Book excerpt: The point of this book is to illustrate a ubiquitous four-fold functionality that exists in the structuring of this universe. What has emerged through the process of time, starting with the big bang to modern Civilization, is not random but is ordered around this four-fold functionality of Presence, Knowledge, Harmony, and Service. These core functional principles are observed in the nature of reality as set up by light itself. These principles subsequently animate several layers of emergence starting from the ‘field’ level through the ‘quantum particle’ level, the level of ‘atoms,’ ‘cells’, and even ‘civilizations.’ This book will present a mathematics that elaborates the relationship, the four-fold functional relationship to be precise, which exists between one layer of emergence and the next. As such, the expression of the universe will be seen as unanimous with the expression of an evolving four-fold functional richness with more and more aspects and subtleties of the underlying four properties coming to the surface and shaping things. Many illustrations, 52 to be precise, appear throughout the body of this book. These have primarily been inspired by Indian mythological arts and introduce personalities, including Shakti, Sri Krishna, Surya, Shiva, Hanuman, Bhumi, Sita, Agni, Draupadi, Vayu, Jala, Mohini, Akash, and Ganga, amongst others. These personalities are well-known in Indian mythology and some of what they stand for fits seamlessly into the concepts of ‘emergence’ suggested by this book. For those who are already familiar with Indian mythology, this will add additional insight into the concepts of the book. For those who are being introduced to Indian mythology for the first time, some intuitive glance of the mythology may form due to the association of the illustration with the concept it has been coupled with.