HPB-SD(ed.1) v.1 ch.Proem: Difference between revisions

{{Style S-Small capitals|An}} Archaic Manuscript—a collection of palm leaves made impermeable to water, fire, and air, by some specific unknown process—is before the writer’s eye. On the first page is an immaculate white disk within a dull black ground. On the following page, the same disk, but with a central point. The first, the student knows to represent Kosmos in Eternity, before the re-awakening of still slumbering Energy, the emanation of the Word in later systems. The point in the hitherto immaculate Disk, Space and Eternity in Pralaya, denotes the dawn of differentiation. It is the Point in the Mundane Egg (see Part II., “ The Mundane Egg ”), the germ within the latter which will become the Universe, the {{Style S-Small capitals|all}}, the boundless, periodical Kosmos, this germ being latent and active, periodically and by turns. The one circle is divine Unity, from which all proceeds, whither all returns. Its circumference— a forcibly limited symbol, in view of the limitation of the human mind —indicates the abstract, ever incognisable {{Style S-Small capitals|presence}}, and its plane, the Universal Soul, although the two are one. Only the face of the Disk being white and the ground all around black, shows clearly that its plane is the only knowledge, dim and hazy though it still is, that is attainable by man. It is on this plane that the Manvantaric manifestations begin; for it is in this {{Style S-Small capitals|soul}} that slumbers, during the Pralaya, the Divine Thought, * wherein lies concealed the plan of every future Cosmogony and Theogony.

Almost five centuries {{Style S-Small capitals|b.c.}} Leucippus, the instructor of Democritus, maintained that Space was filled eternally with atoms actuated by a ceaseless motion, the latter generating in due course of time, when those atoms aggregated, rotatory motion, through mutual collisions producing lateral movements. Epicurus and Lucretius taught the same, only adding to the lateral motion of the atoms the idea of affinity —an occult teaching.

From the beginning of man’s inheritance, from the first appearance of the architects of the globe he lives in, the unrevealed Deity was recognised and considered under its only philosophical aspect—universal motion, the thrill of the creative Breath in Nature. Occultism sums up the “ One Existence ” thus : “ Deity is an arcane, living (or moving) {{Style S-Small capitals|fire, }}and the eternal witnesses to this unseen Presence are Light, Heat, Moisture,”—this trinity including, and being the cause of, every

that absolute Wisdom which transcends the ideas of Time and Space. Mind, as we know it, is resolvable into states of consciousness, of varying duration, intensity, complexity, etc.—ah, in the ultimate, resting on sensation, which is again Maya. Sensation, again, necessarily postulates limitation. The personal God of orthodox Theism perceives, thinks, and is affected by emotion ; he repents and feels “ fierce anger." But the notion of such mental states clearly involves the unthinkable postulate of the externality of the exciting stimuli, to say nothing of the impossibility of ascribing changelessness to a Being whose emotions fluctuate with events in the worlds he presides over. The conceptions of a Personal God as changeless and infinite are thus unpsychological and, what is worse, unphilosophical.

<nowiki>*</nowiki> Plato proves himself an Initiate, when saying in Cratylus that ''θεὸς'' is derived from the verb ''θέειν'', “ to move," “ to run," as the first astronomers who observed the motions of the heavenly bodies called the planets ''θεοί'', the gods. (See Book II., “ Symbolism of the Cross and Circle.") Later, the word produced another term, ''ἀλήθεια''—“ the breath of God."

phenomenon in Nature.&nbsp;* Intra-Cosmic motion is eternal and ceaseless; cosmic motion (the visible, or that which is subject to perception) is finite and periodical. As an eternal abstraction it is the {{Style S-Small capitals|ever-present}}; as a manifestation, it is finite both in the coming direction and the opposite, the two being the alpha and omega of successive reconstructions. Kosmos—the {{Style S-Small capitals|noumenon}}—has nought to do with the causal relations of the phenomenal World. It is only with reference to the intra-cosmic soul, the ideal Kosmos in the immutable Divine Thought, that we may say : “ It never had a beginning nor will it have an end.” With regard to its body or Cosmic organization, though it cannot be said that it had a first, or will ever have a last construction, yet at each new Manvantara, its organization may be regarded as the first and the last of its kind, as it evolutes every time on a higher plane . . . .

A few years ago only, it was stated that:—

{{Style P-Quote|two are able to understand the profound logic of their philosophy. The former will allow of no other God than the personified secondary powers which have worked out the visible universe, and which became with them the anthropomorphic God of the Christians—the male Jehovah, roaring amid thunder and lightning. In its turn, rationalistic science greets the Buddhists and the Svabhâvikas as the “ positivists ” of the archaic ages. If we take a onesided view of the philosophy of the latter, our materialists may be right in their own way. The Buddhists maintained that there is no Creator, but an infinitude of creative powers, which collectively form the one eternal substance, the essence of which is inscrutable—hence not a subject for speculation for any true philosopher. Socrates invariably refused to argue upon the mystery of universal being, yet no one would ever have thought of charging him with atheism, except those who were bent upon his destruction. Upon inaugurating an active period, says the Secret Doctrine, an expansion of this Divine essence from without inwardly and from within outwardly, occurs in obedience to eternal and immutable law, and the phenomenal or visible universe is the ultimate result of the long chain of cosmical forces thus progressively set in motion. In like manner, when the passive condition is resumed, a contraction of the Divine essence takes place, and the previous work of creation is gradually and progressively undone. The visible universe becomes disintegrated, its material dispersed ; and ‘ darkness ’ solitary and alone, broods once more over the face of the ‘deep.’ To use a Metaphor from the Secret Books, which will convey the idea still more clearly, an out- breathing of the ‘ unknown essence ’ produces the world ; and an inhalation causes it to disappear. This process has been going on from all eternity, and our present universe is but one of an infinite series, which had no beginning and will have no end.” —(''See'' “ ''Isis Unveiled;'' ” ''also'' “ ''The Days and Nights of Brahmâ'' ” ''in Part II.'')}}

The first illustration being a plain disc [[File:Sd-circle.jpg|x25px]], the second one in the Archaic symbol shows [[File:sd-circle_with_dot.jpg|x25px]], a disc with a point in it—the first differentiation in the periodical manifestations of the ever-eternal nature, sexless and infinite “ Aditi in {{Style S-Small capitals|that}} ” (Rig Veda), the point in the disc, or potential Space within abstract Space. In its third stage the point

By the third symbol—the circle divided in two by the horizontal line of the diameter—the first manifestation of creative (still passive, because feminine) Nature was meant. The first shadowy perception of man connected with procreation is feminine, because man knows his mother more than his father. Hence female deities were more sacred than the male. Nature is therefore feminine, and, to a degree, objective and tangible, and the spirit Principle which fructifies it is concealed. By adding to the circle with the horizontal line in it, a perpendicular line, the tau was formed—[[File:sd-tau.jpg|x25px]]—the oldest form of the letter. It was the glyph of the third root-race to the day of its symbolical Fall—''i.e.'', when the separation of sexes by natural evolution took place—when the figure became [[File:sd-circle_with_vertical_diameter.jpg|x25px]], the circle, or sexless life modified or separated—a double glyph or symbol. With the races of our Fifth Race it became in symbology the sacr’, and in Hebrew n’cabvah, of the first-formed races;&nbsp;* then it changed into the Egyptian [[File:sd-ankh.jpg|x25px]] (emblem of life), and still later into the sign of Venus [[File:sd-venus.jpg|x25px]], Then comes the Svastica (Thor’s hammer, or the “ Hermetic Cross ” now), entirely separated from its Circle, thus becoming purely phallic. The esoteric symbol of Kali Yuga is the five-pointed star reversed, thus [[File:sd-star_down.jpg|x25px]]—the sign of human sorcery, with its two points (horns) turned heavenward, a position every

It is hoped that during the perusal of this work the erroneous ideas of the public in general with regard to Pantheism will be modified. It is wrong and unjust to regard the Buddhists and Advaitee Occultists as atheists. If not all of them philosophers, they are, at any rate, all logicians, their objections and arguments being based on strict reasoning. Indeed, if the Parabrahmam of the Hindus may be taken as a representative of the hidden and nameless deities of other nations, this absolute Principle will be found to be the prototype from which all the others were copied. Parabrahm is not “ God,” because It is not ''a ''God. “ It is that which is supreme, and not supreme (paravara),” explains Mandukya Upanishad (2.28). {{Style S-Small capitals|It}} is “ Supreme ” as {{Style S-Small capitals|cause}}, not supreme as effect. Parabrahm is simply, as a “ Secondless Reality,” the allinclusive Kosmos—or, rather, the infinite Cosmic Space—in the highest spiritual sense, of course. Brahma (neuter) being the unchanging, pure, free, undecaying supreme Root, “ the {{Style S-Small capitals|one}} true Existence, Paramarthika,” and the absolute Chit and Chaitanya (intelligence, consciousness) cannot be a cogniser, “ for {{Style S-Small capitals|that}} can have no subject of cognition.” Can the flame be called the essence of Fire ? This Essence is “ the {{Style S-Small capitals|life}} and {{Style S-Small capitals|light}} of the Universe, the visible fire and flame are destruction, death, and evil.” “ Fire and Flame destroy the body of an Arhat, their essence makes him immortal.” ''(Bodhi-mur, Book II.)'' “ The knowledge of the absolute Spirit, like the effulgence of the sun, or like heat in fire, is naught else than the absolute Essence itself,” says Sankaracharya. IT—i s “ the Spirit of the Fire,” not fire itself ; therefore, “ the attributes of the latter, heat or flame, are not the attributes of the Spirit, but of that of which that Spirit is the unconscious cause.” Is not the above sentence the true key-note of later Rosicrucian  

† Nevertheless, prejudiced and rather fanatical Christian Orientalists would like to prove this pure Atheism. For proof of this, see about Major Jacob’s “ Vedanta Sara." Yet, the whole Antiquity echoes this Vedantic thought:—

The orthodox Brahmins, those who rise the most against the Pantheists and Adwaitees, calling them Atheists, are forced, if Manu has any authority in this matter, to accept the death of Brahmâ, the creator, at the expiration of every “Age” of this (creative) deity (100 Divine years— a period which in our years requires fifteen figures to express it). Yet, no philosopher among them will view this “ death ” in any other sense than as a temporary disappearance from the manifested plane of existence, or as a periodical rest.

The Occultists are, therefore, at one with the Adwaita Vedantin philosophers as to the above tenet. They show the impossibility of accepting on philosophical grounds the idea of the absolute {{Style S-Small capitals|all}} creating or even evolving the “ Golden Egg,” into which it is said to enter in order to transform itself into Brahmâ—the Creator, who expands himself later into gods and all the visible Universe. They say that Absolute Unity cannot pass to infinity ; for infinity presupposes the limitless extension of ''something,'' and the duration of that “ something ;” and the One All is like Space—which is its only mental and physical representation on this Earth, or our plane of existence—neither an object of, nor a subject to, perception. If one could suppose the Eternal Infinite All, the Omnipresent Unity, instead of being in Eternity, becoming through periodical manifestation a manifold Universe or a multiple personality, that Unity would cease to be one. Locke’s idea that “ pure Space is capable of neither resistance nor Motion ”—is incorrect. Space is neither a “ limitless void,” nor a “ conditioned fulness,” but both : being, on the plane of absolute abstraction, the ever-incognisable Deity, which is void only to finite minds,&nbsp;* and on that of ''mayavic'' perception, the Plenum, the absolute Container of all that is, whether manifested or unmanifested : it is, therefore, that {{Style S-Small capitals|absolute all}}. There is no difference between the Christian Apostle’s “ In Him we live and move and have our being,” and the Hindu Rishi’s “ The Universe lives in, proceeds from, and will  

“ What is that which was, is, and will be, whether there is a Universe or not ; whether there be gods or none ? ” asks the esoteric Senzar Catechism. And the answer made is—{{Style S-Small capitals|space}}.

† Occultism is indeed in the air at the close of this our century. Among many other works recently published, we would recommend one especially to students of theoretical Occultism who would not venture beyond the realm of our special human plane. It is called “ New Aspects of Life and Religion," by Henry Pratt, M.D. It is full of esoteric dogmas and philosophy, the latter rather limited, in the concluding chapters, by what seems to be a spirit of conditioned positivism. Nevertheless, what is said of Space as “ the Unknown First Cause," merits quotation. “ This unknown something, thus recognised as, and identified with, the primary embodiment of Simple Unity, is invisible and impalpable "—(''abstract'' space, granted) ; “ and because invisible and impalpable, therefore incognisable. And this incognisability has led to the error of supposing it to be a simple void, a mere receptive capacity. But, even viewed as an absolute void, space must be admitted to be either Self-existent, infinite, and eternal, or to have had a first cause outside, behind, and beyond itself.

This is precisely what has been done by the believers in an anthropomorphic Creator, an extracosmic, instead of an intracosmic God. Many—most of Mr. Pratt’s subjects, we may say—are old Kabalistic ideas and theories which he presents in quite a new garb : “ New Aspects " of the Occult in Nature, indeed. Space, however, viewed as a “ Substantial Unity "—the “ living Source of Life "—is as the “ Un-

accepts revelation as coming from divine yet still finite Beings, the manifested lives, never from the Unmanifestable {{Style S-Small capitals|one life}}; from those entities, called Primordial Man, Dhyani-Buddhas, or Dhyan-Chohans, the “ Rishi-Prajâpati ” of the Hindus, the Elohim or “ Sons of God,” the Planetary Spirits of all nations, who have become Gods for men. He also regards the Adi-Sakti—the direct emanation of Mulaprakriti, the eternal Root of {{Style S-Small capitals|that}}, and the female aspect of the Creative Cause Brahma, in her A’kásic form of the Universal Soul—as philosophically a Maya, and cause of human Maya. But this view does not prevent him from believing in its existence so long as it lasts, to wit, for one Maha- manvantara; nor from applying A’kâśa, the radiation of Mulaprakriti,&nbsp;* to practical purposes, connected as the World-Soul is with all natural phenomena, known or unknown to science.

The oldest religions of the world—exoterically, for the esoteric root or foundation is one—are the Indian, the Mazdean, and the Egyptian. Then comes the Chaldean, the outcome of these—entirely lost to the world now, except in its disfigured Sabeanism as at present rendered by the archeologists; then, passing over a number of religions that will be mentioned later, comes the Jewish, esoterically, as in the Kabala, following in the line of Babylonian Magism; exoterically, as in Genesis and the Pentateuch, a collection of allegorical legends. Read by the light of the Zohar, the initial four chapters of Genesis are the fragment  

<nowiki>*</nowiki> In contradistinction to the manifested universe of matter, the term ''Mulaprakriti'' (from ''Mula'', “ the root," and ''prakriti'', “ nature "), or the unmanifested primordial matter—called by Western alchemists Adam’s Earth—is applied by the Vedantins to ''Parabrahmam.'' Matter is dual in religious metaphysics, and septenary in esoteric teachings, like everything else in the universe. As ''Mulaprakriti,'' it is undifferentiated and eternal ; as Vyakta, it becomes differentiated and conditioned, according to ''Svetasvatara Upanishad, I.'' 8, and ''Devi Bhagavata Purdna.'' The author of the Four Lectures on the Bhagavad Gita, says, in speaking of ''Mulaprakriti:'' “ From its (the Logos’) objective standpoint, ''Parabrahmam'' appears to it as ''Mulaprakriti.'' ... Of course this ''Mulaprakriti'' is material to it, as any material object is material to us. . . . ''Parabrahmam'' is an unconditioned and absolute reality, and ''Mulaprakriti'' is a sort of veil thrown over it." (''Theosophist'', Vol. VIII., p. 304.)

“''Explain, oh Lanoo (disciple)''.” —“ ''The One is an unbroken Circle (ring) with no circumference, for it is nowhere and everywhere; the One is the boundless plane of the Circle, manifesting a diameter only during the manvantaric periods; the One is the indivisible point found nowhere, perceived everywhere during those periods; it is the Vertical and the Horizontal, the Father and the Mother, the summit and base of the Father, the two extremities of the Mother, reaching in reality nowhere, for the One is the Ring as also the rings that are within that Ring. Light in darkness and darkness in light: the ‘ Breath which is eternal.’ It proceeds from without inwardly, when it is everywhere, and from within outwardly, when it is nowhere — (i.e., maya,&nbsp;† one of the centres&nbsp;‡). It expands and''}}  

<nowiki>*</nowiki> Meaning “ parentless "—see farther on.

For clearer understanding on the part of the general reader, it must be stated that Occult Science recognises ''Seven'' Cosmical Elements— four entirely physical, and the fifth (Ether) semi-material, as it will become visible in the air towards the end of our Fourth Round, to reign supreme over the others during the whole of the Fifth. The remaining two are as yet absolutely beyond the range of human perception. These latter will, however, appear as presentments during the 6th and 7th Races of this Round, and will become known in the 6th and 7th Rounds respectively.&nbsp;* These seven elements with their numberless Sub-Elements  

from within outwardly, every atom being said to contain in itself creative energy of the divine breath. Hence, whereas after an absolute pralaya, or when the preexisting material consists but of one Element, and breath “ is everywhere," the latter acts from without inwardly: after a minor pralaya, everything having remained in ''statu quo''—in a refrigerated state, so to say, like the moon—at the first flutter of manvantara, the planet or planets begin their resurrection to life from within outwardly.

<nowiki>*</nowiki> It is curious to notice how, in the evolutionary cycles of ideas, ancient thought seems to be reflected in modern speculation. Had Mr. Herbert Spencer read and studied ancient Hindu philosophers when he wrote a certain passage in his “ First Principles " (p. 482), or is it an independent flash of inner perception that made him say half correctly, half incorrectly, “ motion as well as matter, being fixed in quantity (?), it would seem that the change in the distribution of Matter which Motion effects, coming to a limit in whichever direction it is carried (?), the indestructible Motion thereupon necessitates a reverse distribution. Apparently, the universally co-existent forces of attraction and repulsion which, as we have seen, necessitate rhythm in all minor changes throughout the Universe, also necessitate rhythm in the totality of its changes—produce now an immeasurable period during which the attracting forces predominating, cause universal concentration, and then an immeasurable period, during which the repulsive forces predominating, cause universal diffusion—alternate eras of Evolution and dissolution."

far more numerous than those known to Science) are simply ''conditional ''modifications and aspects of the {{Style S-Small capitals|one}} and only Element. This latter is not ''Ether'',&nbsp;* not even ''A’kâśa'' but the ''Source'' of these. The Fifth Element, now advocated quite freely by Science, is not the Ether hypothesised by Sir Isaac Newton—although he calls it by that name, having associated it in his mind probably with the Æther, “ Father-Mother ” of Antiquity. As Newton intuitionally says, “ Nature is a perpetual circulatory worker, generating fluids out of solids, fixed things out of volatile, and volatile out of fixed, subtile out of gross, and gross out of subtile. . . . . Thus, perhaps, may all things be originated from Ether,” (Hypoth, 1675).

<nowiki>*</nowiki> Whatever the views of physical Science upon the subject, Occult Science has been teaching for ages that A’kâśa—of which Ether is the grossest form—the fifth universal Cosmic Principle (to which corresponds and from which proceeds human Manas) is, cosmically, a radiant, cool, diathermanous plastic matter, creative in its physical nature, correlative in its grossest aspects and portions, immutable in its higher principles. In the former condition it is called the Sub-Root ; and in conjunction with radiant heat, it recalls “ dead worlds to life." In its higher aspect it is the Soul of the World; in its lower—the {{Style S-Small capitals|destroyer}}.

The Secret Doctrine establishes three fundamental propositions:—

''(a)'' An Omnipresent, Eternal, Boundless, and Immutable {{Style S-Small capitals|Principle}} on which all speculation is impossible, since it transcends the power of human conception and could only be dwarfed by any human expression or similitude. It is beyond the range and reach of thought—in the words of Mandukya, “ unthinkable and unspeakable.”

To render these ideas clearer to the general reader, let him set out with the postulate that there is one absolute Reality which antecedes all manifested, conditioned, being. This Infinite and Eternal Cause— dimly formulated in the “ Unconscious ” and “ Unknowable ” of current European philosophy—is the rootless root of “ all that was, is, or ever shall be.” It is of course devoid of all attributes and is essentially without any relation to manifested, finite Being. It is “ Be-ness ” rather than Being (in Sanskrit, ''Sat''), and is beyond all thought or speculation.

This “ Be-ness ” is symbolised in the Secret Doctrine under two aspects. On the one hand, absolute abstract Space, representing bare subjectivity, the one thing which no human mind can either exclude from any conception, or conceive of by itself. On the other, absolute Abstract Motion representing Unconditioned Consciousness. Even our Western thinkers have shown that Consciousness is inconceivable to us apart from change, and motion best symbolises change, its essential characteristic. This latter aspect of the one Reality, is also symbolised by the term “ The Great Breath,” a symbol sufficiently graphic to need no further elucidation. Thus, then, the first fundamental axiom of the Secret Doctrine is this metaphysical {{Style S-Small capitals|One Absolute—Be-ness}}—symbolised by finite intelligence as the theological Trinity.

<nowiki>*</nowiki> The “ first " presupposes necessarily something which is the “ first brought forth," “ the first in time, space, and rank "—and therefore finite and conditioned. The “ first "

This something, at present unknown to Western speculation, is called by the occultists Fohat. It is the “ bridge ” by which the “ Ideas ” existing in the “ Divine Thought ” are impressed on Cosmic substance as the “ laws of Nature.” Fohat is thus the dynamic energy of Cosmic Ideation; or, regarded from the other side, it is the intelligent medium, the guiding power of all manifestation, the “ Thought Divine ” transmitted and made manifest through the Dhyan Chohans,&nbsp;* the Architects of the visible World. Thus from Spirit, or Cosmic Ideation, comes our consciousness ; from Cosmic Substance the several vehicles in which that consciousness is individualised and attains to self—or reflective— consciousness; while Fohat, in its various manifestations, is the mysterious link between Mind and Matter, the animating principle electrifying every atom into life.

Further, the Secret Doctrine affirms:—

†  Pilgrim " is the appellation given to our ''Monad'' (the two in one) during its cycle of incarnations. It is the only immortal and eternal principle in us, being an indivisible part of the integral whole—the Universal Spirit, from which it emanates, and into which it is absorbed at the end of the cycle. When it is said to emanate from the one  

Moreover, the Secret Doctrine teaches:—

(c) The fundamental identity of all Souls with the Universal OverSoul, the latter being itself an aspect of the Unknown Root; and the obligatory pilgrimage for every Soul—a spark of the former—through the Cycle of Incarnation (or “ Necessity ”) in accordance with Cyclic and Karmic law, during the whole term. In other words, no purely spiritual Buddhi (divine Soul) can have an independent (conscious) existence before the spark which issued from the pure Essence of the Universal Sixth principle,—or the {{Style S-Small capitals|over-soul}},—has (a) passed through every elemental form of the phenomenal world of that Manvantara, and (b) acquired individuality, first by natural impulse, and then by selfinduced and self-devised efforts (checked by its Karma), thus ascending through all the degrees of intelligence, from the lowest to the highest Manas, from mineral and plant, up to the holiest archangel (Dhyani- Buddha). The pivotal doctrine of the Esoteric philosophy admits no privileges or special gifts in man, save those won by his own Ego through personal effort and merit throughout a long series of metempsychoses and reincarnations. This is why the Hindus say that the Universe is Brahma and Brahma, for Brahma is in every atom of the universe, the six principles in Nature being all the outcome—the variously differentiated aspects—of the seventh and one, the only reality in the Universe whether Cosmical or micro-cosmical ; and also why the permutations (psychic, spiritual and physical), on the plane of manifestation and form, of the sixth (Brahmâ the vehicle of Brahma) are viewed by metaphysical  

In its absoluteness, the One Principle under its two aspects (of Parabrahmam and Mulaprakriti) is sexless, unconditioned and eternal. Its periodical (manvantaric) emanation—or primal radiation—is also One, androgynous and phenomenally finite. When the radiation radiates in its turn, all its radiations are also androgynous, to become male and female principles in their lower aspects. After Pralaya, whether the great or the minor Pralaya (the latter leaving the worlds in ''statu quo''&nbsp;*), the first that re-awakes to active life is the plastic A’kâśa, Father- Mother, the Spirit and Soul of Ether, or the plane on the surface of the Circle. Space is called the “ Mother ” before its Cosmic activity, and Father-Mother at the first stage of re-awakening. (See Comments, Stanza II.) In the Kabala it is also Father-Mother-Son. But whereas in the Eastern doctrine, these are the Seventh Principle of the manifested Universe, or its “ Atma-Buddhi-Manas ” (Spirit, Soul, Intelligence), the triad branching off and dividing into the seven cosmical and seven human principles, in the Western Kabala of the Christian mystics it is the Triad or Trinity, and with their occultists, the male- female Jehovah, Jah-Havah. In this lies the whole difference between the esoteric and the Christian trinities. The Mystics and the Philosophers, the Eastern and Western Pantheists, synthesize their pregenetic triad in the pure divine abstraction. The orthodox, anthropomorphize it. ''Hiranyagarbha, Hari,'' and ''Sankara''—the three hypostases of the manifesting “ Spirit of the Supreme Spirit ” (by which title Prithivi— the Earth—greets Vishnu in his first Avatar)—are the purely metaphysical abstract qualities of formation, preservation, and destruction, and are the three divine Avasthas (lit. hypostases) of that which “ does  

not perish with created things ” (or Achyuta, a name of Vishnu) ; whereas the orthodox Christian separates his personal creative Deity into the three personages of the Trinity, and admits of no higher Deity. The latter, in Occultism, is the abstract Triangle ; with the orthodox, the perfect Cube. The creative god or the aggregate gods are regarded by the Eastern philosopher as ''Bhrantidarsanatah''—“ false apprehension,” something “ conceived of, by reason of erroneous appearances, as a material form,” and explained as arising from the illusive conception of the Egotistic personal and human Soul (lower fifth principle). It is beautifully expressed in a new translation of Vishnu Purâna. “ That Brahmâ in its totality has essentially the aspect of Prakriti, both evolved and unevolved (Mulaprakriti), and also the aspect of Spirit and the aspect of Time. Spirit, O twice born, is the leading aspect of the Supreme Brahma.&nbsp;* The next is a twofold aspect,—Prakriti, both evolved and unevolved, and is the time last.” Kronos is shown in the Orphic theogony as being also a generated god or agent.

At this stage of the re-awakening of the Universe, the sacred symbolism represents it as a perfect Circle with the (root) point in the Centre. This sign was universal, therefore we find it in the Kabala also. The Western Kabala, however, now in the hands of Christian mystics, ignores it altogether, though it is plainly shown in the Zohar. These sectarians begin at the end, and show as the symbol of pregenetic Kosmos this sign [[File:sd-circle_with_cross.jpg|x25px]], calling it “ the Union of the Rose and Cross,” the great mystery of occult generation, from whence the name—Rosicrucians (Rose Cross) !

As may be judged, however, from the most important, as the best known of the Rosicrucians’ symbols, there is one which has never been hitherto understood even by modern mystics. It is that of the “ Pelican ” tearing open its breast to feed its seven little ones— the real creed of the Brothers of the Rosie-Cross and a direct outcome from the Eastern

<nowiki>*</nowiki> Thus Spencer, who, nevertheless, like Schopenhauer and von Hartmann, only reflects an aspect of the old esoteric philosophers, and hence lands his readers on the bleak shore of Agnostic despair—reverently formulates the grand mystery ; “ that which persists unchanging in quantity, but ever changing in form, under these sensible appearances which the Universe presents to us, is an unknown and unknowable power, which we are obliged to recognise as without limit in Space and without beginning or end in time." It is only daring Theology—never Science or philosophy—which seeks to gauge the Infinite and unveil the Fathomless and Unknowable.

It would not be in place here to enter upon any defence or proof of their inherent reasonableness; nor can I pause to show how they are, in fact, contained—though too often under a misleading guise—in every system of thought or philosophy worthy of the name.

In Stanza V. the process of world-formation is described :—First, diffused Cosmic Matter, then the fiery “ whirlwind,” the first stage in the formation of a nebula. That nebula condenses, and after passing through various transformations, forms a Solar Universe, a planetary chain, or a single planet, as the case may be.

than useless to make the subject still more difficult by introducing the archaic phraseology of the original, with its puzzling style and words. Extracts are given from the Chinese Thibetan and Sanskrit translations of the original Senzar Commentaries and Glosses on the Book of {{Style S-Small capitals|Dzyan}} —these being now rendered for the first time into a European language. It is almost unnecessary to state that only portions of the seven Stanzas are here given. Were they published complete they would remain incomprehensible to all save the few higher occultists. Nor is there any need to assure the reader that, no more than most of the profane, does the writer, or rather the humble recorder, understand those forbidden passages. To facilitate the reading, and to avoid the too frequent reference to foot-notes, it was thought best to blend together texts and glosses, using the Sanskrit and Tibetan proper names whenever those cannot be avoided, in preference to giving the originals. The more so as the said terms are all accepted synonyms, the former only being used between a Master and his chelas (or disciples).

Thus, were one to translate into English, using only the substantives and technical terms as employed in one of the Tibetan and Senzar versions, Verse 1 would read as follows:—“ Tho-ag in Zhi-gyu slept seven Khorlo. Zodmanas zhiba. All Nyug bosom. Konch-hog not; Thyan- Kam not ; Lha-Chohan not ; Tenbrel Chugnyi not ; Dharmakaya ceased ; Tgenchang not become ; Barnang and Ssa in Ngovonyidj ; alone Tho-og Yinsin in night of Sun-chan and Yong-grub (Parinish- panna), &c., &c.,” which would sound like pure ''Abracadabra.''