara was trying to refute Buddhism,(Gautama Buddha
), at the time and similar philosophy wouldn't be dwelt on. This leads to the conclusion that on the Pralaya or Dissolution of the Universe it is the Saguna Brahman concept that 're manifests' the universe and not Nirguna Brahman. This is due to the seeds of manifestation being still in subtle form or in potentiality in the case of Maha-Pralaya or Great Dissolution of material and subtle. Of course bearing in mind that Saguna Brahman is ultimately an illusion that never ever happened. NirGuna Brahman being or 'Non Being' the only Truth.
The pragmatic or the Vyāvahārika level in which both Jiva (living creatures or individual souls) and Ishvara are true; here, the material world is completely true, and,
The apparent or the Prāthibhāsika level in which even material world reality is actually false, like illusion of a snake over a rope or a dream. Ajativada takes it to a more clear level....
, and his Mandukya Karikas,a treatment or commentary on the Mandukya Upanishad
, Ajativada means that causality
is internally incoherent
and entails the belief
that Atman
is eternally
unborn. Adi Shankara wrote the following in verse 426 of his work Viveka Chudamani
(The Crest-Jewel of Discrimination'),Mohini M Chaterjee, The Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar, 1932.On account of constant absorption in Brahman
, freed from the sense of reality
of external objects, only seemingly enjoying them when offered by others, like a sleepy baby, perceiving the world as that seen in a dream
and recognising it only now and then, such a man is indeed rare. He is the enjoyer of the fruits of untold merit and is truly held blessed and revered on earth.. This is about as close as one get to a description of the state of a Mukta, totally absorbed permanently..or realised one. A Mukta has realised Ajativada....
The twentieth century sage
Ramana Maharshi
was a particularly articulate adherent to the concept of ajativada. On Sri Ramana's view, ajativada or non-creation is a part of the highest form of consciousness
that can be attained. Sri Ramana described three consecutive steps, each of which corresponds to a different understanding of reality:
This is supported by the great Sage Nisargadatta Maharaj
, who indicated the following;
1.That individuals begin with first believing they are making things happen;
2.Then realising things are in fact happening to them;
3. Then finally that nothing is happening at all ('I am That', Acorn Press. N.C. 1999).
Atman=Brahman associated with the individual,
Jiva=Individual entity.
ADvaita= non dual,
dvaita= dual,
visishtadvaita=partly non dual..
Ajativada=non creation,
Bhakta=Devotee,
Brahman=All expansive..Awareness and Consciousness.
SaGuna Brahman=Brahman associated with the gunas of manifestation and creation,
Mukta, totally absorbed permanently..or realised one.
NirGuna Brahman=Brahman with no gunas and not associated with creation on any kind....inexplicable,
Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Meditation beyond the mind.
Sat-Cit-Ananda=Being-consciousness-bliss,
Pralay=Dissolution or resolving of the material universe,
MahaPralay=Dissolution of the material and subtle universe,
Para=Above beyond,
Vedanta= The end of the Vedas the teachings of the Upanishads,
Turiya=Fourth State or beyond the mind,
Sahaj=Beyond the mind meditation,
Sakshin-Saguna-witness,
Jiva= The individual,
Mukti=Unite.
Manas=Mind, lower mind.
Vasanas=tendencies or impediments in the mind.
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
term Ajativada can be translated as "non-creation". Ajativada is one of several alternately-held creation theories
Religious cosmology
A Religious cosmology is a way of explaining the origin, the history and the evolution of the universe based on the religious mythology of a specific tradition...
in Advaita
Advaita Vedanta
Advaita Vedanta is considered to be the most influential and most dominant sub-school of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy. Other major sub-schools of Vedānta are Dvaita and ; while the minor ones include Suddhadvaita, Dvaitadvaita and Achintya Bhedabheda...
Vedanta
Vedanta
Vedānta was originally a word used in Hindu philosophy as a synonym for that part of the Veda texts known also as the Upanishads. The name is a morphophonological form of Veda-anta = "Veda-end" = "the appendix to the Vedic hymns." It is also speculated that "Vedānta" means "the purpose or goal...
philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
. According to Advaita Vedanta, the world
World
World is a common name for the whole of human civilization, specifically human experience, history, or the human condition in general, worldwide, i.e. anywhere on Earth....
of appearances
Phenomenon
A phenomenon , plural phenomena, is any observable occurrence. Phenomena are often, but not always, understood as 'appearances' or 'experiences'...
is considered an illusion
Illusion
An illusion is a distortion of the senses, revealing how the brain normally organizes and interprets sensory stimulation. While illusions distort reality, they are generally shared by most people....
, and not to "exist
Existence
In common usage, existence is the world we are aware of through our senses, and that persists independently without them. In academic philosophy the word has a more specialized meaning, being contrasted with essence, which specifies different forms of existence as well as different identity...
". The idea that the illusory world was not created is called Ajativada, or non-creation. The concept
Concept
The word concept is used in ordinary language as well as in almost all academic disciplines. Particularly in philosophy, psychology and cognitive sciences the term is much used and much discussed. WordNet defines concept: "conception, construct ". However, the meaning of the term concept is much...
implies that searching for a source of the origin
Cosmology
Cosmology is the discipline that deals with the nature of the Universe as a whole. Cosmologists seek to understand the origin, evolution, structure, and ultimate fate of the Universe at large, as well as the natural laws that keep it in order...
of the world in a creator is futile. Advaitins translate the concept of Ajativada with the phrase: "nothing ever happened" or: "Not even the appearance of creation exists". That is to say, not even the illusion of the world "exists". (Where does the world go in deep sleep,turiya, nirvikalpa samadhi
Samadhi
Samadhi in Hinduism, Buddhism,Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools is a higher level of concentrated meditation, or dhyāna. In the yoga tradition, it is the eighth and final limb identified in the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali....
and nirvikalpa sahaja samadhi/meditation).
Philosophers and interpretations
Philosophers such as Y K Menon for example, said that Sankara said that the goal is attainment of oneness with Sat-Cit-AnandaSatchitananda
Saccidānanda, Satchidananda, or Sat-cit-ānanda is a compound of three Sanskrit words, Sat , Cit , and Ānanda , meaning Existence , Consciousness, and Bliss respectively...
, or Being, Consciousness, Bliss. These are actually qualities, according to Ramana Maharshi, and therefore attributes and still within illusion. In other words not NirGuna Brahman,(or ultimate transcendental, indescribable 'Beyond', but still Saguna Brahman, ( or being or 'Consciousness' associated with 'manifestation'. According to some, the realisation of Saguna Brahman and NirGuna is simultaneous, unless the person is a Bhakta/Devotee of some 'God Figure' and a believer in form. Another term for Ajativada could be Para-Advaita,(not to be confused with other paradvaita term), comprising the fourth level of Vedanta, above Dvaita, Visishtadvaita, and Advaita; Being duality, partial duality and non duality respectively and finally above non duality. This takes the philosophy a step further than Adi Sankara does as he stops short of heavily expounding Para-Advaita/Ajata. Although Sankara's teachings lead to this logical conclusion, and probably weren't highlighted, as Sankara was trying to refute Buddhism,(Gautama Buddha
Gautama Buddha
Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...
), at the time and similar philosophy wouldn't be dwelt on. This leads to the conclusion that on the Pralaya or Dissolution of the Universe it is the Saguna Brahman concept that 're manifests' the universe and not Nirguna Brahman. This is due to the seeds of manifestation being still in subtle form or in potentiality in the case of Maha-Pralaya or Great Dissolution of material and subtle. Of course bearing in mind that Saguna Brahman is ultimately an illusion that never ever happened. NirGuna Brahman being or 'Non Being' the only Truth.
Three levels of truth, according to Advaita
The transcendental or the Pāramārthika level in which Brahman is the only reality and nothing else;The pragmatic or the Vyāvahārika level in which both Jiva (living creatures or individual souls) and Ishvara are true; here, the material world is completely true, and,
The apparent or the Prāthibhāsika level in which even material world reality is actually false, like illusion of a snake over a rope or a dream. Ajativada takes it to a more clear level....
Opinions and sayings of Philosophers and Sages.
According to the eighth century Advaitin GaudapadaGaudapada
Gaudapada was a very early guru in the tradition of Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy...
, and his Mandukya Karikas,a treatment or commentary on the Mandukya Upanishad
Mandukya Upanishad
The Mandukya Upanishad is the shortest of the Upanishads – the scriptures of Hindu Vedanta. It is in prose, consisting of twelve verses expounding the mystic syllable Aum, the three psychological states of waking, dreaming and sleeping, and the transcendent fourth state of illumination.This...
, Ajativada means that causality
Causality
Causality is the relationship between an event and a second event , where the second event is understood as a consequence of the first....
is internally incoherent
Coherence theory of truth
Coherence theory of truth regards truth as coherence with some specified set of sentences, propositions or beliefs. There is no single coherence theory of truth, but rather an assortment of perspectives that are commonly collected under this title...
and entails the belief
Belief
Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true.-Belief, knowledge and epistemology:The terms belief and knowledge are used differently in philosophy....
that Atman
Atman (Hinduism)
Ātman is a Sanskrit word that means 'self'. In Hindu philosophy, especially in the Vedanta school of Hinduism it refers to one's true self beyond identification with phenomena...
is eternally
Eternity
While in the popular mind, eternity often simply means existence for a limitless amount of time, many have used it to refer to a timeless existence altogether outside time. By contrast, infinite temporal existence is then called sempiternity. Something eternal exists outside time; by contrast,...
unborn. Adi Shankara wrote the following in verse 426 of his work Viveka Chudamani
Viveka Chudamani
The Vivekachudamani is a famous work by Adi Shankara that expounds Advaita Vedanta philosophy. In Vivekachudamani, Shankara describes developing Viveka—the human faculty of discrimination—as the central task in the spiritual life and calls it the "crown jewel" among the essentials for Moksha...
(The Crest-Jewel of Discrimination'),Mohini M Chaterjee, The Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar, 1932.On account of constant absorption in Brahman
Brahman
In Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...
, freed from the sense of reality
Reality
In philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible...
of external objects, only seemingly enjoying them when offered by others, like a sleepy baby, perceiving the world as that seen in a dream
Dream
Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of scientific speculation, philosophical intrigue and religious...
and recognising it only now and then, such a man is indeed rare. He is the enjoyer of the fruits of untold merit and is truly held blessed and revered on earth.. This is about as close as one get to a description of the state of a Mukta, totally absorbed permanently..or realised one. A Mukta has realised Ajativada....
The twentieth century sage
Wise old man
The wise old man is an archetype as described by Carl Jung, as well as a classic literary figure, and may be seen as a stock character...
Ramana Maharshi
Ramana Maharshi
Sri Ramana Maharshi , born Venkataraman Iyer, was a Hindu spiritual master . He was born to a Tamil-speaking Brahmin family in Tiruchuzhi, Tamil Nadu. After experiencing at age 16 what he later described as liberation , he left home for Arunachala, a mountain considered sacred by Hindus...
was a particularly articulate adherent to the concept of ajativada. On Sri Ramana's view, ajativada or non-creation is a part of the highest form of consciousness
Consciousness
Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
that can be attained. Sri Ramana described three consecutive steps, each of which corresponds to a different understanding of reality:
- That somebody or some godGodGod is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
created the world - That the world arises simultaneouslySimultaneitySimultaneity is the property of two events happening at the same time in at least one frame of reference. The word derives from the Latin simul, at the same time plus the suffix -taneous, abstracted from spontaneous .The noun simult means a supernatural coincidence, two or more divinely...
with our perceptionPerceptionPerception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of the environment by organizing and interpreting sensory information. All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical stimulation of the sense organs...
of it - Finally, ajativada, that the world never happened at all. ('Be as you are'.The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi..David Godman..Arakana.London and New York...1986).-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sadhu Om: A chronicler and devotee of Ramana wrote; At times Sri Ramana Maharshi used to reveal some information which was not given by the scriptures and Puranas such as: how, in the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna began His teachings with the doctrines of Ajata and Advaita, but then condescendingly came down to various stages of Dwaita, and how He carefully used words which, though suited to Arjuna's limited grasping power, also gives room for well-ripened aspirants to discover, even now, the motive behind those words.
This is supported by the great Sage Nisargadatta Maharaj
Nisargadatta Maharaj
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj , born Maruti Shivrampant Kambli, was an Indian spiritual teacher and philosopher of Advaita , and a Guru, belonging to the Inchgiri branch of the Navnath Sampradaya....
, who indicated the following;
1.That individuals begin with first believing they are making things happen;
2.Then realising things are in fact happening to them;
3. Then finally that nothing is happening at all ('I am That', Acorn Press. N.C. 1999).
Glossary of Sanskrit Terms used in this article
.Atman=Brahman associated with the individual,
Jiva=Individual entity.
ADvaita= non dual,
dvaita= dual,
visishtadvaita=partly non dual..
Ajativada=non creation,
Bhakta=Devotee,
Brahman=All expansive..Awareness and Consciousness.
SaGuna Brahman=Brahman associated with the gunas of manifestation and creation,
Mukta, totally absorbed permanently..or realised one.
NirGuna Brahman=Brahman with no gunas and not associated with creation on any kind....inexplicable,
Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Meditation beyond the mind.
Sat-Cit-Ananda=Being-consciousness-bliss,
Pralay=Dissolution or resolving of the material universe,
MahaPralay=Dissolution of the material and subtle universe,
Para=Above beyond,
Vedanta= The end of the Vedas the teachings of the Upanishads,
Turiya=Fourth State or beyond the mind,
Sahaj=Beyond the mind meditation,
Sakshin-Saguna-witness,
Jiva= The individual,
Mukti=Unite.
Manas=Mind, lower mind.
Vasanas=tendencies or impediments in the mind.