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A Series of Lessons in Gnani Yoga868
those who came afterward. The races were very prolific, and multiplied very
rapidly under the most favorable conditions. The souls of the Atlanteans
were pressing forward for embodiment, and human forms were born to
supply the demand. And now begins the history of our own Cycle—the
Fifth Cycle.
But before we begin a consideration of the Fifth Cycle, let us consider
for a moment a few points about the laws operating to cause these great
changes.
In the first place, each Cycle has a different theatre for its work and action.
The continent of Lemuria was not in existence during the Second Cycle, and
arose from the ocean bed only when its appointed time came. And, likewise
the continent of Atlantis reposed beneath the waves while the Lemurian
races manifested during the Third Cycle, rising by means of a convulsion of
the earth’s surface to play its part during its own period—the Fourth Cycle—
only to sink again beneath the waves to make way for the birth of the Fifth
Cycle with its races. By means of these cataclysms the races of each Cycle
were wiped out when the time came, the few Elect or Chosen ones, that is
those who have manifested the right to live on, being carried away to some
favorable environment where they became as leaven to the mass—as “gods”
to the new races that quickly appear.
It must be remembered, however, that these Chosen Ones are not the
only ones saved from the destruction that overtakes the majority of the
race. On the contrary a few survivors are preserved, although driven away
from their former homes, and reduced to “first principles of living” in order
to become the parents of the new races. The new races springing from
the fittest of these survivors quickly form sub-races, being composed of
the better adapted souls seeking reincarnation, while the less fit sink into
barbarism, and show evidences of decay, although a remnant drags on
for thousands of years, being composed of the souls of those who have
not advanced sufficiently to take a part in the life of the new races. These
“left-overs” are in evidence in our own times in the cases of the Australian