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        The Seven Ways are identified as effects, atomic combinations, the suspension and other states of the world, the existence of human skills, the existence of Revelation, and the numerical combination of atoms. Udayana claims that from all these an all-knowing, imperishable God can be proven. It is stated that all things must have a cause or active producer because they are effects. It is explained that the world is a combination of atoms. This combination is labeled as an action that is consequent on the activity of a conscious agent because it is an action. The world is also described as having the character of something suspended because its nature is destructible. It is also stated that traditional arts need to be launched by an independent person. Effectness is mentioned to be an objection to the argument, but is countered with “There is no effect without a cause.”
 I personally do not find these arguments very convincing. To me these arguments are very vague and don’t seem to be based in any kind of factual measure. I can see how someone who is already religious could find this to be a satisfactory explanation for the existence of God, however for myself I would need more concrete examples to be convinced. Could God himself not be characterized as a cause? And if so, who could’ve been the active producer of God? I also don’t agree that the world’s destructible nature proves the existence of a higher power. If anything I believe it shows the opposite. Why would a higher power work to create worlds that can be destructed at random? I also think it can be argued that atoms combined and evolved at random without any cause or reason.

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  1. AnonymousSeptember 14, 2017 at 2:31 PM

    In the end we could argue, "Why did God create himself?" We will not know the cause, but Udayana does put forth a good effort to answer this questions of the cause and effect. Just because something does not have a life form does not mean it is not a cause because what qualification of having a "body" makes a person a cause or not a cause. Also, humans are not able to create or destroy atoms so we are left to assume that the only person that could is the deity that created them. If we could create gold, I am sure we would have plenty of more gold here.

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  2. Delanie DavisSeptember 15, 2017 at 8:19 AM

    I also agree with Mikayla. How could God be a cause if we believe that God created everything? If God is caused then something or someone has to be doing the action to create that cause, God. Does this mean that God is not all powerful and the entity that caused God is the actual creator. We associate God with all power, all knowledge, all life. However, Udayana states that God is what is caused, which leads us to believe that God is not as powerful, knowledgeable or capable of creating as we assume.

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