Page 57 (part 5)

The ship or ark -- navis -- in short, being the symbol of the female generative principle, is typified in the heavens by the Moon, and on Earth by the Womb: both being the vessels and bearers of the seeds of life and being, which the sun, or Vishnu, the male principle, vivifies and fructifies.** The First Cosmic Flood refers to primordial creation, or the formation of Heaven and the Earths; in which case Chaos and the great Deep stand for the "Flood," and the Moon for the "Mother," from whom proceed all the life-germs.*** But the terrestrial Deluge and [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * We must remember that at the head of all the Babylonian gods were Ea, Anu, and the primeval Bel; and that Ea, the first, was the God of Wisdom, the great "God of Light" and of the DEEP, and that he was identified with Oannes, or the Biblical Dagon -- the man-fish who rose out of the Persian Gulf. ** See Part. II. § " The Holy of Holies ." *** It is far later on that the Moon became a male god; with the Hindus it was Soma, with the Chaldeans Nannak or Nannar, and Sin, the son of Mulil, the older Bel. The "Akkadians" called him the "Lord of Ghosts"; and he was the god of Nipoor (Niffer) in northern Babylonia. It is Mulil who caused the waters of the Flood to fall from heaven on Earth, for which Xisuthrus would not allow him to approach his altar. As the modern Assyriologists have now ascertained, it is the northern Nipoor which is the centre whence Chaldean (black) magic spread; and Eridu (the Southern) which was the primitive seat of the worship of the culture god, the god of divine wisdom -- the Sun-God being the supreme deity everywhere. With the Jews, the Moon is connected with Israel's Jehovah and his seed, because Ur was the chief seat of the worship of the Moon-god, and because Abraham is said to have come from Ur, when from A-bra(h)m, he becomes Abraham. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 140 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. its story has also its dual application. In one case it has reference to that mystery when mankind was saved from utter destruction, by the mortal woman being made the receptacle of the human seed at the end of the Third Race,* and in the other to the real and historical Atlantean submersion. In both cases the "Host" -- or the Manu which saved the seed -- is called Vaivasvata Manu. Hence the diversity between the Puranic and other versions; while in the Sathapatha Brahmana, Vaivasvata produces a daughter and begets from her the race of Manu; which is a reference to the first human Manushyas, who had to create women by will ( Kriyasakti ), before they were naturally born from the hermaphrodites as an independent sex, and who were, therefore, regarded as their creator's daughters. The Puranic accounts make of her ( Ida or Ila ) the wife of Budha (Wisdom), the latter version referring to the events of the Atlantean flood, when Vaivasvata, the great Sage on Earth, saved the Fifth Root-race from being destroyed along with the remnants of the Fourth. This is shown very clearly in the Bhagavad Gita, where Krishna is made to say: -- "The Seven great Rishis, the four preceding Manus, partaking of my essence, were born from my mind: from them sprung (were born) the human races and the world." ( Chapter X., verse 6). Here the four preceding "Manus," out of the seven, are the four Races** which have already lived, since Krishna belongs to the Fifth Race, his death having inaugurated the Kali Yuga. Thus Vaivasvata [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * When Narada, the virgin-ascetic, threatened to put an end to the human race by preventing Daksha's sons from procreating it. ** This is corroborated by a learned Brahmin. In his most excellent lectures on the Bhagavad Gita ( see "Theosophist," April, 1887, p. 444) the lecturer says: "There is a peculiarity to which I must call your attention. He (Krishna) speaks here of four Manus. Why does he speak of four? We are now in the seventh Manvantara, that of Vaivasvata. If he is speaking of the past Manus, he ought to speak of six, but he only mentions four. In some commentaries an attempt has been made to interpret this in a peculiar manner. The word 'Chatvaraha' is separated from the word 'Manavaha,' and is made to refer to Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatkumara, and Sanatsujata, who are also included among the mind-born sons of Prajapati. But this interpretation will lead to a most absurd conclusion, and make the sentence contradict itself. The persons alluded to in the text have a qualifying clause in the sentence. It is well known that Sanaka and the other three refused to create, though the other sons had consented to do so; therefore, in speaking of those persons from whom humanity has sprung into existence, it would be absurd to include those four also in the list. The passage must be interpreted without splitting the compound into two nouns. The number of Manus will then be four, and the statement would then contradict the Puranic account, though it would be in harmony with the occult theory. You will recollect that it is stated (in Occultism) that we are now in the Fifth Root-Race. Each Root-Race is considered as the Santhathi of a particular Manu. Now, the Fourth Race has passed, or, in other words, there have been four past Manus. . . . . " [[Vol. 2, Page]] 141 VARIOUS DELUGES. Manu, the son of Surya (the Sun), and the saviour of our Race, is connected with the Seed of Life, both physically and spiritually. But, at present, while speaking of all, we have to concern ourselves only with the first two. The "Deluge" is undeniably an universal tradition. "Glacial periods" were numerous, and so were the "Deluges," for various reasons. Stockwell and Croll enumerate some half dozen Glacial Periods and subsequent Deluges -- the earliest of all being dated by them 850,000, and the last about 100,000, years ago.* But which was our Deluge?