The renowned astrophysicist Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington explains: "The world we

see and experience in everyday life is simply a convenient mirage attuned to ou

r very limited senses, an illusion conjured by our perceptions and our mind. All
that is around us (including our own bodies) which appears so substantial is ul
timately nothing but ephemeral networks of particle-waves whirling around at lig
htning speed, colliding, rebounding, disintegrating into almost total emptiness so
-called matter is mostly emptiness, proportionately as void as intergalactic spa
ce, void of anything except occasional dots and spots and scattered electric cha
rges."! (p.812 The Second Coming of Christ by Paramahansa Yogananda) Man thinks
of his body as compact, solid matter; but science now defines the body as waves
of electromagnetic energy. Matter has been dissolved down to photons. But what i
s the difference between light and consciousness; and what is the relation of co
nsciousness and the body? ... The body is nothing but electrons and their subato
mic magnetic companions whirling in empty space. (p.1508 The Second Coming of Ch
rist by Paramahansa Yogananda) To a materialist, the whole world its complications
of solids, liquids, fire, gases, and so forth seems to be composed of real materi
al substances: "This is the way I perceive it; therefore, it must be fact." But
the advanced yogi, whose Self-realization has penetrated to the inner source of
external matter, is able to say: "This world, this cosmos, are only shadows of l
ife thrown on the screen of space, and reflected in our conscious and subconscio
us mental chambers." (bg p.123) From science, then, if it must be so, let man le
arn the philosophic truth that there is no material universe; its warp and woof
is maya, illusion. Under analysis all its mirages of reality dissolve. ... In hi
s famous equation outlining the equivalence of mass and energy, [mc2] Einstein p
roved that the energy in any particle of matter is equal to its mass or weight m
ultiplied by the square of the velocity of light. The release of the atomic ener
gies is brought about through annihilation of the material particles. The "death
" of matter has given birth to an Atomic Age. (aoy p.269) Elements My manifested
nature (Prakriti) has an eightfold differentiation: earth, water, fire, air, et
her, sensory mind (manas), intelligence (buddhi), and egoism (ahamkara). VII:4 S
hadows of films and the beam of light in a cinema booth combine to manifest moti
on pictures of subjective beings acting with their egos, sense minds, and discri
minative intelligences on an objective earthly stage. God similarly uses the del
usive films of relativity offered by Cosmic Nature to produce His dream motion-p
ictures of intelligently active sentient human individualities playing on a stag
e of matter: manifestations of the elements of earth, water, fire, air, and the
invisible all-pervasive ether vibrant dynamic beings, and beautiful continents su
rrounded by oceans, illuminated by the sun and moon, and abounding in vital air.
This stanza of the Bhagavad Gita gives a summary of the eight elements or force
s of cosmic material nature. The ancient scientists spoke loosely of nature as m
atter. The modern scientists think of matter as coordinated forces. They describ
e all mineral, plant, and animal substances as made of ninety-two elements,* whi
ch are further explained as nothing more than permutations and combinations of d
ifferent atoms or wave-energies. * Science has now named and defined over a hund
red such elements. Matter, according to Hindu philosophy, is made of the intelli
gent thoughtrons of God, which materialize into grosser forces of intelligent li
fetrons (prana), electrons and protons, atoms, molecules, cells, tissues, and or
ganic matter. Both inorganic and organic matter are composed of anu (atoms), par
amanu (subatomic particles and energies), prana (lifetrons), and chaitanya ("con
sciousness," thoughtrons) of God. This is the constitution of physical cosmic na
ture or matter from the metaphysical standpoint. The yogis maintain that matter ph
ysical cosmic nature or Jada-Prakriti (gross nature) or Apara-Prakriti (the gros
s expression of God) may be spoken of as the physical dream-body of the Lord. Thi
s cosmic physical dream-body is made of five objective elements (subtle vibrator
y forces) of earth, water, fire, air (life force), and ether; two perceptive cog
nitive processes, sensory mind and intelligence; and one perceiving entity, the
ahamkara or egoistic consciousness of cosmic nature. The little body-dream of ma
n, the copy of cosmic physical nature, is included in the latter's larger dream.
Even as cosmic nature is the physical dream-body of God and is made of eight el
ementary forces, so the human body is also made of eight elementary forces and i

s the dream body of the human soul the perfect image of God. ... In the human body
, the pure soul is the neutral witness of all its operations. The physical ego the
pseudo reflection of the soul acts in conjunction with cosmic nature, Prakriti, t
o operate the workings of the physical body. The finer discriminative astral ego
and causal ego (in attunement with the soul in advanced devotees) act, respecti
vely, as the representatives of the finer cosmic astral and cosmic causal Nature
to operate the workings of man's astral and causal bodies. Similarly, God's Kut
astha Intelligence (the Krishna or Christ Consciousness) is the neutral witness
of cosmic creation. The Kutastha Intelligence manifests itself through the Holy
Ghost or Aum Intelligence as Apara-Prakriti, the cosmic-dream physical entity, d
irecting the cosmic-dream physical universe. The same Kutastha Intelligence, thr
ough the Holy Ghost or Aum as Para-Prakriti in the finer state, directs the subt
ler cosmic astral and cosmic causal universes. The two aspects of the Holy Ghost
vibrations are thus the Apara-Prakriti (Impure Nature) and the Para-Prakriti (P
ure Nature). A dream has a threefold aspect: the dreamer, his perception, and th
e dream objects made of the five dream elements of earth, water, fire, air, and
ether. The complex cosmic triple dream universes are run by the intelligent Cosm
ic Mother Nature or intelligent Cosmic Holy Ghost in a finer and in a grosser wa
y. The physical universe is guided by the external vibrations of the Holy Ghost th
e impure Apara-Prakriti. The astral and causal universes are guided by the pure
Holy Ghost pure Nature, or Para-Prakriti. ... After understanding the dream nature
of the universe, the devotee should learn the dream nature of the human body, m
ade of the five dream elements. The body exists in a sphere of dream ether; it i
nbreathes vital dream air; its chemical processes are carried on by the heat of
fiery energies; it is composed of dream "water" or blood (which constitutes the
greater part of the dream body) and of dream "earth" or so-called solid flesh. T
his dream body is perceived by the dream sense-mind and dream discriminative int
elligence, and is guided by the dream entity of the little nature, ego. As the S
pirit dreamed Itself into God beyond creation, God in creation, and God as the C
osmic Nature with a cosmic body, so God as the transcendental soul and the discr
iminating intelligence and the physical ego sustains the physical dream-body. Th
e five dream elements commingled together constitute the physical dream-body The
sense-identified physical ego and the mind (the coordinator of the ten senses)
are centered outside of the spiritual eye; the intelligence works through the in
side of the spiritual eye; the seat of man's soul consciousness extends from the
point between the eyebrows to the central top of the head, in the subtle spirit
ual centers of the Kutastha and thousand-petaled lotus. The advanced yogi, half
awake in this cosmic dream, beholds this cosmic technicolored dream motion-pictu
re of five dream elements, the human body, and observes its operations as direct
ed by the triune divine entities. He is able to see the little body as it is ope
rated by the soul, by the discriminative ego or intelligence, and by the physica
l ego. (p.669 Gita) -- Read more at: http://www.yogananda.com.au/gita/gita0704.h
tml#elements