Advaitasiddhi 2.301

2.301

nanu- manasaḥ kartṛtvaṃ na ghaṭate, kṛtikarmatvasya karaṇatvasya ca tadvirodhinaḥ śrutyādisiddhatvād, buddhyabhāve'pi kartṛtvasya śrūyamāṇatvācca. tathā hi- `tanmano'kurute'tyādau manasaḥ kṛtikarmatvam, `śṛṇvantaḥ śrotreṇa vidvāṃśo manase'tyādiśrutau `śarīravāṅmanobhiryat karma prārabhate nara' ityādismṛtau ca karaṇatvam, `mana udakrāmanmīlita ivāśnan pibannāstaive'tyādiśrutau manautkramaṇe'pyātmanaḥ kartṛtvam, tathā `paraṃ jyotirupasampadya svena rūpeṇābhiniṣpadyate sa tatra paryeti jakṣan krīḍan ramamāṇa' ityādau svarūpāvirbhāvarūpaparamamuktāvapi kartṛtvaṃ `kartā vijñānātmā yo vededaṃ jighrāṇīti sa ātmā' `ānandabhuktyā prājña' ityādiśrutitaśca kartṛtvam, tathā ca buddhirna kartrīti- cenna, `vijñānaṃ yajñaṃ tanute' ityādiśrutyā manasaḥ kartṛtvena svakṛtikarmatvavirodhe'pi tatreśvarakṛtikarmatvasya upalabdhiṃ prati karaṇatvasya cāvirodhād, īśvare avidyāvṛttirūpajñānecchāvat tadrūpakṛtisambhavāt.

If it is objected: The agency of the mind is not possible, because being the object of an effort and being an instrument, both of which contradict it, are established by scripture and other means, and because agency is heard [in scripture] even in the absence of the intellect. To explain: being the object of an effort is found in texts such as 'It made the mind'; being an instrument is found in the scripture 'Hearing with the ear, knowing with the mind' and the Smṛti 'Whatever action a man undertakes with body, speech, and mind'; agency of the self even upon the departure of the mind is found in the scripture 'The mind having departed, as if blind, eating and drinking, it just remained'; likewise, agency even in the supreme liberation which is the manifestation of one's own nature is found in 'Having approached the supreme light, it is accomplished in its own form; he wanders there, eating, playing, rejoicing'; and agency is heard in scriptures such as 'The knowing self is the agent', 'He who knows "let me smell this", he is the self', and 'The Praised Conscious One through the experience of bliss'; and therefore the intellect is not the agent—we reply: No. Since the agency of the mind is established by scriptures such as 'Understanding performs the sacrifice', even though it is contradicted by being the object of its own effort, there is no contradiction in its being the object of the effort of the Lord and an instrument with respect to perception, because effort of that nature is possible in the Lord just like knowledge and desire which are of the nature of mental modifications of ignorance.