Page:Philosophy of bhagawad-gita.pdf/82

58 the origin of manifested beings, though it does not exist in combination with them. Conceive that all the manifested beings are within me, just as the atmosphere spreading everywhere is always in space.

In my last lecture I tried to explain the mysterious connection between Parabrahmam and Mūlaprakṛṭi. Parabrahmam is never differentiated. What is differentiated is Mūlaprakṛṭi, which is sometimes called Avyakṭam, and in other places, Kūtasṭham, which means simply the undifferentiated Element. Nevertheless Parabrahmam seems to be the one foundation for all physical phenomena, or for all phenomena that are generally referred to Mūlaprakṛṭi. After all, any material object is nothing more than a bundle of attributes to us. Either on account of an innate propensity within us, or as a matter of inference, we always suppose that there is a non-ego, which has this bundle of attributes superimposed upon it, and which is the basis of all these attributes. Were it not for this essence, there could be no physical body. But these attributes do not spring from Parabrahmam itself, but from Mūlaprakṛṭi which is its veil; Mūlaprakṛṭi is the veil of Parabrahmam. It is not Parabrahmam itself, but merely its appearance. It is purely phenomenal. It is no doubt far more persistent than any other kind of objective existence. Being the first mode or manifestation of the only absolute and unconditioned reality, it seems to be the basis of all subsequent manifestations. Speaking of this aspect of Parabrahmam, Kṛṣhṇa says that the