________________
A PEEP BEHIND THE VEIL OF KARMA
117
I myself to create my own body. Does it seem strange that I should make my body ? Very little thinking would suffice to show that there is nothing wonderful in this seemingly miraculous power of mine to make my body ; only remember that I am not the body but that which is associated with it, as has just been proved. Now listen as to how I make my body, and judge for yourselves if I am right in my assertion. The human body is an organism which is to be distinguished from a manufactured article, inasmuch as in the former, that is, the organism, the power that organises resides in the centre and builds the body from within, while the maker of the manufactured article stands outside it to make it. In other words, an organism, or a body, is organised from within, but a manufactured article is made from without. Hence, the power that organises exists prior to the act or the process of organisation, unlike the power of machinery which results from the combination of parts. Hence, I was in existence before I made my body. I may repeat that whoever made the body must have made it from within, and, therefore, must have been in the centre of the little microscopic streak of protoplasm which, by the absorption of nourishment, grew and developed in the mother's body. You may now say that a God made the body if you like, but the result is the same in either case ; for you will have to say that I am God myself, if you make that assertion, since non, but the maker of the body himself is ensouled in it.
The next question is: why did I not make a better and more perfect body for myself, if I was bent on making one at all? The reply to this question at once brings us face to face with the problem of Karma. I did not make a more perfect body for myseif because my 'inclinations' only led me to make the present one. In subjection to the law of Karma, man is not an entirely free agent, but has to work out the effect of his previous actions. This Karma is a kind of force which holds the soul in bondage and prevents its knowing itself fully. There are many varieties of this force which are minutely described in our Books, perhaps more fully than elsewhere, in any other scripture. The bondage of Karma arises on account of individual tendencies, and the most predominant of these determine the type of the body, which the soul would make for itself in its future
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
