BP 561 .B52 V.3 Blavatsky, H. P. 1831-1891 The secret doctrine THE SECRET DOCTRINE Newnham, Cowell & Gripper, Ltd., Printers, 75, Chiswell Street, London, E.C. i. THE Secret Doctrine : THE SYNTHESIS OF SCIENCE RELIGION, AND PHILOSOPHY H. P. ^BLAVATSKY, AUTHOR OF "ISIS UNVEII.ED." satyAt nasti paro dharmah. "There is uo Religion nigher than Truth." Volume III. LONDON : The Theosophical Publishing House, 1897. Reprinted 1910, 1913, 1918, 1921. ^' Entered according to Act of Congress, in tne year 1897, by the Theosophical Book Concern of Chicago, iyi the Office of the Librarian of Congress it Washingtofi, D.C." ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL. ALL RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION AND REPRODUCTION RESERVED. As for what thou hearest others say, who persuade the many that the soul when once freed from the body neither suffers . . . evil nor is conscious, I know that thou art better grounded in the doctrines received by us from onr ancestors and in the sacred orgies of Dionysus than to believe them ; for the mystic symbols are well known to us who belong to the Brotherhood. PI.UTARCH. The problem of life is man. Ma^^c, or rather Wisdom, is the evolved knowledge of the potencies of man's interior being, which forces are divine emanations, as in- tuition is the perception of their origin, and initiation our induction into that knowledge. . . . We begin with instinct ; the end is omniscience. A. Wil^DER. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGB Introductory I One Key to All Sacred Books . 3 Assumptions have to be proven 5 The Spirit of Plato's Teaching 7 Self-Contradiction of the Critic 9 The Character of Ammonius Saccas . II Plato a follower of Pythagoras • 13 SECTIC >N I. Preliminary Survey > 14 The Protectors of China • . 15 The A B C of Magic 17 Magic as old as Man . 19 The Tree of Knowledge . 21 Occultism must win the Day . , 23 Black Magic at work • 25 Black Magic and Hypnotism . . 27 The Philosophy stands on its owr I Merits 29 SECTION II Modern Criticism and the Ancients All Honour to Genuine Scientists What is a Myth ? Chaldaean Oracles SECTION III. The Origin of Mag^c The Books of Hermes . What is the Origin of Magic . Pherecydes of Syror Cain Mathematical and Anthropomorphic 30 31 35 35 36 37 39 41 43 Vlll CONTENTS. SECTION IV. The Secresy of the Initiates . . , Exoteric and Esoteric Teachings Origen on " Genesis " . The "Dark Sayings " of the "Testaments " The Greatest Crime ever perpetrated Asiatic Religious proclaim their Esotericisni openly The Wisdom Religion ..... SECTION VII. Old Wine in New Bottles Copies that Ante-dated Originals Which were the Thieves ? Character of the " Bible " PAGE 44 45 47 49 5f 53 55 SECTION V. Some Reasons for Secresy .... . • 56 The Key of Practical Theurgy 57 The Ladder of Being ..... . 59 Three Ways open to the Adept • • • 61 Man is God ...... . . 63 Jesus taught Reincarnation . • • • i . 65 SECTION VI. The Dangers of Practical xMagic . 67 Names are Symbols ..... . 69 The Three Mothers 71 The Bible and Word-Juggling 73 Moses and the Jews ..... 75 76 77 79 81 SECTION VIII. The " Book of Enoch " the Origin and Foundation of Christianity The "Book of Enoch" and Christianity .... Enoch records the Races ... ... The " Book of Enoch " symbolical ..... Occultists do not reject the " Bible " .... 82 S3 85 87 89 CONTENTS. ix SECTION IX. PAGE Hermetic and Kabalistic Doctrines ....... 91 The "Kabalah " and the "Book of Enoch" ..... 93 Numbers and Measures •••..... 95 The Doctrine belongs to All ........ 97 SECTION X. Various Occult Systems of Interpretations of Alphabets and Numerals . 98 Numbers and Magic ......... 99 Gods and Numbers ......... loi The Universal Language ••...... 103 SECTION XI. The Hexagon with the Central Point, or the Seventh Key . . . 105 Occult Weapons .......... 107 SECTION XII. The Duty of the True Occultist towards Religions .... 109 Christian and non-Christian Adepts . . . . . .111 SECTION XIII. Post- Christian Adepts and their Doctrines ..... 112 Unfair Criticism . •••...... 113 The Two Eternal Principles . . . . . , , .115 SECTION XIV. Simon and his Biographer Hippolytus . . . . .117 Uneven Balances . . . . . , . , .no Stones as "Evidences" •••..... 121 SECTION XV. St. Paul the Real Founder of present Christianity . . . .122 Abrogation of Law by Initiates . . .... 123 Paul changed to Simon . , . ..... 125 CONTENTS. SECTION XVI. Peter a Jewish Kabalist, not an Initiate The Seat of Peter SECTION The Eastern Gupta Vidya and the Kabalah A Mystery within a Mystery Authorship of the " Zohar " Chaldaic and Hebrew . The First Men . Many Events not Historical The real Hebrew Characters I/Ost Hebrew Esotericism not Primitive The Concealed of All the Concealed XX. PAGE 126 127 SECTION XVII. Apollonius of Tyana • . . 129 The Mjsterious Teacher . 131 Apollonius cannot be Destroyed • 133 De Mirville on Apollonius , . 135 Apollonius no Fiction . . ^37 SECl ION XVIII. Facts underlying Adept Biographies . 138 Jesus and Apollonius . 139 Biographies of Initiates 141 Similarity of IvCgends . 143 Nature of Christ 145 A Serious Mistranslation 147 Secret Doctrine of Jesus 149 The Cross and Crucifix 151 The StorA' of Jesus 153 The Primitive Woman . 155 Kabalistic Reading of Gospels 157 Universal Teachings 159 SEC noN XIX. St. Cyprian of Antioch . 160 Magic in Antioch . . . , 161 Sorcerer become Saint . ■ • 163 164 165 167 169 171 173 175 177 179 CONTENTS. XI Three-in-One and Four The Septenary Sephira The Blind lycading the Blind SECTION XXI. Hebrew Allegories The Hebrew Bible does not exist Some Hebrews were Initiates The Seven Creative Gods Seven Keys to all Allegories . Gerald Massey on the Seven Creators The Father and Mother SECTION XXII. The " Zohar " on Creation and the Elohini Angels as Builders Who are the Elohim ? . Monad, Duad, and Triad The Creative Gods God the Host . SECTION XXIII. What the Occultists and Kabalists have to say The Mystery of the Sun .... SECTION XXIV. Modem Kabalists in Science and Occult Astronomy The Place of Neptune . . . • • Self-Generation ex-Nihilo .... Are there Angels in Stars ? . SECTION XXV. Eastern and Western Occultism Primordial Matter The Great Deep . The Chaos of Genesis . The Bible of Humanity Chaos is Theos or Kosmos One Hundred and Eight i8i 183 185 186 187 189 191 193 195 197 199 201 203 205 207 209 221 21? -215 217 219 221 222 223 225 .227 229 231 233 Xll The Idols and the Teraphim Divining by Teraphim . Jehovah and Teraphim Idol of the Moon CONTENTS. SECTION XXVI. SECTION XXVII. Egyptian Magic Evidence of Papyri Symbols and their Reading Rebirth and Transmigration The Egyptian Khous Obsession in Egypt Two Rituals of Magic Magical Statues . Romances — but True SECTION XXVIII. The Origin of the Mysteries An Instant in Heaven . Growth of Popular Beliefs A True Priesthood The Eg>'ptian Priests . Revealing and Revelling Atlanteans Degenerating The Trial of the Sun Initiate Vishvakarma Vikarttana The Transmission of Light Masonry and the Jesuits SECTION XXIX. SECTION XXX. The Mystery " Sun of Initiation " The Sun as God . SECTION XXXI. The Object of the Mysteries Mysteries and Theophany The Mysteries and Masonry PAGE 234 a35 237 239 241 243 245 247 249 251 253 255 257 258 259 261 263 265 267 269 270 271 273 275 277 279 281 283 285 Traces of the Mysteries Christos and Chrestos . The Symbolism of Narada* Eg3T7tian Initiation The Self-sacrificing Victim Orpheus . SECTION XXXIII. The Last of the Mysteries in Europe Alesia and Bibractis ..... The Learning of Egypt .... The Root Races . The "False Gnosis" Teachings of Ammonius Difficulties and Dangers The Neo-Platonic School Symbolism of Sun and Stars The Circle Dance Christian Astrolatry Michael the Conqueror The Christian Sun-God CONTENTS. xiii SECTION XXXII. PAGE . 2S7 . 2S9 261 . 293 . 295 . 297 SECTION XXXV. 29S 299 301 SECTION XXXIV. rs to the Mysteries . 303 . 305 . 307 .309 . 311 . 313 315 317 319 321 323 SECTION Pagan Sidereal Worship or Astronomy The Planetary Angels . Celestial Wheels The Promethean Mystery XXXVI. 325 327 329 33^ SECTION XXXVII. The Souls of the St^rs— Universal Heliolatry Christian Star- Worship A Singular Confession . . 332 333 335 xr. CONTENTS. SECTION XXXVIII. Astrology and Astrolatry The Defence of Astrology Its Later Deterioration . Its Prominent Disciples Cycles and Avataras An Unfulfilled Prophecy Secret Cycles SECTION XXXIX. SECTION XLI. The Doctrine of the Avataras All Avataras Identical . Voluntary Incarnations Cardinal de Cusa The Seven Rays . Special Cases The Higher Astral The Seven Principles SECTION XUI. PAGD 337 339 341 343 345 347 349 SECTION XL. Secret Cycles . . . . . . . . . . 350 The Naros . . . . . . . 351 Age of the Vedas ....... • 353 Testimony of the Song Celestial ..... . 355 Mackey's Arguments ....... . 357 361 363 365 367 369 371 373 374 SECTION XLIII. The Mystery of Buddha .376 Shankarachar\a ........ • 377 The Buddha cannot Reincarnate ..... . 379 A Fuller Explanation .....,, . 3«i Sacrifice .......,, . 383 Shankarachirya still Iriving . ..... . 385 CONTENTS. SECTION XLIV. XV " Reincarnations" of Budfllia Vajradhara Li\'ing Buddhas . An Obscure Passage 386 387 389 591 SECTION XLV. An Unpublished Discourse of Buddba A Mistaken View SECTION XLVII. The Secret Books of " Lam-Rin " and Dz5an SECTION XLVIII. Amita Buddha Kwan-Shai-yin, and Kwan->-in. — WTiat the " Book of Dzyan " and the Lamaseries of Tsong-Khapa say . . . . . SECTION XLIX. Lohans in China Tsong-Khapa The Lost Word . Tibetan Prophecies A Few More Misconceptions Corrected Misrepresentations of Buddhism A Mysterious Land Absurd Conclusions Materialistic Orientalists Introduction of Buddhism into Tibet 393 395 SECTION XLVI. Nirvana-Moksha . 396 The Akasha . 397 Matter is ever living • 399 BHnd Faith not Expected 401 What Annihilation Means . 403 405 407 409 411 413 SECTION rected L. . 414 • 415 • 417 • 419 . 421 ibet • 423 XVI CONTENTS. The "Doctrine of the Eye' " Heart's Seal " . Swedenborg's Claims . The God "Who" More Misrepresentations Aryasanga SECTION LI. and the " Doctrine of the Heart," or the PAOB 424 427 429 SOME PAPERS ON THE BEARING OF OCCULT PHILOSOPHY ON LIFE. Note .... A Warning The Jewel in the Lotus . The Pythagorean Triad Seven Correspondential Contents Correspondence between Races and Man Man and the Logos Cosmic, Spiritual and Physical Centres Woman and Alchem}" . Sound and Colour The Days of the Week . An Explanation . Astrology and Lunar Weeks . Seeing Sounds and Hearing Colours Planetary and Human Bodies . Planets and Faculties . Simon Magus the Magician Series of ^ons . The Triple ^on . Magic and Miracles Magic a Divine Science The Seven Hierarchies Origines .... Colours and Principles . The Primordial Seven . The Hierarchies and Man Wisdom and Truth Occult Secresy . The Light and Dark Sides of Nature Nature's Finer Forces . The "Seven Principles" 434 435 437 439 441 443 445 447 449 451 453 455 457 459 461 463 465 467 469 471 473 475 477 479 481 483 4S5 4S7 4S9 491 493 CONTENTS. XVU The Auric Egg - Five or Seven Tattvas . The Tattvas Esoteric and Tantra Tables of the Tattvas Hatha and Raja Yoga . The Awakening of the Seventh Sense The Master Chakras The Human Harp The Duality of Manas . The Living and the Dead Gaining Immortality . Light and Life . The Two Egos . Death of the Soul Reincarnation of Lower Soul . The Dweller on the Thresliold The Word The Divine Witness Appendix . . . • A Mantra Operative Colour and Spiritual Sound . Musical Table . Notes on some Oral Teachings The Dweller on the Threshold Fear and Hatred Triangle and Quaternary- Prana and Antahkarana Sacred Centres of the Body Akasha Nature's Soun-Ung-Board Kosmic Consciousness . Divisions of the Astral Plane . Kosmic Planes . Differentiation . Men and Pitris . Power of Imaginatior. . Why Cycles Return Talas and Lokas States of Consciousness Man and Lokas . Yogis in Svarloka Consciousness and Self-Consciousness Scales of Consciousness "Vibrations and Impressions The Crucifixion of the Christos xvni CONTENTS. Rising above the Brain Christ and Apollonius . The Beginnings . Karmic Effects . Fire is Kriyashakti Responsibility and the Ego Functions of the Astral Body PAOB 585 587 589 593 PREFACE. The task of preparing this volume for the press has been a difficult and anxious one, and it is necessary to state clearly what has been done. The papers given to me by H. P. B. were quite unarranged, and had no obvious order : I have, therefore, taken each paper as a separate Section, and have arranged them as sequentially as possible. With the exception of the correction of grammatical errors and the elimination of obviously un-English idioms, the papers are as H. P. B. left them, save as otherwise marked. In a few cases I have filled in a gap, but any such addition is enclosed within square brackets, so as to be distinguished from the text. In " The Mystery of Buddha " a further difficulty arose ; some of the Sections had been written four or five times over, each version con- taining some sentences that were not in the others ; I have pieced these versions together, taking the fullest as basis, and inserting therein everything added in any other versions. It is, however, with some hesitation that I have included these Sections in the Secret Doctrine. Together with some most suggestive thought, they contain very numerous errors of fact, and many statements based on exoteric writings, not on esoteric knowledge. They were given into my hands to publish, as part of the Third Volume of the Secret Doctrine^ and I therefore do not feel justified in coming between the author and the public, either by altering the statements, to make them consistent with fact, or by suppressing the Sections. She says she is acting entirely on her own authority, and it will be XX PREFACE. obvious to any instructed reader that she makes — possibly de- liberately— many statements so confused that they are mere blinds, and other statements — probably inadvertently — that are nothing- more than the exoteric misunderstandings of esoteric truths. The reader must here, as everywhere, use his own judgment, but feeling- bound to publish these Sections, I cannot let them go to the public without a warning that much in them is certainly erroneous. Doubtless, had the author herself issued- this book, she would have entirely re-written the whole of this division ; as it was, it seemed best to give all she had said in the diflferent copies, and to leave it in its rather unfinished state, for students will best like to have what she said as she said it, even though they may have to study it more closely than would have been the case had she remained to finish her work. The quotations made have been as far as possible found, and correct references given ; in this most laborious work a whole band of earnest and painstaking students, under the guidance of Mrs. Cooper- Oakley, have been my willing assistants. Without their aid it would not have been possible to give the references, as often a whole book had to be searched through, in order to find a para- graph of a few lines. This volume completes the papers left by H. P. B,, with the exception of a few scattered articles that yet remain and that will be published in her own magazine Lucifer. Her pupils are well aware that few will be found in the present generation to do justice to the occult knowledge of H. P. B. and to her magnificent sweep of thought, but as she can wait to future generations for the justification of her greatness as a teacher, so can her pupils afford to wait for the justification of their trust. Annie Besant. INTRODUCTORY " Power belongs to him who knows ; " this is a very old axiom. Knowledge — the first step to which is the power of comprehending the truth, of discerning the real from the false — is for those onl}^ who, having freed themselves from every prejudice and conquered their human conceit and selfishness, are ready to accept every and any truth, once it is demonstrated to them. Of such there are very few. The majority judge of a work according to the respective prejudices of its critics, who are guided in their turn by the popularity or unpopularity of the author, rather than by its own faults or merits. Outside the Theosophical circle, therefore, the present volume is certain to receive at the hands of the general public a still colder welcome than its two predecessors have met with. In our day no statement can hope for a fair trial, or even hearing, unless its arguments run on the line of legitimate and accepted enquiry, remaining strictly within the boun- daries of official Science or orthodox Theology. Our age is a paradoxical anomaly. It is preeminently materialistic and as preeminently pietistic. Our literature, our modern thought and progress, so called, both run on these two parallel lines, so incon- gruously dissimilar and yet both so popular and so very orthodox, each in its own way. He who presumes to draw a third line, as a hyphen of reconciliation between the two, has to be fully prepared for the worst. He will have his work mangled by reviewers, mocked by the sycophants of Science and Church, misquoted by his opponents, and rejected even by the pious lending libraries. The absurd misconcep- tions, in so-called cultured circles of society, of the ancient Wisdom- Religion (Bodhism) after the admirably clear and scientifically-presented explanations in Esoteric Buddhism, are a good proof in point. They might have served as a caution even to those Theosophists who, hardened in an almost life-long struggle in the service of their Cause, are neither timid with their pen, nor in the least appalled by dogmatic 2 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. assumption and scientific authorit)-. Yet, do what Theosophical writers may, neither Materialism nor doctrinal pietism will ever give their Philosophy a fair hearing. Their doctrines will be systematically rejected, and their theories denied a place even in the ranks of those scientific ephemera, the ever-shifting "working hj^potheses" of our day. To the advocate of the "animalistic" theory, our cosmogenetical and anthropogenetical teachings are "fairy-tales" at best. For to those who would shirk any moral responsibility, it seems certainly more convenient to accept descent from a common simian ancestor and see a brother in a dumb, tailless baboon, than to acknowledge the fatherhood of Pitris, the " Sons of God," and to have to recognise as a brother a starveling from the slums. " Hold back ! " shout in their turn the pietists. " You will never make of respectable church-going Christians Esoteric Buddhists!" Nor are we, in truth, in an}' way anxious to attempt the metamor- phosis. But this cannot, nor shall it, prevent Theosophists from saying what the}' have to say, especialh^ to those who, in opposing to our doctrine Modern Science, do so not for her own fair sake, but only to ensure the success of their private hobbies and personal glorification. If we cannot pi'ove many of our points, no more can they ; )'et we may show how, instead of giving historical and scientific facts — for the edification of those who, knowing less than they, look to Scientists to do their thinking and form their opinions — the efforts of most of our scholars seem solely directed to killing ancient facts, or distorting them into props to support their own .special views. This will be done in no spirit of malice or even criticism, as the writer readily admits that most of those she finds fault with stand immeasurably higher in learning than herself. But great scholai'ship does not preclude bias and prejudice, nor is it a safeguard against self-conceit, but rather the reverse. Moreover, it is but in the legitimate defence of our own state- ments, i.e., the vindication of Ancient Wisdom and its great truths, that we mean to take our " great authorities" to task. Indeed, unless the precaution of answering beforehand certain objections to the fundamental propositions in the present work be adopted — objections which are certain to be made on the authority of this, that, or another scholar concerning the Esoteric character of all the archaic and ancient works on Philosophy — our statements will be once more contradicted and even discredited. One of the main points in this Volume is to indicate in the works of the old Aryan, Greek, and ONE KEY TO ALL SACRED BOOKS. 3 Other Philosophers of note, as well as in all the world -scriptures, the presence of a strong Esoteric allegory and symbolism. Another of the objects is to prove that the key of interpretation, as furnished by the Eastern Hindu-Buddhistic canon of Occultism — fitting as well the Christian Gospels as it does archaic Egyptian, Greek, Chaldaean, Persian, and even Hebrew- Mosaic Books — must have been one common to all the nations, however divergent may have been their respective methods and exoteric " blinds." These claims are vehemently denied b)* some of the foremost scholars of our da5^ In his Edinburgh I,ectures, Prof. Max Miiller discarded this fundamental statement of the Theosophists by pointing to the Hindu Shastras and Pandits, who know nothing of such Esotericism.* The learned Sanskrit scholar stated in so many words that there was no hidden meaning, no Esoteric element or " blinds," either in the Piiranas or the Upanhhads. Considering that the word ''Upanishad" means, when translated, the "Secret Doctrine," the assertion is, to say the least, extraordinary. Sir M. Monier Williams again holds the same view with regard to Buddhism. To hear him is to regard Gautama, the Buddha, as an enemy of every pretence to Esoteric teachings. He himself never taught them ! All such "pretences " to Occult learning and " magic powers " are due to the later Arhats, the subse- quent followers of the " Light of Asia " ! Prof. B. Jowett, again, as contemptuously passes the sponge over the " absurd" interpretations of Plato's TimcBus and the Mosaic Books by the Neoplatonists. There is not a breath of the Oriental (Gnostic) spirit of Mysticism in Plato's Dialogues, the Regius Professor of Greek tells us, nor any approach to Science, either. Finall}^, to cap the climax, Prof. Sayce, the Assyri- ologist, although he does not deny the actual presence, in the Assyrian tablets and cuneiform literature, of a hidden meaning — Many of the sacrefl texts ... so written as to be intelligible only to the initiated — yet insists that the "keys and glosses" thereof are now in the hands of the Assyriologists. The modern scholars, he affirms, have in their possession clues to the interpretation of the Esoteric Records, Which even the initiated priests [of Chaldaea] did not possess. * The majority of the Pandits know nothing of the Esoteric Philosophy now, because they have lost the key to it ; yet not one of these, if honest, would deny that the Upanishads, and especially the i'uranas, are allegorical and symbolical; nor that there still remain in India a few great scholars who could, if they would, give them the key to such interpretations. Nor do they reject the actua. existence of Mahatmas— initiated Yogis and Adepts— even in this age of Kali Yuga. 4 THE SECRET DOCTRINE- Thus, in the scholarly appreciation of our modern Orientalists and Professors, Science was in its infancy in the days of the Egyptian and Chaldsean Astronomers. Panini, the greatest Grammarian in the world, was unacquainted with the art of writing. So was the Lord Buddha, and ever>'one else in India until 300 B.C. The grossest ignorance reigned in the days of the Indian Rishis, and even in those of Thales, Pythagoras, and Plato. Theosophists must indeed be superstitious ignoramuses to speak as they do, in the face of such learned evidence to the contrary ! Truly it looks as if, since the world's creation, there has been but one age of real knowledge on earth — the present age. In the mistj^ twilight, in the grey dawn of history, stand the pale shadows of the old Sages of world renown. They were hopelessly groping for the correct meaning of their own Mysteries, the spirit whereof has departed with- out revealing itself to the Hierophants, and has remained latent in space until the advent of the initiates of Modern Science and Research. The noontide brightness of knowledge has only now arrived at the " Know- All," who, basking in the dazzling sun of induction, busies himself with his Penelopeian task of " working hypotheses," and loudly asserts his rights to universal knowledge. Can anyone wonder, then, that according to present views the learning of the ancient Philosopher, and even sometimes that of his direct successors in the past centuries, has ever been useless to the world and valueless to him- self? For, as explained repeatedly in so many words, while the Rishis and the Sages of old have walked far over the arid fields of myth and superstition, the mediaeval Scholar, and even the average eighteenth century Scientist, have always been more or less cramped by their "super- natural " religion and beliefs. True, it is generally conceded that some ancient and also mediaeval Scholars, such as Pythagoras, Plato, Paracelsus, and Roger Bacon, followed by a host of glorious names, had indeed left not a few landmarks over precious mines of Philosophy and unexplored lodes of Phy.sical Science. But then the actual exca- vation of these, the smelting of the gold and silver, and the cutting of the precious jewels they contain, are all due to the patient labours of the modern man of Science. And is it not to the unparalleled genius of the latter that the ignorant and hitherto-deluded world owes a correct knowledge of the real nature of the Kosmos, of the true origin of the universe and man, as revealed in the automatic and mechanical theories of the Physicists, in accordance with strictly scientific Philo- ASSUMPTIONS HAVE TO BE PROVEN. 5 sophy ? Before our cultured era, Science was but a name, Philosophy a delusion and a snare. According to the modest claims of contem- porary authority on genuine Science and Philosophy, the Tree of Knowledge has only now sprung from the dead weeds of superstition, as a beautiful butterfly emerges from an ugly grub. We have, there- fore, nothing for which to thank our forefathers. The Ancients have at best prepared and fertilised the soil ; it is the Moderns who have planted the "seeds of knowledge and reared the lovely plants called blank negation and sterile agnosticism. Such, however, is not the view taken by Theosophists. They repeat what was stated twenty years ago. It is not sufficient to speak of the " untenable conceptions of an uncultured past" (Tyndall) ; of the '' parler enfayitin " of the Vaidic poets (Max Miiller) ; of the "absurdi- ties" of the Neoplatonists (Jowett); and of the ignorance of the Chaldaeo- Assyrian initiated Priests with regard to their own symbols, when compared with the knowledge thereon of the British Orientalist (Sayce). Such assumptions have to be proven by something more solid than the mere word of these scholars. For no amount of boastful arrogance can hide the intellectual quarries out of which the represen- tations of so many modern Philosophers and Scholars have been carved. How many of the most distinguished European Scientists have derived honour and credit for the mere dressing-up of the ideas of these old Philosophers, whom they are ever ready to disparage, is left to an impartial posterity to say. Thus it does seem not altogether untrue as stated in his Unveiled, to say of certain Orientalists and Scholars of dead languages, that they will allow their boundless conceit and self-opinionatedness to run away with their logic and reasoning powers, rather than concede to the ancient Philosophers the knowledge of any- thing the modern do not know. As part of this work treats of the Initiates and the secret knowledge imparted during the Mysteries, the statements of those who, in spite of the fact that Plato was an Initiate, maintain that no hidden Mysticism is to be discovered in his works, have to be first examined. Too many of the present scholars, Greek and Sanskrit, are but too apt to forego facts in favour of their own preconceived theories based on personal prejudice. They conveniently forget, at every opportunity, not only the numerous changes in language, but also that the allegorical style in the writings of old Philosophers and the secretiveness of the Mystics had their raisoji d'etre; that both the pre-Christian and the post- 6 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. Christian classical writers — the great majority at all events — were under the sacred obligation never to divulge the solemn secrets com- municated to them in the sanctuaries ; and that this alone is sufficient to sadly mislead their translators and profane critics. But these critics will admit nothing of the kind, as will presently be seen. For over twentj^-two centuries everyone who has read Plato has been aware that, like most of the other Greek Philosophers of note, he had been initiated ; that therefore, being tied down by the Sodalian Oath, he could speak of certain things only in veiled allegories. His reverence for the Mysteries is unbounded ; he openly confesses that he writes " enigmatically," and we see him take the greatest precautions to conceal the true meaning of his words. Every time the subject touches the greater secrets of Oriental Wisdom — the cosmogou}^ of the universe, or the ideal preexisting world — Plato shrouds his Philosophy in the profoundest darkness. His Tirnceus is so confused that no one but an Initiate can understand th-e hidden meaning. As already said in his Unveiled : The speculations of Plato in the Banquet on the creation, or rather the evolution, of primordial men, and the essay on cosmogony in the Timcsus, must be taken Jlegorically if we accept them at all. It is this hidden Pythagorean meaning in Timceus, Cratylus, and Partnenides, and a few other trilogies and dialogues, that the Neoplatonists ventured to expound, as far as the theurgical vow of secresy would allow them. The Pythagorean doctrine that God is the Universal Mind diffuse