Vivartavada

Vivartavada is the Vedantic theory of causation; it is the method of asserting this doctrine.

The Sanskrit word - vivarta (विवर्त) means alteration, modification, change of form, altered condition or state. According to Advaita Vedanta, vivarta involves vikara or modification but only apparent modification (of the real which does not change). Therefore, the world is vivarta of the sole real entity Brahman, and merely an illusion. The term, Vivartavada is derived from the word vivarta and refers to the Theory of Causation that was proposed by Adi Sankara to explain the world-appearance or is the method to assert the Vedanta doctrine.

Vivartavada is a philosophical term that refers to 'the origin of the universe from the manifestation or appearance of the unique Brahman' or in other words it refers to the material causehood of Brahman; it is juxtaposed to the term parinamvada. It denotes the Advaita theory of Superimposition (adhyasa) which is in concurrence with the statements of the Upanishads to the effect that when ignorance is ended by right knowledge the true nature of an object becomes known. The relation that obtains between Brahman and the world as between the creator and the created has in its background the general theory of Satkaryavada, the theory which is based on the premise that the effect pre-exists in its cause, and vivartavada according to which theory the effect, this world, is merely an unreal (vivarta) transformation of its cause, Brahman. Advaita Vedanta holds Creation to be only an apparent change and not a modification of Brahman in reality. Brahman is reality and reality is non-dual, for which reason Sankara in his Vivekachudamani Sloka 261 reiterates - एकमेव सदनेककारणं – That which exists as one only, is the cause of multiplicity, superimposed.

Buddhist thinkers and teachers have expressed their views on the concept of Duality developed by the Vedic thinkers and teachers. Zen teaches that we should be free from dualities in order to be what we are meant to be, and that duality is due to ego which veils reality from its true essence (explained by Buddhists in terms of non-essence); ego, which is an artificial condition not having a true identity because it is a creation of the mind, and distorts reality in an attempt to perceive what it wants to perceive and not what it is. Taoism teaches that reality is like the un- carved block (the symbol of Tao), one must not carve the block lest Tao is changed. Sankara considers Maya as a temporary or phenomenal reality and Brahman as the Ultimate reality; and that living in Maya the Jiva (the 'ego-self') superimposes its own interpretation of reality onto reality, and thus Brahman remains hidden or concealed and Maya is viewed as the ultimate reality.

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