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OCCULT POWERS
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not to accept money. Why? There is a reason indeed for that, and it is that the earning of money requires thought and care, and therefore they ought not to use their thought for this, because they have to do so many doubtful things for the purpose of earning it. It is not the money itself but the life of money is bad so far as its meaning is understood. That is all right, but there is also an occult reason which is not understood by all educated Hindus even. Some of them do not come in contact with the best things of their own cominunity. We know that all metal, gold, silver, etc., is a good conductor. Suppose silver has a conductivity of 100, copper about 99.9, with gold it is 80, and with aluminun 56, and with other metals there is also conductivity to a greater or less degree. If I keep any piece of metal in contact with my body that will take away some electricity from my body, because it is a good conductor. The vitality is stored in the form of electricity, and if metal comes in with the person, it is likely to be passed indiscriminately from the metal to the outside world. So we say that the monks ought not to come in contact with any kind of metal. Paper money was not in existence when this rule was made, it is a creation of modern days; but people in ancient times had no idea that paper could be used for money. They had a kind of money which was not of metal but of shells, called covrie shells, whose conductivity is given by the scientists as less than that of the different combinations of metal. The Hindus were considered superstitious for using these
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