पयोऽम्बुवच्चेत्, तत्रापि ॥ ३ ॥
payo’mbuvaccet, tatrāpi || 3 ||
payo’mbuvat—Like milk and water; cet—if it be said; tatra—there; api—even.
3. If it be said (that the Pradhana spontaneously undergoes modification) like (the flowing of) milk and water, (we say that) even there (it is due to intelligence).
The Sankhyas try to get over the difficulty by saying that even as water flows in rivers spontaneously or milk from the udder to the calf, so also the inert Pradhana may become active of its own accord and undergo modification into intellect, Ahankara etc. without the agency of any intelligence. The latter part of the Sutra refutes this and says that even the flowing of water and milk is directed by the Supreme Lord. The scriptures also say: “Under the mighty rule of this Immutable, O Gargi, some rivers flow to the east” etc. (Brih. 3. 8. 9); “He who inhabits water, but is within it, . . . who controls water from within” (Brih. 3. 7. 4). The Lord is behind everything directing the material world.