Thus, in the Rig Veda, wherein Brahma is not even named, Cosmogony is preluded with the Hiranyagharha , "the Golden Egg," and Prajapati (Brahma later on), from whom emanate all the hierarchies of "Creators." The Monad, or point, is the original and is the unit from which follows the entire numeral system.
This Point is the First Cause, but THAT from which it emanates, or of which, rather, it is the expression, the Logos, is passed over in silence.
In its turn, the universal symbol, the point within the circle , was not yet the Architect, but the cause of that Architect; and the latter stood to it in precisely the same relation as the point itself stood to the circumference of the Circle, which cannot be defined, according to Hermes Trismegistus.
Porphyry shows that the Monad and the Duad of Pythagoras are identical with Plato's infinite and finite in "Philebus" -- or what Plato calls the [[ apeiron ]] and [[ peras ]].
It is the latter only (the mother) which is substantial, the former being the " cause of all unity and measure of all things " ( Vit.
Pyth.
p.
47); the Duad (Mulaprakriti, the V EIL) being thus shown to be the mother of the Logos and, at the same time, his daughter -- i.e.
, the object of his perception -- the produced [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * It is the "bound" confused with the " Infinite ," that Kapila overwhelms with sarcasms in his disputations with the Brahman Yogis, who claim in their mystical visions to see the "Highest One." ** See T.
Taylor's article in his Monthly Magazine quoted in the Platonist , edited by T.
M.
Johnson, F.T.S., Osceola, Missouri.
(Feb.
Number of 1887.) [[Vol.
1, Page]] 427 THE CREATIVE LOGOI, ANDROGYNOUS.
producer and the secondary cause of it.
With Pythagoras, the MONAD returns into silence and Darkness as soon as it has evolved the triad , from which emanate the remaining seven numbers of the 10 (ten) numbers which are at the base of the manifested universe.
In the Norse cosmogony it is again the same.
"In the beginning was a great abyss (Chaos), neither day nor night existed; the abyss was Ginnungagap, the yawning gulf, without beginning, without end.
A LL F ATHER, the Uncreated, the Unseen, dwelt in the depth of the 'Abyss' ( S PACE) and willed , and what was willed came into being." (See " Asgard and the Gods.
") As in the Hindu cosmogony, the evolution of the universe is divided into two acts: called in India the Prakriti and Padma Creations.
Before the warm rays pouring from the "Home of Brightness" awake life in the Great Waters of Space, the Elements of the first creation come into view, and from them is formed the Giant Ymir (also Orgelmir) -- primordial matter differentiated from Chaos (literally seething clay ) .
Then comes the cow Audumla, the nourisher,* from whom is born Buri (the Producer) who, by Bestla, the daughter of the "Frost-Giants" (the sons of Ymir) had three sons, Odin , Willi and We , or "Spirit," "Will," and "Holiness." ( Compare the Genesis of the Primordial Races , in this work.
) This was when Darkness still reigned throughout Space, when the Ases , the creative Powers (Dhyan Chohans) were not yet evolved, and the Yggdrasil, the tree of the universe of Time and of Life, had not yet grown, and there was, as yet, no Walhalla, or Hall of Heroes.
The Scandinavian legends of creation, of our earth and world, begin with time and human life.
All that precedes it is for them "Darkness," wherein All-Father, the cause of all, dwells.
As observed by the editor of "Asgard and the Gods," though these legends have in them the idea of that A LL- F ATHER, the original cause of all, "he is scarcely more than mentioned in the poems," not because, as he thinks, before the preaching of the gospel, the idea "could not rise to distinct conceptions of the Eternal," but on account of its great esoteric character.
Therefore, all the creative gods, or personal Deities, begin at the secondary stage of Cosmic evolution.
Zeus is born in , and out of Kronos -- Time.
So is Brahma the production and emanation of Kala , "eternity and time," Kala being one of the names of Vishnu.
Hence we find Odin, the father of the gods and of the Ases , as Brahma is the father of the gods and of the Asuras , and hence also the androgyne character of all the chief creative gods, from the second M ONAD of the Greeks down to the Sephiroth Adam Kadmon, the Brahma or Prajapati-Vach of the Vedas, and the androgyne of Plato, which is but another version of the Indian symbol.
[[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Vach -- the "melodious cow, who milks sustenance and water," and yields us "nourishment and sustenance" as described in Rig-Veda.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 428 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
The best metaphysical definition of primeval theogony in the spirit of the Vedantins may be found in the "Notes on the Bhagavat-Gita," by Mr.
T.
Subba Row.
( See " Theosophist " for February , 1887.) Parabrahmam, the unknown and the incognisable, as the lecturer tells his audience: ".
.
.
.
.
Is not Ego, it is not non-ego, nor is it consciousness .
.
.
.
.
it is not even Atma " .
.
.
.
.
"but though not itself an object of knowledge, it is yet capable of supporting and giving rise to every kind of object and every kind of existence which becomes an object of knowledge.
It is the one essence from which starts into existence a centre of energy .
.
.
.
." which he calls Logos.
This Logos is the Sabda Brahmam of the Hindus, which he will not even call Eswara (the "lord" God), lest the term should create confusion in the people's minds.
But it is the Avalokiteswara of the Hindus, the Verbum of the Christians in its real esoteric meaning, not in the theological disfigurement.
"It is," he says, "the Gnatha or the Ego in the Kosmos, and every other Ego .
.
.
.
.
.
is but its reflection and manifestation.
.
.
.
.
.
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
Parabrahmam is described as 'not Ego, not non-ego, nor consciousness, not even Atma' and 'the unknown and the incognisable,' while the source of the Logos is 'passed over in silence.'
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 systematically maps structural parallels across Hindu, Pythagorean, Platonic, and Norse cosmogonic traditions, showing the same principles (Monad, Logos, Duad, androgyne) recurring at every level.
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 is fundamentally a comparative cosmogonic study, presenting the origin narratives of Hindu (Golden Egg, Prakriti/Padma Creations), Norse (Ginnungagap, Ymir, Audumla), and Greek (Zeus from Kronos) traditions.
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The supreme source is repeatedly described as beyond naming or perception: 'passed over in silence,' 'the Uncreated, the Unseen,' and 'scarcely more than mentioned' due to 'its great esoteric character.'
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 systematically traces cascading emanation from an unnameable source through Logos, point, circle, Architect, and hierarchies of Creators across Hindu, Pythagorean, and Norse traditions.
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 androgyne character of all chief creative gods is explicitly stated, spanning from the Greek second Monad to Adam Kadmon, Prajapati-Vach, and Plato's androgyne, while the Duad is called 'mother' of the Logos.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The Logos is 'passed over in silence' and the All-Father is 'scarcely more than mentioned' due to 'its great esoteric character,' indicating deliberate concealment of the highest principles.
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 a structured directional descent from the unconditioned source through Logos, point, circle, and successive creative stages to manifested beings, complemented by the mention of 'evolution of the universe.'
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 centrally discussed as the emanation from the unnameable source, identified with Sabda Brahmam, Avalokiteswara, and the Christian Verbum in its esoteric meaning.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The Monad is explicitly identified as 'the original and is the unit from which follows the entire numeral system' and 'the First Cause,' with Pythagorean and Platonic parallels drawn throughout.
Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.
The Monad as unit from which 'the entire numeral system' follows, the triad evolving into the remaining seven numbers of the 10 at the base of the manifested universe, and the point-within-circle as universal symbol all point to numbers as cosmic structure.
A vertical structure connecting cosmic levels — a tree, pillar, mountain, or ladder linking heaven, earth, and underworld around which the cosmos is organised. Yggdrasil binding the Nine Worlds in Norse cosmology, the Kalevala's Sampo as world-pillar, the Mayan ceiba, the Vedic Aśvattha, the shamanic central tree of Eliade's analyses. Cosmic-structural in character: distinct from sefirot_tree (a kabbalistic emanation diagram) and emanation_hierarchy (an ontological cascade); world_tree_axis is the cosmos's spine rather than the divine's outflow.
Yggdrasil is explicitly named as 'the tree of the universe of Time and of Life' within the Norse cosmogonic narrative.