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296 Philosophy of the Rāmānuja School of Thought [ch. the emancipated person with a body, is false. For if the principal avidyā has vanished, its states cannot still continue. Moreover, if they do continue in spite of the knowledge, it is impossible to imagine how they will cease at the death of the emancipated person.
God in the Rāmānuja School. We have seen that according to Rāmānuja the nature and existence of God can be known only through the testimony of the scriptures and not through inference. Venkața points out that the Sāmkhya theory that the world-creation is due to the movement of prakyti, set in operation through its contiguity with the puruṣas, is inadequate; for the Upanişads definitely assert that just as the spider weaves its net, so does God create the world. The scriptures further assert that God entered into both the prakrti and the purusas, and produced the creative movement in them at the time of creation?. The Yoga view of God -that He is only an emancipated being who enters into the body of Hiranyagarbha or adopts some such other pure body-is also against all scriptural testimony. It is also idle to think that the world-creation is the result of the cooperative activity of the emancipated spirits, for it is much against the scriptural testimony as also against the normal possibility, since there cannot be such an agreement of wish among the infinite number of emancipated beings that would explain the creation of the world by unobstructed co-operation. Thus, on the strength of the scriptural testimony it has to be admitted that God has engaged Himself in world-creation, either for the good of the created beings or through His own playful pleasurable activity. The enjoyment of playful activity is not to be explained as anything negative, as avoidance of ennui or langour, but as a movement which produces pleasure of itself. When we hear of God's anger, this is not to be regarded as indicating any disappointment on God's part, for Ile is ever complete in Himself and has nothing to attain or to lose. So God's anger is to be interpreted simply as meaning His desire to punish those who deserve punishment.
prakrtim puruşam cai'ra pratiśyā'tme-cchayā harih. ksobhayāmāsa samprāpte sarga-kāle z'yayā-vayau.
Sartārtha-siddhi, p. 252. 2 krida-yogād arati-yogah tad-abhāvād vā tad-abhāvah syāt, mai'rum krida hi priti-višeşa-prabhavaḥ svayam-priyo z'yāpărah. Ibid. p. 255.
