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THE TRUTH
from without and shut myself in the closet of the mind, sensations, implying actual intercourse between the soul and the sensory centres of the brain continue. If I speak, I am conscious of hearing my own voice and of perceiving the muscular sensations of the organs involved in the articulation of words. Here also the inflow of the raw material or sensations is continued undiminished: There is no rest, no interruption, no holiday with these intruders on the senses. All these activities arise from thoughts, which then are the real cause of asarva. These thoughts are called Bhavasrava and the material particles (vibrations or impulses) which actually come close to the soul are called Dravyasrava.
5.6 Law of Bandha : Bandha signifies the fusion of matter with the spirit. It is a common experience that sensation does not always follow the external influx which we have just seen is constantly impinging upon the senses. If the mind is engaged elsewhere, no relish is experienced of the food that may actually be on the tongue; the ear is then deaf to music; the sense of smell is dead to odour and tactile sensitivity dead to contact. The rule of impressionability would appear from these facts to be this that the mind has an inhibiting action on all the senses except the particular one to which it may be attending for the time being. On the other hand, faint impressions received in a mechanical way are magnified by our attending to them. The explanation of the taste of food on the tongue not being felt when the mind is busy elsewhere lies in the fact that no new state of consciousness has resulted from it. The physiology of taste seems to indicate that while the bulk of food passes through the gullet, some fine particles (impulses) of its relish reach the soul through the glands of taste and by 'knocking at its door' call forth a corresponding idea i.e., knowledge of taste. If these particles are admitted still further, and allowed to affect the feeling-tone of the individual, a pleasurable or painful kind of feeling would ensue, and the soul would know whether it liked the relish of the food or not. This feeling of like and dislike is different from the knowledge of taste and shows the reaction of soul to the knowledge thus gained. This has nothing to do with the knowledge and different beings will react differently to this knowledge This is called the passion of the soul. But these relish particles must be there all the same whether the soul attended to them or not. It would follow that they do not combine with the soul except when they find the door open and attention ready to take them in. But attention always implies interest, whether it indicates the merest wish to know
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