ABSTRACT
IT is difficult to conceive of two view-points more diametrically opposed to each other in their metaphysics than the ātmavāda and the nairātmyavāda. The Sāṁkhya and the older Vedānta representing the ātma tradition advocated and formulated the substance-view—the supremacy of being. They emphasised the permanent and universal aspect of experience; they understood the effect as identical with the cause (satkāryavāda). Gauḍapāda and Saṁkara merely bring out the implications of this standpoint when they declare change, difference and plurality as illusory; they formulate the complementary doctrine of avidyā to explain the appearance of difference.
