________________
FOREWORD
CIII
2. He does not create the Universe in sport, because in that case there should be no successive stages in creation. As he is eternal and able to create, everything will be produced simultaneously. The Universe is not created out of pity, because a god with pity will not create a Universe which is full of sorrow. If it is his nature, then also he will create the Universe all at once, and not by degrees, as he is eternal,
[By this refutation all other theories of a similar nature establishing Vişņu, Brahmâ, etc. as creators are also refuted].
VII. Âtmaparikṣâ.
Examination of the Doctrine of Soul.
(i) of the Naiyâyikas.
-
1. There is an Âtman who is eternal and all-pervading, who imbibes the qualities such as of desire, knowledge, pleasure, pain, etc. occasionally, and whose nature is different from the Caitanya. That Atman is the doer of all good or bad actions and the sole enjoyer of their results. Atman is considered as born when he begets a new body endowed with a new mind with the feelings of pleasure, pain, etc; it is called death when he leaves the body he already possessed. According to the Atman's good and bad actions he gets the body and the mind. When his body is injured the injury is considered as done to the Atman. Inference will establish Âtman, inasmuch as all cognitions should be acknowledged by something, that is, by Atman, who is different from the body, etc., because these being momentary, produce memory afterwards.
2. The desires, etc. should also depend on something, because they are effects, and that something is Atman, in the same way as colour, etc., depend on some entity. S'ankarasvamin.
8. All cognitions of form, taste, etc. rising in succession should depend on something, that is, on Atman, because afterwards they are all recognized as "known by me".
Uddyotakara.
14