The Theory of Ajatavada
Life is a flow of experiences :
Life is a constant flow of experiences. An autobiography of a person consists of various experiences alone which are recollected from his earliest memories onwards. For each & every experience to take place there have to be three basic pre-requisites. The experiencer, the object of experience and the subsequent experience which comes about when the two come in contact. The subject looks at the vast expanse of this objective world and then goes about to experience the objects of his likes. In this movement for bringing about the cherished experiences there are some very fundamental premises which are in operation. One, that I am a seeker, a limited being, who has to seek out fulfillment & security in some way or the other. Two, that the world outside is real and happiness or sorrow are got only from it. Finally that by bringing about the right conditions and experiences I can attain a state of cherished fulfillment. Vedanta questions all these premises and reveals that these presumptions are only because we did not care to understand the truth of all these three factors. Knowledge of truth brings about entirely different perceptions which shatter these presumptions and thus also the fragmentation & the subsequent sense of limitation. How has the triputi of experincer, experience & the object of experience come about is the subject matter of all theories of creation.
Three Theories of Creation :
There are three class of theories of creation :
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First is called the Shrishti-drishti-vada. Here the creation is taken as real. We see it because it is there, say the followers of this school of thought. This is what the maximum people in the world believe. This is what our scientists too believe, and thereafter base all their investigations & researches on this premise. We are just a small part of this vast world, and thus connected with this perception about the world, the individual identity also becomes obvious. We are this body-mind-intellect complex say these people. The perceptible fragments & division being taken as real, the life of seeking is natural. The ideal philosophy & right religion as per them will be to find a way wherein we create ideal objective & subjective conditions which is the gateway to fulfillment in life.
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The second way of looking at the world is more subjective. Some people believe & also prove in their own ways that like the dream world this world too is there because we see. This is called the Drishti-shrishti-vada. The creation is dependent on the perciever of the creation. If the seer turns his mind away then as far as he is concerned there is no creation. Not only the objects but also the value of these objects too is all dependent on our evaluation & understanding. We may appear to live in one common world, but the fact is that everyone lives in his or her exclusive world. Our conditionings color the things & beings of the world and thereafter we plan our live. Strange is the way of life they say. First we project and thereafter we run after the things which we ourselves have projected & created. These people say that the creation is very much there and it is entirely upon you to make or mar your life. Merely by changing your mind & understanding you can change the world. So their solution is simple : If you want to change the world change the way people look at it and you have it. This being their philosophy their religion too is obvious. This particular way of looking at the world is initially resorted to even by the teachers of Advaita Vedanta, only to later prove that anything which is a projection is not really there. No substratum is ever effected by any superimposition. Thus even though they initially appear to accept the existence of creation, they subsequently take us beyond. This vada is most prevelant amoungst the teachers of Vedanta.
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There is however one more entirely different class of theory pertaining to how we look at the creation. It is called the Ajata-vada.
The Ajatavada :
Ajatavada means the the creation which we see has never been created at all. It is an illusion and is not really there. They say that even the effort to find out how this creation has come about is a compromise - it reveals ignorance of the truth. The above two vadas start with a presumption of taking the world to be really there, which itself may be baseless. To start any process of understanding with a possibly wrong & baseless presumption is obviously not the right way of enquiry. Strangely enough if we start this enquiry whether the creation is really there or not then we get astounding results : it is seen that it does not have any independent existence at all. This is what the drishti-shrishti-vadins too subsequently prove. If this is a fact then why waste time to prove creation of something which is not really there. To temporarily accept a falsehood is not compassion but a compromise and wrong, and has all the consequences of other falsehood. Truth should be declared as truthfully as possible - in its raw form. The entire effort of the Ajata-vadins is the communicate how the creation has never come about and therefore is just an illusion. It is only after the realisation of the complete ephemerality & illusoriness of the creation that even the thoughts of it are naturally effaced and when the creation stands totally negated in this way then alone the ever-existent & self-effulgent reality becomes evident & revealed. So Ajatavada which has been revealed by the Mandukya Upanishad and explained in texts like Yoga Vasishta is the ideal way of looking at the world which is conducive & compatible to awakening to the transcendental truth. The Ajatavada is not basically designed even for the knowledge of Self, it is a fact by itself, and the knowledge of Self follows the right knowledge of that which obstructs our complete attention of the truth, namely the right knowledge of truth of the creation.