NUMBERLESS IMPRESSIONS

 
The give-and-take of sanskaras or impressions is constantly going on in the play of life. Where there is mutuality, there is this give-and-take, but it is not a mechanical process. The same action can create different impressions, according to the motive which inspires that action. A man who, out of the motive of doing good to another person, gives him food or clothes, at once catches his good impressions. The man who slanders another person with an evil motive or steals his belongings at once catches his evil impressions.

Killing an animal for sport, pleasure or food means catching all its bad impression since the motive is selfish. But no such bad impressions are caught from snakes or germs and the like, which are a danger to humanity, when they are killed out of philanthropic motives and only when absolutely necessary. Such killing, when it is not a duty, will certainly create binding impressions....

Impressions are contagious. Eating meat is prohibited in many spiritual disciplines because the person thereby catches the impressions of the animal, thus rendering himself more susceptible to lust and anger. Sometimes, innumerable strong impressions are transmitted through the mere touch of the physical body of another person. A gross body, even a corpse, can quickly impart numberless impressions to the person who touches it.