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Dravyasamgraha
cannot be imagined to be altogether immaterial. We may now formulate the third great law of interaction between spirit and matter thus: the quantity of the material of our bondage and the variety of karmic bonds depend on the working of the three channels of activity, namely, the mind, speech, and body, but their duration and strength, or malignity, are determined by the intensity of passions and desires of the soul.
The next thing to understand in this connection is the effect of the action of matter on the soul. We have said that the fusion of spirit and matter results in the bondage of the soul. This is literally true; for the union of substances always tends to limit their natural functions, though new properties and faculties arise in consequence of it. As hydrogen and oxygen, which are gaseous by nature, are robbed of their natural ‘freedom’, i.e., of their gaseous nature, by combining with each other in the form of water, so does the soul become crippled in respect of its natural functions in consequence of its union with matter. This is the bondage, meaning, as it does, the suspension and vitiation of the natural functions and properties of the soulsubstance, which are held in check for the time being...
... In addition to these, observation also proves the existence of a force which stands in the way of the acquisition of Right Faith. This comprises two distinct types of energies: those which interfere with the acquisition of Right Faith itself, and those that debar one from putting it into practice.
Separate places must also be allotted to the force which determines the duration of the association of the soul with its physical body, and to the energies responsible for the making of the different bodies and their limbs. The status - descent, lineage and the like - which really depends on the 'womb' into which the ego is attracted by the operation of the forces of chemical affinity and magnetism residing in its two inner
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