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The same Being saw [aiksata]: "I will be many, I will propagate myself." Then it created fire. This fire saw, "I will be many, I will propagate myself." Then it created the waters . . . The waters saw, "We will be many, we will propagate ourselves." |
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The debate hinges on the weight that can be given to the verb "saw" (aiksata): does it imply an intelligent creator, and reserve this ability to Brahman as an intelligent being, or does it confer the same intentional capability on fire and water as well? The attribution of this ability to Brahman alone would support the Advaita position; the attribution of it to the nonconscious elements would support the Samkhyan insistence that creation can be traced back to the nonconscious sourceor at least that the upanisads do not speak in a single voice, and allow the Samkhyan as well as the Advaita interpretations of the world's cause. |
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Sankara's argument has two aspects. First, the cause of the world is Brahman, because terms such as "seeing" indicate a conscious knower as the source of the world. Second, alternatives such as the nonconscious material source are to be excluded because they are not mentioned explicitly in the upanisads; inferences cannot be made in contradiction to what actually is said. Since Brahman is mentioned, and a material source is not, additional efforts to understand more fully the meaning of the Chandogya text, and thereafter to construct a correct doctrine of creation, need to be worked out on that basis. Sankara's exposition may be divided as follows: |
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In the upanisadic texts one cannot take one's stand on the insentient material source [pradhana]imagined by the Samkhyas as the cause of the universe; for it is not mentioned in the upanisads . . . Rather, the upanisads teach thus: Starting with the text, "O amiable one, before its creation, the universe was but existence, one without a second," it is stated "The same Being saw: 'I will be many, I will propagate myself.' Then it created fire." [Chandogya 6.2.3]
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This seeing indicates that the creator is intelligent, able to plan ahead, etc. |
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