Hi everybody!

I just got a copy of the book Man, Son of Man. I am excited. This is going to be an important addition to my Theosophical library.

The core textbook of Theosophy is the book The Secret Doctrine, which is mainly an explanation of a poem called The Stanzas of Dzyan.

Prem and Ashish wrote a book called Man the Meaning of All Things.

http://www.questbooks.net/title.cfm?bookid=107

Man the Meaning of All Things only covers the first volume of The Secret Doctrine. Unfortunately, most people do not know a second book in the series exists which covers the second volume of The Secret Doctrine. Such a book does exist, and it is Man, Son of Man.

I will be giving updates as I read through the book. I am sure I will come across several new insights as to the meaning of The Stanzas of Dzyan.

Hi everybody!

I knew I would get some good information out of this book, and I have not been disappointed. Right in the beginning, it talks about the Three falling into the Four.

“Then the Three fall into the Four.” (Stanza i-3-4)

Who are the Three? Who are the Four? The answer is not clearly stated in Theosophical literature, and it is open to speculation. This book lists the Three as Absolute, Father, & Mother, and lists the Four as Absolute, Father, Mother, & Son. Father (pure spirit) and Mother (“pure” matter) cause the Son (the universe) to appear.

That works for me. I have been looking for answer as to who the Four are, and this is the best answer I have found yet.

Hi everybody!

SD volume 2 mentions the First, Second, and Third Races on Earth. Ashish, in this book Man, Son of Man, says the First Race was the minerals, the Second Race was the vegetables, and the Third Race was the animals! I find this to be a provocative interpretation of SD volume 2.

Perhaps SD volume 2 refers to both the physical evolution of animals, etc., on Earth, as well as the spiritual evolution of man on Earth?

Nick, HPB talks of a triple-scheme of evolution: The physical, the mental, and the spiritual.

Your insight may be that the physical evolution takes place in races, while the mental and spiritual take place in races not necessarily cooresponding. The definition of "races" may differ depending upon which scheme of evolution you are speaking of.

Interesting..

Jon,

Here is another one. Stanza ii-10-39 says, in part,

THE FIRST (Race), ON EVERY ZONE, WAS MOON-COLORED (yellow-white); THE SECOND YELLOW LIKE GOLD; THE THIRD RED; THE FOURTH BROWN, WHICH BECAME BLACK WITH SIN.

--> Ashish's interpretation is, brown stands for the astral plane, and black stands for the physical plane. According to Ashish,

[The Divine Mind], "...acting through [its heart], has produced the countless differentiated 'Son'Suns' [ii-4-6], 'yellow, like gold' [ii-10-39]. Infused with red desire, these in turn become 'brown' as they unite with the subtle physical component of physical forms, finally to become fully embodied 'black'." (Sri Ashish, Man, Son of Man, p. 197)

--> According to Ashish, this part of the Stanzas refers to man's spiritual evolution only. (I disagree, by the way.) It is a fascinating idea to think that, parts of the Stanzas refer to man's spiritual evolution, parts of the Stanzas refer to animals' physical evolution, and the two stories are woven together in a way that is not immediately evident.

Nick,

Perhaps the Stanzas are refering to all three processes at once, the symbolism applying differently depending on which evolutionary process you are considering. Consider the Hermetic law of correspondences. There must be a similar pattern in each process.

Hi everybody!

I have finally finished reading Man, Son of Man. It was an interesting read. There were, however, several interpretations I had trouble with:

The First Race of Stanza ii-5-18 were the minerals of our planet, the Second Race of ii-2-19 were the vegetables, and the Third Race of ii-6-22 were the animals of present-day Earth.

The Sweat-born were lice. The drops of sweat were bacterial life.

Earth's refusal to get help, to "call no Sons of Heaven," was actually quite natural.

The "all unholy destroyed" of ii-11-46 was not the destruction of the dinasours, but the destruction of animal desire (existing on the astral plane).

The laying of the Earth on her back does not refer to cataclysms due to a reversal of the magnetic poles, but a reaching of the bottom of the cycle, and changing directions upwards.

Stanzas ii-4-14 and ii-4-15 refer to a kind of pre-human, while ii-4-16 refers to the first real human.

Stanzas ii-10-42 and ii-11-45 do not refer to Atlantis.

The likenesses of ii-11-43 are not physical bodies but mental bodies.

The Zones of ii-10-39 are not continents or areas, but planes of existence.

The Brown Race of ii-10-39 refers to the Etheric Plane, while the Black Race refers to the Physical Plane.

The phrase "set apart" (ii-7-24) refers to the first group of animals that became human.

The large stautues nine yati high (ii-11-44) do not refer to physical statues, but to increasing pride.

The division of the sexes did not occur until after the Fourth Race, after we developed speech.

~~~

All readers need to be aware of the author's method of referring to stanzas in SD vols 1 and 2. The notation (III. 7) refers to vol 1 stanza 3 sloka 7, which I refer to as i-3-7, while (7) refers to vol 2 stanza 2 sloka 7, which I refer to as ii-2-7.

~~~

The book was fascinating, and greatly helped me understand many lines in the Stanzas. It is a must-read book for all serious students of the Stanzas of Dzyan.