THE Doctrine of Maya - HolyBooks.com

("Vivarta6oTHE DOCTRINE OF MAYA(Trans.)As, O good one, by (the knowledge of) one ball of eartheverything of the nature of earth is known the ; change (ormodification) is an extension of words, a mere name, onlythe earth is true. 1Here it is said that by knowingthe one the allis known. As all the forms into which clayis1Some critics of the Vedanta discover in this passage acorroboration of the theory of Parinamavada. They contend that as the various things of earth (jar, pot, etc.) aretransformations of the earth, not being creations of theimagination (Sat coming out of Sat only), so is the world assat a development of a subtle sat. Some of the modernevolutionists would also urge that the world is simply aprocess of evolution of the one principle by whatever nameyou may call it, matter, spirit, thought, or the Atman. According to these views the Self transforms itself into NaturaNaturata, and as a real cause has a real effect, the worldmust be a reality. The Sarikhya system is also based onsuch a theory, which makes the world a reality, being anactual modification or development of real matter.This view appears to be based on an exclusively onesided interpretation of the passage. The whole rests onthe assumption that things like the jar, etc., are actualtransformations of earth. But the passage seems to us toendorse the purely idealistic standpoint, making the world,to use later phraseology, a vivarta instead of a vikara.The vivarta of a substance issimply its appearance, whichin no way implies any alteration in the thing itself ;whilea vikara is the transformation of the substance itself.= atattvato nyatha pratha vikara satattvatonyatha pratha."; To take a well-known technicalexample, milk is substantially transformed into curd orjunket: these are two wholly different states one cannotdiscover any milk when it is changed into curd. Buta jar of earth, even after individuating itself as a jar, does