Everywhere Nature is alive. In all her kingdoms the Light of Spirit or God abides, as it does in the heart of every man, woman and child.

While it is true that the Spirit of God moulds the mineral, beautifies the vegetable, energizes the animal, in the human being it manifest in a special way. In old Asiatic Psychology and in modern Theosophy, the special relation between God and Man is portrayed. We are taught that God is the Great Universe, the Macrocosm; and Man, the small universe, the Microcosm. Man is a miniature copy of the Great Universe of Light and Space and Motion and Time. In the mighty Universe, composed of Spirit, Intelligence and Matter, a variety of powers, known and unknown, manifest themselves. But in man alone all the powers of Nature are present.

This is an important point to understand, and perhaps it will make it easy for us if we use an analogy. Take a photograph: a photograph is an exact copy of the man. However small the photograph, it enables us to recognize the person whose photograph it is. So with man. Man himself is a copy of the Universe, the great Cosmos. But then one might ask: What is the difference between man and God? To understand the difference, take another analogy. Take a seed—the lotus seed, for example. The seed is a living photograph of the lotus in the sense that all the powers and the beauty of the lotus are latent in the seed. The seed, when fully fructified, becomes the lotus; the man, when fully unfolded, becomes God. The seed is the lotus in latency; man is God in latency. Therefore is God called in mystical language the Heavenly Man. In Jewish mysticism man's name is Adam and God's name is Adam Kadmon. It is the same conception which is brought out in the words—Purusha and Uttama Purusha, Atma and Maha-Atma in Hindu mysticism.

In other kingdoms of Nature, some of her powers are fructifying, but in man the whole of Nature is fructifying. For instance, in the animal kingdom there is no basis, no seed for passions and feelings to fructify. But in man, every aspect and every power of Nature can fructify. Therefore we say that man is the small universe. Man is Divinity in latency.

That brings us to the next point: the various compounded forms of Life in the Universe are made up of different aspects of Nature. For example, an animal is composed of certain aspects of Nature: there is matter, there is vitality, there is the assemblage of feelings and appetites; whatever form of life we examine and analyse, we find that it is made up of certain constituents which exist in Nature. Just as our own physical body is made up of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphate, phosphorus and so on, and these are derived from the ocean of matter, so also all our other constituents. The human body is derived from matter; when it disintegrates, its constituents go back to the ocean of matter. Similarly, our energy, vitality, or Prana, is derived from the ocean of vitality or Jiva; when the body disintegrates, human Prana goes back to the ocean of Jiva. Similarly, the human mind is derived from the Divine Mind, Mahat. Thus the view which Theosophy gives of man is that he is a highly complex being, and is made up of derivatives from the great spiritual and material kingdoms of Life. There is not a single constituent of our being which is not derived from the womb of Mother Nature. Human spirit and soul, human mind and intelligence, human feelings and body, are all derived from the Living Universe called God or Deity.

That is the first answer to the question: What is Man? Man is a compound. Karma and evolution have

"centred in our make such strange extremes
From different Natures marvellously mixed."

The idea that we need to grasp is that between each one of us and great Mother Nature there is a most intimate relationship. Just as through our physical bodily senses and organs we are in constant touch with the material universe, so through our mind and soul and spirit we are in constant touch with the divine mind, divine soul and divine spirit. Recognize this and the rationale of Yoga, union between man and god, is obtained. Keep that basic idea and principle in mind, and you will have a key to numerous mysteries of Nature and Deity.

We can well begin our study of man's constitution by first looking at him in a single way as a triad of spirit, soul and body. In his first aspect, man is a spiritual being; as soul, man is the self-conscious thinker with a will that is free; and the body represents the garment or vehicle of the soul. These are the three aspects of the one man, and psychologically or philosophically, no study is complete till all three are taken into account. Modern science fails to understand or to explain man because its conception of the soul is wrong. Modern philosophy fails because its view of the relationship of spirit and soul is wrong. Modern psychology borrows the faults both of science and of philosophy and has become dangerous, for it has begun to advise practically on subjects of which its knowledge is most partial and fragmentary. In orthodox religions, confusion prevails and no knowledge is available in church or mosque or temple about spirit, soul and body. Theosophy possesses the knowledge and offers it to its student. It has answers for the inquirer.

Man is triune because God or Nature is triune. Man-spirit proves God-spirit; human mind is able to fathom Divine Mind. This intimate relation between God and Man should never be overlooked.

Bearing this fundamental principle in mind, let us begin at man's lower aspect, the body, with which we are all familiar. In studying the human body, we are not studying something simple. Any medical student, any ordinary reader of books on physiology and anatomy, knows that the body is a highly complex organization. Occult physiology reveals it to be still more complex. The most important function of the human body is performed by the senses. Esoteric Philosophy looks upon the body as the dwelling of the soul, our senses, eyes, ears, nose are doors and windows through which the soul contacts the outside world, receiving impressions from without and responding to them; the brain is the final station in the body where sense-impressions are gathered; also, the brain is the station at which soul-expressions come and from there are distributed to the organs of action.

Next, there is the invinsible foundation on which the very stability and existence of the physical body depend. In Theosophy it is called the Astral Body. It is composed of substance which is magnetic in essence; and because that substance is radiant, shining like starry matter, the term astral or starry was used. It is not a new invention of modern Theosophy; in Hindu psycho-philosophy it has definite names. Because as foundation it gives a design to the physical body, it is called design body or Linga Sharira. As it is composed of subtle matter, it is named Sukshma Sharira, the subtle body. This is a very important constituent; it plays a prominent part in the process of death, and during the life of the body its condition determines the health of the body, for one of its primary functions is that it acts as the channel for the absorption and flow of vitality, energy, or Prana. One of the names of the Astral Body, according to Vedantic classification, is Pranamaya Kosha, the sheath of Prana or vitality.

Just as physical air surrounds us on every side, so there is the ocean of vitality which surrounds us, though it too, like the air, is not visible. We breathe the air, so also we absorb Prana from the vast ocean of life. This Prana circulates in the Astral Body, keeping it alive, bringing it health. All through the life of the body it circulates, functioning in one kind of way; at death, its function changes; in the corpse it functions differently, disintegrating it. This Prana or vitality is Life-Energy in more than one sense. In conjunction with the Astral Body it also becomes the basis and channel for the next constituent of man, called desires and passions, Kama.

Kama-desire is also known as tanha, the thirst or longing for life. It is also called trishna, the force of love. Kama may be good or bad. The root desire is the desire for separated existence. Look for a moment at the animal kingdom: the desire for life as a separated unit results in the desire to know itself as a separate unit. In the vegetable kingdom, tanha or desire manifests in a corporate manner. There is no separate desire for life in the flower, in the branch, in the bark. The desire for life is in the whole tree. But in the animal kingdom that desire is so formulated that there is consciousness of life. The dog and the cat feel the consciousness of life as separate entities; but the dog and the cat do not know themselves as separate entities. Man does. Therefore we say the root desire of man is desire for separated existence in self-consciousness. This is called Ahankara, egoity, the root of egotism and pride. This power of desire to perpetuate Ahankara is derived from the next higher principle called Manas—the human soul.

Manas is the Thinker, who is self-conscious. Because of Manas, man is able to say, I am so-and-so; without it, the dog or the cat is not able to give itself a name or to know itself. Manas is the Human Soul and its power to think and to reason is known as mind. By the aid of mind, the soul expresses itself, the thinker is able to think its own thoughts. But Theosophy says that man, as a thinker, has two aspects—incarnate, in the flesh or in the body; and discarnate, or outside the body. As human soul, we are not fully incarnate. What is in the body is but a portion or fragment of the highest aspect of man. The self-conscious Intelligence, Manas, is a ray of the Sun of Spirit, our whole Self. That pure Spirit is our Higher Self—Atma-Buddhi. The human soul, Manas, self-conscious intelligence, is attached to Atma-Buddhi; so in our highest aspect we are Atma-Buddhi-Manas; in our incarnate aspect we are a fragment or portion of Manas.

Now we have the whole picture of man: look at it from above downwards. In our highest aspect we are Spirit—Atma, Buddhi, Manas. Only a portion of Manas incarnates in the body; this is joined, so to speak, with Kama, the desire for separated existence, which affects the Prana or vitality of the Astral Body, which is the foundation of the physical body.

What is the good of knowing all this? Can any of this knowledge make us better men or women, more efficient, more virtuous, of a more beautiful character? What practical application can we make of our study?

Let us look at ourselves: What are we? We, ourselves, are the human soul, Manas, the thinker. As Manas, we are linked with our own Father in Heaven—Atma-Buddhi-Manas. Our own Divine or Higher Self broods over us, can be invoked by us. It has knowledge and power which we can utilize, but we must learn the art or the technique of coming in close and active co-operation with our Higher Self. This we do not know at present, because the incarnated soul, Manas, is affected and coloured and even controlled by the root desire for a separated existence. From that root desire spring many different desires, good and bad. Love and lust, affection and aversion, pride and patience and a dozen others arise from the root of egoity or Ahankara. They press into their service—or to be more accurate, it is Ahankara that presses into the service of its progeny—the power of thought or mind, which is the power of Manas, the soul. Thus Kama drags and exploits and prostitutes the power of thought and ideation, and these desires, aided by thought-power, become alive, vital, energic, because Kama-Manas uses Prana. Manas is taken hold of by desires and becomes Kama-Manas, and the creatures of Kama-Manas become alive by the aid of Prana, and they all dwell in the Astral Body, Linga Sharira, or Pranamaya Kosha. These creatures or progeny of Ahankara are forces called elementals, known in Sanskrit under the name of Devatas. So Prana, which is permeated by Kamic or Tanhaic elementals, good, bad or indifferent, circulates in and emanates from the Astral Body.

Our Astral Body throws out fluid just like our physical body thows out perspiration. The magnetism of a person is the fluid or emanation manufactured in the Astral Body and which goes into his senses and organs and then flows out or emanates from every pore of the body. The health or disease of our physical body depend upon our magnetism; the dull appearance or the bright appearance of the body is entirely because of magnetism—this astral fluid. Not only dull or bright appearance but dull or bright mood is also the result of magnetism. When people say, so-and-so has a magnetic personality, they hardly know what they are talking about, but it is the result of this astral fluid which has in it thoughts and feelings. Saintly people have haloes, it is said, and there is Tejas or Ojas surrounding such people. All human beings have their invisible flow of magnetism, but in all it does not shine forth as it does in saints and sages. Evil and wicked men and women emanate dull, dark, foul magnetism. Just as there is tone to our human voice, and lustre to our human eyes, so also there is a smell to the human personality. That tone of voice, that lustre of eyes, that smell of personality, are the results of magnetism.

Theosophy teaches how to purify magnetism. Ordinary hygiene and sanitation teach us how to be clean physically; occult hygiene and sanitation bring us the knowledge of how to make our dull magnetism radiant, how to handle our moods which affect that magnetism. Numerous diseases of the body are rooted in the magnetism of the Astral Body, and this fact is not known to medical science. Injections and serums, certain foods and drinks, befoul the magnetism; but worse still are our thoughts and feelings.

In ancient days, prophets and sages taught the masses how to keep their own magnetism pure. When the true Religion of Life was followed, men and women were taught the technique of remaining pure—not only clean in body, but also pure in magnetism. Certain rites were prescribed, but they were intelligently performed by each one to retain his or her pure magnetism. Today, all religions have become corrupted and true knowledge is forgotten. Modern science teaches us to take care of the body, but its knowledge is partial and in Theosophy we come across the knowledge of inner purification which teaches us to emanate for the benefit of others that Light whose source is in the Soul. Within us is the Light and the Fire, but it is obscured by the winds of petty thoughts and is almost put out by the torrent of desires.