Parinama-vada (Hindu thought)

Parima-vda (Sanskrit: ), or theTransfor- the reverse of Parinama-vada.[3]

mation theory is that which pre-supposes the cause to be
continually transforming itself into its eects, and it has
three variations the Satkarya-vada of the Samkhyas, the
Prakrti Parinama-vada of the Saiva Siddhanta and the
3 Brahman as the cause
Brahma-Parinama-vada of the Vishishtadvaita Vedanta
School of Thought.[1] The general Vedanta view is that Brahman is both,
the Material and the Ecient, cause of the entire uni-
verse. There is nothing outside the Omnipresent Brah-
man. Brahman is the only being which contains the el-
1 Overview ements of cit and a-cit which are transformed into the
forms of individual souls and material objects. There is
In Indian philosophy, there are basically three major cos- no external world of souls and matter produced out of ex-
mological theories of origination 1) Arambha-vada (the ternal material causes, and the very concept of Pradhana
theory of atomic agglomeration, based on the theory of or Primal Matter, outside Brahman, involves contradic-
Asatkarya-vada that the eect, which is something newly tion.
produced, does not exist in the cause), 2) Parinama-vada
(the theory of real transformation, based on satkarya-
vada that the eect, though phenomenally dierent, is
substantially identical with the cause, and pre-exists la- 4 Sat-Karya-vada
tently in it), and 3) Vivartavada (the theory of apparent
transformation or of false appearance).[2] There is also According to this philosophy, which follows from Sat-
the fourth, Pratityasamutpada-vada, the theory of depen- Karya-vada, the cause rst, potentially contains the ef-
dent origination of Buddhism. fect in it as its Shakti (power), in an un-manifest way;
According to the Sat-Karya-vada of the Samkhya School then through the instrumentality of the ecient cause,
of Vedanta, also accepted by the Vishishtadvaitavada that potential, latent, un-manifest eect is made actual,
Vedanta, causation is the manifestation of what is in the patent and manifest. Creation is not a new beginning
latent condition in the cause. The Prakrti Parnama-vada but the manifestation of the already present un-manifest.
is based on the premise that the world is a transforma- The world, as the eect arisen from the pure cause, can-
tion of the primordial Nature or Prakrti. According to not be impure and imperfect because Brahman, the pure
the Brahman Parinama-vada, the world is a transforma- essence, merely transforms itself and does not change,
tion of Brahman. Parinma-vda is the term that refers and therefore, remains the same always, whereas the ef-
to the Monotheistic Schools theory of actual transfor- fects are mere names, due to words, for knowing and
[4]
mation dierent from Vivartavada, the Monistic Schools identifying the eects.
theory of apparent transformation. It is the theory that the Prakrti is orderly. The ta (order) that makes Prakrti ap-
eect is a real transformation of the cause. According to pear to be composed of sub-systems arranged hierarchi-
the Brahman-parinama, this universe is a real transfor- cally with each sub-system being progressively inclusive,
mation of Brahman. co-ordinating and interdependent is traditionally held to
be the main basis of the doctrine of pre-existent eect
or Sat-Karya-vada or the doctrine of real transformation
2 Arambha-vada or Parinama-vada, which R.A.Sinari states is the earliest
and epistemologically the most valuable attempt made in
The Arambha-vada theory of causation is advocated by Indian Philosophy to set up a theory of causal order. All
the Nyaya School, which is the creationistic view of cau- phenomena, belonging to the surface and/or the deeper
sation and implies new creation as the eect that puts an structure of Prakrti, are parinama i.e. transformation, of
end to its antecedent nonexistence and marks a new be- one and the same substratum.[5]
ginning. According to this school the eect, being the The Svetasvatara Upanishad says:
counter-entity of its prior nonexistence, must be held to Know Maya to be Prakrti. But, both the Samkhya
be nonexistent before its appearance as an eect although School and the Brahma Sutras base their understand-
it arose out of a previously existent cause. This theory is ings of the process of transformation for origination of

1
2 8 REFERENCES

things on the will of the creator. Badarayana by stat- 7 Criticism

ing | (Brahma Sutra 2.2.26), de-
clares that Existence does not come out of non-existence. Both, Parnama-vada and Vivartavada, have their own
The entire creation is the result of Brahmans will crirtics. Madhava rejects Bhaskara on the ground that
| (Brahma Sutra 1.4.24), and that all it is not possible for Brahman to transform at the loss
transmigratory existence has no beginning - of original nature, and there cannot exist unbridgeable
| (Brahma Sutra 2.1.36).[6] gulf between Cit (Spirit) and Jada (Matter).239 A per-
fect being of pure intelligence and bliss cannot evolve out
of itself an eect that is inert and wholly lacking in in-
telligence. Ramanuja accepts the material causality of
5 Tantra view Brahman which is absolutely without personal modica-
tion and which has the transforming Prakrti as its body.
Tantra has inuenced the Hindu, the Buddhist and the Vivarta concept is rejected because Brahman is not the
Jain traditions. According to the Srividya and the Saivite constituent cause of Maya, therefore Brahman cannot be
texts, the thirty-six tattvas covering the entire range of the constituent cause of the world through Maya.[11]
the un-manifest and manifest world, from the gross to the
most subtle known as siva, pure illumination. Parinama-
vada called Sakti parinama-vada, along with the doctrine 8 References
of Abhasavada or Pratibimbavada, explains the relation-
ship between samvit or Tripura and the world; Tripura [1] John A.Grimes. A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philoso-
refers to the totality of the three-folds sthula (gross), phy. SUNY Press. p. 228.
suksma (subtle) and para (transcendent), it represents.
According to Abhasa-vada, samvit is like a mirror and the [2] Sankaracarya. A Thousand Teachings: Upadesasahasari
universe is a reection appearing on it. But the universe of Sankara. SUNY Press. p. 19.
cannot be outside the mirror i.e. citi or samvit. According [3] Sadhu Santideva. Traditions of Mysticism in Bengal. Gen-
to Parinama-vada, citi (consciousness) manifests in the esis Publishing Pvt. Ltd. p. 45.
form of the universe without losing its pristine nature.[7]
[4] Ruma Chaudhury. Srikanths Philosophy of the Monothe-
istic Vedanta. Global Vision Publishing House. p. 76.

[5] Georg Feuerstein. The Philosophy of Classical Yoga. In-

6 Vivartavada ner Traditions. pp. 3032.

[6] Gambhirananda. Brahma Sutra Bhasya of Sankaracarya.

Gaudapada treats creation as an imaginary event even
Advaita Ashrama. pp. 414, 294, 364.
though it seems to follow a sequential order. Badarayana
also states that creation for Brahman is a mere pastime out [7] Rajmani Tigunait. Sakti The Power in Tantra. Hi-
of his spontaneity without any extraneous motive. But, malayan Press.
Gaudapada, who was aware of the concepts of the real
[8] Richard King. Early Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism: The
and appatrent transformations, develops the doctrine of
Mahayana Context of Gaudapadiya. SUNY Press. p. 78.
creation as an illusory transformation of Brahman with-
out recourse to vivarta terminology. The followers of [9] Swami Swahananda. Pancadasi of Sri Vidyaranya Swami.
Advaita School promoted by Adi Sankara, to whom ow- Sri Ramakrishna Math. pp. 59,124.
ing to Maya the world appears as if it is real i.e. distor-
[10] Subodh Kapoor. Companion Encyclopaedia of Hindu Phi-
tion or false apprehension of the all encompassing unity
losophy. Genesis Publishing Pvt. Ltd. p. 279.
of Brahman, use this term vivarta to support the princi-
[8]
ple of the immutability of reality. Vidyaranya reminds [11] Garma C.C.Chanpage=237. A Treasury of Mahayana Su-
us | - that before tras.
the creation there existed the Reality, one only, without
a second, and without name and form (Panchadasi 5.5),
this after explaining (in verse 2.59) that with Brahman as
its basis, Maya creates the various objects of the world,
just as a variety of pictures are drawn on a wall by the
use of dierent colours, in other words, Maya makes it
possible for the imagination to attribute dierent changes
to the unchangeable.[9] it is, therefore, said that Maya
resembles avidya, the source of common illusions, and
described as the principle of cosmic illusion, thus dier-
ing from Prakrti of the Samkhyas which is real in the full
sense of the term.[10]
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