Evolution o/ Form. 133 



firm to the principles, the study of detail, of forms, 

 will seem less confusing, less complex and less diffi- 

 cult ; you will not lose your way among the trees, 

 when once you have looked down on the forest as 

 a whole ; that is a simile I once heard from Pro- 

 fessor Huxley, as illustrating principles and details, 

 and it is a suggestive one. 



We begin then the detailed evolution of form ; it 

 is like a great circle traced downwards and upwards. 

 There is a great difference between the downward 

 arc, the one-half of the circle, and the upward arc, 

 the other half of the circle. In the one case, coming 

 downwards, Ishvara imparts qualities and attributes ; 

 in the other half, going upwards, He builds the 

 qualities and attributes into vehicles. These are the 

 two great differences between the downward and up- 

 ward arcs. In the downward, matter takes up qua- 

 lities ; in the upward, matter is formed into vehicles, 

 or sheaths, or bodies, whatever may be the term we 

 prefer. A process of specialisation goes on, up to a 

 certain point. After a time the specialised materials 

 are drawn together and combined into a vehicle, an 

 organised unity, serving as a tabernacle for the Self. 

 First comes differentiation, and the first step to that 

 is to impart qualities to matter. Let me remind 

 you, as the subject is so difficult a one, what is 

 meant by tattvas, the fundamental forms of matter, 



