THE SECRET DOCTRINE:
THE SYNTHESIS
OF
SCIENCE, RELIGION, AND PHILOSOPHY.
by H. P. BLAVATSKY
COSMIC EVOLUTION.
---------------------
SEVEN STANZAS TRANSLATED WITH COMMENTARIES
FROM THE
SECRET BOOK OF DZYAN.
COSMIC EVOLUTION.
In Seven Stanzas translated from the Book of Dzyan.
---------------------
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.
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 29 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
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.
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 30 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
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 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
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 63 THE UNIVERSE, A FLITTING SHADOW.
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).
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 64 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
(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
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 65 NATURE'S SYMBOLS.
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
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 66 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
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
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 67 THE POWER OF NUMBERS.
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.
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 68 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
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]]
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 69 THE BLOSSOM OF THE ROOT OF LIFE.
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.
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 70 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
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.
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 71 LIGHT EMERGES FROM DARKNESS.
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.
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 72 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
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.
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 73 THE DRAGON AND THE LOGOI.
(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.
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 74 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
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.
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 75 NOUMENAL AND PHENOMENAL LIGHT.
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.)
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 76 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
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 
,
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.
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 77 DEITY IN SPACE AND TIME.
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
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 78 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
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
, 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
, 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
is the symbol of the Unity and consequently of the unvarying Idea of the
Divine operating through all these. But behind the
in the name Hoa are the letters
and
, 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
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 79 PRIMEVAL RADIATIONS FROM THE UNITY.
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.
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 80 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
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]]
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 81 PRIMEVAL DIFFERENTIATIONS.
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.
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 82 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
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.
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 83 THE WEB OF BEING.
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.
`. 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
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 84 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
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
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 85 CONSCIOUS ELECTRICITY.
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.
---------------------
[[The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 86 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
from
The Secret Doctrine,
by H. P. Blavatsky
**
**
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