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Iṣṭopadeśa - The Golden Discourse
be opening the doorway of the animal kingdom for our future incarnations. Humane tendencies, like mildness in disposition, make us suitable for reincarnation as a human being. All our actions of mind, speech and body, under the influence of passions that may manifest in the form of anger, pride, deceitfulness, and greed, attract subtle particles of karmic matter which find lodgment in our soul, clogging its natural tendencies. And when the time comes, these particles of karmic matter play a crucial role in not only determining the form and state of existence that must be enforced on us, but remain clung to our soul till shed through our own effort, or on fruition.
There is reciprocity of action between living beings; they are the cause of pleasure and pain to one another. Our interactions with other living beings, while influencing the purity of own soul, have a corresponding influence on the other souls. Love begets love. The same is true of our other emotions. When we hurt someone out of anger, we are likely to engender the same negative emotion of anger in that person. A victim of such negative emotion, his soul attracts subtle particles of karmic matter which, sooner or later, implore it to take revenge upon us. The reaction may fructify in the current birth or in some future incarnation. How sometimes we encounter a stranger exhibiting strong positive or negative emotions towards us, much to our bewilderment!
We are thus subjected to rewards and punishments for all our actions. It is in this context that we say, "As you sow, so shall you reap." The cycle of action and reaction goes on incessantly over many births. The only way out of this degenerating cycle is by ridding our soul of passions and observing equanimity. So far as our interaction with other living beings is concerned, the golden rule is, "Don't hurt anyone and maintain composure if someone hurts you."
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