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THE BUDDHA AND HIS PREDECESSORS
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What then is the source of the empirical universe ?
Kapila said the empirical universe consists of things evolved (Vyakta) and things that are not evolved (Avyakta).
Individual things (Vyakta Vastu) cannot be the source of unevolved things (Avyakta Vastu).
Individual things are all limited in magnitude and this is incompatible with the nature of the source of the universe.
All individual things are analogous, one to another and, therefore, no one can be regarded as the final source of the other. Moreover, as they all come into being from a source, they cannot constitute that source.
Further, argued Kapila, an effect must differ from its cause, though it must consist of the cause. That being so, the universe cannot itself be the final cause. It must be the product of some ultimate cause.
When asked why the unevolved cannot be perceived, why does it not show movement which would make it perceivable, Kapila replied :
“It may be due to various causes. It may be that its fine nature makes it imperceptible, just as other things of whose existence there is no doubt, cannot be perceived ; or because of their too great a distance or proximity ; or through the intervention of a third object, or through admixture with similar matter ; or through the presence of some more powerful sensation, or the blindness or other defect of the senses or the mind of the observer.”
When asked : “What then is the source of the universe ? What makes the difference between the evolved and unevolved part of the universe ?
Kapila’s reply was : ‘Things that have evolved have a cause and the things that have not evolved have also a cause. But the source of both is uncaused and independent.’
“The things that have evolved are many in number and limited in space and name. The source is one, eternal and all-pervasive. The things evolved
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