Book Title: Jainism Christianity and Science
Author(s): Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: The Indian Press Allahabad

Previous | Next

Page 153
________________ HOW TO BE RID OF MATTER 141 that has been put in is not lost in death but is carried, in the form of modifications of character and disposition, from life to life, till the ends of the world' be come unto it. The relation between desire and matter has to be understood in the light of the fact that even eatables, e.g., a bit of chocolate, placed in the mouth remain unnoticed if attention be engrossed wholly in some other direction. Attention makes all the difference in this regard; when we attend to the thing in the mouth, we become aware of and enjoy its relish; when the attention is engaged elsewhere absorbingly we are ignorant of its existence, as in the latter case a new state of consciousness has not been evoked in the soul, which is consequently ignorant of what is in the mouth. And the reason why a new state of consciousness corresponding to the taste of chocolate in the assumed illustration has not risen must lie in the fact that no stimulus has actually passed the portals of attention. It is clear, then, that matter, by itself cannot influence the soul even when its contact is the closest with it. The soul can, then, only be influenced when it attends to matter. Attention signifies interest that is intimately associated with some kind of desire; therefore, it is through desire that matter is drawn by the soul to itself. If there were no desires in the soul, the absorption of matter will be ended. Through the doorways of the five senses streams of matter are constantly pouring in which the soul is absorbing continuously through the agency of its desiring nature. Desires are really nothing other than the agitated states of the soul. They can be observed best when they are of the intensest type, and when the inner agitations

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219