Theos-Talk Archives (February 1996 Message tl00009)

 From a text supplied by Eldon Tucker
Converted to ASCII by Alan Bain
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STANZA III. - THE AWAKENING OF KOSMOS

COMMENTARY.

1. THE LAST VIBRATION OF THE SEVENTH ETERNITY THRILLS THROUGH
INFINITUDE (a). THE MOTHER SWELLS, EXPANDING FROM WITHIN WITHOUT
LIKE THE BUD OF THE LOTUS (b).

     (a) The seemingly paradoxical use of the sentence "Seventh
Eternity," thus dividing the indivisible, is sanctified in
esoteric philosophy. The latter divides boundless duration into
unconditionally eternal and universal Time and a conditioned one
(_Khandakala_). One is the abstraction or noumenon of infinite
time (Kala); the other its phenomenon appearing periodically, as
the effect of _Mahat_ (the Universal Intelligence limited by
Manvantaric duration). With some schools, Mahat is "the first-
born" of Pradhana (undifferentiated substance, or the periodical
aspect of Mulaprakriti, the root of Nature), which (Pradhana) is
called Maya, the Illusion. In this respect, I believe, esoteric
teaching differs from the Vedantin doctrines of both the Adwaita
and the Visishtadwaita schools. For it says that, while
Mulaprakriti, the noumenon, is self-existing and without any
origin - is, in short, parentless, Anupadaka (as one with
Brahmam) - Prakriti, its phenomenon, is periodical and no better
than a phantasm of the former, so Mahat, with the Occultists, the
firstborn of Gnana (or _gnosis_) knowledge, wisdom or the Logos -
is a phantasm reflected from the Absolute NIRGUNA (Parabrahm, the
one reality, "devoid of attributes and qualities"; see
Upanishads); while with some Vedantins Mahat is a manifestation
of Prakriti, or Matter.

     (b) Therefore, the "last vibration of the Seventh Eternity"
was "foreordained" - by no God in particular, but occurred in
virtue of the eternal and changeless LAW which causes the great
periods of Activity and Rest, called so graphically, and at the
same time so poetically, the "Days and Nights of Brahma." The
expansion "from within without" of the Mother, called elsewhere
the "Waters of Space," "Universal Matrix," etc., does not allude
to an expansion from a small centre or focus, but, without
reference to size or limitation or area, means the development
of limitless subjectivity into as limitless objectivity. "The
ever (to us) invisible and immaterial Substance present in
eternity, threw its periodical shadow from its own plane into the
lap of Maya." It implies that this expansion, not being an
increase in size - for infinite extension admits of no enlarge-
ment - was a change of condition. It "expanded like the bud of
the Lotus"; for the Lotus plant exists not only as a miniature
embryo in its seed (a physical characteristic), but its prototype
is present in an ideal form in the Astral Light from "Dawn" to
"Night" during the Manvantaric period, like everything else, as
a matter of fact, in this objective Universe; from man down to
mite, from giant trees down to the tiniest blades of grass.

     All this, teaches the hidden Science, is but the temporary
reflection, the shadow of the eternal ideal prototype in Divine
Thought; the word "Eternal," note well again, standing here only
in the sense of "Aeon," as lasting throughout the seemingly
interminable, but still limited cycle of activity, called by us
Manvantara. For what is the real esoteric meaning of Manvantara,
or rather a Manu-Antara? It means, esoterically, "between two
Manus," of whom there are fourteen in every "Day of Brahma," such
a "Day" consisting of 1,000 aggregates of four ages, or 1,000
"Great Ages," Mahayugas. Let us now analyse the word or name
Manu. Orientalists and their Dictionaries tell us that the term
"Manu" is from the root _Man_, "to think"; hence "the thinking
man." But, esoterically, every Manu, as an anthropomorphized
patron of his special cycle (or Round), is but the personified
idea of the "Thought Divine" (as the Hermetic "Pymander"); each
of the Manus, therefore, being the special god, the creator and
fashioner of all that appears during his own respective cycle of
being or Manvantara. Fohat runs the Manus' (or Dhyan-Chohans')
errands, and causes the ideal prototypes to expand from within
without - viz., to cross gradually, on a descending scale, all
the planes from the noumenon to the lowest phenomenon, to bloom
finally on the last into full objectivity - the acme of illusion,
or the grossest matter.

STANZA III. - continued.

     2. THE VIBRATION SWEEPS ALONG, TOUCHING WITH ITS SWIFT WING
(_simultaneously_) THE WHOLE UNIVERSE, AND THE GERM THAT DWELLETH
IN DARKNESS: THE DARKNESS THAT BREATHES _(moves)_ OVER THE
SLUMBERING WATERS OF LIFE (a).

     (a) The Pythagorean Monad is also said to dwell in solitude
and darkness like the "germ." The idea of the "breath" of
Darkness moving over "the slumbering Waters of life," which is
primordial matter with the latent Spirit in it, recalls the first
chapter of Genesis. Its original is the Brahminical Narayana (the
mover on the Waters), who is the personification of the eternal
Breath of the unconscious All (or Parabrahm) of the Eastern
Occultists. The Waters of Life, or Chaos - the female principle
in symbolism - are the vacuum (to our mental sight) in which lie
the latent Spirit and Matter. This it was that made Democritus
assert, after his instructor Leucippus, that the primordial
principles of all were atoms and a vacuum, in the sense of space,
but not of empty space, as "Nature abhors a vacuum" according to
the Peripatetics, and every ancient philosopher.

     In all Cosmogonies "Water" plays the same important part.
It is the base and source of material existence. Scientists,
mistaking the word for the thing, understood by water the
definite chemical combination of oxygen and hydrogen, thus giving
a specific meaning to a term used by Occultists in a generic
sense, and which is used in Cosmogony with a metaphysical and
mystical meaning. Ice is not water, neither is steam, although
all three have precisely the same chemical composition.

STANZA III. - Continued.

     2. "DARKNESS" RADIATES LIGHT, AND LIGHT DROPS ONE SOLITARY
RAY INTO THE WATERS, INTO THE MOTHER DEEP. THE RAY SHOOTS THROUGH
THE VIRGIN-EGG; THE RAY CAUSES THE ETERNAL EGG TO THRILL, AND
DROP THE NON-ETERNAL (_periodical_) GERM, WHICH CONDENSES INTO
THE WORLD EGG (a).
     (a) The solitary ray dropping into the mother deep may be
taken as meaning Divine Thought or Intelligence, impregnating
chaos. This, however, occurs on the plane of metaphysical
abstraction, or rather the plane whereon that which we call a
metaphysical abstraction is a reality. The Virgin-egg being in
one sense abstract Egg-ness, or the power of becoming developed
through fecundation, is eternal and for ever the same. And just
as the fecundation of an egg takes place before it is dropped;
so the non-eternal periodical germ which becomes later in
symbolism the mundane egg, contains in itself, when it emerges
from the said symbol, "the promise and potency" of all the
Universe. Though the idea _per se_ is, of course, an abstraction,
a symbolical mode of expression, it is a symbol truly, as it
suggests the idea of infinity as an endless circle. It brings
before the mind's eye the picture of Kosmos emerging from and in
boundless space, a Universe as shoreless in magnitude if not as
endless in its objective manifestation. The simile of an egg also
expresses the fact taught in Occultism that the primordial form
of everything manifested, from atom to globe, from man to angel,
is spheroidal, the sphere having been with all nations the emblem
of eternity and infinity - a serpent swallowing its tail. To
realize the meaning, however, the sphere must be thought of as
seen from its centre. The field of vision or of thought is like
a sphere whose radii proceed from one's self in every direction,
and extend out into space, opening up boundless vistas all
around. It is the symbolical circle of Pascal and the Kabalists,
"whose centre is everywhere and circumference nowhere," a
conception which enters into the compound idea of this emblem.

     The "Mundane Egg" is, perhaps, one of the most universally
adopted symbols, highly suggestive as it is, equally in the
spiritual, physiological, and cosmological sense. Therefore, it
is found in every world-theogony, where it is largely associated
with the serpent symbol; the latter being everywhere, in
philosophy as in religious symbolism, an emblem of eternity,
infinitude, regeneration, and rejuvenation, as well as of wisdom.
(See Part II. "Tree and Serpent and Crocodile Worship.") The
mystery of apparent self-generation and evolution through its own
creative power repeating in miniature the process of Cosmic
evolution in the egg, both being due to heat and moisture under
the efflux of the unseen creative spirit, justified fully the
selection of this graphic symbol. The "Virgin Egg" is the
microcosmic symbol of the macrocosmic prototype - the "Virgin
Mother" - Chaos or the Primeval Deep. The male Creator (under
whatever name) springs forth from the Virgin female, the
immaculate root fructified by the Ray. Who, if versed in
astronomy and natural sciences, can fail to see its suggestive-
ness? Cosmos as receptive Nature is an Egg fructified - yet left
immaculate; once regarded as boundless, it could have no other
representation than a spheroid. The Golden Egg was surrounded by
seven natural elements (ether, fire, air, water), "four ready,
three secret." It may be found stated in Vishnu Purana, where
elements are translated "Envelopes" and a _secret_ one is added:
"Aham-kara" (see Wilson's Vishnu Purana, Book I., p. 40). The
original text has no "Aham-kara;" it mentions seven Elements
without specifying the last three (see Part II. on "The Mundane
Egg").

STANZA III. - Continued.

     4. _(Then)_ THE THREE _(triangle)_ FALL INTO THE FOUR
_(quaternary)_. THE RADIANT ESSENCE BECOMES SEVEN INSIDE, SEVEN
OUTSIDE (a). THE LUMINOUS EGG _(Hiranyagarbha)_, WHICH IN ITSELF
IS THREE _(the triple hypostases of Brahma, or Vishnu, the three
"Avasthas")_, CURDLES AND SPREADS IN MILK-WHITE CURDS THROUGHOUT
THE DEPTHS OF MOTHER, THE ROOT THAT GROWS IN THE OCEAN OF LIFE
(b).

     The use of geometrical figures and the frequent allusions
to figures in all ancient scriptures (see Puranas, Egyptian
papyri, the "Book of the Dead" and even the Bible) must be
explained. In the "Book of Dzyan," as in the Kabala, there are
two kinds of numerals to be studied - the figures, often simple
blinds, and the Sacred Numbers, the values of which are all known
to the Occultists through Initiation. The former is but a
conventional glyph, the latter is the basic symbol of all. That
is to say, that one is purely physical, the other purely
metaphysical, the two standing in relation to each other as
matter stands to spirit - the extreme poles of the ONE Substance.

     As Balzac, the unconscious Occultist of French literature,
says somewhere, the Number is to Mind the same as it is to
matter: "an incomprehensible agent;" (perhaps so to the profane,
never to the Initiated mind). Number is, as the great writer
thought, an Entity, and, at the same time, a Breath emanating
from what he called God and what we call the ALL; the breath
which alone could organize the physical Kosmos, "where naught
obtains its form but through the Deity, which is an effect of
Number." It is instructive to quote Balzac's words upon this
subject: -

     "The smallest as the most immense creations, are they not
to be distinguished from each other by their quantities, their
qualities, their dimensions, their forces and attributes, all
begotten by the NUMBER? The infinitude of the Numbers is a fact
proven to our mind, but of which no proof can be physically
given. The mathematician will tell us that the infinitude of the
numbers exists but is not to be demonstrated. God is a Number
endowed with motion, which is felt but not demonstrated. _As
Unity, it begins the Numbers, with which it has nothing in
common._  - The existence of the Number depends on Unity, which,
without a single Number, begets them all. - What! unable either
to measure the first abstraction yielded to you by the Deity, or
to get hold of it, you still hope to subject to your measurements
the mystery of the Secret Sciences which emanate from that Deity?
- And what would you feel, were I to plunge you into the abysses
of MOTION, the Force which organizes the Number? What would you
think, were I to add that _Motion_ and _Number_ - {Number, truly;
but never MOTION. It is _Motion_ which begets the Logos, the
Word, in occultism.} - are begotten by the WORD, the Supreme
Reason of the Seers and Prophets, who, in days of old, sensed the
mighty Breath of God, a witness to which is the Apocalypse?"

     (b) "The radiant essence curdled and spread throughout the
depths" of Space. From an astronomical point of view this is easy
of explanation: it is the "milky way," the world-stuff, or
primordial matter in its first form. It is more difficult,
however, to explain it in a few words or even lines, from the
standpoint of Occult Science and Symbolism, as it is the most
complicated of glyphs. Herein are enshrined more than a dozen
symbols. To begin with, the whole pantheon of mysterious objects,
- {The "Fourteen precious things." The narrative or allegory is
found in the Satapatha Brahmana and others. The Japanese Secret
Science of the Buddhist Mystics, the _Yamabooshi_, has "seven
precious things." We will speak of them, hereafter.} - every one
of them having some definite Occult meaning, extracted from the
allegorical "churning of the ocean" by the Hindu gods. Besides
_Amrita_, the water of life or immortality, "_Surabhi_" the "cow
of plenty," called "the fountain of milk and curds," was
extracted from this "Sea of Milk." Hence the universal adoration
of the cow and bull, one the productive, the other the generative
power in Nature: symbols connected with both the Solar and the
Cosmic deities. The specific properties, for occult purposes, of
the "fourteen precious things," being explained only at the
fourth Initiation, cannot be given here; but the following may
be remarked. In the "Satapatha Brahmana" it is stated that the
churning of the "Ocean of Milk" took place in the Satya Yug, the
first age which immediately followed the "Deluge." As, however,
neither the Rig-Veda nor Manu - both preceding Vaivasvata's
"deluge," that of the bulk of the Fourth Race - mention this
deluge, it is evident that it is not the "great" deluge, nor that
which carried away Atlantis, nor even the deluge of Noah, which
is meant here. This "churning" relates to a period before the
earth's formation, and is in direct connection with that other
universal legend, the various and contradictory versions of which
culminated in the Christian dogma of the "War in Heaven," and the
fall of the Angels (see Book II., also Revelations chap. xii.).
The Brahmanas, reproached by the Orientalists with their versions
on the same subjects, often clashing with each other, _are
pre-eminently occult works,_ hence used purposely as blinds. They
were allowed to survive for public use and property only because
they were and are absolutely unintelligible to the masses.
Otherwise they would have disappeared from circulation as long
ago as the days of Akbar.

STANZA III. - Continued.

     5. THE ROOT REMAINS, THE LIGHT REMAINS, THE CURDS REMAIN,
AND STILL OEAOHOO (a) is one (b).

     (a) OEAOHOO is rendered "_Father-Mother of the Gods_" in the
Commentaries, or the SIX IN ONE, _or the septenary root from
which all proceeds._ All depends upon the accent given to these
seven vowels, which may be pronounced as _one,_ three, or even
seven syllables by adding an  "e" after the letter "o." This
mystic name is given out, because without a thorough mastery of
the triple pronunciation it remains for ever ineffectual.

     (b) This refers to the Non-Separateness of all that lives
and has its being, whether in active or passive state. In one
sense, Oeaohoo is the "Rootless Root of All"; hence, one with
Parabrahmam; in another sense it is a name for the manifested ONE
LIFE, the Eternal living Unity. The "Root" means, as already
explained, pure knowledge _(Sattva)_, - {The original for
Understanding is _Sattva_, which Sankara (acharya) renders
anta_h_kara_n_a. "Refined," he says, "by sacrifices and other
sanctifying operations." In the _Katha,_ at p. 148, Sattva is
said by Sankara to mean _buddhi_ - a common use of the word.
("The Bhagavatgita with The Sanatsugatiya and The Anugiti,"
translated by Kashinath Trimbak Telang, M.A.; edited by Max
Muller.) Whatever meaning various schools may give the term,
_Sattva_ is the name given among Occult students of the Aryasanga
School to the dual Monad or Atma-Buddhi, and Atma-buddhi on this
plane corresponds to Parabrahm and Mulaprakriti on the higher
plane.} - eternal _(Nitya)_ unconditioned reality or SAT
_(Satya)_, whether we call it  Parabrahmam or Mulaprakriti, for
these are the two aspects of the ONE. The "Light" is the same
Omnipresent Spiritual Ray, which has entered and now fecundated
the Divine Egg, and calls cosmic matter to begin its long series
of differentiations. The curds are the first differentiation, and
probably refer also to that cosmic matter which is supposed to
be the origin of the "Milky Way" - the matter we know. This
"matter," which, according to the revelation received from the
primeval Dhyani-Buddhas, is, during the periodical sleep of the
Universe, of the ultimate tenuity conceivable to the eye of the
perfect Bodhisatva - this matter, radical and cool, becomes, at
the first reawakening of cosmic motion, scattered through Space;
appearing, when seen from the Earth, in clusters and lumps, like
curds in thin milk. These are the seeds of the future worlds, the
"Star-stuff."

STANZA III. - Continued.

     6. THE ROOT OF LIFE WAS IN EVERY DROP OF THE OCEAN OF
IMMORTALITY _(Amrita)_ - {Amrita is "immortality."} - AND THE
OCEAN WAS RADIANT LIGHT, WHICH WAS FIRE AND HEAT AND MOTION.
DARKNESS VANISHED AND WAS NO MORE. - {See Commentary No. i to
this Stanza.} - IT DISAPPEARED IN ITS OWN ESSENCE, THE BODY OF
FIRE AND WATER, OF FATHER AND MOTHER (a).

     (a) The essence of darkness being absolute light, Darkness
is taken as the appropriate allegorical representation of the
condition of the Universe during Pralaya, or the term of absolute
rest, or non-being, as it appears to our finite minds. The
"fire," "heat," and "motion" here spoken of, are, of course, not
the fire, heat, and motion of physical science, but the underly-
ing abstractions, the noumena, or the soul, of the essence of
these material manifestations - the "things in themselves,"
which, as modern science confesses, entirely elude the instru-
ments of the laboratory, and which even the mind cannot grasp,
although it can equally little avoid the conclusion that these
underlying essences of things must exist. Fire and Water, or
Father - {See "Kwan-Shai-Yin." The real name from the text cannot
be given.} - and Mother, may be taken here to mean the divine Ray
and Chaos. "Chaos, from this union with Spirit obtaining sense,
shone with pleasure, and thus was produced the Protogonos (the
first-born light)," says a fragment of Hermas. Damascius calls
it Dis in "Theogony" - "The disposer of all things." (See Cory's
"_Ancient Fragments_," p. 314.)

     According to the Rosicrucian tenets, as handled and
explained by the profane for once correctly, if only partially,
so "Light and Darkness are identical in themselves, being only
divisible in the human mind;" and according to Robert Fludd,
"Darkness adopted illumination in order to make itself visible"
(_On Rosenkranz_). According to the tenets of Eastern Occultism,
DARKNESS is the one true actuality, the basis and the root of
light, without which the latter could never manifest itself, nor
even exist. Light is matter, and DARKNESS pure Spirit. Darkness,
in its radical, metaphysical basis, is subjective and absolute
light; while the latter in all its seeming effulgence and glory,
is merely a mass of shadows, as it can never be eternal, and is
simply an illusion, or Maya.

     Even in the mind-baffling and science-harassing Genesis,
light is created out of darkness "and darkness was upon the face
of the deep" (ch. i. v. 2.) - and not vice versa. "In him (in
darkness) was life; and the life _was the light of men-" (John
i. 4). A day may come when the eyes of men will be opened; and
then they may comprehend better than they do now, that verse in
the Gospel of John that says "And the light shineth in darkness;
and the darkness comprehendeth it not." They will see then that
the word "darkness" does not apply to man's spiritual eyesight,
but indeed to "Darkness," the absolute, that comprehendeth not
(cannot cognize) transient light, however transcendent to human
eyes. _Demon est Deus inversus_. The devil is now called Darkness
by the Church, whereas, in the Bible he is called the "Son of
God" (see Job), the bright star of the early morning, Lucifer
(see Isaiah). There is a whole philosophy of dogmatic craft in
the reason why the first Archangel, who sprang from the depths
of Chaos, was called Lux (Lucifer), the "Luminous Son of the
Morning," or manvantaric Dawn. He was transformed by the Church
into Lucifer or Satan, because he is higher and older than
Jehovah, and had to be sacrificed to the new dogma. (See Book
II.)

STANZA III. - Continued.

     7. BEHOLD, OH LANOO! - {Lanoo is a student, a chela who
studies practical Esotericism.} - THE RADIANT CHILD OF THE TWO,
THE UNPARALLELED REFULGENT GLORY, BRIGHT SPACE, SON OF DARK
SPACE, WHO EMERGES FROM THE DEPTHS OF THE GREAT DARK WATERS. IT
IS OEAOHOO, THE YOUNGER, THE * * * _(whom thou knowest now as
Kwan-Shai-Yin. - Comment)_ (a). HE SHINES FORTH AS THE SUN. HE
IS THE BLAZING DIVINE DRAGON OF WISDOM. THE EKA IS CHATUR
_(four)_, AND CHATUR TAKES TO ITSELF THREE, AND THE UNION
PRODUCES THE SAPTA _(seven)_ IN WHOM ARE THE SEVEN WHICH BECOME
THE TRIDASA - {"Tri-dasa," or three times ten (30), alludes to
the Vedic deities, in round numbers, or more accurately 33 - a
sacred number. They are the 12 Adityas, the 8 Vasus, the 11
Rudras, and 2 Aswins - the twin sons of the Sun and the Sky. This
is the root-number of the Hindu Pantheon, which enumerates 33
crores or over three hundred millions of gods and goddesses.} -
_(the thrice ten)_ THE HOSTS AND THE MULTITUDES (b). BEHOLD HIM
LIFTING THE VEIL, AND UNFURLING IT FROM EAST TO WEST. HE SHUTS
OUT THE ABOVE AND LEAVES THE BELOW TO BE SEEN AS THE GREAT
ILLUSION. HE MARKS THE PLACES FOR THE SHINING ONES _(stars)_ AND
TURNS THE UPPER _(space)_ INTO A SHORELESS SEA OF FIRE, AND THE
ONE MANIFESTED _(element)_ INTO THE GREAT WATERS (c).

     "Bright Space, son of dark Space," corresponds to the Ray
dropped at the first thrill of the new "Dawn" into the great
Cosmic depths, from which it re-emerges differentiated as Oeaohoo
the younger, (the "new LIFE"), to become, to the end of the life-
cycle, the germ of all things. He is "the Incorporeal man who
contains in himself the divine Idea," - the generator of Light
and Life, to use an expression of Philo Judaeus. He is called the
"Blazing Dragon of Wisdom," because, firstly, he is that which
the Greek philosophers called the Logos, the Verbum of the
Thought Divine; and secondly, because in Esoteric philosophy this
first manifestation, being the synthesis or the aggregate of
Universal Wisdom, Oeaohoo, "the Son of the Son," contains in
himself the Seven Creative Hosts (The Sephiroth), and is thus the
essence of manifested Wisdom. "He who bathes in the light of
Oeaohoo will never be deceived by the veil of Maya."

     Kwan-Shai-Yin is identical with, and an equivalent of the
Sanskrit _Avalokiteshwara,_ and as such he is an androgynous
deity, like the Tetragrammaton and all the Logoi of antiquity. -
 {Hence all the higher gods of antiquity are all "Sons of the
Mother" before they become those of the "Father." The Logoi, like
Jupiter or Zeus, Son of Kronos-Saturn, "Infinite Time" (or Kala),
in their origin were represented as male-female. Zeus is said to
be the "beautiful Virgin," and Venus is made bearded. Apollo is
originally bisexual, so is Brahma-Vach in Manu and the Puranas.
Osiris is interchangeable with Isis, and Horus is of both sexes.
Finally St. John's vision in Revelation, that of the Logos, who
is now connected with Jesus - is hermaphrodite, for he is
described as having female breasts. So is the Tetragrammaton =
Jehovah. But there are two Avalokiteshwaras in Esotericism; the
first and the second _Logos_.}  It is only by some sects in China
that he is anthropomorphized and represented with female
attributes, - {No religious symbol can escape profanation and
even derision in our days of politics and Science. In Southern
India the writer has seen a converted native making pujah with
offerings before a statue of Jesus clad in woman's clothes and
with a ring in his nose. When asking the meaning of the masquer-
ade we were answered that it was Jesu-Maria blended in one, and
that it was done by the permission of the Padri, as the zealous
convert had no money to purchase two statues or "idols" as they,
very properly, were called by a witness - another but a
non_converted Hindu. Blasphemous this will appear to a dogmatic
Christian, but the Theosophist and the Occultist must award the
palm of logic to the converted Hindu. The esoteric Christos in
the _gnosis_ is, of course, sexless, but in exoteric _theology_
he is male and female.} - when, under his female aspect, he
becomes Kwan-Yin, the goddess of mercy, called the "Divine
Voice." - {The Gnostic Sophia, "Wisdom" who is "the Mother" of
the Ogdoad (Aditi, in a certain sense, with her eight sons), is
the Holy Ghost and the Creator of all, as in the ancient systems.
The "father" is a far later invention. The earliest manifested
Logos was female everywhere - the mother of the seven planetary
powers.} - The latter is the patron deity of Thibet and of the
island of Puto in China, where both deities have a number of
monasteries. - {See "Chinese Buddhism," by the Rev. J. C. Edkins,
who always gives correct facts, although his conclusions are very
frequently erroneous.} - (See Part II. Kwan-Shai-Yin and Kwan-
yin.)
     (b) The "Dragon of Wisdom" is the One, the "Eka" (Sanskrit)
or Saka. It is curious that Jehovah's name in Hebrew should also
be One, Echod. "His name is Echod": say the Rabbins. The
philologists ought to decide which of the two is derived from the
other - linguistically and symbolically: surely, not the
Sanskrit? The "One" and the Dragon are expressions used by the
ancients in connection with their respective Logoi. Jehovah -
esoterically (as Elohim) - is also the Serpent or Dragon that
tempted Eve, and the "Dragon" is an old glyph for "Astral Light"
(Primordial Principle), "which is the Wisdom of Chaos." Archaic
philosophy, recognizing neither Good nor Evil as a fundamental
or independent power, but starting from the Absolute ALL
(Universal Perfection eternally), traced both through the course
of natural evolution to pure Light condensing gradually into
form, hence becoming Matter or Evil. It was left with the early
and ignorant Christian fathers to degrade the philosophical and
highly scientific idea of this emblem (the Dragon) into the
absurd superstition called the "Devil." They took it from the
later Zoroastrians, who saw devils or the Evil in the Hindu
Devas, and the word Evil thus became by a double transmutation
D'Evil in every tongue (Diabolos, Diable, Diavolo, Teufel). But
the Pagans have always shown a philosophical discrimination in
their symbols. The primitive symbol of the serpent symbolised
divine Wisdom and Perfection, and had always stood for psychical
Regeneration and Immortality. Hence - Hermes, calling the serpent
the most spiritual of all beings; Moses, initiated in the wisdom
of Hermes, following suit in Genesis; the Gnostic's Serpent with
the seven vowels over its head, being the emblem of the seven
hierarchies of the Septenary or Planetary Creators. Hence, also,
the Hindu serpent Sesha or Ananta, "the Infinite," a name of
Vishnu, whose first Vahan or vehicle on the primordial waters is
this serpent. - {Like the _logoi_ and the Hierarchies of Powers,
however, the "Serpent" have to be distinguished one from the
other. Sesha or Ananta, "the couch of Vishnu," is an allegorical
abstraction, symbolizing infinite Time in Space, which contains
the germ and throws off periodically the efflorescence of this
germ, the _manifested_ Universe; whereas, the gnostic _Ophis_
contained the same triple symbolism in its seven vowels as the
One, Three and Seven-syllabled _Oeaohoo_ of the Archaic doctrine;
i.e., the One Unmanifested Logos, the Second manifested, the
triangle concreting into the Quaternary or Tetragrammaton, and
the rays of the latter on the material plane.} - Yet they all
made a difference between the good and the bad Serpent (the
Astral Light of the Kabalists) - between the former, the
embodiment of divine Wisdom in the region of the Spiritual, and
the latter, Evil, on the plane of matter.- {The Astral Light, or
the Ether, of the ancient pagans (for the name of Astral Light
is quite modern) is Spirit-Matter. Beginning with the pure
spiritual plane, it becomes grosser as it descends until it
becomes the _Maya_ or the tempting and deceitful serpent on our
plane.} - Jesus accepted the serpent as a synonym of Wisdom, and
this formed part of his teaching: "Be ye wise as serpents," he
says. "In the beginning, before Mother became Father-Mother, the
fiery Dragon moved in the infinitudes alone" _(Book of
Sarparajni_). The Aitareya Brahmana calls the Earth Sarparajni,
"the Serpent Queen," and "the Mother of all that moves." Before
our globe became egg-shaped (and the Universe also) "a long trail
of Cosmic dust (or fire mist) moved and writhed like a serpent
in Space." The "Spirit of God moving on Chaos" was symbolized by
every nation in the shape of a fiery serpent breathing fire and
light upon the primordial waters, until it had incubated cosmic
matter and made it assume the annular shape of a serpent with its
tail in its mouth - which symbolises not only Eternity and
Infinitude, but also the globular shape of all the bodies formed
within the Universe from that fiery mist. The Universe, as well
as the Earth and Man, cast off periodically, serpent-like, their
old skins, to assume new ones after a time of rest. The serpent
is, surely, a not less graceful or a more unpoetical image than
the caterpillar and chrysalis from which springs the butterfly,
the Greek emblem of Psyche, the human soul. The "Dragon" was also
the symbol of the Logos with the Egyptians, as with the Gnostics.
In the "Book of Hermes," Pymander, the oldest and the most
spiritual of the Logoi of the Western Continent, appears to
Hermes in the shape of a Fiery Dragon of "Light, Fire, and
Flame." Pymander, the "Thought Divine" personified, says:

     "The Light is me, I am the Nous (the mind or Manu), I am thy
God, and I am far older than the human principle which escapes
from the shadow ("_Darkness_," or the concealed Deity). I am the
germ of thought, the resplendent _Word,_ the _Son_ of God. All
that thus sees and hears in thee is the _Verbum_ of the Master,
it is the Thought _(Mahat)_ which is God, the Father. - (By "God,
the Father," the seventh principle in Man and Kosmos are here
unmistakably meant, this principle being inseparable in its Esse
and Nature from the seventh Cosmic principle. In one sense it is
the Logos of the Greeks and the Avalokiteswara of the esoteric
Buddhists.} - The celestial Ocean, the Aether - is the _Breath_
of the Father, the life-giving principle, the _Mother,_ the Holy
Spirit, - for these are not separated, and their union is LIFE."

     Here we find the unmistakable echo of the Archaic Secret
Doctrine, as now expounded. Only the latter does not place at the
head and Evolution of Life "the Father," who comes third and is
the "Son of the Mother," but the "Eternal and Ceaseless Breath
of the ALL." The -Mahat- (Understanding, Universal Mind, Thought,
etc.), before it manifests itself as Brahma or Siva, appears as
Vishnu, says _Sankhya Sara_ (p. 16); hence _Mahat_has several
aspects, just as the _logos_ has. _Mahat_ is called the Lord, in
the _Primary_ Creation, and is, in this sense, Universal
Cognition or _Thought Divine_; but, "That Mahat which was first
produced is (afterwards) called _Ego-ism,_ when it is born as
"I," that is said to be the _second_ Creation" (_Anugita_  ch.
xxvi.). And the translator (an able and learned Brahmin, not a
European Orientalist) explains in a footnote (6), "i.e., when
Mahat develops into the feeling of Self-Consciousness - I - then
it assumes the name of Egoism," which, translated into our
esoteric phraseology, means when _Mahat_ is transformed into the
human _Manas_ (or even that of the finite gods), and becomes
_Aham_-ship. Why it is called the _Mahat_ of the _Second_
creation (or the _ninth_, that of the _Kumara_ in _Vishnu
Purana_) will be explained in Book II. The "Sea of Fire" is then
the Super-Astral (i.e., noumenal) Light, the first radiation from
the _Root,_ the Mulaprakriti, the undifferentiated Cosmic
Substance, which becomes _Astral_ Matter. It is also called the
"Fiery Serpent," as above described. If the student bears in mind
that there is but One Universal Element, which is infinite,
unborn, and undying, and that all the rest - as in the world of
phenomena - are but so many various differentiated aspects and
transformations (correlations, they are now called) of that One,
from Cosmical down to microcosmical effects, from super-human
down to human and sub-human beings, the totality, in short, of
objective existence - then the first and chief difficulty will
disappear and Occult Cosmology may be mastered, - {In the
Egyptian as in the Indian theogony there was a _concealed_ deity,
the ONE, and the creative, androgynous god. Thus _Shoo_ is the
god of creation and Osiris is, in his original primary form, the
"god whose name is unknown." (See Mariette's Abydos II., p. 63,
and Vol. III., pp. 413, 414, No. 1122.)} - All the Kabalists and
Occultists, Eastern and Western, recognise (a) the identity of
"Father-mother" with primordial _Aether_ or _Akasa,_ (Astral
Light) - {See next note.} -; and (b) its homogeneity before the
evolution of the "Son," cosmically _Fohat_, for it is Cosmic
Electricity. "Fohat hardens and scatters the seven brothers"
(Book III. Dzyan); which means that the primordial Electric
Entity - for the Eastern Occultists insist that Electricity is
an Entity - electrifies into life, and separates primordial stuff
or pregenetic matter into atoms, themselves the source of all
life and consciousness. "There exists an universal _agent unique_
of all forms and of life, that is called Od,- {Od is the pure
life-giving Light, or magnetic fluid; Ob the messenger of death
used by the sorcerers, the nefarious evil fluid; Aour is the
synthesis of the two, Astral Light proper. Can the Philologists
tell why Od - a term used by Reichenbach to denominate the vital
fluid - is also a Tibetan word meaning light, brightness,
radiancy? It equally means "Sky" in an occult sense. Whence the
root of the word? But _Akasa_ is not quite _Ether_, but far
higher than that, as will be shown.} - Ob, and Aour, active and
passive, positive and negative, like day and night: it is the
first light in Creation" (Eliphas Levi's Kabala): - the first
Light of the primordial Elohim - the Adam, "male and female" -
or (scientifically) ELECTRICITY AND LIFE.

     (c) The ancients represented it by a serpent, for "Fohat
hisses as he glides hither and thither" (in zigzags). The Kabala
figures it with the Hebrew letter Teth, whose symbol is the
serpent which played such a prominent part in the Mysteries. Its
universal value is nine, for it is the ninth letter of the
alphabet and the ninth door of the fifty portals or gateways that
lead to the concealed mysteries of being. It is the magical agent
_par excellence_, and designates in Hermetic philosophy "Life
infused into primordial matter," the essence that composes all
things, and the spirit that determines their form. But there are
two secret Hermetical operations, one spiritual, the other
material-correlative, and for ever united. "Thou shalt separate
the earth from the fire, the subtile from the solid - that which
ascends from earth to heaven and descends again from heaven to
earth. It (the subtile light), is the strong force of every
force, for it conquers every subtile thing and penetrates into
every solid. Thus was the world formed" _(Hermes)._

     It was not Zeno alone, the founder of the Stoics, who taught
that the Universe evolves, when its primary substance is
transformed from the state of fire into that of air, then into
water, etc. Heracleitus of Ephesus maintained that the one
principle that underlies all phenomena in Nature is fire. The
intelligence that moves the Universe is fire, and fires is
intelligence. And while Anaximenes said the same of air, and
Thales of Miletus (600 years B.C.) of water, the Esoteric
Doctrine reconciles all those philosophers by showing that though
each was right the system of none was complete.

STANZA III. - Continued.

8. WHERE WAS THE GERM, AND WHERE WAS NOW DARKNESS? WHERE IS THE
SPIRIT OF THE FLAME THAT BURNS IN THY LAMP, OH LANOO? THE GERM
IS THAT, AND THAT IS LIGHT; THE WHITE BRILLIANT SON OF THE DARK
HIDDEN FATHER (a).

     (a) The answer to the first question, suggested by the
second, which is the reply of the teacher to the pupil, contains
in a single phrase one of the most essential truths of occult
philosophy. It indicates the existence of things imperceptible
to our physical senses which are of far greater importance, more
real and more permanent, than those that appeal to these senses
themselves. Before the Lanoo can hope to understand the transcen-
dentally metaphysical problem contained in the first question he
must be able to answer the second, while the very answer he gives
to the second will furnish him with the clue to the correct reply
to the first.

     In the Sanscrit Commentary on this Stanza, the terms used
for the concealed and the unrevealed Principle are many. In the
earliest MSS. of Indian literature this Unrevealed, Abstract
Deity has no name. It is called generally "_That_" (_Tad_ in
Sanskrit), and means all that is, was, and will be, or that can
be so received by the human mind.

     Among such appellations, given, of course, only in esoteric
philosophy, as the "Unfathomable Darkness," the "Whirlwind," etc.
- it is also called the "It of the Kalahansa, the Kala-ham-sa,"
and even the "Kali Hamsa," (Black swan). Here the _m_ and the _n_
are convertible, and both sound like the nasal French _an_ or
_am_, or, again, _en_ or _em_ (_Ennui, Embarras_, etc.) As in the
Hebrew Bible, many a mysterious sacred name in Sanscrit conveys
to the profane ear no more than some ordinary, and often vulgar
word, because it is concealed anagrammatically or otherwise. This
word of Hansa or esoterically "hamsa" is just such a case. Hamsa
is equal to a-ham-ha, three words meaning "I am he" (in English),
while divided in still another way it will read "So-ham," "he
(is) I" - Soham being equal to Sah, "he," and aham, "I," or "I
am he." In this alone is contained the universal mystery, the
doctrine of the identity of man's essence with god-essence, for
him who understands the language of wisdom. Hence the glyph of,
and the allegory about, Kalahansa (or hamsa), and the name given
to Brahma neuter (later on, to the male Brahma) of
"Hansa-Vahana," he who uses the Hansa as his vehicle." The same
word may be read "Kalaham-sa" or "I am I" in the eternity of
Time, answering to the Biblical, or rather Zoroastrian "I am that
I am." The same doctrine is found in the Kabala, as witness the
following extract from an unpublished MSS. by Mr. S. Liddell
McGregor Mathers, the learned Kabalist: "The three pronouns,
Hoa, Atah, Ani; He, Thou, I; are used to symbolize the ideas of
Macroprosopos and Microprosopos in the Hebrew Qabalah. Hoa, "He,"
is applied to the hidden and concealed Macroprosopos; Atah,
"Thou," to Microprosopos; and Ani, "I," to the latter when He is
represented as speaking. (See_ Lesser Holy Assembly,_ 204 et
seq.) It is to be noted that each of these names consists of
three letters, of which the letter Aleph, A, forms the conclusion
of the first word Hoa, and the commencement of Atah and Ani, as
if it were the connecting link between them. But is the symbol
of the Unity and consequently of the unvarying Idea of the Divine
operating through all these. But behind the Aleph in the name Hoa
are the letters [representing] the symbols of the numbers Six and
Five, the Male and the Female, the Hexagram and the Pentagram.
And the numbers of these three words, Hoa Atah Ani, are 12, 406,
and 61, which are resumed in the key numbers of 3, 10, and 7, by
the Qabalah of the Nine Chambers, which is a form of the
exegetical rule of Temura."

     It is useless to attempt to explain the mystery in full.
Materialists and the men of modern Science will never understand
it, since, in order to obtain clear perception of it, one has
first of all to admit the postulate of a universally diffused,
omnipresent, eternal Deity in Nature; secondly, to have fathomed
the mystery of electricity in its true essence; and thirdly, to
credit man with being the septenary symbol, on the terrestrial
plane, of the ONE GREAT UNIT (the Logos), which is Itself the
Seven-vowelled sign, the Breath crystallized into the WORD. -
{This is again similar to the doctrine of Fichte and German
Pantheists. The former reveres Jesus as the great teacher who
inculcated the unity of the spirit of man with the God-Spirit
(the Adwaita doctrine) or universal Principle. It is difficult
to find a single speculation in Western metaphysics which has not
been anticipated by Archaic Eastern philosophy. From Kant to
Herbert Spencer, it is all a more or less distorted echo of the
Dwaita, Adwaita, and Vedantic doctrines generally.} - He who
believes in all this, has also to believe in the multiple
combination of the seven planets of Occultism and of the Kabala,
with the twelve zodiacal signs; to attribute, as we do, to each
planet and to each constellation an influence which, in the words
of Ely Star (a French Occultist), "is proper to it, beneficent
or maleficent, and this, after the planetary Spirit which rules
it, who, in his turn, is capable of influencing men and things
which are found in harmony with him and with which he has any
affinity." For these reasons, and since few believe in the
foregoing, all that can now be given is that in both cases the
symbol of Hansa (whether "I," "He," Goose or Swan) is an
important symbol, representing, for instance, Divine Wisdom,
Wisdom in darkness beyond the reach of men. For all exoteric
purposes, Hansa, as every Hindu knows, is a fabulous bird, which,
when given milk mixed with water for its food (in the allegory)
separated the two, drinking the milk and leaving the water; thus
showing inherent wisdom - milk standing symbolically for spirit,
and water for matter.

     That this allegory is very ancient and dates from the very
earliest archaic period, is shown by the mention (in Bhagavata
Purana) of a certain caste named "Hamsa " or "Hansa," which was
the "one caste" _par excellence_; when far back in the mists of
a forgotten past there was among the Hindus only "One Veda, One
Deity, One Caste." There is also a range in the Himalayas,
described in the old books as being situated north of Mount Meru,
called "Hamsa," and connected with episodes pertaining to the
history of religious mysteries and initiations. As to the name
of Kala-Hansa being the supposed vehicle of Brahma-Prajapati, in
the exoteric texts and translations of the Orientalists, it is
quite a mistake. Brahma, the neuter, is called by them Kala-Hansa
and Brahma, the male, Hansa-Vahana, because forsooth "his vehicle
or Vahan is a swan or goose" (vide "the Hindu Classical Dictio-
nary.") This is a purely exoteric gloss. Esoterically and
logically, if Brahma, the infinite, is all that is described by
the Orientalists, namely, agreeably with the Vedantic texts, an
abstract deity in no way characterised by the description of any
human attributes, and it is still maintained that he or it is
called Kala-Hansa - then how can it ever become the Vahan of
Brahma, the manifested finite god? It is quite the reverse. The
"Swan or goose" (Hansa) is the symbol of that male or temporary
deity, as he, the emanation of the primordial Ray, is made to
serve as a Vahan or vehicle for that divine Ray, which otherwise
could not manifest itself in the Universe, being,
antiphrastically, itself an emanation of "Darkness" - for our
human intellect, at any rate. It is Brahma, then, who is Kala-
Hansa, and the Ray, the Hansa-Vahana.

     As to the strange symbol chosen, it is equally suggestive;
the true mystic significance being the idea of a universal
matrix, figured by the primordial waters of the "deep," or the
opening for the reception, and subsequently for the issue, of
that one ray (the Logos), which contains in itself the other
seven procreative rays or powers (the logoi or builders). Hence
the choice by the Rosecroix of the aquatic fowl - whether swan
or pelican, - {Whether the genus of the bird be _cygnus, anser,_
or _pelecanus,_ it is no matter, as it is an aquatic bird
floating or moving on the waters like the Spirit, and then
issuing from those waters to give birth to other beings. The true
significance of the symbol of the Eighteenth Degree of the Rose-
Croix is precisely this, though poetised later on into the
motherly feeling of the Pelican rending its bosom to feed its
seven little ones with its blood.} - with seven young ones for
a symbol, modified and adapted to the religion of every country.
En-Soph is called the "Fiery Soul of the Pelican" in the Book of
Numbers - (The reason why Moses forbids eating the pelican and
swan, classing the two among the unclean fowls, and permits
eating "bald locusts, beetles, and the grasshopper after his
kind" (Leviticus xi. and Deuteronomy xiv.) is a purely physiolog-
ical one, and has to do with mystic symbology only in so far as
the word "unclean," like every other word, ought not to be read
and understood literally, as it is esoteric like all the rest,
and may as well mean "holy" as not. It is a blind, very sugges-
tive in connection with certain superstitions - e.g., that of the
Russian people who will not use the pigeon for food; not because
it is "unclean," but because the "Holy Ghost" is credited with
having appeared under the form of a Dove.} - (See Part II. "The
Hidden Deity and its Symbols and Glyphs.") Appearing with every
Manvantara as Narayan, or Swayambhuva (the Self-Existent), and
penetrating into the Mundane Egg, it emerges from it at the end
of the divine incubation as Brahma or Prajapati, a progenitor of
the future Universe into which he expands. He is Purusha
(spirit), but he is also Prakriti (matter). Therefore it is only
after separating himself into two halves - Brahma-vach (the
female) and Brahma-Viraj (the male), that the Prajapati becomes
the male Brahma.

STANZA III. - Continued.

     9. LIGHT IS COLD FLAME, AND FLAME IS FIRE, AND THE FIRE
PRODUCES HEAT, WHICH YIELDS WATER, THE WATER OF LIFE IN THE GREAT
MOTHER _(Chaos)_ (a).

     (a) It must be remembered that the words "Light," "Fire,"
and "Flame" used in the Stanzas have been adopted by the
translators thereof from the vocabulary of the old "Fire
philosophers," - {Not the Mediaeval Alchemists, but the Magi and
Fire-Worshippers, from whom the Rosicrucians or the Philosophers
_per ignem_, the successors of the theurgists borrowed all their
ideas concerning Fire, as a mystic and divine element.} - in
order to render better the meaning of the archaic terms and
symbols employed in the original. Otherwise they would have
remained entirely unintelligible to a European reader. But to a
student of the Occult the terms used will be sufficiently clear.

     All these - " Light," "Flame," "Hot," "Cold," "Fire,"
"Heat," "Water," and the "water of life" are all, on our plane,
the progeny; or as a modern physicist would say, the correlations
of ELECTRICITY. Mighty word, and a still mightier symbol! Sacred
generator of a no less sacred progeny; of fire - the creator, the
preserver and the destroyer; of light - the essence of our divine
ancestors; of flame - the Soul of things. Electricity, the ONE
Life at the upper rung of Being, and Astral Fluid, the Athanor
of the Alchemists, at its lowest; GOD and DEVIL, GOOD and EVIL. -

     Now, why is Light called in the Stanzas "cold flame"?
Because in the order of Cosmic evolution (as taught by the
Occultist), the energy that actuates matter after its first
formation into atoms is generated on our plane by Cosmic heat;
and because Kosmos, in the sense of dissociated matter, was not,
before that period. The first primordial matter, eternal and
coeval with Space, "which has neither a beginning nor an end,"
is "neither hot nor cold, but is of its own special nature," says
the Commentary (Book II). Heat and cold are relative qualities
and pertain to the realms of the manifested worlds, which all
proceed from the manifested _Hyle_, which, in its absolutely
latent aspect, is referred to as the "cold Virgin," and when
awakened to life, as the "Mother." The ancient Western Cosmogonic
myths state that at first there was but cold mist which was the
Father, and the prolific slime (the Mother, Ilus or Hyle), from
which crept forth the Mundane snake-matter, _(Isis_, vol. i., p.
146). Primordial matter, then, before it emerges from the plane
of the never-manifesting, and awakens to the thrill of action
under the impulse of Fohat, is but "a cool Radiance, colourless,
formless, tasteless, and devoid of every quality and aspect."
Even such are her first-born, the "four sons," who "are One, and
become Seven," - the entities, by whose qualifications and names
the ancient Eastern Occultists called the four of the seven
primal "centres of Forces," or atoms, that develop later into the
great Cosmic "Elements," now divided into the seventy or so sub-
elements, known to science. The four primal natures of the first
Dhyan Chohans, are the so-called (for want of better terms)
"Akasic," "Ethereal," "Watery," and "Fiery," answering, in the
terminology of practical occultism, to scientific definitions of
gases, which, to convey a clear idea to both Occultists and
laymen, must be defined as Parahydrogenic, - {"beyond," outside.}
- Paraoxygenic, Oxyhydrogenic, and Ozonic, or perhaps Nitr-
ozonic; the latter forces or gases (in Occultism, supersensuous,
yet atomic substances) being the most effective and active when
energising on the plane of more grossly differentiated matter. -
 {Each of these and many more are probably the missing links of
chemistry. They are known by other names in Alchemy and to the
Occultists who practise in phenomenal powers. It is by combining
and recombining in a certain way (or dissociating) the "Elements"
by means of astral fire that the greatest phenomena are pro-
duced.} - These are both electro-positive and electro-negative.

STANZA III. - Continued.

      10. FATHER-MOTHER SPIN A WEB WHOSE UPPER END IS FASTENED
TO SPIRIT _(Purusha)_, THE LIGHT OF THE ONE DARKNESS, AND THE
LOWER ONE TO MATTER _(Prakriti)_ ITS _(the Spirit's)_ SHADOWY
END; AND THIS WEB IS THE UNIVERSE SPUN OUT OF THE TWO SUBSTANCES
MADE IN ONE, WHICH IS SWABHAVAT (a).

     (a) In the Mandukya (Mundaka) Upanishad it is written, "As
a spider throws out and retracts its web, as herbs spring up in
the ground - so is the Universe derived from the undecaying one"
(I. i. 7). Brahma, as "the germ of unknown Darkness," is the
material from which all evolves and develops "as the web from the
spider, as foam from the water," etc. This is only graphic and
true, if Brahma the "Creator" is, as a term, derived from the
root _brih_, to increase or expand. Brahma "expands" and becomes
the Universe woven out of his own substance.

     The same idea has been beautifully expressed by Goethe, who
says:
"Thus at the roaring loom of Time I ply,
And weave for God the garment thou see'st Him
by."
STANZA III. - Continued.

     11. IT _(the Web)_ EXPANDS WHEN THE BREATH OF FIRE _(the
Father)_ IS UPON IT; IT CONTRACTS WHEN THE BREATH OF THE MOTHER
_(the root of Matter)_ TOUCHES IT. THEN THE SONS _(the Elements
with their respective Powers, or Intelligences)_  DISSOCIATE AND
SCATTER, TO RETURN INTO THEIR MOTHER'S BOSOM AT THE END OF THE
"GREAT DAY" AND REBECOME ONE WITH HER (a). WHEN IT _(the Web)_
IS COOLING, IT BECOMES RADIANT, ITS SONS EXPAND AND CONTRACT
THROUGH THEIR OWN SELVES AND HEARTS; THEY EMBRACE INFINITUDE. (b)

     The expanding of the Universe under the breath of FIRE is
very suggestive in the light of the "Fire mist" period of which
modern science speaks so much, and knows in reality so little.

     Great heat breaks up the compound elements and resolves the
heavenly bodies into their primeval one element, explains the
commentary. "Once disintegrated into its primal constituent by
getting within the attraction and reach of a focus, or centre of
heat (energy), of which many are carried about to and fro in
space, a body, whether alive or dead, will be vapourised and held
in "the bosom of the Mother" until Fohat, gathering a few of the
clusters of Cosmic matter (nebulae) will, by giving it an
impulse, set it in motion anew, develop the required heat, and
then leave it to follow its own new growth."

     The expanding and contracting of the Web - i.e., the world
stuff or atoms - expresses here the pulsatory movement; for it
is the regular contraction and expansion of the infinite and
shoreless Ocean of that which we may call the noumenon of matter
emanated by Swabhavat, which causes the universal vibration of
atoms. But it is also suggestive of something else. It shows that
the ancients were acquainted with that which is now the puzzle
of many scientists and especially of astronomers: the cause of
the first ignition of matter or the world-stuff, the paradox of
the heat produced by the refrigerative contraction and other such
Cosmic riddles. For it points unmistakably to a knowledge by the
ancients of such phenomena. "There is heat internal and heat
external in every atom," say the manuscript Commentaries, to
which the writer has had access; "the breath of the Father (or
Spirit) and the breath (or heat) of the Mother (matter);" and
they give explanations which show that the modern theory of the
extinction of the solar fires by loss of heat through radiation,
is erroneous. The assumption is false even on the Scientists' own
admission. For as Professor Newcomb points out (Popular Astrono-
my, pp. 506-508), "by losing heat, a gaseous body contracts, and
the heat generated by the contraction exceeds that which it had
to lose in order to produce the contraction." This paradox, that
a body gets hotter as the shrinking produced by its getting
colder is greater, led to long disputes. The surplus of heat, it
was argued, was lost by radiation, and to assume that the
temperature is not lowered _pari passu_ with a decrease of volume
under a constant pressure, is to set at nought the law of Charles
(Nebular Theory, Winchell). Contraction develops heat, it is
true; but contraction (from cooling) is incapable of developing
the whole amount of heat at any time existing in the mass, or
even of maintaining a body at a constant temperature, etc.
Professor Winchell tries to reconcile the paradox - only a
seeming one in fact, as Homer Lanes proved, - by suggesting
"something besides heat." "May it not be," he asks, "simply a
repulsion among the molecules, which varies according to some law
of the distance?" But even this will be found irreconcilable,
unless this "something besides heat" is ticketed "Causeless
Heat," the "Breath of Fire," the all-creative Force plus ABSOLUTE
INTELLIGENCE, which physical science is not likely to accept.

     However it may be, the reading of this Stanza shows it,
notwithstanding its archaic phraseology, to be more scientific
than even modern science.

STANZA III. - Continued.

     12. THEN SVABHAVAT SENDS FOHAT TO HARDEN THE ATOMS. EACH
_(of these)_ IS A PART OF THE WEB _(Universe)_. REFLECTING THE
"SELF-EXISTENT LORD" _(Primeval Light)_ LIKE A MIRROR, EACH
BECOMES IN TURN A WORLD  - {This is said in the sense that the
flame from a fire is endless, and that the lights of the whole
Universe could be lit at one simple rush-light without diminish-
ing its flame.}

     "Fohat hardens the atoms"; i.e., by infusing energy into
them: he scatters the atoms or primordial matter. "He scatters
himself while scattering matter into atoms" (MSS. Commentaries.)

     It is through Fohat that the ideas of the Universal Mind are
impressed upon matter. Some faint idea of the nature of Fohat may
be gathered from the appellation "Cosmic Electricity" sometimes
applied to it; but to the commonly known properties of electrici-
ty must, in this case, be added others, including intelligence.
It is of interest to note that modern science has come to the
conclusion, that all cerebration and brain-activity are attended
by electrical phenomena. _(For further details as to "Fohat" See
Stanza V. and Comments.")_


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