Page 87 (part 4)

The author explains, "Note that in Hebrew, Jared , the father of Enoch, is construed to be ' the mount of descent, ' and it is said to be the same with Ararat on which the cubical structure of Noah, or foundation measure rested. Jared, in Hebrew, is . The root derivations are the same with those of Ararat, of acre, of earth." As by Hebrew metrology "Jared, is, literally in British Y R D; hence in Jared is to be found literally our English word yard (and also , for Jah, or Jehovah, is rod ) . It is noteworthy that the son of Jared, viz ., Enoch, lived 365 years, and it is said of him by rabbinical commentators, that the year period of 365 days was discovered by him, thus bringing, again, time and distance values together, i.e., year time descended by co-ordination, through the yard, or jared, who thus was its father, in or through Enoch ; and truly enough, 1296 = yard (or jared ) x 4 = 5184, the characteristic value of the solar day, in thirds, which as stated may be styled the parent numerically, of the solar year" ( ibid. p. 65). This, however, by the astronomical and numerical Kabalistic methods. Esoterically, Jared is the Third race and Enoch the Fourth -- but as he is taken away alive he symbolizes also the Elect saved in the Fourth, while Noah is the Fifth from the beginning -- the family saved from the waters, eternally and physically. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 598 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. chapter vii. of Genesis, "Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male (3), and the female (4); of fowls also of the air by sevens, " etc., etc., followed by all the sevening of days and the rest. ------- B. T HE T ETRAKTIS IN R ELATION TO THE H EPTAGON. Thus Number Seven, as a compound of 3 and 4, is the factor element in every ancient religion, because it is the factor element in nature. Its adoption must be justified, and it must be shown to be the number par excellence, for, since the appearance of "Esoteric Buddhism," frequent objections have been made, and doubts expressed as to the correctness of these assertions. And here let the student be told at once, that in all such numerical divisions the O NE universal Principle, -- although referred to as (the) one, because the Only One -- never enters into the calculations. I T stands, in its character of the Absolute, the Infinite, and the universal abstraction, entirely by I TSELF and independent of every other Power whether noumenal or phenomenal. I T "is neither matter nor spirit; I T is neither Ego nor non-Ego; and I T is neither object nor subject," says the author of " Personal and Impersonal God, " and adds: -- "In the language of Hindu philosophers it is the original and eternal combination of Purusha (Spirit) and Prakriti (matter). As the Adwaitees hold that an external object is merely the product of our mental states, Prakriti is nothing more than an illusion, and Purusha is the only reality; it is the O NE existence which remains in the universe of Ideas. This . . . then, is the Parabrahm of the Adwaitees. . . . ." "Even if there were to be a personal God with anything like a material upadhi (physical basis of whatever form), from the standpoint of an Adwaitee there will be as much reason to doubt his noumenal existence, as there would be in the case of any other object. In their opinion, a conscious God cannot be the origin of the Universe, as his Ego would be the effect of a previous cause, if the word conscious conveys but its ordinary meaning. They cannot admit that the grand total of all the states of consciousness in the Universe is their deity, as these states are constantly changing, and as cosmic ideation ceases during Pralaya . There is only one permanent condition in the Universe, which is the state of perfect unconsciousness, bare Chidakasam (the field of consciousness) in fact. When my readers once realize the fact that this grand universe is in reality but a huge aggregation of various states of consciousness, they will not be surprised to find that the ultimate state of unconsciousness is considered as Parabrahmam by the Adwaitees."* Being itself entirely out of human reckoning or calculation, yet this "huge aggregation of various states of consciousness" is a Septenate, [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- *" Five Years of Theosophy," Art. "Personal and Impersonal God." [[Vol. 2, Page]] 599 THE ROOTS OF THINGS. in its totality entirely composed of Septenary groups; simply because "the capacity of perception exists in seven different aspects corresponding to the seven conditions of matter " ( ibid ) , or the seven properties, or states, or conditions of matter. And, therefore, number 1 down to number 7 begins in the esoteric calculations with the first manifested principle, which is number one if we commence from above, and the seventh when reckoning from below, or from the lowest Principle. The Tetrad is esteemed in the Kabala, as it was by Pythagoras, the most perfect, or rather sacred number, because it emanated from the one, the first manifested Unit, or rather the three in one. Yet the latter has been ever impersonal, sexless, incomprehensible, though within the possibility of the higher mental perceptions. The first manifestation of the eternal monad was never meant to stand as the symbol of another symbol, the U NBORN for the Element-born, or the one L OGOS for the Heavenly man. Tetragrammaton, or the Tetractys of the Greeks, is the Second logos, the Demiurgos. The Tetrad, as Thomas Taylor thought ( vide the " Pythagorean Triangle ") , "is the animal itself of Plato, who, as Syrianus justly observes, was the best of the Pythagoreans; it subsists at the extremity of the intelligible triad, as is most satisfactorily shown by Proclus in the third book of his treatise on the theology of Plato. And between these two triads (the double triangle), the one intelligible, and the other intellectual, another order of gods exists which partakes of both extremes." "The Pythagorean world," Plutarch tells us (in De anim. procr., 1027) " consisted of a double quaternary. " This statement corroborates what is said about the choice, by the exoteric theologies, of the lower Tetraktis.