properties is none other than Prakrti. When a particular property disappears we may
say that it has become latent in Prakrti. When it becomes manifest we may say that it
has taken an active form in Prakrti. So the appearance and disappearance of all kinds
of properties in Nature through the medium of different elements and compounds is
merely a question of their being manifest or unmanifest. All of them are present eter-
nally in Prakrti and can be made active or latent by bringing about the necessary con-
ditions.
The view that all natural phenomena are due to the continual appearance and
disappearance of all kinds of properties in a substratum which is their repository may
appear fantastic to people familiar with modern scientific ideas but deeper thought will
show the fascinating nature of this idea and convince the student that it is not as ab-
surd as it appears on first sight. In fact, those who are in touch with the latest devel-
opments in Science and are familiar with the trends of modern scientific thought will
see in these developments a closer approach to the Yogic doctrine than to materialism.
The fact that all elements are composed of a few fundamental types of particles like
the protons and electrons, that mass and energy are interconvertible and other discov-
eries of this nature have really shaken the foundations of orthodox materialism and
shown that the doctrines on which the Yogic philosophy is based are not after all as
fantastic as they appear at first sight. The theory that the properties of all elements
depend upon the number and arrangement of the electrons in those elements is only
one or two steps removed from the doctrine that all properties of matter are derived
from, and exist in a potential form in a substratum.
- The cause of the difference in transformation is the difference in the un-
derlying process.
The progress of modern Science has shown conclusively that behind various
phenomena which we observe in different spheres of life there is a hidden framework