Band 2 Anthropogenesis - H.P. Blavatsky

When reading of "the last transformation," let the reader consider at this juncture, if that took place 18,000,000 years ago,
how many millions more it must have required to reach that final stage? And if man, in his gradual consolidation,
developed pari passu with the earth, how many millions of years must have elapsed during the First, Second, and the first
half of the Third Race? For the Earth was in a comparatively ethereal condition before it reached its last consolidated
state; the archaic teachings, moreover, telling us that, during the middle period of the Lemuro-Atlantean Race, three and
a half Races after the Genesis of man, the Earth, man, and everything on the Globe was of a still grosser and more
material nature, while such things as corals and some shells were still in a semi-gelatinous, astral state. The cycles that
intervened since then, have already carried us onward, on the opposite ascending arc, some steps toward our
dematerialization, as the spiritualists would say. The Earth, ourselves, and all things have softened since then -- aye,
even our brains. But it has been objected by some theosophists that an ethereal Earth even some 15, or 20,000,000
years ago, does not square with Geology, which teaches us that winds blew, rains fell, waves broke on the shore, sands
shifted and accumulated,
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* It must be remembered that the "last remnants" here spoken of, refer to those portions of the "great continent" which still
remained, and not to any of the numerous islands which existed contemporaneously with the continent. Plato's "island"
was, for instance, one of such remnants; the others having sunk at various periods previously. An occult "tradition"
teaches that such submersions occur whenever there is an eclipse of the "spiritual sun."
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[[Vol. 2, Page]] 251 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS.
etc., etc., that, in short, all natural causes now in operation were then in force, "in the very earliest ages of geological
time, aye, that of the oldest palaeozoic rocks." To this the following answers are given. Firstly, what is the date assigned
by geology to those "oldest palaezoic rocks"? And secondly, why could not the winds blow, rain fall, and waves (of
carbonic acid apparently, as science seems to imply) break on the shore, on an Earth semi-astral, i.e., viscid? The word
"astral" does not necessarily mean as thin as smoke, in occult phraseology, but rather "starry," shining or pellucid, in
various and numerous degrees, from a quite filmy to a viscid state, as just observed. But it is further objected: How could
an astral Earth have affected the other planets in this system? Would not the whole process get out of gear now if the
attraction of one planet was suddenly removed? The objection is evidently invalid, since our system is composed of older
and younger planets, some dead (like the moon), others in process of formation, for all astronomy knows to the contrary.
Nor has the latter ever affirmed, so far as we know, that all the bodies of our system have sprung into existence and
developed simultaneously. The Cis-Himalayan secret teachings differ from those of India in this respect. Hindu Occultism
teaches that the Vaivasvata Manu Humanity is eighteen million and odd years old. We say, yes; but only so far as
physical, or approximately physical, man is concerned, who dates from the close of the Third Root-Race. Beyond that
period MAN, or his filmy image, may have existed for 300 million years, for all we know; since we are not taught figures
which are and will remain secret with the Masters of Occult Science, as justly stated in "Esoteric Buddhism." Moreover,
whereas the Hindu Puranas speak of one Vaivasvata Manu, we affirm that there were several, the name being a generic
one. (Vide supra).
We must now say a few more words on the physical evolution of man.
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[[Vol. 2, Page]] 251 ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS.
ARCHAIC TEACHINGS IN THE PURANAS AND GENESIS.
PHYSICAL EVOLUTION.
The writer cannot give too much proof that the system of Cosmogony and Anthropogony as described actually existed,
that its records are preserved, and that it is found mirrored even in the modern versions of ancient Scriptures.
The Puranas on the one hand, and the Jewish Scriptures on the other, are based on the same scheme of evolution,
which, read esoterically and expressed in modern language, would be found to be quite as scientific as much of what now
passes current as the final word of recent discovery. The only difference between the two schemes is, that
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[[Vol. 2, Page]] 252 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
the Puranas, giving as much, and perhaps more attention to the causes than to the effects, allude to the pre-Cosmic and
pre-Genetic periods rather than to those of so-called Creation, whereas the Bible, saying only a few words of the former
period, plunges forthwith into material genesis, and, while nearly skipping the pre-Adamic races, proceeds with its
allegories concerning the Fifth Race.
Now, whatever the onslaught made on the Order of creation in Genesis, and its dead letter account certainly lends itself
admirably to criticism,* he who reads the Hindu Puranas -- its allegorical exaggerations notwithstanding -- will find them
quite in accordance with physical Science.
Even what appears to be the, on the face of it, perfectly nonsensical allegory of Brahma assuming the form of a Boar to
rescue the Earth from under the waters, finds in the Secret Commentaries a perfectly scientific explanation, relating as it
does to the many risings and sinkings, and the constant alternation of water and land from the earliest to the latest
geological periods of our globe; for Science teaches us now that nine-tenths of the stratified formations of the earth's
crust have been gradually constructed beneath water, at the bottom of the seas. The ancient Aryans are credited with
having known nothing whatever of natural history, geology, and so on. The Jewish race is, on the other hand, proclaimed
even by its severest critic, an uncompromising opponent of the Bible, (See "Modern Science and Modern Thought," p.
337), to have the merit of having conceived the idea of monotheism "earlier, and retained it more firmly, than any of the