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More than half of those which were at first mistaken for nebulae — he thinks — are what he calls “ starry clusters.” The elements now known, have arrived at their state of permanency in this 4th Round and 5th Race. They have a short period of rest before they are propelled once more on their upward spiritual evolution ; when the “ living fire of Orcus ” will dissociate the most irresolvable and scatter them into the primordial {{Style S-Small capitals|one}} — again. | More than half of those which were at first mistaken for nebulae — he thinks — are what he calls “ starry clusters.” The elements now known, have arrived at their state of permanency in this 4th Round and 5th Race. They have a short period of rest before they are propelled once more on their upward spiritual evolution ; when the “ living fire of Orcus ” will dissociate the most irresolvable and scatter them into the primordial {{Style S-Small capitals|one}} — again. | ||
Meanwhile the Occultist goes further, as has been shown in the Commentaries on the Seven Stanzas. Hence he can hardly hope for any help or recognition from science, which will reject both his “ áníyâmsam aníyásám (the absolutely spiritual atom) and his Manasaputras — “ mind-born men.” By resolving the “ single material element ” into one absolute ''irresolvable ''element — Spirit, or “ Root-matter,” thus placing it at once outside the reach and province of physical philosophy — he has, of course but little in common with the orthodox men of science. He maintains that Spirit and Matter are two {{Style S-Small capitals|facets}} of the unknowable unity, their apparently contrasted aspects depending, (''a'') on the various degrees of differentiation of the latter, and (''b'') on the grades of consciousness attained by man himself. This is, however, metaphysics, and has little to do with physics — however great in its own terrestrial limitation that physical ''philosophy ''may now be. | Meanwhile the Occultist goes further, as has been shown in the Commentaries on the Seven Stanzas. Hence he can hardly hope for any help or recognition from science, which will reject both his “ áníyâmsam aníyásám (the absolutely spiritual atom) and his Manasaputras — “ mind-born men.” By resolving the “ single material element ” into one absolute ''irresolvable ''element — Spirit, or “ Root-matter,” thus placing it at once outside the reach and province of physical philosophy — he has, of course but little in common with the orthodox men of science. He maintains that Spirit and Matter are two {{Style S-Small capitals|facets}} of the unknowable {{Style S-Small capitals|unity}}, their apparently contrasted aspects depending, (''a'') on the various degrees of differentiation of the latter, and (''b'') on the grades of consciousness attained by man himself. This is, however, metaphysics, and has little to do with physics — however great in its own terrestrial limitation that physical ''philosophy ''may now be. | ||
Nevertheless, once that Science admits, if not the actual existence, at any rate, the possibility of the existence, of a Universe with its numberless forms, conditions, and aspects built out of a “ single substance,” * it has | Nevertheless, once that Science admits, if not the actual existence, at any rate, the possibility of the existence, of a Universe with its numberless forms, conditions, and aspects built out of a “ single substance,” * it has | ||
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{{Style P-No indent|for ages, but hitherto bitterly derided. “ Matter is eternal,” says the Esoteric Doctrine. But the matter the Occultists conceive of in its ''laya'', or ''zero state'', is not the matter of modern science ; not even in its most rarefied gaseous state. Mr. Crookes’ “ radiant matter ” would appear matter of the grossest kind in the realm of the beginnings, as it becomes pure spirit before it has returned back even to its first point of differentiation. Therefore, when the adept or alchemist adds that, though matter is eternal, for it is {{Style S-Small capitals|Pradhâna}}, yet atoms ''are born at every new manvantara'', or reconstruction of the universe, it is no such contradiction as a materialist, who believes in nothing beyond the atom, might think. There is a difference between ''manifested ''and ''unmanifested ''matter, between ''pradhâna'', the beginningless and endless cause, and ''prakriti'', or the manifested effect. Says the sloka ; —}} | {{Style P-No indent|for ages, but hitherto bitterly derided. “ Matter is eternal,” says the Esoteric Doctrine. But the matter the Occultists conceive of in its ''laya'', or ''zero state'', is not the matter of modern science ; not even in its most rarefied gaseous state. Mr. Crookes’ “ radiant matter ” would appear matter of the grossest kind in the realm of the beginnings, as it becomes pure spirit before it has returned back even to its first point of differentiation. Therefore, when the adept or alchemist adds that, though matter is eternal, for it is {{Style S-Small capitals|Pradhâna}}, yet atoms ''are born at every new manvantara'', or reconstruction of the universe, it is no such contradiction as a materialist, who believes in nothing beyond the atom, might think. There is a difference between ''manifested ''and ''unmanifested ''matter, between ''pradhâna'', the beginningless and endless cause, and ''prakriti'', or the manifested effect. Says the sloka ; —}} | ||
“ That which is the unevolved cause is emphatically called by the most eminent sages, ''pradhâna'', ''original base'', ''which is ''subtile ''prakriti'', ''viz.'', that which is eternal, and which at once is, and is not, ''a mere process.''” * That which in modern phraseology is respectively referred to as Spirit and Matter, is one in eternity as the perpetual cause, and it is neither Spirit nor matter, but {{Style S-Small capitals|it}} — rendered in Sanskrit {{Style S-Small capitals|tad}} (“ that ”), — all that is, was, or will be, all that the imagination of man is capable of conceiving. Even the exoteric Pantheism of Hinduism renders it as no monotheistic philosophy ever did, for in superb phraseology its cosmogony begins with the well-known words : — | “ That which is the unevolved cause is emphatically called by the most eminent sages, ''pradhâna'', ''original base'', ''which is ''subtile ''prakriti'', ''viz.'', that which is eternal, and which at once is, and is not, ''a mere process.''” * That which in modern phraseology is respectively referred to as Spirit and Matter, is {{Style S-Small capitals|one}} in eternity as the perpetual cause, and it is neither Spirit nor matter, but {{Style S-Small capitals|it}} — rendered in Sanskrit {{Style S-Small capitals|tad}} (“ that ”), — all that is, was, or will be, all that the imagination of man is capable of conceiving. Even the exoteric Pantheism of Hinduism renders it as no monotheistic philosophy ever did, for in superb phraseology its cosmogony begins with the well-known words : — | ||
“ There was neither day nor night, neither heaven nor earth, neither darkness nor light. And there was not ought else apprehensible by the senses or by the mental faculties. There was then one Brahmâ, essentially ''prakriti ''(Nature) and Spirit. For ''the two aspects ''of Vishnu which are other than his supreme essential aspect are prakriti and Spirit, and Brahman. ''When these two other ''{{Style S-Small capitals|aspects}} ''of his no longer subsist'', ''but are dissolved'', then that aspect whence form and the rest, ''i.e.'', ''creation'', proceed ''anew'', is denominated time, O twice-born.” | “ There was neither day nor night, neither heaven nor earth, neither darkness nor light. And there was not ought else apprehensible by the senses or by the mental faculties. There was then one Brahmâ, essentially ''prakriti ''(Nature) and Spirit. For ''the two aspects ''of Vishnu which are other than his supreme essential aspect are prakriti and Spirit, and Brahman. ''When these two other ''{{Style S-Small capitals|aspects}} ''of his no longer subsist'', ''but are dissolved'', then that aspect whence form and the rest, ''i.e.'', ''creation'', proceed ''anew'', is denominated time, O twice-born.” | ||
It is that which is dissolved, or the illusionary ''dual ''aspect of That, the essence of which is eternally one, that we call eternal matter or Substance (Vide in Part II., “ ''Primordial Substance and Divine Thought ”''), formless, sexless, inconceivable, even to our ''sixth ''sense or mind, † in which, therefore, we refuse to see that which Monotheists call a ''personal'', anthropomorphic God. | It is that which is dissolved, or the illusionary ''dual ''aspect of That, the essence of which is eternally {{Style S-Small capitals|one}}, that we call eternal matter or Substance (Vide in Part II., “ ''Primordial Substance and Divine Thought ”''), formless, sexless, inconceivable, even to our ''sixth ''sense or mind, † in which, therefore, we refuse to see that which Monotheists call a ''personal'', anthropomorphic God. | ||
How are these two propositions — “ that matter is eternal,” and “ the atom periodical, and not eternal ” — viewed by modern exact Science ? The materialistic physicist will criticize and laugh them to scorn. The | How are these two propositions — “ that matter is eternal,” and “ the atom periodical, and not eternal ” — viewed by modern exact Science ? The materialistic physicist will criticize and laugh them to scorn. The | ||