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The Secret Doctrine, Volume 1:143-152

In the fourth section of the Sixth Stanza in The Secret Doctrine 1:151, H.P. Blavatsky explained that she was ending "that portion of the Stanzas which relates to the Universal Cosmogony after the last Mahapralaya or Universal destruction, which, when it comes, sweeps out of Space every differentiated thing, Gods as atoms, like so many dry leaves." Before moving on, this is an excellent place to clarify several previously introduced themes.

First, it must be remembered that, whenever speaking of an individual Cosmic entity in the secondary Universe, it is implied to be part of a "Collective," per The Secret Doctrine 1:143. For example, she wrote that the "individual Fohats make one Universal, Collective Fohat." Since Fohat stretches as a stream from Paramatman to Alaya to Mahat and Cosmic Kama, the Central Sun and its attendant Suns are part of that collective. In a secondary Universe, countless solar Suns, Equatorial Suns, and Polar Suns are scattered throughout its immense Space. With the Maha-Pralaya, all these three types of suns in their multiplicity across the Cosmos are drawn into Alaya and up towards Paramatman. With the Lipika on the boundary line of Paramatman, the veil drops here.

Second, this commentary approaches the Kosmos from a ten-fold perspective as opposed to a seven-fold or a twelve-fold perspective. While a seven-fold perspective has many benefits, it also has many limitations. Within a seven-fold perspective, the upper three logoi are simply collapsed on top of the solar Sun. The problem with this approach is that it leaves little room for a discussion of the cosmic suns or for the nuanced distinctions between the primary and secondary Darknesses and Lights. For example, no matter how high Paramatman (as the Central Sun) is linked in the Cosmic structure, it is never a proper substitute for the galactic immaculate white disk. As well, there is a distinction between Isis as a secondary Darkness and Neith as a primary Darkness in theosophical literature. In a seven-fold presentation, this distinction becomes muddled. But in a ten-fold presentation Isis can be labelled as the 6th cosmical principle and Neith can be labelled as the 2nd Logos. As G. de Purucker wrote in Fountain-Source on page 314, Neith is the "more mystical aspect" of Isis, in the same way that Mulaprakriti is "mystically identical" with Alaya in the Occult Glossary on page 5. Within a twelve-fold perspective, theosophical literature must be re-written to account for Sthula-Sarira as the bottom-most connecting plane. Further, not enough has been said about the two highest Kosmical principles for anything much to be written. G. de Purucker hinted at these two highest Kosmical principles in Fountain-Source on page 564, "The unmanifest five we may call typically universal or kosmic, at least the higher units thereof, for their range of action extends far beyond our own galaxy or home-universe."

Third, every cosmical principle is part of an actual, organic, living entity and therefore can be discussed in different ways. Paramatman is the most obvious example. In his Occult Glossary on page 125, G. de Purucker noted that Paramatman possessed a "wide range of meanings." In his diagram on the cosmical principles in Fountain-Source on page 437, Paramatman is the "First or Unmanifest Logos" over the Mundane Egg. But when elaborating on his diagram of the human principles on page 435, his outline in Fundamentals on pages 265-266 placed Paramatman as the 2nd Logos beyond the Mundane Egg. Here, he positioned Parabrahman-Mulaprakriti as the 1st Logos, Paramatman as the 2nd Logos (while also maintaining its placement as the 7th cosmical principle or "Unmanifested Logos"), and Brahma-Purusha-Prakriti (Mahat as Universal Mind) as the 3rd Logos. The Divine Monad appurtenant to the solar Sun followed. Considering this alternative view on Paramatman, H.P. Blavatsky's comments in her Collected Writings 14:223 on Julian the Apostate's vision of the "threefold" layers of suns suddenly becomes clear. For Julian (4th century AD), the solar Sun is the lowest, the "Intelligence" of the second Sun is the "Second Power," and the "central Sun" as the "universal cause of all" is the "Sovereign Good." In G. de Purucker's alternative arrangement in Fundamentals, Julian's "visible Sun" corresponded to the Divine Monad of the human principles, his "Second Power" corresponded to "Brahma-Purusha-Prakriti (who held "dominion over all reasonable beings"), and the "central Sun" corresponded to Paramatman; it represented the fulfillment of a perfect solar trinity in the evolutionary ladder of a human being in his highest human principles. In hindsight, The Secret Doctrine is a synthesis of science, religion, and philosophy; the human and cosmical principles are presented with contrasting details as the means to unravel the varied mystery traditions in the world's religions.

Fourth, the distinction between the two diagrams in G. de Purucker's Fountain-Source on pages 435 and 437 needs to be addressed one more time because the concept is so difficult and yet so key to understanding theosophical literature. In looking at how the seven human principles ascend on page 435, Atman is at the top and it corresponds to the solar Sun. But when one looks at how the seven cosmical principles ascend on page 437, the solar Sun corresponds to Cosmic Kama, not Atman (or Paramatman). The reason for this is found in G. de Purucker's Fundamentals on pages 314-315. For him, Atman is a "universal" principle used to signify the "permanent root of our being." He continued, "The atman is put as the first or highest because the seven principles of man are considered in a generalizing way." This is what H.P. Blavatsky hinted at when she wrote in The Secret Doctrine 1:527, "It is only when regarded as an individual Entity in his own Kingdom that Surya (the sun) is the 7th principle of the great body of matter." Here, the solar Sun as Cosmic Kama is treated as Atman because the principles of the evolving entities in its kingdom include the elemental, the mineral, the plant, the animal, the man, the planetary, and the solar. The solar Sun in its own kingdom is the permanent root of our being and therefore it is Atman.


Sources:

H.P Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine (Pasadena: Theosophical University Press, 2019).

H.P. Blavatsky, Collected Writings, Vol. 14 (Wheaton: The Theosophical Publishing House, 1985).

G. de Purucker, Fountain-Source of Occultism (Pasadena: Theosophical University Press, 1974).

G. de Purucker, Fundamentals of the Esoteric Philosophy (Pasadena: Theosophical University Press, 1979).

G. de Purucker, Occult Glossary (Pasadena: Theosophical University Press, 1996).

(Photo by Austris Augusts on Unsplash)


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