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{{Style P-No indent|woollen garment, her bosom was covered with golden stars, the feet being left naked.” (From a lecture by N. M. Prjevalsky.) To this, the famous traveller adds that all along their way on the river Tchertchen they heard legends about twenty-three towns buried ages ago by the shifting sands of the deserts. The same tradition exists on the Lob-nor and in the oasis of Kerya.}}
{{Style P-No indent|woollen garment, her bosom was covered with golden stars, the feet being left naked.” (From a lecture by N. M. Prjevalsky.) To this, the famous traveller adds that all along their way on the river Tchertchen they heard legends about twenty-three towns buried ages ago by the shifting sands of the deserts. The same tradition exists on the Lob-nor and in the oasis of Kerya.}}


The traces of such civilization, and these and like traditions, give us the right to credit other legendary lore warranted by well educated and learned natives of India and Mongolia, when they speak of immense libraries reclaimed from the sand, together with various reliques of ancient magic lore, which have all been safely stowed away.
The traces of such civilization, and these and like traditions, give us the right to credit other legendary lore warranted by well educated and learned natives of India and Mongolia, when they speak of immense libraries reclaimed from the sand, together with various reliques of ancient {{Style S-Small capitals|magic}} lore, which have all been safely stowed away.


To recapitulate. The Secret Doctrine was the universally diffused religion of the ancient and prehistoric world. Proofs of its diffusion, authentic records of its history, a complete chain of documents, showing its character and presence in every land, together with the teaching of all its great adepts, exist to this day in the secret crypts of libraries belonging to the Occult Fraternity.
To recapitulate. The Secret Doctrine was the universally diffused religion of the ancient and prehistoric world. Proofs of its diffusion, authentic records of its history, a complete chain of documents, showing its character and presence in every land, together with the teaching of all its great adepts, exist to this day in the secret crypts of libraries belonging to the Occult Fraternity.
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{{Style P-No indent|legislator in historical chronology, though a very modern Sage in the World’s History, shown by Dr. Legge * — who calls him “ emphatically ''a transmitter,'' not a maker ” — as saying : “ I only hand on : I cannot create new things. I believe in the ancients and therefore I love them.” † (Quoted in “ Science of Religions ” by Max Müller.)}}
{{Style P-No indent|legislator in historical chronology, though a very modern Sage in the World’s History, shown by Dr. Legge * — who calls him “ emphatically ''a transmitter,'' not a maker ” — as saying : “ I only hand on : I cannot create new things. I believe in the ancients and therefore I love them.” † (Quoted in “ Science of Religions ” by Max Müller.)}}


The writer loves them too, and therefore believes in the ancients, and the modern heirs to their Wisdom. And believing in both, she now transmits that which she has received and learnt herself to all those who will accept it. As to those who may reject her testimony, — ''i.e.,'' the great majority — she will bear them no malice, for they will be as right in their way in denying, as she is right in hers in affirming, since they look at truth from two entirely different stand-points. Agreeably with the rules of critical scholarship, the Orientalist has to reject ''a priori'' whatever evidence he cannot fully verify for himself. And how can a Western scholar accept on hearsay that which he knows nothing about ? Indeed, that which is given in these volumes is selected from ''oral,'' as much as from written teachings. This first instalment of the esoteric doctrines is based upon Stanzas, which are the records of a people unknown to ethnology; it is claimed that they are written in a tongue absent from the nomenclature of languages and dialects with which philology is acquainted ; they are said to emanate from a source (Occultism) repudiated by science ; and, finally, they are offered through an agency, incessantly discredited before the world by all those who hate unwelcome truths, or have some special hobby of their own to defend. Therefore, the rejection of these teachings may be expected, and must be accepted beforehand. No one styling himself a “ scholar,” in whatever department of exact science, will be permitted to regard these teachings seriously. They will be derided and rejected ''a priori'' in this century; but only in this one. For in the twentieth century of our era scholars will begin to recognize that the ''Secret Doctrine'' has neither been invented nor exaggerated, but, on the contrary, simply outlined ; and finally, that its teachings antedate the Vedas. ‡ Have not the latter been derided, rejected, and  
The writer loves them too, and therefore believes in the ancients, and the modern heirs to their Wisdom. And believing in both, she now transmits that which she has received and learnt herself to all those who will accept it. As to those who may reject her testimony, — ''i.e.,'' the great majority — she will bear them no malice, for they will be as right in their way in denying, as she is right in hers in affirming, since they look at {{Style S-Small capitals|truth}} from two entirely different stand-points. Agreeably with the rules of critical scholarship, the Orientalist has to reject ''a priori'' whatever evidence he cannot fully verify for himself. And how can a Western scholar accept on hearsay that which he knows nothing about ? Indeed, that which is given in these volumes is selected from ''oral,'' as much as from written teachings. This first instalment of the esoteric doctrines is based upon Stanzas, which are the records of a people unknown to ethnology; it is claimed that they are written in a tongue absent from the nomenclature of languages and dialects with which philology is acquainted ; they are said to emanate from a source (Occultism) repudiated by science ; and, finally, they are offered through an agency, incessantly discredited before the world by all those who hate unwelcome truths, or have some special hobby of their own to defend. Therefore, the rejection of these teachings may be expected, and must be accepted beforehand. No one styling himself a “ scholar,” in whatever department of exact science, will be permitted to regard these teachings seriously. They will be derided and rejected ''a priori'' in this century; but only in this one. For in the twentieth century of our era scholars will begin to recognize that the ''Secret Doctrine'' has neither been invented nor exaggerated, but, on the contrary, simply outlined ; and finally, that its teachings antedate the Vedas. ‡ Have not the latter been derided, rejected, and  


{{Footnotes start}}
{{Footnotes start}}
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In that volume a brief recapitulation will be made of all the principal adepts known to history, and the downfall of the mysteries will be described ; after which began the disappearance and final and systematic elimination from the memory of men of the real nature of initiation and the Sacred Science. From that time its teachings became Occult, and Magic sailed but too often under the venerable but frequently misleading name of Hermetic philosophy. As real Occultism had been prevalent among the Mystics during the centuries that preceded our era, so Magic, or rather Sorcery, with its Occult Arts, followed the beginning of Christianity.
In that volume a brief recapitulation will be made of all the principal adepts known to history, and the downfall of the mysteries will be described ; after which began the disappearance and final and systematic elimination from the memory of men of the real nature of initiation and the Sacred Science. From that time its teachings became Occult, and Magic sailed but too often under the venerable but frequently misleading name of Hermetic philosophy. As real Occultism had been prevalent among the Mystics during the centuries that preceded our era, so Magic, or rather Sorcery, with its Occult Arts, followed the beginning of Christianity.


However great and zealous the fanatical efforts, during those early centuries, to obliterate every trace of the mental and intellectual labour of the Pagans, it was a failure; but the same spirit of the dark demon of bigotry and intolerance has perverted systematically and ever since, every bright page written in the pre-Christian periods. Even in her uncertain records, history has preserved enough of that which has survived to throw an impartial light upon the whole. Let, then, the reader tarry a little while with the writer, on the spot of observation selected. He is asked to give all his attention to that millennium which divided the preChristian and the post-Christian periods, by the year One of the Nativity. This event—whether historically correct or not—has nevertheless been made to serve as a first signal for the erection of manifold bulwarks against any possible return of, or even a glimpse into, the hated religions of the Past; hated and ''dreaded'' — because throwing such a vivid light on the new and intentionally veiled interpretation of what is now known as the “ New Dispensation.”
However great and zealous the fanatical efforts, during those early centuries, to obliterate every trace of the mental and intellectual labour of the Pagans, it was a failure; but the same spirit of the dark demon of bigotry and intolerance has perverted systematically and ever since, every bright page written in the pre-Christian periods. Even in her uncertain records, history has preserved enough of that which has survived to throw an impartial light upon the whole. Let, then, the reader tarry a little while with the writer, on the spot of observation selected. He is asked to give all his attention to that millennium which divided the preChristian and the post-Christian periods, by the year {{Style S-Small capitals|One}} of the Nativity. This event—whether historically correct or not—has nevertheless been made to serve as a first signal for the erection of manifold bulwarks against any possible return of, or even a glimpse into, the hated religions of the Past; hated and ''dreaded'' — because throwing such a vivid light on the new and intentionally veiled interpretation of what is now known as the “ New Dispensation.”


However superhuman the efforts of the early Christian fathers to obliterate the Secret Doctrine from the very memory of man, they all failed. Truth can never be killed ; hence the failure to sweep away entirely from the face of the earth every vestige of that ancient Wisdom, and to shackle and gag every witness who testified to it. Let one only think of the thousands, and perhaps millions, of MSS. burnt; of monuments, with their too indiscreet inscriptions and pictorial symbols, pulverised to dust ; of the bands of early hermits and ascetics roaming about among the ruined cities of Upper and Lower Egypt, in desert and  
However superhuman the efforts of the early Christian fathers to obliterate the Secret Doctrine from the very memory of man, they all failed. Truth can never be killed ; hence the failure to sweep away entirely from the face of the earth every vestige of that ancient Wisdom, and to shackle and gag every witness who testified to it. Let one only think of the thousands, and perhaps millions, of MSS. burnt; of monuments, with their too indiscreet inscriptions and pictorial symbols, pulverised to dust ; of the bands of early hermits and ascetics roaming about among the ruined cities of Upper and Lower Egypt, in desert and  
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The tomb a hell, and hell itself a murkier gloom! ”}}
The tomb a hell, and hell itself a murkier gloom! ”}}


Both creeds have won their proselytes at the point of the sword ; both have built their churches on ''heaven-kissing hecatombs of human victims. ''Over the gateway of Century I. of our era, the ominous words “ the Karma of Israel,” fatally glowed. Over the portals of our own, the future seer may discern other words, that will point to the Karma for cunningly made-up History, for events purposely perverted, and for great characters slandered by posterity, mangled out of recognition, between the two cars of Jagannatha — Bigotry and Materialism ; one accepting too much, the other denying all. Wise is he who holds to the golden mid-point, who believes in the eternal justice of things. Says Faigi Diwan, the “ witness to the wonderful speeches of a free-thinker who belongs to a thousand sects ” : “ In the assembly of the day of resurrection, when past things shall be forgiven, the sins of the Ka’bah will be forgiven for the sake of the dust of Christian churches.” To this, Professor Max Muller replies : “ The sins of Islam are ''as worthless as the dust of Christianity. On the day of resurrection both Muhammadans and Christians will see the vanity of their religious doctrines.'' Men fight about religion on earth ; in heaven they shall find out that there is only one true religion — the worship of God’s {{Style S-Small capitals|Spirit}}.” *
Both creeds have won their proselytes at the point of the sword ; both have built their churches on ''heaven-kissing hecatombs of human victims. ''Over the gateway of Century I. of our era, the ominous words “ {{Style S-Small capitals|the Karma of Israel}},” fatally glowed. Over the portals of our own, the future seer may discern other words, that will point to the Karma for cunningly made-up {{Style S-Small capitals|History}}, for events purposely perverted, and for great characters slandered by posterity, mangled out of recognition, between the two cars of Jagannatha — Bigotry and Materialism ; one accepting too much, the other denying all. Wise is he who holds to the golden mid-point, who believes in the eternal justice of things. Says Faigi Diwan, the “ witness to the wonderful speeches of a free-thinker who belongs to a thousand sects ” : “ In the assembly of the day of resurrection, when past things shall be forgiven, the sins of the Ka’bah will be forgiven for the sake of the dust of Christian churches.” To this, Professor Max Muller replies : “ The sins of Islam are ''as worthless as the dust of Christianity. On the day of resurrection both Muhammadans and Christians will see the vanity of their religious doctrines.'' Men fight about religion on earth ; in heaven they shall find out that there is only one true religion — the worship of God’s {{Style S-Small capitals|Spirit}}.” *


In other words—“ {{Style S-Small capitals|There is no religion (or law) higher than truth}} ” — “ SATYÂT NÂSTI PARO DHARMAH ” — the motto of the Maharajah of Benares, adopted by the Theosophical Society.
In other words—“ {{Style S-Small capitals|There is no religion (or law) higher than truth}} ” — “ SATYÂT NÂSTI PARO DHARMAH ” — the motto of the Maharajah of Benares, adopted by the Theosophical Society.
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