ils for the new Ego that will be reborn under its
nefarious shadow, and that with every seance, especially for
materialization, they multiply the causes for misery, causes
that will make the unfortunate Ego fail in his spiritual
birth, or be reborn into a far worse existence than
ever--they would, perhaps, be less lavish in their
hospitality._

Premature death brought on by vicious courses, by over-study, or by
voluntary sacrifice for some great cause, will bring about delay in
Kamaloka, but the state of the disembodied entity will depend on the
motive that cut short the life.

_There are very few, if any, of the men who indulge in these
vices, who feel perfectly sure that such a course of action
will lead them eventually to premature death. Such is the
penalty of Maya. The "vices" will not escape their
punishment; but it is the_ cause, _not the effect, that will
be punished, especially an unforeseen, though probable
effect. As well call a man a "suicide" who meets his death in
a storm at sea, as one who kills himself with "over-study".
Water is liable to drown a man, and too much brain work to
produce a softening of the brain matter which may carry him
away. In such a case no one ought to cross the_ Kalapani,
_nor even to take a bath for fear of getting faint in it and
drowned (for we all know of such cases), nor should a man do
his duty, least of all sacrifice himself for even a laudable
and highly beneficial cause as many of us do. Motive is
everything, and man is punished in a case of direct
responsibility, never otherwise. In the victim's case the
natural hour of death was anticipated_ accidentally, _while
in that of the suicide death is brought on voluntarily and
with a full and deliberate knowledge of its immediate
consequences. Thus a man who causes his death in a fit of
temporary insanity is_ not _a_ felo de se, _to the great
grief and often trouble of the Life Insurance Companies. Nor
is he left a prey to the temptations of the Kamaloka, but
falls_ asleep _like any other victim._

The population of Kamaloka is thus recruited with a peculiarly
dangerous element by all the acts of violence, legal and illegal,
which wrench the physical body from the soul and send the latter into
Kamaloka clad in the desire body, throbbing with pulses of hatred,
passion, emotion, palpitating with longin