ve in the efficacy of
acts are laudable. He that lieth at ease, without activity, believing in
destiny alone, is soon destroyed like an unburnt earthen pot in water.
So also he that believeth in chance, i.e. sitteth inactive though
capable of activity liveth not long, for his life is one of weakness and
helplessness. If any person accidentally acquireth any wealth, it is
said he deriveth it from chance, for no one's effort hath brought about
the result. And, O son of Pritha, whatever of good fortune a person
obtaineth in consequence of religious rites, that is called
providential. The fruit, however that a person obtaineth by acting
himself, and which is the direct result of those acts of his, is
regarded as proof of personal ability. And, O best of men, know that the
wealth one obtaineth spontaneously and without cause is said to be a
spontaneous acquisition. Whatever is thus obtained by chance, by
providential dispensation, spontaneously, of 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