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    "num": 22,
    "slug": "24-vii-the-days-and-nights-of-brahma-368",
    "title": "VII. THE DAYS AND NIGHTS OF BRAHMA ... 368",
    "of": 48,
    "words": 5497,
    "text": "## VII. THE DAYS AND NIGHTS OF BRAHMA ... 368\n\n\nThe Secret Doctrine by H P Blavatsky, Vol 1, bk 2, ch 7\n\n###### The Secret Doctrine by\nH. P. Blavatsky -- Vol. 1\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 368 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\n[[This page continued from previous section]]\n\n##### § VII.\nTHE DAYS AND NIGHTS OF BRAHMA.\n\n**T**HIS is the name given to the Periods called\n**M**ANVANTARA (*Manuantara*,* *or\nbetween the Manus) and **P**RALAYA (Dissolution);\none referring to the active periods of the Universe, the other\nto its times of relative and complete *rest *--* *according\nto whether they occur at the end of a \"Day,\" or an \"Age\"\n(a life) of Brahma. These periods, which follow each other in\nregular succession, are also called *Kalpas*,* *small\nand great, the minor and the *Maha Kalpa; *though, properly\nspeaking, the Maha Kalpa is never a \"day,\" but a whole\nlife or age of Brahma, for it is said in the Brahma Vaivarta:\n\"Chronologers compute a Kalpa by the Life of Brahma; minor\nKalpas, as Samvarta and the rest, are numerous.\" In sober\ntruth they are infinite; as they have never had a commencement,\n*i.e.*, there never was a *first *Kalpa, nor will\nthere ever be a *last *one, in Eternity.\n\nOne* Parardha* --* *in the ordinary acceptation\nof this measure of time -- or half of the existence of Brahma\n(in the present *Maha Kalpa*)* *has* *already\nexpired; the last Kalpa was the Padma, or that of the Golden Lotos;\nthe present one being *Varaha* *(the \"boar\" incarnation,\nor *Avatar*)*.*\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* There is a curious piece of information in the Buddhist esoteric\ntraditions. The exoteric or *allegorical *biography of\nGautama Buddha shows this great Sage dying of an indigestion of\n*pork and rice*,* *a very prosaic end, indeed, having\nlittle of the solemn element in it. This is explained as an allegorical\nreference to his having been born in the \"Boar,\" or\nVaraha-Kalpa when Brahma assumed the form of that animal to raise\nthe Earth out of the \"Waters of Space.\" And as the Brahmins\ndescend direct from Brahma and are, so to speak, identified with\nhim; and as they are at the same time the mortal enemies of Buddha\nand Buddhism, we have the curious allegorical hint and combination.\nBrahminism (of the Boar, or *Varaha Kalpa*)* *has\nslaughtered the religion of Buddha in India, swept it away from\nits face; therefore Buddha, identified with his philosophy, is\nsaid to have died from the effects of eating of the flesh of a\nwild hog. [[Footnote continued on next page]]\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 369 HUMAN GODS AND DIVINE MEN.\n\nBy the scholar who studies the Hindu religion from the Puranas,\none thing is to be especially noted. He must not take literally,\nand in one sense only, the statements therein found; since those\nwhich especially concern the Manvantaras or Kalpas have to be\nunderstood in their several references. So, for instance, these\nperiods relate in the same language to both the great and the\nsmall periods, to Maha Kalpas and to minor Cycles. The *Matsya*,*\n*or Fish Avatar, happened before the Varaha or Boar Avatar;\nthe allegories, therefore, must relate to both the* Padma *and\nthe present manvantara, and also to the minor cycles which took\nplace since the reappearance of our Chain of Worlds and Earth.\nAnd, as the Matsya Avatar of Vishnu and Vaivasvata's Deluge are\ncorrectly connected with an event that happened on our Earth during\nthis Round, it is evident that while it may relate to pre-cosmic\nevents (in the sense of *our *Kosmos or Solar system) it\nhas reference in our case to a distant geological period. Not\neven Esoteric philosophy can claim to know, except by analogical\ninference, that which took place before the reappearance of our\nSolar System and previous to the last *Maha Pralaya. *But\nit teaches distinctly that after the first geological disturbance\nin the Earth's axis which ended in the sweeping down to the bottom\nof the Seas of the whole second Continent, with its primeval races\n-- of which successive \"Earths\" or Continents Atlantis\nwas the fourth -- there came another disturbance by the axis resuming\nas rapidly its previous degree of inclination; when the Earth\nwas indeed *raised once more *out of the Waters, and --\nas above so it is below; and *vice versa. *There were \"gods\"\non Earth in those days -- gods, and not men, as we know them now,\nsays the tradition. As will be shown in Book II., the computation\nof periods in exoteric Hinduism refers to both the great cosmic\nand the small terrestrial events and cataclysms, and the same\nmay be shown for names. For instance Yudishthira -- the first\nKing of the *Sacea*,* *who opens the Kali Yuga era,\nwhich has to last 432,000 years -- \"an actual King and man\nwho lived 3,102 years B.C.,\" applies also, name and all,\nto the great Deluge at the time of the first sinking of Atlantis.\nHe is the \"Yudishthira* born on the mountain of the hundred\npeaks at the extremity of\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n[[Footnote continued from previous page]] The idea alone of one\nwho established the most rigorous vegetarianism and respect for\nanimal life -- even to refusing to eat eggs as *vehicles of\na latent future life *--* *dying of a meat indigestion,\nis absurdly contradictory and has puzzled more than one Orientalist.\nBut this explanation, unveiling the allegory, explains all the\nrest. The *Varaha*,* *however, is no simple boar,\nand seems to have meant at first some antediluvian lacustrine\nanimal \"delighting to sport in water.\" (*Vayu Purana.*)\n\n* According to Colonel Wilford, the conclusion of the \"Great\nWar\" was B.C. 1370. (*See A. R.*,* Vol.*9,*\np*. 116); according to Bentley, 575 B.C.!! We may hope, perhaps,\nthat before the end of this century, the Mahabharatean epics will\nbe found and proclaimed identical with the wars of the great Napoleon.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 370 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nthe world *beyond which nobody can go*\"* *and\n\"immediately after the flood.\" (*See Royal Asiat.\nSoc.*,* Vol. *9,* p*. 364.) We know of no \"Flood\"\n3,102 years B.C. -- not even that of Noah, for, agreeably with\nJudaeo-Christian chronology, it took place 2,349 years B.C.\n\nThis relates to an esoteric division of time and a mystery explained\nelsewhere, and may therefore be left aside for the present. Suffice\nto remark at this juncture that all the efforts of imagination\nof the Wilfords, Bentleys, and other would-be OEdipuses of esoteric\nHindu Chronology have sadly failed. No computation of either the\nFour Ages, or the Manvantaras, has ever been unriddled by our\nvery learned Orientalists, who have therefore cut the Gordian\nKnot by proclaiming the whole \"a figment of the Brahmanical\nbrain.\" So be it, and may the great scholars rest in peace.\nThis \"figment\" is given in the Preliminary Sections\nwhich preface *Anthropogenesis *in Book II., and with esoteric\nadditions.\n\nLet us see, however, what were the three kinds of *pralayas*,*\n*and what is the *popular *belief about them. For once\nit agrees with Esotericism.\n\nOf the *pralaya *before which fourteen Manvantaras elapse,\nhaving over them as many presiding Manus, and at whose close occurs\nthe \"incidental\" or Brahma's dissolution, it is said\nin *Vishnu Purana*,* *in condensed form, that \"at\nthe end of a thousand periods of four ages, which complete a day\nof Brahma, the earth is almost exhausted. The eternal *Avyaya\n*(Vishnu) assumes then the character of Rudra (the destroyer,\nSiva) and re-unites all his creatures to himself. He enters the\nSeven rays of the Sun and drinks up all the waters of the globe;\nhe causes the moisture to evaporate, thus drying up the whole\nEarth. Oceans and rivers, torrents and small streams, are all\nexhaled. Thus fed with abundant moisture the seven solar rays\nbecome sevens suns by dilation, and they finally set the world\non fire. Hari, the destroyer of all things, who is 'the flame\nof time, *Kalagni*,'* *finally consumes the Earth.\nThen Rudra, becoming Janardana, breathes clouds and rain.\"\n\nThere are many kinds of *Pralaya*,* *but three chief\nones are specially mentioned in old Hindu books; and of these,\nas Wilson shows: -- The first is called **N**AIMITTIKA*\n\"occasional\" or \"incidental,\" caused by the\nintervals of \"Brahma's Days;\" it is the destruction\nof creatures, of all that lives and has a form, but not of the\nsubstance which remains in *statu quo *till the new DAWN\nin that \"Night.\" The\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* In the *Vedanta *and* Nyaya* \"nimitta\"\n(from which \"Naimittika\") is rendered as the *efficient\n*cause, when antithesized with *upadana *the physical\nor material cause. In the Sankhya *pradhana *is a cause\ninferior to Brahma, or rather Brahma being himself a cause, is\nsuperior to Pradhana. Hence \"incidental\" is wrongly\ntranslated, and ought to be translated, as shown by some scholars,\n\"Ideal\" cause, and even *real *cause would have\nbeen better.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 371 THE RE-BIRTH OF GODS.\n\nother is called **P**RAKRITIKA -- and occurs at the\nend of the *Age *or Life of Brahma, when everything that\nexists is resolved into the primal element, to be remodelled at\nthe end of that longer night. But the third, *Atyantika*,*\n*does not concern the Worlds or the Universe, but only the\nindividualities of some people; it is thus individual pralaya\nor NIRVANA; after having reached which, there is no more future\nexistence possible, no rebirth till after the *Maha Pralaya.\n*The latter night, lasting as it does 311,040,000,000,000\nyears, and having the possibility of being almost doubled in case\nthe lucky *Jivanmukti *reaches Nirvana at an early period\nof a Manvantara, is long enough to be regarded as *eternal*,*\n*if not endless. The *Bhagavata *(**XII**., iv,\n35) speaks of a fourth kind of pralaya, the *Nitya *or\nconstant dissolution, and explains it as the change which takes\nplace imperceptibly in everything in this Universe from the globe\ndown to the atom -- without cessation. It is growth and decay\n(life and death).\n\nWhen the Maha Pralaya arrives, the inhabitants of Swar-loka (the\nupper sphere) disturbed by the conflagration, seek refuge \"with\nthe Pitris, their progenitors, the Manus, the Seven Rishis, the\nvarious orders of celestial Spirits and the Gods, in Maharloka.\"\nWhen the latter is reached also, the whole of the above enumerated\nbeings migrate in their turn from Maharloka, and repair to Jana-loka\nin \"*their subtile forms*,* destined to become\nre*-*embodied*,* in similar capacities as their\nformer*,* when the world is renewed at the beginning of\nthe succeeding Kalpa*;\"* *(Vayu Purana).\n\n\" . . . . These clouds, mighty in size, and loud in thunder,\nfill up all space (Nabhas-tala),\" goes on Vishnu Purana.\n-- (Book VI., ch. iii.) \"Showering down torrents of water,\nthese clouds quench the dreadful fires, and then they rain uninterruptedly\nfor a hundred (divine) years, and deluge the whole world (Solar\nSystem). Pouring down, in drops as large as dice, these rains\noverspread the earth, and fill the middle region (*Bhuvaloka*)*\n*and inundate heaven. The world is now enveloped in darkness,\nand all things animate, or inanimate, having perished, the clouds\ncontinue to pour down their waters\" . . . \"and the Night\nof Brahma reigns supreme over the scene of desolation . . . .\n.\"\n\nThis is what we call in the Esoteric Doctrine a \"Solar Pralaya\"\n. . . When the waters have reached the region of the Seven Rishis,\nand the world (our Solar System) is one ocean, they stop. The\nbreath of Vishnu becomes a strong wind, which blows for another\nhundred (divine) years until all clouds are dispersed. The wind\nis then reabsorbed: and \"**T**HAT, of which\nall things are made, the Lord by whom all things exist, He who\nis inconceivable, without beginning, the beginning of the universe,\nreposes, sleeping upon Sesha (the Serpent of Infinity) in the\nmidst of the deep. The *Adikrit*\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 372 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\n(Creator?) *Hari*,* *sleeps upon the ocean of Space\nin the form of Brahma -- glorified by Sanaka* and the *Siddha\n*(Saints) of Jana-loka, and contemplated by the holy denizens\nof Brahma-loka, anxious for final liberation, involved in mystic\nslumber, the celestial personification of his own illusions. .\n. .\" This is the *Pratisanchara *(dissolution?) termed\nincidental because *Hari *is its incidental (ideal) Cause.\n. . . .** When the Universal Spirit wakes, the world revives;\nwhen he closes his eyes, all things fall upon the bed of mystic\nslumber. In like manner, as 1,000 great ages constitute a Day\nof Brahma (in the original it is Padma-yoni, the same as* Abjayoni\n*--* *\"lotos-born,\" not Brahma), so his Night\nconsists of the same period. \"Awaking at the end of his night,\nthe unborn . . . creates the Universe anew. . . *.*\"*\n*(*Vishnu Purana.*)\n\nThis is \"incidental\" pralaya; what is the Elemental\nDissolution? \"When by dearth and fire,\" says Parasara\nto Maitreya, \"all the worlds and Patalas (hells) are withered\nup . . .*** the progress of elemental dissolution is begun. Then,\nfirst the waters swallow up the property of Earth (which is the\nrudiment of smell), and earth deprived of this property proceeds\nto destruction -- and becomes one with water . . . . when the\nUniverse is thus pervaded by the waves of the watery Element,\nits rudimentary flavour is locked up by the elements of fire .\n. . on account of which the waters themselves are destroyed .\n. . and become one with fire; and the Universe is therefore, entirely\nfilled with flame (ethereal) which gradually overspreads the whole\nworld. While Space is one flame, the element of wind seizes upon\nthe rudimental property or form, which is the cause of light,\nand that being withdrawn (*pralina*)* *all becomes\nof the nature of air. The rudiment of form being destroyed, and\n*Vibhavasu *(fire?) deprived of its rudiment, air extinguishes\nfire and spreads over space, which is deprived of light when fire\nmerges into air. Air, then, accompanied by sound, which is the\nsource of Ether, extends everywhere throughout the ten regions\n. . . . until Ether seizes upon cohesion (*Sparsa *--*\n*Touch?) its rudimental property, by the loss of which, air\nis destroyed, and KHA remains unmodified; devoid of form, flavour,\ntouch (*Sparsa*),* *and smell, it exists, embodied\n(*murttimat*)* *and vast, and pervades the whole\nSpace. Akasa, whose characteristic property and rudiment is sound\n(the \"Word\"), occupies the whole containment of Space.\nThen the origin (Noumenon?) of the Elements (*Bhutadi*),*\n*devours sound (collective *Demiurgos*);* *and\nthe hosts of Dhyan Chohans, and all the existing\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* The chief *Kumara *or Virgin-god (a Dhyan Chohan) who\nrefuses to create. A prototype of St. Michael, who refuses to\ndo the same.\n\n** See concluding lines in Section, \"Chaos, Theos, Kosmos.\"\n\n*** This prospect would hardly suit Christian theology, which\nprefers an eternal, everlasting hell for its followers.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 373 THE DISSOLUTION OF THE EGG.\n\nElements* are at once merged into their original. The primary\nElement, Consciousness, combined with *tamasa *(spiritual\ndarkness) is itself disintegrated by MAHAT (the Universal Intellect),\nwhose characteristic property is *Buddhi*,* *and\nearth and Mahat are the inner and outer boundaries of the Universe.\"\nThus as (in the beginning) \"were the seven forms of Prakriti\n(nature) reckoned from Mahat to earth, so *these seven *successively\nre-enter into each other.\"**\n\n\"The Egg of Brahma (*Sarva*-*mandala*)*\n*is dissolved in the waters that surround it, with its seven\nzones (*dwipas*)* *seven oceans, seven regions,\nand their mountains; the investure of water is drunk by the fire;\nthe (*stratum *of) fire is absorbed by (that of) air; air\nblends itself with ether (Akasa); the *Bhutadi *(the origin,\nor rather the *cause*,* *of the primary element)\ndevours the ether and is (itself) destroyed by Mahat (the Great,\nthe Universal mind), which along with all these is seized upon\nby Prakriti and disappears. The Prakriti is essentially the same,\nwhether discrete or indiscrete; only that which is discrete is\nfinally absorbed by and lost in the indiscrete. **P**UMS\n(*Spirit*)* *also, which is one, pure, imperishable,\neternal, all-pervading, is a portion of that Supreme spirit which\nis all things. That Spirit (*Sarvesa*)* *which is\nother than (embodied) Spirit, and in which there are no attributes\nof name, species (*naman *and* jati*,* or rupa*,*\n*hence body rather than species), or the like -- remains as\nthe sole existence (**S**ATTA). . . Prakriti and\nPurusha both resolving finally into **S**UPREME **S**PIRIT.\n. . .\" (*From Vishnu Purana*,* *Wilson's mistakes\nbeing here corrected, and original words put in brackets).\n\nThis is the final **P**RALAYA*** -- the Death of\nKosmos -- after which its Spirit rests in Nirvana, or in **T**HAT\nfor which there is neither Day nor Night. All the other pralayas\nare periodical and follow, in regular succession, the Manvantaras,\nas the night follows the day of every human creature, animal,\nand plant. The cycle of creation of the *lives *of Kosmos\nis run down, the energy of the manifested \"Word\" having\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* The term \"Elements\" must be understood here to mean\nnot only the visible and physical Elements, but also that which\nSt. Paul calls Elements -- the spiritual, intelligent Potencies\n-- Angels and Demons in their Manvantaric form.\n\n** When this description is correctly understood by Orientalists\nin its esoteric significance then it will be found that this Cosmic\ncorrelation of World-Elements may explain the correlation of physical\nforces better than those now known. At any rate, theosophists\nwill perceive that Prakriti has *seven forms*,* *or\nprinciples, \"reckoned from Mahat to Earth.\" The \"Waters\"\nmean here the Mystic \"mother\"; the Womb of abstract\nnature, in which the manifested Universe is conceived. The Seven\n\"zones\" have reference to the Seven Divisions of that\nUniverse, or the Noumena of the Forces that bring it into being.\nIt is all allegorical.\n\n*** As it is the *Maha*,* *the Great, or so-called\nfinal **P**RALAYA which is here described, every\nthing is re-absorbed into its original ONE Element -- the \"Gods\nthemselves, Brahma and the rest\" being said to die and disappear\nduring that long NIGHT.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 374 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nits growth, culmination, and decrease, as have all things temporary,\nhowever long their duration. The Creative Force is Eternal as\nNoumenon; as a phenomenal manifestation in its aspects, it has\na *beginning *and must, therefore, have an end. During\nthat interval it has its periods of activity and its periods of\nrest. And these are the \"Days and the nights of Brahma.\"\nBut Brahma, the Noumenon, never rests, as IT never changes and\never IS, though IT cannot be said to be anywhere. . . . .\n\nThe Jewish Kabalists felt this necessity of *immutability *in\nan eternal, infinite Deity, and therefore applied the same thought\nto the anthropomorphic god. The idea is poetical and very appropriate\nin its application. In the *Zohar *we read as follows:\n--\n\n\"As Moses was keeping a vigil on Mount Sinai, in company\nwith the deity, who was concealed from his sight by a cloud, he\nfelt a great fear overcome him, and suddenly asked: 'Lord, where\nart thou . . . . sleepest thou, O Lord? . . .' And the *Spirit\n*answered him: 'I never sleep: were I to fall asleep for a\nmoment BEFORE MY TIME, all the creation would crumble into dissolution\nin one instant.' \"\n\n\"*Before my time*\"* *is very suggestive.\nIt shows the God of Moses to be only a temporary substitute, like\nBrahma the male, a substitute and an aspect of THAT which is immutable,\nand which therefore can take no part in the \"days,\"\nor in the \"nights,\" nor have any concern whatever with\nreaction or dissolution.\n\nWhile the Eastern Occultists have seven modes of interpretation,\nthe Jews have only four -- namely, the real-mystical; the allegorical;\nthe moral; and the literal or *Pashut. *The latter is the\nkey of the exoteric Churches and not worth discussion. Read in\nthe first, or mystical key, here are several sentences which show\nthe identity of the foundations of construction in every Scripture.\nIt is given in Mr. T. Myer's excellent book on the Kabalistic\nworks he seems to have well studied. I quote *verbatim. *\"*B*'*raisheeth\nbarah elohim ath hash ama yem v*'*ath haa*'*retz\n*--* i.e.*,* *'In the beginning the God(s) created\nthe heavens and the earth;\" (the meaning of which is:) the\nsix Sephiroth of Construction,* over which B'raisheeth stands,\n*all belong Below. *It created six (and) on these stand\nall Things. And those depend upon *the seven forms of the Cranium\n*up to the Dignity of all Dignities. And the second 'Earth'\ndoes not come into calculation, therefore it has been said: 'And\nfrom it (that Earth) which underwent the curse, came it forth.'\n. . . . 'It (the Earth) was without form and void; and darkness\nwas over the face of the Abyss, and the Spirit of elohim . . .\n. was breathing (*me*'* racha *'*phath*)\n-- *i.e.*,* *hovering, brooding over, moving. .\n. . . Thirteen depend on thirteen\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* The \"Builders\" of the Stanzas.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 375 ARCHAIC SYMBOLISM.\n\n(forms) of the most worthy Dignity. Six thousand years hang (are\nreferred to) in the first six words. The seventh (thousand, the\nmillennium) above it (the cursed Earth) is that which is strong\nby Itself. And it was rendered entirely desolate during twelve\nhours (one . . . . Day) as is written. . . . . In the thirteenth,\nIt (the Deity) shall restore all . . . . and everything shall\nbe renewed as before; and all those six shall continue . . . .\netc*.*\"* *(*Qabbalah*,* *p.*\n*233, from *Siphrah Dzeniuta*,* *c. i., §\n16, *s*. 9.)\n\nThe \"Sephiroth of Construction\" are the six Dhyan Chohans,\nor Manus, or Prajapati, synthesized by the seventh \"B'raisheeth\n(the First Emanation or *Logos*),* *and who are\ncalled, therefore, the Builders of the Lower or physical Universe\"\nall belong Below. These *six*\nwhose essence is *of the Seventh *--* *are the *Upadhi*,*\n*the base or fundamental stone on which the objective Universe\nis built, the *noumenoi *of all things. Hence they are,\nat the same time, the Forces of nature, the Seven Angels of the\nPresence, the sixth and seventh principles in man; the spirito-psycho-physical\nspheres of the Septenary chain, the Root Races, etc., etc. They\nall \"depend upon the Seven forms of the Cranium\" up\nto the highest. The \"*second *Earth\" \"does\nnot come into calculation\" because it is *no Earth*,*\n*but the Chaos or Abyss of Space in which rested the paradigmatic,\nor model universe in ideation of the OVER-SOUL brooding over it.\nThe term \"Curse\" is here very misleading, for it means\nsimply *doom *or* destiny*,* *or* that\nfatality which sent it forth *into the objective state. This\nis shown by that \"Earth\" under the \"Curse\"\nbeing described as \"without form and void,\" in whose\nabysmal depths the \"Breath\" of the Elohim (collective\nLogoi) produced or photographed the first divine **I**DEATION\n*of the things to be. *This process is repeated after every\n*Pralaya *before the beginnings of a new Manvantara, or\nperiod of sentient individual being. \"Thirteen depend on\nthirteen forms,\" refers to the thirteen periods personified\nby the thirteen Manus, with Swayambhuva the fourteenth (13, instead\nof 14, being an additional *veil*): those fourteen Manus\nwho reign within the term of a Mahayuga, a \"Day\" of\nBrahma. These (thirteen-fourteen) of the objective Universe depend\non the thirteen (fourteen) *paradigmatic*,* ideal *forms.\nThe meaning of the \"Six thousand *years*\"*\n*which \"hang in the first six words,\" has again\nto be sought in the Indian Wisdom. They refer to the primordial\nsix (seven) \"Kings of Edom\" who typify the worlds (or\nspheres) of our chain during the first Round, as well as the primordial\nmen of this Round. They are the septenary *pre*-*Adamic\n*(or before the Third, *Separated *Race) first Root-race.\nAs they were *shadows*,* *and senseless (they had\nnot eaten yet of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge), they could\nnot see the\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 376 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\n*Parguphim*,* *or \"Face could not see Face\"\n(primeval men were unconscious), \"therefore, the primordial\n(seven) Kings died,\" *i.e.*, were destroyed (*vide\nSepherah Djenioutha*)*. *Now, who are they? They are\nthe Kings who are \"the Seven Rishis, certain (secondary)\ndivinities, Sakra (Indra), Manu, and the Kings his Sons, who *are\ncreated and perish at one period*,\"* *as said\nin Vishnu Purana (Book I. chap. iii.). For the seventh (\"thousand\")\n(*not the millennium of exoteric Christianity*,* but\nthat of Anthropogenesis*)* *represents both the \"seventh\nperiod of creation,\" that of physical man (Vishnu Purana),\nand the seventh Principle -- both macrocosmic and microcosmic,\n-- as also the *pralaya *after the Seventh period, the\n\"Night\" which has the same duration as the \"Day\"\nof Brahma. \"It was rendered entirely desolate during twelve\nhours, as is written.\" It is in the Thirteenth (twice six\nand the Synthesis) that everything shall be restored \"and\nthe *six *will continue.\"\n\nThus the author of the *Qabbalah *remarks quite truly that\n\"Long before his (Ibn Gebirol's) time . . . many centuries\nbefore the Christian era, there was in Central Asia a 'Wisdom\nReligion;' fragments of which subsequently existed among the learned\nmen of the archaic Egyptians, the ancient Chinese, Hindus, etc.\n. . .\" and that . . . . . \"The Qabbalah most likely\noriginally came from Aryan sources, through Central Asia, Persia,\nIndia and Mesopotamia, for from Ur and Haran came Abraham and\nmany others into Palestine\" (p. 221). And such was the firm\nconviction of C. W. King, the author of \"The Gnostics and\ntheir Remains.\"\n\nVamadeva Modelyar (*Modely*)* *describes the coming\n\"night\" most poetically. Though it is given in *Isis\nUnveiled*,* *it is worthy of repetition.\n\n\"Strange noises are heard, proceeding from every point .\n. . These are the precursors of the Night of Brahma; *dusk\nrises at the horizon*,* *and the Sun passes away behind\nthe thirteenth degree of Macara (sign of the Zodiac), and will\nreach no more the sign of the *Minas *(zodiacal *pisces*,*\n*or fish). The gurus of the pagodas appointed to watch the\n*rasichakr *(Zodiac), may now break their circle and instruments,\nfor they are henceforth useless.\n\n\"Gradually light pales, heat diminishes, uninhabited spots\nmultiply on the earth, the air becomes more and more rarified;\nthe springs of waters dry up, the great rivers see their waves\nexhausted, the ocean shows its sandy bottom and plants die. Men\nand animals decrease in size daily. Life and motion lose their\nforce, planets can hardly gravitate in space; they are extinguished\none by one, like a lamp which the hand of the chokra (servant)\nneglects to replenish. Surya (the Sun) flickers and goes out,\nmatter falls into dissolution (pralaya), and Brahma merges back\ninto Dayus, the Unrevealed God, and, his task being\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 377 THE PURANIC PROPHECY.\n\naccomplished, he falls asleep. Another day is passed, night sets\nin, and continues until the future dawn.\n\n\"And now again he re-enters into the golden egg of His Thought,\nthe germs of all that exist, as the divine Manu tells us. During\nHis peaceful rest, the animated beings, endowed with the principles\nof action, cease their functions, and all feeling (manas) becomes\ndormant. When they are all absorbed in the **S**UPREME\n**S**OUL, this Soul of all the beings sleeps in complete\nrepose till the day when it resumes its form, and awakes again\nfrom its primitive darkness.\"*\n\nAs the \"*Satya*-*yuga*\"* *is always\nthe first in the series of the four ages or Yugas, so the Kali\never comes the last. The *Kali yuga *reigns now supreme\nin India, and it seems to coincide with that of the Western age.\nAnyhow, it is curious to see how prophetic in almost all things\nwas the writer of Vishnu Purana when foretelling to Maitreya some\nof the dark influences and sins of this Kali Yug. For after saying\nthat the \"barbarians\" will be masters of the banks of\nthe Indus, of Chandrabhaga and Kasmera, he adds:\n\n\"There will be contemporary monarchs, reigning over the earth\n-- kings of churlish spirit, violent temper, and ever addicted\nto falsehood and wickedness. They will inflict death on women,\nchildren, and cows; they will seize upon the property of their\nsubjects, and *be intent upon the wives of others; *they\nwill be of unlimited power, their lives will be short, their desires\ninsatiable. . . . People of various countries intermingling with\nthem, will follow their example; and the barbarians being powerful\n(in India) in the patronage of the princes, while purer tribes\nare neglected, the people will perish (or, as the Commentator\nhas it, 'The Mlechchhas will be in the centre and the Aryas in\nthe end.')** Wealth and piety will decrease until the world will\nbe wholly depraved. Property alone will confer rank; wealth will\nbe the only source of devotion; passion will be the sole bond\nof union between the sexes; falsehood will be the only means of\nsuccess in litigation; and women will be objects merely of sensual\ngratification. . . . . . *External types will be the only distinction\nof the several orders of life;* . . . . . a man if rich will\nbe reputed pure; dishonesty (*anyaya*)* will* be\nthe universal means of subsistence, weakness the cause of dependence,\nmenace and presumption will be substituted for learning; liberality\nwill be devotion; mutual assent, marriage; fine clothes, dignity.\nHe who is the strongest will reign; the people, unable to bear\nthe heavy burthen, *Khara bhara *(the load of taxes) will\ntake refuge among the valleys. . . . Thus, in the Kali age will\ndecay constantly proceed, until\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* See Jacquolliot's \"*Les Fils de Dieu*\";*\n*l'Inde des Brahmes, p. 230.\n\n** If this is not prophetic, what is?\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 378 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nthe human race approaches its annihilation (pralaya) . . . . When\nthe close of the Kali age shall be nigh, a portion of that divine\nbeing which exists, of its own spiritual nature . . . shall descend\non Earth . . . (*Kalki Avatar*)* *endowed with the\neight superhuman faculties. . . . He will re-establish righteousness\non earth, and the minds of those who live at the end of Kali Yuga\nshall be awakened and become as pellucid as crystal. The men who\nare thus changed . . . *shall be the seeds of human beings*,*\n*and shall give birth to a race who shall follow the laws\nof the Krita age, the age of purity. As it is said, 'When the\nsun and moon and the lunar asterism Tishya and the planet Jupiter\nare in one mansion, the Krita (or Satya) age shall return.' \"\n\n\". . . . Two persons, Devapi, of the race of Kuru and Moru,\nof the family of Ikshwaku, continue alive throughout the four\nages, residing at Kalapa.* They will return hither in the beginning\nof the Krita age . . . Moru** the son of Sighru through the power\nof Yoga is still living . . . . and will be the restorer of the\nKshattriya race of the Solar dynasty.\"*** (*Vayu Purana*,*\n*Vol. III, *p*. 197).\n\nWhether right or wrong with regard to the latter prophecy, the\n*blessings *of Kali Yuga are well described, and fit in\nadmirably even with that which one sees and hears in Europe and\nother civilized and Christian lands in full XIXth, and at the\ndawn of the XXth century of our great era of **E**NLIGHTENMENT.\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* Matsya Purana gives Katapa.\n\n** Max Muller translates the name as Morya, of the Morya dynasty,\nto which Chandragupta belonged (see Sanscrit Literature). In Matsya\nPurana, chapter cclxxii, the dynasty of ten Moryas (or Maureyas)\nis spoken of. In the same chapter, cclxxii, it is stated that\nthe Moryas will one day reign over India, after restoring the\nKshattriya race many thousand years hence. Only that reign will\nbe purely Spiritual and \"not of this world.\" It will\nbe the kingdom of the next Avatar. Colonel Tod believes the name\nMorya (or *Maureyas*)* *a corruption of Mori, a\nRajpoot tribe, and the commentary on Mahavansa thinks that some\nprinces have taken their name Maurya from their town called Mori,\nor, as Professor Max Muller gives it, Morya-Nagara, which is more\ncorrect, after the original Mahavansa. Vachaspattya, we are informed\nby our Brother, Devan Badhadur R. Ragoonath Rao, of Madras, a\nSanscrit Encyclopedia, places Katapa (Kalapa) on the northern\nside of the Himalayas, hence in Tibet. The same is stated in chapter\nxii. (Skanda) of Bhagavat, Vol. III, p. 325.\n\n*** The Vayu Purana declares that Moru will re-establish the Kshattriya\nin the Nineteenth coming Yuga. (*See *\"*Five years\nof Theosophy*,\"* p. *483*. *\"*The\nMoryas and Koothoomi.*\")\n\n--------------\n\nNext Section\n\nContents",
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