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III ADHYAYA, 2 PÂDA, 39.
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samsara-state—viz. pain, pleasure, and a mixture of the two-spring from the actions themselves or come from the Lord.—The Satrakâra embraces the latter alternative, on the ground that it is the only possible one. The ruler of all who by turns provides for the creation, the subsistence and the reabsorption of the world, and who knows all the differences of place and time, he alone is capable of effecting all those modes of requital which are in accordance with the merit of the agents; actions, on the other hand, which pass away as soon as done, have no power of bringing about results at some future time, since nothing can spring from nothing. Nor can the latter difficulty be overcome by the assumption that an action passes away only after having produced some result according to its nature, and that the agent will at some future time enjoy that fruit of his action. For the fruit of an action is such only through being enjoyed by the agent; only at the moment when some pleasure or some pain-the result of some deed-is enjoyed by the doer of the deed people understand it to be a 'fruit.'-Nor, in the second place, have we the right to assume that the fruit will, at some future time, spring from the so-called supersensuous principle (aparva), which itself is supposed to be a direct result of the deed; for that so-called supersensuous principle is something of non-intelligent nature, comparable to a piece of wood or metal, and as such cannot act unless moved by some intelligent being. And moreover there is no proof whatever for the existence of such an apūrva.—But is it not proved by the fact that deeds are actually requited ?-By no means, we reply; for the fact of requital may be accounted for by the action of the Lord.
39. And because it is declared by scripture. We assume the Lord to bring about the fruits of actions, not only because no other assumption appears plausible, but also because we have direct scriptural statement on our side. Cp.e.g. the passage, 'This indeed is the great, unborn Self, the giver of food, the giver of wealth' (Bri. Up. IV, 4, 24).
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