HPB-SD(ed.1)

The Secret Doctrine

The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and Philosophy

by

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky

author of “ Isis Unveiled.”

सत्यात् नास्ति परो धर्मः । “ There is no Religion higher than Truth.”

London :
THE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, LIMITED,
7, Duke Street, Adelphi, W.C.
WILLIAM Q. JUDGE,
117, Nassau Street, New York.
THE MANAGER OF THE THEOSOPHIST,
Adyar, Madras.
—
1888.
Credits for electronic first verbatim edition goes to Theosophical University Press.

Table of contents

ix

ix

Preface

... vii

Introduction

... xvii

The Need of such a Book

... xix

The Antiquity of Documents and MSS.

... xxiii

What the Book is intended to do

... xxviii

VOLUME FIRST.
COSMOGENESIS.

Proem

... 1

The Oldest MSS. in the world and its Symbolism

... 2

The One Life, Active and Passive

... 4

The Secret Doctrine — Pantheism — Atheism

... 6

“ Space ” in all Religions and in Occultism

... 9

Seven Cosmic Elements — Seven Races of Mankind

... 12

The Three Postulates of the Secret Doctrine

... 14

Description of the Stanzas from the Book of Dzyan

... 20

BOOK I.—PART I.
COSMIC EVOLUTION.

Seven Stanzas from the Book of Dzyan

... 27

–––––––

Stanza I.–The Night of the Universe

... 35

The Seven Eternities

... 36

“ Time ”

... 37

The Universal Mind and the Dhyan Chohans

... 38

Nidana and Maya : The Causes of Misery

... 39

The Great Breath

... 43

Being and Non-Being

... 45

The Eye of Dangma

... 47

Alaya, the Universal Soul

... 49

x

contents.

x

Stanza II.–The Idea of Differentiation

... 53

The Absolute knows Itself not

... 55

The Germ of Life was not yet

... 57

The Universe was still concealed in the Divine Thought

... 61

–––––––

Stanza III.–The Awakening of Kosmos

... 62

The Great Vibration

... 63

Nature’s Symbols

... 65

The Power of Numbers

... 67

The Logoi and the Dragon

... 73

The Astral Light

... 75

Primeval Radiations from Unity

... 79

The Web of Being

... 83

Conscious Electricity : Fohat

... 85

–––––––

Stanza IV.–The Septenary Hierarchies

... 86

The Sons of the Fire

... 86

The Vehicle of the Universe — the Dhyan Chohans

... 89

The Army of the Voice

... 93

Speech and Mind

... 95

The Ogdoad and the Heptad

... 99

The Stellar “ Sons of Light ”

... 103

–––––––

Stanza V.–Fohat : The Child of the Septenary Hierarchies

... 106

The Fiery Whirlwind and the Primordial Seven

... 106

They Produce Fohat

... 108

The Correlation of the “ Gods ”

... 113

Evolution of the “ Principles ” of Nature

... 119

The Mystery of the Fire

... 121

The Secret of the Elements

... 123

The Square of the Tabernacle

... 125

The Planetary Spirits and the Lipika

... 129

The Ring “ Pass Not ”

... 130

The Sidereal Book of Life

... 131

The Soul’s Pilgrimage and its “ Rest ”

... 134

–––––––

Stanza VI.–Our World, its Growth and Development

... 136

The Logos

... 136

Mystery of the Female Logos

... 137

xi

contents.

xi

The Seven Layu Centres

... 138

The “ Elementary Germs ”

... 139

The Evolution of the Elements

... 140

The Building of the Worlds

... 145

A Neutral Centre

... 147

“ Dead ” Planets — The Moon

... 149

––––––– Theosophical Misconceptions

... 152

The Planetary Divisions and the Human Principles

... 153

The Moon

... 155

Transmigrations of the Ego

... 159

The Septenary Chain

... 161

Relation of the other Planets to the Earth

... 163

––––––– Explanations concerning the Globes and the Monads

... 170

The Lunar Chain and the Earth Chain

... 172

The Earth, the Child of the Moon

... 173

Classification of the Monads

... 175

The Monad Defined

... 177

The Monad Defined

... 179

A Triple Evolution in Nature

... 181

–––––––

Stanza VI.–Continued

... 191

“ Creation ” in the Fourth Round

... 191

The “ Curse,” “ Sin,” and “ War ”

... 193

The Struggle for Life and the Birth of the Worlds

... 202

The Adepts and the Sacred Island

... 207

–––––––

Stanza VII.–The Parents of Man on Earth

... 213

Divisions of the Hierarchies

... 214

Correlations of Beings

... 223

What incarnates in Animal Man

... 233

Formation of Man : the Thinker

... 238

Occult and Kabalistic Pneumatics

... 243

Akâsa and Ether

... 257

The Invisible “ Lives ”

... 259

Occult Vital Chemistry and Bacteriology

... 261

xii

contents.

xii

The Watcher and his Shadow

... 265

Earth peopled by the Shadows of the Gods

... 267

–––––––

Summing up

... 269

The pith and marrow of the Secret Doctrine

... 269

Hermes in Christian Garb

... 273

Some Occult Aphorisms

... 289

The Seven Powers of Nature

... 293

BOOK I.—PART II.
THE EVOLUTION OF SYMBOLISM IN ITS APPROXIMATE ORDER.

I. Symbolism and Ideographs

... 303

Emblem and Symbol differ

... 305

Magic Potency of Sound

... 307

Mystery Language

... 309

–––––––

II. The Mystery Language and its Keys

... 310

Egypt’s many Religions

... 311

The Jews and their System

... 313

Moses copied from Sargon

... 319

Identity of Ancient Symbols

... 323

–––––––

III. Primordial Substance and Divine Thought

... 325

Divine Thought, or Cineritious Matter ?

... 327

Ether and Intelligence

... 330

The Seven Prakritis

... 335

The Mystic Fire

... 339

One Tree of Knowledge

... 341

–––––––

IV. Chaos—Theos—Kosmos

... 342

The Union of Chaos and Spirit

... 343

The Birth of Mind

... 345

–––––––

V. The Hidden Deity, its Symbols and Glyphs

... 349

The Gnostic Idea

... 351

International Correlation of Gods

... 355

xiii

contents.

xiii

VI. The Mundane Egg

... 359

Egg-born Logoi

... 363

The Winged Globe

... 365

–––––––

VII. The Days and Nights of Brahmâ

... 368

Human Gods and Divine Men

... 369

The Rebirth of Gods

... 371

The Puranic Prophecy

... 377

–––––––

VIII. The Lotus as a Universal Symbol

... 379

Exoteric and Esoteric

... 381

The Purity of early Phallicism

... 383

The Egyptian Lotus

... 385

–––––––

IX. Deus Lunus

... 386

A Glance at the Lunar Myth

... 387

A Key-note to the Moon

... 389

Copies and Originals

... 393

The Moon Bi-sexual

... 397

–––––––

X. Tree and Serpent and Crocodile Worship

... 403

Degeneration of the Symbol

... 405

The Seven-headed Dragons

... 407

Dragon and Crocodile

... 409

–––––––

XI. Demon est Deus Inversus

... 411

Death is Life

... 413

The Fall of the Angels

... 418

Transformation of the Legend

... 421

–––––––

XII. The Theogony of the Creative Gods

... 424

The Point within the Circle

... 426

The Logos or Verbum

... 429

The Factors of Creation

... 432

Identity of the Hierarchies in all Religions

... 438

Difference between the Aryan and Semitic Systems

... 444

xiv

contents.

xiv

XIII. The Seven Creations

... 445

The Gnostic and the Hindu Versions

... 449

The Seven Puranic “ Creations ”

... 450

–––––––

XIV. The Four Elements

... 460

The “ Gods ” and the “ Elements ”

... 463

The Language of the Elements

... 464

Pagan and Christian Worship of the Elements

... 467

–––––––

XV. On Kwan-Shi-Yin and Kwan-Yin

... 470

Kwan-Shi-Yin and Phallicism

... 471

The Real Meaning

... 472

––––––––––––––

BOOK I.—PART III.
SCIENCE AND THE SECRET DOCTRINE CONTRASTED.

I. Reasons for these Addenda

... 477

Occultism versus Materialism

... 479

The Sabbath of the Mystic

... 481

–––––––

II. Modern Physicists are Playing at Blind Man’s Buff

... 482

–––––––

III. An Lumen Sit Corpus nec non ?

... 483

The Hypothetical Ether

... 485

Scientific Theories of its Constitution

... 489

–––––––

IV. Is Gravitation a Law ?

... 490

Intelligences or Blind Forces ?

... 493

The Cause of Attraction

... 498

xv

contents.

xv

V. The Theories of Rotation in Science

... 500

Conflicting Hypotheses

... 502

More Hypotheses

... 505

–––––––

VI. The Masks of Science

... 506

What are the “ Forces ? ”

... 508

The View of the Occultists

... 510

Scientific and Occult Theories on Heat

... 515

The Atoms of Science

... 519

–––––––

VII. An Attack on the Scientific Theory of Force by a Man of Science

... 523

Ether and Atoms

... 527

–––––––

VIII. Life, Force, or Gravity ?

... 529

Dr. Richardson on Nervous Ether

... 531

The Senses and their Action

... 535

Too much “ Life ” may Kill

... 539

–––––––

IX. The Solar Theory

... 540

The Primordial Element

... 542

Elements and Meta-Elements

... 546

The Tree of Life and Being

... 549

Prof. Crookes on the Elements

... 552

–––––––

X. The Coming Force

... 554

Mr. Keeley, an Unconscious Occultist

... 557

Inter-Etheric Waves

... 561

The Secrets of Sound and Odour

... 565

–––––––

XI. On the Elements and Atoms

... 566

Metaphysical Chemistry

... 569

What are the Seven Planets ?

... 575

The Cyclic Fall of the Gods

... 577

xvi

contents.

xvi

XII. Ancient Thought in Modern Dress

... 579

All-Potential Unity

... 583

The “ Seventh ” in Chemistry

... 585

–––––––

XIII. The Modern Nebular Theory

... 588

Forces are Emanations

... 591

What is the Nebula ?

... 595

–––––––

XIV. Forces—Modes of Motion or Intelligences ?

... 601

The Vital Principle

... 603

Occult and Physical Science

... 605

–––––––

XV. Gods, Monads, and Atoms

... 610

The Gods of the Ancients — the Monads

... 613

The Monad and the Duad

... 617

The Genesis of the Elements

... 621

Hermes and Huxley

... 625

The Teaching of Leibnitz

... 627

The Monads according to Occultism

... 632

–––––––

XVI. Cyclic Evolution and Karma

... 634

Karmic Cycles and Universal Ethics

... 637

Destiny and Karma

... 639

Karma — Nemesis

... 643

–––––––

XVII. The Zodiac and its Antiquity

... 647

The Jewish Patriarchs and the Signs of the Zodiac

... 651

Zodiacal Cycles

... 656

Hindu Astronomy

... 661

–––––––

XVIII. Summary of the Mutual Position

... 668

Science Confesses her Ignorance

... 669

Materialism is leading Europe towards a catastrophe

... 675

–––––––

N.B. — The Index and Glossary will be found at the close of Volume II.

VOLUME SECOND.

vii

vii

Preliminary Notes

... 1

On the Archaic Stanzas, and the Four Prehistoric Continents

... 1

The Imperishable Sacred Land

... 6

The Hyperborean

... 7

Lemuria

... 7

Atlantis

... 8

The Tropics at the Pole

... 11

–––––––

BOOK II.— PART II.
ANTHROPOGENESIS.

Stanzas from the Book of Dzyan

... 15

–––––––

Stanza I.—Beginnings of Sentient Life

... 22

Man, the Third Logos

... 25

The Celestial Governors of Humanity

... 29

Parent Stars and Sister Planets

... 33

Three Kinds of Light

... 35

The Numbers of Creation

... 39

The First War in Heaven

... 45

–––––––

Two Antediluvian Astronomers

... 47

–––––––

Stanza II.—Nature Unaided Fails

... 52

The Monsters of Chaos

... 53

The “ Double Dragon ”

... 57

Who are the Flames ?

... 63

viii

contents.

viii

The Chronology of the Brahmins

... 66

The Race that never dies

... 67

Cosmogony, an intelligent plan

... 73

–––––––

Stanza III.—Attempts to create Man

... 75

The various classes of Creators

... 77

Man, a god in animal form

... 81

“ Fires,” “ Sparks,” and “ Flames ”

... 83

–––––––

Stanza IV.—Creation of the First Races

... 86

Pitris of the Gods and Demons

... 89

What Prometheus symbolized

... 95

The Hammer of Thor

... 99

The Divine Rebels

... 103

Man’s Father, the Sun

... 105

–––––––

Stanza V.–The Evolution of the Second Race

... 109

The Secret Work of Chiram

... 113

The outgrowth of Races

... 117

Leda, Castor, and Pollux

... 121

Леда, Кастор и Поллукс

... 121

Аллегория Кастора и Поллукса

... 123

Jah-Hovah Androgynous

... 125

The Jewish God-name

... 127

–––––––

Stanza VI.–The Evolution of the Sweat-born

... 131

Bi-sexual reproduction

... 133

The Virgin Third Race

... 135

A Few Words about Deluges and Noah’s

... 138

Various Deluges

... 141

The Arkite Symbols

... 143

Could Men Exist 18,000,000 Years ago ?

... 148

Spontaneous Generation

... 151

The Solar System in the Purânas

... 155

Oceans of Carbonic Acid ?

... 159

–––––––

Stanza VII.–From the Semi-Divine down to the First Human Races

... 161

Monads and Rounds

... 167

A Suggestive Explanation

... 171

ix

contents.

ix

A Saint — Hypnotised

... 175

Sweat-born and Androgynes

... 177

–––––––

Stanza VIII.–Evolution of the Animal Mammalians—the First Fall

... 180

Archaic Zoology

... 183

The Sin of the Mindless

... 185

–––––––

What may be the Objections to the Foregoing

... 185

–––––––

Stanza IX.–The Final Evolution of Man

... 191

The Hairy Men of China

... 195

The Separation of Sexes

... 197

Primeval Language

... 199

–––––––

Edens, Serpents and Dragons

... 202

The Garden of Eden a College

... 203

Flying Camels

... 205

Two Schools of Magic

... 211

The Flying Dragons

... 219

–––––––

The Sons of God and the Sacred Island

... 220

The Magicians of Atlantis

... 223

–––––––

Stanza X.–The History of the Fourth Race

... 227

The Mysteries among the Mayas

... 229

Satanic Myths

... 233

Mahasura and Satan

... 237

Man, the pale shadow of God

... 243

The curse of Vasishta

... 247

–––––––

Archaic Teachings in the Purânas and Genesis

... 251

From worm to man

... 255

Identity of Human and Animal embryos

... 259

–––––––

A Panoramic View of the Early Races

... 263

The Natural “ Fall ”

... 267

The Symbolism of Kronos

... 269

x

contents.

x

Stanza X.—Continued

... 271

The Golden Age

... 273

The Devil’s outside Humanity

... 275

–––––––

Are Giants a Fiction ?

... 277

The Seven Virgin Youths

... 281

The Tibetan Lilith

... 285

The Races of Men not all Human

... 287

–––––––

The Races with the “ Third Eye ”

... 289

Occult Physiology

... 295

The Evolution of the Eye

... 299

The Third Eye is now a Gland

... 301

–––––––

The Primeval Manus of Humanity

... 307

The Four Earlier Races

... 311

The Esoteric Meaning of “ Fish ”

... 313

–––––––

Stanza XI.—The Civilization and Destruction of the Fourth and Fifth Races

... 316

Degeneration of Mankind

... 319

Atlantis now Ocean Floor

... 325

Changes of Climate

... 329

How to Read Symbols

... 335

The Antediluvian Buddhas

... 339

–––––––

Cyclopean Ruins and Colossal Stones as Witnesses to Giants

... 341

Living, Speaking, and Moving Stones

... 345

It takes a God to become a Man

... 349

–––––––

Stanza XII.—The Fifth Race and its Divine Instructors

... 351

The Astronomical Dragon

... 353

Serpents and Dragons under different Symbolisms

... 355

The Sidereal and Cosmic Glyphs

... 357

Our Divine Instructors

... 365

The Origin of the Satanic Myth

... 378

Noah was a Kabir, hence he must have been a Demon

... 390

Легенды о Потопе

... 391

xi

contents.

xi

The oldest Persian Traditions about the Polar, and the Submerged Continents

... 393

Western Speculations founded on the Greek and Purânic Traditions

... 401

The “ Curse ” from a Philosophical point of view

... 409

–––––––

Additional Fragments from a Commentary on the Verses of Stanza XII

... 423

The Oldest Records about Atlantis

... 425

The Doom of Atlantis

... 427

The Races, Sub-Races, and Family Races

... 434

–––––––

Conclusion

... 437

–––––––

BOOK II.—PART II.
THE ARCHAIC SYMBOLISM OF THE WORLD-RELIGIONS.

Esoteric Tenets corroborated in every Scripture

... 449

–––––––

§ XVI. Adam-Adami

... 452

The Cabalistic Four Adams

... 457

–––––––

XVII. The “ Holy of Holies ” : Its Degradation

... 459

Christian Symbolism

... 463

The “ Four-faced ” Brahmâ

... 465

The Old and the New Jehovah

... 469

–––––––

XVIII. On the Myth of the “ Fallen Angel,” in its various aspects

... 475

The Evil Spirit : Who and What ?

... 475

The Gods of Light proceed from the Gods of Darkness

... 483

The many meanings of the “ War in Heaven ”

... 492

–––––––

XIX. Is Pleroma Satan’s Lair ?

... 506

Jehovah’s Personating Spirit

... 509

The Mysterium Magnum

... 512

The Logos and Satan are One

... 515

xii

contents.

xii

XX. Prometheus the Titan

... 519

His Origin in Ancient India

... 519

The Boon he Gives

... 523

–––––––

XXI. Enoïchion-Henoch

... 529

–––––––

XXII. The Symbolism of the Mystery Names Iao, and Jehovah

... 536

Cross and Circle

... 545

The Fall of the Cross into Matter

... 553

–––––––

XXIII. The Upanishads in Gnostic Literature

... 563

When Time be no longer

... 565

The Divine Self’s Wisdom

... 566

–––––––

XXIV. The Cross and the Pythagorean Decade

... 573

Poseidon’s Five Ministers

... 577

The Mystery of the Number Six

... 583

The Cross and Christian After-thought

... 587

–––––––

XXV. The Mysteries of the Hebdomad

... 590

Saptaparna

... 590

The Tetraktis in relation to the Heptagon

... 598

The Septenary Element in the Vedas

... 605

The Septenary in the Exoteric Works

... 611

Seven in Astronomy, Science and Magic

... 618

The Seven Souls of the Egyptologists

... 630

––––––––––––––

BOOK II.—PART III.
ADDENDA.
SCIENCE AND THE SECRET DOCTRINE CONTRASTED.

I. Archaic, or Modern Anthropology ?

... 645

The Occult and the Modern Doctrines

... 649

Science is Silent on every Problem

... 653

xiii

contents.

xiii

II. The Ancestors Mankind is offered by Science

... 656

Various Modes of Reproduction

... 659

A Pithecoid Man Wanted

... 669

Plastidular Souls and Conscious Nerve-Cells

... 670

The atoms of our “ Father-Bathybius ”

... 674

–––––––

III. The Fossil Relics of Man and the Anthropoid Ape

... 675

Insurmountable difficulties for the Darwinians

... 677

The Argument of “ Rudimentary Organs ”

... 683

“ Epitomized History ” in the Fœtus

... 684

The Evidence of Skulls

... 687

–––––––

IV. Duration of the Geological Periods, Race Cycles, and the Antiquity of Man

... 690

Sayce’s Sketch of Chronology

... 691

(a) Speculations on the Age of the Globe

... 694

The Adept-Astronomer

... 698

(b) On Chains of Planets and their Plurality

... 699

States of Consciousness

... 701

Worlds mentioned in the Bible

... 703

(c) Esoteric Geological Chronology

... 709

Parallelism of Life

... 711

The Two Sciences contrasted

... 713

The Palæolithic Landseer

... 721

Astral Man—the Solution

... 728

The Kabalists and Science

... 730

–––––––

V. Organic Evolution and Creative Centres

... 731

Dhyan Chohans and these Centres

... 732

(a) Origin and Evolution of the Mammalia

... 734

(b) The European Palæolithic Races — whence and how distributed

... 738

xiv

contents.

xiv

VI. Giants, Civilizations, and Submerged Continents traced in History

... 742

A Mysterious Nation

... 743

The Seven Sabbaths

... 747

“ Revelation ” and the “ Secret Doctrine ”

... 748

Druidic Stones

... 752

Races of Giants

... 755

Mazdean “ Seven Earths ”

... 759

(a) Statements about the Sacred Islands

... 760

The Heirloom of Atlantis

... 763

The God-bearing Land

... 765

The Power of Names

... 767

The Sons of Cœlus and Terra

... 769

Southern and Northern Atlantis

... 770

Niobe and her Children

... 771

The Cycles of Time

... 773

The Titans in Prison

... 776

–––––––

VII. Scientific and Geological Proofs of the Existence of several Submerged Continents

... 778

Corroborations of Occultism by Geology

... 779

Evidence of the Flora

... 781

Atlantis necessary to Ethnology

... 783

Astræa falls on her Head

... 785

Communication between South-Sea Islands

... 788

Evidence of Language

... 790

Ragon explains Masonic Symbols

... 795

The End a fitting prelude to Truth

... 797

––––––– INDEX.

See also

• Main page for this book with general description and links.