Chapter 1168

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Not less suggestive are the qualities attributed to Rudra Shiva, the great Yogî, the forefather of all the Adepts—in Esotericism one of the greatest Kings of the Divine Dynasties. Called the “earliest” and the “last,” he is the patron of the Third, Fourth, and the Fifth Root-Races. For, in his earliest character, he is the ascetic Dig-ambara, “clothed with the elements,” Tri-lochana, the “three-eyed,” Pancha-ânana, the “five-faced,” an allusion to the past Four and the present Fifth Race, for, though five-faced, he is only “four-armed,” as the Fifth Race is still alive. He is the “God of Time,” Saturn-Cronus, as his “drum” Damaru, in the shape of an hour-glass, shows; and if he is accused of having cut off Brahma’s fifth head, and left him with only four, it is again an allusion to a certain degree in Initiation, and also to the Races.