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RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE JAINAS
of karma applies not only to human but to all living beings); and it changes the individuality of the living being. It has become a kind of stored force, and just as a compressed spring of a watch will expand at some time, so the stored force of karma will manifest itself at some time or other. Hence it produces some kind of experience at some time or other. The idea of an individual attracting to himself this finer matter and assimilating it with his individuality may be compared to a man who should go into a smoky sooty atmosphere with his body oiled or greased; the grease would form the ground into which the particles of soot would sink; and if the man did not know the scientific way of removing it from his body (by soap and water), he will have to wait until it wears off naturally; and so with the karma, if he does not know how to scientifically remove it, he will have to wait until it naturally wears off.
We have in our nature impellent forces which are the ground, so to speak, on which foreign particles can rest and will be assimilated by the individual. As a magnet among an assortment of metal dust will attract to itself the iron filings, so there is a kind of magnetism in the individual which attracts and assimilates the foreign particles. Points of View from which the Subject can be Studied
The Philosophy of karma may be studied from different points of view : such as the nature of karma, the quality, the action, the kind of experience of pleasure or pain which it will give the individual. We may study it in reference to its intensity, and therefore the intensity with which they will manifest themselves. Or, we may study karma in reference to the duration : it may stay for a thousand years or for five years. Or, in reference to its mass, one may be heavy, another may be light. Or, fifthly we may study how the karma is generated and how it manifests itself when ripe, how it can be worked out before its natural time, and incidentally though very important, how we can stop from the very beginning the inflow of karma. Prevention is better than cure.
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