Thus they translate verse 16: "He also, having made the subtile parts of those six (the Great Self and the five organs of sense) of unmeasured brightness, to enter into the elements of Self ( Atmamatrasu ) created all beings." When, according to Medhatithi, it ought to read matra-Chit instead of "Atmamatrasu," and thus be made to say: -- "He having pervaded the subtile parts of those six, of unmeasured brightness, by elements of self, created all beings." This latter reading must be the correct one, since he, the Self , is what we call Atma, and thus constitutes the seventh principle, the synthesis of the " six.
" Such is also the opinion of the editor of Manava-dharma Shastra , who seems to have intuitionally entered far deeper into the spirit of the philosophy than has the translator of the "Ordinances of Manu," the late Dr.
Burnell.
For he hesitates little between the text of Kulluka and the Commentaries of Medhatithi.
Rejecting the tanmatra , or subtile elements, and the atmamatrasu of Kulluka, he says, applying the principles to the Cosmic Self: "The six appear rather to be the manas plus the five principles of Ether, air, fire, water, earth"; "having united five portions of these six with the spiritual element (the seventh ) he (thus) created all existing things;" atmamatra is therefore the spiritual atom as opposed to the elementary, not reflective "elements of himself." Thus he corrects the translation of verse -- "17.
As the subtile elements of bodily forms of This One depend on these six, so [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Vide A.
Coke Burnell's translation, edited by Ed.
W.
Hopkins, Ph.D.
[[Vol.
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the wise call his form carira " (sharira) -- and he says that "Elements" mean here portions or parts (or principles), which reading is borne out by verse 19, which says: -- "19.
This non-eternal (Universe) arises then from the Eternal, by means of the subtile elements of forms of those seven very glorious principles" ( purusha ) .
Commenting upon which, according to Medhatithi, the Editor remarks that "the five elements plus mind ( Manas ) and Self-Consciousness (Ahamkara)* are meant;" "subtile elements," as before (meaning) "five portions of form" (or principles).
For verse 20 shows it, when saying of these (five elements, or "five portions of form" ( rupa , plus Manas and Self-Consciousness) that they constitute the " seven purusha ," or principles , called in the Puranas the "Seven Prakritis." Moreover, these "five elements" or "five portions" are spoken of in verse 27 as "those which are called the atomic destructible portions" -- therefore "distinct from the atoms of the nyaya.
" This creative Brahma, issuing from the mundane or golden egg, unites in himself both the male and the female principles.
He is, in short, the same as all the creative Protologoi.
Of Brahma, however, it could not be said, as of Dionysos: "[[ protogonon diphue trigonon Baccheion Hanakta Hagrion arreton kruphion dikerota dimorphon ]]" -- a lunar Jehovah -- Bacchus truly, with David dancing nude before his symbol in the ark -- because no licentious Dionysia were ever established in his name and honour.
All such public worship was exoteric, and the great universal symbols were distorted universally, as those of Krishna are now by the Vallabacharyas of Bombay, the followers of the infant god.
But are these popular gods the true Deity?
Are they the Apex and synthesis of the sevenfold creation, man included?
Never!
Each and all are one of the rungs of that septenary ladder of Divine Consciousness, pagan as Christian.
For Ain-Soph also is said to manifest through the Seven Letters of Jehovah ' s name who, having usurped the place of the Unknown Limitless, was given by his devotees his Seven Angels of the Presence -- his Seven Principles.
Yet they are mentioned in almost every school.
In the pure Sankhya philosophy mahat , ahamkara and the five tanmatras are called the seven Prakritis (or Natures), and they are counted from Maha-Buddhi or Mahat down to Earth.
(See Sankhya Karika III.
and Commentaries.) Nevertheless, however disfigured for Rabbinical purposes is the original Elohistic version by Ezra, however repulsive at times even the [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Ahamkara , as universal Self-Consciousness, has a triple aspect, as also Manas.
For this conception of "I," or one's Ego , is either sattwa , "pure quietude," or appears as rajas , "active," or remains tamas , "stagnant," in darkness.
It belongs to Heaven and Earth, and assumes the properties of either.
[[Vol.
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esoteric meaning in the Hebrew scrolls, which is far more so than its outward veil or cloaking may be* -- once the Jehovistic portions are eliminated, the Mosaic books are found full of purely occult and priceless knowledge, especially in the first six chapters.
Read by the aid of the Kabala one finds a matchless temple of occult truths, a well of deeply concealed beauty hidden under a structure, the visible architecture of which, its apparent symmetry notwithstanding, is unable to stand the criticism of cold reason, or to reveal its age, for it belongs to all the ages.
There is more wisdom concealed under the exoteric fables of Puranas and Bible than in all the exoteric facts and science in the literature of the world, and more OCCULT true Science, than there is of exact knowledge in all the academies.
Or, in plainer and stronger language, there is as much esoteric wisdom in some portions of the exoteric Puranas and Pentateuch, as there is of nonsense and of designed childish fancy in it, when read only in the dead-letter murderous interpretations of great dogmatic religions, and especially of sects.
Let anyone read the first verses of chapter i.
of Genesis and reflect upon them.
There "God" commands to another "god," who does his bidding -- even in the cautious English Protestant translation of James the First's authorised edition.
In the "beginning," the Hebrew language having no word to express the idea of Eternity,** "God" fashions the heaven and the Earth ; and the latter is "without form and void," while the former is no Heaven in fact, but the "Deep," Chaos , with darkness upon its face.*** "And the Spirit of G OD moved upon the face of the Waters" (v.
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
The 'Unknown Limitless' is defined by what it is not (unknown, limitless, beyond the seven principles), and the passage emphasizes that the true divine is hidden 'under a structure' whose visible form 'is unable to stand the criticism of cold reason.'
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 passage explicitly maps the same seven principles onto both the cosmic and human levels: 'As the subtile elements of bodily forms of This One depend on these six, so the wise call his form sharira.'
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: 'This non-eternal (Universe) arises then from the Eternal, by means of the subtile elements of forms of those seven very glorious principles,' and interprets Genesis 1 as a cosmogonic narrative of the Deep, Chaos, and the Spirit moving upon the Waters.
A secondary creator deity—often ignorant or malevolent—responsible for fashioning the material world, distinct from the supreme transcendent God.
Brahma is described as 'the same as all the creative Protologoi' and Jehovah as having 'usurped the place of the Unknown Limitless,' positioning the creator as secondary to the transcendent source.
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The 'Unknown Limitless' and the esoteric meaning 'far more so than its outward veil or cloaking may be' express the radical concealment of the supreme divine 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 describes the Self as having 'pervaded the subtile parts of those six, of unmeasured brightness, by elements of self, created all beings,' and the Spirit of God moving upon the face of the Waters, indicating the divine pervading all of creation.
The infinite, unknowable aspect of the divine prior to and beyond all emanation; the hidden root from which the Sephirot unfold.
The passage explicitly names 'Ain-Soph' as the infinite, unknowable divine from which the seven principles emanate, and identifies it with the 'Unknown Limitless.'
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 centrally describes the septenary cascade from the Unknown Limitless/Ain-Soph through seven principles (Mahat down to Earth) to material creation, explicitly calling it the 'septenary ladder of Divine Consciousness.'
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 passage explicitly states that 'This creative Brahma, issuing from the mundane or golden egg, unites in himself both the male and the female principles,' asserting the masculine-feminine generative principle as a structural feature of creation.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage is centrally about esoteric truth concealed beneath exoteric fables: 'There is more wisdom concealed under the exoteric fables of Puranas and Bible than in all the exoteric facts and science in the literature of the world,' and 'a well of deeply concealed beauty hidden under a structure.'
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 extensively describes the 'subtile parts,' 'subtile elements,' and 'tanmatras' as non-physical principles constituting the sevenfold structure of reality, imperceptible to ordinary senses.
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 describes the structured descent from the Eternal through seven principles 'from Maha-Buddhi or Mahat down to Earth,' a directional process of spirit descending into matter through successive stages.
The twenty-two Hebrew letters as the building blocks through which God creates and sustains all existence.
The passage directly states that 'Ain-Soph also is said to manifest through the Seven Letters of Jehovah's name,' identifying letters as the building blocks through which the divine creates.
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 entire passage is structured around the identity of the human seven-principle constitution with the cosmic seven-principle structure, stating 'the sevenfold creation, man included' and applying the same seven Prakritis to both individual and universal levels.
Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.
The number seven is the structural key of the entire passage: Seven Prakritis, Seven Principles, Seven Angels, Seven Letters, the 'septenary ladder,' with the number determining the architecture of cosmic and human reality.
Critique of outward religious observance that lacks inner transformation; form without substance.
The passage criticizes 'the dead-letter murderous interpretations of great dogmatic religions, and especially of sects' and the distortion of symbols by 'the Vallabacharyas of Bombay,' contrasting true esoteric wisdom with empty exoteric form.
The ten attributes or emanations through which the Ein Sof (Infinite) reveals itself and creates the universe in Kabbalistic theology.
The passage explicitly invokes Ain-Soph manifesting through the Seven Letters of Jehovah's name and the Seven Angels of the Presence, using Kabbalistic language for the emanation structure.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The passage implies that the seven principles are ultimately one synthesis: 'he, the Self, is what we call Atma, and thus constitutes the seventh principle, the synthesis of the six,' suggesting an underlying unity.