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PRACTICAL RULES FOR SOUL-CULTURE
Bodily growth follows in accordance with the developed physical forces within us. A desire to survive at the sacrifice of our fellow-beings implies that the soul has not yet arrived at that condition in which it can do without this destructive propensity. It implies ignorance as to the real modes of life; it also implies the absence of the higher capacities of the soul. Destroying one thing so that another may thrive simply means a constant war among the different parts of the universe. It means inharmony. Inharmony can never produce harmony which is the first requisite of real progress. The law of harmony is supreme everywhere. Two jarring particles at constant war with each other can never be in a happy state. A family of several members cannot be happy if every member is fighting with the other and tries to derive the greatest benefit for himself at the cost of some other member. Such a family ultimately goes out of existence. For this reason all the religions of the world have proclaimed from times immemorial the rule of universal love for all. Unfortunately the disciples of the Bible have in their preaching limited the practice of this love for human beings only. If human beings are parts of the universe the animals also have the right to live as much as human beings have.
The first requisite for the soul-culture is a life of harmony, which implies the practice of universal love, It includes the respect for the bodily as well as soullife of all living beings. We destroy the bodily life of other beings by killing them and we destroy their
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