The Primeval Manus Of Humanity.Those who are aware that the“Great Flood,”which was connected with the sinking of an entire Continent (save only a few islands) could not have happened so far back as 18,000,000 years ago, and that Vaivasvata Manu is the Indian Noah connected with the Matsya, or the Fish, Avatâra of Vishnu, may feel perplexed at the apparent discrepancy between the facts stated and the chronology previously given. But there is no discrepancy in truth. The reader is asked to turn toThe Theosophistof July, 1883, for by studying the article therein, on“The Septenary Principle in Esotericism,”the whole question can be explained to him. It is in the explanation there given, I believe, that the Occultists differ from the Brâhmans.For the benefit of those, however, who may not haveThe Theosophistof that date to hand, a passage or two may now be quoted from it:Who was Manu, the son of Svâyambhuva? The Secret Doctrine tells us thatthisManu was no man, but the representation of the first human races, evolved with the help of the Dhyân Chohans (Devas), at the beginning of the First Round. But we are told in hisLaws(i. 80) that there are fourteen Manus for every Kalpa, or“interval from creation to creation”—read rather interval from oneminorPralaya to another687—and that“in the present divine age, there have been as yetsevenManus.”Those who know that there are seven Rounds, of which we have passed three, and are now in the Fourth; and who are taught that there are seven[pg 322]Dawns and seven Twilights, or fourteen Manvantaras; that at the beginning of every Round and at the end, and on, and between, the planets [Globes] there is an“awakening toillusivelife,”and an“awakening toreallife”; and that, moreover, there are Root-Manus, and what we have to clumsily translate as Seed-Manus—the seeds for the human races of the forthcomingRound (or the Shishtas—the surviving fittest688; a mystery divulged only to those who have passed their third degree in Initiation)—those who have learned all this will be better prepared to understand the meaning of the following. We are told in the Hindû Sacred Scriptures that,“The first Manu producedsixother Manus [sevenprimary Manus in all], and these produced in their turn each seven other Manus”689(Bhrigu, i. 61-63)—the production of the latter standing in the Occult treatises as 7 x 7. Thus it becomes clear that Manu—the last one, the Progenitor of our Fourth-Round Humanity—must be theseventh, since we are on our Fourth Round,690and there is aRoot-Manu at Globe A, and aSeed-Manu at Globe G. Just as each planetary Round commences with the appearance of a Root-Manu (Dhyân Chohan) and closes with a Seed-Manu, so a Root- and a Seed-Manu appear respectively at the beginning and the termination of the human period on any particular planet [Globe].691It will be easily seen from the foregoing statement that a Manvantaric period (Manu-antara) means, as the term implies, the timebetweenthe appearance of two Manus or Dhyân Chohans; and hence a Minor Manvantara is the duration of thesevenRaces on any particular planet [Globe], and a Major Manvantara is the period of one human Round along the Planetary Chain. Moreover, as it is said that each of the seven Manuscreates7 x 7 Manus, and that there are 49 Root-Races on the seven planets [Globes] during each Round, then every Root-Race has its Manu. The present seventh Manu is called“Vaivasvata”and stands in the exoteric texts for that Manu who in India represents the Babylonian Xisuthrus and the Jewish Noah.[pg 323]But in the Esoteric books we are told that Manu Vaivasvata, the progenitor of ourFifthRace—who saved it from the flood that nearly exterminated the Fourth or Atlantean—is not the seventh Manu, mentioned in the nomenclature of the Root or Primitive Manus, but one of the 49 Manus emanated from this Root-Manu.For clearer comprehension we here give the names of the 14 Manus in their respective order and in their relation to each Round:1st Round, 1st (Root) Manu on Planet A—Svâyambhuva.1st Round, 1st (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Svârochi, or Svârochisha.2nd Round, 2nd (Root) Manu on Planet A—Auttami.2nd Round, 2nd (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Tâmasa.3rd Round, 3rd (Root) Manu on Planet A—Raivata.3rd Round, 3rd (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Châkshusha.4th Round, 4th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Vaivasvata (our Progenitor).4th Round, 4th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Sâvarna.5th Round, 5th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Daksha-sâvarna.5th Round, 5th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Brahma-sâvarna.6th Round, 6th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Dharma-sâvarna.6th Round, 6th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Rudra-sâvarna.7th Round, 7th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Rauchya.7th Round, 7th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Bhautya.Vaivasvata, thus, though seventh in the order given, is the primitive Root-Manu of our Fourth Human Wave (the reader must always remember that Manu is not a man but collective humanity), whileourVaivasvata was but one of the seven Minor Manus, who are made to preside over the seven Races of this our planet [Globe]. Each of these has to become the witness of one of the periodical and ever-recurring cataclysms (by fire and water) that close the cycle of every Root-Race. And it is this Vaivasvata—the Hindû ideal embodiment, called respectively Xisuthrus, Deucalion, Noah and other names—who is the allegorical“Man”who rescued our Race, when nearly the whole population of one hemisphere perished by water, while the other hemisphere was awakening from its temporary obscuration.692Thus it is shown that there is no real discrepancy in speaking of the Vaivasvata Manvantara (Manu-antara, lit.,“between two Manus”) as 18,000,000 odd years ago, when physical, or the truly human, Man first appeared in his Fourth Round on this Earth; and of the other Vaivasvatas,[pg 324]e.g., the Manu of the Great Cosmic or Sidereal Flood—a mystery—or again the Manu Vaivasvata of the submerged Atlantis, when theRacialVaivasvata saved the elect of Humanity, the Fifth Race, from utter destruction. As these several and quite distinct events are purposely blended in theVishnuand otherPurânasin one narrative, there may yet be a great deal of perplexity left in the profane reader's mind. Therefore, as constant elucidation is needed, we must be forgiven unavoidable repetitions. The“blinds”which conceal the real mysteries of Esoteric Philosophy are great and puzzling, and even now the last word cannot be given. The veil, however, may be a little more removed, and some explanations, hitherto denied, may now be offered to the earnest student.As Colonel Vans Kennedy, if we do not mistake, remarked:“the first principle in Hindû religious philosophy isunity in diversity.”If all those Manus and Rishis are called by one generic name, it is due to the fact that they are one and all the manifested Energies of one and the same Logos, the celestial as well as the terrestrial Messengers and Permutations of that Principle which is ever in a state of activity—conscious during the period of Cosmic Evolution, unconscious (from our point of view) during Cosmic Rest—for the Logos sleepeth in the bosom ofThatwhich“sleepeth not,”nor is it ever awake, for it is Sat or“Be-ness,”not a Being. It is fromItthat issues the greatUnseenLogos, who evolves all the other Logoi; the Primeval Manu who gives being to the other Manus, who emanate the universe and all in it collectively, and who represent in their aggregate theManifestedLogos.693Hence we learn in the Commentaries that while no Dhyân Chohan, not even the highest, can realize completelyThe condition of the preceding Cosmic Evolution, ... the Manus retain a knowledge of their experiences in all the Cosmic Evolutions throughout Eternity.This is very plain: the first Manu is called Svâyambhuva, the“Self-manifested,”the Son of theUnmanifestedFather. The Manus are the Creators of the Creators of our First Race—the Spirit of Mankind—which does not prevent thesevenManus from having been the first“Pre-Adamic”Men on Earth.Manu declares himself created by Virâj,694or Vaishvânara, the Spirit[pg 325]of Humanity,695which means that his Monad emanates from the never resting Principle in the beginning of every new Cosmic Activity—that Logos or Universal Monad (collective Elohim) which radiatesfrom within himselfall those Cosmic Monads that become the centres of activity—Progenitors of the numberless Solar Systems as well as of the yet undifferentiatedhumanMonads of Planetary Chains as well as of every being thereon. Svâyambhuva, or Self-born, is the name of every Cosmic Monadwhich becomes the Centre of Force, from within which emerges a Planetary Chain(of which Chains there are seven in our System). And the radiations of this Centre become again so many Manus Svâyambhuva (a mysterious generic name, meaning far more than appears), each of them becoming, as a Host, the Creator of his own Humanity.As to the question of the four distinct Races of mankind that preceded our Fifth Race, there is nothing mystical in the subject, except the ethereal bodies of the first Races; and this is a matter of legendary, nevertheless very correct, history. The legend is universal. And if the Westernsavantpleases to see in it only a myth, it does not make the slightest difference. The Mexicans had, and still have, the tradition of the fourfold destruction of the world by fire and water, just as the Egyptians had, and the Hindûs have, to this day.Trying to account for the community of legends held by Chinese, Chaldæans, Egyptians, Indians and Greeks, in remote antiquity, and for the absence of any certain vestige of civilization more ancient than 5,000 years, the author ofMythical Monstersremarks that:We must ... not be surprised if we do not immediately discover the vestiges of the people of ten, fifteen, or twenty thousand years ago. With an ephemeral architecture ... [as in China], the sites of vast cities may have become entirely lost to recollection in a few thousands of years from natural decay, and how much more ... if ... minor cataclysms have intervened, such as local inundations, earthquakes, deposition of volcanic ashes, ... the spread of sandy deserts, destruction of life by deadly pestilence, by miasma, or by the outpour of sulphurous fumes.696How many of such cataclysms have changed the whole surface of the earth may be inferred from the following Stanza of Commentary Twenty-two:[pg 326]During the first seven crores [70,000,000 years] of the Kalpa the Earth and its two Kingdoms [mineral and vegetable], one already having achieved its seventh circle, the other, hardly nascent, are luminous and semi-ethereal, cold, lifeless, and translucid. In the eleventh crore697the Mother [Earth] grows opaque, and in the fourteenth698the throes of adolescence take place. These convulsions of Nature [geological changes] last till her twentieth crore of years, uninterruptedly, after which they become periodical, and at long intervals.The last change took place nearly twelve crores [120,000,000] of years ago. But the Earth with everything on her face had become cool, hard and settled ages earlier.Thus, if we are to believe Esoteric Teaching,universalgeological disturbances and changes have not occurred for the last 120 million years, but the Earth, even before that time, was ready to receive her human stock. The appearance of the latter, however, in its full physical development, as already stated, took place only about 18,000,000 years ago, after the first great failure of Nature to create beings alone—i.e., without the help of the divine“Fashioners”—had been followed by the successive evolution of the first three Races.699The actual duration of the first two and a half Races is withheld from all but the higher Initiates. The history of the Races begins at the separation of the sexes, when the preceding egg-bearing androgynous Race perished rapidly, and the subsequent sub-races of the Third Root-Race appeared as an entirely new racephysiologically. It is this“Destruction”which is allegorically called the great“Vaivasvata Manu Deluge,”when the account shows Vaivasvata Manu, or Humanity, remaining alone on Earth in the Ark of Salvation towed by Vishnu in the shape of a[pg 327]monstrous fish, and the Seven Rishis“with him.”The allegory is very plain.In the symbolism of every nation, the“Deluge”stands for chaotic unsettled Matter—Chaos itself; and Water for the Feminine Principle—the“Great Deep.”As the Greek Lexicon of Parkhurst gives it:Ἀρχὴ answers to the Hebrewrasit, or Wisdom ... and [at the same time] to the emblem of the female generative power, theargorarca, in which the germ of nature [and of mankind] floats or broods on the great abyss of the waters, during the interval which takes place after every mundane [or racial] cycle.Archê (Ἀρχὴ) or Ark is also the mystic name of the Divine Spirit of Life which broods over Chaos. Now Vishnuisthe Divine Spirit, as an abstract principle, and also as the Preserver and Generator, or Giver of Life—the third Person of the Trimûrti—composed of Brahmâ, the Creator, Shiva, the Destroyer, and Vishnu, the Preserver. Vishnu is shown, in the allegory, under the form of aFish, guiding the Ark of Vaivasvata Manu across the Waters of the Flood. There is no use in expatiating upon the esoteric meaning of the wordFish(as Payne Knight, Inman, Gerald Massey, and others have done). Its theological meaning is phallic, but the metaphysical, divine. Jesus was called the Fish, as were Vishnu and Bacchus; ΙΗΣ, the“Saviour”of Mankind, being but the monogram of the God Bacchus, who was also called ΙΧΘΥΣ, the Fish.700Moreover, the Seven Rishis in the Ark symbolized the seven“principles,”which became complete in man only after he had separated, and become ahuman, and thus ceased to be a divine creature.But to return to the Races; details as to the submersion of the Continent inhabited by the Second Root-Race are not numerous. The history of the Third, or Lemuria, is given, as is also that of Atlantis, but the others are only alluded to. Lemuria is said to have perished about 700,000 years before the commencement of what is now called the Tertiary Age (the Eocene).701During this Deluge—an actual geological deluge this time—Vaivasvata Manu is also shown saving mankind, allegorically—in reality, a portion of it, the Fourth Race—just as he saved the Fifth Race during the destruction of the last[pg 328]Atlanteans, the remnants that perished 850,000 years ago,702after which there was no great submersion until the day of Plato's Atlantis, or Poseidonis, which was known to the Egyptians only because it happened in such relatively recent times.It is the submersion of the great Atlantis which is the most interesting. This is the Cataclysm of which the old records, as in theBook of Enoch, say,“the ends of the Earth got loose”; and upon which have been built the legends and allegories of Vaivasvata, Xisuthrus, Noah, Deucalion and all thetutti quantiof the Elect Saved. Tradition, not taking into account the difference between sidereal and geological phenomena, calls both“Deluges”indifferently. Yet there is a great difference. The Cataclysm which destroyed the huge Continent of which Australia is the largest relic, was due to a series of subterranean convulsions and the breaking asunder of the ocean floors. That which put an end to its successor—the Fourth Continent—was brought on by successive disturbances in the axial rotation. It began during the earliest Tertiary periods, and, continuing for long ages, carried away successively the last vestige of Atlantis, with the exception, perhaps, of Ceylon and a small portion of what is now Africa. It changed the face of the globe, and no memory of its flourishing continents and isles, of its civilizations and sciences, have remained in the annals of history, save in the Sacred Records of the East.Hence, Modern Science denies the existence of Atlantis. It even denies any violent shiftings of the Earth's axis, and would attribute the change of climate to other causes. But this question is still an open one. If Dr. Croll will have it that all such alterations can be accounted for by the effects of nutation and the precession of the equinoxes, there are others, such as Sir Henry James and Sir John Lubbock,703who feel more inclined to accept the idea that they are due to a change in the position of the axis of rotation. Against this the majority of the Astronomers are again arrayed. But then, what have they not denied before now, and what have they not denounced—only to accept it later on, whenever the hypothesis became undeniable fact?How far our figures agree, or rather disagree, with Modern Science[pg 329]will be seen further in the Addenda to this Volume, where the Geology and Anthropology of our modern day are carefully compared with the teachings of Archaic Science. At any rate, the period assigned by the Secret Doctrine for the sinking of Atlantis, does not seem to disagree very much with the calculations of Modern Science, which, however, calls Atlantis“Lemuria”whenever it accepts such a submerged Continent. With regard to the pre-human period, all that can be said, at present, is, that even prior to the appearance of the“mindless”First Race, the Earth was not without its inhabitants. We might, however, add that what Science, which recognizesphysical man only, has a right to regard as thepre-humanperiod, may be conceded to have extended from the First Race down to the first half of the Atlantean Race, since it is only then that man became the“completeorganicbeing he is now.”And this would make Adamic Man no older than a few millions of years.704The author of theQabbalahtruly remarks that:“Man to-day, as an individual, is only a concatenation of the being-hood of precedent human life,”orlives, rather.According to the Qabbalah, the soul sparks contained in Adam, went into three principal classes corresponding to his three sons, viz.:Hesed, Habel,Ge'boor-ah, Qai-yin andRa'h-minSeth. These three were divided into ... 70 species, called; the principal roots of the human race.705Said Rabbi Yehudah:“How many garments [of the incorporeal man] are these which are crowned (from the day man was created)?”Said R. El'azar:“The mountains of the world (the great men of the generation) are in discussion upon it, but there are three: one to clothe in that garment theRua'hspirit, which is in the garden (of Eden) on earth: one which is more precious than all, in which theNeshamahis clothed in that Bundle of Life, between the angels of the Kings ...: and one outside garment, which exists and does not exist, is seen and not seen. In that garment, theNepheshis clothed, and she goes and flies in it, to and fro in the world.”706This relates to the Races, their“garments,”or degree of materiality, and to the three“principles”of man in their three vehicles.
The Primeval Manus Of Humanity.Those who are aware that the“Great Flood,”which was connected with the sinking of an entire Continent (save only a few islands) could not have happened so far back as 18,000,000 years ago, and that Vaivasvata Manu is the Indian Noah connected with the Matsya, or the Fish, Avatâra of Vishnu, may feel perplexed at the apparent discrepancy between the facts stated and the chronology previously given. But there is no discrepancy in truth. The reader is asked to turn toThe Theosophistof July, 1883, for by studying the article therein, on“The Septenary Principle in Esotericism,”the whole question can be explained to him. It is in the explanation there given, I believe, that the Occultists differ from the Brâhmans.For the benefit of those, however, who may not haveThe Theosophistof that date to hand, a passage or two may now be quoted from it:Who was Manu, the son of Svâyambhuva? The Secret Doctrine tells us thatthisManu was no man, but the representation of the first human races, evolved with the help of the Dhyân Chohans (Devas), at the beginning of the First Round. But we are told in hisLaws(i. 80) that there are fourteen Manus for every Kalpa, or“interval from creation to creation”—read rather interval from oneminorPralaya to another687—and that“in the present divine age, there have been as yetsevenManus.”Those who know that there are seven Rounds, of which we have passed three, and are now in the Fourth; and who are taught that there are seven[pg 322]Dawns and seven Twilights, or fourteen Manvantaras; that at the beginning of every Round and at the end, and on, and between, the planets [Globes] there is an“awakening toillusivelife,”and an“awakening toreallife”; and that, moreover, there are Root-Manus, and what we have to clumsily translate as Seed-Manus—the seeds for the human races of the forthcomingRound (or the Shishtas—the surviving fittest688; a mystery divulged only to those who have passed their third degree in Initiation)—those who have learned all this will be better prepared to understand the meaning of the following. We are told in the Hindû Sacred Scriptures that,“The first Manu producedsixother Manus [sevenprimary Manus in all], and these produced in their turn each seven other Manus”689(Bhrigu, i. 61-63)—the production of the latter standing in the Occult treatises as 7 x 7. Thus it becomes clear that Manu—the last one, the Progenitor of our Fourth-Round Humanity—must be theseventh, since we are on our Fourth Round,690and there is aRoot-Manu at Globe A, and aSeed-Manu at Globe G. Just as each planetary Round commences with the appearance of a Root-Manu (Dhyân Chohan) and closes with a Seed-Manu, so a Root- and a Seed-Manu appear respectively at the beginning and the termination of the human period on any particular planet [Globe].691It will be easily seen from the foregoing statement that a Manvantaric period (Manu-antara) means, as the term implies, the timebetweenthe appearance of two Manus or Dhyân Chohans; and hence a Minor Manvantara is the duration of thesevenRaces on any particular planet [Globe], and a Major Manvantara is the period of one human Round along the Planetary Chain. Moreover, as it is said that each of the seven Manuscreates7 x 7 Manus, and that there are 49 Root-Races on the seven planets [Globes] during each Round, then every Root-Race has its Manu. The present seventh Manu is called“Vaivasvata”and stands in the exoteric texts for that Manu who in India represents the Babylonian Xisuthrus and the Jewish Noah.[pg 323]But in the Esoteric books we are told that Manu Vaivasvata, the progenitor of ourFifthRace—who saved it from the flood that nearly exterminated the Fourth or Atlantean—is not the seventh Manu, mentioned in the nomenclature of the Root or Primitive Manus, but one of the 49 Manus emanated from this Root-Manu.For clearer comprehension we here give the names of the 14 Manus in their respective order and in their relation to each Round:1st Round, 1st (Root) Manu on Planet A—Svâyambhuva.1st Round, 1st (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Svârochi, or Svârochisha.2nd Round, 2nd (Root) Manu on Planet A—Auttami.2nd Round, 2nd (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Tâmasa.3rd Round, 3rd (Root) Manu on Planet A—Raivata.3rd Round, 3rd (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Châkshusha.4th Round, 4th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Vaivasvata (our Progenitor).4th Round, 4th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Sâvarna.5th Round, 5th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Daksha-sâvarna.5th Round, 5th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Brahma-sâvarna.6th Round, 6th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Dharma-sâvarna.6th Round, 6th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Rudra-sâvarna.7th Round, 7th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Rauchya.7th Round, 7th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Bhautya.Vaivasvata, thus, though seventh in the order given, is the primitive Root-Manu of our Fourth Human Wave (the reader must always remember that Manu is not a man but collective humanity), whileourVaivasvata was but one of the seven Minor Manus, who are made to preside over the seven Races of this our planet [Globe]. Each of these has to become the witness of one of the periodical and ever-recurring cataclysms (by fire and water) that close the cycle of every Root-Race. And it is this Vaivasvata—the Hindû ideal embodiment, called respectively Xisuthrus, Deucalion, Noah and other names—who is the allegorical“Man”who rescued our Race, when nearly the whole population of one hemisphere perished by water, while the other hemisphere was awakening from its temporary obscuration.692Thus it is shown that there is no real discrepancy in speaking of the Vaivasvata Manvantara (Manu-antara, lit.,“between two Manus”) as 18,000,000 odd years ago, when physical, or the truly human, Man first appeared in his Fourth Round on this Earth; and of the other Vaivasvatas,[pg 324]e.g., the Manu of the Great Cosmic or Sidereal Flood—a mystery—or again the Manu Vaivasvata of the submerged Atlantis, when theRacialVaivasvata saved the elect of Humanity, the Fifth Race, from utter destruction. As these several and quite distinct events are purposely blended in theVishnuand otherPurânasin one narrative, there may yet be a great deal of perplexity left in the profane reader's mind. Therefore, as constant elucidation is needed, we must be forgiven unavoidable repetitions. The“blinds”which conceal the real mysteries of Esoteric Philosophy are great and puzzling, and even now the last word cannot be given. The veil, however, may be a little more removed, and some explanations, hitherto denied, may now be offered to the earnest student.As Colonel Vans Kennedy, if we do not mistake, remarked:“the first principle in Hindû religious philosophy isunity in diversity.”If all those Manus and Rishis are called by one generic name, it is due to the fact that they are one and all the manifested Energies of one and the same Logos, the celestial as well as the terrestrial Messengers and Permutations of that Principle which is ever in a state of activity—conscious during the period of Cosmic Evolution, unconscious (from our point of view) during Cosmic Rest—for the Logos sleepeth in the bosom ofThatwhich“sleepeth not,”nor is it ever awake, for it is Sat or“Be-ness,”not a Being. It is fromItthat issues the greatUnseenLogos, who evolves all the other Logoi; the Primeval Manu who gives being to the other Manus, who emanate the universe and all in it collectively, and who represent in their aggregate theManifestedLogos.693Hence we learn in the Commentaries that while no Dhyân Chohan, not even the highest, can realize completelyThe condition of the preceding Cosmic Evolution, ... the Manus retain a knowledge of their experiences in all the Cosmic Evolutions throughout Eternity.This is very plain: the first Manu is called Svâyambhuva, the“Self-manifested,”the Son of theUnmanifestedFather. The Manus are the Creators of the Creators of our First Race—the Spirit of Mankind—which does not prevent thesevenManus from having been the first“Pre-Adamic”Men on Earth.Manu declares himself created by Virâj,694or Vaishvânara, the Spirit[pg 325]of Humanity,695which means that his Monad emanates from the never resting Principle in the beginning of every new Cosmic Activity—that Logos or Universal Monad (collective Elohim) which radiatesfrom within himselfall those Cosmic Monads that become the centres of activity—Progenitors of the numberless Solar Systems as well as of the yet undifferentiatedhumanMonads of Planetary Chains as well as of every being thereon. Svâyambhuva, or Self-born, is the name of every Cosmic Monadwhich becomes the Centre of Force, from within which emerges a Planetary Chain(of which Chains there are seven in our System). And the radiations of this Centre become again so many Manus Svâyambhuva (a mysterious generic name, meaning far more than appears), each of them becoming, as a Host, the Creator of his own Humanity.As to the question of the four distinct Races of mankind that preceded our Fifth Race, there is nothing mystical in the subject, except the ethereal bodies of the first Races; and this is a matter of legendary, nevertheless very correct, history. The legend is universal. And if the Westernsavantpleases to see in it only a myth, it does not make the slightest difference. The Mexicans had, and still have, the tradition of the fourfold destruction of the world by fire and water, just as the Egyptians had, and the Hindûs have, to this day.Trying to account for the community of legends held by Chinese, Chaldæans, Egyptians, Indians and Greeks, in remote antiquity, and for the absence of any certain vestige of civilization more ancient than 5,000 years, the author ofMythical Monstersremarks that:We must ... not be surprised if we do not immediately discover the vestiges of the people of ten, fifteen, or twenty thousand years ago. With an ephemeral architecture ... [as in China], the sites of vast cities may have become entirely lost to recollection in a few thousands of years from natural decay, and how much more ... if ... minor cataclysms have intervened, such as local inundations, earthquakes, deposition of volcanic ashes, ... the spread of sandy deserts, destruction of life by deadly pestilence, by miasma, or by the outpour of sulphurous fumes.696How many of such cataclysms have changed the whole surface of the earth may be inferred from the following Stanza of Commentary Twenty-two:[pg 326]During the first seven crores [70,000,000 years] of the Kalpa the Earth and its two Kingdoms [mineral and vegetable], one already having achieved its seventh circle, the other, hardly nascent, are luminous and semi-ethereal, cold, lifeless, and translucid. In the eleventh crore697the Mother [Earth] grows opaque, and in the fourteenth698the throes of adolescence take place. These convulsions of Nature [geological changes] last till her twentieth crore of years, uninterruptedly, after which they become periodical, and at long intervals.The last change took place nearly twelve crores [120,000,000] of years ago. But the Earth with everything on her face had become cool, hard and settled ages earlier.Thus, if we are to believe Esoteric Teaching,universalgeological disturbances and changes have not occurred for the last 120 million years, but the Earth, even before that time, was ready to receive her human stock. The appearance of the latter, however, in its full physical development, as already stated, took place only about 18,000,000 years ago, after the first great failure of Nature to create beings alone—i.e., without the help of the divine“Fashioners”—had been followed by the successive evolution of the first three Races.699The actual duration of the first two and a half Races is withheld from all but the higher Initiates. The history of the Races begins at the separation of the sexes, when the preceding egg-bearing androgynous Race perished rapidly, and the subsequent sub-races of the Third Root-Race appeared as an entirely new racephysiologically. It is this“Destruction”which is allegorically called the great“Vaivasvata Manu Deluge,”when the account shows Vaivasvata Manu, or Humanity, remaining alone on Earth in the Ark of Salvation towed by Vishnu in the shape of a[pg 327]monstrous fish, and the Seven Rishis“with him.”The allegory is very plain.In the symbolism of every nation, the“Deluge”stands for chaotic unsettled Matter—Chaos itself; and Water for the Feminine Principle—the“Great Deep.”As the Greek Lexicon of Parkhurst gives it:Ἀρχὴ answers to the Hebrewrasit, or Wisdom ... and [at the same time] to the emblem of the female generative power, theargorarca, in which the germ of nature [and of mankind] floats or broods on the great abyss of the waters, during the interval which takes place after every mundane [or racial] cycle.Archê (Ἀρχὴ) or Ark is also the mystic name of the Divine Spirit of Life which broods over Chaos. Now Vishnuisthe Divine Spirit, as an abstract principle, and also as the Preserver and Generator, or Giver of Life—the third Person of the Trimûrti—composed of Brahmâ, the Creator, Shiva, the Destroyer, and Vishnu, the Preserver. Vishnu is shown, in the allegory, under the form of aFish, guiding the Ark of Vaivasvata Manu across the Waters of the Flood. There is no use in expatiating upon the esoteric meaning of the wordFish(as Payne Knight, Inman, Gerald Massey, and others have done). Its theological meaning is phallic, but the metaphysical, divine. Jesus was called the Fish, as were Vishnu and Bacchus; ΙΗΣ, the“Saviour”of Mankind, being but the monogram of the God Bacchus, who was also called ΙΧΘΥΣ, the Fish.700Moreover, the Seven Rishis in the Ark symbolized the seven“principles,”which became complete in man only after he had separated, and become ahuman, and thus ceased to be a divine creature.But to return to the Races; details as to the submersion of the Continent inhabited by the Second Root-Race are not numerous. The history of the Third, or Lemuria, is given, as is also that of Atlantis, but the others are only alluded to. Lemuria is said to have perished about 700,000 years before the commencement of what is now called the Tertiary Age (the Eocene).701During this Deluge—an actual geological deluge this time—Vaivasvata Manu is also shown saving mankind, allegorically—in reality, a portion of it, the Fourth Race—just as he saved the Fifth Race during the destruction of the last[pg 328]Atlanteans, the remnants that perished 850,000 years ago,702after which there was no great submersion until the day of Plato's Atlantis, or Poseidonis, which was known to the Egyptians only because it happened in such relatively recent times.It is the submersion of the great Atlantis which is the most interesting. This is the Cataclysm of which the old records, as in theBook of Enoch, say,“the ends of the Earth got loose”; and upon which have been built the legends and allegories of Vaivasvata, Xisuthrus, Noah, Deucalion and all thetutti quantiof the Elect Saved. Tradition, not taking into account the difference between sidereal and geological phenomena, calls both“Deluges”indifferently. Yet there is a great difference. The Cataclysm which destroyed the huge Continent of which Australia is the largest relic, was due to a series of subterranean convulsions and the breaking asunder of the ocean floors. That which put an end to its successor—the Fourth Continent—was brought on by successive disturbances in the axial rotation. It began during the earliest Tertiary periods, and, continuing for long ages, carried away successively the last vestige of Atlantis, with the exception, perhaps, of Ceylon and a small portion of what is now Africa. It changed the face of the globe, and no memory of its flourishing continents and isles, of its civilizations and sciences, have remained in the annals of history, save in the Sacred Records of the East.Hence, Modern Science denies the existence of Atlantis. It even denies any violent shiftings of the Earth's axis, and would attribute the change of climate to other causes. But this question is still an open one. If Dr. Croll will have it that all such alterations can be accounted for by the effects of nutation and the precession of the equinoxes, there are others, such as Sir Henry James and Sir John Lubbock,703who feel more inclined to accept the idea that they are due to a change in the position of the axis of rotation. Against this the majority of the Astronomers are again arrayed. But then, what have they not denied before now, and what have they not denounced—only to accept it later on, whenever the hypothesis became undeniable fact?How far our figures agree, or rather disagree, with Modern Science[pg 329]will be seen further in the Addenda to this Volume, where the Geology and Anthropology of our modern day are carefully compared with the teachings of Archaic Science. At any rate, the period assigned by the Secret Doctrine for the sinking of Atlantis, does not seem to disagree very much with the calculations of Modern Science, which, however, calls Atlantis“Lemuria”whenever it accepts such a submerged Continent. With regard to the pre-human period, all that can be said, at present, is, that even prior to the appearance of the“mindless”First Race, the Earth was not without its inhabitants. We might, however, add that what Science, which recognizesphysical man only, has a right to regard as thepre-humanperiod, may be conceded to have extended from the First Race down to the first half of the Atlantean Race, since it is only then that man became the“completeorganicbeing he is now.”And this would make Adamic Man no older than a few millions of years.704The author of theQabbalahtruly remarks that:“Man to-day, as an individual, is only a concatenation of the being-hood of precedent human life,”orlives, rather.According to the Qabbalah, the soul sparks contained in Adam, went into three principal classes corresponding to his three sons, viz.:Hesed, Habel,Ge'boor-ah, Qai-yin andRa'h-minSeth. These three were divided into ... 70 species, called; the principal roots of the human race.705Said Rabbi Yehudah:“How many garments [of the incorporeal man] are these which are crowned (from the day man was created)?”Said R. El'azar:“The mountains of the world (the great men of the generation) are in discussion upon it, but there are three: one to clothe in that garment theRua'hspirit, which is in the garden (of Eden) on earth: one which is more precious than all, in which theNeshamahis clothed in that Bundle of Life, between the angels of the Kings ...: and one outside garment, which exists and does not exist, is seen and not seen. In that garment, theNepheshis clothed, and she goes and flies in it, to and fro in the world.”706This relates to the Races, their“garments,”or degree of materiality, and to the three“principles”of man in their three vehicles.
The Primeval Manus Of Humanity.Those who are aware that the“Great Flood,”which was connected with the sinking of an entire Continent (save only a few islands) could not have happened so far back as 18,000,000 years ago, and that Vaivasvata Manu is the Indian Noah connected with the Matsya, or the Fish, Avatâra of Vishnu, may feel perplexed at the apparent discrepancy between the facts stated and the chronology previously given. But there is no discrepancy in truth. The reader is asked to turn toThe Theosophistof July, 1883, for by studying the article therein, on“The Septenary Principle in Esotericism,”the whole question can be explained to him. It is in the explanation there given, I believe, that the Occultists differ from the Brâhmans.For the benefit of those, however, who may not haveThe Theosophistof that date to hand, a passage or two may now be quoted from it:Who was Manu, the son of Svâyambhuva? The Secret Doctrine tells us thatthisManu was no man, but the representation of the first human races, evolved with the help of the Dhyân Chohans (Devas), at the beginning of the First Round. But we are told in hisLaws(i. 80) that there are fourteen Manus for every Kalpa, or“interval from creation to creation”—read rather interval from oneminorPralaya to another687—and that“in the present divine age, there have been as yetsevenManus.”Those who know that there are seven Rounds, of which we have passed three, and are now in the Fourth; and who are taught that there are seven[pg 322]Dawns and seven Twilights, or fourteen Manvantaras; that at the beginning of every Round and at the end, and on, and between, the planets [Globes] there is an“awakening toillusivelife,”and an“awakening toreallife”; and that, moreover, there are Root-Manus, and what we have to clumsily translate as Seed-Manus—the seeds for the human races of the forthcomingRound (or the Shishtas—the surviving fittest688; a mystery divulged only to those who have passed their third degree in Initiation)—those who have learned all this will be better prepared to understand the meaning of the following. We are told in the Hindû Sacred Scriptures that,“The first Manu producedsixother Manus [sevenprimary Manus in all], and these produced in their turn each seven other Manus”689(Bhrigu, i. 61-63)—the production of the latter standing in the Occult treatises as 7 x 7. Thus it becomes clear that Manu—the last one, the Progenitor of our Fourth-Round Humanity—must be theseventh, since we are on our Fourth Round,690and there is aRoot-Manu at Globe A, and aSeed-Manu at Globe G. Just as each planetary Round commences with the appearance of a Root-Manu (Dhyân Chohan) and closes with a Seed-Manu, so a Root- and a Seed-Manu appear respectively at the beginning and the termination of the human period on any particular planet [Globe].691It will be easily seen from the foregoing statement that a Manvantaric period (Manu-antara) means, as the term implies, the timebetweenthe appearance of two Manus or Dhyân Chohans; and hence a Minor Manvantara is the duration of thesevenRaces on any particular planet [Globe], and a Major Manvantara is the period of one human Round along the Planetary Chain. Moreover, as it is said that each of the seven Manuscreates7 x 7 Manus, and that there are 49 Root-Races on the seven planets [Globes] during each Round, then every Root-Race has its Manu. The present seventh Manu is called“Vaivasvata”and stands in the exoteric texts for that Manu who in India represents the Babylonian Xisuthrus and the Jewish Noah.[pg 323]But in the Esoteric books we are told that Manu Vaivasvata, the progenitor of ourFifthRace—who saved it from the flood that nearly exterminated the Fourth or Atlantean—is not the seventh Manu, mentioned in the nomenclature of the Root or Primitive Manus, but one of the 49 Manus emanated from this Root-Manu.For clearer comprehension we here give the names of the 14 Manus in their respective order and in their relation to each Round:1st Round, 1st (Root) Manu on Planet A—Svâyambhuva.1st Round, 1st (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Svârochi, or Svârochisha.2nd Round, 2nd (Root) Manu on Planet A—Auttami.2nd Round, 2nd (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Tâmasa.3rd Round, 3rd (Root) Manu on Planet A—Raivata.3rd Round, 3rd (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Châkshusha.4th Round, 4th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Vaivasvata (our Progenitor).4th Round, 4th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Sâvarna.5th Round, 5th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Daksha-sâvarna.5th Round, 5th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Brahma-sâvarna.6th Round, 6th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Dharma-sâvarna.6th Round, 6th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Rudra-sâvarna.7th Round, 7th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Rauchya.7th Round, 7th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Bhautya.Vaivasvata, thus, though seventh in the order given, is the primitive Root-Manu of our Fourth Human Wave (the reader must always remember that Manu is not a man but collective humanity), whileourVaivasvata was but one of the seven Minor Manus, who are made to preside over the seven Races of this our planet [Globe]. Each of these has to become the witness of one of the periodical and ever-recurring cataclysms (by fire and water) that close the cycle of every Root-Race. And it is this Vaivasvata—the Hindû ideal embodiment, called respectively Xisuthrus, Deucalion, Noah and other names—who is the allegorical“Man”who rescued our Race, when nearly the whole population of one hemisphere perished by water, while the other hemisphere was awakening from its temporary obscuration.692Thus it is shown that there is no real discrepancy in speaking of the Vaivasvata Manvantara (Manu-antara, lit.,“between two Manus”) as 18,000,000 odd years ago, when physical, or the truly human, Man first appeared in his Fourth Round on this Earth; and of the other Vaivasvatas,[pg 324]e.g., the Manu of the Great Cosmic or Sidereal Flood—a mystery—or again the Manu Vaivasvata of the submerged Atlantis, when theRacialVaivasvata saved the elect of Humanity, the Fifth Race, from utter destruction. As these several and quite distinct events are purposely blended in theVishnuand otherPurânasin one narrative, there may yet be a great deal of perplexity left in the profane reader's mind. Therefore, as constant elucidation is needed, we must be forgiven unavoidable repetitions. The“blinds”which conceal the real mysteries of Esoteric Philosophy are great and puzzling, and even now the last word cannot be given. The veil, however, may be a little more removed, and some explanations, hitherto denied, may now be offered to the earnest student.As Colonel Vans Kennedy, if we do not mistake, remarked:“the first principle in Hindû religious philosophy isunity in diversity.”If all those Manus and Rishis are called by one generic name, it is due to the fact that they are one and all the manifested Energies of one and the same Logos, the celestial as well as the terrestrial Messengers and Permutations of that Principle which is ever in a state of activity—conscious during the period of Cosmic Evolution, unconscious (from our point of view) during Cosmic Rest—for the Logos sleepeth in the bosom ofThatwhich“sleepeth not,”nor is it ever awake, for it is Sat or“Be-ness,”not a Being. It is fromItthat issues the greatUnseenLogos, who evolves all the other Logoi; the Primeval Manu who gives being to the other Manus, who emanate the universe and all in it collectively, and who represent in their aggregate theManifestedLogos.693Hence we learn in the Commentaries that while no Dhyân Chohan, not even the highest, can realize completelyThe condition of the preceding Cosmic Evolution, ... the Manus retain a knowledge of their experiences in all the Cosmic Evolutions throughout Eternity.This is very plain: the first Manu is called Svâyambhuva, the“Self-manifested,”the Son of theUnmanifestedFather. The Manus are the Creators of the Creators of our First Race—the Spirit of Mankind—which does not prevent thesevenManus from having been the first“Pre-Adamic”Men on Earth.Manu declares himself created by Virâj,694or Vaishvânara, the Spirit[pg 325]of Humanity,695which means that his Monad emanates from the never resting Principle in the beginning of every new Cosmic Activity—that Logos or Universal Monad (collective Elohim) which radiatesfrom within himselfall those Cosmic Monads that become the centres of activity—Progenitors of the numberless Solar Systems as well as of the yet undifferentiatedhumanMonads of Planetary Chains as well as of every being thereon. Svâyambhuva, or Self-born, is the name of every Cosmic Monadwhich becomes the Centre of Force, from within which emerges a Planetary Chain(of which Chains there are seven in our System). And the radiations of this Centre become again so many Manus Svâyambhuva (a mysterious generic name, meaning far more than appears), each of them becoming, as a Host, the Creator of his own Humanity.As to the question of the four distinct Races of mankind that preceded our Fifth Race, there is nothing mystical in the subject, except the ethereal bodies of the first Races; and this is a matter of legendary, nevertheless very correct, history. The legend is universal. And if the Westernsavantpleases to see in it only a myth, it does not make the slightest difference. The Mexicans had, and still have, the tradition of the fourfold destruction of the world by fire and water, just as the Egyptians had, and the Hindûs have, to this day.Trying to account for the community of legends held by Chinese, Chaldæans, Egyptians, Indians and Greeks, in remote antiquity, and for the absence of any certain vestige of civilization more ancient than 5,000 years, the author ofMythical Monstersremarks that:We must ... not be surprised if we do not immediately discover the vestiges of the people of ten, fifteen, or twenty thousand years ago. With an ephemeral architecture ... [as in China], the sites of vast cities may have become entirely lost to recollection in a few thousands of years from natural decay, and how much more ... if ... minor cataclysms have intervened, such as local inundations, earthquakes, deposition of volcanic ashes, ... the spread of sandy deserts, destruction of life by deadly pestilence, by miasma, or by the outpour of sulphurous fumes.696How many of such cataclysms have changed the whole surface of the earth may be inferred from the following Stanza of Commentary Twenty-two:[pg 326]During the first seven crores [70,000,000 years] of the Kalpa the Earth and its two Kingdoms [mineral and vegetable], one already having achieved its seventh circle, the other, hardly nascent, are luminous and semi-ethereal, cold, lifeless, and translucid. In the eleventh crore697the Mother [Earth] grows opaque, and in the fourteenth698the throes of adolescence take place. These convulsions of Nature [geological changes] last till her twentieth crore of years, uninterruptedly, after which they become periodical, and at long intervals.The last change took place nearly twelve crores [120,000,000] of years ago. But the Earth with everything on her face had become cool, hard and settled ages earlier.Thus, if we are to believe Esoteric Teaching,universalgeological disturbances and changes have not occurred for the last 120 million years, but the Earth, even before that time, was ready to receive her human stock. The appearance of the latter, however, in its full physical development, as already stated, took place only about 18,000,000 years ago, after the first great failure of Nature to create beings alone—i.e., without the help of the divine“Fashioners”—had been followed by the successive evolution of the first three Races.699The actual duration of the first two and a half Races is withheld from all but the higher Initiates. The history of the Races begins at the separation of the sexes, when the preceding egg-bearing androgynous Race perished rapidly, and the subsequent sub-races of the Third Root-Race appeared as an entirely new racephysiologically. It is this“Destruction”which is allegorically called the great“Vaivasvata Manu Deluge,”when the account shows Vaivasvata Manu, or Humanity, remaining alone on Earth in the Ark of Salvation towed by Vishnu in the shape of a[pg 327]monstrous fish, and the Seven Rishis“with him.”The allegory is very plain.In the symbolism of every nation, the“Deluge”stands for chaotic unsettled Matter—Chaos itself; and Water for the Feminine Principle—the“Great Deep.”As the Greek Lexicon of Parkhurst gives it:Ἀρχὴ answers to the Hebrewrasit, or Wisdom ... and [at the same time] to the emblem of the female generative power, theargorarca, in which the germ of nature [and of mankind] floats or broods on the great abyss of the waters, during the interval which takes place after every mundane [or racial] cycle.Archê (Ἀρχὴ) or Ark is also the mystic name of the Divine Spirit of Life which broods over Chaos. Now Vishnuisthe Divine Spirit, as an abstract principle, and also as the Preserver and Generator, or Giver of Life—the third Person of the Trimûrti—composed of Brahmâ, the Creator, Shiva, the Destroyer, and Vishnu, the Preserver. Vishnu is shown, in the allegory, under the form of aFish, guiding the Ark of Vaivasvata Manu across the Waters of the Flood. There is no use in expatiating upon the esoteric meaning of the wordFish(as Payne Knight, Inman, Gerald Massey, and others have done). Its theological meaning is phallic, but the metaphysical, divine. Jesus was called the Fish, as were Vishnu and Bacchus; ΙΗΣ, the“Saviour”of Mankind, being but the monogram of the God Bacchus, who was also called ΙΧΘΥΣ, the Fish.700Moreover, the Seven Rishis in the Ark symbolized the seven“principles,”which became complete in man only after he had separated, and become ahuman, and thus ceased to be a divine creature.But to return to the Races; details as to the submersion of the Continent inhabited by the Second Root-Race are not numerous. The history of the Third, or Lemuria, is given, as is also that of Atlantis, but the others are only alluded to. Lemuria is said to have perished about 700,000 years before the commencement of what is now called the Tertiary Age (the Eocene).701During this Deluge—an actual geological deluge this time—Vaivasvata Manu is also shown saving mankind, allegorically—in reality, a portion of it, the Fourth Race—just as he saved the Fifth Race during the destruction of the last[pg 328]Atlanteans, the remnants that perished 850,000 years ago,702after which there was no great submersion until the day of Plato's Atlantis, or Poseidonis, which was known to the Egyptians only because it happened in such relatively recent times.It is the submersion of the great Atlantis which is the most interesting. This is the Cataclysm of which the old records, as in theBook of Enoch, say,“the ends of the Earth got loose”; and upon which have been built the legends and allegories of Vaivasvata, Xisuthrus, Noah, Deucalion and all thetutti quantiof the Elect Saved. Tradition, not taking into account the difference between sidereal and geological phenomena, calls both“Deluges”indifferently. Yet there is a great difference. The Cataclysm which destroyed the huge Continent of which Australia is the largest relic, was due to a series of subterranean convulsions and the breaking asunder of the ocean floors. That which put an end to its successor—the Fourth Continent—was brought on by successive disturbances in the axial rotation. It began during the earliest Tertiary periods, and, continuing for long ages, carried away successively the last vestige of Atlantis, with the exception, perhaps, of Ceylon and a small portion of what is now Africa. It changed the face of the globe, and no memory of its flourishing continents and isles, of its civilizations and sciences, have remained in the annals of history, save in the Sacred Records of the East.Hence, Modern Science denies the existence of Atlantis. It even denies any violent shiftings of the Earth's axis, and would attribute the change of climate to other causes. But this question is still an open one. If Dr. Croll will have it that all such alterations can be accounted for by the effects of nutation and the precession of the equinoxes, there are others, such as Sir Henry James and Sir John Lubbock,703who feel more inclined to accept the idea that they are due to a change in the position of the axis of rotation. Against this the majority of the Astronomers are again arrayed. But then, what have they not denied before now, and what have they not denounced—only to accept it later on, whenever the hypothesis became undeniable fact?How far our figures agree, or rather disagree, with Modern Science[pg 329]will be seen further in the Addenda to this Volume, where the Geology and Anthropology of our modern day are carefully compared with the teachings of Archaic Science. At any rate, the period assigned by the Secret Doctrine for the sinking of Atlantis, does not seem to disagree very much with the calculations of Modern Science, which, however, calls Atlantis“Lemuria”whenever it accepts such a submerged Continent. With regard to the pre-human period, all that can be said, at present, is, that even prior to the appearance of the“mindless”First Race, the Earth was not without its inhabitants. We might, however, add that what Science, which recognizesphysical man only, has a right to regard as thepre-humanperiod, may be conceded to have extended from the First Race down to the first half of the Atlantean Race, since it is only then that man became the“completeorganicbeing he is now.”And this would make Adamic Man no older than a few millions of years.704The author of theQabbalahtruly remarks that:“Man to-day, as an individual, is only a concatenation of the being-hood of precedent human life,”orlives, rather.According to the Qabbalah, the soul sparks contained in Adam, went into three principal classes corresponding to his three sons, viz.:Hesed, Habel,Ge'boor-ah, Qai-yin andRa'h-minSeth. These three were divided into ... 70 species, called; the principal roots of the human race.705Said Rabbi Yehudah:“How many garments [of the incorporeal man] are these which are crowned (from the day man was created)?”Said R. El'azar:“The mountains of the world (the great men of the generation) are in discussion upon it, but there are three: one to clothe in that garment theRua'hspirit, which is in the garden (of Eden) on earth: one which is more precious than all, in which theNeshamahis clothed in that Bundle of Life, between the angels of the Kings ...: and one outside garment, which exists and does not exist, is seen and not seen. In that garment, theNepheshis clothed, and she goes and flies in it, to and fro in the world.”706This relates to the Races, their“garments,”or degree of materiality, and to the three“principles”of man in their three vehicles.
The Primeval Manus Of Humanity.Those who are aware that the“Great Flood,”which was connected with the sinking of an entire Continent (save only a few islands) could not have happened so far back as 18,000,000 years ago, and that Vaivasvata Manu is the Indian Noah connected with the Matsya, or the Fish, Avatâra of Vishnu, may feel perplexed at the apparent discrepancy between the facts stated and the chronology previously given. But there is no discrepancy in truth. The reader is asked to turn toThe Theosophistof July, 1883, for by studying the article therein, on“The Septenary Principle in Esotericism,”the whole question can be explained to him. It is in the explanation there given, I believe, that the Occultists differ from the Brâhmans.For the benefit of those, however, who may not haveThe Theosophistof that date to hand, a passage or two may now be quoted from it:Who was Manu, the son of Svâyambhuva? The Secret Doctrine tells us thatthisManu was no man, but the representation of the first human races, evolved with the help of the Dhyân Chohans (Devas), at the beginning of the First Round. But we are told in hisLaws(i. 80) that there are fourteen Manus for every Kalpa, or“interval from creation to creation”—read rather interval from oneminorPralaya to another687—and that“in the present divine age, there have been as yetsevenManus.”Those who know that there are seven Rounds, of which we have passed three, and are now in the Fourth; and who are taught that there are seven[pg 322]Dawns and seven Twilights, or fourteen Manvantaras; that at the beginning of every Round and at the end, and on, and between, the planets [Globes] there is an“awakening toillusivelife,”and an“awakening toreallife”; and that, moreover, there are Root-Manus, and what we have to clumsily translate as Seed-Manus—the seeds for the human races of the forthcomingRound (or the Shishtas—the surviving fittest688; a mystery divulged only to those who have passed their third degree in Initiation)—those who have learned all this will be better prepared to understand the meaning of the following. We are told in the Hindû Sacred Scriptures that,“The first Manu producedsixother Manus [sevenprimary Manus in all], and these produced in their turn each seven other Manus”689(Bhrigu, i. 61-63)—the production of the latter standing in the Occult treatises as 7 x 7. Thus it becomes clear that Manu—the last one, the Progenitor of our Fourth-Round Humanity—must be theseventh, since we are on our Fourth Round,690and there is aRoot-Manu at Globe A, and aSeed-Manu at Globe G. Just as each planetary Round commences with the appearance of a Root-Manu (Dhyân Chohan) and closes with a Seed-Manu, so a Root- and a Seed-Manu appear respectively at the beginning and the termination of the human period on any particular planet [Globe].691It will be easily seen from the foregoing statement that a Manvantaric period (Manu-antara) means, as the term implies, the timebetweenthe appearance of two Manus or Dhyân Chohans; and hence a Minor Manvantara is the duration of thesevenRaces on any particular planet [Globe], and a Major Manvantara is the period of one human Round along the Planetary Chain. Moreover, as it is said that each of the seven Manuscreates7 x 7 Manus, and that there are 49 Root-Races on the seven planets [Globes] during each Round, then every Root-Race has its Manu. The present seventh Manu is called“Vaivasvata”and stands in the exoteric texts for that Manu who in India represents the Babylonian Xisuthrus and the Jewish Noah.[pg 323]But in the Esoteric books we are told that Manu Vaivasvata, the progenitor of ourFifthRace—who saved it from the flood that nearly exterminated the Fourth or Atlantean—is not the seventh Manu, mentioned in the nomenclature of the Root or Primitive Manus, but one of the 49 Manus emanated from this Root-Manu.For clearer comprehension we here give the names of the 14 Manus in their respective order and in their relation to each Round:1st Round, 1st (Root) Manu on Planet A—Svâyambhuva.1st Round, 1st (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Svârochi, or Svârochisha.2nd Round, 2nd (Root) Manu on Planet A—Auttami.2nd Round, 2nd (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Tâmasa.3rd Round, 3rd (Root) Manu on Planet A—Raivata.3rd Round, 3rd (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Châkshusha.4th Round, 4th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Vaivasvata (our Progenitor).4th Round, 4th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Sâvarna.5th Round, 5th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Daksha-sâvarna.5th Round, 5th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Brahma-sâvarna.6th Round, 6th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Dharma-sâvarna.6th Round, 6th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Rudra-sâvarna.7th Round, 7th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Rauchya.7th Round, 7th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Bhautya.Vaivasvata, thus, though seventh in the order given, is the primitive Root-Manu of our Fourth Human Wave (the reader must always remember that Manu is not a man but collective humanity), whileourVaivasvata was but one of the seven Minor Manus, who are made to preside over the seven Races of this our planet [Globe]. Each of these has to become the witness of one of the periodical and ever-recurring cataclysms (by fire and water) that close the cycle of every Root-Race. And it is this Vaivasvata—the Hindû ideal embodiment, called respectively Xisuthrus, Deucalion, Noah and other names—who is the allegorical“Man”who rescued our Race, when nearly the whole population of one hemisphere perished by water, while the other hemisphere was awakening from its temporary obscuration.692Thus it is shown that there is no real discrepancy in speaking of the Vaivasvata Manvantara (Manu-antara, lit.,“between two Manus”) as 18,000,000 odd years ago, when physical, or the truly human, Man first appeared in his Fourth Round on this Earth; and of the other Vaivasvatas,[pg 324]e.g., the Manu of the Great Cosmic or Sidereal Flood—a mystery—or again the Manu Vaivasvata of the submerged Atlantis, when theRacialVaivasvata saved the elect of Humanity, the Fifth Race, from utter destruction. As these several and quite distinct events are purposely blended in theVishnuand otherPurânasin one narrative, there may yet be a great deal of perplexity left in the profane reader's mind. Therefore, as constant elucidation is needed, we must be forgiven unavoidable repetitions. The“blinds”which conceal the real mysteries of Esoteric Philosophy are great and puzzling, and even now the last word cannot be given. The veil, however, may be a little more removed, and some explanations, hitherto denied, may now be offered to the earnest student.As Colonel Vans Kennedy, if we do not mistake, remarked:“the first principle in Hindû religious philosophy isunity in diversity.”If all those Manus and Rishis are called by one generic name, it is due to the fact that they are one and all the manifested Energies of one and the same Logos, the celestial as well as the terrestrial Messengers and Permutations of that Principle which is ever in a state of activity—conscious during the period of Cosmic Evolution, unconscious (from our point of view) during Cosmic Rest—for the Logos sleepeth in the bosom ofThatwhich“sleepeth not,”nor is it ever awake, for it is Sat or“Be-ness,”not a Being. It is fromItthat issues the greatUnseenLogos, who evolves all the other Logoi; the Primeval Manu who gives being to the other Manus, who emanate the universe and all in it collectively, and who represent in their aggregate theManifestedLogos.693Hence we learn in the Commentaries that while no Dhyân Chohan, not even the highest, can realize completelyThe condition of the preceding Cosmic Evolution, ... the Manus retain a knowledge of their experiences in all the Cosmic Evolutions throughout Eternity.This is very plain: the first Manu is called Svâyambhuva, the“Self-manifested,”the Son of theUnmanifestedFather. The Manus are the Creators of the Creators of our First Race—the Spirit of Mankind—which does not prevent thesevenManus from having been the first“Pre-Adamic”Men on Earth.Manu declares himself created by Virâj,694or Vaishvânara, the Spirit[pg 325]of Humanity,695which means that his Monad emanates from the never resting Principle in the beginning of every new Cosmic Activity—that Logos or Universal Monad (collective Elohim) which radiatesfrom within himselfall those Cosmic Monads that become the centres of activity—Progenitors of the numberless Solar Systems as well as of the yet undifferentiatedhumanMonads of Planetary Chains as well as of every being thereon. Svâyambhuva, or Self-born, is the name of every Cosmic Monadwhich becomes the Centre of Force, from within which emerges a Planetary Chain(of which Chains there are seven in our System). And the radiations of this Centre become again so many Manus Svâyambhuva (a mysterious generic name, meaning far more than appears), each of them becoming, as a Host, the Creator of his own Humanity.As to the question of the four distinct Races of mankind that preceded our Fifth Race, there is nothing mystical in the subject, except the ethereal bodies of the first Races; and this is a matter of legendary, nevertheless very correct, history. The legend is universal. And if the Westernsavantpleases to see in it only a myth, it does not make the slightest difference. The Mexicans had, and still have, the tradition of the fourfold destruction of the world by fire and water, just as the Egyptians had, and the Hindûs have, to this day.Trying to account for the community of legends held by Chinese, Chaldæans, Egyptians, Indians and Greeks, in remote antiquity, and for the absence of any certain vestige of civilization more ancient than 5,000 years, the author ofMythical Monstersremarks that:We must ... not be surprised if we do not immediately discover the vestiges of the people of ten, fifteen, or twenty thousand years ago. With an ephemeral architecture ... [as in China], the sites of vast cities may have become entirely lost to recollection in a few thousands of years from natural decay, and how much more ... if ... minor cataclysms have intervened, such as local inundations, earthquakes, deposition of volcanic ashes, ... the spread of sandy deserts, destruction of life by deadly pestilence, by miasma, or by the outpour of sulphurous fumes.696How many of such cataclysms have changed the whole surface of the earth may be inferred from the following Stanza of Commentary Twenty-two:[pg 326]During the first seven crores [70,000,000 years] of the Kalpa the Earth and its two Kingdoms [mineral and vegetable], one already having achieved its seventh circle, the other, hardly nascent, are luminous and semi-ethereal, cold, lifeless, and translucid. In the eleventh crore697the Mother [Earth] grows opaque, and in the fourteenth698the throes of adolescence take place. These convulsions of Nature [geological changes] last till her twentieth crore of years, uninterruptedly, after which they become periodical, and at long intervals.The last change took place nearly twelve crores [120,000,000] of years ago. But the Earth with everything on her face had become cool, hard and settled ages earlier.Thus, if we are to believe Esoteric Teaching,universalgeological disturbances and changes have not occurred for the last 120 million years, but the Earth, even before that time, was ready to receive her human stock. The appearance of the latter, however, in its full physical development, as already stated, took place only about 18,000,000 years ago, after the first great failure of Nature to create beings alone—i.e., without the help of the divine“Fashioners”—had been followed by the successive evolution of the first three Races.699The actual duration of the first two and a half Races is withheld from all but the higher Initiates. The history of the Races begins at the separation of the sexes, when the preceding egg-bearing androgynous Race perished rapidly, and the subsequent sub-races of the Third Root-Race appeared as an entirely new racephysiologically. It is this“Destruction”which is allegorically called the great“Vaivasvata Manu Deluge,”when the account shows Vaivasvata Manu, or Humanity, remaining alone on Earth in the Ark of Salvation towed by Vishnu in the shape of a[pg 327]monstrous fish, and the Seven Rishis“with him.”The allegory is very plain.In the symbolism of every nation, the“Deluge”stands for chaotic unsettled Matter—Chaos itself; and Water for the Feminine Principle—the“Great Deep.”As the Greek Lexicon of Parkhurst gives it:Ἀρχὴ answers to the Hebrewrasit, or Wisdom ... and [at the same time] to the emblem of the female generative power, theargorarca, in which the germ of nature [and of mankind] floats or broods on the great abyss of the waters, during the interval which takes place after every mundane [or racial] cycle.Archê (Ἀρχὴ) or Ark is also the mystic name of the Divine Spirit of Life which broods over Chaos. Now Vishnuisthe Divine Spirit, as an abstract principle, and also as the Preserver and Generator, or Giver of Life—the third Person of the Trimûrti—composed of Brahmâ, the Creator, Shiva, the Destroyer, and Vishnu, the Preserver. Vishnu is shown, in the allegory, under the form of aFish, guiding the Ark of Vaivasvata Manu across the Waters of the Flood. There is no use in expatiating upon the esoteric meaning of the wordFish(as Payne Knight, Inman, Gerald Massey, and others have done). Its theological meaning is phallic, but the metaphysical, divine. Jesus was called the Fish, as were Vishnu and Bacchus; ΙΗΣ, the“Saviour”of Mankind, being but the monogram of the God Bacchus, who was also called ΙΧΘΥΣ, the Fish.700Moreover, the Seven Rishis in the Ark symbolized the seven“principles,”which became complete in man only after he had separated, and become ahuman, and thus ceased to be a divine creature.But to return to the Races; details as to the submersion of the Continent inhabited by the Second Root-Race are not numerous. The history of the Third, or Lemuria, is given, as is also that of Atlantis, but the others are only alluded to. Lemuria is said to have perished about 700,000 years before the commencement of what is now called the Tertiary Age (the Eocene).701During this Deluge—an actual geological deluge this time—Vaivasvata Manu is also shown saving mankind, allegorically—in reality, a portion of it, the Fourth Race—just as he saved the Fifth Race during the destruction of the last[pg 328]Atlanteans, the remnants that perished 850,000 years ago,702after which there was no great submersion until the day of Plato's Atlantis, or Poseidonis, which was known to the Egyptians only because it happened in such relatively recent times.It is the submersion of the great Atlantis which is the most interesting. This is the Cataclysm of which the old records, as in theBook of Enoch, say,“the ends of the Earth got loose”; and upon which have been built the legends and allegories of Vaivasvata, Xisuthrus, Noah, Deucalion and all thetutti quantiof the Elect Saved. Tradition, not taking into account the difference between sidereal and geological phenomena, calls both“Deluges”indifferently. Yet there is a great difference. The Cataclysm which destroyed the huge Continent of which Australia is the largest relic, was due to a series of subterranean convulsions and the breaking asunder of the ocean floors. That which put an end to its successor—the Fourth Continent—was brought on by successive disturbances in the axial rotation. It began during the earliest Tertiary periods, and, continuing for long ages, carried away successively the last vestige of Atlantis, with the exception, perhaps, of Ceylon and a small portion of what is now Africa. It changed the face of the globe, and no memory of its flourishing continents and isles, of its civilizations and sciences, have remained in the annals of history, save in the Sacred Records of the East.Hence, Modern Science denies the existence of Atlantis. It even denies any violent shiftings of the Earth's axis, and would attribute the change of climate to other causes. But this question is still an open one. If Dr. Croll will have it that all such alterations can be accounted for by the effects of nutation and the precession of the equinoxes, there are others, such as Sir Henry James and Sir John Lubbock,703who feel more inclined to accept the idea that they are due to a change in the position of the axis of rotation. Against this the majority of the Astronomers are again arrayed. But then, what have they not denied before now, and what have they not denounced—only to accept it later on, whenever the hypothesis became undeniable fact?How far our figures agree, or rather disagree, with Modern Science[pg 329]will be seen further in the Addenda to this Volume, where the Geology and Anthropology of our modern day are carefully compared with the teachings of Archaic Science. At any rate, the period assigned by the Secret Doctrine for the sinking of Atlantis, does not seem to disagree very much with the calculations of Modern Science, which, however, calls Atlantis“Lemuria”whenever it accepts such a submerged Continent. With regard to the pre-human period, all that can be said, at present, is, that even prior to the appearance of the“mindless”First Race, the Earth was not without its inhabitants. We might, however, add that what Science, which recognizesphysical man only, has a right to regard as thepre-humanperiod, may be conceded to have extended from the First Race down to the first half of the Atlantean Race, since it is only then that man became the“completeorganicbeing he is now.”And this would make Adamic Man no older than a few millions of years.704The author of theQabbalahtruly remarks that:“Man to-day, as an individual, is only a concatenation of the being-hood of precedent human life,”orlives, rather.According to the Qabbalah, the soul sparks contained in Adam, went into three principal classes corresponding to his three sons, viz.:Hesed, Habel,Ge'boor-ah, Qai-yin andRa'h-minSeth. These three were divided into ... 70 species, called; the principal roots of the human race.705Said Rabbi Yehudah:“How many garments [of the incorporeal man] are these which are crowned (from the day man was created)?”Said R. El'azar:“The mountains of the world (the great men of the generation) are in discussion upon it, but there are three: one to clothe in that garment theRua'hspirit, which is in the garden (of Eden) on earth: one which is more precious than all, in which theNeshamahis clothed in that Bundle of Life, between the angels of the Kings ...: and one outside garment, which exists and does not exist, is seen and not seen. In that garment, theNepheshis clothed, and she goes and flies in it, to and fro in the world.”706This relates to the Races, their“garments,”or degree of materiality, and to the three“principles”of man in their three vehicles.
The Primeval Manus Of Humanity.Those who are aware that the“Great Flood,”which was connected with the sinking of an entire Continent (save only a few islands) could not have happened so far back as 18,000,000 years ago, and that Vaivasvata Manu is the Indian Noah connected with the Matsya, or the Fish, Avatâra of Vishnu, may feel perplexed at the apparent discrepancy between the facts stated and the chronology previously given. But there is no discrepancy in truth. The reader is asked to turn toThe Theosophistof July, 1883, for by studying the article therein, on“The Septenary Principle in Esotericism,”the whole question can be explained to him. It is in the explanation there given, I believe, that the Occultists differ from the Brâhmans.For the benefit of those, however, who may not haveThe Theosophistof that date to hand, a passage or two may now be quoted from it:Who was Manu, the son of Svâyambhuva? The Secret Doctrine tells us thatthisManu was no man, but the representation of the first human races, evolved with the help of the Dhyân Chohans (Devas), at the beginning of the First Round. But we are told in hisLaws(i. 80) that there are fourteen Manus for every Kalpa, or“interval from creation to creation”—read rather interval from oneminorPralaya to another687—and that“in the present divine age, there have been as yetsevenManus.”Those who know that there are seven Rounds, of which we have passed three, and are now in the Fourth; and who are taught that there are seven[pg 322]Dawns and seven Twilights, or fourteen Manvantaras; that at the beginning of every Round and at the end, and on, and between, the planets [Globes] there is an“awakening toillusivelife,”and an“awakening toreallife”; and that, moreover, there are Root-Manus, and what we have to clumsily translate as Seed-Manus—the seeds for the human races of the forthcomingRound (or the Shishtas—the surviving fittest688; a mystery divulged only to those who have passed their third degree in Initiation)—those who have learned all this will be better prepared to understand the meaning of the following. We are told in the Hindû Sacred Scriptures that,“The first Manu producedsixother Manus [sevenprimary Manus in all], and these produced in their turn each seven other Manus”689(Bhrigu, i. 61-63)—the production of the latter standing in the Occult treatises as 7 x 7. Thus it becomes clear that Manu—the last one, the Progenitor of our Fourth-Round Humanity—must be theseventh, since we are on our Fourth Round,690and there is aRoot-Manu at Globe A, and aSeed-Manu at Globe G. Just as each planetary Round commences with the appearance of a Root-Manu (Dhyân Chohan) and closes with a Seed-Manu, so a Root- and a Seed-Manu appear respectively at the beginning and the termination of the human period on any particular planet [Globe].691It will be easily seen from the foregoing statement that a Manvantaric period (Manu-antara) means, as the term implies, the timebetweenthe appearance of two Manus or Dhyân Chohans; and hence a Minor Manvantara is the duration of thesevenRaces on any particular planet [Globe], and a Major Manvantara is the period of one human Round along the Planetary Chain. Moreover, as it is said that each of the seven Manuscreates7 x 7 Manus, and that there are 49 Root-Races on the seven planets [Globes] during each Round, then every Root-Race has its Manu. The present seventh Manu is called“Vaivasvata”and stands in the exoteric texts for that Manu who in India represents the Babylonian Xisuthrus and the Jewish Noah.[pg 323]But in the Esoteric books we are told that Manu Vaivasvata, the progenitor of ourFifthRace—who saved it from the flood that nearly exterminated the Fourth or Atlantean—is not the seventh Manu, mentioned in the nomenclature of the Root or Primitive Manus, but one of the 49 Manus emanated from this Root-Manu.For clearer comprehension we here give the names of the 14 Manus in their respective order and in their relation to each Round:1st Round, 1st (Root) Manu on Planet A—Svâyambhuva.1st Round, 1st (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Svârochi, or Svârochisha.2nd Round, 2nd (Root) Manu on Planet A—Auttami.2nd Round, 2nd (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Tâmasa.3rd Round, 3rd (Root) Manu on Planet A—Raivata.3rd Round, 3rd (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Châkshusha.4th Round, 4th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Vaivasvata (our Progenitor).4th Round, 4th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Sâvarna.5th Round, 5th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Daksha-sâvarna.5th Round, 5th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Brahma-sâvarna.6th Round, 6th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Dharma-sâvarna.6th Round, 6th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Rudra-sâvarna.7th Round, 7th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Rauchya.7th Round, 7th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Bhautya.Vaivasvata, thus, though seventh in the order given, is the primitive Root-Manu of our Fourth Human Wave (the reader must always remember that Manu is not a man but collective humanity), whileourVaivasvata was but one of the seven Minor Manus, who are made to preside over the seven Races of this our planet [Globe]. Each of these has to become the witness of one of the periodical and ever-recurring cataclysms (by fire and water) that close the cycle of every Root-Race. And it is this Vaivasvata—the Hindû ideal embodiment, called respectively Xisuthrus, Deucalion, Noah and other names—who is the allegorical“Man”who rescued our Race, when nearly the whole population of one hemisphere perished by water, while the other hemisphere was awakening from its temporary obscuration.692Thus it is shown that there is no real discrepancy in speaking of the Vaivasvata Manvantara (Manu-antara, lit.,“between two Manus”) as 18,000,000 odd years ago, when physical, or the truly human, Man first appeared in his Fourth Round on this Earth; and of the other Vaivasvatas,[pg 324]e.g., the Manu of the Great Cosmic or Sidereal Flood—a mystery—or again the Manu Vaivasvata of the submerged Atlantis, when theRacialVaivasvata saved the elect of Humanity, the Fifth Race, from utter destruction. As these several and quite distinct events are purposely blended in theVishnuand otherPurânasin one narrative, there may yet be a great deal of perplexity left in the profane reader's mind. Therefore, as constant elucidation is needed, we must be forgiven unavoidable repetitions. The“blinds”which conceal the real mysteries of Esoteric Philosophy are great and puzzling, and even now the last word cannot be given. The veil, however, may be a little more removed, and some explanations, hitherto denied, may now be offered to the earnest student.As Colonel Vans Kennedy, if we do not mistake, remarked:“the first principle in Hindû religious philosophy isunity in diversity.”If all those Manus and Rishis are called by one generic name, it is due to the fact that they are one and all the manifested Energies of one and the same Logos, the celestial as well as the terrestrial Messengers and Permutations of that Principle which is ever in a state of activity—conscious during the period of Cosmic Evolution, unconscious (from our point of view) during Cosmic Rest—for the Logos sleepeth in the bosom ofThatwhich“sleepeth not,”nor is it ever awake, for it is Sat or“Be-ness,”not a Being. It is fromItthat issues the greatUnseenLogos, who evolves all the other Logoi; the Primeval Manu who gives being to the other Manus, who emanate the universe and all in it collectively, and who represent in their aggregate theManifestedLogos.693Hence we learn in the Commentaries that while no Dhyân Chohan, not even the highest, can realize completelyThe condition of the preceding Cosmic Evolution, ... the Manus retain a knowledge of their experiences in all the Cosmic Evolutions throughout Eternity.This is very plain: the first Manu is called Svâyambhuva, the“Self-manifested,”the Son of theUnmanifestedFather. The Manus are the Creators of the Creators of our First Race—the Spirit of Mankind—which does not prevent thesevenManus from having been the first“Pre-Adamic”Men on Earth.Manu declares himself created by Virâj,694or Vaishvânara, the Spirit[pg 325]of Humanity,695which means that his Monad emanates from the never resting Principle in the beginning of every new Cosmic Activity—that Logos or Universal Monad (collective Elohim) which radiatesfrom within himselfall those Cosmic Monads that become the centres of activity—Progenitors of the numberless Solar Systems as well as of the yet undifferentiatedhumanMonads of Planetary Chains as well as of every being thereon. Svâyambhuva, or Self-born, is the name of every Cosmic Monadwhich becomes the Centre of Force, from within which emerges a Planetary Chain(of which Chains there are seven in our System). And the radiations of this Centre become again so many Manus Svâyambhuva (a mysterious generic name, meaning far more than appears), each of them becoming, as a Host, the Creator of his own Humanity.As to the question of the four distinct Races of mankind that preceded our Fifth Race, there is nothing mystical in the subject, except the ethereal bodies of the first Races; and this is a matter of legendary, nevertheless very correct, history. The legend is universal. And if the Westernsavantpleases to see in it only a myth, it does not make the slightest difference. The Mexicans had, and still have, the tradition of the fourfold destruction of the world by fire and water, just as the Egyptians had, and the Hindûs have, to this day.Trying to account for the community of legends held by Chinese, Chaldæans, Egyptians, Indians and Greeks, in remote antiquity, and for the absence of any certain vestige of civilization more ancient than 5,000 years, the author ofMythical Monstersremarks that:We must ... not be surprised if we do not immediately discover the vestiges of the people of ten, fifteen, or twenty thousand years ago. With an ephemeral architecture ... [as in China], the sites of vast cities may have become entirely lost to recollection in a few thousands of years from natural decay, and how much more ... if ... minor cataclysms have intervened, such as local inundations, earthquakes, deposition of volcanic ashes, ... the spread of sandy deserts, destruction of life by deadly pestilence, by miasma, or by the outpour of sulphurous fumes.696How many of such cataclysms have changed the whole surface of the earth may be inferred from the following Stanza of Commentary Twenty-two:[pg 326]During the first seven crores [70,000,000 years] of the Kalpa the Earth and its two Kingdoms [mineral and vegetable], one already having achieved its seventh circle, the other, hardly nascent, are luminous and semi-ethereal, cold, lifeless, and translucid. In the eleventh crore697the Mother [Earth] grows opaque, and in the fourteenth698the throes of adolescence take place. These convulsions of Nature [geological changes] last till her twentieth crore of years, uninterruptedly, after which they become periodical, and at long intervals.The last change took place nearly twelve crores [120,000,000] of years ago. But the Earth with everything on her face had become cool, hard and settled ages earlier.Thus, if we are to believe Esoteric Teaching,universalgeological disturbances and changes have not occurred for the last 120 million years, but the Earth, even before that time, was ready to receive her human stock. The appearance of the latter, however, in its full physical development, as already stated, took place only about 18,000,000 years ago, after the first great failure of Nature to create beings alone—i.e., without the help of the divine“Fashioners”—had been followed by the successive evolution of the first three Races.699The actual duration of the first two and a half Races is withheld from all but the higher Initiates. The history of the Races begins at the separation of the sexes, when the preceding egg-bearing androgynous Race perished rapidly, and the subsequent sub-races of the Third Root-Race appeared as an entirely new racephysiologically. It is this“Destruction”which is allegorically called the great“Vaivasvata Manu Deluge,”when the account shows Vaivasvata Manu, or Humanity, remaining alone on Earth in the Ark of Salvation towed by Vishnu in the shape of a[pg 327]monstrous fish, and the Seven Rishis“with him.”The allegory is very plain.In the symbolism of every nation, the“Deluge”stands for chaotic unsettled Matter—Chaos itself; and Water for the Feminine Principle—the“Great Deep.”As the Greek Lexicon of Parkhurst gives it:Ἀρχὴ answers to the Hebrewrasit, or Wisdom ... and [at the same time] to the emblem of the female generative power, theargorarca, in which the germ of nature [and of mankind] floats or broods on the great abyss of the waters, during the interval which takes place after every mundane [or racial] cycle.Archê (Ἀρχὴ) or Ark is also the mystic name of the Divine Spirit of Life which broods over Chaos. Now Vishnuisthe Divine Spirit, as an abstract principle, and also as the Preserver and Generator, or Giver of Life—the third Person of the Trimûrti—composed of Brahmâ, the Creator, Shiva, the Destroyer, and Vishnu, the Preserver. Vishnu is shown, in the allegory, under the form of aFish, guiding the Ark of Vaivasvata Manu across the Waters of the Flood. There is no use in expatiating upon the esoteric meaning of the wordFish(as Payne Knight, Inman, Gerald Massey, and others have done). Its theological meaning is phallic, but the metaphysical, divine. Jesus was called the Fish, as were Vishnu and Bacchus; ΙΗΣ, the“Saviour”of Mankind, being but the monogram of the God Bacchus, who was also called ΙΧΘΥΣ, the Fish.700Moreover, the Seven Rishis in the Ark symbolized the seven“principles,”which became complete in man only after he had separated, and become ahuman, and thus ceased to be a divine creature.But to return to the Races; details as to the submersion of the Continent inhabited by the Second Root-Race are not numerous. The history of the Third, or Lemuria, is given, as is also that of Atlantis, but the others are only alluded to. Lemuria is said to have perished about 700,000 years before the commencement of what is now called the Tertiary Age (the Eocene).701During this Deluge—an actual geological deluge this time—Vaivasvata Manu is also shown saving mankind, allegorically—in reality, a portion of it, the Fourth Race—just as he saved the Fifth Race during the destruction of the last[pg 328]Atlanteans, the remnants that perished 850,000 years ago,702after which there was no great submersion until the day of Plato's Atlantis, or Poseidonis, which was known to the Egyptians only because it happened in such relatively recent times.It is the submersion of the great Atlantis which is the most interesting. This is the Cataclysm of which the old records, as in theBook of Enoch, say,“the ends of the Earth got loose”; and upon which have been built the legends and allegories of Vaivasvata, Xisuthrus, Noah, Deucalion and all thetutti quantiof the Elect Saved. Tradition, not taking into account the difference between sidereal and geological phenomena, calls both“Deluges”indifferently. Yet there is a great difference. The Cataclysm which destroyed the huge Continent of which Australia is the largest relic, was due to a series of subterranean convulsions and the breaking asunder of the ocean floors. That which put an end to its successor—the Fourth Continent—was brought on by successive disturbances in the axial rotation. It began during the earliest Tertiary periods, and, continuing for long ages, carried away successively the last vestige of Atlantis, with the exception, perhaps, of Ceylon and a small portion of what is now Africa. It changed the face of the globe, and no memory of its flourishing continents and isles, of its civilizations and sciences, have remained in the annals of history, save in the Sacred Records of the East.Hence, Modern Science denies the existence of Atlantis. It even denies any violent shiftings of the Earth's axis, and would attribute the change of climate to other causes. But this question is still an open one. If Dr. Croll will have it that all such alterations can be accounted for by the effects of nutation and the precession of the equinoxes, there are others, such as Sir Henry James and Sir John Lubbock,703who feel more inclined to accept the idea that they are due to a change in the position of the axis of rotation. Against this the majority of the Astronomers are again arrayed. But then, what have they not denied before now, and what have they not denounced—only to accept it later on, whenever the hypothesis became undeniable fact?How far our figures agree, or rather disagree, with Modern Science[pg 329]will be seen further in the Addenda to this Volume, where the Geology and Anthropology of our modern day are carefully compared with the teachings of Archaic Science. At any rate, the period assigned by the Secret Doctrine for the sinking of Atlantis, does not seem to disagree very much with the calculations of Modern Science, which, however, calls Atlantis“Lemuria”whenever it accepts such a submerged Continent. With regard to the pre-human period, all that can be said, at present, is, that even prior to the appearance of the“mindless”First Race, the Earth was not without its inhabitants. We might, however, add that what Science, which recognizesphysical man only, has a right to regard as thepre-humanperiod, may be conceded to have extended from the First Race down to the first half of the Atlantean Race, since it is only then that man became the“completeorganicbeing he is now.”And this would make Adamic Man no older than a few millions of years.704The author of theQabbalahtruly remarks that:“Man to-day, as an individual, is only a concatenation of the being-hood of precedent human life,”orlives, rather.According to the Qabbalah, the soul sparks contained in Adam, went into three principal classes corresponding to his three sons, viz.:Hesed, Habel,Ge'boor-ah, Qai-yin andRa'h-minSeth. These three were divided into ... 70 species, called; the principal roots of the human race.705Said Rabbi Yehudah:“How many garments [of the incorporeal man] are these which are crowned (from the day man was created)?”Said R. El'azar:“The mountains of the world (the great men of the generation) are in discussion upon it, but there are three: one to clothe in that garment theRua'hspirit, which is in the garden (of Eden) on earth: one which is more precious than all, in which theNeshamahis clothed in that Bundle of Life, between the angels of the Kings ...: and one outside garment, which exists and does not exist, is seen and not seen. In that garment, theNepheshis clothed, and she goes and flies in it, to and fro in the world.”706This relates to the Races, their“garments,”or degree of materiality, and to the three“principles”of man in their three vehicles.
The Primeval Manus Of Humanity.Those who are aware that the“Great Flood,”which was connected with the sinking of an entire Continent (save only a few islands) could not have happened so far back as 18,000,000 years ago, and that Vaivasvata Manu is the Indian Noah connected with the Matsya, or the Fish, Avatâra of Vishnu, may feel perplexed at the apparent discrepancy between the facts stated and the chronology previously given. But there is no discrepancy in truth. The reader is asked to turn toThe Theosophistof July, 1883, for by studying the article therein, on“The Septenary Principle in Esotericism,”the whole question can be explained to him. It is in the explanation there given, I believe, that the Occultists differ from the Brâhmans.For the benefit of those, however, who may not haveThe Theosophistof that date to hand, a passage or two may now be quoted from it:Who was Manu, the son of Svâyambhuva? The Secret Doctrine tells us thatthisManu was no man, but the representation of the first human races, evolved with the help of the Dhyân Chohans (Devas), at the beginning of the First Round. But we are told in hisLaws(i. 80) that there are fourteen Manus for every Kalpa, or“interval from creation to creation”—read rather interval from oneminorPralaya to another687—and that“in the present divine age, there have been as yetsevenManus.”Those who know that there are seven Rounds, of which we have passed three, and are now in the Fourth; and who are taught that there are seven[pg 322]Dawns and seven Twilights, or fourteen Manvantaras; that at the beginning of every Round and at the end, and on, and between, the planets [Globes] there is an“awakening toillusivelife,”and an“awakening toreallife”; and that, moreover, there are Root-Manus, and what we have to clumsily translate as Seed-Manus—the seeds for the human races of the forthcomingRound (or the Shishtas—the surviving fittest688; a mystery divulged only to those who have passed their third degree in Initiation)—those who have learned all this will be better prepared to understand the meaning of the following. We are told in the Hindû Sacred Scriptures that,“The first Manu producedsixother Manus [sevenprimary Manus in all], and these produced in their turn each seven other Manus”689(Bhrigu, i. 61-63)—the production of the latter standing in the Occult treatises as 7 x 7. Thus it becomes clear that Manu—the last one, the Progenitor of our Fourth-Round Humanity—must be theseventh, since we are on our Fourth Round,690and there is aRoot-Manu at Globe A, and aSeed-Manu at Globe G. Just as each planetary Round commences with the appearance of a Root-Manu (Dhyân Chohan) and closes with a Seed-Manu, so a Root- and a Seed-Manu appear respectively at the beginning and the termination of the human period on any particular planet [Globe].691It will be easily seen from the foregoing statement that a Manvantaric period (Manu-antara) means, as the term implies, the timebetweenthe appearance of two Manus or Dhyân Chohans; and hence a Minor Manvantara is the duration of thesevenRaces on any particular planet [Globe], and a Major Manvantara is the period of one human Round along the Planetary Chain. Moreover, as it is said that each of the seven Manuscreates7 x 7 Manus, and that there are 49 Root-Races on the seven planets [Globes] during each Round, then every Root-Race has its Manu. The present seventh Manu is called“Vaivasvata”and stands in the exoteric texts for that Manu who in India represents the Babylonian Xisuthrus and the Jewish Noah.[pg 323]But in the Esoteric books we are told that Manu Vaivasvata, the progenitor of ourFifthRace—who saved it from the flood that nearly exterminated the Fourth or Atlantean—is not the seventh Manu, mentioned in the nomenclature of the Root or Primitive Manus, but one of the 49 Manus emanated from this Root-Manu.For clearer comprehension we here give the names of the 14 Manus in their respective order and in their relation to each Round:1st Round, 1st (Root) Manu on Planet A—Svâyambhuva.1st Round, 1st (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Svârochi, or Svârochisha.2nd Round, 2nd (Root) Manu on Planet A—Auttami.2nd Round, 2nd (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Tâmasa.3rd Round, 3rd (Root) Manu on Planet A—Raivata.3rd Round, 3rd (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Châkshusha.4th Round, 4th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Vaivasvata (our Progenitor).4th Round, 4th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Sâvarna.5th Round, 5th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Daksha-sâvarna.5th Round, 5th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Brahma-sâvarna.6th Round, 6th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Dharma-sâvarna.6th Round, 6th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Rudra-sâvarna.7th Round, 7th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Rauchya.7th Round, 7th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Bhautya.Vaivasvata, thus, though seventh in the order given, is the primitive Root-Manu of our Fourth Human Wave (the reader must always remember that Manu is not a man but collective humanity), whileourVaivasvata was but one of the seven Minor Manus, who are made to preside over the seven Races of this our planet [Globe]. Each of these has to become the witness of one of the periodical and ever-recurring cataclysms (by fire and water) that close the cycle of every Root-Race. And it is this Vaivasvata—the Hindû ideal embodiment, called respectively Xisuthrus, Deucalion, Noah and other names—who is the allegorical“Man”who rescued our Race, when nearly the whole population of one hemisphere perished by water, while the other hemisphere was awakening from its temporary obscuration.692Thus it is shown that there is no real discrepancy in speaking of the Vaivasvata Manvantara (Manu-antara, lit.,“between two Manus”) as 18,000,000 odd years ago, when physical, or the truly human, Man first appeared in his Fourth Round on this Earth; and of the other Vaivasvatas,[pg 324]e.g., the Manu of the Great Cosmic or Sidereal Flood—a mystery—or again the Manu Vaivasvata of the submerged Atlantis, when theRacialVaivasvata saved the elect of Humanity, the Fifth Race, from utter destruction. As these several and quite distinct events are purposely blended in theVishnuand otherPurânasin one narrative, there may yet be a great deal of perplexity left in the profane reader's mind. Therefore, as constant elucidation is needed, we must be forgiven unavoidable repetitions. The“blinds”which conceal the real mysteries of Esoteric Philosophy are great and puzzling, and even now the last word cannot be given. The veil, however, may be a little more removed, and some explanations, hitherto denied, may now be offered to the earnest student.As Colonel Vans Kennedy, if we do not mistake, remarked:“the first principle in Hindû religious philosophy isunity in diversity.”If all those Manus and Rishis are called by one generic name, it is due to the fact that they are one and all the manifested Energies of one and the same Logos, the celestial as well as the terrestrial Messengers and Permutations of that Principle which is ever in a state of activity—conscious during the period of Cosmic Evolution, unconscious (from our point of view) during Cosmic Rest—for the Logos sleepeth in the bosom ofThatwhich“sleepeth not,”nor is it ever awake, for it is Sat or“Be-ness,”not a Being. It is fromItthat issues the greatUnseenLogos, who evolves all the other Logoi; the Primeval Manu who gives being to the other Manus, who emanate the universe and all in it collectively, and who represent in their aggregate theManifestedLogos.693Hence we learn in the Commentaries that while no Dhyân Chohan, not even the highest, can realize completelyThe condition of the preceding Cosmic Evolution, ... the Manus retain a knowledge of their experiences in all the Cosmic Evolutions throughout Eternity.This is very plain: the first Manu is called Svâyambhuva, the“Self-manifested,”the Son of theUnmanifestedFather. The Manus are the Creators of the Creators of our First Race—the Spirit of Mankind—which does not prevent thesevenManus from having been the first“Pre-Adamic”Men on Earth.Manu declares himself created by Virâj,694or Vaishvânara, the Spirit[pg 325]of Humanity,695which means that his Monad emanates from the never resting Principle in the beginning of every new Cosmic Activity—that Logos or Universal Monad (collective Elohim) which radiatesfrom within himselfall those Cosmic Monads that become the centres of activity—Progenitors of the numberless Solar Systems as well as of the yet undifferentiatedhumanMonads of Planetary Chains as well as of every being thereon. Svâyambhuva, or Self-born, is the name of every Cosmic Monadwhich becomes the Centre of Force, from within which emerges a Planetary Chain(of which Chains there are seven in our System). And the radiations of this Centre become again so many Manus Svâyambhuva (a mysterious generic name, meaning far more than appears), each of them becoming, as a Host, the Creator of his own Humanity.As to the question of the four distinct Races of mankind that preceded our Fifth Race, there is nothing mystical in the subject, except the ethereal bodies of the first Races; and this is a matter of legendary, nevertheless very correct, history. The legend is universal. And if the Westernsavantpleases to see in it only a myth, it does not make the slightest difference. The Mexicans had, and still have, the tradition of the fourfold destruction of the world by fire and water, just as the Egyptians had, and the Hindûs have, to this day.Trying to account for the community of legends held by Chinese, Chaldæans, Egyptians, Indians and Greeks, in remote antiquity, and for the absence of any certain vestige of civilization more ancient than 5,000 years, the author ofMythical Monstersremarks that:We must ... not be surprised if we do not immediately discover the vestiges of the people of ten, fifteen, or twenty thousand years ago. With an ephemeral architecture ... [as in China], the sites of vast cities may have become entirely lost to recollection in a few thousands of years from natural decay, and how much more ... if ... minor cataclysms have intervened, such as local inundations, earthquakes, deposition of volcanic ashes, ... the spread of sandy deserts, destruction of life by deadly pestilence, by miasma, or by the outpour of sulphurous fumes.696How many of such cataclysms have changed the whole surface of the earth may be inferred from the following Stanza of Commentary Twenty-two:[pg 326]During the first seven crores [70,000,000 years] of the Kalpa the Earth and its two Kingdoms [mineral and vegetable], one already having achieved its seventh circle, the other, hardly nascent, are luminous and semi-ethereal, cold, lifeless, and translucid. In the eleventh crore697the Mother [Earth] grows opaque, and in the fourteenth698the throes of adolescence take place. These convulsions of Nature [geological changes] last till her twentieth crore of years, uninterruptedly, after which they become periodical, and at long intervals.The last change took place nearly twelve crores [120,000,000] of years ago. But the Earth with everything on her face had become cool, hard and settled ages earlier.Thus, if we are to believe Esoteric Teaching,universalgeological disturbances and changes have not occurred for the last 120 million years, but the Earth, even before that time, was ready to receive her human stock. The appearance of the latter, however, in its full physical development, as already stated, took place only about 18,000,000 years ago, after the first great failure of Nature to create beings alone—i.e., without the help of the divine“Fashioners”—had been followed by the successive evolution of the first three Races.699The actual duration of the first two and a half Races is withheld from all but the higher Initiates. The history of the Races begins at the separation of the sexes, when the preceding egg-bearing androgynous Race perished rapidly, and the subsequent sub-races of the Third Root-Race appeared as an entirely new racephysiologically. It is this“Destruction”which is allegorically called the great“Vaivasvata Manu Deluge,”when the account shows Vaivasvata Manu, or Humanity, remaining alone on Earth in the Ark of Salvation towed by Vishnu in the shape of a[pg 327]monstrous fish, and the Seven Rishis“with him.”The allegory is very plain.In the symbolism of every nation, the“Deluge”stands for chaotic unsettled Matter—Chaos itself; and Water for the Feminine Principle—the“Great Deep.”As the Greek Lexicon of Parkhurst gives it:Ἀρχὴ answers to the Hebrewrasit, or Wisdom ... and [at the same time] to the emblem of the female generative power, theargorarca, in which the germ of nature [and of mankind] floats or broods on the great abyss of the waters, during the interval which takes place after every mundane [or racial] cycle.Archê (Ἀρχὴ) or Ark is also the mystic name of the Divine Spirit of Life which broods over Chaos. Now Vishnuisthe Divine Spirit, as an abstract principle, and also as the Preserver and Generator, or Giver of Life—the third Person of the Trimûrti—composed of Brahmâ, the Creator, Shiva, the Destroyer, and Vishnu, the Preserver. Vishnu is shown, in the allegory, under the form of aFish, guiding the Ark of Vaivasvata Manu across the Waters of the Flood. There is no use in expatiating upon the esoteric meaning of the wordFish(as Payne Knight, Inman, Gerald Massey, and others have done). Its theological meaning is phallic, but the metaphysical, divine. Jesus was called the Fish, as were Vishnu and Bacchus; ΙΗΣ, the“Saviour”of Mankind, being but the monogram of the God Bacchus, who was also called ΙΧΘΥΣ, the Fish.700Moreover, the Seven Rishis in the Ark symbolized the seven“principles,”which became complete in man only after he had separated, and become ahuman, and thus ceased to be a divine creature.But to return to the Races; details as to the submersion of the Continent inhabited by the Second Root-Race are not numerous. The history of the Third, or Lemuria, is given, as is also that of Atlantis, but the others are only alluded to. Lemuria is said to have perished about 700,000 years before the commencement of what is now called the Tertiary Age (the Eocene).701During this Deluge—an actual geological deluge this time—Vaivasvata Manu is also shown saving mankind, allegorically—in reality, a portion of it, the Fourth Race—just as he saved the Fifth Race during the destruction of the last[pg 328]Atlanteans, the remnants that perished 850,000 years ago,702after which there was no great submersion until the day of Plato's Atlantis, or Poseidonis, which was known to the Egyptians only because it happened in such relatively recent times.It is the submersion of the great Atlantis which is the most interesting. This is the Cataclysm of which the old records, as in theBook of Enoch, say,“the ends of the Earth got loose”; and upon which have been built the legends and allegories of Vaivasvata, Xisuthrus, Noah, Deucalion and all thetutti quantiof the Elect Saved. Tradition, not taking into account the difference between sidereal and geological phenomena, calls both“Deluges”indifferently. Yet there is a great difference. The Cataclysm which destroyed the huge Continent of which Australia is the largest relic, was due to a series of subterranean convulsions and the breaking asunder of the ocean floors. That which put an end to its successor—the Fourth Continent—was brought on by successive disturbances in the axial rotation. It began during the earliest Tertiary periods, and, continuing for long ages, carried away successively the last vestige of Atlantis, with the exception, perhaps, of Ceylon and a small portion of what is now Africa. It changed the face of the globe, and no memory of its flourishing continents and isles, of its civilizations and sciences, have remained in the annals of history, save in the Sacred Records of the East.Hence, Modern Science denies the existence of Atlantis. It even denies any violent shiftings of the Earth's axis, and would attribute the change of climate to other causes. But this question is still an open one. If Dr. Croll will have it that all such alterations can be accounted for by the effects of nutation and the precession of the equinoxes, there are others, such as Sir Henry James and Sir John Lubbock,703who feel more inclined to accept the idea that they are due to a change in the position of the axis of rotation. Against this the majority of the Astronomers are again arrayed. But then, what have they not denied before now, and what have they not denounced—only to accept it later on, whenever the hypothesis became undeniable fact?How far our figures agree, or rather disagree, with Modern Science[pg 329]will be seen further in the Addenda to this Volume, where the Geology and Anthropology of our modern day are carefully compared with the teachings of Archaic Science. At any rate, the period assigned by the Secret Doctrine for the sinking of Atlantis, does not seem to disagree very much with the calculations of Modern Science, which, however, calls Atlantis“Lemuria”whenever it accepts such a submerged Continent. With regard to the pre-human period, all that can be said, at present, is, that even prior to the appearance of the“mindless”First Race, the Earth was not without its inhabitants. We might, however, add that what Science, which recognizesphysical man only, has a right to regard as thepre-humanperiod, may be conceded to have extended from the First Race down to the first half of the Atlantean Race, since it is only then that man became the“completeorganicbeing he is now.”And this would make Adamic Man no older than a few millions of years.704The author of theQabbalahtruly remarks that:“Man to-day, as an individual, is only a concatenation of the being-hood of precedent human life,”orlives, rather.According to the Qabbalah, the soul sparks contained in Adam, went into three principal classes corresponding to his three sons, viz.:Hesed, Habel,Ge'boor-ah, Qai-yin andRa'h-minSeth. These three were divided into ... 70 species, called; the principal roots of the human race.705Said Rabbi Yehudah:“How many garments [of the incorporeal man] are these which are crowned (from the day man was created)?”Said R. El'azar:“The mountains of the world (the great men of the generation) are in discussion upon it, but there are three: one to clothe in that garment theRua'hspirit, which is in the garden (of Eden) on earth: one which is more precious than all, in which theNeshamahis clothed in that Bundle of Life, between the angels of the Kings ...: and one outside garment, which exists and does not exist, is seen and not seen. In that garment, theNepheshis clothed, and she goes and flies in it, to and fro in the world.”706This relates to the Races, their“garments,”or degree of materiality, and to the three“principles”of man in their three vehicles.
Those who are aware that the“Great Flood,”which was connected with the sinking of an entire Continent (save only a few islands) could not have happened so far back as 18,000,000 years ago, and that Vaivasvata Manu is the Indian Noah connected with the Matsya, or the Fish, Avatâra of Vishnu, may feel perplexed at the apparent discrepancy between the facts stated and the chronology previously given. But there is no discrepancy in truth. The reader is asked to turn toThe Theosophistof July, 1883, for by studying the article therein, on“The Septenary Principle in Esotericism,”the whole question can be explained to him. It is in the explanation there given, I believe, that the Occultists differ from the Brâhmans.
For the benefit of those, however, who may not haveThe Theosophistof that date to hand, a passage or two may now be quoted from it:
Who was Manu, the son of Svâyambhuva? The Secret Doctrine tells us thatthisManu was no man, but the representation of the first human races, evolved with the help of the Dhyân Chohans (Devas), at the beginning of the First Round. But we are told in hisLaws(i. 80) that there are fourteen Manus for every Kalpa, or“interval from creation to creation”—read rather interval from oneminorPralaya to another687—and that“in the present divine age, there have been as yetsevenManus.”Those who know that there are seven Rounds, of which we have passed three, and are now in the Fourth; and who are taught that there are seven[pg 322]Dawns and seven Twilights, or fourteen Manvantaras; that at the beginning of every Round and at the end, and on, and between, the planets [Globes] there is an“awakening toillusivelife,”and an“awakening toreallife”; and that, moreover, there are Root-Manus, and what we have to clumsily translate as Seed-Manus—the seeds for the human races of the forthcomingRound (or the Shishtas—the surviving fittest688; a mystery divulged only to those who have passed their third degree in Initiation)—those who have learned all this will be better prepared to understand the meaning of the following. We are told in the Hindû Sacred Scriptures that,“The first Manu producedsixother Manus [sevenprimary Manus in all], and these produced in their turn each seven other Manus”689(Bhrigu, i. 61-63)—the production of the latter standing in the Occult treatises as 7 x 7. Thus it becomes clear that Manu—the last one, the Progenitor of our Fourth-Round Humanity—must be theseventh, since we are on our Fourth Round,690and there is aRoot-Manu at Globe A, and aSeed-Manu at Globe G. Just as each planetary Round commences with the appearance of a Root-Manu (Dhyân Chohan) and closes with a Seed-Manu, so a Root- and a Seed-Manu appear respectively at the beginning and the termination of the human period on any particular planet [Globe].691It will be easily seen from the foregoing statement that a Manvantaric period (Manu-antara) means, as the term implies, the timebetweenthe appearance of two Manus or Dhyân Chohans; and hence a Minor Manvantara is the duration of thesevenRaces on any particular planet [Globe], and a Major Manvantara is the period of one human Round along the Planetary Chain. Moreover, as it is said that each of the seven Manuscreates7 x 7 Manus, and that there are 49 Root-Races on the seven planets [Globes] during each Round, then every Root-Race has its Manu. The present seventh Manu is called“Vaivasvata”and stands in the exoteric texts for that Manu who in India represents the Babylonian Xisuthrus and the Jewish Noah.[pg 323]But in the Esoteric books we are told that Manu Vaivasvata, the progenitor of ourFifthRace—who saved it from the flood that nearly exterminated the Fourth or Atlantean—is not the seventh Manu, mentioned in the nomenclature of the Root or Primitive Manus, but one of the 49 Manus emanated from this Root-Manu.For clearer comprehension we here give the names of the 14 Manus in their respective order and in their relation to each Round:1st Round, 1st (Root) Manu on Planet A—Svâyambhuva.1st Round, 1st (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Svârochi, or Svârochisha.2nd Round, 2nd (Root) Manu on Planet A—Auttami.2nd Round, 2nd (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Tâmasa.3rd Round, 3rd (Root) Manu on Planet A—Raivata.3rd Round, 3rd (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Châkshusha.4th Round, 4th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Vaivasvata (our Progenitor).4th Round, 4th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Sâvarna.5th Round, 5th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Daksha-sâvarna.5th Round, 5th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Brahma-sâvarna.6th Round, 6th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Dharma-sâvarna.6th Round, 6th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Rudra-sâvarna.7th Round, 7th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Rauchya.7th Round, 7th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Bhautya.Vaivasvata, thus, though seventh in the order given, is the primitive Root-Manu of our Fourth Human Wave (the reader must always remember that Manu is not a man but collective humanity), whileourVaivasvata was but one of the seven Minor Manus, who are made to preside over the seven Races of this our planet [Globe]. Each of these has to become the witness of one of the periodical and ever-recurring cataclysms (by fire and water) that close the cycle of every Root-Race. And it is this Vaivasvata—the Hindû ideal embodiment, called respectively Xisuthrus, Deucalion, Noah and other names—who is the allegorical“Man”who rescued our Race, when nearly the whole population of one hemisphere perished by water, while the other hemisphere was awakening from its temporary obscuration.692
Who was Manu, the son of Svâyambhuva? The Secret Doctrine tells us thatthisManu was no man, but the representation of the first human races, evolved with the help of the Dhyân Chohans (Devas), at the beginning of the First Round. But we are told in hisLaws(i. 80) that there are fourteen Manus for every Kalpa, or“interval from creation to creation”—read rather interval from oneminorPralaya to another687—and that“in the present divine age, there have been as yetsevenManus.”Those who know that there are seven Rounds, of which we have passed three, and are now in the Fourth; and who are taught that there are seven[pg 322]Dawns and seven Twilights, or fourteen Manvantaras; that at the beginning of every Round and at the end, and on, and between, the planets [Globes] there is an“awakening toillusivelife,”and an“awakening toreallife”; and that, moreover, there are Root-Manus, and what we have to clumsily translate as Seed-Manus—the seeds for the human races of the forthcomingRound (or the Shishtas—the surviving fittest688; a mystery divulged only to those who have passed their third degree in Initiation)—those who have learned all this will be better prepared to understand the meaning of the following. We are told in the Hindû Sacred Scriptures that,“The first Manu producedsixother Manus [sevenprimary Manus in all], and these produced in their turn each seven other Manus”689(Bhrigu, i. 61-63)—the production of the latter standing in the Occult treatises as 7 x 7. Thus it becomes clear that Manu—the last one, the Progenitor of our Fourth-Round Humanity—must be theseventh, since we are on our Fourth Round,690and there is aRoot-Manu at Globe A, and aSeed-Manu at Globe G. Just as each planetary Round commences with the appearance of a Root-Manu (Dhyân Chohan) and closes with a Seed-Manu, so a Root- and a Seed-Manu appear respectively at the beginning and the termination of the human period on any particular planet [Globe].691It will be easily seen from the foregoing statement that a Manvantaric period (Manu-antara) means, as the term implies, the timebetweenthe appearance of two Manus or Dhyân Chohans; and hence a Minor Manvantara is the duration of thesevenRaces on any particular planet [Globe], and a Major Manvantara is the period of one human Round along the Planetary Chain. Moreover, as it is said that each of the seven Manuscreates7 x 7 Manus, and that there are 49 Root-Races on the seven planets [Globes] during each Round, then every Root-Race has its Manu. The present seventh Manu is called“Vaivasvata”and stands in the exoteric texts for that Manu who in India represents the Babylonian Xisuthrus and the Jewish Noah.
But in the Esoteric books we are told that Manu Vaivasvata, the progenitor of ourFifthRace—who saved it from the flood that nearly exterminated the Fourth or Atlantean—is not the seventh Manu, mentioned in the nomenclature of the Root or Primitive Manus, but one of the 49 Manus emanated from this Root-Manu.
For clearer comprehension we here give the names of the 14 Manus in their respective order and in their relation to each Round:
1st Round, 1st (Root) Manu on Planet A—Svâyambhuva.1st Round, 1st (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Svârochi, or Svârochisha.2nd Round, 2nd (Root) Manu on Planet A—Auttami.2nd Round, 2nd (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Tâmasa.3rd Round, 3rd (Root) Manu on Planet A—Raivata.3rd Round, 3rd (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Châkshusha.4th Round, 4th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Vaivasvata (our Progenitor).4th Round, 4th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Sâvarna.5th Round, 5th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Daksha-sâvarna.5th Round, 5th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Brahma-sâvarna.6th Round, 6th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Dharma-sâvarna.6th Round, 6th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Rudra-sâvarna.7th Round, 7th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Rauchya.7th Round, 7th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Bhautya.
1st Round, 1st (Root) Manu on Planet A—Svâyambhuva.
1st Round, 1st (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Svârochi, or Svârochisha.
2nd Round, 2nd (Root) Manu on Planet A—Auttami.
2nd Round, 2nd (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Tâmasa.
3rd Round, 3rd (Root) Manu on Planet A—Raivata.
3rd Round, 3rd (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Châkshusha.
4th Round, 4th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Vaivasvata (our Progenitor).
4th Round, 4th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Sâvarna.
5th Round, 5th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Daksha-sâvarna.
5th Round, 5th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Brahma-sâvarna.
6th Round, 6th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Dharma-sâvarna.
6th Round, 6th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Rudra-sâvarna.
7th Round, 7th (Root) Manu on Planet A—Rauchya.
7th Round, 7th (Seed) Manu on Planet G—Bhautya.
Vaivasvata, thus, though seventh in the order given, is the primitive Root-Manu of our Fourth Human Wave (the reader must always remember that Manu is not a man but collective humanity), whileourVaivasvata was but one of the seven Minor Manus, who are made to preside over the seven Races of this our planet [Globe]. Each of these has to become the witness of one of the periodical and ever-recurring cataclysms (by fire and water) that close the cycle of every Root-Race. And it is this Vaivasvata—the Hindû ideal embodiment, called respectively Xisuthrus, Deucalion, Noah and other names—who is the allegorical“Man”who rescued our Race, when nearly the whole population of one hemisphere perished by water, while the other hemisphere was awakening from its temporary obscuration.692
Thus it is shown that there is no real discrepancy in speaking of the Vaivasvata Manvantara (Manu-antara, lit.,“between two Manus”) as 18,000,000 odd years ago, when physical, or the truly human, Man first appeared in his Fourth Round on this Earth; and of the other Vaivasvatas,[pg 324]e.g., the Manu of the Great Cosmic or Sidereal Flood—a mystery—or again the Manu Vaivasvata of the submerged Atlantis, when theRacialVaivasvata saved the elect of Humanity, the Fifth Race, from utter destruction. As these several and quite distinct events are purposely blended in theVishnuand otherPurânasin one narrative, there may yet be a great deal of perplexity left in the profane reader's mind. Therefore, as constant elucidation is needed, we must be forgiven unavoidable repetitions. The“blinds”which conceal the real mysteries of Esoteric Philosophy are great and puzzling, and even now the last word cannot be given. The veil, however, may be a little more removed, and some explanations, hitherto denied, may now be offered to the earnest student.
As Colonel Vans Kennedy, if we do not mistake, remarked:“the first principle in Hindû religious philosophy isunity in diversity.”If all those Manus and Rishis are called by one generic name, it is due to the fact that they are one and all the manifested Energies of one and the same Logos, the celestial as well as the terrestrial Messengers and Permutations of that Principle which is ever in a state of activity—conscious during the period of Cosmic Evolution, unconscious (from our point of view) during Cosmic Rest—for the Logos sleepeth in the bosom ofThatwhich“sleepeth not,”nor is it ever awake, for it is Sat or“Be-ness,”not a Being. It is fromItthat issues the greatUnseenLogos, who evolves all the other Logoi; the Primeval Manu who gives being to the other Manus, who emanate the universe and all in it collectively, and who represent in their aggregate theManifestedLogos.693Hence we learn in the Commentaries that while no Dhyân Chohan, not even the highest, can realize completely
The condition of the preceding Cosmic Evolution, ... the Manus retain a knowledge of their experiences in all the Cosmic Evolutions throughout Eternity.
This is very plain: the first Manu is called Svâyambhuva, the“Self-manifested,”the Son of theUnmanifestedFather. The Manus are the Creators of the Creators of our First Race—the Spirit of Mankind—which does not prevent thesevenManus from having been the first“Pre-Adamic”Men on Earth.
Manu declares himself created by Virâj,694or Vaishvânara, the Spirit[pg 325]of Humanity,695which means that his Monad emanates from the never resting Principle in the beginning of every new Cosmic Activity—that Logos or Universal Monad (collective Elohim) which radiatesfrom within himselfall those Cosmic Monads that become the centres of activity—Progenitors of the numberless Solar Systems as well as of the yet undifferentiatedhumanMonads of Planetary Chains as well as of every being thereon. Svâyambhuva, or Self-born, is the name of every Cosmic Monadwhich becomes the Centre of Force, from within which emerges a Planetary Chain(of which Chains there are seven in our System). And the radiations of this Centre become again so many Manus Svâyambhuva (a mysterious generic name, meaning far more than appears), each of them becoming, as a Host, the Creator of his own Humanity.
As to the question of the four distinct Races of mankind that preceded our Fifth Race, there is nothing mystical in the subject, except the ethereal bodies of the first Races; and this is a matter of legendary, nevertheless very correct, history. The legend is universal. And if the Westernsavantpleases to see in it only a myth, it does not make the slightest difference. The Mexicans had, and still have, the tradition of the fourfold destruction of the world by fire and water, just as the Egyptians had, and the Hindûs have, to this day.
Trying to account for the community of legends held by Chinese, Chaldæans, Egyptians, Indians and Greeks, in remote antiquity, and for the absence of any certain vestige of civilization more ancient than 5,000 years, the author ofMythical Monstersremarks that:
We must ... not be surprised if we do not immediately discover the vestiges of the people of ten, fifteen, or twenty thousand years ago. With an ephemeral architecture ... [as in China], the sites of vast cities may have become entirely lost to recollection in a few thousands of years from natural decay, and how much more ... if ... minor cataclysms have intervened, such as local inundations, earthquakes, deposition of volcanic ashes, ... the spread of sandy deserts, destruction of life by deadly pestilence, by miasma, or by the outpour of sulphurous fumes.696
We must ... not be surprised if we do not immediately discover the vestiges of the people of ten, fifteen, or twenty thousand years ago. With an ephemeral architecture ... [as in China], the sites of vast cities may have become entirely lost to recollection in a few thousands of years from natural decay, and how much more ... if ... minor cataclysms have intervened, such as local inundations, earthquakes, deposition of volcanic ashes, ... the spread of sandy deserts, destruction of life by deadly pestilence, by miasma, or by the outpour of sulphurous fumes.696
How many of such cataclysms have changed the whole surface of the earth may be inferred from the following Stanza of Commentary Twenty-two:
During the first seven crores [70,000,000 years] of the Kalpa the Earth and its two Kingdoms [mineral and vegetable], one already having achieved its seventh circle, the other, hardly nascent, are luminous and semi-ethereal, cold, lifeless, and translucid. In the eleventh crore697the Mother [Earth] grows opaque, and in the fourteenth698the throes of adolescence take place. These convulsions of Nature [geological changes] last till her twentieth crore of years, uninterruptedly, after which they become periodical, and at long intervals.
The last change took place nearly twelve crores [120,000,000] of years ago. But the Earth with everything on her face had become cool, hard and settled ages earlier.
Thus, if we are to believe Esoteric Teaching,universalgeological disturbances and changes have not occurred for the last 120 million years, but the Earth, even before that time, was ready to receive her human stock. The appearance of the latter, however, in its full physical development, as already stated, took place only about 18,000,000 years ago, after the first great failure of Nature to create beings alone—i.e., without the help of the divine“Fashioners”—had been followed by the successive evolution of the first three Races.699The actual duration of the first two and a half Races is withheld from all but the higher Initiates. The history of the Races begins at the separation of the sexes, when the preceding egg-bearing androgynous Race perished rapidly, and the subsequent sub-races of the Third Root-Race appeared as an entirely new racephysiologically. It is this“Destruction”which is allegorically called the great“Vaivasvata Manu Deluge,”when the account shows Vaivasvata Manu, or Humanity, remaining alone on Earth in the Ark of Salvation towed by Vishnu in the shape of a[pg 327]monstrous fish, and the Seven Rishis“with him.”The allegory is very plain.
In the symbolism of every nation, the“Deluge”stands for chaotic unsettled Matter—Chaos itself; and Water for the Feminine Principle—the“Great Deep.”As the Greek Lexicon of Parkhurst gives it:
Ἀρχὴ answers to the Hebrewrasit, or Wisdom ... and [at the same time] to the emblem of the female generative power, theargorarca, in which the germ of nature [and of mankind] floats or broods on the great abyss of the waters, during the interval which takes place after every mundane [or racial] cycle.
Ἀρχὴ answers to the Hebrewrasit, or Wisdom ... and [at the same time] to the emblem of the female generative power, theargorarca, in which the germ of nature [and of mankind] floats or broods on the great abyss of the waters, during the interval which takes place after every mundane [or racial] cycle.
Archê (Ἀρχὴ) or Ark is also the mystic name of the Divine Spirit of Life which broods over Chaos. Now Vishnuisthe Divine Spirit, as an abstract principle, and also as the Preserver and Generator, or Giver of Life—the third Person of the Trimûrti—composed of Brahmâ, the Creator, Shiva, the Destroyer, and Vishnu, the Preserver. Vishnu is shown, in the allegory, under the form of aFish, guiding the Ark of Vaivasvata Manu across the Waters of the Flood. There is no use in expatiating upon the esoteric meaning of the wordFish(as Payne Knight, Inman, Gerald Massey, and others have done). Its theological meaning is phallic, but the metaphysical, divine. Jesus was called the Fish, as were Vishnu and Bacchus; ΙΗΣ, the“Saviour”of Mankind, being but the monogram of the God Bacchus, who was also called ΙΧΘΥΣ, the Fish.700Moreover, the Seven Rishis in the Ark symbolized the seven“principles,”which became complete in man only after he had separated, and become ahuman, and thus ceased to be a divine creature.
But to return to the Races; details as to the submersion of the Continent inhabited by the Second Root-Race are not numerous. The history of the Third, or Lemuria, is given, as is also that of Atlantis, but the others are only alluded to. Lemuria is said to have perished about 700,000 years before the commencement of what is now called the Tertiary Age (the Eocene).701During this Deluge—an actual geological deluge this time—Vaivasvata Manu is also shown saving mankind, allegorically—in reality, a portion of it, the Fourth Race—just as he saved the Fifth Race during the destruction of the last[pg 328]Atlanteans, the remnants that perished 850,000 years ago,702after which there was no great submersion until the day of Plato's Atlantis, or Poseidonis, which was known to the Egyptians only because it happened in such relatively recent times.
It is the submersion of the great Atlantis which is the most interesting. This is the Cataclysm of which the old records, as in theBook of Enoch, say,“the ends of the Earth got loose”; and upon which have been built the legends and allegories of Vaivasvata, Xisuthrus, Noah, Deucalion and all thetutti quantiof the Elect Saved. Tradition, not taking into account the difference between sidereal and geological phenomena, calls both“Deluges”indifferently. Yet there is a great difference. The Cataclysm which destroyed the huge Continent of which Australia is the largest relic, was due to a series of subterranean convulsions and the breaking asunder of the ocean floors. That which put an end to its successor—the Fourth Continent—was brought on by successive disturbances in the axial rotation. It began during the earliest Tertiary periods, and, continuing for long ages, carried away successively the last vestige of Atlantis, with the exception, perhaps, of Ceylon and a small portion of what is now Africa. It changed the face of the globe, and no memory of its flourishing continents and isles, of its civilizations and sciences, have remained in the annals of history, save in the Sacred Records of the East.
Hence, Modern Science denies the existence of Atlantis. It even denies any violent shiftings of the Earth's axis, and would attribute the change of climate to other causes. But this question is still an open one. If Dr. Croll will have it that all such alterations can be accounted for by the effects of nutation and the precession of the equinoxes, there are others, such as Sir Henry James and Sir John Lubbock,703who feel more inclined to accept the idea that they are due to a change in the position of the axis of rotation. Against this the majority of the Astronomers are again arrayed. But then, what have they not denied before now, and what have they not denounced—only to accept it later on, whenever the hypothesis became undeniable fact?
How far our figures agree, or rather disagree, with Modern Science[pg 329]will be seen further in the Addenda to this Volume, where the Geology and Anthropology of our modern day are carefully compared with the teachings of Archaic Science. At any rate, the period assigned by the Secret Doctrine for the sinking of Atlantis, does not seem to disagree very much with the calculations of Modern Science, which, however, calls Atlantis“Lemuria”whenever it accepts such a submerged Continent. With regard to the pre-human period, all that can be said, at present, is, that even prior to the appearance of the“mindless”First Race, the Earth was not without its inhabitants. We might, however, add that what Science, which recognizesphysical man only, has a right to regard as thepre-humanperiod, may be conceded to have extended from the First Race down to the first half of the Atlantean Race, since it is only then that man became the“completeorganicbeing he is now.”And this would make Adamic Man no older than a few millions of years.704
The author of theQabbalahtruly remarks that:“Man to-day, as an individual, is only a concatenation of the being-hood of precedent human life,”orlives, rather.
According to the Qabbalah, the soul sparks contained in Adam, went into three principal classes corresponding to his three sons, viz.:Hesed, Habel,Ge'boor-ah, Qai-yin andRa'h-minSeth. These three were divided into ... 70 species, called; the principal roots of the human race.705Said Rabbi Yehudah:“How many garments [of the incorporeal man] are these which are crowned (from the day man was created)?”Said R. El'azar:“The mountains of the world (the great men of the generation) are in discussion upon it, but there are three: one to clothe in that garment theRua'hspirit, which is in the garden (of Eden) on earth: one which is more precious than all, in which theNeshamahis clothed in that Bundle of Life, between the angels of the Kings ...: and one outside garment, which exists and does not exist, is seen and not seen. In that garment, theNepheshis clothed, and she goes and flies in it, to and fro in the world.”706
According to the Qabbalah, the soul sparks contained in Adam, went into three principal classes corresponding to his three sons, viz.:Hesed, Habel,Ge'boor-ah, Qai-yin andRa'h-minSeth. These three were divided into ... 70 species, called; the principal roots of the human race.705
Said Rabbi Yehudah:“How many garments [of the incorporeal man] are these which are crowned (from the day man was created)?”Said R. El'azar:“The mountains of the world (the great men of the generation) are in discussion upon it, but there are three: one to clothe in that garment theRua'hspirit, which is in the garden (of Eden) on earth: one which is more precious than all, in which theNeshamahis clothed in that Bundle of Life, between the angels of the Kings ...: and one outside garment, which exists and does not exist, is seen and not seen. In that garment, theNepheshis clothed, and she goes and flies in it, to and fro in the world.”706
This relates to the Races, their“garments,”or degree of materiality, and to the three“principles”of man in their three vehicles.