________________ 116 Shrimad Rajchandra Letter 530 Questions 6 and 7 Answer: The answer to the sixth and seventh questions is also contained above. The external form of the soul such as a stone etc. is not the doer of its karma. The soul, which has been reincarnated into a particular physical form, is the doer of its karma. Just as milk and water when mixed together appear to have become one inseparable solution, each has retained its own properties. Similarly, the soul may appear to be indistinct from its physical form, but in reality, it is always separate. When the soul is reincarnated as a one-sensed being, like a stone for instance, although it may appear to be insentient, it is still the same sentient being and still possesses its natural qualities, but those are in a latent state. Question 8 (1) What is the Arya (noble) religion? (2) Have all religions arisen from the Vedas? Answer: (1) While addressing the question of which religion is considered as noble, everyone naturally promotes their own as the noblest of all. The Jains consider it to be Jainism; the Hindus proclaim Hinduism ,and the Buddhists stand by Buddhism. But the enlightened souls consider the religion which leads the soul to attain realisation of its true nature to be the noblest of all. It does not seem logical that all religions arose from the Vedas. It has been my own experience that the knowledge expounded by the Tirthankars is by far deeper than that by the Vedas. Naturally, a part of the whole cannot give birth to the whole, and therefore one can conclude that it would be a fallacy to think that all religions
