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THE NATURE OF KARMA.
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thing to correspond to the word sin when used as a noun; the word expresses a pure mental abstraction, and conveys the idea of wrong-doing. The bondage of sin, thus, is clearly the thraldom of actions, i.e., karmas (actions or deeds), which is to be shaken off in order to bring the state of natural freedom of the soul into manifestation.'
It must be borne in mind that there can be no bondage to pure mental abstractions, or purely wordy concepts; the word signifies some kind of real fetters, not, indeed, consisting of chains of iron, but of a very subtle and invisible material. It is well to know that nothing but force, in some form or other, is capable of holding things in the condition of slavery, and that no kind of force can be conceived apart from a substance or material of some sort. The bondage of sin must, then, be a bondage of matter, and the obtainment of freedom must consequently imply the destruction of bonds and the removal of the particles of foreign matter from the constitution of the soul.
This is precisely what is implied in the theory of transmigration, which, undoubtedly, was well known to and accepted by every rational religion in the past. It is, however, in Jainism alone that we find it placed on a scientific foundation, and though the scriptures of other creeds contain allusions to it, these allusions are nearly always couched in mystic or unintelligible language and are never explained on lines of rational or scientific thought. This is one of the facts which explain the reason why the followers of certain religions, including Christianity, do not now
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