There is one Infinite Eternal, Changeless existence, the All. From that all comes forth; to that all returns. "One only, without a second."
That include 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 from 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. 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 withe 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 caise 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 Mulaprakriti, the root of Matter. Prakriti, Matter, is that which takes form and so can give bodies of all sorts and shaptes 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. But the whole of them is not Matter; inaudible, invisible, unsmellable, untastable, intangible, the Spirit is in each an Amshab, a portion, of Ishvara. We call the Matter part a Shariram, body; or a koshab, sheath; or an Upadhib, vehicle; that which embodies, clothes or carries the spirit. Thus Ishvara is in everything and it is He who gives life to all things. He is Atma, the Self, the Immortal the Inner Ruler, dwelling in all objects and there is nothing that can exist apart from Him. An amshah of Him in a body of matter is called a Jiva or a Jivatma, a separated Self.
There are some very important differences between Spirit and Matter, as well as the differences just spoken of : that the senses, when completely developed, can perceive Matter, while they cannot perceive Spirit and that Matter takes form while Spirit is formless. It is the Spirit that is life and that thinks, and that Matter takes form while Spirit is formless. It is the Spirit that and that thinks and feels and observes that is the "I" in each of us. And the Spirit is one and the same in every body and in everything. But Matter cannot think, or feel, or observe; it is Jadam, without consciousness. And it has also the tendency to be constantly dividing itself into many forms and to become many. So that Spirit and Matter are said to be the opposites one of the other; Spirit is called the knower, the one that knows, while Matter is called the object of knowledge, that which is known.
Students should try to understand these differences, and must never confuse Spirit and Matter; they are opposites, the first "pair of opposites," out of which a universe is built up.
Just as Spirit has three qualities - Sat, Chit, Anandam - Being, Thought-Power and Blise, so has Matter three qualities Tamah, Rajah, Sattvam - Inertia, Mobility, Rhythm. Inertia give resistance and stability to matter; Mobility keeps matter active, moving about; Rhythm makes the movements regular. You may say : "A stone does not move of itself." But science tells yout that every particle in that stone particles too small for you to see - is moving rapidly and regularly to and fro, is vibrating to use the scientific term.
The Shaktih, or the Divine Power of Ishvara, which makes Matter begin to take form, is called Maya, and sometimes; Daiiprakrtih, the Divine Prakrit. Shri Krishna speaks of " My Divine Prakrti" as "My other Prakrit, the higher, the life-element, by which the universe is upheld."
