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HOW TO BE RID OF MATTER
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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
