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    "name": "Volume I — Cosmogenesis"
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    "num": 10,
    "slug": "12-theosophical-misconceptions-152",
    "title": "THEOSOPHICAL MISCONCEPTIONS ... 152",
    "of": 48,
    "words": 7662,
    "text": "## THEOSOPHICAL MISCONCEPTIONS ... 152\n\n\nThe Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky, Vol 1, bk 1, sec 6a\n\n###### The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol. 1\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 152 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\n[[This page continued from previous section]]\n\n##### A FEW EARLY THEOSOPHICAL MISCONCEPTIONS\nCONCERNING PLANETS, ROUNDS, AND MAN.\n\nAmong the eleven Stanzas omitted* there is one which gives a full\ndescription of the formation of the planetary chains one after\nanother, after the first Cosmic and Atomic differentiation had\ncommenced in the primitive *Acosmism. *It is idle to speak\nof \"laws arising when Deity prepares to create\" for\n(*a*) laws or rather **L**AW is eternal and\nuncreated; and (*b*) that Deity is Law, and *vice versa.\n*Moreover, the one eternal **L**AW unfolds everything\nin the (to be) manifested Nature on a sevenfold principle; among\nthe rest, the countless circular chains of worlds, composed of\nseven globes, graduated on the four lower planes of the world\nof formation (the three others belonging to the Archetypal Universe).\nOut of these seven only *one*,* the lowest and the most\nmaterial of those globes*,* *is within our plane or\nmeans of perception, the six others lying outside of it and being\ntherefore invisible to the terrestrial eye. Every such chain of\nworlds is the progeny and creation of another, *lower*,\nand* dead *chain -- *its reincarnation*,* *so\nto say. To make it clearer: we are told of the planets -- of which\n*seven only *were held as sacred, as being ruled by the\nhighest regents or gods, and not at all because the ancients knew\nnothing of the others** -- that each of these, whether known or\nunknown, is a septenary, as is the chain to which the Earth belongs\n(see \"Esoteric\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] to diagram\n\n* See the note which follows the Commentary on the preceding page,\nand also the summary of the Stanzas in the Proem, page 22.\n\n** Many more planets are enumerated in the Secret Books than in\nmodern astronomical works.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 153 DESCENDING AND RE-ASCENDING STATES.\n\nBuddhism\"). For instance, all such planets as Mercury, Venus,\nMars, Jupiter, Saturn, etc., etc., or our Earth, are as visible\nto us as our globe, probably, is to the inhabitants of the other\nplanets, if any, because they are all on the same plane; while\nthe superior fellow-globes of these planets are on other planes\nquite outside that of our terrestrial senses. As their relative\nposition is given further on, and also in the diagram appended\nto the Comments on Verse 7 of Stanza VI., a few words of explanation\nis all that is needed at present. These invisible companions correspond\ncuriously to that which we call \"the principles in Man.\"\nThe seven are on three material planes and one spiritual plane,\nanswering to the three *Upadhis *(material bases) and one\nspiritual vehicle (*Vahan*)* *of our seven principles\nin the human division. If, for the sake of a clearer mental conception,\nwe imagine the human principles to be arranged as in the following\nscheme, we shall obtain the annexed diagram of correspondences:\n--\n\n**D**IAGRAM **I**.\n\n####### [[Footnote(s) to diagram]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n*As we are proceeding here from Universals to Particulars, instead\nof using the inductive or Aristotelean method, the numbers are\nreversed. Spirit is enumerated the first instead of seventh, as\nis usually done, but, in truth, *ought not to be done.*\n\n† Or as usually named after the manner of *Esoteric Buddhism\n*and others: 1, Atma; 2, Buddhi (or Spiritual Soul); 3, Manas\n(Human Soul); 4, Kama Rupa (Vehicle of Desires and Passions);\n5, Linga Sarira; 6, Prana; 7, Sthula Sarira.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 154 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nThe dark horizontal lines of the lower planes are the Upadhis\nin one case, and the planes in the case of the planetary chain.\nOf course, as regards the human principles, the diagram does not\nplace them quite in order, yet it shows the correspondence and\nanalogy to which attention is now drawn. As the reader will see,\nit is a case of descent into matter, the adjustment -- in both\nthe mystic and the physical senses -- of the two, and their interblending\nfor the great coming \"struggle of life\" that awaits\nboth the *entities. *\"Entity\" may be thought\na strange term to use in the case of a globe; but the ancient\nphilosophers, who saw in the earth a huge \"animal,\"\nwere wiser in their generation than our modern geologists are\nin theirs; and Pliny, who called the Earth our kind nurse and\nmother, the only element which is not inimical to man, spoke more\ntruly than Watts, who fancied that he saw in her the footstool\nof God. For Earth is only the footstool of man in his ascension\nto higher regions; the vestibule --\n\n\". . . . . . . to glorious mansions,\n\nThrough which a moving crowd for ever press.\"\n\nBut this only shows how admirably the occult philosophy fits everything\nin Nature, and how much more logical are its tenets than the lifeless\nhypothetical speculations of physical science.\n\nHaving learned thus much, the mystic will be better prepared to\nunderstand the occult teaching, though every formal student of\nmodern science may, and probably will, regard it as preposterous\nnonsense. The student of occultism, however, holds that the theory\nat present under discussion is far more philosophical and probable\nthan any other. It is more logical, at any rate, than the theory\nrecently advanced which made of the moon the projection of a portion\nof our Earth extruded when the latter was but a globe in fusion,\na molten plastic mass.*\n\nIt is said that the planetary chains having their \"Days\"\nand their\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* Says the author of \"Modern Science and Modern Thought,\"\nMr. Samuel Laing: \"The astronomical conclusions are theories\nbased on data so uncertain, that while in some cases they give\nresults incredibly short, like that of 15 millions of years for\nthe whole past process of formation of the solar system, in others\nthey give results almost incredibly long, as *in that which\nsupposes the moon to have been thrown off when the Earth was rotating\nin three hours*,* while the utmost actual retardation obtained\nfrom observation would require *600 millions of years to make\nit rotate in twenty-three hours instead of twenty-four\" (p.\n48). And if physicists persist, why should the chronology of the\nHindus be laughed at as exaggerated?\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 155 EXCHANGE OF LIFE-PRINCIPLES.\n\n\"Nights\" -- *i.e.*, periods of activity or life,\nand of inertia or death -- and behave in heaven as do men on Earth:\nthey generate their likes, get old, and become personally extinct,\ntheir spiritual principles only living in their progeny as a survival\nof themselves.\n\nWithout attempting the very difficult task of giving out the whole\nprocess in all its cosmic details, enough may be said to give\nan approximate idea of it. When a planetary chain is in its last\nRound, its Globe 1 or A, before finally *dying out*, sends\nall its energy and \"principles\" into a neutral centre\nof latent force, a \"laya centre,\" and thereby informs\na new nucleus of undifferentiated substance or matter, *i.e.*,*\n*calls it into activity or gives it life. Suppose such a process\nto have taken place in the lunar \"planetary\" chain;\nsuppose again, for argument's sake (though Mr. Darwin's theory\nquoted below has lately been upset, even if the fact has not yet\nbeen ascertained by mathematical calculation) that the moon is\nfar older than the Earth. Imagine the six fellow-globes of the\nmoon -- aeons before the first globe of our seven was evolved\n-- just in the same position in relation to each other as the\nfellow-globes of our chain occupy in regard to our Earth now.\n(See in \"Esoteric Buddhism,\" \"The Constitution\nof Man,\" and the \"Planetary Chain.\") And now it\nwill be easy to imagine further Globe A of the lunar chain informing\nGlobe A of the terrestrial chain, and -- dying; Globe B of the\nformer sending after that its energy into Globe B of the new chain;\nthen Globe C of the lunar, creating its progeny sphere C of the\nterrene chain; then the Moon (our Satellite*) pouring forth into\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* She is the satellite, undeniably, but this does not invalidate\nthe theory that she has given to the Earth all but her corpse.\nFor Darwin's theory to hold good, besides the hypothesis just\nupset (vide last footnote), other still more incongruous speculations\nhad to be invented. The Moon, it is said, has cooled nearly six\ntimes as rapidly as the Earth (Winchell's \"World-Life\"):\n\"The Moon, if the earth is 14,000,000 years old since its\nincrustation, is only eleven and two thirds millions of years\nold since that stage . . .\" etc. And if our Moon is but a\nsplash from our Earth, why can no similar inference be established\nfor the Moons of other planets? The Astronomers \"do not know.\"\nWhy should Venus and Mercury have no satellites, and by what,\nwhen they exist, were they formed? Because, we say, science has\nonly one key -- the key of matter -- to open the mysteries of\nnature withal, while occult philosophy has seven keys and explains\nthat which science fails to see. Mercury and Venus have no satellites\nbut they had \"parents\" just as the earth had. Both are\nfar older than the Earth and, before the latter reaches her seventh\nRound, her mother Moon will have dissolved [[Footnote continued\non next page]]\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 156 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nthe lowest globe of our planetary ring -- Globe D, our Earth --\nall its life, energy and powers; and, having transferred them\nto a new centre becoming virtually *a dead planet*,*\n*in which rotation has almost ceased since the birth of our\nglobe. The Moon is now the cold residual quantity, the shadow\ndragged after the new body, into which her living powers and \"principles\"\nare transfused. She now is doomed for long ages to be ever pursuing\nthe Earth, to be attracted by and to attract her progeny. Con*stantly\nvampirised *by her child, she revenges herself on it by soaking\nit through and through with the nefarious, invisible, and poisoned\ninfluence which emanates from the occult side of her nature. For\nshe is a *dead*,* *yet a *living body. *The\nparticles of her decaying corpse are full of active and destructive\nlife, although the body which they had formed is soulless and\nlifeless. Therefore its emanations are at the same time beneficent\nand maleficent -- this circumstance finding its parallel on earth\nin the fact that the grass and plants are nowhere more juicy and\nthriving than on the graves; while at the same time it is the\ngraveyard or corpse-emanations, which kill. And like all ghouls\nor vampires, the moon is the friend of the sorcerers and the foe\nof the unwary. From the archaic aeons and the later times of the\nwitches of Thessaly, down to some of the present *tantrikas\n*of Bengal, her nature and properties were known to every\nOccultist, but have remained a closed book for physicists.\n\nSuch is the moon from the astronomical, geological, and physical\nstandpoints. As to her metaphysical and psychic nature it must\nremain an occult secret in this work, as it was in the volume\non \"Esoteric Buddhism,\" notwithstanding the rather sanguine\nstatement made therein on p. 113 (5th edition) that \"there\nis not much mystery left now in the riddle of the eighth sphere.\"\nThese are topics, indeed, \"on which the adepts are very reserved\nin their communications to uninitiated pupils,\" and since\nthey have, moreover, never sanctioned or permitted any published\nspeculations upon them, the less said the better.\n\nYet without treading upon the forbidden ground of the \"eighth\nsphere,\" it may be useful to state some additional facts\nwith regard to ex-monads of the lunar chain -- the \"lunar\nancestors\" -- as they play a\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n[[Footnote continued from previous page]] into thin air, as the\n\"Moons\" of the other planets have, or have not, as the\ncase may be, since there are planets which have *several *moons\n-- a mystery again which no OEdipus of astronomy has solved.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 157 OPINIONS DIFFER AND YET AGREE.\n\nleading part in the coming *Anthropogenesis. *This brings\nus directly to the septenary constitution of man; and as some\ndiscussion has arisen of late about the best classification to\nbe adopted for the division of the microcosmic entity, two systems\nare now appended with a view to facilitate comparison. The subjoined\nshort article is from the pen of Mr. T. Subba Row, a learned Vedantin\nscholar. He prefers the Brahmanical division of the Raja Yoga,\nand from a metaphysical point of view he is quite right. But,\nas it is a question of simple choice and expediency, we hold in\nthis work to the \"time-honoured\" classification of the\ntrans-Himalayan \"Arhat Esoteric School.\" The following\ntable and its explanatory text are reprinted from the \"Theosophist\"\nof Madras, and they are also contained in \"Five Years of\nTheosophy\": --\n\nSEPTENARY DIVISION IN DIFFERENT INDIAN SYSTEMS.\n\n\"We give below in a tabular form the classifications adopted\nby the Buddhist and Vedantic teachers of the principles of man:\n--\n\n####### [[Footnote(s) to table]]\n\n* Kosa (kosha) is \"Sheath\" literally, the sheath of\nevery principle.\n\n† \"Life.\"\n\n‡ The astral body or Linga Sarira.\n\n§ Sthula-Upadhi, or basis of the principle.\n\n|| Buddhi.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 158 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nFrom the foregoing table it will be seen that the third principle\nin the Buddhist classification is not separately mentioned in\nthe Vedantic division, as it is merely the vehicle of Prana. It\nwill also be seen that the Fourth principle is included in the\nthird Kosa (Sheath), as the same principle is but the vehicle\nof will-power, which is but an energy of the mind. It must also\nbe noticed that the Vignanamaya Kosa is considered to be distinct\nfrom the Manomaya Kosa, as a division is made after death between\nthe lower part of the mind, as it were, which has a closer affinity\nwith the fourth principle than with the sixth; and its higher\npart, which attaches itself to the latter, and which is, in fact,\nthe basis for the higher spiritual individuality of man.\n\nWe may also here point out to our readers that the classification\nmentioned in the last column is, for all practical purposes, connected\nwith Raja Yoga, the best and simplest. Though there are seven\nprinciples in man, there are but three distinct Upadhis (bases),\nin each of which his Atma may work independently of the rest.\nThese three Upadhis can be separated by an Adept without killing\nhimself. He cannot separate the seven principles from each other\nwithout destroying his constitution.\"\n\nThe student will now be better prepared to see that between the\nthree Upadhis of the Raja Yoga and its Atma, and our three Upadhis,\nAtma, and the additional three divisions, there is in reality\nbut very little difference. Moreover, as every adept in cis-Himalayan\nor trans-Himalayan India, of the Patanjali, the Aryasanga or the\nMahayana schools, has to become a Raja Yogi, he must, therefore,\naccept the Taraka Raja classification in principle and theory\nwhatever classification he resorts to for practical and occult\npurposes. Thus, it matters very little whether one speaks of the\n*three Upadhis with their three aspects *and Atma, the\neternal and immortal synthesis, or calls them the \"seven\nprinciples.\"\n\nFor the benefit of those who may not have read, or, if they have,\nmay not have clearly understood, in Theosophical writings, the\ndoctrine of the septenary chains of worlds in the Solar Kosmos,\nthe teaching is briefly thus: --\n\n1. Everything in the metaphysical as in the physical Universe\nis septenary. Hence every sidereal body, every planet, whether\nvisible\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 159 THE TRANSMIGRATIONS OF THE EGO.\n\nor invisible, is credited with six companion globes. (See Diagram\nNo. 3, after verse 6 of this commentary.) The evolution of life\nproceeds on these seven globes or bodies from the 1st to the 7th\nin Seven **R**OUNDS or Seven Cycles.\n\n2. These globes are formed by a process which the Occultists call\nthe \"rebirth of planetary chains (or rings).\" When the\nseventh and last Round of one of such rings has been entered upon,\nthe highest or first globe \"A,\" followed by all the\nothers down to the last, instead of entering upon a certain time\nof rest -- or \"obscuration,\" as in their previous Rounds\n-- begins to die out. The \"planetary\" dissolution (*pralaya*)*\n*is* *at hand, and its hour has struck; each globe\nhas to transfer its life and energy to another planet. (See diagram\nNo. 2* infra*, \"The Moon and the Earth.\")\n\n3. Our Earth, as the visible representative of its invisible superior\nfellow globes, its \"lords\" or \"principles\"\n(see diagram No. 1), has to live, as have the others, through\nseven Rounds. During the first three, it forms and consolidates;\nduring the fourth it settles and hardens; during the last three\nit gradually returns to its first ethereal form: it is spiritualised,\nso to say.\n\n4. Its Humanity develops fully only in the Fourth -- our present\nRound. Up to this fourth Life-Cycle, it is referred to as \"humanity\"\nonly for lack of a more appropriate term. Like the grub which\nbecomes chrysalis and butterfly, Man, or rather that which becomes\nman, passes through all the forms and kingdoms during the first\nRound and through all the human shapes during the two following\nRounds. Arrived on our Earth at the commencement of the Fourth\nin the present series of life-cycles and races, MAN is the first\nform that appears thereon, being preceded only by the mineral\nand vegetable kingdoms -- even the latter *having to develop\nand continue its further evolution through man. *This will\nbe explained in Book II. During the three Rounds to come, Humanity,\nlike the globe on which it lives, will be ever tending to reassume\nits primeval form, that of a Dhyan Chohanic Host. Man tends to\nbecome a God and then -- **G**OD, like every other\natom in the Universe.\n\n\"Beginning so early as with the 2nd round, Evolution proceeds\nalready on quite a different plan. It is only during the 1st round\nthat (heavenly) man becomes a human being on globe A (rebecomes)\na mineral, a plant, an animal, on globe B and C, etc. The process\nchanges\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 160 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nentirely from the second round -- but you have learned prudence\n. . . and I advise you *to say nothing before the time for\nsaying it has come. *. .\" (Extract from the Teacher's\nletters on various topics.)\n\n5. Every life-cycle on Globe D (our Earth)* is composed of seven\nroot-races. They commence with the Ethereal and end with the spiritual\non the double line of physical and moral evolution -- from the\nbeginning of the terrestrial round to its close. (One is a \"planetary\nround\" from Globe A to Globe G, the seventh; the other, the\n\"globe round,\" or the *terrestrial*)*.*\n\nThis is very well described in \"Esoteric Buddhism\" and\nneeds no further elucidation for the time being.\n\n6. The first root-race, *i.e.*, the first \"men\"\non earth (irrespective of form) were the progeny of the \"celestial\nmen,\" called rightly in Indian philosophy the \"Lunar\nAncestors\" or the Pitris, of which there are seven classes\nor Hierarchies. As all this will be sufficiently explained in\nthe following sections and in Book II., no more need be said of\nit here.\n\nBut the two works already mentioned, both of which treat of subjects\nfrom the occult doctrine, need particular notice. \"Esoteric\nBuddhism\" is too well known in Theosophical circles, and\neven to the outside world, for it to be necessary to enter at\nlength upon its merits here. It is an excellent book, and has\ndone still more excellent work. But this does not alter the fact\nthat it contains some mistaken notions, and that it has led many\nTheosophists and lay-readers to form an erroneous conception of\nthe Secret Eastern Doctrines. Moreover it seems, perhaps, a little\ntoo materialistic.\n\n\"**M**AN,\" which came later, was an attempt\nto present the archaic doctrine from a more ideal standpoint,\nto translate some visions in and from the Astral Light, to render\nsome teachings partly gathered from a Master's thoughts, but unfortunately\nmisunderstood. This work also speaks of the evolution of the early\nRaces of men on Earth, and contains some excellent pages of a\nphilosophical character. But so far it is only an interesting\nlittle mystical romance. It has failed in its mission, because\nthe conditions required for a correct translation of these visions\nwere not present. Hence the reader must not wonder if our Volumes\ncontradict these earlier descriptions in several particulars.\n\n[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* We are not concerned with the other Globes in this work except\nincidentally.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 161 A RE-ADJUSTMENT OF FACTS.\n\nEsoteric \"Cosmogony\" in general, and the evolution of\nthe human Monad especially, differ so essentially in these two\nbooks and in other Theosophical works written independently by\n*beginners*, that it becomes impossible to proceed with\nthe present work without special mention of these two earlier\nvolumes, for both have a number of admirers -- \"Esoteric\nBuddhism\" especially. The time has arrived for the explanation\nof some matters in this direction. Mistakes have now to be checked\nby the original teachings and corrected. If one of the said works\nhas too pronounced a bias toward materialistic science, the other\nis decidedly too idealistic, and is, at times, fantastic.\n\nFrom the doctrine -- rather incomprehensible to western minds\n-- which deals with the periodical \"obscurations\" and\nsuccessive \"Rounds\" of the Globes along their circular\nchains, were born the first perplexities and misconceptions. One\nof such has reference to the \"*Fifth*-\"* *and\neven \"*Sixth*-Rounders.\" Those who knew that\na Round was preceded and followed by a long *Pralaya*,*\n*a pause of rest which created an impassable gulf between\ntwo Rounds until the time came for a renewed cycle of life, could\nnot understand the \"fallacy\" of talking about \"*fifth\n*and* sixth *Rounders\" in our *Fourth *Round.\nGautama Buddha, it was held, was a Sixth-Rounder, Plato and some\nother great philosophers and minds, \"Fifth-Rounders.\"\nHow could it be? One Master taught and affirmed that there were\nsuch \"Fifth-Rounders\" even now on Earth; and though\n*understood to say *that mankind was yet \"in the Fourth\nRound,\" in another place he *seemed *to say that we\nwere in the Fifth. To this an \"apocalyptic answer\" was\nreturned by another Teacher: -- \"A few drops of rain do not\nmake a Monsoon, though they presage it.\" . . . \"No,\nwe are not in the Fifth Round, but Fifth Round men have been coming\nin for the last few thousand years.\" This was worse than\nthe riddle of the Sphinx! Students of Occultism subjected their\nbrains to the wildest work of speculation. For a considerable\ntime they tried to outvie OEdipus and reconcile the two statements.\nAnd as the Masters kept as silent as the stony Sphinx herself,\nthey were accused of inconsistency, \"contradiction,\"\nand \"discrepancies.\" But they were simply allowing the\nspeculations to go on, in order *to teach a lesson *which\nthe Western mind sorely needs. In their conceit and arrogance,\nas in their habit of materializing every metaphysical conception\nand term without allowing any margin for Eastern\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 162 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nmetaphor and allegory, the Orientalists have made a jumble of\nthe Hindu exoteric philosophy, and the Theosophists were now doing\nthe same with regard to esoteric teachings. To this day it is\nevident that the latter have utterly failed to understand the\nmeaning of the term \"Fifth and Sixth Rounders.\" But\nit is simply this: every \"Round\" brings about a new\ndevelopment and even an entire change in the mental, psychic,\nspiritual and physical constitution of man, all these principles\nevoluting on an ever ascending scale. Thence it follows that those\npersons who, like Confucius and Plato, belonged psychically, mentally\nand spiritually to the higher planes of evolution, were in our\nFourth Round as the average man will be in the Fifth Round, whose\nmankind is destined to find itself, on this scale of Evolution,\nimmensely higher than is our present humanity. Similarly Gautama\nBuddha -- Wisdom incarnate -- was still higher and greater than\nall the men we have mentioned, who are called Fifth Rounders,\nwhile Buddha and Sankaracharya are termed Sixth Rounders, allegorically.\nThence again the concealed wisdom of the remark, pronounced at\nthe time \"evasive\" -- that a few drops of rain do not\nmake the Monsoon, *though they presage it.*\"\n\nAnd now the truth of the remark made in \"Esoteric Buddhism\"\nby its author will be fully apparent: --\n\n\"It is impossible, *when the complicated facts of an entirely\nunfamiliar science are being presented to untrained minds for\nthe first time*, to put them forward with all their appropriate\nqualifications . . . and abnormal developments. . . . We must\nbe content to take the broad rules first and deal with the exceptions\nafterwards, and especially is this the case with study, in connection\nwith which *the traditional methods of teaching*,* generally\nfollowed*,* aim at impressing every fresh idea on the memory\nby provoking the perplexity it at last relieves.*\"\n\nAs the author of the remark was himself, as he says, \"an\nuntrained mind\" in Occultism, his own inferences, and his\nbetter knowledge of modern astronomical speculations than of archaic\ndoctrines led him quite naturally, and as unconsciously to himself,\nto commit a few mistakes of detail rather than of any \"broad\nrule.\" One such will now be noticed. It is a trifling one,\nstill it is calculated to lead many a beginner into erroneous\nconceptions. But as the mistaken notions of the earlier editions\nwere corrected in the *annotations *of the fifth edition,\nso the sixth may be revised and perfected. There were several\nreasons\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 163 LIKE QUESTIONS, LIKE ANSWERS.\n\nfor such mistakes. (1) They were due to the necessity under which\nthe teachers laboured of giving what were considered as \"evasive\nanswers\": the questions being too persistently pressed to\nbe left unnoticed, while, on the other hand, they *could only\nbe partially answered. *(2)* *This position notwithstanding,\nthe confession that \"half a loaf is better than no bread\"\nwas but too often misunderstood and hardly appreciated as it ought\nto have been. As a result thereof gratuitous speculations were\nsometimes indulged in by the European lay-chelas. Among such were\n(a) the \"Mystery of the Eighth Sphere\" in its relation\nto the Moon; and (b) the erroneous statement that two of the superior\nGlobes of the terrestrial chain were two of our well-known planets:\n\"besides the Earth . . . there are *only two other worlds\nof our chain which are visible*. . . . Mars and Mercury. .\n. .\" (*Esoteric Buddhism*; p. 136.)\n\nThis was a great mistake. But the blame for it is to be attached\nas much to the vagueness and incompleteness of the Master's answer\nas to the question of the learner itself, which was equally vague\nand indefinite.\n\nIt was asked: \"What planets, of those known to ordinary science,\nbesides Mercury, belong to our system of worlds?\" Now if\nby \"System of Worlds\" our *terrestrial chain *or\n\"string\" was intended in the mind of the querist, instead\nof the \"Solar System of Worlds,\" as it should have been,\nthen of course the answer was likely to be misunderstood. For\nthe reply was: \"Mars, etc., and four other planets of which\nastronomy knows nothing. Neither A, B, nor YZ are known nor can\nthey be seen through physical means however perfected.\" This\nis plain: (a) Astronomy as yet knows nothing in reality of the\nplanets, neither the ancient ones, nor those discovered in modern\ntimes. (b) No *companion *planets from A to Z, *i.e.*,\nno upper globes of any chain in the Solar System, can be seen.*\nAs to Mars, Mercury, and \"the four other planets,\" they\nbear\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* With the exception of course of all the planets which come *fourth\n*in number, as our earth, the moon, etc., etc. Copies of all\nthe letters ever received or sent, with the exception of a few\nprivate ones -- \"*in which there was no teaching*\"*\n*the Master says -- are with the writer. As it was her duty,\nin the beginning, to answer and explain certain points not touched\nupon, it is more than likely that notwithstanding the many annotations\non these copies, the writer, in her ignorance of English and her\nfear of saying too much, may have bungled the information given.\n*She takes the whole blame for it upon herself in any and every\ncase. *But it is impossible for her to allow students to remain\nany longer under erroneous impressions, or to believe that the\nfault lies with the esoteric system.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 164 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\na relation to Earth of which no master or high Occultist will\never speak, much less explain the nature.*\n\nLet it now be distinctly stated, then, that the theory broached\nis impossible, with or without the additional evidence furnished\nby modern Astronomy. Physical Science can supply corroborative,\nthough still very uncertain, evidence, but only as regards heavenly\nbodies on the same plane of materiality as our objective Universe.\nMars and Mercury, Venus and Jupiter, like every hitherto discovered\nplanet (or those still to be discovered), are all, *per se*,\nthe representatives on our plane of such chains. As distinctly\nstated in one of the numerous letters of Mr. Sinnett's \"Teacher,\"\n\"there are other and innumerable Manvantaric chains of globes\nwhich bear intelligent Beings both in and outside our solar system.\"\nBut neither Mars nor Mercury belong *to our chain. *They\nare, along with the other planets, septenary *Units *in\nthe great host of \"chains\" of our system, and all are\nas visible as their *upper* globes are invisible.\n\nIf it is still argued that certain expressions in the Teacher's\nletters were liable to mislead, the answer comes: -- Amen; so\nit was. The author of \"Esoteric Buddhism\" understood\nit well when he wrote that such are \"the traditional modes\nof teaching . . . by provoking the perplexity\" . . . they\n*do*, or* do not relieve* -- as the case may be.\nAt all events, if it is urged that this might have been explained\nearlier, and the true nature of the planets given out as they\nnow are, the answer comes that: \"it was not found expedient\nto do so at the time, as it would have opened the way to a series\nof additional questions *which could never be answered on account\nof their esoteric nature*, and thus would only become embarrassing.\"\nIt had been declared from the first and has been repeatedly asserted\nsince that (1st) no Theosophist, *not even as an accepted*\n*chela* --* *let alone lay *students -- could\nexpect to have the secret teachings explained to him thoroughly\nand completely*, before* he had irretrievably pledged himself\nto the Brotherhood and passed through at least one initiation*,*\n*because no figures and numbers could be given to the public,\nfor figures and numbers are the key to the esoteric system. (2.)\nThat\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* In this same letter the impossibility is distinctly stated:\n-- . . . \"Try to understand that you are putting me questions\npertaining to the highest initiation; that I can give you (only)\na general view, but *that I dare not nor will I enter upon\ndetails . *. .\" wrote one of the Teachers to the author\nof \"Esoteric Buddhism.\"\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 165 AN AUTHORITATIVE LETTER.\n\nwhat was revealed was merely the esoteric lining of that which\nis contained in almost all the exoteric Scriptures of the world-religions\n-- pre-eminently in the Brahmanas, and the Upanishads of the Vedas\nand even in the Puranas. It was a small portion of what is divulged\nfar more fully now in the present volumes; and even this is very\nincomplete and fragmentary.\n\nWhen the present work was commenced, the writer, feeling sure\nthat the speculation about Mars and Mercury was a mistake, applied\nto the Teachers *by letter *for explanation and an authoritative\nversion. Both came in due time, and *verbatim *extracts\nfrom these are now given.\n\n\". . . . . *It is quite correct that Mars is in a state\nof obscuration at present*,* and Mercury just beginning\nto get out of it. You might add that* *Venus is in her\nlast Round.* . . . . . . . . . . *If neither Mercury nor\nVenus have* *satellites*,* it is because of the\nreasons *. . . (vide footnote supra, where those reasons are\ngiven), *and also because Mars has two satellites to which\nhe has no right*. . . . . *Phobos*,* the supposed\n*INNER* satellite*,* is no satellite at all. As\nremarked long ago by Laplace and now by Faye *(*see *COMPTES\nRENDUS, *Tome ***XC***.*,* p. 569*),\n*Phobos keeps a too short periodic time*,* and therefore\nthere *'*must exist some defect in the mother idea of the\ntheory*'* as Faye justly observes*. . . . . *Again*,*\nboth *(*Mars and Mercury*)* are septenary chains*,*\nas independent of the Earth*'*s sidereal lords and superiors\nas you are independent of the *'*principles*'* of\nDaumling *(*Tom Thumb*) --* which were perhaps his\nsix brothers*,* with or without night-caps. . . . . . .\n. . . *'*Gratification of curiosity is the end of knowledge\nfor some men,' was said by Bacon*,* who was as right in\npostulating this truism*,* as those who were familiar with\nit before him were right in hedging off ***WISDOM***\nfrom Knowledge*,* and tracing limits to that which is to\nbe given out at one time*. . . . *Remember*: --\n\n'. . . . . . . . . . . knowledge dwells\n\nIn heads replete with thoughts of other men,\n\nWisdom in minds attentive to their own. . . .'\n\n*You can never impress it too profoundly on the minds of those\nto whom you impart some of the esoteric teachings. . *.\"\n\nAgain, here are more extracts from another letter written by the\nsame authority. This time it is in answer to some objections laid\nbefore the Teachers. They are based upon extremely scientific,\nand as\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 166 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nfutile, reasonings about the advisability of trying to reconcile\nthe Esoteric theories with the speculations of Modern Science,\nand were written by a young Theosophist as a warning against the\n\"Secret Doctrine\" and in reference to the same subject.\nHe had declared that if there were such companion Earths \"they\nmust be only a wee bit less material than our globe.\" How\nthen was it that they could not be seen? The answer was: --\n\n\". . . *. Were psychic and spiritual teachings more fully\nunderstood*,* it would become next to impossible to even\nimagine such an incongruity. Unless less trouble is taken to reconcile\nthe irreconcileable* --* that is to say*,* the metaphysical\nand spiritual sciences with physical or natural philosophy*,*\n*'*natural*'* being a synonym to them *(*men\nof science*)* of that matter which falls under the perception\nof their corporeal senses -- no progress can be really achieved.\nOur Globe*,* as taught from the first*,* is at the\nbottom of the arc of descent*,* where the matter of our\nperceptions exhibits itself in its grossest form*. . . . .\n. . *Hence it only stands to reason that the globes which overshadow\nour Earth must be on different and superior planes. In short*,\n*as Globes*,* they are in *CO-ADUNITION *but\nnot *IN CONSUBSTANTIALITY WITH OUR EARTH *and thus pertain\nto quite another state of consciousness. Our planet *(*like\nall those we see*)* is adapted to the peculiar state of\nits human stock*,* that state which enables us to see with\nour naked eye the sidereal bodies which are co-essential with\nour terrene plane and substance*,* just as their respective\ninhabitants*,* the Jovians*,* Martians and others\ncan perceive our little world: because our planes of consciousness*,*\ndiffering as they do in degree but being the same in kind*,*\nare on the same layer of differentiated matter*. . . . . *What\nI wrote was *'*The minor Pralaya concerns only our little\n*STRINGS OF GLOBES.' (*We called chains *'*Strings*'*\nin those days of lip-confusion.*)* . *. *. *'*To\nsuch a string our Earth belongs.' This ought to have shown plainly\nthat the other planets were also *'*strings*'* or\n***CHAINS***. . . If he *(*meaning\nthe objector*)* would perceive even the dim silhouette\nof one of such *'*planets*'* on the higher planes*,*\nhe has to first throw off even the thin clouds of the astral matter\nthat stands between him and the next plane*. . . . .\"\n\nIt becomes patent why we could not perceive, even with the help\nof the best earthly telescopes, that which is outside our world\nof matter. Those alone, whom we call adepts, who know how to direct\ntheir mental vision and to transfer their consciousness -- physical\nand psychic both --\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 167 PRICELESS ADVICE, NEGLECTED.\n\nto other planes of being, are able to speak with authority on\nsuch subjects. And they tell us plainly: --\n\n\"*Lead the life necessary for the acquisition of such\nknowledge and powers*,* and Wisdom will come to you naturally.\nWhenever your are able to attune your consciousness to any of\nthe seven chords of *'*Universal Consciousness*,'*\nthose chords that run along the sounding-board of Kosmos*,*\nvibrating from one Eternity to another; when you have studied\nthoroughly *'*the music of the Spheres*,'* then\nonly will you become quite free to share your knowledge with those\nwith whom it is safe to do so. Meanwhile*,* be prudent.\nDo not give out the great Truths that are the inheritance of the\nfuture Races*,* to our present generation. Do not attempt\nto unveil the secret of being and non-being to those unable to\nsee the hidden meaning of Apollo*'*s *HEPTACHORD --\n*the lyre of the radiant god*,* in each of the seven\nstrings of which dwelleth the Spirit*,* Soul and Astral\nbody of the Kosmos*,* whose shell only has now fallen into\nthe hands of Modern Science*. . . . . . *Be prudent*,*\nwe say*,* prudent and wise*,* and above all take\ncare what those who learn from you believe in; lest by deceiving\nthemselves they deceive others *. . . . . *for such is\nthe fate of every truth with which men are*,* as yet*,*\nunfamiliar*. . . . *Let rather the planetary chains and\nother super-* *and sub-cosmic mysteries remain a dreamland\nfor those who can neither see*,* nor yet believe that others\ncan. . *. .\"\n\nIt is to be regretted that few of us have followed the wise advice;\nand that many a priceless pearl, many a jewel of wisdom, has been\ncast to an enemy unable to understand its value and who has turned\nround and rent us.\n\n\"* *'*Let us imagine*,'* *wrote the\nsame Master to his two 'lay chelas,' as he called the author of\n'Esoteric Buddhism' and another gentleman, his co-student for\nsome time -- '*let us imagine *THAT OUR EARTH IS ONE OF\nA GROUP OF SEVEN PLANETS OR MAN-BEARING WORLDS. . . . . . (*The\n*SEVEN* planets are the sacred planets of antiquity*,*\nand are all septenary.*)* Now the life-impulse reaches\nA*,* or rather that which is destined to become A*,*\nand which so far is but cosmic dust *(a \"laya centre\")\n. . *etc.*'* *\"\n\nIn these early letters, in which the terms had to be invented\nand words coined, the \"Rings\" very often became \"Rounds,\"\nand the \"Rounds\" life-cycles, and *vice versa. *To\na correspondent who called a \"Round\" a \"World-Ring,\"\nthe Teacher wrote: \"I believe this will lead to a further\nconfusion. A Round we are agreed to call the passage\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 168 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nof a monad from Globe A to Globe G or Z. . . The 'World-Ring'\nis correct. . . Advise Mr. . . . strongly, to agree upon a nomenclature\nbefore going any further. . . \"\n\nNotwithstanding this agreement, many mistakes, owing to this confusion,\ncrept into the earliest teachings. The Races even were occasionally\nmixed up with the \"Rounds\" and \"Rings,\" and\nled to similar mistakes in \"Man.\" From the first the\nMaster had written --\n\n\"Not being permitted to give you *the whole truth*,*\n*or divulge the number of isolated fractions . . . I am unable\nto satisfy you.\"\n\nThis in answer to the questions, \"If we are right, then the\ntotal existence prior to the man-period is 637,\" etc., etc.\nTo all the queries relating to figures, the reply was, \"Try\nto solve the problem of 777 incarnations. . . . *Though I am\nobliged to withhold information *. . . *yet if you should\nwork out the problem by yourself*,* it will be my duty\nto tell you so*.\"\n\nBut they never were so worked out, and the results were -- never-ceasing\nperplexity and mistakes.\n\nEven the teaching about the Septenary constitution of the sidereal\nbodies and of the macrocosm -- from which the septenary division\nof the microcosm, or Man -- has until now been among the most\nesoteric. In olden times it used to be divulged only at the Initiation\nand along with the most sacred figures of the cycles. Now, as\nstated in one of the Theosophical journals,* the revelation of\nthe whole system of Cosmogony had not been contemplated, nor even\nthought for one moment possible, at a time when a few bits of\ninformation were sparingly given out in answer to letters written\nby the author of \"Esoteric Buddhism,\" in which he put\nforward a multiplicity of questions. Among these were questions\non such problems *as no ***MASTER**,* however\nhigh and independent he might be*,* would have the right\nto answer*,* thus divulging to the world the most time-honoured\nand archaic of the mysteries of the ancient college-temples. *Hence\nonly a few of the doctrines were revealed in their broad outlines,\nwhile details were constantly withheld, and all the efforts made\nto elicit more information about them were systematically eluded\nfrom the beginning. This is perfectly natural. Of the four Vidyas\n-- out of the seven branches of Knowledge mentioned in the Puranas\n-- namely, \"Yajna-Vidya\" (the performance of religious\nrites in order to\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* \"Lucifer,\" May, 1888.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 169 THE SEVEN BRANCHES OF THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE.\n\nproduce certain results); \"Maha-Vidya,\" the great (Magic)\nknowledge, now degenerated into Tantrika worship; \"Guhya-Vidya,\"\nthe science of Mantras and their true rhythm or chanting, of mystical\nincantations, etc. -- it is only the last one, \"Atma-Vidya,\"\nor the true *Spiritual *and *Divine wisdom*,*\n*which can throw absolute and final light upon the teachings\nof the three first named. Without the help of Atma-Vidya, the\nother three remain no better than *surface *sciences, geometrical\nmagnitudes having length and breadth, but no thickness. They are\nlike the soul, limbs, and mind of a sleeping man: capable of mechanical\nmotions, of chaotic dreams and even sleep-walking, of producing\nvisible effects, but stimulated by instinctual not intellectual\ncauses, least of all by fully conscious spiritual impulses. A\ngood deal can be given out and explained from the three first-named\nsciences. But unless the key to their teachings is furnished by\nAtma-Vidya, they will remain for ever like the fragments of a\nmangled text-book, like the adumbrations of great truths, dimly\nperceived by the most spiritual, but distorted out of all proportion\nby those who would nail every shadow to the wall.\n\nThen, again, another great perplexity was created in the minds\nof students by the incomplete exposition of the doctrine of the\nevolution of the Monads. To be fully realised, both this process\nand that of the birth of the Globes must be examined far more\nfrom their metaphysical aspect than from what one might call a\nstatistical standpoint, involving figures and numbers which are\nrarely permitted to be broadly used. Unfortunately, there are\nfew who are inclined to handle these doctrines only metaphysically.\nEven the best of the Western writers upon our doctrine declares\nin his work that \"on pure metaphysics of that sort we are\nnot now engaged,\" when speaking of the evolution of the Monads\n(\"Esoteric Buddhism,\" p. 46). And in such case, as the\nTeacher remarks in a letter to him, \"Why this preaching of\nour doctrines, all this uphill work and swimming *in adversum\nflumen? *Why should the West . . . learn . . . from the East\n. . . that which can never meet the requirements of the special\ntastes of the aesthetics?\" And he draws his correspondent's\nattention \"to the formidable difficulties encountered by\nus (the Adepts) in every attempt we make to explain our metaphysics\nto the Western mind.\"\n\nAnd well he may; for *outside *of metaphysics no occult\nphilosophy, no esotericism is possible. It is like trying to explain\nthe aspirations and affections, the love and hatred, the most\nprivate and sacred workings in\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 170 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nthe soul and mind of the living man, by an anatomical description\nof the chest and brain of his dead body.\n\nLet us now examine two tenets mentioned above and hardly alluded\nto in \"Esoteric Buddhism,\" and supplement them as far\nas lies in our power.\n\n---------------------\n\n[[This page continued in next section]]\n\nNext Section\n\nContents",
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