"Antarichchanti Tamsena Rudram Promanishaya Krinanti Chikbabya Chacham. (Rig-Veda)."

"1Those who meditate with love on the Supreme which is within all, they eat food. "

It is a noteworthy fact that our sages have often compressed a whole philosophy in a single word or phrase. We once before illustrated how pregnant was the naming of vowels and consonants as and Sariri and

Sarira, in regard to the question of the relation of God to the world. We take up to day another word which is the expansion of the same subject. This word is "Ashta Murti" It means Being having Eight Forms and is a synonym of Siva or Rudra. These Eight Forms are, Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Akas, the Sun and the Moon and Soul or Jiva or Pasu.

By these Eight names are comprised the whole universe, both animate and inanimate. The only substance which these terms do not comprise is God; and when therefore God is spoken of by His having these eight forms as His Body, then the relation of God to the world is clearly brought out, namely that of soul and body, which relation, of course, we have fully explained in our article on "Mind and Body." As soul in a body, He is in every thing, and hence called Visvantaryami; and we have quoted a Rich verse above in which God (Rudra) is called Antaryami; and innumerable passages are also scattered about in the body of the various Upanishats. As having the universe for His Form, God is called Visvasvarupi

"Visvarupaya vi Namo Namah."

As giving rise to the whole universe from Himself, He is called Visvakarana or Visvayonih. By the same way, as we often identify our own body with ourselves, God is frequently spoken of as the universe itself, and is accordingly addressed as Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Sky, the Sun and the Moon, and Soul.

But there are clear passages to show that He is none of these. No one could seriously contend to day that where these Upanishats identify God with some of these inanimate forms, that earth or fire or any of these elements, and not the Ruler within or the Puller as He is called in Brihadaranya, is really God. But the texts identifying the Jiva with God has caused no amount of confusion, and these texts are quoted as standing authorities by a whole school of Indian philosophers, though texts can be quoted as frequently in which God is spoken of as different from the Jiva. As being none of these Eight and transcending all, He is called Visvadika.

"Visvadiko Rudra," (Svetas).

"Who of the Gods is both the source and growth, the lord of all, the Rudra, mighty seer; whoever sees the shining germ come into birth - may he with reason pure conjoin us."

"Who of the Gods is over-lord, in whom the worlds are based, who ruleth over his creatures of two feet and four; to God, the "Who," with (our) oblation let us worship give."

These follow naturally the text "That sure is fire, That sun, That air, That surely moon, That verily the Bright, That Brahm, the waters That, That the Creator."

In the previous adhyaya, occurs the passage "What is this all, far, far beyond, That Formless, griefless That." "What God in fire, in water, what doth pervade universe entire, what in the plants, what in the forest lords, to Him, to God, Hail all Hail."

"This God, in sooth, all the quarters is; long, long ago, indeed, he had his birth, he verily (is now) within the germ. He has been born, he will be born; behind all who have birth he stands, with face on every side."

The famous passage in the seventh Brahmana, of the 3rd Adyaya, of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishat, brings out a full exposition of these Eight forms of God. In the third Mantra, Earth is said to be His body -

Yasyaprithivi sariram."

"He who dwells in the earth, and within (or different from) the earth, whom the earth does not know, whose body the earth is, and who pulls (rules) the earth within, He is thy Self, the puller (ruler) within, the immortal."

And in Mantras, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12 and 22 the water, fire, air, sun, moon, AkaSa and Vijnana are respectively said to be His bodies.

The passages are all similar to the one relating to the earth and we quote the last, however, in full.

"He who dwells in Vijnana, and within (or different from) Vijnana, whom Vijnana does not know, whose body Vijnnaa is, and who pulls (rules) Vijnana within, He is thy Self, the puller (ruler) within, the immortal".

Professor Max Muller translates Vijnana as knowledge, but he notes at the same time that those of the Madhyandina school interpret it as meaning the Atma or the soul; and according to the text in the samana prakarana - "yasyatma sariram" - and from the Upa-Brahmanas we will quote below it will be seen that it is the correct interpretation.

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The other text in the Brihadaranya, makes it much clearer. "God is to be seen, heard and contemplated and enjoyed in the soul. He is beyond the soul. His body is the soul, He penetrates into the recess of the soul." Nothing can be clearer than this text. This Soul and soul, this Atma and atma, this Self and self (The confusion in thought arises from the name which originally meant the human spirit being applied to the Supreme spirit also), are the two birds which dwell in the thee (human body); these are the two which "enter into the heart, the excellent divine abode" and these are the two which are in the "inside of" of the human eye. The confusion of using the same word to denote and connote two different things is really vicious, and later writings and the present day systems have dropped such uses altogether, and the beginning of such change in nomenclature, and precision in the use of words is seen in the Gita, and Atma is distinguished from Paramatma, Purusha from Purushottama or Parama Purusha. Verse 22 of Chapter 13, is a characteristic verse in this respect as it gives all these names and the true definition of Sat as distinguished from Sat-asat.