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THE DOCTRINE OF KARMA AND THE UNITY OF HUMANITY
that the soul may be intimately or thoroughly informed by non-psychical energy, something more is necessary and this something is Kasaya or a group of four passions Viz anger, greed, conceit and deceitfulness The unhappy state of man is thus due to a two-fold cause On the objective side, there are the tantalising backonings from outside maerial objects and the various organic and inorganic phenomena, all tending towards a defilement of the self and correspondingly, on the subjective side, we have the self thrown into a state of agitation and of deviating from its essential nature on account of the Yoga and the outlandish passions The result is that foreign matters, in very, very fine forms, or subtle energies of a materialistic nature, called karma pudgala by the Jainas, are introduced into the soul, which, although they fall off from time to time, are quickly replaced by fresh ones and which thus continue to cling to it causing its bondage and its consequent all-round limitations This is thus the second fact in the matter of the unification of humanity Not only does a constant form of adversity or existential misery torment all persons and make all of them strange bed-fellows, so to say, but that the one common cause of the affliction of all these unfortunate beings is the presence of outlandish tendencies and activities in their selves
Thus if all people are, in a very real sense, unified in this world in respect of the patent fact of the limitation attaching to their nature and further in respect of the causes of the limitation in the form of foreign forces exercising adverse influences upon it, we can guess about the third point serving as a principle of union among the suffering humanity This relates to the fact of diliverance from the constant fact of the innate misery of man and we may at once say that there is but one way for all people to the attainment of the ultimate blissful state Happiness depends upon the removal of the alien influences which torment the nature of man It does not matter if what limits or ails the soul of man is called Adrsta (as in the Vedic systems for Karma) as in Jaina philosophy) or the original Sin (as in the Christian theology). It is this foreign and malign influence, from which the nature of man is to be delivered
The ethical codes of all people are generally agreed about the fundamental moral rules and practices A clear direct vision of the ultimate reality, a correct knowledge, free from all shades of fallacy and ignorance and a system of conduc which hurts none but is helpful to all-these are admitted on all hands as the way to peace But in order that knowledge, vision and conduct be real diliverers of the self, they must not be looked upon as something extraneous to it, but should be actually felt as being grounded or involved in the very nature of the self So, this is
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