The Seventh Stanza reiterates the main themes in the first six Stanzas. Regarding the transition from the First to the Fourth Root-Race, H.P. Blavatsky summed up in The Secret Doctrine 2:173, "The first men were Chhayas (1); the second, the 'Sweat Born' (2), the Third, 'Egg-born,' and the holy Fathers born by the power of Kriyasakti (3); the Fourth were the children of the Padmapani (Chenresi) (4)." The more subtle nuances in the Seventh Stanza need to be examined.
Each one of these four Root-Races is divided when the seeds for the succeeding Root-Race are sown by its respective Manu. In G. de Purucker's Dialogues 1:86, "Every Root-race in its middle point begins to sow the seeds of the next succeeding Root-race in its fourth main sub-race." As the cycles become smaller and smaller descending from Sub-Races to Family Races to National Races to Tribal Races to Tribal Generations, the same pattern prevails. This is why H.P. Blavatsky suggested in The Secret Doctrine 2:165-166 that the "gradual evolution of man in the Secret Doctrine shows that all the later (to the profane the earliest) Races have their physical origin in the early Fourth Race. But it is the sub-race, which preceded the one that separated sexually, that is to be regarded as the spiritual ancestors of our present generations, and especially of the Eastern Aryan Races." Since the "sub-race" that separates sexually is the 5th Sub-Race of the Third Root-Race, H.P. Blavatsky is referring to the 4th Sub-Race of the Third Root-Race. Vaivasvata establishes modern humanity in the 4th Sub-Race; however, the 4th Sub-Race has its origins at the middle point of the 3rd Sub-Race with the 4th Family Race. So, the Vaivasvata of this 4th Family Race is a minor Manu in comparison to the Vaivasvata of the 4th Sub-Race, but it is still Vaivasvata Manu. In the same way, the Vaivasvata of the 4th Sub-Race in the Third Root-Race is a minor Manu in comparison to the Vaivasvata of the Fourth Root-Race in the Fourth Round. Nature endlessly sends inspirational figures throughout the Rounds to guide humanity.
All four of these Root-Races are guided by Avalokitesvara as their synthesis. In The Secret Doctrine 2:178, "He is evidently, like Daksha, the synthesis of all the preceding Races and the progenitor of all the human Races after the Third, the first complete one, and thus is represented as the culmination of the four primeval races in his eleven-faced form." Just as Avalokitesvara is the synthesis of the Dhyani-Buddhas housed in the 4th cosmical principle as the Solar Sun of Cosmic Kama, he is the synthesis of our mankind housed in the 4th human principle. This corresponds with Avalokitesvara's placement at the end of the "4th Race" in H.P. Blavatsky's diagram in The Letters of H.P. Blavatsky on page 243. But why does Avalokitesvara have an "eleven-faced form?" He has an "eleven-faced form" because from one perspective there are eleven sacred planets working through the Root-Races on the Earth globe, not twelve. The twelfth is technically the Solar Sun. G. de Purucker, expounding on this distinction in Fountain-Source on page 320 when discussing whether to include Mercury and Mars in the list of sacred planets from Letter 23B of The Mahatma Letters on page 176, stated, "These four [ed. four sacred planets], with the seven enumerated, make eleven, to which we may add the solar chain, forming the full number of twelve." The story goes that, in seeking to alleviate the suffering of the world, Avalokitesvara's head explodes into eleven pieces. Amitabha gives him eleven new heads to hear the cries of humanity. In H.P. Blavatsky's example, there is no face to save the Atlanteans in their final demise. That is, there is no sacred planet under the rule of Avalokitesvara's Dhyani-Bodhisattvas that can use its influence to prevent the cataclysm. From a zodiacal perspective, if a sacred planet is a stand-in for the Solar Sun (as opposed to the Solar Sun being a stand-in for a sacred planet), then that sacred planet would be Mercury in Gemini, per G. de Purucker's diagram in Fountain-Source on page 141. In this diagram, twelve sacred planets, some with the same names to veil the teaching, are listed. We know that the Solar Sun can replace Mercury in Gemini because of G. de Purucker's statement in Dialogues 1:41, "In the peregrination of the monads, Saturn opens the peregrinations before the Sun is reached, and closes it after the Sun is left behind." As the twelfth globe, Mercury in Gemini corresponds to the Twins, Castor and Pollux. As the Solar Sun, this makes them both sons of Zeus. They are the primeval, immortal, Dioscuri in this zodiacal position. But as true Tynaridae or Twins they are splintered in the zodiac into Mercury in Virgo. In this placement, a division arises between them. Castor becomes the mortal son of Tyndareus and Pollux remains the immortal son of Zeus. Castor (mortal) belongs to the planetary chains here below and Pollux (immortal) belongs to the solar chains above. Above, they are ruled by Gemini, a symbol of Twins united. Below, they are ruled by Virgo, a symbol of mind and virginity--hence their association in their fallen condition to the Titans of the Third Root-Race, though the sacred planet Venus rules it. Now, Venus is "the other Sun" in The Secret Doctrine 2:31 and, ruling over the Third Root-Race, she takes a portion of her people (the "Eastern Aryan Races" in The Secret Doctrine 2:166) into Northern Asia where they are safe from the oncoming geological cataclysm of the Fourth Root-Race. There, they establish the Fifth Root-Race.This is why the Fifth Root-Race is often referred to as "Aryan." It is a reference to the Third Root-Race, not to skin-color. Meanwhile, Venus allows the Fourth Root-Race to sink beneath the oceans. The sins of the Atlanteans are too great for either the divine instructors of the Third Root-Race or the Solar Sun to rescue them.
The Third Root-Race, in its early phase, is born through "Kriyasakti," per The Secret Doctrine 2:173. For example, "The ancients held that any idea will manifest itself externally, if one's attention (and Will) is deeply concentrated upon it; similarly, an intense volition will be followed by the desired result." The fecundation of the sweat-drops and egg-drops of the a-sexual and hermaphroditic Root-Races took place through Will and desire. In those ages, the imagination produced an image in the mind and a sweat-drop or egg-drop detached, being self-fertilized. These drops were "created," not "begotten." They were the "holy seed-grain" of the future humanity. It is not so much that Kriyasakti disappeared as that its function shifted from the stimulation of the pineal gland in the brain to the stimulation of the gonads of the male sex organ. In both cases, the imagination produces a release of "holy seed-grain." In one instance, a child is created; in the other instance, a child is begotten. As a result of mankind's descent into matter, Kriyasakti is simply working through a different physical organ. But it is not as though Kriyasakti is inoperative. It is only apparently dormant because its function has been transferred elsewhere. While this commentary does not endorse the practice of Tantra, it must be mentioned that Tantra developed as a meditation method to transfer the function of reproduction back to the pineal gland. Tsongkhapa, in his 15th century AD masterpiece A Lamp to Illuminate the Five Stages, illuminated this meditation method. On page 493, he advised, "You gain control merely by wishing. Like a fish leaping out of water or like waking from sleep quickly, you become form that is the entity of a body of supreme joy, the nature of form whose name is Great Vajradhara." The point here is that the inner body of the adept (the form of the Great Vajradhara) is awakened, or rather created, by the striving student or aspirant himself. He vibrates the pineal gland (perhaps not unlike the vibration of the potential point in the immaculate white disk) in such a way that this inner form takes shape. On page 512, "Being granted enlightenment in one lifetime through the path of highest yoga tantra depends on combining bliss and emptiness [ed. the bliss coming from the stimulation of the pineal gland in its higher aspect and coming from the male sex organ in its lower aspect]. The bliss of this union comes from the expansion of bodhicitta in the body." Bodhicitta is usually defined as the aim of awakening the mind, but it is much more than this. It is an immaterial thing, as substantial on its plane of existence as the physical body is on ours. To bring the bodhicitta into existence is the essence of Deity Yoga, in the sense that we are bringing forth into operation an inner body from the power of our Will. It is just that we do not physically see this activated inner body since our outer coat of skin covers it. Tsongkhapa described the outcome on page 381, "From the beginning of the generation stage, it is explained that all holding to ordinary appearance is purified into clear light, from which your mind is generated into the form of a deity." On page 410, this "clear light" is an "entity of inexpressible exalted wisdom." To some degree, this meditation method probably replicates the process of reproduction in the Second and Third Root-Races.
Sources:
A.T. Barker, comp., The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett (Pasadena: Theosophical University Press, 1975).
H.P. Blavatsky, The Letters of H.P. Blavatsky to A.P. Sinnett (Pasadena: Theosophical University Press, 1973).
H.P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine (Pasadena: Theosophical University Press, 1948).
G. de Purucker, Fountain-Source of Occultism (Pasadena: Theosophical University Press, 1974).
Tsongkhapa, A Lamp to Illuminate the Five Stages: Teachings on Guhyasamaja Tantra, trans., Gavin Kilty (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2013).
(Photo by Possessed Photography on Unsplash)
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