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A Series of Lessons in Gnani Yoga818
foot.” When it gets through using the “false-foot” for the particular purpose,
it simply draws back into itself that portion which had been protruded for
the purpose.
It performs the functions of digestion, assimilation, elimination, etc.,
perfectly, just as the higher forms of life—but it has no organs for the
functions, and performs them severally, and collectively with any, or all
parts of its body. What the higher animals perform with intricate organs
and parts—heart, stomach, lungs, liver, kidneys, etc., etc.—this tiny creature
performs without organs, and with its entire body, or any part thereof. The
function of reproduction is startlingly simple in the case of the Moneron. It
simply divides itself in two parts, and that is all there is to it. There is no male
or female sex in its case—it combines both within itself. The reproductive
process is even far more simple than the “budding” of plants. You may turn
one of these wonderful creatures inside out, and still it goes on the even
tenor of its way, in no manner disturbed or affected. It is simply a “living
drop of glue,” which eats, digests, receives impressions and responds
thereto, and reproduces itself. This tiny glue-drop performs virtually the
same life functions as do the higher complex forms of living things. Which is
the greater “miracle”—the Moneron or Man?
A slight step upward from the Moneron brings us to the Amoeba. The
name of this new creature is derived from the Greek word meaning “change,”
and has been bestowed because the creature is constantly changing its shape.
This continual change of shape is caused by a continuous prolongation and
drawing-in of its pseudopods, or “false-feet,” which also gives the creature
the appearance of a “many-fingered” organism. This creature shows the
first step toward “parts,” for it has something like a membrane or “skin”
at its surface, and a “nucleus” at its centre, and also an expanding and
contracting cavity within its substance, which it uses for holding, digesting
and distributing its food, and also for storing and distributing its oxygen—
an elementary combination of stomach and lungs! So you see that the
amoeba has taken a step upward from the moneron, and is beginning to