Book of Dzyan

From Anthroposophy

The Book of Dzyan is an ancient book of wisdom described by Helena Blavatsky in her book 'The Secret Doctrine' (1888), that provided the foundation for the Secret Doctrine, which contains the so-called 'Stanzas of Dzyan'. Blavatsky translated these from this 'secret' book (kept hidden from humanity), and commented on sanskrite and buddhist terminology.

There are two parts in the Stanzas of Dzyan: Cosmogenesis has 7 stanzas (and 53 statements) and Anthropogenesis has 12 stanzas (and 49 statements).

Many commentaries exist as people have tried to study and interpret the stanzas of Dzyan from a theosophical perspective (see 'Further reading' section below).

Rudolf Steiner confirmed that the stanzas of Dzyan contain some of the deepest and most important wisdom, of such a kind that it cannot yet be understood today but instead will only be gradually understood in all its depth over time (1909-04-12-GA110). And, that "with every step forward taken in one's own knowledge one is more convinced of the unlimited profundity [of the stanzas] and sees increasingly clearly things which can only be suspected even with advanced knowledge" (1905-05-07-GA262)

Steiner hints (and/or one may deduce) that the Dzyan stanzas originate from the teachers of Mankind that came from Venus and Mercury in the Lemurian epoch (1903-12-22-GA090A), and have been passed over through the Atlantean epoch to a small subculture that survived in Tibet (1924-05-20-GA353).

Hence, the stanzas are some of the oldest human knowledge in existence on Earth, pre-dating spoken and written languages. However as this knowledge was carried over from original sources maintained by and available only to the White Lodge, it was copied and transferred, probably by ancient Chinese-Tibetan and Indian cultures into the later developed languages such as the (predecessor of) Sanskrite, hence the embedded ancient Indian terminology on which Blavatsky commented. The Secret Doctrine represented the first time these Stanzas were disclosed publicly to humanity, translated to modern western language (re: Blavatsky)

Aspects

  • The two sets of Stanzas probably have a different origin, as they cover two main parts and periods of creation
  • Rudolf Steiner referenced certain stanzas as part of his lecturing, this way illustrating with specific examples how his teachings can be linked to what is contained in more cryptic form in the Book of Dzyan.
    • Five examples are listed below: while explaining the Book of Genesis (1903-11-24-GA088, 1903-12-08-GA088), in a letter of 1903-12, evolution (1904-11-05-GA089), and in the Q&A of 1907-10-19/21-GA244.
    • Hence Rudolf Steiner's modern teachings of spiritual science present a consistent body of knowledge in contemporary language, whereas the stanzas of the Book of Dzyan are in a veiled language for esotericists and are likely to be incomprehensible without initiation knowledge (see 1904-11-05-GA089 and 1906-08-30-GA095).
    • see Discussion section below for a copy of the Stanzas, with links to topic pages and schemas on this site.
  • more example references positioning extracts from the Book of Dzyan to stages or events described by contemporary spiritual science:
  • Note that - with regards to format for transferring knowledge, compared to the 102 verses of Dzyan
    • at the end of his life, Rudolf Steiner also wrote a set of synthetic meditation phrases with the 185 Leading Thoughts (LT), see GA026. They can be seen as a pyramidion stone on top of the pyramid of the whole body of anthroposophy or spiritual science, or as an entry way into it.
    • for comparison, the Book of Revelation contains 404 verses in 22 Chapters

Inspirational quotes

1903-12-22-GA090A

A lot has come to our knowledge through tradition. Even the Masters only know certain things though the fact that records are available from times when these things were still known. In the middle of the Lemurian epoch the great teachers came, so we can know something from the Dhyani-Chohans. The Secret Doctrine has been created on the basis of these records. Originally it were only the Dzyan stanzas. These were available in extremely old notes, and were only accessible under very special conditions.

Illustrations

Lecture coverage and references

Helena Blavatsky

see also stanzas online: source A (ISTA)

quote A

This first installment of the esoteric doctrines is based upon Stanzas, which are the records of a people unknown to ethnology; it is claimed that they are written in a tongue absent from the nomenclature of languages and dialects with which philology is acquainted; they are said to emanate from a source (occultism) repudiated by science; and, finally, they are offered through an agency, incessantly discredited before the world by all those who hate unwelcome truths, or have some special hobby of their own to defend. Therefore, the rejection of these teachings may be expected, and must be accepted beforehand. No one styling himself a 'scholar', in whatever department of exact science, will be permitted to regard these teachings seriously

...

[scope and formulation]

The reader has to bear in mind that the Stanzas given treat only of the cosmogony of our own planetary system and what is visible around it, after a solar pralaya. The secret teachings with regard to the evolution of the universal cosmos cannot be given, since they could not be understood by the highest minds in this age, and there seem to be very few initiates, even among the greatest, who are allowed to speculate upon this subject.

The Stanzas, therefore, give an abstract formula which can be applied, mutatis mutandis, to all evolution: to that of our tiny Earth, to that of the chain of planets of which that Earth forms one, to the solar universe to which that chain belongs, and so on, in an ascending scale, till the mind reels and is exhausted in the effort.

The seven Stanzas given in this volume represent the seven terms of this abstract formula. They refer to, and describe the seven great stages of the evolutionary process, which are spoken of in the Purânas as the “Seven Creations,” and in the Bible as the 'Days' of Creation.

quote B

The Stanzas which form the thesis of every section are given throughout in their modern translated version, as it would be worse than useless to make the subject still more difficult by introducing the archaic phraseology of the original, with its puzzling style and words. Extracts are given from the Chinese Tibetan and Sanskrit translations of the original Senzar Commentaries and Glosses on the Book of Dzyan, these being now rendered for the first time into a European language...

1903-11-24-GA088

Then God the Lord spoke to the woman: Why have you done this? The woman spoke: the serpent seduced me so that I ate. Then God the Lord spoke to the serpent: Because you have done this you are cursed above all cattle and above all animals of the field. (Genesis 3:13-14)

"Cursed above all cattle and above all animals of the field." This means nothing other than that the animals have evolved up to a certain limit, as is still appropriate to their whole kama, which is prescribed for them. Human kama is loosened from its constraints; human beings must decide for themselves. The lion is savage because cruelty lies in its kama. But human beings must purify their drives, their desire for morality; their instinctive drives have been released. You with your kama-manas have been pushed out and are left to your own devices. You are not the same as the animals; that is contained in these words.

Those who know the Secret Doctrine will know how one Dzyan verse speaks of the highest planetary spirit, of which there are actually eight; but only seven are spoken of, for one of them was pushed out, one who had brought the light! Thus kama-manas is also pushed out.

The Secret Doctrine, Volume 1, Dzyan, Strophe 1:

The eternal mother, hidden in her always invisible garment, once again slept during seven eternities.

or:

The eternal parent (space) wrapped in her ever-invisible robes, had slumbered once again for seven eternities.

and Stanza 4, line 5 (see Discussion Note)

Then come the “Sons,” the seven Fighters, the One, the eighth left out, and his Breath which is the Light-Maker (Bhāskara).

1903-12-08-GA088

And God set them in the firmament of the heavens so they could shine on the earth and rule day and night, and separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and morning, the fourth day. (Genesis 1:14-19)

This is the astral world, the third globe: the ocean of stars, the sym­bol for astral existence.

Now we come to the actual earth globe. Here matter was gradu­ally formed. At first, etheric matter was formed. During the first two epochs, we are at first dealing with etheric matter. It was condensed during the third root race, during the Lemurian age. At the same time a condensation of matter was taking place, so that during the Lemu-rian age we have a physical materiality constantly becoming denser.

And God spoke: Let the waters be stirred by living, weaving animals, and let birds fly above the earth across the firmament of the heavens. And God created the whales and all kinds of animals that live and weave so that the water is stirred, each according to its kind, and all kinds of feathered birds, each according to its kind.

And God saw that it was good.

And God blessed them and spoke: Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters and the sea; and let birds multiply on earth.

And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. (Genesis 1:20-23)

That is not the animal kingdom that natural history tells us of; rather it is what can be found in the second part of the Secret Doctrine by Blavatsky in the Dzyan verses.

And God spoke: Let the earth bring forth living creatures each according to its kind: cattle, creeping things, and animals on earth, each according to its kind.

Thus it happened.

And God made the animals on the earth, each according to its kind, and cattle according to their kind, and all kinds of creeping, crawling things on earth according to their kind. And God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:24-25).

God created the separateness of the animals, whereas earlier they were surging and weaving in an unseparated mass together.

1903-12-22-GA090A

is a lecture on cosmology and the planets. At the end of the lecture Rudolf Steiner comments:

These indications have to be considered with certain pre-conditions. A lot has come to our knowledge through tradition. Even the Masters only know certain things though the fact that records are available from times when these things were still known. In the middle of the Lemurian epoch the great teachers came, so we can know something from the Dhyani-Chohans. The Secret Doctrine has been created on the basis of these records. Originally it were only the Dzyan stanzas. These were available in extremely old notes, and were only accessible under very special conditions.

Note, earlier in this lecture is described how the beings of Venus and Mercury are ahead of Earth development and are working in the whole solar system, and how they became teachers in the Lemurian epoch when the Earth needed this influence (see [2])

.

Re the term Dhyani Chohan, see [1] as well as 1909-04-13-GA110 that states:

It is the same thing whether to speak of angels or of Dhyan-Chohans, for those who realise the unity of cosmic wisdom knew that these were merely different names for one and the same thing, but in this realm we must also know how to differentiate.

Helena Blavatsky stated that Dhyani Chohan is a Tibetan word meaning Lord or Master:

Dhyan-Chohan would answer to 'Chief of the Dhyanis', or celestial Lights, which in English would be translated Archangels.

Rudolf Steiner uses the term however in various other lectures and different contexts, eg relating to manas and SoF/Elohim (1904-12-27-GA090A and 1904-12-28-GA090A, see p 479 and 481 in DE version).

However see also:

1903-12-24 letter of Rudolf Steiner

Dear Mr. Wagner!

On page 73 [German edition] of The Secret Doctrine, we read with respect to Dzyan strophe 1,6:

"Of the seven truths or revelations only four have been handed out, since we are only in the fourth round."

When you were in Ber­lin, I pointed out that in light of a certain occult tradition, the fourth of the above-mentioned seven truths goes back to seven esoteric root-truths; and that of these seven partial truths (the fourth regarded as the whole) every race (as a rule) is given one. The fifth will be entirely revealed when the fifth race will have reached its goal of development. Now I would like to respond to your question as well as I can. At the present time the situation is as follows: the first four partial truths form sentences for meditation for those aspiring to the mysteries. Nothing further can be given than these (symbolic) sen­tences. For those meditating on occult paths there is much higher content that will come from these meditative sentences. Here are the four sentences translated from the symbolic language of signs:

I.       Reflect on this: how a point becomes a sphere and yet remains itself. When you have grasped how an infinite sphere is yet only a point, then think again; for then the infinite will appear for you in the finite.

II.    Reflect on this: how a seed becomes an ear of grain; and then think

again, for then you have grasped how what is living lives in number.

III.  Reflect on this: how light longs for the darkness, heat for cold, and the masculine for the feminine; then think again, for then you will have grasped what kind of a face the great dragon will show you on the threshold.

IV.  Reflect on this: how one enjoys the hospitality in a stranger's house; then think again, for then you will have grasped what awaits the person who sees the sun at midnight.

Now, if the meditations are fruitful, the fifth secret will result from the first four. Allow me to say preliminarily, only this much, that theosophy (the part of theosophy that can be found in The Secret Doctrine and its esoteri­cism) is a collection of partial truths of the fifth. You will find an indication of how one can get beyond this in the letter quoted by Sinnett, from Master K. H. (Kuthumi), who begins with the following words: "I have read every word..." In the first German edition of Occult World it is found on pages 126 and 127.

I can only give you the reassurance that K. H. gives on page 127: "When science will have learned the lesson of how impressions of leaves originally arose on stones...;" In this sentence lies almost the entire fifth secret hidden in an occult way.

That is all I am able to tell you to begin with, concerning your question. I could perhaps say more to further questions.

The four sentences above are what one calls living sentences; that is, they germinate during meditation, and sprouts of knowledge grow from them.

Stanza 1.6 reads:

6. The seven sublime Lords and the seven Truths had ceased to be, and the Universe, the son of necessity, was immersed in Paranishpanna (absolute perfection, Paranirvāṇa, which is Yong-Grub), to be outbreathed by that which is and yet is not. Naught was. (Commentary)

1904-05-26-GA089

Western science could not do anything with such knowledge, however, for no one was able to check the truth of what Mrs Blavatsky and Mr Sinnett had written. Above all people did not know what to do with the glorious cosmological song which consists of the Stanzas of Dzyan and was published at the beginning of Mrs Blavatsky' s Secret Doctrine. The verses tell the history of the universe. Their authenticity was put in doubt; no scientist could do anything with them; initially they appeared to go against anything European scholars knew. There was one man, Max Mueller, the orientalist, whom I respect most highly; he spoke energetically in favour of Oriental wisdom. Everything he could get hold of in this sphere was made accessible to Europeans by Max Mueller. But neither he nor other European academics knew what to do with the things Mrs Blavatsky made known. At the time people merely said anything said in Secret Doctrine was mere fantasy. The reason was that the academics had never found any of it in the Indian books.

Mrs Blavatsky said that great riches of ancient literature were still to be found in the place from which her secrets had come, but that the most important thing about that wisdom had been kept from the eyes of European scholars. European thinking was such that even the little which it had been possible to teil could not be understood; commentaries were lacking that held the key to understanding. The books which showed how individual statements should be taken were in the safekeeping of native Tibetans who had received the teaching; at least that is what Mrs Blavatsky said.

However, others who have reached advanced levels also said that this literature provides historical evidence that there was an original wisdom which in things of the spirit went far beyond anything people in the world know today. The Oriental sages say that this original wisdom exists in books which are in their safekeeping, and that it did not come to us from human beings like ourselves, but from divine sources. The Orientals speak of an original divine wisdom.

Max Mueller said in a lecture to his students that following certain investigations it was impossible to maintain that there had been such original wisdom. Having heard Max Mueller's opinion through Mrs Blavatsky, a great Brahmin Sanskrit scholar said: 'Oh, if Max Mueller were a Brahmin and I were able to take him to a particular temple, he would be able to see for himself that there is such ancient divine wisdom.'

The things Mrs Blavatsky presents in the Stanzas of Dzyan partly come from such hidden sources which she opened up. If she had invented those verses herself we would be looking at an even greater miracle.

We do not, however, have to depend on getting the occult knowledge of world evolution from the old writings. Powers exist in the human being which enable him to perceive and explore the truths himself, if he develops these powers in the right way. Anything we are able to learn in this way agrees with the knowledge Mrs Blavatsky brought with her from the Far East. It emerges that in Europe, too, occultists preserved knowledge that was passed from teacher to pupils and was never entrusted to books. The occultists were therefore able to test the knowledge Mrs Blavatsky presented in her Secret Doctrine against their own knowledge, and above all against things they had gained out of their own powers. Someone trained in the European way can also check the information given in Mrs Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine. And it has been checked and confirmed, but it is nevertheless difficult for European occultists to cope with it. Let me say just one thing. European occult knowledge has been influenced in a quite specific way by Christian and cabbalistic elements which have given it a certain bias. If we ignore this, however, and go back to the basis of this knowledge, it is possible to have complete agreement with the knowledge which Mrs Blavatsky uncovered for us.

Although it has been possible in a way to check the cosmology Mrs Blavatsky had brought for us, it is difficult to explain to scholars what we mean when we speak of the origin of the world, doing so from occult knowledge. It is, of course, remarkable what they achieve in deciphering ancient records, making great efforts to decipher Babylonian cuneiform writing and Egyptian hieroglyphs; but Max Mueller himself has said that nothing they have discovered from those records does as yet give them a picture of the history of the world's origin. We see the scholars labouring on the shell, as it were, without penetrating to the kernel. This is not to say anything against the careful work and fine bits of detail the scholars have been labouring over. I would merely draw attention to the books published relating to the Bible and Babel dispute. All this is piecemeal; the scholars do not get beyond the shell. You feel they have no idea of the ways that take one to the key to these secrets. It is just like when someone begins to translate a book from another language into his own. Initially it is imperfect. That is how it is with the translation of ancient creation myths by today's scholars. They are shards of ancient wisdom taught from generation to generation in the mystery schools. Only people who had reached a certain degree of initiation could know something about it. I'll come back to this again at the end of these lectures.

1904-11-05-GA089 see also Prajapatis

We can really only call six rounds rounds of life, for the seventh is a round of the next higher state of conscious awareness. As there are thus only six states of life there are also only six prajapati of life. We add one of the prajapati of life to the seven prajapati of conscious awareness, and then there are also two prajapati of form. We thus really have ten prajapati of conscious awareness, including the one which arranges the transition to the six prajapati of life, and two which arrange the transition to the prajapati of form. This gives us

10 prajapati of conscious awareness

6 prajapati of life

5 prajapati of form

or 10 + 6 + 5 = a total of 21 prajapati.

Stanza 4 of Dzyan in H. P. Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine refers to this:

Ten is called 'The One from the Egg' = 0.

From the egg (0), the 10 prajapati of conscious awareness, came first of all the first prajapati of life, followed by six other prajapati of life and five prajapati of form = 1065, or 21 (10 + 6 + 5, value of Jehovah).

Stanza 4.3 reads

3. From the effulgency of light — the ray of the ever-darkness — sprang in space the re-awakened energies (Dhyāni-Chohans): the one from the egg, the six, and the five.

Then the three, the one, the four, the one, the five — the twice seven the sum total. And these are the essences, the flames, the elements, the builders, the numbers, the arūpa (formless), the rūpa (with bodies), and the force of divine man — the sum total.

And from the divine man emanated the forms, the sparks, the sacred animals, and the messengers of the sacred fathers (the Pitṛs) within the holy four.

Note in GA089

A look at Rudolf Steiner's cosmological investigations connected with the secret of numbers permitted the following to the said in a lecture given in Stuttgart on 29 August 1906:

There are thus seven planets with seven times seven states each, which is written as 777 in occult writing. In occult writing, the seven in the unit position indicates the globes, the 7 in the tens the rounds, and the one in the hundreds the planets. These numbers have to be multiplied with one another. Our planetary system thus has to go through 7 times 7 times 7 = 343 transformations.

He then referred to a 'strange passage' in Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine, the content of which Steiner said was largely inspired by one of the most sublime spiritual figures:

But the great initiates always expressed themselves with great caution; they only gave pointers. Above all they always let people do some work for themselves. The passage is therefore full of riddles. H. P. B knew this. The teacher did not speak of consecutive incarnations, he merely said: Learn to solve the riddle of 777 incarnations. He wanted that one should learn that these are 343 [states of transformation]. The task is given in The Secret Doctrine, not the solution. This has only been found quite recently.

The solution was evidently found by Rudolf Steiner himself. It may be found in the fragment written in 1903/04, where he used completely original German terms for the 7 metamorphoses gone through in states of conscious awareness, life and form. In the lectures on planetary evolution (in this volume), he also pointed out that the sum of the digits in these 343 states in the whole of evolution is 10. What does the number 10 signify?Ten was the number given as the basis of cosmic order even in the occult knowledge of antiquity. The Pythagoreans considered it to be the all-encompassing, all-limiting mother, for it is the sum of the first four numbers: 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10. And the four is the sign of the cosmos or of creation, since Earth is in its fourth embodiment—everything we find on our Earth, including the fourth principle in the human being, depends on the fact that this creation is in the fourth state of its planetary evolution (Stuttgart, 15 September 1907, in GA 101e). As the sum of the four is ten, we speak of ten creative or cosmic thoughts.

Actually the correct lecture is not 29th but 30th August 1906, of which the following extract:

1906-08-30-GA095

There are thus seven planets, each going through seven Rounds and each Round through seven Form-conditions, expressed as 777 in occult script. In that script, 7 in the unit position means the Globes; in the tens, the Rounds, and in the hundreds, Planets. We therefore have to multiply the figures, and so we find that our planetary system has to pass through 7 by 7 by 7, or 343 transformations.

In H. P. Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine, which was in large part inspired by one of the highest spiritual individualities, we find a remarkable passage. But the great Initiates have always expressed themselves with caution and have given only hints; above all they leave some work for the human being to do. This passage, as H.P.B. knew very well, is full of riddles.

There is nothing there about successive incarnations; the teacher said only,

“Learn the riddle of 777.”

His wish was that people should learn for themselves that this meant 343.

The Secret Doctrine gives the riddle but not the solution: this has been discovered only quite recently.

1905-04-03-GA089

Anything that happens in the world of the spirit is not discovered bit by bit. Once a particular level of higher insight has been gained, it all lies open before one.

There are ten levels, and they are the ten pages of the book. Let me give you an idea of them.

What does it say on the first page?

There is a lot there, but it has to be gained through living experience. Think of a flower. If we planted it this year, we'll see that it has produced a root, and that stern, branches, leaves and flowers develop and finally the seed which we put in the soil again. We don't see anything of the plant in the seed, but it is there inside it, contracted into a point. Look at a tulip, how it is contracted to a point and then spreads out again. We see essential tulip nature alternate between tremendous expansion and contraction into point-nature, as if squeezed together to make a nothing. This is something we can see everywhere in the world, in nature and in the human being. A whole solar system will also unfold, go through a sleep state, and then wake up again. In theosophy, we call the two states manvantara = expansion, and pralaya = shrink down to a point. There is no difference for external perception between seed of solar system and of flower; they do not exist in that case. Our present cosmic system will also contract to such a point one day; but the whole of life will be condensed in this, and it will well forth again from it. If we enter in our minds into this manifold life of the cosmos condensed to a point, we have an idea of the divine creative power which creates out of nothing.

Anyone wishing to penetrate the secrets of the universe must learn to concentrate his thoughts in a point, not a dead but a living point which is nothing and everything at the same time. It is not easy to enter into this general dormant state of nature which is zero life and at the same time also all life; one must have felt, thought and willed it. One must have thought this through before one is able to read the remaining pages.

Reading the first page is to grasp this oneness of time, space and energy and immerse oneself in it.

A truly wonderful description is given in a verse in the Dzyan book.

The second page shows us the duality everywhere in the world. You find this wherever you go in the natural world ..

1905-05-07-GA262 letter to Marie von Sivers

Let us assume someone doubts that the Dzyan Stanzas are 'genuine'. It has been done and many still do it. The ancient sources which H.P.B. quotes do not exist then. Very well, let us examine this position. One can argue about genuineness, but to argue about truth is nonsense. For everyone can convince themselves of the truth if they proceed along the right path. Those who do this increasingly recognise in these verses the most profound truths.

Indeed, the situation is such, in fact, that with every step forward taken in one's own knowledge one is more convinced of their unlimited profundity and sees increasingly clearly things which can only be suspected even with advanced knowledge.

And to those who really know these things, the accusa­tion that H.P.B. invented the Dzyan Stanzas has lost all significance. A most peculiar thing would have had to have happened. This person discovers the profoundest truths and then invents a stupid fairy-tale about their origin. Well, this conclusion is so implausible that it can only be proof of the illogicality of H.P.B.'s opponents, and it cannot be taken seriously by those who have a real understanding.

Those accusing this individual will find their house-of-cards tumbling, once even a moderate degree of understanding of her spiritual power, of the nature of her mission, has been achieved. And gradually, too, an image of this woman will emerge from the heap of accusations, misjudgement etc., as one who at an important time has put her abilities at the service of a movement whose value will remain unrecognised only by those who have not yet gained an understanding of it.

1907-10-19-GA244 – Q&A 142.6 and 1907-10-21-GA244 – Q&A 143.1 – 143.7 - 144.1

Imagine chaos, that fully transparently and spiritually holds the seeds of things together. The latter can only enter through condensing .. this occurs through the fact that the spiritual pushes away its substantial part, so everywhere forms arise as shown above.

Everywhere the spirit works into the lower world, such a cavity develops in matter. In all matter these cavities arise as the spirit works and breeds upon it.Everything hollows out, that goes over its normal development.

The spiritual pushed away the lower, so to say, to be able to descend into it.

“The logos drills holes in space” is the principle as described in one of the Stanzas of Dzyan in Blavatsky’s ‘Secret Doctrine’ (1888)

1909-04-12-GA110

Only a little trickled through here and there to the outer world: the most part remained a secret of the new Mysteries. Then came a time when some of the contents of primeval wisdom, treasured in narrow circles, was allowed to be given out to larger masses of humanity in a language comprehensible to them. Since the last third of the nineteenth century or thereabouts one can speak of this world wisdom in a more or less unveiled form. It is only because certain things have taken place in the spiritual worlds that the Guardians of the Mysteries received permission to allow some of the ancient wisdom to penetrate to the outer world. All of you, my dear friends, know the course of development of the Anthroposophical Society.

You know how the ice in which its development was bound was, so to say, broken by those words of wisdom, revealed in a way which I am not going to enter into now — the stanzas of Dzyan. Those stanzas of Dzyan, of the secret teaching, contain in truth some of the deepest and most important wisdom;

  • they have in them much of that which coming from the teaching of the holy Rishis has flowed through the sanctuaries of the East.
  • They contain also much of what has streamed into Western Europe since the Christian rejuvenation.

For the stanzas of Dzyan do not include only the wisdom which had to be kept exclusively for the East, but also a great deal of that which streamed as a clear light through the centuries of our time, through the Middle Ages into the Mystery Schools of the West.

Much that is to be found in the stanzas of Dzyan will only be gradually understood in all its depth.

It may well be said here that the wisdom of the stanzas of Dzyan is of such a kind that it cannot yet be understood in the widest anthroposophical circles, or fathomed with the exoteric capabilities of the present day.

After the first ice had been broken in this way, the time came when one could speak more openly from the sources of Western occultism, which is no other than the occultism of the East transplanted and continued in a way that has adapted itself to new circumstances and conditions of physical and spiritual life.

1909 and 1911 - Leadbeater quote

In due course, too, we acquired further information about the Stanzas of Dzyan . . . The original of The Book of Dzyan is in the hands of the august Head of the Occult Hierarchy [editor: White Lodge], and has been seen by none. None knows how old it is, but it is rumoured that the earlier part of it (consisting of the first six stanzas), has an origin altogether anterior to this world, and even that it is not a history, but a series of directions – rather a formula for creation than an account of it.

A copy of it is kept in the museum of the Brotherhood, and it is that copy (itself probably the oldest book produced on this planet) which Madame Blavatsky and several of her pupils have seen – which she describes so graphically in The Secret Doctrine.

The book has, however, several peculiarities which she does not there mention. It appears to be very highly magnetized, for as soon as a man takes a page into his hand he sees passing before his eyes a vision of the events which it is intended to portray, while at the same time he seems to hear a sort of rhythmic description of them in his own language, so far as that language will convey the ideas involved. Its pages contain no words whatever – nothing but symbols.

1912-05-08-GA143

In this lecture Rudolf Steiner explains how Helena Blavatsky was victim of certain groups which led her to become misguided, or rather limited, to focus on ancient wisdom teachings and disregard (having becoming blind to these) the teachings of the Mystery of Golgotha.

Hence she focused to convey everything which is outer to christianity. And that can be found in the wonderful Dzyan stanzas that Blavatsky communicated through the Secret Doctrine.

He continues to explain how the Secret Doctrine became a strange books containing on the one hand, some of the most important teachings ever conveyed to mankind (re the Dzyan stanzas), bit on the other hand also sections that seem to have been written by a mad person who just wrote what came into his head.

1920-05-30-GA198

mentions the Book of Dzyan but without any additional info.

1924-05-20-GA353

the culture of Tibet is very ancient; it really still comes from ancient Atlantean times. ...

.. In those days, five, six, seven millenia ago, the cylture in Asia was the same as it was on this Atlantean continent which is today under the ocean between Europe and America .. there in Asia was a culture that survived in the clefts and underground caves of Tibet. When the sea came to the area between Europe and America and Europe began to rise, the Atlantean culture of that area was of course lost. But it survived over there in Tibet.

... People did not read or write in those days but they had signs. These would not be put on paper, they did not have paper then. Nor did they write them on parchment, but they would scratch them into rock surfaces. Those rocks had been hollowed out by the people, and on the inside they would scratch their secret signs, as they called them. We need to understand these signs they produced if we are to understand how they thought.

.. great secrets which people knew in the early days are engraved in the rocks, but Europeans have been granted access only on the rarest occasions. ... However, one can discover the great secrets people knew in the early days, and all it needs is to develop this knowledge in a new form. .. The knowledge that once existed .. is to be made available again today through the science of the spirit.


.. if you go back to the signs in the crypts .. you would certainly be able to discover extraordinary things. It will be however extraordinarily difficult to decipher them without the science of the spirit.

Discussion

Note 1 - Stanzas of Dzyan

Below are the 7 + 12 stanzas and 106 lines (two times 53), as taken from Helena Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine - see also theosophy.wiki page .

Similar as for the Book of Ten Pages, the goal of this section is to link to the contents on this site as a contemporary rendering of the related spiritual scientific knowledge.

Cosmic Evolution

Stanza I

THE NIGHT OF THE UNIVERSE

1. The Eternal Parent (Space) wrapped in her ever-invisible robes, had slumbered once again for seven eternities.

Can be interpreted as the maha-pralaya, a 'large pralaya' between the current and a previous solar system evolution cycle of seven stages of evolution (manvantara and pralaya). See Schema FMC00.564A on Creation of solar system, and Cosmic breath of Brahma. See also Blavatsky: theosophy.wiki/en/Seven_Eternities and solar and universal pralaya (theosophy.wiki/en/Pralaya)

2. Time was not, for it lay asleep in the infinite bosom of duration.

Still in the spirit world. Re: 'the beginning of the concept of time as we know it, from the more eternal concept of 'duration' (1910-GA013), see also Old Saturn#Various

3. Universal mind was not, for there were no Ah-hi (celestial beings) to contain (hence to manifest) it.

4. The seven ways to bliss (Mokṣa or Nirvāṇa) were not. The great causes of misery (Nidāna and Māyā) were not, for there was no one to produce and get ensnared by them. (Commentary)

5. Darkness alone filled the boundless all, for father, mother and son were once more one, and the son had not awakened yet for the new wheel, and his pilgrimage thereon.

6. The seven sublime Lords and the seven Truths had ceased to be, and the Universe, the son of necessity, was immersed in Paranishpanna (absolute perfection, Paranirvāṇa, which is Yong-Grub), to be outbreathed by that which is and yet is not. Naught was.

  • See 1903-12-24 letter of Rudolf Steiner, whereby this is linked to a quote from The Secret Doctrine, "Of the seven truths or revelations only four have been handed out, since we are only in the fourth round".
  • More on Seven secrets

7. The causes of existence had been done away with; the visible that was, and the invisible that is, rested in eternal non-being — the one being.

  • In 1905-04-03-GA089 is said "a truly wonderful description is given in a verse in the Dzyan book" about the first page of the Book of Life: "Reading the first page is to grasp this oneness of time, space and energy and immerse oneself in it .. a living point which is nothing and everything at the same time"

8. Alone the one form of existence stretched boundless, infinite, causeless, in dreamless sleep; and life pulsated unconscious in universal space, throughout that All-Presence which is sensed by the "Opened Eye" of the Dangma.

9. But where was the Dangma when the Ālaya of the Universe (Soul as the basis of all, Anima Mundi) was in Paramārtha (Absolute Being and Consciousness which are Absolute Non-Being and Unconsciousness) and the great wheel was Anupādaka?

Stanza II

THE IDEA OF DIFFERENTIATION

1. Where were the Builders, the luminous sons of manvantaric dawn? . . . In the unknown darkness in their Ah-hi (Chohanic, Dhyāni-Buddhic) Paranishpanna. The producers of form (rūpa) from no-form (arūpa)—the root of the world—the Devamātri and Svabhavat, rested in the bliss of non-being.

  • This is about the prajapatis who had not yet come into existence.

2. . . . Where was silence? Where were the ears to sense it? No, there was neither silence, nor sound; naught save ceaseless eternal breath (Motion), which knows itself not.

3. The hour had not yet struck; the ray had not yet flashed into the germ; the Mātripadma (mother-lotus) had not yet swollen.

4. Her heart had not yet opened for the one ray to enter, thence to fall, as three into four, into the lap of Māyā.

5. The Seven (Sons) were not yet born from the Web of Light. Darkness alone was Father-Mother, Svabhavat; and Svabhavat was in darkness.

6. These two are the Germ, and the Germ is one. The Universe was still concealed in the Divine Thought and the Divine Bosom. . . .

Stanza III

1. . . . The last vibration of the seventh eternity thrills through infinitude. The mother swells, expanding from within without, like the bud of the lotus.

2. The vibration sweeps along, touching with its swift wing (simultaneously) the whole universe and the germ that dwelleth in darkness: the darkness that breathes (moves) over the slumbering waters of life.

3. "Darkness" radiates light, and light drops one solitary ray into the waters, into the mother-deep. The ray shoots through the virgin egg; the ray causes the eternal egg to thrill, and drop the non-eternal (periodical) germ, which condenses into the world-egg.

  • Start of creation

4. Then the three (triangle) fall into the four (quaternary).

The radiant essence becomes seven inside, seven outside.

The luminous egg (Hiraṇyagarbha), which in itself is three (the triple hypostases of Brahmā, or Vishṇu, the three "Avasthās"), curdles and spreads in milk-white curds throughout the depths of mother, the root that grows in the depths of the ocean of life.

5. The root remains, the light remains, the curds remain, and still Oeaohoo is one.

6. The root of life was in every drop of the ocean of immortality (Amṛita) and the ocean was radiant light, which was fire, and heat, and motion. Darkness vanished and was no more; it disappeared in its own essence, the body of fire and water, or father and mother.

  • duality

7. Behold, oh Lanoo! The radiant Child of the two, the unparalleled refulgent Glory: Bright Space Son of Dark Space, which emerges from the depths of the great Dark Waters. It is Oeaohoo the younger, the * * * (whom thou knowest now as Kuan-shih-yin.--Comment).

He shines forth as the Sun; he is the blazing Divine Dragon of Wisdom; the Eka (one) is Chatur (four), and Chatur takes to itself three, and the union produces the Sapta (seven), in whom are the seven which become the Tridaśa (the thrice ten) or the hosts and the multitudes.

Behold him lifting the Veil and unfurling it from East to West. He shuts out the above, and leaves the below to be seen as the great Illusion. He marks the places for the shining ones (stars), and turns the upper (space) into a shoreless Sea of Fire, and the One manifested (element) into the Great Waters.

8. Where was the germ and where was now darkness? Where is the spirit of the flame that burns in thy lamp, O Lanoo? The germ is that, and that is light, the white brilliant son of the dark hidden father.

9. Light is cold flame, and flame is fire, and fire produces heat, which yields water: the water of life in the great mother Chaos.

[Expansion and contraction, Stanza III, 11-12]

10. Father-Mother spin a web whose upper end is fastened to Spirit (Puruṣa) — the light of the one Darkness — and the lower one to Matter (Prakṛti), its (the Spirit's) shadowy end; and this web is the Universe spun out of the two substances made in one, which is Svabhavat.

  • CoC and CoL (1904-07-10-GA090A)

11. It (the Web) expands when the breath of fire (the Father) is upon it; it contracts when the breath of the mother (the root of Matter) touches it. Then the sons (the Elements with their respective Powers, or Intelligences) dissociate and scatter, to return into their mother’s bosom at the end of the "great day", and re-become one with her. When it (the Web) is cooling, it becomes radiant, and the sons expand and contract through their own selves and hearts; they embrace infinitude.

12. Then Svabhavat sends Fohat to harden the atoms. Each (of these) is a part of the web (Universe). Reflecting the “Self-Existent Lord” (Primeval Light) like a mirror, each becomes in turn a world.

  • Note: Fohat is spoken off in GA089 ("In descending order there is first of all jiva, mahat and fohat. All Consciousness proclaims itself through all three elements.")
Stanza IV

1. Listen, ye Sons of the Earth, to your instructors — the Sons of the Fire. Learn, there is neither first nor last, for All is one number, issued from no-number.

2. Learn what we, who descend from the Primordial Seven, we, who are born from the Primordial Flame, have learned from our Fathers.

3. From the effulgency of light — the ray of the ever-darkness — sprang in space the re-awakened energies (Dhyāni-Chohans):

  • the one from the egg, the six, and the five.
  • Then: the three, the one, the four, the one, the five — the twice seven the sum total. And these are: the essences, the flames, the elements, the builders, the numbers, the arūpa (formless), the rūpa (with bodies), and the force of divine man — the sum total.

And from the divine man emanated the forms, the sparks, the sacred animals, and the messengers of the sacred fathers (the Pitṛs) within the holy four.

4. This was the army of the voice — the Divine Septenary.

The sparks of the seven are subject to, and the servants of, the first, the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth, and the seventh of the seven.

These (“sparks”) are called spheres, triangles, cubes, lines, and modellers; for thus stands the Eternal Nidāna — the Oi-Ha-Hou (the permutation of Oeaohoo)

See Book of Ten Pages

5. ...which is:

“Darkness” the Boundless, or the No-Number, Ādi-Nidāna Svabhavat: The (circle) (for x, unknown quantity)

I. The Ādi-Sanat, the Number, for he is One.

II. The Voice of the Word, Svabhavat, the Numbers, for he is One and Nine.

III. The “Formless Square” (Arūpa)

And

  • these three enclosed within the (boundless) circle, are the sacred four;
  • and the ten are the Arūpa (subjective, formless) Universe.
  • Then come the “Sons,” the seven Fighters, the One, the eighth left out, and his Breath which is the Light-Maker (Bhāskara).
  • As explained in 1903-11-24-GA088: ".. the highest planetary spirit, of which there are actually eight; but only seven are spoken of, for one of them was pushed out, one who had brought the light! "

6. Then the Second Seven, who are the Lipikas, produced by the three (Word, Voice and Spirit).

The rejected Son is One. The “Son-Suns” are countless.

Stanza V

1. The Primordial Seven, the first seven Breaths of the Dragon of Wisdom, produce in their turn from their holy circumgyrating Breaths the Fiery Whirlwind.

2. They make of him the messenger of their will. The Dgyu becomes Fohat, the Swift Son of the Divine Sons, whose sons are the Lipikas, runs circular errands.

Fohat is the steed and the Thought is the rider (i.e., he is under the influence of their guiding thought). He passes like lightning through the fiery clouds (cosmic mists); takes three, and five, and seven strides through the seven regions above, and the seven below (the world to be). He lifts his voice, and calls the innumerable sparks (atoms), and joins them together.

3. He is their guiding spirit and leader. When he commences work, he separates the sparks of the lower kingdom (mineral atoms) that float and thrill with joy in their radiant dwellings (gaseous clouds), and forms therewith the germs of wheels. He places them in the six directions of space, and one in the middle — the central wheel.

4. Fohat traces spiral lines to unite the sixth to the seventh — the Crown; an Army of the Sons of Light stands at each angle, and the Lipikas — in the middle wheel.

They (the Lipikas) say: "This is good".

The first Divine World is ready, the first is now the second (world).

Then the “Divine Arūpa” (the formless Universe of Thought) reflects itself in Chāyāloka (the shadowy world of primal form, or the intellectual), the first garment of the Anupādaka.

5. Fohat takes five strides (having already taken the first three) and builds a winged wheel at each corner of the square, for the four holy ones and their armies (hosts).

6. The Lipikas circumscribe the triangle, the first one (the vertical line or the figure I), the cube, the second one, and the pentacle within the egg (circle).

It is the ring called “Pass Not”, for those who descend and ascend (as also for those) who, during the Kalpa, are progressing towards the great day “Be with us”. . . . Thus were formed the Arūpa and the Rūpa (the Formless World and the World of Forms): from one light seven lights; from each of the seven, seven times seven lights. The "Wheels" watch the ring. . . .

Stanza VI

1. By the power of the Mother of Mercy and Knowledge — Kuan-Yin — the “triple” of Kuan-Shih-Yin, residing in Kuan-yin-T'ien, Fohat, the breath of their progeny, the Son of the Sons, having called forth, from the lower abyss (chaos), the illusive form of Hsien-chan (our Universe) and the seven elements:

2. The Swift and Radiant One produces the Seven Laya Centres, against which none will prevail to the great day “Be-with-Us,” and seats the Universe on these eternal foundations, surrounding Hsien-chan with the Elementary Germs.

3. Of the seven (elements)

  • first one manifested, six concealed,
  • two manifested — five concealed;
  • three manifested — four concealed;
  • four produced — three hidden;
  • four and one tsan (fraction) revealed,
  • two and one half concealed; six to be manifested, one laid aside.
  • Lastly, seven small wheels revolving; one giving birth to the other.

4. He builds them in the likeness of older Wheels (worlds), placing them on the imperishable centres.

How does Fohat build them? He collects the fiery dust. He makes balls of fire, runs through them, and round them, infusing life thereinto, then sets them into motion; some one way, some the other way.

They are cold, he makes them hot. They are dry, he makes them moist. They shine, he fans and cools them.

Thus acts Fohat from one Twilight to the other, during Seven Eternities.

5. At the fourth (Round, or revolution of life and being around "the seven smaller wheels"), the sons are told to create their images. One third refuses — two (thirds) obey. The curse is pronounced; they will be born on the fourth (Race), suffer and cause suffering; this is the first war.

6. The older wheels rotated downwards and upwards. . . . The Mother’s spawn filled the whole (Kosmos). There were battles fought between the Creators and the Destroyers, and battles fought for space; the seed appearing and re-appearing continuously.

7. Make thy calculations, O Lanoo, if thou wouldest learn the correct age of thy small wheel (chain).

Its fourth spoke is our mother (Earth).

Reach the fourth “fruit” of the fourth path of knowledge that leads to Nirvāṇa, and thou shalt comprehend, for thou shalt see.

Stanza VII

1. Behold the beginning of sentient formless life.

First the Divine (vehicle), the one from the Mother-Spirit (Ātman); then the Spiritual (Ātma-Buddhi, the Spirit-Soul); (again) the three from the one, the four from the one, and the five from which the three, the five, and the seven. These are the threefold, the fourfold downward; the “mind-born” sons of the first Lord (Avalokiteśvara); the Shining Seven (the "Builders").

It is they who are thou, me, him, O Lanoo. They, who watch over thee and thy mother, Bhūmi (The Earth).

2. The one ray multiplies the smaller rays. Life precedes form, and life survives the last atom (of Form Stūla-Śharīra, external body). Through the countless rays proceeds the life-ray, the one, like a thread through beads (pearls).

3. When the one becomes two, the "threefold" appears. The three are (linked into) one; and it is our thread, O Lanoo, the heart of the man-plant, called Saptaparna.

4. It is the root that never dies; the three-tongued flame of the four wicks . . . The wicks are the sparks, that draw from the three-tongued flame (their upper triad) shot out by the seven — their flame; the beams and sparks of one moon reflected in the running waves of all the rivers of earth ("Bhūmi", or "Pritivī").

5. The spark hangs from the flame by the finest thread of Fohat. It journeys through the Seven Worlds of Māyā. It stops in the first (kingdom), and is a metal and a stone; it passes into the second (kingdom) and behold — a plant; the plant whirls through seven forms and becomes a sacred animal (the first shadow of the physical man).

From the combined attributes of these, Manu (man), the thinker, is formed.

Who forms him? The seven lives, and the one life. Who completes him? The five-fold Lha. And who perfects the last body? Fish, sin, and soma (the moon).

6. From the first-born (primitive, or the first man) the thread between the silent watcher and his shadow becomes more strong and radiant with every change (reincarnation). The morning sunlight has changed into noonday glory. . . . .

7. This is thy present wheel, said the Flame to the Spark. Thou art myself, my image, and my shadow. I have clothed myself in thee, and thou art my Vahan (vehicle) to the day, “Be-with-us,” when thou shalt re-become myself and others, thyself and me. Then the builders, having donned their first clothing, descend on radiant earth and reign over men — who are themselves.

Anthropogenesis

Stanza I

1. The Lha which turns the fourth is subservient to the Lha of the Seven, they who revolve driving their chariots around their Lord, the One Eye. His breath gave life to the Seven; it gave life to the first.

2. Said the Earth: — “Lord of the Shining Face; my house is empty . . . . send thy sons to people this wheel. Thou hast sent thy seven sons to the Lord of Wisdom. Seven times doth he see thee nearer to himself, seven times more doth he feel thee. Thou hast forbidden thy servants, the small rings, to catch thy light and heat, thy great bounty to intercept on its passage. Send now to thy servant the same.”

3. Said the “Lord of the Shining Face”: — “I shall send thee a fire when thy work is commenced. Raise thy voice to other Lokas; apply to thy father, the Lord of the Lotus, for his sons . . . . thy people shall be under the rule of the Fathers. Thy men shall be mortals. The men of the Lord of Wisdom, not the Lunar Sons, are immortal. Cease thy complaints. Thy seven skins are yet on thee . . . . thou art not ready. Thy men are not ready.”

4. After great throes she cast off her old three and put on her new seven skins, and stood in her first one.

Stanza II

1. The wheel whirled for thirty crores more. It constructed rupas: soft stones that hardened; hard plants that softened. Visible from invisible, insects and small lives. She shook them off her back whenever they overran the mother. . . . . After thirty crores she turned round. She lay on her back; on her side . . . She would call no sons of Heaven, she would ask no sons of Wisdom. She created from her own bosom. She evolved water-men, terrible and bad.

2. The water-men terrible and bad she herself created from the remains of others, from the dross and slime of her first, second, and third, she formed them. The Dhyani came and looked — The Dhyani from the bright Father-mother, from the white regions they came, from the abodes of the immortal mortals.

3. Displeased they were. Our flesh is not there. No fit rupas for our brothers of the fifth. No dwellings for the lives. Pure waters, not turbid, they must drink. Let us dry them.

4. The flames came. The fires with the sparks; the night fires and the day fires. They dried out the turbid dark waters. With their heat they quenched them. The Lhas of the High, the Lhamayin of below, came. They slew the forms which were two- and four-faced. They fought the goat-men, and the dog-headed men, and the men with fishes’ bodies.

5. Mother-water, the great sea, wept. She arose, she disappeared in the moon which had lifted her, which had given her birth.

6. When they were destroyed, Mother-earth remained bare. She asked to be dried.

See: separation of Moon and also what it meant, ao Schema FMC00.362 on Planets hosting beings at various stages of evolution

Maybe also separation of Sun

Stanza III

1. The Lord of the Lords came. From her body he separated the waters, and that was Heaven above, the first Heaven.

2. The great Chohans called the Lords of the Moon, of the airy bodies. “Bring forth men, men of your nature. Give them their forms within. She will build coverings without. Males-females will they be. Lords of the Flame also . . . . “

3. They went each on his allotted land: seven of them each on his lot. The Lords of the Flame remain behind. They would not go, they would not create.

Stanza IV

1. The Seven Hosts, the “Will-born Lords,” propelled by the Spirit of Life-giving, separate men from themselves, each on his own zone.

2. Seven times seven Shadows of future men were born, each of his own colour and kind. Each inferior to his father. The fathers, the boneless, could give no life to beings with bones. Their progeny were Bhuta, with neither form nor mind. Therefore they are called the Chhaya.

3. How are the Manushya born? The Manus with minds, how are they made? The fathers called to their help their own fire; which is the fire that burns in Earth. The Spirit of the Earth called to his help the Solar Fire. These three produced in their joint efforts a good Rupa. It could stand, walk, run, recline, or fly. Yet it was still but a Chhaya, a shadow with no sense . . . .

4. The breath needed a form; The Fathers gave it. The breath needed a gross body; the Earth moulded it. The breath needed the Spirit of Life; the Solar Lhas breathed it into its form. The breath needed a Mirror of its Body; “We gave it our own,” said the Dhyanis. The Breath needed a Vehicle of Desires; “It has it,” said the Drainer of Waters. But Breath needs a mind to embrace the Universe; “We cannot give that,” said the Fathers. “I never had it,” said the Spirit of the Earth. “The form would be consumed were i to give it mine,” said the Great Fire . . . . Man remained an empty senseless Bhuta . . . . Thus have the boneless given life to those who became men with bones in the third.

See Jehovah and how the Elohim breathed life in the Lemurian epoch

Stanza V

1. The first were the sons of Yoga. Their sons the children of the Yellow Father and the White Mother.

Assumption this is the first Polarian epoch

2. The Second Race was the product by budding and expansion, the A-Sexual from the Sexless. Thus was, O Lanoo, the Second Race produced.

Assumption this is the second Hyperborean epoch

3. Their fathers were the self-born. The self-born, the Chhaya from the brilliant bodies of the Lords, the Fathers, the Sons of Twilight.

4. When the Race became old, the old waters mixed with the fresher waters. When its drops became turbid, they vanished and disappeared in the new stream, in the hot stream of life. The outer of the first became the inner of the second. The old Wing became the new Shadow, and the Shadow of the Wing.

Stanza VI

1. Then the second evolved the Egg-born, the third. The sweat grew, its drops grew, and the drops became hard and round. The Sun warmed it; the Moon cooled and shaped it; the wind fed it until its ripeness. The white swan from the starry vault overshadowed the big drop. The egg of the future race, the Man-swan of the later third. First male-female, then man and woman.

2. The self-born were the Chhayas: the Shadows from the bodies of the Sons of Twilight.

Stanza VII

1. The Sons of Wisdom, the Sons of Night, ready for rebirth, came down, they saw the vile forms of the First Third, “We can choose,” said the Lords, “we have wisdom.”

Some entered the Chhaya. Some projected the Spark. Some deferred till the Fourth.

From their own Rupa they filled the Kama.

  • Those who entered became Arhats.
  • Those who received but a spark, remained destitute of knowledge; the spark burned low.
  • The third remained mind-less. Their Jivas were not ready. These were set apart among the Seven. They became narrow-headed.

The Third were ready. “In these shall we dwell,” said the Lords of the Flame.

See Schema FMC00.480, FMC00.457 and FMC00.457A on Lemurian epoch These three groups are summarized under: Lemurian epoch#Main evolutionary events

2. How did the Manasa, the Sons of Wisdom, act?

They rejected the Self-born. They are not ready.

They spurned the Sweat-born. They are not quite ready.

They would not enter the first Egg-born.

For an overview of Steiner lectures where he uses this terminology, see FMC00.457A

3. When the Sweat-born produced the Egg-born, the twofold and the mighty, the powerful with bones, the Lords of Wisdom said: “Now shall we create.”

4. The Third Race became the Vahan of the Lords of Wisdom. It created “Sons of Will and Yoga,” by Kriyasakti it created them, the Holy Fathers, Ancestors of the Arhats. .

Stanza VIII

1. From the drops of sweat; from the residue of the substance; matter from dead bodies of men and animals of the wheel before; and from cast-off dust, the first animals were produced.

2. Animals with bones, dragons of the deep, and flying Sarpas were added to the creeping things. They that creep on the ground got wings. They of the long necks in the water became the progenitors of the fowls of the air.

3. During the third Race the boneless animals grew and changed: they became animals with bones, their Chhayas became solid.

4. The animals separated the first. They began to breed.

The two-fold man separated also. He said: “Let us as they; let us unite and make creatures.” They did.

5. And those which had no spark took huge she-animals unto them. They begat upon them dumb Races. Dumb they were themselves. But their tongues untied. The tongues of their progeny remained still. Monsters they bred. A race of crooked red-hair-covered monsters going on all fours. A dumb race to keep the shame untold.

As per link on Lemurian epoch#Main evolutionary events

see ao Fall and redemption - original sin and grace#1904-05-23-GA093

Stanza IX

1. Seeing which, the Lhas who had not built men, wept, saying: —

2. “The Amanasa have defiled our future abodes. This is Karma. Let us dwell in the others. Let us teach them better, lest worse should happen. They did . . . .

3. Then all men became endowed with Manas. They saw the sin of the mindless.

This is the start of human karma, as this segment of the human population pulled down and inflicted the animalistic nature on humanity.

4. The Fourth Race developed speech. 5. The One became Two; also all the living and creeping things that were still one, giant fish-birds and serpents with shell-heads.

This is the start of double gender and sexuality

Stanza X

1. Thus two by two on the seven zones, the Third Race gave birth to the Fourth-Race men; the gods became no-gods; the sura became a-sura.

2. The first, on every zone, was moon-coloured; the second yellow like gold; the third red; the fourth brown, which became black with sin. The first seven human shoots were all of one complexion. The next seven began mixing.

3. Then the Fourth became tall with pride. We are the kings, it was said; we are the gods.

4. They took wives fair to look upon. Wives from the mindless, the narrow-headed. They bred monsters. Wicked demons, male and female, also Khado (dakini), with little minds.

5. they built temples for the human body. Male and female they worshipped. Then the Third Eye acted no longer.

Stanza XI

1. They built huge cities. Of rare earths and metals they built, and out of the fires vomited, out of the white stone of the mountains and of the black stone, they cut their own images in their size and likeness, and worshipped them.

2. They built great images nine yatis high, the size of their bodies. Inner fires had destroyed the land of their fathers. The water threatened the fourth.

3. The first great waters came. They swallowed the seven great islands.

Assumption: the flood during the Atlantean epoch

4. All Holy saved, the Unholy destroyed. With them most of the huge animals, produced from the sweat of the Earth.

Stanza XII

1. Few men remained: some yellow, some brown and black, and some red remained. The moon-coloured were gone forever.

See Human races. Moon coloured could be pale-white?

2. The fifth produced from the Holy stock remained; it was ruled over by the first divine Kings.

See Schema FMC00.546 on Human races. This is covered on Migrations, see also Schema FMC00.169A on Overlapping evolutionary periods

3. . . . . Who re-descended, who made peace with the fifth, who taught and instructed it. . . . . .

This is the start of the Current Postatlantean epoch, with the Holy Rishis in the first Ancient Indian cultural age, and the migrations of initiations from the Gobi desert, see Migrations as seeds to form nuclei and future cultural ages.

Related pages

References and further reading

  • theosophy wiki topic pages for Book of Dzyan and Stanzas of Dzyan
  • Franz Hartmann: 'Grundriß der Geheimlehre von H. P. Blavatsky' (commentary on Dzyan Stanzas)
  • David Pratt: 'The Book of Dzyan' (see also here)
  • Sri Krishna Prem, Sri Madhava Ashish. Man, the Measure of All Things: In the Stanzas of Dzyan (1969)
  • Nick Mojzesz: 'The Stanzas of Dzyan - A Study Guide'
  • Beverley B. Noia: 'An Intuitive Approach to the Seven Stanzas of Dzyan'
  • Jon W. Fergus: 'Stanzas of Dzyan -A critical edition of the English translation by H.P. Blavatsky, based on four primary sources'
  • David Reigle:
    • Book of Dzyan Research Report: Technical Terms in Stanza I and II (1995, 1997)
    • with Nancy Reigle: 'Blavatsky's Secret Books: Twenty Years’ Research' (1999)
    • 'The Book of Dzyan: The Current State of the Evidence' (2013)
    • 'The Book of Dzyan — The Quest for an Original Text of the Book of Dzyan' is a web blog (started 2012) to provide a forum for researchers worldwide who have a sincere interest in exploring various traditions in order to trace the Book of Dzyan. Researchers and scholars are welcome to bring in their comments and ideas and post them to the relevant subject categories.
    • from the wiki page: "Much of Reigle’s research has been directed toward attempting to trace the so-called Book of Dzyan. Papers on the Book of Dzyan and the Books of Kiu-te were presented at three Secret Doctrine conferences in 1984, 1988, and 1998. Four Book of Dzyan Research Reports were issued 1995–1997."
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