lustration that is frequently used by the teachers, is that
which bids the student consider himself as a minute cell, or
"little-life" as the Hindus call it, in a body. It may be a cell in the
blood performing the office of a carrier or messenger, or it may be a
working cell in one of the organs of the body; or it may be a thinking
cell in the brain. At any rate, the cell manifests capacity for
thought, action and memory--and a number of secondary attributes quite
wonderful in the way. (See "_Hatha Yoga_," Chapter XVIII.) Each cell
might well consider itself as a separate individual--in a certain sense
it _does_. It has a certain degree of something akin to consciousness,
enabling it to perform its work correctly and properly, and is called
upon at times to manifest something like judgment. It may well be
excused for thinking of itself as a "person" having a separate life.
The analogy between its illusions and that of the man when seen by a
Master, is very close. But we know that the life of the cell is merely
a centre of expression of the life of the body--that its consciousness
is merely a part of the consciousness of the mind animating the body.
The cell will die and apparently perish, but the _essence_ of it will
remain in the life of the person whose body it occupied, and nothing
really dies or perishes. Would the cell feel any less real if it knew
that behind its Personality as a cell, there was the Individuality of
the Man--that its Real Self was the Man, not the cell? Of course, even
this figure of speech can be carried only so far, and then must stop,
for the personality of the man, when it is dissolved, leaves behind it
an essence which is called Character, which becomes the property of the
Ego and which accompanies it into after life according to the Law of
Karma, of which we shall speak in future lessons. But back even of
these attributes of Personality, is the Ego which exists in spite of
Personality, and lives on and on throughout many Personalities, and yet
learning the lessons of each, until at last it rises above Personality
and enters into higher sphere of Knowing and Being.

Still another favorite illustration of the Hindu teachers is that of
the sun beating down upon the ocean and causing a portion of the water
to rise in the form of vapor. This vapor forms clouds which spread all
over the earth, and which eventually condense in the form of rain
drops, dew, etc. This rain and dew form streams, rivers,