Page:Hatha yoga - or the yogi philosophy of physical well-being, with numberous excercises.djvu/138

138 which serve as vehicles for higher forms of consciousness.

When death comes to the physical body, the cells separate and scatter and that which we call decay sets in. The force which has held the cells together is withdrawn, and they become free to go their own way and to form new combinations. Some go into the body of the plants in the vicinity, and eventually find themselves in the body of an animal; others remain in the organism of the plant; others remain in the ground for a time, but the life of the atom means incessant and constant change. As a leading writer has said: "Death is but an aspect of life, and the destruction of one material form is but a prelude to the building up of another." We will give our students a brief idea of the nature and work of this cell-life—the life of these little lives of the body.

The cells of the body have three principles: (1) Matter, which they obtain from the food; (2) Prana, or vital force, which enables them to manifest action, and which is obtained from the food we eat; the water we drink and the air we breathe; (3) Intelligence, or "mind-stuff," which is obtained from the Universal Mind. We will first take up the material side of cell-life.

As we have said, every living body is a collection of minute cells. This is, of course, true of every part of the body, from the hard bone to the softest tissue—from the enamel of the tooth to the most delicate part of the mucous membrane. These cells have different shapes, which are regulated by the requirements of its particular office, or work. Each cell is, to all