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Gandhi's Teachers: Rajchandra Ravjibhai Mehta
prove the atman to be imperishable. Further reflection on the subject enables us to realize that the atman from its nature is imperishable. There is, therefore, no error or logical difficulty in believing that the atman, the existence of which is the cause of our experiencing happiness and suffering which also withdraws itself from either, and which is conscious of something which thinks and impels, is characterized by awareness as its essential nature and that, in virtue of this nature, it is an imperishable entity which exists eternally; on the contrary, belief in the atman has this merit of accepting truth.
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(2) When the atman has attained a state of knowledge, the state resulting from a true understanding of its essence, it is the karta of that state, the state of illumination and of the resulting state of pure awareness, which is its true nature. In a state of ignorance, it is the karta of the emotions of anger, love, honor, attachment, greed, etc., and, when enjoying the fruits of these emotions, becomes, as the occasion may require, the karta of physical objects like a pot, a piece of cloth, etc., that is, it is not the creator of the original substance of those objects, but is only the karta of the action of imposing some form. This latter state is described in Jainism as karma, and in Vedanta as illusion or in other similar terms. If we reflect carefully on the matter, we shall clearly see that the atman cannot be the karta of physical objects or emotions like anger, this is karta only of the state of self-realization.
(3) The karmas performed while in the state of ignorance are like seed in the beginning and grow into a tree in course of time; in other words, the atman has to suffer the consequences of those karmas. Just as contact with fire produces the experience of heat, the natural end of which is pain, so the atman, being the karta of emotions of anger, etc., has to suffer, as consequence, pain in the form of birth, old age, and death. You should carefully reflect over this idea and ask me any question which may arise in your mind about it. for an understanding of the state from which the soul must withdraw itself and the effort to withdraw will bring
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