The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 106 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
STANZA V.
1.
T HE P RIMORDIAL S EVEN, THE FIRST SEVEN B REATHS OF THE D RAGON OF W ISDOM, PRODUCE IN THEIR TURN FROM THEIR HOLY CIRCUMGYRATING B REATHS THE F IERY W HIRLWIND ( a ).
COMMENTARY.
( a ) This is, perhaps, the most difficult of all the Stanzas to explain.
Its language is comprehensible only to him who is thoroughly versed in Eastern allegory and its purposely obscure phraseology.
The question will surely be asked, "Do the Occultists believe in all these 'Builders,' 'Lipika,' and 'Sons of Light' as Entities, or are they merely imageries?" To this the answer is given as plainly: "After due allowance for the imagery of personified Powers, we must admit the existence of these Entities, if we would not reject the existence of spiritual humanity within physical mankind.
For the hosts of these Sons of Light and 'Mind-born Sons' of the first manifested Ray of the U NKNOWN A LL, are the very root of spiritual man." Unless we want to believe the unphilosophical dogma of a specially created soul for every human birth -- a fresh supply of these pouring in daily, since "Adam" -- we have to admit the occult teachings.
This will be explained in its place.
Let us see, now, what may be the occult meaning of this Stanza.
The Doctrine teaches that, in order to become a divine, fully conscious god, -- aye, even the highest -- the Spiritual primeval I NTELLIGENCES must pass through the human stage.
And when we say human, this does not apply merely to our terrestrial humanity, but to the mortals that inhabit any world, i.e.
, to those Intelligences that have reached the appropriate equilibrium between matter and spirit, as we have now, since the middle point of the Fourth Root Race of the Fourth Round was passed.
Each Entity must have won for itself the right of becoming divine, through self-experience.
Hegel, the great German thinker, must have known or sensed intuitionally this truth when saying, as he did, that the Unconscious evolved the Universe only "in the hope of attaining clear self-consciousness," of becoming, in other words, MAN; for this is also the secret meaning of the usual Puranic phrase about [[Vol.
1, Page]] 107 NO MAN -- NO GOD.
Brahma being constantly "moved by the desire to create." This explains also the hidden Kabalistic meaning of the saying: "The Breath becomes a stone; the stone, a plant; the plant, an animal; the animal, a man; the man, a spirit; and the spirit, a god." The Mind-born Sons, the Rishis, the Builders, etc., were all men -- of whatever forms and shapes -- in other worlds and the preceding Manvantaras.
This subject, being so very mystical, is therefore the most difficult to explain in all its details and bearings; since the whole mystery of evolutionary creation is contained in it.
A sentence or two in it vividly recalls to mind similar ones in the Kabala and the phraseology of the King Psalmist (civ.), as both, when speaking of God, show him making the wind his messenger and his "ministers a flaming fire." But in the Esoteric doctrine it is used figuratively.
The "fiery Wind" is the incandescent Cosmic dust which only follows magnetically, as the iron filings follow the magnet, the directing thought of the "Creative Forces." Yet, this cosmic dust is something more; for every atom in the Universe has the potentiality of self-consciousness in it, and is, like the Monads of Leibnitz, a Universe in itself, and for itself.
It is an atom and an angel.
In this connection it should be noted that one of the luminaries of the modern Evolutionist School, Mr.
A.
R.
Wallace, when discussing the inadequacy of "natural selection" as the sole factor in the development of physical man, practically concedes the whole point here discussed.
He holds that the evolution of man was directed and furthered by superior Intelligences, whose agency is a necessary factor in the scheme of Nature.
But once the operation of these Intelligences is admitted in one place, it is only a logical deduction to extend it still further.
No hard and fast line can be drawn.
------- STANZA V.
-- Continued.
2.
T HEY MAKE OF HIM THE MESSENGER OF THEIR WILL ( a ).
T HE D ZYU BECOMES F OHAT; THE S WIFT S ON OF THE D IVINE S ONS, WHOSE SONS ARE THE L IPIKA,* RUNS CIRCULAR ERRANDS.
H E IS THE STEED, AND [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * The difference between the "Builders," the Planetary Spirits, and the Lipika must not be lost sight of.
(See Nos.
5 and 6 of this Commentary.) [[Vol.
1, Page]] 108 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
THE T HOUGHT IS THE RIDER ( i.e.
, he is under the influence of their guiding thought ) .
H E PASSES LIKE LIGHTNING THROUGH THE FIERY CLOUDS ( cosmic mists ) ( b ); TAKES THREE, AND FIVE, AND SEVEN STRIDES THROUGH THE SEVEN REGIONS ABOVE AND THE SEVEN BELOW ( the world to be ) .
H E LIFTS HIS VOICE, AND CALLS THE INNUMERABLE SPARKS ( atoms ) AND JOINS THEM TOGETHER ( c ).
( a ) This shows the "Primordial Seven" using for their Vahan (vehicle, or the manifested subject which becomes the symbol of the Power directing it), Fohat, called in consequence, the "Messenger of their will" -- the fiery whirlwind.
"Dzyu becomes Fohat" -- the expression itself shows it.
Dzyu is the one real (magical) knowledge, or Occult Wisdom; which, dealing with eternal truths and primal causes, becomes almost omnipotence when applied in the right direction.
Its antithesis is Dzyu-mi, that which deals with illusions and false appearances only, as in our exoteric modern sciences.
In this case, Dzyu is the expression of the collective Wisdom of the Dhyani-Buddhas.
( b ) As the reader is supposed not to be acquainted with the Dhyani-Buddhas, it is as well to say at once that, according to the Orientalists , there are five Dhyanis who are the "celestial" Buddhas, of whom the human Buddhas are the manifestations in the world of form and matter.
Esoterically, however, the Dhyani-Buddhas are seven, of whom five only have hitherto manifested,* and two are to come in the sixth and seventh Root-races.
The universal fluid or medium of occult philosophy — Lévi's Great Magical Agent — that transmits will, thought, and magical influence between minds and matter, and preserves the impress of all forms and actions as a book of consciences; cognate with akasha and the anima mundi. Distinct from cosmic_sympathy (a doctrine of hidden affinity) in being a substantival medium that can be charged, directed, and abused.
The 'fiery Wind' described as 'incandescent Cosmic dust which only follows magnetically, as the iron filings follow the magnet, the directing thought of the Creative Forces' functions as a transmitting medium through which creative will operates, closely analogous to the Astral Light.
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
The seven-fold progression from breath through stone, plant, animal, man, spirit, to god, and the parallel structure of 'Seven Regions Above and Seven Below' express the principle that cosmic structure is reflected at every scale.
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 entire passage is a cosmogonic narrative: the Primordial Seven produce the Fiery Whirlwind, Fohat is created as messenger, the cosmic dust is directed, and the innumerable sparks are called and joined together to form the world.
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 claim that 'every atom in the Universe has the potentiality of self-consciousness in it' and 'It is an atom and an angel' asserts that the divine pervades all of creation at every level.
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
The 'Sons of Light,' the 'fiery whirlwind,' and the 'luminous' quality of the cosmic process all evoke divine light as a creative and revelatory principle.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
The Primordial Seven actively direct creation through Fohat as their 'Messenger of their Will,' and the cosmic dust follows 'the directing thought of the Creative Forces,' indicating an active divine ordering of the cosmos.
Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source.
The stanza explicitly states 'CALLS THE INNUMERABLE SPARKS (atoms) AND JOINS THEM TOGETHER,' identifying the atoms as sparks of the divine that are gathered into the created world.
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 explicitly lays out a cascading hierarchy from the Primordial Seven through the Fiery Whirlwind to Fohat, and the Kabalistic progression 'Breath becomes a stone; the stone, a plant; the plant, an animal; the animal, a man; the man, a spirit; and the spirit, a god' is a textbook emanation chain.
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
Dzyu is defined as 'the one real (magical) knowledge, or Occult Wisdom; which, dealing with eternal truths and primal causes, becomes almost omnipotence when applied in the right direction,' pointing to direct experiential knowledge of the divine.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage explicitly states the language is 'comprehensible only to him who is thoroughly versed in Eastern allegory and its purposely obscure phraseology,' and the commentary reveals the esoteric meaning hidden beneath the stanza's imagery.
The doctrine that the divine or a spiritual principle takes on a specific, bounded material or bodily form — descending from an unconditioned state into individual, corporeal existence — as a discrete act rather than a diffuse pervading presence. The Christian Word made flesh, the Hindu avatara, the Egyptian pharaoh as living Horus, the Vajrayana tulku. Distinct from divine_immanence (the general claim that the divine pervades all of creation diffusely, not a specific embodiment-event) and separation_from_source (the felt exile FROM origin, the opposite motion) in describing a specific, individuated descent INTO a particular body or form.
The teaching that spiritual Intelligences 'must pass through the human stage' and that the Builders 'were all men — of whatever forms and shapes — in other worlds' describes a specific descent of the spiritual into individual corporeal existence.
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.
References to 'any world,' 'other worlds,' and 'the preceding Manvantaras' imply a universe populated by innumerable worlds.
A non-physical dimension of reality, interpenetrating the physical world, populated by forces, beings, and forms ordinarily imperceptible to physical senses and instruments, that can affect embodied life without being seen — Dion Fortune's 'mind-side of nature,' the astral plane of Western esotericism broadly construed. Distinct from astral_light (a specific transmitting medium or fluid operating within this realm, not the realm itself), pleroma (the divine fullness at the summit of a cosmic hierarchy, not a parallel plane coextensive with ordinary life), and animism (particular indwelling spirits bound to specific natural objects, not the general unseen dimension itself).
The passage describes a populated non-physical dimension — the Sons of Light, Builders, Lipika, the Seven Regions Above and Below, and the cosmic mists — that interpenetrates and underlies the physical world.
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 teaching that 'the Spiritual primeval INTELLIGENCES must pass through the human stage' and the progression from spirit down through man to matter describe a directional descent of spirit into matter, complemented by the eventual return to divinity.
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
Fohat is described as the 'Messenger of their Will' and the 'directing thought of the Creative Forces' through which the cosmic dust is shaped, functioning as a mediating ordering principle between the transcendent Intelligences and the material world.
The Hermetic doctrine that THE ALL is Mind, and the Universe is mental in nature — a created thought held in the mind of THE ALL. Distinct from unity_of_being in specifying WHAT the underlying oneness is (mind, not an unspecified single substance), and from logos (a mediating ordering word BETWEEN a transcendent God and a separate material world) in collapsing that mediation entirely — under mentalism there is no world outside mind to mediate to.
The passage states that the cosmic dust 'follows magnetically... the directing thought of the Creative Forces' and that the Thought is the Rider — the universe is shaped by and is fundamentally mental in nature.
The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.
The passage explicitly states that 'every atom in the Universe has the potentiality of self-consciousness in it, and is, like the Monads of Leibnitz, a Universe in itself, and for itself. It is an atom and an angel' — a direct microcosm-macrocosm claim.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The passage explicitly invokes Leibnizian monads: 'every atom in the Universe has the potentiality of self-consciousness in it, and is, like the Monads of Leibnitz, a Universe in itself, and for itself. It is an atom and an angel.'
Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.
The number seven pervades the passage structurally: the Primordial Seven, Seven Breaths, Seven Regions Above and Seven Below, seven Dhyani-Buddhas, and the triadic 'three, and five, and seven strides' — numbers as the underlying architecture of divine reality.
The statement that 'The Mind-born Sons, the Rishis, the Builders, etc., were all men — of whatever forms and shapes — in other worlds and the preceding Manvantaras' describes transmigration of intelligences across worlds and cosmic cycles.
The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.
The core teaching is that 'in order to become a divine, fully conscious god, — aye, even the highest — the Spiritual primeval INTELLIGENCES must pass through the human stage,' describing a progressive transformation into divinity through self-experience.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The identification of atom and angel, the claim that every atom is 'a Universe in itself,' and the progression from one Breath through all levels to god imply an underlying unity of all existence.