To Light a Thousand Lamps - The Theosophical Society

The Quickening of Mind / 27
Turning to the same story in the Stanzas of Dzyan of
The Secret Doctrine we find:
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 [Mother Earth] will build
coverings without. Males-females will they be. Lords of the
Flame also ...’’
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. — 2:16
Thus it came about that seven times seven creatures were
fashioned, shadowy, and each after his own kind. Yet the
beings with mind had still to be born. The Fathers each
provided what they had, the Spirit of the Earth as well. It
was not enough: ‘‘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.’’ Early man remained an
‘‘empty senseless’’ being.
‘‘How did the Mānasa, the Sons of Wisdom, act?’’ They
spurned the earlier forms as unfit; but when the third race
was produced, ‘‘the powerful with bones,’’ they said, ‘‘We
can choose, we have wisdom.’’ Some entered the shadowy
(astral) forms; others ‘‘projected the Spark’’; still others ‘‘deferred
till the fourth’’ race. Those in whom the mind-spark
entered fully became enlightened, sages, the leaders and
guides of average humanity in whom the spark had been but
partially projected. Those in whom the spark had not been
projected, or burned too low, were irresponsible; they mated
with animals and bred monsters. The Sons of Wisdom
repented: ‘‘This is Karma,’’ they said, because they had