Mandukya Karika, verse 4.12

Text

कारणाद्यद्यनन्यत्वमतः कार्यमजं यदि ।
जायमानाद्धि वै कार्यात्कारणं ते कथं ध्रुवम् ॥ १२ ॥

kāraṇādyadyananyatvamataḥ kāryamajaṃ yadi |
jāyamānāddhi vai kāryātkāraṇaṃ te kathaṃ dhruvam || 12 ||

12. If, as you say, the cause is non-different from the effect, then the effect also must be unborn. Further, how can the cause be permanent if it be non-different from the effect which is born?

Shankara Bhashya (commentary)

This verse is meant to make the meaning of the previous one clearer. If your object be to maintain that the unborn cause is identical with the effect, then it necessarily follows that the effect also becomes equally unborn. But it1 is certainly a contradiction to say that a thing is an effect and at the same time unborn. There is a further difficulty. In the case of identity2 of the cause and the effect, how can, according to you, the cause, which3 is non-different from the born effect, be permanent and immutable? It is not possible to imagine that a part of a hen is being cooked and that another part is laying eggs. If the identity of cause and effect be maintained then it may be asked if the cause be identical with the effect or if the effect be identical with the cause. In the former case of identity, the effect becomes unborn and in the latter case the cause becomes something born and loses its immutable and permanent character.