Page 55 (part 8)

He who knows the doctrines of Esoteric Budhism, (or Wisdom), though so imperfectly sketched hitherto, will see clearly the allegory contained in the above. Its more philosophical meaning will be better understood if the reader thinks carefully over the myth of Prometheus. It is examined [[Vol. 2, Page]] 101 THE DIVINE BABE, AGNI. further on in the light of the Hindu Pramantha. Degraded into a purely physiological symbol by some Orientalists, and taken in connection with terrestrial fire only, their interpretation is an insult to every religion, including Christianity, whose greatest mystery is thus dragged down to matter. The "friction" of divine Pramantha and Arani could suggest itself under this image only to the brutal conceptions of the German materialists -- than whom there are none worse. It is true that the Divine babe, Agni with the Sanskrit-speaking Race, who became Ignis with the Latins, is born from the conjunction of Pramantha and Arani (Svastica) during the sacrificial ceremony. But what of that? Twashtri (Viswakarman) is the "divine artist and carpenter " * and is also the Father of the gods and of creative fire in the Vedas. So ancient is the symbol and so sacred, that there is hardly an excavation made on the sites of old cities without its being found. A number of such terra cotta discs, called fusaiolos, were found by Dr. Schliemann under the ruins of ancient Troy. Both these forms and were excavated in great abundance, their presence being one more proof that the ancient Trojans and their ancestors were pure Aryans. ( c ) Chhaya, as already explained, is the astral image. It bears this meaning in Sanskrit works. Thus Sanjna (Spiritual Consciousness), the wife of Surya, the Sun, is shown retiring into the jungle to lead an ascetic life, and leaving behind to her husband her Chhaya, shadow or image. [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * The "Father of the Sacred Fire," writes Prof. Jolly, "is Twashtri . . . his mother was Maya. He himself was styled Akta (anointed, [[ christos ]]), after the priest had poured upon his head the spirituous (?) S OMA, and on his body butter purified by sacrifice"; (" Man before Metals, " p. 190). The source of his information is not given by the French Darwinist. But the lines are quoted to show that light begins to dawn even upon the materialists. Adalbert Kuhn, in his " Die Herabkunft des Feuers, " identifies the two signs and with Arani , and designates them under this name. He adds: "This process of kindling fire naturally led men to the idea of sexual reproduction," etc. Why could not a more dignified idea, and one more occult, have led man to invent that symbol, in so far as it is connected, in one of its aspects, with human reproduction? But its chief symbolism refers to Cosmogony. " Agni , in the condition of Akta, or anointed, is suggestive of Christ," remarks Prof. Jolly. " Maya, Mary, his mother; Twastri , St. Joseph, the carpenter of the Bible." In the Rig Veda, Viswakarman is the highest and oldest of the Gods and their "Father." He is the "carpenter or builder," because God is called even by the monotheists, "the Architect of the Universe." Still, the original idea is purely metaphysical, and had no connection with the later Phallicism. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 102 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. 16. H OW ARE THE ( real ) MANUSHYAS BORN? T HE MANUS WITH MINDS, HOW ARE THEY MADE? ( a ) T HE FATHERS ( Barhishad (?)) CALL TO THEIR HELP THEIR OWN FIRE ( the Kavyavahana, electric fire ) , WHICH IS THE FIRE WHICH BURNS IN EARTH. T HE SPIRIT OF THE EARTH CALLED TO HIS HELP THE SOLAR FIRE ( Suchi, the spirit in the Sun ) . T HESE THREE ( the Pitris and the two fires ) PRODUCED IN THEIR JOINT EFFORTS A GOOD RUPA. I T ( the form ) COULD STAND, WALK, RUN, RECLINE AND FLY. Y ET IT WAS STILL BUT A CHHAYA, A SHADOW WITH NO SENSE ( b ) . . . . . . ( a ) Here an explanation again becomes necessary in the light, and with the help of the exoteric added to the esoteric scriptures. The " Manushyas " (men) and the Manus are here equivalent to the Chaldean "Adam" -- this term not meaning at all the first man, as with the Jews, or one solitary individual, but mankind collectively, as with the Chaldeans and Assyrians. It is the four orders or classes of Dhyan Chohans out of the seven, says the Commentary, "who were the progenitors of the concealed man , " i.e ., the subtle inner man. The "Lha" of the Moon, the lunar spirits, were, as already stated, only the ancestors of his form, i.e., of the model according to which Nature began her external work upon him. Thus primitive man was, when he appeared, only a senseless Bhuta* or a "Phantom." This "creation" was a failure, the reason of which will be explained in the Commentary on Sloka 20. ( b ) This attempt was again a failure. It allegorizes the vanity of physical nature's unaided attempts to construct even a perfect animal -- let alone man. For the "Fathers," the lower Angels, are all Nature-Spirits and the higher Elementals also possess an intelligence of their own; but this is not enough to construct a THINKING man. " Living Fire" was needed, that fire which gives the human mind its self-perception and self-consciousness, or Manas ; and the progeny of Parvaka and Suchi are the animal electric and solar fires, which create animals, and could thus furnish but a physical living constitution to that first astral model of man. The first creators, then, were the Pygmalions of primeval man: they failed to animate the statue - - intellectually. This Stanza we shall see is very suggestive. It explains the mystery of, and fills the gap between, the informing principle in man -- the [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * It is not clear why " Bhutas " should be rendered by the Orientalists as meaning "evil Spirits" in the Puranas. In the Vishnu Purana, Book I, ch.