The Dawn of Civilization: An Esoteric Account of the First Three Root Races
Printed in the Fall 2019 issue of Quest magazine.
Citation: Sender, Pablo ,"The Dawn of Civilization: An Esoteric Account of the First Three Root Races" Quest 107:4, pg 12-13
By Pablo Sender
The model for the evolution of humanity presented by the esoteric philosophy is far more complex than the modern scientific views on the subject. In The Secret Doctrine, H.P. Blavatsky states that humanity develops through seven great evolutionary cycles, called “Root Races,” which give rise to seven consecutive human civilizations.
Each of these humanities developed on different continents. At the end of each Root Race, there was a global geological upheaval that changed the face of the earth. Because of these continental changes, the vast majority of the remains from previous Root Races are currently under the oceans.
According to The Secret Doctrine, the First Root Race, nonphysical beings lacking in consciousness, began to develop over 1.5 billion years ago. The first self-conscious humanity resembling what we know today was the Third Root Race, which started over 18 million years ago. The anthropological records, historic and even prehistoric, belong to our current Root Race, which is the fifth (out of seven).
The esoteric story of human civilization is too vast to be covered in one article. Here we will limit ourselves to exploring the genesis of humanity and the beginning of civilization, according to The Secret Doctrine.
Assisted Evolution
Modern science explains the emergence of humankind as a result of chance chemical events and random mutations. The odds of this occurrence are so slim that scientists regard the evolution of humanity as nothing short of a miracle. Theosophical teachings, by contrast, say that this “miracle” is really the orderly work of natural forces with the assistance of intelligent beings. These intelligences guiding the process of evolution have been recognized in all religious traditions of the past. They were conceived of as gods, angels, devas, and so forth.
Unfortunately, these celestial beings have frequently been anthropomorphized in such a way that makes them appear as fanciful inventions. Perhaps this is inevitable, because we cannot really understand the nature of nonhuman intelligences. Even the Stanzas of The Secret Doctrine use mythological imagery and allegorical language to explain the origins and evolution of human beings.
Although accepting the participation of celestial beings, esoteric philosophy does not support a creationist view. It agrees with the evolutionary theory, extending it beyond the physical world into the intellectual and spiritual realms. This evolution, however, is not blind, random, or purposeless. It has clear aims, and the intelligent beings who guide it are not perfect, but are themselves evolving.
The First Root Race
According to The Secret Doctrine, once the earth was ready to hold human life, two groups of celestial beings were called upon to assist in the “creation” of man—the Lords of the Moon and the Lords of the Flame: “Bring forth men of your nature. Give their spirits a subtle form. Mother Earth will build a material covering” (Secret Doctrine, 2.75).
Their task was to provide the “spirits” (human monads) with an astral body that nature could use as a model to slowly start building a physical human form. The seven Lords of the Moon (seven hierarchies or groups, not seven individual celestial beings) responded to the call, but the Lords of the Flame remained behind, refusing to engage in the work of creation. They claimed that they were too spiritual and pure and furthermore did not have creative powers to build material forms. The Lords of the Moon, devas of a less spiritual nature, went to their allotted lands on seven different portions of the earth, ready to create the seven primordial groups of human beings. They emanated astral forms out of their own nonphysical bodies, which became the First Root Race of humanity—ethereal and gigantic. The rudimentary form (not yet a body proper) of the early humans was a mere shadow, and these beings were regarded as a “phantom race.” The astral forms were sexless—they were not born from parents but reproduced themselves by fission. For this reason, the First Root Race was called “the self-born.” The Lords of the Moon were capable of producing astral forms, but they were not able to give minds to the members of this race. The protohumanity of this Root Race was essentially an embryonic stage, devoid of understanding.
Being nonphysical, the forms could not be affected by fire, water, or other natural elements. This rendered them impervious to the harsh conditions of the planet at the time. In fact, the phantom race could not die—they lasted for the whole duration of their evolutionary cycle, being finally assimilated to the bodies of the next Root Race.
The First Root Race developed on the “primordial land,” which is said to be a region destined to last from the beginning to the end of the evolution on this Earth, surviving all cataclysms and continental changes that will take place in this evolutionary Round. The first continent is called the “Imperishable Sacred Land.” Blavatsky wrote:
Of this mysterious and sacred land very little can be said, except, perhaps, according to a poetical expression in one of the Commentaries, that the “pole-star has its watchful eye upon it, from the dawn to the close of the twilight of “a day” of the great breath. (Secret Doctrine, 2.6)
This primordial land was located at what was the North Pole of 1.5 billion years ago. This was not our current North Pole, under which there is no land. As The Secret Doctrine explains, the inclination of the earth’s axis has shifted since then, so this imperishable sacred land would be today somewhere in the northern hemisphere.
The Second Root Race
As the astral forms of the First Root Race floated around, the “spirit of the Earth” (referring to the elemental and nature spirits) was busy at work developing the bodies of the next Root Race. Using the astral forms as a template, nature built a denser, though still ethereal, covering around them. The original astral forms became now a subtler counterpart of the newly developed ethereal bodies of the Second Root Race. This humanity was called “the boneless,” indicating that it was not yet a physical race. They were “the most heterogeneous gigantic semi-human monsters—the first attempts of material nature at building human bodies” (Secret Doctrine, 2.138). These “semi-humans” showed an instinctive intelligence, but they were still devoid of mind and self-consciousness. They too reproduced asexually, using a method of “budding and expansion.” (Today there are some simple animals, such as flatworms, which reproduce by budding, although this process is mostly associated with bacteria and yeast.)
The egg-shaped aura surrounding the ethereal body extruded a small germ from itself, which would feed from its parent and expand until it gradually detached itself from its originator. In the later part of this Root Race, the “buds” began to look like drops of sweat—“a kind of exudation of moisture or vital fluid.” (Secret Doctrine, 2.132). For this reason, the late second Race was called “the sweat-born.”
The land on which this Root Race developed was called by Blavatsky “Hyperborea,” in reference to the mythical perfect land of the Greeks:
The “Hyperborean” will be the name chosen for the Second 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. . . . It was a real Continent, a bona fide land which knew no winter in those early days. (Secret Doctrine, 2.7)
During this Root Race, the Earth too became more “solid,” producing more dry lands. This caused a great displacement of the waters of oceans, which changed their beds. The ethereal bodies of this Root Race were still impervious to the weather, although not completely to the physical elements. In fact, the majority of this race was eventually destroyed by the water displaced in this first universal flood (of which there were several).
The Third Root Race
At the beginning of the next Root Race, the small “sweat drops” started to change. They grew, becoming hard and round, eventually turning into eggs, out of which individuals hatched. The Third Root Race, now known as the “egg-born,” was approaching a fully physical form—a race “with bones.” During the transition from the sweat-born to the egg-born, the asexual progeny became hermaphroditic, each body able to produce eggs on its own. By the middle of the Third Root Race, the eggs “began to give birth, gradually and almost imperceptibly in their evolutionary development, first, to Beings in which one sex predominated over the other, and, finally, to distinct men and women” (Secret Doctrine, 2.132). At this stage, reproduction began to take sexual form. This change, of course, took millions of years, but by the end, human beings were fully physical, born from the wombs of their mothers as male or female. They were again gigantic, adapted to the general conditions and surroundings of the earth at the time. Legends of giant races are present in most ancient mythologies. Still, this middle Third Root Race was the first one that resembled what we call “human,” and was now ready for the crucial step.
The Advent of Self-Consciousness
About 18 million years ago, after humanity developed a physical body, the time came for the “completion” of the human being—the awakening of mind and self-consciousness. According to the esoteric philosophy, this milestone could not be reached by the efforts of nature alone. It required the assistance of those celestial beings who had previously refused to involve themselves in the creation of the early human forms—the Lords of the Flame. While these celestial beings could not help with physical evolution, they were able to do what the Lords of the Moon could not—stimulate the intellectual evolution of humanity by ensouling the bodies.
The terminology about these celestial beings in The Secret Doctrine is confusing. For the purpose of this article, we will simplify and state that there were two groups of beings under the “Lords of the Flame.” One is the “Lords of Wisdom”—celestial beings that had finished their human evolution in previous cycles and could now be regarded as “gods.” The other group, the “Sons of Wisdom,” are celestial beings of various degrees of evolution who are in the process of going through the human experience. These Sons of Wisdom are our souls.
The Secret Doctrine says that some among the Sons of Wisdom—those who had attained a higher level of evolution in previous cycles—incarnated in the human forms and became spiritual sages (Arhats) after a few rebirths. In Blavatsky’s words:
The Sons of Wisdom, or the spiritual Dhyanis, had become “intellectual” through their contact with matter, because they had already reached, during previous cycles of incarnation, that degree of intellect which enabled them to become independent and self-conscious entities, on this plane of matter. They were reborn only by reason of Karmic effects. They entered those who were “ready,” and [eventually] became the Arhats, or sages, alluded to above. (Secret Doctrine, 2.167)
Most Sons of Wisdom, however, were only able to send sparks of themselves into the bodies. Although this was enough to awaken the mind of the early humans, they remained destitute of the higher, enlightened knowledge already attained by the group mentioned above. These individuals constitute the average humanity of today, which is in the process of acquiring wisdom by passing through the different Root Races.
Lastly, a prideful group of Sons of Wisdom, on seeing the primitive and mindless bodies they had to incarnate into, delayed their action. “We can choose . . . we have wisdom,” they said (Secret Doctrine, 2.161), and decided to wait for the bodies to evolve further before getting involved with them. But this was a mistake—the forms left unawakened turned into a mindless, semianimal race, called the “narrow-brained.”
This third group of Sons of Wisdom, who decided to wait, had hoped that the bodies would keep on evolving in the meantime. However, physical evolution had done the best it could under the guidance of the Lords of the Moon, after which they retired, passing on the responsibility of evolution to the Sons of Wisdom. These deserted bodies, instead of evolving, began to degenerate. The narrow-brained beings started to reproduce with animals and gave birth to a monstrous “race of crooked, red-hair-covered monsters, going on all fours” (Secret Doctrine, 2.184). Seeing this, the Sons of Wisdom decided to incarnate before the situation got worse, but they had to do so in forms that had been desecrated, thus becoming a backward race. The karmic effects of the “sin of the mindless” fell upon those Sons of Wisdom “who failed to do by them their Karmic duty” (Secret Doctrine, 2.185).
Meanwhile, quite apart from this, a hierarchy of “gods”—the Lords of Wisdom—had created their own human forms by means of kriya-shakti (thought power) and incarnated among the Third Root Race. As we will see later, they would become the rulers and teachers of the early humanity.
In summary, esoteric philosophy postulates that there were seven groups of souls of varying degrees of evolution incarnating in early humanity—from those who had almost completed their human journey in previous cycles to those who were newly developed souls on this evolutionary Round. This is an important concept. If all souls inhabiting human bodies were created equal just before incarnating, it is difficult to explain the mysteries of evil and inequalities in social, moral, intellectual, and spiritual capacities among human beings. According to Blavatsky, the fact that there was a difference in the maturity or “age” of the human souls from the very beginning “solves the secret of the subsequent inequalities of intellectual capacity, and gives a logical explanation to the incomprehensible Karmic course” (Secret Doctrine, 2.161).
The mind of the late Third Root Race was young and innocent, and humans were more spiritual than intellectual. They developed a kind of nature-sound language to communicate with each other, but the essence of the communication between individuals was from mind to mind, by means of the spiritual “third eye” of which they were endowed. Because of this, the Third Root Race could perceive intuitively their connection with nature and the divine. In Blavatsky’s words:
No sooner had the mental eye of man been opened to understanding, than the Third Race felt itself one with the ever-present as the ever to be unknown and invisible all, the One Universal Deity. Endowed with divine powers, and feeling in himself his inner God, each felt he was a Man-God in his nature, though an animal in his physical Self. (Secret Doctrine, 2.272)
Early Civilization
The continent of the Third Root Race was located in the area of the Pacific Ocean. Blavatsky wrote:
The third Continent, we propose to call “Lemuria” . . . extended from Madagascar to Ceylon and Sumatra. It 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. (Secret Doctrine, 2.7).
Before the awakening of the mind, weather had not been an issue, since “an eternal spring reigned over the whole globe” (Secret Doctrine, 2.135). Toward the end of this Root Race, however, there was a shift in the earth’s axis, and the world began to experience a change of seasons. Humanity found itself expelled from “paradise” and had to learn to survive in the new and hostile conditions. However, according to Theosophical teachings, this child humanity did not have to learn how to survive by the slow method of trial and error, as modern science proposes.
After (the separation [of sexes]) . . . the eternal spring became constant change and seasons succeeded. Cold forced men to build shelters and devise clothing. Then man appealed to the superior Fathers (the higher gods or angels) . . . Divine Kings descended and taught men sciences and arts, for man could live no longer in the first land (Adi-Varsha, the Eden of the first Races), which had turned into a white frozen corpse. (Secret Doctrine, 2.201)
At this juncture, the Lords of Wisdom stepped in and became the leaders and teachers of humankind. They are remembered in many traditions as the gods who were the “Divine Rulers” during the golden age of humanity. As mentioned before, the Third Root Race did not have a formal religion; but they had a natural childlike devotion for their Divine Kings, who guided and taught them:
At the dawn of consciousness, the man of the Third Root-Race had no beliefs that could be called religion. . . . But if the term is to be defined as the binding together of the masses in one form of reverence paid to those we feel higher than ourselves, of piety—as a feeling expressed by a child toward a loved parent—then even the earliest Lemurians had a religion—and a most beautiful one. (Secret Doctrine, 2.272)
It was the Golden Age, when
the gods walked the earth, and mixed freely with the mortals . . .
These gods incarnate taught humanity the rudiments of sciences and arts, and helped them build their first cities:
Under the guidance of their divine Rulers [they] built large cities, cultivated arts and sciences, and knew astronomy, architecture and mathematics to perfection. (Secret Doctrine, 2.273, 317)
But all this happened gradually. Many hundreds of thousands of years after the separation of sexes elapsed before the primeval civilization started. The Lemurians built their first cities out of stone and lava. Eventually, they were able to build huge cities using rare earths, metals, lava, marble, and black stones. According to Blavatsky, the first large cities appeared on that region of the Lemurian continent which is now known as the island of Madagascar (Secret Doctrine, 2.317).
Conclusion
How are we to take this narrative? Is it supposed to describe real facts, or is it allegorical? Blavatsky admitted that, “to some extent . . . even the esoteric teaching is allegorical,” because the endeavor to present processes taking place on nonphysical planes “requires the use of symbols cast in an intelligible form” (Secret Doctrine, 2.81). That being said, Blavatsky claims that the story offered in The Secret Doctrine describes what actually happened.
If so, how far does this account agree with the findings of modern science? No remains could be found of the first two Root Races, which were nonphysical. But when we come to statements about the physical races (third and fourth), one of the difficulties in judging their veracity is that these races inhabited areas that are not easily accessible to modern anthropological research. Blavatsky and her teachers pointed out that the lack of remains belonging to the giant races can be explained by the fact that the greater part of the continents of Lemuria and Atlantis are now under the oceans. In the words of Mahatma Koot Hoomi:
No doubt your geologists are very learned; but why not bear in mind that . . . there may be, hidden deep in the fathomless, or rather unfathomed ocean beds, other, and far older continents whose stratums have never been geologically explored; and that they may some day upset entirely their present theories. (Chin and Barker, 310)
Anthropological studies do not yet present a reliable picture of human evolution. We learn every year of new findings that modify previously held theories, a number of them pointing in the direction of claims made in The Secret Doctrine. The time may come when clear evidence surfaces but until then, the esoteric and scientific views walk on different paths.
Sources
Emphasis in quotes is from the original.
Blavatsky, H.P. The Secret Doctrine. Two volumes. Wheaton: Quest, 1993.
Chin, Vicente Hao, Jr., and A.T. Barker. The Mahatma Letters in Chronological Sequence. Adyar, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1998.
Pablo Sender PhD, has been a member of the Theosophical Society since 1996 and has presented Theosophical lectures, seminars, and classes around the world. He lives at the Krotona Institute of Theosophy in Ojai, California. He is the author of Evolution of the Higher Consciousness, and his articles have been published in Theosophical journals in several languages. Learn more at his website: www.pablosender.com.
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Source: https://www.arvindus.com/publications/202008161.html
A human is a soul in a body.1 This soul is symbolized by the sun and this body is symbolized by the moon.2 So the human soul could be called 'the solar human' and the human body 'the lunar human'. In the ageless wisdom terms like 'solar angel' and 'agnisvatta' are used to refer to the soul and 'lunar angel' and 'lunar pitri' to refer to the body.3, 4 Now the souls of humans, which are regarded as the real humans,5 and the bodies of humans have in principle their independent developments. However there are time periods in which both coincide. When bodies are in such a condition that they can contribute to the development of the souls, and the souls to the development of the bodies, then incarnations of specific souls in specific bodies occur. Now when in the ageless wisdom mention is made of root races reference is made on the one side to a specific type of human consciousness and on the other side to the collective of human bodies that physically represents such type of consciousness. Human consciousness as a parallel and temporal coinciding evolution has been touched upon in 'Ageless Wisdom, Classifications of Humanity',6 and here we shall focus on the physical root race representations.
Now the ageless wisdom mentions seven root races per globe, as also seven globes per chain and seven chains per planetary logos.7 Our planetary logos develops through seven chains, which develop each through seven globes, which develop each through seven root races (although a globe development entails more or course than only human development). Our point of development can be found in the fourth chain on the fourth globe. Our present chain is also called 'the earth chain' and the previous chain is called 'the moon chain'.8, 9
At the end of each globe round within a chain the bodily essences of each kingdom on that globe are transferred to the corresponding globe of the next chain round.10 For instance the bodily essences of the mineral kingdom of the first globe of the first chain are after the end of the regarded globe round transferred to the first globe of the second chain. This means that the bodily essences of the humanity of the fourth globe of the third chain were at the closure of that globe transferred to the fourth globe of the fourth chain. The lunar essences of the earth globe of the moon chain were transferred to the earth globe of the earth chain.
The above means that the first root race of our present globe was born from the seventh root race of the corresponding globe of the previous chain, being the moon chain. It is therefore that this root race can be called 'shadow born'. The lunar pitris of the earth globe of the moon chain have casted their shadows so to speak unto the earth globe of the earth chain, and from those shadows the first root race was formed.11 These shadows consisted of etheric substance (which H.P. Blavatsky called 'astral')12 and the first race was thus still very etheric in nature.13 This race is also called 'self born'.14 Being sexless they procreated in a way similar to amoebae through cell division.15, 16 Their bodies were however not yet developed enough to host the solar angels, thus the latter did not truely incarnate in the first root race,17 and the race remained unintelligent and without speech.18 This first root race appeared about one point six billion years ago and was ruled by the Law of Immersion, indicating the immersion of human life into matter.19, 20, 21
From the first root race developed the second root race, the so called 'Hyperboreans'.22 This root race was physically more dense and more humanoid,23 but it was still ethereal, giving it the name of the 'boneless' race.24 In this root race the first spark of intelligence appeared,25 but souls still not fully incarnated.26, 27 Their speech was thus limited to vowel expressions.28 This root race is also called 'sweat born' because, being a-sexual, they procreated through the secretion of substance, as plants do when budding.29, 30, 31, 32 This second root race was ruled by the Law of Capitulation, indicating the capitulation of matter to the urge of the human spirit to incarnate.33, 34
From this second root race the third root race developed. It was during this root race that humanity physically solidified.35, 36 At the start of the development the third root race still procreated through substance secretion, because of which the early third root race is also referred to as 'sweat born'.37 However in course of time this method of procreation changed into egg laying, making the third root race egg born,38 after which a development towards womb bearing took place.39 This development was accompanied by a development from sexlessness through androgyny towards a division in two sexes. Towards the end of the fourth sub race newly born humans were not able to directly walk and towards the end of the fifth sub race humans were born as they are now.40 It was then that the bodies were fully solidified and also fit for souls to incarnate in them.41, 42 Individualisation took place and the true humanity was born (for until then humans were not really distinct from animals).43 This happened about eighteen million years ago.44 Endowed with a spark of intelligence and guided by divine instructors this root race was able to develope some rudiment forms of speech and civilization.45, 46 This third root race is also called 'the Lemurian race', named after the continent Lemuria on which they lived.47 The goal of this third root race was development of and control over the physical body, and for this hatha and laya yoga were exercized.48, 49 Their vice was promiscuity, leading to the syphilitic diseases.50 With regards to the Lemurian vice it is also a remarkable teaching that the contemporary Hominidae (the humanoid primates) are the result of a procreation by mindless Lemurians with animals.51 This third root race was ruled by the Law of Materialisation or Hidden Radiance which names refer to the solidification of the body on the one side and the incarnating of the soul therein on the other side.52, 53
From this Lemurian race the fourth root race developed. The Lemurian continent sank away and the fourth root race lived on the continent of Atlantis, from which the name 'Atlantean race' is derived.54, 55 In this fourth root race emotion was developed.56 Desire and greed were their vices, leading to the tuberculosic diseases,57 and the inhibition thereof led to the cancerous diseases.58 Their yoga was bhakti yoga,59 directed at the transformation of desire into devotion.60 Emotion was so well developed in this root race that even our present, the fifth, root race is still overall emotionally polarized.61, 62 During this development the door towards individualisation (by which animals could pass into the human kingdom) was closed.63 The Atlantean race in its different sub races was very varied with colors of black, brown, red, white and yellow, and with heights varying from dwarfish to gigantic.64 Openly taught by the Masters of the Divine Hierarchy they reached unsurpassed levels of civilization.65, 66 However led by desire they misused the given knowledge and many of them started to practise black magic. This made the Masters with a major clash between white and black magicians retreat from openness,67 and the Atlantean continent sank into the purifying ocean to make place for a new continent.68 This fourth root race was ruled by the Law of the Tides, indicating the fluid tides of emotional consciousness.69, 70
The new continent became the habitat of the fifth root race, also called 'the Aryan race',71 which had emerged from the the Atlantean race. The name 'Aryan' is in the ageless wisdom not used in the abusive German sense,72 although somewhat confusingly sometimes also the term 'Caucasian' is applied to refer to this race.73 This can be somewehat confusing because, although the ageless wisdom has been using the term 'caucasian' to refer to the Indo-European or Aryan races,74 the contemporary use dominantly (though not exclusively) refers to only the white races.75 The Aryan race had, together with certain Atlantean races, survived on the high Asian plateaux from which the first colonized the new emerging lands from the region of India to the regions of the Mediterranean and Europe. The Atlantean races of different colors dispersed towards other areas such as East Asia, Africa and the Americas, and there were also those who got isolated on islands by rising waters.76 Thus offshoots of Atlantean races survived until the present day among the new Aryan races, just as there are still remnants of the Lemurian races in and around Australia.77 All are developing however under the influence of the fifth race cycle wherein the mind is developed.78, 79 In this cycle of the fifth root race we have arrived at the fifth of seven sub races,80 with the sixth sub race now being prepared.81 It is in our present period also that the Masters of the Hierarchy are starting to work openly among humanity again.82 The vice of the fifth root race is separation,83 and its yoga is Raja-yoga.84 The fifth root race is ruled by the Law of Cleavages, indicating the tendency of the mind to seperate.85, 86
The sixth root race will be developed towards the end of our present fifth root race. This root race is intended to develop the intuition.87 It is conceived that towards the end of the sixth root race there will eventuate a final clash between black and white magicians.88 This sixth root race shall be ruled by the Law of Loving Understanding.89
The sixth root race shall also commence a synthesis of all that humanity has garnered in development and the seventh root race shall complete that synthesis.90 It can thus be presumed that the seventh root race shall be ruled by the Law of Synthesis.91
Evolution and Race in The Secret Doctrine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJXeOKLjeyA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_race
Root races are stages in human evolution in the esoteric cosmology of theosophist Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, as described in her book The Secret Doctrine (1888). These races existed mainly on now-lost continents. Blavatsky's model was developed by later theosophists, most notably William Scott-Elliot in The Story of Atlantis (1896) and The Lost Lemuria (1904). Annie Besant further developed the model in Man: Whence, How and Whither (1913). Both Besant and Scott-Elliot relied on information from Charles Webster Leadbeater obtained by "astral clairvoyance". Further elaboration was provided by Rudolf Steiner in Atlantis and Lemuria (1904).[1] Rudolf Steiner, and subsequent theosophist authors, have called the time periods associated with these races Epochs (Steiner felt that the term "race" was not adequate anymore for modern humanity).
Root races, epochs and sub-races[edit]
According to Blavatsky's writings, there are seven root races assembling for our Earth; each root race is divided into seven subraces. Only five root races have appeared so far;[5] the sixth is expected to emerge in the 28th century. Francis Bacon (whom theosophy considers to be the legendary Count of St. Germain) in his work The New Atlantis (1627) describes a potential future civilization which lives on a land called Bensalem.
The first root race (Polarian)[edit]
The first root race was "ethereal", i.e. they were composed of etheric matter. They reproduced by dividing like an amoeba. Earth was still cooling at that time. The first mountain to arise out of the stormy primeval ocean was Mount Meru.[6]
The second root race (Hyperborean)[edit]
The second root race lived in Hyperborea. The second root race was colored golden yellow. Hyperborea included what is now Northern Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia, Northern Asia and Kamchatka. The climate was tropical because Earth had not yet developed an axial tilt. The esoteric name of their continent is Plaksha;[7] they called themselves the Kimpurshas. They reproduced by budding.[8]
The third root race (Lemurian)[edit]
The third root race, the Lemurian lived in Lemuria. The esoteric name of Lemuria is Shalmali.[7] Lemuria, according to Theosophists, existed in a large part of what is now the Indian Ocean including Australia and extending into the South Pacific Ocean; its last remnants are the Australian continent, the island of New Guinea, and the island of Madagascar. Lemuria sank gradually and was eventually destroyed by incessantly erupting volcanoes.[9] In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was thought by geologists that the age of the earth was only about 200 million years (because radioactive dating had not yet come into use), so the geological epochs were believed to have occurred at a much later time than is thought to be the case today. According to traditional Theosophy, the Lemurian root race began 34½ million years ago, in the middle of what was then believed to be the Jurassic; thus, the people of Lemuria coexisted with the dinosaurs. The Lemurian race was much taller and bigger than our current race. The first three subraces of the Lemurians reproduced by laying eggs, but the fourth subrace, beginning 16½ million years ago, began to reproduce like modern humans.[9] As Lemuria was slowly submerged due to volcanic eruptions, the Lemurians colonized the areas surrounding Lemuria, namely Africa, Southern India and the East Indies. The descendants of the Lemurian root race, according to traditional Theosophy, include the Capoid race, the Congoid race, the Dravidians, and the Australoid race.
The fourth root race (Atlantean)[edit]
This race inhabited Atlantis.
Subraces of the Atlantean root race[edit]
The fourth root race, the Atlantean, according to Theosophy arose approximately 4,500,000 years ago in Africa from the fourth subrace of the Lemurians in a part of Africa that had been colonized by that subrace in the area now inhabited by the Ashanti.[10] According to Theosophists the first Atlantean subrace was the result of the last, or seventh Lemurian subrace, Chankshusha Manu, which migrated first to the south of the Atlantean continent and, from there, migrated further north. The esoteric name of Atlantis is Kusha.[7] The Atlantean root race had Mongolian features; they began with bronze skin and gradually evolved into the red American Indian, brown Malayan, and yellow Mongolian races, because some Atlanteans eventually migrated to the Americas and Asia. The seven subraces of the Atlantean root race were
- the Rmoahal
- the Tlavati (Cro-Magnons)
- the Toltec (a term which Theosophists use as a synonym for the Atlantean ancestors of the American Indians)
- the Turanian
- the original Semites (i.e. Phoenicians)
- the Akkadians, and
- the Mongolian, which migrated to and colonized Central Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia.
The descendants of the Atlanteans according to traditional Theosophy include those of the Mongolian race, the Malayan race, and the American Indian race as well as some people of what in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was called the "olive-skinned" Mediterranean race.[10][11][12][13][14]
The civilization of Atlantis[edit]
According to Powell, the long period of time when Atlantis was ruled by the Toltecs (the ancestors of the Amerindians), the civilization of Atlantis was at its height. This was the period between about 1,000,000 and 900,000 years ago, called the Golden Age of Atlantis. The Atlanteans had many luxuries and conveniences. Their capital city was called The City of the Golden Gates. At its height, it had two million inhabitants. There were extensive aqueducts leading to the city from a mountain lake. The Atlanteans had airships powered by the vril that could seat two to eight people. The economic system was socialist like that of the Incas. Atlanteans were the first to develop organized warfare. The military deployed vril-powered air battleships that contained 50 to 100 fighting men. These air battleships deployed poison gas bombs. The infantry fired fire-tipped arrows. The Toltecs on Atlantis worshipped the Sun in temples as grand as those of ancient Egypt that were decorated in bright colors. The sacred word used in meditation was Tau (this was the equivalent of the Aryan sacred word AUM). As noted above, the Toltecs colonized all of North America and South America and thus became the people we know as the Amerindians.[12][13] The downfall of Atlantis started when some of the Toltecs began to practice black magic about 850,000 BC, corrupted by the dragon "Thevetat",[15] remembered as Devadatta, the opponent of Buddha.[16] The people began to become selfish and materialistic. Soon thereafter, the Turanians (the ancestors of the people we now know as the Turkic peoples) became dominant in much of Atlantis. The Turanians continued the practice of black magic which reached its height about 250,000 BC and continued until the final sinking of Atlantis, although they were opposed by white magicians. The Master Morya incarnated as the Emperor of Atlantis in 220,000 BC to oppose the black magicians.[17] The black magicians used magical spells to breed human-animal chimeras. They possessed an army composed of chimeras that were composites composed of a human body with the heads of fierce predators such as lions, tigers and bears, that ate enemy corpses on the battlefield.[17] The war between the white magicians and the black magicians continued until the end of Atlantis. The Masters of the Ancient Wisdom telepathically warned their disciples (the white magicians) to flee Atlantis in ships while there was still time to get out before the final cataclysm. As noted above, the final sudden submergence of Atlantis due to earthquakes occurred in 9,564 BC .[4]
The fifth root race (Aryan)[edit]
Early beginnings of the Aryan root race[edit]
Blavatsky asserted humanity is now in the fifth or Aryan root race, which Theosophists believe to have emerged from the previous fourth root race (Atlantean root race) beginning about 100,000 years ago in Atlantis. (According to Powell, when Madame Blavatsky stated the Aryan root race was 1,000,000 years old, she meant that the souls of the people that later physically incarnated as the first Aryans about 100,000 years ago began to incarnate in the bodies of Atlanteans 1,000,000 years ago.[12] However, another way of interpreting this is that Nature began to create the Aryan race before the final cataclysms.) Theosophists believe the Aryan root race was physically progenerated by the Vaivasvatu Manu, one of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom (compare and contrast with Vaivasvata Manu of Hinduism. The present-day ethnic group most closely related to the new race is the Kabyle. The small band of only 9,000 people constituting the then small Aryan root race migrated out of Atlantis in 79,797 BC. The bards of the new white root-race poetically referred to the new race as being moon-colored.[18] A small group of these Aryan migrants from Atlantis split from the main body of migrants and went south to the shore of an inland sea in what was then a verdant and lush Sahara where they founded the "City of the Sun". The main body of migrants continued onwards to an island called the "white island" in the middle of what was then an inland sea in what is now the Gobi desert, where they established the "City of the Bridge".[19] (The "City of the Bridge" was constructed directly below the etheric city called Shamballa where Theosophists believe the governing deity of Earth, Sanat Kumara (compare and contrast with Sanatkumaras of Hinduism), dwells; thus, the ongoing evolution of the Aryan root race has been divinely guided by the being Theosophists call "The Lord of the World".)
The esoteric name of the whole of the present land surface of Earth, i.e. the World Island, the Americas, the Australian continent and Antarctica taken as a whole is Krauncha.[7]
Blavatsky connects physical race with spiritual attributes constantly throughout her works:
The intellectual difference between the Aryan and other civilized nations and such savages as the South Sea Islanders, is inexplicable on any other grounds. No amount of culture, nor generations of training amid civilization, could raise such human specimens as the Bushmen, the Veddhas of Ceylon, and some African tribes, to the same intellectual level as the Aryans, the Semites, and the Turanians so called. The 'sacred spark' is missing in them and it is they who are the only inferior races on the globe, now happily – owing to the wise adjustment of nature which ever works in that direction – fast dying out. Verily mankind is 'of one blood,' but not of the same essence. We are the hot-house, artificially quickened plants in nature, having in us a spark, which in them is latent."[20] ... Esoteric history teaches that idols and their worship died out with the Fourth Race, until the survivors of the hybrid races of the latter (Chinamen, African Negroes, &c.) gradually brought the worship back. The Vedas countenance no idols; all the modern Hindu writings do.[21]
Generally speaking, a large percentage of the people who live in the time of the period of the fifth root race are part of the fifth root race. However Blavatsky also opines that some Semitic peoples have become "degenerate in spirituality". She asserted that some peoples descended from the Lemurians are "semi-animal creatures". These latter include "the Tasmanians, a portion of the Australians." There are also "considerable numbers of the mixed Lemuro-Atlantean peoples produced by various crossings with such semi-human stocks -- e.g., the wild men of Borneo, the Veddhas of Ceylon, most of the remaining Australians, Bushmen, Negritos, Andaman Islanders, etc."[22] All these aforementioned groups mentioned by Blavatsky, except the Borneians, are part of what in the late 19th and most of the 20th century was called the Australoid race (except for the Bushmen, part of the Capoid race), both of which races, as noted above, were believed by traditional Theosophists to have been descended from the Lemurians.
Subraces of the Aryan root race[edit]
Blavatsky described the fifth root race with the following words:
The Aryan races, for instance, now varying from dark brown, almost black, red-brown-yellow, down to the whitest creamy colour, are yet all of one and the same stock – the Fifth Root-Race – and spring from one single progenitor, ... who is said to have lived over 18,000,000 years ago, and also 850,000 years ago – at the time of the sinking of the last remnants of the great continent of Atlantis.[23]
She also prophesies of the destruction of the racial "failures of nature" as the future "higher race" ascends:
Thus will mankind, race after race, perform its appointed cycle-pilgrimage. Climates will, and have already begun, to change, each tropical year after the other dropping one sub-race, but only to beget another higher race on the ascending cycle; while a series of other less favoured groups – the failures of nature – will, like some individual men, vanish from the human family without even leaving a trace behind.[24]
The subraces (which Steiner renamed "Cultural Epochs" as a more adequate expression for our times) of the Aryan Fifth Root Race include the first subrace, the Hindu, which migrated from the "City of the Bridge" on the white island in the middle of the Gobi inland sea to India in 60,000 BC; the second subrace, the Arabian, which migrated from the "City of the Bridge" to Arabia in 40,000 BC; the third subrace, the Persian, which migrated from the "City of the Bridge" to Persia in 30,000 BC; the fourth subrace, the Celts, which migrated from the "City of the Bridge" to Western Europe beginning in 20,000 BC (the Mycenaean Greeks are regarded as an offshoot of the Celtic subrace that colonized Southeast Europe); and the fifth subrace, the Teutonic, which also migrated from the "City of the Bridge" to what is now Germany beginning in 20,000 BC (the Slavs are regarded as an offshoot of the Teutonic subrace that colonized Russia and surrounding areas).[4][19][25][26][27][28][29]
The emergence of the sixth subrace of the Aryan root race[edit]
According to Blavatsky the sixth subrace of the Aryan root race will begin to evolve in the area of the United States in the early 21st century. This sixth subrace of the Aryan root race will be called the Australo-American subrace and is believed by Theosophists to be now arising from the Teutonic subrace of the Aryan root race in Australia and in the Western United States (many individuals of the new subrace will be born in California) and its surrounding nearby areas (i.e., the Australo-American subrace is in arising from the Anglo-American, Anglo-Canadian, Anglo-Australian and presumably also the Anglo-New Zealander ethnic groups).[30] The sixth or Australo-American sub-race will "possess certain psychic powers, and for this the pituitary body will be developed, thus giving an additional sense, that of cognising astral emotions in the ordinary waking consciousness. We may say that in general the sixth sub-race will bring in wisdom and intuition, blending all that is best in the intelligence of the fifth subrace and the emotion of the fourth."[30]
The sixth root race[edit]
According to C. W. Leadbeater, a colony will be established in Baja California by the Theosophical Society under the guidance of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom in the 28th century for the intensive selective eugenic breeding of the sixth root race. The Master Morya will physically incarnate in order to be the Manu ("progenitor") of this new root race.[31] By that time, the world will be powered by nuclear power and there will be a single world government led by a person who will be the reincarnation of Julius Caesar.[31] Tens of thousands of years in the future, a new continent will arise in the Pacific Ocean that will be the future home of the sixth root race.[32] California west of the San Andreas Fault will break off from the mainland of North America and become the Island of California off the eastern coast of the new continent.[30]
Victor Skumin elaborated on the theosophical conceptions of spiritual evolution and proposed (1990) a classification of Homo spiritalis (Latin: spiritual man), the sixth root race, consisting of eight subraces: HS0 Anabiosis spiritalis, HS1 Scientella spiritalis, HS2 Aurora spiritalis, HS3 Ascensus spiritalis, HS4 Vocatus spiritalis, HS5 Illuminatio spiritalis, НS6 Creatio spiritalis, and HS7 Servitus spiritalis. According to Skumin:
- Anabiosis spiritalis is spirituality in the potential of unmanifest accumulations of personality, the charge of the fires of spiritual creation;
- Scientella spiritalis is the cordial presentiment of the presence and demands of the spirit, spiritualization of the fire of centers, glimpses of self-consciousness of a spiritual person;
- Aurora spiritalis is the imperative of the spirit, the action of the spiritual fire of the centers in the heart, the kindling of the fire of the spirit, the formation of the orientation of the personality to the spiritual improvement of life;
- Ascensus spiritalis is the dawn of spiritual aspirations, the action of the fire of the spirit in the heart, searching spiritual work, aspiration of self-consciousness to merge with the One Spirit;
- Vocatus spiritalis is the maturation of spiritual accumulations, the purposeful spiritual creation, self-awareness and realization of a person as a warrior of the spirit;
- IIluminatio spiritalis is the beginning of the fiery transmutation, the lighting of the achievement fire; revealing the identity of man - the earthly carrier of the Thoughts of the One Spirit;
- Creatio Spiritalis is the beginning of fiery creation, the action of the fire of achievement in the heart, the revealing self-consciousness of man as the earthly carrier of the Light of the One Spirit;
- Servitus Spiritalis is the carrying a consciously accepted duty-commission, the synthesis of spirituality in the clarity of knowledge of a fiery man.[33]
The seventh root race[edit]
The seventh root race will arise from the seventh subrace of the sixth root race on the future continent that the sixth root race will be living on that will arise from the Pacific Ocean.[32] The continent they will inhabit is esoterically called Pushkara.[7]
This root race will be the last race to appear on planet Earth. Theosophist Scott Ramsey predicts that any sexual difference among humans will cease to exist, and both conception and birth will become entirely spiritual.
He also writes humanity will have a great spiritual development, and he describes this development in the following words:
"Everything that is irredeemably sinful and wicked, cruel and destructive, will have been eliminated, and that which is found to survive will be swept away from being, owing, so to speak, to a Karmic tidal-wave in the shape of scavenger-plagues, geological convulsions and other means of destruction."[34]
A Brief Esoteric History: Evolution of Consciousness through the Rootraces
Introduction
Worlds within Worlds
The Seven Rootraces
Individualisation in Lemuria
Shamballa and South America
The Atlantean Rootrace
The Fifth Rootrace and Beyond
Introduction
The secret history of the world is revealed in many traditions, the durations of which far surpass the miniscule figures used in modern times. H.P. Blavatsky (HPB) brought together many of these historical and chronological strands in her magnum opus, The Secret Doctrine (1888), a major foundation stone for the emerging Aquarian cycle. Throughout HPB’s works are scattered details of this ancient history – culled from the Vedas, Upanishads, the Zend Avesta, Old Testament and so forth.
In the denial or ignorance of its true origins lies the source of disempowerment for Humanity; in not knowing its divine source, the nature of the human soul or the very lengthy evolution of human consciousness that stretches back some 21 million years.
Who today really reflects about our true history and ancient past, preoccupied in a very busy world trying to survive? Most accept the culturally conditioned views of the Bible and/or modern science, both of which do not offer more than 5-10,000 years for the origin of human civilisation. These figures are however being pushed further back into hundreds of thousands or millions of years in some cases, which is very encouraging. There are also excellent authors like Michael Cremo who are bridging from the ancient Vedic teachings to modern science, challenging many of the latter’s pre-conceptions.
The Hidden History of Humanity Vol. I (HHH-1) is based upon the works of HPB and brings to light for the first time many key points, including the chronology and unfoldment of the ancient civilisations of Lemuria and Atlantis. Further planned volumes will bridge to several aspects of mainstream science – to blend the esoteric teaching with the best discoveries in academia; this has already been attempted (HHH-1) with the examination of the geological key to The Secret Doctrine.
HHH-1 also contains an esoteric interpretation of the first six chapters of Genesis, a blueprint for human evolution and the rootraces. Several breakthroughs were made in this area, particularly with regard to the ‘ages’ of the biblical Patriarchs and the cycles of the races.
In the Fifth Rootrace, resonant with the number 5 and manas or mind, there has been achieved a perfection, refinement and quintessential expression of the concrete mind. Although this has bought many benefits in science and technology, its shadow expression via the lower critical mind, tends to separativeness; it does not recognise whatever cannot be perceived by the five tangible senses.
The sixth sense or intuition is something that is in its early stage of development and hence the perception of the more subtle aspects of human evolution are ignored. There are many crystallised belief systems with regard to our history that influence current world thinking and they are compounded by an unquestioning acceptance of subjects such as scientific dating methods and the evolution of humans from apes – under the ‘authority’ of modern science or religion; there are also many vested interests who are committed to keeping history in a straitjacket of conformist ‘consensus thinking’.
Worlds within Worlds
The esoteric teachings of HPB tell us that the Earth (along with the other planets), incarnates over many vast cycles called ‘rounds’ or manvantaras, in the Hindu parlance. Just as the human soul does so on its tiny scale, so the greater lives that ensoul the planets, our ‘Gods’, seek perfection and eventual liberation within the Plan and Purpose of the greater entity which they inhabit, the Solar System. This solar system is of course the incarnation of a far greater Life that is associated with the star Sirius, but that is another story!
The planets are called ‘schemes’ because behind the visible outer planet are a series of worlds in more subtle matter called ‘globes’ and ‘chains’ (7 globes in a chain, 7 chains in a scheme), that represent past and future incarnations of the life we call a ‘planetary logos’.
Currently in the Earth Scheme, we are said to be half way through our evolution, in the 4th globe of the 4th chain, of the 4th scheme – and in the 4th round or vast cycle that lasts 617 million years! The ‘globe period’ thus far elapsed is about 1.973 billion years and this is the 24th globe or incarnation of a total of 49 globes in the Earth Scheme. We are halfway through our journey and the solar system as a whole is said to be at about this point also. Mind boggling time scales are they not? Yet the deeper one studies this material, the more logical and reasonable do these durations seem.
The Globes and Chains of the Earth Scheme
The Seven Rootraces
On each globe, seven rootraces are slated for unfoldment, providing the ‘physical body’ of incarnational experience for our Earth Logos. Human souls from this perspective are the ‘light cells’ within this greater body. Within each rootrace are seven subraces and within each subrace are seven branchraces, providing a myriad human expression down the ages.
Understanding how life really comes into manifestation requires occult or esoteric knowledge plus that rare sixth sense/intuitive factor, also called buddhic (as in Buddha) awareness. Hence life always emerges from the subtle and the unseen to the material or physical.
Through the vast ages and cycles that saw humanity come into being, the first two and a half rootraces were etheric; the blueprint for future humanity was being gradually developed from its spiritual prototype.
Individualisation in Lemuria
Half way through the Third Rootrace (known as Lemuria), at the appointed time and in the correct karmic cycle, a magnificent pre-ordained spiritual event occurred on this planet; it was the coming of the ‘Lords of Flame’ who were to impart the ‘spark of mind’ to Humanity; a ‘humanity’ who were really only members of the animal kingdom with animal instinctual awareness and in reality, no mind. This period is known as individualisation and some of the greatest mysteries on Earth are connected to this era.
The Lords of Flame are also known as ‘Kumaras’ and emanated from a chain within the Earth Scheme, associated with the planet Venus. The contents of each planetary scheme are a microcosm of the entire solar system – as all the planets ‘sing together’ within the symphony of the Sun. The presence of the ‘108 Kumaras’ created a great influx of force so powerful that a mighty storm raged over the planet, destroying most of the animal kingdom – dinosaurs and ‘humans’ alike:
“The advent of the Lords of the Flame, the electrical storm which ushered in the period of man, was distinguished by disaster, chaos, and the destruction of many in the third [animal] kingdom of nature. The spark of mind was implanted and the strength of its vibration, and the immediate effect of its presence caused the death of the animal form, thus producing the immediate possibility of the newly vitalised causal [soul] bodies vibrating to such purpose, that new physical vehicles were taken.”[2]
This event occurred in the Jurassic Age 21 million years ago, the true chronology for the death of the dinosaurs. This esoteric dating differs of course from the scientific dating of 65 million years ago and this is a problem that will be resolved; it also brings into contrast the commonly held view that a fiery meteorite was responsible for this cataclysm.
Individualisation occurred in the third branchrace of the third subrace of the Third Rootrace (Lemuria), expressed as 3.3.3, the number 3 relating to the mother or form aspect that births the new. Australia is the largest surviving remnant of this once vast ‘super continent’ that stretched at one time in its evolution from Madagascar in the west to South America in the east.
Lemuria at its greatest extent.
Sexual Separation of Hermaphrodite Humanity
From about 21.5 to 18.5 million years ago, various groupings of human souls had their ‘spark fanned’ by the guides of the race, up until the fifth subrace of the Third Rootrace (3.5) – which saw the process of human individualisation for a large number of Earth Chain humanity completed.
Also, over that few million year period, the separation into two sexes of the hitherto hermaphrodite and self-perpetuating Humanity occurred. There is much to be pondered here around the acquisition of mind and the separation of the sexes.
Over the next few million years, Humanity will reach a synthesis in consciousness of manas and buddhi that will be reflected by a return to an androgynous physical body. In the words of an ancient commentary, ‘the circle hath been well nigh trod and the end approacheth the beginning’; the full circle will have been scribed and liberation for the Earth Logos will subsequently ensue.
Shamballa and South America
The early Lemurian period signalled the establishment of the spiritual centre on Earth known as Shamballa, where the ‘Lord of the World’ presides and directs the plan and purpose of the incarnation of our Earth Logos. This being is also known as Sanat Kumara, the Ancient of Days or Melchisedek, one of the original Kumaras who came to help ‘kick start’ Earth evolution. Sanat Kumara is also known as “The Watcher” and is described most poignantly, ‘He will remain at his post until the last weary pilgrim returns home’ – that is, until the last human soul has achieved perfection and hence liberation.
From hereon in, the fledgling Humanity of the time were under the guidance of divine beings said to emanate from ‘celestial spheres far higher than our own’, giving instruction in building, agriculture, language and so forth. The human bodies of the time were much more refined since the human kingdom was created, yet were still gigantic and clumsy, requiring instruction in Hatha Yoga in order to coordinate the etheric body with the physical; this was the first spiritual goal for humanity and represented the First Initiation.
The first outpost of Shamballa in those days was ‘in the middle’ of what we now call South America. The Science of Initiation was introduced by Shamballa’s Masters and Adepts in order to hasten evolution, due to our Earth Scheme having fallen behind in a previous cycle called the ‘Moon Chain’. Earth does in fact have two major groupings of souls, those who ‘individualised’ on the Moon and Earth chains respectively.
Moon chain souls are far more developed in their mental capacity and to a degree spiritually also, though there is a rapid acceleration by their Earth chain counterparts in this, our current Fifth Rootrace, the race where the mental principle has reached its apotheosis. It is said that the difference between capital and labour on our planet is one expression of the difference between Moon chain (capital) and Earth chain (labour) souls.
Another important crisis that occurred in Lemuria was that some groups of humans procreated with animals, creating all kinds of hybrids and monsters. This went against the ‘evolutionary plan’ and occurred partly because Humanity had just emerged from the animal kingdom with the primeval ‘urge to merge’ still very strong, and an undeveloped mentality that lacked discrimination. Yet it was primarily related to the fact that there was a refusal of certain groups of souls to incarnate because the future forms that they were to inhabit were too ‘coarse’; this incurred a particular type of karma for this group of souls, not the ‘mindless’ perpetrators.
The major outcome of this event is that the modern apes descend from those hybrid creatures and proof of this esoteric fact will eventually cause a revolution in scientific thinking. Can we imagine how different the world will be when the current teaching on human evolution in all educational institutions may shift to the esoteric view?; a whole slew of other facts will emerge once this impasse has been breached, primarily the knowledge of the existence and purpose of the human soul, a far more noble origin for Humanity than the one currently held.
Madagascar was once part of the Lemurian continent and boasts dozens of species of ‘Lemur’ monkeys. Likewise in some ancient parts of Lemuria in Indonesia, the highly intelligent Orangutang ape (‘forest person’), is the most poignantly human reminder of this ancient transgression; it is notable how prominent they have been of late with regard to conservation.
In the mythology of the ancient Cyclopes, the three giants with one eye are said to represent the last three subraces of that newly ‘conscious’ Lemurian race. At the peak of their development this race has been described as, ‘towering giants of godly strength and beauty, and the depositaries of all the mysteries of Heaven and Earth.’
Of course the giants of both Lemuria and Atlantis would have been able to build large structures and lift enormously heavy stones, but later in Atlantis they also had at their disposal a technology based on sound, creating a vacuum and allowing stones weighing many tons to be lifted effortlessly.
The Atlantean Rootrace
Gradually over the next few million years, as the Atlantean or Fourth Rootrace came into fuller expression, this ‘all-seeing eye’ at the top of the head receded into the brain where its remnant, the pineal gland, sits today. At the same time, two eyed sight started to evolve in Atlantis, representing the development of mind. From one point of view, the Lemurian’s were far more spiritual, whilst the Atlanteans were deeply immersed in matter. The ancient story of ‘the fall’ is simply the ‘fall into matter’ by human souls and not necessarily a ‘fall’ from spiritual grace.
““There were four-armed human creatures in those early days of the male-females (hermaphrodites); with one head yet three eyes. They could see before them and behind them. A KALPA long cycle] later (after the separation of the sexes) men having fallen into matter, their spiritual vision became dim; and co-ordinately the third eye commenced to lose its power … When the Fourth (Race) arrived at its middle age the inner vision had to be awakened, and acquired by artificial stimuli, the process of which was known to the old sages … The third eye likewise, getting gradually PETRIFIED, soon disappeared.”[3]
The time of Individualisation in Lemuria (3.5) witnessed the virtually simultaneous appearance of the Fourth Atlantean Rootrace, its existence seeded and developed from within the previous fourth subrace of the Third Rootrace (3.4). As outlined in HHH, the numerical connections and resonances within the universal septenary system are most important to bear in mind and correspond to the various conditionings of the seven rays. (Esoteric Astrology is the astrology of the seven rays.)
These two races co-existed and warred with one another for many millions of years, the last of the Lemurian’s disappearing around four million years ago with the sinking of their last abode through volcanic activity.
The reader may consider reflecting for a moment on these enormous time cycles that would be branded ludicrous or completely fanciful by most people. But how do they know and upon what do they base their derision of these time scales? Paradoxically, scientists who scoff at these cycles, do so very unscientifically, with no investigation and an unquestioning acceptance of status quo thinking. Little does Humanity realise its ancient origins and the many civilisations that have come and gone, achieved great heights and fallen to equally great depths.
The Fourth Rootrace (the Atlanteans) saw a huge acceleration of consciousness take place, caused mainly by a large influx of souls from the Moon chain; they had been held over in a state of ‘pralaya’ (interlude), awaiting Earth-Chain humanity to catch up in their mental development, relatively speaking; the Moon chain souls are in general far more advanced and brought the karma of that particular evolution with them; this planet is unusual in this respect.
In Atlantis many scientific technologies were developed or even ‘gifted’ by the guides of the race; astronomy and astrology were evolved, the arts were developed and so forth. In HHH, it is estimated that this period was around 10 million years ago. Other ‘gifts’ were the artificial awakening of psychic perception within the race, yet this was ultimately misused and abused.
Parallel with these developments, a greater sophistication of the mental principle resulted in physical bodies becoming more refined and smaller, yet still gigantic, ten metres or about thirty feet in height! According to HPB, the statues on Easter Island were constructed by Atlantean giants in the image of themselves and measured almost twenty-seven feet in height and eight feet across the shoulders!
(Let us also reflect that the size of the members of the reptile and human kingdoms have decreased in steady proportion to each other from ancient times until now.)
Toward the middle period of the Atlantean civilisation, in the fourth branchrace, fourth subrace of this Fourth Rootrace (4.4.4) emerged a great crisis caused by the abuses of magic, selfishness and materialism. The watching guides of the race who ‘walked amongst humanity’ and who were leaders and kings of nations had to draw a line in the sand, saying: “This is the way of light, there is the way of darkness – Humanity, make your choice.” The reader must bear in mind two facts here:
First, that this period not only represented the middle point of the seven rootraces but also the middle point of the entire globe, chain and scheme periods; in other words, it represented the deepest point of incarnation into matter for the Planetary Logos of Earth over an extraordinarily vast period.
Second, 4.4.4 was rapidly approaching 4.5 – the fifth subrace of the Fourth Rootrace, the seed for the Fifth Rootrace, also known from the Hindu philosophy as the Aryan race.
The Fifth Rootrace and Beyond
At this critical juncture in history, the cream of the Fourth Rootrace were emerging as candidates for the golden age (or Satya Yuga) of the Fifth Rootrace; they were in direct conflict with those who wanted to maintain their old ways of black magic, materialism and the acquisition of luxury and anything they desired (sound familiar?); they were completely immersed in the Kali Yuga period of the Atlantean rootrace – the age of death and destruction. This conflict finally came to a head and a mighty war was fought, epitomised in the spiritual classic, The Mahabharata, of which the Bhagavad Gita is the golden kernel.
According to the ancient scriptures, the war was partially fought with flying craft known as ‘Vimana’, today known as UFO’s. That technology, along with knowledge of pyramid building, has been around for a very long time. After the war was fought, the first Atlantean flood engulfed the Earth, resulting in a large portion of Atlantis sinking entirely beneath the sea; both the war and the flood occurred about four million years ago. There were three more Atlantean floods up until relatively recently; this has been a source of confusion for scholars chronologically, mistaking Plato’s Atlantis as the only Atlantis and the only sinking – when in fact it was spread over several sinkings of many islands and continents around the globe.
This period has also generated confusion for Western and Hindu pundits regarding the history of India. The Kali Yuga period that started in 3102 BC, is for our current Fifth Rootrace, yet all the events of the Kali Yuga for the (Fourth) Atlantean rootrace four million years ago have been wrongly ascribed to 3102 BC!
Presiding over world affairs back then was Vaivasvata Manu, responsible for the incoming Fifth Rootrace and epitomised in the Old Testament as Noah. (A Manu is a highly evolved spiritual being who sets the archetype and destiny for a race.) The symbolism of animals boarding the ark two by two, relates to Manu sailing the Earth rescuing the remnants of Humanity who escaped the floods by reaching the highest land; it is said by one of the Masters that ‘humanity was salvaged in spite of themself’. (!)
In the intervening few million years the Manu created a new race from those survivors that was finally released from the heights of the Himalayas into India about one million years ago. India is the first subrace of the Fifth Rootrace (5.1) and is the cradle of all the western subraces that have followed after: The Ancient Egyptians (5.2), the Arab-Semitic (5.3), the Latin-Celtic (5.4) and the Teutonic-Nordic (5.5). Currently the Anglo-Saxons (German/British) are the fifth branchrace of the fifth subrace (5.5) of the Fifth Rootrace and this can be expressed as 5.5.5.[4]
This Fifth Rootrace is actually the third rootrace when we count Lemuria as the first truly human rootrace. Note that the three major rootraces elapsed thus far – and crises of Humanity – are reflected in 333, 444 and 555. These are not just fanciful or clever figures but numbers of deep philosophical import. The three periods also represent the three initiations or expansions of consciousness – representing control over the physical, emotional and mental bodies respectively; they also represent three releases of intense spiritual power from the ‘crown chakra’ of the world – Shamballa.
Today in Earth’s 5.5.5 ‘crisis’, it is entering 5.5.6 – the sixth branchrace of the fifth subrace of the Fifth Rootrace; it is the seed for the coming rootrace, that will eventually be based in South America over the next 25,000 years.[5] The United States is playing a critical role as a bridge between the old race (Britain 5.5.5 etc) and the Sixth Rootrace, said to be initially based in Brazil, returning to the ‘middle of South America’ where the old power spots are gradually reawakening.[6] Humanity is in a period not dissimilar from the end of the Atlantean period hence the confusion of the Kali Yuga cycles for different rootraces alluded to earlier.
World Wars I & II are occultly regarded as one war, a recapitulation of the ancient Mahabharata conflict, with the same forces ranged against each other: “The Lords of the Dark Face versus the Lords of Shining Countenance” as the Old Commentary has it. (Interesting to note how prominent UFO’s have been in human consciousness since the close of WWII.)
Hence the world is only just emerging from this period, upon the upward swing of the pendulum – from the middle period of development for the entire scheme, chains, globe periods and rounds. The war between these opposing forces still rages upon the mental plane – as Humanity find their way through the ‘darkness before the dawn’, toward the approaching Aquarian cycle, reminding us of Blake’s immortal words, “I will not cease from mental fight, nor shall my sword sleep in my hand …”
This 2160 year Aquarian cycle will be coinciding with a 25,000 year Aquarian cycle on a greater zodiacal wheel, said to be a very rare occurrence and the source of much spiritual opportunity, ushering Humanity to the beginning of the Sixth Rootrace. The Sixth Rootrace is where the intuition or that sixth sense will be developed and will express itself through the qualities of the heart and right human relationships. Humanity during the shorter cycle will reclaim knowledge of some of the lost Atlantean technologies, create new forms of music and art, as well as gain an understanding of the nature of the soul, reincarnation and its true place in history.
The Aquarian cycle will be an age of Science, exoteric and esoteric, where the universal spiritual laws will come into a much closer alignment with our earthly laws and a period of peace could well reign in a new Satya Yuga or ‘golden age’.
Phillip Lindsay © 2004.
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AUTHOR’S NOTE: In the interests of simplicity, I have elected to keep this article relatively footnote-free; most references are from HPB and can be found in my writings where they are fully referenced and footnoted.[1]
[1] See The Hidden History of Humanity Vol I, by Phillip Lindsay, at www.esotericastrologer.org
[2] A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, Alice A. Bailey. p.425.
[3] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. P.294.
[4] The timescales for all these races are in numerous tables in The Hidden History of Humanity, by Phillip Lindsay.
[5] See the revised and updated 2009 version of The Shamballa Impacts, by Phillip Lindsay.
[6] Ibid.
