as the result of
one's acts is, however, the consequence of the acts of a former life. And
God, the Ordainer of the universe, judging according to the acts of
former lives, distributeth among men their portions in this world.
Whatever acts, good or bad, a person performeth, know that they are the
result of God's, arrangements agreeably to the acts of a former life.
This body is only the instruments in the hands of God, for doing the acts
that are done. Itself, inert, it doth as God urgeth it to do. O son of
Kunti, it is the Supreme Lord of all who maketh all creatures do what
they do. The creatures themselves are inert. O hero, man, having first
settled some purpose in his mind, accomplisheth it, himself working with
the aid of his intelligence. We, therefore, say that man is himself the
cause (of what he doeth). O bull among men, it is impossible to number
the acts of men, for mansions and towns are the result of man's acts.
Intelligent men know, by help of their intellect, that oil may be had
from sesame, curds from milk, and that food may be cooked by means of
igniting fuel. They know also the means for accomplishing all these. And
knowing them, they afterwards set themselves, with proper appliances, to
accomplish them. And creatures support their lives by the results
achieved in these directions by their own acts. If a work is executed by
a skilled workman, it is executed well. From differences (in
characteristics), another work may be said to be that of an unskilful
hand. If a person were not, in the matter of his acts, himself the cause
thereof, then sacrifices would not bear any fruits in his case nor would
any body be a disciple or a master. It is because a person is himself the
cause of his work that he is applauded when he achieved success. So the
doer is censured if he faileth. If a man were not himself the cause of
his acts, how would all this be justified? Some say that everything is
the result of Providential dispensation; others again, that this is not
so, but that everything which is supposed to be the result of destiny or
chance is the result of the good or the bad acts of former lives. It is
seen, possessions are obtained from chance, as also from destiny
Something being from destiny and something from chance, something is
obtained by exertion. In the acquisition of his objects, there is no
fourth cause in the case of man. Thus say those that are acquainted with
truth and skilled in knowledge. If, howev