Secret Doctrine Text
Version
THE
SECRET DOCTRINE
BY
H. P. BLAVATSKY
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THE
SECRET DOCTRINE.
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[[Vol.
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HELENA
PETROVNA BLAVATSKY
1831-1891
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THE
SECRET DOCTRINE:
THE
SYNTHESIS
OF
SCIENCE,
RELIGION, AND PHILOSOPHY.
BY
H.
P. BLAVATSKY,
AUTHOR
OF "
[[devanagari
characters]]
"There
is no Religion higher than Truth."
VOL.
I. -- COSMOGENESIS.
THE
THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, LIMITED.
7,
WILLIAM
Q. JUDGE,
117,
THE
MANAGER OF THE THEOSOPHIST,
Adyar,
---
1888.
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"Entered
according to Act of Congress in the year 1888, by H. P. Blavatsky,
in
the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C."
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This
Work
I
Dedicate to all True Theosophists,
In
every Country,
And
of every Race,
For
they called it forth, and for them it was recorded.
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[[blank]]
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PREFACE.
THE
Author -- the writer, rather -- feels it necessary to apologise for the long
delay which has occurred in the appearance of this work. It has been occasioned
by ill-health and the magnitude of the undertaking. Even the two volumes now
issued do not complete the scheme, and these do not treat exhaustively of the
subjects dealt with in them. A large quantity of material has already been
prepared, dealing with the history of occultism as contained in the lives of
the great Adepts of the Aryan Race, and showing the bearing of occult
philosophy upon the conduct of life, as it is and as it ought to be. Should the
present volumes meet with a favourable reception, no effort will be spared to
carry out the scheme of the work in its entirety. The third volume is entirely
ready; the fourth almost so.
This
scheme, it must be added, was not in contemplation when the preparation of the work
was first announced. As originally announced, it was intended that the
"Secret Doctrine" should be an amended and enlarged version of
"Isis Unveiled." It was, however, soon found that the explanations
which could be added to those already put before the world in the last-named
and other works dealing with esoteric science, were such as to require a
different method of treatment: and consequently the present volumes do not
contain, in all, twenty pages extracted from "Isis Unveiled."
The
author does not feel it necessary to ask the indulgence of her readers and
critics for the many defects of literary style, and the imperfect English which
may be found in these pages. She is a foreigner, and her knowledge of the
language was acquired late in life. The English tongue is employed because it
offers the most widely-diffused medium for conveying the truths which it had
become her duty to place before the world.
These
truths are in no sense put forward as a revelation; nor does the author claim
the position of a revealer of mystic lore, now made public for the first time
in the world's history. For what is contained in this work is to be found
scattered throughout thousands of volumes embodying the scriptures of the great
Asiatic and early European religions, hidden under glyph and symbol, and
hitherto left unnoticed because of this veil. What is now attempted is to
gather the oldest tenets together and to make of them one harmonious and
unbroken whole. The sole advantage which the writer has over her predecessors,
is that she need not resort to personal speculations and theories. For this
work is a partial statement of what she herself has been taught by more
advanced students, supplemented, in a few details only, by the results of her
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[[Vol.
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own
study and observation. The publication of many of the facts herein stated has
been rendered necessary by the wild and fanciful speculations in which many
Theosophists and students of mysticism have indulged, during the last few
years, in their endeavour to, as they imagined, work out a complete system of
thought from the few facts previously communicated to them.
It
is needless to explain that this book is not the Secret Doctrine in its
entirety, but a select number of fragments of its fundamental tenets, special
attention being paid to some facts which have been seized upon by various
writers, and distorted out of all resemblance to the truth.
But
it is perhaps desirable to state unequivocally that the teachings, however
fragmentary and incomplete, contained in these volumes, belong neither to the
Hindu, the Zoroastrian, the Chaldean, nor the Egyptian religion, neither to
Buddhism, Islam, Judaism nor Christianity exclusively. The Secret Doctrine is
the essence of all these. Sprung from it in their origins, the various
religious schemes are now made to merge back into their original element, out
of which every mystery and dogma has grown, developed, and become materialised.
It
is more than probable that the book will be regarded by a large section of the
public as a romance of the wildest kind; for who has ever even heard of the
book of Dzyan?
The
writer, therefore, is fully prepared to take all the responsibility for what is
contained in this work, and even to face the charge of having invented the
whole of it. That it has many shortcomings she is fully aware; all that she
claims for it is that, romantic as it may seem to many, its logical coherence
and consistency entitle this new Genesis to rank, at any rate, on a level with
the "working hypotheses" so freely accepted by modern science.
Further, it claims consideration, not by reason of any appeal to dogmatic
authority, but because it closely adheres to Nature, and follows the laws of
uniformity and analogy.
The
aim of this work may be thus stated: to show that Nature is not "a
fortuitous concurrence of atoms," and to assign to man his rightful place
in the scheme of the Universe; to rescue from degradation the archaic truths
which are the basis of all religions; and to uncover, to some extent, the
fundamental unity from which they all spring; finally, to show that the occult
side of Nature has never been approached by the Science of modern civilization.
If
this is in any degree accomplished, the writer is content. It is written in the
service of humanity, and by humanity and the future generations it must be
judged. Its author recognises no inferior court of appeal. Abuse she is
accustomed to; calumny she is daily acquainted with; at slander she smiles in
silent contempt.
De
minimis non curat lex.
H.P.B.
London,
October, 1888.
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TABLE
OF CONTENTS.
-------
PAGE.
INTRODUCTION
... xvii.
The
Need of such a Book ... xix.
The
Antiquity of Documents and MSS. ... xxiii.
What
the Book is intended to do ... xxviii.
-------
VOLUME
FIRST.
COSMOGENESIS.
PROEM
... 1
The
Oldest MSS. in the world and its Symbolism ... 2
The
One Life, Active and Passive ... 4
The
Secret Doctrine -- Pantheism -- Atheism ... 6
"Space"
in all Religions and in Occultism ... 9
Seven
Cosmic Elements -- Seven Races of Mankind ... 12
The
Three Postulates of the Secret Doctrine ... 14
Description
of the Stanzas from the Book of Dzyan ... 20
-------
BOOK
I. -- PART I.
COSMIC
EVOLUTION.
SEVEN
STANZAS FROM THE BOOK OF DZYAN ... 27
-------
STANZA
I. -- THE NIGHT OF THE UNIVERSE... 35
The
Seven Eternities ... 36
"Time"
... 37
The
Universal Mind and the Dhyan Chohans ... 38
Nidana
and Maya: The Causes of Misery ... 39
The
Great Breath ... 43
Being
and Non-Being ... 45
The
Eye of Dangma ... 47
Alaya,
the Universal Soul ... 49
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[[Vol.
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PAGE.
STANZA
II. -- THE IDEA OF DIFFERENTIATION ... 53
The
Absolute knows Itself not ... 55
The
Germ of Life was not yet ... 57
The
Universe was still concealed in the Divine Thought ... 61
-------
STANZA
III. -- THE AWAKENING OF KOSMOS ... 62
The
Great Vibration ... 63
Nature's
Symbols ... 65
The
Power of Numbers ... 67
The
Logoi and the Dragon ... 73
The
Astral Light ... 75
Primeval
Radiations from Unity ... 79
The
Web of Being ... 83
Conscious
Electricity: Fohat ... 85
-------
STANZA
IV. -- THE SEPTENARY HIERARCHIES ... 86
The
Sons of the Fire ... 86
The
Vehicle of the Universe -- the Dhyan Chohans ... 89
The
Army of the Voice ... 93
Speech
and Mind ... 95
The
Ogdoad and the Heptad ... 99
The
Stellar "Sons of Light" ... 103
-------
STANZA
V. -- FOHAT: THE CHILD OF THE SEPTENARY HIERARCHIES ... 106
The
Fiery Whirlwind and the Primordial Seven ... 106
They
Produce Fohat ... 108
The
Correlation of the "Gods" ... 113
Evolution
of the "Principles" of Nature ... 119
The
Mystery of the Fire ... 121
The
Secret of the Elements ... 123
The
Square of the Tabernacle ... 125
The
Planetary Spirits and the Lipika ... 129
The
Ring "Pass Not" ... 130
The
Sidereal Book of Life ... 131
The
Soul's Pilgrimage and its "Rest" ... 134
-------
STANZA
VI. -- OUR WORLD, ITS GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT ... 136
The
Logos ... 136
Mystery
of the Female Logos ... 137
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[[Vol.
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PAGE.
The
Seven Layu Centres ... 138
The
"Elementary Germs" ... 139
The
Evolution of the Elements ... 140
The
Building of the Worlds ... 145
A
Neutral Centre ... 147
"Dead"
Planets -- The Moon ... 149
-------
THEOSOPHICAL
MISCONCEPTIONS ... 152
The
Planetary Divisions and the Human Principles ... 153
The
Moon ... 155
Transmigrations
of the Ego ... 159
The
Septenary Chain ... 161
Relation
of the other Planets to the Earth ... 163
-------
EXPLANATIONS
CONCERNING THE GLOBES AND THE MONADS ... 170
The
Lunar Chain and the Earth Chain ... 172
The
Earth, the Child of the Moon ... 173
Classification
of the Monads ... 175
The
Monad Defined ... 177
The
Lunar Monads -- the Pitris ... 179
A
Triple Evolution in Nature ... 181
-------
STANZA
VI. -- CONTINUED ... 191
"Creation"
in the Fourth Round ... 191
The
"Curse," "Sin," and "War" ... 193
The
Struggle for Life and the Birth of the Worlds ... 202
The
Adepts and the Sacred Island ... 207
-------
STANZA
VII. -- THE PARENTS OF MAN ON EARTH ... 213
Divisions
of the Hierarchies ... 214
Correlations
of Beings ... 223
What
incarnates in Animal Man ... 233
Formation
of Man: the Thinker ... 238
Occult
and Kabalistic Pneumatics ... 243
Akasa
and Ether ... 257
The
Invisible "Lives" ... 259
Occult
Vital Chemistry and Bacteriology ... 261
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[[Vol.
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PAGE.
The
Watcher and his Shadow ... 265
Earth
peopled by the Shadows of the Gods ... 267
-------
SUMMING
UP ... 269
The
pith and marrow of the Secret Doctrine ... 273
Hermes
in Christian Garb ... 285
Some
Occult Aphorisms ... 289
The
Seven Powers of Nature ... 293
---------------------
BOOK
I. -- PART II.
THE
EVOLUTION OF SYMBOLISM IN ITS APPROXIMATE ORDER.
§§
I.
SYMBOLISM AND IDEOGRAPHS ... 303
Emblem
and Symbol differ ... 305
Magic
Potency of Sound ... 307
Mystery
Language ... 309
-------
II.
THE MYSTERY LANGUAGE AND ITS KEYS ... 310
Egypt's
many Religions ... 311
The
Jews and their System ... 313
Moses
copied from Sargon ... 319
Identity
of Ancient Symbols ... 323
-------
III.
PRIMORDIAL SUBSTANCE AND DIVINE THOUGHT ... 325
Divine
Thought, or Cineritious Matter? ... 327
Ether
and Intelligence ... 330
The
Seven Prakritis ... 335
The
Mystic Fire ... 339
One
Tree of Knowledge ... 341
-------
IV.
CHAOS -- THEOS -- KOSMOS ... 342
The
Union of Chaos and Spirit ... 343
The
Birth of Mind ... 345
-------
V.
THE HIDDEN DEITY, ITS SYMBOLS AND GLYPHS ... 349
The
Gnostic Idea ... 351
International
Correlation of Gods ... 355
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[[Vol.
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§§
PAGE.
VI.
THE MUNDANE EGG ... 359
Egg-born
Logoi ... 363
The
Winged Globe ... 365
-------
VII.
THE DAYS AND NIGHTS OF BRAHMA ... 368
Human
Gods and Divine Men ... 369
The
Rebirth of Gods ... 371
The
Puranic Prophecy ... 377
-------
VIII.
THE LOTUS AS A UNIVERSAL SYMBOL ... 379
Exoteric
and Esoteric ... 381
The
Purity of early Phallicism ... 383
The
Egyptian Lotus ... 385
-------
IX.
DEUS LUNUS ... 386
A
Glance at the Lunar Myth ... 387
A
Key-note to the Moon ... 389
Copies
and Originals... 393
The
Moon Bi-sexual ... 397
-------
X.
TREE AND SERPENT AND CROCODILE WORSHIP ... 403
Degeneration
of the Symbol ... 405
The
Seven-headed Dragons ... 407
Dragon
and Crocodile ... 409
-------
XI.
DEMON EST DEUS INVERSUS ... 411
Death
is Life ... 413
The
Fall of the Angels ... 418
Transformation
of the Legend ... 421
-------
XII.
THE THEOGONY OF THE CREATIVE GODS ... 424
The
Point within the Circle ... 426
The
Logos or Verbum ... 429
The
Factors of Creation ... 432
Identity
of the Hierarchies in all Religions ... 438
Difference
between the Aryan and Semitic Systems ... 444
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§§
PAGE.
XIII.
THE SEVEN CREATIONS ... 445
The
Gnostic and the Hindu Versions ... 449
The
Seven Puranic "Creations" ... 450
-------
XIV.
THE FOUR ELEMENTS. ... 460
The
"Gods" and the "Elements" ... 463
The
Language of the Elements ... 464
Pagan
and Christian Worship of the Elements ... 467
-------
XV.
ON KWAN-SHI-YIN AND KWAN-YIN ... 470
Kwan-Shi-Yin
and Phallicism ... 471
The
Real Meaning ... 472
---------------------
BOOK
I. -- PART III.
SCIENCE
AND THE SECRET DOCTRINE CONTRASTED.
§§
I.
REASONS FOR THESE ADDENDA ... 477
Occultism
versus Materialism ... 479
The
Sabbath of the Mystic ... 481
-------
II.
MODERN PHYSICISTS ARE PLAYING AT BLIND MAN'S BUFF ... 482
-------
III.
AN LUMEN SIT CORPUS NEC NON? ... 483
The
Hypothetical Ether ... 485
Scientific
Theories of its Constitution ... 489
-------
IV.
IS GRAVITATION A LAW? ... 490
Intelligences
or Blind Forces? ... 493
The
Cause of Attraction ... 498
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§§
PAGE.
V.
THE THEORIES OF ROTATION SCIENCE ... 500
Conflicting
Hypotheses ... 502
More
Hypotheses ... 505
-------
VI.
THE MASKS OF SCIENCE ... 506
What
are the "Forces?" ... 508
The
View of the Occultists ... 510
Scientific
and Occult Theories on Heat ... 515
The
Atoms of Science ... 519
-------
VII.
AN ATTACK ON THE SCIENTIFIC THEORY OF FORCE BY A MAN OF SCIENCE ... 523
Ether
and Atoms ... 527
-------
VIII.
LIFE, FORCE, OR GRAVITY? ... 529
Dr.
Richardson on Nervous Ether ... 531
The
Senses and their Action ... 535
Too
much "Life" may Kill ... 539
-------
IX.
THE SOLAR THEORY ... 540
The
Primordial Element ... 542
Elements
and Meta-Elements ... 546
The
Tree of Life and Being ... 549
Prof.
Crookes on the Elements ... 552
-------
X.
THE COMING FORCE ... 554
Mr.
Keeley, an Unconscious Occultist ... 557
Inter-Etheric
Waves ... 561
The
Secrets of Sound and Odour ... 565
-------
Xl.
ON THE ELEMENTS AND ATOMS ... 566
Metaphysical
Chemistry ... 569
What
are the Seven Planets? ... 575
The
Cyclic Fall of the Gods ... 577
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[[Vol.
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§§
PAGE.
XII.
ANCIENT THOUGHT IN MODERN DRESS ... 579
All-Potential
Unity ... 583
The
"Seventh" in Chemistry ... 585
-------
XIII.
THE MODERN NEBULAR THEORY ... 588
Forces
are Emanations ... 591
What
is the Nebula? ... 595
-------
XIV.
FORCES -- MODES OF MOTION OR INTELLIGENCES? ... 601
The
Vital Principle ... 603
Occult
and Physical Science ... 605
-------
XV.
GODS, MONADS, AND ATOMS ... 610
The
Gods of the Ancients -- the Monads ... 613
The
Monad and the Duad ... 617
The
Genesis of the Elements ... 621
Hermes
and Huxley ... 625
The
Teaching of Leibnitz ... 627
The
Monads according to Occultism ... 632
-------
XVI.
CYCLIC EVOLUTION AND KARMA ... 634
Karmic
Cycles and Universal Ethics ... 637
Destiny
and Karma ... 639
Karma-Nemesis
... 643
-------
XVII.
THE ZODIAC AND ITS ANTIQUITY ... 647
The
Jewish Patriarchs and the Signs of the Zodiac ... 651
Zodiacal
Cycles ... 656
Hindu
Astronomy ... 661
-------
XVIII.
SUMMARY OF THE MUTUAL POSITION ... 668
Science
Confesses her Ignorance ... 669
Materialism
is leading Europe towards a catastrophe ... 675
-------
N.B.
-- The Index and Glossary will be found at the close of Volume II.
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[[Vol.
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INTRODUCTORY.
-------
"Gently
to hear, kindly to judge."
--
SHAKESPEARE.
SINCE
the appearance of Theosophical literature in England, it has become customary
to call its teachings "Esoteric Buddhism." And, having become a habit
-- as an old proverb based on daily experience has it -- "Error runs down
an inclined plane, while Truth has to laboriously climb its way up hill."
Old
truisms are often the wisest. The human mind can hardly remain entirely free
from bias, and decisive opinions are often formed before a thorough examination
of a subject from all its aspects has been made. This is said with reference to
the prevailing double mistake (a) of limiting Theosophy to Buddhism: and (b) of
confounding the tenets of the religious philosophy preached by Gautama, the
Buddha, with the doctrines broadly outlined in "Esoteric Buddhism."
Any thing more erroneous than this could be hardly imagined. It has enabled our
enemies to find an effective weapon against theosophy; because, as an eminent
Pali scholar very pointedly expressed it, there was in the volume named
"neither esotericism nor Buddhism." The esoteric truths, presented in
Mr. Sinnett's work, had ceased to be esoteric from the moment they were made
public; nor did it contain the religion of Buddha, but simply a few tenets from
a hitherto hidden teaching which are now supplemented by many more, enlarged
and explained in the present volumes. But even the latter, though giving out
many fundamental tenets from the SECRET DOCTRINE of the East, raise but a small
corner of the dark veil. For no one, not even the greatest living adept, would
be permitted to, or could -- even if he would -- give out promiscuously, to a
mocking, unbelieving world, that which has been so effectually concealed from
it for long aeons and ages.
"Esoteric
Buddhism" was an excellent work with a very unfortunate
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title,
though it meant no more than does the title of this work, the "SECRET
DOCTRINE." It proved unfortunate, because people are always in the habit
of judging things by their appearance, rather than their meaning; and because
the error has now become so universal, that even most of the Fellows of the
Theosophical Society have fallen victims to the same misconception. From the
first, however, protests were raised by Brahmins and others against the title;
and, in justice to myself, I must add that "Esoteric Buddhism" was
presented to me as a completed volume, and that I was entirely unaware of the
manner in which the author intended to spell the word "Budh-ism."
This
has to be laid directly at the door of those who, having been the first to
bring the subject under public notice, neglected to point out the difference
between "Buddhism" -- the religious system of ethics preached by the
Lord Gautama, and named after his title of Buddha, "the Enlightened"
-- and Budha, "Wisdom," or knowledge (Vidya), the faculty of
cognizing, from the Sanskrit root "Budh," to know. We theosophists of
India are ourselves the real culprits, although, at the time, we did our best
to correct the mistake. (See Theosophist, June, 1883.) To avoid this deplorable
misnomer was easy; the spelling of the word had only to be altered, and by
common consent both pronounced and written "Budhism," instead of
"Buddhism." Nor is the latter term correctly spelt and pronounced, as
it ought to be called, in English, Buddhaism, and its votaries
"Buddhaists."
This
explanation is absolutely necessary at the beginning of a work like this one.
The "Wisdom Religion" is the inheritance of all the nations, the
world over, though the statement was made in "Esoteric Buddhism"
(Preface to the original Edition) that "two years ago (i.e. 1883), neither
I nor any other European living, knew the alphabet of the Science, here for the
first time put into a scientific shape," etc. This error must have crept
in through inadvertence. For the present writer knew all that which is
"divulged" in "Esoteric Buddhism" -- and much more -- many
years before it became her duty (in 1880) to impart a small portion of the
Secret Doctrine to two European gentlemen, one of whom was the author of
"Esoteric Buddhism"; and surely the present writer has the undoubted,
though to her, rather equivocal, privilege of being a European, by birth and
education. Moreover, a considerable part of the philosophy
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expounded
by Mr. Sinnett was taught in America, even before Isis Unveiled was published,
to two Europeans and to my colleague, Colonel H. S. Olcott. Of the three
teachers the latter gentleman has had, the first was a Hungarian Initiate, the
second an Egyptian, the third a Hindu. As permitted, Colonel Olcott has given
out some of this teaching in various ways; if the other two have not, it has
been simply because they were not allowed: their time for public work having
not yet come. But for others it has, and the appearance of Mr. Sinnett's
several interesting books is a visible proof of the fact. It is above
everything important to keep in mind that no theosophical book acquires the
least additional value from pretended authority.
In
etymology Adi, and Adhi Budha, the one (or the First) and "Supreme
Wisdom" is a term used by Aryasanga in his Secret treatises, and now by
all the mystic Northern Buddhists. It is a Sanskrit term, and an appellation
given by the earliest Aryans to the Unknown deity; the word "Brahma"
not being found in the Vedas and the early works. It means the absolute Wisdom,
and "Adi-bhuta" is translated "the primeval uncreated cause of
all" by Fitzedward Hall. AEons of untold duration must have elapsed,
before the epithet of Buddha was so humanized, so to speak, as to allow of the
term being applied to mortals and finally appropriated to one whose
unparalleled virtues and knowledge caused him to receive the title of the
"Buddha of Wisdom unmoved." Bodha means the innate possession of
divine intellect or "understanding"; "Buddha," the
acquirement of it by personal efforts and merit; while Buddhi is the faculty of
cognizing the channel through which divine knowledge reaches the
"Ego," the discernment of good and evil, "divine
conscience" also; and "Spiritual Soul," which is the vehicle of
Atma. "When Buddhi absorbs our EGOtism (destroys it) with all its Vikaras,
Avalokiteshvara becomes manifested to us, and Nirvana, or Mukti, is
reached," "Mukti" being the same as Nirvana, i.e., freedom from
the trammels of "Maya" or illusion. "Bodhi" is likewise the
name of a particular state of trance condition, called Samadhi, during which
the subject reaches the culmination of spiritual knowledge.
Unwise
are those who, in their blind and, in our age, untimely hatred of Buddhism,
and, by re-action, of "Budhism," deny its esoteric teachings (which
are those also of the Brahmins), simply because the name
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[[Vol.
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suggests
what to them, as Monotheists, are noxious doctrines. Unwise is the correct term
to use in their case. For the Esoteric philosophy is alone calculated to
withstand, in this age of crass and illogical materialism, the repeated attacks
on all and everything man holds most dear and sacred, in his inner spiritual
life. The true philosopher, the student of the Esoteric Wisdom, entirely loses
sight of personalities, dogmatic beliefs and special religions. Moreover,
Esoteric philosophy reconciles all religions, strips every one of its outward,
human garments, and shows the root of each to be identical with that of every
other great religion. It proves the necessity of an absolute Divine Principle
in nature. It denies Deity no more than it does the Sun. Esoteric philosophy
has never rejected God in Nature, nor Deity as the absolute and abstract Ens.
It only refuses to accept any of the gods of the so-called monotheistic
religions, gods created by man in his own image and likeness, a blasphemous and
sorry caricature of the Ever Unknowable. Furthermore, the records we mean to
place before the reader embrace the esoteric tenets of the whole world since
the beginning of our humanity, and Buddhistic occultism occupies therein only
its legitimate place, and no more. Indeed, the secret portions of the
"Dan" or Jan-na"* ("Dhyan") of Gautama's metaphysics
-- grand as they appear to one unacquainted with the tenets of the Wisdom
Religion of antiquity -- are but a very small portion of the whole. The Hindu
Reformer limited his public teachings to the purely moral and physiological
aspect of the Wisdom Religion, to Ethics and MAN alone. Things "unseen and
incorporeal," the mystery of Being outside our terrestrial sphere, the
great Teacher left entirely untouched in his public lectures, reserving the
hidden Truths for a select circle of his Arhats. The latter received their
Initiation at the famous Saptaparna cave (the Sattapanni of Mahavansa) near
Mount Baibhar (the Webhara of the Pali MSS.). This cave was in Rajagriha, the
ancient capital of Mogadha, and was the Cheta cave of Fa-hian, as rightly
suspected by some archaeologists.**
Time
and human imagination made short work of the purity and philo-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Dan, now become in modern Chinese and Tibetan phonetics ch'an, is the general
term for the esoteric schools, and their literature. In the old books, the word
Janna is defined as "to reform one's self by meditation and
knowledge," a second inner birth. Hence Dzan, Djan phonetically, the
"Book of Dzyan."
**
Mr. Beglor, the chief engineer at Buddhagaya, and a distinguished
archaeologist, was the first, we believe, to discover it.
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[[Vol.
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sophy
of these teachings, once that they were transplanted from the secret and sacred
circle of the Arhats, during the course of their work of proselytism, into a
soil less prepared for metaphysical conceptions than India; i.e., once they
were transferred into China, Japan, Siam, and Burmah. How the pristine purity
of these grand revelations was dealt with may be seen in studying some of the
so-called "esoteric" Buddhist schools of antiquity in their modern
garb, not only in China and other Buddhist countries in general, but even in
not a few schools in Thibet, left to the care of uninitiated Lamas and
Mongolian innovators.
Thus
the reader is asked to bear in mind the very important difference between
orthodox Buddhism -- i.e., the public teachings of Gautama the Buddha, and his
esoteric Budhism. His Secret Doctrine, however, differed in no wise from that
of the initiated Brahmins of his day. The Buddha was a child of the Aryan soil;
a born Hindu, a Kshatrya and a disciple of the "twice born" (the
initiated Brahmins) or Dwijas. His teachings, therefore, could not be different
from their doctrines, for the whole Buddhist reform merely consisted in giving
out a portion of that which had been kept secret from every man outside of the
"enchanted" circle of Temple-Initiates and ascetics. Unable to teach
all that had been imparted to him -- owing to his pledges -- though he taught a
philosophy built upon the ground-work of the true esoteric knowledge, the
Buddha gave to the world only its outward material body and kept its soul for
his Elect. (See also Volume II.) Many Chinese scholars among Orientalists have
heard of the "Soul Doctrine." None seem to have understood its real
meaning and importance.
That
doctrine was preserved secretly -- too secretly, perhaps -- within the
sanctuary. The mystery that shrouded its chief dogma and aspirations -- Nirvana
-- has so tried and irritated the curiosity of those scholars who have studied
it, that, unable to solve it logically and satisfactorily by untying the
Gordian knot, they cut it through, by declaring that Nirvana meant absolute
annihilation.
Toward
the end of the first quarter of this century, a distinct class of literature
appeared in the world, which became with every year more defined in its
tendency. Being based, soi-disant, on the scholarly researches of Sanskritists
and Orientalists in general, it was held scientific. Hindu, Egyptian, and other
ancient religions, myths, and emblems were made to yield anything the
symbologist wanted them to
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yield,
thus often giving out the rude outward form in place of the inner meaning.
Works, most remarkable for their ingenious deductions and speculations, in
circulo vicioso, foregone conclusions generally changing places with premisses
as in the syllogisms of more than one Sanskrit and Pali scholar, appeared
rapidly in succession, over-flooding the libraries with dissertations rather on
phallic and sexual worship than on real symbology, and each contradicting the
other.
This
is the true reason, perhaps, why the outline of a few fundamental truths from
the Secret Doctrine of the Archaic ages is now permitted to see the light,
after long millenniums of the most profound silence and secrecy. I say "a
few truths," advisedly, because that which must remain unsaid could not be
contained in a hundred such volumes, nor could it be imparted to the present
generation of Sadducees. But, even the little that is now given is better than
complete silence upon those vital truths. The world of to-day, in its mad
career towards the unknown -- which it is too ready to confound with the
unknowable, whenever the problem eludes the grasp of the physicist -- is
rapidly progressing on the reverse, material plane of spirituality. It has now
become a vast arena -- a true valley of discord and of eternal strife -- a
necropolis, wherein lie buried the highest and the most holy aspirations of our
Spirit-Soul. That soul becomes with every new generation more paralyzed and
atrophied. The "amiable infidels and accomplished profligates" of
Society, spoken of by Greeley, care little for the revival of the dead sciences
of the past; but there is a fair minority of earnest students who are entitled
to learn the few truths that may be given to them now; and now much more than
ten years ago, when "Isis Unveiled," or even the later attempts to
explain the mysteries of esoteric science, were published.
One
of the greatest, and, withal, the most serious objection to the correctness and
reliability of the whole work will be the preliminary STANZAS: "How can
the statements contained in them be verified?" True, if a great portion of
the Sanskrit, Chinese, and Mongolian works quoted in the present volumes are
known to some Orientalists, the chief work -- that one from which the Stanzas
are given -- is not in the possession of European Libraries. The Book of Dzyan
(or "Dzan") is utterly unknown to our Philologists, or at any rate
was never heard of by them under its present name. This is, of course, a great
drawback
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to
those who follow the methods of research prescribed by official Science; but to
the students of Occultism, and to every genuine Occultist, this will be of
little moment. The main body of the Doctrines given is found scattered
throughout hundreds and thousands of Sanskrit MSS., some already translated --
disfigured in their interpretations, as usual, -- others still awaiting their
turn. Every scholar, therefore, has an opportunity of verifying the statements
herein made, and of checking most of the quotations. A few new facts (new to
the profane Orientalist, only) and passages quoted from the Commentaries will
be found difficult to trace. Several of the teachings, also, have hitherto been
transmitted orally: yet even those are in every instance hinted at in the
almost countless volumes of Brahminical, Chinese and Tibetan temple-literature.
However
it may be, and whatsoever is in store for the writer through malevolent
criticism, one fact is quite certain. The members of several esoteric schools
-- the seat of which is beyond the Himalayas, and whose ramifications may be
found in China, Japan, India, Tibet, and even in Syria, besides South America
-- claim to have in their possession the sum total of sacred and philosophical
works in MSS. and type: all the works, in fact, that have ever been written, in
whatever language or characters, since the art of writing began; from the
ideographic hieroglyphs down to the alphabet of Cadmus and the Devanagari.
It
has been claimed in all ages that ever since the destruction of the Alexandrian
Library (see Isis Unveiled, Vol. II., p. 27), every work of a character that
might have led the profane to the ultimate discovery and comprehension of some
of the mysteries of the Secret Science, was, owing to the combined efforts of
the members of the Brotherhoods, diligently searched for. It is added, moreover,
by those who know, that once found, save three copies left and stored safely
away, such works were all destroyed. In India, the last of the precious
manuscripts were secured and hidden during the reign of the Emperor Akbar.*
It
is maintained, furthermore, that every sacred book of that kind, whose text was
not sufficiently veiled in symbolism, or which had any
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Prof. Max Muller shows that no bribes or threats of Akbar could extort from the
Brahmans the original text of the Veda; and boasts that European Orientalists
have it (Lecture on the "Science of Religion," p. 23). Whether Europe
has the complete text is very doubtful, and the future may have very
disagreeable surprises in store for the Orientalists.
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direct
references to the ancient mysteries, after having been carefully copied in
cryptographic characters, such as to defy the art of the best and cleverest
palaeographer, was also destroyed to the last copy. During Akbar's reign, some
fanatical courtiers, displeased at the Emperor's sinful prying into the
religions of the infidels, themselves helped the Brahmans to conceal their MSS.
Such was Badaoni, who had an undisguised horror for Akbar's mania for
idolatrous religions.*
Moreover
in all the large and wealthy lamasaries, there are subterranean crypts and cave-libraries,
cut in the rock, whenever the gonpa and the lhakhang are situated in the
mountains. Beyond the Western Tsay-dam, in the solitary passes of Kuen-lun**
there are several such hiding places. Along the ridge of Altyn-Toga, whose soil
no European foot has ever trodden so far, there exists a certain hamlet, lost
in a deep gorge. It is a small cluster of houses, a hamlet rather than a
monastery, with a poor-looking temple in it, with one old lama, a hermit,
living near by to watch it. Pilgrims say that the subterranean galleries and
halls under it contain a collection of books, the number of which, according to
the accounts given, is too large to find room even in the British Museum.***
All
this is very likely to provoke a smile of doubt. But then, before
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Badaoni wrote in his Muntakhab at Tawarikh: "His Majesty relished
inquiries into the sects of these infidels (who cannot be counted, so numerous
they are, and who have no end of revealed books) . . . As they (the Sramana and
Brahmins) surpass other learned men in their treatises on morals, on physical
and religious sciences, and reach a high degree in their knowledge of the
future, in spiritual power, and human perfection, they brought proofs based on
reason and testimony, and inculcated their doctrines so firmly that no man
could now raise a doubt in his Majesty even if mountains were to crumble to
dust, or the heavens were to tear asunder." This work "was kept
secret, and was not published till the reign of Jahangir." (Ain i Akbari,
translated by Dr. Blochmann, p. 104, note.)
**
Karakorum mountains, Western Tibet.
***
According to the same tradition the now desolate regions of the waterless land
of Tarim -- a true wilderness in the heart of Turkestan -- were in the days of
old covered with flourishing and wealthy cities. At present, hardly a few
verdant oases relieve its dead solitude. One such, sprung on the sepulchre of a
vast city swallowed by and buried under the sandy soil of the desert, belongs
to no one, but is often visited by Mongolians and Buddhists. The same tradition
speaks of immense subterranean abodes, of large corridors filled with tiles and
cylinders. It may be an idle rumour, and it may be an actual fact.
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the
reader rejects the truthfulness of the reports, let him pause and reflect over
the following well known facts. The collective researches of the Orientalists,
and especially the labours of late years of the students of comparative
Philology and the Science of Religions have led them to ascertain as follows:
An immense, incalculable number of MSS., and even printed works known to have
existed, are now to be found no more. They have disappeared without leaving the
slightest trace behind them. Were they works of no importance they might, in
the natural course of time, have been left to perish, and their very names
would have been obliterated from human memory. But it is not so; for, as now
ascertained, most of them contained the true keys to works still extant, and
entirely incomprehensible, for the greater portion of their readers, without
those additional volumes of Commentaries and explanations. Such are, for
instance, the works of Lao-tse, the predecessor of Confucius.*
He
is said to have written 930 books on Ethics and religions, and seventy on
magic, one thousand in all. His great work, however, the heart of his doctrine,
the "Tao-te-King," or the sacred scriptures of the Taosse, has in it,
as Stanislas Julien shows, only "about 5,000 words" (Tao-te-King, p.
xxvii.), hardly a dozen of pages, yet Professor Max Muller finds that "the
text is unintelligible without commentaries, so that Mr. Julien had to consult
more than sixty commentators for the purpose of his translation," the
earliest going back as far as the year 163 B.C., not earlier, as we see. During
the four centuries and a half that preceded this earliest of the commentators
there was ample time to veil the true Lao-tse doctrine from all but his
initiated priests. The Japanese, among whom are now to be found the most
learned of the priests and followers of Lao-tse, simply laugh at the blunders
and hypotheses of the European Chinese scholars; and tradition affirms that the
commentaries to which our Western Sinologues have access are not the real
occult records, but intentional veils, and that the true commentaries, as well
as almost all the texts, have long since disappeared from the eyes of the profane.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"If we turn to China, we find that the religion of Confucius is founded on
the Five King and the Four Shu-books, in themselves of considerable extent and
surrounded by voluminous Commentaries, without which even the most learned
scholars would not venture to fathom the depth of their sacred canon."
(Lectures on the "Science of Religion," p. 185. Max Muller.) But they
have not fathomed it -- and this is the complaint of the Confucianists, as a
very learned member of that body, in Paris, complained in 1881.
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If
one turns to the ancient literature of the Semitic religions, to the Chaldean
Scriptures, the elder sister and instructress, if not the fountain-head of the
Mosaic Bible, the basis and starting-point of Christianity, what do the
scholars find? To perpetuate the memory of the ancient religions of Babylon; to
record the vast cycle of astronomical observations of the Chaldean Magi; to
justify the tradition of their splendid and eminently occult literature, what
now remains? -- only a few fragments, said to be by Berosus.
These,
however, are almost valueless, even as a clue to the character of what has
disappeared. For they passed through the hands of his Reverence the Bishop of
Caesarea -- that self-constituted censor and editor of the sacred records of
other men's religions -- and they doubtless bear to this day the mark of his
eminently veracious and trustworthy hand. For what is the history of this
treatise on the once grand religion of Babylon?
Written
in Greek by Berosus, a priest of the temple of Belus, for Alexander the Great, from
the astronomical and chronological records preserved by the priests of that
temple, and covering a period of 200,000 years, it is now lost. In the first
century B.C. Alexander Polyhistor made a series of extracts from it -- also
lost. Eusebius used these extracts in writing his Chronicon (270-340 A.D.). The
points of resemblance -- almost of identity -- between the Jewish and the
Chaldean Scriptures,* made the latter most dangerous to Eusebius, in his role
of defender and champion of the new faith which had adopted the Jewish
Scriptures, and with them an absurd chronology. It is pretty certain that
Eusebius did not spare the Egyptian Synchronistic tables of Manetho -- so much
so that Bunsen** charges him with mutilating history most unscrupulously. And Socrates,
a historian of the fifth century, and Syncellus, vice-patriarch of
Constantinople (eighth century), both denounce him as the most daring and
desperate forger.
Is
it likely, then, that he dealt more tenderly with the Chaldean records, which
were already menacing the new religion, so rashly accepted?
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Found out and proven only now, through the discoveries made by George Smith
(vide his "Chaldean account of Genesis"), and which, thanks to this
Armenian forger, have misled all the civilized nations for over 1,500 years
into accepting Jewish derivations for direct Divine Revelation!
**
Bunsen's "Egypt's Place in History," vol. i. p. 200
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So
that, with the exception of these more than doubtful fragments, the entire
Chaldean sacred literature has disappeared from the eyes of the profane as
completely as the lost Atlantis. A few facts that were contained in the
Berosian History are given in Part II. of Vol. II., and may throw a great light
on the true origin of the Fallen Angels, personified by Bel and the Dragon.
Turning
now to the oldest Aryan literature, the Rig-Veda, the student will find,
following strictly in this the data furnished by the said Orientalists
themselves, that, although the Rig-Veda contains only "about 10,580
verses, or 1,028 hymns," in spite of the Brahmanas and the mass of glosses
and commentaries, it is not understood correctly to this day. Why is this so?
Evidently because the Brahmanas, "the scholastic and oldest treatises on
the primitive hymns," themselves require a key, which the Orientalists
have failed to secure.
What
do the scholars say of Buddhist literature? Have they got it in its
completeness? Assuredly not. Notwithstanding the 325 volumes of the Kanjur and
the Tanjur of the Northern Buddhists, each volume we are told, "weighing
from four to five pounds," nothing, in truth, is known of Lamaism. Yet,
the sacred canon of the Southern Church is said to contain 29,368,000 letters
in the Saddharma alankara,* or, exclusive of treatises and commentaries,
"five or six times the amount of the matter contained in the Bible,"
the latter, in the words of Professor Max Muller, rejoicing only in 3,567,180
letters. Notwithstanding, then, these "325 volumes" (in reality there
are 333, Kanjur comprising 108, and Tanjur 225 volumes), "the translators,
instead of supplying us with correct versions, have interwoven them with their
own commentaries, for the purpose of justifying the dogmas of their several
schools."** Moreover, "according to a tradition preserved by the
Buddhist schools, both of the South and of the North, the sacred Buddhist Canon
comprised originally 80,000 or 84,000 tracts, but most of them were lost, so
that there remained but 6,000," the professor tells his audiences.
"Lost" as usual for Europeans. But who can be quite sure that they
are likewise lost for Buddhists and Brahmins?
Considering
the sacredness for the Buddhists of every line written
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Spence Hardy, "The Legends and Theories of the Buddhists," p. 66.
**
"Buddhism in Tibet," p. 78.
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[[Vol.
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upon
Buddha or his "Good Law," the loss of nearly 76,000 tracts does seem
miraculous. Had it been vice versa, every one acquainted with the natural course
of events would subscribe to the statement that, of these 76,000, five or six
thousand treatises might have been destroyed during the persecutions in, and
emigrations from, India. But as it is well ascertained that Buddhist Arhats
began their religious exodus, for the purpose of propagating the new faith
beyond Kashmir and the Himalayas, as early as the year 300 before our era,* and
reached China in the year 61 A.D.** when Kashyapa, at the invitation of the
Emperor Ming-ti, went there to acquaint the "Son of Heaven" with the
tenets of Buddhism, it does seem strange to hear the Orientalists speaking of
such a loss as though it were really possible. They do not seem to allow for
one moment the possibility that the texts may be lost only for West and for
themselves; or, that the Asiatic people should have the unparalleled boldness
to keep their most sacred records out of the reach of foreigners, thus refusing
to deliver them to the profanation and misuse of races even so "vastly
superior" to themselves.
Owing
to the expressed regrets and numerous confessions of almost every one of the
Orientalists (See Max Muller's Lectures for example) the public may feel
sufficiently sure (a) that the students of ancient religions have indeed very
few data upon which to build such final conclusions as they generally do about
the old religions, and (b) that such lack of data does not prevent them in the
least from dogmatising. One would imagine that, thanks to the numerous records
of the Egyptian theogony and mysteries preserved in the classics, and in a
number of ancient writers, the rites and dogmas of Pharaonic Egypt ought to be
well understood at least; better, at any rate, than the too abstruse
philosophies and Pantheism of India, of whose religion and language Europe had
hardly any idea before the beginning of the present century. Along the Nile and
on the face of the whole country, there stand to this hour, exhumed yearly and
daily, fresh relics which eloquently tell their own history. Still it is not
so. The learned Oxford philologist himself confesses the truth by saying that
"Though . . . we see still standing the Pyramids, and the ruins of temples
and labyrinths, their walls
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Lassen, ("Ind. Althersumkunde" Vol. II, p. 1,072) shows a Buddhist
monastery erected in the Kailas range in 137 B.C.; and General Cunningham,
earlier than that.
**
Reverend T. Edkins, "Chinese Buddhism."
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[[Vol.
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covered
with hieroglyphic inscriptions, and with the strange pictures of gods and
goddesses. . . . . On rolls of papyrus, which seem to defy the ravages of time,
we have even fragments of what may be called the sacred books of the Egyptians;
yet, though much has been deciphered in the ancient records of that mysterious
race, the mainspring of the religion of Egypt and the original intention of its
ceremonial worship are far from being fully disclosed to us."* Here again
the mysterious hieroglyphic documents remain, but the keys by which alone they
become intelligible have disappeared.
Nevertheless,
having found that "there is a natural connection between language and
religion"; and, secondly, that there was a common Aryan religion before
the separation of the Aryan race; a common Semitic religion before the
separation of the Semitic race; and a common Turanian religion before the
separation of the Chinese and the other tribes belonging to the Turanian class;
having, in fact, only discovered "three ancient centres of religion"
and "three centres of language," and though as entirely ignorant of
those primitive religions and languages, as of their origin, the professor does
not hesitate to declare "that a truly historical basis for a scientific
treatment of those principal religions of the world has been gained!"
A
"scientific treatment" of a subject is no guarantee for its
"historical basis"; and with such scarcity of data on hand, no
philologist, even among the most eminent, is justified in giving out his own
conclusions for historical facts. No doubt, the eminent Orientalist has proved
thoroughly to the world's satisfaction, that according to Grimm's law of
phonetic rules, Odin and Buddha are two different personages, quite distinct
from each other, and he has shown it scientifically. When, however, he takes
the opportunity of saying in the same breath that Odin "was worshipped as
the supreme deity during a period long anterior to the age of the Veda and of
Homer" (Compar. Theol., p. 318), he has not the slightest "historical
basis" for it. He makes history and fact subservient to his
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
So little acquainted are our greatest Egyptologists with the funerary rites of
the Egyptians and the outward marks of the difference of sexes made on the
mummies, that it has led to the most ludicrous mistakes. Only a year or two
since, one of that kind was discovered at Boulaq, Cairo. The mummy of what had
been considered the wife of an unimportant Pharaoh, has turned out, thanks to
an inscription found on an amulet hung on his neck, to be that of Sesostris --
the greatest King of Egypt!
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[[Vol.
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own
conclusions, which may be very "scientific," in the sight of Oriental
scholars, but yet very wide of the mark of actual truth. The conflicting views
on the subject of chronology, in the case of the Vedas, of the various eminent
philologists and Orientalists, from Martin Haug down to Mr. Max Muller himself,
are an evident proof that the statement has no historical basis to stand upon,
"internal evidence" being very often a jack-o'lantern, instead of a
safe beacon to follow. Nor has the Science of modern Comparative Mythology any
better proof to show, that those learned writers, who have insisted for the
last century or so that there must have been "fragments of a primeval
revelation, granted to the ancestors of the whole race of mankind . . . .
preserved in the temples of Greece and Italy," were entirely wrong. For
this is what all the Eastern Initiates and Pundits have been proclaiming to the
world from time to time. While a prominent Cinghalese priest assured the writer
that it was well known that the most important Buddhist tracts belonging to the
sacred canon were stored away in countries and places inaccessible to the
European pundits, the late Swami Dayanand Sarasvati, the greatest Sanskritist
of his day in India, assured some members of the Theosophical Society of the
same fact with regard to ancient Brahmanical works. When told that Professor
Max Muller had declared to the audiences of his "Lectures" that the
theory . . . . "that there was a primeval preternatural revelation granted
to the fathers of the human race, finds but few supporters at present," --
the holy and learned man laughed. His answer was suggestive. "If Mr. Moksh
Mooller, as he pronounced the name, were a Brahmin, and came with me, I might
take him to a gupta cave (a secret crypt) near Okhee Math, in the Himalayas,
where he would soon find out that what crossed the Kalapani (the black waters
of the ocean) from India to Europe were only the bits of rejected copies of
some passages from our sacred books. There was a "primeval
revelation," and it still exists; nor will it ever be lost to the world,
but will reappear; though the Mlechchhas will of course have to wait."
Questioned
further on this point, he would say no more. This was at Meerut, in 1880.
No
doubt the mystification played, in the last century at Calcutta, by the
Brahmins upon Colonel Wilford and Sir William Jones was a cruel one. But it had
been well deserved, and no one was more to be blamed
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[[Vol.
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in
that affair than the Missionaries and Colonel Wilford themselves. The former,
on the testimony of Sir William Jones himself (see Asiat. Res., Vol. I., p.
272), were silly enough to maintain that "the Hindus were even now almost
Christians, because their Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesa were no other than the
Christian trinity."* It was a good lesson. It made the Oriental scholars
doubly cautious; but perchance it has also made some of them too shy, and
caused, in its reaction, the pendulum of foregone conclusions to swing too much
the other way. For "that first supply on the Brahmanical market,"
made for Colonel Wilford, has now created an evident necessity and desire in
the Orientalists to declare nearly every archaic Sanskrit manuscript so modern
as to give to the missionaries full justification for availing themselves of
the opportunity. That they do so and to the full extent of their mental powers,
is shown by the absurd attempts of late to prove that the whole Puranic story
about Chrishna was plagiarized by the Brahmins from the Bible! But the facts
cited by the Oxford Professor in his Lectures on the "Science of
Religion," concerning the now famous interpolations, for the benefit, and
later on to the sorrow, of Col. Wilford, do not at all interfere with the
conclusions to which one who studies the Secret Doctrine must unavoidably come.
For, if the results show that neither the New nor even the Old Testament
borrowed anything from the more ancient religion of the Brahmans and Buddhists,
it does not follow that the Jews have not borrowed all they knew from the
Chaldean records, the latter being mutilated later on by Eusebius. As to the
Chaldeans, they assuredly got their primitive learning from the Brahmans, for
Rawlinson shows an undeniably Vedic influence in the early mythology of
Babylon; and Col. Vans Kennedy has long since justly declared that Babylonia
was, from her origin, the seat of Sanskrit and Brahman learning. But all such
proofs must lose their value, in the presence of the latest theory worked out
by Prof. Max Muller. What it is everyone knows. The code of phonetic laws has
now become a universal solvent for every identification and
"connection" between
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
See Max Muller's "Introduction to the Science of Religion." Lecture
On False Analogies in comparative Theology, pp. 288 and 296 et seq. This
relates to the clever forgery (on leaves inserted in old Puranic MSS.), in
correct and archaic Sanskrit, of all that the Pundits of Col. Wilford had heard
from him about Adam and Abraham, Noah and his three sons, etc., etc
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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the
gods of many nations. Thus, though the Mother of Mercury (Budha, Thot-Hermes,
etc.), was Maia, the mother of Buddha (Gautama), also Maya, and the mother of
Jesus, likewise Maya (illusion, for Mary is Mare, the Sea, the great illusion
symbolically) -- yet these three characters have no connection, nor can they
have any, since Bopp, has "laid down his code of phonetic laws."
In
their efforts to collect together the many skeins of unwritten history, it is a
bold step for our Orientalists to take, to deny, a priori, everything that does
not dovetail with their special conclusions. Thus, while new discoveries are
daily made of great arts and sciences having existed far back in the night of
time, even the knowledge of writing is refused to some of the most ancient
nations, and they are credited with barbarism instead of culture. Yet the
traces of an immense civilization, even in Central Asia, are still to be found.
This civilization is undeniably prehistoric. And how can there be civilization
without a literature, in some form, without annals or chronicles? Common sense
alone ought to supplement the broken links in the history of departed nations.
The gigantic, unbroken wall of the mountains that hem in the whole table-land
of Tibet, from the upper course of the river Khuan-Khe down to the Kara-Korum
hills, witnessed a civilization during millenniums of years, and would have
strange secrets to tell mankind. The Eastern and Central portions of those
regions -- the Nan-Schayn and the Altyne-taga -- were once upon a time covered
with cities that could well vie with Babylon. A whole geological period has
swept over the land, since those cities breathed their last, as the mounds of
shifting sand, and the sterile and now dead soil of the immense central plains
of the basin of Tarim testify. The borderlands alone are superficially known to
the traveller. Within those table-lands of sand there is water, and fresh oases
are found blooming there, wherein no European foot has ever yet ventured, or
trodden the now treacherous soil. Among these verdant oases there are some
which are entirely inaccessible even to the native profane traveller.
Hurricanes may "tear up the sands and sweep whole plains away," they
are powerless to destroy that which is beyond their reach. Built deep in the
bowels of the earth, the subterranean stores are secure; and as their entrances
are concealed in such oases, there is little fear that any one should discover
them, even should several armies invade the sandy wastes where --
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"Not
a pool, not a bush, not a house is seen,
And
the mountain-range forms a rugged screen
Round
the parch'd flats of the dry, dry desert. . . . ."
But
there is no need to send the reader across the desert, when the same proofs of
ancient civilization are found even in comparatively populated regions of the
same country. The oasis of Tchertchen, for instance, situated about 4,000 feet
above the level of the river Tchertchen-D'arya, is surrounded with the ruins of
archaic towns and cities in every direction. There, some 3,000 human beings
represent the relics of about a hundred extinct nations and races -- the very
names of which are now unknown to our ethnologists. An anthropologist would
feel more than embarrassed to class, divide and subdivide them; the more so, as
the respective descendants of all these antediluvian races and tribes know as
little of their own forefathers themselves, as if they had fallen from the moon.
When questioned about their origin, they reply that they know not whence their
fathers had come, but had heard that their first (or earliest) men were ruled
by the great genii of these deserts. This may be put down to ignorance and
superstition, yet in view of the teachings of the Secret Doctrine, the answer
may be based upon primeval tradition. Alone, the tribe of Khoorassan claims to
have come from what is now known as Afghanistan, long before the days of
Alexander, and brings legendary lore to that effect as corroboration. The
Russian traveller, Colonel (now General) Prjevalsky, found quite close to the
oasis of Tchertchen, the ruins of two enormous cities, the oldest of which was,
according to local tradition, ruined 3,000 years ago by a hero and giant; and
the other by the Mongolians in the tenth century of our era. "The
emplacement of the two cities is now covered, owing to shifting sands and the
desert wind, with strange and heterogeneous relics; with broken china and
kitchen utensils and human bones. The natives often find copper and gold coins,
melted silver, ingots, diamonds, and turquoises, and what is the most
remarkable -- broken glass. . . . ." "Coffins of some undecaying
wood, or material, also, within which beautifully preserved embalmed bodies are
found. . . . . The male mummies are all extremely tall powerfully built men
with long waving hair. . . . . A vault was found with twelve dead men sitting
in it. Another time, in a separate coffin, a young girl was discovered by us.
Her eyes were closed with golden discs, and the jaws held firm by a golden
circlet running from under the chin across the top of the head. Clad in a
narrow
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woollen
garment, her bosom was covered with golden stars, the feet being left
naked." (From a lecture by N. M. Prjevalsky.) To this, the famous
traveller adds that all along their way on the river Tchertchen they heard
legends about twenty-three towns buried ages ago by the shifting sands of the
deserts. The same tradition exists on the Lob-nor and in the oasis of Kerya.
The
traces of such civilization, and these and like traditions, give us the right
to credit other legendary lore warranted by well educated and learned natives
of India and Mongolia, when they speak of immense libraries reclaimed from the
sand, together with various reliques of ancient MAGIC lore, which have all been
safely stowed away.
To
recapitulate. The Secret Doctrine was the universally diffused religion of the
ancient and prehistoric world. Proofs of its diffusion, authentic records of
its history, a complete chain of documents, showing its character and presence
in every land, together with the teaching of all its great adepts, exist to this
day in the secret crypts of libraries belonging to the Occult Fraternity.
This
statement is rendered more credible by a consideration of the following facts:
the tradition of the thousands of ancient parchments saved when the Alexandrian
library was destroyed; the thousands of Sanskrit works which disappeared in
India in the reign of Akbar; the universal tradition in China and Japan that
the true old texts with the commentaries, which alone make them comprehensible
-- amounting to many thousands of volumes -- have long passed out of the reach
of profane hands; the disappearance of the vast sacred and occult literature of
Babylon; the loss of those keys which alone could solve the thousand riddles of
the Egyptian hieroglyphic records; the tradition in India that the real secret
commentaries which alone make the Veda intelligible, though no longer visible
to profane eyes, still remain for the initiate, hidden in secret caves and
crypts; and an identical belief among the Buddhists, with regard to their secret
books.
The
Occultists assert that all these exist, safe from Western spoliating hands, to
re-appear in some more enlightened age, for which in the words of the late
Swami Dayanand Sarasvati, "the Mlechchhas (outcasts, savages, those beyond
the pale of Aryan civilization) will have to wait."
For
it is not the fault of the initiates that these documents are now
"lost" to the profane; nor was their policy dictated by selfishness,
or
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any
desire to monopolise the life-giving sacred lore. There were portions of the
Secret Science that for incalculable ages had to remain concealed from the
profane gaze. But this was because to impart to the unprepared multitude
secrets of such tremendous importance, was equivalent to giving a child a
lighted candle in a powder magazine.
The
answer to a question which has frequently arisen in the minds of students, when
meeting with statements such as this, may be outlined here.
"We
can understand," they say, "the necessity for concealing from the
herd such secrets as the Vril, or the rock-destroying force, discovered by J.
W. Keely, of Philadelphia, but we cannot understand how any danger could arise
from the revelation of such a purely philosophic doctrine, as, e.g., the
evolution of the planetary chains."
The
danger was this: Doctrines such as the planetary chain, or the seven races, at
once give a clue to the seven-fold nature of man, for each principle is
correlated to a plane, a planet, and a race; and the human principles are, on
every plane, correlated to seven-fold occult forces -- those of the higher
planes being of tremendous power. So that any septenary division at once gives
a clue to tremendous occult powers, the abuse of which would cause incalculable
evil to humanity. A clue, which is, perhaps, no clue to the present generation
-- especially the Westerns -- protected as they are by their very blindness and
ignorant materialistic disbelief in the occult; but a clue which would,
nevertheless, have been very real in the early centuries of the Christian era,
to people fully convinced of the reality of occultism, and entering a cycle of
degradation, which made them rife for abuse of occult powers and sorcery of the
worst description.
The
documents were concealed, it is true, but the knowledge itself and its actual
existence had never been made a secret of by the Hierophants of the Temple,
wherein MYSTERIES have ever been made a discipline and stimulus to virtue. This
is very old news, and was repeatedly made known by the great adepts, from
Pythagoras and Plato down to the Neoplatonists. It was the new religion of the
Nazarenes that wrought a change for the worse -- in the policy of centuries.
Moreover,
there is a well-known fact, a very curious one, corroborated to the writer by a
reverend gentleman attached for years to a Russian Embassy -- namely, that
there are several documents in the St. Peters-
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burg
Imperial Libraries to show that, even so late as during the days when
Freemasonry, and Secret Societies of Mystics flourished unimpeded in Russia,
i.e., at the end of the last and the beginning of the present century, more
than one Russian Mystic travelled to Tibet via the Ural mountains in search of
knowledge and initiation in the unknown crypts of Central Asia. And more than
one returned years later, with a rich store of such information as could never
have been given him anywhere in Europe. Several cases could be cited, and
well-known names brought forward, but for the fact that such publicity might
annoy the surviving relatives of the said late Initiates. Let any one look over
the Annals and History of Freemasonry in the archives of the Russian
metropolis, and he will assure himself of the fact stated.
This
is a corroboration of that which has been stated many times before, and,
unfortunately, too indiscreetly. Instead of benefiting humanity, the virulent
charges of deliberate invention and imposture with a purpose thrown at those
who asserted but a truthful, if even a little known fact, have only generated
bad Karma for the slanderers. But now the mischief is done, and truth should no
longer be denied, whatever the consequences. Is it a new religion, we are
asked? By no means; it is not a religion, nor is its philosophy new; for, as
already stated, it is as old as thinking man. Its tenets are not now published
for the first time, but have been cautiously given out to, and taught by, more
than one European Initiate -- especially by the late Ragon.
More
than one great scholar has stated that there never was a religious founder,
whether Aryan, Semitic or Turanian, who had invented a new religion, or
revealed a new truth. These founders were all transmitters, not original
teachers. They were the authors of new forms and interpretations, while the
truths upon which the latter were based were as old as mankind. Selecting one
or more of those grand verities -- actualities visible only to the eye of the
real Sage and Seer -- out of the many orally revealed to man in the beginning,
preserved and perpetuated in the adyta of the temples through initiation,
during the MYSTERIES and by personal transmission -- they revealed these truths
to the masses. Thus every nation received in its turn some of the said truths,
under the veil of its own local and special symbolism; which, as time went on,
developed into a more or less philosophical cultus, a Pantheon in mythical
disguise. Therefore is Confucius, a very ancient
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legislator
in historical chronology, though a very modern Sage in the World's History, shown
by Dr. Legge* -- who calls him "emphatically a transmitter, not a
maker" -- as saying: "I only hand on: I cannot create new things. I
believe in the ancients and therefore I love them."** (Quoted in
"Science of Religions" by Max Muller.)
The
writer loves them too, and therefore believes in the ancients, and the modern
heirs to their Wisdom. And believing in both, she now transmits that which she
has received and learnt herself to all those who will accept it. As to those
who may reject her testimony, -- i.e., the great majority -- she will bear them
no malice, for they will be as right in their way in denying, as she is right
in hers in affirming, since they look at TRUTH from two entirely different
stand-points. Agreeably with the rules of critical scholarship, the Orientalist
has to reject a priori whatever evidence he cannot fully verify for himself.
And how can a Western scholar accept on hearsay that which he knows nothing
about? Indeed, that which is given in these volumes is selected from oral, as
much as from written teachings. This first instalment of the esoteric doctrines
is based upon Stanzas, which are the records of a people unknown to ethnology;
it is claimed that they are written in a tongue absent from the nomenclature of
languages and dialects with which philology is acquainted; they are said to
emanate from a source (Occultism) repudiated by science; and, finally, they are
offered through an agency, incessantly discredited before the world by all
those who hate unwelcome truths, or have some special hobby of their own to
defend. Therefore, the rejection of these teachings may be expected, and must
be accepted beforehand. No one styling himself a "scholar," in
whatever department of exact science, will be permitted to regard these teachings
seriously. They will be derided and rejected a priori in this century; but only
in this one. For in the twentieth century of our era scholars will begin to
recognize that the Secret Doctrine has neither been invented nor exaggerated,
but, on the contrary, simply outlined; and finally, that its teachings antedate
the Vedas.*** Have not the latter been derided, rejected, and
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Lun Yu (§ I a) Schott. "Chinesische Literatur," p. 7.
**
"Life of Confucius," p. 96.
***
This is no pretension to prophecy, but simply a statement based on the
knowledge of facts. Every century an attempt is being made to show the world
that Occultism [[Footnote continued on next page]]
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called
"a modern forgery" even so recently as fifty years ago? Was not
Sanskrit proclaimed at one time the progeny of, and a dialect derived from, the
Greek, according to Lempriere and other scholars? About 1820, Prof. Max Muller
tells us, the sacred books of the Brahmans, of the Magians, and of the
Buddhists, "were all but unknown, their very existence was doubted, and
there was not a single scholar who could have translated a line of the Veda . .
. of the Zend Avesta, or . . . of the Buddhist Tripitaka, and now the Vedas are
proved to be the work of the highest antiquity whose 'preservation amounts
almost to a marvel' (Lecture on the Vedas).
The
same will be said of the Secret Archaic Doctrine, when proofs are given of its
undeniable existence and records. But it will take centuries before much more
is given from it. Speaking of the keys to the Zodiacal mysteries as being
almost lost to the world, it was remarked by the writer in "Isis
Unveiled" some ten years ago that: "The said key must be turned seven
times before the whole system is divulged. We will give it but one turn, and
thereby allow the profane one glimpse into the mystery. Happy he, who understands
the whole!"
The
same may be said of the whole Esoteric system. One turn of the key, and no
more, was given in "Isis." Much more is explained in these volumes.
In those days the writer hardly knew the language in which the work was
written, and the disclosure of many things, freely spoken about now, was
forbidden. In Century the Twentieth some disciple more informed, and far better
fitted, may be sent by the Masters of Wisdom to give final and irrefutable
proofs that there exists a Science called Gupta-Vidya; and that, like the
once-mysterious sources of the Nile, the source of all religions and
philosophies now known to the world has been for many ages forgotten and lost
to men, but is at last found.
Such
a work as this has to be introduced with no simple Preface, but with a volume
rather; one that would give facts, not mere disquisitions, since the SECRET
DOCTRINE is not a treatise, or a series of vague theories, but contains all
that can be given out to the world in this century.
It
would be worse than useless to publish in these pages even those
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] is no vain superstition. Once the door permitted
to be kept a little ajar, it will be opened wider with every new century. The
times are ripe for a more serious knowledge than hitherto permitted, though
still very limited, so far.
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[[Vol.
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portions
of the esoteric teachings that have now escaped from confinement, unless the
genuineness and authenticity -- at any rate, the probability -- of the
existence of such teachings was first established. Such statements as will now
be made, have to be shown warranted by various authorities: those of ancient
philosophers, classics and even certain learned Church Fathers, some of whom
knew these doctrines because they had studied them, had seen and read works
written upon them; and some of whom had even been personally initiated into the
ancient Mysteries, during the performance of which the arcane doctrines were
allegorically enacted. The writer will have to give historical and trustworthy
names, and to cite well-known authors, ancient and modern, of recognized ability,
good judgment, and truthfulness, as also to name some of the famous proficients
in the secret arts and science, along with the mysteries of the latter, as they
are divulged, or, rather, partially presented before the public in their
strange archaic form.
How
is this to be done? What is the best way for achieving such an object? was the
ever-recurring question. To make our plan clearer, an illustration may be
attempted. When a tourist coming from a well-explored country, suddenly reaches
the borderland of a terra incognita, hedged in, and shut out from view by a
formidable barrier of impassable rocks, he may still refuse to acknowledge
himself baffled in his exploratory plans. Ingress beyond is forbidden. But, if
he cannot visit the mysterious region personally, he may still find a means of
examining it from as short a distance as can be arrived at. Helped by his
knowledge of landscapes left behind him, he can get a general and pretty
correct idea of the transmural view, if he will only climb to the loftiest
summit of the altitudes in front of him. Once there, he can gaze at it, at his
leisure, comparing that which he dimly perceives with that which he has just
left below, now that he is, thanks to his efforts, beyond the line of the mists
and the cloud-capped cliffs.
Such
a point of preliminary observation, for those who would like to get a more
correct understanding of the mysteries of the pre-archaic periods given in the
texts, cannot be offered to them in these two volumes. But if the reader has patience,
and would glance at the present state of beliefs and creeds in Europe, compare
and check it with what is known to history of the ages directly preceding and
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following
the Christian era, then he will find all this in Volume III. of this work.
In
that volume a brief recapitulation will be made of all the principal adepts
known to history, and the downfall of the mysteries will be described; after
which began the disappearance and final and systematic elimination from the
memory of men of the real nature of initiation and the Sacred Science. From
that time its teachings became Occult, and Magic sailed but too often under the
venerable but frequently misleading name of Hermetic philosophy. As real
Occultism had been prevalent among the Mystics during the centuries that
preceded our era, so Magic, or rather Sorcery, with its Occult Arts, followed
the beginning of Christianity.
However
great and zealous the fanatical efforts, during those early centuries, to
obliterate every trace of the mental and intellectual labour of the Pagans, it
was a failure; but the same spirit of the dark demon of bigotry and intolerance
has perverted systematically and ever since, every bright page written in the
pre-Christian periods. Even in her uncertain records, history has preserved
enough of that which has survived to throw an impartial light upon the whole.
Let, then, the reader tarry a little while with the writer, on the spot of
observation selected. He is asked to give all his attention to that millennium
which divided the pre-Christian and the post-Christian periods, by the year ONE
of the Nativity. This event -- whether historically correct or not -- has
nevertheless been made to serve as a first signal for the erection of manifold
bulwarks against any possible return of, or even a glimpse into, the hated
religions of the Past; hated and dreaded -- because throwing such a vivid light
on the new and intentionally veiled interpretation of what is now known as the
"New Dispensation."
However
superhuman the efforts of the early Christian fathers to obliterate the Secret
Doctrine from the very memory of man, they all failed. Truth can never be
killed; hence the failure to sweep away entirely from the face of the earth
every vestige of that ancient Wisdom, and to shackle and gag every witness who
testified to it. Let one only think of the thousands, and perhaps millions, of
MSS. burnt; of monuments, with their too indiscreet inscriptions and pictorial
symbols, pulverised to dust; of the bands of early hermits and ascetics roaming
about among the ruined cities of Upper and Lower Egypt, in desert and
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mountain,
valleys and highlands, seeking for and eager to destroy every obelisk and
pillar, scroll or parchment they could lay their hands on, if it only bore the
symbol of the tau, or any other sign borrowed and appropriated by the new
faith; and he will then see plainly how it is that so little has remained of
the records of the Past. Verily, the fiendish spirits of fanaticism, of early
and mediaeval Christianity and of Islam, have from the first loved to dwell in
darkness and ignorance; and both have made
"--------------
the sun like blood, the earth a tomb,
The
tomb a hell, and hell itself a murkier gloom!"
Both
creeds have won their proselytes at the point of the sword; both have built
their churches on heaven-kissing hecatombs of human victims. Over the gateway
of Century I. of our era, the ominous words "the KARMA OF ISRAEL,"
fatally glowed. Over the portals of our own, the future seer may discern other
words, that will point to the Karma for cunningly made-up HISTORY, for events
purposely perverted, and for great characters slandered by posterity, mangled
out of recognition, between the two cars of Jagannatha -- Bigotry and
Materialism; one accepting too much, the other denying all. Wise is he who holds
to the golden mid-point, who believes in the eternal justice of things. Says
Faigi Diwan, the "witness to the wonderful speeches of a free-thinker who
belongs to a thousand sects": "In the assembly of the day of
resurrection, when past things shall be forgiven, the sins of the Ka'bah will
be forgiven for the sake of the dust of Christian churches." To this,
Professor Max Muller replies: "The sins of Islam are as worthless as the
dust of Christianity. On the day of resurrection both Muhammadans and Christians
will see the vanity of their religious doctrines. Men fight about religion on
earth -- in heaven they shall find out that there is only one true religion --
the worship of God's SPIRIT."*
In
other words -- "THERE IS NO RELIGION (OR LAW) HIGHER THAN TRUTH" --
"SATYAT NASTI PARO DHARMAH" -- the motto of the Maharajah of Benares,
adopted by the Theosophical Society.
As
already said in the Preface, the Secret Doctrine is not a version of "Isis
Unveiled" -- as originally intended. It is a volume explanatory of
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Lectures on the Science of Religion," by F. Max Muller, p. 257.
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[[Vol.
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it
rather, and, though entirely independent of the earlier work, an indispensable
corollary to it. Much of what was in Isis could hardly be understood by
theosophists in those days. The Secret Doctrine will now throw light on many a
problem left unsolved in the first work, especially on the opening pages, which
have never been understood.
Concerned
simply with the philosophies within our historical times and the respective
symbolism of the fallen nations, only a hurried glance could be thrown at the
panorama of Occultism in the two volumes of Isis. In the present work, detailed
Cosmogony and the evolution of the four races that preceded our Fifth race
Humanity are given, and now two large volumes explain that which was stated on
the first page of ISIS UNVEILED alone, and in a few allusions scattered hither
and thither throughout that work. Nor could the vast catalogue of the Archaic
Sciences be attempted in the present volumes, before we have disposed of such
tremendous problems as Cosmic and Planetary Evolution, and the gradual
development of the mysterious Humanities and races that preceded our
"Adamic" Humanity. Therefore, the present attempt to elucidate some
mysteries of the Esoteric philosophy has, in truth, nothing to do with the
earlier work. As an instance, the writer must be allowed to illustrate what is
said.
Volume
I. of "Isis" begins with a reference to "an old book" --
"So
very old that our modern antiquarians might ponder over its pages an indefinite
time, and still not quite agree as to the nature of the fabric upon which it is
written. It is the only original copy now in existence. The most ancient Hebrew
document on occult learning -- the Siphrah Dzeniouta -- was compiled from it,
and that at a time when the former was already considered in the light of a
literary relic. One of its illustrations represents the Divine Essence
emanating from ADAM* like a luminous arc proceeding to form a circle; and then,
having attained the highest point of its circumference, the ineffable glory
bends back again, and returns to earth, bringing a higher type of humanity in
its vortex. As it approaches nearer and nearer to our planet, the Emanation
becomes more and more shadowy, until upon touching the ground it is as black as
night."
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
The name is used in the sense of the Greek word [[anthropos]].
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The
"very old Book" is the original work from which the many volumes of
Kiu-ti were compiled. Not only this latter and the Siphrah Dzeniouta but even
the Sepher Jezirah,* the work attributed by the Hebrew Kabalists to their
Patriarch Abraham (!), the book of Shu-king, China's primitive Bible, the
sacred volumes of the Egyptian Thoth-Hermes, the Puranas in India, and the
Chaldean Book of Numbers and the Pentateuch itself, are all derived from that
one small parent volume. Tradition says, that it was taken down in Senzar, the
secret sacerdotal tongue, from the words of the Divine Beings, who dictated it
to the sons of Light, in Central Asia, at the very beginning of the 5th (our)
race; for there was a time when its language (the Sen-zar) was known to the Initiates
of every nation, when the forefathers of the Toltec understood it as easily as
the inhabitants of the lost Atlantis, who inherited it, in their turn, from the
sages of the 3rd Race, the Manushis, who learnt it direct from the Devas of the
2nd and 1st Races. The "illustration" spoken of in "Isis"
relates to the evolution of these Races and of our 4th and 5th Race Humanity in
the Vaivasvata Manvantara or "Round"; each Round being composed of
the Yugas of the seven periods of Humanity; four of which are now passed in our
life cycle, the middle point of the 5th being nearly reached. The illustration
is symbolical, as every one can well understand, and covers the ground from the
beginning. The old book, having described Cosmic Evolution and explained the
origin of everything on earth, including physical man, after giving the true
history of the races from the First down to the Fifth (our) race, goes no
further. It stops short at the beginning of the Kali Yuga just 4989 years ago
at the death of Krishna, the bright "Sun-god," the once living hero
and reformer.
But
there exists another book. None of its possessors regard it as very ancient, as
it was born with, and is only as old as the Black Age,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Rabbi Jehoshua Ben Chananea, who died about A.D. 72, openly declared that he
had performed "miracles" by means of the Book of Sepher Jezireh, and
challenged every sceptic. Franck, quoting from the Babylonian Talmud, names two
other thaumaturgists, Rabbis Chanina and Oshoi. (See "Jerusalem Talmud,
Sanhedrin," c. 7, etc.; and "Franck," pp. 55, 56.) Many of the
Mediaeval Occultists, Alchemists, and Kabalists claimed the same; and even the
late modern Magus, Eliphas Levi, publicly asserts it in print in his books on
Magic.
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[[Vol.
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namely,
about 5,000 years. In about nine years hence, the first cycle of the first five
millenniums, that began with the great cycle of the Kali-Yuga, will end. And
then the last prophecy contained in that book (the first volume of the
prophetic record for the Black Age) will be accomplished. We have not long to
wait, and many of us will witness the Dawn of the New Cycle, at the end of
which not a few accounts will be settled and squared between the races. Volume
II. of the Prophecies is nearly ready, having been in preparation since the
time of Buddha's grand successor, Sankaracharya.
One
more important point must be noticed, one that stands foremost in the series of
proofs given of the existence of one primeval, universal Wisdom -- at any rate
for the Christian Kabalists and students. The teachings were, at least,
partially known to several of the Fathers of the Church. It is maintained, on
purely historical grounds, that Origen, Synesius, and even Clemens
Alexandrinus, had been themselves initiated into the mysteries before adding to
the Neo-Platonism of the Alexandrian school, that of the Gnostics, under the
Christian veil. More than this, some of the doctrines of the Secret schools --
though by no means all -- were preserved in the Vatican, and have since become
part and parcel of the mysteries, in the shape of disfigured additions made to
the original Christian programme by the Latin Church. Such is the now
materialised dogma of the Immaculate Conception. This accounts for the great
persecutions set on foot by the Roman Catholic Church against Occultism,
Masonry, and heterodox mysticism generally.
The
days of Constantine were the last turning-point in history, the period of the
Supreme struggle that ended in the Western world throttling the old religions
in favour of the new one, built on their bodies. From thence the vista into the
far distant Past, beyond the "Deluge" and the Garden of Eden, began
to be forcibly and relentlessly closed by every fair and unfair means against
the indiscreet gaze of posterity. Every issue was blocked up, every record that
hands could be laid upon, destroyed. Yet there remains enough, even among such
mutilated records, to warrant us in saying that there is in them every possible
evidence of the actual existence of a Parent Doctrine. Fragments have survived
geological and political cataclysms to tell the story; and every survival shows
evidence that the now Secret Wisdom was once the
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one
fountain head, the ever-flowing perennial source, at which were fed all its streamlets
-- the later religions of all nations -- from the first down to the last. This
period, beginning with Buddha and Pythagoras at the one end and the
Neo-Platonists and Gnostics at the other, is the only focus left in History
wherein converge for the last time the bright rays of light streaming from the
aeons of time gone by, unobscured by the hand of bigotry and fanaticism.
This
accounts for the necessity under which the writer has laboured to be ever
explaining the facts given from the hoariest Past by evidence gathered from the
historical period. No other means was at hand, at the risk even of being once
more charged with a lack of method and system. The public must be made
acquainted with the efforts of many World-adepts, of initiated poets, writers,
and classics of every age, to preserve in the records of Humanity the Knowledge
of the existence, at least, of such a philosophy, if not actually of its
tenets. The Initiates of 1888 would indeed remain incomprehensible and ever a
seemingly impossible myth, were not like Initiates shown to have lived in every
other age of history. This could be done only by naming Chapter and Verse where
may be found mention of these great characters, who were preceded and followed
by a long and interminable line of other famous Antediluvian and Post-diluvian
Masters in the arts. Thus only could be shown, on semi-traditional and
semi-historical authority, that knowledge of the Occult and the powers it
confers on man, are not altogether fictions, but that they are as old as the
world itself.
To
my judges, past and future, therefore -- whether they are serious literary
critics, or those howling dervishes in literature who judge a book according to
the popularity or unpopularity of the author's name, who, hardly glancing at
its contents, fasten like lethal bacilli on the weakest points of the body -- I
have nothing to say. Nor shall I condescend to notice those crack-brained
slanderers -- fortunately very few in number -- who, hoping to attract public
attention by throwing discredit on every writer whose name is better known than
their own, foam and bark at their very shadows. These, having first maintained
for years that the doctrines taught in the Theosophist, and which culminated in
"Esoteric Buddhism," had been all invented by the present writer,
have finally turned round, and denounced "Isis Unveiled" and the rest
as a plagiarism from Eliphas Levi (!), Paracelsus (!!), and, mirabile
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] xlvi INTRODUCTORY.
dictu,
Buddhism and Brahmanism (!!!) As well charge Renan with having stolen his Vie
de Jesus from the Gospels, and Max Muller his "Sacred Books of the
East" or his "Chips" from the philosophies of the Brahmins and
Gautama, the Buddha. But to the public in general and the readers of the
"Secret Doctrine" I may repeat what I have stated all along, and
which I now clothe in the words of Montaigne: Gentlemen, "I HAVE HERE MADE
ONLY A NOSEGAY OF CULLED FLOWERS, AND HAVE BROUGHT NOTHING OF MY OWN BUT THE
STRING THAT TIES THEM."
Pull
the "string" to pieces and cut it up in shreds, if you will. As for
the nosegay of FACTS -- you will never be able to make away with these. You can
only ignore them, and no more.
We
may close with a parting word concerning this Volume I. In an INTRODUCTION
prefacing a Part dealing chiefly with Cosmogony, certain subjects brought
forward might be deemed out of place, but one more consideration added to those
already given have led me to touch upon them. Every reader will inevitably
judge the statements made from the stand-point of his own knowledge,
experience, and consciousness, based on what he has already learnt. This fact
the writer is constantly obliged to bear in mind: hence, also the frequent
references in this first Book to matters which, properly speaking, belong to a
later part of the work, but which could not be passed by in silence, lest the
reader should look down on this work as a fairy tale indeed -- a fiction of
some modern brain.
Thus,
the Past shall help to realise the PRESENT, and the latter to better appreciate
the PAST. The errors of the day must be explained and swept away, yet it is
more than probable -- and in the present case it amounts to certitude -- that
once more the testimony of long ages and of history will fail to impress anyone
but the very intuitional -- which is equal to saying the very few. But in this
as in all like cases, the true and the faithful may console themselves by
presenting the sceptical modern Sadducee with the mathematical proof and
memorial of his obdurate obstinacy and bigotry. There still exists somewhere in
the archives of the French Academy, the famous law of probabilities worked out
by an algebraical process for the benefit of sceptics by certain mathematicians.
It runs thus: If two persons give their evidence to
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] xlvii INTRODUCTORY.
a
fact, and thus impart to it each of them 5/6 of certitude; that fact will have
then 35/36 of certitude; i.e., its probability will bear to its improbability
the ratio of 35 to 1. If three such evidences are joined together the certitude
will become 215/216. The agreement of ten persons giving each 1/2 of certitude
will produce 1023/1024, etc., etc. The Occultist may remain satisfied, and care
for no more.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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[[blank]]
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[[Vol.
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PROEM.
-------
PAGES
FROM A PRE-HISTORIC PERIOD.
AN
Archaic Manuscript -- a collection of palm leaves made impermeable to water,
fire, and air, by some specific unknown process -- is before the writer's eye.
On the first page is an immaculate white disk within a dull black ground. On
the following page, the same disk, but with a central point. The first, the
student knows to represent Kosmos in Eternity, before the re-awakening of still
slumbering Energy, the emanation of the Word in later systems. The point in the
hitherto immaculate Disk, Space and Eternity in Pralaya, denotes the dawn of
differentiation. It is the Point in the Mundane Egg (see Part II., "The
Mundane Egg"), the germ within the latter which will become the Universe,
the ALL, the boundless, periodical Kosmos, this germ being latent and active,
periodically and by turns. The one circle is divine Unity, from which all
proceeds, whither all returns. Its circumference -- a forcibly limited symbol,
in view of the limitation of the human mind -- indicates the abstract, ever
incognisable PRESENCE, and its plane, the Universal Soul, although the two are
one. Only the face of the Disk being white and the ground all around black,
shows clearly that its plane is the only knowledge, dim and hazy though it
still is, that is attainable by man. It is on this plane that the Manvantaric
manifestations begin; for it is in this SOUL that slumbers, during the Pralaya,
the Divine Thought,* wherein lies concealed the plan of every future Cosmogony and
Theogony.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
It is hardly necessary to remind the reader once more that the term
"Divine Thought," like that of "Universal Mind," must not
be regarded as even vaguely shadowing forth an intellectual process akin to
that exhibited by man. The "Unconscious," according to von Hartmann,
arrived at the vast creative, or rather Evolutionary Plan, "by a
clairvoyant wisdom superior to all consciousness," which in the Vedantic
language would mean absolute Wisdom. Only those who realise how far Intuition
soars above the tardy processes of ratiocinative thought can form the faintest
conception of [[Footnote continued on next page]]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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It
is the ONE LIFE, eternal, invisible, yet Omnipresent, without beginning or end,
yet periodical in its regular manifestations, between which periods reigns the
dark mystery of non-Being; unconscious, yet absolute Consciousness;
unrealisable, yet the one self-existing reality; truly, "a chaos to the
sense, a Kosmos to the reason." Its one absolute attribute, which is
ITSELF, eternal, ceaseless Motion, is called in esoteric parlance the
"Great Breath,"* which is the perpetual motion of the universe, in
the sense of limitless, ever-present SPACE. That which is motionless cannot be
Divine. But then there is nothing in fact and reality absolutely motionless
within the universal soul.
Almost
five centuries B.C. Leucippus, the instructor of Democritus, maintained that
Space was filled eternally with atoms actuated by a ceaseless motion, the
latter generating in due course of time, when those atoms aggregated, rotatory
motion, through mutual collisions producing lateral movements. Epicurus and
Lucretius taught the same, only adding to the lateral motion of the atoms the
idea of affinity -- an occult teaching.
From
the beginning of man's inheritance, from the first appearance of the architects
of the globe he lives in, the unrevealed Deity was recognised and considered
under its only philosophical aspect -- universal motion, the thrill of the
creative Breath in Nature. Occultism sums up the "One Existence"
thus: "Deity is an arcane, living (or moving) FIRE, and the eternal
witnesses to this unseen Presence are Light, Heat, Moisture," -- this
trinity including, and being the cause of, every
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] that absolute Wisdom which transcends the ideas
of Time and Space. Mind, as we know it, is resolvable into states of
consciousness, of varying duration, intensity, complexity, etc. -- all, in the
ultimate, resting on sensation, which is again Maya. Sensation, again,
necessarily postulates limitation. The personal God of orthodox Theism
perceives, thinks, and is affected by emotion; he repents and feels
"fierce anger." But the notion of such mental states clearly involves
the unthinkable postulate of the externality of the exciting stimuli, to say
nothing of the impossibility of ascribing changelessness to a Being whose
emotions fluctuate with events in the worlds he presides over. The conceptions
of a Personal God as changeless and infinite are thus unpsychological and, what
is worse, unphilosophical.
*
Plato proves himself an Initiate, when saying in Cratylus that [[theos]] is
derived from the verb [[theein]], "to move," "to run," as
the first astronomers who observed the motions of the heavenly bodies called the
planets [[theoi]], the gods. (See Book II., "Symbolism of the Cross and
Circle.") Later, the word produced another term, [[aletheia]] -- "the
breath of God."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 3 PROEM.
phenomenon
in Nature.* Intra-Cosmic motion is eternal and ceaseless; cosmic motion (the
visible, or that which is subject to perception) is finite and periodical. As
an eternal abstraction it is the EVER-PRESENT; as a manifestation, it is finite
both in the coming direction and the opposite, the two being the alpha and
omega of successive reconstructions. Kosmos -- the NOUMENON -- has nought to do
with the causal relations of the phenomenal World. It is only with reference to
the intra-cosmic soul, the ideal Kosmos in the immutable Divine Thought, that
we may say: "It never had a beginning nor will it have an end." With
regard to its body or Cosmic organization, though it cannot be said that it had
a first, or will ever have a last construction, yet at each new Manvantara, its
organization may be regarded as the first and the last of its kind, as it
evolutes every time on a higher plane . . . .
A
few years ago only, it was stated that:--
"The
esoteric doctrine teaches, like Buddhism and Brahminism, and even the Kabala,
that the one infinite and unknown Essence exists from all eternity, and in
regular and harmonious successions is either passive or active. In the poetical
phraseology of Manu these conditions are called the "Days" and the "Nights"
of Brahma. The latter is either "awake" or "asleep." The
Svabhavikas, or philosophers of the oldest school of Buddhism (which still
exists in Nepaul), speculate only upon the active condition of this
"Essence," which they call Svabhavat, and deem it foolish to theorise
upon the abstract and "unknowable" power in its passive condition.
Hence they are called atheists by both Christian theologians and modern
scientists, for neither of the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Nominalists, arguing with Berkeley that "it is impossible . . . to form
the abstract idea of motion distinct from the body moving" ("Prin. of
Human Knowledge," Introd., par. 10), may put the question, "What is
that body, the producer of that motion? Is it a substance? Then you are
believers in a Personal God?" etc., etc. This will be answered farther on,
in the Addendum to this Book; meanwhile, we claim our rights of
Conceptionalists as against Roscelini's materialistic views of Realism and
Nominalism. "Has science," says one of its ablest advocates, Edward
Clodd, "revealed anything that weakens or opposes itself to the ancient
words in which the Essence of all religion, past, present, and to come, is
given; to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly before thy God?"
Provided we connote by the word God, not the crude anthropomorphism which is
still the backbone of our current theology, but the symbolic conception of that
which is Life and Motion of the Universe, to know which in physical order is to
know time past, present, and to come, in the existence of successions of
phenomena; to know which, in the moral, is to know what has been, is, and will
be, within human consciousness. (See "Science and the Emotions." A
Discourse delivered at South Place Chapel, Finsbury, London, Dec. 27th, 1885.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 4 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
two
are able to understand the profound logic of their philosophy. The former will
allow of no other God than the personified secondary powers which have worked
out the visible universe, and which became with them the anthropomorphic God of
the Christians -- the male Jehovah, roaring amid thunder and lightning. In its
turn, rationalistic science greets the Buddhists and the Svabhavikas as the
"positivists" of the archaic ages. If we take a one-sided view of the
philosophy of the latter, our materialists may be right in their own way. The
Buddhists maintained that there is no Creator, but an infinitude of creative
powers, which collectively form the one eternal substance, the essence of which
is inscrutable -- hence not a subject for speculation for any true philosopher.
Socrates invariably refused to argue upon the mystery of universal being, yet
no one would ever have thought of charging him with atheism, except those who
were bent upon his destruction. Upon inaugurating an active period, says the
Secret Doctrine, an expansion of this Divine essence from without inwardly and
from within outwardly, occurs in obedience to eternal and immutable law, and
the phenomenal or visible universe is the ultimate result of the long chain of
cosmical forces thus progressively set in motion. In like manner, when the
passive condition is resumed, a contraction of the Divine essence takes place,
and the previous work of creation is gradually and progressively undone. The
visible universe becomes disintegrated, its material dispersed; and 'darkness'
solitary and alone, broods once more over the face of the 'deep.' To use a
Metaphor from the Secret Books, which will convey the idea still more clearly,
an out-breathing of the 'unknown essence' produces the world; and an inhalation
causes it to disappear. This process has been going on from all eternity, and
our present universe is but one of an infinite series, which had no beginning
and will have no end." -- (See "Isis Unveiled"; also "The
Days and Nights of Brahma" in Part II.)
This
passage will be explained, as far as it is possible, in the present work.
Though, as it now stands, it contains nothing new to the Orientalist, its
esoteric interpretation may contain a good deal which has hitherto remained
entirely unknown to the Western student.
The
first illustration being a plain disc [[diagram]] the second one in the Archaic
symbol shows [[diagram]], a disc with a point in it -- the first
differentiation in the periodical manifestations of the ever-eternal nature,
sexless and infinite "Aditi in THAT" (Rig Veda), the point in the
disc, or potential Space within abstract Space. In its third stage the point is
transformed into a diameter, thus [[diagram]] It now symbolises a divine
immaculate Mother-Nature within the all-embracing absolute Infinitude.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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When
the diameter line is crossed by a vertical one [[diagram]], it becomes the
mundane cross. Humanity has reached its third root-race; it is the sign for the
origin of human life to begin. When the circumference disappears and leaves
only the [[diagram]] it is a sign that the fall of man into matter is
accomplished, and the FOURTH race begins. The Cross within a circle symbolises
pure Pantheism; when the Cross was left uninscribed, it became phallic. It had
the same and yet other meanings as a TAU inscribed within a circle [[diagram]]
or as a "Thor's hammer," the Jaina cross, so-called, or simply
Svastica within a circle [[diagram]]
By
the third symbol -- the circle divided in two by the horizontal line of the diameter
-- the first manifestation of creative (still passive, because feminine) Nature
was meant. The first shadowy perception of man connected with procreation is
feminine, because man knows his mother more than his father. Hence female
deities were more sacred than the male. Nature is therefore feminine, and, to a
degree, objective and tangible, and the spirit Principle which fructifies it is
concealed. By adding to the circle with the horizontal line in it, a
perpendicular line, the tau was formed -- [[diagram]] -- the oldest form of the
letter. It was the glyph of the third root-race to the day of its symbolical
Fall -- i.e., when the separation of sexes by natural evolution took place --
when the figure became [[diagram]], the circle, or sexless life modified or
separated -- a double glyph or symbol. With the races of our Fifth Race it
became in symbology the sacr', and in Hebrew n'cabvah, of the first-formed
races;* then it changed into the Egyptian [[diagram]] (emblem of life), and
still later into the sign of Venus, [[diagram]] Then comes the Svastica (Thor's
hammer, or the "Hermetic Cross" now), entirely separated from its
Circle, thus becoming purely phallic. The esoteric symbol of Kali Yuga is the
five-pointed star reversed, thus [[diagram]] -- the sign of human sorcery, with
its two points (horns) turned heavenward, a position every
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
See that suggestive work, "The Source of Measures," where the author
explains the real meaning of the word "sacr'," from which
"sacred," "sacrament," are derived, which have now become
synonyms of "holiness," though purely phallic!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 6 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
Occultist
will recognise as one of the "left-hand," and used in ceremonial
magic.*
It
is hoped that during the perusal of this work the erroneous ideas of the public
in general with regard to Pantheism will be modified. It is wrong and unjust to
regard the Buddhists and Advaitee Occultists as atheists. If not all of them
philosophers, they are, at any rate, all logicians, their objections and
arguments being based on strict reasoning. Indeed, if the Parabrahmam of the
Hindus may be taken as a representative of the hidden and nameless deities of
other nations, this absolute Principle will be found to be the prototype from
which all the others were copied. Parabrahm is not "God," because It
is not a God. "It is that which is supreme, and not supreme
(paravara)," explains Mandukya Upanishad (2.28). IT is "Supreme"
as CAUSE, not supreme as effect. Parabrahm is simply, as a "Secondless
Reality," the all-inclusive Kosmos -- or, rather, the infinite Cosmic
Space -- in the highest spiritual sense, of course. Brahma (neuter) being the
unchanging, pure, free, undecaying supreme Root, "the ONE true Existence,
Paramarthika," and the absolute Chit and Chaitanya (intelligence,
consciousness) cannot be a cogniser, "for THAT can have no subject of
cognition." Can the flame be called the essence of Fire? This Essence is
"the LIFE and LIGHT of the Universe, the visible fire and flame are
destruction, death, and evil." "Fire and Flame destroy the body of an
Arhat, their essence makes him immortal." (Bodhi-mur, Book II.) "The
knowledge of the absolute Spirit, like the effulgence of the sun, or like heat
in fire, is naught else than the absolute Essence itself," says
Sankaracharya. IT -- is "the Spirit of the Fire," not fire itself;
therefore, "the attributes of the latter, heat or flame, are not the
attributes of the Spirit, but of that of which that Spirit is the unconscious
cause." Is not the above sentence the true key-note of later Rosicrucian
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
We are told by the Western mathematicians and some American Kabalists, that in
the Kabala also "the value of the Jehovah name is that of the diameter of
a circle." Add to this the fact that Jehovah is the third Sephiroth,
Binah, a feminine word, and you have the key to the mystery. By certain
Kabalistic transformations this name, androgynous in the first chapters of
Genesis, becomes in its transformations entirely masculine, Cainite and
phallic. The fact of choosing a deity among the pagan gods and making of it a
special national God, to call upon it as the "One living God," the
"God of Gods," and then proclaim this worship Monotheistic, does not
change it into the ONE Principle whose "Unity admits not of
multiplication, change, or form," especially in the case of a priapic deity,
as Jehovah now demonstrated to be.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 7 PROEM.
philosophy?
Parabrahm is, in short, the collective aggregate of Kosmos in its infinity and
eternity, the "THAT" and "THIS" to which distributive
aggregates can not be applied.* "In the beginning THIS was the Self, one
only" (Aitareya Upanishad); the great Sankaracharya, explains that
"THIS" referred to the Universe (Jagat); the sense of the words,
"In the beginning," meaning before the reproduction of the phenomenal
Universe.
Therefore,
when the Pantheists echo the Upanishads, which state, as in the Secret
Doctrine, that "this" cannot create, they do not deny a Creator, or
rather a collective aggregate of creators, but only refuse, very logically, to
attribute "creation" and especially formation, something finite to an
Infinite Principle. With them, Parabrahmam is a passive because an Absolute
Cause, the unconditioned Mukta. It is only limited Omniscience and Omnipotence that
are refused to the latter, because these are still attributes (as reflected in
man's perceptions); and because Parabrahm, being the "Supreme ALL,"
the ever invisible spirit and Soul of Nature, changeless and eternal, can have
no attributes; absoluteness very naturally precluding any idea of the finite or
conditioned from being connected with it. And if the Vedantin postulates
attributes as belonging simply to its emanation, calling it "Iswara plus
Maya," and Avidya (Agnosticism and Nescience rather than ignorance), it is
difficult to find any Atheism in this conception.** Since there can be neither
two INFINITES nor two ABSOLUTES in a Universe supposed to be Boundless, this
Self-Existence can hardly be conceived of as creating personally. In the sense
and perceptions of finite "Beings," THAT is Non-"being," in
the sense that it is the one BE-NESS; for, in this ALL lies concealed its
coeternal and coeval emanation or inherent radiation, which, upon becoming
periodically Brahma (the male-female Potency) becomes or expands itself into
the manifested Universe. Narayana moving on the (abstract) waters of Space, is
transformed into the Waters of concrete substance moved by him, who now becomes
the manifested WORD or Logos.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
See "Vedanta Sara," by Major G. A. Jacob; as also "The Aphorisms
of S'andilya," translated by Cowell, p. 42.
**
Nevertheless, prejudiced and rather fanatical Christian Orientalists would like
to prove this pure Atheism. For proof of this, see about Major Jacob's
"Vedanta Sara." Yet, the whole Antiquity echoes this Vedantic
thought:--
"Omnis
enim per se divom natura necesse est
Immortali
aevo summa cum pace fruatur."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 8 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
The
orthodox Brahmins, those who rise the most against the Pantheists and
Adwaitees, calling them Atheists, are forced, if Manu has any authority in this
matter, to accept the death of Brahma, the creator, at the expiration of every
"Age" of this (creative) deity (100 Divine years -- a period which in
our years requires fifteen figures to express it). Yet, no philosopher among
them will view this "death" in any other sense than as a temporary
disappearance from the manifested plane of existence, or as a periodical rest.
The
Occultists are, therefore, at one with the Adwaita Vedantin philosophers as to
the above tenet. They show the impossibility of accepting on philosophical
grounds the idea of the absolute ALL creating or even evolving the "Golden
Egg," into which it is said to enter in order to transform itself into
Brahma -- the Creator, who expands himself later into gods and all the visible Universe.
They say that Absolute Unity cannot pass to infinity; for infinity presupposes
the limitless extension of something, and the duration of that
"something"; and the One All is like Space -- which is its only
mental and physical representation on this Earth, or our plane of existence --
neither an object of, nor a subject to, perception. If one could suppose the
Eternal Infinite All, the Omnipresent Unity, instead of being in Eternity,
becoming through periodical manifestation a manifold Universe or a multiple
personality, that Unity would cease to be one. Locke's idea that "pure
Space is capable of neither resistance nor Motion" -- is incorrect. Space
is neither a "limitless void," nor a "conditioned fulness,"
but both: being, on the plane of absolute abstraction, the ever-incognisable
Deity, which is void only to finite minds,* and on that of mayavic perception,
the Plenum, the absolute Container of all that is, whether manifested or
unmanifested: it is, therefore, that ABSOLUTE ALL. There is no difference
between the Christian Apostle's "In Him we live and move and have our
being," and the Hindu Rishi's "The Universe lives in, proceeds from,
and will
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
The very names of the two chief deities, Brahma and Vishnu, ought to have long
ago suggested their esoteric meanings. For the root of one, Brahmam, or Brahm,
is derived by some from the word Brih, "to grow" or "to
expand" (see Calcutta Review, vol. lxvi., p. 14); and of the other, Vishnu,
from the root Vis, "to pervade," to enter in the nature of the
essence; Brahma-Vishnu being this infinite SPACE, of which the gods, the
Rishis, the Manus, and all in this universe are simply the potencies,
Vibhutayah.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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return
to, Brahma (Brahma)": for Brahma (neuter), the unmanifested, is that
Universe in abscondito, and Brahma, the manifested, is the Logos, made
male-female* in the symbolical orthodox dogmas. The God of the Apostle-Initiate
and of the Rishi being both the Unseen and the Visible SPACE. Space is called
in the esoteric symbolism "the Seven-Skinned Eternal Mother-Father."
It is composed from its undifferentiated to its differentiated surface of seven
layers.
"What
is that which was, is, and will be, whether there is a Universe or not; whether
there be gods or none?" asks the esoteric Senzar Catechism. And the answer
made is -- SPACE.
It
is not the One Unknown ever-present God in Nature, or Nature in abscondito,
that is rejected, but the God of human dogma and his humanized
"Word." In his infinite conceit and inherent pride and vanity, man
shaped it himself with his sacrilegious hand out of the material he found in
his own small brain-fabric, and forced it upon mankind as a direct revelation
from the one unrevealed SPACE.** The Occultist
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
See Manu's account of Brahma separating his body into male and female, the
latter the female Vach, in whom he creates Viraj, and compare this with the
esotericism of Chapters II., III., and IV. of Genesis.
**
Occultism is indeed in the air at the close of this our century. Among many
other works recently published, we would recommend one especially to students
of theoretical Occultism who would not venture beyond the realm of our special
human plane. It is called "New Aspects of Life and Religion," by
Henry Pratt, M.D. It is full of esoteric dogmas and philosophy, the latter
rather limited, in the concluding chapters, by what seems to be a spirit of
conditioned positivism. Nevertheless, what is said of Space as "the
Unknown First Cause," merits quotation. "This unknown something, thus
recognised as, and identified with, the primary embodiment of Simple Unity, is
invisible and impalpable" -- (abstract space, granted); "and because
invisible and impalpable, therefore incognisable. And this incognisability has
led to the error of supposing it to be a simple void, a mere receptive capacity.
But, even viewed as an absolute void, space must be admitted to be either
Self-existent, infinite, and eternal, or to have had a first cause outside,
behind, and beyond itself.
"And
yet could such a cause be found and defined, this would only lead to the transferring
thereto of the attributes otherwise accruing to space, and thus merely throw
the difficulty of origination a step farther back, without gaining additional
light as to primary causation." (p. 5.)
This
is precisely what has been done by the believers in an anthropomorphic Creator,
an extracosmic, instead of an intracosmic God. Many -- most of Mr. Pratt's
subjects, we may say -- are old Kabalistic ideas and theories which he presents
in quite a new garb: "New Aspects" of the Occult in Nature, indeed.
Space, however, viewed as a "Substantial Unity" -- the "living
Source of Life" -- is as the "Un- [[Footnote continued on next page]]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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accepts
revelation as coming from divine yet still finite Beings, the manifested lives,
never from the Unmanifestable ONE LIFE; from those entities, called Primordial
Man, Dhyani-Buddhas, or Dhyan-Chohans, the "Rishi-Prajapati" of the
Hindus, the Elohim or "Sons of God," the Planetary Spirits of all
nations, who have become Gods for men. He also regards the Adi-Sakti -- the
direct emanation of Mulaprakriti, the eternal Root of THAT, and the female
aspect of the Creative Cause Brahma, in her A'kasic form of the Universal Soul
-- as philosophically a Maya, and cause of human Maya. But this view does not
prevent him from believing in its existence so long as it lasts, to wit, for
one Mahamanvantara; nor from applying Akasa, the radiation of Mulaprakriti,* to
practical purposes, connected as the World-Soul is with all natural phenomena,
known or unknown to science.
The
oldest religions of the world -- exoterically, for the esoteric root or
foundation is one -- are the Indian, the Mazdean, and the Egyptian. Then comes
the Chaldean, the outcome of these -- entirely lost to the world now, except in
its disfigured Sabeanism as at present rendered by the archaeologists; then,
passing over a number of religions that will be mentioned later, comes the
Jewish, esoterically, as in the Kabala, following in the line of Babylonian
Magism; exoterically, as in Genesis and the Pentateuch, a collection of
allegorical legends. Read by the light of the Zohar, the initial four chapters
of Genesis are the fragment
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] known Causeless Cause," is the oldest dogma
in Occultism, millenniums earlier than the Pater-AEther of the Greeks and
Latins. So are the "Force and Matter, as Potencies of Space, inseparable,
and the Unknown revealers of the Unknown." They are all found in Aryan
philosophy personified by Visvakarman, Indra, Vishnu, etc., etc. Still they are
expressed very philosophically, and under many unusual aspects, in the work
referred to.
*
In contradistinction to the manifested universe of matter, the term
Mulaprakriti (from Mula, "the root," and prakriti,
"nature"), or the unmanifested primordial matter -- called by Western
alchemists Adam's Earth -- is applied by the Vedantins to Parabrahmam. Matter
is dual in religious metaphysics, and septenary in esoteric teachings, like
everything else in the universe. As Mulaprakriti, it is undifferentiated and
eternal; as Vyakta, it becomes differentiated and conditioned, according to Svetasvatara
Upanishad, I. 8, and Devi Bhagavata Purana. The author of the Four Lectures on
the Bhagavad Gita, says, in speaking of Mulaprakriti: "From its (the
Logos') objective standpoint, Parabrahmam appears to it as Mulaprakriti. . . .
Of course this Mulaprakriti is material to it, as any material object is
material to us. . . . Parabrahmam is an unconditioned and absolute reality, and
Mulaprakriti is a sort of veil thrown over it." (Theosophist, Vol. VIII.,
p. 304.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 11 PROEM.
of
a highly philosophical page in the World's Cosmogony. (See Book III., Gupta
Vidya and the Zohar.) Left in their symbolical disguise, they are a nursery
tale, an ugly thorn in the side of science and logic, an evident effect of
Karma. To have let them serve as a prologue to Christianity was a cruel revenge
on the part of the Rabbis, who knew better what their Pentateuch meant. It was
a silent protest against their spoliation, and the Jews have certainly now the
better of their traditional persecutors. The above-named exoteric creeds will
be explained in the light of the Universal doctrine as we proceed with it.
The
Occult Catechism contains the following questions and answers:
"What
is it that ever is?" "Space, the eternal Anupadaka."* "What
is it that ever was?" "The Germ in the Root." "What is it
that is ever coming and going?" "The Great Breath." "Then,
there are three Eternals?" "No, the three are one. That which ever is
is one, that which ever was is one, that which is ever being and becoming is
also one: and this is Space."
"Explain,
oh Lanoo (disciple)." -- "The One is an unbroken Circle (ring) with
no circumference, for it is nowhere and everywhere; the One is the boundless
plane of the Circle, manifesting a diameter only during the manvantaric
periods; the One is the indivisible point found nowhere, perceived everywhere
during those periods; it is the Vertical and the Horizontal, the Father and the
Mother, the summit and base of the Father, the two extremities of the Mother,
reaching in reality nowhere, for the One is the Ring as also the rings that are
within that Ring. Light in darkness and darkness in light: the 'Breath which is
eternal.' It proceeds from without inwardly, when it is everywhere, and from
within outwardly, when it is nowhere -- (i.e., maya,** one of the centres***).
It expands and
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Meaning "parentless" -- see farther on.
**
Esoteric philosophy, regarding as Maya (or the illusion of ignorance) every
finite thing, must necessarily view in the same light every intra-Cosmic planet
and body, as being something organised, hence finite. The expression,
therefore, "it proceeds from without inwardly, etc." refers in the
first portion of the sentence to the dawn of the Mahamanvantaric period, or the
great re-evolution after one of the complete periodical dissolutions of every
compound form in Nature (from planet to molecule) into its ultimate essence or
element; and in its second portion, to the partial or local manvantara, which
may be a solar or even a planetary one.
***
By "centre," a centre of energy or a Cosmic focus is meant; when the
so-called "Creation," or formation of a planet, is accomplished by
that force which is designated by the Occultists LIFE and by Science
"energy," then the process takes place [[Footnote continued on next
page]]
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[[Vol.
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contracts
(exhalation and inhalation). When it expands the mother diffuses and scatters;
when it contracts, the mother draws back and ingathers. This produces the
periods of Evolution and Dissolution, Manwantara and Pralaya. The Germ is
invisible and fiery; the Root (the plane of the circle) is cool; but during
Evolution and Manwantara her garment is cold and radiant. Hot Breath is the
Father who devours the progeny of the many-faced Element (heterogeneous); and
leaves the single-faced ones (homogeneous). Cool Breath is the Mother, who
conceives, forms, brings forth, and receives them back into her bosom, to
reform them at the Dawn (of the Day of Brahma, or Manvantara). . . . ."
For
clearer understanding on the part of the general reader, it must be stated that
Occult Science recognises Seven Cosmical Elements -- four entirely physical,
and the fifth (Ether) semi-material, as it will become visible in the air
towards the end of our Fourth Round, to reign supreme over the others during
the whole of the Fifth. The remaining two are as yet absolutely beyond the
range of human perception. These latter will, however, appear as presentments
during the 6th and 7th Races of this Round, and will become known in the 6th
and 7th Rounds respectively.* These seven elements with their numberless
Sub-Elements
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] from within outwardly, every atom being said to
contain in itself creative energy of the divine breath. Hence, whereas after an
absolute pralaya, or when the pre-existing material consists but of ONE
Element, and BREATH "is everywhere," the latter acts from without
inwardly: after a minor pralaya, everything having remained in statu quo -- in
a refrigerated state, so to say, like the moon -- at the first flutter of
manvantara, the planet or planets begin their resurrection to life from within
outwardly.
*
It is curious to notice how, in the evolutionary cycles of ideas, ancient
thought seems to be reflected in modern speculation. Had Mr. Herbert Spencer
read and studied ancient Hindu philosophers when he wrote a certain passage in
his "First Principles" (p. 482), or is it an independent flash of
inner perception that made him say half correctly, half incorrectly,
"motion as well as matter, being fixed in quantity (?), it would seem that
the change in the distribution of Matter which Motion effects, coming to a
limit in whichever direction it is carried (?), the indestructible Motion thereupon
necessitates a reverse distribution. Apparently, the universally co-existent
forces of attraction and repulsion which, as we have seen, necessitate rhythm
in all minor changes throughout the Universe, also necessitate rhythm in the
totality of its changes -- produce now an immeasurable period during which the
attracting forces predominating, cause universal concentration, and then an
immeasurable period, during which the repulsive forces predominating, cause
universal diffusion -- alternate eras of Evolution and dissolution."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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far
more numerous than those known to Science) are simply conditional modifications
and aspects of the ONE and only Element. This latter is not Ether,* not even
A'kasa but the Source of these. The Fifth Element, now advocated quite freely
by Science, is not the Ether hypothesised by Sir Isaac Newton -- although he
calls it by that name, having associated it in his mind probably with the
AEther, "Father-Mother" of Antiquity. As Newton intuitionally says,
"Nature is a perpetual circulatory worker, generating fluids out of
solids, fixed things out of volatile, and volatile out of fixed, subtile out of
gross, and gross out of subtile. . . . . Thus, perhaps, may all things be
originated from Ether," (Hypoth, 1675).
The
reader has to bear in mind that the Stanzas given treat only of the Cosmogony
of our own planetary System and what is visible around it, after a Solar
Pralaya. The secret teachings with regard to the Evolution of the Universal
Kosmos cannot be given, since they could not be understood by the highest minds
in this age, and there seem to be very few Initiates, even among the greatest,
who are allowed to speculate upon this subject. Moreover the Teachers say
openly that not even the highest Dhyani-Chohans have ever penetrated the
mysteries beyond those boundaries that separate the milliards of Solar systems
from the "Central Sun," as it is called. Therefore, that which is
given, relates only to our visible Kosmos, after a "Night of Brahma."
Before
the reader proceeds to the consideration of the Stanzas from the Book of Dzyan
which form the basis of the present work, it is absolutely necessary that he
should be made acquainted with the few fundamental conceptions which underlie
and pervade the entire system of thought to which his attention is invited.
These basic ideas are few in number, and on their clear apprehension depends
the understanding of all that follows; therefore no apology is required for
asking the reader to make himself familiar with them first, before entering on
the perusal of the work itself.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Whatever the views of physical Science upon the subject, Occult Science has
been teaching for ages that A'kasa -- of which Ether is the grossest form --
the fifth universal Cosmic Principle (to which corresponds and from which
proceeds human Manas) is, cosmically, a radiant, cool, diathermanous plastic
matter, creative in its physical nature, correlative in its grossest aspects
and portions, immutable in its higher principles. In the former condition it is
called the Sub-Root; and in conjunction with radiant heat, it recalls
"dead worlds to life." In its higher aspect it is the Soul of the
World; in its lower -- the DESTROYER.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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The
Secret Doctrine establishes three fundamental propositions:--
(a)
An Omnipresent, Eternal, Boundless, and Immutable PRINCIPLE on which all
speculation is impossible, since it transcends the power of human conception
and could only be dwarfed by any human expression or similitude. It is beyond
the range and reach of thought -- in the words of Mandukya, "unthinkable
and unspeakable."
To
render these ideas clearer to the general reader, let him set out with the
postulate that there is one absolute Reality which antecedes all manifested,
conditioned, being. This Infinite and Eternal Cause -- dimly formulated in the
"Unconscious" and "Unknowable" of current European
philosophy -- is the rootless root of "all that was, is, or ever shall
be." It is of course devoid of all attributes and is essentially without
any relation to manifested, finite Being. It is "Be-ness" rather than
Being (in Sanskrit, Sat), and is beyond all thought or speculation.
This
"Be-ness" is symbolised in the Secret Doctrine under two aspects. On
the one hand, absolute abstract Space, representing bare subjectivity, the one
thing which no human mind can either exclude from any conception, or conceive
of by itself. On the other, absolute Abstract Motion representing Unconditioned
Consciousness. Even our Western thinkers have shown that Consciousness is
inconceivable to us apart from change, and motion best symbolises change, its
essential characteristic. This latter aspect of the one Reality, is also
symbolised by the term "The Great Breath," a symbol sufficiently
graphic to need no further elucidation. Thus, then, the first fundamental axiom
of the Secret Doctrine is this metaphysical ONE ABSOLUTE -- BE-NESS --
symbolised by finite intelligence as the theological Trinity.
It
may, however, assist the student if a few further explanations are given here.
Herbert
Spencer has of late so far modified his Agnosticism, as to assert that the
nature of the "First Cause,"* which the Occultist more logically
derives from the "Causeless Cause," the "Eternal," and the
"Unknowable," may be essentially the same as that of the
Consciousness which wells up within us: in short, that the impersonal reality
pervading
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
The "first" presupposes necessarily something which is the
"first brought forth, the first in time, space, and rank" -- and
therefore finite and conditioned. The "first" [[Footnote continued on
next page]]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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the
Kosmos is the pure noumenon of thought. This advance on his part brings him
very near to the esoteric and Vedantin tenet.*
Parabrahm
(the One Reality, the Absolute) is the field of Absolute Consciousness, i.e., that
Essence which is out of all relation to conditioned existence, and of which
conscious existence is a conditioned symbol. But once that we pass in thought
from this (to us) Absolute Negation, duality supervenes in the contrast of
Spirit (or consciousness) and Matter, Subject and Object.
Spirit
(or Consciousness) and Matter are, however, to be regarded, not as independent
realities, but as the two facets or aspects of the Absolute (Parabrahm), which
constitute the basis of conditioned Being whether subjective or objective.
Considering
this metaphysical triad as the Root from which proceeds all manifestation, the
great Breath assumes the character of precosmic Ideation. It is the fons et
origo of force and of all individual consciousness, and supplies the guiding
intelligence in the vast scheme of cosmic Evolution. On the other hand,
precosmic root-substance (Mulaprakriti) is that aspect of the Absolute which
underlies all the objective planes of Nature.
Just
as pre-Cosmic Ideation is the root of all individual consciousness, so
pre-Cosmic Substance is the substratum of matter in the various grades of its
differentiation.
Hence
it will be apparent that the contrast of these two aspects of the Absolute is
essential to the existence of the "Manifested Universe." Apart from
Cosmic Substance, Cosmic Ideation could not manifest as individual
consciousness, since it is only through a vehicle** of matter that
consciousness wells up as "I am I," a physical basis being necessary
to focus a ray of the Universal Mind at a certain stage of complexity. Again,
apart from Cosmic Ideation, Cosmic Substance would remain an empty abstraction,
and no emergence of consciousness could ensue.
The
"Manifested Universe," therefore, is pervaded by duality, which is,
as it were, the very essence of its EX-istence as "manifestation."
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] cannot be the absolute, for it is a
manifestation. Therefore, Eastern Occultism calls the Abstract All the
"Causeless One Cause," the "Rootless Root," and limits the
"First Cause" to the Logos, in the sense that Plato gives to this
term.
*
See Mr. Subba Row's four able lectures on the Bhagavad Gita,
"Theosophist," February, 1887.
**
Called in Sanskrit: "Upadhi."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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But
just as the opposite poles of subject and object, spirit and matter, are but
aspects of the One Unity in which they are synthesized, so, in the manifested
Universe, there is "that" which links spirit to matter, subject to
object.
This
something, at present unknown to Western speculation, is called by the
occultists Fohat. It is the "bridge" by which the "Ideas"
existing in the "Divine Thought" are impressed on Cosmic substance as
the "laws of Nature." Fohat is thus the dynamic energy of Cosmic
Ideation; or, regarded from the other side, it is the intelligent medium, the
guiding power of all manifestation, the "Thought Divine" transmitted
and made manifest through the Dhyan Chohans,* the Architects of the visible
World. Thus from Spirit, or Cosmic Ideation, comes our consciousness; from
Cosmic Substance the several vehicles in which that consciousness is
individualised and attains to self -- or reflective -- consciousness; while
Fohat, in its various manifestations, is the mysterious link between Mind and
Matter, the animating principle electrifying every atom into life.
The
following summary will afford a clearer idea to the reader.
(1.)
The ABSOLUTE; the Parabrahm of the Vedantins or the one Reality, SAT, which is,
as Hegel says, both Absolute Being and Non-Being.
(2.)
The first manifestation, the impersonal, and, in philosophy, unmanifested
Logos, the precursor of the "manifested." This is the "First
Cause," the "Unconscious" of European Pantheists.
(3.)
Spirit-matter, LIFE; the "Spirit of the Universe," the Purusha and
Prakriti, or the second Logos.
(4.)
Cosmic Ideation, MAHAT or Intelligence, the Universal World-Soul; the Cosmic
Noumenon of Matter, the basis of the intelligent operations in and of Nature,
also called MAHA-BUDDHI.
The
ONE REALITY; its dual aspects in the conditioned Universe.
Further,
the Secret Doctrine affirms:--
(b.)
The Eternity of the Universe in toto as a boundless plane; periodically
"the playground of numberless Universes incessantly manifesting and
disappearing," called "the manifesting stars," and the
"sparks of Eternity." "The Eternity of the Pilgrim"** is
like a wink
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Called by Christian theology: Archangels, Seraphs, etc., etc.
**
"Pilgrim" is the appellation given to our Monad (the two in one)
during its cycle of incarnations. It is the only immortal and eternal principle
in us, being an indivisible part of the integral whole -- the Universal Spirit,
from which it emanates, and into which it is absorbed at the end of the cycle.
When it is said to emanate from the one [[Footnote continued on next page]]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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of
the Eye of Self-Existence (Book of Dzyan.) "The appearance and
disappearance of Worlds is like a regular tidal ebb of flux and reflux."
(See Part II., "Days and Nights of Brahma.")
This
second assertion of the Secret Doctrine is the absolute universality of that
law of periodicity, of flux and reflux, ebb and flow, which physical science
has observed and recorded in all departments of nature. An alternation such as
that of Day and Night, Life and Death, Sleeping and Waking, is a fact so
common, so perfectly universal and without exception, that it is easy to
comprehend that in it we see one of the absolutely fundamental laws of the
universe.
Moreover,
the Secret Doctrine teaches:--
(c)
The fundamental identity of all Souls with the Universal Over-Soul, the latter
being itself an aspect of the Unknown Root; and the obligatory pilgrimage for
every Soul -- a spark of the former -- through the Cycle of Incarnation (or
"Necessity") in accordance with Cyclic and Karmic law, during the
whole term. In other words, no purely spiritual Buddhi (divine Soul) can have
an independent (conscious) existence before the spark which issued from the
pure Essence of the Universal Sixth principle, -- or the OVER-SOUL, -- has (a)
passed through every elemental form of the phenomenal world of that Manvantara,
and (b) acquired individuality, first by natural impulse, and then by
self-induced and self-devised efforts (checked by its Karma), thus ascending
through all the degrees of intelligence, from the lowest to the highest Manas,
from mineral and plant, up to the holiest archangel (Dhyani-Buddha). The
pivotal doctrine of the Esoteric philosophy admits no privileges or special
gifts in man, save those won by his own Ego through personal effort and merit
throughout a long series of metempsychoses and reincarnations. This is why the
Hindus say that the Universe is Brahma and Brahmâ, for Brahma is in every atom
of the universe, the six principles in Nature being all the outcome -- the
variously differentiated aspects -- of the SEVENTH and ONE, the only reality in
the Universe whether Cosmical or micro-cosmical; and also why the permutations
(psychic, spiritual and physical), on the plane of manifestation and form, of
the sixth (Brahmâ the vehicle of Brahma) are viewed by metaphysical
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] spirit, an awkward and incorrect expression has
to be used, for lack of appropriate words in English. The Vedantins call it
Sutratma (Thread-Soul), but their explanation, too, differs somewhat from that
of the occultists; to explain which difference, however, is left to the
Vedantins themselves.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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antiphrasis
as illusive and Mayavic. For although the root of every atom individually and
of every form collectively, is that seventh principle or the one Reality,
still, in its manifested phenomenal and temporary appearance, it is no better
than an evanescent illusion of our senses. (See, for clearer definition,
Addendum "Gods, Monads and Atoms," and also "Theophania,"
"Bodhisatvas and Reincarnation," etc., etc.)
In
its absoluteness, the One Principle under its two aspects (of Parabrahmam and
Mulaprakriti) is sexless, unconditioned and eternal. Its periodical
(manvantaric) emanation -- or primal radiation -- is also One, androgynous and
phenomenally finite. When the radiation radiates in its turn, all its
radiations are also androgynous, to become male and female principles in their
lower aspects. After Pralaya, whether the great or the minor Pralaya (the
latter leaving the worlds in statu quo*), the first that re-awakes to active
life is the plastic A'kasa, Father-Mother, the Spirit and Soul of Ether, or the
plane on the surface of the Circle. Space is called the "Mother"
before its Cosmic activity, and Father-Mother at the first stage of re-awakening.
(See Comments, Stanza II.) In the Kabala it is also Father-Mother-Son. But
whereas in the Eastern doctrine, these are the Seventh Principle of the
manifested Universe, or its "Atma-Buddhi-Manas" (Spirit, Soul,
Intelligence), the triad branching off and dividing into the seven cosmical and
seven human principles, in the Western Kabala of the Christian mystics it is
the Triad or Trinity, and with their occultists, the male-female Jehovah,
Jah-Havah. In this lies the whole difference between the esoteric and the Christian
trinities. The Mystics and the Philosophers, the Eastern and Western
Pantheists, synthesize their pregenetic triad in the pure divine abstraction.
The orthodox, anthropomorphize it. Hiranyagarbha, Hari, and Sankara -- the
three hypostases of the manifesting "Spirit of the Supreme Spirit"
(by which title Prithivi -- the Earth -- greets Vishnu in his first Avatar) --
are the purely metaphysical abstract qualities of formation, preservation, and
destruction, and are the three divine Avasthas (lit. hypostases) of that which
"does
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
It is not the physical organisms that remain in statu quo, least of all their
psychical principles, during the great Cosmic or even Solar pralayas, but only
their Akasic or astral "photographs." But during the minor pralayas,
once over-taken by the "Night," the planets remain intact, though
dead, as a huge animal, caught and embedded in the polar ice, remains the same
for ages.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 19 PROEM.
not
perish with created things" (or Achyuta, a name of Vishnu); whereas the
orthodox Christian separates his personal creative Deity into the three
personages of the Trinity, and admits of no higher Deity. The latter, in
Occultism, is the abstract Triangle; with the orthodox, the perfect Cube. The
creative god or the aggregate gods are regarded by the Eastern philosopher as
Bhrantidarsanatah -- "false apprehension," something "conceived
of, by reason of erroneous appearances, as a material form," and explained
as arising from the illusive conception of the Egotistic personal and human
Soul (lower fifth principle). It is beautifully expressed in a new translation
of Vishnu Purana. "That Brahma in its totality has essentially the aspect
of Prakriti, both evolved and unevolved (Mulaprakriti), and also the aspect of
Spirit and the aspect of Time. Spirit, O twice born, is the leading aspect of
the Supreme Brahma.* The next is a twofold aspect, -- Prakriti, both evolved
and unevolved, and is the time last." Kronos is shown in the Orphic
theogony as being also a generated god or agent.
At
this stage of the re-awakening of the Universe, the sacred symbolism represents
it as a perfect Circle with the (root) point in the Centre. This sign was
universal, therefore we find it in the Kabala also. The Western Kabala,
however, now in the hands of Christian mystics, ignores it altogether, though
it is plainly shown in the Zohar. These sectarians begin at the end, and show
as the symbol of pregenetic Kosmos this sign [[diagram]], calling it "the
Union of the Rose and Cross," the great mystery of occult generation, from
whence the name -- Rosicrucians (Rose Cross)!
As
may be judged, however, from the most important, as the best known of the
Rosicrucians' symbols, there is one which has never been hitherto understood
even by modern mystics. It is that of the "Pelican" tearing open its
breast to feed its seven little ones -- the real creed of the Brothers of the Rosie-Cross
and a direct outcome from the Eastern
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Thus Spencer, who, nevertheless, like Schopenhauer and von Hartmann, only
reflects an aspect of the old esoteric philosophers, and hence lands his
readers on the bleak shore of Agnostic despair -- reverently formulates the
grand mystery; "that which persists unchanging in quantity, but ever
changing in form, under these sensible appearances which the Universe presents
to us, is an unknown and unknowable power, which we are obliged to recognise as
without limit in Space and without beginning or end in time." It is only
daring Theology -- never Science or philosophy -- which seeks to gauge the
Infinite and unveil the Fathomless and Unknowable.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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Secret
Doctrine. Brahma (neuter) is called Kalahansa, meaning, as explained by Western
Orientalists, the Eternal Swan or goose (see Stanza III., Comment. 8), and so
is Brahma, the Creator. A great mistake is thus brought under notice; it is
Brahma (neuter) who ought to be referred to as Hansa-vahana (He who uses the
swan as his Vehicle) and not Brahma the Creator, who is the real Kalahansa,
while Brahma (neuter) is hamsa, and "A-hamsa," as will be explained
in the Commentary. Let it be understood that the terms Brahma and Parabrahmam
are not used here because they belong to our Esoteric nomenclature, but simply
because they are more familiar to the students in the West. Both are the
perfect equivalents of our one, three, and seven vowelled terms, which stand
for the ONE ALL, and the One "All in all."
Such
are the basic conceptions on which the Secret Doctrine rests.
It
would not be in place here to enter upon any defence or proof of their inherent
reasonableness; nor can I pause to show how they are, in fact, contained --
though too often under a misleading guise -- in every system of thought or
philosophy worthy of the name.
Once
that the reader has gained a clear comprehension of them and realised the light
which they throw on every problem of life, they will need no further
justification in his eyes, because their truth will be to him as evident as the
sun in heaven. I pass on, therefore, to the subject matter of the Stanzas as
given in this volume, adding a skeleton outline of them, in the hope of thereby
rendering the task of the student more easy, by placing before him in a few
words the general conception therein explained.
Stanza
I. The history of cosmic evolution, as traced in the Stanzas, is, so to say,
the abstract algebraical formula of that Evolution. Hence the student must not
expect to find there an account of all the stages and transformations which
intervene between the first beginnings of "Universal" evolution and
our present state. To give such an account would be as impossible as it would
be incomprehensible to men who cannot even grasp the nature of the plane of
existence next to that to which, for the moment, their consciousness is
limited.
The
Stanzas, therefore, give an abstract formula which can be applied, mutatis
mutandis, to all evolution: to that of our tiny earth, to
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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that
of the chain of planets of which that earth forms one, to the solar Universe to
which that chain belongs, and so on, in an ascending scale, till the mind reels
and is exhausted in the effort.
The
seven Stanzas given in this volume represent the seven terms of this abstract
formula. They refer to, and describe the seven great stages of the evolutionary
process, which are spoken of in the Puranas as the "Seven Creations,"
and in the Bible as the "Days" of Creation.
---------------------
The
First Stanza describes the state of the ONE ALL during Pralaya, before the
first flutter of re-awakening manifestation.
A
moment's thought shows that such a state can only be symbolised; to describe it
is impossible. Nor can it be symbolised except in negatives; for, since it is
the state of Absoluteness per se, it can possess none of those specific
attributes which serve us to describe objects in positive terms. Hence that
state can only be suggested by the negatives of all those most abstract
attributes which men feel rather than conceive, as the remotest limits
attainable by their power of conception.
The
stage described in Stanza II. is, to a western mind, so nearly identical with that
mentioned in the first Stanza, that to express the idea of its difference would
require a treatise in itself. Hence it must be left to the intuition and the
higher faculties of the reader to grasp, as far as he can, the meaning of the
allegorical phrases used. Indeed it must be remembered that all these Stanzas
appeal to the inner faculties rather than to the ordinary comprehension of the
physical brain.
Stanza
III. describes the Re-awakening of the Universe to life after Pralaya. It
depicts the emergence of the "Monads" from their state of absorption
within the ONE; the earliest and highest stage in the formation of
"Worlds," the term Monad being one which may apply equally to the
vastest Solar System or the tiniest atom.
Stanza
IV. shows the differentiation of the "Germ" of the Universe
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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into
the septenary hierarchy of conscious Divine Powers, who are the active
manifestations of the One Supreme Energy. They are the framers, shapers, and
ultimately the creators of all the manifested Universe, in the only sense in
which the name "Creator" is intelligible; they inform and guide it;
they are the intelligent Beings who adjust and control evolution, embodying in
themselves those manifestations of the ONE LAW, which we know as "The Laws
of Nature."
Generically,
they are known as the Dhyan Chohans, though each of the various groups has its
own designation in the Secret Doctrine.
This
stage of evolution is spoken of in Hindu mythology as the "Creation"
of the Gods.
In
Stanza V. the process of world-formation is described:--- First, diffused
Cosmic Matter, then the fiery "whirlwind," the first stage in the
formation of a nebula. That nebula condenses, and after passing through various
transformations, forms a Solar Universe, a planetary chain, or a single planet,
as the case may be.
The
subsequent stages in the formation of a "World" are indicated in
Stanza VI., which brings the evolution of such a world down to its fourth great
period, corresponding to the period in which we are now living.
Stanza
VII. continues the history, tracing the descent of life down to the appearance
of Man; and thus closes the first Book of the Secret Doctrine.
The
development of "Man" from his first appearance on this earth in this
Round to the state in which we now find him will form the subject of Book II.
---------------------
NOTE.
The
Stanzas which form the thesis of every section are given throughout in their modern
translated version, as it would be worse
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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than
useless to make the subject still more difficult by introducing the archaic phraseology
of the original, with its puzzling style and words. Extracts are given from the
Chinese Thibetan and Sanskrit translations of the original Senzar Commentaries
and Glosses on the Book of DZYAN -- these being now rendered for the first time
into a European language. It is almost unnecessary to state that only portions
of the seven Stanzas are here given. Were they published complete they would
remain incomprehensible to all save the few higher occultists. Nor is there any
need to assure the reader that, no more than most of the profane, does the
writer, or rather the humble recorder, understand those forbidden passages. To
facilitate the reading, and to avoid the too frequent reference to foot-notes,
it was thought best to blend together texts and glosses, using the Sanskrit and
Tibetan proper names whenever those cannot be avoided, in preference to giving
the originals. The more so as the said terms are all accepted synonyms, the
former only being used between a Master and his chelas (or disciples).
Thus,
were one to translate into English, using only the substantives and technical
terms as employed in one of the Tibetan and Senzar versions, Verse I would read
as follows:--- "Tho-ag in Zhi-gyu slept seven Khorlo. Zodmanas zhiba. All
Nyug bosom. Konch-hog not; Thyan-Kam not; Lha-Chohan not; Tenbrel Chugnyi not;
Dharmakaya ceased; Tgenchang not become; Barnang and Ssa in Ngovonyidj; alone
Tho-og Yinsin in night of Sun-chan and Yong-grub (Parinishpanna), &c.,
&c.," which would sound like pure Abracadabra.
As
this work is written for the instruction of students of Occultism, and not for
the benefit of philologists, we may well avoid such foreign terms wherever it
is possible to do so. The untranslateable terms alone, incomprehensible unless
explained in their meanings, are left, but all such terms are rendered in their
Sanskrit form. Needless to remind the reader that these are, in almost every
case, the late developments of the later language, and pertain to the Fifth
Root-Race. Sanskrit, as now known, was not spoken by the Atlanteans, and most
of the philosophical terms used in the systems of the India of the
post-Mahabharatan period are not found in the Vedas, nor are they to be met
with in the original Stanzas, but only their equivalents. The reader who is not
a Theosophist, is once more invited to regard all that which follows as a fairy
tale, if he likes; at best as one of the yet unproven speculations of
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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dreamers;
and, at the worst, as an additional hypothesis to the many Scientific
hypotheses past, present and future, some exploded, others still lingering. It
is not in any sense worse than are many of the so called Scientific theories;
and it is in every case more philosophical and probable.
In
view of the abundant comments and explanations required, the references to the
footnotes are given in the usual way, while the sentences to be commented upon
are marked with figures. Additional matter will be found in the Chapters on
Symbolism forming Part II., as well as in Part III., these being often more
full of information than the text.
---------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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PART
I.
COSMIC
EVOLUTION.
---------------------
SEVEN
STANZAS TRANSLATED WITH COMMENTARIES
FROM
THE
SECRET
BOOK OF DZYAN.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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Nor
Aught nor Nought existed; yon bright sky
Was
not, nor heaven's broad roof outstretched above.
What
covered all? what sheltered? what concealed?
Was
it the water's fathomless abyss?
There
was not death -- yet there was nought immortal,
There
was no confine betwixt day and night;
The
only One breathed breathless by itself,
Other
than It there nothing since has been.
Darkness
there was, and all at first was veiled
In
gloom profound -- an ocean without light --
The
germ that still lay covered in the husk
Burst
forth, one nature, from the fervent heat.
.
. . . . . . .
Who
knows the secret? who proclaimed it here?
Whence,
whence this manifold creation sprang?
The
Gods themselves came later into being --
Who
knows from whence this great creation sprang?
That,
whence all this great creation came,
Whether
Its will created or was mute,
The
Most High Seer that is in highest heaven,
He
knows it -- or perchance even He knows not."
"Gazing
into eternity . . .
Ere
the foundations of the earth were laid,
.
. . . .
Thou
wert. And when the subterranean flame
Shall
burst its prison and devour the frame . . .
Thou
shalt be still as Thou wert before
And
knew no change, when time shall be no more.
Oh!
endless thought, divine ETERNITY."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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COSMIC
EVOLUTION.
In
Seven Stanzas translated from the Book of Dzyan.
---------------------
STANZA
I.
1.
THE ETERNAL PARENT WRAPPED IN HER EVER INVISIBLE ROBES HAD SLUMBERED ONCE AGAIN
FOR SEVEN ETERNITIES.
2.
TIME WAS NOT, FOR IT LAY ASLEEP IN THE INFINITE BOSOM OF DURATION.
3.
UNIVERSAL MIND WAS NOT, FOR THERE WERE NO AH-HI TO CONTAIN IT.
4.
THE SEVEN WAYS TO BLISS WERE NOT. THE GREAT CAUSES OF MISERY WERE NOT, FOR
THERE WAS NO ONE TO PRODUCE AND GET ENSNARED BY THEM.
5.
DARKNESS ALONE FILLED THE BOUNDLESS ALL, FOR FATHER, MOTHER AND SON WERE ONCE
MORE ONE, AND THE SON HAD NOT AWAKENED YET FOR THE NEW WHEEL, AND HIS
PILGRIMAGE THEREON.
6.
THE SEVEN SUBLIME LORDS AND THE SEVEN TRUTHS HAD CEASED TO BE, AND THE
UNIVERSE, THE SON OF NECESSITY, WAS IMMERSED IN PARANISHPANNA, TO BE
OUTBREATHED BY THAT WHICH IS AND YET IS NOT. NAUGHT WAS.
7.
THE CAUSES OF EXISTENCE HAD BEEN DONE AWAY WITH; THE VISIBLE THAT WAS, AND THE
INVISIBLE THAT IS, RESTED IN ETERNAL NON-BEING -- THE ONE BEING.
8.
ALONE THE ONE FORM OF EXISTENCE STRETCHED BOUNDLESS, INFINITE, CAUSELESS, IN
DREAMLESS SLEEP; AND LIFE PULSATED UNCONSCIOUS IN UNIVERSAL SPACE, THROUGHOUT
THAT ALL-PRESENCE WHICH IS SENSED BY THE OPENED EYE OF THE DANGMA.
9.
BUT WHERE WAS THE DANGMA WHEN THE ALAYA OF THE UNIVERSE WAS IN PARAMARTHA AND
THE GREAT WHEEL WAS ANUPADAKA?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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STANZA
II.
1.
. . . WHERE WERE THE BUILDERS, THE LUMINOUS SONS OF MANVANTARIC DAWN? . . . IN
THE UNKNOWN DARKNESS IN THEIR AH-HI PARANISHPANNA. THE PRODUCERS OF FORM FROM
NO-FORM -- THE ROOT OF THE WORLD -- THE DEVAMATRI AND SVABHAVAT, RESTED IN THE
BLISS OF NON-BEING.
2.
. . . WHERE WAS SILENCE? WHERE THE EARS TO SENSE IT? NO, THERE WAS NEITHER
SILENCE NOR SOUND; NAUGHT SAVE CEASELESS ETERNAL BREATH, WHICH KNOWS ITSELF
NOT.
3.
THE HOUR HAD NOT YET STRUCK; THE RAY HAD NOT YET FLASHED INTO THE GERM; THE
MATRIPADMA HAD NOT YET SWOLLEN.
4.
HER HEART HAD NOT YET OPENED FOR THE ONE RAY TO ENTER, THENCE TO FALL, AS THREE
INTO FOUR, INTO THE LAP OF MAYA.
5.
THE SEVEN SONS WERE NOT YET BORN FROM THE WEB OF LIGHT. DARKNESS ALONE WAS
FATHER-MOTHER, SVABHAVAT; AND SVABHAVAT WAS IN DARKNESS.
6.
THESE TWO ARE THE GERM, AND THE GERM IS ONE. THE UNIVERSE WAS STILL CONCEALED
IN THE DIVINE THOUGHT AND THE DIVINE BOSOM. . . .
-------
STANZA
III.
1.
. . . THE LAST VIBRATION OF THE SEVENTH ETERNITY THRILLS THROUGH INFINITUDE.
THE MOTHER SWELLS, EXPANDING FROM WITHIN WITHOUT, LIKE THE BUD OF THE LOTUS.
2.
THE VIBRATION SWEEPS ALONG, TOUCHING WITH ITS SWIFT WING THE WHOLE UNIVERSE AND
THE GERM THAT DWELLETH IN DARKNESS: THE DARKNESS THAT BREATHES OVER THE
SLUMBERING WATERS OF LIFE. . .
3.
DARKNESS RADIATES LIGHT, AND LIGHT DROPS ONE SOLITARY RAY INTO THE MOTHER-DEEP.
THE RAY SHOOTS THROUGH THE VIRGIN EGG, THE RAY CAUSES THE ETERNAL EGG TO
THRILL, AND DROP THE NON-ETERNAL GERM, WHICH CONDENSES INTO THE WORLD-EGG.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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4.
THEN THE THREE FALL INTO THE FOUR. THE RADIANT ESSENCE BECOMES SEVEN INSIDE,
SEVEN OUTSIDE. THE LUMINOUS EGG, WHICH IN ITSELF IS THREE, CURDLES AND SPREADS
IN MILK-WHITE CURDS THROUGHOUT THE DEPTHS OF MOTHER, THE ROOT THAT GROWS IN THE
DEPTHS OF THE OCEAN OF LIFE.
5.
THE ROOT REMAINS, THE LIGHT REMAINS, THE CURDS REMAIN, AND STILL OEAOHOO IS
ONE.
6.
THE ROOT OF LIFE WAS IN EVERY DROP OF THE OCEAN OF IMMORTALITY, AND THE OCEAN
WAS RADIANT LIGHT, WHICH WAS FIRE, AND HEAT, AND MOTION. DARKNESS VANISHED AND
WAS NO MORE; IT DISAPPEARED IN ITS OWN ESSENCE, THE BODY OF FIRE AND WATER, OR
FATHER AND MOTHER.
7.
BEHOLD, OH LANOO! THE RADIANT CHILD OF THE TWO, THE UNPARALLELED REFULGENT
GLORY: BRIGHT SPACE SON OF DARK SPACE, WHICH EMERGES FROM THE DEPTHS OF THE
GREAT DARK WATERS. IT IS OEAOHOO THE YOUNGER, THE * * * HE SHINES FORTH AS THE
SON; HE IS THE BLAZING DIVINE DRAGON OF WISDOM; THE ONE IS FOUR, AND FOUR TAKES
TO ITSELF THREE,** AND THE UNION PRODUCES THE SAPTA, IN WHOM ARE THE SEVEN
WHICH BECOME THE TRIDASA (OR THE HOSTS AND THE MULTITUDES). BEHOLD HIM LIFTING
THE VEIL AND UNFURLING IT FROM EAST TO WEST. HE SHUTS OUT THE ABOVE, AND LEAVES
THE BELOW TO BE SEEN AS THE GREAT ILLUSION. HE MARKS THE PLACES FOR THE SHINING
ONES, AND TURNS THE UPPER INTO A SHORELESS SEA OF FIRE, AND THE ONE MANIFESTED
INTO THE GREAT WATERS.
8.
WHERE WAS THE GERM AND WHERE WAS NOW DARKNESS? WHERE IS THE SPIRIT OF THE FLAME
THAT BURNS IN THY LAMP, OH LANOO? THE GERM IS THAT, AND THAT IS LIGHT, THE
WHITE BRILLIANT SON OF THE DARK HIDDEN FATHER.
9.
LIGHT IS COLD FLAME, AND FLAME IS FIRE, AND FIRE PRODUCES HEAT, WHICH YIELDS
WATER: THE WATER OF LIFE IN THE GREAT MOTHER.
10.
FATHER-MOTHER SPIN A WEB WHOSE UPPER END IS FASTENED TO SPIRIT -- THE LIGHT OF
THE ONE DARKNESS -- AND THE LOWER ONE TO ITS SHADOWY END, MATTER; AND THIS WEB
IS THE UNIVERSE SPUN OUT OF THE TWO SUBSTANCES MADE IN ONE, WHICH IS SVABHAVAT.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
**
In the English translation from the Sanskrit the numbers are given in that
language, Eka, Chatur, etc., etc. It was thought best to give them in English.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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11.
IT EXPANDS WHEN THE BREATH OF FIRE IS UPON IT; IT CONTRACTS WHEN THE BREATH OF THE
MOTHER TOUCHES IT. THEN THE SONS DISSOCIATE AND SCATTER, TO RETURN INTO THEIR
MOTHER'S BOSOM AT THE END OF THE GREAT DAY, AND RE-BECOME ONE WITH HER; WHEN IT
IS COOLING IT BECOMES RADIANT, AND THE SONS EXPAND AND CONTRACT THROUGH THEIR
OWN SELVES AND HEARTS; THEY EMBRACE INFINITUDE.
12.
THEN SVABHAVAT SENDS FOHAT TO HARDEN THE ATOMS. EACH IS A PART OF THE WEB.
REFLECTING THE "SELF-EXISTENT LORD" LIKE A MIRROR, EACH BECOMES IN
TURN A WORLD.
-------
STANZA
IV.
1.
. . . LISTEN, YE SONS OF THE EARTH, TO YOUR INSTRUCTORS -- THE SONS OF THE
FIRE. LEARN, THERE IS NEITHER FIRST NOR LAST, FOR ALL IS ONE: NUMBER ISSUED
FROM NO NUMBER.
2.
LEARN WHAT WE WHO DESCEND FROM THE PRIMORDIAL SEVEN, WE WHO ARE BORN FROM THE
PRIMORDIAL FLAME, HAVE LEARNT FROM OUR FATHERS. . . .
3.
FROM THE EFFULGENCY OF LIGHT -- THE RAY OF THE EVER-DARKNESS -- SPRUNG IN SPACE
THE RE-AWAKENED ENERGIES; THE ONE FROM THE EGG, THE SIX, AND THE FIVE. THEN THE
THREE, THE ONE, THE FOUR, THE ONE, THE FIVE -- THE TWICE SEVEN THE SUM TOTAL.
AND THESE ARE THE ESSENCES, THE FLAMES, THE ELEMENTS, THE BUILDERS, THE
NUMBERS, THE ARUPA, THE RUPA, AND THE FORCE OF DIVINE MAN -- THE SUM TOTAL. AND
FROM THE DIVINE MAN EMANATED THE FORMS, THE SPARKS, THE SACRED ANIMALS, AND THE
MESSENGERS OF THE SACRED FATHERS WITHIN THE HOLY FOUR.
4.
THIS WAS THE ARMY OF THE VOICE -- THE DIVINE MOTHER OF THE SEVEN. THE SPARKS OF
THE SEVEN ARE SUBJECT TO, AND THE SERVANTS OF, THE FIRST, THE SECOND, THE
THIRD, THE FOURTH, THE FIFTH, THE SIXTH, AND THE SEVENTH OF THE SEVEN. THESE
"SPARKS" ARE CALLED SPHERES, TRIANGLES, CUBES, LINES, AND MODELLERS;
FOR THUS STANDS THE ETERNAL NIDANA -- THE OEAOHOO, WHICH IS:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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5.
"DARKNESS" THE BOUNDLESS, OR THE NO-NUMBER, ADI-NIDANA SVABHAVAT:--
I.
THE ADI-SANAT, THE NUMBER, FOR HE IS ONE.
II.
THE VOICE OF THE LORD SVABHAVAT, THE NUMBERS, FOR HE IS ONE AND NINE.
III.
THE "FORMLESS SQUARE."
AND
THESE THREE ENCLOSED WITHIN THE [[diagram]] ARE THE SACRED FOUR; AND THE TEN
ARE THE ARUPA UNIVERSE. THEN COME THE "SONS," THE SEVEN FIGHTERS, THE
ONE, THE EIGHTH LEFT OUT, AND HIS BREATH WHICH IS THE LIGHT-MAKER.
6.
THEN THE SECOND SEVEN, WHO ARE THE LIPIKA, PRODUCED BY THE THREE. THE REJECTED
SON IS ONE. THE "SON-SUNS" ARE COUNTLESS.
-------
STANZA
V.
1.
THE PRIMORDIAL SEVEN, THE FIRST SEVEN BREATHS OF THE DRAGON OF WISDOM, PRODUCE
IN THEIR TURN FROM THEIR HOLY CIRCUMGYRATING BREATHS THE FIERY WHIRLWIND.
2.
THEY MAKE OF HIM THE MESSENGER OF THEIR WILL. THE DZYU BECOMES FOHAT, THE SWIFT
SON OF THE DIVINE SONS WHOSE SONS ARE THE LIPIKA, RUNS CIRCULAR ERRANDS. FOHAT
IS THE STEED AND THE THOUGHT IS THE RIDER. HE PASSES LIKE LIGHTNING THROUGH THE
FIERY CLOUDS; TAKES THREE, AND FIVE, AND SEVEN STRIDES THROUGH THE SEVEN
REGIONS ABOVE, AND THE SEVEN BELOW. HE LIFTS HIS VOICE, AND CALLS THE
INNUMERABLE SPARKS, AND JOINS THEM.
3.
HE IS THEIR GUIDING SPIRIT AND LEADER. WHEN HE COMMENCES WORK, HE SEPARATES THE
SPARKS OF THE LOWER KINGDOM THAT FLOAT AND THRILL WITH JOY IN THEIR RADIANT
DWELLINGS, AND FORMS THEREWITH THE GERMS OF WHEELS. HE PLACES THEM IN THE SIX
DIRECTIONS OF SPACE, AND ONE IN THE MIDDLE -- THE CENTRAL WHEEL.
4.
FOHAT TRACES SPIRAL LINES TO UNITE THE SIXTH TO THE SEVENTH -- THE CROWN; AN
ARMY OF THE SONS OF LIGHT STANDS AT EACH ANGLE, AND THE LIPIKA IN THE MIDDLE
WHEEL, THEY SAY: THIS IS GOOD, THE
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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FIRST
DIVINE WORLD IS READY, THE FIRST IS NOW THE SECOND. THEN THE "DIVINE
ARUPA" REFLECTS ITSELF IN CHHAYA LOKA, THE FIRST GARMENT OF THE ANUPADAKA.
5.
FOHAT TAKES FIVE STRIDES AND BUILDS A WINGED WHEEL AT EACH CORNER OF THE
SQUARE, FOR THE FOUR HOLY ONES AND THEIR ARMIES.
6.
THE LIPIKA CIRCUMSCRIBE THE TRIANGLE, THE FIRST ONE, THE CUBE, THE SECOND ONE,
AND THE PENTACLE WITHIN THE EGG. IT IS THE RING CALLED "PASS NOT" FOR
THOSE WHO DESCEND AND ASCEND. ALSO FOR THOSE WHO DURING THE KALPA ARE
PROGRESSING TOWARDS THE GREAT DAY "BE WITH US." THUS WERE FORMED THE
RUPA AND THE ARUPA: FROM ONE LIGHT SEVEN LIGHTS; FROM EACH OF THE SEVEN, SEVEN
TIMES SEVEN LIGHTS. THE WHEELS WATCH THE RING. . . . .
-------
STANZA
VI.
1.
BY THE POWER OF THE MOTHER OF MERCY AND KNOWLEDGE -- KWAN-YIN -- THE
"TRIPLE" OF KWAN-SHAI-YIN, RESIDING IN KWAN-YIN-TIEN, FOHAT, THE
BREATH OF THEIR PROGENY, THE SON OF THE SONS, HAVING CALLED FORTH, FROM THE
LOWER ABYSS, THE ILLUSIVE FORM OF SIEN-TCHANG AND THE SEVEN ELEMENTS:*
2.
THE SWIFT AND RADIANT ONE PRODUCES THE SEVEN LAYA CENTRES, AGAINST WHICH NONE
WILL PREVAIL TO THE GREAT DAY "BE-WITH-US," AND SEATS THE UNIVERSE ON
THESE ETERNAL FOUNDATIONS SURROUNDING TSIEN-TCHAN WITH THE ELEMENTARY GERMS.
3.
OF THE SEVEN -- FIRST ONE MANIFESTED, SIX CONCEALED, TWO MANIFESTED, FIVE
CONCEALED; THREE MANIFESTED, FOUR CONCEALED; FOUR PRODUCED, THREE HIDDEN; FOUR
AND ONE TSAN REVEALED, TWO AND ONE HALF CONCEALED; SIX TO BE MANIFESTED, ONE
LAID ASIDE. LASTLY, SEVEN SMALL WHEELS REVOLVING; ONE GIVING BIRTH TO THE
OTHER.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Verse 1 of Stanza VI. is of a far later date than the other Stanzas, though
still very ancient. The old text of this verse, having names entirely unknown
to the Orientalists would give no clue to the student.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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4.
HE BUILDS THEM IN THE LIKENESS OF OLDER WHEELS, PLACING THEM ON THE
IMPERISHABLE CENTRES.
HOW
DOES FOHAT BUILD THEM? HE COLLECTS THE FIERY DUST. HE MAKES BALLS OF FIRE, RUNS
THROUGH THEM, AND ROUND THEM, INFUSING LIFE THEREINTO THEN' SETS THEM INTO
MOTION; SOME ONE WAY, SOME THE OTHER WAY. THEY ARE COLD, HE MAKES THEM HOT.
THEY ARE DRY, HE MAKES THEM MOIST. THEY SHINE, HE FANS AND COOLS THEM. THUS
ACTS FOHAT FROM ONE TWILIGHT TO THE OTHER, DURING SEVEN ETERNITIES.
5.
AT THE FOURTH, THE SONS ARE TOLD TO CREATE THEIR IMAGES. ONE THIRD REFUSES --
TWO OBEY.
THE
CURSE IS PRONOUNCED; THEY WILL BE BORN ON THE FOURTH, SUFFER AND CAUSE
SUFFERING; THIS IS THE FIRST WAR.
6.
THE OLDER WHEELS ROTATED DOWNWARDS AND UPWARDS. . . . THE MOTHER'S SPAWN FILLED
THE WHOLE. THERE WERE BATTLES FOUGHT BETWEEN THE CREATORS AND THE DESTROYERS,
AND BATTLES FOUGHT FOR SPACE; THE SEED APPEARING AND RE-APPEARING CONTINUOUSLY.
7.
MAKE THY CALCULATIONS, LANOO, IF THOU WOULDEST LEARN THE CORRECT AGE OF THY
SMALL WHEEL. ITS FOURTH SPOKE IS OUR MOTHER. REACH THE FOURTH "FRUIT"
OF THE FOURTH PATH OF KNOWLEDGE THAT LEADS TO NIRVANA, AND THOU SHALT
COMPREHEND, FOR THOU SHALT SEE . . . . .
-------
STANZA
VII.
1.
BEHOLD THE BEGINNING OF SENTIENT FORMLESS LIFE.
FIRST
THE DIVINE, THE ONE FROM THE MOTHER-SPIRIT; THEN THE SPIRITUAL; THE THREE FROM THE
ONE, THE FOUR FROM THE ONE, AND THE FIVE FROM WHICH THE THREE, THE FIVE, AND
THE SEVEN. THESE ARE THE THREE-FOLD, THE FOUR-FOLD DOWNWARD; THE
"MIND-BORN" SONS OF THE FIRST LORD; THE SHINING SEVEN.
IT
IS THEY WHO ARE THOU, ME, HIM, OH LANOO. THEY, WHO WATCH OVER THEE, AND THY
MOTHER EARTH.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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2.
THE ONE RAY MULTIPLIES THE SMALLER RAYS. LIFE PRECEDES FORM, AND LIFE SURVIVES
THE LAST ATOM OF FORM. THROUGH THE COUNTLESS RAYS PROCEEDS THE LIFE-RAY, THE
ONE, LIKE A THREAD THROUGH MANY JEWELS.
3.
WHEN THE ONE BECOMES TWO, THE THREEFOLD APPEARS, AND THE THREE ARE ONE; AND IT
IS OUR THREAD, OH LANOO, THE HEART OF THE MAN-PLANT CALLED SAPTASARMA.
4.
IT IS THE ROOT THAT NEVER DIES; THE THREE-TONGUED FLAME OF THE FOUR WICKS. THE
WICKS ARE THE SPARKS, THAT DRAW FROM THE THREE-TONGUED FLAME SHOT OUT BY THE
SEVEN -- THEIR FLAME -- THE BEAMS AND SPARKS OF ONE MOON REFLECTED IN THE
RUNNING WAVES OF ALL THE RIVERS OF EARTH.
5.
THE SPARK HANGS FROM THE FLAME BY THE FINEST THREAD OF FOHAT. IT JOURNEYS
THROUGH THE SEVEN WORLDS OF MAYA. IT STOPS IN THE FIRST, AND IS A METAL AND A
STONE; IT PASSES INTO THE SECOND AND BEHOLD -- A PLANT; THE PLANT WHIRLS
THROUGH SEVEN CHANGES AND BECOMES A SACRED ANIMAL. FROM THE COMBINED ATTRIBUTES
OF THESE, MANU, THE THINKER IS FORMED. WHO FORMS HIM? THE SEVEN LIVES, AND THE
ONE LIFE. WHO COMPLETES HIM? THE FIVE-FOLD LHA. AND WHO PERFECTS THE LAST BODY?
FISH, SIN, AND SOMA. . . . .
6.
FROM THE FIRST-BORN THE THREAD BETWEEN THE SILENT WATCHER AND HIS SHADOW
BECOMES MORE STRONG AND RADIANT WITH EVERY CHANGE. THE MORNING SUN-LIGHT HAS
CHANGED INTO NOON-DAY GLORY. . . . .
7.
THIS IS THY PRESENT WHEEL, SAID THE FLAME TO THE SPARK. THOU ART MYSELF, MY
IMAGE, AND MY SHADOW. I HAVE CLOTHED MYSELF IN THEE, AND THOU ART MY VAHAN TO
THE DAY, "BE WITH US," WHEN THOU SHALT RE-BECOME MYSELF AND OTHERS,
THYSELF AND ME. THEN THE BUILDERS, HAVING DONNED THEIR FIRST CLOTHING, DESCEND
ON RADIANT EARTH AND REIGN OVER MEN -- WHO ARE THEMSELVES. . . .
Thus
ends this portion of the archaic narrative, dark, confused, almost
incomprehensible. An attempt will now be made to throw light into this
darkness, to make sense out of this apparent NON-SENSE.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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COMMENTARIES
ON
THE SEVEN STANZAS AND THEIR TERMS, ACCORDING TO THEIR NUMERATION, IN STANZAS
AND SLOKAS.
STANZA
I.
1.
"THE ETERNAL PARENT (Space), WRAPPED IN HER EVER INVISIBLE ROBES, HAD
SLUMBERED ONCE AGAIN FOR SEVEN ETERNITIES (a)."
The
"Parent Space" is the eternal, ever present cause of all -- the
incomprehensible DEITY, whose "invisible robes" are the mystic root
of all matter, and of the Universe. Space is the one eternal thing that we can
most easily imagine, immovable in its abstraction and uninfluenced by either
the presence or absence in it of an objective Universe. It is without
dimension, in every sense, and self-existent. Spirit is the first
differentiation from THAT, the causeless cause of both Spirit and Matter. It
is, as taught in the esoteric catechism, neither limitless void, nor
conditioned fulness, but both. It was and ever will be. (See Proem pp. 2 et seq.)
Thus,
the "Robes" stand for the noumenon of undifferentiated Cosmic Matter.
It is not matter as we know it, but the spiritual essence of matter, and is
co-eternal and even one with Space in its abstract sense. Root-nature is also
the source of the subtile invisible properties in visible matter. It is the
Soul, so to say, of the ONE infinite Spirit. The Hindus call it Mulaprakriti,
and say that it is the primordial substance, which is the basis of the Upadhi
or vehicle of every phenomenon, whether physical, mental or psychic. It is the
source from which Akasa radiates.
(a)
By the Seven "Eternities," aeons or periods are meant. The word
"Eternity," as understood in Christian theology, has no meaning to
the Asiatic ear, except in its application to the ONE existence; nor is
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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the
term sempiternity, the eternal only in futurity, anything better than a
misnomer.* Such words do not and cannot exist in philosophical metaphysics, and
were unknown till the advent of ecclesiastical Christianity. The Seven
Eternities meant are the seven periods, or a period answering in its duration
to the seven periods, of a Manvantara, and extending throughout a Maha-Kalpa or
the "Great Age" -- 100 years of Brahma -- making a total of
311,040,000,000,000 of years; each year of Brahma being composed of 360
"days," and of the same number of "nights" of Brahma
(reckoning by the Chandrayana or lunar year); and a "Day of Brahma"
consisting of 4,320,000,000 of mortal years. These "Eternities"
belong to the most secret calculations, in which, in order to arrive at the
true total, every figure must be 7x (7 to the power of x); x varying according
to the nature of the cycle in the subjective or real world; and every figure or
number relating to, or representing all the different cycles from the greatest
to the smallest -- in the objective or unreal world -- must necessarily be
multiples of seven. The key to this cannot be given, for herein lies the
mystery of esoteric calculations, and for the purposes of ordinary calculation
it has no sense. "The number seven," says the Kabala, "is the
great number of the Divine Mysteries;" number ten is that of all human knowledge
(Pythagorean decade); 1,000 is the number ten to the third power, and therefore
the number 7,000 is also symbolical. In the Secret Doctrine the figure and
number 4 are the male symbol only on the highest plane of abstraction; on the
plane of matter the 3 is the masculine and the 4 the female: the upright and
the horizontal in the fourth stage of symbolism, when the symbols became the
glyphs of the generative powers on the physical plane.
-------
STANZA
I. -- Continued.
2.
TIME WAS NOT, FOR IT LAY ASLEEP IN THE INFINITE BOSOM OF DURATION (a).
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
It is stated in Book II., ch. viii., of Vishnu Purana: "By immortality is
meant existence to the end of the Kalpa;" and Wilson, the translator,
remarks in a footnote: "This, according to the Vedas, is all that is to be
understood of the immortality (or eternity) of the gods; they perish at the end
of universal dissolution (or Pralaya)." And Esoteric philosophy says: They
"perish" not, but are re-absorbed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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(a)
Time is only an illusion produced by the succession of our states of consciousness
as we travel through eternal duration, and it does not exist where no
consciousness exists in which the illusion can be produced; but "lies
asleep." The present is only a mathematical line which divides that part
of eternal duration which we call the future, from that part which we call the
past. Nothing on earth has real duration, for nothing remains without change --
or the same -- for the billionth part of a second; and the sensation we have of
the actuality of the division of "time" known as the present, comes
from the blurring of that momentary glimpse, or succession of glimpses, of
things that our senses give us, as those things pass from the region of ideals
which we call the future, to the region of memories that we name the past. In the
same way we experience a sensation of duration in the case of the instantaneous
electric spark, by reason of the blurred and continuing impression on the
retina. The real person or thing does not consist solely of what is seen at any
particular moment, but is composed of the sum of all its various and changing
conditions from its appearance in the material form to its disappearance from
the earth. It is these "sum-totals" that exist from eternity in the
"future," and pass by degrees through matter, to exist for eternity
in the "past." No one could say that a bar of metal dropped into the
sea came into existence as it left the air, and ceased to exist as it entered
the water, and that the bar itself consisted only of that cross-section thereof
which at any given moment coincided with the mathematical plane that separates,
and, at the same time, joins, the atmosphere and the ocean. Even so of persons
and things, which, dropping out of the to-be into the has-been, out of the
future into the past -- present momentarily to our senses a cross-section, as
it were, of their total selves, as they pass through time and space (as matter)
on their way from one eternity to another: and these two constitute that
"duration" in which alone anything has true existence, were our
senses but able to cognize it there.
-------
STANZA
I. -- Continued.
3.
. . . UNIVERSAL MIND WAS NOT, FOR THERE WERE NO AH-HI (celestial beings) TO
CONTAIN (hence to manifest) IT (a).
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[[Vol.
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(a)
Mind is a name given to the sum of the states of Consciousness grouped under
Thought, Will, and Feeling. During deep sleep, ideation ceases on the physical
plane, and memory is in abeyance; thus for the time-being "Mind is
not," because the organ, through which the Ego manifests ideation and
memory on the material plane, has temporarily ceased to function. A noumenon
can become a phenomenon on any plane of existence only by manifesting on that
plane through an appropriate basis or vehicle; and during the long night of
rest called Pralaya, when all the existences are dissolved, the "UNIVERSAL
MIND" remains as a permanent possibility of mental action, or as that
abstract absolute thought, of which mind is the concrete relative
manifestation. The AH-HI (Dhyan-Chohans) are the collective hosts of spiritual
beings -- the Angelic Hosts of Christianity, the Elohim and
"Messengers" of the Jews -- who are the vehicle for the manifestation
of the divine or universal thought and will. They are the Intelligent Forces
that give to and enact in Nature her "laws," while themselves acting
according to laws imposed upon them in a similar manner by still higher Powers;
but they are not "the personifications" of the powers of Nature, as
erroneously thought. This hierarchy of spiritual Beings, through which the
Universal Mind comes into action, is like an army -- a "Host," truly
-- by means of which the fighting power of a nation manifests itself, and which
is composed of army corps, divisions, brigades, regiments, and so forth, each
with its separate individuality or life, and its limited freedom of action and
limited responsibilities; each contained in a larger individuality, to which
its own interests are subservient, and each containing lesser individualities
in itself.
-------
STANZA
I. -- Continued.
4.
THE SEVEN WAYS TO BLISS (Moksha* or Nirvana) WERE NOT (a). THE GREAT CAUSES OF
MISERY (Nidana** and Maya) WERE NOT, FOR THERE WAS NO ONE TO PRODUCE AND GET
ENSNARED BY THEM (b).
(a)
There are seven "Paths" or "Ways" to the bliss of
Non-Exist-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Nippang in China; Neibban in Burmah; or Moksha in India.
**
The "12" Nidanas (in Tibetan Ten-brel chug-nyi) the chief causes of
existence, effects generated by a concatenation of causes produced (see
Comment. II).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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ence,
which is absolute Being, Existence, and Consciousness. They were not, because
the Universe was, so far, empty, and existed only in the Divine Thought. For it
is . . .
(b)
The twelve Nidanas or causes of being. Each is the effect of its antecedent
cause, and a cause, in its turn, to its successor; the sum total of the Nidanas
being based on the four truths, a doctrine especially characteristic of the
Hinayana System.* They belong to the theory of the stream of catenated law
which produces merit and demerit, and finally brings Karma into full sway. It
is based upon the great truth that re-incarnation is to be dreaded, as
existence in this world only entails upon man suffering, misery and pain; Death
itself being unable to deliver man from it, since death is merely the door
through which he passes to another life on earth after a little rest on its
threshold -- Devachan. The Hinayana System, or School of the "Little
Vehicle," is of very ancient growth; while the Mahayana is of a later
period, having originated after the death of Buddha. Yet the tenets of the
latter are as old as the hills that have contained such schools from time
immemorial, and the Hinayana and Mahayana Schools (the latter, that of the
"Great Vehicle") both teach the same doctrine in reality. Yana, or
Vehicle (in Sanskrit, Vahan) is a mystic expression, both "vehicles"
inculcating that man may escape the sufferings of rebirths and even the false
bliss of Devachan, by obtaining Wisdom and Knowledge, which alone can dispel
the Fruits of Illusion and Ignorance.
Maya
or illusion is an element which enters into all finite things, for everything
that exists has only a relative, not an absolute, reality, since the appearance
which the hidden noumenon assumes for any observer depends upon his power of cognition.
To the untrained eye of the savage, a painting is at first an unmeaning
confusion of streaks and daubs of color, while an educated eye sees instantly a
face or a landscape. Nothing is permanent except the one hidden absolute
existence which contains in itself the noumena of all realities. The existences
belonging to every plane of being, up to the highest Dhyan-Chohans, are, in
degree, of the nature of shadows cast by a magic lantern on a colourless
screen; but all things are relatively real, for the cogniser is also a
reflection, and the things cognised are therefore as real to him as himself.
Whatever reality things possess must be looked for in them
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
See Wassilief on Buddhism, pp. 97-950.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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before
or after they have passed like a flash through the material world; but we
cannot cognise any such existence directly, so long as we have
sense-instruments which bring only material existence into the field of our
consciousness. Whatever plane our consciousness may be acting in, both we and
the things belonging to that plane are, for the time being, our only realities.
As we rise in the scale of development we perceive that during the stages
through which we have passed we mistook shadows for realities, and the upward
progress of the Ego is a series of progressive awakenings, each advance
bringing with it the idea that now, at last, we have reached
"reality;" but only when we shall have reached the absolute
Consciousness, and blended our own with it, shall we be free from the delusions
produced by Maya.
-------
STANZA
I. -- Continued.
5.
DARKNESS ALONE FILLED THE BOUNDLESS ALL (a), FOR FATHER, MOTHER AND SON WERE
ONCE MORE ONE, AND THE SON HAD NOT AWAKENED YET FOR THE NEW WHEEL* AND HIS
PILGRIMAGE THEREON (b).
(a)
"Darkness is Father-Mother: light their son," says an old Eastern
proverb. Light is inconceivable except as coming from some source which is the
cause of it; and as, in the instance of primordial light, that source is
unknown, though as strongly demanded by reason and logic, therefore it is
called "Darkness" by us, from an intellectual point of view. As to
borrowed or secondary light, whatever its source, it can be but of a temporary
mayavic character. Darkness, then, is the eternal
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
That which is called "wheel" is the symbolical expression for a world
or globe, which shows that the ancients were aware that our Earth was a
revolving globe, not a motionless square as some Christian Fathers taught. The
"Great Wheel" is the whole duration of our Cycle of being, or Maha
Kalpa, i.e., the whole revolution of our special chain of seven planets or
Spheres from beginning to end; the "Small Wheels" meaning the Rounds,
of which there are also Seven.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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matrix
in which the sources of light appear and disappear. Nothing is added to
darkness to make of it light, or to light to make it darkness, on this our
plane. They are interchangeable, and scientifically light is but a mode of
darkness and vice versa. Yet both are phenomena of the same noumenon -- which
is absolute darkness to the scientific mind, and but a gray twilight to the
perception of the average mystic, though to that of the spiritual eye of the
Initiate it is absolute light. How far we discern the light that shines in
darkness depends upon our powers of vision. What is light to us is darkness to
certain insects, and the eye of the clairvoyant sees illumination where the
normal eye perceives only blackness. When the whole universe was plunged in
sleep -- had returned to its one primordial element -- there was neither centre
of luminosity, nor eye to perceive light, and darkness necessarily filled the
boundless all.
(b)
The Father-Mother are the male and female principles in root-nature, the
opposite poles that manifest in all things on every plane of Kosmos, or Spirit
and Substance, in a less allegorical aspect, the resultant of which is the
Universe, or the Son. They are "once more One" when in "The Night
of Brahma," during Pralaya, all in the objective Universe has returned to
its one primal and eternal cause, to reappear at the following Dawn -- as it
does periodically. "Karana" -- eternal cause -- was alone. To put it
more plainly: Karana is alone during the "Nights of Brahma." The
previous objective Universe has dissolved into its one primal and eternal
cause, and is, so to say, held in solution in space, to differentiate again and
crystallize out anew at the following Manvantaric dawn, which is the commencement
of a new "Day" or new activity of Brahma -- the symbol of the
Universe. In esoteric parlance, Brahma is Father-Mother-Son, or Spirit, Soul
and Body at once; each personage being symbolical of an attribute, and each
attribute or quality being a graduated efflux of Divine Breath in its cyclic
differentiation, involutionary and evolutionary. In the cosmicophysical sense,
it is the Universe, the planetary chain and the earth; in the purely spiritual,
the Unknown Deity, Planetary Spirit, and Man -- the Son of the two, the
creature of Spirit and Matter, and a manifestation of them in his periodical
appearances on Earth during the "wheels," or the Manvantaras. -- (See
Part II. §: "Days and Nights of Brahma.")
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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STANZA
I. -- Continued.
6.
THE SEVEN SUBLIME LORDS AND THE SEVEN TRUTHS HAD CEASED TO BE (a), AND THE
UNIVERSE, THE SON OF NECESSITY, WAS IMMERSED IN PARANISHPANNA (b) (absolute
perfection, Paranirvana, which is Yong-Grub) TO BE OUT-BREATHED BY THAT WHICH
IS AND YET IS NOT. NAUGHT WAS (c).
(a)
The seven sublime lords are the Seven Creative Spirits, the Dhyan-Chohans, who
correspond to the Hebrew Elohim. It is the same hierarchy of Archangels to
which St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and others belong, in the Christian theogony.
Only while St. Michael, for instance, is allowed in dogmatic Latin theology to
watch over all the promontories and gulfs, in the Esoteric System, the Dhyanis
watch successively over one of the Rounds and the great Root-races of our
planetary chain. They are, moreover, said to send their Bhodisatvas, the human
correspondents of the Dhyani-Buddhas (of whom vide infra) during every Round
and Race. Out of the Seven Truths and Revelations, or rather revealed secrets,
four only have been handed to us, as we are still in the Fourth Round, and the
world also has only had four Buddhas, so far. This is a very complicated
question, and will receive more ample treatment later on.
So
far "There are only Four Truths, and Four Vedas" -- say the Hindus
and Buddhists. For a similar reason Irenaeus insisted on the necessity of Four
Gospels. But as every new Root-race at the head of a Round must have its
revelation and revealers, the next Round will bring the Fifth, the following
the Sixth, and so on.
(b)
"Paranishpanna" is the absolute perfection to which all existences
attain at the close of a great period of activity, or Maha-Manvantara, and in
which they rest during the succeeding period of repose. In Tibetan it is called
Yong-Grub. Up to the day of the Yogacharya school the true nature of
Paranirvana was taught publicly, but since then it has become entirely
esoteric; hence so many contradictory interpretations of it. It is only a true
Idealist who can understand it. Everything has to be viewed as ideal, with the
exception of Paranirvana, by him who would comprehend that state, and acquire a
knowledge of how Non Ego, Voidness, and Darkness are Three in One and alone
Self-existent and perfect. It is absolute, however, only in a relative
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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sense,
for it must give room to still further absolute perfection, according to a
higher standard of excellence in the following period of activity -- just as a
perfect flower must cease to be a perfect flower and die, in order to grow into
a perfect fruit, -- if a somewhat Irish mode of expression may be permitted.
The
Secret Doctrine teaches the progressive development of everything, worlds as
well as atoms; and this stupendous development has neither conceivable
beginning nor imaginable end. Our "Universe" is only one of an
infinite number of Universes, all of them "Sons of Necessity,"
because links in the great Cosmic chain of Universes, each one standing in the
relation of an effect as regards its predecessor, and being a cause as regards
its successor.
The
appearance and disappearance of the Universe are pictured as an outbreathing
and inbreathing of "the Great Breath," which is eternal, and which,
being Motion, is one of the three aspects of the Absolute -- Abstract Space and
Duration being the other two. When the "Great Breath" is projected,
it is called the Divine Breath, and is regarded as the breathing of the
Unknowable Deity -- the One Existence -- which breathes out a thought, as it
were, which becomes the Kosmos. (See "Isis Unveiled.") So also is it
when the Divine Breath is inspired again the Universe disappears into the bosom
of "the Great Mother," who then sleeps "wrapped in her invisible
robes."
(c)
By "that which is and yet is not" is meant the Great Breath itself,
which we can only speak of as absolute existence, but cannot picture to our imagination
as any form of existence that we can distinguish from Non-existence. The three
periods -- the Present, the Past, and the Future -- are in the esoteric
philosophy a compound time; for the three are a composite number only in
relation to the phenomenal plane, but in the realm of noumena have no abstract
validity. As said in the Scriptures: "The Past time is the Present time,
as also the Future, which, though it has not come into existence, still
is"; according to a precept in the Prasanga Madhyamika teaching, whose
dogmas have been known ever since it broke away from the purely esoteric
schools.* Our ideas, in short, on duration and time are all derived from our
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
See Dzungarian "Mani Kumbum," the "Book of the 10,000
Precepts." Also consult Wassilief's "Der Buddhismus," pp. 327
and 357, etc.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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sensations
according to the laws of Association. Inextricably bound up with the relativity
of human knowledge, they nevertheless can have no existence except in the
experience of the individual ego, and perish when its evolutionary march
dispels the Maya of phenomenal existence. What is Time, for instance, but the
panoramic succession of our states of consciousness? In the words of a Master,
"I feel irritated at having to use these three clumsy words -- Past,
Present, and Future -- miserable concepts of the objective phases of the subjective
whole, they are about as ill-adapted for the purpose as an axe for fine
carving." One has to acquire Paramartha lest one should become too easy a
prey to Samvriti -- is a philosophical axiom.*
-------
STANZA
I. -- Continued.
7.
THE CAUSES OF EXISTENCE HAD BEEN DONE AWAY WITH (a); THE VISIBLE THAT WAS, AND
THE INVISIBLE THAT IS, RESTED IN ETERNAL NON-BEING, THE ONE BEING (b).
(a)
"The Causes of Existence" mean not only the physical causes known to
science, but the metaphysical causes, the chief of which is the desire to
exist, an outcome of Nidana and Maya. This desire for a sentient life shows
itself in everything, from an atom to a sun, and is a reflection of the Divine
Thought propelled into objective existence, into a law that the Universe should
exist. According to esoteric teaching, the real cause of that supposed desire,
and of all existence, remains for ever hidden, and its first emanations are the
most complete abstractions mind can conceive. These abstractions must of
necessity be postulated as the cause of the material Universe which presents
itself to the senses and intellect; and they underlie the secondary and
subordinate powers of Nature, which, anthropomorphized, have been worshipped as
God and gods by the common herd of every age. It is impossible to conceive
anything without a cause; the attempt to do so makes the mind a blank.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
In clearer words: "One has to acquire true Self-Consciousness in order to
understand Samvriti, or the 'origin of delusion.'" Paramartha is the
synonym of the Sanskrit term Svasam-vedana, or "the reflection which
analyses itself." There is a difference in the interpretation of the
meaning of "Paramartha" between the Yogacharyas and the Madhyamikas,
neither of whom, however, explain the real and true esoteric sense of the
expression. See further, sloka No. 9.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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This
is virtually the condition to which the mind must come at last when we try to
trace back the chain of causes and effects, but both science and religion jump
to this condition of blankness much more quickly than is necessary; for they
ignore the metaphysical abstractions which are the only conceivable cause of
physical concretions. These abstractions become more and more concrete as they
approach our plane of existence, until finally they phenomenalise in the form
of the material Universe, by a process of conversion of metaphysics into
physics, analogous to that by which steam can be condensed into water, and the
water frozen into ice.
(b)
The idea of Eternal Non-Being, which is the One Being, will appear a paradox to
anyone who does not remember that we limit our ideas of being to our present
consciousness of existence; making it a specific, instead of a generic term. An
unborn infant, could it think in our acceptation of that term, would
necessarily limit its conception of being, in a similar manner, to the
intrauterine life which alone it knows; and were it to endeavour to express to
its consciousness the idea of life after birth (death to it), it would, in the
absence of data to go upon, and of faculties to comprehend such data, probably
express that life as "Non-Being which is Real Being." In our case the
One Being is the noumenon of all the noumena which we know must underlie
phenomena, and give them whatever shadow of reality they possess, but which we have
not the senses or the intellect to cognize at present. The impalpable atoms of
gold scattered through the substance of a ton of auriferous quartz may be
imperceptible to the naked eye of the miner, yet he knows that they are not
only present there but that they alone give his quartz any appreciable value;
and this relation of the gold to the quartz may faintly shadow forth that of
the noumenon to the phenomenon. But the miner knows what the gold will look
like when extracted from the quartz, whereas the common mortal can form no
conception of the reality of things separated from the Maya which veils them,
and in which they are hidden. Alone the Initiate, rich with the lore acquired
by numberless generations of his predecessors, directs the "Eye of Dangma"
toward the essence of things in which no Maya can have any influence. It is
here that the teachings of esoteric philosophy in relation to the Nidanas and
the Four Truths become of the greatest importance; but they are secret.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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STANZA
I. -- Continued.
8.
ALONE, THE ONE FORM OF EXISTENCE STRETCHED BOUNDLESS, INFINITE, CAUSELESS, IN
DREAMLESS SLEEP (a); AND LIFE PULSATED UNCONSCIOUS IN UNIVERSAL SPACE, THROUGHOUT
THAT ALL-PRESENCE WHICH IS SENSED BY THE "OPENED EYE"* OF THE DANGMA
(b).**
(a)
The tendency of modern thought is to recur to the archaic idea of a homogeneous
basis for apparently widely different things -- heterogeneity developed from
homogeneity. Biologists are now searching for their homogeneous protoplasm and
chemists for their protyle, while science is looking for the force of which
electricity, magnetism, heat, and so forth, are the differentiations. The
Secret Doctrine carries this idea into the region of metaphysics and postulates
a "One Form of Existence" as the basis and source of all things. But
perhaps the phrase, the "One Form of Existence," is not altogether
correct. The Sanskrit word is Prabhavapyaya, "the place, or rather plane,
whence emerges the origination, and into which is the resolution of all
things," says a commentator. It is not the "Mother of the
World," as translated by Wilson (see Book I., Vishnu Purana); for Jagad
Yoni (as shown by FitzEdward Hall) is scarcely so much "the Mother of the
World" or "the Womb of the World" as the "Material Cause of
the Universe." The Puranic Commentators explain it by Karana --
"Cause" -- but the Esoteric philosophy, by the ideal spirit of that
cause. It is, in its secondary stage, the Svabhavat of the Buddhist
philosopher, the eternal cause and effect, omnipresent yet abstract, the
self-existent plastic Essence and the root of all things, viewed in the same
dual light as the Vedantin views his Parabrahm and Mulaprakriti, the one under
two aspects. It seems indeed extraordinary to find great scholars speculating
on the possibility of the Vedanta, and the Uttara-Mimansa especially, having
been "evoked by the teachings of the Buddhists,"
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
In India it is called "The Eye of Siva," but beyond the great range
it is known as "Dangma's opened eye" in esoteric phraseology.
**
Dangma means a purified soul, one who has become a Jivanmukta, the highest
adept, or rather a Mahatma so-called. His "opened eye" is the inner
spiritual eye of the seer, and the faculty which manifests through it is not
clairvoyance as ordinarily understood, i.e., the power of seeing at a distance,
but rather the faculty of spiritual intuition, through which direct and certain
knowledge is obtainable. This faculty is intimately connected with the
"third eye," which mythological tradition ascribes to certain races
of men. Fuller explanations will be found in Book II.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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whereas,
it is on the contrary Buddhism (of Gautama, the Buddha) that was
"evoked" and entirely upreared on the tenets of the Secret Doctrine,
of which a partial sketch is here attempted, and on which, also, the Upanishads
are made to rest.* The above, according to the teachings of Sri
Sankaracharya,** is undeniable.
(b)
Dreamless sleep is one of the seven states of consciousness known in Oriental
esotericism. In each of these states a different portion of the mind comes into
action; or as a Vedantin would express it, the individual is conscious in a
different plane of his being. The term "dreamless sleep," in this
case is applied allegorically to the Universe to express a condition somewhat analogous
to that state of consciousness in man, which, not being remembered in a waking
state, seems a blank, just as the sleep of the mesmerised subject seems to him
an unconscious blank when he returns to his normal condition, although he has
been talking and acting as a conscious individual would.
-------
STANZA
I. -- Continued.
9.
BUT WHERE WAS THE DANGMA WHEN THE ALAYA OF THE UNIVERSE (Soul as the basis of
all, Anima Mundi) WAS IN PARAMARTHA (a) (Absolute Being and Consciousness which
are Absolute Non-Being and Unconsciousness) AND THE GREAT WHEEL WAS ANUPADAKA
(b)?
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
And yet, one, claiming authority, namely, Sir Monier Williams, Boden Professor of
Sanskrit at Oxford, has just denied this fact. This is what he taught his
audience, on June the 4th, 1888, in his annual address before the Victoria
Institute of Great Britain: "Originally, Buddhism set its face against all
solitary asceticism . . . to attain sublime heights of knowledge. It had no
occult, no esoteric system of doctrine . . . withheld from ordinary men"
(!!) And, again: " . . . When Gautama Buddha began his career, the later
and lower form of Yoga seems to have been little known." And then,
contradicting himself, the learned lecturer forthwith informs his audience that
"We learn from Lalita-Vistara that various forms of bodily torture,
self-maceration, and austerity were common in Gautama's time." (!!) But
the lecturer seems quite unaware that this kind of torture and self-maceration
is precisely the lower form of Yoga, Hatha Yoga, which was "little
known" and yet so "common" in Gautama's time.
**
It is even argued that all the Six Darsanas (Schools of philosophy) show traces
of Buddha's influence, being either taken from Buddhism or due to Greek
teaching! (See Weber, Max Muller, etc.) We labour under the impression that
Colebrooke, "the highest authority" in such matters, had long ago
settled the question by showing, that "the Hindus were in this instance
the teachers, not the learners."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 48 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
(a)
Here we have before us the subject of centuries of scholastic disputations. The
two terms "Alaya" and "Paramartha" have been the causes of
dividing schools and splitting the truth into more different aspects than any
other mystic terms. Alaya is literally the "Soul of the World" or
Anima Mundi, the "Over-Soul" of Emerson, and according to esoteric
teaching it changes periodically its nature. Alaya, though eternal and
changeless in its inner essence on the planes which are unreachable by either
men or Cosmic Gods (Dhyani Buddhas), alters during the active life-period with
respect to the lower planes, ours included. During that time not only the
Dhyani-Buddhas are one with Alaya in Soul and Essence, but even the man strong
in the Yoga (mystic meditation) "is able to merge his soul with it"
(Aryasanga, the Bumapa school). This is not Nirvana, but a condition next to
it. Hence the disagreement. Thus, while the Yogacharyas (of the Mahayana
school) say that Alaya is the personification of the Voidness, and yet Alaya
(Nyingpo and Tsang in Tibetan) is the basis of every visible and invisible
thing, and that, though it is eternal and immutable in its essence, it reflects
itself in every object of the Universe "like the moon in clear tranquil
water"; other schools dispute the statement. The same for Paramartha: the
Yogacharyas interpret the term as that which is also dependent upon other
things (paratantra); and the Madhyamikas say that Paramartha is limited to
Paranishpanna or absolute perfection; i.e., in the exposition of these
"two truths" (out of four), the former believe and maintain that (on
this plane, at any rate) there exists only Samvritisatya or relative truth; and
the latter teach the existence of Paramarthasatya, the "absolute
truth."* "No Arhat, oh mendicants, can reach absolute knowledge
before he becomes one with Paranirvana. Parikalpita and Paratantra are his two
great enemies" (Aphorisms of the Bodhisattvas). Parikalpita (in Tibetan
Kun-ttag) is error, made by those unable to realize the emptiness and
illusionary nature of all; who believe something to exist which does not --
e.g., the Non-Ego. And
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Paramartha" is self-consciousness in Sanskrit, Svasamvedana, or the
"self-analysing reflection" -- from two words, parama (above
everything) and artha (comprehension), Satya meaning absolute true being, or
Esse. In Tibetan Paramarthasatya is Dondampaidenpa. The opposite of this
absolute reality, or actuality, is Samvritisatya -- the relative truth only --
"Samvriti" meaning "false conception" and being the origin
of illusion, Maya; in Tibetan Kundzabchi-denpa, "illusion-creating
appearance."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 49 ALAYA, THE UNIVERSAL SOUL.
Paratantra
is that, whatever it is, which exists only through a dependent or causal
connexion, and which has to disappear as soon as the cause from which it
proceeds is removed -- e.g., the light of a wick. Destroy or extinguish it, and
light disappears.
Esoteric
philosophy teaches that everything lives and is conscious, but not that all
life and consciousness are similar to those of human or even animal beings.
Life we look upon as "the one form of existence," manifesting in what
is called matter; or, as in man, what, incorrectly separating them, we name Spirit,
Soul and Matter. Matter is the vehicle for the manifestation of soul on this
plane of existence, and soul is the vehicle on a higher plane for the
manifestation of spirit, and these three are a trinity synthesized by Life,
which pervades them all. The idea of universal life is one of those ancient
conceptions which are returning to the human mind in this century, as a
consequence of its liberation from anthropomorphic theology. Science, it is
true, contents itself with tracing or postulating the signs of universal life,
and has not yet been bold enough even to whisper "Anima Mundi!" The
idea of "crystalline life," now familiar to science, would have been
scouted half a century ago. Botanists are now searching for the nerves of
plants; not that they suppose that plants can feel or think as animals do, but
because they believe that some structure, bearing the same relation
functionally to plant life that nerves bear to animal life, is necessary to
explain vegetable growth and nutrition. It hardly seems possible that science
can disguise from itself much longer, by the mere use of terms such as
"force" and "energy," the fact that things that have life
are living things, whether they be atoms or planets.
But
what is the belief of the inner esoteric Schools? the reader may ask. What are
the doctrines taught on this subject by the Esoteric "Buddhists"?
With them "Alaya" has a double and even a triple meaning. In the
Yogacharya system of the contemplative Mahayana school, Alaya is both the
Universal Soul (Anima Mundi) and the Self of a progressed adept. "He who
is strong in the Yoga can introduce at will his Alaya by means of meditation
into the true Nature of Existence." The "Alaya has an absolute
eternal existence," says Aryasanga -- the rival of Nagarjuna.* In one
sense it is Pradhana; which
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Aryasanga was a pre-Christian Adept and founder of a Buddhist esoteric school,
though Csoma di Koros places him, for some reasons of his own, in the seventh
century [[Footnote continued on next page]]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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is
explained in Vishnu Purana as: "that which is the unevolved cause, is emphatically
called by the most eminent sages Pradhana, original base, which is subtile
Prakriti, viz., that which is eternal, and which at once is (or comprehends)
what is and what is not, or is mere process." "Prakriti,"
however, is an incorrect word, and Alaya would explain it better; for Prakriti
is not the "uncognizable Brahma."* It is a mistake of those who know
nothing of the Universality of the Occult doctrines from the very cradle of the
human races, and especially so of those scholars who reject the very idea of a
"primordial revelation," to teach that the Anima Mundi, the One Life
or "Universal Soul," was made known only by Anaxagoras, or during his
age. This philosopher brought the teaching forward simply to oppose the too materialistic
conceptions on Cosmogony of Democritus, based on his exoteric theory of blindly
driven atoms. Anaxagoras of Clazomene was not its inventor but only its
propagator, as also was Plato. That which he called Mundane Intelligence, the
nous ([[nous]]), the principle that according to his views is absolutely
separated and free from matter and acts on design,** was called Motion, the ONE
LIFE, or Jivatma, ages before the year 500 B.C. in India. Only the Aryan
philosophers never endowed the principle, which with them is infinite, with the
finite "attribute" of "thinking."
This
leads the reader naturally to the "Supreme Spirit" of Hegel and the
German Transcendentalists as a contrast that it may be useful to point out. The
schools of Schelling and Fichte have diverged widely from the primitive archaic
conception of an ABSOLUTE principle, and have mirrored only an aspect of the
basic idea of the Vedanta. Even the "Absoluter Geist" shadowed forth
by von Hartman in his pessimistic philosophy of the Unconscious, while it is,
perhaps, the closest approximation made by European speculation to the Hindu
Adwaitee Doctrines, similarly falls far short of the reality.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] A.D. There was another Aryasanga, who lived
during the first centuries of our era and the Hungarian scholar most probably
confuses the two.
*
"The indiscreet cause which is uniform, and both cause and effect, and
which those who are acquainted with first principles call Pradhana and
Prakriti, is the incognizable Brahma who was before all" (Vayu Purana);
i.e., Brahma does not put forth evolution itself or create, but only exhibits
various aspects of itself, one of which is Prakriti, an aspect of Pradhana.
**
Finite Self-consciousness, I mean. For how can the absolute attain it otherwise
than as simply an aspect, the highest of which known to us is human
consciousness?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 51 CAN THE FINITE CONCEIVE THE INFINITE?
According
to Hegel, the "Unconscious" would never have undertaken the vast and
laborious task of evolving the Universe, except in the hope of attaining clear
Self-consciousness. In this connection it is to be borne in mind that in
designating Spirit, which the European Pantheists use as equivalent to
Parabrahm, as unconscious, they do not attach to that expression of
"Spirit" -- one employed in the absence of a better to symbolise a
profound mystery -- the connotation it usually bears.
The
"Absolute Consciousness," they tell us, "behind" phenomena,
which is only termed unconsciousness in the absence of any element of
personality, transcends human conception. Man, unable to form one concept
except in terms of empirical phenomena, is powerless from the very constitution
of his being to raise the veil that shrouds the majesty of the Absolute. Only
the liberated Spirit is able to faintly realise the nature of the source whence
it sprung and whither it must eventually return. . . . As the highest Dhyan
Chohan, however, can but bow in ignorance before the awful mystery of Absolute
Being; and since, even in that culmination of conscious existence -- "the
merging of the individual in the universal consciousness" -- to use a phrase
of Fichte's -- the Finite cannot conceive the Infinite, nor can it apply to it
its own standard of mental experiences, how can it be said that the
"Unconscious" and the Absolute can have even an instinctive impulse
or hope of attaining clear self-consciousness?* A Vedantin would never admit
this Hegelian idea; and the Occultist would say that it applies perfectly to
the awakened MAHAT, the Universal Mind already projected into the phenomenal
world as the first aspect of the changeless ABSOLUTE, but never to the latter.
"Spirit and Matter, or Purusha and Prakriti are but the two primeval
aspects of the One and Secondless," we are taught.
The
matter-moving Nous, the animating Soul, immanent in every atom, manifested in
man, latent in the stone, has different degrees of power; and this pantheistic
idea of a general Spirit-Soul pervading all Nature is the oldest of all the
philosophical notions. Nor was the Archaeus a discovery of Paracelsus nor of
his pupil Van Helmont; for it is again the same Archaeus or "Father-Ether,"
-- the manifested basis
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
See Schwegler's "Handbook of the History of Philosophy" in Sterling's
translation, p. 28.
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[[Vol.
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and
source of the innumerable phenomena of life -- localised. The whole series of
the numberless speculations of this kind are but variations on this theme, the key-note
of which was struck in this primeval Revelation. (See Part II.,
"Primordial Substance.")
(b)
The term Anupadaka, "parentless," or without progenitors, is a
mystical designation having several meanings in the philosophy. By this name
celestial beings, the Dhyan-Chohans or Dhyani-Buddhas, are generally meant. But
as these correspond mystically to the human Buddhas and Bodhisattwas, known as
the "Manushi (or human) Buddhas," the latter are also designated
"Anupadaka," once that their whole personality is merged in their
compound sixth and seventh principles -- or Atma-Buddhi, and that they have
become the "diamond-souled" (Vajra-sattvas),* the full Mahatmas. The
"Concealed Lord" (Sangbai Dag-po), "the one merged with the absolute,"
can have no parents since he is Self-existent, and one with the Universal
Spirit (Svayambhu),** the Svabhavat in the highest aspect. The mystery in the
hierarchy of the Anupadaka is great, its apex being the universal Spirit-Soul,
and the lower rung the Manushi-Buddha; and even every Soul-endowed man is an
Anupadaka in a latent state. Hence, when speaking of the Universe in its
formless, eternal, or absolute condition, before it was fashioned by the
"Builders" -- the expression, "the Universe was Anupadaka."
(See Part II., "Primordial Substance.")
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Vajra -- diamond-holder. In Tibetan Dorjesempa; sempa meaning the soul, its
adamantine quality referring to its indestructibility in the hereafter. The
explanation with regard to the "Anupadaka" given in the Kala Chakra,
the first in the Gyu(t) division of the Kanjur, is half esoteric. It has misled
the Orientalists into erroneous speculations with respect to the Dhyani-Buddhas
and their earthly correspondencies, the Manushi-Buddhas. The real tenet is
hinted at in a subsequent Volume, (see "The Mystery about Buddha"),
and will be more fully explained in its proper place.
**
To quote Hegel again, who with Schelling practically accepted the Pantheistic
conception of periodical Avatars (special incarnations of the World-Spirit in
Man, as seen in the case of all the great religious reformers) . . . .
"the essence of man is spirit . . . . only by stripping himself of his
finiteness and surrendering himself to pure self-consciousness does he attain
the truth. Christ-man, as man in whom the Unity of God-man (identity of the
individual with the Universal consciousness as taught by the Vedantins and some
Adwaitees) appeared, has, in his death and history generally, himself presented
the eternal history of Spirit -- a history which every man has to accomplish in
himself, in order to exist as Spirit." -- Philosophy of History. Sibree's
English translation, p. 340.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 53 THE STATE OF PARANIRVANA.
STANZA
II.
COMMENTARY.
1.
. . . . WHERE WERE THE BUILDERS, THE LUMINOUS SONS OF MANVANTARIC DAWN (a)? . .
. . IN THE UNKNOWN DARKNESS IN THEIR AH-HI (Chohanic, Dhyani-Buddhic)
PARANISHPANNA, THE PRODUCERS OF FORM (rupa) FROM NO-FORM (arupa), THE ROOT OF
THE WORLD -- THE DEVAMATRI* AND SVABHAVAT, RESTED IN THE BLISS OF NON-BEING
(b).
(a)
The "Builders," the "Sons of Manvantaric Dawn," are the
real creators of the Universe; and in this doctrine, which deals only with our
Planetary System, they, as the architects of the latter, are also called the
"Watchers" of the Seven Spheres, which exoterically are the Seven
planets, and esoterically the seven earths or spheres (planets) of our chain
also. The opening sentence of Stanza I., when mentioning "Seven
Eternities," is made to apply both to the Maha-Kalpa or "the (great)
Age of Brahma," as well as to the Solar pralaya and subsequent
resurrection of our Planetary System on a higher plane. There are many kinds of
pralaya (dissolution of a thing visible), as will be shown elsewhere.
(b)
Paranishpanna, remember, is the summum bonum, the Absolute, hence the same as
Paranirvana. Besides being the final state it is that condition of subjectivity
which has no relation to anything but the one absolute truth (Para-marthasatya)
on its plane. It is that state which leads one to appreciate correctly the full
meaning of Non-Being, which, as explained, is absolute Being. Sooner or later,
all that now seemingly exists, will be in reality and actually in the state of
Paranishpanna. But there is a great difference between conscious and
unconscious "being." The condition of Paranishpanna, without
Paramartha, the Self-analys-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
"Mother
of the Gods," Aditi, or Cosmic Space. In the Zohar, she is called Sephira
the Mother of the Sephiroth, and Shekinah in her primordial form, in
abscondito.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 54 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
ing
consciousness (Svasamvedana), is no bliss, but simply extinction (for Seven
Eternities). Thus, an iron ball placed under the scorching rays of the sun will
get heated through, but will not feel or appreciate the warmth, while a man
will. It is only "with a mind clear and undarkened by personality, and an
assimilation of the merit of manifold existences devoted to being in its
collectivity (the whole living and sentient Universe)," that one gets rid
of personal existence, merging into, becoming one with, the Absolute,* and
continuing in full possession of Paramartha.
-------
STANZA
II. -- Continued.
2.
. . . . WHERE WAS SILENCE? WHERE WERE THE EARS TO SENSE IT? NO! THERE WAS
NEITHER SILENCE, NOR SOUND (a). NAUGHT SAVE CEASELESS, ETERNAL BREATH (Motion)
WHICH KNOWS ITSELF NOT (b).
(a)
The idea that things can cease to exist and still BE, is a fundamental one in
Eastern psychology. Under this apparent contradiction in terms, there rests a
fact of Nature to realise which in the mind, rather than to argue about words,
is the important thing. A familiar instance of a similar paradox is afforded by
chemical combination. The question whether Hydrogen and Oxygen cease to exist,
when they combine to form water, is still a moot one, some arguing that since
they are found again when the water is decomposed they must be there all the
while; others contending that as they actually turn into something totally
different they must cease to exist as themselves for the time being; but
neither side is able to form the faintest conception of the real condition of a
thing, which has become something else and yet has not ceased to be itself.
Existence as water may be said to be, for Oxygen and Hydrogen, a state of
Non-being which is "more real being" than their existence as gases;
and it may faintly symbolise the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Hence Non-being is "ABSOLUTE Being," in esoteric philosophy. In the
tenets of the latter even Adi-Budha (first or primeval wisdom) is, while
manifested, in one sense an illusion, Maya, since all the gods, including
Brahma, have to die at the end of the "Age of Brahma"; the
abstraction called Parabrahm alone -- whether we call it Ensoph, or Herbert Spencer's
Unknowable -- being "the One Absolute" Reality. The One secondless
Existence is ADWAITA, "Without a Second," and all the rest is Maya,
teaches the Adwaita philosophy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 55 THE ABSOLUTE KNOWS ITSELF NOT.
condition
of the Universe when it goes to sleep, or ceases to be, during the "Nights
of Brahma" -- to awaken or reappear again, when the dawn of the new
Manvantara recalls it to what we call existence.
(b)
The "Breath" of the One Existence is used in its application only to
the spiritual aspect of Cosmogony by Archaic esotericism; otherwise, it is
replaced by its equivalent in the material plane -- Motion. The One Eternal
Element, or element-containing Vehicle, is Space, dimensionless in every sense;
co-existent with which are -- endless duration, primordial (hence
indestructible) matter, and motion -- absolute "perpetual motion"
which is the "breath" of the "One" Element. This breath, as
seen, can never cease, not even during the Pralayic eternities. (See
"Chaos, Theos, Kosmos," in Part II.)
But
the "Breath of the One Existence" does not, all the same, apply to
the One Causeless Cause or the "All Be-ness" (in contradistinction to
All-Being, which is Brahma, or the Universe). Brahma (or Hari) the four-faced
god who, after lifting the Earth out of the waters, "accomplished the
Creation," is held to be only the instrumental, and not, as clearly
implied, the ideal Cause. No Orientalist, so far, seems to have thoroughly
comprehended the real sense of the verses in the Purana, that treat of
"creation."
Therein
Brahma is the cause of the potencies that are to be generated subsequently for
the work of "creation." When a translator says, "And from him
proceed the potencies to be created, after they had become the real
cause": "and from IT proceed the potencies that will create as they
become the real cause" (on the material plane) would perhaps be more
correct? Save that one (causeless) ideal cause there is no other to which the
universe can be referred. "Worthiest of ascetics! through its potency --
i.e., through the potency of that cause -- every created thing comes by its
inherent or proper nature." If, in the Vedanta and Nyaya, nimitta is the
efficient cause, as contrasted with upadana, the material cause, (and in the
Sankhya, pradhana implies the functions of both); in the Esoteric philosophy,
which reconciles all these systems, and the nearest exponent of which is the
Vedanta as expounded by the Advaita Vedantists, none but the upadana can be
speculated upon; that which is in the minds of the Vaishnavas (the
Vasishta-dvaita) as the ideal in contradistinction to the real -- or Parabrahm
and Isvara -- can find no room in published speculations, since
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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that
ideal even is a misnomer, when applied to that of which no human reason, even
that of an adept, can conceive.
To
know itself or oneself, necessitates consciousness and perception (both limited
faculties in relation to any subject except Parabrahm), to be cognized. Hence
the "Eternal Breath which knows itself not." Infinity cannot
comprehend Finiteness. The Boundless can have no relation to the bounded and
the conditioned. In the occult teachings, the Unknown and the Unknowable MOVER,
or the Self-Existing, is the absolute divine Essence. And thus being Absolute
Consciousness, and Absolute Motion -- to the limited senses of those who
describe this indescribable -- it is unconsciousness and immoveableness.
Concrete consciousness cannot be predicated of abstract Consciousness, any more
than the quality wet can be predicated of water -- wetness being its own
attribute and the cause of the wet quality in other things. Consciousness
implies limitations and qualifications; something to be conscious of, and
someone to be conscious of it. But Absolute Consciousness contains the
cognizer, the thing cognized and the cognition, all three in itself and all
three one. No man is conscious of more than that portion of his knowledge that
happens to have been recalled to his mind at any particular time, yet such is
the poverty of language that we have no term to distinguish the knowledge not
actively thought of, from knowledge we are unable to recall to memory. To
forget is synonymous with not to remember. How much greater must be the
difficulty of finding terms to describe, and to distinguish between, abstract
metaphysical facts or differences. It must not be forgotten, also, that we give
names to things according to the appearances they assume for ourselves. We call
absolute consciousness "unconsciousness," because it seems to us that
it must necessarily be so, just as we call the Absolute, "Darkness,"
because to our finite understanding it appears quite impenetrable, yet we
recognize fully that our perception of such things does not do them justice. We
involuntarily distinguish in our minds, for instance, between unconscious absolute
consciousness, and unconsciousness, by secretly endowing the former with some
indefinite quality that corresponds, on a higher plane than our thoughts can
reach, with what we know as consciousness in ourselves. But this is not any
kind of consciousness that we can manage to distinguish from what appears to us
as unconsciousness.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 57 THE GERM OF LIFE.
STANZA
II. -- Continued.
3.
THE HOUR HAD NOT YET STRUCK; THE RAY HAD NOT YET FLASHED INTO THE GERM (a); THE
MATRI-PADMA (mother lotus) HAD NOT YET SWOLLEN (b).*
(a)
The ray of the "Ever Darkness" becomes, as it is emitted, a ray of
effulgent light or life, and flashes into the "Germ" -- the point in
the Mundane Egg, represented by matter in its abstract sense. But the term
"Point" must not be understood as applying to any particular point in
Space, for a germ exists in the centre of every atom, and these collectively
form "the Germ;" or rather, as no atom can be made visible to our
physical eye, the collectivity of these (if the term can be applied to
something which is boundless and infinite) forms the noumenon of eternal and
indestructible matter.
(b)
One of the symbolical figures for the Dual creative power in Nature (matter and
force on the material plane) is Padma, the water-lily of India. The Lotus is
the product of heat (fire) and water (vapour or Ether); fire standing in every
philosophical and religious system as a representation of the Spirit of
Deity,** the active, male, generative principle; and Ether, or the Soul of
matter, the light of the fire, for the passive female principle from which
everything in this Universe emanated. Hence, Ether or Water is the Mother, and
Fire is the Father. Sir W. Jones (and before him archaic botany) showed that
the seeds of the Lotus contain -- even before they germinate -- perfectly
formed leaves, the miniature shape of what one day, as perfect plants, they
will become: nature thus giving us a specimen of the preformation of its production
. . . the seed of all phanerogamous plants bearing proper flowers containing an
embryo plantlet ready formed.*** (See Part II., "The Lotus Flower as an
Universal Symbol.") This explains the sentence "The Mother had not
yet swollen" -- the form being usually sacrificed to the inner or root
idea in Archaic symbology.
The
Lotus, or Padma, is, moreover, a very ancient and favourite
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
An unpoetical term, yet still very graphic. (See foot-note to Stanza III.)
**
Even in Christianity. (See Part II., "Primordial Substance and Divine
Thought.")
***
Gross, "The Heathen Religion," p. 195.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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simile
for the Kosmos itself, and also for man. The popular reasons given are,
firstly, the fact just mentioned, that the Lotus-seed contains within itself a
perfect miniature of the future plant, which typifies the fact that the spiritual
prototypes of all things exist in the immaterial world before those things
become materialised on Earth. Secondly, the fact that the Lotus plant grows up
through the water, having its root in the Ilus, or mud, and spreading its
flower in the air above. The Lotus thus typifies the life of man and also that
of the Kosmos; for the Secret Doctrine teaches that the elements of both are
the same, and that both are developing in the same direction. The root of the
Lotus sunk in the mud represents material life, the stalk passing up through
the water typifies existence in the astral world, and the flower floating on
the water and opening to the sky is emblematical of spiritual being.
-------
STANZA
II. -- Continued.
4.
HER HEART HAD NOT YET OPENED FOR THE ONE RAY TO ENTER, THENCE TO FALL AS THREE
INTO FOUR IN THE LAP OF MAYA (a).
(a)
The Primordial Substance had not yet passed out of its precosmic latency into
differentiated objectivity, or even become the (to man, so far,) invisible
Protyle of Science. But, as the hour strikes and it becomes receptive of the
Fohatic impress of the Divine Thought (the Logos, or the male aspect of the
Anima Mundi, Alaya) -- its heart opens. It differentiates, and the THREE
(Father, Mother, Son) are transformed into four. Herein lies the origin of the
double mystery of the Trinity and the immaculate Conception. The first and
Fundamental dogma of Occultism is Universal Unity (or Homogeneity) under three
aspects. This led to a possible conception of Deity, which as an absolute unity
must remain forever incomprehensible to finite intellects. "If thou
wouldest believe in the Power which acts within the root of a plant, or imagine
the root concealed under the soil, thou hast to think of its stalk or trunk and
of its leaves and flowers. Thou canst not imagine that Power independently of
these objects. Life can be known only by the Tree of Life. . . ."
(Precepts for Yoga). The idea of Absolute Unity
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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would
be broken entirely in our conception, had we not something concrete before our
eyes to contain that Unity. And the deity being absolute, must be omnipresent,
hence not an atom but contains IT within itself. The roots, the trunk and its
many branches are three distinct objects, yet they are one tree. Say the
Kabalists: "The Deity is one, because It is infinite. It is triple,
because it is ever manifesting." This manifestation is triple in its aspects,
for it requires, as Aristotle has it, three principles for every natural body
to become objective: privation, form, and matter.* Privation meant in the mind
of the great philosopher that which the Occultists call the prototypes
impressed in the Astral Light -- the lowest plane and world of Anima Mundi. The
union of these three principles depends upon a fourth -- the LIFE which
radiates from the summits of the Unreachable, to become an universally diffused
Essence on the manifested planes of Existence. And this QUATERNARY (Father,
Mother, Son, as a UNITY, and a quaternary, as a living manifestation) has been
the means of leading to the very archaic Idea of Immaculate Conception, now
finally crystallized into a dogma of the Christian Church, which carnalized this
metaphysical idea beyond any common sense. For one has but to read the Kabala
and study its numerical methods of interpretation to find the origin of that
dogma. It is purely astronomical, mathematical, and pre-eminently metaphysical:
the Male element in Nature (personified by the male deities and Logoi -- Viraj,
or Brahma; Horus, or Osiris, etc., etc.) is born through, not from, an
immaculate source, personified by the "Mother"; because that Male
having a Mother cannot have a "Father" -- the abstract Deity being
sexless, and not even a Being but Be-ness, or Life itself. Let us render this
in the mathematical language of the author of "The Source of
Measures." Speaking of the "Measure of a Man" and his numerical
(Kabalistic) value, he writes that in Genesis, ch. iv., v. 1, "It is
called the 'Man even Jehovah'
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
A Vedantin of the Visishtadwaita philosophy would say that, though the only
independent Reality, Parabrahmam is inseparable from his trinity. That He is
three, "Parabrahmam, Chit, and Achit," the last two being dependent
realities unable to exist separately; or, to make it clearer, Parabrahmam is
the SUBSTANCE -- changeless, eternal, and incognizable -- and Chit (Atma), and
Achit (Anatma) are its qualities, as form and colour are the qualities of any
object. The two are the garment, or body, or rather attribute (Sarira) of
Parabrahmam. But an Occultist would find much to say against this claim, and so
would the Adwaitee Vedantin.
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Measure,
and this is obtained in this way, viz.: 113 x 5 = 565, and the value 565 can be
placed under the form of expression 56.5 x 10 = 565. Here the Man-number 113
becomes a factor of 56.5 x 10, and the (Kabalistic) reading of this last
numbered expression is Jod, He, Vau, He, or Jehovah. . . . The expansion of 565
into 56.5 x 10 is purposed to show the emanation of the male (Jod) from the
female (Eva) principle; or, so to speak, the birth of a male element from an
immaculate source, in other words, an immaculate conception."
Thus
is repeated on Earth the mystery enacted, according to the Seers, on the divine
plane. The "Son" of the immaculate Celestial Virgin (or the
undifferentiated cosmic protyle, Matter in its infinitude) is born again on
Earth as the Son of the terrestrial Eve -- our mother Earth, and becomes
Humanity as a total -- past, present, and future -- for Jehovah or
Jod-he-vau-he is androgyne, or both male and female. Above, the Son is the
whole KOSMOS; below, he is MANKIND. The triad or triangle becomes Tetraktis,
the Sacred Pythagorean number, the perfect Square, and a 6-faced cube on Earth.
The Macroprosopus (the Great Face) is now Microprosopus (the lesser face); or,
as the Kabalists have it, the "Ancient of Days," descending on Adam
Kadmon whom he uses as his vehicle to manifest through, gets transformed into
Tetragrammaton. It is now in the "Lap of Maya," the Great Illusion,
and between itself and the Reality has the Astral Light, the great Deceiver of
man's limited senses, unless Knowledge through Paramarthasatya comes to the
rescue.
-------
STANZA
II. -- Continued.
5.
THE SEVEN (Sons) WERE NOT YET BORN FROM THE WEB OF LIGHT. DARKNESS ALONE WAS
FATHER-MOTHER, SVABHAVAT, AND SVABHAVAT WAS IN DARKNESS (a).
(a)
The Secret Doctrine, in the Stanzas given here, occupies itself chiefly, if not
entirely, with our Solar System, and especially with our planetary chain. The
"Seven Sons," therefore, are the creators of the latter. This
teaching will be explained more fully hereafter. (See Part II., "Theogony
of the Creative Gods.")
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[[Vol.
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Svabhavat,
the "Plastic Essence" that fills the Universe, is the root of all
things. Svabhavat is, so to say, the Buddhistic concrete aspect of the
abstraction called in Hindu philosophy Mulaprakriti. It is the body of the
Soul, and that which Ether would be to Akasa, the latter being the informing
principle of the former. Chinese mystics have made of it the synonym of
"being." In the Ekasloka-Shastra of Nagarjuna (the Lung-shu of China)
called by the Chinese the Yih-shu-lu-kia-lun, it is said that the original word
of Yeu is "Being" or "Subhava," "the Substance giving
substance to itself," also explained by him as meaning " without
action and with action," "the nature which has no nature of its
own." Subhava, from which Svabhavat, is composed of two words: Su
"fair," "handsome," "good"; Sva,
"self"; and bhava, "being" or "states of being."
-------
STANZA
II. -- Continued.
6.
THESE TWO ARE THE GERM, AND THE GERM IS -- ONE. THE UNIVERSE WAS STILL
CONCEALED IN THE DIVINE THOUGHT AND THE DIVINE BOSOM.
The
"Divine Thought" does not imply the idea of a Divine thinker. The
Universe, not only past, present, and future -- which is a human and finite
idea expressed by finite thought -- but in its totality, the Sat (an
untranslateable term), the absolute being, with the Past and Future
crystallized in an eternal Present, is that Thought itself reflected in a
secondary or manifest cause. Brahma (neuter) as the Mysterium Magnum of
Paracelsus is an absolute mystery to the human mind. Brahma, the male-female,
its aspect and anthropomorphic reflection, is conceivable to the perceptions of
blind faith, though rejected by human intellect when it attains its majority.
(See Part II., "Primordial Substance and Divine Thought.")
Hence
the statement that during the prologue, so to say, of the drama of Creation, or
the beginning of cosmic evolution, the Universe or the "Son" lies
still concealed "in the Divine Thought," which had not yet penetrated
"into the Divine Bosom." This idea, note well, is at the root, and
forms the origin of all the allegories about the "Sons of God" born
of immaculate virgins.
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STANZA
III.
COMMENTARY.
1.
THE LAST VIBRATION OF THE SEVENTH ETERNITY THRILLS THROUGH INFINITUDE (a). THE
MOTHER SWELLS, EXPANDING FROM WITHIN WITHOUT LIKE THE BUD OF THE LOTUS (b).
(a)
The seemingly paradoxical use of the sentence "Seventh Eternity,"
thus dividing the indivisible, is sanctified in esoteric philosophy. The latter
divides boundless duration into unconditionally eternal and universal Time and
a conditioned one (Khandakala). One is the abstraction or noumenon of infinite
time (Kala); the other its phenomenon appearing periodically, as the effect of
Mahat (the Universal Intelligence limited by Manvantaric duration). With some
schools, Mahat is "the first-born" of Pradhana (undifferentiated
substance, or the periodical aspect of Mulaprakriti, the root of Nature), which
(Pradhana) is called Maya, the Illusion. In this respect, I believe, esoteric
teaching differs from the Vedantin doctrines of both the Adwaita and the
Visishtadwaita schools. For it says that, while Mulaprakriti, the noumenon, is
self-existing and without any origin -- is, in short, parentless, Anupadaka (as
one with Brahmam) -- Prakriti, its phenomenon, is periodical and no better than
a phantasm of the former, so Mahat, with the Occultists, the first-born of Gnana
(or gnosis) knowledge, wisdom or the Logos -- is a phantasm reflected from the
Absolute NIRGUNA (Parabrahm, the one reality, "devoid of attributes and
qualities"; see Upanishads); while with some Vedantins Mahat is a
manifestation of Prakriti, or Matter.
(b)
Therefore, the "last vibration of the Seventh Eternity" was
"fore-ordained" -- by no God in particular, but occurred in virtue of
the eternal and changeless LAW which causes the great periods of Activity and
Rest, called so graphically, and at the same time so poetically, the "Days
and Nights of Brahma." The expansion "from within without" of
the Mother, called elsewhere the "Waters of Space," "Universal
Matrix," etc., does not allude to an expansion from a small centre or
focus, but, without reference to size or limitation or area, means the
development of limitless subjectivity into as limitless objectivity. "The
ever (to us) invisible and immaterial Substance present in eternity, threw its
periodical shadow from its own plane into the lap
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[[Vol.
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of
Maya." It implies that this expansion, not being an increase in size --
for infinite extension admits of no enlargement -- was a change of condition.
It "expanded like the bud of the Lotus"; for the Lotus plant exists
not only as a miniature embryo in its seed (a physical characteristic), but its
prototype is present in an ideal form in the Astral Light from "Dawn"
to "Night" during the Manvantaric period, like everything else, as a
matter of fact, in this objective Universe; from man down to mite, from giant
trees down to the tiniest blades of grass.
All
this, teaches the hidden Science, is but the temporary reflection, the shadow
of the eternal ideal prototype in Divine Thought -- the word
"Eternal," note well again, standing here only in the sense of
"AEon," as lasting throughout the seemingly interminable, but still
limited cycle of activity, called by us Manvantara. For what is the real
esoteric meaning of Manvantara, or rather a Manu-Antara? It means,
esoterically, "between two Manus," of whom there are fourteen in
every "Day of Brahma," such a "Day" consisting of 1,000
aggregates of four ages, or 1,000 "Great Ages," Mahayugas. Let us now
analyse the word or name Manu. Orientalists and their Dictionaries tell us that
the term "Manu" is from the root Man, "to think"; hence
"the thinking man." But, esoterically, every Manu, as an
anthropomorphized patron of his special cycle (or Round), is but the
personified idea of the "Thought Divine" (as the Hermetic
"Pymander"); each of the Manus, therefore, being the special god, the
creator and fashioner of all that appears during his own respective cycle of
being or Manvantara. Fohat runs the Manus' (or Dhyan-Chohans') errands, and
causes the ideal prototypes to expand from within without -- viz., to cross
gradually, on a descending scale, all the planes from the noumenon to the
lowest phenomenon, to bloom finally on the last into full objectivity -- the
acme of illusion, or the grossest matter.
-------
STANZA
III. -- continued.
2.
THE VIBRATION SWEEPS ALONG, TOUCHING WITH ITS SWIFT WING (simultaneously) THE
WHOLE UNIVERSE, AND THE GERM THAT DWELLETH IN DARKNESS: THE DARKNESS THAT
BREATHES (moves) OVER THE SLUMBERING WATERS OF LIFE (a).
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(a)
The Pythagorean Monad is also said to dwell in solitude and darkness like the
"germ." The idea of the "breath" of Darkness moving over
"the slumbering Waters of life," which is primordial matter with the
latent Spirit in it, recalls the first chapter of Genesis. Its original is the
Brahminical Narayana (the mover on the Waters), who is the personification of
the eternal Breath of the unconscious All (or Parabrahm) of the Eastern
Occultists. The Waters of Life, or Chaos -- the female principle in symbolism
-- are the vacuum (to our mental sight) in which lie the latent Spirit and
Matter. This it was that made Democritus assert, after his instructor
Leucippus, that the primordial principles of all were atoms and a vacuum, in
the sense of space, but not of empty space, as "Nature abhors a
vacuum" according to the Peripatetics, and every ancient philosopher.
In
all Cosmogonies "Water" plays the same important part. It is the base
and source of material existence. Scientists, mistaking the word for the thing,
understood by water the definite chemical combination of oxygen and hydrogen,
thus giving a specific meaning to a term used by Occultists in a generic sense,
and which is used in Cosmogony with a metaphysical and mystical meaning. Ice is
not water, neither is steam, although all three have precisely the same
chemical composition.
-------
STANZA
III. -- Continued.
2.
[[3.]] "DARKNESS" RADIATES LIGHT, AND LIGHT DROPS ONE SOLITARY RAY
INTO THE WATERS, INTO THE MOTHER DEEP. THE RAY SHOOTS THROUGH THE VIRGIN-EGG;
THE RAY CAUSES THE ETERNAL EGG TO THRILL, AND DROP THE NON-ETERNAL (periodical)
GERM, WHICH CONDENSES INTO THE WORLD EGG (a).
(a)
The solitary ray dropping into the mother deep may be taken as meaning Divine
Thought or Intelligence, impregnating chaos. This, however, occurs on the plane
of metaphysical abstraction, or rather the plane whereon that which we call a
metaphysical abstraction is a reality. The Virgin-egg being in one sense
abstract Egg-ness, or the power of becoming developed through fecundation, is
eternal and for ever the same. And just as the fecundation of an egg takes
place before it is dropped; so the non-eternal periodical germ which becomes
later in
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[[Vol.
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symbolism
the mundane egg, contains in itself, when it emerges from the said symbol,
"the promise and potency" of all the Universe. Though the idea per se
is, of course, an abstraction, a symbolical mode of expression, it is a symbol
truly, as it suggests the idea of infinity as an endless circle. It brings before
the mind's eye the picture of Kosmos emerging from and in boundless space, a
Universe as shoreless in magnitude if not as endless in its objective
manifestation. The simile of an egg also expresses the fact taught in Occultism
that the primordial form of everything manifested, from atom to globe, from man
to angel, is spheroidal, the sphere having been with all nations the emblem of
eternity and infinity -- a serpent swallowing its tail. To realize the meaning,
however, the sphere must be thought of as seen from its centre. The field of
vision or of thought is like a sphere whose radii proceed from one's self in
every direction, and extend out into space, opening up boundless vistas all
around. It is the symbolical circle of Pascal and the Kabalists, "whose
centre is everywhere and circumference nowhere," a conception which enters
into the compound idea of this emblem.
The
"Mundane Egg" is, perhaps, one of the most universally adopted
symbols, highly suggestive as it is, equally in the spiritual, physiological,
and cosmological sense. Therefore, it is found in every world-theogony, where
it is largely associated with the serpent symbol; the latter being everywhere,
in philosophy as in religious symbolism, an emblem of eternity, infinitude,
regeneration, and rejuvenation, as well as of wisdom. (See Part II. "Tree
and Serpent and Crocodile Worship.") The mystery of apparent
self-generation and evolution through its own creative power repeating in
miniature the process of Cosmic evolution in the egg, both being due to heat
and moisture under the efflux of the unseen creative spirit, justified fully
the selection of this graphic symbol. The "Virgin Egg" is the
microcosmic symbol of the macrocosmic prototype -- the "Virgin
Mother" -- Chaos or the Primeval Deep. The male Creator (under whatever
name) springs forth from the Virgin female, the immaculate root fructified by
the Ray. Who, if versed in astronomy and natural sciences, can fail to see its
suggestiveness? Cosmos as receptive Nature is an Egg fructified -- yet left
immaculate; once regarded as boundless, it could have no other representation
than a spheroid. The Golden Egg was surrounded by seven natural elements
(ether, fire, air, water), "four ready, three secret." It may be
found
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stated
in Vishnu Purana, where elements are translated "Envelopes" and a
secret one is added: "Aham-kara" (see Wilson's Vishnu Purana, Book
I., p. 40). The original text has no "Aham-kara;" it mentions seven
Elements without specifying the last three (see Part II. on "The Mundane
Egg").
-------
STANZA
III. -- Continued.
4.
(Then) THE THREE (triangle) FALL INTO THE FOUR (quaternary). THE RADIANT
ESSENCE BECOMES SEVEN INSIDE, SEVEN OUTSIDE (a). THE LUMINOUS EGG
(Hiranyagarbha), WHICH IN ITSELF IS THREE (the triple hypostases of Brahma, or
Vishnu, the three "Avasthas"), CURDLES AND SPREADS IN MILK-WHITE
CURDS THROUGHOUT THE DEPTHS OF MOTHER, THE ROOT THAT GROWS IN THE OCEAN OF LIFE
(b).
The
use of geometrical figures and the frequent allusions to figures in all ancient
scriptures (see Puranas, Egyptian papyri, the "Book of the Dead" and
even the Bible) must be explained. In the "Book of Dzyan," as in the
Kabala, there are two kinds of numerals to be studied -- the figures, often
simple blinds, and the Sacred Numbers, the values of which are all known to the
Occultists through Initiation. The former is but a conventional glyph, the
latter is the basic symbol of all. That is to say, that one is purely physical,
the other purely metaphysical, the two standing in relation to each other as
matter stands to spirit -- the extreme poles of the ONE Substance.
As
Balzac, the unconscious Occultist of French literature, says somewhere, the
Number is to Mind the same as it is to matter: "an incomprehensible
agent;" (perhaps so to the profane, never to the Initiated mind). Number
is, as the great writer thought, an Entity, and, at the same time, a Breath
emanating from what he called God and what we call the ALL; the breath which
alone could organize the physical Kosmos, "where naught obtains its form
but through the Deity, which is an effect of Number." It is instructive to
quote Balzac's words upon this subject:--
"The
smallest as the most immense creations, are they not to be distinguished from
each other by their quantities, their qualities, their dimensions, their forces
and attributes, all begotten by the NUMBER? The infinitude of the Numbers is a
fact proven to our mind, but of which no proof can be physically
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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given.
The mathematician will tell us that the infinitude of the numbers exists but is
not to be demonstrated. God is a Number endowed with motion, which is felt but
not demonstrated. As Unity, it begins the Numbers, with which it has nothing in
common. . . . . The existence of the Number depends on Unity, which, without a
single Number, begets them all. . . . . What! unable either to measure the
first abstraction yielded to you by the Deity, or to get hold of it, you still
hope to subject to your measurements the mystery of the Secret Sciences which
emanate from that Deity? . . . . And what would you feel, were I to plunge you
into the abysses of MOTION, the Force which organizes the Number? What would
you think, were I to add that Motion and Number* are begotten by the WORD, the
Supreme Reason of the Seers and Prophets, who, in days of old, sensed the
mighty Breath of God, a witness to which is the Apocalypse?"
(b)
"The radiant essence curdled and spread throughout the depths" of
Space. From an astronomical point of view this is easy of explanation: it is
the "milky way," the world-stuff, or primordial matter in its first
form. It is more difficult, however, to explain it in a few words or even
lines, from the standpoint of Occult Science and Symbolism, as it is the most
complicated of glyphs. Herein are enshrined more than a dozen symbols. To begin
with, the whole pantheon of mysterious objects,** every one of them having some
definite Occult meaning, extracted from the allegorical "churning of the
ocean" by the Hindu gods. Besides Amrita, the water of life or
immortality, "Surabhi" the "cow of plenty," called
"the fountain of milk and curds," was extracted from this "Sea
of Milk." Hence the universal adoration of the cow and bull, one the
productive, the other the generative power in Nature: symbols connected with both
the Solar and the Cosmic deities. The specific properties, for occult purposes,
of the "fourteen precious things," being explained only at the fourth
Initiation, cannot be given here; but the following may be remarked. In the
"Satapatha Brahmana" it is stated that the churning of the
"Ocean of Milk" took place in the Satya Yug, the first age which
immediately followed the "Deluge." As, however, neither the Rig-Veda
nor
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Number, truly; but never MOTION. It is Motion which begets the Logos, the Word,
in occultism.
**
The "Fourteen precious things." The narrative or allegory is found in
the Satapatha Brahmana and others. The Japanese Secret Science of the Buddhist
Mystics, the Yamabooshi, has "seven precious things." We will speak
of them, hereafter.
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[[Vol.
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Manu
-- both preceding Vaivasvata's "deluge," that of the bulk of the
Fourth Race -- mention this deluge, it is evident that it is not the
"great" deluge, nor that which carried away Atlantis, nor even the
deluge of Noah, which is meant here. This "churning" relates to a
period before the earth's formation, and is in direct connection with that
other universal legend, the various and contradictory versions of which
culminated in the Christian dogma of the "War in Heaven," and the
fall of the Angels (see Book II., also Revelations chap. xii.). The Brahmanas,
reproached by the Orientalists with their versions on the same subjects, often
clashing with each other, are pre-eminently occult works, hence used purposely
as blinds. They were allowed to survive for public use and property only
because they were and are absolutely unintelligible to the masses. Otherwise
they would have disappeared from circulation as long ago as the days of Akbar.
-------
STANZA
III. -- Continued.
5.
THE ROOT REMAINS, THE LIGHT REMAINS, THE CURDS REMAIN, AND STILL OEAOHOO (a) IS
ONE (b).
(a)
OEAOHOO is rendered "Father-Mother of the Gods" in the Commentaries,
or the SIX IN ONE, or the septenary root from which all proceeds. All depends
upon the accent given to these seven vowels, which may be pronounced as one,
three, or even seven syllables by adding an e after the letter "o."
This mystic name is given out, because without a thorough mastery of the triple
pronunciation it remains for ever ineffectual.
(b)
This refers to the Non-Separateness of all that lives and has its being,
whether in active or passive state. In one sense, Oeaohoo is the "Rootless
Root of All"; hence, one with Parabrahmam; in another sense it is a name
for the manifested ONE LIFE, the Eternal living Unity. The "Root"
means, as already explained, pure knowledge (Sattva),*
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
The original for Understanding is Sattva, which Sankara (acharya) renders
antahkarana. "Refined," he says, "by sacrifices and other
sanctifying operations." In the Katha, at p. 148, Sattva is said by Sankara
to mean buddhi -- a common use of the word. ("The BHAGAVATGITA with The
Sanatsugatiya and The Anugita," trans- [[Footnote continued on next page]]
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[[Vol.
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eternal
(Nitya) unconditioned reality or SAT (Satya), whether we call it Parabrahmam or
Mulaprakriti, for these are the two aspects of the ONE. The "Light"
is the same Omnipresent Spiritual Ray, which has entered and now fecundated the
Divine Egg, and calls cosmic matter to begin its long series of
differentiations. The curds are the first differentiation, and probably refer
also to that cosmic matter which is supposed to be the origin of the
"Milky Way" -- the matter we know. This "matter," which,
according to the revelation received from the primeval Dhyani-Buddhas, is,
during the periodical sleep of the Universe, of the ultimate tenuity
conceivable to the eye of the perfect Bodhisatva -- this matter, radical and
cool, becomes, at the first reawakening of cosmic motion, scattered through
Space; appearing, when seen from the Earth, in clusters and lumps, like curds
in thin milk. These are the seeds of the future worlds, the
"Star-stuff."
-------
STANZA
III. -- Continued.
6.
THE ROOT OF LIFE WAS IN EVERY DROP OF THE OCEAN OF IMMORTALITY (Amrita)* AND
THE OCEAN WAS RADIANT LIGHT, WHICH WAS FIRE AND HEAT AND MOTION. DARKNESS
VANISHED AND WAS NO MORE.** IT DISAPPEARED IN ITS OWN ESSENCE, THE BODY OF FIRE
AND WATER, OF FATHER AND MOTHER (a).
(a)
The essence of darkness being absolute light, Darkness is taken as the
appropriate allegorical representation of the condition of the Universe during
Pralaya, or the term of absolute rest, or non-being, as it appears to our
finite minds. The "fire," "heat," and "motion"
here spoken of, are, of course, not the fire, heat, and motion of physical
science, but the underlying abstractions, the noumena, or the soul, of the
essence of these material manifestations -- the "things in
themselves," which, as modern science confesses, entirely elude the
instru-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] lated by Kashinath Trimbak Telang, M.A.; edited
by Max Muller.) Whatever meaning various schools may give the term, Sattva is
the name given among Occult students of the Aryasanga School to the dual Monad
or Atma-buddhi, and Atma-buddhi on this plane corresponds to Parabrahm and
Mulaprakriti on the higher plane.
*
Amrita is "immortality."
**
See Commentary No. 1 to this Stanza.
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[[Vol.
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ments
of the laboratory, and which even the mind cannot grasp, although it can
equally little avoid the conclusion that these underlying essences of things
must exist. Fire and Water, or Father* and Mother, may be taken here to mean
the divine Ray and Chaos. "Chaos, from this union with Spirit obtaining
sense, shone with pleasure, and thus was produced the Protogonos (the
first-born light)," says a fragment of Hermas. Damascius calls it Dis in
"Theogony" -- "The disposer of all things." (See Cory's
"Ancient Fragments," p. 314.)
According
to the Rosicrucian tenets, as handled and explained by the profane for once
correctly, if only partially, so "Light and Darkness are identical in
themselves, being only divisible in the human mind"; and according to
Robert Fludd, "Darkness adopted illumination in order to make itself
visible" (On Rosenkranz). According to the tenets of Eastern Occultism,
DARKNESS is the one true actuality, the basis and the root of light, without
which the latter could never manifest itself, nor even exist. Light is matter,
and DARKNESS pure Spirit. Darkness, in its radical, metaphysical basis, is
subjective and absolute light; while the latter in all its seeming effulgence
and glory, is merely a mass of shadows, as it can never be eternal, and is
simply an illusion, or Maya.
Even
in the mind-baffling and science-harassing Genesis, light is created out of
darkness "and darkness was upon the face of the deep" (ch. i. v. 2.)
-- and not vice versa. "In him (in darkness) was life; and the life was
the light of men" (John i. 4). A day may come when the eyes of men will be
opened; and then they may comprehend better than they do now, that verse in the
Gospel of John that says "And the light shineth in darkness; and the
darkness comprehendeth it not." They will see then that the word
"darkness" does not apply to man's spiritual eyesight, but indeed to
"Darkness," the absolute, that comprehendeth not (cannot cognize)
transient light, however transcendent to human eyes. Demon est Deus inversus.
The devil is now called Darkness by the Church, whereas, in the Bible he is
called the "Son of God" (see Job), the bright star of the early
morning, Lucifer (see Isaiah). There is a whole philosophy of dogmatic craft in
the reason why the first Archangel, who sprang from the depths of Chaos, was
called Lux (Lucifer), the "Luminous Son of the Morning," or man-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
See "Kwan-Shai-Yin." The real name from the text cannot be given.
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[[Vol.
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vantaric
Dawn. He was transformed by the Church into Lucifer or Satan, because he is
higher and older than Jehovah, and had to be sacrificed to the new dogma. (See
Book II.)
---------
STANZA
III. -- Continued.
7.
BEHOLD, OH LANOO!** THE RADIANT CHILD OF THE TWO, THE UNPARALLELED REFULGENT
GLORY, BRIGHT SPACE, SON OF DARK SPACE, WHO EMERGES FROM THE DEPTHS OF THE
GREAT DARK WATERS. IT IS OEAOHOO, THE YOUNGER, THE * * * (whom thou knowest now
as Kwan-Shai-Yin. -- Comment) (a). HE SHINES FORTH AS THE SUN. HE IS THE
BLAZING DIVINE DRAGON OF WISDOM. THE EKA IS CHATUR (four), AND CHATUR TAKES TO
ITSELF THREE, AND THE UNION PRODUCES THE SAPTA (seven) IN WHOM ARE THE SEVEN
WHICH BECOME THE TRIDASA*** (the thrice ten) THE HOSTS AND THE MULTITUDES (b).
BEHOLD HIM LIFTING THE VEIL, AND UNFURLING IT FROM EAST TO WEST. HE SHUTS OUT
THE ABOVE AND LEAVES THE BELOW TO BE SEEN AS THE GREAT ILLUSION. HE MARKS THE
PLACES FOR THE SHINING ONES (stars) AND TURNS THE UPPER (space) INTO A
SHORELESS SEA OF FIRE, AND THE ONE MANIFESTED (element) INTO THE GREAT WATERS
(c).
"Bright
Space, son of dark Space," corresponds to the Ray dropped at the first
thrill of the new "Dawn" into the great Cosmic depths, from which it
re-emerges differentiated as Oeaohoo the younger, (the "new LIFE"),
to become, to the end of the life-cycle, the germ of all things. He is
"the Incorporeal man who contains in himself the divine Idea," -- the
generator of Light and Life, to use an expression of Philo Judaeus. He is
called the "Blazing Dragon of Wisdom,"
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
**
Lanoo is a student, a chela who studies practical Esotericism.
***
"Tri-dasa," or three times ten (30), alludes to the Vedic deities, in
round numbers, or more accurately 33 -- a sacred number. They are the 12
Adityas, the 8 Vasus, the 11 Rudras, and 2 Aswins -- the twin sons of the Sun
and the Sky. This is the root-number of the Hindu Pantheon, which enumerates 33
crores or over three hundred millions of gods and goddesses.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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because,
firstly, he is that which the Greek philosophers called the Logos, the Verbum of
the Thought Divine; and secondly, because in Esoteric philosophy this first
manifestation, being the synthesis or the aggregate of Universal Wisdom,
Oeaohoo, "the Son of the Son," contains in himself the Seven Creative
Hosts (The Sephiroth), and is thus the essence of manifested Wisdom. "He
who bathes in the light of Oeaohoo will never be deceived by the veil of
Maya."
Kwan-Shai-Yin
is identical with, and an equivalent of the Sanskrit Avalokiteshwara, and as
such he is an androgynous deity, like the Tetragrammaton and all the Logoi* of
antiquity. It is only by some sects in China that he is anthropomorphized and
represented with female attributes,** when, under his female aspect, he becomes
Kwan-Yin, the goddess of mercy, called the "Divine Voice."*** The
latter is the patron deity of Thibet and of the island of Puto in China, where
both deities have a number of monasteries.**** (See Part II. Kwan-Shai-Yin and
Kwan-yin.)
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Hence all the higher gods of antiquity are all "Sons of the Mother"
before they become those of the "Father." The Logoi, like Jupiter or
Zeus, Son of Kronos-Saturn, "Infinite Time" (or Kala), in their
origin were represented as male-female. Zeus is said to be the "beautiful
Virgin," and Venus is made bearded. Apollo is originally bisexual, so is
Brahma-Vach in Manu and the Puranas. Osiris is interchangeable with Isis, and
Horus is of both sexes. Finally St. John's vision in Revelation, that of the
Logos, who is now connected with Jesus -- is hermaphrodite, for he is described
as having female breasts. So is the Tetragrammaton = Jehovah. But there are two
Avalokiteshwaras in Esotericism; the first and the second Logos.
**
No religious symbol can escape profanation and even derision in our days of
politics and Science. In Southern India the writer has seen a converted native
making pujah with offerings before a statue of Jesus clad in woman's clothes
and with a ring in his nose. When asking the meaning of the masquerade we were
answered that it was Jesu-Maria blended in one, and that it was done by the
permission of the Padri, as the zealous convert had no money to purchase two
statues or "idols" as they, very properly, were called by a witness
-- another but a non-converted Hindu. Blasphemous this will appear to a
dogmatic Christian, but the Theosophist and the Occultist must award the palm
of logic to the converted Hindu. The esoteric Christos in the gnosis is, of
course, sexless, but in exoteric theology he is male and female.
***
The Gnostic Sophia, "Wisdom" who is "the Mother" of the
Ogdoad (Aditi, in a certain sense, with her eight sons), is the Holy Ghost and
the Creator of all, as in the ancient systems. The "father" is a far
later invention. The earliest manifested Logos was female everywhere -- the
mother of the seven planetary powers.
****
See "Chinese Buddhism," by the Rev. J. C. Edkins, who always gives
correct facts, although his conclusions are very frequently erroneous.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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(b)
"The "Dragon of Wisdom" is the One, the "Eka"
(Sanskrit) or Saka. It is curious that Jehovah's name in Hebrew should also be
One, Echod. "His name is Echod": say the Rabbins. The philologists
ought to decide which of the two is derived from the other -- linguistically
and symbolically: surely, not the Sanskrit? The "One" and the Dragon
are expressions used by the ancients in connection with their respective Logoi.
Jehovah -- esoterically (as Elohim) -- is also the Serpent or Dragon that
tempted Eve, and the "Dragon" is an old glyph for "Astral
Light" (Primordial Principle), "which is the Wisdom of Chaos."
Archaic philosophy, recognizing neither Good nor Evil as a fundamental or
independent power, but starting from the Absolute ALL (Universal Perfection
eternally), traced both through the course of natural evolution to pure Light
condensing gradually into form, hence becoming Matter or Evil. It was left with
the early and ignorant Christian fathers to degrade the philosophical and
highly scientific idea of this emblem (the Dragon) into the absurd superstition
called the "Devil." They took it from the later Zoroastrians, who saw
devils or the Evil in the Hindu Devas, and the word Evil thus became by a
double transmutation D'Evil in every tongue (Diabolos, Diable, Diavolo,
Teufel). But the Pagans have always shown a philosophical discrimination in
their symbols. The primitive symbol of the serpent symbolised divine Wisdom and
Perfection, and had always stood for psychical Regeneration and Immortality.
Hence -- Hermes, calling the serpent the most spiritual of all beings; Moses,
initiated in the wisdom of Hermes, following suit in Genesis; the Gnostic's
Serpent with the seven vowels over its head, being the emblem of the seven
hierarchies of the Septenary or Planetary Creators. Hence, also, the Hindu
serpent Sesha or Ananta, "the Infinite," a name of Vishnu, whose
first Vahan or vehicle on the primordial waters is this serpent.* Yet they all
made a difference between the good and the bad Serpent (the Astral Light of
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Like the logoi and the Hierarchies of Powers, however, the "Serpents"
have to be distinguished one from the other. Sesha or Ananta, "the couch
of Vishnu," is an allegorical abstraction, symbolizing infinite Time in
Space, which contains the germ and throws off periodically the efflorescence of
this germ, the manifested Universe; whereas, the gnostic Ophis contained the
same triple symbolism in its seven vowels as the One, Three and Seven-syllabled
Oeaohoo of the Archaic doctrine; i.e., the One Unmanifested Logos, the Second
manifested, the triangle concreting into the Quaternary or Tetragrammaton, and
the rays of the latter on the material plane.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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the
Kabalists) -- between the former, the embodiment of divine Wisdom in the region
of the Spiritual, and the latter, Evil, on the plane of matter.* Jesus accepted
the serpent as a synonym of Wisdom, and this formed part of his teaching:
"Be ye wise as serpents," he says. "In the beginning, before
Mother became Father-Mother, the fiery Dragon moved in the infinitudes
alone" (Book of Sarparajni.) The Aitareya Brahmana calls the Earth
Sarparajni, "the Serpent Queen," and "the Mother of all that
moves." Before our globe became egg-shaped (and the Universe also) "a
long trail of Cosmic dust (or fire mist) moved and writhed like a serpent in
Space." The "Spirit of God moving on Chaos" was symbolized by
every nation in the shape of a fiery serpent breathing fire and light upon the
primordial waters, until it had incubated cosmic matter and made it assume the
annular shape of a serpent with its tail in its mouth -- which symbolises not
only Eternity and Infinitude, but also the globular shape of all the bodies
formed within the Universe from that fiery mist. The Universe, as well as the
Earth and Man, cast off periodically, serpent-like, their old skins, to assume
new ones after a time of rest. The serpent is, surely, a not less graceful or a
more unpoetical image than the caterpillar and chrysalis from which springs the
butterfly, the Greek emblem of Psyche, the human soul. The "Dragon"
was also the symbol of the Logos with the Egyptians, as with the Gnostics. In
the "Book of Hermes," Pymander, the oldest and the most spiritual of
the Logoi of the Western Continent, appears to Hermes in the shape of a Fiery
Dragon of "Light, Fire, and Flame." Pymander, the "Thought
Divine" personified, says: The Light is me, I am the Nous (the mind or
Manu), I am thy God, and I am far older than the human principle which escapes
from the shadow ("Darkness," or the concealed Deity). I am the germ
of thought, the resplendent Word, the Son of God. All that thus sees and hears
in thee is the Verbum of the Master, it is the Thought (Mahat) which is God,
the Father.**
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
The Astral Light, or the AEther, of the ancient pagans (for the name of Astral
Light is quite modern) is Spirit-Matter. Beginning with the pure spiritual
plane, it becomes grosser as it descends until it becomes the Maya or the
tempting and deceitful serpent on our plane.
**
By "God, the Father," the seventh principle in Man and Kosmos are
here unmistakeably meant, this principle being inseparable in its Esse and
Nature from the seventh Cosmic principle. In one sense it is the Logos of the
Greeks and the Avalokiteswara of the esoteric Buddhists.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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The
celestial Ocean, the 'Ether . . . . is the Breath of the Father, the
life-giving principle, the Mother, the Holy Spirit, . . . . for these are not
separated, and their union is LIFE."
Here
we find the unmistakeable echo of the Archaic Secret Doctrine, as now
expounded. Only the latter does not place at the head and Evolution of Life
"the Father," who comes third and is the "Son of the
Mother," but the "Eternal and Ceaseless Breath of the ALL." The
Mahat (Understanding, Universal Mind, Thought, etc.), before it manifests
itself as Brahma or Siva, appears as Vishnu, says Sankhya Sara (p. 16); hence
Mahat has several aspects, just as the logos has. Mahat is called the Lord, in
the Primary Creation, and is, in this sense, Universal Cognition or Thought
Divine; but, "That Mahat which was first produced is (afterwards) called
Ego-ism, when it is born as "I," that is said to be the second
Creation" (Anugita, ch. xxvi.). And the translator (an able and learned
Brahmin, not a European Orientalist) explains in a foot-note (6), "i.e.,
when Mahat develops into the feeling of Self-Consciousness -- I -- then it
assumes the name of Egoism," which, translated into our esoteric
phraseology, means when Mahat is transformed into the human Manas (or even that
of the finite gods), and becomes Aham-ship. Why it is called the Mahat of the
Second creation (or the ninth, that of the Kumara in Vishnu Purana) will be
explained in Book II. The "Sea of Fire" is then the Super-Astral
(i.e., noumenal) Light, the first radiation from the Root, the Mulaprakriti,
the undifferentiated Cosmic Substance, which becomes Astral Matter. It is also
called the "Fiery Serpent," as above described. If the student bears
in mind that there is but One Universal Element, which is infinite, unborn, and
undying, and that all the rest -- as in the world of phenomena -- are but so
many various differentiated aspects and transformations (correlations, they are
now called) of that One, from Cosmical down to microcosmical effects, from
super-human down to human and sub-human beings, the totality, in short, of
objective existence -- then the first and chief difficulty will disappear and
Occult Cosmology may be mastered.* All the Kabalists and Occultists, Eastern
and Western, recognise (a)
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
In the Egyptian as in the Indian theogony there was a concealed deity, the ONE,
and the creative, androgynous god. Thus Shoo is the god of creation and Osiris
is, in his original primary form, the "god whose name is unknown."
(See Mariette's Abydos II., p. 63, and Vol. III., pp. 413, 414, No. 1122.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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the
identity of "Father-Mother" with primordial AEther or Akasa, (Astral
Light)*; and (b) its homogeneity before the evolution of the "Son,"
cosmically Fohat, for it is Cosmic Electricity. "Fohat hardens and
scatters the seven brothers" (Book III. Dzyan); which means that the
primordial Electric Entity -- for the Eastern Occultists insist that
Electricity is an Entity -- electrifies into life, and separates primordial
stuff or pregenetic matter into atoms, themselves the source of all life and
consciousness. "There exists an universal agent unique of all forms and of
life, that is called Od,** Ob, and Aour, active and passive, positive and negative,
like day and night: it is the first light in Creation" (Eliphas Levi's
Kabala):--- the first Light of the primordial Elohim -- the Adam, "male
and female" -- or (scientifically) ELECTRICITY AND LIFE.
(c)
The ancients represented it by a serpent, for "Fohat hisses as he glides
hither and thither" (in zigzags). The Kabala figures it with the Hebrew
letter Teth [[hebrew]], whose symbol is the serpent which played such a
prominent part in the Mysteries. Its universal value is nine, for it is the
ninth letter of the alphabet and the ninth door of the fifty portals or
gateways that lead to the concealed mysteries of being. It is the magical agent
par excellence, and designates in Hermetic philosophy "Life infused into
primordial matter," the essence that composes all things, and the spirit
that determines their form. But there are two secret Hermetical operations, one
spiritual, the other material-correlative, and for ever united. "Thou
shalt separate the earth from the fire, the subtile from the solid . . . that
which ascends from earth to heaven and descends again from heaven to earth. It
(the subtile light), is the strong force of every force, for it conquers every
subtile thing and penetrates into every solid. Thus was the world formed"
(Hermes).
It
was not Zeno alone, the founder of the Stoics, who taught that the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
See next note.
**
Od is the pure life-giving Light, or magnetic fluid; Ob the messenger of death used
by the sorcerers, the nefarious evil fluid; Aour is the synthesis of the two,
Astral Light proper. Can the Philologists tell why Od -- a term used by
Reichenbach to denominate the vital fluid -- is also a Tibetan word meaning
light, brightness, radiancy? It equally means "Sky" in an occult
sense. Whence the root of the word? But Akasa is not quite Ether, but far
higher than that, as will be shown.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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Universe
evolves, when its primary substance is transformed from the state of fire into
that of air, then into water, etc. Heracleitus of Ephesus maintained that the
one principle that underlies all phenomena in Nature is fire. The intelligence
that moves the Universe is fire, and fires is intelligence. And while
Anaximenes said the same of air, and Thales of Miletus (600 years B.C.) of
water, the Esoteric Doctrine reconciles all those philosophers by showing that
though each was right the system of none was complete.
-------
STANZA
III. -- Continued.
8.
WHERE WAS THE GERM, AND WHERE WAS NOW DARKNESS? WHERE IS THE SPIRIT OF THE
FLAME THAT BURNS IN THY LAMP, OH LANOO? THE GERM IS THAT, AND THAT IS LIGHT;
THE WHITE BRILLIANT SON OF THE DARK HIDDEN FATHER (a).
(a)
The answer to the first question, suggested by the second, which is the reply
of the teacher to the pupil, contains in a single phrase one of the most
essential truths of occult philosophy. It indicates the existence of things
imperceptible to our physical senses which are of far greater importance, more
real and more permanent, than those that appeal to these senses themselves.
Before the Lanoo can hope to understand the transcendentally metaphysical
problem contained in the first question he must be able to answer the second,
while the very answer he gives to the second will furnish him with the clue to
the correct reply to the first.
In
the Sanscrit Commentary on this Stanza, the terms used for the concealed and
the unrevealed Principle are many. In the earliest MSS. of Indian literature
this Unrevealed, Abstract Deity has no name. It is called generally
"That" (Tad in Sanskrit), and means all that is, was, and will be, or
that can be so received by the human mind.
Among
such appellations, given, of course, only in esoteric philosophy, as the
"Unfathomable Darkness," the "Whirlwind," etc. -- it is
also called the "It of the Kalahansa, the Kala-ham-sa," and even the
"Kali Hamsa," (Black swan). Here the m and the n are convertible, and
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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both
sound like the nasal French an or am, or, again, en or em (Ennui, Embarras,
etc.) As in the Hebrew Bible, many a mysterious sacred name in Sanscrit conveys
to the profane ear no more than some ordinary, and often vulgar word, because
it is concealed anagrammatically or otherwise. This word of Hansa or
esoterically "hamsa" is just such a case. Hamsa is equal to a-ham-sa,
three words meaning "I am he" (in English), while divided in still
another way it will read "So-ham," "he (is) I" -- Soham
being equal to Sah, "he," and aham, "I," or "I am
he." In this alone is contained the universal mystery, the doctrine of the
identity of man's essence with god-essence, for him who understands the
language of wisdom. Hence the glyph of, and the allegory about, Kalahansa (or
hamsa), and the name given to Brahma neuter (later on, to the male Brahma) of
"Hansa-Vahana," he who uses the Hansa as his vehicle." The same
word may be read "Kalaham-sa" or "I am I" in the eternity
of Time, answering to the Biblical, or rather Zoroastrian "I am that I
am." The same doctrine is found in the Kabala, as witness the following
extract from an unpublished MS. by Mr. S. Liddell McGregor Mathers, the learned
Kabalist: "The three pronouns [[hebrew]], Hoa, Atah, Ani; He, Thou, I; are
used to symbolize the ideas of Macroprosopus and Microprosopus in the Hebrew
Qabalah. Hoa, "He," is applied to the hidden and concealed Macroprosopus;
Atah, "Thou," to Microprosopus; and Ani, "I," to the latter
when He is represented as speaking. (See Lesser Holy Assembly, 204 et seq.) It
is to be noted that each of these names consists of three letters, of which the
letter Aleph [[hebrew]], A, forms the conclusion of the first word Hoa, and the
commencement of Atah and Ani, as if it were the connecting link between them.
But [[hebrew]] is the symbol of the Unity and consequently of the unvarying
Idea of the Divine operating through all these. But behind the [[hebrew]] in
the name Hoa are the letters [[hebrew]] and [[hebrew]], the symbols of the
numbers Six and Five, the Male and the Female, the Hexagram and the Pentagram.
And the numbers of these three words, Hoa Atah Ani, are 12, 406, and 61, which
are resumed in the key numbers of 3, 10, and 7, by the Qabalah of the Nine
Chambers, which is a form of the exegetical rule of Temura."
It
is useless to attempt to explain the mystery in full. Materialists and the men
of modern Science will never understand it, since, in order
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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to
obtain clear perception of it, one has first of all to admit the postulate of a
universally diffused, omnipresent, eternal Deity in Nature; secondly, to have
fathomed the mystery of electricity in its true essence; and thirdly, to credit
man with being the septenary symbol, on the terrestrial plane, of the One Great
UNIT (the Logos), which is Itself the Seven-vowelled sign, the Breath
crystallized into the WORD.* He who believes in all this, has also to believe
in the multiple combination of the seven planets of Occultism and of the
Kabala, with the twelve zodiacal signs; to attribute, as we do, to each planet
and to each constellation an influence which, in the words of Ely Star (a
French Occultist), "is proper to it, beneficent or maleficent, and this,
after the planetary Spirit which rules it, who, in his turn, is capable of influencing
men and things which are found in harmony with him and with which he has any
affinity." For these reasons, and since few believe in the foregoing, all
that can now be given is that in both cases the symbol of Hansa (whether
"I," "He," Goose or Swan) is an important symbol,
representing, for instance, Divine Wisdom, Wisdom in darkness beyond the reach
of men. For all exoteric purposes, Hansa, as every Hindu knows, is a fabulous
bird, which, when given milk mixed with water for its food (in the allegory) separated
the two, drinking the milk and leaving the water; thus showing inherent wisdom
-- milk standing symbolically for spirit, and water for matter.
That
this allegory is very ancient and dates from the very earliest archaic period,
is shown by the mention (in Bhagavata Purana) of a certain caste named
"Hamsa" or "Hansa," which was the "one caste" par
excellence; when far back in the mists of a forgotten past there was among the
Hindus only "One Veda, One Deity, One Caste." There is also a range
in the Himalayas, described in the old books as being situated north of Mount
Meru, called "Hamsa," and connected with episodes pertaining to the
history of religious mysteries and initiations. As to the name of Kala-Hansa
being the supposed vehicle of Brahma-Prajapati, in the exoteric texts and
translations of the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
This is again similar to the doctrine of Fichte and German Pantheists. The
former reveres Jesus as the great teacher who inculcated the unity of the
spirit of man with the God-Spirit (the Adwaita doctrine) or universal
Principle. It is difficult to find a single speculation in Western metaphysics
which has not been anticipated by Archaic Eastern philosophy. From Kant to
Herbert Spencer, it is all a more or less distorted echo of the Dwaita,
Adwaita, and Vedantic doctrines generally.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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Orientalists,
it is quite a mistake. Brahma, the neuter, is called by them Kala-Hansa and
Brahma, the male, Hansa-Vahana, because forsooth "his vehicle or Vahan is
a swan or goose" (vide "the Hindu Classical Dictionary.") This
is a purely exoteric gloss. Esoterically and logically, if Brahma, the
infinite, is all that is described by the Orientalists, namely, agreeably with
the Vedantic texts, an abstract deity in no way characterised by the
description of any human attributes, and it is still maintained that he or it
is called Kala-Hansa -- then how can it ever become the Vahan of Brahma, the
manifested finite god? It is quite the reverse. The "Swan or goose"
(Hansa) is the symbol of that male or temporary deity, as he, the emanation of
the primordial Ray, is made to serve as a Vahan or vehicle for that divine Ray,
which otherwise could not manifest itself in the Universe, being,
antiphrastically, itself an emanation of "Darkness" -- for our human
intellect, at any rate. It is Brahma, then, who is Kala-Hansa, and the Ray, the
Hansa-Vahana.
As
to the strange symbol chosen, it is equally suggestive; the true mystic
significance being the idea of a universal matrix, figured by the primordial
waters of the "deep," or the opening for the reception, and
subsequently for the issue, of that one ray (the Logos), which contains in
itself the other seven procreative rays or powers (the logoi or builders).
Hence the choice by the Rosecroix of the aquatic fowl -- whether swan or
pelican,* with seven young ones for a symbol, modified and adapted to the
religion of every country. En-Soph is called the "Fiery Soul of the
Pelican" in the Book of Numbers.** (See Part II. "The Hidden Deity
and its Symbols and Glyphs.") Appearing with every Manvantara as Narayan,
or Swayambhuva (the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Whether the genus of the bird be cygnus, anser, or pelecanus, it is no matter,
as it is an aquatic bird floating or moving on the waters like the Spirit, and
then issuing from those waters to give birth to other beings. The true
significance of the symbol of the Eighteenth Degree of the Rose-Croix is
precisely this, though poetised later on into the motherly feeling of the
Pelican rending its bosom to feed its seven little ones with its blood.
**
The reason why Moses forbids eating the pelican and swan, classing the two
among the unclean fowls, and permits eating "bald locusts, beetles, and
the grasshopper after his kind" (Leviticus xi. and Deuteronomy xiv.) is a
purely physiological one, and has to do with mystic symbology only in so far as
the word "unclean," like every other word, ought not to be read and
understood literally, as it is esoteric like all the [[Footnote continued on
next page]]
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[[Vol.
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Self-Existent),
and penetrating into the Mundane Egg, it emerges from it at the end of the
divine incubation as Brahma or Prajapati, a progenitor of the future Universe
into which he expands. He is Purusha (spirit), but he is also Prakriti
(matter). Therefore it is only after separating himself into two halves --
Brahma-vach (the female) and Brahma-Viraj (the male), that the Prajapati
becomes the male Brahma.
-------
STANZA
III. -- Continued.
9.
LIGHT IS COLD FLAME, AND FLAME IS FIRE, AND THE FIRE PRODUCES HEAT, WHICH
YIELDS WATER, THE WATER OF LIFE IN THE GREAT MOTHER (Chaos) (a).
(a)
It must be remembered that the words "Light," "Fire," and
"Flame" used in the Stanzas have been adopted by the translators
thereof from the vocabulary of the old "Fire philosophers,"** in
order to render better the meaning of the archaic terms and symbols employed in
the original. Otherwise they would have remained entirely unintelligible to a
European reader. But to a student of the Occult the terms used will be
sufficiently clear.
All
these -- "Light," "Flame," "Hot,"
"Cold," "Fire," "Heat," "Water," and
the "water of life" are all, on our plane, the progeny; or as a
modern physicist would say, the correlations of ELECTRICITY. Mighty word, and a
still mightier symbol! Sacred generator of a no less sacred progeny; of fire --
the creator, the preserver and the destroyer; of light -- the essence of our
divine ancestors; of flame -- the Soul of things. Electricity, the ONE Life at
the upper rung of Being, and Astral Fluid, the Athanor of the Alchemists, at
its lowest; GOD and DEVIL, GOOD and EVIL. . . .
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] rest, and may as well mean "holy" as
not. It is a blind, very suggestive in connection with certain superstitions --
e.g., that of the Russian people who will not use the pigeon for food; not
because it is "unclean," but because the "Holy Ghost" is
credited with having appeared under the form of a Dove.
**
Not the Mediaeval Alchemists, but the Magi and Fire-Worshippers, from whom the
Rosicrucians or the Philosophers per ignem, the successors of the theurgists
borrowed all their ideas concerning Fire, as a mystic and divine element.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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Now,
why is Light called in the Stanzas "cold flame"? Because in the order
of Cosmic evolution (as taught by the Occultist), the energy that actuates
matter after its first formation into atoms is generated on our plane by Cosmic
heat; and because Kosmos, in the sense of dissociated matter, was not, before
that period. The first primordial matter, eternal and coeval with Space,
"which has neither a beginning nor an end," is "neither hot nor
cold, but is of its own special nature," says the Commentary (Book II).
Heat and cold are relative qualities and pertain to the realms of the
manifested worlds, which all proceed from the manifested Hyle, which, in its
absolutely latent aspect, is referred to as the "cold Virgin," and
when awakened to life, as the "Mother." The ancient Western
Cosmogonic myths state that at first there was but cold mist which was the Father,
and the prolific slime (the Mother, Ilus or Hyle), from which crept forth the
Mundane snake-matter, (Isis, vol. i., p. 146). Primordial matter, then, before
it emerges from the plane of the never-manifesting, and awakens to the thrill
of action under the impulse of Fohat, is but "a cool Radiance, colourless,
formless, tasteless, and devoid of every quality and aspect." Even such
are her first-born, the "four sons," who "are One, and become
Seven," -- the entities, by whose qualifications and names the ancient
Eastern Occultists called the four of the seven primal "centres of
Forces," or atoms, that develop later into the great Cosmic
"Elements," now divided into the seventy or so sub-elements, known to
science. The four primal natures of the first Dhyan Chohans, are the so-called
(for want of better terms) "Akasic," "Ethereal,"
"Watery," and "Fiery," answering, in the terminology of
practical occultism, to scientific definitions of gases, which, to convey a
clear idea to both Occultists and laymen, must be defined as Parahydrogenic,*
Paraoxygenic, Oxyhydrogenic, and Ozonic, or perhaps Nitr-ozonic; the latter
forces or gases (in Occultism, supersensuous, yet atomic substances) being the
most effective and active when energising on the plane of more grossly
differentiated matter.** These are both electro-positive and electro-negative.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
[[para]], "beyond," outside.
**
Each of these and many more are probably the missing links of chemistry. They
are known by other names in Alchemy and to the Occultists who practise in
phenomenal powers. It is by combining and recombining in a certain way (or
dissociating) the "Elements" by means of astral fire that the
greatest phenomena are produced.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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STANZA
III. -- Continued.
10.
FATHER-MOTHER SPIN A WEB WHOSE UPPER END IS FASTENED TO SPIRIT (Purusha), THE LIGHT
OF THE ONE DARKNESS, AND THE LOWER ONE TO MATTER (Prakriti) ITS (the Spirit's)
SHADOWY END; AND THIS WEB IS THE UNIVERSE SPUN OUT OF THE TWO SUBSTANCES MADE
IN ONE, WHICH IS SWABHAVAT (a).
(a)
In the Mandukya (Mundaka) Upanishad it is written, "As a spider throws out
and retracts its web, as herbs spring up in the ground . . . so is the Universe
derived from the undecaying one" (I. 1. 7). Brahma, as "the germ of
unknown Darkness," is the material from which all evolves and develops "as
the web from the spider, as foam from the water," etc. This is only
graphic and true, if Brahma the "Creator" is, as a term, derived from
the root brih, to increase or expand. Brahma "expands" and becomes
the Universe woven out of his own substance.
The
same idea has been beautifully expressed by Goethe, who says:
"Thus
at the roaring loom of Time I ply,
And
weave for God the garment thou see'st Him by."
-------
STANZA
III. -- Continued.
11.
IT (the Web) EXPANDS WHEN THE BREATH OF FIRE (the Father) IS UPON IT; IT CONTRACTS
WHEN THE BREATH OF THE MOTHER (the root of Matter) TOUCHES IT. THEN THE SONS
(the Elements with their respective Powers, or Intelligences) DISSOCIATE AND
SCATTER, TO RETURN INTO THEIR MOTHER'S BOSOM AT THE END OF THE "GREAT
DAY" AND REBECOME ONE WITH HER (a). WHEN IT (the Web) IS COOLING, IT
BECOMES RADIANT, ITS SONS EXPAND AND CONTRACT THROUGH THEIR OWN SELVES AND
HEARTS; THEY EMBRACE INFINITUDE. (b)
The
expanding of the Universe under the breath of FIRE is very suggestive in the
light of the "Fire mist" period of which modern science speaks so
much, and knows in reality so little.
Great
heat breaks up the compound elements and resolves the
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[[Vol.
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heavenly
bodies into their primeval one element, explains the commentary. "Once
disintegrated into its primal constituent by getting within the attraction and
reach of a focus, or centre of heat (energy), of which many are carried about
to and fro in space, a body, whether alive or dead, will be vapourised and held
in "the bosom of the Mother" until Fohat, gathering a few of the
clusters of Cosmic matter (nebulae) will, by giving it an impulse, set it in
motion anew, develop the required heat, and then leave it to follow its own new
growth.
The
expanding and contracting of the Web -- i.e., the world stuff or atoms --
expresses here the pulsatory movement; for it is the regular contraction and
expansion of the infinite and shoreless Ocean of that which we may call the
noumenon of matter emanated by Swabhavat, which causes the universal vibration
of atoms. But it is also suggestive of something else. It shows that the
ancients were acquainted with that which is now the puzzle of many scientists
and especially of astronomers: the cause of the first ignition of matter or the
world-stuff, the paradox of the heat produced by the refrigerative contraction
and other such Cosmic riddles. For it points unmistakeably to a knowledge by
the ancients of such phenomena. "There is heat internal and heat external
in every atom," say the manuscript Commentaries, to which the writer has
had access; "the breath of the Father (or Spirit) and the breath (or heat)
of the Mother (matter);" and they give explanations which show that the
modern theory of the extinction of the solar fires by loss of heat through
radiation, is erroneous. The assumption is false even on the Scientists' own
admission. For as Professor Newcomb points out (Popular Astronomy, pp.
506-508), "by losing heat, a gaseous body contracts, and the heat
generated by the contraction exceeds that which it had to lose in order to
produce the contraction." This paradox, that a body gets hotter as the
shrinking produced by its getting colder is greater, led to long disputes. The
surplus of heat, it was argued, was lost by radiation, and to assume that the
temperature is not lowered pari passu with a decrease of volume under a
constant pressure, is to set at nought the law of Charles (Nebular Theory,
Winchell). Contraction develops heat, it is true; but contraction (from
cooling) is incapable of developing the whole amount of heat at any time
existing in the mass, or even of maintaining a body at a constant temperature,
etc. Professor Winchell tries to reconcile the paradox -- only a seeming one in
fact, as
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[[Vol.
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Homer
Lanes proved, -- by suggesting "something besides heat." "May it
not be," he asks, "simply a repulsion among the molecules, which
varies according to some law of the distance?" But even this will be found
irreconcileable, unless this "something besides heat" is ticketed
"Causeless Heat," the "Breath of Fire," the all-creative
Force Plus ABSOLUTE INTELLIGENCE, which physical science is not likely to
accept.
However
it may be, the reading of this Stanza shows it, notwithstanding its archaic
phraseology, to be more scientific than even modern science.
-------
STANZA
III. -- Continued.
12.
THEN SVABHAVAT SENDS FOHAT TO HARDEN THE ATOMS. EACH (of these) IS A PART OF
THE WEB (Universe). REFLECTING THE "SELF-EXISTENT LORD" (Primeval
Light) LIKE A MIRROR, EACH BECOMES IN TURN A WORLD.* . . .
"Fohat
hardens the atoms"; i.e., by infusing energy into them: he scatters the
atoms or primordial matter. "He scatters himself while scattering matter
into atoms" (MSS. Commentaries.)
It
is through Fohat that the ideas of the Universal Mind are impressed upon
matter. Some faint idea of the nature of Fohat may be gathered from the
appellation "Cosmic Electricity" sometimes applied to it; but to the
commonly known properties of electricity must, in this case, be added others,
including intelligence. It is of interest to note that modern science has come
to the conclusion, that all cerebration and brain-activity are attended by
electrical phenomena. (For further details as to "Fohat" See Stanza
V. and Comments.")
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
This is said in the sense that the flame from a fire is endless, and that the
lights of the whole Universe could be lit at one simple rush-light without
diminishing its flame.
---------------------
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[[Vol.
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STANZA
IV.
COMMENTARY.
1.
LISTEN, YE SONS OF THE EARTH, TO YOUR INSTRUCTORS -- THE SONS OF THE FIRE (a).
LEARN THERE IS NEITHER FIRST NOR LAST; FOR ALL IS ONE NUMBER, ISSUED FROM NO
NUMBER (b).
(a)
These terms, the "Sons of the Fire," the "Sons of the
Fire-Mist," and the like, require explanation. They are connected with a
great primordial and universal mystery, and it is not easy to make it clear.
There is a passage in the Bhagavatgita (ch. viii.) wherein Krishna, speaking
symbolically and esoterically, says: "I will state the times (conditions)
. . . at which devotees departing (from this life) do so never to return (be
reborn), or to return (to incarnate again). The Fire, the Flame, the day, the
bright (lucky) fortnight, the six months of the Northern solstice, departing
(dying) in these, those who know the Brahman (Yogis) go to the Brahman. Smoke,
night, the dark (unlucky) fortnight, the six months of the Southern solstice,
(dying) in these, the devotee goes to the lunar light (or mansion the astral
light also) and returns (is reborn). These two paths, bright and dark, are said
to be eternal in this world (or great kalpa, 'Age'). By the one a man goes
never to come back, by the other he returns." Now these names, "Fire,"
"Flame," "Day," the "bright fortnight," etc., as
"Smoke," "Night," and so on, leading only to the end of the
lunar path are incomprehensible without a knowledge of Esotericism. These are
all names of various deities which preside over the Cosmo-psychic Powers. We
often speak of the Hierarchy of "Flames" (see Book II.) of the
"Sons of Fire," etc. Sankaracharya the greatest of the Esoteric
masters of India, says that fire means a deity which presides over Time (kala).
The able translator of Bhagavatgita, Kashinath Trimbak Telang, M.A., of Bombay,
confesses he has "no clear notion of the meaning of these verses" (p.
81, footnote). It seems quite clear, on the contrary, to him who knows the
occult doctrine. With these verses the mystic sense of the solar and lunar
symbols are connected: the Pitris are lunar deities and our ancestors, because
they created the physical man.
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The
Agnishwatha, the Kumara (the seven mystic sages), are solar deities, though the
former are Pitris also; and these are the "fashioners of the Inner
Man." (See Book II.) They are:--
"The
Sons of Fire" -- because they are the first Beings (in the Secret Doctrine
they are called "Minds"), evolved from Primordial Fire. "The
Lord is a consuming Fire" (Deuteronomy iv. 24); "The Lord (Christos)
shall be revealed with his mighty angels in flaming fire" (2 Thessal. i.
7, 8). The Holy Ghost descended on the Apostles like "cloven tongues of
fire," (Acts ii. v. 3); Vishnu will return on Kalki, the White Horse, as
the last Avatar amid fire and flames; and Sosiosh will be brought down equally
on a White Horse in a "tornado of fire." "And I saw heaven open
and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him . . . . is called the Word
of God," (Rev. xix. 13) amid flaming Fire. Fire is AEther in its purest
form, and hence is not regarded as matter, but it is the unity of Aether -- the
second manifested deity -- in its universality. But there are two
"Fires" and a distinction is made between them in the Occult
teachings. The first, or the purely Formless and invisible Fire concealed in
the Central Spiritual Sun, is spoken of as "triple" (metaphysically);
while the Fire of the manifested Kosmos is Septenary, throughout both the
Universe and our Solar System. "The fire or knowledge burns up all action
on the plane of illusion," says the commentary. "Therefore, those who
have acquired it and are emancipated, are called 'Fires.' " Speaking of
the seven senses symbolised as Hotris, priests, the Brahmana says in Anugita:
"Thus these seven (senses, smell and taste, and colour, and sound, etc.,
etc.) are the causes of emancipation;" and the commentator adds: "It
is from these seven from which the Self is to be emancipated. 'I' (am here
devoid of qualities) must mean the Self, not the Brahmana who speaks."
("Sacred Books of the East," ed. by Max Muller, Vol. VIII., 278.)
(b)
The expression "All is One Number, issued from No Number" relates
again to that universal and philosophical tenet just explained in Stanza III.
(Comm. 4). That which is absolute is of course No Number; but in its later
significance it has an application in Space as in Time. It means that not only
every increment of time is part of a larger increment, up to the most
indefinitely prolonged duration conceivable by the human intellect, but also
that no manifested thing can
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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be
thought of except as part of a larger whole: the total aggregate being the One
manifested Universe that issues from the unmanifested or Absolute -- called
Non-Being or "No-Number," to distinguish it from BEING or "the
One Number."
-------
STANZA
IV. -- Continued.
(2)
LEARN WHAT WE, WHO DESCEND FROM THE PRIMORDIAL SEVEN, WE, WHO ARE BORN FROM THE
PRIMORDIAL FLAME, HAVE LEARNED FROM OUR FATHERS (a).
(a)
This is explained in Book II., and this name, "Primordial Flame,"
corroborates what is said in the first paragraph of the preceding commentary on
Stanza IV.
The
distinction between the "Primordial" and the subsequent seven
Builders is this: The former are the Ray and direct emanation of the first
"Sacred Four," the Tetraktis, that is, the eternally Self-Existent
One (Eternal in Essence note well, not in manifestation, and distinct from the
universal ONE). Latent, during Pralaya, and active, during Manvantara, the
"Primordial" proceed from "Father-Mother" (Spirit-Hyle, or
Ilus); whereas the other manifested Quaternary and the Seven proceed from the
Mother alone. It is the latter who is the immaculate Virgin-Mother, who is
overshadowed, not impregnated, by the Universal MYSTERY -- when she emerges
from her state of Laya or undifferentiated condition. In reality, they are, of
course, all one; but their aspects on the various planes of being are
different. (See Part II., "Theogony of the Creative Gods.")
The
first "Primordial" are the highest Beings on the Scale of Existence.
They are the Archangels of Christianity, those who refuse -- as Michael did in
the latter system, and as did the eldest "Mind-born sons" of Brahma
(Veddhas) -- to create or rather to multiply.
-------
STANZA
IV. -- Continued.
3.
FROM THE EFFULGENCY OF LIGHT -- THE RAY OF THE EVER-DARKNESS -- SPRUNG IN SPACE
THE RE-AWAKENED ENERGIES (Dhyan Chohans): THE ONE FROM THE EGG, THE SIX AND THE
FIVE (a); THEN THE THREE, THE ONE,
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[[Vol.
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THE
FOUR, THE ONE, THE FIVE -- THE TWICE SEVEN, THE SUM TOTAL (b). AND THESE ARE:
THE ESSENCES, THE FLAMES, THE ELEMENTS, THE BUILDERS, THE NUMBERS, THE ARUPA
(formless), THE RUPA (with bodies), AND THE FORCE OR DIVINE MAN -- THE SUM
TOTAL. AND FROM THE DIVINE MAN EMANATED THE FORMS, THE SPARKS, THE SACRED
ANIMALS, AND THE MESSENGERS OF THE SACRED FATHERS (the Pitris) WITHIN THE HOLY
FOUR.*
(a)
This relates to the sacred Science of the Numerals: so sacred, indeed, and so
important in the study of Occultism that the subject can hardly be skimmed,
even in such a large work as the present. It is on the Hierarchies and correct
numbers of these Beings invisible (to us) except upon very rare occasions, that
the mystery of the whole Universe is built. The Kumaras, for instance, are
called the "Four" though in reality seven in number, because Sanaka,
Sananda, Sanatana and Sanat-Kumara are the chief Vaidhatra (their patronymic
name), as they spring from the "four-fold mystery." To make the whole
clearer we have to turn for our illustrations to tenets more familiar to some
of our readers, namely, the Brahminical.
According
to Manu, Hiranyagarbha is Brahma the first male formed by the undiscernible
Causeless CAUSE in a "Golden Egg resplendent as the Sun," as states
the Hindu Classical Dictionary. "Hiranyagarbha" means the golden, or
rather the "Effulgent Womb" or Egg. The meaning tallies awkwardly
with the epithet of "male." Surely the esoteric meaning of the
sentence is clear enough. In the Rig Veda it is said:-- "THAT, the one
Lord of all beings . . . . the one animating principle of gods and man,"
arose, in the beginning, in the Golden Womb, Hiranyagarbha -- which is the
Mundane Egg or sphere of our Universe. That Being is surely androgynous, and
the allegory of Brahma separating into two and recreating in one of his halves
(the female Vach) himself as Viraj, is a proof of it.
"The
One from the Egg, the Six and the Five," give the number 1065, the value
of the first-born (later on the male and female Brahma-Prajapati), who answers
to the numbers 7, and 14, and 21 respectively. The Prajapati are, like the
Sephiroth, only seven, including the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
The 4, represented in the Occult numerals by the Tetraktis, the Sacred or
Perfect Square, is a Sacred Number with the mystics of every nation and race.
It has one and the same significance in Brahmanism, Buddhism, the Kabala and in
the Egyptian, Chaldean and other numerical systems.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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synthetic
Sephira of the triad from which they spring. Thus from Hiranyagarbha or
Prajapati, the triune (primeval Vedic Trimurti, Agni, Vayu, and Surya), emanate
the other seven, or again ten, if we separate the first three which exist in
one, and one in three, all, moreover, being comprehended within that one
"supreme" Parama, called Guhya or " secret," and Sarvatma,
the "Super-Soul." "The seven Lords of Being lie concealed in
Sarvatma like thoughts in one brain." So are the Sephiroth. It is either
seven when counting from the upper Triad headed by Kether, or ten --
exoterically. In the Mahabharata the Prajapati are 21 in number, or ten, six,
and five (1065), thrice seven.*
(b)
"The Three, the One, the Four, the One, the Five" (in their totality
-- twice seven) represent 31415 -- the numerical hierarchy of the Dhyan-Chohans
of various orders, and of the inner or circumscribed world.** When placed on
the boundary of the great circle of "Pass not" (see Stanza V.),
called also the Dhyanipasa, the "rope of the Angels," the
"rope" that hedges off the phenomenal from the noumenal Kosmos, (not
falling within the range of our present objective consciousness); this number,
when not enlarged by permutation and expansion, is ever 31415 anagrammatically
and Kabalistically, being both the number of the circle and the mystic
Svastica, the twice seven once more; for whatever way the two sets of figures
are counted, when added separately, one figure after another, whether
crossways, from right or from left, they will always yield fourteen.
Mathematically they represent the well-known calculation, namely, that the
ratio of the diameter to the circumference of a circle is as 1 to 3.1415, or
the value of the (pi), as this ratio is called -- the symbol being always used
in
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
In the Kabala the same numbers are a value of Jehovah, viz., 1065, since the
numerical values of the three letters which compose his name -- Jod, Vau and
twice He -- are respectively 10 ( [[hebrew]]), 6 ( [[hebrew]]) and 5 (
[[hebrew]]); or again thrice seven, 21. "Ten is the Mother of the Soul,
for Life and Light are therein united," says Hermes. "For number one
is born of the Spirit and the number ten from matter (chaos, feminine); the
unity has made the ten, the ten the unity" (Book of the Keys). By the means
of the Temura, the anagrammatical method of the Kabala, and the knowledge of
1065 (21), a universal science may be obtained regarding Kosmos and its
mysteries" (Rabbi Yogel). The Rabbis regard the numbers 10, 6, and 5 as
the most sacred of all.
**
The reader may be told that an American Kabalist has now discovered the same
number for the Elohim. It came to the Jews from Chaldaea. See "Hebrew
Metrology" in the Masonic Review, July, 1885, McMillan Lodge, No. 141.
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[[Vol.
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mathematical
formulae to express it. This set of figures must have the same meaning, since
the 1 : 314,159, and then again 1 : 3 : 1,415,927 are worked out in the secret
calculations to express the various cycles and ages of the "first
born," or 311,040,000,000,000 with fractions, and yield the same 13,415 by
a process we are not concerned with at present. And it may be shown that Mr.
Ralston Skinner, author of The Source of Measures, reads the Hebrew word Alhim
in the same number values, by omitting, as said, the ciphers and by permutation
-- 13,514: since [[hebrew]] (a) is 1 : [[hebrew]] (l) is 3 (or 30); [[hebrew]]
(h) is 5; [[hebrew]] (i) 1 for 10; and [[hebrew]] (m) is 4 (40), and
anagrammatically -- 31,415 as explained by him.
Thus,
while in the metaphysical world, the circle with the one central Point in it
has no number, and is called Anupadaka (parentless and numberless) -- viz., it
can fall under no calculation, -- in the manifested world the mundane Egg or
Circle is circumscribed within the groups called the Line, the Triangle, the
Pentacle, the second Line and the Cube (or 13514); and when the Point having
generated a Line, thus becomes a diameter which stands for the androgynous
Logos, then the figures become 31415, or a triangle, a line, a cube, the second
line, and a pentacle. "When the Son separates from the Mother he becomes
the Father," the diameter standing for Nature, or the feminine principle.
Therefore it is said: "In the world of being, the one Point fructifies the
Line -- the Virgin Matrix of Kosmos (the egg-shaped zero) -- and the immaculate
Mother gives birth to the form that combines all forms." Prajapati is
called the first procreating male, and "his Mother's husband."* This
gives the key-note to all the later divine sons from immaculate mothers. It is
greatly corroborated by the significant fact that Anna (the name of the Mother
of the Virgin Mary) now represented by the Roman Catholic church as having
given birth to her daughter in an immaculate way ("Mary conceived without
sin"), is derived from the Chaldean Ana, heaven, or Astral Light, Anima
Mundi; whence Anaitia, Devi-durga, the wife of Siva, is also called Annapurna,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
We find the same expression in Egypt. Mout signifies, for one thing,
"Mother," and shows the character assigned to her in the triad of
that country. "She was no less the mother than the wife of Ammon, one of
the principle titles of the god being "the husband of his mother."
The goddess Mout, or Mut, is addressed as "our lady," the "queen
of Heaven" and of "the Earth," thus "sharing these titles
with the other mother goddesses, Isis, Hathor, etc." (Maspero).
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[[Vol.
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and
Kanya, the Virgin; "Uma-Kanya" being her esoteric name, and meaning
the "Virgin of light," Astral Light in one of its multitudinous
aspects.
(c)
The Devas, Pitris, Rishis; the Suras and the Asuras; the Daityas and Adityas;
the Danavas and Gandharvas, etc., etc., have all their synonyms in our Secret
Doctrine, as well as in the Kabala and the Hebrew Angelology; but it is useless
to give their ancient names, as it would only create confusion. Many of these
may be also found now, even in the Christian hierarchy of divine and celestial
powers. All those Thrones and Dominions, Virtues and Principalities, Cherubs,
Seraphs and demons, the various denizens of the Sidereal World, are the modern
copies of archaic prototypes. The very symbolism in their names, when
transliterated and arranged in Greek and Latin, are sufficient to show it, as
will be proved in several cases further on.
The
"Sacred Animals" are found in the Bible as well as in the Kabala, and
they have their meaning (a very profound one, too) on the page of the origins
of Life. In the Sepher Jezirah it is stated that "God engraved in the Holy
Four the throne of his glory, the Ophanim (Wheels or the World-Spheres), the
Seraphim,* the Sacred Animals, and the ministering angels, and from these three
(the Air, Water, and Fire or Ether) he formed his habitation." Thus was
the world made "through three Seraphim -- Sepher, Saphar, and Sipur,"
or "through Number, Numbers, and Numbered." With the astronomical key
these "Sacred Animals" become the signs of the Zodiac.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
This is the literal translation from the IXth and Xth Sections: "Ten numbers
without what? One: the spirit of the living God . . . . who liveth in
eternities! Voice and Spirit and Word, and this is the Holy Spirit. Two: Spirit
out of Spirit. He designed and hewed therewith twenty-two letters of
foundation, three Mothers and seven double and Twelve single, and one spirit
out of them. Three: Water out of spirit; he designed and hewed with them the
barren and the void, mud and earth. He designed them as a flowerbed, hewed them
as a wall, covered them as a paving. Four: Fire out of water. He designed and
hewed therewith the throne of glory and the wheels, and the seraphim and the
holy animals and the ministering angels, and of the three He founded his
dwelling, as it is said, He makes his angels spirits and his servants fiery flames!"
Which words "founded his dwelling" show clearly that in the Kabala,
as in India, the Deity was considered as the Universe, and was not, in his
origin, the extra-cosmic God he is now.
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STANZA
IV. -- Continued.
4.
THIS WAS THE ARMY OF THE VOICE -- THE DIVINE SEPTENARY. THE SPARKS OF THE SEVEN
ARE SUBJECT TO, AND THE SERVANTS OF, THE FIRST, SECOND, THIRD, FOURTH, FIFTH, SIXTH,
AND THE SEVENTH OF THE SEVEN (a). THESE ("sparks") ARE CALLED
SPHERES, TRIANGLES, CUBES, LINES, AND MODELLERS; FOR THUS STANDS THE ETERNAL
NIDANA -- THE OI-HA-HOU (the Permutation of Oeaohoo) (b).*
(a)
This Sloka gives again a brief analysis of the Hierarchies of the Dhyan
Chohans, called Devas (gods) in India, or the conscious intelligent powers in
Nature. To this Hierarchy correspond the actual types into which humanity may
be divided; for humanity, as a whole, is in reality a materialized though as
yet imperfect expression thereof. The "army of the Voice" is a term
closely connected with the mystery of Sound and Speech, as an effect and
corollary of the cause -- Divine Thought. As beautifully expressed by P.
Christian, the learned author of "The History of Magic" and of
"L'Homme Rouge des Tuileries," the word spoken by, as well as the
name of, every individual largely determine his future fate. Why? Because --
--
"When our Soul (mind) creates or evokes a thought, the representative sign
of that thought is self-engraved upon the astral fluid, which is the receptacle
and, so to say, the mirror of all the manifestations of being.
"The
sign expresses the thing: the thing is the (hidden or occult) virtue of the
sign.
"To
pronounce a word is to evoke a thought, and make it present: the magnetic
potency of the human speech is the commencement of every manifestation in the
Occult World. To utter a Name is not only to define a Being (an Entity), but to
place it under and condemn it through the emission of the Word (Verbum), to the
influence of one or more Occult potencies. Things are, for every one of us,
that which it (the Word) makes them while naming them. The Word (Verbum) or the
speech of every man is, quite unconsciously to himself, a BLESSING or a CURSE;
this is why our present ignorance about the properties or attributes of the
IDEA as well as about the attributes and properties of MATTER, is often fatal
to us.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
The literal signification of the word is, among the Eastern Occultists of the
North, a circular wind, whirlwind; but in this instance, it is a term to denote
the ceaseless and eternal Cosmic Motion; or rather the Force that moves it,
which Force is tacitly accepted as the Deity but never named. It is the eternal
Karana, the ever-acting Cause.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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"Yes,
names (and words) are either BENEFICENT or MALEFICENT; they are, in a certain
sense, either venomous or health-giving, according to the hidden influences
attached by Supreme Wisdom to their elements, that is to say, to the LETTERS
which compose them, and the NUMBERS correlative to these letters."
This
is strictly true as an esoteric teaching accepted by all the Eastern Schools of
Occultism. In the Sanskrit, as also in the Hebrew and all other alphabets,
every letter has its occult meaning and its rationale; it is a cause and an
effect of a preceding cause and a combination of these very often produces the
most magical effect. The vowels, especially, contain the most occult and
formidable potencies. The Mantras (esoterically, magical rather than religious)
are chanted by the Brahmins and so are the Vedas and other Scriptures.
The
"Army of the Voice," is the prototype of the "Host of the
Logos," or the "WORD" of the Sepher Jezirah, called in the
Secret Doctrine "the One Number issued from No-Number" -- the One
Eternal Principle. The esoteric theogony begins with the One, manifested,
therefore not eternal in its presence and being, if eternal in its essence; the
number of the numbers and numbered -- the latter proceeding from the Voice, the
feminine Vach, Satarupa "of the hundred forms," or Nature. It is from
this number 10, or creative nature, the Mother (the occult cypher, or
"nought," ever procreating and multiplying in union with the Unit
"I," one, or the Spirit of Life), that the whole Universe proceeded.
In
the Anugita a conversation is given (ch. vi., 15) between a Brahmana and his
wife, on the origin of Speech and its occult properties.* The wife asks how
Speech came into existence, and which was prior to the other, Speech or Mind.
The Brahmana tells her that the Apana (inspirational breath) becoming lord,
changes that intelligence, which does not understand Speech or Words, into the
state of Apana, and thus opens the mind. Thereupon he tells her a story, a
dialogue between Speech and Mind. "Both went to the Self of Being (i.e.,
to the individual Higher Self, as Nilakantha thinks, to Prajapati, according to
the commentator Arjuna Misra), and asked him to destroy their doubts and decide
which of them preceded and was superior to the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Anugita forms part of the Asvamedha Parvan of the "Mahabharata." The
translator of the Bhagavatgita, edited by Max Muller, regards it as a
continuation of the Bhagavatgita. Its original is one of the oldest Upanishads.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 95 SPEECH AND MIND.
other.
To this the lord said: 'Mind is Superior.' But Speech answered the Self of
Being, by saying: 'I verily yield (you) your desires,' meaning that by speech
he acquired what he desired. Thereupon again, the Self told her that there are
two minds, the 'movable' and the 'immovable.' 'The immovable is with me,' he
said, 'the movable is in your dominion' (i.e. of Speech) on the plane of
matter. To that you are superior. But inasmuch, O beautiful one, as you came
personally to speak to me (in the way you did, i.e. proudly), therefore, O,
Sarasvati! you shall never speak after (hard) exhalation." "The
goddess Speech" (Sarasvati, a later form or aspect of Vach, the goddess
also of secret learning or Esoteric Wisdom), "verily, dwelt always between
the Prana and the Apana. But O noble one! going with the Apana wind (vital
air), though impelled, without the Prana (expirational breath), she ran up to
Prajapati (Brahma), saying, 'Be pleased, O venerable sir!' Then the Prana
appeared again, nourishing Speech. And, therefore, Speech never speaks after
(hard or inspirational) exhalation. It is always noisy or noiseless. Of these
two, the noiseless is the superior to the noisy (Speech). . . . . The (speech)
which is produced in the body by means of the Prana, and which then goes (is
transformed) into Apana, and then becoming assimilated with the Udana (physical
organs of Speech) . . . then finally dwells in the Samana ('at the navel in the
form of sound, as the material cause of all words,' says Arjuna Misra). So
Speech formerly spoke. Hence the mind is distinguished by reason of its being
immovable, and the Goddess (Speech) by reason of her being movable."
This
allegory is at the root of the Occult law, which prescribes silence upon the
knowledge of certain secret and invisible things perceptible only to the
spiritual mind (the 6th sense), and which cannot be expressed by
"noisy" or uttered speech. This chapter of Anugita explains, says Arjuna
Misra, Pranayama, or regulation of the breath in Yoga practices. This mode,
however, without the previous acquisition of, or at least full understanding of
the two higher senses, of which there are seven, as will be shown, pertains
rather to the lower Yoga. The Hatha so called was and still is discountenanced
by the Arhats. It is injurious to the health and alone can never develop into
Raj Yoga. This story is quoted to show how inseparably connected are, in the
metaphysics of old, intelligent beings, or rather "Intelligences,"
with every sense or
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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function
whether physical or mental. The Occult claim that there are seven senses in
man, as in nature, as there are seven states of consciousness, is corroborated
in the same work, chapter vii., on Pratyahara (the restraint and regulation of
the senses, Pranayama being that of the "vital winds" or breath). The
Brahmana speaks in it "of the institution of the seven sacrificial Priests
(Hotris). He says: "The nose and the eyes, and the tongue, and the skin
and the ear as the fifth (or smell, sight, taste, touch and hearing), mind and
understanding are the seven sacrificial priests separately stationed"; and
which "dwelling in a minute space (still) do not perceive each other"
on this sensuous plane, none of them except mind. For mind says: "The nose
smells not without me, the eye does not take in colour, etc., etc. I am the
eternal chief among all elements (i.e., senses). Without me, the senses never
shine, like an empty dwelling, or like fires the flames of which are extinct.
Without me, all beings, like fuel half dried and half moist, fail to apprehend
qualities or objects even with the senses exerting themselves."*
This,
of course, with regard only to mind on the sensuous plane. Spiritual mind (the
upper portion or aspect of the impersonal MANAS) takes no cognisance of the
senses in physical man. How well the ancients were acquainted with the
correlation of forces and all the recently discovered phenomena of mental and
physical faculties and functions, with many more mysteries also -- may be found
in reading chapters vii. and viii. of this (in philosophy and mystic learning)
priceless work. See the quarrel of the senses about their respective
superiority and their taking the Brahman, the lord of all creatures, for their
arbiter. "You are all greatest and not greatest," or superior to
objects, as A. Misra says, none being independent of the other. "You are
all possessed of one another's qualities. All are greatest in their own spheres
and all support one another. There is one unmoving (life-wind or breath, the
'Yoga inhalation,' so called, which is the breath of the One or Higher SELF).
That is the (or my) own Self, accumulated in numerous (forms)."
This
Breath, Voice, Self or "Wind" (pneuma?) is the Synthesis of the Seven
Senses, noumenally all minor deities and esoterically -- the septenary and the
"Army of the VOICE."
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
This shows the modern metaphysicians, added to all past and present Haegels,
Berkeleys, Schopenhauers, Hartmanns, Herbert Spencers, and even the modern
Hylo-Idealists to boot, no better than the pale copyists of hoary antiquity.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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(b)
Next we see Cosmic matter scattering and forming itself into elements; grouped
into the mystic four within the fifth element -- Ether, the lining of Akasa,
the Anima Mundi or Mother of Kosmos. "Dots, Lines, Triangles, Cubes,
Circles" and finally "Spheres" -- why or how? Because, says the
Commentary, such is the first law of Nature, and because Nature geometrizes
universally in all her manifestations. There is an inherent law -- not only in
the primordial, but also in the manifested matter of our phenomenal plane -- by
which Nature correlates her geometrical forms, and later, also, her compound
elements; and in which there is no place for accident or chance. It is a
fundamental law in Occultism, that there is no rest or cessation of motion in
Nature.* That which seems rest is only the change of one form into another; the
change of substance going hand in hand with that of form -- as we are taught in
Occult physics, which thus seem to have anticipated the discovery of the
"Conservation of matter" by a considerable time. Says the ancient
Commentary** to Stanza IV.:--
"The
Mother is the fiery Fish of Life. She scatters her spawn and the Breath
(Motion) heats and quickens it. The grains (of spawn) are soon attracted to
each other and form the curds in the Ocean (of Space). The larger lumps
coalesce and receive new spawn -- in fiery dots, triangles and cubes, which
ripen, and at the appointed time some of the lumps detach themselves and assume
spheroidal form, a process which they effect only when not interfered with by
the others. After which, law No. * * * comes into operation. Motion (the
Breath) becomes the whirlwind and sets them into rotation."***
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
It is the knowledge of this law that permits and helps the Arhat to perform his
Siddhis, or various phenomena, such as disintegration of matter, the transport
of objects from one place to another.
**
These are ancient Commentaries attached with modern Glossaries to the Stanzas,
as the Commentaries in their symbolical language are usually as difficult to
understand as the Stanzas themselves.
***
In a polemical scientific work, "The Modern Genesis," the author, the
Rev. W. B. Slaughter, criticising the position assumed by the astronomers,
asks:-- "It is to be regretted that the advocates of this (nebular) theory
have not entered more largely into the discussion of it (the beginning of
rotation). No one condescends to give us the rationale of it. How does the
process of cooling and contracting the mass impart to it a rotatory
motion?" The question is amply treated in the Addendum. It is not
materialistic science that can ever solve it. "Motion is eternal in the
unmanifested, and periodical in the manifest," says an Occult teaching. It
is "when heat caused [[Footnote continued on next page]]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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STANZA
IV. -- Continued.
5.
. . . . . WHICH IS:----
"DARKNESS,"
THE BOUNDLESS OR THE NO-NUMBER, ADI-NIDANA SVABHAVAT: THE [[diagram]] (for x,
unknown quantity):
I.
THE ADI-SANAT, THE NUMBER, FOR HE IS ONE (a).
II.
THE VOICE OF THE WORD, SVABHAVAT, THE NUMBERS, FOR HE IS ONE AND NINE.*
III.
THE "FORMLESS SQUARE." (Arupa.) (b).
AND
THESE THREE ENCLOSED WITHIN THE [[diagram]] (boundless circle), ARE THE SACRED
FOUR, AND THE TEN ARE THE ARUPA (subjective, formless) UNIVERSE (c); THEN COME
THE "SONS," THE SEVEN FIGHTERS, THE ONE, THE EIGHTH LEFT OUT, AND HIS
BREATH WHICH IS THE LIGHT-MAKER (Bhaskara) (d).
(a)
"Adi-Sanat," translated literally is the First or "primeval"
ancient, which name identifies the Kabalistic "Ancient of Days" and
the "Holy Aged" (Sephira and Adam Kadmon) with Brahma the Creator,
called also Sanat among his other names and titles.
Svabhavat
is the mystic Essence, the plastic root of physical Nature --
"Numbers" when manifested; the Number, in its Unity of Substance, on
the highest plane. The name is of Buddhist use and a Synonym for the four-fold
Anima Mundi, the Kabalistic "Archetypal World," from whence proceed
the "Creative, Formative, and the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] by the descent of FLAME into primordial matter
causes its particles to move, which motion becomes Whirlwind." A drop of
liquid assumes a spheroidal form owing to its atoms moving around themselves in
their ultimate, unresolvable, and noumenal essence; unresolvable for physical
science, at any rate.
*
Which makes ten, or the perfect number applied to the "Creator," the
name given to the totality of the Creators blended by the Monotheists into One,
as the "Elohim," Adam Kadmon or Sephira -- the Crown -- are the
androgyne synthesis of the 10 Sephiroth, who stand for the symbol of the
manifested Universe in the popularised Kabala. The esoteric Kabalists, however,
following the Eastern Occultists, divide the upper Sephirothal triangle from
the rest (or Sephira, Chochmah and Binah), which leaves seven Sephiroth. As for
Svabhavat, the Orientalists explain the term as meaning the Universal plastic
matter diffused through Space, with, perhaps, half an eye to the Ether of
Science. But the Occultists identify it with "FATHER-MOTHER" on the
mystic plane. (Vide supra.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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Material
Worlds"; the Scintillae or Sparks, -- the various other worlds contained
in the last three. The Worlds are all subject to Rulers or Regents -- Rishis
and Pitris with the Hindus, Angels with the Jews and Christians, Gods, with the
Ancients in general.
(b)
[[diagram]] This means that the "Boundless Circle" (Zero) becomes a
figure or number, only when one of the nine figures precedes it, and thus
manifests its value and potency, the Word or Logos in union with VOICE and
Spirit* (the expression and source of Consciousness) standing for the nine
figures and thus forming, with the Cypher, the Decade which contains in itself
all the Universe. The triad forms within the circle the Tetraktis or Sacred
Four, the Square within the Circle being the most potent of all the magical
figures.
(c)
The "One Rejected" is the Sun of our system. The exoteric version may
be found in the oldest Sanskrit Scriptures. In the Rig Veda, Aditi, "The Boundless"
or infinite Space, translated by Mr. Max Muller, "the visible infinite,
visible by the naked eye (!!); the endless expanse beyond the Earth, beyond the
clouds, beyond the sky," is the equivalent of "Mother-Space"
coeval with "Darkness." She is very properly called "The Mother
of the Gods," DEVA-MATRI, as it is from her Cosmic matrix that all the
heavenly bodies of our system were born -- Sun and Planets. Thus she is
described, allegorically, in this wise: "Eight Sons were born from the
body of Aditi; she approached the gods with seven, but cast away the eighth,
Martanda," our sun. The seven sons called the Aditya are, cosmically or
astronomically, the seven planets; and the Sun being excluded from their number
shows plainly that the Hindus may have known, and in fact knew of a seventh
planet, without calling it Uranus.** But esoterically and theologically,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"In union with the Spirit and the Voice," referring to the Abstract
Thought and concrete Voice, or the manifestation thereof, the effect of the
Cause. Adam Kadmon or Tetragrammaton is the Logos in the Kabala; therefore this
triad answers in the latter to the highest triangle of Kether, Chochmah and
Binah, the last a female potency and at the same time the male Jehovah, as
partaking of the nature of Chochmah, or the male Wisdom.
**
The Secret Doctrine teaches that the Sun is a central Star and not a planet.
Yet the Ancients knew of and worshipped seven great gods, excluding the Sun and
Earth. Which was that "Mystery God" they set apart? Of course not
Uranus, discovered only by Herschel in 1781. But could it not be known by
another name? Says the [[Footnote continued on next page]]
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[[Vol.
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so
to say, the Adityas are, in their primitive most ancient meanings, the eight,
and the twelve great gods of the Hindu Pantheon. "The Seven allow the
mortals to see their dwellings, but show themselves only to the Arhats,"
says an old proverb, "their dwellings" standing here for planets. The
ancient Commentary gives an allegory and explains it:--
"Eight
houses were built by Mother. Eight houses for her Eight Divine sons; four large
and four small ones. Eight brilliant suns, according to their age and merits.
Bal-ilu (Martanda) was not satisfied, though his house was the largest. He
began (to work) as the huge elephants do. He breathed (drew in) into his
stomach the vital airs of his brothers. He sought to devour them. The larger
four were far away; far, on the margin of their kingdom.* They were not robbed
(affected), and laughed. Do your worst, Sir, you cannot reach us, they said.
But the smaller wept. They complained to the Mother. She exiled Bal-i-lu to the
centre of her Kingdom, from whence he could not move. (Since then) he (only)
watches and threatens. He pursues them, turning slowly around himself, they
turning swiftly from him, and he following from afar the direction in which his
brothers move on the path that encircles their houses.** From that day he feeds
on the sweat of the Mother's body. He fills himself with her breath and refuse.
Therefore, she rejected him."
Thus
the "rejected Son" being our Sun, evidently, as shown above, the
"Sun-Sons" refer not only to our planets but to the heavenly bodies
in general. Himself only a reflection of the Central Spiritual Sun, Surya is
the prototype of all those bodies that evolved after him. In the Vedas he is
called Loka-Chakshuh, "the Eye of the World" (our
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] author of "Maconnerie Occulte":--
"Occult Sciences having discovered through astronomical calculations that
the number of the planets must be seven, the ancients were led to introduce the
Sun into the scale of the celestial harmonies, and make him occupy the vacant
place. Thus, every time they perceived an influence that pertained to none of
the six planets known, they attributed it to the Sun. The error only seems
important, but was not so in practical results, if the ancient astrologers
replaced Uranus by the Sun, which is a central Star relatively motionless,
turning only on its axis and regulating time and measure; and which cannot be
turned aside from its true functions." . . . . . . The nomenclature of the
days of the week is thus faulty. "The Sun-Day ought to be Uranus-day
(Urani dies, Urandi)," adds the learned writer, Ragon.
*
Planetary System.
**
"The Sun rotates on his axis always in the same direction in which the
planets revolve in their respective orbits," astronomy teaches us.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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planetary
world), and he is one of the three chief deities. He is called indifferently
the Son of Dyaus and of Aditi, because no distinction is made with reference
to, or scope allowed for, the esoteric meaning. Thus he is depicted as drawn by
seven horses, and by one horse with seven heads; the former referring to his
seven planets, the latter to their one common origin from the One Cosmic
Element. This "One Element" is called figuratively "FIRE."
The Vedas (Aitareya-Brahmana of Haug also; p. i) teach "that the fire verily
is all the deities." (Narada in Anugita).
The
meaning of the allegory is plain, for we have both the Dzyan Commentary and
modern science to explain it, though the two differ in more than one
particular. The Occult Doctrine rejects the hypothesis born out of the Nebular
Theory, that the (seven) great planets have evolved from the Sun's central
mass, not of this our visible Sun, at any rate. The first condensation of
Cosmic matter of course took place about a central nucleus, its parent Sun; but
our sun, it is taught, merely detached itself earlier than all the others, as
the rotating mass contracted, and is their elder, bigger brother therefore, not
their father. The eight Adityas, "the gods," are all formed from the
eternal substance (Cometary matter* -- the Mother) or the "World-Stuff
" which is both the fifth and the sixth COSMIC Principle, the Upadhi or
basis of the Universal Soul, just as in man, the Microcosm, Manas** is the
Upadhi of Buddhi.***
(d)
There is a whole poem on the pregenetic battles fought by the growing planets
before the final formation of Kosmos, thus accounting for the seemingly
disturbed position of the systems of several planets, the plane of the
satellites of some (of Neptune and Uranus, for instance, of which the ancients
knew nothing, it is said) being tilted over, thus giving them an appearance of
retrograde motion. These planets are called the warriors, the Architects, and
are accepted by the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
This Essence of Cometary matter, Occult Science teaches, is totally different
from any of the chemical or physical characteristics with which modern science
is acquainted. It is homogeneous in its primitive form beyond the Solar
Systems, and differentiates entirely once it crosses the boundaries of our
Earth's region, vitiated by the atmospheres of the planets and the already
compound matter of the interplanetary stuff, heterogeneous only in our
manifested world.
**
Manas -- the Mind-Principle, or the human Soul.
***
Buddhi -- the divine Soul.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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Roman
Church as the leaders of the heavenly Hosts, thus showing the same traditions. Having
evolved from Cosmic Space, and before the final formation of the primaries and
the annulation of the planetary nebula, the Sun, we are taught, drew into the
depths of its mass all the Cosmic vitality he could, threatening to engulf his
weaker "brothers" before the law of attraction and repulsion was
finally adjusted; after which he began feeding on "The Mother's refuse and
sweat"; in other words, on those portions of Ether (the "breath of
the Universal Soul") of the existence and constitution of which science is
as yet absolutely ignorant. A theory of this kind having been propounded by Sir
William Grove (see "Correlation of the Physical Forces," 1843, p. 81;
and "Address to the British Association, 1866"), who theorized that
the systems "are gradually changing by atmospheric additions or
subtractions, or by accretions and diminutions arising from nebular
substances" . . . and again that "the Sun may condense gaseous matter
as it travels in Space and so heat may be produced" -- the archaic
teaching seems scientific enough, even in this age.* Mr. W. Mattieu Williams
suggested that the diffused matter or Ether which is the recipient of the heat
radiations of the Universe is thereby drawn into the depths of the solar mass.
Expelling thence the previously condensed and thermally exhausted Ether, it
becomes compressed and gives up its heat, to be in turn itself driven out in a
rarified and cooled state, to absorb a fresh supply of heat, which he supposes
to be in this way taken up by the Ether, and again concentrated and
redistributed by the Suns of the Universe.**
This
is about as close an approximation to the Occult teachings as Science ever
imagined; for Occultism explains it by "the dead breath" given back
by Martanda and his feeding on the "sweat and refuse" of "Mother
Space." What could affect Neptune,*** Saturn and Jupiter,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Very similar ideas in Mr. W. Mattieu Williams' "The Fuel of the Sun;"
in Dr. C. William Siemens' "On the Conservation of Solar Energy"
(Nature, XXV., p. 440-444, March 9, 1882); and also in Dr. P. Martin Duncan's
"Address of the President of the Geological Society," London, May,
1877.
**
See "Comparative Geology," by Alexander Winchell, LL.D., p. 56.
***
When we speak of Neptune it is not as an Occultist but as a European. The true
Eastern Occultist will maintain that, whereas there are many yet undiscovered
planets in our system, Neptune does not belong to it, his apparent connection
with our sun and the influence of the latter upon Neptune notwithstanding. This
connection is mayavic, imaginary, they say.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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but
little, would have killed such comparatively small "Houses" as
Mercury, Venus and Mars. As Uranus was not known before the end of the
eighteenth century, the name of the fourth planet mentioned in the allegory
must remain to us, so far, a mystery.
The
"Breath" of all the "seven" is said to be Bhaskara
(light-making), because they (the planets) were all comets and suns in their
origin. They evolve into Manvantaric life from primaeval Chaos (now the
noumenon of irresolvable nebulae) by aggregation and accumulation of the
primary differentiations of the eternal matter, according to the beautiful
expression in the Commentary, "Thus the Sons of Light clothed themselves
in the fabric of Darkness." They are called allegorically "the
Heavenly Snails," on account of their (to us) formless INTELLIGENCES
inhabiting unseen their starry and planetary homes, and, so to speak, carrying
them as the snails do along with themselves in their revolution. The doctrine
of a common origin for all the heavenly bodies and planets, was, as we see,
inculcated by the Archaic astronomers, before Kepler, Newton, Leibnitz, Kant,
Herschel and Laplace. Heat (the Breath), attraction and repulsion -- the three
great factors of Motion -- are the conditions under which all the members of
all this primitive family are born, developed, and die, to be reborn after a
"Night of Brahma," during which eternal matter relapses periodically
into its primary undifferentiated state. The most attenuated gases can give no
idea of its nature to the modern physicist. Centres of Forces at first, the
invisible sparks of primordial atoms differentiate into molecules, and become
Suns -- passing gradually into objectivity gaseous, radiant, cosmic, the one
"Whirlwind" (or motion) finally giving the impulse to the form, and
the initial motion, regulated and sustained by the never-resting Breaths -- the
Dhyan Chohans.
-------
STANZA
IV. -- Continued.
6.
. . . . THEN THE SECOND SEVEN, WHO ARE THE LIPIKA, PRODUCED BY THE THREE (Word,
Voice, and Spirit). THE REJECTED SON IS ONE, THE "SON-SUNS" ARE
COUNTLESS.
The
Lipi-ka, from the word lipi, "writing," means literally the
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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"Scribes."*
Mystically, these Divine Beings are connected with Karma, the Law of
Retribution, for they are the Recorders or Annalists who impress on the (to us)
invisible tablets of the Astral Light, "the great picture-gallery of
eternity" -- a faithful record of every act, and even thought, of man, of
all that was, is, or ever will be, in the phenomenal Universe. As said in
"Isis," this divine and unseen canvas is the BOOK OF LIFE. As it is
the Lipika who project into objectivity from the passive Universal Mind the ideal
plan of the universe, upon which the "Builders" reconstruct the
Kosmos after every Pralaya, it is they who stand parallel to the Seven Angels
of the Presence, whom the Christians recognise in the Seven "Planetary
Spirits" or the "Spirits of the Stars;" for thus it is they who
are the direct amanuenses of the Eternal Ideation -- or, as called by Plato,
the "Divine Thought." The Eternal Record is no fantastic dream, for
we meet with the same records in the world of gross matter. "A shadow
never falls upon a wall without leaving thereupon a permanent trace which might
be made visible by resorting to proper processes," says Dr. Draper. . . .
"The portraits of our friends or landscape-views may be hidden on the
sensitive surface from the eye, but they are ready to make their appearance as
soon as proper developers are resorted to. A spectre is concealed on a silver
or a glassy surface, until, by our necromancy, we make it come forth into the
visible world. Upon the walls of our most private apartments, where we think
the eye of intrusion is altogether shut out, and our retirement can never be
profaned, there exist the vestiges of all our acts, silhouettes of whatever we
have done."** Drs. Jevons and Babbage believe that every thought,
displacing the particles of the brain and setting them in motion, scatters them
throughout the Universe, and they think that "each particle of the
existing matter must be a register of all that has happened." (Principles
of Science, Vol. II. p. 455.) Thus the ancient doctrine has begun to acquire
rights of citizenship in the speculations of the scientific world.
The
forty "Assessors" who stand in the region of Amenti as the accusers
of the Soul before Osiris, belong to the same class of deities as the Lipika,
and might stand paralleled, were not the Egyptian gods so
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
These are the four "Immortals" which are mentioned in Atharva Veda as
the "Watchers" or Guardians of the four quarters of the sky (see ch.
lxxvi., 1-4, et seq.).
**
"Conflict between Religion and Science." -- Draper, pp. 132 and 133.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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little
understood in their esoteric meaning. The Hindu Chitra-Gupta who reads out the
account of every Soul's life from his register, called Agra-Sandhani; the
"Assessors" who read theirs from the heart of the defunct, which
becomes an open book before (whether) Yama, Minos, Osiris, or Karma -- are all
so many copies of, and variants from the Lipika, and their Astral Records.
Nevertheless, the Lipi-ka are not deities connected with Death, but with Life
Eternal.
Connected
as the Lipika are with the destiny of every man and the birth of every child,
whose life is already traced in the Astral Light not fatalistically, but only
because the future, like the PAST, is ever alive in the PRESENT -- they may
also be said to exercise an influence on the Science of Horoscopy. We must
admit the truth of the latter whether we will or not. For, as observed by one
of the modern adepts of Astrology, "Now that photography has revealed to
us the chemical influence of the Sidereal system, by fixing on the sensitized
plate of the apparatus milliards of stars and planets that had hitherto baffled
the efforts of the most powerful telescopes to discover them, it becomes easier
to understand how our solar system can, at the birth of a child, influence his
brain -- virgin of any impression -- in a definite manner and according to the presence
on the zenith of such or another zodiacal constellation."**
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
**
Les Mysteres de l'Horoscope, p. XI.
---------------------
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[[Vol.
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STANZA
V.
1.
THE PRIMORDIAL SEVEN, THE FIRST SEVEN BREATHS OF THE DRAGON OF WISDOM, PRODUCE
IN THEIR TURN FROM THEIR HOLY CIRCUMGYRATING BREATHS THE FIERY WHIRLWIND (a).
COMMENTARY.
(a)
This is, perhaps, the most difficult of all the Stanzas to explain. Its
language is comprehensible only to him who is thoroughly versed in Eastern
allegory and its purposely obscure phraseology. The question will surely be
asked, "Do the Occultists believe in all these 'Builders,' 'Lipika,' and
'Sons of Light' as Entities, or are they merely imageries?" To this the
answer is given as plainly: "After due allowance for the imagery of
personified Powers, we must admit the existence of these Entities, if we would
not reject the existence of spiritual humanity within physical mankind. For the
hosts of these Sons of Light and 'Mind-born Sons' of the first manifested Ray
of the UNKNOWN ALL, are the very root of spiritual man." Unless we want to
believe the unphilosophical dogma of a specially created soul for every human
birth -- a fresh supply of these pouring in daily, since "Adam" -- we
have to admit the occult teachings. This will be explained in its place. Let us
see, now, what may be the occult meaning of this Stanza.
The
Doctrine teaches that, in order to become a divine, fully conscious god, --
aye, even the highest -- the Spiritual primeval INTELLIGENCES must pass through
the human stage. And when we say human, this does not apply merely to our
terrestrial humanity, but to the mortals that inhabit any world, i.e., to those
Intelligences that have reached the appropriate equilibrium between matter and
spirit, as we have now, since the middle point of the Fourth Root Race of the
Fourth Round was passed. Each Entity must have won for itself the right of
becoming divine, through self-experience. Hegel, the great German thinker, must
have known or sensed intuitionally this truth when saying, as he did, that the
Unconscious evolved the Universe only "in the hope of attaining clear
self-consciousness," of becoming, in other words, MAN; for this is also
the secret meaning of the usual Puranic phrase about
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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Brahma
being constantly "moved by the desire to create." This explains also
the hidden Kabalistic meaning of the saying: "The Breath becomes a stone;
the stone, a plant; the plant, an animal; the animal, a man; the man, a spirit;
and the spirit, a god." The Mind-born Sons, the Rishis, the Builders,
etc., were all men -- of whatever forms and shapes -- in other worlds and the
preceding Manvantaras.
This
subject, being so very mystical, is therefore the most difficult to explain in
all its details and bearings; since the whole mystery of evolutionary creation
is contained in it. A sentence or two in it vividly recalls to mind similar
ones in the Kabala and the phraseology of the King Psalmist (civ.), as both,
when speaking of God, show him making the wind his messenger and his
"ministers a flaming fire." But in the Esoteric doctrine it is used
figuratively. The "fiery Wind" is the incandescent Cosmic dust which
only follows magnetically, as the iron filings follow the magnet, the directing
thought of the "Creative Forces." Yet, this cosmic dust is something
more; for every atom in the Universe has the potentiality of self-consciousness
in it, and is, like the Monads of Leibnitz, a Universe in itself, and for
itself. It is an atom and an angel.
In
this connection it should be noted that one of the luminaries of the modern
Evolutionist School, Mr. A. R. Wallace, when discussing the inadequacy of
"natural selection" as the sole factor in the development of physical
man, practically concedes the whole point here discussed. He holds that the
evolution of man was directed and furthered by superior Intelligences, whose
agency is a necessary factor in the scheme of Nature. But once the operation of
these Intelligences is admitted in one place, it is only a logical deduction to
extend it still further. No hard and fast line can be drawn.
-------
STANZA
V. -- Continued.
2.
THEY MAKE OF HIM THE MESSENGER OF THEIR WILL (a). THE DZYU BECOMES FOHAT; THE
SWIFT SON OF THE DIVINE SONS, WHOSE SONS ARE THE LIPIKA,* RUNS CIRCULAR
ERRANDS. HE IS THE STEED, AND
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
The difference between the "Builders," the Planetary Spirits, and the
Lipika must not be lost sight of. (See Nos. 5 and 6 of this Commentary.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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THE
THOUGHT IS THE RIDER (i.e., he is under the influence of their guiding
thought). HE PASSES LIKE LIGHTNING THROUGH THE FIERY CLOUDS (cosmic mists) (b);
TAKES THREE, AND FIVE, AND SEVEN STRIDES THROUGH THE SEVEN REGIONS ABOVE AND
THE SEVEN BELOW (the world to be). HE LIFTS HIS VOICE, AND CALLS THE
INNUMERABLE SPARKS (atoms) AND JOINS THEM TOGETHER (c).
(a)
This shows the "Primordial Seven" using for their Vahan (vehicle, or
the manifested subject which becomes the symbol of the Power directing it),
Fohat, called in consequence, the "Messenger of their will" -- the
fiery whirlwind.
"Dzyu
becomes Fohat" -- the expression itself shows it. Dzyu is the one real
(magical) knowledge, or Occult Wisdom; which, dealing with eternal truths and
primal causes, becomes almost omnipotence when applied in the right direction.
Its antithesis is Dzyu-mi, that which deals with illusions and false
appearances only, as in our exoteric modern sciences. In this case, Dzyu is the
expression of the collective Wisdom of the Dhyani-Buddhas.
(b)
As the reader is supposed not to be acquainted with the Dhyani-Buddhas, it is
as well to say at once that, according to the Orientalists, there are five
Dhyanis who are the "celestial" Buddhas, of whom the human Buddhas
are the manifestations in the world of form and matter. Esoterically, however,
the Dhyani-Buddhas are seven, of whom five only have hitherto manifested,* and
two are to come in the sixth and seventh Root-races. They are, so to speak, the
eternal prototypes of the Buddhas who appear on this earth, each of whom has
his particular divine prototype. So, for instance, Amitabha is the
Dhyani-Buddha of Gautama Sakyamuni, manifesting through him whenever this great
Soul incarnates on earth as He did in Tzon-kha-pa.** As the synthesis of the
seven Dhyani-Buddhas, Avalokiteswara was the first Buddha (the Logos), so
Amitabha is the inner "God" of Gautama, who, in China, is called
Amita(-Buddha). They are, as Mr. Rhys Davids
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
See A. P. Sinnett's "Esoteric Buddhism," 5th annotated edition, pp.
171-173.
**
The first and greatest Reformer who founded the "Yellow-Caps,"
Gyalugpas. He was born in the year 1355 A.D. in Amdo, and was the Avatar of
Amitabha, the celestial name of Gautama Buddha.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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correctly
states, "the glorious counterparts in the mystic world, free from the
debasing conditions of this material life" of every earthly mortal Buddha
-- the liberated Manushi-Buddhas appointed to govern the Earth in this Round.
They are the "Buddhas of Contemplation," and are all Anupadaka
(parentless), i.e., self-born of divine essence. The exoteric teaching which
says that every Dhyani-Buddha has the faculty of creating from himself, an
equally celestial son -- a Dhyani-Bodhisattva -- who, after the decease of the
Manushi (human) Buddha, has to carry out the work of the latter, rests on the
fact that owing to the highest initiation performed by one overshadowed by the
"Spirit of Buddha" -- (who is credited by the Orientalists with
having created the five Dhyani-Buddhas!), -- a candidate becomes virtually a
Bodhisattva, created such by the High Initiator.
(c)
Fohat, being one of the most, if not the most important character in esoteric
Cosmogony, should be minutely described. As in the oldest Grecian Cosmogony,
differing widely from the later mythology, Eros is the third person in the
primeval trinity: Chaos, Gaea, Eros: answering to the Kabalistic En-Soph (for
Chaos is SPACE, [[chaino]], "void") the Boundless ALL, Shekinah and
the Ancient of Days, or the Holy Ghost; so Fohat is one thing in the yet
unmanifested Universe and another in the phenomenal and Cosmic World. In the
latter, he is that Occult, electric, vital power, which, under the Will of the
Creative Logos, unites and brings together all forms, giving them the first
impulse which becomes in time law. But in the unmanifested Universe, Fohat is
no more this, than Eros is the later brilliant winged Cupid, or LOVE. Fohat has
naught to do with Kosmos yet, since Kosmos is not born, and the gods still sleep
in the bosom of "Father-Mother." He is an abstract philosophical
idea. He produces nothing yet by himself; he is simply that potential creative
power in virtue of whose action the NOUMENON of all future phenomena divides,
so to speak, but to reunite in a mystic supersensuous act, and emit the
creative ray. When the "Divine Son" breaks forth, then Fohat becomes
the propelling force, the active Power which causes the ONE to become TWO and
THREE -- on the Cosmic plane of manifestation. The triple One differentiates
into the many, and then Fohat is transformed into that force which brings
together the elemental atoms and makes them aggregate and combine. We find an
echo of this primeval teaching
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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in
early Greek mythology. Erebos and Nux are born out of Chaos, and, under the
action of Eros, give birth in their turn to Ether and Hemera, the light of the
superior and the light of the inferior or terrestrial regions. Darkness
generates light. See in the Puranas Brahma's "Will" or desire to
create; and in the Phoenician Cosmogony of Sanchoniathon the doctrine that
Desire, [[pothos]], is the principle of creation.
Fohat
is closely related to the "ONE LIFE." From the Unknown One, the
Infinite TOTALITY, the manifested ONE, or the periodical, Manvantaric Deity,
emanates; and this is the Universal Mind, which, separated from its
Fountain-Source, is the Demiurgos or the creative Logos of the Western Kabalists,
and the four-faced Brahma of the Hindu religion. In its totality, viewed from
the standpoint of manifested Divine Thought in the esoteric doctrine, it
represents the Hosts of the higher creative Dhyan Chohans. Simultaneously with
the evolution of the Universal Mind, the concealed Wisdom of Adi-Buddha -- the
One Supreme and eternal -- manifests itself as Avalokiteshwara (or manifested
Iswara), which is the Osiris of the Egyptians, the Ahura-Mazda of the
Zoroastrians, the Heavenly Man of the Hermetic philosopher, the Logos of the
Platonists, and the Atman of the Vedantins.* By the action of the manifested
Wisdom, or Mahat, represented by these innumerable centres of spiritual Energy
in the Kosmos, the reflection of the Universal Mind, which is Cosmic Ideation
and the intellectual Force accompanying such ideation, becomes objectively the
Fohat of the Buddhist esoteric philosopher. Fohat, running along the seven
principles of AKASA, acts upon manifested substance or the One Element, as
declared above, and by differentiating it into various centres of Energy, sets
in motion the law of Cosmic Evolution, which, in obedience to the Ideation of
the Universal Mind, brings into existence all the various states of being in
the manifested Solar System.
The
Solar System, brought into existence by these agencies, consists of Seven
Principles, like everything else within these centres. Such is the teaching of
the trans-Himalayan Esotericism. Every philosophy, however, has its own way of
dividing these principles.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Mr. Subba Row seems to identify him with, and to call him, the LOGOS. (See his
four lectures on the "Bhagavadgita" in the Theosophist.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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Fohat,
then, is the personified electric vital power, the transcendental binding Unity
of all Cosmic Energies, on the unseen as on the manifested planes, the action
of which resembles -- on an immense scale -- that of a living Force created by
WILL, in those phenomena where the seemingly subjective acts on the seemingly
objective and propels it to action. Fohat is not only the living Symbol and
Container of that Force, but is looked upon by the Occultists as an Entity --
the forces he acts upon being cosmic, human and terrestrial, and exercising
their influence on all those planes respectively. On the earthly plane his
influence is felt in the magnetic and active force generated by the strong
desire of the magnetizer. On the Cosmic, it is present in the constructive
power that carries out, in the formation of things -- from the planetary system
down to the glow-worm and simple daisy -- the plan in the mind of nature, or in
the Divine Thought, with regard to the development and growth of that special
thing. He is, metaphysically, the objectivised thought of the gods; the
"Word made flesh," on a lower scale, and the messenger of Cosmic and
human ideations: the active force in Universal Life. In his secondary aspect,
Fohat is the Solar Energy, the electric vital fluid,* and the preserving fourth
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
In 1882 the President of the Theosophical Society, Col. Olcott, was taken to
task for asserting in one of his lectures that Electricity is matter. Such,
nevertheless, is the teaching of the Occult Doctrine. "Force,"
"Energy," may be a better name for it, so long as European Science
knows so little about its true nature; yet matter it is, as much as Ether is
matter, since it is as atomic, though several removes from the latter. It seems
ridiculous to argue that because a thing is imponderable to Science, therefore
it cannot be called matter. Electricity is "immaterial" in the sense
that its molecules are not subject to perception and experiment; yet it may be
-- and Occultism says it is -- atomic; therefore it is matter. But even
supposing it were unscientific to speak of it in such terms, once Electricity
is called in Science a source of Energy, Energy simply, and a Force -- where is
that Force or that Energy which can be thought of without thinking of matter?
Maxwell, a mathematician and one of the greatest authorities upon Electricity
and its phenomena, said, years ago, that Electricity was matter, not motion
merely. "If we accept the hypothesis that the elementary substances are
composed of atoms we cannot avoid concluding that electricity also, positive as
well as negative, is divided into definite elementary portions, which behave like
atoms of electricity." (Helmholtz, Faraday Lecture, 1881). We will go
further than that, and assert that Electricity is not only Substance but that
it is an emanation from an Entity, which is neither God nor Devil, but one of
the numberless Entities that rule and guide our world according to the eternal
Law of KARMA. (See the Addendum to this Book.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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principle,
the animal Soul of Nature, so to say, or -- Electricity. In India, Fohat is
connected with Vishnu and Surya in the early character of the (first) God; for
Vishnu is not a high god in the Rig Veda. The name Vishnu is from the root
vish, "to pervade," and Fohat is called the "Pervader" and
the Manufacturer, because he shapes the atoms from crude material.* In the
sacred texts of the Rig Veda, Vishnu, also, is "a manifestation of the
Solar Energy," and he is described as striding through the Seven regions
of the Universe in three steps, the Vedic God having little in common with the
Vishnu of later times. Therefore the two are identical in this particular
feature, and one is the copy of the other.
The
"three and seven" strides refer to the Seven spheres inhabited by
man, of the esoteric Doctrine, as well as to the Seven regions of the Earth.
Notwithstanding the frequent objections made by would-be Orientalists, the
Seven Worlds or spheres of our planetary chain are distinctly referred to in
the exoteric Hindu scriptures. But how strangely all these numbers are
connected with like numbers in other Cosmogonies and with their symbols, can be
seen from comparisons and parallelisms made by students of old religions. The
"three strides of Vishnu" through the "seven regions of the
Universe," of the Rig Veda, have been variously explained by commentators
as meaning "fire, lightning and the Sun" cosmically; and as having
been taken in the Earth, the atmosphere, and the sky; also as the "three
steps" of the dwarf (Vishnu's incarnation), though more philosophically --
and in the astronomical sense, very correctly -- they are explained by
Aurnavabha as being the various positions of the sun, rising, noon, and
setting. Esoteric philosophy alone explains it clearly, and the Zohar laid it
down very philosophically and comprehensively. It is said and plainly
demonstrated therein that in the beginning the Elohim (Elhim) were called
Echod, "one," or the "Deity is one in many," a very simple
idea in a pantheistic conception (in its philosophical sense, of course). Then
came the change, "Jehovah is Elohim," thus unifying the multiplicity
and taking the first step towards Monotheism. Now to the query, "How is
Jehovah Elohim?" the answer is, "By three Steps" from below.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
It is well known that sand, when placed on a metal plate in vibration assumes a
series of regular curved figures of various descriptions. Can Science give a
complete explanation of this fact?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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The
meaning is plain.* They are all symbols, and emblematic, mutually and
correlatively, of Spirit, Soul and Body (MAN); of the circle transformed into Spirit,
the Soul of the World, and its body (or Earth). Stepping out of the Circle of
Infinity, that no man comprehendeth, Ain-Soph (the Kabalistic synonym for
Parabrahm, for the Zeroana Akerne, of the Mazdeans, or for any other
"UNKNOWABLE") becomes "One" -- the ECHOD, the EKA, the AHU
-- then he (or it) is transformed by evolution into the One in many, the
Dhyani-Buddhas or the Elohim, or again the Amshaspends, his third Step being
taken into generation of the flesh, or "Man." And from man, or
Jah-Hova, "male female," the inner divine entity becomes, on the
metaphysical plane, once more the Elohim.
The
Kabalistic idea is identical with the Esotericism of the Archaic period. This
esotericism is the common property of all, and belongs neither to the Aryan 5th
Race, nor to any of its numerous Sub-races. It cannot be claimed by the
Turanians, so-called, the Egyptians, Chinese, Chaldeans, nor any of the Seven
divisions of the Fifth Root Race, but really belongs to the Third and Fourth
Root Races, whose descendants we find in the Seed of the Fifth, the earliest
Aryans. The Circle was with every nation the symbol of the Unknown --
"Boundless Space," the abstract garb of an ever present abstraction
-- the Incognisable Deity. It represents limitless Time in Eternity. The
Zeroana Akerne is also the "Boundless Circle of the Unknown Time,"
from which Circle issues the radiant light -- the Universal SUN, or Ormazd** --
and the latter
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
The numbers 3, 5, and 7 are prominent in speculative masonry, as shown in
"Isis." A mason writes:-- "There are the 3, 5, and 7 steps to
show a circular walk. The three faces of 3, 3; 5, 3; and 7, 3; etc., etc.
Sometimes it comes in this form -- 753/2 = 376.5 and 7635/2 = 3817.5 and the
ratio of 20612/6561 feet for cubit measure gives the Great Pyramid
measures," etc., etc. Three, five and seven are mystical numbers, and the
last and the first are as greatly honoured by Masons as by the Parsis -- the
triangle being a symbol of Deity everywhere. (See the Masonic Cyclopedia, and
"Pythagorean Triangle," Oliver.) As a matter of course, doctors of
divinity (Cassel, for instance) show the Zohar explaining and supporting the
Christian trinity (!). It is the latter, however, that had its origin from the
[[diagram]] of the Heathen, in the Archaic Occultism and Symbology. The three
strides relate metaphysically to the descent of Spirit into matter, of the
Logos falling as a ray into the Spirit, then into the Soul, and finally into
the human physical form of man, in which it becomes LIFE.
**
Ormazd is the Logos, the "First Born" and the Sun.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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is
identical with Kronos, in his AEolian form, that of a Circle. For the circle is
Sar, and Saros, or cycle, and was the Babylonian god whose circular horizon was
the visible symbol of the invisible, while the sun was the ONE Circle from
which proceeded the Cosmic orbs, and of which he was considered the leader.
Zero-ana, is the Chakra or circle of Vishnu, the mysterious emblem which is,
according to the definition of a mystic, "a curve of such a nature that as
to any, the least possible part thereof, if the curve be protracted either way
it will proceed and finally re-enter upon itself, and form one and the same
curve -- or that which we call the circle." No better definition could
thus be given of the natural symbol and the evident nature of Deity, which
having its circumference everywhere (the boundless) has, therefore, its central
point also everywhere; in other words, is in every point of the Universe. The
invisible Deity is thus also the Dhyan Chohans, or the Rishis, the primitive
seven, and the nine, without, and ten, including, their synthetical unit; from
which IT steps into Man. Returning to the Commentary (4) of Stanza IV. the
reader will understand why, while the trans-Himalayan Chackra has inscribed
within it [[diagram]] | [[diagram]] | [[diagram]] (triangle, first line, cube second
line, and a pentacle with a dot in the centre thus: [[diagram]], and some other
variations), the Kabalistic circle of the Elohim reveals, when the letters of
the word [[hebrew]] (Alhim or Elohim) are numerically read, the famous numerals
13514, or by anagram 31415 -- the astronomical (pi) number, or the hidden
meaning of Dhyani-Buddhas, of the Gebers, the Geborim, the Kabeiri, and the
Elohim, all signifying "great men," "Titans,"
"Heavenly Men," and, on earth, "the giants."
The
Seven was a Sacred Number with every nation; but none applied it to more
physiologically materialistic uses than the Hebrews. With these it was
pre-eminently the generative number and 9 the male causative one, forming as
shown by the Kabalists the [[hebrew with numbers above]] or otz -- "the
Tree of the Garden of Eden,"* the "double hermaphrodite rod" of
the fourth race. Whereas with the Hindus and Aryans generally, the significance
was manifold, and related almost entirely to purely metaphysical
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
This was the symbol of the "Holy of Holies," the 3 and the 4 of
sexual separation. Nearly every one of the 22 Hebrew letters are merely phallic
symbols. Of the two letters -- as shown above -- one, the ayin, is a negative
female letter, symbolically an eye; the other a male letter, tza, a fish-hook
or a dart.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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and
astronomical truths.* Their Rishis and gods, their Demons and Heroes, have
historical and ethical meanings, and the Aryans never made their religion rest
solely on physiological symbols, as the old Hebrews have done. This is found in
the exoteric Hindu Scriptures. That these accounts are blinds is shown by their
contradicting each other, a different construction being found in almost every
Purana and epic poem. Read esoterically -- they will all yield the same
meaning. Thus one account enumerates Seven worlds, exclusive of the nether
worlds, also seven in number; these fourteen upper and nether worlds have
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
We are told by a Kabalist, who in a work not yet published contrasts the Kabala
and Zohar with Aryan Esotericism, that "The Hebrew clear, short, terse and
exact modes far and beyond measure surpass the toddling word-talk of the Hindus
-- just as by parallelisms the Psalmist says, 'My mouth speaks with my tongue,
I know not thy numbers' (lxxi., 15). . . . The Hindu Glyph shows by its
insufficiency in the large admixture of adventitious sides the same borrowed
plumage that the Greeks (the lying Greeks) had, and that Masonry has: which in
the rough monosyllabic (and apparent) poverty of the Hebrew, shows the latter
to have come down from a far more remote antiquity than any of these, and to
have been the source (!?), or nearer the old original source than any of
them." This is entirely erroneous. Our learned brother and correspondent
judges apparently the Hindu religious systems by their Shastras and Puranas,
probably the latter, and in their modern translation moreover, which is
disfigured out of all recognition, by the Orientalists. It is to their
philosophical systems that one has to turn, to their esoteric teaching, if he would
make a point of comparison. No doubt the symbology of the Pentateuch and even
of the New Testament, comes from the same source. But surely the Pyramid of
Cheops, whose measurements are all found repeated by Professor Piazzi Smythe in
Solomon's alleged and mythical temple, is not of a later date than the Mosaic
books? Hence, if there is any such great identity as claimed, it must be due to
servile copying on the part of the Jews, not on that of the Egyptians. The
Jewish glyphs -- and even their language, the Hebrew -- are not original. They
are borrowed from the Egyptians, from whom Moses got his Wisdom; from the
Coptic, the probable kinsman, if not parent, of the old Phoenician and from the
Hyksos, their (alleged) ancestors, as Josephus shows in his "Against
Apion," I., 25. Aye; but who are the Hyksos shepherds? And who the
Egyptians? History knows nothing of the question, and speculates and theorizes
out of the depths of the respective consciousnesses of her historians. (See
Isis Unveiled, vol. II., p. 430-438.) "Khamism, or old Coptic," says
Bunsen, "is from Western Asia, and contains some germ of the Semitic, thus
bearing witness to the primitive cognate unity of the Aryan and Semitic
races"; and he places the great events in Egypt 9,000 years B.C. The fact
is that in archaic Esotericism and Aryan thought we find a grand philosophy,
whereas in the Hebrew records we find only the most surprising ingenuity in
inventing apotheoses for phallic worship and sexual theogony.
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[[Vol.
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nothing
to do with the classification of the septenary chain and belong to the purely
aethereal, invisible worlds. These will be noticed elsewhere. Suffice for the
present to show that they are purposely referred to as though they belonged to
the chain. "Another enumeration calls the Seven worlds -- earth, sky,
heaven, middle region, place of birth, mansion of the blest, and abode of
truth; placing the 'Sons of Brahma' in the sixth division, and stating the
fifth, or Jana Loka, to be that where animals destroyed in the general
conflagration are born again." (see Hindu Classical Dictionary.) Some real
esoteric teaching is given in the "Symbolism." He who is prepared for
it will understand the hidden meaning.
-------
STANZA
V. -- Continued.
3.
HE IS THEIR GUIDING SPIRIT AND LEADER. WHEN HE COMMENCES WORK, HE SEPARATES THE
SPARKS OF THE LOWER KINGDOM (mineral atoms) THAT FLOAT AND THRILL WITH JOY IN
THEIR RADIANT DWELLINGS (gaseous clouds), AND FORMS THEREWITH THE GERMS OF
WHEELS. HE PLACES THEM IN THE SIX DIRECTIONS OF SPACE AND ONE IN THE MIDDLE --
THE CENTRAL WHEEL (a).
(a)
"Wheels," as already explained, are the centres of force, around
which primordial Cosmic matter expands, and, passing through all the six stages
of consolidation, becomes spheroidal and ends by being transformed into globes
or spheres. It is one of the fundamental dogmas of Esoteric Cosmogony, that
during the Kalpas (or aeons) of life, MOTION, which, during the periods of Rest
"pulsates and thrills through every slumbering atom"* (Commentary on
Dzyan), assumes an evergrowing
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
It may be asked, as also the writer has not failed to ask, "Who is there
to ascertain the difference in that motion, since all nature is reduced to its
primal essence, and there can be no one -- not even one of the Dhyani-Chohans,
who are all in Nirvana -- to see it?" The answer to this is:
"Everything in Nature has to be judged by analogy. Though the highest
Deities (Archangels or Dhyani-Buddhas) are unable to penetrate the mysteries
too far beyond our planetary system and the visible Kosmos, yet there were
great seers and prophets in olden times who were enabled to perceive the
mystery of Breath and Motion retrospectively, when the systems of worlds were
at rest and plunged in their periodic sleep."
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[[Vol.
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tendency,
from the first awakening of Kosmos to a new "Day," to circular
movement. The "Deity becomes a WHIRLWIND." They are also called Rotae
-- the moving wheels of the celestial orbs participating in the world's
creation -- when the meaning refers to the animating principle of the stars and
planets; for in the Kabala, they are represented by the Ophanim, the Angels of
the Spheres and stars, of which they are the informing Souls. (See Kabala
Denudata, "De Anima," p. 113.)
This
law of vortical movement in primordial matter, is one of the oldest conceptions
of Greek philosophy, whose first historical Sages were nearly all Initiates of
the Mysteries. The Greeks had it from the Egyptians, and the latter from the
Chaldeans, who had been the pupils of Brahmins of the esoteric school.
Leucippus, and Democritus of Abdera -- the pupil of the Magi -- taught that
this gyratory movement of the atoms and spheres existed from eternity.*
Hicetas, Heraclides, Ecphantus, Pythagoras, and all his pupils, taught the rotation
of the earth; and Aryabhata of India, Aristarchus, Seleucus, and Archimedes
calculated its revolution as scientifically as the astronomers do now; while
the theory of the Elemental Vortices was known to Anaxagoras, and maintained by
him 500 years B.C., or nearly 2,000 before it was taken up by Galileo,
Descartes, Swedenborg, and finally, with slight modifications, by Sir W.
Thomson. (See his "Vortical Atoms.") All such knowledge, if justice
be only done to it, is an echo of the archaic doctrine, an attempt to explain
which is now being made. How men of the last few centuries have come to the
same ideas and conclusions that were taught as axiomatic truths in the secrecy
of the Adyta dozens of
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"The doctrine of the rotation of the earth about an axis is taught by the
Pythagorean Hicetas, probably as early as 500 B.C. It was also taught by his
pupil Ecphantus, and by Heraclides, a pupil of Plato. The immobility of the Sun
and the orbital rotation of the earth were shown by Aristarchus of Samos as
early as 281 B.C. to be suppositions accordant with facts of observation. The
Heliocentric theory was taught about 150 B.C., by Seleucus of Seleucia on the
Tigris. -- [It was taught 500 B.C. by Pythagoras. -- H. P. B.] It is said also
that Archimedes, in a work entitled Psammites, inculcated the Heliocentric
theory. The sphericity of the earth was distinctly taught by Aristotle, who
appealed for proof to the figure of the Earth's shadow on the moon in eclipses
(Aristotle, De Coelo, lib. II, cap. XIV.). The same idea was defended by Pliny
(Nat. Hist., II., 65). These views seem to have been lost from knowledge for
more than a thousand years. . . ." (Comparative Geology, Part IV.,
"Pre-Kantian Speculation," p. 551, by Alex. Winchell, LL.D.).
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[[Vol.
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millenniums
ago, is a question that is treated separately. Some were led to it by the
natural progress in physical science and by independent observation; others --
such as Copernicus, Swedenborg, and a few more -- their great learning
notwithstanding, owed their knowledge far more to intuitive than to acquired
ideas, developed in the usual way by a course of study.* (See "A Mystery
about Buddha.")
By
the "Six directions of Space" is here meant the "Double
Triangle," the junction and blending together of pure Spirit and Matter,
of the Arupa and the Rupa, of which the Triangles are a Symbol. This double
Triangle is a sign of Vishnu, as it is Solomon's seal, and the Sri-Antara of
the Brahmins.
-------
STANZA
V. -- (Continued.)
4.
FOHAT TRACES SPIRAL LINES TO UNITE THE SIX TO THE SEVENTH -- THE CROWN (a); AN
ARMY OF THE SONS OF LIGHT STANDS AT EACH ANGLE (and) THE LIPIKA -- IN THE
MIDDLE WHEEL. THEY (the Lipika) SAY, "THIS IS GOOD" (b). THE FIRST
DIVINE WORLD IS READY, THE FIRST (is now), THE SECOND (world), THEN THE
"DIVINE ARUPA" (the formless Universe
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
That Swedenborg, who could not possibly have known anything of the esoteric
ideas of Buddhism, came independently near the Occult teaching in his general
conceptions, is shown by his essay on the Vortical Theory. In Clissold's
translation of it, quoted by Prof. Winchell, we find the following resume:--
"The first Cause is the Infinite or Unlimited. This gives existence to the
First Finite or Limited." (The Logos in His manifestation and the
Universe.) "That which produces a limit is analogous to motion. (See first
Stanza, supra.) The limit produced is a point, the Essence of which is Motion;
but being without parts, this Essence is not actual Motion, but only a connatus
to it." (In our Doctrine it is not a "connatus," but a change
from eternal vibration in the unmanifested, to Vortical Motion in the
phenomenal or manifested World). . . "From this first proceed Extension,
Space, Figure, and Succession, or Time. As in Geometry a point generates a
line, a line a surface, and a surface a solid, so here the connatus of a point
tends towards lines, surfaces and solids. In other words, the Universe is
contained in ovo in the first natural point . . . the Motion toward which the
connatus tends, is circular, since the circle is the most perfect of all
figures . . . The most perfect figure of a Motion . . . must be the perpetually
circular, that is to say, it must proceed from the centre to the periphery and
from the periphery to the centre." (Quoted from Principia Rerum Naturalia.)
This is Occultism pure and simple.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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of
Thought) REFLECTS ITSELF IN CHHAYALOKA (the shadowy world of primal form, or
the intellectual) THE FIRST GARMENT OF (the) ANUPADAKA (c).
(a)
This tracing of "Spiral lines" refers to the evolution of man's as
well as Nature's principles; an evolution which takes place gradually (as will
be seen in Book II., on "The origin of the Human Races"), as does
everything else in nature. The Sixth principle in Man (Buddhi, the Divine Soul)
though a mere breath, in our conceptions, is still something material when
compared with divine "Spirit" (Atma) of which it is the carrier or
vehicle. Fohat, in his capacity of DIVINE LOVE (Eros), the electric Power of
affinity and sympathy, is shown allegorically as trying to bring the pure
Spirit, the Ray inseparable from the ONE absolute, into union with the Soul,
the two constituting in Man the MONAD, and in Nature the first link between the
ever unconditioned and the manifested. "The first is now the second"
(world) -- of the Lipikas -- has reference to the same.
(b)
The "Army" at each angle is the Host of angelic Beings
(Dhyan-Chohans) appointed to guide and watch over each respective region from
the beginning to the end of Manvantara. They are the "Mystic
Watchers" of the Christian Kabalists and Alchemists, and relate,
symbolically as well as cosmogonically, to the numerical system of the
Universe. The numbers with which these celestial Beings are connected are
extremely difficult to explain, as each number refers to several groups of
distinct ideas, according to the particular group of "Angels" which
it is intended to represent. Herein lies the nodus in the study of symbology,
with which, unable to untie by disentangling it, so many scholars have
preferred dealing as Alexander dealt with the Gordian knot; hence erroneous
conceptions and teachings, as a direct result.
The
"First is the Second," because the "First" cannot really be
numbered or regarded as the First, as that is the realm of noumena in its
primary manifestation: the threshold to the World of Truth, or SAT, through
which the direct energy that radiates from the ONE REALITY -- the Nameless
Deity -- reaches us. Here again, the untranslateable term SAT (Be-ness) is
likely to lead into an erroneous conception, since that which is manifested
cannot be SAT, but is something phenomenal, not everlasting, nor, in truth,
even sempiternal. It is coeval and
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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coexistent
with the One Life, "Secondless," but as a manifestation it is still a
Maya -- like the rest. This "World of Truth" can be described only in
the words of the Commentary as "A bright star dropped from the heart of
Eternity; the beacon of hope on whose Seven Rays hang the Seven Worlds of
Being." Truly so; since those are the Seven Lights whose reflections are
the human immortal Monads -- the Atma, or the irradiating Spirit of every
creature of the human family. First, this septenary Light; then:--
(c)
The "Divine World" -- the countless Lights lit at the primeval Light
-- the Buddhis, or formless divine Souls, of the last Arupa (formless) world;
the "Sum Total," in the mysterious language of the old Stanza. In the
Catechism, the Master is made to ask the pupil:--
"Lift
thy head, oh Lanoo; dost thou see one, or countless lights above thee, burning
in the dark midnight sky?"
"I
sense one Flame, oh Gurudeva, I see countless undetached sparks shining in
it."
"Thou
sayest well. And now look around and into thyself. That light which burns
inside thee, dost thou feel it different in anywise from the light that shines
in thy Brother-men?"
"It
is in no way different, though the prisoner is held in bondage by Karma, and
though its outer garments delude the ignorant into saying, 'Thy Soul and My
Soul.' "
The
radical unity of the ultimate essence of each constituent part of compounds in
Nature -- from Star to mineral Atom, from the highest Dhyan Chohan to the
smallest infusoria, in the fullest acceptation of the term, and whether applied
to the spiritual, intellectual, or physical worlds -- this is the one
fundamental law in Occult Science. "The Deity is boundless and infinite
expansion," says an Occult axiom; and hence, as remarked, the name of
Brahma.* There is a deep philosophy underlying the earliest worship in the
world, that of the Sun and of Fire. Of all the Elements known to physical science,
Fire is the one that has ever eluded definite analysis. It is confidently
asserted that
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
In the Rig Veda we find the names Brahmanaspati and Brihaspati alternating and
equivalent to each other. Also see "Brihad Upanishad"; Brihaspati is
a deity called "the Father of the gods."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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Air
is a mixture containing the gases Oxygen and Nitrogen. We view the Universe and
the Earth as matter composed of definite chemical molecules. We speak of the
primitive ten Earths, endowing each with a Greek or Latin name. We say that
water is, chemically, a compound of Oxygen and Hydrogen. But what is FIRE? It
is the effect of combustion, we are gravely answered. It is heat and light and
motion, and a correlation of physical and chemical forces in general. And this
scientific definition is philosophically supplemented by the theological one in
Webster's Dictionary, which explains fire as "the instrument of
punishment, or the punishment of the impenitent in another state" -- the
"state," by the bye, being supposed to be spiritual; but, alas! the
presence of fire would seem to be a convincing proof of its material nature.
Yet, speaking of the illusion of regarding phenomena as simple, because they
are familiar, Professor Bain says (Logic. Part II.): "Very familiar facts
seem to stand in no need of explanation themselves and to be the means of explaining
whatever can be assimilated to them. Thus, the boiling and evaporation of a
liquid is supposed to be a very simple phenomenon requiring no explanation, and
a satisfactory explanation of rarer phenomena. That water should dry up is, to
the uninstructed mind, a thing wholly intelligible; whereas to the man
acquainted with physical science the liquid state is anomalous and
inexplicable. The lighting of a fire by a flame is a GREAT SCIENTIFIC
DIFFICULTY, yet few people think so" (p. 125).
What
says the esoteric teaching with regard to fire? "Fire," it says,
"is the most perfect and unadulterated reflection, in Heaven as on Earth,
of the ONE FLAME. It is Life and Death, the origin and the end of every
material thing. It is divine 'SUBSTANCE.' " Thus, not only the
FIRE-WORSHIPPER, the Parsee, but even the wandering savage tribes of America,
which proclaim themselves "born of fire," show more science in their
creeds and truth in their superstitions, than all the speculations of modern
physics and learning. The Christian who says: "God is a living Fire,"
and speaks of the Pentecostal "Tongues of Fire" and of the
"burning bush" of Moses, is as much a fire-worshipper as any other
"heathen." The Rosicrucians, among all the mystics and Kabalists,
were those who defined Fire in the right and most correct way. Procure a
sixpenny lamp, keep it only supplied with oil, and you will be able to light at
its flame the lamps, candles,
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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and
fires of the whole globe without diminishing that flame. If the Deity, the
radical One, is eternal and an infinite substance ("the Lord thy God is a
consuming fire") and never consumed, then it does not seem reasonable that
the Occult teaching should be held as unphilosophical when it says: "Thus
were the Arupa and Rupa worlds formed: from ONE light seven lights; from each
of the seven, seven times seven," etc., etc.
-------
STANZA
V. -- Continued.
5.
FOHAT TAKES FIVE STRIDES (having already taken the first three) (a), AND BUILDS
A WINGED WHEEL AT EACH CORNER OF THE SQUARE FOR THE FOUR HOLY ONES . . . . .
AND THEIR ARMIES (hosts) (b).
(a)
The "strides," as already explained (see Commentary on Stanza IV.),
refer to both the Cosmic and the Human principles -- the latter of which
consist, in the exoteric division, of three (Spirit, Soul, and Body), and, in
the esoteric calculation, of seven principles -- three rays of the Essence and
four aspects.* Those who have studied Mr. Sinnett's "Esoteric
Buddhism" can easily grasp the nomenclature. There are two esoteric
schools -- or rather one school, divided into two parts -- one for the inner
Lanoos, the other for the outer or semi-lay chelas beyond the Himalayas; the
first teaching a septenary, the other a six-fold division of human principles.
From
a Cosmic point of view, Fohat taking "five strides" refers here to
the five upper planes of Consciousness and Being, the sixth and the seventh
(counting downwards) being the astral and the terrestrial, or the two lower
planes.
(b)
"Four winged wheels at each corner . . . . . for the four holy ones and
their armies (hosts)" . . . . . These are the "four Maharajahs"
or great Kings of the Dhyan-Chohans, the Devas who preside, each over one of
the four cardinal points. They are the Regents or Angels who rule over the
Cosmical Forces of North, South,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
The four aspects are the body, its life or vitality, and the "Double"
of the body, the triad which disappears with the death of the person, and the
Kama-rupa which disintegrates in Kama-loka.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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East
and West, Forces having each a distinct occult property. These BEINGS are also
connected with Karma, as the latter needs physical and material agents to carry
out her decrees, such as the four kinds of winds, for instance, professedly
admitted by Science to have their respective evil and beneficent influences
upon the health of Mankind and every living thing. There is occult philosophy
in that Roman Catholic doctrine which traces the various public calamities,
such as epidemics of disease, and wars, and so on, to the invisible
"Messengers" from North and West. "The glory of God comes from
the way of the East" says Ezekiel; while Jeremiah, Isaiah, and the
Psalmist assure their readers that all the evil under the Sun comes from the
North and the West -- which proposition, when applied to the Jewish nation,
sounds like an undeniable prophecy for themselves. And this accounts also for
St. Ambrose (On Amos, ch. iv.) declaring that it is precisely for that reason
that "we curse the North-Wind, and that during the ceremony of baptism we
begin by turning towards the West (Sidereal), to renounce the better him who
inhabits it; after which we turn to the East."
Belief
in the "Four Maharajahs" -- the Regents of the Four cardinal points
-- was universal and is now that of Christians,* who call them, after St.
Augustine, "Angelic Virtues," and "Spirits" when enumerated
by themselves, and "Devils" when named by Pagans. But where is the
difference between the Pagans and the Christians in this cause? Following
Plato, Aristotle explained that the term [[stoicheia]] was understood only as
meaning the incorporeal principles placed at each of the four great divisions
of our Cosmical world to supervise them. Thus, no more than the Christians did,
do they adore and worship the Elements and the cardinal (imaginary) points, but
the "gods" that ruled these respectively. For the Church there are
two kinds of Sidereal beings, the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Says the scholarly Vossius, in his Theol. Cir. I. VII.: "Though St.
Augustine has said that every visible thing in this world had an angelic virtue
as an overseer near it, it is not individuals but entire species of things that
must be understood, each such species having indeed its particular angel to
watch it. He is at one in this with all the philosophers . . . For us these
angels are spirits separated from the objects . . . whereas for the
philosophers (pagan) they were gods." Considering the Ritual established
by the Roman Catholic Church for "Spirits of the Stars," the latter
look suspiciously like "Gods," and were no more honoured and prayed
to by the ancient and modern pagan rabble than they are now at Rome by the
highly cultured Catholic Christians.
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[[Vol.
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Angels
and the Devils. For the Kabalist and Occultist there is but one; and neither of
them makes any difference between "the Rectors of Light" and the
Cosmocratores, or "Rectores tenebrarum harum," whom the Roman Church
imagines and discovers in a "Rector of Light" as soon as he is called
by another name than the one she addresses him by. It is not the "Rector"
or "Maharajah" who punishes or rewards, with or without
"God's" permission or order, but man himself -- his deeds or Karma,
attracting individually and collectively (as in the case of whole nations
sometimes), every kind of evil and calamity. We produce CAUSES, and these awaken
the corresponding powers in the sidereal world; which powers are magnetically
and irresistibly attracted to -- and react upon -- those who produced these
causes; whether such persons are practically the evil-doers, or simply Thinkers
who brood mischief. Thought is matter,* we are taught by modern Science; and
"every particle of the existing matter must be a register of all that has
happened," as in their "Principles of Science" Messrs. Jevons
and Babbage tell the profane. Modern Science is drawn more every day into the
maelstrom of Occultism; unconsciously, no doubt, still very sensibly. The two
main theories of science -- re the relations between Mind and Matter -- are
Monism and Materialism. These two cover the whole ground of negative psychology
with the exception of the quasi-occult views of the pantheistic German
schools.**
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Not of course in the sense of the German Materialist Moleschott, who assures us
that "Thought is the movement of matter," a statement of almost
unequalled absurdity. Mental states and bodily states are utterly contrasted as
such. But that does not affect the position that every thought, in addition to
its physical accompaniment (brain-change), exhibits an objective -- though to
us supersensuously objective -- aspect on the astral plane. (See "The
Occult World," pp. 89, 90.)
**
The views of our present-day scientific thinkers as to the relations between
mind and matter may be reduced to two hypotheses. These show that both views
equally exclude the possibility of an independent Soul, distinct from the
physical brain through which it functions. They are:--
(1.)
MATERIALISM, the theory which regards mental phenomena as the product of
molecular change in the brain; i.e., as the outcome of a transformation of
motion into feeling (!). The cruder school once went so far as to identify mind
with a "peculiar mode of motion" (!!), but this view is now happily
regarded as absurd by most of the men of science themselves.
(2.)
MONISM, or the Single Substance Doctrine, is the more subtle form of negative
psychology, which one of its advocates, Professor Bain, ably terms
"guarded [[Footnote continued on next page]]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 125 THE REAL MEANING OF THE TABERNACLE.
In
the Egyptian temples, according to Clemens Alexandrinus, an immense curtain
separated the tabernacle from the place for the congregation. The Jews had the
same. In both, the curtain was drawn over five pillars (the Pentacle)
symbolising our five senses and five Root-races esoterically, while the four
colours of the curtain represented the four cardinal points and the four
terrestrial elements. The whole was an allegorical symbol. It is through the
four high Rulers over the four points and Elements that our five senses may
become cognisant of the hidden truths of Nature; and not at all, as Clemens
would have it, that it is the elements per se that furnished the Pagans with
divine Knowledge or the knowledge of God.* While the Egyptian emblem was
spiritual, that of the Jews was purely materialistic, and, indeed, honoured
only the blind Elements and the imaginary "Points." For what was the
meaning of the square tabernacle raised by Moses in the wilderness, if it had
not the same cosmical significance? "Thou shalt make an hanging . . . of
blue, purple, and scarlet" and "five pillars of shittim wood for the
hanging . . . four brazen rings in the four corners thereof . . . boards of
fine wood for the four sides, North, South, West, and East . . . of the
Tabernacle . . . with Cherubims of cunning work." (Exodus, ch. xxvi.,
xxvii.) The Tabernacle and the square courtyard, Cherubim and all, were
precisely the same as those in the Egyptian temples. The square form of the
Tabernacle meant just the same thing as it still means, to this day, in the
exoteric worship of the Chinese and Tibetans -- the four cardinal points
signifying that which the four sides of the pyramids, obelisks, and other such
square erections mean. Josephus takes care to explain the whole thing. He
declares that the Tabernacle pillars are the same
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] Materialism." This doctrine, which commands
a very wide assent, counting among its upholders such men as Lewis, Spencer,
Ferrier, and others, while positing thought and mental phenomena generally as
radically contrasted with matter, regards both as equal to the two sides, or
aspects, of one and the same substance in some of its conditions. Thought as
thought, they say, is utterly contrasted with material phenomena, but it must
be also regarded as only "the subjective side of nervous motion"
whatever our learned men may mean by this.
*
Thus the sentence, "Natura Elementorum obtinet revelationem Dei," (In
Clemens's Stromata, R. IV., para. 6), is applicable to both or neither. Consult
the Zends, vol II., p. 228, and Plutarch De Iside, as compared by Layard,
Academie des Inscriptions, 1854, Vol. XV.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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as
those raised at Tyre to the four Elements, which were placed on pedestals whose
four angles faced the four cardinal points: adding that "the angles of the
pedestals had equally the four figures of the Zodiac" on them, which
represented the same orientation (Antiquities I., VIII., ch. xxii.).
The
idea may be traced in the Zoroastrian caves, in the rock-cut temples of India,
as in all the sacred square buildings of antiquity that have survived to this
day. This is shown definitely by Layard, who finds the four cardinal points,
and the four primitive elements, in the religion of every country, under the
shape of square obelisks, the four sides of the pyramids, etc., etc. Of these
elements and their points the four Maharajahs were the regents and the
directors.
If
the student would know more of them, he has but to compare the Vision of
Ezekiel (chap. i.) with what is known of Chinese Buddhism (even in its exoteric
teachings); and examine the outward shape of these "Great Kings." In
the opinion of the Rev. Joseph Edkins, they are "the Devas who preside
each over one of the four continents into which the Hindus divide the world."*
Each leads an army of spiritual beings to protect mankind and Buddhism. With
the exception of favouritism towards Buddhism, the four celestial beings are
precisely this. They are the protectors of mankind and also the Agents of Karma
on Earth, whereas the Lipika are concerned with Humanity's hereafter. At the
same time they are the four living creatures "who have the likeness of a
man" of Ezekiel's visions, called by the translators of the Bible,
"Cherubim," "Seraphim," etc.; and by the Occultists,
"the winged Globes," the "Fiery Wheels," and in the Hindu
Pantheon by a number of different names. All these Gandharvas, the "Sweet
Songsters," the Asuras, Kinnaras, and Nagas, are the allegorical
descriptions of the "four Maharajahs." The Seraphim are the fiery
Serpents of Heaven which we find in a passage describing Mount Meru as:
"the exalted mass of glory, the venerable haunt of gods and heavenly
choristers . . . . not to be reached by sinful men . . . . because guarded by
Serpents." They are called the Avengers, and the "Winged
Wheels."
Their
mission and character being explained, let us see what the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
The Hindus happen to divide the world into seven continents, exoterically as
esoterically; and their four cosmic Devas are eight, presiding over the eight
points of the compass and not the Continents. (Compare "Chinese
Buddhism," p. 216.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 127 THE DRAGONS OF SECRET WISDOM.
Christian
Bible-interpreters say of the Cherubim:-- "The word signifies in Hebrew,
fullness of knowledge; these angels are so called from their exquisite
Knowledge, and were therefore used for the punishment of men who affected
divine Knowledge." (Interpreted by Cruden in his Concordance, from Genesis
iii., 24.) Very well; and vague as the information is, it shows that the Cherub
placed at the gate of the garden of Eden after the "Fall," suggested
to the venerable Interpreters the idea of punishment connected with forbidden
Science or divine Knowledge -- one that generally leads to another
"Fall," that of the gods, or "God," in man's estimation.
But as the good old Cruden knew nought of Karma, he may be forgiven. Yet the
allegory is suggestive. From Meru, the abode of gods, to Eden, the distance is
very small, and from the Hindu Serpents to the Ophite Cherubim, the third out
of the seven of which was the Dragon, the separation is still smaller, for both
watched the entrance to the realm of Secret Knowledge. But Ezekiel plainly
describes the four Cosmic Angels: "I looked, and behold, a whirlwind, a
cloud and fire infolding it . . . also out of the midst thereof came the
likeness of four living creatures . . . they had the likeness of a man. And
every one had four faces and four wings . . . the face of a man, and the face
of a lion, the face of an ox, and the face of an eagle . . . "
("Man" was here substituted for "Dragon." Compare the
"Ophite Spirits."*) . . . "Now as I beheld the living creatures
behold one wheel upon the Earth with his four faces . . . as it were a wheel in
the middle of a wheel . . . for the support of the living creature was in the
wheel . . . their appearance was like coals of fire . . ." etc. (Ezekiel,
ch. i.)
There
are three chief groups of Builders and as many of the Planetary Spirits and the
Lipika, each group being again divided into Seven sub-groups. It is impossible,
even in such a large work as this, to enter into a minute examination of even
the three principal groups, as it would demand an extra volume. The
"Builders" are the representatives of the first "Mind-Born"
Entities, therefore of the primeval Rishi-Prajapati: also of the Seven great
Gods of Egypt, of which Osiris is the chief: of the Seven Amshaspends of the
Zoroastrians, with
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
The Angels recognised by the Roman Catholic Church who correspond to these
"Faces" were with the Ophites:-- Dragon -- Raphael; Lion -- Michael;
Bull, or ox -- Uriel; and Eagle -- Gabriel. The four keep company with the four
Evangelists, and preface the Gospels.
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[[Vol.
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Ormazd
at their head: or the "Seven Spirits of the Face": the Seven
Sephiroth separated from the first Triad, etc., etc.*
They
build or rather rebuild every "System" after the "Night."
The Second group of the Builders is the Architect of our planetary chain
exclusively; and the third, the progenitor of our Humanity -- the Macrocosmic
prototype of the microcosm.
The
Planetary Spirits are the informing spirits of the Stars in general, and of the
Planets especially. They rule the destinies of men who are all born under one
or other of their constellations; the second and third groups pertaining to
other systems have the same functions, and all rule various departments in
Nature. In the Hindu exoteric Pantheon they are the guardian deities who
preside over the eight points of the compass -- the four cardinal and the four
intermediate points -- and are called Loka-Palas, "Supporters or guardians
of the World" (in our visible Kosmos), of which Indra (East), Yama
(South), Varuna (West), and Kuvera (North) are the chief; their elephants and
their spouses pertaining of course to fancy and afterthought, though all of
them have an occult significance.
The
Lipika (a description of whom is given in the Commentary on Stanza IV. No. 6)
are the Spirits of the Universe, whereas the Builders are only our own
planetary deities. The former belong to the most occult portion of
Cosmogenesis, which cannot be given here. Whether the Adepts (even the highest)
know this angelic order in the completeness of its triple degrees, or only the
lower one connected with the records of our world, is something which the
writer is unprepared to say, and she would incline rather to the latter
supposition. Of its highest grade one thing only is taught: the Lipika are
connected with Karma -- being its direct Recorders.**
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
The Jews, save the Kabalists, having no names for East, West, South, and North,
expressed the idea by words signifying before, behind, right and left, and very
often confounded the terms exoterically, thus making the blinds in the Bible
more confused and difficult to interpret. Add to this the fact that out of the
forty-seven translators of King James I. of England's Bible "only three
understood Hebrew, and of these two died before the Psalms were translated"
(Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia), and one may easily understand what reliance can be
placed on the English version of the Bible. In this work the Douay Roman
Catholic version is generally followed.
**
The Symbol for Sacred and Secret Knowledge was universally in antiquity, a
Tree, by which a Scripture or a Record was also meant. Hence the word Lipika,
the [[Footnote continued on next page]]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 129 THE LIPIKA.
STANZA
V. -- Continued.
6.
THE LIPIKA CIRCUMSCRIBE THE TRIANGLE, THE FIRST ONE (the vertical line or the
figure 1.), THE CUBE, THE SECOND ONE, AND THE PENTACLE WITHIN THE EGG (circle)
(a). IT IS THE RING CALLED "PASS NOT," FOR THOSE WHO DESCEND AND
ASCEND (as also for those) WHO, DURING THE KALPA, ARE PROGRESSING TOWARD THE
GREAT DAY "BE WITH US" (b). . . . THUS WERE FORMED THE ARUPA AND THE
RUPA (the Formless World and the World of Forms); FROM ONE LIGHT SEVEN LIGHTS;
FROM EACH OF THE SEVEN SEVEN TIMES SEVEN LIGHTS. THE "WHEELS" WATCH
THE RING.
The
Stanza proceeds with a minute classification of the Orders of Angelic
Hierarchy. From the group of Four and Seven emanates the "mind-born"
group of Ten, of Twelve, of Twenty-one, etc., all these divided again into
sub-groups of septenaries, novenaries, duodecimals, and so on, until the mind
is lost in this endless enumeration of celestial hosts and Beings, each having
its distinct task in the ruling of the visible Kosmos during its existence.
(a)
The esoteric meaning of the first sentence of the Sloka is, that those who have
been called Lipikas, the Recorders of the Karmic ledger, make an impassible
barrier between the personal EGO and the impersonal SELF, the Noumenon and
Parent-Source of the former. Hence the allegory. They circumscribe the
manifested world of matter within the RING "Pass-Not." This world is
the symbol (objective) of the ONE divided into the many, on the planes of
Illusion, of Adi (the "First") or of Eka (the "One"); and
this One is the collective aggregate, or totality, of the principal Creators or
Architects of this visible universe. In Hebrew Occultism their name is both
Achath, feminine, "One," and Achod, "One" again, but
masculine. The monotheists have taken (and are still taking) advantage of the
profound esotericism of the Kabala to apply the name by which the One Supreme
Essence is known to ITS manifestation, the Sephiroth-Elohim, and call it
Jehovah. But this is
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] "writers" or scribes; the
"Dragons," symbols of wisdom, who guard the Trees of Knowledge; the
"golden" apple Tree of the Hesperides; the "Luxuriant
Trees" and vegetation of Mount Meru guarded by a Serpent. Juno giving to
Jupiter, on her marriage with him, a Tree with golden fruit is another form of
Eve offering Adam the apple from the Tree of Knowledge.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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quite
arbitrary and against all reason and logic, as the term Elohim is a plural
noun, identical with the plural word Chiim, often compounded with the Elohim.*
Moreover, in Occult metaphysics there are, properly speaking, two
"ONES" -- the One on the unreachable plane of Absoluteness and
Infinity, on which no speculation is possible, and the Second "One"
on the plane of Emanations. The former can neither emanate nor be divided, as
it is eternal, absolute, and immutable. The Second, being, so to speak, the
reflection of the first One (for it is the Logos, or Eswara, in the Universe of
Illusion), can do all this.** It emanates from itself -- as the upper
Sephirothal Triad emanates the lower seven Sephiroth -- the seven Rays or Dhyan
Chohans; in other words, the Homogeneous becomes the Heterogeneous, the
"Protyle" differentiates into the Elements. But these, unless they
return into their primal Element, can never cross beyond the Laya, or
zero-point.
Hence
the allegory. The Lipika separate the world (or plane) of pure spirit from that
of Matter. Those who "descend and ascend" -- the incarnating Monads,
and men striving towards purification and "ascending," but still not
having quite reached the goal -- may cross the "circle of the Pass-Not,"
only on the day "Be-With-Us"; that day when man, freeing himself from
the trammels of ignorance, and recog-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
The sentence in the Sepher Jezirah and elsewhere:
"Achath-Ruach-Elohim-Chiim" denotes the Elohim as androgynous at
best, the feminine element almost predominating, as it would read: "ONE is
She the Spirit of the Elohim of Life." As said above, Echath (or Achath)
is feminine, and Echod (or Achod) masculine, both meaning ONE.
**
This metaphysical tenet can hardly be better described than Mr. Subba Row's in
"Bhagavadgita" lectures: "Mulaprakriti (the veil of Parabrahmam)
acts as the one energy through the Logos (or 'Eswara'). Now Parabrahmam, is the
one essence from which starts into existence a centre of energy, which I shall
for the present call the Logos. . . . It is called the Verbum . . . by the
Christians, and it is the divine Christos who is eternal in the bosom of his
father. It is called Avalokiteshwara by the Buddhists. . . . In almost every
doctrine, they have formulated the existence of a centre of spiritual energy
which is unborn and eternal, and which exists in the bosom of Parabrahmam at
the time of Pralaya, and starts as a centre of conscious energy at the time of
Cosmic activity. . . ." For, as the lecturer premised by saying,
Parabraham is not this or that, it is not even consciousness, as it cannot be
related to matter or anything conditioned. It is not Ego nor is it Non-ego, not
even Atma, but verily the one source of all manifestations and modes of
existence.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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nising
fully the non-separateness of the Ego within his personality -- erroneously
regarded as his own -- from the UNIVERSAL EGO (Anima Supra-Mundi), merges
thereby into the One Essence to become not only one "with us" (the
manifested universal lives which are "ONE" LIFE), but that very life
itself.
Astronomically,
the "Ring PASS-NOT" that the Lipika trace around the Triangle, the
First One, the Cube, the Second One, and the Pentacle to circumscribe these
figures, is thus shown to contain the symbol of 31415 again, or the coefficient
constantly used in mathematical tables (the value of, pi), the geometrical
figures standing here for numerical figures. According to the general
philosophical teachings, this ring is beyond the region of what are called
nebulae in astronomy. But this is as erroneous a conception as that of the
topography and the descriptions, given in Puranic and other exoteric
Scriptures, about the 1008 worlds of the Devaloka worlds and firmaments. There
are worlds, of course, in the esoteric as well as in the profane scientific
teachings, at such incalculable distances that the light of the nearest of them
which has just reached our modern Chaldees, had left its luminary long before
the day on which the words "Let there be Light" were pronounced; but
these are no worlds on the Devaloka plane, but in our Kosmos.
The
chemist goes to the laya or zero point of the plane of matter with which he
deals, and then stops short. The physicist or the astronomer counts by billions
of miles beyond the nebulae, and then they also stop short; the semi-initiated
Occultist will represent this laya-point to himself as existing on some plane
which, if not physical, is still conceivable to the human intellect. But the
full Initiate knows that the ring "Pass-Not" is neither a locality
nor can it be measured by distance, but that it exists in the absoluteness of
infinity. In this "Infinity" of the full Initiate there is neither
height, breadth nor thickness, but all is fathomless profundity, reaching down
from the physical to the "para-para-metaphysical." In using the word
"down," essential depth -- "nowhere and everywhere" -- is
meant, not depth of physical matter.
If
one searches carefully through the exoteric and grossly anthropomorphic
allegories of popular religions, even in these the doctrine embodied in the
circle of "Pass-Not" thus guarded by the Lipika, may be dimly perceived.
Thus one finds it even in the teachings of
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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the
Vedantin sect of the Visishtadwaita, the most tenaciously anthropomorphic in
all India. For we read of the released soul that:--
After
reaching Moksha (a state of bliss meaning "release from Bandha" or
bondage), bliss is enjoyed by it in a place called PARAMAPADHA, which place is not
material, but made of Suddasatwa (the essence, of which the body of Iswara --
"the Lord" -- is formed). There, Muktas or Jivatmas (Monads) who have
attained Moksha, are never again subject to the qualities of either matter or
Karma. "But if they choose, for the sake of doing good to the world, they
may incarnate on Earth."* The way to Paramapadha, or the immaterial
worlds, from this world, is called Devayana. When a person has attained Moksha
and the body dies:--
"The
Jiva (Soul) goes with Sukshma Sarira** from the heart of the body, to the
Brahmarandra in the crown of the head, traversing Sushumna, a nerve connecting
the heart with the Brahmarandra. The Jiva breaks through the Brahmarandra and
goes to the region of the Sun (Suryamandala) through the solar Rays. Then it
goes, through a dark spot in the Sun, to Paramapadha. The Jiva is directed on
its way by the Supreme Wisdom acquired by Yoga.*** The Jiva thus proceeds to
Paramapadha by the aid of Athivahikas (bearers in transit), known by the names
of Archi-Ahas . . . Aditya, Prajapati, etc. The Archis here mentioned are
certain pure Souls, etc., etc." (Visishtadwaita Catechism, by Pundit
Bhashyacharya, F.T.S.)
No
Spirit except the "Recorders" (Lipika) has ever crossed its forbidden
line, nor will any do so until the day of the next Pralaya, for it is the
boundary that separates the finite -- however infinite in man's sight -- from
the truly INFINITE. The Spirits referred to, therefore, as those who
"ascend and descend" are the "Hosts" of what we loosely
call "celestial Beings." But they are, in fact, nothing of the kind.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
These voluntary re-incarnations are referred to in our Doctrine as Nirmanakayas
(the surviving spiritual principles of men).
**
Sukshma-sarira, "dream-like" illusive body, with which are clothed
the inferior Dhyanis of the celestial Hierarchy.
***
Compare this esoteric tenet with the Gnostic doctrine found in
"Pistis-Sophia" (Knowledge = Wisdom), in which treatise Sophia
Achamoth is shown lost in the waters of Chaos (matter), on her way to Supreme
Light, and Christos delivering and helping her on the right Path. Note well,
"Christos" with the Gnostics meant the impersonal principal, the
Atman of the Universe, and the Atma within every man's soul -- not Jesus;
though in the old Coptic MSS. in the British Museum "Christos" is
almost constantly replaced by "Jesus."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 133 THE GOD OF MAN AND THE GOD OF THE ANT.
They
are Entities of the higher worlds in the hierarchy of Being, so immeasurably
high that, to us, they must appear as Gods, and collectively -- GOD. But so we,
mortal men, must appear to the ant, which reasons on the scale of its special
capacities. The ant may also, for all we know, see the avenging finger of a
personal God in the hand of the urchin who, in one moment, under the impulse of
mischief, destroys its anthill, the labour of many weeks -- long years in the
chronology of insects. The ant, feeling it acutely, and attributing the
undeserved calamity to a combination of Providence and sin, may also, like man,
see in it the result of the sin of its first parent. Who knows and who can
affirm or deny? The refusal to admit in the whole Solar system of any other
reasonable and intellectual beings on the human plane, than ourselves, is the
greatest conceit of our age. All that science has a right to affirm, is that
there are no invisible Intelligences living under the same conditions as we do.
It cannot deny point-blank the possibility of there being worlds within worlds,
under totally different conditions to those that constitute the nature of our
world; nor can it deny that there may be a certain limited communication*
between some of those worlds and our own. To the highest, we are taught, belong
the seven orders of the purely divine Spirits; to the six lower ones belong
hierarchies that can occasionally be seen and heard by men, and who do
communicate with their progeny of the Earth; which progeny is indissolubly
linked with them, each principle in man having its direct source in the nature
of those great Beings, who furnish us with the respective invisible elements in
us. Physical Science is welcome to speculate upon the physiological mechanism
of living beings, and to continue her fruitless efforts in trying to resolve
our feelings, our sensations, mental and spiritual, into functions of their
inorganic vehicles. Nevertheless, all that will ever be accomplished in this
direction has already been done, and Science will go no farther.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
The greatest philosopher of European birth, Imanuel Kant, assures us that such
a communication is in no way improbable. "I confess I am much disposed to
assert the existence of Immaterial natures in the world, and to place my own
soul in the class of these beings. It will hereafter, I know not where, or
when, yet be proved that the human soul stands even in this life in indissoluble
connection with all immaterial natures in the spirit-world, that it
reciprocally acts upon these and receives impressions from them." (Traume
eines Geistersehers, quoted by C. C. Massey, in his preface to Von Hartmann's
"Spiritismus.")
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[[Vol.
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She
is before a dead wall, on the face of which she traces, as she imagines, great
physiological and psychic discoveries, but every one of which will be shown later
on to be no better than the cobwebs spun by her scientific fancies and
illusions. The tissues of our objective framework alone are subservient to the
analysis and researches of physiological science.* The six higher principles in
them will evade for ever the hand that is guided by an animus that purposely
ignores and rejects the Occult Sciences.
The
"Great Day of BE-WITH-US," then, is an expression the only merit of
which lies in its literal translation. Its significance is not so easily
revealed to a public, unacquainted with the mystic tenets of Occultism, or
rather of Esoteric Wisdom or "Budhism." It is an expression peculiar
to the latter, and as hazy for the profane as that of the Egyptians who called
the same the "Day of COME-TO-US,"** which
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
E.g., all that modern physiological research in connection with psychological
problems has, and owing to the nature of things, could have shown, is, that
every thought, sensation, and emotion is attended with a re-marshalling of the
molecules of certain nerves. The inference drawn by scientists of the type of
Buchner, Vogt, and others, that thought is molecular motion, necessitates a
complete abstraction being made of the fact of our subjective consciousness.
**
See "Le Livre des Morts," by Paul Pierret; "Le Jour de 'Viens a
nous' . . . c'est le jour ou Osiris a dit au Soleil: Viens! Je le vois
rencontrant le Soleil dans l'Amenti." (Chap. xvii., p. 61.) The Sun here
stands for the Logos (or Christos, or Horus) as central Essence synthetically,
and as a diffused essence of radiated Entities, different in substance, but not
in essence. As expressed by the Bhagavadgita lecturer, "it must not be
supposed that the Logos is but a single centre of energy manifested from
Parabrahmam; there are innumerable other centres . . . and their number is
almost infinite in the bosom of Parabrahmam." Hence the expressions,
"The Day of Come to us" and "The Day of Be with us," etc.
Just as the square is the Symbol of the Four sacred Forces or Powers --
Tetraktis -- so the Circle shows the boundary within the Infinity that no man
can cross, even in spirit, nor Deva nor Dhyan Chohan. The Spirits of those who
"descend and ascend" during the course of cyclic evolution shall
cross the "iron-bound world" only on the day of their approach to the
threshold of Paranirvana. If they reach it -- they will rest in the bosom of
Parabrahmam, or the "Unknown Darkness," which shall then become for
all of them Light -- during the whole period of Mahapralaya, the "Great
NIGHT," namely, 311,040,000,000,000 years of absorption in Brahm. The day
of "Be-With-Us" is this period of rest or Paranirvana. See also for
other data on this peculiar expression, the day of "Come-To-Us," The
Funerary Ritual of the Egyptians, by Viscount de Rouge. It corresponds to the
Day of the Last Judgment of the Christians, which has been sorely materialised
by their religion.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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is
identical with the former, though the verb "be" in this sense, might
be still better replaced with either of the two words "Remain" or
"Rest-with-us," as it refers to that long period of REST which is
called Paranirvana. As in the exoteric interpretation of the Egyptian rites the
soul of every defunct person -- from the Hierophant down to the sacred bull
Apis -- became an Osiris, was Osirified, though the Secret Doctrine had always
taught, that the real Osirification was the lot of every Monad only after 3,000
cycles of Existences; so in the present case. The "Monad," born of
the nature and the very Essence of the "Seven" (its highest principle
becoming immediately enshrined in the Seventh Cosmic Element), has to perform its
septenary gyration throughout the Cycle of Being and forms, from the highest to
the lowest; and then again from man to God. At the threshold of Paranirvana it
reassumes its primeval Essence and becomes the Absolute once more.
---------------------
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[[Vol.
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STANZA
VI.
1.
BY THE POWER OF THE MOTHER OF MERCY AND KNOWLEDGE (a), KWAN-YIN,* THE
"TRIPLE" OF KWAN-SHAI-YIN, RESIDING IN KWAN-YIN-TIEN (b), FOHAT, THE
BREATH OF THEIR PROGENY, THE SON OF THE SONS, HAVING CALLED FORTH FROM THE
LOWER ABYSS (chaos) THE ILLUSIVE FORM OF SIEN-TCHAN (our Universe) AND THE
SEVEN ELEMENTS:--
(a.)
The Mother of Mercy and Knowledge is called "the triple" of
Kwan-Shai-Yin because in her correlations, metaphysical and cosmical, she is
the "Mother, the Wife and the Daughter" of the Logos, just as in the
later theological translations she became "the Father, Son and (the
female) Holy Ghost" -- the Sakti or Energy -- the Essence of the three.
Thus in the Esotericism of the Vedantins, Daiviprakriti, the Light manifested
through Eswara, the Logos,** is at one and the same time the Mother and also
the Daughter of the Logos or Verbum of Parabrahmam; while in that of the
trans-Himalayan teachings it is -- in the hierarchy of allegorical and
metaphysical theogony -- "the MOTHER" or abstract, ideal matter,
Mulaprakriti, the Root of Nature; -- from the metaphysical standpoint, a
correlation of Adi-Bhuta, manifested in the Logos, Avalokiteshwara; -- and from
the purely occult and
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
This stanza is translated from the Chinese text, and the names, as the
equivalents of the original terms, are preserved. The real esoteric nomenclature
cannot be given, as it would only confuse the reader. The Brahmanical doctrine
has no equivalent to these. Vach seems, in many an aspect, to approach the
Chinese Kwan-yin, but there is no regular worship of Vach under this name in
India, as there is of Kwan-Yin in China. No exoteric religious system has ever
adopted a female Creator, and thus woman was regarded and treated, from the
first dawn of popular religions, as inferior to man. It is only in China and
Egypt that Kwan-Yin and Isis were placed on a par with the male gods.
Esotericism ignores both sexes. Its highest Deity is sexless as it is formless,
neither Father nor Mother; and its first manifested beings, celestial and
terrestrial alike, become only gradually androgynous and finally separate into
distinct sexes.
**
The "Theosophist" of February, 1887, p. 305, first lecture on the
Bhagavadgita.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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Cosmical,
Fohat,* the "Son of the Son," the androgynous energy resulting from
this "Light of the Logos," and which manifests in the plane of the
objective Universe as the hidden, as much as the revealed, Electricity -- which
is LIFE.
(b)
Kwan-Yin-Tien means the "melodious heaven of Sound," the abode of
Kwan-Yin, or the "Divine Voice" literally. This "Voice" is
a synonym of the Verbum or the Word: "Speech," as the expression of
thought. Thus may be traced the connection with, and even the origin of the
Hebrew Bath-Kol, the "daughter of the Divine Voice," or Verbum, or
the male and female Logos, the "Heavenly Man" or Adam Kadmon, who is
at the same time Sephira. The latter was surely anticipated by the Hindu Vach,
the goddess of Speech, or of the Word. For Vach -- the daughter and the female
portion, as is stated, of Brahma, one "generated by the gods" -- is,
in company with Kwan-Yin, with Isis (also the daughter, wife and sister of
Osiris) and other goddesses, the female Logos, so to speak, the goddess of the
active forces in Nature, the Word, Voice or Sound, and Speech. If Kwan-Yin is
the "melodious Voice," so is Vach; "the melodious cow who milked
forth sustenance and water" (the female principle) -- "who yields us
nourishment and sustenance," as Mother-Nature. She is associated in the
work of creation with the Prajapati. She is male and female ad libitum, as Eve
is with Adam. And she is a form of Aditi -- the principle higher than Ether --
in Akasa, the synthesis of all the forces in Nature; thus Vach and Kwan-Yin are
both the magic potency of Occult sound in Nature and Ether -- which
"Voice" calls forth Sien-Tchan, the illusive form of the Universe out
of Chaos and the Seven Elements.
Thus
in Manu Brahma (the Logos also) is shown dividing his body into two parts, male
and female, and creating in the latter, who is Vach, Viraj, who is himself, or
Brahma again -- it is in this way a learned Vedantin Occultist speaks of that
"goddess," explaining the reason why Eswara (or Brahma) is called
Verbum or Logos; why in fact it is called Sabda Brahmam:--
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Says the lecturer on p. 306: "Evolution is commenced by the intellectual
energy of the Logos, not merely on account of the potentialities locked up in
Mulaprakriti. This light of the Logos is the link . . . between objective
matter and the subjective thought of Eswara (or Logos). It is called in several
Buddhist books Fohat. It is the one instrument with which the Logos
works."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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"The
explanation I am going to give you will appear thoroughly mystical; but if
mystical, it has a tremendous significance when properly understood. Our old
writers said that Vach is of four kinds (see Rig Veda and the Upanishads).
Vaikhari-Vach is what we utter. Every kind of Vaikhari-Vach exists in its
Madhyama, further in its Pasyanti, and ultimately in its Para form.* The reason
why this Pranava is called Vach is this, that the four principles of the great
Kosmos correspond to these four forms of Vach. Now the whole manifested solar
System exists in its Sukshma form in the light or energy of the Logos, because
its energy is caught up and transferred to Cosmic matter. . . . The whole
Kosmos in its objective form is Vaikhari-Vach, the light of the Logos is the
Madhyama form, and the Logos itself the Pasyanti form, and Parabrahm the Para
form or aspect of that Vach. It is by the light of this explanation that we
must try to understand certain statements made by various philosophers to the
effect that the manifested Kosmos is the Verbum manifested as Kosmos" (see
Lecture on the Bhagavadgita, referred to above).
-------
STANZA
VI. -- (Continued.)
2.
THE SWIFT AND THE RADIANT ONE PRODUCES THE SEVEN Layu** (a) CENTRES, AGAINST
WHICH NONE WILL PREVAIL TO THE GREAT DAY "BE WITH US" -- AND SEATS
THE UNIVERSE ON THESE ETERNAL FOUNDATIONS, SURROUNDING SIEN-TCHAN WITH THE
ELEMENTARY GERMS (b).
(a.)
The seven Layu centres are the seven Zero points, using the term Zero in the
same sense that Chemists do, to indicate a point at which, in Esotericism, the
scale of reckoning of differentiation begins. From the Centres -- beyond which
Esoteric philosophy allows us to perceive the dim metaphysical outlines of the
"Seven Sons" of Life and Light, the Seven Logoi of the Hermetic and
all other philosophers -- begins
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Madhya is said of something whose commencement and end are unknown, and Para
means infinite. These expressions all relate to infinitude and to division of
time.
**
From the Sanskrit Laya, the point of matter where every differentiation has
ceased.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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the
differentiation of the elements which enter into the constitution of our Solar
System. It has often been asked what was the exact definition of Fohat and his
powers and functions, as he seems to exercise those of a Personal God as
understood in the popular religions. The answer has just been given in the
comment on Stanza V. As well said in the Bhagavadgita Lectures, "The whole
Kosmos must necessarily exist in the One Source of energy from which this light
(Fohat) emanates." Whether we count the principles in Kosmos and man as
seven or only as four, the forces of, and in, physical Nature are Seven; and it
is stated by the same authority that "Pragna, or the capacity of
perception, exists in seven different aspects corresponding to the seven
conditions of matter" (Personal and impersonal God). For, "just as a
human being is composed of seven principles, differentiated matter in the Solar
System exists in seven different conditions" (ibid). So does Fohat.* He is
One and Seven, and on the Cosmic plane is behind all such manifestations as
light, heat, sound, adhesion, etc., etc., and is the "spirit" of
ELECTRICITY, which is the LIFE of the Universe. As an abstraction, we call it
the ONE LIFE; as an objective and evident Reality, we speak of a septenary
scale of manifestation, which begins at the upper rung with the One Unknowable
CAUSALITY, and ends as Omnipresent Mind and Life immanent in every atom of
Matter. Thus, while science speaks of its evolution through brute matter, blind
force, and senseless motion, the Occultists point to intelligent LAW and
sentient LIFE, and add that Fohat is the guiding Spirit of all this. Yet he is
no personal god at all, but the emanation of those other Powers behind him whom
the Christians call the "Messengers" of their God (who is in reality
only the Elohim, or rather one of the Seven Creators called Elohim), and we,
the "Messenger of the primordial Sons of Life and Light."
(b.)
The "Elementary Germs" with which he fills Sien-Tchan (the
"Universe") from Tien-Sin (the "Heaven of Mind," literally,
or that which is absolute) are the Atoms of Science and the Monads of Leibnitz.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Fohat" has several meanings. (See Stanza V., Commentary et infra).
He is called the "Builder of the Builders," the Force that he
personifies having formed our Septenary chain.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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STANZA
VI. -- Continued.
3.
OF THE SEVEN (elements) -- FIRST ONE MANIFESTED, SIX CONCEALED; TWO MANIFESTED
-- FIVE CONCEALED; THREE MANIFESTED -- FOUR CONCEALED; FOUR PRODUCED -- THREE
HIDDEN; FOUR AND ONE TSAN (fraction) REVEALED -- TWO AND ONE HALF CONCEALED;
SIX TO BE MANIFESTED -- ONE LAID ASIDE (a). LASTLY, SEVEN SMALL WHEELS
REVOLVING; ONE GIVING BIRTH TO THE OTHER (b).
(a.)
Although these Stanzas refer to the whole Universe after a Mahapralaya
(universal destruction), yet this sentence, as any student of Occultism may
see, refers also by analogy to the evolution and final formation of the
primitive (though compound) Seven Elements on our Earth. Of these, four
elements are now fully manifested, while the fifth -- Ether -- is only
partially so, as we are hardly in the second half of the Fourth Round, and
consequently the fifth Element will manifest fully only in the Fifth Round. The
Worlds, including our own, were of course, as germs, primarily evolved from the
ONE Element in its second stage ("Father-Mother," the differentiated
World's Soul, not what is termed the "Over-Soul" by Emerson), whether
we call it, with modern Science, Cosmic dust and Fire Mist, or with Occultism --
Akasa, Jivatma, divine Astral Light, or the "Soul of the World." But
this first stage of Evolution was in due course of time followed by the next.
No world, as no heavenly body, could be constructed on the objective plane, had
not the Elements been sufficiently differentiated already from their primeval
Ilus, resting in Laya. The latter term is a synonym of Nirvana. It is, in fact,
the Nirvanic dissociation of all substances, merged after a life-cycle into the
latency of their primary conditions. It is the luminous but bodiless shadow of
the matter that was, the realm of negativeness -- wherein lie latent during
their period of rest the active Forces of the Universe. Now, speaking of
Elements, it is made the standing reproach of the Ancients, that they "supposed
their Elements simple and undecomposable."* Once more this is an
unwarrantable state-
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
The shades of our pre-historical ancestors might return the compliment to
modern physicists, now that new discoveries in chemistry have led Mr. Crookes,
F.R.S., to admit that Science is yet a thousand leagues from the knowledge of
the compound nature of the simplest molecule. From him we learn that such a
thing as a really simple [[Footnote continued on next page]]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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ment;
as, at any rate, their initiated philosophers can hardly come under such an imputation,
since it is they who have invented allegories and religious myths from the
beginning. Had they been ignorant of the Heterogeneity of their Elements they
would have had no personifications of Fire, Air, Water, Earth, and AEther;
their Cosmic gods and goddesses would never have been blessed with such
posterity, with so many sons and daughters, elements born from and within each
respective Element. Alchemy and occult phenomena would have been a delusion and
a snare, even in theory, had the Ancients been ignorant of the potentialities
and correlative functions and attributes of every element that enters into the
composition of Air, Water, Earth, and even Fire -- the latter a terra incognita
to this day to modern Science, which is obliged to call it Motion, evolution of
light and heat, state of ignition, -- defining it by its outward aspects in
short, and remaining ignorant of its nature. But that which
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] molecule entirely homogeneous is terra incognita
in chemistry. "Where are we to draw the line?" he asks; "is
there no way out of this perplexity? Must we either make the elementary
examinations so stiff that only 60 or 70 candidates can pass, or must we open
the examination doors so wide that the number of admissions is limited only by
the number of applicants?" And then the learned gentleman gives striking
instances. He says: "Take the case of yttrium. It has its definite atomic
weight, it behaved in every respect as a simple body, an element, to which we
might indeed add, but from which we could not take away. Yet this yttrium, this
supposed homogeneous whole, on being submitted to a certain method of
fractionation, is resolved into portions not absolutely identical among
themselves, and exhibiting a gradation of properties. Or take the case of
didymium. Here was a body betraying all the recognised characters of an
element. It had been separated with much difficulty from other bodies which
approximated closely to it in their properties, and during this crucial process
it had undergone very severe treatment and very close scrutiny. But then came
another chemist, who, treating this assumed homogeneous body by a peculiar
process of fractionation, resolved it into the two bodies praseodymium and
neodymium, between which certain distinctions are perceptible. Further, we even
now have no certainty that neodymium and praseodymium are simple bodies. On the
contrary, they likewise exhibit symptoms of splitting up. Now, if one supposed
element on proper treatment is thus found to comprise dissimilar molecules, we
are surely warranted in asking whether similar results might not be obtained in
other elements, perhaps in all elements, if treated in the right way. We may
even ask where the process of sorting-out is to stop -- a process which of
course pre-supposes variations between the individual molecules of each
species. And in these successive separations we naturally find bodies
approaching more and more closely to each other." (Presidential address
before the Royal Society of Chemists, March, 1888.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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modern
Science seems to fail to perceive is that, differentiated as may have been
those simple chemical atoms -- which archaic philosophy called "the
creators of their respective Parents," fathers, brothers, husbands of
their mothers, and those mothers the daughters of their own sons, like Aditi
and Daksha, for example -- differentiated as these elements were in the
beginning, still, they were not the compound bodies known to science, as they
are now. Neither Water, Air, Earth (synonym for solids generally) existed in
their present form, representing the three states of matter alone recognised by
Science; for all these are the productions already recombined by the
atmospheres of globes completely formed -- even to fire -- so that in the first
periods of the earth's formation they were something quite sui generis. Now
that the conditions and laws ruling our solar system are fully developed; and
that the atmosphere of our earth, as of every other globe, has become, so to
say, a crucible of its own, Occult Science teaches that there is a perpetual
exchange taking place in space of molecules, or of atoms rather, correlating,
and thus changing their combining equivalents on every planet. Some men of
Science, and those among the greatest physicists and chemists, begin to suspect
this fact, which has been known for ages to the Occultists. The spectroscope
only shows the probable similarity (on external evidence) of terrestrial and
sidereal substance; it is unable to go any farther, or to show whether atoms
gravitate towards one another in the same way and under the same conditions as
they are supposed to do on our planet, physically and chemically. The scale of
temperature, from the highest degree to the lowest that can be conceived of,
may be imagined to be one and the same in and for the whole Universe; nevertheless,
its properties, other than those of dissociation and reassociation, differ on
every planet; and thus atoms enter into new forms of existence, undreamt of,
and incognizable to, physical Science. As already expressed in "Five Years
of Theosophy," the essence of Cometary matter, for instance, "is
totally different from any of the chemical or physical characteristics with
which the greatest chemists and physicists of the earth are acquainted"
(p. 242). And even that matter, during rapid passage through our atmosphere,
undergoes a certain change in its nature. Thus not alone the elements of our
planets, but even those of all its sisters in the Solar System, differ as
widely from each other in their combinations, as from the Cosmic elements
beyond our
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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Solar
limits.* Therefore, they cannot be taken as a standard for comparison with the
same in other worlds.** Enshrined in their virgin, pristine state within the
bosom of the Eternal Mother, every atom born beyond the threshold of her realm
is doomed to incessant differentiation. "The Mother sleeps, yet is ever
breathing." And every breath sends out into the plane of manifestation her
Protean products, which, carried on by the wave of the efflux, are scattered by
Fohat, and driven toward and beyond this or another planetary atmosphere. Once
caught by the latter, the atom is lost; its pristine purity is gone for ever,
unless Fate dissociates it by leading it to "a current of EFFLUX" (an
occult term meaning quite a different process from that which the ordinary term
implies); when it may be carried once more to the borderland where it had
perished, and taking its flight, not into Space above but into Space within, it
will be brought under a state of differential equilibrium and happily
re-absorbed. Were a truly learned Occultist-alchemist to write the "Life
and Adventures of an Atom" he would secure thereby the eternal scorn of the
modern chemist, perchance also his subsequent
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
This is again corroborated by the same man of science in the same lecture, who
quotes Clerk Maxwell, saying "that the elements are not absolutely homogeneous."
He writes: "It is difficult to conceive of selection and elimination of
intermediate varieties, for where can these eliminated molecules have gone to,
if, as we have reason to believe, the hydrogen, &c. of the fixed stars is
composed of molecules identical in all respects with our own." And he
adds: "In the first place we may call in question this absolute molecular
identity, since we have hitherto had no means for coming to a conclusion save
the means furnished by the spectroscope, while it is admitted that, for
accurately comparing and discriminating the spectra of two bodies, they should
be examined under identical states of temperature, pressure, and all other
physical conditions. We have certainly seen, in the spectrum of the sun, rays
which we have not been able to identify."
**
"Each world has its Fohat, who is omnipresent in his own sphere of action.
But there are as many Fohats as there are worlds, each varying in power and
degree of manifestations. The individual Fohats make one Universal, Collective
Fohat -- the aspect-Entity of the one absolute Non-Entity, which is absolute
Be-Ness, 'SAT.' "Millions and billions of worlds are produced at every
Manvantara" -- it is said. Therefore there must be many Fohats, whom we
consider as conscious and intelligent Forces. This, no doubt, to the disgust of
scientific minds. Nevertheless the Occultists, who have good reasons for it,
consider all the forces of Nature as veritable, though supersensuous, states of
Matter; and as possible objects of perception to Beings endowed with the
requisite senses.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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gratitude.*
However it may be, "The Breath of the Father-Mother issues cold and
radiant and gets hot and corrupt, to cool once more, and be purified in the
eternal bosom of inner Space," says the Commentary. Man absorbs cold pure
air on the mountain-top, and throws it out impure, hot and transformed. Thus --
the higher atmosphere being the mouth, and the lower one the lungs of every
globe -- the man of our planet breathes only the refuse of "Mother";
therefore, "he is doomed to die on it."**
(b)
The process referred to as "the small wheels giving birth, one to the
other," takes place in the sixth region from above, and on the plane of
the most material world of all in the manifested Kosmos -- our terrestrial
plane. These "Seven Wheels" are our planetary chain (see Commentary
Nos. 5 and 6). By "Wheels" the various spheres and centres of forces
are generally meant; but in this case they refer to our septenary ring.
-------
STANZA
VI. -- Continued.
4.
HE BUILDS THEM IN THE LIKENESS OF OLDER WHEELS (worlds), PLACING THEM ON THE
IMPERISHABLE CENTRES (a).
HOW
DOES FOHAT BUILD THEM? HE COLLECTS THE FIERY DUST. HE MAKES BALLS OF FIRE, RUNS
THROUGH THEM AND ROUND THEM, INFUSING LIFE THEREINTO; THEN SETS THEM INTO
MOTION, SOME ONE, SOME THE OTHER WAY. THEY ARE COLD -- HE MAKES THEM HOT. THEY
ARE DRY -- HE MAKES THEM MOIST. THEY SHINE -- HE FANS AND COOLS THEM (b).
THUS
ACTS FOHAT FROM ONE Twilight TO THE OTHER DURING SEVEN ETERNITIES.***
(a)
The Worlds are built "in the likeness of older Wheels" -- i.e., those
that existed in preceding Manvantaras and went into Pralaya,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Indeed, if such an imaginary Chemist happened to be intuitional, and would for
a moment step out of the habitual groove of strictly "Exact Science,"
as the Alchemists of old did, he might be repaid for his audacity.
**
He who would allotropise sluggish oxygen into Ozone to a measure of alchemical
activity, reducing it to its pure essence (for which there are means), would
discover thereby a substitute for an "Elixir of Life" and prepare it
for practical use.
***
A period of 311,040,000,000,000 years, according to Brahminical calculations.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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because
the LAW for the birth, growth, and decay of everything in Kosmos, from the Sun
to the glow-worm in the grass, is ONE. It is an everlasting work of perfection
with every new appearance, but the Substance-Matter and Forces are all one and
the same. But this LAW acts on every planet through minor and varying laws. The
"imperishable Laya Centres" have a great importance, and their
meaning must be fully understood if we would have a clear conception of the
Archaic Cosmogony, whose theories have now passed into Occultism. At present,
one thing may be stated. The worlds are built neither upon, nor over, nor in
the Laya centres, the zero-point being a condition, not any mathematical point.
(b)
Bear in mind that Fohat, the constructive Force of Cosmic Electricity, is said,
metaphorically, to have sprung like Rudra from Brahma "from the brain of
the Father and the bosom of the Mother," and then to have metamorphosed
himself into a male and a female, i.e., polarity, into positive and negative
electricity. He has seven sons who are his brothers; and Fohat is forced to be
born time after time whenever any two of his son-brothers indulge in too close
contact -- whether an embrace or a fight. To avoid this, he binds together and
unites those of unlike nature and separates those of similar temperaments.
This, of course, relates, as any one can see, to electricity generated by
friction and to the law involving attraction between two objects of unlike, and
repulsion between those of like polarity. The Seven "Sons-brothers," however,
represent and personify the seven forms of Cosmic magnetism called in practical
Occultism the "Seven Radicals," whose co-operative and active progeny
are, among other energies, Electricity, Magnetism, Sound, Light, Heat,
Cohesion, etc. Occult Science defines all these as Super-sensuous effects in
their hidden behaviour, and as objective phenomena in the world of senses; the
former requiring abnormal faculties to perceive them -- the latter, our
ordinary physical senses. They all pertain to, and are the emanations of, still
more supersensuous spiritual qualities, not personated by, but belonging to,
real and conscious CAUSES. To attempt a description of such ENTITIES would be
worse than useless. The reader must bear in mind that, according to our
teaching which regards this phenomenal Universe as a great Illusion, the nearer
a body is to the UNKNOWN SUBSTANCE, the more it approaches reality, as being
removed the farther
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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from
this world of Maya. Therefore, though the molecular constitution of their
bodies is not deducible from their manifestations on this plane of
consciousness, they nevertheless (from the standpoint of the adept Occultist)
possess a distinctive objective if not material structure, in the relatively
noumenal -- as opposed to the phenomenal -- Universe. Men of science may term
them Force or Forces generated by matter, or "modes of its motion,"
if they will; Occultism sees in the effects "Elemental" (forces),
and, in the direct causes producing them, intelligent DIVINE Workmen. The
intimate connection of those Elementals (guided by the unerring hand of the
Rulers) -- their correlation we might call it -- with the elements of pure
Matter, results in our terrestrial phenomena, such as light, heat, magnetism,
etc., etc. Of course we shall never agree with the American Substantialists*
who call every Force and Energy -- whether Light, Heat, Electricity or Cohesion
-- an "Entity"; for this would be equivalent to calling the noise
produced by the rolling of the wheels of a vehicle an Entity -- thus confusing
and identifying that "noise" with the driver outside, and the guiding
Master Intelligence within the vehicle. But we certainly give that name to the
"drivers" and to these guiding Intelligences -- the ruling Dhyan
Chohans, as shown. The "Elementals," the Nature-Forces, are the
acting, though invisible, or rather imperceptible, secondary Causes and in
themselves the effects of primary Causes behind the Veil of all terrestrial
phenomena. Electricity, light, heat, etc., have been aptly termed the
"Ghost or Shadow of Matter in Motion," i.e., supersensuous states of
matter whose effects only we are able to cognize. To expand, then, the simile
given above. The sensation of light is like the sound of the rolling wheels --
a purely phenomenal effect, having no existence outside the observer; the
proximate exciting cause of the sensation is comparable to the driver -- a
supersensuous state of matter in motion, a Nature-Force or Elemental. But,
behind even this, stand -- just as the owner of the carriage directs the driver
from within -- the higher and noumenal causes, the Intelligences from whose
essence radiate these States of "Mother," generating the countless
milliards of Elementals or psychic Nature-Spirits, just as every drop of water
generates its physical
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
See "Scientific Arena," a monthly Journal devoted to current philosophical
teaching and its bearing upon the religious thought of the Age. New York: A.
Wilford Hall, Ph.D., LL.D., Editor. (1886, July, August, and September.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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infinitesimal
Infusoria. (See "Gods, Monads, and Atoms," in Part III.) It is Fohat
who guides the transfer of the principles from one planet to the other, from
one star to another -- child-star. When a planet dies, its informing principles
are transferred to a laya or sleeping centre, with potential but latent energy
in it, which is thus awakened into life and begins to form itself into a new
sidereal body. (Vide infra, "A Few Theosophical Misconceptions, etc.")
It
is most remarkable that, while honestly confessing their entire ignorance of
the true Nature of even terrestrial matter -- primordial substance being
regarded more as a dream than as a sober reality -- the physicists should set
themselves up as judges, nevertheless, of that matter, and claim to know what
it is able and is not able to do, in various combinations. Scientists know it
(matter) hardly skin-deep, and yet they will dogmatise. It is "a mode of
motion" and nothing else. But the force that is inherent in a living
person's breath, when blowing a speck of dust from the table, is also, and
undeniably, "a mode of motion"; and it is as undeniably not a quality
of the matter, or the particles of that speck, and it emanates from the living
and thinking Entity that breathed, whether the impulse originated consciously
or unconsciously. Indeed, to endow matter -- something of which nothing is
known so far -- with an inherent quality called Force, of the nature of which
still less is known, is to create a far more serious difficulty than that which
lies in the acceptation of the intervention of our "Nature-Spirits"
in every natural phenomenon.
The
Occultists, who do not say -- if they would express themselves correctly --
that matter, but only the substance or essence of matter, is indestructible and
eternal, (i.e., the Root of all, Mulaprakriti): assert that all the so-called
Forces of Nature, Electricity, Magnetism, Light, Heat, etc., etc., far from
being modes of motion of material particles, are in esse, i.e., in their
ultimate constitution, the differentiated aspects of that Universal Motion
which is discussed and explained in the first pages of this volume (See Proem).
When Fohat is said to produce "Seven Laya Centres," it means that for
formative or creative purposes, the GREAT LAW (Theists may call it God) stops,
or rather modifies its perpetual motion on seven invisible points within the
area of the manifested Universe. "The great Breath digs through Space
seven holes into Laya to cause them to circumgyrate during Manvantara"
(Occult Catechism). We
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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have
said that Laya is what Science may call the Zero-point or line; the realm of
absolute negativeness, or the one real absolute Force, the NOUMENON of the
Seventh State of that which we ignorantly call and recognise as
"Force"; or again the Noumenon of Undifferentiated Cosmic Substance
which is itself an unreachable and unknowable object to finite perception; the
root and basis of all states of objectivity and subjectivity too; the neutral
axis, not one of the many aspects, but its centre. It may serve to elucidate
the meaning if we attempt to imagine a neutral centre -- the dream of those who
would discover perpetual motion. A "neutral centre" is, in one
aspect, the limiting point of any given set of senses. Thus, imagine two
consecutive planes of matter as already formed; each of these corresponding to
an appropriate set of perceptive organs. We are forced to admit that between
these two planes of matter an incessant circulation takes place; and if we
follow the atoms and molecules of (say) the lower in their transformation
upwards, these will come to a point where they pass altogether beyond the range
of the faculties we are using on the lower plane. In fact, to us the matter of
the lower plane there vanishes from our perception into nothing -- or rather it
passes on to the higher plane, and the state of matter corresponding to such a
point of transition must certainly possess special and not readily discoverable
properties. Such "Seven Neutral Centres,"* then, are produced by
Fohat, who, when, as Milton has it --
"Fair
foundations (are) laid whereon to build . . ."
quickens
matter into activity and evolution.
The
Primordial Atom (anu) cannot be multiplied either in its pregenetic state, or
its primogeneity; therefore it is called "SUM TOTAL," figuratively,
of course, as that "SUM TOTAL" is boundless. (See Addendum to this
Book.) That which is the abyss of nothingness to the physicist, who knows only
the world of visible causes and effects, is the boundless Space of the Divine
Plenum to the Occultist. Among many other objections to the doctrine of an
endless evolution and re-involution (or re-absorption) of the Kosmos, a process
which, according to the Brahminical and Esoteric Doctrine, is without a
beginning or an end, the Occultist is told that it cannot be, since "by
all the admissions of
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Such, we believe, is the name applied by Mr. Keely, of Philadelphia, the
inventor of the famous "Motor" -- destined, as his admirers have
hoped, to revolutionise the motor power of the world -- to what he again calls
the "Etheric Centres."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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modern
scientific philosophy it is a necessity of Nature to run down." If the
tendency of Nature "to run down" is to be considered so forcible an
objection to Occult Cosmogony, "How," we may ask, "do your
Positivists and Free-thinkers and Scientists account for the phalanx around us
of active stellar systems?" They had eternity to "run down" in;
why, then, is not the Kosmos a huge inert mass? Even the moon is only
hypothetically believed to be a dead planet, "run down," and
astronomy does not seem to be acquainted with many such dead planets.* The
query is unanswerable. But apart from this it must be noted that the idea of the
amount of "transformable energy" in our little system coming to an
end is based purely on the fallacious conception of a "white-hot,
incandescent Sun" perpetually radiating away his heat without compensation
into Space. To this we reply that nature runs down and disappears from the
objective plane, only to re-emerge after a time of rest out of the subjective
and to reascend once more. Our Kosmos and Nature will run down only to reappear
on a more perfect plane after every PRALAYA. The matter of the Eastern
philosophers is not the "matter" and Nature of the Western
metaphysicians. For what is Matter? And above all, what is our scientific
philosophy but that which was so justly and so politely defined by Kant as
"the Science of the limits to our Knowledge"? Where have the many
attempts made by Science to bind, to connect, and define all the phenomena of
organic life by mere physical and chemical manifestations, brought it to? To
speculation generally -- mere soap-bubbles, that burst one after the other before
the men of Science were permitted to discover real facts. All this would have
been avoided, and the progress of knowledge would have proceeded with gigantic
strides, had only Science and its philosophy abstained from accepting
hypotheses on the mere one-sided Knowledge of their Matter.**
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
The moon is dead only so far as regards her inner "principles" --
i.e., psychically and spiritually, however absurd the statement may seem.
Physically, she is only as a semi-paralysed body may be. She is aptly referred
to in Occultism as the "insane mother," the great sidereal lunatic.
**
The instance of Uranus and Neptune, whose satellites, four and one
respectively, revolved, it was thought, in their orbits from East to West,
whereas all the other satellites rotate from West to East, is a very good one,
as showing how unreliable are all a priori speculations even when based on the
strictest mathematical analysis. The famous hypothesis of the formation of our
Solar System out of the nebulous rings, put [[Footnote continued on next page]]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 150 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
If
no physical intellect is capable of counting the grains of sand covering a few
miles of sea-shore; or to fathom the ultimate nature and essence of those
grains, palpable and visible on the palm of the naturalist, how can any
materialist limit the laws changing the conditions and being of the atoms in primordial
chaos, or know anything certain about the capabilities and potency of their
atoms and molecules before and after their formation into worlds? These
changeless and eternal molecules -- far thicker in space than the grains on the
ocean shore -- may differ in their constitution along the line of their planes
of existence, as the soul-substance differs from its vehicle, the body. Each
atom has seven planes of being or existence, we are taught; and each plane is
governed by its specific laws of evolution and absorption. Ignorant of any,
even approximate, chronological data from which to start in attempting to
decide the age of our planet or the origin of the solar system, astronomers,
geologists, and physicists are drifting with each new hypothesis farther and
farther away from the shores of fact into the fathomless depths of speculative
ontology.* The Law of Analogy in the plan of structure between the trans-Solar
systems and the intra-Solar planets, does not necessarily bear upon the finite
conditions to which every visible body is subject, in this our plane of being.
In Occult Science this law is the first and most important key to Cosmic
physics; but it has to be studied in its minutest details and, "to be
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] forward by Kant and Laplace, was chiefly based
on the above fact that all the planets revolved in the same direction. It is on
this fact, mathematically demonstrated during the time of Laplace, that this
great astronomer, calculating on the theory of probabilities, offered to bet
three milliards to one that the next planet discovered would have in its system
the same peculiarity of motion Eastward. The immutable laws of scientific
mathematics got "worsted by further experiments and observations," it
was said. This idea of Laplace's mistake prevails generally to this day; but
some astronomers have finally succeeded in demonstrating (?) that the mistake
had been in accepting Laplace's assertion for a mistake; and steps to correct
it without attracting general attention to the bevue are now being taken. Many
such unpleasant surprises are in store for hypotheses of even a purely physical
character. What further disillusions, then, may there not be in questions of a
transcendental, Occult Nature? At any rate, Occultism teaches that the
so-called "reverse rotation" is a fact.
*
The Occultists, having most perfect faith in their own exact records,
astronomical and mathematical, calculate the age of Humanity, and assert that
the latter (as separate sexes) has existed in this Round just 18,618,727 years,
as the Brahmanical teachings and even some Hindu calendars declare.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 151 NATURE CAN NEVER CEASE.
turned
seven times," before one comes to understand it. Occult philosophy is the
only science that can teach it. How, then, can anyone hang the truth or the
untruth of the Occultist's proposition that "the Kosmos is eternal in its
unconditioned collectivity, and finite but in its conditioned
manifestations" on this one-sided physical enunciation that "it is a
necessity of Nature to run down?"
---------------------
With
these verses -- the 4th Sloka of Stanza VI. -- ends that portion of the Stanzas
which relates to the Universal Cosmogony after the last Mahapralaya or
Universal destruction, which, when it comes, sweeps out of Space every
differentiated thing, Gods as atoms, like so many dry leaves. From this verse
onwards, the Stanzas are concerned only with our Solar System in general, with
the planetary chains therein, inferentially, and with the history of our globe
(the 4th and its chain) especially. All the Stanzas and verses which follow in
this Book I. refer only to the evolution of, and on, our Earth. With regard to
the latter, a strange tenet -- strange from the modern scientific stand-point
only, of course -- is held, which ought to be made known.
But
before entirely new and rather startling theories are presented to the reader,
they must be prefaced by a few words of explanation. This is absolutely
necessary, as these theories clash not only with modern science, but
contradict, on certain points, earlier statements made by other Theosophists,
who claim to base their explanations and renderings of these teachings on the
same authority as we do.*
This
may give rise to the idea that there is a decided contradiction between the
expounders of the same doctrine; whereas the difference, in reality, arises
from the incompleteness of the information given to earlier writers, who thus
drew some erroneous conclusions and indulged in premature speculations, in
their endeavour to present a complete system to the public. Thus the reader,
who is already a student of Theosophy, must not be surprised to find in these
pages the rectification of certain statements made in various Theosophical
works, and also the explanation of certain points which have remained obscure,
because they were necessarily left incomplete. Many are the questions upon
which even the author of "Esoteric Buddhism" (the best and
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Esoteric Buddhism" and "Man."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 152 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
most
accurate of all such works) has not touched. On the other hand, even he has
introduced several mistaken notions which must now be presented in their true
mystic light, as far as the present writer is capable of doing so.
Let
us then make a short break between the Slokas just explained and those which
follow, for the Cosmic periods which separate them are of immense duration.
This will afford us ample time to take a bird's eye view of some points
pertaining to the Secret Doctrine, which have been presented to the public
under a more or less uncertain and sometimes mistaken light.
-------
A
FEW EARLY THEOSOPHICAL MISCONCEPTIONS CONCERNING PLANETS, ROUNDS, AND MAN.
Among
the eleven Stanzas omitted* there is one which gives a full description of the
formation of the planetary chains one after another, after the first Cosmic and
Atomic differentiation had commenced in the primitive Acosmism. It is idle to
speak of "laws arising when Deity prepares to create" for (a) laws or
rather LAW is eternal and uncreated; and (b) that Deity is Law, and vice versa.
Moreover, the one eternal LAW unfolds everything in the (to be) manifested
Nature on a sevenfold principle; among the rest, the countless circular chains
of worlds, composed of seven globes, graduated on the four lower planes of the
world of formation (the three others belonging to the Archetypal Universe). Out
of these seven only one, the lowest and the most material of those globes, is
within our plane or means of perception, the six others lying outside of it and
being therefore invisible to the terrestrial eye. Every such chain of worlds is
the progeny and creation of another, lower, and dead chain -- its
reincarnation, so to say. To make it clearer: we are told of the planets -- of
which seven only were held as sacred, as being ruled by the highest regents or
gods, and not at all because the ancients knew nothing of the others** -- that
each of these, whether known or unknown, is a septenary, as is the chain to
which the Earth belongs (see "Esoteric
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
See the note which follows the Commentary on the preceding page, and also the
summary of the Stanzas in the Proem, page 22.
**
Many more planets are enumerated in the Secret Books than in modern
astronomical works.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 153 DESCENDING AND RE-ASCENDING STATES.
Buddhism").
For instance, all such planets as Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, etc.,
etc., or our Earth, are as visible to us as our globe, probably, is to the
inhabitants of the other planets, if any, because they are all on the same
plane; while the superior fellow-globes of these planets are on other planes
quite outside that of our terrestrial senses. As their relative position is
given further on, and also in the diagram appended to the Comments on Verse 7
of Stanza VI., a few words of explanation is all that is needed at present.
These invisible companions correspond curiously to that which we call "the
principles in Man." The seven are on three material planes and one
spiritual plane, answering to the three Upadhis (material bases) and one spiritual
vehicle (Vahan) of our seven principles in the human division. If, for the sake
of a clearer mental conception, we imagine the human principles to be arranged
as in the following scheme, we shall obtain the annexed diagram of
correspondences:--
HUMAN
PRINCIPLES.
(1)
Spirit*
(2)
Soul
Vehicle
of Spirit
(3)
Mind
(4)
Animal Soul
Upadhi
of Mind
(5)
Life
(6)
Astral Body
Upadhi
of Life
(7)
Physical Body**
The
Upadhi of all the 6 Princ.
PLANETARY
DIVISION.
Descending
into matter
1
2
3
4
D Our Earth or any (Visible) Planet
Ascending
to Spirit
4
D Our Earth or any (Visible) Planet
5
6
7
DIAGRAM
I.
[[above
is in diagram format in the original text]]
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
As we are proceeding here from Universals to Particulars, instead of using the
inductive or Aristotelean method, the numbers are reversed. Spirit is
enumerated the first instead of seventh, as is usually done, but, in truth,
ought not to be done.
**
Or as usually named after the manner of Esoteric Buddhism and others: 1, Atma;
2, Buddhi (or Spiritual Soul); 3, Manas (Human Soul); 4, Kama Rupa (Vehicle of
Desires and Passions); 5, Linga Sarira; 6, Prana; 7, Sthula Sarira.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 154 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
The
dark horizontal lines of the lower planes are the Upadhis in one case, and the
planes in the case of the planetary chain. Of course, as regards the human
principles, the diagram does not place them quite in order, yet it shows the
correspondence and analogy to which attention is now drawn. As the reader will
see, it is a case of descent into matter, the adjustment -- in both the mystic
and the physical senses -- of the two, and their interblending for the great
coming "struggle of life" that awaits both the entities.
"Entity" may be thought a strange term to use in the case of a globe;
but the ancient philosophers, who saw in the earth a huge "animal,"
were wiser in their generation than our modern geologists are in theirs; and
Pliny, who called the Earth our kind nurse and mother, the only element which
is not inimical to man, spoke more truly than Watts, who fancied that he saw in
her the footstool of God. For Earth is only the footstool of man in his
ascension to higher regions; the vestibule --
".
. . . . . . to glorious mansions,
Through
which a moving crowd for ever press."
But
this only shows how admirably the occult philosophy fits everything in Nature,
and how much more logical are its tenets than the lifeless hypothetical
speculations of physical science.
Having
learned thus much, the mystic will be better prepared to understand the occult
teaching, though every formal student of modern science may, and probably will,
regard it as preposterous nonsense. The student of occultism, however, holds
that the theory at present under discussion is far more philosophical and
probable than any other. It is more logical, at any rate, than the theory
recently advanced which made of the moon the projection of a portion of our
Earth extruded when the latter was but a globe in fusion, a molten plastic
mass.*
It
is said that the planetary chains having their "Days" and their
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Says the author of "Modern Science and Modern Thought," Mr. Samuel
Laing: "The astronomical conclusions are theories based on data so
uncertain, that while in some cases they give results incredibly short, like
that of 15 millions of years for the whole past process of formation of the
solar system, in others they give results almost incredibly long, as in that
which supposes the moon to have been thrown off when the Earth was rotating in
three hours, while the utmost actual retardation obtained from observation
would require 600 millions of years to make it rotate in twenty-three hours
instead of twenty-four" (p. 48). And if physicists persist, why should the
chronology of the Hindus be laughed at as exaggerated?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 155 EXCHANGE OF LIFE-PRINCIPLES.
"Nights"
-- i.e., periods of activity or life, and of inertia or death -- and behave in
heaven as do men on Earth: they generate their likes, get old, and become
personally extinct, their spiritual principles only living in their progeny as
a survival of themselves.
Without
attempting the very difficult task of giving out the whole process in all its
cosmic details, enough may be said to give an approximate idea of it. When a
planetary chain is in its last Round, its Globe 1 or A, before finally dying
out, sends all its energy and "principles" into a neutral centre of
latent force, a "laya centre," and thereby informs a new nucleus of
undifferentiated substance or matter, i.e., calls it into activity or gives it
life. Suppose such a process to have taken place in the lunar
"planetary" chain; suppose again, for argument's sake (though Mr.
Darwin's theory quoted below has lately been upset, even if the fact has not
yet been ascertained by mathematical calculation) that the moon is far older
than the Earth. Imagine the six fellow-globes of the moon -- aeons before the
first globe of our seven was evolved -- just in the same position in relation
to each other as the fellow-globes of our chain occupy in regard to our Earth
now. (See in "Esoteric Buddhism," "The Constitution of
Man," and the "Planetary Chain.") And now it will be easy to
imagine further Globe A of the lunar chain informing Globe A of the terrestrial
chain, and -- dying; Globe B of the former sending after that its energy into
Globe B of the new chain; then Globe C of the lunar, creating its progeny
sphere C of the terrene chain; then the Moon (our Satellite*) pouring forth
into
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
She is the satellite, undeniably, but this does not invalidate the theory that
she has given to the Earth all but her corpse. For Darwin's theory to hold
good, besides the hypothesis just upset (vide last footnote), other still more
incongruous speculations had to be invented. The Moon, it is said, has cooled
nearly six times as rapidly as the Earth (Winchell's "World-Life"):
"The Moon, if the earth is 14,000,000 years old since its incrustation, is
only eleven and two thirds millions of years old since that stage . . ."
etc. And if our Moon is but a splash from our Earth, why can no similar
inference be established for the Moons of other planets? The Astronomers
"do not know." Why should Venus and Mercury have no satellites, and
by what, when they exist, were they formed? Because, we say, science has only
one key -- the key of matter -- to open the mysteries of nature withal, while
occult philosophy has seven keys and explains that which science fails to see.
Mercury and Venus have no satellites but they had "parents" just as
the earth had. Both are far older than the Earth and, before the latter reaches
her seventh Round, her mother Moon will have dissolved [[Footnote continued on
next page]]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 156 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
the
lowest globe of our planetary ring -- Globe D, our Earth -- all its life,
energy and powers; and, having transferred them to a new centre becoming
virtually a dead planet, in which rotation has almost ceased since the birth of
our globe. The Moon is now the cold residual quantity, the shadow dragged after
the new body, into which her living powers and "principles" are
transfused. She now is doomed for long ages to be ever pursuing the Earth, to
be attracted by and to attract her progeny. Constantly vampirised by her child,
she revenges herself on it by soaking it through and through with the
nefarious, invisible, and poisoned influence which emanates from the occult
side of her nature. For she is a dead, yet a living body. The particles of her
decaying corpse are full of active and destructive life, although the body
which they had formed is soulless and lifeless. Therefore its emanations are at
the same time beneficent and maleficent -- this circumstance finding its
parallel on earth in the fact that the grass and plants are nowhere more juicy
and thriving than on the graves; while at the same time it is the graveyard or
corpse-emanations, which kill. And like all ghouls or vampires, the moon is the
friend of the sorcerers and the foe of the unwary. From the archaic aeons and
the later times of the witches of Thessaly, down to some of the present
tantrikas of Bengal, her nature and properties were known to every Occultist,
but have remained a closed book for physicists.
Such
is the moon from the astronomical, geological, and physical standpoints. As to
her metaphysical and psychic nature it must remain an occult secret in this work,
as it was in the volume on "Esoteric Buddhism," notwithstanding the
rather sanguine statement made therein on p. 113 (5th edition) that "there
is not much mystery left now in the riddle of the eighth sphere." These
are topics, indeed, "on which the adepts are very reserved in their
communications to uninitiated pupils," and since they have, moreover,
never sanctioned or permitted any published speculations upon them, the less
said the better.
Yet
without treading upon the forbidden ground of the "eighth sphere," it
may be useful to state some additional facts with regard to ex-monads of the
lunar chain -- the "lunar ancestors" -- as they play a
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] into thin air, as the "Moons" of the
other planets have, or have not, as the case may be, since there are planets
which have several moons -- a mystery again which no OEdipus of astronomy has
solved.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 157 OPINIONS DIFFER AND YET AGREE.
leading
part in the coming Anthropogenesis. This brings us directly to the septenary
constitution of man; and as some discussion has arisen of late about the best
classification to be adopted for the division of the microcosmic entity, two
systems are now appended with a view to facilitate comparison. The subjoined
short article is from the pen of Mr. T. Subba Row, a learned Vedantin scholar.
He prefers the Brahmanical division of the Raja Yoga, and from a metaphysical
point of view he is quite right. But, as it is a question of simple choice and
expediency, we hold in this work to the "time-honoured"
classification of the trans-Himalayan "Arhat Esoteric School." The
following table and its explanatory text are reprinted from the
"Theosophist" of Madras, and they are also contained in "Five
Years of Theosophy":--
SEPTENARY
DIVISION IN DIFFERENT INDIAN SYSTEMS.
"We
give below in a tabular form the classifications adopted by the Buddhist and
Vedantic teachers of the principles of man:--
CLASSIFICATION
IN ESOTERIC BUDDHISM.
1.
Sthula Sarira.
2.
Prana.**
3.
The vehicle of Prana.***
4.
Kama Rupa.
5.
Mind
(a)
Volitions and feelings, etc.
(b)
Vignanam.
6.
Spiritual Soul.*****
7.
Atma.
VEDANTIC
CLASSIFICATION.
[[1.]]
Annamaya kosa.*
[[2.,
3.]] Pranamaya kosa.
[[4.,
5.(a)]] Manomaya kosa.
[[5.(b)]]
Vignanamaya kosa.
[[6.]]
Anandamaya kosa.
[[7.]]
Atma.
CLASSIFICATION
IN TARAKA RAJA YOGA
[[1.,
2.]] Sthulopadhi.****
[[5.(a),
(b)]] Sukshmopadhi.
[[6.]]
Karanopadhi.
[[7.]]
Atma.
[[above
is in table format in the original text.]]
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Kosa (kosha) is "Sheath" literally, the sheath of every principle.
**
"Life."
***
The astral body or Linga Sarira.
****
Sthula-Upadhi, or basis of the principle.
*****
Buddhi.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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From
the foregoing table it will be seen that the third principle in the Buddhist
classification is not separately mentioned in the Vedantic division, as it is
merely the vehicle of Prana. It will also be seen that the Fourth principle is
included in the third Kosa (Sheath), as the same principle is but the vehicle
of will-power, which is but an energy of the mind. It must also be noticed that
the Vignanamaya Kosa is considered to be distinct from the Manomaya Kosa, as a
division is made after death between the lower part of the mind, as it were,
which has a closer affinity with the fourth principle than with the sixth; and
its higher part, which attaches itself to the latter, and which is, in fact,
the basis for the higher spiritual individuality of man.
We
may also here point out to our readers that the classification mentioned in the
last column is, for all practical purposes, connected with Raja Yoga, the best
and simplest. Though there are seven principles in man, there are but three
distinct Upadhis (bases), in each of which his Atma may work independently of
the rest. These three Upadhis can be separated by an Adept without killing
himself. He cannot separate the seven principles from each other without
destroying his constitution."
The
student will now be better prepared to see that between the three Upadhis of
the Raja Yoga and its Atma, and our three Upadhis, Atma, and the additional
three divisions, there is in reality but very little difference. Moreover, as
every adept in cis-Himalayan or trans-Himalayan India, of the Patanjali, the
Aryasanga or the Mahayana schools, has to become a Raja Yogi, he must,
therefore, accept the Taraka Raja classification in principle and theory
whatever classification he resorts to for practical and occult purposes. Thus,
it matters very little whether one speaks of the three Upadhis with their three
aspects and Atma, the eternal and immortal synthesis, or calls them the
"seven principles."
For
the benefit of those who may not have read, or, if they have, may not have clearly
understood, in Theosophical writings, the doctrine of the septenary chains of
worlds in the Solar Kosmos, the teaching is briefly thus:--
1.
Everything in the metaphysical as in the physical Universe is septenary. Hence
every sidereal body, every planet, whether visible
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 159 THE TRANSMIGRATIONS OF THE EGO.
or
invisible, is credited with six companion globes. (See Diagram No. 3, after
verse 6 of this commentary.) The evolution of life proceeds on these seven
globes or bodies from the 1st to the 7th in Seven ROUNDS or Seven Cycles.
2.
These globes are formed by a process which the Occultists call the
"rebirth of planetary chains (or rings)." When the seventh and last
Round of one of such rings has been entered upon, the highest or first globe
"A," followed by all the others down to the last, instead of entering
upon a certain time of rest -- or "obscuration," as in their previous
Rounds -- begins to die out. The "planetary" dissolution (pralaya) is
at hand, and its hour has struck; each globe has to transfer its life and
energy to another planet. (See diagram No. 2 infra, "The Moon and the
Earth.")
3.
Our Earth, as the visible representative of its invisible superior fellow
globes, its "lords" or "principles" (see diagram No. 1),
has to live, as have the others, through seven Rounds. During the first three,
it forms and consolidates; during the fourth it settles and hardens; during the
last three it gradually returns to its first ethereal form: it is
spiritualised, so to say.
4.
Its Humanity develops fully only in the Fourth -- our present Round. Up to this
fourth Life-Cycle, it is referred to as "humanity" only for lack of a
more appropriate term. Like the grub which becomes chrysalis and butterfly,
Man, or rather that which becomes man, passes through all the forms and
kingdoms during the first Round and through all the human shapes during the two
following Rounds. Arrived on our Earth at the commencement of the Fourth in the
present series of life-cycles and races, MAN is the first form that appears
thereon, being preceded only by the mineral and vegetable kingdoms -- even the
latter having to develop and continue its further evolution through man. This
will be explained in Book II. During the three Rounds to come, Humanity, like
the globe on which it lives, will be ever tending to reassume its primeval
form, that of a Dhyan Chohanic Host. Man tends to become a God and then -- GOD,
like every other atom in the Universe.
"Beginning
so early as with the 2nd round, Evolution proceeds already on quite a different
plan. It is only during the 1st round that (heavenly) man becomes a human being
on globe A (rebecomes) a mineral, a plant, an animal, on globe B and C, etc.
The process changes
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 160 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
entirely
from the second round -- but you have learned prudence . . . and I advise you
to say nothing before the time for saying it has come. . ." (Extract from
the Teacher's letters on various topics.)
5.
Every life-cycle on Globe D (our Earth)* is composed of seven root-races. They
commence with the Ethereal and end with the spiritual on the double line of
physical and moral evolution -- from the beginning of the terrestrial round to
its close. (One is a "planetary round" from Globe A to Globe G, the
seventh; the other, the "globe round," or the terrestrial).
This
is very well described in "Esoteric Buddhism" and needs no further
elucidation for the time being.
6.
The first root-race, i.e., the first "men" on earth (irrespective of
form) were the progeny of the "celestial men," called rightly in
Indian philosophy the "Lunar Ancestors" or the Pitris, of which there
are seven classes or Hierarchies. As all this will be sufficiently explained in
the following sections and in Book II., no more need be said of it here.
But
the two works already mentioned, both of which treat of subjects from the
occult doctrine, need particular notice. "Esoteric Buddhism" is too
well known in Theosophical circles, and even to the outside world, for it to be
necessary to enter at length upon its merits here. It is an excellent book, and
has done still more excellent work. But this does not alter the fact that it
contains some mistaken notions, and that it has led many Theosophists and
lay-readers to form an erroneous conception of the Secret Eastern Doctrines.
Moreover it seems, perhaps, a little too materialistic.
"MAN,"
which came later, was an attempt to present the archaic doctrine from a more
ideal standpoint, to translate some visions in and from the Astral Light, to
render some teachings partly gathered from a Master's thoughts, but
unfortunately misunderstood. This work also speaks of the evolution of the
early Races of men on Earth, and contains some excellent pages of a
philosophical character. But so far it is only an interesting little mystical
romance. It has failed in its mission, because the conditions required for a
correct translation of these visions were not present. Hence the reader must
not wonder if our Volumes contradict these earlier descriptions in several
particulars.
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
We are not concerned with the other Globes in this work except incidentally.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 161 A RE-ADJUSTMENT OF FACTS.
Esoteric
"Cosmogony" in general, and the evolution of the human Monad especially,
differ so essentially in these two books and in other Theosophical works
written independently by beginners, that it becomes impossible to proceed with
the present work without special mention of these two earlier volumes, for both
have a number of admirers -- "Esoteric Buddhism" especially. The time
has arrived for the explanation of some matters in this direction. Mistakes
have now to be checked by the original teachings and corrected. If one of the
said works has too pronounced a bias toward materialistic science, the other is
decidedly too idealistic, and is, at times, fantastic.
From
the doctrine -- rather incomprehensible to western minds -- which deals with
the periodical "obscurations" and successive "Rounds" of
the Globes along their circular chains, were born the first perplexities and
misconceptions. One of such has reference to the "Fifth-" and even
"Sixth-Rounders." Those who knew that a Round was preceded and
followed by a long Pralaya, a pause of rest which created an impassable gulf
between two Rounds until the time came for a renewed cycle of life, could not
understand the "fallacy" of talking about "fifth and sixth
Rounders" in our Fourth Round. Gautama Buddha, it was held, was a
Sixth-Rounder, Plato and some other great philosophers and minds,
"Fifth-Rounders." How could it be? One Master taught and affirmed
that there were such "Fifth-Rounders" even now on Earth; and though
understood to say that mankind was yet "in the Fourth Round," in
another place he seemed to say that we were in the Fifth. To this an
"apocalyptic answer" was returned by another Teacher:-- "A few
drops of rain do not make a Monsoon, though they presage it." . . .
"No, we are not in the Fifth Round, but Fifth Round men have been coming
in for the last few thousand years." This was worse than the riddle of the
Sphinx! Students of Occultism subjected their brains to the wildest work of
speculation. For a considerable time they tried to outvie OEdipus and reconcile
the two statements. And as the Masters kept as silent as the stony Sphinx
herself, they were accused of inconsistency, "contradiction," and
"discrepancies." But they were simply allowing the speculations to go
on, in order to teach a lesson which the Western mind sorely needs. In their
conceit and arrogance, as in their habit of materializing every metaphysical
conception and term without allowing any margin for Eastern
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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metaphor
and allegory, the Orientalists have made a jumble of the Hindu exoteric
philosophy, and the Theosophists were now doing the same with regard to
esoteric teachings. To this day it is evident that the latter have utterly
failed to understand the meaning of the term "Fifth and Sixth
Rounders." But it is simply this: every "Round" brings about a
new development and even an entire change in the mental, psychic, spiritual and
physical constitution of man, all these principles evoluting on an ever
ascending scale. Thence it follows that those persons who, like Confucius and
Plato, belonged psychically, mentally and spiritually to the higher planes of
evolution, were in our Fourth Round as the average man will be in the Fifth
Round, whose mankind is destined to find itself, on this scale of Evolution,
immensely higher than is our present humanity. Similarly Gautama Buddha --
Wisdom incarnate -- was still higher and greater than all the men we have
mentioned, who are called Fifth Rounders, while Buddha and Sankaracharya are termed
Sixth Rounders, allegorically. Thence again the concealed wisdom of the remark,
pronounced at the time "evasive" -- that a few drops of rain do not
make the Monsoon, though they presage it."
And
now the truth of the remark made in "Esoteric Buddhism" by its author
will be fully apparent:--
"It
is impossible, when the complicated facts of an entirely unfamiliar science are
being presented to untrained minds for the first time, to put them forward with
all their appropriate qualifications . . . and abnormal developments. . . . We
must be content to take the broad rules first and deal with the exceptions
afterwards, and especially is this the case with study, in connection with
which the traditional methods of teaching, generally followed, aim at impressing
every fresh idea on the memory by provoking the perplexity it at last
relieves."
As
the author of the remark was himself, as he says, "an untrained mind"
in Occultism, his own inferences, and his better knowledge of modern
astronomical speculations than of archaic doctrines led him quite naturally,
and as unconsciously to himself, to commit a few mistakes of detail rather than
of any "broad rule." One such will now be noticed. It is a trifling
one, still it is calculated to lead many a beginner into erroneous conceptions.
But as the mistaken notions of the earlier editions were corrected in the
annotations of the fifth edition, so the sixth may be revised and perfected.
There were several reasons
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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for
such mistakes. (1) They were due to the necessity under which the teachers
laboured of giving what were considered as "evasive answers": the
questions being too persistently pressed to be left unnoticed, while, on the
other hand, they could only be partially answered. (2) This position
notwithstanding, the confession that "half a loaf is better than no
bread" was but too often misunderstood and hardly appreciated as it ought to
have been. As a result thereof gratuitous speculations were sometimes indulged
in by the European lay-chelas. Among such were (a) the "Mystery of the
Eighth Sphere" in its relation to the Moon; and (b) the erroneous
statement that two of the superior Globes of the terrestrial chain were two of
our well-known planets: "besides the Earth . . . there are only two other
worlds of our chain which are visible. . . . Mars and Mercury. . . ."
(Esoteric Buddhism; p. 136.)
This
was a great mistake. But the blame for it is to be attached as much to the
vagueness and incompleteness of the Master's answer as to the question of the
learner itself, which was equally vague and indefinite.
It
was asked: "What planets, of those known to ordinary science, besides
Mercury, belong to our system of worlds?" Now if by "System of
Worlds" our terrestrial chain or "string" was intended in the
mind of the querist, instead of the "Solar System of Worlds," as it
should have been, then of course the answer was likely to be misunderstood. For
the reply was: "Mars, etc., and four other planets of which astronomy
knows nothing. Neither A, B, nor YZ are known nor can they be seen through
physical means however perfected." This is plain: (a) Astronomy as yet
knows nothing in reality of the planets, neither the ancient ones, nor those
discovered in modern times. (b) No companion planets from A to Z, i.e., no
upper globes of any chain in the Solar System, can be seen.* As to Mars,
Mercury, and "the four other planets," they bear
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
With the exception of course of all the planets which come fourth in number, as
our earth, the moon, etc., etc. Copies of all the letters ever received or
sent, with the exception of a few private ones -- "in which there was no
teaching" the Master says -- are with the writer. As it was her duty, in
the beginning, to answer and explain certain points not touched upon, it is
more than likely that notwithstanding the many annotations on these copies, the
writer, in her ignorance of English and her fear of saying too much, may have
bungled the information given. She takes the whole blame for it upon herself in
any and every case. But it is impossible for her to allow students to remain
any longer under erroneous impressions, or to believe that the fault lies with
the esoteric system.
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[[Vol.
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a
relation to Earth of which no master or high Occultist will ever speak, much
less explain the nature.*
Let
it now be distinctly stated, then, that the theory broached is impossible, with
or without the additional evidence furnished by modern Astronomy. Physical
Science can supply corroborative, though still very uncertain, evidence, but
only as regards heavenly bodies on the same plane of materiality as our
objective Universe. Mars and Mercury, Venus and Jupiter, like every hitherto
discovered planet (or those still to be discovered), are all, per se, the
representatives on our plane of such chains. As distinctly stated in one of the
numerous letters of Mr. Sinnett's "Teacher," "there are other
and innumerable Manvantaric chains of globes which bear intelligent Beings both
in and outside our solar system." But neither Mars nor Mercury belong to
our chain. They are, along with the other planets, septenary Units in the great
host of "chains" of our system, and all are as visible as their upper
globes are invisible.
If
it is still argued that certain expressions in the Teacher's letters were
liable to mislead, the answer comes:-- Amen; so it was. The author of
"Esoteric Buddhism" understood it well when he wrote that such are
"the traditional modes of teaching . . . by provoking the perplexity"
. . . they do, or do not relieve -- as the case may be. At all events, if it is
urged that this might have been explained earlier, and the true nature of the
planets given out as they now are, the answer comes that: "it was not found
expedient to do so at the time, as it would have opened the way to a series of
additional questions which could never be answered on account of their esoteric
nature, and thus would only become embarrassing." It had been declared
from the first and has been repeatedly asserted since that (1st) no
Theosophist, not even as an accepted chela -- let alone lay students -- could
expect to have the secret teachings explained to him thoroughly and completely,
before he had irretrievably pledged himself to the Brotherhood and passed
through at least one initiation, because no figures and numbers could be given
to the public, for figures and numbers are the key to the esoteric system. (2.)
That
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
In this same letter the impossibility is distinctly stated:-- . . . "Try
to understand that you are putting me questions pertaining to the highest
initiation; that I can give you (only) a general view, but that I dare not nor
will I enter upon details . . ." wrote one of the Teachers to the author
of "Esoteric Buddhism."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 165 AN AUTHORITATIVE LETTER.
what
was revealed was merely the esoteric lining of that which is contained in almost
all the exoteric Scriptures of the world-religions -- pre-eminently in the
Brahmanas, and the Upanishads of the Vedas and even in the Puranas. It was a
small portion of what is divulged far more fully now in the present volumes;
and even this is very incomplete and fragmentary.
When
the present work was commenced, the writer, feeling sure that the speculation
about Mars and Mercury was a mistake, applied to the Teachers by letter for
explanation and an authoritative version. Both came in due time, and verbatim
extracts from these are now given.
".
. . . . It is quite correct that Mars is in a state of obscuration at present,
and Mercury just beginning to get out of it. You might add that Venus is in her
last Round. . . . . . . . . . . If neither Mercury nor Venus have satellites,
it is because of the reasons . . . (vide footnote supra, where those reasons
are given), and also because Mars has two satellites to which he has no right.
. . . . Phobos, the supposed INNER satellite, is no satellite at all. As
remarked long ago by Laplace and now by Faye (see COMPTES RENDUS, Tome XC., p.
569), Phobos keeps a too short periodic time, and therefore there 'must exist
some defect in the mother idea of the theory' as Faye justly observes. . . . .
Again, both (Mars and Mercury) are septenary chains, as independent of the
Earth's sidereal lords and superiors as you are independent of the 'principles'
of Daumling (Tom Thumb) -- which were perhaps his six brothers, with or without
night-caps. . . . . . . . . . 'Gratification of curiosity is the end of
knowledge for some men,' was said by Bacon, who was as right in postulating
this truism, as those who were familiar with it before him were right in
hedging off WISDOM from Knowledge, and tracing limits to that which is to be
given out at one time. . . . Remember:--
'.
. . . . . . . . . . knowledge dwells
In
heads replete with thoughts of other men,
Wisdom
in minds attentive to their own. . . .'
You
can never impress it too profoundly on the minds of those to whom you impart
some of the esoteric teachings. . ."
Again,
here are more extracts from another letter written by the same authority. This
time it is in answer to some objections laid before the Teachers. They are
based upon extremely scientific, and as
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futile,
reasonings about the advisability of trying to reconcile the Esoteric theories
with the speculations of Modern Science, and were written by a young
Theosophist as a warning against the "Secret Doctrine" and in
reference to the same subject. He had declared that if there were such
companion Earths "they must be only a wee bit less material than our globe."
How then was it that they could not be seen? The answer was:--
".
. . . Were psychic and spiritual teachings more fully understood, it would
become next to impossible to even imagine such an incongruity. Unless less
trouble is taken to reconcile the irreconcileable -- that is to say, the
metaphysical and spiritual sciences with physical or natural philosophy,
'natural' being a synonym to them (men of science) of that matter which falls
under the perception of their corporeal senses -- no progress can be really
achieved. Our Globe, as taught from the first, is at the bottom of the arc of
descent, where the matter of our perceptions exhibits itself in its grossest
form. . . . . . . Hence it only stands to reason that the globes which
overshadow our Earth must be on different and superior planes. In short, as
Globes, they are in CO-ADUNITION but not IN CONSUBSTANTIALITY WITH OUR EARTH
and thus pertain to quite another state of consciousness. Our planet (like all
those we see) is adapted to the peculiar state of its human stock, that state
which enables us to see with our naked eye the sidereal bodies which are
co-essential with our terrene plane and substance, just as their respective
inhabitants, the Jovians, Martians and others can perceive our little world:
because our planes of consciousness, differing as they do in degree but being
the same in kind, are on the same layer of differentiated matter. . . . . What
I wrote was 'The minor Pralaya concerns only our little STRINGS OF GLOBES.' (We
called chains 'Strings' in those days of lip-confusion.) . . . 'To such a
string our Earth belongs.' This ought to have shown plainly that the other
planets were also 'strings' or CHAINS. . . If he (meaning the objector) would
perceive even the dim silhouette of one of such 'planets' on the higher planes,
he has to first throw off even the thin clouds of the astral matter that stands
between him and the next plane. . . . ."
It
becomes patent why we could not perceive, even with the help of the best
earthly telescopes, that which is outside our world of matter. Those alone,
whom we call adepts, who know how to direct their mental vision and to transfer
their consciousness -- physical and psychic both --
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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to
other planes of being, are able to speak with authority on such subjects. And
they tell us plainly:--
"Lead
the life necessary for the acquisition of such knowledge and powers, and Wisdom
will come to you naturally. Whenever your are able to attune your consciousness
to any of the seven chords of 'Universal Consciousness,' those chords that run
along the sounding-board of Kosmos, vibrating from one Eternity to another;
when you have studied thoroughly 'the music of the Spheres,' then only will you
become quite free to share your knowledge with those with whom it is safe to do
so. Meanwhile, be prudent. Do not give out the great Truths that are the
inheritance of the future Races, to our present generation. Do not attempt to
unveil the secret of being and non-being to those unable to see the hidden
meaning of Apollo's HEPTACHORD -- the lyre of the radiant god, in each of the
seven strings of which dwelleth the Spirit, Soul and Astral body of the Kosmos,
whose shell only has now fallen into the hands of Modern Science. . . . . . Be
prudent, we say, prudent and wise, and above all take care what those who learn
from you believe in; lest by deceiving themselves they deceive others . . . . .
for such is the fate of every truth with which men are, as yet, unfamiliar. . .
. Let rather the planetary chains and other super- and sub-cosmic mysteries
remain a dreamland for those who can neither see, nor yet believe that others
can. . . ."
It
is to be regretted that few of us have followed the wise advice; and that many
a priceless pearl, many a jewel of wisdom, has been cast to an enemy unable to
understand its value and who has turned round and rent us.
"
'Let us imagine,' wrote the same Master to his two 'lay chelas,' as he called
the author of 'Esoteric Buddhism' and another gentleman, his co-student for
some time -- 'let us imagine THAT OUR EARTH IS ONE OF A GROUP OF SEVEN PLANETS
OR MAN-BEARING WORLDS. . . . . . (The SEVEN planets are the sacred planets of antiquity,
and are all septenary.) Now the life-impulse reaches A, or rather that which is
destined to become A, and which so far is but cosmic dust (a "laya
centre") . . etc.' "
In
these early letters, in which the terms had to be invented and words coined,
the "Rings" very often became "Rounds," and the
"Rounds" life-cycles, and vice versa. To a correspondent who called a
"Round" a "World-Ring," the Teacher wrote: "I believe
this will lead to a further confusion. A Round we are agreed to call the
passage
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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of
a monad from Globe A to Globe G or Z. . . The 'World-Ring' is correct. . .
Advise Mr. . . . strongly, to agree upon a nomenclature before going any
further. . . "
Notwithstanding
this agreement, many mistakes, owing to this confusion, crept into the earliest
teachings. The Races even were occasionally mixed up with the
"Rounds" and "Rings," and led to similar mistakes in
"Man." From the first the Master had written --
"Not
being permitted to give you the whole truth, or divulge the number of isolated
fractions . . . I am unable to satisfy you."
This
in answer to the questions, "If we are right, then the total existence
prior to the man-period is 637," etc., etc. To all the queries relating to
figures, the reply was, "Try to solve the problem of 777 incarnations. . .
. Though I am obliged to withhold information . . . yet if you should work out
the problem by yourself, it will be my duty to tell you so."
But
they never were so worked out, and the results were -- never-ceasing perplexity
and mistakes.
Even
the teaching about the Septenary constitution of the sidereal bodies and of the
macrocosm -- from which the septenary division of the microcosm, or Man -- has
until now been among the most esoteric. In olden times it used to be divulged
only at the Initiation and along with the most sacred figures of the cycles. Now,
as stated in one of the Theosophical journals,* the revelation of the whole
system of Cosmogony had not been contemplated, nor even thought for one moment
possible, at a time when a few bits of information were sparingly given out in
answer to letters written by the author of "Esoteric Buddhism," in
which he put forward a multiplicity of questions. Among these were questions on
such problems as no MASTER, however high and independent he might be, would
have the right to answer, thus divulging to the world the most time-honoured
and archaic of the mysteries of the ancient college-temples. Hence only a few
of the doctrines were revealed in their broad outlines, while details were
constantly withheld, and all the efforts made to elicit more information about them
were systematically eluded from the beginning. This is perfectly natural. Of
the four Vidyas -- out of the seven branches of Knowledge mentioned in the
Puranas -- namely, "Yajna-Vidya" (the performance of religious rites
in order to
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Lucifer," May, 1888.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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produce
certain results); "Maha-Vidya," the great (Magic) knowledge, now
degenerated into Tantrika worship; "Guhya-Vidya," the science of
Mantras and their true rhythm or chanting, of mystical incantations, etc. -- it
is only the last one, "Atma-Vidya," or the true Spiritual and Divine
wisdom, which can throw absolute and final light upon the teachings of the
three first named. Without the help of Atma-Vidya, the other three remain no
better than surface sciences, geometrical magnitudes having length and breadth,
but no thickness. They are like the soul, limbs, and mind of a sleeping man:
capable of mechanical motions, of chaotic dreams and even sleep-walking, of
producing visible effects, but stimulated by instinctual not intellectual
causes, least of all by fully conscious spiritual impulses. A good deal can be
given out and explained from the three first-named sciences. But unless the key
to their teachings is furnished by Atma-Vidya, they will remain for ever like
the fragments of a mangled text-book, like the adumbrations of great truths,
dimly perceived by the most spiritual, but distorted out of all proportion by
those who would nail every shadow to the wall.
Then,
again, another great perplexity was created in the minds of students by the
incomplete exposition of the doctrine of the evolution of the Monads. To be
fully realised, both this process and that of the birth of the Globes must be
examined far more from their metaphysical aspect than from what one might call
a statistical standpoint, involving figures and numbers which are rarely permitted
to be broadly used. Unfortunately, there are few who are inclined to handle
these doctrines only metaphysically. Even the best of the Western writers upon
our doctrine declares in his work that "on pure metaphysics of that sort
we are not now engaged," when speaking of the evolution of the Monads
("Esoteric Buddhism," p. 46). And in such case, as the Teacher
remarks in a letter to him, "Why this preaching of our doctrines, all this
uphill work and swimming in adversum flumen? Why should the West . . . learn .
. . from the East . . . that which can never meet the requirements of the
special tastes of the aesthetics?" And he draws his correspondent's
attention "to the formidable difficulties encountered by us (the Adepts)
in every attempt we make to explain our metaphysics to the Western mind."
And
well he may; for outside of metaphysics no occult philosophy, no esotericism is
possible. It is like trying to explain the aspirations and affections, the love
and hatred, the most private and sacred workings in
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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the
soul and mind of the living man, by an anatomical description of the chest and
brain of his dead body.
Let
us now examine two tenets mentioned above and hardly alluded to in
"Esoteric Buddhism," and supplement them as far as lies in our power.
---------------------
ADDITIONAL
FACTS AND EXPLANATIONS CONCERNING THE GLOBES AND THE MONADS.
Two
statements made in "Esoteric Buddhism" must be noticed and the
author's opinions quoted. On p. 47 (fifth edition) it is said:--
"
. . . the spiritual monads . . . do not fully complete their mineral existence
on Globe A, then complete it on Globe B, and so on. They pass several times
round the whole circle as minerals, and then again several times round as
vegetables, and several times as animals. We purposely refrain for the present
from going into figures," etc., etc.
This
was a wise course to adopt in view of the great secrecy maintained with regard
to figures and numbers. This reticence is now partially relinquished; but it
would perhaps have been better had the real numbers concerning Rounds and
evolutional gyrations been either entirely divulged at the time, or as entirely
withheld. Mr. Sinnett understood this difficulty well when saying (p. 140)
that: "For reasons which are not easy for the outsider to divine, the
possessors of occult knowledge are especially reluctant to give out facts
relating to Cosmogony, though it is hard for the uninitiated to understand why
they should be withheld."
That
there were such reasons is evident. Nevertheless, it is to this reticence that
most of the confused ideas of some Eastern as well as Western pupils are due.
The difficulties in the way of the acceptance of the two particular tenets
under consideration seemed great, just because of the absence of any data to go
upon. But there it was. For the figures belonging to the Occult calculations
cannot be given -- as the Masters have many times declared -- outside the
circle of pledged chelas, and not even these can break the rules.
To
make things plainer, without touching upon the mathematical aspects of the
doctrine, the teaching given may be expanded and some obscure
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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points
solved. As the evolution of the Globes and that of the Monads are so closely
interblended, we will make of the two teachings one. In reference to the
Monads, the reader is asked to bear in mind that Eastern philosophy rejects the
Western theological dogma of a newly-created soul for every baby born, as being
as unphilosophical as it is impossible in the economy of Nature. There must be
a limited number of Monads evolving and growing more and more perfect through
their assimilation of many successive personalities, in every new Manvantara.
This is absolutely necessary in view of the doctrines of Rebirth, Karma, and the
gradual return of the human Monad to its source -- absolute Deity. Thus,
although the hosts of more or less progressed Monads are almost incalculable,
they are still finite, as is everything in this Universe of differentiation and
finiteness.
As
shown in the double diagram of the human "principles" and the
ascending Globes of the world-chains, there is an eternal concatenation of
causes and effects, and a perfect analogy which runs through, and links
together, all the lines of evolution. One begets the other -- globes as
personalities. But, let us begin at the beginning.
The
general outline of the process by which the successive planetary chains are
formed has just been given. To prevent future misconceptions, some further details
may be offered which will also throw light on the history of humanity on our
own chain, the progeny of that of the Moon.
In
the diagrams on p. 172, Fig. 1 represents the "lunar-chain" of seven
planets at the outset of its seventh or last Round; while Fig. 2 represents the
"earth-chain" which will be, but is not yet in existence. The seven
Globes of each chain are distinguished in their cyclic order by the letters A
to G, the Globes of the Earth-chain being further marked by a cross -- + -- the
symbol of the Earth.
Now,
it must be remembered that the Monads cycling round any septenary chain are
divided into seven classes or hierarchies according to their respective stages
of evolution, consciousness, and merit. Let us follow, then, the order of their
appearance on planet A, in the first Round. The time-spaces between the
appearances of these hierarchies on any one Globe are so adjusted that when
Class 7, the last, appears on Globe A, Class 1, the first, has just passed on
to Globe B, and so on, step by step, all round the chain.
Again,
in the Seventh Round on the Lunar chain, when Class 7, the
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[[Vol.
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last,
quits Globe A, that Globe, instead of falling asleep, as it had done in
previous Rounds, begins to die (to go into its planetary pralaya);* and in
dying it transfers successively, as just said, its "principles," or
life-elements and energy, etc., one after the other to a new "laya-centre,"
which commences the formation of Globe A of the Earth Chain. A similar process
takes place for each of the Globes of the "lunar chain" one after the
other, each forming a fresh Globe of the "earth-chain." Our Moon was
the fourth Globe of the series, and was
EARTH
CHAIN.
FIG.
2.
A+
G+
B+
F+
C+
E+
D+
(Our Earth)
LUNAR
CHAIN.
FIG.
1.
A
G
B
F
C
E
D
(Our Moon)
DIAGRAM
II.
[[above
is in diagram format in the original text]]
on
the same plane of perception as our Earth. But Globe A of the lunar chain is not
fully "dead" till the first Monads of the first class have passed
from Globe G or Z, the last of the "lunar chain," into the Nirvana
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Occultism divides the periods of Rest (Pralaya) into several kinds; there is
the individual pralaya of each Globe, as humanity and life pass on to the next;
seven minor Pralayas in each Round; the planetary Pralaya, when seven Rounds
are completed; the Solar Pralaya, when the whole system is at an end; and
finally the Universal Maha -- or Brahma -- Pralaya at the close of the
"Age of Brahma." These are the three chief pralayas or
"destruction periods." There are many other minor ones, but with
these we are not concerned at present.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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which
awaits them between the two chains; and similarly for all the other Globes as
stated, each giving birth to the corresponding globe of the "earth-chain."
Further,
when Globe A of the new chain is ready, the first class or Hierarchy of Monads
from the Lunar chain incarnate upon it in the lowest kingdom, and so on
successively. The result of this is, that it is only the first class of Monads
which attains the human state of development during the first Round, since the
second class, on each planet, arriving later, has not time to reach that stage.
Thus the Monads of Class 2 reach the incipient human stage only in the Second
Round, and so on up to the middle of the Fourth Round. But at this point -- and
on this Fourth Round in which the human stage will be fully developed -- the
"Door" into the human kingdom closes; and henceforward the number of
"human" Monads, i.e., Monads in the human stage of development, is
complete. For the Monads which had not reached the human stage by this point
will, owing to the evolution of humanity itself, find themselves so far behind
that they will reach the human stage only at the close of the seventh and last
Round. They will, therefore, not be men on this chain, but will form the
humanity of a future Manvantara and be rewarded by becoming "Men" on
a higher chain altogether, thus receiving their Karmic compensation. To this
there is but one solitary exception, for very good reasons, of which we shall
speak farther on. But this accounts for the difference in the races.
It
thus becomes apparent how perfect is the analogy between the processes of
Nature in the Kosmos and in the individual man. The latter lives through his life-cycle,
and dies. His "higher principles," corresponding in the development
of a planetary chain to the cycling Monads, pass into Devachan, which
corresponds to the "Nirvana" and states of rest intervening between
two chains. The Man's lower "principles" are disintegrated in time
and are used by Nature again for the formation of new human principles, and the
same process takes place in the disintegration and formation of Worlds. Analogy
is thus the surest guide to the comprehension of the Occult teachings.
This
is one of the "seven mysteries of the Moon," and it is now revealed.
The seven "mysteries" are called by the Japanese Yamaboosis, the
mystics of the Lao-Tze sect and the ascetic monks of Kioto, the Dzenodoo -- the
"seven jewels." Only the Japanese and the Chinese
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Buddhist
ascetics and Initiates are, if possible, even more reticent in giving out their
"Knowledge" than are the Hindus.
But
the reader must not be allowed to lose sight of the Monads, and must be
enlightened as to their nature, as far as permitted, without trespassing upon
the highest mysteries, of which the writer does not in any way pretend to know
the last or final word.
The
Monadic Host may be roughly divided into three great classes:--
1.
The most developed Monads (the Lunar Gods or "Spirits," called, in
India, the Pitris), whose function it is to pass in the first Round through the
whole triple cycle of the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms in their most
ethereal, filmy, and rudimentary forms, in order to clothe themselves in, and
assimilate, the nature of the newly formed chain. They are those who first
reach the human form (if there can be any form in the realm of the almost
subjective) on Globe A in the first Round. It is they, therefore, who lead and
represent the human element during the second and third Rounds, and finally
evolve their shadows at the beginning of the Fourth Round for the second class,
or those who come behind them.
2.
Those Monads that are the first to reach the human stage during the three and a
half Rounds, and to become men.*
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
We are forced to use here the misleading word "Men," and this is a
clear proof of how little any European language is adapted to express these
subtle distinctions.
It
stands to reason that these "Men" did not resemble the men of to-day,
either in form or nature. Why then, it may be asked, call them "Men"
at all? Because there is no other term in any Western language which
approximately conveys the idea intended. The word "Men" at least
indicates that these beings were "MANUS," thinking entities, however
they differed in form and intellection from ourselves. But in reality they
were, in respect of spirituality and intellection, rather "gods" than
"Men."
The
same difficulty of language is met with in describing the "stages"
through which the Monad passes. Metaphysically speaking, it is of course an
absurdity to talk of the "development" of a Monad, or to say that it
becomes "Man." But any attempt to preserve metaphysical accuracy of
language in the use of such a tongue as the English would necessitate at least
three extra volumes of this work, and would entail an amount of verbal
repetition which would be wearisome in the extreme. It stands to reason that a
MONAD cannot either progress or develop, or even be affected by the changes of
states it passes through. It is not of this world or plane, and may be compared
only to an indestructible star of divine light and fire, thrown down on to our
[[Footnote continued on next page]]
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3.
The laggards; the Monads which are retarded, and which will not reach, by
reason of Karmic impediments, the human stage at all during this cycle or
Round, save one exception which will be spoken of elsewhere as already
promised.
Now
the evolution of the external form or body round the astral is produced by the
terrestrial forces, just as in the case of the lower kingdoms; but the
evolution of the internal or real MAN is purely spiritual. It is now no more a
passage of the impersonal Monad through many and various forms of matter --
endowed at best with instinct and consciousness on quite a different plane --
as in the case of external evolution, but a journey of the
"pilgrim-soul" through various states of not only matter but
Self-consciousness and self-perception, or of perception from apperception.
(See "Gods, Monads and Atoms.")
The
MONAD emerges from its state of spiritual and intellectual unconsciousness;
and, skipping the first two planes -- too near the ABSOLUTE to permit of any
correlation with anything on a lower plane -- it gets direct into the plane of
Mentality. But there is no plane in the whole universe with a wider margin, or
a wider field of action in its almost endless gradations of perceptive and apperceptive
qualities, than this plane, which has in its turn an appropriate smaller plane
for every "form," from the "mineral" monad up to the time
when that monad blossoms forth by evolution into the DIVINE MONAD. But all the
time it is still one and the same Monad, differing only in its incarnations,
throughout its ever succeeding cycles of partial or total obscuration of
spirit, or the partial or total obscuration of matter -- two polar antitheses
-- as it ascends into the realms of mental spirituality, or descends into the
depths of materiality.
To
return to "Esoteric Buddhism." It is there stated with regard to the
enormous period intervening between the mineral epoch on Globe A, and the
man-epoch,* that: "The full development of the
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
[[Footnote
continued from previous page]] Earth as a plank of salvation for the
personalities in which it indwells. It is for the latter to cling to it; and
thus partaking of its divine nature, obtain immortality. Left to itself the
Monad will cling to no one; but, like the "plank," be drifted away to
another incarnation by the unresting current of evolution.
*
The term "Man epoch" is here used because of the necessity of giving a
name to that fourth kingdom which follows the animal. But in truth the
"Man" on Globe A during the First Round is no Man, but only his
prototype or dimensionless image from the astral regions.
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mineral
epoch on Globe A, prepares the way for the vegetable development, and, as soon
as this begins, the mineral life-impulse overflows into Globe B. Then, when the
vegetable development on Globe A is complete and the animal development begins,
the vegetable life-impulse overflows to Globe B, and the mineral impulse passes
on to Globe C. Then finally comes the human life-impulse on Globe A."
(Page 49.)
And
so it goes on for three Rounds, when it slackens, and finally stops at the
threshold of our Globe, at the Fourth Round; because the human period (of the
true physical men to be), the seventh, is now reached. This is evident, for as
said, " . . . there are processes of evolution which precede the mineral
kingdom, and thus a wave of evolution, indeed several waves of evolution,
precede the mineral wave in its progress round the spheres" (ibid).
And
now we have to quote from another article, "The Mineral Monad" in
"Five Years of Theosophy," p. 273 et seq.
"There
are seven kingdoms. The first group comprises three degrees of elementals, or
nascent centres of forces -- from the first stage of differentiation of (from)
Mulaprakriti (or rather Pradhana, primordial homogeneous matter) to its third
degree -- i.e., from full unconsciousness to semi-perception; the second or
higher group embraces the kingdoms from vegetable to man; the mineral kingdom
thus forming the central or turning point in the degrees of the "Monadic
Essence," considered as an evoluting energy. Three stages (sub-physical)
on the elemental side; the mineral kingdom; three stages on the objective
physical* side -- these are the (first or preliminary) seven links of the
evolutionary chain."
"Preliminary"
because they are preparatory, and though belonging in fact to the natural, they
yet would be more correctly described as sub-natural evolution. This process
makes a halt in its stages at the Third, at the threshold of the Fourth stage,
when it becomes, on the plane of the natural evolution, the first really
manward stage, thus forming with the three elemental kingdoms, the ten, the
Sephirothal number. It is at this point that begins:--
"A
descent of spirit into matter equivalent to an ascent in physical
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
"Physical" here means differentiated for cosmical purposes and work;
that "physical side," nevertheless, if objective to the apperception
of beings from other planes, is yet quite subjective to us on our plane.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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evolution;
a re-ascent from the deepest depths of materiality (the mineral) towards its
status quo ante, with a corresponding dissipation of concrete organism -- up to
Nirvana, the vanishing point of differentiated matter." ("Five Years
of Theosophy," p. 276.)
Therefore
it becomes evident why that which is pertinently called in Esoteric Buddhism
"Wave of Evolution," and mineral-, vegetable-, animal- and
man-"impulse," stops at the door of our Globe, at its Fourth cycle or
Round. It is at this point that the Cosmic Monad (Buddhi) will be wedded to and
become the vehicle of the Atmic Ray, i.e., it (Buddhi) will awaken to an
apperception of it (Atman); and thus enter on the first step of a new septenary
ladder of evolution, which will lead it eventually to the tenth (counting from
the lowest upwards) of the Sephirothal tree, the Crown.
Everything
in the Universe follows analogy. "As above, so below"; Man is the
microcosm of the Universe. That which takes place on the spiritual plane
repeats itself on the Cosmic plane. Concretion follows the lines of
abstraction; corresponding to the highest must be the lowest; the material to
the spiritual. Thus, corresponding to the Sephirothal Crown (or upper triad)
there are the three elemental Kingdoms, which precede the Mineral (see diagram
on p. 277 in Five Years of Theosophy), and which, using the language of the
Kabalists, answer in the Cosmic differentiation to the worlds of Form and
Matter from the Super-Spiritual to the Archetypal.
Now
what is a "Monad?" And what relation does it bear to an Atom? The
following reply is based upon the explanations given in answer to these questions
in the above-cited article: "The Mineral Monad," written by the
author.
"None
whatever," is answered to the second question, "to the atom or
molecule as existing in the scientific conception at present. It can neither be
compared with the microscopic organism, once classed among polygastric
infusoria, and now regarded as vegetable, and classed among Algae; nor is it
quite the Monas of the Peripatetics. Physically or constitutionally the mineral
monad differs, of course, from the human monad, which is neither physical nor
can its constitution be rendered by chemical symbols and elements." In
short, as the spiritual Monad is One, Universal, Boundless and Impartite, whose
rays, nevertheless, form what we, in our ignorance, call the "Individual
Monads" of men,
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so
the Mineral Monad -- being at the opposite point of the circle -- is also One
-- and from it proceed the countless physical atoms, which Science is beginning
to regard as individualized.
Otherwise
how could one account for and explain mathematically the evolutionary and
spiral progress of the Four Kingdoms? The "Monad" is the combination
of the last two "principles" in man, the 6th and the 7th, and,
properly speaking, the term "human monad" applies only to the dual
soul (Atma-Buddhi), not to its highest spiritual vivifying Principle, Atma,
alone. But since the Spiritual Soul, if divorced from the latter (Atma) could have
no existence, no being, it has thus been called . . . . Now the Monadic, or
rather Cosmic, Essence (if such a term be permitted) in the mineral, vegetable,
and animal, though the same throughout the series of cycles from the lowest
elemental up to the Deva Kingdom, yet differs in the scale of progression. It
would be very misleading to imagine a Monad as a separate Entity trailing its
slow way in a distinct path through the lower Kingdoms, and after an
incalculable series of transformations flowering into a human being; in short,
that the Monad of a Humboldt dates back to the Monad of an atom of horneblende.
Instead of saying a "Mineral Monad," the more correct phraseology in
physical Science, which differentiates every atom, would of course have been to
call it "the Monad manifesting in that form of Prakriti called the Mineral
Kingdom." The atom, as represented in the ordinary scientific hypothesis,
is not a particle of something, animated by a psychic something, destined after
aeons to blossom as a man. But it is a concrete manifestation of the Universal
Energy which itself has not yet become individualized; a sequential
manifestation of the one Universal Monas. The ocean (of matter) does not divide
into its potential and constituent drops until the sweep of the life-impulse
reaches the evolutionary stage of man-birth. The tendency towards segregation
into individual Monads is gradual, and in the higher animals comes almost to
the point. The Peripatetics applied the word Monas to the whole Kosmos, in the
pantheistic sense; and the Occultists, while accepting this thought for
convenience sake, distinguish the progressive stages of the evolution of the
concrete from the abstract by terms of which the "Mineral, Vegetable,
Animal, (etc.), Monad" are examples. The term merely means that the tidal
wave of spiritual evolution is passing through that arc of its circuit. The
"Monadic
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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Essence"
begins to imperceptibly differentiate towards individual consciousness in the
Vegetable Kingdom. As the Monads are uncompounded things, as correctly defined
by Leibnitz, it is the spiritual essence which vivifies them in their degrees
of differentiation, which properly constitutes the Monad -- not the atomic
aggregation, which is only the vehicle and the substance through which thrill
the lower and the higher degrees of intelligence.
Leibnitz
conceived of the Monads as elementary and indestructible units endowed with the
power of giving and receiving with respect to other units, and thus of
determining all spiritual and physical phenomena. It is he who invented the
term apperception, which together with nerve- (not perception, but rather) --
sensation, expresses the state of the Monadic consciousness through all the
Kingdoms up to Man.
Thus
it may be wrong on strictly metaphysical lines to call Atma-Buddhi a MONAD,
since in the materialistic view it is dual and therefore compound. But as
Matter is Spirit, and vice versa; and since the Universe and the Deity which
informs it are unthinkable apart from each other; so in the case of
Atma-Buddhi. The latter being the vehicle of the former, Buddhi stands in the
same relation to Atma, as Adam-Kadmon, the Kabalistic Logos, does to En-Soph,
or Mulaprakriti to Parabrahm.
A
few words more of the Moon.
What,
it may be asked, are the "Lunar Monads," just spoken of? The
description of the seven classes of Pitris will come later, but now some
general explanations may be given. It must be plain to everyone that they are
Monads, who, having ended their life-cycle on the lunar chain, which is
inferior to the terrestrial chain, have incarnated on this one. But there are
some further details which may be added, though they border too closely on forbidden
ground to be treated of fully. The last word of the mystery is divulged only to
the adepts, but it may be stated that our satellite is only the gross body of
its invisible principles. Seeing then that there are 7 Earths, so there are 7
Moons, the last one alone being visible; the same for the Sun, whose visible
body is called a Maya, a reflection, just as man's body is. "The real Sun
and the real Moon are as invisible as the real man," says an occult maxim.
And
it may be remarked en passant that those ancients were not so foolish after all
who first started the idea of "the seven moons." For though
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this
conception is now taken solely as an astronomical measure of time, in a very
materialised form, yet underlying the husk there can still be recognised the
traces of a profoundly philosophical idea.
In
reality the Moon is only the satellite of the Earth in one respect, viz., that
physically the Moon revolves round the Earth. But in every other respect it is
the Earth which is the satellite of the Moon, and not vice versa. Startling as
the statement may seem it is not without confirmation from scientific knowledge.
It is evidenced by the tides, by the cyclic changes in many forms of disease
which coincide with the lunar phases; it can be traced in the growth of plants,
and is very marked in the phenomena of human gestation and conception. The
importance of the Moon and its influence on the Earth were recognized in every
ancient religion, notably the Jewish, and have been remarked by many observers
of psychical and physical phenomena. But, so far as Science knows, the Earth's
action on the Moon is confined to the physical attraction, which causes her to
circle in her orbit. And should an objector insist that this fact alone is
sufficient evidence that the Moon is truly the Earth's satellite on other
planes of action, one may reply by asking whether a mother, who walks round and
round her child's cradle keeping watch over the infant, is the subordinate of
her child or dependent upon it; though in one sense she is its satellite, yet
she is certainly older and more fully developed than the child she watches.
It
is, then, the Moon that plays the largest and most important part, as well in
the formation of the Earth itself, as in the peopling thereof with human
beings. The "Lunar Monads" or Pitris, the ancestors of man, become in
reality man himself. They are the "Monads" who enter on the cycle of
evolution on Globe A, and who, passing round the chain of planets, evolve the
human form as has just been shown. At the beginning of the human stage of the
Fourth Round on this Globe, they "ooze out" their astral doubles from
the "ape-like" forms which they had evolved in Round III. And it is
this subtle, finer form, which serves as the model round which Nature builds
physical man. These "Monads" or "divine sparks" are thus
the "Lunar" ancestors, the Pitris themselves. For these "Lunar
Spirits" have to become "Men" in order that their
"Monads" may reach a higher plane of activity and self-consciousness,
i.e., the plane of the Manasa-Putras, those who
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[[Vol.
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endow
the "senseless" shells, created and informed by the Pitris, with
"mind" in the latter part of the Third Root-Race.
In
the same way the "Monads" or Egos of the men of the seventh Round of
our Earth, after our own Globes A, B, C, D, et seq., parting with their
life-energy, will have informed and thereby called to life other laya-centres
destined to live and act on a still higher plane of being -- in the same way
will the Terrene "Ancestors" create those who will become their
superiors.
It
now becomes plain that there exists in Nature a triple evolutionary scheme, for
the formation of the three periodical Upadhis; or rather three separate schemes
of evolution, which in our system are inextricably interwoven and interblended
at every point. These are the Monadic (or spiritual), the intellectual, and the
physical evolutions. These three are the finite aspects or the reflections on
the field of Cosmic Illusion of ATMA, the seventh, the ONE REALITY.
1.
The Monadic is, as the name implies, concerned with the growth and development
into still higher phases of activity of the Monad in conjunction with:--
2.
The Intellectual, represented by the Manasa-Dhyanis (the Solar Devas, or the
Agnishwatta Pitris) the "givers of intelligence and consciousness"*
to man and:--
3.
The Physical, represented by the Chhayas of the lunar Pitris, round which
Nature has concreted the present physical body. This body serves as the vehicle
for the "growth" (to use a misleading word) and the transformations
through Manas and -- owing to the accumulation of experiences -- of the finite
into the INFINITE, of the transient into the Eternal and Absolute.
Each
of these three systems has its own laws, and is ruled and guided by different
sets of the highest Dhyanis or "Logoi." Each is represented in the
constitution of man, the Microcosm of the great Macrocosm; and it is the union
of these three streams in him which makes him the complex being he now is.
"Nature,"
the physical evolutionary Power, could never evolve intelligence unaided -- she
can only create "senseless forms," as will be seen in our
"ANTHROPOGENESIS." The "Lunar Monads" cannot progress, for
they have not yet had sufficient touch with the forms
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Vide CONCLUSION in Part II. of this Book.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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created
by "Nature" to allow of their accumulating experiences through its
means. It is the Manasa-Dhyanis who fill up the gap, and they represent the
evolutionary power of Intelligence and Mind, the link between
"Spirit" and "Matter" -- in this Round.
Also
it must be borne in mind that the Monads which enter upon the evolutionary
cycle upon Globe A, in the first Round, are in very different stages of
development. Hence the matter becomes somewhat complicated. . . . Let us
recapitulate.
The
most developed Monads (the lunar) reach the human germ-stage in the first
Round; become terrestrial, though very ethereal human beings towards the end of
the Third Round, remaining on it (the globe) through the
"obscuration" period as the seed for future mankind in the Fourth Round,
and thus become the pioneers of Humanity at the beginning of this, the Fourth
Round. Others reach the Human stage only during later Rounds, i.e., in the
second, third, or first half of the Fourth Round. And finally the most retarded
of all, i.e., those still occupying animal forms after the middle turning-point
of the Fourth Round -- will not become men at all during this Manwantara. They
will reach to the verge of humanity only at the close of the seventh Round to
be, in their turn, ushered into a new chain after pralaya -- by older pioneers,
the progenitors of humanity, or the Seed-Humanity (Sishta), viz., the men who
will be at the head of all at the end of these Rounds.
The
student hardly needs any further explanation on the part played by the fourth
Globe and the fourth Round in the scheme of evolution.
From
the preceding diagrams, which are applicable, mutatis mutandis, to Rounds,
Globes or Races, it will be seen that the fourth member of a series occupies a
unique position. Unlike the others, the Fourth has no "sister" Globe
on the same plane as itself, and it thus forms the fulcrum of the
"balance" represented by the whole chain. It is the sphere of final
evolutionary adjustments, the world of Karmic scales, the Hall of Justice,
where the balance is struck which determines the future course of the Monad
during the remainder of its incarnations in the cycle. And therefore it is,
that, after this central turning-point has been passed in the Great Cycle, --
i.e., after the middle point of the Fourth Race in the Fourth Round on our
Globe -- no more Monads can enter the human kingdom. The door is closed for
this Cycle and the balance struck. For were it otherwise -- had there been a
new soul
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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created
for each of the countless milliards of human beings that have passed away, and
had there been no reincarnation -- it would become difficult indeed to provide
room for the disembodied "Spirits;" nor could the origin and cause of
suffering ever be accounted for. It is the ignorance of the occult tenets and
the enforcement of false conceptions under the guise of religious education,
which have created materialism and atheism as a protest against the asserted
divine order of things.
The
only exceptions to the rule just stated are the "dumb races," whose
Monads are already within the human stage, in virtue of the fact that these
"animals" are later than, and even half descended from man, their last
descendants being the anthropoid and other apes. These "human
presentments" are in truth only the distorted copies of the early
humanity. But this will receive full attention in the next Book.
As
the Commentary, broadly rendered, says:--
1.
"Every form on earth, and every speck (atom) in Space strives in its
efforts towards self-formation to follow the model placed for it in the '
HEAVENLY MAN.' . . . Its (the atom's) involution and evolution, its external
and internal growth and development, have all one and the same object -- man;
man, as the highest physical and ultimate form on this earth; the MONAD, in its
absolute totality and awakened condition -- as the culmination of the divine
incarnations on Earth."
2.
"The Dhyanis (Pitris) are those who have evolved their BHUTA (doubles)
from themselves, which RUPA (form) has become the vehicle of monads (seventh
and sixth principles) that had completed their cycle of transmigration in the
three preceding Kalpas (Rounds). Then, they (the astral doubles) became the men
of the first Human Race of the Round. But they were not complete, and were
senseless."
This
will be explained in the Books that follow. Meanwhile man -- or rather his
Monad -- has existed on the earth from the very beginning of this Round. But, up
to our own Fifth Race, the external shapes which covered those divine astral
doubles changed and consolidated with every sub-race; the form and physical
structure of the fauna changing at the same time, as they had to be adapted to
the ever-changing conditions of life on this globe during the geological
periods of its formative cycle. And thus shall they go on changing with every
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[[Vol.
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Root
Race and every chief sub-race down to the last one of the Seventh in this
Round.
3.
"The inner, now concealed, man, was then (in the beginnings) the external
man. The progeny of the Dhyanis (Pitris), he was 'the son like unto his
father.' Like the lotus, whose external shape assumes gradually the form of the
model within itself, so did the form of man in the beginning evolve from within
without. After the cycle in which man began to procreate his species after the
fashion of the present animal kingdom, it became the reverse. The human foetus
follows now in its transformations all the forms that the physical frame of man
had assumed throughout the three Kalpas (Rounds) during the tentative efforts
at Plastic formation around the monad by senseless, because imperfect, matter,
in her blind wanderings. In the present age, the physical embryo is a plant, a
reptile, an animal, before it finally becomes man, evolving within himself his
own ethereal counterpart, in his turn. In the beginning it was that counterpart
(astral man) which, being senseless, got entangled in the meshes of
matter."
But
this "man" belongs to the fourth Round. As shown, the MONAD had
passed through, journeyed and been imprisoned in, every transitional form
throughout every kingdom of nature during the three preceding Rounds. But the
monad which becomes human is not the Man. In this Round -- with the exception
of the highest mammals after man, the anthropoids destined to die out in this
our race, when their monads will be liberated and pass into the astral human
forms (or the highest elementals) of the Sixth* and the Seventh Races, and then
into lowest human forms in the fifth Round -- no units of either of the
kingdoms are animated any longer by monads destined to become human in their
next stage, but only by the lower Elementals of their respective realms.**
The
last human Monad incarnated before the beginning of the 5th
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Nature never repeats herself, therefore the anthropoids of our day have not
existed at any time since the middle of the Miocene period; when, like all
cross breeds, they began to show a tendency, more and more marked as time went
on, to return to the type of their first parent, the black and yellow gigantic
Lemuro-Atlantean. To search for the "Missing Link" is useless. To the
scientists of the closing sixth Root-race, millions and millions of years
hence, our modern races, or rather their fossils, will appear as those of small
insignificant apes -- an extinct species of the genus homo.
**
These "Elementals" will become human Monads, in their turn, only at
the next great planetary Manvantara.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Vol.
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Root-Race.*
The cycle of metempsychosis for the human monad is closed, for we are in the
Fourth Round and the Fifth Root-Race. The reader will have to bear in mind --
at any rate one who has made himself acquainted with "Esoteric
Buddhism" -- that the Stanzas which follow in this Book and Book II speak
of the evolution in our Fourth Round only. The latter is the cycle of the
turning-point, after which, matter,
[[Footnote(s)]]
-------------------------------------------------
*
Such anthropoids form an exception because they were not intended by Nature,
but are the direct product and creation of "senseless" man. The
Hindus give a divine origin to the apes and monkeys because the men of the
Third Race were gods from another plane who had become "senseless"
mortals. This subject had already been touched upon in "Isis
Unveiled" twelve years ago as plainly as was then possible. On pp.
278-279, the reader is referred "to the Brahmins, if he would know the
reason of the regard they have for the monkeys. For then he (the reader) would
perhaps learn -- were the Brahman to judge him worthy of an explanation -- that
the Hindu sees in the ape but what Manu desired he should: the transformation
of species most directly connected with that of the human family, a bastard
branch engrafted on their own stock before the final perfection of the latter.
He might learn, further, that in the eyes of the educated 'heathen' the
spiritual or inner man is one thing, and his terrestrial physical casket
another. That physical nature, the great combination of physical correlations
of forces, ever creeping onward towards perfection, has to avail herself of the
material at hand; she models and remodels as she proceeds, and finishing her
crowning work in man, presents him alone as a fit tabernacle for the
overshadowing of the divine Spirit."
Moreover,
a German scientific work is mentioned in a footnote on the same page. It says
that a Hanoverian scientist had recently published a Book entitled "Ueber
die Auflosung der Arten durch Naturliche Zucht-wahl," in which he shows,
with great ingenuity, that Darwin was wholly mistaken in tracing man back to
the ape. On the contrary, he maintains that it is the ape which is evolved from
man. He shows that, in the beginning, mankind were morally and physically the
types and prototypes of our present Race, and of our human dignity, by their
beauty of form, regularity of feature, cranial development, nobility of
sentiments, heroic impulses, and grandeur of ideal conception. This is a purely
Brahmanic, Buddhistic and Kabalistic philosophy. The Book is copiously
illustrated with diagrams, tables, etc. It asserts that the gradual debasement
and degradation of man, morally and physically, can be readily traced
throughout the ethnological transformation down to our time. And, as one
portion has already degenerated into apes, so the civilized man of the present
day will at last, under the action of the inevitable law of necessity, be also
succeeded by like descendants. If we may judge of the future by the actual
Present, it certainly does seem possible that so unspiritual and materialistic
a body should end as Simia rather than as Seraphs. But though the apes descend
from man, it is certainly not the fact that the human Monad, which has once
reached the level of humanity, ever incarnates again in the form of an animal.
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[[Vol.
1, Page]] 186 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
having
reached its lowest depths, begins to strive onward and to get spiritualized
with every new Race and with every fresh cycle. Therefore the student must take
care not to see contradiction where there is none, as in "Esoteric
Buddhism" Rounds are spoken of in general, while here only the Fourth, or
our present Round, is meant. Then it was the work of formation; now it is that
of reformation and evolutionary perfection.
Finally,
to close this chapter anent various, but unavoidable misconceptions, we must
refer to a statement in "Esoteric Buddhism" which has produced a very
fatal impression upon the minds of many Theosophists. One unfortunate sentence
from the work just referred to is constantly brought forward to prove the
materialism of the doctrine. On p. 48, 5th Edition, the Author, referring to
the progress of organisms on the Globes, says that "the mineral kingdom
will no more develop the vegetable . . . than the Earth was able to develop man
from the ape, till it received an impulse."
Whether
this sentence renders literally the thought of the author, or is simply (as we
believe it is) a lapsus calami, may remain an open question.
It
is really with surprise that we have ascertained the fact that "Esoteric
Buddhism" was so little understood by some Theosophists, as to have led
them into the belief that it thoroughly supported Darwinian evolution, and
especially the theory of the descent of man from a pithecoid ancestor. As one
member writes: "I suppose you realise that three-fourths of Theosophists
and even outsiders imagine that, as far as the evolution of man is concerned,
Darwinism and Theosophy kiss one another." Nothing of the kind was ever
realised, nor is there any great warrant for it, so far as we know, in
"Esoteric Buddhism." It has been repeatedly stated that evolution as
taught by Manu and Kapila was the groundwork of the modern teachings, but
neither Occultism nor Theosophy has ever supported the wild theories of the
present Darwinists -- least of all the descent of man from an ape. Of this, more
hereafter. But one has only to turn to p. 47 of "Esoteric Buddhism,"
5th edition, to find there the statement that "Man belongs to a kingdom
distinctly separate from that of the animals." With such a plain and
unequivocal statement before him, it is very strange that any careful student
should have been so misled unless he is prepared to charge the author with a
gross contradiction.
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[[Vol.
1, Page]] 187 AN ERRONEOUS OPINION.
Every
Round repeats on a higher scale the evolutionary work of the preceding Round.
With the exception of some higher anthropoids, as just mentioned, the Monadic
inflow, or inner evolution, is at an end till the next Manvantara. It can never
be too often repeated, that the full-blown human Monads have to be first
disposed of, before the new crop of candidates appears on this Globe at the
beginning of the next cycle. Thus there is a lull; and this is why, during the
Fourth Round, man appears on Earth earlier than any animal creation, as will be
described.
But
it is still urged that the author of "Esoteric Buddhism" has
"preached Darwinism" all along. Certain passages would undoubtedly
seem to lend countenance to this inference. Besides which the Occultists
themselves are ready to concede partial correctness to the Darwinian
hypothesis, in later details, bye-laws of Evolution, and after the midway point
of the Fourth Race. Of that which has taken place, physical science can really
know nothing, for such matters lie entirely outside of its sphere of
investigation. But what the Occultists have never admitted, nor will they ever
admit, is that man was an ape in this or in any other Round; or that he ever
could be one, however much he may have been "ape-like." This is vouched
for by the very authority from whom the author of "Esoteric Buddhism"
got his information.
Thus to those who confront the Occultists with these lines from the above-named volume: "It is enough to show that we may as reasonably -- and that we must, if we would talk about these matters at all -- conceive a life-impulse giving birth to mineral form, as of the same sort of impulse concerned to raise a race of apes into a race of rudimentary men." To those who bring this passage forward as showing "decided Darwinism," the Occultists answer by pointing to the explanation of the Master (Mr. Sinnett's "teacher") which would contradic