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THE SOUL'S TRANSMIGRATIONS
562
stains and impurities contracted in preceding generations,
just as an earthen vessel retains for a long time the odour
This article
of any strong liquor which it has contained.
of belief is illustrated by the example of a woman who had
been a fish in an earlier generation, and who, though really
a woman in the present, still retained, it is said, an odour
which betrayed her first origin. It is necessary therefore
that a long succession of generations should cleanse the soul
from all the impurities which have polluted it in generations
preceding impurities which will increase indefinitely if
people continue to lead dissolute lives.
When the Hindus are asked what is the limit of these
transmigrations, they are unable to give any positive
answer. Nevertheless their sacred books affirm that a
soul only succeeds in getting rid of continual transforma-
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tions when by long penance and contemplation it has
raised itself to that high degree of wisdom and perfection
which identifies it with the Supreme Being, that is, with
Parabrahma. Before reaching such sublime heights, it
must pass through all the trials and temptations to which
human weakness has been condemned, and must acquire
by its own experience a complete knowledge of good and
evil.
It begins its transmigrations under the form of the
vilest insects, and rises little by little to the condition of
man, in which state the spark of wisdom concealed in it,
after having remained stationary for millions of years, is
at length developed and imperceptibly leads to that state
of perfection and purity which puts an end to changeful
In not assigning definite periods to each trans-
migration of the soul the Hindu philosophers seem to be
wiser than the followers of Plato, who, with absurd pre-
sumption, have seen fit to assign fixed and definite periods
in some cases three thousand, and in others ten thousand
Further, according to the latter, the transmigra-
years.
each soul has its choice of abode
tion is not left to chance
according to the inclinations of the man in whose body it
has sojourned. Thus the soul of Agamemnon passed into
the body of an eagle
that of Orpheus animated a swan
that of Ajax, a lion
that of Thersites, an ape, &c.
All this is simply ridiculous.
But the stumbling-block of
the system is recollection of the past. Since the body is
existence.
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