Fire or water is the product, the effect of the Will. The Atma alone is indicated as the Primal Entity in the Sruthi or Veda. The urge or resolution is a happening in the Atma itself, not in any other entity. The entire cognisable Cosmos was just Sath or Is. This is the lesson the Veda holds.
Nothing is inert, inactive, jada.
For, we find the word Atma being applied, once in a while, to denote even Pradhana, or Primordial Matter, Moola Prakrithi. The Pradhana is the instrument that fulfills the will of the Sovereign Consciousness or the Purusha, the Overself. Being operated by Purusha, who is the Cause, Prakrithi or Pradhana too has consciousness ascribed to It . The Individual or the Jivi, believing that it is divided from the whole, the Universal, is subject to desire and despair, love and hate, grief and joy. He is attracted by the world of Name and Form.