Strictly speaking, there are but six states of matter, the so-called seventh state being the aspect of cosmic matter in its original undifferentiated condition.  Similarly there are six states of differentiated Pragna, the seventh state being a condition of perfect unconsciousness.  By differentiated Pragna, I mean the condition in which Pragna is split up into various states of consciousness.  Thus we have six states of consciousness, either objective or subjective for the time being, as the case may be, and a perfect state of unconsciousness, which is the beginning and the end of all conceivable states of consciousness, corresponding to the states of differentiated matter and its original undifferentiated basis which is the beginning and the end of all cosmic evolutions.  It will be easily seen that the existence of consciousness is necessary for the differentiation between subject and object.  Hence these two phases are presented in six different conditions, and in the last state there being no consciousness as above stated, the differentiation in question ceases to exist.  The number of these various conditions is different in different systems of philosophy.  But whatever may be the number of divisions, they all lie between perfect unconsciousness at one end of the line and our present state of consciousness or Bahipragna at the other end.  To understand the real nature of these different states of consciousness, I shall request my readers to compare the consciousness of the ordinary man with the consciousness of the astral man, and again compare the latter with the consciousness of the spiritual Ego in man.  In these three conditions the objective universe is not the same.  But the difference between the Ego and the non-Ego is common to all these conditions.  Consequently, admitting the correctness of Mill’s reasoning as regards the subject and object of our present plane of consciousness, the great Adwaitee thinkers of India have extended the same reasoning to other states of consciousness, and came to the conclusion that the various conditions of the Ego and the non-Ego were but the appearances of one and the same entity—­the ultimate state of unconsciousness.  This entity is neither matter nor spirit; it is neither Ego nor non-Ego; and it is neither object nor subject.  In the language of Hindu philosophers it is the original and eternal combination of Purusha and Prakriti.  As the Adwaitees hold that an external object is merely the product of our mental states, Prakriti is nothing more than illusion, and Purush is the only reality; it is the one existence which remains eternal in this universe of Ideas.  This entity then is the Parabrahmam of the Adwaitees.  Even if there were to be a personal God with anything like a material Upadhi (physical basis of whatever form), from the standpoint of an Adwaitee there will be as much reason to doubt his noumenal existence as there would be in the case of any other object.  In