Theos-Talk Archives (December 2002 Message tt00717)

PLEASE EXCUSE CAPS, AS I MAKE TOO MANY UNCORRECTED TYPOS WITHOUT THEM 

From: "Bhakti Ananda Goswami 
Date: Fri Dec 27, 2002 1:25 pm
Subject: HPB USED THE PURANAS TO COMMENT ON THE STANZAS

Previously I have asserted that HPB used the Puranas (Bhakti Shastras 
or theistic devotional Scriptures of Vishnu, Shiva and Devi) and 
especially those of Krishna-Vishnu Vaishnavism, to explain / comment 
on the STANZAS OF DZYAN in her SECRET DOCTRINE. It is obvious to me 
that the Stanzas themselves are merely a Western Occult summary of 
teachings principally from the VAISHNAVA PURANAS. 

Previously I used a key search word analysis of THE SECRET DOCTRINE 
to demonstrate this. However I 
have just been doing another search of the 1997 INDEX TO THE SECRET 
DOCTRINE by John P. Van Mater, and have found that using his INDEX 
has proved far more helpful in supporting my assertion than my 
previous search. To illustrate this, here are the results of a few 
key word searches below. Also note that the STANZAS OF DZYAN 
subjects come from the Vaishnava Puranas. In my opinion, the STANZAS 
are simply HPB's summary of Puranic teachings interpreted through her 
view of the Western Esoteric or 'Wisdom' (gnostic / jnana) Tradition. 

I have included some other writings for consideration below, but 
don't have time to comment on them right now. Vishnu is called SAPTA 
MAHA BHAGAVAN or the SEVEN GREAT GOD. BHOG IN RUSSIAN and the SLAVIC 
BIBLES IS TRANSLATED AS 'GOD' AND IS COGNATE WITH KRISHNA'S SANSKRIT 
NAME BHAGA, AS IN BHAGAVAN, BHAGAVAD-GITA, SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM OR 
BHAGAVAT PURANA ETC. ALL SEVENS INCLUDING THE SEVEN DAY WEEK WERE 
SACRED TO KRISHNA-VISHNU OR BHAGAVAN. THE SATURN-DAY SEVEN WAS A REST 
DAY FOR VAISHNAVAS AND THEIR CLOSELY RELATED PURE LAND BUDDHISTS IN 
SUCH REMOTE PLACES AS NEPAL-TIBET AND TAMIL NADU - SRI LANKA. IN ALL 
REGIONS, THE KRISHNA-VISHNU SATURDAY SABBATH WAS ASSOCIATED WITH SRI 
KRISHNA'S BHAGAVAD-GITA THEOPHANY AS THE WRATHFUL ALL-DEVOURING FORM 
OF GOD AS TIME...THE LION-HEADED KALAH PURUSHA. THUS KRISHNA AS 
KALAH, SHIVA KALAH BAIRAVA, THE PERSIAN ZERVAN, ZEUS CHRONUS, YAHU 
TZABAOTH (EXODUS ELI-YAHU AS THE COSMIC 'LORD OF HOSTS'), JUPITER 
SATURNUS (WHERE THE NAME 'SATURDAY' COMES FROM' )AND THE EGYPTIAN AND 
AFRICAN FORMS OF HERU-OSIR, THE ALL-GOD, AS COSMIC AND ETERNAL TIME  
WERE ALL DEPICTED AS LEONTOCEPLAIC OR LION-HEADED AND WERE ALL 
ASSOCIATED WITH THE 7 DAY WEEK, ALL SACRED SEVENS, AND KRISHNA-
VISHNUS' SATURDAY 'SABBATH'. HELIOS / ELI-YAHU / HERU-ASU (KOUROS = 
KRISHNA)WAS CALLED HEBDOMAGENOUS AS THE GREAT LORD OF ALL SEVENS.

OF COURSE THIS IMPORTANTANCE OF THE SACTRED SEVENS COMES THROUGH INTO 
BUDDHISM AND SHAIVISM AS WELL. THUS THERE ARE MYTHS ABOUT SANIVARA 
(THE SACRED SATURN DAY SABBATH) IN THE sHIVITE TRADITION ASSOCIATED 
WITH THE BEHEADING OF GANESHA FOR INSTANCE.  

THE OFFICIAL CALENDAR OF NEPAL IS ORGANIZED FOR A SATURN DAY SABBATH, 
WHICH IS OBSERVED BY VAISHNAVAS, SHAIVITES BUDDHISTS AND DEVI 
WORSHIPERS. IN NEPAL, TAMIL NADU AND OTHER PLACES WHERE THE GITA-
RELATED LION HEADED FORM OF KRISHNA-VISHNU IS WORSHIPED, SATURN DAY 
IS OBSERVED IN SOME WAYS IDENTICAL TO THOSE IN ISRAEL TODAY !

Subject: HPB USED THE PURANAS TO COMMENT ON THE STANZAS


Index to The Secret Doctrine, prepared by John P. Van Mater
Copyright © 1997 by Theosophical University Press. All rights 
reserved.


Bhagavad-Gita

all men may know Vasudeva II 48n 
Anugita on speech I 94 
Brahm enthroned on lotus I 379 
explains Mahabharata II 139 
four manus & seven rishis II 140 &n, 318n 
Isvara in II 114 
Kshetrajna in II 638 
lower, higher elements in I 535-6 
Pistis Sophia in light of II 569 
root or sattva is buddhi I 68n 
on Tree of Life, asvattha I 406 
two paths at death explained I 86 
Wilson saw Buddhism in I 419n
Bhagavad Gita Lectures. See Row, T. S.

Bhagavan (Skt) II 406

Bhagavat, Bhagavan (Skt) II 406

the Eternal I 345 
hurled Brahma to Earth (Fall) II 483 
incarnates II 48
Bhagavata-Purana

Arjuna married Ulupi in II 214 &n 
Chakshusha Manu of sixth period II 615n 
cross & circle in II 549-50 
curse of Vasishtha II 247 
Hamsa caste I 79 
Kapila author of Sankhya philosophy II 572 
Kapila did not slay 60,000 II 571 
mankind produced fr Vach II 418n 
Moryas will reign over India I 378n 
nitya pralaya I 371 
opening of kali-yuga II 550 
Panchasikha Kumara I 236 
rakshasas, origin of II 165n 
Vaisvanara son of Danu II 381 &n 
vyakta in I 10n

Vishnu Purana

referred to: 
events purposely blended in II 310 
heliocentrism in II 155 
kumaras hardly hinted at in II 577 
misunderstood II 320-1 
oldest manuscript of II 174n 
oldest of Puranas II 58 
secret meanings in I 423 
tampered w by Brahmans I 423 
Wilson & I 255, 257n, 419n, 423n; II 73
quoted: 
Adi-bhuta I xix 
akasa (ether), sound, color I 205 
asexual & other reproduction II 658 
asuras fr Brahma's body I 218-19n 
beginning of cosmogony I 545 
in the beginning there was One I 256 
bhutas described II 102n 
Brahma as cause of potencies I 55 
Brahma creates anew II 58-9 
Brahma, three aspects of I 19 
Brahma wrathful at Vedhas II 78 
Budha born fr Tara & Soma II 45 &n 
Chiti (chitti) I 288n 
creation of four kinds of beings II 625 
Daksha creates progeny II 183, 275n 
Daksha reborn every kalpa II 247n 
divine dynasties II 369 &n 
dvipas listed, expl II 320-3, 404n 
Eighth Creation I 448 
elements, meaning of I 520-23 
elements, properties, creation I 521 
eternity, meaning of I 336n 
ether material cause of sound I 255 
forty-nine fires I 291 &n, 520-1 
"fragrance affects the mind" I 451-2n 
geography, geodesy, & ethnology II 320-2 
gods created & perish I 376 
gods' supplication to Vishnu I 419-22 
Hari (Vishnu) described I 421 
immortality defined I 36n 
kali-yuga described I 377-8 
kalpas, yugas II 307n 
Kandu, Pramlocha (sweat-born) II 171n, 174-5 
Kapila's Eye destroys 60,000 I 563 
karma of created beings I 456n 
kumaras II 173 
legend of Pururavas I 523 
Mahadeva springs fr Brahma II 548 
mahapralaya I 371 
Mahat & matter are boundaries I 257 
manasa, rajasas II 89 
manus, manvantaras, rishis II 614-15n 
man was Seventh Creation I 376 
many forms of Vishnu & Brahma II 146n 
mind-born sons II 625 &n 
Mt Meru described II 403-4 
mundane egg I 65-6, 360 
Narada son of Kasyapa II 47-8 
nine creations in I 450-7 
nine planets mentioned in II 488-9n 
Parasara II 232, 326 
potency of every cause I 450 
prabhavapyaya defined I 46 
pradhana, prakriti I 50, 545 
pralaya & prakritis I 257 
pralayas (various) I 370-1; II 309-10n 
primeval creatures II 162-3 
primordial substance, all comes fr I 284-5 
Priyavrata & seven dvipas II 319-22, 326 
Pushkara II 403-4 
rakshasas II 165n 
rishis destroy trees (sorcerers) II 495 
rotation of Earth II 155 
Sagara I 563; II 572 
sandhya, sandhyamsa in II 308n 
sarpa, Ahi fr Brahma's hair II 181-2n 
seven creations I 445-6 &n 
seven rishis, fourteen manus II 624 
sevens in I 348 
Seventh Creation (man) I 445 
size of Earth II 616-17n 
Sri, various names of II 76n 
Sun neither rises nor sets I 290n; II 155 
Sun reflection of Vishnu I 290n 
Surasa mother of dragons II 381 
undying race in II 275 &n 
universe one w divine knowledge I 421n 
Vishnu creates at play II 126 
Vishnu pervades all II 611-12 &nn 
Vishnu, triple hypostasis of I 286-7


Purana(s) II 36-7, 58, 121, 137, 181. See alsoVishnu Purana

Agneyastra II 629 
allegorical & historical II 323 
anticipated modern discoveries I 623 
astronomy of, conceals II 253 
Asuramaya in II 50 
authors of, knew forces of science I 521 
bhutas in II 102n 
Bible & I xxxi, 316; II 126, 251-2 
bipeds before quadrupeds II 163, 183 
Brahma as a boar II 75 
Budha, wisdom, Mercury II 498 
chronology of I 316; II 225 
commentary on, re Vishnu, Sesha II 505 
compiled fr "very old book" I xliii 
confirm old teachings I 307 
continents, islands II 263-4, 402-9 
days & nights of Brahma I 368-78 
dead letter of, a fairy tale II 320 
deal w causes II 252 
decad, dual system in II 573 
deluge (Atlantean) II 140 
details of, contradictory II 138 
disfigured by translation I 115n 
dual creation II 81 
dualistic, not evolutionary I 256n 
esoteric keys in, for searcher II 585 &n 
esoteric works at one time I 423 
ether produced sound I 587 
exaggerations in II 67, 252, 585 
exoteric II 378 
exoteric symbols used in II 455 
expressed 5,000 years ago II 527 
fallen gods II 232, 283 
four vidyas in I 168-9 
geometrical figures, numbers I 66 
giants, Titans, Cyclopes in I 415; II 293 
hide esoteric meaning II 148, 175n 
history of our monads II 284 
incongruities in I 420-1 
Indra in, & Rig-Veda II 378 
initiates knew meaning of I 423, 520; II 320 
Kapilas, several in II 572 
kings, rishis II 94 
lunar, solar year, day II 621 
Mahat inner boundary of universe I 257 
Mahat-prakriti I 602 
man seventh Creation I 217 
many meanings in II 402-3 
maruts sons of Diti II 613 
material pole of Vedas II 527 
more mythical than Stanzas II 23 
must not be taken literally I 369; II 585 
names allegorical, geographical II 403n 
Narada in II 47-9 
north polar region II 326 
occult secrets in II 571-2 
older than Phoenicians II 406 
older than Plato's island II 407 
orders, classes, animals, plants II 259n 
personnel of, pre-human II 284 
physical, metaphysical worlds II 402-3 
pitris described II 91, 121 
pradhana aspect of Parabrahman I 256 
pralaya, Parasara's account of II 757 
primeval perfect cube I 344 
primordial voice, light in II 107 
rishi-yogis II 78-9n 
rotation, revolution of planets I 442 
scientific when read esoterically II 251-3 
sea that never freezes II 12 
serpent oracles II 381 
Sesha I 407; II 505 
seven creations I 21 
seven human, cosmic principles II 616 
seven manus II 3 
sevens in II 35, 611, 616 
son of Moon legend II 45 



Book of Dzyan II 46, 113, 220, 375, 759.See also Stanzas of Dzyan

central Sun, Fohat, etc I 201 
Djan, Dzan or I xx n 
the eternal pilgrim I 16-17 &n 
evolution of man II 241 
Great Mother & numerical values I 434 
language of, unknown I xxxvii 
motion, spirit, matter I 258 
number seven in I 674 
original Senzar commentaries on I 23 
Stanzas of I 27-34; II 15-21 
treats of our planetary system I 13 
unheard of I viii, xxii 
unknown animals in II 254 
why many Stanzas of, omitted I 478

spiritual man independent of body II 254 
Sveta-Dvipa II 6 
Taraka War in all II 497-8 
treat the pre-cosmic, pre-genetic II 252 
twice-born II 70 
two or more creations II 53 
undying race II 275 &n 
universal myths II 97 
universal truths in II 409-10 
universe as an egg I 360 
Vaivasvata as Noah II 290-1 
Vaivasvata Manu, one only in II 251 
on various races II 173-7 
Venus story II 30 
Vishnu First, Brahma Second Logos I 381n 
war of asuras II 63 
wars in heaven I 202, 418-19 
weapons in II 629-30 
wisdom in I 336 
written emblems I 306-7


"The Puranas on the Dynasties of the Moryas . . ." See Rao, D. B. R. 
R.


THE SEPTENARY IN THE EXOTERIC WORKS.
We may now examine other ancient Scriptures and see whether they 
contain the septenary classification, and, if so, to what degree. 

As much, if not much more, even than in the Jewish Bible, scattered 
about in the thousands of Sanskrit texts, some still unopened, others 
yet unknown, as well as in all the Puranas, the numbers seven and 
forty-nine (7 x 7) play a most prominent part. They are found from 
the Seven creations in Chapter I., down to the seven rays of the Sun 
at the final Pralaya, which expand into Seven Suns and absorb the 
material of the whole Universe. Thus the Matsya Purana has: "For the 
sake of promulgating the Vedas, Vishnu, in the beginning of a Kalpa, 
related to Manu the story of Narasimha and the events of seven 
Kalpas." Then again the same Purana shows that "in all the 
Manvantaras, classes of Rishis* appear by seven and seven, and having 
established a code of law and morality depart to felicity" -- the 
Rishis representing many other things besides living Sages. 

In Hymn xix., 53, of Atharva Veda (Dr. Muir's translation) one 
reads: -- 

[[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- 
*" These are the seven persons by whom in the several Manvantaras" -- 
says Parasara -- "created beings have been protected. Because the 
whole world has been pervaded by the energy of the deity, he is 
entitled Vishnu, from the root Vis 'to enter' or 'pervade,' for all 
the gods, the Manus, the Seven Rishis, the Sons of the Manu, the 
Indras, all are but the impersonated potencies (Vibhutayah) of 
Vishnu" (Vish. Purana). Vishnu is the Universe; and the Universe 
itself is divided in the Rig Veda into seven regions -- which ought 
to be sufficient authority, for the Brahmins, at all events. 


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[[Vol. 2, Page]] 612 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
" 1. Time carries (us) forward, a steed, with seven rays, a thousand 
eyes, undecaying, full of fecundity. On him intelligent sages mount; 
his wheels are all the worlds." 

"2. Thus Time moves on seven wheels; he has seven naves; immortality 
is his axle. He is at present all these worlds. Time hastens onward 
the first God." 

"3. A full jar is contained in Time. We behold him existing in many 
forms. He is all these worlds in the future. They call him 'Time in 
the highest Heaven' " . . . . 

Now add to this the following verse from the Esoteric volumes: -- 

"Space and Time are one. Space and Time are nameless, for they are 
the incognizable THAT, which can be sensed only through its seven 
rays -- which are the Seven Creations, the Seven Worlds, the Seven 
Laws," etc., etc., etc. . . . 

Remembering that the Puranas insist on the identity of Vishnu with 
Time and Space*; and that even the Rabbinical symbol for God is 
MAQOM, "Space," it becomes clear why, for purposes of a manifesting 
Deity -- Space, Matter, and Spirit -- the one central point became 
the Triangle and Quaternary (the perfect Cube), hence Seven. Even the 
Pravaha wind (the mystic and occult Force that gives the impulse to, 
and regulates the course of the stars and planets) is septenary. The 
Kurma and Linga Puranas enumerate seven principal winds of that name, 
which winds are the principles of Cosmic Space. They are intimately 
connected with Dhruva** (now Alpha), the Pole-Star, which is 
connected in its turn with the production of various phenomena 
through cosmic forces. 

Thus, from the Seven Creations, seven Rishis, Zones, Continents, 
Principles, etc., etc. in the Aryan Scriptures, the number has passed 
through Indian, Egyptian, Chaldaic, Greek, Jewish, Roman, and finally 
Christian mystic thought, until it landed in and remained impressed 
indelibly on every exoteric theology. The seven old books stolen out 
of Noah's ark by Ham, and given to Cush, his son, and the seven 
Brazen columns of Ham and Cheiron, are a reflection and a remem- 

[[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- 
* Vishnu is all -- the worlds, the stars, the seas, etc., 
etc. "Vishnu is all that is, all that is not . . . . but is not 
Vastubhuta," "a substance" (Vishnu Purana, Book II. ch. xii). "That 
which people call the highest God is not a substance but the cause of 
it; not one that is here, there, or elsewhere, not what we see, but 
that in which all is -- SPACE." 

[SAPTA MAHA BAGAVAN]






[[Vol. 2, Page]] 624 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
weeks" -- which is based on the archaic Indian system, which may 
still be found in the old Jyotisha.* And there are in it cycles 
of "the week of days," of the "week of months," of years, of 
centuries, and even of millenniums, decamillenniums, and more, 
or "the week of years of years."** But all this can be found in the 
archaic doctrine. And if this common source of the chronology in 
every Scripture, however veiled, is denied in the case of the Bible, 
then the six days, and a Sabbath, the seventh, can hardly disconnect 
Genesis from the Puranic Cosmogonies. For the first "Week of 
Creation" shows the septiformity of its chronology and thus connects 
it with Brahma's "Seven Creations." The able volume from the pen of 
Mr. Grattan Guinness, in which he has collected on some 760 pages 
every proof of that septiform calculation, is good evidence. For if 
the Bible chronology is, as he says, "regulated by the law of weeks," 
and if it is septenary, whatever the measures of the creation week 
and the length of its days; and if, finally, "the Bible system 
includes weeks on a great variety of scales," then this system is 
shown to be identical with all the pagan systems. Moreover, the 
attempt to show that 4,320 years (in lunar months) elapsed 
between "Creation" and the Nativity, is a clear and unmistakable 
connection with the 4,320,000 of the Hindu Yugas. Otherwise, why make 
such efforts to prove that these figures, which are pre-eminently 
Chaldean and Indo-Aryan, play such a part in the New Testament? We 
shall prove it now still more forcibly. 

Let the impartial critic compare the two accounts -- the Vishnu 
Purana and the Bible -- and he will find that the "seven creations" 
of Brahma are at the foundation of the "week" of creation in Genesis 
i. The two allegories are different, but the systems are all built on 
the same foundation-stone. The Bible can be understood only by the 
light of the Kabala. Take the Zohar, the "Book of Concealed Mystery," 
however now disfigured, and compare. The seven Rishis and the 
fourteen Manus of the seven Manvantaras -- issue from Brahma's head; 
they are his "mind-born sons," and it is with them that begins the 
division of mankind and its races from the Heavenly man, "the Logos" 
(the manifested), who is Brahma Prajapati. Says (V. 70 in) the "Ha 
Idra Rabba Qadisha" (the Greater Holy Assembly) of the skull (head) 

[[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- 
* See for the length of such cycles or Yugas in Vriddha Garga and 
other ancient astronomical Sections (Jyotisha). They vary from the 
cycle of five years -- which Colebrooke calls "the cycle of the 
Vedas," specified in the institutes of Parasara, "and the basis of 
calculation for larger cycles" (Miscell. Essays, Vol. I., pp. 106 and 
108) -- up to the Mahayuga or the famous cycle of 4,320,000 years. 

** The Hebrew word for "week" is Seven; and any length of time 
divided by Seven would have been a "week" in their day, even 
49,000,000 years, as it is seven times seven millions. But their 
calculation is throughout septiform. 


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[[Vol. 2, Page]] 625 THE HAIRY SYMBOL. 
of Macroprosopus, the ancient One* (Sanat, an appellation of Brahma), 
that in every one of his hairs is a "hidden fountain issuing from the 
concealed brain." "And it shineth and goeth forth through that hair 
unto the hair of Microprosopus, and from it (which is the manifest 
QUATERNARY, the Tetragrammaton) his brain is formed; and thence that 
brain goeth into THIRTY and TWO paths" (or the triad and the duad, or 
again 432). And again: (V. 80) "Thirteen curls of hair exist on the 
one side and on the other of the skull" -- i.e., six on one and six 
on the other, the thirteenth being also the fourteenth, as it is male-
female, "and through them commenceth the division of the hair" (the 
division of things, Mankind and Races). 

"We six are lights which shine forth from a seventh (light)," saith 
Rabbi Abba; "thou art the seventh light" (the synthesis of us all, he 
adds, speaking of Tetragrammaton and his seven "companions," whom he 
calls "the eyes of Tetragrammaton.") 

TETRAGRAMMATON is Brahma Prajapati, who assumed four forms, in order 
to create four kinds of supernal creatures, i.e., made himself 
fourfold, or the manifest Quaternary (see Vishnu Purana, Book I. ch. 
V.); and who, after that, is re-born in the seven Rishis, his 
Manasaputras, "mind-born sons," who became later, 9, 21 and so on, 
who are all said to be born from various parts of Brahma** 

[[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- 
* Brahma creates in the first Kalpa (day one) various "sacrificial 
animals" pasu -- or the celestial bodies and the Zodiacal signs, and 
plants which he uses in sacrifices at the opening of Treta Yuga. The 
esoteric meaning of it shows him proceeding cyclically and creating 
astral prototypes on the descending spiritual arc and then on the 
ascending physical arc. The latter is the sub-division of a two-fold 
creation, subdivided again into seven descending and seven ascending 
degrees of spirit falling, and of matter ascending -- the inverse of 
what takes place (as in a mirror which reflects the right on the left 
side) in this manvantara of ours. It is the same, esoterically, in 
the Elohistic Genesis (chap. i.), and in the Jehovistic copy, as in 
Hindu cosmogony. 

** It is very surprising to see theologians and Oriental scholars 
express indignation at the "depraved taste of the Hindu mystics" who, 
not content with having invented the "Mind-born" Sons of Brahma, make 
the Rishis, Manus, and Prajapatis of every kind spring from various 
parts of the body of their primal Progenitor -- Brahma (see Wilson's 
footnote in his Vishnu Purana, Vol. I., p. 102). Because the average 
public is unacquainted with the Kabala, the key to, and glossary of, 
the much veiled Mosaic Books, therefore, the clergy imagines the 
truth will never out. Let any one turn to the English, Hebrew, or 
Latin texts of the Kabala, now so ably translated by several 
scholars, and he will find that the Tetragrammaton, which is the 
Hebrew IHVH, is also both the "Sephirothal Tree"-- i.e., it contains 
all the Sephiroth except Kether, the crown -- and the united body of 
the "Heavenly man" (Adam Kadmon) from whose limbs emanate the 
Universe and everything in it. Furthermore, he will find that the 
idea in the Kabalistic Books (the chief of which in the Zohar are 
the "Books of Concealed Mystery," of the "Greater," and the "Lesser 
Holy Assembly") is entirely phallic and far more crudely expressed 
than is the four-fold Brahma in any of the Puranas. (See "Kabala 
Unveiled," by Mr. S. L. Mathers, Chap. xxii., concerning the 
remaining members of Microprosopus).