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As a philosophical term anavastha refers to the non-finality of a proposition or endless series of statements or regressus ad infinitum (infinite regress). [1] [2] [3] In the Hindi language, anavastha means nothingness. [4]
Anavastha (Sanskrit: अनवस्था) is a Sanskrit nominal compound derived from the verb Stha (meaning standing, resting, grounded or founded). The expression literally means: that which does not stand down, non-resting, unstable, holding no definite position, un-grounded or without foundation. It can also mean unsettled condition or character or absence of finality or conclusion.
In Indian thought and Indian logic Anavastha is an important doctrine. All major schools of philosophy have examined and commented upon this concept and laid down guidelines so as to avoid the endless series of statements and propositions and the non-finality of those propositions. Certain aphorisms of Pāṇini, in his Ashtadhyayi indicate that asiddhatva leads to anavastha since rules which cause endless repetition of application cannot be there because application of a rule should certainly result in finality. The word अत्र atra of Sutra 6.4.22 indicates that two rules must have the same आश्रय āśraya or place of operation but where their places of operation are different they are not asiddha to each other. [5]
The automatic application of sutras (rules of grammar) to take place without generating unintended results requires the establishment of a particular sequence among the rules and also the provision for cyclical application as well as blocking of some rules whenever it is desirable to do so. Panini orders rules and methods for their activation, reactivation and non-activation, and provides that the results brought about by some rules will not be 'known' to certain other rules, so that the question of these other rules becoming activated does not arise. The best example of the application of this method is known as Asiddhatva. [6] He uses the concept of Asiddhatva to prevent the application of a rule on the substitute, to enable its application on a substituent and to mandate its application. [7] According to Kiparsky's definitions, Asiddhatva implies 'no order of taking effect' since asiddha means 'not having taken effect'.
The Upanishads speak about the two-fold Brahman, the one with attributes called the Saguna Brahman, and the other without attributes called the Nirguna Brahman only to deny and accept these two to state that Brahman is One. Brahman is called Nirguna because Brahman has not the three Gunas of Prakrti , and not because Brahman has got no gunas absolutely; in order to prove the substantive existence of Brahman (prameya), Brahman is called Saguna even though there is absence of Gunas in Brahman (aprameya). Brahman is One, and Oneness cannot be confounded with non-oneness; also oneness does not require another oneness to differentiate through second oneness or a third to differentiate the second oneness, otherwise there will be no end or conclusion.
This fallacy is Anavastha or infinite regress. The Vedas advise that Brahman must be looked at in one and one mode only. [8] In created things differences are of three kinds – 1) Existing in oneself, 2) difference in species and 3) difference in genus. In three words denoting a) 'oneness of Brahman', the svajatiya-bheda, b) 'restriction', the svagata-bheda and 3) 'rejection of duality', the vijatiya-bheda, these three differences are negated by the Sruti texts (Panchadasi Stanzas II.20&21). [9] The created things are many, a chain of causes and effects is also present, but to avoid the fallacy of anavastha, it is necessary to consider Brahman as the root cause. [10]
Vedanta does not admit the existence of the relation of samvaya (the inseparable inherence or concomitant cause or combining force) as subsisting between two different entities such as substance and qualities. In his Brahmasutra-bhashya II.ii.13, Sankara explains that if a samvaya relation is to be admitted to connect two things, then another samvaya would be necessary to connect it with either of the two entities that it intended to connect. Thus, there are two kinds of Anavastha - the Pramaniki, the valid infinite, and the Apramaniki, the vicious infinite. [11] Knowledge is Chaitanya (anubhuti) i.e. Consciousness, and consciousness reveals the reality of objects. An object cannot be talked about if it does not exist.
Any attempt to find out whether the second knowledge that reveals the first knowledge identical with it is a separate knowledge or not leads to anavastha. Because the first knowledge is a revelation, there is no second knowledge that reveals the first knowledge. [12] Consciousness cannot be perceived, it perceives itself and is not perceived by any greater source; the logical fallacy of Anavastha (an endless series of cause and effect) would exist if it were to be said that Consciousness requires another source of perception (Devi GitaIV.12-13). [13] If there is no eternal First Cause, the logical fallacy of Anavastha Dosha is inevitable. Brahman, the First cause, has no origin (Brahma Sutra II.3.9) [14] Thus, a thing cannot be at the same time the object and the subject of action. Consciousness i.e. Chaitanya, is self-illuminating and it illuminates others by its own illumination. [15] Kumārila Bhaṭṭa enquires, if an omniscient person exists that person can become comprehensible only to some other omniscient personality, and so on. [16]
In Yoga, Ecstasy is the yogic visualization of a deity. And, the beginning five states of ecstasy induced by Cakra are – birth, childhood, youth, maturity and adulthood; the 6th is unmana ( also said to denote the dreaming state) meaning agitation or excitement when the devotee often swoons; and when this occurs and when the strong desire to experience the ultimate parabrahman holds complete sway then the 7th state i.e. manollasa (extreme exhilaration) or anavastha (the state beyond states or state without qualities or locale)(also said to denote the dreamless sleep) is reached (Kularnava-tantra. Stanza 82). [17] Patanjali calls the unsteadiness of intelligence as the unsettled state of anavastha because due to vritti the tracing of the steady state of the Self is difficult and therefore the splendour of the Self is doubted. [18]
According to Hemachandra, Anavastha is a Dosha, a defect or fault along with virodha, vaiyadhikarana, samkara, samsaya, vyatikara, apratipatti and abhava. [19] It is also one of the dialectical principles applied alongside atmasraya, anyonyasraya, cakraka, atiprasanga, ubhayatahspasa and the like employed by logicians from very early times. [20] Sriharsa explains that dialectical reasoning, which has its foundation in pervasion, can lead to contradiction when the reasoning becomes fallacious, it is the limit of doubt; and since differing unwanted contrary options create new doubts difficult to resolve which lead to anavastha or infinite regress and there is the absence of finality.
The argument that contradiction cannot block an infinite regress is rejected; it is the doubter's own behaviour that process the lie to the doubt, that blocks it ( pratibandhaka ). [21] According to the Jains, in the Jiva five states are possible which can manifest themselves simultaneously of these the Audayika-bhava is the state which is the consequence of the unhindered realization of the Karman, which state comprises all accidental attributes of the Jiva which become apparent with the udaya of karman. This particular state has 21 sub-species beginning with asiddhatva, which is the state of unholiness, when the spiritual perfection is lacking. [22]
Nagarjuna states that if there is a characteristic of the conditioned other than origination (utpada), existence (stithi), and destruction (bhanga), there would be infinite regress (anavastha). If there is no such characteristic, these are not conditioned (na samskrta). The quest to find the origination of origination which originations are all conditioned by dharma is a never-ending cycle and leads to infinite regress. [23] And that, whenever one wants to know how cognitions are grasped by other cognitions that attempt will lead to anavastha i.e. infinite regress, because if anything in objective experience with the particular property of acting on itself cannot be cited one has no grounds to assert that something that cannot be experienced has that unthinkable property. If pramanas are established through other pramanas it would result in infinite regress, then nothing can be established.
Negation can be of an existent self-nature, if that self-nature does not exist it cannot be negated; the negation of non-existent entity is established without words.(Vigrha-vyartani Karika Stanza 11). [24] The Abhidharma system which attributes svabhava to dharma because dharmas, the foundational components of the world, are independent of causes and conditions in a specific sense, retains the concept that dependently originated entities (pratityasamutpanna) are separate from the dependently designated entities (prajnaptisat). Nagarjuna tends to equate lack of svabhava with dependence on causes and conditions and not with parts, and his argument that dependently originated things lacked svabhava and were prajnaptisat or conventionally existing entities, and that all dharmas are prajnapisat does lead to an infinite regress or anavastha and is, therefore, not valid. Samyutta Nikaya summarises the doctrine of 'dependent-origination' in terms of the necessary conditions for something to be, which doctrine is applied by Sarvastivadins to determine whether or not an entity ultimately existed. [25]
Buddhist philosophy is the ancient Indian philosophical system that developed within the religio-philosophical tradition of Buddhism. It comprises all the philosophical investigations and systems of rational inquiry that developed among various schools of Buddhism in ancient India following the parinirvāṇa of Gautama Buddha, as well as the further developments which followed the spread of Buddhism throughout Asia.
Nāgārjuna [c. 150 – c. 250 CE (disputed)] was an Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist philosopher monk of the Madhyamaka school. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers. Jan Westerhoff considers him to be "one of the greatest thinkers in the history of Asian philosophy."
Chandrakirti or "Chandra" was a Buddhist scholar of the Madhyamaka school and a noted commentator on the works of Nagarjuna and those of his main disciple, Aryadeva. He wrote two influential works on madhyamaka, the Prasannapadā and the Madhyamakāvatāra.
Ātman is a Sanskrit word for the true or eternal Self or the self-existent essence of each individual, which persists across multiple bodies and lifetimes. Some schools of Indian philosophy regard the Ātman as distinct from the material or mortal ego (Ahamkara), the emotional aspect of the mind (Citta), and existence in an embodied form (Prakṛti). The term is often translated as soul, but is better translated as "Self", as it solely refers to pure consciousness or witness-consciousness, beyond identification with phenomena. In order to attain moksha (liberation), a human being must acquire self-knowledge.
Prajñāpāramitā means "the Perfection of Wisdom" or "Transcendental Knowledge" in Mahāyāna and Theravāda Buddhism. Prajñāpāramitā refers to a perfected way of seeing the nature of reality, as well as to a particular body of Mahāyāna scriptures (sūtras) which discusses this wisdom.
Śūnyatā, translated most often as "emptiness", "vacuity", and sometimes "voidness", or "nothingness" is an Indian philosophical concept. Within Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and other philosophical strands, the concept has multiple meanings depending on its doctrinal context. It is either an ontological feature of reality, a meditative state, or a phenomenological analysis of experience.
Advaita Vedanta is a school of Hindu philosophy and a Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience. In a narrow sense it refers to the oldest extant scholarly tradition of the orthodox Hindu school Vedānta, written in Sanskrit; in a broader sense it refers to a popular, syncretic tradition, blending Vedānta with other traditions and producing works in vernacular.
Pratītyasamutpāda, commonly translated as dependent origination, or dependent arising, is a key doctrine in Buddhism shared by all schools of Buddhism. It states that all dharmas (phenomena) arise in dependence upon other dharmas: "if this exists, that exists; if this ceases to exist, that also ceases to exist". The basic principle is that all things arise in dependence upon other things.
Hindu philosophy or Vedic philosophy is the set of Indian philosophical systems that developed in tandem with the religion of Hinduism during the iron and classical ages of India. In Indian tradition, the word used for philosophy is Darshana, from the Sanskrit root drish.
Mādhyamaka, otherwise known as Śūnyavāda and Niḥsvabhāvavāda, refers to a tradition of Buddhist philosophy and practice founded by the Indian Buddhist monk and philosopher Nāgārjuna. The foundational text of the Mādhyamaka tradition is Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. More broadly, Mādhyamaka also refers to the ultimate nature of phenomena as well as the non-conceptual realization of ultimate reality that is experienced in meditation.
The Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, abbreviated as MMK, is the foundational text of the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy. It was composed by the Indian philosopher Nāgārjuna.
Vishishtadvaita, is a school of Hindu philosophy belonging to the Vedanta tradition. Vedanta refers to the profound interpretation of the Vedas based on Prasthanatrayi. Vishishta Advaita, meaning "non-duality with distinctions", is a non-dualistic philosophy that recognizes Brahman as the supreme reality while also acknowledging its multiplicity. This philosophy can be characterized as a form of qualified monism, attributive monism, or qualified non-dualism. It upholds the belief that all diversity ultimately stems from a fundamental underlying unity.
Svabhava literally means "own-being" or "own-becoming". It is the intrinsic nature, essential nature or essence of beings.
The Abhidharma are ancient Buddhist texts which contain detailed scholastic presentations of doctrinal material appearing in the Buddhist sutras. It also refers to the scholastic method itself as well as the field of knowledge that this method is said to study.
Non-difference is the nearest English translation of the Sanskrit word abheda, meaning non-existence of difference. In Vedanta philosophy this word plays a vital role in explaining the indicatory mark in respect of the unity of the individual self with the Infinite or Brahman.
Anutpāda is a Buddhist concept for the absence of an origin. In Mahayana Buddhism, "anutpāda" is often symbolized by the letter A.
Asiddhatva is a Sanskrit term which is derived from the word, Asiddha, which means imperfect, incomplete, unaccomplished, unaffected, unproved, not existing or not having taken effect or not possessed of magic power. This term refers to the state of imperfection, incompleteness, etc.; or to the state of being imperfect or incomplete etc.; but mainly implies not in existence or non-existent or no order of taking effect.
Pradhāna is an adjective meaning "most important, prime, chief or major". The Shatapatha Brahmana gives its meaning as "the chief cause of the material nature" (S.B.7.15.27) or "the creative principle of nature" (S.B.10.85.3). The Samkhya School of Indian philosophy employs the word to mean the creative principle of nature, as the original root of matter, the Prime Matter but which according to Badarayana’s logic is the unintelligent principle which cannot be the one consisting of bliss.
The Samkhya school of philosophy, which follows Prakṛti Parinama-vada, describes the origination and evolution of universe through its theory of Satkāryavāda which is the theory of causation. According to this theory, the manifested effect is pre-existent in the cause; and the original material cause of everything that is perceived is Prakriti. When Prakriti is not in proximity with immutable Purusha, the conscious ability (chiti-shakti), the three modes of prakriti are in equipoise and prakriti is an unmanifest potential. When the conscious ability and the objective ability interact the three modes of the objective nature become disturbed and enter a state of flux giving rise to diverse manifest appearance.
Pratiyogitvam, a Sanskrit term, means recognizing 'difference' by noting the 'otherness' in another thing; 'difference' means 'the want of the total characteristic of one thing in another'. Differences are of three kinds: (a) 'difference existing in oneself' (svajātiya-bheda), (b) 'difference in species' (svagata-bheda), and (c) 'difference of genus' (vijātiya-bheda). These differences do not exist in Brahman who is one without a second. The Upanishads negate these differences in Brahman who is self-revealing and can be experienced when all mentations cease, what is then experienced is not nothing, for there can be no knowledge of a thing that does not exist.
