We generally find these things very curiously translated; people do not go to the ancient philosophers or to their commentators for their translation and have not learning enough to understand for themselves. They translate the elements as “air,” “fire,” and so on. If they would go to the commentators they would find that they do not mean anything of the sort. The _âkâsa_, made to vibrate by the repeated blows of _prâna_, produces _vâyu_ or the vibratory state of the _âkâsa_, which in turn produces gaseous matter. The vibrations growing more and more rapid generate heat, which in Sanskrit is called _tejas_. Gradually it is cooled off and the gaseous substance becomes solid, _prithivi_. We had first _âkâsa_, then came heat, then it became liquified, and when still more condensed appeared as solid matter. It goes back to the unmanifested condition in exactly the reverse way. The solids will be converted into liquid and the liquid into a mass of heat, that will slowly go back into the gaseous state, disintegration of atoms will begin, finally equilibrium of all forces will be reached, vibration will stop and the cycle of evolution which in Sanskrit is called _Kalpa_ is at an end. We know from modern astronomy that this earth and sun of ours are undergoing the same transitions, this solid earth will melt down and become liquid once more, and will eventually go back to the gaseous state. _Prâna_ cannot work alone without the help of _âkâsa_. All that we know is that motion or vibration and every movement that we see is a modification of this _prâna_, and everything that we know in the form of matter, either as form or as resistance, is a modification of this _âkâsa_. This _prâna_ cannot exist alone, or act without a medium, but in every state of it, whether as pure _prâna_, or when it changes into other forces of nature, say gravitation or centrifugal attraction, it can never be separate from _âkâsa_. You have never seen force without matter or matter without force; what we call force and matter being simply the gross manifestations of these same things, which, when superfine, we call _prâna_ and _âkâsa_. _Prâna_ you can call in English the life, or vital energy, but you must not restrict it to the life of man, nor should you identify it with the spirit, _Âtman_. Creation is without beginning and without end; it cannot have either, it is an eternal on-going.