The Lord makes the soul to act having regard to the effort made by it, so that injunctions and prohibitions of the scriptures may not become meaningless. — 258.

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COMMENTARY

The word ‘but’ removes the doubt raised. The Lord causes the Jiva to act in a particular way, not arbitrarily, but having regard to the tendencies generated by it, by the good or evil deeds performed by it in its past lives. Hence fie above objection is no longer valid. The different fruits which the souls experience are the results of the differences of their actions, good or bad, just as the different fruits which the trees produce are the results of the differences of seeds. The Lord is the exciting cause of the growth of the tree like the rain. The seed is the particular cause of the particular kind of fruit produced, the rain is the general cause. If there were no rain, we shall never see the diversities of smell, taste, of the fruits, flowers, etc., which we find in the vegetable creation, for no plants will grow in the absence of water. Similarly, there may be abundance of water and still no plants will grow if there be no seeds. The result is that the good or bad experiences are the consequences dependent upon the actions of the soul and not the arbitrary act of the Lord. Similarly, a man may be an agent, though «impelled to that action by another, and be still responsible for his acts. Therefore, the responsibility of the soul does not cease, though the impelling cause is the Lord.

On what authority do we say so? Because otherwise the injunctions and prohibitions of the scriptures would be meaningless.

The words «Adi, etc»., in the Sutra suggest that the grace, and punishment of the Lord are also not arbitrary acts, but regulated by the actions of the Jiva It is only in this way that scriptural commands do not become purportless. If the soul were a mere automaton, like a piece of wood or stone, impelled by the Lord to do good or bad deeds, then the words of the scripture will lose their authoritativeness and the responsible agent would be the Lord Himself. In the Kaushitaki Upanishad, it is certainly said: «The Lord makes him whom He wishes to lead up do a good deed, etc». There also the Lord wishing to lead up a particular soul impels that soul to do good act, for the phrase «wishing to lead up» means the grace of God and impelling a Jiva to good deeds. Similarly, the phrase «wishing to lead down» means punishment and impelling a Jiva to perform evil deeds. If the Jiva was like an automaton, then the grace and punishment would have no meaning with regard to his actions, nor could the charge of cruelty brought against the Lord be answered in that view of the case. Therefore, soul is a responsible agent, though no doubt a secondary agent, while the Lord is the causative agent, because without His permission, the soul can do nothing. Thus there is a complete reconciliation of the two views.

Adhikarana XVII — The soul is a part of God

Now the author in order to strengthen the view set forth in the previous Sutras teaches that the Jiva is a portion of Brahman. In the Mundaka Upanishad, III. 1. 1., we find the following:

Two birds, inseparable friends, cling to the same tree. One of them eats the sweet fruit, the other looks on without eating.

This reference to two birds in this verse is evidently to the Lord and the Jiva, to the God and the soul.

Doubt: Here arises the doubt: Is the Lord Himself the Jiva, appearing as such owing to the limitations of Maya, or is the Jiva a part of the Lord dependent on Him, invariably related to Him, but separate from Him, like the rays of the sun?

Purvapaksha: The Purvapakshin says the Lord Himself limited by Maya is the Jiva. As says the Atharvan Shruti (Brahma-Bindu Upanishad, verse XIII):

As a space enclosed in a jar remains in its own place even when the jar is moved to another locality — for it is the jar that is moved and not the space, or as a jar enclosing a space may be broken into pieces but the space remains the same and is not destroyed, so is the soul like space.

The Shrutis like «Thou art that’,’ etc., also become harmonised in this view of the case, namely, that the soul and the Lord are identical.

Siddhanta: The soul and the Lord are not identical as shown by the following Sutra:

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