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Volume 1. Part 82

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The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol.

1

[[Vol. 1, Page Iii]]

The Secret Doctrine:

The Synthesis

Of

Science, Religion, And Philosophy.

By H. P. Blavatsky,


Author of "Isis Unveiled.\"

"There is no Religion higher than Truth."

Vol. I. -- Cosmogenesis.


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.

[
[Vol. 1, Page Iv]]

"Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1888, by H. P. Blavatsky,

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C."

[[Vol. 1, Page V]]

This Work

I Dedicate to all True Theosophists,

In every Country,

And of every Race,

For they called it forth, and for them it was recorded.

[[Vol. 1, Page Vi -- Blank]]

[[Vol. 1, Page Vii]]

Preface.

The
Author -- the writer, rather -- feels it necessary to apologise for the long delay which has occurred in the appearance of this work. It has been occasioned by ill-health and the magnitude of the undertaking. Even the two volumes now issued do not complete the scheme, and these do not treat exhaustively of the subjects dealt with in them. A large quantity of material has already been prepared, dealing with the history of occultism as contained in the lives of the great Adepts of the Aryan Race, and showing the bearing of occult philosophy upon the conduct of life, as it is and as it ought to be. Should the present volumes meet with a favourable reception, no effort will be spared to carry out the scheme of the work in its entirety. The third volume is entirely ready; the fourth almost so.

This scheme, it must be added, was not in contemplation when the preparation of the work was first announced. As originally announced, it was intended that the "Secret Doctrine" should be an amended and enlarged version of "Isis Unveiled."
It was, however, soon found that the explanations which could be added to those already put before the world in the last-named and other works dealing with esoteric science, were such as to require a different method of treatment: and consequently the present volumes do not contain, in all, twenty pages extracted from "Isis Unveiled."

The author does not feel it necessary to ask the indulgence of her readers and critics for the many defects of literary style, and the imperfect English which may be found in these pages. She is a foreigner, and her knowledge of the language was acquired late in life. The English tongue is employed because it offers the most widely-diffused medium for conveying the truths which it had become her duty to place before the world.

These truths are in no sense put forward as a "revelation";
nor does the author claim the position of a revealer of mystic lore, now made public for the first time in the world's history.
For what is contained in this work is to be found scattered throughout thousands of volumes embodying the scriptures of the great Asiatic and early European religions, hidden under glyph and symbol, and hitherto left unnoticed because of this veil. What is now attempted is to gather the oldest tenets together and to make of them one harmonious and unbroken whole. The sole advantage which the writer has over her predecessors, is that she need not resort to personal speculations and theories. For this work is a partial statement of what she herself has been taught by more advanced students, supplemented, in a few details only, by the results of her

[[Vol. 1, Page]] Viii

own study and observation. The publication of many of the facts herein stated has been rendered necessary by the wild and fanciful speculations in which many Theosophists and students of mysticism have indulged, during the last few years, in their endeavour to, as they imagined, work out a complete system of thought from the few facts previously communicated to them.

It is needless to explain that this book is not the Secret Doctrine in its entirety, but a select number of fragments of its fundamental tenets, special attention being paid to some facts which have been seized upon by various writers, and distorted out of all resemblance to the truth.

But it is perhaps desirable to state unequivocally that the teachings, however fragmentary and incomplete, contained in these volumes, belong neither to the Hindu, the Zoroastrian, the Chaldean, nor the Egyptian religion,.neither to Buddhism, Islam, Judaism nor Christianity exclusively. The Secret Doctrine is the essence of all these. Sprung from it in their origins, the various religious schemes are now made to merge back into their original element, out of which every mystery and dogma has grown, developed, and become materialised.

It is more than probable that the book will be regarded by a large section of the public as a romance of the wildest kind; for who has ever even heard of the book of Dzyan?

The writer, therefore, is fully prepared to take all the responsibility for what is contained in this work, and even to face the charge of having invented the whole of it. That it has many shortcomings she is fully aware; all that she claims for it is that, romantic as it may seem to many, its logical coherence and consistency entitle this new Genesis to rank, at any rate, on a level with the "working hypotheses" so freely accepted by modern science. Further, it claims consideration, not by reason of any appeal to dogmatic authority, but because it closely adheres to Nature, and follows the laws of uniformity and analogy.

The aim of this work may be thus stated: to show that Nature is not "a fortuitous concurrence of atoms," and to assign to man his rightful place in the scheme of the Universe; to rescue from degradation the archaic truths which are the basis of all religions; and to uncover, to some extent, the fundamental unity from which they all spring; finally, to show that the occult side of Nature has never been approached by the Science of modern civilization.

If this is in any degree accomplished, the writer is content.
It is written in the service of humanity, and by humanity and the future generations it must be judged. Its author recognises no inferior court of appeal. Abuse she is accustomed to; calumny she is daily acquainted with; at slander she smiles in silent contempt.

"De minimis non curat lex."

H.p.b.


London, October, 1888.

[
[Vol. 1, Page Ix]]

Table Of Contents.

Page.

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

[
[Vol. 1, Page]] X Contents.

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

[
[Vol. 1, Page]] Xi Contents.


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 Lunar Monads -- the Pitris... 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


Akasa and Ether... 257


The Invisible "Lives"... 259


Occult Vital Chemistry and Bacteriology... 261

[
[Vol. 1, Page]] Xii Contents.


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... 273


Hermes in Christian Garb... 285


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

[
[Vol. 1, Page]] Xiii Contents.

Page.

Vi. The Mundane Egg... 359


Egg-born Logoi... 363


The Winged Globe... 365

Vii. The Days And Nights Of Brahma... 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

[
[Vol. 1, Page]] Xiv Contents.

Page.

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

[
[Vol. 1, Page]] Xv Contents.

Page.

V. The Theories Of Rotation 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


Xl. On The Elements And Atoms... 566


Metaphysical Chemistry... 569


What are the Seven Planets?... 575


The Cyclic Fall of the Gods... 577

[
[Vol. 1, Page]] Xvi Contents.

Page.

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

[
[Contents of Volume 2]]

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