Man is the Microcosm and miniature copy of the Macrocosm, the living witness of the Universal Law and its mode of action on Earth. It is the Neo-Platonists who applied the term Microcosm to man. Ancient philosophy called the Earth the Microcosm of the Macrocosm, and man the outcome of the two.

While doubting the omnipotence of Gadadhara and her threats, we trust the word of honest pilgrims who saw “the shadow of their departed relatives.” The earth’s atmosphere is jam-packed with the astral remains of men and women disintegrating in the limbus of the Roman Catholics (kama-loka) images of empty shells (ghosts) that are magnetically drawn to those whom they had loved on earth. The Hindu practice of Pind Daan or Shraddha is a mere superstition, and any effects thereby produced are caused unconsciously by the strong belief of the temple’s priest. The best way to help a restless ghost is to stop thinking of it, and allow nature to take its course. The body being only the covering of the soul, at its dissolution we shall discover all the secrets of nature, and darkness shall be dispelled, says Seneca. No man or priest can impede the immutable law of nature (karma), especially after the death of the person that evolved it. The departed should be left alone to rest in peace, in the bosom of the earth. It is the cunning Brahmans who need the Pind Daan more than the Asuras, and the greedy Christian clergy who exploit the credulity of their pious laity by extorting money from the bereaved in useless ceremonies and prayers upon the dead.

One hundred and forty years have passed like a dream, with much heart-sore and soaring hope, since the Theosophical Society was founded on 17 November 1875 in New York. We have decided to mark this auspicious date by releasing a series of hitherto private study notes and analyses of H.P. Blavatsky's Esoteric Section (E.S.) Instructions. The True Colours of Man, amplifies and clarifies E.S. Instructions I and II, aided by 31 original drawings, diagrams, and tables. The seven prismatic colours are direct emanations from the Seven Hierarchies of Compassion, each of which is the creator and source of the corresponding human principle. Each prismatic colour is the “Father of the Sound” which corresponds to it; Sound being the Word, or Logos, of its “Father-Thought.” Thus the Creative Force produces colours, sounds, and numbers, in the shape of rates of vibration, which compound and dissociate atoms and molecules. The Seven Primordial Lights, manifested from Light Unmanifested, are Divine Principles. The Principles of Man are bright reflections of Divine Principles, a Great Sacrifice; they are the seven-stringed lyre of Apollo. Colours and sounds are all spiritual numerals. Colour is Spirit (Atman), sound is Voice (Buddhi), proportion of numbers is Word (Higher Manas). Colours and sounds are associated with the Hierarchy of Compassion, the Manifested Logos. Colours–sounds–numbers proceed from 1 to 7 and not from 7 to 1, as erroneously shown in the spectrum of the prismatic colours. As the Seven Colours of the solar spectrum correspond to the Seven Rays, or Hierarchies, so each Ray has its seven divisions corresponding to the same series of colours. Esoterically, the right eye corresponds with Soul Wisdom or true knowledge; the left, with mere head learning. The Spiritual Man corresponds directly with the “coloured circles” of the Divine Prism which emanate from the One Infinite White Circle; the physical man emanates from the Sephiroth of the Kabbalah, the “voices” or “sounds” of Eastern Philosophy. “Voices,” however, are lower than colours. The lower Sephiroth are the seven physical planets. Our triple physical Sun, personified by the Upper Triad, is the Sephirothal Crown. The real Sephiroth are the Four Maharajas of The Secret Doctrine: Sun, Moon, Mercury, and Venus. The ancients considered as the most holy those organs which we now associate with feelings of shame and secrecy. The lower organs have been evolved to perform six functions on six distinct planes of action, besides a seventh, the lowest and purely terrestrial function on the physical plane. The physical body is not a “principle” and has no place in the sevenfold division. It is furnished by Mother Earth. Numbers and harmonious proportions guide the first differentiations of the Homogeneous Substance into heterogeneous elements. Perfect knowledge of the correspondences between colours, sounds, and numbers is the first requisite for students of Occultism. The Eye of Dangma will awaken only when the mouth is supressed. The Auric Egg is the monadic envelope and amnion of the physical man. Initiates, saints, and pure men can help others as well as themselves in their hour of need, with the aid of the God within, who has been enabled to act on the outward plane. Advanced students are invited to pronounce the Word before going to sleep and first thing upon awakening. Beginners, who cannot help going into crowds, are advised to wear either a ring containing some jewel of the colour of the presiding planet for the particular day of the week, or else of the metal sacred to it. A word of advice concerning Instructions I and II: students should strive to spiritualise these Instructions and avoid materialising them.

Part 1. Mystery is the negation of common sense, just as metaphysics is a kind of poetry. Ten axiomatic propositions of eastern philosophy. Part 2. There are two kinds of seership, spiritual and sensuous. Spiritual seership is pellucid vistas of cosmic splendour; sensuous, hazy glimpses of Truth distorted by matter. Part 3. The exercise of Will-power is the highest form of prayer, followed by an instant response. Eight Vedantic precepts of man’s mystic powers, and their appellations. Part 4. An illusionary “double” or doppelganger can be projected to any location. There are three kinds of “doubles” or astral bodies. Part 5. Feats and wonders by learned thaumaturgists, skilled in occult science. Conjuration, ceremonies, circle-making, and incense-burning are as ridiculous as they are useless. Part 6. The adept-magician can release the astral soul from the cremated remains and thus facilitate the withdrawal of the astral soul of the deceased, which otherwise might remain stupefied for an indefinite period within the ashes. Part 7. The disappearance from sight of a flame, symbol of Divine Light, does not imply its actual extinction. The spirit of the flame is inextinguishable. Part 8. Pure Buddhism possesses all the breadth that can be claimed from a doctrine, at once religious and scientific. Its tolerance excites the jealousy of none. Part 9. Magnetism is the alphabet of magic. The glorified human spirit is far more beauteous than its physical capsule. Part 10. The Todas resemble the statue of the Grecian Zeus, in majesty and beauty of form. Part 11. Shamanism is the heathenism of Mongolia, and one of the oldest religions of India. In is an offshoot of primitive theurgy, a practical blending of the visible with the invisible world. Part 12. The philosopher’s stone is no stone, it is Triune Unity and the end of all philosophers. Man is also a stone, potentially, a living foundation upon which he can build a temple, pure as flaming diamond, fit for his Higher Self to shine through him and become a beneficent power on earth. Part 13. The longevity of Lamas and the Talapoins of Siam is proverbial. Part 14. To deride wonders is easy; to explain them, troublesome; to dissect scientifically, impossible. How the brave warrior’s feet proved less nimble than his tongue. Part 15. Shamanism and its spirit-worship, is the most despised of all surviving religions. Still, many Russians are convinced of the Shamans’ supernatural powers. Part 16. The Kurdish rites and doctrines are purely magical and magian. They unify the mysticism of the Hindu with the practices of the Assyrio-Chaldean magians. Part 17. The plastic power of imagination, when impregnated with the potentiality of good or bad, generates a current which attaches itself to anyone who comes within it. “Evil eye” is the effect of venomous thoughts from the spell a malicious person. Part 18. The subjective end of matter, is pure spirit; the objective end, crystallised spirit. There being but One Truth, man requires but One Church, which is the Temple of God within us, walled-in by dense matter. Part 19. Modern Spiritualism is neither a science, nor a religion, not even a philosophy. To the spiritualists we offer philosophical deduction, instead of unverifiable hypothesis; scientific analysis and demonstration, instead of undiscriminating faith. Part 20. Our work is done. The enemies of Truth have been all counted, and paraded for all to see. Modern science, powerless to satisfy the aspirations of the race, makes the future a void, and bereaves man of hope. Paganism is ancient wisdom replete with Deity. And today, it rules the world in secret. Part 21. If ye love me, keep my commandments. Commentary on John xiv, 15–17. Appendix A. The Fire which devours itself is more mighty than ordinary fire. Appendix B. Biography of Francis Gerry Fairfield.

Quick Overview of the Primal Symbols of Cosmogenesis. How do the Two Ones form the Intelligible World? The First One is a Ray from Parabrahman (Absoluteness). The Second One, Logos Demiourgos (Creative), is a mere reflection of the First. The Virgin Matrix of the Universe is cold Fire — cool Radiance, colourless, formless, devoid of every quality. Only the eye of the Seer can follow and behold the basic line of the Pythagorean Triangle in all its pregenetic glory. How did the Heavenly Snails clothed themselves in the Fabric of Darkness? How does the Triangle becomes Square, and the Square a Six-faced Cube? What is the key to the septenary significance of the Primordial Circle? What are the Four Cardinal Points upon which the rock-cut temples of India were built? The Four Maharajahs, or Great Kings, are the Divine Instructors of nascent humanity and agents of Karma on Earth, whereas the Lipikas are concerned with humanity’s hereafter. The Pythagorean Monas is a Solitary Ray. It strides through the Regions of the Universe in steps, the steps of Vishnu. Unmanifested Logos is The First One. The meaning of the Two Ones explained. Second Logos is The One made Three, concreting into the Third Logos, where the Three live within The One, thus making up the Perfect Square in heaven and a Cube on earth. The meaning of the dotted line explained. Light drops one Solitary Ray. Then number strides in the regions of the universe. Eastern and Kabbalistic Cosmogonies are Identical (Diagram). Cosmogenesis and Anthropogenesis numerically and geometrically expressed. The One attracts within itself the Divine Unity of the One Circle and forms out of It the Perfect Square, thus “squaring the circle.” The Great Circle or Ring Pass-Not is the “Rope of the Angels” hedging off the phenomenal from the noumenal Kosmos. That Circle is the Universal Principle which, from any given point, expands to embrace all things, while embodying the potentiality of every action in Kosmos. How does the Triangle become the Square? How does the Square become the Six-faced Cube? How does the Triad becomes a Tetrad, the Pythagorean Perfect Square in heaven, and a Cube on earth? Mathematically expressed, Logos become Tetragrammaton, i.e., the Three become Four. When the Spiritual Ego, the holy number , germ and matrix of the , enters the animal body, the faces of the cube unfold, thus forming the cross of passions upon which material man (Chrēstos) crucifies himself and disappoints his glorious Spirit (Christos). Kabbalistic interpretation of the “crucifixion nails” reveals their sexual meaning. The occult meaning of the Svastika, emblem of the activity of Fohat, symbolised by the figure and the Sacred Four, explained. The true Word may only be found by tracing the mystery of the passage inward and outward of Life Eternal, through the states typified in the Unmanifested Circle, the Triangle, and the Perfect Square. “The true Word may only be found by tracing the mystery of the passage inward and outward of the Eternal Life, through the states typified in these three geometric figures,” says a Master of Wisdom. The Divine Heptad is the key to squaring the circle and to the philosophers’ stone, which is no stone. The Ineffable Word, being composed of Seven Letters, represents the First Hebdomad. The Seventh Letter is the highest in initiations; the remaining six are substitutes. The Sacred Word is the Central Mathematical Point, around which the Six-pointed star, emblem of the Theosophical Society, revolves and evolves. The meaning of two Interlaced Triangles explained by a Master of Wisdom. The Unmanifested Circle or Absolute Life, is non-existent outside the Ideal Triangle and Perfect Square. It manifests through them as the “Son,” i.e., Kosmos and Man. On the outward Path of Action, the Second One (Atma), in order to manifest itself as Logos, Its concealed duality (Atma-Buddhi) has to become three (Atma-Buddhi-Manas). On the inward Path of Renunciation, Logos Revealed attracts within Itself the Circle and reverts to Its original state of Absolute Unity by forming out of it the Perfect Square, and inscribing within it the Ineffable Name. The Rope of the Angels expressed numerically.

The truth from the lips did not atone for the lie in the heart. Every man’s reasoned opinion has a right to pass into the common auditory, for arguments are the currency of the intellect. In the great theatre of literature there are no authorized door-keepers: for our anonymous critics are self-elected. But they have lost all credit with wise men by unfair dealing: such as their refusal to receive an honest man’s money, because they anticipate and dislike his opinion, and his intellectual coin is refused under pretence that it is light or counterfeit — without any proof given either by the money scales, or by sounding the coin in dispute together with one of known goodness. Either the intolerant person is not master of the grounds on which his own faith is built — which therefore neither is or can it be his own faith — and he is angry, not at the opposition to Truth, but at the interruption of his own indolence and intellectual slumber. Or he has no love of Truth for its own sake; no reverence for the divine command to seek earnestly after it, which command, if it had not been so often and solemnly given by revelation, is yet involved and expressed in the gift of reason, and in the dependence of all our virtues on its development. There can be no end without means; and God furnishes no means that exempt us from the task and duty of joining our own best endeavours. Yet these are not only not forbidden by the self-obscurant Papists without a Pope, and the Protestants who protest only against all protesting, to examine and propose our doubts, so to proceed from a real desire to know the Truth; but we are repeatedly commanded so as not to find reasons for faith, but pretexts for infidelity. The light of truth shines beyond our mortal ken with unfading glory. Men have done their best to veil every beam and to replace the solar rays with the false glare of error and fiction; none more so than the bigoted, narrow-minded theologians and priests of every faith, casuists and perverters through selfishness. This world of ours in the natural enemy of every truth. Thou art this, but thou knowest it not. Truth is the supreme religion and Theosophy, the religion of the future. There is but one Absolute Truth in the Kosmos. Truth will unveil her beauty only to the heavenly man. A Master of Wisdom on the Spirit of Truth. This Spirit is a force that can neither be hindered nor stopped. Those who recognize it, and feel that this is the supreme moment of their salvation, will be uplifted by it beyond the illusions of the great astral serpent. The majority of the public Areopagus is generally composed of self-appointed judges, who have never made a permanent deity of any idol save their own personalities, their lower selves.