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IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF GODS.
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because of their liability to expand with breath. It is not even possible to regard the physical body in the light of an envelope, though with regard to the soul its resemblance to a sheath, or cover, is more striking than that of the diaphragmatic cavity itself. The fact is that the outer body of matter which is nourished and maintained by food is in no sense of the term a sheath or cover like a pillow case ; it is an organism made by the soul itself, by the mechanical operation of the forces residing in its two inner bodies. Hence, the use of such terms and phrases as the physical encasement of matter, this mortal coil and the like, with reference to it is only permissible by way of a metaphor, but not in the literal sense. The idea of the association of the soul with its three bodies may be partially grasped by likening it to oxygen and the matter of the kůrmâna sluarira to hydrogen which combine together to form water. If we now throw some colouring matter into the liquid formed by the fusion of these two kinds of gases, we shall have an idea of the form of the taijasu suriru. The position occupied by these two inner bodies in relation to that of gross matter is sometbing like that which would come into existence by our holding the coloured fluid in a sponge, so that the liquid would saturate every portion of the sponge without becoming fused or united with it. We should not, however, lose sight of the important distinction between the sponge and the physical body, namely, that while the former is an independent article, the latter is only organised by the soul which is to become ensouled in it.
It is thus not possible to lend assent to the theory
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