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... find with what it mixes!
The pursuit of three gems brings out the eternal quality of the jiva. Birth, growing old, death are all aspects attached to the body. The unaccompanied utma does not have a body, nor birth, nor old-age, nor death. It the original form of atma, such situations are impossible.
Playing into the hands of karma, it played all the games that karma planned for it. As a result the atma had to remain in what is not its own true disposition. It had to, just that. If we look into our entire past, whether the jiva did something or not, it certainly went through birth and death. Wherever it was born, whether it performed the required duties, or stood by its responsibilities, or did something good, or not, but it certainly went through birth and death. It has attained a rise and fail with the help of karma.
The jiva has certain duties even when born as an animal. If you tie a cow in your shed and look after it, you are bound to expect milk, and giving milk is the duty of the cow. If you have reared a dog, its duty is to protect the house. If you pay a servant, working with a sense of responsibility is his duty. Thus in various births, there are various duties. But it is not that at all times the jiva performs these duties. It may have failed sometimes. But it has never faltered in being born and attaining death.
And how many births and deaths? Infinite - which cannot be counted. Do you know, Brothers! The ordinary vegetable jivas like roots and bulbs go through 65,536 lives in a matter of less than 48 minutes. They are born and die as many times! Just think! If they are born and die so many times in less than 48 minutes, how long could be their life-span? If we were to begin counting 1 - 2 - 3, we may not perhaps complete counting 65,536 in that time. What might the jiva be doing is such a short life-span? Our basic intellect says it may not do anything. Where is the time to do anything? But the sages measure a period in terms of time. In
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