er parts cannot be divided themselves;
hence when the elements are destroyed they can be divided down to atoms
only; this state of atomic division of the elements constitutes the
pralaya (the periodical destruction of the world). After that when the
time for creation comes, motion (karman) springs up in the aerial atoms.
This motion which is due to the unseen principle[361] joins the atom in
which it resides to another atom; thus binary compounds, &c. are
produced, and finally the element of air. In a like manner are produced
fire, water, earth, the body with its organs. Thus the whole world
originates from atoms. From the qualities inhering in the atoms the
qualities belonging to the binary compounds are produced, just as the
qualities of the cloth result from the qualities of the threads.--Such,
in short, is the teaching of the followers of Ka/n/ada.

This doctrine we controvert in the following manner.--It must be
admitted that the atoms when they are in a state of isolation require
action (motion) to bring about their conjunction; for we observe that
the conjunction of threads and the like is effected by action. Action
again, which is itself an effect, requires some operative cause by which
it is brought about; for unless some such cause exists, no original
motion can take place in the atoms. If, then, some operative cause is
assumed, we may, in the first place, assume some cause analogous to seen
causes, such as endeavour or impact. But in that case original motion
could not occur at all in the atoms, since causes of that kind are, at
the time, impossible. For in the pralaya state endeavour, which is a
quality of the soul, cannot take place because no body exists then. For
the quality of the soul called endeavour originates when the soul is
connected with the internal organ which abides in the body. The same
reason precludes the assumption of other seen causes such as impact and
the like. For they all are possible only after the creation of the world
has taken place, and cannot therefore be the causes of the original
action (by which the world is produced).--If, in the second place, the
unseen principle is assumed as the cause of the original motion of the
atoms, we ask: Is this unseen principle to be considered as inhering in
the soul or in the atom? In both cases it cannot be the cause of motion
in the atoms, because it is non-intelligent. For, as we have shown above
in our examination of the Sa@nkhya system, a no