Now, what is Pradhâna, if it is not Mûlaprakriti, the Root of All, in another aspect? For though Pradhâna is said, further on, to merge into the Deity, as everything else does, in order to leave the One absolute during the Pralaya, yet is it held as infinite and immortal. The literal translation is given as: “One Prâdhânika Brahma Spirit: THAT was”; and the Commentator interprets the compound term as a substantive, not as a derivative word used attributively, _i.e._, like something “conjoined with Pradhâna.” The student has to note, moreover, that the Purânic is a dualistic system, not evolutionary, and that, in this respect, far more will be found, from an Esoteric standpoint, in the Sânkhya, and even in the _Mânava‐Dharma‐Shâstra_, however much the latter differs from the former. Hence Pradhâna, even in the _Purânas_, is an aspect of Parabrahman, not an evolution, and must be the same as the Vedântic Mûlaprakriti. “Prakriti, in its _primary_ state, is Âkâsha,” says a Vedântin scholar.(402) It is almost abstract Nature. Âkâsha, then, is Pradhâna in another form, and as such cannot be Ether, the ever‐invisible agent, courted even by Physical Science. Nor is it Astral Light. It is, as said, the _noumenon_ of the seven‐fold differentiated Prakriti(403)—the ever immaculate “Mother” of the _fatherless_ “Son,” who becomes “Father” on the lower manifested plane. For Mahat is the first product of Pradhâna, or Âkâsha; and Mahat—Universal Intelligence, “whose _characteristic property_ is Buddhi”—is no other than the Logos, for he is called Îshvara, Brahmâ, Bhâva, etc.(404) He is, in short, the “Creator,” or the Divine Mind in creative operation, “the Cause of all things.” He is the “First‐Born,” of whom the _Purânas_ tell us that “Earth and Mahat are the inner and outer boundaries of the Universe,” or, in our language, the negative and the positive poles of dual Nature (abstract and concrete), for the _Purâna_ adds: In this manner—as were the _seven_ forms [principles] of Prakriti reckoned from Mahat to Earth—so at the (time of elemental) dissolution (_pratyâhâra_), these seven successively reënter into each other. The Egg of Brahmâ (_Sarva‐mandala_) is dissolved, with its seven zones (_dvîpa_), seven oceans, seven regions, etc.(405) These are the reasons why the Occultists refuse to give the name of Astral Light to Âkâsha, or to call it Ether. “In my Father’s house are many mansions,” may be contrasted with the Occult saying, “In our Mother’s house are seven mansions,” or planes, the lowest of which is above and around us—the Astral Light.