The Ajativada doctrine of
creation
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| Sri Gaudapadacharya |
The Ajativada propounded by Sri Gaudapadacharya
completely denies the creation of the world. According to him there is no
creation at all. There is no world in the three periods of time, past, present
and future. Brahman alone exists. There is not even a trace of diversity in it.
God, man and the world of diverse names and forms are the mere creation of
ignorance. He asserts and proves beyond all doubt refuting all
counter-suggestions, that there is no creation at all in the three periods of
time. This is the culmination of Vedanta philosophy which stands unrefuted to
this very day.
Only when you suppose creation to be a reality, the
questions who created it and how it was created and so on arise. People who are
not endowed with a sharp and discriminative intelligence, who cannot understand
the true import of the Vedantic Truths and who cannot live in the spirit of
those teachings, struggle themselves with these knotty problems. But the moment
they realise the underlying Reality, all doubts vanish like darkness before
bright light.
Because the world was never created at all, the points
who created the world, how and why it was created etc., still remain unanswered
to our entire satisfaction. How can a thing which has no existence be
described? Why should anyone discuss such points like How many teeth does a
crow have? How many eggs does an elephant lay? How deep is the water of the
desert? How many horns has a hare got? How many children did a barren woman
give birth to? These are useless and irrelevant questions.
In reality the Jiva or the individual soul creates
this world of names and forms on account of his own ignorance and delusion.
When he attains knowledge of the Self by the Grace of his spiritual preceptor,
he dissolves the external world into himself and sees his own Self everywhere.
He sees oneness everywhere. He becomes struck with wonder when he thinks of the
world of duality. The world of diversity appears to him like a mere dream and
he exclaims in surprise, Where has this world full of the charms of Maya
disappeared now which was glaring before my very eyes till this very
moment!
Peace love harmony