THEO. It is this nature, mysterious, Protean, beyond any grasp, and almost shadowy in its correlations with the other principles, that is most difficult to realise, and still more so to explain. Manas is a “principle,” and yet it is an “Entity” and individuality or Ego. He is a “God,” and yet he is doomed to an endless cycle of incarnations, for each of which he is made responsible, and for each of which he has to suffer. All this seems as contradictory as it is puzzling; nevertheless, there are hundreds of people, even in Europe, who realise all this perfectly, for they comprehend the Ego not only in its integrity but in its many aspects. Finally, if I would make myself comprehensible, I must begin by the beginning and give you the genealogy of this Ego in a few lines. ENQ. Say on. THEO. Try to imagine a “Spirit,” a celestial Being, whether we call it by one name or another, divine in its essential nature, yet not pure enough to be _one with the_ ALL, and having, in order to achieve this, to so purify its nature as to finally gain that goal. It can do so only by passing _individually_ and _personally_, _i.e._, spiritually and physically, through every experience and feeling that exists in the manifold or differentiated Universe. It has, therefore, after having gained such experience in the lower kingdoms, and having ascended higher and still higher with every rung on the ladder of being, to pass through every experience on the human planes. In its very essence it is THOUGHT, and is, therefore, called in its plurality _Manasa putra_, “the Sons of the (Universal) mind.” This _individualised_ “Thought” is what we Theosophists call the _real_ human EGO, the thinking Entity imprisoned in a case of flesh and bones. This is surely a Spiritual Entity, not _Matter_, and such Entities are the incarnating EGOS that inform the bundle of animal matter called mankind, and whose names are _Manasa_ or “Minds.” But once imprisoned, or incarnate, their essence becomes dual: that is to say, the _rays_ of the eternal divine Mind, considered as individual entities, assume a two-fold attribute which is (_a_) their _essential_ inherent characteristic, heaven-aspiring mind (higher _Manas_) and (_b_) the human quality of thinking, or animal cogitation, rationalised owing to the superiority of the human brain, the Kama-tending or lower Manas. One gravitates toward Buddhi, the other, tending downward, to the seat of passions and animal desires. The latter have no room in Devachan, nor can they associate with the divine triad which ascends as ONE into mental bliss. Yet it is the Ego, the Manasic Entity, which is held responsible for all the sins of the lower attributes, just as a parent is answerable for the transgressions of his child, so