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.