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by H. P. Blavatsky
THIS is the name given to the Periods called MANVANTARA (Manuantara, or
between the Manus) and PRALAYA (Dissolution); one referring to the
active periods of the Universe, the other to its times of relative and
complete rest -- according to whether they occur at the end of a
"Day," or an "Age" (a life) of Brahma. These
periods, which follow each other in regular succession, are also called
Kalpas, small and great, the minor and the Maha Kalpa; though, properly
speaking, the Maha Kalpa is never a "day," but a whole life or
age of Brahma, for it is said in the Brahma Vaivarta: "Chronologers
compute a Kalpa by the Life of Brahma; minor Kalpas, as Samvarta and the
rest, are numerous." In sober truth they are infinite; as they have
never had a commencement, i.e., there never was a first Kalpa, nor will
there ever be a last one, in Eternity.
One Parardha -- in the ordinary acceptation of this measure of time
-- or half of the existence of Brahma (in the present Maha Kalpa) has
already expired; the last Kalpa was the Padma, or that of the Golden
Lotos; the present one being Varaha 1
(the "boar" incarnation,
or Avatar).
HUMAN GODS AND DIVINE MEN.
By the scholar who studies the Hindu religion from the Puranas, one
thing is to be especially noted. He must not take literally, and in one
sense only, the statements therein found; since those which especially
concern the Manvantaras or Kalpas have to be understood in their several
references. So, for instance, these periods relate in the same language
to both the great and the small periods, to Maha Kalpas and to minor
Cycles. The Matsya, or Fish Avatar, happened before the Varaha or Boar
Avatar; the allegories, therefore, must relate to both the Padma and the
present manvantara, and also to the minor cycles which took place since
the reappearance of our Chain of Worlds and Earth. And, as the Matsya
Avatar of Vishnu and Vaivasvata's Deluge are correctly connected with an
event that happened on our Earth during this Round, it is evident that
while it may relate to pre-cosmic events (in the sense of our Kosmos or
Solar system) it has reference in our case to a distant geological
period. Not even Esoteric philosophy can claim to know, except by
analogical inference, that which took place before the reappearance of
our Solar System and previous to the last Maha Pralaya. But it teaches
distinctly that after the first geological disturbance in the Earth's
axis which ended in the sweeping down to the bottom of the Seas of the
whole second Continent, with its primeval races -- of which successive
"Earths" or Continents Atlantis was the fourth -- there came
another disturbance by the axis resuming as rapidly its previous degree
of inclination; when the Earth was indeed raised once more out of the
Waters, and -- as above so it is below; and vice versa. There were
"gods" on Earth in those days -- gods, and not men, as we know
them now, says the tradition. As will be shown in Book II., the
computation of periods in exoteric Hinduism refers to both the great
cosmic and the small terrestrial events and cataclysms, and the same may
be shown for names. For instance Yudishthira -- the first King of the
Sacea, who opens the Kali Yuga era, which has to last 432,000 years --
"an actual King and man who lived 3,102 years B.C.," applies
also, name and all, to the great Deluge at the time of the first sinking
of Atlantis. He is the "Yudishthira 2
born on the mountain of the
hundred peaks at the extremity of the world beyond which nobody can go" and "immediately
after the flood." (See Royal Asiat. Soc., Vol. 9, p. 364.) We know
of no "Flood" 3,102 years B.C. -- not even that of Noah, for,
agreeably with Judaeo-Christian chronology, it took place 2,349 years
B.C.
This relates to an esoteric division of time and a mystery explained
elsewhere, and may therefore be left aside for the present. Suffice to
remark at this juncture that all the efforts of imagination of the
Wilfords, Bentleys, and other would-be OEdipuses of esoteric Hindu
Chronology have sadly failed. No computation of either the Four Ages, or
the Manvantaras, has ever been unriddled by our very learned
Orientalists, who have therefore cut the Gordian Knot by proclaiming the
whole "a figment of the Brahmanical brain." So be it, and may
the great scholars rest in peace. This "figment" is given in
the Preliminary Sections which preface Anthropogenesis in Book II., and
with esoteric additions.
Let us see, however, what were the three kinds of pralayas, and what
is the popular belief about them. For once it agrees with Esotericism.
Of the pralaya before which fourteen Manvantaras elapse, having over
them as many presiding Manus, and at whose close occurs the
"incidental" or Brahma's dissolution, it is said in Vishnu
Purana, in condensed form, that "at the end of a thousand periods
of four ages, which complete a day of Brahma, the earth is almost
exhausted. The eternal Avyaya (Vishnu) assumes then the character of
Rudra (the destroyer, Siva) and re-unites all his creatures to himself.
He enters the Seven rays of the Sun and drinks up all the waters of the
globe; he causes the moisture to evaporate, thus drying up the whole
Earth. Oceans and rivers, torrents and small streams, are all exhaled.
Thus fed with abundant moisture the seven solar rays become sevens suns
by dilation, and they finally set the world on fire. Hari, the destroyer
of all things, who is 'the flame of time, Kalagni,' finally consumes the
Earth. Then Rudra, becoming Janardana, breathes clouds and rain."
There are many kinds of Pralaya, but three chief ones are specially
mentioned in old Hindu books; and of these, as Wilson shows: -- The
first is called NAIMITTIKA3
"occasional" or
"incidental," caused by the intervals of "Brahma's
Days;" it is the destruction of creatures, of all that lives and
has a form, but not of the substance which remains in statu quo till the
new DAWN in that "Night." The other is called PRAKRITIKA -- and occurs at the end of the Age or
Life of Brahma, when everything that exists is resolved into the primal
element, to be remodelled at the end of that longer night. But the
third, Atyantika, does not concern the Worlds or the Universe, but only
the individualities of some people; it is thus individual pralaya or
NIRVANA; after having reached which, there is no more future existence
possible, no rebirth till after the Maha Pralaya. The latter night,
lasting as it does 311,040,000,000,000 years, and having the possibility
of being almost doubled in case the lucky Jivanmukti reaches Nirvana at
an early period of a Manvantara, is long enough to be regarded as
eternal, if not endless. The Bhagavata (XII., iv, 35) speaks of a fourth
kind of pralaya, the Nitya or constant dissolution, and explains it as
the change which takes place imperceptibly in everything in this
Universe from the globe down to the atom -- without cessation. It is
growth and decay (life and death).
THE RE-BIRTH OF GODS.
When the Maha Pralaya arrives, the inhabitants of Swar-loka (the
upper sphere) disturbed by the conflagration, seek refuge "with the
Pitris, their progenitors, the Manus, the Seven Rishis, the various
orders of celestial Spirits and the Gods, in Maharloka." When the
latter is reached also, the whole of the above enumerated beings migrate
in their turn from Maharloka, and repair to Jana-loka in "their
subtile forms, destined to become re-embodied, in similar capacities as
their former, when the world is renewed at the beginning of the
succeeding Kalpa;" (Vayu Purana).
" . . . . These clouds, mighty in size, and loud in thunder,
fill up all space (Nabhas-tala)," goes on Vishnu Purana. -- (Book
VI., ch. iii.) "Showering down torrents of water, these clouds
quench the dreadful fires, and then they rain uninterruptedly for a
hundred (divine) years, and deluge the whole world (Solar System).
Pouring down, in drops as large as dice, these rains overspread the
earth, and fill the middle region (Bhuvaloka) and inundate heaven. The
world is now enveloped in darkness, and all things animate, or
inanimate, having perished, the clouds continue to pour down their
waters" . . . "and the Night of Brahma reigns supreme over the
scene of desolation . . . . ."
This is what we call in the Esoteric Doctrine a "Solar Pralaya"
. . . When the waters have reached the region of the Seven Rishis, and
the world (our Solar System) is one ocean, they stop. The breath of
Vishnu becomes a strong wind, which blows for another hundred (divine)
years until all clouds are dispersed. The wind is then reabsorbed: and
"THAT, of which all things are made, the Lord by whom all things
exist, He who is inconceivable, without beginning, the beginning of the
universe, reposes, sleeping upon Sesha (the Serpent of Infinity) in the
midst of the deep. The Adikrit (Creator?) Hari, sleeps upon the ocean of
Space in the form of Brahma -- glorified by Sanaka4 and the Siddha
(Saints) of Jana-loka, and contemplated by the holy denizens of Brahma-loka,
anxious for final liberation, involved in mystic slumber, the celestial
personification of his own illusions. . . ." This is the
Pratisanchara (dissolution?) termed incidental because Hari is its
incidental (ideal) Cause. . . . .5
When the Universal Spirit wakes, the
world revives; when he closes his eyes, all things fall upon the bed of
mystic slumber. In like manner, as 1,000 great ages constitute a Day of
Brahma (in the original it is Padma-yoni, the same as Abjayoni -- "lotos-born,"
not Brahma), so his Night consists of the same period. "Awaking at
the end of his night, the unborn . . . creates the Universe anew. . .
." (Vishnu Purana.)
This is "incidental" pralaya; what is the Elemental
Dissolution? "When by dearth and fire," says Parasara to
Maitreya, "all the worlds and Patalas (hells) are withered up . . .6
the progress of elemental dissolution is begun. Then, first the
waters swallow up the property of Earth (which is the rudiment of
smell), and earth deprived of this property proceeds to destruction --
and becomes one with water . . . . when the Universe is thus pervaded by
the waves of the watery Element, its rudimentary flavour is locked up by
the elements of fire . . . on account of which the waters themselves are
destroyed . . . and become one with fire; and the Universe is therefore,
entirely filled with flame (ethereal) which gradually overspreads the
whole world. While Space is one flame, the element of wind seizes upon
the rudimental property or form, which is the cause of light, and that
being withdrawn (pralina) all becomes of the nature of air. The rudiment
of form being destroyed, and Vibhavasu (fire?) deprived of its rudiment,
air extinguishes fire and spreads over space, which is deprived of light
when fire merges into air. Air, then, accompanied by sound, which is the
source of Ether, extends everywhere throughout the ten regions . . . .
until Ether seizes upon cohesion (Sparsa -- Touch?) its rudimental
property, by the loss of which, air is destroyed, and KHA remains
unmodified; devoid of form, flavour, touch (Sparsa), and smell, it
exists, embodied (murttimat) and vast, and pervades the whole Space.
Akasa, whose characteristic property and rudiment is sound (the
"Word"), occupies the whole containment of Space. Then the
origin (Noumenon?) of the Elements (Bhutadi), devours sound (collective
Demiurgos); and the hosts of Dhyan Chohans, and all the existing
Elements7
are at once merged into their original. The primary
Element, Consciousness, combined with tamasa (spiritual darkness) is
itself disintegrated by MAHAT (the Universal Intellect), whose
characteristic property is Buddhi, and earth and Mahat are the inner and
outer boundaries of the Universe." Thus as (in the beginning)
"were the seven forms of Prakriti (nature) reckoned from Mahat to
earth, so these seven successively re-enter into each other."8
THE DISSOLUTION OF THE EGG.
"The Egg of Brahma (Sarva-mandala) is dissolved in the waters
that surround it, with its seven zones (dwipas) seven oceans, seven
regions, and their mountains; the investure of water is drunk by the
fire; the (stratum of) fire is absorbed by (that of) air; air blends
itself with ether (Akasa); the Bhutadi (the origin, or rather the cause,
of the primary element) devours the ether and is (itself) destroyed by
Mahat (the Great, the Universal mind), which along with all these is
seized upon by Prakriti and disappears. The Prakriti is essentially the
same, whether discrete or indiscrete; only that which is discrete is
finally absorbed by and lost in the indiscrete. PUMS (Spirit) also,
which is one, pure, imperishable, eternal, all-pervading, is a portion
of that Supreme spirit which is all things. That Spirit (Sarvesa) which
is other than (embodied) Spirit, and in which there are no attributes of
name, species (naman and jati, or rupa, hence body rather than species),
or the like -- remains as the sole existence (SATTA). . . Prakriti and
Purusha both resolving finally into SUPREME SPIRIT. . . ." (From
Vishnu Purana, Wilson's mistakes being here corrected, and original
words put in brackets).
This is the final PRALAYA9
-- the Death of Kosmos -- after which
its Spirit rests in Nirvana, or in THAT for which there is neither Day
nor Night. All the other
pralayas are periodical and follow, in regular
succession, the Manvantaras, as the night follows the day of every human
creature, animal, and plant. The cycle of creation of the lives of
Kosmos is run down, the energy of the manifested "Word" having
its growth, culmination, and decrease, as have all things temporary,
however long their duration. The Creative Force is Eternal as Noumenon;
as a phenomenal manifestation in its aspects, it has a beginning and
must, therefore, have an end. During that interval it has its periods of
activity and its periods of rest. And these are the "Days and the
nights of Brahma." But Brahma, the Noumenon, never rests, as IT
never changes and ever IS, though IT cannot be said to be anywhere. . . .
The Jewish Kabalists felt this necessity of immutability in an
eternal, infinite Deity, and therefore applied the same thought to the
anthropomorphic god. The idea is poetical and very appropriate in its
application. In the Zohar we read as follows: --
"As Moses was keeping a vigil on Mount Sinai, in company with
the deity, who was concealed from his sight by a cloud, he felt a great
fear overcome him, and suddenly asked: 'Lord, where art thou . . . .
sleepest thou, O Lord? . . .' And the Spirit answered him: 'I never
sleep: were I to fall asleep for a moment BEFORE MY TIME, all the
creation would crumble into dissolution in one instant.' "
"Before my time" is very suggestive. It shows the God of
Moses to be only a temporary substitute, like Brahma the male, a
substitute and an aspect of THAT which is immutable, and which therefore
can take no part in the "days," or in the "nights,"
nor have any concern whatever with reaction or dissolution.
While the Eastern Occultists have seven modes of interpretation, the
Jews have only four -- namely, the real-mystical; the allegorical; the
moral; and the literal or Pashut. The latter is the key of the exoteric
Churches and not worth discussion. Read in the first, or mystical key,
here are several sentences which show the identity of the foundations of
construction in every Scripture. It is given in Mr. T. Myer's excellent
book on the Kabalistic works he seems to have well studied. I quote
verbatim. "B'raisheeth barah elohim ath hash ama yem v'ath haa'retz
-- i.e., 'In the beginning the God(s) created the heavens and the
earth;" (the meaning of which is:) the six Sephiroth of
Construction,10
over which B'raisheeth stands, all belong Below. It
created six (and) on these stand all Things. And those depend upon the
seven forms of the Cranium up to the Dignity of all Dignities. And the
second 'Earth' does not come into calculation, therefore it has been
said: 'And from it (that Earth) which underwent the curse, came it
forth.' . . . . 'It (the Earth) was without form and void; and darkness
was over the face of the Abyss, and the Spirit of elohim . . . . was
breathing (me' racha 'phath) -- i.e., hovering, brooding over, moving. .
. . . Thirteen depend on thirteen (forms) of the most worthy Dignity. Six thousand years hang (are
referred to) in the first six words. The seventh (thousand, the
millennium) above it (the cursed Earth) is that which is strong by
Itself. And it was rendered entirely desolate during twelve hours (one .
. . . Day) as is written. . . . . In the thirteenth, It (the Deity)
shall restore all . . . . and everything shall be renewed as before; and
all those six shall continue . . . . etc." (Qabbalah, p. 233, from
Siphrah Dzeniuta, c. i., § 16, s. 9.)
ARCHAIC SYMBOLISM.
The "Sephiroth of Construction" are the six Dhyan Chohans,
or Manus, or Prajapati, synthesized by the seventh "B'raisheeth
(the First Emanation or Logos), and who are called, therefore, the
Builders of the Lower or physical Universe" all belong Below. These
six whose essence is of the Seventh -- are the Upadhi, the base or
fundamental stone on which the objective Universe is built, the noumenoi
of all things. Hence they are, at the same time, the Forces of nature,
the Seven Angels of the Presence, the sixth and seventh principles in
man; the spirito-psycho-physical spheres of the Septenary chain, the
Root Races, etc., etc. They all "depend upon the Seven forms of the
Cranium" up to the highest. The "second Earth" "does
not come into calculation" because it is no Earth, but the Chaos or
Abyss of Space in which rested the paradigmatic, or model universe in
ideation of the OVER-SOUL brooding over it. The term "Curse"
is here very misleading, for it means simply doom or destiny, or that
fatality which sent it forth into the objective state. This is shown by
that "Earth" under the "Curse" being described as
"without form and void," in whose abysmal depths the
"Breath" of the Elohim (collective Logoi) produced or
photographed the first divine IDEATION of the things to be. This process
is repeated after every Pralaya before the beginnings of a new
Manvantara, or period of sentient individual being. "Thirteen
depend on thirteen forms," refers to the thirteen periods
personified by the thirteen Manus, with Swayambhuva the fourteenth (13,
instead of 14, being an additional veil): those fourteen Manus who reign
within the term of a Mahayuga, a "Day" of Brahma. These
(thirteen-fourteen) of the objective Universe depend on the thirteen
(fourteen) paradigmatic, ideal forms. The meaning of the "Six
thousand years" which "hang in the first six words," has
again to be sought in the Indian Wisdom. They refer to the primordial
six (seven) "Kings of Edom" who typify the worlds (or spheres)
of our chain during the first Round, as well as the primordial men of
this Round. They are the septenary pre-Adamic (or before the Third,
Separated Race) first Root-race. As they were shadows, and senseless
(they had not eaten yet of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge), they
could not see the Parguphim, or "Face could not see Face"
(primeval men were unconscious), "therefore, the primordial (seven)
Kings died," i.e., were destroyed (vide Sepherah Djenioutha). Now,
who are they? They are the Kings who are "the Seven Rishis, certain
(secondary) divinities, Sakra (Indra), Manu, and the Kings his Sons, who
are created and perish at one period," as said in Vishnu Purana
(Book I. chap. iii.). For the seventh ("thousand") (not the
millennium of exoteric Christianity, but that of Anthropogenesis)
represents both the "seventh period of creation," that of
physical man (Vishnu Purana), and the seventh Principle -- both
macrocosmic and microcosmic, -- as also the pralaya after the Seventh
period, the "Night" which has the same duration as the
"Day" of Brahma. "It was rendered entirely desolate
during twelve hours, as is written." It is in the Thirteenth (twice
six and the Synthesis) that everything shall be restored "and the
six will continue."
Thus the author of the Qabbalah remarks quite truly that "Long
before his (Ibn Gebirol's) time . . . many centuries before the
Christian era, there was in Central Asia a 'Wisdom Religion;' fragments
of which subsequently existed among the learned men of the archaic
Egyptians, the ancient Chinese, Hindus, etc. . . ." and that . . .
. . "The Qabbalah most likely originally came from Aryan sources,
through Central Asia, Persia, India and Mesopotamia, for from Ur and
Haran came Abraham and many others into Palestine" (p. 221). And
such was the firm conviction of C. W. King, the author of "The
Gnostics and their Remains."
Vamadeva Modelyar (Modely) describes the coming "night"
most poetically. Though it is given in Isis Unveiled, it is worthy of
repetition.
"Strange noises are heard, proceeding from every point . . .
These are the precursors of the Night of Brahma; dusk rises at the
horizon, and the Sun passes away behind the thirteenth degree of Macara
(sign of the Zodiac), and will reach no more the sign of the Minas
(zodiacal pisces, or fish). The gurus of the pagodas appointed to watch
the rasichakr (Zodiac), may now break their circle and instruments, for
they are henceforth useless.
"Gradually light pales, heat diminishes, uninhabited spots
multiply on the earth, the air becomes more and more rarified; the
springs of waters dry up, the great rivers see their waves exhausted,
the ocean shows its sandy bottom and plants die. Men and animals
decrease in size daily. Life and motion lose their force, planets can
hardly gravitate in space; they are extinguished one by one, like a lamp
which the hand of the chokra (servant) neglects to replenish. Surya (the
Sun) flickers and goes out, matter falls into dissolution (pralaya), and
Brahma merges back into Dayus, the Unrevealed God, and, his task being
accomplished, he falls asleep. Another day is passed, night sets in, and
continues until the future dawn.
"And now again he re-enters into the golden egg of His Thought,
the germs of all that exist, as the divine Manu tells us. During His
peaceful rest, the animated beings, endowed with the principles of
action, cease their functions, and all feeling (manas) becomes dormant.
When they are all absorbed in the SUPREME SOUL, this Soul of all the
beings sleeps in complete repose till the day when it resumes its form,
and awakes again from its primitive darkness."11
THE PURANIC PROPHECY.
As the "Satya-yuga" is always the first in the series of
the four ages or Yugas, so the Kali ever comes the last. The Kali yuga
reigns now supreme in India, and it seems to coincide with that of the
Western age. Anyhow, it is curious to see how prophetic in almost all
things was the writer of Vishnu Purana when foretelling to Maitreya some
of the dark influences and sins of this Kali Yug. For after saying that
the "barbarians" will be masters of the banks of the Indus, of
Chandrabhaga and Kasmera, he adds:
"There will be contemporary monarchs, reigning over the earth --
kings of churlish spirit, violent temper, and ever addicted to falsehood
and wickedness. They will inflict death on women, children, and cows;
they will seize upon the property of their subjects, and be intent upon
the wives of others; they will be of unlimited power, their lives will
be short, their desires insatiable. . . . People of various countries
intermingling with them, will follow their example; and the barbarians
being powerful (in India) in the patronage of the princes, while purer
tribes are neglected, the people will perish (or, as the Commentator has
it, 'The Mlechchhas will be in the centre and the Aryas in the end.')12
Wealth and piety will decrease until the world will be wholly depraved.
Property alone will confer rank; wealth will be the only source of
devotion; passion will be the sole bond of union between the sexes;
falsehood will be the only means of success in litigation; and women
will be objects merely of sensual gratification. . . . . . External
types will be the only distinction of the several orders of life; . . .
. . a man if rich will be reputed pure; dishonesty (anyaya) will be the
universal means of subsistence, weakness the cause of dependence, menace
and presumption will be substituted for learning; liberality will be
devotion; mutual assent, marriage; fine clothes, dignity. He who is the
strongest will reign; the people, unable to bear the heavy burthen,
Khara bhara (the load of taxes) will take refuge among the valleys. . .
. Thus, in the Kali age will decay constantly proceed, until the human race approaches its annihilation (pralaya) . . . . When the
close of the Kali age shall be nigh, a portion of that divine being
which exists, of its own spiritual nature . . . shall descend on Earth .
. . (Kalki Avatar) endowed with the eight superhuman faculties. . . . He
will re-establish righteousness on earth, and the minds of those who
live at the end of Kali Yuga shall be awakened and become as pellucid as
crystal. The men who are thus changed . . . shall be the seeds of human
beings, and shall give birth to a race who shall follow the laws of the
Krita age, the age of purity. As it is said, 'When the sun and moon and
the lunar asterism Tishya and the planet Jupiter are in one mansion, the
Krita (or Satya) age shall return.' "
". . . . Two persons, Devapi, of the race of Kuru and Moru, of
the family of Ikshwaku, continue alive throughout the four ages,
residing at Kalapa.13 They will return hither in the beginning of the
Krita age . . . Moru14
the son of Sighru through the power of Yoga is
still living . . . . and will be the restorer of the Kshattriya race of
the Solar dynasty."15
(Vayu Purana, Vol. III, p. 197).
Whether right or wrong with regard to the latter prophecy, the
blessings of Kali Yuga are well described, and fit in admirably even
with that which one sees and hears in Europe and other civilized and
Christian lands in full XIXth, and at the dawn of the XXth century of
our great era of ENLIGHTENMENT.
Suggested Further Reading
Footnote(s)
1. There is a curious piece of information in the Buddhist esoteric
traditions. The exoteric or allegorical biography of Gautama Buddha
shows this great Sage dying of an indigestion of pork and rice, a very
prosaic end, indeed, having little of the solemn element in it. This
is explained as an allegorical reference to his having been born in
the "Boar," or Varaha-Kalpa when Brahma assumed the form of
that animal to raise the Earth out of the "Waters of Space."
And as the Brahmins descend direct from Brahma and are, so to speak,
identified with him; and as they are at the same time the mortal
enemies of Buddha and Buddhism, we have the curious allegorical hint
and combination. Brahminism (of the Boar, or Varaha Kalpa) has
slaughtered the religion of Buddha in India, swept it away from its
face; therefore Buddha, identified with his philosophy, is said to
have died from the effects of eating of the flesh of a wild hog. The idea alone of one who
established the most rigorous vegetarianism and respect for animal
life -- even to refusing to eat eggs as vehicles of a latent future
life -- dying of a meat indigestion, is absurdly contradictory and has
puzzled more than one Orientalist. But this explanation, unveiling the
allegory, explains all the rest. The Varaha, however, is no simple
boar, and seems to have meant at first some antediluvian lacustrine
animal "delighting to sport in water." (Vayu Purana.)
2. According to Colonel Wilford, the conclusion of the
"Great War" was B.C. 1370. (See A. R., Vol.9, p. 116);
according to Bentley, 575 B.C.!! We may hope, perhaps, that before the
end of this century, the Mahabharatean epics will be found and
proclaimed identical with the wars of the great Napoleon.
3. In the Vedanta and Nyaya "nimitta" (from which "Naimittika")
is rendered as the efficient cause, when antithesized with upadana the
physical or material cause. In the Sankhya pradhana is a cause
inferior to Brahma, or rather Brahma being himself a cause, is
superior to Pradhana. Hence "incidental" is wrongly
translated, and ought to be translated, as shown by some scholars,
"Ideal" cause, and even real cause would have been better.
4. The chief Kumara or Virgin-god (a Dhyan Chohan) who refuses to
create. A prototype of St. Michael, who refuses to do the same.
5. See concluding lines in Section, "Chaos, Theos,
Kosmos."
6. This prospect would hardly suit Christian theology,
which prefers an eternal, everlasting hell for its followers.
7. The term "Elements" must be understood here to mean not
only the visible and physical Elements, but also that which St. Paul
calls Elements -- the spiritual, intelligent Potencies -- Angels and
Demons in their Manvantaric form.
8. When this description is correctly understood by
Orientalists in its esoteric significance then it will be found that
this Cosmic correlation of World-Elements may explain the correlation
of physical forces better than those now known. At any rate,
theosophists will perceive that Prakriti has seven forms, or
principles, "reckoned from Mahat to Earth." The
"Waters" mean here the Mystic "mother"; the Womb
of abstract nature, in which the manifested Universe is conceived. The
Seven "zones" have reference to the Seven Divisions of that
Universe, or the Noumena of the Forces that bring it into being. It is
all allegorical.
9. As it is the Maha, the Great, or so-called final
PRALAYA which is here described, every thing is re-absorbed into its
original ONE Element -- the "Gods themselves, Brahma and the
rest" being said to die and disappear during that long NIGHT.
10. The "Builders" of the Stanzas.
11. See Jacquolliot's "Les Fils de Dieu"; l'Inde des
Brahmes,
p. 230.
12. If this is not prophetic, what is?
13. Matsya Purana gives Katapa.
14. Max Muller translates the name as Morya, of the Morya
dynasty, to which Chandragupta belonged (see Sanscrit Literature). In
Matsya Purana, chapter cclxxii, the dynasty of ten Moryas (or Maureyas)
is spoken of. In the same chapter, cclxxii, it is stated that the
Moryas will one day reign over India, after restoring the Kshattriya
race many thousand years hence. Only that reign will be purely
Spiritual and "not of this world." It will be the kingdom of
the next Avatar. Colonel Tod believes the name Morya (or Maureyas) a
corruption of Mori, a Rajpoot tribe, and the commentary on Mahavansa
thinks that some princes have taken their name Maurya from their town
called Mori, or, as Professor Max Muller gives it, Morya-Nagara, which
is more correct, after the original Mahavansa. Vachaspattya, we are
informed by our Brother, Devan Badhadur R. Ragoonath Rao, of Madras, a
Sanscrit Encyclopedia, places Katapa (Kalapa) on the northern side of
the Himalayas, hence in Tibet. The same is stated in chapter xii.
(Skanda) of Bhagavat, Vol. III, p. 325.
15. The Vayu Purana declares that Moru will re-establish
the Kshattriya in the Nineteenth coming Yuga. (See "Five years of
Theosophy," p. 483. "The Moryas and Koothoomi.")
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Source:
The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol. 1
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