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 person were not, in the matter of
his acts, himself the cause thereof, then sacrifices
would not bear any fruits in his case nor would any
body be a disciple or a master. It is because
a person is himself the cause of his work that he
is applauded when he achieved success. So the
doer is censured if he faileth. If a man were
not himself the cause of his acts, how would all this
be justified? Some say that everything is the
result of providential dispensation; others again,
that this is not so, but that everything which is
supposed to be the result of destiny or chance is
the result of the good or the bad acts of former lives.
It is seen, possessions are obtained from chance,
as also from destiny. Something being from destiny
and something from chance, something is obtained by
exertion. In the acquisition of his objects, there
is no fourth cause in the case of man. Thus say
those that are acquainted with truth and skilled in
knowledge. If, however, God himself were not the
giver of good and bad fruits, then amongst creatures
there would not be any that was miserable. If
the effect of former acts be a myth, then all purposes
for which man would work should be successful.
They, therefore, that regard the three alone (mentioned
above) as the doors of all success and failure in