(_c_) The _Zohar_ speaks of “Black Fire,” which is Absolute Light—Wisdom. To those who, prompted by old theological prejudice, may say: But the Asuras are the rebel Devas, the opponents of the Gods—hence Devils, and the Spirits of Evil—it is answered: Esoteric Philosophy admits neither good nor evil _per se_, as existing independently in Nature. The cause for both is found, as regards the Kosmos, in the necessity of contraries or contrasts, and with respect to man, in his human nature, his ignorance and passions. There are no Devils or the utterly depraved, as there are no Angels absolutely perfect, though there may be Spirits of Light and of Darkness; thus Lucifer—the Spirit of Intellectual Enlightenment and Freedom of Thought—is metaphorically the guiding beacon, which helps man to find his way through the rocks and sand‐banks of Life, for Lucifer is the Logos in his highest, and the “Adversary” in his lowest aspect—both of which are reflected in our Ego. Lactantius, speaking of the Nature of Christ, makes the Logos, the Word, “the _first‐born brother of Satan_, and _the first of all creatures_.”(377) The _Vishnu Purâna_ describes these primeval creatures (Tiryaksrotas) with _crooked_ digestive canals: [They were] endowed with inward manifestations, but mutually in ignorance _about their kind and nature_.(378) The twenty‐eight kinds of Badhas, or “imperfections,” do not apply, as Wilson thought, to the animals now known, which are specified by him, for they did not exist in those geological periods. This is quite plain from the said work, in which the first created are the “five‐fold (immovable) world,” minerals and vegetables; then come those fabulous animals, Tiryaksrotas—the monsters of the Abyss, slain by the “Lords,” of Stanzas II and III; then the Ûrdhvasrotas, the happy celestial beings, which feed on ambrosia; and lastly, the Arvâksrotas, human beings—Brahmâ’s seventh “creation” so‐called. But these “creations,” including the latter, did not occur on this Globe, wherever else they may have taken place. It is not Brahmâ who creates things and men on this Earth, but the Chief and Lord of the Prajâpatis, the Lords of Being and terrestrial Creation. “Obeying the command of Brahmâ,” Daksha—the synthesis, or the aggregate, of the Terrestrial Creators and Progenitors, the Pitris included—made superior and inferior (vara and avara) things, “referring to putra” progeny, and “_bipeds_ and _quadrupeds_, and subsequently, by his will [referring to the Sons of Will and Yoga], gave birth to females”(379)—_i.e._, separated the androgynes. Here, again, we have “bipeds” or men, created before the “quadrupeds” as in the Esoteric Teachings.