Page 68 (part 2)

A Vaivasvata is the seventh Manu, because this our Round, although the Fourth, is in the preseptenary Manvantara, and the Round itself is in its seventh stage of materiality or physicality. The close of its middle racial point occurred during the Fourth Root Race, when man and all nature reached their lowest state of gross matter. From that time, i.e. , from the end of the three and a half races, humanity and nature entered on the ascending arc of their racial cycle. **** The interval that precedes each Yuga is called a Sandhya, composed of as many hundreds of years as there are thousands in the yuga; and that which follows the latter is named Sandhyamsa, and is of similar duration, we are told in Vishnu Purana. "The interval between the Sandhya and the Sandhyamsa is the yuga denominated Krita, Treta, etc., etc. The (four) Krita, Treta, Dwapara, and Kali constitute a great age, or aggregate of four ages: a 1000 such aggregates are a Day of Brahma; and 14 Manus reign within that term ." Now had we to accept this literally then there would be only one Manu for every 4,320,000,000 of years. As we are taught that it took 300,000,000 of years for the two lower kingdoms to evolve, and that our humanity is just 18 and some odd millions old -- where were the other Manus spoken of, unless the allegory means what the esoteric doctrine teaches us about the 14 being each multiplied by 49. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 309 THE BLINDS OF EXOTERICISM. appearance of two Manus or Dhyan Chohans; and hence a minor Manvantara is the duration of the seven races on any particular planet, and a major manvantara is the period of one human round along the Planetary chain. Moreover, that, as it is said that each of the seven Manus creates 7 x 7 Manus, and that there are 49 root-races on the seven planets during each Round, then every root-race has its Manu. The present seventh Manu is called 'Vaivasvata' and stands in the exoteric texts for that Manu who represents in India the Babylonian Xisuthrus and the Jewish Noah. But in the esoteric books we are told that Manu Vaivasvata, the progenitor of our Fifth race -- who saved it from the flood that nearly exterminated the Fourth (Atlantis) -- is not the seventh Manu, mentioned in the nomenclature of the Root, or primitive-Manus, but one of the 49 Manus emanated from this Root-Manu. "For clearer comprehension we here give the names of the 14 Manus in their respective order and relation to each Round: -- "Vaivasvata, thus, though seventh in the order given, is the primitive Root-Manu of our fourth Human Wave (the reader must always remember that Manu is not a man but collective humanity), while our Vaivasvata was but one of the seven Minor Manus, who are made to preside over the seven races of this our planet. Each of these has to become the witness of one of the periodical and ever-recurring cataclysms (by fire and water) that close the cycle of every Root-race. And it is this Vaivasvata -- the Hindu ideal embodiment, called respectively Xisuthrus, Deukalion, Noah and by other names -- who is the allegorical man who rescued our race, when nearly the whole population of one hemisphere perished by water, while the other hemisphere was awakening from its temporary obscuration."* [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * The words "creation," "dissolution," etc., do not render correctly the right meaning of either Manvantara or Pralaya. The Vishnu Purana enumerates several: The dissolution of all things is of four kinds, Parasara is made to say: -- Naimittika (occasional), when Brahma slumbers (his night, when, "At the end of this day occurs a re-coalescence of the Universe, called Brahma's contingent re-coalescence," because Brahma is this universe itself); " Prakritika (elemental), when the return of this universe to its original nature is partial and physical; Atyantika (absolute), identification of the embodied with the incorporeal Supreme spirit -- Mahatmic state, whether temporary or until the following Maha Kalpa: also absolute obscuration -- as of a whole [[Footnote continued on next page]] [[Vol. 2, Page]] 310 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. Thus it is shown that there is no real discrepancy in speaking of the Vaivasvata Manvantara ( Manu-antara, lit. "between two Manus") 18,000,000 odd years ago, when physical, or the truly human man first appeared in his Fourth Round on this earth; and of the other Vaivasvatas, e.g., the Manu of the Great Cosmic or sidereal Flood (a mystery), or again the Manu Vaivasvata of the submerged Atlantis, when the racial Vaivasvata saved the elect of Humanity, the Fifth Race, from utter destruction. As the several (and quite different) events are purposely blended in the Vishnu and other Puranas in one narrative, there may yet be a great deal of perplexity left in the profane reader's mind. Therefore, as constant elucidation is needed, we must be forgiven unavoidable repetitions. The blinds which conceal the real mysteries of Esoteric philosophy are great and puzzling, and even now the last word cannot be given. The veil, however, may be a little more removed and some explanations, hitherto denied, may now be offered to the earnest student. As somebody -- Colonel Vans Kennedy, if we do not mistake -- remarked, "the first principle in Hindu religious philosophy is Unity in diversity. " If all those Manus and Rishis are called by one generic name, this is due to the fact that they are one and all the manifested Energies of one and the same L OGOS, the celestial, as well as the terrestrial messengers and permutations of that Principle which is ever in a state of activity; conscious during the period of Cosmic evolution, unconscious (from our point of view) during Cosmic rest, as the Logos sleepeth in the bosom of THAT which "sleepeth not," nor is it ever awake -- for it is SAT or Be-ness, not a Being.