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ANALYSIS OF THE GROSS AND THE SUBTLE
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body. All the hereditary characteristics of the body are maintained and looked after by very tiny cells. When a cell disintegrates, it passes on all the work it had been doing to a newly-born cell. This transfer of functions in the cells is a wonderful process. How does all this happen? Physiology has not yet been able to reveal the mytery. Different kinds of cells produce different kinds of proteins and maintain their heterogenity in nature. All these seemingly wonderful processes can, however, be explained in the light of the karma body. This is the subtlest body. It imposes uniform patterns on the gross body and its constituents. The entire system works according to its inherent laws. The whole world of the atoms is a self-propelled system.
The structures of karma pudgalas have innumerable constituent particles which are found sticking to the soul. If an attempt were made to assess the numerical strength of the particles which constitute the karma body, you will find billions and billions of particles to a square inch.
The subtle body is a self-acting body and it controls itself as well as the gross body. It has eight parts or departments with their separate functions. One of these departments is concerned with knowledge. It controls the volume of the manifestation of knowledge i.e. how much knowledge should be allowed to manifest itself and how much should not,
Our body too has a system. Intolerable pain makes us unconscious. Tolerable pain does not do so. Nature provides an escape from intolerable pain.
The system of knowledge is also self-sufficient. It works according to its own laws. It determines the knowledge of the jiva and decides how much knowledge should be allowed to manifest and how much of it the jīva can carry. These systems are built and enforced by the karma body. A transgression of the system turns an individual mad and renders him unconscious. Every individual gets his share of knowledge according to its capacity, neither more nor less. Knowledge which is beyond its capacity cannot be sustained by it.
. We often read in the newspapers about men who have
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