"Of these I am the chief energy, and the gracious friend of all,
"I am metaphorically called páśa,[148] because I follow desert."
(3.) Action [or rather its consequences, karman] as being performed by those who desire the fruit. It is in the form of merit or demerit, like the seed and shoot, and it is eternal in a never-beginning series. As has been said in the Śrímat Kiraṇa—
"As Mala has no beginning, its least actions are beginningless:
"If an eternal character is thus established, then what cause could produce any change therein?"
(4.) "Máyá," because herein as an energy of the Divine Being all the world is potentially contained (máti) at a mundane destruction, and again at a creation it all comes (yáti) into manifestation, hence the derivation of the name. This has been said in the Śrímat Saurabheya—
"The effects, as a form of the Divine energy, are absorbed therein at a mundane destruction,
"And again at a renovation it is manifested anew in the form of effects as kalá, &c."[149]
Although much more might be added on this topic, yet we stop here through fear of extending this treatise too far. Thus have the three categories been declared,—the Lord, the soul, and matter.