इतरव्यपदेशाद्धिताकरणादिदोषप्रसक्तिः ॥ २१ ॥
itaravyapadeśāddhitākaraṇādidoṣaprasaktiḥ || 21 ||
itara-vyapadeśāt—On account of the other being stated (as non different from Brahman); dhita-akaraṇādi-doṣa-prasaktiḥ—defects of not doing what is beneficial and the like would arise.
21. On account of the other (the individual soul) being stated (as non-different from Brahman) there would arise (in Brahman) the defects of not doing what is beneficial and the like.
In the previous topic the oneness of the world with its cause, Brahman, has been established. But the Sutra also states the identity of the individual soul and Brahman, and if Brahman at the same time were the cause of the world, It would be open to the charge of not doing what is good for Itself. Being omniscient, It would not have ordained anything which would do the individual soul harm, or abstained from doing that which would be beneficial to it; for nobody is seen to do so with respect to oneself. Rather It would have created a world where everything would have been pleasant for the individual soul, without the least trace of misery. Since that is not a fact, Brahman is not the cause of the world, as Vedanta holds.