Those who stand outside the Veda arrive through inference at the
conclusion that the Lord is a mere operative cause. This being so, they
must prove the Lord's being the ruler (of the material cause) on the
basis of observation. But it is impossible to prove that the Lord is the
ruler of the Pradhâna in the same way as the potter e.g. is the ruler of
the clay. For the Lord is without a body, while the power of ruling
material causes is observed only in the case of embodied beings such as
potters. Nor may you have recourse to the hypothesis of the Lord being
embodied; for--as we have shown under I, 1, 3--there arise difficulties
whether that body, which as body must consist of parts, be viewed as
eternal or as non-eternal.
38. If you say, as in the case of the organs; we deny this, on account
of enjoyment and so on.
It may possibly be said that, in the same way as the enjoying
(individual) soul, although in itself without a body, is seen to rule
the sense-organs, the body, and so on, the great Lord also, although
without a body, may rule the Pradhâna. But this analogy cannot be
allowed 'on account of enjoyment,' and so on. The body's being ruled by
the soul is due to the unseen principle in the form of good and evil
works, and has for its end the requital of those works. Your analogy
would thus imply that the Lord also is under the influence of an unseen
principle, and is requited for his good and evil works.--The Lord cannot
therefore be a ruler.