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INTRODUCTION
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Brahman. It is the beginning as well as the end of things. It is the origin as well as the goal of individual souls. Here ends the first book.
The second book also begins with the same topic. Yoga is taken up for criticism. According to Yoga there is a controlling Iswara superintending the cosmic evolution proceeding from Pradhana This Iswara of Yoga is said to be identical with Brahman. It is said to represent only an inappropriate and imperfect aspect of Truth. Consequently Yoga Iswara is taken to be an incomplete description of ultimate reality which is Brahman. Incidently there is an attempt to answer several Sankhyan objections against Iswara. The author formulates his own doctrine of causation Vedantic view of causation does not recognise any cause or effect. Karanakaryaabheda is their characteristic doctrine The Sankhya concept of causation is therefore rejected as unreal. According to Vedanta cause and effect are identical. This is corroborated both by Vedic authority and concrete experience. The cause of cloth is thread. There could be no quarrel about this that yarn in a particular arrangement constitutes cloth.
Responsibility of the Creator-Sankhya emphasises the fact that an Iswara being an intelligent cause of the universe must be responsible for the whole of the cosmos including the faults thereof. The defence put in the Brahma sutras is something obscure. Here the author takes his stand on the separateness of Brahman from Jivatma. According to the Sankhya view activity implies desire and motive. Creation as an act must therefore imply a desire and motive in the agent. The desire of Brahman to bring about the world, cannot be a desire to help various beings, for they are still uncreated and nonexistent. If there is a motive for the activity the motive must imply some sort of want in the creator. The answer is that there is no genuine motive for the creator. According to the Vedantic defence Brahman creates the universe merely out of sport or Leela. But the next is the more important objection. It relates to the responsibility of the creator for uneven distribution of pleasure and pains. The answer offered by Vedanta is a bit strange. The act of creation is not said to be quite arbitrary but takes into consi
