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INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
In connection with this passage from the text of Vātsyāyana-Bhāsya, Prof. Ingalls observes ....one will grant that Vātsyāyana's remarks are confusing. God has won his divinity through good works he has performed. We must therefore suppose that there was a time when he was not God'.24 The description of Isvara by Vātsyāyana is regarded by Prof. Ingalls as confusing because it is not in harmony with other aspects of Isvara, as presented by later commentators in their explanation of the following (b) (c) (d) and (e) passages from the text of the 'Bhāsya, but as we shall see in due course, the interpretation of the commentators is twisted in the light of the later Nyāya-Vaiseșika idea of Isvara (God). (b) sankalpānuvidhāyī cāsya dharmah pratyātmavrttin dharmādharma
sañcayān prthivyādīni ca bhūtāni pravartayati/evam ca svakītābhyāgamas yālopena nirmāņaprākāmyam īśvarasya svakştakarmaphalam veditavyam
Explanation : Commentators read in this passage later NyāyaVaisesika idea of Isvara (God). That is why they interpret the term 'prati in the compound 'pratyātmavịttin' as ‘pratyeka' (=each one) as also the term ‘nirmāņaprākāmyam' as 'jagannirmāņaprākāmyam' (unfailing will to create the world). So, according to them, the explanation of the passage is as follows:
The creation starts as soon as he wills to create the world. When he wills to create the world, his merit following his will causes the accumulated merits and demerits in each soul to start giving their fruits as also causes the physical elements (atoms) to integrate and produce effects. His will to create the world is unfailing. This unfailing will of his is the fruit of his past good action.
Prof. Ingalls also accepts this interpretation and hence explains the passage in the following words : 'God acts upon the karmic accumulation of each of us as well as upon the gross elements of the universe. Accordingly, his omnipotence is limited by the fact that each of us must receive the results of our former actions. Furthermore, this omnipotence [if one should really grant it such a title) is the result of the karma (that is, works) which God himself has accumulated. Finally it is said that all God's wishes are fulfilled...3
But Prof. Ingalls is puzzled as to how Isvara who causes the accumulated karmas in each living being to give their fruits as also creates the world, himself be bound by the Law of Karma, and his unfailing will to create the world, itself be the fruit of his past good
