The Golden Star

VISION 1

The Domains of Night

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“But who is afraid of a few goats and a lot of sheep?” Ma-u wanted to know.

“My son, this is a matter of psychology,” said the Messenger. “The great Goat, having a loud and angry voice, overawes these very polite but foolish statesmen. They think that, at the Goat’s command, the sheep will attack in millions and destroy Civilization; and so—to keep the peace, as they imagine—they pander to the Goat and his few satellites, and even give him power over other grazing-lands, with sheep too few to make resistance.”

“But why do not these statesmen band together and so destroy that inept Goat. Would those sheep really invade other countries?”

“They do not want to band together, because the Goat knows how to promise as well as to threaten, and when he is in the right mood he can adopt a friendly countenance, at the same time bluffing and overcoming the witless brains of these poor men. As to the sheep, they do not want to fight, but only wish to live in quietness on their fields.”

“In that case, the statesmen are still sillier than the sheep,” said Ma-u.

“Perhaps they will wake up one day,” said the Messenger, “and then ‘woe’ to the Goats!”

“Oh, look!” exclaimed Ma-u, “who are those funny creatures over there who run around in agitated circles, notebooks in their hands in which they scribble, hats on like parasols, flabby, pasty-looking faces, with cunning eyes as black as little currants, darting here and there?”

“Those are the editors, reporters and other men from Gutter Street; who, with distorted pens and twisted pencils destroy the sanctity of Truth, and all that sacred righteousness for which the ancient Messengers of God shed precious blood,” said Neteru-Hem.

“With scares and rumours, lies, exaggerations, they fill their papers, so that the silly sheep at home shall buy and read—increase the circulation. So they make the sheep of different lands hate each other in their ignorance; and evil men, who live by selling guns and shells encourage such reports, in hope of war, to fill their money-chests with bloody gain.”

“What horrid creatures,” sighed Ma-uti.

“May their circulations so increase that all their veins shall burst,” cried Ma-u indignantly.

“That is but empty play on words, my son,” said Neteru-Hem, “and breathes a spirit of unwise thoughts. Remember that the goats and sheep, all foolish men, with or without umbrellas, pipes, or pruning-hooks, are but the wisps of an illusion which is so great that nearly all believe it’s true.

“Behold:”

So saying, he waved his hand, and, like a puff of smoke the multitude of animals and those few men dissolved in air—were gone—and sweet peace reigned again.

“Such beings as you saw just now are but the shadows of the Light. Without those shades the pure in heart and wise could not be seen for what they are. There is an evolution that runs through the spheres above, just as below, and all the wise today were once as foolish. Eternal struggles towards supremacy, such as the wars in heaven, the wars of the Titans, the fights between Osiris and Typhon, the battle of the flames, are all symbolical of the eternal struggle towards the Light; and even the moons and planets, the stars and constellations involved in everlasting strife, as told in the old books. Gazing towards the Light from within the dark circle they will not cross, but must, in time to come, the shades of men dwell in Illusion; and too the shadow or the Astral form, to be annihilated if the Soul-Bird, the Divine Swallow, is to live for all Eternity in bliss, after Nut, the Celestial Abyss is crossed. Meanwhile, these evanescent personalities dance, like a myriad sparks in the moonlight on life’s ocean, just so long as the Queen of the Night casts her radiance and lustre on the running waves of Life, illusive. And, like a cat, whose eye reflects the solar light (the Goddess Bast of ancient Egypt), she watches in the dark, with bruising claw on head of Serpent of the Night, the everlasting enemy of Light.

“The shining moon, the Lady Nut, the watcher in the gloom, aloft in heaven’s Cupola, She sends her searching beams all round the globe and travels on her endless pilgrimage of angelic protection. Here is a mystery indeed!

“The Lady Nut appears to some as darkling Goddess, who, standing on the spinning globe called Earth, bends down from East to West and shelters with her curve delectable the slumb’ring Sphere. Her raven locks fall like a cascading waterfall of mourning, and like a curtain of black velvet they enwrap the Lands in atramentous dusk.

“For you to choose the symbol—Lady Dark, or Shining Maid of Light to fill the firmament.

“And both the shadow of the Unknown Darkness; the Self-Existent, of boundless Age, the One, concealed Deity, unknown for ever to the Shades in His Abode of Bliss.

“And when the Great Night commences, Mahâ Pralaya, all this will end. You may read in the Vishnu Purâna that clouds, mighty in size and loud in thunder, will fill all space. Showering down torrents of water, the rain will last uninterruptedly for a hundred Divine Years and deluge the whole Solar System. Pouring down, in drops as large as dice, these rains will overspread the Earth, and fill the middle region and inundate the Heavens. The World is now enveloped in darkness; and all things, animate or inanimate having perished, the clouds continue to pour down their Waters, and the Night of Brahmâ reigns supreme over the scene of desolation.

“So it is told in the ancient Books, my children; and so it will come to pass.

“And all consciousness will be swallowed up by the Universal Intellect whose property is Wisdom.

“Before the rain the sky is full of omens. There will be heard strange sounds from every point, and dusk ascends the heavens. The Sun will pass away and no more cast his rays. The cold sets in, and spaces bare of life appear upon the land. The springs dry up, the rivers die, the ocean will be empty.

“And men and beasts shrink up each day, the planets halt and wither; so life and motion lose their force, and God Himself will fall asleep, His Task accomplished. Another Day is past and Night begins, until a distant morn shall dawn in rosy splendour. Meanwhile, the Eyes of the Sun and Moon and Planets are closed in sleep of dissolution.

“And Parabrahman, the Unknown, the Incognizable, who is not Ego, nor non-Ego, nor consciousness, not in Himself an object of knowledge, yet able to support and give rise to every object and existence which becomes an object of knowledge; He, the One Essence from which comes into existence a centre of energy, the Logos; He, the Verbum of the Christians, above, around, within, without, yea everywhere, and Light and Darkness His reflection.

“So all is black within the Night. Black doves, black ravens, black waters, black flames—invisible—the symbols of primeval Wisdom, flowing from pre-cosmic Source of All.

“The Angels of Darkness preside over that age-long Night, and reign full of unseen Glory, in mutable Radiance of immutable Darkness, unconscious in that Night.”

Thus spoke Neteru-Hem, the Divine Messenger; and so ends the First Vision of Ma-u and Ma-uti.

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