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Law of Karma
are in fact, pictures of apparent man only. He feels that all such accounts of man are based on partial or superficial analysis of man's external behaviour and conduct. It does not mead that the bodily aspect of man does not have any reality. Gandhiji is aware of the importance of this aspect of man also, but he believes that there is another aspect of man, which is deeper. This deeper aspect of man gives nourishment even to the bodily aspect which is, more or less, neglected by all psychological or sociological theories. This, according to Gandhiji, represents the true nature of man.
Mahatma Gandhi feels that man is a complex of being. The bodily man is the apparent man, his body is patural in so far as it is akin to other objects of nature. The body grows and decays according to the law of Nature. But this aspect of man represents only the physical aspect. Man is not only physical, he has many other characteristics, which are not just physical. He has consciousness, reason, conscience, will, emotion and similar other qualities. He has an aesthetic sense, a feeling, sensibility and an insight into the nature of good and bad. These are not just physical activities. These are all expressions of real man, of the spirit or the soul present in
him.
The original capital on which a child starts life is inherited from its ancestors, and the environment does play an important part 9
As a matter of fact, Gandhiji's conception of the nature of man is based on his metaphysical conviction. Metaphysically speaking, Gandhiji was a monist. He believes in the reality of one Supreme God. As such, he has to believe that everything in the world is the expression of the one Supreme Man, and therefore, is also an expression of that one. Thus, both the bodily and spiritual aspects of man are expressions of God. Even then, Gandhiji is of the view that the spiritual aspects of man represent man's superior and true nature simply because it is akin to Divine nature. He also believes that initially the bodily and the physical aspects were more predominant and that the spiritual went on becoming more and more prominent
