144 EEV. G. U. POPE, D.D.;, ON 



NOTE XIV. 



' Evolution,' ' Preservation,' and ' Involution ' in 

 Opposition to Atheism. 



The doctors of the (^aiva Siddliauta are strenuous opponents of the 

 atheistic school, or Lohayatikas (see the Sarva-Darsana-Sangraha, Chapter 

 (I, where they are called Charvakas. These deny the existence of a 

 creator, and the argument against them for the existence of a supreme 

 Being, who evolves, sustains, and invoh^es the phenomenal universe, is as 

 follows : ' The whole universe, with its entii'e complement of beings, 

 male, female, and without life, comes into phenomenal existence, 

 subsists awhile, and then subsides ; this is our experience. It is there- 

 fore necessary to assert the existence of a Lord, or Putin, who creates, 

 maintains, and destroys. That after dissolution, the phenomenal universe 

 reappears in a new seon is the result of the bond, impurity. For souls 

 must again and again have embodiments ; there must be a long chain of 

 metempsychoses in order that these impurities may be matured, work out 

 their legitimate tendencies, and produce their various results in the 

 experience of each being. So when these are exhausted, may souls be 

 released from their power. Since then these embodied living ones (souls)- 

 come upon the stage of being, act awhile, and then pass away there must 

 be a Lord (Patln), who directs their course ; especially as every element 

 of the bond is unintelligent, and cannot seek out for itself the souls to 

 which it clings ; nor can the souls themselves select their own appropriate 

 forms and successive embodiments, and cannot of themselves select the 

 deeds which pertain to them. It is therefore necessary that the Supreme, 

 the LTncontaminated One, should preside over and direct each embodiment. 

 We thus see in this universe a succession of living beings with material 

 environments. Now, what is thus manifestly subject to decay, and is 

 ever being renewed and changed, must have an intelligent Author, 

 Sustainer, and Eestorer of its manifold frame. Therefore tlie Lord exists^ 

 and is first, and midst, and last.' 



