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The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol. 2 [[Vol. 2, Page]] 220 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. T HE " S ONS OF G OD" AND THE " S ACRED I SLAND." The legend given in Isis in relation to a portion of the globe which science now concedes to have been the cradle of humanity -- though it is but one of the seven cradles, in truth -- ran, condensed, and now explained, as follows: -- "Tradition says, and the records of the Great Book (the Book of Dzyan) explain, that long before the days of Ad-am, and his inquisitive wife, He-va, where now are found but salt lakes and desolate barren deserts, there was a vast inland sea, which extended over Middle Asia, north of the proud Himalayan range, and its western prolongation. An island, which for its unparalleled beauty had no rival in the world, was inhabited by the last remnant of the race which preceded ours." "The last remnant " meant the "Sons of Will and Yoga," who, with a few tribes, survived the great cataclysm. For it is the Third Race which inhabited the great Lemurian continent, that preceded the veritable and complete human races -- the fourth and the fifth. Therefore it was said in Isis that -- "This race could live with equal ease in water, air, or fire, for it had an unlimited control over the elements. These were the 'Sons of God'; not those who saw the daughters of men, but the real Elohim, though in the oriental Kabala they have another name. It was they who imparted Nature's most weird secrets to men, and revealed to them the ineffable, and now lost 'word.' " The "Island," according to belief, exists to the present hour; now, as an oasis surrounded by the dreadful wildernesses of the great Desert, the Gobi -- whose sands "no foot hath crossed in the memory of man." "This word, which is no word, has travelled once around the globe, and still lingers as a far-off dying echo in the hearts of some privileged men. The hierophants of all the Sacerdotal Colleges were aware of the existence of this island; but the 'word' was known only to the Java Aleim (Maha Chohan in another tongue), or chief lord of every college, and was passed to his successor only at the moment of death. There were many such colleges, and the old classic authors speak of them. "There was no communication with the fair island by sea, but subterranean passages, known only to the chiefs, communicated with it in all directions."* Tradition asserts, and archaeology accepts the truth of the legend that there is more than one city now flourishing in India, which is built on [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * There are archaeologists, who, like Mr. James Fergusson, deny the great antiquity of even one single monument in India. In his work, "Illustrations of the Rock-Cut Temples of India," the author ventures to express the very extraordinary opinion that "Egypt had ceased to be a nation before the earliest of the cave-temples of India was excavated." In short, he does not admit the existence of any cave anterior to the reign of Asoka, and seems anxious to prove that most of these rock-cut temples were executed during a period extending from the time of that pious Buddhist king until the destruction of the Andhra dynasty of Maghada, in the beginning of the fifth century. We believe such a claim perfectly arbitrary. Further discoveries will show that it is erroneous and unwarranted. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 221 THE CONTINENT OF THE GODS. several other cities, making thus a subterranean city of six or seven stories high. Delhi is one of them; Allahabad another -- examples of this being found even in Europe; e.g ., in Florence, which is built on several defunct Etruscan and other cities. Why, then, could not Ellora, Elephanta, Karli, and Ajunta have been built on subterranean labyrinths and passages, as claimed? Of course we do not allude to the caves which are known to every European, whether de visu or through hearsay, notwithstanding their enormous antiquity, though that is so disputed by modern archaeology. But it is a fact, known to the Initiated Brahmins of India and especially to Yogis, that there is not a cave-temple in the country but has its subterranean passages running in every direction, and that those underground caves and endless corridors have in their turn their caves and corridors. "Who can tell that the lost Atlantis -- which is also mentioned in the Secret Book, but, again, under another name, pronounced in the sacred language -- did not exist yet in those days?" -- we went on to ask. It did exist most assuredly, as it was fast approaching its greatest days of glory and civilization when the last of the Lemurian continents went down. "The great lost continent might have, perhaps, been situated south of Asia, extending from India to Tasmania?* If the hypothesis (now so much doubted, and positively denied by some learned authors, who regard it as a joke of Plato's) is ever verified, then, perhaps, will the scientists believe that the description of the god-inhabited continent was not altogether a fable.** And they may then perceive that Plato's guarded hints and his attributing the narrative to Solon and the Egyptian priests, were but a prudent way of imparting the fact to the world, and, by cleverly combining truth and fiction, so disconnecting himself from a story which the obligations imposed at initiation forbade him to divulge. "To continue the tradition, we have to add that the class of hierophants was divided into two distinct categories:*** those who were instructed by the 'Sons of God,' of the island, and who were initiated in the divine doctrine of pure revelation; and others who inhabited the lost Atlantis -- if such must be its name -- and who, being of another race, (born sexually but of divine parents), were born with a sight, which embraced all living things, and was independent of both distance and material obstacle. In short, they were the Fourth Race of men mentioned in the Popol-Vuh, whose sight was unlimited, and who knew all things at once." In other words, they were the Lemuro-Atlanteans, the first who had [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * America when discovered, was called Atlanta by some native tribes. ** Since then Donnelly's Atlantis has appeared, and soon its actual existence will have become a scientific fact. *** It is so divided to this day, and theosophists and Occultists, who have learned something of the Occult but undeniable power of Dugpaship at their own expense, know this but too well. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 222 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.