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nal object that is the cause of bondage It is by thought that bondage is caused
COMMENTARY The direct cause of bondage is thought and not any external object, though this is the cause of thought itself Then why should extcinal objects be tabooed? It is for the purposa of condemning the thought based upon the external objects Thought without the basis of an external object never occurs in the consciousness of Self If it is possible to have thought without the basis of an external object, then thought corresponding to non-existing objects must also appear In the case of a person born of a real mother, you can entertain the thought, "I am going to kill her son" But in the case of a barren woman, the thought, "I am going to kill her son” would be meaningless because therc can be no son born to a barren wonian Hence it is ceituin that there can be no thought without a basis in reality Hence it nccessarily follows that condemnation of evil thoughts leads to the condemnation of corresponding objects of reality For it is only by picventing the cause that the cffect can be prevented from occurring Could it not be maintained that because the cxternal object is the cause of that causc which produces bondage, therefore, the external object is itself the cause of bondage? No For, the real causal condition of bondage, the conative idea is lacking If the cxternal object were by itself capable of producing karmio bondage, then it would have identical effcct in the case of a saint who moves about with gentleness and caution actuated by the ideal of love and mercy and of a laypocrite in the garb of a saint who roams about rough and tough without any care That is, both of them must have the same reaction in the environment which is common to both It is not so as a matter of fact The saint pure in heart is untouched by sin though he lives in the same environments as the false and hypocritical ascetic who, because of the absence of the purity of thought, is still attached to sensual pleasures and is thus subject to karmie bondage Hence it is not the environmental object but it is the inner thought that is the cause of bondage
