But for the Divine Principle, The World is totally Inert

The whole vast physical world is something like an atom in the mental world, just as your body is like a infinitesimal atom in the universe. But this incredibly huge mental world is itself only the size of a mere atom in the causal world. The physical world, being made up of the five gross elements, can be apprehended by the five senses of perception. But since everything in the physical world is made up of the five elements and only the five elements, this world is totally inert and insentient. Yet, the divine principle is inherent in it. This divine principle is also to be found in the mental world. Since the mental world is made up of the same five elements (in their subtle aspects), this world is also inert and insentient. But just as the divine principle, as indweller, is inherent in the inert body, activating it, and is inherent in the inert mind, vitalizing it, so also it is inherent in these inert physical and mental worlds, energizing and vitalizing them.

This divine principle which brings energy and vitality to the physical and mental worlds, shines forth most splendidly from the causal world, the subtlest of these vast universes. To understand this process consider the reflections in a mirror. The image or reflection has no independent existence of its own. It can shine and be seen only when the object which is being reflected is luminous, and it can move only when this same object being reflected, moves. All the apparent luster of the things making up the world arises from the causal world, and is then reflected by the mental and physical worlds, which act as mirrors. Just as the effulgence of the sun gets reflected by the moon, the effulgence present in the causal state gets reflected in the subtle mental state and the gross physical state.

Now suppose you wanted to decorate the reflection which you see of yourself in a mirror. Could you do it so that it would remain there permanently? When you see your face in the mirror, could you paint a dot on the forehead of your image in the mirror and keep it there? No, it would be a futile effort. If you were to paint a dot on the mirror where the center of your forehead is on your image, then as soon as you move, the image would also move, and the dot which was formerly in the center of your forehead would now be over your ear. Whenever you moved to one side, the image would also move to one side and the dot would no longer be in the center of the image. Then, is there any way that you can put a dot on your forehead of your image in the mirror so that it will remain there, no matter what happens? Yes. You must put the dot on you, the object which is being reflected. Then you can move in any direction, or even turn the mirror to one side or the other, and the dot would not move on your image. Here is a small story which will illustrate this principle.