The whole Kosmos in its objective form is Vaikhari-Vach , the light of the Logos is the Madhyama form, and the Logos itself the Pasyanti form, and Parabrahm the Para form or aspect of that Vach.
It is by the light of this explanation that we must try to understand certain statements made by various philosophers to the effect that the manifested Kosmos is the Verbum manifested as Kosmos" (see Lecture on the Bhagavadgita, referred to above).
------- STANZA VI.
-- ( Continued.
) 2.
T HE S WIFT AND THE R ADIANT O NE PRODUCES THE SEVEN Layu** ( a ) CENTRES, AGAINST WHICH NONE WILL PREVAIL TO THE GREAT DAY " B E WITH US" -- AND SEATS THE UNIVERSE ON THESE ETERNAL FOUNDATIONS, SURROUNDING S IEN- T CHAN WITH THE E LEMENTARY G ERMS ( b ).
( a.
) The seven Layu centres are the seven Zero points, using the term Zero in the same sense that Chemists do, to indicate a point at which, in Esotericism, the scale of reckoning of differentiation begins.
From the Centres -- beyond which Esoteric philosophy allows us to perceive the dim metaphysical outlines of the "Seven Sons" of Life and Light, the Seven Logoi of the Hermetic and all other philosophers -- begins [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Madhya is said of something whose commencement and end are unknown, and Para means infinite.
These expressions all relate to infinitude and to division of time.
** From the Sanskrit Laya , the point of matter where every differentiation has ceased.
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the differentiation of the elements which enter into the constitution of our Solar System.
It has often been asked what was the exact definition of Fohat and his powers and functions, as he seems to exercise those of a Personal God as understood in the popular religions.
The answer has just been given in the comment on Stanza V.
As well said in the Bhagavadgita Lectures, "The whole Kosmos must necessarily exist in the One Source of energy from which this light ( Fohat ) emanates." Whether we count the principles in Kosmos and man as seven or only as four, the forces of, and in, physical Nature are Seven; and it is stated by the same authority that " Pragna , or the capacity of perception, exists in seven different aspects corresponding to the seven conditions of matter" ( Personal and impersonal God ) .
For, "just as a human being is composed of seven principles, differentiated matter in the Solar System exists in seven different conditions" ( ibid ) .
So does Fohat.* He is One and Seven, and on the Cosmic plane is behind all such manifestations as light, heat, sound, adhesion, etc., etc., and is the "spirit" of E LECTRICITY, which is the L IFE of the Universe.
As an abstraction, we call it the O NE L IFE; as an objective and evident Reality, we speak of a septenary scale of manifestation, which begins at the upper rung with the One Unknowable C AUSALITY, and ends as Omnipresent Mind and Life immanent in every atom of Matter.
Thus, while science speaks of its evolution through brute matter, blind force, and senseless motion, the Occultists point to intelligent L AW and sentient L IFE, and add that Fohat is the guiding Spirit of all this.
Yet he is no personal god at all, but the emanation of those other Powers behind him whom the Christians call the "Messengers" of their God (who is in reality only the Elohim, or rather one of the Seven Creators called Elohim), and we, the "Messenger of the primordial Sons of Life and Light." ( b.
) The "Elementary Germs" with which he fills Sien-Tchan (the "Universe") from Tien-Sin (the "Heaven of Mind," literally, or that which is absolute) are the Atoms of Science and the Monads of Leibnitz.
[[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * "Fohat" has several meanings.
(See Stanza V., Commentary et infra ) .
He is called the "Builder of the Builders," the Force that he personifies having formed our Septenary chain.
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STANZA VI.
-- Continued.
3.
O F THE SEVEN ( elements ) -- FIRST ONE MANIFESTED, SIX CONCEALED; TWO MANIFESTED -- FIVE CONCEALED; THREE MANIFESTED -- FOUR CONCEALED; FOUR PRODUCED -- THREE HIDDEN; FOUR AND ONE TSAN ( fraction ) REVEALED -- TWO AND ONE HALF CONCEALED; SIX TO BE MANIFESTED -- ONE LAID ASIDE ( a ).
LASTLY, SEVEN SMALL WHEELS REVOLVING; ONE GIVING BIRTH TO THE OTHER ( b ).
( a.
) Although these Stanzas refer to the whole Universe after a Mahapralaya (universal destruction), yet this sentence, as any student of Occultism may see, refers also by analogy to the evolution and final formation of the primitive (though compound) Seven Elements on our Earth.
Of these, four elements are now fully manifested, while the fifth -- Ether -- is only partially so, as we are hardly in the second half of the Fourth Round, and consequently the fifth Element will manifest fully only in the Fifth Round.
The Worlds, including our own, were of course, as germs, primarily evolved from the ONE Element in its second stage ("Father-Mother," the differentiated World's Soul, not what is termed the "Over-Soul" by Emerson), whether we call it, with modern Science, Cosmic dust and Fire Mist, or with Occultism -- Akasa, Jivatma, divine Astral Light, or the "Soul of the World." But this first stage of Evolution was in due course of time followed by the next.
No world, as no heavenly body, could be constructed on the objective plane, had not the Elements been sufficiently differentiated already from their primeval Ilus , resting in Laya.
The latter term is a synonym of Nirvana.
It is, in fact, the Nirvanic dissociation of all substances, merged after a life-cycle into the latency of their primary conditions.
It is the luminous but bodiless shadow of the matter that was , the realm of negativeness -- wherein lie latent during their period of rest the active Forces of the Universe.
Now, speaking of Elements, it is made the standing reproach of the Ancients, that they "supposed their Elements simple and undecomposable."* Once more this is an unwarrantable state- [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * The shades of our pre-historical ancestors might return the compliment to modern physicists, now that new discoveries in chemistry have led Mr.
The doctrine of the periodic restoration or recurrence of all things to their original state after vast cycles.
The reference to the universe after 'Mahapralaya (universal destruction)' and the cyclical language of 'period of rest' and 'life-cycle' implies periodic restoration and recurrence of all things.
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
The 'One Unknowable Causality' at the top of the septenary scale describes the ultimate source in terms of what it cannot be known as, functioning as a via negativa.
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 term 'divine Astral Light' is explicitly named as one designation for the One Element in its second stage (the differentiated World's Soul), identifying it as a universal transmitting medium.
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 septenary parallel between human principles and cosmic conditions of matter, and the four forms of Vach mapping onto levels of the Kosmos, express the Hermetic axiom 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 passage narrates the origin of the universe from the One Element through successive stages of differentiation into the Seven Elements, describing how worlds were 'primarily evolved from the ONE Element in its second stage.'
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The 'One Unknowable Causality' and the hidden source 'behind all such manifestations' point to a supreme reality radically concealed beyond ordinary 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 states that the One Life is 'Omnipresent Mind and Life immanent in every atom of Matter' and that the Kosmos 'must necessarily exist in the One Source of energy,' asserting the divine pervades all creation.
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
Light is a central metaphor throughout: 'the light of the Logos,' 'Sons of Life and Light,' 'the luminous but bodiless shadow,' and the 'radiant One' who produces the centres, making luminous quality the defining attribute of the divine.
The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
The 'ONE LIFE' and 'One Unknowable Causality' are presented as indivisible and undifferentiated at the source, before any septenary differentiation occurs.
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 entire passage is structured around the cascade from Parabrahm through the Logos (Pasyanti/Madhyama/Vaikhari forms) down through the Seven Logoi/Sons of Life and Light to the septenary scale of material manifestation, making the emanation hierarchy the central organizing principle.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage is from The Secret Doctrine itself, an esoteric text presenting concealed cosmological knowledge, and references 'the dim metaphysical outlines' that Esoteric philosophy 'allows us to perceive,' implying a tiered disclosure of truth.
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 'septenary scale of manifestation' that 'begins at the upper rung with the One Unknowable Causality, and ends as Omnipresent Mind and Life immanent in every atom of Matter' describes a structured directional descent of spirit into matter.
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
The Logos is explicitly named as the Pasyanti form and its light as the Madhyama form, and the passage quotes the doctrine that 'the manifested Kosmos is the Verbum manifested as Kosmos,' making the Logos the mediating ordering principle central to the passage's cosmology.
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 identification of the ultimate reality as 'Omnipresent Mind and Life immanent in every atom of Matter' and the reference to 'Tien-Sin (the Heaven of Mind)' suggest the universe is mental in nature, though not stated as forcefully as in The Kybalion.
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 'just as a human being is composed of seven principles, differentiated matter in the Solar System exists in seven different conditions,' making the human the privileged mirror of cosmic structure.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The 'Elementary Germs' are explicitly identified as 'the Atoms of Science and the Monads of Leibnitz,' and the 'One Unknowable Causality' functions as the absolutely simple first principle from which all multiplicity flows.
Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.
The number seven pervades the entire passage as the structural key: seven principles, seven elements, seven Logoi, seven conditions of matter, seven Layu centres, and the progressive revelation formula (1/6, 2/5, 3/4, 4/3, 4.5/2.5, 6/1).
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
Fohat is declared 'One and Seven,' the One Life is the single source from which all emanates, and the entire system reduces to a single underlying reality manifesting in multiple conditions.