Revisiting the Material and Efficient Causes

(written on October 19, 2019)

Material cause and efficient cause are part of four causes which explain Aristotle’s ideas of causality, or the idea of how things are happening and why they are happening. The four causes are as follows:

• Material cause: The material cause of an object is the stuff that it is made out of, the material.

• Formal cause: The formal cause of an object is the idea or the design of the object.

• Efficient cause: The efficient cause of the object is a person/thing which creates the object and the knowledge which they possess to be able to create the thing.

• Final cause: The final cause of an object is what explains the purpose or the use of an object.

For example, if we take a building, the...

• Material cause is the construction materials like bricks, cement, etc.

• Formal cause is the blueprint of how the building should be built.

• Efficient cause is the architect and the construction worker who both design and create the building using their knowledge.

• Final cause of the building is for office use.

The difference between the efficient cause and the material cause is that the efficient cause works on the material cause to create the object. The efficient cause has the knowledge to create the object. The material cause cannot create itself; it needs the efficient cause to be there. According to modern scientists, the efficient cause of the universe is the Big Bang theory and the material cause is matter. However, the Big Bang theory consists of an unplanned chaotic explosion, and according to Aristotle’s theory of causality, the efficient cause has to be a person or a thing with knowledge. The efficient cause has to have an idea, design the idea, then execute it. So the process of creating an object is very planned. The Big Bang theory is not, therefore it is not the efficient cause of the universe. On the other hand, Vedic science states that Krishna is the efficient cause of the universe and matter is the material cause. Krishna has full and unlimited knowledge and hence he is the efficient cause of everything. If anyone asks, who is the efficient cause of Krishna? Well, He is the Supreme, there is no one more knowledgeable than him. Therefore there was no one who created him. Proof that Krishna is the efficient cause comes from Brahma Samhita 5.49, “I adore the primeval Lord Govinda from whom the separated subjective portion Brahmā receives his power for the regulation of the mundane world, just as the sun manifests some portion of his own light in all the effulgent gems that bear the names of sūryakānta, etc.” In this verse Brahma explains how he, the first living being, was created from the mind of Lord Krishna. Hence the entire universe was created from the mind of Krishna, who is the efficient cause.