________________
PHILOSOPHY OF SOUL
195
The fact is, the soul is blemished with 'Karmas' right from the beginningless time and continues to achieve new acts and reap the rewards of acts perpetually. So it has been never deprived of 'Karmas'at all. If it were so it might have reached to the zenith of the universe (Siddha-Sheela) and would not have suffered various types of miseries in this world being born in eighty-four lacs of existences.
Some would raise an objection thus: "How could soul be actuated by Karmas right from the beginning ?” But it is not easy to raise such objection. Gold when excavated from mines is already alloyed with impurities. It is almost in the form of a clod of earth. Thereafter it is refined through various chemical processes for its purification and it comes out as a brilliant matter with glowing yellow colour. In the same manner more the soul acquires righteousness or religious assets more it is sanctified, more its powers glisten with incandescence till finally it consumes all 'actional' (Karmic) bondages achieving spiritual tranquillity of mind (Shubha-Dhyana).
SOUL, BOUND FAST BY PAST DEEDS (KARMAS)
It is essential to understand at this stage that in the absence of any bondage of 'Karmas' all the souls would have enjoyed complete equality of conditions as all of them basically are alike, are equal, characterised by uniform soulness. But the fact is otherwise as we actually find that some souls having transcended to heaven enjoy celestial ecstacy, some degraded to hell are suffering very dreadful tortures as the denizens of hell. Some born as creatures undergo various kinds of miseries and some of them being born as human beings are passing their lives as human beings. Moreover, all human beings though human are not alike in their conditions. One is crowned with kingship and the other strolls as a pauper. One is loaded with wealth and pelf but the other is living by begging. One is an erudite scholar but the other is a great dunce. One is handsome and the other is ugly. One is ailing with diseases and the other is quite hale and hearty. All these diversities of miscellany can be attributed to the existence of ‘past acts' (Karmas).
MATERIAL "KARMAS” AFFECT THE SPIRITUAL SOUL "Can soul be influenced or affected by the material 'Karmas'? It is commonly asked by some persons. Let us clarify this point.
