Evolution of Life and Form: Four lectures delivered at the twenty-third anniversary meeting of the Theosophical Society at Adyar, Madras, 1898Besant, Annie
Religion
Evolution of Life and Form: Four lectures delivered at the twenty-third anniversary meeting of the Theosophical Society at Adyar, Madras, 1898
Besant, Annie
Evolution; Life -- Origin; Theosophy
Seven are the great Gods below the Trinity, below the Trimûrti. Every
religion, again, acknowledges these Seven. The Christian speaks of the
"Seven Spirits that are before the throne of God." The Zoroastrian
tells us of the seven Ameshaspendas who rule the world. The Chaldean
spoke of the seven great Gods. Five only are working and two are
concealed, for the universe is in process of evolution and only five
stages of it have been reached. Therefore only with regard to five can
we definitely speak as to working. The two concealed are beyond our
knowing; they are related to future stages of the evolution of the
Kosmos. But the five we will now consider. Their names in connection
with their functions you know well enough. They are connected with the
tattvas of which we were speaking yesterday--the Lord of A'kâsha, Indra;
the Lord of Air, Vâyu; the Lord of Fire, Agni; the Lord of Water,
Varuna; the Lord of Earth, sometimes called Kshiti (various names are
used for him); each of these great Gods has what we may call one region
marked out for his working. The matter of that region is the matter in
which he works; but in addition to that, each one is represented in the
realms of the others by a sub-division on which his impression is
especially made. These are the great kosmic planes that I have spoken of
marked off from each other by the tattvas. But if we come down to the
physical plane, dealing only with Prithivî Tattva, we shall then find
that that is also seven-fold in division and that we have physical
solid, physical earth or Prithivî, physical water or Apas, physical fire
or Agni, physical air or Vâyu, physical ether or A'kâsha. Each of these
great Gods works on each plane through the medium that corresponds to
the region which belongs to him in the Kosmos as a whole. How often we
see those correspondences as it were printed in physical nature. We have
light with its seven sub-divisions as seen in the solar spectrums
showing the seven colours, and the scale with its seven notes. Colours
and notes alike result from vibrations, and are determined by the number
of vibrations occurring in a unit of time. As the universe is built by
vibrations, colour and sound are factors of the universe at large, and
every region is said to have its own colour; the God of that region has
his colour--dependent on his vibratory force--which he imprints on the
region over which he rules; so that if a Ṛishi looks at the solar system
from a higher plane, he not only hears the seven fundamental notes of
music, making "the harmony of the spheres," but he sees a gorgeous
display of colours, as the sphere of every great Deva with his own
colour interpenetrates the others, yielding an iridescent splendour of
interfering radiances, the marvellous "rainbow that is round the throne
of God." Such mystic expressions have lost their meaning for the
majority, because the sight of those who wrote them is but little
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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