Similarly, upon the death of the body, the cell-forms disintegrate, and the entities ensouled by them become "frozen," or latent. Their Great Pralaya has struck; their Prana rebecomes Jiva; their "matter," now the abode of lower unsynthesized lives alone, enters the general storehouse of nature, or, rather, returns to the plane from which it had been temporarily lifted by this association, and may be and is used over and over again for similar purposes by other entities. The Linga Sharira, which is but finer ethereal matter, surrenders its Prana, and is similarly resolved back into its component lower "lives." The higher kamic "elementals," those which synthesize the various "organs" of the body, are next reached by the "inbreath," and become latent - changing into those skandhas of Buddhistic philosophy which await the return of the soul to incarnation, which is their manvantara, or opportunity for renewed conscious manifestation.

Thus, the whole of the four lower principles take no part in reincarnation as self-conscious entities. There yet remains that which is termed the Higher Triad to deal with, which completes the Septenary classification.

Of these the most important (to us) is the Reincarnating Ego, the Center of Self-Consciousness; that which Mrs. Annie Besant first termed the Thinker, which is the real basis of man's apparent and (relatively) true individualized existence. But as this will be dealt with in a separate chapter it will be passed for the present, and the remaining two briefly considered.

Sophists have tried to show that the Causeless Cause of Theo- sophic Philosophy was an impossibility, because the moment any cause is postulated one antecedent and causal to it, as well as one subsequent, are at once required. The Universe, from this point of view, is but an eternal sequence of causes and effects impossible of interruption or cessation. This is a true view of all finite causes and effects. These are a series in which the cessation of one cause as an effect changes necessarily the relation of this to a future one, so that it becomes in turn a cause. Yet, if this is true of finite causes and effects, it none the less demands the postulating, philosophically, of a causal basis which supports the whole finite series without itself being in any way modified or limited by so doing. Thus, if the series of finite causes and effects which we recognize as the manifested or phenomenal Universe be likened to an immense series of arches spanning an ocean, the existence and integrity of each of which truly depends upon its immediate neighbor upon either side, then the Causeless Cause would be the solid rock upon which the piers supporting all the arches rest. That rock is equally undisturbed and unmodified whether piers or arches rest upon it or not.

And this non-limitation and non-modification is the same, although a portion of this rock be used in the construction of both piers and arches. In like manner, the Causeless Cause remains unmodified, although it is both the base upon which phenomenal existence rests and that phenomenal existence itself (as one aspect of its manifestation).

Atman, the highest human principle, is a Ray from the Causeless Cause, and thus defies definition and eludes analysis. It is the base upon which man's Thinking Principle rests its phenomenal existence. It is the pier which supports the arch of a human soul. But it also equally supports and is the base of all things in the Universe as well. It is the Unknowable Something, or No-thing, rather, which binds together those properties which constitute alike Matter, Force, or Consciousness, Thus, in gold we have certain properties, as ductility, malleability, weight, cohesion, extension, etc. Now, what has caused these various properties, this malleability, ductility, cohesion, etc., to unite into atomic form as gold? Is it chance, or is there an unifying, synthesizing, causal base, upon which all the properties of any socalled matter can equally rest? Theosophy declares for the latter proposition, and, further, insists that the varied and multiform qualities and faculties of man's divinely complex mind are also synthesized by and rest upon a Ray from the same Causeless Cause. This Unknowable Ray, then, is Atman, and bestows potentially upon man, by virtue of its origin ,all the Creative, Preservative, and Destructive (or regenerative) powers we see manifested in the Universe about us.

But a Cause without an agent to bring about its effect is inconceivable - at least, to all but Western materialistic philosophy. Therefore, as we see in nature an obvious duality in spirit and matter, and recognize that any absolute law must obtain on all planes of the Cosmos, we must also postulate a material aspect or vehicle for this Atmic Ray. This is as undefinable and metaphysical as Atman itself, but it is an absolutely necessary philosophic hypothesis. It also arises as a perfectly legitimate logical sequence in following physical laws into metaphysical domains. This vehicle for Atman, then, is called Buddhi, and, like Atman, is an universal, indestructible principle potentially present in every conceivable point of space, and, like the latter, its apparent separation in man or nature an illusion.

Yet we would err were we to look upon this base of the material aspect of man's being as being only material. There is no pure matter in the Cosmos, as there is also no pure spirit.* And as each expression of consciousness, under the law of cause and effect, must seek a fitting vehicle, Buddhi, being the vehicle of the Atmic Ray from Absolute Consciousness, is of itself possessed of faculties and powers infinitely superior to man, even in his highest aspect of a Thinking, Reincarnating entity. As the vehicle of Absolute Wisdom and Power, it is called the Knower, in superior contradistinction to that Thinker next it which has to arrive at knowledge and wisdom by thought or reason. As the vehicle of Absolute Consciousness, it corresponds, in its relation to this, to the human brain, or man's physical basis for registering conscious experiences. In the latter are recorded all his conscious experiences in matter during a physical life. In Buddhi is stored, as corresponding to an eternal, metaphysical brain of the Universe, the conscious experiences of all manvantaras.

To reach the wisdom residing in this Divine Vehicle, to widen one's conscious area to Infinite bounds, is to become immortal in very truth, for it is union with that which is One and Indestructible. Such an union is undoubtedly attainable, but before its attainment stretch such immeasurable vistas of time, such inconceivable experiences in consciousness, that at our present stage speculation upon it seems unwarranted. The union of the lower Personality with the Higher Ego is our present evolutionary task, the relation of which to each other and to nature will be next considered.

* Using the term "Cosmos" as applied to our solar system. What conditions obtain upon the Unmanifested side of nature is not a subject for finite inquiry. Once the cycle of manifestation is entered, however, matter, force, and consciousness are always associated; the differing degrees of this association constituting apparently the modus operandi of manifestation. (This in answer to a friendly critic's objection to this assertion.)