Page 85 (part 4)

The writer presumes to explain these things neither to the Hindus, who have their own Gurus; nor to the Orientalists, who think they know more than all the Gurus and Rishis, past and present, put together. These rather lengthy quotations and examples cited are necessary, if even to point out to the student the works he has to study so as to derive benefit and learning from comparison. Let him read Pistis Sophia in the light of the Bhagavatgita, the Anugita and others; and then the statement made by Jesus in the Gnostic Gospel will become clear, and the dead letter blinds disappear at once. Read this and compare with the explanation from the Hindu scriptures just given. . . . "And no name is more excellent than all these (seven) vowels. A name wherein be contained all names, all Lights, and all (the fortynine) powers, knowing it, if a man quits this body of matter** no Smoke ( i.e. , no theological delusion),*** no darkness, nor Ruler of the Sphere (no personal genius or planetary spirit called God), or of Fate ( karma ) shall [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Compare with these "pairs of opposites," in the Anugita , the "pairs" of AEons, in the elaborate system of Valentinus, the most learned and profound master of Gnosis. As the "pairs of opposites," male and female, are all derived from Akasa (undeveloped and developed, differentiated and undifferentiated, or S ELF or Prajapati), so are the Valentinian "pairs" of male and female AEons shown to emanate from Bythos, the pre-existing eternal Depth, and in their secondary emanation from Ampsiu-Ouraan (or sempiternal Depth and Silence), the second Logos. In the esoteric emanation there are seven chief "pairs of opposites"; and so also in the Valentinian system there were fourteen, or twice seven. Epiphanius, copying incorrectly, "copied one pair twice over," Mr. C. W. King thinks, "and thus adds one pair to the proper fifteen." ("The Gnostics," etc., pp. 263-4.) Here King falls into the opposite error: the pairs of AEons are not 15 (a blind) but 14, as the first AEon is that from which others emanate, Depth and Silence being the first and only emanation from Bythos. As Hippolytus shows: "The AEons of Valentinus are confessedly the Six Radicals of Simon (Magus)," with the seventh , Fire, at their head. And these are: Mind, Intelligence, Voice, Name, Reason and Thought subordinate to FIRE, the higher self, or precisely the "Seven Winds" or the "Seven Priests" of Anugita. ** Not necessarily at death only, but during Samadhi or mystic trance. *** All the words and sentences between parenthetical marks, are the writer's. This is translated directly from the Latin MS. of the British Museum. King's translation in the Gnostics conforms too much to the gnosticism as explained by the Church-Fathers. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 570 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. be able to hold back the soul that knoweth that name. . . If he shall utter that (Name) unto the fire, the darkness shall flee away. . . And if he shall utter that name unto . . . all their Powers, nay, even unto Barbelo,* the Invisible God, and the triple-powered Gods, so soon as he shall have uttered that name in those places, they shall all be shaken and thrown one upon the other, so that they shall be ready to melt, perish and disappear, and shall cry aloud, 'O, Light of all Lights that art in the Boundless Light, remember us also and purify us!' " It is easy to see who this Light and Name are: the light of Initiation and the name of the "Fire-Self," which is no name, no action, but a Spiritual, ever-living Power, higher even than the "Invisible God," as this Power is I TSELF. But if the able and learned author of the "Gnostics and their Remains" has not sufficiently allowed for the Spirit of allegory and mysticism in the fragments translated and quoted by him, in the above named work, from Pistis Sophia -- other Orientalists have done far worse. Having neither his intuitional perception of the Indian origin of the Gnostic Wisdom still more than of their "gems," most of them, beginning with Wilson and ending with the dogmatic Weber, have made most extraordinary blunders with regard to almost every symbol. Sir M. Monier Williams and others show a very decided contempt for the "Esoteric Buddhists" as theosophists are now called; yet no Student of Occult philosophy has ever mistaken a cycle for a living personage and vice versa, as was very often the case with our learned Orientalists. An instance or two may illustrate the statement more graphically. Let us choose the best known. In the Ramayana, Garuda is called "the maternal uncle of Sagara's 60,000 sons"; and Ansumat, Sagara's grandson, "the nephew of the 60,000 uncles" reduced to ashes by the look of Kapila, "the Purushottama" (or infinite Spirit), who caused Sagara's horse for the Aswamedha sacrifice to disappear. Again, Garuda's son** -- Garuda being himself the Maha-Kalpa or great cycle -- Jatayu, the king of the feathered tribe, when on the point of being slain by Ravana who carries off Sita -- says, speaking of himself: "It is 60,000 years O King, that I am born," after which turning his back on the Sun -- he dies. Jatayu is, of course, the cycle of 60,000 years within the great cycle of GARUDA; hence he is represented as his son, or nephew, ad libitum, [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- *Barbelo is one of the three "Invisible Gods," and, as C. W. King believes, includes "the Divine Mother of the Saviour," or rather Sophia Achamoth ( Vide cap. 359). ** In other Puranas Jatayu is the son of Aruna, Garuda's brother, both the Sons of Kasyapa. But all this is external allegory. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 571 THE ANTIQUITY OF THE KAPILAS. since the whole meaning rests in his being placed on the line of Garuda's descendants. Then, again, there is Diti -- the Mother of the Maruts -- whose descendants and progeny belonged to the posterity of Hiranyaksha, "whose number was 77 crores (or 770 millions) of men." (See Padma Purana. ) All such narratives are pronounced meaningless fictions and absurdities. But -- Truth is the daughter of Time, verily; and time will show.