64 Evolution of Life and Form. 



Such is the outline, then, of the functions. The 

 next thing to grasp is, that, when we see on this 

 plane in which our consciousness is working the 

 physical plane any one of these fundamental 

 forms of manifestation, we should try to realise 

 the presence of the God behind the material pheno- 

 menon. Not a fire that burns upon the earth, 

 whether the fire of the volcanic mountain, whether 

 the fire ranging through the vast forest, whether 

 the fire burning on the household hearth, or on the 

 sacrificial altar, that is not Agni in manifestation, 

 with the possibility of his powers coming into 

 visibility. They were not dreamers, they who bade 

 you of old keep safe the fire, the household fire 

 which husband and wife at the bridal kindled, and 

 which, when the life of the married was over in the 

 home, they still carried out into the forest; they 

 carried with them the fire, and it took with them 

 the presence of the God, who through the house- 

 hold life had blessed, had guided, had given 

 prosperity and made the final withdrawal from the 

 household life possible and desirable. That is one 

 of the many truths which modern India is losing. 



But when these things were believed in, and the 

 ceremonies connected with them were carried on, 

 then nature worked in a definite order, and there 

 were not the same continual irregularities that we 



