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xvi] Philosophy of the Ahirbudhnya-samhitā 51 which mukti can be attained is said to be a virtuous course of action without seeking any selfish ends. The jīvas are described as beginningless, infinite, and as pure consciousness and bliss, and as being largely of the nature of God (bhagavanmaya); but still they are described as owing their existence to the spiritual energy of God (bhagavad-bhāvitāḥ sadā)? This idea is further clarified when it is said that side by side with the bhāvya and the bhāvaka powers of God we have a third power called the pum-sakti, of which we hear in the Gītā as Kșetrajña-sakti and in the Gaudīya school as taţastha Śakti?. Apart from the three powers of God as creation, maintenance and destruction, He has a fourth and a fifth power called favour (anugraha) and disfavour (nigraha). The Lord is, of course, self-realized and has no unachieved end, and has absolutely unimpeachable independence; but still in His playful activity He acts like a king just as He wishes4. This idea of krīdā is repeated in the Gaudīya school as līlā. All these activities of His are but the different manifestations of His thought-activity called sudarśana. In His own playful activity as disfavour He covers up the natural condition of the jīva, so that in place of His infinitude, he appears as atomic, in place of His omnipotence, he can do but little, in place of His omniscience, He becomes largely ignorant and possesses but little knowledge. These are the three impurities and the three types of bondage. Through this covering activity the jīva is afflicted with ignorance, egoism, attachment, antipathy, etc. Being afflicted by ignorance and the passions, and being goaded by the tendency towards achieving the desirable and avoiding the undesirable, He performs actions leading to beneficial and harmful results. He thus undergoes the cycle of birth and rebirth, and is infested with different kinds of root-instincts (vāsanā). It is through the power of this bondage and its requirements that the powers of creation, maintenance and destruction are roused and made active to arrange for rewards and punishments in accordance with the karmas of the jīvas. As proceeding from the very playful nature of God, which precedes time (kāla), and is beginningless, the bondage also is said to be beginningless. The above description of bondage as happening i s ādhanam tasya ca prokto dharmo nirabhisandhikaḥ.
Ahirbudhnya-samhitā, xiv, 4. 2 Ibid. 8 pum-saktiḥ kälamayy anyā pumān so'yam udiritaḥ. Ibid. xiv. Jo.
sarvair an-anuyojyam tat svātantryam divyam īsituh avāpta-viśva-kāmo'pi krīdate rājavad vašī. Ibid. xiv. 13.
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