therefore said to be produced out of the Self as their cause, as the Reality underlying all phenomena. They are only illusory forms of the Self who exists ever the same, unaffected by the forms set up in Him by mere avidya, just as a rope remains unaffected as rope all the while that it is mistaken for a serpent. These forms, external objects as they are called, have no real being outside that of the Self. No object ever shines except when associated with the Ego perceiving it and forming the material basis of the object, as clay is the material basis of a pot. The Atoms and the Pradhana, assumed by the Tarkikas and the Sankhyas to be the cause of the universe, are only hypothetical: or, if they be more than hypothetical, they are the illusory forms of Atman, the One Existence and Light. It is because Atman is thus the sole cause of the phenomenal universe that the existence and light which constitute the inherent essential nature of Atman are associated with each individual object in the universe, just as clay is found associated with the objects made of it.

30. The universe is but an external expression of the will, intelligence and activity of the One Existence. As the universe appears for a time and then disappears, even these last--will, intelligence and activity,--do not constitute the inherent nature of Isvara who exists the same for ever. Accordingly, to speak of the universe of

evanescent forms as really existing, or to speak of Isvara as the creator of the universe, is not absolutely true. When external objects are said to exist and shine, it is the Self that exists and shines in the forms spoken of as sense-objects. In fact, no object ever exists or shines except as the object of the consciousness of an Ego, of 'I'; while the Ego, what we feel as 'I,' exists and shines ever the same, seeing the objects and even their absence. These objects come and go, no individual object having really existed before manifestation nor continuing to exist thereafter. The sense-objects, properly speaking, can have no more real existence than the serpent for which a rope is mistaken. One way of realising the universality and unity of the Self is to refer the existence and light, present in all external objects, to the Ego who is associated with every object perceived. The one Atman appears as the Ego,--as perceiver when manifested in the buddhi, and as agent of actions when manifested in prana. Deluded by Maya, by the mighty power of illusion, the One Self appears as Jiva identifying Himself with the manas and prana in all their transformations. The removal, by knowledge, of the illusion which is the cause of samsara is called Moksha or Liberation. When this has been accomplished, all limitations created by Maya having disappeared, the Jiva realises his true nature as the one

[paragraph continues] Omniscient Atman and recognises the identity of Jiva and Isvara.