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of little ones in the bonds of matrimony, and is purely guided by what he considers to be conducive to his own pleasure. Thoughtlessness and selfishness, thus, are the causes which lie at the back of this evil practice, and these, undoubtedly, are the signs of soul's negativity, the chief cause of all kinds of weakness. Besides this the form of pleasure which one can possibly derive from marrying one's child at an early age, being purely of a sensual type, and consisting, as it does, in the giving of feasts, the performance of nautch and the like, clearly points to the fact that the mind is completely taken up with the gratification of senses.
We thus have soul's negativity coupled with the desire for sense-gratification; and these combined lead to an influx of material particles which easily find a lodgment in, and tend to clog up, certain parts of the kârmâna sarira upon which depend the organising and functioning of all bodily organs. Now, since the idea and actual sight of little children playing the role of married people is pregnant with the suggestion of the abeyance of sexual function, the inflow of matter takes place in and clogs the very centres which are concerned in the formation, development and proper functioning of the generative organs. The result is that the antaraya karma of the third and fourth kinds is generated at once, the consequences of which shall have to be borne by the soul in its present or future life or lives.
THE PRACTICAL PATH.
This one illustration practically disposes of all other karma-engendering actions whose causal connection with the specific energies they give birth to may seem to be too far-fetched or remote. It should also be distinctly
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