SECTION X.

The Cross and the Pythagorean Decad.
The early Gnostics claimed that their Science, the Gnosis, rested on a square, the angles of which represented respectively Sig€ (Silence), Bythos (Depth), Nous (Spiritual Soul or Mind), and Aletheia (Truth).
It is they who were the first to reveal to the world that which had remained concealed for ages; namely, the Tau. in the shape of a Pro- crustean bed, and Christos as incarnating in Chrestos, he who became for certain purposes a willing candidate for a series of tortures, mental and physical.
For them the whole of the Universe, metaphysical and material, was contained within, and could be expressed and described by the digits contained in the number lo. the Pythagorean Decad.
This Decad, representing the Universe and its evolution out of Silence and the Unknown Depths of the Spiritual Soul, or Anima Mtmdi, presented two sides or aspects to the student. It could be, and was at first, applied to the Macrocosm, after which it descended to the Microcosm, or man. There was, then, the purely intellectual and metaphysical, or the "Inner Science," and the as purely mate- rialistic or "surface science," both of which could be expomided by and contained in the Decad. It could be studied, in short, both by the deductive method of Plato, and the inductive method of Aristotle. The former started from a divine comprehension, when the plurality proceeded from unity, or the digits of the Decad appeared, only to be finally reabsorbed, lost in the infinite Circle. The latter depended on sensuous perception alone, when the Decad could be regarded either as the unity that multiplies, or matter which differentiates; its study being limited to the plane surface, to the cross, or the seveti which proceeds from the iai, or the perfect number, on Earth as in Heaven.
This dual system was brought, together with the Decad, by Pytha- goras from India. That it was that of the Brachmans and Iranians, as
6o8
THE SEC31ET DOCTRI3TO.
The first hoe of the triangle offered to the apprentice for stnd^ is the kingdom, symbolued by Tubalc . '. [Tubal-Cain}.
The second side on which the companion has to meditate, is the vegetabU Mimf dom, symbolized by Schibb . . [Schibboleth]. In this kingdom begins the gemem tion of Ihf bodies. This is why the letter G Is presented radiant before the cres of the adept [? •!
The third side is left to the toaster mason, who has to complete his edacatios by the study of the animal kingdom. It is symbolized by Maobcn ,*. putrefaction ).•
The first solid figure is the Quaternao'. the symbol of immortality. It is the Pyramid, for the Pyramid stands on a triangular base, and terminates with a point at the top, thus yielding the Triad and the Quaternary- or the 3 and 4.
The Pythagoreans taught the connection and relation between ihc Gods and the numbers, in a science called Arithmomaucy. The Soul is a number, they said, which moves of itself and contains the number 4; and spiritual and physical man is number 3, as the Ternary repre- sented for thera not only the surface but also the principle of the forma- tion of the physical body. Thus animais were Ternaries only, man alone being a Septenary, wken viriuous.: a Quinary when bad, for:
Number Five was composed of a Binary and a Ternary, and of these the Binary threw everything in the perfect form into disorder and con- fusion. The perfect man, they said, was a Quaternary and a Ternary, or yin^r material and three immaterial elements; and these three Spirits or Elements we likewise find in Five when it represents the microcosm. The latter is a compound of a Binary directly relating to gross Matter and of three Spirits. Since, as Ragou says:
This ingenious fig\ire is the union of two Greek breathings ( \ ) placed over vowdai* which have or have not to be aspirated. The lirst sign (*) is called the "strong" of superior **spiritu9," the Spirit of God aspired {spiratus) and breathed by man. The second sign (') the lower, is the soft "spiritus" representing the secondaiy spirit; . . . the whole embraces the whole man. It is the universat qmnim asence, the vital Suid or life.t
The more mystic meaning of the number Five is given in an excel- lent article by Mr. T- Subba Row, in Five Years of Theosopky, in an article entitled "The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac," in which he gives seme rules that may help the enquirer to ferret out "the deep signifi- cance of ancient Sanskrit nomenclature in the old Aryan myths and allegories." Meanwhile, let us see what has been hitherto stated about
«
Ragoo, tbid., p. 4^6, uole.
Ibid., p. 431'
THE MYSTIC MEANING OF MAKARA.
609
the constellation Capriconius in Theosophical publications, and what is known of it generall}-. Every one knows that VJ Js the tenth sign of th^ Zodiac, into which the Sun enters at the winter solstice, about December 21st. But verj' few are those who know — even in India, unless they are initiated — the real mystic connection which seems to exist, as we are told, between the names Makara and Kumara. The first means some amphibious animal, flippantly called the "crocodile," as some Orientalists think, and the second is the title of the g^eat patrons 6f Yogias, according to the Shaiva Purdnas, the sons of. and even one with, Rudra (Shiva), who is a Kumira himself. It is through their connection with Man tliat the Kumiras are likewise connected with the Zodiac. Let us tr>' to find out what the word Makara means. Says the author of "The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac*':
Makara . . . contains within itself tbe clue to its correct interpretation. The letter rna is equivalent to number 5, and kara means hand. Now in Sanskrit Tribhujara means a triangle, bhujam or katxim (both synonymous) being under- stood to mean a side. So. Makaram or Panchakaram means a Pentagon.*
Now the five-pointed star or pentagon represents the five limbs of man.f Under the old system, we are told, ^fakara was the eighth Instead of the tenth sigu.j
The sign in question is intended to represent the faces of the universe, and hidi- cates that the figure of the universe is bounded by Pentagons. ^
The Sanskrit writers "speak also of Ashtadisha or eight faces bound- ing Space," referring thus to the Loka-palas, the eight points of the compass, the four cardinal and the four intermediate points.
From an objective point of view the ** microcosm" is represented by the hnman body. Makaram may be taken to represent simultaneously both the microcosm and the macrocosm, as external objects of perception. ||
But the true Esoteric sense of the word Makara is not, in truth, "crocodile" at all, even when it is compared with the animal depicted on the Hindu Zodiac. For it has the head and the fore-legs of an antelope and the body and tail of a fisti. Hence the tenth sign of the Zodiac has been taken variously to mean a shark, a dolphin, etc, ; as it is the Vahana of Vanina, the Ocean God, and is often called, for this
• Op.c$t.,x>. II V
■» Now what is the metining and the reason of this figure? The reason is that Mnnas i» the _fi/Ih principle, and that the Penta^n U the symbol of Moo— =M only of the five-Uiiil>cd. but rather of the thinking, conscious Man.
% The reason for it becomes ftpparent wheti H^ptiao aymbology it studied. See further on.
K Ibid., p. 114.
} Ibid., pp. ti4« 115.
6io
THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
reason, Jala-rupa or "water-form.'* The dolphin was the vehicle Poseidon-Neptune with the Greeks, and one with him, Esoteri and this "dolphin" is the "sea-dragon" as much as the crocodile of Sacred Nile is the Vehicle of Horus, and Horus himself. Says mummy-form God with the crocodile's head:
I am the fish [And seat] of the great Horus of Ketn-oor.^
With the Peratse Gnostics it is Chozzar (Neptune) who converts dodecagonal pyramid into a sphere, *'and paints its gate with m. colours.'* t He has Jive a7idrog^*ne m'uus\.tvs — he is Makara, the Le^na
As the rising Sun was considered the Soul of the Gods sent to manii itself to men even.' day, and as the crocodile rose out of the water the first sunbeam, that animal came finally to personify a solar- devotee in India, as it personified that Fire, or the highest Soul the Egyptians.
In the Ptiranas, the number of the Kumaras changes according the exigencies of the allegory'. For Occult purposes their number ii given in one place as seven, then as four, then as five. In the ATi Purdna it is said of tlym:
These Jive [KumAras]. O Brdhinan, were Yogins who acquired entire from passion.
Their ver>' name shows their connection with the said constcH* Makara, and with some other Pauranic characters connected with zodiacal signs. This is done in order to veil what was one of them suggestive glyphs of the primitive Temples. The Kumaras are mixed up, astronomically, physiologically, and mystically in general, with i number of Pauranic personages ant^ events. Hardly hinted at in Ikr Vis/iHu, they fig^ure in various dramas and events throughout all Ikf other Purdnas and sacred literature; so that the Orientalists, having ft pick up the threads of connection hither and thither, have ended by proclaiming the KumSras "due chiefly to the fancy of the Porinic writers/' But —
Ma — we are told by the author of the "Twelve Signs of the Zodiac" — is "five"; kara, a "hand** with its five fingers, as also a five-sided sigc or a Pentagon. The Kumira (in this case an anagram for Occult pur- poses), as Yogis, SiXt five in Esotericism, because the last two name have ever been kept secret; they are the fifth order of Brahma-devaSk and the five-fold Chohans, having the Soul of the five Klements m
Jhok 9f tMt Dtad. Ixxxiriil. s.
f%ilos9^hu9Henm, v. 14
POSEIDON'S PrVB MncISTKRS.
6ir
them. Water and Ether predominating, and therefore their symbols were both aquatic and /icr}'.
Wisdom lies concealed under the couch of him who rests on the Golden Lotus (Padma) floating on the Water.
In India this is Vishnu, one of whose Avataras was Buddha, as claimed in days of old. The Prachetasas, the worshippers of Nara- yana — who, like Poseidon, moved or dwelt over not under the Waters — plunged into the depths of the Ocean for their devotions and remained therein io,aoo years; and the Prachetasas are ieri exoterically, but yfzr» Esoterically. Prachetas is, in Sanskrit, the name of Vanina, the Water God, Nereus, an aspect of Neptune, the Prachetasas being thus identical with the "five ministers" of the male-female Chozzar (XoifCap or Xnp^dp), or Poseidon, of the Peratse Gnostics. These are respectively called Ou, Aoai, Ouo, Ouoab and . , . (Ou, 'Aoai, Ovw. Ovutdp ...),* the yf/'M, a trip/a name (making seven in all) being lostf — i.e-, kept secret. Thus much for the "aquatic" symbol; the "fiery" connecting them with the fiery symbol — spiritually. For purposes of identity, let ns remember that as the mother of the Prachetasas was Savarna, the daughter of the Ocean, so was Amphitrite the mother of Neptune's mystic "ministers."
Now the reader is reminded that these "five ministers" are symbo- lized both in the Dolphin, who had overcome the chaste Amphitrite's unwillingness to wed Poseidon, and in Triton their son. The latter, whose body above the waist is that of a man and below a dolphin, a fish, is, again, most mysteriously connected with Oannes, the Baby- lonian Dag, and further also with the Matsya (Fish) AvatSra of Vishnu, both teaching mortals Wisdom. The Dolphin, as ever>* Mythologist knows, was placed, for his service, by Poseidon, among the constella- tions, and became with the Greeks, Capricornus, the Goat, whose hind