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soul and with this Karma matter as 1 may call it, it is filled as a bag with sand. Thus the Karma matter amalganiates with the substance of the soul and (Kasaya working as a binding medium) unites with it as milk with water and thereby the soul is defiled. The Karma obscures the natural qualities of the soul which are absolute knowledge and bliss. It acts as a hindrance or obstacle to the display or development of those qualities, the different kind of Karmas to different qualities. For Karma is not of one kind, but of eight. When Karma-matter enters the soul by ivflux, Asrava, it is then transformed into eight kinds of Karma, the eight prakratis of Karma, just as the food we take is transformed within our body into the different fluids which sustain the body. One kind of karma obscures the soul's inborn power of knowledge, another depraves his conduct, one determines the conditions of his life, another the length of his ife in a particular birth, and so on. Each kind of Karma may be latent for some length of time, but at last it must take effect and produce these conditions of the individual soul which are in its nature, and by producing its effects, the Karma is rejected from the soul, it is purged off Nirjara' as it is technically called.
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
