The orthodox Brahmins, those who rise the most against the Pantheists and Adwaitees, calling them Atheists, are forced, if Manu has any authority in this matter, to accept the death of Brahma, the creator, at the expiration of every "Age" of this (creative) deity (100 Divine years -- a period which in our years requires fifteen figures to express it).
Yet, no philosopher among them will view this "death" in any other sense than as a temporary disappearance from the manifested plane of existence, or as a periodical rest.
The Occultists are, therefore, at one with the Adwaita Vedantin philosophers as to the above tenet.
They show the impossibility of accepting on philosophical grounds the idea of the absolute ALL creating or even evolving the "Golden Egg," into which it is said to enter in order to transform itself into Brahma -- the Creator, who expands himself later into gods and all the visible Universe.
They say that Absolute Unity cannot pass to infinity; for infinity presupposes the limitless extension of something, and the duration of that "something"; and the One All is like Space -- which is its only mental and physical representation on this Earth, or our plane of existence -- neither an object of, nor a subject to, perception.
If one could suppose the Eternal Infinite All, the Omnipresent Unity, instead of being in Eternity, becoming through periodical manifestation a manifold Universe or a multiple personality, that Unity would cease to be one.
Locke's idea that "pure Space is capable of neither resistance nor Motion" -- is incorrect.
Space is neither a "limitless void," nor a "conditioned fulness," but both: being, on the plane of absolute abstraction, the ever-incognisable Deity, which is void only to finite minds,* and on that of mayavic perception, the Plenum, the absolute Container of all that is, whether manifested or unmanifested: it is, therefore, that ABSOLUTE ALL.
There is no difference between the Christian Apostle's "In Him we live and move and have our being," and the Hindu Rishi's "The Universe lives in, proceeds from, and will [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * The very names of the two chief deities, Brahma and Vishnu, ought to have long ago suggested their esoteric meanings.
For the root of one, Brahmam, or Brahm, is derived by some from the word Brih, "to grow" or "to expand" (see Calcutta Review, vol.
lxvi., p.
14); and of the other, Vishnu, from the root Vis, "to pervade," to enter in the nature of the essence; Brahma-Vishnu being this infinite SPACE, of which the gods, the Rishis, the Manus, and all in this universe are simply the potencies, Vibhutayah.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 9 PROEM.
return to, Brahma (Brahma)": for Brahma (neuter), the unmanifested, is that Universe in abscondito, and Brahma, the manifested, is the Logos, made male-female* in the symbolical orthodox dogmas.
The God of the Apostle-Initiate and of the Rishi being both the Unseen and the Visible SPACE.
Space is called in the esoteric symbolism "the Seven-Skinned Eternal Mother-Father." It is composed from its undifferentiated to its differentiated surface of seven layers.
"What is that which was, is, and will be, whether there is a Universe or not; whether there be gods or none?" asks the esoteric Senzar Catechism.
And the answer made is -- SPACE.
It is not the One Unknown ever-present God in Nature, or Nature in abscondito, that is rejected, but the God of human dogma and his humanized "Word." In his infinite conceit and inherent pride and vanity, man shaped it himself with his sacrilegious hand out of the material he found in his own small brain-fabric, and forced it upon mankind as a direct revelation from the one unrevealed SPACE.** The Occultist [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * See Manu's account of Brahma separating his body into male and female, the latter the female Vach, in whom he creates Viraj, and compare this with the esotericism of Chapters II., III., and IV.
of Genesis.
** Occultism is indeed in the air at the close of this our century.
Among many other works recently published, we would recommend one especially to students of theoretical Occultism who would not venture beyond the realm of our special human plane.
It is called "New Aspects of Life and Religion," by Henry Pratt, M.D.
It is full of esoteric dogmas and philosophy, the latter rather limited, in the concluding chapters, by what seems to be a spirit of conditioned positivism.
Nevertheless, what is said of Space as "the Unknown First Cause," merits quotation.
"This unknown something, thus recognised as, and identified with, the primary embodiment of Simple Unity, is invisible and impalpable" -- ( abstract space, granted); "and because invisible and impalpable, therefore incognisable.
And this incognisability has led to the error of supposing it to be a simple void, a mere receptive capacity.
But, even viewed as an absolute void, space must be admitted to be either Self-existent, infinite, and eternal, or to have had a first cause outside, behind, and beyond itself.
"And yet could such a cause be found and defined, this would only lead to the transferring thereto of the attributes otherwise accruing to space, and thus merely throw the difficulty of origination a step farther back, without gaining additional light as to primary causation." (p.
5.) This is precisely what has been done by the believers in an anthropomorphic Creator, an extracosmic, instead of an intracosmic God.
Many -- most of Mr.
Pratt's subjects, we may say -- are old Kabalistic ideas and theories which he presents in quite a new garb: "New Aspects" of the Occult in Nature, indeed.
Space, however, viewed as a "Substantial Unity" -- the "living Source of Life" -- is as the "Un- [[Footnote continued on next page]] [[Vol.
1, Page]] 10 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
accepts revelation as coming from divine yet still finite Beings, the manifested lives, never from the Unmanifestable ONE LIFE; from those entities, called Primordial Man, Dhyani-Buddhas, or Dhyan-Chohans, the "Rishi-Prajapati" of the Hindus, the Elohim or "Sons of God," the Planetary Spirits of all nations, who have become Gods for men.
He also regards the Adi-Sakti -- the direct emanation of Mulaprakriti, the eternal Root of THAT, and the female aspect of the Creative Cause Brahma, in her A'kasic form of the Universal Soul -- as philosophically a Maya, and cause of human Maya.
Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.
The passage explicitly critiques anthropomorphism: 'man shaped it himself with his sacrilegious hand out of the material he found in his own small brain-fabric, and forced it upon mankind as a direct revelation from the one unrevealed SPACE.'
The doctrine of the periodic restoration or recurrence of all things to their original state after vast cycles.
The passage describes the cyclical death and rest of Brahma at the expiration of every Age (100 Divine years) as 'a temporary disappearance from the manifested plane of existence, or as a periodical rest,' implying periodic restoration to the unmanifested state.
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
The Absolute is described as 'the ever-incognisable Deity, which is void only to finite minds' and 'neither an object of, nor a subject to, perception,' defining the divine primarily by what it is not and by its incomprehensibility.
Narratives or doctrines of cosmic origin — how heaven, earth, and the primordial deities first came into being. The Kojiki's deities born alone on the Plain of High Heaven, Voluspo's Ginnungagap, Genesis's tohu wa-bohu, the Timaeus's Demiurge fashioning the Receptacle, the Hesiodic Theogony, the Kalevala's egg-cosmogony, Egyptian Nun-and-Atum. Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (structural-ontological cascade), letters_of_creation (mechanism of creation), and apocatastasis/frashokereti (end-state restoration); cosmogony is temporally-narrative beginning.
The passage narrates and critiques the cosmogonic story of the Absolute ALL evolving the Golden Egg, entering it, transforming into Brahma the Creator, who then expands into gods and the visible Universe.
A secondary creator deity—often ignorant or malevolent—responsible for fashioning the material world, distinct from the supreme transcendent God.
The passage distinguishes the supreme unmanifested Principle (Space/One) from Brahma as a secondary creator who 'expands himself later into gods and all the visible Universe,' and critiques the idea of the Absolute creating the Golden Egg to become this secondary creator.
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The passage repeatedly emphasizes the Unmanifestable ONE LIFE, the 'One Unknown ever-present God in Nature, or Nature in abscondito,' and the 'one unrevealed SPACE,' positioning the supreme as radically concealed beyond human knowledge.
The doctrine that the divine is present within all things and the universe itself, pervading creation rather than remaining solely transcendent above it. Distinct from unity_of_being (the general claim that all existence is one substance, agnostic about whether that substance indwells its parts) and from kingdom_within (the divine present specifically IN THE INDIVIDUAL human, accessible without mediation) — divine_immanence is the general pervading-presence claim applied to all of creation, not a human-specific indwelling.
The passage equates the Apostle's 'In Him we live and move and have our being' with the Rishi's 'The Universe lives in, proceeds from, and will return to, Brahma,' asserting the divine pervades all of creation as SPACE.
The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
The passage argues that 'Absolute Unity cannot pass to infinity' and that if the One became 'a manifold Universe or a multiple personality, that Unity would cease to be one,' asserting the divine's absolute undividedness.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
The passage describes a cascade from the Unmanifestable ONE LIFE down through manifested lives (Primordial Man, Dhyani-Buddhas, Dhyan-Chohans, Elohim, Planetary Spirits) and identifies Adi-Sakti as 'the direct emanation of Mulaprakriti.'
The Hermetic doctrine that a masculine-feminine generative principle operates on every plane of being, not only the biological — present at all times as a structural feature of creation itself. Distinct from divine_marriage (a specific reunification event or symbol) and aeons (paired divine beings arranged in syzygies, not a universal structural claim).
The Logos is 'made male-female in the symbolical orthodox dogmas,' Adi-Sakti is identified as 'the female aspect of the Creative Cause Brahma,' and Space is called 'the Seven-Skinned Eternal Mother-Father,' establishing gender as a structural principle at the highest level.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage references 'the esoteric Senzar Catechism' and positions the teaching as esoteric knowledge distinct from orthodox doctrine, implying hidden meanings beneath surface religious formulations.
The doctrine of the universe as boundless and without center or circumference, populated by innumerable worlds — Bruno's rejection of the closed Aristotelian sphere; the divine and the cosmos as ontologically infinite.
The passage discusses the 'Eternal Infinite All, the Omnipresent Unity' and the impossibility of the Absolute passing to infinity, engaging with the concept of cosmic infinitude.
The doctrine that the cosmos unfolds as a structured descent of spirit into matter — a directional process traced stage by stage from an unconditioned principle down through successive planes to full materialization — complemented by its own eventual return ('evolution'). Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (the static structure of the resulting levels of the cascade) and cosmogony (a single originating event rather than an ongoing staged process) in naming the directional cosmic PROCESS of descent itself, paired with its own complementary ascent.
The passage traces the directional process from the unconditioned One through 'periodical manifestation' into 'a manifold Universe or a multiple personality,' describing the descent from unity to multiplicity.
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
The passage explicitly identifies 'Brahma, the manifested, is the Logos, made male-female in the symbolical orthodox dogmas,' positioning the Logos as the mediating principle between the unmanifested Absolute and the visible universe.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The entire passage revolves around the Absolute Unity/One All that cannot pass to multiplicity without ceasing to be one — 'that Unity would cease to be one' — making the undivided first principle the central philosophical claim.
The Hermetic doctrine that apparent opposites are identical in nature but differ in degree — two extremes of the same scale (hot/cold, love/hate) — such that one pole can be shifted toward its opposite by a change of degree ('mental transmutation'). Distinct from opposites_transcended (a completion-state marking the path's end, not this doctrine's active technique) and magical_equilibrium (balance held BETWEEN two forces, not identity-by-degree of what looks like two forces).
The passage resolves the apparent opposition of void and fullness: 'Space is neither a limitless void, nor a conditioned fulness, but both,' treating them as aspects of the same reality rather than true opposites.
The doctrine that reality has two registers — an Absolute truth as the divine or ultimate mind knows it, and a Relative truth as finite human reason perceives and must act on — with both held as legitimate on their own plane rather than the second being simply an error to correct. Distinct from apophatic_theology (a claim about how the divine may be described, by negation) and unity_of_being (a claim that being is ultimately one) in being a claim about two coexisting registers of truth-claim itself.
The passage distinguishes between the plane of 'absolute abstraction' (where Space is the incognisable Deity) and the plane of 'mayavic perception' (where it is the Plenum), holding both as valid registers of the same reality.
The Hermetic doctrine of a measured swing or pendulum motion between poles — action and reaction, flow and outflow, rise and fall — operating in mental, physical, and cosmic-historical registers alike. Distinct from apocatastasis (cosmic-scale eschatological restoration after vast cycles) in naming a constant, ever-present oscillation rather than a singular restorative event.
The passage describes 'periodical rest' and 'periodical manifestation' of the creative deity, implying a cyclical oscillation between manifestation and unmanifestation.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The passage asserts that 'the Eternal Infinite All, the Omnipresent Unity' is the singular ground of all existence, and that the Christian and Hindu formulations express the same underlying oneness of the divine in all things.