Isis Unveiled by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol. 2
Theosophical University Press Online Edition
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.
"Cecy est un livre de bonne Foy." -- MONTAIGNE.
THEOSOPHICAL UNIVERSITY PRESS
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
PREFACE -- iii
Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson and Baroness Burdett-Coutts.
----------------
THE "INFALLIBILITY" OF MODERN RELIGION.
Church statistics . . . 1
Catholic "miracles" and spiritualistic "phenomena"
. . . 4
Christian and Pagan beliefs compared . . . 10
Magic and sorcery practised by Christian clergy . . . 20
Comparative theology a new science . . . 25
Eastern traditions as to Alexandrian Library . . . 27
Roman pontiffs imitators of the Hindu Brahm-atma . . . 30
Christian dogmas derived from heathen philosophy . . . 33
Doctrine of the Trinity of Pagan origin . . . 45
Disputes between Gnostics and Church Fathers . . . 51
Bloody records of Christianity . . . 53
Sorceries of Catherine of Medicis . . . 55
Occult arts practised by the clergy . . . 59
Witch-burnings and auto-da-fe of little children . . . 62
Lying Catholic saints . . . 74
Pretensions of missionaries in India and China . . . 79
Sacrilegious tricks of Catholic clergy . . . 82
Paul a kabalist . . . 91
Peter not the founder of Roman church . . . 91
Strict lives of Pagan hierophants . . . 98
High character of ancient "mysteries" . . . 101
Jacolliot's account of Hindu fakirs . . . 103
Christian symbolism derived from Phallic worship . . . 109
Hindu doctrine of the Pitris . . . 114
Brahminic spirit-communion ... 115
Dangers of untrained mediumship . . . 117
Resemblance between early Christianity and Buddhism . . . 123
Peter never in Rome . . . 124
Meanings of "Nazar" and "Nazarene" . . . 129
Baptism a derived right . . . 134
Is Zoroaster a generic name? . . . 141
Pythagorean teachings of Jesus . . . 147
The Apocalypse kabalistic . . . 147
Jesus considered an adept by some Pagan philosophers and early
Christians . . . 150
Doctrine of permutation . . . 152
The meaning of God-Incarnate . . . 153
Dogmas of the Gnostics . . . 155
Ideas of Marcion, the "heresiarch" . . . 159
Precepts of Manu . . . 163
Jehovah identical with Bacchus . . . 165
Discrepancies in the Pentateuch . . . 167
Indian, Chaldean and Ophite systems compared . . . 170
Who were the first Christians? . . . 178
Christos and Sophia-Achamoth . . . 183
Secret doctrine taught by Jesus . . . 191
Jesus never claimed to be God . . . 193
New Testament narratives and Hindu legends . . . 199
Antiquity of the "Logos" and "Christ" . .
. 205
Comparative Virgin-worship . . . 209
En-Soph and the Sephiroth . . . 212
The primitive wisdom-religion . . . 216
The book of Genesis a compilation of Old World legends . . . 217
The Trinity of the Kabala . . . 222
Gnostic and Nazarene systems contrasted with Hindu myths . . .
225
Kabalism in the book of Ezekiel . . . 232
Story of the resurrection of Jairus's daughter found in the history
of Christna . . . 241
Untrustworthy teachings of the early Fathers . . . 248
Their persecuting spirit . . . 249
Decisions of Nicean Council, how arrived at . . . 251
Murder of Hypatia . . . 252
Origin of the fish-symbol of Vishnu . . . 256
Kabalistic doctrine of the Cosmogony . . . 264
Diagrams of Hindu and Chaldeo-Jewish systems . . . 265
Ten mythical Avatars of Vishnu . . . 274
Trinity of man taught by Paul . . . 281
Socrates and Plato on soul and spirit . . . 283
True Buddhism, what it is . . . 288
Nazareans, Ophites, and modern Druzes . . . 291
Etymology of IAO . . . 298
"Hermetic Brothers" of Egypt . . . 307
True meaning of Nirvana . . . 319
The Jayna sect . . . 321
Christians and Chrestians . . . 323
The Gnostics and their detractors . . . 325
Buddha, Jesus, and Apollonius of Tyana . . . 341
The Sohar and Rabbi Simeon . . . 348
The Order of Jesuits and its relation to some of the Masonic orders
. . . 352
Crimes permitted to its members . . . 355
Principles of Jesuitry compared with those of Pagan moralists
. . . 364
Trinity of man in Egyptian Book of the Dead . . . 367
Freemasonry no longer esoteric . . . 372
Persecution of Templars by the Church
. . . 381
Secret Masonic ciphers . . . 395
Jehovah not the "Ineffable Name" . . . 398
Nearly every myth based on some great truth . . . 405
Whence the Christian Sabbath . . . 406
Antiquity of the Vedas . . . 410
Pythagorean doctrine of the potentialities of numbers . . . 417
"Days" of Genesis and "Days" of Brahma
. . . 422
Fall of man and the Deluge in the Hindu books . . . 425
Antiquity of the Mahabharata . . . 429
Were the ancient Egyptians of the Aryan race? . . . 434
Samuel, David, and Solomon mythical personages
. . . 439
Symbolism of Noah's Ark . . . 447
The Patriarchs identical with zodiacal signs . . . 459
All Bible legends belong to universal history . . . 469
The devil officially recognized by the Church . . . 477
Satan the mainstay of sacerdotalism . . . 480
Identity of Satan with the Egyptian Typhon . . . 483
His relation to serpent-worship . . . 489
The Book of Job and the Book of the Dead . . . 493
The Hindu devil a metaphysical abstraction
. . . 501
Satan and the Prince of Hell in the Gospel of Nicodemus . . .
515
The age of philosophy produced no atheists . . . 530
The legends of three Saviours . . . 537
Christian doctrine of the Atonement illogical . . . 542
Cause of the failure of missionaries to convert Buddhists and
Brahmanists . . . 553
Neither Buddha nor Jesus left written records
. . . 559
The grandest mysteries of religion in the Bagaved-gita . . . 562
The meaning of regeneration explained in the Satapa-Brahmana .
. . 565
The sacrifice of blood interpreted . . . 566
Demoralization of British India by Christian missionaries . .
. 573
The Bible less authenticated than any other sacred book . . .
577
Knowledge of chemistry and physics displayed by Indian jugglers
. . . 583
Recapitulation of fundamental propositions . . . 587
Seership of the soul and of the spirit . . . 590
The phenomenon of the so-called spirit-hand . . . 594
Difference between mediums and adepts . . . 595
Interview of an English ambassador with a reincarnated Buddha
. . . 598
Flight of a lama's astral body related by Abbe Huc . . . 604
Schools of magic in Buddhist lamaseries . . . 609
The unknown race of Hindu Todas . .
. 613
Will-power of fakirs and yogis . . . 617
Taming of wild beasts by fakirs . . . 622
Evocation of a living spirit by a Shaman, witnessed by the writer
. . . 626
Sorcery by the breath of a Jesuit Father . . . 633
Why the study of magic is almost impracticable in Europe . . .
635
Conclusion . . . 635
WERE it possible, we would keep this work out of the hands of many Christians whom its perusal would not benefit, and for whom it was not written. We allude to those whose faith in their respective churches is pure and sincere, and those whose sinless lives reflect the glorious example of that Prophet of Nazareth, by whose mouth the spirit of truth spake loudly to humanity. Such there have been at all times. History preserves the names of many as heroes, philosophers, philanthropists, martyrs, and holy men and women; but how many more have lived and died, unknown but to their intimate acquaintance, unblessed but by their humble beneficiaries! These have ennobled Christianity, but would have shed the same lustre upon any other faith they might have professed -- for they were higher than their creed. The benevolence of Peter Cooper and Elizabeth Thompson, of America, who are not orthodox Christians, is no less Christ-like than that of the Baroness Angela Burdett-Coutts, of England, who is one. And yet, in comparison with the millions who have been accounted Christians, such have always formed a small minority. They are to be found at this day, in pulpit and pew, in palace and cottage; but the increasing materialism, worldliness and hypocrisy are fast diminishing their proportionate number. Their charity, and simple, child-like faith in the infallibility of their Bible, their dogmas, and their clergy, bring into full activity all the virtues
that are implanted in our common nature. We have personally known such God-fearing priests and clergymen, and we have always avoided debate with them, lest we might be guilty of the cruelty of hurting their feelings; nor would we rob a single layman of his blind confidence, if it alone made possible for him holy living and serene dying.
An analysis of religious beliefs in general, this volume is in particular directed against theological Christianity, the chief opponent of free thought. It contains not one word against the pure teachings of Jesus, but unsparingly denounces their debasement into pernicious ecclesiastical systems that are ruinous to man's faith in his immortality and his God, and subversive of all moral restraint.
We cast our gauntlet at the dogmatic theologians who would enslave both history and science; and especially at the Vatican, whose despotic pretensions have become hateful to the greater portion of enlightened Christendom. The clergy apart, none but the logician, the investigator, the dauntless explorer should meddle with books like this. Such delvers after truth have the courage of their opinions.