Book 4 (Part II)

126 inclines to suppose, that this action involves one in the doom of being killed by a louse a hundred thousand times. This ledger of Karma is kept separate from the petty cash account; and in respect of bulk this petty cash account is very much bigger than the ledger. If we eat too much salmon we get indigestion and perhaps nightmare. It is silly to suppose that a time will come when a salmon will eat us, and find us disagree. On the other hand we are always being terribly punished for actions that are not faults at all. Even our virtues rouse insulted nature to revenge. Karma only grows by what it feeds on: and if Karma is to be properly brought up, it requires a very careful diet. With the majority of people their actions cancel each other out; no sooner is effort made than it is counterbalanced by idleness. Eros gives place to x\nteros. Not one man in a thousand makes even an apparent escape from the commonplace of animal life. Birth is sorrow ; Life is sorrow ; Sorrowfiil are old age, disease, and death; But resurrection is the greatest misery of all.