nd by regards." If the Lord on his own
account, without any extraneous regards, produced this unequal creation,
he would expose himself to blame; but the fact is, that in creating he
is bound by certain regards, i.e. he has to look to merit and demerit.
Hence the circumstance of the creation being unequal is due to the merit
and demerit of the living creatures created, and is not a fault for
which the Lord is to blame. The position of the Lord is to be looked on
as analogous to that of Parjanya, the Giver of rain. For as Parjanya is
the common cause of the production of rice, barley, and other plants,
while the difference between the various species is due to the various
potentialities lying hidden in the respective seeds, so the Lord is the
common cause of the creation of gods, men, &c., while the differences
between these classes of beings are due to the different merit belonging
to the individual souls. Hence the Lord, being bound by regards, cannot
be reproached with inequality of dispensation and cruelty.--And if we
are asked how we come to know that the Lord, in creating this world with
its various conditions, is bound by regards, we reply that Scripture
declares that; compare, for instance, the two following passages, 'For
he (the Lord) makes him, whom he wishes to lead up from these worlds, do
a good deed; and the same makes him, whom he wishes to lead down from
these worlds, do a bad deed' (Kaush. Up. III, 8)[312]; and, 'A man
becomes good by good work, bad by bad work' (B/ri/. Up. III, 2, 13).
Sm/ri/ti passages also declare the favour of the Lord and its opposite
to depend on the different quality of the works of living beings; so,
for instance, 'I serve men in the way in which they approach me' (Bha.
Gi. IV, 11).

35. If it be objected that it (viz. the Lord's having regard to merit
and demerit) is impossible on account of the non-distinction (of merit
and demerit, previous to the first creation); we refute the objection on
the ground of (the world) being without a beginning.

But--an objection is raised--the passage, 'Being only this was in the
beginning, one, without a second,' affirms that before the creation
there was no distinction and consequently no merit on account of which
the creation might have become unequal. And if we assume the Lord to
have been guided in his dispensations by the actions of living beings
subsequent to the creation, we involve ourselves in the circular
reasoning that work depend