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14
THE PRACTICAL DHARMA
many different kinds of states or rhythms some of which are undoubtedly antagonistic to one another. Hatred and love both, for instance, cannot be the natural functions of the soul, so that if the latter be the normal state of our consciousness, the former must owe its existence to something else. Matter, the only other substance which enters into interaction with the soul, then, is the substance whose influence is responsible for the abnormal types of emotions and passions. Its fusion with spirit is the basis of disposition which is variable. It renders the soul liable to experience different kinds of affections, according to the varying circumstances of life. The two opposite types of feelings known as de-light (literally, intense lightness) and de-pression (mental 'heaviness'), also furnish strong evidence in support of asrava, for the former conveys the idea of the removal of a kind of weight from the soul, while its antithesis, the latter, implies the imposition of some sort of burden on it. Hence, if our language is to be true to nature, we must acknowledge that it is not purely the weight of words, ideas or circumstances which makes us experience the unpleasant feeling known as depression of spirits, nor the cessation or removal thereof which serves as an occasion for delight.
The truth is that when the soul becomes negative in consequence of some ungratified desire, it is exposed to the asrava of matter in a marked degree, and, consequently, feels de-pressed in the literal sense of the word. Similarly, when its desires are accomplished, or voluntarily abandoned, its condition of negativity comes to an end, and some of the particles of matter, which had flowed in, on account of the slackening of the intensity of the rhythm of life, are mechanically dispersed, giving rise to the feeling of de-light.
As a result of the foregoing discussion, it may be stated that asrava always signifies the influx of matter into the substance of the soul, and that the soul remains subject to it so long as the rhythm of life remains slackened by the attitude of receptivity. This attitude of receptivity or negativity, as has been already stated, is due to the influence of desires for material things, for the soul is perfection itself in its natural purity, but the entertainment of desires leads it to depend on the objects thereof, throwing it into an attitude of expectancy and
