Causal Chains is a term that refers to a series of events that lead to the ultimate goal of all Indian philosophical systems is to discover and comprehend the causal factors that keep humans trapped in samsara, or the endless cycle of rebirth.
Indian thinkers tried to accomplish this in a variety of ways, including formulating different chains of cause and effect that detailed the process by which humans became bound by karma.
They believe that by knowing this process, they would be able to control it, leading to the ultimate emancipation of the soul (moksha).
The Buddha and the Jains were the first to construct causal chains.
The causal chain in each of these theories is started by avidya, or a lack of true knowledge.
These causal linkages may be broken in the Buddhist and Jain traditions by a religious discipline that starts with moral action and progresses to meditation and knowledge at higher levels.
Causal chains in Hindu philosophy have a lot in common with these ideas, especially the idea that avidya is the root of the issue.
Gautama, a Nyaya philosopher, proposed a five-fold causal chain in the Nyaya Sutras:
pain,
birth,
activity,
flaw,
and incorrect idea.
Each of these components is caused by the one before it, and it is removed when the cause is destroyed.
This paradigm was also utilized by the Vaisheshika school, which was historically associated with the Nyayas.
The Samkhya philosophical school's causal chain, as articulated by its founder, Ishvarakrishna, ascribes bondage to the process of development, resulting from a misunderstanding between purusha (conscious soul) and prakrti (unconscious spirit) (primal matter).
These two fundamental principles, according to Samkhya, are always distinct from one another, yet people may mix them up.
This paradigm was also utilized by the Yoga school, which was historically associated with the Samkhya.
The Vishishthadvaita Vedanta school's founder, Ramanuja, offers an evolutionary system similar to Samkhya's, except that instead of dualism, all things develop from a single source, Brahman.
Advaita Vedanta is the only major Hindu philosophical system without a causal chain.
The concept of parinamavada is used by all other schools to describe the connection between the Ultimate Reality (in most instances, Brahman) and the perceivable universe.
This philosophical viewpoint accepts the universe as it is seen, as well as the assumption that changes in the material world entail actual transformation (parinama) of one item into another, which can be explained by cause and effect.
The Advaita school adheres to a philosophical stance known as monism, which is the idea that all things are simply different manifestations of a single Ultimate Reality.
This one reality, according to Advaitins, is the formless, unqualified Brahman.
The appearance of variety and diversity in daily life is explained by Advaitins as an illusory rather than a real change of Brahman, a philosophical perspective known as vivartavada.
This deceptive metamorphosis is produced by a human mind characteristic that causes the mental superimposition (adhyasa) of an erroneous understanding over the true one.
The fundamental issue for Advaitins, like for all other schools, is avidya, or erroneous knowledge, which must be replaced with right understanding.
Whereas all other systems place some emphasis on deeds, Advaitins believe that avidya is the only source of suffering and that removing it is the only cure.
Karl H. Potter (ed. ), Presuppositions of India's Philosophies, 1972, has further information.