organic. It is a center which possesses the tendency to manifest these
powers on different planes of existence. It contains the minute
particles of matter or ethereal substance and the life principle or
vital energy by which we live and move. It also possesses the mental
powers and sense powers; but all these remain latent, just as in a
seed we see that the powers of growth, of assimilation and of
producing flowers and fruits are latent.

At the time of death the individual soul contracts and remains in the
form of a germ of life. It is for this reason, Vedanta teaches, that
it is neither the will of God nor the fault of the parents that forms
the characters of children, but each child is responsible for its
tendencies, capacities, powers and character. It is its own "Karma" or
past actions that make a child a murderer or a saint, virtuous or
sinful. The stored-up potentialities in a subtle body manifest in the
character of an individual.

The argument advanced by the supporters of the theory of hereditary
transmission does not furnish a satisfactory explanation of the cause
of the inequalities and diversities of the universe. Why is it that
the children of the same parents show a marked dissimilarity to their
parents and to each other?

Why do twins develop into dissimilar characters and possess opposite
qualities, although they are born of the same parents at the same time
and brought up under similar conditions and environments? How can
heredity explain such cases? Suppose a man has five children; one is
honest and saintly, another is an idiot, the third becomes a murderer,
the fourth a genius or prodigy, and the fifth a cripple and
diseased. Who made these dissimilarities? They cannot be