THE ONE EXISTENCE.

THERE is one Infinite Eternal, Changeless Existence, the ALL.

From THAT all comes forth; to THAT all returns.

"One only, without a second."*

THAT includes within Itself all that ever has been, is, and can be. As a wave rises in the
ocean, a universe rises in the ALL. As the wave sinks again into the ocean, a universe
sinks again into the ALL. As the ocean is water, and the wave a form or manifestation of
the water, so is there one Existence, and the universe is a form, or manifestation, of the
Existence. "All this verily (is) Brahman."+

This is the primary truth of Religion. Men have given to the ALL many different names.
The name in the Sanatana Dharma is BRAHMAN. English-speaking people use the name
GOD, adding, to make the meaning clear, God, in His own Nature."

*Chhandogyop, VI, ii-I.

+
Ibid, III. Xiv, “This” is the technical name for a universe

Sometimes the Hindu speaks of the ALL as Nirguna Brahman, the Brahman without
attributes, or the unconditioned Brahman. This is to distinguish the unmanifested state of
Brahman, the ALL, from the manifested state, in which Brahman is called the Saguna
Brahman, the Brahman with attributes, or the conditioned Brahman the Supreme Ishvara
with His universe.

These are called: "the two states of Brahman;" * the subject is very difficult, and it is
enough for a boy to understand that the Saguna Brahman is Brahman revealed-not "a
second," but Brahman shining forth as THE ONE, the Great Lord of Being, Thought and
Bliss. He is the self-existent One, the Root and Cause of all beings. He is also some-times
called Purusottama, the Supreme Spirit, THE SELF. With Himself as Spirit He reveals the
other side of the ALL, which is named Mülaprakriti, the Root of Matter. Prakriti, Matter,
is that which takes form, and so can give bodies of all sorts and shapes and kinds; all that
we can touch, taste, smell, see, and hear, is Matter, and a great deal more besides, which
our five senses are not yet developed enough to perceive. The solids, liquids and gases of
the chemist are made of Matter; all the things round us, stones, trees, animals, men, are
made of Matter.