Subject: The Inner Earth. Part 3. Feb. 18, 2008.
Here they talk about underground tunnels.
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According to tradition, it was the 'land of
bliss' of the earliest Vedic times. O-cult
teachings 'place it in the very center of the North
Pole, pointing it out as the site of the first
continent on our earth, after the solidification
of the globe' [4].
In the ancient astronomical text Surya-Siddhanta
(12:34), Meru is described as 'passing through the
middle of the earth-globe, and protruding on either
side' [5].
H.P. B-avatsky says that 'Meru is not "the
fabulous mountain in the navel or center of the
earth," but its roots and foundations are in that
navel, though it is in the far north itself. This
connects it with the "central" land "that never
perishes". [6].
Just as the human body contains a series of
chakras, or subtle energy centres, linked by the
sushumna, a central channel in the spinal cord,
so there may be corresponding energy centers on
and in the body of the earth. Shambhala is
sometimes described as the main power center,
with auxiliary centers scattered about the globe
[7].
In theosophy, the heart of mother earth is said
to beat 'under the foot of sacred Shambhala',
and we are told:
O-cult teaching corroborates the popular
tradition which asserts the existence of a
fountain of life in the bowels of the earth
and in the North Pole. It is the b-ood of the
earth, the electro-magnetic current, which
circulates through all the arteries; and which
is said to be found stored in the 'navel' of
the earth. [8]
This inner reservoir of physical and
psychospiritual life-forces may correspond in
one sense to the root-chakra (muladhara chakra)
in the human body, situated at the base of the
spine. From this viewpoint, Meru represents the
central duct or path of terrestrial kundalini
or shakti running through the earth [9].
Some Hebrew legends speak of a place called
Luz -- an underground city near a sacred mountain
called the 'abode of immortality'. An almond
tree, named luz in Hebrew, grew near it, a
hollow in its roots leading down to the
underground center.
Reno Guonon saw this as another version of the
archetypal mountain/tree/cave complex symbolizing
Shambhala. He stated that the real significance
of Luz is that it corresponds in planetary
terms to the muladhara chakra, whose kabalistic
name in Hebrew is luz. The name derives from a
root word denoting that which is concealed,
s-cret, and silent; it also connotes a kernel
-- the innermost part of the almond. The most
common iconographic depiction of Shambhala is
similar to the four-spoked muladhara chakra,
the subtle 'earth-center' in the human body [10].
In his book "Paradise Found", William Warren
writes: The earliest inhabitants of the
Tigro-Euphrates basin located 'the Center of
the Earth,' "not in their own midst", but in
a far-off land, of sacred associations, where
'the holy house of g-d' is situated, -- a land
'into the heart whereof man hath not penetrated;'
a place underneath the 'overshadowing
world-tree,' and beside the 'full waters.' No
description could more perfectly identify the
spot with the Arctic Pole of ancient Asiatic
mythology. [11]
In The Chaldean Account of G-nesis, we read:
'Human beings . The great go-s created, and
in the earth the -ods created for them a
dwelling. . In the midst of the earth they
grew up and became great, and increased in number,
Seven kings, brothers of the same family .
Iranian, Indian, Chinese, Scandinavian, and
Aztec literature also refer to this ambiguous
location at 'the center of the earth' [12].
The Japanese paradise was situated 'on the
top of the globe' and at the same time 'at
the center of the earth'. It was called the
'island of the congealed drop'.
Its first roof-pillar was the earth's axis,
and over it was the pivot of the vault of
h-aven. Similarly, the Chinese terrestrial
paradise, round in form, is described not
only as at the center of the earth, but
also as directly under Shang-te's heavenly
palace, which is declared to be in the
polestar, and is sometimes called the
'palace of the center'.
The Egyptians located their Ta Neter, or
land of the g-ds, in the extreme north [13].
Today there is an echo of these ancient
traditions in the fact that children send
notes to Santa Claus, or Father Christmas,
in his 'wonderland' at the north pole, asking
for gifts.
The Eskimos have legends that they came
from a fertile land of perpetual sun****ne
in the north. They believe that after
d-ath the s-ul descends beneath the earth,
first to an abode rather like purgatory,
but good so-ls then descend further to a
place of perfect bliss where the sun never
sets [14].
In P-alm 48:2 of the B-ble, Mount Zion is
said to be 'in the far north', and in E-ekiel
(28:13-14) Eden, 'the garden of Go-', is
placed on the 'holy mountain of Go-'. In
Hebrew tradition, the primeval Eden is
sometimes said to be at the 'center of the
earth' [15].
According to the Hindu Kurma Purana, an
island called Shveta-Dvipa, or W-ite
Island, lay in the northern sea, the
paradisiacal homeland of great yogis
possessing supreme wisdom and learning [16].
B-avatsky writes: 'According to Tibetan
tradition the Wh-te Island is the only
locality which escapes the general fate
of other dwipas and can be destroyed by
neither fire nor water, for -- it is the
"eternal land" ' [17].
North of the Himalayas, possibly in the
Tarim Basin, lay Uttarakuru or northern
Kuru, a version of Shambhala which the
Mahabharata describes as the blissful
land of the sages towards which Arjuna,
the warrior prince of the Bhagavad-Gita,
travelled in search of enlightenment.
It is described as a place of marvels
where magic fruit trees yield the
nectar of immortality. It is said to
be one of four regions surrounding Mount
Meru like the four petals of a lotus
and to be the homeland of the siddhas,
enlightened yogis famed for their
miraculous powers [18].
Greek mythology speaks of a mysterious
northern yet ever-springlike land called
Hyperborea ('beyond the north wind'),
situated beyond the mountains -- in
some accounts situated under the north
pole -- to which Apollo journeyed in
his chariot of swans [19].
There the true 'omphalos' or navel of
the earth was located. For the Orphics,
the island of Electris, the seat of the
go-s, lies under the polestar in the
furthest waters of Tethys [20].
The Mandean Gnostics believed that an ideal
earth, an earth of light peopled by a d-vine
r-ce of superhumans, was situated in the
north, separated from our world by a high
mountain of ice. It is said to exist
'between heaven and earth', and Henry
Corbin concludes that it does not refer
to the north of our globe but to the
'cosmic north', i.e. superphysical realms
[21].
But, like Shambhala, it might also have
an earthly counterpart.
The Avestan term 'Airyanem Vaejah'
(Pahlavi: Eran-Vej) designates the
cradleland of the Aryan-Iranians, located
not in any of the earth's seven
climates, but at the center of the central
zone, the eighth climate [22].
It was there that Yima, the 'first man',
received the command to construct a vara,
or enclosure, where the most highly
developed humans, animals, and plants
would be gathered in order to save them
from the deadly winter unleashed by
the demonic powers so that they might
one day refurbish a transfigured world.
This "vara" or paradise had a gate and
luminescent windows which se-reted an
inner light within, for it was illuminated
by both uncreated and created lights. Its
various meanings include a subterranean
sanctuary, an ark, and the human body [23].
Airyanem Vaejah, the 'primeval land of
bliss', appears to be identical to
Shveta-Dvipa, Mount Meru, the Sac-ed
Imperishable Land, and Shambhala (in
its several meanings) [24].
Bla-atsky quotes Fargard 1:2 of the
Vendidad, where 'we find Ahura-Mazda saying
to Spitama "the most benevolent" -- that he
made every land dear to its dwellers, since
otherwise the "whole living world would
have invaded the Airyana-Vaego" ' [25].
According to Fargard 2:40, 'The one thing
missed there is the sight of the stars, the
moon, and the sun, and a year seems only as a
day' [26].
4. Inner kingdoms
As with the idea of a paradisiacal
cradleland of humanity at the north pole,
references to networks of caverns and
tunnels and/or an inner world within the
earth are commonplace in the world's
r-ligions, myths, legends, and folklore.
The attributes assigned to the underworld
range from h-avenly to h-llish, and its
inhabitants likewise range from superhuman
to subhuman. Myths and legends generally
embody multiple levels of meaning, and
the underworld can also refer to
nonphysical planes of reality.
During his travels in Asia, Nicholas
Roerich spent a lot of time studyingm local
folklore, which included tales of lost
tribes or subterranean dwellers.
In many places of Central Asia, they
speak of the Agharti ['concealed', 'se-ret'],
the subterranean people. In numerous
beautiful legends they outline the same
story of how the best people abandoned the
treacherous earth and sought salvation in
hidden countries where they acquired new
forces and conquered powerful energies. [1]
While crossing the Karakorum pass, his
Ladakhi guide said to him: 'Do you know
that in the subterranean caves here many
treasures are hidden and that in them
lives a wonderful tribe which abhors the
s-ns of the earth?'
And again when we approached Khotan the
hoofs of our horses sounded hollow as
though we rode above caves or hollows.
Our caravan people called our attention
to this, saying, 'Do you hear what hollow
subterranean passages we are crossing?
Through these passages, people who are
familiar with them can reach far-off
countries.' When we saw entrances of
caves, our caravaneers told us, 'Long ago
people lived there; now they have gone
inside; they have found a subterranean
passage to the subterranean kingdom. Only
rarely do some of them appear again on
earth.
Part 3.
John Winston. johfw@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
The Inner Earth. Part 4. Feb. 18, 2008.
This tells from where the American Indians came.
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Great is the belief in the Kingdom of the
subterranean people. Through all Asia, through the
space of all deserts, from the Pacific to the
Urals, you can hear the same wondrous tale of the
vanished h-ly people. And even far beyond the Ural
Mountains, the echo of the same tale will reach
you. [2]
There is rumored to be a vast underground
network of caves and tunnels under the whole of
Central Asia, with many passages radiating out
from the s-iritual hub of Shambhala [3].
According to popular belief, there are numerous
s-cret subterranean passages beneath India, whose
entrances are guarded by elementals which assume
the shape of rocks or other natural features. For
instance, Varanasi (Benares), whose ancient name
is Ka****, is said to be connected by a tunnel to
Gupta Ka**** ('gupta' = s-cret, hidden), an
underground city in the Himalayas, about 50 miles
from Badrinath [4].
Mesoamerica and South America have long been
rumoured to be honeycombed with long, mysterious
tunnels, some of them running for hundreds of
miles, from Columbia in the north through Peru
and Bolivia to Chile in the south, and to the
Amazon jungle in the east. Only a few sections
of these tunnels have so far been discovered [5].
H.P. B-avatsky mentions an immense tunnel
running from Cuzco to Lima in Peru, and then
extending south into Bolivia [6].
In Egypt, a vast subterranean world is
traditionally believed to extend from the
catacombs of Alexandria to Thebes' Valley of the
Kings. The subterranean crypts of Thebes were
known as the serpent's catacombs, the serpent
being a symbol of wisdom and immortality [7].
Many Native American peoples believe that
their ancestors originated in a joyous
subterranean realm, or took refuge in caverns
to escape past cataclysms. (JW I once was
talking to an America Indian who was fi****ng
for catfish at 12:00 pm at night on the banks
of a Lake Isabella in Calif. and he told me
the same thing.)
The Cherokee Indians speak of a subterranean
world much like our own, with mountains, rivers,
trees, and people [8]. (JW The Cherokee Indians
are said to have come originally from The Pleiades.
They have a lot of rituals that talk about the
7 stars of the Pleiades and also the seven
sisters in regard to The Devil's Tower.)
The Aztecs said their ancestors came from
a land called Aztlan, and that after escaping
its destruction they ended up in a cavern called
Chicomoztoc, or the Seven Cavern Cities of Gold,
where they lived before emerging to the surface
world [9].
The M-xican demi-g-d Votan describes a
subterranean passage, a 's****'s hole', which
runs underground and terminates at the root of
the h-avens; he himself was allowed to enter
it because he was a 'son of the s****s' [10].
The Hopi Indians hold their rituals in an
underground chamber known as the kiva.
In the center of the kiva, on the altar level
and directly below the roof opening, is the
sunken fire pit in which a fire is lighted in
the New Fire Ceremony for life began with fire.
Next to it is the small hole in the floor
called the "sipapuni". Etymologically derived
from the two words for 'navel' and 'path from,'
the "sipapuni" thus denotes the umbilical cord
leading from Mother Earth and symbolizes the
path of man's Emergence from the previous
underworld.
The ladder represents the reed up which man
climbed during his Emergence . [11]
The Hopis believe there has been a succession
of four worlds. The first world was destroyed
by fire, the second by a pole****ft, and the
third by flooding. Some chosen people were saved
from the disasters that destroyed the first
two worlds by taking refuge underground, and
some survived the destruction of the third
world by being sealed inside hollow reeds. The
Pima Indians speak of the emergence into our
world being effected through a spiral hole
that was bored up to the earth's surface [12].
Legends of ancestral origins in subterranean
lands are also found in Africa and Australia.
Australian aborigines believe their ancestors
came up out of the ground, travelled about the
country and created new tribes, then 'ultimately
journeyed away beyond the confines of their
territory, or went down into the ground again'.
According to the native traditions of the
Caroline Islands, Papua New Guinea, and
Malaysia, a subterranean r-ce of giants went
underground in ancient times. Once inhabitants
of the lost continent of Chamat, they will
one day 'emerge and remake the world'. Natives
of the Trobiand Islands believe that their
ancestors emerged from a subterranean
existence through a special hole. Tribes
in Bengal and Burma also believe their
ancestors emerged from a subterranean world
[13].
In Hindu mythology there are many tales of
the Nagas, a ra-e of semi-d-vine serpent-people,
who ruled a subterranean kingdom, Patala,
filled with incredible wealth. Patala was said
to be the lowest of the seven regions of the
Indian underworld. These regions are
collectively called Bila-svarga, the
'subterranean he-ven', which is described
as a place of great beauty. The sun and moon
cannot be seen there, but the jewels
decorating the hoods of the Nagas are
said to emit an effulgence that illuminates
the entire region of Bila-svarga. Few mortals
were ever allowed to enter the lower world, but
there were said to be many hidden entrances in
the mountains of India and Kashmir [14].
In Tibet there is a major mystical shrine
called Patala, which is said to lie above an
ancient cavern and tunnel system, extending
throughout the Asian continent and possibly
beyond. The Nagas are related to the
Rakshasas, an underworld rac- of 'de-ons',
who possess a 'magical stone' or 'third eye'
in the middle of the forehead.
In China, the Lung Wang (dragon beings)
closely resemble the Nagas in many respects.
They are said to dwell either in the
'celestial realm', i.e. the stars and planets,
or beneath the surface of the earth. They,
too, possess a 'magical pearl' in their
foreheads, a mystical or di-ine eye or source
of power. Like the Nagas, some of the
entrances to their palaces or kingdoms can be
found beneath lakes and rivers or behind
waterfalls [15].
According to an ancient Chinese record, the
Twelve Branches, all things began to germinate
in the hidden recesses of the underworld. In
the Ten Stems, it is said that at the ninth
stem, light begins to nourish all things in
the recesses below [16].
The Egyptian underworld or kingdom of the
dead was called the Duat (or Tuat), ruled by
Osiris [17].
Within the Duat were the Fields of Peace,
which the Greeks equated with the Elysian
Fields. In Old Kingdom times the Duat was
commonly supposed to be situated somewhere
under the earth. In this airless, waterless,
and lightless place dwelt both the blessed
and the d-mned. The kingdom of Osiris was
also placed in the west, where the dead
sun-go- of the day passed at night. In
addition, the Duat denoted the sky region
dominated by the constellations of Orion,
Taurus, and Leo, and divided by the
'winding waterway' or Milky Way.
The Duat is sometimes described as the
'reversed world' or 'inverted precinct'
[18], and in the Pyramid Texts we read:
'O Osiris the King, I am Isis; I have
come into the middle of this earth, into
the place where you are' [19].
Osiris was the Egyptian phoenix, which
was 'the bringer of the life-giving
essence, the hik, a concept akin to our
idea of magic, which the great cosmic
bird carried to Egypt from a distant and
magical land beyond the earthly world.'
This was the 'Isle of Fire', 'the place
of everlasting light beyond the limits
of the world, where the -ods were born
or revived and whence they were sent
into the world'. This is a reference to
the Duat [20].
The Duat, or Hidden Place, was sometimes
conceived as a completely enclosed Circle
of the G-ds, formed by the body of Osiris.
At the head-point there was an opening to
the skies symbolized by the go-dess Nut,
through which the imperishable star
(symbolized by the celestial disk) could
be reached (see below) [21].
Figure.
The Duat.
The Egyptian go- Aker was the 'chief of
the gate of the Abyss', of Aker, which
was the netherworld but also the 'realm
of the sun' [22].
The Celtic Otherworld was variously known
as the Land of the D-ad, the Land of the
Living, the Land of Many Colors, the
Promised Land, the Delightful Plain, the
Land of Youth, the Land of Summer, and
the Land under the Wave. In most of the
stories, it was viewed as a pleasant land
located somewhere beneath the sea, but
in others it was to be found beneath the
hills or entered via ancient burial
mounds [23].
As in other traditions, the Celtic
underworld is associated with cauldrons.
In the Mabinogion, the land of Annwn
('unplumbed' or 'bottomless'), the Welsh
underworld, contains a mystical cauldron
which can restore the de-d to life once
more if they are submerged in it and
brought out again [24].
In the "Critias" (120), Plato says that
the 'ho-y habitation of Zeus' is situated
'in the center of the world' [25].
In "The Republic" (part 4), he says
that Apollo, the traditional interpreter
of re-igious matters, delivers his
interpretation 'from his seat at the earth's
center' [26].
Part 4.
John Winston. johnfw@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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