48                         ALBERUNPS INDIA.

intentionally, and the wind cools the water though it
only intends blowing.     Voluntai-y action is only due to
Vishnu."    By the latter expression the author means
the living being who is above matter (God),    Through
him matter becomes an agent toiling for him as a friend
toils for a friend without wanting anything for himself.
On this theory Mani has built the following sentence :
" The Apostles asked Jesus about the life of inanimate
nature, whereupon he said, ' If that which is inanimate
is separated from the living element which- is com¬
mingled with it, and appears alone by itself, it is again
Page 24.      inanimate and is not capable of living, whilst the living
element which has left it, retaining its vital energy
unimpaired, never dies,'"
On matter        The book of Samkhya derives action from matter, for
of action     the difference of forms under which matter appears
the Sam-     depcuds upou the threepi-imary forces, and upon whether

khya school                     x            j;   j.i                 •        1.1                                               i.\.

ofphiioso- one or two ot them gam the supremacy over the
^ ^^^' remainder. These forces are the angelic, the human,
and the animal. The three forces belong only to matter,
not to the soul. The task of the soul is to learn the
actions of matter like a spectator, resembling a traveller
who sits down in a village to repose. Each villager is
busy with his own particular work, but he looks at
them and considers their doings, disliking some, liking
others, and taking an example from them. In this way
he is busy without having himself any share in the
business going on, and without being the cause which
has brought it about.

The book of Samkhya brings action into relation with
the soul, though the soul has nothing to do with action,
only in so far as it resembles a man who happens to
get into the company of people whom he does not
know. They are robbers returning from a village
which they have sacked and destroyed, and he has
scarcely marched with them a short distance, when
they are overtaken by the avengers.    The whole party