Theosophical Society,
THE
SECRET DOCTRINE
H P Blavatsky
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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.
NOTE
* 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
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.
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
NOTE
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."
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
NOTE
*
Nominalists, arguing with
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.
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
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
NOTE
* 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!
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
NOTE
* 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.
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.
NOTES
* 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."
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
NOTES
* 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.
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
NOTES
* 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-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.
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
NOTE
* 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,
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
NOTES
* 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 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
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
NOTES
* 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."
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.
NOTES
* 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.
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
NOTES
* 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 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.
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."
NOTES
* See Mr.
Subba Row's four able lectures on the Bhagavad Gita, "Theosophist,"
February, 1887.
** Called
in Sanskrit: "Upadhi."
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
NOTES
* 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 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.
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 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
NOTE
* 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. 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
NOTE
* 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.
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
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
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 on the text of the Stanzas
The Stanzas which form the thesis of every
section are given throughout in their modern translated version, as it would be
worse 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
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.
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