Page 84 (part 8)

and being invariably fixed to the beginning of the lunar asterism Magha, the precession would be noted by stating the degree . . . of any moveable lunar mansion cut by that line or circle as an index" ("Historical View of the Hindu Astronomy," p. 65). [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Nanda is the first Buddhist Sovereign, Chandragupta, against whom all the Brahmins were so arrayed; he of the Morya Dynasty, and the grandfather of Asoka. This is one of those passages that do not exist in the earlier Puranic MSS . They were added by the Vaishnavas, who interpolated almost as much, out of Sectarian spite, as the Christian Fathers did. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 551 THE RISHIS AND THE PLEIADES. There was, and still exists, a seemingly endless controversy about the chronology of the Hindus. Here is a point that could help to determine -- approximately at least -- the age when the symbolism of the Seven Rishis and their connection with the Pleiades began. When Karttikeya was delivered to them by the gods to be nursed, the Krittika were only six -- whence Karttikeya is represented with six heads; but when the poetical fancy of the early Aryan symbologists made of them the consorts of the Seven Rishis, they were seven. Their names are given, and these are Amba, Dula, Nitatui, Abrayanti, Maghayanti, Varshayanti, and Chupunika. There are other sets of names which differ, however. Anyhow, the Seven Rishis were made to marry the Seven Krittika before the disappearance of the seventh Pleiad. Otherwise, how could the Hindu astronomers speak of that which, without the help of the strongest telescopes, no one can see? This is why, perhaps, in every such case the majority of the events described in the Hindu allegories is fixed upon as "a very recent invention, certainly within the Christian era"? The oldest MSS . in Sanskrit on astronomy, begin their series of Nakshatras (the 27 lunar asterisms) with the sign of Krittika, and this can hardly make them earlier than 2780 B.C ., (see the "Vedic Calendar," accepted even by the Orientalists); though they get out of the difficulty by saying that the said Calendar does not prove that the Hindus knew anything of astronomy at that date, and assure their readers that, Calendars notwithstanding, the Indian pundits may have acquired their knowledge of the lunar mansions headed by Krittika from the Phoenicians, etc. However that may be, the Pleiades are the central group of the system of sidereal symbology. They are situated in the neck of the constellation of Taurus, regarded by Madler and others, in astronomy, as the central group of the system of The Milky Way, and in the Kabala and Eastern Esotericism, as the sidereal septenate born from the first manifested side of the upper triangle, the concealed . This manifested side is Taurus, the Symbol of O NE (the figure 1), or of the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Aleph (bull or ox) whose synthesis is ten (10), or Yodh, the perfect letter and number. The Pleiades (Alcyone, especially), are thus considered, even in astronomy, as the central point around which our Universe of fixed stars revolves, the focus from which, and into which the divine breath, M OTION, works incessantly during the Manvantara. Hence -- in the Occult philosophy and its sidereal symbols -- it is this Circle and the starry cross on its face, which play the most prominent part. The Secret Doctrine teaches us that everything in the universe, as well as the universe itself, is formed (created) during its periodical manifestations -- by accelerated M OTION set into activity by the B REATH of [[Vol. 2, Page]] 552 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. the ever-to-be-unknown power (unknown to present mankind, at any rate) within the phenomenal world. The Spirit of Life and Immortality was everywhere symbolized by a circle: hence the serpent biting his tail, represents the circle of Wisdom in infinity; as does the astronomical cross -- the cross within a circle, and the globe, with two wings added to it, which then became the sacred Scarabaeus of the Egyptians, its very name being suggestive of the secret idea attached to it. For the Scarabaeus is called in Egypt (in the papyri ) Khopirron and Khopri from the verb Khopron "to become," and has thus been made a symbol and an emblem of human life and of the successive becomings of man, through the various peregrinations and metempsychoses (reincarnations) of the liberated Soul. This mystical symbol shows plainly that the Egyptians believed in reincarnation and the successive lives and existences of the Immortal entity. Being, however, an esoteric doctrine, revealed only during the mysteries by the priest-hierophants and the Kings-Initiates to the candidates, it was kept secret. The incorporeal intelligences (the Planetary Spirits, or Creative Powers) were always represented under the form of circles. In the primitive philosophy of the Hierophants these invisible circles were the prototypic causes and builders of all the heavenly orbs, which were their visible bodies or coverings, and of which they were the souls. It was certainly a universal teaching in antiquity. (See Ezekiel, ch. 1.) "Before the mathematical numbers," says Proclus ( in Quinto Libro, E UCLID), "there are the Self-moving numbers; before the figures apparent -- the vital figures, and before producing the material worlds which move in a Circle, the Creative Power produced the invisible Circles." Deus enim et circulus est, says Pherecydes, in his hymn to Jupiter. It was a Hermetic axiom, and Pythagoras prescribed such a circular prostration and posture during the hours of contemplation. "The devotee must approach as much as possible the form of a perfect circle," prescribes the Secret Book. Numa tried to spread among the people the same custom, Pierius* tells his readers; and Pliny says: "During our worship, we roll up, so to say, our body in a ring, totum corpus circumagimur."** The vision of the prophet Ezekiel reminds one [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- *Pierius Vale. ** The goddess Basht (or Pasht) was represented with the head of a cat. This animal was sacred in Egypt for several reasons: as a symbol of the Moon "the eye of Osiris" or the "Sun," during night. The cat was also sacred to Sokhit. One of the mystic reasons was because of its body being rolled up in a circle when asleep. The posture is prescribed for occult and magnetic purposes, in order to regulate in a certain way the circulation of the vital fluid, with which the cat is pre-eminently endowed.