Llla !, and that brahmana Vaslshtha was the Padma thou
bemoanest now. One illusion giving' birth to others, unreal
in reality from the standpoint of the Self, but all too real to the
view of those who are within it and within its grasp.

Lila heard in wide-eyed wonder and exclaimed: "0 D6vi !,
Thy words may not be false, and yet how may this be ? The
Jiva of the brahmana within the walls of his small house» and
we the monarchs of far-stretching lands, forests, and mountains !
The maddened elephant confined within a g^rain of rye ! The
mosquito competing- with a host of lions and defeating them !
The Meru mountain hid in a speck of pollen and swallowed by
mistake by an infant bee ! Explain thyself, 0 Devi !, and bear
in thy great patience with the slowness of my weak mind.

Sarasvati ; <<! tell thee no untruth, my daughter ! If we
ourselves did break the great ordainments, who else would
observe them ? It is true that the old memory of you both
was broken and re-appeared in another form. Even as the
things of the waking consciousness become during a dream,
so do the things of life become after death. It is true, I say,
that all thy wide dominions are confined within the walls of
that small house. In 1fhe consciousness of Atma, (1) worlds
within worlds lie concealed in each param-anu (2). T3oubt
this not !"

(1) The Supreme Self.

(2) Atom. [Every atom retains every experience throng h which it
has passed,, z« e.. retains the vibratory potency evoked by such ex-
periences ; therefore to the Atma as intellect, an atom contains in each oi
its sheaths the worlds in which it has been functioning and these may
be seen reflected in, or recreated by, it, at any moment. Looked at with
astral senses by the Ohid-atma, the astraL, -world It has experienced
would be seen in it ; with mental senses, the menial vs,orld; and so on.
The change of percipient sheath would cause a feeling of transition.
A.B.]