Page 52 (part 13)

( a ) This refers to the growth of the Earth, whereas in the Stanza treating of the First Round it is said (given in the Commentary): -- " After the changeless (avikara) immutable nature (Essence, sadaikarupa) had awakened and changed (differentiated) into (a state of) causality (avayakta) , and from cause (Karana) had become its own discrete effect (vyakta), from invisible it became visible. The smallest of the small (the most atomic of [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * As shown elsewhere, it is only the "Heavenly Man," Adam Kadmon, of the first chapter of Genesis, who is made "in the image and likeness of God." Adam, of chapter ii., is not said to be made in that image nor in the divine likeness, before he ate of the forbidden fruit. The former Adam is the Sephirothal Host; the second Adam is the Mindless first human Root-race; the third Adam is the race that separated, whose eyes are opened. ** For a discussion of the scientific objections to the views and figures here enunciated, the reader is referred to the Addenda, which form Part III . of this book. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 47 NARADA AND ASURAMAYA. atoms, or aniyamsam aniyasam) became one and the many (ekanekarupa); and producing the Universe produced also the Fourth Loka (our Earth) in the garland of the seven lotuses. The Achyuta then became the Chyuta.* The Earth is said to cast off her old three skins, because this refers to the three preceding Rounds she has already passed through; the present being the fourth Round out of the seven. At the beginning of every new R OUND, after a period of "obscuration," the earth (as do also the other six "earths") casts off, or is supposed to cast off, her old skins as the Serpent does: therefore she is called in the Aitareya-Brahmana the Sarpa Rajni, "the Queen of the Serpents," and "the mother of all that moves." The "Seven Skins," in the first of which she now stands, refer to the seven geological changes which accompany and correspond to the evolution of the Seven Root-Races of Humanity. Stanza II ., which speaks of this Round, begins with a few words of information concerning the age of our Earth. The chronology will be given in its place. In the Commentary appended to the Stanza, two personages are mentioned: Narada and Asura Maya, especially the latter. All the calculations are attributed to this archaic celebrity; and what follows will make the reader superficially acquainted with some of these figures. -------- T WO A NTEDILUVIAN A STRONOMERS. To the mind of the Eastern student of Occultism, two figures are indissolubly connected with mystic astronomy, chronology, and their cycles. Two grand and mysterious figures, towering like two giants in the Archaic Past, emerge before him, whenever he has to refer to Yugas and Kalpas. When, at what period of pre-history they lived, none save a few men in the world know, or ever can know with that certainty which is required by exact chronology. It may have been 100,000 years ago, it may have been 1,000,000, for all that the outside world will ever know. The mystic West and Freemasonry talk loudly of Enoch and Hermes. The mystic East speaks of N ARADA, the old Vedic Rishi, and of ASU RAMAYA, the Atlantean. It has already been hinted that of all the incomprehensible characters in the Mahabharata and the Puranas, Narada, the son of Brahrna in Matsya Purana, the progeny of Kasyapa and the daughter of Daksha [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Achyuta is an almost untranslatable term. It means that which is not subject to fall or change for the worse: the Unfalling; and it is the reverse of chyuta, "the Fallen." The Dhyanis who incarnate in the human forms of the Third Root-Race and endow them with intellect (Manas) are called the chyuta, for they fall into generation. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 48 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. in the Vishnu Purana, is the most mysterious. He is referred to by the honourable title of Deva Rishi (divine Rishi, more than a demi-god) by Parasara, and yet he is cursed by Daksha and even by Brahma. He informs Kansa that Bhagavat (or Vishnu in exotericism) would incarnate in the eighth child of Devaki, and thus brings the wrath of the Indian Herod upon Krishna's mother; and then, from the cloud on which he is seated -- invisible as a true Manasaputra -- he lauds Krishna, in delight at the Avatar's feat of killing the monster Kesim. Narada is here, there, and everywhere; and yet, none of the Puranas gives the true characteristics of this great enemy of physical procreation. Whatever those characteristics may be in Hindu Esotericism, Narada -- who is called in Cis-Himalayan Occultism Pesh-Hun, the "Messenger," or the Greek Angelos -- is the sole confidant and the executor of the universal decrees of Karma and Adi-Budh: a kind of active and ever incarnating logos, who leads and guides human affairs from the beginning to the end of the Kalpa. "Pesh-Hun" is a general not a special Hindu possession. He is the mysterious guiding intelligent power, which gives the impulse to, and regulates the impetus of cycles, Kalpas and universal events.* He is Karma's visible adjuster on a general scale; the inspirer and the leader of the greatest heroes of this Manvantara. In the exoteric works he is referred to by some very uncomplimentary names; such as "Kali-Karaka," strife-maker, "Kapi-vaktra," monkey-faced, and even "Pisuna," the spy, though elsewhere he is called Deva-Brahma. Even Sir W. Jones was strongly impressed with this mysterious character from what he gathered in his Sanskrit Studies. He compares him to Hermes and Mercury, and calls him "the eloquent messenger of the gods" (see Asiat. Res. I. p. 264). All this led the late Dr. Kenealy (" Book of God ") , on the ground that the Hindus believe him to be a great Rishi, "who is for ever wandering about the earth, giving good counsel," to see in him one of his twelve Messiahs. He was, perhaps, not so far off the real track as some imagine. What Narada really is, cannot be explained in print; nor would the modern generations of the profane gather much from the information.