Causation
How does the world arise from its cause?
Causation in Vedānta includes several distinct questions: whether an effect already exists in its cause, whether Brahman is the material and efficient cause of the world, and how the world proceeds from Brahman.
On several of these questions the conclusions of Advaita and Viśiṣṭādvaita converge, even when their reasoning and broader metaphysical accounts differ, and Dvaita joins them on some. Their clearest disagreements concern how Brahman's production of the world should be understood and, for Dvaita, whether Brahman is the material of the world at all. Each position below names the commentators whose passages support it.
Questions the commentators address
Distinct positions within this question. Each names only the commentators whose passages state it.
- SatkāryavādaŚaṅkara and Rāmānuja affirm that the effect already exists, in some sense, in its cause.Evidence from Śaṅkara and Rāmānuja
- AsatkāryavādaNo commentator holds this view. Each presents and rejects it while arguing for his own account of cause and effect.Evidence from Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja and Madhva
- Brahman as Material CauseŚaṅkara and Rāmānuja affirm that Brahman itself is the material cause of the world.Evidence from Śaṅkara and Rāmānuja
- Brahman as Efficient CauseŚaṅkara, Rāmānuja and Madhva each affirm that Brahman is the efficient cause of the world. Some evidence below reflects a position a commentator considers and sets aside before reaching this conclusion.Evidence from Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja and Madhva
- Brahman Shaping a Distinct MaterialMadhva holds that the Lord shapes a real material distinct from Himself, so that the material changes while the Lord does not. A shared question; the evidence included so far is Madhva's.Evidence from Madhva only
Where Advaita and Viśiṣṭādvaita diverge: how Brahman produces the world
Scriptural passages describe Brahman as producing or becoming the world, while other passages teach that Brahman's essential nature remains absolutely changeless (kutastha). Transformation language is affirmed for scriptural argument and for meditation on the qualified (saguna) Brahman, but is not read as attributing literal alteration to Brahman's own essential nature.
Read Śaṅkara’s interpretation →Brahman really and literally transforms (parinama) itself into the world: matter and souls, present as its body in a subtle, undifferentiated state before creation, are evolved by Brahman into their gross, differentiated form as the manifest universe. This transformation is a genuine modification, not a mere apparent one.
Read Rāmānuja’s interpretation →About the evidence
Both comment directly on Brahma Sūtra 1.4.26 and 2.1.14.