n-intelligent thing which
is not directed by an intelligent principle cannot of itself either act
or be the cause of action, and the soul cannot be the guiding principle
of the ad/ri/sh/t/a because at the time of pralaya its intelligence has
not yet arisen[362]. If, on the other hand, the unseen principle is
supposed to inhere in the soul, it cannot be the cause of motion in the
atoms, because there exists no connexion of it with the latter. If you
say that the soul in which the unseen principle inheres is connected
with the atoms, then there would result, from the continuity of
connexion[363], continuity of action, as there is no other restricting
principle.--Hence, there being no definite cause of action, original
action cannot take place in the atoms; there being no action,
conjunction of the atoms which depends on action cannot take place;
there being no conjunction, all the effects depending on it, viz. the
formation of binary atomic compounds, &c., cannot originate.

How, moreover, is the conjunction of one atom with another to be
imagined? Is it to be total interpenetration of the two or partial
conjunction? If the former, then no increase of bulk could take place,
and consequently atomic size only would exist; moreover, it would be
contrary to what is observed, as we see that conjunction takes place
between substances having parts (prade/s/a). If the latter, it would
follow that the atoms are composed of parts.--Let then the atoms be
imagined to consist of parts.--If so, imagined things being unreal, the
conjunction also of the atoms would be unreal and thus could not be the
non-inherent cause of real things. And without non-inherent causes
effected substances such as binary compounds, &c. could not originate.
And just as at the time of the first creation motion of the atoms
leading to their conjunction could not take place, there being no cause
of such motion; thus at the time of a general pralaya also no action
could take place leading to their separation, since for that occurrence
also no definite seen cause could be alleged. Nor could the unseen
principle be adduced as the cause, since its purport is to effect
enjoyment (of reward and punishment on the part of the soul), not to
bring about the pralaya. There being then no possibility of action to
effect either the conjunction or the separation of the atoms, neither
conjunction nor separation would actually take place, and hence neither
creation nor pralaya o