________________
CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES
105 attends 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 into the presence of her mistress. But attention always implies interest, whether it indicate the merest wish to know or the most passionate longing to embrace. We may, then, say that the fusion of spirit and matter cannot take place unless the soul be first thrown into an attitude of desire, signifying its willingness to mate with the strangers from without. This gives us our second law of interaction between spirit and matter which may be enunciated thus: the fusion of spirit and matter does not take place except where the soul is thrown into a condition of expectancy, i.e., weakness. When existing in a vitiated condition the soul is generally unable to exercise any discrimination and has little or no will of its own. In the worst cases it is even ignorant of the inimical nature of the "cavaliers " from the outside world who, like the Russian Vampyre, Dracula, only need the first invitation to get in, after which they do not leave their victim in a con. dition to resist any further ousiaught on their part.
We can now understand why the harmful forces engendered by the fusion of spirit and matter are termed karma-prakı itis in the Jaina Siddhanta. Because they originate in a desire on the pari of the soul, which is itsown action, they signify karma (action in English), and being in the nature of powerful forces are termed prakritis (energies or forces).
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
