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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
acharya returns to the charge with the argument that if God is entitled to take credit for sending the rains, for producing milk in the mother's breast, and for tempering the winds to the shorn lamb, he must be censured for creating famines, for bringing on plagues, for causing devastation by earthquake, and the like. That there is considerable force in these 'daring speculations' has always been admitted by all rational theologians. The Sankhyas, the Mimamsakas and the Jainas have not been satisfied with the argument in support of the notion of an anthropomorphic Creator, demanding worship by virtue of his position as such. Why did he create at all? Obviously, a God who is desireless (and the true God must be so, in consequence of His high position) cannot be credited with a desire to create anything. Nor can it be granted that he has some aim of his to be served by his creatures, since he must be self-sufficient. If he is benevolent and has created the world out of his grace, he would not have created misery as well as felicity. If the creation be regarded as a mere play of his will, the supposition renders him childish. If it be said that he creates merely as an agent, according to the karmas of souls, that makes him dependent upon others for his activity. And so far as the teleological argument from variety in the world is concerned, it is obviously caused by the variety of karmas which are the actions of the soul. "The soul is therefore the cause of everything through its own actions. The soul is its own God" ('An Introduction to Jainism,' p. 88). Similarly, the philosopher asks about dissolution: Why should a god destroy that which he had created? If it is
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