PART I.

ANTHROPOGENESIS.
TVELYE STANZAS FROM THE "BOOK OF DZYAN," WITH COMMENTARIES.
In prinwvKl timet, a maiden, BcAoteoiu Daughter of the ZUltcr, Paaaed for agei her existence In the great expanse of Heaven-
Seven hundred years she wandered,
Seven hundred years she labonted, Bie h«r fint-boni wai delivered. '
Ere a beauteous duck descending, Hastens toward the water-mother^
lightly on the knee she settles, Finds a nesting-place befitting. When to lay her egga in safety.
Laya her egga within, at pleasure. Six, the golden eggs she lays there. Then a Seventh, an egg of iron.
Jtalnnla (Ckawfoiu)).
Anthropogenesis.
FROM
THE STANZAS OF DZYAN.
^
Stanza L
1. The Lha which turns the Fourth is Servant to the Lha(s) of the Seven, they who revolve, driving their Chariots around their Lord, the One Eye of our World. His Breath gave Life to the Seven. It gave Life to the First
2. Said the Earth: "Lord of the Shining Face, my House
is empty Send thy Sons to people this Wheel.
Thou hast sent thy Seven Sons to the Lord of Wisdom, Seven times doth he see thee nearer to himself, seven times more doth he feel thee. Thou hast forbidden thy Servants. the small Rings, to catch thy Light and Heat, thy great Bounty to intercept on its passage. Send now to thy
E Servant the same." J. Said the Lord of the Shining Face: "I shall send thee a Fire when thy work is commenced. Raise thy vc^'ce • Only foTty-Dine Shlokaa out of several hundred are here givtn, and not every verse is translated verbatim, a periphrasis being sometimes used for the sake of cleanieM and intelligibility, where a literal translation would be quite nn intelligible.
IC
THE SECRKT DOCTRINE.
to other Lokas; apply to thy Father, the Lord of the
for his Sons Thy People shall be under the rule
of the Fathers. Thy Men shall be mortals. The Men of the Lord of Wisdom, not the Sons of Soma, are immortal Cease thy complaints. Thy Seven Skins are yet on thee. . . Thou art not ready. Thy Men are not ready."
4. After jfreat throes she cast off her old Three and put on her new Seven Skins, and stood in her first one.
Stanza II.
?. The Wheel whirled for thirty crores more. It con- structed Rupas; soft Stones that hardened, hard Plants that softened. Visible from invisible, Insects and small Lives. She shook them off her back whenever they overran the
Mother After thirty crores, she turned round.
She lay on her back; on her side, . . . She would call no Sons of Heaven, she would ask no Sons of Wisdom. She created from her own Bosom. She evolved Water-Men, terrible and bad.
6. The Water-Men, terrible and bad, she herself created from the remains of others. From the dross and slime of her First, Second, and Third, she formed them. The Dhyani came and looked ... the Dhyani from the bright Father- Mother, from the White Reg'ions they came, from the Abodes of the Immortal Mortals.
I
THK STANZAS OF DZYAN.
ir
7. Displeased they were. "Our Resh is not there. No tit Rupas for our Brothers of the Fifth. No Dwellings for the Lives. Pure Waters, not turbid, they must drink. Let us dry them."
p
8. The Flames came. The Fires with the Sparks; the Night-Fires and the Day-Fires. They dried out the turbid dark Waters. With their heat they quenched them. The Lhas of the High, the Lhamayin of Below, came. They slew the Forms which were two- and four-faced. They fought the Goat-Men, and the Dog-Headed Men, and the Men witl>. fishes' bodies.
9, Mother-Water, the Great Sea, wept. She arose, she .disappeared in the Moon, which had lifted her, which had ^viven her birth.
10. When they were destroyed, Mother Earth remaineJ bare. She asked to be dried.
Stanza III.
if.' The Lord of the Lords came. From her Body he separated the Waters, and that was Heaven above, the First Heaven.
12. The great Chohans called the Lords of the Mcon, of the Airy Bodies: "Bring fortn Men, Men of your nature.
i8
THE SBCRKT DOCTRINE.
^^^M
Give
them their
Forms within.
She will build
Covering
without
Males-Females will they
be.
Lords of the Flame
also.
7r
4
ih They went each on his allotted Land; Seven of them, each on his Lot. The Lords of the Flame remain behin They would not go, they would not create.
I
Stanza IY.
14. The Seven Hosts, the Will-Born Lords, propelled by the Spirit of Life-Giving, separate Men from themselves, each on his own Zone.
J
15. Seven times seven Shadows of Future Men were bom, each of his own Colour and Kind. Each inferior to his Father. The Fathers, the Boneless, could give no Life to Beings with Bones. Their progeny were Bhuta, with neither Form nor Mind. Therefore they are called the Chhaya Race.
16, How are the Manushya born? The Manus with rninds^ how are they made? The Fathers called to their help their own Fire, which is the Fire that bums in Earth. The Spirit of the Earth called to his help the Solar Fire. These Three produced in their joint efforts a good Riipa. It could stand, walk, run, recline, or fly. Yet it was still but a Chhaya, ^ *:?hadow with no Sense. - . -
I
TMB STANZAS OP DZYAN.
T9
17. The Breath needed a Form; the Fathers g^ve ft. The Breath needed a Gross Body; the Earth moulded it. The Breath needed the Spirit of Life; the Solar Lhas breathed it ifito its Form. The Breath needed a Mirror of its Body; "We gave it our own!" — said the Dhyanis. The Breath needed a Vehicle of Desires; *Mt has itl" — said the Drainer of Waters. But Breath needs a Mind to embrace the Universe; "We can- not give that!" — said the Fathers. "I never had it!" — said the Spirit of the Earth. '*The Form would be consumed were 1 to give it mine I" — said the Great Fire. . . , Man remained
an empty senseless Bhuta Thus have the Boneless
^iven Life to those who became Men with Bones in the Third.
^ 18. The First were the Sons of Yoga. Their sons, the ^hildren of the Yellow Father and the White Mother.
H^ 19. The Second Race was the product by budding and ; expansion, the A-sexual from the Sexless.* Thus was, O Lanoo, the Second Race produced.
^ 20. Their Fathers were the Self-bom. The Self-born, the ; Chhaya from the brilliant Bodies of the Lords, the Fathers, :he Sons of Twilight.
The idea and Uie spirit of the sentence only is here given, as a verbal transla- ioii wottld convey very little to the reader.
Stanza Y.
'HK SECRET DOCTRINE.
21. When the Race became old. the old Waters mixed with the fresher Waters. When its Drops became turbid, they vanished and disappeared in the new Stream, in the hot Stream of Life. The Outer of the First became the Inner of the Second. The old Wing became the new Shadow, and the Shadow of the Wing.
Stanza YI.
22. Then the Second evolved the Egg-bom> the Third. The Sweat grew, its Drops grew, and the Drops became hard and round. The Sun warmed it; the Moon cooled and shaped it; the Wind fed it until its ripeness. The White Swan from the Starry Vault overshadowed the big Drop. The Egg of the Future Race, the Man-swan of the later Third. First male- female, then man and woman.
2 J. The Self-bom were the Chhiyas, the Shadows from the Bodies of the Sons of Twilight. Neither water nor fire could destroy them. Their sons were.
Stanza YIL
24. The Sons of Wisdom, the Sons of Night, ready for rebirth, came down. They saw the vile forms of the First Third. "We can choose," said the Lords, "we have wisdom." Some entered the Chhayas. Some projected a Spark. Some deferred till the Fourth. From their own Riipa they filled
THE STANZAS OF DZVAN.
31
e Kama. Those who entered became Arhats. Those who received but a Spark, remained destitute of knowledge; the Spark burned low. The Third remained mind-less- Their Jivas were not ready. These were set apart among the Seven. They became narrow-headed. The Third were ready. "In these shall we dwell/* said the Lords of the Rame and of
»the Dark Wisdom. 25. How did the Manasa, the Sons of Wisdom, act? They rejected the Self-born. They are not ready. They spurned the Sweat-born. They are not quite ready. They would not enter the first Egg-born.
™ 26. When the Sweat-born produced the Egg-born, the twofold, the mighty, the powerful with bones, the Lords of Wisdom said: "Now shall we create."
27. The Third Race became the Vahan of the Lords of Wisdom. It created Sons of Will and Yoga, by Kriyashakti it created them, the Holy Fathers, Ancestors of the Arhats. . . .
Stanza YIII.
28. From the drops of sweat, from the residue of the sub- stance, matter from dead bodies of men and animals of the Wheel before, and from cast-off dust, the first animals were produced.
Nb 29- Animals with bones, dragons of the deep, and flying Sarpas were added to the creeping things. They that creep on
J
M THR SECRET DOCTRINE.
the ground got wings. They of the long necks in the water became the progenitors of the fowls of the air.
JO. During the Third, the boneless animals grew and changed; they became animals with bones, their Chhayas became solid.
Jl, The animals separated the first. They began to breed. The two-fold man separated also. He said: "Let us as they; let us unite and make creatures." They did . . . .
J2, And those which had no Spark took huge she- animals unto them. They begat upon them dumb races. Dumb they were themselves. But their tongues untied. The tongues of their progeny remained still. Monsters they bred, A race of crooked red-hair-covered monsters going" on all fours. A dumb race to keep the shame untold.
Stanza IX.
3 J. Seeing which, the Lhas who had not built men» wept, saying:
J4. "The Amanasa have defiled our future abodes. This is Karma. Let us dwell in the others. Let us teach them better, lest worse should happen." They did
• • •
J?. Then all men became endowed with Manas, They the sin of the mindless.
36. The Fourth Race developed speech.
THE STANZAS OP DZYAN. 25
37. The one became two; also all the living and creeping things that were still one» giant fish, birds and serpents with shell-heads.
Stanza X.
38. Thus, two by two, on the seven Zones, the Third Race gave birth to the Fourth; the Sura became A-sura.
39. The First, on every Zone, was moon-coloured; the Second yellow like gold; the Third red; the Fourth brown, which became black with sin. The first seven human shoots were all of one complexion. The next seven began mixing.
40. Then the Third and Fourth became tall with pride. We are the kings; we are the gods."
41. They took wives fair to look upon. Wives from the mindless, the narrow-headed. They bred monsters, wicked demons, male and female, also Khado, with little minds.
42. They built temples for the human body. Male and female they worshipped. Then the Third Eye acted no longer.
Stanza XI.
4?. They built huge cities. Of rare earths and metals they built. Out of the fires vomited, out of the white stone of the mountains and of the black stone, they cut their own images, in their size and likeness, and worshipped them.
24 "ZHB fiBCEST DOCTKI5E.
44. They built great images nine yatis high, the size of their bodies* Inna- fires had destroyed the land of their fathers. The water threatened the Fourth.
4$. The first great waters came- They swallowed the seven great islands.
46. All holy saved, the unholy destroyed. With them most of the huge animals, produced from the sweat of the earth.
Stanza XIL
47. Few remained. Some yellow, some brown and black,, and some red remained. The moon-coloured were gone for ever.
48. The Fifth produced from the holy stock remained; it was ruled over by the first Divine Kings.
49 The Serpents who re-descended, who made
peace with the Fifth, who taught and instructed it. . . .
COMMENTARIES
OS THE TWEI.VE STANZAS AND THEIR TERMS, ACCORDING TO TiJ2IZl NUMERATION, IN STANZAS AND SHLOKAS.
STANZA I. BEGINNINGS OF SENTIENT LIFE.
1. The Lha. or Spirit of the Earth, a. Invocation of the Earth to the Stm. 3. WHiat the Sun answers. 4. Transformation of the Earth.