The Golden Star

VISION 2

Demons and Devas

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“All the Devas, as well as the Gods themselves, pass through several states of evolution, which are referred to as Immetalization, Inherbation, Inzoönization, and finally Incarnation. When they reach the stage of human evolution—as many of them have done—they become active forces and have to do with the elementals, the progressed entities of the animal kingdom, in order to develop gradually into the complete form of humanity. But they do not incarnate as humans until the Third Root-Race, for in the First Race on earth they are ethereal beings, and in each of the subsequent Races and sub-races they became more and more encased in material matter; in the Second Race they are still of Giant stature, but ethereal, though more in the form of a human; until by the Third Race they have acquired a perfectly concrete body, ape-like, and more cunning than spiritual. Later on, in the Third Race, they become smaller in form and more rational; whilst in the Fourth Race their intellect has greatly developed and they gradually acquire speech and language. Their primordial spirituality is eclipsed and overshadowed by nascent human mentality. So they have descended from the ranks of Gods to Man, and now commences the terrible climb back to God-hood; through suffering, trial, test and temptation, to initiation into the mysteries, whence they return laden with the treasures of experience; victory over the material; and wisdom fully developed.

“As it is said so beautifully in the The Secret Doctrine:

Sitting at the threshold of Light, he looks into it from within the Circle of Darkness, which he will not cross; nor will he quit his post till the last day of this Life-cycle. Why does the Solitary Watcher remain at his self-chosen post? Why does he sit by the Fountain of Primeval Wisdom, of which he drinks no longer, for he has nought to learn which he does not know—aye, neither on this Earth nor in its Heaven? Because the lonely, sore-footed Pilgrims, on their journey back to their Home, are never sure, to the last moment, of not losing their way in this limitless desert of Illusion and Matter called Earth-Life. Because he would fain show the Way to that region of freedom and light from which he is a voluntary exile himself, to every prisoner who has succeeded in liberating himself from the bonds of flesh and illusion. Because, in short, he has sacrificed himself for the sake of Man-kind, though but a few elect may profit by the GREAT SACRIFICE.

“It is through these ‘Sons of God’ that infant humanity learned its first notions of all the arts and sciences, as well as of spiritual knowledge; and it is They who laid the first foundation stone of those ancient civilizations that so sorely puzzle our modern generations of students and scholars.

“So they lead men onwards, until by eating of the fruit of knowledge, dispelling ignorance, Man becomes like one of the Elohim. They are the guardian spirits of the human race, or, as Hermes says: ‘those who dwell in the neighbourhood of the immortals, and thence watch over human affairs.’

“The Esoteric Doctrine teaches that the Devas are the collective aggregate of Divine Intelligence or Primordial Mind, and that the first Manus, the seven mind-born Spiritual Intelligences, are identical with them; they are the Lords of Light, who cast no shadows.

“In Lemuria and Atlantis the Devas assumed bodies to rule over the Races in these continents as Demi-Gods, or Angels. The Lemuro-Atlanteans were the first to have a Dynasty of Spirit-Kings; not of Manes, or Ghosts, as some believe.

“But as these Devas were Rupa, or material Spirits, they were not always good. One of the bad Devas was their King Thevetat, and it is due to the evil influence of this King-Demon that the Race of Atlanteans became a nation of wicked magicians. This led to war and the disfigured allegories of the race of Cain, of the giants, and of Noah and his righteous family. This war ended when Atlantis was submerged, which cataclysm again found echoes in the stories of the Babylonian and Mosaic Flood.”

During the Messenger’s discourse the dark-blue of the night sky had gradually paled; the stars had one by one gone out, but the white moon hung still above, like a withered flower. The creatures of the night had drowsily fled to their lairs, and a glittering dew lay laving upon the land. Soft swirling vapours melted in the East, and the early morning bee was darting buzzily from cup to cup of opening flowers collecting nectar for his brood. The glow-worms cast their shine no more, the crickets ceased their tinkling call, while clouds of pearly haze float silently above the woods and fields awaiting kiss of morning sun. A rosy light does touch the snow upon the mountain crests with soft caress, and in the azure dome above the Devas of the clouds commence their beauteous task. With fairy touch of rose, pale blue and apple-green, they tint the misty shapes, and tiny cloudlets like a swarm of multicoloured birds swim in the firmament in mass formation. Soft mauve and golden, opalescent quivering of a thousand glorious hues, betipp’d with gold and violet, they drift along—a silent benediction from the heart of Angels.

The radiant forms of the Devas now amalgamate with all this glory in waves of ecstasy; and brilliant tinted feelers, like winding shreds and skeins of crimson silk, stretch out as if the Holy Breath of God had blown them all asunder.

“Why cannot all humanity see these Devas at their work?” asked Ma-uti.

“Because they lack the Deva eye,” said Neteru-Hem. “The inner senses, which were natural to the early Races, have atrophied during racial growth and the development of the outer senses. There once existed four-armed creatures, male-female in nature, with one head, but three eyes. The third, or central eye at the back of the head, gave them spiritual vision, and all the elements—to them—were full of wonders.

“After the separation of the sexes, men having fallen into matter, the third eye began to lose its power, and, when the Fourth Race had run half its course, it was closed entirely and the inner vision had to be awakened by artificial stimuli; the process of which was the secret of the Initiates or Sages. Then the third eye gradually petrified and disappeared altogether and became what is now known as the pineal gland, a small pea-like mass of grey nervous matter attached to the back of the third ventricle of the brain; it now almost invariably contains mineral concretions and sand, and nothing more. The inner vision can now only be acquired through training and initiation, save in the case of the natural and born magicians, or sensitives and mediums. During trances and spiritual visions it swells and expands; the initiate knows how to regulate it, and the aspirant who is pure in heart need not fear it. Unfortunately, the Deva eye exists no more for the majority of mankind; it is dead and acts no longer, and the only witness to its previous existence is the pineal gland inside the brain. The two remaining eyes in the human embryo are also centred within the brain and grow from within without, instead of being part of the skin, as in the insects and cuttlefish.

“As in the case of the eyes, so all the human senses are developed from within to the without; the third eye retreated inward when its course was run. It was also called the eye of Shiva, and it is known that the reason for its loss was the misuse the Fourth Race Men put it to, by making it the fane of every spiritual iniquity in the Land of Sin—as Atlantis was termed by the early Pioneers of the Fifth Race.

“In the ancient Books it is said about the fall of Atlantis that: ‘The Kings of Light have departed in wrath. The sins of men have become so black that Earth quivers in her great agony . . . The Azure Seats remain empty. Who of the Brown, who of the Red, or yet among the Black [Races], can sit in the Seats of the Blessed, the Seats of Knowledge and Mercy?

‘Who can assume the Flower of Power (the Lotus), the plant of the Golden Stem and Azure Blossom? They of the Deva-hue, the moon-like complexion, and they of the refulgent (golden) face have gone to the Land of Bliss.’

“And so the Devas departed, and, their protecting hands being no longer over it, Atlantis sank beneath the waves in that great cataclysm two hundred thousand years ago.”

And now the glorious King of Day came rejoicing from the East. With fluid gold beshining all created things and beings, and his ray-brush painting Earth with luminous irradiation—Efflux Divine!

The mignonette again spreads round its odour; forget-me-nots unfold by cooling stream; red berries gleam on dark green trees; tall sunflowers turn nodding heads in greeting to that higher light above; wood-anemones, like stars, diffuse a soft sweet glimmer.

Along the river-banks marsh-marigolds crowd in yellow clumps, whilst water-crowfoot hides the darker water of the ponds with flowers set in tangled luscious green; and all is bright as at Creation’s Day.

With thankfulness Ma-u and Ma-uti looked at the Messenger, as thus the second Vision ended with a Song of Gladness.

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