Page 80 (part 3)

principles), which move about in the body, and swallow up one another,* blazes the Vaishvana fire** sevenfold, of which 'I' am the goal," says the Brahmana.*** But the chief "Soul" is Manas or mind; hence, Soma, the moon, is shown as making an alliance with the solar portion in it, personified as the Prachetasas. But of the seven keys that open the seven aspects of the Ramayana, as of every other Scripture, this is only one -- the metaphysical. The symbol of the "Tree" standing for various Initiates was almost universal. Jesus is called "the tree of Life," as also all the adepts of the good Law, while those of the left Path are referred to as the "withering trees." John the Baptist speaks of "the axe" which "is laid to the root of the trees" (Matth. iii. 10); and the King of Assyria's armies are called trees (Isaiah x. 19). The true meaning of the Garden of Eden was sufficiently given in " Isis Unveiled. " The writer has more than once heard surprise expressed that Isis should contain so few of the doctrines now taught. This is quite erroneous. For the allusions to such teachings are plentiful, even if the teachings themselves were still withheld. The time had not arrived then, as the hour has not struck now to say all. "No Atlanteans, or the Fourth Race which preceded our Fifth Race, are mentioned in ' Isis Unveiled, ' " a critic on "Esoteric Buddhism" wrote one day. I, who wrote Isis Unveiled, maintain that the Atlanteans are mentioned as our predecessors, namely, in Volume I., p. 133, when speaking of the Book of Job. For what can be plainer than this: "In the original text, instead of 'dead things,' it is written dead Rephaim, giants, or mighty primitive men, from whom 'Evolution' may one day trace our present race. " It is invited to do so now, now that this hint is explained quite openly; but Evolutionists are as sure to [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * This is explained by the able translator of Anugita in a foot-note (p. 258) in these words: "The sense appears to be this; the course of worldly life is due to the operations of the life-winds which are attached to the SELF , and lead to its manifestations as individual souls. **" Vaisvanara (or Vaishvanara) is a word often used to denote the Self" -- explains Nilakantha. *** Translated by Kashinath Trimbak Telang, M.A ., Bombay. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 497 TRACES OF PRE-HISTORIC STRIFES. decline nowadays as they did ten years ago. Science and theology are against us: therefore we question both, and have to do so in self-defence. On the strength of hazy metaphors scattered throughout the prophets, and in St. John's Revelation, a grand but re-edited version of the Book of Enoch, on these insecure grounds Christian theology built its dogmatic Epos of the War in Heaven. It did more: it used the symbolical visions, intelligible only to the Initiates, as pillars upon which to support the whole bulky edifice of its religion; and now the pillars have been found very weak reeds, and the cunning structure is foundering. The entire Christian scheme rests upon these Jakin and Boaz -- the two contrary forces of good and evil, Christ and Satan the [[ agathai kai kakai dunameis ]]. Take away from Christianity its main prop of the Fallen Angels, and the Eden Bower vanishes with its Adam and Eve into thin air; and Christ, in the exclusive character of the One God and Saviour, and the victim of Atonement for the Sin of animal-man, becomes forthwith a useless, meaningless myth. In an old number of the Revue Archaeologique for the year 1845 (p. 41), a French writer, M. Maury, remarks: -- "This universal strife between good and bad spirits seems to be only the reproduction of another more ancient and more terrible strife, that, according to an ancient myth, took place before the creation of the universe, between the faithful and the rebellious legions." Once more, it is a simple question of priority. Had John's Revelation been written during the Vedic period, and were not one sure now of its being simply another version of the Book of Enoch and the Dragon legends of pagan antiquity -- the grandeur and the beauty of the imagery might have biased the critics' opinion in favour of the Christian interpretation of that first war, whose battle field was starry Heaven, and the first slaughterers -- the Angels. As the matter stands now, however, one has to trace Revelation, event by event, to other and far older visions. For the better comprehension of the Apocalyptic allegories and of the esoteric epos we ask the reader to turn to Revelation, and to read chapter xii., from verse 1 to verse 7. This has several meanings, most of which have been found out with regard to the astronomical and numerical keys of this universal myth. That which may be given now, is a fragment, a few hints as to its secret meaning, as embodying the record of a real war, the struggle between the Initiates of the two schools. Many and various are the still existing allegories built on that same foundation stone. The true narrative, that which gives the full esoteric meaning, is in the Secret books, but the writer has had no access to these. In the exoteric works, however, the episode of the Taraka war, and some esoteric commentaries, may offer a clue perhaps. In every Purana [[Vol. 2, Page]] 498 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. the event is described with more or less variations, which show its allegorical character. In the Mythology of the earliest Vedic Aryans as in the later Puranic narratives, mention is made of Budha, the "Wise"; one "learned in the Secret Wisdom," and who is the planet Mercury in his euhemerization. The Hindu Classical Dictionary credits Budha with being the author of a hymn in the Rig Veda. Therefore, he can by no means be "a later fiction of the Brahmins," but is a very old personation indeed. It is by inquiring into his genealogy, or theogony, rather, that the following facts are disclosed. As a myth, he is the son of Tara, the wife of Brihaspati the "gold coloured," and of "Soma" the (male) Moon, who, Paris-like, carries this new Helen of the Hindu sidereal Kingdom away from her husband, which causes a great strife and war in Swarga (Heaven).