'Moreover, sir,
30. 'For the sake of happiness you pursue the objects you desire, and will not follow such things as are opposed to it. And it is for the same purpose that you attend on the king. And notwithstanding this, you dare deny causality!
31. 'And, if nevertheless you should persist in your doctrine of non-causality, then it follows that the death of the monkey is not to be ascribed to any cause. Why do you blame me?'
So with clear arguments the High-minded One confounded that advocate of the doctrine of non-causality. Then addressing himself to the believer in a Supreme Being, he said: 'You, too, never ought to blame me, noble sir. According to your doctrine, the Lord is the cause of everything. Look here.
32, 33. 'If the Lord does everything, He alone is the killer of that ape, is He not? How can you bear such unfriendliness in your heart as to throw blame on me on account of the fault of another? If, however, you do not ascribe the murder of that valiant monkey to Him because of His compassionateness, how is it that you loudly proclaim, the Lord is the cause of this Universe?
'Moreover, friend, believing, as you do, that everything is done by the Lord[168],
34. 'What hope have you of propitiating the Lord by praise, supplication, and the like? For the Self-born Being works those actions of yours himself.
35. 'If, however, you say, the sacrifice is performed by yourself, still you cannot disavow that He is the author of it. He who is self-acting out of the fulness of His power, is the author of a deed, no other.
36, 37. 'Again, if the Lord is the performer of all sins, however many there are committed, what virtue of His have you in view that you should foster devotion to Him? On the other hand, if it is not He who commits them, since He abhors wickedness, it is not right to say that everything is created by the Lord.
38, 39. 'Further, the sovereignty of the Lord must rest either on the lawful order of things (Dharma) or on something else. If on the former, then the Lord cannot have existed before the Dharma. If effected by some external cause, it should rather be called "bondage;" for if a state of dependency should not bear that name, what state may not be called "sovereignty?"