"Glory to the unchangeable, holy, eternal Supreme Vishnu, of one universal nature, the mighty over all; to him who is Hiranyagarbha, Hari, and Sankara (Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva), the creator, the preserver, and the destroyer of the world; to Vasudeva, the liberator (of his worshippers); to him whose essence is both single and manifold; who is both subtile and corporeal, indiscreet and discreet; to Vishnu the cause of final emancipation, the cause of the creation, existence, the [[Vol.
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end of the world; who is the root of the world, and who consists of the world.
" ( Vish.
Purana, Book L.
) This is a grand invocation, full of philosophical meaning underlying it; but, for the profane masses, as suggestive as is the first of an anthropomorphic Being.
We must respect the feeling that dictated both; but we cannot help finding it in full disharmony with its inner meaning, even with that which is found in the same Hermetic treatise where it is said: "Reality is not upon the earth, my son, and it cannot be thereon.
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Nothing on earth is real, there are only appearances.
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He (man) is not real, my son, as man.
The real consists solely in itself and remains what it is.
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Man is transient, therefore he is not real, he is but appearance, and appearance is the supreme illusion.
Tatios: Then the celestial bodies themselves are not real, my father, since they also vary?
Trismegistos: That which is subject to birth and to change is not real.
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There is in them a certain falsity, seeing that they too are variable.......
Tatios: And what then is the primordial Reality?
Trismeg.: That which is one and alone, 0 Tatios; That which is not made of matter, nor in any body.
Which has neither colour nor form, which changes not nor is transmitted but which always is." This is quite consistent with the Vedantic teaching.
The leading thought is Occult; and many are the passages in the Hermetic Fragments that belong bodily to the Secret Doctrine.
The latter teaches that the whole universe is ruled by intelligent and semi-intelligent Forces and Powers, as stated from the very beginning.
Christian Theology admits and even enforces belief in such, but makes an arbitrary division and refers to them as "Angels" and "Devils." Science denies the existence of such, and ridicules the very idea.
Spiritualists believe in the Spirits of the Dead, and, outside these, deny entirely any other kind or class of invisible beings.
The Occultists and Kabalists are thus the only rational expounders of the ancient traditions, which have now culminated in dogmatic faith on the one hand, and dogmatic denials on the other.
For, both belief and unbelief embrace but one small corner each of the infinite horizons of spiritual and physical manifestations; and thus both are right from [[Vol.
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their respective standpoints, and both are wrong in believing that they can circumscribe the whole within their own special and narrow barriers; for -- they can never do so.
In this respect Science, Theology, and even Spiritualism show little more wisdom than the ostrich does, when it hides its head in the sand at its feet, feeling sure that there can be thus nothing beyond its own point of observation and the limited area occupied by its foolish head.
As the only works now extant upon the subject under consideration within reach of the profane of the Western "civilized" races are the above-mentioned Hermetic Books, or rather Hermetic Fragments, we may contrast them in the present case with the teachings of Esoteric philosophy.
To quote for this purpose from any other would be useless, since the public knows nothing of the Chaldean works which are translated into Arabic and preserved by some Sufi initiates.
Therefore the "Definitions of Asclepios," as lately compiled and glossed by Mrs.
A.
Kingsford, F.T.S., some of which sayings are in remarkable agreement with the Esoteric Eastern doctrine, have to be resorted to for comparison.
Though not a few passages show a strong impression of some later Christian hand, yet on the whole the characteristics of the genii* and gods are those of eastern teachings, while concerning other things there are passages which differ widely in our doctrines.
The following are a few:-- [[Footnote(s) -------------------------------------------------]] * The Hermetic philosophers called Theoi, gods, Genii and Daimones (in the original texts), those Entities whom we call Devas (gods), Dhyan Chohans, Chitkala (Kwan-yin, the Buddhists call them), and by other names.
The Daimones are -- in the Socratic sense, and even in the Oriental and Latin theological sense -- the guardian spirits of the human race; "those who dwell in the neighbourhood of the immortals, and thence watch over human affairs," as Hermes has it.
In Esoteric parlance, they are called Chitkala, some of which are those who have furnished man with his fourth and fifth Principles from their own essence; and others the Pitris so-called.
This will be explained when we come to the production of the complete man.
The root of the name is Chiti, "that by which the effects and consequences of actions and kinds of knowledge are selected for the use of the soul," or conscience the inner Voice in man.
With the Yogis, the Chiti is a synonym of Mahat, the first and divine intellect; but in Esoteric philosophy Mahat is the root of Chiti, its germ; and Chiti is a quality of Manas in conjunction with Buddhi, a quality that attracts to itself by spiritual affinity a Chitkala when it develops sufficiently in man.
This is why it is said that Chiti is a voice acquiring mystic life and becoming Kwan-Yin.
[[Vol.
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E XTRACTS FROM A PRIVATE COMMENTARY,* hitherto secret:-- (xvii.) " The Initial Existence in the first twilight of the Maha-Manwantara ( after the M AHA- P RALAYA that follows every age of Brahma ) is a CONSCIOUS SPIRITUAL QUALITY.
In the manifested WORLDS ( solar systems ) it is, in its OBJECTIVE SUBJECTIVITY, like the film from a Divine Breath to the gaze of the entranced seer.
It spreads as it issues from L AYA ** throughout infinity as a colourless spiritual fluid.
It is on the SEVENTH PLANE, and in its SEVENTH STATE in our planetary world.*** (xviii.) " It is Substance to OUR spiritual sight.
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
The Hermetic passage describes the primordial Reality purely by negation: 'not made of matter, nor in any body, which has neither colour nor form, which changes not nor is transmitted'—a classic via negativa description of the divine.
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The Hermetic quote states 'Reality is not upon the earth, my son, and it cannot be thereon' and 'Nothing on earth is real, there are only appearances'—the supreme reality radically concealed beyond ordinary perception.
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 Vishnu Purana quote states the Supreme is 'the root of the world, and who consists of the world' and 'of one universal nature, the mighty over all'—the divine pervading and constituting all of creation.
The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
The Hermetic quote states the primordial Reality is 'one and alone' with 'neither colour nor form' and 'changes not'—asserting the divine as pure undivided being with no parts or composite attributes.
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 structured descent from Laya through the Seventh Plane as 'a colourless spiritual fluid' and references the hierarchy of 'intelligent and semi-intelligent Forces and Powers' ruling the universe, with Chitkala furnishing man with principles 'from their own essence.'
A historical or mythical chain of transmission for secret wisdom from master to disciple across time and cultures — the credential of the teaching, not merely its content. Distinct from oral_tradition (the spoken-not-written modality of transmission, which a lineage may or may not use) and hidden_sayings (the concealment-for-readiness of a teaching's meaning, independent of who transmitted it or in what unbroken chain).
The passage references 'ancient traditions' preserved by 'Sufi initiates' who hold 'Chaldean works translated into Arabic' and the transmission of Hermetic and Esoteric teachings across cultures.
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
The commentary describes the spiritual fluid as visible 'to the gaze of the entranced seer'—direct experiential perception of the divine rather than intellectual inference.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage explicitly frames its content as 'Extracts from a Private Commentary, hitherto secret' and contrasts the 'profane masses' who see only anthropomorphic imagery with the 'philosophical meaning underlying' the invocations.
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's central argument is that the universe is populated by 'intelligent and semi-intelligent Forces and Powers' and 'invisible beings' (Devas, Dhyan Chohans, Chitkala, Daimones) that Christian theology, science, and spiritualism each fail to properly acknowledge.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The Hermetic quote explicitly describes the primordial Reality as 'that which is one and alone... not made of matter, nor in any body, which has neither colour nor form, which changes not nor is transmitted but which always is'—a direct description of the absolutely simple, undivided first principle.
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 explicitly holds that 'both belief and unbelief embrace but one small corner each of the infinite horizons' and 'both are right from their respective standpoints, and both are wrong in believing that they can circumscribe the whole'—two coexisting registers of truth-claim.
The doctrine that the one Godhead or first principle subsists as three co-equal aspects or persons rather than a bare unity — the Christian Father/Son/Holy Ghost invoked in the recurring liturgical formula 'In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,' but structurally the same pattern as the Egyptian Amen/Ptah/Osiris, the Hindu Brahma/Vishnu/Siva, and the Kabbalistic Chochmah/Binah/Kether triads that esoteric writers explicitly map onto it as instances of one universal law. Distinct from unity_of_being (the general claim that all existence is one substance, agnostic about internal plurality) and divine_simplicity (God as having no parts or divisions at all) in asserting a definite three-aspected differentiation within a single divine essence.
The Vishnu Purana invocation explicitly names the threefold divine as 'Hiranyagarbha, Hari, and Sankara (Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva), the creator, the preserver, and the destroyer of the world'—a three-aspected differentiation within a single divine essence.