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XXXIV]
Pauşkarāgama names as performing different functions. Sakti and saktimān are the same. They are only differently classified according to their diverse functions.
The inanimate world is inoperative without the action or the interference of a conscious being. That conscious being is God Siva; even the milk in the udder of the cow flows by the active affection of the cow for the calf. The illustration of the magnet drawing the iron filings does not fit in, for there also is the person who brings the magnet near the iron filings.
It cannot, however, be urged that the puruṣas themselves could be regarded as active agents, for according to the scriptural texts they are also moved to activity by the will of God.
The world-appearance cannot be proved to be false or illusory. It is made up of the stuff of one common object called māyā, which is later on conceived as functioning in different ways called sattva, rajas and tamas. The māyā stuff is the repository of all karmas. But yet not all persons gain the fruits of all their karmas. They have to depend upon some other being for the proper fruition of their karmas. This is where God comes in as the ultimate bestower of the fruits of karma.
Mala or impurity is always associated with all souls. The Agama tries to refute the epistemological view of other systems of thought like the Cārvāka and the monism of Sankara. The Agama holds that since the souls are eternal, their knowledge must also be eternal due to eternal unchanging cause. The difference of knowledge in individuals is due to the obscuration of their knowledge by the various veils of mala. The original cause of knowledge is allpervading and is the same in all persons
The self is realised as revealing itself and others. If it is supposed that the self is reflected through buddhi, then even buddhi
vivādādhyāsitam viśvam visva-vit-karty-pūrvakam, kāryatvād āvayoh siddham kāryam kumbhädikam yathā.
First pațala. tac ceha vibhu-dharmatvān na ca kvācitkam isyate, nityatvam iva tenātmā sthitaḥ sarvārtha-dyk-kriyah. jñātstvam api yadyasya kvācitkam vibhutā kutah, dharmiņo yāvatī vyāptis tāvad-dharmasya ca sthitih, yathā pața-sthitam sauklyam patam vyāpyākhilam sthitam, sthitam vyāpyaivam ātmānam jñātstvam api sarvadā, na ca nirvişayam jñānam parāpekşam svarüpatah.
Fourth patala.
