Page:Hatha yoga - or the yogi philosophy of physical well-being, with numberous excercises.djvu/145

Rh by unheeding and waste our mind force on silly things and hurtful pursuits.

So much for the work of the cell. The cell-mind is supplied from the Universal Mind—the great storehouse of "mind-stuff"—and is kept in touch and directed by the mind of the cell-centers, which are in turn controlled by higher centers, until the central Instinctive Mind is reached. But the cell-mind is not able to express itself without both of two other principles—matter and prana. It needs the fresh material supplied by the well-digested food, in order to make for itself a medium of expression. It also needs a supply of prana, or vital force, in order to move and have action. The triune principle of Life—mind, matter and force—is necessary in the cell as in the man. Mind needs force or energy (prana) in order to manifest itself in action through matter. As in great things so in small—as above so below.

In our previous chapters we have spoken of the digestion and of the importance of giving the blood a goodly supply of nourishing, well-digested food, in order that it might properly perform its work of repairing and building up the parts of the body. In this chapter we have shown you how the cells use the material in order to do the building—how they use the material to build up themselves, and then how they build themselves in the body. Remember, the cells, which are used as building bricks, surround themselves with the material obtained from the food, making themselves bodies, as it were; then take up a supply of prana or vital energy and are then carried or pushed to where they are needed, where they build themselves, and are built up into new tissue, bone,