{"id":2121,"date":"2024-10-17T20:16:09","date_gmt":"2024-10-17T20:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/?p=2121"},"modified":"2024-10-17T20:16:10","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T20:16:10","slug":"the-world-egg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/the-world-egg\/","title":{"rendered":"The world-egg"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The \u201cBook of Dzyan,\u201d stanza 3, verse 3, as found in The Secret Doctrine<\/em>, vol. 1, p. 64, describes how the world-egg comes into manifestation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. \u201cDarkness\u201d radiates light, and light drops one solitary ray into the waters, into the mother deep. The ray shoots through the virgin-egg; the ray causes the eternal egg to thrill, and drop the non-eternal (periodical<\/em>) germ, which condenses into the world egg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her commentary on this verse, H. P. Blavatsky gave a reference to the Vi\u1e63\u1e47u Pur\u0101\u1e47a<\/em>, describing the world-egg. However, this reference was misunderstood by her. She wrote, pp. 65-66:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Golden Egg was surrounded by seven natural elements (ether, fire, air, water), \u201cfour ready, three secret.\u201d It may be found stated in Vishnu Pur\u00e2na, where elements are translated \u201cEnvelopes\u201d and a secret <\/em>one is added: \u201cAham-k\u00e2ra \u201d (see Wilson\u2019s Vishnu Pur\u00e2na, Book I., p. 40). The original text has no \u201cAham-k\u00e2ra;\u201d it mentions seven Elements without specifying the last three (see Part II. on \u201cThe Mundane Egg\u201d).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, the Vi\u1e63\u1e47u Pur\u0101\u1e47a<\/em> does specify the last three envelopes, Sanskrit \u0101vara\u1e47a<\/em>. Moreover, it does not add a secret one, aha\u1e43k\u0101ra<\/em>. This latter misunderstanding was based on a note by the editor, Fitzedward Hall, to Horace Hayman Willson\u2019s translation here, vol. 1, p. 40: \u201c\u2020 The word aha<\/em>\u1e41k\u00e1ra <\/em>is supplied to the original by the translator. The commentary is silent.\u201d The sentence that this note refers to is: \u201cAnd this egg was externally invested by seven natural envelopes; or by water, air, fire, ether, and Aha\u1e41k\u00e1ra,\u2020 the origin of the elements, each tenfold the extent of that which it invested; next came the principle of Intelligence; and, finally, the whole was surrounded by the indiscrete Principle: resembling, thus, the cocoa-nut, filled interiorly with pulp, and exteriorly covered by husk and rind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The note by Hall means only that the word aha\u1e43k\u0101ra<\/em> was supplied by Willson to show what \u201cthe origin of the elements\u201d refers to. The phrase, \u201cthe origin of the elements,\u201d Sanskrit bh\u016bt\u0101di<\/em>, is a standard term used in Sanskrit writings for aha\u1e43k\u0101ra<\/em>. This is because in the S\u0101\u1e43khya philosophy the subtle elements, tanm\u0101tra<\/em>, come from aha\u1e43k\u0101ra<\/em>, and the great elements, mah\u0101-bh\u016bta<\/em>, come from the subtle elements. So aha\u1e43k\u0101ra<\/em> is the origin of the elements. Thus, no secret envelope was added called aha\u1e43k\u0101ra<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can now see that the last three envelopes are indeed specified in the Vi\u1e63\u1e47u Pur\u0101\u1e47a<\/em>, namely, \u201cthe origin of the elements\u201d known as aha\u1e43k\u0101ra<\/em>, \u201cthe principle of Intelligence,\u201d Sanskrit buddhi<\/em>, and \u201cthe indiscrete Principle,\u201d Sanskrit avyakta<\/em>, a synonym of pradh\u0101na<\/em>. This is clear in the Vi\u1e63\u1e47u Pur\u0101\u1e47a<\/em>, at 1.2.58-59, and parallel passages in other pur\u0101\u1e47as leave no possible doubt about these last three envelopes. For example, V\u0101yu Pur\u0101\u1e47a<\/em> 1.1.44-45, 4.75-77; Brahm\u0101\u1e47\u1e0da Pur\u0101\u1e47a<\/em> 1.1.3.32-34; K\u016brma Pur\u0101\u1e47a<\/em> 1.4.42-44; M\u0101rka\u1e47\u1e0deya Pur\u0101\u1e47a<\/em> 45.67-69; etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We may wonder what led Blavatsky to misunderstand the text that she referred to. The first sentence of the quote from her given above may explain this. She wrote: \u201cThe Golden Egg was surrounded by seven natural elements (ether, fire, air, water), \u201cfour ready, three secret.\u201d\u201d The phrase, \u201cfour ready, three secret,\u201d apparently relates to what is given later in the \u201cBook of Dzyan,\u201d in stanza 6, verse 3: \u201cOf the Seven \u2014 first one manifested, six concealed, two manifested, five concealed; three manifested, four concealed; four produced, three hidden; four and one tsan revealed, two and one half concealed; six to be manifested, one laid aside. Lastly, seven small wheels revolving; one giving birth to the other.\u201d It is possible that Blavatsky understood the \u201cBook of Dzyan\u201d here in stanza 3, verse 3, to teach that only four elements were manifested at this stage of evolution, and three remained secret. This could have led her to misunderstand the Vi\u1e63\u1e47u Pur\u0101\u1e47a<\/em> reference to mean the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the whole process of the manifestation of the cosmos described in the \u201cBook of Dzyan,\u201d this verse, stanza 3, verse 3, describes the actual moment that manifestation begins: \u201cDarkness radiates light.\u201d This verse goes on to briefly describe how the world-egg comes into manifestation: \u201c. . . the non-eternal germ, which condenses into the world-egg.\u201d The next verse, stanza 3, verse 4, brings in reference to the number seven:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Then the three fall into the four. The radiant essence becomes seven inside, seven outside. The luminous egg, which in itself is three, curdles and spreads in milk-white curds throughout the depths of mother, the root that grows in the depths of the ocean of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarding \u201cthe three fall into the four,\u201d Blavatsky describes the role of the triangle, \u201cthe three,\u201d at great length in the meetings that were published as Transactions of the Blavatsky Lodge<\/em>, and more fully as The Secret Doctrine Commentaries<\/em>, and again as The Secret Doctrine Dialogues<\/em>. The number seven is not here specifically applied to the world-egg, but apparently does apply to it. In the section of The Secret Doctrine<\/em> that Blavatsky referred readers to in her commentary quoted above, \u201cThe Mundane Egg,\u201d she wrote, vol. 1, p. 365: \u201c. . . the Egg gives birth to the four elements within the fifth, Ether, and is covered with seven coverings, which become later on the seven upper and the seven lower worlds.\u201d In answer to a question about this verse, \u201cWhy is the radiant essence here spoken of as seven inside and seven outside?\u201d she replied, \u201cBecause it has seven principles on the plane of manifestation and seven principles on the plane of non-manifestation.\u201d (The Secret Doctrine Commentaries<\/em>, p. 222).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among known texts, our most detailed source on the world-egg is the account given in the various pur\u0101\u1e47as. They are consistent in describing the egg, apparently corresponding to the earth element, as enveloped by seven coverings: water, fire, air, \u0101k\u0101\u015ba<\/em> (ether or space), bh\u016bt\u0101di<\/em> (the origin of the elements) or aha\u1e43k\u0101ra<\/em> (the principle of self-consciousness), mahat<\/em> (the \u201cgreat\u201d principle) or buddhi<\/em> (the principle of intelligence), and avyakta<\/em> (the unmanifest) or pradh\u0101na<\/em> (primary substance). If we wish to consider the world-egg as consisting of seven principles, it would be possible to count the earth element as the first principle, and not count the last listed envelope or covering. This is because the unmanifest, avyakta<\/em>, also known as primary substance, pradh\u0101na<\/em>, is all-pervasive. That is, the other ones are all included in it. So it is not really an envelope or covering. If we wish to apply Blavatsky\u2019s statement, \u201cfour ready, three secret,\u201d it would be possible to regard the last three as what she calls \u201cblinds,\u201d substitutes for the real ones that cannot be given.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The \u201cBook of Dzyan,\u201d stanza 3, verse 3, as found in The Secret Doctrine, vol. 1, p. 64, describes how the world-egg comes into manifestation: 3. \u201cDarkness\u201d radiates light, and light drops one solitary ray into the waters, into the mother deep. The ray shoots through the virgin-egg; the ray causes the eternal egg to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2121"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2122,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2121\/revisions\/2122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}