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452 fHE SKCRET DOCTRINE.
third War is mentioned as taking place at the close of the Fourth Race,
between its Adepts and those of the Fifth Race; that is, between the
Initiates of the "Sacred Island" and the Sorcerers of Atlantis. We
shall notice the first contest, as recounted by Parashara, and endeavour
to separate the two accounts, which are purposely blended together.
It is there stated that as the Daityas and Asuras were engaged in the
duties of their respective Orders (Varnas) and followed the paths prescribed
by ;.holy writ, practising also religious penance—a queer employment
for Demons if they are identical with our Devils, as it is
claimed—it was impossible for the Gods to destroy them. The prayers
addressed by the Gods to Vishnu are curious, as showing the ideas involved
in an anthropomorphic Deity. Having, after their defeat, " fled
to the northern shore of the Milky Ocean [Atlantic Ocean],"* the discomfited
Gods address many supplications "to the first
divine Vishnu," and among others the following:
of Beings, the
Glory to thee, who art one with the Saints, whose perfect nature is ever blessed,
and traverses, unobstructed, all permeable elements. Glory to thee, who art one
with the Serpent-Race, double-tongued, impetuous, cruel, insatiate of enjoyment and
abounding with wealth. . . . Glory to thee, . . . O Lord, who hast neither
colour nor extension, nor bulk {ghana), nor any predicable qualities, and whose
essence {rupa), purest of the pure, is appreciable only by holy Paramarshis [the
greatest of Sages or Rishis]. We bow to thee, in the nature of Brahma, uncreated,
undecaying (avyaya); who art in our bodies, and in all other bodies, and in all living
creatures; and beside whom nothing exists. We glorify that Vasudeva, the lord (of
all), who is without soil, the seed of all things, exempt from dissolution, unborn,
eternal; being, in essence, Paramapadatmavat [beyond the condition of Spirit],
and, in substance {rupa), the whole of this {Universe).t
The above is quoted as an illustration of the vast field
offered by the
Ptcranas to adverse and erroneous criticism, by every European bigot
who forms an estimate of an alien religion on mere external evidence.
Any man accustomed to subject what he reads to thoughtful analysis,
will see at a glance the incongruity of addressing the accepted "Unknowable,"
the formless, and attributeless Absolute, such as the
Vedantins define Brahman, as being "one with the Serpent-Race,
double-tongued, cruel and insatiable," thus associating the abstract
with the concrete, and bestowing adjectives on that which is
any limitations, and conditionless. Even Professor Wilson, who, after
living surrounded by Brahmans and Pandits in India for so man}'
free from
* This statement belongs to the third War, since the terrestrial continents, seas and rivers are
mentioned in connection with it.
••
Vishnu Purajia, III. xvii (Wilson, Vol. HI. 204-5).