Man: Whence, How and Whither
A RECORD OF CLAIRVOYANT INVESTIGATION
BY
Annie Besant
and C.W. Leadbeater
The Theosophical
Society, Adyar, India
FOREWORD
THE idea that
clairvoyant observation is possible is no longer regarded as entirely insane. It
is not generally accepted, nor indeed is it accepted to any large extent. A
constantly growing minority, however, of fairly intelligent people believe
clairvoyance to be a fact, and regard it as a perfectly natural power, which
will become universal in the course of evolution. They do not regard it as a
miraculous gift, nor as an outgrowth from high spirituality, lofty intelligence,
or purity of character; any or all of these may be manifested in a person who is
not in the least clairvoyant. They know that it is a power latent in all men,
and that it can be developed by any one who is able and willing to pay the price
demanded for its forcing, ahead of the general evolution.
The use of
clairvoyance for research into the past is not new. The Secret Doctrine of H. P.
Blavatsky is a standing instance of such use. Whether or not the work thus done
is reliable is a question which must be left for decision to future generations,
possessing the power which is now used for this purpose. We shall, we know, have
a large body of readers who are students, who, believing the power to be a
reality, and knowing us to be honest, will find this book both interesting and
illuminative. For them it has been written. As the number of students increases,
so will increase the number of our readers. More than this we cannot hope for.
Centuries hence, when people will be able to write much better books, based on
similar researches, this will be looked on as an interesting pioneer,
considering the time at which it was written.
Proofs of its
general accuracy obviously cannot be given, though from time to time discoveries
may be made which confirm an occasional statement. The truth of clairvoyant
research can no more be proved to the general public, than colour can be
demonstrated to a blind man. The general public, so far as it reads the book,
will regard it with blank incredulity; some may think it an interesting
fabrication; others may find it dull. Most will regard the authors as either
self-deceived or fraudulent, according as the judges are kind-hearted or
malevolent.
To students we
would say: Accept it so far as it helps you in your studies, and throws light on
what you already know. Amplification and correction may be made in the future,
for we have only given a few fragments of a huge history, and the task has been
a very heavy one.
The research
work was done at Adyar in the summer of 1910; in the heat of the summer many of
the students were away, and we shut ourselves up, so as to be uninterrupted, for
five evenings every week; we observed, and said exactly what we saw, and two
members, Mrs. Van Hook and Don Fabrizio Ruspoli, were good enough to write down
all we said, exactly as we said it; these two sets of notes have been preserved.
They are woven into the present story written partly during the summer of 1911,
when a few weeks were stolen for the purpose, and completed in April and May
1912, similarly stolen out of the rush of busy lives. This kind of work cannot
be done in the midst of constant interruptions, and the only way to accomplish
it is to escape from the world for the time, to “go into retreat,” as the Roman
Catholics call it.
The broad
Theosophical outline of evolution has been followed, and it is given among the
“preliminaries” in Chapter I. This governs the whole, and is the ground-plan of
the book. The fact of an Occult Hierarchy, which guides and shapes evolution, is
throughout taken for granted, and some of its members inevitably appear in the
course of the story. In order to throw ourselves back into the earliest stages,
we sought for our own consciousnesses, present there, and easier to start from
than anything else, since no others were recognisable. They gave us, as it were,
a footing in the first and second Chains. From the latter part of the third
Chain and onwards, we traced humanity' s story by following a group of
individuals, except where this group was otherwise occupied during any important
stage of evolution-- as in the beginnings of the third and fourth sub-races of
the fifth Root-Race; when that was the case we left it, and followed the main
stream of progress. In this record comparatively few details as to persons can
be given, the sweep of the story being so large. Many detailed lives, however,
have been published in 'The Theosophist, under the general title “Rents
in the Veil of Time”-- rents through which glimpses of the past of individuals
may be seen. A volume of these, named Lives of Alcyone, will, we hope,
one day be published, and to that will be appended full genealogical tables,
showing the relationships in each life of all the characters so far identified.
Work of this kind might be done ad libitum, if there were people to do
it.
As a history
cannot be written without names, and as reincarnation is a fact-- and therefore
the re-appearance of the same individual throughout succeeding ages is also a
fact, the individual playing many parts under many names-- we have given names
to many individuals by which they may be recognised throughout the dramas in
which they take part. Irving is the same
Irving to us, as Macbeth, Richard III, Shylock, Charles I, Faust,
Romeo, Matthias; and in any story of his life as actor he is spoken of as
Irving, whatever part he is playing: his continuing
individuality is recognised throughout. So a human being, in the long story in
which lives are days, plays hundreds of parts but is himself throughout-- be he
man or woman, peasant, prince, or priest. To this “himself” we have given a
distinguishing name, so that he may be recognised under all the disguises put on
to suit the part he is playing. These are mostly names of constellations, or
stars. For instance, we have given to Julius Caesar the name of Corona; to Plato
that of Pallas; to Lao-Tze that of Lyra; in this way we can see how different
are the lines of evolution, the previous lives which produce a Caesar and a
Plato. It gives to the story a human interest, and teaches the student of
reincarnation.
The names of
those who constantly appear in this story as ordinary men and women, but who are
now Masters, may make those great Beings more real to some; They have climbed to
where They stand on the same ladder of life up which we are climbing now; They
have known the common household life, the joys and sorrows, the successes and
the failures, which make up human experiences. They are not Gods perfect from
unending ages, but men and women who have unfolded the God within themselves and
have, along a toilsome road, reached the superhuman. They are the fulfilled
promise of what we shall be, the glorious flowers on the plant on which we are
the buds.
And so we
launch our ship on the stormy ocean of publicity, to face its destiny and find
its fate.
ANNIE BESANT
C.
W. LEADBEATER
SOME OF THE
CHARACTERS IN THE STORY
|
THE FOUR ...
|
Four of the Lords of the Flame, still living
in Shamballa.
|
KUMARA...
|
|
MAHAGURU ...
|
The Bodhisattva of the time, appearing as
Vyasa, Thoth (Hermes), Zarathushtra, Orpheus, finally as Gautama; who became
the Lord Buddha
|
SURYA ...
|
The Lord Maitreya, the present Bodhisattva,
the Supreme Teacher of the world.
|
MANU ...
|
The Head of a Root-Race. If with a prefix,
Root-Manu or Seed-Manu, a yet higher Official, presiding over a larger cycle
of evolution - a Round or a Chain. The cognomen Vaivasvata is given in Hindu
books both to the Root-Manu of our Chain and the Manu of the Aryan, or
fifth, Root Race.
|
VIRAJ ...
|
The Maha-Chohan, a high Official, of rank
equal to that of a Manu or a Bodhisattva.
|
SATURN ...
|
Now a Master, spoken of in some Theosophical
books as `The Venetian'.
|
JUPITER ...
|
Now a Master, residing in the Nilgiri Hills.
|
MARS ...
|
Now the Master M. of the Occult World.
|
MERCURY ...
|
Now the Master K. H. of the Occult World.
|
NEPTUNE ...
|
Now the Master Hilarion.
|
OSIRIS ...
|
Now the Master Serapis.
|
BRIHASPATI ...
|
Now the Master Jesus.
|
VENUS ...
|
Now the Master Ragozci (or Rakovzky), the
`Hungarian Adept,' the Comte de S. Germain of the eighteenth century.
|
URANUS ...
|
Now the Master D. K.
|
VULCAN ...
|
Now a Master: known in His last earth-life as
Sir Thomas More.
|
ATHENA ...
|
Now a Master; know on earth as Thomas Vaughan,
`Eugenius Philalethes'.
|
ALBA ...
|
Ethel Whyte
|
ALBIREO ...
|
Maria-Luisa Kirby
|
ALCYONE ...
|
J. Krishnamurti
|
ALETHEIA ...
|
John van Manen
|
ALTAIR ...
|
Herbert Whyte
|
ARCOR ...
|
A. J. Wilson
|
AURORA ...
|
Count Bubna-Licics
|
CAPELLA ...
|
S. Maud Sharpe
|
CORONA ...
|
Julius Caesar
|
CRUX ...
|
The Hon. Otway Cuffe
|
DENEB ...
|
Lord Cochrane (Tenth Earl of Dundonald)
|
EUDOXIA ...
|
Louisa Shaw
|
FIDES ...
|
G. S. Arundale
|
GEMINI ...
|
E. Maud Green
|
HECTOR ...
|
W. H. Kirby
|
HELIOS ...
|
Marie Russak
|
HERAKLES ...
|
Annie Besant
|
LEO ...
|
Fabrizio Ruspoli
|
LOMIA ...
|
J. I. Wedgwood
|
LUTETIA ...
|
Charles Bradlaugh
|
LYRA ...
|
Lao-Tze
|
MIRA ...
|
Carl Holbrook
|
MIZAR ...
|
J. Nityananda
|
MONA ...
|
Piet Meuleman
|
NORMA ...
|
Margherita Ruspoli
|
OLYMPIA ...
|
Damodar K. Mavalankar
|
PALLAS ...
|
Plato
|
PHOCEA ...
|
W. Q. Judge
|
PHOENIX ...
|
T. Pascal
|
POLARIS...
|
B. P. Wadia
|
PROTEUS...
|
The Teshu Lama
|
SELENE...
|
C. Jinarajadasa
|
SIRIUS...
|
C. W. Leadbeater
|
SIWA...
|
T. Subba Rao
|
SPICA...
|
Francesca Arundale
|
TAURUS ...
|
Jerome Anderson
|
ULYSSES...
|
H. S. Olcott
|
VAJRA ...
|
H. P. Blavatsky
|
VESTA ...
|
Minnie C. Holbrook
|
No. |
Chapter |
|
Introduction |
I
|
Preliminaries
|
II
|
The First and Second Chains
|
III
|
Early Times on the Moon Chain
|
IV
|
The Sixth Round on the Moon Chain
|
V
|
The Seventh Round on the Moon Chain
|
VI
|
Early Times on the Earth Chain
|
VII
|
Early Stages of the Fourth Round
|
VIII
|
The Fourth Root-Race
|
IX
|
Black Magic in Atlantis
|
X
|
The Civilisation of Atlantis
|
XI
|
Two Atlantean Civilisations-- Peru
|
XII
|
Two Atlantean Civilisations-- Peru
|
XIII
|
Two
Atlantean Civilisations-- Chaldaea
|
XIV
|
Beginnings of the Fifth Root-Race
|
XV
|
The Building of the Great City
|
XVI
|
Early Aryan Civilisation and Empire
|
XVII
|
The Second sub-race, the Arabian
|
XVIII
|
The Third sub-race, the Iranian
|
XIX
|
The Fourth sub-race, the Keltic
|
XX
|
The Fifth sub-race, the Teutonic
|
XXI
|
The Root-Stock and its descent into
India
|
XXII
|
The Vision of King Ashoka
|
XXIII
|
The Beginnings of the Sixth Root-Race
|
XXIV
|
Religion and the Temples
|
XXV
|
Education and the Family
|
XXVI
|
Buildings
and Customs
|
XXVII
|
Conclusion
|
|
Epilogue |
|
Appendix |
INTRODUCTION
THE problem of
Man' s origin, of his evolution, of his destiny, is one of inexhaustible
interest. Whence came he, this glorious Intelligence, on this globe, at least,
the crown of visible beings? How has he evolved to his present position? Has he
suddenly descended from above, a radiant angel, to become the temporary tenant
of a house of clay; or has he climbed upwards through long dim ages, tracing his
humble ancestry from primeval slime, through fish, reptile, mammal, up to the
human kingdom? And what is his future destiny? Is he evolving onwards, climbing
higher and higher, only to descend the long slope of degeneration till he falls
over the precipice of death, leaving behind him a freezing planet, the sepulchre
of myriad civilisations; or is his present climbing but the schooling of an
immortal spiritual Power, destined in his maturity to wield the sceptre of a
world, a system, a congeries of Systems, a veritable God in the making?
To these
questions many answers have been given, partially or fairly fully, in the
Scriptures of ancient religions, in the shadowy traditions handed down from
mighty men of old, in the explorations of modern archaeologists, in the
researches of geologists, physicists, biologists, astronomers, of our own days.
The most modern knowledge has vindicated the most ancient records in ascribing
to our earth and its inhabitants a period of existence of vast extent and of
marvellous complexity; hundreds of millions of years are tossed together to give
time for the slow and laborious processes of nature; further and further back `
primeval man' is pushed; Lemuria is seen where now the Pacific ripples, and
Australia, but lately rediscovered, is regarded as one of the oldest of lands;
Atlantis is posited, where now the Atlantic rolls, and Africa is linked to
America by a solid bridge of land, so that the laurels of a discoverer are
plucked from the brow of Columbus, and he is seen as following long-perished
generations who found their way from Europe to the continent of the setting sun.
Poseidonis is no longer the mere fairy-tale told by superstitious Egyptian
priests to a Greek philosopher; Minos of Crete is dug out of his ancient grave,
a man and not a myth; Babylon, once ancient, is shown as the modern successor of
a series of highly civilised cities, buried in stratum after stratum, glooming
through the night of time. Tradition is beckoning the explorer to excavate in
Turkestan, in Central Asia, and whispering of
cyclopean ruins that await but his spade for their unburying.
Amid this clash
of opinions, this conflict of theories, this affirmation and repudiation of
ever-new hypotheses, it may be that the record of two observers, two explorers--
treading a very ancient path that few feet tread to-day, but that will be
trodden more and more by thronging students as time its stability-- may have a
chance of being read. Science is to-day exploring the marvels of what it calls
the ` subjective mind,' and is finding in it strange powers, strange upsurgings,
strange memories. Healthy and balanced, dominating the brain, it shows as
genius; out of equilibrium with the brain, vagrant and incalculable, it shows as
insanity. Some day Science will realise that what it calls the subjective mind,
Religion calls the Soul, and that the exhibition of its powers depends on the
physical and super-physical instruments at its command. If these are
well-constructed, sound and flexible, and thoroughly under its control, the
powers of vision, of audition, of memory, irregularly up-welling from the
subjective mind, become the normal and disposable powers of the Soul; if the
Soul strive upwards to the Spirit-- the Divine Self-- veiled in the matter of
our System, the true Inner Man, instead of ever clinging to the body, then its
powers increase, and knowledge, otherwise unattainable, comes within its reach.
Metaphysicians,
ancient and modern, declare that Past, Present, and Future are ever
simultaneously existent in the divine Consciousness, and are only successive as
they come into manifestation, i.e., under Time which is verily the
succession of states of consciousness. Our limited consciousness existing in
Time, is inevitably bound by this succession; we can only think successively.
But we all know, from our experience of dream-states, that time-measures
vary with this change of state, though succession remains; we know also
that time-measures vary even more in the thought-world, and that when we
construct mental pictures we can delay, hasten, repeat, the succession of
thought-images at will, though still ever bound by succession. Pursing this line
of thought, it is not difficult to conceive of a mind raised to transcendent
power, the mind of a LOGOS or WORD-- such a Being, e.g., as is
described in the Johannine Gospel, i. 1- 4 -- containing within itself all the
mental images embodied in, say, a Solar System, arranged in the order of
succession of their proposed manifestation, but all there, all capable of
review, as we can review our own thought-images, though we have not yet attained
to the divine power, so strikingly voiced by the Prophet Muhammad, as: “He only
saith to it: ` Be,' and it is”.¹ (¹ Al Quran, xi. 17.) Yet, as the
infant of a day contains within himself the potentialities of his sire, so do
we, the offspring of God, contain within ourselves the potentialities of
Divinity. Hence, when we resolutely turn the Soul away from earth and
concentrate his attention on the Spirit-- the substance whereof he is the shadow
in the world of matter-- the Soul may reach the “Memory of Nature,” the
embodiment in the material world of the Thoughts of the LOGOS, the reflection,
as it were, of His Mind. There dwells the Past in ever-living records; there
also dwells the Future, more difficult for the half-developed Soul to reach,
because not yet manifested, nor yet embodied, though quite as ` real' . The
Soul, reading these records, may transmit them to the body, impress them on the
brain, and then record them in words and writings. When the Soul is merged in
the Spirit-- as in the case of “men made perfect,” of Those who have completed
human evolution, the Spirits who are ` liberated,' or ` saved' 1 (¹ The
terms used by Hindus and Christians respectively to mark the end of purely human
evolution.) -- then the touch with the divine Memory is immediate, direct, ever
available, and unerring. Before that point is reached, the touch is imperfect,
mediate, subject to errors of observation and transmission.
The writers of
this book, having been taught the method of gaining touch, but being subject to
the difficulties involved in their uncompleted evolution, have done their best
to observe and transmit, but are fully conscious of the many weaknesses which
mar their work. Occasional help has been given to them by the Elder Brethren, in
the way of broad outlines here and there, and dates where necessary.
As in the case
of the related books which have preceded this in the Theosophical movement, the
“treasure is in earthen vessels,” and, while gratefully acknowledging the help
graciously given, they take the responsibility of all errors entirely on
themselves.
MAN: WHENCE AND
HOW
CHAPTER I
PRELIMINARIES
1.
WHENCE comes man and whither goes he? In the fullest
answer we can only say: Man, as a spiritual Being, comes forth from God and
returns to God; but the Whence and Whither with which we deal here denote a far
more modest sweep. It is but a single page of his life-story that is copied out
herein, telling of the birth into dense matter of some of the Children of Man--
What lies beyond that birthing, O still unpenetrated Night?-- and following on
their growth from world to world to a point in the near future but some few
centuries hence-- What lies beyond that cloud-flush in the dawning, O still
unrisen Day?
2.
And yet the title is not wholly wrong, for he who comes
from God and goes to God is not precisely ` Man' . That Ray of the divine
Splendour which comes forth from Divinity at the beginning of a manifestation,
that “fragment of Mine own Self, transformed in the world of life into an
immortal Spirit,”¹ (¹ Bhagavad-Gita, xv.7.) is far more than Man. Man
is but one stage of his unfolding, and mineral, vegetable, animal, are but
stages of his embryonic life in the womb of Nature, ere he is born as Man. Man
is the stage in which Spirit and Matter struggle for the mastery, and when the
struggle is over and Spirit has become Lord of Matter, Master of life and death,
then Spirit enters on his superhuman evolution, and is no longer Man, but rather
Superman.
3.
Here then we deal with him only as Man: with Man in his
embryonic stage, in the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms; with Man in his
development in the human kingdom; with Man and his worlds, the Thinker and his
field of evolution.
4.
In order to follow readily the story told in this book,
it is necessary for the reader to pause for a few minutes on the general
conception of a Solar System, as outlined in Theosophical literature,1
(¹ The student may find it in H. P. Blavatsky' s The Secret Doctrine,
A. P. Sinnett' s Esoteric Buddhism, and Growth of the Soul,
Annie Besant' s The Ancient Wisdom, etc. There are minor differences--
such as H. P. Blavatsky' s and A. P. Sinnett' s naming of the globes of the
earth-chain-- but the main facts are identical.) and on the broad principles of
the evolution therein carried on. This is not more difficult to follow than the
technical terminology of every science, or than other cosmic descriptions, as in
astronomy, and a little attention will easily enable the student to master it.
In all studies of deep content, there are ever dry preliminaries which have to
be mastered. The careless reader finds them dull, skips them, and is, throughout
his subsequent reading, in a more or less bewildered and confused condition of
mind; he is building his house without a foundation, and must continually be
shoring it up. The careful reader faces these difficulties bravely, masters them
once for all, and with the knowledge thus gained he goes easily forward, and the
details he meets with later fall readily into their places. Those who prefer the
first plan, had better miss the present Chapter, and go on to Chapter II; the
wiser readers will give an hour to mastering what follows.
5.
That great Sage, Plato, one of the world' s
master-intellects, whose lofty ideas have dominated European thought, makes the
pregnant statement: “God geometrises.” The more we know of Nature, the more we
realise this fact. The leaves of plants are set in a definite order of
succession, ½, 1/3,1/5, 3/8, 5/13, and so on. The vibrations that make the
successive notes of a scale may be correspondently figured in a regular series.
Some diseases follow a definite cycle of days, and the 7th, the 14th, the 21st
mark the crises that result in continued physical life or in death. It is
useless to multiply instances.
6.
There is, then, nothing surprising in the fact that we
find, in the order of our Solar System, the continual recurrence of the number
Seven. Because of this, it has been called a ` sacred number' ; a ` significant
number' would be a better epithet. The moon' s life divides itself naturally
into twice seven days of waxing and an equal number of waning, and its quarters
give us our week of seven days. And we find this seven as the root-number of our
Solar System, dividing its departments into seven, and these again divided into
subsidiary sevens, and these into other sevens, and so on. The religious student
will think of the seven Ameshaspentas of the Zoroastrian, of the seven Spirits
before the throne of God of the Christian; the Theosophist of the supreme Triple
LOGOS of the system, with His Ministers, the “Rulers of seven Chains,”¹ (¹ These
have been called Planetary Logoi, but the name often causes confusion, and is
therefore here dropped.) round Him, each ruling His own department of the
system, as a Viceroy for an Emperor. We are concerned here with but one
department in detail. The Solar System contains ten of these, for while rooted
in the seven, it develops ten departments, ten being, therefore, by Mystics,
called the ` perfect number' . Mr. A. P. Sinnett has well named these
departments ` Schemes of Evolution,' and within each of these Schemes humanities
are evolving or will evolve. We will now confine ourselves to our own, though
never forgetting that the others exist, and that very highly evolved
Intelligences may pass from one to another. In fact, such visitors came to our
earth at one stage of its evolution, to guide and help our newly-born humanity.
7.
A scheme of Evolution passes through seven great
evolutionary stages, each of which is called a Chain. This name is derived from
the fact that a Chain consists of seven Globes, mutually interrelated; it is a
chain of seven links, each link a globe. The seven Schemes are shown in Diagram
I, around the central sun, and at any one period of time only one of the rings
in each Scheme will be active; each ring of each of these seven Schemes is
composed of seven globes; these are not figured separately but form what we here
have drawn as a ring, in order to save space. The globes are shown in the next
Diagram.
8.
In Diagram II we have a single Scheme, figured in the
seven stages of its evolution, i.e., in its seven successive Chains; it
is now shown in relation to five of the seven spheres, or types, of matter
existing in the Solar System; matter of each type is composed of atoms of a
definite kind, all the solids, liquids, gases, and ethers of one type of matter
being aggregations of atoms of a single kind;¹ (¹ See Occult Chemistry,
Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater.) this matter is named according to the mood
of consciousness to which it responds: physical, emotional, mental, intuitional,
spiritual. ² (² Physical matter is the matter with which we are daily dealing in
our waking life. Emotional matter is that which is set vibrating by desires and
emotions, and is called astral in our older books, a name we retain to some
extent. Mental matter is that which similarly answers to thoughts. Intuitional
matter (buddhic, in Samskrit) is that which serves as medium for the higher
intuition and all-embracing love. Spiritual matter (atmic) is that in which the
creative Will is potent.) In the first Chain, its seven Worlds, A, B, C, D, E,
F, G, are seen arranged: ³ (³ The top left-hand globe is A; the next lower is B;
and so on up to G, the top right-hand globe.) A and G, the root-world and the
seed-world, are on the spiritual plane, for all descends from the higher to the
lower, from the subtle to the dense, and climbs again to the higher, enriched
with the gains of the journey, the gains serving as seed for the next Chain; B
and F are on the intuitional plane, one gathering and the other assimilating; C
and E are on the higher mental, in similar relationship; D, the turning point,
the point of balance between the ascending and descending arcs, is in the lower
part of the mental plane. These pairs of globes in every Chain are ever closely
allied, but the one is the rough sketch, the other the finished picture. In the
second Chain, the globes have all sunk one stage lower into matter, and D is on
the emotional plane. In the third Chain, they have sunk yet one stage further,
and D reaches the physical plane. In the fourth Chain, and on the fourth only,
the midmost Chain of the seven, the most deeply involved in densest matter, the
turning point of the Chains as is D of the globes, there are three of the
globes-- C, D, and E-- on the physical plane. On the return journey, as it were,
the ascent resembles the descent: in the fifth Chain, as in the third, there is
one physical globe; in the sixth, as in the second, globe D is emotional; in the
seventh, as in the first, globe D is mental. With the ending of the seventh
Chain the Scheme has worked itself out, and its fruitage is harvested.
9.
The seven Schemes of our Solar System may, for
convenience sake, be named after the globe D of each, this being the globe best
known to us; these are: Vulcan, Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
(see Diagram I). In the Scheme to which our Earth belongs, the Chain which
preceded our terrene Chain was the third of its series, and its one physical
globe, globe D, was the globe which is now our Moon; hence the third Chain is
called the lunar, while the second and first Chains are designated only by
numbers; our Earth Chain, or terrene Chain, is the fourth in succession, and has
therefore three of its seven globes in physical manifestation, its third globe,
C, being what is called the planet Mars, and its fifth globe, E, what is called
the planet Mercury. The Neptunian Scheme also, with Neptune as its globe D, has
three globes of its Chain in physical manifestation-- C and E being the two
physical planets connected with it, the existence of which was mentioned in
Theosophical literature before they were recognised by Science-- and hence has
reached the fourth Chain of its series. The Venusian Scheme is reaching the end
of its fifth Chain, and Venus has consequently lately lost her Moon, the globe D
of the preceding Chain.1 (¹ It may be remembered that the Moon of Venus
was seen by Herschel.) It is possible that Vulcan, which Herschel saw, but
which, it is said, has now disappeared, is in its sixth Chain, but on that we
have no information, either direct or mediate. Jupiter is not yet inhabited, but
its moons are, by beings with dense physical bodies.
10.
Diagrams III and IV represent the relationships between
the seven Chains within a Scheme, showing the evolutionary progress from Chain
to Chain. Diagram III should be first studied; it is merely a simplification of
Diagram IV, which is a copy of one drawn by a Master; this-- though at first
sight somewhat bewildering-- will be found very illuminative when understood.
11.
Diagram III places the seven Chains in a Scheme as
columns standing side by side, in order that the divine Life-Streams, figured by
the arrows, may be traced from kingdom to kingdom in their ascent. Each section
in a column represents one of the seven kingdoms of Nature-- three elemental,
mineral, vegetable, animal, human.1 Follow Life-Stream, 7, the only one
which goes through the seven kingdoms within the Scheme; it enters the first
Chain at the first Elemental Kingdom, and there develops during the life-period
of the Chain; it passes into the second Elemental Kingdom on the second Chain,
and develops therein during its life-period; it appears in the third Elemental
Kingdom on the third Chain, and enters the Mineral on the fourth; it then
successively develops through the Vegetable and Animal Kingdoms on the fifth and
sixth Chains, and attains the Human in the seventh. The whole Scheme thus
provides a field of evolution for a stream of the divine Life from its ensouling
of matter up to man.2 The remaining streams either have commenced in
another Scheme and entered this at the point of evolution therein reached, or
enter this too late to reach the human kingdom here.
12.
¹ The ` elemental' kingdom are the three stages of life
on its descent into matter-- involution-- and the seven kingdoms might be
figured on a descending and ascending arc, like Chains and globes:
1st Elemental
|
|
Human
|
2nd Elemental
|
|
Animal
|
3rd Elemental
|
|
Vegetable
|
|
Mineral
|
|
13.
² These seven Life-Streams and the six additional
ingresses for the lowest Elemental Kingdom in the remaining six Chains, thirteen
in all, are the successive impulses which make up, for this Scheme, what
Theosophists call the ` second Life-wave,' i.e., the form-evolving
current of Life from the Second LOGOS, the Vishnu of the Hindu, the Son of the
Christian, Trinities.
14.
The study of Diagram IV must be begun by realising that
the coloured circles are not seven Chains of globes, as might be
expected, but the seven Kingdoms of Nature in each successive Chain, and
therefore correspond with the sections of columns in Diagram III. We have here a
whole Scheme of Evolution, with the place of each Kingdom shown in each Chain.
The student should select a line of any colour in the first circle and trace it
carefully onwards.
15.
Let us take the blue circle at the top left-hand,
pointed out by the arrow; it represents the first Elemental Kingdom
on the first Chain. Leaving the first Chain for the second-- the next ring of
coloured circles-- this blue stream divides on arriving there; its least
advanced part, which is not ready to go on into the second Elemental Kingdom,
breaks off from the main stream and goes again into the first Elemental Kingdom
of this second Chain, joining the new Life-stream-- coloured yellow and marked
with an arrow-- which enters on its evolution in that Chain, and being merged in
it; the main blue stream goes on into the second Elemental Kingdom of this
second Chain, receiving into itself some laggards from the second Elemental
Kingdom of the first Chain, assimilating them, and carrying them on with itself;
it will be noticed that only a blue stream leaves this Kingdom, the foreign
elements having been completely assimilated. The blue stream flows on into the
third Chain, divides, leaves its laggards to continue in the second Elemental
Kingdom in the third Chain, while the bulk goes on to form the third Elemental
Kingdom of this third Chain; again it receives some laggards from the third
Elemental Kingdom of the second Chain, assimilates them, and carries them on
with itself, an undiluted blue stream, into the Mineral Kingdom of the fourth
Chain; as before, it leaves some laggards to evolve themselves in the third
Elemental Kingdom of the fourth Chain, and receives some from the Mineral
Kingdom of the third Chain, assimilating them as before. It has now reached its
densest point in evolution, the Mineral Kingdom. Leaving this-- we still follow
the blue line-- it climbs into the Vegetable Kingdom of the fifth Chain, sending
off its laggards to the Mineral Kingdom of this Chain, and taking up the
laggards of the Vegetable Kingdom of the fourth Chain. Again it climbs upwards,
now into the Animal Kingdom of the sixth Chain, leaving its insufficiently
developed vegetables to complete that stage of their evolution in the Vegetable
Kingdom of the sixth Chain, and receiving undeveloped animals from the fifth
Chain into its own Kingdom. Lastly, it completes its long evolution by entering
the Human Kingdom on the seventh Chain, dropping its too undeveloped animals
into the Animal Kingdom of the seventh Chain, receiving some human beings from
the Human Kingdom of the sixth Chain, carrying them on with itself to its
triumphant conclusion, where human evolution is perfected and the superhuman
begins, along one or another of the seven paths, indicated in the blue plume at
the end. In another Scheme, those we left as laggards in the Animal Kingdom of
the seventh Chain will appear in the Human Kingdom
of the first Chain of that new Scheme, and therein reach perfection as men. They
will be in the circle corresponding to the grey-brown circle. with its plume in
the first Chain of the present Diagram.
16.
Each line can be followed in this way from Kingdom to
Kingdom in successive Chains. The life in the second, the orange, circle,
representing the second Elemental Kingdom in the first Chain-- and having,
therefore, one stage of life in a Chain behind it, or, in other words, having
entered the stream of evolution as the first Elemental Kingdom in the seventh
Chain of a previous Scheme (see the top left-hand circle with arrow in the
seventh Chain in our Diagram)-- reaches the Human Kingdom in the sixth Chain and
passes on. That in the third circle purple, with two Kingdoms behind it in a
previous Scheme, reaches the Human
Kingdom in the fifth Chain
and passes on. That in the fourth, the Mineral Kingdom, passes out in the fourth
Chain. That in the Vegetable Kingdom passes out in the third Chain; that in the
Animal in the second; that in the Human in the first.
17.
The student who will thoroughly master this diagram will
find himself in possession of a plan into the compartments of which he can pack
any number of details without, in the midst of their complexity, losing sight of
the general principles of aeonian evolution.
18.
Two points remain: the sub-elemental and the
super-human. The Life-Stream from the LOGOS ensouls matter first in the first,
or lowest, Elemental Kingdom; hence when that same stream from the Chain enters
the second Elemental Kingdom on the second Chain, the matter which is to be that
of the first Elemental Kingdom on that second Chain has to be ensouled by a new
Life-Stream from the LOGOS, and so on with each of the remaining Chains.1
(¹ “My Father worketh hitherto and I work.” S. John, 17. See in Chapter
V the description of this on our Earth, when the Spirit of the Moon incarnates
therein.)
19.
When the Human Kingdom is traversed, and man stands on
the threshold of His superhuman life, a liberated Spirit, seven paths open
before Him for His choosing: He may enter into the blissful omniscience and
omnipotence of Nirvana, with activities far beyond our knowing, to become,
perchance, in some future world an Avatara, or divine Incarnation; this is
sometimes called, ` taking the Dharmakaya vesture' . He may enter on ` the
Spiritual Period' -- a phrase covering unknown meanings, among them probably
that of ` taking the Sambhogakaya vesture' . He may become part of that
treasure-house of spiritual forces on which the Agents of the LOGOS draw for
Their work, ` taking the Nirmanakaya vesture' . He may remain a member of the
Occult Hierarchy which rules and guards the world in which He has reached
perfection. He may pass on to the next Chain, to aid in building up its forms.
He may enter the splendid Angel-- Deva-- Evolution. He may give Himself to the
immediate service of the LOGOS, to be used by Him in any part of the Solar
System, His Servant and Messenger, who lives but to carry out His will and do
His work over the whole of the system which He rules. As a General has his
Staff, the members of which carry his messages to any part of the field, so are
These the Staff of Him who commands all, “Ministers of His that do His
pleasure”.¹ (¹ Psalms, ciii, 21.) this seems to be considered a very
hard Path, perhaps the greatest sacrifice open to the Adept, and is therefore
regarded as carrying with it great distinction. A member of the General Staff
has no physical body, but makes one for Himself by Kriyashakti-- the ` power to
make' -- of the matter of the globe to which He is sent. The Staff contains
Beings at very different levels, from that of Arhatship² (² Those who have
passed the fourth Great Initiation.) upwards. There are some who dedicated
themselves to it on reaching Arhatship in the Moon-Chain; others who are
Adepts;³ (³ Those who have passed the fifth Great Initiation.) others who have
passed far beyond this stage in human evolution.
20.
The need for the provision of such a Staff arises
probably, among many other reasons unknown to us, from the fact that in the very
early stages of the evolution of a Chain-- especially of one on the downward
arc-- or even of a globe, more help from outside is needed than is required
later. On the first Chain of our Scheme, for instance, the attainment of the
first of the Great Initiations was the appointed level of achievement, and none
of its humanity attained Adeptship, which is itself nowhere near Buddhahood; it
would therefore be necessary to supply the higher officers from outside. So
again later Chains were helped, and our Earth will have to provide high
Officials for the earlier Chains of other Schemes, as well as yielding the
normal supply for the later globes and Rounds of our own Chain. Already from our
own Occult Hierarchy two Members, within our own knowledge, have left our Earth,
either to join the General Staff, or lent by the Head of our Hierarchy to the
Head of the Hierarchy of some other globe outside our scheme.
21.
The human beings who, in any Chain, do not reach by a
certain time the level appointed for the Humanity of the Chain, are its `
failures' ; the ` failure' may be due to youth and consequent lack of time, or
to lack of due exertion, and so on; but, whatever the cause, those who fail to
reach a point from which they can progress sufficiently, during the remaining
life of a Chain, to attain the required level by its end, drop out of its
evolution before that evolution is complete, and are obliged to enter the
succeeding Chain at a point determined by the stage already reached, that they
may complete their human course. There are others who succeed in passing this
crucial point, the ` Day of Judgement' for the Chain, but who yet do not
progress with sufficient rapidity to reach the level from which the seven Paths
open out. These, though not ` failures,' have not wholly succeeded, and they
therefore also pass on into the next Chain and lead its humanity, when that
humanity has reached a stage at which the bodies are sufficiently evolved to
serve as vehicles for their further progress. We shall find these various
classes in our study, and this is but a bird' s-eye view of them; the detail
will make them come out more clearly. Only in the first chain we noticed no
failures dropping out of its evolution. There were some there who did not
succeed, but if that Chain had its Day of Judgment, we failed to observe it.
22.
In a single Chain the evolutionary wave sweeps from A to
G, using each globe in turn as the field of growth; this circling round the
Chain is appropriately named a Round, and seven times the wave sweeps round, ere
the life of the Chain is over, its work complete. Then the results are gathered
up and garnered, and all form the seed for the succeeding Chain, save Those who,
having finished Their course as men, and become Super-men, elect to serve in
other ways than in guiding that coming Chain upon its way, and who enter on
another of the seven Paths.
23.
To conclude these preliminaries. In the Monadic Sphere,
on the super-spiritual level, dwell the Divine Emanations, the Sons of God, who
are to take flesh and become Sons of Man in the coming universe. They ever
behold the Face of the Father, and are the Angel-Counterparts of men. This
divine Son in his own world is technically called a ` Monad,' a Oneness. He it
is that, as said on p. 3, is “transformed in the world of life into an immortal
Spirit”. The Spirit is the Monad veiled in matter, triple therefore in his
aspects of Will, Wisdom, and Activity, being the very Monad himself, after he
has appropriated the atoms of matter of the spiritual, intuitional and mental
sphere, round which his future bodies will be formed. In the Monad wells up the
intarissable fount of life; the Spirit, or himself veiled, is his manifestation
in a universe. As he gains mastery over matter in the lower sphere, he takes
more and more control of the evolutionary work, and all the great choices which
decide a man' s destiny are made by his Will, guided by his Wisdom, and achieved
by his Activity.
24.
CHAPTER II
25.
THE FIRST AND SECOND CHAINS
26.
WE have to face what is practically the only great
difficulty of our study at the very outset-- the evolutionary cycles on the
first and second Chains of our Scheme. A Master said smilingly as to this:
“Well, you will be able to see it, but it is doubtful how for you will be able
to describe it in intelligible language, so that others may understand.” The
conditions are so different from all that here we know: the forms are so
tenuous, so subtle, so changing; the matter so utterly “the stuff which dreams
are made on,” that clear voicing of the things seen is well-nigh impossible. Yet
however imperfect the description, some description must be essayed, in order to
render intelligible the later growth and unfolding; poor as it must be, it may
be better than none.
27.
A real ` beginning' may not be found; in the endless
chain of living things a link may be studied, fairly complete in itself; but the
metal thereof has somewhere slept in the bosom of the earth, has been dug out
from some mine, smelted in some furnace, wrought in some workshop, shaped by
some hands, ere it appears as a link in a chain. And so with our Scheme. Without
previous Schemes it could not be, for its higher inhabitants began not here
their evolution. Suffice it, that some of the fragments of Deity, eternal
Spirits, who otherwhere had passed through the downward arc-- involving
themselves in ever-densifying matter through the Elemental Kingdoms, and
reaching their lowest point-- began in the Mineral Kingdom of this first Chain
their upward climbing, their long unfolding in evolving matter; and in that
Chain, learning our first evolutionary lessons in that Mineral Kingdom, were
we-- the humanity of our present earth. It is these consciousnesses that we
propose to trace from their life in minerals in the first Chain to their life in
men in the fourth. Ourselves part of the humanity of the earth, it is easier to
trace this than to trace something entirely alien from ourselves. For in this we
are but evoking from the Eternal Memory scenes in which we ourselves played our
part, with which we are indissolubly linked, and which we therefore can more
easily reach.
28.
Seven centres are seen, forming the first Chain, the
first and seventh, as already said, on the spiritual level,1 (¹
Nirvanic) the second and sixth on the intuitional,2 (² Buddhic) the
third and fifth on the higher mental, the fourth on the lower mental. We name
them in the fashion of later globes, A and G, B and F, C and E, and in the
centre D, the turning point of the cycle. In the first Round of the fourth
Chain, which is to some extent a coarse copy of the first Chain, the Occult
Commentary quoted in The Secret Doctrine says of the Earth that it
was “a foetus in the matrix of Space,” and the simile recurs to the mind. This
Chain is the future worlds in the matrix of thought, the worlds that later are
to be born into denser matter. We can scarcely call these centres ` globes' ;
they are like centres of light in a sea of light, foci of light through which
light is rushing, wrought of the very substance of light and only light, yet
modified by the flood of light which courses through them; they are as
vortex-rings, yet the rings are but light, only distinguishable by their
whirling, by the difference of their motion, like whirlpools made only of water
in the midst of water; but these are whirlpools of light in the midst of light.
The first and seventh centres are both modifications of spiritual matter, the
seventh the perfected outworking of the broad outlines visible in the first, the
finished picture outwrought from the rough sketch of the divine Artist. There is
a humanity there, a very glorified humanity, product of some previous evolution,
which is here to complete its human course on this Chain (see the top right hand
circle in the first Chain in Diagram IV); hereon each entity will acquire his
lowest body-- in the fourth globe of each Round-- the body of mental matter
which is the densest the Chain can give. The level fixed for achievement on this
Chain-- the non-attainment of which would imply the necessity for rebirth on the
following Chain-- is the first of the great Initiations, or what corresponds to
it there. On this first Chain there are-- so far as we could see-- none who drop
out as failures, and some, as always seems to be the case in later Chains also,
pass far beyond the appointed level; in the seventh Round the members of that
humanity who became Initiates entered on one or other of the Seven Paths before
mentioned.
29.
All stages of ego-hood appear to be present on this
Chain, but the absence of the lower levels of matter to which we are accustomed
makes one notable difference in the evolutionary method that strikes the
observer: everything not only starts but also progresses ` above,' there being
no below and no ` forms' in the ordinary sense of the word, but only centres of
life, beings without stable forms; there are no physical and emotional worlds--
in the first three globes not even a lower mental-- from which impulses can
surge upwards, calling down the higher in response to ensoul and use the forms
already existing on the lower levels. The nearest approach to such action is on
globe D, where the animal-like thought-forms reach upwards attracting the
attention of the subtle centres floating above them; then more of the life of
the Spirit pulses out into the centres, and they anchor themselves to the
thought-forms and ensoul them, and the thought-forms become human.
30.
It is difficult to mark off the successive Rounds; they
seem to fade one into the other like dissolving views,¹ (¹ It may be remembered
that the first and second Races on our present world also showed something of
this peculiarity, though on a level so much lower.) and are marked only by
slight increases and diminutions of light. Progress is very slow; one recalls
the Satya Yuga of the Hindu Scriptures, where a life lasts for many thousands of
years without much change.2 (² The Hindus divide time into cycles
composed of four Yugas, or Ages, that succeed each other, the Satya, the first
of the series, being the most spiritual and the longest. When the fourth is
ended, a new cycle opens, again with a Satya.) The entities unfold very slowly,
as rays of magnetised light play upon them; it is like a gestation, like growth
within an egg, or of a flower-bud within its sheath. The chief interest of the
Chain is in the evolution of the Shining Ones-- the Devas, or Angels-- those who
live habitually on these high levels; while the lower evolutions seem to play a
subsidiary part. Humanity is much influenced by these, mostly by their mere
presence and by the atmosphere created by them, and occasionally a Shining One
may be seen to take a human being almost as a toy or as a pet. The vast angelic
evolution helps humanity by its very existence; the vibrations set up by these
glorious Spirits play on the lower human types, strengthening and vivifying
them. Looking at the Chain as a whole, we saw it as a field for this Angel
Kingdom primarily, and only secondarily for humanity; but perchance that may
ever be so, and that it is because we are human that we regard the world as so
specially our own.
31.
On the fourth globe, now and again a Shining One may be
seen deliberately to aid a human being, transferring matter from his own body
into the human, and thus increasing the responsiveness and susceptibility of the
latter. Such helpers belong to the class of Form-Angels-- Rupa-Devas-- who live
normally in the lower mental world.
32.
When we turn to the mineral kingdom, we are among those
some of whom will become men on the Moon Chain, and some on the Earth Chain. The
consciousness asleep in these minerals is to awaken gradually and to unfold
through long stages into the human.
33.
The vegetable kingdom is a little more awake, but very
dully and sleepy still; the normal progress herein will carry the ensouling
consciousness into the animal kingdom on the second Chain, and into the human on
the third.
34.
At present, while we must needs speak of these kingdoms
as mineral and vegetable, they are really composed of mere thoughts-- thoughts
of minerals, thoughts of vegetables, with the Monads who dream in them, as it
were, floating over them, sending down faint thrills of life into these airy
forms; these Monads are, it would seem, forced now and again to turn attention
to them, to feel through them, to sense through them, when some external touch
compels a drowsy notice. These thought-forms are as models in the Mind of the
Ruler of the Seven Chains, living within Him, products of His meditation, a
world of thoughts, of ideas; we see that the Monads who have acquired permanent
atoms in some previous Scheme, and who are floating over these thought-forms,
attach themselves to them, and become vaguely conscious in and through them.
Vague as this consciousness is there are differences in it; the lowest grade can
scarcely be called consciousness, the life in the thought-forms of types
resembling what we should now call earth, rocks, stones. Monads touching these
can scarcely be said to be aware of anything through them, save of pressure,
drawing from them a dull stirring of life, showing itself as resistance to the
pressure, and thus different from the yet duller life in the chemical molecules
unattached to Monads, and sensing no pressure. In the next grade, in the
thought-forms resembling what we should now call metals, the sense of pressure
is stronger and the resistance to it a little more definite; there is almost an
effort to push outwards against it, a reaction causing expansion. When this
sub-conscious reaction is in several directions, the thought-model of a crystal
is formed. We noticed that when our own consciousness was in the
mineral, we felt only the sub-conscious re-action; but passing out, and trying
to feel the re-action from outside, it figured itself in our consciousness as a
vague discontent at the pressure, and a dull resentful effort to resist and push
against it. “I feel a discontented sort of mineral,” one of us remarked.
Probably the Monadic life, seeking expression, did vaguely feel displeasure at
its frustration, and this we felt when we came out of the mineral, feeling it in
ourselves as we felt it in that part of our consciousness which was at that time
outside the rigid form. If we glance hastily forward, we may see that Monads
attached to crystals do not enter the next Chain in the lowest forms of
vegetable life, but only in the higher, and, passing through those, enter the
Moon Chain at its middle point as mammals, becoming individualised there, and
taking human birth in its fifth Round.
35.
One most disconcerting fact for observers is that these
` thoughts of minerals' are not immobile, but mobile; a hill, which one expects
to be steady, will turn over or float away, or change its form; there is no
solid earth, but a shifting panorama. It requires no faith to move these
mountains, for they move of themselves.
36.
At the end of this first Chain, all who attained the
appointed level set for it-- that which, as said before, corresponded to our
first Initiation-- entered on one or other of the seven Paths, one of these
leading to work on the second Chain as the builders of the forms of its
humanity, playing to it a part similar to that played later on our earth by the
` Lords of the Moon' .¹ (¹ The Barhishad Pitris of The Secret Doctrine.
) These are called by H. P. Blavatsky ` Asuras,' i.e., ` living beings'
; later the term was confined by usage to living beings in whom intellect, but
not emotion was developed.2 (² These Asuras acted on the second Chain
as Barhishad Pitris, and on the third as Agnishvatta Pitris, and formed one of
the highest classes of the superhuman Manasaputras who came to our earth,
according to The Secret Doctrine. It must be remembered that these
stages are all superhuman; they apparently indicate the superhuman stages of the
fifth of the seven Paths named on p.14. In The Secret Doctrine a
difficulty is created by the use of this same name Asuras for those who left the
lunar Chain from the first globe of its seventh Round, and who caused trouble on
Earth by ` refusing to create' . Readers of The Pedigree of Man must
correct it by this, and by details given later, for I was led into a mistake by
the double use of the word in The Secret Doctrine. The human beings can
never exist, as such, on more than two successive Chains. They must
have become Supermen, for such appearance.-- AB.) Those who did not succeed in
reaching this level entered the second Chain for their own further evolution at
its midmost point and led its humanity, at the close of that Chain reaching
liberation and being among its ` Lords' ; some of these Lords, in turn, worked
on the third Chain in building the forms of its humanity.¹ (¹In the nomenclature
of The Secret Doctrine, becoming its Barhishad Pitris.) The early
humanity on the second Chain was drawn from the animal kingdom of the first; the
animal kingdom of the second Chain from the vegetable of the first; while the
vegetable kingdom of the second came from the mineral of the first. The three
elemental kingdoms on the downward arc of the first Chain passed similarly into
the second Chain, filling the mineral kingdom and two of the elemental, while
the first elemental kingdom was formed from a new impulse of life from the
LOGOS.
37.
In the second Chain, the further descent into matter
gives us a globe on the emotional plane, an astral globe, and the denser
material makes things a little more coherent and comprehensible. We have then A
and G on the intuitional level, B and F on the higher mental, C and E on the
lower mental, and D on the emotional. On this lowest globe, things were a little
more like those to which we are accustomed, though still very strange and weird.
Thus things with the general appearance of vegetables moved about with the
freedom of animals, though apparently with little, if any, sentiency. They were
not anchored to physical matter, and hence were very mobile. The young humanity
here lived in close contact with the Shining Ones, who still dominated the
evolutionary field, and the Form-Angels and the Desire-Angels-- Rupa-Devas and
Kama-Devas-- strongly, but for the most part unintentionally, influenced human
evolution. Passion showed itself in many who now had emotional bodies on globe
D, and its germs were visible in animals. Differences were noticeable in the
capacity to respond to vibrations sent out, consciously and unconsciously, by
the Shining One, but changes were very gradual and progress was slow. Later,
when the intuitional consciousness unfolded, there was communication between
this Scheme and the Scheme of which Venus is now the physical globe; that Scheme
is a Chain ahead of ours, and some came to our second Chain from there; but
whether they belonged to the Venus humanity, or were members of the “Staff,” we
could not tell.
38.
Great surging clouds of matter, splendid in colour, were
a noticeable feature on globe D in the first Round; they became in the following
Round denser, more brilliantly coloured, more responsive to vibrations which
shaped them into forms, whether vegetable or animal it is hard to say. Much of
the work was on the higher levels, a vitalising of subtle matter for future use,
showing but little effect on the lower forms. Just as now elemental essence is
used to build emotional and mental bodies, so then the Form- and Desire-Angels
were seeking to differentiate themselves more fully by using these clouds of
matter and living in them. They came down, sub-plane by sub-plane, into denser
matter, but were not in this using the human kingdom. Even at the present time a
Deva, or Angel, may ensoul a whole country-side, and such action was very
general then; the emotional and lower mental matter formed the bodies of these
Angels, changing, intermingling; and incidentally permanent atoms of vegetables,
minerals, and even animals, rooting themselves in such Angel-bodies, grew and
evolved. The Angels seemed to take no particular interest in them, any more than
we interest ourselves in the evolution of microbes within ourselves; now and
then, however, some interest was shown in an animal, and its capacity to respond
increased rapidly under such conditions.
39.
Studying vegetable consciousness in the second Chain--
in which we, who now are human, were living in the vegetable world-- we find a
dim awareness of forces playing on it, and a certain sense of compulsion towards
growth. In some, there was a feeling of the want to grow, the wish to grow; as
one of the investigators remarked: “I am trying to flower.” In others there was
a slight resistance to the line of growth impressed, and a vague groping after
another self-chosen direction. Some seemed to try to use any forces
that contacted them, and in their germinal consciousness held that all around
existed for them. Some tried to push out in a direction which attracted them,
and were frustrated and became vaguely resentful; one, forming part of a Deva,
was observed to be thus hindered, since the Deva was naturally arranging things
to suit himself, and not any constituents of his body. On the other hand, from
the obscure view-point of the vegetable, the Deva' s proceedings were as
incomprehensible as the weather is to us in these days, and often as
troublesome. Towards the end of the Chain, the more highly developed vegetables
were showing a little mind, in fact a fair baby intelligence, recognising the
existence of external animals, liking the neighbourhood of some and shrinking
from others. And there was a craving for more cohesion, evidently the result of
the downward push of life into matter of greater density, the Will working in
Nature for descent into denser levels. Without the physical anchorage the
emotional forms were very unstable, and tended to float about vaguely and
without purpose.
40.
In the seventh Round of this Chain a considerable number
dropped out from its humanity as failures, having fallen too far behind to find
suitable forms; and they went on later into the third, the Moon Chain, as men.
Others reached the level now marked by the third Initiation, the level appointed
for success on the second Chain, and entered on one of the seven Paths, one, as
before, leading to the next Chain for work thereon. Those who were not failures,
but had not reached perfect success, went on to the third Chain, entering it at
the Round suitable for the stage previously reached. The foremost from the
animal kingdom individualised on the second Chain, and began their human
evolution on the Moon Chain, passing through its lower kingdoms very rapidly and
becoming men; they then led evolution on that Chain until the classes already
mentioned-- first the failures, and then those who had not achieved perfect
success-- dropped in from the second Chain and became successively the leaders.
The foremost from the second Chain Vegetable Kingdom entered the Moon Chain
Animal Kingdom as mammals, in its fourth Round, not passing through the
infusoria and lower animal types-- fishes and reptiles; the rest came in, in its
first Round, as animals of the lower types. The consciousness in the second
Chain Mineral Kingdom passed on into the Vegetable Kingdom in the Moon Chain,
and the Mineral Kingdom was filled from the highest Elemental Kingdom of the
second Chain. As before, the lowest Elemental Kingdom was filled by a new wave
of life from the LOGOS.
41.
An important principle may here be mentioned: each of
the seven sub-planes which make up a plane is again divided into seven; hence a
body, while containing matter of all the sub-planes in its constitution, will
show activity only in the subdivisions corresponding to the number of the Chains
or Rounds already experienced, or in the course of being experienced. A man
working in the second Round of the second Chain will be able to use in his
emotional and mental bodies only the first and second subdivisions of each
sub-plane of astral and mental matter; in the third Round he will be able to use
the first, second and third, though not so fully as regards the third as he will
do when he shall be in the third Round of the third Chain, and so on. Thus later
on, in our Earth Chain, man in the second Round was working at and through the
first and second subdivisions of each of the sub-planes, and feebly in the third
and fourth, as he was in the fourth Chain; so that, while he had matter of all
the sub-planes in him, it was only the two lower subdivisions of the two lower
sub-planes that were fully active, and through these only could his
consciousness fully work. Not until the seventh Race of our seventh Round will
man possess the splendid body in which every particle will thrill responsive to
himself, and even then not as perfectly as in later Chains.
42.
CHAPTER III
43.
EARLY TIMES ON THE MOON CHAIN
44.
ON the Moon Chain-- the third in succession-- there is a
deeper plunge into matter, and the middle globe is on the physical plane; A and
G are on the higher mental, B and F on the lower mental, C and E on the
emotional, and D on the physical. This middle globe, the scene of the greatest
activity in the Chain, is still surviving as the Moon, but the Moon is only what
is left of it after much loss of material, its inner core, as it were, after the
disintegration of the crust, a globe much diminished in size, on its way to
total wreck-- a corpse, in fact.
45.
Following the evolving consciousnesses which we have
seen as minerals on the first Chain, as vegetables on the second, we find the
crest of the advancing wave which bears us within it entering the third Chain as
mammals at its middle point, appearing on globe D, the Moon, in the fourth
Round. These mammals are curious creatures, small but extraordinarily active;
the most advanced of them are monkey-like in form, making enormous leaps. The
fourth Round creatures are as a rule at first scaly in skin, and later the skin
is frog-like; then the more advanced types develop bristles, which form a very
coarse harsh fur. The air is altogether different from our present atmosphere,
heavy and stifling, reminding one of choke-damp, but it obviously suits the Moon
inhabitants. The consciousnesses we are following take the bodies of small
mammals, long in body and short in legs, a mixture of weasel, mongoose and
prairie-dog, with a short scrubby tail, altogether clumsy and ill-finished; they
are red-eyed, and able to see in the darkness of their holes; coming out of the
holes, they raise themselves on their hind legs, which form a tripod with the
short strong tail, and turn their heads from side to side, sniffing. These
animals are fairly intelligent, and the relations between the lunar animals and
men, in this district at least, seem more friendly than between wild animals and
men on our earth; these creatures are not domesticated, but do not scuttle away
when men appear on the scene. In other parts, where men are mere savages eating
their enemies when they can get them, and animals when man-flesh is
unobtainable, the wild creatures are timid, and fly from human neighbourhood.
46.
After this first stage of animal life, comes a spell as
creatures that live much in the trees, the limbs double-jointed, the feet
padded; the feet are curiously modified, with a thumb-like projection at
right-angles to the limb, like the spur of a cock, armed with a curving claw;
running rapidly along the underside of branches, the animal uses this to hold on
by, the remaining part of the feet being useless; but when moving on the ground
it walks on the pads, and the spur sticks out behind, above the ground level,
and does not impede movement.
47.
Other animals, more highly developed than these and far
more intelligent, monkey-like in form, live habitually in human settlements, and
attach themselves strongly to the men of their time, serving them in various
ways. These become individualised on globe D of this fourth Round, and on globes
E, F and G develop human, emotional and mental bodies, the causal, though fully
formed, showing but little growth. These will leave the Moon Chain in the middle
of the seventh Round, as we shall see, and thus go through, on the Moon Chain,
three Rounds of development as men. Among these, individualised in a small
community living in the country, are observed the present Masters, Mars and
Mercury, who are now at the head of the Theosophical Society , and who are to be
the Manu and Bodhisattva¹ (¹ The official titles of the Heads-- the King and the
Priest, the Ruler and the Teacher-- of a Root Race.) of the sixth Root Race on
our earth, in the present fourth Round of the terrene Chain.
48.
The consciousnesses of the animals we are following
after the death of their last bodies on globe D, practically slept through the
remainder of the fourth Round and through the first three globes of the fifth;
losing their emotional and inchoate mental bodies very shortly after the death
of the physical ones, and having no causal, they remained sleeping in a sort of
heaven with pleasant dreams, without touch with the manifested worlds, the gulf
between them and those worlds unbridged. On globe D of the fifth Round, they
were again thrown down into bodies and appeared as large monkey-like creatures,
leaping forty feet at a bound, and appearing to enjoy making tremendous springs
high into the air. In the time of the fourth human race on this globe D they
became domesticated, acting as guardians of their masters' property and as
playmates of the children of the household, much as faithful watch-dogs may be
now, carrying the children on their backs and in their arms, and developing
intense affection for their human masters; the children nestled delightedly in
their thick soft fur, and enjoyed the huge bounds of their faithful guardians.
One scene may act as a type of the individualisation of such creatures.
49.
There is a hut in which dwells a Moon-man, his wife and
children; these we know in later times under the names of Mars and Mercury, the
Mahaguru and Surya.1 (1 See ` Rents in the Veil of Time' in
The Theosophist of 1910, 1911. The Mahaguru is the Lord Gautama, Surya is
the Lord Maitreya. Why did these animals come into this close connection with
those who were to be their Masters on the then far-off Earth? Had they been
plants tended by them, as we tend our plants now, in the higher cases-- for the
Lord Gautama and Maitreya were men on the second Chain-- or in the lower cases
animals and plants that had an affinity for each other?) A number of these
monkey-creatures live round the hut, and give to their owners the devotion of
faithful dogs; among them we notice the future Sirius, Herakles, Alcyone and
Mizar, to whom we may give their future names for the purpose of recognition,
though they are still non-human. Their astral and mental bodies have grown under
the play of their owners' human intelligence, as those of domesticated animals
now develop under our own; Sirius is devoted chiefly to Mercury, Herakles to
Mars; Alcyone and Mizar are passionately attached servants of the Mahaguru and
Surya.
50.
One night there is an alarm; the hut is surrounded by
savages, supported by their domesticated animals, fierce and strong, resembling
furry lizards and crocodiles. The faithful guardians spring up around their
masters' hut and fight desperately in its defence; Mars comes out and drives
back the assailants, using some weapons they do not possess; but, while he
drives them backward, a lizard-like creature darts behind him into the hut, and
catching up the child Surya, begins to carry him away. Sirius springs at him,
bears him down, and throws the child to Alcyone, who carries him back into the
hut, while Sirius grapples with the lizard, and, after a desperate struggle,
kills it, falling senseless, badly mangled, over its body. Meanwhile a savage
slips behind Mars and stabs at his back, but Herakles, with one leap, flings
himself between his master and the weapon, and receives the blow full on his
breast, and falls, dying. The savages are now flying in all directions, and
Mars, feeling the fall of some creature against his back, staggers, and,
recovering himself; turns. He recognises his faithful animal defender, bends
over his dying servant, and places his head in his lap.
51.
The poor monkey lifts his eyes, full of intense
devotion, to his master' s face, and the act of service done, with
passionate desire to save, calls down a stream of response from the Will aspect
of the Monad in a fiery rush of power, and in the very moment of dying the
monkey individualises, and thus he dies-- a man.
52.
Our damaged monkey, Sirius, has been very much chewed up
by his lizard-enemy, but is still living, and is carried within the hut; he
lives for a considerable time, a crippled wreck, and can only drag himself about
with difficulty. It is touching to see his dumb fidelity to his mistress; his
eyes follow her everywhere as she moves about; the child Surya nurses him
tenderly, and his monkey comrades, Alcyone and Mizar, hang round him; gradually
his intelligence, fed by love, grows stronger, until the lower mind, reaching
up, draws down response from the higher, and the causal body flashes into being,
shortly before his death. Alcyone and Mizar live on after his death for some
time, one-pointed devotion to the Mahaguru and Surya their most marked
characteristic, until the emotional body, instinct with this pure fire, calls
down an answer from the intuitional plane, and they also reach
individualisation, and pass away.
53.
These cases are good instances of the three great types
of methods of individualisation,1 (¹ See on this C. W. Leadbeater' s `
Modes of Individualisation' , in The Inner Life, vol, ii, § 6.) in each
of which the downflow of the higher life is through one aspect of the Triple
Spirit, through Will, through Wisdom, through active Intellect. Action reaches
up and calls down Will; Love reaches up and calls down Wisdom; Mind reaches up
and calls down Intellect. These are the three ` Right Ways' of
Individualisation. Others there are, that we shall turn to in a moment,
reflections of these in denser matter, but these are ` Wrong Ways' and lead to
much sorrow.
54.
Henceforth these consciousnesses that we have been
specially following are definitely human, and have the same causal bodies which
they still use; they are in globe E as human beings, but are not taking any
definite part in its ordinary life. They float about in its atmosphere like
fishes in water, but are not sufficiently advanced to share in its normal
activities. The new emotional body on globe E is produced by a kind of
protuberance formed round the emotional permanent atom; the newly individualised
are not born as children of its inhabitants, who, it may be said in passing, are
not prepossessing in appearance; their real progress as human beings cannot be
said to begin until they land again on globe D in the sixth Round. Some
consolidation and improvement there certainly is-- in the emotional body
floating in the atmosphere of globe E, in the mental similarly floating in that
of globe F, and in the causal likewise in that of globe G. This improvement is
shown in the descent through the atmospheres of globes A, B and C of the sixth
Round, wherein the matter drawn into each body is better of its kind, and is
more coherent. But, as said, the effective progress is on globe D, whereon
physical matter is once more donned.
55.
Among the advanced animals in this fifth Round, living
in contact with primitive human beings, there are some who are of interest
because they later drift together into a type founded on a similarity of the
method of individualisation. They individualise in one of the ` Wrong Ways'
aforesaid. They try to imitate the human beings among whom they are, in order to
gain credit for superiority with their fellow-animals, strutting about, full of
vanity, and constantly ` showing off' . They are monkey-like creatures, much
like those previously observed, but distinctly cleverer and with more
imaginative, or, at least, imitative faculty, and they play at being human
beings, as children play at being grown up. They individualise by this intense
vanity, which stimulates the imitative faculty to an abnormal degree, and causes
a strong feeling of separation, an emphasising of the dawning ` I' of the
animal, until the effort to be distinguished from others calls down an answer
from the higher levels, and the ego is formed. But the effort to rise above
their fellows, without either admiration or love for any one above them, to rise
only in order that they may look down, does nothing to change animal passions
into human emotions, and lays no foundation for future harmonious growth of the
emotional and intellectual natures. They are independent, self-centred,
self-sufficient, each thinking of himself only, with no thought of co-operation,
or union for a common purpose. When they die, after becoming individualised,
they dream away the interval between death and re-birth on globe D in the sixth
Round, much in the same way as did the other individualised animals described,
but with one difference-- a difference of enormous import to the lines of
growth-- that in the previous cases the new human beings had their minds fixed
lovingly on their adored owners of globe D, and their emotions were thus
strengthened and improved, whereas those individualised by vanity fixed their
minds only on themselves and their own excellences, and hence had no emotional
growth of love.
56.
Another set of animals is individualised by admiration
of the human beings with whom they come into contact, and they also seek to
imitate them, not because they wish to outstrip their fellows, but because they
regard the human beings as superior and wish to be like them. There is no strong
love of them, or wish to serve them, but there is much desire to be taught and
great readiness to obey, growing out of the admiration felt for them as superior
beings. They are trained by their owners, first to perform tricks and then to do
trifling services, and in this way they grow into a certain sense of
co-operation with their owners; they try to please them and to win their
approval, not because they care specially for them, but because the permitted
co-operation, resulting from the approval won, brings them nearer to the greater
beings with whom they work. When they individualise through the growth of
intelligence, the intellect is ready to submit to discipline, to co-operate, to
see the advantages of united effort, and the necessity for obedience. They carry
into their intermediate existence this sense of united work and willingness to
submit to direction, to their own great advantage in the future.
57.
Another type is developed along a most unfortunate line,
that of mind rendered keen and alert by fear; animals hunted for food or owned
by savage types of men, and often cruelly treated, may reach individualisation
by efforts to escape cruelty, by planning how to escape when chased; they
develop craft and cunning and similar faculties, showing a distorted ingenuity
bred of fear, with much suspicion, distrust and revengefulness. When the mind
has been thus strengthened to a certain point in contact with men, albeit along
most undesirable lines, individualisation results; in one case we observed that
a creature' s mate was killed, and there was a great rush of hatred and
passionate revenge, causing individualisation; in another a lynx-like animal
individualised by an intense desire to inflict pain, as yielding a sense of
power over others; but here again the stimulus was a malign human influence and
example. The long interval between individualisation and re-birth is in these
cases filled with dreams of successful escapes, of treacherous revenges, and of
cruelties inflicted on those who misused them during their last animal lives.
The unfortunate result throws responsibility on the man who caused it, and makes
a link in future lives; it would perhaps be not unreasonable to regard all such
individualisations as premature-- “taking the human shape too soon”. We shall
find these types again in the sixth Round, working out their new humanity along
the lines determined by their respective methods of individualisation. It would
seem as though only the three kinds of individualisations caused by a downflow
from above were in the Plan and that the forcing upward from below was brought
about by the wrong-doing of man.
58.
Ere following both these and our friends of other types
into their lives on globes D on the sixth Round, we may glance at the higher
civilisation of the cities of the Moon Chain in this, its fifth, Round. There
were many communities scattered over the globe leading distinctly primitive
lives; some, like those in the hut already mentioned, who were kindly, although
little developed, fighting vigorously when attacked, while others were savage,
quarrelsome and continually at war, apparently for the mere lust of
blood-shedding and cruelty. In addition to these various communities, some
large, some small, some nomad, some pastoral, there were more highly civilised
people, living in cities, carrying on trades, ruled by settled governments.
There did not appear to be much in the way of what we should call a nation; a
city and a considerable-- sometimes a very extensive-- area around it, with
scattered villages, formed a separate State, and these States entered into
fluctuating agreements with each other as to trade, mutual defence, etc.
59.
One sample may serve as illustration. Near what.
corresponds to the Equator is a great city-- but it looks more like a cemetery--
with a large extent of cultivated land round it. The city is built in separate
quarters, according to the class of inhabitants. The poorer people live out of
doors during the day, and at night, or when it rains, crawl under flat roofs,
reminding one of dolmens, which lead into oblong holes, or chambers, cut out of
the rocks. These are like underground burrows going a long way and communicating
with each other, a regular labyrinth; the entrance-door is made of a huge slab
of stone, resting on upright smaller stones as pillars. These rooms are massed
together-- thousands of them-- lining the two sides of one long circular street,
and forming the outside ring of the city.
60.
The higher classes live in the domed houses within this
ring, built on a higher level, with a wide terrace in front, forming a ring
right round like the road below; the domes are supported on short strong
pillars, carved all over, the carving showing a fairly well-advanced
civilisation. An immense number of these domes are joined together at the lower
edge, and make a kind of community city, a belt, with again a circular terrace
above its inner edge. The centre of the city is its highest part, and there the
houses themselves are taller, with three domes, rising one above another; the
central one has five domes, one on the top of the other, each successive dome
being smaller than the one below it. The upper ones are reached by steps inside
one of the pillars on the ground floor, and winding round the central pillar
above. It seems as though these had been hewn out of a pinnacle of living rock.
In the higher domes no provision seems to be made for light and air. The highest
dome has a kind of hammock hanging from the centre, and this is the prayer room;
it appears that any one who is praying must not touch the ground during his
prayer.
61.
This is evidently the highest humanity of the Moon, who
will later become the Lords of the Moon, reaching the Arhat level, the goal set
for the lunar evolution. They are already civilised, and in one room a boy is
writing, in a script which is wholly unintelligible to us.
62.
Those of the lunar humanity who in this Round were
entering on the Path were in touch with a loftier band of Beings, the Hierarchy
of the time, who had come over from the second Chain to help evolution on the
third. These lived on a lofty and practically inaccessible mountain, but Their
presence was realised by those on the Path, and was generally accepted as a fact
by the intelligent humanity of the time. Their disciples reached Them when out
of the body, and occasionally one of Them descended into the plains, and lived
for a while among men. The dwellers in the central house of the city just
described were in touch with These, and were influenced by Them in matters of
serious concern.
63.
CHAPTER IV
64.
THE SIXTH ROUND ON THE MOON CHAIN
65.
WE come again to Globe D, but now in the sixth Round,
and our individualised animals are born into it as men of a simple and
primitive, but not savage and brutal, type. They are not handsome according to
our present ideas of beauty-- hair ragged, lips thick, noses squat, and wide at
the base. They are living on an island, and food has run short, so that, in his
first fully human life, Herakles appears on the scene engaged in a vigorous
struggle with another savage for the corpse of an eminently undesirable-looking
animal. Fighting among the islanders themselves does not seem usual, and only
occurs when food runs short; but there is much of it in repulsing, from time to
time, the invasions from the mainland, where the savages are particularly brutal
cannibals, fiendishly cruel, and much dreaded by their gentler neighbours. These
unpleasant neighbours cross the straits on primitive looking rafts, and pour
over the island, destroying as they go. They are regarded as demons by the
islanders, who nevertheless fight fiercely in self-defence. The islanders kill
all whom they take prisoners, but do not, like the mainland savages, either
torture them living, or eat them dead.
66.
These savages of the mainland are from those who became
individualised by fear in the fifth Round, and among them may be recognised
Scorpio, whose hatred of Herakles, so prominent in future lives, may here have
had its root, as even in this very primitive humanity they are in opposed tribes
and fight furiously against each other. Scorpio, in Herakles' second life in
this community, leads an attack on a tribe inhabiting the island, presently to
be mentioned, and Herakles was in a rescue party, which assailed the savages on
their return home, and succeeded in crushing them, and in saving a wounded
captive of a much more evolved type, who was being kept for torture.
67.
Among the islanders at this same time we find Sirius,
and also Alcyone and Mizar; there do not seem to be any special relationships--
life is communal, and people live promiscuously-- beyond those which are formed
by personal attractions in any one life. The intervals between death and
re-birth are very short, a few years at most, and our savages are re-born in the
same community. The second life shows advance, for help comes from outside which
quickens their evolution.
68.
A stranger lands upon the island, a man of much higher
type and lighter complexion-- a clear bright blue-- than the muddy-brown
islanders, who cluster round him with much curiosity and admiration. He comes to
civilise the islanders, who are docile and teachable, in order to incorporate
them in the Empire, from the capital city of which he has come. He begins by
astonishing them. He puts water into a bowl made of the shell of a fruit, and,
taking a small seed-like ball out of his pocket, he drops it into the water; it
catches fire and he lights some dry leaves and presently has a blazing fire, the
first fire seen by the savages, who promptly run away and climb up trees, gazing
down with terrified eyes at this strange leaping shining creature. He coaxes
them down gradually, and they approach timidly, and, finding that nothing
harmful ensues, and that the fire is pleasant at night, they incontinently
decide that he is a God, and proceed to worship him, and also the fire. His
influence being thus established, he further teaches them to cultivate the
ground, and they grow a vegetable, like a species of cactus, but red-leaved,
which produces underground tubers, somewhat resembling yams; he cuts open the
thick stems and leaves, dries them in the sun, and shows them how to make a kind
of thick soup with them. The inside pith of the stems is a little like
arrowroot, and the juice, squeezed out, yields a coarse sweet sugar. Herakles
and Sirius are close comrades, and in their clumsy ignorant way discuss this
stranger' s proceedings, both feeling much attracted to him.
69.
Meanwhile, a party of savages from the mainland had
attacked a tribe living at some distance from the settlement of our tribe, had
killed most of the men, carrying off a few as prisoners, with all the women of
marriageable age and the children, and killing the elder women; the children
were carried off as animals might have been-- merely as specially delicious
food. A wounded fugitive arrived at the village with the news, and implored the
fighting men to rescue the unhappy captives; Herakles and a troop went off, not
averse to a fray, and falling on the savages when they were heavy with
gormandising, succeeded in killing the whole band, with the exception of
Scorpio, who was absent. In a hut they found a wounded man evidently, from his
colour, of the same race as the stranger who had come to the island, who was
being kept with a view to torture, and subsequent feasting on what remained of
him. He was lifted on a litter of crossed spears-- if long sharpened sticks may
be so designated-- and carried back to the island, with two or three rescued
captives, and the younger women who had been kept alive. Sorely wounded as he
was he gave a cry of joy on recognising the stranger, a well-loved friend from
the same city as himself, and he was taken into the stranger' s hut. There he
remained until well, and recounted how he had been sent to exterminate the
savage tribes on the mainland coasts; his army had been surrounded and
annihilated instead, himself and some of his officers and men having been
captured alive. They had been put to death with horrible tortures, but he was
left for awhile to gain strength, being too weak to promise amusement by long
resistance to torture, and had thus been saved. Herakles nursed him in his rude
way with dog-like devotion, and sat for hours listening as the friends-- Mars
and Mercury-- talked together in a tongue to him wholly unknown. Mercury was
something of a doctor, and his friend grew rapidly better under his care, his
wounds healing and his strength returning.
70.
The people were becoming a little more civilised under
the influence of Mercury, and when Mars, recovered, decided to return to the
city, Mercury resolved to remain awhile with the devoted tribe he was educating.
An expedition was sent off to convoy Mars through the dangerous belt inhabited
by the man-eating savages, and a small escort accompanied him as far as the
city, Herakles insisting on becoming his servant, and refusing to leave him.
There was much rejoicing in the city on his return, as the people had thought
him dead; the news of the destruction of his army and of his own narrow escape
roused great excitement, and preparation for a new expedition were at once set
on foot.
71.
The city was distinctly civilised, with large and
handsome buildings in the better quarters, and an immense number of shops. There
were many domesticated animals, some of them used for draught purpose and for
riding. Commerce was carried on with other cities, and there was a system of
canals connecting the city with many at great distances. The city itself was
divided into quarters, the different classes inhabiting different parts of it;
in the centre of it the people were of a distinctly high type and blue
complexion, and the ruler and his highest nobles were in touch with a group of
people living secluded in a somewhat inaccessible region. These people, some of
whom will be known later as the Lords of the Moon, were themselves pupils of
still more exalted Beings, who had come thither from some other sphere. Some of
the humanity of the Moon succeeded in going beyond the Arhat Initiation, and
their superiors were evidently from a humanity which had reached a far higher
stage.
72.
It was from These that an order reached the Ruler of the
city-- which was the capital of a large Empire-- for the extermination of the
savages of the mainland coasts; the expedition was led by Viraj-- who looked
much like a North American Indian-- with Mars under him, and was an overwhelming
force. Against such a body the poorly armed and undisciplined savages had no
chance, and they were completely annihilated; Scorpio, once more, was the chief
of a band, and he and the men with him fought desperately to the last. Herakles
followed Mars as his servant and fought under him, and when the battles were
over, and it was decided to transplant the docile savages from the island to the
mainland, and to incorporate them as a colony of the Empire, Sirius and Herakles
met again, to their mutual delight, as great according to their small capacity
as the deeper joy of Mars and Mercury on their higher level. Mercury took his
people over to the mainland and established them there as cultivators of the
soil, and then returned to the city with Mars, Herakles persuading Sirius-- who
was nothing loth-- to accompany them. Thus the two became dwellers in the city,
and there lived to a great age, attaching themselves very decidedly to their
respective masters, whom they regarded as Deities, as belonging to a divine race
and omnipotent.
73.
The extermination of the savages-- though done in
obedience to an order that none dared to disobey-- was regarded by the soldiers,
and even by most of the officers, as only part of a political plan of conquest,
intended to enlarge the borders of the Empire; there tribes stood in the way,
and therefore had to be cleared out of it. From the higher stand-point, a stage
had been reached beyond which these savages were incapable of advancing on the
Moon Chain, bodies suitable to their low stage of evolution being no longer
available. Hence, as they died, or were killed off, they were not re-born, but
passed into a condition of sleep; many bodies of similarly low types were
annihilated by seismic catastrophes which laid whole districts waste, and the
population of the globe was very much diminished. It was the ` Day of Judgement'
of the Moon Chain, the separation between those who were capable and those who
were incapable of further progress on that Chain, and from that time forward all
was directed towards the pressing forward as rapidly as possible of those who
remained; it was a preparation of the remaining population for evolution on
another Chain.
1.
It may be noted that, at this time, the year was,
roughly, of about the same length as at present; the relation of the globe to
the sun was similar, but was different as regards the constellations.
2.
The whole tribe partially civilised by Mercury escaped
the dropping out, while in the city, Herakles and Sirius, together with the
households and dependents of Mars and Mercury¹ (¹ In the household of Mars were:
Herakles, Siwa, Corona, Vajra, Capella, Pindar, Beatrix, Lutetia, Theodoros,
Ulysses, Aurora. In the household of Mercury: Sirius, Alcyone, Mizar, Orion,
Achilles, Hector, Albireo, Olympia, Aldebaran, Leo, Castor, Rhea.) also just
slipped over the dividing line, by virtue of their attachment to their
respective leaders; they married-- if the term may be applied to the loose
connections of that time-- into the low-class city population, and incarnation
succeeded incarnation in the lower classes of the more civilised people of the
time, with very little progress, intelligence being very poor and development
very slow. Sirius, in one birth, was observed as a small tradesman, the shop
being a hole ten feet square, in which he sold things of various kinds.
Herakles, twelve lives further on, was seen as a woman labouring in the fields
advanced enough to cook her rats and other edibles instead of eating them raw,
and with a whole pack of brothers as husbands-- Capella, Pindar, Beatrix,
Lutetia. Women were scarce at the time, and a plurality of husbands was very
common.
3.
Very many lives later, improvement was visible; the
members of the above-named groups were no longer so primitive, and others had
come up below them, but they were only very small employers of labour,
shop-people and farmers, and they did not go much beyond that stage on the Moon.
In one life to which our attention was attracted by the curious agricultural
proceedings, Sirius was the wife of a small farmer, who employed other men. The
harvest was rather a nightmare. Much of the vegetation belonged to what we
should now call the fungus family, but gigantic and monstrous. There were trees
which grew to a great height in a single year, and which were semi-animal. The
cut-off branches writhed like snakes and coiled round the axe-wielders,
contracting as they died; red sap, like blood, gushed out under the strokes of
the axe, and the texture of the tree was fleshly; it was carnivorous, and during
its growth, seized any animal that touched it, coiling its branches round it
like an octopus, and sucking it dry. The harvesting of this crop was considered
to be very dangerous, and only very strong and skilful men took part in it. When
the tree was cut down and the branches lopped off; they were left to die; then,
when all movement had ceased, the rind was stripped off and was made into a kind
of leather, and the flesh cooked and eaten.
4.
Many of the growths we must call plants were semi-animal
and semi-vegetable; one had a large umbrella-like top, with a slit in the middle
which allowed the two halves, armed with teeth, to open out; it bent over with
these jaws gaping open, hanging above the ground, and any animal brushing
against it was seized, and the two halves closed over it; then the stem
straightened itself, and the closed halves again formed the umbrella surface,
while the animal within them was slowly sucked dry. These were cut down when the
jaws were above and closed, and the skill required consisted in leaping out of
reach, as the top swooped downwards to seize the aggressor.
5.
Insect life was voluminous and gigantic, and served
largely as food to the carnivorous trees. Some insects were fully two feet long,
and of most formidable aspects, and were greatly dreaded by the human
inhabitants. The houses were built as quadrangles, enclosing very large
courtyards; these were covered in with strong network, and in the seasons when
the large insects were about, the children were not allowed to go outside these
enclosures.
6.
Those who individualised in the fifth Round by vanity
were born for the most part into city populations, and life after life they
tended to drift together by similarity of tastes and contempt for others, even
though their dominating idiosyncrasy of vanity led to much quarrelling and
often-repeated ruptures among themselves. Separateness became much intensified,
the mental body strengthening in an undesirable way, and becoming more and more
of a shell, shutting out others. The emotional body, as they repressed animal
passions, grew less powerful, for the animal passions were starved out by a hard
and cold asceticism, instead of being transmuted into human emotions;
sex-passion, for instance, was destroyed instead of being changed into love. The
result was that they had less feeling, birth after birth, and physically tended
towards sexlessness, and while they developed individualism to a high point,
this very development led to constant quarrels and rioting. They formed
communities, but these broke up again, because no one would obey; each wanted to
rule. Any attempt to help or guide them, on the part of more highly developed
people, led to an outburst of jealousy and resentment, it being taken as a plan
to manage or belittle them. Pride grew stronger and stronger, and they became
cold and calculating, without pity and without remorse. When the tide of life
flowed onwards into the fifth globe-- of emotional matter-- they remained in
activity for but a short time, the emotional body being dwarfed until it became
atrophied, and on the sixth globe the mental body became hardened and lost
plasticity, leading to a curious truncated effect, by no means attractive--
reminding one, indeed, oddly, of a man who had lost his legs from the knee
downwards, and had his trousers sewn up over the stumps.
7.
The type which in the previous Round individualised by
admiration, and was docile and teachable, also tended to come mostly into city
populations, and formed the better class of labourers at first, rising through
the lower middle class to the upper, and developing intelligence to a very
considerable extent. They were free from the excessive pride of the preceding
type-- the pride which deeply tinged their auras with orange-- and showed a
clear, bright, and rather golden yellow. They were not devoid of emotion, but
their emotions, while leading them to co-operation and to obedience to those
wiser than themselves, were selfish rather than loving. They saw clearly that
co-operation brought about better results than strife, and they co-operated for
their own advantage rather than with any desire to spread happiness among
others. They were much more intelligent than the people whom we have been
specially following, and their orderliness and discipline quickened their
evolution. But they gave the impression of having developed in their mental
bodies (by a clear vision of what was most to their own advantage) the qualities
which should have had their roots in their emotional bodies, founded in and
nourished by love and devotion. Hence the emotional bodies were insufficiently
developed, though not atrophied as in the previously mentioned type. But they
also profited little by their sojourn on globe E, while considerably improving
their mental bodies on globe F.
8.
Globes E, F and G, were most useful to the groups of
egos who had individualised in one of the three ` Right Ways,' and were hence
developing in an all-round, rather than in a lop-sided, fashion, as was the case
with those who individualised in the ` Wrong Ways,' so far as intelligence was
concerned; but, after all, these egos would be compelled later to develop the
emotions they had in the early days stunted or neglected. In the long run, all
powers have to be completely developed; and in gazing at the huge sweep of
evolution from nescience to omniscience, the progress or the methods at any
particular stage lose the immense importance which they appear to have as they
loom through the mists of our ignorance and propinquity.
9.
As these three globes on the ascending arc of the sixth
Round came successively into activity, very great emotional and mental progress
was made by the more advanced egos. As only those were embodied on them who had
passed over the critical period, the ` Day of Judgment' on the Moon Chain, there
were no hopeless laggards to be a clog on evolution, and growth was steady and
more rapid than before. When the Round was over, preparations began to be made
for the exceptional conditions of the final Round, the seventh, during which all
the inhabitants, and much of the substance, of the Moon Chain were to be
transferred to its successor, that in which our Earth is the fourth, or central,
globe.
10.
CHAPTER V
11.
THE SEVENTH ROUND ON THE
12.
MOON CHAIN
13.
THE Seventh Round of a Chain differs from the preceding
Rounds in that its globes, one by one, pass into quiescence on the way to
disintegration, as their inhabitants leave them for the last time. When the
period arrives for this final departure from each globe, such of its inhabitants
as are capable of further evolution on the Chain pass on, as in earlier Rounds,
to the next globe; while the others, for whom the conditions of the later globes
are unsuitable, leave the Chain altogether when they leave the globe, and remain
in a state hereafter to be described, awaiting re-embodiment on the next Chain.
Thus the stream of departures from each globe on this Round-- leaving out any
who may have attained the Arhat level-- divides into two, some going on as usual
to the globe next in succession, while others take ship to sail over an ocean,
the further shore of which is the next Chain.
14.
Normally, a man is free to leave a Chain-- unless
dropped out as temporarily hopeless-- only when he has reached the level
appointed for the humanity evolved on the Chain. That level in the Moon Chain,
we have already seen, was equivalent to that which we now call the fourth, or
Arhat, Initiation. But we found, much to our surprise, that, on the seventh
Round, groups of emigrants departed from globes A, B and C, while the huge mass
of the population of globe D left the Moon Chain finally as the life-wave
quitted that globe to roll onwards to globe E. Only a comparatively small number
remained behind to carry on their evolution on the three remaining globes, and
of these some departed finally from the Chain as each globe dropped into
inactivity.
15.
It appears that, in a seventh Round, the mighty Being to
whom has been given the title of the ` Seed-Manu of a Chain' takes into His
charge the humanity and lower forms of living beings which have been evolving
thereon. A Chain Seed-Manu gathers up into Himself, takes within His mighty
far-reaching aura, all these results of the evolutions on the Chain,
transporting them into the Inter-Chain sphere, the Nirvana for the inhabitants
of the dying Chain, nourishing them within Himself, and finally handing them
over at the appointed time to the Root-Manu of the next Chain, who, following
out the plan of the Seed-Manu, determines the times and places of their
introduction into His kingdom.
16.
The Seed-Manu of the Moon Chain appeared to have a vast
plan, according to which he grouped the Moon-creatures, dividing them, after
their last deaths, into classes, and sub-classes, and sub-sub-classes, in a
quite definite way, apparently by some kind of magnetisation; this set up
particular rates of vibration, and the people who could work best at one such
rate were grouped together, and those who worked best at another rate were
similarly grouped, and so on, when He was dealing with huge multitudes, as on
globe D. These groups appeared to form themselves automatically in the
heaven-world of globe D, as figures on a vibrating disc form themselves under
the impact of a musical note; but on the three earlier globes more easily
distinguished lines of cleavage appeared, and people were sent off by a great
Official, evidently working on a definite plan. The Seed-Manu was aided in His
gigantic task by many great Beings, who carried out His directions, and the
whole vast plan was worked out with an order and an inevitableness which were
unspeakably impressive. He appeared, among other things, to be choosing out the
Officials for the next Chain, those who, in the long course of evolution, would
pass ahead of their fellows, and become Masters, Manus, Bodhisattvas, in the
various Rounds and Races. He evidently selected many more than would be needed,
as a gardener chooses out many plants for special culture, out of which a later
selection may be made. Most, if not all, of this choosing was done on globe D,
and we shall return to it when we reach that world. Meanwhile we will consider
globes A, B and C.
17.
On globe A of the Moon Chain, we see that a part of the
humanity is not taken on to globe B, but is compelled to leave the Chain because
it can make no further progress on it. The great Official who has charge of the
globe has not been able to evolve some of the people in the way He desired--
has, in fact, found some of the human material too rigid for further evolution,
and so He ships it off when the life of the globe is over. This boat-load, as we
call it, for the number is not large, consists of our friends with the
orange-hued auras, who have brought their mental bodies to a point beyond which
they cannot develop on the Moon Chain, except mischievously; they have so shut
themselves into their mental shell, and have so starved the germs of their
emotional bodies, that they cannot safely descend any further; moreover they are
far too proud to wish to do so. The causal bodies are a rigid shell, not a
living expanding form, and to let them pass on into globe B would only mean a
fatal hardening of the lower mental. They are very clever, but quite selfish,
and have cut themselves off from further progress for the time, save a progress
which would be harmful. The Official is clearly dissatisfied with these
orange-hued people, and does His best for them by shipping them off; glancing
forward, we see that we shall meet some of these again in Atlantis, as Lords of
the Dark Face, priests of the Dark Worship, leaders against the White Emperor,
and so on. Meanwhile, they will rest in the Inter-Chain sphere, self-centred as
ever.
18.
The group of people before-mentioned, whose auras showed
the golden-yellow of disciplined intellect, together with the rest of the
inhabitants of the Chain, passed on to globe B, including some who had reached
the Arhat level on globe A, and who on globe B became Adepts. From globe B the
golden-yellow group was shipped off, for they also had not sufficiently
nourished the emotional side to make the formation of a fairly developed
emotional body possible for them on globe C. Their willingness to obey shaped
for them a fairer future than that of the orange people, and we meet them again
in Atlantis as priests of the White temples, gradually forming emotional bodies
of a good type. Both these first boat-loads enter on the terrene evolution at
its fourth Round, being too advanced to take part in its earlier stages. It
seems that it is necessary on each globe to develop the qualities which will
need for their full expression a body of the material of the next; so our yellow
people could go no further, but had to be shipped off to the Inter-Chain sphere.
19.
From globe C went off a small number who had reached the
Arhat level, who had developed to a lofty point both intellect and emotion, and
who needed no further evolution on the Moon Chain; they therefore left it by any
one of the usual seven Paths. One group of these is specially interesting to us,
because they formed part of one division of the ` Lords of the Moon' -- the
group called Barhishad Pitris in The Secret Doctrine-- who
superintended the evolution of forms on our Earth Chain. On leaving globe C,
they went towards the region where the Earth Chain was building, to be joined
later by a number of others who also gave themselves to this work. Globe A of
the terrene Chain began to form as the life-wave left globe A of the lunar
Chain. The Spirit of a globe, when its life is over, takes a new incarnation,
and, as it were, transfers the life with himself to the corresponding globe of
the next Chain. The inhabitants, after leaving the Chain, have long to wait ere
their new home is ready for them, but the preparation of that home begins when
the Spirit of the first globe leaves it and it becomes a dead body, while he
enters on a new cycle of life and a new globe begins to form round him.
Molecules are built up under the direction of Devas, humanity not being at all
involved. The Spirit of a globe is probably on the line of this class of Devas,
and members of it perform the work of building globes all through the system. A
great wave of life from the LOGOS builds up atoms in a system by the
intermediary of such a Deva; then molecules are built, then cells, and so on.
Living creatures are like parasites on the surface of the Spirit of the earth,
and he does not concern himself with them, and is probably not normally
conscious of their existence, though he may feel them slightly when they make
very deep mines. The Arhats who, leaving globe C of the Moon Chain, selected the
path which leads to the Earth Chain, passed, as said, to the region where globe
A of the Earth Chain was forming; it commenced with the first Elemental Kingdom,
which flowed upwards from the middle of the globe-- the workshop of the Third
LOGOS-- as water wells up in an artesian boring, and flows over the edge on all
sides. It came from the heart of the Lotus, as sap comes up into a leaf. These
Lords of the Moon took no active part at this stage; but seemed to be looking on
at the building of a world-to-be. AEons later they were joined by some of the
Lords of the Moon from globe G of the lunar Chain, and these made the original
forms on globe A-- giving their Chhayas, or Shadows, to make these, as The
Secret Doctrine phrases it-- and then the Lives came and occupied the forms
in succession. Globes B and C were similarly built up round their respective
Spirits, as the latter left their lunar predecessors. Our physical Earth was
formed when the inhabitants left globe D of the Moon Chain; the Spirit of the
globe left the Moon, and the Moon then began to disintegrate, a very large part
of its substance passing over to build up the Earth. When the inhabitants began
to leave the Moon finally, globes A, B and C of the terrene Chain were already
formed, but globe D, our Earth, could not go far in its formation till its
congener, globe D of the lunar Chain, the Moon, had died.
20.
The groups-- which were, as said, small in number--
which left the Chain from globes A and B were, as we have seen, people who had
shot on ahead intellectually, but who had been individualised in the fifth
Round. The Arhats who left globe C had been individualised in the fourth Round
among a city population, and thus were brought into a civilisation where the
pressure quickened their evolution; surrounded by more highly advanced people,
they were stimulated into more rapid growth. To be ready to take advantage of
these conditions it is evident that their development as animals on the previous
Chain must have reached a higher point than that of those who individualised in
the same Chain in primitive country districts. It seems as though the humanity
of a Chain can only advanced towards and enter the Path, when the
individualising of animals on that Chain has practically ceased, and when only
exceptional cases of individualisation will occur in the future. When the door
of the human kingdom is shut against animals, then the door to the Path is
opened to humanity.
21.
As said, the groups which left the Chain from globes A,
B and C, were small in number, the mass of the population on each globe passing
on to the next in the usual way. But on globe D, things became very different;
there the immense majority of the population, when the period for the death of
the globe was approaching, after leaving their physical bodies for the last
time, were not prepared for transference to globe E, but were shipped off to the
Inter-Chain sphere, the lunar Nirvana, to await their transference to the new
Chain preparing for them. If we compare the other groups launched on the ocean
of space to boat-loads, we have now a huge fleet of ships launched on that same
ocean. The general fleet leaves the Moon; only a small population is left, set
aside for reasons which will presently appear, and these leave globes E, F and G
in small groups, boat-loads only-- to keep up our metaphor.
22.
The group of egos that we have been following as samples
of the lower humanity of the Moon shows marks of distinct improvement on globe
D; the causal body is well marked, the intelligence is more developed, and the
affection for their superiors has deepened and intensified; instead of a
passion, it has now become a settled emotion, and is their most distinguishing
characteristic. To this group may be given the name of Servers-- for although
the instinct is still blind and half-conscious, yet to serve and please the
higher people to whom they have devoted themselves is now the dominating motive
in their lives; looking forward, we see that this remains their characteristic
through the long series of lives to come on earth, and they do much rough
pioneer work in the future. They love their superiors and are ready to obey
them, “without cavil or delay”. A marked change has come over their physical
bodies in this Round; they are now bright blue, instead of being muddy brown as
before. They are brought together physically during their last incarnations on
the Moon, and much arranging is going on for a considerable time before this:
the strengthening of ties between groups of egos is brought about by guiding
them to re-birth in communities, and a very large number, indeed most, of the
characters in Rents in the Veil of Time appear here; and it seems
likely that the remainder, were we able to recognise them, would be among
friends of later days, for these are all Servers, ready to do whatever they are
told, to go whithersoever they are sent. They are marked out by a slight
downpour of the higher life, which causes a little expansion of a thread of
intuitional matter, connecting the intuitional and mental permanent atoms, and
makes it a little broader above than below, like a small funnel; large numbers
of people far more intelligent than they are do not show this, and it is
connected with the germinal desire to serve, absent in those otherwise more
advanced people. The group includes many types, and does not consist, as might
be expected, of people of one Ray, or temperament; there are persons who became
individualised in any one of the three Right Ways, through the aspects of Will,
Wisdom, and active Intellect,1 (¹Atma, Buddhi, Manas.) each stimulated
into action by devotion to a superior. The method of individualisation comes in
only as a cause of subdivision within the group, and affects the length of the
interval between death and rebirth, but does not affect the characteristic of
serviceableness. It affects the rate of vibration of the causal body, which is
formed in the several cases by an endeavour to serve: (1) by an act of devotion;
(2) by a great outburst of pure devotion; and (3) by devotion causing an effort
to understand and appreciate The actual formation of the causal body is always
sudden; it comes into existence as by a flash; but the preceding circumstances
differ and affect the rate of vibration of the body thus formed. An act of
sacrifice in the physical body calls on the Will , and there is a
pulsation in spiritual matter; devotion, working in the emotional body² (² The
vehicle of desire, Kama.) calls on Wisdom, and there is a pulsation in
intuitional matter; activity in the lower mind calls on the active Intellect,
and there is a pulsation in higher mental matter. We shall presently find our
group of Servers subdivided into two by these differences, the first two forming
a sub-group, with intervals of an average of seven hundred years between births,
and the third forming a second group with intervals of an average of one
thousand two hundred years. This difference will come out on the Earth Chain at
a more advanced stage of evolution, and the two sub-groups reach the Earth in
the fourth Round with an interval of 400,000 years between them, apparently
planned to bring them to birth together at a certain period, when their joint
services would all be required; so minute in its details is the Great Plan. This
division does not affect the relation between Masters and disciples, as pupils
of each of the two Masters who are to be the Manu and Bodhisattva of the sixth
Root Race, were found in both sub-groups. Thus the germinal desire to serve,
seen by the higher Authorities, is the mark of this whole group, and the
differences in individualisation affecting the interval between death and
re-birth, subdivide the group into two.¹
23.
¹ It will, of course, be understood that the seven
hundred and one thousand two hundred years' intervals are ` averages,' and the `
exact' length of each interval will depend on the length and conditions of the
preceding life. There is this marked difference between the sub-groups, as
though the members of the one lived with greater intensity than the other in the
heaven-world, and thus crowded a similar amount into a briefer time.
24.
At the head of this group stand many whom we know as
Masters now, and high above them are many who were already Arhats, who transmit
to those below them the orders received from far mightier Beings. The Manu of
the Race-- it is the seventh Race of the globe-- is in charge, and He is obeying
the orders, carrying out the plan, of the Seed-Manu, who directs all the
preparations for the transfer of the huge population. Some of the advanced
people know vaguely that some great changes are impending, but these changes,
though far-reaching, are too slow to draw much attention; some co-operate,
unconsciously but effectively, while thinking that they are carrying out great
schemes of their own. There is one man, for instance, who has an ideal community
in his mind, and who gathers together a number of people in order to form it; he
is trying to please a Master who is an Arhat of the Moon, and people are
attracted by him and collect round him, forming a definite group with a common
aim, thus subserving the Great Plan. We, at our low level, look up to the Arhats
and higher people as Gods, and try, in our very humble way, to fall in with any
indications of their wishes that we can catch.
25.
This group of Servers, as its numbers die out for the
last time, having reached the required level on globe D, is regathered on the
mental plane, the heavenly world, and its members remain there for an enormous
time, having always before them the images of those they love, notably of the
more advanced ego to whom they are especially devoted. It is this rapt devotion
which so much helps their development, and brings out their higher qualities, so
that later on they are more receptive to the influences which play upon them in
the Inter-Chain sphere. They are included in the general mass of the egos called
by H. P. Blavatsky ` Solar Pitris' and by A. P. Sinnett ` First-class Pitris' .
Other huge multitudes are also reaching the mental world-- none being re-born
who have reached an appointed level, which appears to be the possession of a
fully formed causal body-- and are falling into great groups under the play of
the powerful magnetic force before mentioned, rayed down upon them by the
Seed-Manu. As strings at different tensions answer to different notes, so do the
causal bodies of these people-- and none, as just said, are here except those
whose causal bodies are fully formed-- answer to the chord He strikes, and they
are thus separated off. People who come forth through the same Planetary Ruler
are drafted into different groups; friends fall into different groups; none of
the ordinary ties seem to count. The egos are automatically sorted out and wait
on in their own places, as a crowd, in continental countries, is sorted off into
waiting-rooms, to await the arrival of their own particular train-- in this
case, to use our former image, to await their own ship.
26.
We noticed especially two of the ship-loads, because we
ourselves formed part of them; one included the coming Manu and Bodhisattva,
those who are now Chohans and Masters, together with many of the Serves who are
now disciples, or approaching that level. These all apparently belonged to the
sub-group with the seven hundred years' average between earth-lives. Another
included many who are now Masters and disciples, with perhaps half the persons
mentioned in the Rents in the Veil of Time, all belonging to the
sub-group with the one thousand two hundred years' average. These two ship-loads
contained many, if not all, of those who are to form the Heavenly Man, and they
were then divided into the two sub-groups. Vaivasvata Manu and the present
Bodhisattva were seen together on globe D, but they passed on to the higher
globes of the Moon Chain.
27.
This great mass includes: (1) the Servers aforesaid, a
very mixed lot of many grades, united by one common characteristic. Then (2)
there is a large group of highly developed egos who are approaching the Path--
on the line of Service, therefore, but too far ahead of the former group to be
classed with it-- and who are yet not near enough to the Path to reach it within
the remaining life of the Chain. Then (3) a huge group of very good people, but
people who have no wish to serve, and are not therefore yet turned towards the
Path, and who will form the bulk of the population of Atlantis during its good
period. (4) A small but striking group of egos, united by the common
characteristic of highly developed intellectual power, future geniuses, varied
as to character and morals, a group manifestly destined to leadership in the
future, but not dedicating themselves to Service, nor turning their faces to the
Path. Then three very large groups: (5) good, and often religious, people--
merchants, soldiers, etc., fairly clever, self-centred, thinking mainly of their
own development and advancement, knowing nothing of the Path, and therefore with
no wish to enter it; (6) bourgeois-commonplace-weak, a very large group of the
type described by the naming; (7) undeveloped, well-meaning, uneducated folk,
the lowest class who have the causal body fully formed.
28.
These are all in the heaven-world of the Moon, awaiting
their despatch to the Inter-Chain sphere. As convulsions begin to rend the Moon,
preparatory to the disruption of its crust, other types pass also into this
world; a very considerable number of the Solar Pitris, or First-class Pitris--
who are capable of making further progress on the remaining globes of the Chain,
where we shall meet them again-- come on into the heaven-world to await
transference in due course to globe E.
29.
Below these first-class Pitris comes an immense class of
egos who have not fully formed the causal body, Mr. Sinnett' s ` Second-class
Pitris' ; a net-work has formed itself, connecting the ego and the lower mind,
and, from the appearance of this, the name of ` Basket-works' has been given to
them. The mass of these, when the Moon begins to approach dissolution, pass out
of the body for the last time on the Moon Chain, and are gathered together in
the emotional world. There they fall asleep, for they cannot function therein;
when this emotional world of the Moon becomes uninhabitable, they lose their
emotional bodies, and remain inward-turned, like bulbs awaiting shipment to
another land, to be in due course shipped off to the Inter-Chain sphere, to
sleep through ages, until the third Round of the Earth Chain offers a suitable
field for their growth. There are some Basket-works, however, who show a
capacity for further evolution on the Moon Chain, and they will pass on to the
higher globes when these come into activity, and there form the causal body,
re-inforcing the Solar, or First-class Pitris.
30.
The last class above the animals are the Animal Men,
Madame Blavatsky' s ` First-class Lunar Pitris,' Mr. Sinnett' s ` Third-class
Pitris' . These are distinguishable by delicate lines of matter which link the
germinal ego to the dawning lower mind. They are gathered up, like the
Basket-works, in the emotional world, when they pass out of the body for the
last time on the Moon, and remain unconscious in the mental world; they are in
due time shipped off; and sleep away aeons of time, and finally reach the Earth
Chain and begin the long work of building on globe A, working through all the
kingdoms up to the human, and then remaining human through the succeeding globes
of the Round, and through the following Rounds. Some of these ` Lines,' as we
may name them for distinction, are also held back when the mass is shipped off,
and are sent on to globe E for further evolution, and become Basket-works,
joining thus the class which was above them.
31.
So far we have followed the fate of the varied classes
of lunar Humanity. Some part of it dropped out, the failures, in the sixth
Round, and were ` hung-up' until the next Chain gave a suitable field for
further evolution. Some, the orange-hued, left globe A in the seventh Round.
Some, the golden-yellow, left globe B. Some Arhats left from globes A, B, and C,
and some of them went over to the forming Earth Chain from globe C. Then we have
the classes that left globe D; those with fully formed causal bodies, those with
basket-work, those with lines. Those that remained passed on to globes E, F, and
G, some leaving each globe, when they had made all the progress of which they
were capable; some Basket-works, higher-class Pitris and Arhats thus went away
from each globe. Most of the animals went off to the Inter-Chain Nirvana-- a
regular Noah' s Ark; a few, who were capable of becoming Animal-men, were taken
on to the later globes.
32.
The determining cause of these different causal bodies
lies in the stage at which individualisation occurred. In the lower parts of the
animal kingdom very many animals are attached to a single group-soul, and the
number diminishes as they climb towards humanity, till in the higher class of
animals there are but ten or twenty attached to a group-soul. Contact with man
may bring about individualisation at a comparatively low stage; if the animal,
say a dog, has been for a long time in contact with man, and is one of a small
group of ten or twenty, then, on individualising, a complete causal body is
formed. If there are about one hundred in the group-- the sheep-dog stage-- a
basket-work causal body would be formed; if there were several hundreds-- pariah
dogs, as in Constantinople or India-- he would have the indication of the causal
body made by the connecting lines.
33.
These stages remind us of somewhat similar differences
in the vegetable kingdom; the more highly developed members of the vegetable
world pass directly into the mammalian animal kingdom. The decent gentle animal
does not become a cruel and brutal savage, but only a pleasantly primitive man.
The kingdoms overlap, and a really nice animal may be a more agreeable companion
than some human beings.
34.
An entity may stop for a shorter time in the animal
stage and a longer time in the human, or vice versa. It does not seem
really to matter, as it always ` gets there' in the end, just as longer or
shorter times in the heaven-world work out to the same stage of progress among
men. It is probably a mere human folly which makes one feel that it is
pleasanter to be the best of one' s kind at the time, and that one would rather
have been a banyan-tree or an oak-tree than a flight of mosquitoes, a splendid
mastiff than a clay-eating or man-eating savage.
35.
To return. Globes E, F, and G seem to have been used as
a kind of forcing-houses for special cultures, for enabling some to reach the
Path, or attain Arhatship, who could not accomplish it on globe D, although in a
fair way towards it, and to permit some, who were approaching a higher stage, to
enter it. They were centres more than globes. Their population was small, since
the bulk of human and animal kind had been shipped off from globe D, and was
further diminished by the sending off successively of a boat-load from each
globe as it passed into quiescence. The boat-load from globe E consisted of some
who were already on the Path and who had there become Arhats, some Basket-works
who had completed the causal body, and some Lines who had become Basket-works.
When these left globe E, the remaining population, consisting of those below the
Arhat level who could bear the strain of further forcing, were carried over into
globe F. Those who left passed into the Inter-Chain Nirvana, and were there
sorted out into the classes they had attained, as late letters with an extra
stamp are sorted into the heaps to which they belong.
36.
A similar process went on upon globe F, and it was
deeply interesting to notice that the Lord Gautama Buddha and the Lord Maitreya
were among those who passed onwards, both from globe E and globe F, and reached
the first great Initiation on globe G. They had dropped out in the seventh round
of the second Chain, not being able to bear the forcing process on globes E, F,
and G of that Chain, the conditions being too strenuous, and only suitable for
those who could attain the prescribed level of success for that Chain, or could
pass from the class they were in to the class above. They entered globe D of the
Moon Chain in the fourth Round as primitive men, with the animals of the second
Chain who were nearly ready for individualisation.
37.
They took together, on globe F, their vow to become
Buddhas, but the arrangements were not the same as on our earth. There was a
kind of Heavenly Council in a heavenly world-- the Buddhist Sukhavati-- and the
great Being to whom they made their vow and who, as the acting Buddha, accepted
it, was He who is called Dipankara in the books. They reached Arhatship on globe
G, ere leaving the Chain.
38.
The Lord Buddha Dipankara came from the fourth Chain of
the Venus Scheme; the physical globe of that Chain was the Moon of Venus, which
was seen by Herschel but which has disappeared since his time. He was one of the
members of the General Staff, spoken of on p. 14, who may be sent to any Chain
needing help. The Lord Dipankara was followed in the great office of the Buddha
by the Buddhas of the Earth Chain; we know of the Lord Kashyapa, for instance,
the Bodhisattva of the third Root-Race, taking Buddhahood in the fourth; and the
Lord Gautama Himself, the Bodhisattva of the fourth Root Race, taking Buddhahood
in the fifth. He was succeeded by the Lord Maitreya, the Bodhisattva of the
fifth Root Race, who will take Buddhahood in the sixth. He will be followed by
the coming Bodhisattva of the sixth Root Race-- now known as the Master K. H.--
who will take Buddhahood in the seventh.
39.
It must be remembered that a Buddha is an Official who
has to superintend much more than a humanity; He is the Teacher of Devas,
Angels, as well as of men, so the fact that a given humanity may be at a very
low stage of evolution does not do away with the need for that high office.
40.
We noted also the Master Jupiter among those who entered
the Path on globe G.
41.
THE INTER-CHAIN NIRVANA
42.
The human mind reels before the enormous periods of time
concerned in evolution, and one takes refuge in the old-- and modern-- idea that
time has no fixed existence, but is long or short according to the working of
the consciousness of the being concerned.1 (¹ See the suggestive little
book, Two New Worlds, by E. E. Fournier d' Albe.) In the Inter-Chain
Nirvana the really working consciousnesses were those of the Seed-Manu of the
lunar Chain and the Root-Manu of the terrene. What time may be to Their
consciousnesses who may pretend to guess?
43.
The Great Plan is in the mind of the Seed-Manu, and the
Root-Manu receives it from Him and works it out in the new Chain over which He
presides. The results of the evolution in the Chain whose life is over are
gathered up within the aura of the Seed-Manu, and are arranged, tabulated,
filed-- if one may use terms drawn from our common life-- in perfect order. On
these intelligences of many grades, inward-turned, living a strange slow
subjective life, without idea of time, He pours intermittent streams of His
stimulating magnetism. A continuous stream would break them into pieces, so it
plays on them and stops, and they doze on for perhaps a million years, slowly
assimilating it; and then another stream plays on them, and so on and on, for
millions upon millions of years. As we watched that strange scene, many
analogies rose up in our minds: bulbs laid carefully on shelves, inspected from
time to time by a gardener; cots in a hospital, visited day by day by a
physician. The time drew nearer and nearer when the great Gardener was to give
out His bulbs for the planting, and the planting ground was the Earth Chain and
the bulbs were living souls.
44.
CHAPTER VI
45.
EARLY TIMES ON THE EARTH CHAIN
46.
MEANWHILE the Earth Chain had been slowly forming, and
the Lords of the Moon had been looking on at the building as we saw¹ (¹ See
Ante, p.65.) ; the time had come for shipping off to the new Chain the
first of those who were to evolve in it during the coming ages. The Seed-Manu
determined the contents of each ship-load and the order of its going, and the
Root-Manu distributed them as they arrived successively on globe A of the
terrene Chain.
47.
The Occult Government of the Chain may here be briefly
sketched, though only in broad outline, so that the student may realise
something of the greatness of the evolutionary Plan which he is to survey.
48.
At the head is the Seed-Manu of the preceding Chain,
Chakshushas, something of whose vast work we have seen in the lunar Chain. He is
aided by Officials who report to Him how the members of any special division
have responded to the influences He has thrown upon them during their stay in
the Inter-Chain Nirvana. Just as the least advanced in 'age' are sent out to
perform the task of inhabiting the most primitive forms, and the more advanced
follow when the forms have evolved to a higher state, so, out of any special
division brought over from the Moon and stored in the Inter-Chain Nirvana, those
who have progressed least under His influence during the time of retirement are
sent out first of their class into the new world.
49.
The Root-Manu of the terrene Chain, Vaivasvata,1
(¹The Root-Manu Vaivasvata must not be confused with the Manu Vaivasvata of the
Aryan Root Race. The former was a far loftier Being, as will be seen from the
statement of His long ascent, made in this same paragraph.) who directs the
whole order of its evolution, is a mighty Being from the fourth Chain of the
Venus Scheme; two of His Assistants come from the same Chain, and a third is a
high Adept who attained early in the lunar Chain.2 (²It must be
remembered that when a man reaches the level appointed for the Chain on which he
is evolving, he may remain upon it and proceed on his further evolution, as
Adepts, attaining now on our globe, may, without leaving it, reach the higher
levels of the Hierarchy.) A Root-Manu of a Chain must achieve the level fixed
for the Chain or Chains on which He is human, and become one of its Lords; then
He becomes the Manu of a Race; then a Pratyeka Buddha; then a Lord of the World;
then the Root-Manu, then the Seed-Manu of a Round, and only then the Root-Manu
of a Chain. He directs the Manus of Rounds, who distribute the work among the
Manus of Races. Further, each Chain yields a number of successful human beings,
` the Lords of the Chain,' some of whom devote Themselves to the work of the new
Chain, under its Root-Manu.
50.
We thus find, for our Chain, seven classes of Lords of
the Moon, working under our Root-Manu, drawn from the seven globes of the Moon
Chain; they form one of the two great classes of Helpers from outside, who are
concerned in the guiding of the general evolution of the Earth Chain. The second
important class of Helpers from outside are Those known as the Lords of the
Flame, who arrive from Venus on the fourth globe, in the fourth Round, in the
middle of the third Root Race, to quicken mental evolution, to found the Occult
Hierarchy of the Earth, and to take over the government of the globe. It is They
whose tremendous influence so quickened the germs of mental life that these
burst into growth, and there followed the great down-rush through the Monad that
we call the third Life-Wave, causing the formation of the causal body, the `
birth' or ` descent of the ego' for all those who had come up from the animal
kingdom; so instantaneous was the response of the myriad inhabitants of Earth
that They are sometimes said to have ` given,' to have ` projected' the spark of
mind; but the spark was fanned into flame, not projected; the nature of the gift
was the quickening of the germ already present in nascent humanity, the effect
of a sun-ray on a seed, not a giving of a seed.¹ (¹
The Secret Doctrine, (1897 Edition) iii, 560; (Adyar Edition) v, 533.) By
the Lords of the Flame was concentrated the power of the LOGOS upon the Monads,
as the sun-rays might be concentrated by a lens, and under that influence the
responsive spark appeared. These are the true Manasaputras, the Sons of Mind--
coming, as They did from the fifth, the mental Round of Venus-- the Sons of the
Fire, the Lords of the Flame.1 (¹The word Manasaputra is used in
The Secret Doctrine to indicate not only These, but also all egos who are
sufficiently advanced to quicken into activity the germ of mind in others, as we
may now do with animals. The word thus covers a huge class, containing many
varying grades in evolution.)
51.
The seven classes of the Lords of the Moon were
distributed by the Root-Manu over the Earth Chain, to take charge of the Rounds
and globes, while the Manus of Races took special care of the evolution of
Races, each of one Root Race.
52.
THE FIRST ROUND
53.
The Lords of the Moon from globes A, B and C of the
lunar Chain were the three classes who watched over, without partaking in, the
physical construction of the globes of our Chain, as they were formed
successively round the Spirit of each globe, as before described.2 (²
See Ante, p.65.) They appear to have superintended the detailed work of
the Lords who attained later. The lowest class, from globe G, made the primitive
archetypal forms on globe A of the Earth Chain in the first Round, and guided
the Lines who came in to fill them, and to evolve therein. The next class, from
globe F, superintended the evolution of forms in the second Round; that from
globe E the similar evolution in the third; and that from globe D the similar
evolution in the fourth.³ (³ All these are included under the name Barhishad
Pitris in The Secret Doctrine. ) Further, we find some of the Lords
from globe E working on Mars in the fourth Round, while those from globe D
become active later on the Earth.
54.
When the despatch of the first entities from the
Inter-Chain Nirvana began, the first ships brought the Lines, and the great mass
of animals from globe D of the Moon Chain; the first ship-loads succeeded each
other at intervals of about one hundred thousand years, and then the supply
stopped, and an immense period followed, during which the new arrivals, the
pioneers on our Earth Chain, were pursuing their long journey of the first and
second Rounds and part of the third.
55.
The worlds are curious, like churning whirl-pools; our
Earth, the most solid, is hot, muddy, sticky, and much of its territory does not
seem to be anchored down very firmly. It is seething, and constantly changing in
consistency; huge cataclysms engulf great multitudes from time to time, and in
their embryonic condition they do not seem very much the worse for the
engulfing, but increase and multiply in huge caves and caverns, as though they
were living on the surface.
56.
The first Round of the Earth Chain had its globes on the
same levels as the seventh Round of the Moon Chain; globe A was on the higher
mental plane, with some of the matter scarcely awakened; globe B was on the
lower mental; globe C on the emotional; globe D on the physical; globe E on the
emotional again; globe F on the lower mental; globe G on the higher mental. In
the second Round the whole Chain descended, and three globes became physical, G,
D, and E; but the living things on them were etheric in substance, and
pudding-baggy-- to borrow H. P. Blavatsky' s graphic epithet-- in form. Globes C
and E, which we now call Mars and Mercury, had at that time physical matter, but
in a glowing gaseous state.
57.
The human bodies on the Earth during the first Round
were amoeboid, cloudy, drifting things, mostly etheric, and thus indifferent to
the heat; they multiplied by fission. They seemed to succeed each other in Races
but without separate incarnations, each form lasting for a Race. There were no
births and no deaths; they enjoyed an amoeba-immortality, and were under the
care of Lords of the Moon who had achieved Arhatship on globe G. Some etheric
floating things appeared to be trying, but not very successfully, to be dreams
of vegetables.
58.
The minerals were somewhat more solid, for they were
largely pelted on to the Earth by the Moon in a molten condition; the
temperature might be anything above 3,500°C. (6,332° F.), for copper was in the
condition of vapour, and it volatilises in an electrical furnace at this
temperature. Silicon was visible, but most of the substances were
proto-elements, not elements, and the present combinations seemed to be very
rare; the earth was surrounded by huge masses of vapour shutting in the heat,
and hence cooled very slowly. At the Pole there was some boiling mud, which
generally settled down, and after some thousands of years a green scum appeared,
which was vegetable; or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it would
become vegetable later on.
59.
SECOND ROUND
60.
In the second Round the temperature of globe D had
dropped considerably, and the copper had cooled down and become liquid, in some
places solid. There was some land near the Poles, but flames burst out if a hole
was made, as at some points on the sides of the cone of Vesuvius. The
pudding-bag creatures did not seem to mind the heat, but floated about
indifferently, reminding one in their shape of wounded soldiers who had lost
their legs and had had their clothes sewn round the trunk; a blow made an
indentation, which slowly filled up again, like the flesh of a person suffering
from dropsy; the fore part of the thing had a kind of sucking mouth, through
which it drew in food, and it would fasten on another and draw it in, as though
sucking an egg through a hole, whereupon the sucked one grew flabby and died; a
struggle was noticed in which each had fixed its mouth on the other, and sucked
away diligently. They had a kind of flap-hand, like the flap of a seal, and they
made a cheerful kind of chirruping trumpeting noise, expressing pleasure--
pleasure being a sort of general sense of bien-être, and pain a massive
discomfort, nothing acute, only faint likes and dislikes. The skin was sometimes
serrated, giving shades of colour. Later on, they became a little less shapeless
and more human, and crawled on the ground like caterpillars. Later still, near
the North Pole, on the cap of land there, these creatures were developing hands
and feet, though unable to stand up, and more intelligence was noticeable. A
Lord of the Moon-- an Arhat who had attained on globe F of the Moon Chain-- was
observed, who had magnetised an island and shepherded on to it a flock of these
creatures, reminding one of seacows or porpoises, though with no formed heads;
they were taught to browse, instead of sucking each other, and when they did eat
each other they chose some parts in preference to others, as though developing
taste. The depression which served for mouth grew deeper into a kind of funnel,
and a stomach began to develop, which was promptly turned inside out if any
alien matter which was disapproved of found its way in. One turned himself
entirely inside out, and seemed none the worse. The surface of the Earth being
still very uncertain, they occasionally got burnt or partially cooked; this they
evidently disliked, and if it went too far they collapsed. The heavy atmosphere
made floating their usual method of locomotion, and this was pleasanter to look
at than the writhing motion adopted on the ground recalling the “loathly worm”.
Reproduction was by budding; a protuberance appeared, grew, and after a while
broke off, and led an independent existence.
61.
Their intelligence was infantile, and one was seen who
had aimed at a neighbour with his mouth, and, missing him, had caught hold of
his own lower end, and then went on sucking contentedly till, presumably
becoming uncomfortable, he spat himself out again. One fellow found out that by
rolling his lower end in mud, he could float upright instead of lengthwise, and
appeared to be very proud of himself Gradually the end which contained the
funnel tapered off somewhat, and a small centre appeared in it, which, in far
future ages, might become a brain. A small protuberance appeared, and the habit
was formed of drifting forward, with this in front, as carrying the mouth, and
impacts being constantly made on this, development was promoted.
62.
Vegetable life developed during this period, aided by
the heavy choking atmosphere; there were forest-like growths, much resembling
grass, but forty feet high and proportionately thick. They grew in the warm mud,
and flourished exceedingly.
63.
Towards the end of this period, some of the Earth was
quite solid and only reasonably warm. There was much tumultuous cracking,
apparently due to shrinkage, and every hill was an active volcano.
64.
Mars became more solid, cooling more rapidly in
consequence of its smaller size, but life on it was much like that on the Earth.
65.
THIRD ROUND
66.
In the third Round Mars was quite solid and firm, and
some animals began to develop, though at first they looked rather like clumsy
chunks of wood, sawed off logs. They recalled sketches made by children who had
not learned how to draw; but as time went on, there were beings who were
distinctly human, though more like gorillas than men.
67.
The configuration then was very different from that of
the Mars now known to us. The water question had not arisen, for about
three-fourths of the surface was water and only one-fourth dry land. Hence there
were no canals, as now, and the general physical condition much resembled that
of the Earth of to-day.
68.
The people who began with the linear indication of the
causal body had by this time developed basket-work of a kind coarser, we
noticed, than that which had been developed on the Moon. When this stage was
reached the Basket-works from the Moon came streaming in, ship-loads again being
sent off by the Seed-Manu to the Earth.
69.
Looking at the Inter-Chain Nirvana, in order to trace
out the coming of the Basket-works to Mars, we came upon an interesting point.
The ` shelves' on which the ` bulbs' were stored were clearly of the higher
mental matter; but the bulbs brought over in the Seed-Manu' s aura were brought
over through the spiritual sphere, and the basket-work of Moon mental matter
would thus be disintegrated, and would need to be reformed before these entities
began their terrene career. They would have slept for ages in the spiritual
sphere, and then would have been reclothed in basket-work of the equivalent
terrene mental matter. There is no continuity of mental matter between Chains.
The distance, of course, may be disregarded, as the terrene Chain occupies much
the same position as the lunar, but the discontinuity of the mental matter
renders necessary the disintegration and reintegration of the basket-work causal
bodies.
70.
We saw a Manu coming over to Mars with a ship-load of
Basket-works, reminding us of the stories in the Hindu Puranas of the Manu
crossing the ocean in a ship, bearing with Him the seeds of a new world, and
those in the Hebrew records of Noah, preserving in an ark all that was needed to
repopulate the Earth after a flood. The legends preserved in the Scriptures of
religions are often stories containing the records of the past, and the Manu
truly came to the Martian world to give a new impulse to evolution. Arriving on
Mars, He founded a colony of His Basket-works thereon.
71.
Tracing back this particular set, the first arrival of
Basket-works in the terrene Chain, we found that they had come from globe G of
the lunar Chain, having thereon become Basket-works. They were the least
developed of the Basket-work crowd, having been the last to reach that stage;
the Manu guided them to take birth in the most promising third Race families on
Mars, and, as they grew, He led them off to His colony, where they would more
quickly develop into fourth Race people. In the colony the people moved by a
central will like bees in a hive, the central will being that of the Manu; He
sent out streams of force and directed all. Two other sets of these Basket-work
bees came to Mars, those who reached this stage on globes E and F of the Moon
Chain; they arrived in reverse order from that of their leaving the Moon, those
from globe F forming the fourth Race on Mars, and those from globe E the fifth.
They developed some affection and some intelligence under the fostering care of
the Manu; at first living in caves, they soon began to build, and to teach the
aborigines to build under them, even Basket-works becoming leaders at this stage
of evolution.
72.
These people were hermaphrodite, but one sex was usually
developed more than the other, and two individuals were necessary for
reproduction. Other forms of reproduction also existed among the lower types,
and there were some embryonic human beings of the hydra kind who reproduced by
budding and others by exudation, while some were oviparous. But these were not
found among the Basket-works.
73.
In the fifth Race the social arrangements changed, as
more intelligence was developed; the bee system disappeared, but they still had
little individuality, and moved rather in flocks and herds, shepherded by their
Manu. The baskets became more closely woven, and represented what could be done
by the unfolding life in those who were emphatically self-made men, unaided by
the great stimulus given in the fourth Round by the Lords of the Flame. This
type which moves in flocks is still largely represented among us by the people
who hold conventional ideas because others hold them, and are wholly dominated
by Mrs. Grundy. These are often quite good people, but are very sheepy and
flocky, and are appallingly monotonous. There are differences among them, but
they are like the differences between people who buy tea by the quarter-pound or
by the ounce, noticeable chiefly by themselves.
74.
One fierce type of Basket-work was observed, not living
in communities, but wandering about in forests in pairs; their heads ran up to a
point behind matching the chin in front, and the head ending in two points
looked odd and unattractive. They fought by butting against each other like
goats, the top of the head being of very hard bone. There were some yet lower
types, curious reptilian creatures, living in trees. They were larger than the
Lines and far less intelligent, and ate the latter when they had the chance.
75.
There were also on Mars some carnivorous brutes; a huge
crocodile-like animal was seen fiercely attacking a man, who rushed at it with a
club, which did not seem a very effective weapon. However, he stumbled over a
rock and fell headlong into the creature' s jaws, and so came to an untimely
end.
76.
The third Round on the Earth much resembled that on
Mars, the people being smaller and denser, but, from our present standpoint,
still huge and gorilla-like. The bulk of the Basket-works from globe D of the
lunar Chain arrived on our Earth in this Round, and led the human evolution; the
Basket-works from Mars fell in behind them, and the whole resembled fairly
intelligent gorillas. The animals were very scaly, and even the creatures we
must call birds were covered with scales rather than feathers; they all seemed
to be made of a job-lot of fragments stuck together, half-bird, half-reptile,
and wholly unattractive. Still, it was a little more like a world than the
preceding globes, in fact than anything we had seen since we left the Moon; and
later on cities were built. The work of the Lords of the Moon-- who in this
Round were Arhats from globe E-- resembled the training of animals more than the
evolution of a humanity. But it is noticeable that they were working on
sections, as it were, of the different bodies, physical and subtle. The third
sub-planes of the physical, astral and mental spheres were being specially
worked through, and the spirillae of the atoms on these sub-planes were being
vivified.1 (¹ See Ante, p . 32.)
77.
The methods of reproduction on our Earth during the
third Round were those which are now confined to the lower kingdoms of nature.
In the first and second Races, not thoroughly densified, fission still occurred,
but in the third and onwards the methods were: budding-off like hydrae in the
less organised; the exuding of cells from different organs of the body, which
reproduced similar organs, and grew into a miniature duplication of the parent;
the laying of eggs, within which the young human being developed. These were
hermaphrodite, and gradually one sex predominated, but never sufficiently to
represent a definite male and female.
78.
The passing of the life-wave from one globe to another
is gradual and there is considerable over-lapping; it will be remembered that
globe A of the terrene Chain began to form when globe A of the lunar Chain was
in process of disintegration, the passing of the Spirit of the globe being the
signal of the transference of activity.1 (¹ See Ante, p
. 65.) Thus life-activity is continuous, though egos have long periods of
rest. A globe ` passes into obscuration' when the attention of the LOGOS is
turned away from it, and thus His Light is withdrawn. It passes into a kind of
coma, and there is a residuum of living creatures left behind; these creatures
do not seem to increase in number during this period. But while the Races die
out, the egos inhabiting them having passed on, the globe becomes a field for
the Inner Round, a place to which egos in a transition state can be transferred
for special treatment in order to quicken their evolution. The globe to which
the attention of the LOGOS is turned starts into active life, and receives the
streams of egos ready to go forward on their journey.
79.
Another point that may be noted is the recurrence of
types at a higher level of evolution, in which they form but transitional
stages. As in the development of the human embryo of to-day, the fish-,
reptile-, and lower mammalian-types appear, repeating in a few months the aeonic
evolution of the past, so do we see in each Round that a period of repetition
precedes that of new advance. The third Round laboriously worked out in detail
that which the third Race in the fourth Round would reproduce with comparative
swiftness, while the second Race would similarly reflect the second Round, and
the first Race the first Round. This broad principle once grasped, study becomes
more easy, as the outline is clear into which details are to be fitted.
80.
CHAPTER VII
81.
EARLY STAGES OF THE FOURTH ROUND
82.
IN taking a preliminary bird' s-eye view of the fourth
Round, one important and far-reaching change is apparent in the surroundings
amid which human evolution is to proceed. In the three preceding Rounds the
elemental essence was practically untouched by man, and was affected only by the
Devas, or Angels, by whose influences it evolved. Man was not sufficiently
developed to affect it to any serious extent. But in this Round man' s influence
plays a very important part, and his self-centred thoughts create swirls in the
elemental essence surrounding him. The elementals, also, begin to show more
hostility to him, as he emerges from the animal state into the dominating human,
for he is, from their standpoint, no longer an animal among animals, but an
independent and domineering entity, likely to be hostile and aggressive.
83.
Another most important characteristic of the fourth
Round, the midmost of the seven, is that, in it, the door was shut against the
animal kingdom, and the door was opened to the Path. Both statements are
general; here and there an animal, by very special help, may still be evolved to
a point where a human incarnation is possible for it, but in almost all cases no
human body can now be found of sufficiently low development for its embodiment;
so also might a man who had attained Arhatship or more on the Moon Chain climb
yet higher, but all below that rank who had complete causal bodies did not enter
into evolution on the Earth Chain until the later third and early fourth Root
Races.
84.
On Mars in the fourth Round we find a number of savages
who had not been sufficiently advanced to leave that globe for the Earth when
the mass of the egos went on in the preceding Round. On each globe some fail to
go on, and remain behind as the globe begins its period of obscuration; and they
return to this same globe when again it recommences full activity, and form a
very backward class; these were Basket-works of a very poor kind, and were
savages of the brutal and cruel type, some of those who had individualised
through fear and anger.
85.
Mars, in the fourth Round, felt the stress of scarcity
of water, and it was the Lords of the Moon-- Arhats who had attained on Globe
E-- who planned out the system of canals, and the Basket-works who executed them
under Their direction. The Martian seas are not salt, and the polar snowcaps, as
they melt, supply the water necessary for irrigation, and thus enable the ground
to be cultivated, and crops to be raised.
86.
The fifth Martian Root Race was white, and made
considerable progress, and the Basket-work developed into a complete causal
body. They were good, well-meaning, and kindly, though not capable of any large
ideas, of widely spread feelings of affection, or of self-sacrifice. At a quite
early stage, they began to divide food instead of fighting over it, developing
the social feeling to some extent.
87.
The first and second Root Races on the Earth were going
on before Mars was deserted, some entities being available for these primitive
conditions whom Mars in its later stages was too advanced to accommodate, and
the full attention of the LOGOS not being turned on to the Earth in these early
times. The Lords of the Moon-- Arhats who had achieved on globe D of the lunar
Chain-- brought into these early Races a number of backward entities, so that
these served as special coaches for the laggards, many of whom repaid the care
bestowed upon them, and entered the first sub-race of the third Root Race, as
its lowest types; they were egg-headed, with an eye at the top of their heads, a
roll like a sausage representing a forehead, and prognathous jaws. The
egg-headed type persisted for a very long time, but became much modified in the
later sub-races of this third Root Race, and specimens of them are found in
later Lemurian times, The blue people who formed the powerful sixth sub-race,
and the white who composed the seventh sub-race, were finer types, but were
still Lemurian, and showed a trace of egg-headedness, due to the retreating
foreheads.1 (¹ While this is going through the press a report has
appeared in the newspapers of the discovery of some skulls of this type, but no
particulars are yet available. See The Theosophist for August, 1912, in
` On the Watch-Tower,' p.631.) The population of the Earth during the first and
second Root Races was very limited, and this special help appears to have been
given because in the fourth globe of the fourth Chain “the door is shut”.
Furthermore, everything possible was done to bring forward all of whom anything
could be made, before the coming of the Lords of the Flame, in the middle of the
third Root Race, should make the gulf well-nigh impassable between the human and
animal kingdoms.
88.
Mars, at the end of its seventh Root Race, had a very
considerable population to pour into the Earth, and these came streaming in for
the third Root Race, to head it until the more advanced egos from the Moon Chain
should come in to take over the leadership. These Basket-works, whose causal
bodies were now completed, had made considerable progress on Mars, and they now
prepared the way for the more advanced people who were soon to arrive. It was
they who fought with the savage reptilian creatures, slimy and backboneless, who
were the “water-men terrible and bad” of the Stanzas of Dzyan, the re-embodied
remnants of the previous Rounds, who had been ` water-men,' i.e.,
amphibious, scaly, half-human animals, on Mars.
89.
The many schemes of reproduction characteristic of the
third Round reappear in this third Root Race, and run simultaneously in various
parts of the Earth. The bulk of the population passed on through the successive
stages and became mostly oviparous, but there were various little side-shows in
which earlier methods persisted. It seems as though the various schemes of
reproduction were suitable to egos at different stages of evolution, and were
kept going for laggards after the bulk of the people had passed beyond them. The
egg-scheme was dropped very slowly; the shell became thinner and thinner, the
human being within developing into a hermaphrodite; then he became a
hermaphrodite with one sex predominant; and then a unisexual being. These
changes began some sixteen and a half million years ago, and occupied some five
and a half to six million years, physical bodies changing very slowly and
reversion frequently occurring. Moreover the original number was small, and
needed time for multiplication. When this last type became quite stable, then
the egg was preserved within the feminine body, and reproduction assumed the
form which still persists.
90.
To sum up: we have the first Root Race, repeating the
first Round, etheric clouds drifting about in a hot heavy atmosphere, which
enclosed a world rent by recurrent cataclysms; these multiplied by fission. The
second Root Race, repeating the second Round, was of the ` pudding-bag' type,
described under the second Round; these multiplied by budding. The early third
Root Race, repeating the third Round, was human-gorilla in form, and
reproduction was at first by extrusion of cells, the ` sweat-born' of The
Secret Doctrine . Then comes the oviparous stage, and finally the
unisexual.
91.
Some very special treatment was applied to some of the
eggs; they were taken away by the Lords of the Moon, and were carefully
magnetised and kept at an equable temperature, until the human form, at this
stage a hermaphrodite, broke out; it was then specially fed and carefully
developed, and when ready, was taken possession of by one of the Lords of the
Moon, many of whom became incarnate in order to work on the physical plane, and
they used these carefully prepared bodies for a long period of time; some Devas
also took some of these prepared bodies. This seems to have been only a few
centuries before the separation of the sexes.
92.
While the later Egg-borns were in possession, the very
best of the Basket-works came in, straight from the Inter-Chain Nirvana, and
these were quickly followed by the lowest of those who had gained complete
causal bodies on the Moon. Between the highest of the first and the lowest of
the second there was but little difference. The first boat-load of the latter
consisted of those who had responded but little to the influence of the
Seed-Manu, from globes G, F, and E of the lunar Chain, the majority being from
G, the stupidest of those who had gained complete causal bodies. The second
boat-load had a large number from globe G, a low section from globe F, and a
still lower from globe E. The third contained the best from globe G, with some
fairly good from globe F, and good from globe E. The fourth boat-load had the
best from globe F, and all but the very best of globe E. The fifth boat-load
brought the best from globe E, with a few from globe D. These all seemed to be
sorted out by ` age' rather than by ` type,' and were, in fact, of all types.
One individual was noticed who was a chief in the savage mainland tribe which
took Mars prisoner on the Moon, one who had individualised through fear. All
these incarnated among the Egg-borns, some hundreds of thousands of them.
93.
Then came, from ten to eleven million years ago, when
separation of the sexes was fully established, the important stage when some of
these incarnated Lords of the Moon descended on the seven-pointed Lemurian Polar
Star, and formed etheric images of themselves, which were then materialised into
greater density, multiplying these for the use of the incoming egos; the Lords
were of different types, the “seven men each on his lot,” and gave bodies suited
to the seven Rays, or temperamental types of humanity, making the forms on the
points of the Star.
94.
At this stage there were four human classes, pressing on
each other to obtain better human forms. These were: (1) the set of the best
Basket-works above-named, with the five boat-loads from globes G, F, and E,
possessing complete causal bodies; then (2) the Basket-works from Mars; then (3)
the Lines, who had been here all the time; then (4) the last, composed of those
who were only now coming up out of the animals. Below these were the animals,
plants, and minerals, with which we need not concern ourselves.
95.
The coming of these into the etheric forms provided by
the Lords of the Moon was something of a struggle, for there were often many
claimants for a single form, and the one who succeeded in gaining it could not
always hold it for more than a few moments; the scene recalls the Greek idea
that the Gods made the world amid shouts of laughter, for it decidedly had its
comic element, as the egos struggled for the forms and could not manage them
when they had obtained them. It is one of the descents into matter, the final
materialisation of the body of man, the completion of ` the fall of man' .
Gradually they became accustomed to the new ` coats of skin,' and settled down
to reproduce the seven great temperamental types. In various parts of the world
other ways of reproduction continued for long periods of time; the successive
stages over-lapped very much, owing to the great differences in evolution, and
the classes that came in from other Rounds had not been in the two early Root
Races on Earth; the tribes following the early methods gradually became sterile,
while the true men and women multiplied greatly, until humanity, as we know it
now, was definitely established all over the world.
96.
The forms as thrown off by the Lords of the Moon were
fairly good-looking, but being etheric they were very readily modifiable, and
the incoming egos much distorted them; the children born of them were distinctly
ugly; probably those using them were accustomed to think of the egg-shaped head
and sausage-roll forehead, and hence these reappeared.
97.
After many generations of well-established human beings,
descended from the etheric materialised forms, had been evolved, the Arhats
urged on those who had left globes A, B, and C of the lunar Chain-- because they
could make no further progress on it-- that they should descend and take
incarnation in the bodies now ready for their indwelling. There were three
boat-loads of these; more than two million orange people from globe A, rather
less than three million golden-yellow from globe B, and rather more than three
million pink from globe C-- about nine millions in all; they were guided to
different areas of the world' s surface, with the view that they should form
tribes. The orange, on seeing the bodies offered to them, refused to enter, not
out of any wickedness but from pride, disdaining the unattractive forms, and
perhaps also from their ancient hatred of sexual unions; but the yellow and pink
were docile and obeyed, gradually improving the bodies they inhabited. These
made the fourth Lemurian sub-race, the first which was in any sense, except the
embryonic, human; and it may be dated from the giving of the forms. It is
interesting to notice that H. P. Blavatsky in The Secret Doctrine
speaks of this fourth sub-race as ` yellow,' apparently noting the incoming of
the golden-yellow people from B of the Moon Chain; she can hardly have been
referring to the established colour of the fourth sub-race, as that was black,
and the black continued even in the lower classes of the sixth sub-race, in
which the higher classes were of a quite respectable blue. Yet even in those
there was an underlying tinge of black.
98.
The area allotted to the orange tribe was thus left
open, and the bodies they should have used were gladly seized upon by the
entities just emerging from the animal kingdom, the lowest of the classes before
mentioned, the very poorest human type; these, not unnaturally, felt little
difference between themselves and the ranks from which they had just emerged,
and hence arose the “sin of the mindless”.
99.
It is interesting to note the karma of this refusal of
the orange people to take their due place in the work of peopling the world.
Later, the law of evolution forced them into incarnation, and they had to take
lower and coarser bodies, the Lords of the Moon having gone on into other work;
they thus became a backward race, cunning but not good, and passed through many
unpleasant experiences; they diminished in number by constantly coming into
collision with the common order, and being hammered, largely by suffering, into
ordinary folk. A few-- strong, remorseless and unscrupulous-- became Lords of
the Dark Face in Atlantis; some were seen among the North American Indians with
refined but hard faces; some few still persist, even down to our own day-- the
unscrupulous among the kings of finance, statesmen like Bismarck, conquerors
like Napoleon; but they are gradually disappearing, for they have learned many
bitter lessons. Those who are wanting in heart, who are always fighting, always
opposing everything everywhere, on general principles, must ultimately, in a
realm of law, be beaten into shape; a very few may end in black magic, but the
steady pressure is too great for the majority. It is a hard road to choose for
progress!
100.
THE COMING OF THE LORDS OF THE FLAME
101.
The great Lemurian Polar Star was still perfect, and the
huge Crescent still stretched along the equator, including Madagascar. The sea
which occupied what is now the Gobi Desert still broke against the rocky
barriers of the northern Himalayan slopes, and all was being prepared for the
most dramatic moment in the history of the Earth-- the Coming of the LORDS OF
THE FLAME.
102.
The Lords of the Moon and the Manu of the third Root
Race had done all that was possible to bring men up to the point at which the
germ of mind could be quickened, and the descent of the ego could be made. All
the laggards had been pushed on; there were no more in the animal ranks capable
of rising into man. The door against further immigrants into the human kingdom
from the animal was only shut when no more were in sight, nor would be capable
of reaching it without a repetition of the tremendous impulse only given once in
the evolution of a Scheme, at its midmost point.
103.
A great astrological event, when a very special
collocation of planets occurred and the magnetic condition of the Earth was the
most favourable possible, was chosen as the time. It was about six and a half
million years ago. Nothing more remained to be done, save what only They could
do.
104.
Then, with the mighty roar of swift descent from
incalculable heights, surrounded by blazing masses of fire which filled the sky
with shooting tongues of flame, flashed through the aerial spaces the chariot of
the Sons of the Fire, the Lords of the Flame from Venus; it halted, hovering
over the ` White Island,' which lay smiling in the bosom of the Gobi Sea; green
was it, and radiant with masses of fragrant many-coloured blossoms, Earth
offering her best and fairest to welcome her coming King. There He stood, “the
Youth of sixteen summers,” Sanat Kumara, the “Eternal Virgin-Youth,” the new
Ruler of Earth, come to His kingdom, His Pupils, the three Kumaras, with Him,
His Helpers around Him; thirty mighty Beings were there, great beyond Earth' s
reckoning, though in graded order, clothed in the glorious bodies They had
created by Kriyashakti, the first Occult Hierarchy, branches of the one
spreading Banyan-Tree, the nursery of future Adepts, the centre of all occult
life. Their dwelling-place was and is the Imperishable Sacred Land, on which
ever shines down the Blazing Star, the symbol of Earth' s Monarch, the
changeless Pole round which the life of our Earth is ever spinning.¹
105.
¹ The use of these occult symbols misled the readers of
The Secret Doctrine, (perhaps even its writer) into the mistake that the `
Pole' and ` Star' mentioned in the Occult Commentary were the physical
North Pole and North Star. I followed this mistaken idea in my Pedigree of
Man. -- A.B.
106.
A Catechism says: “Out of the seven Kumaras,
four sacrificed themselves for the sins of the world, and the instruction of the
ignorant, to remain till the end of the present Manvantara. . . . These are the
Head, the Heart, the Soul and the Seed of undying knowledge.” H. P. Blavatsky
adds: “Higher than the ` Four' is only ONE on Earth as in Heaven-- that still
more mysterious and solitary Being”-- the Silent Watcher.1 (¹ The
Secret Doctrine, (1897 Edition) ii, 294, 295; (Adyar Edition) iii, 282,
283.)
107.
Until the Coming of the Lords the shiploads from the
Inter-Chain Nirvana had arrived separately, but now, with the tremendous
stimulus given, fecundity increased rapidly like everything else, and perfect
fleets were wanted to bring in egos to inhabit the bodies; these came pouring
in, while others of lower types took possession of all the animals with the
germs of mind who were individualised at the Coming, the Lords of the Flame
doing in a moment for millions what we now do by long care for units.
108.
And now the Arhats from globes A, B, and C came into
incarnation, to help the Manu in founding and civilising the fifth, sixth and
seventh sub-races of the Lemurians. The fourth sub-race continued, the very
egg-headed one, with a stature of from twenty-four to twenty-seven feet in
height, loosely and clumsily built, and black in colour; one whom we measured
was twenty-five feet in height.² Their buildings were proportionate to their
size, cyclopean in structure, made of enormous stones.
109.
² Some curiosity may arise as to how we measured him:
first by standing by him, when we came, respectively, a little below and level
with his knee; then by setting him against a first-floor balcony at
Headquarters, where he could rest his raised hands on the parapet and put his
chin on them. We later measured the height of the parapet. The poor image was
not made welcome when he put his head over the balcony: “Take him away,” said
the owner of the balcony; “he is very ugly and enough to frighten anybody.”
Perhaps he was, poor thing.
110.
The Arhats became Kings in the later sub-races, the
King-Initiates of the myths which are truer than history.
111.
A King-Initiate would gather a number of persons round
Him, forming a clan, and then would teach this clan some of the arts of
civilisation, and direct and help them in the building of a city. One large city
was erected under such instruction on what is now the island of Madagascar, and
many others were similarly built, over the great Crescent. The style of
architecture was, as said above, cyclopean, impressive from its hugeness.
112.
During the long period thus occupied, the physical
appearance of the Lemurians was changing. The central eye at the top of the head
was retreating, as it ceased to function, from the surface to the interior of
the head, to form the pineal gland, while the two eyes-- at first one on each
side of it-- were becoming active. The Greek legend of Cyclops is evidently a
tradition from the early Lemurian age.
113.
There was some domestication of animals; one egg-headed
Lemurian was seen leading about a scaly monster, almost as unattractive as his
master. Animals of all sorts were eaten raw-- among some tribes human flesh was
not despised-- and creatures of the grade of our slugs, snails and worms, much
larger than their degenerate descendants, were regarded with peculiar favour as
toothsome morsels.
114.
While the sixth sub-race was developing, a large number
of Initiates and their disciples were sent off from the Inter-Chain Nirvana to
the Earth,1 (¹It may be noted that while the general rule was that the
less evolved should be sent first to the Earth. exceptions were made where help
was wanted, as in this case with this special boatload.) to help the Manu of the
fourth Root Race by incarnating in the best bodies He had so far evolved. The
very best bodies being given to those who had exhausted their karma, their
occupants were able to improve them, and to get out of them everything which
they were capable of yielding. These Arhats and their pupils worked under the
Lords of the Moon and the Manus of the third and fourth Root Races; the seventh
sub-race, the bluish-white, was evolved by their help, and furnished men and
women of a better type for further moulding by the Manu of the fourth.
115.
CHAPTER VIII
116.
THE FOURTH ROOT RACE
117.
THE Head of the Hierarchy began, almost immediately
after His coming, to make arrangements for the founding of the fourth Root Race,
employing the future Manu to pick out the smallest, densest and best of the
Lemurian types available; and while the founding and growth of civilisation
under the King-Initiates were going forward among the Lemurians, the Manu of the
coming Race was diligently seeking for the egos suitable for His purpose, and
selecting for them appropriate incarnations. He gathered together, in one case,
thousands of people, and finally selected one, after tests that lasted over many
years, evidently experiencing much difficulty in finding desirable ancestors for
His Race. Tribes were set apart, their members inter-marrying for long periods,
and the Manu chose promising specimens and transplanted them; He and His
disciples incarnated in the progeny of these to raise the physical level. He
carried on various experiments simultaneously on the points of the Star,
utilising the differences of climate. It looked at first a hopeless task, as
though negroes and mulattoes should inter-marry to made a white race; but after
generations of selection within a tribe, He would take away one or two, and pair
them off with another one or two, similarly selected from another tribe. The
third Race Manu had evolved a blue type for His sixth sub-race, and a
bluish-white for His seventh, though the masses of the Lemurians remained black;
some of the fourth sub-race also mixed in with the blue, and slowly, very
slowly, the general Lemurian type improved. It is noticeable also that when, in
other parts of the world a lighter-coloured or better type appeared, it was sent
off to the Manu, and He tried to find for it a suitable husband or wife; we
observed one that was thus sent in from the Madagascan city, and others
similarly came in from elsewhere.
118.
More rapid progress was made after the arrival of the
Initiates, mentioned at the close of the last chapter, the best of the bodies
improved by their indwelling being taken by the Manu for the shaping of His
first sub-race; the fourth Race had thus, ultimately, a very fine founding and
nursing, thanks to the large number of developed people who took the lead and
pressed things forward. The Manu was able, finally, to take the bodies of the
seventh sub-race, improved by the Initiates using them, as the nucleus of His
first sub-race, the Rmoahal, of the fourth Root Race. All who were taken on into
the fourth Root Race were the Initiates and their disciples in these bodies, and
none at this stage were taken from those who had previously been evolving on the
Earth Chain.
119.
Subba Rao distinguished the Lemurians as blue-black, the
Atlanteans as red-yellow, and the Aryans as brown-white. We find the fourth Race
Manu eliminating the blue from the colour of His people, passing through purple
into the red of the Rmoahal sub-race, and then, by mixing in the blue-white of
the seventh Lemurian sub-race, He obtained the first sub-race which seemed to be
fully human, and that we could imagine as living among ourselves. After the
race-type was fully established, He thus had the materials for the rich
red-brown of the Toltec, the third subrace, the most splendid and imperial of
the Atlantean peoples, which ruled the world for tens of thousands of years.
After a long period of patient working, about a million years having been spent
in taking stupendous trouble and care, He reached a fair resemblance to the type
given to Him to produce; then He definitely founded the Race, He Himself taking
incarnation, and calling His disciples to take bodies in His own family, His
posterity thus forming the Race. In the most literal sense the Manu of a Race is
its Progenitor, for the whole Race has its Manu as its physical ancestor.
120.
Even the Manu' s immediate descendants, however, were
not a very attractive-looking crowd, judging by our present standard, although a
vast improvement on the surrounding population. They were smaller, but had no
nervous organisation worth speaking of, and their astral bodies were shapeless.
It is extraordinary what he made of such a body for Himself, moulding and
shaping it after His own astral and mental bodies and modifying the pigment in
the skin, till He worked it into more of the colour that He wished for His Race.
121.
After this many generations passed before the young Race
took possession of its continent, Atlantis, but from this point onwards
ship-loads of egos began to come in from the Inter-Chain Nirvana, to inhabit the
fourth Race bodies. The Manu arranged with the Root-Manu to send Him large
numbers of egos ready for incarnation-- those from globe D of the Moon Chain who
had complete causal bodies, and who had individualised in the lunar fourth and
fifth Rounds. Some of these came into the Tlavatli sub-race, and some later into
the Toltec, when it was evolved; and then He again incarnated in the latter, and
founded the City of the Golden Gates, the first of many successive Cities of
that name. The founding was about one million years ago, one hundred and fifty
thousand years before the first great catastrophe which rent the continent of
Atlantis.
122.
The Toltec was at this time the ruling Race, by virtue
of its great superiority. It was a warrior race, going all over the world and
subduing its inhabitants, but its pure types never formed the lower classes
anywhere. Even in the City of the Golden Gates, only the aristocracy and the
middle class were Toltec; the lower classes were of mixed blood, and were
largely composed of men and women taken captive in wars with other sub-races,
and reduced to servitude by their conquerors.
123.
At this time arrived on Earth a ship-load of egos, in a
group of whom-- which kept much together-- we are specially interested, as it
contained many old friends, Sirius, Orion, Leo and others; some of these were
ear-marked on their arrival by Vaivasvata Manu-- the Manu of the fifth Race-- as
part of His future materials. Hence H. P. Blavatsky speaks of the founding of
the fifth Race as occurring one million years ago, though it was only led out
from Atlantis in 79,997 B.C. These, later, formed the group with an average
1,200 to 1,000 years' interval between death and re-birth.1 (¹ These
intervals must be taken provisionally; the intervals between death and re-birth
in this group and in the one mentioned below were relatively about
as these lengths.)
124.
The interval between death and re-birth was at this time
naturally somewhat shorter, for the material gathered in these primitive lives
was not enough to make a long interval, however thinly spread out. The people
were not yet capable of deep feeling, though making something out of the
heaven-life. In the heaven-world these egos kept together, and the filmy beings
connected with them in the intuitional sphere showed a strong affinity for each
other. In the lower spheres there was apparently a dull, groping, sense of `
want,' as though they were very dimly sensing the absence of the old friends of
former lives and of the Inter-Chain interval, who were still sleeping away in
the Inter-Chain Nirvana, not to arrive on Earth for another 400,000 years. In
the intuitional sphere, these 700-year people were in touch with the 1,200-year
group, but it was only when the former arrived on the Earth that there was a
time of general rejoicing among the egos in the higher mental sphere, due
chiefly to the arrival of those who were the most deeply loved and revered-- the
future Masters. Those immediately connected with some of the earlier group were
still in that Nirvana, although others had come to earth with the 1,200-year
set, among them the two future Masters who now wear English bodies.1
(¹ They were once Sir Thomas More and ` Philalethes' Thomas Vaughan.) A
good deal of slight retarding or hastening of re-birth was resorted to, in order
to keep the group together in incarnation.
125.
In one of these early lives, Corona ² (² Known in later
history as Julius Caesar.) -- a very fine fighter-- came from the City of the
Golden Gates, and conquered the Tlavatli tribe in which our friends had
incarnated. Unconscious as he was of the tie between them, he was yet influenced
by it, and treated the tribe kindly: instead of carrying them off as slaves, he
introduced various improvements, and incorporated the tribe into the Toltec
Empire. Sirius took several births in the Tlavatli sub-race, and then passed
into the Toltec. Glancing forward, we saw him once incarnated among the
Rmoahals, in order to be with Ursa and others, then several lives were passed in
the Turanian, the fourth sub-race-- a Chinese stage-- and a number in the
Akkadian, the sixth; he was observed trading among a people who resembled the
Phoenicians of later times. He did not take the sub-races in any special order,
and it is difficult, at present, to generalise on this question.
126.
Ship-loads of egos continued to arrive, and the main
cause of separation seemed to be the method of individualisation. Egos of all
Rays, or temperaments, of similar general development were mixed up, but those
of different intervals between re-births were not. Nor was there any mingling of
the large classes of the Moon-Men and Animal-Men. Unless an individual had been
taken through the Inner Round, and had undergone its special forcing, when he
passed into the class ahead of him, the broad lines of distinction remained, and
one class did not overtake another. Even when the Basket-works had completed
their causal bodies, the basket origin remained discernible.
127.
The first ship-load containing the 700-year group
arrived on Earth about 600,000 B.C. , some 250,000 years after the first great
cataclysm which rent the continent of Atlantis. With it came the future Masters,
Mars and Mercury and others, and Mars was born in the north in the Tlavatli
sub-race, with Surya and Mercury for his father and mother. Herakles was also in
the family, as an elder sister. Surya was the Chief of the tribe, and Mars, his
eldest son, soon became its foremost warrior.1 (¹ See the Proem for
these and other names.) At the age of fifteen, he was left for dead on a
battle-field, but was searched for and found by his sister, who was passionately
devoted to him, and who nursed him back to health. He succeeded his father as
Chief, and had his first experience of earthly rule.
128.
There was one quite small but interesting group, only
105 in number who arrived about the same period, 600,000 B.C. , but who did not
come from the Moon. It was a contingent arranged for specially by the Head of
the Hierarchy, and seemed to consist of some who in Venus had been pet animals
of the Lords of the Flame, and were so strongly linked to Them by affection,
that without Them they would not have evolved. They had individualised on Venus,
and were brought over here, and He placed them all in the first and second Rays.
There were other small groups, abnormal in evolution. Thus one little group,
belonging to the third Round, was sent over to Mercury, for the special
treatment possible under Mercury conditions, and was then brought back here.
Some underwent treatment of this kind in preparation for the fifth Root Race. It
may be noted that H. P. Blavatsky speaks of some who came to the Earth from
Mercury.
129.
Herakles' third birth on earth was in the same tribe, in
which many members of the group were re-united. They had a certain amount of
civilisation, but the houses were mere huts, and-- the climate being warm-- the
clothing was scanty. The life was marked by the re-knitting of the undesirable
link with Scorpio, and has therefore a certain importance for those concerned.
The tribe in which Herakles was a warrior was attacked by a very savage tribe to
which Scorpio belonged; the plan of the latter was to surprise the other tribe
and slaughter it as a sacrifice to their deity, or, failing that, to commit
suicide, and thereby gain power to torment their enemies from the other world.
They performed magical rites of an Obeah-like nature, which, though done in
secret, seemed to have become known to Herakles. The final suicide was essential
to the success of the whole plan of after-death activity , and the
weird spells, with many tremendous ` curses and swears,' became then effective:
the result of these was apparently as much dreaded by their foes as it was
valued by themselves. The attack failed, and they proceeded to carry out the
alternative to victory, a general suicide with gruesome rites. Herakles, partly
because his religion did not permit suicide, partly moved by superstitious
fears, and partly by the thought that the savages would make nice brawny slaves,
interfered and saved a number of them whom he captured and bound. Later on these
folk plotted to assassinate him, and he had them executed; thus began again,
this time on earth, a long series of antagonisms not yet exhausted.
130.
It may be noted, as bearing on the closeness of ties set
up between individuals and enduring for hundreds of lives, that from this time
forward a set of persons within the large groups of 1,200- and 700-years'
people-- a set which we may, for the sake of distinction, dub ` the Clan' --
while visiting almost every country in the world, kept generally together, and
Sirius, especially, was rarely found to marry outside this little group. Taking
a bird' s-eye view, we notice that there were occasional gatherings of the whole
big Clan, as in the City of the Golden Gates when Mars was King, in Peru when he
was Emperor, in the mainland near the White Island under the Manu, and in the
second and third sub-races at their beginnings and their migrations-- to take a
few instances out of many. Herakles turned out to be a fighting sort of person,
clinging closely to Mars; Sirius a more peaceful one, following Mercury
continually; Alcyone is also of that ilk, with Mizar. A good many belonging to
the larger groups with whom we were very familiar in those early days, however,
seem to have dropped out by the way, and we have not met them in this life; some
may be just now in the heaven-world. The Theosophical Society is another
instance of the gathering of this same Clan, and people are coming into it all
the time, who turn out to be old friends. Some again, like Corona, are just now
awaiting a favourable opportunity for incarnation.
131.
The ship-loads continued to come in for a long time,
only ceasing with the catastrophe of 75,000 B.C., so the phrase as to shutting
the door evidently applies only to the animals coming up into humanity, and not
to those whose causal bodies were already developed. The anthropoid apes, of
whom H. P. Blavatsky spoke as still admissible to human bodies, would belong to
the animal kingdom of the Moon, not to that of the Earth; they took up bodies
produced by the “sin of the mindless,” and are the gorillas, chimpanzees,
orang-utangs, baboons, and gibbons. They might be looked for in Africa, and
might incarnate there in the still existing very low human races of Lemurian
type.
132.
Coming down to 220,000 B.C. , to the City of the Golden
Gates, we find Mars there ruling as Emperor, and bearing by inheritance the
title of ` Divine Ruler,' transmitted from Those who had ruled in the past, the
great Initiates of earlier days. Mercury was the chief Hierophant, the head of
the State religion. It is remarkable how these two come down together through
the ages, one always the Ruler, the Warrior, the other always the Teacher, the
Priest. Noteworthy also is the fact that we never saw Mars in a woman' s body,
whereas Mercury did take one from time to time.
133.
There was quite a gathering of the Clan at this time.
The Crown Prince was then Vajra, and Ulysses, who had been a successful leader
on the frontier, was Captain of the Imperial Guard. This Guard formed a picked
body of men, even the privates being of the upper classes, and they had charge
of the Palace; they were not supposed to go out to war, but rather to strut
about in gorgeous uniforms, to attend on the person of the Monarch during
ceremonials, and increase his splendour. Later, however, after the death of
Ulysses, Vajra became Captain of the Guard, and he persuaded his father to allow
him to take his troop off into a campaign; being always a turbulent and restless
person, he was not content to lead a life of show and luxury, and his soldiers,
who adored him for his dash and courage, were willing enough to exchange their
golden breastplates for the severer armament of war. Among them we find a number
of our Clan: Herakles was there, with Pindar, Beatrix, Gemini, Capella, Lutetia,
Bellona, Apis, Arcor, Capricorn, Theodoros, Scotus and Sappho. Herakles had as
servant-boys three Tlavatli youths, captured in battle by his father and given
to him-- Hygeia, Bootes, and Alcmene. The soldiers were distinctly rowdy,
indulging in orgies of eating and drinking, and then rioting about the city; but
they had the merit of respecting learning, paid reverence to the priests, and
attended religious ceremonies as part of their Palace duty. They had a certain
code of honour among themselves and kept it very rigidly, and in this was
included the protection of the weak. Their homes were not unrefined, after a
fashion, though not squaring with modern ideas.
134.
The death of Ulysses, the Captain of the Guard, must not
be passed by unnoticed, for it linked in indissoluble bonds the three persons
chiefly concerned. The Emperor Mars had placed in the Captain' s hands the care
of his son Vajra, a daring, reckless lad; for the times were dangerous,
conspiracies were rife in the Golden City, and the capture of the person of the
Crown Prince would have been a great triumph for the conspirators. Hence Ulysses
would not allow the Prince to leave the Palace grounds, much to that young man'
s disgust. One day the Captain and the Prince were sitting at some little
distance from the Palace, and a band of conspirators, greatly daring, crept up
under the shelter of some bushes, and suddenly pounced upon the two. The Prince
was struck down senseless, but Ulysses, bestriding his body, fought fiercely
against the assailants, shouting for help. His cries were heard, and as he fell
bleeding across the body of his young master, pierced by many wounds, some
soldiers of the Guard came rushing up, and the conspirators took to their heels.
The two unconscious bodies were lifted on to stretchers, carried to the
Throne-room of the Palace, where the Emperor was sitting, and there laid at his
feet. The dying Captain raised his eyes to his Emperor: “Sire, forgive; I did my
best.”
135.
The Emperor stooped down, and dipped his finger in the
blood welling up from the Captain' s breast; he touched with it the forehead of
the dying man, his own forehead and his feet, and musically his voice fell upon
the silence. “By the blood that was shed for me and mine, the bond between us
shall never be broken. Depart in peace, faithful servant and friend.”
136.
The words reached the ears already becoming dull;
Ulysses smiled, and died. The young Prince, who was only stunned, revived. And
the bond lasted on, millennium after millennium, and became the bond between
Master and disciples, for ever unbreakable.
137.
The lives of Herakles were not remarkable in any way for
a long time. They were spent in fighting, when the body was that of a man, in
having very numerous babies when it was that of a woman.
138.
The spread of black magic in Atlantis led up to the
second great catastrophe of 200,000 B.C. , which left as remnants of the great
continent which had joined Europe and Africa to America the huge islands of Ruta
and Daitya. They endured until the catastrophe of 75,025 B.C. ¹ (¹ Usually given
roughly as the 80,000 B.C. catastrophe.) overwhelmed them beneath the waters of
the ocean we now call the Atlantic.
139.
During the next hundred thousand years, the people of
Atlantis flourished abundantly, and built up a mighty, but over-luxurious,
civilisation. Its centre was in the City of the Golden Gates-- the name was
preserved-- but it spread far and wide over the world, both over Africa and the
West. Unhappily with the civilisation spread again also the knowledge giving
control over nature which, used for selfish purposes, becomes black magic.
140.
Members of the Clan came into it, more or less,
sometimes being born into families immersed in it, and breaking away; sometimes
dallying with it and being a little tarred therewith. Some experiences of
Alcyone' s that often tormented him in the form of dreams in a later life may
here be put on record.2 (² See ` Rents in the Veil of Time,' The
Theosophist, May, 1910.) They happened in a life that occurred about
100,000 B.C. Corona was then the White Emperor at the City of the Golden Gates;
Mars was a general under him, and Herakles was the wife of Mars. A great
rebellion was being plotted, and a man of strange and evil knowledge,-- a ` Lord
of the Dark Face,' leagued with the dark Earth-Spirits who form the ` Kingdom of
Pan,' the semi-human, semi-animal creatures who are the originals of the Greek
satyrs-- was gradually gathering round himself a huge army which followed him as
Emperor, the Emperor of the Midnight Sun, the Dark Emperor, set over against the
White. The worship he established, with himself as central idol-- huge images of
himself being placed in the temples-- was sensual and riotous, holding men
through the gratification of their animal passions. Against the White Cave of
Initiation in the City of the Golden Gates was set up the Dark Cave in which the
mysteries of Pan, the Earth-God, were celebrated. All was working up toward
another great catastrophe.
141.
Alcyone, some one hundred and twenty lives back, was the
son of a man who followed the hideous rites of this dark cult, but he held
himself much aloof, shrinking from the wild orgies of animalism that enchained
the bulk of the worshippers. But, as is too often the case, he fell into the
trap baited by a woman' s beauty, and met a grievous fate. The story may be
told, as it throws light on the conditions which brought down later upon
Atlantis the heavy doom pronounced by the Occult Hierarchy.
142.
CHAPTER IX
143.
BLACK MAGIC IN ATLANTIS
144.
AN EPISODE
145.
ALCYONE is lying half asleep, half awake, on a grassy
bank sloping down to a rippling brooklet. His face is perplexed, even anxious,
the reflex of his troubled mind. He is the son of a wealthy and powerful family,
belonging to the priesthood, the ` Priesthood of the Midnight Sun,' vowed to the
service of the Gods of the Nether World, whom the priests sought in the gloom of
night, in dark earth-caverns opening into passages that led down, down, into
unknown depths.
146.
At this time, the great civilised nations of Atlantis
had drawn into two opposed camps: the one, looking to the ancient City of the
Golden Gates as their sacred metropolis, maintained the traditional worship of
their race, the worship of the Sun-- the Sun in the beauty of his rising, clad
in the bright colours of the dawning, encircled with the radiant youths and
maidens of his court; the Sun in the zenith of his glory, the blazing strength
of his mid-heaven, scattering abroad his brilliant rays of life and heat; the
Sun in the splendid couch of his setting, touching into rarest softest hues the
clouds he left as promise of his return. The people worshipped him with choral
dances, with incense and with flowers, with joyous songs, and with offerings of
gold and gems, with laughter and with minstrelsy, with joyous games and sports
. Over these children of the Blazing Sun the White Emperor bore rule, and
his race had for long millennia held unchallenged sway. But gradually the
outlying kingdoms, ruled by his lieutenants, had become independent, and they
were beginning to join together into a Federation, rallying round a man who had
appeared among them, a remarkable but sinister figure.
147.
This man, Oduarpa by name, ambitious and crafty by
nature, had realised that, in order to give stability to the Federation and to
make head against the White Emperor, it was necessary to call to his aid the
resources of the darker magic, to make compact with the denizens of the Nether
World, and to establish a worship which would attract the people by its sensuous
pleasures, and by the weird unholy powers it placed within the reach of its
adepts. He had himself, by such compact, extended his life over an abnormal
period, and, when going into battle, rendered himself impervious to spear or
sword-thrust by materialising a metallic coating over his body, which turned
weapons aside as would a shirt of mail. He aimed at supreme power, and was in a
fair way to reach it, and he dreamed of himself as sitting crowned in the Palace
of the City of the Golden Gates.
148.
The father of our youth was among the most intimate of
his friends, and privy to his most secret designs, and both hoped that the lad
would devote himself to the forwarding of their ambitions. But the youth had
dreams and hopes of his own, nourished silently within his own heart; he had
seen in the visions of the night the stately figure of Mars, a general of the
White Emperor, Corona, had gazed into his deep compelling eyes, had heard, as
from afar, his words: “Alcyone, thou art mine, of my people, and surely thou
shalt come to me, and know thyself as mine. Pledge not thyself to mine enemies,
thou who art mine.” And he had vowed himself his subject, as vassal to his lord.
149.
Of this was Alcyone thinking, as he lay musing by the
stream. For another influence was playing upon him, and his blood ran hotly in
his veins. Ill-pleased at his indifference to their worship-- nay, at his
shrinking from it, even in its outward rites of animal sacrifice and poured out
oblations of strong drink-- his father and Oduarpa had conceived the plan of
drawing him into the secret mysteries by the allurements of a maiden, Cygnus,
dark and beauteous as the midnight sky star-studded, who loved him deeply, but
had so far failed to win his young heart with her charms. Between her dusky
brilliant eyes and his half-fascinated gaze would float the splendid face of his
vision, and he would hear again the thrilling whisper: “Thou art mine.”
150.
At length, however, she had so far won him-- persuaded
to the task by her mother, a veritable witch-hag, who had told her that thus
alone might she gain his love-- as to obtain from him a promise that he would
accompany her to the underground caves in which the magical rites were
performed, which drew the denizens of the Nether World from their retreats, and
gained from them the forbidden knowledge which changed the human into the animal
form, thus giving opportunity for free play to the passions of the brute hidden
in man, passions of lust and slaughter. Cygnus had played upon his heart with
skill taught by her own passion, and had fanned his indifference into fire, not
enduring, indeed, but warm while it lasted. And to-day the passion was hot upon
him, and the power of her allurement swayed him. For she had just left him,
after coaxing him to promise to meet her after sunset near the caverns where the
mysteries were performed, and he was struggling between his longing to follow
her, and his repulsion from the guessed-at scenes in which he would be expected
to take part. The sun sank below the horizon and the sky darkened while still
Alcyone lay musing; with a shudder he started to his feet, but now his mind was
made up, and he turned his steps towards the rendezvous.
151.
To his surprise a considerable company was gathered at
the spot; his father was there with his priestly friends, and Cygnus with a
crescent moon on her head, the sign of the bride, and a band of maidens round
her, all clad in gauzy star-spangled raiment, through which the brown lithe
limbs gleamed duskily; a band of youths of his own age, among whom he recognised
his nearest friends, were also waiting, with spotted skins of animals for
raiment, and light cymbals which they clashed as they danced round him like
fauns.
152.
“Hail, Alcyone!” they cried, “favourite of the Dark Sun,
child of the Night! See where thy Moon and her Stars await thee. But first thou
must win her from us, her defenders.”
153.
Suddenly she was whirled away in the midst of the
dancers, and vanished in the darkness of the cavern yawning wide in front, and
Alcyone was seized, stripped of his garments, a skin like that of the rest
thrown over him, and intoxicated, maddened, he fled in her pursuit, amid
laughter and cheers: “Hey! young hunter, be swift, lest the hounds pull down thy
deer!”
154.
After a few minutes Alcyone, with the shouting crowd at
his heels, had raced through the outer caverns, and had reached a vast hall,
blazing with crimson light. In the midst rose a huge canopy, red in colour and
studded with great carbuncles, that tossed back the light like splashes of fiery
blood; beneath the canopy was a copper throne, inlaid with gold, and before it a
yawning gulf, out of which flashed tongues of flame, lurid and roaring. Heavy
clouds of strange incense filled the air, intoxicating, maddening.
155.
The rush swept him onwards, and he was caught up into a
wild tumultuous whirl of dancers, who shouted, yelled, sprang into the air in
wild bounds, circling round the canopied throne, and crying: “Oduarpa! Oduarpa!
Come, we are craving for thee!”
156.
A low roll of thunder crept muttering round the cavern,
growing louder and louder, and ending in a tremendous clap just overhead; the
flames leapt up, and amid them rose the mighty form of Oduarpa, steel-grey in
his magic sheathing, stern, majestic, with his face grave, even sad, as that of
a fallen Archangel, but strong with unbending pride and iron resolution. He took
his seat on the throne, where he sat throughout all that followed, silent and
sombre, taking no part in the riot; he waved his hand, and the mad orgy
recommenced, the wildest dancers bathing in the flames which lapped over the
edges of the gulf and tossed themselves high in the air. Alcyone had caught
sight of Cygnus in the midst of the youths and the girls, and he raced, mad with
excitement, in her direction; she eluded him, her escort baffled him, he touched
her only to see her whirled out of his reach. At last, panting, wild, he made a
desperate rush, and the escort fled with screams of laughter, each youth with a
girl, and he leapt on Cygnus and clasped her in his arms.
157.
Wilder and wilder grew the revel; slaves bearing huge
pitchers of strong drink appeared, accompanied by others with goblets. Madness
of drink was added to madness of motion, and the lurid lights sank low into
twilight of redness. The orgy which followed is better hidden than described.
158.
But see! out of the passage whence had emerged Oduarpa,
comes a wild procession; hairy bipeds, long-armed and claw-footed, with animals'
heads and manes streaming over shoulders, horrent, appalling, non-human, yet
horribly human. They hold in their claw-like hands phials and boxes, and as they
mingle with the wildest dancers they give these to the revellers most mad with
drink and lust. These smear over their limbs the ointment in the boxes, drink
the contents of the phials, and lo! they drop senseless, huddled on the ground,
but from each huddled heap there springs an animal form, snarling, ravening, and
vanishes from the cavern into the darkness of the outside night.
159.
The bright Gods help the wayfarers who meet these
bedevilled astral materialisations, fierce and conscienceless as animals, cruel
and crafty as men! But the bright Gods are sleeping, and only the hosts of the
Midnight Sun, ghosts, goblins and all evil things, are abroad. The creatures
return, their jaws dripping with blood, their hides draggled with filth, ere
morning dawns, and, crouching on the huddled forms on the floor of the cavern,
sink into them and disappear.
160.
Such orgies as these were held from time to time,
Oduarpa using them to increase his hold upon the people, and he established
similar rites at many places, making himself the central figure in all, becoming
a veritable object of worship, and gradually welding the people together in
allegiance to himself, until he became the acknowledged Emperor. His relations
with the inhabitants of the Nether. World-- called in latter days, as said
above, the ` Kingdom of Pan' -- gave him much additional power, and he had
trusted lieutenants-- bound to him by their common knowledge of; and
participation in, the ghastly abominations of that realm-- ever prompt to carry
out his commands.
161.
He finally succeeded in assembling a very large army and
began his march against the White Emperor, directing his course towards the City
of the Golden Gates. He hoped to overawe and conquer, not only by fair assault
of arms, but by the terror that would be spread by his hellish allies, and the
ghastly transformations of the black wizards into animal forms. He himself had a
body-guard of magic animals round him, powerful desire-forms materialised into
physical bodies, who guarded him and devoured any who approached him with
hostile intent. When a battle was raging, and the issue doubtful, Oduarpa would
suddenly loose against his foes his horde of demoniacal allies, who would rush
into the fray, tearing with teeth and claws, and spread panic among the startled
hosts. When his enemies broke into flight, he would send these swift demons in
pursuit, and the troops of wizards would likewise take animal forms, gorging
themselves on the bodies of the slain.
162.
Thus he fought his way onwards, northward ever, till he
came near the City of the Golden Gates, where the last army of the White Emperor
lay embattled. Alcyone had fought as a soldier in the army, partly under a
spell, and yet awake enough to be sick at heart at his surroundings, and Cygnus,
with other ladies, had accompanied the camp. The day of the decisive battle
dawned; the imperial army was led by the White Emperor himself; Corona, and the
right wing of the army was under the command of his most trusted general, Mars.
During the preceding night, Alcyone had been visited once more by his early
vision, and had heard the well-loved voice: “Alcyone, thou art fighting against
thy true lord, and to-morrow wilt thou meet me, face to face. Break thou then
thy rebel sword and yield thee to me; thou shalt die by my side, and it shall
yet be well.”
163.
And so indeed it happed. For in the fierce shock of
battle, as the imperial troops were giving way, the Emperor slain, Alcyone saw,
struggling gallantly against overwhelming odds, the face of his vision, the
general, Mars. With a cry he sprang forward, breaking his sword in two, and
catching up a spear, he threw himself at Mars' back, fiercely thrusting through
a soldier who struck at Mars from behind. At that moment Oduarpa charged up, mad
with fury, and struck Mars down, and with a cry that rang across the field, he
summoned Cygnus, by swift spell changing her into a fierce animal, which rushed
with bared fangs at Alcyone, fainting from loss of blood. But in the very act,
the love which had been her life cried out from Cygnus' soul and wrought her
rescue; for its strong flow changed into loving woman the form of ravening hate,
and with a dying kiss on Alcyone' s dying face she breathed away her life.
164.
Herakles, the wife of Mars, was captured by Oduarpa in
the assault on the City of the Golden Gates that followed and completed his
victory; she indignantly repulsed his advances, and catching up a dagger stabbed
at him with all her strength. The dagger slipped aside on his metallic casing,
and, laughing, he struck her down, outraging her as she lay half senseless: when
she recovered consciousness, he summoned his horrible animals, and they tore her
into pieces and devoured her.
165.
Oduarpa, enthroned on a pile of corpses, and surrounded
by his animal and half-animal guards, was crowned Emperor of the City of the
Golden Gates, assuming the desecrated title of ` Divine Ruler' . But his triumph
was not of long duration, for Vaivasvata Manu marched against him with a great
army, and His mere presence put to flight the denizens of the Kingdom of Pan,
while he destroyed the artificial thought-forms, created by black magic. A
crushing victory scattered the army of the Emperor, and he himself was shut up
in a tower whither he had fled in the rout. The building was fired, and he
perished miserably, literally boiled to death within his materialised metallic
shell.
166.
Vaivasvata Manu purified the City and re-established
there the rule of the White Emperor, consecrating to that office a trusted
servant of the Hierarchy. For a time things went on well, but slowly the evil
again gathered power, and the southern centre once more grew strong; until, at
last, the same Lord of the Dark Face, appearing in a new reincarnation, again
fought against the White Emperor of the time, and set up his own throne against
him. Then the words of doom were spoken by the Head of the Hierarchy, and as the
Occult Commentary tells us: the “Great King of the Dazzling Face”-- the
White Emperor-- sent to his brother Chiefs: “Prepare. Arise, ye men of the Good
Law, and cross the land while yet dry.” The “Rod of the Four”-- the Kumaras--
was raised. “The hour has struck, the black night is ready.” The “servants of
the Great Four” warned their people, and many escaped. “Their Kings reached them
in their Vimanas¹ (¹ Chariots which moved in the air-- the ancient aeroplanes.)
and led them on to the lands of fire and metal [east and north].”² (² The
Secret Doctrine (1897 Edition) ii, 445, 446; (Adyar Edition) iii, 424,
425.) Explosions of gas, floods and earthquakes destroyed Ruta and Daitya, the
huge islands of Atlantis, left from the catastrophe of 200,000 B.C., and only
the island of Poseidonis remained, the last remnant of the once huge continent
of the Atlantic. These islands perished in 75,025 B.C., Poseidonis enduring to
9,564 B.C., when it also was whelmed beneath the ocean.
167.
CHAPTER X
168.
THE CIVILISATION OF ATLANTIS 1
169.
¹ A good account of this may be read in The Story of
Atlantis by W. Scott-Elliot. The writers of the present book were among the
collaborateurs who collected the materials therein so ably arranged and
presented; so the ground is very familiar to us.
170.
ATLANTIS peopled many countries with its sub-races, and
built many splendid civilisations. Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, North and South
America, knew them, and the Empires they raised endured for long, and reached a
point of glory that the Aryan Race has not yet over-topped. The chapters XI-XIII
on Peru and Chaldea in the present work show remnants of their greatness, and
these may be supplemented by some additional details.
171.
Mr. Scott-Elliot thus describes the famous City of the
Golden Gates: “A beautifully wooded park-like country surrounded the city.
Scattered over a large area of this were the villa-residences of the wealthier
classes. To the west lay a range of mountains, from which the water-supply of
the city was drawn. The city itself was built on the slopes of a hill, which
rose from the plain about five hundred feet. On the summit of this hill lay the
Emperor' s palace and gardens, in the centre of which welled up from the earth a
never-ending stream of water, supplying first the palace and the fountains in
the gardens, thence flowing in the four directions, and falling in cascades into
a canal or moat which encompassed the palace grounds, and thus separated them
from the city which lay below on every side. From this canal four channels led
the water through four quarters of the city to cascades which, in their turn,
supplied another encircling canal at a lower level. There were three such canals
forming concentric circles, the outermost and lowest of which was still above
the level of the plain. A fourth canal at this lowest level, but on a
rectangular plan, received the constantly flowing waters, and in it turn
discharged them into the sea. The city extended over part of the plain, up to
the edge of this great outermost moat, which surrounded and defended it with a
line of waterways extending about twelve miles by ten miles square.
172.
“It will thus be seen that the city was divided into
three great belts, each hemmed in by its canals. The characteristic feature of
the upper belt, that lay just below the palace grounds, was a circular
race-course and large public gardens. Most of the houses of the court officials
also lay on this belt, and here also was an institution of which we have no
parallel in modern times. The term ` Strangers' Home' amongst us suggests a mean
appearance and sordid surroundings; but this was a palace where all strangers
who might come to the city were entertained as long as they might choose to
stay-- being treated all the time as guests of the Government. The detached
houses of the inhabitants and the various temples scattered throughout the city
occupied the other two belts. In the days of the Toltec greatness there seems to
have been no real poverty-- even the retinue of slaves attached to most houses
being well fed and clothed-- but there were a number of comparatively poor
houses in the lowest belt to the north, as well as outside the outermost canal
towards the sea. The inhabitants of this part were mostly connected with the
shipping, and their houses, though detached, were built closer together than in
other districts.”
173.
Other large towns, built on the plains, were protected
by immense banks of earth, sloping towards the town, and sometimes terraced,
while, on the outward side, they were faced with thick plates of metal, clamped
together; these were supported on great beams of wood, the uprights being driven
deeply into the earth; when these were in place, and connected with heavy
crossbars, the plates were attached to them, overlapping like scales, and then
the space between the earth-work and the barrier was filled with earth, solidly
rammed together. The whole formed a practically impregnable barrier against the
spears, swords, and bows and arrows which were the usual weapons of the time.
But such a city necessarily lay open to assaults from above, and the Atlanteans
carried the making of air-ships-- aeroplanes, we should call them now-- to a
high pitch of excellence; and, if such a city were to be attacked, these
birds-of-war were sent to hover over it, and to drop into it bombs which burst
in the air, and discharged a rain of heavy poisonous vapour, destructive of
human life. Allusions to these may be found in the conflicts related in the
great epics and Puranas of the Hindus. They had also weapons which projected
sheaves of fire-tipped arrows, which scattered far and wide as they hurtled
through the air like deadly rockets, and many others of similar kinds, all
constructed by men well-versed in the higher branches of scientific knowledge.
Many of these are described in the very ancient books above referred to, and
they are mentioned as being given by some superior Being. The knowledge required
for their construction was never made common.
174.
The land system of the Toltecs will be described in the
chapters on Peru, and the absence of poverty and the general well-being of the
population were largely due to the provision therein made for universal primary
education. The whole scheme of government was planned out by the Wise for the
benefit of all, and not by special classes for their own advantage. Hence the
general comfort was immensely higher than in modern civilisations.
175.
Science was carried far; for, the use of clairvoyance
being habitual, the processes of nature, now invisible to most, were readily
observed. Its applications to arts and crafts were also numerous and useful. The
rays of sunshine, sent through coloured glass, were used for promoting the
growth of plants and animals; scientific breeding was carefully carried out for
the improvement of promising species; experiments were tried in crossing --
e.g., the crossing of wheat with various grasses produced different kinds
of grain; less satisfactory were the attempts which produced wasps from bees;
and white ants from ants.1 (¹ Wheat, bees and ants were brought from
Venus by the Lords of the Flame, and the crossing of these with species already
existing on the earth brought about the results named. The nature-spirits in
charge of some departments of animal and vegetable evolution also attempted on
their own account to imitate, with the purely terrestrial resources at their
disposal, these importations from another planet. Their efforts, which were only
partially successful, are responsible for some of the more unpleasant results
above-mentioned.) The seedless banana was evolved from a melon-like ancestor,
containing, like the melon, large quantities of seeds. Forces, the knowledge of
which has been lost, were known to the science of the day; one of these was used
for the propulsion of both air-- and water-ships; another for so changing the
relation of heavy bodies to the earth that the earth repelled instead of
attracting them, so making the raising of gigantic stones to a lofty height a
matter of the greatest ease. The subtler of these were not applied by machinery,
but were controlled by will-power, using the thoroughly understood and developed
mechanism of the human body, “the vina of a thousand strings”.
176.
Metals were much used and admirably wrought, gold,
silver and aurichalcum being those most employed in decoration and in domestic
utensils. They were more often alchemically produced than sought for in the
crust of the earth, and were often very artistically introduced to add richness
to schemes of decoration, carried out in brilliant colours. Armour was
gorgeously inlaid with them, and that used merely for show in pageants and
ceremonies was often entirely made of the precious metals; golden helmets,
breast-plates and greaves being worn on such occasions over tunics and stockings
of the most brilliant colours-- scarlet, orange, and a very exquisite purple.
177.
Food differed in different classes. The masses of the
people ate meat, fish, and even reptiles-- perhaps one should not say ` even,'
remembering the turtle of our City Fathers. The carcase of an animal, with all
its contents, was slit down the breast and stomach, and hung up over a large
fire; when it was thoroughly cooked through it was removed from the fire, the
contents were scooped out and, among the more refined, placed on dishes, while
the rougher people gathered round the carcase itself; and plunged their hands
into its interior, selecting toothsome dainties-- a plan which sometimes led to
quarrels; the rest was thrown away or given to domestic animals, the flesh
itself being considered as offal. The higher classes partook of similar food,
but those belonging immediately to the Court made rather a secret of such
banquets. The Divine King, of course, and those closely connected with Him, ate
only food composed of grains cooked in various ways, vegetables, fruits, and
milk, the latter being drunk as a liquid, or made into many sweet preparations.
Fruit-juices were also largely used as drinks. Some of the courtiers and
dignitaries, while partaking of these milder comestibles publicly, were observed
quietly stealing away to their private chambers and feasting on more toothsome
viands, among which fish, as ` high' as modern game, played a not inconspicuous
part.
178.
Government was autocratic, and in the palmy days of
Toltec civilisation under the Divine Kings, no system could have been happier
for the people; but as the unchecked powers They wielded passed into the hands
of younger souls, abuses crept in and troubles arose; for here, as everywhere,
decay began in the corruption of the highest. The system was that Governors were
held accountable for the welfare and happiness of their provinces, and crime or
famine was regarded as due to their negligence or incapacity. They were drawn
chiefly from the upper classes, but specially promising children were drafted
out into the higher schools to be trained for the service of the State, whenever
they were found. Sex was no disqualification, as it is now, for any office in
the State.1 (¹ The exclusion of women from political power in England
only came, it should be remembered, with the growth of democracy, and the
consequent idea that physical force, not intelligence or character, should be
the basis of Government. This is the nadir of political life, as the occult
system is its zenith.)
179.
The immense growth of wealth and of luxury gradually
undermined the most splendid civilisation that the world has yet seen. Knowledge
was prostituted to individual gain, and control over the powers of nature was
turned from service to oppression. Hence Atlantis fell, despite the glory of its
achievements and the might of its Empires; and the leading of the world passed
into the hands of a daughter Race, the Aryan, which, though it has to its credit
many magnificent achievements in the past, has not yet reached the zenith of its
glory and its power, and will, some centuries hence, rise even higher than
Atlantis rose in its palmiest days.
180.
We have chosen two daughter civilisations which grew up
in later days, far from the great centre of the fourth Root Race-- one descended
from the third sub-race, the Toltec, the other from the fourth sub-race, the
Turanian-- in order to give a more vivid and detailed picture of the level
reached by the Atlanteans. These did not form part of the investigations made in
the summer of 1910, and chronicled in the present book; they were done during
the last decade of the nineteenth century by the present writers, working with
some other members of the T.S., whose names we are not at liberty to give. One
of the present writers put them into the form of articles for The
Theosophical Review, and these articles are here reprinted. in their proper
place, as part of a much larger work.
181.
CHAPTER XI
182.
TWO ATLANTEAN CIVILISATIONS 1
183.
Toltec, in Ancient Peru, 12,000 B.C.
184.
¹ The opening pages of this description of Ancient Peru,
as given in The Theosophical Review, will be found in Appendix iii,
with a brief statement of the circumstances under which it was originally
written.
185.
THE civilisation of Peru in the thirteenth millennium
B.C. so closely resembled that of the Toltec Empire in its zenith, that, having
closely studied that period, we utilise it here as an example of Atlantean
civilisation. Egypt and India in their Atlantean periods, offered other
examples, but, on the whole, the chief features of the Toltec Empire are best
reproduced in the Peru which is here described. The Government was autocratic--
no other Government in those days was possible.
186.
To show why this was so, we must look back in thought to
a period far earlier-- to the original segregation of the great fourth Root
Race. It will be obvious that when the Manu and His lieutenants-- great Adepts
from a far higher evolution-- incarnated among the youthful Race which They were
labouring to develop, They were to those people absolutely as Gods in knowledge
and power, so far were They in advance of them in every conceivable respect.
Under such circumstances there could be no form of Government possible but an
autocracy, for the Ruler was the only person who really knew anything, and so he
had to take the control of everything. These Great Ones became therefore the
natural rulers and guides of child-humanity, and ready obedience was ever paid
to Them, for it was recognised that wisdom gave authority and that the greatest
help that could be given to the ignorant was that they should be guided and
trained. Hence all the order of the new society came, as all true order must
ever come, from above and not from below; as the new Race spread the principle
persisted, and on this basis the mighty monarchies of remote antiquity were
founded, in most cases beginning under great King-Initiates, whose power and
wisdom guided Their infant States through all their initial difficulties.
187.
Thus it happened that, even when the original Divine
Rulers had yielded Their positions into the hands of Their pupils, the true
principle of Government was still understood, and hence, when a new Kingdom was
founded, the endeavour was always to imitate as closely as might be, under the
new circumstances, the splendid institutions which the Divine Wisdom had already
given to the world. It was only as selfishness arose among both peoples and
rulers that gradually the old order changed, and gave place to experiments that
were not wise, to Governments which were inspired by greed and ambition, instead
of by the fulfilment of duty.
188.
At the period with which we have to deal-- 12,000 B.C.--
the earlier Cities of the Golden Gates had been sunk beneath the waves for many
thousands of years, and though the chief of the Kings of the Island of
Poseidonis still arrogated to himself the beautiful title which had belonged to
them, he made no pretence to imitate the methods of Government which had ensured
them a stability so far beyond the common lot of human arrangements. Some
centuries before, however, a well-conceived attempt to revive-- though of course
on a much smaller scale-- the life of that ancient system had been made by the
Monarchs of the country afterwards called Peru, and at the time of which we are
speaking this revival was in full working order, and perhaps at the zenith of
its glory, though it maintained its efficiency for many centuries after. It is,
then, with this Peruvian revival that we are now concerned.
189.
It is a little difficult to give an idea of the physical
appearance of the race inhabiting the country, for no race at present existing
on earth sufficiently resembles it to suggest a comparison, without misleading
our readers in one direction or another. Such representatives of the great third
sub-race of the Atlantean Root Race as are still to be seen on earth are
degraded and debased, as compared with the Race in its glory. Our Peruvian had
the high cheek-bones and the general shape of face which we associate with the
highest type of the Red Indian, and yet he had modifications in its contour
which made him almost more Aryan than Atlantean; his expression differed
fundamentally from that of most modern Red Men, for it was usually frank,
joyous, and mild, and in the higher classes keen intellect and great benevolence
frequently showed themselves. In colour he was reddish-bronze, lighter on the
whole among the upper classes, and darker among the lower, though the
intermingling between the classes was such that it is scarcely possible to make
even this distinction.
190.
The disposition of the people was on the whole happy,
contented, and peaceful. The laws were few, suitable, and well administered, and
so the people were naturally law-abiding; the climate was for the most part
delightful, and enabled them to do without undue toil all the work connected
with the tilling of the land, giving them a bountiful harvest in return for
moderate exertion-- a climate calculated to make the people contented and
disposed to make the best of life. Obviously such a state of mind among their
people gave the rulers of the country an enormous advantage to begin with.
191.
As has already been remarked, the Monarchy was absolute,
yet it differed so entirely from anything now existing that the mere statement
conveys no idea of the facts. The key-note of the entire system was
responsibility. The King had absolute power, certainly, but he had also the
absolute responsibility for everything; he had been trained from his earliest
years to understand that if, anywhere in his vast Empire, an avoidable evil of
any kind existed-- if a man willing to work could not get the kind of work that
suited him, if even a child was ill and could not get proper attention-- this
was a slur upon his administration, a blot upon his reign, a stain upon his
personal honour.
192.
He had a large governing class to assist him in his
labours, and he subdivided the whole huge nation in the most elaborate and
systematic manner under its care. First of all the Empire was divided into
provinces, over each of which was a kind of Viceroy; under them again were what
we might call Lord-Lieutenants of counties; and under them again Governors of
cities or of smaller districts. Every one of these was directly responsible to
the man next above him in rank for the well-being of every person in his
division. This subdivision of responsibility went on until we come to a kind of
Centurion-- an official who had a hundred families in his care, for whom he was
absolutely responsible. This was the lowest member of the governing class; but
he, on his part, usually aided himself in his work by appointing some one out of
every tenth household as a kind of voluntary assistant, to bring him the more
instant news of anything that was needed or anything that went wrong.1
193.
¹Readers of ancient Hindu literature will at once
recognise the likeness between this system and that prevailing among the Aryans
in the early days. This is but natural, since the successive Manus are all
members of the same Hierarchy, and are engaged in similar work.
194.
If any one of this elaborate network of officials
neglected any part of his work, a word to his next superior would bring down
instant investigation, for that superior' s own honour was involved in the
perfect contentment and well-being of everyone within his jurisdiction. And this
sleepless vigilance in the performance of public duty was enforced not so much
by law (though law no doubt there was), as by the universal feeling among the
governing class-- a feeling akin to the honour of a gentleman, a force far
stronger than the command of any mere outer law can ever be, because it is in
truth the working of a higher law from within-- the dictation of the awakening
ego to his personality on some subject which he knows.
195.
It will be seen that we are thus introduced to a system
which was in every respect founded on the very antithesis of all ideas which
have arrogated to themselves the name of modern progress. The factor which made
such a Government, so based, a possible and a workable one, was the existence
among all classes of the community of an enlightened public opinion-- an opinion
so strong and definite, so deeply ingrained, as to make it practically
impossible for any man to fail in his duty to the State. Any one who had so
failed would have been regarded as an uncivilised being, unworthy of the high
privilege of citizenship in this great Empire of ` The Children of the Sun,' as
these early Peruvians called themselves; he would have been looked upon with
something of the same horror and pity as was an excommunicated person in
mediaeval Europe.
196.
From this state of affairs-- so remote from anything now
existing as to be barely conceivable to us-- arose another fact almost as
difficult to realise. There were practically no laws in old Peru, and
consequently no prisons; indeed, our system of punishments and penalties would
have appeared absolutely unreasonable to the nation of which we are thinking.
The life of a citizen of the Empire was in their eyes the only life worth
living; but it was thoroughly well understood that every man held his place in
the community only on condition that he fulfilled his duty towards it. If a man
in any way fell short of this (an almost unheard-of occurrence, because of the
force of opinion which is above described), an explanation would be expected by
the officer in charge of his district; and if; on examination, he proved
blameworthy, he would be reprimanded by that officer. Anything like continued
neglect of duty ranked among the heinous offences, such as murder or theft; and
for all these there was only one punishment-- that of exile.
197.
The theory upon which this arrangement was based was an
exceedingly simple one. The Peruvian held that the civilised man differed from
the savage principally in that he understood and intelligently fulfilled his
duties towards the State of which he formed a unit; if a man did not
fulfil those duties he at once became a danger to the State, he showed himself
unworthy to participate in its benefits, and he was consequently expelled from
it, and left to live among the barbarous tribes on the fringes of the Empire.
Indeed, it is perhaps characteristic of the attitude of the Peruvians in this
matter that the very word by which these tribes were designated in their
language means, when literally translated, ` the lawless ones' .
198.
It was, however, only rarely that it became necessary to
resort to this extreme measure of exile; in most cases the officials were
revered and beloved, and a hint from one of them was more than sufficient to
bring back any unruly spirit to the path of order. Nor were even the few who
were exiled irrevocably cast forth from their native country; after a certain
period they were allowed to return upon probation to their place among civilised
men, and once more to enjoy the advantages of citizenship, as soon as they had
shown themselves worthy of them.
199.
Among their manifold functions the officials (or `
fathers,' as they were called) included those of judges, although, as there was
practically no law, in our sense of the word, to administer, they perhaps
corresponded more closely to our idea of arbitrators. All disputes which arose
between man and man were referred to them, and in this case, as in all others,
any one who felt dissatisfied with a decision could always appeal to the
official next above, so that it was within the bounds of possibility that a
knotty point might be carried to the very footstool of the King himself.
200.
Every effort was made by the higher authorities render
themselves readily accessible to all, and part of the plan arranged for this
purpose consisted in an elaborate system of visitations. Once in seven years the
King himself made a tour of his Empire for this purpose; and in the same way the
Governor of a province had to travel over it yearly; and his sub-ordinates in
their turn had constantly to see with their own eyes that all was going well
with those under their charge, and to give every opportunity for any one who
wished to consult them or appeal to them. These various royal and official
progresses were made with considerable state, and were always occasions of the
greatest rejoicing among the people.
201.
The scheme of Government had at least this much in
common with that of our own day, that a complete and careful system of
registration was adopted, births, marriages and deaths being catalogued with
scrupulous accuracy, and statistics compiled from them in quite the modern
style. Each Centurion had a detailed record of the names of all who were under
his charge, and kept for each of them a curious little tablet upon which the
principal events of his life were entered as they occurred. To his
superior in turn he reported not names, but numbers-- so many sick, so many
well, so many births, so many deaths, etc.,-- and these small reports gradually
converged and were added together as they passed higher and higher up the
official hierarchy, until an abstract of them all periodically reached the
monarch himself; who had thus a kind of perpetual census of his Empire always
ready to his hand.
202.
Another point of similarity between this ancient system
and our own is to be found in the exceeding care with which the land was
surveyed, parcelled out, and above all analysed -- the chief object of
all this investigation being to discover the exact constitution of the earth in
every part of the country, in order that the most appropriate crop might be
planted in it, and the most made out of it generally. Indeed, it may be said
that almost more importance was attached to the study of what we should now call
scientific agriculture than to any other line of work.
203.
This brings us directly to the consideration of perhaps
the most remarkable of all the institutions of this ancient race-- its land
system. So excellently suited to the country was this unique arrangement, that
the far inferior race which, thousands of years later, conquered and enslaved
the degenerate descendants of our Peruvians, endeavoured to carry it on as well
as they could, and the admiration of the Spanish invaders was excited by such
relics of it as were still in working order at the time of their arrival.
Whether such a scheme could be as successfully carried out in less fertile and
more thickly-populated countries may be doubtful, but at any rate it was working
capitally at the time and place where we thus find it in action. This system we
must now endeavour to explain, dealing first, for clearness' sake, with the
broad outline of it only, and leaving many points of vital importance to be
treated under other headings.
204.
Every town or village, then, had assigned to it for
cultivation a certain amount of such arable land as lay around it-- an amount
strictly proportioned to the number of its inhabitants. Among those inhabitants
were in every case a large number of workers who were appointed to till that
land-- what we may call a labouring class, in fact; not that all the others did
not labour also, but that these were set apart for this particular kind of work.
How this labouring class was recruited must be explained later; let it be
sufficient for the moment to say that all its members were men in the prime of
life and strength, between twenty and five-and-forty years of age-- that no old
men or children, no sickly or weakly persons, were to be seen among its ranks.
205.
The land assigned for cultivation to any given village
was first of all divided into two halves, which we will call the private land
and the public land. Both these halves had to be cultivated by the labourers,
the private land for their own individual benefit and support, and the public
land for the good of the community. That is to say, the cultivation of the
public land may be regarded as taking the place of the payment of rates and
taxes in our modern State. Naturally the idea will at once occur that a tax
which is equivalent to half a man' s income, or which takes up half the time and
energy that he expends (which in this case is the same thing) is an enormously
heavy and most iniquitous one. Let the reader wait until he learns what was done
with the produce of that tax, and what part it played in the national life,
before he condemns it as an oppressive imposition. Let him realise also that the
practical result of the rule was by no means severe; the cultivation of both
public and private lands meant far less hard work than falls to the lot of the
agriculturalist in England; for while at least twice a year it involved some
weeks of steady work from morning till night, there were long intervals when all
that was required could easily be done in two hours' work each day.
206.
The private land, with which we will deal first, was
divided among the inhabitants with the most scrupulous fairness. Each year,
after the harvest had been gathered in, a certain definite amount of land was
apportioned to every adult, whether man or woman, though all the cultivation was
done by the men. Thus a married man without children would have twice as much as
a single man; a widower with, say, two adult unmarried daughters would have
three times as much as a single man; but when one of those daughters married,
her portion would go with her-- that is, it would be taken from her father and
given to her husband. For every child born to the couple, a small additional
assignment would be made to them, the amount increasing as the children grew
older-- the intention of course being that each family should always have what
was necessary for its support.
207.
A man could do absolutely what he chose with his land,
except leave it uncultivated. Some crop or other he must make it produce, but as
long as he made his living out of it, the rest was his own affair. At the same
time the best advice of the experts was always at his service for the asking, so
that he could not plead ignorance if his selection proved unsuitable. A man not
belonging to our technical ` labouring class' -- that is, a man who was making
his living in some other way-- could either cultivate his plot in his leisure
time, or employ a member of that class to do it for him in addition to his own
work; but in this latter case the produce of the land belonged not to the
original assignee, but to the man who had done the work. The fact that in this
way one labouring man could, and frequently quite voluntarily did, perform two
men' s work, is another proof that the fixed amount of labour was in reality an
extremely light task.
208.
It is pleasant to be able to record that a great deal of
good feeling and helpfulness was always shown with regard to this agricultural
work. The man who had a large family of children, and therefore an unusually
large piece of ground, could always count upon much kindly assistance from his
neighbours as soon as they had completed their own lighter labours; and any one
who had reason for taking a holiday never lacked a friend to supply his place
during his absence. The question of sickness is not touched upon, for reasons
which will presently appear.
209.
As to disposing of the produce, there was never any
difficulty about that. Most men chose to grow grain, vegetables or fruits which
they themselves could use for food; their surplus they readily sold or bartered
for clothes and other goods; and at the worst, the Government was always
prepared to buy any amount of grain that could be offered, at a fixed rate, a
trifle below the market price, in order to store it in the enormous granaries
which were invariably kept full in case of famine or emergency.
210.
But now let us consider what was done with the produce
of that other half of the cultivated ground which we have called the public
land. This public land was itself divided into two equal parts (each of which
therefore represented a quarter of the whole arable land of the country), one of
which was called the land of the King, the other the land of the Sun. And the
law was that the land of the Sun must first be tilled, before any man turned a
sod of his own private land; when that was done, each man was expected to
cultivate his own piece of land, and only after all the rest of the work was
safely over was he required to do his share towards tilling the land of the
King-- so that if unexpected bad weather delayed the harvest the loss would fall
first upon the King, and except in an exceedingly inclement season could
scarcely affect the people' s private share; while that of the Sun would be
safeguarded in almost any possible contingency short of absolute failure of the
crops.
211.
In regard to the question of irrigation (always an
important one in a country, a great part of which is so sterile), the same order
was always observed. Until the lands of the Sun were fully watered, no drop of
the precious fluid was directed elsewhere; until every man' s private field had
all that it needed, there was no water for the lands of the King. The reason of
this arrangement will be obvious later on, when we understand how the produce of
these various sections was employed.
212.
Thus it will be seen that a quarter of the entire wealth
of the country went directly into the hands of the King; for in the case of
money derived from manufactures or mining industries the division was still the
same-- first one-fourth to the Sun, then one-half to the worker, and then the
remaining fourth to the King. What then did the King do with this enormous
revenue?
213.
First, he kept up the entire machinery of Government to
which reference has already been made. The salaries of the whole official
class-- from the stately Viceroys of great provinces down to the comparatively
humble Centurions-- were paid by him, and not only their salaries but all the
expenses of their various progresses and visitations.
214.
Secondly, out of that revenue he executed all the mighty
public works of his Empire, the mere ruins of some of which are still wonders to
us now, fourteen thousand years later. The marvellous roads which joined city to
city and town to town throughout the Empire, hollowed out through mountains of
granite, carried by stupendous bridges over the most impracticable ravines, the
splendid series of aqueducts-- which, by feats of engineering skill in no way
inferior to that of our own day, were enabled to spread the life-giving fluid
over the remotest corners of an often sterile country-- all these were
constructed and maintained out of the income derived from the lands of the King.
215.
Thirdly, he built and kept always filled a series of
huge granaries, established at frequent intervals all over the Empire. For
sometimes it would happen that the rainy season failed altogether, and then
famine would threaten the unfortunate agriculturalist; so the rule was that
there should always be in store two years' provision for the entire nation-- a
store of food such as perhaps no other race in the world has ever attempted to
keep. Yet, colossal as was the undertaking, it was faithfully carried out in
spite of all difficulties; though perhaps even the mighty power of the Peruvian
Monarch could not have achieved it, but for the method of concentrating food
which was one of the discoveries of his chemists-- a method which will be
mentioned later.
216.
Fourthly, out of this share he kept up his army-- for an
army he had, and a highly trained one, though he contrived to utilise it for
many other purposes besides mere fighting, of which indeed there was not often
much to be done, since the less civilised tribes which surrounded his Empire had
learnt to know and respect his power.
217.
It will be better not to pause now to describe the
special work of the army, but rather to fill in the remainder of our rough
outline of the polity of this ancient State by indicating the place held in it
by the great Guild of the Priests of the Sun, so far as the civil side of the
work of that priesthood is concerned. How did this body employ their vast
revenues, equal in amount to those of the King when his were at their highest
point, and far more certain than his not to be diminished in time of distress or
scarcity?
218.
The King indeed performed wonders with his share of the
country' s wealth, but his achievements pale when compared with those of the
priests. First, they kept up the splendid temples of the Sun all over the land--
kept them up on such a scale that many a small village shrine had golden
ornaments and decorations that would now represent many thousands of pounds,
while the great cathedrals of the larger cities blazed with a magnificence which
has never since been approached anywhere upon earth.
219.
Secondly, they gave free education to the entire youth
of the Empire, male and female-- not merely an elementary education, but a
technical training that carried them steadily through years of close application
up to the age of twenty, and sometimes considerably beyond. Of this education
details will be given later.
220.
Thirdly (and this will probably seem to our readers the
most extraordinary of their functions), they took absolute charge of all sick
people. It is not meant that they were merely the physicians of the period
(though that they were also), but that the moment a man, woman or child fell ill
in any way, he at once came under the charge of the priests or, as they more
gracefully put it, became the ` guest of the Sun' . The sick person was
immediately and entirely absolved from all his duties to the State, and, until
his recovery, not only the necessary medicines, but also his food, were supplied
to him free of all charge from the nearest temple of the Sun, while in any
serious case he was usually taken to that temple as to a hospital, in order to
receive more careful nursing. If the sick man were the breadwinner of the
family, his wife and children also became ` guests of the Sun' until he
recovered. In the present day any arrangement even remotely resembling this
would certainly lead to fraud and malingering; but that is because modern
nations lack as yet that enlightened and universally-diffused public opinion
which made these things possible in ancient Peru.
221.
Fourthly-- and perhaps this statement will be considered
even more astonishing than the last-- the entire population over the
age of forty-five (except the official class) were also ` guests of the Sun' .
It was considered that a man who had worked for twenty-five years from the age
of twenty-- when he was first expected to begin to take his share of the burdens
of the State-- had earned rest and comfort for the remainder of his life,
whatever that might be. Consequently every person, when he or she attained the
age of forty-five, might, if he wished, attach himself to one of the temples and
live a kind of monastic life of study, or, if he preferred still to reside with
his relatives as before, he might do so, and might employ his leisure as he
would. But in any case he was absolved from all work for the State, and his
maintenance was provided by the priesthood of the Sun. Of course he was in no
way prohibited from continuing to work in any way that he wished, and as a
matter of fact most men preferred to occupy themselves in some way, even though
it were but with a hobby. Indeed, many most valuable discoveries and inventions
were made by those who, being free from all need for constant labour, were at
liberty to follow out their ideas, and experimentalise at leisure in a way that
no busy man could do.
222.
Members of the official class, however, did not retire
from active work at the age of forty-five, except in case of illness, nor did
the priests themselves. In those two classes it was felt that the added wisdom
and experience of age were too valuable not to be utilised; so in most cases
priests and officials died in harness.
223.
It will now be obvious why the work of the priests was
considered the most important, and why, whatever else failed, the contributions
to the treasury of the Sun must not fall short, for on them depended not only
the religion of the people, but the education of the young and the care of the
sick and the aged.
224.
What was achieved by this strange system of long ago,
then, was this: for every man and woman a thorough education was assured, with
every opportunity for the development of any special talent he or she might
possess; then followed twenty-five years of work-- steady indeed, but never
either unsuitable in character or overwhelming in amount-- and after that, a
life of assured comfort and leisure, in which the man was absolutely free from
any sort of care or anxiety. Some, of course, were poorer than others, but what
we now call poverty was unknown, and destitution was impossible, while, in
addition to this, crime was practically non-existent. Small wonder that exile
from that State was considered the direst earthly punishment, and that the
barbaric tribes on its borders became absorbed into it as soon as they could be
brought to understand its system!
225.
It will be of interest to us to examine the religious
ideas of these men of the olden time. If we had to classify their faith among
those with which we are now acquainted, we should be obliged to call it a kind
of Sun-worship, though of course they never thought for a moment of worshipping
the physical sun. They regarded it, however, as something much more than a mere
symbol; if we endeavour to express their feeling in Theosophical terminology, we
shall perhaps come nearest to it by saying that they looked upon the sun as the
physical body of the LOGOS, though that attributes to them a precision of idea
which they would probably have considered irreverent. They would have told an
enquirer that they worshipped the Spirit of the Sun, from whom everything came,
and to whom everything must return-- by no means an unsatisfactory presentment
of a mighty truth.
226.
It does not seem that they had any clear conception of
the doctrine of reincarnation. They were quite certain that man was immortal,
and they held that his eventual destiny was to go to the Spirit of the Sun--
perhaps to become one with Him, though this was not clearly defined in their
teachings. They knew that before this final consummation many other long periods
of existence must intervene, but we cannot find that they realised with
certainty that any part of that future life would be spent upon this earth
again.
227.
The most prominent characteristic of the religion was
its joyousness. Grief or sorrow of any kind was held to be absolutely wicked and
ungrateful, since it was taught that the Deity wished to see His children happy,
and would Himself be grieved if He saw them grieving. Death was regarded not as
an occasion for mourning, but rather for a kind of solemn and reverent joy,
because the Great Spirit had accounted another of His children worthy to
approach nearer to Himself. Suicide, on the other hand, was, in pursuance of the
same idea, regarded with the utmost horror, as an act of the grossest
presumption; the man who committed suicide thrust himself uninvited into higher
realms, for which he was not yet judged fit by the only authority who possessed
the requisite knowledge to decide the question. But indeed at the time of which
we are writing suicide was practically unknown, for the people as a whole were a
most contented race.
228.
Their public services were of the simplest character.
Praise was offered daily to the Spirit of the Sun, but never prayer; because
they were taught that the Deity knew better than they what was required for
their welfare-- a doctrine which one would like to see more fully comprehended
at the present day. Fruit and flowers were offered in their temples, not from
any idea that the Sun-God desired such service, but simply as a token that they
owed all to Him; for one of the most prominent theories of their faith was that
all light and life and power came from the Sun-- a theory which is fully borne
out by the discoveries of modern science. On their great festivals splendid
processions were organised, and special exhortations and instructions were
delivered to the people by the priests; but even in these sermons simplicity was
a chief characteristic, the teachings being given largely by means of picture
and parable.
229.
It happened once that, in the course of our researches
into the life of a particular person, we followed him to one of these
assemblies, and heard with him the sermon delivered on that occasion by an old
white-haired priest. The few simple words which were then uttered will perhaps
give a better idea of the inner spirit of this old-world religion than any
description that we can offer. The preacher, robed in a sort of golden cope,
which was the symbol of his office, stood at the top of the temple steps and
looked round upon his audience. Then he began to talk to them in a gentle yet
resonant voice, speaking quite familiarly, more like a father telling a story to
his children than like one delivering a set oration.
230.
He spoke to them of their Lord the Sun, calling upon
them to remember how everything that they needed for their physical well-being
was brought into existence by Him; how without His glorious light and heat the
world would be cold and dead, and all life would be impossible; how to His
action was due the growth of the fruits and grains which formed the staple of
their food, and even the fresh water, which was the most precious and necessary
of all. Then he explained to them how the wise men of old had taught that behind
this action which all could see, there was always another and still grander
action which was invisible, but could yet be felt by those whose lives were in
harmony with their Lord' s; how what the Sun in one aspect did for the life of
their bodies, that same office He also performed, in another and even more
wonderful aspect, for the life of their souls. He pointed out that both these
actions were absolutely continuous-- that though sometimes the Sun was hidden
from the sight of His child the earth, yet the cause of such temporary
obscuration was to be found in the earth and not in the Sun, for one had only to
climb far enough up the mountains in order to rise above the overshadowing
clouds, and discover that their Lord was shining on in glory all the time,
entirely unaffected by the veil which seemed so dense when seen from below.
231.
From this the transition was easy to the spiritual
depression or doubt which might sometimes seem to shut out the higher influences
from the soul; and the preacher was most emphatic in his fervent assurance that,
despite all appearances to the contrary, the analogy held good here also; that
the clouds were always of men' s own making, and that they had only to raise
themselves high enough in order to realise that He was unchanged, and that
spiritual strength and holiness were pouring down all the while, as steadily as
ever. Depression and doubt, consequently, were to be cast aside as the offspring
of ignorance and unreason, and to be reprobated as showing ingratitude to the
Giver of all good.
232.
The second part of the homily was equally practical. The
full benefit of the Sun' s action, continued the priest, could be experienced
only by those who were themselves in perfect health. Now the sign of perfect
health on all levels was that men should resemble their Lord the Sun. The man
who was in the enjoyment of full physical health was himself a kind of minor
sun, pouring out strength and life upon all around, so that by his very presence
the weak became stronger, the sick and the suffering were helped. In exactly the
same way, he insisted, the man who was in perfect moral health was also a
spiritual sun, radiating love and purity and holiness on all who were happy
enough to come into contact with him. This, he said, was the duty of man-- to
show his gratitude for the good gifts of his Lord, first by preparing himself to
receive them in all their fullness, and secondly by passing them undiminished to
his fellow-men. And both these objects together could be attained in one way,
and in one way only-- by that constant imitation of the benevolence of the
Spirit of the Sun, which alone drew His children ever nearer and nearer to Him.
233.
Such was this sermon of fourteen thousand years ago,
and, simple though it be, we cannot but admit that its teaching is eminently
Theosophical, and that it shows a much greater knowledge of the facts of life
than many more eloquent addresses which are delivered at the present day. Here
and there we notice minor points of especial significance; the accurate
knowledge, for example, of the radiation of superfluous vitality from a healthy
man seems to point to the possession of clairvoyant faculty among the ancestors
from whom the tradition was derived.
234.
It will be remembered that, besides what we may call
their purely religious work, the priests of the Sun had entire charge of the
education of the country. All education was absolutely free, and its preliminary
stages were exactly the same for all classes and for both sexes. The children
attended preparatory classes from an early age, and in all these the boys and
girls were taught together. Something corresponding to what we now think of as
elementary education was given in these, though the subjects embraced differed
considerably. Reading, writing, and a certain kind of arithmetic, indeed, were
taught, and every child had to attain facility in these subjects, but the system
included a great deal more that is somewhat difficult to classify-- a sort of
rough and ready knowledge of all the general rules and common interests of life,
so that no child of either sex arriving at the age of ten or eleven could be
ignorant of the way in which the ordinary necessaries of life were obtained, or
of how any common work was done. The utmost kindness and affection prevailed in
the relations between teachers and children, and there was nothing in the least
corresponding to the insane system of imposition and punishments which occupies
so prominent and so baneful a position in modern school life.
235.
School hours were long, but the occupations were so
varied, and included so much that we should not think of as school work, that
the children were never unduly fatigued Every child, for example, was taught how
to prepare and cook certain simple kinds of food, how to distinguish poisonous
fruits from wholesome ones, how to find food and shelter if lost in the forest,
how to use the simpler tools required in carpentering, in building, or in
agriculture, how to make his way from place to place by the positions of the sun
and stars, how to manage a canoe, as well as to swim, to climb, and to leap with
amazing dexterity. They were also instructed in the method of dealing with
wounds and accidents, and the use of certain herbal remedies was explained to
them. All this varied and remarkable curriculum was no mere matter of theory for
them; they were constantly required to put the whole of it into practice, so
that before they were allowed to pass out of this preparatory school they had
become exceedingly handy little people; capable of acting for themselves to some
extent in almost any emergency that might arise.
236.
They were also carefully instructed in the constitution
of their country, and the reasons for its various customs and regulations were
explained to them. On the other hand, they were entirely ignorant of many things
which European children learn; they were unacquainted with any language except
their own, and though great stress was laid upon speaking that with purity and
accuracy, facility in this was attained by constant practice rather than by the
observance of grammatical rules. They knew nothing of algebra, geometry or
history, and nothing of geography beyond that of their own country. On leaving
this first school they could have built you a comfortable house, but could not
have made a sketch of it for you; they knew nothing whatever of chemistry, but
were thoroughly well instructed in the general principles of practical hygiene.
237.
A certain definite standard in all these varied
qualifications for good citizenship had to be attained before the children could
pass out of this preliminary school. Most of them easily gained this level by
the time they were twelve years old; a few of the less intelligent needed
several years longer. On the chief teachers of these preparatory schools rested
the serious responsibility of determining the pupil' s future career; or, rather
perhaps, of advising him as to it, for no child was ever forced to devote
himself to work which he disliked. Some definite career, however, he had to
select, and when this was decided, he was drafted into a kind of technical
school, which was specially intended to prepare him for the line of life that he
had chosen. Here he spent the remaining nine or ten years of his pupilage,
chiefly in practical work of the kind to which he was to devote his energies.
This characteristic was prominent all through the scheme of instruction; there
was comparatively little theoretical teaching; but, after being shown a thing a
few times, the boys or girls were always set to do the thing themselves, and to
do it over and over again until facility was acquired.
238.
There was a great deal of elasticity about all these
arrangements; a child, for example, who after due trial found himself unsuited
for the special work he had undertaken, was allowed, in consultation with his
teachers, to choose another vocation and transfer himself to the school
appropriate to it. Such transfers, however, seem to have been rare; for in most
cases before the child left his first school he had shown a decided aptitude for
one or another of the lines of life which lay open before him.
239.
Every child, whatever might be his birth, had the
opportunity of being trained to join the governing class of the country if he
wished it, and if his teachers approved. The training for this honour was,
however, so exceedingly severe, and the qualifications required so high, that
the number of applicants was never unduly large. The instructors, indeed, were
always watching for children of unusual ability, in order that they might
endeavour to fit them for this honourable but arduous position, if they were
willing to undertake it.
240.
There were various vocations among which a boy could
make his choice, besides the governing class and the priesthood. There were many
kinds of manufactures-- some with large openings for the development of artistic
faculty in various ways; there were the different lines of working in metals, of
making and improving machinery, of architecture of all sorts. But perhaps the
principal pursuit of the country was that of scientific agriculture.
241.
Upon this the welfare of the nation largely depended,
and to this therefore a great deal of attention had always been given. By a long
series of patiently conducted experiments, extending over many generations, the
capabilities of the various kinds of soil which were to be found in the country
had been thoroughly ascertained, so that at the time with which we are dealing
there already existed a large body of tradition on this subject. Detailed
accounts of all the experiments were kept in what we should now call the
archives of the Agricultural Department, but the general results were epitomised
for popular use in a series of short maxims, so arranged as to be readily
memorised by the students.
242.
Those who adopted farming as a profession were not,
however, by any means expected to depend exclusively upon the opinions of their
forefathers. On the contrary every encouragement was given to new experiment,
and anyone who succeeded in inventing a new and useful manure, or a
labour-saving machine, was highly honoured and rewarded by the Government. All
over the country were scattered a large number of Government Farms, where young
men were carefully trained; and here again, as in the earlier schools, the
training was less theoretical than practical, each student learning thoroughly
how to do for himself every detail of the work which he would afterwards have to
superintend.
243.
It was at these training-farms that all new experiments
were tried, at the cost of the Government. The inventor had none of the trouble
in securing a patron with capital to test his discovery, which is so often a
fatal bar to his success in the present day; he simply submitted his idea to the
Chief of his district, who was assisted when necessary by a council of experts,
and unless these were able to point out some obvious flaw in his reasoning, his
scheme was tried, or his machine constructed, under his own supervision, without
any outlay or trouble at all on his part. If experience showed that there was
anything in his invention, it was at once adopted by the Government and employed
wherever it was likely to be of use.
244.
The farmers had elaborate theories as to the adaptation
of various kinds of manure to the different soils They not only used the
material which we now import for that purpose from that very country, but also
tried all sorts of chemical combinations, some of which were remarkably
successful. They had an ingenious though cumbersome system of the utilisation of
sewage, which was, however, quite as effective as anything of that kind which we
have at the present day.
245.
They had achieved considerable advances also in the
construction and use of machinery, though most of it was simpler and rougher
than ours, and they had nothing like the extreme accuracy in the fitting
together of minute parts, which is so prominent a characteristic of modern work.
On the other hand, though their machinery was often large and cumbrous, it was
effective, and apparently not at all liable to get out of order. One example
that we noted was a curious machine for sowing seed, the principal part of which
looked as though it had been modelled from the ovipositor of some insect. It was
something of the shape of a very wide low cart, and as it was dragged across a
field it automatically drilled ten lines of holes at a regular distance apart,
dropped a seed into each, watered it, and raked the ground even again.
246.
They had evidently some knowledge of hydraulics also,
for many of their machines were worked by hydraulic pressure-- especially those
employed in their elaborate system of irrigation, which was unusually perfect
and effective. A great deal of the land was hilly and could not be cultivated to
any advantage in its natural state; but these ancient inhabitants carefully laid
it out in terraces, much as is done now in the hill country of Ceylon. Anyone
who has travelled by rail from Rambukkana to Peradeniya can scarcely have failed
to notice many examples of this sort of work. In old Peru every corner of ground
near the great centres of population was utilised with the most scrupulous care.
247.
There was a good deal of scientific knowledge among them
but all their science was of a severely practical kind. They had no sort of idea
of such an abstract study of science as exists among ourselves. They made a
careful study of botany, for example, but not in the least from our point of
view. They knew and cared nothing about the classification of plants as
endogenous and exogenous, nothing about the number of stamens in a flower, or
the arrangement of leaves on a stem; what they wanted to know about a plant was
what properties it possessed, what use could be made of it in medicine, as a
food-stuff, or to furnish a dye. This they did know, and thoroughly.
248.
In the same way in their chemistry: they had no
knowledge as to the number and arrangement of atoms in a carbon compound;
indeed, they had no thought of atoms and molecules at all, so far as we could
see. What interested them were such chemicals as could be utilised: those which
could be combined into valuable manures or plant-foods, those which could be
employed in their various manufactures, which would yield them a beautiful dye
or a useful acid. All scientific studies were made with some special practical
point in view; they were always trying to find out something, but always with a
definite object connected with human life, never for the sake of knowledge in
the abstract.
249.
Perhaps their nearest approach to abstract science was
their study of astronomy; but this was regarded rather as religious than as
merely secular knowledge. It differed from the rest in that it was purely
traditional, and that no efforts were made to add to their stock of information
in this direction. The stock was not a great one, though accurate enough as far
as it went. They understood that the planets differed from the rest of the
stars, and spoke of them as the sisters of the earth-- for they recognised that
the earth was one of them-- or sometimes ` the elder children of the Sun' . They
knew that the earth was globular in shape, that day and night were due to its
rotation on its axis, and the seasons to its annual revolution round the sun.
They were aware also that the fixed stars were outside the solar system, and
they regarded comets as messengers from these other great Beings to their Lord
the Sun; but it is doubtful whether they had anything like an adequate
conception of the real size of any of the bodies involved.
250.
They were able to predict eclipses both of the sun and
moon with perfect accuracy, but this was not done by observation, but by use of
a traditional formula; they understood their nature, and do not seem to have
attached much importance to them. There is abundant evidence to show that those
from whom they inherited their traditions must have been either capable of
direct scientific observation, or else in possession of clairvoyant powers which
rendered such observation needless; but neither of these advantages appertained
to the Peruvians at the date of our examination of them. The only attempt that
they were seen to make at anything like personal observation was that the exact
moment of noon was found by carefully measuring the shadow of a lofty column in
the grounds of the temple, a set of little pegs being moved along stone grooves
to mark it accurately. The same primitive apparatus was employed to find the
date of the summer and winter solstices, since in connection with these periods
there were special religious services.
251.
CHAPTER XII
252.
TWO ATLANTEAN CIVILISATIONS
253.
Toltec, in Ancient Peru, 12,000 B.C. (Continued)
254.
THE architecture of this ancient race differed in many
ways from any other with which we are acquainted, and its study would be of
extreme interest to any clairvoyant who was possessed of technical knowledge of
the subject. Our own lack of such knowledge makes it difficult for us to
describe its details accurately, though we may, perhaps, hope to convey
something of the general impression which it gives at the first glance to
observers of the present century.
255.
It was colossal, yet unpretentious; bearing evidence in
many cases of years of patient labour, but distinctly designed for use rather
than for show. Many of the buildings were of vast extent, but most of them would
seem to a modern eye somewhat out of proportion, the ceilings being nearly
always much too low for the size of the rooms. For example, it was no unusual
thing to find in the house of a Governor several apartments about the size of
Westminster Hall, and yet none of them would measure more than twelve feet or so
from floor to ceiling. Pillars were not unknown, but were sparingly used, and
what with us would be a graceful colonnade was in old Peru more usually a wall
with frequent apertures in it. Such pillars as there were were massive and often
monolithic.
256.
The true arch with the keystone was apparently unknown
to them, though windows or doors with a semi-circular top were by no means
uncommon. In the larger examples of these a heavy metal semi-circle was
sometimes made and fixed upon the side-posts of the aperture; but they generally
trusted entirely to the powerful adhesive which they used in the place of
mortar. The exact nature of this material we do not know, but it was certainly
effective. They cut and fitted their enormous blocks of stone with the greatest
accuracy, so that the joint was barely perceptible; then they plastered the
outside of each junction with clay, and poured in their ` mortar' in a hot and
fluid condition. Minute as were the crevices between the stones, this fluid
found and filled them, and when it cooled it set like flint, which, indeed, it
closely resembled in appearance. The clay was then scraped off the outside, and
the wall was complete; and if after the lapse of centuries a crack in the
masonry ever made its appearance it was certainly not at any of the joints, for
they were stronger than even the stone itself.
257.
The majority of the houses of the peasantry were built
of what we must call brick, since it was manufactured from clay; but the `
bricks' were large cubes, measuring perhaps a yard each way; and the clay was
not baked, but mixed with some chemical preparation and left in the open air for
some months to harden; so that in consistency and appearance they resembled
blocks of cement rather than bricks, and a house built of them was scarcely
inferior in any way to one of stone.
258.
All houses, even the smallest, were built on the
classical and oriental plan of the central courtyard, and all alike had walls of
what would now be considered enormous thickness. The simplest and poorest
cottage had only four rooms, one on each of the sides of the tiny courtyard into
which they all faced, and as these rooms had usually no external windows the
appearance of such houses from outside was dull and bare. Very little attempt at
exterior ornament was made in the poorer parts of the city or village; a kind of
frieze of a very simple pattern was usually all that broke the monotony of the
dead walls of the cottages.
259.
The entrance was always at one corner of the square, and
in earlier days the door was simply a huge slab of stone, which ran up, like a
portcullis or a modern sash-window, in grooves and by means of counterweights.
When the door was shut the counter-weights could be rested on shelves and
detached, so that the door remained a practically immovable mass, which would
have been distinctly discouraging to a burglar, had any such person existed in
so well-ordered a State. In better-class houses this door-slab was elaborately
carved, and at a later period it was often replaced by a thick plate of metal.
The method of working it, however, was but little varied, though a few instances
were observed of heavy metal doors which turned on pivots.
260.
The larger houses were originally built on exactly the
same plan, though with a good deal more ornamentation, not only in the way of
carving the stone into patterns, but also in diversifying its surface with broad
bands of metal. In such a climate, dwellings so massively built were almost
everlasting, and the majority of the houses in existence and occupation at the
time of which we write were of this type. Some later ones, however-- evidently
built in the centuries when the population had become convinced of the stability
of the Government system, and of its power to make the laws respected-- had a
double set of rooms round their courtyards, as any modern house might have, one
set facing into the yard (which in their case was a beautifully-laid-out garden)
and the other facing outwards towards the surrounding scenery. This latter set
had large windows-- or rather openings, for, though several kinds of glass were
made, it was not used in windows-- which could be closed on the same principle
as that of the doors.
261.
Still it will be seen that the general style of the
domestic architecture, in large and small houses alike, was somewhat severe and
monotonous, though admirably adapted to the climate. The roofs were mostly heavy
and nearly flat, and were almost invariably made either of stone, or of sheets
of metal. One of the most remarkable features of their house-building was the
almost entire absence of wood, which they avoided because of its combustibility;
and in consequence of this precaution conflagrations were unknown in ancient
Peru.
262.
The way in which houses were built was peculiar. No
scaffolding was employed, but as the house was erected it was filled with earth,
so that when the walls had risen to their full height there was a level surface
of earth within them. Upon this the stones of the roof were laid, and then the
hot cement was poured between them as usual. As soon as that had set, the earth
was dug out and the roof left to support its own prodigious weight, which,
thanks to the power of that wonderful cement, it seems always to have done with
perfect safety. Indeed, the whole structure, roof and walls alike, became, when
finished, to all intents and purposes one solid block, as though it had been
hollowed out of the living rock-- a method, by the way, which was actually
adopted in some places upon the mountain-side.
263.
A first floor had been added to a few of the houses in
the capital city, but the idea had not achieved popular favour, and such daring
innovations were extremely rare. Something resembling the effect of a series of
stories one above the other was indeed obtained in a curious way in some of the
erections in which the priests or monks of the Sun were housed, but the
arrangement was not one which could ever have been extensively adopted in a
crowded city. An immense platform of earth, say a thousand feet square and about
fifteen or eighteen feet in height, was first made, and then upon that, but
fifty feet in from the edge on each side, another huge platform nine hundred
feet square was constructed; upon that there was another having sides measuring
eight hundred feet, and above that a fourth measuring seven hundred feet, and so
they rose, steadily decreasing in size, until they reached a tenth stage only a
hundred feet square, and then in the centre of that final platform they built a
small shrine to the Sun.
264.
The effect of the whole was something like a great, flat
pyramid rising by broad shallow steps-- a sort of Primrose Hill cut into
terraces. And out of the upright front of each of these great platforms they
hollowed out rooms-- cells, as it were, in which the monks and their guests
lived. Each cell had an outer and an inner room, the latter being lighted only
from the former, which was quite open to the air on the side which faced
outwards; indeed it consisted only of three sides and a roof. Both rooms were
lined and floored with slabs of stone, cemented into solidity in the usual
manner. The terraces in front were laid out in gardens and walks, and altogether
the cells were pleasant residences. In several cases a natural elevation was cut
into terraces in this manner, but most of these pyramids were artificially
erected. Frequently they ran tunnels into the heart of the lowest tier of such a
pyramid, and constructed subterranean chambers there, which were used as
storehouses for grain and other necessaries.
265.
In addition to these remarkable flattened pyramids there
were the ordinary temples of the Sun, some of them of great size and covering a
large amount of ground, though all of them had, to European eyes, the universal
defect of being too low for their length. They were always surrounded by
pleasant gardens, under the trees of which was done most of the teaching for
which these temples were so justly famed.
266.
If the exterior of these temples was sometimes less
imposing than might have been desired, at any rate the interior more than atoned
for any possible defects. The large extent to which the precious metals were
used in decoration was a feature of Peruvian life even thousands of years later,
when a handful of Spaniards succeeded in dominating the comparatively degenerate
race which had taken the place of that whose customs we are trying to describe.
At the time of which we write the inhabitants were not acquainted with our art
of gilding, but they were exceedingly clever in hammering out metal into large
thin plates, and it was no uncommon thing for the greater temples to be
literally lined with gold and silver. The plates covering the walls were often
as much as a quarter of an inch in thickness, and yet were moulded over delicate
relief in the stone as though they had been so much paper, so that from our
modern point of view a temple was frequently the depository of untold wealth.
267.
The race which built the temples regarded all this not
as wealth in our sense at all, but merely as fit and proper decoration. It must
be remembered that ornament of this nature was by no means confined to the
temples; all houses of any consideration had their walls lined with some kind of
metal, just as ours now are papered, and to have the bare stone showing in the
interior was with them equivalent to a white-washed wall with us-- practically
confined to outhouses or the dwellings of the peasantry. But only the palaces of
the King and the chief Governors were lined with pure gold like the temples; for
ordinary folk, all kinds of beautiful and serviceable alloys were made, and rich
effects were produced at comparatively little cost.
268.
In thinking of their architecture we must not forget the
chain of fortresses which the King erected round the boundaries of his Empire,
in order that the barbarous tribes beyond the frontier might be kept in check.
Here again for accurate description and for criticism that shall be worth
anything we need the services of an expert; but even the veriest civilian can
see that in many cases the situation of these forts was admirably chosen, and
that, short of artillery, they must have been practically impregnable. The
height and thickness of their walls was in some cases enormous, and they had the
peculiarity (as indeed had all high walls in the country) that they gradually
tapered from a thickness of many feet at the base to a much more ordinary size
at a height of twenty or thirty yards. Look-out chambers and secret passages
were hollowed out in the heart of these wonderful walls, and the interior of the
fort was so arranged and so fully provisioned that the garrison must have been
able to stand a prolonged siege without discomfort. The observers were
particularly struck by the ingenious arrangement of a series of gates one within
the other, connected by narrow and tortuous passages, which would have placed
any force attempting to storm the fortress completely at the mercy of the
defenders.
269.
But the most wonderful works of this strange people were
without doubt their roads, bridges and aqueducts. The roads were carried for
hundreds of miles across the country (some of them for more than a thousand
miles), with a splendid disregard of natural difficulties that would extort
admiration from the boldest modern engineers. Everything was done on a colossal
scale, and though the amount of labour involved must in some cases have been
almost incalculable, the results achieved were magnificent and permanent. The
whole road was paved with flat slabs, much as are the side-walks of our London
streets; but at each side of it all the way along were planted trees for shade,
and odoriferous shrubs which filled the air with their fragrance; so that the
country was intersected with a network of splendid paved avenues, up and down
which were daily passing the messengers of the King. These men were in effect
postmen also, since it was part of their duty to carry letters free of charge
for any who wished to send them.
270.
It was when the road-constructors came to a ravine or a
river that the patient genius and indomitable perseverance of the race were seen
at their highest level. As we have said, they were ignorant of the principle of
the true arch, and the nearest that they could approach to it in bridge-building
was to cause each layer of stones to project slightly beyond that below it,
until in this way two piers eventually met, and their wonderful cement hardened
the whole fabric into the likeness of solid rock. They knew nothing of
coffer-dams and caissons, so they often spent incredible labour in temporarily
diverting the course of a river in order that they might bridge it; or, in other
cases, they built out a breakwater into the stream until they reached the spot
where the pier was to stand, and then, when it was thus completed, knocked away
their breakwater. Because of these difficulties they preferred embankment work
to bridging, wherever it was possible; and they would often carry a road or an
aqueduct across even a deep ravine with a considerable river in it, by means of
a huge embankment with many culverts in it, rather than by an ordinary bridge.
271.
Their system of irrigation was wonderfully perfect, and
it was to a great extent carried on even by the later race, so that much of the
country which has now relapsed into desert was green and fertile, until the
water-supply fell into the still more incompetent hands of the Spanish
conquerors. It is probable that no engineering feats in the world have been
greater than the making of the roads and aqueducts of ancient Peru. And all this
was done not by the forced labour of slaves or captives, but as regularly paid
work by the peasantry of the country, assisted to a large extent by the army.
272.
The King maintained a large number of soldiers, in order
that he might always be ready to cope with the border tribes; but since their
weapons were simple, and they needed comparatively little drill of any sort,
they were available by far the greater part of the time for public service of
other kinds. The entire charge of the repair of public works of all sorts was
confided to their hands, and they also had to supply the constant stream of
post-runners who were carrying reports and despatches, as well as private
correspondence, all over the Empire. The maintenance of everything was supposed
to be well within the power of the army; but when a new road had to be made or a
new fort built additional help was generally hired.
273.
Of course it happened sometimes that war broke out with
the less civilised tribes on the borders, but in the time of which we are
writing these rarely gave any serious trouble. They were readily driven back,
and penalties exacted from them; or sometimes, if they seemed amenable to a
higher civilisation, their land was annexed to the Empire and they were brought
under its regulations. Naturally there was some difficulty with such new
citizens at first; they did not understand the customs and often did not see why
they should comply with them; but after a short time most of them fell into the
routine readily enough, and the incorrigible ones, who would not, were exiled
into other countries not yet absorbed into the Empire.
274.
These Peruvians were fairly humane in their wars; as
they were almost always victorious over the savage tribes this was comparatively
easy for them. They had a saying: “You should never be cruel to your enemy,
because to-morrow he will be your friend.” In conquering the surrounding tribes
they always endeavoured to do so with as little slaughter as possible, in order
that the people might willingly come into the Empire, and make good citizens
with a fraternal feeling towards their conquerors.
275.
Their principal weapons were the spear, the sword and
the bow, and they also made a considerable use of the bolas, an implement which
is still employed by the South American Indians of the present day. It consists
of two stone or metal balls joined by a rope, and is so thrown as to entangle
the legs of a man or a horse, and bring him to the ground. When defending a fort
they always rolled down great rocks on the assailants, and the building was
specially arranged with a view to permitting this. The sword employed was a
short one, more like a large knife, and it was used only when a man' s lance was
broken, or when he was disarmed. They usually trusted to demoralising their foes
by well-sustained flights of arrows, and then charged them with spears before
they could recover.
276.
The weapons were well made, for the people excelled in
metal-work. They used iron, but did not know how to make it into steel, and it
was less valuable to them than copper and various brasses and bronzes, because
all these could be made exceedingly hard by alloying them with a form of their
remarkable cement, whereas iron would not blend with it so perfectly. The result
of this hardening process was remarkable, as even pure copper when subjected to
it was capable of taking at least as fine an edge as our best steel, and there
is little doubt that some of their alloys were harder than any metal that we can
produce at the present day.
277.
Perhaps the most beautiful feature of their metal work
was its exceeding fineness and delicacy. Some of their engraving was truly
wonderful-- almost too fine to be seen by the naked eye at all, at any rate by
our modern eyes. Best of all, perhaps, was the marvellous gossamer-like
filigree-work in which they so excelled; it is impossible to understand how it
could have been done without a magnifying glass. Much of it was so indescribably
delicate that it could not be cleaned at all in the ordinary way. It would have
at once destroyed it to rub or dust it, no matter how carefully; so it had to be
cleaned when necessary by means of a sort of blow-pipe.
278.
Another manufacture which was rather a specialty was
pottery. They contrived, by mixing some chemical with their clay, to turn it out
a lovely rich crimson colour, and then they inlaid it with gold and silver in a
way which produced effects that we have never seen elsewhere. Here again the
exceeding delicacy of the lines was a matter of great wonder to us. Other fine
colours were also obtained, and a further modification of that ever-useful
flinty cement, when mixed with the prepared clay, gave it a transparency almost
equal to that of our clearest glass. It had also the great advantage of being
far less brittle than the glass of the present day; indeed, there was much about
it which suggested an approach to the ` malleable glass' of which we sometimes
read as a mediaeval fable. They undoubtedly possessed the art of making a
certain kind of thin porcelain which would bend without breaking, as will be
seen when we come to deal with their literary achievements.
279.
Since it was the custom of the nation to make so little
use of wood, metal-work and pottery had to a great extent to take its place, and
they did so with far greater success than we in these days should think
possible. There is no doubt that the ancient Peruvians, in their constant
researches into chemistry, had discovered some processes which are still a
secret to our manufacturers; but as time goes on they will be rediscovered by
this fifth Race also, and when once that happens, the pressing need and
competition of the present day will force their adaptation to all kinds of
objects never dreamt of in old Peru.
280.
The art of painting was practised to a considerable
extent, and any child who showed special aptitude for it was encouraged to
cultivate his talent to the utmost. The methods adopted were, however, quite
different from our own, and their peculiar nature enormously increased the
difficulty of the work. Neither canvas, paper nor panel was used as a surface,
but thin sheets of a sort of silicious material were employed instead. The exact
composition of this was difficult to trace, but it had a delicate, creamy
surface, closely resembling in appearance that of fine unglazed porcelain. It
was not brittle, but could be bent much as a sheet of tin might be, and its
thickness varied according to its size, from that of stout note paper to that of
heavy millboard.
281.
Upon this surface colours of great brilliancy and purity
were laid with a brush supplied by Nature herself. It was simply a length cut
from the triangular stem of a common fibrous plant. An inch or so at the end of
this was beaten out until nothing was left but the fibre, fine as hair but
almost as tough as wire; and so the brush was used, the unbeaten portion serving
as a handle. Such a brush could, of course, be renewed again and again when worn
out, by a process analogous to cutting a lead-pencil; the artist simply cut off
the exposed fibre and beat out another inch of the handle. The sharply-defined
triangular shape of this instrument enabled the skilful painter to use it either
to draw a fine line or to put on a broad dash of colour, employing in the first
case the corner, and in the second the side, of his triangle.
282.
The colours were usually in powder, and were mixed as
required, neither with water nor oil, but with some vehicle which dried
instantaneously, so that a touch once laid on could not be altered. No outline
of any sort was drawn, but the artist has to train himself to dash in his
effects with sure but rapid strokes, getting the exact tone of colour as well as
the form in the one comprehensive effort, much as is done in fresco painting, or
in some of the Japanese work. The colours were exceedingly effective and
luminous, and some of them surpassed in purity and delicacy any that are now
employed. There was a wonderful blue, clearer than the finest ultramarine, and
also a violet and a rose colour unlike any modern pigment, by means of which the
indescribable glories of a sunset sky could be reproduced far more closely than
seems to be possible at the present day. Ornaments of gold, silver and bronze,
and of a metal of deep crimson colour which is not now known to science, were
represented in a picture by the use of the dust of the metals themselves, much
as in mediaeval illuminations; and, bizarre as such a method seems to our modern
eyes, it cannot be denied that it produced an effect of barbaric richness which
was exceedingly striking in its own way.
283.
The perspective was good, and the drawing accurate, and
quite free from the clumsy crudity which characterised a later period of Central
and South American art. Though their landscape art was distinctly good of its
kind, at the time when we were studying them, they did not make it an end in
itself, but employed it only as a background for figures. Religious processions
were frequently chosen as subjects, or sometimes scenes in which the King or
some local Governor took a prominent part.
284.
When the picture was completed (and they were finished
with remarkable rapidity by practised artists), it was brushed over with some
varnish, which also possessed the property of drying almost instantaneously. The
picture so treated was practically indelible, and could be exposed to rain or
sun for a long time without any appreciable effect being produced upon it.
285.
Closely associated with the art of the country was its
literature, for the books were written, or rather illuminated, on the same
material and with the same kind of colours as the pictures. A book consisted of
a number of thin sheets, usually measuring about eighteen inches by six, which
were occasionally strung together by wire, but far more frequently simply kept
in a box from three to five inches in depth. These boxes were of various
materials and more or less richly ornamented, but the commonest were made of a
metal resembling platinum, and adorned with carved horn, which was somehow
fastened to the metal surface by some process of softening, which made it adhere
firmly without the use of either rivets or cement.
286.
So far as we could see, nothing of the nature of
printing was known; the nearest approach to it was the use of a kind of
stencil-plate to produce numerous copies of some sort of official notice for
rapid distribution to the Governors all over the Empire. No instance has been
observed, however, of any attempt to reproduce a book in this way; and indeed it
is evident that such an experiment would have been considered a desecration, for
the nation as a whole had a deep respect for its books, and handled them as
lovingly as any mediaeval monk. To make a copy of a book was regarded as
decidedly a work of merit, and many of them were most beautifully and
artistically written.
287.
The range of their literature was somewhat limited.
There were a few treatises which might have been classed as definitely
religious, or at any rate ethical, and they ran mostly on lines not dissimilar
from that of the old priest' s sermon, a summary of which was given in the
preceding chapter. Two or three were even of distinctly mystical tendency, but
these were less read and circulated than those which were considered more
directly practical. The most interesting of these mystical books was one which
so closely resembled the Chinese Classic of Purity that there can be
little doubt that it was a version of it with slight variations.
288.
The bulk of the literature might be roughly divided into
two parts-- scientific information and stories with a purpose. Treatises or
manuals existed on every trade or handicraft or art that was practised in the
country, and these were of the nature of official handbooks-- not usually the
work of any one man, but rather a record of the knowledge existing on their
subject at the time that they were written. Appendices were constantly issued to
these books as further discoveries were made, or old ideas modified, and every
person who possessed a copy kept it religiously altered and annotated up to
date. As the Governors charged themselves with the dissemination of such
information, they were able practically to ensure its reaching everyone who was
interested in it; thus the Peruvian monograph on any subject was a veritable
compendium of useful knowledge about it, and gave the student in a condensed
form the result of all the experience of his predecessors in that particular
line.
289.
The stories were almost all of one general type, and
were distinctly, as I have said, stories with a purpose. All but invariably the
hero was a King, a Governor, or a subordinate official, and the narrative told
how he dealt successfully or otherwise with the various emergencies which
presented themselves in the course of his work. Many of these stories were
classics-- household words to the people, as well known among them as biblical
stories are among ourselves, constantly referred to and quoted as examples of
what ought or ought not to be done. So in almost any conceivable predicament,
the man who had to face it had in his mind some sort of precedent to guide his
action. Whether all these tales were historical-- whether they were all accounts
of what had actually happened, or whether some of them were simply fiction-- is
not certain; but there is no doubt that they were generally accepted as true.
290.
When the scene of such a tale lay in a border province,
plenty of wild adventure not infrequently came into it; but (happily for our
friends the Peruvians) that wearisome bugbear of the modern novel-reader, the
love-story, had not yet made its appearance among them. Many of the situations
which arose in the tales were not without humour, and the nation was joyous and
laughter-loving; yet the professedly comic story had no place in its literature.
Another and more regrettable gap is caused by the complete absence of poetry, as
such. Certain maxims and expressions, couched in swinging, sonorous speech, were
widely known and constantly quoted, much as some verses of poetry are with us;
but, however poetical some of the conceptions may have been, there was nothing
definitely rhythmical about their form. “Alliteration' s artful aid” was invoked
in the case of various short sentences which were given to children to memorise,
and in the religious services certain phrases were chanted to music; but even
these latter were fitted into the chanting in the same way as we adapt the words
of a psalm to the Gregorian tone to which it is sung, not written to suit a
definite sort of music, as our hymns are.
291.
This brings us to the consideration of the music of
these ancient Peruvians. They had several varieties of musical instruments,
among which were noticed a pipe and a kind of harp, from which a wild, sweet,
inconclusive, aeolian sort of melody was extracted. But their principal and most
popular instrument was somewhat of the nature of a harmonium. The sound was
produced by the vibration of a tongue of metal, but the wind was forced into the
instrument not by the action of the feet, but by an ingenious mechanical
arrangement. Instead of keys such as ours, appeared the tops of a cluster of
small metal pillars, upon which the fingers of the player pressed, so that a
performance upon it irresistibly reminded one of the action of a modern
typewriter.
292.
Considerable power and great beauty of expression were
attainable with this machine, but the old Peruvian scale in music was the same
as that of Atlantis, and it differed so radically from our own that it is almost
impossible for us rightly to appreciate the effects produced by its means. So
far as we could see no such thing as a piece of music, which could be
written down and reproduced by anyone at will, was known to these people; each
performer improvised for himself; and musical skill among them was not the
ability to interpret the work of a master, but simply fertility and resource in
improvisation.
293.
Sculpture also was an art fairly well developed among
them, though one would perhaps characterise their style rather as bold, dashing
and effective than as excelling in grace. Nearly all statues seem to have been
of colossal size, and some of them were undoubtedly stupendous pieces of work;
but to eyes accustomed to the contemplation of Grecian art, there is a certain
air of ruggedness in the massive strength of the old Peruvian sculpture. Fine
work was, however, done in bas-relief; this was almost always covered with
metal, for the genius of this people turned especially in the direction of
metal-work-- a line in which the most exquisite decorations were constantly
produced.
294.
In connection with the daily life of the nation, and its
manners and customs, there are some points which at once attract our attention
as unusual and interesting. Their marriage customs, for example, were decidedly
peculiar, for marriages took place on only one day in each year. Public opinion
expected everyone to marry, unless he had good reason to the contrary, but there
was nothing that could be thought of as compulsion in the matter. The marriage
of minors was prohibited, but as soon as young people came of age they were as
free to choose their own partners as they are among ourselves. The wedding,
however, could not take place until the proper day arrived when the Governor of
the district or town made a formal visitation, and all young people who had
attained the marriageable age during the previous year were called up before
him, and officially notified that they were now free to enter upon the state of
matrimony. Some proportion of these had usually already made up their minds to
take immediate advantage of the opportunity; they therefore stepped forward
before the Governor and preferred their request, and he, after asking a few
questions, went through a simple form and pronounced them man and wife. He also
made an order rectifying the assignment of land to suit the new circumstances,
for the newly-married man and woman now no longer counted as members of their
respective fathers' families, but as full-fledged householders on their own
account. The married man had therefore twice as much land of his own as the
single man, but even so he rarely found the work connected with it at all
excessive.
295.
A peculiarity was observed in connection with the
principal food of the nation. The people took, of course, various kinds of food,
just as men do now. We do not know whether animal flesh was prohibited, but it
certainly was not eaten at the period which we were examining. The potato and
yam were cultivated, and maize, rice, and milk in various combinations entered
largely into their diet. They had, however, one curious and highly artificial
kind of food which might have been called their staff of life-- which took with
them somewhat the place that bread takes with us, as the principal foundation of
most of their meals. The basis of this was maize-flour, but various chemical
constituents were mixed with it, and the resultant subjected to enormous
pressure, so that it came out at the end of the operation as a hard and highly
concentrated cake. Its components were carefully arranged, in order that it
might contain within itself everything that was necessary for perfect nutrition
in the smallest possible compass; and the experiment was so far successful that
a tiny slice of it made sufficient provision for a whole day, and a man could
carry with him a supply of food for a long journey without the slightest
inconvenience.
296.
The simplest method of taking it was to suck it slowly
like a lozenge, but, if time permitted, it could be boiled or cooked in various
ways, all of which largely increased its bulk. Of itself it had scarcely any
taste, but it was the custom to flavour it in various ways in the process of
manufacture, and these varieties of flavour were indicated by different colours.
A pink cake, for example, was flavoured with pomegranate, a blue one with
vanilla, a yellow one with orange, a pink and white striped one with guava, and
so on, so that every one' s taste might be suited.
297.
This curiously compressed sweetmeat was the staple food
of the country, and large numbers of people took practically nothing else, even
though there were plenty of other dishes from which to select. It was
manufactured in such enormous quantities that it was exceedingly cheap and
easily within everybody' s reach, and for busy people it had many and obvious
advantages. Many fruits were cultivated, and people who liked them took them
along with their lozenge, but all these additions were matters of taste and not
of necessity.
298.
The race as a whole was fond of pet animals of various
kinds, and in the course of ages they had specialised and developed these
creatures to an extraordinary degree. Small monkeys and cats were perhaps the
most general favourites, and there were many fancy varieties of each, bred
almost as much out of all relation to the original creature as are the
deformities called dachshunds at the present day. In regard to the cats, they
made a great specialty of unusual colours, and they had even succeeded in
breeding some of that colour which is so conspicuously absent among quadrupeds--
a fairly decided and brilliant blue!
299.
Many people were fond of birds also, as might be
expected in a continent where so many magnificently coloured specimens are to be
found; indeed, it is by no means impossible that we owe to their care in
breeding some of the splendid varieties of bird-life that now inhabit the
forests of the Amazon. Some of the richer ladies had huge aviaries with golden
wires in the courtyards of their houses, and devoted all their spare time to the
endeavour to cultivate the intelligence and affection of their pets.
300.
The national dress was simple and scanty-- just a sort
of loose flowing garment not at all unlike some of those that are worn in the
East in the present day, except that the old Peruvian wore less white and was
more addicted to colour than is the average Indian of the present day. A
Peruvian crowd on a festal occasion was an exceedingly brilliant sight, perhaps
only to be paralleled now among the Burmese. The ladies as a rule exhibited a
partiality for blue robes, and a dress closely resembling that often assigned by
mediaeval painters to the Virgin Mary was one of the commonest at the time of
which we are writing. The material was usually cotton, though the fine soft wool
of the llama and vicuna was also sometimes used. A sort of cloth of great
strength was made from the threads of the maguey, which were chemically treated
in some way to make them fit for such use.
301.
The nation had all the facility in the use of purely
mechanical methods of rapid calculation which is so characteristic of the
Atlantean Race. They employed an abacus, or calculating-frame, closely
resembling that used to-day with such dexterity by the Japanese, and they also
made a cheaper substitute for such a frame out of a kind of fringe of knotted
cord, which may perhaps be the original of the quipus, which the
Spaniards found in use in the same country thousands of years later.
302.
In studying an ancient civilisation like this, so many
points of interest crop up-- points of resemblance or of contrast with the life
of our own time-- that the difficulty is rather to decide what to omit, in
trying to give an account of it, than what to include. We cannot convey to our
readers the sense of vivid reality which it all bears to those of us who have
seen it, but we trust that for some few at least we have been not entirely
unsuccessful in making this long-dead past live again for a few brief moments.
And be it remembered that we ourselves-- many of us who are now living and
working in the Theosophical Society-- were born at this very time among the
inhabitants of old Peru; many dear friends whom we know and love now were
friends or relations in that far-off time also; so that the memory of all this
that we have tried to describe must lie dormant, deep down within the causal
bodies of many of our readers, and it is by no means impossible that in some of
them that memory may gradually be revived by quietly thinking over the
description. If any should be thus successful, they will realise how curious and
interesting it is to look back into those long forgotten lives, and see what we
have gained and what we have failed to gain since then.1
(¹See Appendix IV.)
303.
At first sight it looks as though in many important ways
there had been rather retrogression than advance. The physical life, with all
its surroundings, was undoubtedly better managed then, than, so far as we know,
it has ever been since. The opportunities for unselfish work and devotion to
duty which were offered to the governing class have perhaps never been
surpassed; still it must be admitted that nothing in the way of mental struggle
or effort was necessary for the less intelligent classes, though when it did
show itself it was richly rewarded.
304.
Undoubtedly the condition of public opinion is not so
high, nor is the sense of duty so strong, now as it was then. But the comparison
is in truth hardly a fair one. We are as yet a comparatively young Race, whereas
that which we have been examining was one of the most glorious offshoots of a
Race that had long passed its prime. We are passing now, because of our
ignorance, through a period of trial, storm, and stress, but out of it all we
too shall, in time, when we have developed a little common-sense, emerge into a
season of rest and success, and when that time comes to us, it ought, by the law
of evolution, to reach an even higher level than theirs.
305.
We must remember that, beautiful as was their religion,
they had, so far as we know, nothing that could really be called Occultism; they
had no such grasp of the great scheme of the universe as we have who are
privileged to study Theosophy. When our fifth Root Race reaches the same stage
of its life, we may assuredly hope to combine physical surroundings as good as
theirs with true philosophical teaching, and with a higher intellectual and
spiritual development than was possible for us when we formed part of that
splendid old relic of Atlantean civilisation, fourteen thousand years ago.
306.
CHAPTER XIII
307.
TWO ATLANTEAN CIVILISATIONS
308.
Turanian, in Ancient Chaldaea, 19,000 B.C.
309.
ANOTHER ancient civilisation which has interested us, in
its way, almost as much as that of Peru, was one that arose in the part of Asia
which was afterwards called Babylonia or Chaldaea. One curious point these two
great Empires of old have in common-- that each of them in the period of its
decadence, many centuries later than the glorious prime at which it is most
profitable to study them, was conquered by people much lower in the scale of
civilisation, who nevertheless attempted to adopt as far as they could the
customs, civil and religious, of the effete race which they had subdued. Just as
the Peru discovered by Pizarro was in almost every respect a pale copy of the
older Peru which we have tried to describe, so the Babylonia known to the
student of archaeology is in many ways a kind of degenerate reflection of an
earlier and greater Empire.
310.
In many ways, but perhaps not in all. It is possible
that at the zenith of its glory the later kingdom may have surpassed its
predecessor in military power, in the extent of its territories or its commerce;
but in simplicity of life, in earnest devotion to the tenets of the remarkable
religion which they followed and in real knowledge of the facts of nature, there
is little doubt that the older race had the advantage.
311.
Perhaps there could hardly be a greater contrast between
any two countries than we find between Peru and Babylonia. In the former the
remarkable system of government was the most prominent feature, and religion
formed a comparatively small part of the life of the people-- indeed, the civil
functions of the priests as educators, as doctors, and as agents in the vast
scheme of provision for old age, loom much more largely in the mind' s eye than
their occasional work of praise or preaching in connection with the temple
services. In Chaldaea, on the other hand, the system of government was in no way
exceptional; the chief factor of life there was emphatically religion, for no
undertaking of any sort was ever begun without special reference to it. Indeed,
the religion of the people permeated and dominated their life to an extent
equalled perhaps only among the Brahmanas of India.
312.
It will be remembered that among the Peruvians the
religious cult was a simple but extremely beautiful form of Sun-worship, or
rather worship of the Spirit of the Sun; its tenets were few and clear, and its
chief characteristic was its all-pervading spirit of joyousness. In Chaldaea the
faith was sterner and more mystical, and the ritual far more complicated. It was
not the Sun alone that was reverenced there, but all the Host of Heaven, and the
religion was in fact an exceedingly elaborate scheme of worship of the great
Star-Angels, including within it, as a practical guide to daily life, a
comprehensive and carefully worked-out system of Astrology.
313.
Let us postpone for the moment the description of their
magnificent temples and their gorgeous ritual, and consider first the relation
of this strange religion to the life of the people. To understand its effect we
must try to comprehend their view of Astrology, and I think we shall find it on
the whole an eminently common-sense view-- one which might be adopted with great
advantage by professors of the art at the present day.
314.
The idea that it is possible for the physical planets
themselves to have any influence over human affairs was of course never held by
any of the priests or teachers, nor even, so far as we can see, by the most
ignorant of the common people at the early period of which we are now speaking.
The theory given to the priests was an exceedingly elaborate mathematical one,
probably handed down to them through an unbroken line of tradition from earlier
teachers, who had direct and first-hand knowledge of the great facts of nature.
The broad idea of their scheme is not difficult to grasp, but it seems
impossible in our three dimensions to construct any mathematical figure which
will satisfy the requirements of their hypothesis in all its details-- at least
with the knowledge at present at our disposal.
315.
The entire solar system, then, in all its vast
complexity, was regarded as simply one great Being, and all its parts as partial
expressions of Him. All its physical constituents-- the sun with his wonderful
corona, all the planets with their satellites, their oceans, their atmospheres,
and the various ethers surrounding them-- all these collectively made up His
physical body, the expression of Him on the physical plane. In the same way the
collective astral worlds (not only the astral spheres belonging to these
physical planets, but also the purely astral planets of all the chains of the
system-- such, for example, as planets B and F of our own Chain) made up His
astral body, and the collective worlds of the mental plane were His mental
body-- the vehicle through which He manifested Himself upon that particular
plane.
316.
So far the idea is clear, and corresponds closely with
what we have ourselves been taught with regard to the great L OGOS of our
system.1 (¹ Indeed, we may say at once that the Chaldaean theory upon
these s ubjects was practically that which is held by many Theosophists at the
present day. Mr. C. W. Leadbeater, in A Textbook of Theosophy and
The Hidden Side of Things, has made, as the result of his own
investigations, a statement on p lanetary influences which is to all intents and
purposes identical with the belief held thousands of years ago (as the result of
similar investigations) by th e Chaldaean priests.) Now let it be supposed that
in these ` bodies' of His at their various levels there are certain different
classes or types of matter fairly equally distributed over the whole system.
These types do not at all correspond to our usual division into sub-planes-- a
division which is made according to the degree of density of the matter, so that
in the physical world, for example, we get the solid, liquid, gaseous and
etheric conditions of matter. On the contrary, they constitute a totally
distinct series of cross-divisions, each containing matter in all these
different conditions, so that if we denote the various types by numbers, we
should have solid, liquid, and gaseous matter of the first type, solid, liquid,
and gaseous matter of the second type, and so on all the way through.
317.
This is the case at all levels, but for the sake of
clearness let us for the moment confine our thought to one level only. Perhaps
the idea is easiest to follow with regard to the astral. It has often been
explained that in the astral body of a man matter belonging to each of the
sub-planes is to be found, and that the proportion between the denser and the
finer kinds shows how far that body is capable of responding to coarser or more
refined desires, and so is to some extent an indication of the degree to which
he has evolved himself. Similarly in every astral body there is matter of each
of these types or cross-divisions, and in this case the proportion between them
shows the disposition of the man-- whether he is excitable or serene, sanguine
or phlegmatic, patient or irritable, and so on.
318.
Now the Chaldaean theory was that each of these types of
matter in the astral body of the LOGOS, and in particular the mass of elemental
essence functioning through each type, is to some extent a separate vehicle--
almost a separate entity-- having its own special affinities, and capable of
vibrating under influences which might probably evoke no response from the other
types. The types differ among themselves, because the matter composing them
originally came forth through different centres of the LOGOS, and the matter of
each type is still in the closest sympathy with the centre to which it belongs,
so that the slightest alteration of any kind in the condition of that centre is
instantly reflected in some way or other in all the matter of the corresponding
type.
319.
Since every man has within himself matter of all these
types, it is obvious that any modification in, or action of, any one of these
great centres must to some degree affect all beings in the system, and the
extent to which any particular person is so affected depends upon the proportion
of the type of matter influenced which he happens to have in his astral body.
That is to say, we find different types of men as well as of matter, and by
reason of their constitution, by the very composition of their astral bodies,
some of them are more susceptible to one influence, some to another.
320.
The whole solar system, when looked at from a
sufficiently high plane, is seen to consist of these great centres, each
surrounded by an enormous sphere of influence, indicating the limits within
which the force which pours out through it is especially active. Each of these
centres has a sort of orderly periodic change or motion of its own,
corresponding perhaps on some infinitely higher level to the regular beating of
the physical human heart. But since some of these periodic changes are much more
rapid than others, a curious and complicated series of effects is produced, and
it has been observed that the movement of the physical planets in their relation
to one another furnishes a clue to the arrangement of these great spheres at any
given moment. In Chaldaea it was held that, in the gradual condensation of the
original glowing nebula from which the system was formed, the location of the
physical planets was determined by the formation of vortices at certain points
of intersection of these spheres with one another and with a given plane.
321.
The influences belonging to these spheres differ widely
in quality, and one way in which this difference shows itself is in their action
upon the elemental essence both in man and around him. Be it ever remembered
that this influence was supposed to be exerted on all planes, not only
upon the astral, though we are just now confining our attention to that for
simplicity' s sake. The influences may have, and indeed must have, other and
more important lines of action not at present known to us; but this at least
forces itself upon the notice of the observer, that each such sphere produces
its own special effect upon the manifold varieties of the elemental essence.
322.
One, for example, greatly stimulates the activity and
vitality of those kinds of essence which especially appertain to the centre
through which it came, while apparently checking and controlling others; the
influence of another sphere is strong over quite a different set of essences,
which belong to its centre, while apparently not affecting the previous set in
the least. There are all sorts of combinations and permutations of these
influences, the action of one of them being in some cases greatly intensified,
and in others almost neutralised, by the presence of another.
323.
It will inevitably be asked here whether our Chaldaean
priests were fatalists-- whether having discovered and calculated the exact
effect of these influences on the various types of human beings, they believed
that these results were inevitable, and that man' s will was powerless to resist
them. Their answer to this latter question was always most emphatic: the
influences have certainly no power to dominate man' s will in the slightest
degree; all they can do is in some cases to make it easier, or more difficult,
for that will to act along certain lines. Since the astral and mental bodies of
man are practically composed of this living and vivified matter which we now
call elemental essence, any unusual excitation of any of the classes of that
essence, or a sudden increase in its activity, must undoubtedly affect to some
extent either his emotions or his mind, or both; and it is also obvious that
these influences must work differently on different men, because of the
varieties of essence entering into their composition.
324.
But it was most clearly stated that in no case can a man
be swept away by them into any course of action without the consent of his will,
though he may evidently be helped or hindered by them in any effort that he
chances to be making. The priests taught that the really strong man has little
need to trouble himself as to the influences which happen to be in the
ascendant, but that for all ordinary people it is usually worth while to know at
what moment this or that force can most advantageously be applied.
325.
They explained carefully that the influences are in
themselves no more good or evil than any other of the forces of nature, as we
should say now; like electricity or any other great natural force they may be
helpful or hurtful, according to the use that is made of them. And just as we
should say that certain experiments are more likely to be successful if
undertaken when the air is heavily charged with electricity, while certain
others under such conditions would most probably fail, so they said that an
effort involving the use of the forces of our mental or emotional nature will
more or less readily achieve its object according to the influences which
predominate when it is made.
326.
It was always understood, therefore, that these factors
might be put aside as une quantité négligeable by the man of iron
determination or the student of real Occultism; but since the majority of the
human race still allow themselves to be the helpless sport of the forces of
desire, and have not yet developed anything worth calling a will of their own,
it was considered that their feebleness permitted these influences to assume an
importance to which they had intrinsically no claim.
327.
The fact of a particular influence being in operation
can never make it necessary that an event should occur, but it makes it
more likely to occur. For instance, by means of what is called in
modern Astrology a Martian influence, certain vibrations of the astral essence
are set up which tend in the direction of passion. So it might safely be
predicted of a man who had by nature tendencies of a passionate and sensual
nature, that when that influence is prominently in action he will probably
commit some crime connected with passion or sensuality; not in the least that he
is forced into such crime, but only that a condition comes into
existence in which it is more difficult for him to maintain his balance. For the
action upon him is of a double character; not only is the essence within
him stirred into greater activity, but the corresponding matter of the plane
outside is also quickened, and that again reacts upon him.
328.
An example frequently given was that a certain variety
of influence may occasionally bring about a condition of affairs in which all
forms of nervous excitement are considerably intensified, and there is
consequently a general sense of irritability abroad. Under such circumstances
disputes arise far more readily than usual, even on the most trifling pretexts,
and the large number of people who are always on the verge of losing their
temper relinquish all control of themselves on even less than ordinary
provocation.
329.
It might even sometimes happen, it was said, that such
influences, playing on the smouldering discontent of ignorant jealousy, might
fan it into an outburst of popular frenzy from which widespread disaster might
ensue. Apparently the warning given thousands of years ago is no less necessary
now; for it was just in this way that the Parisians in 1870 were moved to rush
about the streets crying “A Berlin!” and just so also has arisen many a time the
fiendish yell of “Din! din!” which so easily arouses the mad fanaticism of an
uncivilised Muhammadan crowd.
330.
The Astrology of these Chaldaean priests therefore
devoted itself chiefly to the calculation of the position and action of these
spheres of influence, so that its principal function was rather to form a rule
of life than to predict the future; or at least such predictions as it gave were
rather of tendencies than of special events, while the Astrology of our own day
appears to devote itself largely to the latter line of prophecy.
331.
There can be no doubt, however, that the Chaldaeans were
right in affirming the power of a man' s will to modify the destiny marked out
for him by his karma. Karma may throw a man into certain surroundings or bring
him under certain influences, but it can never force him to commit a crime,
though it may so place him that it requires great determination on his part to
avoid that crime. Therefore it seems to us that what Astrology could do, then or
now, is to warn the man of the circumstances under which at such and such a time
he would find himself; but any definite prophecy of his action under those
circumstances can, theoretically, only be based upon probabilities-- even though
we fully recognise how nearly those probabilities become certainties in the case
of the ordinary will-less man in the street.
332.
The calculations of these priests of the old time
enabled them to draw up a sort of official almanac each year, by which the whole
life of the race was largely regulated. They decided the times at which all
agricultural operations could most safely be undertaken; they proclaimed the fit
moment for arranging the breeding of animals and plants. They were the doctors
as well as the teachers of the race, and they knew exactly under what
collocation of influences their various remedies could be most efficiently
administered.
333.
They divided their followers into classes, assigning
each to what would now be called his ruling planet, and their calendar was full
of warnings addressed to these different classes; as, for example: “On the
seventh day, those who worship Mars should be especially on the watch against
causeless irritation”; or: “From the twelfth to the fifteenth days there is
unusual danger of rashness in matters connected with the affections, especially
for the worshippers of Venus,” and so on. That these warnings were of great use
to the bulk of their people we cannot doubt, strange as such an elaborate system
of provision against minor contingencies may appear to some of us at the present
day.
334.
From this peculiar division of the people into types,
according to the planets which indicated the position of the centre of influence
to which they were most readily susceptible, there arose an equally curious
arrangement both of the public temple services and of the private devotions of
the worshippers. Certain daily hours of prayer, regulated by the apparent
movements of the sun, were observed by all alike; at sunrise, noon, and sunset,
certain anthems or verses were chanted by the priests at the temples, and the
more religious of the people made a point of being regularly present at these
short services, while those who could not conveniently attend them nevertheless
observed each of these hours by the recitation of a few pious phrases of praise
and prayer.
335.
But, quite apart from these observances, which seem to
have been common to all, each person had his own special prayers to offer to the
particular Deity to whom by birth he was attached; and the proper time for them
varied constantly with the motion of his planet. The moment at which it crossed
the meridian appears to have been considered the most favourable of all, and
next to that the few minutes immediately after its rising or immediately before
its setting. It might, however, be invoked at any time while above the horizon;
and even while below it the Deity of the planet was not entirely out of reach,
though in this case he was addressed only in some great emergency, and the whole
ceremonial employed was entirely different.
336.
The special calendars prepared by the priests for the
worshippers of each of these planetary Deities contained full particulars as to
the proper hours of prayer and the appropriate verses to be recited at each.
What might be described as a kind of periodical prayer-book was issued for each
planet, and all those who were attached to that planet were careful to provide
themselves with copies of it. Indeed, these calendars were something much more
than mere reminders as to hours of prayer; they were prepared under special
stellar conditions (each under the influence of its own Deity) and were supposed
to have various talismanic properties, so that the devotee of any particular
planet always carried its latest calendar about with him.
337.
It followed, therefore, that the religious man of old
Chaldaea had not a regular hour of prayer or worship which was always the same,
day after day, as would be the case now; but instead of this, his time for
meditation and religious exercise was movable, and would occur sometimes in the
morning, sometimes at noon, sometimes in the evening, or even at midnight. But
whenever it came he did not fail to observe it; however awkwardly the hour might
clash with his business, his pleasure or his repose, he would have regarded it
as a grave lapse from duty if he had omitted to take advantage of it. So far as
we can see, there was no thought in his mind that the Spirit of the planet would
in any way resent it if he neglected the hour, or indeed that it was possible
for such a Spirit to feel anger at all; the idea was rather that at that moment
the Deity was pouring forth a blessing, and that it would be not only foolish
but ungrateful to lose the opportunity so kindly offered.
338.
These, however, were only the private devotions of the
people; they had great and gorgeous public ceremonies as well. Each of the
planets had assigned to it at least two great feast days in the year, and the
Sun and Moon appropriated considerably more than two. Each planetary Spirit had
his temples in every part of the country, and on ordinary occasions his devotees
contented themselves with frequent visits to the nearest; but on the greater
festivals to which we have referred, enormous multitudes assembled on a vast
plain in the neighbourhood of their capital city, where there was a group of
magnificent temples, which were absolutely unique.
339.
These buildings were in themselves worthy of attention
as fine examples of a prehistoric style of architecture; but their greatest
interest lay in the fact that their arrangement was evidently intended to
represent that of the solar system, and that, when the principle of this
arrangement was understood, it undoubtedly showed the possession by its
designers of a considerable knowledge of the subject. By far the largest and the
most splendid of all was the huge temple of the Sun, which it will presently be
necessary to describe somewhat more in detail. The others, erected at gradually
increasing distances from this, might seem at the first glance to have been
built simply as convenience dictated, and not upon any orderly plan.
340.
Closer examination, however, showed that there was
a plan, and a remarkable one-- that not only the gradually increasing distances
of these smaller temples from the principal one had a definite ratio and a
definite meaning, but even the relative dimensions of certain important parts of
these fanes were not accidental, for they typified respectively the sizes of the
planets and their distances from the solar orb.
341.
Now it is obvious to anyone who knows anything at all
about astronomy that an attempt to construct to scale a model of the solar
system in temples would be foredoomed to failure-- that is to say, if the
temples were to be available for worship in the ordinary way. The difference in
size between the Sun and the smaller members of his family is so immense, and
the distances between them are so enormous, that unless the buildings were mere
dolls' houses no country would be large enough to contain the entire system.
342.
How, then, did the Chaldaean Sage who designed this
marvellous group of temples contrive to conquer these difficulties? Precisely as
do the illustrators of our modern books of Astronomy-- by using two entirely
different scales, but preserving the relative proportions in their delineation
of each. There is nothing in this wonderful monument of ancient skill to prove
to us that its designer knew the absolute sizes and distances of the planets at
all, though of course he may have done so; what is certain is that he
was perfectly well acquainted with their relative sizes and distances.
He had either been taught, or had himself discovered, Bode' s Law; how much
further his knowledge went his buildings leave us to conjecture, except that he
must certainly have possessed some information as to planetary magnitudes,
though his computation of them differed in some ways from that now accepted.
343.
The shrines devoted to the inner planets made a sort of
irregular cluster which seemed quite close under the walls of the great
Sun-Temple, while those of the giant outer members of the solar family were
dotted at ever-increasing intervals over the plain, until the representative of
far-away Neptune was almost lost in the distance. The buildings differed in
design, and there is little doubt that every variation had its special
significance, even though in many cases we were unable to discern it. There was,
however, one feature which all shared; each of them possessed a central
hemispherical dome, which was evidently intended to bear a special relation to
the orb which it typified.
344.
All these hemispheres were brilliantly coloured, each
bearing the hues which Chaldaean tradition associated with its particular
planet. The principle upon which these colours were selected is far from clear,
but we shall have to return to them later when we examine the great festival
services. These domes by no means always bore the same relation to the
dimensions of their respective temples, but when compared one with another they
were found to correspond closely to the sizes of the planets which they
symbolised. With regard to Mercury, Venus, the Moon, and Mars, the Chaldaean
measurements of relative size corresponded precisely with our own; but Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, though immensely larger than the inner group, were
yet decidedly smaller than they would have been if constructed on the same scale
according to our received calculations.
345.
This may have been due to the use of a different
standard for these huge globes, but it seems to us far more probable that the
Chaldaean proportions were correct, and that in modern astronomy we have
considerably over-estimated the size of the outer planets. It is all but
established now that the surface which we see in the case of Jupiter or Saturn
is that of a deep, dense cloud-envelope, and not the body of the planet at all;
and if that be so, the Chaldaean representation of these globes is as accurate
as the rest of their scheme. Another point in favour of such a suggestion is
that, if it were accepted, the extraordinarily low density commonly assigned by
our astronomers to the outer planets would be brought more nearly into agreement
with that of the other worlds within our ken.
346.
A number of curious details combined to prove to us the
thorough comprehension of the system which must have been possessed by the
designer of these beautiful shrines. Vulcan, the intra-Mercurial planet, was
duly represented, and the place in the scheme where our earth should have come
in was occupied by the temple of the Moon-- a large one, though the hemisphere
which crowned it seemed disproportionately small, being constructed exactly to
the same scale as the rest. Close by this Moon-temple there arose an isolated
dome of black marble supported by pillars, which from its size was evidently
intended to typify the Earth, but there was no shrine of any kind attached to
it.
347.
In the space (quite correctly calculated) between Mars
and Jupiter there appeared no temple, but a number of columns, each ending in a
tiny dome of the usual hemispherical shape; these we presumed to be intended to
represent the asteroids. Every planet which possesses satellites had them
carefully indicated by properly proportioned subsidiary domes arranged round the
primary, and Saturn' s rings were also clearly shown.
348.
On the principal festivals of any of the planets, all
the votaries of the corresponding Deities (as we should say now, the people born
under those planets) wore over or in place of their ordinary dress a mantle or
cope of the colour considered sacred to the planet. These colours were all
exceedingly brilliant, and the material worn had a sort of sheen like satin, so
that the effect was usually striking, especially as many of the colours had
another tint underlying them, as in what is called shot silk. A list of these
colours will be of interest, although, as we have before remarked, the reason
which dictated their choice is not always obvious.
349.
The dress worn by the followers of the Sun was a
beautifully delicate silken material, all interwoven with gold threads, so that
it appeared a veritable cloth of gold. But cloth of gold, as we know it now, is
of a thick, unbending texture, whereas this fabric was so flexible that it could
be folded like muslin.
350.
Vulcan' s hue was flame-colour, striking, gorgeous, and
distinctive-- possibly typical of the extreme propinquity of Vulcan to the Sun,
and the fiery physical conditions that must obtain there.
351.
Mercury was symbolised by a brilliant orange hue, shot
with lemon-colour-- shades not infrequently to be seen in the auras of his
adherents as well as in their vestments; but though in some cases the
predominant auric colours seem a possible explanation of these selections, there
are others to which this would hardly apply.
352.
The votaries of Venus appeared in a lovely pure
sky-blue, with an underlying thread of light green, which gave to the whole a
quivering iridescent effect when the wearer moved.
353.
The garments of the Moon were naturally of white
material, but so interwoven with threads of silver that practically it might be
called cloth of silver, as the Sun' s was cloth of gold. Yet in certain lights
this Moon-robe showed beautiful pale violet shades, which much enhanced its
effect.
354.
Mars appropriately enough clothed his followers in a
splendid brilliant scarlet, but with a strong crimson shade underlying it, and
practically taking its place when seen from certain aspects. This colour was
quite unmistakable, and totally distinct from those of Vulcan or Mercury. It may
have been suggested either by auric appearances or by the ruddy hue of the
physical planet.
355.
Jupiter robed his children in a wonderful gleaming
blue-violet material, dappled all over with tiny silvery specks. It is not easy
to assign any reason for this, unless indeed it may again be attributed to auric
associations.
356.
Saturn' s votaries were clothed in clear sunset green,
with pearl-grey shades underlying it, while those born under Uranus wore a
magnificent deep rich blue-- that unimaginable colour of the South Atlantic,
which no one knows but those who have seen it. The dress appropriated to Neptune
was the least noticeable of them all, for it was a plain-looking dark indigo,
though in high lights it too developed an unexpected richness.
357.
On the principal festivals of any one of these planets,
its adherents appeared in full dress, and marched in procession to its temple,
decked with garlands of flowers, bearing banners and gilded staves, and filling
the air with sonorous chanting. But the grandest display of all was at one of
the great feasts of the Sun-God, when the people came together, each robed in
the gorgeous vestment of his tutelary Deity, and the whole immense multitude
performed the solemn circumambulation of the Sun-temple. On such an occasion the
worshippers of the Sun filled the vast building to overflowing, while next to
the walls marched the bands of Vulcan, next outside them those of Mercury, then
the followers of Venus, and so on, each planet being represented in the order of
its position with reference to the Sun. The whole mass of people, thus arranged
in concentric rings of flashing colour, swept slowly, steadily round like a
colossal living wheel, and, under the flood of living light poured down by that
all but tropical Sun, they formed perhaps as brilliant a spectacle as the world
has ever seen.
358.
In order that some account may be given of the even more
interesting ceremonies that took place on such occasions within that great
temple of the Sun, it is necessary that we should attempt a description of its
appearance and arrangement. Its main plan was cruciform, with a vast circular
space (covered by the hemispherical dome) where the arms of the cross met. We
shall gain a more correct image if, instead of thinking of the ordinary
cruciform church with nave, chancel and transepts, we picture to ourselves a
great circular domed chamber like the reading room of the British Museum, and
then imagine four huge naves opening out of it towards the four quarters of the
compass; for all the arms of its cross were of equal length. Having fixed that
part of the picture firmly, we must then add four other great openings between
the arms of the cross, leading into vast halls whose walls curved round and met
at the extremity, so as to give their floors the shape of an immense leaf or the
petal of a flower. In fact, the ground-plan of the temple might be described as
an equal-armed cross laid upon a simple four-petalled flower, so that the arms
lay between the petals.
359.
A man standing in the centre under the dome would
therefore see long vistas stretching out from him in all directions. The whole
structure was carefully oriented, so that the arms of the cross were accurately
directed to the cardinal points. The southern end remained open and constituted
the principal entrance, facing the great altar which occupied the end of the
northern arm. The eastern and western arms contained altars also, of enormous
size from our point of view, though much smaller than the main erection at the
northern end.
360.
These eastern and western altars seem to have fulfilled
something of the same purpose as do those dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and to
S. Joseph in a Catholic cathedral, for one of them was consecrated to the Sun
and the other to the Moon, and some of the regular daily services connected with
these two luminaries were celebrated at them. The great northern altar was,
however, that round which all the greatest crowds gathered, at which all the
grandest ceremonies were performed, and its arrangements and furniture were
curious and interesting.
361.
On the wall behind it, in the place occupied by the `
east window' in an ordinary church-- except that this was north-- hung an
immense concave mirror, far larger than any that we had ever before seen. It was
of metal, quite probably of silver, and was polished to the highest possible
degree. Indeed it was observed that the care of it, the keeping it bright and
free even from dust, was considered to be a religious duty of the most binding
nature. How such a huge speculum had been so perfectly cut, how it was that its
own enormous weight did not distort it-- these are problems that would be
serious ones to our modern artificers, but they had been successfully solved by
these men of long ago.
362.
Along the centre of the roof of this huge northern arm
of the cross there ran a narrow slit open to the sky, so that the light of
whatever star happened to be exactly upon the meridian shone straight into the
temple and fell upon the great mirror. It is a well-known property of the
concave mirror that it forms in the air in front of it, at its focus, an image
of whatever is reflected in it, and this principle was cleverly used by the
priests in order, as they would probably have put it, to collect and apply the
influence of each planet at the moment of its greatest power. A pedestal bearing
a brazier was fixed in the floor beneath the focus of the mirror, and just as a
planet was coming to the meridian and therefore shining through the slit in the
roof, a quantity of sweet-smelling incense was thrown upon the glowing charcoal.
A pillar of light grey smoke immediately ascended, and in the midst of it
gleamed forth the living image of the star. Then the worshippers bowed their
heads, and the glad chant of the priests rang out; in fact, this ceremony
reminded us somewhat of the elevation of the Host in a Catholic church.
363.
When necessary another piece of machinery was brought
into action-- a flat circular mirror which could be lowered from the roof by
lines so as to occupy exactly the focus of the great mirror. This caught the
reflected image of the planet, and by tilting it the concentrated light received
from the concave mirror could be poured down upon certain spots on the floor of
the temple. On these spots were laid the sick for whom it was considered that
that particular influence would be beneficial, while the priest prayed that the
planetary Spirit would pour healing and strength upon them; and undoubtedly
cures did frequently reward their endeavours, though it may well be that faith
played a large part in obtaining the result.
364.
The lighting of certain sacred fires when the Sun
himself crossed the meridian was achieved by means of the same mechanism, though
one of the most interesting ceremonies of this nature was always performed at
the western altar. Upon this altar burnt always what was called the ` sacred
Moon-fire,' and this was allowed to go out only once a year, on the night before
the spring equinox. The following morning the rays of the Sun, passing through
an orifice above the eastern altar, fell directly upon that at the west end, and
by means of a glass globe filled with water which was suspended in their path
and acted as a lens, the Sun himself relit the sacred Moon-fire, which was then
carefully tended and kept burning for another year.
365.
The inner surface of the great dome was painted to
represent the night-sky, and by some complicated mechanism the principal
constellations were made to move over it exactly as the real stars were moving
outside, so that at any time of the day, or on a cloudy night, a worshipper
could always tell in the temple the precise position of any of the signs of the
zodiac, and of the various planets in relation to them. Luminous bodies were
used to represent the planets, and in the earlier days of this religion,
precisely as in the earlier days of the Mysteries, these bodies were real
materialisations called into existence by the Adept Teachers, and moving freely
in the air; but in both cases in later days, when less evolved men had to take
the place of these exalted Beings, it was found difficult or impossible to make
the materialisations work properly, and so their place was filled by ingenious
mechanical contrivances-- a kind of orrery on a gigantic scale. The outside of
this huge dome was thinly plated with gold; and it was noteworthy that a
peculiar dappled effect was produced on the surface, evidently intended to
represent what are called the ` willow-leaves' or ` rice-grains' of the Sun.
366.
Another interesting feature of this temple was an
underground room or crypt, which was reserved for the exclusive use of the
priests, apparently with a view to meditation and self-development. The only
light admitted came through thick plates of a crystal-like substance of various
colours, which were let into the floor of the temple, but arrangements were made
to reflect the sun' s rays through this medium when necessary, and the priest
who was practising his meditation allowed this reflected light to fall upon the
various centres in his body-- sometimes upon that between the eyes, sometimes
upon the base of the spine, and so on. This evidently aided in the development
of the power of divination, of clairvoyance and of intuition; and it was evident
that the particular colour of light used depended not only upon the object
sought, but upon the planet or type to which the priest belonged. It was also
noticed that the thyrsus, the hollow rod charged with electric or vital fire,
was used here, just as it was in the Grecian Mysteries.
367.
An interesting part of the study of this old-world
religion is the endeavour to understand exactly what its teachers meant when
they spoke of the Star-Angel, the Spirit of a star. A little careful
investigation shows that the terms, though sometimes synonymous, are not always
so, for they seem to have included at least three quite different conceptions
under the one title ` the Spirit of a planet' .
368.
First they believed in the existence, in connection with
each planet, of an undeveloped, semi-intelligent yet exceedingly potent entity,
which we can perhaps best express in our Theosophical terminology as the
collective elemental essence of that planet, regarded as one huge creature. We
know how, in the case of a man, the elemental essence which enters into the
composition of his astral body becomes to all intents and purposes a separate
entity, which has sometimes been called the desire-elemental; how its many
different types and classes combine into a temporary unity, capable of definite
action in its own defence, as for example against the disintegrating process
which sets in after death. If in just the same way we can conceive of the
totality of the elemental kingdoms in a particular planet energising as a whole,
we shall have grasped exactly the theory held by the ancient Chaldaeans with
regard to this first variety of planetary Spirit, for which ` planetary
elemental' would be a far more appropriate name. It was the influence (or
perhaps the magnetism) of this planetary elemental which they tried to focus
upon people suffering from certain diseases, or to imprison in a talisman for
future use.
369.
The priests held that the physical planets which we can
see serve as pointers to indicate the position or condition of the great centres
in the body of the LOGOS Himself; and also that through each of these great
centres poured out one of the ten types of essence out of which, according to
them, everything was built. Each of these types of essence, when taken by
itself, was identified with a planet, and this also was frequently called the
Spirit of the planet, thus giving another and quite different meaning to the
term. In this sense they spoke of the Spirit of each planet as omnipresent
throughout the solar system, as working within each man and showing itself in
his actions, as manifesting through certain plants or minerals and giving them
their distinctive properties. Naturally it was this ` Spirit of the planet'
within man which could be acted upon by the condition of the great centre to
which it belonged, and it was with reference to this that all their astrological
warnings were issued.
370.
When, however, the Chaldaeans invoked the blessing of
the Spirit of a planet, or endeavoured by earnest and reverent meditation to
raise themselves towards Him, they were using the expression in yet another
sense. They thought of each of these great centres as giving birth to and
working through a whole hierarchy of great Spirits, and at the head of each of
these hierarchies stood one great One who was called pre-eminently ` The
Spirit of the planet,' or more frequently the Star-Angel. It was His benediction
that was sought by those who were more especially born under His influence, and
He was regarded by them much as the great Archangels, the “seven Spirits before
the throne of God,” are regarded by the devout Christian-- as a mighty Minister
of the divine power of the LOGOS, a channel through which that ineffable
splendour manifests itself. It was whispered that when the festival of some
particular planet was being held in that great temple, and when at the critical
moment the image of the Star shone out brightly amid the incense-cloud, those
whose eyes were opened by the fervour of their devotion had sometimes seen the
mighty form of the Star-Angel hovering beneath the blazing orb, so that it shone
upon his forehead as he looked down benignantly upon those worshippers with
whose evolution he was so closely connected.
371.
It was one of the tenets of this ancient faith that it
was in rare cases a possibility for highly developed men, who were full of
heartfelt devotion to their Angel, to raise themselves by stress of
long-continued meditation out of their world into His-- to change the whole
course of their evolution, and secure their next birth not on this planet any
more, but on His; and the temple records contained accounts of priests who had
done this, and so passed beyond human ken. It was held that once or twice in
history this had happened with regard to that still greater order of stellar
Deities, who were recognised as belonging to the fixed stars far outside of the
solar system altogether; but these latter were thought of as daring flights into
the unknown, as to the advisability of which even the greatest of the high
priests were silent.
372.
Strange as these methods may seem to us now, widely as
they may differ from anything that is being taught to us in our Theosophical
study, it would be foolish for us to criticise them, or to doubt that, for those
to whom they appeal, they may be as efficacious as our own. We know that in the
great White Brotherhood there are many Masters, and that though the
Qualifications required for each step of the Path are the same for all
candidates, yet each great Teacher adopts for His pupils that method of
preparation which He sees to be best suited for them; and as all these paths
alike lead to the mountain-top, it is not for us to say which is the shortest or
the best for our neighbour. For each man there is one path which is shortest;
but which that is depends upon the position from which he starts. To expect
everyone to come round to our starting-point and use our path would be to fall
under the delusion, born of conceit and ignorance, which blinds the eyes of the
bigoted religionist. We have not been taught to worship the great
Star-Angels, or to set before ourselves as a goal the possibility of joining the
Deva evolution at a comparatively early stage; but we should always remember
that there are other lines of Occultism besides that particular form of it to
which Theosophy has introduced us, and that we know but little yet even of our
own line.
373.
It would perhaps be better to avoid the use of the word
` worship' when describing the feeling of the Chaldaeans toward the Star-Angels,
for in the West it always leads to misconception; it was rather the deep
affection and veneration and loyalty which we feel towards the Masters of the
Wisdom.
374.
This Chaldaean religion lay close to the hearts of its
people, and undoubtedly produced in the case of the majority really good and
upright lives. Its priests were men of great learning in their own way along
certain lines; their studies in history and astronomy were profound, and they
not unnaturally took these two sciences together, always classifying the events
of history according to their supposed connection with the various astronomical
cycles. They were fairly well versed in chemistry also, and utilised some of its
effects in their ceremonies. We noticed a case in which a priest was seen
standing upon the flat roof of one of the temples and invoking in private
devotion one of the planetary Spirits.¹ (¹ Erato, one of the Fellows of the
Theosophical Society, some of whose lives are given in ` Rents in the veil of
Time' in The Theosophist .) He held in his hand a long staff tipped
with some bituminous-looking substance, and he began his invocation by marking
with this staff the astrological sign of the planet upon the pavement in front
of him, the substance leaving a brilliant phosphorescent mark behind it upon the
stone or plaster surface.
375.
As a rule each priest took up a special line of study to
which he more particularly devoted himself. One group became proficient in
medicine, constantly investigating the properties of various herbs and drugs
when prepared under this or that combination of stellar influences; another
turned its attention exclusively to agriculture, deciding what kind of soil was
best suited to certain crops, and how it could be improved-- working also at the
culture of all kinds of useful plants, and the production of new varieties,
testing the rapidity and strength of their growth under differently-coloured
glass, and so on. This idea of the use of coloured light to promote growth was
common to several of the old Atlantean races, and was part of the teaching
originally given in Atlantis itself. Another section constituted themselves into
a kind of weather bureau, and foretold with considerable accuracy both the
ordinary changes of weather, and also any special disturbances such as storms,
cyclones, or cloud-bursts. Later this became a sort of Government Department,
and priests who predicted inaccurately were deposed as incapable.
376.
Enormous importance was attached to pre-natal
influences, and a mother was directed to seclude herself and to live a sort of
semi-monastic life for some months both before and after the birth of a child.
The educational arrangements of the country were not, as in Peru, directly in
the hands of the priests, although it was they who decided by their
calculations-- evidently aided in some cases by clairvoyant insight-- to which
planet a child belonged. The children attached to a particular planet attended
the school of that planet, and were under teachers of the same type as
themselves, so that the children of Saturn would by no means be permitted to
attend one of the schools of Jupiter, or the children of Venus to be taught by a
worshipper of Mercury. The training appointed for these various types differed
considerably, the intention being in each case to develop the good qualities and
to counteract the weaknesses which long experience had prepared the instructors
to expect in that especial kind of boy or girl.
377.
The object of education with them was almost entirely
the formation of character; the mere imparting of knowledge took quite a
subordinate position. Every child was taught the curious hieroglyphic script of
the country, and the rudiments of simple calculation, but beyond this nothing
that we should recognise as a school subject was taken up at all. Numerous
religious or rather ethical precepts were learnt by heart, all indicating the
conduct expected from ` a son of Mars,' the planet-- or Venus or Jupiter as the
case might be-- under various conditions that might arise; and the only
literature studied was an endlessly voluminous commentary upon these, full of
interminable stories of adventures and situations in which the heroes acted
sometimes wisely, sometimes foolishly. These the children were taught to
criticise, giving their reasons for the opinions they formed, and describing in
what way their own action in similar circumstances would have differed from that
of the hero.
378.
Though children passed many years in the schools, the
whole of their time was spent in familiarising themselves (not only
theoretically, but as far as might be practically also) with the teachings of
this unwieldy Book of Duty , as it was called. In order to impress the
lessons upon the minds of the children, they were expected to impersonate the
various characters in these stories, and act out the scenes as though in a
theatre. Any young man who developed a taste for history, mathematics,
agriculture, chemistry or medicine, could, upon leaving school, attach himself
as a kind of apprentice to any priest who had made a specialty of one of those
subjects; but the school curriculum did not include any of these, nor provide
any preparation for their study, beyond the general preparation which was
supposed to fit everybody for anything that might turn up.
379.
The literature of the race was not extensive. Official
records were kept with great care, transfers of land were registered, and the
decrees and proclamations of the Kings were always filed for reference; but
though these documents offered excellent, even if somewhat dry, material for the
historian, there is no trace that any connected history was written. It was
taught orally by tradition, and certain episodes of it were tabulated in
connection with the astronomical cycles; but these records were merely
chronological tables, not histories in our sense of the word.
380.
Poetry was represented by a series of sacred books,
which gave a highly symbolical and figurative account of the origin of the
worlds and of mankind, and also by a number of ballads or sagas celebrating the
deeds of legendary heroes. These latter, however, were not written down, but
simply handed on from one reciter to another. The people were exceedingly fond,
like so many Oriental races, of listening to and improvising stories, and a
great deal of traditional matter of this sort had been handed down through the
centuries from what must obviously have been a remote period of far ruder
civilisation.
381.
From some of these earlier legends it is possible to
reconstruct a rough outline of the early history of the race. The great bulk of
the nation were clearly of Turanian stock, belonging to the fourth sub-race of
the Atlantean Root-Race. They had apparently been originally a number of petty
tribes, always at feud among themselves, living by agriculture of a primitive
kind, and knowing little of architecture or culture of any sort.¹ (¹ This was
the condition in which they were about 75,000 B.C., when Vaivasvata Manu led His
small caravan through them.) To them in this semi-savage condition came, in
30,000 B.C., a great leader from the East, Theodoros, a man of another race, who
after the Aryan conquest of Persia and Mesopotamia, and the establishment of the
rule of the Manu over those districts, was sent as Governor by Him, under
Corona, His grandson, who succeeded Him as Ruler of Persia.2 (² See
Chapter XVIII.)
382.
From Theodoros descended the royal line of ancient
Chaldaea-- a line differing widely in appearance from their subjects,
strong-faced, with bronzed complexion and deep-set gleaming eyes. The far later
Babylonian sculptures which we know give us a fair idea of this royal type,
though at that date the Aryan blood had permeated almost the entire race,
whereas in the time of which we are speaking it had scarcely tinged it at all.
383.
After a long period of splendour and prosperity this
mighty Empire of Chaldaea slowly waned and decayed, until at last it was utterly
destroyed by the incursion of hordes of fanatical barbarians, who, holding some
ruder faith and hating with true puritanical fervour all evidence of a religious
feeling nobler and more beautiful than their own, destroyed every trace of the
glorious temples which had been erected with such loving care for that worship
of the Star-Angels which we have tried to describe. These spoilers were in their
turn driven out by the Akkads from the northern hill-country-- Atlanteans still,
but of the sixth sub-race; and these, coalescing gradually with the remnants of
the old race and with other tribes of Turanian type, made up the Sumiro-Akkad
nation out of which the later Babylonian Empire developed. As it grew, however,
it became more and more strongly affected by the mixture of Aryan blood, first
from the Arabian (Semitic) and then from the Iranian sub-races, until when we
come to what are commonly called historical times there is scarcely a trace of
the old Turanian left in the faces that are pictured for us in the sculptures
and mosaics of Assyria.
384.
This later race had, in its beginnings at least, a
strong tradition of its grander predecessor, and its endeavour was always to
revive the conditions and the worship of the past. Its efforts were but
partially successful; tinged by an alien faith, hampered by reminiscences of
another and more recent tradition of the predominant partner in the combination,
it produced but a pale and distorted copy of the magnificent cult of the
Star-Angels, as it had flourished in the Golden Age which we have been
attempting to describe.
385.
Faint and unreal as these pictures of the past must be
except to those who see them at first-hand, yet the study of them is not only of
deep interest to the occult student, but of great use to him. It helps to widen
out his view; it gives him now and then a passing glimpse into the working of
that vast whole in which all that we can imagine of progress and evolution is
but as one tiny wheel in a huge machine, as one small company in the great army
of the King. Something is it also of encouragement to him to know a little of
the glory and the beauty that have been on this grand old earth of ours, and to
know that that is but a pale forecasting of the glory and the beauty that are
yet to be.
386.
But we must not leave this trifling sketch of two
vignettes from the Golden Age of the past-- introduced, as an inset, into the
huge picture of the world-story-- without referring to a thought that must
inevitably occur to one who studies them. We who love humanity-- we who are
trying, however feebly, to help it on its arduous way-- can we read of
conditions such as those of ancient Chaldaea, and perhaps still more of ancient
Peru, conditions under which whole nations lived a happy and religious life,
free from the curse of intemperance, free from the horror of grinding poverty--
can we read of such conditions without a lurking doubt, without putting to
ourselves the question: “Can it be that mankind is really evolving? Can it be
for the good of humanity that when such civilisations have been attained, they
should be allowed to crumble and fall, and leave no sign; and that after them we
should come to this ?”
387.
Yes; for we know that the law of progress is a law of
cyclic change, and that under that law personalities, races, empires, and worlds
pass away, and come not again-- in that form; that all forms must perish;
however beautiful, in order that the life within them may grow and expand. And
we know that that law is the expression of a Will-- the divine Will of the LOGOS
Himself; and therefore to the uttermost its working must be for the good of the
humanity that we love. None ever loved man as He does-- He who sacrificed
Himself that man might be; He knows the whole evolution, from the beginning to
the end; and He is satisfied. It is in His hand-- the hand that blesseth man--
that the destinies of man are lying; is there any heart among us not content to
leave them there-- not satisfied to its inmost core to hear Him say, as a great
Master once said to His pupil: “What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt
know hereafter”?
388.
CHAPTER XIV
389.
BEGINNINGS OF THE FIFTH ROOT RACE
390.
THE statement in The Secret Doctrine that the
fifth Root Race began one million years ago appears, as already stated, to refer
to the beginning of the choosing of materials by the Lord Vaivasvata, the Race
Manu. He was a Lord of the Moon, taking the first step in Initiation on Globe G
of the seventh round, where also He attained Arhatship. About a million years
ago, then, He chose out from the ship-load which included our 1,200-year group,
a few people whom He hoped to shape for His Race, and with whom He therefore
kept up a connection. Four hundred thousand years later, He picked out some
more. It was rather like looking over a flock of sheep, and choosing out the
most suitable. Of these, numbers would be dropped out on the way, and the
selection would be thus narrowed down from time to time.
391.
The isolation of a tribe from the white fifth sub-race
(the moon-coloured race, as the Stanzas of Dzyan poetically describe it) which
lived in the mountains to the north of Ruta, was the first decisive step in the
building of the Race, and this took place about 100,000 B.C. The fifth sub-race,
it may be said in passing, was addicted to mountains generally, and the Kabyles
of the Atlas Mountains are its best modern representatives. Their religion was
different from that of the Toltecs living in the plains, and the Manu took
advantage of this to isolate the sub-race. Then His Brother the Bodhisattva, who
became later the Lord Gautama Buddha, founded a new religion; and people coming
into that were segregated off, and bidden to keep apart, intermarriage with
other tribes being forbidden. His disciples went out into other lands and
gathered a few together, who, later, joined the main body. They were told that
one day they would journey far away into another land, which became to them `
the promised land,' and that they were under a King and Lord, physically unknown
to them; they were thus kept in a state of preparation for the coming of the
great One who was to lead them forth; He was going to guide His people to a
place of safety, where they would escape the coming catastrophe-- that of 75,025
B.C.1 (¹ Usually called that of 80,000 B.C.) Some of the Hebraic story
was probably derived from these facts, although the separation of the people who
were known in history as Hebrews came later. These ancestors of theirs were
literally a ` chosen people,' set aside for a great purpose.
392.
The immediate cause of the emigration was the impending
subdual of the white sub-race by the Dark Ruler, and the wish of the Manu to
withdraw His people from that influence. So, in 79,797 B.C., He called them to
the coast, that they might be shipped off through the Sahara Sea, whence they
travelled forwards on foot by the south of Egypt to Arabia. A small fleet of
ships, thirty in number, was provided; the largest did not seem to be over 500
tons, and three were cutter-like vessels, carrying only provisions. They were
clumsy-looking ships, sailing fairly well on a wind, but tacking very badly.
Some had oars as well as sails, and these were certainly not well adapted for a
long sea-voyage. However, they had to cross open water only as far as the mouth
of the Sahara Sea (which was a crooked sort of bight opening into the Atlantic),
and then to sail along its almost land-locked waters. The fleet carried over
about two thousand nine hundred persons, deposited them on the shore at the
eastern end of the Sahara Sea, and returned to the place of embarkation for
another set. The voyage was performed three times, and the little nation, made
up to nine thousand men, women and children by the additional few from
elsewhere, set forth eastwards on foot.1 (¹ Five-sixths of the nine
thousand were from the fifth sub-race; one-twelfth were Akkadian, and
one-twelfth Toltec, each the best of its kind.) They had with them a number of
animals also, looking like a cross between a buffalo and an elephant with
something of the pig, reminding one rather of a tapir, a half-and-half sort of
beast. These were used for food when other supplies ran short, but were regarded
as too valuable for such use ordinarily. The whole process of embarkation,
debarkation, settling down to wait for their comrades, and preparing for the
journey on foot, occupied some years, and the Manu, with some other great
Officials, was then sent by the Head of the Hierarchy to lead them to the high
plateau of Arabia, where they were to remain for a time.
393.
[The Atlanteans had conquered Egypt and were ruling the
country at this period. They had built the pyramids, on which Cheops put his
name many thousands of years later; when Egypt was swamped by a flood, some
seventy-seven thousand years ago, the people tried to climb these pyramids for
safety, as the waters rose, but failed in consequence of the smoothness of their
sides. This great Atlantean civilisation perished; then came the flood, and a
negroid domination, and another Atlantean Empire, and an Aryan (13,500 B.C.)--
all perhaps before that which history recognises as ` Egyptian' . But we must
not follow this fascinating by-way.]
394.
Suffice it that a splendid Toltec civilisation was
flourishing in Egypt when our emigrants passed along its borders, and the
Egyptian Ruler, following the Toltec tradition that other races existed in order
that the Toltecs might exploit them, tried to bribe them into remaining in his
land. Some succumbed to the temptation and remained in lower Egypt, in defiance
of the Manu' s command, to become, a little later, slaves to the dominant
Toltecs.
395.
The rest reached Arabia by way of the route which is now
the Suez Canal, and were settled down by the Manu in groups, in the various
valleys of the great Arabian highlands. The country was sparsely inhabited by a
negroid race, and the valleys were fertile when irrigated. But the emigrants did
not much like their new quarters, and while the majority of the people, who had
been prepared by Vaivasvata Manu in Ruta, were even fanatically devoted to Him,
the younger generation did a good deal of grumbling, for it was pioneer work,
not a ` personally conducted Cook' s tour' .
396.
We found in one of the valleys a large number of the
1,200 and 700 years' groups, including many members of ` the family,' and their
devotion certainly ran into violent fanaticism. They proposed to kill all the
people who were not wholly devoted to the Manu, and prepared to fight the
deserters, who had settled down comfortably in Egypt. This drew down upon them
the wrath of the Egyptians and a considerable slaughter followed, our fanatics
being completely wiped out. Mars and Corona gallantly resisted the Egyptian
onslaught, while a side party, with Herakles-- a young unmarried man-- among
them, mistaking the direction of the enemy, was annihilated by the Egyptians;
Vaivasvata Manu, came up with reinforcements and turned the fortunes of the day,
driving back the Egyptians; a side party of them, in turn, was attacked by a
larger force, among which Sirius, the father of Herakles, was prominent, furious
at finding his son among the dead; knowing the country, they shepherded the
Egyptians into a crater-like depression, with steep sides covered with loose
rocks; these rocks they joyfully hurled down on their surrounded foes, and the
last we saw of Sirius on this occasion was his ride down the steep slope on an
avalanche of stones, waving his spear, and shouting a war-song of an
uncomplimentary nature, to become part of the gory mass of crushed men and heavy
stones which filled the lowest part of the crater.
397.
The few Egyptian soldiers who finally escaped and
reached Egypt were incontinently put to death, as having disgraced the army by
their defeat.
398.
After this there was peace for a time for the colonists,
and they cultivated their valleys, which were rather cold in winter, and
blazingly hot in summer. They had brought seeds of various kinds from Atlantis,
and some of these were suitable to their new home; they grew some tasteless
fruits resembling apples, and, on the slopes of the hot part of the valley, they
raised a very large fruit, as large as a man' s head, which, in stickiness and
general messiness, was like a date. A kind of crater, where the sun was
reflected from the rocks, served as a forcing-house, and they produced there a
fruit of the size of a coconut, of which they seemed to be inordinately proud.
It was nutritious, and, boiled in water, it yielded sugar by evaporation of the
water, while the residuum of the fruit gave a flour, which the people made into
a sort of sweet bun. Sirius had two of these buns in his cloth when he rode down
the hill-side of death.
399.
In a succeeding incarnation, Herakles appeared as a
tall, slim, and rather striking-looking young woman, hanging a somewhat squawky
baby-brother-- Sappho-- up to a tamarind-like tree in a bark cradle.
400.
The selection from the fifth Atlantean sub-race grew and
multiplied exceedingly, and became a nation of several millions in about two
thousand years; they were quite isolated from the world in general by a belt of
sand, which could only be crossed by caravans carrying with them plenty of
water, and there was only one way across it with grass and water, about where
Mecca now stands. From time to time emigrants left the main body, some settling
in the south of Palestine and some in the south of Egypt; and these movements
were encouraged by the representatives of the Manu, for the plateau was limited
in size and became crowded to an uncomfortable extent. The least desirable type
were sent away as emigrants, while He preserved unmixed within His belt of
desert the most promising. Suggestions were made from time to time that a
caravan of settlers should go off, make a colony, or found a city; among one of
these the horse was developed. Occasionally He Himself incarnated, and His
descendants formed a class apart of a somewhat improved type. But generally He
was not physically present, but directed affairs through His lieutenants, of
whom Jupiter and Mars were the most prominent.
401.
The people were pastoral and agricultural, not settling
in large cities, and the plateau became thickly populated till, at the end of
about three thousand years, it resembled a single huge village; then He sent out
a very large number of people to Africa to found a big colony, so as to reduce
the numbers in the central settlement. This colony was, later, quite
exterminated.
402.
It was only a few years before the catastrophe of 75,025
B.C., that-- on receipt of a message from the Head of the Hierarchy-- He
selected about seven hundred of His own descendants to lead them northwards. He
had made these people once more into an unorthodox sect, stricter in their lives
than those around them, and they were not looked on favourably by the orthodox,
among whom they lived; He advised them therefore to follow Him to a land where
they might live in peace, escaping from the persecutions of the orthodox, a land
which was distant several years' journey. Even His own lieutenants were not
apparently admitted to His confidence, but were simply following out His
directions; among these were several who are now Masters, and others who have
passed onwards, away from our Earth.
403.
The number of His followers being small, they made a
single caravan, and the Manu sent a message to the Ruler of the Sumiro-Akkad
Empire, praying for peaceful passage through his dominions-- including the
present Turkey in Asia, Persia and the countries beyond; He reached the borders
of that Empire without difficulty, and the Emperor proved friendly; his passport
carried Him right into Turkestan, and then He had to treat with a Confederation
of Turanian feudatory States, including what is now Tibet. He passed between
mountain-ranges, of which the present Tianshan range was one; these marked the
boundaries of the Gobi Sea, and stretched up to the Arctic Ocean. He had passed
through Mesopotamia and Babylonia, slanting north, and the mountains He had to
cross were not of great height; the Turanian Confederation gave permission for
His passage, partly because His people were not numerous enough to cause
apprehension, and partly because He stated that He was carrying out a mission
imposed upon Him by the Most High. After some years of journeying He reached the
shores of the Gobi Sea, but, bearing in mind the message He had received, He did
not remain in the plain, but turned into the hills to the north, where a great
shallow sea stretched northward to the Arctic Ocean and thus to the Pole. The
Lemurian Star was much broken up by this time, and its nearest point was about a
thousand miles to the north. He posted some of His followers on a promontory
looking out to the north-east, but the greater number settled down in a fertile
crater-like depression, something like the ` Devil' s Punch-bowl' in Surrey, but
much larger; this was more inland, though from an adjoining peak they could
catch sight of the sea. From this promontory, which stood high, they could see
the Gobi Sea, and the land where later they were to settle. This was to be their
dwelling until after the great catastrophe, then close at hand. The White Island
was to the south-east and was entirely out of sight, though later, when covered
with lofty temples, became visible from this spot. The promontory and adjoining
land were formed of shelves of rock, which would be very little harmed by
earthquakes unless the whole land was broken up. Here He was to remain till all
danger was passed; and a few years were left in which to settle down. Many of
the people died on the journey and after arrival, and He Himself reincarnated to
improve the type more quickly.
404.
These people, as said above, were really His own family,
being His physical descendants, and, as bodies died, He packed the egos into new
and improved ones.
405.
In Atlantis the reincarnated Metal-Man was again ruling,
none the wiser, apparently, for his previous experiences. He was in possession
of the City of the Golden Gates, and the nobler types of the Atlanteans were
much oppressed.
406.
The City was suddenly destroyed by the rushing in of the
sea through huge fissures caused by explosions of gas; but, unlike the
catastrophe in which the island of Poseidonis sank within twenty-four hours,
these convulsions continued over a period of two years. Further explosions
occurred, new cracks were made, earthquakes shook the land, for each explosion
led to a further disturbance. The Himalayas were heaved up a little higher; the
land to the south of India was submerged with its population; Egypt was drowned,
and only the pyramids were left standing; the tongue of land which stretched
from Egypt to what are now Morocco and Algeria disappeared, and the two
countries remained as an island, washed by the Mediterranean and the Sahara Sea.
The Gobi Sea became circular, and land was thrown up, now Siberia, separating it
from the Arctic Ocean; Central Asia rose, and many torrents, caused by the
unprecedented rainfall, cut deep ravines through the soft earth.
407.
While these seismic changes were in progress, the Manu'
s community was left undisturbed by absolute cleavage or change of surface; but
the people were constantly terrified by the recurring earthquakes, and were
almost paralysed by the fear that the sun (which had been rendered invisible for
a year by masses of cloud, largely composed of fine dust) had gone out for ever.
The weather was unspeakable. Terrible rains fell almost incessantly; masses of
steam and clouds of dust enveloped the earth and darkened the air. Nothing would
grow properly, and they were exposed to severe privations; the community,
originally composed of seven hundred people, which had increased to a thousand,
was reduced by these hardships to about three hundred. Only the stronger
survived; the weaker were killed off.
408.
At the end of five years, they had again become settled;
the punch-bowl depression had become a lake; some years of warm weather followed
the years of disturbance; much virgin soil had been thrown up, and they were
able to cultivate the land. But the Manu was growing old, and an order came to
Him to bring His people to the White Island. To hear was to obey.
409.
There, by the Head of the Hierarchy Himself, the great
plan of the future was unrolled before Him, stretching over thousands upon tens
of thousands of years. His people were to live on the mainland, on the shores of
the Gobi Sea, and they were to increase and grow strong. The new Race was to be
founded on the White Island itself, and when it had increased, a mighty City was
to be built on the opposite shore for its dwelling, and the plan of the City was
suggested. There was a mountain range running along the shores of the Gobi Sea,
some twenty miles distant, and low hills stretched out from that range to the
shore; there were four great valleys, running from within the ranges to the sea,
entirely separated from each other by the intervening hills; He was to plant
certain selected families in these valleys, and develop therein four separate
sub-races, which then were subsequently to be sent to different parts of the
world. Also He was to send some of His own people to be born elsewhere, and then
bring them back, and thus form new admixtures-- for they would have to marry
into His family; and when the type was ready, He would have again to incarnate
in it and to fix it. For the Root Race also some admixture was needed, as the
type was not quite satisfactory.
410.
Thus a main type and several sub-types had to be formed,
and the differences were to be started in the comparatively early days, thus
obtaining five groups to develop on different lines. It is interesting to notice
that after refining His people for generations and forbidding marriage with
those outside themselves, He yet found it necessary, later, to introduce a
little foreign blood, and then to separate off the posterity of that foreign
ancestor.
411.
The Manu proceeded to settle His people (about 70,000
B.C.), bidding them build villages on the mainland, there to increase and
multiply for some thousands of years. They had not to begin at the beginning
like savages, for they were already a civilised people, and used a good deal of
labour-saving machinery. In one of the towns dotted rather widely along the
coastline, we noticed a number of familiar faces. Mars, a grandson of the Manu,
was the head of the community and, with his wife Mercury and his family-- among
whom were Sirius and Alcyone-- lived in a pleasant house, surrounded by a large
garden and fine trees.1 (¹See Appendix III.) Corona was there, and
Orpheus, an elderly and stately gentleman, very dignified and much respected.
Jupiter was the ruler of the province-- if we may so call the whole settlement
of the embryonic Race numbering about seven thousand souls-- wielding an
authority which was delegated to him by the Manu, the recognised King of the
community, residing at Shamballa.
412.
As we were observing this town, there came galloping in
a tumultuous band of men, who had evidently been out on a foray; they were
riding on rough-looking animals, resembling horses, and were headed by Vajra;
they drew up at the house of Mars, who was Varja' s brother, soon after
galloping off again, as tumultuously as they came; and we followed them to
another town, also on the shores of the Gobi, where we found Viraj as Chief. His
son, Herakles, was in the band of raiders, wherein also we Observed Ulysses.
413.
More familiar faces were seen here; Cetus and Ulysses
were at feud; they had first quarrelled over an animal, which both claimed to
have killed, then over some land which both wanted, and finally over a woman
whom both desired. Pollux and Herakles were great friends, Pollux having saved
the life of Herakles in a foray, at the imminent risk of his own. One of the
daughters of Herakles, Psyche, a big bouncing girl, attracted our attention at
the age of fourteen, for she was carrying in her arms a small brother, Fides,
when she was attacked by a large goat; the goat had big horns, curling at the
base and spiked at the top, but the girl was not daunted; she seized the goat by
the horns and turned it head over heels, and then, picking it up by the
hind-legs, she banged it vigorously on the ground. The child Fides seemed to be
rather a family pet, as we noticed Herakles carrying him about on his shoulder.
414.
Much excitement was caused some years later by the Manu,
who was then a very old man, sending for Jupiter, Corona, Mars and Vajra; on
their return, obeying His order, they selected some children from the
settlement, and sent them over to Shamballa; these children were the best in the
community and have since risen to the position of Masters. They were Alcyone' s
sons, Uranus and Neptune, and his daughters Surya and Brihaspati; Saturn and
Vulcan, boys, and Venus, a girl, were also selected. A few women were sent with
them to take care of them, and the children were brought up in Shamballa; in due
course Saturn married Surya, and the Manu was reborn as their eldest son, to
restart the Race on a higher level.
415.
For meanwhile things had been moving on the mainland.
Soon after the removal of the above-named children, the Turanians swept down on
the community like a devastating flood, for this was the event of which the Manu
had forewarned His lieutenants and from which the children were saved; the
assailants were bravely beaten back several times, but horde succeeded horde. At
last the bulk of the fighting men were killed, and the battle became a mere
massacre, not a man, woman or child being left alive. Our old friend Scorpio was
the Chief of one tribe, once more renewing his perennial conflict with Herakles.
A number of promising children were cut off; but, after all, it did not much
matter, for they all went out of earth-life together, grandparents, parents and
children, and were ready to come back when the Manu founded His family. Mars
returned earlier, and was born in Shamballa as a younger brother of the Manu,
while Viraj was His sister.
416.
Then, everything began over again, but on a higher
level; they invented, or re-invented, many useful things, and in some thousands
of years there was a populous and flourishing civilisation. Our old friends were
there among the pioneers, Herakles, this time, as the son of Mars. Those of the
group of Servers then in birth worked hard under the direction of their leaders,
trying to carry out their will. Thick-headed and stupid they often were, and
they made many mistakes, but loyal and whole-hearted they always were, and that
bound them closely to those they served.
417.
Houses were built of great size, to accommodate several
generations (in fact, all the members of a family), and were strongly fortified,
with only one entrance, and the windows opening into a large courtyard in the
middle, where the women and children could be in safety. After a time, strong
walls were built round villages and round towns, as additional defences, for the
savage Turanians were constantly hovering on the outskirts of the community,
terrifying the inhabitants by their wild yells and sudden onslaughts. The
outlying villages were in a continual state of alarm, the dwellers on the
sea-coast being left more at peace.
418.
When the Race had again grown to the proportions of a
small nation, there was another determined onslaught of the Turanians, and
finally another massacre, with only, once more, a few children and their nurses
saved and brought up in Shamballa. It is noteworthy that even the bloodthirsty
Turanians did not attack the White Island, for they held it in the deepest
veneration. Thus the Race-type was ever preserved, even when the bulk of it was
twice swept away, and on each occasion the Manu and His lieutenants incarnated
in it as soon as possible and purified it still further, ever approaching the
type at which He aimed.
419.
CHAPTER XV
420.
THE BUILDING OF THE GREAT CITY
421.
AFTER the second destruction, the Manu thought that a
little more of the Toltec infusion was needed in His Race, which had, it will be
remembered, only one-twelfth of Toltec strain in it; so He sent Mars, who had
been killed in the beginning of the last war, to incarnate in the purest of the
Toltec families in Poseidonis, and called him to return to His infant community
at the age of twenty-five. The fairest and best of the Manu' s own daughters,
who had escaped the second massacre in her childhood, was given to Mars as
wife-- his age-long friend and teacher, Jupiter. Of these two Viraj was born-- a
splendid specimen of all that was best in the two Races whence he sprang. He
married Saturn, and Vaivasvata Manu took birth again as their son. From this
point the Fifth, or Aryan Root-Race, as a really successful foundation, may be
said to begin, for after this it was never again destroyed. This was about
60,000 B.C. The civilisation which rose slowly from that tiny seed was a fine
and pure one, and, shut away as it was to a large extent from the rest of the
world, it flourished exceedingly.
422.
The descendants of the Manu remained on the Island until
they numbered one hundred; it had been decreed by the Manu that when they
reached that number they should go over to the mainland, and begin to work at
the City which He had planned as the future capital of His Race. The plan was
fully worked out, as He wished it to be when finished, all the streets marked
in, their width stated, the size of the chief buildings given, and so on. The
White Island was the centre on which the great main streets converged, so that
if they had crossed the intervening sea they would have ended on the Island. Low
cliffs rose from the sea, and from these the land sloped gradually up to the
lovely purple hills twenty miles away: it was a splendid site for a city, though
open to cold winds from the north; the city spread out fanlike round the edge of
the shore, extending over this great gentle slope, and the main streets were so
wide that even from their extreme ends towards the hills the White Island could
be seen. It was the most prominent object, and seemed to dominate all the City'
s life, when the whole splendid plan was complete. The City was built a thousand
years in advance of the people who were to live in it; it did not grow
disjointedly, like London; and the little group of one hundred-- the children
and grandchildren of the Manu-- looked almost absurdly inadequate for the
immense task which they were to begin, and which their descendants would finish.
They put up temporary quarters for themselves in a way which did not interfere
with the plan, and had, of course, to cultivate enough of the land to enable
them to live. All the time which they were not compelled to give to their own
support, they devoted to preparation for building; they measured the land and
marked out the wide streets according to the plan, cutting down many trees, the
wood of which they used for their own quarters. Presently some were sent to the
hills to look for suitable stone and metals, and they sank mines and dug out
quarries. Out of these they hewed white, grey, red and green stone, stone which
looked like marble, but seemed to be harder than the marble we know; it may be
that they had some secret for hardening it, since they came from Atlantis, where
architecture was carried to great perfection. Later on, they went further
afield, and found some porphyry of a splendid purple colour, which they used
with great effect.
423.
It was a strange sight to see these builders of a future
city at work. Descendants of the Manu, similar in education and training, they
felt and acted like one family, even when they had increased to thousands.
Doubtless the presence of the Manu and of His lieutenants kept this feeling
alive, and made the growing community a real brotherhood, each member knowing
the rest. They worked because they were glad to work, and felt that they were
carrying out the wishes of Him who was at once their Father and their King. They
worked in the fields, they ground corn-- they seemed to have wheat, rye and
oats-- they cut and shaped the huge stones brought from the hills; all was done
joyfully, as a religious duty and as bringing merit, and any form of work was
willingly taken up.
424.
The style of architecture was cyclopean, enormous stones
being used, larger even than those at Karnac They used machinery, and slung
great stones on rollers; sometimes, in difficulties, the Manu gave instructions
which rendered the work easier, possibly by some methods of magnetisation. They
were allowed to use their utmost strength and ingenuity in managing these
immense stones, some of them 160 feet long, and they succeeded in dragging them
along the roads. But for lifting them into their destined places, the Manu and
His lieutenants lightened them by occult means. Some of these lieutenants, above
the rank of Masters, were Lords of the Moon, who had become Chohans of Rays.
They moved about among the people superintending their work, and were spoken of
under the general name of Maharshis. Some names sounded very guttural, as
Rhudhra; another name heard was Vasukhya.1 (¹ We were much surprised at
finding what was evidently a form of Samskrit existing such an enormous time ago
in a recognisable form. It appeared that the language brought from Venus by the
Lords of the Flame was this mother-Samskrit-- truly a ` divine language' -- and,
while the people were in touch with Them, it persisted without much change.) The
buildings were on the Egyptian scale, but were much lighter in appearance; and
this was specially noticeable in the buildings on the White Island, where the
domes were not great spheres, but were bulging at the base, and went up to a
point, like a tightly closed lotus-bud, in which the folded-in leaves had been
given a kind of twist. It was as though two helices, right-handed and left
handed, had been superposed, so that the lines should cross each other, and that
this was worked on to the lotus-bud, bulging at the base. There was immense
solidity in the lower parts of the huge buildings; then a crown-work of minarets
and arches, arches with a peculiar and very graceful curve, and then, on the
top, the fairy-like lotus-bud of a dome.
425.
The whole building was a matter of many hundreds of
years, but the White Island, when complete, was a marvel. The Island itself
sloped up to a central point, and the builders took advantage of this. They
built stupendous Temples on it, all of white marble with inlaid work of gold,
and these covered the whole Island, making it a single sacred City. These rose
towards the huge Temple in the centre, which was crowned with the minarets and
arches mentioned above, with the lotus-bud dome in the middle. The dome was over
the great Hall, wherein the Four Kumaras appeared on special occasions, great
religious festivals, and ceremonies of national importance¹ (¹ Readers of `
Rents in the Veil of Time,' The Theosophist, July, 1910, will remember
in Alcyone' s Life, X, the description of the gathering of the Chiefs of the
emigration in this Hall, and the appearing of the four Kumaras.)
426.
From a distance-- say at the end of one of the City
streets, ten miles away-- the effect of the white and golden City, like a white
dome set in the midst of the blue Gobi Sea,2 (² The Gobi Sea, at that
time, was a little smaller than the present Black Sea in Europe.) all the
buildings seeming to spring upwards into the clear air towards the centre, and
to be crowned with the fairy dome, almost floating in the atmosphere, was
extraordinarily beautiful and impressive. Rising above it in the air, as in a
balloon, and looking down, we could see the White City like a circle, divided by
a cross, for the streets were arranged as four radii, meeting at the central
Temple. Looked at from the north-west, from the promontory of the earlier
settlement, an extraordinary effect was produced, which could hardly have been
accidental. The whole looked like the great Eye of Masonic symbolism, being
foreshortened so that the curves became cylindrical, and the darker lines of the
city on the mainland made the iris.
427.
Both inside and outside, the Temples on the White Island
were adorned with many carvings. A large number of these contained Masonic
symbols, for Masonry inherits its symbols from the Mysteries, and all Aryan
Mysteries were derived from this ancient, centre of Initiation. In one room
attached to the central Temple, apparently used for teaching, there was a series
of carvings, beginning with the physical atom and going on to the chemical
atoms, arranged in order, and with explanatory lines marking the various
combinations. Verily, there is nothing new under the sun.1
(¹ If the present writers had known at the time of the existence of these
carvings, they might have saved themselves much trouble in their researches into
occult Chemistry.)
428.
In another room were many models, in one of which
Crookes' lemniscates were arranged across each other, so as to form an atom with
a fourfold rose. Many things were modelled in alto-relievo, such as the pranic
atom, the oxygen snake, the nitrogen balloon.
429.
Alas! for the great catastrophe which shook these mighty
buildings into ruins. But for that, they might have lasted for thousands upon
thousands of years.
430.
The City of the mainland was built of the
various-coloured stone hewn out of the mountain quarries, some of the buildings
being very effective with the grey and red intermixed. Pink and green was
another favourite combination, and here and there the purple porphyry was
introduced, with striking success. Looking forward through many centuries, we
saw the building still going on, though with many more workers, until the great
City grew into its full magnificence, a capital, building through a thousand
years, for a people that was to become imperial. The workers moved outwards, as
their numbers expanded, bringing more land, which was very fertile, under
cultivation for their support, now working in the fields, now at their huge
Temples. Century after century this expansion continued along the shores of the
Gobi Sea and up the great slope towards the hills, ever following the Manu' s
original plan.
431.
There were gold mines in the hills, and mines for jewels
and precious stones of all sorts. Gold was much used on the buildings,
especially on those made of white marble, and gave an effect of extraordinary
and chaste richness. Jewels were also largely introduced into decorations, inset
as brilliant points in schemes of colour; slabs of chalcedony entered into
decorative designs, and a precious stone, resembling Mexican onyx, was worked
into patterns. One favourite and most effective device in the ornamenting of
large public buildings was a combination of dark green jade and the purple
porphyry.
432.
Carving was largely employed, both outside and inside
buildings, but no paintings were observed, nor drawings on a flat surface, and
no perspective. There were long friezes, representing processions, in
alto-relievo, all the figures being of the same size, no idea of distance being
introduced by reducing the size of the figures. There were no trees or clouds as
background, and no impression of space was given. These friezes recalled the
Elgin marbles, and were exceedingly well done and very natural. Figures in these
friezes were often painted, as were also separate statues, of which there were
many, both in the public streets and the private houses.
433.
The City was connected with the White Island by a
massive and splendid bridge-- a structure so remarkable that it gave its name to
the City, called, because of it, the City of the Bridge.1 (¹ Called
also Manova, the City of Manu.) It was a cantilever Bridge, the form very
graceful, outlined with hewn work of massive scrolls, and decorated with great
groups of statuary, where its ends rested on the cliff of the mainland and on
the Island itself. The stones of the causeway were 160 feet in length and wide
in proportion-- a noble structure, worthy even of the Island to which it was the
sole approach.
434.
The City was at its zenith in 45,000 B.C., when it was
the capital of an immense Empire, which included the whole of East and Central
Asia, from Tibet to the coast and from Manchuria to Siam, besides claiming
suzerainty over all the islands from Japan to Australia. Traces of its
domination are still to be seen in some of these countries; the ineffaceable
stamp of the Aryan blood is set upon races so primitive as the Hairy Ainus of
Japan and the Australian so-called aborigines.
435.
In the zenith of its glory it had the magnificent
architecture we have described, of the cyclopean style as to size, but finished
with great delicacy, and polished to a remarkable degree. We have seen that its
builders erected the marvellous Temples whose colossal ruins are the wonder of
all who have seen them at Shamballa to-day;¹ (¹ Shamballa is still the
Imperishable Sacred Land, where dwell the four Kumaras, and where gather every
seven years, Initiates of all nations.) it was they who dowered the world with
that unequalled Bridge which once linked the Sacred Island with the shore--
which may still be seen standing, mighty as ever, though now only the shifting
desert sand flows beneath it. Its sculpture too was noble, as we have seen, its
colouring brilliant, its mechanical genius considerable. In its prime it
compared not ignobly with Atlantis, and though its luxury was never so great,
its morals were distinctly purer.
436.
Such was the mighty City planned by Vaivasvata Manu and
built by His children. Many and great were the cities of Asia, but the City of
the Bridge outshone them all. And over it ever brooded the mighty Presences who
had, and still have, Their earthly dwelling-place on the sacred White Island,
giving to this one, out of all the cities of earth, the ever-abiding benediction
of Their immediate proximity.
437.
CHAPTER XVI
438.
EARLY ARYAN CIVILISATION AND EMPIRE
439.
THE children of the Manu were in no sense a primitive
people, beginning, as they did, with many hundreds of thousands of years of
civilisation behind them in Atlantis, and thousands of years under their own
Manu, in Arabia and northern Asia. The population could all read and write,
including all those who did what we should call the lowest work; for all work
was regarded as honourable, being done for the Manu, as His work, no matter what
it was. We noticed a man who was cleaning the streets, and as a very dignified
and gorgeously-clothed priest, evidently in high office, came along, he
addressed the sweeper courteously as a brother, as an equal, as one of the
brotherhood of the great family of the Manu' s children. The feeling cultivated
was that of the brotherhood of the Race, a wonderful fundamental equality-- like
that which may sometimes be seen among Freemasons-- and a mutual courtesy; there
was at the same time a full recognition of personal merit, a looking up to the
greater people and much gratitude to them for their help, and a complete absence
of rude self-assertion. There was a kindly feeling of taking everyone at his
best, of taking it for granted that the other man meant well; and so quarrels
were avoided. This Aryan civilisation was in this extraordinarily different from
the more elaborate and luxurious Atlantean one, where each sought his own
comfort, and recognition for himself; and where people distrusted each other and
were mutually suspicious. In this the people trusted one another-- a man' s word
was sufficient; it would have been un-Aryan to break it.
440.
Another curious thing was the number of people everyone
seemed to know. As now in a small village, so there in a large town, for
centuries all the people seemed to know each other, more or less. As the
population increased, and this became impossible, it was the duty of the
officials to know the people of their districts, and the knowledge of a large
number of people was one of the qualifications for office.
441.
The feeling of brotherhood, however, was of a
brotherhood of Race; it did not extend outside the Aryan people themselves, as,
for instance, to the Turanians. They were of a different stock, and a different
culture; they were crafty and cunning, and not to be depended on. Towards them
they showed a marked and very dignified reserve; they were not hostile to
foreigners, nor did they despise them, but they treated them with reserve, as
not of the family. People of other nations were not allowed into the inner parts
of their houses, but only into the outer courts. There were special houses and
courtyards set apart for the lodging of strangers, of whom, however, there were
few; caravans of merchants came occasionally, and embassies from other nations,
and these were received courteously and hospitably, but always with that quiet
reserve which indicated a barrier not to be crossed.
442.
In governing foreign nations, as they came to do later,
they were occasionally hard: this was observed in a Governor, set over
Turanians; he was not cruel nor oppressive, but was stern and somewhat hard.
This stern attitude seemed to be rather characteristic of their foreign rule,
and it was compatible with the warmest feeling of brotherhood to their own Race.
443.
It would seem that here, as everywhere else, a
physical-world-brotherhood demanded a certain common ground of education and
culture, of morality and honour. A man was ` an Aryan,' a ` noble man,' and that
fact implied a code of honour and of customs which could not be disregarded. He
must be, as we should now say, ` a gentleman,' living up to a certain standard
of social obligation. He might do any kind of work, he might rise to any grade
of learning, but there was a certain minimum of good behaviour and good manners
below which he must not fall. Out of this grew the feeling of reserve towards
all ` outside the pale,' as to whose manners and customs, morals and qualities,
nothing was known. The children of the Manu were a nation of aristocrats, in the
true sense of the word, proud of their high descent, and fully recognising the
demands it made upon them. For them, Noblesse oblige
was no empty phrase.
444.
The civilisation was a very bright and happy one, with
much music, dancing and gaiety, and to this their religion conduced, for it was
eminently one of praise and thanksgiving. The people were constantly singing
hymns of praise, and they recognised Devas behind all natural forces. The
Dawn-Maidens were joyously hymned with each morning, and the Spirit in the Sun
was the chief object of worship. The four Kumaras were regarded as Gods, and
Their Presence was evidently felt by a people living so near to Nature as to be
sensitive and psychic. Behind the throne of the Chief of the Kumaras in the
large Hall of the central Temple was an immense golden Sun, a half sphere,
projecting from the wall, and, on days of ceremony, this glowed out with
dazzling light. The planet Venus was also imaged as an object of worship,
perhaps in consequence of the tradition that it was from Venus that the Lords of
the Flame had descended. The Sky itself was worshipped, and at one time there
was worship given to the Atom, as the origin of all things, and a manifestation
of the Deity in miniature.
445.
An annual ceremony may serve as an example of one of
their greater religious festivals.
446.
At an early hour the people-- men, women and children--
were seen marching in procession along the converging streets into the great
crescent which faced the mighty Bridge. Rich silken cloths fluttered from
windows and flag-staffs, and the roads were strewn with blossoms; great braziers
sent up clouds of incense, and the people were clad in silks of many colours,
often heavily jewelled, and wore splendid coral ornaments, and wreaths and
garlands of flowers-- a fairyland of colour-- and they marched with clashing of
metal plates and blasts of horns.
447.
Across the Bridge they passed in orderly succession, but
all sounds sank to silence as they set foot upon the Bridge; and in the silence
they passed on between the mighty Temples to the central Fane, and onwards into
the Hall itself. The great throne hewn out of living rock, gold-encrusted,
jewelled richly, stood on its. rocky platform, over which great symbols, wrought
in gold, were scattered, and before it stood an altar, now piled high with
fragrant woods. Above, the huge golden Sun gleamed faintly, and the planet Venus
hung in air, high in the vault above.
448.
When the Hall was filled to its utmost extent, save in a
space in front and at the sides of the great throne, a stately group entered
from the back, and filled this space, and all bowed low in homage; there stood
the three Manus, arrayed in Their robes of office, and the Mahaguru, the
Bodhisattva of the time, Vyasa, standing beside Vaivasvata. And there was Surya,
close behind His mighty Brother and Predecessor, and nearest to the throne the
three Kumaras; unseen by the crowd probably, but surely dimly felt, hung in the
air, in a great semi-circle., gorgeous purple and silver Devas, watchful also,
attendant. Then over the whole vast assemblage fell an utter silence, as though
men could hardly bear to breathe; and softly, sweetly, scarce seeming to break
the silence, stole out an exquisite strain of music, supporting a chant, intoned
by those Mightiest and Holiest who stood around the throne, an invocation to the
Lord, the Ruler, to come among His own. The solemn hushed accents died into
silence, and then rang out a single silvery note, as though in answer; the great
golden Sun blazed out in dazzling splendour, and below it, just over the throne,
flashed out a brilliant Star, its beams like lightning shooting forth above the
heads of the waiting throng; and HE was there, the supreme Lord of the
Hierarchy, seated on the throne, more radiant than Sun and Star, which indeed
seemed to draw their lustre from Him; and all fell on their faces, hiding their
eyes from the blinding glory of His Presence.
449.
Then, in His gentleness, He softened that glory, so that
all might lift their eyes, and see Him, Sanat Kumara, the ` Eternal Virgin,' ¹
(¹The name, translated from the Samskrit, means ` Eternal Virgin,' the
termination showing that ` Virgin' is masculine.) in all the beauty of His
unchanging Youth, who was yet the Ancient of Days. And a deep breath of awe and
wonder came from the adoring crowd, and a luminous smile, rendering the
exquisite strong beauty of the Face yet more entrancing, answered their simple
reverent gaze of love and worship.
450.
Then He stretched forth His Hands towards the altar in
front of Him, and fire blazed forth upon it, the flames rising high in air. And
then He was gone-- the throne was empty, the Star had vanished, the golden Sun
glowed but faintly, and only the Fire which He had given leapt unchanged upon
the Altar. From this a glowing fragment of wood was given to the priests for the
altars of the various Temples, and to each head of a household present there,1
(¹ In later time, when the population of the City had grown very large,
officials received it, to distribute to the houses in their districts.) and he
received it in a vessel with a lid which closed above it, wherein it remained,
live fire, unquenchable, till it had been carried to the altar of the home.
451.
The processions re-formed and left the Holy Place in
silence, again passing to the Bridge and by it reaching the City. Then came an
outburst of joyous singing, and hand-in-hand the people passed along, and
congratulations were exchanged, and the elders blessed the youngers, and all
were very glad. The sacred fire was placed on the family altar, to set alight
the flame which was to be kept alive through the year, and brands lighted at it
were taken to the houses of those who had not been present, for until the
recurrence of the festival when another year had run its course, such fire could
not be had to hallow the family shrine. After this, there was music, and
feasting, and dancing, until the happy City sank to sleep.
452.
Such was the Festival of the Sacred Fire, held on every
Midsummer Day in the City of the Bridge.
453.
Some of the people devoted themselves almost wholly to
study, and reached great proficiency in occult science, in order to devote
themselves to certain branches of the public service. They became clairvoyant,
and gained control of various natural forces, learning to make thought-forms and
to leave their physical bodies at will. Mindful of the melancholy results in
Atlantis of occult power divorced from unselfishness and morality, the
instructors in these studies chose their pupils with extreme care, and one of
the lieutenants of the Manu maintained a general supervision over such classes.
Some of the students, when proficient, had it as their special duty to the State
to keep the different parts of the Empire in touch with each other; there were
no newspapers, but they conducted what may be called a news department. News was
not published as a rule, but anyone who wanted news about anyone else in any
part of the Empire could go to this central office and obtain it. Thus, there
were Commissioners for the various countries, each of whom gave information
about the country in his charge, obtaining it by occult means. Expeditions sent
out on errands of peace or war were thus followed and news was given of them, as
in modern days by wireless or other telegraphy.
454.
On one occasion, when Corona was ruling a distant
country, the Manu was not able to impress him with His directions; so He bade
one of these trained students to leave his physical body, go astrally to Corona,
and materialise himself on arrival; by this device, the message was delivered to
Corona in his waking consciousness. In this way the Manu remained as the real
Ruler, no matter how far the Empire extended.
455.
Writing was done on various substances; one man was
observed writing with a sharp instrument on a waxy-looking surface in an oblong
case, as though he were etching; then he went over it again with a hollow pen,
out of which flowed a coloured liquid which hardened as it dried, leaving the
script embedded in the wax. Occasionally a man would strike out a method of his
own.
456.
Machinery was not carried to the point reached in
Atlantis; it was simpler, and more of the work was done by hand. The Manu
evidently did not desire the extreme luxury of Atlantis to be reproduced among
His people.
457.
From the small beginning of 60,000 B.C. there gradually
grew up a thickly populated kingdom, which surrounded the Gobi Sea, and obtained
dominion by degrees over many neighbouring nations, including the Turanians who
had so mercilessly massacred its forefathers. This was the root-stock of all the
Aryan nations, and from it went out-- from 40,000 B.C. onwards-- the great
migrations which formed the Aryan sub-races. It remained in its cradle-land
until it had sent out four of these migrations westwards, and had also sent many
huge bands of conquering emigrants into India, who subdued the land and
possessed it; its last remnants only left their home and joined their
forerunners in India shortly before the sinking of Poseidonis, 9,564 B.C.¹ they
were sent away, in fact, in order that they might escape the ruin wrought by
that tremendous cataclysm.
458.
¹ This root-stock is usually called ` the first
sub-race' in Theosophical literature, but it must not be forgotten that this is
the original Root Race from which all the branches, or sub-races, went out. The
first migration is called the second sub-race , and so on. The
emigrants to India all came from this Asian stock, and are the ` first sub-race'
.
459.
From 60,000 B.C. to 40,000 B.C. the parent-stock grew
and flourished exceedingly, reaching the zenith of its first glory at about
45,000 B.C. It conquered China and Japan, peopled chiefly by Mongols-- the
seventh Atlantean sub-race-- going northward and eastward till stopped by the
cold; it also added to its Empire Formosa and Siam, which were populated by
Turanians and Tlavatli-- fourth and second Atlantean sub-races. Then the Aryans
colonised Sumatra and Java and the adjoining islands-- not quite so much broken
up as now; for the most part they were welcomed in these regions by the people,
who looked on the fair-faced strangers as Gods, and were more inclined to
worship than to fight them. An interesting remnant of one of their settlements,
still left in Celebes, is a hill tribe called Toala. This island, to the east of
Borneo, came under their sway, and they stretched down over what is now the
Malay Peninsula, and over the Philippines, the Liu-Kiu Islands, the Eastern
Archipelago, and Papua, the islands on the way to Australia, and over Australia
itself, which was still thickly populated with Lemurians-- third Root Race.
460.
We found Corona, about 50,000 B.C., ruling over a large
kingdom in these island-studded seas; he had been born in that region, and made
for himself a kingdom, recognising the Manu as Overlord, and obeying any
directions which he received from Him. Over all the huge Empire with its many
kingdoms, the Manu was Suzerain. Whether He was in incarnation or not, the Kings
ruled in His name, and He sent directions from time to time as to the carrying
on of the work.
461.
By 40,000 B.C., the Empire began to show signs of
decline, and the islands and the outer provinces were asserting a barbarian
independence. The Manu still occasionally incarnated, but usually directed
things from higher planes. The central kingdom, however, remained splendid in
civilisation, contented and quiescent, for another twenty-five thousand years
and more, while activities were chiefly carried on in directions further afield,
in the building up of sub-races, and in their spreading in all directions.
462.
CHAPTER XVII
463.
THE SECOND SUB-RACE, THE ARABIAN
464.
IT will be remembered that when the Manu went to
Shamballa-- after leading His little flock from Arabia to their temporary
northern resting-place, and, after the great catastrophe of 75,025 B.C.,
bringing them to the White Island-- He was shown by the Head of the Hierarchy
the plan which was to be followed in the shaping of His Race.1 (¹ See
Chapter XIV.) Four long valleys-- running back through the mountain range which
lay twenty miles from the shore of the Gobi Sea, separated from each other by
intervening hills-- were to be used by Him for the segregation and training of
four distinct sub-races. This work was now to begin.
465.
The Manu started by picking out from the great band of
Servers-- who had been developing in the noble Aryan civilisation-- a few
families, willing to act as pioneers, and, leaving the glorious City of the
Bridge, to go out into the wilderness and found His new colony. A large group of
people who, for the most part, are or have been in the Theosophical Society of
our own times, were selected by Him for this pioneer work,¹ and of these a few
families were sent out to lead the way. In the third generation Mars and Mercury
took birth among the descendants of these, and then the Manu and some of the
great people incarnated there to specialise the type, the Manu preparing a
special body of the type at which He was aiming, and incarnating in it, when He
had brought it to the desired point.
466.
¹ They are doing, over again, what they have done so
often before, breaking open the way for a new type of humanity and of
civilisation. They are the pioneers, the sappers and miners, of a great
advancing army, for which they are clearing away jungles, making roads, bridging
rivers. The work may be thankless, but it is necessary, and to many congenial.
467.
This latter group of highly developed Personages set the
type whenever a new sub-race is founded, and the type is then seen at its best:
it is the Golden Age to which each nation looks back in later days. Then the
younger egos come in and carry it on, unable, of course, to keep at the level
set. There is in each case, a group of younger egos sent to prepare the way;
then some older ones come, of the rank which now includes Masters; from these
the greater people take bodies and set the new type. The juniors then flock in
and do the best they can with it, at first led by some of their seniors, and
then later left to themselves to learn their lessons by experience.
468.
Among the juniors chosen to form the first pioneer
families, we noticed Herakles-- a son of Corona and Theodoros-- with Sirius as
wife, Sirius a tall, rather muscular woman, a notable housewife, and very kind
to her rather large family, among whom we observed Alcyone, Mizar, Uranus,
Selene and Neptune.¹ (¹ See Appendix vii, for the complete lists.) Herakles had
brought some Tlavatli nobles as captives from a foray, and the son of one of
these, Apis, married his niece Gemini, much to the anger of the proud Aryan
family, that looked on this marriage as a mésalliance -- an unworthy
mixing of their pure blood; but doubtless it was quietly arranged by the Manu,
in order that a Tlavatli intermixture might be brought in! They had Spica and
Fides as twins, a quaint little pair. Hector and Aurora were another married
pair of the emigrant families, and their daughter Albireo married Selene; they
had Mercury as child. Uranus married Andromeda, and Mars and Venus were born to
them, and Vulcan appeared as a son of Alcyone.
469.
It will be noticed here that two who are now Masters,
Uranus and Neptune, were born in the second generation; Mars and Venus, both now
Masters, were born in the family of these in the third; Mercury, now a Master,
was also born in the third, a child of Selene; and Vulcan, also now a Master, in
the third, a child of Alcyone. In the fourth generation the Manu appeared, as a
son of Mars and Mercury.
470.
At this time some of our friends were living in the City
of the Bridge-- Castor among them, married to Rhea. They thought the people who
went to the valley were behaving very foolishly, for the existing civilisation
was a very fine one, and there was no sense in going off to make a new one, and
to plant turnips in an unreclaimed valley, instead of living in the culture and
order of the City. Besides the new religion followed by the valley-dwellers was
quite unnecessary, the old one being much better. Another of the friends who
accompany Castor through the ages, Lachesis, was a ponderous merchant, with
Velleda as a hasty short-tempered son, who was impolite to customers, much to
the displeasure of his courteous father. Lachesis had married Amalthea, and she
ran away with Calypso, a proceeding which was considered to be most improper. As
she and her lover were not received in the City, they went to the valley, but
met there with no warmer welcome.
471.
The visit of a Toltec Prince from Poseidonis to the City
showed an old friend, Crux, in his person, and among his suite was another old
friend, Phocea.
472.
For some centuries the people in the valley increased
and multiplied, the careful specialisation going on, until in 40,000 B.C., the
Manu thought them sufficiently numerous and sufficiently prepared to be sent out
into the world. He sent them out under the leadership of Mars, supported by
Corona and Theodoros, to retrace the way by which so many thousands of years ago
they had come, to try to Aryanise the descendants of the Arabs whom they had
left behind, for these, of all the Atlanteans, were the nearest to the
possession of the new characteristics. These Arabs were still where He had
settled them-- a number of half-civilised tribes occupying the whole of the
Arabian peninsula, and with a few settlements on the Somali coast. A strong and
friendly power existed at that time in the region now called Persia and
Mesopotamia, and the Manu-- who had later joined the emigrants and headed His
forces-- had no difficulty in obtaining permission to march His host through it
along a carefully indicated and guarded route. It is noteworthy that this
migration differs in character from those of later years. In those which
descended into India the entire tribe moved, from the old men and women to the
babies; but in this case the old and those with many young children were advised
to stay behind, and the migration was confined to men of fighting age, with
their wives and a comparatively small number of children. Many also were young
unmarried men. The number of fighters was about 150,000 and the women and
children may have added another 100,000 to the party.
473.
The Manu had sent messengers two years before to prepare
the Arab tribes for His coming, but the news had not been altogether favourably
received, and He was by no means sure of a welcome. When He had crossed the belt
of desert which then, as now, separated Arabia from the rest of the world, and
came in sight of the first of the Arab settlements, a body of armed horsemen
appeared in front of Him and incontinently attacked the van of His army. He
easily repulsed them, and, capturing some of them, endeavoured to make them
understand that His mission was peaceful. The language had changed so much that
they had great difficulty in understanding one another at all, but He contrived
to reassure His captives and sent them to arrange an interview with their Chief.
After some trouble and the interchange of more messages, the Chief came,
suspicious and unconciliatory; but a long conversation and full explanations
somewhat changed his attitude, and it occurred to him that he might use this
unusual sort of invasion for his own purposes. He was at deadly feud with a
neighbouring tribe, and while he had no force fit to cope with the Manu' s
capable-looking army, he felt that if he could enlist these strangers on his
side he could make short work of his ancient enemies. So he temporised, and
agreed to allow the visitors to establish themselves in a great desolate valley
on the borders of his territory.
474.
They thankfully accepted this offer, and very soon
changed the whole aspect of that valley. Coming as they did from a
highly-civilised nation, they knew all about the science of well-boring, and
they presently had the entire valley efficiently irrigated, and a great stream
flowing down the middle of it. Within a year the whole of their tract of country
was thoroughly cultivated and some good crops had already been obtained; in
three years they were fully established as a prosperous and self-supporting
community.
475.
The Chieftain who had received them, however, was by no
means satisfied; he cast a jealous eye upon the improvements they had made, and
felt that, as this was part of his territory, his own people and not strangers
ought to reap the advantages of it. Also, when asked to join in predatory
expeditions, the Manu had said quite plainly that although He was grateful to
His host and ready at any time to defend him from aggression, He would be no
party to an unprovoked attack upon peaceable people. This made the Chief very
angry-- the more so as he did not see his way to enforcing his commands. At last
he patched up a peace with his hereditary enemy, and induced him to join him in
an endeavour to exterminate the new-comers.
476.
This little scheme, however, came hopelessly to grief;
the Manu defeated and killed both the Chiefs, and made Himself Ruler over their
combined States. Their subjects, when once the battle was over, philosophically
accepted a new Ruler, and soon found that they were much more prosperous and
happy under the improved regime, though it involved less fighting and more
regular work. Thus the Manu made secure his footing in Arabia, and promptly
proceeded to Aryanise his new subjects as rapidly as possible. Other tribes
attacked Him now and then, but were so invariably defeated with heavy loss that
they presently came to recognise the wisdom of letting Him alone. As years
rolled on His kingdom prospered mightily, and grew ever stronger, while constant
internecine struggles enfeebled and impoverished the other tribes. The natural
result followed: by degrees, by taking opportunities as they offered, He
absorbed tribe after tribe, usually without bloodshed and with the full consent
of the majority. Before His death, forty years later, the upper half of Arabia
owned His sway, and might be regarded as definitely Aryan. He might have
acquired sovereignty over the south as well, but for the advent of a religious
fanatic, who reminded his people that they were a chosen race; this man-- whom,
as he will reappear later, and therefore needs a distinguishing name, we will
call Alastor-- took his stand on the directions of their Manu, given in ancient
days, forbidding them to intermarry with aliens. They must therefore on no
account intermingle their blood with that of these Gentiles, who came no one
knew whence, with their pretended civilisation and their odious tyranny, which
denied to man even his inalienable right to kill his fellow-man freely, whenever
he pleased. This appealed to the fierce impatience of control which is a
prominent feature of the Arab character, and the southern tribes, who had for
centuries squabbled viciously among themselves, actually united now to oppose
their re-incarnated Leader. And they opposed Him in His own name, making His
original order as to purity of race their rallying cry against Him.
477.
It was quaint that Vaivasvata Manu should thus be used
against Himself, but Alastor was really only an anachronism, set in a groove
from which he could not be moved. When the Manu had needed a separate people He
had forbidden intermarriage with outsiders; when He wished to Aryanise the
descendants of His old followers, intermarriage became essential. But to
Alastor-- as to many of his ilk-- growth and adaptation were heresy, and he
played on the fanaticism of his followers.
478.
While this long struggle was going on, the Manu had the
joy, in one of the intervals of comparative peace, of receiving a visit from His
mighty Brother, the Mahaguru-- the Buddha-to-be-- who came to the second
sub-race ere it began its long career of conquest-- to indoctrinate it with the
new religion which He had been teaching in Egypt as a reform of the ancient
faith there prevailing.
479.
The great Atlantean Empire in Egypt-- which had
quarrelled with Vaivasvata Manu when He was leading His people away from the
catastrophe of 75,025 B.C., to settle in Arabia-- had perished in that
cataclysm, when Egypt went under water. When the swamps later became
inhabitable, a negroid people possessed the land for a while, and left behind
them incongruous flints and other such barbarous remains to mark their
occupation. After these, came the second Atlantean Empire with a great dynasty
of Divine Kings, and with many of the heroes whom Greece later regarded as
demi-gods, such as Herakles of the twelve labours, whose tradition was handed on
to Greece. This Atlantean Empire lasted until about 13,500 B.C., when the Aryans
came from southern India and made there an Empire of the Aryan root-stock. This
Atlantean Empire was therefore ruling in 40,000 B.C., when the Manu was again in
Arabia, and had attained to a very high state of civilisation, stately and
splendid; it had immense Temples, such as that of Karnac, with long and very
gloomy passages, and a very ornate ritual, with elaborate religious teaching.
480.
The Egyptians were a profoundly religious race, and they
lived through the stories belonging to their faith with an intensity of reality
of which only a faint reflection is now seen among Roman and Anglican Catholics
on such days as Good Friday. They were psychic, and felt the play of
super-physical influences, and hence were without scepticism as to the existence
of higher beings and higher worlds; their religion was their very life. They
built their huge Temples to produce the impression of vastness and greatness, to
instil reverence into the minds of the lower-class people. All the colour and
splendour of life circled round their religion. The people normally wore white,
but the religious processions were gorgeous rivers of splendid colour,
glittering with gold and gems. The ceremonies accompanying the celebration of
the death of Osiris palpitated with reality; the mourning for the murdered God
was real mourning; the people wept and wailed aloud, the whole multitude being
carried away with passionate emotion and calling on Osiris to return.
481.
It was to this people that the Mahaguru came as Tehuti
or Thoth, called later by the Greeks Hermes. He came to teach the great doctrine
of the ` Inner Light' to the priests of the Temples, to the powerful sacerdotal
hierarchy of Egypt, headed by its Pharaoh. In the inner court of the chief
Temple He taught them of “the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the
World”-- a phrase of His that was handed down through the ages, and was echoed
in the fourth Gospel in its early Egyptian-coloured words. He taught them that
the Light was universal, and that Light, which was God, dwelt in the heart of
every man: “I am that Light,” He bade them repeat, “that Light am I.” “That
Light,” He said, “is the true man, although men may not recognise it, although
they neglect it. Osiris is Light; He came forth from the Light; He dwells in the
Light; He is the Light. The Light is hidden everywhere; it is in every rock and
in every stone. When a man becomes one with Osiris the Light, then he becomes
one with the whole of which he was part, and then he can see the Light in
everyone, however thickly veiled, pressed down, and shut away. All the rest is
not; but the Light is. The Light is the life of men. To every man-- though there
are glorious ceremonies, though there are many duties for the priest to do, and
many ways in which he should help men-- that Light is nearer than aught else,
within his very heart. For every man the Reality is nearer than any ceremony,
for he has only to turn inwards, and then will he see the Light. That is the
object of every ceremony, and ceremonies should not be done away with, for I
come not to destroy but to fulfil. When a man knows, he goes beyond the
ceremony, he goes to Osiris, he goes to the Light, the Light Amun-Ra, from which
all came forth, to which all shall return.”
482.
And again: “Osiris is in the heavens, but Osiris is also
in the very heart of men. When Osiris in the heart knows Osiris in the heavens,
then man becomes God, and Osiris, once rent into fragments, again becomes one.
But see! Osiris the Divine Spirit, Isis, the Eternal Mother, give life to Horus,
who is Man, Man born of both, yet one with Osiris. Horus is merged in Osiris,
and Isis, who had been Matter, becomes through him the Queen of Life and Wisdom.
And Osiris, Isis, and Horus are all born of the Light.”
483.
“Two are the births of Horns. He is born of Isis, the
God born into Humanity, taking flesh of the Mother Eternal, Matter, the
Ever-Virgin. He is born again into Osiris, redeeming his Mother from her long
search for the fragments of her husband scattered over the earth. He is born
into Osiris when Osiris in the heart sees Osiris in the heavens, and knows that
the twain are one.”
484.
So taught He, and the wise among the priests were glad.
485.
To Pharaoh, the Monarch, He gave the motto: “Look for
the Light,” for He said that only as a King saw the Light in the heart of each
could he rule well. And to the people He gave as motto: “Thou art the Light. Let
that Light shine.” And He set that motto round the pylon in a great Temple,
running up one pillar, and across the bar, and down the other pillar. And this
was inscribed over the doors of houses, and little models were made of the pylon
on which He had inscribed it, models in precious metals, and also in baked clay,
so that the poorest could buy little blue clay models, with brown veins running
through them, and glazed. Another favourite motto was: “Follow the Light,” and
this became later: “Follow the King,” and this spread westward and became the
motto of the Round Table. And the people learned to say of their dead: “He has
gone to the Light.”
486.
And the joyous civilisation of Egypt grew yet more
joyous, because He had dwelt among them, the embodied Light. The priests whom He
had taught handed on His teachings and His secret instructions which they
embodied in their Mysteries, and students came from all nations to learn the `
Wisdom of the Egyptians,' and the fame of the Schools of Egypt went abroad to
all lands.
487.
At this time He went over to Arabia, to teach the
leaders of the sub-race settled there. Deep was the joy in each as the mighty
Brothers clasped hands and smiled into each other' s eyes, and thought, in Their
exile, of Their far-off home, of the City of the Bridge and of white Shamballa.
For even the Great Ones must be sometimes weary, when They are living in the
midst of the littleness of ignorant men.
488.
Thus to the second sub-race came the Supreme Teacher,
and gave to them the doctrine of the Inner Light.
489.
To return to the history of the growth of this people in
Arabia. In consequence of the opposition raised against the Manu by Alastor in
the south, the peninsula of Arabia was divided into two parts, and the Manu' s
successors, for many generations, were satisfied to maintain their kingdom
without seeking to increase its borders. After some centuries, a more ambitious
Ruler succeeded to the throne, and, taking advantage of local dissensions in the
south, marched his armies clear down to the ocean, and proclaimed himself
Emperor of Arabia. He allowed his new subjects to retain their own religious
ideas, and as the new Government was in many ways an improvement over the old,
there was no lasting opposition to the conqueror.
490.
A certain fanatical section of the southerners, however,
felt it their duty to protest against what they considered the triumph of evil;
and under a prophet of rude and fiery eloquence, they abandoned their conquered
fatherland and settled as a community on the opposite Somali coast.
491.
There, under the rule of the prophet and his successors,
they lived for some centuries, greatly increasing in numbers, until an event
occurred which caused a serious rupture. It was discovered that the ruling
prophet of the period, while proclaiming fanatical purity of race, had himself
formed an attachment to a young Negress from the interior. When this came to
light there was a great uproar, but the prophet was equal to the occasion, and
promulgated as a new revelation the idea that the stern prohibition against
intermarriage was intended only to prevent them from mingling with the
new-comers from the north, and did not at all apply to the Negroes, who indeed
were to be regarded as slaves, as goods and chattels rather than as wives. This
bold pronouncement divided the community; the majority accepted it, at first
hesitatingly and then with enthusiasm, and black ` slaves' were purchased with
avidity. But a fairly large minority rebelled against the revelation, and
denounced it as merely a clumsy artifice to shield a licentious priest (as
indeed it was); and when they saw themselves outvoted they drew apart in horror,
and declared that they could no longer dwell amongst heretics who had abandoned
all principle. An ambitious preacher, who had always yearned to be a leader, put
himself at their head, and they made themselves into a huge caravan and departed
in virtuous indignation. They wandered round the shore of the Gulf of Aden and
up the coast of the Red Sea, eventually finding their way into Egyptian
territory. Their curious story happened to take the fancy of the Pharaoh of the
period, and he offered them an outlying district of his kingdom if they chose to
settle there. They accepted, and lived there peacefully enough for centuries,
flourishing under the beneficent Egyptian Government, but never in any way
intermingling with its people.
492.
Eventually some Pharaoh made a demand upon them for
additional taxation and forced work, which they considered an infringement of
their privileges; so once more they undertook a wholesale migration, and this
time settled in Palestine, where we know them as the Jews, still maintaining as
strongly as ever the theory that they are a chosen people.
493.
But the majority, left behind in Somaliland, had their
adventures also. Now that, owing to the slave-traffic, they became better known
to the tribes of the interior, whom they had always previously kept rigidly
outside their bounds, the savages realised the wealth to be obtained from
robbing the semi-civilised, and the tribes began a series of descents upon the
colony, which so harassed its members that, after fighting them for many years,
losing thousands of lives, and finding their territory more and more
circumscribed every decade, they too decided to abandon their homes, and migrate
once more across the Gulf to the land of their fore-fathers. They were received
in a friendly manner, and were soon absorbed into the general mass of the
population. They had called themselves ` the true Arabs,' though they deserved
that title less than any; and even to-day there is a tradition that the true
Arabs landed at Aden, and slowly spread northwards; even to-day may be seen
among the Hamyaritic Arabs of the southern part of the country the indelible
traces of that admixture of negroid blood so many thousands of years ago; even
to-day we may hear a legend that the Mostareb or adscititious Arabs of the
northern half went away somehow for a long time into Asia, far away beyond
Persia, and then returned, bearing with them many marks of their stay in foreign
lands.
494.
The second sub-race grew and increased, flourishing
exceedingly for many thousands of years, and extending its dominion over nearly
the whole of Africa, except that part which was in the hands of Egypt. Once,
very much later, they invaded Egypt, and for a short time ruled as the Hyksos
Kings, but their palmy days were when they ruled the great Algerian island,
pushed their way down the east coast to the very Cape of Good Hope itself, and
founded a kingdom which included all Matabeleland and the Transvaal and the
Lorenzo Marques district.
495.
Our band of pioneers, after several births in Arabia,
took part in the building of this South African Empire, and we found Mars there
as Monarch, with His faithful Herakles as ruler of a province under him. Sirius
was also born in Mashonaland, where he married Alcyone, and among their negro
servants we find the faithful hand-maiden of many lives, Boreas. The scenery in
Matabeleland was beautiful, and there were valleys full of fine trees, and
studded with herds of antelopes. Great cities were made of the favourite massive
type, and huge Temples, and the civilisation gradually built up was by no means
an unworthy one. But the gulf between the two peoples, the native Africans and
the Arab conquerors, was too wide to be spanned, and the Africans remained
labourers and domestic servants, kept entirely in subjection.
496.
The Arabs made settlements also on the West Coast of
Africa, but there they came into collision with men from Poseidonis, and were in
the end entirely driven back. Madagascar was invaded, the southern Empire trying
to occupy it, but it succeeded only in maintaining for a time settlements on
different parts of the coast.
497.
When the great Sumero-Akkad Empire of Persia,
Mesopotamia and Turkestan finally broke up into small States and disorder, an
Arab monarch conceived the bold idea of reuniting it under his own leadership.
He led his armies against it, and, after twenty years of strenuous fighting,
made himself master of the plains of Mesopotamia and of almost the whole of
Persia, up to the great salt lake of Khorasan, where the desert now is. But he
could not conquer Kurdistan, nor could he subdue the mountain tribes who
harassed his armies on their way. Then he died, and his son wisely set himself
to consolidate rather than to extend his Empire. It held together well for some
centuries, and might have endured much longer, but for the fact that dynastic
troubles broke out in Arabia itself, and the governor of Persia, a cousin of the
Arab King, seized the opportunity to proclaim himself independent. The Arab
dynasty which he thus founded lasted two hundred years, but amidst incessant
warfare; then again came a period of upheaval and of small tribes, and frequent
raids from the savage Central Asian nomads, who play so prominent a part in the
history of that region. One Arab King was tempted by reports which reached him
of the fabulous wealth of India to send a fleet across to attack it; but that
was a failure, for his fleet was promptly destroyed and his men killed or taken
prisoners.
498.
After the final collapse of the Arabian Empire of Persia
and Chaldaea, there were centuries of anarchy and bloodshed, and the countries
were becoming almost depopulated; so the Manu at last determined to come to
their rescue, and sent forth to them His third sub-race, which established the
great Persian Empire of the Iranians.
499.
CHAPTER XVIII
500.
THE THIRD SUB-RACE, THE IRANIAN
501.
AGAIN we return to the City of the Bridge, still great,
though decreasing in splendour, for we have come to the year 30,000 B.C. An
interval of ten thousand years elapsed after the despatch of the second sub-race
before the Manu sent forth the third. The men for this work had been carefully
prepared through many centuries, like the others; He had kept them apart in one
of His mountain-valleys, and developed them until they showed as quite a
distinct type. In His original selection in Atlantis, He had included a small
proportion of the best of the sixth Atlantean sub-race, and He now utilised the
families which had preserved most of that Akkadian blood, sending into
incarnation in them His group of pioneers. One or two of them were sent further
afield to bring back a strain of Akkadian blood from its home in more western
countries. Thus we observed Herakles, a strong good-looking young man, arriving
at the City of the Bridge in a caravan from Mesopotamia, his birthplace; he was
dolichocephalous, an Akkadian of pure blood. He had joined the caravan from a
mere spirit of adventure, the desire of high-spirited youth to see the world,
and certainly had not the faintest idea that he had been sent to Mesopotamia to
take birth, and was being drawn back to Central Asia to rejoin his old friends
in their accustomed pioneer work. He was immensely attracted by the beauty and
splendour of the ancient and ordered civilisation into which he came, and
promptly anchored himself therein by falling in love with Orion, a daughter of
Sirius.
502.
This proceeding was frowned upon by Sirius and his wife
Mizar, for Sirius was a younger son of Vaivasvata Manu and Mercury, and he
disapproved of the introduction of a young Akkadian into his family circle. But
a hint from his Father was enough to ensure his compliance, for he was, as ever,
promptly obedient to authority, and the Manu was at once his Father and his
King. In order to comply with the law which the Manu Himself had established, it
was necessary that Herakles should be adopted into an Aryan family, so he was
accepted into that of Osiris, an older brother of Sirius.
503.
The Manu was very old, and as Sirius was not wanted for
the succession, he was packed off to the valley selected for the building up of
the third sub-race, with his family, including his son-in-law, Herakles, and his
children.1 (¹ See Appendix viii, for complete lists.) Pallas-- the
Plato of later history-- was there as a priest, and Helios as a priestess, a
tall commanding figure, with dignified gestures.
504.
The people of this valley, as they multiplied, were more
pastoral than agricultural, keeping large herds of sheep and cattle and numbers
of horses.
505.
The Manu who, on this occasion, had largely modified His
appearance, came into the sub-race in the fifth generation, and He allowed the
people to multiply for some two thousand years until there was available an army
of three hundred thousand fighting men, fit to undergo hardship and strenuous
marching. He then sent into incarnation Mars, Corona, Theodoros, Vulcan and
Vajra, fit captains for His host, and He led it forth Himself. This time it was
no ordinary migration; it was simply an army on the march. The women and
children were left behind in the valley, where Neptune, the wife of Mars, and
Osiris, the wife of Corona, strong and noble matrons, took into their hands the
direction of affairs, and ruled the community well.1 (¹ See Appendix
ix.)
506.
A fine body-guard of young unmarried men acted as staff
to the leaders, ready to be sent off with messages in any direction; they were
very proud of themselves and very gay, enthusiastic over the idea that they were
going out for a real good fight under the Manu Himself.
507.
But it was no holiday march, for the route lay through a
difficult country; some of the passes across the end of the Tianshan range,
where it curves round into the Kashgar district, were nine thousand feet in
height; for part of the way they followed the course of a river which passed
through ravines and valleys. The Manu poured His great army of three hundred
thousand splendid fighting men into Kashgar, defeating easily such of the nomad
hordes as ventured to attack Him as He crossed their deserts. These tribes
buzzed round the fringe of the army, and there were many skirmishes, but no
battles of any account. The weapons used were long and short lances and spears,
short strong swords, slings and bows. The horsemen used lances and swords, and
had round shields slung across their backs; the footmen carried spears, and
there were bodies of archers and slingers, the former marching in the centre,
and the archers and slingers on the outside.
508.
Sometimes, as they neared a village, the villagers-- who
dreaded and hated the warlike hill tribes-- would meet and welcome them,
bringing cattle and food of all sorts. Long harassed by forays, often attacked,
robbed and massacred, the people of the plains were inclined to welcome a power
which would restore and maintain order.
509.
Persia was overrun without much difficulty in the course
of two years, and then Mesopotamia was subdued. The Manu established military
posts at frequent intervals, dividing the country among His chiefs. Forts were
built, first of earth and later of stones, until a network was made over Persia
to prevent raids from the mountains. No attempt was made to conquer the warlike
tribes, but they were practically confined within their fastnesses, and were no
longer permitted to plunder the peaceable inhabitants of the plains.
510.
The body-guard, now bearded and seasoned warriors,
accompanied their Chiefs everywhere, and the land was conquered right down to
the desert of the south, and up to the Kurdish mountains on the north. For some
years there was occasional fighting, and it was not until the country was quite
peaceful and settled that the Manu called to it the vast caravan of the wives
and children of the soldiers, left behind in the valley of the third sub-race.
511.
The arrival of the caravan was a matter of great
rejoicing, and marriages became the order of the day. Herakles and Alcyone fell
in love with the same young woman, Fides, a handsome girl with a decided nose;
she preferred Alcyone, and the disconsolate Herakles decided to commit suicide,
life being no longer worth living; his father, Mars, however, came down upon
him, bidding him not to be a fool, and sent him off on an expedition against an
insurgent chief, Trapezium; under these conditions Herakles recovered, defeated
his adversary, came back quite contented, and married Psyche, a niece of Mars,
who had been adopted by him after her father was slain in battle.
512.
For the next fifty years the Manu kept this new Empire
under His direct rule, visiting it several times, and appointing members of His
family as its Governors; but just before His death He resigned His own throne in
Central Asia to His grandson Mars, appointed Mars' next brother, Corona, as the
independent King of Persia, with Theodoros under him as Governor of Mesopotamia.
From this time the third sub-race quickly increased in power. In a few centuries
it dominated the whole of western Asia from the Mediterranean to the Pamirs, and
from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Aral. With certain changes its Empire lasted
until about 2200 B.C.
513.
In this long period of twenty-eight thousand years, one
event stands out as of supreme importance-- the coming of the Mahaguru as the
first Zarathustra, the founding of the Religion of the Fire, in 29,700 B.C.
514.
The country had become fairly settled under the reigns
of the Kings who had succeeded Corona, of whom Mars, the Ruler of the time-- of
course in a new body-- was the tenth. Military rule had passed away, though
occasional raids reminded the inhabitants of their turbulent neighbours on the
further side of the ring of forts, now well-built and strong. It was in the main
an agricultural country, though large numbers of herds and flocks were kept, and
it was these which specially tempted descents from the hills.
515.
The second son of Mars was Mercury, and his body was
chosen as the vehicle for the Supreme Teacher; Surya was the Chief Priest, the
Hierophant, of the time, at the head of the State religion, a mixture of Nature
and Star Worship, and he wielded an immense authority, chiefly because of his
office, but also partly because he was of the blood royal. The fact that Mercury
had been chosen to surrender his body for the use of the Mahaguru had been
communicated to his father as well as to the Chief Priest, and from his
childhood he had been carefully trained in view of his glorious destiny, Surya
taking charge of his education, and the father co-operating in every way in his
power.
516.
The day arrived when the first public appearance of the
Mahaguru was to be made; He had come from Shamballa in His subtle body, and had
taken possession of the body of Mercury, and a great procession started from the
Royal Palace to the chief Temple of the city. In it walked, on the right, under
a golden canopy, the stately figure of the King; the jewelled canopy of the High
Priest glittered on the left; and between them was carried, shoulder-high so
that all might see, a golden chair, in which sat the well-known figure of the
King' s second son. But what was there that caused a murmur of surprise, of
wonder, as he passed along? Was that really the Prince, whom they had known from
childhood? Why was he carried high as the centre of the procession, while King
and Hierophant walked humbly beside him? What was this new stateliness, this
unknown dignity, this gaze, so piercing yet so tender, that swept across the
crowd? Not thus had held himself, not thus had looked at them, the Prince who
had grown up among them.
517.
The procession swept on and entered the huge courtyard
of the Temple, crowded with people in the many-coloured garments of festival
days, when each wore a mantle of the colour of his ruling planet; down the sides
of the steps which rose to the platform in front of the great door of the Temple
were ranged the priests in long white garments, and rainbow-coloured over-robes
of silk; in the midst of the platform an altar had been erected, and on it wood
was piled, and fragrant gums, and incense, but no smoke arose-- for the pile, to
the people' s surprise, was unlighted.
518.
The procession passed on to the foot of the steps, and
there all halted, save the three central figures; they ascended the steps, the
King and the Hierophant placing themselves to the right and left of the altar
and the Prince, who was the Mahaguru, in the centre, behind it.
519.
Then Surya, the Hierophant, spoke to the priests and to
the people, telling them that He who stood there behind the altar was no longer
the Prince they had known, but that He was the Messenger from the Most High and
from the Sons of the Fire who dwelt in the far East, whence their forefathers
had come forth. That He had brought Their word to Their children, to which all
should yield reverence and obedience, and he bade them listen while the great
Messenger spake in Their Name. As the Head of their faith, he humbly bade Him
welcome.
520.
Then over the listening throng rang the silver voice of
the Mahaguru, and none there was who could not hear it as though spoken to him
alone. He toll them that He had come from the Sons of the Fire, the Lords of the
Flame, who dwelt in the sacred City of the White Island, in far Shamballa. He
brought them a revelation from Them, a symbol which should ever keep Them in
their minds. He told them how the Fire was the purest of all elements and the
purifier of all things, and that thereafter it should be for them the symbol of
the Holiest. That the Fire was embodied in the Sun in the heavens, and burned,
though hidden, in the heart of man. It was heat, it was light, it was health and
strength, and in it and by it all had life and motion. And much He told them of
its deep meaning, and how in all things they should see the hidden presence of
the Fire.
521.
Then He lifted up His right hand, and behold! there
shone in it a Rod, as of lightning held in bondage, yet shooting out its flashes
on every side; and He pointed the Rod to the East of the Heavens, and cried some
words aloud in an unknown tongue; and the heavens became one sheet of flame, and
Fire fell blazing down upon the altar, and a Star shone out above His Head and
seemed to bathe Him in its radiance. And all the priests and the people fell
upon their faces, and Surya and the King bowed down in homage at His feet, and
the clouds of fragrant smoke from the altar veiled the three for a few moments
from sight.
522.
Then, with His hand upraised in blessing, the Mahaguru
descended the steps, and He, with the King and the Hierophant, returned with the
procession to the Palace whence they had come. And the people marvelled greatly
and rejoiced, because the Gods of their forefathers had remembered them, and had
sent them the Word of Peace. And they carried home the flowers which had rained
down upon them from the sky when the Fire had passed, and kept them in their
shrines as precious heirlooms for their descendants.
523.
The Mahaguru remained for a considerable time in the
city, going daily to the Temple to instruct the priests; He taught them that
Fire and water were the purifiers of all else, and must never be polluted, and
that even the water was purified by the Fire; that all fire was the Fire of the
Sun, and was in all things and might be released as fire; that out of the Fire
and out of the water all things come, for the Fire and the water were the two
Spirits, Fire being life and water form.1
524.
¹ Possibly out of this arose the later teaching of
Ormuzd and Ahriman. There are passages which show that the double of Ormuzd was
not originally an evil power, but rather matter, while Ormuzd was Spirit.
525.
The Mahaguru had round Him a quite august assemblage of
Masters, and others less advanced. He left these to carry on His teaching when
He departed.
526.
His departure was as dramatic as His first preaching.
527.
The people were gathered together to hear Him preach, as
He was wont to do occasionally, and they knew not that it was for the last time.
He stood, as before, on the great platform, but there was no altar. He preached,
inculcating the duty of gaining knowledge and of practising love, and bade them
follow and obey Surya, whom He left in His place as Teacher. And then He told
them that He was going, and He blessed them, and lifting up His arms to the
eastern sky He called aloud; and out of the sky came down a whirling cloud of
flame, and enwrapped Him as He stood, and then, whirling still, it shot upwards
and fled eastwards, and-- He was gone.
528.
Then the people fell on their faces and cried out that
He was a God, and they exulted exceedingly that He had lived among them; but the
King was very sad, and mourned for His departure many days. And Mercury, who, in
his subtle body, had ever remained near Him, at His service, returned with Him
to the Holy Ones, and rested for a while in peace.
529.
After He had gone, Star-worship did not at once
disappear, for the people regarded His teaching as a reform, not as a
substitution, and still worshipped the Moon, and Venus, and the constellations,
and the planets; but the Fire was held sacred as the image, the emblem, and the
being of the Sun, and the new religion rather enfolded the old one than replaced
it. Gradually the Faith of the Fire grew stronger and stronger; Star-worship
retreated from Persia to Mesopotamia, where it remained the dominant faith, and
took a very scientific form. Astrology there reached its zenith, and
scientifically guided human affairs, both public and private. Its priests
possessed much occult knowledge, and the wisdom of the Magi became famed
throughout the East. In Persia, the Religion of the Fire triumphed, and later
Prophets carried on the work of the great Zarathustra, and built up the
Zoroastrian Faith and its literature; it has endured down to our own day.
530.
The third sub-race numbered about a million souls when
they settled down in Persia and Mesopotamia, and they multiplied rapidly under
the favourable conditions of their new home, and also incorporated in their
nation the sparse population which existed in the country when they entered it.
531.
In the twenty-eight thousand years of the Persian Empire
there were naturally many fluctuations; most of the time Persia and Mesopotamia
were under separate rulers, of whom sometimes the one, sometimes the other, was
nominally Overlord; sometimes the two countries were split up into smaller
States, owing a kind of loose feudal allegiance to the central King. All through
their history they had constantly recurring difficulties with the nomad
Mongolians on one hand, and the mountaineers of Kurdistan and the Hindu Kush on
the other. Sometimes the Iranians drew back for a time before these tribes;
sometimes they pushed the frontier of civilisation further forward, and drove
the savages back. At one period they ruled most of Asia Minor, and made
temporary settlements in several of the countries bordering the Mediterranean;
at one time they held Cyprus, Rhodes and Crete; but on the whole in that part of
the world the Atlantean power was too strong for them, and they avoided conflict
with it. At this western boundary of their kingdom powerful Scythian and Hittite
confederations disputed their dominion at various points of their history; once
at least they conquered Syria, but seemed to have found it a useless acquisition
and soon abandoned it; and twice they embroiled themselves with Egypt, against
which they could do but little. During most of this long period they kept up a
high level of civilisation, and many relics of their mighty architecture lie
buried beneath desert sands. Various dynasties arose among them, and several
different languages prevailed in the course of their chequered history. They
avoided hostilities with India, being separated from it by a wild territory-- a
sort of no-man' s-land; Arabia troubled them but little, for there again a
useful belt of desert intervened. They were great traders, merchants,
manufacturers-- a much more settled people than the second sub-race, and with
more definite religious ideas. The best specimens of the Parsis of the present
day give a fair idea of their appearance. The present inhabitants of Persia have
still much of their blood in them, though largely commingled with that of their
Arab conquerors. The Kurds, the Afghans, and the Baluchis are also mainly
descended from them, though with various admixtures.
532.
CHAPTER XIX
533.
THE FOURTH SUB-RACE, THE KELTIC¹
534.
¹ Our band of Servers took no part in the founding of
the fourth and fifth sub-races. They were at work in many countries, and may be
met in the Lives of Alcyone.
535.
BY this time the great Central Asian Race was far on the
road to its decline, but the Manu had been careful to preserve dignity, power,
and pristine vigour in two branches to which He had given much special
training-- the seed of the fourth and fifth sub-races. His arrangements for them
had been somewhat different from those of the earlier segregations. The type of
the Root Race, the points in which it varied from the Atlantean, were now
thoroughly established, so He was able to devote his attention to another kind
of specialisation.
536.
Those who were to constitute the fourth sub-race were
drawn apart as usual, into a large valley in the mountains, not far from the
capital; the Manu selected a number of the most refined people whom He could
find in the City as the nucleus of the new sub-race, and a division of classes
arose in the colony; for the Manu was striving to develop certain new
characteristics, to awaken imagination and artistic sensibility, to encourage
poetry, oratory, painting and music, and the people who responded to this could
not do agricultural and other hard manual labour. Anyone who showed any artistic
talent in the schools was drafted off for special culture; thus Neptune was
observed reciting, and was given special attention in order to develop the
artistic faculty revealed in his recitation. He was remarkably handsome, and
physical beauty was a marked characteristic of the sub-race, especially among
this artistic class. The people were also trained to be enthusiastic, and to be
devoted to their leaders. Great pains were taken for many centuries to develop
these characteristics, and so effective was the work that they remain the
special marks of the Kelt. The valley was managed practically as a separate
State, and great predominance was given to the arts already named, art of all
kinds being endowed in various ways. Under this special treatment the sub-race,
as time rolled on, grew somewhat conceited, and looked down upon the rest of the
kingdom as being what we should now call ` Philistine' . And, indeed, they had
much justification for their vanity, for they were an extra-ordinarily handsome
people, cultured and refined in their tastes, and with much artistic talent.
537.
The time chosen to send them forth was about 20,000
B.C., and their instructions were to proceed along the northern frontier of the
Persian Kingdom, and to win for themselves a home among the mountains which we
now call the Caucasus, at that time occupied by a number of wild tribes of
predatory nature who were a constant annoyance to Persia. By taking advantage of
this, the Manu was able to make arrangements with the Persian Monarch not only
to allow free passage and food to His enormous host, but also to send with them
a strong army to assist in subduing the mountaineers. Even with this help this
proved no easy task. The new-comers soon conquered for themselves a place in
which to live, and they easily defeated the tribes when the latter could be
persuaded to risk a pitched battle; but when it came to guerilla warfare they
were by no means so successful, and many a year had passed before they could
consider themselves reasonably secure from attack. They established themselves
first somewhere in the district of Erivan, on the shores of Lake Sevanga, but as
the centuries rolled on and their number greatly increased, they gradually
exterminated the tribes or reduced them to submission, until eventually the
whole of Georgia and Mingrelia was in their hands. Indeed in two thousand years
they were occupying Armenia and Kurdistan as well, and later on Phrygia also
came under their domination, so that they held nearly all Asia Minor as well as
the Caucasus. In their mountain home they flourished greatly and became a mighty
nation.
538.
They formed rather a federation of tribes than an
Empire, for their country was so broken up into valleys that free communication
was impossible. Even after they had begun to colonise the Mediterranean coast,
they looked back to the Caucasus as their home, and it was really a second
centre from which the sub-race went forth to its glorious destiny. By 10,000
B.C. they began to resume their westward march, travelling not as a nation, but
as tribes. So it was only in comparatively small waves that they finally arrived
in Europe, which it was their destiny to occupy.
539.
Even a tribe did not go as a whole, but left behind it
in its valley many of its members to carry on the work of cultivation; these
intermarried with other races, and their descendants, with some intermixture of
Semitic blood in their veins, are the Georgians of to-day. Only in the cases in
which a tribe proposed to settle in a country already in the hands of their
sub-race did they depart from their old home in a body.
540.
The first section to cross into Europe from Asia Minor
were the ancient Greeks-- not the Greeks of our ` Ancient History,' but their
far-away ancestors, those who are sometimes called Pelasgians. It will be
remembered that the Egyptian priests are mentioned in Plato' s Timaeus
and
Critias as having spoken to a later Greek of the splendid race which
had preceded his own people in his land; how they had turned back an invasion
from the mighty nation from the West, the conquering nation that had subdued all
before it, until it shivered itself against the heroic valour of these Greeks.
In comparison with these, it was said, the modern Greeks-- the Greeks of our
history who seem to us so great-- were as pigmies. From these sprang the Trojans
who fought with the modern Greeks, and the city of Agadé in Asia Minor was
peopled by their descendants.
541.
These, then, had held for a long time the sea-board of
Asia Minor and the islands of Cyprus and Crete, and all the trade of that part
of the world was carried in their vessels. A fine civilisation was gradually
built up in Crete, which endured for thousands of years, and was still
flourishing in 2800 B.C. The name of Minos will ever be remembered as its
founder or chief builder, and he was of these elder Greeks, even before 10,000
B.C. The final cause of their definite entry into Europe as a power was an
aggressive movement on the part of the Emperor of Poseidonis.
542.
The Mediterranean coasts and islands had for many
centuries been in the hands of a number of small nations, most of them Etrurian
or Akkadian, but some Semitic; and, except for occasional squabbles, these
people were usually peaceful merchantmen. But it occurred one day to the Emperor
of Poseidonis to annex all these States, by way of extending his realm and
rivalling the traditions of his forefathers. So he prepared a great army and a
mighty fleet, and started on his career of conquest. He subdued without
difficulty the large Algerian island; he ravaged the coasts of Spain, Portugal
and Italy, and forced all those peoples to submit to him; and Egypt, which was
not a great naval power, was already debating whether to propose a treaty with
him, or to anger him by a resistance which it was feared would be hopeless. Just
when he felt secure of the success of his plans, a difficulty arose from an
entirely unexpected quarter. The Greek sailors of the Levant declined altogether
to be impressed by his imposing force, and defied shim to interfere with their
trade. He had been so sure of victory that he had divided his fleet, and had
only half of it immediately available; but with that half he at once attacked
the presumptuous Greeks, who inflicted upon him a serious defeat, drowning
thousands of his soldiers, and leaving not one ship afloat of the great number
that attacked them. The battle was not unlike the destruction by the English of
the great Spanish Armada; the Greek vessels were smaller than the Atlantean, and
not so powerfully armed, but they were faster and far easier to handle. They
knew their seas thoroughly, and in several cases decoyed their enemies into
positions where the loss of the larger ship was certain. The weather helped
them, too, as in the case of the Spanish Armada. The Atlantean ships had great
banks of oars, and were clumsy, lumbering things, quite unfitted for heavy
weather, and shipping water easily. They also could only navigate deep water,
and the agile Greek vessels fled into channels navigable enough for them but
fatal to their heavy antagonists, which promptly ran aground.
543.
The second half of the Atlantean fleet was hastily
collected and another attack was made, but it was no more successful than the
first, though the Greeks lost heavily in repelling it. The Atlantean Monarch
himself escaped, and contrived to land in Sicily where some of his troops had
established themselves; but as soon as it became known that his fleet had been
destroyed, the conquered populations rose against him, and he had to fight his
way home through the whole length of Italy. He withdrew as he went the various
garrisons which he had established, but, nevertheless, by the time he reached
the Riviera, he had but a few utterly exhausted followers. He made his way in
disguise across the south of France, and eventually reached his own kingdom in a
merchant ship. Naturally he vowed direst vengeance against the Greeks, and at
once ordered preparations for another vast expedition; but the news of the total
loss of his fleet and army emboldened various discontented tribes in his own
island to raise the standard of rebellion, and during the rest of his reign he
never again found himself in a position to undertake foreign aggression.
544.
The success of the Greeks immensely strengthened their
position in the Mediterranean, and within the next century they had established
settlements on many of its shores. But a worse enemy than the Emperor of
Poseidonis now assailed them, and for the moment conquered them, although in the
end it proved beneficial. It was the terrible tidal wave created by the sinking
of Poseidonis, in 9564 B.C., which destroyed most of their settlements, and
seriously injured the remainder. Both the Gobi Sea and the Sahara Sea became dry
land, and the most appalling convulsions took place.
545.
This, however, affected the main stock of the sub-race
in its highland home but slightly; messengers from the almost destroyed
emigrants arrived in the Caucasus, begging urgently for help, and they went from
tribe to tribe, haranguing the people, and urging them to send help to their
suffering brethren. Partly from fellow-feeling, and partly with the wish of
bettering their own condition and furthering their fortunes by commerce, the
tribes combined, as soon as it seemed certain that the catastrophe was over, to
send exploring expeditions to ascertain the fate of their brethren beyond the
seas, and, when those returned, further relief was organised on a large scale.
546.
The early Greek settlements had been all on the
sea-coast, and the colonists were daring sailors; the populations of the
interior were not always friendly, though overawed by the dash and valour of the
Greeks. But when these latter were almost all destroyed by the cataclysm, the
few survivors were often persecuted, and even in some cases enslaved, by the
interior races. When the bottom of the Sahara Sea was heaved up, its waters
poured out through the great gap between Egypt and Tunis, where Tripoli now
stands, and the tidal wave destroyed the sea-coasts, though the interior
suffered but little; it was just those sea-coasts on which the Greeks had
settled, so that they were the chief sufferers. The Sahara gradually sank down
again, and a new coast line rose, assuming the configuration known to us along
the African coast, the great Algerian island joining the mainland, and forming
with the new land the northern coast of Africa.
547.
Almost all shipping had been simply annihilated, and new
navies had to be built; yet so great was the energy of the Greeks that within a
few years all the ports of Asia Minor were once more in working order, and
streams of new ships went forth from them to see what help was needed across the
seas, to re-establish the colonies, and to redeem the honour of the Greek name
by delivering those who bore it from a foreign yoke. In a surprisingly short
time this was done, and the fact that these ancient Greeks were the first to
recover from the shock of the great cataclysm gave them the opportunity of
annexing all the best harbours of the new coast line, and since most of the
trade of Egypt also was in their hands, the Mediterranean remained for centuries
practically a Greek sea. There came a time when Phoenicians and Carthaginians
divided the trade with them, but that was much later. They even carried their
trade eastward, an expedition going as far as Java, and founding a colony in
that island, with which a connection was long kept up.
548.
The Phoenicians were a fourth Race people derived from
the Semites and Akkadians, the fifth and sixth Atlantean sub-race, the Akkadian
blood much predominating. The Carthaginians, later, were also Akkadian,
intermixed with Arab, and with a dash of negro blood. Both were trading peoples,
and in the much later days, when Carthage was a mighty city, its troops were
almost entirely mercenaries, recruited among the African tribes, the Libyans and
Numidians.
549.
The emigration from Asia Minor into Europe was almost
continuous, and it is not easy to divide it into distinct waves. If we take
these ancient Greeks as our first subdivision, we may perhaps count the
Albanians as the second, and the Italian race as the third, both of these latter
occupying about the same countries as those in which we know them now. Then
after an interval came a fourth wave of astonishing vitality-- that to which
modern ethnologists restrict the name ` Keltic' . This slowly became the
predominant race over the north of Italy, the whole of France and Belgium and
the British Isles, the western part of Switzerland, and Germany west of the
Rhine. The Greeks of our ` Ancient History' were a mixture, derived from the
first wave, mingled with settlers from the second, third and fourth, and with an
infusion of the fifth sub-race, coming down from the north and settling in
Greece. These gave the rare, and much admired, golden hair and blue eyes,
occasionally found among the Greeks.
550.
The fifth wave practically lost itself in the north of
Africa, and only traces can now be found of its blood, much mingled with the
Semitic-- the fifth sub-race of the Atlantean to which the name originally
belonged, and the second sub-race of the Aryan, the Arabian, sometimes also
called Semitic-- among the Berbers, the Moors, the Kabyles, and even the
Guanches of the Canary Islands, in this last case mingled with the Tlavatli.
This wave encountered the fourth and intermingled with it in the Spanish
peninsula, and at a later stage of its existence-- only about two thousand years
ago-- it contributed the last of the many elements which go to make up the
population of Ireland; for to it belonged the Milesian invaders who poured into
that island from Spain-- some of them founding a dynasty of Milesian Kings in
France-- and bound it under curious forms of magic.
551.
But a far more splendid element of the Irish population
had come into it before: that from the sixth wave, which left Asia Minor in a
totally different direction, pushing north-west until they reached Scandinavia,
where they intermingled to some extent with the fifth sub-race, the Teutonic, of
which we shall speak in the next chapter. They thus descended upon Ireland from
the north, and are celebrated in its history as the Tuatha-de-Danaan, who are
spoken of more as Gods than men. The slight mixture with the Teutonic sub-race
gave this last wave some characteristics, both of disposition and of personal
appearance, in which they differed from the majority of their sub-race.
552.
But, on the whole, we may describe the men of this
fourth, or Keltic sub-race, as having brown or black hair and eyes, and round
heads. They were, as a rule, not tall in stature, and their character showed
clearly the result of the Manu' s efforts thousands of years before. They were
imaginative, eloquent, poetical, musical, capable of enthusiastic devotion to a
leader, and splendidly brave in following him, though liable to quick depression
in case of failure. They seemed to lack what we call business qualities, and
they had but scant regard for truth.
553.
The first Athens-- or the city built upon the site where
Athens now stands-- was built 8000 B.C. (The Athens of our histories was begun
about 1000 B.C., the Parthenon being built in 480 B.C.) After the catastrophe of
9564 B.C., some of the old Greeks settled down in Hellas, occupying the country,
and it was there that the Mahaguru, the Supreme Teacher, came to them, Orpheus,
the Founder of the most ancient Orphic Mysteries, from which the later Mysteries
of Greece were derived. About 7000 B.C., He came, living chiefly in the forests,
where He gathered His disciples round Him. There was no King to bid Him welcome,
no gorgeous Court to acclaim Him. He came as a Singer, wandering through the
land, loving the life of Nature, her sunlit spaces and her shadowed forest
retreats, averse to cities and to the crowded haunts of men. A band of disciples
grew around Him, and He taught them in the glades of woodland, silent save for
the singing of the birds and the sweet sounds of forest life, that seemed not to
break the stillness.
554.
He taught by song, by music, music of voice and
instrument, carrying a five-stringed musical instrument, probably the origin of
Apollo' s lyre, and He used a pentatonic scale. To this He sang, and wondrous
was His music, the Devas drawing nigh to listen to the subtle tones; by sound He
worked upon the astral and mental bodies of His disciples, purifying and
expanding them; by sound He drew the subtle bodies away from the physical, and
set them free in the higher worlds. His music was quite different from the
sequences repeated over and over again by which the same result was brought
about in the Root-stock of the Race, and which it carried with it into India.
Here He worked by melody, not by repetition of similar sounds; and the rousing
of each etheric centre had its own melody, stirring it into activity. He showed
His disciples living pictures, created by music, and in the Greek Mysteries this
was wrought in the same way , the tradition coming down from Him. And
He taught that Sound was in all things, and that if man would harmonise himself,
then would the Divine Harmony manifest through him, and make all Nature glad.
Thus He went through Hellas singing, and choosing here and there one who should
follow Him, and singing also for the people in other ways, weaving over Greece a
network of music, which should make her children beautiful and feed the artistic
genius of her land. One of His disciples was Neptune, a youth of exquisite
beauty, who followed Him everywhere, and often carried His lyre.
555.
Traditions of Him came down among the people and spread
far and wide. He became the God of the Sun, Phoebus-Apollo and, in the North,
Balder the Beautiful; for the sixth Keltic wave, as we have seen, went northward
to Scandinavia, and carried with it the legend of the Singer of Hellas.
556.
As we think over the symbolism used by this Supreme
Teacher, coming as Vyasa, as Hermes, as Zarathustra, as Orpheus, we recognise
the unity of the teaching under the variety of the symbols. Ever He taught the
Unity of Life, and the oneness of God with His world. For Vyasa it was the Sun,
that warmed all and gave life; for Hermes it was the Light, that shone alike in
heaven and in earth; for Zarathustra it was the Fire, that lay hidden in all
things; for Orpheus it was the Harmony, in which all vibrated together. But Sun,
Light, Fire, Sound, all gave but a single message: the One Love, that was above
all, and through all, and in all.
557.
From Hellas some of the disciples went to Egypt, and
fraternised with the teachers of the Inner Light, and some went teaching as far
afield as Java. And so the Sound went forth, even to the ends of the world. But
not again was the Supreme Teacher to come to the teaching of sub-race. Nearly
seven thousand years later He came to His ancient people, came for the last
time, and in a body taken from them in India He reached final Illumination, He
finished His lives on earth, He became a Buddha.
558.
CHAPTER XX
559.
THE FIFTH SUB-RACE, THE TEUTONIC
560.
WE must now turn back again to 20,000 B.C., in order to
trace from its cradle the fifth sub-race, for it was prepared simultaneously
with the fourth, although in a different way. For it the Manu had set apart a
valley far from His capital, away on the northern side of the Gobi Sea, and into
it He had sparingly introduced factors which had not appeared in the fourth. He
brought back to it a few of the best specimens of His third sub-race from
Persia, where it was by that time thoroughly specialised, and He called also for
a few Semites from Arabia. He chose for it especially men who were tall and
fair, and when He Himself was born in it He always used a body showing markedly
those characteristics. It must be remembered that the Manu starts each sub-race
just as he does the Root-Race-- by incarnating in it Himself; and the form which
He chooses to take largely determines what the appearance of the sub-race shall
be. This fifth sub-race was of a very strong and vigorous type, much larger than
the preceding one, and was tall and fair, long-headed, with light hair and blue
eyes. The character was also very different from that of the Keltic sub-race; it
was dogged and persevering, with little of the dash of the fourth; its virtues
were not of the artistic type, but rather of the business and common-sense
practical sort, blunt and truthful, plain-spoken and straightforward, caring for
the concrete rather than for the poetic.
561.
While the fourth was developing its beautiful and
artistic type in its own valley, the sterner fifth was also building up its type
in its appointed abiding-place, the two different evolutions being thus carried
on simultaneously. By the time that they were both ready to start on their
migration, the difference between them was clearly marked; and though they left
Central Asia together, 20,000 B.C., and passed together through Persia, their
eventual destinies were quite different.
562.
The fifth sub-race, small in number, was directed to
move further along the shores of the Caspian Sea, and it settled itself in the
Territory of Daghestan. There it slowly grew for thousands of years, gradually
extending itself along the northern slopes of the Caucasian Range, and occupying
the Terek and Kuban districts. There its people remained until after the great
cataclysm of 9564 B.C.; indeed, it was nearly a thousand years after that before
they began their great march to world-dominion. They had not been idle during
this long time of waiting, for they had already differentiated themselves into
several distinct types.
563.
Then, as with one accord, now that the swamps of the
great Central European plain were becoming habitable, they moved north-westward
in one mighty army as far as what is now Cracow in Poland. There they rested for
some centuries, for the marshes were not yet dry enough for safe habitation, and
disease fell upon them and thinned their ranks. It was chiefly from this
secondary centre that the final radiations took place. The first of them was the
Slavonic, and it branched off into two main directions. One party turned east
and north, and from it come largely the modern Russians; the other took a more
southerly direction, and is now represented by the Croatians, Servians, and
Bosnians. The second wave was the Lettish, though its members did not travel
far; it gives us the Letts, the Lithuanians and the Prussians. The third was the
Germanic, and part at least of that went further afield, for if those called
especially the Teutons, spread themselves over Southern Germany, the other
branches, called the Goths and Scandinavians, swept to the northern point of
Europe. The later descent of the Scandinavians upon Normandy, and of the Goths
upon Southern Europe, the spreading of this fifth sub-race over Australia, North
America and South Africa, and its dominance in India, where the Root-stock of
its people is settled, belong to modern history.
564.
It has yet to build, like its predecessors, its
World-Empire, though the beginnings of it are before our eyes. The terrible
blunder of the eighteenth century, which rent away from Great Britain its North
American Colonies, may be remedied by an offensive and defensive alliance
between the severed halves, and a similar alliance with Germany, the remaining
great section of the Teutonic sub-race, would weld the whole sufficiently into
one to make a federated Empire. Late events show the rising of India into her
proper place in this extending Empire, destined to be mighty in the East as well
as in the West.
565.
As this World-Empire rises to its zenith during the
coming centuries, the group composed of men of the mightiest genius, spoken of
on p. 69 , will be sent to take incarnation in it, to lift it to the highest
pinnacle of literary and scientific glory, till it overtops the vanished Empires
of the Arabians, the Persians, the Romans, those of the second, third, and
fourth sub-races of the Aryan stock. For the resistless course of ages,
unrolling the Divine Plan, must accomplish its purpose, until the fifth Race
shall have played its part, and the sixth and the seventh shall have followed
it, shaping such human perfection as belongs to the story of our earth in this
fourth Round of our terrene Chain. What heights of unimaginable splendour lie
hidden in the further future, no tongue of half-evolved man may tell.
566.
CHAPTER XXI
567.
THE ROOT-STOCK AND ITS DESCENT
568.
INTO INDIA
569.
WE have traced, roughly and in broad outlines, the
migration out of Central Asia of the second, third, fourth and fifth sub-races
of the Aryan Root-stock. We have seen its magnificent civilisation, and the vast
extent of its Empire, and that from 40,000 B.C. onwards it had been slowly
declining. From 40,000 B.C. to 20,000 B.C. the chief work of Vaivasvata Manu lay
with His sub-races, and He and His immediate group, during these twenty thousand
years, had been incarnating in the special districts set apart for the
preparation of those sub-races. The original Empire, having long passed its
prime, had been wearing away, as do all human institutions, while its sub-races
were going out to play their appointed parts, and the process of disintegration
had already gone far. The Mongolian and Turanian races, over whom it had so long
ruled, had asserted their independence, and the Kingdom centring round the City
of the Bridge was now but a small one. The people built no more-- they lived in
the ruins of the great work of their forefathers. The egos showing genius and
straining after high education were incarnating in the great daughter
civilisations, so in the Mother State the level of learning steadily sank. Trade
had fallen almost to zero, and the people were becoming agricultural and
pastoral only. The central Kingdom still held together, but outlying districts
had broken off and become independent.
570.
But now, 18,800 B.C., the toilsome work of building up
and sending out the sub-races was, for the time, over. The Manu had managed all
His migrations, and seen His sub-races definitely established, and He now turned
His attention once more to the Root Race, because He wished to get it away by
degrees from its ancestral home, and to establish it in India, the land chosen
for its further evolution. In India the splendid Atlantean civilisation had
developed from the time that huge Atlantean hosts, pouring through the Himalayan
passes, after the land was sufficiently dry for settlement, had occupied the
country; before that, a vast Atlantean Kingdom had existed in the far south, and
had spread to the ocean which, before the catastrophe of 75,025 B.C., bounded it
on the north. This civilisation, over-luxurious, had now become effete, and the
higher classes, belonging to the Toltec sub-race, were indolent and
self-seeking; much, however, remained of a noble literature, and there was a
great tradition of occult knowledge, both of which were needed for the work of
the future and therefore had to be preserved. The warrior spirit had largely
died out, and the wealth of the country, enormously and lavishly displayed,
invited conquest from a more virile people, who should inherit and carry on all
that deserved perpetuation.
571.
The entire removal of the Race from its Central Asian
Home was necessary so that (1) Shamballa should be left in the required
solitude; the work carried on in close contact with the outer world was finished
for the time, and the Race must be left to grow without external supervision;
(2) India should be Aryanised; (3) the Race should be out of the way before the
coming cataclysm, as the Central Asian region would be much altered.
572.
The Manu had not incarnated in the Root Race since He
led away the fourth and fifth sub-races, that is for about one thousand two
hundred years; for, as said above, we are now at 18,800 B.C. He had therefore
become rather a myth in Central Asia, and there had been differences of opinion,
a few centuries earlier, as to whether His rules as to intermarriage. still held
good. Some held that they were obsolete, their object having been obtained, and
some families had married into those of some of the Tartar rulers. A schism had
thus occurred, and those who favoured the new departure had left the Kingdom and
set themselves up as a separate community. They went no further, however, along
the road of intermarriage, and it may be opined that the few outside marriages
which had occurred had been brought about in order to gain a slight, but
necessary, infusion of other blood, and perhaps also to cause the desired
separation. The disappearance of the original cause of disunion did not draw the
communities nearer together, and, indeed, they became more hostile as centuries
went by, and the increasing numbers in the Central Kingdom pressed the seceders
further and further back into the valleys of the northern hills. Mars, at the
date mentioned above, was King of one of the tribes of the seceders, who were
suffering much from the incursions of the larger nation; continual fighting
barely enabled his tribe to hold its own, and its eventual destruction was
certain; his teacher, Jupiter, advised him not to fight, but this did not help
him, and he thought and prayed desperately to find a way of safety for his
people, so brave, so loyal, but so hopelessly overmatched.
573.
Then, in the crisis of his perplexity, the Manu appeared
to him in a dream, and bade him lead his tribe westward and southward-- the
vanguard of the greatest migration that had ever occurred-- into the sacred land
of India, which was assigned to the Race as dwelling. He was told to fight as
little as he could on his way to his future home, to attack none who would let
him pass in peace, and to press on to the southern extremity of India. In the
future all the Race would follow, and in the coming migrations he would
frequently take part; and at a future time he and his wife Mercury would do such
work as He, the Manu, was then doing.
574.
Thus encouraged, and full of joy, Mars set to work to
prepare, telling his people of his dream, and bidding them get ready fir the
march. Nearly all believed him, but our old Arabian friend, Alastor, had turned
up again, and he headed a small party who refused to follow Mars, saying that he
was not going to leave the old land and the old teachings because of the
hysterical dream of an overwrought and despairing man. So he stayed behind,
betrayed the route of his people to their enemies and was put to death after the
failure of the pursuing expedition.
575.
Mars started in 18,875 B.C.,1 (¹ See Appendix
X.) and followed the appointed road, and after many hardships and not a little
fighting-- for though he never attacked, he was frequently assailed-- he reached
the great plains of India, and for a while enjoyed the hospitality of his
comrade in many lives, Viraj, who was ruling as King Podishpar over the greater
part of northern India. The alliance was cemented by the marriage of Corona, the
son of Podishpar, to Brihaspati, a daughter of Mars and the widow of Vulcan, who
had been killed in a battle during the journey. Southern India was then a large
Kingdom under King Huyaranda, or Lahira-- our Saturn-- the High Priest of the
Kingdom being our Surya, under the name Byarsha, and the Deputy High Priest
being Osiris. Surya had told Saturn that the strangers were coming at the
command of the Gods, some years before their arrival, so that the King sent the
Crown Prince, Crux, to meet them, and gave them welcome, settling them in his
land. Later, Surya declared that “the high-nosed strangers from the north” were
fitted to be priests, and that they should hold the priestly office
hereditarily; those who agreed to this became priests, and were the ancestors of
the Brahmanas of Southern India, abstaining from intermarriage with the earlier
inhabitants, and living as a separate class.
576.
Others intermarried with the Toltec aristocracy, thus
gradually Aryanising the whole upper classes of the country, and the south of
India passed peacefully under Aryan rule; for Crux, who succeeded Saturn, died
without issue, and Herakles, the second son of Mars, was elected by the people
to the vacant throne, establishing an Aryan dynasty. From this migration
forward, all the immigrants into India are spoken of as the ` first sub-race,'
since the whole Root Race, the ancient stock, passed over into India. Births
into this are reckoned as births into the first sub-race, whether taking place
in India itself or in the countries colonised and Aryanised by it.
577.
We find a number of old friends in this migration, in
addition to those already named; Mars' eldest son was Uranus, who became a
hermit in the Nilgiris, and his third son was Alcyone, who became Deputy High
Priest on the resignation-- due to old age-- of Osiris. His second daughter was
Demeter.1 (¹ See Appendix X.) A curious instance of bringing friends in
from abroad was the arrival of a young Mongolian chieftain, Taurus, who fled
from his elder brother' s anger, and took refuge with Mars in his Central Asian
Kingdom; he brought Procyon with him as his wife, and Cygnus, whom he married to
Aries, was one of his daughters.
578.
From the South Indian Aryan Kingdom went out about
13,500 B.C. an important mission to Egypt; the order came from the Head of the
Hierarchy through the Manu, and the expedition travelled via Ceylon, by water up
the Red Sea, then hardly more than an inlet. It was not intended to colonise,
since Egypt was already a mighty Empire, but rather to settle there under the
Egyptian Government, a great and beneficent, as well as highly civilised, power.
579.
Mars was at the head of the expedition, and Surya was a
High Priest in Egypt as he had been in southern India nearly three thousand
years before; as then, he smoothed the way for the coming Aryans, and he told
the Pharaoh of their approach, and advised him to welcome them. His advice was
taken, and a little later he counselled the Pharaoh to marry his daughter to
Mars, and to name the latter his successor. This was duly done, and thus
peaceably but effectively was an Aryan dynasty established in Egypt at the death
of the ruling Pharaoh. It reigned gloriously for many thousand years, until the
sinking of Poseidonis, when it, with the Egyptian people, was driven to the
hills by the flooding of Egypt. The flood, however, retreated comparatively
soon, and the country recovered ere long. Manetho' s history apparently deals
with this Aryan dynasty; he makes Unas-- whose date is given as 3900 B.C., while
we make it 4030 B.C.-- the last King of the Fifth dynasty. The Arab Hyksos Kings
are put at 1500 B.C. Under the Aryan Pharaohs the great Schools of Egypt became
even more famous, and for long it led the learning of the western world.
580.
It was the second mighty Empire of the first sub-race,
if we count the Empire of the Root Race as the first. From Egypt was introduced
Aryan blood into several East African tribes; it would seem as though a low type
of body were sometimes required for little-advanced egos, who had gone through
many previous sub-races without making much progress, and were thrown into
contact with a higher race in order to force them forward. Some of the lowest
types of dwellers in the slums of civilised fourth and fifth Aryan sub-races are
obviously less advanced than Zulus. On the other hand, a touch of Aryan blood in
an uncivilised tribe would give certain characteristics required for its
improvement.
581.
The South Indian Kingdom was used by the Manu as a
subsidiary centre of radiation on other occasions than this of the Aryanising of
Egypt. He sent out from it colonists to Java, to Australia and to the islands of
Polynesia, which accounts for the Aryan strain to be observed even to-day in
what are called the brown Polynesians, in contradistinction to the Melanesians.
582.
While these arrangements were being carried out in the
south of India, the Manu still worked at the gradual transportation of His Race
from Central Asia into the northern parts of India. One of the early
immigrations settled itself in the Panjab, and after much fighting made terms of
peace with the inhabitants, partly plundering and partly defending them.
Another, turning eastwards, had established itself in Assam and northern Bengal.
The expedition immediately preceding one on which we may pause for a few minutes
had taken place about 17,520 B.C.; part of it reached its destination safely by
the route followed by Mars, more than a thousand years before, while a smaller
division, seeking to penetrate through what is now called the Khyber Pass, was
annihilated. In 17,455 B.C. a third¹ (¹ See Appendix XI.) was sent out, led by
Mars, the eldest son of the reigning Monarch of the central Kingdom, Jupiter:
Jupiter had Saturn as his wife, and Mercury as his sister. Mars had chosen the
members of his expedition with great care, selecting the strongest and most
vigorous men and women whom he could find; among them were Psyche and his wife
Arcturus, with three sons, Alcyone, Albireo and Leto. Capella and his wife Judex
were chosen. Vulcan, a great captain, was the warrior most relied on by Mars,
and he, with Vajra as a subordinate, led one wing of the expedition, while Mars
headed the other.
583.
The two wings of the expedition met, as was planned, and
they settled the women and children in a strongly entrenched camp, between what
are now Jammu and Gujranwala, themselves pressing on to the place where Delhi
now stands, where they built the first city on that imperial site, and named it
Ravipur, City of the Sun. On their way they had a skirmish with a powerful
Chief, Castor, but succeeded in passing on, and when the new city was ready the
women and children and their guards were brought to it, and the first life of
Delhi, as a capital, began. Mars left his Kingdom to his eldest son Herakles,
who was much aided by Alcyone, nine years his senior and his dearest friend.
584.
One of the hugest emigrations from the central Kingdom
took place 15,950 B.C., three great armies being formed with Mars as
Commander-in-Chief; the command of the right wing was given to Corona, who was
to pass through Kashmir, the Panjab, and the provinces now called the United, to
Bengal; left wing was to cross Tibet to Bhutan and thence to Bengal; the centre
under Mars, with Mercury as second in command, was to cross Tibet to Nepal, and
so onwards to the general meeting-place, Bengal-- which was to be their home.
Corona, however, spent his time for forty years in making a Kingdom for himself,
and did not reach Bengal till Mars, long ruling there, was an old man. Vulcan
had joined Mars, and finally had established himself in Assam. Mars himself,
with the help of Vulcan, had subdued Bengal, and, after desperate fighting,
Orissa, and had finally fixed his capital in Central Bengal; when an old man, he
placed his eldest son, Jupiter, on his throne and retired from the world.
585.
The great importance of this far-reaching immigration is
marked by the fact that ten who are now Masters took part in it: Mars, Mercury,
Vulcan, Jupiter, Brihaspati, Osiris, Uranus, Saturn, Neptune, Viraj. Of others,
bearing familiar names, the gathering was also large.¹ (¹ See Appendix XII. For
a graphic account of it, see the tenth life in The Lives of Alcyone .)
586.
From this time onwards there were constant descents into
India from Central Asia, sometimes mere bands, sometimes considerable armies,
the older settlers often resisting the new, the new plundering the old. Wave
after wave rolled in during thousands of years, and some of the more thoughtful
of the Aryans studied the philosophy of the Toltecs, whom they sometimes called
the Nagas. The lower classes of the Atlantean population, mostly the brown
Tlavatli, they termed Dasyas, while the black people of Lemurian descent whom
they regarded with horror, they called Daityas and Takshaks.
587.
There were some intermarriages between the more liberal
Aryans and the Toltecs, and we found Alcyone, about 12,850 B.C., much attached
to Psyche, the son of Orpheus, an Atlantean dignitary, and marrying the latter'
s daughter, Mizar, though his own father, Algol, was a fanatical Aryan, hating
the Atlanteans and their civilisation. While, under these circumstances, he and
his young wife became fugitives, yet an Aryan leader, Vesta, head of an invading
band, gave them shelter, and a relative of his, Draco, with his wife Cassiopeia,
members of a band settled longer in India, helped them to the possession of an
estate, where he was on very friendly terms with Aletheia, a rich Atlantean. It
was evident, therefore, that in some cases, at least, friendly relations existed
between the races, and these were not disturbed by the irruption of a large host
of Aryans, once more under Mars, who passed through the neighbourhood on his way
to carve himself out an Empire in Central India.¹ (¹ See Appendix XIII.)
588.
By these constant migrations the Central Asian Kingdom
was drained of its inhabitants by about 9700 B.C. The convulsions attending the
catastrophe of 9564 B.C. , shattered the City of the Bridge into ruins, and
wrought the destruction of most of the great Temples on the White Island. The
latest bands did not reach India easily; they were delayed in Afghanistan and
Baluchistan for some two thousand years, and many were massacred by Mongol
raiders; the rest slowly found their way down to the plains, already thickly
populated.
589.
When His people were thus finally conveyed into India, a
danger arose that the Aryan blood might become a mere trace amidst the enormous
majority of the Atlanteans and Atlanto-Lemurians, so the Manu again forbade
intermarriage, and about 8000 B.C. , ordained the caste system, in order that no
further admixture might be made, and that those already made might be
perpetuated. He founded at first only three castes-- Brahmana, Rajan and Vish.
The first were pure Aryans, the second Aryan and Toltec, the third Aryan and
Mongolian.
590.
The castes were hence called the Varnas, or colours, the
pure Aryans white, the Aryan and Toltec intermixture red, and the Aryan and
Mongolian yellow. The castes were allowed to intermarry among themselves, but a
feeling quickly grew up that marriages should be restricted within the caste.
Later, those who were not Aryan at all were included under the general
appellation of Shudras, but even here in many cases a certain small amount of
Aryan blood may appear. Many of the hill tribes are partly Aryan-- some few are
wholly so, like the Siaposh people and the Gipsy tribes.
591.
During the emigrations into India, one tribe had gone
off in a direction different from that of the others, and had contrived to
establish itself in a valley in the Susamir district. There, forgotten by the
rest of the world, it enjoyed its primitive pastoral life for many centuries.
About 2200 B.C. , there arose a great military leader amongst the Mongol tribes,
and they devastated all of Asia that they could reach, utterly destroying, among
others, the remnants of the Persian Empire. The Tartar leader was finally
overthrown, and his hordes scattered, but he had left utter desolation behind
him. Somehow in a hundred years or so, news of a fertile but unoccupied land
reached our Aryans in their valley; they sent out spies to report, and when the
story was confirmed, they migrated bodily into Persia. These were the speakers
of Zend, and their late arrival accounts for the curiously unsettled state of
the country even in the time of the last Zoroaster. Such remnants of the third
sub-race as had been only driven from their homes, and had escaped the general
massacre, came back and made common cause with our tribe, and from these
beginnings gradually developed the latest Persian Empire.
592.
MAN:
593.
WHITHER
594.
FOREWORD
595.
T HE following pages are an attempt to sketch the early
beginnings of the sixth Root Race, comparable to the early stage of the fifth
Root Race in Arabia. Ere the sixth Race comes to its own, and takes possession
of its continent, now rising slowly, fragment after fragment, in the Pacific,
many, many thousands of years will have rolled away. North America will have
been shattered into pieces, and the western strip on which the first Colony will
be settled will have become an easternmost strip of the new continent.
596.
While this little Colony is working at the embryonic
stage, the fifth Race will be at its zenith, and all the pomp and glory of the
world will be concentrated therein. The colony will be a very poor thing in the
eyes of the world, a gathering of cranks, slavishly devoted to their Leader.
597.
This sketch is reprinted from The Theosophist,
and is wholly the work of my colleague.
598.
A.B.
599.
CHAPTER XXII
600.
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE SIXTH ROOT RACE
601.
THE VISION OF KING ASHOKA
602.
Introductory
603.
SOME twelve years ago the present writers engaged in an
examination of some of the earlier lives of Colonel H. S. Olcott. Most members
of the Society are aware that in the incarnation preceding this last one he was
the great Buddhist King Ashoka; and those who have read a little memorandum upon
his previous history (written for an American Convention) will remember that
when the end of that life was approaching he had a time of great depression and
doubt, to relieve which his Master showed him two remarkable pictures, one of
the past and the other of the future. He had been mourning over his failure to
realise all of his plans, and his chief doubt had been as to his power to
persevere to the end, to retain his link with his Master until the goal should
be attained. To dispel this doubt the Master first explained to him by a vision
of the past how the connection between them had originally been established long
ago in Atlantis, and how the promise had then been given that that link should
never be broken; and then, by another vision of the future, He showed Himself as
the Manu of the sixth Root Race, and King Ashoka as a lieutenant serving under
Him in that high office.
604.
The scene was laid in a beautiful park-like country,
where flower-covered hills sloped down to a sapphire sea. The Master M. was seen
standing surrounded by a small army of pupils and helpers, and even while the
fascinated King watched the lovely scene, the Master K. H. entered upon it,
followed by His band of disciples. The two Masters embraced, the groups of
pupils mingled with joyous greetings, and the wondrous picture faded from before
our entranced eyes. But the impression which it left has remained undimmed, and
it carries with it a certain knowledge, strange beyond words and full of awe.
The sight which we were then using was that of the causal body, and so the egos
composing that crowd were clearly distinguishable to our vision. Many of them we
instantly recognised; others, not then known to us, we have since met on the
physical plane. Strange beyond words, truly, to meet (perhaps on the other side
of the world) some member whom physically we have never seen before, and to
exchange behind his back the glance which telegraphs our recognition of him--
which says: “Here is yet another who will be with us to the end.”
605.
We know also who will not be there; but from
that, thank God, we are not called upon to draw any deductions, for we know that
large numbers who are not at the inception of the Race will join it later, and
also that there are other centres of activity connected with the Master' s work.
This particular centre at which we were looking will exist for the special
purpose of the foundation of the new Root Race, and therefore will be unique;
and only those who have by careful previous self-training fitted themselves to
share in its peculiar work can bear a part in it. It is precisely in order that
the nature of that work, and the character of the education necessary for it,
may be clearly known, that we are permitted to lay before our members this
sketch of that future life. That self-training involves supreme self-sacrifice
and rigorous self-effacement, as will be made abundantly clear as our story
progresses; and it involves complete confidence in the wisdom of the Masters.
Many good members of our Society do not yet possess these qualifications, and
therefore, however highly developed they may be in other directions, they could
not take their place in this particular band of workers; for the labours of the
Manu are strenuous, and He has neither time nor force to waste in arguing with
recalcitrant assistants who think they know better than He does. The exterior
work of this Society will, however, still be going on in those future centuries,
and in its enormously extended ramifications there will be room enough for all
who are willing to help, even though they may not yet be capable of the total
self-effacement which is required of the assistants of the Manu.
606.
Nothing that we saw at that time, in that vision shown
to the King, gave us any clue either to the date of the event foreseen or to the
place where it is to occur, though full information on these points is now in
our possession. Then we knew only that the occasion was an important one
connected with the founding of the new Race-- indeed, that much was told to King
Ashoka; and, knowing as we did the offices which our two revered Masters are to
hold in the sixth Root Race, we were easily able to associate the two ideas.
607.
So the matter remained until much later, and we had no
expectation that any further elucidation of it would be vouchsafed to us.
Suddenly, and apparently by the merest accident, the question was
re-opened, and an enquiry in a department of the teaching utterly remote from
the founding of the sixth Root Race was found to lead straight into the very
heart of its history, and to pour a flood of light upon its methods.
608.
The remainder of the story is told by the one who was
chosen to transmit it.
609.
THE DEVA HELPER
610.
I was talking to a group of friends about the passage in
the Jnaneshvari which describes the yogi as “hearing and comprehending
the language of the Devas,” and trying to explain in what wonderful ecstasies of
colour and sound certain orders of the great Angels express themselves, when I
was aware of the presence of one of them, who has on several previous occasions
been good enough to give me some help in my efforts to understand the mysteries
of their glorious existence. Seeing, I suppose, the inadequacy of my attempts at
description, he put before me two singularly vivid little pictures, and said to
me: “There, describe this to them.”
611.
Each of the pictures showed the interior of a great
Temple, of architecture unlike any with which I am familiar, and in each a Deva
was acting as priest or minister, and leading the devotions of a vast
congregation. In one of these the officiant was producing his results entirely
by the manipulation of an indescribably splendid display of colours, while in
the other case music was the medium through which he on the one hand appealed to
the emotions of his congregation, and on the other expressed their aspirations
to the Deity. A more detailed description of these Temples and of the methods
adopted in them will be given later; for the moment let us pass on to the later
investigations of which this was only the starting-point. The Deva who showed
these pictures explained that they represented scenes from a future in which
Devas would move far more freely among men than they do at present, and would
help them not only in their devotions but also in many other ways. Thanking him
for his kind assistance, I described the lovely pictures as well as I could to
my group, he himself making occasional suggestions.
612.
SEEING THE FUTURE
613.
When the meeting was over, in the privacy of my chamber
I recalled these pictures with the greatest pleasure, fixed them upon my mind in
the minutest detail, and endeavoured to discover how far it was possible to see
in connection with them other surrounding circumstances. To my great delight, I
found that this was perfectly possible-- that I could, by an effort, extend my
vision from the Temples to the town and country surrounding them, and could in
this way see and describe in detail this life of the future. This naturally
raises a host of questions as to the type of clairvoyance by which the future is
thus foreseen, the extent to which such future may be thought of as
fore-ordained, and how far, if at all, what is seen is modifiable by the wills
of those who are observed as actors in the drama; for if all is already
arranged, and they cannot change it, are we not once more face to face with the
wearisome theory of predestination? I am no more competent to settle
satisfactorily the question of free will and predestination than any of the
thousands of people who have written upon it, but at least I can bear testimony
to one undoubted fact-- that there is a plane from which the past, the
present, and the future have lost their relative characteristics, and each is as
actually and absolutely present in consciousness as the others.
614.
I have in many cases examined the records of the past,
and have more than once described how utterly real and living those records are
to the investigator. He is simply living in the scene, and he can train himself
to look upon it from the outside merely as a spectator, or to identify his
consciousness for the time with that of some person who is taking part in that
scene, and so have the great advantage of contemporary opinion on the subject
under review. I can only say that in this, the first long and connected vision
of the future which I have undertaken, the experience was precisely similar;
that this future also was in every way as actual, as vividly present, as any of
those scenes of the past, or as the room in which I sit as I write; that in this
case also precisely the same two possibilities existed-- that of looking on the
whole thing as a spectator, or of identifying oneself with the consciousness of
one who was living in it, and thereby realising exactly what were his motives
and how life appeared to him.
615.
As, during part of the investigation, I happened to have
present with me in the physical body one of those whom I clearly saw taking part
in that community of the future, I made some special effort to see how far it
may be possible for that ego, by action in the intervening centuries, to prevent
himself from taking part in that movement or to modify his attitude with regard
to it. It seemed clear to me, after repeated and most careful examination, that
he can not avoid or appreciably modify this destiny which lies before
him; but the reason that he cannot do this is that the Monad above him, the very
Spirit within him, acting through the as yet undeveloped part of himself as an
ego, has already determined upon this, and set in motion the causes which must
inevitably produce it. The ego has unquestionably a large amount of freedom in
these intervening centuries. He can move aside from the path marked out for him
to this side or to that; he can hurry his progress along it or delay it; but yet
the inexorable compelling power (which is still at the same time his truest
Self) will not permit such absolute and final divergence from it as might cause
him to lose the opportunity which lies before him. The Will of the true man is
already set, and that Will will certainly prevail.
616.
I know very well the exceeding difficulty of thought
upon this subject, and I am not in the least presuming to propound any new
solution for it; I am simply offering a contribution to the study of the subject
in the shape of a piece of testimony. Let it be sufficient for the moment to
state that I for my part know this to be an accurate picture of what will
inevitably happen; and, knowing that, I put it thus before our readers as a
matter which I think will be of deep interest to them and a great encouragement
to those who find themselves able to accept it; while at the same time I have
not the slightest wish to press it upon the notice of those who have not as yet
acquired the certainty that it is possible to foresee the distant future even in
the minutest detail.
617.
C. W. L.
618.
CHAPTER XXIII
619.
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE SIXTH ROOT RACE
620.
IT was discovered that these gorgeous Temple services do
not represent what will be the ordinary worship of the world at that period, but
that they will take place among a certain community of persons living apart from
the rest of the world; and but little further research was necessary to show us
that this is the very same community, the foundation of which had formed the
basis of the vision shown so long ago to King Ashoka. This community is in fact
the segregation made by the Manu of the sixth Root Race; but instead of carrying
it away into remote desert places inaccessible to the rest of the world-- as did
the Manu of the fifth Root Race-- our Manu plants it in the midst of a populous
country, and preserves it from admixture with earlier races by a moral boundary
only. Just as the material for the fifth Root Race had to be taken from
the fifth sub-race of the Atlantean stock, so the material bodies from
which the sixth Root Race is to be developed are to be selected from
the sixth sub-race of our present Aryan Race. It is therefore perfectly
natural that this community should be established, as it was found to be, on the
great continent of North America, where even already steps are being taken
towards the development of the sixth sub-race. Equally natural is it that the
part of that continent chosen should be that which in scenery and climate
approaches most nearly to our ideal of Paradise, that is to say, Lower
California. It is found that the date of the events portrayed in the vision of
King Ashoka-- the actual founding of the community-- is almost exactly seven
hundred years from the present time; but the pictures shown by the Deva (and
those revealed by the investigations which sprang from them) belong to a period
about one hundred and fifty years later, when the community is already
thoroughly established and fully self-reliant.
621.
FOUNDING THE COMMUNITY
622.
The plan is this. From the Theosophical Society as it is
now, and as it will be in the centuries to come, the Manu and the High-Priest of
the coming Race-- our Mars and Mercury-- select such people as are thoroughly in
earnest and devoted to Their service, and offer to them the opportunity of
becoming Their assistants in this great work. It is not to be denied that the
work will be arduous, and that it will require the utmost sacrifice on the part
of those who are privileged to share in it .
623.
The LOGOS, before He called into existence this part of
His system, had in His mind a detailed plan of what He intended to do with it--
to what level each Race in each Round should attain, and in what particulars it
must differ from its predecessors. The whole of His mighty thought-form exists
even now upon the plane of the Divine Mind; and when a Manu is appointed to take
charge of a Root Race, His first proceeding is to materialise this thought-form
down to some plane where He can have it at hand for ready reference. His task is
then to take from the existing world such men as most nearly resemble this type,
to draw them apart from the rest, and gradually to develop in them, so far as
may be, the qualities which are to be specially characteristic of the new Race.
624.
When He has carried this process as far as He thinks
possible with the material ready to His hand, He will Himself incarnate in the
segregated group. Since He has long ago exhausted all hindering karma, He is
perfectly free to mould all His vehicles, causal, mental and astral, exactly to
the copy set before Him by the LOGOS. No doubt He can also exercise a great
influence even upon His physical vehicle, though He must owe that to parents
who, after all, belong still to the fifth Root Race, even though themselves
specialised to a large extent.
625.
Only those bodies which are physically descended in a
direct line from Him constitute the new Root Race; and since He in His turn must
obviously marry into the old fifth Root Race, it is clear that the type will not
be absolutely pure. For the first generation His children must also take to
themselves partners from the old Race, though only within the limits of the
segregated group; but after that generation there is no further admixture of the
older blood, intermarriage outside of the newly constituted family being
absolutely forbidden. Later on, the Manu Himself will re-incarnate, probably as
His own great-grandchild, and so will further purify the Race, and all the while
He will never relax His efforts to mould all their vehicles, now including even
the physical, into closer and closer resemblance to the model given to Him by
the LOGOS.
626.
GATHERING THE MEMBERS
627.
In order that this work of special moulding should be
done as quickly and as completely as possible, it is eminently necessary that
all the egos incarnating in these new vehicles should themselves fully
understand what is being done, and be utterly devoted to the work. Therefore the
Manu gathers round Him for this purpose a large number of His pupils and
helpers, and puts them into the bodies which He Himself provides, the
arrangement being that they shall wholly dedicate themselves to this task,
taking up a new body as soon as they find it necessary to lay aside the old one.
Therefore, as we have said, exceedingly arduous labour will be involved for
those who become His assistants; they must take birth again and again without
the usual interval on other planes; and further, every one of this unbroken
string of physical lives must be absolutely unselfish-- must be entirely
consecrated to the interests of the new Race without the slightest thought of
self or of personal interest. In fact, the man who undertakes this must live not
for himself but for the Race, and this for century after century.
628.
This is no light burden to assume; but on the other side
of the account it must be said that those who undertake it will inevitably make
abnormally rapid progress, and will have not only the glory of taking a leading
part in the evolution of humanity, but also the inestimable privilege of working
through many lives under the immediate physical direction of the Masters whom
they love so dearly. And those who have already been so blest as to taste the
sweetness of Their presence know well that in that presence no labour seems
arduous, no obstacles seem insurmountable; rather all difficulties vanish, and
we look back in wonder at the stumbles of yesterday, finding it impossible to
comprehend how we could have felt discouraged or despairing. The feeling is
exactly that which the Apostle so well expressed when he said: “I can do all
things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
629.
ENTERING THE ESTATE
630.
When the time draws near which in His judgment is the
most suitable for the actual founding of the Race, He will see to it that all
these disciples whom He has selected shall take birth in that sixth sub-race.
When they have all attained maturity He (or they jointly) will purchase a large
estate in a convenient spot, and all will journey thither and commence their new
life as a community. It was this scene of the taking possession of the estate
which was shown to King Ashoka, and the particular spot at which the two Masters
were seen to meet is one near the boundary of the estate. They then lead their
followers to the central site which has already been selected for the principal
city of the community, and there they take possession of the dwellings which
have been previously prepared for them. For, long before this, the Manu and His
immediate lieutenants have supervised the erection of a magnificent group of
buildings in preparation for this occasion-- a great central Temple or
cathedral, vast buildings arranged as libraries, museums and council-halls, and,
surrounding these, perhaps some four hundred dwelling-houses, each standing in
the midst of its own plot of ground. Though differing much in style and detail,
these houses are all built according to a certain general plan which shall be
described later.
631.
All this work has been done by ordinary labourers
working under a contractor-- a large body of men, many of whom are brought from
a distance; and they are highly paid in order to ensure that the work shall be
of the best. A great deal of complicated machinery is required for the work of
the colony, and in their early days men from without are employed to manage this
and to instruct the colonists in its use; but in a few years the colonists learn
how to make and repair everything that is necessary for their well-being, and so
they are able to dispense with outside help. Even within the first generation
the colony becomes self-supporting, and after this no labour is imported from
outside. A vast amount of money is expended in establishing the colony and
bringing it into working order, but when once it is firmly established it is
entirely self-supporting and independent of the outer world. The community does
not, however, lose touch with the rest of the world, for it always takes care to
acquaint itself with all new discoveries and inventions, and with any
improvements in machinery.
632.
CHILDREN OF THE MANU
633.
The principal investigations which we made, however,
concern a period about one hundred and fifty years later than this, when the
community has already enormously increased, and numbers somewhere about a
hundred thousand people, all of them direct physical descendants of the Manu,
with the exception of a few who have been admitted from the outer world under
conditions which shall presently be described. It at first seemed to us
improbable that the descendants of one man could in that period amount to so
large a number; but such cursory examination as could be made of the intervening
period showed that all this had happened quite naturally. When the Manu sees fit
to marry, certain of His pupils selected by Him stand ready voluntarily to
resign their old bodies as soon as He is able to provide them with new ones. He
has twelve children in all; it is noteworthy that He arranges that each shall be
born under a special influence-- as astrologers would say-- one under each sign
of the Zodiac. All these children grow up in due course, and marry selected
children of other members of the community.
634.
Every precaution is taken to supply perfectly healthy
and suitable surroundings, so that there is no infant mortality, and what we
should call quite large families are the rule. At a period of fifty years after
the founding of the community one hundred and four grandchildren of the Manu are
already living. At eighty years from the commencement, the number of descendants
is too great to be readily counted; but taking at random ten out of the hundred
and four grandchildren, we find that those ten, by that time, have between them
ninety-five children, which gives us a rough estimate of one thousand direct
descendants in that generation, not including the original twelve children and
one hundred and four grandchildren. Moving on another quarter of a century--
that is to say one hundred and five years from the original founding of the
community, we find fully ten thousand direct descendants, and it then becomes
clear that in the course of the next forty-five years there is not the slightest
difficulty in accounting for fully one hundred thousand.
635.
GOVERNMENT
636.
It is now necessary to describe the government and the
general conditions of our community, to see what are its methods of education
and of worship, and its relation with the outer world. This last appears
entirely amicable; the community pays some quite nominal tax for its land to the
general government of the country, and in return it is left almost entirely
alone, since it makes its own roads and requires no services of any sort from
the outside government.
637.
It is popularly regarded with great respect; its members
are considered as very good and earnest people, though unnecessarily ascetic in
certain ways. Visitors from outside sometimes come in parties, just as tourists
might in the twentieth century, to admire the Temples and other buildings. They
are not in any way hindered, though they are not in any way encouraged. The
comment of the visitors generally seems to be along the lines: “Well, it is all
very beautiful and interesting, yet I should not like to have to live as they
do!”
638.
As the members have been separated from the outside
world for a century and a half, old family connections have fallen into the
background. In a few cases such relationships are still remembered, and
occasionally visits are interchanged. There is no restriction whatever upon
this; a member of the colony may go and visit a friend outside of it, or may
invite a friend quite freely to come and stay with him. The only rule with
regard to these matters is that intermarriage between those within the community
and those outside is strictly forbidden. Even such visits as have been described
are infrequent, for the whole thought of the community is so entirely
one-pointed that persons from the outside world are not likely to find its daily
life interesting to them.
639.
THE SPIRIT OF THE NEW RACE
640.
For the one great dominant fact about this community is
the spirit which pervades it. Every member of it knows that he is there for a
definite purpose, of which he never for a moment loses sight. All have vowed
themselves to the service of the Manu for the promotion of the progress of the
new Race. All of them definitely mean business; every man has the fullest
possible confidence in the wisdom of the Manu, and would never dream of
disputing any regulation which He made. We must remember that these people are a
selection of a selection. During the intervening centuries many thousands have
been attracted by Theosophy, and out of these the most earnest and most
thoroughly permeated by these ideas have been chosen. Most of them have recently
taken a number of rapid incarnations, bringing through to a large extent their
memory, and in all of those incarnations they have known that their lives in the
new Race would have to be entirely lives of self-sacrifice for the sake of that
Race. They have therefore trained themselves in the putting aside of all
personal desires, and there is consequently an exceedingly strong public opinion
among them in favour of unselfishness, so that anything like even the slightest
manifestation of personality would be considered as a shame and a disgrace.
641.
The idea is strongly ingrained that in this selection a
glorious opportunity has been offered to them, and that to prove themselves
unworthy of it, and in consequence to leave the community for the outer world,
would be an indelible stain upon their honour. In addition, the praise of the
Manu goes to those who make advancement, who can suggest anything new and useful
and assist in the development of the community, and not to anyone who does
anything in the least personal. The existence among them of this great force of
public opinion practically obviates the necessity of laws in the ordinary sense
of the word. The whole community may not inaptly be compared to an army going
into battle; if there are any private differences between individual soldiers,
for the moment all these are lost in the one thought of perfect co-operation for
the purpose of defeating the enemy. If any sort of difference of opinion arises
between two members of the community, it is immediately submitted either to the
Manu, or to the nearest member of His Council, and no one thinks of disputing
the decision which is given.
642.
THE MANU AND HIS COUNCIL
643.
It will be seen therefore that government in the
ordinary sense of the term scarcely exists in this community. The Manu' s ruling
is undisputed, and He gathers round Him a Council of about a dozen of the most
highly developed of His pupils, some of them already Adepts at the Asekha level,
who are also the Heads of departments in the management of affairs, and are
constantly making new experiments with a view to increasing the welfare and
efficiency of the Race. All members of the Council are sufficiently developed to
function freely on all the lower planes, at least up to the level of the causal
body; consequently we may think of them as practically in perpetual session-- as
constantly consulting, even in the very act of administration.
644.
Anything in the nature either of courts of law or a
police force does not exist, nor are such things required; for there is
naturally no criminality nor violence amongst a body of people so entirely
devoted to one object. Clearly, if it were conceivable that any member of the
community could offend against the spirit of it, the only punishment which would
or could be meted out to him would be expulsion from it; but as that would be to
him the end of all his hopes, the utter failure of aspirations cherished through
many lives, it is not to be supposed that anyone would run the slightest risk of
it.
645.
In thinking of the general temper of the people it must
also be borne in mind that some degree of psychical perception is practically
universal, and that in the case of many it is already quite highly developed; so
that all can see for themselves something of the working of the forces with
which they have to deal, and the enormously greater advancement of the Manu, the
Chief Priest and Their Council is obvious as a definite and indubitable fact, so
that all have before their eyes the strongest of reasons for accepting their
decisions. In ordinary physical life, even when men have perfect confidence in
the wisdom and good will of a ruler, there still remains the doubt that that
ruler may be misinformed on certain points, and that for that reason his
decisions may not always be in accordance with abstract justice. Here, however,
no shadow of such a doubt is possible, since by daily experience it is
thoroughly well known that the Manu is practically omniscient as far as the
community is concerned, and that it is therefore impossible that any
circumstances can escape His observation. Even if His judgment upon any case
should be different from what was expected, it would be fully understood by His
people that that was not because any circumstances affecting it were unknown to
Him, but rather because He was taking into account circumstances unknown to
them.
646.
Thus we see that the two types of people which are
perpetually causing trouble in ordinary life do not exist in this community--
those who intentionally break laws with the object of gaining something for
themselves, and those others who cause disturbance because they fancy themselves
wronged or misunderstood. The first class cannot exist here, because only those
are admitted to the community who leave self behind and entirely devote
themselves to its good; the second class cannot exist here because it is clear
to all of them that misunderstanding or injustice is an impossibility. Under
conditions such as these the problem of government becomes an easy one.
647.
CHAPTER XXIV
648.
RELIGION AND THE TEMPLES
649.
THIS practical absence of all regulations gives to the
whole place an air of remarkable freedom, although at the same time the
atmosphere of one-pointedness impresses itself upon us very forcibly. Men are of
many different types, and are moving along lines of development through
intellect, devotion and action; but all alike recognise that the Manu knows
thoroughly well what He is doing, and that all these different ways are only so
many methods of serving Him-- that whatever development comes to one comes to
him not for himself, but for the Race, that it may be handed on to his children.
There are no longer different religions in our sense of the word, though the one
teaching is given in different typical forms. The subject of religious worship
is, however, of such great importance that we will now devote a special section
to its consideration, following this up with the new methods of education, and
the particulars of the personal, social, and corporate life of the community.
650.
THEOSOPHY IN THE COMMUNITY
651.
Since the two Masters who founded the Theosophical
Society are also the leaders of this community, it is quite natural that the
religious opinion current there should be what we now call Theosophy. All that
we now hold-- all that is known in the innermost circles of our Esoteric
Section-- is the common faith of the community, and many points on which as yet
our own knowledge is only rudimentary are thoroughly grasped and understood in
detail. The outline of our Theosophy is no longer a matter of discussion but of
certainty, and the facts of the life after death and the existence and nature of
the higher worlds are matters of experimental knowledge for nearly all members
of the colony. Here, as in our own time, different branches of the study attract
different people; some think chiefly of the higher philosophy and metaphysics,
while the majority prefer to express their religious feelings along some of the
lines provided for them in the different Temples. A strong vein of practicality
runs through all their thinking, and we should not go far wrong in saying that
the religion of this community is to do what it is told. There is no sort of
divorcement between science and religion, because both alike are bent entirely
to the one object, and exist only for the sake of the State. Men no longer
worship various manifestations, since all possess accurate knowledge as to the
existence of the Solar Deity. It is still the custom with many to make a
salutation to the Sun as he rises, but all are fully aware that he is to be
regarded as a centre in the body of the Deity.
652.
THE DEVAS
653.
One prominent feature of the religious life is the
extent to which the Devas take part in it. Many religions of the twentieth
century spoke of a Golden Age in the past in which Angels or Deities walked
freely among men, but this happy state of things had then ceased because of the
grossness of that stage of evolution. As regards our community this has again
been realised, for great Devas habitually come among the people and bring to
them many new possibilities of development, each drawing to himself those
cognate to his own nature. This should not surprise us, for even in the
twentieth century much help was being given by Devas to those who were able to
receive it. Such opportunities of learning, such avenues of advancement, were
not then open to the majority, but this was not because of the unwillingness of
the Devas, but because of man' s backwardness in evolution. We were then much in
the position of children in a primary class in this world-school. The great
professors from the universities sometimes came to our school to instruct the
advanced students, and we sometimes saw them pass at a distance; but their
ministrations were as yet of no direct use to us simply because we were not at
the age or state of development at which we could make any use of them. The
classes were being held. The teachers were there, quite at our disposal as soon
as we grew old enough. Our community has grown old enough, and therefore it is
reaping the benefit of constant intercourse with these great Beings and of
frequent instruction from them.
654.
THE TEMPLE SERVICES
655.
These Devas are not merely making sporadic appearances,
but are definitely working as part of the regular organisation under the
direction of the Chief Priest, who takes entire control of the religious
development of the community, and of its educational department. For the outward
expression of this religion we find that various classes of Temple services are
provided, and that the management of these is the especial function of the
Devas. Four types of these Temples were observed, and though the outline and
objects of the services were the same in all, there were striking differences in
form and method, which we shall now endeavour to describe.
656.
The keynote of the Temple service is that each man,
belonging as he does to a particular type, has some one avenue through which he
can most easily reach the Divine, and therefore be most easily reached in turn
by divine influence. In some men that channel is affection, in others devotion,
in others sympathy, in yet others intellect. For these four kinds of Temples
exist, and in each of them the object is to bring the prominent quality in the
man into active and conscious relationship with the corresponding quality in the
LOGOS, of which it is a manifestation, for in that way the man himself can most
easily be uplifted and helped. Thereby he can be raised for a time to a level of
spirituality and power far beyond anything that is normally possible for him;
and every such effort of spiritual elevation makes the next similar effort
easier for him, and also raises slightly his normal level. Every service which a
man attends is intended to have a definite and calculated effect upon him, and
the services for a year or series of years are carefully ordered with a view to
the average development of the congregation, and with the idea of carrying its
members upward to a certain point. It is in this work that the co-operation of
the Deva is so valuable, since he acts as a true priest and intermediary between
the people and the LOGOS, receiving, gathering together and forwarding their
streams of aspirational force, and distributing, applying and bringing down to
their level the floods of divine influence which come as a response from on
high.
657.
THE CRIMSON TEMPLE
658.
The first Temple entered for the purpose of examination
was one of those which the Deva originally showed in his pictures-- one of those
where progress is principally made through affection, a great characteristic of
the services of which is the splendid flood of colour which accompanies them,
and is in fact their principal expression. Imagine a magnificent circular
building somewhat resembling a cathedral, yet of no order of architecture at
present known to us, and much more open to the outer air than it is possible for
any cathedral to be in ordinary European climates. Imagine it filled with a
reverent congregation, and the Deva-priest standing in the centre before them,
on the apex of a kind of pyramidal or conical erection of filigree work, so that
he is equally visible from every part of the great building.
659.
It is noteworthy that every worshipper as he enters
takes his seat on the pavement quietly and reverently, and then closes his eyes
and passes before his mental vision a succession of sheets or clouds of colour,
such as sometimes pass before one' s eyes in the darkness just before falling
asleep. Each person has an order of his own for these colours, and they are
evidently to some extent a personal expression of him. This seems to be of the
nature of the preliminary prayer on entering a church of the twentieth century,
and is intended to calm the man, to collect his thoughts, if they have been
wandering, and to attune him to the surrounding atmosphere and the purpose which
it subserves. When the service commences the Deva materialises on the apex of
his pyramid, assuming for the occasion a magnificent and glorified human form,
and wearing in these particular Temples flowing vestments of rich crimson (the
colour varies with the type of Temple, as will presently be seen).
660.
His first action is to cause a flashing-out above his
head of a band of brilliant colours somewhat resembling a solar spectrum, save
that on different occasions the colours are in different order and vary in their
proportions. It is practically impossible to describe this band of colours with
accuracy, for it is much more than a mere spectrum: it is a picture, yet not a
picture; it has within it geometrical forms, yet we have at present no means by
which it can be drawn or represented, for it is in more dimensions than are
known to our senses as they are now constituted. This band is the keynote or
text of that particular service, indicating to those who understand it the exact
object which it is intended to attain, and the direction in which their
affection and aspiration must be outpoured. It is a thought expressed in the
colour-language of the Devas, and is intelligible as such to all the
congregation. It is materially visible on the physical plane, as well as on the
astral and mental, for although the majority of the congregation are likely to
possess at least astral sight, there may still be some for whom such sight is
only occasional.
661.
Each person present now attempts to imitate this text or
keynote, forming by the power of his will in the air in front of himself a
smaller band of colours as nearly like it as he can. Some succeed far better
than others, so that each such attempt expresses not only the subject indicated
by the Deva but also the character of the man who makes it. Some are able to
make this so definitely that it is visible on the physical plane, while others
can make it only at astral and mental levels. Some of those who produce the most
brilliant and successful imitations of the form made by the Deva do not bring it
down to the physical plane.
662.
The Deva, holding out his arms over the people, now
pours out through this colour-form a wonderful stream of influence upon them-- a
stream which reaches them through their own corresponding colour-forms and
uplifts them precisely in the proportion in which they have been successful in
making their colour-forms resemble that of the Deva. The influence is not that
of the Deva-priest alone, for above and altogether beyond him, and apart from
the Temple or the material world, stands a ring of higher Devas for whose forces
he acts as a channel. The astral effect of the outpouring is remarkable. A sea
of pale crimson light suffuses the vast aura of the Deva and spreads out in
great waves over the congregation, thus acting upon them and stirring their
emotions into greater activity. Each of them shoots up into the rose-coloured
sea his own particular form, but beautiful though that is, it is naturally of a
lower order than that of the Deva, individually coarser and less brilliant than
the totality of brilliancy in which it flashes forth, and so we have a curious
and beautiful effect of deep crimson flames piercing a rose-coloured sea-- as
one might imagine volcanic flames shooting up in front of a gorgeous sunset.
663.
To understand to some extent how this activity of
sympathetic vibration is brought about we must realise that the aura of a Deva
is far more extensive than that of a human being, and it is also far more
flexible. The feeling which in an ordinary man expresses itself in a smile of
greeting, in a Deva causes a sudden expansion and brightening of the aura, and
manifests not only in colour but also in musical sound. A greeting from one Deva
to another is a splendid chord of music, or rather an arpeggio; a conversation
between two Devas is like a fugue; an oration delivered by one of them is a
splendid oratorio. A Rupadeva of ordinary development has frequently an aura of
many hundred yards in diameter, and when anything interests him or excites his
enthusiasm it instantly increases enormously. Our Deva-priest therefore is
including the whole of his congregation within his aura, and is consequently
able to act upon them in a most intimate manner-- from within as well as from
without. Our readers may perhaps picture to themselves this aura, if they
recollect that of the Arhat in Man Visible and Invisible; but they must
think of it as less fixed and more fluidic, more fiery and sparkling-- as
consisting almost entirely of pulsating fiery rays, which yet give much the same
general effect of arrangement of colour. It is as though those spheres of colour
remain, but are formed of fiery rays which are ever flowing outward, yet as they
pass through each section of the radius they take upon themselves its colour.
664.
THE LINKS WITH THE LOGOS
665.
This first outpouring of influence upon the people has
the effect of bringing each person up to his highest level, and evoking from him
the noblest affection of which he is capable. When the Deva sees that all are
tuned to the proper key, he reverses the current of his force, he concentrates
and defines his aura into a smaller spherical form, out of the top of which
rises a huge column reaching upwards. Instead of extending his arms over the
people he raises them above his head, and at that signal every man in the
congregation sends towards the Deva-priest the utmost wealth of his affection
and aspiration-- pours himself out in worship and love at the feet of the Deity.
The Deva draws all those fiery streams into himself; and pours them upward in
one vast fountain of many-coloured flame, which expands as it rises and is
caught by the circle of waiting Devas, who pass it through themselves and,
transmuting it, converge it, like rays refracted through a lens, until it
reaches the great chief Deva of their Ray, the mighty potentate who looks upon
the very LOGOS Himself; and represents that Ray in relation to Him.
666.
The great Chieftain is collecting similar streams from
all parts of his world, and he weaves these many streams into one great rope
which binds the earth to the Feet of its GOD; he combines these many streams
into the one great river which flows around those Feet, and brings our petal of
the lotus close to the heart of the flower. And He answers. In the light of the
LOGOS Himself shines forth for a moment a yet greater brilliancy; back to the
great Deva Chieftain flashes that instant recognition; through him on the
waiting ring below flows down that flood of power; and as through them it
touches the Deva-priest expectant on his pinnacle, once more he lowers his arms
and spreads them out above his people in benediction. A flood of colours
gorgeous beyond all description fills the whole vast cathedral; torrents as of
liquid fire, yet delicate as the hues of an Egyptian sunset, are bathing every
one in their effulgence; and out of all this glory each one takes to himself
that which he is able to take, that which the stage of his development enables
him to assimilate.
667.
All the vehicles of each man present are vivified into
their highest activity by this stupendous down-rush of divine power, and for the
moment each realises to his fullest capacity what the life of God really means,
and how in each it must express itself as love for his fellow-man. This is a far
fuller and more personal benediction than that poured out at the beginning of
the service, for here is something exactly fitted to each man, strengthening him
in his weakness and yet at the same time developing to its highest possibility
all that is best in him, giving him not only a tremendous and transcendent
experience at the time, but also a memory which shall be for him as a radiant
and glowing light for many a day to come. This is the daily service-- the daily
religious practice of those who belong to this Ray of affection.
668.
Nor does the good influence of this service affect only
those who are present; its radiations extend over a large district, and purify
the astral and mental atmospheres. The effect is distinctly perceptible to any
moderately sensitive person even two or three miles from the Temple. Each such
service also sends out a huge eruption of rose-coloured thought-forms which
bombard the surrounding country with thoughts of love, so that the whole
atmosphere is full of it. In the Temple itself a vast crimson vortex is set up
which is largely permanent, so that anyone entering the Temple immediately feels
its influence, and this also keeps up a steady radiation upon the surrounding
district. In addition to this each man as he goes home from the service is
himself a centre of force of no mean order, and when he reaches his home the
radiations which pour from him are strongly perceptible to any neighbours who
have not been able to attend the service.
669.
THE SERMON
670.
Sometimes, in addition to this, or perhaps as a service
apart from this, the Deva delivers what may be described as a kind of
colour-sermon, taking up that colour-form which we have mentioned as the keynote
or text for the day, explaining it to his people by an unfolding process, and
mostly without spoken words, and perhaps causing it to pass through a series of
mutations intended to convey to them instruction of various kinds. One
exceedingly vivid and striking colour-sermon of this nature was intended to show
the effect of love upon the various qualities in others with which it comes into
contact. The black clouds of malice, the scarlet of anger, the dirty green of
deceit, or the hard brown-grey of selfishness, the brownish-green of jealousy,
and the heavy dull-grey of depression, were all in turn subjected to the glowing
crimson fire of love. The stages through which they pass were shown, and it was
made clear that in the end none of them could resist its force, and all of them
at last melted into it and were consumed.
671.
INCENSE
672.
Though colour is in every way the principal feature in
this service which we have described, the Deva does not disdain to avail himself
of the channels of other senses than that of sight. All through his service, and
even before it began, incense has been kept burning in swinging censers
underneath his golden pyramid, where stand two boys to attend to it. The kind of
incense burnt varies with the different parts of the service. The people are far
more sensitive to perfumes than we of earlier centuries; they are able to
distinguish accurately all the different kinds of incense, and they know exactly
what each kind means and for what purpose it is used. The number of pleasant
odours available in this way is much larger than that of those previously in
use, and they have discovered some method of making them more volatile; so that
they penetrate instantly through every part of the building. This acts upon the
etheric body somewhat as the colours do upon the astral, and bears its part in
bringing all the vehicles of the man rapidly into harmony. These people possess
a good deal of new information as to the effect of odours upon certain parts of
the brain, as we shall see more fully when we come to deal with the educational
processes.
673.
SOUND
674.
Naturally every change of colour is accompanied by its
appropriate sound, and though this is a subordinate feature in the colour-Temple
which we have described, it is yet by no means without its effect. We shall now,
however, attempt to describe a somewhat similar service in a Temple where music
is the predominant feature, and colour comes only to assist its effect,
precisely as sound has assisted colour in the Temple of affection. In common
parlance, these Temples in which progress is made principally by the development
of affection are called ` crimson Temples' -- first because everyone knows that
crimson is the colour in the aura which indicates affection, and therefore that
is the prevailing colour of all the splendid outpourings which take place in it;
and secondly, because in recognition of the same fact all the graceful lines of
the architecture are indicated by lines of crimson, and there are even some
Temples entirely of that hue. The majority of these Temples are built of a stone
of a beautiful pale grey with a polished surface much like that of marble, and
when this is the case only the external decorations are of the colour which
indicates the nature of the services performed within. Sometimes, however, the
Temples of affection are built entirely of stone of a lovely pale rose colour,
which stands out with marvellous beauty against the vivid green of the trees
with which they are always surrounded. The Temples in which music is the
dominant factor are similarly known as ` blue Temples,' because, since their
principal object is the arousing of the highest possible devotion, blue is the
colour most prominent in connection with their services, and consequently the
colour adopted for both exterior and interior decoration.
675.
THE BLUE TEMPLE
676.
The general outline of the services in one of the blue
Temples closely resembles that which we have already described, except that in
their case sound takes the place of colour as the principal agent. Just as the
endeavour in the colour-Temple was to stimulate the love in man by bringing it
consciously into relation with the divine love, so in this Temple the object is
to promote the evolution of the man through the quality of devotion, which by
the use of music is enormously uplifted and intensified and brought into direct
relation with the LOGOS who is its object. Just as in the crimson Temple there
exists a permanent vortex of the highest and noblest affection, so in this
music-Temple there exists a similar atmosphere of unselfish devotion which
instantly affects everyone who enters it.
677.
Into this atmosphere come the members of the
congregation, each bringing in his hand a curious musical instrument, unlike any
formerly known on earth. It is not a violin; it is perhaps rather of the nature
of a small circular harp with strings of some shining metal. But this strange
instrument has many remarkable properties. It is in fact much more than a mere
instrument; it is specially magnetised for its owner, and no other person must
use it. It is tuned to the owner; it is an expression of the owner-- a funnel
through which he can be reached on this physical plane. He plays upon it, and
yet at the same time he himself is played upon in doing so. He gives out and
receives vibrations through it.
678.
THE DEVOTIONAL SERVICE
679.
When the worshipper enters the Temple, he calls up
before his mind a succession of beautiful sounds-- a piece of music which
fulfils for him the same office as the series of colours which pass before the
eyes of the man in the colour-Temple at the same stage of the proceedings. When
the Deva materialises he also takes up an instrument of similar nature, and he
commences the service by striking upon it a chord (or rather an arpeggio) which
fulfils the function of the keynote in colour which is used in the other Temple.
The effect of this chord is most striking. His instrument is but a small one and
apparently of no great power, though wonderfully sweet in tone; but as he
strikes it, the chord seems to be taken up in the air around him as though it
were repeated by a thousand invisible musicians, so that it resounds through the
great dome of the Temple and pours out in a flood of harmony, a sea of rushing
sound, over the entire congregation. Each member of the congregation now touches
his own instrument, and very softly at first, but gradually swelling out into a
greater volume, until everyone is taking part in this wonderful symphony. Thus,
as in the colour-Temple, every member is brought into harmony with the principal
idea which the Deva wishes to emphasise at this service, and in this case, as in
the other, a benediction is poured over the people which raises each to the
highest level possible for him, and draws from him an eager response which shows
itself both in sound and in colour.
680.
Here also incense is being used, and it varies at
different points of the service, much as in the other case. Then when the
congregation is thoroughly tuned, each man begins definitely to play. All are
clearly taking recognised parts, although it does not seem that this has been
arranged or rehearsed beforehand. As soon as this stage is in full operation the
Deva-priest draws in his aura, and begins to pour his sound inwards instead of
out over the people. Each man is putting his very life into his playing, and
definitely aiming at the Deva, so that through him it may rise. The effect on
the higher emotions of the people is most remarkable, and the living aspiration
and devotion of the congregation is poured upwards in a mighty stream through
the officiating Deva to a great circle of Devas above, who, as before, draw it
into themselves, transmuting it to an altogether higher level, and send it
forward in a still mightier stream towards the great Deva at the head of their
Ray. Upon him converge thousands of such streams from all the devotion of the
earth, and he in his turn gathers all. these together and weaves them into one,
which, as he sends it upwards, links him with the Solar LOGOS Himself.
681.
In it he is bearing his share in a concert which comes
from all the worlds of the system, and these streams from all the worlds make
somehow the mighty twelve-stringed lyre upon which the LOGOS Himself plays as He
sits upon the Lotus of His system. It is impossible to put this into words; but
the writer has seen it, and knows that it is true. He hears, He responds, and He
Himself plays upon His system. Thus for the first time we have one brief glimpse
of the stupendous life which He lives among the other LOGOI who are His peers;
but thought fails before this glory; our minds are inadequate to comprehend it.
At least it is clear that the great music-Devas, taken in their totality,
represent music to the LOGOS, and He expresses Himself through them in music to
His worlds.
682.
THE BENEDICTION
683.
Then comes the response-- a downpouring flood of ordered
sound too tremendous to be described, flowing back through the Chieftain of the
Ray to the circle of Devas below, and from them to the Deva-priest in the
Temple, transmuted at each stage to lower levels, so that at last it pours out
through the officiant in the Temple in a form in which it may be assimilated by
his congregation-- a great ocean of soft, sweet, swelling sound, an outburst of
celestial music which surrounds, enwraps, overwhelms them, and yet pours into
them through their own instruments vibrations so living, so uplifting, that
their higher bodies are brought into action and their consciousness is raised to
levels which in their outer life it could not even approach. Each man holds out
his instrument in front of him, and it is through that that this marvellous
effect is produced upon him. It seems as though from the great symphony each
instrument selected the chords appropriate to itself-- that is to say, to the
owner whose expression it is. Yet each harp somehow not only selects and
responds, but also calls into existence far more than its own volume of sound.
684.
The whole atmosphere is surcharged by the Gandharvas, or
music-Devas, so that veritably every sound is multiplied, and for every single
tone is produced a great chord of overtones and undertones, all of unearthly
sweetness and beauty. This benedictory response from on high is an utterly
amazing experience, but words completely fail when we endeavour to find
expression for it. It must be seen and heard and felt before it can in any way
be understood.
685.
This magnificent final swell goes sounding home with the
people, as it were; it lives inside them still even though the service is over,
and often the member will try to reproduce it in a minor degree in a kind of
little private service at home. In this Temple also there may be what
corresponds to a sermon, but in this case it is delivered by the Deva through
his instrument and received by the people through theirs. It is clear that it is
not the same to all-- that some get more and some less of the meaning of the
Deva and of the effect which he intends to produce.
686.
INTELLECT
687.
All the effects which are produced in the crimson Temple
through affection by the gorgeous seas of colour are attained here through
devotion by this marvellous use of music. It is clear that in both cases the
action is primarily on the intuitional and emotional bodies of the people-- on
the intuitional directly, in those who have developed it to the responsive
stage, and on the intuitional through the emotional for others who are somewhat
less advanced. The intellect is touched only by reflection from these planes,
whereas in the next variety of Temple to be described this action is reversed,
for the stimulation is brought to bear directly upon the intellect, and it is
only through and by means of that that the intuitional is presently to be
awakened. Eventual results are no doubt the same, but the order of procedure is
different.
688.
THE YELLOW TEMPLE
689.
If we think of the men of the crimson Temple as
developing through colour, and those of the blue as utilising sound, we might
perhaps put form as the vehicle principally employed in the yellow Temple-- for
naturally yellow is the colour of the Temple especially devoted to intellectual
development, since it is in that way that it symbolises itself in the various
vehicles of man.
690.
Once more the architecture and the internal structure of
the Temple are the same, except that all decorations and outlinings are in
yellow instead of blue or crimson. The general scheme of the service, too, is
identical-- the text or keynote first, which brings all into union, then the
aspiration or prayer or effort of the people, which calls down the response from
the LOGOS. The form of instruction which, for want of a better name, I have
called the sermon also has its part in all the services. All alike use incense,
though the difference between the kind used in this yellow Temple and that of
the blue and the crimson is noticeable. The vortex in this case stimulates
intellectual activity, so that merely to enter the Temple makes a man feel more
keenly alive mentally, better able to understand and to appreciate.
691.
These people do not bring with them any physical
instruments, and instead of passing before their eyes a succession of clouds of
colour, they begin, as soon as they take their seats, to visualise certain
mental forms. Each man has his own form, which is clearly intended to be an
expression of himself, just as was the physical instrument of the musician, or
the special colour-scheme of the worshipper in the Temple of affection. These
forms are all different, and many of them distinctly imply the power to
visualise in the physical brain some of the simpler four-dimensional figures.
Naturally the power of visualisation differs; so some people are able to make
their figures much more complete and definite than others. But, curiously, the
indefiniteness seems to shows itself at both ends of the scale. The less
educated of the thinkers-- those who are as yet only learning how to think--
often make forms which are not clearly cut, or even if at first they are able to
make them clear they are not able to maintain them so, and they constantly slip
into indefiniteness. They do not actually materialise them, but they do form
them strongly in mental matter, and almost all of them, even at quite an early
stage, seem to be able to do this. The forms are evidently at first prescribed
for them, and they are told to hold them rather as a means than as an object of
contemplation. They are clearly intended to be each an expression of its
creator, whose further progress will involve modifications of the form, though
these do not change it essentially. He is intended to think through it and to
receive vibrations through it, just as the musical man received them through his
instrument, or the member of the colour congregation through his colour-form.
With the more intelligent persons the form becomes more definite and more
complicated; but with some of the most definite of all it is again taking on an
appearance suggesting indefiniteness, because it is beginning to be so much upon
a still higher plane-- because it is taking on more and more of the dimensions,
and is becoming so living that it cannot be kept still.
692.
THE INTELLECTUAL STIMULUS
693.
When the Deva appears he also makes a form-- not a form
which is an expression of himself, but, as in the other Temples, one which is to
be the keynote of the service, which defines the special object at which on this
occasion he is aiming. His congregation then project themselves into their
forms, and try through those to respond to his form and to understand it.
Sometimes it is a changing form-- one which unfolds or unveils itself in a
number of successive movements. Along with the formation of this, and through
it, the Deva-priest pours out upon them a great flood of yellow light which
applies intense stimulus to their intellectual faculties along the particular
line which he is indicating. He is acting strongly upon both their causal and
mental bodies, but very little comparatively on the emotional or the
intuitional. Some who have not normally the consciousness of the mental body
have it awakened in them by this process, so that for the first time they can
use it quite freely and see clearly by its means. In others, who have it not
normally, it awakens the power of four-dimensional sight for the first time; in
others less advanced it only makes them see things a little more clearly, and
comprehend temporarily ideas which are usually too metaphysical for them.
694.
INTELLECTUAL FEELING
695.
The mental effort is not entirely unaccompanied by
feeling, for there is at least an intense delight in reaching upwards, though
even that very delight is felt almost exclusively through the mental body. They
all pour their thoughts through their forms into the Deva-priest, as before, and
they offer up these individual contributions as a kind of sacrifice to the LOGOS
of the best that they have to give. Into him and through him they give
themselves in surrender to the burning Light above; they merge themselves, throw
themselves, into him. It is the white heat of intellectuality raised to its
highest power. As in the other Temples, the Deva-priest synthesises all the
different forms which are sent to him, and blends together all the streams of
force, before forwarding it to the circle above him, which this time consists of
that special class which for the present we will call the yellow Devas-- those
who are developing intellect, and revel in assisting and guiding it in man.
696.
As before, they absorb the force, but only to send it
out again at a higher level and enormously increased in quantity to the great
Chieftain who is the head of their Ray, and a kind of centre for the exchange of
forces. The intellect aspect of the LOGOS plays upon him and through him from
above, while all human intellect reaches up to him and through him from below.
He receives and forwards the contribution from the Temple, and in turn he opens
the flood-gates of divine intelligence which, lowered through many stages on the
way, pours out upon the waiting people and raises them out of their everyday
selves into what they will be in the future. The temporary effect of such a
downpouring is almost incalculable. All egos present are brought into vigorous
activity, and the consciousness in the causal body is brought into action in all
of those in whom it is as yet in any way possible. In others it means merely
greatly increased mental activity; some are so lifted out of themselves that
they actually leave the body, and others pass into a kind of Samadhi, because
the consciousness is drawn up into a vehicle which is not yet sufficiently
developed to be able to express it.
697.
The response from above is not merely a stimulation. It
contains also a vast mass of forms-- it would seem all possible forms along
whatever is the special line of the day. These forms also are assimilated by
such of the congregation as can utilise them, and it is noteworthy that the same
form means much more to some people than to others. For example, a form which
conveys some interesting detail of physical evolution to one man to another
represent a whole vast stage of cosmic development. For many people it is as
though they were seeing in visible form the Stanzas of Dzyan. All are trying to
think on the same line, yet they do it in different ways, and consequently they
attract to themselves different forms out of the vast ordered system which is at
their disposal. Each man draws out of this multitude that which is most suited
to him. Some people, for example, are simply getting new lights on the subject,
substituting for their own thought-form another which is in reality in no way
superior to it, but simply another side of the question.
698.
Men are evidently raised into the intuitional
consciousness along these lines. By intense thinking, by comprehension of the
converging streams, they attain first an intellectual grasp of the constitution
of the universe, and then by intense pressure upwards they realise it and break
through. It usually comes with a rush and almost overwhelms the man-- all the
more so as along his line he has had little practice before in understanding the
feelings of humanity. From his intellectual point of view he has been
philosophically examining and dissecting people, as though they were plants
under a microscope; and now, in a moment, it is borne in upon him that all these
also are divine as himself, that all these are full of their own feelings and
emotions, understandings and misunderstandings, that these are more than
brothers, since they are actually within himself and not without. This is a
great shock for the man to whom it comes, and he needs time to readjust himself
and to develop some other qualities which he has been hitherto to some extent
neglecting. The service ends much as the others did, and each man' s mental form
is permanently somewhat the better for the exercise through which he has passed.
699.
MENTAL MAGIC
700.
Here also we have the form of instruction which we have
called the sermon, and in this case it is usually an exposition of the changes
which take place in a certain form or set of forms. In this case the Deva
occasionally makes use of spoken words, though only few of them. It is as though
he were showing them changing magic-lantern pictures, and naming them as they
pass before them. He materialises strongly and clearly the special thought-form
which he is showing them, and each member of the congregation tries to copy it
in his own mental matter. In one case which is observed, that which is described
is the transference of forms from plane to plane-- a kind of mental magic which
shows how one thought can be changed into another. On the lower mental plane he
shows how a selfish thought may become unselfish. None of his people are crudely
selfish, or they would not be in the community; but there may still remain
subtle forms of self-centred thought. There is a certain danger also of
intellectual pride, and it is shown how this can be transmuted into worship of
the wisdom of the LOGOS.
701.
In other cases most interesting metamorphoses are
shown-- forms changing into one another by turning inside out like a globe. In
this way, for example, a dodecahedron becomes an icosahedron. Not only are these
changes shown, but also their inner meaning on all the different planes is
explained, and here also it is interesting to see the unfoldment of the
successive esoteric meanings and to notice how some members of the congregation
stop at one of these, feeling it to the highest possible degree, and well
satisfied with themselves for being able to see it, while others go on one, two
or more stages beyond them, further into the real heart of the meaning. What is
applied only as a transmutation of their own thoughts by the majority of the
congregation may be to the few who have gone further a translation of cosmic
force from one plane to another. Such a sermon is a veritable training in mental
intensity and activity, and it needs a closely sustained attention to follow it.
702.
In all these Temples alike a great point is made of the
training of the will which is necessary in order to keep the attention focused
upon all the different parts of their variations in the pictures, the music, or
the thought-forms. All this is shown most prominently by the intense glow of the
causal bodies, but it reacts upon the mental vehicles and even upon the physical
brain, which appears on the whole to be distinctly larger among these pioneers
of the sixth Root Race than with men of the fifth. It used to be thought by many
that much study and intellectual development tended greatly to atrophy or
destroy the power of visualisation, but that is not at all the case with the
devotees of the yellow Temple. Perhaps the difference may be that in the old
days study was so largely a study of mere words, whereas in the case of all
these people they have for many lives been devoting themselves also to
meditation, which necessarily involves the constant practice of visualisation in
a high degree.
703.
THE GREEN TEMPLE
704.
Yet one more type of Temple remains to be described-- a
type which is decorated in a lovely pale green, because the thought-forms
generated in it are of precisely that colour. Of the Temples already mentioned
the crimson and the blue seem to have many points in common, and a similar link
seems to join the yellow and the green. One might perhaps say that the blue and
the crimson correspond to two types of what in India is called Bhakti-yoga; in
that case the yellow Temple might be thought of as offering us the Jnana-yoga,
and the green Temple Karma-yoga; or in English we might characterise them as the
Temples of affection, devotion, intellect and action respectively. The
congregation of the green Temple works also chiefly on the mental plane, but its
particular line is the translating of thought into action-- to get things done.
It is part of its regular service to send out intentionally arranged
thought-currents, primarily towards its own community, but also through them to
the world at large. In the other Temples too they think of the outside world,
for they include it in their thoughts of love and devotion or treat it
intellectually; but the idea of these people of the green Temple is action with
regard to everything, and they consider that they have not surely grasped an
idea until they have translated it into action.
705.
The people of the yellow Temple, on the other hand, take
the same idea quite differently, and consider it perfectly possible to have the
fullest comprehension without action. But the devotees of this green Temple
cannot feel that they are really fulfilling their place in the world unless they
are constantly in active motion. A thought-form to them is not an effective
thought-form unless it contains some of their typical green-- because, as they
say, it is lacking in sympathy-- so that all their forces express themselves in
action, action, action, and in action is their happiness, and through the
self-sacrifice in the action they attain.
706.
They have powerful and concentrated plans in their
minds, and in some cases it is noticed that many of them combine to think out
one plan and to get the thing done. They are careful to accumulate much
knowledge about whatever subject they take up as a specialty. Often each one
takes some area in the world into which he pours his thought-forms for a certain
object. One, for example, will take up education in Greenland, or social reform
in Kamschatka. They are naturally dealing with all sorts of out-of-the-way
places like these, because by this time everything conceivable has already been
done in every place of which we have ever heard in ordinary life. They do not
use hypnotism, however; they do not in any way try to dominate the will of any
man whom they wish to help; they simply try to impress their ideas and
improvements on his brain.
707.
THE LINE OF THE HEALING-DEVAS
708.
Once more, the general scheme of their service is like
that of the others. They do not bring with them any physical instruments, but
they have their mental forms just as the intellectual people have, only in this
case they are always plans of activity. Each has some special plan to which he
is devoting himself, though at the same time through it he is devoting himself
to the LOGOS. They hold their plans and the realisation of them before them,
just in the same way as the other men do their thought- or colour-forms. It is
noteworthy that these plans are always carried to a great height of conception.
For example, a man' s plan for the organisation of the backward country would
include and be mainly centred in the idea of the mental and moral uplifting of
its inhabitants. These devotees of the green Temple are not actually
philanthropical in the old sense of the word, though their hearts are filled
with sympathy with their fellow-men which expresses itself in the most beautiful
shade of their characteristic colour. Indeed, from what glimpses have been
caught of the outer world it seems evident that ordinary philanthropy is quite
unnecessary, because poverty has disappeared. Their schemes are all plans for
helping people, or for the improvement of conditions in some way.
709.
Suggestions of all kinds and sorts of activity find
their place here, and they appeal to the active or healing-Devas, the type
identified by Christian Mystics with the hierarchy of the Archangel Raphael.
Their Deva-priest puts before them as his text, or as the dominant idea of the
service, something which will be an aspect of all their ideas and will
strengthen every one of them. They try to present clearly their several schemes,
and through that they gain development for themselves in trying to sympathise
with and help other people. After the preliminary tuning up and the opening
benediction, there comes once more the offering of their plans. The opening
benediction may be thought of as bringing the sympathy of the Devas for all
their schemes and the identification of the Deva-priest with each and all of
them.
710.
When the time of aspiration comes, each offers his plan
as something of his own which he has to give, as his contribution, as the fruit
of his brain, which he lays before the Lord, and also he has the thought that
thus he throws himself and his life into his schemes as a sacrifice for the sake
of the LOGOS. Once more we get the same magnificent effect, the splendid sheet
and fountains, the great glowing sea of pale luminous sunset green, and among it
the flames of darker green shooting up from the sympathetic thought of each
member present. Just as before, all this is gathered into a focus by the
Deva-priest, is sent up by him to a circle of healing-Devas above, and through
them to the Chieftain of their Ray, who once more presents this aspect of the
world to the LOGOS.
711.
When they thus offer themselves and their thoughts,
there comes back the great flow of response, the outpouring of good-will and of
blessing, which in turn illuminates the sacrifice which they have offered
through the line to which each has directed himself. The great Devas seem to
magnetise the man and increase his power along this and cognate lines, raising
it to higher levels, even while they increase it. The response not only
strengthens such thoughts of good as they already have, but also opens up to
them the conception of further activities for their thoughts. It is a definite
act of projection, and it is done by them in a time of silent meditation after
the reception of the blessing.
712.
There are many types among these people; they bring
different chakrams or centres in the mental body into activity, and their
streams of thought-force are projected sometimes from one chakram and sometimes
from another. In the final benediction it seems as though the LOGOS pours
Himself through His Devas into them, and then again out through them to the
objects of their sympathy, so that an additional transmutation of the force
takes place, and the culmination of their act is to be an active agent for His
action. Intense sympathy is the feeling most cultivated by these people; it is
their keynote, by which they gradually rise through the mental and causal bodies
to the intuitional, and there find the acme of sympathy, because there the
object of sympathy is no longer outside themselves, but within.
713.
The sermon in this case is frequently an exposition of
the adaptability of various types of elemental essence to the thought-force
which they require. Such a sermon is illustrated as it goes on, and the
thought-forms are constructed before the congregation by the Deva and
materialised for them, so that they may learn exactly the best way to produce
them and the best materials of which to build them.
714.
INDEPENDENTS
715.
In the special lines of development of these Temples
there seems a curious half-suggestion of the four lower subplanes of the mental
plane as they present themselves during the life after death, for it will be
remembered that affection is the chief characteristic of one of these planes,
devotion of another, action for the sake of the Deity of a third, and the clear
conception of right for right' s sake of the fourth. It is, however, quite
evident that there is no difference in advancement between the egos who follow
one line and those who follow another; all these paths are clearly equal, all
alike are stairways leading from the level of ordinary humanity to the Path of
Holiness which rises to the level of Adeptship. To one or other of these types
belong the great majority of the people of the community, so that all these
temples are daily filled with crowds of worshippers.
716.
A few people there are who do not attend any of these
services, simply because none of these are to them the most appropriate ways of
development. There is not, however, the slightest feeling that these few are
therefore irreligious or in any way inferior to the most regular attendants. It
is thoroughly recognised that there are many paths to the summit of the
mountain, and that each man is absolutely at liberty to take that which seems
best to him. In most cases a man selects his path and keeps to it, but it would
never occur to him to blame his neighbour for selecting another, or even for
declining to select any one of those provided. Every man is trying his best in
his own way to fit himself for the work that he will have to do in the future,
as well as to carry out to the best of his ability the work at present before
him. Nobody harbours the feeling: “I am in a better way than so-and-so,” because
he sees another doing differently. The habitual attendants of one Temple also
quite often visit the others; indeed, some people try them all in turn rather
according to their feeling of the moment, saying to themselves: “I think I need
a touch of yellow this morning to brighten up my intellect”; or: “Perhaps I am
becoming too metaphysical, let me try a tonic of the green Temple”; or on the
other hand: “I have been straining hard lately along intellectual lines; let me
now give a turn to affection or devotion.”
717.
CONGREGATION OF THE DEAD
718.
Many people also make a practice of attending the
magnificent, though more elementary, services which are frequently held in the
Temples, ostensibly for children; these will be described in detail when we come
to the subject of education. It is interesting to observe that the peculiar
nature of the Temple services of this community has evidently attracted much
attention in the astral world, for large numbers of dead people make a practice
of attending the services. They have discovered the participation of the Devas
and the tremendous forces which are consequently playing through them, and they
evidently wish to partake of the advantages. This congregation of the dead is
recruited exclusively from the outside world; for in the community there are no
dead, since every man, when he puts aside one physical body, promptly assumes
another in order to carry on the work to which he has devoted himself.
719.
THE MASTER OF RELIGION
720.
The religious and educational side of the life of the
community is under the direction of the Master K.H.; and He Himself makes it a
point to visit all the Temples in turn, taking the place of the officiating
Deva, and in doing so showing the fact that He combines within Himself in the
highest possible degree all the qualities of all the types. The Devas who are
doing work connected with religion and education are all marshalled under His
orders. Some members of the community are being specially trained by the Devas,
and it seems probable that such men will in due course pass on to the line of
the Deva evolution.
721.
CHAPTER XXV
722.
EDUCATION AND THE FAMILY
723.
THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
724.
AS we should naturally expect, much attention is paid in
this community to the education of the children. It is considered of such
paramount importance that nothing which can in any way help is neglected, and
all sorts of adjuncts are brought into play; colour, light, sound, form,
electricity are all pressed into the service, and the Devas who take so large a
part in the work avail themselves of the aid of armies of nature-spirits. It has
been realised that many facts previously ignored or considered insignificant
have their place and their influence in educational processes-- that, for
example, the surroundings most favourable for the study of mathematics are not
at all necessarily the same that are best suited for music or geography.
725.
People have learnt that different parts of the physical
brain may be stimulated by different lights and colours-- that for certain
subjects an atmosphere slightly charged with electricity is useful, while for
others it is positively detrimental. In the corner of every class-room,
therefore, there stands a variant upon an electrical machine, by means of which
the surrounding conditions can be changed at will. Some rooms are hung with
yellow, decorated exclusively with yellow flowers, and permeated with yellow
light. In others, on the contrary, blue, red, violet, green or white
predominates. Various perfumes are also found to have a stimulating effect, and
these also are employed according to a regular system.
726.
Perhaps the most important innovation is the work of the
nature-spirits, who take a keen delight in executing the tasks committed to
them, and enjoy helping and stimulating the children much as gardeners might
delight in the production of especially fine plants. Among other things they
take up all the appropriate influences of light and colour, sound and
electricity, and focus them; and as it were spray them upon the children, so
that they may produce the best possible effect. They are also employed by the
teachers in individual cases; if; for example, one scholar in a class does not
understand the point put before him, a nature-spirit is at once set to touch and
stimulate a particular centre in his brain, and then in a moment he is able to
comprehend. All teachers must be clairvoyant; it is an absolute prerequisite for
the office. These teachers are members of the community-- men and women
indiscriminately; Devas frequently materialise for special occasions or to give
certain lessons, but never seem to take the entire responsibility of a school.
727.
The four great types which are symbolised by the Temples
are seen to exist here also. The children are carefully observed and treated
according to the results of observation. In most cases they sort themselves out
at a quite early period into one or other of these lines of development, and
every opportunity is given to them to select that which they prefer. Here again
there is nothing of the nature of compulsion. Even tiny children are perfectly
acquainted with the object of the community, and fully realise that it is their
duty and their privilege to order their lives accordingly. It must be remembered
that all these people are immediate reincarnations, and that most of them bring
over at least some memory of all their past lives, so that for them education is
simply a process of as rapidly as possible getting a new set of vehicles under
control and recovering as quickly as may be any links that may have been lost in
the process of transition from one physical body to another.
728.
It does not of course in any way follow that the
children of a man who is on (let us say) the musical line need themselves be
musical. As their previous births are always known to the parents and
schoolmasters; every facility is given to them to develop either along the line
of their last life or along any other which may seem to come most easily to
them. There is the fullest co-operation between the parents and schoolmasters. A
particular member who was noticed took his children to the schoolmaster,
explained them all to him in detail, and constantly visited him to discuss might
be best for them. If, for example, the schoolmaster thinks that a certain colour
is especially desirable for a particular pupil he communicates his idea to the
parents, and much of that colour is put before the child at home as well as at
school; he is surrounded with it, and it is used in his dress and so on. All
schools are under the direction of the Master K.H., and every schoolmaster is
personally responsible to Him.
729.
TRAINING THE IMAGINATION
730.
Let me take as an example the practice of a school
attached to one of the yellow Temples, and see how they begin the intellectual
development of the lowest class. First the master sets before them a little
shining ball, and they are asked to make an image of it in their minds. Some who
are quite babies can do it really well. The teacher says:
731.
“You can see my face; now, shut your eyes; can you see
it still? Now look at this ball; can you shut your eyes and still see it?”
732.
The teacher, by the use of his clairvoyant faculty, can
see whether or not the children are making satisfactory images. Those who can do
it are set to practise day by day, with all sorts of simple forms and colours.
Then they are asked to suppose that point moving, and leaving a track behind it
as a shooting star does; then to imagine the luminous track, that is to say, a
line. Then they are asked to imagine this line as moving at right angles to
itself, every point in it leaving a similar track, and thus they mentally
construct for themselves a square. Then all sorts of permutations and divisions
of that square are put before them. It is broken up into triangles of various
sorts, and it is explained to them that in reality all these things are living
symbols with a meaning. Even quite the babies are taught some of these things.
733.
“What does the point mean to you?”
734.
“One.”
735.
“Who is One?”
736.
“God.”
737.
“Where is He?”
738.
“He is everywhere.”
739.
And then presently they learn that two signifies the
duality of Spirit and matter, that three dots of a certain kind and colour mean
three aspects of the Deity, while three others of a different kind mean the soul
in man. A later class has also an intermediate three which obviously mean the
Monad. In this way, by associating grand ideas with simple objects, even tiny
little children possess an amount of Theosophical information which would seem
quite surprising to a person accustomed to an older and less intelligent
educational system. An ingenious kind of kindergarten machine was observed, a
sort of ivory ball-- at least it looked like ivory-- which, when a spring is
touched, opens out into a cross with a rose drawn upon it like the Rosicrucian
symbol, out of which come a number of small balls each of which in turn
subdivides. By another movement it can be made to close again, the mechanism
being cleverly concealed. This is meant as a symbol to illustrate the idea of
the One becoming many and of the eventual return of the many into the One.
740.
MORE ADVANCED CLASSES
741.
For a later class that luminous square moves again at
right angles to itself and produces a cube, and then still later the cube moves
at right angles to itself and produces a tesseract, and most of the children are
able to see it and to make its image clearly in their minds. Children who have a
genius for it are taught to paint pictures, trees and animals, landscapes and
scenes from history, and each child is taught to make his picture living. He is
taught that the concentration of his thought can actually alter the physical
picture, and the children are proud when they can succeed in doing this. Having
painted a picture as well as they can, the children concentrate upon it and try
to improve it, to modify it by their thought. In a week or so, working at the
concentration for some time each day, they are able to produce considerable
modifications, and a boy of fourteen can, from much practice, do it quite
rapidly.
742.
Having modified his picture, the child is taught to make
a thought-form of it, to look at it, to contemplate it earnestly, and then to
shut his eyes and visualise it. He takes, first, ordinary physical pictures;
then a glass vessel containing a coloured gas is given to him, and by the effort
of his will he has to mould the gas into certain shapes-- to make it take a form
by thought-- to make it become, inside its vessel, a sphere, a cube, a
tetrahedron or some such shape. Many children can do this easily after a little
practice. Then they are asked to make it take the shape of a man, and then that
of the picture at which they have previously been looking. When they can manage
this gaseous matter fairly easily they try to do it in etheric, then in astral,
and then in purely mental matter. The teacher himself makes materialisations for
them to examine when necessary, and in this way they gradually work upward to
more advanced acts of thought-creation. All these classes are open to visits
from parents and friends, and often many older people like to attend them and
themselves practise the exercises set for the children.
743.
THE SCHOOL SYSTEM
744.
There is nothing in the nature of the boarding-school,
and all children live happily at home and attend the school which is most
convenient for them. In a few cases the Deva-priests are training children to
take their places; but even in these cases the child is not taken away from
home, though he is usually surrounded by a special protective shell, so that the
influence which the Deva pours in upon him may not be interfered with by other
vibrations.
745.
A child does not belong to a class at all in the same
way as under older methods; each child has a list of numbers for different
subjects; he may be in the first class for one subject, in the third for
another, in the fifth for some other. Even for small children the arrangement
seems to be far less a class than a kind of lecture-room. In trying to
comprehend the system, we must never for a moment forget the effect of the
immediate reincarnations, and that consequently not only are these children on
the average far more intelligent and developed than other children of their age,
but also they are unequally developed. Some children of four remember more of a
previous incarnation, and of what they learnt then, than other children of eight
or nine; and again some children remember a certain subject fully and clearly,
and yet have almost entirely lost their knowledge of some other subjects which
seem quite as easy. So that we are dealing with entirely abnormal conditions,
and the schemes adopted have to be suited to them.
746.
At what corresponds to the opening of the school, they
all stand together and sing something. They get four lessons into their morning
session, but the lessons are short, and there is always an interval for play
between them. Like all their houses, the schoolroom has no walls, but is
supported entirely on pillars, so that practically the whole life of the
children, as well as of the rest of the community, is lived in the open air; but
nevertheless the children are turned out even from that apology for a room after
each of the lessons, and left to play about in the park which surrounds the
school. Girls and boys are taught together promiscuously. This morning session
covers all of what would be called the compulsory subjects-- the subjects which
everybody learns; there are some extra lessons in the afternoon on additional
subjects for those who wish to take them, but a considerable number of the
children are satisfied with the morning work.
747.
THE CURRICULUM
748.
The school curriculum is different from that of the
twentieth century. The very subjects are mostly different, and even those which
are the same are taught in an entirely different way. Arithmetic, for example,
has been greatly simplified; there are no complex weights and measures of any
kind, everything being arranged on a decimal system; they calculate but little,
and the detailed working-out of long rows of figures would be denounced as
insufferably tedious. Nothing is taught but what is likely to be practically
useful to the average person in after-life; all the rest is a matter of
reference. In earlier centuries they had books of logarithms, by reference to
which long and complicated calculations could be avoided; now they have the same
system immensely extended, and yet, at the same time, much more compressed. It
is a scheme by which the result of practically any difficult calculation can be
looked up in a few moments by a person who knows the book. The children know how
to calculate, just as a man may know how to make his own logarithms, and yet
habitually use a book for them to avoid the waste of time in tedious processes
involving long rows of figures.
749.
Arithmetic with them is hardly a subject in itself, but
is taken only as leading up to calculations connected with the geometry which
deals with solid figures and the higher dimensions. The whole thing is so
different from previous ideas that it is not easy to describe it clearly. For
example, in all the children' s sums there is no question of money, and no
complicated calculation. To understand the sum and know how to do it is
sufficient. The theory in the school-master' s mind is not to cram the brains of
the children, but to develop their faculties and tell them where to find facts.
Nobody, for example, would dream of multiplying a line of six figures by another
similar line, but would employ either a calculating machine (for these are
common), or one of the books to which I have referred.
750.
The whole problem of reading and writing is far simpler
than it used to be, for all spelling is phonetic, and pronunciation cannot be
wrong when a certain syllable must always have a certain sound. The writing has
somewhat the appearance of shorthand. There is a good deal to learn in it, but
at the same time, when he has learnt it, the child is in possession of a finer
and more flexible instrument than any of the older languages since he can write
at least as fast as any ordinary person can speak. There is a large amount of
convention about it, and a whole sentence is often expressed by a mark like a
flash of lightning.
751.
The language which they are speaking is naturally
English, since the community has arisen in an English-speaking country, but it
has been modified considerably. Many participial forms have disappeared, and
some of the words are different. All subjects are learnt so differently now.
Nobody learns any history, except isolated interesting stories, but everyone has
in his house a book in which an epitome of all history can be found. Geography
is still learnt to a limited extent. They know where all the different races
live, and with great precision in what these races differ, and what qualities
they are developing. But the commercial side has dropped; no one bothers about
the exports of Bulgaria; nobody knows where they make woollen cloth, or wants to
know. All these things can be turned up at a moment' s notice in books which are
part of the free furniture of every house, and it would be considered a waste of
time to burden the memory with such valueless facts.
752.
The scheme is in every respect strictly utilitarian;
they do not teach the children anything which can be easily obtained from an
encyclopaedia. They have developed a scheme of restricting education to
necessary and valuable knowledge. A boy of twelve usually has behind him, in his
physical brain, the entire memory of what he knew in previous lives. It is the
custom to carry a talisman over from life to life, which helps the child to
recover the memory in the new vehicles-- a talisman which he wore in his
previous birth, so that it is thoroughly loaded with the magnetism of that birth
and can now stir up again the same vibrations.
753.
CHILDREN' S SERVICES
754.
Another interesting educational feature is what is
called the children' s service at the Temple. Many others than children attend
this, especially those who are not yet quite up to the level of the other
services already described. The children' s service in the music-Temple is
exceedingly beautiful; the children perform a series of graceful evolutions, and
both sing and play upon instruments as they march about. That in the
colour-Temple is something like an especially gorgeous Drury Lane pantomime, and
has evidently been many times carefully rehearsed.
755.
In one case they are reproducing the choric dance of the
priests of Babylon, which represents the movement of the planets round the sun.
This is performed upon an open plain, as it used to be in Assyria, and groups of
children dress in special colours (representing the various planets) and move
harmoniously, so that in their play they have also an astronomical lesson. But
it must be understood that they fully feel that they are engaging in a sacred
religious rite, and that to do it well and thoroughly will not only be helpful
to themselves, but that it also constitutes a kind of offering of their services
to the Deity. They have been told that this used to be done in an old religion
many thousands of years ago.
756.
The children take great delight in it, and there is
quite a competition to be chosen to be part of the Sun! Proud parents also look
on, and are pleased to be able to say: “My boy is part of Mercury to-day,” and
so on. The planets all have their satellites-- more satellites in some cases
than used to be known, so that astronomy has evidently progressed. The rings of
Saturn are remarkably well represented by a number of children in constant
motion in a figure closely resembling the ` grand chain' at the commencement of
the fifth figure of the Lancers. An especially interesting point is that even
the inner ` crape' ring of Saturn is represented, for those children who are on
the inside of the next ring keep a gauzy garment floating out so as to represent
it. The satellites are single children or pairs of children waltzing outside the
ring. All the while, though they enjoy it immensely, they never forget that they
are performing a religious function and that they are offering this to God.
Another dance evidently indicates the transfer of life from the Moon Chain to
the Earth Chain. All sorts of instruction is given to the children in this way,
half a play and half a religious ceremony.
757.
SYMBOLIC DANCES
758.
There are great festivals which each Temple celebrates
by special performances of this kind, and on these occasions they all do their
best in the way of gorgeous decoration. The buildings are so arranged that the
lines are picked out in a kind of permanent phosphorescence, not a line of
lamps, but a glow which seems to come from the substance. The lines of the
architecture are graceful, and this has a splendid effect. The children' s
service is an education in colours. The combinations are really wonderful, and
the drilling of the children is perfect. Great masses of them are dressed
identically in the most lovely hues, delicate and yet brilliant, and they move
in and out among one another in the most complicated figures. In their choric
dance they are taught that they must not only wear the colour of the star for
spectacular purposes, but must also try mentally to make the same colour. They
are instructed to try to fancy themselves that colour, and try to think that
they actually are part of the planet Mercury or Venus, as the case may be. As
they move they sing and play, each planet having it own special chords, so that
all the planets as they go round the sun may produce an imitation of the music
of the spheres. In these children' s services also the Devas often take part,
and aid with the colours and the music. Both kama and rupa Devas move quite
freely among the people, and take part in daily life.
759.
The children' s service in connection with the yellow
Temple is exceedingly interesting. Here they dance frequently in geometrical
figures, but the evolutions are difficult to describe. One performance, for
example, is exceedingly pretty and effective. Thirty-two boys wearing golden
brocaded robes are arranged in a certain order, not all standing on the same
level, but on raised stages. They evidently represent the angles of some solid
figure. They hold in their hands thick ropes of a golden-coloured thread, and
they hold these ropes from one to another so as to indicate the outline of a
certain figure-- say a dodecahedron. Suddenly, at a preconcerted signal, they
drop one end of the rope or throw it to another boy, and in a moment the outline
has changed into that of an icosahedron. This is wonderfully effective, and
gives quite a remarkable illusory effect of changing solid figures one into
another. All such changes are gone through in a certain order, which is somehow
connected with the evolution of the matter of the planes at the commencement of
a solar system. Another evolution is evidently to illustrate something of the
formation of atoms out of bubbles. The children represent bubbles. A number of
them rush out from the centre and arrange themselves in a certain way. Then they
rush back again to the centre and again come still further out, and group
themselves in quite a different way. All this needs much training, but the
children appear most enthusiastic about it.
760.
THE UNDERLYING IDEA
761.
The education and the religion are so closely mingled
that it is difficult clearly to differentiate one from the other. The children
are playing in the Temple. The underlying idea which is kept before them is that
all this is only the physical side of something far greater and grander, which
belongs to higher worlds, so that they feel that to everything they do there is
an inner side, and they hope to realise this and to be able to see and
comprehend it directly; and this is always held before them as the final reward
of their efforts.
762.
BIRTH AND DEATH
763.
The various influences which take such a prominent part
in the education of the children are brought to bear upon them even before
birth. Once more we must reiterate that when a birth is about to take place the
father and mother and all parties concerned are quite aware what ego is to come
to them, and therefore they take care that for months before the actual birth
takes place the surroundings shall in every way be suitable to that ego, and
such as may conduce to a perfect physical body. Great stress is laid upon the
influence of beautiful surroundings. The future mother has always before her
eyes lovely pictures and graceful statues. The whole of life is pervaded with
this idea of beauty-- so much so that it would be considered a crime against the
community that any object should be ugly or ungraceful. In all architecture this
beauty of line as well as of colour is the first consideration, and the same is
true with regard to all the minor accessories of life. Even before the child' s
birth preparation will be made for him; his mother dresses chiefly in certain
colours, and surrounds herself with flowers and lights of what are considered
the most appropriate kind.
764.
Parentage is a matter of arrangement between all parties
concerned, and death is usually voluntary. As the members of this community live
entirely healthy lives, and have surrounded themselves with perfect sanitary
conditions, disease has been practically eliminated, so that except in the rare
case of an accident no one dies except of old age, and they do not drop the body
as long as it is useful. They do not feel at all that they are giving up life,
but only that they are changing a worn-out vehicle. The absence of worry and
unhealthy conditions has certainly tended on the whole to lengthen physical
life. Nobody looks at all old until at least eighty, and many pass beyond the
century.
765.
When a man begins to find his powers failing him, he
also begins to look round him for a desirable re-birth. He selects a father and
mother whom he thinks would suit him, and goes round to call upon them to ask
whether they are willing to take him. If they are, he tells them that he expects
to die soon, and then hands over to them his personal talisman which he has worn
all his life, and also sends to them any personal effects which he wishes to
carry over to his next life. The talisman is usually a jewel of the particular
type appropriate to the ego, according to the sign of the Zodiac to which as an
ego he belongs, the influence under which he attained individuality. This charm
he always wears, so that it may be fully impregnated with his magnetism, and he
is careful to make arrangements that it may be handed over to him in his next
birth, in order to help in the arousing in the new body of the memory of past
lives, so as to make it easier to keep unbroken the realisation of life as an
ego. This amulet is always correspondent to his name as an ego-- the name which
he carries with him from life to life. In many cases men are already using this
name in ordinary life, though in others they have perpetuated the name which
they bore when they entered the community, carrying it on from life to life and
altering its termination so as to make it masculine or feminine according to the
sex of the moment. Each person has therefore his own name, his permanent name,
and in addition in each incarnation he takes that of the family into which he
happens or chooses to be born.
766.
The personal effects do not include anything of the
nature of money, for money is no longer used, and no man has more than a
life-interest in houses or land, or in other property. But he has sometimes a
few books or ornaments which he wishes to preserve, and if so he hands them over
to his prospective father and mother, who, when they hear that his death is
approaching, can begin to prepare for him. He does not alter his ordinary mode
of life; he does nothing which in the slightest degree resembles committing
suicide; but he simply loses the will to live-- lets his life go, as it were--
and generally passes away peacefully in sleep within a short period of time.
Usually, indeed, he takes up his abode with the prospective father and mother as
soon as the agreement is made, and dies at their house.
767.
There is no funeral ceremony of any sort, as death is
not regarded as an event of any importance. The body is not cremated, but is
instead placed in a kind of retort into which some chemical is poured-- probably
a strong acid of some sort. The retort is then hermetically sealed, and a power
resembling electricity, but far stronger, is passed through it. The acid fizzes
vigorously, and in a few minutes the whole body is entirely dissolved. When the
retort is opened and the process is completed there is nothing left but a fine
grey powder. This is not preserved or regarded with any reverence. The operation
of disposing of the body is easily performed at the house, the apparatus being
brought there when desired. There is no ceremony of any kind, and the friends of
the deceased do not assemble for the occasion. They do, however, come round and
pay him a visit soon after his rebirth, as the sight of them is supposed to help
to reawaken the memory in the new baby body. Under these circumstances there are
of course no prayers or ceremonies of any kind for the dead, nor is there any
need of help upon the astral plane, for every member of the community remembers
his past lives and knows perfectly well the body which he is about to take as
soon as it can be prepared for him. Many members of the community continue to
act as invisible helpers to the rest of the world, but within the community
itself nothing of that kind is necessary.
768.
The Manu has a careful record kept of all the successive
incarnations of each of the members of His community, and in some rare cases He
interferes with an ego' s choice of his parents. As a general rule all the
members of the community have already disposed of such grosser karma as would
limit them in their choice, and they also know enough of their own type and of
the conditions which they require not to make an unsuitable selection, so that
in almost every case they are left perfectly free to make their own
arrangements. The matter is, however, always within the knowledge of the Manu,
so that He may alter the plan if He does not approve.
769.
As a rule the dying man is at liberty to select the sex
of his next birth, and many people seem to make a practice of taking birth
alternately as man and as woman. There is no actual regulation as to this, and
everything is left as free as possible; but at the same time the due proportion
of the sexes in the community must be maintained, and if the number of either
sex falls temporarily below what it should be, the Manu calls for volunteers to
bring things once more into harmony. Parents usually arrange to have ten or
twelve children in the family, and generally the same number of girls as boys.
Twins, and even triplets, are not at all uncommon. Between the birth of one
child and the next there is mostly an interval of two or three years, and there
are evidently theories with regard to this matter. The great object is to
produce perfect children, and no cripples or deformed persons are to be seen,
nor is there any infant mortality. It is manifest that the labour of child-birth
has diminished almost to vanishing-point; indeed, there seems to be scarcely any
trouble, except perhaps a little with the first child.
770.
MARRIAGE
771.
This brings us to the question of marriage. There is no
restriction placed upon this, except the one great restriction that no one must
marry outside the community; but it is generally regarded as rather undesirable
that people of the same type of religious feeling should intermarry. There is no
rule against it, but it is understood that on the whole the Manu prefers that it
should not take place. There is a certain, all-sufficing expression which
practically puts any matter beyond the limits of discussion: “It is not His
wish.”
772.
People choose their own partners for life-- fall in
love, in fact-- much as they used to do, but the dominant idea of duty is always
supreme, and even in matters of the heart no one permits himself to do anything
or feel anything which he does not think to be for the best for the community.
The great motive is not passion, but duty. The ordinary sex passions have been
dominated, so that people now unite themselves definitely with a view to
carrying on the community and to creating good bodies for the purpose. They
regard married life chiefly as an opportunity to that end, and what is necessary
for such production is a religious and magical action which needs to be
carefully directed. It forms part of the sacrifice of themselves to the LOGOS,
so that no one must lose his balance or his reason in connection with it.
773.
When people fall in love, and, as we should say, engage
themselves, they go to the Manu Himself and ask Him for a benediction on their
union . Usually they also arrange with a prospective son or daughter,
so that when they go to the Manu they say that such and such a man wishes to be
born from them, and ask that they may be permitted to marry. The Manu examines
them to see whether they will suit each other, and if He approves He pronounces
for them a formula: “Your life together shall be blessed.” Marriage is regarded
almost entirely from the point of view of the prospective offspring. Sometimes
it is even arranged by them. One man will call on another and say:
774.
“I am expecting to die in a few weeks, and I should like
to have you and Miss X for my father and mother, as I have some karmic ties with
both of you that I should like to work off; would that be agreeable to you?”
775.
Not infrequently the suggestion seems to be accepted,
and the plan works out well. One man, who was taken at random for the purpose of
investigation, was found to have three egos desiring to incarnate through him,
so that when he took his prospective wife to the Manu he asked:
776.
“May we two marry, with these three egos waiting to take
birth through us?”
777.
And the Manu gave His consent. There is no other
marriage ceremony than this benediction given by the Manu, nor is a wedding made
the occasion of feasting or the giving of presents. There is nothing in the
nature of a marriage contract. The arrangements are exclusively monogamous, and
there is no such thing as divorce, though the agreement is always terminable by
mutual consent. People marry distinctly with a view of furnishing a vehicle for
a certain soul, and when that is safely done it seems to be entirely at their
option whether they renew their agreement or not. Since the parents are selected
with care, in the majority of cases the agreement is renewed, and they remain as
husband and wife for life; but there are cases in which the agreement is
terminated, and both parties form other alliances. Here also, as in everything
else, duty is the one ruling factor, and everyone is always ready to yield his
personal preference to what is thought to be best for the community as a whole.
There is therefore far less of passion in these lives than in those of the older
centuries; and the strongest affection is probably that between parents and
children.
778.
There are cases in which the unwritten rule as to not
marrying a person of the same type is abrogated, as, for example, when it is
desired to produce children who can be trained by the Devas as priests for a
particular Temple. In the rare case where a man is killed by some accident, he
is at once impounded in the astral body and arrangements are made for his
re-birth. Large numbers of people desire to be born as children of the members
of the Council; those, however, have only the usual number of children, lest the
quality should be deteriorated. Birth in the family of the Manu Himself is the
greatest of all honours; but of course He selects His children Himself. There is
no difference of status between the sexes, and they take up indifferently any
work that is to be done. On this matter it may be interesting to record the
opinion of a mind of that period which was examined for that special purpose.
This man does not seem to think much of the difference between man and woman. He
says that there must be both, in order that the Race may be founded, but that we
know there is a better time coming for the women. He feels that in bearing
children the women are taking a harder share of the work, and are therefore to
be pitied and protected. The Council, however, is composed entirely of men, and,
under the direction of the Manu, its members are making experiments in the
creation of mind-born bodies. They have produced some respectable copies of
humanity, but have not yet succeeded in satisfying the Manu.
779.
CHAPTER XXVI
780.
BUILDINGS AND CUSTOMS
781.
RACIAL CHARACTERISTICS
782.
IN appearance the community is still like the sixth
sub-race from which it sprang-- that is to say, it is a white Race, although
there are among it people with darker hair and eyes and a Spanish or Italian
complexion. The stature of the Race has distinctly increased, for none of the
men are under six feet, and even the women are but little short of this. The
people are all muscular and well-proportioned, and much attention is paid to
exercise and the equal development of the muscles. It is noteworthy that they
preserve a free and graceful carriage even to extreme old age.
783.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS
784.
It was mentioned in the beginning that when the
community was founded a vast block of central buildings was erected, and that
the houses of the first settlers were grouped round that, though always with
ample space between them for beautiful gardens. By this time many subordinate
towns have sprung up in the district-- though perhaps the word town may mislead
a twentieth century reader, since there is nothing in the least resembling the
sort of town to which he is accustomed. The settlements may rather be called
groups of villas thinly scattered amidst lovely parks and gardens; but at least
all such settlements have their Temples, so that every inhabitant is always
within easy reach of a Temple of the variety which he happens to prefer. The
inhabited part of the estate is not of great size, some forty or fifty miles in
diameter, so that even the great central buildings are, after all, quite easily
available for anyone who wishes to visit them. Each Temple has usually in its
neighbourhood a block of other public buildings-- a sort of public hall, an
extensive library, and also a set of school buildings.
785.
HOUSES
786.
The houses built for the community before its foundation
were all on the same general plan and, though a good deal of individual taste
has been shown in those erected since, the broad principle is still the same.
The two great features of their architecture which much differentiate it from
almost all that preceded it, are the absence of walls and of corners. Houses,
temples, schools, factories, all of them are nothing but roofs supported upon
pillars-- pillars in most cases as lofty as those of the Egyptian Temples,
though far lighter and more graceful. There is, however, provision for closing
the spaces between the pillars when necessary-- something distantly resembling
the patent automatic rolling shop-blinds of earlier centuries, but they can be
made transparent at will. These devices, however, are rarely employed, and the
whole of the life of the people, night and day, is in reality spent in the open
air.
787.
Domes of many shapes and sizes are prominent features.
Some of them are of the shape of that of S. Peter' s, though smaller; some are
low and broad, like those of San Giovanni degli Eremiti, in Palermo; some with
the lotus-bud shape of those of a Muhammadan mosque. These domes are full of
windows, or are often themselves built of some transparent substance of various
colours. Every Temple has a great central dome, and every house has one at
least. The general scheme of the house is to have a sort of great circular or
oval hall under the dome, which is the general living room. Fully three-fourths
of its circumference is quite open, but behind the fourth part are often built
rooms and offices of various kinds, which usually rise to only half the height
of the columns, having above them other small rooms which are used as bed rooms.
All those rooms, though separated from one another by partitions, have no
outside walls, so that in them also people are still practically in the open
air. There are no corners anywhere, every room being circular or oval. There is
always some part of the roof upon which it is possible to walk. Every house is
full of flowers and statues, and another striking feature is the abundance of
water everywhere; there are fountains, artificial cascades, miniature lakes and
pools in all directions.
788.
The houses are always lighted from the roof. No lamps or
lanterns are seen, but the dome is made to glow out in a mass of light, the
colour of which can be changed at will, and in the smaller rooms a section of
the ceiling is arranged to glow in the same way. All the parks and streets are
thoroughly lighted at night with a soft and moonlike but penetrating light-- a
far nearer approach to daylight than anything previously secured.
789.
FURNISHING
790.
Furniture is principally conspicuous by its absence.
There are scarcely any chairs in the houses, and there are no seats of any sort
in the Temples or public halls. The people recline upon cushions somewhat in the
oriental style, or rather perhaps like the ancient Romans, for they do not sit
cross-legged. The cushions, however, are curious; they are always either
air-cushions or entirely vegetable products stuffed with some especially soft
fibrous material, not altogether unlike coconut fibre. These things are
washable, and indeed are constantly being washed. When going to the Temple, to
the library or to any public meeting each person usually carries his own
air-cushion with him, but in the houses large numbers are seen lying about which
may be used by anybody. There are small low tables-- or perhaps they are rather
to be described as book-rests, which can be so arranged as to be flat like a
table. All the floors are of marble, or of stone polished like marble-- often a
rich crimson hue. Beds, filled either with air or water, or made of the same
vegetable material as that used for the cushions, are laid upon the floor, or
sometimes suspended like hammocks, but no bedsteads are used. In the few cases
where there are comparatively permanent walls, as for example between the bed
rooms and offices and the great hall, they are always beautifully painted with
landscapes and historic scenes. Curiously, all these things are interchangeable,
and there is a department which is always prepared to arrange exchanges-- a kind
of circulating library for decorations, through the medium of which any person
can change the wall-panels or statues which decorate his house, whenever he
wishes to do so.
791.
DRESS
792.
The dress of the people is simple and graceful, but at
the same time strictly utilitarian. Most of it is not unlike that of India,
though we sometimes see an approach to the ancient Greek dress. There is no
uniformity about it, and people wear all sorts of different things. But there is
nothing inharmonious; all is in perfect taste. Colours both brilliant and
delicate are worn by both men and women alike, for there seems to be no
distinction between the clothing of the sexes. Not a single article is made of
wool; it is never worn. The substance employed is exclusively linen or cotton,
but it is steeped in some chemical which preserves its fibres so that the
garments last for a long time, even though all are washed daily. The chemical
process imparts a glossy satin-like surface, but does not interfere in the least
with the softness or flexibility of the material. No shoes or sandals or any
other foot-coverings are worn by the members of the community, and scarcely any
people wear hats, though there are a few something like the panama, and one or
two small linen caps were seen. The idea of distinctive clothes for certain
offices has disappeared; no uniforms of any sort are worn, except that the
officiating Deva always materialises round himself robes of the colour of his
Temple while conducting a service; and the children, as before described, dress
themselves in certain colours when they are about to take part in the religious
festivals.
793.
FOOD
794.
The community is entirely vegetarian, because it is one
of the standing rules that nothing must be killed. Even the outer world is by
this time largely vegetarian, because it has begun to be recognised that the
eating of flesh is coarse, vulgar, and above all unfashionable! Comparatively
few people take the trouble of preparing their own meals, or eat in their own
houses, though they are perfectly free to do so if they wish. Most go to what
may be called restaurants although, as they are practically entirely in the open
air, they may be supposed rather to resemble tea-gardens. Fruit enters largely
into the diet of the period. We have a bewildering variety of fruits, and
centuries of care have been devoted to scientific crossing of fruits, so as to
produce the most perfect forms of nourishment and to give them at the same time
remarkable flavours.
795.
If we look in at a fruit-farm we see that the section
devoted to each kind of fruit is always divided into smaller sections, and each
section is labelled as having a particular flavour. We may have, for example,
grapes or apples, let us say, with a strawberry flavour, a clove flavour, a
vanilla flavour, and so on-- mixtures which would seem curious from the point of
view of those who are not accustomed to them. This is a country where there is
almost no rain, so that all cultivation is managed by means of irrigation, and
as they irrigate these different sections they throw into the water what is
called ` plant-food' and by variations in this they succeed in imparting
different flavours. By varying the food, growth can be intensified or retarded,
and the size of the fruits can also be regulated. The estate of the community
runs up into the hills, so they have the opportunity at different levels of
cultivating almost all possible kinds of fruit.
796.
The food which is most eaten is a sort of substance
somewhat resembling blanc-mange. It is to be had in all kinds of colourings, and
the colouring indicates the flavour, just as it used to do in ancient Peru.
There is a large selection. Perhaps the choice of different flavours in the food
may to some extent take the place of many habits which have now disappeared,
such as smoking, wine-drinking, or the eating of sweets. There is also a
substance which looks like cheese, but is sweet. It is certainly not cheese, for
no animal products are used, and no animals are kept in the colony except as
pets. Milk is used, but it is exclusively the vegetable milk obtained from what
is sometimes called the cow-tree, or an exact imitation made from some kind of
bean. Knives and forks do not appear, but spoons are still used, and most people
bring their own with them. The attendant has a sort of weapon like a hatchet
with which he opens fruits and nuts. It is made of an alloy which has all the
qualities of gold but has a hard edge, which apparently does not need
resharpening. It is possibly made of one of the rarer metals, such as iridium.
In these restaurant gardens also there are no chairs, but each person
half-reclines in a marble depression in the ground, and there is a marble slab
which can be turned round in front of him so that he can put his food upon it,
and when he has finished he turns this up and water flows over it.
797.
On the whole people eat distinctly less than in the
twentieth century. The usual custom is to have one regular meal in the middle of
the day, and to take a light refection of fruit in the morning and evening.
Everybody is at breakfast just after sunrise, for people are always up then or a
little before. The light evening meal is at about five o' clock, for most people
go to bed fairly early. So far as has been seen, no one sits down to a heavy
meal in the evening; but there is complete individual freedom with regard to all
these matters, so that people follow their own taste. The drinking of tea or
coffee has not been observed; indeed there seems to be but little drinking of
any sort, possibly because so much fruit is eaten.
798.
Plenty of water is available everywhere, even though
there is almost no rain. They have enormous works for the distillation of
sea-water, which is raised to a great height and then sent out on a most liberal
scale. It is worthy of note, however, that the water specially sent out for
drinking is not the pure result of the distillation, but they add to it a small
proportion of certain chemicals-- the theory being that pure distilled water is
not the most healthy for drinking purposes. The manager of the
distillation-works explains that they use natural spring water as far as it will
go, but they cannot get nearly enough of it, and so it has to be supplemented by
the distilled water; but then it is necessary to add the chemicals to this in
order to make it fresh and sparkling and really thirst-quenching.
799.
LIBRARIES
800.
The literary arrangements are curious but perfect. Every
house is provided, gratis and as part of its permanent fittings, with a sort of
encyclopaedia of the most comprehensive nature, containing an epitome of
practically all that is known, put as tersely as possible and yet with great
wealth of detail, so as to contain all the information that an ordinary man is
ever likely to want on any subject. If, however, for some reason he needs to
know more, he has only to go to the nearest district library, of which there is
one connected with each Temple. There he finds a far fuller encyclopaedia, in
which the article on any given subject contains a careful epitome of every book
that has ever been written upon it-- a most colossal work. If he wants to know
still more, or if he wants to consult original books printed in the old
languages or the ancient Roman type now disused, he has to go to the central
library of the community, which is on a scale commensurate with that of the
British Museum. Translations into the English of the day printed in this
shorthand-like script are always appended to these originals.
801.
Thus it is possible for a man to study to the fullest
any subject in which he is interested, for all instruments of research and books
are provided free in this way. New books are being written all the time on all
conceivable subjects. The fiction of the day is almost entirely based upon
reincarnation, the characters always passing from life to life and exemplifying
the working of karma; but a novelist in these days writes not with a view to
fame or money, but always to the good of the community. Some people are writing
short articles, and these are always on view at their own district Temple hall.
Anyone may go and read them there, and anyone who is interested has only to go
and ask for a copy and it is given to him. If a man is writing a book it is
exhibited in this way, chapter by chapter; the whole life is in this way
communal; the people share with their neighbours what they are doing while they
are doing it.
802.
NEWSPAPERS
803.
The daily newspaper has disappeared-- or perhaps we may
rather say that it survives in a much amended form. To make it comprehensible it
must be premised that in each house there is a machine which is a kind of
combination of a telephone and recording tape-machine. This is in connection
with a central office in the capital city, and is so arranged that not only can
one speak through it as through a telephone, but that anything written or drawn
upon a specially prepared plate and put into the box of the large machine at the
central office will reproduce itself automatically upon slips which fall into
the box of the machine in each of the houses. What takes the place of the
morning newspaper is managed in this way. It may be said that each person has
his newspaper printed in his own house. When any news of importance arrives at
any time it is instantly forwarded in this way to every house in the community;
but a special collection of such news is sent early each morning and is commonly
called the Community Breakfast Chat. It is a comparatively small affair
and has a certain resemblance to a table of contents and an index, for it gives
the briefest epitome of the news, but attaches a number to each item, the
different departments being printed upon different colours. If any person wants
full information as to any of the items, he has only to ring up the central
office and ask for details of number so-and-so, and all that is available is at
once sent along his wire and dropped before him. But the newspaper differs
greatly from those of older times. There is hardly any political news, for even
the outer world has changed in many ways. There is a great deal of information
upon scientific subjects, and as to new theories. There are still notes of the
private doings of royal people, but they are quite brief. There is a department
for community news, but even that is chiefly concerned with scientific papers,
inventions and discoveries, although it also records marriages and births.
804.
The same instrument is also used for adding to the
household encyclopaedias whenever it is necessary. Extra slips are sent out
daily whenever there is anything to say, so that just as the newspaper is being
delivered in slices all day, so now and then come little slips to be added to
the various departments of the encyclopaedia.
805.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
806.
In connection with each Temple there is a definite
scheme of educational buildings, so that broadly speaking the school-work of
each district is done under the aegis of its Temple. The great central Temple
has in connection with it the huge open-air places of assembly, where, when
necessary, almost the entire community can be gathered together. More usually,
when the Manu desires to promulgate some edict or information to all His people
He Himself speaks in the great central Temple, and what He says is
simultaneously produced by a sort of altogether improved phonographic system in
all the other Temples. It would seem that each of the district Temples has a
sort of representative phonograph in the central Temple, which records at the
other end of the line all that takes place there, so that all particulars are in
this way immediately reproduced.
807.
SCIENCE DEPARTMENTS
808.
Mention has already been made of the great central
library in connection with the central Temple. In addition to that, as another
part of the same great mass of buildings, there is a complete and well-appointed
museum, and also what may be called a university. Many branches of study are
taken up here, but they are pursued by methods different from those of old. The
study of animals and plants, for example, is entirely and only done by means of
clairvoyance, and never by destruction of any kind, only those being professors
and students of these arts who have developed sufficient sight to work in this
manner. There is a department of what we may call physical geography, which has
already mapped out the entire earth in a vast number of large-scale models,
which show by coloured signs and inscriptions not only the nature of the surface
soil, but also what is to he found in the way of minerals and fossils down to a
considerable depth.
809.
There is also an elaborate ethnographical department in
which there are life-size statues of all races of men which have ever existed on
the earth, and also models of those existing on other planets of this chain.
There is even a department with reference to the other chains of the solar
system. For each of the statues there is an exhaustive description with diagrams
showing in what way his higher vehicles differ. The whole is tabulated and
arranged from the point of view of the Manu, to show what the development of
mankind has been in the various Races and sub-races. A good deal is also shown
of the future, and models with detailed explanations are given for them also. In
addition to this there is also the anatomical department, dealing with the whole
detailed anatomy of the human and animal bodies in the past, the present and the
future. There is not exactly any medical department, for illness no longer
exists; it has been eliminated. There is still, however, surgery for cases of
accident, though even that has been much improved. Few professors of that art
are needed, for naturally accidents are rare. There is nothing corresponding to
the great hospitals of former times, but only a few light and airy rooms, in
which the victims of accidents can be temporarily laid if necessary.
810.
Connected with the centre of learning is also an
elaborate museum of all sorts of arts and crafts which have existed in the world
from the beginning onwards. There are also models of all kinds of machinery,
most of which is new to us, since it has been invented between the twentieth
century and the twenty-eighth. There is also much Atlantean machinery which had
long been forgotten, so that there is a complete arrangement for any kind of
study along these lines.
811.
History is still being written, and it has been in
process of production for more than a hundred years; but it is being written
from a reading of the records. It is illustrated by a method which is quite new
to us-- a method which precipitates a scene from the records when it is
considered important. We have in addition a series of models illustrating the
history of the world at all periods. In the central library there are certain
small rooms somewhat like telephone-cabinets, into which students can take the
record of any prominent event in history, and by putting it into a machine and
setting that in motion they can have the whole scene reproduced audibly and
visibly, with the exact presentment of the appearance of the actors, and their
words in the very tones in which they were spoken.
812.
There is also an astronomical department, with most
interesting machinery indicating the exact position at any moment of everything
visible in the sky. There is a great mass of information about all these worlds.
There are two departments, one for direct observation by various means and
another for the tabulation of information acquired by testimony. Much of this
information has been given by Devas connected with various planets and stars;
but this is always kept entirely apart from the results of direct observation.
Chemistry has been carried to a wonderful height and depth. All possible
combinations are now fully understood, and the science has an extension in
connection with elemental essence, which leads on to the whole question of
nature-spirits and Devas as a definite department of science, studied with
illustrative models. There is also a department of talismans, so that any
sensitive person can by psychometry go behind the mere models, and see the
things in themselves.
813.
ARTS
814.
It does not seem that lecturing holds at all a prominent
place. Sometimes a man who is studying a subject may talk to a few friends about
it, but beyond that, if he has anything to say he submits it to the officials
and it gets into the daily news. If anybody writes poetry or an essay he
communicates it to his own family, and perhaps puts it up in the district hall.
People still paint, but only as a kind of recreation. No one now devotes the
whole of his time to that. Art, however, permeates life to a far greater extent
than ever before, for everything, even the simplest object for daily use, is
artistically made, and the people put something of themselves into their work
and are always trying new experiments.
815.
There is nothing corresponding to a theatre, and on
bringing the idea to the notice of an inhabitant, a definition of it comes into
his mind as a place in which people used to run about and declaim, pretending to
be other than they were, and taking the parts of great people. They consider it
as archaic and childish. The great choric dances and processions may be
considered as theatrical, but to them these appear as religious exercises.
816.
Games and athletics are prominent in this new life.
There are gymnasiums, and much attention is given to physical development in
women as well as in men. A game much like lawn-tennis is one of the principal
favourites. The children play about just as of old, and enjoy great freedom.
817.
WILL-POWER
818.
The force of will is universally recognised in the
community and many things are performed by its direct action. Nature-spirits are
well known, and take a prominent part in the daily life of the people, most of
whom can see them. Almost all children are able to see them and to use them in
various ways, but they often lose some of this power as they grow up. The use of
such methods, and also of telepathy, is a kind of game among the children, and
the grown-up people recognise their superiority in this respect, so that if they
want to convey a message to some friend at a distance they often call the
nearest child and ask him to send it rather than attempt to do it themselves. He
can send the message telepathically to some child at the other end, who then
immediately conveys it to the person for whom it is intended, and this is a
quite reliable and usual method of communication. Adults often lose the power at
the time of their marriage, but some few of them retain it, though it needs a
far greater effort for them than it does for the child.
819.
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
820.
Some effort was made to comprehend the economic
conditions of the colony, but it was not found easy to understand them. The
community is self-supporting, making for itself everything which it needs. The
only importations from outside are curiosities such as ancient manuscripts,
books and objects of art. These are always paid for by the officials of the
community, who have a certain amount of the money of the outside world, which
has been brought in by tourists or visitors. Also they have learnt the secret of
making gold and jewels of various kinds by alchemical means, and these are often
used for payment for the few goods imported from the outside. If a private
member wishes for something which can only be bought from the outer world, he
gives notice of his desire to the nearest official, and work of some sort is
assigned to him in addition to the daily work which he is normally doing, so
that by that he may earn the value of whatever he desires.
821.
Everybody undertakes some work for the good of the
community, but it is usually left entirely to each to choose what it is to be.
No one kind of work is esteemed nobler than any other kind, and there is no idea
of caste of any sort. The child at a certain age chooses what he will do, and it
is always open to him to change from one kind of work to another by giving due
notice. Education is free, but the free tuition of the central university is
given only to those who have already shown themselves specially proficient in
the branches which they wish to pursue. Food and clothing are given freely to
all-- or rather, to each person is distributed periodically a number of tokens
in exchange for one of which he can obtain a meal at any of the great
restaurant-gardens anywhere all over the colony. Or if he prefers it he can go
to certain great stores and there obtain food-materials, which he can take home
and prepare as he wishes. The arrangement appears complicated to an outsider,
but it works perfectly simply among those who thoroughly understand it.
822.
All the people are working for the community, and among
the work done is the production of food and clothing, which it then proceeds to
hand round. Take, for example, the case of a cloth factory. It is the
Government' s factory, and it is turning out on an average so much cloth, but
the output can be increased or decreased at will. The work is chiefly in the
hands of girls; who join the factory voluntarily; indeed, there is a competition
to get in, for only a certain number are needed. If things are not wanted they
are not made. If cloth is wanted the factory is there to produce it; if not, it
simply waits. The superintendent in charge of the cloth-store of the Government
calculates that in a certain time he will need so much cloth, that he has in
stock so much, and therefore requires for renewal so much, and he asks for it
accordingly; if he does not want any, he says he has enough. The factory never
closes, though the hours vary considerably.
823.
In this cloth factory the workers are mostly women,
quite young, and they are doing little but superintending certain machines and
seeing that they do not go wrong. Each of them is managing a kind of loom into
which she has put a number of patterns. Imagine something like a large
clock-face with a number of movable studs on it. When a girl starts her machine
she arranges these studs according to her own ideas, and as the machine goes on
its movements produce a certain design. She can set it to turn out fifty cloths,
each of different pattern, and then leave it. Each girl sets her machine
differently-- that is where their art comes in; every piece is different from
every other piece, unless she allows the machine to run through its list over
again after it has finished the fifty. In the meantime, after having started the
machines the girls need to glance at them occasionally, and the machinery is so
perfect that practically nothing ever goes wrong with it. It is arranged to run
almost silently, so that while they are waiting one of the girls reads from a
book to the rest.
824.
THE NEW POWER
825.
One feature which makes an enormous difference is the
way in which power is supplied. There are no longer any fires anywhere, and
therefore no heat, no grime, no smoke, and hardly any dust. The whole world has
evolved by this time beyond the use of steam, or any other form of power which
needs heat to generate it. There seems to have been an intermediate period when
some method was discovered of transferring electrical power without loss for
enormous distances, and at that time all the available water-power of the earth
was collected and syndicated; falls in Central Africa and in all sorts of
out-of-the-way places were made to contribute their share, and all this was
gathered together at great central stations and internationally distributed.
Tremendous as was the power available in that way, it has now been altogether
transcended, and all that elaborate arrangement has been rendered useless by the
discovery of the best method to utilise what the late Mr. Keely called
dynaspheric force-- the force concealed in every atom of physical matter.
826.
It will be remembered that as long ago as 1907, Sir
Oliver Lodge remarked that “the total output of a million-kilowatt station for
thirty million years exists permanently and at present inaccessibly in every
cubic millimetre of space”. (Philosophical Magazine, April, 1907, p.
493.) At the period which we are now describing, this power is no longer
inaccessible, and consequently unlimited power is supplied free to everyone all
over the world. It is on tap, like gas or water, in every house and every
factory in this community, as well as everywhere else where it is needed, and it
can be utilised for all possible purposes to which power can be turned. Every
kind of work all over the world is now done in this way. Heating and lighting
are simply manifestations of it. For example, whenever heat is required, no one
in any civilised country dreams of going through the clumsy and wasteful process
of lighting a fire. He simply turns on the force and, by a tiny little
instrument which can be carried in the pocket, converts it into heat at exactly
the point required. A temperature of many thousands of degrees can be produced
instantly wherever needed, even in an area as small as a pin' s head.
827.
By this power all the machines are running in the
factory which we inspected, and one result of this is that all the workers
emerge at the end of the day without having even soiled their hands. Another
consequence is that the factory is no longer the ugly and barren horror to which
in earlier ages we were painfully accustomed. It is beautifully decorated-- all
the pillars are carved and wreathed with intricate ornament, and there are
statues standing all about, white and rose and purple-- the last being made of
porphyry beautifully polished. Like all the rest of the buildings, the factory
has no walls, but only pillars. The girls wear flowers in their hair, and indeed
flowers plentifully decorate the factory in all directions. It is quite as
beautiful architecturally as a private house.
828.
CONDITIONS OF WORK
829.
A visitor who calls to look over the factory obligingly
asks some questions from the manageress-- a young girl with black hair and a
gorgeous garland of scarlet flowers in it. The latter replies:
830.
“Oh, we are told how much we are to do. The manager of
the community cloth-stores considers that he will want so many cloths by such a
time. Sometimes few are wanted, sometimes many, but always some, and we work
accordingly. I tell my girls to come to-morrow according to this demand-- for
one hour, or two, or four according to what there is to do. Usually about three
hours is a fair average day' s work, but they have worked as long as five hours
a day when there was a great festival approaching. Oh, no, not so much because
new clothes were required for the festival, but because the girls themselves
wanted to be entirely free from work for a week, in order to attend the
festival. You see we always know beforehand how much we are expected to turn out
in a given week or month, and we calculate that we can do it by working, say,
two and a half hours each day. But if the girls want a week' s holiday for a
festival, we can compress two weeks' work into one by working five hours a day
for that week, and then we can close altogether during the next one, and yet
deliver the appointed amount of cloth at the proper time. Of course, we rarely
work as much as five hours; we should more usually spread the work of the
holiday-week over some three previous weeks, so that an hour extra each day
would provide all that is needed. An individual girl frequently wants such a
holiday, and she can always arrange it by asking someone to come and act as a
substitute for her, or the other girls will gladly work a few minutes longer so
as to make up for the amount which she would have done. They are all good
friends and thoroughly happy. When they take a holiday they generally go in to
visit the central library or cathedral, to do which comfortably they need a
whole day free.”
831.
A visitor from the outside world wonders that anyone
should work at all where there is no compulsion, and asks why people do so, but
meets with little sympathy or comprehension from the inhabitants:
832.
“What do you mean ?” says one of them, in answer, “we
are here to work. If there is work to do, it is done for His sake. If there is
no work, it is a calamity that it happens so, but He knows best.”
833.
“It is another world !” exclaims the visitor.
834.
“But what other world is possible?” asks the bewildered
colonist; “for what does man exist?”
835.
The visitor gives up the point in despair, and asks:
836.
“But who tells you to work, and when and where?”
837.
“Every child reaches a certain stage,” replies the
colonist. “He has been carefully watched by teachers and others, to see in what
direction his strength moves most easily. Then he chooses accordingly, perfectly
freely, but with the advice of others to help him. You say work must begin at
this time or at that time, but that is a matter of agreement between the
workers, and of arrangement each day.”
838.
There is a certain difficulty in following this
conversation, for though the language is the same a good many new words have
been introduced, and the grammar has been much modified. There is, for example,
a common-gender pronoun, which signifies either ` he' or ` she' . It is probable
that the invention of this has become a necessity because of the fact that
people remember and frequently have to speak of incarnations in both sexes.
839.
At all the various kinds of factories visited the
methods of work are of much the same kind. In every place the people work by
watching machines doing the work, and occasionally touching adjusting buttons or
setting the machine going anew. In all, the same short hours of labour are the
rule, except that the arrangements at the restaurant-gardens are somewhat
different. In this case the staff cannot altogether absent itself
simultaneously, because food has to be ready at all times, so that there are
always some workers on duty, and no one can go away for a whole day without
previous arrangement. In all places where perpetual attendance is necessary, as
it is at a restaurant, and at certain repairing shops, and in some other
departments, there is an elaborate scheme of substitution. The staff is always
greatly in excess of the requirements, so that only a small proportion of it is
on duty at any one time. The cooking or arrangement of food, for example, at
each of the restaurants is done by one man or one woman for each meal-- one for
the big meal in the middle of the day, another for morning breakfast, another
for tea, each being on duty something like three hours.
840.
Cooking has been revolutionised. The lady who does this
work sits at a kind of office-table with a regular forest of knobs within her
reach. Messages reach her by telephone as to the things that are required; she
presses certain knobs which squirt the required flavour into the blanc-mange,
for example, and then it is shot down a kind of tube and is delivered to the
attendant waiting in the garden below. In some cases the application of heat is
required, but that also she does without moving from her seat, by another
arrangement of knobs. A number of little girls hover about her and wait upon
her-- little girls from eight to fourteen years old. They are evidently
apprentices, learning the business; they are seen to pour things out of little
bottles, and also to mix other foods in little bowls. But even among these
little girls, if one wants a day or a week off, she asks another little girl to
take her place, and the request is always granted; and though of course the
substitute is likely to be unskilled, yet the companions are always so eager to
help her that no difficulty ever arises. There is always a large amount of
interplay and exchange in all these matters; but perhaps the most striking thing
is the eager universal good-will which is displayed-- everybody anxious to help
everybody else, and no one ever thinking that he is being unfairly treated or
“put upon”.
841.
It is also pleasant to see, as has been already
mentioned, that no class of work is considered as inferior to any other class.
But indeed there is no longer any mean or dirty labour left. Mining is no longer
undertaken, because all that is needed can be as a rule alchemically produced
with much less trouble. The knowledge of the inner side of chemistry is such
that almost anything can be made in this way, but some things are difficult and
therefore impracticable for ordinary use. There are many alloys which were not
known to the older world.
842.
All agricultural work is now done by machinery, and no
person any longer needs to dig or to plough by hand. A man does not even dig his
own private garden, but uses instead a curious little machine which looks
something like a barrel on legs, which digs holes to any required depth, and at
any required distance apart, according to the way in which it is set, and shifts
itself along a row automatically, needing only to be watched and turned back at
the end of the row. There is no manual labour in the old sense of the word, for
even the machinery itself is now made by other machinery; and though machinery
still needs oiling, even that appears to be done in a clean manner. There is
really no low or dirty labour required. There are not even drains, for
everything is chemically converted and eventually emerges as an odourless grey
powder, something like ashes, which is used as a manure for the garden. Each
house has its own converter.
843.
There are no servants in this scheme of life, because
there is practically nothing for them to do; but there are always plenty of
people ready to come and help if necessary. There are times in the life of every
lady when she is temporarily incapacitated from managing her household affairs;
but in such a case some one always comes in to help-- sometimes a friendly
neighbour, and at other times a kind of ladies' help, who comes because she is
glad to help, but not for a wage. When any such assistance is required, the
person who needs it simply applies through the recognised means of
communication, and some one at once volunteers.
844.
PRIVATE PROPERTY
845.
There is but little idea of private property in
anything. The whole colony, for example, belongs to the community. A man lives
in a certain house, and the gardens are his so that he can alter or arrange them
in any way that he chooses, but he does not keep people out of them in any way,
nor does he encroach upon his neighbours. The principle in the community is not
to own things, but to enjoy them. When a man dies, since he usually does so
voluntarily, he takes care to arrange all his business. If he has a wife living,
she holds his house until her death or her remarriage. Since all, except in the
rarest cases, live to old age, it is scarcely possible that any children can be
left unprotected, but if such a thing does happen there are always many
volunteers anxious to adopt them. At the death of both parents, if the children
are all married, the house lapses to the community and is handed over to the
next young couple in the neighbourhood who happen to marry. It is usual on
marriage for the young couple to take a new house, but there are cases in which
one of the sons or daughters is asked by the parents to remain with them and
take charge of the house for them. In one case an extension is built on to a
house for a grandchild who marries, in order that she may still remain in close
touch with the old people; but this is exceptional.
846.
There is no restriction to prevent people from gathering
portable property, and handing it over before death to the parents selected for
the next life. This is always done with the talisman, as has already been said,
and not infrequently a few books accompany it, and sometimes perhaps a favourite
picture or object of art. A man, as we have mentioned, can earn money if he
wishes, and can buy things in the ordinary way, but it is not necessary for him
to do so, since food, clothing and lodging are provided free, and there is no
particular advantage in the private ownership of other objects.
847.
A PARK-LIKE CITY
848.
Although in this community so large a number of people
are gathered together into one central city and other subordinate centres, there
is no effect of crowding. Nothing now exists in the least like what used to be
meant by the central part of a city in earlier centuries. The heart of the great
central city is the cathedral, with its attendant block of museum, university
and library buildings. This has perhaps a certain resemblance to the buildings
of the Capitol and Congressional Library at Washington, though on a still larger
scale. Just as in that case, a great park surrounds it. The whole city and even
the whole community exists in a park-- a park abundantly interspersed with
fountains, statues and flowers. The remarkable abundance of water everywhere is
one of the striking features. In every direction one finds splendid fountains,
shooting up like those at the Crystal Palace of old. In many cases one
recognises with pleasure exact copies of old and familiar beauties; for example,
one fountain is exactly imitated from the Fontana di Trevi at Rome. The roads
are not at all streets in the old sense of the word, but more like drives
through the park, the houses always standing well back from them. It is not
permitted to erect them at less than a certain minimum distance one from
another.
849.
There is practically no dust, and there are no street
sweepers. The road is all in one piece, not made of blocks, for there are no
horses now to slip. The surface is a beautiful polished stone with a face like
marble and yet an appearance of grain somewhat like granite. The roads are
broad, and they have at their sides slight curb-stones; or rather it would be
clearer to say that the road is sunk slightly below the level of the grass at
each side, and that the curbstones rise to the level of the grass. The whole is
thus a kind of shallow channel of polished marble, which is flooded with water
every morning, so that the roads are thus kept clean and spotless without the
necessity of the ordinary army of cleaners. The stone is of various colours.
Most of the great streets are a lovely pale rose-colour, but some are laid in
pale green.
850.
Thus there is really nothing but grass and highly
polished stone for the people to walk upon, which explains the fact that they
are always able to go bare-footed, not only without inconvenience but with the
maximum of comfort. Even after a long walk the feet are scarcely soiled, but
notwithstanding, at the door of every house or factory, there is a depression in
the stone-- a sort of shallow trough, through which there is a constant rush of
fresh water. The people, before entering the house, step into this and their
feet are instantly cooled and cleansed. All the Temples are surrounded by a ring
of shallow flowing water, so that each person before entering must step into
this. It is as though one of the steps leading up to the Temple were a kind of
shallow trough, so that no one carries into the Temple even a speck of dust.
851.
LOCOMOTION
852.
All this park-like arrangement and the space between the
houses make the capital of our community emphatically a ` city of magnificent
distances' . This, however, does not cause the slightest practical
inconvenience, since every house possesses several light running cars of
graceful appearance. They are not in the least like any variety of motor-car--
they rather resemble bath-chairs made of light metal filigree work, probably
aluminium, with tyres of some exceedingly elastic substance, though apparently
not pneumatic. They run with perfect smoothness and can attain a high speed, but
are so light that the largest size can be readily pushed with one finger. They
are driven by the universal power; a person wishing to start on a journey
charges from the power-tap a sort of flat shallow box which fits under the seat.
This gives him sufficient to carry him clear across the community without
recharging, and if he wishes for more than that, he simply calls at the nearest
house, and asks to be allowed to attach his accumulator to its tap for a few
moments. These little cars are perpetually used; they are in fact the ordinary
means of locomotion, and the beautiful hollow polished roads are almost entirely
for them, as pedestrians mostly walk along the little paths among the grass.
There is little heavy transport-- no huge and clumsy vehicles. Any large amount
of goods or material is carried in a number of small vehicles, and even large
beams and girders are supported on a number of small trolleys which distribute
the weight. Flying machines are observed to be commonly in use in the outer
world, but are not fashionable in the community, as the members feel that they
ought to be able to get about freely in their astral bodies, and therefore
rather despise other means of aerial locomotion. They are taught at school to
use astral consciousness, and they have a regular course of lessons in the
projection of the astral body.
853.
SANITATION AND IRRIGATION
854.
There is no trouble with regard to sanitation. The
method of chemical conversion, mentioned some time ago, includes deodorisation,
and the gases thrown off from it are not in any way injurious. They seem to be
principally carbon and nitrogen, with some chlorine, but no carbon dioxide. The
gases are passed through water, which contains some solution, as it has a sharp
acid feeling. All the gases are perfectly harmless, and so is the grey powder,
of which only a little is present. All bad smells of every kind are against the
law now, even in the outer world. There is not what we should call a special
business-quarter in the town, though certain factories are built comparatively
near one another, for convenience in interchanging various products. There is,
however, so little difference between a factory and a private house that it is
difficult to know them apart, and as the factory makes no noise or smell it is
not in any way an objectionable neighbour.
855.
One great advantage which these people have is their
climate. There is no real winter, and in the season corresponding to it the
whole land is still covered with flowers just as at other times. They irrigate
even where they do not cultivate; the system has been extended in a number of
cases into fields and woods and the country in general, even where there is no
direct cultivation. They have specialised the eschscholtzia, which was so common
in California even centuries ago, and have developed many varieties of it,
scarlet as well as brilliant orange, and they have sown them all about and
allowed them to run wild. They have evidently in the beginning imported seeds of
all sorts extensively from all parts of the world. People sometimes grow in
their gardens plants which require additional heat in winter, but this is not
obtained by putting them in a green-house, but by surrounding them with little
jets of the power in its heat form. They have not yet needed to build anywhere
near the boundary line of the community, nor are there any towns or villages for
some distance on the other side of that boundary. The whole estate was a kind of
huge farm before they bought it, and it is surrounded principally by smaller
farms. The laws of the outside world do not trouble or affect the community, and
the Government of the continent does not in any way interfere with it, as it
receives a nominal yearly tribute from it. The people of the community are well
informed as regards the outside world; even schoolchildren know the names and
location of all the principal towns in the world.
856.
CHAPTER XXVII
857.
CONCLUSION
858.
THE FEDERATION OF NATIONS
859.
THE whole object of this investigation was to obtain
such information as was possible about the beginnings of the Sixth Root-Race and
the community founded by the Manu and the High-Priest for that purpose.
Naturally therefore no special attention was directed to any other part of the
world than this. Notwithstanding, certain glimpses of other parts were obtained
incidentally, and it will perhaps be interesting to note these; but they are put
down without attempt at order or completeness, just as they were observed.
860.
Practically the whole world has federated itself
politically. Europe seems to be a Confederation with a kind of Reichstag, to
which all countries send representatives. This central body adjusts matters, and
the Kings of the various countries are Presidents of the Confederation in
rotation. The rearrangement of political machinery by which this wonderful
change has been brought about is the work of Julius Caesar, who reincarnated
some time in the twentieth century in connection with the coming of the Christ
to reproclaim the W ISDOM . Enormous improvements have been made in all
directions, and one cannot but be struck with the extraordinary abundance of
wealth that must have been lavished upon these. Caesar, when he succeeds in
forming the Federation and persuades all the countries to give up war, arranges
that each of them shall set aside for a certain number of years half or a third
of the money that it has been accustomed to spend upon armaments, and devote it
to certain social improvements which he specifies. According to his scheme the
taxation of the entire world is gradually reduced, but notwithstanding,
sufficient money is reserved to feed all the poor, to destroy all the slums, and
to introduce wonderful improvements into all the cities. He arranges that those
countries in which compulsory military service has been the rule shall for a
time still preserve the habit, but shall make their conscripts work for the
State in the making of parks and roads and the pulling down of slums and the
opening up of communications everywhere. He arranges that the old burdens shall
be gradually eased off but yet contrives with what is left of them to regenerate
the world. He is indeed a great man; a most marvellous genius.
861.
There seems to have been some trouble at first and some
preliminary quarrelling, but he gets together an exceedingly capable band of
people-- a kind of cabinet of all the best organisers whom the world has
produced-- reincarnations of Napoleon, Scipio Africanus, Akbar and others-- one
of the finest bodies of men for practical work that has ever been seen. The
thing is done on a gorgeous scale. When all the Kings and prime ministers are
gathered together to decide upon the basis for the Confederation, Caesar builds
for the occasion a circular hall with a great number of doors so that all may
enter at once, and no one Potentate take precedence of another.
862.
THE RELIGION OF THE CHRIST
863.
Caesar arranges all the machinery of this wonderful
revolution, but his work is largely made possible by the arrival and preaching
of the Christ Himself, so we have here a new era in all senses, not merely in
outward arrangement, but in inner feeling as well. All this is long ago from the
point of view of the time at which we are looking, and the Christ is now
becoming somewhat mythical to the people, much as He was to many people at the
beginning of the twentieth century. The religion of the world now is that which
He founded; that is the Religion, and there is no other of any real
importance, though there are still some survivals, of which the world at large
is somewhat contemptuously tolerant, regarding them as fancy religions or
curious superstitions. There are a few people who represent the older form of
Christianity-- who in the name of the Christ refused to receive Him when He came
in a new form. The majority regard these people as hopelessly out-of-date. On
the whole the state of affairs all the world over is obviously much more
satisfactory than in the earlier civilisations. Armies and navies have
disappeared, or are only represented by a kind of small force used for police
purposes. Poverty also has practically disappeared from civilised lands; all
slums in the great cities have been pulled down, and their places taken, not by
other buildings, but by parks and gardens.
864.
THE NEW LANGUAGE
865.
This curious altered form of English, written in a kind
of short-hand with many grammalogues, has been adopted as a universal commercial
and literary language. Ordinarily educated people in every country know it in
addition to their own, and indeed it is obvious that among the upper and
commercial classes it is rapidly superseding the tongues of the different
countries. Naturally the common people in every country still speak their old
tongue, but even they recognise that the first step towards getting on in the
world is to learn the universal language. The great majority of books, for
example, are printed only in that, unless they are intended especially to appeal
to the uneducated. In this way it is now possible for a book to have a much
wider circulation than it could ever have had before. There are still university
professors and learned men who know all the old languages, but they are a small
minority, and all the specially good books of all languages have long ago been
translated into this universal tongue.
866.
In every country there is a large body of middle and
upper class people who know no other language, or know only the few words of the
language of the country which are necessary in order to communicate with
servants and labourers. One thing which has greatly contributed to this change
is this new and improved method of writing and printing, which was first
introduced in connection with the English language and is therefore more adapted
to it than others. In our community all books are printed on pale sea-green
paper in dark blue ink, the theory being apparently that this is less trying to
the eyes than the old scheme of black on white. The same plan is being widely
adopted in the rest of the world. Civilised rule or colonisation has spread over
many parts of the world which formerly were savage and chaotic; indeed almost no
real savages are now to be seen.
867.
THE OLD NATIONS
868.
People have by no means yet transcended national
feelings. The countries no longer fight with one another, but each nation still
thinks of itself with pride. The greatest advantage is that they are not now
afraid of one another, and that there is no suspicion, and therefore far greater
fraternity. But on the whole, people have not changed much; it is only that now
the better side of them has more opportunity to display itself. There has not as
yet been much mingling of the nations; the bulk of the people still marry in
their own neighbourhood, for those who till the soil almost always tend to stay
in the same place. Crime appears occasionally, but there is much less of it than
of old, because the people on the whole know more than they did, and chiefly
because they are much more content.
869.
The new religion has spread widely and its influence is
undoubtedly strong. It is an entirely scientific religion, so that though
religion and science are still separate institutions, they are no longer in
opposition as they used to he. Naturally people are still arguing, though the
subjects are not those which we know so well. For example, they discuss the
different kinds of spirit-communion, and quarrel as to whether it is safe to
listen to any spooks except those who have been authorised and guaranteed by the
orthodox authorities of the time. Schools exist everywhere, but are no longer
under the control of the Church, which educates no one except those who are to
be its own preachers. Ordinary philanthropy is not needed, since there is
practically no poverty. There are still hospitals, and they are all Government
institutions. All necessaries of life are controlled, so that there can be no
serious fluctuations in their price. All sorts of luxuries and unnecessary
things are still left in the hands of private trade-- objects of art, and things
of that kind. But even with this, there is not so much competition as division
of business; if a certain man opens a shop for the sale of ornaments and such
things, another one is not likely to start in business close by, simply because
there would not be enough trade for the two; but there is no curtailing of
liberty with regard to that.
870.
LAND AND MINES
871.
The conditions as to the ownership of private land and
of mines and factories are much changed. A large amount at least of the land is
held nominally from the King, on some sort of lease by which it reverts to him
unconditionally at the end of a thousand years, but he has the right to resume
it at any intervening period if he chooses, with certain compensations. In the
meantime it may descend from father to son, or be sold or divided, but never
without the consent of the authorities. There are also considerable restrictions
as to many of these estates, referring to what kind of buildings may be erected
on them. All factories for necessaries are State property, but still there is no
restriction which prevents anyone from starting a similar factory if he likes.
There is still some mining, but much less than of old. The cavities and
galleries of many of the old mines in the northern parts of Europe are now used
as sanatoria for the rare cases of consumption or bronchial or other affections,
because of their equal temperature in summer and winter. There are also
arrangements for raising metal from great depths, which cannot exactly be called
mines, for they are much more like wells. This may be considered a modern and
improved type of mine. Little of the work is done down below by human beings;
rather machines excavate, cut out huge slices and lift them. All these are State
property in the ultimate, but in many cases private owners rent them from the
State. Iron is burnt out of various earths in some way, and the material is
obtained with less trouble than of old.
872.
THE GOVERNMENT OF BRITAIN
873.
The Government of England has been considerably changed.
All real power is in the hands of the King, though there are ministers in charge
of separate departments. There is no parliament, but there is a scheme the
working of which is not easy fully to comprehend in the rapid glimpse which is
all that we had. It is something more or less of the nature of the referendum.
Everybody has a right to make representations, and these pass through the hands
of a body of officials whose business it is to receive complaints or petitions.
If these representations show any injustice, it is rapidly set right without
reference to the higher authorities. Every such petition is attended to if it
can be shown to be reasonable, but it does not usually penetrate to the King
himself, unless there are many requests for the same thing. The monarchy is
still hereditary, still ruling by the claim of descent from Cerdic. The British
Empire appears to be much as in the twentieth century, but it was an earlier
federation than the greater one, and it naturally acknowledges permanently one
King, while the World-Federation is constantly changing its President. Some of
what used to be Colonial Governors now hold their offices by heredity, and are
like tributary monarchs.
874.
LONDON
875.
London still exists, and is larger than ever, but much
changed, for now all over the world there are no fires, and consequently no
smoke. Some of the old streets and squares are still recognisable in general
outline, but there has been a vast amount of pulling-down, and improvements upon
a large scale. S. Paul' s Cathedral is still there, preserved with great care as
an ancient monument. The Tower has been partly reconstructed. The introduction
of one unlimited power has produced great effects here also, and most things
that are wanted seem to be supplied on the principle of turning on a tap. Here
also few people any longer cook in private houses, but they go out for meals
much as they do in the community, although things are served here in a different
manner.
876.
OTHER PLACES
877.
Taking a passing glance at Paris, it also is seen to be
much changed. All the streets are larger and the whole city is, as it were,
looser. They have pulled down whole blocks, and thrown them into gardens.
Everything is so hopelessly different. Glancing at Holland, we see a country so
thickly inhabited that it looks like almost a solid city. Amsterdam is, however,
still clearly distinguishable, and they have elaborated some system by which
they have increased the number of canals and contrived to change all the water
in all of them every day. There is not any natural flow of water, but there is
some curious scheme of central suction, a kind of enormous tube system with a
deep central excavation. The details are not clear; but they somehow exhaust the
area and draw into that all sewage and such matters, which are carried in a
great channel under the sea to a considerable distance and are then spouted out
with tremendous vigour. No ships pass anywhere near that spot, as the force is
too great. Here also, as in the community, they are distilling sea-water and
extracting things from it-- obtaining products from which many things are made--
articles of food among others, and also dyes. In some of the streets they grow
tropical trees in the open air by keeping round them a constant flow of the
power in its heat aspect.
878.
Centuries ago they began by roofing in the streets and
keeping them warm, like a green-house; but when the unlimited power appeared
they decided to dispense with the roofs, about which there were many
inconveniences. In passing glimpses at other parts of the world, hardly anything
worth chronicling was seen. China appears to have had some vicissitudes. The
race is still there and it does not seem to have diminished. There is a good
deal of superficial change in some of the towns, but the vast body of the race
is not really altered in its civilisation. The great majority of the country
people still speak their own tongue, but all the leading people know the
universal language.
879.
India is another country where but little change is
observable. The immemorial Indian village is an Indian village still, but there
are no famines now. The country groups itself into two or three big kingdoms,
but is still part of the one great Empire. There is evidently far more mixture
in the higher classes than there used to be, and much more intermarriage with
white races; so that it is clear that among a large section of the educated
people the caste system must to a great extent have been broken down. Tibet
seems to have been a good deal opened up, since easy access is to be had to it
by means of flying machines. Even these, however, meet with occasional
difficulties, owing to the rarity of the air at a great height. Central Africa
is radically changed, and the neighbourhood of the Victoria Nyanza has become a
sort of Switzerland full of great hotels.
880.
ADYAR
881.
Naturally it is interesting to see what has happened by
this time to our Headquarters at Adyar, and it is delightful to find it still
flourishing, and on a far grander scale than in older days. There is still a
Theosophical Society; but as its first object has to a large extent been
achieved, it is devoting itself principally to the second and third. It has
developed into a great central University for the promotion of studies along
both these lines, with subsidiary centres in various parts of the world
affiliated to it.
882.
The present Headquarters building is replaced by a kind
of gorgeous palace with an enormous dome, the central part of which must be an
imitation of the Taj Mahal at Agra, but on a much larger scale. In this great
building they mark as memorials certain spots by pillars and inscriptions, such
as: “Here was Madame Blavatsky' s room”; “Here such and such a book was
written”; “Here the original shrine-room”; and so on. They even have statues of
some of us, and they have made a copy in marble of the statues of the Founders
in the great hall. Even that marble copy is now considered as a relic of remote
ages. The Society owns the Adyar River now, and also the ground on the other
side of it, in order that nothing may be built over there that may spoil its
prospect, and it has lined the river-bed with stone of some sort to keep it
clean. They have covered the estate with buildings, and have acquired perhaps an
additional square mile along the sea-shore. Away beyond Olcott Gardens they have
a department for occult chemistry, and there they have all the original plates
reproduced on a larger scale and also exceedingly beautiful models of all the
different kinds of chemical atoms. They have a magnificent museum and library,
and a few of the things which were here at the beginning of the twentieth
century are still to be seen. One fine old enamelled manuscript still exists,
but it is doubtful whether there are any books going back as far as the
twentieth century. They have copies of The Secret Doctrine, but they
are all transcribed into the universal language.
883.
THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
884.
The Society has taken a great place in the world. It is
a distinct department in the world' s science, and has a long line of
specialities which no one else seems to teach. It is turning out a vast amount
of literature, possibly what we should call texts, and is keeping alive an
interest in the old religions and in forgotten things. It is issuing a great
series somewhat resembling the old ` Sacred Books of the East,' but on a more
magnificent scale. The volume just issued is number 2,159. There are many
pandits who are authorities on the past. Each man appears to specialise on a
book. He knows it by heart and knows all about it, and has read thoroughly all
the commentaries upon it. The literary department is enormous, and is the centre
of a world-wide organisation. Though they still use English, they speak it
differently, but they keep the archaic motto of the Society written in its
original form. The Society' s dependencies in other parts of the world are
practically autonomous big establishments and universities in all the principal
countries; but they all look up to Adyar as the centre and origin of the
movement and make it a place of pilgrimage. Colonel Olcott, though working in
the community in California as a lieutenant of the Manu, is the nominal
President of the Society, and visits its Headquarters at least once in every two
years. He comes and leads the salutations before the statues of the Founders.
885.
THREE METHODS OF REINCARNATION
886.
As in the examination of the Californian community a
great many people were seen who were clearly recognisable as friends of the
twentieth century, it seems desirable to enquire how they manage to be there--
whether they have been taking a number of rapid incarnations, or have calculated
their stay in the heaven-world so as to arrive at the right moment.
887.
The enquiry leads in unexpected directions and gives
more trouble than had been anticipated, but at least three methods of occupying
the intermediate time have been discovered. First, some of the workers do take
the heaven-life, but greatly shorten and intensify it. This process of
shortening but intensifying produces considerable and fundamental differences in
the causal body; its effects cannot in any way be described as better or worse,
but they are quite certainly different. It is a type which is much more amenable
to the influence of the Devas than the other, and this is one of the ways in
which modifications have been introduced. That shorter heaven-life is not shut
in a little world of its own, but is to a great extent open to this Deva
influence. The brains of the people who come along that line are different,
because they have preserved lines of receptivity which in other cases have been
atrophied. They can be more easily influenced for good by invisible beings, but
there is a corresponding liability to less desirable influences. The personality
is less awake, but the man inside is more awake in proportion. Those who take
the longer heaven-life focus practically all their consciousness in one place at
once, but people of this other type do not. Their consciousness is more equally
distributed on the different levels, and consequently they are usually less
concentrated upon the physical plane and less able to achieve in connection with
it.
888.
There are others to whom a different opportunity has
been offered, for they were asked whether they felt themselves able to endure a
series of rapid incarnations of hard work devoted to the building of the
Theosophical Society. Naturally, such an offer is made only to those who bring
themselves definitely to a point where they are useful-- those who work hard
enough to give satisfactory promise for the future. To them is offered this
opportunity of continuing their work, of taking incarnation after incarnation
without interval, in different parts of the world, to carry the Theosophical
Movement up to the point where it can provide this large contingent for the
community. The community at the time when it is observed is much larger than the
Theosophical Society of the twentieth century; but that Society has increased by
geometrical progression during the intervening centuries-- so much so that
although practically all the hundred thousand members of the community have
passed through its ranks (most of them many times), there is still a huge
Society left to carry on the activities at Adyar and the other great centres all
over the world.
889.
We have seen already two methods by which persons who
are in the Society in the twentieth century may form part of the community of
the twenty-eighth century-- by the intensification of the heaven-life, and by
the taking of special and repeated incarnations. Another method is far more
remarkable than either of these-- one which is probably applied in only a
limited number of instances. The case which drew attention to this was that of a
man who had pledged himself to the Master for this work towards the conclusion
of his twentieth century incarnation, and unreservedly devoted himself to
preparation for it. The preparation assigned was indeed most unusual, for he
needed development of a certain kind in order to round off his character and
make him really useful-- development which could only be obtained under the
conditions existing in another planet of the chain. Therefore he was transferred
for some lives to that planet and then brought back again here-- a special
experiment made by permission of the Maha-Chohan Himself. The same permission
was in some cases obtained by other Masters for Their pupils, though such an
extreme measure is rarely necessary.
890.
Most of the members of the community have been taking a
certain number of special incarnations, and therefore have preserved through all
those lives the same astral and mental bodies. Consequently they have retained
the same memory, and that means that they have known all about the community for
several lives, and had the idea of it before them. Normally such a series of
special and rapid incarnations is arranged only for those who have already taken
the first of the great Initiations. For them it is understood that an average of
seven such lives should bring them to the Arhat Initiation, and that after that
is attained seven more should suffice to cast off the remaining five fetters and
attain the perfect liberation of the Asekha level. This number, fourteen
incarnations, is given merely as an average, and it is possible greatly to
shorten the time by especially earnest and devoted work, or, on the other hand,
to lengthen it by any lukewarmness or carelessness. The preparation for the work
of the community is an exception to ordinary rules, and although all its members
are definitely aiming at the Path, we must not suppose that all of them have
attained as yet to the greater heights.
891.
A certain small number of persons from the outside
world, who are already imbued with the ideals of the community, sometimes come
and desire to join it, and some at least of these are accepted. They are not
allowed to intermarry with the community, because of the especial purity of race
which is exacted, but they are allowed to come and live among the rest, and are
treated exactly like all the others. When such members die they reincarnate in
bodies belonging to the families of the community.
892.
The Manu has advanced ideas as to the amount of progress
which He expects the community as a whole to make in a given time. In the
principal Temple He keeps a kind of record of this, somewhat resembling a
weather-chart, showing by lines what He has expected and how much more or less
has been achieved. The whole plan of the community was arranged by our two
Masters, and the light of Their watchful care is always hovering over it. All
that has been written gives only a little gleam of that light-- a partial
foreshadowing of that which They are about to do.
893.
HOW TO PREPARE OURSELVES
894.
It is certainly not without definite design that just at
this time in the history of our Society permission has been given thus to
publish this, the first definite and detailed forecast of the great work that
has to be done. There can be little doubt that at least one of the objects of
the Great Ones in allowing this is not only to encourage and stimulate our
faithful members, but to show them along what lines they must specially develop
themselves, if they desire the inestimable privilege of being permitted to share
in this glorious future, and also what (if anything) they can do to pave the way
for the changes that are to come. One thing that can be done here and now to
prepare for this glorious development is the earnest promotion of our first
object, of a better understanding between the different nations and castes and
creeds.
895.
In that everyone of us can help, limited though our
powers may be, for every one of us can try to understand and appreciate the
qualities of nations other than our own; every one of us, when he hears some
foolish or prejudiced remark made against men of another nation, can take the
opportunity of putting forward the other side of the question-- of recommending
to notice their good qualities rather than their failings . Every one
of us can take the opportunity of acting in an especially kindly manner toward
any foreigner with whom we happen to come into contact, and feeling the great
truth that when a stranger visits our country all of us stand temporarily to him
in the position of hosts. If it comes in our way to go abroad-- and none to whom
such an opportunity is possible should neglect it-- we must remember that we are
for the moment representatives of our country to those whom we happen to meet,
and that we owe it to that country to endeavour to give the best possible
impression of kindliness and readiness to appreciate all the manifold beauties
that will open before us, while at the same time we pass over or make the best
of any points which strike us as deficiencies.
896.
Another way in which we can help to prepare is by the
endeavour to promote beauty in all its aspects, even in the commonest things
around us. One of the most prominent characteristics of the community of the
future is its intense devotion to beauty, so that even the commonest utensil is
in its simple way an object of art. We should see to it that, at least within
the sphere of our influence, all this is so with us at the present day; and this
does not mean that we should surround ourselves with costly treasures, but
rather that, in the selection of the simple necessaries of every-day life, we
should consider always the question of harmony, suitability and grace. In that
sense and to that extent we must all strive to become artistic; we must develop
within ourselves that power of appreciation and comprehension which is the
grandest feature of the artist' s character.
897.
Yet, on the other hand, while thus making an effort to
evolve its good side, we must carefully avoid the less desirable qualities which
it sometimes brings with it. The artistic man may be elevated clear out of his
ordinary every-day self by his devotion to his art. By the very intensity of
that, he has not only marvellously uplifted himself but he also uplifts such
others as are capable of responding to such a stimulus. But unless he is an
abnormally well-balanced man, this wonderful exaltation is almost invariably
followed by its reaction, a correspondingly great depression. Not only does this
stage usually last far longer than the first, but the waves of thought and
feeling which it pours forth affect nearly everybody within a considerable area,
while only a few (in all probability) have been able to respond to the elevating
influence of the art. It is indeed a question whether many men of artistic
temperament are not, on the whole, thus doing far more harm than good; but the
artist of the future will learn the necessity and the value of perfect
equipoise, and so will produce the good without the harm; and it is at this that
we must aim.
898.
It is obvious that helpers are needed for the work of
the Manu and the Chief Priest, and that in such work there is room for all
conceivable diversities of talent and of disposition. None need despair of being
useful because he thinks himself lacking in intellect or ecstatic emotion; there
is room for all, and qualities which are lacking now may be speedily developed
under the special conditions which the community will provide. Goodwill and
docility are needed, and perfect confidence in the wisdom and capability of the
Manu; and above all the resolve to forget self utterly and to live only for the
work that has to be done in the interests of humanity. Without this last, all
other qualifications “water but the desert”.
899.
Those who offer themselves to help must have in some
sort the spirit of an army-- a spirit of perfect self-sacrifice, of devotion to
the Leader and of confidence in Him. They must above all things be loyal,
obedient, painstaking, unselfish. They may have many other great qualities as
well, and the more they have the better; but these at least they must have.
There will be scope for the keenest intelligence, the greatest ingenuity and
ability in every direction; but all these will be useless without the capacity
of instant obedience and utter trust in the Masters. Self-conceit is an absolute
barrier to usefulness. The man who can never obey an order because he always
thinks that he knows better than the authorities, the man who cannot sink his
personality entirely in the work which is given to him to do and co-operate
harmoniously with his fellow-workers-- such a man has no place in the army of
the Manu, however transcendent his other qualifications may be. All this lies
before us to be done, and it will be done, whether we take our share in it or
not; but since the opportunity is offered to us surely we shall be criminally
foolish if we neglect it. Even already the preparatory work is beginning; the
harvest truly is plenteous, but as yet the labourers are all too few. The Lord
of the Harvest calls for willing helpers; who is there among us who is ready to
respond?
900.
EPILOGUE
901.
IT is obvious that the outline of the Californian
community and of the world of the twenty-eighth century is but an infinitesimal
fragment of the ` Whither' of the road along which humanity will travel. It is
an inch or two of the indefinite number of miles which stretch between us and
the goal of our Chain, and even then a longer ` Whither' stretches beyond. It
tells of the first small beginnings of the sixth Root Race, beginnings which
bear much the same proportion to the life of that Race, as the gathering of the
few thousands on the shore of the sea that washed the south-eastern part of Ruta
bore to the great fifth Root Race that is now leading the world. We do not know
how long a time is to elapse from those peaceful days to the years during which
America will be rent into pieces by earthquakes and volcanic outbursts, and a
new continent will be thrown up in the Pacific, to be the home of the sixth Root
Race. We see that later the strip in the far west of Mexico, on which the
community exists, will become a strip on the far east of the new continent,
while Mexico and the United States will be whelmed in ruin. Gradually will that
new continent be upheaved, with many a wild outburst of volcanic energy, and the
land that was once Lemuria will arise from its age-long sleep, and lie again
beneath the sun-rays of our earthly day.
902.
It may be supposed that a very long period will be
occupied by these great seismic changes, ere the new land will be ready for the
new Race, and its Manu and its Bodhisattva will lead it thither.
903.
Then will come the ages during which its seven sub-races
will rise, and reign, and decay; and from the seventh the choosing of the germs
of the seventh Root Race by its future Manu, and the long labours of that new
Manu and of His Brother the new Bodhisattva, until it shall, in turn, grow into
a definite new Race and inherit the earth. It also will have its seven
sub-races, to rise, and reign, and vanish-- vanishing as the earth itself falls
asleep, and passes into its fourth obscuration.
904.
The Sun of Life will rise on a new earth, the planet
Mercury, and that fair orb will pass through its day of ages, and again that Sun
will set and the night will fall. A new rising, a new setting, on the globes F
and G of our Round, and the ending of the Round, and the gathering of its fruits
into the bosom of its Seed Manu.
905.
Then, after long repose, the fifth, sixth and seventh
Rounds, ere our terrene Chain shall vanish into the past. Then onwards yet,
after an Inter-Chain Nirvana, and still there are fifth and sixth and seventh
Chains yet to come and to pass away, ere the Day of the High Gods shall decline
to its setting, and the soft still Night shall brood over a resting system, and
the great Preserver shall repose on the many-headed serpent of Time.
906.
But even then the ` Whither' stretches onward into the
endless ages of Immortal Life. The dazzled eyes closed; the numbed brain is
still. But above, below, on every side, stretches the illimitable Life who is
GOD, and in Him will ever live and move and exist the children of men.
907.
PEACE TO ALL BEINGS
908.
APPENDIX
909.
I
910.
THE MOON CHAIN
911.
THE names of individuals who have been traced through
the ages-- adopted from “Rents in the Veil of Time,” with many subsequent
additions-- have been as far as possible relegated to Appendices. In a book
intended for the general public, too many of these names would be wearisome. On
the other hand, they are of great interest to Fellows of the Theosophical
Society, many of whom may thus trace some of their former incarnations. We have
retained these names in the text where the exigencies of the story required it,
and have added large numbers, family relationships, etc., in the form
of Appendices.
912.
P. 35. Individualised on Globe D, in the fourth Round of
the Moon Chain: MARS and MERCURY; probably many others who have become Masters
in the Earth Chain. Yet loftier Beings individualised in earlier Chains. Thus,
the MAHAGURU and SURYA dropped out of globe D of the seventh Round of the second
Chain at its Day of Judgment, and came to globe D of the third, or Moon Chain,
in the fourth Round-- as primitive men, with second Chain animals ready for
individualisation. JUPITER was probably with these, and VAIVASVATA MANU-- Manu
of the fifth Race on the fourth Round of the Earth Chain.
913.
P. 38. Individualised on globe D, in the fifth Round:
Herakles, Sirius, Alcyone, Mizar, and probably all those later called Servers,
who worked together through the ages-- see the next paragraph. Many others, who
have made great progress along other lines, probably individualised during this
Round. Also individualised on globe D, in the fifth Round: Scorpio, and many of
that ilk; but they dropped out again at the Day of Judgment in the sixth Round.
These were first noticed in the sixth Round, evidently at the same stage as
Herakles, Sirius, Alcyone and Mizar; and therefore must have individualized in
the fifth Round.
914.
________
915.
II
916.
IN THE CITY OF THE GOLDEN GATE
917.
ABOUT 220,000 B.C.
918.
IN these lists all the people recognised up to the time
of writing will be named, whether given in the text or not, so as to enable the
reader to draw, without much trouble, a genealogical chart, if he likes to do
so.
919.
MARS was Emperor, the Crown Prince Vajra, the Hierophant
of the State, MERCURY, Ulysses was Captain of the Palace Guard. In the Imperial
Guard were recognised: Herakles, Pindar, Beatrix, Gemini, Capella; Lutetia,
Bellona, Apis, Arcor, Capricorn, Theodoros, Scotus, Sappho. Herakles had as
servants three Tlavatli youths-- Alcmene, Hygeia and Bootes-- who had been
captured in battle by his father, and given to him.
920.
________
921.
III
922.
ANCIENT PERU
923.
WHEN the articles on ancient Peru appeared in the
Theosophical Review, Mr. Leadbeater wrote the following introduction to
them, and it is useful to reprint it here. It was written in 1899.
924.
When, in writing on the subject of clairvoyance, I
referred to the magnificent possibilities which the examination of the records
of the past opened up before the student of history, several readers suggested
to me that deep interest would be felt by our Theosophical public in any
fragments of the results of such researches which could be placed before them.
That is no doubt true, but it is not so easy as might be supposed to carry out
the suggestion. It has to be remembered that investigations are not undertaken
for the pleasure of the thing, nor for the gratification of mere curiosity, but
only when they happen to be necessary for the due performance of some piece of
work, or for the elucidation of some obscure point in our study. Most of the
scenes from the past history of the world which have so interested and delighted
our enquirers have come before us in the course of the examination of one or
other of the lines of successive lives which have been followed far back into
earlier ages, in the endeavour to gather information as to the working of the
great laws of karma and reincarnation; so that what we know of remote antiquity
is rather in the nature of a series of glimpses than in any way a sustained
view-- rather a gallery of pictures than a history.
925.
Nevertheless, even in this comparatively casual and
desultory manner, much of exceeding interest has been unveiled before our eyes--
much not only with regard to the splendid civilisations of Egypt, of India and
of Babylonia, as well as to the far more modern States of Persia, Greece, and
Rome, but to others on a scale vaster and grander far even than these-- to
which, indeed, these are but as buds of yesterday; mighty Empires whose
beginnings reach back into primeval dawnings, even though some fragments of
their traces yet remain on earth for those who have eyes to see.
926.
Greatest perhaps of all these was the magnificent and
world-embracing dominion of the Divine Rulers of the city of the Golden Gate in
old Atlantis; for with the exception of the primary Aryan civilisation round the
shores of the Central Asian sea, almost all Empires that men have called great
since then have been but feeble and partial copies of its marvellous
organisation; while before it there existed nothing at all comparable to it, the
only attempts at government on a really large scale having been those of the
egg-headed sub-race of the Lemurians, and of the myriad hosts of the Tlavatli
mound-builders in the far west of early Atlantis.
927.
Some outline of the polity which for so many thousands
of years centred round the glorious City of the Golden Gate has already been
given in one of the Transactions of the London Lodge; what I wish to do
now is to offer a slight sketch of one of its later copies-- one which, though
on but a small scale as compared to its mighty parent, yet preserved to within
almost what we are in the habit of calling historical periods much of the
splendid public spirit and paramount sense of duty which were the very life of
that grand old scheme.
928.
The part of the world, then, to which we must for this
purpose direct our attention is the ancient kingdom of Peru-- a kingdom,
however, embracing enormously more of the South American continent than the
Republic to which we now give that name, or even the tract of country which the
Spaniards found in possession of the Incas in the sixteenth century. It is true
that the system of government in this later kingdom, which excited the
admiration of Pizarro, aimed at reproducing the conditions of the earlier and
grander civilisation of which I have now to speak; yet, wonderful as even that
pale copy was acknowledged to be, we must remember that was but a copy,
organised thousands of years later by a far inferior race, in the attempt to
revivify traditions, some of the best points of which had been forgotten.
929.
The first introduction of our investigators to this most
interesting epoch took place, as has already been hinted, in the course of an
endeavour to follow back a long line of incarnations. It was found that after
two nobly-borne lives of great toil and stress (themselves the consequence,
apparently, of a serious failure in the one preceding them), the subject (Erato)
whose history was being followed was born under favourable circumstances in this
great Peruvian Empire and there lived a life which, though certainly as full of
hard work as either of its predecessors, yet differed from them in being
honoured, happy and successful far beyond the common lot.
930.
Naturally the sight of a State in which most of the
social problems seemed to have been solved-- in which there was no poverty, no
discontent, and practically no crime-- attracted our attention immediately,
though we could not at the time stay to examine it more closely; but when
afterwards it was found that several other lines of lives in which we were
interested had also passed through that country at the same period, and we thus
began to learn more and more of its manners and customs, we gradually realised
that we had come upon a veritable physical Utopia-- a time and place where at
any rate the physical life of man was better organised, happier, and more useful
than it has perhaps ever been elsewhere.
931.
No doubt there will be many who will ask themselves:
“How are we to know that this account differs from those of other Utopias-- how
can we feel certain that the investigators were not deceiving themselves with
beautiful dreams, and reading theoretical ideas of their own into the visions
which they persuaded themselves that they saw-- how, in fact, can we assure
ourselves that this is more than a mere fairy-story?”
932.
The only answer that can be given to such enquiries is
that for them there is no assurance. The investigators themselves are
certain-- certain by long accumulation of manifold proofs, small often in
themselves, perhaps yet irresistible in combination-- certain also in their
knowledge, gradually acquired by many patient experiments, of the difference
between observation and imagination. They know well how often they have met with
the absolutely unexpected and unimaginable, and how frequently and how entirely
their cherished preconceptions have been overset. Outside the ranks of the
actual investigators there are a few others who have attained practically equal
certainty, either by their own intuitions, or by a personal knowledge of those
who do the work; to the rest of the world the results of all enquiry into a past
so remote must necessarily remain hypothetical. They may regard this account of
the ancient Peruvian civilisation as a mere fairy-tale, in fact; yet even so I
think I may hope for their admission that it is a beautiful fairy-tale.
933.
I imagine that except by these methods of clairvoyance
it would be impossible now to recover any traces of the civilisation which we
are about to examine. I have little doubt that traces still exist, but it would
probably require extensive and elaborate excavations to enable us to acquire
sufficient knowledge to separate them with any certainty from those of other and
later races. It may be that, in the future, antiquarians and archaeologists will
turn their attention more than they have hitherto done to these wonderful
countries of South America, and then, perhaps, they may be able to sort out the
various footprints of the different races which one after another occupied and
governed them; but at present all that we know (outside of clairvoyance) about
old Peru is the little that was told to us by the Spanish conquerors; and the
civilisation at which they marvelled so greatly was but a faint and far distant
reflection of the older and grander reality.
934.
The very race itself had changed; for though those whom
the Spaniards found in possession were still some offshoot of that splendid
third sub-race of the Atlanteans, which seems to have been endued with so much
more enduring power and vitality than any of those which followed it, it is yet
evident that this offshoot was in many ways in the last stage of decrepitude, in
many ways more barbarous, more degraded, less refined, than the much older
branch of which we have to speak.
935.
This little leaf out of the world' s true history-- this
glimpse at just one picture in nature' s vast galleries-- reveals to us what
might well seem an ideal State compared to anything which exists at the present
day; and part of its interest to us consists in the fact that all the results at
which our modern social reformers are aiming were already fully achieved there,
but achieved by methods diametrically opposite to most that are being suggested
now. The people were peaceful and prosperous; no such thing as poverty was
known, and there was practically no crime; no single person had cause for
discontent, for everyone had an opening for his genius (if he had any) and he
chose for himself his profession or line of activity, whatever it might be. In
no case was work too hard or too heavy placed upon any man; everyone had plenty
of spare time to give to any desired accomplishment or occupation; education was
full, free, and efficient, and the sick and aged were perfectly and even
luxuriously cared for. And yet the whole of this wonderfully elaborate system
for the promotion of physical well-being was carried out, and so far as we can
see could only have been carried out, under an autocracy which was one of the
most absolute that the world has ever known.
936.
______
937.
IV
938.
PERU, ABOUT 12,000 B.C.
939.
THIS is one of the largest of the gatherings of those
who are now working in the Theosophical Society. MARS was Emperor at the time,
and the lists begin with his father and mother. There were three families of the
time among which they were distributed, those descended from JUPITER, SATURN,
and Psyche.
940.
JUPITER married VULCAN and had two sons-- MARS and
URANUS. The family of MARS by his marriage with BRIHASPATI consisted of two
sons, Siwa and Pindar, who respectively married Proteus and Tolosa. Siwa and
Proteus also had two sons, Corona and Orpheus, Corona marrying Pallas, and
having as sons, Ulysses and OSIRIS, and as daughter, Theodoros-- Ulysses
marrying Cassiopeia, VIRAJ being their son; OSIRIS marrying ATHENA, and
Theodoros marrying Deneb; Orpheus marrying Hestia, by whom he had two sons--
Thor and Rex-- who respectively married Iphigenia and Ajax. Pindar and Tolosa
had three daughters, Herakles, Adrona and Cetus, and one son-- Olympia. Herakles
married Castor; Adrona, Berenice; Cetus, Procyon; and Olympia, Diana.
941.
URANUS married Hesperia, and had three sons-- Sirius,
Centaurus and Alcyone-- and two daughters-- Aquarius and Sagittarius. The wife
of Sirius was Spica, and Pollux, Vega and Castor were their sons, and Alcestis
and Minerva their daughters. Fides was an adopted son and married Glaucus.
Pollux married Melpomene and had three sons-- Cyrene, Apis, Flora-- and two
daughters-- Eros and Chamaeleon. Apis married Bootes, Eros, Pisces, and
Chamaeleon, Gemini. Vega married Pomona and they had one son, Ursa, who espoused
Lacerta, and two daughters-- Circe and Ajax, the latter marrying Rex. Ursa' s
family included Cancer (daughter), Alastor (son), Phocea (daughter), and Thetis
(son). Of these, Alastor married Clio and had one daughter, Trapezium, and a
son, Markab. Castor married Herakles, and they had as issue: Vajra and Aurora
(sons), the latter marrying Wenceslas, and daughters Lacerta, Alcmene, and
Sappho, who respectively married Ursa, Hygeia and Dorado. Alcestis married
Nicosia and they had a son-- Formator. Minerva married Beatus. The next son of
URANUS was Centaurus, who married Gimel, their son being Beatus. Alcyone had
Mizar as his wife, and their children were-- Perseus, Leo, Capella, Regulus and
Irene (sons), and Ausonia (daughter). Perseus married Alexandros. Leo married
Concordia, and they had as children-- Deneb, whose wife was Theodoros, Egeria,
whose husband was Telemachus, Calliope, whose wife was Parthenope, Iphigenia,
whose husband was Thor, and Daleth, whose husband was Polaris. Capella married
Soma and they had two sons-- Telemachus and Aquila-- and one daughter--
Parthenope, who married Calliope. Telemachus married Egeria and they had a son,
Beth. Ausonia married Rama. Regulus married Mathematicus, and they had a
daughter, Trefoil, who married Aquila. Irene married Flos. Of the daughters of
URANUS, Aquarius married Virgo, and Sagittarius, Apollo.
942.
The second great family of this period was that of
SATURN, who had VENUS as his wife. Their children were six-- Hesperia (daughter)
who married URANUS: MERCURY (son) who married Lyra (by whom he had two sons,
SURYA and Apollo, and one daughter, Andromeda, who married Argus); Calypso (son)
who married Avelledo, by whom he had one son, Rhea (who married Zama and had two
sons, Sirona and Lachesis) and one daughter, Amalthea; Crux (daughter) married
NEPTUNE, by whom there were five children-- Melete, son, (married Erato, sons
Hebe, Stella), Tolosa, daughter (married Pindar), Virgo, son, (married
Aquarius-- son, Euphrosyne, who married Canopus), Alba, daughter, (married
Altair), Leopardus, son, (married Auriga); Selene (son) who married Beatrix, and
by whom there were six children, Erato, daughter, who married Melete, Aldebaran,
son, who married Orion (children: Theseus, wife Dactyl; Arcor, husband
Capricorn-- children, Hygeia, wife Alcmene; Bootes, husband Apis; Gemini, wife
Chamaeleon; Polaris, wife Daleth-- Fomalhaut, son; Arcturus, husband Nitocris;
and Canopus, husband Euphrosyne); Spica, daughter, who married Sirius, Albireo,
son, who married Hector, Leto, son, who married Fons (children; Norma, wife
Aulus, Scotus, wife Elsa, Sextans, husband Pegasus) and Elektra; Vesta (son) who
married Mira, by whom there was one son, Bellatrix (married Tiphys, sons Juno,
who weds Minorca, and Proserpina, who espouses Colossus), and four daughters;
Orion, who married Aldebaran, Mizar, who married Alcyone, Achilles, who married
Demeter, (children: Elsa, husband Scotus; Aletheia, wife Ophiuchus, to whom are
born two sons, Dorado and Fortuna-- who respectively marry Sappho and Eudoxia;
Aries and Taurus, sons, and Procyon, wife Cetus) and Philae, who married Cygnus.
943.
The third family was that of Psyche, whose wife was
Libra. To them were born: Rigel-- daughter, who married Betelgueuse, and by whom
there were six children: Altair, wife Alba (son Ara, marries Pepin); Hector,
husband Albireo (sons, Pegasus, wife Sextans, Berenice, wife Adrona); Auriga,
husband Leopardus (daughter Flos, married Irene; Viola, wife, Elektra (daughter,
Aulus, married Norma, son, Nitocris, married Arcturus); Cygnus, wife Philae
(daughter, Minorca, married Juno); and Demeter, whose wife was Achilles-- Mira,
whose husband was Vesta; and Algol, whose wife was Iris, and by whom there were
five children: Helios, wife Lomia (daughter, Mathematicus, married Regulus);
Draco, wife Phoenix (son Atalanta, married Herminius); Argus, wife Andromeda
(daughters, Pepin, married Ara, and Dactyl, married Theseus); Fons, daughter,
and Xanthos, son. Boreas is also noticed as one of the characters.
944.
______
945.
V
946.
ON THE SHORE OF THE GOBI SEA, ABOUT 72,000 B.C.
947.
THE MANU had MARS, Vajra, Ulysses, VIRAJ and Apollo as
grandsons; MARS married MERCURY, and they had as sons: Sirius, Achilles,
Alcyone, Orion and one daughter, Mizar. Sirius married Vega, and had as
children: Mira, Rigel, Ajax, Bellatrix and Proserpina, all massacred. Achilles
married Albireo, and had a daughter, Hector. Alcyone married Leo, and had as
sons: URANUS and NEPTUNE, and as daughters SURYA and BRIHASPATI; all these were
saved from the massacre, and, as a woman, SURYA married SATURN, saved at the
same time, and VAIVASVATA MANU , VIRAJ and MARS were their children; in the next
generation, Herakles was the son of MARS. Returning to the children of MARS and
MERCURY, Mizar married Herakles, the son of VIRAJ, and they had three sons:
Capricorn, Arcor, Fides, and two daughters, Psyche and Pindar. Corona married
Deneb, and had two sons, one of whom was Dorado. Adrona had Pollux as son. Cetus
married Clio. Others seen were Orpheus, VULCAN and VENUS, who were both saved,
and JUPITER, the head of the community. Vega and Leo were sisters, as were
Albireo and Helios, the latter a very pretty and coquettish young lady. Scorpio
appeared among the Turanian assailants.
948.
______
949.
VI
950.
IN SHAMBALLA, ABOUT 60,000 B.C.
951.
MARS, a Toltec Prince from Poseidonis, married JUPITER ,
the daughter of the MANU. They had VIRAJ as son, who married SATURN and of them
VAIVASVATA MANU was born.
952.
______
953.
VII
954.
IN THE CITY OF THE BRIDGE, AND THE VALLEY
955.
OF THE SECOND SUB-RACE, ABOUT 40,000 B.C.
956.
Two families chiefly provided the emigrants, Corona and
Theodoros, who sent two sons, Herakles and Pindar, and Demeter and Fomalhaut
sent their sons, Vega and Aurora, and their daughters, Sirius and Dorado; their
remaining son Mira and daughter Draco remained with them in the City. In the
City were also Castor and Rhea. Lachesis, who married Amalthea, had Velleda as
son; and Calypso who ran away with Amalthea; Crux, a foreigner, with Phocea,
came as visitors.
957.
Herakles married Sirius, and they had as children:
Alcyone, Mizar, Orion, Achilles, URANUS, Aldebaran, Siwa, Selene, NEPTUNE,
Capricorn, and some others unrecognised. Alcyone married Perseus, and VULCAN,
Bellatrix, Rigel, Algol, and Arcturus were their children. Mizar married Deneb,
and their children were Wenceslas, Ophiuchus, and Cygnus, with many
unrecognised. Orion married Eros, and had Sagittarius, Theseus and Mu in his
family. Achilles married Leo, and had as children Ulysses, Vesta, Psyche, and
Cassiopeia. URANUS married Andromeda, and MARS and VENUS were born to them.
Aldebaran married Pegasus, and Capella and Juno were among their children.
Selene married Albireo, and MERCURY appeared in their family; she married MARS,
and they had VAIVASVATA MANU as son. Capricorn married her first cousin,
Polaris, and their children were Vajra, Adrona, Pollux, and Diana.
958.
Pindar married Beatrix, and they had Gemini, Arcor, and
Polaris as children. Gemini married a foreigner, Apis, and Spica and Fides were
born to them as twins.
959.
The children of Sirius are given above; his brother Vega
married Helios, and they had children Leo, Proserpina, Canopus, Aquarius, and
Ajax. Aurora married Hector, and one of their children was Albireo. Dorado had a
daughter Aletheia, who married Argus.
960.
____________
961.
VIII
962.
IN THE CITY OF THE BRIDGE AND THE VALLEY
963.
OF THE THIRD SUB-RACE, ABOUT 32,000 B.C.
964.
THE MANU was married to MERCURY, and had Sirius as a
younger son. Sirius married Mizar, and had as children: Alcyone, Orion, VENUS , Ulysses, Albireo and SATURN , and went to the valley. Alcyone
married Achilles, who was the daughter of Vesta and Aldebaran, and had Libra as
a brother. Orion married Herakles, an Akkadian, and they had six sons: the
eldest, Capella, was a fine horseman; Fides, a good runner, slim and lightly
built; Dorado, a fair rider and first-rate at games, fond of a game like quoits,
throwing rings on upright posts; Elektra, Canopus and Arcor, the third, fifth
and sixth. As daughters there were: Gemini, who, by a strange repetition of the
story of eight thousand years before, married Apis, an Arabian, who had
travelled thus far from his home; Fortuna, Draco, Hygeia, a very fat girl, to
whom the baby Capricorn clung with much energy, and a passionate child, Polaris,
who was seen on her back, screaming vigorously, because an animal had carried
off her toy. Albireo married Hector, and Pegasus, Leo and Berenice were found in
her family. Pallas and Helios were in the valley, as said in the text.
965.
_________
966.
IX
967.
IN THE EMIGRATION, ABOUT 30,000 B.C.
968.
VAIVASVATA MANU as leader. His Captains: MARS (wife,
NEPTUNE), Corona (wife, OSIRIS) his brother, VULCAN (wife, VENUS), Theodoros,
(wife, Aldebaran), VAJRA. In body-guard: Ulysses, Herakles, Sirius, Arcor, Leo,
Alcyone, Polaris. MERCURY married Rama, Vajra married URANUS. Ulysses married
Spica. Herakles, son of Mars, married Psyche, and had Capella, Dolphin, Lutetia
and Canopus, as sons and a daughter, Daphne. Sirius married Achilles, and,
Aurora, Dorado. Capella married Bellatrix. Leo married Leto. Alcyone married
Fides, and had as children Cygnus, Mira, Perseus, Proserpina, Demeter; Polaris
married Minerva. Vega married Helios, Castor married Aries, and had a son
Lachesis who married Rhea. Calypso married Amalthea; Tolosa was among their
children. Velleda had among his children Cyrene and Sirona. Markab was a
soldier, and married Clio. Vesta, Mizar, Albireo, Orion, Ajax, Hector, Crux and
Selene were also seen. Trapezium was an insurgent chief.
969.
X
970.
THE FIRST ARYAN IMMIGRATION INTO
971.
INDIA, 18,875 B.C.
972.
MARS married MERCURY, and had sons URANUS, Herakles, and
Alcyone, daughters, BRIHASPATI and Demeter; BRIHASPATI married first VULCAN and
after his death Corona the son of VIRAJ, and had one son, Trefoil, who married
Arcturus, and five daughters: Fides, who married Betelgueuse; Thor, who married
Iphigenia; Rama, who married Perseus; Daedalus, who married Elsa; and Rector who
married Fomalhaut. SATURN was king in South India, and had Crux as son; SURYA
was High Priest, and OSIRIS, Deputy High Priest.
973.
Herakles married Capella, and had as sons, Cassiopeia,
Altair and Leto, as daughters, Argus and Centaurus. Alcyone married Theseus, and
had four sons: Andromeda, Betelgueuse, Fomalhaut and Perseus, and three
daughters, Draco, NEPTUNE ,
and Arcturus. Demeter married Wenceslas, and had as sons Elsa, Iphigenia and
Diana, who married respectively, Daedalus, Thor, and Draco. Cassiopeia married
Capricorn, and had Cetus, Spica and Adrona as sons, Sirona as daughter; Spica
married Kudos, Altair married Polaris, and had Tolosa as son Leto married
Gemini. Argus married Andromeda and had among her sons Arcor, who married Mizar,
the daughter of NEPTUNE
and Hector; the latter had also Siwa and Orpheus as sons. Diomede married
Orpheus. Regulus and Irene were daughters of Arcor and Mizar. Argus married a
second husband, Mathematicus, and had three daughters, Diomede, Judex who
married Beatus, and Kudos. Centaurus married Concordia. Of Alcyone' s sons:
Andromeda married Argus as said, and died early; Betelgueuse married Fides, and
had as sons, Flos, and Beatus who married Judex, Fomalhaut married Rector,
Perseus married Rama, Draco, Diana, NEPTUNE
, Hector, and Arcturus, Trefoil. Alcyone' s wife, Theseus, was
the daughter of Glaucus and Telemachus, and the latter had a sister, Soma.
Alastor was in Central Asia. Taurus, a Mongol, had Procyon as wife, and Cygnus
as daughter, who married Aries.
974.
________ ____
975.
AN ARYAN IMMIGRATION INTO INDIA, 17,455 B.C.
976.
JUPITER married SATURN and had MARS as his son and
MERCURY as his sister. MARS married NEPTUNE, and had sons, Herakles, Siwa and
Mizar, daughters OSIRIS, Pindar and Andromeda. Herakles married Cetus, and had,
as sons, Gemini and Arcor; as daughters, Polaris who married Diana, Capricorn
who married Glaucus, and Adrona. Siwa married Proserpina, Mizar married Rama,
and had as sons: Diana and Daedalus; as daughters; Diomede and Kudos, OSIRIS
married Perseus.
977.
VULCAN married Corona, and their three daughters, Rama,
Rector, and Thor, married respectively Mizar, Trefoil and Leto. Psyche, a friend
of Mars, married Arcturus, and had as sons, Alcyone, Albireo, Leto and Ajax; as
daughters, Beatrix, Procyon and Cygnus. Alcyone married Rigel and had as sons:
Cassiopeia who married Diomede; Crux who married Kudos, and Wenceslas who
married Regulus. They had also three daughters: Taurus who married Concordia,
Irene who married Flos, and Theseus who married Daedalus. Albireo married
Hector, and had a daughter Beatus who married Iphigenia. Leto married Thor, and
had a son, Flos. Ajax married Elsa, Beatrix, Mathematicus, and Cygnus,
Fomalhaut. Capella, another friend of MARS, married Judex, and had as sons
Perseus, who married OSIRIS, and Fomalhaut, who married Cygnus. The daughters
were Hector, Demeter, who married Aries, and Elsa, who married Ajax. Vajra
married Orpheus, and had Draco and Altair as sons, BRIHASPATI, URANUS and
Proserpina as daughters. Draco married Argus, and had as son Concordia, who
married Taurus. Altair married Centaurus, and their daughter, Regulus, married
Wenceslas. Betelgueuse married Canopus, and had Spica and Olympia as sons, Rigel
as daughter. Spica married Telemachus, and had two sons, Glaucus and Iphigenia,
whose marriages are mentioned above. Castor married Pollux, and had as sons
Aries and Alastor, and three daughters, Minerva, Sirona and Pomona.
978.
______________
979.
XII
980.
AN ARYAN IMMIGRATION INTO INDIA 15,950 B.C.
981.
SURYA was father of MARS and MERCURY. MARS married
BRIHASPATI , and had
sons, JUPITER , Siwa and
VIRAJ; daughters, OSIRIS, URANUS, and Ulysses. JUPITER married Herakles, and they had as
sons: Beatrix who married Pindar, Aletheia who married Taurus, and Betelgueuse;
and as daughters: Canopus who married Fomalhaut, Pollux who married Melpomene,
and Hector who married NEPTUNE .
URANUS married Leo, and Ulysses, Vajra; the latter had as sons: Clio, who
married Concordia, Melpomene, and Alastor, who married Gemini; as daughters:
Irene, who married Adrona, Sirona, who married Spica, and Beatus, who married
Soma.
982.
MERCURY
married SATURN, and their sons were: Selene, Leo, Vajra and Castor, and their
daughters, Herakles, Alcyone and Mizar. Selene married Aurora, and had as sons:
Wenceslas who married Crux, Theseus who married Lignus, and Polaris who married
Proserpina; as daughters: Taurus who married Aletheia, Arcturus who married
Perseus, and Argus who married Draco. Leo married URANUS, and had as sons: Leto,
who married Demeter, Draco, and Fomalhaut-- both married as above-- and as
daughters: Centaurus who married Altair, Proserpina, and Concordia who married
Clio, Castor married Iphigenia. Alcyone married Albireo, and had four sons:
NEPTUNE who married Hector, Psyche, married Clarion, Perseus married Arcturus,
and Ajax, Capella; the daughters were Rigel who married Centurion, Demeter who
married Leto, and Algol who married Priam. Mizar married Glaucus, and had two
sons, Soma and Flos. The daughters, Diomede and Telemachus, married respectively
Trefoil and Betelgueuse; VULCAN married Cetus and had one son, Procyon, and
three daughters, Olympia, Minerva and Pomona. Arcor married Capricorn and had
four sons: Altair, Adrona, Spica, Trefoil, and four daughters: Pindar, Capella,
Crux, and Gemini. Corona married Orpheus, and had three sons: Rama who married
VENUS, Cassiopeia who married Rector, and Aries; of the daughters, Andromeda
married Daedalus, Elsa, Mathematicus, and Pallas, Diana. Thor married Kudos; his
sons were Mathematicus, Diana and Daedalus-- who married three sisters as
above-- and Judex; the daughter was Rector.
983.
At the one pole of human evolution there stood at the
date of this immigration the four KUMARAS, the MANU and the MAHAGURU; far down
towards the other, Scorpio, the high priest Ya-uli.
984.
___________
985.
XIII
986.
IN NORTHERN INDIA, 12,800 B.C.
987.
MARS and MERCURY were brothers. MARS married SATURN, and
had two sons, Vajra and VIRAJ, and two daughters, VULCAN and Herakles. Vajra
married Proserpina, and had three sons, Ulysses, Fides and Selene, and three
daughters, Beatrix, Hector and Hestia. VIRAJ married OSIRIS, VULCAN married
URANUS, and Herakles, Polaris. Ulysses married Philae, and had three sons:
Cygnus who married Diana, Calliope who married Parthenope, and Pisces, Ajax; the
daughters were Bellatrix who married Thor, Aquarius who married Clarion, and
Pepin who married Lignus. Returning to the sons of Vajra we have: Fides who
married Iphigenia, and had three sons: Aquila who married Sappho, Kudos,
Concordia, and Beatus, Gimel. They had four daughters: Herminius married to
Nicosia, Sextans to Virgo, Sagittarius to Clio, Parthenope to Calliope. Selene
married Achilles and had two sons: Aldebaran marrying Elektra, and Helios
marrying Lomia. There were five daughters: Vega marrying Leo, Rigel marrying
Leto, Alcestis marrying Aurora, Colossus marrying Aries, and Eros marrying Juno.
Of Vajra' s daughters, Beatrix married Albireo, and had two sons, Berenice who
married Canopus, and Deneb. The daughters, Pindar and Lyra, married respectively
Capella and Euphrosyne. Hector married Wenceslas, and had as sons: Leo, Leto,
Norma marrying Melete, Nicosia marrying Herminius; the daughters were: Ajax
married to Pisces, arid Crux married to Demeter. Hestia married Telemachus;
their sons were: Thor, Diomede married to Chrysos; the daughters were Sappho,
Trefoil, Minorca married to Lobelia, and Magnus to Calypso. Herakles, the
daughter of MARS, married Polaris; their three sons, Viola, Dorado, and Olympia,
married respectively Egeria, Dactyl and Mira; the daughter, Phoenix, married
Atalanta. Voila and Egeria had four sons: Betelgueuse married to Iris, Nitocris
married to Brunhilda, Taurus to Tiphys and Perseus to Fons; one daughter, Lomia,
married Helios, the other, Libra, married Boreas. Dorado and Dactyl had sons:
Centurion married to Theodoros, Pegasus to Priam, Scotus to Ausonia; daughters;
Arcturus to Rector, and Brunhilda to Nitocris. Olympia married Mira, and had
four sons: Clarion married Aquarius, Pollux, Cancer, Procyon, Avelledo, and
Capricorn, Zama. The daughter, Arcor, married Centaurus. Phoenix, the daughter
of Herakles, who married Atalanta, had three sons: Gemini, Lignus and Virgo, who
married Adrona, Pepin and Sextans; there were three daughters: Daleth married
Regulus, Dolphin married Formator, and Daphne, Apis. That finishes the
descendants of MARS.
988.
MERCURY, his brother, married VENUS, and had NEPTUNE and
URANUS as sons, OSIRIS, Proserpina and Tolosa as daughters, URANUS married
VULCAN, and had two sons, Rama and Albireo, who married Glaucus and Beatrix; and
two, daughters, BRIHASPATI and ATHENA ,
who married Apollo and JUPITER .
Rama and Glaucus had Juno and Ara as sons, who married Eros and Ophiuchus; their
daughters were four: Canopus married to Berenice, Diana to Cygnus, Chrysos to
Diomede, and Judex to Irene. Albireo, marrying into the family of Vajra, had his
children noted above. BRIHASPATI and Apollo had three sons: Capella, married to
Pindar, Corona and Siwa; their daughter Proteus married Rex. OSIRIS married
VIRAJ, and had as sons JUPITER
and Apollo, the latter married BRIHASPATI. The daughter, Pallas, married Castor;
they had five sons: Clio who married Sagittarius, Markab who married Cetus,
Aries who married Colossus, Aglaia who married Pomona, and Sirona, who married
Quies. That finishes the descendants of MERCURY.
989.
Algol married Theseus, and had as son, Alcyone, who
married Mizar, the daughter of Orpheus and sister of Psyche. Alcyone and Mizar
had five sons: Fomalhaut married to Alexandros, Altair to Alba, Wenceslas to
Hector, Telemachus to Hestia, Soma to Flos; their three daughters were:
Iphigenia married to Fides, Glaucus to Rama, Philae to Ulysses. Fomalhaut and
Alexandros had three sons: Rex, who married Proteus, Rector, who married
Arcturus, and Leopardus; their three daughters were: Melete, who married Norma,
Ausonia, who married Scotus and Concordia, who married Kudos.
990.
Altair and Alba had three sons: Apis, who married
Daphne, Centaurus, who married Arcor, and Flora; their daughters were
Chamaeleon, Gimel who married Beatus, and Priam who married Pegasus. The
children of Wenceslas are given among the descendants of MARS, as are those of
Telemachus, Iphigenia, and Philae, while those of Glaucus are among the
descendants of MERCURY. Soma and Flos had four sons: Alastor married to
Melpomene, Boreas to Libra, Regulus to Daleth, Irene to Judex; the two
daughters, Phocea and Daedalus, married Zephyr and Leopardus.
991.
Aletheia took Spes to wife, and had two sons, Mona and
Fortuna, and four daughters: Achilles, Aulus, Flos and Alba. Mona married
Andromeda, and they had as sons: Lobelia who married Minorca, and Zephyr who
married Phocea; their daughters were: Adrona who married Gemini, Cetus who
married Markab, Melphomene who married Alastor, and Avelledo who married
Procyon. Fortuna married Auriga, and their two sons, Hebe and Stella, married
Trefoil and Chamaeleon; their daughters were: Iris, Tiphys, Eudoxia married to
Flora, and Pomona to Aglaia. Aulus married Argus, and they had three sons:
Calypso married to Magnus, Formator to Dolphin, and Minerva; the daughters,
Elektra and Ophiuchus, married Aldebaran and Ara.
992.
Psyche, the brother of Mizar, married Mathematicus, and
they had three daughters: Egeria, Elsa, who married Beth, and Mira. Elsa and
Beth had Aurora, Demeter and Euphrosyne as sons, who married Alcestis, Crux and
Lyra; their daughters were: Theodoros married to Centurion, and Fons to Perseus.
993.
Draco married Cassiopeia; their sons were: Argus, Beth,
Atalanta and Castor, who married Pallas; his daughters were: Andromeda, Dactyl,
Alexandros, Auriga. Vesta was also present.
994.
_____ ______
995.
XIV
996.
THE ARYANISATION OF EGYPT
997.
IN the body of this book we have three times referred
(on pp. 250, 293, 341) to the expedition sent forth from South India by the MANU
for the express purpose of Aryanising the noble families of Egypt. While the
book is going through the press some further investigations have been made,
which are found to throw additional light upon the subject, and to some extent
to link it up with accepted Egyptian history. The earlier part of the book being
already in type, all that we can do is to append here an article which has been
written to explain the later discoveries.
998.
Referring to our remark on p.341 that “Manetho' s
history apparently deals with this Aryan dynasty,” we now see that he-- quite
reasonably-- begins with the reunification of Egypt under the MANU, and that the
date which our researches assign to that reunification (though not yet verified
with perfect exactitude) comes within a few years of 5,510 B.C., which is the
latest selection by the most distinguished living Egyptologist for the
commencement of the First Dynasty. The new Egyptological theories now make the
date of the Pharaoh Unas about two hundred years earlier than we do.
999.
Others of our characters, besides the few whom MARS took
with Him, are to be found in Egypt in 13,500 B.C.; a full list of all these will
be given when the Lives of Alcyone appear in book form.
1000.
_____________
1001.
In the sixth life of Alcyone we followed the first of
the great Aryan migrations from the shores of what was then the Central Asian
sea to the south of the Indian Peninsula. The religious kingdom that the Aryans
established there was, as centuries rolled on, used by the MANU as a subsidiary
centre of radiation, as we have already said.
1002.
From South India likewise was sent forth the expedition
destined to bring about the Aryanisation of Egypt, which was carried out in much
the same way and by many of the same egos who five thousand years previously had
played their part in the migration from Central Asia to which reference has just
been made.
1003.
About the year 13,500 B.C., (shortly after the time of
the thirteenth life of Alcyone and the twelfth life of Orion, when so many of
our characters had taken birth in the Tlavatli race inhabiting the southern part
of the Island of Poseidonis) VIRAJ was ruler of the great Indian Empire. He had
married BRIHASPATI, and MARS was one of their sons. The MANU appeared astrally
to the Emperor, and directed him to send MARS over the sea to Egypt by way of
Ceylon. VIRAJ obeyed, and MARS departed upon his long journey, taking with him
(according to the instructions received) a band of young men and women, of whom
twelve are recognisable: Ajax, Betelgueuse, Deneb, Leo, Perseus and Theodorous
among the men, and Arcturus, Canopus, Olympia, VULCAN, Pallas and OSIRIS among
the ladies.
1004.
On their arrival in Egypt, then under Toltec rule, they
were met by JUPITER, the Pharaoh of the time. He had one child only-- his
daughter SATURN-- his wife having died in child-birth. The High-Priest SURYA had
been directed in a vision by the MAHAGURU to receive the strangers with honour,
and to advise JUPITER to give his daughter to MARS in marriage, which he did;
and in a comparatively short time marriages were arranged among the existing
nobility for all the new-comers.
1005.
Small as was this importation of Aryan blood, in a few
generations it had tinged the whole of the Egyptian nobility, for since the
Pharaoh had set his seal of august approval upon these mixed marriages, all the
patrician families competed eagerly for the honour of an alliance with the sons
or daughters of the new-comers. The mingling of the two races produced a new and
distinctive type, which had the high Aryan features, but the Toltec colouring--
the type which we know so well from the Egyptian monuments. So powerful is the
Aryan blood that it still shows its unmistakable traces even after centuries of
dilution; and from this time onward an incarnation among the principal classes
of Egypt counted as a birth in the first sub-race of the fifth root-race.
1006.
Many changes took place as the centuries rolled by, and
the impetus given by the Aryan rejuvenation gradually died out. The country
never reached so low a level as the parallel civilisation of Poseidonis, chiefly
because of the retention of Aryan tradition by a certain clan whose members
claimed exclusively for themselves direct descent from the royal line of MARS
and SATURN. For more than a thousand years after the Aryanisation this clan
ruled the country, the Pharaoh being always its head; but there came a time when
for political reasons the reigning monarch espoused a foreign princess, who by
degrees acquired over him so great an influence that she was able to wean him
from the traditions of his forefathers, and to establish new forms of worship to
which the clan as a whole would not subscribe. The country, weary of Aryan
strictness, followed its monarch into license and luxury; the clan drew its
ranks together in stern disapproval, and thence-forward its members held
themselves markedly aloof-- not declining offices in the army or in the service
of the State, but marrying only among themselves, and making a great point of
maintaining old customs and what they called the purity of the religion as well
as of the race.
1007.
After nearly four thousand years had passed, we find a
condition of affairs in which the Egyptian Empire, its religion and even its
language were alike degenerate and decaying. Only in the ranks of the
conservative clan can we find some pale reflection of the Egypt of earlier days.
About this time, among the priests of the clan arose some who were prophets, who
re-echoed in Egypt the message that was being given in Poseidonis-- a warning
that, because of the wickedness of these mighty and long-established
civilisations, they were doomed to destruction, and that it behoved the few
righteous to flee promptly from the wrath to come. Just as a considerable
proportion of the white race of mountaineers left Poseidonis, so the members of
the clan in a body shook off the dust of Egypt from their feet, took ship across
the Red Sea and found a refuge among the mountains of Arabia.
1008.
As we know, in due time the prophecy was fulfilled, and
in the year 9,564 B.C., the island of Poseidonis sank beneath the Atlantic. The
effect of the cataclysm on the rest of the world was of the most serious
character, and for the land of Egypt it was specially ruinous. Up to this point
Egypt had had an extensive western seaboard, and although the Sahara Sea was
shallow, it was sufficient for the great fleets of comparatively small ships
which carried the traffic to Atlantis and the Algerian Islands. In this great
catastrophe the bed of the Sahara Sea rose, a vast tidal wave swept over Egypt,
and almost its entire population was destroyed. And even when everything settled
down, the country was a wilderness, bounded on the west no longer by a fair and
peaceful sea, but by a vast salt swamp, which as the centuries rolled on dried
into an inhospitable desert. Of all the glories of Egypt there remained only the
Pyramids towering in lonely desolation-- a desolation which endured for fifteen
hundred years before the self-exiled clan returned from its mountain refuge,
grown into a great nation.
1009.
But long before this, half-savage tribes had ventured
into the land, fighting their primitive battles on the banks of the great river
which once had borne the argosies of a mighty civilisation, and was yet again to
witness a revival of those ancient glories, and to mirror the stately temples of
Osiris and Amun-ra. Professor Flinders Petrie describes five of these earlier
races, which overran different parts of the country and warred desultorily among
themselves.
1010.
An aquiline race of the Libyo-Amorite type, which
occupied a large part of the land, and held its own longer than any other,
maintaining for centuries a fair level of civilisation.
1011.
A Hittite race with curly hair and plaited beards.
1012.
A people with pointed noses and long pigtails--
mountaineers, wearing long, thick robes.
1013.
A people with short and tilted noses, who established
themselves for some time in the central part of the country.
1014.
Another variant of this race, with longer noses and
projecting beards, who occupied chiefly the marshland near the Mediterranean.
All these are observable by clairvoyance, but they have mingled so much that it
is often difficult to distinguish them; and in addition to these, and probably
earlier in the field than any of them, a savage negroid race from the interior
of Africa, which has left practically no record of its passing.
1015.
Into this turmoil of mixed races came our clan,
priest-led across the sea from its Arabian hills, and gradually made its footing
sure in Upper Egypt, establishing its capital in Abydos, and slowly possessing
itself of more and more of the surrounding land, until by weight of its superior
civilisation it was recognised as the dominant power. All through its earlier
centuries its policy was less to fight than to absorb-- to build out of this
chaos of peoples a race upon which its hereditary characteristics should be
stamped. A thousand years had passed since their arrival, when, in the
twenty-first life of Alcyone, we find MARS reigning over an already
highly-organised empire; but it was fourteen hundred years later still before
the MANU Himself (they have corrupted His name to Menes now) united the whole of
Egypt under one rule, and founded at the same time the first dynasty and His
great city of Memphis-- thus initiating in person another stage of the work
begun by His direction in 13,500 B.C.
1016.
Clio and Markab were noticed among a group of Egyptian
statesmen who disapproved of the Aryan immigration and schemed against it. Clio'
s wife Adrona, and Markab' s wife Avelledo were implicated in their plots. All
four of them were eventually exiled, as was also Cancer, the sister of Adrona.
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