898
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 1, Ch. 17]
grounds. Speculative philosophers, however, do not recognize the sanction of the Lord, but they try to find out the cause of sufferings in their own way, as will be described in the following verses. According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, such speculators are themselves bewildered, and thus they cannot know that the ultimate cause of all causes is the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead.
TEXT 19
केचिद् विकल्पवसना आहुरात्मानमात्मनः । दैवमन्येऽपरे कर्म स्वभावमपरे ग्रभुम् ॥१९॥
kecid vikalpa-vasanā āhur ātmānam ātmanaḥ daivam anye 'pare karma svabhāvam apare prabhum
kecit —some of them;  vikalpa-vasanāḥ —those who deny all kinds of duality;  āhuḥ —declare;  ātmānam —own self;  ātmanaḥ —of the self;  daivam —superhuman;  anye —others;  apare —someone else;  karma —activity;  svabhāvam —material nature;  apare —many other;  prabhum —authorities.
TRANSLATION
Some of the philosophers, who deny all sorts of duality, declare that one's own self is responsible for his personal happiness and distress. Others say that superhuman powers are responsible, while yet others say that activity is responsible, and the gross materialists maintain that nature is the ultimate cause.
PURPORT
As referred to above, philosophers like Jaimini and his followers establish that fruitive activity is the root cause of all distress and happiness, and even if there is a superior authority, some superhuman powerful God or gods, He or they are also under the influence of fruitive activity because they reward result according to one's action, and action is not independent because action is performed by some performer; therefore the performer himself is the cause of his own happiness or distress. In the  Bhagavad-gītā