...In the Beginning Chakraburtty “ ... in The Beginning” is a historical ‘story’ spanning a historical ‘story’ “ ... in The Beginning” is the birth of and after and Space before through Time Age of Kaliyuga It is History of the Piscean Jesus. of Humanity of planet when the Common Mind from the Light of the . It was far away Earth was tell of Moral Blindness when nobody could a Time refused to be a Space that right from wrong. It was filled with “the right thing to do”. In the Beginning

In the Beginning

Sneh Chakraburtty

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Dedicated to Mindful Harmlessness vi In the Beginning

Preface

This essay is based on historical writing by many authors. Each could not be acknowledged personally. Sources were named throughout the book. To each we offer our deepest gratitude. Tides of History and Civilizations rose and faded through a succession of Light and Darkness. The last 2400 years was about blindness and cosmic delusion in humankind distanced from the Light of Universal Intelligence.

The period needed a review, even if some opinions cited seemed wild and unfeasible. The story is not an indictment against humanity. Enduring of many centuries has now triggered a Youth Uprising in almost all continents of the planet with a Universal Cry: “Enough is Enough”!

Sneh Chakraburtty 2012 In the Beginning vii

Contents

Introducing Time Cycles 1

Part I Truth and Theories 7 1. Ancient Civilizations 9 2. Past and Present Create Future 39 3. Shielding Humanity 71 4. Prophesies 99

Part II Humanity Through Periods of Time 123 5. Ancient Religions of the Far East 125 6. Epochal Decline of Cultures 168 7. Knowledge about ’s Power and ’s Force 185 8. Movement & Knowledge 203

Part III Alchemy of Oneness 225 9. Universal Sun Worship 227 10. Godly Legends 252 11. Shepherds of Humanity 278 12. Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 319 13. Spirituality and Science Meet 370 14. Manipulation of Political and Religious History 389 15. Defining Essentials of Time Cycles 429

Introducing Time Cycles

Knowledge is a tree that goes and comes through Time Cycles. A tree took birth from a male and female seed to become one, only to divide into two (science and spirituality) and cause a whole . The Cycle of Creation goes through four cycles or ages or yugas every 24,000 years. The Age of Gemini (6000–4000 BC) or Dwapara Yuga corresponded to the flourishing period of early . It was under this sign that Rama, the seventh incarnation of Vishnu manifested with the birth of two pairs of : Rama and Lakshmana on the one hand, and Satrughna and Bharata on the other. Rama had twin : Lav and Kush (in harmony with the name of the constellation where the Sun was then.) Lav went to Russia and from him came the name Slav. The other , Kush went to and from him comes the name Kushan. These two divine principles reincarnated as Buddha and Mahavira, and again as Adi Shankaracharya and Gnyaneshwara. In other avatars, they were Hassan and Hussein, the sons of Fatima and Hazrat Ali. Rama incarnated during the Dwapara Yuga when the fourth chakra (Adi Anahata) was open in Virata. Anahata was always an important centre of the human being since it was here (on the left side, at the heart level) where the individual Spirit or the Self stays. “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” Jesus said (Luke 12:34). The Age of Taurus (4000–2000 BC) corresponded to the age of Krishna, the eighth avatar, and the of the cows (Govinda). The age stayed under the sign of the bull (Apis or sacred bull Mnevis of Heliopolis, identified to Ra), of the holy cow (Hathor in Egypt, surahbhi or Kamadhenu in India and perhaps worshipped in many spiritual cultures); or the golden calf in the polytheistic beliefs (Exodus 32:4), preceding the Judaic monotheism. Krishna was said to have lived at the end of Dwapara Yuga considered by some to have ended in the year 3102 BC (Zimmer). According to ‘La Grande Encyclopaedia’, H Lamirault et Co., Paris, vol. 21, p. 647, Krishna lived in the fourth millennium BC. During his time, the fifth chakra (Vishuddha) of the Cosmic Being gave humanity spiritual and intellectual insight. The Age of Aries (2000–1 BC) was characterized by establishing monotheistic Judaism through great spiritual personalities like the biblical Abraham of the 19th century BC and known as the Egyptian Djehuty and Moses of the 13th century BC. This period was dominated by manifestations of a spiritual master with universal belief (Adi Guru Dattatreya). Even before the Christian era, Zarathustra incarnated in the 6th or 7th or even 10th century BC. According to some opinions Confucius and Lao-Tse (6th century BC), Socrates (5th century

1 2 In the Beginning

BC), and the great Jewish prophets Moses and Isaiah, Ezekiel and Elijah were also Masters to guide these eras. The symbol of ram (Passover lamb) appeared as an object of sacrifice instead of worship. This was a reaction against the belief of the previous age. That was again illustrated by the cult of Mithra (Sun) who stabbed the mythological bull. The Age of Aquarius translated as “the one about the time when Jupiter aligns with Mars. There was more to it than that, as Jupiter and Mars aligned fairly often. What was found remarkable about this present epoch was the powerful change that would sweep through our world. This shift in mood, action and purpose was already obvious. The estimated start date was thought to be sometime around the start of this millennium, but, though its exact start date was contested even among astrologers, astronomers, theologians and others. The effects of the Age of Aquarius have already been felt. The next 300 years should bring a progressive metamorphosis towards a long awaited Golden Age that blossoms and flourishes. History of Humanity and the Planet in Secret Doctrine The history of humanity, from earliest times to the present, excluded known human and nonhuman actors. Vague historical accounts and geological records of the natural world were assumed to have affected human lives. Written records from ancient times and archaeology from several sites on Earth created an unfinished imagined communication about an envisaged Non-knowledge, of thoughts detached from proven facts. It was assumed the roots of civilization reached to periods before symbols of writing took form in humanity’s prehistory. Could there be any veracity in these assumptions? Human prehistory began in the Palaeolithic Early Stone Age. During the Neolithic New Stone Age, between 8000 and 5000 BC, the Agricultural Revolution in the Fertile Crescent (Mesopotamia) was the period in which history states that humans began farming plants and raising animals. Agriculture then spread to neighbouring regions but eventually developed independently elsewhere, until humanity lived as farmers in permanent settlements of communal living all over the planet. However, was it true that this all began in Mesopotamia? The ‘Secret Doctrine’, by Blavatsky, reviewed old knowledge and her findings were currently supported by many scientific findings. Facts that she channelled into the book predated the Mayan Calendar dating back to at least the 5th century BC. These stated that it took hundreds of thousands of years for Lemurian-Atlanteans (3rd sub race) to be outmoded by the Atlanteans (4th Root Race). Tens of thousands of years were needed to change humanity into Aryans (5th Root Race) from the pure Atlantean physical stock. This 5th Root Race included the ancient Indo-Aryans, old North Africans, ancient Persians, the northern and southern Celts (including the ancient Greeks and later Romans) and included the Euro-Americans. It had been told that present-day humanity Introducing Time Cycles 3 was the final sub race of this 5th Race, but peoples of the Earth, were changing with qualities of a typical 6th Root Race. Blavatsky asserted the physical incarnation of the world as Gaia took place long ago. She promoted an idea of the Earth as an integrated whole, a living being. The mythical Gaia was the primal Greek goddess personifying Earth, the Greek version of “Nature,” or “Earth Mother”. Gaia, the primitive Earth-goddess, claimed all organisms and their inorganic surroundings on Earth were closely integrated to form a single and self-regulating complex, upholding the conditions for life on the planet. She, through a Cosmic Connection, had linked herself with every one of the four stages in each cycle of history or Yuga. Mahayugas, earth and humanity displayed repeatedly after every Mahapralaya. According to the Hindu units of measurement, the cycle of creation- dissolution repeated itself for 1000 cycles of yugas in one day of the Creator. Each cycle was of four yugas and one Mahayuga is 4.32 billion solar years. The first appearance of Lemuria was perhaps about 3 million years ago. That made the notion of Ages insignificant given there had been about 115 circumpolar 26,000-year Ages since then. The origin and development of the cosmos (Cosmogenesis) and the scientific study of the origin and development of humans (Anthropogenesis) were the specific subjects of the Secret Doctrine. It outlined how the Earth and its life forms, as well as human evolution, came into existence. It had been translated from old Journals originating beyond time. They still exist in certain Tibetan lamaseries. The Secret Doctrine was the gold standard pre-dating any of 20th or 21st century speculations around global and human evolution. It reiterated, as was repeatedly stated in all ancient religions, that Humanity must discover why it had been made a soul-creature (Christ). There was not one Christ for the whole world, but a potential Christ in each man, said the Secret Doctrine. Through all of history and the tides of beliefs and superstitions, the substratum of all esoteric religions was that humanity must untangle the purpose of human existence. Disentangle why humankind was mired in cycles of birth and death through Time, Space and Civilizations. After 2000 years of institutionalized churchianity, it was still far more important to become a Christ than it was to believe that Jesus was Christ. There was not a ceremony, but an internal process which occurred while the individual was in meditation. When conscious union with the inner God was reached, the Lost Word was found. The seeker had worked out his or her salvation. He and she had become a Christ and thus a God. For the last 2000 years, humanity had churned the name of a messiah not only to manipulate history but also to rob humanity of facts about human existence. Therefore, “…in the Beginning” when a civilization from Rama and Krishna’s Yuga trailed downhill into Kali’s Yuga, humanity suffered years of bondage from the effects of darkness. Today, Time has entered the Space of Satya Yuga or the Age of Aquarius. After 200 years 4 In the Beginning into the Golden Age, it was possible to tell this anecdotal tale about the transgressions of or Piscean Age by a humanity that for 2 millennia was BLIND. It was so because it remained disconnected while being distanced from the Light of the Sun. The Intellect of Humanity could not receive the Sun’s Intelligence. Harmlessness The Law of Karma is unstoppable. This law was always established in all traditions, including Hinduism and Buddhism. The saying, “As you sow, so shall you reap” (Galatians 6:7), was clearly an expression of the Universal Law. The effect of flawed action on an individual as well as on humanity was commented on by sage Patanjali the author of the Yoga Sutras “They (harmfulness) are obstacles to yoga - such as acts of violence and untruth - may be created or indirectly caused or may be motivated by greed, anger or self-interest, they may be small, moderate or great, but they never cease to result in pain and ignorance. One should overcome disturbing thoughts by remembering this” (Yoga Sutra II: 34). Everything said, thought, or even indirectly caused or passively sanctioned invariably have produced effects – good, bad, or middling. These results have also reacted in some measure on the doer.” Secret ill-wishes towards others, the remotest authorization of evil to others, ended in hurting oneself. It ended becoming self-induced pain through ignorance about harmlessness. This Law of Nature, if remembered would force each to learn to control both tongue and thought. Steadfastness in abstention from harming others and vibrations emitted allowed all creatures to stop feeling ill will in another’s presence. The model of ahimsa (harmlessness) was always a corollary to karma. Ahimsa brought to the forefront by Gandhi defined “perfected harmlessness” as a positive psychological Force of the Creator. Combined with the incredible Power of Nature his thoughts created a Mind Awareness with a potential for good emanating from Gandhi’s inner being. How was that possible? Even though the colonialists left India begrudgingly, the ‘Crown Jewel’ was returned to the people of Bharat. How and why? Through the Light of the Cosmic Breath - It breathed Light and Love within, around and beyond the body of the Nation: receiving and giving Harmlessness from the Source of All to the colonizing powers. Once stabilized in harmlessness, all units of the humanity of India could align and resonate with the Infinite Being. Harmfulness had however divided a Nation for nearly 200 years, but for how long? For the last 2400 years the planet suffered collisions and revolutions through the history of Time during the Piscean Age of Kaliyuga. Many suffered outcomes of harmfulness but many also grew and self-transformed through harmlessness. There was an increasing minority who had awareness that Gaia the Earth goddess, the Mother of all understood why humanity remained blind for such a Introducing Time Cycles 5 long-time. Distanced away from the Light of the Sun the Total Intellect and Mind of Humanity preferred lust, anger, greed, possessiveness, pride, jealousy, and ego instead of following the Ten Laws of Yoga or the Laws of Moses. Those who chose harmlessness accepted Mother Earth’s transformation which She impelled consciously and intentionally. The Age of Aquarius or Satya Yuga has for the last 200 years wanted at least 51% of humanity to practice harmlessness to reactivate the transformation of this planet. Such conditions would resonate as blessings to rebuild the strong principled foundation typified by the seventh avatar of Vishnu as Rama during the last Golden Age. To sustain a nontoxic life Rama’s life and journey were one of perfect adherence to dharma despite the harsh tests of life and time. He was defined as the ideal man and a perfect human who for his father’s honour, abandoned a life of kingship and remained in exile for fourteen years in the forest. He endured a long and exhaustive search for personal strength and virtue, fought against Ravana’s armies, destructive weaponry and freed his (Gaia) from the clutches of Ravana’s harmfulness. Having completed his exile, Rama returned to become an Emperor who ruled for his subjects’ happiness, peace, prosperity and justice. His was a life of honour, devotion and ’s love for a wife, who practiced perfect chastity despite Ravana’s advances while held captive. Rama’s piety, courage and virtue attracted powerful allies. To this day the legendry life of Rama remains an influential and popular yardstick of dharma in many societies of the Indian subcontinent and across South-East Asia. Rama has continued to be revered for his unending compassion, courage and devotion to religious values and duty. Harmfulness was always known to trigger magnetic conditions resulting in humanity’s immoral and wrong handling of the Creator’s Force and Will. Mother Earth’s Power was used to cause evil in the world around. That was precisely what happened during the Piscean Age. This story: in the Beginning, characterizes how Harmfulness caused by selfishness, ego-centric attitudes, self- enforcement, self-aggrandizement, and self-gratification had the power to cause destruction of Civilizations for over 2000 years. A timed epoch veiled and hid the Light. This story typifies that understanding a ’s need, divorced from opinions and pragmatism would and still can lead to the silence of the tongue. Harmlessness produces that instantaneous response to the true needs and conditions of all outer life. Wisdom about helping others through inner guidance of harmlessness has always transported humankind towards the inner Light, despite compelling effects of eras. Humankind would have learnt caution in judging another, practicing reticence in speech, and stopping impulsive reaction. Such characteristics were and still are easily identified as changed beings that are transformed into non-critical spirits. Harmlessness triggered for such a person, of an individualized cocoon filled with the Forces and Power 6 In the Beginning of Love. Such Spiritual Energies vitalizing both the personality and humanity had the power to act upon right actions and avoid harmfulness in thought, word, and deed. Harmlessness is the defining will in all spiritual and secular disciplines to eliminate erroneous circumstances of awareness. Part I

Truth and Theories

7

1. Ancient Civilizations

Civilizations Western, or European, civilization refers to the cultures of European origin. Its roots are traced back to 9000 BC, when vast cultures grew out of their agricultural cores in south-west Asia, China, India, Mexico, and Peru. The old World agricultural areas around the headwaters of the Euphrates, Tigris and Jordan rivers in south-west Asia spread towards Europe. Western culture came into being strictly with the Greeks, was enlarged and strengthened by the Romans, and reformed in the fifteenth century during the and Reformation. It was globalized by successive European empires and inculcated as a European way of life, between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries, through education. European culture developed through a complex mix of philosophy, medieval scholasticism and mysticism, including institutionalised Churchianism and secular humanism. Rational thinking in the West was a product of change and experimentation through enlightenment and naturalism. In time, through global connection, romanticism, science, democracy and socialism, the European culture grew under the pressure of an all-inclusive urge to adopt, adapt and adjust. The Eastern world broadly refers to diverse cultures, social structures and philosophical systems of ‘the East’, geographically called the Eastern Culture of Asia. They are the Indian subcontinent, the Far East, the Middle East/Near East, and Central Asia, including many of the orthodox Christian regions of Russia and the east-European countries. Two major of world religion grew with these divisions: the Dharmic religion and the Abrahamic religion, which highlight the cultural differences between the East and the rest of the world. Anthropologists find Parallel but Diverse Civilizations on Planet Earth Civilization, as defined by anthropologists, claims that it first emerged in the late Ubaid or during the Uruk period in Mesopotamia. However, there were other suggestions such as those found in the histories of Africa, India, China, Egypt and the countries around Mesopotamia. The Ubaid period was a prehistoric (6500–3800 BC) period of Mesopotamia around Ur. The Uruk proto-historic period (4000–3100 BC) stretched from the Chalolithic to the early Bronze period following the Ubaid. Towards the end of the Uruk period its influence had already extended to their external colonies of Sumer and Syria. However, civilizations thrived in other areas of the world as well. According to records, the cultural 9 10 In the Beginning achievements of pre-colonial Philippines, (Filipinos) were said to be quite advanced considering the timeline in the history of science. Waves of migrants contributed to the development of old Philippine civilization. Prehistoric aborigines, now called Negritos, reached the islands by land bridges around 30,000 to 15,000 BC. Negritos (Spanish for Negroes) included the five tribes of Philippines, the Semang, of the Malay Peninsula, and the twelve Andamanese tribes. All were excellent hunters and food gatherers. In their midst, other old civilizations were also thriving and changing. The Malays, a Mongol- Asiatic race, arrived around 2500 BC using oceanic vessels called balangays, bringing with them knowledge in seafaring, farming, building of houses from trees and making fire for cooking. The arrival of the India-Asiatic race (Indian, Chinese, Siamese, Arabian), brought a more advanced culture to the Philippines. They had their own systems of writing, knowledge, skills in agriculture, metallurgy, as well as boat-building. When the Spaniards came to the islands in the 15th century AD, industries in mining, agriculture, fishing and pottery were already in place and contacts with other Asian nations had long been established. They became part of the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras. They were developed more than 2000 years ago along the entire chains of mountain ranges. These old, sprawling, man-made structures, 2000 to 6000 years old, are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Early Filipinos were excellent agriculturists noted for their abundance of rice and animal husbandry, such as fowl curacaos, deer, wild boar and goats. Great quantities of cotton and coloured clothing, wax, honey and date palms, were enough to feed and clothe the people. Their method of duck culture resembled that of Chinese artificial incubation of eggs which continues to the modern times. They built dams and hydraulic works to irrigate their crops around 1000 BC in the mountainous regions of the Cordilleras and the famous Banaue Rice Terraces. High quality metal casting, artillery, and other metal works have always been a tradition throughout the ancient Philippines. Skilled at making weapons, the Viray and Piray, were said to be the descendants of people who were once members of the guild of smiths who followed the tradition of the panday pira. Early Filipinos made small portable cannons from bronze. Large cannons, about seventeen feet long, were made from clay and wax moulds. Guns were also made locally. The most fearsome among these native guns was the lantaka, or swivel gun, which allowed the gunner to track a moving target easily. One weapon was the prototype of the modern-day yo-yo or boom-a-rang because it returned to its owner after being flung at an opponent. A Laguna Copperplate inscription circa 900 AD documented a Hindu-Malayan cultural influence in the Philippines during the 10th century. Laguna Copperplate was the earliest written document found in the Philippines. It was the story of ancients with a rich Ancient Civilizations 11 thriving culture lost in history. Even though the early Filipinos devised and used their own system of writings from 300 BC, it appeared it was gained from the Brahminic of scripts of old India. Baybayin therefore, became the most widespread of these stemmed from scripts by the 11th century AD. Therefore, when one asked questions like: What is the definition of civilizations? Where did the first American civilization form? Where and why did civilizations first appear? Where did the first civilization merge? What tools did the first civilizations use? Who were the first civilizations in Mesopotamia? Where did the earliest civilization emerge and develop? When did the Egyptian civilization emerge? Were they instrumental in developing the four cradles of civilizations? One may remember that apart from the big names, even nondescript countries, from Africa to the most remote islands all over the planet, when one speaks of his or her own civilization, stories are ready to be told. According to African history, humankind started with the emergence of Homo sapiens in eastern Africa dating around 160,000 years ago. Homo sapiens appeared first in East Africa. Fossils found in Qafzeh cave of Israel, and along the Nile from east Africa, as well as in Sumatra, show that they started there 200,000 years ago. African spiritual heritage and spiritual search are prehistoric and primitive. Although rudely called ‘voodoo’ it has produced Afra, the Master Sage of Africa and of the black race. Afra was the first member of the black race to make his mark on the hierarchy of self-realised masters to serve humanity. Self-Realised People are rare enlightened beings from all groups of religions who have realised their oneness with the highest transcendental Consciousness. Long ago, Afra sacrificed name and fame to sponsor a vast continent and a Mighty people of Old. When Afra, the patron saint of Africa and the black race, graduated from earth’s schoolroom, he asked to be called simply ‘a brother’, or a “frater,” in Latin. The term ‘a frater’ became the name Afra. He wished to show his people the one-way path pointing home to Light. His fiery heart aimed for brotherhood and freedom for his people and the continent of Africa. Souls such as Afra lived in a spiritually advanced civilization that also existed on the continent of Africa. Each nation embodied all souls and was called by God to display a specific virtue or fulfil a certain destiny. The members, of what is now known as the ‘black race’, were sent to the earth to master the qualities of God’s power, His will and faith, and the qualities of freedom, justice and mercy. History states that Afra lived many thousands of years ago when the people of this ancient civilization reached a crossroad. Aliens, who were non-citizen inhabitants, invaded the earth and divided his people. They set out to destroy the tribes of the black races and to distort their once-sacred rituals and art forms. They opened the door to spiteful powers, turning the people toward hatred, violence, superstition, and making them into power seeking tribes. Once the people’s attention was diverted from their God Presence, they became increasingly vulnerable. The divide-and-conquer strategy of the aliens led to 12 In the Beginning many fallen angels. Exiled and banished from Grace, the land became divided by warring tribes. People lost the inner spiritual battle between the forces of light and darkness. This pushed them towards slavery under the aliens. Seeing the plight of his people, Afra took embodiment among them. He identified the missing quality of the black race. The Achilles heel of his otherwise strong people was their lack of brotherhood. Allegorically speaking, they followed the example of rather than following the example of . When the Lord asked the people of Afra if they would be willing to lay down their lives for their kinsmen and friends, their answer was the same as Cain’s: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). Cain spoke with Abel, and it came to pass, that, when they were in the field, Cain rose against Abel, his brother, and slew him. The Lord heard Abel’s cries and He said unto Cain; “Where is Abel, thy brother?” Cain answered, “I know not. Am I my brother’s keeper? “One who answers in the negative to that question is dedicated to the ego and will never be his brother’s keeper. Eventually, the divine spark, the threefold flame of love, wisdom and power, dies. Afra knew that many of his people had lost their threefold flame of Knowledge, Wisdom and Love. By comparison, many present day blacks and whites, through anger, have also lost the divine spark. He also knew that a path of brotherhood and an active concern for “the other” would have to be followed. The only way that He could teach them to be brothers to all others was to be a brother to all others Himself. For this He was crucified by His own people. He was the Christ in their midst but they knew Him not as they were blinded by their greed for power. The Master Afra delivered three dictations through Elizabeth Clare Prophet. He delivered his first dictation in 1976 at a conference in Accra, Ghana. He spoke on “The Powers and Perils of Nationhood.” Afra stressed the theme of unity and of dissolving all differences in the fire of the Holy Spirit. He said: “We are brethren because we are of the same Mother. I am your brother, not your lord, not your master. I am your brother on the Path. I have shared your passion for freedom. I have shared with you the hours of crisis when you beheld injustice, when you prayed to the Lord for justice and the Lord gave to you the divine plan for this nation and for this continent.” He further stated, “I have lived in your hearts for hundreds of years as you have toiled under the load of oppression self- imposed from within and put on from without.” The people of Afra had the supreme opportunity to learn from every civilization and every history. He went on to say that “When materialization [reached] its peak, there [were] only two courses …..open to a civilization: material decline and decay, because of indulgence, or spiritual transcendence, through the alchemy of the Holy Spirit.” In his second dictation, given in 1980, Afra was asked by Saint Germain to convey the following message to the descendants of Afra in America: “In this moment, the blacks of America can rise to new dimensions of freedom and liberty. This can come to pass only through the threefold flame within one’s heart, Ancient Civilizations 13 through understanding the path of initiation under the Holy Spirit, through submitting one’s soul to the altar of God, and calling on the Lord for an acceleration of light, and a purging of inner darkness.” However, although “there [have been] successes through the civil rights movement, there have been setbacks. For, those successes, often, were outer ones. Having gained them, the people did not understand that to comfort them, the inner Light would have to be sought. Regardless of the outer colour, the equality of the soul would have to be the supreme goal. A spiritual advancement on the path of entry would be taught”. Afra believed that, “Though they know it not, the black people of America today are at the eternal ‘Y’. They must choose this day what they will serve: gains in the line of material comfort and increased well-being and higher-paying jobs, or the real gain of the everlasting light and the path of immortality with all of its challenges. In this land of plenty, it is natural for all people to expect and to live according to a higher standard of living. When this higher standard wipes out the inner longing for the higher light and the higher way, it becomes dangerous. Obviously God has chosen the people who have become rich in Spirit.” Afra made it clear that choosing and selecting a path wanted understanding of all the features of existence as a human being. Having Faith in a spiritual teacher and a selfless policy-maker, allowed humanity to make the right choices. Earliest Civilizations from Etheric Intelligence According to metaphysics, the first civilization developed out of etheric intelligence, with its potentiality of knowledge for innate growth. This was the Etheric Formative Force of the cosmos, earth and man, who controlled the workings of energy in matter and in nature. They were appointed Guardians of earth and blended with earth-centred spirituality and with the mysteries of the natural world. But this etheric intelligence also needed help from the physical guardians on earth. That help came from the dinoids who were the second humanoid civilization on the earth. Dinoids came from the Bellatrix system. Bellatrix was a blue-white giant star in the constellation of Orion. Allegedly, Reptoid colonies from the constellation of Sagittarius also arrived to occupy earth. Dinoids from Bellatrix, in the constellation of Orion, and reptoid colonies, from the constellation of Sagittarius, arrived later to colonize the earth. The reptoid and dinoids allowed a mammalian species to change to sentiency. These mammals were the precetaceans who provided food for all three colonies in exchange for technology which in turn improved production further. These three civilizations coexisted in harmony for over eight million years. All civilizations developed advanced forms of space/time travel. Meanwhile, the precetaceans developed their spiritual side, especially their psychic abilities. The Precetaceans emigrated to the planet Maldek. The precetaceans, through their high psychic abilities, sensed the aggression against 14 In the Beginning them and went to see the threat presented by the dinoids/reptoid civilizations. After having received permission from the Earth Spiritual Hierarchies, the precetaceans imploded their fusion reactors, found in the Ural mountain range, and then they divided into two groups. The Ural mountain range ran from North to South through western Russia. One group emigrated from the earth’s solar system to the constellations of Pegasus and Cetus. The second group altered themselves physically to enter the oceans for a haven. This group became the present-day cetaceans: the mammals of earth’s deep-sea existing as whales, dolphins and porpoises. The entire transformation occurred over four million years. When the transformation was complete and the later group was safe, the first subdivision imploded their fusion reactors and destroyed ninety-eight per cent of the dinoids/reptoid civilizations. Any survivors evacuated to the planet Maldek in the earth’s solar system. Now, with the dinoids/reptoid gone from the earth, the Earth Spiritual Hierarchies and the existing cetaceans were forced to find a suitable guardian for the land. They searched the galaxy for two to three million years before finding success. They found the Vega system which was the fifth brightest star in the night sky. On the fourth planet of the Vega, a primitive aquatic species was starting to emerge from the oceans. This species had creation myths, a language, and a hunting and gathering culture. The Spiritual Hierarchies of the Vega were asked to allow this species to be altered genetically to hasten its evolution so it could become a guardian species. The Vega Spiritual Hierarchies agreed. The first humans from the Vega Star System aided a quickened improvement in their technology. With their developed star travel technology they emigrated to nearby star systems for the next 2.5 million years. The Galactic Federation was formed, and Sirius A and B were colonized and the earth was chosen for seeding. The Galactic Federation of Light founded 4.5 million years ago was made to prevent interdimensional dark forces dominating the earth. Mali, West Africa, was occupied by the Dogon tribe of Egyptian descent. Their astronomical lore dated around 3200 BC. They described an invisible star, Sirius B, and a visible star, Sirius A. According to oral traditions, a race people from the Sirius, called the Nommos, visited the earth thousands of years ago. The Nommos were ugly, amphibious beings who resembled mermen and mermaids and who were described in Babylonian, Acadian, and Sumerian myths. Legend recalled the Nommos lived on a planet that orbited another star in the Sirius. They landed on the earth in an ‘ark’ which, while spinning a vertical decent, landed on the ground with great noise and wind. Nommos gave the Dogon knowledge about the existence of Sirius B, the four moons of Jupiter, the rings around Saturn, and the planets which orbited around the sun. Dogons believed that Sirius B orbited Sirius A, the brightest star in the sky seen in winter in the northern hemisphere. For this bright star to be seen, one had to focus on Ancient Civilizations 15 the constellation Orion with its belt of three bright stars. According to legend, the Nommos lived on the third star, Sirius C. Once Mars and Venus were colonized, the Hybornea colony was established on the earth. The Hybornea colonies were Earth colonies. Dinoids/Reptoid attacked it and destroyed the colonies of Earth, Mars, and Venus, and therefore regained control over the solar system. Meanwhile, dinoids/reptoid had developed their forces and had invaded many colonies throughout the solar system. Earth, Mars and Venus were the victims of these attacks. Dinoids and reptoid gained control over the solar system for 80,000 years. However, the Galactic Federation planned a counter-attack to reintroduce humans into this system. The battle destroyed the planet Maldek, which was the dinoids’/reptoids’ stronghold. The planet Maldek was reduced to an asteroid belt. After destroying Maldek and the defeat of the dinoids/reptoids, a human colony, known today as Lemuria, was again established on the earth. Over the next 850,000 years the Lemurians spread across the face of the planet. They established the colonies of Atlantis, Yu in today’s central China and Tibet and the Libyan/Egyptian colonies. The Atlantean colony slowly got a feeling of uniqueness about their culture and they wanted to remove Lemuria, to become the homeland. The Atlantean created alliances with renegade Pleidans and Alpha Centaurians who had a hierarchical system of government. They destroyed Lemuria by taking one of the two moons of the earth out of orbit. By using force fields they closed on the Lemurian Empire, destroyed the moon, resulting in a disastrous shower of meteors. This destroyed much of Lemuria. It further caused unnatural pressures on the tectonic plates which released gas chambers under Lemuria, causing it to implode and sink most of the Lemurian continent. However, the Yu Empire refused to bow to the hierarchical rule of Atlantis and Libyan/Egyptian empires. Yu, the Great, founded the Xia in 2205 BC. He was best remembered for his teaching techniques to tame rivers and lakes during an epic flood. They were forced to go underground to what is known as the Kingdom of Agartha or Shambala. Meanwhile, Atlantis created ten ruling districts, each with its own . These together formed the governing council of Atlantis. The Royal Governing Council of Atlantis wanted a new form of government in which a superior ruling class could be established to continue the pretence that they were empowered by a God-Force. Once was born,, its control enforced peace and stability. They started experimenting with DNA and genetics and as a result people’s consciousness began to shrink, life spans contracted and psychic/spiritual abilities suffered a dramatic setback. There were many wars among the various empires. Underground movements wanted the Lemurian philosophy back without a hierarchy. Wars led to immeasurable destruction. Finally, the warring empires attacked each other’s 16 In the Beginning crystal temples responsible for upholding two frozen layers of water about 15,000–30,000 feet above the ground. These had protected people on the earth from the harmful rays of the sun and they had ensured stable weather patterns always. Because of these simultaneous counter-attacks, the firmament of the water layers broke. Millions of gallons of water poured down to the earth’s surface causing “The Great Flood”. Deities were sent to destroy civilizations as an act of divine retribution. The polar ice caps froze and the earth was subjected to the many climatic variations present to this day. Roughly two million people of the sixty-five known millions survived the Flood. Many of the survivors were the mutant humans genetically altered by the Atlantean into beings of a much lower state of consciousness. Renegades from Pleiades, Alpha and Beta Centauri, went to different places on the earth after the Flood. Opportunistic desires to prove their ideologies, their ‘godlike’ appearances attracted the already genetically altered, surviving humans who were easily controlled by such renegades. Disobedience to these new ‘gods’ was not allowed. Ruling by ‘divine right’ was inculcated on the earth. Thus, worshipping the elite continues to the modern times. Culture rose against culture in endless wars. Finally, the present time is about to usher an end to around 12,000 years of ‘semi-consciousness’. Once full consciousness is regained by humanity on planet earth during the Age of Aquarius, it will be the result of the solar contact with the Light of the Sun. To tell the Lemurians a lengthy message was sent by the Atlanteans which stated: “You were mutated into the beings of limited consciousness and your cluster of realities was also affected.” A new pattern was adopted which favoured slackening, limitation, power and division. As a result all historical connections and sacred beliefs were replaced by the Anunnaki (Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian deities of Mesopotamia) and their carefully chosen minions. “They reigned over you as gods and goddesses. They brainwashed you to believe that they were your creators and the past wonders of Lemuria and Atlantis were myths. They ordered their minions to set up ‘writing’ as an agent of their own glorification. These acts were recorded in the old tablets of Sumer, in the steles of old India and in the carvings found throughout Europe, Australia, Oceania, Asia and the Americas. Now, as your consciousness expands more quickly, these tales will show as the elaborate fiction they are”. In addition, “Your origins are not of this world, but are extraterrestrial, and are to be found on a planet that circles the star Vega in the constellation Lyra seen as the second brightest star in the northern sky. Yet, you have achieved more than the mere travel of twenty-six light years to reach your present home. Many millions of years ago, you became part of a vast rebellion by the light against the dark in this galaxy. The uprising began in many lesser-known constellations. Eventually, this rebellion led to forming the Galactic Federation of Light over four million years ago. At the core of this battle Sirius was most Ancient Civilizations 17 sacred and was the place where the Great Blue Lodge of Creation chose to enter this galaxy. The Great Blue Lodge, a Council of Nine, was created to awaken and heal humanity”. The Atlanteans further stated that “The beauty of the world was sacred. Soon, the limitless glories of the world would be obvious once again. Despite all that had been done to her Mother Earth’s magnificence was still clearly visible from space. This water-world was exquisite. Soon, most of its deserts and the fierce heat that enveloped them will be transformed. Ice caps will vanish and the wonders of the most southern continent will be revealed.” They also explained that “Like the two water planets of Akonowai,” the solar system has embodied much that was sacred. They promised that “In a short time, Mars will bloom once more, and the desolation on Venus will metamorphose into a land of generous oceans that will teem with life”. For those unfamiliar with the prophesy, the Atlanteans explained, “Akonowai is the third planet of Sirius B of the Andromeda galaxy of extraterrestrial races. Of the six planets in our solar system, Akonowai is the blessed path. Two of the six - the third and the fourth 4th are occupied. Such is the destiny that awaits you and is not as distant as you may imagine... This realm is shifting under the sacred decrees of the divine plan which have set up a timetable for your transformation into fully conscious beings”. It has been reported that Venus cannot keep intelligent life forms because of its extreme heat, and its heavy gas laden atmosphere. Yet, life on earth has adapted to an environment hostile to human existence. Intelligent dolphins, with a brain capacity larger than that of most humans, thrive underwater in an environment that would kill human life quickly without a diving suit and oxygen supply. By extension, these dolphins would also die quickly in a human atmosphere deadly to them! Therefore, flesh-and--physical-intelligent beings can live in an environment which might or might not kill humans. In the early 1950s, the Canadian Government established a Project Magnet to research UFO’s. The director of the project, Wilbert B. Smith, publicly declared what a top US Pentagon official said: ‘UFOs was the biggest secret they had, which was even greater than the hydrogen bomb’. The Project Magnet has worked with Canadian scientists who continue to work on the inventions of Nikola Tesla, one of the most prominent scientists in history. Tesla, who invented the AC/DC electrical current, helped to invent radar and much of the military’s technological inventions. He told some of his associates and friends that he had invented an interplanetary communications with ideas given to him by . Arthur Matthews was the last person to have worked with Nikola Tesla. In the 1940s, Matthews and Tesla co-authored ‘The Wall of Light’. Matthews claimed that he had a with Venusians. They landed on his property in Canada and told him that Tesla was one of them. In Matthews’s own words: “Tesla had strange ideas. He always thought he 18 In the Beginning came from the planet Venus. He said the crew of a Venus spaceship claimed in one of their first messages that a male was ‘born’ on board their craft during its trip from Venus to Earth in July, 1856. The little was called Nikola, which was the reverse of his family town on Venus. That town was Alokin. Their ship had landed at midnight between July ninth and tenth in a remote mountain province in Yugoslavia. There, according to arrangements, the child was placed in the care of a good man and woman.” Although there were such negative reports about Venus, there might be more to the planet than meets the eye. While theorizing about the possibilities of life in the solar system, around the world there was evidence that life existed in the solar scheme. Also these life forms had come to earth and helped build our technology. Old writings in hieroglyphics found on the Temples of the Sun, in Tiahuanaco in the Andes, described how a golden spaceship from Venus landed there in the dawn of time. Similar Temples of the Sun were also found in Beijing; Pyramids of the Sun in Egypt and Aztec; Moche in Peru; Teotihuacan of Mexico; Machu Pichu and Inca Trail of Peru; Grail Temple built into the Canyon of the Crescent. Here earliest writings told how a beautiful Venusian woman, Orejona, emerged from the ship and taught the ancients the basics of farming, and the skills to begin civilization. Antiquated writings to confirm all this have been preserved by Babylonians, Sumerians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Chaldeans, Mayans, Aztecs, Aryans, Assyrians, and the inhabitants of ancient India and Tibet. For all these old civilizations to have invented the same lie would seem impossible. An intelligent mind would quickly ponder why such stories would be invented and equally important why organised religions and governments would hold back the truth? The answer was obvious. Scientists theorized that Venus could once have had an atmosphere like that of the planet earth before a huge greenhouse effect changed the atmosphere there and raised the temperatures. Most old civilizations left written records clearly stating that they were in contact with visitors from Venus. The Sumerians, Babylonians, Phoenicians, Chaldeans, Egyptians, Assyrians, Greeks, Aztecs, Mayans, Hopis, prehistoric Andeans, and peoples of ancient India and Tibet all claimed that they were taught civilization from sky people and gods in flying machines from Venus. In his six volumes of books, Robert Charroux (Robert Grugeau), a great French prehistory scholar, who spent decades studying ancient writings around the world, has detailed the ancient Venusian colonisations on the earth and their intervention with human evolution. These books are backed by carvings and drawings of advanced technology and space travel found in many countries. In large national libraries in Asia there are many old historical references that are over 4000 years old. They explain in great detail Venusian spacecraft, their pilots, their missions on the earth, intervention in earth affairs, and involvement in ancient interplanetary wars fought on the earth. Ancient Civilizations 19

Some of these writings explained the method of propulsion of these alien craft in great technological detail. They sounded like legend until recent scientific discoveries proved this science was accurate. Among these ancient writings were found are: the ‘Book of Dzyan’, an old text of Tibetan origin with stanzas that were are the basis of The Secret Doctrine. ‘Vaimanika Shastra’ discussed ideas of aircraft design in aeronautics and discussed principles of flight before detailing their design. Written in 4th century BC it was recounted by Bharadwaj while in a trance, using older texts as sources. ‘Vymanika Shastra’ was rediscovered by MP Rao of Aeronautical Society of India which claimed to building flying machines. Finally, ‘Maosola Purva’ studied by George Williamson described the existence of levels of beings on earth. The four main root races were divided by continent demographics. A famous anthropologist/archaeologist of 1950s, Dr , published research articles on ancient manuscripts found in a hidden temple high in the Andes of South America, which detailed Venusian landings, contacts, and mingling with Eartheans in old times. Charroux’s book, ‘One Hundred Thousand Years of Man’s Unknown History’, reported about the Andean evidence of Star Visitors. The book claimed that high in the Andes Mountains were the ruins of one of the oldest cities ever excavated, Tiahuanaco. Its monolithic ruins were so incredibly erected that archaeologists could not explain how they could have possibly been constructed by the ancients. Translations of the inscriptions found stated that in the dawn of civilization a golden spacecraft from Venus had landed there. It said that occupants had emerged from the craft, and a beautiful Venusian woman had taught the primitive Indians the basic skills of civilization! Some Venusians were left behind and they are still present today, humanoid in appearance, working and living among humans. Some of them have lived on earth permanently while others travel back and forth from their home planet. Some governments have known about such visits for some time. They have chosen not to tell the public, rationalizing that this information would cause world panic. However, if it did not cause the world to panic during the days of the ancients, why would modern society react differently? The Venusians have made many attempts to attract human attention. One such attempt was made during the American Independence Day, July 4th, in 1952. On this day, alien aircraft took part in the famous UFO air show over Washington DC flying in formation for Congress, the Pentagon, the President, and the national press over the White House! These sightings made international newspaper headlines and the six o’clock national television news in the USA. The incident was widely believed by the public until the government hired a prominent astronomer, Menzel, to claim that it had been a hoax and explained away the sighting despite the many witnesses. The misinformation about the truth of UFO’s flying in triangular formations was explained away as 20 In the Beginning temperature inversion: a weather atmospheric illusion of light reflections caused by air of different temperatures in layers with clouds. Mesopotamia The word ‘Mesopotamia’ in Greek means the land between the rivers (Meso=middle, and potamia=river). Translated from the Old Persian it meant ‘the fertile crescent’. Its Aramaic name was Beth-Nahrain meaning ‘House of two rivers’ and it was a region of south-west Asia. In the recent 24,000-year cycle of creation, civilization developed in Mesopotamia. Simultaneously with Egypt the two were called the ‘Fertile Crescent’, a rich food-growing area in a part of the world where most of the land was too dry for farming. The Fertile Crescent began on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and curved around like a quarter Moon to the Persian Gulf. Some of the best farmland of the Fertile Crescent is in a narrow strip of land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The Greeks later called this region ‘between the rivers’—Mesopotamia. Many different civilizations developed in this small region. First there came the Sumerians (3100 BC) around the time of the 1st pharaohs who had knowledge of the solar system. While they predated the Babylonians, they were, in turn, replaced by the Assyrians as well as the Babylonians. The Assyrians were known for having the most ruthless armies of the old Mesopotamian empires. Babylonians (7000–2500 BC) were great mathematicians and were able to predict eclipses and dangerous periods. Mesopotamia was the alluvial plain comprising parts of the present-day Iraq and Syria. The river plains, as well as the surrounding lowland territories, were bound by the Arabian Desert to the west and south, the Persian Gulf to the south- east, the Zagros Mountains to the east and the Caucasus Mountains to the north. Mesopotamia was famous because it was the site of some of the oldest civilizations in the world. Writings from Mesopotamia were among the earliest known in the world, giving Mesopotamia the reputation of being the cradle of civilization. Some regarded it as the oldest known civilization. It was said that Mesopotamia was the place of the famous . Where the Tigris meets the Euphrates River, the holy tree of emerged symbolizing the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden. Mesopotamia did not refer to any particular civilization. Over the course of several millennia, many civilizations developed, collapsed, and were replaced. The Sumerians were the earliest urban societies to emerge with links to Stonehenge 5000 years earlier. They developed a writing that was wedge-shaped. One civilization, the Akkadians, was a Semitic people who lived in Central Mesopotamia in the Arabian Peninsula. They lived and eventually blended with the Sumerians (modern-day Iraq). The Akkadian Civilization gave Sumerians its civilization, laws of kings, cities and its culture. However, they assimilated the Babylonians and the Assyrians (Syria). Since Mesopotamia did not have any Ancient Civilizations 21 natural boundaries, it was difficult to defend, and as a result the influence of the neighbouring countries was great. Throughout the history of Mesopotamia trade contacts, slow inflow of foreign tribes and military confrontations had a metamorphosing influence. Mesopotamia was settled and conquered by numerous ancient civilizations. In 5000 BC, the Sumerians arrived followed by the Semites in 2900 BC. Semites were a group closely related in language but were from Asia and Africa, and known for a deep understanding of religious subjects. By 2000 BC they had mixed peacefully and it was now the Sumerians assumed political dominance. Another civilization, the Mitanni were an eastern Indo-European people who had settled in northern Mesopotamia 1600 BC south-east of Turkey. Mitanni (Naharin) was an old Indo-Iranian kingdom (1500–1360 BC) in northern Iraq and Syria founded by Aryans. By the year 1450 BC the Mitanni had established a medium-sized empire towards the east, the north and the west. They also temporarily made tributary vassals out of kings in the west, as far as Crete. They were a major threat for the Egyptian pharaohs. By the year 1300 BC they were restricted to their homeland under the status of vassal of the Hittites. Hittites were a western Indo-European people who dominated most of Asia Minor from the capital of Hattutshash (modern Turkey) but they were an even greater threat to Egypt. Meanwhile, another civilization, under the Kassites (1531–1155 BC), who were the Elamite tribe of the Zagros Mountains east of , gained control of Babylonia. Their most famous king was Hammurabi who established the strong Sangar, a fortified position made of stones, in southern Mesopotamia, with Babel as its capital. They were not touched by the Mitanni (Kurdistan) or the Hittites (Turkey). But the Elamites (Persians) threatened or invaded them. By the year 600 BC the Chaldeans (Syrians) established a New Babylonia. Later, the region ceased to be a major powerhouse. It was absorbed into the Persian Empire (550– 380 BC) which was a result of Aryan migration from southern Russia to near- eastern Persia of the Achaemenids, with Babylonia in the south and Athura (from ) in the north. After the conquest of all Persia by the Hellenizing Macedonian king, Alexander the Great, the satrapies became part of the major Seleucid Empire until its elimination by Greater Armenia in 42 BC. Most of Mesopotamia then became part of the Parthians Empire (of nomads) of the Arsakides. However, a part in the north-west became Roman. Under the Tetrarchs who were four co-emperors of the Roman Empire, it was divided into two provinces. One was called, Osrhoene (around Edessa, the modern-day border between Turkey and Syria) and the other was called, Mesopotamia (in the north- east). Soon, the early caliphs annexed all of Persia and advanced even further. Mesopotamia was thus reunited but was governed as two provinces: northern Mesopotamia (with Mosul) and southern Iraq (with Baghdad, the caliph capital). 22 In the Beginning

Mesopotamians were at the mercy of their hostile environment,. They also believed themselves to be at the mercy of angry and irrational gods. The civilization which produced one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the hanging gardens of Babylon, also compiled the Epic of Gilgamesh, a pessimistic portrayal of the futile search for immortality and human meaning. City states rose and fell. Empires rose and fell; yet, the human spirit of the Mesopotamians endured. The wealth created from the area was invested in monumental temple buildings still found at Eridu (now called Tell Abu Shahrain in Iraq), Uruk and Ur (site of modern-day Tell el-Muqayyar). Temples and ordinary houses built using reeds and mud lined the river banks. Centuries of rebuilding using sun- dried mud bricks resulted in high mounds, or Tells, rising above the fields and canals. These now dominated the flat Mesopotamian plain and, when abandoned they were the sites chosen by archaeologists for excavation.. Uruk was the largest city in the world. It was centred on an important temple of Inanna (the great goddess of love and war). Around 2600 BC, Uruk was not the only large settlement in southern Mesopotamia. At other sites, burial grounds that held human bodies found in the surrounding pits. These were interpreted as sacrificial victims, accompanying their leader in death. These victims identified as soldiers, harpists and serving women, were obvious by their rich clothing and ornaments made from gold, lapis lazuli, carnelian and shell. Around 2350 BC the southern city states united into one empire by Sargon, king of the city of Akkad. The administration became centralized and a new Semitic language (Akkadian) introduced as the official language in preference to Sumerian. Sargon and his sons ruled Mesopotamia for 150 years. The last of the great Akkadian emperors was Niram-Sin. He angered the Air God Enlil by taking his army into the god Os’ temple. Enlil then sent against Niram-Sin a people from the mountains bordering Mesopotamia who destroyed the capital Akkad. Once the Akkadian Empire collapsed, Mesopotamia was in turmoil. The southern cities began to reassert their independence; chief among these was the city of Ur. King Ur-Nammu fixed his capital as the capital of an empire that rivalled that of the Akkadian rulers. Sumerian reintroduced the official written language of the dynasty known to historians as the Third Dynasty of Ur. He was a prodigious builder, as can be seen by the ziggurat at Ur. Although similar in shape to the pyramids of Egypt, ziggurats were not tombs. In each ziggurat, three staircases led up one side of the tower to the summit where a shrine to the god was dedicated. The most famous ziggurat was built in Babylon as the Tower of Babel. Like earlier kings of Akkad, the rulers of Ur had to fight with people moving into Mesopotamia from the surrounding mountains and deserts, who were attracted by the wealth of the country. Around 2028-2004 BC, the empire Ancient Civilizations 23 collapsed as Amorite (Semitics from modern-day Gaza, Israel and West Bank) and Hurrian tribes (who entered Mesopotamia from Egypt in 2300Bc but mostly vanished by 1000BC) settled themselves throughout Mesopotamia. The Akkadian language once replaced Sumerian which continued to be used by scribes only for monumental inscriptions and religious literature. For the next 300 years the cities of lower Mesopotamia competed for control of the entire region. The city of Ashur, the ancient religious capital of Assyria, was in the North on a rocky promontory overlooking an important crossing of the river Tigris. From here the city dominated the caravans of donkeys carrying metals and rare materials from the east and west and the boats moving to and from the cities of Sumer to the South. By 1900 BC Ashur had established commercial colonies in Anatolia (modern Turkey). Cloth and Iranian tin were exchanged for Anatolian silver. Letters were protected by an envelope of clay on which the recipient’s name was written and sealed with a cylinder seal. At the end of the 19th century BC an ambitious solder called Shamshi-Adad brought Ashur under his control. He established an empire across the North of Mesopotamia. Shamshi-Adad died around 1780 BC. His sons lacked their father’s abilities, so the empire collapsed and Ashur and the North were exposed to attack from the South. As king of the small town of Babylon, Hammurabi united southern Mesopotamia into a single empire. In the second half of his reign, he marched northward and received the submission of northern kingdoms, including the kingdom of Ashur. Hammurabi’s death caused his empire to fall apart, but Babylon remained the capital of a southern kingdom. In 1595 BC the dynasty of Hammurabi allowed the Hittites from Anatolia to sack Babylon to capture the statue of Marduk, the patron god of Babylon. For the next 150 years Mesopotamia was dominated by two major powers: the Kassites ruling Babylon and a Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni in the North. Whatever little was known of these two empires came from outside Mesopotamia, from places such as Egypt and Hittite Anatolia. Around 1350 BC the kingdom of Mitanni collapsed under increasing pressure from the Hittites to the West. With the fall of Mitanni, Assyria reasserted its independence. It began a consolidation that led the country to create a vast empire during the first millennium BC. Around 1250 BC the Near East faced general conflict and devastation. The Hittite Empire collapsed. Peoples of the Sea were dispossessed and moved around the Mediterranean coast. Unsuccessful raids were made against Egypt under the pharaohs Merneptah (1213–1203 BC) and Ramesses III (1279 BC), Egypt’s last pharaoh after 3000 years of pharaonic history. Tribes of Aram and Israel had a common ancestry of Aramaic origin. They were a people of a different language and culture. They were moving into Mesopotamia from the West, pushing the boundaries of Assyria back to the capital Ashur. 24 In the Beginning

The first millennium revealed a Near East that had markedly changed politically. The Mediterranean coast was now settled by Philistines. Further inland, Hebrew tribes settled in the hill country. In the North (modern Syria), traditions of the now vanished Hittite Empire were maintained. In Mesopotamia, various Aramean and Chaldean tribal groups competed for supremacy in Babylonia while the Assyrians still upheld a firm hold on their homeland. Although movement of the Assyrian armies towards the Mediterranean Sea continued, there was no real attempt to incorporate conquered territories into an empire. In 745 BC a new king, Sargon II came to the throne. He began changes in governing Assyria. Over the following one hundred years, Assyrian kings during 745–668 BC not only built new capitals but also expanded the empire until Assyrian control stretched from Iran to Egypt. On his death in 668 BC the son, boasted of a peaceful and prosperous reign. However, within twenty years of Ashurbanipal’s death, around 627 BC, Assyria was faced with internal strife and destruction. The Assyrian Empire passed into the hands of the kings of Babylon. Sixty years of Babylonian supremacy was threatened when Mesopotamia saw the expansion of yet another eastern power, the Persians. In 539 BC, armies of the Persian king Cyrus marched on Babylon and captured the city and the Babylonian Empire. This ended 3000 years of self-rule in Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia was now part of the much greater empire of the Persians which stretched from Egypt to India. Over the next 200 years the region would see the advance of Greek civilization and the eventual destruction of the Persian Empire at the hands of Alexander the Great. The Mesopotamian political and religious views were connected with existence outside the natural world. Now, their interest in the supernatural was an inextricable mixture of Sumerian and Akkadian origin, influenced by an unknown substrate population. Most Sumerian literature was written by Akkadian speakers after the Sumerian language became extinct. Mesopotamian diseases were often blamed on pre-existing spirits such as gods and ghosts. However, each spirit was responsible for only one disease in any one part of the body. Therapeutic plants used to treat the symptoms of a disease were associated with specific offerings to a particular god or ghost that was considered to be the cause. There were two distinct types of professional medical practitioners in ancient Mesopotamia. The first type was the ashipu, called ‘sorcerer’, who diagnosed the ailment. In case of internal diseases, the ashipu determined which god or demon or an error/sin was causing the illness. The ashipu could cure the patient with charms and spells designed to entice or drive out the spirit causing the disease. A different healer called ‘asu’ was a specialist in herbal cures. The medicine man was ‘physician’ because he dealt in classifiable empirical applications of medication which relied on three fundamental techniques: washing, bandaging, Ancient Civilizations 25 and making plasters. Many of the old plasters (mixtures of medicinal ingredients applied to the wound often held by bandages) had some helpful benefits. Most health care was provided at the patient’s own house, with the family acting as care givers in whatever capacity their lay knowledge allowed them. Outside the home, the rivers were believed to have the power to dispel evil substances and forces that were causing the illness. Sometimes a small hut was set up for the patient either near the home or the river to aid in the family’s centralization of home health care. The principal Mesopotamian gods were identified with the forces of nature, such as Anu (sky god), Sin (moon god), Enki (water god), and Enlil (wind god). Sumerian clay tablets and Sumerian cylinder seals have recorded all the rulers of the earth over 400,000 years of those who were gods, demigods, or immortals. These gods were called the Nephilim, Elohim, and the Anunnaki. In Sumerian mythology the Anunnaki were a pantheon of good and evil gods and goddesses who came to the earth to create the human race. The Assyrians and Babylonians called them ‘Marduk’, after their chief god. According to Sumerians one year on the planet Nibiru equal to 3600 earth years. The Anunnaki lifespan was 432,000 years (1 sar). According to the King List, 120 sars had passed between the times of Anunnakis arrival on the earth and the time of the Great Flood. Goddess Ishtar, the goddess of love and war, was portrayed as the lover of the shepherd Dumuzi. An interesting story talks about the time that Ishtar descended to the underworld to challenge her the queen of the underworld. While in the underworld, the world’s fertility was affected. Dumuzi was not found mourning and Ishtar sentenced him to the underworld. The story of Ishtar and Dumuzi was played by monarchs to ensure the fertility of the land. They saw the universe as a division of layers: ‘heaven’ (Sumerian) and ‘earth’ (Akkadian). In other traditions they were seen as: heaven, earth and the lower world. Ancients Create Divine Bloodlines According to an ancient astronaut (alien) theory (Genesis 6:1-4) which reads “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and were born unto them...”, The Anunnaki (group of Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian deities) came to the earth and seeded the human race. Evidence of visiting the planet led many to believe that different races visited earth at different points of time. These included the Egyptians, , and Chinese, Greeks, Atlantean, Lemurians and Mesoamerican cultures, among others. Enki, the old Sumerian deity of the Akkadian and Babylonian people, had an emblem that had two serpents [twin human DNA chains] entwined on a staff. This was the basis for the winged caduceus symbol used by modern western medicine and the rod of Hermes. Enki’s sacred number was forty. He was one of the first sons of Anu the sky-god, who came down to earth, and played a vital 26 In the Beginning role in saving humanity from the Deluge (Genesis 6:1-9 &19). He defied the Anunnaki ruling council of Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian deities and told the Sumerian Noah how to build a ship on which to save humanity. His activity with humanity continued to be actively reported for thousands of years after that. Enki’s youngest son, Ningizzida, was Lord of the Tree of Truth on morality and family values in Mesopotamia. He played the role of Thoth (god of Moon) in Egypt. The ancient Mystery School teachings of Thoth were passed down to his Initiates who became priests. The main temple of Enki was in the wetlands of the Euphrates valley in the Cradle of Civilization. Enki was a deity in Sumerian mythology also. He was later known as Ea in Babylonian mythology. Enki was the deity of water, intelligence and creation. He was the keeper of the holy powers called Me. His name was placed on him for creating the first man, Adamu or Adapa. Since he allowed humanity to survive the Deluge that was designed to kill them, he was considered a god of civilization, and looked on as the creator of man, and of the world in general The doctrine of a triad of gods symbolized the three divisions of the planet: the heavens, the earth and the water. To Enlil, the chief deity of Sumerian religion was assigned the province of earth. He made his sanctuary a place of pilgrimage to which Assyrian kings paid their homage as did the Babylonian rulers. In Sumerian and Akkadian (Babylonian and Assyrian) mythology, there was also a goddess of Irkalla, the land of the dead. She was called Ereshkigal and Inanna and Ishtar. As queen of heaven, she was associated with the evening star (the planet Venus), and sometimes with the moon. She descended from the ancient family of the creator goddess Nammu, who was her grandmother. Inanna held full power of judgment and decision and the control of the law of heaven and earth. In battles, she was often symbolized as a lioness. Her temple, Inanna’s House of Heaven, in Uruk, was already 5000 years old and was built and rebuilt many times to hold a community of sacred women who cared for the temple lands. The high priestess of Inanna chose for her bed she appointed a shepherd. He represented Dumuzi, sacred son/lover of Inanna. Ishtar was the Akkadian counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and the Semitic goddess Astarte. She represented the planet Venus. In a previously unknown “Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi”, first translated into English by a Sumerian scholar, Noah Kramer, was a tale of Inanna’s lover. In this tale, a shepherd-king Dumuzi, brought a wedding gift of milk in pails, yoked across his shoulders. The name and this incident of Dumuzi reappeared in India. A Tamil Pandyan king in the Dravidian cultural old South India, in his capital at Kuadam, had a similar tale. These bloodlines of gods were once shared in Mesopotamia as well as in India. Ancient Civilizations 27

The doctrine of the threefold division of the universe was a process of thought which took place before the third millennium. Once established, it remained an inherent part of the Babylonian-Assyrian religion. Their political disassociation of their lands led to alienation of the three gods. The triad lost their significance from their original local beliefs. Spiritual Scrutiny of Old Legends In many ways, Enkidu’s transformation from a wild man raised by animals and an ignorant of human society might have been representations of the seductive power of materialism in the Mesopotamian city states. This legend stated the Sky god asked the goddess of creation, Aruru, to create Enkidu, a brute with the strength of dozens of wild animals. After being seduced by a harlot from the Temple of Love in Uruk, Enkidu lost his strength and wildness but he gained the knowledge of understanding. His origin on the steppe and his life as a companion of wild beasts, suggested that Enkidu, the hunter-gatherer, was living on the fringes of a territory of southern Iraq’s early farmers. His later transformation and acceptance of life in Uruk (a Sumerian city on the Euphrates), became a mythology. The account portrayed how an unhurried approach towards a changing society resulted in assimilation: from within personal boundaries, to horticultural civilization and then mounting materialism. The taming of Enkidu by the harlot may have symbolized the influence of the ego and material wants on an individual, leading one away from a natural existence and into an artificial one. According to the ‘Sumerian King List’, an old manuscript recorded in the Sumerian language, Gilgamesh (2500BC) was the fifth king of Uruk. His mother’s name was the goddess Ninsun, a wild woman cow. It was she who ordered creating the well- known walls of Uruk, later to become Babylonia, and the transformation of Enkidu. The existence of higher fiery energy forces of Creativity and Will (Shiva). Linking with the Collective Power of Love in the hearts of the people of Nature (Shakti) was always known by ancients as Yoga or Linking with the Life-force. Persuading a mature individual by a Mother Deity was therefore, possible. However, one was compelled to wonder if all of these facts were a refraction of cosmic events or if they were the result of human cooperation with world energies. One had to accept the latter. Only a refined microcosm could be a true collaborator of the macrocosm. It was said that even Abraham walked before the Lord (Genesis 17:1–19; Hebrews 11:8–12). This was understood as full cooperation with God who appeared to him as Fire. From this completeness with Fire, was born fulfilment of the Law of Existence. According to the Law of Existence (Mathew 5:17), “All things in existence want fulfilment of their fullest potential. All things are one in their unity of reconfiguration. In the Law 28 In the Beginning of Unity and the Law of Infinity all things of past, present and future existence have and ever will exist to their unending fulfilment”. Abraham’s unwavering devotion to the will of God and the passing of seemingly incomprehensible tests allowed him to become the of a new people called the Tribes of Israel (Acts 13:17). The gods of the people of Israel chose their . He made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt. Then, with a mighty power, He led them out of that country (Acts 13:17). Moses planted in them seeds that were deeply mystical. In essence they dealt with dharma (natural laws of things) and karma (action and reaction). Abraham was not left to do as he liked. One known as Melchizedec (meaning “Righteousness is my king”) from an ancient order of the White Brotherhood came to help him. He anointed and blessed him only after Abraham admitted His contact and the Presence of a higher Power. Their ‘Belief System’ was akin to theosophical and New Age beliefs that supernatural beings of great power spread spiritual messages through the ever-present Ascended Masters. Abraham and Sara parented Isaac who married Rebecca and became the father of Isaac. Isaac the ‘deceiver’ lived in his ’s house for twenty years. He passed painful trials through which he developed his many and varied beliefs. Isaac, the pharaoh Thutmose III accepted his many trials and eventually married Rachel. He fathered Jacob and Esau. Jacob, the father of Israel had twelve sons, each the of one of the twelve Jewish tribes. These twelve tribes became the foundation of a new life wave of key souls following the path towards One God. He also fathered Ishmael who became the progenitor of the six tribes of Arabia. These leaders of so many tribes were reincarnations of many light bearers who still needed to achieve their individual spiritual victory and mission. The spiritual history of the tribes of Israel and Arabia had little to do with a genetic race or their ancestors. It had everything to do with a reincarnating group of souls who had a strong tie to the Light and the Great White Brotherhood. From the time of Atlantis to Abraham and onward, the leaders and heroes battled with wrong wants and misplaced devotions, just like the rest of humanity. The sons of Jacob were jealous of the father’s favourite son, Joseph. They sold him into slavery and told their father that he had been killed. God would later protect the rest of Jacob’s family, by first bringing Joseph to Egypt. In Egypt, Joseph’s prophetic visions of a future famine helped the Pharaoh to prepare for food crisis. Hard-pressed by the agony of starvation in their homeland, Jacob and his sons (Joseph’s brothers) found their way to Egypt. Joseph recognized them. To forgive his brothers, Joseph also had to first overcome his personal sense of injustice. The children of Jacob’s ancestry lived comfortably in Egypt. Over the next 200 years they multiplied until political conditions in Egypt Ancient Civilizations 29 changed. Servitude now became their lot. At the end of this cycle, it was time for a ‘Deliverer’ to take the Israelites to their new home and to create a foundation for a new phase of their spiritual path. He was Pharaoh of the Exodus, Ramesses II (13th century BC King of ), who fought at Kadesh and returned home a hero and demanded obedience from all, including Jacob’s ancestry. Masters of Agni Yoga and Moses Agni Yoga was a spiritual teaching established in 1920 by Nicholas Roerich and his wife Helena. Followers of Agni Yoga teaching was channelled from Master Morya, the guru of Blavatsky, and a founder of the Theosophical Society. Agni Yoga stated that humanity had entered a New Era of Satyuga (Light). The danger now was the lack of spiritual synthesis because of humanity’s inability to recognize the existence of higher fiery energy forces. An uninformed humanity could block the changing fiery energy’s affect on the earth’s crust where humans were expected to stabilize the molten magma under the planet’s surface. Without such change through humanity’s collaboration, these fiery energies could become negative and destructive. This could trigger earthquakes and other natural upheavals. Humanity’s misuse of fire (physical and subtle), of thought and feeling, could transform the energy into a destructive force. To purify and refine psychic energy, the subtle forces at the root of emotions, opinions, and thoughts needed to be involved in expanding consciousness and in kindling subtle energy centres in the human organism that needed change by combustion. Understanding had to take place within the context of present-day secular life, by action for a Common Good. Creative work that helped build a new era would have to be based on knowledge that was both scientific and spiritual. Although “the coming epoch would be under the rays of three : Maitreya, Buddha, and Christ”. The New Age would be known as the Age of Maitreya, the future world teacher. Because this manifestation of Maitreya would be linked with the Mother of the World, the coming era would be known as the epoch of the Mother of the world. It would also be the epoch of Shambala, ruled by the Brotherhood of Mahatmas that had for recent eras lived in Shambala, an inexplicable home in Central Asia. The signs of Shambala would be the age of truth and cooperation through evolving psychic energy, women’s movement, and common cooperation of all nations. The spiritual heart of a human was the focal point of life where love, faith, integrity, compassion, fearlessness, charity and contentment always endured. Yoga was what always linked the people’s hearts with the Supreme Spirit of Mother Nature. Fire in Sanskrit was symbolic of the creative fire of the universe: the original light and life at the root of the Universe. The word included with it cosmic energy, or the fire of space, as well as psychic energy - the powers of the human mind and heart but displaying in love, thought, and creativity. In general, 30 In the Beginning

Agni Yoga teachings regarded Spirit as Fire, a powerful transformative energy that was swift, subtle and able to connect with a Force of high vibrations. Moses, ahead of his time, used Fire for cooperation from God when he was taking away the Jewish multitudes enslaved in Egypt. Old Egyptian science dealt with nature, practical engineering, mathematics, astrology, technologies, alchemy, agriculture and the afterlife. The Moses, a Hebrew or Israelite by birth, was raised as a son of the Pharaoh until manhood. He mastered and assimilated the Egyptian mystery teachings before he identified with the Israelites and freed them. In a series of events, Moses was cast out of Egypt and into the desert of Midian where, in the mountain, he met the Lord God, personified by Ascended Masters as the Master Sanat Kumar. Moses was commanded to return to Egypt (Exodus 14:1) and to ask the Pharaoh to release the Israelites, a seemingly impossible task. Moses wondered who was commanding him and why the Pharaoh would even care to listen. “Who shall I say sends me?” Asked Moses (Isaiah 6:8). “Tell him I AM THAT I AM hath sent you.” Replied the Lord. Moses heard the mystical name of God, ‘I AM THAT I AM’, and understood it as an eternal state of being and freedom (Exodus 19:16; Exodus 19:19; Exodus 28:35). Although unpleasant to the Egyptians, Moses caused the Pharaoh to allow the Israelites to leave Egypt. Based on faith, the enslaved Israelites chose to trek out of their homeland in Egypt towards freedom, with an unknown leader. They were followed by the Egyptians and caught at the Red Sea. With the sea before them and the armies of Egypt behind them, the Lord parted the Red Sea so the Israelites could cross over into the ‘promised land’ . The land that God promised would give descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the land of Canaan or Palestine. The Israelites did not take it until after the Exodus, when they conquered the people already living there. By extension, they were symbolically promised an idyllic state of being reached by truth, spiritual journeys, patience and the determination to reach a “Promised Land” of time and place without end – etheric heaven. The Israelites followed Moses with the Ascended Master, Lord Sanat Kumar visibly travelling with them as a cloud by day, and as a pillar of fire by night. As food, they were given the miraculous ‘manna’ in the desert. Even so, this disobedient reincarnated group of souls chose to worship their older, more comfortable god when Moses stayed too long away from them, on the mountain. Moses came down from the mountain after his communion with Sanat Kumar. He had with him the direct communication from the Lord as Laws (of yoga of meditation) for the new community. He saw their betrayal. They could not wait for him to return, and instead they had started to worship a false god. Moses threw down the tablets of the Law. Later, Moses gave the Israelites a simplified distillation of the original Ten Commandments. The second set became the foundation of Judaic religion and law. Ancient Civilizations 31

Moses covered his face only when he came out from communing with God (1Kings 19:12-13) – as was and is done in the private places of meeting with God / Elohim / the Spirit (Psalm 81:7), by Hebrew, and Muslims. He was told “He (the Lord) will send His Messengers with the Great Sound like trumpets, and they will gather all His chosen ones” (Matthew 3:1). A similar foretelling made to Abraham about the uttering “I AM THAT I AM” “I (Abraham) heard a Voice like the roaring of the sea, and it did not cease from the perfection of the Fire [of God].” (Apocalypse of Abraham 18:2). These passages have tried to describe, the indescribable Mystic Sound of the Divine Spirit (God). This Sound or Voice of God is and was heard while in the Stillness and Silence of deep meditation. It was not an external sound. It was heard through rare Spiritual senses, revealed during Introduction by a genuine master. The annals of the Brotherhood explained the original Teachings that Moses brought down from the mountain were the ‘Teachings of the Ruby Ray’ which defined the science of transforming souls from karmic entrapment to complete union with God. It was the science of the mystical of the soul to the Spirit. Now with the dawning of the Aquarian Age, through the two witnesses, the Teachings of the Ruby Ray have once again been given to humankind. By extension, the story of the Israelites in the Promised Land could be taken as a study of psychology as well as karma. They received direct intervention from God through the teachings of Moses and Joshua, but still they stumbled, rebelled against and disobeyed their God. Eli was the High Priest and judge of Israel. Joshua was Moses’ named successor. He led the Israelite tribes to conquer the land of Canaan in the southern and northern areas of the country, and to divide the land among the tribes. The remaining land was not conquered by the Israelites. The real hero of the conquest through Moses was the God of the Israelites, who demonstrated awesome power throughout. His eagerness to wipe out the Canaanites (residents of today’s Gaza, and West Bank) resulted from His determination that their paganism had to be removed so it would not serve as a temptation to the Israelites. God sent them prophets of His Old Testament: Ezekiel and Samuel, to realign this humanity with their first estate and the way of Divine Law. Ezekiel was born into a priestly family of Jerusalem in the year 623 BC, during the reign of the reforming king Josiah. Before this, Judah was a vassal of the Assyrian empire which declined rapidly. This led Josiah (640–609 BC), who became king at the age of eight, after murdering his father Amon. He asserted his authority and set up a religious reform stressing loyalty to Yahweh, the national God. Josiah was later killed in battle and Judah became a vassal of the Babylonian Empire. Ezekiel was among those taken into captivity in 597 BC following a rebellion against Babylon. He spent the rest of his life in Mesopotamia. A further deportation of Jews from Jerusalem to Babylon in 586 BC resulted in destroying 32 In the Beginning the city, its temple, elements of the royal court, including their scribes and priests. Ezekiel was twenty-five when he went into exile, thirty when he received his prophetic call, and fifty-two at the time of the last vision in 571 BC to reiterate “God is strong”. His prophesies were along three themes: judgment on Israel, judgment on nations, and future blessings for Israel. When the people of Israel demanded a king like other nations, the Ascended Master Sanat Kumar sent Samuel, his prophet, in an attempt to teach them the higher way of spiritual and individual freedom. Samuel was the first prophet after Moses and the last judge of ancient Israel. He said to his people “Meditate on these things, give thyself wholly unto them, that thy profiting may appear to all” (1 Timothy 4:15). The ancient people were not mature enough to understand giving the ‘whole self’ in this life, to bear maximum fruit in it. Unable to put spirit, soul and body focused on that Spirit, the first of Israel was therefore fixed in 11th–10th century BC when the tribes of Israel united under a single kingdom with its capital at Jerusalem. Samuel’s revelation at first led to installing Saul as king. In a later oracle Samuel rejected Saul with the secret anointing of David as king, because they still wanted a king. The Lord Sanat Kumar bowed to their free will and gave them the troublesome Saul, and then David the shepherd-king. From even those ancient days Sanat Kumar was the leader of the Illuminate of humanity’s Universal Church. When the Israelites needed saving, God sent them Joseph, Moses and Joshua: all guru-leaders and heroes who were also not above the trials of their people, but who faced and overcame those trials. Joseph, his father’s favourite, was the eleventh of twelve sons, but he was sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers. After passing their trials on earth, all of them moved up the spiritual path to become ascended masters. God wrestled with these tribes for thousands of years. Some of the tribes disappeared from history and they became known as the lost tribes. Linguists and archaeologists have traced them as having taken a northern route heading towards the West across Europe. In their wake they left a trail of standing stones, altars, and myths of a wandering people who would not intermarry. As cycles turned, the Israelites reincarnated into different nations. Light bearers existed in every nation and culture. They sought to raise themselves and their people. People, whose principal job it was to lead others in a spiritual reawakening, have descended from the tribal tree of Joseph. They were known as Manasseh and Ephraim and were embodied as reincarnations in America and Britain. To clarify, ascended masters were the souls who had learned all of their lessons on earth and no longer needed to reincarnate. A study of their earlier lives would help others understand the qualities that they needed to develop to make their ascension. The ascended master, St. Germain, was once embodied as the Prophet Samuel in the Old Testament. He was the last of the Hebrew Judges and the first of the Major Prophets who began to prophesy inside the Ancient Civilizations 33

Land of Israel. According to the text of the Books of Samuel, he anointed the first two kings of the Kingdom of Israel: Saul and David. Samuel’s mother, Hannah, was grieved because she had been married for years and still did not have any children. When Hannah went to the temple to pray and make sacrifices, she begged of God to allow her to have children. A priest named Eli assured her that God had heard her prayers. A year later, Hannah gave birth to Samuel. When he was a young child, Hannah brought Samuel to the priest, Eli, to serve with him in the temple in gratitude for God’s blessing. Hannah later had three more sons and two daughters. When Samuel became an adult, God called him to be a prophet for Israel. Samuel travelled throughout Israel, urging the various tribes to work together and to stop worshipping idols. The tribes were often under attack from other nations and needed to work together for their common protection. Samuel eventually got married, accumulated wealth and lived a lavish life. He was urged to appoint a single national leader for Israel. He crowned Saul as king of Israel. Unfortunately, Saul did not emulate Samuel’s example after becoming the king. As a result, Samuel secretly anointed David. The resulting conflict between Saul and David continued for the remainder of Samuel’s life. Samuel’s appointment of David as king began the biblical monarchy of the House of David. The ascended master, St. Germain, was also the master of the highest etheric domain. This meant that he had mastered the spiritual quality of forgiveness and that he understood the power of alchemy to make the coarse body subtle. He taught other souls divine alchemy and the working of miracles, but warned them of impending dangers when such powers were misused. Man’s Cosmic Connection—Sitchin Theory Zecharia Sitchin (1920-2010) who originated from Azerbaijan wrote about human origins involving ancient astronauts. Sitchin’s interest about man’s cosmic connection led to unravelling how the old civilizations were linked with the present. He also described how the earth could be freed from parasites. That would set earth on the path of peace and friendship. He grouped Sumeria, Akkadia, Assyria, and Babylon as the Anunnaki group. He showed that world events would unfold. Many would continue to witness the ugliness and predominance of bullying nations. Rulers of stronger nations would force their will on the weaker nations. They would become more demanding and unreasonable. He identified with the rise of Aquarius. Oppressed Nation states would use citizens who would mobilise enormous tyrannical power to put down the slave masters. History would repeat itself – again. According to Sitchin, there was once a race of aliens known to the ancient people of the Earth as the Anunnaki. For many reasons, the Anunnaki have been reduced in power today. This race of beings thrived on conquest and enslavement of those who were under them. 34 In the Beginning

Sitchin ended his story of the Anunnaki dominance in 2024 BC. During a gap of 4000 years what prompted the Anunnaki to leave the earth? How did the earth’s transition from overt rule by the Anunnaki advance to the present covert rule by the shadow government? Michael Heiser of Red Ice Radio arrived at a theory. At one time the solar system was a melting pot for people from different stars. The Anunnaki, who came here from the 10th planet of the solar organism, were the product of that community, whose legacy of continuity was carried on when they created humans through genetic engineering. There was also an ancient civilization on Mars and possibly, also on Venus. The moon was the oldest body in the solar system (its rocks were dated at 5.3 billion years), while the age of the earth and the solar system was 4.6 billion years. The earth community was invaded by a galactic colonial power seeking to enslave the solar system by the Judeo god and an advanced civilization was thrust into the dark ages. Science, which had by now largely replaced religion, had strong connections with the Egyptian esoteric mythology. The religions of old Sumerians, Babylonians, Egyptians and others were not dogmatic. Their teachings were about scientific knowledge, and their gods were some spirits of mundane flesh-and-blood extraterrestrials. For instance, the ancient Egyptian rare texts were the complex scientific knowledge of the Anunnaki which was not a religion but an ancient and difficult to understand system of scientific knowledge. Politics, the study of power relations at various levels of governance, was not limited to the earth but was also there in the outer space. At that early stage on earth the goals were to thrust the Anunnaki off the earth and to push humankind backward by many centuries. Their game continues to this day. The events of the present day, those which have occurred throughout the 20th century, and those of the previous centuries, came into play to explain his theory. Marx and Engels explained how humanity changed from primitive communal societies through slavery, through feudalism and through capitalism. Modern knowledge that DNA was a computer program determinedly disproved macroevolution. The evidence was overwhelming that advanced knowledge and technology existed in antiquity, proving Sitchin’s theory of the extraterrestrial origin of an advanced human civilization. Humanity’s mental ability to think through Light during the Piscean Age was impossible without the help of Masters of Spirituality. The distance of mankind away from the Sun, enslaved it like a colonial power. Medieval feudalism used institutionalised churchianity intensified human blindness at its highest point. When European thinkers of the Renaissance rediscovered the ancient Egyptian teachings, they associated themselves with the Egyptian goddess Isis. Isis was the great-great-granddaughter of the Anunnaki leader Enki, who led a separate faction of the Anunnaki that was partially Sirian. This was so as Enki’s mother was from Sirius (the brightest star as seen from the earth). In dividing Ancient Civilizations 35 the earth between different factions of the Anunnaki, ancient Egypt always belonged to the Enkiites. It was they who built the three great pyramids on the Giza plateau. The star Sirius was always prominent in the Egyptian esoteric tradition. Isis was brave enough to make several attempts at recovering the earth long after it had been overtaken and all other Anunnaki had fled in their spaceships. A well-known city on the earth still bears her name. Paris was founded around 300–200 BC and its original Latin name was Par-Isis, the city of Isis. Because of this knowledge, it was clear that France was a major centre of enlightenment. Josephine, Napoleon’s wife, considered herself a reincarnation of Isis. The theory that Enlightenment/Renaissance was weakened by the Anunnaki because of compromising Churchians led to the path of self-destruction. The attempt was a partial success and a partial failure, because the did not bring about a permanent regime change. Conditions did not allow ancient Egypt to come under the Anunnaki. As a result of this partial success at enslavement, feudalism gave way to capitalism - a state and condition that does not need external control. Master Rays and Humanity Roots - according to Theosophy Earth has been home to life waves and civilizations for a much longer time than any or all history books record. Since its creation, waves of souls have visited here to train earthlings and to fulfil a particular divine plan for self-unfoldment and a step by step integration towards the incarnate existence. The divine intent was for souls to evolve in time and space within their twin flame (physical–yellow and astral–blue) or their physical and egoistic limits. It was to gain competence within a determined time cycle, before rising into higher consciousness as Christed and God-free beings. Each wave of new souls was issued from a specific ray of God’s consciousness. Seven rays of evolving humans were each served by masters of seven different rays of consciousness. These were each called root races and were looked after by a harmonizing Being of Light who, with his divine complement, served as Father-Mother God, for that root race. Root races were stages of human evolution. Souls were under their tutelage of manus, which in Sanskrit meant, progenitor. Manus anchor the Christic pattern of each human who had in his or her heart a seed waiting to flower according to the divine plan. The first root race was issued from the blue ray of the Spirit’s power and protection. These souls anchored with vibrations of governance and goodwill. The second root race issued from God’s yellow ray of wisdom and their souls anchored with the flame of divine illumination. The third root race was born from the pink ray of divine love and its souls anchored with vibrations of the earth. All three of these root races were of ascended beings. According to “Lives of Alcyon” written by theosophical clairvoyants, Charles 36 In the Beginning

Leadbeater and Annie Besant, the first two root races had 12,000 years of interaction with time and space before ascending home to God. The fall of the angels took place at the end of the third root race. Because of corruption that followed through want, anger, greed, possessiveness, pride and jealousy, it took 17,000 years for the entire third root race to move up successfully. By the time of the fourth root race, the influence of the fallen angel was so prevalent that almost every soul was ensnared, in the cosmic timetable. The souls of the fourth root race anchored to the white ray of purity, the mother light on earth. However, they lusted and they tried to access the security of that Light provided by Mother Nature. Theosophists assert the fourth root race incarnated four and a half million years ago, and some of these souls are still in expression. The for the fourth root race was Lord of the Himalayas. He was the hierarch of the Blue Lotus Retreat in the mountains. Shiva, the master of all masters, with his embodied twin flame, his Soul mate Shakti, anchored the strong ray of the Fatherhood of God for the planet. Himalaya taught telepathy through meditation. Those who sat at Shiva’s (known also as Babaji, the Eternal Youth seen on the Himalayan slopes for several centuries) feet, blended their consciousness with Lord Himalaya. They became one with his threefold flame pattern of love, wisdom and power for relieving psychological, physical and astral blemishes in his devotees. Through this oneness, one received his ideations and a mantra that would help unfold the divine plan. Himalaya’s radiance was like golden snow, and Shiva anchored all the Christ or spiritual consciousness in human minds running through their thought streams. In the Himalayas, the purifying water of the Ganges cleaned these thought streams. If needed, Himalaya would teach the quietness and inner voice of God. Then, one would know the miracle of grace and the majesty of peace. They would know the power contained within the great Silence, and the Stillness in the eye of the storm. They would also know how to brighten the Light of the heart. Stepping out of Nirvana, Shiva aimed to bring the flame of divine illumination to the world to unite the forgotten mystical traditions of the East and West. Vaivasvata was the manu of the fifth root race. Vaivasvata was the original father and lawgiver to the earth. Its souls focused on the green ray of God’s healing and truth, but many remain unascended. Vaivasvata in Sanskrit meant, “Born of the Sun.” Leadbeater described him in “The Masters and the Path”, as “a kingly figure... the tallest of all adepts. This Manu had a striking face of great power, with an aquiline nose, a full and flowing brown beard and brown eyes, and a magnificent head of leonine poise.” Vaivasvata’s retreated into the Himalayas and magnetized the souls of the fifth root race. The love of this manu was so great that it cut them free from all that opposed their divine destiny. Vaivasvata served to strengthen the antakarana or the causal mind’s web of Light. It asked one to call for this untainted pattern to appear and highlight the Ancient Civilizations 37 pattern of one’s divine destiny, especially when one felt alone, separate, maligned or misunderstood. His twin flame, the consort of the sun-god (Chhaya) also remained in physical expression as the silhouette of a shadow. The God and Goddess Meru etheric retreat of the solar systems of Mercury and Vesta were there for spiritual education. Their retreat was above Lake Titicaca 12500 ft above the sea level at the border of Peru and Bolivia. They were the manus for the sixth root race. The Soul pattern of these evolutes had the fullness of God’s sixth ray - purple and gold. They were anchored with the qualities of ministration and service. These great masters of illumination were Patriarchs of society, religion, Buddhism and Zen masters of ancient China. They anchored the Mother for the planet in a retreat in the Andes. This anchor of the mother flame was the feminine of God for the service of the entire planet. She, the Holy Spirit, in her retreat from the Andes Mountains to the Father energy ensconced in the Himalayas, created an arc of compassion. It has been taught that God does not condemn: only the fallen ones do. They urged seekers to overcome self-condemnation in all of its forms, lest souls are condemned out of existence. They also urged stopping from competing with others in a negative manner. This spiritual point of vulnerability was what brought down the Inca civilization which existed across the planet thousands of years ago from the kingdom of Cuzco around 1200 BC. It was a reminder that God would always be a consuming fire fully able to dissolve and change sin. Egyptian Legends Egyptians always dealt with the problems of future life, with resurrection and they agonized about immortality. They theorized about heaven where they hoped to live unendingly with the architect of paradise. They believed that all their great gods and goddesses lived as pharaohs or as etheric beings on the earth. The variety of divinities found in old Egyptian monuments fomented a gross misunderstanding about the religion of ancient Egyptians, as being polytheistic. Like all the great religions, it was also monotheistic. Scholars now agree that many divinities found in Egyptian temples were qualities or mediators of the Supreme Being, the One God who was worshipped by the priests, initiates and wise men of the sanctuaries. A single idea dominated everything, that of a God who was one and primordial. The Egyptian priests defined God as, “He who [was] be-gotten from himself; the Principle of all life, the father of , and the mother of all .” They also said, “From Him [came] the substance of all other gods” and “It [was] by His will the Sun [shone] the earth [was] separated from the heavens, and that harmony [reigned] on all creation”. However, to make the belief in the One God more understandable to the Egyptian people, the priests expressed His qualities and His various roles by subtle representations. The perfect image of God was the Sun with its three qualities: shape, light and heat. The Sun’s soul 38 In the Beginning was called Amon or Amon-Ra, which meant “hidden-sun”. He was the father of life while the other divinities were only the different parts of his body. He did not come out of himself to beget but he begets within himself. He was at one and the same time the Father, the Mother and the Son of God without leaving God. These three persons were “God in God” and far from destroying the unity of the divine nature. Together, they brought about his infinite perfection. The Father was creative power, while the Son (image of the Father), strengthened and revealed his everlasting qualities. Every Egyptian province had its own triad, all inter-related. Unfortunately, this compromised the divine unity more than dividing Egypt into provinces. It also compromised the unity of the central government. The principal or great triad was that of Abydos which consisted of Osiris, Isis and Horus. This idea was the most popular and was worshipped throughout Egypt because Osiris personified Good and popularly known as the “good god”. The triad at Memphis consisted of Ptah, Sakhmet and Nefer Tum; at Thebes, it was Amon, Mut and Khonsu. The Trinity was not the only dogma which Egypt held from primitive revelations. In the holy books one also found , the promise of a redeeming God, future restorations of humanity, and the resurrection of flesh at the end of time. Each transition from one dynasty to another experienced a monotheistic revolution and the Supreme Being prevailed over the fetishism of the other divinities. The religious revolution of Pharaoh Akhenaton made a major but short-lived change to various aspects of Egyptian culture. It was preceded by that of Menes (3100–2850 BC), who unified Upper and Lower Egypt. He was regarded the 1st king of the First Dynasty. However Osiris of the 5th millennium BC was the chief deity of death. He was the only god to rival the solar cult of Re. According to some historians during the reign of Osiris, and the Greek king of Thebes (4200 BC) a change took place in religion. This king, the most devout of all, succeeded in getting monotheism adopted on a wide scale. It was this same Osiris who was defied and who reigned over the Supreme Court to judge the souls of the dead. According to the rite of “psychostatis” (meaning ‘weighing of the soul’ in the ceremony of final judgment of the deceased), the soul of the dead person was carried on a sacred barge over the waters of the Elysian Fields (Underworld) for an assessment and view of his or her life. The fundamental religious idea of old Egyptians was that human life continued even after physical death. However, only those who continued to enjoy what they had enjoyed in life could gain the Other World. 2. Past and Present Create Future

Akashic Records Akashic Records are a theosophical grid of programmes that created individualised reality. A universal filing which recorded every thought, word or action is impressed on a subtle substance called akasha, which in Sanskrit means space. Akasha existed either in an elemental or an abstract intelligence. In theosophical terms, akashic records were a filing system of mystical information of every thought, word and action of every human individual. It was and still is impressed as soniferous or sound waves in ether. In Hindu mysticism, akasha is filled with an idea the primary principle of nature from which the other four natural principles: fire, air, earth, and water, were created. These five principles together were made flesh to become the five senses of a human being. On a celestial level, Akashic records are a cosmic collective consciousness or cosmic/universal mind. It congregated every collective unconsciousness, collective subconsciousness and collective unconsciousness (causal) and made psychic view possible. Bhrigu Samhita was based on Akashic records entrenched within a Total Cosmic Intelligence the Hindus symbolized as Ganesha who was there as Love even before Creation. Bhrigu Samhita was an astrological classic written by Sage Bhrigu (one of the seven great sages) during treta yuga. It was compiled from akashic records and contained details of millions of lives, past and present. He reflected on human affairs to guide future generations of human race to have preference for lives of harmlessness rather than harmfulness. That would avoid each being from entering the cycles of birth and death as determined by the Law of Karma. Certain people, while in subconscious states, can read from the library of akashic records both individually, collectively, as well as historically. They are able to enter the macrocosm and reach any individual subconscious mind. Both the microcosmic and macrocosmic Mind in Akasha had thoughts which were never forgotten. A collective subconsciousness of thoughts could be penetrated just as each subconscious mind could be read by another with a proficient subconscious mind. Scriptures, Science and Histories were never permanently lapsed. Much of what is written today are opinions. Through this maze Time and Humanity there are individuals who tried piecing together fragments of existing archaeological evidence for the past 2400 years. On the other hand, excluding archaeology, there was evidence in past and present history, there was more to Creation than the fixed Piscean Age of Kali Yuga.

39 40 In the Beginning

Supercontinents: a Long-Time Ago Although an assortment of ‘facts’ were written about ancient times: such information was never available in total or even currently. Whatever threads one picked up, were used by the people in authority to build up on preconceived ideas and thoughts. These figments of their findings were impressed on the masses, who if gullible could be led along paths of harmfulness or harmlessness. He who weaved up such stories was called an expert on the subject and wore the mantle of skill and knowledge of fact. Modern geological information ruled out continent masses sinking beneath the sea surface, at some point in the past. Yet, according to the theory of plate tectonics, it described large-scale movements of earth’s surface with continental drifts spreading across sea-floors. Therefore, it was possible that South America and Africa were once connected. This was supposed and perhaps even extensively confirmed over the past forty years. The earth’s crust consists of lighter sial (silicate of aluminium) rocks that float on heavier sima rocks (richer in silicate of magnesium). The sial was absent or only a few kilometres thick at the bottom of the oceans, while the continents were huge solid blocks tens of kilometres thick. Since continents floated on the Sima much like icebergs float on water, it was clear to see that a continent could not simply sink under the ocean, but it could shift across sea floors. It was also true that continental drift and sea-floor spreading could change the shape and position of continents, and occasionally break a continent into two or more pieces. This allegedly happened to Pangaea, the supercontinent that was all joined as one land mass some 225 million years ago. However, these were slow processes that occurred in geological time scales of hundreds of millions of years. It was said the Pacific Ocean islands were not part of a drowned land mass, but rather the tips of isolated volcanoes. The geological arguments that ruled out lost continents did not rule out local catastrophes which might have changed the course of human history, such as the eighty-metre rise in sea level over the last 12,000 years, flooding the Black Sea 7,600 years ago, and erupting Santorini 3,600 years ago. The historical details and implications of the Mu theories, from the start were even more controversial than the physical ones that methodically discredited archaeological and genetic research. Mu theory claimed that Queen Moo, of the civilization of old Egypt, became a refugee during her land’s death. She and her tribe supposedly fled to Central America and became the Mayans. The weight of evidence however, was for civilizations of the Americas and the Old-World developing independently of each other. In fact, agricultural and urban societies probably developed first. This likely occurred after the end of the last Ice Age when worldwide temperatures fell and the earth’s surface was covered with glaciers. This could have happened somewhere in the Levant Past and Present create Future 41

(modern-day Lebanon, Israel, Syria and Turkey) some 10,000 years ago. From there it gradually spread out to the rest of the Old-World (Europe, Asia and Africa). Modern thinkers believe the development of the oldest known cities, such as Çatalhöyük in Turkey, could more easily be credited to local and gradual evolution than to the coming of refugees from a ‘superior civilization’. Finally, genetic studies of the indigenous peoples of America (pre-Columbians), the Pacific Islanders (Austronesians – Polynesian, Tahitian, Maori/Hawaiian), and the ancient peoples of the Old World (European Middle Ages and classical antiquity) were allegedly incompatible with the Mu theory. In support of the doubting theorists, on Easter Island, there was no evidence of human presence before 300 AD. Ancient Histories of Planet Earth The universe was created in basic trust, the trust of every part in the wholeness of the vast creative scheme—a plan of harmlessness for the entire cosmos. The Science of Wholeness dealt with wisdom and spirituality as the foundations for a global humanity. Those without trust, pinned their faith not in the real Self, the personality free of physical, astral and causal self, but rather they identified with the pseudo-self. The narcissistic egoistic being manifested harmfulness both in the mind and in its outer manifestation. The technology of this age was to be employed with each day’s opportunity to direct life to its true and intended beauty. In matter of a few thousand years Nature was sullied by climate and then by humanity’s self-indulgence and pleasure-seeking. It is guessed the country around the Amazon River between 12,000–14000 years ago was at an altitude of around 5000 feet and was semi-tropical. All that changed during the last cataclysm 12,000 years ago, was the sinking of entire cities and widening of the mouth of the Amazon. That altered the east and west coastlines of the continents. A marvellous civilization had existed there once with Casimir Poseidon as the ruler. Some 24,000 years ago Casimir Poseidon ruled Poseidinis, a Golden Age civilization with a colony of Atlantis, in the Amazon Valley. People here gradually turned to paths of selfishness and harmfulness. Therefore, Casimir Poseidon and a band of disciples withdrew to North America and anchored their Light in present-day Colorado. Poseidinis was later destroyed by a Piscean cataclysm and sank under the sea. As an ascended master Poseidon was reputed to have encouraged humanity to mitigate the karmic potential of impending cataclysm of the last Kaliyuga 24,000 years ago. The Master Lord Meru whose focus was with the civilization around Lake Titicaca, called it the South American continent of Meru. Civilizations of Meru and Atlantis had ‘power boxes’ which created control and influence over his people and their actions to cause harmlessness. Empowered by Universal Light, its 42 In the Beginning humanity gradually used its will to bring about egoistic harmfulness. These were Golden Age past civilizations, and included the one on the continent of Mu. They had airships which far surpassed anything available in the present-day ‘modern’ world. With Science divorced from Spirituality and humanity distanced away from the Sun, the common Intellect chose self-destructive lives controlled by the self. The continent of Mu was oceanic, but it disappeared at the dawn of human Piscean history. The continent’s name was proposed by a 19th century traveller and writer Le Plongeon, who claimed that several ancient civilizations, such as those of Egypt and Mesoamerica, were created by refugees from Mu, which he located in the Atlantic Ocean. He undertook a full-time research on Mayan Civilization and pioneered the use of photography as a tool for his studies. During his time in the Yucatan, he was the first to excavate the ruins of Chichen Itza in Mexico. His thoughts on Mu and other lost continents like Lemuria were declared physically impossible but they were popularized and expanded by (1851–1936), who asserted that Mu was once found in the Pacific. The existence of Mu was already disputed in Le Plongeon’s time and modern scientists universally dismissed the theory since a continent can neither sink nor be destroyed in the short period of time needed by this premise. Also, the weight of all archaeological, linguistic and genetic evidence was contrary to the claim the old civilizations of the new and old worlds stemmed from a common ancestral civilization. Today, Mu is considered a fictional place. The idea of Mu first appeared in the works of Augustus Le Plongeon (1825–1908), following his investigations of the Mayan ruins in Yucatan. He claimed that he had translated the ancient Mayan writings, which supposedly showed the Maya of Yucatan were older than the civilizations of Greece and Egypt, and told the story of an even older continent. In 1864, Charles Etienne Brasseur de Bourbourg believed that Mu referred to a land immersed by a catastrophe which Le Plongeon identified with Atlantis which supposedly sank into the Atlantic Ocean. The description of that sunken land was given to Solon by Sonchis, an Egyptian priest at Sais. He was told about its destruction by earthquakes. Its submergence was recorded by Plato in his Timaeus, had already been retold over and again. Le Plongeon claimed the civilization of ancient Egypt was founded by Queen Moo (depicted as the Egyptian ), a refugee from the land’s demise. Supposedly, she later became the Queen of Yucatan. There were other stories. When James Churchward (1851-1936), a British-born occult writer and engineer was a soldier in India, he befriended a high-ranking temple priest who showed him a set of ancient sunburnt clay tablets. It was written in a long lost ‘Naga-Maya language’ which only two other people in India were able to read. Having mastered the language himself, Churchward found that they originated from the place where man first appeared—Mu. His book published in 1931 stated Past and Present create Future 43 that all matter of science in this work were based on the translations of these two sets of ancient tablets: the clay tablets which he had read in India, and a collection of 2,500 stone tablets that were uncovered by William Niven (1850- 1937), a mineralogist while in Mexico. Churchward gave a vivid description of Mu as the home of an advanced civilization. The story explained that about 80,000 years ago, a couple, named Ay and Tiy, achieved ascension and founded the Naacal Mystery School in Lemuria. Lemuria was a gentle, magnificent empire that stretched from the Himalayas to Easter Island and portions of South America. Not long before the main continent of Lemuria sank, Ay and Tiy with over a thousand immortal masters migrated to the island of Undal in Atlantis (). They divided the island into four quadrants matching to the male-female/ logical-intuitive works of mind and began projecting ten magnetic vortices in the Tree of Life pattern on to the main island of Atlantis. These magnetic ‘hotspots’ drew vast numbers of Lemurian migrants who settled around such vortices that resonated with their own inner natures. Soon, cities grew over eight of the ten vortices. Two were left uninhabited because the masculine-logical energies they accentuated had yet to arise in the largely feminine-intuitive Lemurian consciousness. The old people and civilization of Naacal, which flourished thousands of years ago, was dominated by a ‘white race’, and was superior in many respects. At the time of its demise, about 24,000 years ago, Mu had 64,000,000 inhabitants and many large cities, and colonies in other continents. Churchward claimed the land mass of Mu was found in the Pacific Ocean and stretched east-west from the Mariana, also called the Island of Thieves, to the Polynesian Easter Island. The north-south land mass stretched from Hawaii to Mangaia, the terraced Cook Islands. According to the creation legend on the Indian tablet, he read that Mu had been lifted above sea level by expanding underground volcanic gases. Eventually, Mu “was wiped out in almost a single night” by “a series of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.” As well, “the broken land [fell] into that great abyss of fire” and Mu was “covered by fifty [million] square miles of water.” According to the ancient teachings of Melchizedek, the story was possible because Earth, according to the divine priest, was a complex of interpenetrating electromagnetic fields that all life forms produced. Their individual and collective bioenergetic geometric grids matched with the existence of ‘morphogenetic’ fields. This corroborated the Hindu belief the entire cosmos was created by a never-ending dance between Shakta/God (electricity) and Shakti/Goddess (magnetism). According to many ancient accounts, the disaster that befell humanity about 13,000 years ago resulted in a collective amnesia from which humanity is now swiftly beginning to awaken. Churchward went on to claim that Mu was the common origin of the great civilizations of Egypt, Greece, Central America, India, Burma and others, 44 In the Beginning including Easter Island, and it was, in particular, the source of ancient megalithic architecture. As evidence for his claims, he pointed to symbols throughout the world, in which he saw common themes of birds, the relation of the earth and the sky, but with the Sun. Churchward claimed the king of Mu was Ra, which he related to the Egyptian god of the sun, Ra, and the Rapanui or Rapa Nui meaning Sun in Polynesian. He wrongly spelled the name of the sun-god as ‘raa’. He claimed to have found symbols of the sun in “Egypt, Babylonia, Peru and all old lands and countries – where the Sun was a universal symbol”. The Sun, therefore and not the Son, was the symbol of worship of the ancients. Churchward credited all megalithic art in Polynesia to the people of Mu. Symbols of the sun were found “depicted on the stones of Polynesian ruins,” such as the stone hats (pukao) on top of the giant moai statues of Easter Island. He also cited the pillars “erected by the Maori of New Zealand” as examples of this lost civilization’s handiwork. In Churchward’s view, the present-day Polynesians were not descendants of the dominant members of the lost civilization of Mu, responsible for these great works, but they were the survivors of the cataclysm that adopted “the first cannibalism and savagery” in the world. Harmfulness had superseded harmlessness. By comparison, Graham Hancock who documented evidence for lost civilizations claimed the destruction of Mu occurred around 10,000 BC. Meanwhile, according to James Bramwell in Lost Atlantis and later William Scott-Elliott a theosophist stated the cataclysmic events began 800,000 years ago and lasted until the last catastrophe 12,000 years ago. They were of the opinion that it occurred precisely in 9564 BC. In the 1930s, Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, showed interest in Churchward’s work and considered Mu as a possible location of the Turkish original homeland. Masaaki Kimura, of CNN suggested that certain underwater features located off the Coast of Yonaguni Island in (popularly known as the Yonaguni Monument) were ruins of Mu or “ruins of the lost world of Muin.” Christ or Melchizedek consciousness started happening about 200 years ago when activation of humanity’s heart chakras were propelled to move towards pranically propelled, electromagnetic fields of pure, unconditional Love through the Light Astral Body. Fall from Grace described by Drunvalo the author of four books including ‘’The Old Secret of the Flower of Life’ was because of man’s Descent into Density. Here several Cosmic Dramas played out because civilizations opted for ‘externalizing’ and lost their ability to conquer Time-Space. The more severely afflicted civilizations gradually lost touch with their Emotional Bodies, their Feeling-Centres, and began functioning almost entirely on Logic. They achieved physical sciences and their technological applications but saw them as separate from every other life form. They were therefore able to abuse, exploit, manipulate and exterminate those considered inferior races. Past and Present create Future 45

Root Races of Humanity Theosophists speak of humanity originating from Root Races. The first race was mainly spiritual (astral/etheric), and it did not leave behind any physical remains. The second (the Hyperborean) was also non-physical but it was classified as etheric. The third, or Lemurian race, was the first race to have physical bodies. It was described as a race of three-eyed giants who occupied the “lost continent” of Lemuria which existed somewhere between the Indian and Pacific oceans. Modern theosophists identified Lemuria with the old supercontinent of Gondwana, to mean the composite continent of South America, Africa, Arabia, Madagascar, Australia, Antarctica, and India of 600 million years ago. The fourth or the Atlantean race had great occult and technological powers. It lost its continent of Atlantis, because of the abuse of psychic powers by its people, but the survivors of this catastrophe became the present fifth or Aryan race. Blavatsky, Leadbeater, Steiner, A. Bailey, Edgar Cayce, and others all differed in detail but they all voiced the same expert conclusions. They went on to explain the Atlantean subraces as Rohmahls, Tlavatlis, Toltec, First Turanian, Original Semite, Akkadian and even Mongolian. People of the 5th subrace of the Atlantean, known today as the Semites, were believed to be the first Aryans who migrated to India and created in those distant times, the Rama Empire during a past Golden Age They were opposed to the selfish and corrupt residual post-Atlantean tribes. The for righteousness led to an ancient nuclear warfare between the two empires. Historian, Kisari Mohan Ganguli, says Indian sacred writings were full of descriptions of atomic warfare. There were references of fighting sky chariots and ‘ultimate’ weapons. About an ancient battle described in the section titled “Drona Parva”, of the Mahabharata, Ganguli stated: “The passage tells of combat where explosions of final weapons destroy entire armies, causing crowds of warriors with steeds and elephants and weapons to be carried away as if they were dry leaves of trees”. Instead of mushroom clouds, the writer described a vertical explosion with its billowing smoke clouds as consecutive openings of giant parasols. There were comments about contaminating food and people’s hair falling-out. Admittedly Ganguli had described an Atomic Warfare. Also, the archaeologist, Francis Taylor, studied etchings in some nearby temples and managed to translate some. They suggested the people prayed to be spared from the great light that was coming to lay ruin to their city. “It is so mind -boggling to imagine that some civilization had nuclear technology before” the present age. “The radioactive ash found in Rajasthan [added] credibility to the ancient Indian records that [described] atomic warfare.” Could the ancient war of Mahabharata 12000 years ago have been a nuclear war? According to a theosophical doctrine, humanity was now living the fifth stage as Aryan, which, in Sanskrit, means ‘noble’. According this doctrine Aryans were 46 In the Beginning the original war-like race of horse riders: Indo-European nomadic tribe members who moved east to India and west into the Near East and Europe. When they reached Europe, they destroyed the peace-loving earth-wisdom pagan matriarchal societies and replaced them with war-like sky and element-gods worshipping the patriarchal societies of today. Their symbol was the Swastika which is still used in India, Tibet, and elsewhere as a symbol of Infinity. In other cultures it was represented differently; whether it was drawn clockwise or counter-clockwise it did not have any association with racist Nazism. Meanwhile, although orthodox theosophists asserted only a clockwise rotation of the swastika, they were not free of racism. In reality, their writings were entrenched in white colonial European ethno-centrism that dominated the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The current Root Race theory on human evolution was and still is European. Blavatsky referred to Jews as an ‘unnatural bridge’ between the fourth and fifth races. Tribals were considered savage and were assigned the lowest rung on the human evolutionary ladder. In contrast, Leadbeater even detailed auras of the savage and compared them with those of the ‘civilized’ (European) man. Gregory Tillet, in ‘Elder Brother’, called Leadbeater a racist who hated being in India at the Theosophical headquarters in the Adyar Branch in Madras. Interestingly, Steiner rejected the term Aryan for the fifth Root Race, and called it “post-Atlantic”. His writings also reflected Eurocentric prejudice that identified subraces in the fifth Aryan race as: Hindu, Sumerian Egyptian, Hellene, European, Nova men and Mongolian. The sixth race made up a new coming of a novel racial expression. It had a group consciousness with telepathic rapport because of high intelligence, intuitive skills and many other qualities. Such imagined ‘singularity’ drastically fell away from the imagined purpose of a coming Christ-like race. Old Tales Old tales always had the ability to move and to inspire because every soul could identify with the longing seeking for the truth. Yet, while the truth was an innate longing, the veracity of some of these tales could be questioned. The following was one such tale. ‘Once upon a time, one thousand million years ago’, a planet orbited around the sun and after a long time was ready for habitation and to receive all forms of life. This virgin planet was Earth. Soon a migration from outer space, an intelligent race, arrived. This was the original human race. Later, other occupants arrived in UFOs. It was believed that this life form was not human, but rather, it was intelligent and ‘beast-like’. How the early race arrived from outer space continues to be a mystery, but its members, were the first to achieve civilization on the earth. They were called Cyclopean. Before coming to the earth they had traversed space and had examined all the great cycles of time known as yugas. They had sought the best Past and Present create Future 47

‘pastures’ of space for their flock. They were recorded as immortals in present day legends: the Godlike Elder Race who preceded human beings. The Greeks and the Indians spoke of visiting gods who were called ‘giants’. They were about twelve feet tall and had both male and females among them. After colonizing much of the Milky Way galaxy, thousands of and worlds came under their direct influence. The gods finally came to the earth to colonize it. Whenever they settled on a new planet, they always created deep, underground empires of enormous cities where they left libraries of tiny crystal records that contained the history of the Universe. These crystals were enclosed in a magnetic field that, at times, found with some sensitive person living on the earth of today. Certain students called this, ‘tuning into the library’ through channelling. This was their legacy for future races who would eventually follow those who were masters. For countless ages after arriving on the earth, they tried to achieve a timeless condition. They wanted to reach a place where they could not only create by mere force of thought but also escape from the binding chains of physical existence. They needed to overcome the forces that kept them bound to physical planets and systems, forever. They took on the conquest of matter, energy, space and time. They searched for the secrets of timelessness, to become immortalized and march unfettered and free across time and stars. Soon after coming to the earth they achieved the power of creative thought and conquered physical matter. They themselves became ‘thought’ because they no longer needed to belong to earth or to the great galaxy. They were free and they were now true members of the universe of thought. After achieving the power of creative thought, the next natural step was to move into the eighth level of thought beyond physical existence. After the being was free to move into the ninth level of the energy–universe: a union with the Creative Spirit-at-Onement The universe of thought was called ‘theta’ because it was the eighth progression in individual life form awareness. The seventh level was the ’sense of purpose’, based on ’thought and energy universes’, and it was the upper limit of physical organism awareness. Such evolution was progressive but slow. Humankind had suffered devolution for thousands of years but was only now graduating from beast-hood to angel-hood. Ancient Knowledge was always around. The Mind and Intellect just never had any clarifying power of the Light. Motive for Epochal Emergence of Prophets Though Spirit was always unborn and imperishable by nature, Hindus like all other faiths, accept that Brahman [God] is Lord of all things and beings. But by ruling over His or Her own nature, He allowed prophets take birth by their own free will and direction. Paganism was never a problem because it always existed. If one believed “a lump of rock was God, then It was God”; if one believed 48 In the Beginning

“the chunk was rock, it was a rock’. That was the message of all prophets of all ages to every seeker who evolved to his well-known stature. Historically, it was the politicians and spiritual leaders who countrified its citizens by giving them crude personifications of reality. Conventional and convenient self-serving rules could and would either enlighten or cloud a citizen’s path. It was always wise and honest leaders of church and society who were faithful to their people in times of predicaments that could help to chart the future of their citizens. It was concern for the unknowable future that brought a new way of looking at the old, if it was a stubborn problem. If leaders of religion and politics were sincere, emerging problems could trigger a renewed life for their citizens. Such actions would activate for them an enlightened non-partisan future. Truthful wise leaders are expected to remain generous, rational and at the same time spiritual. If skilled in pre-reading outcomes of their strategies, individual and collective citizens would benefit from goodness. Common and self-serving individuals who lacked correct leadership skills, walked off into the future leaving institutions in shambles and a history filled with examples of harmfulness to the planet. Influential politicians have for centuries changed the course of natural history through partisan politics. Similarly, self-serving leaders of religion have led the gullible and created alternative paths to genuine religious convictions. The cult of religion therefore changed over thousands of years. Many prophets gave particular messages to bring about political and spiritual changes for their times. Nevertheless over time, this only created administrative splits in religionism. A unification of prophetic messages were repeatedly recorded and they date back far beyond the present time. Prophets, like Jesus, were misunderstood and suffered dire outcomes for their efforts. Jesus lost his position as rabbi and was denied confirmation of his rightly elected priestly position in Jerusalem. Rarely had a prophet, particularly such a great one, paid such a high price for his sincere tries to right an incorrect message. Human understanding lacked guidance on how to reach the Source. His life was a misfortune of huge proportion for himself and for his family, as well as for the people he loved and tried to serve. Even recent efforts at political-spiritual unification by Gandhi, Chinmayananda, Vivekananda, Subhash Chandra Bose and Aurobindo failed to erase the lingering deep-rooted inhospitable effects of the past millenniums. These outcomes were credited to disbelief in a prophet’s genuineness. Conditions were often aggravated by political events. It was intrigues dividing Spirituality from Science that split not only society but countries. The purpose of human existence was lost amid the jungle of selfish materialism: individualised as well as countrified. Past and Present create Future 49

Stories about Past Civilizations The book, ‘Leaves of Morya’s Garden’, by El Morya, was written and dictated over many years with the goal of advancing humankind to prepare it for the New Era. El Morya dictated thoughts on the Vedanta, Buddha, Maitreya and Buddhism. He wrote thoughts on Lemuria, Atlantis, Egypt, Greece and India. Nicholas Roerich, the world renowned Russian painter and philosopher, who spent many years in Tibet, took these messages by channelling from El Morya. On Atlantis Prakriti, or Nature’s voice, rang out in Sinai, the peninsula linking south- west Asia with the northern land between the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba, long held by ancient Egyptian kings. Prakriti assumed the image of Kali, who sheltered the suffering, grieving, confounded, confused and a hurting humanity. She was the reigning Mistress of Kali Yuga or Piscean Age. She was the arch- enemy of Raja Kali, who ruled the Piscean Age with his army of want, anger, greed, possessiveness, pride, jealousy and ego. Two thousand years ago and earlier, Kali was the basis of the cult of Isis and Ishtar. After Atlantis, when a blow was inflicted on the cult of Spirit, the Mother of the World, or Durga. With Her nine Expressions in Nature She began weaving a new firmament. She created spheres of continued activity for progressing enlightenment. In other places She darkened the Mind with closure right under the same vault of heaven. Only partly revealing, Nature veiled Her face and She forbade pronouncing Her name until the hour when the constellations would once again strike. This would happen during the Golden Age of Satya Yuga of Aquarius. She would not become obvious on a planetary scale even during the antiquity of Atlantis. Her flight beyond the planet was through the gates of all the past. Once the Total Mind returned towards the Sun, Kali or Isis would once again radiate her Energy as Fire (Self) into the emerging epoch. Fire the Total Cosmic Self or God was not regarded an abstract symbol by the ancients. It would not be the first time the planet experienced effects of this element as a purifying stream. Humanity vaguely remembered the devastation caused by fusing fire in space with its unfathomable blazing destruction of old civilizations like the Atlantis. Following the time of Atlantis, in the Rites of the Druids, believers walked in a circle following the dawn-to-dusk movement of the Sun, while the chief priest performing the rite walked in the opposite direction. The ritual contained the symbols of both Lesser and Greater knowledge. Lesser Knowledge was developed by following the flow of known energies of earth, water, fire, and air. Greater Knowledge came from facing the current of Cosmic Forces, unknown energies of earthquakes, floods, winds and electrical storms from which appeared chaos. Therefore, in the cults of the Sun, the steps of human ascent were wisely pointed out by addressing all known and unknown Powers and Forces 50 In the Beginning of She (Prakriti) and He (Purusha). These rites of the ancients and the druids were not abstract symbols. They were reflection rites on Reality. They were adorations to centres rotating against the Sun that shaped as well as comforted all special fiery energies. Sages of all civilizations and Druids knew the science of controlling all astral and etheric elements. Lemuria The skins of musk animals were valued in Lemuria as medicine. Druids called the chalice of cedar resin ‘the chalice’. A chalice of cedar resin also figured in the rituals of consecration of the kings of ancient Khorassan (modern Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan). Later, with the loss of realization of the Spirit, the resin was replaced by blood. The connection between the hieroglyphics found in India and the inscriptions on Easter Island (off Chile) were and still are indisputable. The oldest of hieroglyphics were found in Egypt, Babylonia, India and Easter Islands, as well as SW America. They all pointed out that they were Sun-worshippers and they travelled distances and intimately communicated with one another. Thus, the journals that remain preserved were true historical records of a past that once existed. However, many individuals accepted them with some doubt. Facts about the Kalachakra that connected humanity with eternal teachings, spiritual practices, and time-cycles were also neglected and even overlooked intentionally. A curious silence of a doubting humanity rejected knowledge of Time Cycles, Epochs, Cycles of Life and Death or Immortality. Kalachakra is the Buddhist Wheel of Time. Its mandala (geometric circle symbolic of the universe for Hindus and Buddhists) was made out of grains of sand which depicted deities within a representation of Time. It was then destroyed to illustrate the teaching: that all was impermanence. This practice symbolised the distaste for the movement towards materialism as an essential ingredient for human existence. Although considered an exotic art by Indians and Tibetans, the creations of mandala are a joyous colour-filled rite filled with sober symbolism. In various spiritual traditions, the mandala was employed for focusing attention of seekers and adepts. It was a spiritual teaching tool, and for setting up a sacred space. It was and still is used to help in meditation. Although used to access deeper levels of ‘unconsciousness’ while awake, the experience of a mystical sense of oneness with the cosmos in all its varied forms is forgotten. Amid such sacred rites, humanity treated all spiritual knowledge, as well as, information about the existences of past worlds, with equal scorn. Humanity failed to understand that consecutive existences took place because seeds of past karma, performed in previous world cycles, must reveal at a proper Time for a fitting materialization. Therefore, while severe fires, floods and drought are ignored, many wars are being fought for controlling oil. Past and Present create Future 51

Ancient Asia, Egypt and Greece So much more than one can imagine happened in that wonderful world of old Asia, Egypt and Greece. Historically, prominent individuals disappeared without leaving any trace. Ascended Masters repeatedly returned over the last hundreds of years. For many centuries and particularly over the last 200 years, people of note like Saint Germaine appeared and then mysteriously disappeared without leaving a trace. Many have asked if they truly existed. Although such happenings were classified as a myth, in truth, a whole retinue of Masters returned with King Arthur and his Knights. Masters were to Humanity who symbolically died but hid from those they served when their worldly work was completed. Those who could not hide, as when Jesus ‘died’, asked only that they be covered lightly. Then, unknown people came, made an exchange, and left with those individuals which humanity believed dead. Karmic events of humanity demanded from these sages and prophets particular and implied renovations or spiritual ascent. Discoverers of empty tombs and secret cremations did not recall much about these unknown people. Devout women of the time often were the discoverers of empty tombs! Even if such facts were embarrassing to the male dominated society of the day, the most famous reality was the empty tomb of Jesus was discovered by a woman. She was a fact of history and not of legend. Such stories seemed astounding and implausible, but they were ‘ordinary’ feats performed by Masters who pledged to continue their spiritual work through different spaces and time zones. Masters who seemingly appeared ‘dead’ were in samadhi, (state of super-consciousness while in meditation) and samyama (perfect restraint into rhythmic vibration of super-consciousness). If lifeless sand could arrange itself into special designs in response to rhythmic vibrations of concentrated thought, then, how much more had humanity been influenced by cosmic rhythms? Rhythmic vibrations were used in designing urgent paths of spiritual evolution by Masters. Their techniques were scientifically based on knowledge that played a significant role in sacred geometry and in design response. This knowledge known to priestesses, who were Sun- worshippers, was not sorcery. This ancient knowledge was to rationalise and to achieve combined scientific and spiritual principles as the approach to human transformation. Understanding this path was considered an urgent one before the last deluge. Much of that information was lost for over 2000 years or squirreled away in safe havens. That was part of a political and sacred safety measures for crisis planning. With the last deluge, even the last Egyptian ashram and their reincarnating masters were transferred to the Himalayas because of inescapable planetary events. Now the masters do not leave the Himalayas but travel to distant places in their subtle bodies. These Light bearers were once and still are part of every 52 In the Beginning nation and culture. They sought to raise themselves and their people. They led ‘others’ in their search for spiritual reawakening. Mystics claimed the Tribe of David of would come from the Merovingian line of sheppard kings. His descendants through Isaac and Jacob would start the tribes of Israel and Arabia. Many of these souls would reincarnate throughout the Americas, Europe and the Middle East. Through Judah and Solomon, David’s line would create many sages including Moses, Jesus and John who belonged to the Essene principles and rules of life. It is said the Masters and Sages regularly visited the ruins of temples erected Ages before in Egypt, Greece, and all over the world. The structures like the pyramids served as grave walls for many. They served their purpose and they are no longer needed. However, their essence remained and did not lose their freshness. Humanity never understood correlating the past with the future. Yesterday was what fashioned today. Therefore today is the time that once existed. Masters always tried to preserve vibrations of creature service because there was continued vitality to all sacrifices of past existences. It must not be forgotten, that throughout the ages, a great many extraordinary actions were carried out, by many of sages and masters. Not once were their life cycles interrupted. Many were launched into the mysteries of existence, and many names inscribed on empty mausoleums. However, no one person could affirm how events of an epoch came to pass. A few outward signs could be followed but the real channel of life has not yet been written. Now, people are astonished when one like the reincarnating Thutmose III (Isaac) as Saint Germain, according to a tomb inscription, was deceased. Yet he reappeared ten years later, was identified by many people in Europe for at least 200 years and again disappeared. It has been easy to ignore such indisputable proof of reincarnating Masters. Few are and were aware there were histories of the outer world and another history of the inner world. It was not sorcery nor was it magic. Reincarnating Masters helped political and sacred paths of governments and churches in bringing about freedom from rivalry, strife and avoidable conflict. If Alice Bailey, a master astrologer was right, humanity will decide which direction it will take in the coming new age, the Age of Aquarius. It will be both a personal as well as a collective choice made by the popular majority of humanity. It will be triggered through efforts of individual and then collective consciousness. Its focus on the divine is expected to result from wilful cooperative harmlessness. Compounding effects of such combined consciousness would aim towards love, friendship, unity and integrity. Thoughts of Confucius, Pythagoras, and Marcus Aurelius were recorded in the pages of history. Yet, the average person is loath to accept their authority. Their efforts were never lost. In a continuum, such masters returned to make advances where they had left off. Added understanding became extra information. There were no ‘new’ discoveries. All knowledge was sourced from akashic records Past and Present create Future 53 where Cosmic Intelligence was always the Source of True Knowledge. Humanity was ashamed to reveal the cause of its ignorance. Therefore, it is important to make a persistent reminder about life. This includes the cycle of life, death and rebirth. Reincarnation is the key to unlocking the mystery of existence, knowledge and harmony (sat chit anand), -the supreme goal of understanding the purpose of the Tree of Life. Piscean Knowledge Preserved in the Continuity of Cycles Moses delved into Egyptian science, but distanced himself from its knowledge given through the Ten Commandments. For any Religion to have survived the last two thousand years, Science and Spirituality must have coalesced somewhere. In reality, they did not come together for most of humanity for the last 2000 years. As a result, for the last two hundred years, acts of the Yoga Hierarchy became relevant because they industriously re-expressed the Ten Yogic Commandments of Yama and Niyama. These were the first essentials of the eightfold path of Patanjali’s Kriya yoga. The Five ‘’ts’ of the Yoga discipline cautioned against: violence, killing, lying, living a life of untruthfulness, stealing through misappropriation, incontinence of celibacy and not harbouring greed and selfishness. The Five Do’s of the Yoga discipline demanded purity in thought, deed and body, bringing about contentment, practicing spiritually assigned disciplines, aspiring for spiritual learning, and surrendering to God. Patanjali (150BC) who summarised Yoga in 196 aphorisms advised the scientists to follow the heart of science and spirituality in all their secular and spiritual developments. Otherwise, he cautioned, all meetings with expression would become divorced from truth and would always remain unclear. The relationship between present and past teachings could be questioned, as was expected. With each century, humanity underwent a detailed need for explanations. Only a decisive outcome of past information moved the world, along the line of progressive humaneness. The Commandments of Solon were the zenith of wisdom of ancient India, Egypt, Babylon and Greece. Likewise, the birth of Christianity was the finale of a congregation, of a world wisdom of the East and West—a classic epoch. Solon (638-558BC), the Athenian political leader, set up laws defending the principles and importance of private property, state encouragement of economic trades and crafts, and a creation of a strong middle-class. These were ideals which lay at the heart of American prosperity. Their untainted practice in a nation is dubious, but served as a measure of democracy for a nation. Moses meanwhile spoke of a God of the Hebrews, of whom no images were to be made, whether in heaven, earth or at sea. He was to be worshipped. His name was not to be used in vain. Further, the Sabbath was to be kept holy and parents and neighbours were to be honoured. The sanctity of marriage was also mentioned. When dealing 54 In the Beginning with society, Moses defined that man must not steal, give false testimony against another, nor want another’s wife or anything that belonged to another. The significance of these ramiform teachings was never understood by mortals immersed in acquisitiveness and ignorance of the purpose of human existence. During the Age of Darkness there was a greater need for fulfilling, not frustrating their self-purpose. Therefore advice by Masters to all scholarly seekers of the Time was to collect and stockpile in safe keeping everything about the most ancient teachings for a later epoch. Whether they were the Puranas of India, fragments of the Teachings of Egypt, Chaldea, China, Persia, and all teachings of classic philosophy, they were all not to be overlooked. The Vedas, the Bible, the Kabbalah, and the teachings of Jesus about the Christ, would yield plenty of material to understand the gathering signs of the new millennia, the Age of Aquarius. Even if lost, they would in time be available from Akashic records or through sages able to identify reincarnated individuals carrying these wisdoms in the auras of their human expression. It was not an illusion or a figment of human imagination that saw strange ‘emanations’ or auras surrounding man. Theosophists spoke of five magnetic thought emanations or auras emitting from each plant, creature and animal. These auras that could be sensed physically or psychically or both were Kirlian spiritual aura or “life force” which surrounded each living thing. They showed information about its health, vital air, karma, character and spiritual nature. ‘Scientific’ authorities in western knowledge for the longest time refused to recognise that Kirlian photography viewed the body’s energy flow. Spiritual adepts were always able to intuitively picture the physical, astral and the etheric worlds of all expressions, both of the past and of the present. The old custom of India to build a new palace for a new heir to the throne was not without a profound foundation. If it were possible to show how many wounded shadows there were around many thrones, terrors around ancestral portraits, tears shed on personal jewellery, and how many ghosts lived in the walls of homes, humanity would be filled with respect for vibrational emanations of fear, anger, pain and sorrow. In addition, it would be understandable then the physical effects of such emanations of psychic energy on those close to the deceased or suffering could either be constructive or destructive. About Science, one could ponder why the fire of lightning was considered by the priests of Egypt to have special magnetism. Was it mere superstition or knowledge? Why was the knowledge of priests regarded as unfounded by prevailing scientists? Indeed, the ‘facts’ researched by modern-day experts imaginatively “confirm the tempestuousness of these teachers of Egypt” and therefore, their research was considered “unreliable”. Was it not by experimental methods the Egyptian priests arrived at the magnetism of the fire of lightning? In the laboratory of pyramids and in the many temples of Egypt and India, the alchemist-priests familiar with Ancient Mysteries, combined spiritual and Past and Present create Future 55 experimental methods, to draw conclusions about the ‘Creator’s scientific creativity. How else could they have arrived at defining lightning as a condensed state of fiery energy during which powerful discharges of fire were possible? Humanity knew such tensions were dangerous for the planetary forests. However, humanity today does not have the knowledge to properly direct the fury of lightning to produce a purified safe energy. In antiquity, symbolism of such spiritual penetration into science, was understood by India, Egypt and the Middle Eastern civilizations. Portrait images were used as a means of distance communion, similar to the present day Skype technology. Sacred Images similarly responded to spiritual communion. Humanity understood there was no boundary line to limit Knowledge from Spirit. No one was able to understand the infinite greatness of Energy which could be called to a start or a halt. The ancients conscientiously noted all details of various expressions and rejoiced at all such realizations. The ancients understood that these fiery beacons, for instance lightning, thunder, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes and fires caused devastation because of a seared and parched world-planet. Great vigilance by Masters on a spiritual path recurrently restrained these Powers of the tetchy Mother Nature. Only a superior observation and an ‘open heart’ would be able to make humanity understand that every new expression of this fiery world came from the absence of Healing. In days past, when the need arose for a planetary remedial action, the skilled king asked the priest, alchemists and local experts to make observations wherever the planet needed love, light, wisdom and awareness of Nature’s needs. Their reports were made available to the people who trusted their priests. In it was a special significance of trust to respond collectively. Only such selfless expressions of service mirrored their souls’ in a thriving relationship between Nature and humanity. The initiates of ancient Egypt knew the great Law of Karma which ruled the whole Universe. The pyramid was a symbol of the mountain with a broad foundation of humanity and narrow summit towards Reality, Eternity and Harmony (stat chit anand). The chamber, within the pyramid for the king and queen, was understood by the nation’s citizens to be the deserved end-result of a deserved perfection through spiritualism. The rulers, both political and priestly were intimately connected to their people. Whenever there were predictions of approaching ‘cosmic fiery dates’ made possible through calculations, the citizens were intimated about them. In the mysteries of ancient Egypt there was a ritual called ‘The Sharpening of the Sword’. The one to be tested for ‘spiritual suffering’ was placed in deep darkness and tested for qualities of pious austerities. Even Jesus agreed to such tests meted out to him by the seven sages of yore, before allowing him to sermonize about what He had learned in India, Nepal and Tibet. Here in the 56 In the Beginning

Temple of Sakkara, Jesus was approached by great hierophants, who disclosed to him some of the ancient mysteries. After many days and months of isolation, Jesus was expected to emotionally break down while imprisoned in a dark room. Over this prolonged isolation, Jesus spent his time in prayer and meditation. His Knowledge from the East was transformed into a personal Wisdom allowing Him to experience both the Stillness and the Silence of the Word. Much later, Jesus was repeatedly approached transiently by a series of illumined hierophants that tempted him with material comforts of wealth, knowledge, food, fame, wine and woman. When the tempter was unsuccessful, everything in the dungeon sank into darkness. Lastly, after many months, a high priest, appointed as Tempter (Satan), approached the seeker and out of the darkness, the voice of the tempter would ask; “Brother, what hast thou seen and heard?” If successful, as a qualified seeker of the Ancient Mysteries, the tested one would answer, “I was honoured by the presence of the Great Hierophant (God). Therefore, be gone” (Aquarian Gospel). Even Plato and other Greek masters of old underwent training into the mysteries before continuing to explain to others the purpose of human expression. In old cults there was a period called, ‘the condition of opening seven treasures’. The priestess lived on the eighth floor and the entrance to this area was restricted. The stairs were covered with the skins of leopards so no sound penetrated the sanctuary. This condition reached by ‘opening treasures’ was so revered that violation of the rules was considered a religious offence. The Seven Secret Treasures that allowed unfolding the Secret Doctrine of Wisdom included sincerity, justice, faith, philanthropy, heroism, love and victory over grief. In the mysteries of “The Sharpening of the Sword,” the Great Architect assembled Masters for eternity. It was meaningless to suppose that certain parts of the Universe were completed and remained static from the grace of the Source. A great deal was made of the term advancement through evolution, but people did not understand this process in its authenticity. In truth, Egypt was great in exercises of progressive spiritual attainments up to the time of Solomon. By extension, Buddha, in a certain sense, received the same chalice from Egypt. Thus, the foundations of Wisdom were harmoniously moulded with the Knowledge of scriptures. The Vedas too had a connecting link with all former races. Often many of the Covenants grew in an evolutionary manner, but sometimes because of the depth of vicious karma, the process became non- evolutionary. However, there was always an order of succession in Creation. All that was revealed was in ‘equilibrium with the peoples’. The qualities of life, the realization of the path, were all founded on successiveness – an uninterrupted ordered extension into Infinity. Often, the hierarchy of masters and prophets were represented as being finite but the importance and agenda of the hierarchy of sages and masters extended into Infinity as well. . There were many people in the world who understood the character of the Past and Present create Future 57

East. Because of its nature as Sanatan (eternally everlasting) its indigenous spirituality about the sense of God, and its ancient venerations were celebrated even more. Many ashrams hoarding their knowledge were transferred to the Himalayas because the atmosphere of other locations had progressively become intolerable. The last Egyptian ashram was transferred there because of well- known events in Egypt and the adjoining regions. The Palaeolithic Age over 2 million year ago was a prehistoric era. The arid climate of northern Africa became increasingly hot and dry, forcing the populations of the area to concentrate along the Nile valley. For 120,000 years after the Nile became the lifeline of Egypt. A settled agricultural economy and a more sophisticated, centralized society became a cornerstone in the history of human civilization. Therefore, at the beginning of a past Armageddon all the ashrams gathered in cave dwellings of the Himalayas. Here was where all Knowledge of Satya, Treta and Dwapara Yugas (Taurus, Arian and Piscean) were stored during the most recent Kaliyuga. Prophesies Some modern thinkers today believe the present krita period of transition from Piscean to Aquarius will be of human tribulation. An impending Battle of Armageddon will precede a seven-year peace plan between Israel and its enemies. According to Christian interpretations, the Antichrist after being released from an abyss, will gather armies from Gog (Turkey) and Magog (Europe and Asia) and from the four corners of the earth. They will encamp surrounding the “holy ones” and the “beloved city” (Jerusalem). Fire will come down from God, out of heaven and devour Gog and Magog after the Millennium, and the Devil, who deceived them. Do such facts predict a fiery World War III when annihilation will happen by the Mother’s Power of Fire? Agni is a Hindu deity and one of the most important of their Vedic gods who is the acceptor of sacrifices because Agni is a messenger from and to the other gods. He is ever-young, because the fire is relit every day, and is therefore immortal. Agni has two heads, one marks immortality and the other marks a symbol of life that made the transition into the Hindu pantheon of gods, without losing his importance. With Varuna the god of water and heavenly oceans and Indra the god of rainfall and storms, Agni he is one of the supreme gods in the Rig Veda, one of the four canonical sacred texts of Hinduism. The link between heaven and earth, the deities and the humans, is connected with every Vedic sacrifice, taking offerings to the other world in Agni’s fire. Agni Yoga and their initiation ceremonies are based on these truths. The mysteries and fiery initiations that Masters like, El Morya, aspired for the initiates into the Mysteries, described God in a theosophical term as “The Great Architect.” He said the ‘building’ or creation was eternal (Sanatan), and not static. Because these mysteries of the East and Egypt also existed in times 58 In the Beginning of Atlantis, when Atlantis sank, many teachings were transferred to Egypt, and other places like the Shambala. The thread of contact between past civilizations of Egypt, Greece and Mesopotamia was also transferred to India and Tibet. Egypt and the pyramids may be far older than archaeologists believe them to be. Not long after the Buddha received the chalice, the next appearance of a Master was not far from Egypt. In fact, it took place in Europe. While the Buddha focused on building the temple within, the mysteries of Egypt morphed into something akin to the 18th century Secret Societies of the West. Egypt had a lofty culture, but this does not mean the present culture is near to the ground. Culture was once also centred in the north of India, but only a limited number of people had knowledge. Castes hindered the growth of India’s culture. Buddha wished to abolish the caste imprudence by teaching about the Lord who instilled all with joy. Pharaoh Tuthmosis III – the Hebrew sage, Isaac Levi, who ruled ancient Egypt from 1500–1447 BC, organized the first esoteric brotherhood of initiates founded on the principles and methods familiar to those perpetuated by the Rosicrucian Order of the present-day. Need for rejuvenation was in Europe and many sages began appearing there. Isaac, a son of the Southern Hebrew tribe of Levi was an espoused heir to the House of David. Isaac’s son of the tribe of Dan would create the Carollingian connection with a future European royalty. The Merovingian Dynasty of David was the ancestor of the Northern Hebrew tribe that fathered Moses, Aaron, Solomon, Akhenaton, Judah, Jesus and John. Moses was educated in Egypt and initiated at Heliopolis, the ancient city of Egypt outside modern Cairo. Once it was one of three major cities of Egypt: Thebes, Memphis and Heliopolis. Moses, in around 1300 BC (over a thousand years after Abraham), became the High Priest of the Brotherhood under the short reign of Ramesses I: The first Pharaoh of the Exodus. Moses of the North Hebrew tribe was in Egypt during the reign of Ramesses II (1303-1213BC) when he was elected by the Sothern Hebrews as their chief. He adapted to his people and merged their beliefs with his acquired ideas of science and philosophy which he had learned from the Egyptian mysteries. The ancients of both Hebrews knew and respected the one infinite element, Fire symbolising Absolute Self, which assimilated all other individualised Self’s into Infinite Total Self. The teachings of India, Greece and Egypt upheld this truth as the cornerstone of the foundation of Truth. The inclusion of this understanding in the theory of Agni affirmed that Fire was the only godly element that did not pass from one state into another. It was always symbolically the starting place of life in higher spheres. Here, disconnected energies were attracted to one another in varying combinations of expression, excluding Fire. The law of goal-fitness determined the combined end-product revealed. Since all planetary combinations of all surrounding energies gathered under the law of goal-fitted- ness, the idea was expanded into the model of Infinity. Past and Present create Future 59

Through understanding the Law of Reciprocal Action, it became possible to explain the effect of this law in the common lives of people who lived a long time ago. They reincarnated to a condition of: “What man gives that he gets”. Everything returned in a circle back to its origin in a multiplied measure. Everyone understood a present life was an expression in the beyond and in repeated returns to earth. Yet they remained unmindful to the Law of Karma. The ancients believed any new path amid the dark oppression of past emanations suffered misfortunes because these were caused by past legacies. A high-spirited joyful life beyond the grave was believed as truth in ancient times. Even personal belongings of the deceased were buried with him or her for their later use. Measures were taken for the ‘purification of space’ around the burial place. Like the Wiccans, Hindus, to this day, offer prayers only after purification of the external and interior spaces through divinization, worship, and waving lights to all creation: to earth, fire, water, air and space. Apart from purification of space, there was the law of emanations (Deuteronomy 33:2) already known in Egypt. False knowledge or Gnosis was considered a heresy by churchians. Throughout history, a succession of historic prophesies were issued as ‘streams of light and life’. They were and still are considered coming from a Sun as an act of emanation of a future happening. Unfolding what is latent in a germ was considered an act of evolution. Meanwhile an emanation of all the qualities of a developing germ from and innate life was an unfolding of events that created intrinsic history. Prophesies did come to fruition when political conditions were ripe to allow an event’s expression. The Assassins once posed themselves as a military threat to Sunni believers of Islam. For the following 1000 years they metamorphosed but continued thriving through violence, as predicted. Sunnis and Shia The Middle East came under the influence of political pressures under the name of Islam. Shia, known as” Twelvers” believed the Twelfth Imam did not die but rather, disappeared in 874 AD, and he would return as the “rightly guided leader,” or Mahdi. A second Shia group, the Ismailis, or the “Seveners,” followed a line of Imams who challenged the Seventh Imam and supported a brother, Ismail. The Alawi, of Syria and Lebanon, was today a branch of Ismaili Shia’ism, as was the Druze religion, which originated in Fatimid Egypt. Druze, Ismailis and Alawi shared beliefs in emanations of God, in supernatural hierarchies, and in the transmigration of souls. With these political happenings, the Middle East humanity suffered religious torment viewed by each splinter group of Islam, as justified. The destruction of civilizations always ended on the path of burning as they entered their closing stages. Arabs and Muslims were historically duped and degraded, not only by Europeans and Asians, but they were also enslaved by 60 In the Beginning fellow Arabs. In “Great Issues of a Race from 4500 BC to 2000 AD,” Chancellor Williams, a visionary, identified an understanding about these groups and their future status in the modern world. Such understanding of past chronological deeds was to caution humanity about the deep insight about actions and their emanations. The ancients knew how important it was to conserve or discount each good karmic build-up. Politically or religiously enforced private property rights were karmic systems designed to keep a small minority in power so they could and would consume more. This power of minority existed and continues to do so as a parasite on the common people who remained in the vicious cycle of poverty. Acts for a Common Good were also understood. Many civil societies used multi- party shared actions for spiritual penetration to bless country and its people. Sacred ritualised purifying havans were performed as sacrifice to the fire god (Agni). They were symbolic communications with gods of earth, water, fire and wind. The chanting of mantras was for communal satisfactoriness and sufficiency for all. In antiquity, ‘spiritual penetration’ for the Common Good of humanity was understood by India, Egypt and the Hebrew. These races used consecrated idols and portrait images as means of communion. The true Christianity of Jesus was therefore a ‘wrapping up’ of that old world wisdom. The yogic commandments, of Vyasa and of Moses, were the loftiness of a universal religion, fit for all whether in ancient India, Europe, Egypt or Babylon. However, disruptions were created by those blinded by lust and materialism. For the following 24000 years individual and collective self-serving agendas were aggravated by blindness of the Total Intellect of humanity distanced from the Sun. Despite the Piscean Age of Kaliyuga, there existed a definite continuity between eras. Thus, the ancient cultures of India, Mesopotamia, Greece, China, and Egypt were and continue to be linked with the Masters of the Vedas, the Old Testament and with Jesus. The true impressions of this fact must be brought back from the subtle world and retained today as information gathered from Akashic Records. The lives of the Masters and their works, from far-off worlds, should be resurrected and saved as important information. While some such memories persist in the form of legends, myths and fairy tales, they do not convince people. They need to be unravelled for their Truth. Such obliviousness to the past and the future always limited man’s consciousness and made him a slave to a flawed present. Evidence of Past & Impending Cataclysms According to Henry Howarth in his book, The Mammoth and the Flood “a great cataclysm or catastrophe occurred by which the mammoth and his companions were overwhelmed over a large part of the earth’s surface.” He further stated “the same catastrophe was accompanied by a great and sudden Past and Present create Future 61 change of climate in Siberia, by which the animals which had previously lived in temperate conditions were frozen . . . and were never once thawed until the day of their discovery”. He explained that no “other theory [explained] the perfect preservation of these great elephants”. Recounting histories of apocalypses on earth was and continues to be speculative. The theory presented by the Columbia University professors, Walter Pittman and William Ryan, connected the legends of the Great Flood to the collapse of an earthen dam across the Bosporus Strait. Believed to have been situated near the Black Sea, this mega-disaster likely occurred around 5600 BC. When the last Great Ice Age began thawing out about 24,000 years ago, melting glaciers caused the oceans to rise. The higher sea levels allowed the Black Sea to connect with the Sea of Marmara, the Aegean and the Mediterranean seas. The Sea of Marmara, situated in the north-western of part Turkey between Europe and Asia, was connected to the Black Sea through the Bosporus and to the Aegean Sea. The waterway became the Bosporus Strait. The earthen dam formed much later, and became visible after the sea level had receded once again. The pile of mud and debris blocked the water from the Sea of Marmara from reaching the Black Sea, causing the latter to shrink to the size of a lake. With good farmland available, huge migrations brought people into what was now the Black Sea basin. When another period of climatic instability settled around 7500 years ago, the water level rose again, causing the dam to burst and flood the basin. Pittman and Ryan contended that this was the catastrophe recounted in The Epic of Gilgamesh and other stories. The Epic of Gilgamesh is poetry from Sumerian legends about Babylon and building the walls of Uruk. Although interesting as a theory, it did not explain why an ark had to be built or why the entire planet was pounded by forty days of rain. By extension, it did not account for the period of intense cold mentioned by legends from India and several other cultures. In India, legend spoke of a flood in which the landmass of South India, Kumari Kandam, sank during a great flood. Also, there was a legend that Manu was warned by a fish about the coming flood. Glaciologist, Lonnie Thompson, used the data he collected from ice cores near the equator, to deduce that a mass extinction event took place some 5200 years earlier in around 3100 BC. Thompson reported that a steep drop in global temperature was followed by an intense period of warming triggered by unusually large corona ejections from the sun. The Holocene Impact Working Group, meanwhile, blamed the Great Flood on a comet that struck the Indian Ocean in 2800 BC. The impact generated a fireball, tsunamis, and a volcanic winter enough to wipe out eighty per cent of the human race worldwide. Corroborating the thesis, Marie-Agnes Courty, of the European Centre for Prehistoric Research, suggested that space particles found in soil samples from different locations around the planet, confirmed that an 62 In the Beginning asteroid or comet had come down from the sky about 4800 years ago. The Holocene Group uncovered an unexpected dose of iron, nickel and chromium in many sea fossils, which further proved that an ocean impact had taken place at a time consistent with the Great Flood myths. The Holocene Working Group of scientists from Australia, France, Ireland, Russia and USA, hypothesized that meteorite impacts on the earth were more common than previously imagined. Around 10,000 BC, a sprawling population of prehistoric Native Americans, who were hunter-gatherers of New Mexico, lived in this area. Known as the Clovis people, they lived in that area some 13,500 years ago. They used spears, and occupied much of the United States but they perished in a massive geologic cataclysm. About eighty per cent of the mega-fauna was also affected. The impact of the fallen comet may have produced a huge fire, which was followed by disastrous flooding and the onset of the Younger Dryas ice age. There was evidence of such an extraterrestrial collision 12,900 years ago which resulted in a faunal extinctions, and a big freeze plunged Europe into the Ice Age. Meanwhile geologists have blamed a sudden climatic shift for the disappearance of the extinct mammals. The sudden temperature drop triggered arid conditions that caused massive dust storms in the eastern United States. The combined effect of these changes left both people and animals without enough food to survive. However, in January 2009, a study from the University of Bristol, argued that a five-degree hike in global temperatures have spawned mega- wildfires in North America and Europe. That would explain the ash layer excavated at many Clovis sites. All this seemed to fit with the forensics of the prehistoric Clovis culture of American Natives 13,500BC years ago. The Clovis culture, a prehistoric Native American culture, first appeared in the archaeological record of North America around 13,500 years ago, at the end of the last ice age. The Clovis people, or Palaeo-Indians, were regarded as the first human inhabitants of the New World, and the ancestors of the indigenous cultures of North and South America. This assumption was recently contested by various archaeological finds which claimed the Clovis people existence was much older. However, solid evidence of pre-Clovis human inhabitation was nonexistent. Researchers further theorised the Clovis people crossed the land bridge over the Bering Strait from Siberia to Alaska when sea levels were low. This allowed them to follow a southward path through an ice-free corridor east of the Rocky Mountains of present-day western Canada. The culture lasted about half a millennium, from about 11,200 to 10,900 years ago. Clovis people were noticeably successful, efficient big-game hunters and foragers but they were perhaps most skilled in hunting huge animals such as the Ice Age mammoths and the mastodons. Whether they drove the mammoth to extinction, the so-called Pleistocene Overkill Theory – remained controversial, Past and Present create Future 63 keeping in mind that Archaeology was purely a theoretical effort. Scientists however, have long believed the dinosaur extinction, of 65 million years ago was caused by a comet of massive proportions that struck the waters off the Yucatan Peninsula. In either case, only those creatures who took cover underground (reptiles and small mammals), in caves (bats and humans), or beneath the sea, survived the disaster. In addition, some researcher claimed the 10,000 BC impact coincided with a huge volume of liquid released from the massive Laurentide Ice Sheet. It once covered North America (Antarctica, Greenland, much of Canada) 2.6 million years ago to as recently as 11,700 years ago. Rushing down through the St. Lawrence River, the freshwater desalinated the sea enough to bring the Gulf Stream’s warm-water conveyor to a halt. This triggered freezing temperatures in the northern Atlantic. This event kick-started the Younger Dryas also called the Big Freeze. This was the last ice age which preceded the present Holocene. Speaking of legends, ‘West and Fire-stone,’ recounted many ancient tales as eyewitness accounts of the comet strike. In ‘Earth under Fire’, Paul La Violette, cited a similar story from the British Isles. In Fingerprints of the Gods, Hancock presented his theory that Atlantis was dislodged from its perch during a cataclysmic shift of the earth’s crust. Instead of sinking, however, it drifted south to the place now called Antarctica. Because the polar land mass was buried under a mile-thick ice sheet, no one was ever able to excavate it for signs of past habitation. Pole shift was also proposed to account for the carcasses of mammoths frozen in time, along the Arctic Circle. Under Hapgood’s theory, Siberia and Canada were pushed up into the Arctic during the same tumultuous shift that saw Atlantis shift to the South Pole. Naturally, the mainstream scientific community scoffed at Hapgood’s hypothesis within hours of its publication. His PhD was in history, not geology. Still, when Albert Einstein wrote the foreword to Hapgood’s 1955 book, ‘Earth’s Shifting Crust,’ he thought the idea warranted further investigation. Besides the cataclysms described, physicists Richard Muller and Robert Rohde, of University of California, Berkeley, have verified five major extinctions in the life of the planet. By far the most famous episode involved the extinction of dinosaurs. In ‘The Shiva Hypothesis,’ written in 1996, authors, MR Rampino and BM Haggerty, argued that recurring galactic changes produced increased comet/asteroid activity and other interstellar interferences. According to Muller and Rohde’s calculations, humanity was once again due for another big Ice Age. Reading, “Something Gamma This Way Comes”, discussed this in more detail. With the coming of the Age of Aquarius, the humanity is now stabilizing through the krita period of transition: from sightlessness to a view of revelations. With increasing harmlessness most vestiges of harmfulness face metamorphosis for a common good. 64 In the Beginning

Nurturing Humanity of Living Planet Historically, welfare of nations was always moulded around a single living personality. There are many examples of this throughout history, even if these happened in the most diverse and far-flung regions. Many credited this confirmation of fact to revealing a Nation’s personality, but such notions were short-sighted. Those who were far-sighted understood that such conditions were a synthesis of a Nation’s people ambitions. They were coming about with the help and supremacy of a hierarchy of masters. In all such expressions of a nation’s people the Masters caring for a humanity focused on their needed current for change. These ‘guardian angels’ empowered the direction of ‘people power’ wanting expression as well as fruition. If people personality had the power of fire of both realized and unrealized thoughts, it was known to gather enough influence to make a close association between master and humanity. Indispensable in this equation was a definite quality of a Common Goodness in the people themselves. There had to be faith, devotion, and trust embedded in that Fire demanding change towards harmlessness. People would be aware of the supremacy and reason of human existence. Cosmic masters, both living in the physical, as well as, those in the astral and etheric worlds must already have linked with an increasing majority of a spiritualised people ambition. The quality of authority making national links between master and a nation’s people would be harmonious. Only such conditions enabled connections to work like a flaming machine. Nations progressed by affirming with their wise leaders, both mortal and etheric. Therefore, for intelligent nations, a link with the hierarchy of masters was always reciprocally realized. For eons, through repeated reincarnations, these masters continued to direct the path and history of people nations and empires. Cataclysms normally resulted from the natural conflict between the spatial fire (Sun) and the flaming sediments of the planet. Their mutual impact created grades of violent upheavals that caused degrees of great destruction and change in the earth’s crust. The notion of destruction by floods and fire and accompanying fall of the sky were part of mythologies of the west coast of India. The Himalayan range was said to result from a folding of the northern land mass. Also the islands, once found on the east of India’s incline, were shifted on the western tip of the continent. The planetary gases that were produced by poisonous decomposition brought into action the unbridled energy, of Kamaduro. This meant that karma, of serious misdeeds committed by humanity, determined the size of the deluge. When the physical nature of the planet was not in harmony with its spatial fire of the Sun, the cataclysms were scorching. The brilliant matter of galaxies reunited these disparate elements, but darkness paralysed them and a cataclysm occurred repeatedly in all its ferocity through Time Cycles of Eons. Past and Present create Future 65

These great encounters recurrently and regularly changed the physical condition of the planet. Archaeology has long revealed the history of mankind was always a struggle against natural disasters which theosophy claimed were triggered by trespasses of humanity against Mother Earth. Before the Great Deluge, when people feasted and made merry, while there was still time, Noah was already selecting the strongest oaks to build his ark and choosing the best specimens of plant and creature to save. Yet many oblivious to the Masters, drowned. Strangely, each of these eras left their mark in a series of cataclysmic events that were without an end. These obvious vestiges of past lives were important when comparing experiences of humanity today. Each epoch left its echo. They were footprints left behind by past civilizations as a series of shifting blunders made in spatial records. In many of these repetitive records were never found, because reincarnating peoples were always reborn with new energies and new decisions that were added to past equations. A likeness of time was affirmed, but restoring the planet had its own new uplifting forces. Into these changes were added fresh metamorphosing energies. Thus, Babylon fell in 331 BC, Greece in 146 BC and finally, Rome declined in 476 AD. Although Egypt was of lofty culture and its knowledge base known to old civilizations, its wisdom was open to only a limited class of people. Castes and Castism hindered the advancement of even a towering Vedic culture. Buddha wished to abolish this social inequity and therefore selected disciples for achieving a casteless society. There were many mortals who arrived at ascension because they studied deep Vedic truth in Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Taoism or in the Ancient Mysteries. All who studied achieved great spiritual heights. Gradually, the sands of time covered civilizations, and waters engulfed Indian, Egyptian, Tibetan, Chinese, Greek and Islamic empires. For purposes of change, from the previous to the present cycle (kaliyuga to satyuga), there was now approaching the fieriest and greatest destruction for reconstruction. Space was drenched with blazing energies waiting for reorganization. For eons, consuming of old hindrances was declared by a fiery purification through cataclysms. All new ascents were conditioned by the purification through Fire. After that, purification of spirit lay at the basis of change. The highest master yogis were not instruments, nor were they passive recipients receiving orders. They were co-workers with the creator. Therefore, when the fires of the Cosmos were strained, manifesting fiery purification was unavoidable. The aim of cataclysms was to establish atonement through the elemental purification of civilizations. This happened through earthquakes, floods, hurricanes/typhoons and electrically triggered fires. In truth, Egypt’s attainments were great up to the time of Solomon (Pharaoh Amenhotep III). According to the Masters, Buddha not only studied the Vedas but also received the secret of the chalice from Egypt. The foundations of wisdom 66 In the Beginning were thus moulded harmoniously with the Vedas to link them with former races. These agreements continued to grow in an evolutionary manner, but sometimes, because of the intensity of karma, the process became devolutionary. Over time, there was an order in succession. At each defined stop there was expression of an equilibrium and stability in the Total Mind of the peoples. The quality of their life and the actualization of their maturing path were founded on successively thriving extensions towards Infinity. The initiates of ancient Egypt knew the great law which ruled the whole Universe. The pyramid represented the mountain with a broad foundation and a tapered summit. The chamber of the king and queen indicated that crowning perfection was expected from them at the approach of all cosmic cycles. These ancient signals and calculations were made possible because its sciences were traced from ancient times. Cosmic dates were confirmed by calculations, as well from inscribed tablets. They documented that life of humanity was influenced by the Eternal Magnet. Influence of Cosmic Magnet on Creation and Periods of Time (Manvantara) In the Cosmos, everything is connected and held together by a drama of ever active forces of attraction. This force is magnetism. Helena Roerich’s spiritual teacher gave her insight into this mechanism which she communicated through her book in the section called ‘Infinity’. She stated that, everything “communicates to each other. Everything is mutually attracted and everything is reflected in the bottomless ocean of creativity.” If this was true, then in essence, the Cosmos had to be a hologram of the Spirit. Essence, therefore, contained the “core of Spirit”. This “core” was therefore a cosmic magnet that attracted other “cores” that were in consistency with the quality of their vibrations, that similar attracts similar. If the power of attraction depended on the spiritual might or a “momentum” of the essence it did it on the level of its vibrational frequency. The higher the vibration, the mightier was the essence. In the multi-dimensionality of the Cosmos, the highest frequencies of energy vibrations belonged to the essences of higher and larger consciousness, which expressed themselves through a greater number of dimensions. The Divine Hierarchy of Ascended Masters aligned itself in conformity with the law of the cosmic magnet. Every essence took a place according to the ‘need’ momentum of the magnet. In fact, the cosmic magnet was the mechanism that ‘gear-sticked’ the law of unity. Its action created a constant inclination to reconnect everything that was separated – spontaneous magnetic reconnection was for purposes of combined planetary development. Its magnetism conformed to the likeness of their combined purpose. Although these opposites were part of an advancing unity, their separation created strain on the astral and ethereal magnetism. In a stable physical magnet, Past and Present create Future 67 opposites attract to become united. With separation, the power of attraction strains opposites. This then, is the creative Force of the Father Creator of the Universe which is filled with the Power of Life obvious to all able to intuitively “see’’ in Mother Earth. Therefore, life and magnetism are the essence of creative expression on individual and cosmic levels. Whenever the Cosmos displaced magnetic powers, the balance of planetary spheres was broken, causing cataclysms. With equilibrium between Force and Power abolished, the godly powers of space (earth, water, fire and wind in space) are attracted to the new tensions. The cosmic magnet again strains itself to harmonize the cosmic symmetry of ‘Infinity’. In the end, there is unification of manifestation of Creation because of the cosmic magnet’s centripetal action. This “striving for the centre” by the cosmic magnet becomes active as the law of gravitation. It fastens essences in space. Elemental atoms visible in the microcosm as electrically charged electrons and other particles, once more are held together by the electro-magnetic force, “as above, so below”. The consequential effect of centripetal action of the cosmic magnet brings all forms of existence into one point. There are other cosmic laws and forces in infinity. They prevent this happening during the Manvantara, or periods of expression. A constant flow of Love energy flows into Spirit’s centrifugal tendency to creation and expression. Enormous stress and strain are present at every point of Infinity. Together, these forces trigger a rotation of essences in creation. The cyclic course of expression and dissolution follows the law of the cosmic magnet. The result is the universal process of involution and evolution. Intelligent Cosmic Laws Govern Creation There always was a Trinity of Cosmic Laws: The Law of Love that flooded entire Creation divine energy; the Law of the Cosmic Magnet that spans Space and Time attracting each towards the All; and the Regulating Law of Karma. Together, they uncompromisingly produced the Infinity of Cosmos. In their multitudinous expressions, all the heavenly bodies rotated, attracted and drew energies into never-ending orbits. They saturated the Universe with celestial bodies, each with their specific and characteristic core spirit for the entire manvantara or period of manifestation. Humanity experienced the magnetism of the cosmic magnet from the celestial essences through seven rays of consciousness. These were a series of descending emanations radiating from the Seven Sages who were assigned ancestors of all humanity. Their energies vibrated rays of visible colours of the rainbow. In response, humanity sends thought energy connecting to the magnets of these higher essences. Thoughts of human attitude and aspiration coalesced with the cosmic magnet and assisted in humanity’s creative efforts for both harmlessness and harmfulness. 68 In the Beginning

Every human is a Spirit particle. Under the power of the cosmic magnet, this particle produced signal energy that dictated the direction of human ambition. The cosmic magnet attracted and met with people and circumstances that helped fulfil every individual’s spiritual purpose. The Cosmic Magnet constantly attracted circumstances that forced him or her to make choices which conformed to aspirations or balanced with karma. When the cosmic magnet attracted parts that were predetermined to be blended, then all obstacles became blotted out by the power of attraction. Therefore, overcoming obstacles led to predetermined results. Currents of the cosmic magnet were immutable. Indeed, the holy magnet was the might of being! The cosmic magnet worked not only on individuals, but also on the entire race of civilizations. Races communicated and replaced one another in compliance with the action of this magnet. It remained under the force of unification and evolution giving humanity a harmonious direction. Although the mechanism was automatic, it was important for planetary changes. Awareness of the cosmic magnet would help humanity understand all radical planetary changes. When the spirit was able to accept the essence of the magnet, then it was able to penetrate the higher spheres of thoughtfulness. Knowledge about the law of magnetic attraction, and its practical application in life, would grant understanding of the highest fields of existence from physical, to astral to ethereal. Obviously, the cosmic magnet always predetermined a planetary phenomenon. When the layers of people’s deeds were wrapped into gloom, then the cosmic magnet established a conforming phenomenon. Heavenly bodies, representing Essences of Light, helped both the planet and humans in their ambition towards Evolution. Such strains in creative power were a compulsory condition of creation despite dire circumstances of harmfulness or harmlessness that accompanied fulfilment. The existing civilization established different means and mechanisms allowing people to avoid pain and strain. Intermediate taking the form of painkillers, sedatives, hypnotics and Minds of healthcare providers were made obvious by Self to help every and all individual healer’s efforts. Successes as well as failures in healing were balanced with individual karma of the needy and with their spiritual development. A delay in balancing karmic responsibilities deprived individuals the challenge of the creative strain. All results of health and disease, both individual and communal, are necessary to expand the force of the magnet to balance the Trinity of Cosmic Laws. Accepting responsibility and challenging personal weaknesses triggered the laws into action and even nations created efforts towards harmlessness. The stressful lives of creative people demanding harmlessness for all are example of devotion to spiritual Light. The human magnet creates magnetic conditions able to direct Cosmic Power and Force incapable of causing harm. Past and Present create Future 69

Personal and Cosmic Responsibility Bringing about Oneness The Law of Differentiation or demarcation varies with the outward appearance brought about as a feeling or chitta about a being. The Law of Blending was always about The One. Differentiation takes origin from the outermost spheres of the ‘other’. When in Onement with Spirit, differentiation stopped seeking The One. This fact affirmed that Unity was always the core and universal nature of the Law of Being, both on an individual and cosmic scale. The Universe was created by the beauty of Cosmic Union between Purusha (Father) and Prakriti (Holy Spirit). The level of human consciousness as Love was proportionate to the planetary evolution, not in dissociation, but in a limitless drive for harmony. If humanity could strengthen its power to make the cosmic connection, the path of humanity striving toward Infinity would be easy. The divergence in points of view about the Universe and purpose of human existence was because of a collective human approach coming from diverse fields of thought and understanding. To the earth dweller, creation could not penetrate beyond the physical plane and all its wants aspired for that which was visible. To the spiritualist creation was both the means and end towards ascendance. Despite such divergence in purpose, there was essential order and harmony in the multiplicity of the Universe. The higher the revealed conflict the greater the outcome of that jostling for Creation’s crowning gift: Perfection. It manifested itself as a combined ‘life principle’ in all things of being and non-being in any particular civilization. It took time but it followed a definitive orderly path. It was tweaked by the grand artist who encouraged a ‘Cosmic Connection’. This mega-soul of humanity was reinventing the Wheel of Time and of striving towards the ‘Ultimate Union’. Individual souls or Masters, who lived on earth and in the ethers, were sent as gifts to humanity. Their etheric existence among humanity came with a world vision that took creativity towards the Cosmic Magnet. Truth, which was always predestined by the Cosmos, can be reached. But the Spatial Fire (Self) needed a vision of the Infinite. To the spirit ‘self’ who approached the Spatial Fire (Self), the limitless vision was granted. The next physical birth of humanity is conditioned by contact with a karmically manifested cosmic consciousness. The quality, appearance and dynamic Force of Creativity depend on the spirit of the Book of Life. Therefore, evil thinking was the begetter of monstrosity. The force of consciousness produced a matching reflex in the substance of space and the karmic effects remained close to the karma which created them. A mediocre consciousness would beget easily extinguishable sparks, but a potentially growing consciousness could create giants. It is a factory of good and evil. Therefore, the quality of thought in civilization was always important. Individuals carved a picture of evolution of all life in space. Masters have always urged humanity to do better and not to besmirch the 70 In the Beginning waves of the Light of Awareness. Their spheres were of dazzling beauty. Besmirching them was like destroying a wonderful flower. Teaching pure thoughts would eventually penetrate a people’s consciousness. The sower of such thought gathers the harvest. Therefore, the Mother of the World (Prakriti) is all-seeing and cooperation with her is unavoidable. The condition of the substance occupying space, thus pierced by the combinations of new rays, allows the beginning of the New Era. All Good should be gathered. It is better to live near the Celestial Flower. The earthly flowers are the sole living bond between Earth and Heaven. In the creation of floral pollen there are crystals of pranic life force. Flowers from Heaven settle down on Earth and like beacons of salvation, stand even on snowy mountains. 3. Shielding Humanity

Reincarnation Once upon a time, Narada the heavenly sage of Indian mythology accidentally stepped on an ant. Feeling guilty he prayed and granted the ant immediate liberation. At once as he prayed thus, he saw the ant experience millions of cycles of birth-and-death. With each birth-and-death of the ant Narada witnessed that it was changing until finally it gained liberation as a human being. All this, the ant would have experienced in untold epochs (yugas) through incalculable lives. Narada especially noticed that his blessing did not miss a single struggle in the ant’s path towards perfection. Each expression must travel The Path. How, one must travel was always a matter of free will. Reincarnation is the passing from one life form to another. When the stockpile of karmic coinage runs out, like a spent battery, the physical and less subtle pranic bodies of vital life fall off like a ripened fruits fall off the tree. The subtle body now separated from the material body begins its next journey toward another earthly birth in a new body. Between a death and rebirth, the individual lives in astral or etheric regions, sometimes just frittering his time away, but sometimes learning and changing for a better and wiser birth than the previous one. The time spent in this intermediate state can be anything from hours to centuries. This is precisely determined by the individual’s past karma. The ‘holiday’ ends when the money (karma) runs out. “He neither sees, nor smells or tastes. He does not speak, he does not hear. He does not think, and does not know. For, all the organs, detach themselves from his physical body, and unite with the subtle. Then the point of his heart, where the nerves join, is lighted by the light and fire of the Self, and by that light he departs either through the eye, or through the gate of the skull, or through some other aperture of the body. When he thus departs, life also departs. When life departs, all the functions of the vital principle depart. The Self remains conscious, and, in consciousness, the dying man goes to his abode. The deeds of this life, and the impressions they leave behind, follow him” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4:4:1, 2). The last sense to fail is the sense of hearing if at all it fails. Therefore, both Hindus and Buddhists read scriptures to the dying or recite ‘developed thoughts in conformity with the Word Om’ called mantras or they sing verses of compassion and wisdom. They continue chanting for many hours after the person appears to be clinically dead. The purpose comes from knowing that sometimes the fading individual may have trouble getting out of the body or may be disoriented when exiting. It is sometimes possible to revive a person by 71 72 In the Beginning intoning Aum in their right ear. Empowered by Light the soul leaves through any of the seven openings of the human form. This is the Light that so many people tell or write about after experiencing ‘near-death’. The gates by which a person leaves the body, is the level of consciousness he or she habitually lived in during its life. To leave through the centre at the top of the head is the consummate route of exit. It decides what and which devised world he will enter. Those who leave through brahma-randhra or sahasrahara do not endure a rebirth. Those who leave through lower centres go to lesser worlds and seek expressions of their karmic choice. “As a leech, having reached the end of a blade of grass, takes hold of another blade and draws itself to it, so the Self, having left this body behind in a conscious state, takes hold of another body and draws himself to it.” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4:4:3). Gates leading to positive or negative worlds are called heaven or hell, by some. Taking birth in the astral world is a conscious act ... That is, the choice and environment wanted for a future expression lies with the seeking soul. An individual soul awaiting an impending reincarnation chooses where and to whom he or she will be born to. After entering the womb of its chosen mother, the soul (astral and causal) takes on the substance matter provided by both parents. Choices make ready the next habitation under past karma and sanskaras. Bhagavad Gita states the individual consciously guides the growth of his body inside the womb. “As a goldsmith takes an old gold ornament, and moulds it into another, newer and more beautiful object, so the Self, having given up the body and left it unconscious, takes on a newer and better form, either that of the fathers, or that of the heavenly singers, gods, or other beings—heavenly or earthly” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4:4:4). Even in the higher worlds, an individual soul creates a body, either astral or etheric, that is suitable and harmonious with his or her inner world. Here the soul lives and takes rebirth voluntarily. These experiences allow him or her to prepare a more efficient/suitable body when he returns into remanifestation. While ‘on holiday’ in the subtle worlds an individual may choose to ascend to higher ‘heavens’ by interacting with sages and masters qualified to raise a soul’s evolutionary status. This prepares the soul for a developed existence. The soul may seek fitting experiences when karma decides it must endure re-embodiment as the ‘self’. The Self is truly Brahman (God). Through ignorance ‘self’ identifies itself with what is alien to it. It reappears with a physical body encasing its past (causal body), Mind and Intellect. “As a man acts, so he becomes. A man of good deeds becomes good; a man of evil deeds becomes evil. A man becomes pure through pure deeds, impure through impure deeds. As a man’s desire is, so is his destiny. For, as his desire is, so is his will; as his will is, so is his deed; and as his deed is, so is his reward, whether good or bad” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4:4:5). Whether imbued with Sheilding Humanity 73 tendencies for harmlessness or harmfulness, the soul uses the embodiment according to past soul embedded habits and predispositions. Let it not be forgotten that each lives a ‘dream-life’ as a deluded individual spirit. Yajnavalkya reminds Janaka that in all these changes, the Self is unchanging; in all these births and deaths the Self remains birthless and deathless. “A man acts according to the desires to which he clings. After death he goes to the next world bearing in his mind the subtle impressions of his deeds; and after reaping there the harvest of his deeds, he returns to this world of action. Thus, he who has desires continues subject to rebirth. But he in whom want is stilled suffers no rebirth. After death, having arrived at to the highest, wanting only the Self, he goes to no other world. Realizing Brahman, he becomes Brahman” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4:4:6). It is want, anger and greed that brings a soul back but it is the delusion of possessiveness for worldly pleasures that creates new karmas for future cycles of birth and death. It is ignorance about the purpose of human existence that causes mistaken identifications and delusory possessiveness, but the power behind rebirth is want. Transcending want and desires through meditation allows ‘self’ to become Self. Agni Yoga through Fire Worship consumes the ‘self’ with Self to enkindle One. Desireless now becomes the ecstasy gained in transcended worlds where the soul knows itself as the Eternal Brahman. “When all the desires which once entered his heart have been driven out by divine knowledge, the mortal, gaining Brahman, becomes immortal… As the slough of a snake lies cast off on an anthill, so lies the body of a man at death; while he, freed from the body, becomes one with the immortal spirit, Brahman, the Light Eternal” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4:4:7). Reincarnation is not an only Hindu-Buddhist teaching. From its beginning it is an integral part of Orthodox Judaism. This implies that Jesus and the Apostles held the belief in rebirth. Beliefs about Ascended Masters In theosophy, and according to various descendants and offshoots of theosophy, ‘ascended masters’ are a group of spiritually enlightened beings, once mere mortals, who have undergone a process of spiritual transformation. According to these teachings, they remain attentive to the spiritual needs of humanity, and act as superintendents of its spiritual growth. In this, they can be compared to the Great White Brotherhood of Egypt or Secret Chiefs who are placed by various magical organizations; and more remotely, to the Bodhisattvas of Buddhism, or the Saints of Catholic and Orthodox Christianity. There are many ideas about their origin. One idea may have originated with Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who in his satirical book ‘The Coming Race assumed the existence of ‘Nine Unknown Men’ who secretly run things in the world. Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society, was a huge Bulwer-Lytton fan, whom she may have believed for presenting truths, disguised as fiction. Or she may have 74 In the Beginning the idea of Masters from her correspondence with the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, a mystic lodge which offered a correspondence course in esoteric doctrine. Blavatsky brought attention to the existence of ascended spiritual leaders through her activities which included channelling messages from beings she called mahatmas, and especially from her spirit guide Kuthumi. From these beginnings, her successors in the Theosophical Society leadership, Annie Besant and especially Leadbeater, developed the legend of ‘Ascended Masters’, and fleshed out their presumed biographies and past lives. Leadbeater’s book, ‘’The Masters and the Path’, marked the crystallization of the lore that had collected around Ascended Masters into a published, public form. Belief in Ascended Masters is found among the Theosophists, and among the followers of the Servants of the Light, who claim to have contact with an ascended master. Many new age Channellers routinely talk about the Masters, taking it as given that they exist. In some versions of the doctrine, the Ascended Masters, as a collegiate body, are the Great White Brotherhood—white referring to advanced spirituality rather than race; much like ‘Gandalf the White’ after his victory over the Balrog in ‘The Lord of the Rings’. Most early reports of the masters described them as ethnically Tibetan or Indian (Hindu), not European. Belief in the Brotherhood and the Masters is an essential part of the Syncretistic teachings of these several groups. Various important spiritual leaders such as Jesus, , Mother Mary and Kuan Yin the compassionate bodhisattva, take their seats alongside magical or alchemical personalities like the Count of St. Germain who sought fabled elixirs of youthfulness and turning copper to gold. There are other mystic celebrities like Kuthumi, who of Blavatsky claimed as her spiritual guides. These leaders put aside all differences in their earthly careers, By uniting instead to improve the spiritual well-being of the human race. Reincarnation is a notable feature of various teachings about the Ascended Masters. For example, according to The Summit Lighthouse, a spiritual organization started by Mark Prophet and his wife in 1958, with master Kuthumi is and was reincarnate as historically important people, including Pharaoh Thutmose III, the philosopher Pythagoras, Saint Francis of Assisi, Balthazar the Magus and Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. Several of the other ascended masters are said to have had equally distinguished careers in reincarnation. One of the most interesting beliefs about ascension is the notion of ‘ascension bloodlines’. According to the Gnostic tradition, ascension is said to happen only after several dedicated lifetimes that directly support the ascension process. If an individual ascends leaving daughters, the daughters supposedly become able to reproduce at will rather than going through the process of sex. The ascension process is said to transmit forward along the genetic line for seven generations, giving the females the ability to give virgin birth to offspring who will also ascend. Sheilding Humanity 75

Priests in various cultures are said to guard these bloodlines to ensure that all descendants ascend. This belief is based on the many accounts in mythology and spiritual history of individuals born of virgin mothers (Kunti, Jesus, and Mithra) who then carry out extraordinary social changes, preceding their ascension. Believers propose that humans are composed of a physical body and a soul, both of which are composed of energy. But physics has already revealed that everything is energy. Even if unable to physically see something its energy exists at some frequency. With proper intermediary its presence can be experienced. In the theory of ascension, it is assumed that humans are composed of seven energic bodies—physical, astral, etheric, causal, mental, celestial, and Christ bodies. The physical body is at the lowest frequency, and the successive bodies exist at gradually higher frequencies. Each of these energic bodies is essential to maintaining harmony between the physical body and the soul. The bodies are related to the seven main chakras or anatomical-physio-psychological spinal plexuses. They through sympathetic (pingala) and parasympathetic (ida) nerve channels connect with master glands (pituitary, hypopituitary and pineal) and with specific target endocrine glands. They are paths of physical transformation activated through the Yoga of Harmlessness. Ascension is a process of renovation and conscious metamorphosis. By increasing the vibratory frequency of physical-astral-etheric bodies to the Christ level, such adepts qualify to become Masters. Eventually, the physical body loses its definition, diffuses, and then turns into energy by imploding or exploding into sat-chit-anand, the homogeneous essence of Being. Believers in ascension make a distinction between an enlightened individual and an ascended master. When an individual becomes enlightened he or she consciously lives on the Christ/ Buddha Awareness. The soul needs no further birth to realize its oneness with the universe. The enlightened one then uses its innate awareness to learn more about the universe, or choose to become a master and help others achieve this state. Not every enlightened person becomes a master. Once enlightened, a soul may opt for further reincarnations. People who have raised their bodies through ascension are fully in command of the physical realm, capable of decelerating their vibratory rate to appear any way they desire, including moving about freely on the earth. Thus, ascension is seen by the enlightened as an alternative to death. The topic of ascension and ascended masters is one that probably will continue to spark controversy and disbelief. It can be a problematic subject to understand even for those who have spent years studying esoteric doctrines. It is playfully described as “beaming up”, in the television series Star Trek. The idea of ascension has not reached widespread acceptance. Some relegate the subject matter to the New Age myth and fantasy. Others maintain the process of ascension is as natural as human evolution. Historically, over the past 2400 years, the idea of ascension is both outrageous and confrontational. This is 76 In the Beginning especially so within traditional, western, orthodox religious belief systems. Many people dismiss the idea immediately or have a strong adverse reaction to it. The idea that all humans could conceivably do what Krishna or Jesus supposedly did to become Christ is seen by many religious people as presumptuous, if not blasphemous. In the 21st century, the notion of ascension seems to attract individuals more interested in eastern religions, spirituality, metaphysics, or those simply looking for a deeper meaning to their existing beliefs and experiences. One difficulty in discussing the idea of an ascended master is there is no universally accepted, definitive, scientific text which describes the preconditions to become such a person, or how to verify the conditions. Even in this century, most public sources, even books directly dealing with the topic, describe various ascended masters, their activities, meetings with such people, without giving the necessary understanding of how anyone can process into ascension firsthand. With only anecdotal reports and no ‘how-to’ manual, people are then left struggling with how to either retrofit this theory into existing beliefs. People are left with either shifting away from a belief, or simply reject the system altogether. Texts that claim to give a deeper understanding of ascension, including practical exercises, meditations and diet changes are often dismissed by mainstream audiences. Since 1930s, a few books published on this subject, are by authors claiming to have had contact with some masters who encourage practical aspects of the ascension process. Practical knowledge is held in strict secrecy within mystery schools, presumably because of the pressures and intolerance of orthodox religious authorities. Even among many who believe, be they spiritual adepts or initiates, ascension is not widely accepted or understood because of the radical nature of transformation ascribed to it. Books which claim to detail the developmental process Jesus went through in finding his own Inner Christ Self include ‘The Urantia Book’, published in 1955, and ‘A Course In Miracles’, supposedly dictated by Jesus and published in 1976. The history of ascension predates Christianity. Undeniably its history extends back to thousands of years, yet the story of Jesus is one of the most widely known stories of ascension. In the Bible when Mary Magdalene wants to reach out and touch Christ at the tomb, Jesus says, “Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father.” This leads to the idea the ascension process is apparently so delicate that even the touch of an ordinary human, who still holds the ideas of limitation and separation, is enough to hold the ascension process back. Other individuals with stories of ascension include Hercules, following the completion of his twelve labours. The Greek hero is raised to heaven and made a god by Zeus. When Mother Mary chooses to ascend, one story says that she gathered disciples around her to witness the event. Then she ‘consumed’ herself Sheilding Humanity 77 and was simply ‘taken up into the Heaven’. Another story has Mary dying in a normal fashion, and her body placed at her own request in a sealed tomb, which was opened and found empty three days later. Muhammad, the prophet of Islam is said to have ascended at the site of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. El Morya is said to have been a Rajput prince, also reincarnating as King Arthur and as Thomas More. Theosophists believe that he is one of the masters who worked closely with Blavatsky to found the original Theosophical Society. Mahatma Kuthumi is said to be a Punjabi who attended Oxford University in 1850, may have authored the poem “Dream of Ravan” published in the Dublin University Magazine about 1854. Vishwanath, an ascended master is rumoured to reincarnate repeatedly as an individual with psychic abilities. Djwhal Khul is said to be a Tibetan who starts out with the unlikely name Gai Ben-Jamin. Believers tell the legend of his incarnation on Lemuria where he helped in rescuing valuable knowledge before the sinking of that continent. He is said later to have transferred this information while channelling with Alice Bailey. The dome of the United States Capitol has a mural depicting the Apotheosis of George Washington. One television show regularly portrayed this set of ideas is the Science Fiction Television series Stargate. The species that built the Stargate artefacts, the Ancients, were afflicted by an unstoppable plague. They were forced to abandon their physical bodies to survive. Probably the most notable ascension-like act in the popular culture involves Obi Wan Kenobi the legendary Jedi master in the Star Wars series. The Summit Lighthouse contains much information about one version of the ascended masters, owned by Church Universal and Triumphant. Theosophical Society, the original source of information for the ascended masters (Arduinna’s SG Handbook: Ascendants. Divine Teachers Speak Today Conversations with Divine Teachers (Ascended Masters), I AM University, contained detailed up-to- date theoretical and experiential training and education in the practice of ascension, and was the new dispensation of Ascended Masters teachings for the coming age. Reappearance of Masters in Modern Theosophy One definition of an ascended master was an individual who had undergone the process of ascension through initiation. Throughout history, there were stories of these individuals who reached a higher state of spiritual awareness and placed themselves in service to humanity. One concept of an ascended master was derived from the teachings of Theosophy. In Theosophy, and various descendants and offshoots of theosophy, ascended masters were a group of spiritually enlightened beings, once mere mortals, who underwent a process of spiritual transformation. According to these teachings, they remained attentive to the spiritual needs of humanity, and acted as 78 In the Beginning superintendents of its spiritual growth. In this, they could be compared to the Great White Brotherhood or Secret Chiefs who were posited by various magical organizations; and more remotely, to the bodhisattvas of Buddhism, or the saints of Catholic and Orthodox Christianity. The term originated with Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873) the English novelist, playwright, politician and dramatist who wrote three plays that became popular and enduring in American theatrical history. In his satirical book ‘The Coming Race’ he postulated the existence of “Nine Unknown Men” who secretly ran world affairs. Blavatsky was a huge Bulwer-Lytton fan. She may have presented truths disguised as fiction. Or perhaps, some said, she got the idea of Masters from her correspondence with the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, an initiatory occult organisation which became public in 1884. A British occult and mystic lodge also founded in 1870 by Max Theon (1848-1927) was by a Polish Jewish Kabbalist & Occultist. He founded the teachings where Aia Abd el Aziz, an adept in Islamic mysteries was the editor. According to a document by Peter Davidson (1842-1929) – a British actor who co-founded the British Order of the Hermetic Brotherhood, both Aziz and Theon in 1884 offered a correspondence course in the esoteric doctrine. Blavatsky brought attention to the existence of ascended spiritual leaders through her activities which included channelling messages from beings she called “Mahatmas”, especially her spirit guide “Koot Hoomi” or “Kuthumi.” Although Annie Besant (1847-1933) in Adyar, India was classified a theosophist and activist for Women’s Rights, it was especially Leadbeater (1854-1934) the earliest member of the Theosophical Society and author, who developed the tradition of Ascended Masters in his 1925 book, ‘The Masters and the Path’. It crystallized the lore when he published the amassed documents around the idea of Ascended Masters. Belief in Ascended Masters was found among the followers of the “I AM THAT I AM” Movement, the torch bearers of Temple of the Presence, and Elizabeth Clare Prophet’s Church Universal and Triumphant. The occult organization known as the Servants of Light, also claimed to have contact with an ascended master. Many New Age Channellers routinely talked about the Masters, taking it as a given that they exist. The Great White Brotherhood was a version of the same doctrine, while the Ascended Masters, was a collegiate body, of the ancient “Great White Brotherhood” of Pharaonic Egypt. ‘White’ referring to white gold powder created by an association of alchemists who sought advanced spirituality by ingesting hormones isolated from menstruum of virgin. When that became unavailable, rather than go without, the Egyptian alchemists used the white powder for the purpose of immortality - much like “Gandalf the White” after his victory over the Balrog in The Lord of the Rings. Since 1350BC the priestess, known as the Sheilding Humanity 79

‘Scarlet Woman’ promised: “I enclose your beauty within this soul of mine, for all life, stability, dominion and health for the king, may he live forever!” The Pyramid Texts indexes 675 are utterances which are incantations for endurance, beauty of the soul, for all life, stability, dominion and health for the king and the Brotherhood. Most early reports of Masters were described as racially Tibetan or Hindu and not Anglo-Saxon, Celtic or American. Belief in the Brotherhood was an essential part of the syncretistic teachings of these several groups. Various important spiritual leaders such as Jesus, Muhammad, Mary, and Kuan Yin bodhisattva – all took their seats alongside mysterious and alchemical personalities like the Count of St. Germain, Kuthumi or proclaimed spiritual guides who have put aside any differences they might have had in their Earthly careers. They had a single agenda: to unite and improve the spiritual well-being of the human race. Reincarnation was a distinguishing feature of group teachings about the ascended masters. The Summit Lighthouse asserts Kuthumi reincarnated as Pharaoh Thutmose III, the philosopher Pythagoras, Saint Francis of Assisi, Balthazar the Magus, and Shah Jahan with distinguished careers in each reincarnation. The notion of “ascension bloodlines” according to the Gnostic tradition claimed ascension happened only after several dedicated lifetimes directly supported the ascension process. The ascension process was said to carry forward along the genetic line for seven generations, giving the females the ability to give birth through Immaculate Conception to offspring who would ascend. The priest class in various cultures were said to guard these bloodlines to ensure that all descendants rose. Legends and spiritual history of individuals born of virgin mothers of Jesus and Mithra then performed extraordinary social changes, preceding their ascension. Mithra was a Zoroastrian divinity of covenant and oath. Mithra or Mitra was worshipped as Itu (derivative of Mitu or Mitra) in every house of the Hindus in India. This Mithra (Sun-God) was believed to be a Mediator between God and man, between the Sky and the Earth. He had twelve satellites, which were taken as the Sun’s disciples. According to Swami Prajnanananda Sun festivals are even to this day observed in the Winter Solstice and during the Vernal Equinox. The Vatican was built on the grounds devoted to the worship of Mithra in 600BC and Jesus was supposed to be a reincarnation of Mithra. Great religions always bestowed on mankind a perfect being that was in the White Brotherhood with different names. Whatever their name, there was only one idea that governed them. Whether Krishna, Buddha, or Jesus they were symbols of righteousness for mankind to copy. He was a man or woman who belonged to every religion and nation of a single human family. Everywhere he moved he carried with him this noble environment of perfect ideals giving the 80 In the Beginning message justification to strive for - unifying man. They were the Host serving the Supreme Nameless One. They aided those of denser physical forms to overcome qualities of nature (Maya) that risked them into the life cycles of birth and death here on Earth. They helped them avoid as much sorrow as possible. The great archangels of fire, air, earth and water could be reached in more inclusive stages of meditation. These were not easy to reach. Also they were not of particular interest to the average person. They did not see the need to contact the White Brothers. They were oblivious to a need for instruction in the ways of the Masters who were Lords of this Earth. Meanwhile, nobody needed a college education to understand a Brother who was trying to guide them on the Way. Leading Masters around Since Eternity Sanat Kumar, according to Church Universal and Triumphant, is the leader of mankind. He is the leader of the Enlightened Ones who were baptized around 12,000 BC. It is he who will rule the world in the future. According to certain esoteric, mystic and Gnostic traditions, Sanat Kumar, (meaning eternal youth in Sanskrit) and 144,000 souls from planet Venus came to the earth in its darkest hour to hold the light of God. Notable among these 144,000 souls include Jesus, Gautama Buddha, and Maitreya Buddha. Believers of Sanat Kumar see him in all the major religions. He is Skanda/Kartikeya in Hinduism, Brahma-Sanam Kumara in Buddhism, ‘Ancient of Days’ (God in Aramaic) or Atik Yomin in Aramaic and in Judeo-Christianity, Palaios Hemeron in Greek, Antiquus Dierum in the Vulgate and Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism. According to Dakshinamurti, the youthful “Guru’ Shiva, is Sanat Kumar. He is Al Khdir (green man) and is known to Sufi Muslims also. A shrine dedicated to Sanat Kumar which attracts and unites people of all religions and faiths is situated in the town of Katirgama in Sri Lanka. Alice Bailey and theosophical literature describes Sanat Kumar or Raudra Chakri: the Buddhist ruler of Shambala. Sanat Kumara appears as a Vedic rishi in the Chandogya Upanishad and is a recognized deity in Jainism. Long before Jesus’ mission on earth the planet was already polluted by fallen influences. The planet’s sustainability was and is again damaged both spiritually and physically. This is where the story of Sanat Kumar and his 144,000 volunteers from Venus begins. They followed their guru in exile from planet Mercury to save the earth. Like Jesus, they were all to embody again and again, reincarnating on the earth to challenge darkness, bring in light, expose the fallen ones and award the souls with divine awareness. They were sent to the earth’s densest populations in cities and civilizations to penetrate their wayward conditions. These ones came to reignite the spiritual flame in the hearts of mankind, rekindling their connection to innate divinity, so through free will mankind might once again, “choose life, not death and thy seed may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19). The long-serving sacrifice of the 144,000 is huge. It is Sheilding Humanity 81 recorded in books of the ‘I AM Movement’ of Agni Yoga, by Werner Schroeder, Charles Leadbeater and Mark and Elizabeth Clare Prophet. These forbearers built the retreats of Shambala on an island in the Gobi Sea which is now the Gobi Desert between Mongolia and China. According to the post-1900 publications in theosophy, in the writings of CW Leadbeater, Alice A Bailey, and Benjamin Creme, as well as the Ascended Master Teachings of Guy Ballard, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, Geraldine Innocente, Joshua David Stone, and various other teachers of Ascended Master Teachings, Sanat Kumara is an advanced being at the tenth initiation who is regarded as the Lord or of the earth and of humanity. Initiation in theosophy involves ten levels of spiritual development ranging from most of ordinary humanity (below one), through four (spiritually developed humanity). Beings known as the ‘ascended masters’ (levels five, six, and seven) ascend to Jesus (level eight) and Buddha (level nine), culminating in Sanat Kumar, the Lord of the World” (male deity) of the earth, at the tenth initiation. Sanat Kumar is the head of the Spiritual Hierarchy of Earth. The Hierarchy belongs to a path followed by earthmen to pass portals of Ascension and become member of the Hierarchy. He is the founder of the Great White Brotherhood (6000 BC in Sumeria, and even before in Egypt), which is a collection of Ascended Masters and volunteers from other worlds. The ‘white’ refers to a race with white light aura surrounding them. They have spread spiritual teachings for eons. Masters have joined together to advance spiritual evolution on the earth. Sanat Kumar is mentioned briefly by the theosophist Helena Blavatsky. She claims he belongs to a group of beings called, the “Lords of the Flame” which refers to their white light auras. Sanat Kumar gained greater prominence when Charles W Leadbeater wrote that Sanat Kumar was the ‘king’ or Lord of the World, and the leader of the Great White Brotherhood of mahatmas who revealed the principles of theosophy. Later theosophists, Alice Bailey and Elizabeth Clare Prophet added more details. Symbol of the authority of the office of Sanat Kumar as Lord of the World is a 2-foot-long and a 2-inch-wide magic wand called the rod of power (danda) made of the metal orichalcum, with cone-shaped diamonds on each end. Orichalcum is an orange-golden arcane alloy manufactured by alchemy. According to Swami Kebalananda, the Chief monastic disciple of Sri Yukteshwar, Sanat Kumar is repeatedly seen to travel with a small band of advanced disciples, two of whom are Americans. He never stays in one locality and says: “Dera danda uthao” to mean ‘Let us lift our camp and staff’. The secluded master has retained his physical form for centuries, perhaps millenniums. Often appearing in the Himalayas as Babaji, his mission is to help prophets in carrying out their special dispensations. Babaji is the name given to the ever-youthful Indian saint seen in the Himalayas by many of his disciples through the 17th century and so far. 82 In the Beginning

He qualifies for the scriptural classification of Mahavatar (Great Avatar). His chief nineteenth-century disciple Lahiri Mahasaya is the revivalist of the lost Kriya art. Kriya yoga was revived by Babaji’s disciple Lahiri Mahasaya since 1861. However, Sanat Kumar, although mentioned in passing by Madame Blavatsky, was never considered by her as an important master that Alice Bailey claimed to have met. It was Leadbeater who first presented him under the name ‘Lord of the World’ and ‘Head of the Masters’ in his book ‘The Masters and the Path’ in 1925. Sanat Kumar teaches a path of sacrifice, service, selflessness and surrender that leads to permanent reunion with God. His presence can be felt while singing Finlandia Hymn by Sibelius which anchors the flame of freedom but was banned by the Nazis in World War II. In ancient Persia, Sanat Kumar was revered as Ahura Mazda, the Avesta name for God. He appeared to Zarathustra, the religious teacher from Bactria in Persia, in the presence of six other beings of light (Kumaras). It was said that in their presence, Zarathustra did not see his own shadow on the earth, owing to their great light. Ahura Mazda taught humankind the laws of sacrifice and service, how to honour the elements and how to cast out the evil one (Angra Mainyu) through the power of the spoken word to achieve prosperity and peace. Asian Society of Bengal “If only Indian studies could find such cultivators and patrons, just as the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries suddenly kindled in Italy and Germany, an ardent appreciation of Greek studies and in so short a time achieved so much the reawakened knowledge of antiquity changed and rejuvenated wisdom and science there, indeed one could even say the world itself. Not less grand and universal, I dare to assert, would be the effect of Indian studies even now, if it were seized with similar force and introduced into the circle of European learning.” In 1808 these words were used by Friedrich Schlegel (1772–1829) urging the West to study Indian literature. Schlegel’s studies in Sanskrit and Indian literature began in Paris in 1803. He then enlightened the educated public of Continental Europe about his theory about the affinity of Sanskrit to Greek, Latin and German. Twenty-two years after Schlegel, the Indo-European Connection, was again presented by William Jones to the Asiatic Society in Calcutta. The Society was started in 1784 by Sir William Jones (1746–1794) under the patronage of Warren Hastings for the elite British residents of Calcutta. He made a call to study languages by historical- comparative methods. Karl Schlegel (1772-1829) the literary critic whose work was of importance during early German Romanticism became a counter-movement to German Idealism. In its development, Schlegel declared that Indian philosophy belonged to the tradition of all Oriental philosophy. He further suggested that Indian Sheilding Humanity 83 literature and Indian civilization originated from Europe. That then would support his theory about the linguistic affinity between Sanskrit and European languages. Schlegel’s theories energized the intellectual community of continental Europe. By 1809, large parts of Schlegel’s book were translated into French. Meanwhile, Franz Bopp and August Wilhelm Schlegel, Friedrich’s elder brother arrived in Paris to study Sanskrit. The growing interest in India and the East among European intellectuals combined with Europe’s growing colonial power in Asia was also a part of the Modernization of European Thought. This organisation decided universalism and represent steps forward, into modernization of Europe. America’s Interest in India broadened during the last third of the eighteenth century, just as the British were becoming the dominant power in the subcontinent. They too began collecting, analysing, and spreading information on Indian civilization, mainly through the Asiatic Society in Calcutta. What interested European intellectuals most about the ancient cultures of India and other oriental countries, was what they could learn about the old religions of these countries. The region from Egypt to India was already thought to be the ‘cradle of humanity’, with various thinkers believing the ‘Urheimat’ (homeland) of oriental civilization to be Egypt and Mesopotamia and Persia. India became popular after John Howell’s “Interesting Historical Events Relating to Bengal” released in 1765. It became the main source for Voltaire’s ideas on India. Statements about Hinduism became important in theological debates in Europe. They were used to critique Christianity. Critics of established religions argued the antiquity of Hinduism and its monotheism showed Christianity to be a late invention. Supporters of orthodox Christianity argued the antiquity of Hinduism and its likeness to Christianity proved the divine origin of the Bible. Interest in India grew in Europe, especially in Germany, during the first decade of the 19th century. A comparative history of mythology in Egyptian, Indian, Greek, Persian, Babylonian, Phoenician and Germanic Christianity was a favourite theme for discussion among philosophers and theologians. Its emphasis was towards commonality of all systems. Many books written by various authors during 1808–1882 relied on etymologic traditions dating to the seventeenth century and more reliable information gathered by British Asiatic Society in Calcutta, as well as journals dedicated to Asian cultures. Sir William Jones’s English translation of Kalidasa’s Shakuntala in 1789, and a German translation of it by Georg Forster in 1791, was received enthusiastically by many intellectuals. Kalidasa was and still is the most famous poet of old India (634 BC). His fabled ‘Shakuntala’ portrayed virtue where truth triumphed over evil. For the German philosopher and theologian, Johann Herder (1744–1803), India represented the childhood humanity, an age of innocence, religiosity and closeness to nature. Such an image created a Movement of Romantics about India 84 In the Beginning during 18th and 19th centuries. India became a promising source for literary and cultural regeneration for most of Europe. Novalis, a famous thinker saw it as a counter-image to a rationalist Europe. German nationalism saw the events as an alternative history of civilization to that beginning with Greece and Rome. While British Orientalists in Calcutta began by feeling of superiority over contemporary Indians, in Germany admirers of India concentrated on ancient India. Except for the Halle historian Matthias Christian Sprengel who studied the political history of contemporary India, Schlegel tried to understand Europe through India. He tried to bring India and Europe together and at the same time to kept them apart through colonialism, racism and anti-Semitism. According to Sheldon Pollock, investing in pre-1945 Germany in Indological Research surpassed the rest of Europe and America combined. Pollock coined the phrase ‘internal colonialism’. He accepted knowledge and power and linked it in the construction and the production of German Indology. From the middle of the nineteenth century onwards, Indology and linguistics eventually played a role in the anti-Semitic idea of the Aryan race. A German search for national identity was dominated by an obsession for linguistic origins. Political interests of both colonizers and colonized shaped the form in which knowledge of India was presented in Europe. In Germany, it was immediately used in various internal and external political debates. Of all the religions originating in Asia, ‘Hinduism in Europe’ has a longer history than in the United States. The Hindu tradition came to the Americas by books. Orientalists translated Hindu scriptures into English in the late eighteenth century, long before they turned their attention to Buddhist translations. When Transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau mused about Asian religions in the 1830s and 1840s, they were musing about Hindu thought. Thoreau praised the “vast and cosmogonic philosophy” of the Bhagavad Gita and fancied he was a yogi. Emerson’s essays and poems, including “Illusion”, “Compensation,” and “Brahma”, were inspirational Hindu ideas. By the mid nineteenth century, however, Buddhism had replaced Hinduism as the Asian religion of choice for American intellectuals. Theosophists Helena Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott became Buddhists in 1880. Boston Brahmins of the late nineteenth century were now more interested in Blavatsky’s Buddhism than in Hindu scriptures. Hinduism in America changed dramatically when people began to give voice to the Hindu tradition. (1863-1902) became the first Hindu missionary to the United States when he accepted an invitation to attend the World’s Parliament of Religions: an interreligious congress held in Chicago in 1893 as part of the World’s Columbian Exposition (World’s Fair). By most accounts, when Swami Vivekananda, a teacher of Advaita Vedanta, a monistic form of Hinduism spoke, sermonized religious tolerance and gave his view on Sheilding Humanity 85

Brahman (God) as equivalent to Atman (Self). He immediately became the most celebrated figure at the Parliament. Sage Paramhansa Yogananda (1893–1952) was the earliest and most influential Hindu yogi to come to the West. A product of Bengali neo-Vedantic Renaissance, he was influenced by Ramakrishna Paramhansa (1836–1886). He founded the Self Realisation Fellowship in USA where his psychic powers attracted a spiritual community. His pioneering work was on how to use the power of the mind to effect deep and positive changes in life and in oneself. Chinmayananda (1916–1993), a Hindu Indian spiritual leader and teacher, inspired creating an organization called Chinmaya Mission in 1953 only to spread the message of Vedanta in over 430 centres in India and the world over. A disciple of Sivananda at Rishikesh who founded the Divine Life Society, he was advised to study under Tapovan Maharaj in Uttarkashi in the Himalayas. His legacy remained alive internationally through Chinmaya Mission. It served to reinvigorate India’s rich cultural heritage. It made Vedanta accessible to everybody regardless of age, nationality, or religious background. Meetings with Yogis from Shambala—Babaji Legend has it the remote parts of the Himalayas were home to many rishis, tapasvins and siddha yogis. These were eternal Ascended Masters engaged in specific methods of disciplined practices dedicated to cosmic study and guiding the destiny of humanity through the ages. They lived in rough-hewn natural caves under glacial conditions. Some had ashrams amid luxuriant greenery, positioned at a vibrational frequency in disharmony with the ‘normal’ three-dimensional one to keep intruders at bay. Their residence was named Shambala, Gyan Ganj, or Siddha Loka. In accomplished yogis, siddha sadhaks (realized masters) might choose to take the form of an ancient tree to meditate undisturbed for hundreds of years. Others, who ventured beyond the confines of their rarefied sanctuaries, transported themselves through the air, or change into a bird, animal, fish or insect. Teleportation was also performed by travelling on beams of light. A distinct feature common to all the Masters, rishis and sages was their identification with India and its Vedic heritage. Having attained elevation in meditation (sadhana), they involuntarily lost narrow bonds of family, language, caste or province. The old landscape of Cosmic Motherland and its Master Attendants took over. It mattered not whether the Master was Kabir, Lahiri Mahasaya, Shirdhi Sai Baba, Jesus, Buddha or Ramana Maharishi. They all belonged to Mother Nature. They conversed with one another using a language common to the wandering sadhus (monks), also called Masters. This was the venerable heritage of past yogis like Gorakhnath and Matsyendranath claimed as their own by Garhwal in Uttarakand in the 86 In the Beginning

Himalayas; Konkan of Karavali; or Bundelkhand Baba of Uttar Pradesh. Even Nepal claimed its ‘own’ Babaji who was seen everywhere and anywhere. Many a little lost in the remotest of villages had been put to sleep with the refrain: “Chalo Machhinder, Gorakh Aaya....” While Tibet and Nepal lay claim on Babaji the Gorkhas of Nepal and India claimed to be the original descendants of Gorakhnath. There was more to Mahavatar Baba, who never left the shores of India and who was beyond the reach of intellectual property rights. A patriotic yogi and keeper of the ancient faith, his mission for ages stemmed the tide of barbaric conquerors overrunning India. He changed the course of Indian history under the guidance of otherwise immortal rishis, working despite insidious parochial divisions. Babaji’s influence prevailed over the ages from Adi Shankaracharya (788– 820 AD) and Kabir (1440–1518 AD) to more recent saints like Sai Baba of Shirdhi (1838–1918 AD), of Shegaon and Swami Samartha of Akkalkot (1857). The last three were reportedly firebrand revolutionaries who were given up for dead in the First War of Indian Independence in 1857. The first was a Muslim, while the other two were Hindus. They escaped to the Himalayas for sanctuary and were later given spiritual initiation by Babaji. They eventually returned as illumined leaders of a humanity struggling for India’s Independence. Babaji always worked in obscurity, even while serving as a spiritual mentor to scores of masters. He guided the destiny of India and its people. Even today he is perhaps one of the most accessible of siddha yogis in recent times. Over two millennia, there was building evidence Babaji continued to nurture scores of accomplished disciples. One such disciple was an ageing massage therapist of , Ram Bhosle, who had treated Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, among others. Ramchandra Krishna Bhosle was born in 1918, son to a noble family of warriors whose father, General Krishna Bhosle, fought in France during World War I. Ram lost his mother during childbirth. The demise of both father and sister orphaned the five year old boy. Ram and the Bhosle estate were seized by his uncle who ill-treated him. Ram ran away from home, wandered, begged for food, and slept at temple doorways. The five-year-old child followed an ox carts southwards through forested mountains, until they arrived in the village of Bhiwandi, north of Bombay. Here he attended free school and excelled in languages, sciences, music and dance. Ram, worked at the local medical clinic during his free time from school but his graduation was blocked by a fee shortfall of 15 rupees. Disheartened he wandered into the surrounding jungles to end his life. He climbed Mount Tungareshwar but met a young Swami Nityananda meditating under a tree. Ram was dissuaded with: “A great future awaits you. You will Sheilding Humanity 87 become a famous doctor and travel 160 times to the West.” Ram returned to the gates of JJ Hospital, and worked as the gardener’s assistant. A British (doctor) army officer engaged Ram in a conversation and discovered it was Ram’s father who had saved the English person’s life during the war in France. He espoused the youth and allowed Ram to watch the medical procedures and provide patient care. By the age of 17, Ram was in Vienna, Austria. Here he met two of India’s leaders in exile: Subhash Chandra Bose and Vithalbhai Patel. Moved by Ram’s tale the influential exiled leaders had Ram admitted at the Institute of Physical Medicine to study massage therapy. While in London he fortuitously met with army doctor from the JJ Hospital in Bombay. With the doctor’s help, Ram apprenticed with the famous English healer, Sir Herbert Barker. Ram’s skills matured as he learned to harness his intuition for healing. On returning to India he studied the Indian science of massage. Vedic texts Ram selectively read described the universe as a collective vibration of different frequencies. Drawing on this wisdom he discovered there is harmony of rhythm sensed as harmonious symbols of tactile vibrations. He ‘listened’ with his hands and intuitively felt human bodies echoing like musical instruments. He met Mahatma Gandhi on August 8, 1942, during the Quit India Movement. While Ram massaged Gandhi he was convinced to join in India’s battle for Freedom. He moved quickly to underground training camps for guerrilla assignments and eventually became a fugitive with a price on his head. He made his way northward across India to the Hindu Kush mountains, and into the Himalayas where he hid from the British in caves along remote cliffs. While here, he met mystics and sages practising yoga. He studied the science of meditation. During his wandering in the Himalayas Ram met Mahavatar Babaji who offered him a ‘safe house’ for three months. One night, Babaji asked Ram if he would like to read a book. Ram asked for Bharatmuni’s earliest composition on dance, the Natya Shastra, (200BC) the oldest surviving text on stagecraft of the world. Ram wished to understand the role of emotional states in dramatic performance. It was then that Babaji told him that deep within the womb of the Himalayas was an unimaginable storehouse of old texts. He revealed that four rooms in that great structure were devoted to astrology. Ram was familiar with a huge library of all knowledge in the Buddhist Shambala, as well as, recorded in the earlier Hindu legend of Kalki of the Mahabharata and the Puranas. Its geographical location was said to be in Inner Asia. The Kalachakra prophesied that when the world declined into war and greed, and all was lost, Kalki would emerge from Shambala to overthrow “Dark Forces” and usher in a worldwide Golden Age. Ram was therefore not surprised when Babaji gave him this rare manuscript. In the 1950s, Babaji set up an ashram in the Himalayan heights above Badrinath. He later closed it down and became a true wanderer. He was now 88 In the Beginning not to be found in any one place. Yet, he was much of the time among his disciples, wherever his devotees called on him. He encouraged disciples to strive for their highest destiny. Neither God nor an angel, Babaji was the atmik guru, otherwise known as the Teacher of Inner Light. Ascended Masters like Babaji were superhuman, beyond the frailties of emotion. They demanded total commitment to the chosen path. It was of greatest importance to follow the Light (Teacher) with determination, insight and detachment. The wise doctor Bhosle ended: “There is no such thing in this world as miracles. Everything happens through science. Only a person who doesn’t understand science calls it miracle.” The Indian saint Lahiri Mahasaya and his disciples who met Mahavatar Babaji between 1861 and 1935 gave him his name. Some such meetings with the illusive avatar were described by Paramhansa Yogananda in his ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’, which includes a personal meeting with Mahavatar Babaji. Babaji also met Yukteshwar Giri and urged him into writing ‘The Holy Science: a Comparative Study on Biblical and Vedic Statements’. Yukteshwar was instructed to coach Yogananda to reinterpret the Bible which had been misquoted and misrepresented for nearly 2000 years. Babaji alias Sanat Kumar inspired Yogananda to write the ‘Second Coming of Christ’. Asserted: Babaji’s Early Life Babaji was believed to be born in 203 AD in an old but now non-existent coastal village of Parangipettai, in Tamil Nadu, India. It once lay at the mouth of the Cauvery River as it flowed into the Indian Ocean. His given name Nagaraja meant the ‘serpent king’ referring to kundalini (the brain and spinal cord) where the potential force and power of Consciousness remain. His birth coincided with the lunar ascendancy of the star Nakshatra Rohini, similar to Krishna’s birth. The birth took place during Kartikai Deepam celebration or the Festival of Lights. It happened during the night before the new moon during the month of Kartikai in November. He was kidnapped by a trader at the age of five years and sold as slave in Bengal near where lies today: Calcutta. A rich merchant bought him but immediately set him free. The lad joined a small band of wandering monks. With them he learned the sacred and philosophical literature of India. Not satisfied, he sought a great siddha, an accomplished Master who had transcended the ego. He travelled towards the South of India to the Katirgama temple dedicated to Sanat Kumar as Skanda. He was to meet with sage Agasthya who was born about 4573 years before the beginning of Kali Yuga. Agasthya was the son Mithra (Sun) and rain god (Varuna). Agasthya sent Babaji to become a disciple of Boganathar belonging to the caste of goldsmiths. He was the founder of alchemical practices in India and China. Under Boganathar Babaji studied dhyana (meditation) for four years until he experienced savikalpa samadhi, the highest of Divine Consciousness. Sheilding Humanity 89

At the age of 15 years, the lad was sent by sage Boganathar to his own guru, the well-known Agasthya, known to be living near Courtrallam at an elevation of 160m on the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu. After performing intensive yogic practices at Courtrallam for 48 days, Agasthya revealed himself. Nagaraja (Babaji) was initiated into kriya yoga pranayama, a potent scientific breathing technique. Agasthya directed the boy to leave for Badrinath. Here, in the solitude of the Himalayan heights, he was to practice all that he had learned. Over the next 18 months, (Nagaraja) Babaji lived alone in a cave practicing the yogic techniques which Boganathar and Agasthya had taught him. His surrender transformed every part of his body until the Divine descended into him. His body was no longer subject to the ravages of disease and death. Transformed, the siddha dedicated his being for the upliftment of the afflicted humanity. Over many centuries, Babaji continued to guide and inspire other great saints and spiritual teachers, in fulfilling their own mission on the earth. Some giant names guided by him include a reformer of Hinduism Adi Shankaracharya (788–820 AD). Then there was another mystic poet Kabir (1440–1518 AD), a beloved of both the Hindus and Muslims. Both were initiated into Kriya Yoga by Babaji, and referred to him in their writings. Although Babaji preferred to remain obscure and invisible to others, he did reveal himself now and again to his devotees and disciples. He was ‘captured’ through devotional relationships and then steered them through devout expansion. The revelation that Babaji had both early life as well as ancient maturity remained legendary. Knowledge about Babaji’s existence was given to the world by disciples Lahiri Mahasaya, Sri Yukteshwar and Paramhansa Yogananda. The Mahavatar who taught that God thrived as Love in the human heart and could be experienced through dedication and self-discipline was exactly what Jesus’ said. God could be experienced in each one in the heart as Love. Together they sent vibrations of an emancipation system – a spiritual technique of salvation for this age. They worked tirelessly to inspire the nations to forsake wars, racial hostility, religious bigotry, and evils of materialism. Babaji understood the complexities of a Western civilization. There was an urgent need for humanity to learn the self-liberating technique of kriya yoga in the West and revivify it in the East. Babaji chose Lahiri to awaken colonised Indians into the practice. Lahiri Mahasaya (1828–1895 AD) was the first devotee to report a meeting with Mahavatar Babaji in 1861. Shyama Lahiri Mahasaya was born in the village of Ghurani in West Bengal. Mahasaya was posted to Ranikhet where he worked as an accountant for the British Railways. While walking in the hills of Dunagiri above Ranikhet, Mahasaya heard a voice calling out his name. He followed the voice up the mountain, until he met a “tall, divinely radiant sadhu and he was 90 In the Beginning

Mahavatar Babaji”. Mahavatar Babaji reminded Lahiri Mahasaya that Babaji was his guru in the past when he initiated him into kriya yoga. Once Lahiri was reunited with Babaji from past incarnations, he was reinitiated into Kriya Yoga and instructed to teach and spread the yoga to the people of the world. In 1894, at the Kumbha Mela in Allahabad, Yukteshwar Giri, a disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya, met Mahavatar Babaji. It was at this meeting that Mahavatar Babaji instructed Sri Yukteshwar to write the book ‘The Holy Science’. Other devotees who also met with Babaji included Swami Pranabananda Giri, Swami Keshabananda Giri and Paramhansa Yogananda. Ram Gopal Muzumdar called the ‘sleepless saint’ who experienced “unbroken solitude to achieve continuous divine communion” recalled meeting Mahavatar Babaji and his sister, whom he called Mataji. A woman disciple of the 300 year old saint Trailanga Swami (1529-1887) Shankari Mati Jiew, who translated Kabir’s poetry in ‘The Ocean of Love’, also met Mahavatar Babaji while visiting Lahiri Mahasaya. According to Yogananda, Babaji’s sister also lived through many centuries. She had lived chronological epochs in spiritual ecstasy in an underground cave. According to Ram Gopal this “young and surpassingly glorious woman” was thought to be the consort of the Sun. Lahiri Mahasaya meanwhile wrote in his diary that Mahavatar Babaji was Lord Krishna in a former lifetime. There were only four objectives in a human life... Righteousness, material pursuits, contentment, and enlightenment. Mataji the Cosmic Mother granted these four windfalls to those who lived a life of harmlessness. . Sanat Kumar At the start of creation, Brahma the Creator created four Sanakadis who were his mind-sons. These Sanakadis were named Shaunaka, Sanandana, Sanatana and Sanatkumar. These mental sons even as infants refused to create subject matter for Brahma. They were reincarnations of ‘sattva’ with every attribute of purity and therefore would not undertake creation. Even at the age of five, the four learned the Vedas and travelled together as confirmed celibates. They lived their lives as hermits and were seen to shine during the lives of Shankaracharya, and in the courts of Yudhisthir of the Mahabharata. In some places of scriptures it was said Sanakadis were incarnations of ‘portions’ of Vishnu and who was therefore praised by Brahma. Sanatsujuta was another name for Sanat Kumar who was one of the self-sacrificing Sanakadis. Hindus, Buddhists and Jains consider their religious texts (Puranas) sacred. Puranas consist of stories of histories of the universe from creation to dissolution, not only of this planet but other planets within creation. Sages like the Sanakadis through Time revealed many Vedic literatures. They were not imagined. Most were channelled by Vyasa for less travelled souls, as supplements to the Vedas. Puranas explained the same Vedic truths, intended for different types of people to discover the Absolute Truth. Information was received at gatherings by the Sheilding Humanity 91 good, the passionate as well as the uninformed. All took advantage of them and gradually regained their unique spiritual position amid the struggle of existence. In the Puranas Vyasa described the life of Krishna. Through this story Vyasa announced that human life was for realizing and experiencing one’s eternal relationship with the Lord by surrendering. The Srimad Bhagvatam therefore, for eons remained the most sacred and important of the Puranas among the 18 Puranas. The word Bhagvatam meant ‘Song about the Lord’, who was filled with special qualities (astha aishwaryaas). Bhagvatam was never just an epic that spoke about the Lord and His dramas, but it was a classic in which could be found the crowning reality but always embedded in stories. Srimad Bhagvatam was first presented as a dialogue between the heavenly Sages Suta and Shaunaka. Suta’s recitation of the Bhagvatam was given to an assembly of 33,000 sages and headed by Shaunaka, one of the Sanakadis. Suta was Vyasa’s son and was taught the Puranas which Vyasa composed between 400 BC and 1000 AD. Suka later taught the Bhagvatam to King Parikshit who was cursed for insulting a sage’s innocent father. Takshakan, a snake would poison Parikshit, Krishna’s nephew through his sister. Over 7 days Parikshit listened to the Bhagvatam and gained the immortal state of Self before being bitten by the snake Takshakan. With the Piscean Age or Kaliyuga began. The sage Maitreya Muni explained the Srimad Bhagvatam to Vidura (Krishna and Pandavas’ uncle). Maitreya’s Mission was always to show the “Eternal Divine Path”. He also taught the five sons of Kunti who was Krishna’s . After their 12-year exile in the forest Maitreya Muni told the Pandava brothers: tad ahur aksharam brahma sarva-karana-karanam, meaning: “The term Supreme Personality of Godhead refers to Lord Krishna. He is the original cause of all causes” (Srimad Bhagvatam 3.11.42). Maitreya was foretold as a future Buddha who would unify world religions during the Golden Age of Aquarius. Sanat Kumar later came as Kartikeya the second son of Shiva and Parvati. In that role he pointed to ways and means of reaching perfection in life. He was Ganesha’s older . Sanat Kumar remained the Great Guru and the seed of Christ Love right through the universe. As a group, the Sanakadis Kumaras initiated man on the path of ascension. To humanity, Sanat Kumar was the Lord of the World since the darkest hours of the earth’s history. During its evolution when the earth lost all contact with the God flame (Sun) there was nobody to keep Christ consciousness alive. Earth would have dissolved (pralaya) had it not been for Sanat Kumar’s offer to hold steady the stability of the planet. For every living soul he would protect the planet until an enough number of individuals were once more able to establish and preserve direct contact with the Divine. According to theosophists, when the Venusians heard the news, 144,000 beings of Light joined to support their Lord, Sanat Kumar. Four hundred of these 92 In the Beginning went ahead to build the magnificent retreat Shambala, on White Island in the Gobi Sea, which is today the Gobi Desert. Sanat Kumar established the focal point of the threefold flame at Shambala, and lived there in physical form for many centuries. Here is the eternal youth Sanat Kumar’s story in His own words: “You call me Sanat Kumar, and you know me as the one who stood before the Cosmic Council known as the Council of the One Hundred and Forty-Four. You know me because you were witnesses to my plea made for and on behalf of the evolutions of the earth who no longer knew the presence of the Lamb, who by disobedience were cut off from the living guru. You know me as the one who volunteered to embody the threefold flame [essence of Father-Son-Holy Spirit in physical forms] within the earth unto the evolutions evolving within the seven planes of being [physical, physiological, astral-pranic, psychological, mental, intellectual and causal]. “The Cosmic Council had decreed dissolving earth and her evolutions because the souls of its children had stopped worshipping the Trinity in the threefold flame of life burning on the altar of the heart. They had become the sheep gone astray. Their attention had fixed on outer expressions, they had wilfully and ignorantly abandoned the inner walk with God. They knew not the hidden man of the heart, that blessed Ishwara, and the seven candles no longer burned in the seven windows. Men and women had become hollow, their chakras black holes in time and space; and their abandoned temples became the tombs of the dead; and the spirits of the dead took up their home within their hollowed-out houses. Thus they received the judgment of the One Hundred and Forty-Four even as their descendants would hear the denunciation of the Son of God. “Thus the light of the temples had gone out, and the purpose to which the God had created man: to be the temple of the living God, was no longer being fulfilled. One and all were the living dead, a matter vessel without an ensouling light, an empty shell. Nowhere on earth was there a Mystery School [lineage of schools where advanced spiritual training is available], not a chela [disciple], not a guru, no initiates of the path of initiation unto Christhood [the inner power of love applied to everyday decisions that enlightens and inspires]. “The hour of the judgment had come, and the one seated upon the throne in the centre of the twelve times twelve hierarchies of Light had pronounced the word that was the unanimous consensus of all: Let earth and its evolutions be rolled up as a scroll and lit as a taper of the sacred fire [a gathering of wisdom keepers]. Let all disqualified energies be returned to the Great Central Sun for repolarization. Let the misused energy be realigned and recharged with the light of Alpha and Omega, once again to be infused by the Creator within the ongoing creation of worlds without end. “The requirement of the law for the saving of Terra is that one who should qualify as the embodied guru, the lamb, should be present in the physical octave Sheilding Humanity 93 to hold the balance and to keep the threefold flame of life [physical, astral and causal in a sacred trinity of love, wisdom and power] for and on behalf of every living soul. It is the law of the One that meditation on the one Eternal Christos [Full power of the Ascended Masters] may count for the many until the many once again become accountable for their words and their works and can begin to bear the burden of their light as well as the karma of their relative good and evil. I chose to be that one. I volunteered to be a flaming son of righteousness unto earth and her evolutions. “After considerable deliberation, the Cosmic Council [of twelve rays used for channeling] and the Nameless One gave their approval of my petition, and the dispensation for a new divine plan for earth and her evolutions came into being. For, cosmic law so states that when a hierarchy of certain degrees and dimensions of cosmic consciousness volunteers to be the shepherd of life, waves that are ‘lost sheep’, the petition must be granted. Where there is no guru, there can be no chelas; like where there is no shepherd, there can be no sheep. As it is written: smite the shepherd, and the sheep are scattered (Mark 14:26-52). “But the guru may be given an opportunity to be the guru only for a certain cycle; and if at the end of that cycle the members of a life wave by their recalcitrance and hardness of heart have not responded as chelas to the heart flame of the guru, then the guru must withdraw. And that which might have been may not be, and to no other hierarchy then will the dispensation be given. “Thus I knelt before the great white throne of the Nameless One and he said unto me, “My son, Sanat Kumar, thou shalt sit upon the great white throne before the evolutions of earth. Thou shalt be to them the Lord God in the highest. Verily, thou shalt be the highest manifestation of the deity which shall be given unto them until, through the path of initiation, their souls have risen to thy throne of awareness and stand before thee in praise of the I AM THAT I AM which thou art. In that day when they shall rise up and say, ‘Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever’–behold, their redemption draweth nigh.” “And he further said unto me, “Thus unto the evolutions of the earth thou shalt be Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith: I AM THAT I AM [tat twam asi], which is and which was and which is to come, the Almighty.” And he placed upon me his mantle of sponsorship of the Father unto the Son which would become in me his sponsorship of a life wave that he now made my own. It was a trust. It was the initiation of the Father in the Son. “And I knelt before the Nameless One and I worshiped God, saying, ‘Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.’ And he, the Great Guru, repeated the approbation, thus completing the circle of devotion. He acknowledged the light that he and he alone had placed within my heart as the 94 In the Beginning flaming image of himself, and to that image he said, ‘Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.’ “Thus I am in the Father and the Father is in me and we are one, worlds without end. And without that oneness, there can be no petition and no dispensation, whatever your level of evolution be. And for thou the Council of the One Hundred and Forty-Four, forming a single solar ring around the great white throne, intoned the Word with the great beings of light, forming the inner circle round about the throne and saying, ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.’ And I heard the echo of their chant of the ‘Holy, holy, holy’ all the way home to the morning star, to my twin flame that you know as Venus, and to the sons and daughters of the Love Star. “Winged messengers of light had announced my coming and the disposition of the Cosmic Council and the dispensation granted. The six: my brothers, the Holy Kumars, who sustain with me the seven flames of the seven rays—Mighty Victory and his legions, our daughter Meta, and many servant sons and daughters whom you know today as Ascended Masters welcomed me in a grand reception. That evening, the joy of opportunity was mingled with the sorrow that the sense of separation brings. I had chosen a voluntary exile upon a dark star. And though it was destined to be Freedom’s Star, all knew it would be for me a long dark night of the soul. “Then all at once from the valleys and the mountains there appeared a great gathering of my children. It was the souls of the hundred and forty-four thousand approaching our palace of light. They spiralled in closer as twelve companies singing the song of freedom, of love, and of victory. Their mighty chorus echoed throughout the elemental life, and angelic choirs hovered high. As Venus and I watched from the balcony, we saw that the thirteenth company was robed in white. It was the Royal Priesthood of the Order of Melchizedek, [of the Order of Royal Priesthood] the anointed ones who kept the flame and the law in the centre of this hierarchical unit. “When all of their numbers had assembled, ring upon ring surrounding our home, and their hymn of praise and adoration to me concluded, their spokesman stood before the balcony to address us on behalf of the great multitude. It was the soul of the one you know and love today as the Lord of the World, Gautama Buddha. And he addressed us, saying, ‘O Ancient of Days, we have heard of the covenant which God hath made with thee this day and of thy commitment to keep the flame of life until some among earth’s evolutions should be quickened and once again renew their vow to be bearers of the flame. O Ancient of Days, thou art to us our guru, our very life, our God. We will not leave thee comfortless. We will go with thee. We will not leave thee for one moment without the ring Sheilding Humanity 95 upon ring of our chela-ship. We will come to the earth. We will prepare the way. We will keep the flame in thy name’. “And so as Lord God directed me, I chose from among them four hundred servant sons and daughters who would precede the hundred and forty-four thousand to prepare for their coming. For though they knew the darkness of the darkest star, in reality they did not know, as I knew, the real meaning of the sacrifice which they now were offering to make in the name of their guru. Venus and I and all of the 144,000 wept in joy. And the tears that flowed on that memorable evening burned as the living sacred fire flowing as the water of life from the Great White Throne and the Cosmic Council, our sponsors. I shall come again to continue with the history that unfolds from the folds of the garment of memory of the Ancient of Days. “O my children, I AM still your Sanat Kumar.” Maha Chohan is Sanat Kumar Babaji According to Theosophists, Maha Chohan was always the head of the seven Chohan rays. His name means “the Great Lord,” which is an office in the hierarchy of the Great White Brotherhood. He embodied the white light of the seven rays and taught all seekers to balance and integrate with these rays through the eighth ray. He also taught that Love carried with it every other virtue and every other point of God-mastery. He was the named representative of the Holy Spirit to earth and its evolutions. He initiated souls in the secret chamber of the heart and helped them prepare to receive all nine gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, and discernment of spirits, speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues. Because of his pledge to all mankind to remain with the flame until aspirants of Light were able to succeed, he was sometimes called the “Keeper of the Flame.” The retreat of the Maha Chohan was found in the Himalayas since eons. His embodiment in ancient Greece as the poet Homer (800–750 BC) gave some insight into his ‘human’ personality. In his epics ‘The Iliad’ and the ‘Odyssey’, Homer stepped into the role of Odysseus. He told the story of three people: his twin flame, the Greek goddess Pallas Athena, who was an Ascended Master; his soul mate Penelope; and himself. In the ‘Odyssey’, Pallas Athena said of Odysseus, bearing in mind now that it was Homer who was writing this story about himself as Odysseus. He said: “Of all men you are the best in plots and story telling; always the same detachment, cool-headed, quick, and well- spoken.” Some profiles of the personality of the Maha Chohan described him as noble, great-hearted, kingly, patient, long-enduring, expert in misfortune, a man of ranging mind, master improviser, grandmaster of invention, the great tactician, the canniest of men, master of land ways and seaways, master of subtle ways and straight. Another glimpse of the persona of Maha Chohan through his work in the 96 In the Beginning

19th century was seen with the masters El Morya and Kuthumi. These masters were among those who sponsored the Theosophical Society, founded in 1875. Then, these masters were high adepts of esoteric knowledge and in embodiment (meaning sentient human beings). Maha Chohan was the guru of El Morya and Kuthumi. In one of his letters Kuthumi referred to his master as “the implacable Chohan”. Implacable because he was impossible to appease, pacify, allay and quite unchangeable. Kuthumi also remarked the Maha Chohan usually frowned. On one occasion Kuthumi found himself in a situation of dire necessity. The Maha Chohan came to his rescue “with his eye twinkling in an unusual manner.” Kuthumi wrote that this led him “to hope for a relaxation of severity one of these days.” Madame Blavatsky described the Maha Chohan Sanat Kumar as “as stern and impassionate as death itself”. He was unmoved by human consciousness and uncompromising. He compelled his would-be disciples to rise to his level rather than expect him to stoop to theirs. All this only because the Maha Chohan had such great love that he exacted great discipline. He knew when to give his love, his greatest gift. He did give it to those not worthy or to those who trifled with his affection. The Ascended Masters who dictated through the Messenger Mark Prophet since 1958 gave further insight into the personality of the Maha Chohan. The Ascended Master Paul the Venetian even told of an encounter he had with the Maha Chohan. “Now, you know, when the Maha Chohan speaks, one does not refuse. Have you ever gazed on the eyes of the Lord Maha Chohan? Even in heaven, in our ascended state, I once said to him, ‘I would like once again to take in my hand an earthly brush and palette and paint the beauty of your face.’ And do you know, precious ones, the Lord Maha Chohan never answered me. He gave me a look that almost froze me in my tracks. And I never mentioned it again.” The Maha Chohan said that when one wants to make progress on the spiritual path, the seeker needed a certain amount of seriousness. He advised them not to misunderstand a stern and serious teacher or even try to cajole such a one into being less serious. He taught about human sympathy as opposed to true compassion. He admonished that sympathy was a perversion of the flame of the Holy Spirit. He said, “There is no alternative to undo the tie with human consciousness than to cut it! And it must be cut by a mighty sword, the sword that is sharp, two-edged and is the dividing of the way. There is no way that you can retain the companionship of human consciousness and still receive the Holy Ghost!” The Maha Chohan also played the role of Teacher. The Father-Mother God and the Son accepted the Maha Chohan as the supreme teacher of our souls. He was the one sent to humanity to teach the commandments of God the Father and the Word of the Divine Mother. He taught about Christ-like qualities of Jesus and Buddha-like qualities of Gautama. He tutored willing souls to enter a direct Sheilding Humanity 97 relationship with the Father God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—Mother. The Holy Spirit, he said was the supreme teacher. Jesus called her the Comforter “shall teach you things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said unto you” (John 14:26). If Sanat Kumar was the designated the supreme teacher and aspirants failed to establish the right relationship between Teachers and taught. Mankind continued sitting in the gall of ignorance, remained in lack of knowledge, and made erroneous choices. Taking the wrong road allowed many sincere seekers to make wrong decisions. Hopefuls seek the best teacher because of a thirst for enlightened. Most would be glad to strip away at what stood in the way. Once submitted to the disciplines of at least three of the Seven Chohans Rays, then Sanat Kumar was known to review entire life records to decide whether he would directly take on a chela in a true Master-Disciple relationship. To those qualified he has said, “I shall give you the same training I gave to the Seven Chohans. I shall not indulge you and I shall not give you any crowns that you have not earned.” Although stern towards a seeker’s lesser ‘self’, the Maha Chohan, as representative of the Holy Spirit, was known to become a personal Comforter to each. In his role as Comforter, the Maha Chohan walked and talked with each so each would become his instruments. In a dictation he once said: “I desire to approach very close to your heart. I am to you as the most personal friend. Talk to me, then, and hold my hand. I have need of friends here below, for I have much to give and I require a consciousness, a heart, where I can place myself and impart to other parts of life a smile, a tear of joy, a gift of love, a witness to the truth. Won’t you take me with you, then, in consciousness? You might as well, for I am coming along anyway.” One must ask: Why want to get to the Holy Spirit? The answer always was: Because people were losing their souls; without the Holy Spirit, nothing was ever achieved Knowing to connect with the Holy Spirit allowed many to know what was real and what was unreal. While watching family and friends and neighbours and countrymen become victims of incurable diseases, outrageous crimes, natural disasters and genocide, a chela finally understands. All is the result of Harmfulness in thought word and deed. The Law of Karma is mitigated by taking on the powers of the Holy Spirit. Even such a relationship always needed a sincere teacher: taught relationship. Only a living embodiment of the Holy Spirit, committed to Harmlessness could dislodge Harmfulness. Offices of Sanat Kumar the Maha Chohan Maha Chohan, the Lord over the Chohans belongs to the third ray activity. Through his Godhead His office worked on chelas of all rays from the first to the seventh. Most human life form was expected to develop and embody all divine virtues and master all the seven rays before Maha Chohan represented the Holy Spirit on the planet. The Holy Spirit represented action and reaction towards 98 In the Beginning

Light. It vitalized whatever ray was achieved by the majority of earth’s humanity and assisted in the development of divine feelings in mankind. It was Maha Chohan who enfolded Jesus in his Cosmic Flame baptism by John the Baptist, granting Jesus with powers of the Word. It was Sanat Kumar in action when the Holy Spirit descended on the Disciples ten days after Jesus’ Ascension. The rays the Lord Maha Chohan enfolded them in the Cosmic Flame, giving them assurance, courage, strength and power to carry on the teaching and the works of Jesus. “The Comforter” referred to was the Lord Maha Chohan. The Maha Chohan headed the Elemental kingdom expressions in Nature. He drew the Energy (Life Force) from the Sun for Power in Nature and in mankind. As Cosmic Magnet he directed Force and Will towards all and to various forms of culture and civilizations. He coordinated and harmonised the collective minds of embodied individuals and unfolded their development according to their divine plan. He gave the first breath (Life Force) to every new born child. He also took back the last breath of every individual as he passed away from mortal encasements. During the Piscean Age of Kaliyuga Maha Chohan avoided personal contact with chelas (students), but he does now. As Homer he harmonized his herd of goats with the Comfort Flame. In his next embodiment he used the Comfort Flame to raise a child’s vibration at age thirteen to uphold the frequency of Light. His particular virtue has always been of Comfort for all mankind and all life on the earth. His symbol is the white dove, a representative of the Holy Spirit. His keynote is “Homing”. When near his chelas, he emits the fragrance of cinnamon. Ivy is his symbol of ever-lasting life and when seen wears a white robe and white turban with a topaz on the forehead of the turban. 4. Prophesies

Volunteers who Rescued Earth Long before Jesus’ Galilean mission, of nurturing and of growing healing seeds of Love, the earth was already so polluted by fallen influences the planet was no longer spiritually and physically sustainable. It was now that Sanat Kumar and 144,000 volunteers from Venus entered history. That was not the first time that Master volunteers rescued this planet. Through the Cycles of Time, the planet had endured the dawn, daylight, dusk and night of a Day of the Creator. For the last 24,000 years, which is a day of the Creator, the planet had undergone Satya, Treta, Dwapara and Kali Yugas. The nearness of the Sun to the Total Intellect of humanity decided whether the Total Mind was open to the purpose of human existence. Humanity transcended Kali Yuga (Piscean Age) and welcomed the Golden Age as it prepared its entry into Satya Yuga (Aquarian Age). For the last 200 years Masters have once more made themselves visible to help souls who have aspired to reach the height of human evolution. In the forefront has been Sanat Kumar, also known as Babaji or Maha Chohan or ‘Lord thy God’ or El Khdir among many other titles. According to the post-1900 publications of Theosophy, the writings of CW Leadbeater, Alice A Bailey, and Benjamin Creme, among other Ascended Master Teachings, Sanat Kumar was recognised as an ‘advanced being’ of the tenth level and regarded as the Lord or Regent of the earth, humanity, and head of the Spiritual Hierarchy of the earth. As founder of the Great White Brotherhood of Ascended Masters and volunteers from other worlds, they joined to advance the spiritual evolution of the earth. To save the earth, these high souls followed their guru Sanat Kumar in exile from his planet of beauty and love, described by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his poem, ‘The Evening Star’. That planet Venus, when it appeared in the West (evening sky) after sunset was a wonder to behold. It was known to the ancient Greeks as Hesperus. Sanat Kumar’s presence was recognized in the Native American tradition as Wakan Tanka. In Sioux terminology it stood for the divine who created the universe. It was he who was the All Providing One. The Great Spirit in the ‘Song of Hiawatha’, to whom Longfellow referred as Gitche Manito (the name of the Great Creator Spirit of the Algonquin people, Manitou), was also the mighty creator of all nations. This paternal figure, who looked on his children with pity and compassion, always urged them to stop feuding. Another Native American tradition was ‘The Legend of the White Buffalo

99 100 In the Beginning

Woman’. In that legend of the Lakota people, the white buffalo turned into a woman and commanded the hunters to return to their village. She told them that they had lost the ability to communicate with the Creator and therefore she had to leave earlier in Time. She promised to return and made prophesies about an age of spiritual enlightenment and conscious awareness. Her story spoke of a giant eagle that swooped out of the sky to save a young woman during a great deluge at the end of the Old World. She prophesied there would be a marriage between this woman of earth and the eagle of the sky. For the Dakota tribe, their teacher was a White Buffalo Calf Woman who promised to return, but she also made her own prophecy. It dealt with the birth of a white buffalo calf. A new nation would be born again when that happened. Proverbs clearly stated that ‘The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens (Proverbs 3:19). It would be a sign the time was near when she returned to purify the world. Reference to the same story was also found in the Book of Revelation (12:14) where the reader was told that “to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she [was] nourished for a time, and times and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood, so he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.” Revelations made known something that was ‘secret’ - a hidden treasure revealed and experienced. Therefore, prophesies became meaningful to the people when there was a direct intuitive opinion of its truth. The Hopi tradition also described a gathering of 144,000 ‘rainbow warriors’ or ‘sun dancers’ who would unite the earth at the end of that cycle. Then, people would accept or reject the Creator’s plan for peace on the earth. This was prophetically seen as the Return of Quetzalcoatl who appeared in the ancient Mayan tradition and who was also the God of the planet Venus. Also, Sumerians and Babylonians called the planet, Venus Dilbat in Akkadia, which meant a special star of the mother-god, Ishtar. In Chinese, Venus was Jinxing, the great white planet, or the ‘golden star with a 1700-year history of a brilliant civilization. Sanat Kumar was recognised in many geographical areas of this planet. In ancient Persia, Sanat Kumar was revered as Ahura Mazda (the Wise Lord) who appeared to Zarathustra in the presence of six other beings of Light. Ahura Mazda was the Avesta name for Divinity in the Old Iranian religion in which Zoroaster was proclaimed the uncreated god (mind child of Brahma the Father Creator). Although these Indo-European pastoralists settled on the Iranian plateau, their gods were the same from those of the Aryan conquerors of India. However, their religious development took different paths. The Indian sought a unifying principle within a multiplicity of gods. In Persia, the monistic tendency moved towards universal monotheism under Zoroaster. Fire was the symbol of God gave on his followers. Light was associated with truth and virtue. In the myth of Atar, the Fire who was Ahura Mazda’s Prophesies 101 son, struggled with Azhi Dahaka, the three-headed dragon. Atar’s earthly throne was lost and the dragon’s rule brought ‘need and misery, hunger and thirst, old age and death, mourning and lamentation, excessive heat and cold, and the mingling of demons and men’. Eventually, Atar overcame the dragon, and sent him ‘to the bottom of the deep ocean’, chained to a high mountain. Azhi Dahaka escaped and destroyed a third of humankind, before he was slain. Even today Fire is the symbol of Ahura Mazda, and burns continuously in fire-temples and homes to point out his Presence. It was said, that in the presence of the seven mind-kumars of Brahma, Zarathustra was unable to see his own shadow on the earth, because of their great Light. Zarathustra recognized Ahura Mazda as the one true God, the creator of the universe, and went on to create a spiritual tradition based on keeping the flame alive. To the present-day, devotees of Zoroastrianism use Fire on their altar to remember God always. Meetings and teachings of Ahura Mazda with Zarathustra and with Yima, the good shepherd and the first mortal with whom Ahura Mazda conversed, were recorded in the Zend-Avesta. Here, Ahura Mazda was described as having seven emanations, the Amesha Spentas who were “bounteous immortals” (Hindus called them seven rishi patrilineal ancestors of humanity). The one that Yima and Zarathustra invoked was ‘Spenta Armaiti’ who stood for divine wisdom, devotion, piety, benevolence, loving- kindness, right- mindedness, peace, love, and service. Zoroastrians considered Spenta Armaiti as embodying the virtues of service, loving kindness and serenity which came with enlightenment. He embodied universal, bountiful tranquillity, not only personal peace and love but peace among communities and nations. He implied the quality of love without expectation of reciprocity, dutifulness without contemplation of reward, and the universal brotherhood of man. In the ‘Prayer for Helpers’, the supplicant calls Ahura Mazda “to act for us and with abundance with Thy bounty and Thy tenderness as touching us; and grant that reward which Thou hast appointed to our souls, O Ahura Mazda! Of this do Thou Thyself bestow upon us for this world and the spiritual; and now as part thereof do Thou grant that we may attain fellowship with Thee, and Thy Righteousness for all duration”. This relationship of seekers and helpers was not a new affiliation. Sanat Kumar in Hinduism: In Sanskrit, in the language of the Vedas, Sanat Kumar meant eternal, beautiful youth. As Jagannath or Lord of the World, he was Kartikeya or Muruga. He was one of the mind-sons of Brahma and the older brother of Ganesha. He was also called Skanda, the son of Shiva and Parvati. He was the God of War and commander-in-chief of the divine army of gods. Son of the star cluster Pleiades, which was an open star cluster of seven or daughters of Atlas who metamorphosed to become stars in the constellation of Taurus. He was born to slay Taraka, the daughter of Yaksha (demi-god) Suketu. Sage Agasthya transformed her into a demoness whose ignorance threatened to 102 In the Beginning defeat humanity. He was also known as Guha, which meant cave, because he lived in the cave of the heart and he was invoked with Love. Valmiki’s Ramayana (the Indian epic based on oral traditions passed down many centuries before Jesus), Book I Canto VIII, titled “Sumantra’s Speech”, mentioned Sanat Kumar by that name: “Hear, , a tale of days gone by, to many a sage in time of old, Sanatkumar, the saint, foretold How from thine ancient line, O King, a son, when years came round, should spring…. To him no mortal shall be known except his Holy Sire alone; still by those laws shall he abide?

“This lives as youthful Brahmans guide - obedient to the strictest rule; That forms the young ascetic’s school: And the entire wondering world shall hear of his stern life and penance dear; His care to nurse the holy fire and do the bidding of his sire…

“He, at the Offering of the Steed, The flames with holy oil shall feed… I have repeated; Sire, thus far, the words of old Sanatkumar, In order as he spoke them then amid the crowd of holy men.”

Except for his Holy Sire, this youthful son of Brahma would remain obedient to the strictest rules of all forms of the young ascetic’s school. The world would hear about all his wandering, and of his stern life and penance. Humanity would experience his care. Nursing the holy Fire was the bidding of his Sire. Meanwhile, Sanat Kumar in Buddhism was called Dipankara, the lamp lighting Buddha. He predated the historical Buddha in a world cycle long past. He was sometimes equated with Adibuddha, the original Buddha, the being to whom Gautama Buddha pledged himself. . He was to live through Eternity in the Kingdom of Shambala which played a central role in Tibetan Buddhism. He was said to live in “a mystical kingdom hidden behind snow peaks somewhere north of Tibet” as stated in the Legend of Shambala – the Daily Lama. Mahavatar Babaji spoke of a large library in the depths of the Himalayas where a mystical religious sanctuary existed. It had massive courtyards. There, supposedly, was the where Sanat Kumar lived with a line of enlightened kings who guarded the most secret teachings of Buddhism. These were guarded against the untruth in the world. Truth was lost in wars and in the lust for power and for wealth. According to prophecy, a future king of Shambala would come out with a great army to destroy the forces of evil and usher in a Golden Age. Under his enlightened rule, the world would become, at last, a place of peace and of plenty, filled with the riches of wisdom and compassion. Prophesies 103

Sanat Kumar in Islam was El Khdir, Dhulqarnein and the water of life. He appeared in Rumi’s poetry and in many Islamic works as El Khdir. Concerning El Khdir, the Prophet Mohammed, in the ‘Book of Prophets’ said, “I have seen my Lord in the most beautiful of forms.” Further, the name “El Khdir” meant “the green one” who was eternally young, and who found immortality by drinking the Water of Life. Mohammed said that El Khdir was known in such a way because he once sat on a barren white land which turned luxuriantly green with vegetation. It was recorded that El Khdir preserved and maintained the Reality of the Golden Chain by training prophets and mystics to understand that, “Above every knower there [was] a Greater Knower.” He was the benign presence of divine wisdom as revealed by the Divine himself through direct revelation. He made sudden appearances to help people in times of need and he was the hidden initiator to those who walked the mystical path. As spiritual head of the divinely founded hierarchy of saints, he ruled over ‘the Men of the Unseen’. They were the exalted saints and angels who transferred divine science and theosophies, down through the ages. El Khdir was the companion and teacher of Moses, Joshua and many other mystics and saints. It is believed the Muslim veneration of El Khdir was initially adopted from Indian Sufis as an expression of the Hindu God Skanda, son of Shiva. Sufis were believers of the inner mystical dimension of Islam similar to the conservative practices and theology of the Pharisees. At a shrine on the Indus near Bakhar, a district in Punjab Province of , El Khdir was worshipped by both Hindus and Muslims who set afloat in ponds or little riverboats each carrying a lighted lamp. In both Islamic and Hindu art, El Khdir was depicted as the figure of an aged man in a green coat who was carried on top of the water by a fish, purportedly being transported over the river of life. This may also have related to an Egyptian hieroglyph which depicted the place where Jesus stepped out, with a mathematical ratio, described by the Pythagoreans, as the “measure of the fish.” Sanat Kumar through Eras and Prophesies Sanat Kumar was associated with Hermes the great messenger of the gods and , son of Cain, whose grandfather was Noah. He was closely connected with the ancient schools of the prophets attended by Elijah (9th century BC prophet of Samaria), Elisha (immediate successor of Elijah) and Samuel (of ancient Israel). They were described in the apocalypse of Elias (revelation by God to individual selective prophet) who, as a reincarnation of Sanat Kumar, protested against the corrupt age. He wrote a sacred well-known Essene text that existed in old Palestine from the second century BC to the second century AD. Jesus, Mary, John the Baptist and Joseph were said to have studied the text. He was also associated with the 104 In the Beginning

13th century Jewish legend in which he was condemned to ‘wander’ until the day of judgement for having mocked Jesus on the day of the crucifixion. Moses again found El Khdir where the two seas, or oceans, met. This was and continues to be interpreted as perfect knowledge which joined both the exoteric and esoteric. The ‘fish’ of wisdom, (pearls of ancient wisdom) which was dead, was reborn in the presence of El Khdir and disappeared in a ‘parting of the sea’ where it would be nurtured through a growing period before harvesting. A similar event took place with Dhulqarnein, also known as Iskandar and historically interpreted as Alexander the Great. In this event, Dhulqarnein and El Khdir journeyed through the land of darkness to the ends of the earth to find the water of life (amrita or manna). When they found this water, El Khdir partook of it and they both marvelled at how the water of life revived the fish. To seal humankind away from the satanic forces (by Scythians under Alexander) of Gog (Turkey) and Magog (Asia and Europe) who ravaged the land, El Khdir asked Dhulqarnein to build a rampart that would stay until the trumpet sounded for the final judgment, when the great harvest of souls would take place. He replied: “The word of the Lord came to me; son of man set your face against Gog, (first king of Mermnad dynasty of Ancient Anatolia or Turkey from 680- 644BC), and of the land of Magog” (chief prince of Meshach or Syria and Tubal or Lebanon). These were words of prophesy of events that would take place in the future in the present day Middle East and in the world. Historically, Magog was a grandson of Noah (Genesis 10:2) whose descendants settled in Europe and northern Asia (Ezekiel 38:2). He described them as skilled warriors in Ezekiel (38:15; 39:3-9). Gog and Magog in Ezekiel (38-39) and in Revelation 20:7-8. They were also mentioned in Ezekiel’s prophecy. When they were unravelled for the closing stages of the Age of Darkness, the predictions stated that Gog (Turkey) would be the leader of a great army that would attack the land of Israel. Gog was described as “of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshach, and Tubal” (Ezekiel 38:2-3). They would attack from Syria and Lebanon. Ezekiel’s battle of Gog and Magog would take place in tribulation, lasting three to four years. Dr. Paul Benware in his passionate, end time prophesies book, ‘Understanding End Times Prophecy’, commented that Ezekiel’s prophesies were given for present times. He suggested, that Gog (Turkey) would be defeated by God Himself on the mountains of Israel. The slaughter would be so great that it would take seven months to bury all the dead (Ezekiel 39:11-12). He used Ezekiel’s prophecy about Magog to portray an end-time attack on the nation of Israel (Revelation 20:8-9). In the battle (Ezekiel 38-39), the armies would come mainly from the north and they would involve only a few nations of the earth (Ezekiel 38:6, 15; 39:2). The battle in (Revelation 20:7-9) suggested that it would involve all nations. Revelation (20:8-9) about the Great White Throne judgment (Revelation 20:11-15) when the current heaven and earth would be destroyed, Prophesies 105 and replaced by a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1). The battle (Ezekiel 38-39) would used by God to bring Israel back to Him (Ezekiel 39:21- 29). The obvious question to be answered therefore, was whether the Old Testament predicted there would be a World War III before the end times? It is true the conditions of the Piscean Age had for thousands of years created psychological rifts in humanity and tainted the true hierarchy on which heaven was built. Creation was always based on the supportive bonds between the humblest servants of the good shepherd. Did Sanat Kumar predict that a sightless humanity would wield it’s sword against one another? It seemed obvious that prophesies against modern humanity were unmistakable in the words of the Sovereign Lord who said: “I am against you, O Gog (Turkey), chief prince of Meshach (Syria) and Tubal (Lebanon). I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army, your horsemen fully armed, and a great horde with large and small shields, all of them brandishing their swords. Persia, Cush ( and Sudan) and Put (Libya) will be with them, all will be with shields and helmets… Gomer (Akkadians) with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah (son of Gomer and great grandson of Noah) from the far north with all its troops—the many nations with you’ (Ezekiel 38:1-6). These indictments talked about a past and presently dwindling Piscean Age. Through Cycles of Yugas when the Sun distanced itself away from the combined intellect of humanity, harmfulness surpassed harmlessness activating the Law of Karma. For the past 200 years, humankind has shifted from the present-day Piscean Age of Darkness and old prophesies against harmfulness have become current once more. The world waits with frightful anticipation of these end time events. By extension, according to the Hashemite kingdom theory, the Islamic countries would once more come against Israel either by an Iraqi led, Jordanian led, or Turkish led coalition. The enemy from the north refers to the areas of Syria, Turkey, and Iraq, the lands that currently are involved in the Arab Spring. Hebrew and Islamic have occupied Magog (Europe and Asia): Gomer (Cimmerian), Togarmah (North of Middle East), Meshach (Syria) and Tubal (Lebanon). Are they scheduled to collide in annihilation by Fire? Whether, as Prophets of the Old Testament or as El Khdir, the Master Sanat Kumar can, to this day, be found in Kahf, the Cave of Revelation, where Moses met him. According to Carl Jung, the Swiss analytic psychiatrist, “El Khdir may well be the symbol of the higher Self. His qualities symbolized him; he was said to have been born in a cave, in darkness. He was the long lived one who continually renewed himself, like Elijah. He was similar to the second Adam. He was a counsellor, a Paraclete, Brother Khdir. Khdir symbolized not only a higher wisdom but also a way of acting.” The influence of El Khdir continues to be felt on a universal level. Sanat Kumar in European Traditions: Some references in chivalry and 106 In the Beginning gallantry in Europe traced their way back to Sanat Kumar. Knights in medieval England, who formed the Order of the Garter, adapted much of their underground mystical ritual from their sojourn to Persian and Arabic lands, and from their reverence for El Khdir. Saint George, patron saint of Great Britain, was also associated with El Khdir as the dragon slayer, who may eventually exterminate the dragon in the ‘Book of Revelation’. There may also be a connection between Sanat Kumar and the Hermetic green lion, whose seven chakras are stars like the Pleiades and whose blood brings change. Sanat Kumar in Prophesies of End-time Prophets of yore prophesied rebuilding the Temple of Jerusalem before the final Armageddon. Sanat Kumar was the presence of the Flying Eagle, as recorded by John in the New Testament gospel. He spoke to the disciples saying: “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate (Jesus) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7). This Revelation by John was his discussion with Sanat Kumar while in deep meditation that he was with John and 144,000 faithful for a little while and would have to go back to Him that sent him. Who were these loyal people? The Prophet Ezekiel described the appearances of these loyal faithful: “As to the likeness of their faces, the face of a man, and the face of a lion, toward the right are to them four, and the face of an ox on the left are to them four, and the face of an eagle are to them four” (Ezekiel 1:10). Everyone had four faces, who were looking four several ways. In John’s vision, each of the four living creatures had one of these faces also (Rev. 4:7). Each human face had all the four qualifications of service for the common good of humankind. They had fierceness, boldness and the strength of a lion, the diligence and patience of a sharp-eyed eagle, and the unwavering will to serve like an ox. From a modern perspective, it can be said that Sanat Kumar has always been the Presence of the Lamb in the ‘Book of Revelation’ who stood ready with the 144,000 for the descent of the New Jerusalem. Once again, John, from the Book of Revelations “looked, and, lo, a lamb stood on the Mount Sion, and with him stood 144,000, having his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And [he] heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and [he] heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth” (Revelation 14:6–12). Sanat Kumar continued his presence as the Lamb not yet ready for the final battle. Instructions were given by the Lamb not to hurt “the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads”. John “heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed a Prophesies 107 hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel (Revelation 7:3–4). The 144,000 people stood before the throne, the four living creatures and the elders; they were singing a new song, which only they could learn” (Revelation 14:3). Finally, John saw “the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2). John heard a voice “out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God” (Revelation 21:3). And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:4). Sanat Kumar identified Himself as: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto Him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” Through various but similar statements, different sages warned humanity about the end times of each Cycles of Time and Creation. Human blindness to the purpose of human existence was warned against through many millenniums. Prophesies have come and gone like an instalment through Time, but the admonition was always: ‘What was the purpose of a human existence’? Not only John, but Sanat Kumar, of ‘Ancient of Days’, spoke about a series of five dreams, or revelations, that in a step-by-step fashion described what may happen in the last days. The fifth one was not only exhaustive, but it was the longest prophecy in the Bible. It detailed troop movements in the Middle East, the invasion of Jerusalem and everything that was supposed to happen right before the end. What made Daniel’s prophecies different from the other prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, was its specificity. ... It predicted a time of peace and a re-gathering of Israel as signs of the end. Sanat Kumar was invoked throughout the Old Testament as “The Lord Thy God”. Edgar Cayce (1877–1945), the ‘sleeping prophet’ of the 20th century, also stated that the Lord thy God was the One WHOLE One (Zephaniah 3:17) who delivered the Ten Commandments and the Pentateuch or Torah (first five books of the Old Testament) to Moses. He watched over the exodus and diaspora of the twelve tribes of Israel until they were reunited, as prophesied in Revelation. After searching through the Old Testament for “the Lord thy God,” there emerged a clear picture of the divine laws brought forth through Sanat Kumara, and referenced by the prophets Jeremiah, Isaiah, Hosea, Amos and Zephaniah. The Master’s words to Moses: “Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged. For the Lord thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: He knoweth thy walking through this great 108 In the Beginning wilderness: these forty years the Lord thy god hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.” (Deuteronomy 1:21) recognised the trials and troubles of many nations but they also reassured humanity there would always be Ascended Masters to help them towards ascension. The words of the Master were a clear suggestion that humanity was not intended to walk alone blindly, but rather, to walk in the knowledge and in the safety of the Lord’s presence. To keep company with the Teachers, a physical presence was not always believed necessary and, in fact, it was even impossible. The only means by which this presence could be achieved was to keep the Master or ‘Divine Teacher’ in the human heart, to be one with him and attuned in oneness. Generosity from Nature, sufficiency, health and spiritual wealth were all necessary for human existence but as all avatars, sent to humanity, have reminded: “remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth that He may establish His covenant which He sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. Understand therefore this day, the Lord thy God is He who goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire He shall destroy them, and He shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the Lord hath said unto thee” (Deuteronomy 8:18). The Lord forcefully reminded humanity that He required faithfulness as part of the covenant between them. Further in Deuteronomy, the Lord reminded his people of their rebellion and disobedience saying, “Understand therefore, the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiff-necked people. Remember, and forget not, how thou provokest the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the Lord” (Deuteronomy 9:6). Once again the Lord reminded his people that they were undeserving of his gifts and, on more than one occasion, they had angered and provoked Him. Obviously, there was a warning for those blind to the purposes of human existence: to strictly follow the laws of living, loving and serving one’s fellowman. The Lord spoke to Israel and said: “And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God; Him shalt thou serve, and to Him shalt thou cleave, and swear by His name. He is thy praise, and He is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen. Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude. Therefore, thou shalt love and His judgments, and His commandments, always” (Deuteronomy 10:12– 13). Sanat Kumar obviously wanted Moses to tell his people to walk the laws of Prophesies 109 living, to serve each being with love and devotion with all their heart and soul and observe the Lord in each of Nature’s manifestation – the strand of Changelessness that ran through the Many. In addition, Sanat Kumar told Israel that they were a “holy people unto the Lord.” They were, in fact, chosen “to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations” that lived. (Deuteronomy 7:6). Israel, at the time of Moses, was a holy nation and a gathering place where like minds were drawn together. They were an anthology of a people reflecting their common tastes, tendencies and predilection for spirituality. Reincarnating, after all, has always promoted critical masses of thought to gather repeatedly in one place. Ultimately, when Jesus said: “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with thy entire mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment” (Mathew 22:37), he encouraged one to think through personal beliefs, irrespective of religion, with the aim of finding the Truth and then living out those beliefs. Everyone has agreed that God exists. All accepted that avatars like Krishna, Jesus, and John lived, died, and must have returned to encourage humanity in its search to become like the Master. Religion was, therefore, not just an elated emotional experience. It is Truth and it impacts every area of life. It is the truth of faith that has always compelled one to love God: heart, soul, and mind. Sanat Kumar & Masters in Theosophy In ‘The Bridge to Freedom’ and the “I AM Movement ‘of the late 1800s, many spiritual movements mentioned Sanat Kumar in their writings. These included books by HP Blavatsky, Leadbeater and Annie Besant; ‘Man: His Origin, History and Destiny’ by Werner Schroeder; The “I AM” Movement and writings founded in 1930 by Guy Ballard (1878-1939) and his wife Edna; The ‘Bridge to Freedom’ established in 1951 by Geraldine Innocente (1915-1961) and other students of Ascended Masters which started as a modern-day sustainable antislavery movement but continued to work with victims as they transitioned out of modern- day oppression and into thriving, well-rounded life of freedom. A description of Sanat Kumar, taken from the book, ‘The Masters and the Path’, by CW Leadbeater, written in 1925, reads: “Our world is governed by a spiritual king, one of the Lords of the Flame who came long ago from Venus. He is called by the Hindus, Sanat Kumar, a title meaning prince or ruler. He is often spoken of as the One Initiator, the One without a Second, and the Eternal Youth of Sixteen Summers. Sometimes he is called the Lord of the World. He is the Supreme Ruler. In his hand and within his aura lies all his planet. He represents the Logos, the principle governing the cosmos, as far as this world is concerned. Its expectations direct the whole into its evolution—not that of humanity alone, but also evolving the Devas, the nature-spirits, and all other creatures connected with the earth. He is, of course, distinct from the great entity called the Spirit of the Earth, who uses the world as a physical body.” 110 In the Beginning

He always used Masters (devas) for his work. Devas and angels included all spiritual beings found in many religious traditions for protecting and guiding human beings, and carrying out Spiritual errands for Sanat Kumar. Philosophically, these ascended beings were “pure spirits.” According to Aristotle, there was always a First Mover (God), and spiritual secondary movers (angels). This idea of angels was best understood by different faiths when contrasted with demons as “influenced by the ancient Persian religious tradition of Zoroastrianism, which viewed the world as a battleground between forces of good and forces of evil, between light and darkness.” According to Kabbalah, after the four worlds above there was the last world: the world of action. Angels in these worlds performed tasks to produce effects of action or ‘karma’ in this world. Early Christians inherited Jewish understandings of angels, which were inherited from the Egyptians. In the early days, an angel was a messenger for bringing excellence, spirits of love, and messages from Masters. Later individualistic identification of angelic messengers was the trend but by the third to the fifth centuries images of angels took on definite characteristics both in theology and in art. Angels could take on different forms. The Islamic prophet Muhammad, speaking of the angel Gabriel, said that his wings spanned from the Eastern to the Western horizon. In Islamic tradition angels could take on human form. Baha’i Faith Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith, referred to angels as people who through the love of God had consumed all human limits and were granted with spiritual qualities. Further, he said that anybody could become an angel in this world: “Ye are the angels, if your feet be firm, your spirits rejoiced, your secret thoughts pure, your eyes consoled, your ears opened, your breasts dilated with joy, and your souls gladdened, and if you arise to assist the Covenant, to resist dissension and to be attracted to the Effulgence!” In Hinduism, the term deva was translated as “angel but deva was the embodiment of a natural element with exact expression in physical realms and described as gandharvas and apsaras. In Theosophy, Devas lived in the environment of planets of solar system as Planetary Angels or in the Sun as Solar Angels. They helped to guide the processes of nature, evolution and the growth of plants. Their appearance as colours of the rainbow, like coloured flames the size of a human and they were seen when the third eye was activated. It was asserted, by Theosophists, that all beings owned etheric bodies that were composed of etheric matter, that was finer and more pure and they were composed of smaller particles than ordinary physical plane matter. Whatever the belief about Masters in his mind, Sanat Kumar held the whole plan of evolution at some high level, about which humanity was ignorant. He was the Force which compelled the whole world machine, the embodiment of the Divine Will on this planet. He was and still is the strength, courage, decision Prophesies 111 and perseverance, which demonstrated them in the lives of men. His consciousness was so expansive that it understood all life on the globe. In his hands were the powers of cyclic destruction, for he wielded ‘Fohat’. This was the Tibetan term for the energetic aspect of the Supreme Spirit: both formative and destructive. It always worked unending changes. Electromagnetism was the fundamental source through which this Master wielded even the highest forms of cosmic forces - all outside the human understanding. His work was usually connected with humanity as a whole rather than with individuals. When he did influence any single person it was through Atma, the astral and causal body of the embodied one. It was never through Ego, that his influence was brought to bear. At a certain point in the progress of an aspirant on the path, he was formerly presented as the Lord of the world. Those who had met him face to face spoke of him as having the appearance of a handsome youth, dignified, benign beyond all description. Yet his expression was of omniscient, inscrutable majesty. He carried a sense of restive power. Some found they were unable to bear his gaze, and veiled their faces in awe. Madame Blavatsky had this experience and she could not forget it, nor did she ever doubt it. However terrible the sin and sorrow on earth might be, all things worked together for the eventual good of all humanity which was being steadily guided towards its final goal. Sanat Kumar on the Path of the Ruby Ray and at the Seventh Seal: Mark and Elizabeth Clare Prophet gave many teachings and dictations about and by Sanat Kumar. The book by the Prophets published in 1979 ‘The Path of Self- Transformation’ was a treasury of teachings dictated by Sanat Kumar for his disciples. They were pioneers of modern spirituality and they became known internationally. Like other masters, the composer Dorothy Lee Fulton, a Messenger of Music, received many songs from Mother Mary dedicated to Ascended Masters, angels and cosmic beings. Several of these songs related to Sanat Kumar, Lady Master Venus and the Ruby Ray path. Their words painted a beautiful description of the mission of the Ancient of Days and of the Hierarchs of Light. Delinking from Past Wisdoms Reincarnations happened when souls decided to return to life in a newly created body after the death of an earlier physical body. The phenomenon was also called transmigration and reappearance into a new form for the revitalization of unfinished hopes. The classic reincarnation canon (in writing) was developed in India around the 9th century BC and redefined as an idea around 7th century BC. It was adopted by other Eastern religions like Buddhism and Jainism, which originated in India. The ancient religions of the Mediterranean world also developed different reincarnation beliefs. Greek Platonism asserted the pre-existence of the soul in 112 In the Beginning a heavenly world and its fall into a human body was the result of past transgressions that awaited the Law of Karma. To be released from its bondage and returned to pure being, the soul needed purification through reincarnation. In stating such beliefs Plato was strongly influenced by the earlier philosophical schools of Orphism and Pythagoreanism. Orphism was a set of ancient Greek mystery religious beliefs gained from the myth of Orpheus and the practices of a Hellenistic world during the 6th century BC. These were combined with the Thracian cult of Zagreus, which were mingled with Eleusinian mysteries and with the doctrines of Pythagoras and Plato. These doctrines concerned creation, reincarnation and the law of karma. In the 3rd century AD they were the first important Greek philosophical systems that adopted a view of reincarnation similar to that of Hinduism and opened themselves as neo-Platonism. In ancient Egypt, the ‘Egyptian Book of the Dead’ described the travel of a soul into the next world but it did not make any mention about its return to earth. The ancient Egyptians embalmed the dead in order the body might be preserved and accompany the soul into that distant world. This suggested that their belief was based in resurrection rather than in reincarnation. Today, many old tribal religions are credited with believing in reincarnation. They have long taught about the pre-existence of the soul before physical birth or its independent survival after death. This concept had likeness with the classic idea of transmigration from one physical body to another according to the demands of the law of karma. Such passing from life to life was only like a shifting into an insentient dream. When the surviving karmic life force of the subtle body separated from the physical body and began its travel toward a new earthly birth, in a new body, it was reincarnating. Between births, the individual spent time in the astral regions—often just wandering and frittering time away, and sometimes learning and evolving so the next life was better and wiser. This time spent in the intermediate state could last hours or even thousands of years. This was precisely determined by karma and the awareness of the reincarnating mortal. Where one found himself or herself after death was governed by the law of karma which indicated the interior condition in developing consciousness of that individual. Changing through re-embodiment was not particular to humankind. Not only was the material universe evolving, the conscious entities within the universe were changing as well. To a yogi on an ascending spiritual path, salvation was the attainment of perfection through evolution. It was not being “forgiven sins,” or being classified by the God as one of His “chosen.” Rather, it was making the grade and graduating from this earth-plane school, having learned the necessary lessons–not intellectually, but through its evolution beyond humanity where the supreme goal was divinity. Why then did many not make the grade towards enlightenment? Prophesies 113

Karma and reincarnation were the realities that determined the end time of a yogic seeker. Karma was the law that everything he or she did was for learning from past mistakes. Since humanity was slow to learn, it was necessary to keep returning to the school of earthly birth multiple times: until knowledge brought understanding into purpose of human existence. Such learning changed consciousness to its full potential. Changing through and beyond the higher states took the yogi to the innate divinity, which was by now thoroughly revealed. Avatars, or Messenger Masters, did not come to the earth for the vague purpose of uplifting humanity and “saving” sinners. Rather, they came only to those who sought the master who in turn “To as many as received Him, to them gave [the] power to become the sons of God.” (John 1:12). Masters came as envoys of God, manifesting on the earth, for setting up a storehouse of spiritual power which would out last the avatar’s physical lifetime, and bring liberation for future generations. Sometimes the avatar re-established a new faith on the peoples of earth, and sometimes he or she rejuvenated a religion that had waned in power or which had been lost. Jesus of Nazareth, re-established the ancient mysteries of the Mediterranean world which had lost their deifying power and salvaged Vedanta as an individual spirit into the bosom of the whole, where all existed eternally. Therefore, the Master reincarnations came and again to re-establish “the power to become the sons of God” (Genesis 6: 1-6) among men. Genesis 6 interpreted ‘sons of God’ into a complicated mythology of ‘fallen angels’. It was perhaps more likely referring to sons who returned to earth repeatedly until they were fully evolved. Elizabeth Prophet (1939-2009), the head of the Summit Lighthouse, repeatedly stated the missing link between understanding truth and inventing mythology was the idea of reincarnation. Understanding spiritual messages was outmoded by archaic human minds, but it did not stop Masters from returning and reinforcing their messages era after era. Mehar Baba (1894-1969), an Indian mystic, who in 1954 declared publicly that he had come to give a new understanding to spiritual values, declared for all Masters that “God [had] come again and again in various forms, [had] spoken again and again in different words and languages, but always about the same One Truth.... The outer life and habits of an avatar [reflected] in some degree the habits and customs of the people of that time, and in his teachings he [stressed] the aspects that [called] for improvement. In essence, every avatar [embodied] the same ideals of life”. Divine messages always defined a new era but with expected and unexpected happenings. For instance, some said natural disasters were unexpected events in their human lives. To the untutored, these newly emerging events were considered agonizingly bewildering. Human logic disallowed them from making a Cosmic Connection with the Whole whom mankind considered the ‘other’. No one accepted that Creation was a living, breathing, feeling sentient Mother Universe resourced from The Cause, the 114 In the Beginning

Creator. Who could authoritatively introduce Mother Nature as a loving, living, breathing entity? Divine incarnation alone had the ability to teach humankind about the dual expression of the Universe; that She was a merger of both Her male and female forms. Masters had tried to explain that God or divine consciousness was always defined as the divine force and will of Purusha (Father) and the power and creativity Prakriti (Holy Spirit). In Hinduism, they went further. Every male deity representing the Infinite had a female consort (His Shakti, energy). She represented the limitless field of energy, manifesting as Awareness inherent in every atom of matter in the universe over who presided lord Consciousness. Eastern Christian theology also accepted a God of a dual nature: essence and energies. This duality was imbued with two holy characteristics: as Consciousness (Force of the Father – Purusha) and as Awareness (Creative Power of Prakriti). Although individual souls manifested and evolved within this great energy and each was finally ‘born’ out of it, each was intended to arrive at the realm of pure consciousness. Each evolved within the energy field called the “Mother,” as distinguished from the “Father” the eternal Witness. Creation was looked upon as the Mother and Her Awareness was where a yogi wilfully chose to remain in her evolutionary “womb.” In the fourteenth century, there was a controversy surrounding the Hesychastic fathers, of Mount Athos. Their defender, Saint Gregory Palamas, finally established this same fact, that God was both Creator and the Womb of Creation. It became an irrevocable part of Eastern Christian theology that God, though one, had a dual nature: essence and energies. In Christianity, this divine duality was symbolized through Jesus, the Christ, and his Virgin Mother, Mary. Divine power (Holy Spirit) was first born on earth and then became the Virgin Mother. There were two distinct modes of divine materialization. As stated in the Bhagavad Gita, the incarnation’s “birth” on the earth was a mere appearance. Such an incarnation had neither a father nor a mother, though for the sake of relating to human beings there was that appearance, including gestation and birth. The “body” of such an incarnation bore several distinctive marks or traits by which it could be known as what it truly was (Hebrew 7:3). The second type of incarnation was morally-spiritually the same. Rather than a direct “raying forth” or extension of the Absolute Consciousness into the world, the Incarnation was an individualized spirit that had traversed the entire range of evolution and attained oneness with the Supreme. It participated in and manifested the omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence of God. Of such a person it was said: “In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). Therefore, why did humanity struggle when it was already face to face with both a contact and spiritual guide? In seemed that in any one person humanity and divinity revealed as one. The heart of Oriental Orthodox Christology stated: “The humanity of Christ [was] Prophesies 115 not the same as his divinity, nor [did] it ever stop to be other than his divinity. But in personification, and because of his love and the exercise of his will, it [became] truly his own humanity”. It was not one attribute such as knowledge, power or the wisdom of God, but the whole Deity which was incarnated, and appeared in human form. In the other type of embodiment, there was a push from humanity and only the divinity manifested in an inexplicable manner. This second type of divine embodiment was born into a material human body and had human ancestry. Jesus was the second type of incarnation. The current “orthodoxy” among Eastern and Oriental Christians was of the view that Jesus was God who assumed a human nature and by it became fully human but he was divine. However, although this understanding of both divinity and humanity was perhaps defective, such “orthodoxy” was of little practical meaning to the seeker after truth. Nevertheless, some studied the lives of many other prophets, like Enoch, to make similar and dissimilar determinations of a prophet’s merit, worth and significance. They were all Masters of their eras and they left many similarities. Perhaps they were personifications of the same Master reappearing to guide an evolving humanity. In the ‘Book of Enoch’, Enoch (3284–3017 BC) the prophet left Babylon (today’s Iraq) for Egypt with his followers. Enoch ruled during a reign of peace and justice. His followers followed him to Egypt after leaving Babylon. There, he carried on his mission, calling people to what was just and fair, teaching them certain prayers and instructing them to fast on certain days and to give a portion of their wealth to the poor. Ancient Greeks declared that Enoch was a spiritualist. The same soul who was Enoch, the Prophet, was also the Egyptian Thoth, depicted with the head of a baboon. He was also identified as Hermes, the Greek messenger to the Underworld. He was also Metatron, the angel in Judaism and branches of Christianity, who interacted with the archangel Gabriel. Enoch as Metatron allegedly wrote, ‘Books about the Sacred Knowledge of Creation’, which were based on the patterns of geometry that repeated in cycles through time. Romans knew Enoch as Mercury, the god of oratory, who acted as messenger between man and the gods. He taught the sons of men the art of building cities. He discovered the knowledge of the Zodiac, and the courses of the planets. He pointed out to humanity that it should worship God, give votive offerings, and donate in tenths. He disapproved ‘offensive foods’ and drunkenness, and appointed festivals for sacrifices to the Sun at each of the Zodiacal signs. In Hebrew, Enoch’s name meant the initiate or initiator. He was seen throughout the Judaic times. There was a large Zoroastrian influence on Judaism when Jewish exiles were exposed to the Persian religion during their Babylonian captivity. This was the oldest monotheistic religion and its forerunner faith was Mazdaism. It originated with Iranian speaking tribes (Aryans) who dominated 116 In the Beginning a vast land mass from the Northern shores of the Black Sea to the plains of Northern India, Central Asia and Western China. In 700 BC the Indian, Persian, Egyptian and Babylonian were the most advanced civilizations and their influence in the Middle East and Central Asia lasted for hundreds of years. They left a legacy of religion and culture. Jews, who were subjects of the Cyrus Empire, around 600 BC, were directly influenced by their religious ideas, and the Judaic religion was split into several groups: Pharisee, Essene, Sadducee, Zealot and Sicarius. This split happened in the post- Babylonian era when many Jews were slaves in Babylonia. Persians took power over Babylonia and freed them. A conflict of tradition and power struggle began. The learned, Jewish Rabbis and leaders welcomed the invaders’ foreign ideas on religion while many preferred their own Judaic beliefs. Hundreds of years later, Rome became a dominant power. Jewish rebels tried to overthrow the Roman rule in Palestine but the attempt came with a heavy price. They were ejected from the First Temple of Jerusalem and their people were sold into slavery. Many local Jews routed to all corners of Europe and Asia. The Essene group was the most influential on the budding Christian movement taking shape within Judaism because of its radical ideas taken from Jewish, Iranian, Egyptian and Hellenic (Platonic) thought. They were the most influential group who evolved as Christians in the strongly Mithraicism (an Iranian religious movement) area where Paul of Tarsul (later St. Paul) was born. Some Jews adopted the Enochian tradition in Babylon during their exile and brought it back to Canaan when Cyrus gave them leave to return home. The Enochian Jews were detested by the priesthood in Jerusalem, and they were forced to flee into the desert before 300 BC. Naturally, they supported the Maccabees, the priestly family of Jews, during the uprising of 165 BC against Antiochus in Palestine. The Seleucid king (215–164 BC) of the Hellenistic Syrian kingdom, (175– 164 BC), was taken hostage in Rome (189–175 BC), where he learned about Roman institutions. On his release, he conquered Syria and Egypt with the exception of Alexandria. The Roman defeat of his Macedonian allies neutralized his victories. From southern Syria he took Jerusalem and enforced its Hellenization. Jewish rites were forbidden under the pain of death. The Maccabaeus and the anti-Greek Jews conquered Judaea with the exception of Jerusalem. They tore down the altar of Zeus, and reconsecrated the Temple. Antiochus defended his empire against the Parthians before dying in Persia. They deconsecrated the defiled Temple of Jerusalem after Antiochus sought to stamp out Judaism. Today, this event is still celebrated during the holiday, Hanukkah. The last of the Essene stragglers buried the secret book in Cave IV at Qumran in 70 AD. The urban Christians and Jews of the Near East rejected it. The authors of the Apocalypse rewrote and re-titled it, but they did not understand the heptadic structure (recurring 7) of the original arrangement of Prophesies 117 sevens. Only the students of the Merkabah (Light vehicle used by Ascended Masters) in Babylonia owned the key to the Enochian Alchemical Mysteries. As was obvious throughout the past, changes happened over time. History usually condemned the past and therefore blindly repeated itself through Cycles of Times and Eras. Authentic Records of religious systems were covered by systemised opinions giving them flawed ‘historical’ perspectives. Subjects such as avatars, prophets and reincarnation became modified to suit the time of day and they presented circumstances of times past. Even the position of the Sun during the course of a day, created in many, different chronological standpoints and outlooks. As a result, the links between past and present were systematically removed. In retrospect, it was the removal of the subject of reincarnation that became the missing link in the understanding of Christianity. How else would humanity explain the logic of Cause and Effect? Early Christians removed this ‘link’ through Church Councils and the persecution of ‘heretics’. Using the latest scholarship and evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls and Gnostic texts, Mrs. Prophet in ‘Karma and Reincarnation’ argued that Jesus, like other prophets who came as leaders of humanity, was a mystic who taught that man’s destiny was to unite with the God within, The Christ. The Jewish philosopher Philo Judaeus, who was a contemporary of Jesus, when he spoke about re-embodiment said that: “The air [was] full of souls; those who [were] nearest to the earth descending to be tied to mortal bodies [returned] to other bodies, [who desired] to live in them.” Jewish Philo Judaeus (20 BC–50 AD), who spoke Greek, was known as Philo of Alexandria. He Hellenized the Jewish philosophy with Stoic, Platonic and Jewish ideas and succeeded in changing existing facts about science, spirituality and history. Solomon (Pharaoh Amenhotep III) who reigned Israel (971–931 BC) also spoke of all souls of all faiths returning to many earthly births due only to their desire to do so: “The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old....from the beginning, or ever the earth was.... Then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him: and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him; rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.” Solomon also expressed his deep interest in the idea that all were children of the same universe, and that no one religious conviction was the one right belief, However, like most of the prophets, was his message understood? Solomon (which meant ‘beloved of Israel’) was the son of David who built the First Temple of Jerusalem which housed the Ark of the Covenant. Solomon reportedly had hundreds of and concubines, including the daughter of the pharaoh of Egypt. Solomon’s wisdom is often recalled in a famous incident in which two women came before him with a baby, each claiming to be its mother. Solomon ordered the child to be cut in half, and by observing each woman’s reaction, determined the true mother. Was Solomon the re-embodiment of a sage 118 In the Beginning gone wrong because of past human tendencies of lust, pride and greed from long- ago manifestations? The Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus (37–100 AD), a contemporary of Jesus was best known for his histories of the Jews, including an account of the revolt against the Romans (66–73 AD) and confirming the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. A Jew of priestly and royal descent, a Joseph ben Matthias was put in charge of Galilee and took part in the 66 AD revolt against Rome. He surrendered to the Roman, Vespasian, who became emperor after Nero committed suicide. Joseph adopted the Roman name Flavius Josephus and spent his career under the patronage of Vespasian and his successors (Titus and Domitian). Late in life, Josephus wrote ‘Antiquities of the Jews’ and mentioned Jesus, John the Baptist and James, the martyred brother of Jesus. Although his original texts were altered over the centuries, most scholars today agree that he was one of the best sources of information on the early Christian era. It was recorded that both the Essenes, (one of the three Jewish sects of Essenes, Pharisees and Sadducees) and the Pharisees believed in destiny – a predetermined course of events in a person’s future, in this expression, in the next birth or at some future manifestation. The Pharisees believed that “all the souls [were] incorruptible, but the souls of good men only [were] moved into other bodies, whereas the souls of bad men [were] subject to punishments lasting for ages.” In a speech to some Jewish soldiers he said, “Do ye not remember that when pure spirits depart from this life they obtain a most holy place in heaven, from whence in the revolution of ages, they are again sent into pure bodies?” (Mormon Mysticism). Like an echo, the words of the wayward mystic, Solomon, resounded the same thoughts about the revival of a godly character through rebirth. He said; “For I was a witty [wise] child, and had a good spirit. Yea rather, being good, I came into a body undefiled.” As if computing the same thoughts, Job said, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither” (Job 1:21). Job was a successful shepherd in the land of Uz – a man who was perfect and upright, and followed the laws of God, and eschewed no evil even during trials of a human existence. Later, Job was authorised to express his intuitive conviction born of living rightly that he would be reborn to behold the days of the Messiah, when he explained, “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin, worms destroy this body, in my flesh shall I see the God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.” That was the power and grace of the inner knowledge of a life lived well. However, life was still a mystery to most who had not made a cosmic connection and who experienced an absolute stillness of the human body and who received the grace through silence. Rabbi Simeon ben Jochai, (2nd century AD) a contemporary of the Apostles, Prophesies 119 wrote, “All souls are subject to the trials of transmigrations; and men do not know the designs of the Most High with regard to them... They do not know how many transformations and mysterious trials they must undergo; how many souls and spirits come to this world without returning to the palace of the divine king.” The Law of Cause and Effect is and always has was without an end but unless it was known to mortals, their lives would be judged as full of ‘mysterious trials’. Many to this day humanity have not understood the Mystique of the Holy Trinity. Rabbi Simeon ben Jochai (AD 80) revealed the Mystery of the Trinity to his son when he said to him; “Come and see the mystery of the word Jehovah: there are three steps, each existing by itself; nevertheless, they are One, and so united that one cannot be separated from the other.” He later indicated, that these three steps revealed Elohim (God) as three substantive beings or three divine persons united in one. Another misunderstanding through history was clearly echoed in (Revelation 3:12) by John. It was the idea of Nirvana. It was Jesus who said, “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out.” But Rabbi Simeon continued with the same idea saying, “The souls must re-enter the absolute substance from whence they have emerged. But to accomplish this end they must develop all the perfections, the germs of which are planted in them; and if they have not fulfilled this condition during one life, they must commence another, a third, and so forth, until they have acquired the condition which fits them for reunion with God.” These facts, about a series of successive births for gaining spiritual perfection or ‘nirvana’ were tied to the book of Job (33:29). Which stated, “Lo, all these things worketh God often times with man, to bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.” Apart from accepted facts about transmigration, meditation and assimilation into the Light during contemplation was always the unvoiced opinion on the purpose of human existence. The Prophet Ezekiel (598 BC) spoke of this phenomenon of nirvana as a destination of a long journey of soul-perfection in this way; “The father’s [past incarnations] have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge” (Jeremiah 31:29). This verse reiterated karma defining rebirth. They were not punishments but, as a loving and merciful Father, He forgave each mortal with past habits and tendencies acquired through innumerable embodiments by learning transcendence beyond the body, mind, intellect and senses. Transcendence was described in the ‘Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam’, who sought to find a deeper experience with God and a clearer understanding of His love, in the ‘Song of Songs’. This poem had an overt spiritual message, but it had a covert spiritual effect on those who had already experienced transcendence. This was understood, taught, and emulated by the Sufis of Islam and Yogis of Hinduism. Even orthodox Jews knowingly or unknowingly have for eons recited, “...May we attain to that place from which all spirits and souls have come forth, 120 In the Beginning and may we be credited with having fulfilled all that we have been charged to accomplish, whether in this incarnation or in another incarnation, and to be among those who ascend and merit the world to come with the other saints and righteous....” Although this doctrine of a Love bond between man and Maker, through transcendence, was officially banned in 553 AD many quotations support the doctrine that one must find the purpose of a human existence. Will there be an end to the cycles of birth and death? It was said that “He who soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8). In those “everlasting habitations”, the “place for [all] “has been prepared by avatars. Jesus, through his apostle John, stated that “[He] that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out” (Revelation 3:12), and again, through his apostle Luke, He stated, “neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection” (Luke 20:36). He also stated that, “the last enemy [ego] that shall be destroyed [was] death” (Revelation 22:3). Finally, He indicated that “for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:53-54). Resurrection therefore, indicated transcendence - freedom from rebirth and death and the ascension to Paradise. On the return and restoration to Paradise, it was said: “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7). Transcendence of body, mind, and intellect, through meditation, was always the means and the goal of human existence. Masters have been around and eternally pointed towards the path and the destination. Human Body is the Temple Where God Lives The Prophet Jeremiah was a master of the Essenes—a once secret society. Many of the Essenes lived in communities. Jesus and John the Baptist were also Master Essenes. Their purpose was to follow an esoteric religious philosophy and practices drawn from the Egyptian Mysteries. Essene Masters taught only the worthy ‘saints’. To seek God with a whole heart and soul, the seeker was asked to do what was good and right as commanded through Moses and all his servants, the prophets. Essenes were asked to love all that was chosen for such study, and hate none that was rejected. They were instructed to put away all evil and to hold fast to all good, to practise truth, righteousness and justice on the earth. While learning the Essene way, they were to avoid walking in the stubbornness of an immoral heart, to avoid lust and practice celibacy, for that would be doing evil. The community was encouraged into a covenant of loving kindness. The leaders were to bring all who offered to practice God’s rules, and they were encouraged to join with God’s scheme of things. Faith was and still is a superior quality encouraged despite what happened to them. To love all children of Light Essenes were made to understand each Prophesies 121 member, according to his or her lot in God’s scheme of things. Essenes were needed to disguise the teaching of the law from men of deceit, but they were urged to pass on the knowledge of truth and virtue only to those who had chosen the way. Meditation was prescribed for dawn and dusk and at the various times of the night and the day and during the new moon. Finally, he or she was to perform the Will of God in all works and delight in anything that befell him or her. These were old rules to be practiced by all religious communes in temples, churches, mosques and synagogues even to this day. As the great-great-great grandson of the Pharaoh Thutmose III (Isaac Levi), Moses was launched into the Mysteries and he was destined to become the head of the Egyptian religion. These Mysteries were gained from the religion of India— Sanatan Dharma. Because of the Essenes, Judaism always maintained some contact and interchange with India. Phariseesism of Babylonia, which had a fundamental tendency to self-righteousness with covetousness, was perhaps where capitalism began. Essene-ism was and still is strongly tinged with Eastern elements. Its members preferred sharing, practicing moderation, celibacy and learning. The reality of this contact of the Essenes with India was shown in the Zohar [(foundational literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah)], a compilation of ancient Jewish mystical traditions and the major text of the Jewish Kabbalah. It contained an incident regarding the knowledge of an illumined Rabbi concerning the religions of Israel and India and the Vedic religious rite known as the Sandhya—an offering of prayers at dawn and sunset for enlightenment. Rabbi Yose and Rabbi Hiyya were walking on the road. While they were walking, night fell; they sat down. While sitting, morning began to shine; they rose and walked on. Rabbi Hiyya said, ‘See, the face of the East, how it shines! Now all the children of the East ([in India)], who dwell in the mountains of light (the Himalayas)], are bowing down to this light, which shines on behalf of the Sun before it comes forth, and they are worshipping it.... Now one might say that, ‘This worship [was] in vain!’ However, since the ancient, primordial days wisdom has been discovered through it. The Divine Spirit of God-man was understood by Divine Love (Esse), and His Divine Soul by Wisdom. That was the way of both the ‘search’ and the ‘destination’.

Part II

Humanity Through Periods of Time

5. Ancient Religions of the Far East

Humanity was approaching 2000 BC. The heart of Eurasia was mainly established in the lowlands of Turkestan. Andites, or the human race, routinely travelled westward around the inland lakes into Europe. Eastern Turkestan (Sinkiang) and, to a lesser extent, Tibet were the ancient gateways through which the peoples of Mesopotamia penetrated the mountains into the northern lands of the yellow men (south-east Asia). The Andite infiltration of India happened from these Turkestan highlands into the Punjab and from the Iranian grasslands through Baluchistan. These earlier migrations were not conquests. They were, rather, the continual drifting of the Andite tribes into western India and China. Strong centres of primitive culture and learning, especially along the Yellow River and the Yangtze, were reinforced by the arrival of a steady stream of superior blended peoples from Sinkiang and Tibet. The migration, from Tibet to the Yangtze valley, carried with it some of Andite blood eastward to the river settlements. Melchizedek (king of Salem, of the Hebrew Bible missionaries) arrived in China around 2500 BC. By the time of the Han Dynasty, the influential Confucian scholar, Zheng Xuan, declared that “Shangdi (God) [was] another name for Tian”. Even today, in Chinese tradition, Shangdi is not represented with images or idols. Around 600 BC, Lao Tze Chun (a contemporary of Confucius), wrote his book ‘The Tao’, which was revived as the ‘Universe of Truth’. Confucius himself wrote the ‘Book of Wisdom’. Following Confucius were the teachings of Mo Ti, whose philosophy was the ‘Love for Father’. During 581-618 AD, Lao Tse’s short-lived existence during the Sui Dynasty was prominent. By this time, the Western Semitic influence of Melchizedek declined, while Buddhism blossomed. Lao Tze built directly on the ideas of the Salem traditions. He affirmed the Ka in the Egyptian belief was the life force, and that was what kept the soul alive. Lao Tze, a man of great spiritual vision, declared Tao, the Word, to be the first cause of all creation. He taught that “man’s eternal destiny was the everlasting union with Tao, the Supreme God and Universal King.” Contemporary with Lao Tse and Confucius in China, another great teacher of truth arose in India. Gautama (Siddhartha) was born in the sixth century BC in the northern part of India and it was there that he drew up his theories which grew into the philosophy of Buddhism. Buddha, as he has come to be known, made a determined but futile fight against the growing caste system. There was a deep sincerity and a unique selflessness about this young prophet prince. Amid the confusion and cult practices of the Brahmins of India, the more moderate

125 126 In the Beginning teachings of Gautama were a refreshing relief. Although he denounced gods, priests, and their sacrifices, he too failed to perceive the personality of the One Universal. He made a noble effort to deliver people from fear, to make them feel at ease and at home in the great universe, but he failed to show them the pathway to that real and supernal home of ascending mortals and to the expanding service of eternal existence. A mysterious figure appeared and disappeared in the old writings. For centuries, many scholars wondered about this man, Melchizedek who left abruptly, after a conversation with Abraham. This happened after Abraham rescued his nephew Lot, after defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him (Genesis 14:13-17). Genesis 14:18-20 documented, “Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was the priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram. Psalm 76:2 identified Salem with Jerusalem, the city King David conquered and made into his capital. Psalm 110:4 also mentioned Melchizedek, “The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind: ‘You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.’ Melchizedek meant ‘king of righteousness’ and as ‘king of Salem’ he was the ‘king of peace.’ Verse 3 described him “Without father or mother, without , without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God [avatar], he remains a priest forever”, meant the Melchizedek was a realised Christ. In the Slavonic version of Enoch, Melchizedek’s old and sterile mother conceived him miraculously. He was taken to paradise, where he was the head of all future priests. Melchizedek was not Jesus pre-incarnate, but a Christ-figure. Jesus of the House of Judah would enter his priesthood. Melchizedek said to Abraham: “Look now up to the heavens and number the stars if you are able; so numerous shall your seed be.” Abraham believed him, and not long after, his son Isaac, the ancestor of the Hebrew and Arab tribes, was born. Because Christ lives forever, Jesus like Melchizedek was given a permanent priesthood. He was holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. While Melchizedek and Christ were similar in that both were priests and kings, Melchizedek signified a Christ-type figure. Although Jesus was of the same priesthood as Melchizedek, he was greater than Abraham when Jesus stated, “before Abraham was born, I AM!” (John 8:58). In the Urantia Book the current philosophy was stated: The cosmos is divided into seven concentric rings, the centre ring being the Isle of Paradise, where God resides. The Urantia Book supersedes the Bible as the ultimate source of Truth. The Book of Mormon states God exists in three separate trinities: in the existential Paradise Trinity, the experiential Ultimate Trinity, and in the experiential Absolute Trinity. God is the Universal Father of all humanity. Jesus is one of many Creator Sons - Christ. Perfection is attained by continually seeking goodness over the course of many lifetimes, on many different planets. Such communications were and still are poorly understood. Ancient Religions of the Far East 127

Meanwhile Buddhism prospered because it offered salvation through faith and a belief in the Buddha—the enlightened one. Buddhism was more representative of the Melchizedek truths. However, Buddhism did not become widespread as a religion until it was espoused in self-protection by the low-caste Ashoka, who, next to Akhenaton, the son of Solomon in Egypt, with his wife Nefertiti was one of the most remarkable civil rulers of his time. Ashoka built a great Indian empire through his Buddhist missionaries over a period of twenty-five years. Inside a single generation he made Buddhism the dominant religion of one half of the world. To this day, it remains established in Tibet, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Java, Thailand, , China and Japan. Generally speaking, it was a religion superior to the now corrupt old Hinduism practised by the rulers and priests of this time. Mesopotamia before Abraham’s Birth (1948 BC) The Sumerians of present day Iraq were not the only people to inhabit the Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia. This vast area encompassed the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, both of which had their headwaters in the mountains of Armenia in modern Turkey. Known in ancient days as Mesopotamia (Greek for ‘between the rivers’), the lower reaches of this plain, at the point where the two rivers nearly converged, was called Babylonia. Babylonia, in turn, encompassed two geographical areas: Akkad in the north and Sumer, the delta of this river system, in the south. Both rivers were fed by many tributaries, and the entire river system drained a vast mountainous region. Broken by river channels teeming with fish, and re-fertilized often by alluvial silt laid down by uncontrolled floods, Sumer had a wonderful agricultural potential. During several successive cultural phases that followed the arrival of the first Neolithic farmers, these and other related problems were solved by cooperative efforts. Between 3500 BC and 3100 BC, foundations were laid for an economy and social order markedly different from anything previously known. A far more complex culture, based on large urban centres rather than simple villages, developed into an expanding civilization. There were other groups of people who lived in permanent communities who interacted with the Sumerians of Southern Mesopotamia in times of peace and in times of war. By 2350 BC, Semitic-speaking people of the South united with Northern Mesopotamia. A new capital was established at Akkad. The result was a centralized government under the authority of the local king and his royal court. The man most responsible for this development was Sargon of Akkad (2334- 2279 BC), who united all of Mesopotamia. He was an Akkadian Semite from the line of Noah’s son Shem, as were the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Hebrews. When he conquered the dominant Sumerians, he created the first great Semitic empire. Rebellions surfaced during his life and the lives of his sons but they did not tear 128 In the Beginning the empire apart. Nearly three-thousand years later, the Babylonians speak of Sargon’s rescue by Inanna, the moon goddess Ishtar. According to the Sumerian king list and other records, Sargon reigned for fifty-six years, before passing the kingship to his son, Rimuc, who battled endless rebellions for nine years. Finally, during the reign of his grandson, Naram-Suen., the empire began to unravel as city-states broke away from the empire. Soon after, a barbaric tribe, from the Zagros Mountains, invaded and conquered the Akkadian empire. The main foundation of the Akkadian state was trade and industry. Sargon brought vast amounts of wealth to the capital city. He and his royal court served as the focal point of all economic activity. At Sumer, this task was assumed by the priests of the temple. By bringing with him the brightest royal servants and administrators in vast numbers, he created an expert bureaucratic organization to help rule his kingdom. The Akkadian kingdom, like most ancient Near-eastern kingdoms, also embraced a polytheistic religion. Their gods were animal headed gods in human form. They also had human frailties. They were foolish as well as intelligent. They displayed jealousy as well as anger and they could be humorous as well as silly. The gods were unequal in status. The Mesopotamians believed that these gods were responsible for creating the universe and they were also responsible for the smooth running of the world. The gods ruled through their earthly representatives. In the Akkadian kingdom, the gods ruled through Sargon, and thus minimized the status and role of the temple priests who served as mediators between the gods and ordinary men and women. Absent from this religion was a code of ethics or any moral law. Issues of good and evil were left for the local humanity to discover. While the Sumerians, Babylonians, Akkadians and other groups were busy creating a Mesopotamian civilization in the Fertile Crescent of the Ancient Near- East, another civilization was growing in its west. The fertile valley of the Nile River allowed the Egyptian civilization to flourish. For centuries, the ancient Egyptian civilization flourished in isolation from the rest of the Ancient Near- East. Although Egypt was isolated, it was not unified. Around 3100 BC, various political factions struggled to gain control of it. Victory eventually fell to Menes in Upper Egypt. The Egyptians considered unifying Upper and Lower Egypt as the most important event in their history. Like Sargon (Assyrian king of Akkadia), King Narmer (Early Egyptian pre- Dynastic Period) ruled as a mediator between men and the gods, because he was considered divine. The king’s rule was eternal and absolute. He ruled not just for the gods, but as a god himself. This was the role that Narmer assumed in 3100 BC. The Egyptian religion, like that of Mesopotamia, was polytheistic and by then each region had its own patron deity. Some of these regional gods gained notoriety throughout Egypt. The most important god Re, was not represented at all. It was believed that gods created order out of chaos. The Sumerians had a Ancient Religions of the Far East 129 similar belief. However, the life of the Sumerians was filled with anxiety and pessimism because the gods themselves were unstable. The idea of an afterlife was unknown. By comparison, the Egyptian religion inspired confidence and optimism in the external order and stability of the world. The gods guided the rhythms of life and death. What distinguished the Egyptian religion from that of Mesopotamia was that any man or woman could share in the benefits of an afterlife. Death was a continuation of one’s life on the earth. This life with the suitable precautions of proper burial, prayer, and ritual, included only the best parts of life on the earth. There was nothing to fear, but there was also, no reason to be in a hurry to leave this world. Even in 5000 BC, religion was the unifying agent in old Egypt. Their king and later, the pharaoh, indicated his concern for his people by worshipping the local deities in public ceremonies. The gods protected the living and guaranteed them an afterlife. The Egyptians believed that they were living in a fixed, static, unchanging universe in which life and death were part of a continuous, rhythmic cycle. Certain patterns of existence came to be expected. Grain was harvested; irrigation canals and pyramids were built. All humans passed through regular and predictable patterns just as the sun rose in the east and set in the west. Religion gave the river civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt their distinctive character. However, this religion was not a religion of comfort or of morality. The ancients, like the modern savages, always saw man as part of society. People were imbedded in Nature and dependent on cosmic forces. Although ‘primitive’, for them, Nature and man were not in opposition. They understood one another from different identification but they were of a valid oneness. Natural phenomena, like rains, storms and seasons, were imagined with kindly experiences of cosmic events. Sheppards become 18th Dynasty Pharaohs of Egypt (1540– 1070BC) The period, from the 16th century BC to the 11th century BC, was about the New Kingdom in Egyptian history. It covered Egypt’s Eighteenth to the Twentieth . The 18th Dynasty (1540–1070 BC) was full of many of stars. It included the dynasty of Tutankhamen which began with Abraham, the patriarch of the Bible. He was seen by the Jews as the father of Israelites through his son Isaac. It included the dynasties of the eldest son of Jacob by Leah, who was sired by another prince as part of a fertility rite, and Judah, who was chosen as pharaoh over his three older brothers. After the succession of Isaac, emphasis in the biblical story changed from one of agreement and promises to one of birthright and favour. With each new generation, gradually increasing favour was extended to a younger brother over the rights of one or more elder brothers. First Jacob was chosen over Esau, followed by Judah over his three older brothers and then the sons of Joseph and 130 In the Beginning finally a younger son of Joseph, Ephraim, over an elder one. Birthright and favour held chief importance. It symbolized the kingly succession. Had Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph been merely migratory shepherds, without a fixed kingdom, birthright would have been of little significance. They were all sheppards who became pharaohs in and around Egypt. Biblical accounts of the Patriarchs revealed selecting a pharaoh was subjective. There was a break in the paternal line and it resulted in a nominal end to a dynasty. In the case of Jacob and Esau (sons of Isaac from separate mothers), disagreement between their parents Isaac and Rebekah resulted in the succession of Jacob over Esau. In greater part, this was because of the influence of Rebekah and to the deception by Jacob. Until the formation of the first kingdom of Israel in 1050 BC, the tribe of Manasseh was a part of a loose confederation of Israeli tribes. Tribe of Manasseh originated from the older of Joseph’s two sons by Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, the Egyptian priest of Heliopolis (the other son was Ephraim). Manasseh had an Aramean concubine who bore Machir, the father of Gilead. The biblical account derived the name Manasseh from the root meaning ‘to forget’ indicative of the joy this newborn son brought to Joseph’s life after the suffering he had endured. Joseph’s two sons were given exceptional status by their grandfather, Jacob, who adopted them on equal footing with his own sons, thus making two tribes named after Manasseh and Ephraim. Ignoring the rights allowed to the first-born, Jacob granted a preferential position to Ephraim, the younger one. This account was designed to explain future historical realities. Both the tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim, under Moses, gored the nations (Deuteronomy 33:17) and the history of Israel. In the land of Canaan, there was significant contribution by the tribes of Manasseh, Reuben and Gad who served as armed vanguards. As a reward, Moses granted Manasseh the eastern side of the Jordan River. He gave the north- eastern half of the highlands of Jordan to Gad and the north-western half to Ephraim. A city located here was Golan. The heroes of the Manasseh tribe: Gilead, Gideon and Jephthah, subdued the warring men of Ephraim. Abimelech, the son of Gideon, briefly reigned over the kingdom. Manasseh’s tribe was eventually deported by Assyria to Halah, Habor, Hara and the River Gozan where they fell into oblivion. A central government did not exist and in times of crisis the people were led by leaders known as judges. With a growing threat from the Philistine (Canaanites who worshipped Baal and materialism) incursions, the loose Israeli tribes formed a centralized monarchy to meet the challenge. The tribe of Manasseh joined the New Kingdom with Saul the first king of Israel (1021–1000 BC). He was anointed king by the prophet Samuel under pressure from the citizens. Saul’s jealousy of David led to his decline. He died battling David, who Ancient Religions of the Far East 131 delivered the Israelites, but who also praised the fallen Saul of the house of Benjamin as their first king. Saul was a modest shepherd boy, a resident of Gibeah, when the prophet Samuel, after a chance meeting, secretly anointed him king of Israel. It was national humiliation, for the Philistines who had defeated the Israelites at Shiloh and who had captured the Ark of the Covenant, which symbolized the presence of God in their midst. This calamity convinced the Israelites that they must either strive for national unity with a king as leader or face complete and permanent subjugation. Saul succeeded in freeing Israel of its enemies and extending its boundaries. He fought successfully against the Philistines, Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, Aramean, and Amalekites. He also succeeded in drawing the tribes of Israel into a closer unity. His successor, David (1000–962 BC), was born in Bethlehem, in Judah and he died in Jerusalem. He was the second of the Israeli kings. He was an aide to Saul until the monarch’s jealousy forced him into outlawry. He became king of Israel on Saul’s death, captured Jerusalem from the Jebusites and made it his capital. He defeated the Philistines, and gained control of many bordering kingdoms. Despite several revolts, including from his third son, Absalom, he unified all Israel into one kingdom and made Jerusalem both the religious and political centre. He declared ‘Yahweh’ as the god of Israel, who was worshipped in Jerusalem and surpassed all other names for God. Though the kingdom split under David’s son and successor Solomon, religious unity endured. The house of David symbolized the bond between God and Israel. The word ‘messiah’ came from the title of kings of the line of David. After the death of Saul, all the tribes, other than of Judah, remained loyal to the house of Saul. The tribe of Judah chose David as its king. After the death of Saul’s son and successor to the throne of Israel, the tribe of Manasseh joined other northern Israeli tribes in making David, the king of Judah. David became the king of a reunited Kingdom of Israel followed by Solomon. However, on the accession of Rehoboam (David’s grandson renamed Akhenaton) in 930 BC, the northern tribes split from the house of David to reconstitute a kingdom of Israel as the Northern Kingdom. Manasseh was a member of this kingdom until it was conquered by Assyria in 723 BC and the population deported. Since then, the tribe of Manasseh has been counted as one of the ten Lost Tribes of Israel, though some groups claim descent from it. Shepherd Kings Displace Egyptian Pharaohs Terah (means ‘wandering wild goat’) was seventy years old when he fathered Abram and Nahor. He was also the ancestor Abram’s wife Sarai (Joshua 24:2). Other records state Abram’s father was Noah and not Terah (Acts 7:4). Terah worshipped “other gods”, and the Lord Sanat Kumar called Abraham to leave his native land and his father’s house, and set out for the land of Canaan, the 132 In the Beginning old region today made up of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean or Palestine. Abraham (born around 1948 BC) today, is defined as the father of a multitude. This son of Terah was named Abram (Genesis 11:27) at birth. He was to become the heir of prophesies and promises. Till the age of seventy, , Abram lived among his kindred in his native country of Chaldea, an ancient marshy region between the Euphrates and the Persian Gulf which in modern-day is southern Iraq. Then, with his father and his family, he left the city of Ur and went some 300 miles north to Haran in south-east Turkey. It would be the home Isaac’s future wife Rebekah. It was also the land where Jacob would spend twenty years of his life contemplating on the purpose of his life. Abram lived in Haran for fifteen years. The cause of his migration was a call from his Lord (Acts 7:2– 4). While at Haran Terah, Abram’s father died at the age of 205 years. Abram received a second call and accompanied by this promise from God (Genesis 12:1, 2), he took his departure, taking his nephew Lot with him, “not knowing whither he went” (Hebrews 11:8). With a large of a thousand souls, Abram entered a migratory life, and lived in tents. Passing along the Valley of Jabbok, found south of the river Jordan in the land of Canaan, Abram formed his first encampment at Sichem (Genesis 12:6). Here he received the great promise, “I will make of thee a great nation,” (Genesis 12:2, 3, 7). It implied that he was the chosen ancestor of the great Deliverer whose coming had been predicted long ago (Genesis 3:15). He returned to their previous station near Bethel. Here disputes arose between his nephew, Lot’s Sheppards, and those of Abram about water and pasturage. Abram generously gave Lot the pasture-ground of his choice (Comp. 1 Corinthians 6:7). Immediately after this, Abram removed himself to the plain or “oak-grove” of Mamre, which was in Hebron. He finally settled there, pitching his tent under a famous “oak of Mamre” (Genesis 13:18). This was his third resting-place in the land. Some fourteen years before this, while Abram was still in Chaldea, Palestine had been invaded by the king of Elam, who had brought under him the five cities in the plain to which Lot had moved. This was a heavy load. The citizens revolted after twelve years, but it brought vengeance on them. The king ravaged the whole country, he plundered towns, and he carried the inhabitants away as slaves. Among them was Lot. Hearing of the disaster that had befallen his nephew, Abram immediately gathered a band of armed men, and followed the attackers. He routed Elam’s army and returned, bringing back all the spoils that had been previously carried away. Returning by Salem (Jerusalem), the king of that place, Melchizedek, met them with refreshments. Abram presented a tenth of the spoils to him, in recognition of his character as a priest of the highest God (Genesis 14:18–20). Having returned to his home at Mamre, the promises already made to him by God were repeated and enlarged (Genesis 13:14). Ancient Religions of the Far East 133

It was now that he truly understood the future that lay before the nation and that was to spring from him. Abram’s wife Sarai was delighted with God’s promise. She knew she could not to produce children at the age of seventy-five years. In her impatience, she persuaded Abram to take Hagar, her Egyptian , as a concubine. She intended that whatever child might be born should be reckoned as her own. Ishmael, the son of Abram and Hagar was therefore brought up, and regarded as heir of the Lord’s promises (Genesis 16). But the beneficiary identified in the covenant with Abram had to be a son of Sarai, even though she was now ninety years old. Abram was directed to change his name to Abraham and Sarai’s name was to be changed to Sarah. Three months after these events, as Abraham sat in his tent door, he saw three men approaching. They accepted his offered hospitality, and while they were seated under an oak tree, they partook of the fare which Abraham and Sarah provided. One of the three visitants was none other than the Lord Sanat Kumar, and the other two were angels in the guise of men. On this occasion the Lord renewed his promise of a son by Sarah. He was rebuked for her unbelief. Abraham accompanied the three as they continued their journey. The two angels went on toward Sodom while the Lord tarried behind and talked with Abraham, making known to him the destruction that was about to fall on the city of Sodom. After fifteen years’ residence at Mamre, Abraham again moved southward, and pitched his tent among the Philistines, near Gerar. Soon after this event, the patriarch left the vicinity of Gerar and moved down the fertile valley about twenty-five miles to Beersheba. It was there that Isaac was born, when Abraham was 100 years old. A feeling of jealousy now arose between Sarah and Hagar, whose son, Ishmael, was no longer to be regarded as Abraham’s heir. Sarah insisted that both Hagar and her son should be sent away. This was done, although it was a hard trial for Abraham (Genesis 21:12). Now there was a blank in the patriarch’s history for some twenty-five years. These were the years of peace and happiness. The next time Abraham was seen, his faith was put to a severe test. He was suddenly commanded to offer Isaac, the heir of all the promises, as a sacrifice on one of the mountains of Moriah. His faith stood the test (Hebrews 11:17–19). He continued, in a spirit of unquestioning obedience, to carry out the command. When he was about to slay his son, whom he had already laid on the altar, his uplifted hand was arrested by Sanat Kumar, the angel of Jehovah. A ram, which was entangled in a thicket near at hand, was seized and offered instead. The promises made to Abraham were again confirmed and he descended the mount with his son. The family returned to his home at Beersheba (Genesis 22:19), where he lived for some years and then moved northward to Hebron. Later, Sarah died at Hebron, when she was 127 years old. Abraham bought a burying place where he buried Sarah. His next care, was to provide a wife for Isaac and he sent his steward to Haran where his brother Nahor and his family 134 In the Beginning lived (Genesis 11:31). The result was that Rebekah, the daughter of Nahor’s son Bethuel, became the wife of Isaac (Genesis 24). Abraham then himself took to wife Kenturah, who became the mother of six sons, whose descendants were known as ‘children of the east’ (Judges 6:3), and later as ‘Saracens.’ At length all his wanderings ended. He died at the age of 175 years, 100 years after he first entered the land of Canaan (Palestine). He was buried in the old family burial at Machpelah (Genesis 25:7–10). The history of Abraham made a wide and deep impression on the ancient world and presently, references to it are interwoven in the religious traditions of almost all Eastern nations. He is called “the friend of God” (James 2:23), “faithful Abraham” (Galatians 3:9), “the father of us all” (Romans 4:16). He is the great father presence to two entire nations—both the Jewish and Muslim faiths claim him as father. Sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael Some historical details claimed that Ishmael was Abraham’s eldest son, born by his wife’s hand maiden, Hagar (Genesis 16:3, 15). His own son, through Sarah, his minor wife was Isaac, who was conceived miraculously to an elderly barren mother and an aged father (Genesis 17:15–17, 18:9–15, 21:1–7) while Ishmael was conceived normally without the need of any extraordinary intervention. God promised that it would be Isaac’s descendants who would inherit the land given to Abraham. (Genesis 13:14–18, 15:18–21, 28:13–14). Ishmael did not have any part in the . Any promise given to Isaac was through Abraham. God told Abraham “Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will set up my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him” (Genesis 17:19). Abraham started the tradition of circumcision immediately after the ascension of Isaac with himself and Ishmael being the first to undergo the rite. Later, Ishmael and his mother were banished to the wilderness at God’s command after Abraham’s primary wife Sarah viewed Ishmael as a threat to her own son, Isaac. Suffering from lack of food and water, Ishmael almost died but was rescued by God. Unable to bear watching her son die of thirst, Hagar left him under a bush and walked a bow-shot away. The boy’s pathetic cries, however, were heard by God. Then a voice from heaven said to his mother: “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” Suddenly, a spring of freshwater appeared before Hagar’s eyes, and both she and her son were saved (Genesis 21:15–19). Ishmael and Hagar settled down in the area known as Paran, the north- eastern part of the Sinai Peninsula. Ishmael became an expert in archery. Later, his mother found an Egyptian woman to be his wife. He went on to become the Ancient Religions of the Far East 135 ancestor of the biblical Ishmaelite and of the tribes of Arabia. Ishmael returned to Isaac at the time of Abraham’s burial, and later allowed his daughter to marry Isaac’s son Esau. In biblical tradition, Ishmaelite was a of travelling merchants. In the story of (Amenhotep II) Jacob’s son, Joseph, who later became a Vizier in the Governance of the Egyptian pharaoh), was sold to a group of travelling Ishmaelite. They bought Joseph (Isaac’s son and their through Ishmael) from his brothers as a slave and sold him in Egypt. The Ishmaelite group was described as wealthy: Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them to Egypt. Covenant with Abraham After disinheriting and killing Tao II (Gideon or Baal) and then Ahmose I (Thahash or Shelah), Tao I (Shua or Senakhtenre) named Thutmose I (1495 BC), the third pharaoh as his co-regent. In Genesis 17:1, the Lord Sanat Kumar announces to Abraham, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you.” Abraham was the first co-regent of Tao I (Terah). When the throne was lost in Babylon, Abraham also lost his inheritance but he helped to establish a new kingdom in Canaan and Egypt. In recognition, Tao I named Abraham’s eldest son Ishmael, to be the legal future founder of a new Arab dynasty of six tribes. The covenant of Tao I was to be supported through an heir produced through Sarah. This covenant was fulfilled through Isaac (Thutmose III), the ancestor of the twelve tribes of Israel. The Lord said, “I will establish my covenant with him (Isaac Levi) as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.” In Genesis 18 a reunion took place of war veterans from the epic battle of ‘four kings against five’ (Genesis 14). The appointed place for the meeting was named as the “oaks of Mamre.” In preparation for that earlier conflict, Abram (later renamed Abraham) travelled to this same place near Hebron (of Egypt) and formed an alliance with his Hebrew-brothers Gideon (Tao II), Eschol and Aner. Together they fought for the honour of Shua Senakhtenre Tao I and defeated the invading army of their Mesopotamian rivals. Considering the tragic nature of Tao II’s (Gideon) death, this was not a joyous occasion. The great oaks were still standing, but Mamre was not. Abraham built an altar to the Lord there (Gen 13:18) and it was there that he learnt of the capture of his brother’s son, Lot (Gen 14:13). Isaac also lived there (Gen 35:27). In the culture of the court, Tao I was God Almighty and the Thutmose I and Amenhotep I were his angels. However, it was implied there was respect for authority. After helping Mamre, Eschol and Aner, Abraham left for Jordan. Two angels (Bera and Birsha) travelled to Sodom and Gomorrah, the condemned cities on the Jordan plain. Abraham interceded for the two condemned cities. He was concerned about the survival of its inhabitants, especially his nephew, Lot, who was still living there. Abraham had rescued him once before and he succeeded 136 In the Beginning in doing the same again. However, the cities were not spared. As in the days of Noah, only one ‘righteous’ man and his family were delivered from destruction. The rest were doomed to die. Each acted to save his favourite son. The rescue of a good soul was in keeping with this tradition. The Egyptian name of Abraham was Djehuty. His Greek name was Thoth. Thoth appeared in the Horus legends and was depicted in every age as the god who loved truth and hated abomination. The violent overthrow of the two cities by Thutmose I (David) under the command of Tao I (Terah) was justified as righteous indignation. This all happened before living conditions were abruptly and permanently altered by the sudden shift of underlying tectonic plates. The siege of Sodom and Gomorrah (Jordan) in Abraham’s time was a repetition of an earlier destruction by Fire. Many terrors befell the people of the ancient world all at once. Multitudes drowned, starved or were killed by beasts, but others were destroyed by Fire when the “heavens were shaken” with electrical storms and the deluge came. In the story of Genesis 19, the deliverance of Lot was likened to that of Noah, except that he was not saved from flood but from fire. Fire and brimstone spewed out of the angry earth and consumed them. Although the cause was natural, the event was considered by some believers to be part of a plan by the gods to wipe out the people for their wickedness and for their rebellion. The tar from these disasters polluted the ground at the beginning of the Egyptian New Kingdom. Parenting Ancestors for Hebrew & Arabs Tales about fathering an ancestor for Israel through Sarah and for Arabia through Hagar are varied in different sources. One source said the name that Sarah chose for herself in Egypt was Isis. In Mesopotamia, the goddess Isis was called Ishtar-Inanna, and she was known for her endless pursuit for a child. The aggressive wife of Etana was also called Ishtar. Etana was an old, well-known Sumerian king of the city of Kish, who reigned after the deluge. Abraham was “the shepherd, who ascended to heaven and consolidated all the foreign countries” as stated in “The Myth of Ethana, King of Kish’. A Babylonian legend said that Abraham was desperate to have a child, until one day he helped to save an eagle from starvation who, in turn, took him up into the sky to find the plant of birth. This led to the birth of his son. Another legend stated that it was Sarah who initially approached Gilgamesh (Cush) to have a child by Thutmose I (the Gilgamesh of his day). Gilgamesh was an old Babylonian poem about the king of Uruk and the hero of the Akkadian Gilgamesh Epic, which was based on myths which existed for centuries in Sumer. The fullest surviving text belonged to the seventh century BC. Thutmose I (David) already had an appointed successor. He already had many wives and sons, so he did not need one through Sarah. Besides, at her advanced age Sarah was no longer considered capable of motherhood. Nevertheless, Shua the Tao I supported her ambition, and exercised the right to Ancient Religions of the Far East 137 give her a child himself. Having had no success, she had a son with David Thutmose I Legend has it that out of concern for hygiene and sexually transferred diseases, Sarah petitioned Thutmose I to have the practice of circumcision reinstated. As the incarnation of Re (the Egyptian sun-god), it was the role of her ‘father’ Tao to require it. This rite was started by Re. It was not practiced outside the traditional jurisdiction of Re in Egypt and Nubia. Reintroduction of circumcision also pointed out the growing power of Thutmose I because there was strong prejudice against uncircumcised Philistines in the Kings/Chronicles narrative of David. Naming of Thutmose I as the king of Gerar (Genesis 20:2) helped to disguise David’s identity to outsiders. Thutmose I was an extremely controversial person. Gerar was a city of the Philistines, but their king was not a Philistine. Another son of Tao I was also king of the Philistines before Thutmose I. The previous ruler, Achish (Haran/Kish), abandoned the throne in pursuit of a greater dominion. Thutmose I was allowed to attack the Philistines and become king in his place. In the Kings/Chronicles it was King David who also defeated the Philistines and subdued them. Terah (Tao I) offered a covenant of his own to Abraham. He would first try to give Sarah a son himself. If this was not successful, he would defer to Thutmose I, who was not only co-regent but also the newly crowned king of the Philistines. Through this contract, Thutmose I became the controversial father of the most renowned warrior of the ancient world, a miracle son who overcame all odds and established Egypt as the leading imperial power of the Near East. This symbolic name of Abimelech, (meaning Philistine King as opposed to Egyptian Pharaoh) was chosen to highlight that Thutmose I became the father of Isaac and the administrator of the second covenant with Abraham. This contract further required the heir (Isaac Levi) would become the adopted son of Thutmose II (Pharez). Thutmose II was the son of Abraham’s brother Nahor. Hatshepsut, the daughter of Thutmose I, was the chief royal wife of Thutmose II. They had a female heir Nefrure/Sityah, but they were unable to produce the needed male heir. Thutmose III (Isaac), the son of Thutmose I (David) by Sarah would be paired with Nefrure. Through by Thutmose II (Pharez), this son would effectively unify two of the three royal houses within the clan of Tao I. The third line, through Haran, had already been removed on the death of Kamose, the son Tao II and Ahotep I and brother of Ahmose I, the founder of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. Another alias of Thutmose III (Isaac) was Levi, which meant ‘attached and united’. Thutmose III was ‘attached’ to the line of Nahor by being adopted as the heir of Thutmose II (Pharez). King is God 138 In the Beginning

The association of the “Sovereign Lord” of Genesis 12 with Tao II Sequenenre or Shua and the “God Almighty” of Genesis 17 with his father Tao I Senakhtenre was not a statement of theology. The kings of the ancient world presented themselves as incarnations of the gods. They actively promoted this opinion among the common people. It was taken for granted that they were gods. Emperor worship and ancestor worship were rejected by the Jews of later times, considering them as mere men posing as gods. Recognition the Patriarchs were considered ancient divinities unlocked the historical significance of the Bible. It was a means of mending and ending the senseless strife caused by religions that ordained, not a Universal God, but assigned godhood to long deceased kings. Deliberately misleading statements and actions were the methods of ploy in the royal court. Their sexual protocol was simple but it was disguised. This prevented the naïve and unprivileged from making out the true family relationships. The account of Isaac’s birth took place immediately after the tryst of Sarah and Abimelech (David). Therefore, it was correct to assume that Abimelech was the father of Isaac, and that Isaac’s birth was a fulfilment of his covenant. It was fulfilment of the covenant Tao I (Terah) had imposed on both Abraham and Thutmose I (David). Abimelech or David was not just the father of a king, but literally “Father of THE king; that king was to be Thutmose III”. After the birth of Isaac, Abraham and David Thutmose I converted their covenant into a formal treaty. Abraham presented to Thutmose I seven female lambs (harem ?) as a witness the well (mother and child) was now legally his. The son sired by Thutmose I was his own natural son. However, according to custom and prior agreement, the child was the legal son and heir of Abraham. The covenant between Thutmose I and Djehuty/Thoth (Abraham) was not voluntary. It was forced on them by their common father Terah Tao I. From the perspective of archaeology, identification of Thutmose I or David as the biological father of Thutmose III was confirmed in inscriptions. Hatshepsut built a tomb for herself and her father, Thutmose I, in the Valley of the Kings. However, Thutmose III was intensely jealous over the partisanship tendency of Thutmose I. After the death of Hatshepsut, Thutmose III had a new tomb built for his natural father. Thutmose III later removed his father’s mummy from Hatshepsut’s tomb and placed it in the new private tomb. Forbearance and Covenants After Isaac was delivered to Thutmose I, Abraham went home with his servants. His son Isaac and Sarah were no longer with him. They were taken to the royal court in Thebes as heir apparent, and Sarah was made a queen. Thutmose I also declared: “Sarah shall be a .” But Sarah was already a royal princess from birth. Sarah chose for herself the Egyptian name of Isis, consistent with her domineering personality and perseverance to have a royal child and become a great queen. Egyptologists have uncovered little about this Isis other than that she was Ancient Religions of the Far East 139 the mother of Isaac Thutmose III, and that she was considered to be a minor wife of Pharez Thutmose II. Sarah was not associated with the royal court of Thutmose II until after the birth of Isaac. Abraham was commanded to sacrifice Isaac to the Lord Pharez (Thutmose II). After Isaac’s life was spared, Abraham and his servants returned home. Sarah as Isis, and mother of Thutmose III, was in Thebes for a brief time because she died shortly after that. Abraham went to mourn for Sarah (Genesis 23:1:2) who had earlier gone with Isaac and Thutmose II so she could groom her young son at the royal court in Thebes. In Thebes, Abraham found himself among the Hittites (sons of Heth). Abraham was himself a prince and a son of Heth. The birth of Isaac Thutmose III was the result of a brilliant accord reached by three powerful men. Unfortunately, they did not get the full support of one strong woman—Hatshepsut. Even before the death of Pharez Thutmose II, Hatshepsut had made her own resolution. As Sarah had previously done to Hagar, Hatshepsut declared: “That woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my daughter Nefrure/Sityah” (Chapter 12: At the Side of My Father). It was necessary for the great gods (pharaohs) to awkwardly arrange an alternative dynastic marriage for Isaac to secure his succession. Rebekah, the daughter of Nahor’s youngest son Bethuel, was brought to Isaac. She was older than Isaac and she became both wife and mother to the bereaved ‘child’, Isaac. Shortly after the marriage of Isaac to Rebekah, the pharaoh, Pharez Thutmose II, died. Thutmose III was anointed king according to the will of Terah Tao I. Thutmose III was about five years old on his succession. Thutmose II had named Thutmose III as his successor in the Karnak temple just before his passing. Propaganda portraits were made during the first few years of Thutmose III’s reign depicting Hatshepsut submissively in the background. However, Hatshepsut eventually garnered enough support to have Isaac’s “blessing” revoked. Tao I, Isis and Thutmose II were now dead, and Thutmose III was still a child. The family was no longer obligated to honour the ancestral decision to make Thutmose III a successor. Hatshepsut regained the throne, this time not as a queen, but as pharaoh. In a physical sense, Isaac did not turn out to be that which his three fathers had hoped. Isaac’s appearance, even as an adult, was that of a small man having the most prominent nose of all his clan— historically known as the Thutmosid proboscis. Isaac Levi - Thutmose III According to Genesis 26, the young Isaac was sent back to Gerar in Philistia, resulting in his alienation after the death of Sarah. Abimelech (Thutmose I or David) decreed protection for Isaac and Rebekah, and Isaac was offered a minor kingdom (Genesis 26:3). As soon as Isaac began to prosper again, Abimelech asked him to move away, but he did not go far. As Isaac grew older he learned about 140 In the Beginning his cancelled coronation. He was told about his grandfather Tao I’s decision to make him successor. He felt betrayed by his biological father David. Tao I had passed away while Isaac (Thutmose III) was still young. Thutmose I (David) had other leading sons but he no longer felt obligated to honour the election of the funny looking Thutmose III. Given his father’s aggressiveness, and his mother’s domineering nature, Isaac developed a doubly strong persona of his own. He resented what was taken away from him in Egypt. The wells of Abraham had been plugged (Genesis 26:18). The sacrificial efforts of Abraham all went for naught. Isaac reopened the wells, but could not drink from the lands he conquered. He said: “The water [was] ours”, but the kingship was seized by Hatshepsut, and Thutmose I excused her actions. Isaac was understandably bitter over the decision of Hatshepsut and Thutmose I to appoint Senenmut (architect and government official in Hatshepsut’s court) for the express purpose of siring a male heir to replace him. Hatshepsut’s patron god was , the ancient Egyptian god of chaos, hostility, war, deserts, and storms. It was through the support of the Temple of Baal (Seth) in Shechem that her father (David) financed the coup that made her first a queen and eventually pharaoh of all Egypt. Just as Seth opposed Osiris, the deity of death and the only god that rivalled the solar cult of Re, Hatshepsut was seen as opposing Isaac. Meanwhile, Hatshepsut and her husband Senenmut, failed to produce a male heir even after many years of trying. Meanwhile, Isaac’s wife, Rebekah, delivered a pair of twins, Esau and Jacob. As it was written, “Wisdom [was] justified by her children”. The advantage moved to Isaac Thutmose III, but with the help of her adviser Senenmut, Hatshepsut seized and held back the throne from Thutmose III. Although Senenmut was present, Hatshepsut boycotted the meeting and resisted the return of Thutmose III to Thebes. When the will of the elder, Thutmose I, was not honoured, it was necessary to impose it. He now upheld an unfailing presence in Thebes. He “cleared the pool of hippos”, which was the traditional means of securing a new dynasty. The final act of Abimelech (Thutmose I) was an assault on Thebes. Abimelech died when he tried to set fire to a tower filled with Theban citizens and a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head which cracked his skull! Abraham had many more children through another wife Kenturah, after the death of Sarah. The biblical account implied that Abraham lived many years longer, but that he did not live to see Thutmose III become sole ruler of Egypt. The Egyptian name and titles of Abraham and Ishmael confirmed, through archaeology, that Abraham remained active in the Egyptian administration well into the co-reign of Thutmose III and Hatshepsut. When Thutmose III was twenty-two, Nefrure (daughter of Hatshepsut and Pharez Thutmose II) was his consort and they bore son, Amenemhat. He was conceived immediately after the death of Nefrure’s mother Hatshepsut, early in Ancient Religions of the Far East 141 that same year. Thutmose III was again the rightful successor to David Thutmose I. A promise was finally fulfilled. Nevertheless, Thutmose III spent much of his remaining thirty-two with the military, away from Thebes. The biblical King David was also included in the events of his life as Thutmose I. Although Thutmose III (1479–1426 BC) was a descendant of shepherd kings, he was more commonly known as Isaac Levi, a gifted warrior, and an administrator who consolidated his grandfather Abraham’s conquests and built important monuments all over the country. Known as the ‘Napoleon of Egypt’ he led his armies through years of battles and he conquered areas that are today known as Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Ethiopia and Sudan. A royal scribe, Thanuny, recorded these past details on the inside walls of the temple. As son of Thutmose I and Sarah, he should have rightfully ascended the throne as a child after the death of his father. Levi Isaac eventually became head of the of religious known as Levites. They were charged with teaching the people the Torah (Deuteronomy 33:10). Their callings precluded agricultural pursuits. Those, who were not connected with the Temple, lived in forty-eight cities spread throughout Canaan (Josh. 21) and they were granted a tithe of all produce, which they were obliged to share with the priests. The Mishnah (Tam. 7:4) held the different psalms recited by the Levites on each day of the week. The only relic of this service in the Temple to have survived was the law that required Levites to wash the hands of priests before the priestly blessing in the synagogue. Unlike the twelve tribes of Israel created later, the Levites were not allotted any land when Canaan was conquered. They performed subordinate services associated with public worship, as musicians, guardians, temple officials, judges, and crafts people for Egypt. During his thirty-two year reign over ancient Egypt, Thutmose III fought an impressive number of seventeen campaigns. He won more battles than Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. Despite Thutmose III’s surprisingly celebrated record, his name was not as immediately recognizable as were other prominent military leaders. His key contributions to Egyptian history included creating a navy. He was known as the father of the Egyptian navy. His was the first combat navy in the ancient world with an enormous shipyard near Memphis which they used to assemble troops, horses, and supply transports for his campaigns in Syria and Iraq. He reformed the army and established a reliable conscript base of professional officer corps, equipped with innovative weapons. He integrated chariot combat with new tactical doctrines. Politically, he introduced strategic principles of national security that guided the diplomatic, commercial, and military policies of Egypt for half a millennium. In effect, he created the Egyptian empire. Through these crowning achievements, Isaac Thutmose III set into motion events that shaped and influenced the eastern Mediterranean regions and Egypt for the next 400 years. By modern standards, his reign can be regarded 142 In the Beginning as a watershed in the military and imperial history of the entire eastern Mediterranean. Thutmose III’s spiritual centre was the Kabbalah. The Kabbalah descendants were Jewish kings and queens who were involved in mysticism and in the strict lifestyle of the Essenes. It was responsible for the regency down to the Ineni architects, government officials responsible for construction projects, landscapes, treasuries and granaries. The vizier was the Kabbalah’s most influential courtier was behind the rise of Pharez Thutmose II and Isaac Thutmose III at the expense of Queen Hatshepsut. Judaism’s secular institutes allowed its members to live with relatives, in a group or alone. The apostolate of secular institutes included the lifestyles of the members in their trades, professions or in services to others, which included help in mystical, judicial and ecclesiastical or parochial activities. Influence on Isaac Thutmose III (1479–1426 BC) Priests of old Persia and cultivators of the wisdom of Zoroaster (1500 BC) were a distinctive nucleus of population of teachers. When Cyrus (600 BC) founded the new Persian Empire these individuals were not a hereditary priestly caste. They were a theosophical college of professors, “magi” or magicians, and wise men. They were distinguished into two classes by those names. Their name, pronounced ‘Mogh’ by later Persians, was its interpretation given by Greek and Roman writers. Stobaeus and Plato called it the science of the magi, in the ‘service of the gods’, which represented the office and knowledge of the priest. They were divided into three classes: those who abstained from animal food; those who did not eat the flesh of any tame animal and those who ate any meat. A belief in the transmigration of the soul was the foundation of this abstinence. They believed in the science of divination and they held deliberations in their temples. They made truth the great object of their study, because they believed that it could make man, Godlike, “whose body” resembled “light, as his soul or spirit” resembled “truth” (Spirit and Immortality quotations). They condemned all images and they did not have temples or altars, but they worshipped the sky, as a representative of the deity, on the tops of mountains. They sacrificed to the sun, moon, earth, fire, water, and winds. They revered the heavenly bodies and the elements. This was probably before the time of Zoroaster, when the religion of Persia resembled that of ancient India. They exposed their dead bodies to wild beasts. Isaac Thutmose III often regarded the greatest of rulers of ancient Egypt made strenuous efforts to do away with the laws of man and put in its stead the law of God. That would lead to nations making laws which directly agreed to what God commanded humanity to remember. He studied Scriptures and spent most of his life influenced by Persian and Eastern thought. His life through direct contact with Sanat Kumar and prophetic dreams led to his freedom into an Ancient Religions of the Far East 143 immortal life. His existence was wilfully given to humankind after reincarnating and repeated reinstatement. He rejuvenated his soul repeatedly for thousands of years as an Ascended Master to help history to avoid calamity. His most famous stories come as legends of Saint Germain. Mystery Schools Mystery schools have existed forever. These were learning centres of knowledge about the soul. Such schools studied the mysterious connection of the inner nature of man with the nature of his surroundings. By understanding these facts, a student was nurtured to see his intimate relationship with the Divinity. An alumnus spent a lifetime striving through self-discipline and devotion to become at Onement with his Inner God. The great misfortune of this Age (Piscean or kaliyuga) was that for over 2000 years humanity failed to accept the tendered gift of the emissaries of Light, who wished to raise the human race and the planet into an era of freedom, enlightenment and peace. Each being in humanity was always taught to understand the Rhythms of Creation. By what other means would one bring effectiveness to actions during Times of Darkness? If lifeless sand could rearrange itself into extraordinary designs in response to recurring vibrations, then how much more could humanity be influenced by the cadence of Mother Nature’s throb! Not sorcery, but Knowledge about Nature and a Cosmic Connection would show the way to transforming humanity. This path of understanding was always an urgent one. For over two thousand years humanity mindlessly exhausted the planet’s gifts and resources because of want, greed, possessiveness, delusion, pride, jealousy and the mindless ego. Overtime, before the end of the last cycle of creation, many sages came and encouraged humanity to seek out the purpose of life. Even now, the advice from the masters to humanity was and is: “Leave all the past and think only of today for the future.” One is not to bring “into today anything useless from the past.” Consciousness must not be cluttered by anything.” One must put “away the precedent and only remember all that is important! Today’s events propel one into the future” as stated in ‘43 Things worth doing’. Clearly, if one carried too much baggage, the road ahead becomes much more difficult. There were always new habits to be adopted to preserve the sacredness of one’s being. Removing oneself, from things that disturbed the harmony of man’s connectedness with the omnipresent presence of masters, was the enduring advice of all sages. Instructions to mortals were always to guard against recreational involvement with negativities. Encouragements were made to connect with faultlessness and to endure the needed conditions for human developments wherever and whenever needed. Mystery Schools encouraged handling human conditions in degrees, enough only to advise the student of life with whatever was needed to be changed in 144 In the Beginning stages. Masters did not blindly pour their Light into the static state of affairs to strengthen them. Transformation was gradual and the metamorphosis proportional to the effort of the seeker. There were many who thought that this message was only for the select few. In fact, this message was and still is for all who are able grasp it. Everyone needed to detect the purpose of a human expression. Opportunity was there for all, but each volunteer had to sanctify consciousness and enter daily into his or her own Divinity, through meditation. Learning such techniques allowed living in the presence within. It was a means of filling the chalice (heart) so it was able to reveal goodness – a perfect gift that needed sharing. For whom the search for God Consciousness and Ascension were goals of life, a teacher was already present. The discipline of yoga needed learning and mastering to enable the student to draw on the greater powers of God Presence into manifestation in everyday life. A life of purity and detachment from worldly entanglements, through Yama and Niyama, were a student’s Ten Yogic Commandments. They were encouraged to understand the teachings of a guru about real Knowledge for gaining supreme freedom and final liberation from the cycles of birth and death. Those who enlisted with Mystery Schools were taught to assume a comfortable posture keeping the neck, the head and the body straight (asana) in a secluded place before the commanding God Presence. Tapping the treasure of the Life-force, through scientific breathing (pranayama), allowed the student to concentrate (dharana) and to enter the royal court of Masters in the “I AM God Presence.” (AUM) Here, seated in friendship with the Presence, the seeker withdrew (pratyahara) from the ‘self’ and entered his or her own astral Self. Once thoughtlessness, while in meditation (dhyana), was made possible, absorption of ‘self’ into Self (samyama) was seeker’s final destination into a God Presence without qualities. Old Hebrew Religion Survives Apocalypse Semitic Akkadians, who took their origin from Noah, existed in Mesopotamia before the Cushites of Ethiopia (1070 BC) and the Semites of Babylonians of Iraq (1000 AD). The Old Testament scriptures were, therefore, designed to uphold the emerging Hebrew faith, rather than to represent historical facts. The problem in scriptural terms was the earliest Hebrew writings (which were restructured many centuries later) were written between the 6th century BC and the 1st century AD and they were not likely to be genuine in their accounts. The Bible explained the bloodline story began with Adam and . Their third son, Seth, was born after the slaying of Abel by Cain, and Eve believed that God had appointed Seth as a replacement (Genesis 4:25). Seth evolved a line which progressed through longevity (Methuselah), to become the ancestors of Noah and, eventually, Abraham (Djehuty). He was the Egyptian god and Ancient Religions of the Far East 145 architect of Truth who said: ‘Give me words of power that I might write the story of my own becoming’. He was the great patriarch of the Hebrew nation. Abraham (Djehuty or Teti) brought his family westwards out of Mesopotamia to the land of Canaan (Palestine), from where some of his descendants (Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Joseph, Judah, Moses and their families), moved into Egypt. After many generations, they journeyed back and forth into Canaan where, in time, Solomon became the king of the newly defined kingdoms of Judah and of Israel. Ishmael and Isaac’s tribes were started by David through his sons Ishmael and Isaac Levi. Currently, David’s life is important to Jewish, Christian, and Islamic cultures. In Judaism, David remains the king of Israel and of the Jewish people. A direct descendant of David is Solomon (Amenhotep III). Both were ancestors of Jesus’ through the Northern tribe through Judah and the Southern Hebrews through Isaac. If viewed as it was presented in the scriptures, this was a saga, but there is nothing anywhere to show why the ancestral line of David and his later heirs were special in any way. In fact, his ancestors were portrayed as a succession of wandering territory seekers, and were of no particular significance until the time of King David himself. Amid the contemporary pharaohs of ancient Egypt, Abraham and his descendants (Lot, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Judah) had the ancestor David. Meanwhile David through the Line of Judah sired Moses, Aaron, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Jonah, Zachariah, Jesus and John. Both lines were named as “God’s chosen people”. If this were true, why would God lead them through a succession of famines, wars and hardship, rather than act consistently as their merciful sheppard? The first group of canonical books was written during the captivity of the Jews in Mesopotamian Babylon (present day Iraq) in the 6th century BC. From the time of Adam, through nineteen generations down to Abraham, all Hebrew patriarchal history was Mesopotamian. Specifically, from Sumer, in southern Mesopotamia, the old Sumerians referred to the grasslands of the Euphrates delta as Eden. In searching for the bloodline of the Holy Grail (House of David), it was clear that good sources of background information were the various gospels and texts that were not selected by the bishops for inclusion in the canonical New Testament. These books were strategically ignored. Many more books, like the “Book of Enoch and Jubilees” were excluded from the Old Testament. . The biblical god of the Hebrews led them through trials, tribulations, floods and disasters, and at other times he appeared as a merciful personality. Although both—Jewish and Christian churches—seemingly embraced the One God, there was a distinct difference between the figures of Jehovah and the Lord. They were two separate deities. The god referred to as Jehovah was traditionally a storm god: the god of wrath and vengeance, whereas, the god referred to as, the Lord, emerged as a god of fertility and wisdom. 146 In the Beginning

In early times, the prevailing Hebrew word for Lord was Adon and the name of Jehovah was not used at all. It originated from the original Hebrew stem YHWH (Yahweh), which meant ‘I am that I am’. This was a statement made by the God to Moses on Mount Sinai hundreds of years after the time of Abraham. The Bible also made it clear the God of Abraham was called El Shaddai, which meant Lofty Mountain. Ascended Masters claimed El Shaddai was and continues to be Sanat Kumar. Jehovah, therefore, was not a name at all. The early texts referred simply to El Shaddai and to his opposing counterpart Adon. The Canaanites called these gods El Elyon and Baal, which meant Lofty Mountain and the Lord. In modern Bibles, the definitions God and Lord are intermixed throughout as if referring to the same Jehovah, but originally they did not. One was a vengeful suppressor god and the other was a social god—the people supporter. Also, in contrast to the teachings of the Bible, both of these gods had parents, wives, sons and daughters. Throughout the patriarchal era, the Hebrews tried to support Adon the Lord, but, at every turn, El Shaddai (storm god Jehovah) retaliated with floods, tempests, famines and general destruction. Even at the time of Captivity in 586 BC, Jerusalem was overthrown at Jehovah’s bidding. Thousands of Israelites were taken hostage into Babylon (Iraq) simply because one of their past kings (a descendant of King David) had erected altars to venerate Baal the Adon. During this captivity, the Israelites finally conceded. After generations of Adon support, they succumbed to the opposing god of wrath, and developed a new religion out of sheer fear of his retribution. It was now the name of Jehovah first appeared—a little more than 500 years before the time of Jesus. Subsequently, the Christian Church took Jehovah on-board as well, calling him simply God, and the social ideas of Adon were discarded. These two religions were both faiths of fear, and their followers were classified as ‘god fearing’. This left humanity with the knowledge that, within an overall pantheon of gods and goddesses named in the Bible, there were two predominant and opposing gods. In different cultures, they were called by their titular names as El Elyon and Baal, El Shaddai and Adon, or Ahriman and Mazda, Jehovah and Lord, God and Father. Ancient Canaanite texts (discovered in Syria in the 1920s) revealed the courts of the two gods were in the Tigris-Euphrates valley in the Mesopotamian Sumer—above the Eden delta of the Persian Gulf. Written records of Sumer traced back to the 3rd millennium BC explained these gods as brothers. The storm-god, who became Jehovah, was called Enlil or Ilu-kur-gal (meaning Lofty One of the Mountain) and his brother, Adon the Lord, was called Enki (Enki meant Archetype, a model). It was Enlil who brought the Flood, destroyed Ur (coastal city of Sumer) and Babylon (Sumer or Iraq), and constantly opposed education and enlightening humanity. Assyrian (Syria) texts related that it was Enlil-Jehovah who destroyed the cities of Sodom and Ancient Religions of the Far East 147

Gomorrah (Jordan) in an earthquake. They were great centres of wisdom and learning. By contrast, it was Enki, who despite the vengeful wrath of his brother, granted the Sumerians of ancient Iraq access to the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life. It was Enki who set up the escape strategy during the Flood. Finally, it was Enki who passed over the Tables of Destiny, the tablets of scientific law which were the bedrock of the early mystery schools of Egypt. Mesopotamian Political History Changes Indigenous Religions Recorded history revealed groups of coastal cities amid heavily forested mountains occupied by the Canaanites, who were descendants of Noah, in around 4000 BC. Historically they were people who lived in the present-day Gaza Strip, Israel, West Bank and Israel. In ancient days, people assigned their origins according to the city of source but as a group they called themselves a nation of Canaan. They lived along a narrow East-Mediterranean coast and the corresponding strip mountains. Around 2800 BC Canaanites sold cedar lumber, olive oil and wine for metals and ivory from Egypt. The coastal cities first fell to Sumerian Semitics (Southern Mesopotamia or modern Iraq) around 2000 BC and then, for 600 years, to Egyptians from around 1800 to 1200 BC before achieving independence. Over time their religious belief systems changed with every conquest. The Canaanites, in and around modern day Israel, were called Phoenicians by the Greeks, referencing to a purple dye they produced from murex seashells. They had already mastered the art of navigation and they dominated the Mediterranean Sea trade for over 500 years. They excelled in producing textiles, carving ivory and working with metal and glass. They also set up several East Mediterranean cities in Byblos, Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, Tripoli, Arvad Island-City, Baalbek and Caesarea. They established trade routes to Europe and Western Asia. Phoenician ships circumnavigated Africa a thousand years before the Portuguese. They founded colonies wherever they set up business enterprise. They set up colonies in Cyprus, Rhodes, Crete, Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, Marseilles, Cadiz, and Carthage by the first millennium BC. Major Semitic religions of the world had already established their footprints in the east and south-east Asia. Meanwhile, ‘paganism’ in Roman and Greek civilizations was thriving when Egyptians built pyramids. The ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions of over 4000 years ago noted that Sumerian writings existed much before those found in Egypt. Sumer, in southern Mesopotamia, was an old civilization in the area that is now part of Iraq. In time, Egypt and the Nile became an important foundation of Western civilization. Although Mesopotamian civilization preceded Egyptian civilization, the two also developed together. With reference to an Egyptian calendar dated 4241 BC this ancient land was divided into thirty dynasties, organized into the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms between 3400–332 BC. 148 In the Beginning

Menes, the first pharaoh of the First Dynasty (Early 4th millennium BC), united Upper and Lower Egypt establishing a united kingdom for the first time and creating the first centralized Egyptian state in 3346 BC with a capital in Memphis. The decline of the Old Kingdom during the 25th century BC was the beginning of Egypt’s Dark Age. The Middle Kingdom began with the Eleventh Dynasty which restored the unity of Egypt and created a new capital at Thebes. The Middle Kingdom reached its peak power about 2000 BC. Then, a mysterious Hyksos Asian shepherd tribe conquered the Middle Kingdom in 1788 BC. They were poorly understood perhaps because of their Semitic origins from the East. Egyptians rose and expelled the Semitic Hyksos in 1580 BC but internal divisions allowed the north Sudanese Nubians to seize power in 712 BC. There was a brief period of Assyrian dominance which brought to this area the highest civilization to the known world. Egyptians regained control in 663 BC but the Persian Emperor, Cambyses, conquered it back in 525 BC. Once again, the Egyptians regained control in 405 BC after demolishing the Persian armies. Almost one hundred years later, in 312 BC, Alexander seized control of Egypt with little opposition. After Alexander’s meteoric career, his generals divided his empire. In time it was annexed to the Roman Empire, and after the rise of Christianity, Egypt became a land of Coptic Christians. After the Greeks conquered the Persians in Asia, Alexander the Great took possession of Egypt and the Greek domination, under his successors, lasted until Egypt became a Roman province. The country then remained under Roman occupation until the Arab invasion. The Arabs conquered Egypt (639–642 AD) and the country was gradually Islamized. In the 10th century, the Muslim Dynasty, of the Fatimid family, seized control of Egypt and made Cairo their new capital. Saladin, a Kurdish who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, founded the Ayyubite Dynasty and fought the European Crusaders. During his reign, the Arabic speaking slave soldiers (Mamluks), under Hassan Pasha and his son Ahmad, seized control of Egypt (1250 AD). They defeated the Mongols in the East and the Crusaders in the West. The Ottomans conquered Egypt in 1517 and blocked all sea lanes to the East and South. The European powers were driven to find new ways to the ancient silk routes. . By the 18th century Napoleon invaded Egypt. The French were expelled from there by Anglo-Turkish forces in 1802. Mohammed Ali rose to power as the Ottoman governor [pasha] in 1805. His dynasty ruled into the mid-20th century. Building the Suez Canal, by a British-French group, suddenly made Egypt of strategic importance and made Egypt a British protectorate. During World War I, the British successfully defeated an Ottoman offensive in 1915 and then launched an offensive into Palestine to destroy the Ottoman Empire. Indigenous people of the Nile valley differed from those of Mesopotamia. This was clearly revealed through their DNA research. The population of Egypt was Ancient Religions of the Far East 149 concentrated in the Nile valley and in the delta. The population there was largely homogeneous and it included the indigenous population of ancient Egypt mixed with the Arabs of the Islamic invasion of the 7th century. Persians, Romans, Greeks, European Crusaders, Turks and Circassians had mixed with the indigenous population in the delta cities like Alexandria. The rural population or fellahin were less likely to be affected by the foreigners there. Over the last 1000 years ninety per cent of the population gradually became Muslim. The Christian minority, of about five per cent, in Egypt, remained Coptic Christians. A small Jewish population, since the Israel-Palestine wars, were expelled by stripping them of their property and valuables. The basic source of Egyptian history today came from a list of rulers compiled in 280 BC by Manetho for the Macedonians (Indo-Greeks) who once ruled Egypt. It was geographical causes which fashioned the character of the Egyptian civilization. People were allowed to farm only along the banks of the Nile, where the arid sand met the fertile soil. Each summer the Nile swelled as the rains poured down and the snow melted on the mountains, the river overflowed and flooded the land with freshwater and deposited a thick layer of rich alluvial soil. The land then and even now yields two harvests before winter. This yearly flood determined more than just the agricultural needs of early Egypt. It also determined the life cycle of their society and it helped to create the world view of the ancient Egyptian civilization. According to the 5th century BC Greek historian, Herodotus, the pyramids took 100,000 men and twenty years to build. The pyramids continue to be remarkable not only for their technical engineering expertise, but also for their historical information about the royal power of the time. They are an evidence of the Egyptian kings’ enormous wealth, as well as power. For thousands of years they were able to concentrate much energy on personal development and self- improvement projects. Mesopotamia, Egypt and India During the period of the Babylonian Empire (Iraq of today) Lower Egyptian sites were often mentioned by the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Many Jews fled to Egypt when Israel (south) and Judah (north) were invaded, first by the Assyrians (Syria of today) and later by the Babylonians. Both the prophets addressed them and their cities of refuge. While Memphis was most famous, as one of early Egypt’s first national capitals from the 3rd millennium BC, it was only mentioned in the Bible later. In its shortened forms, Memphis was called Noph (Jeremiah 44:1) and Moph (Hebrew 9:6), Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel spoke of Memphis as a city awaiting judgement. Another important Old Kingdom city was Heliopolis (Greek for “sun city”). Called “pillar town” in Hebrew (Gen 41:45, 50; 46:20), it was the home of Potiphera, the priest and father of Asenath, Joseph’s wife. The cities of Aven 150 In the Beginning

(Ezekiel 30:17), and Beth Shemesh (Hebrew “city of the sun;” (Jeremiah 43:13) were under judgment. The key to understanding the history of Egypt, especially the delta region, was the Hyksos invasion from southern Canaan. Known in Egyptian history as the Second Intermediate Period, it led to permanent changes in Egyptian political thinking. From that period, the delta was protected from the east. Regular military campaigns were waged into Canaan from the delta. Pharaonic presence in the eastern delta was a constant feature. Bharat (modern India) was named after the noble King Bharata. It was always known as a land of spirituality and philosophy and would in time become the birthplace of many faiths in the world. In the earliest days of Manu, the primordial father and sovereign of the human race on earth first set up religious ceremonies and codes of law for humanity. The ruling caste of kings and soldiers (kshatriyas) and the priests (Brahmins) were an important deific influence. They controlled a loyal truthful society of vendors of services (vaishyas) and manual labourers (shudras). Their combined social influence worked to continuously renovate humanity as a united whole. However, in the fullness of time, there was gradual but progressive deterioration in the intent of the ‘priests and kings’. They began seeking supremacy over the underlings. Through a system of divide and conquer and the use of political, military and economic strategies, the old righteous system gradually broke until all existing power structures were dismantled. Nonetheless, whether the common man understood or not, their religious practices and beliefs continued to have a large impact on the personal lives of its people. In ancient Egypt, its people worshipped the god of all gods, Thoth—a patron of knowledge, secrets, writings, and scribes. God was made to appear as a man with the head of an ibis (long-legged wading bird) holding a scribe’s palette and stylus. He was also shown as a full ibis, or sometimes as baboon. Thoth was an unusual god. Though some stories placed him as a son of Ra, others said that Thoth created himself through the power of language. He was the creator of magic, the inventor of writing, teacher of man, the messenger of the gods and he was identified by the Greeks with Hermes as the divine record-keeper and mediator. Thoth’s role as mediator was well-documented because he questioned the souls of the dead about their deeds in life. This was done before their heart was weighed against the feather of Mayet (female idea of truth, balance, order, law, morality and justice). Mayet was always sent by Ra (sun-god) to speak with Tefnut (moon goddess of air, clouds, dew and rain). She was asked to return when she abdicated her position and went to Nubia (southern Nile into Sudan). She was the great counsellor for the citizens of the country. Other gods, including Tefnut, often went to Mayet for advice. Their combined efforts helped mortals to reach Awareness about Nature and to become Consciousness while in the experience of Oneness with the Whole. Interestingly, Tantra was concerned the union of the moon and sun paths Ancient Religions of the Far East 151

(Ida and Pingala) with knowledge. Their combined ascendency, through the Sushumna, allowed the experience of Awareness through a Cosmic Connection which was the final destination to Consciousness. One of the first esoteric instructions given by India’s Nathas and by Tibetan teachings was to learn to stabilize Awareness. Enlightenment then came through recognition and direct view of The Christ. For some, it was a necessary domain to be absorbed into. Here, at the confluence of all ascending paths (Ida, Pingala and Sushumna) the practitioner of yoga assured, for his or her ‘self’, there would be no rebirth except in the desired ascendency into the Self. This Yoga was not necessarily a distinguishing practice of the Hindus. It was practiced by the Shamans of Mongolia and Africa, Americas and Europe, by Hebrews, Egyptians and the Chinese, as well by the ancient Greeks. Through the practices of Sun Worship, all their practices symbolised the mystery of power, endurance and purpose of human existence. All were on a spiritual path. There were those few who would help them with a decision to relive in humanity for further growth towards Consciousness. The pharaoh was a sacrosanct monarch who served as the intermediary between their gods and man. Justice too, was thought in religious terms, something bestowed on man by the creator-god. Finally, the Egyptians developed an ethical code which they believed the gods had approved. The Egyptians citizens received career guidance and worked for the pharaoh. They obeyed him because he was a living god on whom the entire fabric of successful social life depended. No codes of law were needed since the pharaoh was the direct source of all law, both mundane and spiritual. In such a world, governance was merely an aspect of religion and religion-dominated Egyptian life. Gods of their nation came in many forms—animals, humans and natural forces. Over time, Ra the sun-god assumed a dominant place in Egyptian religion. Egyptians were clearly Sun worshippers, like many nations where Stonehenge remnants are found today. Ancient Egyptians tried to understand their place in the universe. Their mythology about Creation centred itself on nature, earth, sky, moon, sun, stars, and the River Nile. Heliopolis, the City of the Sun, is today found in the ruins of Yunu in north-east Cairo. This was the location of the beginning of the Creation myth It began with Nu—the description of a planet, before land appeared, within a swirling watery chaos. As the floods receded, the land appeared. The first god who appeared out of this watery mess was Atum who was credited with the fertile land that sprang up when the water of the Nile River receded. Atum emerged from Nu as the Sun-god at the beginning of time and is the Creator of the world. The god Atum was bisexual and gave birth to air and principles of life. Atum wept and as his tears hit the ground men grew and then he began to create the world. With the appearance of Geb, this earth-god was made the Pharaoh. Geb and Nut, the Sky-god gave birth to Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys. Atum was also known as the great scarab beetle, Ra-Horakhte, the winged- 152 In the Beginning solar disk, Ra, the mid-day sun, Aton, the solar-disk, or Horus on the Horizon. By whatever name he was called Atum answered as he was the only creator in the universe. Atum travelled along Nut during the day and then was swallowed by Nut at night. At dawn, Nut was seen as giving birth to Atum as the sky opened to the light. Isis was known as the divine Mother. She was one of the four great protector goddesses (Bast the goddess for protection of cats; Nephythes daughter of Seb and Nut and sister of Osiris; and Hathor), who guarded coffins and Canopic jars used to mummify and preserve the viscera of the owner for the afterlife. She was the sister of Nephthys with whom she acted as a divine mourner for the dead, and she was divinely represented by the Ankh. She was also known as the Queen of Heaven. Isis lived as the divine mourner on earth and in heaven. For 12,000 years during a past cyclical Golden Age, this advanced civilization thrived in the fertile Nile Delta with a semitropical climate where now stands the Sahara Desert. It was filled with great peace, happiness and prosperity and ruled with supreme justice and wisdom by wise kings. Most of their subjects retained full, conscious use of the wisdom and power of God. They had abilities that today would seem superhuman or miraculous. They knew they were extensions of the central sun—life-streams which issued from the Great Hub of the Spirit/Matter cosmos. Their wise ruler had charted for them their historical origin on a great mural in the centre of the capital city, ‘the city of the sun’. This was to be their cosmic history. The king ensured that they would not forget the source from where they had come, or the reason for their being. They had to become sun centres in this distant galaxy they now called home. They were extensions of the Law of the One that ‘Each [was] part of a Whole’. They believed they were part of an expanding universe. Their sense of co-measurement with the One sustained an ever-present knowing of: I AM THAT I AM. In Sanskrit it translated to ‘tat twam eva tat’. An enlightened pharaoh, Thutmose III who knew the ancient mysteries, was an expert of the old wisdom and had all knowledge of the matter spheres. He ruled by light every area of life. His empire was made to reach the height of beauty, symmetry and perfection unsurpassed in the physical octave. The heavenly patterns were out-pictured in the crystal chalice of the earth. Elemental life served to preserve the purity of the matter quadrants. Because the people regarded their hierarch as the highest expression of God, they wanted to copy him. Great was their love for his presence. He was the expression of the archetype of universal Christhood for that dispensation. He was the one to whom they could look as the standard for their own emerging Godhood. Egyptians also developed a system of writing which began as pictographic lettering which was later combined with sound signs to produce a difficult and complicated script the Greeks called hieroglyphics, once written with pen-and- ink on fine paper (papyrus). Some of the results of these imperialistic ventures Ancient Religions of the Far East 153 of pharaohs were the growth in power of the priests of Amon and the threat they posed to the pharaoh dedicated to literary and spiritual pursuits. Religion was integral to Egyptian life. Egyptians’ beliefs formed the basis of Egyptian art, medicine, astronomy, literature and government. Magical utterances pervaded medical practices since disease was credited to the gods. Astronomy evolved to measure time accurately to perform religious rites and sacrifices. The earliest examples of literature dealt almost entirely with religious themes. The ancient Egyptian was ready to accept any gods and goddesses who seemed suitable. From its beginnings, Egyptian religious cults included animals. It was not an accident that sheep, bulls, gazelles and cats were found carefully buried and preserved in exclusive graves. As time passed, the figures of Egyptian gods became human (anthropomorphism) although they often kept the animal’s head or body. Despite the ever-increasing number of deities which could be added to this hierarchy of deities, the Egyptian religion, unlike the religion of Mesopotamia, was centralized. In the southern Mesopotamian region of Sumer, or present day Iraq, the temple was the focus of political, economic and religious organization. By contrast, the role of an Egyptian temple focused only on the social structure and religion. Like other Eastern Asian religions, Egyptians were preoccupied with the life after death. They believed that after death each human being appeared to recount all the evil that had been committed during one’s earthly existence. They believed not only in body and soul, but in ka, the indestructible vital existence of each person that left the body at death but that could also return at other times. This was similar to the Hindu belief in the atma or soul (astral/causal body of self) that left the physical body at death. While Hindus believed in the infinity of matter, whether cremated or naturally disintegrated, it also explained why the Egyptians mummified the dead: so the ka, on its return, would find the body undecomposed. This also explained why tombs were filled with such items as wine, grain, weapons and sailing ships. It was necessary for ka to find everything the revived body would need; otherwise it might stray and haunt the living. Therefore all practices of the ancients in all areas of civilizations were indigenous and based on beliefs and practices aimed at communicating with the spiritual world. Priests and kings began to take on roles of intermediaries or messengers between the human world and spirit worlds. Some kings and priests were believed to have powers to mend the soul, and restore wholeness individually and communally. They brought guidance to misguided souls within the spiritual world, which in turn affected the human world. Varieties of religions flourished but the aim was always to help the seeking ‘self’ to find the Self. Isaac Levi became the Pharaoh Thutmose III as had been promised by the Master, Sanat Kumar. This son of Abraham and Sarah, like their parents, was 154 In the Beginning a descendant of the Shepherd Kings who had displaced the earlier Egyptian pharaohs. Isaac was not familiar with the Egyptian Mysteries of the East, but during his reign of almost fifty-four years he made sixteen raids in twenty years. Thutmose III was called Egypt’s greatest conqueror or “the Napoleon of Egypt”. He captured 350 cities during his rule and conquered much of the Near East from the Euphrates to Nubia during the seventeen known military campaigns. His battle records transcribed on the walls of the temple of Amun at Karnak demonstrated that he transformed Egypt into an international superpower by creating an empire that stretched from southern Syria through to Canaan and Nubia. His royal scribe and army commander, Thanuny, who wrote about his conquests and reign, explained that Isaac was able to conquer these lands, because he revolutionized the army with discipline and armed them with innovative weapons. He was a thoughtful man who, over time, studied the Egyptian Mysteries. At the age of sixty, when Isaac was already married to Rebekah for twenty years, they had twin sons, Jacob and Esau (Genesis 25:23– 26). The spiritually gifted Isaac Levi lived a long life and probably influenced Jacob morally before dying at Hebron. There, he was buried in the Tomb of The Patriarchs (Genesis 35:28–29, 49:31). During the 17th and 18th dynasties (1539-1295 BC), the kingdom gained dominance. The Hebrew Monarchy was first initiated under the third pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt through David (Thutmose I; 149-1481 BC) and much later under Solomon (Amenhotep III during 10th century BC). During the era of the 22nd to the 31st dynasties there followed a rapid decline and break- up of Egypt. Egypt was by now experiencing the twilight of its ancient glory. Egypt hated everything that referred to the shepherd Hyksos rulers. Hebrew was Asian and it enjoyed great favours under the shepherd kings until the Nefertiti- Akhenaton’s reign. The teachings of Aton (Sun) and the Ankh (Third Eye) experienced many reversals at the hands of the recurring Egyptian pharaohs. When the native Egyptian dynasty was restored, officials feared another invasion of the Asian Hebrew. Jacob’s Dream describes Yoga Discipline The patriarch of the Bible, if narrowly defined, was Abraham, the ancestor of all Abrahamic nations (Hebrew, Islam and Christian). His son, Isaac, was the ancestor of all the nations surrounding Israel. Through Isaac’s son, Jacob, Abraham became the ancestor of all the twelve tribes of Israel. Through his son, Ishmael, he became the ancestor of all the Arab tribes. These three collectively were the three patriarchs of Judaism and Islam. They were used as significant markers in God’s revelations and promises and they continue to play important roles in the Abrahamic faiths. Judaism and Islam recognised their patriarchs and their primary wives – Sarah (wife of Abraham), Rebekah (wife of Isaac), and Leah and Rachel (the wives of Jacob) - also known as the Matriarchs. Between Isaac and his wives they bore Jacob and Esau. Ancient Religions of the Far East 155

As young men, Esau and Jacob lived separately. While Esau wandered off to hunt (and was called a man of the field), Jacob stayed with his parents. Jacob, though devoted to God, cheated his older brother out of his birthright and got his father’s blessing by pretending to be Esau. This deception made Jacob fear Esau who might have killed him. During a marathon prayer, Jacob was visited by a man with whom he wrestled all the hours of darkness. They struggled all night, during which, at one point, Jacob’s hip was misaligned. Jacob realized that he was communicating and fighting with a Master Spirit and he felt miserable about his life. He began to pray for forgiveness. Because of his persistent prayers, Jacob was divinely told to continue the patriarchal line that would became the Nation of Israel. Jacob had two wives and eighteen children. Twelve became roots of the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob also earned the blessing of Isaac who, now, was almost blind (Genesis 27:1–40). The virtuous Jacob meanwhile, had a dream about the Stairway to Heaven. The dream showed Jacob the way towards the Supreme Solar Power, the power of the inner sun of Self-realization and cosmic creation. He was taught to transcend the seven worlds of genetic materialistic tendencies inbred in the seven chakras of the spinal cord: lust, want, anger, greed, delusion of possessiveness, pride and egoistic jealousy. If he was successful with a purer life of service, Jacob Israel would be given the immeasurable gifts of intelligence, creative vision and healing powers. The dream unfolded for him all the secrets of the universe within and without. This path of yoga was to set in motion the divine will toward transformation by invigorating his corporeal unconscious energy lying dormant in his human frame (kundalini). It granted him Self-knowledge, Knowledge of the solar Self and the prana life-force born of the Sun. Properly understood, Jacob’s dream at Bethel (Genesis 28:10–15) was crucial to understanding the secret message of Solomon’s Temple. When Jacob arose, he said, “This is none other than the House of God and this is the gate to heaven” (Genesis 28:17). The First Temple of Solomon was constructed in the hidden form of a human body. The brain and the spinal cord were depicted as the final path which converged away from the five senses and organs of action, but all converged towards the spinal cord (pratyahara) and entered the sanctum in the brain (through dharana, dhyana, samyama), -the altar of God. This was not to be confused with the Second Temple started by King Herod which stood for centuries from 516 BC until it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Prototype of the Temple – the Human Body King David, the King of Gerar, was Thutmose I and a ‘foreigner’ in Egypt. He received divine inspiration for the design of a temple, which his son, Solomon, later completed. Much later, a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah and Moses also heard God’s verbal instructions for the structure of the Mishkan (tabernacle)—a portable dwelling place for the divine. Instruction on a Tabnit 156 In the Beginning was also given on how to build a structure to raise children and a family. Eastern systems of aesthetics have similar rules described in Feng Shui by the Chinese and Vastu Shastra by Indians. Jewish tradition described Jacob as having seen angels ascending and descending on a stairway (‘ladder’) to heaven. His understanding allowed him to exclaim in (Genesis 28:17): “This (human body) is none other than God’s house ...,” and in (Genesis 28:19) he declared that Bethel was the House of God, or the Temple. Later, he changed its name to El Bethel (God house of God, Genesis 35:7). When the Lord renamed Jacob Israel, (Genesis 35:10), the Lord Sanat Kumar reassured him there would be no fear in the integrity of Israel. Jacob’s head was the same measure as the most elevated Holy of Holies. His ‘pillow stone’ (Genesis 28:11) referred to the ‘Foundation Stone’ (linga) where Abraham had earlier bound Isaac (Genesis 22:9 –11). Therefore, Jacob’s head and body became a model for the (any) Temple. It was eventually built on the top of Mount Moriah by King Solomon (2 Chronicles 3:1). Today, Arabs call this site Haram al-Sharif, while the Israelis and others call it the Temple Mount. An explanation for Jacob’s dream remained a mystery. Perhaps he was given that particular dream not only because he was fleeing the wrath of his brother Esau, but also because he was on his way to Mesopotamia to find a wife and to create a family—a “house”. Isaac almost ordered him to leave and start his own family (Genesis. 28: 1, 2), that he might multiply and become a “company of peoples”. Later, his two wives became the “builders” of the House of Israel, (Ruth 4:11). Jacob, therefore, described the yoga of a human temple as a house of twelve tribes which make up manifested human beings (5 senses, 5 organs of action, mind/intellect and the ego). Centuries later, Phoenician craftsmen raised Solomon’s first stone temple, depicting the ‘House of God’. Jacob’s dream therefore, was concerned with building two houses, the human house (Jacob’s) and the spiritual house (God). ‘Messiah’ (mashiach), meant the anointed one. Jewish kings were anointed with olive oil poured on their heads so they might know, through illumination, how to rule their nation. As it was also normal with Indian kings, Solomon was also anointed in this manner. He (Kings 1:39) had prayed for an “understanding mind” to know how to rule. All ancient kings sat on a Divine throne and ruled on God’s behalf (Chronicles 29:23). It was clearly stated in Chronicles that “Solomon sat on the throne of Yahweh ..., ‘and when he did so, he represented the Lord. King David also said, God ‘has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of Yahweh,’ and that kingdom was Israel. Jacob’s dream therefore symbolized an ascent through spiritual practices towards the limitless expanse of God Consciousness beyond all conditions of time and space. Since God was everywhere, Jacob’s ancestor, David sang: “Whither shall I go from thy spirit…If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell Ancient Religions of the Far East 157 in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me” (Psalm 139:7–10). David understood that one could not hide from God as His spirit permeated all of His creation and no matter what the location, God was there. Perception or non-perception of the message given to Jacob, who, in fact, was symbolic of everyone in existence, was a matter of attunement with the fundamental vibration of existence and aligning consciousness with it. Once attuned, one began to see and hear anyone who broadcasted to them through prayer, regardless of the distance. “Coming down” from the ladder, was to remind Jacob of his earthbound consciousness. He was shown the bridge between the finite and the infinite. He was revealed the bridge, spanning the overwhelming gulf between God and man. This was the great mystery of the ashtanga yoga of meditation. While descending the ladder into the worlds of manifestation, Jacob understood he was descending towards increasingly coarse consciousness. The vibrations of the grosser physical awareness froze his body-vehicles. The descent was continuous because physical “life” was mired by forgetfulness of his or her divine nature. As a worldly man Jacob was warned he would wander through ages seeking because he had forgotten, what he was seeking. Since descent happened through loss of harmony with the Self; ascent happened through attunement with awareness. The first step was to ascend towards the realms of higher vibration through endeavour. The Ten Commandments of yoga or societal laws of Moses were to attune with consciousness. Meditation was always symbolic of the remedy—the hierarchical “Jacob’s ladder” (Genesis 28:10–12) needed climbing to regain the divine kingdom. This passageway from the lowest consciousness of Matter to the highest consciousness of Spirit was the true “path of the masters”. Jacob’s dream reinforced the message. The need of reattunement was a process wanting protracted practice, was far more essential than religious belief, faith, hope, or blind obedience. In its true sense it was the only method of reuniting soul with Spirit through realignment. The passage from humanity to divinity was never affected by any external being or force, but by a personal doing. “Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7). In Guru Gita is written the body is the kundalini power, which when one goes beyond it achieves the formless stage, the stage of Realisation. Patriarchs of Different Faiths have Origins in East Abraham was the Father of the Hebrew, Christian and Muslim religions. For purposes of recognizing a common bond one might further consider Abraham as an integral part of Indian ‘mythology’ by it linking four of the world’s greatest religions, whether through Sun Worship or otherwise. There was a likeness among the patriarchs of Hinduism, Buddhism and Semitic Scriptures. Jesuit 158 In the Beginning missionaries, according to Matlock, were the first to suggest an identity between the Hebrew Abraham and his wife Sarah of the Hebrew Scriptures, and Brahma with his wife Sarasvati of Hinduism. Matlock (1986–1995) of ABC television covered different aspects of the lives of pharaohs. Although, in present day India there was only one temple in Rajasthan dedicated to Brahma, this cult was the third largest Hindu sect. Voltaire (1694–1778) was a public activist and philosopher who was of the opinion that Abraham descended from the class of Brahmin priests who left India to spread throughout the world their teachings of Sanatan Dharma. This was and continues to be the religion of eternal laws of living eternal truths, teachings and traditions. In support of his thesis, he noted the similarity of names and the fact the city of Ur, the land of the patriarchs, was near the border of Persia and on the road to India, where this Brahmin was born. The City of Ur (2025– 1738 BC) in Genesis (11:27–32) was described as the starting point of the migration of Abraham’s family westward to Palestine in about 1900 BC. Brahmins were respected in India, and Abraham’s influence spread throughout Persia as far as the lands that were bathed by the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. The Persians adopted the Brahmin priest and made him their own. Later, they said God arrived from Bactria (ancient Afghanistan), a mountainous region situated midway on the road to India. Bactria was the home of a typical Jewish nation called Juhuda or Ur-Jaguda Ur meant “place or town”. The Bible stated that Abraham came from “Ur of the Chaldeans”. Chaldeans were the last people who ruled Mesopotamia. More precisely, Kaul Deva (Kashmiri god) which meant a dwelling place of gods, or the ‘enlightened shining ones, was the title of an ancient Hindu priestly caste who lived in what are now parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India’s extreme north. Brahmin Abraham’s tribe was expelled from the kingdom of Oude in India. They settled in Goshen (House of Sun or Heliopolis in Egypt), who, when they left India, gave them the name and place, immigrants from Mathura. Persians claimed him as Ibrahim, while Jews claimed Abraham as their founder. Persians, Jews and Arabs were descendants of Abraham. Terah (Tao I or Senakhtenre), who was Abraham’s father, also lived in Mesopotamia from Ur of the Chaldees. Sometime later, Abraham or Brahma, and his wife Sara or Sarasvati, left their father’s family and went into Canaan. Abraham, like his father Terah, was polytheistic as was the religion of this sect of Persia. In his ‘History of the Jews’, Flavius Josephus (a Jewish scholar; 37–100 AD) wrote what the Greek philosopher Aristotle had said...” These Jews are named by Indians as Calani, meaning Indians Jews derived from Indian philosophers.” Clearchus of Soli also wrote, “The Jews” descended “from the philosophers of India”. Philosophers [were] called Calanians in India and Jews in Syria. Megasthenes (350–290 BC), a Greek ambassador who lived at the court of Ancient Religions of the Far East 159

Chandragupta Maurya in 303 BC, was sent to India by Seleucis Nicator (312– 280 BC) the founder of Antioch, the capital of ancient Syria. This happened about three hundred years before Jesus said the Jews were an Indian tribe, or “a sect called Kalani of the Sindh province....” In India, a tributary of the river Sarasvati was Ghaggar and another tributary of the same river was Hakra. Hakra was the Old World Indus Civilization that included the Harappa Indus Valley or Ghaggar and Hakra Civilizations of 2500 BC. They endured an Aryan invasion in 1500 BC. Earlier invasions were from Sumerian 3500 BC, from the Egyptians in 3000 BC and from the Chinese incursion in 2500 BC. According to some writings, Hagar was Sarah’s maidservant and Ishmael was the son of Abraham and Hagar. Perhaps more correctly, Haga, the Egyptian slave, given to Isaac Levi (Thutmose III) in one of his many invasions around Egypt, gave birth to Ishmael, the founder of the Arab nations. Muslims say that she was an Egyptian princess. The Bible explained that Ishmael, son of Hagar and his descendants lived in India. “...Eventually, Ishmael breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his kin... They dwelt from Havilah (India), by Shur, which is close to Egypt, all the way to Asshur.” (Genesis 25:17–18.) Such an event was believable because there was evidence of trade with Sumer and Akkad until the Aryan invasion of 1500 BC which probably led to the downfall of the Indus Valley Civilization. In closing it was always clear that all religions were and continue to be precious gifts from God to man, to gauge his inclinations and perfect his morals. The word ‘religion’ is derived from relegere-to collect, or to bind fast. (Genesis 11: 1). It stated that whatever concord the human family once enjoyed disappeared when they scattered all over the globe. Now possessed of minds with many different and opposing ideas, worshipping absurd forms and characters led to forming creeds—one more irrational than the other. Without strength or feasibility to cement them together into a supportive brotherhood, religion became a collection of mankind with one common brotherhood. Presently then, is humanity not one family—all under one Father and one God? Sun Worship among Early Hebrew It was important to understand symbols and metaphors used for “unprocessed” courses of action. King Solomon did not believe there was an old man in a small sterile corner in heaven who was God. He subscribed to a higher Consciousness as shown in the ‘Song of Solomon’, a Book of the Hebrew Bible that spoke of true love between Man and Master. To Solomon the symbol of the Holy Grail (Sun) was within. Embarking on the typical journey of reaching Christ consciousness (Inner Star) or Buddhahood, each seeker has met these symbols. They were parts and destinations along a spiritual journey, alone and in a private setting. King Solomon (Amenhotep III) became Egypt’s ruler around 967 BC when 160 In the Beginning his kingdom extended from the Euphrates River in the north to Egypt in the south. Almost all knowledge about him came from ‘Kings I’ and ‘Chronicles II’. He was the son of a Merovingian Dynasty of King David and Bathsheba. He was not the oldest son but David promised Bathsheba that Solomon would be the next king. When David’s elder son, Adonijah, declared himself king, David anointed Solomon instead as king. Solomon inherited a large empire from his father. At first, Solomon was faced with opposition from David’s closest advisors, Joab (son of Zeruiah) and then by the priest, Abiathar, who sided with Adonijah. Solomon had his brother Adonijah killed and banished Abiathar the priest. He then followed his father’s last instructions. He killed both Joab and Shimei (son of Gera) and thus overcame the last potential threats to his kingdom. He then appointed his friends to key military, governmental and religious posts. Solomon, who died in 922 BC, collected enormous wealth. He controlled the entire region west of the Euphrates and made peace along his borders. He strengthened his kingdom through marital alliances. He had a large share in the trade between northern and southern countries and established Israelite colonies around his province to look after military, administrative and commercial matters. The empire was divided into twelve districts. The Kingdom under Judah, the fourth son of Jacob and Tia, was declared one of the twelve tribes of Israel. His rule was significant as he ruled by his own political and religious beliefs. He enjoyed unambiguous privileges and became the ancestor of the Merovingian House of Judah. Although Solomon was young, he was soon known for his wisdom. The first and most famous incident of his cleverness as a judge was seen when two women came to his court with a baby whom both claimed as their own. Solomon threatened to split the baby in half. One woman was prepared to accept the decision, but the other begged the king to let the other woman have the baby but spare the baby’s life. This tactic proved the identity of the real mother. People from surrounding nations also came to hear Solomon’s wisdom. He composed 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs. He wrote the ‘Song of Songs’, the Book of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. The most celebrated visits to Solomon were those of the Queen of Sheba, who came from southern Arabia. Historically, Arabia was a country rich in gold, frankincense and myrrh. Solomon needed Sheba’s products and trade routes, while Sheba needed Solomon’s cooperation in marketing her country’s goods. The queen came to Solomon with camels carrying spices, gold and precious stones. She asked him questions and riddles and she was amazed at his wisdom. In tranquil times, Solomon began to build the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. It took seven years to complete a structure built of stone and carvings of cedar overlaid with pure gold. Solomon was renowned for his building projects in which he used slave labour from the Hittites (ancient Syria), Amorites (descendants of Ancient Religions of the Far East 161

Canaan, son of Ham), Perizzites (inhabitants of ancient Palestine), Hivites (descendants of Ham, son of Noah) and Jebusites (Palestinian-Canaanite tribe). Construction of his palace took thirteen years. Also built during his times was a city wall, a citadel called the Millo, and a palace for the daughter of a pharaoh, who, in Hebrew Scriptures, cemented a political alliance with Egypt. Although she was not given a name in the texts, her influence on Solomon was the downfall of his greatness. Solomon’s downfall came in his old age. He took on many foreign wives, whom he allowed to worship as they pleased. He granted special privileges to the Tribes of Judah which alienated the northern tribes. The Prophet of Shiloh (who some believe was Mohammed) prophesied that Jeroboam (931-910 BC) would be the first king of Northern Israel after the revolt of the ten Northern Israelite tribes against Rehobaum, the son of Solomon. Because of his successful rebellion against Rehoboam, the Hebrew nation was divided into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Jeroboam, as predicted, became king over ten of the twelve tribes, instead of one of Solomon’s sons. Outside Solomon’s kingdom, the Hadads, of the of Edom (Esau— Jacob’s brother), rose as opponents of Israel. Rezon (son of Eliada), ruler of Aram also fought Solomon, and created tension between the two kingdoms which lasted even after Solomon’s reign. Solomon died in Jerusalem after forty years as ruler of Israel. He was buried in the City of David. His son, Rehobaum (Amenhotep IV) succeeded him as king. Under the Rehobaum rule, Solomon’s empire was lost and his kingdom was divided into two parts. Religious revolution by the local priest against his father’s worship of the Sun (Aton) was rampant. For years Solomon (Amenhotep III) sought to contain the growing power of the Egyptian priesthood. When young Rehobaum (1367– 1350 BC) came to the throne he was determined to resist the priesthood of Amon. Supported by his family, he finally made a clean break with the worship of Amon- Re. He moved his capital from Thebes, the centre of Amon worship to a city three hundred miles to the north. Its God was Aton or Aten, the physical disk of the sun, and the new city was called Akhenaton. The ‘new god’ was different from any that had gone before him, for Rehobaum, like his father, believed the Sun to be universal, not merely Egyptian. Akhenaton Rehobaum reintroduced a monotheistic worship of Aton, the Sun- god. In the process of this religious revolution, Akhenaton placed himself as the intermediary between Aten and the people. This helped remove the need for the scheming priesthood. As the only one with access to the god, Akhenaton established himself as a god-king. After his death the backlash forced his son, Tutankhamen to reverse the move away from monotheism and return to the worship of many gods. During his reign only the nobles embraced the Aten cult just to stay in favour with the king. Even without their temples the common people clearly kept their old worshipping practices. 162 In the Beginning

Universal claims for Aton led to religious intolerance of the worshippers of all other gods. Their temples were closed and the name of Amon was removed from all monuments. The old priests were deprived of their posts and privileges. However, the new religion was more remote than the old. Only the pharaoh and his family worshipped Aton directly and the people worshipped the pharaoh. Akhenaton’s interest in religious reform proved disastrous in the long run. The Asian possessions fell away and the economy crumbled as a result. Akhenaton’s (1367–1350 BC) chosen successor Smenkhkare (1335-1333 BC), meant the soul of Ra, was put aside and replaced by Tutankhamen (1347–1339 BC), the husband of one of his half-sisters and his wife, Nefertiti. The new pharaoh restored the old religion and wiped out as much as he could of the memory of the worship of the Sun, Aton. He restored Amon to the centre of the Egyptian pantheon and returned the capital to Thebes. This restored power to the priests of Amon and to the military officers who restored order and recovered much of the lost empire. Memory of the city of Akhenaton disappeared for over 3000 years to be accidentally rediscovered by archaeologists about a century ago. Tribe of Judah Around the time the Roman tyrant Augustus Caesar (63 BC–14 AD) reigned ancient Rome and the Roman-backed king of Judea, Herod Antipas (21 BC–39 AD) was the ruler of Jerusalem. Three provinces comprised this land: Palestine, Judea and Galilee. Joachim or Joseph was master of the Jewish law and a man of wealth. He lived in Nazareth of Galilee. Anna, of the tribe of Judah, was his wife. Elizabeth and Zechariah (parents of John the Baptist) were of the house of Aaron from the tribe of Levi. Mary’s mother was of the tribes of Judah (ancestry of Jesus), while Mary’s father had descended from Levi, the son of Jacob, and therefore kin to Elizabeth. Mary (Jesus’ mother) and Elizabeth (John’s mother) were first . A Levite was born of a father whose lineage reached to Levi, son of Jacob. Jewish status was determined under matrilineal descent. Therefore, the human part of Jesus was half Levi (the priestly line of Thutmose III) and half Judah (the Merovingian kingly line of David). It was therefore that Jesus was both King and High Priest. To them was born Mary. She was taught all the laws of the Jews by Hillel, chief of the Sanhedrin, the highest judicial and ecclesiastical council of the ancient Jews. When Mary reached the age of womanhood she was betrothed to Joseph, son of Jacob, a devoted Essene, (an esoteric spiritual order that fully embraced the deeper levels of spirituality). About 4000 Essenes existed in Palestine and Syria from 1800 BC to 200 AD. To them was born a son, Jesus, who, as was the tradition with the first-born son, was consecrated a priest at the Temple in Jerusalem. In the hills of Judah, near Hebron, lived Zacharias (priest in Jerusalem Ancient Religions of the Far East 163 during Herod’s reign)] and Elizabeth, a cousin of Mary and mother of John the Baptist. Zacharias was a priest (although secretly also an Essene) who led the temple services in Jerusalem. A son was born to Zacharias and Elizabeth in their old age. He was called John (the Baptist). They were devout and they read the Law (five books of Bible by Moses), the Prophets (advocates of divine commands) and the Psalms (King David’s 150 poems to God) daily. The Books spoke of a prophet from the House of David. The Judean Royal Dynasty started with the House of David (1040–970 BC). He reigned over Judah (1010–1003 BC), and over the United Kingdom of Israel (1003–970 BC) as the King of Israel, and the Jewish people. In Christianity, David was known as an ancestor of Jesus’ father Joseph, and in Islam, he was known as Dawood, a prophet. A pious Jew named Simeon (Prince Siamon, the second son of a Hebrew patriarch Jacob or Amenhotep II) was in the temple serving God. When he saw the infant Jesus in Mary’s arms at the temple, he rejoiced and said, “Now I am ready to depart in peace, for I have seen the king.” An alarmed Herod, who heard of this pronouncement, sought the child. Meanwhile, three visiting magi, from Persia, sensed the danger to Jesus’ life and warned the parents of the child Jesus, to flee beyond the reach of harm. Joseph took the infant Jesus and his mother in the night and fled to Egypt with Elihu and Salome. Elihu and Salome were a wedded couple and master teachers in the wisdom of the Essenes. For many months they lived together as guests of Egypt in Zoan (now Tanis, an ancient city of Egypt in the north-eastern Nile delta, near Lake Manzilah). When Elizabeth learned that Herod sought to slay her son, she took the infant John and hastened into the hills to hide in a cave until the guards were gone. Herod meanwhile, sent the guards looking for the infant John, but Zacharias at the temple was oblivious of Elizabeth’s escape and her whereabouts. Herod again sent guards to Zacharias who was engaged in prayer. Because he truthfully claimed not knowing where John and Jesus were, the guards thrust a dagger through him. After fleeing Bethlehem, Joseph, Mary and their son lived in Egypt in Zoan, while John was still with his mother in the Judean hills. Elihu and Salome sent messengers to find Elizabeth and John. They secretly moved Elizabeth and infant John to Egypt. Mary and Elizabeth now were living in an Essene community in Zoan in Egypt. Here, they were tutored by two master teachers—Elihu and Salome. As was traditional with the Essenes, they were instructed in the wisdom and spiritual traditions that included Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism and Zoroastrianism. Elihu knew about these ancient civilizations Jesus would later meet during his travels in India. Because many would change and enter their own temple of blessed transfiguration, Jesus and John would lead one to move up to divinity 164 In the Beginning when called to enter. “We measure time by cycles of ages, and the gate to every age is a milestone in the journey of the (human) race.” That is how Elihu explained the coming of yugas, or epoch or era within a cycle of four ages. Now, astronomers claim the sun and its family of planets, together, revolve around another central sun. It needs 24,000 years to make one revolution. Western astronomers believe that its orbit is called the Zodiac, which is divided into twelve astrological signs. It thus requires the solar system 2000 years to pass through one of these signs. Because Western astronomers called the ‘procession of equinoxes’ a movement of the sun through the Zodiacal signs, it was assessed in the reverse order. The sun was in Taurus in the days of Adam. That was the beginning of the Taurian age. Abraham lived in the beginning of the Arian Age. At the rise of the Roman Empire, the sun was in the Piscean Age. When Jesus of Nazareth lived, the Piscean Age had just started. Elihu spoke of the Piscean era, saying, “An age has passed; the gate unto another age flies open at the touch of time. This is the preparation age of soul (as the Quran states—the only devil from which man must be redeemed is ‘self’— the lower self. If man wants to find his devil, he must look within; his name is ‘self’), the domain of Immanuel, of God in man; and these, your sons, will be the first to tell the news, and preach the gospel of goodwill and peace on earth.” The Piscean Age was a time of preparation for the Aquarian Age (Satya Yuga). The Piscean Age (Kaliyuga) engaged with the Aquarian character for those who were ready, but millions remained in ignorance, not understanding the truth about Jesus or what the Christ meant. Thousands, who faithfully followed the footsteps of Jesus, reached the same competence that Jesus had. Some became so identified with their lord that wounds and stigmata appeared on their bodies. Multitudes lagged behind, or did not even start the spiritual journey, but they kept trudging along. Life after life they pressed on passing from glory to self-glory. Elihu knew that old Babylonia or Iraq (1830–1531 BC), with its capital city Babylon, held a special place in Abrahamic religions as a symbol of both, excesses and dissolute power. Babylonia’s main festival was the Mishtkaru Buylshu. It was celebrated to ward off evil spirits. Many young participants, in particular male Babylonians, attended lewd festivals at a young age. During the festivals, priests performed animal sacrifices to please the gods. In return, the gods permitted people to wear amulets to protect them from the effects of their excesses. Gradually, Babylonian elements of the religion were incorporated into Judaism practiced in Jerusalem. Babylonian (Iraqi) with Assyrian (Meshach or Syria) practices was the earliest polytheistic Semitic religion in Mesopotamia. Elihu and Salome wanted the mothers to learn the religions of all surrounding civilization because they were intended to be mothers of two sages – Jesus and John. The following 2000 years would be governed by this knowledge, even if its acceptance was flawed in understanding. Ancient Religions of the Far East 165

Flawed Teachings about Human Existence The purpose of phony teaching was successful in setting up false goals about the purpose of human life. For the last 2000 years and more, flawed teaching was aimed at implanting in the consciousness of humanity that its desires and ambitions were the sole purpose of life. The resulting preoccupation in following such false goals resulted in wasted energy the Spirit had given to humanity. Humanity was diverted from the only true goal of life: union of ‘self’ with Self to experience Oneness with the Whole. Such flawed teachings blotted out the vision of the goal, as well as, the principles leading one to the Source of the cosmos. Human reasoning about God-desire within the soul was destroyed. Intellectual and sensual recreation was used to rationalize the authenticity in a false goal for happiness. The memory of the real goal of human existence - that of joining ‘self’ with Self, in yoga, was nearly blotted out from the consciousness of humanity. Without the knowledge of the real goal of human manifestation, there did not exist any justification for entering the path that lead to that purpose. When Knowledge of the destination was obscure, why look for a path to ‘nowhere’? Meanwhile, humanity followed and continued to chase after the needs of self- preservation, creature comforts, and getting ahead in a world that was based on the culture of material success. From childhood, people were trained to work from the viewpoint of basic needs. Short-term and long-term goals over the last 2000 years defined society, community, and the individual family. Like animals, people aspired and puttered around to become incorporated into mass confusion. In the cycle of life-and-death, the “self-soul” made repeated transitions at the time of death, from physical existence into other levels (or surfaces) of the cosmic Mother. At the time of exit, each mortal was forced to realise that incarnations were based on real values followed and not fictional goals, but then it was too late. The self-soul remembered that it was shown this reality of human life before entering the veils of matter (elemental, psycho-physiological, intellectual, and causal)—the many curtains of confusion. The cosmic Mother (prakriti) approved each soul to have the Power to tear down these curtains. With the Force of Purusha and Energy of the Sacred Fire man’s relationship with Divine was unlocked. What transpired was a sudden revelation about the real goal of a human life but it was too late to do anything about it at the time of human death. For the blessed devotees of seers, the goal of life was ascension of the soul and meeting with the God-realised Masters in yoga. The ascension dealt with self-awareness in God. It was the return journey of the wandering son to the home of the Father-Mother God. Clearly, the Joy of Living for ascension was the most practical method of existing on this earth. It was the Reality of a life lived in God, moment by moment, in a Service of Love for the Cosmic Whole. By taking 166 In the Beginning ascendancy by soaring from Awareness to Consciousness while embodied in matter, is Mastery of the soul (mind-intellect-causal body) over all vehicles of bodily expression. This was and is the alchemy of God Self-awareness. In ancient Egypt, ‘The Egyptian Book of the Dead and the Papyrus of Ani’ (3500 BC) was found in the tomb of Pepi II. His throne name was Neferkare (2278–2184 BC) which meant, ‘Beautiful is the Ka of Re’. Piously, Pepi II admitted that he was the spiritual double of the Sun-god or echoed in the Vedas ‘Aham Brahma Asmi’ (I am Spirit). He was a pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty in the Old Kingdom and he made a spiritual statement that came from years of meditation and personal realisation. Budge translated some parts of the Book of the Dead and the Papyrus of Ami: “I am purified of all defects. What is it? I ascend like the golden hawk of Horus. What is it? I pass by the immortals without dying. What is it? I come before my father in the Heaven. What is it?” It keeps asking, “What is it?” In Hebrew it translated to a path towards ‘manna’. Sages knew it dripped on the back of the tongue naturally from the crown chakra as the physical body gradually transformed to become subtle through the alchemy of spiritual journeys. What was this secret path of transformation through spirituality? The Nathas of India and Egypt knew it. Ramana Maharishi (1879-1950) a sage called the ‘Silent One’ promoted reaching natural happiness by knowing oneself. Through only a single Self-Enquiry ‘Who am I?’ As the chief means, many devotees gained and continue to gain the Self. Meanwhile for generations, the Hebrews in Egypt worked as artisans and metallurgists. When Baalzelael, the goldsmith and Moses were leaving Egypt, they prepared the ‘bread of the presence’ of God. They prepared the same bread for which Melchizedek the king of Salem (of Peace and Righteousness) had asked. This ‘manna’ perfected the human DNA of bodily cells by flowing Light through the light (astral) body until it exceeded the physical body in subtlety. What was this secret ingredient that metamorphoses the physical body? In ancient Egypt, it was said the physical body must be ‘fed’ to grow spiritually. They knew the spirit body fed itself on ka (life-force and energy coming from the Source), to grow and to become what it was meant to become: subtle. For 2000 years most did not feed on ‘ka’ because they had forgotten how to harvest it. It was the duty of humanity to grow in ‘ka’ rather than ordinary food. They were to become more subtle and enlightened until the value of their electromagnetic frequency (of the Astral Light Body) exceeded the Solid-State Atomic Frequency of the physical body. The yoga was not forgotten and remained confined to seers in caves and sanctuaries. Gifts or siddhis that accompanied such transformation and enlightenment included: perfect telepathy, levitation, walking on water, and freedom from gravity. When unaffected by the magnetic fields of the earth, the ‘light body’ was not subjected to space–time considerations. This being of the fifth dimension (the Ancient Religions of the Far East 167 supposed extra dimension beyond the usual three spatial dimensions and the fourth time dimension of Relativity) could materialize and reappear as desired, as well as, heal and embrace humankind with the energy of Love. Metamorphosis of the human body to Light corrected it all. Religions have Cosmic Connection The fundamental difference between the attitudes of modern and ancient humanity concerned its relationship with the surrounding world. For the modern scientific person this phenomenal world was an inanimate ‘It’. For the ancient and for the primitive individual this Universe was ‘Thou’. It was ‘Thou’ who revealed Nature’s individuality—its qualities of creativity, inertia, harmony and its will. To the Hindu, who for eons practiced Sanatan Dharma (eternal religion), ‘Thou’ was not an intellectual statement. It was experienced as life confronting life. It was involving one’s every faculty in a reciprocal relationship with Nature. Thoughts and feelings were not involved in this experience of a Cosmic Connection. Every individual man in these polytheistic religions (Egyptian, Shamanic and Hindu) met head-on with a living ‘Thou’ in Mother Nature. His or her cosmic connection existed at all levels—emotional and imaginative as well as intellectual, which together gave expression to the ultimate experience. All now experienced ‘self’ with ‘Self’ or “Thou” with an individualised familiarity. The early man viewed such a happening as an individual event. The modern scientific world today, viewed these river civilizations (Nile, Indus and Jordan), as based on myths as opposed to the modern one based on “logic and rationality”. As was noted in Greek and Roman civilizations, creation of myths was the first method in which western civilization tried to explain away life and its relationship with the universe. The Churchian view declared all legends of the past as myths used by the ancient people to explain creation of the universe as well as the role people played in that universe. Because they were recorded as folklore, society ignored them. This was the beginning of man separating from Nature. After these earliest post-river civilizations, Nature became an inanimate ‘it’. The world of nature no longer had life or will with vitality of its own. Soon, Churchianity also lost the knowledge or the wisdom to rationalize or logically explain Nature. ‘Pagans’ explained natural laws as stemming from divine powers. Although the Churchian West called the ‘pagans’ uncivilized, these civilizations obviously were scientific enough to exercise their minds to build temple towers, pyramids, irrigation canals, pottery wheels, cuneiforms and hieroglyphics. They caused advances to take place, created advances and laid the foundation of science. They were able to think through abstracts and prove general laws of the nature. There was no doubt that this science and philosophy taught to Greeks came from ‘pagan’ teachers brought from Indian, Chinese, Mongolian, Tibetan, Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Persian civilizations. 168 In the Beginning

6. Epochal Decline of Cultures

Nature was always governed by laws that were inherent even through the never-ending cycles of change. The landscape changed the face of nature, but the eternal immutable Laws of Nature never changed. Anthropological and archaeological evidence pointed to old India as the source of Egypt’s ancient civilization, the Roman civilization, and the Greek or Minoan civilization (2000– 1200 BC) centred in Crete which in turn was preceded by an advanced civilization found in the lands surrounding the Aegean Sea. It was pre-Greek dwellers who made contacts with Mesopotamia, Egypt and India. Prosperity was based on large-scale trade involving ships. Man was therefore the sole builder of civilizations of beauty and culture. With the birth of the Semitic religion, it with the others eventually created the European civilization. Humankind spanned across continents. The source of all our human knowledge lay in the Truths of Nature and built into Creation as nature’s laws. It was man’s uncanny ability to observe, reason and organize that allowed man to lift the veil of Illusion or maya that jealously guarded all Knowledge from humankind. Awarded in nature was a special program for survival and propagation. Man had survived despite its cyclical break- up. History of the world was, therefore, a never-ending story of movement and migration of people wanderings through the warp and woof of Time since it began. Facts were both historic and prehistoric. There were wandering Turks, or Magyars, or Indians who crossed the Bering Strait and came to occupy America. The great Egyptian Empire began with consolidating kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt by Menes after his ascent to the throne as the first pharaoh (3400 BC). Between the ascent of Menes and the ascent of Teharqa of the 25th Dynasty in 690 BC, there was the span of undetermined or even undiscovered Egyptian history that needed unravelling. From its great heights of achievement to its cross-breeding with other races, there was a slow decay and its final stagnation from which it never recovered. With the ascent of Teharqa began the slow death of the Egyptian civilization. The inhabitants lost both the initiative and their ingenuity. When the Assyrians of Meshach (Syria of today) came, the Egyptians could offer only feeble resistance. At the time of consolidation the first pharaoh Menes carried his arms southward against northern Nubia (Northern Sudan with Southern Egypt, once referred to as the Land of Kush 800 BC-320 AD), which then extended below the first cataract as far northward as the Nome of Edfu or Horus, the centre for a cult of a triad of gods (Horus of mid-day sun, Hathor goddess of Motherhood,

168 Epochal Decline of Cultures 169 and their son, Hor-Sama-Tawy). He also built a dam above the city of Memphis to divert the waters of the Nile to gain more room for the city. The swamp lands of the delta were reclaimed even before consolidating the kingdom. The rich lands drew a rapidly increasing population to the delta. Under the first pharaoh also came the invention and use of alphabetical signs: at least 2500 years before they were rediscovered. The Second Dynasty erected stone temples. Narmer, an early king (3100 BC) upheld foreign relations with remote peoples. There were commercial relations with the peoples of northern Mediterranean in the fourth millennium BC. The Third to the Sixth Dynasties, spanning the Old Kingdom, encompassed the time- span from 2980 to 2475BC. In religion, government, society, industry, and art, the Old Kingdom revealed a state with rapidly developing culture, both physical and spiritual, and one that was superior to the culture of the dynasties to follow. Egyptians were a religious people, who believed in the resurrection of the body after death and in the immortality of soul. Osiris was their God of the dead. Of a just man they said, “As Osiris lives, so shall he live; as Osiris died not, so shall he also not die; as Osiris perished not, so shall he also not perish.” They believed that a praying man would roll the departed to the land of the glorified, but that this praying man would receive only those of whom it was said, “There is no evil which he has done.” This was the earliest record of their brand of Law of Karma, the ethical test of life, making the afterlife dependent on the moral quality of the current life. Animal worship associated with old Egypt was a later product practiced during the decline of the nation, bringing about a decline of its religion at the tragic closing of its history. The most outstanding achievement of early Egyptians was their use of metal tools. Some authorities claimed the Egyptians launched the age of metal. Before inventing metal instruments, the tools used in the industries and arts were those made from stone, reeds and bones. As the dynasties of pharaohs reigned and died, they built for themselves monuments through which to live in the eyes of posterity in pyramid tombs. Zoser (2686 BC) the first pharaoh of the Third Dynasty of the Old Kingdom (2980 to 2475 BC) made his capital at Memphis. Art and mechanics reached excellence in the Old Kingdom. During the reign of Zoser, Egyptian conquest quelled the turbulent tribes of northern Nubia. Peaceful navigation of the Nile was now possible for 75 miles south of the first cataract. For 400 years between Menes to Zoser this southern frontier could not be breached. It was Senusret III (1878– 1839 BC) of the 12th Dynasty, who completed the conquest of Nubia. The period of 1500 years between Menes and Senusret conquests and absorbing the people from the south were slow. Before the time of Zoser the royal tombs were built with sun-dried bricks. Zoser terraced a pyramid of stone 195 feet high and became the first pyramid builder. Later kings of this dynasty erected other pyramids of Dashur and Sneferu. By now they were able to erect 170 In the Beginning up to 170-feet long vessels for traffic on the Nile. The pyramid built by Khufu (Cheops) contained some 2,300,000 blocks, each weighing two and a half tons on an average. Towards the end of Old Kingdom (2475 BC) there was evidence of the weakening of the central power, but Egyptian culture did not suffer. Assimilation of the African tribes of the south was compelled to contribute to the Egyptian army. Pharaohs’ use of multitudes of foreign troops against the enemies of Egypt led to the final decay of Egyptian civilization. By 1500 BC the policy of the Egyptian Empire was radically different from that of the original Egyptian rulers. Many Egyptian gods were worshipped in temples. Gradual diffusion of the Egyptian culture and use of foreign native chiefs over the next 1500 years resulted in the culture of slavery. They came as yearly tribute from the southern dependencies, as well as, captives taken in wars. So they came for centuries; not by force of arms and battle array, but also as gifts to victors who conquered and enslaved these people. In the 25th Dynasty the ascent of Teharka (690–664 BC), a Nubian king to the throne of a once-proud Egypt marked the end of Egyptian civilization. Teharka’s sister became the divine head of Egyptian religion. His mother became the Queen Mother. Under Teharka, the civilization of Egypt became stagnant, and the dynasties succeeding Teharka were imposed by foreigners, who were now conquerors of Egypt, and so ended a once proud and beautiful civilization. Just as the Egyptian civilization was slowly interbreeding with their neighbours over 3000 years, Indian history had a different course. Emerging from the hill country of Afghanistan and the slopes of Hindu Kush, warriors conquered a desirable portion of India—the Punjab. The Indian Empire matured around 4000 years ago and the height of man’s civilization there held sway during the period 2000 BC to 1400 BC. The warriors that invaded Punjab expanded their conquests and imposed themselves by force and influence of a superior culture. They brought with them culture and civilization and set themselves up as priestly aristocrats and rulers who used the middle-class as a conquered labour force. The old literature of India was embodied in the Rig-Veda and other epics. The 600-year period between 2000 BC and 1400 BC was thus known as Vedic times. From Vedic writings one got full knowledge of the society of the time. The people were well organized, respectful of their women, and already with ancient moral laws who glorified their agriculture. They were passionately religious and imposed their faith and culture on the population by assimilating it into the Vedic culture. To this day, the Indians refer to themselves as a people of fair complexion. Even 4000 years ago Indians travelled to the rest of Asia, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. Being constantly outnumbered by the local darker indigenous population, the conquerors realized problems in preserving their racial purity. To preserve their racial bloodlines they created the caste system, and enforced it by law and religion. Priests claimed to be scientists and philosophers who devised an Epochal Decline of Cultures 171 extraordinary scheme—an expression of human ingenuity. The caste system divided the population into four main divisions—priest and scribes, aristocrats and warriors, agriculturists and merchants, and labourers. The first group was composed of those of the purest blood; they were called brahmins; the second group (kshatriyas) served to enforce the needs of the brahmins; the subdued mix- breeds of merchants and agriculturists (vaishyas) remained in immediate contact with all castes. A large group of the conquered population—the outcastes (shudras) were considered as barely human. Nevertheless, the caste system, with all its severe laws, with all the religious taboos barring the mixing of the races, was incapable of preventing illegitimate unions. It failed to prevent the amalgamation of the races despite legal and religious controls. Semitic Religions and Indus Valley Civilizations The three main Semitic religions were: Christianity, Judaism and Islam. They were related by a likeness in God belief. Their lives were and still are consumed by a constant battle between good and evil. In contrast, the root religions of the Indus valley are: Hinduism and Buddhism. They were linked by a belief in the Law of Karma. Life was regarded as a continual cycle of births and deaths and that deeds or wants of past lives determined a person’s fate in this and future lives. One of the main likenesses between the three Semitic religions was the belief that no matter how difficult the past and present might be, they were hopeful about the future. They believed that God communicated revelations through prophets which were recorded in the holy scriptures of each religion. The key scripture of Judaism was the Torah, that of Christianity was the Bible, and Islam had the Quran. God provided them all with basic rules to live by. While Hinduism and Buddhism both believed in migrating souls and the cycle of births and deaths for each soul, they stressed compassion and non-violence towards all living beings. Both believed in the existence of seven hells and heavens, or higher and lower worlds. According to them, masters, gods and deities existed at different planes. Both the religions promoted spiritual practices like meditation, concentration, and cultivation of certain states of mind. The main difference between the Semitic and Indus root religions lay in their belief on the purpose of life. The Semitics believed the purpose of life was to bring the creation of God to fulfilment during one’s lifetime and that life should be lived in commitment to thanks and praise of God. While the Indus religions believed that life was a movement towards Nirvana and reaching enlightenment. The purpose of life for them was to release the atman (self) of its bondage with the Cycle of birth and death. There was distinction about the question of death between the two branches of religions. The Semitic believed death to be a doorway to the next life, which was determined by a person’s response to the God’s Will in this life. It was about 172 In the Beginning returning to the loving creator if the person shared his human life with creation. While the Indus root religions believed that death was part of an endless cycle leading to rebirth and reincarnation. Finally, the Semitic religions believed that evil and suffering were part of our world and they had entered the world through the work of Satan and malicious doings of humans. Hinduism and Buddhism, on the other hand, believed evil and suffering to be the effects of past karma and that suffering could come in the form of punishment by a reincarnation in a lower life form. Several other differences between the two roots could be because of their different areas of origin and a variation in their ages. Progressive Downfall of Humanity It was surely the start of the Golden Age of Satyuga (of Aquarius), the Age of Truth. After over 2000 years of false teachings by fallen ones, many started understanding and questioning the purpose of such fake teachings. According to Genesis 6: “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them as wives of all which they chose. And the Lord said, “My spirit shall not always strive with man, for he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years. There were giants on the earth in those days; and after that, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old men of renown”. The curious asked what such records meant – was it history or were they inventions to create conflict among the people? Crafty methods were made to put into operation a calculated divisive plot which found expression in a confused and divided humanity. They had just suffered a deluge and were ready to believe anything. It was argued that not all humankind perished in the Great Flood sent by God. They were told all was destroyed everything except Noah, his family and the creatures commanded he take on board the Ark. Many wondered whether any men lived outside the region covered by its waters. Logic told survivors that not all perished in the Flood because ‘tribes’ sprang from Noah’s sons (Genesis 10:1–2). Were they preceded in their earliest settlements by other tribes whose origins were unknown? In another part of the planet, the Dravidic tribes were known to precede the Aryans in India. The so-called Aryan and Dravidian races of India were members of the same Mediterranean branch of the Caucasian race, which prevailed in the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Sumeria. They were still the main group in the Mediterranean area, North Africa, and the Middle East. Dravidian kings historically called themselves Aryans, and traced their descent through Manu, the progenitor of mankind, who in the Matsya Purana was a south Indian king who reigned long before the Aryans arrived. It was also recorded the Semitic Akkadians of Mesopotamia preceded the Epochal Decline of Cultures 173

Cushites or Ethiopians (1070 BC) and Semites in Chaldea (from Iraq ruled Babylon 1000 BC). Noah’s three sons, the Canaanites in Gaza (Genesis 10:19) were preceded in Palestine by other races. The oldest Egyptian monuments presented the African race as evolved even at that remote age. Interestingly, the biblical account of the apocalypse restricted the Great Flood to only men occupying a certain district, and not the whole earth. A more reasonable opinion was the deluge did not destroy all men outside the Ark. Another story of the Great Flood stated that God sent gods to destroy civilizations as an act of divine retribution. But there were several other versions of the deluge: stories of Matsya in the Hindu Puranas, the first avatar of Vishnu as a fish, and king of a tribe in Vedic civilization saved humankind from the Flood. According to Greek mythology, Deucalion who with wife Pyrrha built an ark and floated in it to survive the deluge sent by Zeus. Meanwhile Utnapishtim was the hero of the Flood myth telling a story the Epic of Gilgamesh in the Babylonian epic. Many of the world’s cultures past and present had stories of a Great Flood that devastated an earlier civilization. A good deal of likeness existed in most of these flood legends. Some of these stories were of a more local nature, but nearly all of them involved the survival of only a small number of humans who repopulated mankind. The Scientific community has remained divided about the authenticity of such an event as a Great Flood. Most archaeologists and geologists recognized there were indeed major floods that devastated large civilized areas, but most disagreed there was ever a single deluge in the last 6,000 years that covered the whole earth or even a major portion of it. Unjust Piscean Age and Promise of Age of Aquarius Age of Aquarius carries with it an admonition: ‘let the sunshine in’. This Time Cycle carries with it a weight of prophesies and predictions. The Gospel according to Luke reported, “And he said unto them, Behold when ye are entered into the city, there shall be a man to meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in.” (Luke 22:10). The man who holds the pitcher of water is the symbol of Aquarius and the house symbolizes the period during which all of humanity will receive the same Holy Communion, which the disciples received at the Last Supper. The topic of the Aquarian Age usually brought into view many images and also a question of what this Age was. For several decades, mankind has made meaningless statements about the term Aquarian Age. The declaration is now accessible and perhaps even vaguely comprehensible to a wide audience, but it is used as a cliché in trendy culture. Currently, almost any topic related to esotericism or mysticism is coined as “New Age” (referring to the New Age of Aquarius). In the social order today we have “New Age Groups”, “New Age Book Stores”, “New Age Music”, etc. Instead of all the stereotypes associated with this 174 In the Beginning term, it was essential to know the chronological facts associated with the Age and to understand its inner meaning. Aquarius is a ground-breaking sign. Its occult significance is ‘knowledge’. The constellation of Aquarius is governed by the planet Uranus, which is an influential planet. The sign of Aquarius shows a man with two pitchers of water who is combing these waters. The doctrine of the Age of Aquarius is the “doctrine of synthesis”: a synthesis of all true religions and methods of self-realization. In the Aquarian Age dogmatic religions will cease to be taught and will disappear. During this epoch science will become sacred, and religion will become scientific. Divergence between science and religion will cease to exist. Humanity will begin to grasp that both Spirit and Matter take birth from the same Source. Both are variations of the One Universal Energy. Authors of the original biblical stories achieved their purpose of hiding historical truths. They sealed personal and divisive family histories of their sages only for those classified few who still know but refuse to tell the Truth. They disguised Judaic/Egyptian history as children’s stories for those not allowed to understand their deeper meaning. Strangely, churchianity encouraged a naïve reading of these books and it would become the foundation of Western culture, called Christianity. Deceived by biblical authors, for the last 2000 years, humankind was led astray by a Churchian desire for prominence and contrived immortality. The Bible in its final form became an adaptation by all manner of persons who had varied purposes and agenda. But, now we realize the original Bible is still an accurate source of history after all. Despite the religious folly of these past centuries, it allowed Egyptology to grow independent of the extremism that engulfed biblical archaeology in Israel. Egyptian history was never examined as biblical history. No one suspected the biblical line of Adam ruled Mesopotamia and Egypt for thousands of years. Besides, nobody guessed that beginning with the 11th Pharaonic Dynasty, (Middle Kingdom of Egypt) biblical Israel was in fact historical Egypt. Israel, alias Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, a Hebrew Sheppard King, ruled as the Pharaoh Amenhotep II in Egypt. It was here where most of the biblical characters lived, after Joseph was sold as slave to the Egyptians by his brothers. Therefore, an objective synthesis of the archaeological record and biblical accounts is possible even today. The true victims of the Bible’s approach to preserving history were the Hebrews themselves. Their ancestors carefully encrypted and jealously guarded their family traditions. They could not have foreseen the suffering that would follow when the ability to interpret their symbolism was lost. Whatever sins the patriarchal family committed have plagued their descendants, as well as gentile proselytes, for over one hundred generations. The Jews continue to carry the burden of being a “chosen people,” but have a vague knowledge of who chose them and why. And when the patriarchs were finally identified through archaeology, Epochal Decline of Cultures 175 they were by now unwelcome as ancestors of spiritual role models. Their biblical representations were found unfinished and were repressed anew. Pharaohs are Sages of Old Testament The main route between Canaan and Egypt was along the northern coast of Sinai. Biblical characters travelled this road. Known to the Egyptians as “the Way of Horus,” and in the Bible as “the road through the Philistine country” (Ex 13:17), it ended in the eastern delta in the Goshen region. “You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you will be near to me, you, your children, your children’s children, your flocks, your herds and all that.” (Genesis 45:10). This was the part of Egypt where most biblical characters lived and biblical events took place. Abraham came to Egypt around 2400 BC, at the end of the First Intermediate Period. Abraham went to Egypt for a while because the famine was severe. He took with him his beautiful and light-skinned wife and because he declared her as his sister, the pharaoh Thutmose I (David) allegedly took her as wife (Genesis 12:10). The 11th Dynasty (2134–1991 BC) based in Thebes was just gaining power in the south and would eventually control all of Egypt. So the pharaoh whom Abraham met (Genesis 12:15) must be a northern leader Khufu or Cheops (2589– 2589 to 2566 BC), the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, and an early king from the Theban Dynasty. Presumably, their meeting took place in the delta area. While in this region, Abraham probably saw the Giza pyramids on the Nile’s west bank. Giza was in the extreme of north of the Old Kingdom in the delta region, which included Meidum, Dahshur, Saqqara and Abusir—all found near Memphis, the national capital then. Egypt’s 12th Dynasty (1991–1786 BC) built a new capital city called Itjtawy in the Upper Egypt’s northern extremity, close to the delta. From here they could govern and access their eastern frontier more effectively. Near here was also the pyramid of Sesostris II (reigned 1897-1878 BC) at El-Lahun in Lower Egypt. Biblical dating suggests this was the pharaoh under whom Joseph, the son of Jacob, rose to the position of vizier in Egypt. Earlier, the sons of Jacob would have brought Joseph to Egypt by the Horus Road (Genesis 37:28). There he was sold to Potiphar, a high Egyptian official. Initially, Joseph worked as a slave on the Potiphar estate in the delta region (Genesis 39:1, 2), before becoming the most powerful man in the kingdom. Joseph had authority over construction of this pyramid and supervised the pharaoh’s burial. During the years of famine Joseph also served under Sesostris III (reigned 1878 to 1839 BC). Sesostris III’s own pyramid tomb at Dashur (northern Upper Egypt) was also a major responsibility of Joseph. Joseph the Vizier went into honourable retirement in the delta’s Goshen region shortly after the years of famine. The town of Rowaty was where Joseph and his family lived. Rowaty meant “the door of the two roads”. The site had evidence of an unfortified rural 176 In the Beginning settlement, with many enclosure walls that probably kept animals. The residential quarters consisted of rectangular huts built of sand bricks. Not all the residents of this first Asian settlement lived in huts. An important official lived in a small villa. After he carried out his duties associated with the famine, he would move to Rowaty to be near his father and brothers. Rowaty had its name changed to Avaris toward the end of the 18th century BC, during Egypt’s 14th Dynasty. The new name meant “the (royal) foundation of the district.” The Hyksos, whose hieroglyphic name meant ‘foreign rulers’ came into the Nile delta from southern Canaan and set up a centre of power at Avaris. Their leaders took the title of pharaoh and ruled northern Egypt for 108 years (1664– 1555 BC). They have come to be known as Egypt’s 15th Dynasty. Avaris was their capital which became an important commercial centre. The pharaoh that knew not Joseph was probably the first Hyksos pharaoh. It would be the Hyksos pharaohs who forced the Israelites to build the store cities of Pithom and Ramses (Exodus 1:8–12). Under the leadership of the 18th Dynasty’s founder Ahmose, when the Egyptians drove out the Hyksos in the mid-16th century BC, they most likely renamed the city of Avaris as Perunefer, which meant “happy journey”, which was also the name of the city during Moses’ time. Bible records the events of Moses’ birth in Exodus 2, with the Israelites clearly still living in the delta’s Goshen area. “Now a man of the tribe of Levi (Isaac) married a Levite woman, and she gave birth to a son. When she saw it was a fine child, she hid him for three months” (Exodus 2-6NIV). When the pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, she found the baby Moses. Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said (Exodus 2:5). This daughter of pharaoh may well have been Hatshepsut, who later became a pharaoh herself. So, the Bible suggested the royal family had a home in Goshen where the Israelites lived (Exodus 2:2–10). It mentioned that Jacob and his family settled in “the land of Ramses” where they became property owners (Genesis 47:11, 27). It also mentioned the Israelites were used as slave labour to build the city of Ramses (Exodus 1:11) and when they left Egypt after 430 years (Exodus 12:40) they left from Ramses (Exodus 12:37). Seemingly, most of the Israelites spent the years of the Egyptian sojourn in and around Ramses. Essenes & Jews A fundamental belief of the Essenes was the universe contained two cardinal spirits—those of Light and Darkness. ‘Light’ represented truth and righteousness, whereas ‘Darkness’ was depicted as perversion and evil. The balance of one against the other was settled by celestial movements, and people were individually apportioned by their planetary circumstances of birth. The cosmic battle between Light and Darkness was thus perpetuated within humankind, Epochal Decline of Cultures 177 and between one person and another: some contained comparatively more light, others comparatively darker: “I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil. I the LORD do all these things” (Isaiah 45:7). They met regularly with other members at local, regional and national levels to share collection days, sequestration, or to gather and socialize with national and international conferences. Talented teachers worked for the development and training of apprenticed students. Real and strong bonds of communion were nurtured among Kabbalah members. Secular institutes inculcated humility as a spiritual means of building the confidence that came from a chosen vocation. Binah or Understanding in the Kabbalah was intended to make Jewish mysticism a model of relationship between the people. Isaac Thutmose III consecrated secularity of the Essenes as an instrument to embody the spirit and send it to all humankind as long as each member remained faithful to their vocation, secular institutes, and devotedly adhered to humility. The terminology ‘Jews’ pertain only to two tribes of Judah and of Benjamin who as descendants of Abraham, after pulling out the ten tribes moved to Samaria and created the “Divided Monarchy” (735 BC). Joseph, son of Jacob, was sold into slavery in Egypt due, in part, to the jealousy of his older brothers. But a famine was expected in the land where the descendents of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had settled. Despite earlier problems when his brothers sold him as slave to The Egyptians, Joseph found favour with the Pharaoh. He interpreted the Pharaohs dream. The dream prophesied 7 years of bountiful harvests, followed by 7 years of famine in Egypt. Joseph proposed a plan that would save not only Egypt, but the surrounding areas, from the hardship of famine. During the famine, Jacob sent the rest of his sons to Egypt. Joseph and his family were reunited, but were also invited by the Pharaoh to stay in the land of Egypt. Over many years descendents of Jacob multiplied. After several hundred years, the Pharaoh and local Egyptians saw the Hebrews as a threat to their Egyptian way of life. To forestall a rebellion of ancestors belonging to Jacob’s descendants and his people, repressive and cruel measures were adopted to trigger an enforced Exodus. With the re-establishment of the (Sophocles) a Theban campaign of anti-Semitism was launched again. Earlier, for 100 years Theban Pharaohs (Greek) ruled the Southern lands of Kemet (Ancient Egypt) from their Thebes (city in Greece) base. The Greeks occupiers hated paying high taxes to the Asiatic Egyptians who governed the land. Hebrews (Jacob and his twelve sons) who had until then enjoyed much favour prior to this time became the objects of hatred and scorn. Deprived of their Egyptian citizenship they moved back towards their homeland and many were thrown into bondage and slavery within Egypt. To suppress the threat of an uprising, Pharaoh Ramesses II enslaved the Hebrew and ordered the death of all male Hebrew babies. The one that was saved by his mother and sister was 178 In the Beginning

Moses, who became the Pharaoh’s adopted son, the succeeding Pharaoh’s adopted brother, and the saviour of the Hebrew people. Hebrew Influence on the West Dwarfed by the great empires of Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonia and Egyptians were the Hebrews. Of all the ancient civilizations though, it was the Hebrews who exerted the greatest influence on western society and intellectual tradition. Hebrew was a Semitic-speaking people who first appeared in Mesopotamia. Abraham’s families (Senakhtenre Tao I of the Indo-Aryan Mitanni, Sequenenre Tao II and Thahash Ahmose I) were natives of Sumer. But between 1900 and 1500 BC the Hebrews migrated from Mesopotamia to Canaan and then into Egypt. Now a tribe of Hebrews who claimed to be the descendants of Abraham began to call themselves Israelites or ‘soldiers of God’. For 250 years the Hebrew clan was imprisoned in settlements meant for impoverished people. They lived outside town walls and were used as builders, artisans and labourers by the Egyptian pharaohs. During the reign of Ramses II a Hebrew leader, Moses, led them on an exodus out of Egypt to the Sinai Peninsula. Moses persuaded his followers to worship Yahweh or Jehovah. They wandered into the Sinai until Moses decided to return to Canaan. In far ancient times, the southern area of Canaan included various ethnic groups. Canaanites spoke languages closely related to other West Semitic languages. Although the residents of ancient Ugarit in modern Syria did not consider themselves Canaanite and did not speak a Canaanite language the Syrian language they spoke was a close relative of it. Much of the modern knowledge about the Canaanites stems from excavations in this area. Canaanite culture seemingly developed from the Circum-Arabian Nomadic Pastoral Complex: from a fusion of hunter–gatherer farming cultures, who tamed animals during the 6200 BC climactic crisis. The move could not have been easy because the Hebrew nation was faced with constant threats from the Philistines (non-Semitic people from Crete in the 12th century BC) who occupied the coastal region. In Canaan, twelve Hebrew tribes got united, first under Saul and then under his successor, David. By the 10th century BC, David and his son Solomon had created an Israeli kingdom. Economic progress was made as Israelis began to trade with neighbouring states. New cities were built—one in particular, Jerusalem, was built by David to honour God. In 586 BC, the region of Judah (Thutmose IV, son of Amenhotep II and Lea) was destroyed and several thousand Hebrew were deported to Babylon. The northern country of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians in 786 BC and by 586 BC completed destroying the two regions. The prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah declared their Babylonian captivity was the God’s punishment. The Hebrews, in other words, had brought on their own captivity because they had violated the God’s laws. Despite this Epochal Decline of Cultures 179 calamity, the Hebrews survived as a people. By 400 BC Alexander the Great had conquered nearly all the Near East and Palestine came under Greek control. By 200 BC the Hebrews lost their independence and came under Roman rule, but never gave up their faith or their religion. As a people, Hebrew were committed to worshipping one God and His Laws as were presented in around 2000 BC to Abraham and orally recorded by his followers. The Old Testament therefore embodied the oral history of the Jews. It was written in Hebrew somewhere between 1250 and 150 BC. The Old Testament was written by devout disciples of the faith and not by historians. It, therefore, contains factual errors, inconsistencies and sometimes made imprecise statements. Nonetheless, much of the 39 books of the Old Testament were considered as reliable as written history. No historian who wished to understand the religious faith of the Jews could do so without mastering the Old Testament. There was only one god in the Old Testament. Its heroes were not gods and goddesses but men and women, both strong and weak. What separated the religious beliefs of the Hebrews from the belief systems of Egypt or Mesopotamia was clearly their monotheism. The Hebrews regarded God as fully sovereign. He ruled all and was subject to no laws Himself. Unlike the Near-eastern gods, Jehovah and the Hindu Brahma were not created. God was eternal and the source of all creation in the universe. He created and governed the world and shaped the moral laws that govern humanity. To Egyptians and Eastern Religions of India, China, Ceylon and Japan, God was transcendental—that is, He was above all nature. Hebrews conceived nature as God’s handiwork. This was an important detail in the West because once Nature was demystified as a myth; scientific thought could begin a lonely journey, detached from spirituality. However, they were neither philosophers, nor scientists. Concern with God in the West would slowly become obsolete and all belief would rest on man’s ability to explain away or study nature. In other words, God’s existence was now based on reason. Meanwhile, the ancients continued to reject Reason, and Revelation became the cornerstone of the Hebrew faith. Because God was the centre of all life only He was worthy of worship. Therefore, the Hebrews would give no last loyalty to kings or generals. To do so would be to violate God’s law to have “no other God but me”. Although the Hebrew was morally free but this came with one solemn condition. Freedom meant voluntary obedience to moral commands which God gave to the Hebrews through Moses. One of the central religious principles of the Hebrew faith was that God had made a special agreement with his people, called the Covenant. The book of ‘Exodus’ claimed, “Now, therefore, if ye will hearken unto My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be Mine own treasure from all peoples; for all the earth is Mine; and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Proverbs 8:32). The Hebrew believed themselves as God’s chosen people. They 180 In the Beginning did not believe they were better than anyone else. They believed that God rescued them from Egyptian bondage and selected them to receive His laws. Moses received the 10 Commandment—a code of moral “shouldst and should not’s”. Hebrew believed that to violate the laws of God would mean breaking the special covenant with God. This could lead to national disaster and destroying the Hebrew nation. The Hebrew society therefore had the moral duty to make justice prevail and have evil wiped out. This sense of moral contract made them socially responsible. The poor, widows, children and the sick were all protected by law, and the rich and poor were to be treated under the same laws, something unheard of in the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylonia (1792–1750 BC). Ebionim was a Hebrew term, meaning ‘the poor ones’ used to denote the original Jesus movement as it existed separate from Saint Paul and changing Greco-Roman Christianity outside Israel. During the three years of Jesus’ ministry, the Ebionim probably identified themselves as simple Jews, who accepted Jesus’ leadership for ushering in the Kingdom of God. Occasionally, they used the terms ’Ebionim’ and ‘Notzrim’ (Nazarenes) for ‘followers of The Way’. These terms continued to be in used even after Jesus’ death. Its movement grew and became distinguished from the Greco-Roman movement that now came to be known as Christianity. The Ebionim remained active until the early fourth century AD. Ebionim were Torah-observers who opposed the Greco-Roman anti-Jewish dogmas introduced as the Jesus movement spread outside Israel. Paul started preaching more than ten years after Jesus’ death and had never met Jesus in the flesh. Paul’s notion that salvation was only for those who confessed to Jesus as the messiah changed in the hands of the Roman Empire into one of the most unjust dogmas in history. Millions died because of the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Pogroms, the Holocaust, and the forced Churchianization in the Americas— all in the “name of the cross”. The Jewish people rejected the anti-Torah teachings of Paul that salvation came by confessing and enabled by Jesus’ blood as atonement, and therefore made animal sacrifice redundant. Although these teachings of Paul were rejected by the Jewish people, they took hold among non-Jews in the Greco-Roman cities, incorporating added anti-Torah or even anti-Jewish ideas. Between 70 and 100 AD the non-Jewish communities outside Israel had already started blaming Jews for Jesus’ death that Christians deified as that of God. The Hebrews therefore became the first culture of the old western world with awareness of historical time. They continue to celebrate their past and envisage a future when God shows peace on the earth. Hebrew history was of moral significance that became part of the western intellectual tradition itself. There were two sons from Egypt that told the story of two of history’s most powerful characters: the conqueror, Pharaoh Thutmose III, and the Semitic slave leader Moses at court during the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. Thutmose III and Moses Epochal Decline of Cultures 181 struggled for their separate destinies and the throne of Egypt. Destruction of an island paradise north of the Delta triggered the events of the Exodus, and the later destruction of Egypt as well as the birth of the nation of Israel. There were accounts of the conquest of Canaan, the victories of the newly fixed nation of Israel, and finally preserving the lineage of Jesus. Law of Karma and Survival of Ancient Teachings All knew the law of cause-effect with definite certainty that life was blessed with Universal Grace whether in happiness or unhappiness. Even the ignorant knew the sacredness of the nature’s law. There was therefore no need to grumble about injustice when sorrow came. A sensible conclusion to the perfect law of justice must undoubtedly be that something went wrong in one’s own action in the past to account for the unhappiness. A study of astral and mental powers on will and force of an individual displayed their effect on the mental, intellectual and astral worlds of pranic energy. It helped to understand how the law of justice produced its effects on the microcosmic individual and the macrocosmic being. A study of the Higher Nature was useful because it resulted in the knowledge of the physical world. Together, it became a conception of the whole scheme of things as they were. Such an expansive knowing developed the ability to put things in their correct perspective as well as understand the daily life. Well-meaning blunders were understood and avoided. The Power of Nature and the Forces of the Creator have always existed in finer matter. They could be harnessed. If an unselfish man used them for helping another, then learning about both Force and Will of the Father and Power of the Holy Spirit was imperative. Mental, astral or physical powers enabled the unselfish being to help through the physical plane as well as on the astral plane during sleep and after death. To activate and control such ‘control’ the sage of intense learning needed to know the Trinity through personal experience. Such a man might even misuse such powers on any plane, or a man could be deceived on any plane. In ‘The Voice of the Silence’ is said, “Look not for thy Guru in these mayavic regions”, and cautioned urgently about what was needed in these days, as it was in the days of Aryasanga. Asanga born around 300 AD, in Gandhara in north India was a Brahmin’s son, who later converted to Mahayana after many years of intense meditation. He allegedly often visited Tushita Heaven to receive teachings from Matsyendranath and Gorakhnath, the ancestors of the Natha tradition. Jesus received much of his Yogic training under these Masters. The term Arya was and is used in Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Zoroastrian texts, and was applied to Rishis who had mastered the four noble truths before entering the spiritual path: collectively called “Arya Dharma”. The term included all religions that originated in India (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and 182 In the Beginning

Sikhism). The term Aryan was and is still also applied to approaches to religious systems that are similar to Hinduism or Buddhism (Taoism, Paganism and Zoroastrianism). For the scholarly who wanted instructions that appealed to the intellect, Theosophy (meaning god-wisdom theosophia in Greek) existed from times predating Blavatsky existed. In the West, this school of religious and mystical philosophy took shape in the 3rd century AD and was founded by Plotinus. It ended with the closing of the Platonic Academy by the Emperor Justinian in 529 AD. The origins of Neo- Platonism have been traced back to Hellenistic attempt to reunite contrary beliefs melding with various schools of thought. It adapted pre-Christian schools of thought with the Hermetic magical and mystical tradition. A major factor in this syncretism and one which had an huge influence on developing Platonic thought was introducing Hebrew Scriptures into Greek intellectual circles through the translation known as ‘Septuagint’, a Greek version of the Hebrew Bible. The assembly of the creation history of Genesis and the cosmology of Plato’s ‘Timaeus’ set into motion a long tradition of cosmological theory. The final product resulted in Plotinus’s six ‘Enneads’ written by Plotinus and edited by his student Porphyry. Plotinus’ two major successors, Porphyry and Iamblichus, each developed their own aspects of Plotinus’ thought, but neither developed a philosophy to match that of their Plato. It was Proclus who, shortly before closing the Academy, bequeathed a systematic Platonic philosophy on the world. Plotinus also defined Eastern and Egyptian esoteric teachings and spiritual exercises in meditation that could unfold into Cosmic Consciousness. In the work of the 5th century Dionysius, there was a synthesis of Platonic philosophy and Christian theology. This exercised an influence on mediaeval mysticism and Renaissance Humanism. His works were mystical. He used Plotinus’ analogy of a sculptor cutting away that which did not improve the wanted image. Dionysius was influenced from Saint Clement, Cappadocia Fathers, and Origen of Alexandria and others. There was a difference between Neo-Platonism and Eastern Orthodox Christianity. In Neo-Platonism all life returned to the Source, stripped of individual identity. In Orthodox Christianity, theosis restored the likeness of God in man by grace. These mystical teaching were universally accepted throughout the East and perhaps gave birth to the Theosophical Society in India. In the West the manuscripts were popular among theologians like in the Middle Ages. Today, the term Neo-Platonism is a philosophical system combining Platonism with Indian mysticism and Judaic ideas. They rationalized in Greek and Egyptian (Chaldean) theosophy that “wise in divine things”, were identified by Iamblichus as Indian yogis or sadhus. There was a group of Renaissance philosophers: Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Robert Fludd and especially, Jacob Boehme who defined Epochal Decline of Cultures 183 theosophy as: “Any system of speculation which based Knowledge of Nature on that of Divine Nature.” The three declared objectives of the original Theosophical Society as established by Blavatsky, Judge and Alcott in 1888 were as follows: To form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or colour; to encourage the study of comparative religion, philosophy, and science; and to explore the unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in man. Theosophists have always believed that religion, philosophy, science, arts, commerce, and philanthropy, among other virtues, lead people ever closer to “the Absolute”. Planets, solar systems, galaxies, and the cosmos itself were regarded as conscious entities, fulfilling their own evolutionary paths. The spiritual units of consciousness in the universe were the monads, which might display as angels, human beings or various other forms. According to Blavatsky, ‘monad’ was the reincarnating unit of the human spirit, consisting of the two highest (astral and causal) of the seven constituent parts of the human essence. All beings, regardless of stature or complexity, were told by such a ‘monad’. Theosophical writings proposed that human civilizations, like all other parts of the universe, developed cyclically through seven stages. Blavatsky confirmed the Vedic premise that all humanity, and indeed every reincarnating human monad or unit, changed through a series of seven root races—each under the patronage of one of the seven rishis (sapta rishis). Thus in the first age, humans were pure spirit; in the second age, they were sexless beings inhabiting the now lost continent of Hyperborea of feelings, shifting appearances and evolving ideas; in the third age the giant Lemuroids (Atlantean ancestors who survived racial decadence but were told by spiritual impulses giving them human consciousness and sexual reproductive urges. Modern humans finally developed on the continent of Atlantis. Since Atlantis was the lowest point of the cycle, the present fifth age was a time of reawakening humanity’s psychic gifts. Blavatsky said: “these two other senses on the ascending arc are on the planes as hearing and touch”, or perhaps intuition and telepathy as the reference seemed to say. These psychic abilities came from realizing the permeability of consciousness. Although sensed by more sensitive individuals of human species, to be psychic was, according to Blavatsky, to be “the superethereal or connecting link between matter and pure spirit, and the physical.” Blavatsky suggested that most of the present-day humanity belonged to the fifth root race, the Aryans, which originally developed on Atlantis. It was her belief the older races would eventually die out, as the fifth root race in time would be replaced by more advanced people of the sixth root race which was set to develop on the re-emerging Lemurian continent. Blavatsky claimed that “The occult doctrine admits of no such divisions as Aryan and Semite, accepting even the Turanian (Asian) with ample reservations. The Semites, especially the Arabs, are later Aryans... perfected in materiality.” 184 In the Beginning

However, this statement was not made in a spirit of attacking any ethnicity. In fact, the main purpose of the Theosophical Society was “To form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or colour.” Guido von List later took up some of Blavatsky’s theories, mixing them with nationalism to develop Ariosophy (occultism that took root in early 20th century by Jorg Lanz von Liebenfels), and a forerunner of Nazism. Ariosophy highlighted on intellectual exposition of racial evolution. The Thule Society founded in 1918 by Rudolf von Sebettendorff who was schooled in occultism, Islamic mysticism and alchemy, was one of several German occult groups drawing on Ariosophy to preach Aryan supremacy. Its theory taught the Aryans—Caucasian, blonde-hair, blue-eyed North Europeans—created the earliest and best civilizations. This theory was influential on Nazi ideology, especially against the Jews. It provided a direct link between occult racial theories on one hand and the racial ideology of Hitler and the emerging Nazi party on the other. 7. Knowledge about Mother’s Power and Father’s Force

A Native American who was indigenous to Americas described himself as the First People of earth. These First People of Americas were and are a First Nation People: communities who were and still are native to a particular area with indigenous cultures. He said that they had powers of the Mother Nature but no respect for Her Wholeness. It was obvious that if these powers were misused while ‘wanting’ rather than ‘needing’ for the First People, the universe would destroy itself. Therefore, the Laws of Nature were kept hidden from humanity. Mother Nature would only reveal Herself when humanity discovered the art of connecting with Her in love, faith, purity, compassion, charity, fearlessness and courage. As humanity travelled life, Mother Nature passed her Truth only to receptive minds. She used images to inspire some to walk the Sacred Path of Harmony with all Creation. Over time, there were many tribes with this Knowledge. The Native American called them the ‘whole people’. They now started speaking about the circles of life, for all to hear. They were told the Circle of Life meant that all living things had a moment at which they became “alive”. That beginning marked the first point on the circle of life. They discovered each family of living things had its own life cycle. Strangely there were many who just could not see this Wholeness. Patanjali (150 BC) compiled aphorisms on yoga of the microcosm and the macrocosm. He discovered the Laws of Nature whispered constantly to him. He discovered they self-referred all the time and described all natural laws of creation to all who wanted to listen. He confirmed that Cosmic Intelligence (Ganesha), the Eternal Light of the Spirit, revealed in every outward appearance in all of All Creation. Such Oneness always had records of all potentials possible through a system of self-referral. These whispers intonated in a series of co- ordinated “hums” of varying frequencies and vibrations. Those able to “hear” these whispers realized the universe was a Vibrating Infinity of the Word, starting with sub atoms and permeating through all particles in the galaxies. Everything, the sages said was about the Infinite Light of the Cosmic Mother (Holy Spirit) vibrating at different frequencies. We humans therefore were Infinity displaying in a local reality. So when Infinity (light) entered a local reality by a vacuum, it gathered graded frequency of speed. A

185 186 In the Beginning local reality, for example a human, was formed and governed by the denseness of that local reality. Laws of Nature referred to every law known and unknown, and included physics, chemistry, biology, anatomy and physiology. Included were the laws governing every individual life. As a result, there was order in infinite diversity of nature. Sound value of this underlying hum in variety meant that it needed nothing outside itself to justify its existence as Creation. It was self-sufficient under its self-referral and its capacity to transform under the laws of nature. Knowledge always had a self-organizing power. The more precise this knowledge was the greater was its organizing power. Pure knowledge being infinite and unbounded was therefore infinite Silence, perfect balance, invincibility and simplicity. Pure Knowledge was therefore transcendental and combined the power of pure awareness and consciousness into it. In it were contained all possible laws of expression in one unified field of experience. They were based on the laws of attraction of thought and of soul-awakening. The universe was born of its own ingredients. It structured itself into diversity. Changes were self-interacting and self-sufficient. They had a self- sustaining, and self-referring quality, independent of anything outside itself. It followed then that ‘obvious universe’ was ‘intelligent awareness’ created as an expression of ‘unmanifest conscious intelligence’ or Mahat. When man lived by the laws of nature that governed his anatomical, physiological, psychological, and intellectual processes, ill-health and irrational behaviour did not arise. Man was able to fulfil every ambition or want to the fullest through the support of the Eternal Mother of Creation and Her Laws of Nature. Normal way of life bound man to narrow individuality. When using life force as energy-source for extrovert existence it directed body and mind towards bodily sensations and short-lived wants. Raja yoga rotated this same life force inwards towards the awareness of Self. All religions decreed control over futile use of life force so the seeker may transcend the bodily demands of a sensory mind. However, man needed to learn the technique of reversing the flow of energy for conservation and ‘hibernation’. All this needed preparation through Knowledge for gaining Wisdom. This and that were the secrets of man and Creation which had been jealously guarded against the unskilled. Generations owed their greatest appreciation to sage Vyasa who reorganized the Vedas, wrote the Brahma Sutras, the Mahabharata, and the Srimad Bhagvatam. Over 5000 years ago he foresaw disruptions caused by present-day civilization of the Piscean Age or kaliyuga that coursed through Time over the recent over two thousand years. He scripted and assembled all Vedic literature, including the Four Vedas. Meanwhile, Patanjali, another Vedic scholar, began paying attention to man’s central nervous system. Regarding it a miniature template of the Universe, he noted there was order in Nature and in man – that Knowledge about Mother’s Power and Father’s Force 187 was the secret about which Hindu sages knew, Jesus learned and then spoke about. Understanding Cosmic Connection Physics and chemistry reveal matter in a table of octaves of vibrations inherent in the material substance. In only a small portion of them they address their connection to the five senses and accessibility to the organs of action. Since all information about the outer world reaches man through subtle etheric vibrations, humanity, creatures and plants are able to respond to them when able adjust and tune into one another. At times these echoing frequencies remain ‘invisible’ to human channels because there is a lack of channel and a station of ‘insight’. They might be fully obvious to birds and creatures that have ‘special senses’ to attune to these thought and emotional frequencies. Mankind lives, dreams and sleeps with these pulse-like humming frequencies but remain unaware. The body (senses and organs of action), mind and intellect are unconscious. Nobody taught them the technique of making or understanding that Cosmic Connection. The astral and etheric spaces are filled with high frequency vibrations caused by desire-thoughts and emotions of all mankind. The outpourings of their energy are similar to unseen electricity or invisible steam. The sizes of this energy-field throb at a specific essence frequency. Whether it is affection, devotion or covetousness they condense in the astral sphere as thought ‘matter’. The ‘common astral world of humanity’ always enveloped and enlivened physical humanity towards their common ambition and agenda, whether in harmfulness or harmlessness. This interaction of Mother Nature with Humankind has remained constantly reciprocal. This common give-and-take is enlivened by life force or prana or chi through the Cosmic Breath. The laws that govern the physical- astral-etheric world are the same as those governing the physical matter. The laws of cause and effect or action and reaction (karma), compulsion of creative energy (maya), congenital compulsion tendencies (vasanas), inherited attachments and distaste (raga dvesha) are all embedded in the seed of embodiment. Incarnation manifests because of want and uncompleted desires. All are obstacles to mortals aspiring to make that Cosmic Connection. The enigma of existence is all creatures make a daily ‘connection’ with that who is experienced in its immanence and in its transcendence. Humankind needs reminding Nature connects humanity dreams Reality in the astral plane as Awareness independently experienced and again as Consciousness in the deep-sleep state. Humanity senses the frequency of ‘being’ in that Existence. It is a personal Knowing of a Blissful state (sat-chit-anand). Although humanity experiences both Awareness in thoughts and emotions, humanity is unaware it also knows all about thoughtlessness in Consciousness. Civilization has regularly walked into these Astral Halls of Nature for 188 In the Beginning rejuvenation without understanding how to enter this cave through Harmlessness. Channelling about Ancients Theosophists are advanced spiritual scientists of the modern date. They engage themselves in examining fields that are just a little ahead of those accepted by most physicists. One of them, Madame Blavatsky, displayed a remarkable knowledge of science, although she never learnt it along ordinary lines. Helena Blavatsky was a world traveller. She eventually settled in India where with Olcott she set up the headquarters of Philosophical Society in Bangalore. Her first major book ‘Isis Unveiled’ written in 1877 presented elements of the Western philosophical tradition. The wisdom she gained was based on experiences she had gathered during her extensive travels in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Her second major work ‘The Secret Doctrine’ of 1888 contained a commentary on ‘The Book of Dzyan’, an ancient text of Tibetan origin. It was based on what she called an “unwritten secret doctrine”. ‘Wisdom Tradition’ was a term given by Prof. Arnold Keyserling to refer to core mystical aspects of spiritual traditions without the trappings of doctrines and literalism. He argued that a combined knowledge of science, religion and philosophy was a secret (gnosis) which man once had. Meanwhile Blavatsky made positive statements about astral existence as a ‘thought form existence’ at different planes of reality in the universe. She was ridiculed at the time. The information she proclaimed has since been accepted and proved by authorities. Based on these facts, Annie Besant gave her fourth lecture in theosophy as it applied to human life. In ‘Theosophy and Science’ she claimed there was unity of religion, science and philosophy in the universal laws of nature. Science made advances through experimentation using perfected instruments of testing. Madame Blavatsky gained knowledge in a different way. By developing the observer/seeker witness stance she examined the enigma of ‘existence’. She noted physicality was doubled as an astral world effect. It was the physical counterpart existing as vibrations of the matching frequency- qualities. She stated, “for every physical matter there is a counterpart in astral matter”. These she discovered, created all other kinds of vibrations. They radiated in all directions and reproduced themselves in thought and emotion vibrations radiating in all directions according to their quality. The effect on the environment was either of harmfulness, of harmlessness or of harmony. By experimentation, she came to the conclusion that if two stringed instruments were tuned in and if placed near each other, a note struck on one resonated on the other and both vibrate in unison. This resonance was therefore a ‘tendency of any system’ to vibrate with larger amplitude at some frequencies – especially when triggered by harmless harmony. The vibrating note while radiating in all directions was noted to fall on a surface capable of response to reproduce itself. Knowledge about Mother’s Power and Father’s Force 189

She inferred that passion and emotion design for themselves the same vibration in their astral counterpart. Such emissions she felt impinged on all astral bodies around. Whether action was for a Common Good through Harmlessness or for a Common Hostility through Harmfulness, synchronicity with Total was identical with the wavelength frequency caused attraction and desirable magnetism. If an elementary particle like a proton is identical with the electrostatic force of attraction or repulsion for a given wave, the wavelength, frequencies and amplitude of the electric and magnetic field parts are identical. The force of attraction manifests into a positive response. The opposite is found true for negative vibrations displaying on a physical plane which is known to be blind to reason, peace or wisdom. There are also colours in the lit void of astral matter. Astral plane is the ‘silver void’ but there are colour coded planes that sustain matter. Different emotions and passions reproduce different effects on those colours. When man’s evolution affects thoughts and feelings they become obvious in auras. Man’s character and behaviour are bathed in these powerful auras of thoughts and feelings—if cultured spiritually they become magnetic. Certain parts of the body may be out of proportion, another overemphasized, and another part thoroughly recessed in the background. Every physical matter has its matching type in astral matter, and the latter is strongly attracted by the former. There is a counterpart in astral matter for every physical object, and that counterpart is always of a suitable type. So wherever there is physical solid matter it is interpenetrated by astral matter of the lowest sub-plane. Where there is physical liquid matter it is interpenetrated by astral matter of the second sub-plane from the bottom. When there is physical gaseous matter it is interpenetrated by astral matter of the third sub-plane from the bottom, and so on. There is obviously no difficulty in distinguishing a solid object from the air surrounding it on the physical plane and there is also no difficulty in distinguishing its astral counterpart from what we may call the astral air which surrounds it. During sleep one leaves the physical body on the bed and moves practically in the astral vehicle, the latter the exact atomic appearance of the former. This form is held through the entire physical and astral life. Astral shape and content is more changeable than physical. It is readily mouldable by will and thought. When thought is firmly fixed on Silence, the inner sense of beingness—the now, Non-dual Oneness, it remains there powerfully unchanging. The moment a thought arises, attention is distracted and the astral being comes under the sway of habits, current preoccupations, likes and dislikes and the sway of nature’s qualities. Man takes on the appearance of the materialist under the sway of uncontrollable thoughts. Inability to permanently hold astral Silence needs training that devotes to no-thought. Even a single thought constantly present 190 In the Beginning in the mind does not create a permanent change. There is some change on the physical plane after years of practice but the many past degraded lives have a habit of re-emerging with their ugly faces and form. They can suddenly appear and attack with full force even while man’s life is one of purity and holiness. Nonetheless, the effect of meditation in Silence after years of practice shows a decided perfection in physical appearance. Such physical changes normally take place gradually, but can happen instantaneously with the grace of a master. Blavatsky gives examples in “Isis Unveiled” indicating that astral matter can be more readily changed than the physical. Meditation should therefore change the astral being more rapidly and readily than the physical vehicle. But the most striking characteristic of even the smallest part of the divine world is its adaptability and elasticity to the viewer’s action. Such accurate working of the law of justice in nature is an effect and cannot be without its proper cause of human transformation. There is a definite part of happiness he or she experiences out of his world because he must intuitively know there is a natural law of conservation of power and force. A charge lost by one particle is gained by another. Conservation laws predict the macroscopic behaviour of a system without having to consider the microscopic details of a physical or chemical reaction. This law of conservation of energy through right living and meditation is not all a delusion or even a mistake. Laws of Existence in Nature need to be taught by Masters. Such Knowledge is and was always ‘secret’ and only shared with those able to understand the secret Laws of Nature. Commonality of Intent for Knowledge and Wisdom shaped Secret Societies in all nations and tribes of the world. Spiritual &Scientific Significance of Ark of the Covenant Knowledge of the Temple of Solomon was the foundation for understanding the purpose of Secret Societies. The Knights Templar traced their origin to the Temple of Solomon. They were knights of “the temple”. The Ark built by Moses was a replica of an ancient device known in Egyptian temples for creating products through alchemy. Just what then was the Ark of the Covenant? The ordinary minds of Hebrews in Egypt connected to Moses through the ancestry of Jacob and his sons, but especially Joseph, were artisans, labourers and uneducated souls under dominating pharaonic Egyptian masters. They were behind the times and superstitious. After several hundred years they had forgotten they were descendants of the family of Jacob. Moses, a descendant of the King David through the northern Tribe of Judah was adopted by an Egyptian princess as her own. When Moses reached middle-age, he had Knowledge of Secret Egyptian traditions. He understood and practiced alchemy, knew the regulatory laws of leadership and true liberty. Moses learned the unstated rules for building structures. He followed and practiced the educational path reserved for Egyptian religious leaders and took part in the Pharaonic practices of Knowledge about Mother’s Power and Father’s Force 191 alchemy. Moses applied this special information as scheme to keep his Hebrew group in line. For 40 years Moses and the Hebrew people trekked from Egypt to the Promised Land, without food or shelter. How did he do that? For thousands of years the ancient Egyptians had secret technical knowledge handed down to worthy disciples of Ancient Mysteries of Egypt, usually in the temples. Evidence suggests The Ark of the Covenant was some electronic device - a small chest of acacia wood, 27 inches long, 16.2 inches in height, and 16.2 inches in width. A mercy seat was on the top of the chest with two Cherubim suggesting two poles in an electrical arc. Since the Ark of the Covenant was ostensibly used for contacting God, the Ark was perhaps a communication device for heightening psychic energy. Elisabeth Haich (1897–1994) was a spiritual teacher who claimed that religion was for giving meaning to life towards perfection. Through channelling she recovered memories from a life in ancient Egypt. In a higher state of consciousness she saw the Ark was used long ago by a temple priest to energize her, into a higher state of consciousness. When Moses used the Ark of the Covenant he sat between arcs of electrical energy that placed his body, in an electromagnetic field of electrical flashes of light and sparks of fire. On Mount Sinai, Moses was seen to be surrounded by the same. There was a burning bush, lightning, a smoke-like mist, and features seen earlier with the Ark. In retrospect, the ancient unqualified Hebrew ‘slaves’ were led by the Master-craftsman, leader, alchemist and a mystic. To the ignorant, the bewildering phenomenon of the Ark experienced by Moses was described by the uninformed as ‘coming from the God’. Later, while on their way out of Egypt the learned Moses was heard giving precise description in Exodus (26. 26:1) for building the portable tabernacle as a place of worship. He gave exact instructions for the curtains of the outside the tent-sanctuary used for the Covenant and for the Hebrews during the Exodus:” And thou shalt make curtains of goat hair to be a tent covering the tabernacle: eleven curtains shalt thou make. The one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the width four cubits: and the eleven curtains shall all be of one measure. And thou shalt couple five curtains by themselves, and six by themselves, and shalt lay the sixth curtain double over the front side of the tent.” Precise details indicated a secret intent. The diagonal of the twice mentioned second curtain (30 cubits by 24 cubits) yields the angle of the pitch of the side of the Great Pyramid which has a pitch of 51 degrees, and 51 minutes, and the diagonal of any rectangle built in the proportion of 30 x 24 in the same pitch. This ancient knowledge as it related to the Temple of Solomon was the “Sacred Geometry” promoted down through the ages. In 1242 AD, an engraved Latin inscription in the stones of Westminster Abbey reads: “Here is the rounded sphere which reveals the eternal pattern of the universe.” The sacred geometry of Nature was embodied in creating Egyptian temples as well as in individual stone placement within the structure. 192 In the Beginning

Blavatsky compared the measurements of the tabernacle with those of the Great Pyramid. Both were built according to the same model gained from existing knowledge. He used integral values of ‘pi’ (ratio of circumference of a circle to its diameter). With the help of three geniuses Moses gave to the world the most beautiful and magnificent religious structure ever imagined and erected a place of worship, a Temple for the nomadic people. These temporary lodgings were specifically designed for quick construction and dismantling with specific arrangement and measurements of a tabernacle to be used in the wilderness (Exodus 4: 24–31). Meanwhile, Zillah and Tubal-Cain forged bronze and iron tools for the tabernacle (Genesis 4:22). Based on this data the later Jewish High Priests built the Temple of Solomon (516 BC). Blavatsky said if the measurements of this allegorical temple was right, the symbol of the cycle of beginning, coincided with those of the Great Pyramid. This was because of the fact the former was gained from the latter through the tabernacle of Moses. The Temple of Solomon was based on the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, the pattern of which was supposedly given to Moses on the mount by God: “According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it” (Exodus 24:9). The Temple of Solomon took seven years to complete. It was a ‘tabernacle’ made from wood and stone in the shape of an oblong rectangle. The compartments of the tabernacle were copied in King Solomon’s Temple, but were made twice as large. There was only one entrance, through the porch which faced due east, towards the rising sun, as is and was usual in building Asian temples. The other end faced due west with the longer sides facing north and south. At either sides of the entrance on the porch was a huge pillar of brass. The measurements of the temple were in cubits. The porch provided entrance into the Holy Place and was lit by latticed windows near the ceiling. This hall was accessible only to priests and was used for daily worship, for religious ritual and for presenting offerings. At the extreme western end of the building the windowless Holy of Holies was a perfect cube set up on a podium to preserve the same ceiling line. It received light only from above and was only entered by the high priest once a year. Bacon’s view on this was: “The principal entrance ought to face east, because east is a place of light both physical and moral. Therefore the brethren (knights) have access to the temple lodge by that entrance, as a symbol of mental illumination.” Solomon’s Temple stood from 960 BC to 587 BC until destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar during the Babylonian (Iraq of today) conquest. The Jews were led into captivity in Babylon with the Temple contents looted. The Ark was lost forever. However, the temple was rebuilt in 537 BC by King Zerubbabel after the Jews returned from captivity. In 19 BC King Herod destroyed the Temple of Zerubbabel and replaced it with another which surpassed the original temple in splendour. Herod’s temple was completed in 66 AD, but was destroyed only four Knowledge about Mother’s Power and Father’s Force 193 years later during the Jewish revolt against the Romans. Only the foundation of the original west wall built by Solomon and Zerubbabel remains. Jews today lament the second temple’s destruction – its site is now known as the Wailing Wall. There is a tradition among the mystics of Israel the “pattern” from the mount, “given by the God to Moses” is a prototype for the tabernacle. It is recorded with detailed drawings and diagrams on a “Temple Scroll” and handed down from generation to generation. According to tradition, David ordered Solomon to plan for his temple. Jewish tradition also speaks of a secret vault built beneath the Temple of Solomon to provide secure storage of all secret treasures and documents of scientific knowledge. Some architectural styles of the Temple of Solomon were perhaps gained from Hiram’s native country of Phoenicia, as is shown by the Bible passages: “And King Solomon sent and fetched Hiram of Tyre. He was a widow’s son of the tribe of Naphtali; his father was a worker in brass: and he was full of wisdom and understanding and cunning to do all works in brass. He came to King Solomon, and wrought all his works. For he cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about” (I Kings 7: 13–15). The mystical symbol of temple construction defines the human body, but especially the central nervous system, is the prototype for the ‘House of God’. Defaming Ancient Scriptures Templar Order was an esoteric organization, which was necessary because throughout their history since the days of Isaac Levi the Houses of David and of Judah were constantly persecuted or victimised. Their temples and places of training were hidden from all but the initiated. The oldest temple used by the Templar Order, called the Sakkara Temple of Divine Wisdom, is over 9000 years old, and was established by the White Brotherhood of Egypt. It was created to help humanity rebuild, restore and shelter Knowledge of a splintering planet. Jesus spent much time in this temple of Sakkara. Several books were removed from the Bible at the Fifth Ecumenical Church Council at Constantinople in 553 AD, while under the reign of the Emperor Justinian. Many changes were made in the text. Resisting these distortions, a Greek religious movement called Coptic Templar Order was started around Egypt, Greece and Israel in 42 AD. It was an esoteric organization established by Thomas the Apostle and Saint Mark, in Cairo, Egypt. Through the centuries and to this day it continues to preserve only some of the pure teachings and records of Ancient Mysteries and the life of Jesus. Thirty years later the Coptics established a temple in Alexandria, in Egypt. This temple later became known as the Coptic Orthodox Church and School. The first Christians were mainly Jews from Alexandria, as well as Essenes and the 194 In the Beginning ancient Druids. Ideas from the Greek religious movement then merged with this faith to form the philosophy of Christian Gnosticism. It adopted the symbol of ‘ankh’—the Egyptian symbol for the ‘key to eternal life’. In 70 AD the Roman army conquered Jerusalem and massacred a large portion of the Jewish population. Jesus’ followers, however, managed to survive 300 years of persecution under the Roman Empire before they were finally stamped out. In the second century AD, the Catholic Church of Rome declared itself to be the authority on all religious teachings. Then, Saint Irenæus authored five works titled ‘The Destruction and Overthrow of Falsely So-Called Knowledge’ about reincarnation, divine laws, the worlds beyond the sun and all the other philosophies considered to be heresy. These writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology. In 364 AD, the Fathers of early Roman Church made a decision to include Greek and Hebrew texts in the Holy Bible. The Church of Rome only allowed the Bible to be available in Latin. However, few people, other than Catholic priests, could read Latin. Churchians now became accustomed to giving away their power to priests who undertook to communicate with God for the worshippers. The truths taught by Greeks and Egyptians were dismissed as mythology. Jesus’ secret Gnostic teachings were driven underground and its wisdom lost from Collective Consciousness. Saint Augustine wrote a document in Latin, which said, “That which is called the Christian religion existed among the Ancients, and existed from the beginning of the human race.” Meanwhile the Coptic Templar Order was again growing slowly but gradually. It was still a small group, but like the Essenes and the White Brotherhood before it, it had a mighty purpose. The Brotherhood believed the new messiah Jesus was a Group Avatar consciousness about The Christ. Any soul could become an avatar as The Christ by paying the pearl of great price. By following the Laws of Balanced Living (physical, emotional and spiritual) and loving unconditionally through Harmlessness anybody could achieve the Group Avatar status individually as well as collectively. Only one who had succeeded in becoming The Christ could qualify to become an Ascended Master. In Coptic Temple Training, a disciple was taught spiritual disciplines in emotional and mental control, meditation, and shown the futility of fear. The qualified seeker was taken astrally by a Master to the secret Archive Chamber of the Great Pyramid of Giza. By tarrying in the secret cave of the brain, The Christ tapped into the strength inherent in each to make the ‘ankh’ (third eye) glow like the spiritual Sun within. On a global scale a collective effort to lift together, the rest of humanity would establish there was a divine purpose for human existence. The teachings Secret Society Fellowship were dedicated to evolution and human transformation. “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). Jesus was a worthy soul. He sought Knowledge about Mother’s Power and Father’s Force 195 to give, and found fulfilment in giving. He gave of himself both to God and humans in cheerfulness. A supreme example of generosity in modern times was Swami Chinmayananda whose whole life and work of over fifty years was to resurrect the Sanatan Dharma in the lives of millions of resident and non-resident “colonially educated citizens of India”. His sole purpose and thought through day and night was how to inculcate the moral values of living. From birth to the grave of every faithful seeker he served the lost humanity of his motherland. Millions were taught the spiritual values that were still alive in the shadows of materialism. In him, all seekers saw perfect bounteousness, springing from a soul-felt love for those he met with. For many who experienced this saint, here was an experience of true blessedness. God is the supreme Giver of such masters to a parched humanity. Seekers who drew near to these masters were naturally cheerful givers of themselves in all of life. Jesus sought only real seekers after Truth. There was no duplicity or shadow of doubt in their seeking. His chosen disciples loved the words that Jesus spoke. They did not accept and follow him mechanically. They rejoiced in the truth of Jesus’ words. Many religionists have found the truth of temperance a dose of bitter medicine. Priests and modern-day monks see rules of self-control a discipline they must undergo. So they force themselves and others into ‘obeying’. They are pushed into taking the robe but find they are on a self-created deceitful path. Unworthy of the love and trust placed at their feet, these flawed teachers force students along thorny and rock-strewn paths of tragedy, not of their making. Jesus chose disciples who were like himself, “who endured the cross for the joy that was set before him, despising the shame” (Hebrews 12:2) as a small price to pay for the infinite glory to which it was necessary to open the door. Image & Likeness of God Theosophists and Vedantins speak of three bodies—sthula sharira, sukshma sharira and karana sharira (physical, astral and causal). According to them, life of the soul proceeds from the subtlest form of matter to the grossest. These are interpenetrating particles of increasingly subtler vestures that mix with continuity and with eternity. The sthula sharira or the gross anatomical food body (annamaya kosha) exists in space as matter atoms of energy in interstitial spaces occupied by subtler particles of life force making up the sukshma sharira. The sukshma frame consists of the physiological, psychological and intellectual sheaths. Both envelop the deeper causal or karana sharira framework of an ideational individual of the soul. Most importantly both schools of thought state there is interpenetration of each sheath with life force or prana. This inner person is an unbroken continuity of sheaths of energy varying in density/flexibility but always connecting to the 196 In the Beginning

‘real person’—the soul or Higher Self. Since Matter is the material counterpart of Awareness man ultimately is translating into the characteristic of pure Consciousness. It also explains individualistic sensitivity towards external stimuli, through the five senses (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin using the five organs of action to sense sight, sound, smell, taste and touch). Theosophy claims in esoteric cosmology the universe is ordered by the number seven. The reincarnating consciousness of the unit creation of man uses these spirit/matter forms through seven sheaths. Through the cycle of life and death, sukshma sharira with its past embedded within, becomes an impermanent mould of the astral body, which is only slightly more ethereal than the physical body. It is around it the physical body is built, and from which the physical body flows it’s past or expands as its growth continues. Theosophists trace the origin of theosophy to the universal striving for spiritual knowledge that existed in all cultures many thousands of years ago. It is found in an unbroken chain as Sanatan Dharma in India but also existed in ancient Greece. In the days of Plato (427–347 BC), Plotinus (204–270AD) and other neo-Platonists, and in more recent times Jakob Boehme (1575–1624 AD) made some relevant statements like: “...we are imprisoned in the body, like an oyster in his shell”; and on Socrates as stated by Plato and Phaedrus to the philosophers, “the body is a disturbing element, hindering the soul from acquiring knowledge...”. It was further stated: “...What is purification but... the release of the soul from the chains of the body?” For over two thousands of years most of mankind remained blind to this wisdom. Now the Sun returns to enlighten humanity towards harmlessness. Mysteries of Lost Civilizations Megalithic structures of have long haunted the imagination, but humanity is still far from understanding their origin or their meaning. Carnac (in north-west France) is the most spectacular of all sites scattered in the rural areas of Breton where the Celtic language of Brittany is still spoken. There are more than 3000 prehistoric stone monuments there which include long avenues of menhirs (single standing stones) and dolmens (multistone arrangements supporting horizontal slabs). Hewn from local granite, they were erected at different periods from early to late Neolithic (4000–1500 BC). Now worn out with time, they remain exposed to the environment and remain covered with white lichen. Theosophical literature contained many references to Carnac. There was allegedly a site in Brittany (France) of an enormous ancient temple, sacred to the Sun and the Dragon (crocodile). Similar solar temples existed in Karnak in ancient Egypt and in the Stonehenge in England. They were built by the prehistoric mystery hierophant-priests of the solar dragon, and perhaps symbolized wisdom of the solar kumara (four Sanat Kumars born of Brahma, Knowledge about Mother’s Power and Father’s Force 197 the Creator’s mind) who incarnated to become the highest of evolved beings as Ascended Masters). Each of the stones was personally placed there by successive priest-adepts in power. In a symbolic language these stones were a measure of power, importance, and knowledge of each. In ‘The Secret Doctrine on Synthesis of Science, Religion and Philosophy’ by Blavatsky there were repeated assertions of the existence of intellectual giants in the remote past. There was reference of these megaliths as evidence: “had there been no (scholarly) giants to move about such colossal rocks, there could never have existed a Stonehenge, a Carnac and other such cyclopean structures.” She further wrote that “most of these stones were the relics of the last Atlanteans.” Jean Markale’s (Celtopedia 1928) conclusions about Carnac closely paralleled those expressed by Blavatsky in the 1880s. In an extended discussion about the relationship between the Atlanteans, the megalith builders, and Egypt, ‘The Secret Doctrine’ stated: “There are records which show Egyptian priests and Initiates journeying in a north-westerly direction, by land, by the Straits of Gibraltar; turning North and travelling through the future Phoenician settlements of southern Gaul. Then travelling still further north they reached Carnac (Morbihan). They turned to the West again and arrived still travelling by land, at the north-western promontory of the New Continent”. Blavatsky added to this sentence in a footnote: “on what are now the British Islands, which were not yet detached from the main continent in those days.” Archaic records show these Initiates of the second subrace of the Aryan family moved from one land to the other for supervising building menhirs and dolmens, of colossal Zodiacs in stone, and places of sepulchre to serve as receptacles for the ashes of generations to come. The fact of their crossing from France to Great Britain by land may give an idea of the date when such a journey could have been performed on land. Present-day science estimated the last land bridge connecting England to the continent at Dover submerged 8,000 years ago. In interpreting these ‘archaic records’, Blavatsky cited Carnac as the prime example of prehistoric architecture which was also found in almost every latitude. They are found all over in the Mediterranean basin. In Denmark they are scattered among the local burial mounds that rise from 27–35 feet in height. In the Shetlands and in Sweden they are called ganggriften (or tombs with corridors. In Germany they are known as the giant tombs (Hunengraben). In Spain they are the dolmen of Antiguera near Malaga and Africa. They also exist in Palestine and Algeria. In Sardinia they are called Nuraghi and Sepolture del giganti, or tombs of giants. In Malabar hills of India, they are called the tombs of giants or Daityas and the Rakshasas or men-demons of Lanka. In Russia and Siberia these stone megaliths are known as the Koorgan. In Peru and Bolivia they are called chulpas or burial places. Meanwhile Jean Markale, an expert on Celtic civilization rejected all the 198 In the Beginning theories linking the Celtic Druids to the large stone structures standing in calculated groups. The Celts she wrote, arrived from the East around 1000 BC— a millennia after constructing the megaliths. Markale’s painstaking research pointed the megaliths to Atlantean sources. The existence of Atlantis was still widely debated during the resurgence of theosophists two hundred years ago. According to Blavatsky the era of Atlantis lasted eight to ten million years. Cataclysms caused its main continental formations to sink, perhaps four to five million years ago. In theosophical literature a root-race constituted one of seven stages in evolving humanity, each lasting several million years. Because the transition from one root-race to the next was gradual, we may not expect scientific confirmation of the Atlantean man who may have been the size of giants before reaching the present size. Plato’s version of the Atlantis story was credited to an Egyptian priest of Sais, revealing the traditions to a Greek diplomat Solon (638–558 BC). Solon was told by the priest that of the many wonderful deeds recorded of Athens in the Egyptian history, one exceeded all the rest: “These histories tell of a mighty power which was aggressing wantonly against all Europe and Asia. This power came forth out of the Atlantic Ocean, for in those days the Atlantic was navigable; and there was an island situated in front of the straits which you call the columns of Heracles; the island was larger than Libya and Asia put together, and was the way to other islands, and from the islands you might pass to all the opposite continent . . . “Now in this island of Atlantis there was a great and wonderful empire which ruled over the whole island and several others, as well as over parts of the continent. Besides these, they subjected the parts of Libya within the columns of Heracles as far as Egypt, and of Europe as far as Tyrrhenian. The vast power thus gathered into one, aimed to subdue at one blow our country and yours and all the land which was within the straits... “And then, Solon, your country shone forth . . . and freely set free all the others who lived within the limits of Heracles. But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of rain all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis disappeared, and sank beneath the sea”. In another dialogue with Critias (a Greek ruler 460–403 BC), there was a description of Atlantis itself, listing among its features temples of many gods, gardens, places of exercise, a racecourse, a stadium, guardhouses, and docks full of triremes and naval stores. Critias’ narration broke off after this foreshadowing of the causes of the submersion: “For many generations, as long as the divine nature lasted in them, they were obedient to the laws . . . practising gentleness and wisdom in the various chances of life and in their intercourse with one another. . . . but when this divine portion began to fade away in them . . . then they, being unable to bear their Knowledge about Mother’s Power and Father’s Force 199 fortune, became unseemly, and to him who had an eye to see, they began to appear base . . . filled with unrighteous greed and power”. Perhaps the greatest exposure to the theory of Atlantis came from the work of the American clairvoyant seer Edgar Cayce (1877-1945). In trance, he gave many descriptions of Atlantis, usually as part of readings for individuals. In these readings, Atlantis was portrayed as having achieved great technological advances before the misuse of natural laws. That caused an upheaval which plunged most of the continent into the ocean, leaving five main islands. Some 11,000 years ago, the remaining islands also submerged. Another lost continent, Lemuria, also figured in Cayce’s readings, which brings to mind Blavatsky’s teaching that Atlantis “must be regarded rather as a development of the Atlantic prolongation of Lemuria, than as a new mass of land upheaval to meet the special needs of the fourth root-race.” According to Blavatsky, abuse of spiritual powers led to the loss of spiritual vision by the end of the fourth (Atlantean) race, with gradual disappearance of the third eye (Ankh or kutastha chaitanya), until “its functions, owing to the materiality and depraved condition of mankind, died out altogether before the submersion of most of the Atlantean continent.” Was there any scientific evidence for the existence of Atlantis? Although 17 titles on the subject are listed in ‘Books in Print’, no studies by scientists have affected the general scientific view of Atlantis as an unfounded myth. A noteworthy study of recent date was the two-part monograph entitled ‘A Geological Study of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge’. The author, Dr C Cedric Leonard concluded that Wegener’s Continental Drift theory, now called ‘plate tectonics’, did not imply that a mid-Atlantic continent was an impossibility. Leonard explained that even if all the continents formed one mass 200 million years ago, as is believed, there has still been enough room for the existence of Atlantis in the North Atlantic for at least 60 million years. The ocean floor along the mid-Atlantic ridge was and still is known as the most unstable portion of the earth’s crust. This assumes importance in evaluating the discovery by the Wood’s Hole Oceanographic Expedition in 1948 of samples of rocks characteristic of continents along the ridge. About the same time, the Swedish Deep-Sea Expedition took diatom samples from deep-sea cores. Only those from the mid-Atlantic ridge contained “a layer consisting only of freshwater diatoms (microfossil records or palaeontology).” In 1957, based on these diatoms and silicified remains of land plants found in the same region, Dr Rene Malaise of Stockholm’s Rijksmuseum deduced that parts of the mid-Atlantic ridge must have been above water until the end of the last Ice Age 10,000–13,000 years ago. This corresponds to the dates given by Plato, Blavatsky, and Cayce for the final submersion of Atlantis. It was therefore natural to ask: How do Markale’s findings in Carnac relate to Atlantis? A recurring phenomenon of the Armorica peninsula (ancient region 200 In the Beginning of north-west France), on which Carnac was found, was strongly radioactive and in an unusually tight network of telluric lines (bands of heavenly objects because of absorption of oxygen, water vapour and carbon dioxide). Markale suspected the seismic and magnetic peculiarities of this region of Brittany may account for their placement according to certain alignments of stones weighing up to hundreds of tons. Legends about Stonehenge included tales of Merlin directing the building and using magic to transport the stones. Another version credited the construction of Stonehenge to an ingenious art. All this seemed more believable to Markale than legends of giants: “It is easy to suppose that, throughout the centuries, several generations, astonished by the menhirs and the dolmens, had imagined intervening supernatural beings for the transport and placement of these large blocks. Giants are naturally brought to the fore—as much for their magic, as their size. One thus has the right to ask if this tradition does not hide a reality . . . by which certain prehistoric men, inheritors of unknown civilizations, could move enormous stones by psychic means... “There is also the question of solar energy. . . . Why could this not have been used for the handling and erection of grand megalithic sanctuaries like Carnac and Stonehenge? Since the menhirs are not placed by chance, and their arrangement follows the telluric lines which run along the earth’s surface... “ Therefore Markale concluded that: “Perhaps the alignments of Carnac matched to a perturbed zone of the earth’s crust, and the raised stones were placed there . . . to channel and align telluric currents. . . . In short, a menhir would be similar to an acupuncture needle: planted in the soil, it would arouse and focus an intense energy which until then had been unused or was diffuse. “If this is true, then we have at Carnac a huge sanctuary established according to precise currents of magnetism, tellurism, seismic activity and subterranean waters”. Markale sees in this “ideal conditions to allow contact between visible and invisible forces, which is the essential role of any sanctuary”. The solar significance of the megaliths was well established since Blavatsky argued for it a century ago. In New-Grange in Ireland, the funeral basin in the depth of the dolmen is struck by the rays of the rising sun at the Winter Solstice, making it a “chamber of the sun”. Solar illuminations take place at certain times of the year in Irish megaliths such as those at Dowth, Knowth, Loughcrew, and Brugh-na-Boyne, as well as at other sites in the environs of Carnac. The technological sophistication needed to produce solar phenomena of these sanctuaries implied a civilization far different from that of any known people in subsequent European history. This has led to speculations, not only on their connections to Atlantis, but also to other centres of old civilization, particularly Egypt. Although Egyptian civilization was presumed to be a direct heir of Atlantis, Markale suggested the megalithic monuments of New-Grange, Barnenez Knowledge about Mother’s Power and Father’s Force 201 and Gavrinis were older than the pyramids and seemed to have inspired them. Therefore, the megalith builders bordering on the Atlantic were more likely to be direct heirs of Atlantis. One intriguing possible connection which Markale did not address was the archaic maritime civilization of North America that flourished 7000 to 3000 BC from Maine to Labrador. This seafaring culture built houses up to 270 feet long and erected primitive alignments of standing stones on the Atlantic coast, which predated the European megaliths by millennia. As some of these alignments were also oriented to solstitial sunrise, they might point to a missing link between Atlantis and the European megaliths. Then there was the question of what became of the cyclopean builders of Western Europe. What traces of their civilization were left to us? Markale recounted various Breton tales of drowned cities, particularly the city of Is. According to legend, a non-Christian and libidinous island nation submerged after it refused to listen to a Christian missionary‘s warnings. In another, a maiden charged with the key to the dike protecting the city yielded it to the wrong person, who opened the dike. Other versions gave different reasons for the submersion. Markale’s interest in these tales was because they provided possible culture traits from Atlantis or the megalith builders. About the mixed population of Roman Gaul, Markale quoted citing a lost work of the Greek Timagenus: “According to Druidic lore, the population of Gaul is not indigenous except in part, and increased at various times by absorbing foreign islanders from across the seas and by peoples chased from their lands across the Rhine, either by the ups and downs of war which has been a permanent feature of these countries, or by invading the violent element which thunders on their coasts.” This led Markale to the theory the Celtic myth of a deluge was based on history; the emigration of the Celts being because of disastrous flooding of their land. He speculated further that this area makes up the Baltic and Jutland coasts which experienced severe climatic changes around 1200 BC. He also stated the migrants eventually blended with foreign islanders of Atlantean stock who built the megaliths. The most comprehensive discussion of the theory of Atlantis was still Ignatius Donnelly’s ‘Atlantis: the Antediluvian World’, first published in 1882. Donnelly examined geological, botanical, linguistic, and cultural evidence for the existence of a lost continent in the mid-Atlantic. A passionate advocate rather than an objective inquirer, Donnelly provided mind-numbing masses of data to support his thesis. A masterpiece of over-interpretation, his book nevertheless remained the most ambitious treatment of the subject. Blavatsky accepted much of Donnelly’s interpretation, which was implicit in most twentieth-century studies on Atlantis, including those of Cayce and Markale. Plato’s legends, Donnelly’s analyses, Blavatsky’s archaic records, 202 In the Beginning

Cayce’s vision and Markale’s speculative interpretations all provided intriguing approaches to the mystery of Atlantis. Yet, a mystery it remains. With Blavatsky placing emerging human consciousness eighteen million years ago, and modern science estimating the age of the universe as being over ten billion years, our “history” appears puny indeed. Yet, if our prehistory eludes our conscious awareness, it still permeated the depths of our being and was imprinted on every atom, cell, and organ of human bodies—not to mention the nonphysical layers of humanity. Atlantis symbolized what we knew to be true that the unknown history of humanity exceeded the known, and that our species has passed through huge changes, as has the globe where humanity lived. Whether there was much of literal truth in the myth, the symbolic truth of Atlantis was undeniable and, indeed self-evident. The scientific and archaeological evidence of the megaliths made them humanity’s only tangible link to the lost past, and therefore powerfully symbolic of the fact that most of human past is occult—hidden in the secret unknown. For whatever reason, the story of Atlantis is psychologically compelling, and may have as much to do with the present as with the past: a technologically sophisticated civilization which acquired powers before it was morally and spiritually capable of using them rightly. Perhaps the racial or soul memory which is surfacing now through present-day fascination about sunken lands is gaining prominence precisely because of Atlantic legend has relevance to our own situation. The vastness of the unknown in relation to the known is something that humans seem unable consciously to accept. Yet, denial of the unknown cuts at the root of our ability to extend the limits of the known. The most remarkable and commendable aspect of Jean Markale’s approach, in Carnac and the Enigma of Atlantis and throughout his Secret History of France, is that he celebrated the unknown rather than denied it. He amplified the mysteries of Carnac and Atlantis rather than claiming to “solve” them, and left the reader with many new questions and few answers. (Excerpts from Sunrise magazine1987 of Theosophical University Press). 8. New Age Movement & Knowledge

History wants to state clearly the teachings of Blavatsky, however fragmentary and incomplete, belonged to no single religion—be it Hindu, Zoroastrian, Chaldean, Egyptian, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism or Christianity. The ‘Secret Doctrine’ (a synthesis of Science, Religion, Regional Politics and Philosophy) was written as the essence of all these. Sprung from their specific origins, the various religious schemes merged back into their One Source. Theosophy, or neotheosophy as some call it, was closely linked to the Indian Independence Movement. In 1885 the Indian National Congress was founded on the street during a Theosophical Conference. Many of Congress leaders, including M.K. Gandhi were associated with theosophy. The present-day New Age Movement was and is based on the teachings of Blavatsky, though some experts would pronounce Alice Bailey as the founder of this Western Spiritual Movement. By drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and philosophical traditions these and many other individuals infused elements of self-help and motivational psychology, health, parapsychology, consciousness research and quantum physics into their data. The origins of this ‘secretive’ movement can be found in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Society, according to the author Neville Drury, aimed to create “spirituality without borders or confining dogmas”. What was expected to happen was an inclusive, pluralistic world-view. Their emphasis was that Body, Mind and Spirit were interrelated in a ‘monad’ or unit of man. Further this form of Monism was in unison with the Universal Monad. After 2000 years of Churchianity, the “New World” finally joined “science and spirituality” and embraced with them, all of forms of science, beliefs and practices that claimed as a pseudo-science. When the scholar Alvin Boyd Kuhn wrote his thesis, ‘Theosophy: A Modern Revival of Ancient Wisdom’, he was perhaps the first individual allowed by any modern American or European University to get his doctorate with a thesis on theosophy. Theosophical ‘knowledge’ like all human ‘Knowledge’ was based on opinion, inference and intuition prompted because all five senses received incentives from objects, emotions and thoughts. The mind collected their collective influence as impressions and like an efficient dispatch clerk reacted to all evoked triggers. If storage of these impressions was haphazard, man would remain confused and disconnected from Cosmic Intelligence (Ganesha transcendent in the Central Nervous System) and the Mother (Holy Spirit immanent in Mother Nature). If a discriminative human intellect recorded these impressions and had them codified against distinct association patterns of his memory (medha), likes-

203 204 In the Beginning and-dislikes (raga-dvesha), and past habits (vasanas), the intellect ‘personally’ (chitta) interpreted them and concluded about the information as ‘my knowledge’ (ahamkar). Once construed, its memory was stored in various parts of the brain as individualized ‘knowledge’. This was ‘knowledge through personal opinion’. When the intellect turned back on itself to know the greatest knowledge of Truth, it remained confined and away from past associations and senses. Intellect could not peer beyond itself into the presensuous being, free of senses and mind. Man needed to feel complete and this ‘opinionated knowledge’ became a ‘personal knowing’ and he realigned himself in the ‘completeness’- a natural blissful state of being. ‘Knowledge through inference’, whether through deduction or induction, is also based on distinct past associations of a knowledge base, meaning, ‘there is no smoke without fire’. Once more, the intellect could not go beyond itself to experience the mystery of Truth. ‘Knowledge through intuition’ is the only way the human mind distinguished presuppositions away from the presensuous world where there were no senses or thoughts. This was where all cosmic knowledge of things and beings and laws of nature stay, and were sealed away from humanity. Man could only hope to reach its threshold through intuition. Truth could only be contacted through intuitive experience and a realization. However, the power of intuition was held hostage by frailties of the human form. Body and mind were subjected to physical diseases resulting from indulgences, mental powerlessness, idleness, worries, delusions, a twisted mind, and identification with objects of ambitions. These frailties always were inherent natural tendencies (vasanas) brought from previous births or because of association with people and situations that prevented sacrosanct inquiry. Only will power and association with a truthful populace and environment allowed ‘self’ to inquire and mature to understand. Ancient Knowledge with Secret Societies History thrives on tales of secret societies with clandestine knowledge of research and information about the impact of real spirituality on human health. They knew their influence on a Nation’s knowledge of sciences, arts, humanities and on the environment. Social and human sustainability evaluations were always around but their factual information was kept away from its citizens. Guarded by politicians and priests the benefits of such knowledge remained hidden away from the merchants, labourers and poor citizens of nations. The guardians of such mysterious information were and still are made up of senior ascendants and descendants of sanctioned ministers and priests who for eons have guarded disguised and forbidden facts and esoteric knowledge from the ancient people. New Age Movement & Knowledge 205

Ancient Knowledge is a corpus of information that existed in India, China, Japan, Egypt and Mesopotamia since long. Many claimed to have a secret knowledge of transition from the gross to subtle levels of existence. Mystery Schools therefore spread from these places to Greece and Europe. In these stories there was always an undercurrent that outstanding men met in secret and directed the course of civilization. These were recorded in many writings of all people of different civilizations. History also claimed there were extraordinary priests in different cultures who did not preach, proselytize, or care for a congregation. They were not messengers of any ‘divinely revealed truth’. They did not speak for a single holy book based on any religious system. They were called gods, sages or rishis who only recorded what they experienced while connected to the Whole. This Knowledge and understanding was confirmed from Akashic records but insufficiently understood by the average person. Akashic records remained the genuine Source of a Universal Filing System that recorded every thought, word and action impressed on a subtle substance of Creation —making up the reality of all human existence through civilizations past and present. Various myths and legends surrounded these gods who were incompatible with any one coherent system of belief. No preaching was needed because all these envoys accepted the truth of all the traditional religious theology—meaning, the world was created, ordered and governed by many gods of goodwill for all mankind. It was accepted that people tried to live good lives in the hope of earning merit for the life to come. They did not need to be ‘converted’ to a way that was already considered to be theirs. They had no responsibility for showing the people in the ways of different gods. Priests if present were encouraged to perform only a single role – to celebrate the daily ritual of the festival of life. These masters and ascendants allowed people the freedom to worship because of a sincere belief that worship granted humanity with grace to live in harmony. Such an ordered world allowed freedom for human beings to change towards higher understanding. That was why these masters and priests were called “servants of the god”. They were administrators and record-keepers within the houses of gods—temples, synagogues, churches, monasteries or ashrams. Within these temples were workshops, libraries and estates of past sages guarded by members of secret societies. The oldest of Secret Societies was the Mystery School passing on knowledge of the esoteric world and its connection with inner life and its purpose for expression. From its origin in Egypt it spread all over the West as the Brotherhood of the Snake. It was created for humans to help them advance to higher levels of spirituality. The gods Thoth and Isis were teachers of such yoga disciplines. They helped and taught humanity to rise above the humanness of lust, greed and anger. There was much more to these teachings. Thoth was also the hierarchy of Brotherhood of the Dragon. In ancient times, the Brotherhood 206 In the Beginning of the Serpent was subdivided into the Brotherhood of the Yellow Dragon and the Brotherhood of the Red Dragon. Together they stood for Brotherhood of the Snake. Both undertook guidance from etheric masters to educate the human race into spirituality. Yellow Dragon came from the East and the Red Dragon took its beginning was from the West. Spiritual warriors of Shambala (Legendary Kingdom in Tibet) and Agartha (legendary city in Earth’s core) foretold the final prophecy of a spiritual battle on the earth at the end of kaliyuga. The gods of all religions prophesied to return and reveal the truth that would herald in the Golden Age. Secret Societies promoted contemplation for purposes of advancing humanity towards increasing spiritually. Acquired through meditation this command over humanness was well thought-out as essential for the human soul while ensconced in the corporal body that wished to become less dense and more subtle. Terms such as serpent, snake and dragon symbolised the kundalini coiled at the base of the spine, which when aroused, helped to renovate the human soul to higher understanding and intuitive ability. Secret societies still exist but under many different names. Religion played an important role in creating these secret organizations. Their continued ‘contact’ with a higher divine source was always a recognizable assertion in all secret societies, excepting a few. The ‘secrets’ held by these groups were said to be profound and only a chosen, well-educated few were able to understand and use the knowledge. Many have continued to believe that these men used their special knowledge for the benefit of mankind. Fortunately, some of these rites have become public knowledge and are now confirmed as originating from ancient Egyptian and eastern cultures of Sanatan Dharma, Confucianism, Taoism and of Buddhism. Even primitive close-knit tribal societies under the guidance of true teachers of spirituality could bring out from latency a fulfilment of a strong connection with Spirit. Most tribal groups consisted always of adult members under a common control of a secret assembly. Male and female groups were also admitted. The male usually dominated the tribal culture. Although ‘primitive’, their membership resembled any sophisticated covert society. This obviously meant that any secret society worked in an established authority that had in its possession a subject or field of activity or information of powerful outcome. Membership of Secret societies was always exclusive. An admitted member rarely understood the significance of the ‘secret’ when becoming a member. It was the exclusivity of secret societies that was and still is their most powerful weapon. Signs, passwords and other tools valuable in the initiate’s association were used. Gradual rise to higher degrees allowed a member to understand and measure the symbolism of his changing image and position in the hierarchy. Sharing hardships or secrets has always been a special thrill to mankind. That exceptional sense of belonging and camaraderie shared between the members and with the group mentor was at first an exhilarating emotional New Age Movement & Knowledge 207 connection. Continued membership over years on end was constantly born of an unambiguous beginning. Each member in the secret society was bound through symbols of atonement for a common universal good. Their systemized graduated rituals bound members with a singular purpose—for individual character enrichment and a desired widespread harmony. This was and is usually the character of any proper secret society. Significantly, universal characteristics of human thought were joined within every ritual. Each ritual became an experiential training programme that sustained the group with both a purpose and a direction. This bond of initiation was what spiritually bound the members. With getting ‘secret knowledge’ the neoconvert gained a mysteriously charged sense of importance. It urged him to achieve goodness for the society’s uppermost aims. It promoted intense loyalty. A desire to move towards the zenith of human ambitions became goals of the secret society. Reinforced by faith in himself, the initiated performed admirably even in daily life. As the sage Chinmayananda repeatedly said, it takes a single being at a time to bring about change in any society—both political and social. A change for a common good was therefore in the best interest of leaders of any secret or political society. If their leaders were wise and truthful adepts, the trainee followed all orders without thinking or realising that he or she was moving along an entourage intended for a larger and generous purpose. The self-wounding or even death for realizing lofty principle have been goals of many a hero – all for the good of the overall community. Initiation by such groups was a way of gratifying inspired humans to become motivated and justly responsible. With each higher degree of initiation there remained fewer beings that had what it takes to stay faithful to the idealism that dictates a societal existence. This was not because the rest were not striving, but because the senior members put each initiate through careful selection, which revealed the highest or limiting point for the individual, meaning, beyond which he was unable to rise. Sometimes an approval and encouragement from advanced members was essential for apprentices. Most members never progressed beyond a certain point and therefore never learned the real, secret purpose of the group. Such a member was frozen from that point onwards and served as part of the political power base as he or she had always done. The newly initiated might find it disconcerting that he or she never advanced any higher. If the person showed some knowledge of one of the mysteries of creation the candidate was immediately advanced to the next higher level. The secrecy behind advancement was that it was not based on any religion. Based on the belief the mysteries of the world and secrets of creation are revealed to an initiated by the Creator Himself, the introduction into supreme secrets and mysteries of the universe was self-revealed. This allowed a true seeker to search for and detect from within the hidden truths within the human heart. Such spontaneous insights were considered important by the Wise Mentors because 208 In the Beginning they knew there was nothing in the heavens or cloaked deep within the earth that is or was hidden. Religion had for eons been used as a tool to control the masses from understanding true Knowledge. Unless the initiate himself fathomed human existence and its purpose, that is, his or her existence as the only god, godliness remained a distant reality. Researchers on the origins of human biology, language, mind, society, faith have reported that a flawless way of life is gifted with awareness about the, purpose and outcome of different stages of human existence. Otherwise he or she who entered the cycle of birth and death would be searching for Truth in all the wrong places. Through a self-study an intuitive candidate was able to gain insight the self was seeking for the Self. Through intuitive philosophy based on intuitive insight into the nature of the Self, man himself was able to unfold his self to become a god. Symbols of the snake and the dragon used by secret societies were both symbols that were ‘discovered and realised’ as wisdom. Unfortunately, the aura of mystery attached to ‘secret societies’ has given them the reputation for being ‘strange’ associations run by ‘bizarre’ groups of people who were perhaps antisocial. The Christian church, were once a secret society under the Roman Empire. With the Vatican they together once ruled most of the known world. It was therefore not surprising that many in the public suspected them of harmful intent towards the community in general. This was proven true sometimes. Communism and fascism were secret societies in many countries where they were banned by law. The early Christians were a secret society because Roman authorities considered them dangerous to Imperial Rule. The same was true of the followers of Islam. The Druseed and Yezidis in Syria and Iraq consider the Arabs a dangerous secret society dedicated to the takeover of the world. The Arabs today think the same of the Jews. Catholics and Protestants have similar ideas about each other. (Informant News) Since the beginning of history, government bodies of every country have upheld their establishment against minority groups that sought to work as a state within states and to derail the formed authority. Coups were tried and some even succeeded but not always lasted. This desire to become something of power on the earth cannot be lessened or destroyed. Keeping countries working in harmony was one of the many secrets of secret societies. It was and is what gives them a political base and loads of influence. Members of these societies gave importance to each other in daily business, and legal, and social activities. Sincerity of such camaraderie comes from the deepest of all wants, ‘to belong to an ideal’. In India, worship and sacrifice have existed since the beginning of time in ancient caves, grottoes and even cities. They were temples built in the honour of ‘yoga’—the unison of ‘self’ with Self rituals. These sites functioned as meeting places for philosophers and mystics who held the secrets of nature. They banded in reclusive philosophic schools that involved them in the study of existence, New Age Movement & Knowledge 209 knowledge, values, reason, mind, intellect, and even language. The most advanced members of the group were sages and rishis whose lives were prayers and meditation in action. Their lives were a synthesis of penance, study and surrender to God. Throughout history, most great minds that ever lived were initiated into the Society of Mysteries by secret rites, some of which were brutal. Famously known iconic ritual gods and goddesses recognised are Osiris, Isis the ideal Mother, Sabazius the Jewish god of encouraging organisation, Cybele the Mother Goddess and Eleusis; were all Solar deities whose initiates ‘know what I mean’. Like Plato before him (in Jesus of Aquarius) Jesus was one such initiate. Plato described some of the mysteries in his writings. His commencement rite lasted three days of entombment in the Great Pyramid, during which time he symbolically died, was reborn, and was given secrets which he was to safeguard. Manly P Hall, a Canadian mystic, states in ‘The Secret Teachings of All Ages’, “...the illumined of antiquity... entered its pyramid of Giza (known as the kuti) portals as men; they came forth as gods”. He also confirmed the pyramids were the great Egyptian temples of initiation. Elimination of Ancient Spiritual Practices There was a time when man lived hundreds of years before meeting his or her mortal death. In India they were known as the Nathas and elsewhere they were sages of Mesopotamia and pharaohs of Egypt where ancient mysteries thrived. A cataclysm destroyed these civilizations, they say, because of ‘moral and spiritual degradation’. Much of their record has survived. It was in the name of Churchianity that most of the accounts of the true history of humankind were destroyed. With alienation between science and spirituality, the scientific and spiritual knowledge vanished. There was also a legend of the influence of extraterrestrial races (both positive and negative) on human affairs. This theory allowed an alternative ‘invented history’ to be written which further delinked the present-day humanity from its origins. Expansion of the Babylonian Brotherhood was allegedly of chimeras that spread across the world to erase all scientific and spiritual records gathered by humanity till that time. They gathered all esoteric knowledge, memories and understanding of true human history, out of the general circulation... Ancient accounts were largely destroyed or withdrawn to secret libraries. Many historians have highlighted this theme through a time travel to the present day to explain devolution of society. Allegedly, the Babylon reptilian full- bloods were of Black that spread as Carollingians through the House of Dan (one of the sons of Jacob Israel) to all over European Nobility and to the Americas. They supposedly manipulated themselves into Merovingian positions of power and influenced the countries where they settled. It is said they belonged 210 In the Beginning to the Northern Mesopotamian Tribe of Judah assimilated by the Merovingian King David. They had a much higher knowledge than most of the people of their time. They were ancestors of Solomon, Moses, Aaron, Elijah, Jonah, Jesus and John. It was suggested by some historians the ancient world was invaded by extraterrestrials who were Aryans. They arrived and created Chimeras by mating with humans in the Caucus Mountains, Sumer (South Mesopotamia), Babylon (Iraq), and Egypt. They called the area ‘land of the gods’. To support this claim, they ventured to prove that they were where (Mesopotamia) all the world’s major religions emerged. In earlier times, the civilizations of Sumer, Babylon (Iraq) and Assyria (Syria) were in the general area of what we call Iraq, while Turkey was previously known as Asia Minor and Persia (Medes). Richard Laurence, the Archbishop of Cashel, translated the first English edition of the ‘Book of Enoch’ from Ethiopian (Cush was Ethiopia and Sudan) and established from the descriptions the longest day of the year. The author of the text must have lived in the Caucasus region and not Palestine, as most people believed. There were other Aryan settlements outside this region, possibly Britain among them, and other parts of the world, like the Mayan America. But archaeology of this mountainous region around the Caucasus and down to the plains of Sumer and Egypt made available the true history of humankind over the last 7000 years. It was said that five billion years ago, immediately after the earth solidified, God created mineral, plant, animal life and the first physical bodies for human beings from the Sirian star systems at various times. This human race of earth quickly developed and was soon visited and influenced by space-travelling human races from other planets and galaxies. Intermarriages took place and great civilizations were produced in ancient times. Humans on the earth were therefore a mix of two different technologically advanced extraterrestrials. One group colonized, plundered, and sometimes genetically manipulated the existing human race of a planet while the other group moved into the Indus Valley. According to official history it was a white Aryan race from the Caucasus Mountains region that moved into the Indus Valley about 1550 BC and created what is today known as Sanatan Dharma, the eternal religion of Hindus. It was this same Aryan race which introduced the ancient Sanskrit language to India. LA Waddell (1854–1938) a British explorer and surgeon in Tibet researched into the Aryan race. He established the father of the first historical Aryan king of India was recorded in the Mahabharata epic. Indra was the last historical king of the Hittites (Turkey) in Asia Minor—Indra. The Indian Aryans worshipped the Sun. Under many names these people of the Aryan race also settled in Sumer, Babylon, Egypt and Asia Minor (now Turkey), and other Near Eastern countries, taking with them the same stories, legends and religion, and showing that all came from the same single source. This Aryan race allegedly originated on Mars. New Age Movement & Knowledge 211

In the 8th century AD a people called the Khazars (semi-nomadic Turkish people) living in the Caucasus Mountains and southern Russia were mass converted into the Jewish religion. Such mass change-over from any religion to any other (Moors to Islam; Hinduism to Islam, Buddhism to Islam and Christianity; Judaism to Islam and Christianity) was always politically or economically motivated. Later, when that empire folded, its people made their way northward over a long period of time to settle in other parts of Russia, Lithuania and Estonia. From there they entered Western Europe and eventually the United States. It was said Rothschild family is one of these bloodlines. In truth their original homeland was the Caucasus region and southern Russia, not Israel. Many of these European families of German Jewish origin eventually established world’s leading investment banking Purpose of Stonehenge and Pyramids Arrival of the Aryans, Phoenicians and Egyptians in Britain matched with building the great stone circles and observatories like the Stonehenge and Avebury in Wiltshire. Historical India burst into view at 609 BC in Buddhist literature and in the Mahabharata epic, with Aryan rulers speaking the Aryan language in a fully-fledged Aryan Civilization, which persisted down to the present day. The first Egyptian Dynasties were Aryans. Egyptians already knew Phoenician Aryans (civilization of ancient Canaan) were already in Britain. The advanced Phoenician-Sumerian people, who had a developed knowledge of astronomy, astrology, sacred geometry, mathematics and the earth’s magnetic force network, known as the global energy grid, had all the knowledge necessary to build these great structures. According to the global or planetary energetic grid theory it was said to work through geometric patterns called Sacred Geometry. These Grids were said to meet at various intersecting points and forming a matrix. These grid points were found at some of the strongest power places on the planet. LA Waddell said that he found Sumerian markings on one of the stones at Stonehenge. Professor Alexander Thom, Emeritus Professor of Engineering Science at Oxford University from 1945 to 1961, discovered the ancients who built Stonehenge knew about ‘Pythagorean’ geometry and mathematical principles thousands of years before Pythagoras was born. Thom explained in his 1967 book ‘Megalithic Sites In Britain’ the stones not only formed geometric patterns around the circle, but they were aligned to the surrounding landscape and to positions of the sun, moon and prominent stars at particular times, where the sun appeared or disappeared at the equinox or solstice and where the moon was at the extreme positions of its cycle. It was a gigantic astronomical clock, he said. But, perhaps it was more than that. It was a receiver and transmitter of cosmic energy. Grid lines of magnetic energy known as meridians were designed here. These lines crossed here, and 212 In the Beginning the energy spiralled upward into a vortex. These were the power places, the sacred sites of the ancients who knew the significance and purpose of this system. This vortex was of a constant value throughout the Universe, making the galaxy and yugas move in a spiral, just like moving the planet towards and away from the Sun’s Light through a cycle of 24,000 years. A water spiral moved downwards, and the fire spiral moved up. The DNA molecule which carried the genetic blueprint of each expression also was recorded as moving in a double spiral. Brian Desborough spoke of one Hartmann Grid where twelve of these force lines met and went down into the earth in Avebury in England. This was the place where the advanced Egyptian-Phoenician-Sumerians chose to build their stone circles five thousand years ago along a series of surrounding sites. These formed a ‘circuit board’ in the heart of the energy grid which affected the nature of the earth’s magnetic field. These were the areas where most of the ‘crop circles’ or crop formations, had also appeared. The best known researcher of this man-made structure was an American Richard Hoagland, a science journalist, a director of planetariums in West Hartford and New York, and an adviser at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre. Hoagland produced evidence in his book, ‘Monuments on Mars’, that they allegedly ‘face’ the pyramids that were part of a vast area built to align with the sunrise on the Martian summer solstice 500,000 years ago, meaning., 50,000 years before the estimated (believed) arrival of the Anunnaki on the earth. The same race that built the structures on Mars Cydonia, including pyramids, also built Stonehenge and Avebury. This ‘Mars City’ was built according to the same laws that were used to create other similar complexes on the earth at Stonehenge, the pyramids at Giza in Egypt, and Teotihuacan in Mexico and the African Stonehenge of Zimbabwe. Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), in his picture of the man inside a circle was a leading initiate of the secret society network. He was able to predict the coming of the telephone, design flying machines and tanks, and invent bicycles in the 15th and 16th centuries which look like the modern version today. The constant latitude of 19.5 degrees was and is the latitude on which the pyramids, many ancient temple complexes, and other sacred structures were built. It was also where one found the volcanoes of Hawaii, the Schild volcanoes on Venus, the massive Olympus Mons volcano on Mars, the dark spot on Neptune, the red spot on Jupiter, as the main areas of sunspot, and north and south of the sun. All this made sense to scientists because sunspots were known to emit powerful electromagnetic energy from the sun, and volcanoes were likely obvious emissions of energy on the planets. Therefore, 19.5 degrees was said to be the point of energy exchange between rotating spheres and the hierarchy of the ancients. The Sumerians knew, about the cycle. This effect created the Earth’s ‘wobble’ which slowly moved the planet on its axis so it faced different star systems or astrological ‘houses’ over many thousands of years. New Age Movement & Knowledge 213

As their records have now shown, the Sumerians knew that it took 2160 years for Earth to move through each ‘house’ and 25,920 years to complete the cycle, which was the period the solar system took to complete its journey around its galactic centre. We are said to be completing one of these cycles (yugas) now, and an enormous change is already on us. The Elite of the Egyptian-Phoenician- Aryans had enormous knowledge of the earth’s energy grid and its potential to affect human consciousness. When it changed, humanity changed. If one lived in water and the water changed, they were fundamentally affected because it was the same energy ‘ocean’ that one occupied. Thus the movement of planets affecting the earth’s magnetic field and through that affecting humanity. The Piscean Age Brotherhood did not want anyone to know this, but Sanatan Dharma and the Vedic Seers of India taught this knowledge openly. Churchianity condemned astrology as the work of the devil, and true spirituality and its sister science were dismissed for over 2000 years. The ‘mysterious’ white horse scored into the chalk hillsides of Britain at Uffington in Wiltshire, not far from Avebury, has a plaque that dated its construction at 3000 BC, when the Phoenicians arrived in the British Isles. Their religion was focused on the Sun and the white horse was a Phoenician symbol for the Sun. The great stone circles and structures throughout Britain, like the Stonehenge and Avebury, were built with the knowledge held by the ruling and priestly classes of the Phoenicians and the Solomon’s (Egyptian pharaohs). Were they Chimmerians who belonged to the Babylonian Brotherhood? Are they who infiltrated and eventually controlled the world leadership during the Piscean Age? However, their knowledge included the ability to use sound to throw a magnetic field around a massive stone and delink it from the laws of gravity, to make it weightless. The pyramids at Giza in Egypt dated back to around 3000 BC. Some of the stone circles were called Hare-Stones. According to LA Waddell’s research, they were built for the ruling Goths, who came from Hittites who were Indo-Europeans and were titled Arri or Aryan: Hare stones were Aryan stones seen during the reign of the Aryans—Rama and Krishna of the Hindu religion. Through the ages, lion was an Aryan symbol for the Sun. It was placed at the entrances of sacred places like Hindu and Chinese temples and even private homes. The lion-bodied Sphinx which relates to the astrological sign of Leo, in astrology was a recognised sign ruled by the sun. The whole foundation of British culture and their legends came from the Phoenicians. The legend of St George and the Dragon, curled up looks like the swastika. It came from St George of Cappadocia, the Phoenician centre in Asia Minor. The battles between St George and the dragon could be symbolic of the Martian-Chimmerian conflict. For the Indian the swastika symbol was for Eternity. It was also found also on a stone dedicated to the Phoenician Sun-god which was found at Craig-Narget in Scotland. Both were used as symbols to decorate the robes of their Druidic high priestesses. Whether it was the dragon or the swastika, they both deified 214 In the Beginning eternity. The clockwise and anticlockwise symbols of eternity and the name swastika came from the Sanskrit word, svasti, meaning well-being. It was and is still considered a positive symbol in rituals but the Nazis turned it anticlockwise and made it a symbol of destruction. A major centre of the Aryan-Hittite-Phoenicians was Cilicia in southern Turkey. Here, Bharati or the goddess Ishwari was worshipped as the Phoenician Perathea and later as Diana, making Diana and Britannia originating from the same source. The ‘royal’ elite clans of the Aryans (Ramayana and Bhagavad Gita) were called Bharatas today as in the ancient Indian culture. The Indian Vedas said that, “King Bharat gave his name to the Dynastic race and the country of which he was the founder; and so it is from him the fame of that Dynastic people hath spread so wide.” The Vedas also acknowledged goddess Bharati and was known as Brihad, the Absolute Divine. Her special place was on the Sarasvati River which went underground during a cataclysm but reappeared under the Ganges as Triveni in Allahabad. The Roman name for Bharati was Fortune after her legend as the goddess of fortune. Egyptians, too, had a goddess called Birth, goddess of the waters. She was a reflection of Bharati because the Aryan- Phoenicians were the force behind Egypt. About half of the most common words used in the English language today are from one of Aryan (Sumerian), Cyprian or Hittite origin with the same sound and meaning. Sumerian, which was Sanskrit, was the language of the ‘gods’. It has been the language for most of the world, although present-day scholars continue to argue that it originated somewhere else much earlier, maybe in Atlantis or even in the area today called the British Isles. There was endless evidence to prove the ancient link between the British Isles and Ireland with the cultures of North Africa and the Near East. It was said by the wise if anyone wanted to expose corruption, the advice was to follow the money and if one wanted to identify the passage of people and cultures, follow the language. The Irish language today is English which replaced Gaelic that evolved from a now lost earlier language. Gaelic-speaking missionaries in the Middle Ages had used interpreters to communicate with indigenous Picts. Picts (painted people) were a confederation of Celtic tribes who lived in eastern and northern Scotland. Until the 10th century AD this indigenous group of tribes in Scotland during the Roman and post-Roman periods were first mentioned in 297 AD by Eumenius. He called them ‘half-naked enemies’ of the Britons. A Roman poet observed in 310 AD the Emperor Constantius chose not to acquire these woods and marshes of the ‘Caledones and other Picts’. An important historical testimony of the Picts was provided by Ammianus Marcellinus, who recorded attacks on Roman Britain by Picts, Scots, Irish, and Saxons resulting in the ‘Picts’ War’ of 367–368 AD. Gildas (500–570 AD) a 6th century British Christian cleric referred to ‘marauding Picts’ as savages with more hair on their faces than clothes on their bodies, who came by sea from the New Age Movement & Knowledge 215 north and raided post-Roman Britain. According to legend, the last king of the Picts was killed at the instigation of Kenneth MacAlpin in 842 AD and Cormac. A Gaelic-speaking Irish king of the ninth century, referred to the language of the people of Munster in south-west Ireland as the ‘iron language’. But even Gaelic was connected firmly into the Middle East.In the second century, a Greek astronomer, mathematician and geographer Ptolemy (90–168 AD), who lived in Alexandria, could name sixteen tribes in Ireland. Irish ritual was, like all the cultures of the era, inspired by the Phoenician-Aryans, who focused on the Sun. The earth mound at Newgrange in Ireland had a narrow passageway of some 62 feet which was aligned with the Sun as it rose on December 2lst/22nd on the winter solstice. The golden sunlight filled and lit up the whole passage and the chamber at the exact centre. The entrance to the Palace of Minos which was part of the Aegean culture of the Bronze Age Minoan Civilization in Ancient Greece that flourished on the island of Crete was also built as at Newgrange. The distinctive round towers of Ireland were of Phoenician origin too. All this fitted into the story the Phoenicians or Aryans came from the Middle and Near East, one of the global centres for the Anunnaki (Sumerian, Akkadian and Babylonian). According to research by Philip Callahan, a research professional of American army, the round towers were aligned with star systems in the northern sky especially with Draco (a dwarf galaxy orbiting the Milky Way). Rock carvings at Newgrange Rock art might have played a role in prehistoric religion, possibly about old legends and myths or the activities of shamans. Important similar sites were seen to occur in southern Africa, Europe, North America, and Australia. They depict their culture of thousands of years earlier. The name Idris was well known in Wales, but saints and kings of the Muslims were also called Idris for centuries. British Museum has a Muslim coin, a gold dinar, with ‘Offa’ stamped on it. Offa was the King of Mercia in England in the 8th century. He built the 120-mile earth ‘wall’ between England and Wales known as Offa’s Dyke. The name Wales came from ‘Weallas’, meaning land of foreigners. When the Irish people settled in parts of Wales and Cornwall, some displaced people moved to Armorica, now Brittany, on the French coast. Here can be found a forest of standing stones called Carnac, a name that comes from Karnack in Egypt. The Breton language was a Celtic language spoken in Brittany, France, and was a mixture of old Welsh and Cornish—Aryan. Brittany could be related to Bharat and Bharati. Amorica means ‘land facing the sea’ and approached from the Atlantic and therefore the true origin of the name America. The Isle of Man was also populated by the Irish Aryans and became a sacred land. It was one of the two places in Britain—Anglesea in North Wales was other—where the Arch Druids were based. Here was where the highest ranked members of the ancient British priestly class, inherited their knowledge from 216 In the Beginning the Phoenicians and later the Babylonian Brotherhood. The Isle of Man’s three- leg-symbol is not unlike that ancient Phoenician symbol for the Sun, or swastika. The American researcher, Winthrop Palmer Boswell’s book ‘Irish Wizards in the Woods of Ethiopia’ identified likenesses between Irish and Ethiopian folk stories. The baobab tree held in reverence by Ethiopians and Berbers for ‘banba’ was the old name for Ireland. Reverence for trees as seen in India, Ethiopia and the Near East was an Aryan quality but it became deeply corrupted by the influence of Cimmerian-human bloodlines of the Babylonian Brotherhood. Druids called ‘people of oak trees’ were taught druidic mysteries in caves, forests and groves with the oak tree symbolizing their Supreme Deity. They did not worship the oak tree and anything that grew on it like the mistletoe and the holly bush as oak tree was only a symbol. The Druids knew astrology and astronomy well and celebrated the birth of the sun on December 25th. The moon was also important to them, but especially sacred was the night of the new moon, the sixth day, and the full moon. Both full and new moon days are even today kept as yoga holidays in the ashtanga yoga tradition. Hindus like the Druids asserted that like things of a watery nature (human beings are about 70% water), was cyclically affected by the phases of moon as determined by the moon’s relative position to the sun. Full moons occurred when they were in opposition and new moons when they were in conjunction. Because the sun and moon exerted gravitational pulls on earth, their relative positions created different energy experiences that were balanced with the human’s breath cycle. Full moon energy corresponded to the end of inhalation (antara kumbhaka) when udana, the mounting life force became maximum and was experienced in the head. The new moon energy corresponded to the end of exhalation (bahiya kumbhaka) when the descending force apana was greatest. The Farmer’s Almanac recommended planting seeds at the new moon when the rooting force was strongest and transplanting at the full moon when the flowering force was strongest. Practising ashtanga yoga was seen to attune man to the natural cycles and rhythms of nature in greater harmony. Druid initiates were divided into three levels. The teachings given to each level in the forest groves in ancient times continue to be the same today as given in the Freemasonic temples. The first level of the Druid School was the Ovate who was dressed in green—the druidic colour for learning. The second was the Bard, who wore sky blue representing harmony and truth. They had the task of memorizing some of the 20,000 verses of druidic poetry full of mystery. In the third, the Druid would be dressed in white robes, the symbolic colour for purity and the sun. To become an Arch-Druid, or a spiritual leader, six levels or degrees were needed. The Druids of the day had total power over the population. Many rituals emerged from their mystery school. Later these were allegedly taken over by the Babylonian Brotherhood. A moral code was taught to all people, but the secret knowledge was preserved for initiates under the strictest secrecy. New Age Movement & Knowledge 217

Eliphas Levi, a practitioner of esotericism commented on the Druidic healing practices: “The Druids were priests and physicians, curing by magnetism... Their universal cures were mistletoe and serpent’s eggs, because these substances attract astral light in a special manner”. The solemnity with which mistletoe was cut down created for this plant a popular faith the plant emitted powerful magnetism. Talking of snakes and serpents, it may not be out of place to mention here that in India people even today believe that snakes live in their own world— Nagaloka or patala. Hindus worship snakes as their benefactor deity because they help with a superior harvest when they eat rats that otherwise would destroy crops. They were considered symbols of energy and therefore were guardians of wealth. Magnetism to the Hindu is life-force, created within one’s own being. By his will-power a magnetic healer connects with the cosmic magnetism and heals with magnetic radiations of love, sympathy, strength, self-reliance, and harmony. Being an essence connected with life, magnetism could not be measured as a cure, but the results were obvious as physical healing. Much research has been done to decide the use of magnetic fields in wound repair improvement, early nerve regeneration, skin healing, and ruptured Achilles tendons. Magnetic method was and is used to quicken bone healing and increase bone strength. Decreased pain and improved performance was experimentally recorded in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee and for pain alleviation in post-polio patients. The Druids, like the other mystery religions, were carriers of advanced knowledge which was kept from the common people. Some of them used it for lesser works but their works were important for happiness and satisfaction of the common people. There were those also, who during the recent 2000 years, began for centuries to live lives of harmfulness towards ordinary humanity. The Druidic as well as some Secret Societies began to show behaviour of extraterrestrial harmfulness. Some said the perpetrators were clones of Aryan chimeras. David Icke examined aspects of alleged global conspiracy and revealed a disparaging picture of life on Earth during the Piscean Age. After 15 years of research into the Global Elite he concluded the human race was spiritually asleep. The Global Elite according to Derek Wilson author of The Secret Government was a small number of wealthy descendants of wealthy families in Europe and the U.S. from Carollingian and Merovingian dynasties. They owned much of the material wealth of the world. Their power was always concentrated in London an appointed centre of the world banking system. They worked in secret through a web of ‘private’ organizations. Wilson encapsulated humanity’s plight during the Piscean Age as one of harmfulness. He envisaged humanity’s freedom in the Age of Aquarius through the yoga of harmlessness. The Sun was approaching 218 In the Beginning the Common Intellect of humanity and Cosmic Harmlessness would heighten the future for a Universal Goodness. Mystery of Migratory Cosmic Change—Yugas While ‘Mysteries’ asserted that pyramids were temples of learning, to some thinkers, the great pyramids were built to commemorate and observe a disastrous explosion of a large star that occurred in the year 4000BC. The 1974 Nobel Prizewinner in physics Dr Anthony Hewish discovered a rhythmic radio pulse emission from a star that exploded around 4000 BC. Fascinatingly, the Freemasons began their calendar “In the year of light”, found by adding 4000 to the modern year, making it 6010. AL George Michanowsky, the historian who wrote about the quantum leap in humankind’s intellectual development in ‘The Once and Future Star’ explained how “the ancient Sumerian cuneiform... described a giant star exploding within a triangle formed by... Zeta Puppis, Gamma Velorum, and Lambda Velorum..” The triangle was found in the southern sky. A star catalogue stated a blazing star that exploded within the triangle would again be seen by man in 6000 years, which is believed as being now. A controversial question arises therefore; is earth soon expecting a cataclysm? Hindus have always believed that humanity’s existence matched with cycles of degeneration and regeneration: from an age of perfect harmony and virtue, to an age of impiety and absence of high merit. Sri Yukteshwar (1855–1936) a disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya who in turn was a devotee of Mahavatar Babaji stated: ‘I am not here to convince you of anything. I am not here to be recognised. I am not an entertainment. I am here only to serve.’ In ‘The Holy Science’ he made a mathematical application of a 24,000-year equinoctial cycle for the solar system to which earth is a part of. As planets revolved around the sun, planet earth was also seen to obediently rotate around with the rest during the estimated 24,000 earth years. According to Hindu cosmology, the sun moves in a far vaster cycles around a magnetic nucleus of Spirit—the “Grand Central” seat of the creative power of the Creator Brahma. Yukteshwar further divided the 24,000-year cycle into an ascending spiral and a descending spiral—each of 12,000 years. Within each ascending and descending arc were four yugas or Ages—kaliyuga (Iron Age); Dwapara yuga (Bronze Age); Treta yuga (Silver Age) and Satyuga (Golden Age). The chief moral characteristic of humanity of each Age was materialistic, atomic, mental and spiritual, respectively. During the rising arc of each cycle, when the solar system began to move closer to the Spirit Centre, there was a gradual unfoldment of intellectual and spiritual qualities, reaching a zenith of enlightenment in satyuga or the Spiritual Age. The shadow of the delusion then slowly began to eclipse the light of knowledge during the descending arc to kaliyuga. Yogananda (1893–1952) an New Age Movement & Knowledge 219

Indian yogi and disciple of Sri Yukteshwar who in 1920 founded the Self- Realization Fellowship and reinterpreted the Bible said: “Kaliyuga the materialistic age began in the descending arc of the equinoctial cycle around 700 BC and ended in the ascending arc in about 1700 AD.” Intellectual and climatic adjustments occurred globally at the same time. Therefore threat of ‘global warming’ was never a hoax. The reality of the ebb and flow of the sun’s movement towards and away from the earth through centuries has affected the overall global temperatures. Storms are seen to become more violent and less predictable because the planet’s constant progression towards shifting latitude and longitude. The ‘wise’ who for eons have witnessed these changes see in every change an underlying Causal Changelessness – of eternal Truth, Existence and Consciousness. A mortal cannot be expected to experience a permanent relationship in such a constantly changing physical world. Only those who have discovered the Changeless Self intuitively become aware of the substratum. For a sincere seeker of spirituality, guidance always existed. Ascended Masters like Sanat Kumar who helped Moses during the Exodus continue to provide help in the future. Master- beings have again raised their vibrations to a lasting frequency of Light. They always served humanity from astral and etheric neighbourhoods and will increase global harmlessness. After 2000 years of progressive harmfulness towards one another and Mother Nature, these ‘angels’ are again ready to move mankind towards enlightenment about the purpose of human expression. Such efforts were never new. They existed globally during past civilizations. Practices of Pharaohs of Egypt From the viewpoint of ancient civilizations, primarily Sumerian and Egyptian, a substance called Star Fire was considered to be the life-giving extract drawn from the divine menstrual blood of one of the fourteen goddesses in the temples of Egypt. Menstruum was known to contain precious endocrinal secretions of the pineal and pituitary glands. It was thus considered an alchemical parallel to the change of metal substance into gold. The earliest patriarchs of Egypt (and even tantrikas of old India) were weaned on menstrual blood of pre-Babylonian Anunnaki priestesses (Genesis 6: 1-4) called the Scarlet Women. The menstruum of these gods and goddesses was used by the devout royal and priestly spiritual seekers for purposes of longevity and devout abilities. Shamanic abilities of the Scarlet Women were expected to protect and shield a seeker from enemies like lust, anger, greed, possessiveness, pride and jealousy. By invoking these local gods the dehydrated menstruum was expected to make recipients of Star Fire less corporeal and more ethereally subtle. Although deep meditation was known to have a similar result, hormones of Star Fire were a measured chemical means to arrive at the same purpose. Oneness of the ‘self’ with Self was the purpose of such practices. I n ancient Egypt and other parts of the Mediterranean, menstruum was ritually 220 In the Beginning collected from Scarlet Women. But after the ‘great flood’ the neighbourhood conditions changed. According to ancient scriptures originating from these areas, the lifespan of the pre-flood Sumerian kings was substantially longer than the patriarchal humanity from Adam to Noah. According to author of ‘The 12th Planet’ Zecharia Sitchin (1920–2010), their lifespan was of the order of thousands of years, or even more! Sitchin dated the Flood to 11,500 BC but the more popular date was perhaps 4000 BC. Even Noah’s descendants up to the time of Abraham lived for hundreds of years, if not thousands. The Flood saw a drastic change in the patriarchal lives of royalty, priests and the learned who were the only ones able to access Star Fire. The common man was not privy to such luxury. With a reduced availability of the Star Fire, lives of Noah’s descendants over the next six generations lived less than half of Noah’s time. This was when Star Fire, became a controlled substance as stated in a Sumerian text: “The gods have abandoned us like migrating birds. Smoke lies on our cities like a shroud.” Such statements suggest there was a decline in the availability of the Star Fire because of political or climatic conditions. Dynasty of the Holy Grail With the fall of Sumerian Civilization, the indispensable Star Fire practice of 1960 BC crumbled. When Abraham (Djehuty) moved with his family northward from Ur of the Chaldees (the capital of Sumer) to Haran in the kingdom of Mari, before turning westward into Canaan, Star Fire was not available to him. Soon after 2000 BC, history recorded that Ur the oldest city of Mesopotamia in present day SE Iraq, was sacked by the king of Elam. Although it was rebuilt, the new power centre was at Haran, in present-day south-east Turkey which was the home of Isaac’s wife where their son Jacob spent 20 years. Here the alchemy of Star Fire was renewed. This flourishing city was later named after Abraham’s brother Haran who was Lot’s father. Here Star Fire was available only to the priests and patriarchs. Everything would again change in Sumer by the arrival of several invaders. From the North they came as Akkadian Semitics who had lived on the Arabic Peninsula. Semitics Amorites who controlled Mesopotamia during 1900–-1600 BC came from Syria. Elamites arrived from Persia also to invade Haran. Amid these historical details was created a future Dynasty of the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail would later turn out to be a chalice into which Jesus would bleed while on the Cross. Christians claimed the chalice was used at the Last Supper and brought to England by St. Joseph of Arimathea, an uncle of the line of Jesus. Miraculous in its powers, it could provide food and healing. In Arthurian legends the purest knight Parsifal, the son of Galahad, supposedly witnessed the appearance of the chalice. The ancestor of the Legend of the ‘Chalice’ was David, who was familiar with the use of the Star Fire. He reportedly fathered Isaac, the father of Jacob and ancestor of the twelve tribes of Israel. David also fathered New Age Movement & Knowledge 221 the six Arabian tribes through Sarah’s handmaiden. Before David died he anointed Solomon, the next king. David’s lineage therefore held an honoured place in three religions—Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Descendants of David went into exile from the temple when the Sumerian empire fell. The city of Ur was destroyed. The story of the Tower of Babel, a structure built by descendents of the survivors of the great flood and the resultant wrath of Jehovah, fit the time-frame of the Sumerians’ own abandonment by the infighting of Anunnakis. The gates of Sumer were now open to invaders from the surrounding nations. This brought about the annihilation of the ancient Sumerian and Egyptian culture. With the annihilation of the Anunnakis the rituals by the Scarlet Women were gone and with them disappeared the Star Fire. As an alternative, a more permanent and versatile substitute for the Star Fire was created. A group of previously trained metallurgists called Master Craftspeople were engaged by David. The first of these great metallurgists was Tubalcain who invented metalworking and forged all types of tools from every metal (Genesis 4:22). He was a Vulcan (helpful god of fire) and a sixth-generation descendant of Cain. Jesus’ father, Joseph was also recorded as being a Master of this Craft. Joseph was said to have learned alchemical metallurgy in the manner of his ancestral forebears. Laurence Gardner in his book quoted: “But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat” (Genesis 9:4) reinforced the legend of the menstruum. What would convince anyone to ’eating blood’, if not because of some religious or philosophical belief? A possible answer came from the longevity of the Anunnaki race which was related to the ingestion of the blood of menstruum. With Anunnaki and Marduk (god of magical incantations) of Babylonia, the supreme Anunnaki deity on Earth now gone, Enlil (god of wind) and its followers lost control of the human race of their time. And with their departure, the weaning away from the Star Fire became a reality. The substitute for Anunnaki Star Fire was known by many names— Philosopher’s Stone, Elixir of Life, White Powder of Gold and Manna. The White Powder had qualities of superconductivity and made the human physical body lighter. These individuals were able to levitate, and remain alive and healthy without food. The pyramids and Mount Horeb were perhaps factories producing the White Powder of Gold and ingested by the scientists of Egypt. They were able to move the massive stones of The Great Pyramid of Giza. The ‘white powder’ was later called ORME, the acronym for ‘orbitally rearranged monoatomic elements’, which incidentally also meant the ‘Tree of Life’ in Hebrew. A ‘new’ knowledge had emerged and man was capable of changing matter into their buoyant atomic forms. Heavy objects were moved great distances and heights in their subtle small atomic forms 222 In the Beginning

From Knowledge to Wisdom According to the Oxford English Dictionary ‘knowledge’ is an expertise and skill gained through education, experience and understanding. Man naturally and intrinsically without end aspired to feel complete in his or her ever-changing environment. Natural abilities or aptitude, were considered endlessly inborn. Each entered this world with certain talents—perhaps with an ear for music, an ability to mentally solve equations, draw beautifully, or even have an innate inclination for spiritual learning. Such aptitude helped the mortal to get a skill in each life cycle of birth and death. “Inborn” tendencies were recognised by the ancients as needing nurturing to encourage cultivation of greater feats in a mortal’s life. Progress and welfare of any society depended both on gyana, or knowledge of science, and vigyana, the spiritual wisdom. Knowledge created a search for enlightenment but only Wisdom was far-sightedness, benevolence, generosity, justice, integrity and sense of responsibility. Through Wisdom man began and promoted materialistic progress, capacities, talents, power,, prosperity and worldly success. A common coherence and simultaneous expansion of knowledge and wisdom were what accounted for a fulfilling and durable progress. It made human life rise in quality of existence. Development of both science and spirituality flourished in India in the Vedic Age. That was why the Vedic era was glorified as the Golden Age in the history of mankind. Be it the lives of common people or of the elite, royal activities or simple chores in monasteries or ashrams, a suitable balance of both knowledge and wisdom was present everywhere in the Vedic society. Ashrams were eminent centres of origin and spread of wise knowledge. Here many sages dusted off ignorance through developing scientific methods and talents. Disciples gained knowledge of different aspects of life, nature, health, treatments and the soul. Practical training in different art forms, skills and natural science gave students a value-based education. Such centres chiselled personalities into humans infused with idealism and refinement. Such transformation readied young disciples for all fronts of professional, family and societal life. Acquisition of knowledge was for mental, intellectual and spiritual enlightenment while wisdom matured after showing a cosmic connection. The chela was connected to nature, humanity and enjoyed a harmonious neighbourhood influence. This was why the ancient Indian society was enlightened, wise and prosperous. They practiced the yoga of harmlessness. Old scriptures described incredible human potentials gained through devout spiritual practices and meditation for soul-realization. Such human refinement had a magnetic power of influencing environment for a people’s welfare. Many advanced chelas had supra-mental scientific talents or siddhis. With heir earned supernatural successes in space-travel and extraterrestrial communication they were able to create resources for a collective good. Because many yogis of yore New Age Movement & Knowledge 223 were engrossed in God, they were able to awaken transcendent intelligence and gain huge inner powers and talents. Through ascetic self-denial, austerity, penance and purificatory actions, their lives were living testimonies of God realized sages. Their mental attitude was always in Unity with the Whole. Psychic powers were only signs of perfection and the armour of a realized yogi. Such powers were rarely used or displayed Ideas of Knowledge and Wisdom gradually changed over the last 2000 years. Knowledge became confined to intellectual gains through visible facts and experiences. Laboratory studies, combined with logic and fixed theories of modern sciences governed the domains of knowledge. Scientific research and technological developments were based on the many uses of matter. Studies on ‘Matter’ came through physical extraction from the planet and by destruction of Nature. “Development” was gauged through exploiting nature’s resources. Excessive use of natural and many discoveries contributed to the advancement of scientific knowledge but at the cost of offending Nature and her laws. Such knowledge did not contribute to virtues, altruistic and compassionate human values or any wisdom. Scientific and technological advancement made the comfort-driven humanity strive for a lifestyle that nurtured selfishness, extravagance, arrogance, cunning and pride. Achievements of the last few centuries remain mired in controversies, gaps and setbacks with negative impacts on the value of life. Short-term scientific progress created long-term hazards. Use of chemical fertilizers might have increased agricultural quantity but such agricultural and even industrial growth polluted air, water and the natural environment. Excessive and wasteful human consumption of natural resources created shortage in water. It exposed humanity to the threat of one-sided progress of science without the wisdom about the underlying subtle authority—of Nature’s power, force, will, and intelligence. Blindness to an invisible cosmic determination and supremacy underlay the conditions of today’s Nature and Her expressions. As experts of both knowledge and wisdom, the masters, sages and rishis were trained to look for the miniature universe within. They were taught to connect their physical with subtler energies within their own body. Through harmlessness, the thought-free mind made a cosmic connection with Nature. They devised specific secret procedures and practices to awaken hidden potentials and unlimited energies in their own bodies and minds. A spiritual approach towards wisdom enabled them to align with the cosmic will and extract powers and vital energies from the cosmos. They discovered an awakened self had the ability to remain in total harmony with nature. Here knowledge of science was used to awaken wisdom through invocation of the sacred laws of nature. Collective Consciousness in Akashic Records Akashic records are a compendium of universal filing system of mystical 224 In the Beginning knowledge of every thought, word and action of every being, plant and creature. This knowledge was impressed on the subtle substance of the Universe called akasha or sound waves in ether. In Hindu mysticism akasha is thought to be the primary principle of nature from which the other four natural principles, fire, air, earth and water, were created. These five principles embodied the five senses of the human being. Akashic records are a Cosmic or Collective Consciousness or Cosmic Universal Mind. It has a Collective Unconsciousness (deep-sleep state) and a Collective Subconsciousness (dream state) which make psychic view possible by adepts able to enter the akashic zones. Bhrigu Samhita is an astrological classic written during the Vedic period in treta yuga. It is said to contain details of millions of lives. Bhrigu was a Vedic sage belonging to a sacred race that lived 10,000 years ago. He had a divine vision of everyone who was to be born in every country of the world. He compiled this information as astrology, which was originally written on palm leaves. No complete manuscript of ‘Bhrigu Samhita’ is known to remain, but large sections are rumoured to exist somewhere around different sites in India. A printed version is said to comprise of some 200 volumes, but most Indian astrologers who have used the system using loose manuscript pages which give details of past, present, and future lives, as well as previous incarnations of every mortal. Bhrigu Samhita was based on Akashic records of Cosmic Intelligence, said to be the Eternal Light of Spirit manifesting in all the forms of Creation. The Purpose of Life always was to realize oneness with Cosmic Intelligence which Hindus symbolize as Ganesha, the elephant-headed Hindu deity who symbolizes the central nervous system or Cosmic Intelligence of Creation. Certain persons in a subconscious state as an individual subconscious mind could read from macrocosmic akashic records. Both the microcosm and the macrocosm was possessed of thoughts which were never forgotten. The collective subconsciousness gathered all thoughts from each subconscious mind which could be read by other subconscious minds. Just about 100 years ago, Levi Dowling was one such mystic who was able to read what Jesus allegedly said to the apostles over 2000 years before. This book tried to unravel what Jesus meant for all to understand. ‘The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ’ by Dowling, was sourced from Akashic records. The document was commented on by many since it was written. It has remained a valuable legacy written against a background of an old history. Part III

Alchemy of Oneness

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9. Universal Sun Worship

Religion of predynastic Egypt promoted worship of animistic nature, where each village or town had its own spirit in the form of an animal, bird, reptile, tree, plant or some other object. The spirits fell into two groups—the friendly like cattle or the menacing like crocodile or snake. In both cases, they were soliciting with a set formula of word and action prescribed by a priest, with houses built for offerings made to them. As the spirits became gods, the deity had its own temple staffed by priests. In return, the god was thought to protect its people, ensuring fertility and well-being or repelled every wrath which could take the form of plague or other natural disasters. The totemic origin of the Egyptian religion was of great antiquity. Not only did the religion become interwoven with the ruling power, but into life itself. Politics and religion were together empowered for appealing for protection. Fortification from the flooding of Nile during sowing and harvesting, protection during childbirth and against poisonous animals was made mysterious and known only to the king and scribes. Horus and Nekhbet were winged snakes that flanked Horus, the winged sun. The vulture goddess of Al Kab and goddess Nekhbet came to represent Upper Egypt. In Lower Egypt, Set or Seth was the god of storms. Udjo was the goddess of oracles of a city of the same name. The cobra goddess of Buto was the goddess of Lower Egypt. Their practices resembled the Sun Kriya in Kundalini where the Sun equated with clear thought and energy in kundalini yoga, practiced for physical fitness. In the epic Ramayana, Ravanna the king of Ceylon kidnapped Sita, (reincarnation of Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity); by disguising himself as a brahmana mendicant while her husband Rama was away. Jatayu, the vulture- king, tried to protect Sita but Ravanna chopped off his wings. Jatayu survived long enough to tell Rama of what had happened. The vulture symbolically to the ancients warded off evil and removed obstacles of seekers for an undisturbed life. The vulture goddess of Upper Egypt was also worshipped. In later Egyptian history, the vulture and cobra were united and the rulers started to identify themselves as the living expression of the hawk god of war. It represented the nomad’s suffering from the scorching effects of the sun, Ra. The growth of Egyptian religion ended up becoming a complex polytheistic religious system. Through thousands of years of Egyptian history, today only a few of these many deities survive. This was because in the Egyptian pantheon their popularity

227 228 In the Beginning waxed and waned over time. The Egyptian gods were easily merged, with other gods taking over the merging god’s qualities and abilities. The main gods in the Egyptian pantheon included Amun the modern god Amen of Thebes (Sun), Ptah the lion goddess centred in Memphis of Hikuptah and Horus or Isis the sister and wife of Osiris. The Elder of Nekhem found in Set of Tukh (Ombos), a small village Library, contains scripts of predynastic information of past gods. Other gods included Ra of Iunu the chief god of Heliopolis who was associated with Creation. Min of Gebtu or Koptos the sky- god symbolized the thunderbolt and male fertility and Hathor of Dendra the goddess of love and beauty was where Osiris of Abydos became the centre of worship of the Isis and Osiris cult. Amenhotep III (Solomon) was insistent that he be identified with the sun- god (Amun) during his lifetime. From the time of his first jubilee in his 30 year reign, there was pictorial evidence depicting him taking the role of Ra riding in his solar boat. He was expected to merge with the sun after his death. He was named in his palace complex as “the gleaming Aten”. He consistently identified himself with the national deities and the sun unlike his royal predecessors. He even represented himself as a substitute for the other major gods. During his reign he ‘solarised’ other well known Egyptian gods; they included Nekhbet, Amun, Thoth and Horus. Hindu Cosmology and Universal Rites of Fire (Sun Worship) According to Hindu cosmology, life in the universe was created and destroyed every 24,000 years, which was one full day (including night) for Brahma, the Creator. The life span of a Brahma himself might be 311 trillion years. The cycles were said to repeat like the seasons, waxing and waning within a greater time- cycles of creation and destruction of the universe. Like spring, summer, autumn and winter each Yuga involved stages or gradual change which earth and consciousness of mankind went through together, as One Whole. A Yuga Cycle from a high Golden Age of enlightenment to a Dark Age and back was said to be caused by the solar system’s motion around a central Sun. This antiquity of both Vedic Knowledge and the Sun (Ikshavaku) as Supreme Deity was experienced in Yoga “It is experienced through the kutastha: I first initiated the Sun in this yoga; the Sun initiated Manu who introduced King Ikshavaku. In this way through the lineage of teacher and disciple the rishis received this Supreme Yoga” Bhagavad Gita (4:1-2). But days have passed and the yoga of Sanatan Dharma was corrupted over Time. The original Bhagavad Gita was written some 24,000 years ago, perhaps with the beginning of the Cycle of Creation after a deluge, mahapralaya. The size of the text was perhaps about half of what we have now. At its earliest stage, this scripture was a textbook of a particular sect. It is believed the original form of the Bhagavad Gita is lost. The exact date and the author of the Gita are not Universal Sun Worship 229 known with certainty and scholars of an earlier generation thought that it was recomposed for the later generation between the 5th and the 2nd century BC. Chinmayananda stated that was the secret of Sanatan Dharma of Bharat. While the important significance of a philosophy always remained unchanged, the movement of humanity’s Mind needed serious surveying by sages. Masters adjusted the message with Time Cycles. Without altering the essential core of the Yoga of Harmlessness, avatars catered to the Total Mind with each moving age. Srimad Bhagvatam is the most important classic describing the life and times of Krishna. It is in truth the Hindu Bible. It introduced the Word, the Pranava Omkara. By exposing AUM as the advaitic mantra, the essence of all mantras, it explained “I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the ending who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8; 21:6 and 22:13). It is the Veda of a past satyayuga, each lasting 4800 years in purity, reality and truth. Then there was only one Deva, the supernatural leading Light entity. He was the Sun deity of Light and Energy that sustained and purified all Creation. There was only one Varna – a society without caste or class divisions. There was only one symbol of the Supreme: Agni the god of fire. Fire accepted all offerings as sacrifices and assimilated each into the Whole. Such Vedic rituals were practiced for success in love, marriage, family, business, finances and property as well as for attainment of the Self. In the beginning of the treta yuga the first ever Yagna was performed by the king Pururavas, the son of Buddha who was the agent of the planet Mercury for wisdom, All the major rishis of the Rig Veda were Masters of Wisdom. Atri the son of Brahma was both a bard and scholar. Vashishta was one of the seven sages and mind-son of Brahma in the first Yuga of Creation. Vishwamitra a sage became famous for the power of his penance and Kanva was known for some of the hymns in Rig Veda. They belonged to a Dynasty that once ruled eastern India (75–26 BC). All were Masters catering to a Total Mind of a humanity of a particular degree of enlightenment. Bharadwaj the son of Brihaspati was the master of prayer and devotion and ancestor of his tribe. Parasara who by his mystic power engulfed a boat carrying Satyavati fathered Vyasa the legendary semi divine sage who passed on the Hindu epics in prose and poetry. Gautama one of seven rishis (not Buddha) and Vyasa were Rama’s seniors and most of them advised, taught, guided or interacted with him. This was an age of want and fidelity for the supreme deity and Yoga thrived. Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950 AD) the Indian nationalist extremist leader of Independence, poet and philosopher told his devotees that divine Veda Mantras came to him in meditation and were revealed to him through these past Masters. The Bhagavad Gita was similarly revealed by Krishna the 8th principal avatar (reincarnation) of Vishnu. He taught Arjuna the hero of Mahabharata and 230 In the Beginning

Bhagavad Gita about 30 years before the close of dwapara yuga, an era when there was growing consciousness of an underlying unity of people, energy and nature. Krishna identified for Arjuna the primordial Energy (kundalini) found in the spinal cord of every individual. He also affirmed the presence of Changelessness found in the kutastha of all creatures without exception who is shining as the Self. It is the permanently seated changeless Being, destitute of egoism that lives as the Witness to the intellect of all creatures. With the beginning of kaliyuga an era when dark forces of nature started playing aggressive roles, causing breakdown of values in society, Vyasa summarized the 18 major philosophies of dwapara yuga, and poetically described Upanishads as the milk of Hinduism. Upanishads the mystical teachings of Hinduism have since been called the cows and Krishna the milkman. Nachiketas the son of a sage who was taught Truth about the ‘hereafter’ by the Ruler of Death was the great grandson of Gautama Maharishi. He was taught tat was kutastha and therefore the Witness was indestructible. Only the body had its death like the bubble It was such symbolic developments in the Upanishads and other texts that created an understanding of the Vedas. The monumental task started close on the heels of the Vedic Age (treta yuga) and was completed well before the Bhagavad Gita (end of dwapara yuga). One could therefore confidently state that treta yuga of Ram (Taurus) was the Vedic Age and assume that dwapara yuga of Krishna (Arian) was the Upanishadic Age. The birth of Jesus and John during the Roman Empire heralded Kaliyuga (Piscean Age). As the planet distanced itself from the Sun, the yoga of Fire Worship (meditation) became overpowered by harmfulness. In the epic Ramayana, Valmiki (400BC) the poet and harbinger of Sanskrit literature described details about Rama and Sita’s marriage ceremony performed by Parashurama, the sixth avatar of Vishnu. He recorded the marriage rite of Rama and Sita for posterity and the ritual is followed to this day. They were married according to Vedic rites first with saptapadi, the seven steps taken around the sacred fire. With the groom holding the bride’s fingers, seven blessings were and are invoked as the couple circumambulate seven times around Lord Agni. They ask for sufficiency, health, daily execution of spiritual duties, happiness, health, and bountiful seasons for the welfare of the Universe and a habitual appeal for and petition for universal peace. The panigrahanam ritual of bridegroom tying a mangal sutra around the bride’s neck symbolised accepting the bride’s hand in marriage. Varna or the caste system was never a popular idea of treta yuga. They became obvious only as dynasties of rakshasas (unrighteous humanoids), nagas (serpent people), vanars (prehumans) and devas (non-human beings) began appearing among humans. Krishna was recorded as saying “chatur varnam maya srishtam” in the Bhagavad Gita. This was to shrink the 4000 jathis and Universal Sun Worship 231 interjathis into four social orders based on karma (profession) and guna (quality of their personality). Although varnas based on tendencies was an idea of dwapara yuga, divisiveness of the caste system and its rigidity became a kaliyuga characteristic. Giorgio de Santillana mentioned nearly thirty old cultures of antiquity that believed in the concept of ages and the rise and fall of history, with alternating Dark and Golden Ages. The yuga idea of the Hindus calculated disappearing kaliyuga (age of darkness) since the eighteenth century and a gradual progression into satyayuga. There will be no end of the world in the near future as is being predicted by present day prophesies. The Piscean epoch is over. The Age of Aquarius has begun. The next age comes with a promise of hope, courage and fearlessness. It is and always was Spirit’s Consciousness that instilled a desire for liberation in the wise who then spent their lives in righteous worldly duties. It was the Lord who leapt in all actions serving Creation. The inner urges to perform right action according to scriptural injunctions were always seen in sages and prophets. Through such examples, God’s power sustained even worldly men to perform desireless action. The devoted saw no difference in stone, plant or creature. In every atom the spiritualist saw His essence and in His transcendence the devotee of Nature saw only Spirit. The theory of Atonism [existence of atom in matter: whether seen or unseen] was known in Egypt in 14th century BC. Although sun worship was often called a “pagan” religion, its perspective was not. Its rites were perhaps culturally unusual but their aim was purely atonist. Use of solar motifs was common across cultures, but a few cultures (Egyptian, Indo-European, and Meso-American) also developed solar religions. All of these groups had in common a well-developed urban civilization with a strong ideology of sacred kingship. In all of them Sun was the ruler of both the upper (astral) and the lower (substance) worlds. In both, the Sun majestically showed up on his daily rounds. Therefore, veneration of the Sun, as a symbol of a ‘seen and unseen’ deity was for actualisation and liberation of the unseen human soul, the inner Sun. The Gayatri Mantra existed long before the coming of Jesus and his teachings. It was and continues to be an ancient veneration to the yet invisible Sun at dawn who instantaneously wipes out the Ignorance and Darkness of Night with the first Light of the Creator. Sun the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe were always considered worthy of Worship because It embodied Knowledge (Ganesha, the Son), gave Force and Will of the Father and Power and Energy of the Holy Spirit (Life- Force]. With His unblinking, all-seeing eye, He is the demanding sponsor of neutrality. His collective connection with Light and Enlightenment made him the Source of Wisdom. Therefore, his qualities of imperative ruling, generosity, justice and wisdom were all central to any religious groups. It was within these contexts that a developed solar ideology was founded. Kings ruled by the power 232 In the Beginning of the Sun. They claimed descent from the Sun. Solar deities were gods personifying the Sun: a prime quality of the Supreme Deity. In old Egypt the sun-god Re was the dominant figure among the high gods, even since the dawn of that civilization. In the myth about the voyage of the sun, God was described as journeying over the heavenly ocean. The sun set out as the young god Kheper the major god of transformation of the earth: from duality to divinization. He appeared at noon in the zenith as the full-grown sun, Re or Ra. The sun-god of the horizon arrived in the evening in the west in the shape of the ‘old’ sun-god Atum who was the patron of sun, creation and rulership of all gods Thutmose III (Isaac Levi), Thutmose I (King David), Thutmose II (Pharez), and Amenhotep II (Jacob Israel), Amenhotep III (Solomon) as well as his son Rehobaum (Akhenaton or Amenhotep IV) were all sun worshipers. They practiced the Fire Worship of meditation. With the fall of the Hyksos shepherd kings after Rehobaum (17th and 16th century BC), aboriginal Egyptian Pharaohs gradually returned to their traditional Egyptian polytheism. The Judaic Hyksos pharaohs introduced worship centred on Atum the Sun, giving the status above all local gods. Among the Indo-European people, the sun or surya was a symbol of divine power. It was glorified in the Vedic hymns of ancient India as an all-seeing god who saw all actions. There was a dynasty of sun kings that were peaceful and distinct from the war-like moon kings. In medieval Iran, sun festivals were celebrated as a heritage from pre-Islamic times. The Indo-European character of sun worship was also seen in conceiving the solar deity, drawn in his carriage, by four white horses, common to many Indo-European peoples, and recurring in Indo-Iranian, Greco-Roman, and Scandinavian mythology. During the later periods of Roman history, sun worship gained importance and eventually led to what was called a “solar monotheism.” Nearly all the gods of the period were possessed of solar qualities. Mithra who reincarnated as Jesus was the pagan sun-god of 600 BC, a Zoroastrian divinity. An existing a covenant was that December 25 would be celebrated to commemorate Sol Invictus, when the ancient sun-god was ‘born’. These then picked up the traits of solar deities. The feast of Sol Invictus [unconquered sun]) on December 25 was celebrated with great joy and eventually this date was taken over by the Churchians as Christmas, the birth day of Jesus. The most famous solar cult was the Sun-Dance of the Plains Indians of North America. In the pre-Columbian civilizations of Mexico and Peru, sun worship was a prominent feature. In Aztec religion, extensive human sacrifice was demanded by the sun-gods Huitzilopochtli and Tezcatlipoca. In both Mexican and Peruvian ancient religions, the sun occupied an important place in myth and ritual. The ruler in Peru was an incarnation of the sun-god, Inti. In Japan the sun goddess, Amaterasu, played an important role. She was Universal Sun Worship 233 the mythical supreme ruler of the world, and is even today the tutelary deity of the imperial clan. The sun symbol represented the Japanese state. Sun worship therefore always existed as the supreme deity of the planet. This Universal Religion of the world has survived in many cultures to this day. Their religious observances and ceremonies existed even before the days of Jesus. Churchianity considered Sun worship an old form of idolatry. Ironically it has existed in a subtle form in various Churchian rites the world over. Amid widespread solar deification as a central and main feature of the religious life of all people, it was not surprising that it still exists. The likeness of ceremonial rites of sun worship, the sacrifices and rituals in various widely separated nations of the earth, are proof for a keen observer of history and ethnology. In Rome, in the fifth century AD, it was the custom to bow to the sun before entering a church and to salute the rising sun from the summit of a hill. Emperor Constantine 272–337 AD) was a dedicated and devout adherent to sun worship but became convinced of the superior claims of Christianity as the rising religion; his conversion was a change of policy, and moral character and politics of Churchianity. Churchianity triumphed when he abandoned this form of ‘idolization’. In Armenia, sun worship exists to this day and the Bedouin Moors of the Arabian Desert constantly practice the adoration of the rising sun, despite the Prophet’s command against such observances. In the Upper Palatinate of Germany it was still usual to take off the hat to the rising sun and in Pomerania of old Prussia/Poland the fever-stricken patient was rebuked to face the rising sun and invoke the sun thrice for a cure “in the name of the Holy Trinity.” The Tartar tribes of Mongolia sacrificed their horses to the sun-god, to free them from the miseries of winter. Mongol in hordes are still seen with a high priest praying to the sun and throwing milk into the air as offering to the sun-god. In Australia and Polynesia, solar mythology overshadows the deification of the sun. Their early history was rich in legends and tales of the mighty deeds of the sun hero. Stonehenge for druidical worship also embraced the sacred rites of solar veneration. The position and location of the group of stones on the wide plain has for eternity commanded an unobstructed view of the horizon. Those who meet at Stonehenge annually at dawn on 21st June, note the sun rise exactly over the centre of the stone ‘The Pointer’. Sun worship of the Druids was introduced into England and Ireland by Egyptian settlers. Druid rites conformed with those attached to sun worship in ancient Egypt. These striking likenesses of these various sites of Sun Worship suggest that somewhere in the early world there was a means of communication between all the continents. Sun Worship Universally Venerated the Trinity Sun [God—Brahman] the bestower of light [Creator Father Force—Brahma] and life [Mother Power – Holy Spirit] gave the cosmos their Love [Son] with 234 In the Beginning his unblinking, all-seeing eye (Christ). He was the stern guarantor of justice with connection with the Light for enlightenment and a source of Wisdom by invoking The Word in Silence. The Sun’s qualities: sovereignty, power of generosity, justice and wisdom are central to any religious group. It was in that context that solar ideology was founded by different cultures. Kings ruled by the power of the Sun. King Rama claimed descent from the sun. Solar deity was sovereign and because the sun was all-seeing, a prime quality of God, the Sun was identified with the Supreme Deity, Brahman. India is a land teeming with mythology. Sun worship is the most important element of the Hindu religion. All their myths conjure warfare between Light and Darkness, waged daily on the unwrapped turf of the Universe. In India, Indra is the king of gods in the heaven. He is also the god of storms, war and the great solar deity who is successful in his combat with Vritra the serpent dragon of drought and of the night. Worship of Indra is the personification of the Vedic religion. Hindu worship the rising sun as Brahma, God-the-Creator; at its meridian the Sun is Vishnu, the Son and Sustainer; and at dusk the Sun is Shiva, the eternal Energy at Dissolution. According to mythology, it was Agni the fire-god who armed him with a steering wheel that would be able to shoot thunderbolts from its centre. Sun worship continues among many of the hill tribes where the sun is invoked as the Holy One. Sun-god is even today worshipped as Surya who moves daily across the sky in a golden chariot drawn by seven white horses. Ancient sun worship of India is still reflected in daily religious rites and festivals of the modern Hindus. The divine deity (sun) is called on with the Gayatri mantra asking it to “unveil the darkness while I meditate on the light of the sun, like dawn erases the mind’s night of ignorance”. An appeal to the solar deity is made every morning by Hindus who are seen ceremoniously prostrating (surya namaskar) facing the east, standing on one foot, and stretching out their hands to the sun as they repeat this prayer which has come down unchanged from remote ages. Four thousand years ago, Zoroastrians of Persia and its modern exponents (the Parsees) saw in the sun both Fire (Mother) and Light (Father). In Parsee temples burns a fire which, their people assert, has never been put out since it was kindled by Zoroaster 4000 years ago. In praying, Parsees stand toward the sun in the east before the fire. They turn their faces towards sun from whom the Fire is sourced. The ritual brings from the sun to adherents the influence of Love. In 900 BC, the ancient sun-god of the Pelasgians or ancient inhabitants of Greece, was Ares one of the 12 Olympians and son of Zeus and Hera. Prehistoric Greece Ares was later displaced by the worship of Apollo. The two great solar divinities of Greece were Helios or Hyperion [Light] and Phœbus Apollo. The Greeks distinguished the orb (Father) from the rays (Holy Spirit) of the sun. Universal Sun Worship 235

Helios represented the phenomenon of Light of the sun orb which controlled the daily rising and setting of the sun, as well as, the seasons. Phœbus Apollo was the beneficent holiness who created warmth of the spring-tide and protected mankind from disease during bleak seasons. Hyperion, the sun-god, was considered father of the sun, moon, and dawn and of Phœbus Apollo, but Homer identified Helios with Hyperion. Worship of the sun-god Helios or Latin Sol came to Greece from Asia. The number seven was sacred to Helios. In Sicily it was said he had seven herds of cow and seven herds of lamb—fifty in each herd, which never increased or decreased in number. The god took delight in watching them peacefully grazing when he rose in the morning and as he left the sky at nightfall. These sacred herds of Helios were ruthlessly slaughtered by imprudent companions of Ulysses. Incensed by this insult the sun-god Helios threatened to descend into Hades and shine among the dead. He instead contented himself by complaining to Jove who as vengeance roused a powerful tempest which nearly destroyed the wrongdoers. To this day, an annual festival of music and athletics is held there in honour of Helios. It is celebrated at Rhodes the Greek Island some 11 miles south-west of Turkey. The Greeks believe the sun rose out of the ocean on the eastern side and drove through the air in a chariot giving light to gods and men. Lucian (125–180 AD) of Samosata, a witty Assyrian and satirist who was known for his scoffing nature and Greek writings, kissed Greek hands as an act of worship to the rising sun. These people were probably the Dorians from northern Greece, who founded their first kingdom in Crete. Before its invasion, Crete had some sun worship with an Asiatic stamp. With migrating Dorians to Crete, Apollo worship was established there also. The cult of Phœbus [Light] Apollo [harsh mid-day sun] as the Son-god spread to wherever the Greek language was spoken. In Homer, Apollo was the greatest deity of all as the sun- god. In the Iliad he was the central and most majestic figure. To Greeks, Apollo was the son of Jupiter and Latona but also brother of Diana, the moon goddess. Establishment of the Delphinian oracle was the most important event in the life of the sun-god. Delphi was the seat of Apollo worship. Apollo developed qualities of a warrior and in his search for peace came to Delphi, a peaceful vale in Crissa in the heart of Greece. He chose it as the site of his oracle but his arrival was not peaceful. Hera set in his path the great serpent Pytho, and a combat followed from which Apollo emerged victorious. According to many mythologies, the sun-god waged war with the river-god which flows all around the world as “Oceanus”. The sun was and is conquered by Oceanus each night and smothered in his coils but it emerges triumphant every morning. There was striking likeness between the lives of the sun-god Phœbus Apollo and Jesus. The circumstances of their birth were similar, in that they (also like Krishna), were born in comparative obscurity. Apollo’s mother sought in vain for a suitable place to bring him up. At last, she took him to a desolate and barren 236 In the Beginning island amid the sea. Like Jesus, Apollo received three gifts at his birth by Zeus and then hurried away to a peaceful land soon after his birth. For a while Phœbus Apollo hid his greatness in a beggar’s garb, bearing with patience the jibes and sneers of his comrades. He preferred to bide his time when all men would recognize his greatness. Apollo’s of existence, hardships, wanderings, strife and actions, glory, death and reappearance were in every way similar to the life of Jesus. The most noted of the temples dedicated to sun worship was placed at Amyclæ where Apollo was regarded as the patron of herdsmen and called “Nomius”. Here the sun-god was worshipped as “Delphinius”, in a temple in Athens. Number seven was sacred to Apollo too. As god of light he was “Lycius”, the original centre of this worship in the south-west of Asia Minor. Worship of the sun as Apollo was not traditional in Rome until 320 BC when a temple was raised to Apollo because of a pestilence that had swept the city. Afterwards a second temple was dedicated to his devotional worship on the Palatine Hill. To the poets of all ages Phœbus Apollo was a source of inspiration and the symbol of poetry. In later times, Greeks poets made no distinction between Apollo and the sun-god Helios. Dorians established newer kingdoms as they migrated. They founded the worship of the sun-god Heracles in other lands. Gradually, this form of religion became popular and supplanted the worship of Apollo. Heracles was considered more because of a solar hero than a sun-god who loved and was beloved. Wherever he went he wished goodness for sons of men unlike Apollo, who sometimes brought destruction and desolation through the fierce heat of his rays. Once Constantine legalized Christianity, Druidic “paganism” was assimilated into Church rites. Their principal festivals of solar worship were adopted, like always, from a symbolic point of view. Practices of solar rites or sun worship lay at the heart of most festivals which the Catholic Church followed. These were not relics of a heathen religion. As Chinmayananda would say, through sacred rites, a blended practice of beliefs was rejuvenated. Over time, hostile bellicosity towards sun worship was forgotten for churchianity. When Churchianity ‘evangelized the heathen lands’, in ignorance they simply converted Churchians towards the sun worship. Apostles were asked to spread Love that was Christ. Ignorance unknowingly reignited Love for the rising sun, the risen son, the son of Light and Energy—Christ met in Silence and riding on The Word at the kutastha, the point between the two eyebrows—the witnessing ajna chakra, the 6th spinal centre where Brahman was ensconced and realised in the Silence of Aum. Under Constantine, the so-called pagan temples became church buildings and in time pagan priests became ‘Churchian’ priests. Pagan and heathen ceremonies came into the now apostate church which resulted in observing Easter Universal Sun Worship 237 and Christmas. Later Pope lineage can be traced to their predecessors to 735 BC when the office was held by the kings and emperors of Rome. In Japan, worship of the sun-god is still supreme. Sun-god was regarded as the “heaven-enlightening great spirit. Below him stood all the lesser spirits. Through them as mediators, guardians, and protectors, worship is paid by men.” Among the Shinto deities it was the sun-goddess who was the central figure. To reunite Buddhism and Shintoism the chief priests asserted the sun-goddess was an incarnation of Buddha. The shrine of the sun-goddess in Emperor Mikado’s home is revered by that monarch as one of the family gods. Her emblem is the mirror, which to the present day is considered one of the sacred treasures of the Japanese sovereigns. A temple of the sun-goddess was established at Watarahi in Yengishiki, the shrine of the Goddess of Food. These two deities were the chief of the Japanese Pantheon. They were honoured above all other gods at festivals and ceremonies held yearly. Offerings and sacrifices were presented to these goddesses on the seventeenth day of the sixth moon “in the presence of the From-Heaven-Shining- Great Deity.” Thanksgiving was offered to the sun-goddess at the harvest festival for granting on her descendants dominion over land and sea. In South America, indigenous tribes that worshipped the sun since ancient times can still be found. Sun’s movement across the sky was a distinguished achievement welcomed for his genial warmth wherever nature suffered at the sun’s disappearance. Therefore, in the lowlands of South America, Sun worship achieved little importance, but on the high plateaus of Peru, it flourished robustly and was the dominant feature of life of the natives. Peruvians believed that sun was the ancestor and founder of the Inca Dynasty that reigned as its representatives in person. The sun, the sovereign lord of the world, was considered King of Heaven and Earth. They called him “Inti”, which signified Light. Peruvian villages were built with an unobstructed view of the east. Each morning the nation united in saluting the rising sun and rejoiced in the approaching of Lord of Light. The Sun alone had a temple in every large town in Peru. These temples exceeded in magnificence than those of any other nation on earth. The villagers saw the sun’s tears in Peru’s nuggets of gold dislodged from the mountainsides. Peruvian structures dedicated to sun worship were therefore, adorned lavishly with gold. The Great Temple of the Sun at Cuzco, the grandest ecclesiastical structure in the Inca Empire consisted of a vast central auditorium surrounded by a few smaller buildings. Its roof was formed by prized woods plated with gold on the interior of the Golden Palace. A thick sheet of gold six inches wide ran round the outside the building as a frieze. There was similar decoration in every apartment. The door opened to the east and at the far end above the altar was a golden disk-shaped like a human face. It was graven to represent the sun and studded with precious stones. It was placed to reflect the first rays of the rising 238 In the Beginning sun on its brilliant surface. Around the sacred disk was arranged in a semicircle, the mummies of the departed Incas seated on golden thrones. When the morning sun rays shone on the sacred disc, It came every day to bless the remains of rulers of bygone ages. Although sun worship of Peruvians reached a higher state of exaltation and perfection than anywhere else in South America, pre-eminence of the sun and its deification was the essence of the early religion of Central America, particularly of Mexico. Ancient Mexicans called themselves “children of the sun” and greeted the rising sun with hymns of praise and offers of a share of their meat and drink. Even to this day, in the interior of Mexico, when people walk to mass, they throw a kiss to the sun before entering the church. Temples of the ancient Toltec, who occupied Mexico as far back as 674 AD, were also dedicated to the sun. The Moon was worshipped as the sun’s wife and stars as his sisters. No image was allowed within these temples and their offerings were perfumed flowers and sweet-scented gums. Great pyramids were built in the honour and adoration of the sun and moon. Idols decorated with designs of the sun’s rays were noticeable in their old carvings. The supreme god of the early Mexicans was Quetzalcohuatl, who personified the sun of ‘today’. His father Camaxtli the conqueror was the sun of ’yesterday’. The god Tezcatlipoca signified the sun of tomorrow. Worship of the sun that unambiguously existed and flourished in the East and Far East was equally prominent in the life of the early Indian tribes of North America. The chiefs of the Huron tribe claimed a direct descent from the sun. They and other First Nation Tribes believe the sacred pipe was drawn from this luminary. They thought it was first presented to the Pawnees and by them transferred to the other tribes. Many of the Indian tribes have a similar tradition. The Iroquois regarded the sun as a god and offered him tobacco, which they termed “smoking the Sun”. On important occasions the braves gathered squatting on the ground in a circle. The chief then lit the calumet and offered it to the rising sun three times, asking for protection and recommending the tribe for his care. He then took several puffs and passed the pipe on for all the others to smoke in turn. Prayers of the people mingled with the smoke of incense, were the invocations of the early Indians to their sun deity. Certain tribes offered to the sun the first game they despatched when they were out on a hunting expedition. Apalachees of Florida offered nothing that had no life in their offerings. They regarded sun the parent of life and believed that he looked with displeasure on destroying any living creature. They saluted the sun at the doors of their wigwams as he rose and set and in the sacred hut or cave where they worshipped. Sun’s rays were allowed to enter to light up the altar at certain times of ceremonial importance. These facts unite the present with the long-observed orientation of sun temple worship by Indo-Europeans, Indians and Egyptians. During their service Universal Sun Worship 239 of sun worship, the Apalachees released birds through a crevice in the roof of the cave temple. As they winged their way upward they were thought to send expressions of adoration to the sun, the supreme deity. To the Crees of Canada, the sun represented the Great Spirit. Toward him they directed the first puff of smoke from the calumet, as they sat in solemn council. To him they bowed reverently in their discussions. The early Indian tribes of prostrated themselves before the rising and setting sun. The Potawatomie climbed the roofs of their huts to kneel and offered a mess of Indian corn to sunrise. The powerful Sioux tribe regarded the sun as the Creator and Preserver of all things and to him they sacrificed the best of the game they killed in the hunt. Shawnees believed the sun animated everything and therefore was the Master of Life or the Great Spirit. Sun worship by Indian tribes of the southern portions of North America was on a more elaborate scale than in the northern. Doubtless, it was influenced by the widely extended and exalted sun worship of the South American tribes. Some Indians even erected to the sun a second circular hut thirty feet in diameter. The hut was the repository of images and religious relics which were kept around a continuous fire where prayers were offered to the sun three times each day. Following the Inca custom, the bones of their departed chiefs were also placed in the sacred structure. Their most powerful chief was regarded as the sun’s brother; as high priest he conducted the temple service of worship to the sun. Fire worship was closely related to sun worship and often, the North American Indians regarded fire and not the sun, as the creator of all things, the Supreme Deity. Of all the Indian customs and forms of worship of solar significance, the great ceremonial of the sun dance best typified their worship of the sun. Dance still has deep religious significance as an act of sun worship. The Seneca sun dance rite is necessary for the welfare of their community. It begins quickly at high noon, when three showers of arrows or volleys from muskets are shot heavenward to tell the sun of their intent to address him. After each volley the populace shouts its war cry, “for the sun loves war”. Over a ceremonial fire the sun priest chanted thanksgiving while casting from a husk- basket handfuls of native tobacco into the flames outside the Longhouse where the rising smoke lifted their words to the sun. Immediately after, the assembly entered the Longhouse. Here, costumed feather dancers start the Ostowa-gowa. Among the Onondaga of the Grand River Reserve in Ontario the leader of the sun ceremony carried a ten-inch wooden disc effigy of the sun fastened to a foot-long handle. The disk was painted red, and had a border of yellow. Around the edge were stuck yellow-tipped down feathers. The ancient religions were multidisciplinary and were records of human religious experiences and ideas. Their histories began with settlements, invented scripts for writing, followed a faith based complex system of polytheistic beliefs 240 In the Beginning and rituals – all centred on the worship of the Sun. They were ethical systems until Political and Churchian domination over the last 2000 years erased the what, where, when, why and how of Solar veneration. Today Hindu Scriptures are where records of this Universal Religion can be found. Sun Worship thrives in India Vedic scriptures of the Hindu religion refer to the sun or surya or Aditya as the storehouse of inexhaustible power and radiance. The Vedas had and still have hymns describing the heavenly body as the Source of lasting Life on the earth. The origin of Sun Worship survived in India for scores of centuries old. References to Sun Worship were found in the Purana, the literary texts dating from 4th century BC to 1000 AD. The epic Ramayana spoke of Agasthya. This evolved a Sun-worshipping sage was so powerful that even the Vindhya Mountain Range in central of India, prostrated to enable his passage over them. The Vindhya Range promised not to rise until Agasthya returned from launching Rama into Sun Worship. The Aditya Hrdaya Mantra in praise of the Sun could be heard echoing its magnetic power over earth, water, fire and wind. An astrologer of those times described the intricacies of installing the Sun as an icon of worship. Varahamirhira the astrologer made references to the intricacies of ceremonies connected with installing the icon – the Sun. Other sages, creatures and even the inanimate who understood the Power and Force of Surya, the Sun left behind their testimony for posterity. Mayura was a sacred bird that lived in the court of Emperor Harsha. Harshavardhana who ruled 606–647 AD became king at age 16 and ruled Northern India for 41 years. In the 1st millennium AD he composed the Surya Satakam Mantra. It was in praise of Surya through echo of sound able to express the glory of the Supreme Reality. It was recorded the quality and sound of the mantric uniformity cured Harsha of blindness. Iran was once a centre of Solar Worship. During Magha [11th month of Hindu and January in ] priests of Iran came to India to officiate in solar ceremonies. Sun temples of ancient days are still known as Aditya Grihas. The traveller Ktesias, a Greek physician and historian of 5th century BC, described old sites of Sun worship in western India. He noted that Sun temples across the subcontinent emanated the flavour of the region they belonged to. The sun temple of Dakshinarka in the Gangetic plains was considered a site for making offerings to ancestors. Suryanaar Koyil temple of Tamil Nadu in South India located in the hamlet Tirumangalakkudi near Thanjavur was dedicated to the sun-god but also housed shrines to each of the other eight heavenly bodies, the nava grihams. Close by exist the Shivastalams Tirumangalakkudi and Kanjanur or Sukrastalam Surya [sun] temples: they are still used by the local villagers. Arasavilli and Konark on the East Coast of India, Modhera in Universal Sun Worship 241

Gujarat (western India), Surya Pahar in north-eastern India and Unao in central India are the most active famous sun temples of India. Remains of an ancient sun temple at Martanda near Srinagar in Kashmir dates from first century BC; there are others in Multan, now in Pakistan. Many temples dedicated to Shiva, have within them a small shrine for Surya the sun- god. Many of these shrines are designed to receive the Sun’s rays in the sanctum on certain days of the year. Here the faithful gather to be near Him and say, “Lord I am near your door. Please open it and grant me the samadhi state of absorption into you. Lord, give me realization.” The Fire Worship to the Sun or kutastha or Christ has the Power to destroy ‘self’ into Self through an eightfold path of Yoga which include a lifestyle of complete harmlessness. Scattered Pilgrims wanting a Cosmic Connection Humanity always knew about but was unable to identify the Higher Spirit. The Holy Spirit, the Comforter and a great number of related ideas leading to the Higher World were never understood by most of a humanity blinded by the Piscean Age of Kaliyuga. Under varying conditions some sensed their common Supreme, indescribable origin. Some expected to transform to Spirit through power in the Philosopher’s Stone. This was not an egocentric suggestion by the uninformed seeker. It was their insight of truth. People searched for the Comforter. Pilgrims to old Jerusalem, Egypt, Babylon, and amid the undiscovered cultures of the Mayans were for centuries seeking the Source. Everywhere, including at pilgrim sites in different continents of the world, seekers sought the ‘beyond’ in various ancient subtle symbols. In all such places were found the same exalted confirmation of ancient historical evidence that humanity was inherently divine and for eons have sought the Supreme. Pilgrims nevertheless hope the science of archaeology would inexplicably lead them towards the Higher World. Urusvati Centre of Roerichs studied psychic and physiological natures of man. They concluded that harm is the result of a little knowledge especially when placed in the wrong hands. “Unfortunately, even a fool can strike a certain rhythm whose resonance can create disharmony, resulting in destruction. The priority of the seeker should be to focus on bettering his own consciousness. Only if there is an inner striving can one hope to achieve the harmony that enables him to apply the many formulas of learning and teaching. Let everyone understand that knowledge is fruitful only when it can be accepted”. The Thinker (bronze statue of Dante by Auguste Rodin) depicting a man in meditation is seen battling with a powerful internal struggle. Unless past habits, tendencies, likes- and-dislikes and wants are transcended through critical thinking, knowledge and wisdom remain a distant reality. Knowledge given to a dried-up fruit tree cannot feed the pilgrim. Cosmos was always in a constant process of creation. Through a regular throb of explosions, the rhythm gave harmony to creation. Inherent Knowledge 242 In the Beginning of Spirit in the Seed carried with it the thread of manifested life. Currents from the Cosmos stood by as heavenly rainbows and earthly dew to awakened seeds already embedded with knowledge of the Spirit only waiting to see the Light. It was the undiscerning the ‘wild’ spirit curled in a seed of chaos that neither detected the knowing Spirit, nor the harp of Light. Between these two worlds, thread-like Creation stretched the Philosophers’ Stone. The thread needed understanding spiritually and physically. The seeker had to enlist its seed of psychic energy with harmony in thought, word and deed. Harmlessness would set up waves of vibrations from the heaven to blend man and spirit. Small actions by beginner seekers of spirituality needed help. Masters were perennially there to raise each soul of humanity. They were there to awaken the perennially slumbering seed seeking oneness with Source. All religions were a precious gift from God to man, to gauge his inclinations, perfect his morals and to collect again the many into one (Genesis 11: 1). Whatever concord the family of man once enjoyed disappeared when they scattered all over the globe. Possessed of minds with many differences, and ideas opposing each other, worshipping of creeds became one more irrational than the other. With no strength or feasibility to cement them together into a supportive brotherhood, religion became a collection of differing mankind with only one common bond of humanness. The Masters were always around to rearrange diversity into a one human family—all under one Father and one God. About Eastern Masters The Natha were an ancient group of initiatory tradition of Rishis who were lord, protector and refuge of humanity. Among the Siddha sects there were sages who were perfected Masters who had transcended the ego by following a spiritual path. They had stopped all want, cast off fear and anger, made Self their beloved, remained connected by constantly listening to the Word AUM and abiding in the kutastha. Their lives were a study of medieval Indian Thought that was mystical, devotional and connected to medieval culture. Earmarked families embedded in the Oral Tradition carried with them undisclosed ingredients of religion, tradition and clandestine information about Sanatan Dharma that were passed down by word of mouth. Therefore, much of what was written about different yoga techniques and science, as well as alchemy, remained alive and current even through kaliyuga. Legends about secret substances suitable for gaining oneness with the Whole were also held in safekeeping for the past 2000 years or more. Old records of tantra mention substances for assimilation used for enabling higher and quicker merging with the Source. Records of tantra also wrote about the use menstruum (hormones of the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus) enabling the seeker to become less physical and more subtle. Tantra consisted of a system of doctrines and teachings of different traditions of belief, rituals, Universal Sun Worship 243 and symbols. Buddhist tantric literature, made reference to many practices, some involving sexual activity, that had no basis in canonical literature. It was MH Sastri, a Sanskrit researcher, who drew the attention of scholars to the literature of Buddhist Siddh-acharyas many of whom were identical with the Nathas, and were also known as Siddhas. Tantric literature especially that, of the Tripura section came from the homeland of Rama in north-east India and surrounding areas of . Legends from these areas came from sages who were known names of famous Nathas, some of whom were of historical distinction. After introduction into the school of Nathas the disciple was given a name ending in Natha, meaning ‘refuge, protector, lord, and adept master’. At first he underwent regular physical yogic practice and a systematic study of scriptural teachings. They studied the lives of earlier hatha yogis who were known as adept Nathas. The 9th and 10th century legendary Masters of Hatha Yoga, Matsyendranath and Gorakhnath, made the world aware of the Natha Order of sages. Hatha yoga was a creation of the kanphata (split-eared) Natha siddha meditating in the Himalayas. Fringe practitioners of the order are still seen around with their matted-hair, ash-smeared bodies and claim are Shakti- worshipping alchemists and tantrikas. The serious Natha adepts undertake great physical austerities to become skilful and achieve pure consciousness, unencumbered by the body and mind. With their gained siddhis they yearn to become immortal and bless the natural world. As followers of Gorakhnath, and the Natha Sampradaya they put much emphasis on celibacy. The ‘Hatha Yoga Pradipika’ highlighted entrenching into the Yoga of Harmlessness through yama and niyama: the Ten Yogic Commandments. Before entering the Yoga of Meditation by stilling the body (asana), learning scientific breathing (pranayama), withdrawing from body awareness (pratyahara), a seeker of Raja yoga withdraws as witness in the kutastha for contemplation, meditation and assimilation into pure Consciousness. The adept Nathas supported Vajrayana tantric Buddhism and Sahajayana Buddhism that stated the world was unnecessary while seeking release from transmigration. The Tantrikas of Tripura Order was another Asian body of beliefs and practices which, worked from the principle the universe man experienced was nothing other than a concrete manifestation of divine energy that created and upheld the Universe. It therefore sought to ritually take and channelize that Energy, within its individual human microcosm, in a creative way for emancipation. The now defunct Virachara cult, an 8th century sect, believed that in deep meditation the seeker sought the ‘showering with the nectar’ of amrita or manna. It would free the practitioner from old age, and freed them from all illness. This sect had practices similar pharaonic rituals for physical transcendence for long healthy lives. 244 In the Beginning

Evaluated from antiquity, the Nathas were followers of Dattatreya, the first incarnation of Shiva. He embraced all spiritual paths as sourced from One tradition. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva were sourced from One Brahman - Consciousness. Shaivism was the oldest sect and worshipping Shiva has remained the heart of Hinduism. Later Sahajiyas who are Vaishnavas prescribed that to discover one’s own identity with spiritual practices, perfection happened progressively through graded meditative practices. Vaishnavas are today most of Hindus who practice awareness, self-recognition and growth through devotional worship, especially by identifying with Krishna and Rama. All sects had several features in common. The relationship between these schools of thought was allied to the philosophical understanding of the time. They had faith in the benefits of the alchemy associated with spiritual efforts. From the gross every atom of the physical, physiological, psychological, intellectual could be seen and proven to metamorphose into the subtle energy of Light. Meanwhile for eons, the science of alchemy was researched, used and cultivated in Ancient India, Egypt and perhaps even Europe. Many continued these practices of creating white powder from gold and using menstruum as the chemical to trigger physical transformation. Over Time many forgot the significance of these practices. India’s people bathe and use Gangajal, but the meaning was gradually forgotten. The River Ganges like the River Jordan represented the Spiritual River Sushumna flowing through the spinal cord, the path of ascent towards the Holy Spirit. The Comforter witnessed at the baptism of Jesus was what the pilgrim sought when the seeker dipped into the Ganges. The gift of the Holy Ganga River commands high value in every Hindu home and ceremony from birth to death. Devoted Hindus aspire to bathe as well as immerse their cremated remains after death in this river. Such ambitions to be immersed in the power of the Comforter is imbued and inbred in their traditions. Therefore in India developing this mystical science of the alchemy of devotion was always associated with the many names of Nathas, siddhas, priests and sages. Natha Sects of Masters Though the origin of Nathas was said to be ‘from the divine’, its historical foundation was ascribed to one called Matsyendranath. The life of this great man was so intimately woven with legends that it was always difficult to make a proper conception of facts. Legend said that Matsyendranath was originally a fish who overheard the secret yoga instruction given by Shiva to his consort Parvati. Matsyendranath immediately became rigid and his body became fixed to the its mind. Shiva was quick to respond to this transformation in the fish and Parvati immediately understood what ‘unfaltering and steadiness’ meant when following the path of esoteric contemplation. The kind-hearted Shiva sprinkled water on the fish’s rigid body and it immediately transfigured itself Universal Sun Worship 245 into a celestial human form. He eventually became known as the famous siddha Matsyendranath. S.S. Sastri (1904-19740) a renowned multilingual historian was of the opinion the real name of Matsyendranath was Machch-haghna, meaning a fisherman. Be that as it may, Matsyendranath was obviously a yogi of the highest order. It was said that despite his great powers he became a victim to the snares of lust and passion. It was with much difficulty that Gorakhnath, his most favourite disciple, succeeded in reclaiming him. As is usual in India, the Natha sect continued to claim a divine origin. Brahmananda Sarasvati (1863-1922), in his commentary stated that Adinatha or Shiva was the first Natha and, therefore, according to tradition the sect was initiated by Shiva. The sect was known as Natha-pantha, Siddhamarga and even Avadhuta marga. Teachers of this School lay great emphasis on the practice of yoga for attainment of self-perfection. Therefore, the path was designated as Yogamarga, a classic Path of Yoga of the truest kind. Closely allied to the Natha sect was the Kapalik sect, but was also a distinct path altogether. Kapalik sect was purely Shaivite. It followed five doctrines towards Wholeness. It was governed by: Action (karya), Cause (pati), Spiritual discipline (yoga), Observance of directives (charya) and End of sorrow. Its origin was also credited to Adinatha (Shiva) but its main teachings and practices added up to of their own rules. The sect owns a list of 24 leading Kapalikas—of 12 teachers and 12 pupils. Some of these names, especially those of the pupils, were of well-known historic Nathas and Siddhas belonging to other sects. Matsyendranath had several disciples. Besides Gorakhnath, who became the most renowned of the batch, there were Chaurangi and Ghoracholi among others. Specific legends were associated with each Siddha [accomplished perfect master]. Almost every Natha was credited with composing definite verses of a lyric which were and are still sung since Middle Ages. Historically the creators of these verses spanned from the 5th to the 15th centuries AD. Today, beggars on the streets of India sing this song-like poetry with a one-stringed lyre-like instrument. Street singers recited legends of Nathas, the most famous was one about Chaurangi. Chaurangi meant ‘without four limbs (hands and legs)’. It was said that while the siddha Matsyendranath, was roaming the world he came across Chaurangi. He punctuated a doom on Chaurangi and in a mysterious way gave him with hands and legs. Chaurangi fell at the feet of the great master siddha, asked for his Grace and was surprised to receive it. He too became a siddha and is known as Chaurangi Natha. But the greatest of Matsyendranath disciples was the greatest soul India ever produced. He was Goraksa or Gorakhnath, who became not only a great siddha but became the father of hatha yoga - a yogic exercise that highlighted specific postures and controlled breathing in its current form. Gorakhnath was known as the greatest apostle of yogic mysticism of 246 In the Beginning medieval ages. In his personal treatise, the ‘Pancha-matra-yogi’, he stated that during his discipleship he spent twelve long years in watchfulness on cremation grounds seeking absolute Stillness and Silence. Taranatha (1575-1634) a Lama of Tibetan Buddhism defined that Gorakhnath was originally a Buddhist but became a Natha in his later years. As a Buddhist he was known as Ananga. This may not be true, because of the text Kayabodhi credited to Gorakhnath himself, stated that he originally practiced arambha, meaning sacrificial slaughter. If that was correct, he could not be a Buddhist before his entry into Nathism. The ages of Gorakhnath or of his Guru Matsyendranath was not known with certainty. There was a tradition connecting him with Kabir of 1500 AD and with Madhusudana Sarasvati in 1700 AD but this was not of any historical value. However, there were other views that Gorakhnath lived in 500 or 600 AD and even BC. Disciples of Gorakhnath were many, some of whom were of historical merit. Mayanamati, the saintly queen mother of Raja (royal king) Gopichand, was also said to have been initiated by Gorakhnath. The maternal uncle of Raja Gopichand and Mayanmati’s son Raja Triloka of Bengal were among his disciples. They were said to have practiced penance on a mountain, called Rakta. Many of Gopichand yogic feats were recounted. Seldom in human history had a mother been found to take the initiative of sending her own son away in search of wisdom—a quest fraught with dangers and of untold worldly sufferings. The story of the Gopichand renunciation became a classic in Bengal, and every vernacular of northern India had a version of it. The story of Bhartrhari, another prince of royal blood, was equally interesting. He too renounced the joys and luxuries of the palace and under the guidance of Jalandhara gained perfection by studying and gaining the secrets of this covert yoga. In tantric tradition, kriya (action) was the fifth divine power (shakti). Science of action was studied after accepting the wisdom and powers of chit (consciousness), anand (happiness), ichchaha (desire/goal), and gyana (knowledge). From this study of kriya yoga was born purposeful action or kriya, defining a series of actions, for purposes of contemplation and eventual assimilation. The term kriya was initially used by Patanjali (150 BC) to refer to the eightfold path of meditative practices designed to free an individual from latent reactions to past action patterns that give shape to human destiny. This form of Fire Worship (meditation) was called Kriya Yoga and reintroduced by Sanat Kumar Babaji through Lahiri Mahasaya, Yukteshwar and his many disciples. It was introduced in the West by Yogananda and Hariharananda disciples. Hatha yoga practiced today in the West was the result of steady development and expansion efforts by the Nathas who perfected the science of energizing and rejuvenating the physical body by tapping into the mains of universal life force, Universal Sun Worship 247 that is, energy. Kriya yoga’s roots lay in a lineage of tantric adepts of Nathas— in particular Matsyendranath and Gorakhnath. The focus of their teaching was not only to ‘work the physical body’ (kaya sadhana) but also to transform the psychical body and take charge of its transformation using the spontaneous effective powers or siddhis. The deeper significance of both kriya and karma yoga, however, lay in countering identification with the world through inaction—a call to assume responsibility for one’s own destiny. It was never a secret. It was a self-discovery through the practice of yoga—defined or prescribed action which transformed the physical expression towards a more subtle state of existence. Such spiritual exercises and experiments were similar to the spiritual efforts of the Egyptian high priests and pharaohs. Deeper spiritual knowledge was kept covert through the age old oral tradition of information sharing among those trained to receive such instructions. Secret Traditions of Nathas The metaphysical position of Nathas was not monistic, nor was it dualistic. It was transcendental. They described Shiva the original Natha as the Absolute who was beyond all God concepts of Saguna (with attributes) and Nirguna (without attributes) or of Sakara (with form) and Nirakara (without form). A Natha’s purpose in life to its supreme end was to realize oneself as a Natha and then to remain eternally fixed there above all world relations. The approach to this realization was through ashtanga yoga. On this method Nathas lay great emphasis. They remained unswayed on the position that perfection of ‘self’ to Self could not be gained unless it was supplemented by the disciplinary practices of yoga. In the West, this practice had come to be known as hatha yoga. According to Brahmananda Sarasvati (1870-1953) the Shankaracharya (revered spiritual title) of Jyotir Math, the sun (ida sympathetic channel) and moon (parasympathetic pingala channel) of life-forces prana and apana, needed taming through their union in pranayama (scientific breathing) to make a connection with Mother Nature possible. It was believed that this secret yoga was developed by the Nathas. A Sanskrit manual on hatha yoga by Pradipika said the mystery of this yoga was known only to Matsyendranath and Gorakhnath. All other persons (Brahmananda, Jalandhara, Bhartrhari and Gopichand) who were associated with the Natha pantha eventually received the Knowledge emanating from the Supreme Lord through grace. Because Gorakhnath and Matsyendranath were not the earliest preachers of hatha yoga, rival traditions spoke of two schools of hatha, one ancient and the other modern, founded by Markandeya and the Nathas, respectively. If this statement had any historical basis it meant the Nathas repeatedly revived an old dying science. Hath yoga was about the conquest of vayu or air and was practiced from 248 In the Beginning eons. “Time is without beginning and without end and ordains this characteristic variety in the universe. It is Time which creates and swallows up all creatures. All the many creatures that exist subject to duality and according to their respective natures have Time for their refuge. It is Time that assumes those shapes and it is Time that upholds them—kala aham (I am time),” said Krishna. Despite the cycles of creation and dissolution science survived through channelling into Akashic records by sages capable of such channelling—but how? Indian scriptures talked of cyclic time of a four Yuga cycle, in the manvantaras (creation-destruction cycle), through kalpa (cycles of creation and dissolution) where the Creator’s kalpa was a day and night each of 12 hours. He lived for 100 Creator-year cycles. Physics viewed Time as a dimension connecting to Space filled with loops, wrinkles and wormholes. Kurt Gödel (1906-1978) the Austrian philosopher of mathematical logic claimed the present influenced the past because time was not a straight line from infinity to infinity. Therefore, whether Markandeya lived in the BC era or AD, Raja yoga needed to be revitalized while it was already flourishing in ancient India. As humanity became progressively sedentary, the Nathas knew that hatha yoga exercises were often beyond the power of the average man. Even in its perfected form, hatha yoga was only a stepping stone to Raja yoga. Therefore Patanjali’s rearrangement was based on eight principles and was accepted by Buddhist and Jain systems too. In all these, simple hatha practices were now included with meditation and devotion. Such reorganization was recognized as an improvement of yoga with a unified approach through eight steps. Serious followers of mantra yoga (chanting) and other practices of meditation were now able to merge personal preferences with kriya yoga. Practitioners could lead lives of perfection whether he or she was single, married or a renunciate. Kriya or Raja yoga, made mental concentration possible even while the practitioner was engaged in worldly duties whether married, earning, learning or studying. The secret essence of hatha lay in the conquest of vayu [air]. Control of vayu in breath was preliminary for mental quiescence. This was the supreme aim of all striving. All the steps of kriya yoga had only one end to fulfil—to awaken the slumbering divine power lying under the weight of man’s physical body. The Egyptian pharaohs also sought the same truth but sought an external means to gain the transcendental. They experimented with ‘white powder’ and hormones of the menstruum. Training by teachers and sages of Kriya Yoga assumed the seeker had knowledge of the brain and the central nervous system. Even a vague knowledge of the physiology of bodily works, and selectivity of molecular substance, respiratory and non-respiratory lung functions would be helpful. A knowledge for their utility as vital for bodily existence was instinctive in most. Understanding qualitative character of bodily expression and experiences in the waking, dream and deep sleep states was helpful. The path when practiced was Universal Sun Worship 249 individually discovered as the path to Oneness. This was known to Vedic seers eternally. It was the path hidden by tradition but self-discovered through the strictest adherence to the rules of kriya yoga. After 200 years of Colonial rule independent India’s urgent need as a culture was to revive the fallen philosophical levels and awaken the old principles of Vedanta. Chinmayananda’s aim was: “To convert Hindus to Hinduism”, which was not an easy task. Never before was studying scriptures in India given access to everyone, for sacred spiritual knowledge had earlier been kept secret and considered a privilege of the learned priest class. Chinmayananda thundered otherwise. He broke down all walls of secrecy and delivered the scriptures in all languages, including Sanskrit. He shocked the priest guardians of the scriptures. The radical sage pronounced all would hear what they needed to hear if the recipient was fertile enough to receive the “secret” messages. The experience of Samprajnata Samadhi revived by Chinmayananda became a hallmark of his meditation technique. Many entered the stage of continuous single thought that was experienced as ecstasy. While enmeshed in grosser matter he led many towards Universal Consciousness of the World-soul. So where was the ‘secret’? Chinmayananda agreed with hatha yogi’s opinion the surest and quickest way of transcending limits of creative impulses of matter was to rise above the human body, rather than to raise the Vayu from one plane to another through pranayama. Since limits in meditation were products of stress and strain caused by the creative impulse of the Supreme Lord in Matter, he encouraged the practitioner to watch thought from its birth to its death, until the mind was stilled in perfect Silence. The Nathas meanwhile insisted that if the Absolute was to be reached, the central river (Brahmanadi) which drains directly into and loses itself in the ocean of Consciousness, was the path. This was what a spiritual practitioner would find and move towards its destiny of Oneness. The secret path of Brahma (brahmanadi) was always known to the Vedic seers. Leaving aside the testimony of the minor Upanishads, there was ample evidence of this knowledge in ‘Chandogya’, where there was a reference to a central nadi running up from hrdaya (heart) to the cranium. This was obviously the Sushumna that underwent metamorphosis to the degree of fervour that lay within the tolerance level of the seeker. Some Western thought referred to such transformation as crystallization. Egyptians sought after melatonin and other master organ secretions (pineal, pituitary, hypo-pituitary glands) from menstruum to hasten this process. Whether by using white powder made from heavy metals or isolating hormones from urine or menstrual fluid, their aim was always to make the physical body subtler for easier levitation into the field of awareness and consciousness. Study of ancient literature on the subject claimed four distinct points of concentration from which the upward journey was undertaken. The four suggested sites included the 250 In the Beginning coccygeal, navel, heart, and the kutastha between the two eyebrows. Vedic schools favoured the heart, but the Nathas preferred prolonged concentration on the Great Path itself until it revealed itself at the kutastha as the Witness of the Word. Alchemy of Fire Worship Gyana or knowledge, could not remove defects accompanying a dense physical body. The Nathas, like other spiritual scientists of Europe, Middle East, Africa, Americas, and the Far East ran purification laboratories. Their experimental researched results helped their geographic humanity to mature into healthy physical and mental lifestyles. The doctrine of physical immortality was a corollary to physical purification. The search led to special healing systems for a common good of their citizens. Such experiments were known and practiced by Nathas also. To them, if defects were erased from the body, yogic exercises would help the physical and become impervious to disease, ageing and decay. Through the practice of Agni Yoga of meditation matter molecules would become less subject to gravity and even become astrally weightless. Such transformation of physicality would allow the adept to move through space with the speed of thought. It would pass through or enter rock-solid walls, remain undrenched in water, and untouched by earth, fire and wind. An invisible presence in pure space would allow the astral-etheric body to expand and contract and able to control the authority of the five elements. Such a transformed body would be rare even among gods. The Natha ideal was to realize liberation from life while still living. They practiced to become jivanmukta, by first gaining a blameless body of light free from the influence of time. Gaining a deathless, undecaying spiritual body was the first step. Aiming for the highest perfection through common integration with Omkara was the destination Therefore, founders of changing thought did not propose new systems of philosophy. Rishis and sages knew few seekers could live a life of austerity and self-denial insisted by the Nathas. Patanjali, therefore stressed the irrevocable need of going through stages which were apt to be neglected or ignored because the candidate’s decided a step could be neglected as unnecessary. Possession of an immortal body was always possible by mystics in all ages (Enoch, Yukteshwar, and Babaji) and in all religions of all countries. In the Vedic literature of hatha yoga, in rasayana (alchemy), tantra, and school of mysteries there were recurring references to such attainments. Gorakhnath’s idea of the ‘supreme reality’ came from a direct experience. He did not make rational interpretations of his experiments. His Oneness with Consciousness took the form of a boundless cosmic order of infinite existence. DV White’s opinion on Natha practices and alchemy was given in ‘The Alchemical Body’. He summarized them with: “The Natha siddhas’ path continued Universal Sun Worship 251 to offer concrete and relatively accessible power in the world… for kings whose concerns were more often worldly than those of brahmana metaphysicians, the Nathas … became power brokers of medieval India. Siddhas, yogis, and alchemists that they are, they have always been technicians of the concrete, that is specialists in concrete change of base metals into gold, and the concrete transformation of mortal, ageing man into perfected, immortal superman, masters of natural processes rather than mere victims of or bystanders to them.” Changing gold and other metals into white powder (manna) or extracting pineal and pituitary hormones from menstrual blood of virgins were used to spiritualize (make weightless) the physical body. These old alchemists had their own methods of changing mercury, mica and sulphur. Heavy metals played an important part in the discovery of the ‘philosopher’s stone’. What the Egyptian, European and Indian alchemists claimed could be carried out with mercury and gold, the hatha yogis performed the same through disciplining vayu (pranayama). Nagarjuna, the grand Mahayana teacher and alchemist was therefore credited with wonderful yogic powers to strengthen spiritual journeys. He like the Nathas had control of forces of nature, dominion over the senses and gained the highest state of bliss. Just as Jesus did, a perfect yogi did not use these powers trivially. Such endowments were used for a Common Good. The Nathas were influenced by Nagarjuna and his teachings. Evidence has explained that although Nathas were advocates of hatha yoga they were equally masters of the alchemic lore. The Natha yogis and their experiences with alchemical processes had identical limits. Their practices made them free from the cycles of birth and death. They became immortal, pure and free of ‘self’. Such jivanmukta or released souls remained in enlightened chitta (mind) supported by vayu (life-force of pranic energy). They existed astrally and ethereally or chose to help others into the mystery of human existence. Many obediently chose to become Master-gurus for human beings but many chose to merge with the Absolute. 252 In the Beginning

10.Godly Legends

The original hill of creation was said to be Atlantis which was once called “Egytpa” with its Great Twin Pyramids and Lions. The twin pyramids (Great and Red) and twin lions () according to ‘Book of Thoth’ were built by Atlantean Tribes (4500–3500 BC). According to David Ickes, best known for his views on what he called “who and what is controlling the world” the ancients changed the heads of the Sphinxes to those of Aries (Rams) after thrashing Sun worship in 3474 BC. Three elements, Greek cultivation, Roman polity (Luke 2:1), and alleged divine law given to the Jews, combined with Jesus’ teachings were perhaps what decimated the old world for future gentiles. Manetho, an Egyptian historian and priest collected Egyptian records in three books. They were commentaries about the gods, demigods, spirits, and mortal kings of Egypt, up to the time of Darius, the king of Persia (550–486 BC). He revealed the first man among the Egyptians was Hephaestus, the ancient Greek god of metalworking who discovered fire for them. He was the father of Sol, the Sun. After him came the gods, Agathodaemon the noble spirit of vineyards. Cronus was the son of Uranus and Gaia–youngest of the 12 Titans who was married to Rhea was the mother of all gods and daughter of Uranus. Osiris was the god of life, death and fertility. Typhon was the fearful brother of Osiris. Horus was the son of Osiris and Isis was the sister and wife of Osiris. These were the first rulers of Egypt, after which gods, a race of demigods ruled for 11,000 years. The total time, which the Egyptians assigned to the gods and demigods and spirits, was 24,900 years. Aegyptus was the Roman Province of Egypt set up in 30BC after Augustus defeated Mark Anthony the deposed lover of Cleopatra VII. It annexed the Ptolemaic kingdom of most modern-day Egypt and Chaldea (Assyria) as Egypt. It was called Mizraim after the son of Ham and ancestors of the people with Hebrew roots. He was born many years after the great flood. When the nations were scattered around the earth, Mizraim set off for Egypt to live there. In ancient times which preceded the flood, Mizraim was the patriarch of the Egyptians and the first Dynasty of the Egyptians descended from him. After the demigods and spirits, the First Dynasty consisted of eight kings, the first of whom was Menes (3100–2850BC) who united Upper and Lower Egypt and was an outstanding ruler. The biblical flood of Noah was different from the Hebrew flood and Deucalion flood of later times which likely occurred around 3253 BC. The Heckla Volcano likely erupted around 6482 BC. It was Iceland’s most active volcano with more 252 Godly Legends 253 than 20 eruptions to date. They were caused by a slight earth shift or a stall in the planet’s rotation. The Greek historian Herodotus (484 BC–425 BC) stated the Egyptian priests of Heliopolis told him that in a span of some 11,000 years, twice, the ‘sun set where it rose and rose where it set’. Herodotus also mentioned that he noted seashells and salt stains on the pyramids which indicated not only evidence of a great flood but the pyramid was built before this flood. The age of Athens was 9000 years before Solon’s (638–558 BC) visit. He was the Athenian statesman, lawmaker and poet who talked with the Egyptian priests. This incident was the only incident giving the Atlantis story any relevance. A thousand years later or 8000 years before Solon, was when Sais the temple of Isis-Neith was built in Egypt. The war would be happening at the same time when Solon and the priest were talking about Atlantis around 570 BC. The story of Atlantis, therefore, began with the founding of Athens 9000 years ago. “Let me begin by observing first of all, that nine thousand was the sum of years which had elapsed [since] the war which was said to have taken place between those who dwelt outside the Pillars of Heracles and all who dwelt within them; this war I am going to describe,” wrote Jowett (1817–1893) when he translated dialogues of Plato. The size of this deluge was so huge the Atlantis Island sank in the Atlantic Ocean, blocking a seven-mile wide strait of Gibraltar with shoals of mud. The Greeks in Athens also perished in the mud. This large Mediterranean event poured over the Red Sea and flooded the Euphrates valley. Record of this oldest flood legend was preserved on the Nippur Tablets (2100 BC). 30,000 Nippur Tablets were excavated. They told the story the Deluge and dated it to 14th to 13th century BC. According to that information, the date for the biblical flood (3253 BC) fitted with unifying Egypt, liberating countries in 3200 BC, and the founding Sais in 3437 BC. The Atlantean war occurred before Menes. Therefore, the biblical flood was not the Hebrew flood of 2350 BC nor was it Deucalion’s flood of 1529 BC. The Santorini events of 1639 BC were therefore about eruptions that happened over a long period of time. The demise of Atlantis may be related to a disastrous Bronze Age eruption into the Aegean Sea. It created a flooded caldera and destroyed an advanced Minoan civilization living on the island group of Santorini. This information would compare to the mass destruction portrayed in Plato’s dialogue: “Now in this island of Atlantis there was a great and wonderful empire which had rule over the whole island and several others, and over parts of the continent . . . But, there occurred violent earthquakes and floods, and in a single day and night of misfortune, the island of Atlantis disappeared in the depths of the sea.” This dialogue dismissed Atlantis being a myth or a legend. However, Atlantis could be a legend preserved by the Egyptians and Greeks since 9570 BC. According to the Atlantean Script of Solon he received this knowledge when visiting Sais in Egypt. Information came from the Libyan 254 In the Beginning pharaoh in 570 BC and Wedjahor-Resne who was his Egyptian priest, physician and naval admiral. When the great king of all lands, Cambyses (600–559BC), the father of Cyrus the Great, came to Egypt from Persia, the people of all foreign lands were with him. According to Herodotus, Astyages was the last king of Median Empire and reigned 585–550 BC. Cyrus chose Cambyses as a son-in- law who then exercised sovereignty over the entire land. They settled down in it as the great King of Egypt (27th Dynasty) and as the mighty sovereign of this country. He was forgotten but Timaeus enlighten historians of that fact and was brought back from Egypt by Plato who wrote about it in 360 BC. Timaeus recorded all of Plato’s monologues. They were written in 360 BC. Chalcidius, a Latin scribe, preserved Plato’s work. He was a 4th-century Christian who translated the first part of Plato’s Timaeus from Greek to Latin. The original notebook was later written perhaps in Syracuse of Sicily, in around 350 AD. Timaeus’s original mention of the Atlantis legend was cleverly hidden in the astrological account of life’s origins and dynamics of physics. Later, a more vivid account of Atlantis, its social structure and technological achievements of warships, chariots, aquaducts, canals, temples, irrigation, ten twin kings were spelled out by Plato’s account of Critias in 360 BC. ‘Account of Critias’ (460–403 BC) was the re-telling of the story of Plato to Critias That would be happening in the Bronze Age in about 1500 BC when the Deucalion’s Flood and the Battle of Ares during the Trojan War (Etruscan Atlantean) was taking place. The Battle of Ares during, the 10-year Trojan War waged, according to legend, against the city of Troy in Asia Minor. It was a combat by Achaean armies following the kidnapping (or elopement) of Helen of Sparta by Paris of Troy. Recited as epic poems only two, the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer have survived intact. The Iliad described the late episodes of this war, and the Odyssey described the journey home of one of the Greek leaders, Odysseus. Ancient Greeks believe events Homer related were true. This war perhaps took place in the 13th or 12th century BC, when Troy was located near the Dardanelles in what is now north-western Turkey. According to legend, because descendants of Titans were impious to gods and were corrupt, Zeus decided to eliminate them and Poseidon helped him. As soon as Prometheus heard about this he advised the devout Deucalion and his wife Pyra how to escape the disaster. Deucalion built a boat and remained there until Zeus’s and Poseidon’s wrath had calmed down. In the mean time, Zeus sent pelting rain on humans. The flooded people sought refuge in the high mountains and escaped that catastrophe. The two works preserved by Plato—Timaeus and Critias—tell that this all happened within the span of 9570 BC–1500 BC. This legend was now made a myth for 2575 years, simply because the Royal City vanished during the great flood around 6482 BC. Edgar Cayce in April of 1939, fell into a trance and spoke about the Atlantis Royal City vanishing during the great flood: “In Atlantis, when there was breaking up of the land I came to Godly Legends 255 what was called the Mayan Land or what is now Yucatan. The Royal City was the first to be crossed by water, in the plane or air machine of that period.” If truth be told, the Atlanteans never completely vanished because they were the major contributors to the advanced technological world of today. All lands touching the Atlantic are Atlantean lands, where the Atlanteans continued to exist after the great deluge. The lands that survived were the Americas, north-west Africa, England, Scotland, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, and all the Atlantic islands. These were territories around the Pillars of Hercules (Gibraltar). It was at the great mouth or ‘throat’ of the Mediterranean where the waters of Neptune’s Atlantic Ocean engulfed the Atlantis. The Atlanteans were known to have arrived through the ‘throat’ of the Mediterranean from the largest island in the Atlantic. Although the legend of Atlantis was given authenticity by Plato who lived in 300BC, its event made association with the Cycles of Time. Over 2000 years ago at the end of Treta Yuga of Krishna, King Parikshit received the Age of Kali (Srimad Bhagvatam Canto 1, Chapter 16). Parikshit was a ruler of the world for 60 years and lifelong devotee of Krishna. Parikshit was the grandson of Arjuna. He was a great and just king. He looked after his subjects well, and was considered a personification of goodness. Nobody could match him in valour. He had no enemies and felt no enmity towards anyone. He was a pure unalloyed devotee of the personality of godhead. He was born when the Kuru Clan of Krishna was put to a great test of the Mahabharata War. His name was drawn from “Parikshan” meaning “One who has been put to a test’. While on a hunting trip Parikshit followed a deer deep into a forest. The deer chase made him hungry and tired. Lost, he wandered alone in the woods looking for food. He came across Rishi Shameek who was in deep meditation. Unknown to Parikshit the Rishi had taken a vow of silence. Parikshit repeatedly asked him where he could find food and shelter but the ascetic did not answer the king. To insult the ascetic, Parikshit picked up a dead snake and laid it on the silent Rishi’s shoulders. Shringi was Rishi Shameek’s son and a great ascetic who had great powers. When he heard that someone had insulted his father, Shringi cursed the mortal who insulted his father. For the despicable act Shringi cursed that unknown perpetrator and vowed the poisonous snake Takshakan would bite and kill the person within seven days. Shringi told his father what he had done when overcome by the emotion of vengeance. Rishi Shameek was not pleased with what his son had done. The elder Rishi however understood the deep significance of what both Parikshit and his son had done. A blameless sage had impulsively reacted by cursing a virtuous king at the dawn of the Blind Age of Kali Yuga. He understood the event was a sign of an approaching darkness. Shringi therefore sent his most gifted pupil, Gaurmukh to warn Parikshit of the impending danger to his life as well about Kaliyuga. Gaurmukh was a replica of his teacher. He practiced the ways his tutor. 256 In the Beginning

His personal resentment of what was done to his guru did not allow him follow his animal instinct of revenge. He graciously told the king of the impending danger but also advised him to use the seven days to gain the knowledge about the Purpose of Human Existence. King Parikshit accepted his fate without argument. He understood the curse by Rishi Shameek was an indicator the approaching Kali Yuga. Parikshit accepted his destiny and realized there was not enough time to discover the purpose of human existence. He therefore went to the Naimasaryana forest to hear the Bhagvatam from the youthful Sukadev. This Vyasa’s son was a great mystic who viewed all alike, in whose eye diversity had stopped to exist and whose mind was only set on God (Brahman). Through austerities Sukadev had awakened from his sleep of worldliness and remained a recluse for eons. Parikshit knew of the legend that Knowledge and Wisdom of Srimad Bhagvatam was discussed in different assemblies among Rishis and Sadhus. At the first assembly Narada the divine sage explained the Srimad Bhagvatam to Vyasa, the sage who preserved the Vedas, Puranas and the Hindu traditions for posterity. During the second assembly Vyasa gave the Bhagvatam to his son Suka. King Parikshit attended the third assembly. He asked Suka to give him the Knowledge. Parikshit used this interaction with the assembly of many other sages to arrive at enlightenment. At the fourth assembly Suta (meaning ‘one who can remember even if they hear it once’) asked all who were present at the third assembly, to perform regular Fire Yagna the following 2000 years in the Naimasaryana forest, beginning with the birth of Kali Yuga. While at the third assembly, Parikshit remained without food or drink. The king heard conversations explaining the purpose of human existence. It lasted seven days. The king returned to his Kingdom on the seventh day. Meanwhile, the serpent Takshakan was on his way to kill Parikshit. On his way to the Parikshit kingdom, Takshakan met the Brahmin Kashyapa who was on his way to Parikshit’s court to save the king from Takshakan’s poison. The serpent after introducing himself assured Kashyapa that no one could save anyone he had bitten. The Brahmin boy smiled because he believed in the power of prayer and mantras. Takshakan went towards Parikshit’s kingdom and to his surprise found Kashyapa’s mantras had blocked all entry points into the grounds of the palace. He then changed into a caterpillar and entered one fruit inside a fruit-basket meant for the king. Once inside the king’s chambers, Takshakan assumed his original form and poisoned Parikshit whose body died immediately and turned to ashes, but his soul ascended into the Infinity of Consciousness. Parikshit understood every human expression needed the Knowledge of human existence. Emancipation from reincarnation needed playing the living drama of a life of health, abundance, and wisdom. Through the game of living, he was always to remain focused to the underlying Changeless screen of Consciousness. Parikshit Godly Legends 257 did not seek immortality. He already knew he was immortal and shed the dream body into ashes. His life journey of a thousand miles began with the first step. It began with a thought. His entire journey at the feet of rishis began with a thought and ended with a victory over finitude. Ten Commandments Thinking Harmlessness Yama and Niyama called the Ten Commandments of Yoga, had nothing to do with ideas of sin and virtue or good and evil. They were practical thoughts that strengthened and simplified the practice of Fire Worship in Meditation. If ignored mortal habits and tendencies weakened or hindered increasing benefits of even sincere spiritual practices. Each one of the Five Don’ts (Yama) and Five Do’s (Niyama) supported the releasing foundation of that Yoga. The Don’ts enlisted were self-restraint of senses through self-mastery and abstention from violence, untruthfulness, stealing, and sense indulgences especially lust in thought, word and deed and selfishness. The five observances of yama or Do’s included observing cleanliness, contentment, and austerity for result-producing spirituality, introspective self-study, and offering one’s life in God-service. These ten Pillars were given by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras (2:30 - 32): Harmlessness would be impossible without such thoughts of harmlessness. That was because thoughts own a magnetic power to draw or repel depending on the polarity of the individual’s mind – whether intending to harm or help another. Thought force’s magnetic energy could be used to speak or act out in tandem with the thought value, whether to hurt or to mend. Putting out negative thoughts when watching others or biased thoughts when joking, and hostile thoughts in competitive environment were the habitual influences behind “hanging out” socially. Such “so-called normal” thoughts came from past habits embedded in the solar plexus, just below the heart. Here was where the egoistic emotional body thrived and represented the responsive body of actions. Its ability to influence the soul whether towards badness or goodness depended on the goodwill in action and on an individual ability to consciously respond. Harmfulness’ blocked energy flow for soul’s integration towards self- realization, lessened clarity of mind and all wisdom gained from previous lives. Positive flow of harmlessness inside the heart chakra awakened knowledge and ability to repeat good thoughts. Such repeated ambitions had the ability to become attracted toward seeing and helping ideals for harmlessness. Enlightenment was never carried out by intellectual insight, dogmatic beliefs, or physical works. It was more a product of dedicated harmlessness in thought, word and deed. This allowed successful meditation, surrender to Spirit and absorption for God’s grace, contained in all Sacred Rays. This long process eventually transformed “the old man” into “the new man”. This “New Birth” has since regularly and eminently repeated by “New Age” Christians. 258 In the Beginning

Knowledge entrusted to Secret Immortals Karl Marx (1818–1883) was a German philosopher, political economist, historian, theorist, sociologist and communist who understood too well, ‘Take away the heritage of a people and they are easily persuaded [and conquered]’. Could this be because Yahweh’s (Sanat Kumar) admonition to Isaiah? ‘Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek YHWH: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bore you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him’ (Isaiah 51:1–2). It was Melchizedek an ancient Jesus like priest who said to Abraham: “Look now up to the heavens and number the stars if you are able; so numerous shall your seed be.” Abraham believed him, and not long after his son Isaac, the ancestor of the Hebrew and Arab tribes, was born. Abraham followed all the instructions he was given by his Master Sanat Kumar who like the wise Ashoka obviously knew that for preserving ancestral assets, institution and culture, both spiritual and scientific, it was vital and compulsory to make personal sacrifices. For the survival of a civilized humankind, Abraham’s people needed constant persuasion to walk the path of their traditional heritage. A French diplomat, Louis Jacolliot, who spent his career in India exploring ancient mysteries and legends, became especially interested in the legend about the ‘Nine Immortal Unknowns’. These Nine Unknowns or ‘Nava Yogis’ were a group with assigned works to help souls in their search for guidance. First described by Lahiri Mahasaya as immortals, they were obviously individuals transformed by spiritual practices. They were able to contact devotees who sought after changing lifestyles from covetous materialism to pious generosity. Some of these yogis were ascended masters who accompanied the Eternal Babaji. The Society of these Nine Unknowns was supposedly created by the Indian Emperor Ashoka (304–232 BC) who erected sandstone pillars all over ancient India with laws of moral principles based on ideal dharma – the religious way of living as commanded by the sacred scriptures that defined virtue. Ashoka wished to encapsulate all human knowledge of his time for posterity. His efforts were designed to ensure that all steady study would follow a procession of investigation. The purpose was specifically to codify over Time, how man and Nature acted and reacted, within a subject matter being researched. His hopes were that a scientist should be made incapable of misusing this ‘familiar’, acknowledged science as his or her ‘personal’ discovery. According to Jacolliot, these Nine Trustees of Knowledge were still ‘alive’ (Chiranjeevi) and could be contacted through their writings. Ashoka knew that all Cosmic Knowledge was in the Akashic Records and accessible through channelling. All Knowledge and its Wisdom were therefore available through the Chiranjeevins who truthfully aimed to promote information and understanding for the benefit of humankind. Godly Legends 259

Each of the Nine Immortals were made responsible for protecting one branch of Cosmic Knowledge—anatomy, physiology, microbiology, alchemy, communication, electromagnetism, astronomy with cosmology, light and electricity, and changing human society. Legend has it the Nine Immortals have preserved an astral-type manuscript that was and is continuously rewritten on a physical level, through promptings from continuing creature research. Ashoka ensured in his wise but imperfect ‘human’ way that nothing of his scriptural or scientific heritage would be lost over the Cycle of Time and Eras. This story of the ‘Nine Unknown Men’ was popularized in his book of 1927 by Talbot Mundy (1879–1940) who also wrote under the pseudonym Walter Galt. He was a member of the British police force in India for 25 years. His interests were in mystical adventures, epics and theosophy. The first of his books was devoted to the technique of propaganda and psychological warfare. He wrote, “The most dangerous of all sciences is that of moulding mass opinion, because it would enable anyone to govern the whole world.” Ashoka’s ‘imperfect human’ had unintentionally injected into the Total Mind a ‘research’ about Mass Mind Control. Interestingly this ‘knowledge’ would fashion European History over the following decades and continues today through radio and television. Mundy’s ‘thought’ was followed by Korzybski’s ‘General Semantics’. He introduced non-Aristotelian Systems of Thinking through Semantics. This book appeared in 1937. It was only after the West experienced World War I the techniques of propaganda were developed. The first American college teaching Semantics came into being in 1950. Teaching Semantics was the learning and teaching of a ‘science’ to think beyond the books. Students were exposed to examining current changes, giving it personal meaning and envisaging personal judgments on significances to an event’s words and forms. Much like the Arab and anti-Corruption “Spring” of the 21st century, semantics will someday analyse the uprising, both for their factual and imagined purpose. In France, Serge Tchakhotine’s wrote ‘Le Viol des Foules’ – a book on Semantics. It had much influence on intellectual and political circles in the West but dealt with the subject only superficially. An individual creature idea had gained momentum in an inhuman chronological ‘law of motion’ – the forces of action and reaction occurred in equal size later through several wars. The second book entrusted to one of the Unknown Men was on the physiology of a human body, mind and intellect. It explained, among other things, how to kill a man by ‘touching’ him. Here death could be induced but also reversed by ‘touching’ a nerve-impulse. Both death and life could be impelled by triggering a nerve’s action potential. Indian Martial Arts (dhanurveda) of 1500-700BC were the oldest forms of martial practices. Silambam was later transformed to Japanese Samurai and Kuthuvarisai was transformed and called Karate. Knowledge about martial arts of Judo, Kung Fu, Tai Chi and similar techniques were carefully recorded and entrusted to one Chiranjeevi. In these ancient scripts 260 In the Beginning was a knowledge that insisted that physical exercise alone could shape a person to become a perfect man both physically and physiologically as well as mentally. Since education and wealth did not do to lead a thriving life, outstanding health and knowledge about exercises of Martial Arts were considered essential to have clear mind, develop self-confidence, concentration, inner rhythm, will power and nurture contentment. Ashoka was an expert warrior who followed all the rules of a perfect human existence. The third book had records of the use of protective colloids in microbiology. Although invisible to the naked eye, in the times of Ashoka the microscope of his days had already identified microbes and their effects on other living things. Microbiology had records of expert scientific findings about bacteria, fungi and viruses. The colloid osmometer existed to provide the physician of the day precise monitoring of therapy. It would be inconceivable that humankind would suffer any illness without there being knowledge of its successful treatment with earthly elements, flowers, berries, leaves or roots. The ‘uncivilized’ peoples of the forests continued to preserve these ‘discoveries’ of the modern scientist who claim they were ‘discovering new treatments’. Ayurveda (Science of Long Life), African Healing or Sangoma, and Traditional and Tibetan Chinese Medicine (Acupuncture and Chinese Herbology) were not mysterious procedures. They have been around for over 23 centuries according to recorded history and continuously over a longer through the Cycles of Time. The fourth book verbalized about the change of metals. There was and is an Indian legend that in times of drought, temples and religious relief organizations received large quantities of gold from a secret source which was converted to a white powder to feed the hungry during the reign of Ashoka. The Book of Leviticus gave information for deeper understanding of this religious practice. Offices of ministries, rites and ceremonies of priests spoke of ‘shewbread’, stating: “And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof ... And thou shalt put pure frankincense on each row”. Records of Mystery Schools also cited that shewbread was made with the white powder of gold. This was especially significant because it was stated in the Exodus that Moses took the golden calf which the Israelites had made, ‘and burnt it in the fire and ground it to a powder’. Firing gold or metal did not normally produce powder. It only liquefied gold to a molten state. There was forgotten information about using high heat temperatures transforming metallic gold into a white powder. This metallic dust was digestible and easily absorbed through the gastrointestinal tract. Distributed through the circulation system, gold was recorded to have positive effects on key brain centres. It induced satiety born of fulfillment and self-satisfaction which in turn allowed the human mind to concentrate on both scientific and spiritual endeavours. The effect of soluble gold powder on the pituitary, hypothalamus and the pineal glands allowed control over the target endocrine glands that protected the human body against disease, ageing and bodily decay. Godly Legends 261

The leading alchemical principle of the Master Craftsmen of Egypt was therefore applied: “To make gold, you must take gold.” Gold was the most noble of metals and was representative of truth. Through regular use of Anunnaki Star Fire (hormones from the ‘plant of birth’ or Gold of the Gods) the recipients moved into realms of heightened awareness and consciousness because of its inherent ability to trigger melatonin and serotonin released from the thalamus, hypothalamus, pituitary and pineal glands. David G White author and researcher of Indian alchemical traditions in ‘The Alchemical Body’ stated: “...data on tantric alchemy [with mercury] are a number of medieval compendia and encyclopedias, all of which are of Indian origin. Those portions of the Manasolasa that are devoted to yoga closely resemble passages of the Yogasikhopanishad, which is one of the nine works from the south Indian corpus of 108 Upanishads that borrow visibly from the works of Gorakh and other Natha siddhas.” Manasolasa gave practical orientation, to the tradition of texts in politics, government, professional and family life, among other principles of living. The texts were used to instruct kings, ministers and citizens about government. Kamashastra meanwhile was aimed at instructing the civilian (nâgarika) the way to gain business success, family counselling, sexual contentment and creature fulfillment. The fifth volume Ashoka assigned to one of the Chiranjeevi contained a study of all means of Communication, both terrestrial and extraterrestrial. An old Alexandrian alchemical text mentioned the weight of the fire-stone called the ‘Stone of Paradise’. It stated, “When placed on the scales, the stone can outweigh its quantity of gold, but when it is changed to dust, even a feather will tip the scales against it”. The only way to turn something into nothing in the material field was to translate the something into another dimension so it physically disappeared as did its weight. To become nothing, the term ‘Phoenix’ was used to mean: the red-gold that will fire to ashes, but will then be restored to enlightenment. Anu in Sanskrit stands for the atom or the most minute and an indispensable essential of any work, exposition of a subject or its connection with the whole. It was defined by one who was qualified to make such clarification. According to recorded information, a normal atom was known to have an intra-atomic field of radial potentials arranged in step-like screens. A positive screening was produced by the nucleus. These positive electrons were ‘seen’ spinning to create a screening potential. The outermost negative electrons were also ‘pictured’ screening the nucleus to some degree. When the nucleus went into a high-spin state the positive screening potential expanded and brought all the electrons under the control of the nucleus. Because electrons travelled around the nucleus in pairs, with one electron in a forward-spin and one in a reverse- spin electron, the high-spin nucleus induced the forward-spin electrons to link with the reverse-spin electrons. Once the atom was in perfect concurrence, the electrons turned to pure white light. Because the individual atoms in a high- 262 In the Beginning spin state could not reverse the process, the atoms of metal became impalpable and reduced to a monatomic white powder. In recent years, an experiment in USA made apparent the same effect of this ‘mystical white light’ in open-air conditions. The blaze equalled tens of thousands of flashbulbs. This phenomenon was reminiscent of Moses’ story of the burning bush as related in Exodus 3:2: “And he looked and beheld, the bush burned without fire, and the bush was not consumed.” It seemed the ancients knew the science of converting metal to weightless powder to produce pure white light. This confirmed there was another dimension to atoms beyond the physical plane. The sixth text in safe keeping with one of the Nine Masters expounded the secrets of gravitation. Its contents were interconnected with the legend of ‘The Philosopher’s Stone’ and weightlessness. This knowledge was ‘discovered’ that not only was the powder of the highward fire-stone raising human consciousness, but also this monatomic superconductor had no gravitational attraction. One of the great researchers into gravity from the 1960s was the physicist Andrei Sakharov (1921–1989), a Russian nuclear physicist and human rights fighter. Sakharov’s theory (based on gravity as a zero-point) was published by Hal Puthoff of the Institute of Advanced Studies in 1989. Puthoff was involved in the research on paranormal topics, such as intuition, occultism and consciousness. He stated the Universe was a gift to humankind. About the monatomic white powder, Puthoff made the point that because gravity determined space-time, the powder was bending space-time with a gravitational attraction of less than zero. It was by now known the platinum-group of metals, iridium and rhodium in the monatomic high-spin state, also had anti-ageing properties, while ruthenium and platinum compounds interacted with DNA and the cellular body. In the journal ‘Scientific American’ of May 1995, the effect of ruthenium on mitochondria was being worked out by many research scientists who had recently discussed its relation with the human DNA. When single ruthenium atoms were placed at each end of the double-helix DNA, it became 10,000 times more conductive. The use of platinum, iridium and ruthenium in treating cancers was therefore based on arresting the abnormal and uncontrolled division of body cells. Application of a radioactive platinum compound vibrating within the deformed cell was seen to cause the DNA to relax and reverse the pathology – that would mean that a cure was the result of a readjustment of altered cells towards normal. Irrespective of all of today’s extensive research, these secrets of the highward fire-stone were known to ancestors of humankind thousands of years ago. It was also important to recognize that everything known about the life and civilizations about the distant past was recorded and kept in safe keeping in Akashic Records and guarded by the Nine Chiranjeevins. Knowledge and Wisdom of Science and Spirituality were rediscovered only since the late 1800s with the ebbing of the Piscean Age or Kaliyuga. Over the past 2000 years Churchianity never intended Godly Legends 263 accurate reporting of a truthful history. It was only designed to underpin a growing religious movement which denied all existing knowledge being rediscovered today. The seventh volume in safe keeping with the immortals contained the most exhaustive cosmogony known to humanity. The coming in and going out of existence of the universe differed from the current science of cosmology—the physical universe. Creation and dissolution of the visible Universe was scientifically calculated into yugas and mahayugas every 24,000 years. The eighth volume dealt with Light and enlightenment. In the fire symbolism of ancient alchemy, the colour red was synonymous with the metal gold. In some traditions including the Indian tantra, red is still synonymous and identified with black. Therefore, the goddess Kali was said to be both red and black. The original heritage of Kali was likely Sumerian, and she was Kalimâth, sister of Cain’s wife Luluwa. Kali was a primary princess of the Pharaonic dragon house. From her Star Fire association (with menstruum) she became the goddess of time, seasons, periods and cycles. Naturally, even today the Indian tradition holds Kali as one of the nine faces of the Cosmic Mother Durga who is Light, Energy and the Life Force that supports the Universe. Ashoka used the wheel to represent the sun time and the swastika of an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles for the cosmic dance around a fixed centre to guard against evil. The ninth volume was on sociology. It gave the rules for evolution of societies, and became a means of foretelling their decline. Taking the Mahabharata into consideration, it had some ‘intriguing’ passages describing aerial vehicles including descriptions of ‘weapons of mass destruction’. One therefore was forced to ask today, did immortals exist before or after the supposed wars of Mahabharata, Ramayana or Atlantis? Was the youthful over 5000 year-old immortal Babaji; (described by Yogananda and Yukteshwar) the deathless guru who was entrusted with knowledge far beyond the present? Were the nine immortals always around to keep the Secrets of the Universe through the Cycles of Existence? India’s Ancient Secret Society According to occult lore, the Nine Unknown Men belonged to a two-millennia- old Secret Society founded by the Indian Emperor Asoka in 273 BC. The legend claimed that Emperor Ashoka, the grandson of Chandragupta was as ambitious as his ancestor whose achievements Ashoka was anxious to achieve. He conquered the region of Kalinga which then lay between the present-day Calcutta and Madras. The Kalingans resisted Ashoka and he lost 100,000 men in the battle. At the sight of this massacre Ashoka was overcome by remorse and resolved to follow the path of non-violence. He converted to Buddhism after the massacre and founded the Society of 264 In the Beginning

Nine to preserve the existing knowledge he possessed and develop it. He realised the Knowledge could be dangerous to humanity if such Knowledge of Warfare fell into the wrong hands. Because Ashoka was familiar with the horrors of war, he forbade humankind to use such information towards evil use. During his reign natural science, past and present, was declared ‘secret’. After this time and for the next 2,000 years, all researches ranging from the structure of matter to the techniques employed in collective psychology remained hidden with the nine Chiranjeevins. He instead introduced to his subjects the ecstasy of nirvana, the supreme state free from suffering and individual existence. The religion was founded by Siddhartha in 525 BC who later became Buddha and introduced the Eightfold Path of the Soul to Nirvana. Ashoka under the influence of Buddhism founded the most powerful Secret Society on earth: that of the Nine Unknown Men. Ashoka realised the secret knowledge in the hands of nine men would be safe until a time would come to benefit humankind directly from future experiments, studies and documents accumulated over a period of more than 2,000 years. Ashoka understood that even ‘blinded’ humankind of kaliyuga had the ability to learn methods of destruction. To prevent such an eventuality, Ashoka not only preserved the knowledge but prevented it from falling into the hands of unqualified persons. Ashoka hoped his action would be of assistance to those able to pursue knowledge that would benefit mankind. Each of the Nine was supposedly responsible for guarding and improving a single book. In some versions of this legend, through the intermediary of the Chiranjeevins the waters of the Holy Ganges remained purified with special microbes designed by the Nine and released into the river at a secret base in the Himalayas. Multitudes of pilgrims, suffering from the most appalling diseases, bathe in these waters without harming the healthy ones. These sacred waters have continued to purify everything for eons. It is alleged that the Immortals have kept the rivers safe through the presence of bacteriophage in the waters. About alchemy, there was a persistent rumour that during times of drought or other natural disasters temples and religious organizations received large quantities of gold from an unknown source, for the protection of the needy. The mystery is deepened by the fact that the quantity of gold in the country of India, in temples and with kings has remained infinite. This, while taking into account that India has few gold mines. Ashoka allegedly made communication with extraterrestrials, had knowledge of Vaimanika Shastra (on aerospace) said to contain the instructions necessary to build a Vimana (flying machines), referred to as the “ancient UFOs of India.” His knowledge of cosmology allowed Ashoka to travel at enormous speeds through the space-time fabric. His time-travels were allegedly intra-universe and inter- universal expeditions. He was able to manipulate the speed of light, and use it Godly Legends 265 for weaponry. Having witnessed mass annihilation with this knowledge, he declared rules concerning the evolution of societies and was able to predict their downfall. The empire built by this Maurya dynasty under Ashoka united most of South Asia during the third century BC. From 180 BC, a series of invasions from Central Asia followed, from the Indo-Greeks, Indo-Scythians, Indo-Parthians and Kushans from the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent. From the third century AD, the Gupta dynasty oversaw the “The Golden Age” of Indian history. Among the notable South Indian empires were the Chalukyas (10th to 12th centuries AD), Rashtrakutas (6th to 10th centuries), Hoysalas (10th and 14th centuries), Pallavas (6th century), Pandyas (200 to 300 BC), and the Cholas (9th to 13th century). Science, engineering, art, literature, astronomy, and philosophy flourished under the patronage of these kings. Existing paintings at the Ajanta Caves and carvings at Ellora in Aurangabad, were made in the 6th century. Following invasions from Central Asia between the tenth and twelfth centuries, much of north India came under the rule of the Islamic Delhi Sultanate, and later the Mughal dynasty. Mughal emperors gradually expanded their kingdoms to cover large parts of the subcontinent. In the seventeenth and eighteenth century, the Mughal supremacy declined and the Maratha Empire became the dominant power. From the sixteenth century, several European countries, including Portugal, Netherlands, France, and the United Kingdom, started arriving as traders and later took advantage of the fractious nature of relations between the different ruling Indian kingdoms to establish colonies in the country. Warped Information weakens Medieval India Emperor Aurangzeb (1618 –1707) was the last of the great Mughal emperors of India. In 1661 he issued a royal mandate to Ananda Natha, the abbot of Jakhbar, an obscure monastery in Punjab. Aurangzeb received an acknowledgment from the Natha who was being instructed to convert mercury to white powder for the Emperor’s health and long life. It read: “The letter sent by your Reverence has been received with two tolahs of quicksilver (mercury)...” Tolah is a unit of a mass weighing a little less than 12 grams. David G White in ‘The Alchemical Body’ told this tale of times past. White had researched the secret siddha traditions of Masters who were skilful in the art of alchemy. White allegedly performed some of these experiments of medieval India and was left irresolute if in fact he did succeed in transforming mercury to gold. This was a time when both India and the West had lost many traditions over Time but sought a path to the sublime. Over the previous fourteen hundred years the search for a reason for human existence refused to die down. In Europe Churchianity muscled in their self-serving ideas. Family feuds in the house of 266 In the Beginning the Prophet divided the Muslim peoples. In Arabia Muhammad’s Quran was customized by rival a mullah Wahabi who rejected the 5th century Islam. The original Islam was splintered into different groups. In Bharat, different groups of method and practitioners took to practices of Shiva worshippers (maheshvara siddhas) in the Deccan; alchemists (sittars) in Tamil Nadu; Buddhist tantrikas of Bengal and Orissa (Siddh-acharyas); alchemists (rasa siddhas) of medieval India and north Indian Natha siddhas. Most of these groups in India interacted (through an oral tradition) and shared their knowledge of tantric, yogic and alchemic philosophy and practices. Although each was an enigmatic group, all converged about their aims. All worked towards attainment of long-life (human), a healthy, disease-free body, mind and intellect (perfected being), and freedom from cycles of birth and death (divine) beyond cosmic dissolution (pralaya and mahapralaya). Like their Egyptian equivalents, their mystical doctrines also involved the use of procreative emissions of male and especially female fluids of life–rasa. Since these secretions were the sources of earthly human manifestation, such natural human discharges were considered a source of both human and divine supremacy. Ritual creation, contribution and utilization of these fluids constituted a ‘secret practice’ known only to the initiates of the inner circles. With the advent of Matsyendranath and Gorakhnath the metaphysics of the practice became more obvious. They explained the metaphysics of hatha yoga of postures and exercises intended to sustain healthy bodily functioning and inducing emotional calmness. Awakening the dormant energy in the base of the spinal cord (kundalini) and enlivening the chakra system through strict observances of yama and niyama became the focus of their experiments. Through scientific yoga, the Nathas metamorphosed the physical body into a subtle state. They experimentally conserved the transformed reproductive fluids into pure life-force energy. This was now used to renovate the spinal axis into a power house of yogic observances able to provide the nectar of immortality. Some groups identified reproductive fluids with minerals in mica and sulphur. These fluids were purified and activated by combining them with mercury and ingested for purposes of physical perfection and a longer life. Nathas were the last living guides of this of Raja Yoga. Some of the Nathas were already perfected beings who were allegedly immortals but choosing to remain among mortals. The West referred to them as’ immortals’. Marco Polo (1254-1324) a Venetian merchant traveller met such yogis in Malabar in the 13th century AD and attributed their long life to the ingestion of an elixir of mercury and sulphur. Francois Bernier, (1625–1688), a French physician and traveller who was the personal doctor of Emperor Aurangzeb and a catholic priest wrote: “Yogis know how to make gold and to prepare mercury so admirably that one or two grains taken every morning restores the body to perfect health.” ‘The Ocean of Indian Chemistry and Alchemy’ by Bhudeb Godly Legends 267

Mookerjee defined that the all-absorbing capacities of mercury were shared by any element because of their inherent power of expansion and their power to become all-encompassing. “This is precisely the nature of Brahman, the Absolute...” said Professor David Gellner who teaches Anthropology of South Asia, University of Oxford. Prophets and Prophecies What was prophecy? It was the foretelling of a destiny when definite combinations of events gathered at one time in one place. Therefore, prophecies could be fulfilled or spoiled exactly as chemical reactions could go awry or were centred. Even though people understood the significance and implications of a barometer, the concept of prophesy fell short of human understanding. To a Vedantin the Law of Karma was ‘prophesy’ for the present, future and subsequent reincarnations. Prophecies could be divided into the precisely timed and those that remained undated. When dealing with a dated prophecy all the intermediate conditions of lesser dates needed observing. Many prophecies over time remained unfulfilled because the right combinations of events were missing. A true prophecy therefore already foresaw the best combination of possibilities, but even in such a situation, it was also possible to allow them to retreat. When a new day dawned over earth, the present hour became a whirlpool of fire that devoured all old redundant forms of existence. The Creator foretold of a New World. After a fiery destruction He re-created. Many witnesses of the Great Design, who are and were deaf and blind, could only watch as bystanders, not knowing what was happening around and to them. Since time immemorial prophecies were issued from the Community of Ascended Masters as compassionate cryptograms meant for humanity to understand and target. The paths of prophecies were diverse. They always suggested recommendations to a particular people. Alternatively, they were inscriptions left by some unknown hands for those who were fortunate enough to understand the messages left behind. Prophecies best of all enlightened mankind, even if the symbols were often obscured, but the inner meaning created a vibration that required alertness and aspiration. It was a prophet who possessed the spiritual foresight to foretell —that quality of far-sightedness was that of the Spirit. Throughout the history of humanity there was always recognition of the Higher Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter and a great number of such concepts that led mankind to the Higher World. Even under changing conditions all people of all geographical areas sensed the same Supreme, of an unspeakable single origin. Some regarded the manifestation of the Spirit, a Prophet, as the Philosophers’ Stone capable of transforming the mundane lives of people into the sublime. This was not an egotistical implication, but an instinctive discernment of truth by the people. Whether searching in ancient Egypt, in 268 In the Beginning

Babylon, India, amid the undiscovered cultures of the Mayans or anywhere, beyond the subtle symbols scattered and found by archaeologists, could be found the same exalted impression. Through nearness with wise leaders of Spirit and Science the people hoped the Masters would lead them to the Higher World. Past records about Masters defined there were in all people continual feelings of faith and devotion demanding guidance for their evolution. Jesus was a Messenger who in his Galilean embodiment, delivered the words of Maitreya, soon expected to unify all religions of the world and fulfil prophesies for the Golden Age of Aquarius. Jesus had previously served in expressions of Joshua and Elisha when he received the Mantle of the prophet Elijah. As Elijah he was lifted to heaven in a “chariot of fire” but Malachi prophesied that Elijah would return to Earth to go before the Messiah. Jesus described John the Baptist as the return of Elijah. The prophet Samuel was the last of the Judges of Israel and received his calling as a Messenger when still a child. Through Samuel, Spirit anointed David as king of Israel. Samuel then became Master Saint Germain, who allegedly still lives on to help mortals on their spiritual journeys. The prophet Moses was the Messenger of the “I AM THAT I AM” (Exodus 3:14) which translated into Vedanta thunders: aham brahma asmi. He was called to deliver the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt. The coming of Moses was prophesied 13,000 years ago by Ernon, Rai of Suern, and a Messenger of God at the time of Atlantis. His subjects, the Suernis, rebelled against His discipline, and Ernon warned that they would wait some 90 centuries for their next Messenger, “him who shall be called Moses.” The Suernis reincarnated as the Israelites, among the seed of Abraham. The patriarch Abraham, “father of many nations” (Genesis 17:1) was called the “Friend of God.” The Lord God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees and promised Him “I will make of thee a great nation” (Genesis 12:2). Abraham is now the Master El Morya. Abraham tithed to Melchizedek, who was king of Salem and priest of the Most High God. Melchizedek was the Messenger of God described in Hebrews as being “without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life but made like unto the Son of God.” He is now the Master Maitreya. The patriarch Enoch, who “walked with God,” (Genesis 5:24) was the Messenger of Sanat Kumar of the Ancient of Days, spoken of in the Book of Daniel. In the Book of Enoch, he recorded the revelations given to him while he was in his finer body. Gautama Buddha was another Messenger of Sanat Kumar and founded Buddhism in the sixth century BC. For 45 years, He preached throughout India, spreading his doctrine of the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path and the Middle Way. Zarathustra, Messenger of Ahura Mazda, founded Zoroastrianism in ancient Persia. The Zarathustra revealed that Ahura Mazda (“Wise Lord”) was Sanat Kumar. Hermes the ancient Egyptian sage was the Godly Legends 269

“scribe of the gods.” He is now the god Mercury, whom Master El Morya called “the Archetype of the Messenger of the Gods.” How could all the above be the truth? Throughout history there were individuals who were often more mindful than others of their relationships with their other people, to laws, controls and rules of their country. They intuitively knew the purpose, hope, and wants of the peoples who wished for a Common Good. Those that followed such ways became open channels to make better associations in the service to others. Such service of a soul of any individual, contributed to Spirit - through serving fellow man. These channels and ancient scriptures confirmed all the details listed so far. Edgar Cayce the ‘Sleeping Prophet’ of the 20th Century gave over 14,000 “readings” during 43 years (1901 to 1944). These were trance conversations through which Cayce revealed the past, present and future while in a hypnotic or “sleeping” state. While “awake” he claimed not to remember what he had said while “asleep”. The readings themselves explained the unconscious mind in deep sleep had access to information which the conscious and semi-conscious mind did not — a common theory about hypnosis in Cayce’s time. Most records came from the period after 1925, when his secretary Gladys Davis recorded the readings, and his wife Gertrude Evans Cayce “conducted” (guided) the readings. His uttering confirmed the Maitreya would unify all religions during the Golden Age of Aquarius. Jews a Mix of Israelites and Hebrews Division of a religion was typified within the book of Exodus, the 2nd Book of both the Hebrew Bible and the Torah, where a biblical mountain was mentioned. The mount sits in the all-embracing range of the Sinai Peninsula— a land mass lying above the Red Sea between the Gulfs of Suez and Aqabah. In the Old Testament, the mountain was initially called Mount Horeb, later referred to as Mount Sinai. As Time progressed it was again called Mount Horeb. It was about the story of Moses and the Tribes of Israel’s exodus from Egypt. According to Exodus this was the mountain on which Moses in 1350 BC saw the burning bush. This mountain was where he talked with Jehovah (Sanat Kumar) and where he received the Ten Commandments and the Tables of Testimony of Stone written with the finger of God. They were put by Moses into the Ark of the Covenant. At the time of Moses there was no Mount Sinai. Even in the days of Jesus or even for another 300 years there was no Mount Sinai. The Old Testament of today stemmed from a 10th century Hebrew text which was 600 years younger than the canonical New Testament compiled in the 4th century AD. The mountain now known as Mount Sinai sits in the south of the peninsula, near the bottom point of the triangular highland. It was given its name in the 4th century AD by Greek Christian monks 1700 years after the time of Moses. It is today known as 270 In the Beginning

Gebel Musa (or Mount of Moses). Today, there is still a Christian retreat there called the St Catherine’s Monastery, but it was not on the Sinai Mountain which the Bible called Mount Horeb. The Book of Exodus gave a detailed account of the route taken by Moses and the Israelites from the Egyptian Nile delta, down across the wilderness of Shur (Egyptian border north of Red Sea) and Paran (Mecca in Arabia) in northern Sinai, to the land of Midian (which is NW Arabia of present-day Jordan). From this description of the route taken, it was easy to identify the location of Mount Horeb. It was north of Gebel Musa. The word Horeb simply meant ‘desert’, and the great desert mountain which soared to over 2600 feet within a high stone plateau above the Plain of Paran was today called Serâbît el-Khâdim (the Prominence of the Khâdim). Here there was found a temple leading to an underground chapel dedicated to the Hathor Goddess, the patron goddess of copper and turquoise miners. It was an Egyptian temple, the only one of its kind built outside mainland Egypt and dedicated to Hathor founded by Solomon (Amenhotep III) during a period when mines were mostly active. This older part of the temple was enlarged and extended by Queen Hatshepsut (1472–1458 BC) the 5th pharaoh but a female, followed by Isaac (Thutmose III) and Solomon during the New Kingdom. Without local tribesmen Serâbît el-Khâdim was not easy to find. Even today, the route leading to the area off the western Sinai coastal highway is still not paved. A climb up a time-consuming series of steps to the top of the mountain followed by a trek back along mountain ridges took the pilgrim to the temple. In the late 1890s, the British Egyptologist Sir William Flinders Petrie, a professor at the University College, London, applied to the Egypt Exploration Fund to take an expedition into Sinai. They took their expedition to the heights of Mount Serâbît. Petrie published detailed results of his findings. The revealed information was clearly contrary to the teachings of the Bible. He discovered the great secret of the sacred mountain of Moses—a secret which not only made sense of the Exodus portrayals, but which exposed the common scriptural interpretation as flawed. What the Bible did not make clear was that Sinai was not a foreign land to the Egyptians. It was part of Egypt and came under Pharaonic control. So Moses and the Israelites had not left Egypt once they were east of the Nile delta—they were still in Egypt, having the whole Sinai Peninsula to cross before they entered the Palestinian land of Canaan. During the time of Moses, Sinai came under the control of two Egyptian officials: the royal chancellor and the royal messenger. This was the era of Egypt’s 18th Dynasty: the dynasty of pharaohs and Egyptian high priest followed by the now famous Tutankhamen. The royal messenger of those times was an official called Neby. He was also the mayor and troop commander of Zaru in the Egyptian delta region of Goshen, where the Israelites had lived before the exodus. The position of royal chancellor was hereditary in the Hyksos family of Pa-Nehas Godly Legends 271 who was Aaron’s grandson. Panahesy of this family was the official governor of Sinai. He was Phinehas in the Bible. He became one of the first priests of this new mosaic structure, a fluid model of regional substructures – each oriented slightly differently but had previously been under the Chief Priest at Pharaoh Akhenaton’s (Amenhotep IV) temple at Amarna. To understand the significance of Petrie’s discovery it was vital to understand that Israelites and Hebrew of the Mosaic era were not one people. The Hebrew was a family and descendants of Abraham, whose main home was in Canaan (Palestine). The Israelites were family and descendants of one of Abraham’s grandsons—Jacob (Amenhotep II) whose name was changed to Israel. It was Jacob’s family alone that moved into Egypt and it was their descendants who returned with Moses to be reunited, after countless generations, with their fellow Hebrews. The Israelites had long been subjected to the laws and religions of Egypt and knew little about the customs of their Hebrew cousins hundreds of miles away in Canaan. Through over 400 years they were in an environment which supported a pantheon of gods and although they had developed a One God idea within their own society, that god was not the Jehovah of Canaanite Hebrews. Their god was a faceless entity whom they called the Lord or the Adon. To the Egyptians, this Lord (Adon) was similar to Aten who gained the name of Pharaoh Akhenaton (Servant of Aten). These people became leaders of the House of Judah with David, Moses, and Aaron as ancestors to Jesus and John. When Moses and the Israelites made their exodus into Sinai, they arrived not as worshippers of Jehovah, but of Aten. Therefore, they were presented with new laws and ordinances (through Moses) to bring them into line with the Hebrew culture of their prospective new homeland. When Moses and the Israelites left the Egyptian delta, their obvious route to Canaan would have been directly across the wilderness of northern Sinai, but they pushed southward into the difficult high country to spend time at the Horeb mountain of Serâbît. This was the difference which had long puzzled the archaeologist Petrie and his team. Europe’s Humanity The Age of Pisces (1– 2000 AD) was a period during which Christianity appeared and spread out. The fish was known to be the secret sign used by early Christians to identify themselves to one another. The Greek word Ichtus (fish) was the acronym for the phrase: Iesous Christos Theou Uios Soter, or Jesus Christ Son of God, the Saviour. In Hinduism, fish was also the symbol of the Saviour (Vishnu’s first incarnation in the form of a fish—Matsya) who saved Manu from the flood... Similar to Mahavishnu, Jesus represented the ninth avatar, who identified the agnya chakra as The Christ in all beings. The appearance of this chakra in the microcosm was shown to live in the centre of the forehead where the left 272 In the Beginning channel (Ida nadi) and the right channel (Pingala nadi) outline a subtle crossing of all the nerve tracts coursing through and around the spinal cord. Anatomically this was around the optic chiasma (optical nerve crossing), behind and between the two eyebrows in the kutastha. The three channels cross at the sixth chakra – agnya, the Third Eye. This was described as the narrowest path for the ‘unconscious’ corporeal energy to pass through. It was the “narrow gate” that Jesus talked about: “Strive with earnestness to enter through the narrow door, for many, I say, will seek to enter and will not be able” (Luke 13:24) and again “Enter through the narrow gate” (Matthew 7:13). Jesus revealed himself as the master of the agnya chakra: “I am the door; if any one enters in by me, he shall be saved” (John 10.9). Humanity could not understand what it meant to be ‘saved’. It referred to one who would be able to reach the end – a spiritual ascent to the Sahasrahara (Kingdom of Heaven, where there was synthesis of all chakras. Here lay the link of all biophysical energy or prana of the human body. Here individual Spirit was promised the ecstasy of joining with the Universal Spirit—God). With the start of the Piscean Age, the classical Greek and Roman Civilizations on the Mediterranean Sea were set in motion in 800 BC but fell with the collapse of the Roman Empire in 476 BC. It rivalled its counterparts in India and China in richness and impact. Centred first in the Greek peninsula and then in Rome’s burgeoning provinces, the new Mediterranean culture did not embrace all the civilized lands in the ancient Middle East. The rapid rise of civilization in Greece between 800 and 600 BC was based on creating strong city states rather than a single political unit. Each city state had its own government, whether tyrannical or ruled by an aristocratic council. Sparta and Athens became two of its leading city states. Between 500 and 449 BC these two cooperated with other smaller states to defeat the Persian invasion. It was during this period that Greek, particularly Athenian, culture reached its highest point. Political decline began as soon as Sparta and Athens competed for control of Greece in the famous Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), which left both states exhausted. In fifth century BC, Pericles (495–429 BC) was a prominent influential diplomat and orator of Athens. As political leader he dominated Athenian politics. This aristocrat fitted his ideas of democracy into a democratic political structure in which each citizen could engage in city state assembly to select officials and pass laws. Unfortunately, even this guidance could not prevent the tragic Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) led by Sparta. The localized character of Greek politics contributed to intense political concern. Although the citizens could and did feel the state was theirs, with rights and duties of the people, their government could not survive. Because of such political strength and localism as characteristic of Mediterranean civilizations, a great diversity of political forms arose. Under the guise of democracy tyranny became the norm. The Greek political experience was tried by the Romans. However, the Godly Legends 273

Roman Empire eventually distinguished itself from the earlier city states by developing organizational capacities on a far larger scale. In the Roman Senate, aristocratic assemblies were filled with individuals who were disinterested in public service but featured eloquent public speaking and arguments that sought to identify a common or general good for their citizens. This was the closest their ‘ideals’ came to realization. Greeks and Romans did not create a significant world-class religion. The characteristic Greco-Roman religion pre-Christ to 337 AD was a primitive affair, gained from the belief in the Spirits of Nature promoted into a complex set of gods and goddesses who were seen as regulating human life. This was what Jesus met while visiting with the masters of Greece. Apart from religion, other ethical systems also developed here, during the Hellenistic period. It stressed on an inner moral independence to be cultivated by strict disciplines of the body and by individual observances of moral disciplines. The idea of a philosophy separate from its official religion was cultured by all classical Mediterranean states. All works in political theory were without reference to religious principles. This tended to down play the importance of human spirituality for celebration of the human power to think. Socrates (469 BC) had encouraged his pupils to question information before getting knowledge because it was his opinion that it was a human duty to ‘improve the soul’ with wisdom. Socrates’ greatest pupil was Plato. He carried on his guru’s philosophy and tutored the principle of critical thinking through sceptical questioning. Such ‘recurrent thinking strand’ soon became classical in Greek philosophy. It also would become the tradition of later philosophical societies. Jesus’ experience of Greece after his sojourn in India, Tibet and Nepal pointed out that he admired Greek thought. Greek interest in rationality carried over to the inquiry into the underlying order of physical nature. Although their interest lay in Nature’s mathematical order, their work in geometry was impressive and mystically connected with the Laws of Creation. These facts featured among their other achievements like the basic theorems by Pythagoras. In classical Mediterranean civilization science and mathematics loomed far less large than art and literature. In suggesting cultural values, Greek literature contained strong epic traditions. Beautifully crafted tales of the Iliad and Odyssey were their enduring legacy. Politics and formal culture both in Greece and Rome were ‘affairs of cities’, with serious concern for only a minority of the population. Most Greeks and Romans were farmers, attached to the soil and often attached to local rituals and festivals that were different from urban forms. The importance of commercial farming, created for the politicians, concerns with trade. However, during this time, farmers and merchants enjoyed an ambiguous status. Apart from the priestly and ruling , slavery was a key social institution used by all people of affluence and wealth. Greek art and culture merged with other Middle 274 In the Beginning

Eastern art forms during a period, called Hellenistic. It saw the consolidation of Greek civilization even after the political decline of that peninsula. The rise of Rome became the final phase of classical Mediterranean civilization. By 313 AD the pagan Romans had subjugated Greece and the Hellenistic kingdoms alike. By 337AD Rome and Greece was Christianized. For the next 1000 years, Roman: Persian and Greek: Arab wars led to blows to both the Byzantine and Roman empires. Invading Mongolians Genghis Khan and his pagan pre-Islamic descendents from the north 1206–1370 AD were part of the European Invasion from the Pacific to the Danube River until Kublai Khan in Baghdad became a Muslim. Invasions of Europe by the Ottoman Turkish Muslim Empire (1450–1853 AD) were finally checked and repulsed by the Greeks under Alexander. Europe Amasses Middle Eastern Knowledge Many books were written during Francis Bacon’s time about the London Criminal Underworld. Bacon (1561–1626) was known as father of empiricism or simply the father of scientific methods. His work demanded proper method. His dedication to his work probably led to his death, bringing him into a rare historical group of scientists who were killed by their own experiments. The London Criminal Underworld divided London into districts with gangs that screened them from justice. There was another underworld, the London Underworld of Hidden Knowledge of Myth, Magic and Mysteries in Fellowship with the Royal Society of Arts. The Knights of Templar Knowledge was a member but they only enrolled Cathar nobles as their volunteers. They had esoteric knowledge and practiced mystic Christianity. All of these happenings were not the only hidden knowledge in England during Bacon’s time. This age was a hotbed of underground activity in “imported” knowledge from the East. Michael Baigent was questioning mainstream opinions of history and life of Jesus while Richard Leigh wrote on the Secret History of Jesus and about the Quest of the Grail. Both described routes by which the hidden knowledge about Jesus came to England. The first North-African Islamic ideas penetrated Europe through Spain and Eastern Europe. During the seventh and eighth centuries Islam overwhelmed the Iberian Peninsula in the extreme south- west of Europe and then advanced into France. Principles of sacred geometry and architecture filtered northward from Spain and France. During the centuries of Battle of Tours in 732 AD between Frankish and Islamic armies and the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 between England and France, the reign of Ferdinand and Isabelle of Spain, became a repository of ‘esoteric’ teachings. Raymond Lully (1235–1315 AD), a Majorcan philosopher, poet and theosophist, was the first major ‘esotericist’ in Western tradition whose work exerted enormous influence on later European developments. Francis Bacon meanwhile took the idea of his ‘ladder of the intellect’ from Lully. It was by now Godly Legends 275 accepted by the intelligentsia that individuals seeking ‘esoteric’ or mystical initiation had to make a pilgrimage to Spain. Suddenly there was a massive influx of refugees into Western Europe after Constantinople (Turkish Istanbul of the Ottoman Empire) fell. Remnant of the Byzantine Empire (330 AD) was by now a Greek-speaking Roman Empire of the Middle Ages, centred at its capital in Constantinople. It fell to the Turks in 1453. Refugees, who arrived brought with them texts amassed during the previous thousand years in Byzantine Libraries. Books on Hermeticism, neo-Platonism, Gnosticism, Kabbalism, astrology, alchemy and sacred geometry were the teaching traditions that originated in Alexandria (332BC) in ancient Egypt before the invasion by Alexander the Great. The Knowledge cache had by then filtered into Europe during the second and third centuries. The Byzantine material gradually found its way to Italy, where the Cosimo de’Medici’ (political dynasty 1389–1464 AD) the founder of the Reign of Medicis of Tuscany, immediately ambushed the material. Academies were established to study and promote it. The result was the Renaissance that suddenly spread across Europe. The Renaissance Cultural Movement of Europe started in France between 14th and 17th centuries. Focusing on art, architecture, literature and learning it became defined as “Western civilization”. When the wave of esotericism spread to England it was spread by John Dee (1527–1608), an archmagus of the age. He was the imperial navigator, and the English consultant to Elizabeth I in mathematics and astrology. It was from John Dee who with his glass globe reflected in it the entire world, that Bacon got the prototype for his ‘intellectual globe’. Ancient thought and wisdom had been ambushed by the West, but according to the Law of Karma, this too would unravel. Devolution of Thought during Piscean Age Mind is thought and thoughts manifest in actions. Jesus, like Enoch, confirmed that man “is part of everything, for he has been a living thing on every plane of life” (Aquarian Gospel 41). With each distillation through billions of manifestations each embodied experiences of every single life form on earth. Man was one with all life around, having been a part of every outward appearance, both organic and inorganic. Although man travelled a roundabout path, the changing individual would reach his destination in time. “Time was when man was not; and he was a formless substance in the moulds of time, just a protoplast.” At this ‘beginning’ thought began with a unicellular ‘being’. At the start of the Time, expression did not exist in relativity. Manifestation was a simple potentiality of Awareness before expressing Consciousness. Then, by choice, this expression entered the field of relative existence and became a primary potentiality of energy on a physical level of objective visible life. Ingrained habits and ‘likes and dislikes’ (theory of relativity) started the decline of mind, thought and therefore action. This gradual decline of humanity was 276 In the Beginning responsible for humanity not understanding messages of Masters, including those of Jesus during the Piscean Age or Kaliyuga. This happened because messages came from “higher realms”, often from Ascended Masters. Nobody, neither parent nor teachers, were ‘trained’ to understand the ‘self’ fired by personalities of mind- intellect-ego. Rules of childhood nurturing were ignored and adults floundered while searching for the Self. Krishna tried talking to Arjuna on the Battlefield of Mahabharata, on Rules of Human Existence, in the Bhagavad Gita but the message was often too complex to understand. Jesus also tried to explain and communicate the same message to the Apostles. In exasperation Jesus was sometimes forced to admit that some of his disciples, who had been with him in past expressions, did not understand. Masters had to make their messages more accessible, by using real-life examples to make sense to the human mind. Some of humanity neither saw the urgency nor the importance of these messages. They did not understand how understanding ‘the purpose of human existence’ they referred to living life. Only individual effort and dedication to Nature activated a Connection to Wholeness. For nearly two millennia, there was a global lack of alignment. Insights were slighted or not even understood. Old flawed beliefs and mental conditionings challenged all new insights and wisdom. These were the conditions Jesus faced during his brief life as a teacher. Masters of New Age blamed this blindness on the planetary Sirius Connection. Sirius or Dog Star is reported to be the brightest star in the sky, located in the constellation Canis Major. Sirius, meaning scorching, exceeded in brightness only by the sun, and the moon. Venus as well as Mars and Jupiter, were also at times seen at their maximum brightness. Sirius was said to be about twice the size of the sun and about 20 times as luminous. Because it was one of the nearest stars, it was studied extensively. From an analysis of its motions, FW Bessel (1784–1846), a German astronomer and mathematician, credited with being the first to use parallax in calculating the distance to a star, concluded in 1844 that it had an unseen companion, which was later (1862) confirmed by observation. The companion, Sirius B, a white-dwarf star became the object of much study because it was the first white dwarf whose spectrum was found to display and create a gravitational shift on the Total Mind. Bessel mathematically predicted the behaviour of the Mind and the Theory of Relativity. Astrology the oldest science on the planet was always known to be governed and driven by the powers of magnetism and gravity. Bessel stated the positions of planets shifting around the sun gave them increased energy through their magnetic and gravitational systems. These, when they overlapped with the magnetic grid of the earth, which in turn overlapped the magnetic qualities of the human DNA, there were definite changes in human Thought and Understanding. Hindu astrology confirmed the Universe was transcribed in the human brain and spinal cord. When the cosmos changed even one of its attributes, computations and components, the systems Godly Legends 277 of astrology also shifted. With such influences, the Total Mind became subjected to terrestrial influences. Zosimus, a Byzantine (490–510 AD), was a Greek historian and author of four books on Roman Empire under Augustus (62BC -14AD). In his Book 1 he summarized the events of the first three centuries; Books 2–4 gave a fuller account of the fourth century, but particularly of 395–410 AD. Being a pagan he credited the decline of empires after the death of Jesus to rejecting the pagan gods by the Total Mind. The mother goddess of Egypt who was depicted as a woman represented the solar disc and was identified with Hathor for unending rebirth. Legend stated that when Isis rediscovered Re, the sun-god advised her to utter his name ‘Re’ because it was the Sun’s divinity that granted Knowledge and Wisdom to whoever uttered ‘Re’. Isis therefore seized a portion of the Sun’s (Re) power and sparkled Light in the constellation of Sirius. Her cult spread to Greece and Rome, but her legend gradually declined into myths. Her lessons were forgotten for over 2000 years. The Gayatri mantra, a Vedic Sanskrit hymn from the Rig-Veda credited to the sage Vishwamitra is a meditation on the glory of the Creator (Sun) who created the Universe and therefore was worthy of worship. It was the Sun who was always embodying Knowledge and Wisdom in the East. Jesus tried to explain that humans were able to pick up all their past godly qualities to strengthen their current life. Because these were the qualities they already owned or learned through past life experiences, such awakenings had the power to change the past. Unfortunately, for centuries political affairs blocked advancement of both Scriptural and Scientific Knowledge. Alchemical knowledge was declared by Churchians as coming from the ‘fallen angels’ from other planets. Aliens were said to have had children with human women. The early Church fathers believed these tales. They asserted strongly that angels had sinned against the orders of god. But, who were these angels? The book of Enoch (Enoch 1), the book of the secrets of Enoch (Enoch 2) and the Book of Jubilees contain more details about these ‘fallen angels’ referred to in Genesis. Enoch 2 was written by a Hellenistic Jew in the first century AD during the intertestament periods of the Old and New Testaments when truths and pseudo-truths were being actively promoted. A shift in Consciousness had already been initiated from the pre-Jesus era. In the early throes of blindness was born violent actions that would become the hallmark of the Piscean Age. Incorporated with confusion, humanity’s accomplishments were brought to a screeching halt. It would in time result into the soul finally “rediscovering” through spirituality and science, the message of Ascended Masters beaming for the recent three centuries. 278 In the Beginning

11.Shepherds of Humanity

The Imperial Court of the Royal Dragon Order was formed in Egypt around 2500 to 2200 years BC during Third Dynasty of the Old Kingdom by the priests of Mendes (Greek name for ancient Egyptian city of Lord Ram of Djedet). This was the time when Egypt was overrun by the ‘dark priest-craft’, but was still held in high regard by those who were unable to understand how to face the then Time Reality of the planet. Over the last two millennia, the Babylonian Brotherhood and its controversial Cimmerian bloodlines expanded across the Middle and Near East, but especially to Egypt and eventually into Europe and the Americas. These Cimmerian bloodlines were a secret group of humanoids that allegedly began controlling humanity through prominent religious and political figures. It was also suspected that early Egyptian civilizations, the Phoenicians, with or without these Cimmerian Anunnaki had taken over the ‘Royal Court of the Dragon of Egypt’ founded by the priests of Mendes around 2200 BC (7th to 11th Dynasties of the Middle Kingdom). They are said to still exist today in the Imperial and Royal Court of the Dragon, a sovereignty that clearly started from the House of David. In 1408 AD, the Dragon Court was once more formally reconstituted as a sovereign body at times of wars and general political turmoil. The Court’s re-emergence was urged by Sigismund von Luxembourg, king of Hungary, a descendant of the Lusignan Dragon Kings of Jerusalem. Having inherited the legacy in 1397 he drew up a pact with 23 nobles who swore to watch ‘true and pure fraternity’ within the Societas Draconis (later called Ordo Draconis). The founding document stated that members of the Court might wear the insignia of a dragon incurved into a circle, with a red cross—the emblem of the original Rosicrucis which had identified the Grail succession from pre-3000 BC times. Wherever they went, the Babylonian Brotherhood created their own Mystery Schools. The secrets of advanced knowledge in Science and Scriptures therefore remained confined to those who were members of the Brotherhood. Over time, most of the knowledge base disappeared globally, but for a few, the knowledge reached higher levels. By using many pyramid (antennae to communicate) scattered across the planet knowledge developed and remained confined to many select areas of the globe. Non-Cimmerian initiation schools clearly existed but were infiltrated. They were gradually taken over by the manipulative Babylonian priesthood (the Cimmerians were also called ‘reptilian’). Mystery Schools were around for tens of thousands of years, probably

278 Shepherds of Humanity 279 hundreds of thousands, and they passed on advanced knowledge to those whom the hierarchy and priests decided were worthy of it. In his book, ‘The Masters of Wisdom’, JG Bennett a spiritual psychologist, wrote of how the Russian mystic, Gregori Gurdjieff, told him Mystery Schools existed as far back as least 30,000 to 40,000 years. Gurdjieff said he had learned this from cave drawings in the Caucasus Mountain and in Turkestan. The personality of the Russian Gurdjieff was a puzzling one. He may or may not have had paranormal powers. He was personally known the young Joseph Stalin, travelled in the East, taught what he had learned to pupils in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and left Russia during the war. He turned up in Constantinople, opened an institute in Fontainebleau, and died in Paris. Hitler was enlightened with the Gurdjieff Doctrine. Essentially his idea was that a single man could be a foundation machine of any totalitarian regime. This triggered a search for a true Aryan race in Tibet where Hitler was told to search for Nordic features among Tibetans. Gurdjieff had experiences that led him to believe there existed somewhere in a place called Shambala, guardians of a secret forbidden knowledge that could give unbelievable power over a man and humanity. New Age people would shriek in indignation at the thought that Ancient Mystery Schools were a part of an agenda of human manipulation. There were many with positive intent who wanted to use the Mystery Schools as sources of knowledge to be shared with a people who they believed would use its wisdom wisely. According to many even the positive ones were eventually infiltrated by human hybrids called chimeras. Change towards moral degradation and corruption gradually became more widespread and universal. In his teaching to Mary and Elizabeth (the young mothers of Jesus and John), the sage Elihu said, “The Indian priests became corrupt; Brahm [Brahman – God] was forgotten by the masses. The rights of average citizen were trampled over with the arrival of Aryans (Brahmins and kshatriyas against vaishyas and shudras). Then came a mighty master Siddhartha (a royal prince), who was better known as Buddha. The ‘enlightened one’, renounced all the material pleasures and possessions, including wealth and state honours. He sought and found Silence in quiet groves and caves. He was blessed. He preached a gospel of higher form, and taught man how to honour man. He had no doctrine of the gods to teach. He just knew man and so his creed was justice, love and virtue. “Words of Buddha are recorded in Indian sacred books. Look into them, for they are part of the instructions of the Holy Breath. Secondly, the land of Egypt is the land of secret things. The mysteries of the ages lie locked in our temples and shrines. Masters of all times and climes come here to learn. When your sons (Jesus and John) have grown up, they will finish their studies in Egyptian schools.” (from Aquarian Gospel by Levi Dowling). A reign of harmfulness was predicted and it would reign over a blind humanity for 2400 years 280 In the Beginning

True Monarchs were Shepherds When the Stewart King James VI of Scotland (1567-1625), the son of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots ascended the throne of England to become King James I of Great Britain, he made a speech that shocked his Parliament. James used his coronation speech to remind his Ministers and the citizens of an ancient, traditional belief that a monarch was chosen by God to be His emissary and representative on the earth. He reminded his citizens he was answerable to no one but God. James finished his speech by telling Parliament that, since he ruled by the grace of God, any act or word spoken in contradiction of him was an act against God himself. Although it was James I who made the idea of divine right famous in recent history, he did not invent the idea. The concept was as old as civilization itself. Divine right was the kingly or priestly claim that authority came directly from God rather than from the people. Such a system in reality protected the rights of individual citizens from even larger and more powerful bullies such as the Parliament and the powerful ceremonial religious leaders. Author Stephen Coston wrote in 1972 in his ‘Sources of English Constitutional History’: “Without the doctrine of divine right, Roman Catholicism would have dominated history well beyond its current employment in the Dark Ages. Further, it is divine right that made it possible for the Protestant reformation in England to take place, mature and spread to the rest of the world.” He also said about divine right nobody in the past could presume to question how a monarch’s acted, much less go against them. Interestingly, ‘divine right’ practiced by European monarchs was based on a more ancient doctrine practiced by the monarchs of Judah and Israel in the Old Testament. Jewish monarchy in 1030 BC was established by David into Kingdoms of Jacob through Isaac in the South who became ancestors of the tribes of Israel and Arabia. In the North where the indigenous Hebrews already lived, the royal House of Judah became the Merovingian ancestors of Moses, Aaron, Solomon, Akhenaton, Elijah, Zachariah, Jesus and John. The Hebrews and Israelites existed side by side from 2500 BC to 539 BC. Many European royal families even today consider the Judaic leaders as their ancestors, tracing their royal European lineage back to King David, sometimes through the descendants of Jesus: the “Grail Bloodline”. Grail Bloodline was the progeny of Cain, the eldest son of . The European tradition of anointing kings with oil came from practices in India and from the Old Testament. George Athas a bachelor of Divinity from Sydney claimed the cup that held the oil used for anointing a king was the real Holy Grail. He described how the ceremony symbolized the Hebrew Lord Yahweh who guided Moses (Sanat Kumar) and adopted the new king as his own son: “Firstly, the king was ‘anointed’ by Yahweh, the mesiach, from which comes the term ‘messiah.’ At his anointing the Spirit of Yahweh entered the king, giving Shepherds of Humanity 281 him superhuman qualities allowing him to carry out the dictates of God or the deity. The deity was portrayed as saying to Moses, ‘you are my son: today I have sired you.’ On many occasions, the Hebrew Yahweh was called the king’s god. The king was considered far above the ordinary mortal, making him holy and his person sacred. It was an offence to lay a hand on him. The kings of Judah and of Israel were depicted sitting at Yahweh’s right hand who was the currently popular deity of Egypt. Kings were linked with priesthood and sometimes took on priestly roles. However, traditionally, the Jewish priesthood was dominated by Cohens of the tribe of Levi, which was biologically related, but functionally separate from the royal line David and Solomon. Their priests originated from the line of Melchizedek. With the arrival of Jesus he became heir to both the kingly (David) and priestly (Moses) titles through his lineage back to both tribes. In more ancient Egyptian cultures, the royal and priestly roles were inseparable because they were offspring of deities and regarded themselves as deity. Their first king was one of their main gods: Osiris, whom all human kings were expected to copy. Osiris taught a wise law and spiritual wisdom to the people. At the end of his ministry, Osiris left his throne to the people for a new king to rule over Egypt in the same manner as Osiris had ruled. Legends of India spoke of kings like Janaka leaving for the forests for the sake of their salvation by immersion into the Spirit. King Janaka of Ramayana, who was versed in the knowledge of the atma (soul), remained free from attachments even while living as householder and ruler. The Egyptian kings followed a similar tradition. The idea that kingship began with a single divine ruler of whom all later human kings were descendants was traced back to the oldest civilizations/ cultures of India, Sumeria, Mesopotamia, Assyria and Babylon. Through a sacred marriage, the king made a metaphysical union with the mother goddess (Durga or Isis), who filled him with life, fertility and blessing, which he passed on to his people. Durga is and was the mother of the Universe, worshipped as the power of the Supreme Being. Isis was the ancient Egyptian and Greco-Roman goddess of motherhood, magic and fertility. Such facts were known to the ancients as Kronos, the youngest of the first generation of Titans, the divine descendants of Gaia and the pre-Olympian Greek earth-goddess who was worshipped as mother of all. The Forgotten Father deity, the planet Saturn was the Roman god Saturn equated to the Greek Cronus (the Titan, father of Zeus), the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. It was he who supposedly fell to earth and married the earth women to breed a race of human kings who purportedly produced the Grail bloodline and descendants of Cain. He was imprisoned in the underworld by his father Zeus, the most High God, for disobeying and interbreeding with humans and sharing secret knowledge with them. This did not contradict the traditional association of ancient kings with the sun-god, because Saturn himself was a sun-god. In ancient times, Saturn was a dominant figure in the night sky and became known as ‘the midnight sun’. 282 In the Beginning

Saturn stood still, as the rest of the night sky revolved around it and therefore was sometimes also called ‘the central sun.’ In the word ‘monarchy’, though ‘mon’ meant one in Indo-European language in Egypt, it was the name of the sun-god (Amun-Re), meaning ‘the hidden one’, who ruled the underworld. The syllable ‘ark’ came from the Greek ‘arche’, or ‘originator’. As the first monarch, Kronos was the originator of kings, he was the Forgotten Father of all royal bloodlines. The throne was Kronos’ seat on his heavenly boat in heaven and his descendants were known as shepherd kings. The term was a metaphor of king as shepherd tending to the needs of his people, a complex world-view of how a leader must rule over his citizens. Kronos and the god-kings, who followed him, were known by the title ‘Lord of the four corners of the world. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the lord of world (Saturn) was the brightest star in Heaven, but was cast down by God and imprisoned inside the bowels of the earth, in a realm called Hell. Lord of the World was referred to as ‘earth’ in (Psalm 24:1): A psalm of David. ‘The earth and everything in it, belongs to the Lord. The world and its entire people belong to him’. In the Eastern tradition, ‘the lord of the world’ represented the incarnate expression of godhood ruling His kingdom from the centre of the earth, in a subterranean city called Shambala or Agartha. He was a superspiritual incarnating on the surface of the earth as a series of avatars, or human kings who ruled various eras of existence. According to Alice Bailey: “Shambala is the seat of the ‘lord of the world’, who has made the sacrifice of remaining to watch over evolving men and devas until all have been ‘saved’ or enlightened.” One of the names Hindus used for ‘lord of the world’ was Manu, who was a cosmic intelligence that reflected pure spiritual light and developed the law (dharma) suitable to the conditions of the world and a particular cycle of existence. The lord of the world was in touch with the thoughts of all those who directed the destiny of humanity. He knew their aims and their ideas. If they were pleasing to the God, the Lord of the world favoured them with his invisible aid. But if they are displeasing to the God, he put a check on their activities. These incarnations of the lord of the world/earth, were expected to copy descendants thousands of years later. In the scriptures Jesus was “a priest, according to the Order of Melchizedek.” About Melchizedek’s significance, René Guenon (1886-19510, a reticent intellectual also known as Abd al-Wahid Yahya wrote: “Melchizedek, or more precisely, Melki-Tsedeq: is a title used by Judeo- Christian tradition to stand for the role of ‘the lord of the world’, as both king and priest. His name means ‘king of justice’. He is for ‘Justice and Peace’, the fundamental qualities about the ‘lord of the world.” He also claimed there were repeating cycles in these tales of the ‘lord of the earth’. They alternated between periods of death-like sleep within a tomb in the centre of the earth and then a rebirth. He once returned to watch over his kingdom, to restore goodness and Shepherds of Humanity 283 justice to the land. He then presided each time over the Cycle of Creation to awaken humanity to a new revitalized ‘Golden Age’. Julius Evola (1898-1974), an Italian philosopher, esoterist and a major advocate of Tradionalism wrote about such an archetype: “It is a theme that dates from the most old times, one that bears a certain relation to the doctrine of ‘cyclical manifestations’ or avatars; namely, the expression, occurring at special times and in various forms, of a single principle, which during intermediate periods exists in an unmanifest state. Thus, every time a king displayed the traits of an incarnation of such a principle, the idea arose in the legend that he has not died but has withdrawn into an inaccessible seat from where one day he will manifest, or that he is asleep and will awaken one day...” Such opinions were not new to many cultures. In the Buddhist tradition one met the theme of Maha-kashyapa, one of the principal disciples of Buddha Shakyamuni and the first of the seven patriarchs who upheld the dharma and succeeded Buddha as head of the Buddhist community. He gained the state of arahat (high enlightenment) only eight days after his first meeting with the Buddha. He was said to sleep in a mountain. He would awaken at the sound of conch-shells at the time of new expression of the principle that previously revealed itself in the form of Buddha. Krishna blew the conch shell Panchanjanya, at the dawn of a New Era to warn and awaken humankind He repeatedly said, when the right time occurred, then in conformity with the cyclical Laws of Creation, a new expression would appear. For the end of the Piscean or Kaliyuga, the Kalki avatar in the form of a sacred king would triumph over the Dark Age. According to tradition, Kalki would be the tenth avatar or incarnation of Vishnu (Buddha being the ninth). The symbolic form of Kalki was a woman seated on a white horse and wielding a sword. The name Kalki meant ‘annihilator of ignorance’. Her divine mission was to close Kaliyuga, the Iron Age (one of four yugas or time zones that marked the spiritual progression of human beings), and usher in the Golden Age, a new period of peace prosperity and harmony. For thousands of years before the modern era, when most of the population was not intellectually engaging in government and governing or making electoral decisions, truthful monarchy stood as a bulwark against disintegrating societal units, providing stability that otherwise could not be achieved. Perhaps had monarchy not been invented, human history might never have happened. If ‘royal’ monarchy was the perfect form of government (as opposed to capitalism, democracy, socialism and communism, or even autocracy) and was responsible for providing at least 6000 years of human history, why had ‘capitalistic democratic monarchy’ become an antiquated pretension? Why does humanity today consider ‘democratic monarchy’ governance absurd? Youth-led Uprising of the 21st century identified the tragic results of nations being ruled 284 In the Beginning by socially and morally bankrupt state-governance. These nations belonged to a family of Old Boys Clubs and their handy but mindless compliant supporters. Most nations with government still have a ‘monarch’ either recognized by or as a decoration to a democratic or autocratic government. Although ancestral monarchy was ‘democratically’ made powerless in Europe and in Asia, sincere monarchs historically upheld a symbolic link between a nation, its heritage and its sacred old traditions. Today, the ‘civilized man’ must make one of two choices: anarchy or autocratic democracy. Though reluctantly, most people chose the latter, rather than subjecting themselves to a chaotic succession of despots and periods of violence. Rioting and poverty triggered physical evidence of failed and unstable countries ruled by self-serving elected government. Similar circumstances existed over 2000 years ago. Palestine at the time of Jesus (2 BC) was a country in chaos. The first Jewish-Roman war (66–70 AD), sometimes called The Great Revolt was the first of three major rebellions by the Jews of the Judea against the Roman Empire. The second was the Kitos War in 115–117 AD; and the third was Bar Kokhba’s Revolt of 132–135 AD. It began in the year 66 AD initially because of Greek and Jewish religious tensions, but later grew with anti-taxation protests and attacks on Roman citizens. It ended when legions under Titus besieged and destroyed the centre of rebel resistance in Jerusalem and defeated the remaining Jewish strongholds. Three thousand Jewish rebels were crucified in 66–70 AD under the occupying power of the Romans after they had assumed direct rule of the Jews in 6 AD. Pontius Pilate a prefect of Judea (26-36AD), who presided at Jesus’ trial and ordered his crucifixion, was a cruel and corrupt ruler. He compounded the atrocities committed by his predecessors. Yet there were no clear anti-Roman writing described in the Bible to relate these circumstances. There was also no mention made of burning Rome by Nero. Nero who evaded the Senate by burning old Rome was the harbinger of the collapse of its leaders, emperors, philosophies and the contribution Rome had made to civilization. There was a bewildering array of active Jewish sects and subsects at the time of Jesus. His sympathies were with the Jewish uprisings organized by such groups. According to The Dead Sea Scrolls, Jesus had connections with most of them. The Scrolls found in Qumran caves near Jerusalem in 1947 were suppressed by the Church. It stated that Essenes, Zealots and Nazarenes or early Christians in the 1st century Palestine were not Jewish sects. They were members of a broad messianic nationalistic movement dedicated to upholding the Law of Moses and determined to overthrow the Roman occupiers. The Habakkuk Commentary and Dead Sea Scrolls referred to the same events recounted in Acts, by Josephus (37-100AD) a historian and a member of the priestly aristocracy of the Jews. He was taken hostage by the Roman Empire where he spent the rest of his life in or around Rome as an adviser and historian Shepherds of Humanity 285 to three emperors, Vespasian, Titus and Domitian. He gave invaluable eyewitness testimony to developing Western civilization, and the growth of Christianity in the 1st Century. Meanwhile Paul was sent by Jerusalem for recruiting an army, preaching and emasculating the militant movement. Therefore, Paul the apostle was perhaps a Roman agent or informer. Pharisees were anti-Roman. They became the spiritual fathers of modern Judaism who believed in the Oral Tradition Law that God gave to Moses. Sadducees were elitists liberal priestly caste who incorporated Hellenism and rituals associated with the Temple. According to the Dead Sea Sect, a third faction, the Essenes, emerged out of disgust with the other two. They moved out of Jerusalem and lived a monastic life in the desert, adopting strict dietary laws and a commitment to celibacy. They came from the group that lived in Qumran, near the Dead Sea. In 1947, a Bedouin shepherd stumbled into a cave containing various old artefacts and jars containing manuscripts describing the beliefs of the different sect and events of that time. This sect of Nazarenes was in existence at the time of Jesus: James and John the Baptist were both Nazarite. In Arabic they were called Nasrini, which meant ‘keeper of the Covenant’, a rank of the Essenes Community at Qumran on the Dead Sea. They were a strict mystical sect. Nazarites were an important subsect of the Essenes. The Essenes believed strongly in the coming of the messiah, who descended from the line of David. Zealots were a group of members who originated from other sects and made up the ‘strong-arm’ of the movement against Romans. The uprising of all Judea against Romans in 66 AD was the result of their activities. Although the Jews were massacred by Romans after this revolt, the activities of Zealots continued for another century after Jesus’ death. Even if Jesus was not a Zealot himself, he was crucified as one. Two other men crucified with him were Zealots. Jesus asked his disciples to have swords after the Passover meal (Luke 22:38). In recognition of the movement against Romans, Simon Peter was carrying a sword when Jesus was arrested. He was a leader and was prepared for and willing to take part in violence but was executed by the Romans in the way reserved for revolutionaries. Jesus had no design of forming a new religion. The Greek word for Messiah is ‘Christ’ or ‘Christos’, and means ‘the anointed one’, or king. When David became king, he was also a ‘Messiah’ or ‘Christ’. When Jesus was born, he was Messiah because of his Davidic pedigree. The Jews felt that this newborn king would be the one who would deliver them from the Romans. One of the main aims of Jesus’ philosophy was to bring the “unclean” Gentiles with the Jews, and to let them take part in what had been reserved for the Jewish priesthood. Gentiles were a group of disbelievers. Through baptism the Holy Ghost unbelievers accepted the rite. All 120 of these disciples who accepted the rite of Yeshua were Jewish. Every one of the disciples, Mary, the mother of Yeshua and 286 In the Beginning the rest, were children of the promise, born of through Abraham, David, Isaac, Judah and Moses. There was a group of uncircumcised Gentiles known as the “Five Thousand”. Jesus granted this “multitude” serving five loaves and two fishes that were otherwise reserved for Jewish priesthood candidates. During Satya, Treta and Dwapara Yugas, descending inherency of secular monarchy governed lands according to Yogic Laws. Their rule worked for its people. If such a monarch practiced monarchy for the benefit of its subjects, the land and its people benefited. in which the monarch exercised final governing authority wielded unrestricted political power over the state and its subjects. Transferring power was once hereditary and strengthened through marital alliances. Exercising total power over a land and its subject people was always counterbalanced by social classes and backgrounds of its realm. For over 2000 years the nobility, clergy, politicians, middle-class and the working-class made current records of struggles led by slaves, bureaucrats, nations and appointed ministers. They together created histories about the oppressor and the oppressed. In epochs of history, the ruling class rearranged society into diverse grades of social ranks. They in turn created classes in social standings and their subordinates created their sub-groups for each group of peoples. The strategy of ruler and later of the ruled always followed the classic rules needed for successful struggles. Merovingians and Carollingians The Merovingians were a ‘first race’ dynasty of Frankish kings who ruled parts of present-day France and Germany from the 5th to the 8th century AD. They were said to be of Sumerian origin dating from before the Merovingian Hebrews of the Houses of David and under Judah. A parallel line of the descendants was fathered by David and Abraham through Isaac Israel. Descendants of both lines took part in the Crusades, the Templars, and the Rosicrucians. Many were associated with Monarchists of Sumerian Hebrew Origins, with secret orders and roots that went back to 3500 years before the birth of Jesus. These Hebrew Merovingians gave origin to the Templars and the Freemasons as part of a far more ancient tradition. Many moved towards Europe after the Roman destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem. The Merovingian employed specific symbolism. They were in later times identified as “long-haired kings and owed their dynastic name to Merovech, a leader of the Salian Franks from about 447 to 457. On ancient tablets, a deified Sumerian Merovingian King was depicted as the Lord of the Flood. Emerging from the waters was a typical fleur-de-lys. Besides it being a fundamental symbol of later French and British monarchy, the fleur-de-lys was years later found in the Church of Mary Magdalen at Rennes-le-Chateau. Here the Merovingian family of Jesus remained anonymously. Jesus had several who scattered across Europe and the continents. Shepherds of Humanity 287

This Sumerian Dynasty was already in Europe. In earlier victories by the Merovingian against the Visigoths, with the Saxons and Alamanni Childeric I (457 - 481) created of an alliance of Germanic tribes. By 486 AD Childeric’s son Clovis I united most of Gaul which encompassed present-day France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and most of Switzerland. Clovis I won the Battle of Tolbiac against the Alamanni in 496, and in gratitude to God abdicated from his Sumerian faith and adopted his wife’s Catholic faith. He then with the Visigoth Germanic tribes then invaded the Roman Empire and settled in France and Spain. Here they showed a monarchy that lasted until the 8th century. On his death, Clovis partitioned his kingdom among his four sons, according to Frankish custom. Over the next two centuries, this tradition would continue. Even when multiple Merovingian kings ruled, the kingdom - not unlike the late Roman Empire - a single realm was ruled collectively by several kings. In turn of events the reunification of the whole realm would be under a single king. By then leadership among the early Merovingians was based on mythical descent and alleged divine patronage, expressed with continued military success. The Merovingian king was the master all movable pickings, lands and the citizens of won territories. He was in charge of the redistribution of conquered wealth among the first of his followers. “When he died his property was divided equally among his heirs as though it were private property: the kingdom was a form of patrimony” (From Crystalinks). The kings appointed magnates to be Counts, charging them with assignments in defense, administration, and in judging disputes. This happened against the backdrop of the collapse of the centralized Roman system of administration and taxation and the disappearance of the old civil service. The Counts provided armies, they enlisted their subordinates, named them knights and gifted them land in return for service. These armies were subject to the king’s call for military support. They were not paid by the king, because there was little money in circulation. Instead they received products from land, forest and cultivation from the king’s private properties. The system developed over time to feudalism amid royal self-sufficiency. Merovingian law was not universal law based on rational equity, as was the Roman law which applied to each man according to his origin: Merovingian law did not admit to creating new law, only to upholding tradition. Between 561 and 613, the Merovingian house engaged in intermittent and bloody war over the succession to the kingship and their effective rule gradually lessened, even though their token presence was needed to legitimate any action. During the 7th century, the kings became more symbolic and day-to-day administration was given to powerful household officials. The king now became the Mayor of the Palace, an office that would later become hereditary in the Carollingian family. By 732 AD, the Mayors became real military and political leaders of the 288 In the Beginning

Frankish kingdom. They were invaded by a Moorish army from Spain but were defeated by the Mayor Charles Martel. Charles’s son, the Mayor Pippin III, gathered support among Frankish nobles for a change in dynasty. When the Pope appealed to him for help against the Lombard, a Scandinavian Germanic tribe, Pippin, a descendant of the patriarch Isaac, insisted the church sanction his coronation in exchange. In 751 Childeric III, the last Merovingian, was deposed. He was allowed to live, but his long hair was cut and he was sent to a monastery. Parts of present-day France and Germany were ruled by the Merovingian Dynasty from the 5th to the 8th century. Pepin III (714–768) became the first Carollingian king of the Franks (751–68). He was succeeded by Charles Martel his son and father of (768-814). He succeeded as King of Franks in 768 and was Emperor of the Romans from 800 AD to his death in 814 AD. His brother continued to govern the territories under the nominal kingship of the Merovingians dynasty of Frankish kings, who had descended from Merovech, the king of Salian Franks (411-457). His son was Childeric I (440-481) the last of the Merovingian Dynasty and whose grandson Clovis I, (466-511) was now the founder of the Frankish monarchy. He united the Frankish tribes under one ruler and under one religion – Catholicism. It was a key period during which there was a transformation of the Roman Empire. The Merovingians Dynasty survived for another 200 years or more. They were finally erased with the rise of the Carollingians in the 8th century. In 751, with the knowledge and backing of Pope Zacharias, Pepin III deposed the last Merovingian king, Childeric III. To highlight the importance of the church and legitimize his reign, Pepin III was consecrated by a bishop of the Roman church. The family was at its height under Charlemagne (Charles I) emperor of the West (800–814) and the Carollingian king of the Franks (768–814). Louis I received Bavaria and adjacent territories and founded a new dynasty that ruled in Germany (kingdom of the East Franks) until 850–899. This happened under the Carollingian emperor (896–99), king of the East Franks (887–99), and the illegitimate son of Carloman of Bavaria. In 887 he led the rebellion of the kingdom of the East Franks (Germany) against his uncle, Carollingian Emperor Charles III. Louis I the German king’s son and successor of King Arnulf was the last of the German line of the Carollingians. The archbishop of Mainz was appointed his regent. Louis I third son Charles II (823-877) who founded the French Carollingian dynasty, was made the Holy Roman Emperor (875-877). Charles III 879–929, Louis V 967–987 was the last French king of the Carollingian dynasty. In the Carollingian period, a landed economy was firmly fixed with entrenched business trends with tax and risk management. The kings consolidated their rule by issuing capitularies, decrees and written commands of the Carollingian kings of the Franks. Both legislative and administrative, they Shepherds of Humanity 289 were the chief written instrument of royal authority. Until the late 9th century, Charlemagne and his successors were generous patrons of the arts. He encouraged the Carollingian Renaissance, a return to Roman classicism and Byzantine and Greco-Roman styles. Charlemagne successfully conquered all of Gaul and parts of Germany and Italy. He created a papal state in central Italy in 774. After his death the kingdom was divided, its authority eroded, but later re-established in France in 893. Creating a Churchian Monarchy The Donation of Constantine was a document which claimed to recognize the Roman popes as Jesus’ representatives on earth. The manuscript first appeared during the 8th century. It was a ‘pious fraud’ created when Rome was involved in disputes with Carollingian kings of France, a dynasty originating from a Frankish noble Pepin I 613 AD. While Constantine was Emperor (272–337 AD) it was decided to ‘donate’ to Pope Sylvester I (314–335AD) who held office for 21 years. The Roman Church of the Primacy of St Peter was characterized by an Episcopal hierarchy, with the pope as head ruled as hierarch of a belief in Seven Catholic Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Communion, Confession, Marriage, Holy Orders and Anointing the Sick. Also, the pope had all Imperial powers formerly invested in the Throne of Byzantium. Behind the Byzantine Empire were stories of political and impious intrigues. With the death in 337AD Constantine the Great the division of the empire between Constantine’s three sons was followed by the execution of all other princes of royal blood. Constantius II now Emperor of the Byzantium Empire spared Constantius Gallus and his younger brother Julian because of their young age. For ten years, he kept his cousins under close guard, allowing them only to study. In 351, Constantius II chose to fight both his cousins. Unexpectedly, Julian a scholar and a bookworm won to become Caesar and Gallus became the Emperor Constantine. Flavius Claudius Julianus, known to posterity as Julian the Apostate was the sole emperor of the Roman Empire from 361–363 AD. During his reign, he tried to revive the old “Sumerian pagan practices” in place of Christianity. Julian did not seek the throne. Constantius II forced it on him. All Julian wanted to do was to study, but he became Caesar. Constantine the Great had preached and worked for unity throughout his entire life. Ironically, when he died, there was to be no unity in the empire. Not only did the church remain divided, even his sons could not stop fighting among themselves. The fighting led to instability and chaos when external threats attacked the empire. The ’Donation’ (made by a Dragon King - a dynastic Merovingian) Constantine allegedly legitimized Pope/Church’s right to take any action), the Church claimed, it was written in the 4th century at the insistence of Emperor Constantine. The Church claimed that he was so grateful for having been cured 290 In the Beginning of leprosy by Pope Sylvester, that he gave into the Church’s hand the entire power and wealth of the unified Roman Empire: including the right to crown and dethrone kings all over Europe. Supposedly written before 337 AD (the year of Constantine’s death), the command about the Donation of Constantine did not make an appearance on the stage of European history until four hundred years later. Rules of the Donation were enforced in 751 AD. Following this, the Merovingians of the Sumerian Dark Ages and later a tribe of Germanic people collectively known as Franks, were deposed by the Church and replaced by their sycophants, the mayors of the Palace who later became known as Carollingians. They were descendants of Jacob Israel and belonged to the Tribe of Dan. These Mayors were superintendents of the king’s household and stewards of the Royal Palace. They displaced the Merovingian kings and were called Carollingians. The Church made a pact with the mayors and offered to ’recognize’ their legitimacy, if they dispensed with the true Sumerian Dragon Kings. The deal was done and the Carollingian kings were treated like puppet rulers under the Roman Church. Since the “Donation” was made by a Dragon King Constantine, it legitimized the Church’s right to take this action. To all intents and purposes they had the authority of Dragon Kingship given up to them by this Charter. No doubt the Merovingians knew this to be a fraud, which was why they refused to recognize the authority of the Church to meddle in affairs of state. The Church’s choice of ’benefactor’ was well aware that universally, only those of the Dragon Blood would be recognized as true kings. Therefore, they chose Constantine who had descended from both the Britannic Pen Dragon House and the Dragon House of David. Besides, he was a Desposyni: one of the heirs of the Lord, the blood descendants and legitimate representatives of Jesus. In the Donation, Constantine allegedly gave up his hereditary spiritual position as a messiah and invested it in the papacy. The popes were now claiming Sumerian Dragon descent for themselves. Jesus had descendants who were of the only dynasty which was sanctioned to be kings: the Overlords or Dragons. In displacing the Merovingians, one Dragon dynasty of David was being replaced by another of the Tribes of Jacob Israel, who fathered the tribes of Israel. This lessened any danger of mass unrest. As time passed, however, it became clear that kingship under original Merovingians was different from Carollingian rule. Merovingians had formerly assumed the role of overseers, sages and wise counsellors. Carollingians and their successors, prompted by the Church, were made to become deliberately poorly educated, ignorant, insensitive tyrants and territorial tradespeople. Dragon Kingship and the Grail Code died to be replaced by a corrupted form of feudal totalitarianism and brutal, economic slavery. The Church meanwhile carefully and strategically replaced the old dynasties with its own merchant-class client families who, and the Carollingians became vassals of the Vatican. From Shepherds of Humanity 291

751 AD the true Dark Piscean Age began in earnest. Elven Holocaust was initiated and would run its course for another thousand years. Elven Holocaust described destroying Druidic rights by the Catholic Church. In England witchcraft laws were repealed in 1736. To the north of the border in Scotland, persecuting witches in the 1700’s was at its fiercest until the end of the century. During this time, history witnessed the rise of the Church of Rome and its successful struggle for power. In time, no dynasty ruled in Europe or remained in power unless the Church sanctioned its reign. The Church chose the royal families, it crowned kings and it deposed its detractors. Under the falsified sponsorship of the Donation of Constantine, Church was the sole and supreme temporal power in Europe and the known world. Without this claimed imperial benefice, however, the Church would have remained a Mediterranean cult contesting for patronage with a host of other Gnostic Christian denominations. Royal dynasties, sponsored by the Church and crowned by its divine right, set up their courts and parliaments, passed laws and employed agents to act on their behalf. To all it seemed as if the Church had the right over the Sumerian Dragons of the Davidic line through Jacob’s tribes. It wielded power by the sanction of Christ and God. Without the alleged ‘Donation of Constantine’, European history today would be different and none of the dynasties past or present would have had the right to have reigned. Nor would they reign now and none of their governments or agencies would have exercised power. Although ‘The Donation of Constantine’ was a fraud and the Church was never given any temporal powers to found dynasties, crown kings or set up governments, history changed. Lorenzo Valla (1407–1457), an Italian humanist, philosopher, and literary critic, spent five years writing and travelling in northern Italy. He narrowly avoided being burned at the stake for his anti-Churchian views. He applied the methods of historical criticism to the Renaissance. He noted the wordings of the Donation were taken from the Latin Vulgate version of the Bible. The Vulgate Bible was compiled by St Jerome who was born more than two decades after Constantine but claimed to have signed the Donation. The Vulgate Bible wordings did not exist until St Jerome invented it. This happened fifty years after the document had supposedly been dated and signed by the Emperor. By this time, Constantine had been dead for decades and could not have signed the Sumerian Dragons’ rights away. The language of the Donation was 8th-century clerical or dog Latin, while the Latin used in the 4th-century Empire was late-classical Roman. The imperial and papal ceremonials described in the Donation did not exist in Constantine’s time but were obviously developed some centuries later. There were many documentary instances of the Church’s use of the Donation to assert their authority in the medieval period which still existed. This included the letter of Pope Gregory IX entitled ‘Si Memoriam Beneficiorum’ dated October 292 In the Beginning

23, 1236 and addressed to the Emperor Frederick II. “...... that as the Vicar of the Prince of Apostles (the Roman Pope) governed the empire of priesthood and of souls in the whole world, so he should also reign over things and bodies throughout the whole world. And considering that he should rule over earthly matters by the reins of justice to whom, as it is known, God had committed on earth the charge over spiritual things. The Emperor Constantine humbled himself by his own vow and handed over the empire to the everlasting care of the Roman Pontiff with the imperial insignia and sceptres and the city and duchy of Rome...” The fraudulent imperial power of the Vatican to create kings by ’coronation’, gained from this faked 8th century ’Donation of Constantine’, was also later adopted by the Archbishops of the Church of England with the complicity of Tudors who were Catholic themselves. When he split with Rome, Henry VIII still kept, later confirmed and re- established in the Anglo-Catholic Church of England, the fraudulent right of the Church’s clergy to create by coronation, a succession of British monarchs. This was an illegal act. As already noted, the ’Donation of Constantine’ was proved to be a fake document. Therefore, no Royal Elven House cared about social justice or could recognize a Christian British monarchy or any Church-sponsored, Church-crowned predecessors of any of their European cousin houses. Druidic Dark Age under the Roman Church ‘Thousand Year Elven Holocaust’ written by Nicholas de Vere and Lawrence Gardner described the ‘Dark Age’ when the ‘Dragon Folk’ of the Druidic faith on the planet was thrust towards death at the hands of churchians. A systemic, bureaucratic state and church sponsored persecution and murder resulted in extensive loss of life and an ancient culture. After the ‘Age of Faerie’ was forgotten, the Danubian Druids became the mythological and legendary deities of the Celtic people. Increasingly the helpful residents living in the invisible world and the era of magic gradually ended. It gave way to a false lineage to rule Europe in the guise of ‘Holy Mother Church’ being run and transformed by the dark decisions of “powerful” people. Although the Gnosticism inspired the secret gospels into which Jesus was launched, those of the Dark Ages developed a religion of propaganda, control and genocide under the name of Christ. The Book of Elven Faerie by Joshua Free revealed the ancient Indian, Chinese, Sumerian, Babylonian, Egyptian legacy were recorded as ‘forgotten’ ancient civilizations. Indus Valley, Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations did not die over Time. Their influence remained true to this day. It continued to change through time and space. Of recent, a well-designed revival of the ancient Druids culture resulted in a gradual development. They researched their misunderstood and misrepresented traditions that were assigned as myths and magic with origins in some vague old empires. The Druids discovered they were for eons directly related through a “dragon lineage” to a race identified as “Elves” Shepherds of Humanity 293 or “Faerie”. They were both tribes from old Sumeria and Eurasia that seeded the Western World into distinct tribes of Europe. Surviving members of the Elven-Faerie did not find any contradiction between Jesus’ teachings and their own Druidic beliefs. What followed for centuries was an abuse of a ‘religious empire’. It marked the beginning of the “Dark Ages”. Many Churchians had started leaving the Roman Church to start their own protestant religions. These new religions continued in removing elements from the Bible by altering its wording. A new version of the Bible emerged. It removed references to the Elven-Faerie history, mysticism, reincarnation and the work of Jesus. The Elven-Faerie Dragon folk were construed as “demons” and “devils” by the ‘New Church’. Harmlessness practiced by devout churchians was actions against Harmfulness. The Elven History slowly became a fictitious mythology. The Nordic Elven- Faerie described Elven-Faerie beings born from the maggots who fed on the corpse of the Norse Wizards. Giants were described as fallen angels. The Church explained pixies were the souls of the children who died before being baptized into Catholicism. History-keeping became a dangerous business. Entire traditions, races and people were pushed out of existence because of biases and errors in record keeping. This was the case when the Romans finally conquered the Celts. They wiped out Elvish Druidism and forced most survivors ‘underground’. They in turn carefully removed themselves from public sight. In ancient times the Druids handled all matters of genuine kingship. The ‘royal line’ would be connected to the Elven-Faerie tradition. They installed their own Sumerian foundation into kings and Druids so its cultural traditions would be preserved throughout generations alongside (but separate) with the general Celtic population. The leaders of the Dark Ages that thrust civilization into ignorance were not the great mystical seers and sages of the Elven-Faerie Druids. Under the churchians they became known as “pagan” or “heathen” monarchs. During the time before the Dark Ages, all the kings and priests were Elven-Faerie. The 5th century King Arthur was the last of the great Pagan Druidic Celtic Kings before the church’s control of the Western Empire. During the Dark Ages, the Church mainly ruled in an age of darkness. All the ‘spiritual magic’ of the prior world was marked “evil,” except that which was used by Moses and Jesus. They were pronounced ‘miracles by God’s hand.’ The Dark Ages began when Rome started deciding the coronation of kings and replaced the Elven-Faerie. Many were ambushed and wiped out. Only a select number of them survived because it was a crime to even be Elven-Faerie. By 751 AD, the last Elven Merovingians, ‘Keepers and Guardians of the Temple’ and descendants from Solomon’s old temple, were disbanded and excommunicated from Rome’s Holy Mother Church. They were now replaced by the Carollingians. Until the 6th and 7th centuries, Gnostic wizards and Druids also worked closely 294 In the Beginning with the Catholic Church. They saw Jesus as a figure of each of their own traditions. This disturbed the new heirs of the Church who saw the Elven-Faerie as a threat to the ‘Seat of Rome’ and the Vatican’s new power to select kings and rulers contrary to the wishes of the Druids and the Elven lineage. The ‘New Church’ was formed independent of them, with only a shred of the original Gnostic vision remaining. The focus of the Church now was to take control of Europe and wipe out “paganism.” The ‘Anti-Witchcraft and Magic Act’ finally drove the last of the Elven-Faerie underground under penalty of death. To be of the Elven-Faerie ancestry was to be, by heritage, a “witch”. True witchcraft was always passed down through a genetic family and oral traditions, but much of that went underground. By 751 AD, the Church-State was empowered to commission death sentences to anyone who claimed to be, or could be proved, a “witch”. Magic was outlawed and with it a series of traditions, lore and important sciences were lost. Without this knowledge, civilization in Europe was thrust into a dark era - darkened by ignorance, suppression and murder. When the Romans destroyed the Elvish Drwyds (Age of Mythology) they could destroy only a physical man. Pervert warriors could and did rape the priestesses, but those were crimes of the flesh. Small numbers even destroyed undersized artefacts at the Stonehenge that probably took thousands of years and millions of work-hours to perfect. Sacred Groves were cut down. Ogham Libraries (Early Medieval) were burned to the ground. A race was bred out and almost destroyed. The bureaucrats of a church became responsible for crimes of the Spirit. Meanwhile, other Nations unwittingly contributed Harmfulness to the following thousand years of a darkened history. Rise of Mongol Empire Perhaps no empire in history rose as spectacularly as did the Mongols. They were an umbrella group of qualifiers established in the early 13th century, when Temüjin Genghis Khan united different tribes into one Mongol nation, the forerunner of the Mongol Empire. There were 19 Nirun tribes that descended from the farming yeomen or Bodonchar and 18 Darligin or Forest tribes which were also core Mongolian tribes but not descending from Bodonchar. Besides the original Mongols, many of their clans and tribes were of Turkish origin and some of Siberian and Chinese source. Their unification created a new common social identity of Mongols. In less than 80 years, a band of warriors originally comprised of several men created an empire that stretched from the Pacific Ocean to the Danube River. However, their glory was short-lived. In 1160, the Mongol Kingdom was shattered, having been defeated by the neighbouring Tartars (Mongol subtribe that had previously defeated the Russians). The divisions of clans within the Mongol tribe became so disunited that they fought among themselves. Shepherds of Humanity 295

The leader of the Mongol Kiyad (Manchurian) subclan was Yesugei (warrior chieftain), who was a descendant of a royal Borjigh clan chieftain of the former Mongol Kingdom. In 1167, Yesugei and his wife had a son named Temujin, the one who would one day become Genghis Khan. When Temujin was nine years old, his father was poisoned by Tartar chiefs. Since he was too young to rule, his clan members deserted him. Temujin and his family of six moved to live in the most desolate areas of steppes, eating roots and rodents for living. He had many great adventures, ranging from chasing horse thieves to being captured by enemies. When Temujin was 16, the Merkid tribe attacked his family and captured his wife. With an army of only five men, Temujin could not retaliate on his own, so he turned to one of his father’s old friends, Toghrul Khan of the Kereyid tribe, who in turn, also enlisted a Mongol coalition leader, Jamugha. Together they defeated the Merkids and Temujin recovered his wife. Temujin quickly took advantage of his powerful allies, Jamugha, who was both a Mongol and a childhood friend. Together Temujin and Jamugha took control of most of the Mongol clans. They became distinguished figures on the steppes but wanted more. According to ’s ‘Secret History of the Yuan Dynasty’, once while Temujin and Jamugha rode at the front of the Mongol army, Temujin wanted to keep going while Jamugha stopped to pitch tent. Temujin broke up with Jamugha over that incident and the Mongols were now split into two groups. Hostilities broke the two parties over a minor event. Temujin was defeated and was forced into exile. Ten years later he returned, re-established his leadership, and immediately embarked on winning all of Mongolia over the following several years. By 1204 AD, he had conquered all that opposed him by defeating the Tartars, Kereyids, Naimans, Merkids and his old friend—the Jamugha. The Empire by 1206 In 1206, Temujin called an assembly (Khuriltai) on the banks of the Onon River which originates on the eastern slopes of Mongolia and Russia. Here, he titled himself ‘Chingis (Genghis) Khan’. Here he also decreed the structure and laws for his new Empire. To ensure stability and cooperation between people of the tribes he had united, Chingis Khan installed a military superstructure to integrate all the peoples of his Empire. The Mongol population was divided into units for upholding several warriors always ready whenever called on, at any given time. This arrangement cancelled tribal organizations. He decreed specific laws which were enforced by an efficient administrative hierarchy. His flock became the most powerful, disciplined and most feared army to ride the steppes. Incidentally the “khans” were Mongols, who were not Hindu, Muslim or Buddhist. Even In modern times the Mongols remained mostly Buddhist, but in earlier eras, especially in the Mongol Empire (13th–14th centuries), they were shamanist. They had a great minority of Christians who wielded much power. 296 In the Beginning

Many Mongols were Nestorian Christians (like Jesus) since about the 7th century and some tribes’ primary religion was Nestorian. In the time of Chingis Khan, his sons took Christian wives. Under the rule of Chingis Khan’s grandson, Möngke, the primary religious influence in the Empire was Nestorian Christianity. Today’s Muslims revel in calling themselves Khan as ‘proud’ descendants of these warring non-Muslims. They were shamans for 80 years before one last Mongol descendant agreed to become a follower of Prophet Mohammed for political reasons: but are the Muslims of India and Pakistan Mongolian Khans? War in Northern China Chingis Khan became the emperor of “all who lived in felt tents” but he dreamed of conquering the world. He started by leading his men in a series of campaigns against the Xi Xia Empire in western China. Xi Xia Empire existed from 1038 to 1227 AD in what are now the north-western Chinese provinces. In 1209, they threatened the Chinese capital but the Mongols left by exacting payment when their camp was unexpectedly flooded. The Empires in China suspended the tribute once the Mongols withdrew, but they soon returned to raid and conquer them. In 1211, Chingis Khan took 65,000 men and marched against the Jin Empire in northern China. With the help of the Ongguts (a people who lived on the Jin’s northern border), he marched into Jin territory. Jin Empire was at the northern border of China (1115–1234 AD). Plundering and defeating armies along the way he reached the strategic Juyong Pass of China’s Great Wall but he was wounded during this siege and withdrew to Mongolia. Jin forces recaptured territories lost to the Mongols. In 1213, however, the Mongols returned. Chingis divided his army into three units under the command of himself and his two sons and devastated the Jin Empire. By 1214 most of the area north of the Huang He (Yellow River) was in Mongol hands, except for the city of Chengdu, the capital of Jin Empire. Like other nomadic armies, Chingis Khan’s army constituted of horse- soldiers, who lacked the ability to capture fortifications. Realizing this weakness Chingis quickly captured Chinese siege engineers to learn siege tactics. Chengdu, however, withstood the Mongol assaults. Short on supplies and ravaged by plague, his army tenaciously continued the siege. Every tenth man was sacrificed for food but the siege was so prolonged that Chingis had to abandon the campaign. Under his general Mukali the Mongols finally entered the city in 1215. By then the Jin capital was moved south to Kai-feng. The First Western Conquest of Kwarazem—the Shah Empire Chingis lost interest in the war on China. He then turned his attention towards the West. In 1218, he sent his general Chepe westward and conquered the Kara Khitai Empire (1124-1218) founded by Yelu Dashi and later ruled by Kuchlug, of the Naimans tribe of Mongolia. Prince Kuchlug was accidentally Shepherds of Humanity 297 killed by Mongols while hunting. There were new problems for Chingis from the huge Kwarazmian Empire in Persia. Kwarazmian Dynasty was of Turkic Mamluk origin. They ruled Greater Iran in the High Middle Ages, in the period of about 1077 to 1231, first as vassals of the Seljuqs and later as independent rulers. With the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, Jalal-ud-Din of the Persian Kwarazmian Empire was defeated at the Battle of Indus which was fought in 1221 at the River Indus in present-day Pakistan. Hostilities began when the Sultan Kwarazem Shah attacked a Mongol caravan and humiliated Chingis’s ambassadors by burning their beards. Chingis had sent his ambassadors for purposes of peace, but was outraged at this treatment. The Battle of Indus was fought at the River Indus in the year 1221 with the sultan of the Khwarizmi Empire. The Mongolian horde of Chingis Khan chased the sultan and his only remaining forces of five thousand. He fled to India with his men with thousands of refugees from Persia. The Mongol sacking of several cities in eastern Persia provoked Sultan Kwarazem Shah to seek refuge in India. The horde of Chingis Khan caught up with him when he was about to cross the border of India. The sultan had posted most of his men in the way of the Mongols to let him and the refugees pass the river Indus in safety. Chingis Khan led the main force towards the sultan and trapped the refugees who were brutally slaughtered. When the sultan realized he was doomed, he and his closest followers crossed the Indus River into India. Shah Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu spent three years in exile in India before returning to Persia. Meanwhile Chingis Khan immediately gathered a large operation of disciplined 100,000 men and overthrew a larger Persian army. In 1219, Chingis’s two sons Chagatai and Ogedei pressed forward and attacked the city of Utar found east of the Aral Sea. General Chepe was sent south-westward to protect the left army flank during the operation. The main attack was led by Chingis Khan himself, who with general Subedei crossed the unfriendly Kizil Kum desert in Uzbekistan and outmanoeuvred the surprised Kwarazmian forces. Chingis and his army disappeared into the desert and later suddenly reappeared at the city of Bokhara. The city garrison was bewildered and was quickly defeated. Chingis now marched towards Samarkand, the capital of the Kwarazmian Empire. Although the magnificent city was heavily fortified with a garrison of 110,000 men, on March 19, 1220 its walls were breached within just ten days. After the fall of Samarkand in Uzbekistan, the Mongols overran much of the Empire. The destruction was intense. Cities were levelled and the people massacred by execution of 700,000. At Samarkand, women were raped and sold into slavery. Much later, after his defeat Kwarazem Shah fled westward but Subedei followed in hot pursuit with a force of 20,000 and finally killed him. Subedei went further with his army into the north and defeated another heavily outnumbered Russian and Cuman army at the Khalka River. He went on even further to attack 298 In the Beginning the Volga Bulgars before returning home. During the entire campaign, the Kwarazem Shah had failed to assemble an army to match the Mongols on the battlefield. The only well-organized resistance came from Jalal ud-Din, who after the fall of Samarkand organized a resistance force in modern-day Afghanistan. At Parwan in Persia, he defeated a Mongol force led by one of Chingis’s adopted son, making it the only Mongol defeat in the entire campaign. This defeat of Jalal ud-Din meant consolidating rule of Transoxania (in Turkistan). The southern parts of the Kwarazmian Empire that were left unconquered later turned into a collection of independent states. At the age sixty, Chingis’s health started to decline. He sought the well- known Daoist monk Changchun for an elixir to Immortality. Changchun had no magical cure-all to offer except his wisdom and the two became good friends. Chingis therefore returned to administration duties. Unlike Attila the Hun and Alexander the Great, Chingis Khan knew the importance of succession after his death. He chose his son Ogedei to be his successor. Chingis meanwhile returned to Mongolia to create an administration for his empire. Death of Chingis Khan and Descendants The Tangut Xi Xia Empire previously defeated by the Mongols stopped complying with terms of their agreement as when defeated. In 1226, Chingis Khan led his army against Xi Xia and captured its capital. The campaign against the Xi Xia was his last. In August 1227, Chingis Khan died at the age of 60. At the time of his death, the Mongol Empire stretched from the Yellow River to the Caspian Sea. Chingis was respectful to those who supported him. A brilliant military strategist, this gifted leader was perhaps one of the most intriguing figures in history who created an Empire within his lifetime. After Chingis’s death the Mongol Empire was divided into four ulus, each given to his four “main” sons. Although these ulus () were politically united in the same empire, they would later serve as future khanates. Two years after Chingis’s death, his son Ogedei was officially proclaimed the ruler of the Mongol Empire. Ogedei took the title of Khakhan, meaning Great Khan, or Khan of Khans, a title used by rulers of the steppe empires of Asia. Nomadic empires were led by bow-wielding, horse-riding, and Eurasian nomads from classical antiquity (Scythia) to the early modern era (Dzungars). Not all nomadic cultures were able to erect empires. Warrior peoples like the Cimmerians, Avars, Magyars, Pechenegs and Kipchaks had conquered vast areas and founded kingdoms but did not subdue other nations to be considered as empires. As leader of the Mongol Empire Ogedei continued to pick up territories towards the North and West of Mongolia, and ventured to attach Russia and Europe. His next goal was to conquer the Jin Empire they had lost after Mukali’s death in 1223. Because the Jin fought back fiercely in 1231 a large Mongol army led by Ogedei, the general Subedei and Tolui (Ogedei’s brother) fought off the Shepherds of Humanity 299

Jin. The Mongols finally stormed into the Jin capital of Kai Feng in 1234 with the help of 20,000 Song Chinese axillaries. Even while Ogedei fought to regain the Jin Empire, the construction of an Imperial capital for the Mongolian Empire in Karakorum was being completed in 1235. The city Ogedei created never grew large, but it was impressive for its diversity. Multicultural professional crafts people flourished there. Ogedei introduced several reforms in the government and began a postal system called the Yam. Invasion of Russia The Mongols already had contacted the Russians in 1222 during Subedei’s famous expedition. They never fixed any administrative connection with them. After the death of Chingis Khan the North-west Empire was under one of his several sons, Jochi. Batu Khan was one of Jochi’s sons who inherited his father’s lands. Although the empire was not large, a great part of the land was not yet under Mongol control. In 1235, Batu strategically began by riding circularly northwards for 5000 miles. Then by 1237 with Subedei he gathered a 120,000 strong force and crossed the frozen Volga into Russia. During winter they hid in the forests of the north. The first major city Ryazan fell after a five-day catapult assault. Ryazan, a city west-central to Oka river lay south-east of Moscow. It was founded in 1095 and is now a manufacturing and industrial centre. Next, they rode further northward and captured Kolumna and Moscow. They battled with the Grand Duke of Suzdal, a city north-east of Moscow and today a medieval principality between rivers Oka and Upper Volga. It once ruled by a branch of the Rurik dynasty during 12th century. The Mongols by now had won over the northern half of Russia. From here the Mongols advanced towards Novgorod, but fighting from this site was difficult because of extensive marshlands. Novgorod today has remained one of Russia’s most historic and oldest cities and was once strategically and economically important. Novgorod avoided Mongol invasion by promising the Mongols an annual tribute. Batu and Subedei, therefore, rode south and attacked the city of Kozelsk situated on a tributary of river Oka. Kozelsk became famous in the spring of 1238, when its seven-year-old Russian prince Vasily, son of Titus, had to defend the town against the army of Batu Khan. The Batu Khan dubbed it an “evil town” because its citizens fought the attackers for seven weeks at a stretch, killing around 4000 enemy soldiers during the siege. Citizens of the city Kozelsk heroically repulsed the ambushing Mongol vanguard. After seven weeks the Mongols captured Kozelsk and slaughtered all the inhabitants in this City of Woe. The last obstacle in Russia was Kiev, often called the mother of all Russian cities. Kiev was an important city in Eastern Europe and, therefore, the Mongols invaded it. Prince Michael of Kiev saw the 300 In the Beginning unavoidable capture of Kiev and fled leaving his second in command. The Mongols stormed the city and destroyed everything except the Cathedral of St Sophia. Mongolian Invasion of Europe With the fall of Kiev, Mongol’s became the first and only successful large- scale winter invasion in Russian history. Many from Russia fled across the border into Hungary. Among them were the Cumans and Kipchaks (subjects of Batu Khan), who were also nomadic horse-soldiers like Mongols. When Batu Khan learned of this he was furious, for his subjects should were never allowed to escape. Subedei, therefore, quickly planned a campaign against Europe. Batu and Subedei sent a force of 20,000 men into Poland, while they themselves led a larger force of 50,000 men. In March 1241, Subedei and Batu’s men dissolved into the Carpathian Mountains and reappeared on the other side. Instead of advancing into Hungary, the Mongols pretended to withdraw. The Hungarians therefore dismissed the Cumans and Kipchaks who offered their cavalry support. Meanwhile, the northern army stormed into Poland, laid waste the countryside and sacked Cracow. On April 9, a European force led by Duke Henry of Silesia crossed into Poland and challenged the 20,000 strong Mongols. The heavily armoured European knights were no match for the quickness of Mongol horse riders and were defeated. Meanwhile, King Bela of Hungary realized the Mongol retreat was contrived while they were closing in. King Bela rode out with a force numbering 60,000–80,000 men and met the army of Batu and Subedei at the opposing side of the Sajo River. After an indecisive clash at the bridge of the river, Subedei brought a contingent southward and crossed the river without the Hungarians noticing. Soon, Batu broke across the bridge and the Hungarian army was surrounded. Two victories were thus won by two separate Mongol armies in a matter of days, which was an example of Subedei’s leadership. After Poland and Hungary were defeated at the battle of Mohi at Sajo River, the two Mongol forces joined. They captured Pest and Gran and destroyed the Hungarian army. Pest and Gran were the cities on the Danube River. By early 1242, just when Batu planned to go farther into Europe he received news from Mongolia that Ogedei had died. Since Batu had conquered so much land, the political instability of Mongolia became his concern. He returned to Russia and permanently set up political control there, but had to withdraw the Mongol army from Poland and Hungary. Europe was unexpectedly abandoned and Batu returned to the north of Caspian Sea. There, he set up his capital at Sarai Batu (Old Sarai) and transformed his ‘inherited lands’ into a kingdom, or khanate. Batu’s khanate became known as the Blue Horde. His two brothers, Orda and Shiban, who also took part in his campaigns, formed their separate khanates. Orda’s khanate became known as the White Horde, found east to Batu’s Blue Horde. Because Batu and Orda were both members of the Golden Clan, the two Shepherds of Humanity 301 khanates were, in reality, dependencies of each other. Together they were the Golden Horde. Shiban’s khanate was unimportant and vaguely known. Since the Khans of Golden Horde continued to recognize the Great Khan of Mongolia, each remained a part of the Mongol Empire for four more decades. The Golden Horde and other khanates were politically independent. Weakening Mongol Empire Guyuk succeeded as Khakhan (Great Khan) in 1246. Tensions between him and Batu soared. Fortunately, Guyuk’s early death in 1248 prevented a major civil war, but a weakness of the Mongol Empire was becoming obvious. Civil disunity would eventually bring down the Mongol Empire. Möngke (cousin of Guyuk and son of Tolui) was elected the Great Khan in 1251. He immediately announced his ambition to conquer the Song (Sung) Empire, the last of the three pre-Chingis Empires in China, free of Mongol control. His motive was to destroy the Assassins, who had threatened the governors of the western provinces. The original Assassins of the Shia Nizari Order had existed since at least 456 BC, throughout the Roman era, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. They fought a continuous secret war with the Templars for over 2000 years. Templars strove for power over the Assassins who struggled to expand through the ages. Forming the Order of Nizari (Ismaili and Isthnashiri) from Syria and Persia later took over. Although from times-gone-by the assassins are altered, they exist into the 21st century. To bring the Abbasid Caliph into submission, Möngke’s campaign would travel through Persia and into Mesopotamia and then towards the Middle East. The Abbasid was the third of the Islamic caliphates originating from an Arab family descending from Abbas al-Abbas (653 AD) under the uncle of Prophet Mohammed. The word ‘caliph’ meant rasulil-lah, that is, ‘successor to the messenger of God’. The title was first used for Abu Bakr, who was elected head of the Muslim community after the death of the Prophet. The Four Caliphs were close companions of Prophet Mohammad: Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali. The title given to those who succeeded the Prophet Muhammad as real ruler of the Muslim world continues to this day. Controversy over selecting the fourth caliph, Ali, eventually split Islam into Sunni and Shia branches. Ali’s rival, Mu’awiyah I, set up the Umayyad dynasty of caliphs, which produced 14 caliphs (661–750). The ‘Abbasid dynasty (750–1258), the most widely viewed caliphate, associated with 38 caliphs, moved the capital from Damascus to Baghdad. The Mongol conquest of Baghdad in 1258 effectively ended the dynasty. Other Muslim leaders created caliphates with limited success. The Fatimid dynasty proclaimed a new caliphate in 920; Abd al-Rahman III announced one in opposition to both the Abbasids and the Fatimids in 928. A scion of the Abbasid line was later to set up Mamluk dynasty as a puppet caliph after 1258. This caliphate exercised no power and from 1517 until it was abolished by the Republic 302 In the Beginning of Turkey in 1924, it remained in Istanbul under the control of the Ottoman Empire. Modern Muslim militants always considered abolishing caliphate a disastrous event: its return has been a central pillar of their political programme. While Möngke Khan was to lead the attack against the Song, he entrusted his brother, Hulegu, to lead the Mongol “Crusade”. In 1253, Hulegu went from Mongolia with a Mongol army with the latest weaponry and a group of experienced lieutenants. His expedition attracted attention among Christians and several Georgian and Alan volunteers. Hulegu’s army took three years to reach Persia. He entered Khorassan (region in Persia) and annexed the local dynasty. His objective was completed with the capture of Assassins’ fortress of Gerdkuh on the south side of the Caspian Sea. Hulegu then advanced westward and captured Alamut, forcing the Assassins’ Grand Master to surrender. After the capture Hulegu marched toward the grand prize of Baghdad. The Caliph of Baghdad was an inept military commander who was ignorant of the Mongol threat. A force of 20,000 cavalry officers was no match to confront the Mongols. The east walls were breached and in 1258 the city surrendered and a devastating slaughter followed. The treasure was looted, the magnificent mosques were not only destroyed, but all the 800,000 population except Christians were massacred. Hulegu then withdrew almost his entire army leaving a minor force of 15,000 men with his general Kedburka to keep an eye on the sphere. The sudden death of Möngke Khan saved the fall of Egypt, much like how the death of Ogedei Khan saved Europe. Decline of Mongolian Empire Möngke Khan’s death in 1259 was a turning point in the history of the Mongolian Empire. In the West, Hulegu’s campaign ended. Hulegu was forced to stay behind to assert control over his land. The Hulegu khanate in Persia became the Il-khanate. Hulegu’s anti-Caliph campaign bitterly angered the Muslim Khan Berke of the Golden Horde. The throne of the Great Khan remained vacant. There was nobody to normalize conditions for peace and civil war erupted between Khan Berke and Hulegu. It also forced Khan Berke to abandon his plans to ravage Europe once more. In the East, the political environment remained unstable because the two brothers struggled ferociously for the throne of Great Khakhan. One year after Möngke death in 1259 Kublai Khan was elected Khakhan in a Khuriltai. Shortly afterwards, his brother Ariq Boke was also elected Khakhan at a rival Khuriltai. Civil war continued in the East and West until 1264. Kublai defeated Ariq Boke and became the undisputed Khakhan. During the civil wars in the East and West Kublai Khan based himself in China while Ariq Boke based himself in Karakorum. Kublai Khan’s victory made China a more important Empire centre than Mongolia. Overall, years of the civil war ended the cohesion that made the Mongolian Empire. The bitter divide Shepherds of Humanity 303 between East and West made it clear that they were only interested in China. Möngke Khan’s death in 1259 began the unravelling of the Mongol Empire into smaller units within it. The conquest of the Song Empire began during Möngke Khan’s reign. The Song Empire was not only formidable but also geographically the most difficult to conquer through mountainous terrain. While Möngke fought in the north, Kublai Khan took a southward route through Tibet. His men were eventually used up and he had to withdraw. Möngke meanwhile fell ill and died. Möngke Khan’s death and the following civil war between Kublai and Ariq Boke stalled this campaign for four years. But, by 1268, the Mongols were ready for another major assault. Kublai Khan assembled a large naval force and defeated a Song force of 3000 ships. Following the naval victory and the successful capture of Xiang Yang in 1271, by 1272, a Mongol army led by Bayan, a general who served under Hulegu, crossed the Yangtze River and defeated a large Song army. Bayan continued with a series of battles, until he captured the Song capital of Hangzhou. The Song royal family was able to escape. The final defeat came in 1272 in the form of a naval battle near Guangzhou, where the last Song Emperor was killed. Mongol victory over China was complete and the Mongol Empire enjoyed its time of zenith. However, the changing lifestyles of Great Khans were now unlike their ancestors. Kublai Khan retreated from the harsh life of a nomad and adopted the comfortable life of a Chinese Emperor. The Mongol government also became formalized. By 1279, seven years after the defeat of the Song, Kublai adopted the Chinese dynastic title of Yuan and legitimized himself as the rightful ruler of China. Thus, the Yuan dynasty and the Mongol Empire happened during the reign of Kublai. Besides redesigning Chinese empire, Kublai moved the Mongol Imperial capital from Karakorum to Ta-tu, the modern-day Beijing. Kublai launched two ill-fated naval invasions on Japan in 1274 and 1281 which were destroyed by typhoons. Kublai also launched a series of campaigns into southern Asia: in Burma, although the Mongols were victorious, they abandoned it. In Vietnam, a temporary Mongol victory ended in defeat. A naval expedition to Java was also unsuccessful. Far more serious was the revolt of Kaidu, an Ogedeian descendant who rebelled against the khanate in western Mongolia. Kublai’s reign would not see the end of this civil war. In retrospect, Kublai Khan’s reign marked a zenith in Mongol rule. The Mongolian Empire, whether in pieces or as a whole, stretched from China to Mesopotamia to the Danube to the Persian Gulf: a size five times that of Alexander’s Empire. Much of the land suffered great devastation during conquests, by an organized Mongol government. Economic activity flourished in the conquered lands and trade spread throughout the empire. Despite the 304 In the Beginning divisions into khanates the authority of the Great Khan Kublai was recognized in all corners of the Empire. Even if Kublai Khan was recognized as the ruler of Mongols, he encouraged the other khanates to develop expertise in self-governance. The Mongols stopped acting as a unified government. Once Kublai Khan died, potentials for disunity became aggravated and although his successor held the title of Yuan Emperor, there would never be a Great Khan of the Mongols. This meant the end of the Mongol Empire. Meanwhile,

The Empires The Yuan Dynasty in the Far East (also the khanate of the Great Khan Kublai) continued their rule in China. However, after Kublai, there were no skilled rulers. A series of internal strife followed by natural disasters triggered a major rebellion. In 1368, the Yuan dynasty was overthrown and was replaced by the under the rule of Ming Hong-wu. The Il-khanate of Persia (founded by Hulegu in 1260) did well in the beginning because of a struggling economy and embarrassing defeats by the Mamluks. Later, it suffered set back, though under the leadership of Ghaza Il-Khan, it recovered temporarily. Under the reign of Abu Said, Persia enjoyed prosperity but later suffered collapse with the splintering of the Mongol Empire. Also, the Blue Horde in Russia enjoyed good economic activity after it allied with the Mamluks. It officially turned Muslim under Ozbeg Khan, but dissolved in mid-14th century. The Blue Horde collapsed and fell into anarchy. The western sections, including the White Horde coalesced but loosely preserved their separate entities. The Chagatai khanate grew directly out of inheriting Chingis’s son Chagatai. The khanate remained a minor state until the Qing Dynasty of China annexed it in the 18th century. Legacy of Mongol Conquests over Two Millennia The Mongol Empire became a political force, bringing almost the entire continent of Asia under the control of one Great Khan. The Mongol government interconnected it for safe travel, and economical exchange. Culture and Shepherds of Humanity 305 knowledge crossed the entire world. Mongol conquests opened the Silk Road. The road from Europe to Asia was no longer thought to be impassable. Knowledge of art, science, and gunpowder reached Europe. This contributed in bringing Western Europe out of the Dark Age. In Asia, it saw exchange of ideas between Persia and China. The Mongol Empire had altered the political situation of the world. China became united under a single ruler. Russia remained separated from the rest of Europe, but was no longer a disunited feudalistic society. Mongols ended the Kwarazmian Empire which ended the Abbasid Caliph rule and Islamic culture. The term ‘shaman’ came from a Turkish word šamán, used to describe a practitioner of Turko-Mongol and Tungusic cultures in ancient Siberia. Shamanism played an important role in Turkish and Mongolian mythologies. They were speakers of Altaic Family of languages spoken by a wide arc stretching from north-east Asia through Central Asia to Anatolia and Eastern Europe (Turks and Kalmyk). Altaic languages included Turkish, Azeri, Kazakh, Korean and Japanese. The shaman group was named after the Altai Mountains in Central Asia. Their languages exerted strong influences on one another. Both the people qualified as Eurasian nomads and have been in close contact throughout history, especially in the context of medieval Turko-Mongol Empire. Their oldest, 2nd- century-BC mythological claim was the sky god Tengri started Tengrism by the prophet Bukhe Beligte. It was the major belief of the Chinese, Turkish, Hungarian, and Bulgarian peoples since old times, and incorporated elements of shamanism. The shaman’s social role defined an interconnected rule of behaviours, rites, duties within their cultural social status and position. Shamanism was a ‘calling’ after a prolonged illness over time. This illness prompted seeker for spiritual guidance. The shaman healed through spiritual means that thus affected the human world by bringing about a cosmic restored health. Shamans gained knowledge and power to heal by entering the spiritual world or dimension. These spirit guide meetings happened when the shaman was in a trance. The spirit guide energized the shaman, enabling him/her to enter the spiritual dimension. The shaman healed while within the spiritual dimension by returning ‘lost’ parts of the human soul from wherever they had gone. The shaman also cleaned excess negative energies which confused or polluted the soul. About 50% of Mongolia’s population today follows Tibetan Buddhism and 40% deny having a religion, 6% are Shamanists, Baha’i and Christians. 4% are Muslim. Tengrism and Shamanism throughout the history of Mongolia were common among nomadic. Such beliefs gradually gave way to Tibetan Buddhism but Shamanism was and still is part of the Mongolian religious culture, and continues to be practiced. Among the elite of Mongol Empire, Islam was favoured over other religions, because in the past four major khanates adopted Islam. 306 In the Beginning

Throughout the 20th century, the Communists erased much of the religious practices of the repressed Mongolian people. Stalin destroyed almost all of Mongolia’s over 700 Buddhist monasteries and killed thousands of monks. The number of Buddhist monks dropped from 100,000 in 1924 to 110 in 1990. The fall of communism in 1991 restored the legality of Mongolia’s public religious practice. Tibetan Buddhism again rose to become the most widely practised religion in Mongolia. The end of religious repression in the 1990s also allowed for other religions, such as Islam, Baha’i faith and Christianity, to spread in the country. According to a Christian missionary group the number of Christians grew from just four in 1989 to around 40,000 in 2008. Mongol War Machine & Religious Rights Mongol or Turkish-Mongol army was the most disciplined well guided and efficient fighting force before the age of gunpowder. Living as “hunters all their lives,” these steppe nomads were masters at horse-riding skill and were lethally effective with their bows and arrows. Unlike Roman Legionnaires trained in camps and academies, nomadic warriors were already skilled warriors through an itinerant upbringing. They were expert as horse-riding archers, able to hit targets on a galloping horse. When Chingis Khan rose to power, he set rules for organization, discipline, care of tools and gears. The attitude to fight intelligently as a group became their greatest weapon. Chingis always organized his army in a decimal system. A commander was selected for every series of 10 units of soldiers per troop. Military tactics were rehearsed and each warrior knew precisely what to do when signalled by the commander. Signals were in the form of flaming arrows, drums and banners. The Mongol horde was so disciplined that it would not tolerate failure to preserve equipment or desertion in battle and awarded capital punishment for it. When the western knights fought the Mongol horse riders, they were destroyed because of the Mongolian power of a wide array of tricks against an army of horse soldiers. Feigned retreats fooled enemies while in fact encircling them. In later years Siege machines and use of gunpowder learned from the Chinese and Persians played an important role in defeating hordes. Advanced weaponry including catapults that could be assembled quickly, smoke grenades and firebombs contributed to the Mongol success in invading Europe. The army of traditionally skilled warriors also became a lethal army with the best technology the world offered then. The new Ottoman rule that arose from the ashes of Byzantine civilization was neither primitive nor barbaric. Islam not only recognized Jesus as a great prophet, but tolerated Christians as another People of the Book (non-Muslim adherents of Book of Prayer). Therefore, the Church was not stifled nor significantly disrupted. Its administration continued and the first things that Shepherds of Humanity 307

Mehmet II did was to allow the Church to elect a new patriarch. Although Sophia (Basilica of Holy Wisdom) and the Greek Parthenon (447 BC) were Christian churches they were converted into mosques. There were countless other churches, both in Constantinople and elsewhere, which remained in Christian hands. Because Islamic law made no distinction between nationality and religion, all Christians, regardless of their language or nationality, were considered a single nation. The patriarch, as the highest ranking hierarch, was thus invested with civil and religious authority and made head of the entire Christian Orthodox population. The authority and jurisdictional frontiers of the patriarch were enormously enlarged. However, these rights and privileges including freedom of worship and religious organization, although established in principle, seldom corresponded to reality. Legal privileges depended on the whim and mercy of the sultan while the Christians were viewed as second-class citizens. Also, Turkish corruption and brutality against the “infidel Christians” was experienced by Christians in these centuries. Missionary work among Muslims was dangerous and indeed impossible, whereas change-over to Islam was legal and permissible. Converts to Islam who returned to Orthodoxy were put to death. No new churches could be built and ringing of church bells was banned. Education of the clergy and the Christian population either stopped or was reduced to the most rudimentary. The Orthodox Church found itself subjected to the Turkish system of corruption. The patriarchal throne was sold to the highest bidder, while new patriarchal investiture was levied hefty payment to the government. To recoup their losses, patriarchs taxed local parishes and their clergy. The patriarchal throne was never secure. Many between the 15th and 19th centuries were forcibly removed while in office. Forced abdications, exiles, hangings, drowning and poisonings of patriarchs are well documented. Fall of Constantinople In 1453 AD, Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Empire, also known by contemporaries as the Turkish Empire of Turkey. It lasted from 1299 to 1922 as an imperial monarchy until it was officially proclaimed the Republic of Turkey in 1923. At the height of its power from the 16th–17th century, it spanned three continents, controlling much of south-east Europe, western Asia and northern Africa. The Ottoman Empire contained 29 small provinces and many vassal states, some of which were later absorbed into the Turkish Empire, while others gained various types of autonomy during centuries. At its height it spanned from Hungary in the North to Somalia in the South. The empire also temporarily gained authority over overseas lands through support with the Sultan of Aceh on islands, in the Atlantic Ocean. The Turkish Empire of the 14th and 15th centuries was built on the ruins of the Byzantine Empire from the caliphates of Baghdad and Turkish principalities. It was at the centre of interactions between the Eastern and Western worlds for 308 In the Beginning six centuries with vast control of lands around the eastern Mediterranean. Constantinople was its capital city. During the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent 1520 to 1566 AD, the Ottoman Empire saw an Islamic successor to the Eastern Roman Byzantine Empire. By this time, Egypt was under Muslim control for seven centuries, but orthodoxy of Russia was strong and Moscow called itself the Third Rome: the cultural heir of Constantinople. Under Ottoman rule, the Greek Orthodox Church became both powerful and autonomous. The ecumenical patriarch was the religious and administrative ruler of the entire ‘Greek Orthodox nation’ (Ottoman administrative unit), which encompassed all the eastern orthodox subjects of the Empire. Because of the fall of Constantinople, the entire Orthodox communion of the Balkans and the Near East became isolated from the West. For 400 years, it remained confined within a hostile Islamic world, with which it had little in common religiously or culturally. The Russian Orthodox Church was the only part of the Orthodox communion which remained outside the control of Ottomans. This geographical and intellectual confinement of Eastern Orthodoxy never took part in Reformation of their theological framework. Meanwhile, a succession of Grand Masters of Assassins became leaders simultaneously through creations of Caliphates and Templars. Assassin Masters were never seen by ordinary members but were rumoured to have personal access to their sovereign. Their loyalty to the ruler was beyond doubt, for he single- handedly controlled an up-and-coming organization. He was chosen from the directors of the places of their worship. The Grand Master had a say in the future of Islam. A Churchian Agenda The status of Jerusalem disputed by Palestinians and Israelis remained for decades. Since 1949, the ceasefire line (known as the Green Line) ran right through the city. After the Six Day War in 1967, Israel gained control of the entire city and claimed it for their capital, although this claim was never recognized internationally. Most countries recognized Tel Aviv as the Israeli capital. Palestinians claimed Jerusalem as the capital of their own state (or future state). It was here in this disputed land of the Middle East that Abraham through Hagar sired Ishmael the father of six Arabian Tribes (Genesis 16:3) and David through Sarah sired Isaac Levi, the father of Jacob Israel, who in turn sired the twelve Tribes of Israel with different wives. From the House of Judah, a Hebrew emerged (among others): Moses, Aaron, Solomon, and much later Jesus and John. All were purportedly Sumerian descendants of an ancient Merovingian dynasty. Many tribes from Mesopotamia moved to every part of the planet. The Temple of Solomon or the First Temple Mount in Jerusalem built during the was dedicated to Yahweh, the God of Hebrews and housed the Ark of the Covenant. Shepherds of Humanity 309

Solomon built the Temple to Yahweh and it stood for about 500 years before the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, came searching for the Ark. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Temple but never found the Ark of the Covenant. Jeremiah (probably 650 – 570 BC) a Hebrew prophet, was closely involved in the political and religious events of that era. His spiritual leadership helped his fellow citizens survive disasters that included the capture of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BC. With help from exiled Judeans and some Levite priests they allegedly hid the Ark as well as incredible amounts of gold. This ‘secret’ would create accounts of the Crusades as well as emerging Capitalism and effects of Harmfulness. Most histories of the Crusades tended to focus on the Crusaders themselves and the perspectives of European Christians seeking conquest of the Holy Land. However, a series of Popes sanctioned religious military campaigns waged by Roman Catholic Europe (especially Carollingians Franks of France) to deliver the Holy Places from Islamic tyranny. Muslim armies had by then conquered much of northern Africa, Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Spain, which had once been some of the most heavily Christian areas in the world. Pope Urban II (1042-1099) launched the First and Second Crusades for several reasons. Alexius I, the Emperor of Byzantium at the time, pleaded with Pope Urban II to help him regain the Byzantine territory in the Middle East captured by the Arabs. Meanwhile the kings in Europe were quarrelling among themselves. Pope Urban began urging them to go on Crusades. That he hoped would keep the kings from feuding. The coffers of the Church needed injection of much wealth. Pope Urban II began using the returning spoils of wealth and goods to buy cheap land which he resold to returning Crusading nobles for a profit. He hoped also some Holy Artefacts would be found because of Solomon’s Temple. That was expected to make the Church more powerful and the illiterate people more concerned with religious piety. Crusaders were expected to convert to Churchianity the inhabitants of war-torn cities the crusaders had captured. They were instead were slaughtered by the crusading savages. The Pope’s dream of creating a Christian Empire in the Middle East was what led to his agreement to help the Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus. The Seljuk Turks (Muslims) had taken over Anatolia (present-day Turkey) in the 1070s after the Battle of Manzikert between Byzantine Empire and Seljuk. By the 1090s they were threatening Constantinople. In response, Pope Urban claimed he wanted unmolested travel for Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. Locally the Pope had a problem in Europe with ‘knights’, who constantly fought and attacked priests, nuns and church property. Knights were a private paramilitary group active on the streets of France and Rome. The pope promised them forgiveness of their sins (rape, murder, stealing) if they went on a crusade, fighting anyway but far away against Muslim Turks or Arabs. Thousands and possibly millions, Muslims died during the church’s drive 310 In the Beginning to bring the entire world under Churchianity. The Muslims did not know there was an agenda to the crusades. The Crusades might have elicited an excitement for the Churchians but not until modern times did the Arabs develop a term for an observable fact: al-Hurub al-Salibiyya (wars of the cross). When the first European armies hit Syria, Muslims thought these were attacks from the Byzantines, whom they called the Rum invaders, or Romans. Following the First Crusade, western ‘lords’ established permanent settlements in the East to preserve and protect the territories gained by their forces during conflict. These territories, also called the Crusader States, included the Kingdom of Jerusalem, with its important town of Acre and its three feudal dependencies called the Principality of Antioch, the County of Tripoli and the County of Edessa. Westerners upheld titular control over parts of these areas until the last remnants were expelled at the fall of Acre in 1291. Producing original art works in these areas remained limited at first. The centres were colonised by the sword and French became the common language among expatriated westerners. Successive waves of Crusaders to the Holy Land included western soldiers and writers who did not live permanently in the Holy Land but wrote about their ‘adventures’ in the Holy Land. Eventually, the Muslims realized that they were facing a new foe. It was probably not until permanent kingdoms were established in the Holy Land and supported by regular reinforcements from Europe that Muslim leaders understood a new form of imperialism: of Christendom. Permanent kingdoms were by now set up in the Holy Land of Antioch, Tripoli and Edessa. Muslims realized that European victories were attributed to their high morale and a common religious purpose. Muslims stopped bickering among themselves. Nur al-Din and his successor Salah al-Din (Saladin) became architects of joint effort through military skills and leadership. Despite their combined efforts to overpower the crusaders,, Muslims remained divided and even indifferent to the European Churchian threat. This was also because the Arab people did not live around the Holy Land. Most of the Crusaders were a pack of uninformed criminals and terrorists from all over Europe. Their impact on Muslim art, architecture and literature remained untouched. The Muslims therefore felt no need to learn from the barbarians who came from the North. Feudalism - the Foundation of Churchian Violence The Crusades were Churchian military and religious expeditions launched both against rival religions (mainly Islam, Judaism) and even other Christians. Not only did the Crusades define the groundwork for medieval Christian society but also shaped medieval feudalism. It laid the groundwork for present-day violence between Muslims and Christians who would be involved in mass murders over religious conviction and holy sites for centuries to come. At the heart of feudalism was a common idea specific to the warrior caste that they Shepherds of Humanity 311 were entitled to and needed to be provided for. That meant the produce of a suitable number of peasants or serfs was expected to underwrite the expenses of the fighting, warring ‘protecting’ soldiers of the state machinery. In ancient Sparta, where all free men were warriors, their support came from the defeated and enslaved peasants of Messenia, an old district in Greece. They were known as the helots. In medieval Europe, the central economic structure was governed by the manorial system. This system organized rural economy according to political, economic and social strata of the society, under which peasants were tied to the land and to the lord, in serfdom. It was based on an interconnecting network of loyalties and debts to a manor, which supported feudalism between 8th and 12th century. The feudal system came into a focal point during the 8th century, when the Carollingian dynasty was expanding its territory. Charles Martel, the son of Pepin II granted his nobles rights over tracts of land, to yield income with which they could provide fighters for his army. Charles Martel was a Frankish mayor, military and political leader under the disappearing Merovingian and up- and-coming Carollingian king dynasties sponsored by the church (737–743). He defeated an invading Muslim army and halted a northward Islamic expansion into Western Europe with the help of peasants from his land. This act of generosity needed an oath of loyalty in return. The relationship between the lord and the vassal which was at the heart of feudalism gave the vassal an income- yielding fief (fehu-od in Frankish or ‘feudal’) formalizing the relationship. The largest fiefs were given directly by monarchs to nobles or barons, who then subcontracted parts of these fiefs to vassals of their own. By sharing out both the benefit and the debt, vassals were sure to bring contingents of armed men into the field. A pyramid of loyalty was thus created, in which each man: except at the top and bottom, was a vassal to one lord and a lord to several vassals. At the peak of European feudal society was the Pope. By the end of the 12th century the papacy had more feudal vassals than any temporal ruler had. Although feudalism developed under the Carollingian dynasty as early as the 8th century, it did not prevail widely in Europe until the 10th century, by which time the entire of Europe was Christian. For the next 500 years, great collections of power and landed wealth passed between a few favoured players in boardrooms. The rules were complex, and to an outside eye deeply mysterious. But certain actions and qualifications brought them a distinct advantage. The top players in feudal Europe came from a small group of people: an aristocracy, based on skill in battle, with a shared commitment to a form of Churchianity (at once power-hungry and idealistic) in which the Pope in Rome had special powers as God’s representative on the earth. As a great feudal lord with moral pretensions, holding the ring between secular sovereigns, the Pope was Europe’s Summit Churchian Principal. Bishops and abbots were part of the small feudal aristocracy, because they were recruited 312 In the Beginning from noble families holding great fiefs. Some bishops were known to fight on the battlefield, with the best. Those who refused to agree to the niceties of loyalty to Normans in England or Sicily, ruled by right of conquest. Feudal disputes were regularly resolved in battles which became justification for the use of force, but always with the approval of the church. In 1059, the pope commanded Normans to attack Sicily after giving them feudal rights over territory not yet theirs. Similarly, Rome and the Holy See declared, it was on the side of William the Bastard when he invaded England in 1066. William the Bastard was born illegitimate. He invaded England and became known as William ‘the Conqueror’ (1028–1087). As the only (illegitimate) son, he succeeded Duke Robert at the age of seven in 1035. When Normandy fell into bloody anarchy, three of his guardians were killed, and his relatives murdered William’s personal tutor. This event was perhaps why William remained illiterate. He began to assert his authority from about 1045, calling on his feudal lord King Henri I of France to help him in subduing rebellious barons. He had a peasant-like Christian faith and founded several monasteries. Although illiterate, his use of prelates as his representatives was politically shrewd. In 1049 the Pope, at the bidding of the western emperor, declared William’s marriage to the daughter of Baldwin of Flanders. Among the many penances ordered by the pope, William the Conqueror undertook to go on a crusade. His later invasion of England was officially declared a crusade and a papal banner flew over the Norman knights at Hastings. An important form of justification was a dynastic claim to a territory. Generations of , carefully arranged for material gain, resulted in a complex web of relationships often reflecting in the Kingdoms of Europe. More complex, but equally typical of Christian feudalism, was the case of Sicily. In the 11th century, the Normans seized it by invitation of the pope. In the 12th century, the island was joined to distant Germany because the German king married a Sicilian princess. And in the 13th century it was linked with France because the pope was now opposed to the Germans. Through the 12th to 15th centuries, with the passage of time the feudal system became more complex, more rigid and more open to abuse. Fiefs tended to become hereditary, reducing the personal link between the vassal and the lord. Payments of money began to replace the original simple duty of armed service. Monasteries, abbeys, bishoprics became part of the hierarchy, providing administrative and sometimes even military support for their feudal lords, while prospering through the efficient administration of their manors. The original feudalism structured on personal relationships, tended towards a centralized corrupt monarchy and eventual anarchy. Weaknesses in European feudalism were obvious by the 13th century, but the system of interconnecting feudal contracts remained a central theme until at least the 15th century. After that, the strong authority of kings, taxing and ruling from a central Shepherds of Humanity 313 base, became the norm in European government. But feudal customs and rights remained enshrined in the law of many regions (including France, Germany, Austria and Italy) until they were abolished either by the French Revolution or by the reforms made by Napoleon. Crusades of Harmfulness The Crusade Creed could well be described by the statement: “The aim of Christianity is not to fill the earth, but to fill heaven. Why should one worry if the number of Christians is lessened in the world by deaths endured for God? By this kind of death people make their way to heaven who perhaps would never reach it by another road.” Nevertheless the question why the Crusades were launched at all had a wide variety of opinions. Some argued that they were a necessary response by Christendom to the oppression of pilgrims in Muslim- controlled Jerusalem. Others claimed that it was political imperialism masked by religious piety. Still others argued that it was a social release for a society that was becoming overburdened by landless nobles in an environment of breakdown of the feudal system in Europe. The Crusades were an incredibly violent undertaking, even by medieval standards. They were remembered with romantic stories, but perhaps nothing about the campaigns deserved it. Hardly a noble quest in foreign lands, the Crusades represented the worst in religion and in Christianity specifically. Although members of other religions obviously suffered at the hands of Christians throughout the Middle Ages, other Christians suffered just as much. Saint Augustine’s urging to compel entry into the church was used with great zeal when church leaders dealt with Christians who dared to follow a different religious path. Commonly known as “St Augustine of Hippo” (354–430 AD), he was a north- African bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. Western philosophical tradition came from the merger of Greek philosophical tradition and Judeo-Christian religious and scriptural traditions. Through merging, Augustine remained an enduring influence up to the present-day. Even for those who did not share this sympathy, Augustine’s thought was not only one of the major sources, whereby classical philosophy entered mainstream and later medieval philosophy, but he made contributions of his own that emerged from his modification of Greco- Roman inheritance. There were Jewish communities, some large, that lived throughout Europe and the Middle East before the Crusades. They had settled themselves and survived over the course of many centuries, but they also provided tempting targets for marauding Crusader mercenaries looking for infidels to attack and treasure to loot. Caught between two warring religions, the Jews were in a most untenable position. The meaning of Crusades for politics and society of today cannot be 314 In the Beginning understood simply by looking at the violence, persecutions, or economic changes they wrought. However important those things may have been at the time, the meaning of Crusades for people today is determined not so much by what happened, as it is, by what people believe happened. Socially speaking, the Crusades impacted on the Christian stance on military service. Before that, there was a strong prejudice against the military, at least among churchmen. It was assumed that Jesus’ message precluded warfare. For a man to remain holy, killing in warfare was strictly banned. All of that changed dramatically. The Crusades were Churchian military and religious expeditions launched both against rival religions (mainly Islam) and even other Christians. Both Islam and Christianity became involved with mass murder over religion, holy sites and religious beliefs and that too for centuries. It was likely the relationship between Christianity and Islam today would be different if it were not for the Crusades. It was little wonder that so many saw religion as a force for violence than of peace. The Crusades were not a simple or event. They occurred in multiple places with multiple actors over the course of centuries. Religion was not the only factor in the Crusades, but they were eventually unthinkable without the extreme religious fervour on both sides. Christians were allegedly inspired by God and encouraged by priests to conquer the Holy Lands: not to mention killing dissident Christians found in Europe itself. Muslims were also inspired by God and encouraged by their own leaders to defend their territory and if possible, to expand the dominion of Islam itself. The Crusades occurred over a vast geographic region in the Middle East. They were heavily influenced by geographic and political issues at home in Europe. Although it was common to talk about them as Christians fighting Muslims, the reality was the Christians came from many different nationalities who did not always like each other and the Muslims were similarly divided. Thus while the Crusades were principally driven by a Churchian religion, especially in the minds of those who went off to kill adherents of other religions, there were significant ethnic reasons as well. Although European nationalism had not yet fully developed, a nascent nationalism was also a factor. English, French and German Christians were not all united into a single, happy religious family to kill Muslims. Sometimes, Christians even allied with Muslims and vice versa to fight their co-religionists. National and personal rivalries also became religious bigotry. When faced with the infidel enemies it was still usually easier to set aside home-grown political differences for killing non-Christians. How and why these shifting feelings occurred was important to better understand how the Crusades developed both militarily and politically. Real understanding of it in both their religious and secular aspects thus needed some geographic understanding of what happened, where and when. Mention of the word “crusade” brings about visions of violent attacks by either wild-eyed religious fanatics or holy warriors taking on a burden of religious Shepherds of Humanity 315 undertaking far greater than them. But, it referred to military operations launched during the Middle Ages by the Catholic Church and Catholic political leaders against non-Catholic powers between 1096 and 1270’s. Volunteers for the crusade were called crusaders, meaning that they who took Jesus’ cross on them. Today the term ‘crusade’ has lost its military implications and applies to any organized drive to convert people to a particular brand of Christianity or faith. Outside religion, the term ‘crusade’ was and is used by ‘movements’ designed to reform and make changes in power, authority, or social relationships. The historical Crusades were an attempt to impose orthodox Christianity by armed forces across a wide swath of territory. It became a product of the Christian religion contacting the military. The symbiosis made them powerful, culturally self-confident and an economically expansionistic religious civilization. The most important aspect of the Crusades was that it sowed seeds of harmfulness and change which continued to impact European and world affairs even today. The emergence of medieval warfare, art, politics, trade, religion and ideals about chivalry all came together to create a special structure of Western society. Europe entered the crusading age but left it transformed in ways which was not immediately obvious today. The Crusades fundamentally altered the relationship between Christianity and Islam. For Islam, the image of barbaric Christian Crusaders continued to haunt Arab Muslim perspectives of Europe and Christianity, especially when combined with the more recent history of European colonialism in the Middle East. It was interesting that a seemingly Islamic military and political triumph against the Crusaders also became a touchstone of Islamic defeat and despair. Categorization of the Crusades over 200 years of almost continual fighting left many a historian wondering where one Crusade ended and the next one began. The First Crusade launched by Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont in 1095, was perhaps the most successful. The armies of the First Crusade left in 1096 and captured Jerusalem in 1099. The Second Crusade was launched in response to the Muslim capture of Edessa in 1144. European leaders agree this was made possible because of the tireless effort of St Bernard of Clairvaux. He travelled across France, Germany and Italy to encourage people to take up the cross and reassert Christian domination in the Holy Land. The kings of France and Germany answered the call but the losses to their armies were devastating and they were easily defeated. The Third Crusade launched in 1189 was called because Muslims had recaptured Jerusalem in 1187 and defeated Palestinian knights at Hittin. It was also unsuccessful. Frederick I Barbarossa of Germany drowned before he even reached the Holy Land, and Philip II Augustus of France returned home after a short time. Only Richard the Lionheart of England stayed back. He helped capture Acre and some smaller ports. He finished the attack after signing a peace treaty with Saladin. The Fourth Crusade launched in 1202 was provoked by Venetian leaders 316 In the Beginning who saw it as a means to increase power and influence. Crusaders arrived in Venice expecting to go to Egypt. They were instead diverted towards Constantinople. The city was mercilessly sacked in 1204 leading to greater enmity between Eastern and Western Christians. The Fifth Crusade of 1217 was led by Leopold VI of Austria and Andrew II of Hungary. They captured the city of Damietta, but after losing the Battle of Al-Mansura they were forced to return it. Before their defeat they were offered control of Jerusalem and other Christian sites in Palestine in exchange for the return of Damietta, but Cardinal Pelagius refused and turned a potential victory into a stunning defeat. The Sixth Crusade launched in 1228 achieved a small measure of success. It was led by the Roman Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen. He became the King of Jerusalem through his marriage to Yolanda, daughter of John of Brienne. This Crusade ended with a peace treaty granting Christians control of several other important holy sites as well. The Seventh and Eighth Crusades led by King Louis IX of France were complete failures. In the Seventh Crusade Louis sailed to Egypt in 1248 and recaptured Damietta, but after he and his army were routed he had to return as well as pay a massive ransom just to get free. In 1270 he set off on the Eighth Crusade, landing in northern Africa to convert the sultan of Tunis to Christianity, but died before he got far. The Ninth Crusade led by King Edward I of England in 1271 was aimed at joining Louis in Tunis but failed. Edward arrived after Louis who had died. He immediately moved against the Mamluk sultan Baibars, but returned home to England after he learned that his father Henry III had died. Crusades were an ongoing happening on the Iberian Peninsula since 711 AD when the Mongol and later Muslim invaders conquered most of Europe and became known as the Reconquista. It lasted until the tiny kingdom of Grenada was reconquered in 1492 AD. In the East, Muslim attacked on land controlled by Byzantine Empire. It went on for a long time too. After the battle of Manzikert in 1071, much of Asia Minor fell to the Seljuk Turks. It was unlikely that this last outpost of Roman Empire would survive further concentrated assaults. Christian interest in the Crusades was not only to end the Muslim threat, but also to end the Christian schism. Excluding that, the fear that if Constantinople fell then all of Europe would be open to invasion, weighed heavily on the minds of European Christians. Another cause for the Crusades was the increased inconvenience experienced by Christian pilgrims in the region. Pilgrimages were important to European Christians for religious, social and political reasons. Anyone who successfully made the long and arduous journey to Jerusalem not only demonstrated one’s religious devotion, but also became beneficiary of significant religious benefits. A pilgrimage wiped the plate of sins and some future sins as well. Christians Shepherds of Humanity 317 would otherwise have a difficult time justifying claims to ownership and authority over the region. Although purposeful campaigns were launched through the Crusades, the spirit that swept across much of Europe for a long time was the greatest motivation towards churchianity. Many Crusaders returned with claims of experiencing visions of God ordering them to the Holy Land. Joining a Crusade was not only a participation in military conquest, but showed a religious devotion and opportunity of seeking forgiveness for their sins. Churchian authorities manipulated the Crusades as part of the penance Christians must do to repay for their sins. It was also well known that powerful and influential Italian merchant states wished to expand their trade in the Mediterranean, but were blocked by Muslim control at many strategic seaports. To them, if Muslim domination of the eastern Mediterranean could be weakened then Venice, Genoa and Pisa would be open for trading, not to mention that richer Italian states also meant a Vatican. It was violence, death and destruction that made for continuing bad blood because of greed for wealth and for some incomprehensible religion. What was significant is that Christians and Muslims continue to eagerly take part in mass murders and destruction in the name of vague religious beliefs, non-secular conquests and committed supremacist ideals. The Crusades and Islamic terrorism represent flawed understanding about religious devotion. It became a grand cosmic drama between the non-religious secular and religious extremists. The Crusades were a violent undertaking, even by medieval standards. Although portrayed as a noble search in foreign lands, the Crusades represented the worst in Churchianity by using mercenaries. Warring continues – this time for oil to fuel the unquenchable thirst for petroleum to energise greed for ‘Development’. Even harmfulness is and was not forever. The Vedic Prophesy of the Law of Karma was always continuing somewhere between the beginning and an end of Yugas. According to ‘Esoteric Writings’ by Boyd Rice, in Sumerian, Aden (Eden) meant “lofty temple an abode, or high place.” The Egyptians used the word “Kar” too, to mean the “drinking pot”. In Greek the “Omega” symbol was the inverted form symbol meaning the end and equated with an inverted or wrong side up: God’s drinking pot emptied through harmfulness. The Greek symbol for “Alpha”, “the beginning”, resembled a mountain or pyramid representing the Mount of Refuge on which the Ark landed after the Flood of pralaya. From here a beginning for humanity, an “Alpha”, was born for harmlessness. The symbols of “Alpha” and “Omega”, the beginning and the end, were used as code for the Flood and the Mount of Refuge. There was a relationship of “Alpha with Omega”. It served as an idea for the Garden of Eden, the location of “Alpha” and the Genesis of Man according to the law of Cause and Effect. Jesus in the Book of Revelation (1:8, 21:6, and 22:13) identified himself but also spoke of ‘great leaders’ to come: 318 In the Beginning

“That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians. 1:10). The tablet in Rennes-le-Chateau where Magdalene supposedly escaped and lived with Jesus’ offspring, Christ was identified as the Alpha, and John the Baptist as the Omega. Perhaps what was being said was that Alpha and Omega were one and the same: the end of an era brought a beginning at the end of each cycle or Yuga. This explained the water rites of baptism, a ritual immersion in water, symbolic of death and rebirth and cleaning of Earth through floods and fire. The baptism of Jesus as Christ marked the true beginning of his ministry. It became a passing of a dynastic legacy from the older generation (John) to the younger (Jesus). This was perhaps the vital episode of the New Testament retelling of how both a legacy and a bloodline were passed from one generation to another, from an antediluvian generation to a postdiluvian generation. 12.Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies

Almost 1000 years after the crucifixion of Jesus, near the beginning of the crusades (1095 AD) and after Jerusalem was captured (1099 AD), nine French Crusaders appeared before King Baldwin IV (1161–1185) and asked for quarters in the east wing of his palace. This place was next to the recently captured Al- Aqsa Mosque and the former site of King Solomon’s Temple. Under no circumstances were they asked to return home for nine years. Over time they became known as the Knights of the Temple, soon shortened to Knights Templar. During the first nine years of their way of life, they neither recruited new members nor protected pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land. Instead, they kept close to their quarters and conducted extensive excavations beneath the former site of King Solomon’s Temple. The Templars who were allegedly familiar with traditions of a secret vault beneath the Temple of Solomon (allegedly) found this vault, picked up the scrolls of all hidden spiritual and scientific knowledge and perhaps also recovered the Ark of the Covenant. In 1128 AD, they returned to France. The Knight Templars were by now divided into two divisions: military and the priestly. The sacerdotal division had with them secrets and mystical learning of the Shepherd Kings of Sumer. After the Templars returned to France, there followed 200 years of a period called ‘Miracle of the Gothic Flowering’ (1095–1300 AD). Historians called it the Age of Faith: A history of medieval civilization merged Christian, Islamic and Judaic cultures: from Constantine to Dante (325–1300). All at once grand cathedrals of novel architectures appeared throughout Europe. The structures embodied the old sacred geometry that was of ancient Hebrew (pre- Davidic) and Islamic influence. It was interesting to look into the reason for Western Europe building so many churches in the three centuries after 1000 AD. What need was there, in a Europe with hardly a fifth of its present population, for temples and churches so vast that they were and still are rarely filled even on the holiest days? The population 1000 years ago was small, but it believed in faith. Therefore, how could an agricultural civilization afford to build such costly structures, which even wealthy industrial nations of the 21st century could barely fill or maintain? Yet it was a poor citizenry that gave. On holy days, or on pilgrimage to churches, the worshippers were so many, said Suger of St Denis, that “women were forced to run toward the altar on the heads of men as a pavement”. 319 320 In the Beginning

Suger of St Denis (1081–1151 AD) was born to a minor knight family and was dedicated to the Abbey of St Denis by the age of nine. He later became adviser to Louis VI and VII. The great abbot raised funds to build his masterpiece and could be forgiven for a little exaggeration. In towns like Florence, Pisa, Chartres and York, it was desirable on occasions to gather the entire population into one edifice. In populous monasteries the abbey church had to house monks, nuns and laity. Relics were guarded in special shrines, with rooms for intimate devotion and another for performance for major rituals in a roomy sanctuary. Side altars were needed in abbeys and cathedrals whose many priests were expected to say Mass every day. A separate altar or chapel for each favoured saint was set up who inclined his ear to petitioners. Mary the mother of Jesus had a Lady Chapel if the whole cathedral was not hers. Records claimed the construction of such edifices was financed largely by the amassed funds of the Episcopal see, the official seat of a bishop as overseer. The bishops sought gifts from kings, nobles, communes, guilds, parishes and individuals. The communes were stirred to wholesome rivalry, in which the cathedral became the symbol and challenge of their wealth and power. Extravagance and magnificence were offered to those who contributed generously. Relics were carried around in processions around the diocese to encourage giving. Generosity was prodded by an occasional miracle. Competition for building funds was keen. Many bishops objected to collections made in their dioceses for undertakings in another. Occasionally however, bishops from many parts, even from foreign lands, sent aid to an enterprise as they did at Chartres. Though some of these appeals verged on pressure, they hardly rivalled the intensity of the influences mobilized for the public financing of a modern war. The Templars meanwhile obviously had recovered the old “Temple Scroll”, possibly with other manuscripts hidden in the vault beneath the Temple of Solomon. The Templars proclaimed and decreed the ancient architectural secrets of sacred geometry. The Knights also had close contacts with Islam during their stay in the Holy Land. They imbibed the wisdom of the Sufis who practised Jewish and Muslim mysticism. They discovered that both the Jewish synagogue and the Muslim mosque were based on geometric principles and abstract mathematical relationships. The maze, the arabesque, the chessboard, the arch and the pillar or columns were pure expressions of symmetry, regularity, balance and proportion. Knowledge of the Templars was not restricted to ‘sacred geometry’ or to the wisdom from Sufis. The Templar master mystics were closely connected with the court of the Counts of Champagne in Troyes. Counts of Champagne ruled from 950–1316. They ruled one of the more important feudal states in France. It was created in the 12th century with the merger of the counties of Meaux and Troyes. The latter town became the capital of Champagnes and the residence for Frankish Merovingian dukes (570–714). They came to be known as counts of Troyes. The Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 321 independence of Champagnes came to a close when the countess Marie married the Carollingian heir to the French throne in 1284. Champagne was united now with the royal son Louis who became king of France in 1314. Hughes de Payen, founder of the Knights Templar was a vassal of the Count. An influential school of Cabalistic and esoteric studies had flourished since 1070 in Troyes. At the Council of Troyes in 1128, the Templars were officially incorporated and for the next two centuries Troyes remained a strategic centre for the order of the Knights Templar. After those first years at their beginning, the order of the Knights Templar grew quickly. By 1130, Palestine itself had 300 Templar knights. The Knights Templar was now a group of tough fighters. They gained great wealth and power. On October 13, 1307, the Carollingian King Philip IV of France with the support of Pope Clement V arrested large number of Templars in coordinated raids. The Templars had by now already used their wealth to set up a major banking operations and loaned massive sums of money to the debt-ridden King Philip IV. Philip not only wanted to rid himself of his debt, but also wanted to seize their treasure (brought back from the Solomon’s Temple), to finance his continental wars against Edward I of England. Since, the Knights had enjoyed an excellent reputation for centuries, King Philip IV had to justify his forthcoming actions. He charged the Templars with heresy. He arrested and subjected them to hideous torture. He forced confessions of heinous crimes and invented charges against them. The Templars were however warned sufficiently because many Knights had time to escape. Significant amounts of their treasure left with the Knights which were never again found. The surviving Templars became known as Freemasons and remained a secret society in England. In 1716, four London lodges decided to become a single lodge and went public. A formal request was made to all Masonic lodges in England to turn over to the Grand Lodge any ancient records they owned. This led to many lodges burning all written material, but a number of these old documents survived. Many Crusaders became Knights Templars and then Freemasons with Secret Knowledge. A Ruptured Jerusalem Thrashed into Three Religions With the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD by Titus, the future Roman Emperor (79–81 AD) changed the direction of the religion. The city of Jerusalem promised to become the centre for three ground-breaking major world religions. For ancient Jews it was their homeland, promised to them by Jehovah (God). To the Muslims, Jerusalem was where Prophet Muhammad (570-632 AD) ascended to heaven in the seventh century AD. After Makah and Medina Jerusalem was Islam’s third holiest city. Meanwhile, differentiation of the early Christian Church had already started in the sub-Apostolic period (65–100 AD). From its 322 In the Beginning

Hebrew and Jewish roots of rituals new customs were tailored according to Paul’s understanding of what Jesus wished to communicate. Apostle Paul was a faithful, monotheistic Hebrew. There was no evidence that his recognition of Jesus as God was a result of being influenced by the Greco- Roman liking for divinization. Passages in Isaiah once reserved for God alone were applied to Jesus, who received the name of Lord and with whom he shared in divine worship. The use of the term Isaiah suggested recognising Jesus as God happened among the faithful, scripture-honouring Jews who saw in him the person of their God. Jerusalem stopped regarding itself as the centre of Christianity, but it contributed to its unmolested growth during the first century while under Roman authorities. The destruction of Jerusalem by Titus provided the break between the early Christian Church and Judaism. Orthodox Jews started viewing Christianity as a threat. Christian communities saw themselves more and more as a Gentile Church. Not so strangely however, the early Christian Church was strongest in the East where Jesus had spent twelve years under Hindu and Buddhist tutelage. Later Thomas’s journey to India and Paul’s missionary journeys to Cyprus, Turkey, Macedonia, Malta and Jerusalem created centres where Christianity was strongest. Only after the emperors Trajan (98–117) and Hadrian (117–138) rule were Christians distinguished from Jews. Trajan, the Roman emperor, was a soldier of Spanish origin who spent most of his life in campaigns against the Dacians, an ancient Romanian people, in 106. This vastly increased the Roman imperial coffers. The Senate’s refusal to accept Emperor Domitian, as “master and god” precipitated the first significant persecution since Nero and the Great Fire of Rome. Rome became “drunk with the blood of saints.” Emperor Domitian (81–96 AD) was the 3rd and last emperor of the Flavian Dynasty. Domitian’s youth and early career were spent in the shadow of his brother Titus of the First Jewish-Roman War. Titus’s reign came to an unexpected end from a fatal illness in 81. Domitian became emperor and reigned for fifteen years. Domitian strengthened the economy by revaluing the Roman coinage, expanding border defences of the empire and beginning a massive building programme to restore the damaged city of Rome. He fought in Britain, and through general Agricola tried to conquer Caledonia (Scotland) and Dacia. Domitian’s government displayed totalitarianism. He saw himself as the new Augustus. Religious, military and cultural propaganda fostered a cult of personality. He named himself everlasting censor to control public and private morals. As a result, Domitian was popular with the people and army but considered a tyrant by members of the Roman Senate. Domitian created a cult personality favouring him alone but was a cruel and immoral towards Rome’s priestly hierarchy. The post-Apostolic Church meanwhile had grown quietly, unhindered by Rome until the rule of Domitian. This period of history of early Christianity was also called anteNicene (meaning, before Nicaea). It spanned from the late 1st Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 323 century to the early 4th century. Its end was marked by the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity during this time was diverse, with many developments that were and still are difficult to trace and follow. Until the fall of Jerusalem, it kept its Jewish roots. With constant punitive actions against Jerusalem and Palestine, Christian communities of the east were forced to reidentify themselves. This resulted in a second-century Gentile Church. To the post-Apostolic Christians Jerusalem was the place where Jesus was not only born but also died and resurrected. It was also the birthplace of much of the New Testament. The Holy Land was conquered by Islam in 638 AD and remained in their control for many centuries, until in 1099 Pope Urban II’s volunteers took it back from the Muslims. Crusaders were promised eternal life if they died fighting non- Christians. While trekking the desert towards Jerusalem over two years the crusaders slaughtered thousands of non-Christian communities of Jews and Muslims. They surrounded Jerusalem for two months until the city fell. They then entered only to kill every inhabitant of the city: men, women and children. For nearly 200 years the Europeans controlled many parts of Israel and the surrounding regions but Muslims slowly regained control over Jerusalem. Nine crusades that followed to keep control of the city in the hands of Europeans were seized in 1291 AD, by Muslims who captured the last European stronghold in the area. Schisms in Doctrines of Faith Although the Crusades were meant for the defence of the Holy Land, the real attempt was to expand of Christian domains under the sponsorship of papacy. It was clear there were campaigns by Teutonic German Knights who were more effective at change-overs in north-east Europe but less effective in the south-east borders against pagan strongholds in Eastern Europe. A few crusades, such as the Fourth Crusade, were waged within Christendom against groups that were considered heretical and schismatic to Churchianity. The Church distinguished ‘schism’ from ‘heresy’. The offence of schism concerned not differences of belief or doctrine but promotion of a division in faith. Because schisms often involved accusations of heresy, in the Roman Catholic teaching, every heresy was considered a schism. Schisms the Church decided, divided the people of same religion: Christianity. The Church regarded ’heresy’ as a rejection of the Christian belief by then established as dogmas in the religion. Gregory Palamas (1296–1359) was likely born in Constantinople in a noble Anatolian family. From his youth, he was attracted to the monastic ideals and successfully persuaded his brothers and sisters, with his widowed mother, to take up monastic life. He and his two brothers went to Mount Athos, where they learned the traditional hesychastic (Eastern Orthodox) way of contemplative prayer. Mount Athos or the Holy Mountain is today found in Macedonia, Greece. 324 In the Beginning

Declared a World Heritage Site, it still is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries. It became a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Byzantine Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos came under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Now an ordained priest in 1326, Palamas took up a hermit’s life at a mountain near Beroea (a town near Jerusalem), but returned to Athos (northern Greece) in 1331. Six years later, he became involved in a philosophical controversy with Barlaam (1290–1348) who was an Aristotelian Italian scholar and monk from Calabria, Italy. Barlaam believed that philosophers had a better knowledge of God than did the prophets. He grouped all the prophets as God’s spokesmen starting with Abraham and ending with John, as forerunner prophets. Meanwhile Palamas disagreed. Palamas quoted the Hebrew definition, where prophet meant ‘proclaimer’. It was stated in Deuteronomy 18:18, what God said about ‘prophet’, “I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them all that I command him.” Barlaam valued education and learning more than contemplative prayer. He insisted on the unknowability of God in the strongest terms through the influence of reductionist interpretation: that ‘some parts affect others parts in a linear one-way fashion’, as stated in writings by Dionysius. Dionysius was a Syrian monk in Alexandria. Although Athens was the birthplace of Christian philosophy, Alexandria became the home of Christian thinking. Pantaenus and Ammonius-Saccus were the chief founders of the Alexandrine School. They both drew their teaching from the Word of God, “the Fountain of Wisdom,” and from the writings of Hierotheus, and Dionysius— both Bishops of Athens. For several centuries while Greeks prepared the Alexandrine School they used the Old Testament and it led them to the discovery of The Christ. Other Greek philosophers heralded the meaning of The Christ and prepared minds of men for fullness of Light and Truth about Jesus which, in Alexandria, had clothed itself in the bright robes of divine philosophy. Barlaam believed that monks on Mount Athos were wasting their time in contemplative prayer when they should instead be studying to gain intellectual knowledge. The “unknowability of God” suddenly became fundamental to all Christian thought. This fact set the stage for Gregory Palamas. However controversial this subject might have been, theology of The Christ was incorporated into the mainstream Orthodox theology. The subject of ‘Unknowability of God’ was first taken on by Maximus the Confessor (580–662 AD) a monk and abbot who wrote on mysticism, especially about how to understand the interaction between human and divine natures within the person of Jesus. Later John of Damascus (675–749 AD) a Syrian Christian monk and priest agreed with the human and divine natures of Jesus. Born and raised in Damascus, John died at his monastery, in Mar Saba near Jerusalem. His fields Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 325 of interest and contribution included law, theology, philosophy, and music, before being ordained. He served as a Chief Administrator to the Muslim caliph of Damascus, wrote works expounding the Christian faith, and composed hymns which are still in everyday use in Eastern Christian monasteries throughout the world. Gregory Palamas however preferred contemplation of the hesychastic life of Athonite monks as a means for knowing God. His fellow monks on Mount Athos asked Palamas to defend them from the charges of Barlaam. When Gregory criticized Barlaam’s rationalism, he replied with a vicious attack and Gregory’s rebuttal was recorded in the “Triads in Defence of the Holy Hesychasts” (1338 AD), a brilliant teaching which was affirmed by his fellow Hagiorites, who met in a council during 1340–1341, which supported Gregory’s theology. Hagiorites were monastics from Mount Athos who were persecuted for their philosophy on the essence and transcendence of God. Gregory asserted the prophets in fact had greater knowledge of God, because they had seen or heard God themselves. Addressing the question of how it was possible for humans to have knowledge of a transcendent and unknowable God, he drew a distinction between knowing God in His essence (transcendence) and knowing God in his energies (immanence). Gregory Palamas upheld the Orthodox doctrine. To him it was impossible to know God in his essence (God in Himself), and possible to know God in his energies (to know what God does and who He is towards the creation and to man), because God revealed Himself to humanity. Gregory further asserted that when the Apostles Peter, James and John witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor, they were seeing the Light of God. He said it was possible for others to see that same Light with the help of spiritual discipline and contemplative prayer, although not in any automatic or mechanistic fashion. He continually stressed the biblical vision of the human person as a united whole, of both body and soul. He argued the physical side of hesychastic prayer was an integral part of the contemplative monastic way, and the claim by some of the monks of seeing the uncreated light was indeed legitimate. Like Simeon, he also laid great stress in his spiritual teaching on the vision of the divine light, The Christ, through meditation. Up to this day, the Roman Catholic Church has never fully accepted Hesychaism, a Greek word to mean mystical prayer or meditation, and especially the distinction between the energies or operations of God and the essence of God, and the notion that those energies or operations are uncreated. In Roman Catholic theology (1100–1500), the essence as immanence and transcendence of God could be known only in the next life. The grace of God was created as the essence of God – it was a pure act, so there could be no distinction between the energies or operations and the transcendence of God. Many present day 326 In the Beginning churchians continue to believe that meditation, the only way to discover both the transcendence and immanence of God, is a sin against God. The Assassins Assassins, also known as Assassin Order, Assassin Brotherhood and Hashshashin, were an organized order of assassins who fought a continuous secret war, at first against the Templars, and then for over 2000 years against all ‘infidels’. Hashshashin were an offshoot of the Ismaili sect of Shia Muslims The hashshash or “hashish smoker” was originally an order founded in Persia and Syria during the 11th century by Hassan ben Sabbah, a militant group of the Nizari branch of Ismaili Muslims. They received this name from the belief that hashish created celestial visions. They later became associated with the assassination of political leaders, particularly those of the invading Christian crusaders. After a quarrel about the succession of leadership in the ruling Fatimid dynasty in Cairo around the year 1090, the losing Nizâriyya faction were driven from Egypt. They established many fortified settlements in present-day Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon under the charismatic leader Hassan Sabbah. They were persecuted as infidels by the dominant Sunnis. The origin of the word “assassin” came from Hashshashin. Assassins, have existed since at least 456 BC, throughout the Roman era, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and as a Brotherhood during the 20th and 21st century. The creed: “Laa shay’a waqi’a mutlaq bla kul’un mumkin”, translated from Arabic to “Nothing is true, everything is permitted.” A strong set of values governed the Assassins’ way of life. They lived by three principles: “Stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent”; “Hide in plain sight, be one with the crowd”; “Never compromise the Brotherhood”. These tenets permeated their lives for ‘peace in all things’ through political and strategic assassination, in the hope that killing one individual would lead to the salvation of thousands. They believed that they fought for those who did not have the abilities, resources, or knowledge to speak out against those who abused their power. Therefore Assassins were the most feared lot because of their terrifying reputation for taking life in public places, before multiple witnesses: to frighten those who might abuse their power or corrupt the innocent. Of importance was the rule to vanish into the crowd without a trace. As a tool for this decree, they used a hidden blade, which could end the life of its victim with a single thrust. However, to find out which death might best help the Assassins’ goals, extensive political knowledge was necessary. So, they tried to remain in tune with the ever-changing politics surrounding them. Getting information was the job of low-level members of the Order, who would be stationed throughout the cities of the world. These spies would watch the local nobles and rulers, looking for signs of corruption, or for membership in secret societies like the Templars. Information was passed on to an appointed Assassin responsible for the execution. Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 327

Committed Assassins spent their entire lives training to kill. From an early age, they were taught to watch their surroundings and plan. Combat skills were acquired through training which focused on bladed weapons of all sorts. The most important consideration in the Assassins’ training was concealment. Stealth and everything about their life stressed a devotion to their cause which was their greatest weapon. It was essential for an Assassin to be able to reach the target unnoticed, and then slip back into the crowd after striking. Their manoeuvrability became their great asset which they got through rigorous training. When an Assassin reached the rank of a Master, he would be master of an early form of parkour, extensively used by the Assassins. In recent times it was used by the Wahabi through al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Parkour was taught as an ‘art of movement’, in which one’s body and mind were trained to overcome obstacles efficiently. The goal of moving from one point to another as quickly and gracefully as possible needed extensive training. The participants practiced in both urban and camp environment. They were taught to vault over railings and drop down streets, dive through gaps between fence posts, jump to reach the top of a wall and pull others over, while continuing to navigate through, around, over, or under whatever obstacles that were in their way. Widely seen as alien by the general populace, this method of movement allowed the Assassins to reach areas not normally accessible to ordinary people. From scaling a wall, to climbing one of city’s highest lookout points, ‘Free Running’ which Sebastian Foucan defined as a discipline to self development, was to use parkour for creativity and self-expression. It gave the Assassins a significant advantage over nearly all their enemies and city guards. It could be used to get anywhere in the city at any time. In the Middle Ages, Al Mualim an advanced teacher and Grand master of the Syrian Assassin Order and his Assassins were seen in action in the fortress of Masyaf on Mountain city in modern-day Syria, notable for its massive castle. During the Third Crusade in 1191, the Syrian branch of Assassin Order was centred in the fortress of Masyaf, deep within the kingdom of the Holy Land. Led by Al Mualim, the Assassins battled with the Templars and their leader, Robert de Sable, over ideologies. Robert de Sable was the Grand Master of the Templar Order during 1190–91. It was during the Third Crusade the Assassins learned of the Templar interest in ancient artefacts, and Scrolls hidden within catacombs beneath the Temple of Solomon. The Assassins decided to bring back the treasure before the Templars could reach them. His mission was a success. With the arrival of the Templar army at the gates of Masyaf, the Assassins were nearly overwhelmed. However, the Assassins crushed most of the Templar army under a concealed onslaught of rolling logs. Al Mualim and his combatants were able to drive the Templars from the fortress and the village below. Al Mualim lost a few members of his army. For the loss of life that day, 328 In the Beginning

Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad who later became a master assassin was severely reprimanded. He was therefore tasked with removing nine influential individuals, who had plagued the Holy Land with their ‘corrupt rule’. Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad was disturbed by the fact the goal of the assassins and the Knights was to bring peace to the people of the Holy Land. He anguished over the victims of assassinations as “misguided perhaps, but pure in motive”. This was a view shared by Al Mualim, who agreed their approach of “the end justifies the means” underlined the good they sought to ensure. By the end of the year, the Assassins were victorious over their Templar enemies. Robert de Sable, Grand Master of the Templar Order, was now dead through treachery by one of his own. With Al Mualim dead, Altaïr took over as Grand Master of the assassin Order. He led the Assassins in their tries to rebuild their strength after their recent costly conflict. Technology from First Civilization in Solomon Vaults The existence of Pieces of Eden in Solomon catacombs was known to both the Assassins and the Templars. These were allegedly real artefacts of technological and advanced equipment created 400 million years ago by the First Civilization. During a past Cycle of Blindness they were used to enslave humanity. Masyaf – a city in Syria which served as a base for Assassin operations was where the artefacts were first kept but later moved to the Turkish side of the island of Cyprus. The First Civilization was an advanced and powerful race, who seemed to possess precognitive abilities: both natural and technological. This was proved during Minerva’s (2nd century BC Greek goddess Athens) conversation with Ezio Auditore, within The Vault in Rome. Minerva revealed that Ezio was simply a conduit which allowed Minerva to speak to the travelling hermit Desmond Miles (1987), who was viewing his ancestral memories. Meanwhile, the assassin Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad mentioned in the Codex that his Pieces of Eden collected from the Solomon’s Vault not only had a catalogue of past events, but also of future events. That implied the Pieces contained predictions made by Those Who Came Before. However, following the liberation of the island from its Templar rulers, the ‘Pieces of Eden’ was kept by Altaïr. He studied and completed his decipher of the fabled Codex. It was different from Codex Sinaiticus, a handwritten Christian Bible manuscript that was written 1600 years ago. The Codex transcribed in a thirty pages a personal journal by Altair Ibn-La’Ahad. About the ‘Piece of Eden’ he described multipurpose weapons which said: “In this modern age, we are not as literal as our ancestors; but our seal is no less permanent…” He defined the Code of Conduct of The Assassins which continued to thrive, despite being forced to adopt an even more secretive and isolated existence. During Renaissance, the Assassin Order clearly went underground. Even though the Templar Order was served a crushing defeat in the Holy Land and later in Cyprus, the Assassins Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 329 survived in more inconspicuous ways because Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad believed the Assassins had to change tactics to continue. Having abandoned the fortress of Masyaf, the Assassins spread out across the Mediterranean, taking up residence in places like northern Italy and Spain. Meanwhile, the Templars also set up headquarters in Rome. By 1321, the Assassin Order had successfully integrated itself into the life of times in northern Italy. This was widely unknown to the average folk. That same year, a young sailor called Domenico, the son of an Assassin, who apprenticed with to the poet and Assassin Dante Alighieri, were tasked with transporting the Codex from Venice to Spain. A nameless Mentor of Assassins said, “In preparation for our voyage, Messer Alighieri met with me repeatedly. At first, our meetings were about buying supplies, but soon they became about higher things: about life, love, honour and justice. He taught me that society was set up in ways to control its members, to stop us from thinking, or from seeing. Soon, I could look past all laws and illusions. I understood that humanity was being used by its rulers, but we, the people, deserved freedom. It was then that Dante began showing me pages from a book that Messer Marco Polo had brought back from the palace of the great Genghis Khan. The manuscript, the Codex, was about our order, the Assassins” (Irvine Tomoe). On the death of Dante Alighieri, however, the undertaking of transporting Codex fell to Domenico. During the voyage, pirates under the employ of Templars ambushed the ship looking for the Codex. They also killed Domenico’s wife. Fortunately Domenico managed to break apart the Codex and hide its pages from the pirates before he and his son were forced overboard. Eventually returning to Venice, Domenico found his father and patron, Marco Polo (1254–1324) a merchant from Venice who introduced Europeans to Central Asia and China. He was an ally of the Assassins, and was found dead. Thus, Domenico emptied the bank accounts of Marco Polo and travelled to the city of Florence under the assumed name of Auditore. He eventually built the Auditore Villa a stronghold in Monteriggioni, which became the centre of the Assassin Order in Italy. Despite modernizing since the 12th century, the Assassins still kept many of its rituals and practices. The practice of removing one’s ring finger had stopped. The seal of the Order was branded on the finger instead. That is how Ezio Auditore was inducted in 1487. Ezio was a Florentine noble born in 1459, during the Italian Renaissance. He was a central member of the Assassins’ Order. A descendant of Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad and ancestor of Desmond Miles, Ezio was unaware of his Assassin heritage till the age of age 16, when his father and two brothers, Federico and Petruccio, were murdered. Ezio fled and took refuge at the Villa Auditore. After learning of his heritage from his uncle, Mario Auditore, Ezio began his Assassin training for vengeance against the Grand Master of the Templar Order, Rodrigo Borgia, who had ordered 330 In the Beginning the executions of his father Domenico and two brothers. During his search, Ezio managed to unite the pages of Altair’s Codex with those of Domenico Auditore. Ezio Auditore da Firenze (1459) by now a Florentine noble during the Italian Renaissance discovered also he was descendant of Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad and ancestor to both Desmond Miles and ‘Subject 16’. Ezio fled Florence and took refuge at the Villa Auditore in the Tuscan town of Monteriggioni. His castle served as stronghold during two battles. He also saved the cities of Florence, Venice and Rome from the Templars’ wrath. He ensured the future safe travels of Christopher Columbus to the ‘New World’. In freeing Rome from Borgian control, Ezio helped spread the Renaissance and Assassin ideals of independence and free thought throughout Italy. Although significantly fewer, the Assassins were supported by the courtesans, thieves and condottieri who were mercenary soldiers and warlords of Florence and Venice; the guilds of which were each run by a member of the Order. Around this time, the Assassins entered another period of increased hostilities with the Templars, who were trying to overthrow the ruling House of Medici in Florence and were members of Florentine family who had great wealth. They became bankers and rose to become a centre of power and influence within a few generations. The Doge of Venice was the military leader of Venice for more than 1000 years. Having already killed the Duke of Milan the rest of Lombardy were incorporated into the Kingdom of Sardinia after the Second Italian War of Independence in 1476, Rodrigo Borgia (son of Ezio), the Grand Master of the Templar Order, brought together several noble families that belonged to the Assassin creed. Entering into conflict with the Assassins, Borgia dealt a crippling blow to the Order in 1476, when he executed the experienced warrior Auditore and his two sons, Federico and Petruccio. The third son, Ezio, managed to escape. With the aid of Ezio, the Assassins were able to counter Borgia’s plot over a 23- year campaign, defeating him at every turn. In 1487, the Order of Assassins learned the Templars had brought back an important artefact from the island of Cyprus. Ezio managed to overpower and replace the Templar guard carrying the artefact. A disguised Ezio met with Borgia himself, and the two engaged in battle. Borgia fled and the artefact fell once again into the hands of Assassins. Unaware about the artefact, they recognized it as one of the Pieces of Eden mentioned within Altair’s Codex. Two more years passed before word of the Templar vessel reached Ezio once again on his twenty-ninth birthday. Someone brought him a shipping manifest detailing the return of a ship that day. Sneaking into the Arsenal, Ezio watched as a Templar soldier carrying a Piece of Eden disembarked from the ship and made his way to a Templar base in the city. Following the soldier, Ezio impersonating as a guard assassinated the soldier carrying the Piece of Eden to a meeting site with Rodrigo Borgia. Finally able to confront the man ultimately responsible for Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 331 the deaths of his father and brothers, Ezio defeated the Templar Grand Master Rodrigo Borgia, in battle. Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) revealed to Ezio that for the precedent decade many had worked together to induct Ezio into the Assassins Order and therefore Ezio was formally inducted into the Order. Later, Ezio met with Mario and Niccolò and travelled to Leonardo da Vinci’s studio, hoping he could shed some light on the strange artefact Rodrigo Borgia had dubbed ‘the ’. Leonardo examined the unique device, commenting the metal it was made of should not exist, and that its design was highly advanced despite its age. While briefly touching the Apple, Ezio accidentally activated the device, which started to glow and show strange holographic images. While de-activating the device, Niccolò announced that he had arranged for the Piece of Eden to be held in the Rocca di Ravaldino, (1360–1371) castle which served as stronghold for Caterina during the two battles. Here it remained protected by an ally of the Assassins, Caterina Sforza. Lorenzo de’ Medici (1449–1492) was the father of Italian Renaissance and patron of arts and letters. After Lorenzo de’ Medici’s death, Savonarola 1452– 1498) the Italian Dominican friar and a forerunner of Reformation was executed. Machiavelli was now able to easily take control over Florence with the Apple of Eden at his command. He taught the population of Florence that personal property and knowledge made the difference between the rich and the poor. Therefore, he burned everything related to the Renaissance in the Bonfire of Vanities. It referred to the burning of objects that were deemed to be occasions of sin. On 7 February 1497, supporters of the Dominican priest Girolamo Savonarola publicly burned thousands of objects during outdoor sermons including those of San Bernardino di Siena in the first half of that century. Ezio and Niccolò Machiavelli wanted to put a stop to Savonarola’s rule. Ezio began by eliminating the monk’s brainwashed followers. Savonarola tried to use the Apple to quell the riot, but before he could, Ezio threw a knife at him, knocking the Apple out of his hand. The Apple was picked up by a guard in service to Borgia, but Ezio followed and killed him and recovered the Apple. Savonarola was executed by burning at the stake on the Piazza della Signoria. Ezio felt, that no one should have to die in such agony. Before Savonarola could be burned, the Assassin leapt on to the execution platform and put Savonarola out of his misery. He then looked at the stunned mob and gave a speech, urging them to follow their own path and rely on their own thoughts, not what they were told by those in power. He then left with Mario, Niccolò, Paola and La Volpe, to uncover the answers hidden within the Apple. The following year saw the Assassins coming together once more at the Villa Auditore, with the Piece of Eden and the completed Codex in hand. Using the two objects, they discovered the location of the Vault to be in Rome, specifically beneath the Vatican. Unfortunately, Rodrigo Borgia had become Pope in 1492, 332 In the Beginning although Mario believed that he had only done so to gain access to the Papal Staff, another of the Pieces of Eden. Rodrigo Borgia (1431–1503) was Spanish Cardinal and leader of Templar Order became Pope Alexander VI. He was born into the Spanish branch of Borgia family. He amassed great wealth and lived scandalously, parenting four illegitimate children (before his election as pope). He played an important role in his complicated dynastic plans. He fought against the Ottoman Turks and forced the French to abandon their effort to seize Naples. The murder of his son Juan (1497) prompted Alexander’s short-lived attempt to restrain the corruption of papal court. His political ambitions were revived with the marriage of his son Cesare, whose military campaigns brought northern Italy under Borgia’s control. A patron of the arts, he decorated Vatican palaces and commissioned Michelangelo to draw up plans for rebuilding St Peter’s Basilica. Fighting his way along the entire Passetto di Borgo, a raised 800 metre passage that links Vatican City with Castel Sant’ Angelo, Ezio sneaked into the Sistine Chapel and struck at Rodrigo from above. The two engaged in a duel. The Pope overcame him. Rodrigo then stabbed Ezio in the abdomen, leaving him to die before fleeing into the Vault. However, Ezio soon regained consciousness and following his nemesis to the outside of the Vault He watched as Rodrigo tried in vain to open it. Laying down his arms, he challenged and defeated Rodrigo in a final brawl. Entering the Vault, Ezio stood in shock as he was confronted by a hologram of an individual naming herself “Minerva” the Roman goddess whom Hellenizing Romans equated with the Greek goddess Athena and claiming to be one of ‘Those Who Came Before’. The expression ‘Those Who Came Before’ stands for the advanced species of ancestors on the earth who created Pieces of Eden (advanced technological equipment). Ezio was further confounded when the hologram sought to speak to an unseen figure named Desmond Miles, before disappearing abruptly, leaving Ezio with many unanswered questions. Desmond Miles (born 1987) has been a travelling hermit, a descendant of a long line of ancestors who swore allegiance to the Assassin Order. He broke off from the Order but was later held in captivity. By 1500, after Cesare Borgia besieged the City of Monteriggioni, a commune Sienna of Tuscany, murdered Mario Auditore and once again claimed the Apple for the Templars. Mario Auditore (1434–1500) was an Italian mercenary leader, ruler of Monteriggioni and Grand Master Assassin. In December 1499, Mario, Ezio and an Assassin they had previously met in the Villa Auditore to find the Prophecy in the Codex. The Codex pages showed a map of locations of each of the ‘Vaults’ in the world. Ezio assumed the nearest vault was in the Vatican and that Rodrigo Borgia had became Pope so he could have access to the Vault and the Staff of Eden–the papal staff. Ezio left for Rome to assassinate Rodrigo and enter the Vault, while Mario and his fellow Assassins caused trouble around the city to distract the papal army. Ezio spared Rodrigo, recovered the Staff of Eden, Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 333 discovered and entered the Vault, and communicated with Minerva (Roman goddess of arts and wisdom), one of ‘Those Who Came Before’. Ezio Auditore had moved to Rome, meeting up with Niccolò Machiavelli and laying the foundations of a new brotherhood of Assassins. Using the mercenaries, thieves and courtesans, Ezio’s brotherhood worked to combat the influence and power of the Borgia family and by extension, the papacy itself. From Tiber Island in the centre of Rome, the Assassins began to spread their influence throughout the city, recruiting those who had been saved by Ezio Auditore. Many undertook various missions across Europe, aiding their brothers in cities of London, Lisbon, Moscow and Calicut (in Kerala). Over three years, Ezio’s brotherhood whittled away the Borgia family’s power. With the murder of Rodrigo Borgia at the hands of his son and the arrest of Cesare by the papal guard of Julius II, the Templars’ influence over the city of Rome was shattered. The Assassins now had a new creed: “In the old days, that usually meant killing anyone who became too powerful or greedy. These days, it means subversion of fixed regimes. We change the system from within.” ...The Mentor. Once again, the Order had many allies among the common folk of Italy, as well as the nobility. First among them was Leonardo da Vinci, Ezio’s closest friend and a genius of invention. By 1500, Ezio Auditore and Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) an Italian philosopher and humanist based in Florence had begun training new initiates in the Order from their base in Rome. This time Claudia Auditore, sister of Ezio, also joined the Order. At the turn of the 20th century, the Assassins Order had spread as far the Russian Empire, with a strong presence in and around Petrograd. Members of the Narodnaya-Volya (People’s Will) were a revolutionary organization in the 1889s. They were in fact members of the Assassin Order. Some well-known Assassins include Nikolai Orelov (1809-1852) who was a Ukrainian-born Russian Assassin: and considered one of the fathers of modern Russian literary Realism and Aleksandr Ulyanov (1866) a Russian revolutionary and terrorist convicted of trying to murder Alexander III. He was an older brother of Vladimir Lenin. Vladimir Lenin was a Marxist founder of the Bolshevism force behind the of 1917 and the first great dictator of the Soviet Union. After his brother was executed in 1887 for plotting to kill the Czar, Lenin gave up studying law and became a full-time revolutionary. He studied Karl Marx and formed workers’ groups, but was arrested and exiled to Siberia in 1895. In 1903, he led the Bolsheviks in the split of the Russian Social Democratic Workers’ Party and led the Bolsheviks to control the government. Lenin had complete political control over (USSR) until his death, and is remembered as the man who put Marx’s ideas to practical use. He was succeeded by Stalin. Over the centuries, the Order of Assassins killed hundreds, if not thousands of individuals who they saw to be corrupt in their ways. Their intense rivalry with the Templars ensured 334 In the Beginning that many underlings who served their Templar masters often shared the same fate. The Yoga of Harmfulness took its birth with the Crusades, Assassins and a common desire by a negative humanity to come back in every life to continue new horrific situations left undone during past eras. Mankind should take responsibility for all friction that came out of harm and created hostile karmas. It only came back at every beginning as an unrestrained harmfulness dangerous to humanity. Muslim Conquests of Europe Muslims love talking about the Crusades... and Christians love apologizing for them. By the rules that Muslims claim for themselves, the Crusades were justified. The excesses pale in comparison with the historical treatment of conquered populations at the hands of Muslims. Europe was harassed by Muslims since the first few years following Muhammad’s death. As early as 652, Muhammad’s followers launched raids on the island of Sicily, waging a full-scale hostile activity of 200 years. It later lasted another 200 years when it was punctuated by massacres, such as that at the town of Castrogiovanni in which 8000 Christians were put to death. The Castrogiovanni Arab massacre was the first of many attacks from Islamic ships on Sicily (then part of the Eastern Roman Empire) that occurred in 652. These were Arabs from Syria led by Mu’awiyah ibn-Hodeig of the Kinda tribe, who remained on the island for many years. Olympius (649-652) the Byzantine imperial at Constantinople came to Sicily to oust the invaders, but failed to do so. Instead, the Arabs returned to Syria with a sufficiently large amount of booty. A second Arabic expedition to Sicily occurred in 669. This time, a strong, ravaging force consisting of 200 ships from Alexandria attacked the island. They sacked Syracuse and returned to Egypt after a month of pillaging. After the Umayyad conquest of Africa (complete around 700), attacks from Muslim fleets repeated in 703, 728, 729, 730, 731, 733 and 734. The last two Arab assaults were met with substantial Byzantine resistance. The Muslim conquest of Sicily and parts of southern Italy lasted 75 years. The conquest was spurred by Euphemius, the Byzantine commander who feared punishment by Emperor Michael “the Stammerer”, for a sexual indiscretion. After a short-lived conquest of Syracuse, he was proclaimed emperor but was compelled by loyal forces to flee to Africa to the court of Ziyadat Allah. Ziyadat agreed to conquer Sicily, with the promise to leave it to Euphemius in exchange for a yearly tribute. Ziyadat entrusted its conquest to the 70-year old qadi, a ruling judge in accordance with Islamic sharia law, appointed by the ruler of a Muslim Country. Asad ibn al-Furat of Harran in Mesopotamia was the jurist and theologian who began the Muslim conquest of Sicily. The Muslim force counted 10,000 infantry, 700 cavalry and 100 ships reinforced by Euphemius’s ships. After Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 335 landing at Mazara del Vallo, a town in south-western Sicily, they fought the first battle against Byzantine troops in 827. The Aghlabids dynasty of emirs, members of the Arab tribe of Bani Tamim, ruled nominally for the Abbasid Caliph (for about a century), until they were overthrown by the new power of the Fatimids. Giustiniano Participazio was the Doge of Venice briefly from 825 to his death. His four years on the ducal throne were eventful. During his reign the Muslims retreated to the castle Catania, 22 km from Caltagirone. When a plague killed much of the Muslim troops as well as Asad himself, they failed to conquer Castrogiovanni (the modern Enna, where Euphemius died) and retreated to Mazara. In 830, they received a strong reinforcement of 30,000 African and Spanish troops. The Spanish Muslims defeated the Byzantine commander Theodotus in the middle of that year, but a plague once again forced them to return to Mazara and then to Africa. The African Berber units sent to besiege Palermo managed to capture it after a year-long siege in September 831. Palermo renamed al- Madinah and became the Muslim capital of Sicily. In 1084, ten years before the First Crusade, Muslims staged another devastating Sicilian raid, burning churches in Reggio, enslaving monks and raping an abbey of nuns before carrying them into captivity. The city of Reggio was founded by Romans in the 2nd century BC by the Este family in north-central Italy. In theory, the Crusades were provoked by the harassment of Christian pilgrims from Europe to the Holy Land, in which many were kidnapped, molested, forcibly converted to Islam or even killed. It was alleged when their last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay (1240–1314) the 23rd and last Grand Master of Knights of Templar came to Paris he brought with him 150,000 gold florins and ten horse loads of silver. But this was a small part of their great wealth from the vaults of Solomon’s Temple. They had castles and strongholds and estates in all parts of Europe, and had a strict military organization connecting them. They were the international bankers of the then known world. They were trusted with money and with its transmission to all parts of Europe and the East. Because of their declared great wealth, great protective power over the citizens where they lived and their self-righteous life, they remained untouched. While they never exercised governmental power like the knights in Prussia and in Rhodes, still they were far more powerful: they were an ecclesiastical power that covered the entire civilized world. They never were as high as just before they fell. With the dawn of the 21st century, the tactics and practices of both the Orders have changed. While the Order of Assassins have kept to their policy of remote camps and isolation, the Templars began infiltrating society further. Indeed, by the year 2000 itself, the ‘hidden blade’ became a largely ceremonial weapon. Meanwhile, however, the Templars continued to search for and investigate the Pieces of Eden they had discovered. The Assassins continued their 336 In the Beginning war against them. They were responsible for the destruction of at least one Templar-controlled base in Siberia in 1908, known in public as the Tunguska explosion of 1908. It was caused by something that fell from the sky in a fireball and flattened some 500,000 acres of Siberian forest. However, by the year 1985, the Templars, under the guise of their front company of industries, had allegedly started kidnapping Assassins or those related to them in an attempt to find even more Pieces of Eden. Jesus’ Ministry and Ancestry Scholars have concluded that Jesus was born sometime between 7–2 BC and died sometime in 34–36 AD. Jesus’ ministry began when Jesus was about 25 or 30 years old, following that of John the Baptist, whose ministry was said to have begun in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, during 42 BC–37 AD. According to the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus’ ministry lasted roughly one or two years, whereas the Gospel of John implied that his ministry might have lasted around three years. Of the four gospels, only Matthew and Luke gave accounts of Jesus’ genealogy. Luke’s genealogy was traced through Mary while that of Matthew through Joseph. Matthew underscored the birth of a messianic child of royal lineage. Matthew recognized the Hebrew Judah as Joseph’s ancestor. All accounts therefore traced Jesus’ line through his human father Joseph to the Hebrew House of Judah and to the Sumerian Shepherd King David. Joseph was the husband of Mary and father of Jesus. His relatives included ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’. Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist, was a cousin of Mary, which made John a distant cousin of Jesus. An order of Caesar Augustus (63–19BC) forced Mary and Joseph to leave their homes in Nazareth. They went to the home of Joseph’s ancestors, of the Houses of Judah and of David. After Jesus’ birth, the couple was forced to use a manger in place of a crib because of a shortage of accommodation. An angel announced Jesus’ birth to shepherds who left their flocks to see the new-born child. Three “Wise Men” or “Magi” brought gifts to the young Jesus after following a star which they believed was a sign the “King” of the Jews was born. King Herod heard of Jesus’ birth from the Wise Men and tried to kill Jesus by massacring all the male children in Bethlehem who were under the age of two. The family of Jesus fled to Egypt and remained there until Herod’s death. From 37 to 4 BC they remained in Egypt but returned to settle in Nazareth. To avoid living under the authority of Herod’s son and successor Archelaus (4 BC–6 AD) Jesus’ childhood home was identified as the town of Nazareth in Galilee. Events in Jesus’ life were experienced in India where he spent twelve years under the tutelage of Hindu and Buddhist masters. According to Luke, Jesus was about thirty years old when he was baptized. In writings of John, Jesus spoke in long conversations, with himself as the theme of his teaching. Jesus called some Jewish men to be his Twelve Apostles. At least four were described as Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 337 fishermen and another as a tax collector. Three of them were presented as being chosen to go with Jesus on certain special occasions. Jesus spoke about the demands of discipleship, telling a rich man to sell his possessions and give the money to the poor. In Mark, the disciples were strangely obtuse, failing to understand Jesus’ deeds and parables. In Matthew, Jesus directed the apostles’ mission only to those of the House (tribes) of Jacob Israel, while Luke placed a special emphasis on the women who followed Jesus: Mary his mother, Mary Magdalene and other women disciples. Perhaps many were reincarnating souls from the Hebrew House of Judah. At the height of his ministry, Jesus was said to have attracted huge crowds numbering in thousands, mainly in the areas of Galilee and Perea (in modern- day Israel and Jordan, respectively). Some of Jesus’ most famous teachings came from the Sermon on the Mount, which contained the Beatitudes and the Lord’s Prayer. It was one of five collections of teachings in Matthew. His moral teachings in Matthew and Luke encouraged unconditional self-sacrificing Godlike love for God and for all people. During his sermons, he preached about service and humility, the forgiveness of sin, faith, turning the other cheek, love for one’s enemies as well as friends, and the need to follow the spirit of the law as well as its letter. In the Synoptic, Jesus relayed an apocalyptic vision of the end of days. He gave a prophesy for the end of the current world (Piscean Age). He called on his followers to be ever alert and faithful. Matthew described false messiahs, disasters, troubles and signs in the heavens that would foreshadow Jesus’ return, which was also described as an unexpected happening. In synoptic gospels, Jesus led three select disciples: Peter, John and James to the top of a mountain. There Jesus was transfigured before them, his face shining like the sun and his clothes brilliant white. Elijah meaning Yahweh the Sanat Kumar and Moses appeared close to him. It was Moses (1300–1150 BC) under the discipleship of Sanat Kumar who started the extended Hebrew and Jewish families that began with Abraham and David. A bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice of Sanat Kumar from the sky said, “This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.” The transfiguration was a turning point in Jesus’ ministry. Just before and after this, Jesus warned that he was to suffer, die and rise again. Birth of a New Religion Jesus the Jewish Galilean preacher and healer were at variance with the Jewish religious authorities. He was crucified outside Jerusalem during the rule of the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate a Roman prefect who sat at Jesus’ trial and ordered his execution. After his death many followers spread Jesus’ teachings, and within a few decades Christianity emerged as a religion distinct from Judaism. Early in the history of Roman Republic, ‘foreign gods’ were imported, 338 In the Beginning especially from Greece. They had a great cultural influence on Romans who connected some of their indigenous deities with Greek gods and goddesses. As the Roman Empire expanded it included people from various cultures and many more gods were incorporated. The legions brought home religions originating from Egypt, Britain, Iberia, Germany, India and Persia. The beliefs of Cybele, or Mountain Mother of nature and fertility came from Asia and later from Greece . Isis the goddess of Ancient Egypt was adopted and inculcated into Greek and Roman society. The Mithras came from the Persian god of Light, the Sun became the guardian against evil and was important. Another important aspect of religion in Roman times was the divinity of the emperor. More than just being heads of the Roman religion the Emperors supported the popular cult religions. Judaism of the Roman era encompassed four distinct sects: the Sadducees were aristocratic Jews who cooperated with the Roman government. The Pharisees were strict adherents to the Jewish law. The Essenes to which Jesus and John belonged were messianic group that lived a communal lifestyle and wrote the “Dead Sea Scrolls”. The Zealots were militaristic group which was openly hostile to the Roman state and led the revolt of 66 AD. This was the first Jewish-Roman War and resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem followed by the massacre at Masada in 73 AD. Jesus of Nazareth was born in Bethlehem (3 BC). His infant years and of his cousin John were spent in Egypt where their mothers were educated by the Essene Elders. By the age of twelve years, Jesus left home to travel and learn a Vedantic and Buddhistic Knowledge all over India, Tibet and Nepal. On his return to Jerusalem he fulfilled the Old Testament’s messianic prophecy: ‘All humans are created equal. One should serve his fellowmen. Only God should avenge wrongs. Humans should respect earthly law. Violence is wrong’. Jesus was martyred because he angered the Pharisees by his teachings. Charges of heresy were brought against Jesus by the Pharisees during Passover Week and the Roman Pontius Pilate was pressured by the Pharisees to execute Jesus after the Jewish court (Sanhedrin) refused to try him. Jesus was crucified by the Romans (30 AD). He was labelled the “Christos” (Anointed One) after his followers claimed he had resurrected. The immediate followers of Jesus called Apostles were also martyred for their belief. These included: Andrew, who was crucified on an X-shaped cross in Greece. Bartholomew was skinned alive. Simon Peter was crucified upside-down in Rome. James the Just’s throat was cut by Herod Agrippa. John was beheaded at Ephesus. Mathew was crucified in Greece. Thomas was martyred in India. James the Lesser (Brother of Jesus) was stoned to death and Judas Iscariot committed suicide. Paul, a converted Jew, was the man most responsible for spreading the Christian faith throughout the Roman Empire. Almost a third of the books of New Testament are credited to Paul. Born Saul of Tarsus, he changed while on the road to Damascus. His special mission Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 339 became the change of the non-Jew (Gentiles) to Christianity. Religious ceremonies were adapted from old druidic faiths and were slowly accepted as Sacraments of the Church. They included: Baptism to symbolize the washing away of sin and rebirth. It was popularized early by John the Baptist. The Holy Eucharist was to symbolize the last communion with Jesus and his followers. This practice became controversial because of “transubstantiation”. Transubstantiation was the symbolic change of substance of bread/wine to body and blood of Jesus Christ. Confirmation became a ritual celebrating a child’s adulthood. Penance was practiced by confession of sin. Ordination meant the passing on of power as a sacrament to show the authority of church leadership. Matrimony was considered a religious rite but celibacy of priests came much later. Extreme Unction was the last rite given before death. Together these practices became Sacraments offered by the Catholic Church to their believers. Early Christianity was influenced by other religions. Because of Judaism, the idea of messiah and the Old Testament were integral to early Christian thought. Mithraism, a Persian religion associated with Zoroastrianism which had become the unofficial cult of Roman army was open only to men, but Mithraism had an impact on early Christian practices including Celebration of December 25 as Jesus’ birthday. Celebration of Sunday as the Sabbath and baptism of the blood were also part of Mithraism. Stoicism was included as acceptance of fate regardless of circumstances and was obvious during Christian persecutions. Neo- Platonism was included as a revival of Plato’s idea of reality of ideas and his concentration on the “last days” affected Christianity as well by later thinkers. Jesus’ audience rarely understood what he preached, because they did not understand his spiritual meaning. He also rebuked them for getting drunk on his energy. He taught them to stand on their own two feet so they could walk the healing path home to the Kingdom of God. As Jesus said (Mathew 15:14) about the orthodox leaders they were blind guides that led blind men into the pit. Apostolic Church was the community led by the Apostles some of whom were Jesus’ relatives. The resurrected Jesus commanded the apostles to spread his teachings all over the world. The source of information on the faith came from the Acts of Apostles. The religion that was spread among Gentiles (non-Jewish) was by Paul and others. The first Christians were ethnically Jewish and Jesus called from them his first disciples. Greeks found circumcision repulsive. At the conversion of Cornelius, Peter agreed to omit certain issues peculiar to Judaism at the Apostolic Council of Jerusalem. Similar doctrines of the Apostles brought the Early Church into conflict with Jewish religious authorities. They were, therefore, expelled from the synagogue and Christianity picked up a new identity distinct from Rabbinic Judaism. Such distinction was not recognized by the Roman Empire. The Greeks called the group ‘disciples of Antioch’ or Christians. 340 In the Beginning

The apostolic community believed in the Gospels which gave accounts of the Passion (theological term used for Jesus’ suffering: physical, spiritual, and mental), the empty tomb and Resurrection appearances. These creeds date back to 30 AD or 40 AD, originating within the Jerusalem Church. The creed preserved in Corinthians (15: 3,4) and quoted by Paul expressed his belief in the risen Jesus, “for I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.” The antiquity of this creed was located to less than a decade after Jesus’ death and originated from Jerusalem’s apostolic community. Early Christianity kept some of the doctrines and practices of first-century Judaism while rejecting others. They held the Jewish scriptures (Old Testament, or Tanakh) to be authoritative and sacred and added Christian texts as the New Testament developed. Christianity also continued other Judaic practices of baptism, like liturgical worship, use of incense, an altar, and a set of scriptural readings, used of sacred hymns and prayer and observed a religious calendar. Sabbath was changed. Observances though adjusted early on included the Paschal Feast before Passover. They believed in Yahweh, the God of Israel and considered Jesus to be the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament. Jews and Christians were thus alike, except for their belief in Jesus. Christianity travelled to the southern Indian Malabar shores by the Apostle Thomas in 52 AD. This became Thomasine Christianity, also called Syrian Nasranis and remained a unique until the arrival of Portuguese in the 17th century AD. The post-Apostolic period lasted about 100 years after the death of the last Apostle. Apostles were persecuted until the legalization of Christian worship under Constantine. From the beginning, Christians were subjected to various persecutions. At the start, it involved the death of the Apostles Stephen and James, son of Zebedee. Larger-scale persecutions by authorities of the Roman Empire began in 64 AD when Emperor Nero blamed them for that year’s Fire of Rome. According to Church traditions, it was under Nero’s persecution that Peter and Paul were each martyred in Rome. For 250 years, Christians suffered from sporadic persecution for their refusal to worship the Emperor of Rome: treason punishable by execution. Despite these intense persecutions, the Christian religion continued its spread throughout the Mediterranean Basin. The Post-Apostolic Church In the post-Apostolic church bishops emerged as overseers of urban Christian populations and a hierarchy clergy gradually took on the form of overseers. They were to lead God’s flock under the chief shepherd Jesus Christ. These men reportedly knew and studied under the Apostles personally and were, therefore, called apostolic fathers. They were ordained like the Jewish communities, helped the bishop and would become spiritual successor of the previous bishop in a line tracing back to the Apostles themselves. Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 341

The Book of Acts admitted to conflicts between Hebrews and Hellenists, as also between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. The Letters of Paul, Peter, John and Jude all testified to intra-Church conflicts over both leadership and theology. As Christianity spread, it got certain members from well-educated circles of the Hellenistic world. They sometimes became bishops but not always. Christian art only emerged from about 200 AD: this oldest art was in the Roman catacombs and the oldest sculptures were mosaics created by Hellenized Jews in 300 AD. This early rejection of images and the need to hide Christian practices from persecution left early Christianity with a need for its evolution. Thus it was determined to hold correct beliefs and deny contrarian opinions or heresies. The earliest controversies were related to Jesus’ divinity or humanity. Galerius who had previously been one of the leading figures in persecution, in 311 AD issued an order which ended the persecution of Christians. In 313 AD, two years later, emperors Constantine I and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan which proclaimed religious toleration in the Roman Empire by legalizing Christianity. Because of these two laws the widespread persecution of Christianity ended and a new era for the church began. The emperor was exposed to Christianity by his mother, Helena at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312 AD. Constantine commanded his troops to adorn their shields with the Christian symbol in accordance with a vision that he had the night before. After winning the battle, Constantine was able to claim the emperorship in the West. How much Christianity Constantine adopted at this point was difficult to detect. The Roman coins minted up to eight years after this battle continued to bear the images of Roman gods. Nonetheless, the accession of Constantine was a turning point for the Christian Church. After his victory, Constantine supported the Church financially, built various basilicas, granted privileges to clergy, promoted Christians to some high-ranking offices and returned property confiscated during the Great Persecution of Diocletian. Between 324 and 330, Constantine built, almost from scratch, a new imperial capital that came to be named after him: it was Constantinople. Under a prevailing custom, Constantine was baptized on his deathbed. Constantine also played an active role in the leadership of the Church. He established a precedent for future emperors to be responsible to God for the spiritual health of their subjects. He, therefore, had a duty to maintain orthodoxy. His son’s successor Julian the Apostate was a free-thinking philosopher who, on becoming emperor, renounced his ancestor’s affirmed affiliation with Christianity. He embraced a mystical form of paganism and began reopening pagan temples. Intent on re-establishing the prestige of the old ‘pagan’ Druidic beliefs, he changed them to resemble Christian traditions such as the Episcopal structure and public charity. Julian’s short reign ended when he died while campaigning in the East. Christianity again began to dominate during the reign of Julian’s successors. In 380 AD, Theodosius I issued the edict establishing Christianity 342 In the Beginning as the exclusive state religion. He outlawed all other faiths and closed pagan temples. Several hundred years later a fraudulent legalization of Constantine’s properties allowed the Church to adopt an organizational boundary of a Churchian Empire. It had geographical provinces, called dioceses, to correspond to imperial governmental territorial division. The bishops, who were located in major urban centres according to pre-legalization tradition, oversaw each diocese. The bishop’s location was his ‘seat’, or ‘see’. Among the “sees’, five held eminence: Rome, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch and Alexandria. The prestige of most of these sees depended in part on their apostolic founders, from whom the bishops were spiritual successors. Though the patriarch of Rome was still held to be the first among equals, Constantinople was second in precedence as the new capital of the Church Empire. The official Catholic Church position was that Jesus had appointed Peter as the first pope, with universal primacy as bishop of Rome. It was also noteworthy there were two apostolic sees that claimed to have been founded by Peter: Antioch and Rome. Monasticism, a form of ascetism that renounced worldly pursuits and concentrated on humility, poverty and chastity, was modelled on the ideals rooted in certain strands of Judaism. John the Baptist was seen as an exemplary of monasticism inspired by the apostolic community. Two forms of monasticism were accepted: hermits who lived in solitude and coenobites that lived in communities within a monastery under a code of practice. In 318 AD, Pachomius organized his many followers into the first monastery. Similar institutions were then established throughout the Egyptian desert and the rest of the eastern half of the Roman Empire. Transition into the Middle Age was a gradual and localized process. Rural areas rose as power centres, while urban areas declined. Although a greater number of Christians remained in Greek areas, important developments were underway in the Latin areas and each took on distinctive shapes. Popes were forced to adapt to drastically changing circumstances. Upholding only nominal loyalty to the emperor, they were forced to negotiate balances with the “barbarian rulers” of the former Roman provinces. After the Italian peninsula’s turmoil because of barbarian tribes, the Emperor Justinian I reasserted imperial dominion in Italy from the East. An Imperial Exarchate was established for Italy, even if its imperial influence was limited. Later, when the Lombard invaded the weakened peninsula, Rome was essentially left to fend for itself. The popes therefore, turned to others for support, especially the Franks (of both Merovingian of the House of Judah and later Carollingian dynasties of the House of Israel through the Tribe of Dan). Once the political boundaries of the Roman Empire began collapsing in the West, Christianity started spreading into lands that had never been under Rome. Beginning in the fifth century, a unique culture developed around the Irish Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 343

Sea in Wales and Ireland. In Ireland, the spread was helped by the missionary Patrick. Although Patrick was captured into slavery in Ireland, following his escape he was consecrated and returned to the isle. He brought them the Gospel and almost immediately, Irish missionaries Columba and Columbanus spread a distinctive Irish Christianity to Scotland and the Continent. They introduced private penitence, which replaced the former penance as a public rite. Meanwhile, Southern Britain was a Roman province but in 407 AD the imperial legions and Roman elite left the isle. Later that century various barbarian tribes raided the island. These Anglo-Saxons were predecessors of the English race. The Druids were Sun worshippers and were called ‘pagans by the new religion. Although they were knowledgeable about the Christian influence they were converted by the mission of St Augustine sent from Rome by Pope Gregory. Under Archbishop Theodore, the Anglo-Saxons enjoyed a golden age of culture and scholarship. Later, English missionaries began evangelizing their Saxon relatives in Germany. The largely Christian Gallo-Roman inhabitants of Gaul (modern France) were overrun by Germanic French in the early 5th century. The native inhabitants were persecuted until the French King Clovis, the founder of the Merovingian Dynasty, converted from ancient Sumerian ‘paganism’ to Roman Catholicism in 496 AD. Clovis insisted that his fellow nobles follow suit, strengthening his newly settled kingdom by uniting the faith of the rulers with that of the ruled. Meanwhile, in another part of the Middle East in 632 AD, Umar ibn al khattab, a companion of Mohammad, nominated Abu Bakr to continue the Prophet Muhammad’s work. Abu Bakr was made the first caliph. This choice was disputed by some of Muhammad’s companions who held that Ali, cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, be designated his successor. Abu Bakr’s immediate task was to avenge a recent defeat by Byzantine (Eastern Roman Empire) forces, but first he had to put down a rebellion by Arab tribes in the Wars of Apostasy. They were known as the Ridda Wars, meaning ‘rejection in word and deed of one’s former religion’. They were launched by Abu Bakr against the rebellion of several Arabian tribes. According to Islamic law apostasy was identified as list of actions such as change-over to another religion, denying the existence of God, rejecting the prophets, mocking God or the prophets, idol worship, rejecting the sharia, or allowing behaviour that was forbidden by the sharia, such as adultery. Iconoclasm was a movement that challenged traditional beliefs, customs and values of the changing Christian faith. Iconoclasm was a deliberate destruction of religious icons and symbol monuments for religious and political motives. It began within the Eastern Christian Byzantine church in the early 8th century, following a series of heavy military reverses against the Muslims. Sometime in 726–730 AD, the Byzantine Emperor Leo III (680–741 AD) was a Phoenician Syrian who became Emperor (717–741) and rescued the empire from the Arabs. He ordered the removal of an image of Jesus placed over the entrance of the 344 In the Beginning

Palace of Constantinople and its replacement with a cross. This was followed by orders banning the pictorial representation of saints, and biblical scenes. In the West, Pope Gregory III (690–741 AD) a Syrian and beloved of his people condemned Leo’s actions. In Leo’s realms, the Iconoclast Council ruled the culture of holy portraits was not of Christian origin, therefore, it was heretical. The movement destroyed much of the Christian church’s early artistic history, to the great loss of subsequent art and religious historians. Carollingian Renaissance restarted it in late 18th century. It was a period of intellectual and cultural revival in Europe. Revival was of literature, arts and scriptural studies dating back to the late 8th and 9th centuries, mostly during the reigns of French ruler Charlemagne. He was the Frankish king and Roman Emperor (747–814 AD) who once ruled much of Western Europe. Louis the Pious (778–840 AD) was a king of the Carollingian Franks and co-Emperor of Louis I. To address the problems of illiteracy among clergy and court scribes, Charlemagne started the Carollingian Renaissance. He founded schools and attracted the most learned men from all of Europe to his court. Inquisitions began towards the end of the 9th and early 10th centuries but continued into the 12th century. Inquisitions were church bodies that suppressed alleged heresy against the Church and those who disagreed with its doctrines. In a series of Episcopal Inquisitions, the Catholic Church was charged with suppressing heresies. It was in response to movements within Europe against the growing Catharism, a version of Christianity (Gnostics) in southern France and against Waldesians a Christian Movement in northern Italy. The heresy was Episcopal because it was administered by local bishops. Catharism, a Christian religious sect, appeared in France and other parts of Europe in the 11th century and flourished in the 12th and 13th centuries. Its roots came from Paul’s movement in Armenia that originated in mid-7th century and was influenced by the concept of dualism. The Bogomils in Bulgaria were derived from their priest Bogomil of the 10th century. They were committed to the Baptist faith. Both the Bogomils and Armenia were influenced by the dualist Manichaean beliefs. Manichaeism was one of the major Iranian religions originating in Persia and founded by the prophet Mani (216–276 AD). It was a dualistic religion originating from Babylonia in the third century AD. It was founded by Mani, a Persian of noble descent. Only fragmentary texts of it survive today. Manichaeism taught an elaborate cosmology describing the struggle between a good, spiritual world of light and evil material world of darkness. Through a continuing process which took place in human history, Light was gradually removed from matter and returned to the World of Light from which it came. Manichaeism thrived between the third and seventh centuries. At its height it was one of the most widespread religions in the world existing as far east as Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 345

China and as far west as the Roman Empire. Manichaeism faded away after the 14th century in southern China. Waldensians meanwhile was the name given to proto-Protestants, a Christian sect from southern France late in the 12th century. Founded by Waldo in 1177, he started a Protestant Movement. Peter Waldo, a prosperous merchant from Lyon appeared in 1170 as a wandering preacher and built a large following also. Like many such medieval movements, there were various schools of thought and practice among them. Some were dualistic (believing in a God of Good and a God of Evil). Others, who were Gnostic, remained closer to orthodoxy but abstained from an acceptance of Roman Catholicism. The dualist theology was based on complete incompatibility of love and power. As an expression of power, for them, God was also incompatible with love. They did not believe in one all- encompassing God, but in two, both equal and comparable in status. They held the physical world was evil and created by a ‘king of the world’, who encompassed all that was corporeal, chaotic and powerful. The second god, the one whom they worshipped, was disincarnate: a being of pure spirit unsullied by the taint of matter. He was the god of love, order and peace. Inquisitions by Catholic Church bodies started around 1184 AD. Many more inquisition movements followed. The Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229) was a 20- year military campaign launched by the Catholic Church to erase Cathar Heresy. The Albigensian Crusade and the battle for Christendom finally smoked out the Cathars and other similar groups who inherited dualism of the Gnostic sects of early Christianity: thus they were successful in ending this heresy. Early evangelization in Scandinavia was started in 820 AD by Ansgar (801– 865 AD) who headed the Lutheran Church - the Apostle of the North. The mission was only partially successful. He went to Germany and Sweden, each time creating a small congregation of Christians. Conversion was slow, but most Scandinavian lands were only Christianized in the years following 1000 AD. Though by 800 AD Western Europe was ruled by Christian kings, Eastern Europe remained an area of missionary activity. Evangelization or Christianization of the East and South met with greater success in part because they used the people’s native language rather than Latin as the Roman priests or Greek did. Cracks and fissures in Christian unity started as early as the 4th century AD which led to the East-West schism. Cultural, political and linguistic differences were uniformly mixed with the theological, fuelling schism. Transfer of the Roman capital to Constantinople brought mistrust, rivalry and even jealousy to the relations of the two great sees, Rome and Constantinople. Estrangement was also helped along by German invasions in the West, which effectively weakened contacts. The Rise of Islam with its conquest of most of the Mediterranean coastline (not to mention the arrival of the pagan Slavs in the Balkans at the same time) further intensified this separation by driving a physical wedge between the two worlds. The once homogeneous unified world of 346 In the Beginning the Mediterranean was fast vanishing. Communication between the Greek East and Latin West stopped. Though normally dated to 1054, the East-West schism was the result of an extended period of estrangement between Latin and Greek Christendom over the nature of papal primacy and certain doctrinal matters. It was intensified by cultural and linguistic differences. The Orthodox East perceived the papacy as taking on monarchical characteristics that were not in line with the Church’s tradition. The final breach was often considered to have arisen after the capture and sacking of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade of 1204 AD. Crusades against Christians in the East by Roman Catholic Crusaders were not exclusive to the Mediterranean. Many in the East saw the actions of the West as a prime deciding factor in the weakening of Byzantium, the Eastern Roman empire of 667BC. This led to the Empire’s eventual conquest and fall to Islam. Holy relics, riches and many other items stolen during this time are still held in various West- European cities, particularly in Venice. Sumerian Merovingians Traces in France Rennes-le-Château was the site of a prehistoric encampment of a Roman temple. Archaeology confirmed it was built at a small village Fa, three miles (five kilometres) west of Couiza at the foothills of the Pyrenees. Rennes-le- Château was a Visigoth site where a Jewish community prospered under the Roman Empire and later under Christian Orthodox rule of Visigoth kings. They were Roman Catholics during the 6th and 7th centuries. It was for them a trying period when the Visigoths were defeated by the Frankish King Clovis I (466– 511). It was he who united all Frankish tribes under the first Catholic King to rule over Gaul. Clovis I was a descendant of Clodius Merovingian IV. The Visigoths were now concentrated towards Septimania in the western region of Roman Gallia that passed under Visigoths in 462. It was the centre of the county of Razes a feudal jurisdiction in southern France. It was founded in 781 AD and later became the site of a medieval castle in 1002. Nothing remained above ground of this medieval structure but the existing ruins were dated 17th or 18th century. Several castles situated in the surrounding region in the Languedoc were central to the battle at the beginning of the 13th century between the Catholic Church and the Cathars. They were “heretics” (or ancient Sumerians and Essenes) according to the Roman Catholic Church. Other castles were built to guard the volatile border with Spain. During raids, whole communities were wiped out by Catholic authorities to rid the area of the Cathar heretics. This all happened during the Albigensian Crusades at the beginning of the 13th century and again when Protestants fought for religious freedom against the French monarchy two centuries before the French Revolution. An unearthing of Rennes-le-Château, a commune in Southern France, revealed a village situated Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 347 on a mountain peak 25 miles (40 kilometres) from Carcassonne, the capital of Aude in southern France. A few miles away, there was another mountain called Bézu on which stood the ruins of a former centre of the Knights Templar. On a hill-top near the village is Bézu was an old Templar fortress, from where the Templar treasure was rescued when they were persecuted by the French King Philip in 1307. Here a chapel was recently excavated. According to locals the place was haunted. A silver bell allegedly rang at midnight on every anniversary of the Templars’ arrest. About a mile (1.6 kilometres) east from Rennes-le-Château were the ruins of the castle of the Blanchefort family, who were influential landowners in the area during the 12th century. It was also reputed to be the home of Bertrand Blanchefort (Master from 1156-1169), the sixth grandmaster and reformer of the Knights Templar. Templar knights were then considered warrior monks who were protected by Pope Innocent II (1130–1143). The Order was declared in a Papal Bull - a charter issued by the pope in 1139. He was then the Bishop of Rome, a position that made him the leader of the Worldwide Catholic Church. He was probably one of the clergy in personal attendance on the Antipope Opposition as Bishop of Rome. He had seen abuses that were reversed by Pope Gregory VII (1015-1085) during the Investiture Controversy, a conflict between Church and State that lasted to his death. Pope Innocente declared the Knights owed loyalty only to the Pope, and were therefore, under no duty to kings and princes. Effectively the Knights Templar made up an autonomous international empire. In 1891, Bérengere Sauniere, the priest of Rennes-le-Château, decided to partly renovate the village church. It was consecrated to Mary Magdalene in 1059 and was built on the site of a 6th-century Visigoth church where the Sumerian Hebrew settlers had once lived since or before the 1st century AD. When the altar stone was removed, Sauniere found that one of its pillars was hollow. Inside the column were four parchments kept in two sealed wooden tubes. Two of them were clearly of Family trees. One was dated 1244, and the other from 1644. The two others had been written in Latin by one of Sauniere’s predecessors, the Abbé Antoin Bigou, who was the personal priest to the Blanchefort family. The Church of Mary Magdalene dedicated to her in 1059 was built on foundations laid by the Germanic Visigoths of Sumerian and Egyptian origin in 410 AD. The Church of Magdalene was built on an even more ancient foundation. The earliest name for this site was Temple of Isis dedicated to the Egyptian goddess of elements. A level mountain top across the valley was called the Temple of Osiris, after her mate. One of the parchments referred to Blue Apples. A combination of its ancient and modern history held the key to the Secret of Blue Apples. It referred to a secret code referring to the Shambala. It was referring to the mythical kingdom in Tibet in the depths of the Himalayas where all past Knowledge of Science and Scriptures were kept in safekeeping with the Ascended Masters. 348 In the Beginning

The term Blue Apples written in Latin on the parchment was dated in the 1780s. This was when excerpts from the New Testament were perhaps found. Words on one of the parchments seemed to be written without spaces and at times had some unnecessary letters inserted between them. In the second parchment, some letters were overwritten above others. Sauniere realized that he had stumbled on something important and therefore took the parchments to the Bishop of Carcassonne. He was immediately ordered to go to Paris, at the Bishop’s expense, where he met various important ecclesiastic authorities. During the three weeks that he spent there, Sauniere was accepted into the Circle of Émile Hoffet, nephew of the Director-General of the Seminary of Saint Sulpice. Hoffet was training for priesthood and was a well-respected scholar of linguistics, cryptography and palaeography. He was also involved in esoteric, occult groups, which included writers Stéphane Mallarmé and Maurice Maeterlinck, as well as the composer Claude Debussy. The famous opera singer, Emma Calve, was also mixed in these circles and was reputed to have had close friendship with Sauniere. While there, Sauniere bought reproductions of three paintings from the Louvre, one of which was Les Bergeres de Arcadie (The Shepherds of Arcadia) by Nicolas Poussin. Les Bergeres de Arcadie was a phrase that most famously appeared as the title of two paintings by Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665). They were pastoral paintings depicting idealized shepherds from classical antiquity, clustering around an austere tomb. When Sauniere returned to Rennes-le-Château, he continued renovating the church and discovered a burial chamber containing skeletons. He then turned his attention to the crypt of Marie, Marquise d’Hautpoul de Blanchefort and designed by Abbé Antoin Bigou. The inscription formed an anagram of the code referring to Dagobert II. He was the king of Austrasia (676–679) and the last Merovingian rulers. Dagobert was ordered to be killed but he was spirited out of the country to keep the eventual Austrasian heir in its bloodline. Dagobert was given to the care of Desiderius and sent to a monastery in Ireland. He was therefore also the last king of Lombard kingdom in northern Italy. He was sometimes identified as Slane, to be further trained as a page at an Anglo-Saxon court in England. He married Mechthilde, an Anglo-Saxon princess, during his exile. Through her he continued the Merovingian line of the House of Judah. He died in 786 AD. Meanwhile, the nobles of Austrasia appealed to the Merovingian Clovis II (637-658). A chaotic power struggle followed. The Austrasia magnates wanted a king of Merovingian blood and pressed for the return of Dagobert. Opponents wanted Clovis III of the Carollingian line. He was possibly an imposter who allegedly had come from a monastic “retirement” to lead the Carollingian supporters. He probably belonged to the Tribe of Dan from the House of Jacob. The dynamics of Dogbert’s (650-679) career was largely a passive reflection of the competition between two sources of power, patronage and prestige of the Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 349

Merovingians and Carollingians. It was about Palace Institutions of Neustria on the one hand and of Austrasia who were firmly in the control of the Arnulfing dynasty. It would become the Carollingian Dynasty in the following centuries. In the chaos, the search for a consistent, rational pattern was hard to follow in the scene of shifting loyalties. During a revived conflict between Neustria and Austrasia, Dagobert II was murdered in a hunting incident in 679, probably on orders from Ebroin, who was still mayor of the palace in Neustria. After the death of Dagobert II at the cloister of Stenay, a cult grew around Dagobert. He was venerated as Saint Dagobert, since 1068. Stenay was a commune in Lorraine in NE France. It was always recognized by the Roman Catholic Church. He like his father and many other royal Merovingians were known to belong to the House of Judah with an ancestry from the Hebrew Shepherd Kings of the Line of David. Dogbert II’s name came to prominence in recent centuries when Bérengere Sauniere, the priest of Rennes-le-Château discovered scrolls hidden in the pillars of the church altar. Sauniere blotted out the inscription he had found, but did not realize that it was copied elsewhere. He had a habit of wandering around the countryside with his housekeeper, Marie Denarnaud, and collecting stones and rocks. His behaviour seemed abnormal for a humble priest from the French countryside because he gradually began building a road leading up to the village of Aude, as well to the Tower of Magdala. Where were the funds coming from? Tower of Magdala according to all four gospels was dedicated to a ‘follower of Jesus called Mary Magdalene’. It was assumed to mean the home of “Mary from Magdala”, her birthplace. Most Christian scholars assumed she was from the place the Talmud called Magdala Nunayya. Sauniere’s church was gradually decorated in a richly but unusual way. Over the porch was the inscription: This Place is Terrible. On the church door at Rennes-le-Château was a quote from Genesis, stating that Jacob fell asleep on the stone pillow and dreamt of a ladder leading up to heaven, with angels ascending and descending. This was supposed Stone of Destiny was later brought to Scotland by Joseph of Arimathea, a Jewish councillor who donated his own prepared tomb for the burial of Jesus after his crucifixion. In Britain it became the stone on which British monarchy were crowned, even in the present day. Beneath the words ‘This Place is Terrible’ were words in Latin: ‘but this is the House of God and the Gateway to Heaven’, making it but a statement on the dual nature of divinity. Immediately inside the entrance to the church, Sauniere placed a statue of the demon king Asmodeus: the demon in charge of secrets, guardian of hidden treasures who, according to Judaic tradition, was the builder of the Temple of Solomon. According to Revelation 9:11, “The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it 350 In the Beginning like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by that smoke, out of the smoke and on the earth appeared locusts that were given the power of scorpions. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them …” Their king was the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew and in Greek referred to Abaddon the destroyer. He was also known as “The Destroyer”, as well as “Rex Mundi”, which is Latin for “lord of the earth”. Inside the church were garishly painted Stations of the Cross where devotional prayers and meditations were offered before each of the 14 crosses or images. Devotees were expected to ask for perseverance, peace, love, devotion and other higher aspirations. Station XIV symbolically depicted Jesus’ body being carried at night under a full moon around a tomb. There were statues of five known saints whose initials spelled GRAAL for Saint Germain; St Roch; St Anthony de Padoue; St Anthony the Hermit and St Luke placed in the shape of an ‘M’ for ‘Magdalene’. Historically, Saint Germain was governor of Chengalaput in India in 1752 among other places throughout history beginning with the pharaoh Thutmose III Isaac (grandsire of the 12 tribes of Israel). He was always active in secret societies and was a declared an Ascended Master. St Roch was born at Montpellier, France. He was orphaned at twenty and went on pilgrimage to Rome and devoted himself to caring for the victims of a plague that was ravaging Italy. On his return to Montpellier, he was imprisoned by his uncle who was then the governor. He was imprisoned for five years for spying in pilgrim’s disguise. Roch died in prison and was only then identified as the former governor’s son by a birthmark in the form of a cross on his chest. St Anthony de Padoue (1195–1231) whose father was Martin Bouillon was a descendant of the renowned Godfrey de Bouillon, commander of the First Crusade, and his mother, Theresa Tavejra, was a descendant of Froila I, fourth king of Austria. A hermit by nature, he was able to discuss the most hidden sense of Holy Scriptures with profound learning and sublime doctrines. St Anthony the Hermit of the 5th century and founder of Christian monasticism and St Luke was the writer of ‘Gospel’ and ‘Acts of Apostles’. Sauniere knew all these figures were somehow connected with the House of Judah. The church wall featured a tell-tale marking. A yellow stripe embedded in the foundation indicated that in as early as the 8th century someone of royal blood was buried inside the church. Sauniere had a library installed in the Magdala Tower, an orangery and a zoological garden. Here he had books about the ancestry of the Houses of David and Judah. The Archduke Johann von Hapsburg (1788-1831), a cousin of Franz-Josef I (1830-1916) and Emperor of Austria belonged to the dynasty of emperors of Austria, Dukes of Lorraine (1048- 1431) and even earlier to the Counts of Norgau (1012). This Sumerian ancestry Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 351 belonged to the Line of David but could be traced back further for more than 1400 years and was one of the oldest in Europe. Sauniere and Archduke Johann von Hapsburg were known to be interacting. Although the administrative church turned a blind eye to these goings-on at the Sauniere Church, matters reached a point when the Bishop of Carcassonne who belonged to the diocese of Aude in France, had to act. He summoned Sauniere to explain himself and defend his controversial activities with his dealings with the Archduke Johann von Hapsburg. He was accused of simony. Sauniere by now practiced the buying and selling of spiritual rites and rituals to attendees of the church but when Sauniere was questioned he refused to reveal anything. The Bishop of Carcassonne suspended him. However, Sauniere appealed to the Vatican and was reinstated. In 1917, at the age of 65, Sauniere had a sudden stroke and the priest who heard Sauniere’s deathbed confession, refused to give Sauniere the last traditional Roman Catholic rites of extreme unction. After his death his body was sitting upright in an armchair on the terrace of the Tower of Magdala, as unidentified mourners filed past his body one by one. He was discovered to have died penniless. Shortly before his death, he had transferred all his money to his housekeeper. It was possible that she had been in charge of some wealth all along. After the Second World War, the French government introduced a new currency and all citizens were obliged to exchange their old francs for the new ones. Large amounts of money had to be accounted for to trace black money saved by collaborators, tax-evaders and the like. Marie Denarnaud who was Sauniere’s maid and inherited his wealth would not reveal the source of her wealth. She was later seen burning large amounts of cash in the garden of the Villa Bethania, the estate of Sauniere. She eventually sold the house to Monsieur Noël Corbu the author of The Untold Secret. Marie told him that before she died she would tell him a great secret, which would make him not only rich but also powerful. Unfortunately she, like Sauniere, suffered a sudden stroke and was also made speechless and prostate on her deathbed. Tale of Secret Royal Treasure A publicity document was prepared by Noel Corbu (1912-1968) sometime around 1955. It was not a manuscript. It was not signed nor ever deposited. It was never published. Meanwhile, Pierre Jarnac a researcher for more than 40 years, compiled material on the mysteries of Rennes-le-Chateau. He also had a copy of the document prepared by Noel Corbu. It appeared in his bibliography for 1962–1964 which read: In February 1250, Rhedae (Rennes-le-Château) was a powerful citadel. The town of 30,000 people waited in eagerness for the arrival of Blanche of Castille (1188–1252) who was of France and wife of Louis VIII and Queen Regent of the Kingdom of France. She came not to stay there, but to put the 352 In the Beginning treasure of the Crown in safe keeping, for, throughout the kingdom, shepherds, vagabonds, villeins, small feudal lords were all in revolt (Shepherds’ Revolt). Everywhere the country, including Paris, was pillaged ruined and threatened. Only Rhedae with its caverns and enormous citadel could protect and conserve the royal treasure. The queen arrived with guards and the treasure travelled without mishaps during the whole length of the journey. The seneschal or officer who made domestic arrangements, ceremonies and administration of justice for the crown was Pierre de Voisin an ancestor of Catherine Monvoisin an alleged sorceress who was later accused of sorcery during Louis IV’s reign. Pierre de Voisin waited for Blanche of Castille and her retinue. After a reception, she went down alone to the keep, (underground room of a system of underground dark rooms) where the chests containing the treasure of France were to be kept. She asked the feudal lord Seignior de Voisin for ten men: all ten were prisoners to whom she had promised liberty. Without a word, she pointed at a stone with a ring on it. Two men raised the stone with difficulty and a gaping hole revealed a dark staircase. “Take the torches and follow me,” ordered the queen. The staircase seemed to descend forever until suddenly it ended in a rotunda, from which several dark entrances radiated. “Wait for me there”, ordered the queen and taking hold of a torch, she entered one of the passages. After about 110 yards (100 metres) she stopped opposite a pronounced bend in the passage. The queen pushed one stone with her toe while she pushed another with her free hand. A faint click was heard. With her shoulder, she pushed the outside wall of the curve and it sank back smoothly, swivelled around but as it turned, another opening was revealed. When the door was closed the passage continued into the bowels of the earth and nothing on the walls showed there was a door on the other side. The queen retraced her steps and ordered the waiting men to bring down the trunks the chests and the cases in the room of the keep. When everything had arrived, she asked the men to rearrange the cases in a specific order. While they were busy at this work, she leaned against two other stones and the heavy door closed, walling in the ten unfortunate prisoners alive. She then fled, climbing back to the room in the keep. Here, she fell on her knees and begged God for mercy for what she was obliged to do. Nobody knew the secret except herself and no one would know it except her son, the king. When the queen returned alone, the seneschal de Voisin could not hold back his surprise, for the queen had aged ten years within a few hours. For much of the night Blanche of Castille wrote. She marked where the treasure was situated and how to get to it and how to avoid the traps. Then she changed the clues, mixed them with some verses from the Gospel and took as the key the first letters of each line of an inscription. These were later found written on a tombstone in the cemetery. This done, she slipped the parchments into some wooden cylinders. Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 353

These she sent to the chaplain, with instructions to hide them in tubes somewhere in the church. The queen, the chaplain and a monk of the St Marie-Madeleine church, later slid the movable stone used for the altar. Inside one the four hollow pillars of the altar remained hidden in cylinders information about the hidden treasure belonging to the Kingdom of France. In 1252, Blanche of Castille was about to die and peace reigned in the kingdom. She had stopped the revolt. This effort and the memories of her past began to take her apart. The supreme test came when she contracted leprosy. Now resigned to her destiny she waited for death. To a faithful servant, she gave a folder for her son St Louis IX (1214–1270), telling him where to find the parchments, but Saint Louis or Louis IX also known as the “Most Christian King” died of plague. His son Philippe was now told of the secret of the royal treasure. In 1285, King Philippe III le Hardi (1245-1285) and his troops were sick. At the same time he was being harassed by the men of Aragon where later Katherine was born. She would later become the first wife of Henry VIII. Philippe reached Perpignan in an unconscious state with whatever was left of his army and died. He never had the opportunity to tell his son, the future King Philippe IV le Bel (1268-1314) about the secret of France’s Royal treasure. Now, that nobody knew where the Royal Treasure of France was to be found. King Philippe le Bel was therefore forced to make counterfeit money. In 1370, Rhedae the ancient town of southern France where Rennes-le-Chateau existed was invaded by the Spanish, who pillaged, burned and destroyed everything. The town burned to the ground and the keep was suddenly transformed into a powder keg where everything collapsed. When the Spaniards withdrew, Rhedae was no more than a heap of ruins. This became the site of a story ‘de Vinci Code’ inspired Dan Brown. In 1645 in memory of Blanche of Castille, the devastated village citadel of Rhedae was renamed Rennes-le-Château which by now was only a sprawling little market town of 2000 inhabitants. The château was rebuilt, but not on the same spot. Of the proud citadel of ancient Rhedae almost nothing remained. One day, a shepherd Ignace Paris while guarding his sheep around the village heard one of his lambs bleating. He looked for the animal but did not see it. The bleating came from close by and he saw that it came from the under the ground. The lamb had fallen into a hole. Ignace Paris leaned over and saw it but had to enter the pit. The frightened animal instead of coming towards him started running along an underground passage. Ignace found pieces of wood and some dry grass and made torch to follow his lamb. Seeing the torch, the lamb was even more frightened and fled further down until they entered a room crammed full of chests. Gold pieces were slipping out of one of wooden cases which were rotting away. In disbelief the shepherd cracked open the wooden chest and found gold tumbling out. But he then recoiled in fright when he saw scattered around were 354 In the Beginning skeletons guarding the treasure. He took off his beret, filled it with gold coins, picked up his frightened lamb and fled back towards the entrance of the passage. Once outside, he realized that he was with a terrible secret. His sheep had not moved. He wanted this secret for himself alone. He tried to return down the passage and up through the hole but went along the side opposite the first room. Within ten metres he stopped abruptly to meet with a yawning chasm opening to his right in front of him. He threw a stone and it bounced about endlessly as it fell into the depth of an abyss. Paris now understood his secret was well guarded by the abyss in a tunnel which nobody could ever pass. He relit his torch and headed back through the tunnel and towards the entrance of the cave. Reassured, Ignace Paris climbed back out. He had enough pieces of gold. But no one needed know his source and he covered the hole with branches, stones and then some earth. He returned home frightened by the skeletons he had found in the cavern but bewildered by the fortune. Without saying a word, he put his beret full of coins on the table. His wife saw the spectacle and began screaming. Paris withdrew into a stunned silence. Hearing the cries of his wife, inquisitive neighbours arrived and saw the gold coins. They told the lord and the shepherd taken into custody. The Ignace Paris was questioned and accused of stealing or killing a traveller. Instead of telling his secret he threw himself at the lord to kill him. In the struggle the guards killed Ignace Paris instead. He took the secret to the hidden tomb now lost once more. In 1885, one hot day in the month of May, Abbé Bérengere Sauniere, then a young priest, climbed up the hillside that led to Rennes-le-Château. The Monsignor of the Catholic Church had sent Sauniere to this village. His walk to and arrival in the village was depressing. The presbytery he was to stay at was in the care of Alexandrine Denarnaud. The house he was to live in was a hovel at the entrance to the village. Here a young woman Marie le Curé Denarnaud greeted him. Neither her mother nor her father was there. The young Abbe’s visit to the presbytery was a disastrous experience. It was big, damp and cold. The few bits of furniture that were there were mouldy. Discouragement overwhelmed the priest. The young woman noticed the priest’s conduct and did all she could to cheer him up. Finally, Alexandrine, Marie’s mother arrived and invited the priest to dinner. In the days that followed, the priest experienced kindness of the woman as well as her parents. Because their house was tiny, the priest suggested the family live with him in the presbytery, which was too big for him but could be made comfortable for all. Marie’s brother Barthélémy would remain in the little family home for as long as he wished, until he got married. The Denarnaud family accepted the offer and although the priest was often short of money, he led a family life. Marie, her mother Alexandrine and her father Guillaume knew how to please the priest. Marie worked in the hat factory at Esperaza and Alexandrine would lend the Abbé money intermittently. By 1892, Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 355 the Abbé earned the esteem of all his parishioners, the Mayor and the councillors from whom he asked for some money to rebuild the main altar and to re-roof it because it was in disrepair. The Mayor and Council agreed and loaned him 2,400 francs. From Couiza the Abbé brought in a mason, named Babou, who began the work by demolishing the main altar. The Abbé usually visited the work site at nine in the morning. One February morning when he arrived at the church the mason alerted the priest that he had found a cavity in one of the pillars of the main altar. In this one cavity were some wooden cylinders sealed with wax. Intrigued by this, the Abbé broke open the cap and removed a greyish mass, which was a parchment, written in Old French and Latin. The Abbé recognized some written fragments from the Gospel, but mixed in among them were other unrecognisable words. Also recovered from the cylinder were pieces of gold and some jewellery. There were numbers among the scattered words on the parchment. He recognised some numbers belonging to Gospels. The Abbé pulled himself together. Babou looked but pretended to be indifferent. The priest told him they were sacred documents put there by past priests, perhaps at the time of the French Revolution. The Abbé declared them worthless and sent him out while he used the time to perform the church rite of mass. As soon as Babou left, the Abbé recovered all the cylinders. He was glad the contents were muddled, but also knew these parchments would reveal a secret. Meanwhile after dinner, Babou started to gossip with friends and neighbours and news of the scrolls spread like wildfire. The Mayor came to see the priest. Neither of them understood anything and the priest knew nobody to prove the worth of the documents that spoke of St Matthew the patron saint of Bankers and author of the First Gospel, St Luke author of the Third Gospel and apostle of the gentiles and St John the Baptist. The Abbé was afraid that if Babou continued speaking about the scrolls they would lose their historic worth. Under the pretext of having to go on a journey and unable to oversee the works, he stopped all altar renovation. During the night, the priest aided by Marie, tried to decipher the documents, but much of what they said escaped him. He could decipher the verses from the Gospel and the signature of Blanche of Castille with her seal, but the rest remained a puzzle. Nothing seemed to come together. He realised he needed an expert to decipher the document. Marie and her family gave the priest all their savings and with the little that he had, it was enough to meet with a Latin expert in Paris. Here he met several Latin experts. To each he gave only parts of the documents. At the end of five days, he knew the parchment was document of declaration that belonged to the Crown of France. Also there in his church were hidden 18 million 500 thousand gold coins, some jewellery and some religious objects: a huge fortune, lay somewhere. Still unknown however was the location of the treasure. The key 356 In the Beginning words could not unravel the secret and the Abbé returned to Rennes and confided in Marie. Later Marie took to taking regular walks in the cemetery. Her attention was drawn by an old tomb. The stone bore strange washed out inscriptions. She called the priest who noted down the whole text. During that evening they unexpectedly found the grouping arrangements of the texts and numbers and clues to the treasure. They discovered there were six points of entry into the keep but a way through a tunnel to the underground fortification was the easiest. They could not find the secretive keep. Everything around seemed the tombs was overgrown and time had razed all to the ground. On the parchments were some lines starting from the main altar. Some of these lines were height measurements and oriented towards the church. With ropes, they measured carefully and spread them as pointed out by the lines on the plan. The ropes intersected in the middle of a spot known as la Capella or the Château. It was an empty piece of land. Here they began to dig. Forty centimetres into the soil they found a stone slab with a rusted ring at its centre. This they raised with crowbars. They saw a dark staircase and the priest went down first. The staircase seemed endless and the only light he had was from the lantern he carried. He descended some 30 yards (25 metres) and came on a round room with 6 openings all around. Water dripped down the walls of a tomb. He looked at his notes again and chose a tunnel turning towards stones with the different symbols. One with a cross at the bottom had to be pushed. He then rocked the 7th stone bearing a crown leaning against the wall and he heard the click. The parchment said “after the click, push with the shoulder” and Sauniere pushed the barrier. After a few seconds he heard a slight noise. With the click the wall moved inwards and opened. Three skeletons were there near the door and near them were some chests, some half-rotten trunks with gold coins and jewels rolling out of them. There was a large fortune there and it was his. The treasure of the Kings of France was his. There were ten skeletons surrounding the priest. Sauniere climbed back up where Marie waited for him. He hesitated in telling her about his find but confided in her anyway. Since he would have to go back down again to convert all this gold into cash, he needed someone he could trust. They put the slab back, covering it again with earth again. Marie, with her peasant shrewdness recommended that they should not arouse suspicions. She knew the story of the shepherd and she told it to the priest. That advice went well. From then on, Sauniere went to different countries and sold his pieces for a good price because they were so rare. With the money he collected, he renovated the church and the presbytery and began to live lavishly. The priest bought land around the presbytery including the one on which he had found the slab. He Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 357 flattened the grounds and grew gardens. The parchments, he placed in the treasure room. The mayor who had noticed increased activity came to reproach him over what he had done to the cemetery. To soothe the mayor and to justify his sudden fortune, he mentioned inheriting an uncle’s wealth. This ‘uncle’ supposedly died in America. The mayor was not fooled. By 1897, the priest looked forward to the Church cleric Monsignor Billard coming to the presbytery on a mission. The Sauniere presbytery and church were now new. The garden, which was in front of it, was an ocean of flowers. The grotto was dedicated to Notre de Lourdes. The cross would be started by the Monsignor. Even the cemetery resembled a garden rather than a place of internment. The disbelieving Monsignor gave the Abbé no promotions. The Abbot meanwhile was happy enough holding on to his secret fortune. Years passed and building the Tower was finished, as was the ring road. The library housed original editions of books and other valuable historical paraphernalia. It was all more than rich: it was ‘royal’. The Monsignor wanted to know where the priest’s fortune came from. He demanded accounts and explanations but Sauniere was not forthcoming even if he obviously hesitated. The bishop wanted to know the truth and this treasure, the existence of which he sensed. The Abbé had decided it was not meant for the Church. The Monsignor meanwhile swore he would crack this priest. He wanted to know the truth, and he threatened noisily. The bishop’s Coadjutor and Mgr. Cantagril therefore wrote letter to Abbé Sauniere asking him to make a physical appearance before the hierarchy of the Church. The Abbé instead had his doctor make him a falsified certificate saying Sauniere could not move. The Abbé was now accused of trafficking in illegal trade. Steps taken by Canon Huguet were unexpectedly stopped. Rome abandoned the accusations of trafficking, but ordered the Abbé’s dismissal. Sauniere was judged for contempt of court and rebellion and therefore discharged. Sauniere returned ‘home’ and rented the presbytery on a 99-year lease. The new priest could not now live in the village. He instead went to live in Couiza and had climb up to Rennes-le-Château on foot to say mass. Because, the Abbé had already built a private chapel at the side of his splendid home, in bad weather, the villagers went there to hear him say mass. There was therefore no one in the church of Rennes-le-Chateau. Over the remaining years, Abbé Sauniere (1852-1917) paid dearly for his excesses. He suffered from cirrhosis of the liver. He could not stop eating and drinking. The drama finally came to a head. On 22nd January 1917, he felt an illness overcoming him and the priest was found dead in the armchair where Marie had left him. All the poor people, with whom he had been good, paid him a last visit. Despite her huge grief, Marie prepared herself for an impending battle. The Abbé’s priest’s heirs were there at the funeral like a band of hungry wolves. Immediately after the grand funeral was over (five priests said mass), the 358 In the Beginning heirs wanted to make an inventory and seal everything up. Marie stopped the quarrelling by showing papers declaring the priest did not own the estate because she did. The furious heirs confirmed the deeds declared everything belonged to Marie Denarnaud. Many ordained Catholic priests tried to extract both the secret and the estate from her. She was urged to make a will for the Church, but Marie postponed all decisions ‘for another day”. She hid herself for years and removed all contact with the outside world. In distrusting the whole world, the years went by and Marie was gradually more unaccompanied. Her parents and sibling died. Every one of her old and new contacts wanted the secret of her hidden treasure but she remained silent. As Marie grew older she could no longer get to the treasure because the stone slab was too heavy. Her unsteady gait also made it was too dangerous to enter the keep. She accepted her poverty. She lived meagrely, by selling bits and pieces of furniture Sauniere had bought to decorate the house. Slowly the neighbours deserted her. Her visitors were few. She wondered to whom she could leave both the estate and the secret. She prayed to God and to the Blessed Virgin. One day a family arrived on the grounds of her estate. They were on an outing and because the site pleased them and they came back a second time. Marie enjoyed their company and offered them accommodation for holidays. When that July arrived the priest’s home took on a party air. She enjoyed the company of her new friends. When summer ended, she had come to a decision. She would will the entire estate to the Monsignor family, including the secret. Firstly she sold them the estate in an act of supreme vengeance for what the Church had done to Sauniere. She had the deed drawn up by a lawyer. Marie told the family she would tell them her secret on the day of her death. The family came to live on the estate and dark days appeared. Monsieur lost much money and the business declined. Although the Monsignor knew about the existence of a treasure, he never questioned Marie about it. She was happier because the family took her in and took care of her. Whenever Marie saw the family unhappy, she could not stop herself from saying “Don’t worry. When I die, you will be rich. You will never be able to spend all the money you will have.” No one believed her and in the end, she was glad. On 18th January 1953, Marie was not well. When the Monsignor family came to see her at 8 o’clock in the morning, she was burning with a fever. The doctor diagnosed influenza. By 10 am Marie felt her brain darken and felt must tell her secret, but it was too late. Now unconscious, the remaining five days of her life were followed by death. The secret of the treasure died with her. The Royal Treasure was hidden through acts of harmfulness. It ‘secretly’ harmed all who came across it. The Law of Karma repeatedly saw physical expressions of disease and destruction in an everlasting cycle to balance a cruel deed with a prospective injury. Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 359

Royal Treasure or a Property of Secret Societies Rennes-le-Château, the village and the surrounding area was the centre of much activity from the time when Celts or Kelts old light-haired wanderers of Indo-Aryan origins lived there. The earmarked area was a sacred site from before the days when the mystical Cathars were persecuted. In the 11th century they were discriminated against and harassed for believing in the duality of Matter and Spirit. Through many centuries there were tales of hidden treasures in the area – all from King Solomon’s mines. Both Hebrews and Israelites were suspected of bringing much loot from the Sumerian Civilization. The Cathars were especially suspected for being the possessors of the “Holy Grail”. The Knights Templar was also thought to have hidden treasures in the area. Bertrand de Blanchefort (1156-1169) the sixth Grand Master of the Knights organized excavations there. He knew Merovingian kings ruled much of modern France from the 5th to the 8th centuries and Dagobert II, who was one of them, because he had married a Visigoth princess. Rennes-le-Château was, during those days, one of the major centres of Visigoths. They also had great treasure collected from pillaging of Europe but in particular of Rome in 410 AD. Sauniere could have discovered any of these caches. The nature and recurrent discovery and loss of the treasure left instinct to believe the secret treasure perhaps belonged to the French Treasury. The subject treasures in and around Rennes-le-Château roused intense interest among the Parisian intelligentsia. Hoffet (1873-1946), who studied ancient manuscripts had studied Sauniere’s document and was known to speak about them publicly. Also, the local church and Rome treated the matter with intense interest. The circumstances around this story did not explain why the priest refused to give Sauniere the sacrament of extreme unction. Nobody understood why he was visited by, the Archduke Johann Salvatore von Hapsburg of the House of Austria, the most important royal house of Europe. The Archduke renounced rights to his titles in 1889. He was also banished from the Austrian Empire. Treasure of mere monetary worth would also not explain the codes in the parchments and on the tomb of Marie, Marquise d’Hautpoul de Blanchefort. Also, Marie Denarnaud had said the secret, which she finally took with her to the grave, involved not only money, but also power. The money that Johnann Salvatore von Habsburg paid over to Sauniere came perhaps from another source. The Vatican treated Sauniere carefully in the latter years of his life. Could it be the money came from the Vatican to silence him? There were many tales but each difficult to authenticate. The treasure according to local traditions of 410 AD was Visigoth gold, with a large part of the treasure of Solomon. This included the seven-branched candlesticks of solid gold belonging to the Jews, of which all trace was lost after its arrival in Carcassonne. Carcassonne had become a frontier town when the 360 In the Beginning

Franks advanced. It is not unfeasible to suppose that their loot was transported in haste to Rhedae, which was powerfully protected. The use of aerial photography could today reveal the presence of a monument, which according to all likelihood was nothing other than the pantheon of the Visigoth monarchs. Remembering that they were kings who were buried with their greatest riches... or was it Dogbert’s treasure from the wars of 650 AD that lay hidden here? Blanche de Castillés’ treasure of 1240 might have been the ransom money for her son St Louis, imprisoned by the infidels. She hid this treasure in the Rhazes when she learned of the death of her son at the hands of his captors. The booty was perhaps the Cathar treasure of 1240 which disappeared from Montsegur when the Cathars surrendered to the troops of Simon de Montfon. In 1950 a mysterious individual, claiming to be a descendant of one of the heretics responsible for smuggling the treasure out of the besieged citadel said he came to Rennes-le-Chateau on a pilgrimage to the site where his ancestor had hidden the Cathar treasure. The Treasure of the kingdom of Majorca, according to the Abbé Mazieres, was the result of pillaging. There were local tales of a lord of Rennes who attacked the convoys of money which crossed the Spanish border in both directions. Other rumours stated the loot may be an object of power which made the possessor, invincible. The object may be the Holy Grail, Menornih, Ark of the Covenant, sword of Charles Martel, or the talisman of Hitler... the list was long. An important document was also found: marriage certificate of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, suggesting that their descendants may still be alive today. Therefore, the mystery of Rennes-le-Château was in reality an attempt to set out the idea of the re-establishment of Merovingian monarchy on the throne of France and perhaps of Europe. History revealed the existence of gold mines at the Roc-Negre and at Auriac and of a mint during Charlemagnés reign. Also, counterfeit coins were produced at Bézu by the Seignior of Rennes’ own son-in-law and the nephew of the Pope at the time. Meanwhile, recent discoveries of 20 kg of gold in a wooden case and 50 kg of gold in a field were seen as the result of imperfect melting-down of Arabian coins. Many private individuals possessed liturgical objects, as well as old and rare jewels which were given to them by the Abbé Sauniere or Marie Denarnaud. Other items included pure gold coins of Visigoth and Roman times. What was therefore the real story and what was the significance of the find would likely remain forever untold. Rennes-le-Château —a Site of Evolving Faiths and History In Gaulish times, there was a temple at this site dedicated to the god Ara. Gauls were Celtics in Gaul, France, Belgium, Switzerland and northern Italy, who lived there from the Iron Age (1300-600BC) through to the Roman period (509-168BC). God Ara, the supreme god Zeus’ (Jupiter) smoke was believed to have created the Milky Way. They mostly spoke the Continental Celtic language Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 361 called Gaulish. Archaeologically, they were the bearers of the La Tène culture (1300-600BC) of the Bronze Age Culture which collapsed in the Ancient Near East (Anatolia, Assyria, Caucuses, Cyprus, Egypt, Levant, Persia and India). In the 3rd century BC, Gauls expanded south-east through a series of invasions, including the Gallic Invasion of Greece. They settled as far east as Anatolia, and the Galatians. They were conquered by Julius Caesar in Gallic Wars in the 50s BC, and became assimilated into a Gallo-Roman culture. With the arrival of Franks or Merovingians during the Migration Period (5th century AD), the Gaulish language was replaced by Vulgar Latin. It was from this name (Mount Olympus) the place name Rennes-le-Château was traced. Aaronic dedications were about duty to God and to gods of Mount Olympus. It was the Visigoths who first changed the name of this area to Radaès. From this name changes Rada, Rédé, Rédéa, Rèda-Castel and, finally, Rennes- le-Château. One of the two main branches of Gauls was Ostrogoths and Visgoths. The Celts worshipped the god Ares by moving physically closer to him. This they did by settling themselves on a mountainside and protecting themselves from the elements. A cavern close to a mountain top was the ideal place of worship. The religion where god Ares was worshipped lasted until the area was Christianized. Following the customs of the time, priests, monks and preaching friars built their churches on sites of the former ‘pagan’ altars. Thus the former temple to Ares was covered by the church of St Mary Magdalene, a building that did not change location over the centuries, even though it was destroyed several times. This was first built during the Visigoth occupation. When Saracens (pre-Islamic Arab tribes) invaded the region from Spain, the strongholds built by the Visigoths fell into their hands. The term Saracens was used by ancient Romans to refer to the Arabs. The term was expanded by Europeans to include all who professed Islam, who were not necessarily Arabs. By the time of the Crusades, beginning in 1095, Saracen became synonymous with Muslim. The siege of Radaès lasted a long time, as it was the regional capital and therefore, heavily fortified. The survivors, after walling up the former temple took everything they were able to take. The Saracens escaped with all the treasure by an underground passageway that led to the present-day chateau. The treasure was placed in a keep known as Blanchefort. This referred to a spur on the top—476 metres above sea level. A branch of this underground passage descended towards the River Sals, opposite Coustaussa, a commune in Aude in southern France The river was crossed at a fjord (which still exists), and the exit from this underground passage was locked by a past landslide. The escape route towards Coustaussa was still visible on the left side of the road to Arques, a commune in Aude. After Charlemagne (742-814 AD) the medieval Arabs Saracen took flight, a new population took up residence there, but it soon became impossible to know much about this pre-Islamic period. They had to wait until the Albigensian 362 In the Beginning

Crusade (1209-1229) a 20-year campaign initiated by the Pope to erase the dualistic Cathar sect of Christians. After nearly a quarter century, the name Rédé reappeared in history. The Wiccan Rédé was the Neopagan Religion practiced in this area. It would have fallen after Montsegur the last stronghold of the Cathars was destroyed. A part of the Cathars’ possessions were perhaps walled up in their temple before their surrender. (1209-1229). Precise details were not available but the greatest historical period of this location was during its domination by the Counts of Voisin. After the fall of Cathars and their allies, some Christian lords followed the great Cathar chiefs, not out of religious conviction, but out of obeying a vassal to his master. This was the case with the Count of Aniort and his brothers. Residents in the castles of Sault were supporters Wiccan Rédé of Albigensian. In 1236, the Aniorts were sent for to the Court of the Inquisition. They were condemned as heretics with their mother Esclarmonde. In the presence of seneschal of a fortified town of Carcassonne, and lieutenants of Simon de Montfort, Guy of Levis, Pierre de Voisin and the abbot of Saint-Michel of Cuxa, the Voisin properties and castles were confiscated and many members eliminated. Calm having been restored, a major trial was held at Carcassonne. There the Wiccan Cathars pleaded their cause, and succeeded in having the charges against them dismissed. They had some of their possessions restored if they changed their name. Since then the family has borne the name of the forests of ‘De Niort’, lying near a small village adjoining the Sault plateau. The Plateau de Vaucluse survivors parcelled out the area among themselves. The Raze fell to the Chevalier de Voisin. The son of the Count of Voisin who was a vassal of Simon de Montfort (1208–1265), followed his master in the Fourth Crusade. Chevalier de Voisin was lucky to have survived the fighting and took for himself the title of Count Pierre I of Voisin: Lord of the Raze. Later, he was appointed seneschal. His elder son succeeded him under the name Pierre II, while the younger son, Paul-Guillaume, was suspected of turning to brigandage (highway robber). There was another Count of Voisin in the Hundred Years’ War (1365). During that time the Grandes Compagnies of mercenaries laid the area waste. The of the period, Alaric I of Voisin, decided to exterminate them. He formed his knights and vassals into a unit and advanced to meet the mercenaries. They met with St Paul de Fenouillet a recruiting Company of Mercenaries. After a fierce battle the mercenaries prevailed. What remained of Alaric’s troops retreated to Rèda-Castel. They were pursued by those of the Grandes Compagnies, who besieged the town, which was soon captured and destroyed. All that remained was the castle, although a cannon ball had penetrated a tower of the ramparts. An explosion destroyed everything, but the ‘keep’ was unharmed. After the mercenaries had razed the church of St. Pierre to the ground, they found the Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 363 entrance to an underground passage. They rushed into it thinking that they could seize the chateau from the inside, but they never reached it. At a turning of the underground passage there was a rocking flagstone and all those who ran on to it fell into a well. There they lie to this day. Dating from around the same period the passage running to Rèda-Castel was built for his wife by Pedro the Cruel, King of Castile (1334–1369). He had succeeded his father Alphonso XI in 1350 and married Blanche in 1353. Blanche de Castile was the third woman to bear this name and once sought refuge with the Count of Voisin who was both a vassal of the King of France as well as of the King of Castile. It was Blanche who had sealed the treasure in the keep, later to be found by Sauniere. Later during the Wars of Religion (1562–1598), conflicts in France were between Protestants and Catholics seeking Reformation. The puritanical Calvinists overran this area and destroyed towns and inhabitants who refused to conform to their ideas. The Church Rèda-Castel was destroyed once more. The chateau, houses and churches and surrounding towns were razed. It was from this period the neighbouring town of Espéraza took its name. It was a contraction of the Occitan expression ’Es-per-raza’, which in French meant ‘C’est pour raser’ (razing to the ground). The family of Voisin disappeared from the region after this adventure. Tired of so many misfortunes, the Razé slowly came back to life and new families came to establish themselves there. Rennes-le-Château entered a new ownership with the family of Hautpoul de Blanchefort. The site was rebuilt it in the 16th century by Marie de Negre d’Ables (1714–1781). On her deathbed she confided to Antonie Bigou, the priest and confidant of the family. It seemed that these new lords were rich and powerful. Records showed that other noble families sought their friendship and alliances through marriage because of their untold wealth. This was the period when Bourbon kings of 16th century ruled Navarre and France. One would have to wait for their fall before the town of Rennes-le- Château entered history again. Deepening Mystery When the book ‘The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail’ by authors Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln first came out, the authors received a letter from a retired Anglican priest who claimed that he had “incontrovertible truth” that Jesus Christ did not die on the cross and could have lived to as late a date as 45 AD. On being interviewed, he claimed that he had been given the information by another Anglican priest, Canon Alfred Leslie Lilley. The Canon said the crucifixion was a fraud. Throughout his life, Lilley had upheld contact with the Catholic Modernist Movement of Rosicrucian intellectuals that were based at Saint Sulpice, a Roman Catholic Church in Paris. He had known of Émile Hoffet the occultist and palaeographist who decoded Sauniere’s parchments 364 In the Beginning

In Rome. A French painter, Nicolas Poussin, was also visited by Abbé Louis Fouquet, the brother of Nicholas and the superintendent of finances to King Louis IV of France in 1656. After the meeting the Abbé wrote to his brother: “He and I discussed certain things, which I shall with ease be able to explain to you in detail; things that will give you, through Monsieur Poussin, advantages which even kings would have great difficulty in drawing from him which, according to him, it is possible that nobody else will ever be able to rediscover in the centuries to come. And, what is more, these are things so difficult to discover that nothing now on this earth can prove of better fortune, nor be their equal.” Rome shaped and trained this French painter, Monsieur Poussin. The Abbé claimed the painter had painted a conception of life, myths, essential subjects, sensuality and in short a measure of a past pictorial ethos of the area and land around Rennes-le-Château. Nobody understood the cryptic message in the letter, but shortly after receiving it, the Abbé Nicholas Fouquet was imprisoned for life and died in solitary confinement. All his correspondence was confiscated, and handed over to Louis XIV. King Louis XIV went to great lengths to buy Poussin’s painting ‘Les Bergers d’Arcadie’, but it was hidden in his private apartment at Versailles. Berenger Sauniere had bought a print of the painting at the Louvre during his visit to Paris. The painting depicts a large old tomb with three shepherds and a shepherd imprinted in the foreground. The setting was of a rugged landscape that was typical of the Poussin painting style. The landscape depicted in the painting was assumed to be a product of the artist’s mind. But in the 1970s, a tomb was found, which was identical in shape, dimensions, vegetation, background and setting as shown in the painting. There was even rocky outcrop that was identical with the one on which one of the shepherds rested his foot. In front of the tomb was the view that matched the Poussin’s painting. A similar peak in the background was that of Rennes-le- Château. The tomb when found was found just outside a village called Arques, six miles (10 kilometres) from Rennes-le-Château and three miles (five kilometres) from the château of the Blanchefort family. The age of the tomb was not suggested. The village records stated the land surrounding the tomb belonged to an American who opened the burial chamber in the 1920s and found it empty. He died in the 1950s and was later buried in it with his wife. Years later, when the anagram was rearranged, according to authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, it read a word or phrase about the Christian faith and western history in particular. Their evidence was compelling. They inferred from their search that Jesus and his wife, Mary Magdalene, had several children after they were brought into an old Jewish community in southern France. In the 5th century, descendants of these children married into the royal line of the Franks and thus created the Merovingian dynasty. Merovingians Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 365 originating from the Sumerian Shepherd line of Hebrews created the Frankish Dynasty (450–751 AD) that once ruled ancient Gaul since the Iron Age (1300- 600BC) through to the Roman period (509-168BC). Merovingians originated from the old Sumerian Dynasty of David and the line of a Hebrew King Judah. They changed to become a Salian Frankish dynasty of four German kings that came to rule during 1024–1125. They were also known as the Franks, after the family’s origin as dukes of Franconia who were crowned by the Holy Roman Emperor. The Salians were the 4th dynasty to rule Germany and were related by marriage to all the others. They ruled a region largely matching to ancient Gaul. Their politics involved frequent civil warfare among branches of the family. One particular Salian family of Frankish history in the early fifth century, in time became known as the Merovingians. These were Salian kings named after Childeric’s mythical father Merovech, whose birth was attributed with supernatural elements. From the 420s onwards, headed by a certain Chlodio, they expanded their territory into northern France. This kingdom was extended further by Childeric and Clovis, who gained control over Roman Gaul (Franks) or the current France. The Merovingian kings who were responsible for the conquest of Gaul were Salians. From the 3rd century on, the Salian Franks appear in the historical records as warlike Germanic people who functioned as pirates for the Romans. They settled permanently on Roman land in 358 in the current Dutch and Belgian provinces. The early Salians owed much of their success to their alliance with the Church, a policy begun by Otto I, which gave them the material support they needed to subdue rebellious dukes. In time, however, the Church came to regret this close relationship. The alliance broke down in 1075 during the Investiture Controversy in which the reformist Pope Gregory VII attacked the idea of monarchy by divine right. The Church seemingly knew that Jesus survived the cross and married Mary Magdalene who bore him a son and they lived in seclusion in the south of France. During the fifth century this lineage was said to have married with the royal line of Franks breeding the Merovingian dynasty. In 496, when the church pledged itself in eternity to the Merovingian bloodline it was presumably in full knowledge of their claimed identity with the Davidic and Judah’s dynasty. This would explain why Clovis was offered the status of Holy Roman Emperor and why he was not created but only ‘crowned’ king. In 754, the Church clandestinely betrayed its pact. During the final century of Merovingian rule, the dynasty was increasingly pushed into a ceremonial role. Early in the fifth century they established themselves in what is now Belgium and northern France. There they adopted the Cabalistic pseudo-Christianity of Cathars, a dualistic religion. This belief was held by Freemasons. Merovingians were sometimes referred to by their 366 In the Beginning contemporaries as “long-haired kings”, as distinct from the Romans and the tonsured clergy. Their rule ended in 752 when Pope Zachary deposed Childeric III. Zachary’s successor, Pope Stephen II, reconfirmed and crowned Pepin the Shorts king of Franks in Childeric’s place in 754. With that began the Carollingian monarchy and early introduction of the Holy Roman Empire. Medieval Latin was used in the Middle Ages as a medium of scholarly exchange of the medieval Roman Catholic Church and administration. It conventionally covered the period from around 500 to 1050. Under Clovis I, who reigned from 481–511, the Franks had converted to Roman Catholicism. Through him, Rome began to establish undisputed supremacy in Western Europe. In return for being the sword of Rome whereby the Church would reveal its power and impose a spiritual dominion, Clovis was granted the title of “New Constantine” and allowed to preside over a unified “Holy Roman Empire” based on the Church and governed on the secular level in perpetuity by the Merovingian bloodline. The Roman Catholic Church had made a pact with Clovis (466–511) the king of Franks who united all Frankish tribes under the first catholic king under the orders of Pope in 496. This was a pact that could be changed, but not revoked, broken or betrayed. Later the Church played a part in murdering Dagobert II, the last king of Austrasia who was also the last Merovingian king. The Church was never able to forgive itself for this. It resulted in the betrayal of Merovingians. It was vital to the Church that this knowledge was not widely known, as it would have played straight into the hands of Rome’s enemies. Rumours began they were a ‘satanic’ bloodline of a false prophet dynasty. The Prieure de Sion, a Secret Society with esoteric and occult interest and called the Illluminati was the name of the Secret Order which created the Knight Templars as its military and administrative arm. The Prieure de Sion claimed to hold the lost treasure of the Temple of Jerusalem plundered by Titus in 70 AD. It would be returned to Israel “when the time was right”. This perhaps explained why Rome deferred to the ‘kings of the earth’ behind the shield of baptism. The Prieure de Sion continued to work through the centuries, acting in the shadow and orchestrated certain critical events in Western history. It exists today and is working. Its declared objective was restoring Merovingian dynasty and bloodline — to the throne not only of France, but of other European nations as well—a restoration that was sanctioned and justifiable, both legally and morally. There was strong evidence to suggest that this order was the author of Freemasonry, as well as Rosicrucians. There was evidence to suggest that Nostradamus a reputed seer and prophet of the 16th century was one of their secret agents. He often referred clearly to the Knights Templars and to the which was by then synonymous with the Hapsburgs. He also referred to the coming of “le Grand Monarch” suggesting that this sovereign would eventually stem from the Merovingian dynasty. Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 367

Although deposed in the eighth century, the Merovingian bloodline did not become extinct. It perpetuated itself in a direct line from Dagobert II and his son Sigisbert IV. Through dynastic alliances and intermarriages, this line came to include Godefroi de Bouillon, the defender of the Holy Sepulchre who captured Jerusalem in 1099. This line as well as other noble and royal families, past and present—Blanchefort, Gisors, Saint-Clair (Sinclair in England), Montesquieu, Montpezat, Poher, Lusignan, Plantard and Hapsburg-Lorraine all had long belonged to the Merovingian bloodline and enjoyed legitimate claim to its heritage. Dagobert I (603 - 639) was the king of Austrasia, Franks, Neustria and Burgundy and the last Merovingian dynasty to wield any real royal power. Dagobert made his courtier Gundoin the first duke of this new polity that was to last until the end of the Merovingian dynasty. On the death of his father in 639, Dagobert II inherited the Neustria and Burgundy and his half-brother Charibert inherited Neustria. Dagobert murdered him and by 632, and Dagobert II became the most powerful and respected Merovingian ruler in the West. In 632 the nobles of Austrasia revolted. In 634, Dagobert II appeased the rebellious nobles by putting his three-year-old son, Sigisbert III, on the throne. As king, Dagobert made Paris his capital. Although devoutly religious, Dagobert was also responsible for the pattern of division and assassination which characterised the strong king Dagobert’s reign. This continued until Pepin deposed the last Merovingian king in 751, establishing the Carollingian dynasty. The Merovingian boy-king remained ineffective ruler. He inherited the throne as young child and lived only long enough to produce a male heir or two, while real power lay in the hands of the Carollingian noble families who exercised feudal control over most of the land. The bloodline continued through the many generations during several centuries. To a great extent this was aided by the fact the Carollingian royal family (the family of Emperor Charlemagne) married Merovingian to legitimize themselves. Dagobert’s son, Sigisbert, was the ancestor of Guillem de Gellone, ruler of the Jewish kingdom of Septimania in southern France, and later Godefroi de Bouillon, who later captured Jerusalem. Guillem de Gellone (Saint William of Gellone) was the son of Makhir, the King of Jews of Septimania who was Merovingian Jew of royal blood. The importance of William’s noble heritage and Judaism proved a genealogical link between the Houses of David, Judah and the Merovingian nobility of France. The Holy Grail was the bloodline of Jesus that worked its way into the bloodline of Frankish royalty. By those means, it restored the bloodline of Jesus and the Davidic line, back to their origin. That was rightfully its own since the Old Testament. Rome was unable to suppress the truth. It was probable the truth of the matter was revealed through such literature as the romances of the Holy Grail. The theory went on to conclude the Holy Grail had two simultaneous identities. 368 In the Beginning

First was the Knights Templar was guardian of “Sang Real”, the ‘Real’ or ‘Royal’ blood. Secondly, it could have meant the vessel or receptacle of Jesus’ blood (or rather semen), was referring to the womb of Mary Magdalene. Thus many of the churches that were supposedly dedicated to the “Virgin” Mary were in fact dedicated to the Magdalene. It could be proved that this was the case with many of the “Black Virgin” or “Black Madonna” churches and icons of the Middle Ages. Another identity of the Holy Grail might be referring to the treasure that was plundered in 70 AD when the emperor Titus plundered the temple of Jerusalem. This vast wealth eventually found its way to the Pyrenees, and was reputed to be in the hands of Prieuré de Sion. As well as this treasure, the Temple of Solomon was likely to have contained birth certificates, marriage certificates and other documents about the royal line of Hebrew and Jewish origin. It would give evidence of Jesus’ claim to be king of the Jews. It could also have contained his body once it had been removed from its tomb as reported in the Gospels. Although there was no evidence that Titus or his soldiers found such documents, logic would lead one to believe the soldiers would have been happy with the copious amounts of gold and jewels that they were to carry away, thus leaving the way clear for other more sensitive documents to be sequestered. By the year 1100, stories of the alleged descendants of Jesus reached prominence in Europe through Godefroi de Bouillon in Palestine. Even though they were well aware of their ancestry, they may not have been able to prove it without documentary or other proof that they remained at the Temple of Solomon. This would explain the excavations the Knights Templar made around the area of the Temple then. There was good evidence, not only the Templar knights were sent to Jerusalem to find something, but that they did, in fact, succeed, and returned it to England with their find. It was unclear what happened to it then. It seemed clear the fourth Grand Master of the Order of the Temple, Bertrand de Blanchefort, hid something near or under the Rennes-le-Château. It was here that early German miners were brought to build a hiding place. There is speculation over what this may have been. It could be Jesus’ marriage licence and/or birth certificates of his children to his mummified body. Any of this information was with Wiccans passed to the Cathars in Languedoc near Rennes-le-Château. They were massacred mercilessly by 30,000 of the Pope’s soldiers. One soldier had asked how they should know who to kill. The reply was “Kill them all. God will recognize himself.” If a treasure was hidden at the Cathar stronghold of Montsegur it was under siege for ten months until March 1244. There was a royal tradition practiced by Godefroi and Baudouin de Bouillon that was based on the “Rock of Sion”. In status it equalled the leading European dynasties. Both the New Testament and, later, Freemasonry said the “Rock of Sion”. Both referred to the same: Jesus. Once the Merovingians succeed in re- establishing themselves in Jerusalem, they would perhaps make the facts about Jesus and the European dynasties known. In time, the full truth of Merovingian Secret Activities and Clandestine Societies 369 kings should come out in the open. They could have ruled over Europe by replacing the Pope, and making Jerusalem the capital of the Christian world. Could it have changed the history of the Piscean Age? If Jesus was accepted as a mortal prophet, a priest-king and a descendant of the Davidic line, he would also have accepted by Muslims and Jews. That would obviously have changed Middle Eastern history significantly. However, this was not the course of history, and the Frankish kingdom of Jerusalem did not succeed. With the loss of the Holy Land in 1291, to Muslims, the Merovingians were sidelined, and the Knights Templar made redundant. Since, the Roman Catholic Church continued to strengthen at the expense of Truth. 370 In the Beginning

13.Spirituality and Science Meet

Pharaoh Thutmose III (Isaac Levi) who ruled ancient Egypt during 1500– 1447 BC, organized the first esoteric brotherhood of initiates that was founded on principles and methods familiar to those perpetuated by the Rosicrucian Order today. Moses (1300–1150 BC), of the Houses of David and Judah was educated in Egypt and initiated at Heliopolis. The place was also called the City of the Sun (Helios), an ancient city of Egypt but now in a modern suburb of Cairo. He became a High Priest of the Brotherhood under the reign of pharaohs. Moses belonged to the Hebrew House of Judah. He was later elected chief of the Tribes of Jacob and his sons who had moved to Egypt 200 years earlier. Moses knew he was a Jew and brethren to the Jews in Egypt. For that reason Moses led them out of Egypt from slavery to the ‘promised land’. He adjusted himself to the ideas of his people and led them for 40 years by his superior education in Egyptian Mysteries. As Master of Sciences, Spirituality and Philosophy he got Knowledge of Egyptian Mysteries while living a Pharaonic life as both priest and a noble. He was born in 1700 BC and began his Exodus in 1491 BC when he was already a scholar and an unbeaten warrior. The wonders which Moses recounted as having taken place on the Mountain of Sinai were, in part, a veiled account of the Egyptian initiation which he transferred to his people when he set up a branch of Egyptian Brotherhood in his country. Through centuries, Khemit Schools of Ancient Mysticism became keepers of these traditions. It was kept alive through the oral tradition by teachers of the Awyan family, among others. Therefore when Jesus arrived in Egypt after his stay in the East, like Moses before him, he agreed to the initiations of Egyptian Mysteries Jesus knew he had reached the crossroads of his mission on the earth. He understood he was on a rescue mission. Having moved heaven and earth, Jesus knew he had reached an intersection when a seeker must on purpose, wisely and wilfully assume responsibility for his further development. Paul said, “Let us lay aside every weight, and…run…the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). Jesus had described to the apostles their Spiritual Journeys. They all understood the total being of each would need freeing from every negativity or vagueness of opinion, aim, or motivation. Taoism (philosophical and religious traditions of eastern Asia) was not only known to the Essenes (Jewish sect with strict ways of living: Jesus belonged to this sect of Jews), but its principles were taught by them to all their members. Manipulative religions supposed God had likes and dislikes, even though the 370 Spirituality and Science Meet 371

Psalmist wrote, “The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works” (Psalm 145:8). And about preparation for yoga or entering spiritual life, he said “And blessed is the man whose spirit is triumphant and whose lower self is purified; whose soul is cleaned, becoming fit to be the council chamber of the manifests of Tao Great” (Aquarian Gospel: Section III). By mastering the physical, astral and causal bodies (the threefold nature of a human being), the seeker became an expression of purity and love. “And then, behold the manna there, the hidden bread of life; he who eats shall never die” (Exodus 16:4). Jesus declared repeatedly that beyond perfect knowledge a seeker would find immortality pervading the total being. He was not vague about what one would find through such a spiritual life, because he also said “The cherubim have guarded [this secret] well for every soul this treasure box and whoever will may enter and find his own” (Exodus 19:4). Jesus plainly told seekers that this revelation of eternal life took place in the head, which yogis called the Thousand-petalled Lotus or sahasrahara chakra in the fontanel. The two six-winged cherubim that guarded this treasury were the two hemispheres of the brain. They were defined as covering and guarding the brain’s core. Here was to be found the “third eye” (or the ankh according to Egyptian Mysteries) which many sages of both the East and West identified as the pineal gland. Experience told devout successful seekers that attention automatically moved up to this Holy Place of the brain, the meditator’s personal inner treasure. Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) was a spiritual seeker, closely connected to the Greek philosophers. In India, he failed to get a sadhu to take him to ‘heaven’. In Egypt he was interested to remain close to the Egyptian Mysteries. He took Egypt from the Persians in 332 BC and made it a part of the Greek Empire. Prompted by a dream he built a fortified port at a natural harbour and named it Alexandria. He then connected the Island of Pharaohs in the northern Gulf of Aqaba to the mainland with a 1,300-metre causeway, the Heptastadion. He neither saw this new city nor reined-in enlightenment, because he died in Babylon at the age of 38. Following Alexander’s death, his generals divided the Empire. One of them, Ptolemy, took Egypt and made Alexandria his capital. For the next two-and-a-half centuries, the of the Greeks successfully ruled Egypt, mingling Hellenic traditions with the mighty legacy of the pharaohs. Adoption of Egyptian culture became the secret to Ptolemy’s rule. This was a golden age for the citizens of Alexandria and for Egypt as a whole. Ptolemy invited scholars and artists from all over the known world to come to Alexandria to foster a learning culture. It was then recorded in the Alexandrian Library: the eventual fate of which is unknown. It may have perished in 270 BC. Egypt was ruled from Alexandria by Ptolemy’s descendants until the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC. Ptolemy and his descendants adopted Egyptian royal trappings. He added Egypt’s religion to their own, worshipping the gods of Eternity and 372 In the Beginning building temples to them. When Jesus appeared ‘Ptolemies’ took on Egyptian traditions and took part in Egyptian religious life. Alexandria was a centre of culture and learning, gathered from all civilizations of the planet. It was in those times the mothers of both Jesus and John were given training in all ancient mysteries and wisdoms of the time. The ‘Hebrew Book of Life’ took its origin in Babylonia (562 BC), the ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia of present day Iraq. It was adopted by the Jews under Babylonian influence. Free of dogmas the text went beyond rituals. It contained the essence of all religions. It therefore had wisdom records that came from intimate relationships with all sages seeking intelligence from all civilizations. This Book of Life was a heavenly ‘ledger’ containing the record of man’s deeds and conduct throughout lifetimes. Though also found in ancient Mesopotamian sources, this idea received only one specific mention in the Hebrew Bible (Psalms 69:29), where hope was expressed that evil men “may be erased from the Book of Life and not inscribed with the righteous.” Their writings were by a Semitic- speaking Amoritic people. They were agriculturists, were ruled by monarchs, had a class system and were polytheistic. The civilization prospered there from the 18th to the 6th century BC. During the following 500 years there was a gradual change in developing Earth’s inhabitants, about science, culture and spirituality. The Total Mind of Humanity was receding towards sightlessness. The sages Jesus later met in Persia, Egypt and Greece therefore had a problem to solve. The predicament was about the blinding Piscean Age. With the Sun’s receding from Total Awareness during the Piscean Age of Kaliyuga, the sages and masters had to give the unsighted humanity a purpose of existence over the oncoming 2400 years. Knowledge of Science and Spirituality embedded in different civilizations needed preserving. Individual convictions could and should not get in the way of human evolution. There was an urgent need to inculcate into humanity the Yoga of Harmlessness. Science of Star Fire In the early days, ‘metals’ of the alchemists were not common metals. They were living essences. Knowledge about them was embedded in old mysteries. It was about their physical as well as their ‘secret’ philosophical nature. The word ‘secret’ had its origin in the hidden knowledge of glandular secretions that became available under season. In Sanskrit, ‘ritu’ meant season. In truth ‘ritu’ expresses a ritual, a rite of root that was red. Ritu revealed itself as physical matter in the form of the purest and noblest of all metals. Gold was always believed to represent a crowning truth about physical expression. Use of old words also hid secrets. In ancient Egypt, the word amen was used to mean something hidden or disguised. The word occult meant the same: ‘hidden from view’. All three words Spirituality and Science Meet 373 ritu, amen and occult were therefore connected with the mystic science of endocrinal secretions. Since Kali was associated with black, standing for the English word ‘coal’. It stemmed from her name kol in her Hebrew name Bath-Kol. She was called the Daughter of Voice during puberty. The womb was associated with the unfathomable voice of Star Fire: the oracular word for womb, or uterus. Scarlet Women were a direct source of the priestly Star Fire – the menstruum. In Greek these virgins were classified hierodules for ‘sacred women’. Later gathered from medieval French into English it became ‘harlot’. In the early Germanic tongue they were horés, later Anglicized to ‘whores’. It was now common knowledge that these synonyms and acronyms were contrived strategies of the medieval Church in its bid to denigrate the noble status of the sacred priestesses. The term ORME or “Orbitally Rearranged Monatomic Elements” was coined by David Radius Hudson, and was interconnected to Star Fire. Also known as The Philosopher’s Stone, the Elixir of Life, the White Powder of Gold, Ma-na or Manna, it was also an acronym (ORME). An enormous amount of research on the subject perhaps referred to and suggested in Hebrew: the “Tree of Life”. Sadly, the withdrawal of knowledge of the genuine Star Fire tradition from public domain was stifled by the forgers of Churchianity. Some of the original knowledge was preserved in Talmudic and Rabbinical lore but, the mainstream Jews and Churchians had distorted views. They had destroyed all traces of this ancient art of medicine and science. The Anunnakis (Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian) claimed the menstruum was the Vehicle of Light. It was considered the definitive source of all expression, both human and creature. It was equated with the mystical Waters of Creation and the flow of eternal wisdom. Therefore the Rosi-Crucis (cup of the waters) became the Mark of Cain and the emblem of kingly succession. This reality was echoed by the Nathas and sages who believed that hormonal secretions could make it easier to reach thoughtless concentration and ‘bodilessness’. Although Light remained dormant in a spiritually unawakened person, the Nathas devised kriya yoga to awaken and motivate the spiritual energy by self-will and steady self-enquiry. The ‘secret’ to Brahmanadi or ‘path to Brahma’ (God) was possible through a thought-free consciousness or samadhi: an intense formless pure beingness in the knowingness of Self-completeness. The Churchian chalice was a female symbol emblematic of the womb. The messianic lifeblood symbolized by wine could have been an extract of menstrual blood as source of certain hormones (pineal, pituitary, hypothalamic messenger hormones that influenced the many target endocrine glands). It was from the womb of Nînhursag (queen of the mountains, the Sumerian earth and mother goddess of fertility who created all vegetation) the Egyptian royal line was born. It was with her blood, the divine Star Fire, the Dragon successors of Pharaonic Egypt were given an added feed to heighten both physical and spiritual 374 In the Beginning ascendancy. In ancient Egypt, Nînhursag was called Isis. By either name, she was the supreme mother of the royal line, for hers was the matrilineal gene which made up the kingly beginning. The original Star Fire was the lunar essence of the Goddess. The brain’s master endocrine glands, the pituitary and pineal glands were and still are associated with the health of the Tree of Life. They were known to trigger release of messenger hormones that encouraged secreting ‘wanted’ hormones for targeted endocrine glands. The result was a healthy existence, active longevity for effective meditation to allow any individual to reach enlightenment. Menstrual flow was referred to as soma, or the Greek’s ambrosia. In mystical circles, the menstrual flow iwa designated a flower and was represented as a lily or a lotus. In ancient Sumer, the key females of the royal succession were all venerated as lilies, having such names as Lili, Luluwa, , Lilutu and Lillette. It was through iwa the phoenix rejuvenated into a noiseless Awareness of Silence. Forgotten Science about Spiritual Reawakening The Secret Science of Soul Reawakening was an old science. To become transcendent, the Egyptians tried to isolate melatonin and pituitary hormones from menstruum, as did the tantrikas of India. At Schools of Mystery master metallurgists learned and converted molten gold into a white powder. It was used by spiritual seekers to uplift them to gravity-less-ness. Tantrikas who followed the old path of spiritual expansion and personal transformation using menstruum energy (Shakti) also recognised it was the most potent energy source available. They also tried to convert mercury to gold for taking in as powder to prolong life by delaying body decay. Meanwhile Patanjali (150BC) described similar spiritual expansion and transformation by prescribing an eight-pronged path of Kriya Yoga. The Yoga was a proven way towards delayed bodily decay, bringing about astral transformation of the elemental physical body, and making the mortal subconscious to the Forces of Nature including earth’s gravity. It was already described by past masters over many millennia, but needed reawakening for the Golden Age of Satya Yuga. This happened over the past 200 years through Lahiri, Yukteshwar, Yogananda and disciples of Hariharananda. The Secret Science of Soul Reawakening of kriya or action within a yoga discipline was to achieve union of breath and soul. Lahiri Mahasaya received the yogic practice from his guru, Babaji, who also revived and clarified the technique after it had been lost in the Dark Ages. Babaji told Lahiri Mahasaya, “Kriya is a revival of the same science which Krishna gave, to Arjuna many millennia ago, and was later known to Patanjali, and later taught to Jesus who taught it to John, Paul and other disciples”. That kriya yogi arrested the decay of the body by an intense collection of life-force into the physical body, was already known to the ancients. It stopped bodily mutation by reducing the strength of the decaying current apana. This neutralizing of decay and growth Spirituality and Science Meet 375 happened through quietening of the heart. The yogi who learned breath control through body discipline, mental control and meditating on Aum naturally lived more off prana or ki-energy or life-force. Through gradual and regular increase of these simple infallible methods of kriya, man’s body transformed astrally day by day, and was finally fitted to express the infinite potentials of cosmic energy: the first materially active power expression of Spirit. The contemplative mind, taking on its return to divinity, was constantly dragged back toward the senses by the downward sliding life currents. Kriya, by controlling the mind directly through the life-force, was the easiest, most effective, and most scientific avenue to prevent the downward flow by ascending it towards the Infinite. In contrast to the slow, uncertain, ‘bullock cart’ theological path to God, kriya might justly be called the ‘aeroplane’ route. The life of an advanced kriya yogi was influenced, not by the effects of past actions, but solely by directions from the soul. The devotee thus avoided the slow, evolutionary checks of egoistic actions, good and bad, of common life, cumbrous and snail-like to the eagle hearts. The superior method of soul-living freed the yogi who, shorn of his ego-prison, tasted the deep air of omnipresence. Soul-living was about personal and spiritual growth through self-help and connecting with the Force and Power of Sun’s Spiritual Fire Kriya yoga was the process for quickening humanity’s spiritual evolution through soul integration. It is today taught by Buddha Maitreya (the future Buddha) by using the Shambala Meditation (founded by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche) and Etheric Healing tools (knowledge ability to have power and capacity to stay well and heal you’). That etheric body in its subtlest astral energy level was the key to kriya yoga. It was important for preserving life-force or vitality. It was hinted at by Yogananda and Sri Yukteshwar thus: “Those who have ferreted out the physical laws can easily research the science of the soul”. He told his doctor disciples, “A subtle spiritual mechanism is hidden just behind the bodily structure.” Both Ayurvedic and ancient Chinese and Mesopotamian Cures were based on such wisdom. Changes in the Physical-Astral Universe and the Human Body Hindus of all shades and tribes worshipped Mother Nature the Goddess, who to them was the personification of Humankind and the Universe. The source of Nature’s Light was Shiva who personified pure Force and Will of Consciousness and She was the ‘unseen’ Power of Shakti or the Holy Spirit called Lifeforce or prana: a mirror image of Shiva’s energy. The various powers of Mother Nature were but energies of Shiva who was the ever-witnessing Consciousness. She was granted with Creativity, Sluggishness and Synchronization of both in Harmony. Man was granted with the same three qualities - three great Lights existed inaudibly in a human being: Sun, Moon and Fire. The Sun was placed in the heart, Moon in the brain, and Fire in the genitals. These three beautiful cities, 376 In the Beginning collectively the Being of the Goddess Durga, were always ‘inaccessible and invincible” without sincere practices of the Ten Yogic Commandments of yama and niyama. When these three Lights of the Mother shone fully together, Shiva the fourth Light becomes fully revealed. By the daily acts of Cosmic Will each seeker practicing Kriya Yoga has the power to sanctify humanity through Creation, Maintenance and Dissolution of the Universe. Fundamental to this tradition was the assumption that all that was the Universe was also endowed within every plant, creature and human body. Stars, planets, rivers, seas, suns, moons and even the atoms of dust, that appear outside were also found ‘inside’ man. The daily act of oblation to the Sun, therefore, was always an offering of the microcosmic universe to the entire Cosmos. It was an actively offered oblation in havans (purifying ritual of the Fire ceremony) by the subjective individual to the Fire of Pure Consciousness. This secretive meditation was the Bhairava-mudra, in which there was the inner Self-remembering the Greater Self simultaneously, while looking outwards. Over years of practice of such repeated oblations, a change happened in the physical body - a change-over and metamorphosis of the atoms of all bodily tissue. The central nervous system which ran on melatonin (from the pituitary- hypothalamic-pineal complex) came to a firm realisation. The gain from such practices was an unchangeable intuited knowledge there was no difference between worshippers and the worshipped. There was no difference between teacher, taught, hymn, symbol and power. One was All and All was One. Those who underwent this dispensation understood this change-over (Kriya yoga) led to the discharge of illness-free radicals for a healthy existence. The nervous system now was in a crystal clear form and ran more under the influence of melatonin and discriminatory hormones released by the pineal, pituitary and hypopituitary glands rather than on creative adrenaline and noradrenalin. The distinctly restructured nervous system, now less dependant on catecholamine, experienced less of want, anger, greed, possessiveness, pride, jealousy or possessiveness. The melatonin/serotonin suffused nervous system channels allowed reorientation into an enduring sense of a distinct inner tranquillity and peace. Historically, alchemy practised in the pyramids of Egypt was used by spiritual initiates to gradually uplift the coarse human form into a subtle vibrational state that allowed one to transcend the experience of mortal death. Such processing was and still is aimed at converting the physical expression into a transparent crystalline state rearranging atoms and ions in an orderly pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. For anyone dedicated to the spiritual path, the processing took 12 to 14 years for the physical body and seven years for the brain to gain changed distinctness. ‘Crystalline consciousness’, now made popular in the 21st century, was old information hidden in the “Hall of Records” of the Great Pyramid in Egypt some 11,000 years ago. Spirituality and Science Meet 377

In the July of 1997, twelve channel-souls who locked records in prior incarnations in Egypt reconvened to reopen the records and transfer them into the earth’s Akashic Records. This information was needed to help evolution. Humanity was not the only creation on earth to undergo transformation to the ‘crystalline’ form. All animal, plant and mineral kingdoms were intended to change to this new form. Crystalline form did not need consuming food to subsist. All would one day pull at all the life-force needed to subsist through the breath. This was a part of the earth’s destiny and was expected to be brought to fruition by the year 2500. By then Knowledge and Spirituality would merge to benefit the planet. Melchizedek Order was traditionally the keeper of such occult knowledge about the offices of the coming prophet who would be both a celibate priest and a king. It claimed the planet’s destruction could be stopped by the kingdom of true Masters with the help of God who made the Masters justified kings and priests. They were always alive and active at their duties. This was one of the most well known doctrines, taught by thousands in every religious generation throughout history and recorded right through times past. “Thou art a priest be forever after the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 5:6–10; 6:20; and 8:1); These immortal priests understood Time and Cycles of Creation and would return to nurture humanity forever whenever the era was ripe for their message. Since time immemorial, the Himalayas were always the home of great yogis, sages and mahatmas. Saints still live in the serene precincts of the lofty Himalayas. According to Indian tradition, there were seven men with eternal life and were referred to as Chiranjeevins. They are Ashwathama who existed as ‘Pilot baba’ and was seen at World Peace Campaign; Bali : demon king and grandson of Bhakta Prahlad who won all the three worlds of earth, heaven and underworld (patala); Vyasa, the sage who wrote all the scriptures to prevent their loss through oral tradition; Hanuman: the son of the wind-god and ally of Rama; Vibhishana: a younger brother of Ravanna; Kripacharya the sage who defined the seven eternal values and Parasurama the sixth reincarnation of Vishnu. He appeared when royalty waged wars on the priestly class. Being immortal did not mean eternal. Even immortal things were dissolved at the end of the cycle of the universe, including their secondary creator Brahma. Each immortal was married to perfect values which they nurtured and protected from devolution. Rachel Starr Thomson reidentified the Seven Eternal values of human existence as Hospitality, financial Generosity, Self-discipline, and Love for Truth, Purity and of Sinners as well as a Passion for Life. Evolution and destruction were opposite polarities of the same energetic Force. Evolution and destruction occurred simultaneously at the same pace to keep the universal Power and Force in balance. If evolution were stopped, so would destruction, and rebirth would become impossible. The was prevented by members of the Melchizedek Order to stop destruction, until a 378 In the Beginning solution could be found to heal the entire universe. A part of the solution was the current inherited adjustment taking place in spiritual initiates around the globe. World population in the 21st century reached 7 billion amid draught, poverty, homelessness and hunger as well as untold wealth of food and water stashed away by a few. Perhaps the Melchizedec Orders for Planetary Balance will play again the Law of Equality for All. Prophesies about Harmfulness remained alive and well through twenty-five centuries. While the ice caps grew smaller, tropical and temperate zones where food was grown also disappeared. Degradation of arid and sub humid areas in the tropics progressively increased. Transformation of arable and habitable land to desert and flooding caused disruption of food-production in millions of lives and collapsed their traditional lifestyles. Climatic changes well on its way would perhaps happen suddenly in the future. After stripping the breast off Mother Earth, humanity cannot expect the Mother to secrete Her nourishment. Mankind must therefore endure financial misfortune and political calamity during Time’s transition towards the Golden Age of Aquarius. Metallurgy and Alchemy Weight loss while processing gold and silver led David Hudson (a crop farmer of Phoenix, Arizona) to “ghost gold”. It was not assayable whether qualitatively or quantitatively, nor could it be analysed as a known gold. Inquiry took David to a specialist on emission spectroscopy (ES) who with the help of a senior researcher familiarized him with the work done by the Soviet Academy of Sciences. The process involved establishing an electrical arc between two carbon electrodes for 15 seconds with the sample of ore placed between them. The essential elements ionized, giving off varying light frequencies. Hudson’s ore identified gold, silver, iron, silicon and aluminium. In an effort to free the ore of Fe, Si, and Al, he lost 2% of the ore weight. At Cornell University he worked with other researchers who put the ore through Cumming microscopy, diffraction microscopy, fluorescent microscopy (x-ray analysis) among other technologies. Hudson persisted to remove the debris and was left with, as his guide said: “pure nothing.” Hudson insisted whatever was lost was ‘something’. They now reviewed works by the Soviet Academy of Sciences who had done spectroscopic analysis on samples for 300 seconds but had sheathed the electrodes with oxygen-free inert gas while using the DC arc. This would prevent the carbon electrode from oxidizing and falling apart. Hudson and company used argon gas to cover the electrodes. Since carbon tolerates high temperatures, it would last direct current arcing for 300 seconds. When the material was arced for 15 seconds the scope read “electronic grass” of iron, silicon, aluminium, and traces of calcium. Then there was a pause. Argon gas (1% Earth’s atmosphere exists as inert gas but has identical molecular structure as rhodium and iridium) was active as trace element in the ore. A Spirituality and Science Meet 379 crucial incident happened next: sono-luminescence. There was a sudden burst of bright flashes of light and high frequency sound against a gas bubble. As the external pressure of the sound wave increased, the bubble walls began to shrink and then collapsed to less than a hundredth of its maximum size in about 15 microseconds. Then, as the bubble reached its minimum size, it emitted a bright flash of light. The same experiments were repeated with other metals and readings were taken at different intervals. This was called fractional vaporization (FV) by the Russian scientists. “Electronic grass’ showed FV after 90 seconds for Palladium; 110 seconds for Platinum; at 130 seconds for Ruthenium; Rhodium at 140–150 seconds, Iridium at 190 seconds and Osmium at 220 seconds. Metal could not get hotter than the boiling-point of water but once the heat was raised further, the rising temperature melted the metal. In the presence of a mixed metal solution a ‘phase change’ remained steady until the ‘boiling phase’ of each metal completed itself. Boiling points (in degrees Celsius) of different metals were thus: Calcium 1420; Iron 1535; Silver 1950; Silicon 2355; Aluminium 2327; Palladium >2200; Rhodium 2500; Gold 2600; Ruthenium 4150; Platinum 4300; Iridium >4800 and Osmium >5300. The maximum temperature reached by the DC arc was, theoretically, 5450 to 5500 degrees and as the heat reached the metal’s boiling point, the metal disappeared from the sample ore. In solution each metal was colour-specific and could be precipitated at high temperatures under oxygen to produce it’s dehydrate powder; reheated with hydrogen created a white powder. When yellow gold was turned into mono-atomic gold, its colour turned forest green. In the bowels of the earth, in volcanoes and nature which was constantly producing 98% monoatomic gold only 2% was ever mined. When experimentally producing monoatomic gold, a dark grey substance formed which when heated underwent microstructural changes and the proton was annealed away. The residue became a snow-white powder, having lost half of its weight, but when it was treated in reverse, the metal and the weight reappeared. While annealing, the material being studied levitated, taking the pan (which underwent the processing with the metal) with it. This only happened to the white powder form of gold. Cooling the material to zero degrees Celsius made it a superconductor. A superconductor is a material with a single wavelength and a single vibration and frequency, like a laser. With its perfect amperage it did not allow any voltage potential to exist within it. To free the wire of electrons, the superconductor needed hooking up to wires with ordinary current voltage. When set at a particular voltage and vibrational frequency, the electrons detached. When the electrons going into the superconductor were paired up they become light. Any amount of light could exist in the superconductor. To confirm that it was a superconductor, its Meissner field was measured. It only responded to 380 In the Beginning magnetic fields which were attracted towards the earth’s magnetism. This superconductor could see thoughts in different parts of the brain which lit up, as if the superconductor saw it. When gold became white powder, it lost 4/9th of its original weight and had flowing light within it in response to the earth’s magnetic field. While the light darted, the current levitated 4/9th of its weight on the earth’s magnetic field. The 1990 Time-Life Book, ‘Secrets of the Alchemist’ talked about a white powder of gold. According to it, “The goal of all alchemists has always been to make a white powder of gold: the ingredient of the light of life that prevents or slows ageing to live forever.” Over 5% of dry brain matter weight was assessed rhodium and iridium but it could not be measured directly though it flows as the light of life inside the body. A US naval research confirmed that cells intercommunicated by a process identical with superconductivity using stealth atoms that flowed eternally as the light of life (prana), which as long as it existed in the material body, made the body experience an extraordinary state of existence. Superconductors (life-force or prana or ki-energy or chi) were therefore assumed as being the power and energy in nuclei of all cells. Nostradamus prophesied that by 1999, occult gold would be known to science. The old enemy of religion and of philosophy was Man’s inanity for ignoring knowledge, science and spirituality. Science would bring this present world together. Religion tried it for two thousand years, and failed miserably. The Capitalist Democracy based on selfishness and greed was now worn-out. But science with spirituality could take humanity to a better place. Once manna was accepted and understood by scientists, breakthroughs would bring analytical advances. From ‘The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered’ it was obvious the Qumran community had a metallurgical foundry in the middle of their city. Their teacher was preoccupied with virtue and he or she was not Moses or Jesus. The High Priest regularly swallowed the ‘teacher of righteousness’: the Holy Spirit which for these scientists was the Light. It was and is not measurable because this godly source comes from within man. This discovery by Duncan neither needed study nor discussion; everybody knew it intuitively. In times of draught and hunger, for the enlightened, when the Light Body pledged to nourish the material body with prana, food was not considered ‘needed’ for survival. Telepathy allowed complete clarity of heart and mind for every individual on the Path of Meditation. When all was known, where was the need for hidden agendas or deceit? In the ‘Book of Light’, ‘Revelations’ said: “Blessed be the man who shall overcome, for he shall be given the hidden manna, the white stone of the purest kind on which will be written a new name” (Matthew 5:5 and Psalms 32). That was always encoded in the DNA of each person, just waiting to be reactivated as the Sun moved closer to the Cosmic Intelligence of humankind. Spirituality and Science Meet 381

Science stated that at 1160 degrees, the white powder of gold fused to form transparent gold glass. Revelations confirmed that also: “The streets of the New Jerusalem will be paved with gold of the purest light, as transparent as glass, and the foundations of New Jerusalem will be made with gold likened to glass.” This manna would cause everybody to return to his divine original state. Man had fallen asleep and forgotten the purpose of human existence. Through meditation and transcendence beyond the physical and astral being, man would finally understand and reawaken to the purpose of human expression. These elements of prana were always in all herbs and vegetables in small amounts, but man had the capacity to heighten their effects within him or her through service, dedication, self-study and meditation. All were gifted with the opportunity of achieving similar results: to become introspectively obvious, wise and giving. Like the Nathas whose alchemy with menstruum and mercury might or may not have created the ‘white gold’, but just over 200 years ago Babaji, a leader of the ascended masters, redefined the search toward Light. He showed the path to enlightenment was through the Brahmanadi through the spinal cord and into the brain, beyond the physical, astral and causal beingness. In the Beginning... Mankind’s Search for Immortality The acronym ORME was for Orbitally Rearranged Monatomic Elements. This phrase was coined in the modern times by David Radius Hudson, who had researched the subject of the Hebrew ‘Tree of Life’. The research involved chemistry, physics, and physiology with interpretations of Sumerian, Egyptian, and Anunnaki (Akkadian and Babylonian deities) of the old world. Although the Adam and Eve story was treated as an allegory, it was perhaps closer to factual history. Historically, we were told by researchers and scholars that genetic manipulation of mankind began at the dawn of human life by a group of extraterrestrials who issued humanity of this planet with a “prime directive” which denied humans to follow any path that was best for them, whatever that path might be: including self-destruction. The history of earth could be arbitrarily divided into four ages: Ancient history—from the dawn of human life until roughly 600 BC, which was available in the early records of the Sumerian Civilization; Early history—600 BC to 900 AD containing sanctioned versions of fraud or misrepresentation of history; Recent history—900 to 1950 AD; and Current history—1950 AD to the present which also suffered similar manipulation. Throughout history why was there a need for “secret societies”? What was their undercover agenda? Were they keepers of clandestine historical or even scientific truths? Mainstream history was not all misrepresentation of truth because of a fundamental rule that they always began with some form of satisfactory legitimacy. What was then written was speculation about what stemmed from a truth. This seed of exactness gave a record an illusion of authenticity. Many who 382 In the Beginning lacked the will to authenticate what they heard or read filled their lives with inaccurate stories stemming from inventions of the truth. Historians, politicians, the elite and powerful were the authorities responsible for twisting historical truths. Records of mainstream history created through ‘official policy’ by subordinates ‘towed the party line’ of the day. Therefore, even researching such records was not necessarily complete or legitimate, but at least it could be enlightening. An individualised study revealed that conclusions made from individual scholarly investigations were often seriously flawed or misrepresented or claims made identified a special bias. ‘The Two Faces of Islam’ by Stephen Schwartz was a well researched document on the religions of the world but missed Sanatan Dharma: the eternal religion of the Vedas. Discrimination of the researcher in deciding what in fact the truth was needed an open mind, free of ideas and preconceptions: “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32). The effect of studying history with political agendas or even exploring the real meaning of the earliest venerated documents always had the capacity to create a revolutionary science and triggered a leap into the thought system of past writings. The earliest Jews were influenced by the Zoroastrian idea (600 BC) that God the Eternal Witness of Creation would never cause evil. This philosophy claimed there was Light of Sun (Mazda) and Night of darkness (Ahriman). The Northern tribe of Sumeria was led by Judah a Hebrew King who, like the Persians followed monotheism. During their captivity in Babylon (Iraq), Jews of the Southern tribes of Isaac through Jacob shifted their understanding. They believed there was a separate entity responsible for their misfortune that forced them towards Egypt. They started believing in a good and a bad god. The Sumerian (Mesopotamian) Gilgamesh epic (5000–200 BC) had the same idea. Gilgamesh who was two-thirds god and one-third human, and Huwawa of the Assyrian monstrous giant of immemorial age stood in opposition to one another. Dualism after that influenced Judaism and later apostate Christianity, which proposed two gods. Edersheim, however, outlined that sinful inclinations within humanity, was the real “tempter”. “I am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me, That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting there is none besides Me. I am the Lord and there is no other; I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord do all these things.’ (Isaiah 45:5–7). Duality had always existed as God’s Creativity (rajas) and Slowness (tamas). In a balanced state God always was the Harmony (sattva) of both these states of Existence as Truth- Knowledge-Existence (sat chit anand) as well as Untruth-Ignorance- Nonexistence. The Hebrew Bible as an ancient literary text was both embedded in political record and told of its own Sacred History. It was a story of the origins and Spirituality and Science Meet 383 formation of the Jewish people and difficult relationship with Yahweh, the God of the Hebrew Bible. Robert Alter wrote: “Any literary account of the Hebrew Bible must recognize...this quality of extreme difference. ... From one belief, it is not even a unified collection but rather a loose anthology that reflects as much as nine centuries of Hebrew literary activity, from the Song of Deborah ... to the Book of Daniel (second century BC).” Alter goes on to say that “...the idea of the Hebrew Bible as a sprawling, unruly anthology was no more than a partial truth, for the retrospective act of canonization was and has created a unity among these disparate texts...” The Hebrew Bible was written over a long time by various people and groups. It combined oral stories, many with roots in the ancient Middle East, Far East with more specific and possibly factual history about the Jewish people’s origins, wanderings, sojourn in Egypt, more wanderings, invasion of Canaan, development of the Pharaonic monarchy, scattering to Babylon and the return to Israel by the Tribes of Jacob Israel. When the Jews were imprisoned in Babylon, Abraham (Djehuty) was the commander of an elite military cavalry with enough livestock (sheep) to feed the troupe. The biblical version in Joshua 10:12–13 was likely a true appraisal, but history reinterpreted it as an allegory to claim legitimacy. “Then spake Joshua (one of the ten spies of Moses who later replaced him as leader of the tribe to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still on Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the Valley of Ajalon (north-west of Israel). And the Sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves on their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the Sun stood still amid heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day” Later, Moses a Hebrew belonging to the Tribes of Judah led Jacob’s Tribes of Israel towards the promised land. It was recorded the Sun was the deity of both the Hebrews and their bordering Persian neighbours. Velikovsky (1895-1979), a Russian-American scholar of Jewish origin, put forward a startling and controversial theory to explain this portion of the Bible. The earth must have faced a near collision with the planet Venus. In this urgent situation, the presence of Venus affected the rotation of the earth in such a manner as to result in the noticeable observation of the Sun and Moon standing still. Conceivably the earth’s continental crust where humanity lived at the time stopped to rotate for about a day. Given the earth’s continental land masses were gravitationally attracted to a close encounter with another planetary body, a slip of the crust over the rotating core and mantle and the subsequent return to normality between core and mantle would confirm this old biblical account. This would explain that at least once, in that earliest time, the earth’s rotation was interrupted so the sun and moon appeared to stand still. Then there are old histories and commentaries made in an attempt to 384 In the Beginning present the past as a current reality. The past was filled with terms like ‘secret philosophy’ (seeking intrigues behind the meaning of life), sacred geometry (used in planning religious structures and art) and Ha Qabala (literal, mystical and philosophical Jewish cosmology) and how they were and are connected as a science. The Tree of Life in (Genesis 3:22–24) suggested there was a tree in the Garden of Eden whose fruit, if eaten, gave everlasting life. In the 135th hymn of the tenth Book of the Rig Veda and the Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 15:1) referred to a world tree as growing with its roots in the heavens, and its trunk and branches extending downwards to earth. The upside- down Tree of Life was a metaphor that represented the emergence and emanation of the universe out of the ground of being. To Egyptians and Greeks, the Tree of Life was used as genealogy to trace the origin of all the gods and therefore Creation and the original God or primal principle. Whatever the theme of all these terms identified, they were used to align facts about the entire evolution of life on the earth. ORME is today the connecting link between all of these subjects, among others yet not identified. Barry Carter’s article was of special note in the accidental ORMUS discovery. The chemistry and physics of monatomic elements described characteristics of eight ‘precious metals’: ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, and silver (also known as the “light platinum group”) and osmium, iridium, platinum, and gold (the “heavy platinum group”). Of particular importance was all of these precious metals had a strong affinity for gold in combination with which they were almost always found in their natural state. Gold, in turn, had a history of being the most precious and noble of all commodities because of its properties. It also had a mysterious “spiritual tradition” which survived countless generations. These elements identified as monoatomic, super deformed, high spin, were in a low energy state. They lost their chemical reactivity and metallic nature and became superconductive with Meissner’s magnetic fields, Cooper pairs, and electrons that changed into photons or light. They remained stable in the monoatomic form, with effects ranging from weightlessness by 90% to zero-point energy applications to positive biological and human physiological effects. According to the science of ORME, gold, rhodium, and iridium (and potentially other precious metals) may in fact be the Tree of Life. Alchemy talked of “the White Powder of Gold” as the Food of Gods - gathered from yellow gold transformed into a white powder when it reached that monoatomic state. This was the same process by which Hudson and Barry Carter and his friend Jim accidentally found - monoatomic precious metals. Diversionary untruth to mislead those with less lofty ambitions kept the secret from those not initiated into the Mystery. Hudson also connected the ORME with the Hebrew tradition of Manna, thought to be the white powder of gold. ‘The Egyptian Book of the Dead’ included a need for the study of ORME as part of the Melchizedek priesthood at the Spirituality and Science Meet 385 metallurgical foundry at Qumran, found a few miles from Jerusalem, where the Essenes were located. Other references included the mixture of the white powder of gold in water as being “that which issues from the mouth of the creator”, “the semen of the father in heaven”. Hudson believed that Moses knew the secrets of making the ORME, and the Ark of the Covenant was a container for ORME which had properties of levitation to “blasts of heavenly displeasure.” Later, in the Essene tradition, the white powder of gold was referred to as the “teacher of righteousness” which was swallowed and taken internally for purposes of spiritual practices. Its ingestion created for the individual a deep sense of being in the presence of divinity. Freedom from Elemental Force When Patanjali spoke of transformation he described a ‘secret’ path which if invoked with sincerity, naturally resulted in the union with divinity. That was what the School of Mysteries of Egypt and the Essenes were seeking. They wanted to become unreceptive to the elemental forces and especially earth’s gravitation. To transcend into the rarefied world of the subtle, they would need freedom from the Powers of Nature. In the old yogic tradition, that of Gorakhnath and other Natha yogis, the process of transformation was defined as Samanvyastha (undifferentiated state), meaning complete oneness in an unmanifest state. This resulted from elimination of all ‘differences’ of thoughts (raga dvesha) and habits while in the manifested state. The process took the being from all levels of existence into a harmonious subtle resonance with the divine. This statement was not an invention of somebody’s imagination but the experience of a yogi because of subtraction of all difference on the physical-mental- intellectual levels. All conflicts were erased and he or she became one with the Absolute, freed from the compulsions of delusory Maya embedded in Creation. According to the philosophy of Gorakhnath and commented on by Akshaya Kumar Banerjea, samarasya was common interpenetration and unification between purusha (Force of Father) and prakriti (Power of Holy Spirit). Gaining unity between the ascending Power of Prakriti with Purusha while in a transcended state of Oneness was one of undivided and indivisible Whole. The Swacchanda-Tantra which was one of the earliest agamas available, detailed the several stages in the process of unification which ended in Supreme Samarasya. Real devoted practice or sadhana could not begin until the mind was made quiet and free from disturbances from a sense identity with the body. A mind at rest experienced pure knowledge like a dawn on the awakening soul that was in an age-long slumber. Duality disappeared in the Light of undifferentiated Unity. This Light brought out the Powers of Consciousness. Once awakened, universal consciousness produced in the yogi a perfect knowledge of his body. This resulted in the illumination and stabilization of bodily concerns... the result was a 386 In the Beginning microcosmic unity with macrocosmic Supreme Reality. The experience was never- ending and immune from the ravages of Time. The Natha ideal was to realize this as Jivanmukta (soul) through pinda siddhi or striving towards perfection for securing a Blameless Body of Light free from the influence of Time and then to realize param mukti or the Highest Perfection through the process of mutual integration – Agni Yoga. Although the term “spiritual evolution” spoke of an unfolding spiritual awareness from stage to stage, evolution did not take place on the level of the spirit which was ever perfect and never changed. The vehicles of spirit, meaning body, mind, intellect and will which were grosser or subtler forms of energy, experienced evolution and became progressively more refined and receptive to the Light of the pure Self. These “layers”, although gross coverings were themselves formed of divine power. Except for the physical body and its grosser magnetic fields, man held these layers into next incarnations. In each life they increased in their capacity, to more reflect and act as vehicles for consciousness. If man related to Mother Nature as a lifeless matter to capture and take advantage of, man was drawn deeper into bondage under a spiritual hypnosis (maya). Mother Nature was the Power and Light of the Holy Spirit, the Energy (prana or chi) of our divine Mother. Everything depended on how one related to the Mother. As Jesus said: “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). It was through Her alone that Man was led into the path of spiritual evolution. It was a seeker’s relationship with the Mother, the Holy Spirit that told the true story about the dual facets of the Divine Power, which Hindus called Mahashakti while Christians called the Holy Spirit, Holy Breath, the Mighty Wind or the Great ‘Amen’. She was the Power and energy that worked throughout incarnations to reshape and empower all to change. This was the great Mystery. What then was the untold Mystery? She was, “Who proceedeth from the Father.” She and the Son have the same origin, being equal in all things. The Father was the Origin, the essence of the Son and the Holy Spirit because for He was the Son and the Holy Spirit also. This and That were a great mystery. This God had no parts and yet was Triune. There was an alleged difference even in the manner of expression. They were in fact the positive and negative poles of creation. One became two and then we worshipped Three, but not grasping that they were always One. It was the Mother who refreshed and exerted her will on the prophets and inspired them. She was therefore called “breath.” By the quiver of breath the voice was communicating. She was the vibrating medium through which all divine messages were communicated from the transcendental to the human level. It was the working of the Mother. She was the Source of the oracles of God, because she was the Wisdom of God, as the prophets named Her. She was the language in the mouth of the illumined. The “just men made perfect” (Hebrews Spirituality and Science Meet 387

12:23) were made perfect in Her, the Mother. By their mouths she spoke Her truth. The only way to spiritual knowledge and illumination was by the Spirit Mother. Wiccans, followers of a Neopagan religion, recognized Isis as a powerful triple goddess. Wiccans followed an Egyptian pantheon. They focused on the trinity of Isis, Osiris and Horus using prayers and spells found in the old ‘Egyptian Book of the Dead’ (1240 BC). Although modern Wiccan worship did not follow the same structure as the ancient Egyptian ceremonies that were once used to honour Isis, today’s Isaac coven incorporated Egyptian lore and mythology into a Wiccan framework, bringing the knowledge and worship of Isis into a present-day setting. Besides these widely recognized traditions, there were countless eclectic Wiccan groups throughout the world that had selected Isis as their deity. Because of the strength and power displayed by Isis, spiritual paths that honoured her were popular among many Pagans and Wiccans who were seeking alternatives to traditional patriarchal religious structures. Worship of Isis saw a modern-day resurgence as part of the ‘Goddess-oriented’ spirituality that became a notable part of the New Age Movement. ORME and Anunnaki Theory Combining theories of the Anunnaki and the ORME led one to the just about inescapable finale the Anunnakis purpose on arriving on the earth was to pick up the monoatomic elements for purposes of ingesting them and being able to lead long lives. The first try by the Anunnaki to get gold was to extract it from sea water, specifically from the upper reaches of Persian Gulf where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers met. According to Hudson, the primary form in which gold occurred in sea water was in its monoatomic state. Many scholars including Zecharia Sitchin, Laurence Gardner, among others assumed that extraterrestrials from the planet Nibiru came to earth. Their primary purpose was to mine gold and precious elements. They created mankind to have someone to work the mines. They provided the rudiments of civilization to their workers to control them. They also provided the ORME’s natural, organic equivalent, Star Fire, to select individuals such as kings and patriarchs and mid level managers. They gave the knowledge of ORME’s importance, as well as the method by which it could be made. When taken internally this limited, elite group of human beings lived long lives and claimed superiority. Before the human use of the ORME, kings had access to Star Fire, which was the menstrual blood of the “goddesses” of the Anunnaki. Because of long lives due to their ingestion of the ORME the simple infusion of the goddesses’ menstrual blood was enough to extend the lives of ordinary human beings. Laurence Gardner wrote: “It was from the milk of Hathor the pharaohs were said to gain their divinity, becoming gods in their own right. In more ancient Sumerian times, during the days of the original Star Fire ritual, the bloodline 388 In the Beginning kings who were fed with the hormone-rich lunar essence of the Anunnaki goddesses were also said to be nourished with their own milk: notably that of Ishtar. Gardner also suggested that “this milk contained an enzyme that was especially conducive to active longevity, and this was likely the enzyme that genetic researchers have called telomerase.” This enzyme seemingly had unique antiaging properties, but apart from being present in malignant tumours and reproductive cells, telomerase was not normally expressed in body tissues. “It seems, therefore, that somewhere within the DNA structure was the genetic ability to produce this antiaging enzyme, but the potential had somehow been switched off.” This would also imply the ability to switch it back on again. After the great flood, there appeared to be less availability of the Star Fire (or the ORME). Then, around the time of Abraham, the Star Fire became unavailable, and the patriarchs from Abraham to David saw their ages lessen to the point that David only lived what might be considered a normal life span. In contrast to the earlier patriarchs, the life-span of the Sumerian kings from Cain to Etana who ruled after the deluge was advanced. This was because of substituting the ORME for the Star Fire, but only for the devotees of Enki (Sumerian water god), as opposed to Enlil (Sumerian air god), who had disconnected from his disciples, including Abraham. 14.Manipulation of Political and Religious History

There was historical evidence there was first approval of Secret Societies, both by Royals and by the Church, which was later followed by persecution of them. Even during the reign of King Philip II of Spain (1527-1598) the Templars were still building like Hebrew tabernacles. Yet there were many stories and allegations that individuals and Secret Societies were persecuted for both religious and political reasons. History was blindly or even knowingly manipulated for self-serving agendas. Persecuting Christians in 258AD during the Roman Empire was a result of claiming their faith. It began during the Ministry of Jesus and continued intermittently over three centuries until Constantine legalised Christianity in 380 AD. Persecution of Christians and the Discrimination of Jewish Templars did not stop. They were now considered a threat to either the Church or the Empire. Lawrence (225-258 AD) was one of the seven deacons of ancient Rome martyred during the Roman Emperor Valerian’s (253-260) reign. King Philip II of Macedon as Prefect of Rome thought the Church had a great fortune hidden away. So he ordered Lawrence to bring the Church’s treasure to him. The Saint said he would, in three days. Then he went through the city and gathered all the poor and sick people supported by the Church. While showing them to the Prefect, he said: “This is the Church’s treasure!” In anger, the Prefect condemned Lawrence to a slow, cruel death. The Saint was tied on top of an iron grill over a slow fire that roasted his flesh little by little, but Lawrence smouldered with so much love for God that he did not feel the flames. Indeed, God gave him so much potency and elation that he joked. “Turn me over,” he said to the judge. “I’m done on this side!” Just before he died, he said, “It’s cooked enough now.” He exited from his remains with a prayer the city of Rome is converted towards Jesus and the Catholic Faith spread all over the world. He in time received the martyr’s reward. Saint Lawrence’s was remembered every year on August 10. On 10th August 1557, King Philip II of Spain achieved significant victory in the Low Countries. The battle which mattered most to him took place on the feast of Saint Lawrence, the Martyr. On his return from this successful battle, King Philip II of Spain (1527-1598) consulted a committee of philosophers, astrologers, architects and masons for a his burial site. They recommended a hillside close to the small town of El Escorial (the official residence of the king and later site of crypts of the Spanish monarchs) some 15 miles south of Madrid. 389 390 In the Beginning

The king approved their choice. In appreciation the King gave the monks an edifice around the burial site, as their monastery. The plan of the building was to be of a lattice framework: the traditional symbol of St Lawrence. Looked at from the air, its design followed rules of building a tabernacle. Within the complex, there was the central building which was the Basilica. Even after many centuries, in the 16th century, the design of the building complex was reminiscent of the dimensions given to David and Moses on creating a tabernacle. Around the Basilica’s east end, were placed royal apartments where Philip was to spend most of the latter part of his life. From his study, King Philip of Spain planned and directed the Great Armada. This was the fleet which, it was hoped, would defeat the English navy and invade the English mainland, to re- establish the Church as a monument of his political victories. Did King Philip II realise he was unknowingly celebrating a connection with the old ethics of David, Moses and Solomon? The Law of Karma is permanent and unalterable! The Yoga of Harmlessness had proved itself again. It had a mysterious submission system to the power of truth and good. Was this knowledge and wisdom of the ancient prophets preserved in the actions of King Philip’s advisers? Did the “effect” come about from a “cause” - both knowingly and unknowingly? Royal Society of Research safeguard Knowledge Secret societies always existed, even though its members and meetings were kept ‘secret’. They promoted ancient ideals of harmlessness and preserved old wisdoms of science and spirituality. They consisted of religious, scientific, political or social groups. Some societies had ‘religious’ rituals, signs and symbols of rules, activities and passwords demanding an oath of loyalty and secrecy: often under the threat of severe punishment in case of its violation. In societies with higher and lower degrees, members of the higher degree were expected to cloak their secrets from their brothers and sisters of a lower degree. Technically, secret societies existed in antiquity. There were always various organizations that boasted an esoteric doctrine known and carefully hidden from the irreverent. Some dated back to Pythagoras (582-507 BC) as the Eleusinian Mysteries. Egyptian and Druid hierarchies preserved doctrines of Magian and of Mithraism. The Gnostic and Manichaean claimed to have knowledge not to be shared with the crude. Also, the religious order of Knights Templar upheld their Brotherhood, externally claiming Christianity. The various guilds of Middle Ages were renamed Freemasonry and Rosicrucians. These were modern societies, but associated with old history. Secret societies were symbolically resurrected as Freemasonry around 1717 but had connection with the White Brotherhood, the Illluminati, the Carbonari, the Knights of Pythia, the Sons of Temperance and The Templars. Old mysteries routinely had three degrees. They practiced the old craft of spirituality, healing and science. Rosicrucians are concerned with ancient Manipulation of Political and Religious History 391 mysticism, and philosophical doctrines. Freemasons were dedicated to symbolic ritualism, occultism and nurturing of science and philanthropy. The Illluminati of high society were concerned with behind the scene of chaos and political manipulations. History was filled with whispers of and accounts of secret groups of elders and priests who guarded forbidden knowledge of the ancient people. The original old “Blue Lodge,” was so named because the sky provided the ceiling for the Blue Lodges, the Craft Lodges and the Ancient Craft Lodges. Each Lodge originally implied it worked for the first three Masonic degrees respectively. Rather than adding Masonic orders to their groups, Lodges in Great Britain defined themselves as the York rite and Scottish rite and were called ‘Craft Lodges’. Research Lodges was for furthering Masonic scholarship. It had a strictly limited membership and received visitors and papers from all over the world. Many jurisdictions had well-established Research Lodges, which met less often and did not confer degrees. In Great Britain, a Lodge of Instruction was associated with a Craft Lodge, or Scottish Rite or the York Rite Lodge, but was not set up separately. This Lodge provided the Officers an opportunity to rehearse ritual under the guidance of an experienced brother to develop the knowledge and understanding of their membership. The term Mother Lodge was used to identify the Lodge where the individual was first made a Mason. Lodges were governed by national, state or provincial authorities, by Grand Lodges or Grand Orients. Their constitutions defined the structure of Freemasonry under their authority, and appointed Grand Officers from their senior masons. The author of the Freemasonry rituals was usually a master symbolist who presented instruction through allegory and symbols which were left to the interpretation of the initiate. Most people lived in blissful ignorance about the significance of the ceremonies and rituals through which they passed. The geometrical structure of the lodge was exactly the shape of The Temple of Solomon and symbolised that man of the world was between the opposing forces of light and dark. Symbolically, the member was expected to chip away all irregularity from his character so he was a perfect cube. The symbol suggested that, having fashioned himself into a perfect reflection of the macrocosm he must continuously strive to become a perfect microcosm of the universe. Many members expressed their experiences by word and some even wrote down their thoughts, About their essential secret, Francis Bacon said, “The earliest antiquity lies buried in silence and oblivion, excepting the remains we have of it in sacred writ. This silence was succeeded by poetical fables and these, at length, by the writings we now enjoy; so the concealed and secret learning of the ancients seems separated from the history and knowledge of the following ages by a veil, or partition-wall of fables, interposing between the things that are lost and those that remain.” In his essay of “Truth” Wolfram said, “One of the latter schools of the Grecians examineth this matter and is at a stand to think what should be 392 In the Beginning in it, that men should love lies, where neither they make for pleasure, as with poets; nor for advantage, as with the merchant; but for the lies sake. But I cannot tell.” The Templar, Wolfram von Eschenbach, knew the ‘secret well’ that emitted Light – the Sun. Sun was the most magnificent object in nature. Since ancient times and still in India, the Sun was personified in various allegories. Many resonated as absurd on the face of it, but given the allegorical key, many contained deep spiritual and astronomical truths. The key was kept secret by priests and philosophers, and only imparted them to those who were initiated into the Mysteries. The irreverent remained in darkness believing that they worshipped a real personified Star or Planet that lived and performed the exploits of mythology. By these means the many priests of India, Persia, Israel, Egypt, Greece and other old nations, ruled the people with a despotic power. The fables of mythology disclosed to the literate were grandly scientific and filled with esoteric spiritual truths: but only to them, or to the initiates. The Sun was portrayed with changes during the different seasons of the year - therefore Time in Space. All ancient temples were dedicated to the worship of the Sun and other celestial orbs, whose circuit in the heavens each year were emblematically represented in the details of their construction and temple ornaments. The allegory of the Sun was obvious throughout their symbolism. All temples were oriented with an entrance due East: the place of the rising sun. The form, dimensions, lights, furnishings, and priests - all made reference to the sun. When Jesus said of John the Baptist, “I will decrease while he will increase” (John 3:30) it was a citation to the Sun of the Summer Solstice that would increase while the Sun of the Winter Solstice (Consciousness) would decrease. The body of the Sun was symbolically buried beneath the ‘rubbish’ of the dead vegetation in winter, yet bloomed with seasonal spring and Autumnal Vernal Equinox. Hiram Abif was an alchemist and metallurgist “whose mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali and whose father was a man of Tyre and a craftsman in bronze. Hiram was skilled and experienced in all kinds of bronze work. He came to King Solomon and did all the work assigned to him.” (1 Kings 7:13–14). According to an Egyptian legend, Osiris the god of death and his partner Isis the goddess of life together ransacked the four quarters of the earth in search of Hiram Abiff’s body, which they finally discovered with the help of a seasonal shrub. It got symbolically buried and was found with Templar/Masonic rites but with great honour. Time always healed sorrows when the year completed its circuit, meaning Lord Sun would rise from the grave of winter and triumph over all powers of darkness. The Templar Knights worshipped the Sun, as was the practice, before and even after the arrival of Jesus. After over 1000 years of Church and Royal approval, the fugitive Templar needed to become a Mason who told no secret of any brother that might cause that brother to lose his life and property. Formerly, Manipulation of Political and Religious History 393 the Templar Initiation made the knight a monk whose entire life was after that pledged to the service of the church and the Pope. But with the end of the Crusades, the Templar was made an outcast. Collective evidence showed that Freemasonry was essentially a common protective society of men at odds with Church or State, or both and not a building society. To this day, the Templar Order in Britain claim descendancy from the original Knights Templar. It lately asked the present Pope to make a churchian apology on the Templar’s 700th Anniversary of the Templar Persecution. The then Church abuse led to the torture and stake-burning of their Grand Master Jacques de Molay. He was falsely accused of heresy which led to dissolving the Order by apostolic decree in 1312. The early Freemasonry then became a communally protective secret society. It was started by the Knights Templar after their suppression by the Church following the Crusades. Knights Templar and the Freemasons were the only organizations that historically found their principal identification with the Temple of Solomon. The earliest Masons were indeed fugitive Templars and their symbol might have been the Seal or “Star” of David. Entry into Apprenticeship in Freemasonry was and is repeatedly described as that of one who was in darkness and sought the Light. After entry, the apprentice was initiated into the wish for more Light. Sir Francis Bacon, a scientist, philosopher and politician at the courts of Elizabeth I (1533–1603) and James I (1566–1625) wrote, “And certain it is, the Light that a man receiveth by counsel from another, is drier and purer than that which cometh from his own understanding and judgment… the best preservative to keep the mind in health is the faithful admonition of friends.” Besides, “A man can scarcely allege his own merits with modesty, much less extol them; a man cannot brook to supplicate or beg… But all these things are graceful in a friend’s mouth, which are blushing in a man’s own.” Bacon’s book ‘The New Atlantis’ (published in 1627) described Bacon’s idea of Utopia. It referred to an unknown and imagined island guided by a learned society and described by a shipwrecked : “We of this island of Bensalem have this; that by means of our solitary situation; and of the laws of secrecy, which we have for our travellers, and our rare admission of strangers; we know well most parts of the habitable world, and are ourselves unknown.” The Island of Bensalem was of the Sun, or perhaps Atlantis. In recounting the history of this secret Island of Bensalem, the shipwrecked official spoke of a great and ancient king who had provided wise laws for his people: ‘Ye shall understand (my dear friends) that among the excellent acts of that king, one above all hath pre-eminence. It was the erection and institution of an Order or Society, which we call the House of Solomon, the noblest foundation that ever was on the earth, and the lanthorn (lantern) of this kingdom. It is dedicated to the study of the works and creatures of God. Some believe the founder’s name (Solomon) to be a little corrupted… But the records write it as it 394 In the Beginning is spoken. So I take it to be a denominate of the king of the Hebrews, which is famous to you, and no stranger to us.” Solomon (son of David), a prophet and a great ruler, was granted by God with tremendous wisdom, favour and mystical powers. Solomon had under his rule not only people, but also hosts of invisible beings. Like his father David, Solomon was able to understand the language of birds, control elements and could see some of the hidden glory in the world that was not accessible to ordinary human beings. Bacon therefore puts it all squarely into a Masonic summary: “But thus you see, we maintain a trade not for gold, silver or jewels; nor for silks; nor for spices; nor of any other commodity of matter; ‘but only for God’s first creature, which was Light’ (Cosmic architect Vishwakarma)”. Robert Hewitt Brown also said, “Freemasonry is a system of science as well as morality, veiled in astronomical allegory, and illustrated by astronomical symbols.” This was the essential secret of Knights Templar alias Freemasonry. Francis Bacon also wrote: “The earliest antiquity lies buried in silence and oblivion, excepting the remains we have of it in sacred writ. This silence was succeeded by poetical fables and these, at length, by the writings we now enjoy; so the concealed and secret learning of the ancients seems separated from the history and knowledge of the following ages by a veil, or partition; a wall of fables, interposing between the things that are lost and those that remain.” Concepts of good and evil were those of spiritual purity and salvation versus violation of duty and morality. Secret Societies were therefore the energetic front men who protected Science and Spirituality from the nightmares of ‘badness’. Testimony about Secret Societies in Byrom Collection Joy Hancox an Associate with the Royal College of Music in London, in the late 20th century, threw light on major underground esoteric activities in England during Bacon’s time. In August of 1965 she bought a house in Salford, England and discovered a secret flight of stone steps disappearing into a brick wall under the floorboard at the back of the house. She was intrigued about possible clandestine activities in the region of her ‘new’ home. She therefore began a chronological research of history of the house and its surrounding area. In June 1984 her search led to the discovery of hundreds of cards and papers covered with esoteric geometrical drawings. They were all exquisitely created by a past owner of the property, John Byrom (1691–1763) who was a poet and inventor of the revolutionary system of shorthand. John Byrom was a brilliant mind and a member of the Royal Society (a Fellowship of 1400 outstanding individuals who represent science, engineering and medicine forms a global scientific network) when Isaac Newton ((1643–1717) was president of the Society. Newton was an English physicist, mathematician and astronomer. Born into a poor farmer’s family, he was sent to Cambridge to Manipulation of Political and Religious History 395 study because of his disinterest in farming. Byrom was also a Freemason and a Rosicrucian, as were many members of the Royal Society in his days. This philosophical secret society of Rosicrucians, founded in medieval Germany by Francis Bacon, who dealt with metaphysical and Christian mysticism. It became a Fellowship to herald in the Age of Aquarius. He was also active in other secret organizations when Freemasonry first went public. Joy Hancox also found drawings about secret Masonic traditions. The secret room was conceivably where select members of the Royal Society met. As Hancox consulted specialists in various areas of this mysterious knowledge she realized that she had unearthed activities of intellectuals who were members of Secret Societies. After examining the drawings, Neville Barker Cryer, a Senior Freemason and Secretary of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, the Research Lodge of Freemason, concluded that some of these documents were part of a lost tradition about the origin of Secret Societies in England. Meanwhile, another expert Adam McLean, a noted authority on Alchemic and Hermetic lore recognized that some of the Hancox drawings were illustrations of major Rosicrucian works, published by a German writer, Theophilus Schweighardt in 1618. Some of the demonstrations of sacred geometry in the drawings were plans for Masonic tabernacles and various Theatres, including the Globe Theatre, during Shakespearean times. The drawings were a unique collection of esoteric source material, dealing in the main with ‘sacred geometry’. The practice was popular in the early reign of Elizabeth I and ended with George II: some 174 years later. Hancox soon published the results of her search in 1992 in a book titled ‘The Byrom Collection’. There were many historical individuals who were closely associated with Secret Societies. Some noted individuals include: Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) the Italian Dominican Friar, philosopher, mathematician and astronomer, best known for his cosmological theories and identifying the Sun as just one of an infinite number of independently moving heavenly bodies. He was the first man to conceptualize the universe as a continuum where the stars seen at night were identical in nature to the Sun. He was burned at the stake in 1600 after the Roman Inquisition found him guilty of heresy. Other enigmatic members of the Royal Society were historically well-known. Francis Bacon (1561–1626) was author, courtier and father of inductive reasoning who found with the intellectuals of these clandestine groups. Sir Walter Raleigh (1552–1618) was writer, poet, soldier, explorer as well as a spy for the Queen. Robert Fludd (1574–1637) was physician, writer, and astrologer who created drawings of the Kabbalistic order from a Christian point of view. Then there was Michael Maier (1568–1622) who was a German physician and counsellor to Rudolf II Habsburg with whom he worked as an alchemist. Among other drawings about sacred geometry and mysticism of inner Templar/Masonic and Rosicrucian traditions, were ten drawings of compass cards 396 In the Beginning engraved by various instrument-makers. The north was indicated by the traditional Templar Fleur-de-Lys. The card had a compass inset with seven figures symbolizing the seven divisions of learning. Most scholars of the seventh century were confined to learning liberal arts and sciences of two branches: the trivium and quadrivium. Trivium included grammar, rhetoric, and logic. Quadrivium included arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. The seven liberal arts and sciences played a major role in Templar/Masonic/Rosicrucian ceremonies. Obviously the Byrom Collection showed that these Secret Societies were connected with Francis Bacon’s model of the universe which was similar to The Temple of Solomon and ideas of Advancement of Learning. Did the family of Jesus (Sumerian Hebrew Houses of Judah and David of Merovingian Kings) escape towards Europe after his crucifixion? Did they take with them the Secret Scrolls from the School of Mysteries of Egypt? Did the nine Knights remove Solomon’s wealth during the early Crusades? Did the Sumerian Hebrews become part of European aristocracy? Was their rule in Europe seized by one of the many Tribes of Jacob Israel and became known as the Carollingians? Switching Merovingian to Carollingian Dynasties The use fleur-de-lis was common to all eras and all old civilizations. Its graphics were found on Mesopotamian cylinders, Egyptian bas-reliefs, Mycenaean pottery, Gaulish and Mamluk coins, Indonesian clothes, Japanese emblems, and Dogon totems. It was used as a royal emblem in the West. In the East the emblem was found on the gold helmet of a Scythian king. By the 12th century the fleur- de-lis became the heraldic emblem of Frankish Kings. The royal stories of early Europe took many twists and turns. With converting Clovis to Catholicism and supported by the Church, the Carollingian Kings were given “authority directly from God” to become monarchs without the mediation of either the Emperor or the Pope. Anne Lombard-Jourdan 1991 in Fleur-de-lis et oriflamme: signes céleste du royaume de France (Paris: C.N.R.S), traced fleur-de-lis to a transformation of the Merovingian crista. It was a symbol evoking the rising Sun. In the word derived from crescere, “to grow” it alluded to the newborn Sun. Some versions of the legend enhanced the mystique of royalty by describing a vial of oil sent from heaven to anoint and sanctify Clovis at his coronation. Clovis’ Burgundian wife, Clotilde, later to become Saint Clothilda, was significant in these stories. As well as encouraging her husband to become a Christian, her presence helped stress the importance of Burgundy’s support for the monarch. Through propagandist connection to Clovis, the fleur-de-lis began to symbolize all the Christian Frankish Carollingian kings, most notably Charlemagne. Many of the Crusaders who went to Palestine to fight against Muslim invaders were French Catholics. By 1061, they had conquered Jerusalem and put Godefroi de Bouillon (1061–1100), Duke of Lower Lorraine, on the throne of Manipulation of Political and Religious History 397

Jerusalem. Godefroi de Bouillon was a French noble and Defender of the Holy Sepulchre. He claimed to be of the lineage of David, Moses, and Aaron. Between 1090 and 1099, he organized a society called the Prieuré de Sion (Order of Sion). It was a secret society devoted to occult and esoteric interests. Godefroi became the biggest Illluminati kingpin as Grand Master. Emblem of the society was partly based on fleur-de-lis, associated with the French monarchy. Godefroi’s aims were to control the wealth of the world, including the Merovingian Temple treasure, and to establish World Government which would be controlled by an ‘ancestral’ king in Jerusalem. The newly invented Carollingian kings claimed they were masters of spoils of war (Crusades), both movable and immovable. Like their ancient Merovingian kindred the Carollingians also claimed descent from the line of David and Moses. The last Frank to claim a Merovingian dynasty was Dagobert I who died in 639 AD. The Carollingian Secret Society headquarter was at the Abbey of Notre Dame du Mont de Sion, in southern Jerusalem on Mount Sion, around the ruins of a 4th century Byzantine basilica. It was Godefroi’s Belgian cousin, Baudouin I, who became the next king of Jerusalem. And it was the Prieuré de Sion, a society of multiple groups that created the notorious fringe society that pretended to be the Knights Templar’s Military Arm. In 1118, Hugues de Payens, a noble from Champagne, and Godefroi de St Omer, a French knight, with seven other knights, founded the Order of the Knights Templar (Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon). Hugues de Payens (1070–1136), also called Hughes the ‘pagan’, was a Frankish knight and the first Grand Master of the Templar Secret Society that guarded scientific material from ancient mysteries of science and spirituality. They swore to live according to the rules of St Augustine, and to use their swords, arms, and strength to defend the Christian faith. St Augustine (354–430) lived when religion was taking root during a time of great political stress and widespread religious anxiety. Augustine’s own spiritual struggles reflected the historical transition from a dying pagan antiquity to the Christian Middle Ages. The Confessions revealed much about his formative years, when he strove to overcome his sensual wants, find faith, and understand religious and philosophical doctrines. The Knights Templar also took vows of chastity and poverty and promised not to join any other organization. They pledged to “keep the roads and highways safe ... for protecting pilgrims” and not to surrender any wall, or foot of land. They offered their services to Baudouin I, the King of Jerusalem, and an entire wing of the royal palace on the Temple Mount (the site of Solomon’s Temple) was given to them to be used as living quarters. In 1139, Pope Innocent II decreed that these knights of Christ owed their loyalty to no one but the Pope (thus becoming a military arm of the Catholic Church), and they began to wear white robes with a red cross on the front. They carried a black and white striped banner 398 In the Beginning which displayed the cross, and the words “Non nobis, Domine, sed nomini tuo da gloriam” became their battle cry. Their meetings were carried out in secret. These were the original Knights who for nine years searched for something beneath the Temple grounds and might have found something important. In 1153, a noble, Bertrand de Blanchefort, who lived not far from Rennes- le-Chateau, became the 4th Grand Master of the Knights Templar. He promoted their spread into diplomatic and political circles and made the organizational Templar presence in these areas. Their numbers increased to 9,000. The Order spread to Tripoli, Antioch, Cyprus, Portugal, Castile, Leon, Aragon, France, Flanders, the Netherlands, England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Italy and Sicily. Their presence in most areas was conditional to adhering to Christianity. In 1187, after the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin, the Knights Templar was forced to move their headquarters to Cyprus. In 1188, the breakaway group: the kingpins of Prieuré de Sion withdrew and separated from the Knights Templar to become the Illluminati. They would become international bankers (Astor, Bundy, Collins, DuPont, Freeman, Kennedy, Li, Onassis, Rockefeller, Rothschild, Russell, Van Duyn, Reynolds, Disney, Krupp, McDonald and Thomas Jefferson) originating from Carollingian European bloodlines and affiliated with Prieuré de Sion. They all preferred a One World Government and later unwittingly brought Hitler to power. Their leader (Grand Master) of the Prieuré de Sion was Frenchman Claude Debussy (1862–1918) a Frenchman who was a musician with ‘pagan’ beliefs from the East. He was of Carollingian origin. In 1891, secret coded parchments (Merovingian documents) were found by pastor Sauniere who was an acquaintance of Debussy and had many close friends with top French occultists of his time. Meanwhile, the Illluminati branch of the Prieuré de Sion moved their headquarters to a new Temple in Paris, and through reorganization and untold wealth, they became the bankers of Life and Casualty, as well as, Wealth in Europe. In March, 1952, a copper scroll found in cave III at Qumran, near the Dead Sea, revealed that scientific documents and more than 138 tons of gold and silver were buried in 64 locations, before the Romans destroyed the Temple of Jerusalem. Twenty-four of these locations were under the Temple Mount. The Knights Templar allegedly took the wealth to Europe, where it became the beginning for establishing the present-day international banking system for the Templar breakaway group Prieuré de Sion (Order of Sion). . By the end of the 12th century, Templars who were mostly French who had fought in the wars of their own countries. They gained so much power the Grand Master Jacques de Molay became a challenge to the authority of King Philip IV (‘the Fair’). From 1303–1305, King Philip initiated bloody wars between American colonialists and Indians in the 17th century. He also had Pope Boniface VIII (1294–1303) charged with political ambition, treachery and idolatry. He was Manipulation of Political and Religious History 399 kidnapped and killed, and had his successor, Pope Benedict XI (1303–1305) poisoned. Pope Benedict XI had made sweeping exoneration rules for the Jewish people for the death of Jesus. King Philip then had his own man, Clement V (1305–1316), (born into a wine-making family of Bordeaux) elected to the vacant papal throne. Pope Clement worked with Philip to begin a campaign to destroy power and influence of the Knights, the Carollingian (and perhaps even Merovingian bloodline) and to confiscate their treasures. In 1312, Pope Clement ordered the Knights Templar be suppressed. On March 18, 1314, Jacques de Molay, the 22nd Grand Master of the Templar Knights and Geoffrey de Charney were arrested. Geoffrey was allegedly accused of being an atheist. The story claimed that after he married Jeanne de Vergy, a great-great granddaughter of Othon De La Roche. Molay was given the Shroud as part of Jeanne’s dowry. Because the cloth always remained a civil property, the Shroud was displayed in 1355, in a church Geoffrey built in Lirey. Because he had the Shroud of Turin, the Church and King alleged he had stolen it from Constantinople. Jacques de Molay and Geoffrey de Charney, who were two of the highest Templar officers, were burned at the stake for trying to overthrow the government. In England, Edward II joined in denouncing Templars by arresting and torturing 140 Knights, 54 of whom were burned at the stake. Edward II was the king from 1307 until his wife Isabella deposed him in 1327. By then some of the remaining Templars had fled to Portugal, where they were protected by King Dinis II. Most took refuge in Scotland, where they stayed for 400 years, developing the Scottish Rite branch of Masonry. In England, where the Templars established the first modern Masonic Lodge at York was identified as the York Rite; while in France, it became known as Scottish Rite. To signify the accomplishments of the Order, it was made the highest attainable degree in Masonry. It was said that “every true Mason is a Templar Knight...” Meanwhile, the Prieuré de Sion existed for another 300 years, until 1619, when historical records of their patent activities dried up. According to current information, it was believed the Sauniere’s ‘treasure’ was about ‘truthful information’ gathered from the parchments: the crucifixion of Jesus was staged, and he was alive till 45 AD. Sauniere’s niece, Madame James of Montazels, inherited the parchments in 1917, and kept them until 1965. She sold them to Capt. Roland Stanmore and Sir Thomas Frazier, who kept them in a safe deposit box in Lloyds Bank in London. Capt. Roland Stanmore and Sir Thomas Frazier owned the scrolls with Declaration of Truth about Jesus. Only contents of two of the parchments were released. The contents of the other two were never revealed. In the original source about the Holy Grail, reference was not about a cup, but only to its mystery. In the 1180’s, it was stated in the “Le Roman de Perceval” that Perceval sought a knighthood. At the castle of the “Fisher King” he saw the Grail, which 400 In the Beginning he described was golden and studded with jewels. It was not linked to Jesus. Perceval discovered that he was a member of the “Grail family” because the guardian of the Grail (Merovingian) was his uncle. However, the story lived on, becoming closely aligned with the legends of King Arthur whose life and idealism were made a mythological adventure by the Church. This legend however continued, like many others of this era. Robert de Baron (1213–1285) an English Baron in the 1190s wrote a Churchianised version of the Grail Cup story, claiming that Joseph of Arimathea filled the cup with Jesus’ blood and that his family became the Keeper of the Grail. Joseph’s legend was gradually inflated and he was made a major saint and cult hero. He was made the supposed ancestor of many British monarchs. He was said to have brought with him to Britain a cup, used at the Last Supper and was to catch the blood dripping from Jesus as he hung on the Cross. A variation of this story was that Joseph brought with him two cruets: one containing blood and the other, the sweat of Jesus. They were both known as The Holy Grail and were the Quests of the Knights of King Arthur’s Round Table. Brothers of Jesus included James, Joseph, Simon and Judas. Galahad was claimed to be Joseph’s son and the Grail was passed on to his brother-in-law, Brons, who took it with him to England, becoming the “Fisher King.” In this version of the story about Jesus and his uncle Joseph of Arimathea, Perceval was the grandson. In 1964, according to the book ‘The Jesus Scroll’ (1972) by Donovan Joyce, an ancient parchment scrolls was excavated on the western shore of the Dead Sea, at the ruins of the fortress of Masada. It was there that 965 Jewish men, women, and children, burned the complex, killed one another and committed suicide, rather than be captured by the Romans. In 1963, scrolls known as the Talmud of Immanuel were discovered by Greek Catholic priest, Isa Rashid, in a cave he claimed was the burial cave of Jesus. Written in old Aramaic, sealed in protective resin, and buried under a flat rock, it was believed to have been written by Judas Iscariot, one of the 12 apostles who betrayed his master. Pieces of the scrolls were missing, some were unreadable, some deteriorating, yet, what survived, was contrary to the story of Jesus as related in the Bible. Instead of identifying Sumerian Hebrews, Mesopotamian Jews, Egyptian Shepherd Kings and others, the Bible dealt with one race of Jews, which flowed like a Gulf Stream through the ocean of humanity. Just as the Gulf Stream touched two continents and blessed the nations, so this race Mesopotamians in its origin, history and destiny, self-selected and equipped them for the service of the world. Regrettably and often tragically, many Churchians are apt to defend an established man-made doctrine rather than embrace Truth. However, if doctrine must be sacrificed on the altar of truth, so be it. It was better than truth being sacrificed on the altar of some man-made tradition: “Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias [Isaiah] prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me Manipulation of Political and Religious History 401

[Yahweh] with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:7–9). Truth of the Christian-Israel message was to lessen the importance of factual history, but Yeshua declared, “…ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Truth always wins even while practicing Harmfulness in intent and deed for centuries. Ascended Masters visible 200 Years Ago In theosophy, the expression ‘ascended masters’ came from the science of ancient wisdoms. They were mahatmas, rishis, sages or masters who became spiritually enlightened through many past incarnations but began as ordinary humans. They underwent spiritual transformation through millennia. The term ‘ascended master’ was first introduced in 1934 with the publication of ‘Unveiled Mysteries’ by Guy Ballard of the “I AM” Philosophy. Others popularized it through books and various organizations such as the White Eagle Lodge, a Mystery School based in England and founded by the Cooke couple. Originally made accessible by Helena Blavatsky, the Masters of Wisdom or Elder Brothers were further ‘urbanized’ by Leadbeater, Alice Bailey, Helena Roerich and Manly Hall. Later, many theosophical organizations developed the idea of ascended masters who were formerly embodied on earth. Here they learned the lessons of life during their incarnations and gained mastery over limits of matter realms. They balanced at least more than half of their negative karma and fulfilled their divine plan. Such an ascended master had the ability to further improve astrally and ethereally and eventually became god-like. Such angels gradually became sources of unconditional Love or Prema, towards all life. The rishis or masters served as teachers of mankind from astral realms. All such people eventually gained ascension through evolution. While changing personally, these masters remained attentive to the spiritual needs of humanity. They inspired mankind towards spiritual growth. Masters were always part of the spiritual hierarchy for earth. They were members of the Great Brotherhood of Light, also known as the Great White Lodge, or Universal White Brotherhood. According to Alice Bailey and Benjamin Crème there were sixty Masters of the Ancient Wisdom, who had reached the fifth initiation or above. They cared for humanity and directed it towards their individual ascension also. Djwhal Khul held a vital role as the master who telepathically dictated the many esoteric teachings in Bailey’s books. Many critics believed the Masters were a pure fantasy. Blavatsky claimed she met many Masters and was also the guest of the Master Koot Hoomi (Kuthumi) while visiting the ‘Little Tibet’ near Kashmir. After Madame Blavatsky’s death in 1891, the Mahatma idea was developed by her successors in the Theosophical Society leadership. Twentieth century believers of immortal saints and sages claimed that these Masters underwent a series of initiations 402 In the Beginning symbolically represented in the life of Jesus by his birth, baptism, transfiguration, crucifixion, resurrection, and the ascension. Endurance in the tests of self-mastery was experienced by Jesus in the presence of the Council of Brotherhood in the City of the Sun that men called Heliopolis. It was perhaps meant to be the Initiation Rite of a Master. Although El Morya and Koot Hoomi were adepts and masters of all the lower matter planes and the elemental forces of nature, they did not become Ascended Masters by personal choice. An unascended master had to have overcome limits of physical, emotional and mental octave frequencies. He or she could choose to postpone the final stage of Ascension. They could choose to externalize and focus on humanity’s God-Consciousness for evolving earth. If a person took the Bodhisattva vow, the unascended master might choose to remain with the humanity at a lower spirit/matter octave, as was the case with Babaji. Such souls renounced their individual self-explanation to aid in the awakening (Bodhi) of all beings who were questing for their spirituality. The vow of assistance was by one with enough mastery for externalization and their developed divine nature. Such an adept became an initiator from one of the Brotherhoods or Sisterhoods of Light. They were further nurtured under the patronage of the White Brotherhood who in ancient times crafted the “white powder” for spiritualizing the substance matter of a body into subtle astral and even ethereal beings. The Masters were collectively called the Great White Brotherhood in the theosophical system. They were known to have a white coloured aura which had nothing to do with race. Blavatsky described many of the masters as ethnically Tibetan or Indian Hindus who came from all cultures and races, including one - the “Greek gentleman” Hilarian (291–371 AD). Ascended Masters recognized by these organizations include: Sanat Kumar, Gautama Buddha, Maitreya, Jesus, Confucius, Mother Mary, Enoch, St Germain, Kwan Yin and Kuthumi. They put aside any differences they had in their earthly careers and united to advance the spiritual well-being of humanity. Beginning with 1930s, some books were published on this subject of Masters and their agenda for the human race. Before that, this practical knowledge of Yoga or science of joining ‘self’ with Self, was held in strict secrecy within Mystery Schools. Pressures and intolerance of orthodox religious authorities made it impossible for many in the Piscean Age to connect with such wisdom. Books which claimed to detail the developmental process Jesus went through to find the Inner Christ Self were written. ‘The Urantia’ [Earth] discussed God, Jesus, science, cosmology, religion, history and destiny in an “endeavour to expand cosmic consciousness and enhance spiritual perception”. The contents of the book were largely ignored or declared heresy. The history of “ascension” predated Christianity. Hercules the Greek hero was raised to heaven and made a god following completing his twelve labours. When Mother Mary chose to ascend she gathered disciples around her to witness Manipulation of Political and Religious History 403 the event, and then ‘consumed’ herself. Theosophists believed El Morya incarnated as a Rajput prince, King Arthur and as Thomas Moore. Kuthumi, a Punjabi who attended Oxford University in 1850, may have authored the poem “Dream of Ravan” published in the Dublin University Magazine about 1854. Djwhal Khul was a Tibetan who started out with the unlikely name Gai Ben- Jamin. Believers were told the legend of his incarnation on Lemuria (civilization of Atlantis) where he rescued valuable knowledge before sinking that continent. He later sent this information to Alice Bailey. St. Germain was the mysterious individual reputed to be a magician who flourished in France and was widely known among the aristocracy just before the French Revolution of 1789. Students of the Ascended Master Teachings have always believed there is One God, the ‘Universal All-Pervading Presence of Life’, and ‘The One’, who is the source of all Love, Light, and Love in existence, and that all forms of existence and consciousness emanated from this Allness of God: ‘The One’. All Ascended Master Teachers who had previously embodied as Plato, Proclus, Roger Bacon, Francis Bacon, among many others were quoted as saying, “When one individualizes within the Absolute, All-Pervading Life, he chooses of his own free will to become an intensified individual focus of Self-Conscious Intelligence. He becomes the conscious director of his future activities. Thus, having once made his choice, he is the only one who can fulfil that Destiny: which is not inflexible circumstance but a designed Plan of Perfection.” Free will to help seekers along their spiritual journeys was and always will be the purpose of a Teacher: Taught relationship of Master and a devotee. Saint Germain explained, “The ‘Almighty God Flame’, breathing within Itself, projects two rays into the ‘Great Sea of Pure Electronic Light’. This Intelligent Light-substance becomes the clothing, as it were, for these ‘rays of the mighty’ ‘I AM Presence’: Consciousness. Each Ray has all the attributes of Godhead within it and no imperfection can ever enter or register on it. The individualized flame sent down into each Ray a focal point, or spark, forming a Heart Centre on which gathered the ‘Electronic Light Substance’, creates the electronic body”. The statement admitted the gross body of matter had the ability to change into an ethereal substance when it endured the scientific processing of yoga. ‘Unveiled Mysteries’ stated, “Try to think on this power, which is within you. Universal substance is obedient to your conscious will always. It constantly responds to humanity’s thought and feeling whether they realize it or not. There is no instant at which human beings are not giving this substance one quality or another. It is only through knowledge [gyana] the individual has conscious control and manipulation of a limitless sea. He begins to understand the possibilities of his own creative powers, and the responsibilities resting on him in the use of his thought and feeling.” The life-force or prana was always the Universal Substance that allowed matter and soul to become enlivened as the mortal. The Mystery of Holy Spirit needed unravelling which was only possible 404 In the Beginning through the experience of transcendence in meditation. Making the Cosmic Connection without guidance of a true Master was impossible for most mortals mesmerised by the illusion of the materialistic world. Such ascension was believed to be the returning to complete “Oneness with God”. It was the “rising of the outer atomic structure of physical, mental and intellectual bodies into the electronic structure of the ‘I AM’ Consciousness”, and becoming an ascended master who eventually became a cosmic being and beyond. Even in the Science of Ancient Mysteries, they distinguished matter planes into subatomic, atomic and molecular structures in which advancement through evolution took place. At lower planes, the matter wavelength frequency resonated and correlated with physical solids, liquids, and gases. At higher sub-planes, physical octave was referred to as solar or etheric and not perceivable by the physical senses. Emotional and mental octaves were also made up of electrons and atoms of feeling and thought substances and distinguished along levels and grades of density, of varying but fixed vibratory rates. Ancient mysteries, therefore, confirmed that thought and feeling governed the atomic structure of the human body. This was the one principle governing ‘form’ manifestation throughout Infinity. When man made the effort to prove this in his own atomic flesh-body, he then continued to master himself. The adept who had mastered the anatomical, physiological, emotional, intellectual and causal envelopments could then make the “I AM PRESENCE’ with the ALL. Having done that, for such a spiritual warrior, all else in the Universe would be willing to become a co-worker to do whatever he or she willed through Love for a Common Cosmic Good. The Masters redefined what was already known that within each life lay the power by which it could, by choice, express what Masters and prophets communicated. All life contained Will but only the Self-conscious life determined the course of expression. He was the ‘self’-determining creator. When ‘self’ individualized within the Absolute, he chose of his own Free Will to become an intensified individual focus of Self-conscious Intelligence and director of his future activities. He was now the only one who could fulfil that destiny: which was a designed plan of ‘perfection’ of experiencing Oneness with the All. That was the purpose of a human expression. Like a boomerang, its effect returned into the Consciousness. That ‘record’ of that first experience was the beginning of an impression that would need reproduction with every effort at connecting in yoga. The energy sent out in a ‘certain manner’ returned to create an image profile between ‘I AM’, or ‘Aum’: a presence of an individual consciousness amid Infinity. While trying to contact the Presence through meditation, the individual would first find ‘tramp’ thoughts and feelings flowing from imperfect to gradually perfecting consciousness. Finally, when human centres get removed from the control of the ego the seeker begins to work independently. Manipulation of Political and Religious History 405

These Masters repeatedly explained there always was a symbiosis between science and spirituality. Within the Word of Silence, seekers for eons made contact for cooperation from Ascended Masters: that always was the fundamental ingredient of each seeker’s life. On a grand scale, all ascended masters, cosmic beings, Elohim and archangels continued to present a programme for both individual development and for the spiritual transformation in the world. They believed that further instruction from the rest of the spiritual hierarchy would continue. Students of the ascended master teachings believed that despite the wrongs of the past two millennia this world was destined to experience a Golden Age once again. “Central America is ready for recognition of the real inner Self and their people will express themselves in high attainment. This is a land of Light and its Light shall blaze forth, brilliant as the Sun at noonday, among the nations of the Earth. It has been a land of great Light, ages ago and will again come into its spiritual heritage, for nothing can prevent it. “The divine plan for the future of North America is a condition of intense activity in the greatest peace, beauty, success, prosperity, spiritual illumination and dominion. It is to carry the Light of The Christ and be a guide for the rest of the earth, because America is to be the heart of the next ‘Golden Age’ that is now dimly touching our horizon. The greater portion of the land of North America will stand for a very long time.” These were statements made by Saint Germaine an Ascended Master. Channelling for Knowledge and Spirituality Like everything attributed to the present New Age, channelling was not a new phenomenon. It was a new name given for an ancient practice. Séances envisaging people-Spirits or sitting around an Ouija Board trying to contact an individual Life-force links or even with the goddess Kali was not phoney. The Oracles of the Dead in Greece called the deceased to help improve lives of their loved-ones. A resurgence of interest in contacting the afterlife surfaced in the 1800’s and produced a new breed called Spiritualists, who genuinely believed that life continued after death and their spirits could be contacted and spoken with. Many churches and societies provided services in which the minister answered questions by receiving messages psychically from deceased people, guides, or angels to help those still existing on this plane. Since the 1970s, religion has proven inadequate or unwilling to answer many other questions. There was, therefore, a renewed interest in understanding life- and-death. Metaphysicians who used channelling became popular with renewed interest in afterlife. Channelling was an old practice for contacting departed loved-ones, guides, masters, or archangels. Many mediums channelled with the same individual or entities repetitively. Over time, a familiar single entity was channelled to discuss any spiritual subject. Knowledge and Wisdom came from such interactions for the serious seeker. 406 In the Beginning

The details of such happenings occurred during naturally induced ‘unconsciousness’. During channelling, the soul or spirit of the medium, called ‘the vehicle’ or equinox (balanced light), was either pushed aside or left the body. That made room for another’s energy to enter and use the body for a specific period of time. This shift of energy could last seconds or minutes, and for those seeing auras, the shift could be visibly seen. Often as the shift began the ‘receiving’ or channelling body might shake or quiver. This was true when one first embarked or communicated through mediumship. It could take weeks, months or years for the new energy to blend effortlessly with the medium’s energy. When the equinox of many individuals was asked to explain the process of channelling: it stated the physical body, like a car, was a vehicle run by energy, similar to the spark plug and battery. The car did not care whether the spark plugs or battery were from Goodyear or Sears. It would work if the energy igniting the medium was of correct voltage and was continually flowing. The human body would work with either the medium’s energy (unconscious) or the energy of the channelled being (conscious). As long as the energy was sustained, suitable and well-matched, the body could be driven to learn and adjust for energy and time it took to fine-tune itself to the equinox. The human body was the channel or medium of the Equinox. It experienced nothing except the desire to watch itself into an arousing. During this time the person had no understanding of what occurred during channelling. This was unconscious channelling. Occasionally, the equinox allowed observation of conversations without participation. This was conscious channelling. According to the Indians of North America, the equinox first walks the channel through a violet flame, may provide some needful education or send the spirit to learn from a Hopi Shaman emissary. Channelling initiates were prompted by a need to understand death and what lay beyond. Whatever the reason, it was not new or a fad of the New Age. Channelling was as old as humanity and would continue in one form or another as long as there were questions and entities willing to answer them: but from where? Akashic Source Akashic Record was the theosophical term standing for the central filing system of all events, thoughts and actions impressed on the astral plane called akasha. For centuries, Akashic Records were the exclusive domain of mystics, saints, and scholars, and rightly so, for they contain infinite power and wisdom. They entrusted the knowledge to those who were well prepared for the responsibility of deep knowing. In both Eastern and Western traditions, there existed mystery schools preparing seekers for esoteric knowledge. Trainings were known to be rigorous and exacting to ensure sanctity of the knowledge, protecting both the initiate and the dimension of consciousness. Times changed, however. The collective consciousness of the human race was Manipulation of Political and Religious History 407 growing, changing, and maturing. In the process, humanity moved from the age of dependence on a spiritual ‘parent’ to spiritual independence and responsibility. This spiritual independence was marked by individuals knowing they always had direct access to their spiritual source, and by using their independence they could cultivate that. As many continued to forge new paths, both in and to the Akashic Records, more people than ever before were drawn to their light. Today, anyone with a conscious commitment to seeking and spreading divine light and healing accessed this body of wisdom, insight, and guidance. Today, thousands of people have powerful relationship with Akashic Records. While some worked in their Records strictly for their personal growth and development, others used their Records to support artistic efforts in photography, pottery, painting, writing and composing music. Business people used the Records for help in managing their companies or careers and parents used the Records for guidance and support in parenting. The ‘pathway of prayer’ was the ‘sacred desire’ tradition of accessing the Records. Prayer involved creating space where one communed with God but with a heightened awareness of the Self within oneself. It was performed during a set time each day. Concentration was on a single thought or idea. A focused mind automatically moved to a deeper Awareness of God. In that Stillness and Silence, seekers connected with the divine presence of Self, within. In this tradition, individuals found their way into the Records through the light and sound vibrations of spoken words that were like ‘access ramps’ that led them to different areas of the Records catalogued carefully by the Creator, Sustainer and Absorber (Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit). Patanjali said “Ishwara [Creator] is that particular purusha,” who, Krishna admitted: “they (the creations) are in me, but I am not in them…I stand apart from all, supreme and deathless.” But while “my spirit stands apart, watching over Maya, the homemaker” as well as “standing apart, while He sustains [as Vishnu]. This sustainer, “He is within and without: He lives in the living and inanimate and is beyond mind’s grasp; so near us, so utterly distant” (Bhagavad Gita 13:15). The forgotten knowledge of these past civilizations would reawaken for the Golden Age now unfolding. Renewing Universe through Natural Cycles No human could become god without the help of Masters. Through its cycles of birth and death the human lived to the left or right of the centre. Man was able to self-transform and reach the centre towards knowledge and became awarded with a starting variable value. What a human realised, what knowledge he or she gained changed therefore towards a programmed destination the individual sought. Vedic knowledge of India described the limits a human being might reach, before needing a teacher or Ascended Master, to take him beyond. Such a guru had the ability to ‘self-fashion’ to the needs of the seeker. Even since 408 In the Beginning before Vedic times there was always a master available for both the external and internal world needs of a seeker. Such a Master was at equilibrium with both material and spiritual knowledge. Honest kings of Vedic times were trained under such teachers and gurus. They remained guides above the king making sure there was balance and justice in existence. This Guru of Vedas took the student along many doors but left the disciple at the last door. Here, the student was expected to knock in person to open the door to true knowledge. It was stated that as the door opened every student, finished his or her studies with the word: “neti, neti”; to mean ‘This is not’ what it seems to be. This statement spoke for the negative results and conclusions made in the seeker’s effort, not to mention an admission of a failure to understand the knowledge. This failure described the truth that true knowledge always existed beyond the mind. It showed the inability of the human intellect to achieve Truth and conquer the mystery of time and death. The cause of ‘neti neti’ lay in the fact that humans sought knowledge with a ‘self’ (mind, intellect and ego) with seeds of predetermined objectives. Central to Absolute Knowledge of Spirit and Creation was needed the student enter the Fire of Discrimination and burn the seed (causal being). If the seed burned only partially, he was left with residues (through the law of karma) and view of Truth became incomplete. But Vedas at their core teachings educated man in the art of conquering creature death, by self-sacrifice. To change, the seeker needed self-sacrifice. They discovered Creation occurred through selflessness of the Creator. From time to time, He acted to save his beloved companion Creation – Mother Nature. He led humanity along a predetermined path, governed by the Cycles of Time, by sending humankind a prophet most suitable for the Common Universal Mind of a particular Yuga or Era. Calvary depicted a full self-sacrifice that was impossible for a materialistic humanity to understand. It symbolized spilling Sacred Blood for all of humankind. Calvary depicted a point in the Time Cycle when a possible gravitational collapse was averted to give ‘new life’ to the throbbing living breathing universe. It was small and great disturbances created by humanity that triggered the Creator to give His life-breath to the universe during different eras in the past. Creation recently underwent 2400 years of darkness. The new direction of Time was once more directed towards the centre towards the Sun. To avert casualty the old has renewed itself as man prepared to enter a new Time Cycle of Satya Yuga of the Age of Aquarius. The call for realising The Christ was not to create any new religion. It was a call for all to follow a pointed out path towards ‘new life’. The Second Coming was about the birth of defined Light for a New Time. It prophesied itself as a ‘happening’ of a new wave in an approaching Time-Space. Its appearance was connected with an urgent need for recovery of a humanity that touched the depths of a Dark Piscean Age of the last over two millennia. It was a period of different Manipulation of Political and Religious History 409 grades of harmfulness on both a microscopic and macroscopic scale. The effects of mindless harmfulness became increasingly visible on earth, water, air and on the planet’s surface. The assault was against creature, plant and humanity. Nazism exploits Shambala and Agharti Many foreign myths grew around the legend of Shambala found in the Kalachakra literature. It gave flawed portrayals sketching Buddhistic teachings. Some such traditions were spread to win military or political support from individuals made to believe in the Buddhist formula for salvation, liberation, enlightenment, to show the supreme truth of religion. Politically brainwashed country citizens were urged to identify with Russia, Mongolia, or Japan as the locality of a Shambala. Other folklores appeared within fanciful Occult Movements, for supremacy over multitudes, taking birth in Russia and Germany. They mixed sacred Buddhist ideas with ‘mass-management’ systems of mind- control stemming from deceitful occult beliefs. Several ideas even spawned expeditions to find this fabled land. Two camps arose from these occult versions. One regarded Shambala as a utopian paradise of harmlessness whose people would save the world. The British novelist, James Hilton in his 1933 work, ‘Lost Horizon’, described Shangrila as a spiritual paradise found in an inaccessible, hidden valley in Tibet. The term Shangrila was a romantic corruption of Shambala. The other camp depicted Shambala as a land of evil power capable of harmfulness. The connection between Nazism with Occult Societies came from a flawed understanding that Shambala was the place to arrive at Power for World Control. Neither camp however should be confused with Buddhism itself which was studied by Blavatsky. Madame Helena Blavatsky (1831–1891) was born in Ukraine into Russian nobility. Granted with extrasensory powers, she travelled the world in search of occult, secret teachings and spent many years on the Indian subcontinent. From 1867 to 1870, she studied Tibetan Buddhism with Indian masters, most likely from the Tibetan cultural regions of the Indian Himalayas. During her stay at Tashilhunpo Monastery on the Tibetan Plateau she visited the ashram founded in 1447 by Gendun Drup, the first Dalai Lama in Tibet. Blavatsky met Tibetan Buddhism when European Oriental scholarship was still in its infancy and only a few translations or accounts of Indian and Tibetan spiritualism were available. Further, she only learnt disjointed fragments of its vast Eastern teachings. In her private letters, she wrote to tell the West with Tibetan Buddhism. She translated and explained in basic terms ideas from Hinduism and the Occult. She translated that three of the four island-worlds (four continents) around Mount Meru were the sunken lost islands of Hyperborea, Lemuria and Atlantis. Also, she offered her concept of four humanoid races mentioned in the abhidhamma, the 3rd century BC teachings of Theravada Buddhism on a timeless way to liberation, independent of culture. She commented on the 2500- 410 In the Beginning year Wheel-of-Time Teachings, by the omniscient deity Kalachakra Buddha. She classified humanity into races who were born on these island-worlds, during Time Cycles. Her belief the esoteric teachings of all the world’s religions came from one body of occult knowledge, reinforced her decision to translate the texts, and she showed that in her writings. With the American spiritualist Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, Madame Blavatsky founded the Theosophical Society in 1875 in New York. Its international headquarters moved to Madras, India, shortly afterwards. Through her writings, the West first came to associate Shambala with the Occult and many subsequently confused this connection with the teachings of Buddhism. In 1888, Blavatsky mentioned Shambala in her main work, ‘The Secret Doctrine’, the teachings she said she received telepathically from her teachers in Tibet. She wrote in a letter that although her teachers were reincarnate beings she called them ‘mahatmas’ since that term was more familiar to the British in India. It was unclear to what extent Blavatsky studied the Kalachakra Texts directly. The earliest Western material on the topic was an 1833 article entitled “Note on the Origins of the Kalachakra and Adi-Buddha Systems” by the Hungarian pioneer scholar Alexander Csomo de Körös. Most of Blavatsky’s familiarity with Kalachakra, however, came from the chapter entitled “The Kalachakra System” in Emil Schlagintweit’s Buddhism in Tibet (1863). Following her translation, she presented Shambala with similar ideas in Hinduism and the Occult. The first English translation of Vishnu Purana, which provided information about Indian Scriptures, Philosophy and the Upanishads, appeared in 1864, by Horace Hayman Wallace—three years before Blavatsky’s visit to Tibet. Therefore, she explained Shambala with the Hindu presentation in this text: “it is the village where the future messiah, Kalki avatar, will appear”. The Kalki, Blavatsky wrote, was “Vishnu, the Messiah on the White Horse of the Brahmins; Maitreya Buddha of the Buddhists; Sosiosh of the Mazdean or Parsis saviour; and Jesus of the Christians.” She also claimed that Shankaracharya (788-820AD), the founder of Advaita Vedanta, “still lives among the Brotherhood of Shambala, beyond the Himalayas.” Elsewhere, she wrote that when Lemuria sank 21,000 years ago, part of its people survived in Atlantis (360BC), while part of its people migrated to the sacred island of “Shambala” in the Gobi Desert. The Mongols, including the ethnic minority Buryat population of Siberia and the Kalmyks of the lower Volga region, were all strong followers of Tibetan Buddhism, particularly its Kalachakra teachings. Blavatsky might have received confirmation of her placement of Shambala in the Gobi Desert from the writings of Csomo de Körös. In an 1825 letter, he wrote that Shambala was like a Buddhist Jerusalem and lay between 45 and 50 degrees longitude. Although Blavatsky herself never asserted that Shambala was Manipulation of Political and Religious History 411 the source of ‘The Secret Doctrine’, several later theosophists made this connection. First among them was Alice Bailey in ‘Letters on Occult Meditation’ (1922). Helena Roerich, in her ‘Collected Letters’ (1935–1936), also wrote that Blavatsky was a messenger of the messianic White Brotherhood of Ascended Masters from Shambala. Moreover, she reported that in 1934 the Ruler of Shambala had recalled to Tibet the mahatmas who had passed on to Blavatsky the secret teachings. The first major exploitation of the Shambala legend for political purposes involved Russia. Agvan Dorjiev (1854–1938) was a Buryat Mongol monk who studied in Lhasa and became the Master Assistant Tutor of the 13th Dalai Lama. In the face of British and Chinese efforts for control of Tibet, he convinced the Dalai Lama to turn to Russia for military support by telling him that Russia was Shambala and Czar Nicholas II was reincarnate Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug tradition. Dorjiev went to the Russian Imperial Court on several missions, but was never able to secure any help. He was able, however, to convince the Czar Nicholas I to build a Kalachakra Temple in St. Petersburg. The first public ceremony in the temple took place in 1913 and in 1915 Dorjiev spoke of the Romanov Dynasty (1613-1917) as the descendants of the rulers of Shambala. The next political exploitation of the Shambala legend occurred in Mongolia. Baron von Ungern-Sternberg, an avid anti-Bolshevik German who lived in Russia, and fought in Siberia with the White Russian (Czarist) forces. With Japanese support, he successfully invaded Outer Mongolia in 1920 to free it from the Chinese. Ungern slaughtered thousands of Chinese, Mongols, Russian Bolsheviks (Russian Communists) and Jews, because he believed that all Jews were Bolsheviks. Sukhe Batur established the Mongolian Communist Provisional Government in Republic of Buryatia and led a Mongol army against Ungern. He rallied his troops by telling them that by fighting to free Mongolia from oppression, they would be reborn in the army of Shambala. After the Japanese takeover of Inner Mongolia in 1937, Japan too exploited the Shambala legend for political gain. To try to win the support of the Mongols, it spread the propaganda that Japan was Shambala. In the 1922 book ‘Beasts, Men and Gods’, by Ferdinand Ossendowski (1876– 1945), a Polish scientist who spent most of his life in Russia, wrote of his recent travels in Outer Mongolia during the campaigns of Baron von Ungern-Sternberg. Ossendowski related that several Mongol lamas had told him of a place called Agharti, an underground kingdom beneath Mongolia, ruled by the King of the World. In the future, when materialism would ruin the world, a terrible war would break out, it was prophesied. Then, the people of Agharti would come to the surface and help end the violence. Ossendowski convinced Ungern of his story and sent two missions led by Prince Poulzig (1804-188) to seek Agharti. He was a German Count of the Thuringia state of Germany, found in the central part of 412 In the Beginning the country. The missions were unsuccessful and the Prince never returned from the second expedition. Although the Kalachakra texts never described Shambala as an underground kingdom, Ossendowski’s report clearly paralleled that of the Kalachakra account of the Kalki ruler of Shambala, coming to the aid of the world to end an apocalyptic war in the twenty-first century. The name Agharti did not appear in either the Kalachakra literature or the works of Madame Blavatsky. The first appearance of Agarthi was in the French novel “Les Fils de Dieu” (The Sons of God), written in 1873 by Louis Jacolliot, and popularized by Saint-Yves d’Alveidre. In “Mission of India in Europe”, he described an underground kingdom with a university that was a repository of secret knowledge; Allegedly originally found in Ayodhya India, it was moved to a secret location beneath the Himalayas 1800 years before the Common Era or AD, coinciding with the Christian Era. Its king, a “mahatma,” guarded its secrets and has not revealed them, as they might enable dark forces to build powerful weapons. Once the evil forces were destroyed, the mahatmas, it was alleged, would reveal their secrets for the benefit of mankind. The number 1800 appeared repeatedly as a motif in the Kalachakra literature, and the classical texts reported the leaders of Shambala did have the knowledge for building weapons to defeat invading forces. Many had acknowledged that Tibet and the Dalai Lama were the protectors of a secret knowledge. Nicholas Roerich (1874–1947), the Russian painter and ardent student of theosophy, was on the building committee for St. Petersburg Kalachakra Temple. He designed its stained-glass windows. His wife, Helena, translated Blavatsky’s “The Secret Doctrine” into Russian. Between 1925 and 1928, he led an expedition from India, through Tibet, to Outer Mongolia and the Altai Mountain region in Siberia, north of East Turkistan. The aim was to study plants, ethnology, languages, and to paint, but his primary purpose was to find Shambala. According to several accounts, Roerich’s mission was to return to Shambala a chintamani (wish-granting gem) entrusted to him by the League of Nations. His group claimed to have found Shambala in the Altai Krai Siberian region. Even now, Roerich’s followers continue his conviction the Altai Mountains were a great spiritual centre, connected in some way with Shambala. “The Guidebook to Shambala” written in the mid eighteenth century by the third Panchen Lama (1738–1780) explained the physical journey to Shambala could only take one so far. To reach the fabled land, one needed to perform an enormous amount of spiritual practices. In other words, the journey to Shambala was an inner search. This explanation, however, did not deter fearless adventurers such as the Roerichs from trying to reach Shambala by merely trekking there. In 1929, the Roerichs shaped the ritual of Agni Yoga, incorporating in it the theosophical teachings as its basis. They asserted that Shambala was the Manipulation of Political and Religious History 413 source of all Indian teachings. They also called its rulers “Lords of Fire” who would fight the “Lords of Darkness”. Agni, the Sanskrit word for fire, was specifically the sacred purificatory fire of the Vedas. Therefore, Roerich explained the masters of Shambala harnessed its powers for self-purification. Practitioners of Agni Yoga chose Buddha, Krishna, Jesus, or Muhammad as a guide for spiritual practice. Concentrating on their chosen guides, they prayed for peace while performing simple visualizations of purifying obstacles. In Buddhist tantra practice, meditators carried out intensive retreats with “fire pujas.” In these rituals, they offered several different grains and butter into a fire to purge the environment and overcome any obstacles that might arise from mistakes made during their meditation. In the flames, they thought of the fire-deity Agni, a figure borrowed from Hinduism. Roerich may have witnessed such pujas either at the Kalachakra Temple in St. Petersburg or during his travels in the Mongol regions and gained his idea of Agni Yoga from it. The primary association that Roerich made for Shambala was that it was a place of peace. While in search of a New Era (1930), Roerich the God-intoxicated man, described Shambala as a holy city in the north of India. Its famous unseen ruler revealed the teachings of Maitreya Buddha for universal peace. Each tradition described Shambala according to its own understanding and thus the Legend of the Holy Grail, was also a version of the Shambala story. Constantine the Great, Genghis Khan, and Prester John (12th century through to 17th century believed to be a well-known priest king from the East who journeyed to Rome to warn, that West would be overrun by infidels) were among those who had allegedly received messages of teachings from “the Mysterious Spiritual Abode and Brotherhood in the heart of Asia”. Roerich even coined the term “Shambala Warriors,” later adopted in the 1980s by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a Tibetan incarnate lama of the Karma Kagyu and Nyingma lineages who adapted and expressed Buddhist ideas in a modern American vernacular. However, Trungpa wrote his idea of the Shambala warrior who had nothing to do with the Kalachakra teachings or with Shambala itself. It was a metaphor for someone striving for self-improvement for the benefit of others. Roerich, on the other hand, used the term for “the Brothers of Humanity,” who would bring world peace from Shambala. “Kalachakra for World Peace,” associated with the Kalachakra initiations given by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama in the West since 1981, was also a legacy of Roerich’s ideas. After returning from Asia, Roerich travelled to New York where, in 1929, he was instrumental in circulating the Roerich Pact, an international treaty for protecting world cultural monuments. The banner of peace that Roerich proposed had three circles, which, he explained, were found in all spiritual traditions, including that of the “Rigden Jyelpos,” the kings of Shambala. Nothing like that, however, was found in the Kalachakra texts. Many countries around the world signed the pact in 1935, including the United States. The symbol of three circles 414 In the Beginning was later adopted as an insignia worn on armbands by physically disabled people marking their need for gentle treatment. In “Search of a New Era”, Roerich also hinted at a likeness between Shambala and Thule, the hidden land at the North Pole, which inspired the Germans in their search for a secret land. He again associated Shambala with the underground city of Agharti reached through tunnels under the Himalayas. Its inhabitants would emerge at the “time of purification.” In her “Collected Letters” (1935–1936), Helena Roerich pointed out that Saint-Yves d’Alveidre had mistakenly identified Shambala with Agharti, but they were not the same place. As a counterpoint to Blavatsky and Roerich’s presentations of Shambala as a caring land that would help set up world peace, alternative versions stressed the apocalyptic aspect of the legend. They associated Shambala mainly with the destructive forces of regeneration that would do away with old outmoded ways of thinking and establish a new world order of peace. Thus, the destructive force of Shambala was eventually caring. These versions also had their roots in theosophy. In 1884, Dr. Wilhelm Hübbe-Schleiden founded the German Theosophical Society. After an early failure, Annie Besant invited Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925), an Austrian spiritualist, to re-establish it in 1902. Steiner left the society in 1909 mainly because he could not agree with Besant and Leadbeater’s declaration of the sixteen-year-old Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) as the messiah who was both a writer and speaker on philosophical and spiritual issues. Dissemination of his thoughts continued to this day through the Krishnamurti Foundation of India. In a series of lectures given in Berlin and Munich in 1910 and 1911, Steiner taught what some had labelled as “a Christianized version of theosophy.” Steiner, however, claimed that his teachings were gained from his clairvoyant reading of “The Akashic Records,” and were not from theosophy. Akasha the Sanskrit word for space had occult records purportedly containing all the wisdom of humankind. He assured his readers the Kalachakra texts referred to knowledge fully purified to the subtlest mental activity. That was the basis for a Buddha’s omniscient awareness as “the space vajra pervasive with space.” They did not speak of Vajra as a ritual object or thunderbolt that crashed together soul with Soul, but as a record of all knowledge that could be tapped by psychic means. According to Steiner, Christ would reveal the land of Shambala with his Second Coming. Shambala, which disappeared long ago, was the seat of Maitreya. In a lecture entitled “Maitreya—the Christ or Antichrist”, Steiner explained that “whatever will come from the lips of Maitreya will come through the power of the Christ.” Steiner stressed the conflict between good and evil, as personified by and Ahriman. Blavatsky had already distinguished Lucifer from Satan. According to the Secret Doctrine, Lucifer was the “Light-Bearer,” the “Astral Light” within each mind and that it was both a tempter and liberator from pure animalism. It served to both create and destroy, and manifested in sexual Manipulation of Political and Religious History 415 passion. Although Lucifer could uplift humanity to a higher plane, Latin scholastics had branded him as the purely evil - as Satan. Blavatsky also wrote about the Zoroastrian dualism and the struggle between Ahura Mazda and Ahriman, as the forces of light and darkness. Steiner, however, went a step further than Blavatsky and transformed the dualism into an antagonism between Lucifer and Ahriman. In “Occult Science—an Outline”, Steiner characterized Lucifer as a being of light, the bridge between man and God, bringing man closer to the Christ. The “Children of Lucifer,” then, were all those who strive for knowledge and wisdom. Ahriman, in contrast, led mankind downward to its lower, material, carnal, animalistic nature. Steiner called himself a Luciferian and, by his logic, Maitreya was the Antichrist. Since for 2000 years churchians had perverted the Christ’s teachings, Maitreya, was made the Antichrist, who would come from Shambala and purge the world of their blemish and teach the true message of the Christ. In 1913, Steiner’s followers founded the Anthroposophical Society, although Steiner himself did not join until he re- established it in 1923. According to the Kalachakra tantra, the practice was inspired by Tibetan Buddhism to do meditation through the tantric path. Raudrachakrin their king had two generals: Rudra and Hanuman for supporting two types of deep awareness. Their prophesies stated the twenty-fifth Kalki would invade India and defeat the violent non-Indics who desecrated Buddhist ashrams in the past. Victory would mark the end of kaliyuga or the Piscean Age. The ruler of Shambala would defeat the non-Indic invaders who would try hard to conquer the world at the start of the Golden Age. These invaders would be followers of the teachings of a line of eight prophets: Adam, Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jesus, Mani, Muhammad, and Mahdi. Historical analysis suggested the model for these invaders were the late tenth-century forces of Multan (present-day Pakistan), and an ally of the Egyptian Fatimid Empire (909-1171AD). People throughout the region lived in great fear of an invasion, including the Buddhist-Hindu-Muslim region of Afghanistan where the Kalachakra historical teachings presumably developed. The predicted conflict and defeat of the invaders, however, was a spiritual metaphor for the internal battle against fear and ignorance. It presented an effective method for the terrorized people at that time to overcome their strongly felt anxieties. Steiner was unaware of the historical context and metaphoric meaning of the Shambala legend. Thus, he and several others in the following decades took Shambala as the seat of spiritual power from which the reform of Churchianity would arise. Steiner’s emphasis on Maitreya and Shambala as the real sources of Christian reform in the future probably reflected his dismay at the theosophist promotion of Krishnamurti as the new saviour. Kalachakra texts did not mention the teachings of the Church. However, they did show methods for Hindus and 416 In the Beginning

Muslims to find alternative meanings of doctrines in their own religions. That would allow them to form a united spiritual front with Buddhists to face the terrors of an impending invasion. They pointed out teachings that Buddha gave parallel to some of the Hindu and Muslim assertions. Nevertheless, Kalachakra texts did not assert the Buddhist teachings contained the true meanings of Hinduism or Islam. Nor did they assert that Shambala would be the source of reform. It did not assert that Shambala would bring people back to the true doctrines of the founders of those religions, let alone back to the pure teachings of Jesus about The Christ. The British theosophist Alice Bailey (1880–1949) was a medium who claimed to channel and receive occult letters from a Tibetan master. After losing her battle with Annie Besant for leadership of the theosophical movement, she founded the Lucifer Trust in the United States in 1920. Originally calling her trust the Tibetan Lodge, she changed its name once more in 1922 to the Lucis Trust. Her lectures and writings spawned the New Age Movement. She called the New Age both the Aquarian Age and the Age of Maitreya. In “Initiations, Human and Solar” (1922), “Letters on Occult Meditation” (1922), “A Treatise on Cosmic Fire” (1925), and “A Treatise on White Magic” (1934), Bailey wrote extensively about “The Shambala Force.” Reminiscent of Roerich, she took Shambala to be “the seat of cosmic fire,” which was a force for purification. Rather than thinking this Force as the caring Agni (Fire), she followed Steiner’s lead and associated it with Lucifer. Thus, she spoke of it as a source of destructive power to eject degenerate forms of teachings and to show a pure New Age. Shambala Force, Bailey explained, was the volatile energy of self- will. In itself, it was destructive and could be the source of evil. When seen as the Divine Will, however, its practitioners could harness it for the crowning Common Good. She stated a hierarchy in Shambala, headed by Maitreya, protected the Force and would instigate the developed soul into the Mysteries of the Ages, and The Plan for the coming Age at a proper time. Like Steiner, Bailey adapted not only the Lucifer idea, but also the Antichrist. She associated it with the Shambala Force – the teachings for rousing life-force and its cultivation through meditation. Borrowing theosophical ideas she said the Shambala Force had made its presence known twice before in history. The first time was during the Lemurian Age, heralding the egoistic individualization of mankind. The second was “during the Atlantean days of struggle between the Lords of Light and the Lords of Material Form, the Dark Forces.” In modern times, referring to the period between the two World Wars, it displayed as the force to destroy what was undesirable and obstructive to the Piscean world forms of government, religion and society. Bailey’s teachings spawned several further occult movements that associated Shambala with even more esoteric ideas. One was the Brotherhood of the White Temple, founded in 1930 by the American spiritualist Morris Doreal (1902–1963). Manipulation of Political and Religious History 417

In Maitreya, Lord of the World, Doreal wrote that Shambala was the Great White Temple of Tibet, found 75 miles (120 km) beneath the Himalayas. Its entrance was underground, with space around it bent into a warp that led into another universe. He described Shambala as having halves. The southern half was the section where adepts and great gurus lived. The northern half was the land where the avatar or world teacher Maitreya lived. To conquer the dark forces of evil of the world in the future, Maitreya would come with the warriors of Shambala, who were the “light bearers of the Aquarian Age”. Doreal’s main work was “The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean”, which he claimed to have recovered from beneath the Great Pyramid in Egypt and translated from the Atlantean language. He also claimed to have received secret initiations from Tibetan monks. After the Second World War, Bailey accounted for the Nazi policies by asserting that Hitler had seized the Shambala Force and as a “tool of the Dark Forces,” had misused it to fight the ’’Energy of Light.’ Similar to Bailey’s claims of the connection between Hitler and the Shambala Force, several post-war studies on Nazism and the Occult asserted the Nazis sent expeditions to Tibet to seek the help of the forces of Shambala and Agharti to carry out their Master Plan. Bailey, however, only mentioned Shambala and said nothing about Agharti. These accounts, on the other hand, claim the Masters of Shambala refused to help the Nazi expeditions, but the adepts of Agharti agreed and returned with them to Germany. However, they credited the Nazi search for occult support in Tibet to the beliefs of Karl Haushofer and the Thule Society. Haushofer was the founder of the Vril Society in association with the Thule Society and was a major influence on Hitler’s occult thinking. The Thule and Vril Societies drew their beliefs from various sources. Ancient Greeks wrote not only of the sunken island of Atlantis, but also of Hyperborea, a northern land whose people migrated south before the ice destroyed it. The late 17th-century Swedish author Olaf Rudbeck found the island of Atlantis at the North Pole. Several other accounts related that before its destruction, Atlantis broke into the islands of Thule and Ultima Thule. The British astronomer Sir Edmund Halley, also in the late 17th century, forwarded the theory the earth was hollow. In 1871, the British novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton, in “The Coming Race”, described a superior race, the Vrilya, who lived beneath the earth and had planned to conquer the world with vril, a psychokinetic energy. In “Les Fils de Dieu” (The Sons of God) (1873), the French author Louis Jacolliot linked vril with the subterranean people of Thule. Later, the Indian freedom fighter and lawyer, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, in “The Arctic Home of the Vedas” (1903), identified the southern migration of Thuleans with the origin of the Aryan race. In 1908, the American author Willis George Emerson published the novel “The Smokey God, or a Voyage to the Inner World”, which described the journey of a Norwegian sailor through an opening at the North Pole to a hidden world inside the earth. 418 In the Beginning

The Thule Society was founded in 1910 by Felix Niedner, the German translator of the “Old Norse Eddas”. It identified Germanic people as the Aryan race, the descendants from Thule, and sought its transformation into a super race through harnessing the power of vril. As part of its emblem, it took the swastika, a traditional symbol for Thor, the Norse God of Thunder. In doing so, the Thule Society followed the precedent of Guido von List who, in the late 19th century, had made the swastika an emblem for the neo-Pagan movement in Germany. They defined their political and economic doctrines of totalitarianism and terrorised the world with Nazism or Harmfulness from 1933 to 1945. With Jorg Lanz von Liebenfels and Phillip Stauff, Guido von List had been prominent in founding the Ariosophy Movement, popular before and during the First World War. Ariosophy blended the idea of races from theosophy with German nationalism to assert the superiority of the Aryan race as a reason for Germany to conquer the global colonial empires of the British and the French as the rightful ruler of the inferior races. The Thule Society embraced the Ariosophy beliefs. However, the theosophical movement never intended its teachings on races as a justification for asserting the superiority of one race over another, or the intended right of one race to rule the others. When Rudolf von Sebettendorff established a Munich branch of the Thule Society in 1918, he added anti-Semitism and the sanctioned use of Assassination to the Society’s creeds. He had picked up these elements during his years in Turkey and his acquaintance there with the Order of Assassins. This secret order traced back to the Nazarite sect of Ismaili Islam, against whom the Crusaders had fought. Later in 1918, after the Bavarian Communist Revolution, anti-Communism also joined the Thule Society’s set of aims. In 1919, the Munich Thule Society resulted in the German Workers Party. Hitler joined it that same year and, becoming its head in 1920, renamed it the Nazi Party and adopted the swastika for its flag. Karl Haushofer was a German military adviser to Japan after the Russian- Japanese War of 1904–1905. He was impressed by the Japanese culture. He studied their language, and later became instrumental in forging the alliance between Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. He also learned Sanskrit and purportedly studied Buddhism for a year in Tibet. He founded the Vril Society in Berlin in 1918, which besides the Thule Society creeds, also promoted searching for vril among supernatural beings beneath the earth. The most likely location would be in Tibet, which he saw as the homeland of the Aryan migrants from Thule. Haushofer also developed ‘geopolitics’, according to which a race gained power by expanding its living space through the conquest of its neighbouring lands. In the early 1920s, Haushofer headed the Institute for Geopolitics in Munich and, starting in 1923, began to teach Hitler his views. Haushofer was instrumental in convincing Hitler to set up the Bureau for the Study of Ancestral Heritage in Manipulation of Political and Religious History 419

1935. Its main charge was to find the origins of the Aryan race, especially in Central Asia. In 1937, Himmler incorporated this bureau into the SS (Schutzstaffel, the German Protection Squad). The Ahnenerbe founded in 1935 became a Nazi German think-tank that promoted itself as a society for studying intellectual ancient history. In 1938– 1939, it sponsored the third expedition of Ernst Schaffer to Tibet. During its brief stay, an anthropologist Bruno Beger measured the skulls of many Tibetans and assumed that they were an intermediary race between the Aryans and Mongolians and could serve as a link for the German-Japanese alliance. Many scholars have since questioned the accuracy of the post-war studies on Nazism and the Occult. Whether they accurately represented Nazi thought during the Third Reich, still they represented a further popularized distortion of the Shambala legend. According to the version found in “The Morning of the Magicians” (1962) by two French researchers Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier and in “Nazism and Secret Societies” (1974) by Jean-Claude Frére, Haushofer believed that two groups of Aryans migrated south from Hyperborea-Thule. One went to Atlantis, where they intermarried with the Lemurians who had also migrated there. The descendants of these impure Aryans turned to black magic and conquest. The other branch of Aryans migrated south, passing through North America and northern Eurasia, eventually reaching the Gobi Desert. There, they founded Agharti, the myth of which had become popular through the writings of Saint- Yves d’Alveidre. According to Frére, the Thule Society equated Agharti with its cognate Asgaard, the home of the gods in Norse mythology. Others asserted, less convincingly, that Agharti was cognate with Ariana, an Old Persian name known by the ancient Greeks for the region extending from eastern Iran through Afghanistan to Uzbekistan - the homeland of the Aryans. After a cataclysm, Agharti allegedly sank beneath the earth. These thoughts agreed with Ossendowski’s account. The Aryans then split into two groups. One went southward and founded a secret centre of learning beneath the Himalayas, also called Agharti, where they preserved the teachings of virtue and of vril. The other Aryan group tried to return to Hyperborea-Thule, but founded instead Shambala, a city of violence, evil, and materialism. Agharti was the holder of right-hand path and positive vril, while Shambala was the keeper of degenerate left-hand path and negative energy. The division of right-hand and left-hand paths had appeared already in Blavatsky’s “The Secret Doctrine”, where she had written that in Atlantean times, humanity had branched itself into right- and left-hand paths of knowledge, which became the germs of white and black magic. She did not associate the two paths, however, with Agharti and Shambala, in the inner earth land of advanced races and flying saucers. In fact, she did not mention Agharti at all in her writings. The terms right- and left-hand paths gained their origin from a division within 420 In the Beginning

Hindu tantra. Early Western writers often characterized left-hand tantra as a degenerate form and mis-identified it with Tibetan Buddhism and its teachings of anuttara yoga tantra, a Buddhist tantric practice of around 400 AD. According to Pauwels and Bergier, the German Occult Thule Society (established in Munich in 1918) sought to contact and make a pact with Shambala, but only Agharti agreed to offer help. By 1926, the French authors explained there were already colonies of Hindus and Tibetans in Munich and Berlin, called the Society of Green Men, in astral connection with the Green Dragon Society in Japan. Membership to the latter society required the ritual Japanese suicide (hara- kiri, Japanese seppuku) if one lost one’s honour. Haushofer (1869–1946) had purportedly joined the society during his early years in Japan. Haushofer whose mother was Jewish was the theorist of Nazism and doctrines that claimed, a country was a living organism and its race and territory were linked. Rudolf Hess, his student later introduced Haushofer to Hitler and influenced Hitler into Mein Kampf, an exposition of Hitler’s political ideology. He remained among Hitler’s closest advisers on foreign affairs. In 1946, Haushofer was found out to be a half-Jew. Their son was killed by the SS and his wife hung herself. Haushofer committed hara-kiri by drinking arsenic before he could be tried at Nuremberg in 1946. The leader of the Society of Green Men was a Tibetan monk, known as “the man with green gloves,” who supposedly visited Hitler often and held the keys of Agharti. Expeditions to Tibet followed yearly, from 1926 to 1943. When the Russians entered Berlin at the end of the war, they found nearly a thousand corpses of soldiers of the Himalayan race, dressed in Nazi uniforms but without identification papers, who had committed suicide. A slightly different account of the Nazi search for Shambala and Agharti appeared in ‘The Spear of Destiny’ (1973) by the British researcher Trevor Ravenscroft. According to this version, the German Chapter of Thule Society believed that two sections of Aryans turned to worship of two evil forces. It was believed the Thule Society (German) founded by Sebettendorff in 1918, schooled apprentices in occultism, Islamic mysticism and alchemy. The Society believed in communication with a hierarchy of supermen: The Secret Chiefs of the Third Order. This therefore brought about the decline of Atlantis. Later, these two groups purportedly established cave communities in mountains submerged beneath the Atlantic Ocean near Iceland. The legend of Thule arose from them. One group of Aryans followed the Luciferic Oracle, called Agharti, and practised the left- hand path. The other group followed the Ahrimanic Oracle, called Shambala, and practised the right-hand path. Meanwhile Ravenscroft reported the reverse of Pauwels, Bergier, and Frère’s assertions that Agharti followed the right-hand path and Shambala the left. Manipulation of Political and Religious History 421

Ravenscroft went on to explain that according to the “Secret Doctrine” (alluding to Blavatsky’s book by the same name), that appeared in Tibet 10,000 years ago, Lucifer and Ahriman were the two forces of Evil, the two great enemies of human evolution. Lucifer led people to set themselves up as gods and was associated with the lust for power. Following Lucifer would lead to egotism, false pride, and misuse of magical powers. Ahriman strived to establish a purely material realm on the earth and used the perverse sexual craving of people in black magic rites. Although Blavatsky had written about Lucifer and Ahriman, she did not make the two a pair and did not associate either of the two with Shambala or Agharti. Moreover, Blavatsky explained that although Latin scholastics had transformed Lucifer into a purely evil Satan, Lucifer had the power both to destroy and to create. He represented the light-bearing presence in everyone’s mind that could uplift people from animalism and bring about a positive transformation to a higher plane of existence. It was Steiner who had highlighted Lucifer and Ahriman as representing the two poles of destructive power. However, Steiner described Lucifer as the generous destructive force for regeneration and Ahriman as purely evil. Also, Steiner associated Lucifer with Shambala, not Agharti. Like Blavatsky and Bailey, he did not mention Agharti at all. In addition, none of the three occult authors described Shambala as found underground. Only the Roerichs had associated it thus with the city of Agharti, and clarified the two were different. Ravenscroft, like Pauwels, Bergier, and Frére, also asserted that through the initiative of Haushofer and other Thule Society members, exploratory teams were sent to Tibet yearly from 1926 to 1942 to set up contact with underground cave communities. They were supposed to convince the masters there to enlist the aid of Luciferic and Ahrimanic powers to further the Nazi cause, especially for creating an Aryan super race, but the adepts of Shambala refused to help. Rudolf Steiner in 1919 gave five lectures on laws of materialism. As followers of the Ahrimanic Oracle, they were concerned only with furthering materialism. However, Shambala had already affiliated itself with certain lodges in Britain and the United States. This was perhaps a reference to Doreal, whose Brotherhood of the White Temple in America was the first major occult movement to assert Shambala as an underground city. Besides, this account also fitted well with Haushofer’s contempt for Western materialistic science, which he called “Jewish-Marxist-Liberal science,” in favour of “Nordic-Nationalistic science.” Ravenscroft said the masters of Agharti had agreed to help the Nazi cause and, from 1929 onward, groups of Tibetans had come to Germany, where they became known as the ‘Society of Green Men’. Joined by members of the Green Dragon Society of Japan, they set up occult schools in Berlin and elsewhere. Pauwels and Bergier asserted that colonies of not only Tibetans, but also Hindus were present in Berlin and Munich from 1926, not 1929. Himmler was attracted 422 In the Beginning to these groups of Tibetan-Agharti adepts and, from their influence, established the Ahnenerbe in 1935, the Nazi think-tank that promoted itself as a ‘Study Society for Intellectual Ancient History’. It was not Himmler who set up the Ahnenerbe – the Nazi German Think-Tank, but rather he incorporated it into the SS in 1937. It was difficult to find out whether Haushofer and the Thule Society believed any of the material published by the many authors referred to earlier about occult descriptions of Shambala, depiction of Agharti, legends of Thule and about vril. It would also be difficult to prove whether Haushofer succeeded in influencing Hitler and official Nazi institutions, to send expeditions to Tibet to secure aid from the two supposedly subterranean lands – or even if the Thule Society itself sent such expeditions. The only mission to Tibet officially sanctioned by the Ahnenerbe (SS), -the Third Tibetan Expedition (1938–1939) of Ernst Schaeffer had a different, though equally occult agenda. Its primary purpose was to measure the skulls of Tibetans to discover if they were the source of Aryans and an intermediary race between the Aryans and Japanese. There were certain factual errors and contradictions between the accounts of Haushofer and the Thule Society’s beliefs. There were however some points agreement that were significant. Firstly, Steiner and Bailey both associated Shambala with a regenerative power to destroy outdated orders and replace them with fresh improved ones. They associated this caring power with Lucifer, the antichrist. Haushofer and the Thule Society, alternatively, associated Lucifer and this benevolent power with Agharti. For them, Shambala was a land of a destructive power, represented by Ahriman and unbridled materialism. Besides, although the Thule Society and the Nazis first sought help of Shambala, representing the evil path of materialism, they were refused. Instead, they received Agharti support of Agharti, a positive path of destruction of the weak and creation of a Master Race as the next step forward in human evolution. Excluding the question of whether the Thule Society and the Ahnenerbe sent missions to Tibet seeking aid from Shambala and Agharti, Haushofer combined the legends of Shambala and Agharti with the Thule Society’s beliefs. The resulting invention did represent the Nazi occult position. Through Dorjiev (1854-1938) the Russian-born monk of Tibetan Buddhism, Shambala was associated with Russia and later also with Communism, while through Ossendowski (1876-1945) the Polish globe-trotter; Agharti was associated with the anti-Communist anti-Semitic forces of the German Baron von Ungern- Sternberg (Russian Military Leader). Since the Bavarian Communist Revolution of 1918, the Thule Society and Hitler were avidly anti-Communist. Before this, they were both already anti-Semitic. With his anti-Communist bias, Hitler signed the Anti-Commintern Pact with Japan in November 1936, in which both countries declared their common hostility toward the spread of international Communism. Both agreed that they would not sign any political treaties with the Soviet Union. Manipulation of Political and Religious History 423

Nevertheless, to avoid a European war on two fronts, Hitler had to sign the Nazi- Soviet Pact with Stalin in August 1939, which he made insolvent in June 1941, when the Nazi forces invaded Soviet Union. An occult explanation and justification of Hitler’s about-face might have been through an allegory that ‘there is magic in names and the mightiest among these words of magic is Atlantis and Shambala – it is a vision of a lost culture hidden in the thoughts of souls’. Shambala (to Soviet Union, Communism, and the Jews) was evil, yet Hitler first sought an alliance with it (Soviet-Nazi Pact), but on Shambala’s refusal he turned to Agharti and received its support. Hitler put the blame on the Soviet Union for his breaking the pact. Ungern, from a Baltic- German nobility who was an earlier anti-Semitic anti-Bolshevik German, had also sought help from Agharti, but had failed to find the fabled land and failed in his mission. Since Hitler’s expeditions had found Agharti-Asgaard and received its help, the Nazis were now sure to succeed. Fictional ‘facts’ supported theory explaining the German Occult depiction of Shambala as a land of evil forces. In ‘Der Weg nach Shambala’ (The Way to Shambala) (1915), a German explorer of Central Asia, Albert Grünwedel, reported that Dorjiev had identified the Romanov Dynasty (1613–1855) as the descendants of the rulers of Shambala. In ‘Sturm über Asien’ (Storm over Asia) (1924), a German spy Wilhelm Filchner connected the Soviet drive to take over Central Asia with the Romanov interest in Tibet from the beginning of the century. In 1926, the Roerichs delivered soil purportedly from the mahatmas (revered masters of wisdom and virtue) of Tibet to the Soviet Foreign Minister Chicherin to place on Lenin’s grave. Helena Roerich referred to both Marx and Lenin as mahatmas and claimed that emissaries of the Himalayan mahatmas had even met Marx in England and Lenin in Switzerland. These mahatmas had supposedly supported the Communist ideals of universal brotherhood. In ‘Aus den letzten Jahrzehnten des Lamaismus in Russland’ (Concerning the Last Decades of Lamaism in Russia) (1926), a German scholar W A Unkrig cited Filchner’s book and repeated Grünwedel’s report about Dorjiev, the Romanovs, and Shambala. He also reported the ceremony at the Buddhist temple in St. Petersburg to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Romanov Empire. Warning against the influence of this temple and an alliance of the Soviet Union, Mongolia and Tibet, Unkrig ended his article with the Latin quote, “Domine, libera nos a Tartaris” (God save us from the Tartars). This fit in well with Haushofer’s geopolitics and his recommendation for Germany to conquer the living space in Central Asia, the homeland of the Aryan race. Already in 1910, Steiner was lecturing in Berlin and Munich about Shambala as the seat of Maitreya who would rid perverted spiritual teachings. ‘Tiere, Menschen und Götter’ (Beasts, Men, and Gods), the popular German translation of Ossendowski’s book, appeared in 1923. It introduced Agharti as a source of power that Baron von Ungern-Sternberg had sought for support in his battle 424 In the Beginning against the Mongolian Communist leader Sukhe Batur, who was rallying his troops with stories of Shambala. Thule Society had identified Agharti with Asgaard, the home of the Aryan Norse gods. During the first half of the 1920s, a so-called occult war took place among the Occult Societies and Secret Lodges in Germany. In 1925, Steiner was murdered and many suspected the Thule Society had ordered his murder. In later years, Hitler continued persecuting Anthroposophists, theosophists, freemasons, and the Rosicrucians. Various scholars credited this policy to Hitler’s wish to remove any occult rivals to his rule. Steiner commissioned the German translation of Bulwer-Lytton’s novel on vril, ‘The Coming Race’, under the more exact German title ‘Vril, oder eine Menschheit der Zukunft’ (Vril, or the Race of the Future). Also, since Steiner and anthroposophy spoke of Shambala as the land of future messiah and of benevolence, it made sense the Thule Society and Hitler would describe it in the opposite manner, as a land of viciousness. Between 1929 and 1935, five books by the French adventurer Alexandra David-Neel appeared in German translation, such as ‘Heilige und Hexen’ (Mystiques et Magiciens du Thibet, With Mystics and Magicians in Tibet). David- Neel had spent many years studying and travelling in Tibet and she reported that adepts there had extra physical powers that allowed them to defy gravity and run at superhuman speeds. Thus, fantasy about Tibet as the land of mysterious magical powers grew wild. Unknown to the witness these were powers gained through Yoga. In 1936, Theodor Illion, a German explorer who travelled in Tibet in the early 1930s, published Rätselhaftes Tibet (In Secret Tibet) under the pseudonym Theodor Burang, wherein he too described supernatural powers that Tibetan adepts had. In his second book, ‘Finsternis über Tibet’ (Darkness over Tibet) (1937), he described his being led to an underground city in the “Valley of Mystery,” where an “Occult Fraternity” channelled spiritual energy to gain power. Its ruler was the sorcerer Prince Mani Rimpotsche. Although this ‘Prince of Light’ pretended to be a caring ruler, he was the head of an evil cult, a Prince of Darkness’. Illion never mentioned Shambala, but his popular works added weight to the Nazi occult assertion of Shambala as a land of spiteful magic. The Nazi Occult Movement, as represented by the Thule Society, used the Shambala-Agharti allegory to justify Hitler’s changing policy of Harmfulness toward the Soviet Union. Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933. In the same year, Sebettendorff, the founder of the Munich branch of the Thule Society, published ‘Bevor Hitler kam’ (Before Hitler Came), in which he outlined Hitler’s debt to Thulism. Hitler quickly banned the book and forced Sebettendorff to retire. Although Hitler clearly supported the Thule Society’s beliefs, he denied any connection with established occult movements. He did not want to leave open the possibility for rivalry to come from any quarter. Haushofer and the Thule Society, however, were not the only behind-the- Manipulation of Political and Religious History 425 scenes influences on the Ahnenerbe. Sven Hedin, the Swedish explorer of Tibet and favourite of the Nazis, also played a significant role. Between 1922 and 1944, he wrote several popular books in German on his travels in Tibet, such as ‘Tsangpo Lamas Wallfahrt’ (The Pilgrimage of the Tsangpo Lamas) (1922). Several others were translated into German from English, such as ‘Mein Leben als Entdecker’ (1928) from ‘My Life as an Explorer’ (1926) to and ‘Eroberungszüge in Tibet’ (1941) from ‘A Conquest of Tibet’ (1934). Besides, in ‘Ossendowski und die Wahrheit’ (Ossendowski and the Truth) (1925), Hedin debunked Ossendowski’s claim that Mongolian lamas had told him about Agharti. In it, he ridiculed Agharti as a fantasy seized from Saint-Yves d’Alveidre’s 1886 novel. Frederick Hielscher, whom Hitler sanctioned to set up the Ahnenerbe in 1935, was a friend of Sven Hedin. Hitler invited Hedin to give the opening address at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and in 1937 Hedin published ‘Germany and World Peace’. From 1939 to 1943, Hedin made several diplomatic missions to Germany and continued his pro-Nazi publishing activities. The influence of the Ahnenerbe led in 1943 to renaming Tibet Institut (Tibet Institute) to the Sven Hedin Institut für Innerasien und Expeditionen (Sven Hedin Institute for Inner Asia and Expeditions). Haushofer was instrumental in starting the Ahnenerbe (SS). Its agenda was based on many of the Thule Society’s beliefs. Nevertheless, because of Hedin, it was unlikely the Ahnenerbe sought and received support from Agharti in Tibet. Hedin admitted that Tibet was a repository of ancient hidden knowledge, but did not assign occult significance to it. He also did not associate this knowledge with Shambala or Agharti. It seemed unlikely that groups of Tibetans were present in Berlin and Munich from 1926 or 1929, under the patronage of the Thule Society. The Kalmyk People were Western Mongolic people who had long settled in Russia. At the end of the war, Pauwels and Berger reported that Russians found in Berlin many corpses of soldiers of the Himalayan race, dressed in Nazi uniforms, who had committed suicide. Hara-kiri was a Japanese Samurai custom, which many Japanese soldiers in the Second World War practiced to avoid capture. Followers of Tibetan Buddhism, however, always considered suicide a negative act with effects in future lives. Any soldiers of Himalayan origin found in Nazi uniform would be Kalmyk Mongols and not Tibetans. Kalmyk Mongols were the practitioners of a Tibetan form of Buddhism and had a history of association with Germans. A large group of them migrated westward from the Dzungaria region of eastern Turkistan between 1609 and 1632. They settled in Russia along the lower Volga, where it empties into the Caspian Sea. There, they continued their traditional nomadic way of life. In 1763, Czarina Catherine II the Great invited almost 30,000 Germans to settle in the Volga region to the north of the Kalmyks. She wanted to farm the fertile land and secure it against the “Tartars.” She tried to force Christianity 426 In the Beginning and agriculture on the Kalmyks. Many were forced to flee back to Dzungaria in 1771. Those who remained in Russia were accepted, especially since they were excellent soldiers. During the Napoleonic Wars (1812–1815), the Russian army had a Kalmyk regiment. Over the next century, Kalmyk soldiers were prominent in divisions throughout the Czarist army. After the Communist Revolution in 1917, many Kalmyks remained loyal to the Czarist forces and continued to fight on the White Russian side, especially under Generals Vrangel and Deniken. Before the Red Army broke through to the Crimean Peninsula at the end of 1920, about 20 Kalmyk families fled across the Black Sea with Vrangel and relocated in Warsaw (Poland) and Prague (Czechoslovakia). A much larger number left with Deniken, with the majority settling in Belgrade (Serbia) and smaller numbers in Sofia (Bulgaria) and in Paris and Lyon (France). The Kalmyk refugees in Belgrade built a Buddhist temple there in 1929. The Communists severely punished the Kalmyks who remained behind, beheading ten thousand. In 1931, Stalin collected the Kalmyks, closed the Buddhist monasteries, and burned their religious texts. He deported all monks to Siberia including all cattle herders owning more than 500 sheep. Partially because of Stalin’s collectivization policies, a great famine struck from 1932 to 1933. Roughly 60,000 Kalmyks died. After Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in September 1941, Goebbels invited to Berlin several prominent Kalmyks from Belgrade, Paris, and Prague to help with a propaganda campaign. The Nazis wished to win the Kalmyks to the German side against the Russians and never sent any of those under their rule to concentration camps. Thus, Goebbels organized this nucleus into a committee to free the Kalmyks from the Communist regime. Goebbels helped them print a Kalmyk language newspaper and used them to broadcast radio news in Kalmyk directed toward Kalmykia. When the Nazi Sixteenth Panzer Division under Field Marshal Mannstein took Kalmykia early in 1942, three members of this committee accompanied them. Many Belgrade Kalmyks also engaged in the invasion, having joined the German army after the Nazi occupation of Serbia in April 1941. The people of Kalmykia greeted the German army with butter and milk, the traditional offering to welcome guests, as liberators from Stalin’s brutal rule. The Germans said they would take apart the collectives and would divide and privatize the land. They allowed the Kalmyks to practice Buddhism once more. In response, the Kalmyks exhumed the religious texts they had buried for safe keeping and built a makeshift temporary temple. In November and December 1942, however, the Red Army retook Kalmykia and destroyed everything the people had rebuilt. The German troops invited the Kalmyks to retreat and continue the fight with Soviets. About 5000 joined the Nazi military, forming the Kalmykian Voluntary Cavalry Corps. Only a few woman and children accompanied them. The Kalmyk troops fought with the Nazi army behind the lines, especially around Manipulation of Political and Religious History 427 the Azov Sea. Most of the Kalmyk population, however, remained in Kalmykia. In December 1943, Stalin declared them all German collaborators and deported the lot to Siberia. They returned only during the Khrushchev era, between 1957 and 1960. In the early autumn of 1944, in the face of an imminent Russian invasion of Serbia, many Belgrade Kalmyks fled to Munich to avoid Communist persecution. A learned Buddhist teacher and several monks accompanied them. At the end of 1944, the Kalmyk cavalry troops that survived in Russia, with their families, retreated with the German army. About 2000 went to Silesia (Poland) and 1500 to Zagreb (Croatia), where they were reorganized to fight against the partisans. Therefore, although some Kalmyks were in Germany and Nazi-held territory in the final months of the war, only a few were in the Berlin area, still engaged in propaganda work. The Kalmyk soldiers in Nazi uniform were in Poland and Croatia, but not in Germany. Although several Kalmyk monks performed Tibetan Buddhist rituals in the Kalmyk barracks and homes in Nazi-held territory, they prayed for peace and the welfare of all beings. No Tibetans were among them and they did not conduct occult ceremonies for a Nazi victory, as some post-war occult accounts report. After the war, the Kalmyks remaining in West-European countries were interned in displaced persons camps in Austria and Germany, especially in the Munich area. Released in 1951, they settled first in Munich. Later that year, the Anna Tolstoy Foundation resettled most of them in New Jersey, USA. Tito handed those left in Serbia over to the Soviets, who quickly deported them to Siberia. Occult interpretations of other Nazi activities, associating them with Shambala, also appeared after the war. As an example, a 1939 German expedition to Antarctica, led by Captain Alfred Ritscher, mapped one-fifth of the continent, claimed it for Germany, and named it Neu-Schwabenland. Further Nazi expeditions to Antarctica and naval activity in the South Atlantic continued until the end of the war. In the late 1950s, Henrique Jose de Souza, the then president of the Brazilian Theosophical Society, proposed a new ‘hollow earth’ theory. According to his theory, Agharti lies inside the earth, with its capital Shambala, as the source of flying saucers that emerge to the surface through tunnels at the North and South Poles. Therefore, the Brazilian Theosophical Society built as its headquarters in São Lourenço, Minas Gerais, a Greek-style temple dedicated to Agharti. De Souza’s student, O C Hugenin, popularized his mentor’s theory in ‘From the Subterranean World to the Sky: Flying Saucers’ (1957). R W Bernard, in his 1964 book ‘The Hollow Earth’, had the flying saucers from Shambala in Agharti under the earth come out through secret tunnels under the Himalayas in Tibet. Based on the Nazi Antarctic Expeditions and the already stated accounts, a German Occultist Ernst Zündel wrote several books in the 1970s, including ‘UFOs: Nazi Secret Weapons?’, claiming the Nazis had a secret base in an area 428 In the Beginning of warm water lakes they had found in Antarctica. There they hid their secret weapon, UFOs. Zündel was also infamous as the most outspoken proponent of the view the Holocaust never happened. Associating flying saucers with Shambala were drawn from accounts of allegorical future apocalyptic war. In this account, Raudrachakrin, the 25th Kalki ruler of Shambala, would come from his land mounted on a horse with the power of the wind and defeat the leader of the non-Indic hordes. Although Raudrachakrin represented the deep awareness of voidness with the subtlest mental activity and the horse represented the subtlest energy-wind on which this awareness rides, some interpreted the image as a coming from Shambala. Human imagination always had the power to “believe” what its thought tendency dictated in deeds, both good and bad. In every cultural and religious tradition there always were two ways to live in this world filled with two kinds of people. Vyasa the well-known sage of Hinduism claimed human beings were divided into two: the divine (daivic) and demonic (asuric). Deva referred to people who “lived in the light” of spiritual consciousness which illumined their outer life and moved them toward liberation. Asura lived without light or spiritual consciousness. They moved into degradation of consciousness and life. Even the presence of a single demonic quality or tendency in a single person had the power of spreading a mainly demonic era. Kaliyuga or the Piscean Age was an era of constant struggle by the Daivic against an Asuric blind humanity. 15.Defining Essentials of Time Cycles

Many old cultures spoke of cyclic changes in human consciousness over four yugas. Consciousness was highest in Satya Yuga during the Age of Truth. Treta Yuga, the Mental age was followed by the age of Energy called Dwapara Yuga. The lowest age of gross material consciousness was Kali Yuga, or the Dark Age. With the completion of the dark cycle would begin a new Golden Age. Even among Hindus, judgment on Yuga cycles differed. In introducing his book The Holy Science, the Indian sage Sri Yukteshwar offered a different understanding about the ancient idea of the Yuga cycles. In his view, the entire cycle of four ages was associated with downhill understanding, starting with four ages of mounting awareness until completed in 24,000 years. The current according to the Yuga idea among traditional astrologers, Yukteshwar claimed, arose from a mistake made when humanity’s capacity to understand was at its lowest point. Yukteshwar described a “grand central sun” around which the solar system of planets revolved in an ascending and descending spiral. The influence of this “grand central sun” changed over the 24,000-year cycle when the Sun was distant from the planet at times and nearer at others. The intensity of the sun’s authority on earth influenced mass consciousness of humanity. Therefore humanity entered the Kali Yuga in 100 BC and began its rise after 500 AD after entering the ascending cycle of Kali Yuga. In 1900 AD a two-hundred-year changeover took place and humankind entered the ascending Energy arc of Satya Yuga. The last Kali Yuga was embodied in humanity’s only complete recorded history of over 2400 years. Current belief that humanity changed and made progress from ape to astronauts was unquestionably flawed. The ancients over past yugas had different values system. Many were able to understand and intuitively experience the Changelessness underlying all change. Civilizations of dynastic Egypt, toward the end of the Treta Yuga happened when mental energy was used for material ends. Understanding that Energy with its Power (prakriti or Nature or Holy Spirit) and Force (purusha or Sun or Father) supported all reality (Creation) behind form of the ‘many’ was also understood. For the past 2400 years humanity gradually discovered that Energy was inherent in Matter but remained distanced from understanding the Power of Nature and Will of the Creator. None in the past again in the present understood why Mother Nature caused reconstruction at the end of kaliyuga with each Time Cycle of 24,000-year. She the Mother of the planet, through her powers of cleaning

429 430 In the Beginning performed her duties with frequent earthquakes, flooding, tempestuous storms and lightning triggered large fires. The sun was at the centre of the solar system in the Dwapara Yuga for Sumerians. Classical Greek times happened during an earlier Kali Yuga. The collapse of civilizations was the stamp of changeover. The dynastic Egyptian civilization that began in 3100 BC was likely the beginning of the Treta Yuga and channelled towards the opening centuries of the Kali Yuga. Rome was founded then in 750 BC and lasted only during the descending Kali Yuga. Simultaneously, invasions by barbarians destroyed civilizations in China and India. The present-day change from descending Kali Yuga to the beginning of Satya Yuga will be a period of turmoil and change. Structures and institutions that were built to endure will be held with suspicion. Kali Yuga’s Energy will be seen in mass movements and crowd turmoil. The outward appearance would reflect an Energy demanding change. Because humanity moved towards Satya Yuga, old social and political models of Kali Yuga, slowly crumbled. Old colonized empires under Spain, Portugal, Britain and Soviet Union dissolved over the past 200 years. Decentralization of Power forced nations to cooperate. Overt intimidation and rivalry was grudgingly repressed although unsuccessfully at times as seen in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. United Nations and similar ‘watchdogs’ of humanity ensured there would not be a repeat of a flagrant misuse of atomic Energy in warfare and battles. Misunderstanding the Force and Power of this Energy moved humanity to do battle all around the world for 2000 years. Unless humankind aligned, individual Force of each human with values of goodness, with the Universal Force for a Common Good, change would be impossible. Measuring the ebb and flow of “righteous action” or dharma was always the natural tendency to harmony. It was always the divine Will of the Father to spread Love (The Christ) through Creativity of the Mother Spirit. She the Holy Spirit was always embedded in the Many that make up all Nature. Entering any New Age always a prompted humanity to remember and cooperate with change, whether one believed in Yugas or not. Acquainting with Past Yugas Knowledge is a tree that goes and comes through Time Cycles. A tree took birth from a male and female seed to become one, only to divide into two (science and spirituality). This act of Time Cycle resulted in a whole new Tree of Life while earth spiralled and rotated on its elliptical journey around the central Sun. In the Sri Yukteshwar judgment, earth moved around the Sun spirally along ascending and descending corridors and Cycles of Creation. It did that repeatedly as they went through a day and a night of four ages over 24,000 years. The Age of Gemini (6000–4000 BC) or Treta Yuga corresponded to the flourishing period of early Hinduism. It was under this sign that Rama, the Defining Essentials of Time Cycles 431 seventh incarnation of Vishnu manifested with the birth of two pairs of brothers: Rama and Lakshmana on the one hand, and Satrughna and Bharata on the other. Rama had twin sons: Lav and Kush (in harmony with the name of the constellation where the Sun was then.) Lav went to Russia and from him came the name Slav. The other son, Kush went to China and from him comes the name Kushan. These two divine principles were reincarnated as Buddha and Mahavira of Jainism, and again as Adi Shankaracharya of Advaita and Gnyaneshwara who promoted Devotion. In other avatars, they were Hassan and Hussein, the sons of Fatima and Hazrat Ali. Rama reincarnated during this Yuga when the fourth chakra (Anahata) was open. Virata was a King when the Pandavas arrived at his palace and spent their 13th year of self-search to overcome want, lust, anger, greed and arrived at Love, free of pride and delusion about human existence. Anahata or the Heart was always an important centre of the human being since it was here where the individual Spirit Love or the Self lived for sharing. “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” Jesus said (Luke 12:34). The Age of Gemini was about sharing ideas about spirituality, languages and trade. Earliest ‘symbol-writing’ was developed with beginnings in China, India and Mesopotamia. That was a time when Sumeria, Egypt and the America’s spoken language were Chinese or Hebrew. The Age of Taurus (4000–2000 BC) – Dwapara Yuga was when Krishna, the eighth avatar, was the lord of the cows (Govinda). The age stayed under the sign of the bull in different civilizations: as Apis or sacred bull Mnevis of Heliopolis, identified with Ra; the holy cow Hathor in Egypt, and surahbhi or Kamadhenu in India. The bull and cow were worshipped in many spiritual cultures with polytheistic beliefs. The adoration of the golden calf in (Exodus 32:4), preceded Judaic monotheism. Krishna lived at the end of Dwapara Yuga which ended in the year 3102 BC (Zimmer). According to ‘La Grande Encyclopaedia’, H Lamirault et Co., Paris, vol. 21, p.647, Krishna lived in the fourth millennium BC. During his time, the fifth Vishuddha chakra of the Cosmic Being gave humanity spiritual and intellectual insight about the purpose of a pride-free existence in Love and free from sense inclinations. In the Age of Taurus, agriculture was developed and citizens no longer needed lifestyle of hunting and foraging for food. Towns, villages, and cities were created. Nomadic lifestyles became less prominent or even disappeared. Bull and cow worship cults began in India, Assyria, Egypt and Crete. Building pyramids, during the ages of Old and Middle Kingdom of Egypt was important. Built in geometric and mathematical detail, pyramids in Egypt and Americas served for purposes of astrology and astronomy. They personified strength, constancy and efforts towards hope for eternity. Meanwhile in China the wheel was used for the first time for transport when the Chinese Empire began. The Age of Aries (2000BC –1 AD) was the age of war, fire, invasion and the ram. It was characterized by establishing monotheistic Judaism through great 432 In the Beginning spiritual personalities like the biblical Abraham of the 19th century BC. He was also known as the Egyptian Djehuty and Moses of the 13th century BC. This period was dominated by expressions of spiritual masters with universal belief systems like Adi Guru Dattatreya who encouraged treading the Path of Truth regardless of the religion one belonged to. Even before the Christian era, Zarathustra incarnated in the 6th or 10th century BC. According to some opinions Confucius and Lao-Tse (6th century BC), Socrates (5th century BC) as well as great Jewish prophets Moses and Isaiah, Ezekiel and Elijah were Masters to guide these eras. The symbol of ram (Passover lamb) appeared as an object of sacrifice instead of worship. This was a reaction against the belief of the previous age. That was again illustrated by the cult of Mithra (sun) who stabbed the mythological bull of the previous era. This was the age of expanding old empires in Persia, Greece and Rome. Each sought to win more territory and control over indigenous people of the land. This was an era of daring, enterprise, combat and exploration for self-esteem but with even-handedness. This was when the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaton, the son of Solomon tried to replace polytheism with monotheism in 1350 BC. Moses in later years condemned his people for worshipping a “golden calf”. In old Egyptian civilization the Ram was associated with the god Amun or “Amen” to end prayers and hymns. The Age of Aquarius was translated as happening when “Jupiter aligns with Mars”. The Aquarian Age will be the age of individual enlightenment and brotherhood of Man, but would manifest fully only after a purification. This civilization of kaliyuga polluted the Earth beyond repair. Several descriptions of regular cleaning of cyclical eras were found in the wisdom and scriptures of all the old civilizations, including that of Native American Indians. In the Vedic scriptures, there were detailed accounts of such civilizations which made structures in around 10,500 BC which existed even before in past Ages. The ancients warned that in the past, many civilizations that considered themselves invincible, were reduced to dust by the storms of ‘time’ Two Vedic epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata, dealt with a culture and lifestyle of four main Ages or yugas before 2000 BC. Those ages were the Age of Leo, Cancer, Gemini, and finally the Age of Taurus. The Ramayana wrote of Kings who ruled in the Age of Leo, and showed they were descendants of the Sun - Suryavanshi. All Sun Kings, during the Age of Leo had the Sun as lord according to Vedic astrology. The Ramayana also revealed that some of their cities were built of gold, and their flying machines “Vimana”, functioned simply by the power of thought. It described an advanced civilization whose downfall came through the pursuit of excessive materialism. It was Krishna who said to Arjuna in the middle of the battlefield...”Whenever there is decay of righteousness and exaltation of unrighteousness, O Bharata, then I myself come forth for protecting the good. I Defining Essentials of Time Cycles 433 am born from Age to Age, for the sake of setting up virtue.” A divine incarnation always heralded every New Age. The war of Mahabharata, around 3100 BC, was a conflict which began in a past Kaliyuga, or the Age of Darkness. The war related to the transition from the Age of Taurus to the Age of Aries, symbolized by the death of Krishna. The transition took place around 2000 BC. The Vedic tradition felt that humanity lost some part of their original divinity through each of the changing ages and finally fell to the bottom in “Kaliyuga”. The cycle repeated itself after a cataclysm similar to that of 10,000 BC. The present reality and the message of the ancients for the Age of Aquarius revealed a similar cleaning to happen as was eternally willed by the will of the Cosmic Intelligence. In reality, there was more to all such observations than that, because Jupiter and Mars had aligned often through the cycles of time. Remarkable about this present epoch was there will be powerful change that will sweep through the world. There will be a progressive shift in mood, action and purpose that is already obvious. The estimated start date was thought to be sometime around the start of the 21st century. Although its exact beginning date was contested even among astrologers, astronomers, theologians and others, effects of the Age of Aquarius have been felt. The next 300 years should bring a progressive metamorphosis towards a long awaited Golden Age which like in past times blossomed and flourished. The Aquarian Perspective of 2400 Piscean Years Indigenous peoples of the planet viewed God and Nature to be one and they viewed humanity as having a spiritual and social responsibility to respect the planet earth. Josh Lash a Gnostic scholar viewed the Churchian religion, as a ‘doctrine of the aliens’ and emissaries of manipulative extraterrestrials who sought to manipulate indigenous peoples. For now the masses all considered indigenous knowledge about God to be pagan or heathen (without God). These hypnotic mind-control sessions were around for many past centuries and performed individualised ceremonies at temples and churches founded by both the good and spiteful. Originally, humanity had free telepathic mind-link with the Force of the Radiant One (Sun) who was always ALL THAT IS. At first there was no distinction between good and evil, for evil did not exist. All was good, as bad did not exist. Judgments were never made. The primary way by which the evil beings did their avowed goal of making the earth a fallen planet, was through creeds. They produced three major Abrahamic world beliefs at the start of Kaliyuga. Each told the followers of each religion that theirs was the only true god and the only true religion. Also, that all other religions and their followers were evil and needed to be destroyed at all costs. The faithful were willing to die to avenge their only true, loving, and 434 In the Beginning most powerful and jealous god. Thus the fallen beings were able to destroy human life. Religious wars were the result of legitimizing forces of one state fixed in a religion against those of another. It decimated the population. They succeeded in creating chaos on this paradise planet which then was a member of the divine plan for the planetary system. Humanity lost its membership and became quarantined as they progressively lost their Cosmic Connection with the rest of the Universe. These evil beings were now worshipped as gods. Their trade marks were: strong likes and dislikes (raga dvesha) and cruel preferences (vasanas). They had implacable enemies, who were egoistic (ahankaris) and self-regarding (matsarya). They tolerated no other beings and insisted that all entities other than themselves were false and not to be loved or trusted. So, they came, conquered and became gods. The Lord (Brahma—the Creator) then decided to punish his creatures in a manner to serve as an example for generations to come. These same gods nevertheless continued to inspire certain nations to wage war on one another in the name of their old religions and gods. Other nations received money for their god and were motivated by economic gains. These were the old Atlantean curses and the old Atlantean warlords who were fallen beings. They set themselves up again as gods to rule the earth as the Illluminati. Even though these original warlords no longer walk the earth, the priesthood and governments kept the legends progressing to uphold future control. But the Aquarian Age will see the Masters of Love come to help humanity restore this planet to a pristine planet of unconditional love and everlasting peace. “Moreover, the Lord thy God will send the hornet amongst them, until those who are left... be destroyed. For, the Lord thy God is a mighty God and terrible. And the Lord thy God will put out those nations before thee little by little: thou mayest not consume them at once. But the Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction until they be destroyed. And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: There shall be no man able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them (Deuteronomy 7: 20–24). The religious wars resulted in the spread of evil, greed and lust. Much of the earth and its life forms were destroyed. A planet called Maldek (asteroid belt of Maldek spans between Mars and Jupiter) was reduced to nearly nothing from the nuclear devastation which Eartheans let loose on this sector of the galaxy. Maldek was where the asteroid belt exists. The same evil forces behind today’s greed, religious intolerance, war and corruption, were also behind the historical sinking of Atlantis. The earth’s geopolitical scenario suddenly changed. Continents sank, others rose and again shifted. Yet, the same reincarnating souls, in their mad rush for power have tried to gain control and to own what was given freely to all children of creation. Man was always a ‘never-ending awareness’, though it displayed in many Defining Essentials of Time Cycles 435 outward appearances and manners with and without form. In both its expressions the substratum was of unchanging awareness but experienced by the extrovert as a continuous change. Jesus asked man not to identify with these experiences or with the medium which made these experiences possible. Identification with mutating hostile situations engaged man with experiences of objects-emotions- thought. Chinmayananda advised his seekers to shift identity inward towards the Self. Meditation was the technique and approach to such determined withdrawal. Yet, experiences were necessary for evolution. The advice was to remain centred while experiencing: never forgetting Man is God. In living daily lives man could not afford to forget that he or she must keep moving up the scale of evolution. Remaining fully aware within the ‘higher mind’ about the purpose and goal of a human expression, the seeker was asked to follow the rules of yama and niyama (Ten Yogic Commandments) and practicing the Yoga of Harmlessness through mindfulness in thought, word and deed. “The time will come when everything of life will be changed into the state of perfect man. And after man is man in perfection, he will evolve to higher forms of life.” Aurobindo foresaw a Universe filled with humanity with superconscious abilities of a perfect man. From perfect humanity civilisation was intended to move on into higher forms of life found in the astral, etheric and causal planes. Each ascent reflected countless increments of expansion in consciousness. It would be called development, advancement and evolution towards Infinity but with a glorious difference. By then man would have developed competence to play a part in the limitless Consciousness and Being that is God. Tapping Prophesies made by Prophets from Akashic Records Every word and act of Jesus-like masters was imprinted in the akasha, the etheric substance of cosmos, so nothing was ever lost. Such divine seeds were planted repeatedly in every fibre of creation. Various saints through the centuries “read” those Akashic Records and told humanity what they made out and what they were to expect in the future based on the Law of Karma. The most spiritually complete record about Master Isha was made by Levi Dowling, who dedicated forty years of his life to reading the etheric records about the life of Jesus. His book ‘Jesus of Aquarius’ was a manual about family bonds, motherhood, life, death, love, courage, selflessness, humility, service, healing, sacrifice, truth, education, knowledge and the wisdom of all reincarnating masters. Krishna promised: “For preserving the righteous, destroying the wicked, and establishing dharma [virtue], I come into being from age to age” (Bhagavad Gita 4:7). And Elihu prophesied: “And when the world is ready to receive, lo, God will send a messenger to open the book and copy from its sacred pages all the messages of Purity and Love. Then every man of earth will read the words of life in the language of his native land, and man will see the light, walk in the 436 In the Beginning light and be the light himself. And man again will be at one with God” (Matthew 9:13). The peaking phase of kaliyuga began in September 499 AD and continued to climax for over 1000 years. Since September 1699, mankind started to ascend into satyuga, according to Sri Yukteshwar. Before the Christian era, the Indian sage Valmiki (400 BC) wrote the first verse-epic in Sanskrit, The Ramayana, retelling the life of the avatar Rama (5500 BC). He saw the events unfold in a vision centuries after Rama had lived in north- central India. Later, the saint Tulsidas (1532–1623 AD) did the same. The most influential Hindu scripture written by the sage Vyasa - the Bhagavad Gita, recorded a long conversation between the avatar Krishna and his disciple Arjuna. Yogi Sanjaya was the eyewitness to the War of Mahabharata. He described events and conversations between Guru-teacher and disciple on the battlefield of human existence. He made a psychic evaluation of their dialogues and verbalised them to a blind King who was physically and spiritually blinded by want, lust, greed, rage, delusion of possessiveness, pride, jealousy and self-esteem. Interestingly, the Mahayana Buddhist sutras were set down in a similar technique and enlisted the purpose and technique of human existence. Not surprisingly therefore, each age was prefaced by a century of preparation, usually embodying great change. The twentieth century was the door to the twenty-first century, at the beginning of the Aquarian Age. For over 200 years the human race has stood on the cusp of the Piscean-Aquarian Ages. Aquarius was defined an air sign and the New Age. Scientifically humanity made significant inventions using air, electricity and magnetism. Aquarius the arrival of the water-bearer always foretold a spiritual age. Lessons that Jesus-like masters gave to the world will at last understood by the multitude. ‘And then the man who bears the pitcher will walk forth across an arc of heaven; the sign and signet of the Son of Man will stand forth in the eastern sky. The wise will then lift their heads and know redeeming the earth is near’ (Aquarian Gospel 157:29, 30). Because duality always had deep-seated aptitude for relative existence, resistance to this era could be intense. Vicious reactions could transpire across nations. Expected violence in entire nations could be dedicating themselves to self-annihilation before emerging again in wisdom. Just as the dinosaurs died out, but not without great resistance, so also the dinosaurs of a dark human society could meet the same fate. Humanity engaged in a fearful struggle against the evil, oppression and domination started as the Arab Spring but like wildfire spread to South-East Asia and the West. Political and financial dominance by deceitful autocratic governments and financial institutions have encouraged worsening conditions in the weak. Lack of opportunities for the educated masses became a hallmark of most mismanaged countries of the world. Triggered by a necessary confrontation the struggle cleared the way towards enlightenment of the blinded. Armed conflicts against moral challenges are to be expected. Yet, Defining Essentials of Time Cycles 437 just as no one can hold back the dawning of day, neither can the spiritual dawning of the Aquarian Age be prevented. The leading event of the Aquarian Age will be the reappearance of an enlightened Master: an avatar who will show the path to The Christ. Two thousand years ago even Jesus prophesied this at the age of twelve: “The time will come when God will bring back the captive hosts; for Israel shall return and live in peace. And after many years our temple shall be built again, and one whom God will honour, one in whom the pure in heart delights will come and glorify the house of God, and reign in righteousness (Aquarian Gospel IV: 32–33).” This advent was the real focus of this Age, and the Aquarian Gospel made reference to the Coming of a Jesus, the Christ. Sages Predicted Blindness of the Piscean Age Jesus officially adopted the monastic life and lived for some time as a member of the Govardhan Math. This monastery was founded three centuries before his birth by the philosopher-saint of India, Shankaracharya. There Jesus perfected himself in the synthesis of yoga, philosophy and renunciation, and eventually began to publicly teach Eternal Knowledge. As a teacher Jesus was as popular as he was skilful in teaching. He gained great repute among all levels of society. However, because he insisted that people should learn and be taught the meaning of the scriptures, he began teaching how they could gain spiritual perfection without the intermediary of any external, ritualized religion. Since “His hour was not yet come” (John 7:30; 8:20), he returned to seclusion where Jesus spent some time in meditation, preparing himself for his return to Israel. He lived in various Buddhist monasteries in the Himalayan region, studying the wisdom of Vedanta and the Buddha. Before beginning the long journey westward, instructions were given to Jesus about his mission in the West and the way messages could be sent between Jesus and his Indian teachers (the Nathas). Jesus was aware of the form and purpose of his life and death, but it was the Indian masters who made everything clear. They promised Jesus that he would be send a container of Himalayan Balsam to be poured on his head by a close disciple, as a sign that his death was imminent, even “at the door”. When Mary Magdalene performed this action in Bethany, Jesus understood the unspoken message, saying: “She is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying” (Mark 14:8). Jesus set forth on his return journey to Israel with the blessings of Natha masters to be a Dharmacharya (missionary of Arya Dharma) to the Mediterranean world, which was called “the West”. While on his way homeward, Jesus taught those who were drawn to his spiritual magnetism and who sought his counsel in the divine life. He promised that after some years he would be sending them one of his disciples who would give them even more knowledge and benefit. Arriving in Israel, Jesus went directly to the Jordan River where 438 In the Beginning his cousin John, the Master of the Essenes, was baptizing. There his Christhood was revealed to John and to those who had “eyes to see and ears to hear” (Deuteronomy 29:4). And so, Jesus’ brief mission to Israel started but a misunderstanding became a new religion. Throughout the Gospels Jesus’ disciples consistently misunderstood his speaking of higher spiritual matters. When he spoke of the sword of wisdom they showed him swords of metal to assure him they were well equipped (Luke 22:36– 38). When he warned them against the ‘leaven’ of scribes and Pharisees they thought he was complaining that they did not have any bread (Mark 8:15, 16). Little wonder that he said to them: “Perceive ye not yet, neither understand? Have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes, see ye not? And having ears, hear ye not? How is it that ye do not understand” (Mark 8:17, 18, 21). Even in the moment of his final departure from them, the words of his disciples showed that they still believed the kingdom of God was an earthly political entity and not the realm of spirit (Acts 1:6). This being so, the Gospels themselves must be approached with grave caution and with awareness that Jesus was not the creator of a new religion, but a messenger of the Eternal Religion he had learned in India. “You cannot understand the teachings of Jesus if you do not know the scriptures of India” said a priest of the Saint Thomas Christian Church of South India. The Mediterranean land was not the only humanity under the spell of the Piscean Age (kaliyuga). India suffered a similar degeneration which continued into the 21st century. Laws of (wise man) Manu written in the (manava-shastra) were written in Sanskrit in over 2500 verses. Manava-shastra encompassed illustrations of life in the world and how it must be lived. It was about ‘dharma’ which included ideas of religion, duty, law, rights, justice and practices and principles of honest ideology. It clarified rules of a family life, psychology, concepts of body, sex, relationships; attitudes towards money, wealth and possessions; laws in politics, purification against pollution, rituals, social practices to reach ideals, renunciation and revelations in sacred texts were ideals to follow and not ‘laws’ to rule others. They were teachings that were the centrepiece of Judaism, Hinduism, Islam and even Mithraism. Like all other religious texts, the author of manava-shastra or scriptures was masked behind an ‘unknown’. The scripture claimed to be transcendentally based on Truth communicated directly or indirectly to the first man: Manu. In ancient India all works were composed by Brahmins or evolved sages who had experienced Spirit or Brahman. Like many texts written by apostles and priests, the human being in them often made complete or imperfect representations of God. Over time blindness while distanced from the Sun made ‘intellectual’ Brahmin priests became technicians of the sacred. With their impressive understanding they devised blueprints of cosmology despite its astonishing complexity. Embedded within it they created a conceptual structure of the universe. Soon they became self-appointed minds and mouths of an ancient India Defining Essentials of Time Cycles 439 which began thousands of years before them. Before them the institution remained sustained by an oral tradition before Vyasa wrote these descriptions of God. For the instinctive mind God was depicted as Fire in the Vedas. Poorly understood, these values gradually became altered by the monopolizing class of priests. Soon their rituals were governed by self-aggrandizement and unabashed dominance over the weak and lowly. Violence and power entered the social realm and were celebrated as part and parcel of the natural order of things. The social and natural world began organizing itself into a hierarchal order for sacrificial rites taken from the food chain. At the top were sacrificial oblations of man, followed by animal, then plants and finally water: all in a chain of atonement by beings. Feeding the poor was once considered a neutral act of necessary sacrifice for another’s survival. It gradually became a triumphant cookery celebration for overcoming a rival: a victory over the beaten. Social classes described the interdependence of classes of humans into priests ((brahmins), warriors (kshatriyas), commoners (vaishyas) and servants (shudras). Prajapati or Lord of creatures was depicted as a series of mouths, starting with the priest eating the warrior and the warrior eating the common man who in turn engulfed the servant. ‘You are greater than who you eat and lesser than who eats you, became the message of the class system in the West and caste system in the East.’ In contradiction to non-violence and vegetarianism which occupied a privileged place in Hinduism, the reverse was logically explained in Markandeya Purana, ‘Whoever eats meat commits no sin either when it has been consecrated or when it is served as cure.’ However, centuries were needed before Manu’s views were altered by the priests. But just before the sixth century BC the idea of world renunciation revolutionized Hinduism. Bhakti or devotionalism began reappearing. A re-evaluation placed emphasis on service, grace, love, compassion and humility. Suddenly, there was a reversal towards Manu’s ideals that were for over 5000 years, ancient India’s religious conviction. This reformation was similar to the change-over from pagan values to pre-Christian beliefs just over 2000 years before the birth of Jesus. Two similar disciplines grew out of this Vedic matrix. Buddhism and Jainism arrived around the sixth century BC with novel philosophical and mystical traditions. This happened after the arrival of ayurveda, tantra, and yoga. These Vedic sciences continued even to this day as common methods to reach similar goals for harmonious adjustment or yoga kshema. Conflicts of tradition were associated with many a crisis. The role of the priest as a social functionary prevented pollution by contact with the other classes of humanity. It legitimized political rule according to dharma and principles of life were upheld by the ruling class. Manu’s text was about dealing with life in urgent situations. Because ideal life was impossible to realize, Manu’s rules were about dealing with life that was in fact in perpetual crisis. 440 In the Beginning

Just as Time changed, scholars and mystics like Vyasa made strategic moves and gave writings of Manu the same priestly authority as the Vedas and therefore of Brahman: God. Enduring transcendental revelations or srutis were now re- envisioned by a special class of immortal monks, similar to the Nathas, who spent time away from the common crowds in caves of mountains. These wise priests gave meaning to human teachings as smritis. Sadly the tradition of honouring the priestly forefathers not only bolstered the tradition of their social supremacy but also became the route through which Hinduism embraced anti-Vedic pacifistic principles of living. This was and is now the state of India’s priestly class and of the common man. Master Jesus met them at the invitation of Ravanna who heard the young lad at the temple in Jerusalem at the age of twelve. “Teach them that God and man are one; but through carnal thoughts and words and deeds, man tore himself away from God and degraded himself. Teach the Holy Breath would make them one again, restoring harmony and peace; that naught can make them one but Love; that God so loved the world that he has clothed his son in flesh that man may understand” Elihu said to both John and Jesus (Aquarian Gospel). Life-and-Death Struggles made Extraordinary History From Abraham came the Tribes of Israel and Arabia. From David came both Jacob Israel the father of the Jewish Tribes of Israel of the as well the Hebrew House of Judah. The Hebrews came from the Royal Sumerian Merovingian dynasty who were ancestors of Moses, Aaron, Solomon, Akhenaton, Elijah, Elisha, Jonah, Zachariah and finally Jesus and John. Zachariah realized that Jesus on the cross was still alive and went to Pilate for the body. He took Jesus into Joseph of Arimathea’s own tomb, which had a secret second entrance. Here, he and his friends brought herbs and salves for medical treatment. In three days Jesus was strong enough to walk. After a few appearances to his disciples he was taken to India by one of the Natha monks. He later roamed Afghanistan and the Himalayas where he continued to teach. He was already married to Mary Magdalene before his crucifixion. Their first- born male child was taken to France by Martha, Mary Magdalene’s sister. Together Jesus and Mary while in the East begot more children. Jesus was believed to have died at the ripe old age of 110-115, in Anzimar in Khanyar Srinagar in India. These scrolls were in the possession of their first-born son, who returned to Jerusalem, and hid them in the burial cave of Joseph of Arimathea from where Jesus was once taken. The ‘sacred tomb in Kashmir’ was the burial site of a man known as the prophet Yazu Asaph. He came to the valley 2000 years earlier from Egypt and continued teaching. Here, found in a small, rectangular brick and wood structure was buried a wooden sepulchre. It contained an inner wooden sarcophagus that was covered with a sacred shroud and a rectangular stone slab. The construction Defining Essentials of Time Cycles 441 was built over an ancient stone structure which contained the remains of Asaph. A tiny opening allowed one to see into the crypt below the floor and into the burial chamber. Inside the shrine was a smaller tombstone of another Islamic saint Syed Nasirudin, buried there in the 15th century. Both tombstones were aligned north-to-south, following Islamic custom, but the sarcophagus in the crypt below containing Asaph’s remains was aligned east-to-west, which was a Jewish custom. Chiselled on a stone slab were impressions of his two feet which bore traces of crucifixion wounds. Nature of the wounds suggested that this man was crucified with the left foot over the right, with one nail going through both feet. This matched the pattern of the figure on the Shroud of Turin, alleged to be the burial cloth of Jesus. It was thought that Jesus’ mother Mary accompanied Jesus and Mary Magdalene to India. She died when she was 70 years old, while trying to escape the Kushans who attacked Taxila. Her burial is to be found today in Pakistan, some 45 miles east of Taxila. The burial site was called ‘Mari’ until 1875 when the spelling was changed to ‘Murree.’ The tomb was called ‘Mai-Mari-de-Asthan’ or ‘resting-place of mother Mary’. Mary Magdalene allegedly died at Kashgar in Central Asia. It was Martha of a royal Merovingian Dynasty who took Mary and Jesus’ son to France with other followers. Martha lived in France till her death. This was the story that was believed on the Indian subcontinent. Almost 2000 years later, the world was abuzz with the story of Hazrat Issa. In 1887, Nicolas Notovitch, a Russian journalist, while travelling in Ladhak in Tibet, fell off his horse and split his right tibia and fibula below the knee. He was taken to the monastery at Hemis some 25 miles (40 kilometres) from Leh, the capital of Ladhak. Leh lay 400 miles (650 kilometres) north of Delhi, in a hidden valley of the Himalayas, 11,000 feet above sea level. Here the chief lama read him the story of Issa, a young man he knew as Jesus. He was told that they had many scrolls describing the “life and acts of the Buddha Issa, who preached the holy doctrine in India and to children from Israel.” While visiting the monastery at Mulbekh, Notovitch was told the archives at Lhasa in the capital of Tibet had several thousand old scrolls detailing the life of Issa. Further, many of the principal monasteries also had copies of these scrolls. The documents written in Pali were taken from India to Nepal and then to Tibet. The Buddhist monks translated them into Tibetan. Notovitch studied them and was of the belief that some verses “may have actually been spoken by the apostle Thomas who had made historical sketches traced with his own hand or under his direction.” Notovitch made various references to the apostle Thomas: one of the “brothers of Jesus, apostle of the Highest who shares the knowledge of the hidden words of Christ…” According to religious tradition, Thomas introduced Christianity to the southern parts of India in 52 AD. Notovitch published his findings in New York in 1890 as ‘The Life of Saint Issa’ and in London in 1894, as ‘The Unknown Life of Christ’. He said the Roman 442 In the Beginning

Catholic Church was aware of the existence of these manuscripts, and in fact had 63 complete or partial copies of similar manuscripts in various languages. The apocryphal (The Acts of St Thomas) written in the early 3rd century, said: “When the apostles had been for some time in Jerusalem, they divided the countries among them in order that each might preach in the region which fell to him; and India (Parthia, northwest region of India, from the Euphrates to Indus and India proper), fell to the lot of Thomas.” He went to India as a carpenter, and preached the gospel to Parthians (nomadic Iranians), Medes (Indo- Europeans), Persians, Bactrians (Sogdian or middle Iranian nomads), Indians, and the Hyrecaneans. Another story said that Thomas arrived at the coast of Malabar in 52 AD and established his first church there. Another story said that after spending some time in the North, he went southward, along the coast of the Arabian Sea. And yet another story said he arrived in the state of Kerala in 52 AD, where it is believed that Thomas established seven churches: Cranganore, Palur, Kottakavu, Kokkamangalam, Niram, Chayal, and Quilon. After a couple of years he went to South Tamil and Tamil Najd. According to a 2nd century Syrian manuscript called ‘The Doctrine of the Apostles’, “After the death of the Apostles, there were Guides and Rulers in the churches; and whatever the apostles communicated to them, and they had received from them and they taught to the multitudes. At their deaths they again committed and delivered to their disciples everything which they had received from the Apostles. They had travelled because there was evidence that James had written from Jerusalem, Simon from the City of Rome, John from Ephesus and Mark from the great Alexandria. Andrew wrote from Phrygia and Luke from Macedonia while Thomas wrote from India. The letters of all Apostles were received and read in the churches in every place ... India and all its own countries and those bordering on it even to the farthest sea, received the Apostles’ Hand of Priesthood. Thomas who was Guide and Ruler in his church built in Southern India and ministered there. About the Age of Aquarius Many minds have contributed their thoughts to the Golden Age. Existing citations in world writings are about expectations and statements by humanity awaiting entry into the Epoch of Aquarius. Many said it would be the Age of Holy Breath: “This age will be an age of splendour and light, because it is the home of the Holy Breath; and the Holy Breath will testify anew for [The] Christ, the Logos of the eternal Love. In the beginning of every age this Logos is made manifest in flesh so man can see and know and understand a Love that is not narrow or restricted. Twelve times in every revolution of the sun this christed Love of God is made to fully manifest in flesh upon the planes of earth, and you may read it in Akasha the wonderful lessons what these Christs have taught to man”...wrote Dan Costian, the author of the trilogy on ‘Bible Enlightened’. Defining Essentials of Time Cycles 443

Jesus came to announce the Age of Aquarius: “a man will meet you carrying an earthen pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he goes in” (Luke 22:10; Mark 14:13.) The Last Supper was the symbol of the future “unio mystica” (mystical theology). So, now that a New Age had started it was being called the Age of Aquarius. It foretold the pitcher carrier of spiritual holy water would do the work of Kundalini. Who and what was Kundalini? Aquarius according to Indian science of Astrology was identified as Kundalini. The Age of Blindness or Kaliyuga encouraged hibernating Kundalini while letting loose want, anger, greed, possessiveness, pride, jealousy and egotism. The planet and the blinded humanity suffered wars, divisiveness and destruction for over 2000 years. But such excesses are ending in readiness for a new tomorrow. According to Sri Nirmala Devi (1923-2011) the founder of Sahaja Yoga: “Then comes kruta yuga [meaning overlapping] when the all-pervading Power, Paramchaitanya, becomes active. . . Helping people to get along... It has been going on for many days. After this comes the Age of Truth and with it a Last Judgement… when you are judged”... What would the Age of Aquarius mean? What lay ahead for Humanity? With all the problems we had, it was and is hard to believe that our future will be bright. Inflation and recession, environmental deterioration, dwindling resources, political unrest and financial oppression in developing countries, and apathy, loneliness and lack of direction in developed ones. All combined have severely clouded horizon. It may seem fantastic, but the signs in the heavens point to an extraordinary renewal in the years just ahead. Before Martin Luther King and his dreams were shot down in 1968, he said we as a people “would get to the promised land.” Though the promise seemed empty, the planetary cycles supported his prophecy. There was compelling evidence that a renaissance and a golden age were right around the corner. This was characteristic of the changing Ages as people struggled to adapt to the new energies. There were major developments in science, computers and technology created a new backbone for the emerging society. Alternative medicine, astrology, vegetarianism were gaining popularity. Astrology and thoughtful awareness of the unseen ‘mystical’ self-help facilitated people to become compatible with their spiritual selves. In the New Dawn emphasis would be on humanness, kindness, truth, spirituality and enlightenment. In this Age humanity would break free from false doctrines and destructive indoctrinations that corrupted the foundations and created a sham society. Mystically, Aquarius signifies friendship in understanding, collaboration and friendship. The heavenly throne of the sun encourages, ennobles, enriches and enlightens for the growth of hearts, the growth of inner beings, and integration of individuality with unity with all humanity. This Golden Age was intended to combine every religious regime and free the minds of ignorance and delusion forever. Once enlightened, people would begin a personal inner journey and create a new race of superconscious humans, 444 In the Beginning awakening seekers of Truth and healing peoples of many tongues and nations (Aurobindo). The Human Family was entering the Age of mystic revelations. The mind’s eventual liberation would be known as spiritualism for the New Millennium Religion; but a word of caution about the present pulse of the New Age: about Reality and the Fakery. The astrologer Alain Oken considered the Age of Aquarius started in 1962. In Benjamin Crème’s opinion, the beginning of this age was in the spring of 1982, and according to others in 1987. Crème even asserted that Christ’s new avatar revealed Himself among the people since 1977. The famous psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) considered that this age would start in 1997 (Bruno Wurtz, New Age, Ed. de Vest, Timisoara 1992). Mataji Nirmala Devi announced that Satyuga started in 1993 on the vernal equinox. An avatar was always the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega. Krishna was to descend the second time as Kalki, the 10th and last avatar of the Evolution Principle. It was the aeon under which the Age of Aquarius was placed. Sahasrahara was the final point of the spiritual ascent, the Kingdom of Heavens, crowning the whole evolutionary process. “In the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound the trumpet, the mystery of God also shall be completed” (Revelation 10:7). When asked by the Pharisees where the Kingdom of God lay, Jesus replied: “They shall not say, Lo here, or, Lo there; for behold, the Kingdom of God is amid you” (Luke 17:21). Scriptures foretold the collective expression of the Holy Spirit: “In the last days, saith God, I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh” (Acts 2:17). This prophecy was announced a long time ago by Isaiah (44:3), Ezekiel (36:27), Joel (2:28-29), and Zechariah (2:10). “I will give wonders in the heaven above and the signs on the earth below” (Acts 2:19; see Joel 2:30 too). The wonder in the heaven was opening the cosmic Sahasrahara (crown). “Then, whatsoever shall call upon the name of [the] Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21; Joel 2:32). Of course, it referred to the activation of the Kundalini (divine cave of spinal cord and brain) by chanting mantras, a fact that was well-known to yogis. The Age of Aquarius was interpreted as the water of life pouring on the people, of the Spirit, of the Holy Ghost, as a sign of harmony between the human microcosm and the divine macrocosm, of gained “unio mystica” (Yoga). But for this to take place, man must deify himself and that implied the purification at the energetic level, allowing for Kundalini to achieve the mystical union. At the human level, this purification would make enlightenment possible... Robert Wilkinson, a business marketing executive wrote: “We’re at a critical junction in history and moving out of the Age of Pisces into the Age of Aquarius over the next few decades. That makes this a long wave of a transitional period, with specific lessons to learn and insights to gain about our larger human estate… a transition between Great Ages can take from 350 to 700 years to accomplish, because of the length of an Age relative to the length of a sign. Defining Essentials of Time Cycles 445

“And when the world is ready to receive, lo, God will send a messenger to open the book and copy from its sacred pages all the messages of Purity and Love (Mathew 11:10). Then every man of earth will read the words of life in the language of his native land, and men will see the light. And man again will be at one with God.” About the Aquarian Gospel, the text described the beginning of the Aquarian Age as follows: “And then the man who bears the pitcher will walk across an arc of heaven. The sign and signet of the Son of man stands forth in the eastern sky. The wise will then lift their heads and know that redeeming the earth is near”. And the accompanying footnote in French explained: “From the beginning of this age, more and more people will try to understand the spirit of the Gospel instead of merely following its text. When the largest part of the human race has been penetrated by this spirit, to which this book makes its contribution, humankind will undoubtedly be in the Aquarian Age. That’s why the Aquarian Gospel was given its present title.” What then was the Millennium all about? As the 20th century, the so-called advanced times, was closing and there was much talk about specific dates, unprecedented changes happened and end of Millennium prophecies became known, all of which were confusing. As we walked through those days already we were reminded that time were a relative and a man-made idea. As the Christian world clock hit the year 2000, the Millennium on the and the Islamic world clock chimed 1421 years on the Hegerian-Hijri calendar. For the Sikh tradition it was perhaps only year 531. Within the Judaic tradition the clock was running at 5760 years. Yet, in the Buddhist and Hindu world they had reached the end of 2400 years of kaliyuga. In the Mayan tradition of South America they clocked up 5114 years. For the Parsi tradition of Zarathustra from old Persia they approached 2900 years, while in the Chinese tradition it read 4637 years. In the old Indian tradition the belief was altogether different. To them there was continuity in the days of the Creator. By the adoption of a more cyclic view of time, of yugas (ages) and of cycles of birth and death, they await the Great Dissolution of Mahapralaya after every millions of years. Even so, consensus indicated the coming out of what the Indian tradition called kaliyuga (age of darkness/ignorance) and were on the verge of entering fully into Satyayuga (age of truth) when all falsehood would expose itself and drop away. The Yuga which linked these any two yugas was named krita Yuga (Age of transition). From the Western astrological perspective this seemed to agree with the understanding that all were transiting from the Piscean Age to the Age of Aquarius. The onset of the Aquarian Age spoke of spiritual awakenings, of perfecting each human being, through an awareness of the spiritual self. It was the time of rebirth and great spiritual development on the earth. All this was heralding a time of much greater joy and positivity: great happiness or human perfection. Yet, in the Christian tradition the accepted idea 446 In the Beginning was the Millennium started around the year 2000. Webster’s 9th Collegiate Dictionary gave a definition: “The 1000 years mentioned in the Book of Revelation, chapter 20 during which Holiness is to prevail; a period of great happiness or human perfection”. In the Islamic tradition there were many instances where the Holy Quran and the Hadith mentioned a future time of judgement and resurrection, known as the Qiyamah time. In the traditions of the prophet this time was pointed out as coming sometime after 1400 years of the Hijrah calendar, which again coincided with the 21st century. For Buddhists there was some expectation the Wheel of Dharma, the metaphorical wheel of time, was set to turn for the first time in 2500 years since Lord Buddha’s arrival. Gautama Buddha clearly taught that each revolution of the wheel signalled a beginning, or rebirth for humanity. From the ‘Book of Prophecies of the Knight John of Jerusalem’ (11th Century) came the following: “The millennium (year 2000 onward) that comes after this millennium will change into a light time. People will love and share and dream, and dreams will come true.” It further added: “People will be one big body (cosmic being) of which every person is a tiny part. Together they’ll be the heart and they’ll speak one language. Men will have reached heaven, Men will know the Spirit of all things, People will receive a second birth and the Spirit will come into them.” And Ancient Sibylline Oracles of the Roman era perhaps also add to the collective vision of what the future may hold... “Vice shall leave the earth and be sunk in the divine ocean” was an example of what most mystics proclaimed. William Blake (1757–1827) spoke of the Judaic tradition in his work: ‘The Marriage of Heaven and Hell’ as follows: The ancient tradition the world will be consumed (overthrown) in fire at the end of six thousand years is true.... For the cherub (lobes of the brain) with his flaming sword (spinal cord) is hereby commanded to leave guard at the tree of life (senses and organs of worldly actions): and when he does, the whole creation will be consumed and appear infinite and holy, whereas it now appears finite and corrupt. If the doors of perception (senses) were cleaned everything would appear to man as it is, infinite; for man has so closed himself up (in wants and materialism), till he sees all things through narrow chinks (of personality or chitta) of his cavern (divine cave of the central nervous system). So what did the past say about the present: many things! The faint echo from the past told all of an unsuspected phenomenon, namely, the coming of a feminine spiritual personality, a Mother, who would simplify a collective rebirth. Selected references which referred to this happening included: A book published in 1887 and titled ‘The Mystery of the Ages’ by Marie, Countess of Caithness who made this prediction: “It was considered, at the turn of the next century, the next divine incarnation was about to come to the earth and would be a female, the coming of Divine Wisdom, or Theo-Sophia, and the present age would be the Defining Essentials of Time Cycles 447 age of making known all that which has been kept secret from the beginning.” It would be a fitting assumption. Only a Mother could erase the Blindness of the last 2400 years. There was another urging from ‘Nadigranth’ (which predicted about this Modern Age Times and the re-emergence of the Divine Feminine) compiled by Shantaram Athvale. The Nadigranth was originally written in Sanskrit by the astrologer Bhrigu, one of the seven sages or Sapta rishis who were helpers of Creation created by Brahma, God-the-Father. It was later translated into Marathi and titled ‘Kak Nadi’ by Kakayyar Bhujander, an astrologer and seeker who lived 300 years ago in India. The writings stated: “While Jupiter is in Pisces, a great yogi will incarnate on the earth. Human life will undergo a revolution. This yogi will be the incarnation of Parabrahma and will have divine powers. By 1970, it will be obvious to many that a new era has started. “By his method of yoga devised by this great yogi, human beings will gain the joy of Moksha in one lifetime. Living ordinary lives, people will achieve moksha: Union with God. In the end, all nations of the world will come with a feeling of oneness. All humanity will understand the importance of prayer and all nations will unite. Because of new scientific discoveries science and religion will become unified. With the help of science existence of God and Soul will be proved. The veil of ignorance (Maya) will be drawn aside, and Moksha previously only gained by yogis because of work and relentless penance, will become easily available to many human beings.” Blake wrote a prophetic poem titled “To Morning”: It was an invocation to what he sensed as the feminine feature of the divine, who would promote the dawn of a new age and unlock heaven on earth. “O Holy Virgin, Clad in purest white; Unlock heaven’s golden gates and issue forth; Awake the dawn that sleeps, that sleeps in heaven; Let light rise from the chambers of the East.” Meanwhile CS Lewis (1898–1963) in ‘The Great ’ described an approaching joyous procession: “If I could remember their singing and write down the notes, no man who read that score would ever grow sick or old. Between them went musicians: and after this a lady in whose honour this was being done. “Every young man or boy that met her became her son and every girl that met her became her daughter... There are those that steal other people’s children. But her motherhood was of a different kind. Those on whom it fell went back to their natural parents loving them more. In her, they became themselves. And now the abundance of life she has in Christ from the Father flows over into them... Redeemed humanity is still young; it has hardly come to its full strength. But already there is joy enough in the little finger of a great saint such as yonder lady to waken all the dead things in the universe to life.” Revelation (12:1) also told prophetically of a marvellous event: the coming of a woman: “And a great omen appeared in heaven a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” In 448 In the Beginning the ‘Prophecies of John of Jerusalem’ an 11th century knight wrote: “She will be a great Master of the future times... She will be the Mother of the Millennium that comes after the Millennium... After the days of the devil She will make the softness of a Mother flow. She is referred to in the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas in verse 101 as: “My mother gave me birth; my true Mother gave me Life”. The Essene Gospel of Peace, Book 1, on page 7, speaks of this feminine characteristic of the divine as an inner life force. “Your Mother is in you and you are in her, she gives you life”. She is something to be realized. In all old writings the power known to many as Kundalini was called by various names: Sophia, Life, Draupadi and Mother of Wisdom. This Force called Wisdom was equated with Her other half. The Power of a feminine personality was named as Sri, She and Her. In these writings She was the Holy Spirit and Wisdom was the Source (Father). They were identified interchangeably to refer to the male and female aspects of the Sun. She was known in Christian texts as the Holy Ghost, Comforter, Counsellor and Redeemer. From the ancient ‘Wisdom of Solomon’ written some 2500 years back we read (6:12–17):”Wisdom was radiant and unfading and she was easily discerned (recognized) by those who loved her, and was found by those who sought her. She hastened to make herself known to those who desired her... She went about seeking those worthy of her, and she graciously appeared to them in their paths, and met them in every thought”. Also in (7: 22–24) it is written: “For, in her was a spirit that was intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, unpolluted, distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, dynamic (keen), irresistible, beneficent, humane, steadfast, sure, free from anxiety, all-powerful, overseeing all, and penetrating through all spirits that were intelligent and pure and most subtle.” In (7:24–29) it was stated: “For wisdom was more mobile than any motion; because of her pureness.... She pervaded and penetrated all things. For she was a breath (wind) of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the almighty; therefore nothing defiled entered her, for she was a reflection of eternal light, and a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of His goodness. Though she was but one, she could do all things, and while remaining in herself, she renewed all things; in every generation she passed into holy souls and made them friends of God, and prophets: For God loves nothing so much as the man who lived with wisdom. For she was more beautiful than the sun, and excelled every constellation of the stars...; compared with the light she was found to be superior... “And in (8:1–18), she reached mightily from one end of the earth to the other, and she ordered all things well. For she is an initiate in the knowledge of God; if riches are a desirable possession in life what is richer than wisdom, who effects all things? And if understanding is effective, who more than she is the fashioner of what exists? And if any one longs for wide experience, she knows the things of old, and infers the things to come; she understands turns of speech and Defining Essentials of Time Cycles 449 solutions to (life’s) riddles. She has foreknowledge of signs and wonders and the outcomes of seasons and times. When I enter my house, (the body/ temple) I shall find rest with her, for companionship with her has no bitterness, and life with her has no pain, but (is) gladness and joy. For, in kinship with wisdom there is immortality, and in friendship with her pure delight; in labours of her hands is the unfailing wealth, and in experience of her company lie the understanding and renown in sharing her words”. And finally, in (9.11) “For she knows and understands all things...” And what of Shri, Sophia, of Wisdom, the Holy Spirit, Comforter, Counsellor and the Redeemer...? Well, sages always said: She was here, living within each as a sleeping potential, an inner life-force, and known as the Kundalini energy, which was a resident of and in the spinal canal of the sacrum (sacred) bone. She could be awakened if one wanted it. One who resurrected this inner divine life- force hastened to make known he or she wanted Oneness with Her. This inner living in resurrection was celebrated globally on the anniversary of opening the Sahasrahara. On the day it was opened on a cosmic level it was said the whole atmosphere became filled with chaitanya (divine life-force energy or vibrations) and there was light in the sky, and it came on earth. Since that day, thousands on thousands of seekers from every nation have crossed paths with the one who ‘delivers the goods’, for as the Ancient Wisdom of Solomon promised, (Verse 6.12) said: “Wisdom is radiant and unfading and she is easily detected by those who love her, and is found by those who seek her.” ...”She hastens to make herself known to those who want her.” And “...she goes about seeking those worthy of her, and she graciously appears to them in their paths, and meets them in every thought. That’s why the song lyrics say: “She was also in your city”. Haven’t you heard? Every year since 1970, when the last centre in the evolutionary ascent was opened, great celebrations were taking place with people from every nation on the world stage on May 5th. The Fernbank Science Centre Planetarium of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, USA carried out various assessments and decided there would be a line-up of planets in the next Millennium. In short, various planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn), and the Sun and the Moon would come into alignment with the earth. On 5th May, 2000 they momentarily connected along invisible gravitational lines of energy, like a cosmic string of pearls. It activated the seeking and the questing faculty, to stimulate the want to know, feel and experience the eternal. Everyone could align with it; if he/she wished it! Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), the Nobel laureate for literature in 1913 wrote: “Oh Mother! Let my mind awake slowly on the sacred shore of the sea, where great souls of the world have come together to offer their pranams (obeisance). Here, with outstretched hands we bow-down to the divine in human form. In bounteous poetry and in great joy we adore thee. Behold here, oh seeker! 450 In the Beginning

The mountain of meditation with rivers resounding and dancing to the solemn music of heaven; Adore here, your sacred mother earth where great souls have come together on the seashore to offer their pranams. Come O Aryans, come non- Aryans, come Hindus and Muslims; Come, come O Englishmen, come Christians, come O Brahmins purify your heart, hold the hands of the downtrodden and outcastes. Remove all ills and disrespect. Come quickly for the coronation (anointing) of the Mother.” [‘Knowledge of Reality’ Magazine 1996–2006]. ...In the Beginning Chakraburtty “ ... in The Beginning” is a historical ‘story’ spanning a historical ‘story’ “ ... in The Beginning” is the birth of and after and Space before through Time Age of Kaliyuga It is History of the Piscean Jesus. of Humanity of planet when the Common Mind from the Light of the Sun. It was far away Earth was tell of Moral Blindness when nobody could a Time refused to be a Space that right from wrong. It was filled with “the right thing to do”.