अपीतौ तद्वत्प्रसङ्गादसमञ्जसम् ॥ ८ ॥
apītau tadvatprasaṅgādasamañjasam || 8 ||
apītau—At the time of dissolution; tadvat—like that; prasaṅgāt—on account of the fact; asamañjasam—is absurd.
8. On account of the fact that at the time of dissolution (the cause becomes) like that (i. e., like the effect) (the doctrine of Brahman being the cause of the world) is absurd.
Says the opponent: If Brahman is the cause of the world, then the world being dissolved in Brahman at the time of dissolution, its defects would affect Brahman, even as salt affects the water in which it is dissolved. Hence Brahman would become impure and would no more be the omniscient cause of the world, as the Upanishads maintain. Again at the time of dissolution, all things having gone into a state of oneness with Brahman, there will be no special causes left for a new creation. If in spite of this we consider a new creation possible, then it would mean that there is a chance of even the liberated souls, who have become one with Brahman, reappearing in the world. Nor can it be said that the world remains separate from Brahman in the state of dissolution, for in that case it would be no dissolution at all. So the Vedanta doctrine of Brahman being the cause of the world is objectionable, as it leads to all sorts of absurdities.