As one casts off from one's body such
vermin as take their birth there but as are not on that account any part
of oneself, even so should one cast off those vermin of one's body that
are called children, who, though regarded as one's own, are not one's own
in reality. From the vital seed as from sweat (and other filth) creatures
spring from the body, influenced by the acts of previous lives or in the
course of nature. Therefore, one possessed of wisdom should feel no
regard for them.[741] The attribute of Passion rests on that of Darkness.
The attribute of Goodness, again, rests on that of Passion. Darkness
which is unmanifest overspreads itself on Knowledge, and causes the
phenomena of Intelligence and Consciousness.[742] That knowledge
possessing the attributes of Intelligence and Consciousness has been said
to be the seed of embodied Souls. That, again, which is the seed of such
knowledge is called the Jiva (or Chit-Soul).[743] In consequence of acts
and the virtue of time, the Soul goes through birth and repeated rounds
of rebirth. As in a dream the Soul sports as if invested with a body
which, of course, is due to the action of the mind, after the same
manner, it obtains in the mother's womb a body in consequence of
attributes and propensities having (past) acts for their origin. Whatever
senses while it is there, are awakened by past acts as the operating
cause, become generated in Consciousness in consequence of the mind
co-existing with attachments.
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