Matharavritti 21
English (machine translation) 21
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21.1
On this, [the opponent] says: If spirit is a non-agent, does it then make the ascertainment, 'I will perform virtue and unrighteousness'? If the constituents make the ascertainment, then they would possess consciousness; and their lack of consciousness was already stated earlier. But if spirit makes the ascertainment, then agency would follow for it. Therefore, there is a fault either way. To this, it is answered: This is not a fault. If you ask how, it is explained:
21.2
Therefore, from that conjunction, the unconscious manifest sign becomes as if conscious; / likewise, although agency belongs to the constituents, the indifferent one becomes as if an agent. //
21.3
Because spirit is conscious by nature, therefore, from conjunction with it, the unconscious manifest sign—the great [principle] (mahat) and the rest—proceeds as if conscious in its functionings such as ascertainment, self-assertion, intention, and perceptual observation. What is the example? Just as a pot that is neither hot nor cold becomes cold when touched by cold water, [and] becomes hot when joined with fire; in this way, the manifest sign, consisting of the great [principle] and the rest, though unconscious, becomes as if conscious. Therefore, the constituents make ascertainments regarding effects and so forth. As for what was also said—that 'spirit is an agent through common usage'—to this we say: 'likewise, although agency belongs to the constituents, the indifferent one becomes as if an agent.' And here is an example: Certain thieves, having plundered a village and seized the wealth, were going to another village with their deed accomplished. Along with that company, a Vedic scholar brāhmaṇa was walking along the road. They were seized by watchmen tracking their footprints. Along with those who had committed the crime, that brāhmaṇa was also seized: 'You too are a thief.' Just as he, although not a thief, was regarded by them as a thief owing to the fault of contact with them; so too, the constituents, sattva and the rest, are the agents, and spirit, being conjoined with them, becomes an agent though it is a non-agent. Through contact with an agent, it is as if an agent. But from the ultimate standpoint, spirit is a non-agent. //