Vivarta

Vivarta-vāda is the causal doctrine of Vedānta Advaita: the effect is an unreal appearance of the cause, without the cause altering itself. The classic example: a rope appears as a snake. The rope does not become a snake; the snake has no existence separate from the rope. When light comes, the snake disappears without a trace — because it never was. So the universe in Brahman: it appears through ignorance, disappears through knowledge, without Brahman ever altering. Distinct from pariṇāma-vāda (Sāṅkhya).