Page 58 (part 3)

As described in the Commentary, the very earliest of that race were: -- " The ' Sons of Passive Yoga.* They issued from the second Manushyas [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- [[Footnote continued from previous page]] has beyond a doubt (to the minds of Haeckel and his like) arisen from the lower mammalia, apes and the earlier simian creatures, the still earlier Marsupialia, Amphibia, Pisces, by progressive transformations," all produced by "a series of natural forces working blindly . . . . . . . . . aim, without design " ( p. 36). The above-quoted passage bears its criticism on its own face. Science is made to teach that which, up to the present time, " has never been actually observed. " She is made to deny the phenomenon of an intelligent nature and a vital force independent of form and matter, and to find it more scientific to teach the miraculous performance of "natural forces working blindly without aim or design. " If so, then we are led to think that the physico-mechanical forces of the brains of certain eminent Scientists are leading them on as blindly to sacrifice logic and common sense on the altar of mutual admiration. Why should the protoplasmic Moneron producing the first living creature through self-division be held as a very scientific hypothesis, and an ethereal pre-human race generating the primeval men in the same fashion be tabooed as unscientific superstition? Or has materialism obtained a sole monopoly in Science? * The Rakshasas, regarded in Indian popular theology as demons, are called the "Preservers" beyond the Himalayas. This double and contradictory meaning has its origin in a philosophical allegory, which is variously rendered in the Puranas. It is stated that when Brahma created the demons, Yakshas (from Yaksh, to eat) and the Rakshasas, both of which kinds of demons, as soon as born, wished to devour their creator, those among them that called out "Not so! oh, let him be saved (preserved)" were named Rakshasas ( Vishnu Purana Book I. ch. v .). The Bhagavata Purana ( III, 20, 19-21) renders the allegory differently. Brahma transformed himself into night (or ignorance) invested with a body, upon which the Yakshas and Rakshasas seized, exclaiming "Do not spare it; devour it." Brahma then cried out, "Do not devour me, spare me." This has an inner meaning of course. The "body of Night" is the darkness of ignorance, and it is the darkness of silence and secrecy. Now the Rakshasas are shown in almost every case to be Yogis, pious Saddhus and Initiates, a rather unusual occupation for demons. The meaning then is that while we have power to dispel the darkness of ignorance, " devour it, " we have to preserve the sacred truth from profanation. "Brahma is for the Brahmins alone," says that proud caste. The moral of the fable is evident. ** The gradual evolution of man in the Secret Doctrine shows that all the later (to the profane the earliest) Races have their physical origin in the early Fourth Race. But it is the sub-race, which preceded the one that separated sexually, that is to be [[Footnote continued on next page]] [[Vol. 2, Page]] 166 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. (human race), and became oviparous. The emanations that came out of their bodies during the seasons of procreation were ovulary ; the small spheroidal nuclei developing into a large soft, egg-like vehicle, gradually hardened, when, after a period of gestation, it broke and the young human animal issued from it unaided, as the fowls do in our race. " This must seem to the reader ludicrously absurd. Nevertheless, it is strictly on the lines of evolutionary analogy, which science perceives in the development of the living animal species. First the moneron- like procreation by self-division ( vide Haeckel ); then, after a few stages, the oviparous, as in the case of the reptiles, which are followed by the birds; then, finally, the mammals with their ovoviviparous modes of producing their young ones. If the term ovoviviparous is applied to some fish and reptiles, which hatch their eggs within their bodies, why should it not be applied to female mammalians, including woman? The ovule, in which, after impregnation, the development of the foetus takes place, is an egg. At all events, this conception is more philosophical than that of Eve with a suddenly created placenta giving birth to Cain, because of the Apple, when even the marsupial, the earliest of mammals, is not placental yet. Moreover, the progressive order of the methods of reproduction, as unveiled by science, is a brilliant confirmation of esoteric Ethnology. It is only necessary to tabulate the data in order to prove our assertion. (Cf. especially Schmidt ' s " Doctrine of Descent and Darwinism, " p. 39, et. seq., and Laing ' s " A Modern Zoroastrian, " pp. 102-111.)I 1. Fission: - - ( a ) As seen in the division of the homogeneous speck of protoplasm, known as Moneron or Amoeba, into two. (b) As seen in the division of the nucleated cell, in which the cell-nucleus splits into two sub-nuclei, which either develop within the original cell-wall or burst it, and multiply outside as independent entities. ( Cf., the First Root-Race. ) II. Budding: - - A small portion of the parent structure swells out at the surface and finally parts company, growing to the size of the original organism; e.g. , many vegetables, the sea-anemone, etc. ( Cf., the Second Root-Race. )* [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- [[Footnote continued from previous page]] regarded as the spiritual ancestors of our present generations, and especially of the Eastern Aryan Races. Weber's idea that the Indo-Germanic Race preceded the Aryan Vedic Race is, to the Occultist, grotesque to the last degree. * Every process of healing and cicatrization in the higher animal groups -- even in the case of reproduction of mutilated limbs with the Amphibians -- is effected by fission and gemmation of the elementary morphological elements. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 167 MONADS AND ROUNDS. III . Spores: -- A single cell thrown off by the parent organism, which develops into a multicellular organism reproducing the features of the latter, e.g ., bacteria and mosses. IV . Intermediate Hermaphroditism: -- Male and female organs inhering in the same individual; e.g ., the majority of plants, worms, and snails, etc.; allied to budding. (Cf. Second and early Third Root-Races. ) V.