Let this be granted.—­Scripture, however, declares the highest divinity to be without (bodily) organs of action[309]; so, for instance, in the passage, ’It is without eyes, without ears, without speech, without mind’ (B/ri/.  Up.  III, 8, 8).  Being such, how should it be able to produce effects, although it may be endowed with all powers?  For we know (from mantras, arthavadas, &c.) that the gods and other intelligent beings, though endowed with all powers, are capable of producing certain effects only because they are furnished with bodily instruments of action.  And, moreover, how can the divinity, to whom the scriptural passage, ‘No, no,’ denies all attributes, be endowed with all powers?

The appropriate reply to this question has been already given above.  The transcendent highest Brahman can be fathomed by means of Scripture only, not by mere reasoning.  Nor are we obliged to assume that the capacity of one being is exactly like that which is observed in another.  It has likewise been explained above that although all qualities are denied of Brahman we nevertheless may consider it to be endowed with powers, if we assume in its nature an element of plurality, which is the mere figment of Nescience.  Moreover, a scriptural passage (’Grasping without hands, hastening without feet, he sees without eyes, he hears without ears’ Sve.  Up.  III, 19) declares that Brahman although devoid of bodily organs, possesses all possible capacities.

32. (Brahman is) not (the creator of the world), on account of (beings engaging in any action) having a motive.

Another objection is raised against the doctrine of an intelligent cause of the world.—­The intelligent highest Self cannot be the creator of the sphere of this world, ’on account of actions having a purpose.’—­We know from ordinary experience that man, who is an intelligent being, begins to act after due consideration only, and does not engage even in an unimportant undertaking unless it serves some purpose of his own; much less so in important business.  There is also a scriptural passage confirming this result of common experience, ’Verily everything is not dear that you may have everything; but that you may love the Self therefore everything is dear’ (B/ri/.  Up.  II, 4, 5).  Now the undertaking of creating the sphere of this world, with all its various contents, is certainly a weighty one.  If, then, on the one hand, you assume it to serve some purpose of the intelligent highest Self, you thereby sublate its self-sufficiency vouched for by Scripture; if, on the other hand, you affirm absence of motive on its part, you must affirm absence of activity also.—­Let us then assume that just as sometimes an intelligent person when in a state of frenzy proceeds, owing to his mental aberration, to action without a motive, so the highest Self also created this world without any motive.—­That, we reply, would contradict the omniscience of the highest Self, which is vouched for by Scripture.—­Hence the doctrine of the creation proceeding from an intelligent Being is untenable.