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    "slug": "vol-1-cosmogenesis",
    "name": "Volume I — Cosmogenesis"
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  "chapter": {
    "num": 15,
    "slug": "17-summing-up-269",
    "title": "SUMMING UP ... 269",
    "of": 48,
    "words": 13486,
    "text": "## SUMMING UP ... 269\n\n\nThe Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky, Vol 1, bk 1, Summing Up\n\n###### The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol. 1\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 269 THE FIRST CHAPTER OF CREATION.\n\n#### SUMMING UP.\n\n\"The History of Creation and of this world from its beginning\nup to the present time is composed of *seven chapters. *The*\nseventh *chapter is not yet written.\"\n\n(T. Subba Row, *Theosophist, *1881.)\n\n**T**HE first of these Seven chapters has been attempted\nand is now finished. However incomplete and feeble as an exposition,\nit is, at any rate, an approximation -- using the word in a mathematical\nsense -- to that which is the oldest basis for all the subsequent\nCosmogonies. The attempt to render in a European tongue the grand\npanorama of the ever periodically recurring Law -- impressed upon\nthe plastic minds of the first races endowed with Consciousness\nby those who reflected the same from the Universal Mind -- is\ndaring, for no human language, save the Sanskrit -- which is that\n*of the Gods* -- can* *do so with any degree of\nadequacy. But the failures in this work must be forgiven for the\nsake of the motive.\n\nAs a whole, neither the foregoing nor what follows can be found\nin full anywhere. It is not taught in any of the six Indian schools\nof philosophy, for it pertains to their synthesis -- the seventh,\nwhich is the Occult doctrine. It is not traced on any crumbling\npapyrus of Egypt, nor is it any longer graven on Assyrian tile\nor granite wall. The Books of the *Vedanta *(the last word\nof human knowledge) give out but the metaphysical aspect of this\nworld-Cosmogony; and their priceless thesaurus, the *Upanishads\n-- Upa-ni-shad *being a compound word meaning \"the conquest\nof ignorance by the revelation of *secret, spiritual *knowledge\"\n-- require now the additional possession of a Master-key to enable\nthe student to get at their full meaning. The reason for this\nI venture to state here as I learned it from a Master.\n\nThe name, \"*Upanishads*,\" is usually translated\n\"esoteric doctrine.\" These treatises form part of the\n*Sruti *or \"revealed knowledge,\" *Revelation,\n*in short, and are generally attached to the *Brahmana*\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 270 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nportion of the Vedas,* as their third division. There are over\n150 *Upanishads *enumerated by, and known to, Orientalists,\nwho credit the oldest with being written *probably *about\n600 years B.C.; but of *genuine *texts there does not exist\na fifth of the number. The Upanishads are to the Vedas what the\nKabala is to the Jewish Bible. They treat of and expound the secret\nand mystic meaning of the Vedic texts. They speak of the origin\nof the Universe, the nature of Deity, and of Spirit and Soul,\nas also of the metaphysical connection of mind and matter. In\na few words: They CONTAIN *the beginning and the end of*\n*all human knowledge, but they have now ceased to *REVEAL\n*it*, since the day of Buddha. If it were otherwise, the\nUpanishads could not be called *esoteric, *since they are\nnow openly attached to the Sacred Brahmanical books, which have,\nin our present age, become accessible even to the *Mlechchhas*\n(out-*castes*)* *and the European Orientalists.\nOne thing in them -- and this in all the *Upanishads* --\ninvariably and constantly points to their ancient origin, and\nproves (*a*) that they were written, in some of their portions,\n*before *the caste system became the tyrannical institution\nwhich it still is; and (*b*) that half of their contents\nhave been eliminated, while some of them were rewritten and abridged.\n\"The great Teachers of the higher Knowledge and the Brahmans\nare continually represented as going to Kshatriya (military caste)\nkings to become their pupils.\" As Cowell pertinently remarks,\nthe *Upanishads *\"breathe an entirely different spirit\"\n(from other Brahmanical writings), \"a freedom of thought\nunknown in any earlier work except in the Rig Veda hymns themselves.\"\nThe second fact is explained by a tradition recorded in one of\nthe **MSS**. on Buddha's life. It says that the Upanishads\nwere originally attached to their Brahmanas after the beginning\nof a reform, which led to the exclusiveness of the present caste\nsystem among the Brahmins, a few centuries after the invasion\nof India by the \"twice-born.\" They were complete in\nthose days, and were used for the instruction of the chelas who\nwere preparing for their initiation.\n\n####### [[Footnote(s) -------------------------------------------------]]\n\n* \"The Vedas have a distinct dual meaning -- one expressed\nby the literal sense of the words, the other indicated by the\nmetre and the *swara* -- intonation -- which are as the\nlife of the Vedas. . . . Learned pundits and philologists of course\ndeny that *swara* has anything to do with philosophy or\nancient esoteric doctrines; but the mysterious connection between\n*swara *and* light* is one of its most profound\nsecrets.\" (T. Subba Row, *Five Years of* *Theosophy,\n*p. 154.)\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 271 OCCULTISM IN THE UPANISHADS.\n\nThis lasted so long as the Vedas and the Brahmanas remained in\nthe sole and exclusive keeping of the temple-Brahmins -- while\nno one else had the right to study or even read them outside of\nthe *sacred *caste. Then came Gautama, the Prince of Kapilavastu.\nAfter *learning *the whole of the Brahmanical wisdom in\nthe *Rahasya *or the *Upanishads, *and finding that\nthe teachings differed little, if at all, from those of the \"Teachers\nof Life\" inhabiting the snowy ranges of the Himalaya,* the\nDisciple of the Brahmins, feeling indignant because the sacred\nwisdom was thus withheld from all but the Brahmins, determined\nto save the whole world by popularizing it. Then it was that the\nBrahmins, seeing that their sacred knowledge and Occult wisdom\nwas falling into the hands of the \"*Mlechchhas,*\"\nabridged the texts of the Upanishads, originally containing thrice\nthe matter of the Vedas and the Brahmanas together, without altering,\nhowever, one word of the texts. They simply detached from the\n**MSS**. the most important portions containing the\nlast word of the Mystery of Being. The key to the Brahmanical\nsecret code remained henceforth with the initiates alone, and\nthe Brahmins were thus in a position to publicly deny the correctness\nof Buddha's teaching by appealing to their *Upanishads,*\nsilenced for ever on the chief questions. Such is the esoteric\ntradition beyond the Himalayas.\n\nSri Sankaracharya, the greatest Initiate living in the historical\nages, wrote many a Bhashya on the *Upanishads. *But his\noriginal treatises, as there are reasons to suppose, have not\nyet fallen into the hands of the Philistines, for they are too\njealously preserved in his *maths* (monasteries, *mathams*)*.\n*And there are still weightier reasons to believe that the\npriceless Bhashyas (Commentaries) on the esoteric doctrine of\nthe Brahmins, by their greatest expounder, will remain for ages\nyet a dead letter to most of the Hindus, except the *Smartava*\nBrahmins. This sect, founded by Sankaracharya, (which is still\nvery powerful in Southern India) is now almost the only one to\nproduce students who have preserved sufficient knowledge to comprehend\nthe\n\n####### [[Footnote(s) -------------------------------------------------]]\n\n* Also called \"the Sons of Wisdom,\" and of the \"Fire-Mist\"\nand the \"Brothers of the Sun\" in the Chinese records.\n*Si-dzang *(Tibet) is mentioned in the **MSS**.\nof the sacred library of the province of Fo-Kien, as the great\nseat of Occult learning from time immemorial, ages before Buddha.\nThe Emperor Yu, the \"great\" (2,207 years **B**.**C**.),\na pious mystic and great adept, is said to have obtained his knowledge\nfrom the \"great teachers of the Snowy Range\" in Si-dzang.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 272 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\ndead letter of the Bhashyas. The reason of this is that they alone,\nI am informed, have occasionally real Initiates at their head\nin their mathams, as for instance, in the \"Sringa-giri,\"\nin the Western Ghats of Mysore. On the other hand, there is no\nsect in that desperately exclusive caste of the Brahmins, more\nexclusive than is the Smartava; and the reticence of its followers\nto say what they may know of the Occult sciences and the esoteric\ndoctrine, is only equalled by their pride and learning.\n\nTherefore the writer of the present statement must be prepared\nbeforehand to meet with great opposition and even the denial of\nsuch statements as are brought forward in this work. Not that\nany claim to infallibility, or to perfect correctness in every\ndetail of all that which is herein said, was ever put forward.\nFacts are there, and they can hardly be denied. But, owing to\nthe intrinsic difficulties of the subjects treated, and the almost\ninsurmountable limitations of the English tongue (as of all other\nEuropean languages) to express certain ideas, it is more than\nprobable that the writer has failed to present the explanations\nin the best and in the clearest form; yet all that could be done\nwas done under every adverse circumstance, and this is the utmost\nthat can be expected of any writer.\n\nLet us recapitulate and show, by the vastness of the subjects\nexpounded, how difficult, if not impossible, it is to do them\nfull justice.\n\n(1.) The Secret Doctrine is the accumulated Wisdom of the Ages,\nand its cosmogony alone is the most stupendous and elaborate system:\n*e.g.,* even in the exotericism of the Puranas. But such\nis the mysterious power of Occult symbolism, that the facts which\nhave actually occupied countless generations of initiated seers\nand prophets to marshal, to set down and explain, in the bewildering\nseries of evolutionary progress, are all recorded on a few pages\nof geometrical signs and glyphs. The flashing gaze of those seers\nhas penetrated into the very kernel of matter, and recorded the\nsoul of things there, where an ordinary profane, however learned,\nwould have perceived but the external work of form. But modern\nscience believes not in the \"soul of things,\" and hence\nwill reject the whole system of ancient cosmogony. It is useless\nto say that the system in question is no fancy of one or several\nisolated individuals. That it is the uninterrupted record covering\nthousands of generations of Seers whose respective experiences\nwere made to test and to verify the\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 273 THE PITH AND MARROW OF OCCULTISM.\n\ntraditions passed orally by one early race to another, of the\nteachings of higher and exalted beings, who watched over the childhood\nof Humanity. That for long ages, the \"Wise Men\" of the\nFifth Race, of the stock saved and rescued from the last cataclysm\nand shifting of continents, had passed their lives *in learning,\nnot teaching. *How did they do so? It is answered: by checking,\ntesting, and verifying in every department of nature the traditions\nof old by the independent visions of great adepts; *i.e., *men\nwho have developed and perfected their physical, mental, psychic,\nand spiritual organisations to the utmost possible degree. No\nvision of one adept was accepted till it was checked and confirmed\nby the visions -- so obtained as to stand as independent evidence\n-- of other adepts, and by centuries of experiences.\n\n(2.) The fundamental Law in that system, the central point from\nwhich all emerged, around and toward which all gravitates, and\nupon which is hung the philosophy of the rest, is the One homogeneous\ndivine SUBSTANCE-PRINCIPLE, the one radical cause.\n\n. . . \"Some few, whose lamps shone brighter, have been led\n\nFrom cause to cause to nature's secret head,\n\nAnd found that one first Principle must be. . . .\"\n\nIt is called \"Substance-Principle,\" for it becomes \"substance\"\non the plane of the manifested Universe, an illusion, while it\nremains a \"principle\" in the beginningless and endless\nabstract, visible and invisible SPACE. It is the omnipresent Reality:\nimpersonal, because it contains all and everything. *Its impersonality\nis the fundamental conception* of the System. It is latent\nin every atom in the Universe, and is the Universe itself. (See\nin chapters on Symbolism, \"Primordial Substance, and Divine\nThought.\")\n\n(3.) The Universe is the periodical manifestation of this unknown\nAbsolute Essence. To call it \"essence,\" however, is\nto sin against the very spirit of the philosophy. For though the\nnoun may be derived in this case from the verb *esse, *\"to\nbe,\" yet IT cannot be identified with a *being *of\nany kind, that can be conceived by human intellect. IT is best\ndescribed as neither Spirit nor matter, but both. \"Parabrahmam\nand Mulaprakriti\" are One, in reality, yet two in the Universal\nconception of the manifested, even in the conception of the One\nLogos, its first manifestation, to which, as the able lecturer\nin the \"Notes on the Bhagavadgita\" shows, IT appears\nfrom the objective standpoint of\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 274 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nthe One Logos as Mulaprakriti and not as Parabrahmam; as its *veil*\nand not the one REALITY hidden behind, which is unconditioned\nand absolute.\n\n(4.) The Universe is called, with everything in it, MAYA, because\nall is temporary therein, from the ephemeral life of a fire-fly\nto that of the Sun. Compared to the eternal immutability of the\nONE, and the changelessness of that Principle, the Universe, with\nits evanescent ever-changing forms, must be necessarily, in the\nmind of a philosopher, no better than a will-o'-the-wisp. Yet,\nthe Universe is real enough to the conscious beings in it, which\nare as unreal as it is itself.\n\n(5.) Everything in the Universe, throughout all its kingdoms,\nis CONSCIOUS:* i.e.,* endowed with a consciousness of its\nown kind and on its own plane of perception. We men must remember\nthat because *we* do not perceive any signs -- which we\ncan recognise -- of consciousness, say, in stones, we have no\nright to say that *no consciousness exists there. *There\nis no such thing as either \"dead\" or \"blind\"\nmatter, as there is no \"Blind\" or \"Unconscious\"\nLaw. These find no place among the conceptions of Occult philosophy.\nThe latter never stops at surface appearances, and for it the\n*noumenal *essences have more reality than their objective\ncounterparts; it resembles therein the mediaeval* Nominalists,*\nfor whom it was the Universals that were the realities and the\nparticulars which existed only in name and human fancy.\n\n(6.) The Universe is worked and *guided *from* within\noutwards. *As above so it is below, as in heaven so on earth;\nand man -- the microcosm and miniature copy of the macrocosm --\nis the living witness to this Universal Law, and to the mode of\nits action. We see that every *external *motion, act, gesture,\nwhether voluntary or mechanical, organic or mental, is produced\nand preceded by *internal *feeling or emotion, will or\nvolition, and thought or mind. As no outward motion or change,\nwhen normal, in man's external body can take place unless provoked\nby an inward impulse, given through one of the three functions\nnamed, so with the external or manifested Universe. The whole\nKosmos is guided, controlled, and animated by almost endless series\nof Hierarchies of sentient Beings, each having a mission to perform,\nand who -- whether we give to them one name or another, and call\nthem Dhyan-Chohans or Angels -- are \"messengers\" in\nthe sense only that they are the agents of Karmic and Cosmic Laws.\nThey vary infinitely in their\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 275 THE NATURE OF THE CELESTIAL MEN.\n\nrespective degrees of consciousness and intelligence; and to call\nthem all pure Spirits without any of the earthly alloy \"which\ntime is wont to prey upon\" is only to indulge in poetical\nfancy. For each of these Beings either *was, *or prepares\nto become, a man, if not in the present, then in a past or a coming\ncycle (Manvantara). They are *perfected, *when not*\nincipient, *men; and differ morally from the terrestrial human\nbeings on their higher (less material) spheres, only in that they\nare devoid of the feeling of personality and of the *human\n*emotional nature -- two purely earthly characteristics. The\nformer, or the \"perfected,\" have become free from those\nfeelings, because (*a*) they have no longer fleshly bodies\n-- an ever-numbing weight on the Soul; and (*b*) the pure\nspiritual element being left untrammelled and more free, they\nare less influenced by* maya *than man can ever be, unless\nhe is an adept who keeps his two personalities -- the spiritual\nand the physical -- entirely separated. The incipient monads,\nhaving never had terrestrial bodies yet, can have no sense of\npersonality or EGO-ism. That which is meant by \"personality,\"\nbeing a limitation and a relation, or, as defined by Coleridge,\n\"individuality existing in itself but with a nature as a\nground,\" the term cannot of course be applied to non-human\nentities; but, as a fact insisted upon by generations of Seers,\nnone of these Beings, high or low, have either individuality or\npersonality as separate Entities, *i.e.,* they have no\nindividuality in the sense in which a man says, \"*I am\nmyself and* no one else;\" in other words, they are conscious\nof no such distinct separateness as men and things have on earth.\nIndividuality is the characteristic of their respective hierarchies,\nnot of their units; and these characteristics vary only with the\ndegree of the plane to which those hierarchies belong: the nearer\nto the region of Homogeneity and the One Divine, the purer and\nthe less accentuated that individuality in the Hierarchy. They\nare finite, in all respects, with the exception of their higher\nprinciples -- the immortal sparks reflecting the universal divine\nflame -- individualized and separated only on the spheres of Illusion\nby a differentiation as illusive as the rest. They are \"Living\nOnes,\" because they are the streams projected on the Kosmic\nscreen of illusion from the ABSOLUTE LIFE; beings in whom life\ncannot become extinct, before the fire of ignorance is extinct\nin those who sense these \"Lives.\" Having sprung into\nbeing under the quickening influence of the uncreated beam, the\nreflection of the great Central Sun that\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 276 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nradiates on the shores of the river of Life, it is the inner principle\nin them which belongs to the waters of immortality, while its\ndifferentiated clothing is as perishable as man's body. Therefore\nYoung was right in saying that\n\n\"Angels are men of a superior kind\"\n\nand no more. They are neither \"ministering\" nor \"protecting\"\nangels; nor are they \"Harbingers of the Most High\" still\nless the \"Messengers of wrath\" of any God such as man's\nfancy has created. To appeal to their protection is as foolish\nas to believe that their sympathy may be secured by any kind of\npropitiation; for they are, as much as man himself is, the slaves\nand creatures of immutable Karmic and Kosmic law. The reason for\nit is evident. Having no elements of personality in their essence\nthey can have no personal qualities, such as attributed by men,\nin their exoteric religions, to their anthropomorphic God -- a\njealous and exclusive God who rejoices and feels wrathful, is\npleased with sacrifice, and is more despotic in his vanity than\nany finite foolish man. Man, as shown in Book II., being a compound\nof the essences of all those celestial Hierarchies may succeed\nin making himself, as such, superior, in one sense, to any hierarchy\nor class, or even combination of them. \"Man can neither propitiate\nnor command the *Devas,*\" it is said. But, by paralyzing\nhis lower personality, and arriving thereby at the full knowledge\nof the *non-separateness *of his higher SELF from the One\nabsolute SELF, man can, even during his terrestrial life, become\nas \"One of Us.\" Thus it is, by eating of the fruit of\nknowledge which dispels ignorance, that man becomes like one of\nthe Elohim or the Dhyanis; and once on *their *plane the\nSpirit of Solidarity and perfect Harmony, which reigns in every\nHierarchy, must extend over him and protect him in every particular.\n\nThe chief difficulty which prevents men of science from believing\nin divine as well as in nature Spirits is their materialism. The\nmain impediment before the Spiritualist which hinders him from\nbelieving in the same, while preserving a blind belief in the\n\"Spirits\" of the Departed, is the general ignorance\nof all, except some Occultists and Kabalists, about the true essence\nand nature of matter. It is on the acceptance or rejection of\nthe theory of the *Unity of all in Nature, in its* *ultimate\nEssence, *that mainly rests the belief or unbelief in the\nexistence around us of other conscious beings besides the Spirits\nof the Dead.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 277 MANY BODIES BUT ONE SOUL.\n\nIt is on the right comprehension of the primeval Evolution of\nSpirit-Matter and its real essence that the student has to depend\nfor the further elucidation in his mind of the Occult Cosmogony,\nand for the only sure clue which can guide his subsequent studies.\n\nIn sober truth, as just shown, every \"Spirit\" so-called\nis either a *disembodied or a future man. *As from the\nhighest Archangel (Dhyan Chohan) down to the last conscious \"Builder\"\n(the inferior class of Spiritual Entities), all such are *men*,\nhaving lived aeons ago, in other Manvantaras, on this or other\nSpheres; so the inferior, semi-intelligent and non-intelligent\nElementals -- are all *future *men. That fact alone --\nthat a Spirit is endowed with intelligence -- is a proof to the\nOccultist that that Being must have been a *man, *and acquired\nhis knowledge and intelligence throughout the human cycle. There\nis but one indivisible and absolute Omniscience and Intelligence\nin the Universe, and this thrills throughout every atom and infinitesimal\npoint of the whole finite Kosmos which hath no bounds, and which\npeople call SPACE, considered independently of anything contained\nin it. But the first differentiation of its *reflection *in\nthe manifested World is purely Spiritual, and the Beings generated\nin it are not endowed with a consciousness that has any relation\nto the one we conceive of. They can have no human consciousness\nor Intelligence before they have acquired such, personally and\nindividually. This may be a mystery, yet it is a fact, in Esoteric\nphilosophy, and a very apparent one too.\n\nThe whole order of nature evinces a progressive march towards\n*a* *higher life. *There is design in the action\nof the seemingly blindest forces. The whole process of evolution\nwith its endless adaptations is a proof of this. The immutable\nlaws that weed out the weak and feeble species, to make room for\nthe strong, and which ensure the \"survival of the fittest,\"\nthough so cruel in their immediate action -- all are working toward\nthe grand end. The very *fact *that adaptations *do\n*occur, that the fittest *do *survive in the struggle\nfor existence, shows that what is called \"unconscious Nature\"*\nis in reality an aggregate of forces mani-\n\n####### [[Footnote(s) -------------------------------------------------]]\n\n* Nature taken in its abstract sense, *cannot* be \"unconscious,\"\nas it is the emanation from, and thus an aspect (on the manifested\nplane) of the ABSOLUTE consciousness. Where is that daring man\nwho would presume to deny to vegetation and even to minerals *a\nconsciousness of their own. *All he can say is, that this\nconsciousness is beyond his comprehension.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 278 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\npulated by semi-intelligent beings (Elementals) guided by High\nPlanetary Spirits, (Dhyan Chohans), whose collective aggregate\nforms the manifested *verbum *of the unmanifested LOGOS,\nand constitutes at one and the same time the MIND of the Universe\nand its immutable LAW.\n\nThree distinct representations of the Universe in its three distinct\naspects are impressed upon our thought by the esoteric philosophy:\nthe PRE-EXISTING (evolved from) the EVER-EXISTING; and the PHENOMENAL\n-- the world of illusion, the reflection, and shadow thereof.\nDuring the great mystery and drama of life known as the Manvantara,\nreal Kosmos is like the object placed behind the white screen\nupon which are thrown the Chinese shadows, called forth by the\nmagic lantern. The actual figures and things remain invisible,\nwhile the wires of evolution are pulled by the unseen hands; and\nmen and things are thus but the reflections, *on *the white\nfield, of the realities *behind *the snares of *Mahamaya,\n*or the great Illusion. This was taught in every philosophy,\nin every religion, *ante *as well as *post *diluvian,\nin India and Chaldea, by the Chinese as by the Grecian Sages.\nIn the former countries these three Universes were allegorized,\nin exoteric teachings, by the three trinities emanating from the\nCentral eternal germ and forming with it a Supreme Unity: the\n*initial, *the *manifested, *and the *Creative*\nTriad, or the three in One. The last is but the symbol, in its\nconcrete expression, of the first *ideal *two. Hence Esoteric\nphilosophy passes over the necessarianism of this purely metaphysical\nconception, and calls the first one, only, the Ever Existing.\nThis is the view of every one of the six great schools of Indian\nphilosophy -- the *six principles of* *that unit body\nof *WISDOM *of which the *\"*gnosis,*\"*\n*the* hidden* knowledge, is the seventh.\n\nThe writer hopes that, superficially handled as may be the comments\non the Seven Stanzas, enough has been given in this cosmogonic\nportion of the work to show Archaic teachings to be more *scientific\n*(in the modern sense of the word) on their very face, than\nany other ancient Scriptures left to be regarded and judged on\ntheir exoteric aspect. Since, however, as confessed before, this\nwork *withholds far more than it* *gives out, *the\nstudent is invited to use his own intuitions. Our chief care is\nto elucidate that which has already been given out, and, to our\nregret, very incorrectly at times; to supplement the knowledge\nhinted at -- whenever and wherever possible -- by addi-\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 279 HERMES, OR ARISTOTLE?\n\ntional matter; and to bulwark our doctrines against the too strong\nattacks of modern Sectarianism, and more especially against those\nof our latter-day Materialism, very often miscalled Science, whereas,\nin reality, the words \"Scientists\" and \"Sciolists\"\nought alone to bear the responsibility for the many illogical\ntheories offered to the world. In its great ignorance, the public,\nwhile blindly accepting everything that emanates from \"authorities,\"\nand feeling it to be its duty to regard every *dictum *coming\nfrom a man of Science as a proven fact -- the public, we say,\nis taught to scoff at anything brought forward from \"heathen\"\nsources. Therefore, as materialistic Scientists can be fought\nsolely with their own weapons -- those of controversy and argument\n-- an* Addendum *is added to every Book contrasting our\nrespective views and showing how even great authorities may often\nerr. We believe that this can be done effectually by showing the\nweak points of our opponents, and by proving their too frequent\nsophisms -- made to pass for scientific *dicta* -- to be\nincorrect. We hold to Hermes and his \"Wisdom\" -- in\nits universal character; they -- to Aristotle as against intuition\nand the experience of the ages, fancying that Truth is the exclusive\nproperty of the Western world. Hence the disagreement. As Hermes\nsays, \"Knowledge differs much from sense; for sense is of\nthings that surmount it, but Knowledge (gyi) is the end of sense\"\n--* i.e., *of the illusion of our physical brain and its\nintellect; thus emphasizing the contrast between the laboriously\nacquired knowledge of the senses and mind (manas), and the intuitive\nomniscience of the Spiritual divine Soul -- Buddhi.\n\nWhatever may be the destiny of these actual writings in a remote\nfuture, we hope to have proven so far the following facts:\n\n(1) The Secret Doctrine teaches no *Atheism, *except in\nthe Hindu sense of the word *nastika, *or the rejection\nof *idols, *including every anthropomorphic god. In this\nsense every Occultist is a *Nastika*.\n\n(2) It admits a Logos or a collective \"Creator\" of the\nUniverse; a *Demi-urgos* -- in* *the sense implied\nwhen one speaks of an \"Architect\" as the \"Creator\"\nof an edifice, whereas that Architect has never touched one stone\nof it, but, while furnishing the plan, left all the manual labour\nto the masons; in our case the plan was furnished by the Ideation\nof the Universe, and the constructive labour was left to the Hosts\nof intelligent Powers and Forces. But that *Demiurgos *is\nno\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 280 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\n*personal *deity, --* i.e.,* an imperfect *extra-cosmic\ngod*, -- but only the aggregate of the Dhyan-Chohans and the\nother forces.\n\nAs to the latter --\n\n(3) They are dual in their character; being composed of (*a*)*\n*the irrational *brute energy, *inherent in matter,\nand (*b*) the intelligent soul or cosmic consciousness\nwhich directs and guides that energy, and which is the *Dhyan-Chohanic\nthought reflecting the Ideation of the* *Universal mind.\n*This results in a perpetual series of physical manifestations\nand *moral effects *on Earth, during manvantaric periods,\nthe whole being subservient to Karma. As that process is not always\nperfect; and since, however many proofs it may exhibit of a guiding\nintelligence behind the veil, it still shows gaps and flaws, and\neven results very often in evident failures -- therefore, neither\nthe collective Host (Demiurgos), nor any of the working powers\nindividually, are proper subjects for divine honours or worship.\nAll are entitled to the grateful reverence of Humanity, however,\nand man ought to be ever striving to help the divine evolution\nof *Ideas, *by becoming to the best of his ability a *co-worker\nwith nature *in the cyclic task. The ever unknowable and incognizable\n*Karana *alone, the *Causeless *Cause of all causes,\nshould have its shrine and altar on the holy and ever untrodden\nground of our heart -- invisible, intangible, unmentioned, save\nthrough \"the still small voice\" of our spiritual consciousness.\nThose who worship before it, ought to do so in the silence and\nthe sanctified solitude of their Souls*; making their spirit the\nsole mediator between them and the *Universal Spirit, *their\ngood actions the only priests, and their sinful intentions the\nonly visible and objective sacrificial victims to the *Presence.\n*(*See Part II., *\"*On the Hidden Deity.*\")\n\n(4) Matter is *Eternal. *It is the *Upadhi *(the\nphysical basis) for the One infinite Universal Mind to build thereon\nits ideations. Therefore, the Esotericists maintain that there\nis no inorganic or *dead *matter in nature, the distinction\nbetween the two made by Science being as unfounded as it is arbitrary\nand devoid of reason.\n\n####### [[Footnote(s) -------------------------------------------------]]\n\n* \"When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites\nare . . . but enter into *thine inner chamber* *and\nhaving shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret*.\"\n*Matt.* *vi.*). Our Father is *within us*\n\"in Secret,\" our 7th principle, in the \"inner chamber\"\nof our Soul perception. \"The Kingdom of Heaven\" and\nof God \"*is within* *us*\" says Jesus,\nnot *outside. *Why are Christians so absolutely blind to\nthe self-evident meaning of the words of wisdom they delight in\nmechanically repeating?\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 281 MATTER IS THE SHADOW OF SPIRIT.\n\nWhatever Science may think, however -- and *exact* Science\nis a fickle dame, as we all know by experience -- Occultism knows\nand teaches differently, from time immemorial -- from *Manu*\nand* Hermes* down to Paracelsus and his successors.\n\nThus Hermes, the thrice great Trismegistus, says: \"Oh, my\nson, matter *becomes; *formerly it *was; *for matter\nis the vehicle of becoming.\"* Becoming is the mode of activity\nof the uncreate deity. Having been endowed with the germs of becoming,\nmatter (objective) is brought into birth, for the creative force\nfashions it *according to the ideal forms. *Matter not\nyet engendered had no form; it becomes when it is put into operation.\"\n(*The Definitions of Asclepios, *p. 134, \"Virgin of\nthe World.\")\n\n\"Everything is the product of one universal creative effort.\n. . . There is nothing *dead, *in Nature. *Everything\nis organic and living, *and therefore the whole world appears\nto be a living organism.\" (Paracelsus, \"*Philosophia\nad Athenienes*,\" F. Hartmann's translations, p. 44.)\n\n(5.) The Universe was evolved out of its ideal plan, upheld through\nEternity in the unconsciousness of that which the Vedantins call\nParabrahm. This is practically identical with the conclusions\nof the highest Western Philosophy -- \"the innate, eternal,\nand self-existing Ideas\" of Plato, now reflected by Von Hartmann.\nThe \"unknowable\" of Herbert Spencer bears only a faint\nresemblance to that transcendental *Reality *believed in\nby Occultists, often appearing merely a personification of a \"*force\n*behind phenomena\" -- an infinite and eternal *Energy*\n\n####### [[Footnote(s) -------------------------------------------------]]\n\n* To this the late Mrs. (Dr.) Kingsford, the able translator and\ncompiler of the Hermetic Fragments (see \"*The Virgin of\nthe* *World*\") remarks in a foot-note; \"Dr.\nMenard observes that in Greek the same word signifies *to be\nborn* and *to become. *The idea here is that the material\nof the world is in its essence eternal, but that before creation\nor 'becoming' it is in a passive and motionless condition. Thus\nit 'was' before being put into operation; now it 'becomes,' that\nis, it is mobile and progressive.\" And she adds the purely\nVedantic doctrine of the Hermetic philosophy that \"Creation\nis thus the period of activity (Manvantara) of God, who, according\nto Hermetic thought (or *which, *according to the Vedantin)\nhas two modes -- Activity or Existence, God evolved (*Deus\nexplicitus*); and Passivity of Being (Pralaya) God involved\n(*Deus* *implicitus*)*. *Both modes are perfect\nand complete, as are the waking and sleeping states of man. Fichte,\nthe German philosopher, distinguished Being (Seyn) as One, which\nwe know only through existence (Dasein) as the Manifold. This\nview is thoroughly Hermetic. The 'Ideal Forms' are the archetypal\nor formative ideas of the Neo-Platonists; the eternal and subjective\nconcepts of things subsisting in the divine mind prior to 'becoming'\"\n(p. 134).\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 282 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nfrom which all things proceed, while the author of the \"Philosophy\nof the Unconscious\" has come (in this respect only) as near\nto a solution of the great *Mystery *as mortal man can.\nFew were those, whether in ancient or mediaeval philosophy, who\nhave dared to approach the subject or even hint at it. Paracelsus\nmentions it inferentially. His ideas are admirably synthesized\nby Dr. F. Hartmann, F.T.S., in his \"Life of Paracelsus.\"\n\nAll the *Christian *Kabalists understood well the Eastern\nroot idea: The active Power, the \"Perpetual motion of the\ngreat Breath\" only awakens Kosmos at the dawn of every new\nPeriod, setting it into motion by means of the two contrary Forces,*\nand thus causing it to become objective on the plane of Illusion.\nIn other words, that dual motion transfers Kosmos from the plane\nof the Eternal Ideal into that of finite manifestation, or from\nthe *Noumenal *to the *Phenomenal *plane. Everything\nthat *is, was, *and *will be*, eternally IS, even\nthe countless forms, which are finite and perishable only in their\nobjective, not in their *ideal* Form. They existed as Ideas,\nin the Eternity,** and, when they pass away, will exist as reflections.\nNeither the form of man, nor that of any animal, plant or stone\nhas ever been *created, *and it is only on this plane of\nours that it commenced \"becoming,\"* i.e.,* objectivising\ninto its present materiality, or expanding *from* *within\noutwards, *from the most sublimated and supersensuous essence\ninto its grossest appearance. Therefore *our* human forms\nhave existed in the Eternity as astral or ethereal prototypes;\naccording to which models, the Spiritual Beings (or Gods) whose\nduty it was to bring them into objective being and terrestrial\nLife, evolved the protoplasmic forms of the future *Egos *from*\ntheir own essence. *After which, when this human *Upadhi,\n*or basic mould was ready, the natural terrestrial Forces\nbegan to work on those supersensuous moulds *which contained,\nbesides their own,* *the elements* *of all the past\nvegetable and* *future animal* *forms of this globe\nin them. *Therefore, man's *outward *shell passed through\nevery vegetable and animal body before it assumed the human shape.\nAs this will be fully\n\n####### [[Footnote(s) -------------------------------------------------]]\n\n* The centripetal and the centrifugal forces, which are male and\nfemale, positive and negative, physical and spiritual, the two\nbeing the one *Primordial *Force.\n\n** Occultism teaches that no form can be given to anything, either\nby nature or by man, whose ideal type does not already exist on\nthe subjective plane. More than this; that no such form or shape\ncan possibly enter man's consciousness, or evolve in his imagination,\nwhich does not exist in prototype, at least as an approximation.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 283 PARACELSUS ANTICIPATED TYNDALL.\n\ndescribed in Book II., with the Commentaries thereupon, there\nis no need to say more of it here.\n\nAccording to the Hermetico-Kabalistic philosophy of Paracelsus,\nit is Yliaster -- the ancestor of the just-born *Protyle, *introduced\nby Mr. Crookes in chemistry -- or primordial *Protomateria\n*that evolved out of itself the Kosmos.\n\n\"When Evolution took place the Yliaster divided itself. .\n. . melted and dissolved, developing from within itself the *Ideos\n*or Chaos, called re*spectively Mysterium magnum, Iliados,\nLimbus Major, *or Primordial Matter. This Primordial essence\nis of a monistic nature, and manifests itself not only as vital\nactivity, a spiritual force, an invisible, incomprehensible, and\nindescribable power, but also as vital matter of which the substance\nof living beings consists.\" In this *Ideos* of primordial\nmatter, or the *proto-ilos -- *which is the matrix of all\ncreated things -- is contained the substance from which everything\nis formed. It is the Chaos . . . out of which the Macrocosm, and,\nlater on, by evolution and division in *Mysteria Specialia,*\n*each separate being, came into existence. \"All things\nand all elementary substances were contained in it *in potentia\n*but not in *actu*\"* -- *which makes the\ntranslator, Dr. F. Hartmann, justly observe that \"it seems\nthat Paracelsus anticipated the modern discovery of the 'potency\nof matter' three hundred years ago\" (P. 42).\n\nThis Magnus Limbus, then, or Yliaster of Paracelsus, is simply\nour old friend \"Father-Mother,\" *within, *before\nit appeared in Space, of the second and other Stanzas. It is the\nuniversal matrix of Kosmos, personified in the dual character\nof Macro- and Microcosm (or the Universe and our Globe)** by Aditi-Prakriti,\nthe Spiritual and the physical nature. For we find it explained\nin Paracelsus that \"the Magnus Limbus is the nursery out\nof which all creatures have grown, in the same sense as a tree\ngrows out of a small seed; with the difference, however, that\nthe great Limbus takes its origin from the Word, while the Limbus\nminor (the terrestrial seed or sperm) takes it from the earth.\n\n####### [[Footnote(s) -------------------------------------------------]]\n\n* This word is explained by Dr. Hartmann from the original texts\nof Paracelsus before him, as follows. According to this great\nRosicrucian: \"Mysterium is everything out of which something\nmay be developed, which is only germinally contained in it. A\nseed is the 'Mysterium' of a plant, an egg that of a living bird,\netc.\"\n\n** It is only the mediaeval Kabalists who, following the Jewish\nand one or two Neo-Platonists, applied the term *Microcosm\n*to man. Ancient philosophy called the Earth the Microcosm\nof the Macrocosm, and man the outcome of the two.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 284 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nThe great Limbus is the seed out of which all beings have come,\nand the little Limbus is each ultimate being that reproduces its\nform, and that has itself been produced by the 'great.' The latter\npossesses all the qualifications of the great one, in the same\nsense as a son has an organization similar to that of his father.\"\n(*See Comment. Book II. para. iii.*)* . *. . \"As\nYliaster dissolved, *Ares, *the dividing, differentiating,\nand individualising power (*Fohat, *another old friend,)\n. . . began to act. All production took place in consequence of\nseparation. There were produced out of the Ideos, the elements\nof Fire, Water, Air and Earth, whose birth, however, did not take\nplace in a material mode, or by simple separation,\" but by\nspiritual and dynamical, not even complex, combinations -- e.g.,\nmechanical *mixture *as opposed to *chemical *combination\n-- just as fire may come out of a pebble, or a tree out of a seed,\nalthough there is originally no fire in the pebble, nor a tree\nin the seed. Spirit is living, and Life is Spirit, and Life and\nSpirit (*Prakriti Purusha*)* *(?) produce all things,\nbut they are essentially one and not two. . . . The elements too,\nhave each one its own Yliaster, because all the activity of matter\nin every form is only an effluvium of the same fount. But as from\nthe seed grow the roots with their fibres, and after that the\nstalk with its branches and leaves, and lastly the flowers and\nseeds; likewise all beings were born from the elements, and consist\nof elementary substances out of which other forms may come into\nexistence, bearing the characteristics of their parents.\"\n(\"This doctrine, preached 300 years ago,\" remarks the\ntranslator, \"is identical with the one that has revolutionized\nmodern thought, after having been put into new shape and elaborated\nby Darwin. It was still more elaborated by Kapila in the Sankhya\nphilosophy\") . . . . The elements as the mothers of all creatures\n*are of an invisible, spiritual nature, and have souls.* *They\nall spring from the \"*Mysterium Magnum.*\"*\n*(*Philosophia ad Athenienses.*)\n\nCompare this with Vishnu Purana.\n\n\"From *Pradhana *(primordial substance) presided over\nby *Kshetrajna *(embodied Spirit?) proceeds the evolution\nof those qualities....... From the great Principle *Mahat *(Universal\nIntellect, or mind)..... proceeds\n\n####### [[Footnote(s) -------------------------------------------------]]\n\n* The Eastern Occultist says -- \"are guided and informed\nby the Spiritual Beings\" the Workmen in the invisible worlds\nand behind the veil of Occult nature, or nature *in Abscondito.*\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 285 HERMES CHRISTIANIZED.\n\nthe origin of the subtle elements and from these the organs of\nsense (*Book I., ii.*)*.*\n\nThus it may be shown that all the fundamental truths of nature\nwere universal in antiquity, and that the basic ideas upon spirit,\nmatter, and the universe, or upon God, Substance, and man, were\nidentical. Taking the two most ancient religious philosophies\non the globe, Hinduism and Hermetism, from the scriptures of India\nand Egypt, the identity of the two is easily recognisable.\n\nThis becomes apparent to one who reads the latest translation\nand rendering of the \"Hermetic Fragments\" just mentioned,\nby our late lamented friend, Dr. Anna Kingsford. Disfigured and\ntortured as these have been in their passage through Sectarian\nGreek and Christian hands, the translator has most ably and intuitionally\nseized the weak points and tried to remedy them by means of explanations\nand foot-notes. And she says:.......... The creation of the visible\nworld by the 'working gods' or Titans, as agents of the Supreme\nGod,* is a thoroughly Hermetic idea, *recognisable in all religious\nsystems, *and in accordance with modern scientific research\n(?), which shows us everywhere the Divine power operating through\nnatural Forces.\"\n\n\"That Universal Being, that contains all, and which is all,\nput into motion the Soul and the World, all that nature comprises,\nsays Hermes. In the manifold unity of universal life, the innumerable\nindividualities distinguished by their variations, are, nevertheless,\nunited in such a manner that the whole is one, and that everything\nproceeds from Unity.\" (*Asclepios, Part I.*)\n\n\"God is not a mind, but the cause that the mind is; *not\na spirit, *but the cause that the Spirit is; not light, but\nthe cause that the Light is.\" (*Divine Pymander, Book\nIX., *v. 64.)\n\nThe above shows plainly that \"Divine Pymander,\" however\nmuch distorted in some passages by Christian \"smoothing,\"\nwas nevertheless written by a philosopher, while most of the so-called\n\"hermetic Fragments\" are the production of sectarian\npagans with a tendency towards an anthropomorphic Supreme Being.\nYet both are the echo of the Esoteric philosophy and the Hindu\nPuranas.\n\nCompare two invocations, one to the Hermetic \"Supreme All,\"\nthe\n\n####### [[Footnote(s) -------------------------------------------------]]\n\n* A frequent expression in the said Fragments, to which we take\nexception. The *Universal Mind *is not a *Being *or\n\"God.\"\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 286 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nother to the \"Supreme All\" of the later Aryans. Says\na Hermetic Fragment cited by Suidas (see Mrs. Kingsford's \"*The\nVirgin of the World*\")*: *-\n\n\"I adjure thee, Heaven, holy work of the great God; I adjure\nthee, Voice of the Father, uttered in the beginning when the universal\nworld was framed; I adjure thee by the word, only Son of the Father\nwho upholds all things; be favourable, be favourable.\"\n\nThis just preceded by the following: \"Thus the Ideal Light\nwas before the Ideal Light, and the luminous Intelligence of Intelligence\nwas always, *and its unity was nothing else than the Spirit\nenveloping the Universe. Out of whom is neither God nor Angels,\nnor any other essentials, for *He (It?) is the Lord of all\nthings and the power and the Light; and all depends on Him (It)\nand is in Him (It), etc.\" (*Fragments of the writings\nof Hermes to Ammon.*)\n\nThis is contradicted by the very same *Trismegistos, *who\nis made to say: \"To speak of God is impossible. For corporeal\ncannot express the incorporeal. . . . . That which has not any\nbody nor appearance, nor form, nor matter, cannot be apprehended\nby sense. I understand, Tatios, I understand, that which it is\nimpossible to define -- that is God.\" (*Physical Eclogues,\nFlorilegium of Stobaeus.*)\n\nThe contradiction between the two passages is evident; and this\nshows (*a*) that Hermes was a generic *nom-de-plume\n*used by a series of generations of mystics of every shade,\nand (*b*) that a great discernment has to be used before\naccepting a Fragment as esoteric teaching only because it is undeniably\nancient. Let us now compare the above with a like invocation in\nthe Hindu Scriptures -- undoubtedly as old, if not far older.\nHere it is *Parasara, *the Aryan \"Hermes\" who\ninstructs *Maitreya, *the Indian Asclepios, and calls upon\nVishnu in his triple hypostasis.\n\n\"Glory to the unchangeable, holy, eternal Supreme Vishnu,\nof one universal nature, the mighty over all; to him who is Hiranyagarbha,\nHari, and Sankara (Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva), the creator, the\npreserver, and the destroyer of the world; to Vasudeva, the liberator\n(of his worshippers); to him whose essence is both single and\nmanifold; who is both subtile and corporeal, indiscreet and discreet;\nto Vishnu the cause of final emancipation, the cause of the creation,\nexistence, the\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 287 ALONE THE ETERNAL IS REST.\n\nend of the world; *who is the root of the world, *and who\n*consists of the world.*\"* *(*Vish. Purana,\nBook L.*)\n\nThis is a grand invocation, full of philosophical meaning underlying\nit; but, for the profane masses, as suggestive as is the first\nof an anthropomorphic Being. We must respect the feeling that\ndictated both; but we cannot help finding it in full disharmony\nwith its inner meaning, even with that which is found in the same\nHermetic treatise where it is said:\n\n\"Reality is not upon the earth, my son, and it cannot be\nthereon. . . . Nothing on earth is real, there are only appearances.\n. . He (man) is not real, my son, as man. The real consists solely\nin itself and remains what it is. . . Man is transient, therefore\nhe is not real, he is but appearance, and appearance is the supreme\nillusion.\n\n*Tatios: *Then the *celestial bodies themselves are\nnot real, my father, since they also vary?*\n\n*Trismegistos: *That which is subject to birth and to change\nis not real. . . . . There is in them a certain falsity, seeing\nthat they too are variable.......\n\n*Tatios: *And what then is the primordial Reality?\n\n*Trismeg.: *That which is one and alone, 0 Tatios; That\nwhich is not made of matter, nor in any body. Which has neither\ncolour nor form, which changes not nor is transmitted but which\nalways is.\"\n\nThis is quite consistent with the Vedantic teaching. The leading\nthought is Occult; and many are the passages in the Hermetic Fragments\nthat belong bodily to the Secret Doctrine.\n\nThe latter teaches that the whole universe is ruled by intelligent\nand semi-intelligent Forces and Powers, as stated from the very\nbeginning. Christian Theology admits and even *enforces *belief\nin such, but makes an arbitrary division and refers to them as\n\"Angels\" and \"Devils.\" Science denies the\nexistence of such, and ridicules the very idea. Spiritualists\nbelieve in the Spirits of the Dead, and, outside these, deny entirely\nany other kind or class of invisible beings. The Occultists and\nKabalists are thus the only rational expounders of the ancient\ntraditions, which have now culminated in dogmatic faith on the\none hand, and dogmatic denials on the other. For, both belief\nand unbelief embrace but one small corner each of the infinite\nhorizons of spiritual and physical manifestations; and thus both\nare right from\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 288 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\ntheir respective standpoints, and both are wrong in believing\nthat they can circumscribe the whole within their own special\nand narrow barriers; for -- they can never do so. In this respect\nScience, Theology, and even Spiritualism show little more wisdom\nthan the ostrich does, when it hides its head in the sand at its\nfeet, feeling sure that there can be thus nothing beyond its own\npoint of observation and the limited area occupied by its foolish\nhead.\n\nAs the only works now extant upon the subject under consideration\nwithin reach of the profane of the Western \"civilized\"\nraces are the above-mentioned Hermetic Books, or rather Hermetic\nFragments, we may contrast them in the present case with the teachings\nof Esoteric philosophy. To quote for this purpose from any other\nwould be useless, since the public knows nothing of the Chaldean\nworks which are translated into Arabic and preserved by some Sufi\ninitiates. Therefore the \"Definitions of Asclepios,\"\nas lately compiled and glossed by Mrs. A. Kingsford, F.T.S., some\nof which sayings are in remarkable agreement with the Esoteric\nEastern doctrine, have to be resorted to for comparison. Though\nnot a few passages show a strong impression of some later Christian\nhand, yet on the whole the characteristics of the genii* and gods\nare those of eastern teachings, while concerning other things\nthere are passages which differ widely in our doctrines. The following\nare a few:--\n\n####### [[Footnote(s) -------------------------------------------------]]\n\n* The Hermetic philosophers called *Theoi, *gods, Genii\nand Daimones (in the original texts), those Entities whom we call\n*Devas *(gods), Dhyan Chohans, *Chitkala *(Kwan-yin,\nthe Buddhists call them), and by other names. The *Daimones\n*are -- in the Socratic sense, and even in the Oriental and\nLatin theological sense -- the guardian spirits of the human race;\n\"those who dwell in the neighbourhood of the immortals, and\nthence watch over human affairs,\" as Hermes has it. In Esoteric\nparlance, they are called *Chitkala, *some of which are\nthose who have furnished man with his fourth and fifth Principles\nfrom their own essence; and others the *Pitris *so-called.\nThis will be explained when we come to the production of the *complete\nman. *The root of the name is *Chiti, *\"that by\nwhich the effects and consequences of actions and kinds of knowledge\nare selected for the use of the soul,\" or conscience the\ninner Voice in man. With the Yogis, the *Chiti *is a synonym\nof *Mahat, *the first and divine intellect; but in Esoteric\nphilosophy *Mahat *is the root of Chiti, its germ; and\n*Chiti *is a quality of *Manas *in conjunction with\nBuddhi, a quality that attracts to itself by spiritual affinity\na *Chitkala *when it develops sufficiently in man. This\nis why it is said that *Chiti *is a voice acquiring mystic\nlife and becoming Kwan-Yin.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 289 A FEW OCCULT APHORISMS.\n\n**E**XTRACTS FROM A PRIVATE COMMENTARY,* *hitherto\nsecret:--*\n\n(xvii.) \"*The Initial Existence in the first twilight\nof the Maha-Manwantara *(*after the ***M**AHA-**P**RALAYA\n*that follows every age of Brahma*)* is a *CONSCIOUS\nSPIRITUAL QUALITY. *In the manifested *WORLDS (*solar\nsystems*)* it is, in its *OBJECTIVE SUBJECTIVITY, *like\nthe film from a Divine Breath to the gaze of the entranced seer.\nIt spreads as it issues from ***L**AYA***\nthroughout infinity as a colourless spiritual fluid. It is on\nthe *SEVENTH PLANE, *and in its *SEVENTH STATE *in\nour planetary world.****\n\n(xviii.) \"*It is Substance to *OUR* spiritual sight.\nIt cannot be called so by men in their *WAKING STATE; *therefore\nthey have named it in their ignorance *'*God-Spirit.*'\n\n(xix.) \"*It exists everywhere and forms the first ***U**PADHI*\n*(*foundation*)* on which our World *(*solar\nsystem*)* is built. Outside the latter it is to be found\nin its pristine purity only between *(*the solar systems\nor*)* the Stars of the Universe, the worlds already formed\nor forming; those in *LAYA *resting meanwhile in its bosom.\nAs its substance is of a different kind from that known on earth,\nthe inhabitants of the latter, seeing *THROUGH IT, *believe\nin their illusion and ignorance that it is empty space. There\nis not one finger*'*s breath *(ANGULA)* of void\nSpace in the whole Boundless *(*Universe*).........\n\n(xx*.*)* *\"*Matter or Substance is septenary\nwithin our World, as it is so beyond it. Moreover, each of its\nstates or principles is graduated into seven degrees of density.\n***S**URYA* *(*the Sun*)*, in\nits visible reflection, exhibits the first, or lowest state of\nthe seventh, the highest state of the Universal *PRESENCE*,\nthe pure of the pure, the first manifested Breath of the ever\nUnmanifested *SAT* *(*Be-ness*)*. All the\nCentral physical or objective Suns are in their substance the\nlowest state of the first Principle of the *BREATH*. Nor\nare any of these any more than the *REFLECTIONS *of their\n*PRIMARIES *which are concealed from the gaze of all but\nthe Dhyan Chohans, whose Corporeal substance belongs to the fifth\ndivision of the seventh Principle of the Mother substance, and\nis,*\n\n####### [[Footnote(s) -------------------------------------------------]]\n\n* This (teaching) does not refer to Prakriti-Purusha beyond the\nboundaries of our small universe.\n\n** The ultimate quiescent state: the *Nirvana* condition\nof the seventh Principle.\n\n*** The teaching is all given from our plane of consciousness.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 290 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\n*therefore, four degrees higher than the solar reflected substance.*\n*As there are seven Dhatu *(*principal substances in\nthe human body*)* so there are seven Forces in Man and\nin all Nature.*\n\n(xxi.) \"*The real substance of the concealed *(*Sun*)*\nis a nucleus of Mother substance.*** It is the heart and\nthe matrix of all the living and existing Forces in our solar\nuniverse.* *It is the Kernel from which proceed to spread\non their cyclic journeys all* *the Powers that set in action\nthe atoms in their functional duties, and the focus within which\nthey again meet in their *SEVENTH ESSENCE *every eleventh\nyear. He who* *tells thee he has seen the sun, laugh at\nhim** as* *if he had said that the* *sun moves really\nonward on his diurnal path *. . . .\n\n(xxiii). \"*It is on account of his septenary* *nature\nthat the Sun is* *spoken of by the ancients as one who\nis driven* *by seven horses equal to* *the metres\nof the Vedas; or, again, that, though he is identified with the\n*SEVEN \"*Gaina*\"* *(*classes of\nbeing*)* in* *his orb, he is distinct from them,****\n*as he is, indeed; as also that he has* SEVEN RAYS, *as\nindeed he has *. . . .\n\n(xxv.) \"*The Seven Beings in the Sun are the Seven Holy\nOnes, Self-born from the inherent power in the* *matrix\nof Mother substance. It is they who send the Seven Principal*\n*Forces, called rays, which at the beginning of Pralaya will\ncentre into* *seven new Suns for the next Manvantara. The\nenergy from which they spring into conscious existence in every\nSun, is what some people call Vishnu *(*see foot-note below*)*,\nwhich* *is the Breath of the *ABSOLUTENESS.\n\n*We call it the One manifested life -- itself a reflection\nof the Absolute*.........\n\n(xxvi.) \"*The latter must never be mentioned in words\nor speech LEST* IT SHOULD TAKE AWAY SOME OF OUR SPIRITUAL\nENERGIES THAT ASPIRE *towards ITS state, gravitating ever onward\nunto *IT* spiritually, as the whole physical universe gravitates\ntowards *ITS* manifested centre -- cosmically.*\n\n(xxvii.) \"*The former -- the Initial existence -- which\nmay be called* *while in*\n\n####### [[Footnote(s) -------------------------------------------------]]\n\n* Or the \"dream of Science,\" the primeval really homogeneous\nmatter, which no mortal can make objective in this *Race*\nor *Round *either.\n\n** \"Vishnu in the form of the Solar active energy, neither\never rises nor sets, and is at once, the *sevenfold Sun *and\ndistinct from it,\" says Vishnu Purana (Book II., Chap. 1\n1).\n\n*** \"In the same manner as a man approaches a mirror placed\nupon a stand, beholds in it his own image, so the energy or reflection\nof Vishnu (the Sun) is never disjoined but remains in the Sun\nas in a mirror that is there stationed\" (\"*Vishnu\nPurana*\")*.*\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 291 OCCULT APHORISMS.\n\n*this state of being the ***O**NE **L**IFE,\n*is, as explained, a ***F**ILM* for creative\nor formative Purposes. It manifests in seven states, which, with\ntheir septenary sub-divisions, are the* **F**ORTY-NINE\n*Fires* mentioned in* *sacred books* . . . . . .\n\n(xxix.) \"*The first is the* . . . . '*Mother*'*\n*(*prima *MATERIA). *Separating itself into its\nprimary seven states, it proceeds down cyclically; when** having\nconsolidated itself in its *LAST* principle as *GROSS\nMATTER, it *revolves around itself and informs, with the seventh\nemanation of the last, the first and the lowest element *(*the\nSerpent biting its own tail*)*. In a hierarchy, or order\nof being, the seventh emanation of her last principle is:*\n--\n\n(*a*)* In the mineral, the spark that lies latent in\nit, and is called to its evanescent being by the ***P**OSITIVE*\nawakening the ***N**EGATIVE (*and so forth*)*\n*. . . .\n\n(*b*)* In the plant it is that vital and intelligent\nForce which informs the seed and develops it into the blade of\ngrass, or the root and sapling. It is the germ which becomes the\n***U**PADHI *of the seven principles of the\nthing it resides in, shooting them out as the latter grows and\ndevelops.*\n\n(*c*)* In every animal it does the same. It is its life\nprinciple and vital power; its instinct and qualities; its characteristics\nand special idiosyncrasies *. . . .\n\n(*d*)* To man, it gives all that it bestows on all the\nrest of the manifested units in nature; but develops, furthermore,\nthe reflection of all its ***F**ORTY-NINE **F**IRES\n*in him. Each of his seven principles is an heir in full to,\nand a partaker of, the seven principles of the *\"*great\nMother.*\"* The breath of her first principle is his\nspirit *(*Atma*)*. Her second principle is ***B**UDDHI\n(*soul*). *We call it, erroneously, the seventh. The\nthird furnishes him with *(*a*)* the brain stuff\non the physical plane, and *(*b*)* with the *MIND*\nthat moves it *[which is the human soul. -- H. P. B.] -- *according\nto his organic capacities. *\n\n(*e*)* It is the guiding Force in the Cosmic and terrestrial\nelements. It resides in the Fire provoked out of its latent into\nactive being; for the whole of the seven subdivisions of the *\n* *** principle reside in the terrestrial Fire. It whirls\nin the breeze, blows with the hurricane, and sets the air in motion,\nwhich *element* participates in one of its principles also.*\n*Proceeding cyclically, it regulates the motion*\n\n####### [[Footnote(s) -------------------------------------------------]]\n\n* In \"Vishnu\" and other *Puranas.*\n\n** See the Hermetic \"Nature,\" \"Going down cyclically\ninto matter when she meets 'heavenly man.' \"\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 292 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\n*of the water, attracts and repels the waves* according to\nfixed laws of which its seventh principle is the informing soul.*\n\n(*f*)* Its four higher principles contain the germ that\ndevelops into the Cosmic Gods; its three lower ones breed the\nlives of the Elements *(*Elementals*)*.*\n\n(*g*)* In our Solar world, the One Existence is Heaven\nand the Earth, the Root and the flower, the Action and the Thought.\nIt is in the Sun, and is as present in the glow-worm. Not an atom\ncan escape it. Therefore, the ancient Sages have wisely called\nit the manifested God in Nature*. . . .\"\n\nIt may be interesting, in this connection, to remind the reader\nof what Mr. Subba Row said of the Forces -- mystically defined.\nSee \"*Five Years of Theosophy*\"* *and\n\"The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac.\" Thus he says:\n\n\"Kanya (the sixth sign of the Zodiac, or *Virgo*)*\n*means a Virgin, and represents *Sakti or Mahamaya. *The\nsign . . . is the 6th *Rasi *or division, and indicates\nthat there are six primary forces in Nature (synthesized by the\nSeventh)\" . . . These Sakti stand as follows: -\n\n(1.) **P**ARASAKTI. Literally the great or Supreme\nForce or power. It means and includes the powers of *light\nand heat.*\n\n(2.)** J**NANASAKTI. . . . The power of intellect,\nof real Wisdom or Knowledge. It has two aspects:\n\nThe following are *some *of its manifestations *when\nplaced under the influence or control of material conditions.\n*(a) The power of the mind in interpreting our sensations.\n(b) Its power in recalling past ideas (memory) and raising future\nexpectation. (c) Its power as exhibited in what are called by\nmodern psychologists \"the laws of association,\" which\nenables it to form *persisting *connections between various\ngroups of sensations and possibilities of sensations, and thus\ngenerate the notion or idea of an external object. (d) Its power\nin connecting our ideas together by the mysterious link of memory,\nand thus generating the notion of self or individuality; *some\n*of its manifestations when liberated *from the bonds of\nmatter are *-- (*a*) Clairvoyance, (*b*) Psychometry.\n\n(3.) **I**TCHASAKTI -- the *power of the Will.\n*Its most ordinary manifesta-\n\n####### [[Footnote(s) -------------------------------------------------]]\n\n* The writers of the above knew perfectly well the physical cause\nof the tides, of the waves, etc. It is the informing Spirit of\nthe whole Cosmic solar body that is meant here, and which is referred\nto whenever such expressions are used from the mystic point of\nview.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 293 THE SEVEN POWERS.\n\ntion is the generation of certain nerve currents which set in\nmotion such muscles as are required for the accomplishment of\nthe desired object.\n\n(4.) **K**RIYASAKTI. The mysterious power of thought\nwhich enables it to produce external, perceptible, phenomenal\nresults by its own inherent energy. The ancients held that *any\nidea will manifest itself externally if one*'*s attention\nis deeply concentrated upon it. *Similarly *an intense\nvolition will be followed by the desired result.*\n\nA Yogi generally performs his wonders by means of Itchasakti and\nKriyasakti.\n\n(5.) **K**UNDALINI **S**AKTI. The power\nor Force which moves in a curved path. It is the Universal life-Principle\nmanifesting everywhere in nature. This force includes the two\ngreat forces of attraction and repulsion. Electricity and magnetism\nare but manifestations of it. This is the power which brings about\nthat \"continuous adjustment of *internal relations to\nexternal relations*\"* *which is the essence of\nlife according to Herbert Spencer, and that \"*continuous\nadjustment of external relations to internal relations*\"*\n*which is the basis of transmigration of souls, *punar\njanman *(re-birth) in the doctrines of the ancient Hindu philosophers.\nA Yogi must thoroughly subjugate this power before he can attain\nMoksham. . . .\n\n(6.) **M**ANTRIKA-SAKTI. The force or power of letters,\nspeech or music. The *Mantra Shastra *has for its subject-matter\nthis force in all its manifestations......... The influence of\nmelody is one of its ordinary manifestations. The power of the\nineffable name is the crown of this Sakti.\n\nModern Science has but partly investigated the first, second and\nfifth of the forces above named, but is altogether in the dark\nas regards the remaining powers. The six forces are in their unity\nrepresented by the* *\"*Daiviprakriti*\"*\n*(the Seventh, the light of the **L**OGOS).\n\nThe above is quoted to show the real Hindu ideas on the same.\nIt is all esoteric, though not covering the tenth part of *what\nmight be said. *For one, the six names of the Six Forces mentioned\nare those of *the six Hierarchies *of Dhyan Chohans synthesized\nby their *Primary,* the seventh, who personify the Fifth\nPrinciple of Cosmic Nature, or of the \"Mother\" in its\nMystical Sense. The enumeration alone of the *yogi *Powers\nwould require ten volumes. Each of these Forces has a *living\nConscious Entity *at its head, of which entity it is an emanation.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 294 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nBut let us compare with the commentary just cited the words of\nHermes, the \"thrice great\":--\n\n\"The creation of Life *by the Sun *is as continuous\nas his light; nothing arrests or limits it. Around him, like an\narmy of Satellites, *are innumerable choirs of genii. *These\ndwell in the neighbourhood of the Immortals, and thence watch\nover human things. They fulfil the will of the gods (Karma) *by\nmeans of storms, tempests, transitions of fire and earthquakes;\n*likewise by famines and wars, for the punishment of impiety.*\n. . . It is the sun who preserves and nourishes all creatures;\nand even as the Ideal World which environs the sensible world\nfills this last with the plenitude and universal variety of forms,\nso also the Sun, enfolding all in his light, accomplishes everywhere\nthe birth and development of creatures.\" . . . \"*Under\nhis orders is the choir of Genii, *or rather the choirs, *for\nthere are many and diverse, and their number corresponds to that\nof the stars. Every star has its genii, good and evil by nature,\n*or rather by their *operation, for operation is the essence\nof the genii. . *. . All these Genii *preside over mundane\naffairs,** *they shake and overthrow the constitution of States\nand of individuals; they *imprint their likeness on our Souls,\n*they are present in our nerves, our marrow, our veins, our\narteries, and *our very brain-substance *. . . at the moment\nwhen each of us receives life and being, he is taken in charge\nby the genii (Elementals) who preside over births,*** and who\nare classed beneath the astral powers (Superhuman astral Spirits.)\nThey change perpetually, not always identically, but revolving\nin circles.**** They permeate by the body two parts of the Soul,\nthat it may receive from each the impress of his own energy. But\nthe reasonable part of the Soul is not subject to the genii; it\nis designed\n\n####### [[Footnote(s) -------------------------------------------------]]\n\n* See Stanzas **III**. and **IV**. and\nthe Commentaries thereupon, especially the Comments on Stanza\n**IV**. \"the *Lipika *and the four Maharajas,\"\nthe agents of Karma.\n\n** And \"Gods\" or Dhyanis, too, not only the genii or\n\"guided Forces.\"\n\n*** The meaning of this is that as man is composed of all the\nGreat Elements: Fire, Air, Water, Earth and Ether -- the ELEMENTALS\nwhich belong respectively to these Elements feel attracted to\nman by reason of their co-essence. That element which predominates\nin a certain constitution will be the ruling element throughout\nlife. For instance, if man has a preponderance of the Earthly,\ngnomic element, the gnomes will lead him towards assimilating\nmetals -- money and wealth, and so on. \"Animal man is the\nson of the animal elements out of which his Soul (life) was born,\nand animals are the mirrors of man,\" says Paracelsus (*De\nFundamento Sapientiae*)*. *Paracelsus was cautious,\nand wanted the Bible to agree with what he said, and therefore\ndid not say all.\n\n**** Cyclic progress in development.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 295 UNIVERSAL ILLUSION.\n\nfor the reception of (the) God,* who enlightens it with a sunny\nray. Those who are thus illumined are few in number, and from\nthem the genii abstain: for neither genii nor Gods have any power\nin the presence of a single ray of God.** But all other men, both\nsoul and body, are directed by genii, to whom they cleave, and\nwhose operations they affect........... The genii have then the\ncontrol of mundane things and our bodies serve them as instruments...........\n\nThe above, save a few sectarian points, represents that which\nwas a universal belief common to all nations till about a century\nor so back. It is still as orthodox in its broad outlines and\nfeatures among pagans and Christians alike, if one excepts a handful\nof materialists and men of Science.\n\nFor whether one calls the genii of Hermes and his \"Gods,\"\n\"Powers of Darkness\" and \"Angels,\" as in the\nGreek and Latin Churches; or \"Spirits of the Dead,\"\nas in Spiritualism or, again, *Bhoots *and* Devas, Shaitan\n*or *Djin, *as they are still called in India and Mussulman\ncountries -- *they are all one and the same thing -- *ILLUSION.\nLet not this, however, be misunderstood in the sense into which\nthe great philosophical doctrine of the Vedantists has been lately\nperverted by Western schools.\n\nAll that which *is*, emanates from the ABSOLUTE, which,\nfrom this qualification alone, stands as the one and only reality\n-- hence, everything extraneous to this Absolute, the generative\nand causative Element, *must *be an illusion, most undeniably.\nBut this is only so from the purely metaphysical view. A man who\nregards himself as mentally sane, and is so regarded by his neighbours,\ncalls the visions of an *insane *brother -- whose hallucinations\nmake *the victim either happy or supremely wretched, *as\nthe case may be -- illusions and fancies likewise. But, where\nis that madman for whom the hideous shadows in his deranged mind,\nhis *illusions, *are not, for the time being, as actual\nand as real as the things which his physician or keeper may see?\nEverything is relative in this Universe, everything is an illusion.\nBut\n\n####### [[Footnote(s) -------------------------------------------------]]\n\n* The God in man and often the incarnation of a God, a highly\nSpiritual Dhyan Chohan in him, besides the presence of his own\nseventh Principle.\n\n** Now, what \"god\" is meant here? Not God \"the\nFather,\" the anthropomorphic fiction; for that god is the\nElohim collectively, and has no being apart from the Host. Besides,\nsuch a god is finite and imperfect. It is the high Initiates and\nAdepts who are meant here by those men \"few in number.\"\nAnd it is precisely those men who believe in \"gods\"\nand know no \"God,\" but one Universal unrelated and unconditioned\nDeity.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 296 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nthe experience of any plane is an actuality for the percipient\nbeing, whose consciousness is on that plane; though the said experience,\nregarded from the purely metaphysical standpoint, may be conceived\nto have no objective reality. But it is not against metaphysicians,\nbut against physicists and materialists that Esoteric teachings\nhave to fight, and for these Vital Force, Light, Sound, Electricity,\neven to the objectively pulling force of magnetism, have no objective\nbeing, and are said to exist merely as \"modes of motion,\"\n\"sensations and *affections *of matter.\"\n\nNeither the Occultists generally, nor the Theosophists, reject,\nas erroneously believed by some, the views and theories of the\nmodern scientists, only because these views are opposed to Theosophy.\nThe first rule of our Society is to render unto Caesar what is\nCaesar's. The Theosophists, therefore, are the first to recognize\nthe intrinsic value of science. But when its high priests resolve\nconsciousness into a secretion from the grey matter of the brain,\nand everything else in nature into a mode of motion, we protest\nagainst the doctrine as being unphilosophical, self-contradictory,\nand simply absurd, from a *scientific *point of view, as\nmuch and even more than from the occult aspect of the esoteric\nknowledge.\n\nFor truly the astral light of the derided Kabalists has strange\nand weird secrets for him who can see in it; and the mysteries\nconcealed within its incessantly disturbed waves *are there,\n*the whole body of Materialists and scoffers notwithstanding.*\nThese secrets, along with\n\n####### [[Footnote(s) -------------------------------------------------]]\n\n* The astral light of the Kabalists is very incorrectly translated\nby some \"AEther;\" the latter is confused with the hypothetical\nEther of Science, and both are referred to by some theosophists\nas synonymous with *Akasa. *This is a great mistake.\n\n\"A characteristic of Akasa will serve to show how inadequately\nit is represented by Ether,\" writes the author of Rational\nRefutations, thus unconsciously helping Occultism. \"In dimension\nit is infinite; it is not made up of parts; and colour, taste,\nsmell, and tangibility do not appertain to it. So far forth it\ncorresponds exactly to time, space, *Isvara, *(\"The\nLord,\" but rather creative potency and soul -- *anima\nmundi*)*. *Its speciality, as compared therewith, consists\nin its being the *material cause of sound. *Except for\nits being so, one might take it to be one with vacuity\" (*p*.\n120.)\n\nIt is *vacuity, *no doubt, especially for Rationalists.\nAt any rate Akasa is sure to produce vacuity in the brain of a\nmaterialist. Nevertheless, though Akasa is not that Ether of Science,\nnot even the Ether of the Occultist, who defines the latter as\none of the principles of Akasa only, it is as certainly, together\nwith its primary, the cause of sound, only a physical and spiritual,\nnot a material cause by any means. The relations [[fn continued]]\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 297 NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN.\n\nmany other mysteries, will remain non-existent to the materialists\nof our age, in the same way as America was a non-existent myth\nfor Europeans during the early part of the mediaeval ages, whereas\nScandinavians and Norwegians had actually reached and settled\nin that very old \"New World\" several centuries before.\nBut, as a Columbus was born to re-discover, and to force the Old\nWorld to believe in Antipodal countries, so will there be born\nscientists who will discover the marvels now claimed by Occultists\nto exist in the regions of Ether, with their varied and multiform\ndenizens and conscious Entities. Then, *nolens volens, *Science\nwill have to accept the old \"Superstition,\" as it has\nseveral others. And having been once forced to accept it -- judging\nfrom past experience -- its learned professors will, in all probability,\nas in the case of **M**ESMERISM and Magnetism, now\nre-baptised Hypnotism, father the thing and reject its name. The\nchoice of the new appellation will depend, in its turn, on the\n\"modes of motion,\" the new name for the older \"automatic\nphysical processes among the nerve fibrils of the (Scientific)\nbrain\" of Moleschott; as also, very likely, upon the last\nmeal of the namer; since, according to the Founder of the new\nHylo-Idealistic Scheme, \"Cerebration is generically the same\nas chylification.\"* Thus, were one to believe this preposterous\nproposition, the new name of the archaic thing would have to take\nits chance, on the inspiration of the namer's liver, and then\nonly would these truths have a chance of becoming scientific!\n\nBut TRUTH, however distasteful to the generally blind majorities,\nhas always had her champions, ready to die for her, and it is\nnot the Occultists who will protest against its adoption by Science\nunder whatever new name. But, until absolutely forced on the notice\nand acceptance of Scientists, many an Occult truth will be tabooed,\nas the phenomena of the Spiritualists and other psychic manifestations\nwere, to be finally appropriated by its ex-traducers without the\nleast acknowledgment or thanks. Nitrogen has added considerably\nto chemical knowledge, but its discoverer, Paracelsus, is to this\nday called a \"quack.\"\n\n####### [[Footnote(s) -------------------------------------------------]]\n\n[[fn back]] of Ether to Akasa may be defined by applying to both\nAkasa and Ether the words said of the god in the Vedas, \"So\nhimself was indeed (his own) son,\" one being the progeny\nof the other and yet itself. This may be a difficult riddle to\nthe profane, but very easy to understand for any Hindu -- though\nnot even a mystic.\n\n** National Reformer, *January 9th, 1887. Article \"Phreno-Kosmo-Biology,\"\nby Dr. Lewins.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 298 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nHow profoundly true are the words of H. T. Buckle, in his admirable\n\"*History of Civilization*\"* *(Vol. *\n*I., p. 256), when he says: -\n\n\"Owing to circumstances still unknown (Karmic provision,\nH.P.B.) there appear from time to time great thinkers, who, devoting\ntheir lives to a single purpose, are able to anticipate the progress\nof mankind, and to produce a religion or a philosophy by which\nimportant effects are eventually brought about. But if we look\ninto history we shall clearly see that, although the origin of\na new opinion may be thus due to a single man, the result which\nthe new opinion produces will depend on the condition of the people\namong whom it is propagated. If either a religion or a philosophy\nis too much in advance of a nation it can do no present service\nbut must bide its time* until the minds of men are ripe for its\nreception. . . . Every science, every creed has had its martyrs.\n*According to the ordinary course of affairs, a few generations\npass away, and then there comes a period when these very truths\nare looked upon as commonplace facts, and a little later there\ncomes another period in which they are declared to be necessary,\nand even the dullest intellect wonders *how they could ever\nhave been denied.\"\n\nIt is barely possible that the minds of the present generations\nare not quite ripe for the reception of Occult truths. Such will\nbe the retrospect furnished to the advanced thinkers of the Sixth\nRoot Race of the history of the acceptance of Esoteric Philosophy\n-- fully and unconditionally. Meanwhile the generations of our\nFifth Race will continue to be led away by prejudice and preconceptions.\nOccult Sciences will have the finger of scorn pointed at them\nfrom every street corner, and everyone will seek to ridicule and\ncrush them in the name, and for the greater glory, of Materialism\nand its so-called Science. The Addendum which completes the present\nBook shows, however, in an anticipatory answer to several of the\nforthcoming Scientific objections, the true and mutual positions\nof the defendant and plaintiff. The Theosophists and Occultists\nstand arraigned by public opinion, which still holds high the\nbanner of the inductive Sciences. The latter have, then, to be\nexamined; and it must be shown how far their achievements and\ndiscoveries in the realm of natural laws are opposed, not so much\nto our claims, as to the facts in nature. The hour has now struck\nto ascertain whether the\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]]-------------------------------------------------\n\n* This is Cyclic law, but this law itself is often defied by human\nstubbornness.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 299 MEN WELCOME ERROR, AND CRUCIFY THE TRUTH.\n\nwalls of the modern Jericho are so impregnable that no blast of\nthe Occult trumpet is ever likely to make them crumble.\n\nThe so-called *Forces, *with Light and Electricity heading\nthem, and the constitution of the Solar orb must be carefully\nexamined; as also Gravitation and the Nebular theories. The Natures\nof Ether and of other Elements must be discussed: thus contrasting\nscientific with other Occult teachings, while revealing some of\nthe hitherto secret tenets of the latter. (*Vide Addendum.*)\n\nSome fifteen years ago, the writer was the first to repeat, after\nthe Kabalists, the wise Commandments in the Esoteric Catechism.\n\"Close thy mouth, lest thou shouldst speak of *this *(the\nmystery), and thy heart, lest thou shouldst think aloud; and if\nthy heart has escaped thee, bring it back to its place, for such\nis the object of our alliance.\" (*Sepher Jezireh, Book\nof Creation.*)* *And again: -- \"This is a secret\nwhich gives death: close thy mouth lest thou shouldst reveal it\nto the vulgar; compress thy brain lest something should escape\nfrom it and fall outside.\" (Rules of Initiation.)\n\nA few years later, a corner of the Veil of Isis had to be lifted;\nand now another and a larger rent is made. . . .\n\nBut old and time-honoured errors -- such as become with every\nday more glaring and self-evident -- stand arrayed in battle-order\nnow, as they did then. Marshalled by blind conservatism, conceit\nand prejudice, they are constantly on the watch, ready to strangle\nevery truth, which, awakening from its age-long sleep, happens\nto knock for admission. Such has been the case ever since man\nbecame an animal. That this proves in every case *moral death\n*to the revealers, who bring to light any of these old, old\ntruths, is as certain as that it gives LIFE and REGENERATION to\nthose who are fit to profit even by the little that is now revealed\nto them.\n\n---------------------\n\nNext Section\n\nContents",
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