Causal Chains

The underlying ultimate concern in all
Indian philosophical schools is to
uncover and understand the causal
forces that keep human beings
enmeshed in samsara, the continual
cycle of reincarnation. One of the ways
that Indian philosophers attempted to
do this was to formulate various chains
of cause and effect detailing the process
through which human beings become
subject to the bondage of karma. By
understanding this process, they hope
to be able to manipulate it, ultimately
leading to the final liberation of the soul
(moksha). The oldest causal chains were
formulated by the Buddha and the Jains.
In each of these theories, avidya, or lack
of genuine understanding, starts the
causal chain. In the Buddhist and Jain
traditions, these causal chains can be
broken by a religious discipline that
begins with moral action and at more
advanced levels involves meditation
and wisdom.
Causal chains in Hindu philosophy
have much in common with these
beliefs, particularly the notion that
avidya is the basic problem. In the
Nyaya Sutras, the Nyaya philosopher
Gautama propounded a five-fold causal
chain: pain, birth, activity, defect, and
wrong notion. Each of these elements
is caused by the one succeeding it
and is eliminated with the destruction
of its cause. The Vaisheshika school,
which was traditionally paired with
the Nyayas, also used this model. The
causal chain in the Samkhya philosophical school, as described by its founder,
Ishvarakrishna, ascribes bondage to
the process of evolution, stemming
from the confusion between purusha
(conscious spirit) and prakrti (primal
matter). According to Samkhya,
these two first principles are always
separate from one another, but humans
can confuse them. The Yoga school,
traditionally paired with the Samkhya,
used this model as well. The philosopher
Ramanuja, founder of the Vishishthadvaita
Vedanta school, proposes an evolutionary scheme similar to the Samkhya
model, although instead of Samkhya’s
dualism, all things evolve from a single
source, Brahman.
The only major Hindu philosophical
school without a causal chain is Advaita
Vedanta. All of the other schools explain
the relationship between the Ultimate
Reality (in most cases, Brahman) and
the perceivable world with the doctrine
of parinamavada. This philosophical
perspective accepts the reality of the
world as it is perceived and also assumes
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that the changes in the material world
involve the genuine transformation
(parinama) of one thing into another,
which can be explained by cause and
effect. The Advaita school upholds a
philosophical position known as
monism, which is the belief that a single
Ultimate Reality lies behind all things,
which are merely differing forms of that
reality. For the Advaitins, this single reality is the formless, unqualified
Brahman. Advaitins explain the appearance of difference and diversity in the
everyday world as an illusory rather
than a genuine transformation of
Brahman, a philosophical outlook
known as vivartavada. This illusory
transformation is caused by a quality of
the human mind, which leads to the
mental superimposition (adhyasa) of a
mistaken understanding in place of the
real one. For the Advaitins, as for all of
the other schools, the ultimate problem
is still avidya, or mistaken understanding, which must be replaced by correct
understanding. Whereas all of the other
schools give some importance to
actions, the Advaitins believe that avidya
is the sole cause and its removal the sole
solution. For further information see
Karl H. Potter (ed.), Presuppositions of
India’s Philosophies, 1972.