Theosophy presents a system of cosmic and human evolution which is far vaster, far more logical, far more philosophical, and far more self-consistent than that offered by any other religion, philosophy, or spiritual teaching known to man.
May this summary be a source of interest and inspiration for those who read it. ~ * ~
* The Earth was to be populated by the beings from its parent – the Moon.
* The Earth created beings of her own accord – “from her own bosom” – using the remains – “the dross and slime” – of beings from the 1ST, 2ND, and 3RD ROUNDS.
They were monstrous, soulless forms, some of whom are described as “water-men, terrible and bad” and eventually had to be slain, by the direction of the high Dhyanis. The Spirit of the Earth had been told to wait, for evolution and the peopling of the planet to proceed of its own proper accord, but had not waited.
* When the time was right, the Dhyanis, “the great Chohans called the Lords of the Moon, of the airy bodies.” These were the LUNAR PITRIS, the highest and most evolved beings who had been on the Moon, the “predecessor planet” of our Earth. Called out of their cyclic rest by the high Dhyan Chohans, they were instructed to go as seven groups – “seven hosts” – to seven different zones of that “mysterious and sacred land” which was to become “the cradle of the first man” – a land referred to as “the Imperishable Sacred Land,” somewhere in the crowning area of the North Pole.
* They were required to ooze out ethereal, astral forms from themselves – “Shadows of future men,” which were “each of his own colour and kind,” and “each inferior to his father,” the Lunar Pitris, also known as Barhishad Pitris, who had produced the forms which were destined to eventually be covered over in due time with a dense physical body. As the Lunar Pitris were boneless, so were this astral progeny of theirs, whose shadowy form was gigantic and somewhat ape-like. This progeny – “the sons of Yoga,” the “self-born” – was the 1ST ROOT RACE, the POLARIAN ROOT RACE. Man was not to develop bones until the 3RD ROOT RACE.
* The 1ST, 2ND, and the first part of the 3RD ROOT RACE, all lacked the important quality of mind and individual self-consciousness.
They were effectively mindless and senseless. The task of the Lunar Pitris had simply been to produce the basis for the physical, material – i.e. lower – nature of the mankind of our Earth. As the progenitors of the first humanity of our globe, they were collectively Vaivasvata Manu (the Root Manu of the 4th Round). The mind and egoic nature was destined to be provided by beings higher than the Lunar Pitris – beings known as the “Lords of the Flame,” the Solar Pitris, the Sons of Wisdom.
* In due time the 1ST ROOT RACE evolved into its own offspring, which was its “product by budding and expansion.” They were the 2ND ROOT RACE, the HYPERBOREAN ROOT RACE, who ended up dwelling on the Hyperborean Continent – “the land which stretched out its promontories southward and westward from the North Pole to receive the Second Race, and comprised the whole of what is now known as Northern Asia.”
Further explanation from “The Secret Doctrine” (Vol. 2, p.121): “The material of the first forms – shadowy, ethereal, and negative – was drawn or absorbed into, and thus became the complement of the forms of the Second Race.
The Commentary explains this by saying that, as the First Race was simply composed of the astral shadows of the creative progenitors, having of course neither astral nor physical bodies of their own – this Race never died. Its “men” melted gradually away, becoming absorbed in the bodies of their own “sweat-born” progeny, more solid than their own. The old form vanished and was absorbed by, disappeared in, the new form, more human and physical. There was no death in those days…”
* In due time the 3RD ROOT RACE, the LEMURIAN ROOT RACE came into being, whose first “men” were born from giant eggs which had formed from droplets of sweat that had hardened.
Throughout its immense period of development and evolution, spanning millions of years, the 3RD ROOT RACE began as sexless, became double-sexed (i.e. hermaphrodite, androgynous) and finally single-sexed, as humanity is today. It was the double-sexed who were the first human beings with bones. The mass of land which became their home “included some portions of what is now Africa; but otherwise this gigantic Continent, which stretched from the Indian ocean to Australia, has now wholly disappeared beneath the waters of the Pacific, leaving here and there only some of its highland tops which are now islands.” The actual name “Lemuria” has no ancient origins but was invented by Victorian scientists when discussing the existence of this prehistoric Pacific continent.
* Some of the Lords of Wisdom chose to incarnate in some of the androgynous Lemurians and after doing so utilised the power of Kriyashakti to create higher and more developed physical forms as vehicles for the incarnation of higher beings, referred to as the “Sons of Ad,” “Sons of the Fire Mist,” and “Sons of Will and Yoga.”
First, however, they created through Kriyashakti a body to serve as the physical vehicle for the incarnation on our Earth of one particular Great Being from higher realms, who was destined to thus sacrifice himself for the sake of mankind by becoming the Supreme Spiritual Head on our planet, remaining to this very day and dwelling – it is said – at Shamballa. He and the “Sons of Ad” came as the first great spiritual guides of humanity, which was soon to be endowed at last with mind and self-consciousness.
For further details and explanation about the above, please see the article titled The Wondrous Being – The Great Sacrifice.
* It was in the Lemurian Epoch that “the first animals were produced.” There had been no animals in this Round up until now. Their bodies were formed from the residue and matter that had composed the forms of the men and animals of the 3RD ROUND. Evolution proceeded in the Animal Kingdom and the animals too progressed from being boneless to being solid and having bones and proper physical structure. They too were initially androgynous.
* The “separation of the sexes” occurred first in the Animal Kingdom and afterwards in the Human Kingdom. Observing the new sexual method of reproduction amongst the animals, man now began to do the same. But the “sin of the mindless” occurred. Some of the Lemurians – still without mental consciousness and proper intelligence as yet – procreated with some of “the huge she-animals.” The progeny of this unholy union was “a race of crooked red-hair-covered monsters going on all fours” – “a dumb race to keep the shame untold.” These creatures were the ancestors of our modern day APES. Man is not evolved from the apes but the apes are evolved from man, hence the similarity between the two. All human beings on Earth did pass through the Animal Kingdom in order to reach the Human Kingdom but they did so aeons ago on the Moon Chain and not on our Earth. On this Earth, man preceded the animals…and as for the apes, they never had any existence whatsoever until primitive mindless man copulated with some of the animals during Lemurian times.
* After this unintended tragedy, the Sons of Wisdom incarnated in all of mankind in the mid-point of the Lemurian Epoch, said to have been 18,000,000 years ago, saying “Let us teach them better, lest worse should happen.” But even if the sin of the mindless had never occurred, the incarnation of these Lords of the Flame – the Agnishvatta Pitris, the “Solar Angels” – still inevitably had to occur. “Then all men became endowed with Manas” (i.e. Mind). Taking up residence in the bodies of the mindless Lemurians, they made of man a THINKING, SELF-CONSCIOUS, INTELLIGENT human being. These Solar Pitris became the minds, the Egos, the individual souls, of humanity. The soul, the self-conscious individuality, of each human being, IS one of those entities. On the Higher Manasic level, we ARE the Solar Angels – the exact nature of whom is so mysterious and profound that it can only be barely hinted at. They became the connecting, cementing, intermediate link between brute animal man and the Higher Self above, the One Spirit.
