Hermann Kuhn
Maya tairyagyonasya (16)
- Misleading others about our real motives, imparting false information (deceit) and the desire for cheating
- teaching religious beliefs we are not convinced of (any more)
- altering religious teachings to suit egoistic motives and propagating these altered teachings
- the lack of honest behavior and decency
- a regretful attitude at our time of death
attracts karma that leads to birth(s) in bodies without the faculty of mind - i.e. in bodies of animals and plants.
The purpose of the mind (manas) is to understand and communicate how to reach freedom from karmic limitations. The intentional misuse of the mind to deceive others causes a basic malfunctioning of the mechanisms governing this sense-organ.
Since any physical organ 'withers' if we do not exercise its proper purpose, so also the mind 'withers' if we do not use its originally intended function. Yet if we do not activate our mind's intended function, we become incapable of binding the (positive) karma that will support the development of a mind in our next body. Therefore - once we leave our present body - because of the missing 'mind-building' karma - only a birth in bodies without mind[27] becomes possible.
Every being that exists on a non-human level (e.g. in form of an animal), but strives to be born in a human body, needs to acquire a type of 'quasi-karma' for this purpose. Although the path to karmic freedom is generally characterized by the dissolution and not by the binding of karma, in this case the intake of 'quasi-karma' (i.e. the desire for human incarnation) is an essential precondition for acquiring a human body and its potential for reaching ultimate freedom.
