KARYA-KARANA ANANYATVA

Kārya-kāraṇa ananyatva
Advaita states that kārya (effect) is non-different from kāraṇa (cause). However kāraṇa is different from kārya. This principle is called Kārya-kāraṇa ananyatva (the non-difference of the effect from the cause). To elaborate,

• If the cause is destroyed, the effect will no longer exist. For example, if from the effect, cotton cloth, the cause, threads, are removed, there will be no cloth, i.e., the cloth is destroyed. Similarly if in the effect, thread, the cause, cotton, is removed, there will be no thread, i.e., the thread is destroyed. This is brought out by Adi Shankara in the Brahmasūtra Bhāṣya , commentary on the Brahma sutra,^[13] 2.1.9, as:

  Ananyatve'pi kāryakāraṇayoḥ kāryasya kāraṇātmatvaṃ na tu kāraṇasya kāryātmatvaṃ — Despite the non-difference of cause and effect, the effect has its self in the cause but not the cause in the effect. The effect is of the nature of the cause and not the cause the nature of the effect. Therefore the qualities of the effect cannot touch the cause.

• During the time of its existence, one can easily grasp that the effect is not different from the cause. However that the cause is different from the effect is not readily understood. As to this, it is not really possible to separate cause from effect. But this is possible by imagining so. For example, the reflection of the gold ornament seen in the mirror is only the form of the ornament but is not the ornament itself as it (the reflection) has no gold in it at all. Adi Shankara says in the Chāṃdogya Upaniṣad Bhāṣya, commentary on the Chandogya Upanishad, 6.3.2:

  Sarvaṃ ca nāmarūpādi sadātmanaivasatyaṃ vikārajātaṃ svatastu anṛtameva — All names and forms are real when seen with the Sat (Brahman) but are false when seen independent of Brahman.
  This way Advaita establishes the non-difference of effect from cause. To put it in a nutshell,
  

  Kārya is not different from kāraṇa; however kāraṇa is different from kārya

  In the context of Advaita Vedanta,
  

  Jagat (the world) is not different from Brahman; however Brahman is different from Jagat