A Series of Lessons in Gnani Yoga | Page 9

Its expression, through Its Will. We lack words adequate to
describe the nature of the Absolute, but we will use two words

describing its inmost nature as best we see it. These two words are
LIFE and LOVE, the one describing the outer, the other the inner
nature. Let us manifest both Life and Love as a token of our origin and
inner nature. Peace be with you.

THE SECOND LESSON
OMNIPRESENT LIFE.
In our First Lesson of this series, we brought out the idea that the
human mind was compelled to report the fact that it could not think of
The Absolute except as possessing the quality of
Omnipresence--Present-Everywhere. And, likewise, the human mind is
compelled to think that all there IS must be The Absolute, or of the
Absolute. And if a thing is of the Absolute, then the Absolute must be
in it, in some way--must be the essence of it. Granting this, we must
then think that everything must be filled with the essence of Life, for
Life must be one of the qualities of the Absolute, or rather what we call
Life must be the outward expression of the essential Being of the
Absolute. And if this be so, then it would follow that everything in the
Universe must be Alive. The mind cannot escape this conclusion. And
if the facts do not bear out this conclusion then we must be forced to
admit that the entire basic theory of the Absolute and its emanations
must fall, and be considered as an error. No chain is stronger than its
weakest link, and if this link be too weak to bear the weight of the facts
of the universe, then must the chain be discarded as imperfect and
useless, and another substituted. This fact is not generally mentioned by
those speaking and writing of All being One, or an emanation of the
One, but it must be considered and met. If there is a single thing in the
Universe that is "dead"--non-living--lifeless--then the theory must fall.
If a thing is non-living, then the essence of the Absolute cannot be in
it--it must be alien and foreign to the Absolute, and in that case the
Absolute cannot be Absolute for there is something outside of itself.
And so it becomes of the greatest importance to examine into the
evidences of the presence of Life in all things, organic or inorganic.
The evidence is at hand--let us examine it.
The ancient occultists of all peoples always taught that the Universe
was Alive--that there was Life in everything--that there was nothing
dead in Nature--that Death meant simply a change in form in the

material of the dead bodies. They taught that Life, in varying degrees of
manifestation and expression, was present in everything and object,
even down to the hardest mineral form, and the atoms composing that
form.
Modern Science is now rapidly advancing to the same position, and
each months investigations and discoveries serve only to emphasize the
teachings.
Burbank, that wonderful moulder of plant life, has well expressed this
thought, when he says: "All my investigations have led me away from
the idea of a dead material universe tossed about by various forces, to
that of a universe which is absolutely all force, life, soul, thought, or
whatever name we may choose to call it. Every atom, molecule, plant,
animal or planet, is only an aggregation of organized unit forces, held
in place by stronger forces, thus holding them for a time latent, though
teeming with inconceivable power. All life on our planet is, so to speak,
just on the outer fringe of this infinite ocean of force. The universe is
not half dead, but all alive."
Science today is gazing upon a living universe. She has not yet realized
the full significance of what she has discovered, and her hands are
raised as if to shade her eyes from the unaccustomed glare that is
bursting upon her. From the dark cavern of universal dead matter, she
has stepped out into the glare of the noon-day sun of a Universe
All-Alive even to its smallest and apparently most inert particle.
Beginning at Man, the highest form of Life known to us, we may pass
rapidly down the scale of animal life, seeing life in full operation at
each descending step. Passing from the animal to the vegetable
kingdom, we still see Life in full operation, although in lessened
degrees of expression. We shall not stop here to review the many
manifestations of Life among the forms of plant-life, for we shall have
occasion to mention them in our next lesson, but it must be apparent to
all that Life is constantly manifesting in the sprouting of seeds; the
putting forth of stalk, leaves, blossoms, fruit, etc., and in