Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Space (or Akasa , AEther), Mind, Understanding and Egoism (or the perception of all the former on the illusive plane).
.
.
This is a lower form of my nature.
Know (that there is) another (form of my) nature, and higher than this, which is animate, O you of mighty arms!
and by which this Universe is upheld.
.
.
.
All this is woven upon me, like numbers of pearls upon a thread ( Mundakopanishad , p.
298).
.
.
.
I am the taste in the [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * The division of the physical senses into five, comes to us from great antiquity.
But while adopting the number, no modern philosopher has asked himself how these senses could exist, i.e.
, be perceived and used in a self-conscious way, unless there was the sixth sense, mental perception to register and record them; and (this for the Metaphysicians and Occultists) the S EVENTH to preserve the spiritual fruition and remembrance thereof, as in a Book of Life which belongs to Karma.
The ancients divided the senses into five, simply because their teachers (the Initiates) stopped at the hearing , as being that sense which developed in the physical plane (got dwarfed rather, limited to this plane) only at the beginning of the Fifth Race.
(The Fourth Race already had begun to lose the spiritual condition, so pre-eminently developed in the Third Race.) ** The modern commentators, failing to comprehend the subtle meaning of the ancient Scholiasts, take this sentence, "causes of the agents," to mean "that the powers of smelling, etc., when attributed to the Self, make him appear as an agent, as an active principle" (!), which is entirely fanciful.
These "seven" are understood to be the causes of the Agents, because "the objects are causes, as their enjoyment causes an impression." It means esoterically that they, these seven senses, are caused by the A GENTS, which are the "deities," for what does, or can, the sentence which follows this one mean?
"Thus," it is said, "these seven (senses) are the causes of emancipation" ( i.e.
, when these causes are made ineffectual).
"And among the learned (the wise Initiates) who understand the qualities which are in the position (in the nature, rather) of the deities , each in its place," means simply that the "learned" understand the nature of the noumenoi of the various phenomena; and that "qualities," in this instance, mean the qualities of the high planetary or Elementary gods or Intelligences, which rule the elements and their products , and not at all "the senses," as the modern commentator thinks.
For the "learned do not suppose their senses to have aught to do with them, any more than with their S ELF." ( Vide pp.
278 and 279 of the VIII.
Vol.
of "The Sacred Books of the East." Anugita.
) [[Vol.
1, Page]] 536 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
water, O son of Kunti!
I am the light of the sun and moon.
I am .
.
.
sound (' i.e.
, the Occult essence which underlies all these and the other qualities of the various things mentioned,' Transl.
), in space .
.
.
the fragrant smell in the earth, refulgence in the fire .
.
.
etc., etc." Truly, then, one should study Occult philosophy before one begins to verify and seek the mysteries of nature on its surface alone, as he alone "who knows the truth about the qualities of nature, who understands the creation of all entities .
.
.
is emancipated" from error.
Says the "preceptor": "Accurately understanding the great tree of which the unperceived (Occult nature, the root of all) is the sprout from the seed (Parabrahmam) which consists of the understanding ( Mahat , or the universal intelligent Soul) as its trunk, the branches of which are the great egoism,* in the holes of which are the sprouts, namely, the senses, of which the great (Occult, or invisible) elements are the flower-bunches,** the gross elements (the gross objective matter), the smaller boughs, which are always possessed of leaves, always possessed of flowers .
.
.
.
which is eternal and the seed of which is the Brahman (the deity); and cutting it with that excellent sword -- knowledge (secret wisdom) -- one attains immortality and casts off birth and death." This is the Tree of Life, the Asvattha tree, only after the cutting of which the slave of life and death, M AN, can be emancipated.
But the men of Science know nought, nor will they hear of the "Sword of Knowledge" used by the adepts and ascetics.
Hence the one-sided remarks of the most liberal among them, based on and flowing from undue importance given to the arbitrary divisions and classification of physical science.
Occultism heeds them very little, and nature still less.
The whole range of physical phenomena proceed from the Primary of Ether -- Akasa, as dual-natured Akasa proceeds from undifferentiated Chaos , so-called, the latter being the primary aspect of Mulaprakriti, the root-matter and the first abstract Idea one can form of Parabrahmam.
Modern Science may divide its hypothetically conceived ether in as many ways as it likes; the real AEther of Space will remain as it is throughout.
It has its seven principles, as all the rest of nature has, and where there was no Ether there would be no sound , as it is the vibrating sound-board in nature in all of its seven differentiations.
This is the first mystery the Initiates of old have learned.
Our present normal physical senses were (from our present point of view) abnormal in those days of slow and progressive downward evolution and fall into matter.
And there was a day when all that which in our modern times is regarded as phenomena, so puzzling to the [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Ahamkara , I suppose, that Egoship (or Ahamship) which leads to every error.
** The elements are the five tanmatras of earth, water, fire, air and ether, the producers of the grosser elements.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 537 WHAT IS NERVOUS ETHER?
physiologists now compelled to believe in them -- such as thought transference, clairvoyance, clairaudience, etc.; in short, all that which is called now "wonderful and abnormal" -- all that and much more belonged to the senses and faculties common to all humanity.
We are, however, cycling back and cycling forward; i.e.
, having lost in spirituality that which we acquired in physical development until almost the end of the Fourth Race, we (mankind) are as gradually and imperceptibly losing now in the physical all that we regain once more in the spiritual re -evolution.
The universal fluid or medium of occult philosophy — Lévi's Great Magical Agent — that transmits will, thought, and magical influence between minds and matter, and preserves the impress of all forms and actions as a book of consciences; cognate with akasha and the anima mundi. Distinct from cosmic_sympathy (a doctrine of hidden affinity) in being a substantival medium that can be charged, directed, and abused.
Akasa/AEther is described as 'the vibrating sound-board in nature in all of its seven differentiations' and as the medium through which all phenomena proceed, functioning as a universal transmitting substrate.
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 maps the same structural pattern (seed, trunk, branches, senses, elements) across cosmic and individual levels, with the seven principles of Ether mirroring the seven principles of human nature.
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 cosmic origin: 'The whole range of physical phenomena proceed from the Primary of Ether -- Akasa, as dual-natured Akasa proceeds from undifferentiated Chaos, so-called, the latter being the primary aspect of Mulaprakriti, the root-matter and the first abstract Idea one can form of Parabrahmam.'
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 quoted Gita passage states 'I am the taste in the water... I am the light of the sun and moon... I am sound in space... the fragrant smell in the earth, refulgence in the fire,' presenting the divine as pervading all of creation.
Naturally-existing, non-human intelligences native to a single element — earth, air, fire, or water — rather than the fourfold-composite human nature: Paracelsus's gnomes, sylphs, salamanders, and undines; the Deva Kingdom or fairy kingdom of Western occultism, forming their own parallel kingdom capable of incarnating in or forming relationships with humans. Distinct from artificial_elemental (a manufactured thought-entity deliberately created by a single operator, not a naturally-occurring species) and animism (the general doctrine that nature-places host indwelling spirits, of which this is one specific taxonomic system organised around the four elements rather than locality).
The 'high planetary or Elementary gods or Intelligences, which rule the elements and their products' are explicitly described as non-human intelligences native to specific elements, forming their own parallel kingdom.
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 maps a clear cascading structure from Parabrahmam through Mulaprakriti, Akasa, the seven principles, tanmatras, and gross elements, explicitly described as a tree with seed, trunk, branches, and boughs.
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 'the Initiates of old' and 'their teachers (the Initiates)' as a chain of transmission for secret wisdom, implying a historical lineage of esoteric knowledge.
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
The passage states that 'cutting it with that excellent sword -- knowledge (secret wisdom) -- one attains immortality and casts off birth and death,' presenting direct knowledge as the means of liberation.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage repeatedly contrasts the esoteric meaning with the exoteric misreading of modern commentators, stating that 'the learned (the wise Initiates) who understand the qualities' grasp the true meaning while others do not.
The ritual admission of an individual into esoteric knowledge or a sacred order through a formal rite of passage — testing, ordeal, or ceremony — marking a definite before/after threshold in the initiate's status and access. Distinct from hidden_sayings (the doctrine being concealed, not the rite of admission to it) and esoteric_lineage (the historical chain of transmission across generations, not a single individual's admission).
The passage references 'the wise Initiates' and 'the Initiates of old who have learned' the first mystery, implying a formal admission into esoteric knowledge.
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 describes 'the unperceived (Occult nature, the root of all)' and the realm of 'high planetary or Elementary gods or Intelligences' that rule the elements, constituting a non-physical dimension interpenetrating the physical.
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 is centrally about the 'slow and progressive downward evolution and fall into matter' complemented by 'the spiritual re-evolution,' explicitly naming the directional process of spirit descending into matter and returning.
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 seven principles are described as applying to both the cosmic Ether and the human being, with the human senses and faculties presented as a small-scale reflection of the cosmic structure.
The direct transmission of thought, will, or information from one mind to another without physical sensory channels — visualising the intended recipient and addressing them by name being the standard technique for establishing the contact. Distinct from astral_light (the ambient transmitting medium telepathy may operate through, not the mind-to-mind practice itself) and cosmic_sympathy (the general metaphysical doctrine of hidden affinity between all things, of which telepathy is one specific, deliberately-worked mind-to-mind application).
The passage mentions 'thought transference, clairvoyance, clairaudience' as formerly normal human faculties that are now considered 'wonderful and abnormal,' directly referencing mind-to-mind transmission.
The Hermetic doctrine that nothing rests — matter, energy, mind, and spirit are a single continuum differing only in rate of vibration, from the grossest matter to the least material spirit. Distinct from cosmic_sympathy (affinity resonating BETWEEN separate things) in being a claim about what constitutes any one thing in the first place, and from magical_equilibrium (Lévi's operational balancing technique, which presupposes some vibration doctrine rather than stating this general principle).
The passage states that Ether is 'the vibrating sound-board in nature in all of its seven differentiations,' presenting vibration as the fundamental mode of existence across all levels of reality.
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.
The Asvattha tree is explicitly identified as 'the Tree of Life' connecting the unperceived root (Parabrahmam) through trunk (Mahat), branches (egoism, senses), and boughs (elements), serving as the cosmos's structural spine.