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THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE BHAGAVAḌ-GĪṬĀ

them in treatises on what may be called Taraka Yoga. Taram, or Pranava is also the symbol of the manifested man. And the three Matras without the Ardhamatra symbolise the three principles, or the three manifestations of the orginal Mulaprakrti in the solar system. Sankhya Yoga, properly so called, mainly deals with these three principles and the evolution from them of all material organisms. I use the word material to indicate, not only the physical and astral organisms but also organisms on the plane higher than the astral. Much of what lies on this plane also is in my opinion physical, though perhaps it may differ in its constitution from the known forms of matter on the ordinary objective plane. The whole of this manifested solar system is, strictly speaking, within the field of physical research. As yet we have only been surveying the superficies of the outward cosmos. It is that, and that alone, which physical science has, up to this time reached. I have not the slightest doubt that in course of time physical science will be able to penetrate deep into the underlying basis, that corresponds to the Sutratma of our Vedantic writers.

It is the province of Sankhya philosophy to trace from the three component parts of Mulaprakrti all the various physical manifestations. It must not, however, be supposed that I in any way authorise the way in which Sankhya philosophy, as at present understood, traces out the origin of these manifestations.