Page 28 (part 7)

As the " Rig Vidhana " together with the " Brahmanda Purana " and all such works, whether describing the magic efficacy of the Rig-Vedic Mantras or the future Kalpas, are declared by Dr. Weber and others to be modern compilations "belonging probably only to the time of the Puranas," it is useless to refer the reader to their mystic explanations; and one may as well quote simply from the archaic books utterly unknown to the Orientalists. These works explain that which so puzzles the scholars, namely that the Saptarshi , the "mind-born sons" of Brahma, are referred to in the Satapatha Brahmana under one set of names; in the Mahabharata under another set; and that the Vayu Purana makes even nine instead of seven Rishis, by adding the names of Bhrigu and Daksha to the list. But the same occurs in every exoteric Scripture. The secret doctrine gives a long genealogy of Rishis, but separates them into many classes. Like the Gods of the Egyptians, who were divided into seven, and even twelve, classes, so are the Indian Rishis in their Hierarchies. The first three groups are the Divine, the Cosmical and the Sub-lunary. Then come the Solar Gods of our system, the Planetary, the Sub-Mundane, and the purely human -- the heroes and the Manoushi. At present, however, we are only concerned with the pre -cosmic, divine gods, the Prajapati or the "Seven Builders." This group is found unmistakably in every Cosmogony. Owing to the loss of Egyptian archaic documents -- since, according to M. Maspero, "the materials and historical data on hand to study the history of the religious evolution in Egypt are neither complete nor very often intelligible" -- in order to have the statements brought forward from the Secret Doctrine corroborated partially and indirectly, the ancient hymns and inscriptions on the tombs must be appealed to. One such, at any rate, shows that Osiris was, like Brahma-Prajapati, Adam Kadmon, Ormazd, and so many other Logoi, the chief and synthesis of the [[Vol. 1, Page]] 437 COSMIC GODS. group of "Creators" or Builders. Before Osiris became the "One" and the highest god of Egypt he was worshipped at Abydos as the head or leader of the Heavenly Host of the Builders belonging to the higher of the three orders. The hymn engraved on the votive stela of a tomb from Abydos (3rd register) addresses Osiris thus: "Salutations to thee, Osiris, elder son of Sib ; thou the greatest over the six gods issued from the goddess Noo (primordial Water), thou the great favourite of thy father Ra ; father of fathers, King of Duration, master in the eternity . . . who, as soon as these issued from thy mother's bosom, gathered all the crowns and attached the Uraeus (serpent or naja)* on thy head; multiform god, whose name is unknown and who has many names in towns and provinces. . ." Coming out from the primordial water crowned with the uraeus , which is the serpent emblem of Cosmic fire, and himself the seventh over the six primary gods issued from Father-Mother, Nou and Nout (the sky), who can Osiris be, but the chief Prajapati, the chief Sephiroth, the chief Amshaspend-Ormazd! That this latter solar and cosmic god stood, in the beginning of religious evolution, in the same position as the archangel "whose name was secret," is certain. This Archangel was the representative on earth of the Hidden Jewish God, Michael, in short: it is his "Face" that is said to have gone before the Jews like a "Pillar of Fire." Burnouf says, "The seven Amshaspends, who are most assuredly our archangels, designate also the personifications of the divine Virtues." ( Comment on the Yacna , p. 174.) And these archangels, therefore, are as "certainly" the Saptarishi of the Hindus, though it is next to impossible to class each with its pagan prototype and parallel, since, as in the case of Osiris, they have all so "many names in towns and provinces." Some of the most important, however, will be shown in their order. One thing is thus undeniably proven. The more one studies their Hierarchies and finds out their identity, the more proofs one acquires that there is not one of the past and present personal gods, known to us from the earliest days of History, that does not belong to the third stage of Cosmic manifestation. In every religion we find the concealed deity forming the ground work; then the ray therefrom, that falls into primordial Cosmic matter (first manifestation); then the androgyne result, the dual Male and Female abstract Force, personified ( second stage) ; this separates itself finally, in the third , into seven Forces, called the creative Powers by all the ancient Religions, and the [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * This Egyptian word Naja reminds one a good deal of the Indian Naga , the Serpent-God. Brahma and Siva and Vishnu are all crowned with, and connected with Nagas -- a sign of their cyclic and cosmic character. [[Vol. 1, Page]] 438 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. "Virtues of God" by the Christians. The later explanation and metaphysical abstract qualifications have never prevented the Roman and Greek Churches from worshipping these "Virtues" under the personifications and distinct names of the seven Archangels. In the Book of Druschim ( p. 59, 1 st Treatise ) in the Talmud, a distinction between these groups is given which is the correct Kabalistical explanation. It says: "There are three groups (or orders) of Sephiroth. 1st. The Sephiroth called "the divine attributes" (abstract). 2nd. The physical or sidereal Sephiroth (personal) -- one group of seven , the other of ten. 3rd. The metaphysical Sephiroth, or periphrasis of Jehovah , who are the first three Sephiroth (Kether, Chochma and Binah), the rest of the seven being the (personal) seven spirits of the Presence" (also of the planets). The same division has to be applied to the primary, secondary and tertiary evolution of gods in every theogony, if one wishes to translate the meaning esoterically. We must not confuse the purely metaphysical personifications of the abstract attributes of Deity, with their reflection -- the sidereal gods. This reflection, however, is in reality the objective expression of the abstraction: living Entities and the models formed on that divine prototype.