Verses on Sāṃkhya 62.9

62.9

atra sāṅkhyā vadanti | īśvaraḥ kāraṇaṃ na bhavati | kasmāt, nirguṇatvāt | imāḥ saguṇāḥ prajāḥ | sattvarajastamāṃsi trayo guṇāḥ, te ca prajāsu santi | tāṃś ca guṇān dṛṣṭvā sādhayāmaḥ | prakṛter imāḥ samutpannāḥ prajāḥ | yad īśvaraḥ kāraṇaṃ syāt tato nirguṇād īśvarān nirguṇā eva prajāḥ syuḥ | na caivam | tasmād īśvaraḥ kāraṇaṃ na bhavati | evaṃ puruṣo 'pi draṣṭavyaḥ | svabhāvo nāma na kaścit padārtho 'sti | yataḥ prajānām utpattisaṅgatiḥ syāt | tasmād yo brūte svabhāvaḥ kāraṇam iti tan mithyā | kecit kālaṃ kāraṇatayā varṇayanti ---

Here the Sāṅkhyas say: God is not the cause. Why? Because he is devoid of constituents. These created beings possess constituents. Sattva, rajas, and tamas are the three constituents, and they exist in created beings. And seeing those constituents, we establish that these created beings have arisen from nature. If God were the cause, then from a God devoid of constituents, created beings devoid of constituents would arise. And such is not the case. Therefore, God is not the cause. The spirit also should be viewed in the same way. What is called "inherent nature" is not any fundamental category from which the production of created beings could appropriately follow. Therefore, what someone says, namely that inherent nature is the cause, is false. Some describe time as the cause: