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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE. the soul which is perfectly divine when devoid of all bodies, would have absolutely no reason to descend to our world, to enter into crippling relations with matter, shutting itself out from all its divine powers, attributes and qualities. Furthermore, the attainment of moksha would also necessarily and immediately follow the dissolution of form, and could be obtained, with the greatest ease, by the simple process of committing suicide. Nay, even an act of murder would, on the supposition of the gross body being the only vestment of the soul, become invested with all the meritorious qualities of a virtuous deed, since it would signify the immediate emancipation of the soul of the murdered man. The absurdity of the supposition might be further emphasized by the fact that the separation of the soul from its physical body would place men and animals on the same level, doing away with the differences of development in respect of intellect, knowledge, and character at a single stroke. It is thus clear that the force which prevents the soul from attaining the perfection of Gods is not the outer body of gross matter, but an inner vestment of a finer sort of clay, to use the language of Al Qur'an. It also follows from this that so long as this body of finer clay, the kârmâna sarîra, is not totally destroyed by the soul, it is not possible for it to acquire its natural purity, i.e., the perfection of Gods.
The kârmâna śarîra, thus, is the seed of all the mental and physical activities to be exhibited in a future incarnation, and is the momentum in which are gathered up the effects of all the desires, passions, virtue and vice, evolved out in the course of its career as an incarnating
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