Page 24 (part 3)

This is corroborated by the writer of the said intensely learned and Kabalistic revelation himself, when he closes the above-quoted passages by adding: -- "If to these organs as symbols of creative cosmic agencies the idea of the origin of measures as well as of time-periods can be attached, then indeed, in the constructions of the Temples as Dwellings of Deity, or of Jehovah, that part designated as the Holy of Holies, or the Most Holy place, should borrow its title from the recognised sacredness of the generative organs, considered as symbols of measures as well as of creative cause. With the ancient WISE, there was no name and no idea , and no symbol of A FIRST CAUSE." . . . . Most decidedly not. Rather never give a thought to it and leave it for ever nameless , as the early Pantheists did, than degrade the sacredness of that Ideal of Ideals , by dragging down its symbols into such anthropomorphic forms! Here again one perceives the immense chasm between Aryan and Semitic religious thought: two opposite poles -- Sincerity and Concealment. With the Brahmins, who have never invested with an "original Sin" element the natural procreative functions of mankind, it is a religious duty to have a son. A Brahmin, in days of old, having accomplished his mission of human creator, retired to the jungle and passed the rest of his days in religious meditations. He had accomplished his duty to nature as mortal man and its co-worker, and henceforth gave all his thoughts to the spiritual immortal portion in himself, regarding the terrestrial as a mere illusion, an evanescent dream -- which it is. With the Semite, it was different. He invented a temptation of flesh in a garden of Eden; showed his God (esoterically, the Tempter and the Ruler of Nature) CURSING for ever an act, which was in the logical programme of that nature.* All this exoterically, as in the cloak and dead letter of Genesis and the rest; and at the same time esoterically he regarded the supposed sin and FALL as an act so sacred, as to choose the organ, the perpetrator of the original sin , as the fittest and most sacred symbol to represent that God, who is shown as branding its entering into function as disobedience and everlasting SIN! Who can ever fathom the paradoxical depths of the Semitic mind? And this paradoxical element, minus its innermost significance, has now passed entirely into Christian theology and dogma! Whether the early Fathers of the Church knew the esoteric meaning of the Hebrew (Old) Testament, or whether only a few of them were aware of it, while the others remained ignorant of the secret, is for [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * The same idea is carried out exoterically in the incidents of Egypt. The Lord God tempts sorely Pharaoh and "plagues him with great plagues," lest the king should escape punishment, and thus afford no pretext for one more triumph to his "Chosen people." [[Vol. 1, Page]] 384 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. posterity to decide. One thing is certain, at any rate. As the esotericism of the New Testament agrees perfectly with that of the Hebrew Mosaic Books; and since, at the same time, a number of purely Egyptian symbols and pagan dogmas in general -- the Trinity for example -- have been copied by, and incorporated into, the Synoptics and St. John, it becomes evident that the identity of those symbols was known to the writers of the New Testament, whoever they were. They must have been aware also of the priority of the Egyptian esotericism, since they have adopted several such symbols that typify purely Egyptian conceptions and beliefs -- in their outward and inward meaning -- and which are not to be found in the Jewish Canon. One of such is the water-lily in the hands of the Archangel in the early representations of his appearance to the Virgin Mary; and these symbolical images are preserved to this day in the iconography of the Greek and Roman Churches. Thus water, fire, the Cross, as well as the Dove, the Lamb, and other sacred animals, with all their combinations, yield esoterically an identical meaning, and must have been accepted as an improvement upon Judaism pure and simple. For the Lotus and Water are among the oldest symbols, and in their origin are purely Aryan, though they became common property during the branching-off of the fifth race. Let us give an example. Letters, as much as numbers, were all mystic, whether in combination or each taken separately. The most sacred of all is the letter M. It is both feminine and masculine, or androgyne, and is made to symbolize WATER, the great deep, in its origin. It is mystic in all the languages, Eastern and Western, and stands as a glyph for the waves, thus: . In the Aryan Esotericism, as in the Semitic, this letter has always stood for the waters; e.g ., in Sanskrit MAKARA -- the tenth sign of the Zodiac -- means a crocodile, or rather an aquatic monster associated always with water. The letter MA is equivalent to and corresponds with number 5 -- composed of a binary , the symbol of the two sexes separated, and of the ternary , symbol of the third life, the progeny of the binary. This, again, is often symbolised by a Pentagon , the latter being a sacred sign, a divine Monogram. M AITREYA is the secret name of the Fifth Buddha, and the Kalki Avatar of the Brahmins -- the last M ESSIAH who will come at the culmination of the Great Cycle. It is also the initial letter of the Greek Metis or Divine Wisdom ; of Mimra , the "word" or Logos ; and of Mithras (the Mihr ), the Monad , Mystery. All these are born in, and from, the great Deep, and are the Sons of Maya -- the Mother; in Egypt, Mouth , in Greece Minerva (divine wisdom), Mary , or Miriam , Myrrha , etc.; of the Mother of the Christian Logos, and of Maya , the mother of Buddha. Madhava and Madhavi are the titles of the most important gods and goddesses of the Hindu Pantheon. Finally, Mandala is in [[Vol. 1, Page]] 385 THE EGYPTIAN LOTUS. Sanskrit "a circle," or an orb (the ten divisions of the Rig Veda ) . The most sacred names in India begin with this letter generally -- from Mahat , the first manifested intellect, and Mandara , the great mountain used by the gods to churn the Ocean , down to Mandakin , the heavenly Ganga (Ganges), Manu , etc., etc. Shall this be called a coincidence? A strange one it is then, indeed, when we find even Moses -- found in the water of the Nile -- having the symbolical consonant in his name. And Pharaoh's daughter "called his name Moses . . . because," she said, " I drew him out of W ATER" ( Exod. ii.