Seven Rishis, Seven Timekeepers

Seven Rishis: Seven Timekeepers.

In this paper we consider the function between the Seven Rishis and the Pleiades. The timing of this solar system, being late due to the incorrect functioning and timekeeping of both, the esoteric "war in heaven" which in turn due to the functional imbalance brought this system the problem of imperfect adjustment.

Whilst in esoteric meditation or perfect abstract obscuration, the seven brothers failed to "create," as keepers of perfect time, as the Seven Rishis, this failure or manifestation of "magnetic corruption" caused much "lost time" as accounted for by DK and HPB. Hence this solar cycle being one of great disruption. All of which is being ably dealt with by the Seven Sacred Brothers as they ably regain balance and equilibrium via the use of solar fire.

The Seven Rishis Are:

The Seven leading Solar logi of the seven solar systems including ours!

The Seven Prototypes of the seven Schemes including Earth Scheme.

The Seven Prototypes of the seven Heavenly Men.

The Seven "Saptarshis" of the 7 x 7 = 49 Maha-richis "storm Gods" sons of Rudra.

The Seven Paths or creators of them. The Way for the Seven Solar Systems/Constellations. JPC.

Seven regions have their several Suns; the ministering priests are seven; Seven are the Aditya Deiti. Aditya (the Sun) Rig Veda.

We must always seek for more than one meaning in every mystery allegorically revealed, especially in those in which the number seven and its multiplication seven by seven, or forty-nine, appear. SD2 563.

The numbers seven and forty-nine (7 x 7) play a most prominent part. Classes of Rishis appear by seven and seven. SD2 611.

"The constellations of the Great Bear and of the Pleiades constitute the greatest mystery of occult nature." (S.D. Vol. II, 580)

The seven Rishis (as They are called) of the Great Bear express Themselves through the medium of the seven planetary Logoi Who are Their Representatives and to Whom They stand in the relation of prototype. The seven Planetary Spirits manifest through the medium of the seven sacred planets. EA 85.

The Saptarishis (the seven Rishis of the Stars) of the Hindus. SD1 198.

Then the Seven Companions passed into the sphere of time as auxiliaries of Kronus, or Sons of the Male Parent. As Damascius says in his Primitive Principles, the Magi consider that space and time were the source of all; and from being powers of the air the gods were promoted to become timekeepers for men. Seven constellations were assigned to them .. . .As the seven turned round in the ark of the sphere they were designated the Seven Sailors' Companions, Rishis, or Elohim.

The first "Seven Stars" are not planetary. They are the leading stars of seven constellations which turned round with the Great Bear in describing the circle of the year. [ These originated with the Aryans, who placed therein their "bright-crested" (Chitra-Shikhandan) Seven Rishis. But all this is far more Occult than appears on the surface.]

These the Assyrians called the seven Lumazi, or leaders of the flocks of stars, designated sheep. On the Hebrew line of descent or development, these Elohim are identified for us by the Kabalists and Gnostics, who retained the hidden wisdom or gnosis, the clue of which is absolutely essential to any proper understanding of mythology or theology. . . . There were two constellations with seven stars each.

We call them the Two Bears. But the seven stars of the Lesser Bear were once considered to be the seven heads of the Polar Dragon, which we meet with - as the beast with seven heads - in the Akkadian Hymns and in Revelation. The mythical dragon originated in the crocodile, which is the dragon of Egypt. . . . Now in one particular cult, the Sut-Typhonian, the first god was Sevekh [the sevenfold], who wears the crocodile's head, as well as the Serpent, and who is the Dragon or whose constellation was the Dragon. . . . In Egypt the Great Bear was the constellation of Typhon, or Kepha, the old genetrix, called the Mother of Revolutions; and the Dragon with seven heads was assigned to her son, Sevekh-Kronus, or Saturn, called the Dragon of Life.

That is, the typical dragon or serpent with seven heads was female at first, and then the type was continued, as male in her son Sevekh, the Sevenfold Serpent, in Ea the Sevenfold, . . . . Iao Chnubis, and others. We find these two in The Book of Revelation. One is the Scarlet Lady, the mother of mystery, the great harlot, who sat on a scarlet-coloured beast with seven heads, which is the Red Dragon of the Pole. She held in her hand the unclean things of her fornication. That means the emblems of the male and female, imaged by the Egyptians at the Polar Centre, the very uterus of creation, as was indicated by the Thigh constellation, called the Khepsh of Typhon, the old Dragon, in the northern birthplace of Time in heaven. The two revolved about the pole of heaven, or the Tree, as it was called, which was figured at the centre of the starry motion.

In The Book of Enoch these two constellations are identified as Leviathan and Behemoth-Bekhmut, or the Dragon and Hippopotamus=Great Bear, and they are the primal pair that were first created in the Garden of Eden. So that the Egyptian first (Page 196) mother, Kefa [or Kepha] whose name signifies "mystery," was the original of the Hebrew Chavah, our Eve; and therefore Adam is one with Sevekh the sevenfold one, the solar dragon in whom the powers of light and darkness were combined, and the sevenfold nature was shown in the seven rays worn by the Gnostic Iao-Chnubis, god of the number seven, who is Sevekh by name and a form of the first father as head of the Seven. [ Op.cit., pp. 19-22]

All this gives the key to the astronomical prototype of the allegory in Genesis, but it furnishes no other key to the mystery involved in the sevenfold glyph. The able Egyptologist shows also that Adam himself according to Rabbinical and Gnostic tradition, was the chief of the Seven who fell from Heaven, and he connects these with the Patriarchs, thus agreeing with the Esoteric Teaching. For by mystic permutation and the mystery of primeval rebirths and adjustment, the Seven Rishis are in reality identical with the seven Praj patis, the fathers and creators of mankind, and also with the Kum ras, the first sons of Brahm , who refused to procreate and multiply. This apparent contradiction is explained by the sevenfold nature - make it fourfold on metaphysical principles and it will come to the same thing - of the celestial men, the Dhyan Chohans. This nature is made to divide and separate; and while the higher principles (Atma-Buddhi) of the "Creators of Men" are said to be the Spirits of the seven constellations, their middle and lower principles are connected with the earth and are shown. SD3 196.

THE SHINING SEVEN (the "Builders"). The seven creative Rishis now connected with the constellation of the Great Bear. SD1 213.

"The first form of the mystical SEVEN was seen to be figured in heaven, by the seven large stars of the Great Bear, the constellation assigned by the Egyptians to the Mother of Time, and of the seven elemental powers." (See The Seven Souls, etc.) As well known to every Hindu, this same constellation represents in India the Seven Rishis, and as such is called Riksha, and Chitra-Sikhandinas. SD1 227.

This is what we call in the Esoteric Doctrine a "Solar Pralaya" . . . When the waters have reached the region of the Seven Rishis, and the world (our Solar System) is one ocean, they stop. SD1 371.

The seven great Rishis, the seven great rupa hierarchies or classes of Dhyan Chohans, are meant. Let us bear in mind that the Saptarshi (the seven Rishis) are the regents of the seven stars of the Great Bear, therefore, of the same nature as the angels of the planets, or the seven great Planetary Spirits. They were all reborn, all men on earth in various Kalpas and races. SD2 319.

The Rishis and our Dhyan Chohans, who incarnated in the Elect of the Third and Fourth Races. Thus, while in Theogony the Kabiri-Titans were seven great gods: cosmically and astronomically the Titans were called Atlantes, because, perhaps, as Faber says, they were connected (a) with At-al-as "the divine Sun," and (b) with tit "the deluge." But this, if true, is only the exoteric version. SD2 361.

Meanwhile it is they, the Seven Rishis, who mark the time and the duration of events in our septenary life cycle. They are as mysterious as their supposed wives, the Pleiades, of whom only one -- she who hides -- has proven virtuous. The Pleiades (Krittika) are the nurses of Karttikeya, the God of War (Mars of the Western Pagans), who is called the Commander of the celestial armies -- or rather of the Siddhas (translated Yogis in heaven, and holy sages on the earth) -- "Siddha-sena," which would make Karttikeya identical with Michael, the "leader of the celestial hosts" and, like himself, a virgin Kumara.

Verily he is the "Guha," the mysterious one, as much so as are the Saptarshis and the Krittika (seven Rishis and the Pleiades), for the interpretation of all these combined, reveal to the adept the greatest mysteries of occult nature. One point is worth mention in this question of cross and circle, as it bears strongly upon the elements of fire and water, which play such an important part in the circle and cross Symbolics. Like Mars, who is alleged by Ovid to have been born of a mother alone (Juno), without the participation of a father, or like the Avatars (Krishna, for instance), in the West as in the East -- Karttikeya is born, but in a still more miraculous manner -- begotten by neither father nor mother, but out of a seed of Rudra Siva, via Agni, who dropped it into the Ganges.

Thus he is born from fire and water -- a "boy bright as the Sun and beautiful as the moon." Hence he is called Agnibhuva (Agni's son) and Ganga-putra (Son of Ganges). Add to this the fact that the Krittika, his nurses, as Matsya Purana shows, are presided over by Agni, or, in the authentic words -- "The seven Rishis are on a line with the brilliant Agni," and hence are called Agneya --and the connection is easy to follow.

It is, then, the Rishis who mark the time and the periods of Kali-yuga, the age of sin and sorrow. See in the Bhagavata Purana XII., II, 2, 6, 32, and Vishnu Purana. Says the latter: "When the splendour of Vishnu (Krishna) departed for heaven, then did the Kali Yug, during which men delight in sin, invade the world. . . . . When the Seven Rishis were in Magha, the Kali Yug, comprising 1,200 (divine) years (432,000 years of mortals), began; and when from Magha, they shall reach Purvashadha, then will this Kali age attain its growth, under Nanda and his successors."

This is the revolution of the Rishis "when the two first stars of the Seven Rishis (of the Great Bear) rise in the heavens, and some lunar asterism is seen at night, at an equal distance between them, then the Seven Rishis continue stationary in that conjunction for a hundred years," a hater of Nanda makes Parasara say. According to Bentley, it is in order to show the quantity of the precession of the equinoxes that this notion originated among the astronomers. It was done "by assuming an imaginary line, or great circle, passing through the poles of the ecliptic and the beginning of the fixed Magha, which circle was supposed to cut some of the stars in the Great Bear. . . . The seven stars being called the Rishis, the Circle so assumed was called the line of the Rishis . . . . and being invariably fixed to the beginning of the lunar asterism Magha, the precession would be noted by stating the degree . . . of any moveable lunar mansion cut by that line or circle as an index" ("Historical View of the Hindu Astronomy," p. 65). SD2 550.

*One of these seven sisters has a close connection with our Heavenly Man, and therefore we have an interesting cosmic interplay as follows: One of the seven Rishis of the Great Bear.

One of the seven Sisters, or a Pleiad. The Heavenly Man of our scheme. TCF 657.*

THE RISHIS AND THE PLEIADES.

There was, and still exists, a seemingly endless controversy about the chronology of the Hindus. Here is a point that could help to determine -- approximately at least -- the age when the symbolism of the Seven Rishis and their connection with the Pleiades began. When Karttikeya was delivered to them by the gods to be nursed, the Krittika were only six -- whence Karttikeya is represented with six heads; but when the poetical fancy of the early Aryan symbologists made of them the consorts of the Seven Rishis, they were seven.

Their names are given, and these are Amba, Dula, Nitatui, Abrayanti, Maghayanti, Varshayanti, and Chupunika. There are other sets of names which differ, however. Anyhow, the Seven Rishis were made to marry the Seven Krittika before the disappearance of the seventh Pleiad. Otherwise, how could the Hindu astronomers speak of that which, without the help of the strongest telescopes, no one can see? This is why, perhaps, in every such case the majority of the events described in the Hindu allegories is fixed upon as "a very recent invention, certainly within the Christian era"?

The oldest MSS. in Sanskrit on astronomy, begin their series of Nakshatras (the 27 lunar asterisms) with the sign of Krittika, and this can hardly make them earlier than 2780 B.C., (see the "Vedic Calendar," accepted even by the Orientalists); though they get out of the difficulty by saying that the said Calendar does not prove that the Hindus knew anything of astronomy at that date, and assure their readers that, Calendars notwithstanding, the Indian pundits may have acquired their knowledge of the lunar mansions headed by Krittika from the Phoenicians, etc.

However that may be, the Pleiades are the central group of the system of sidereal symbology. They are situated in the neck of the constellation of Taurus, regarded by Madler and others, in astronomy, as the central group of the system of The Milky Way, and in the Kabala and Eastern Esotericism, as the sidereal septenate born from the first manifested side of the upper triangle, the concealed [[diagram]]. This manifested side is Taurus, the Symbol of ONE (the figure 1), or of the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Aleph [[hebrew]] (bull or ox) whose synthesis is ten (10), or [[hebrew]] Yodh, the perfect letter and number.

The Pleiades (Alcyone, especially), are thus considered, even in astronomy, as the central point around which our Universe of fixed stars revolves, the focus from which, and into which the divine breath, MOTION, works incessantly during the Manvantara. Hence -- in the Occult philosophy and its sidereal symbols -- it is this Circle and the starry cross on its face, which play the most prominent part. SD2 551.

The Seven ancient Rishis -- the progenitors of all that lives and breathes on earth -- are the seven friends of Agni, his seven "horses," or seven "HEADS." The human race has sprung from fire and water, it is allegorically stated; fashioned by the FATHERS, or the ancestor-sacrificers, from Agni; for Agni, the Aswins, the Adityas (Rig-Veda III., 54, 16, II., 29, 3, 4), are all synonymous with that "sacrificer," or the fathers, variously called Pitar (Pitris, fathers), Angirases** (Ibid, 1, 31, 17, 139, et seq.), the Sadhyas, "divine sacrificers," the most occult of all. SD2 605.

Moreover there must have been a good reason why an Asiatic nation should locate its great progenitors and saints in the Ursa Major, a northern constellation. It is 70,000 YEARS, HOWEVER, SINCE THE POLE OF THE EARTH POINTED TO THE FURTHER END OF URSA MINOR'S TAIL; and many more thousand years since the seven Rishis could have been identified with the constellation of Ursa Major. SD2 768.

When our solar universe came into being, we are told in the allegorical language of the ancient scriptures, there "was war in Heaven"; "*the sun and his seven brothers*" did not function with true unanimity; hence (and herein lies a hint) our Earth is not one of the seven sacred planets. EP1 394.

*Eighth, Rhea (the Earth)* SD2 142.

In the Esoteric Doctrine, one war takes place *before the building of the Solar system*. SD1 419.

The whole of creation was due to, and the result of, that legendary "War in Heaven" brought on by the rebellion of the angels against creative law, or the Demiurge. The statement is correct, but the inner meaning is to this day a mystery. SD2 237.

I would point out that these rays have a close connection with the seven stars of the Great Bear (again always the four and the three as a secondary differentiation) and to the seven Sisters, the Pleiades. The first constellation is the agent of positive force to the planetary Logos and the other the relayer of the negative aspect.

There is, therefore, a direct interchange of energies between the lives of the seven planetary Logoi and the stupendous and unfathomable Lives Who inform these major constellations. Great interlocking triangles of force can be found existing between the seven planets and these two groups of seven stars each. It will eventually be discovered that the innermost secret of astrological deduction in the planetary sense is connected with these "sacred triangles," EA 31.

It is the seven Rishis who *mark the time and the duration of events* in our septenary life cycle. They are as mysterious as their supposed wives, the Pleiades. SD2 579. EA Appendix.

This is a mystery very difficult to realize and understand correctly. For, we see that those who were "obedient to law" are, equally with the rebels, doomed to be reborn in every age.

Narada, the Rishi, is cursed by Brahma to incessant peripateticism on Earth, i.e., to be constantly reborn.

He is a rebel against Brahma, and yet has no worse fate than the Jayas --the twelve great creative gods produced by Brahma as his assistants in the functions of creation.

For the latter, *lost in meditation, only forgot to create*; and for this, they are equally cursed by Brahma to be born in every manvantara. SD2 585.

Hence also the War in Heaven of Michael and his Host against the Dragon (Jupiter and Lucifer-Venus), when a third of the stars of the rebellious host was hurled down into Space, and "its place was found no more in Heaven." As said long ago --"This is the basic and fundamental stone of the secret cycles. SD1 203.

In a very real sense, Sanat Kumara is the incarnation of the Lord of the Ray Himself; He is the Silent Watcher, the great Sacrifice for humanity. TCF 728.

The Seven Kronidae, described as the Seven Watchers, who in the beginning were formed in the interior of heaven. The heaven, like a vault, they extended or hollowed out; that which was not visible they raised, and that which had no exit they opened; their work of creation being exactly identical with that of the Elohim in the Book of Genesis. These are the Seven elemental Powers of space, who were continued as Seven Timekeepers.

It is said of them: "In watching was their office, but among the stars of heaven their watch they kept not," and their failure was the Fall. In the Book of Enoch the same Seven Watchers in heaven are stars which transgressed the commandment of God before their time arrived, for they came not in their proper season, therefore was he offended with them, and bound them until the period of the consummation of their crimes, at the end of the secret, or great year of the World, i.e., the Period of Precession, when there was to be restoration and rebeginning. The Seven deposed constellations are seen by Enoch, looking like seven great blazing mountains overthrown - the seven mountains in Revelation, on which the Scarlet Lady sits. SD3 193.

The Secret of the Pleiades and of their relation to the Seven Rishis of the Great Bear, and therefore to our Seven Heavenly Men, is not yet to be revealed. It is known only in detail to the Chohans. of the Seventh Initiation, though the fact that there is such a relation is now exoteric." H.P.B. speaks of it in the Secret Doctrine. TCF 350.

Thus will the karma of the manvantara, or secondary cycle, be adjusted, and so much planetary karmic evil be "worked off." All the above must be interpreted in its esoteric sense and not its exoteric.

Cosmic evil from the standpoint of our planet consists in the relation between that spiritual intelligent Unit or "Rishi of the Superior Constellation" as He is called (who is the informing Life of one of the seven stars of the Great Bear, and our planetary prototype) and one of the forces of the Pleiades. (S. D., II, 579-581.)

Students need here to remember that the "seven sisters" are occultly called the "seven wives" of the Rishis, and that the dual forces (resultant from that relationship) converge and play through that one of the planetary Logoi who is the Logos of any particular planet, and is the "reflection" of any specific Rishi. In this relation, at present lacking perfect adjustment, lies hid the mystery of cosmic evil as it makes itself felt in any particular planetary scheme. Again, when the heavenly triangle is duly equilibrated, and the force circulates freely through

One of the stars of the Great Bear,

The Pleiad involved,

The planetary scheme concerned,

then again cosmic evil will be negated, and a relative perfection achieved. TCF 990.

*One of these seven sisters has a close connection with our Heavenly Man, and therefore we have an interesting cosmic interplay as follows: One of the seven Rishis of the Great Bear.

One of the seven Sisters, or a Pleiad. The Heavenly Man of our scheme. TCF 657.*

There is one such constellation, situated between the lesser Dipper and our system, and another, interrelated with the Pleiades and our system which still have a profound effect upon the physical body of the solar Logos.

The above paragraph is specifically worded thus because the effects are felt in the lowest sheath of all, and are responsible for much that is ignorantly termed "black magic." These two constellations have ran their cycles and are "dissolving." Some of their life force and energy has been transferred to our solar system, just as the lunar life force was transferred to our earth, and this it is that is the cause of much cyclic evil. The process of decay and the evil emanations induced still have power to influence forms which are responsive to what was for them an earlier vibration.

The substance of these forms is magnetically linked with the decaying body, much as the etheric double is connected with its dense sheath, and effects are therefore manifested. Purificatory fire is the only cure for this magnetic corruption, and this is being utilized freely by the planetary Logoi in Their schemes, and by the solar Logos in the system. TCF 838.

The progenitors of mankind solved the *greatest problem of the Universe* with their seven Rays or Rishis. SD3 201.

Saptarshis: Spiritual - Theosophy Dictionary on Saptarshis, saptarsis

Saptarshis saptarsis [from sapta seven + rishi sage]

Seven sages or rishis; the seven great planetary spirits intimately connected with the constellation Ursa Major. Their names are commonly given as Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, and Vasishtha.

"By the seven great Rishis, the seven great rupa hierarchies or classes of Dhyan Chohans, are meant. Let us bear in mind that the Saptarshi (the seven Rishis) are the regents of the seven stars of the Great Bear, therefore, of the same nature as the angels of the planets, or the seven great Planetary Spirits. They were all reborn, all men on earth in various Kalpas and races. Moreover, 'the four preceding Manus' are the four classes of the originally arupa gods -- the Kumaras, the Rudras, the Asuras, etc.: who are also said to have incarnated. They are not the Prajapatis, as the first are, but their informing principles -- same of which have incarnated in men, while others have made other men simply the vehicles of their reflections" (SD 2:318n).

The seven rishis are also said to mark the time and the duration of events in our septenary life cycle.

The stars of our entire galaxy are all intimately connected together, spiritually, intellectually, psychically, vitally, and physically, which means a connection extending back to a unity of origin in a past so greatly remote that its period can be reckoned only in astronomical figures. In an exactly similar way all the planets of our solar system, especially the so-called seven sacred planets of the ancients, are connected in origin in a distant past, although in a past greatly nearer than the former.

(See also: Saptarshis, saptarsis , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Saptarshis: Spiritual - Theosophy Dictionary on Amba

Amba (Sanskrit) Mother; a woman of respect or distinction. A name of Durga, consort of Siva; in the Mahabharata the eldest of the three daughters of the King of Kasi who were abducted by Bhishma to become the wives of his brother Vichitravirya. When Bhishma learned that Amba was already pledged to the Raja of Salva, he sent her to him.

The Raja, however, rejected her because she had been in another man's house. Deeply hurt, Amba retired to the forest to practice extreme austerities in order that she might gain the power to avenge the wrong done to her by Bhishma. She ended her life voluntarily on a funeral pyre and was reborn as Sikhandin, who eventually, in the great battle between the Kauravas and Pandavas, slew Bhishma. Her sisters, Ambika and Ambalika, became respectively the mothers of the blind king Dhritarashtra and of Pandu, father of Arjuna.

Amba likewise is the eldest of the seven Krittikas (Pleiades), represented as being the consorts of the Saptarshis (seven rishis) or Saptarkshas of the Great Bear. From immortal antiquity the mystical mythology of many ancient peoples, including the Hindus, has connected the constellation of the Great Bear with the Pleiades, implying an intimate bond of some kind. It is of interest, therefore, to note that astronomers have discovered a family connection between the stars of these two groups.

In The Secret Doctrine Amba is a term of mystical reverence applied to Aditi and akasa, "the celestial Virgin-Mother of the visible universe" (1:460).

(See also: Amba , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Marichi:

A Wisdom Archive on Marichi

Marichi (Sanskrit). One of the "mind-born" sons of Brahma in the Puranas. Brahmans make of him the personified light, the parent of Surya, the Sun and the direct ancestor of Mahakasyapa. The Northern Buddhists of the Yogacharya School, see in Marichi Deva, a Bodhisattva, while Chinese Buddhists (especially the Tauists), have made of this conception the Queen of Heaven, the goddess of light, ruler of the sun and moon. With the pious but illiterate Buddhists, her magic formula "Om Marichi svaha" is very powerful. Speaking of Marichi, Eitel mentions "Georgi, who explains the name as a ‘Chinese transcription of the name of the holy Virgin Mary’" (!!). As Marichi is the chief of the Maruts and one of the seven primitive Rishis, the supposed derivation does seem a little far fetched.

Marichi marici (Sanskrit) A ray of light; in the Puranas and the Laws of Manu, the chief of the maruts, one of the seven mind-born sons of Brahma, as well as one of the seven sages (saptarshi), father of Kasyapa and of Surya (the sun). Chinese Buddhists and Taoists "have made of this conception the Queen of Heaven, the goddess of light, ruler of the sun and moon" (TG 207).

Marichi: Sanskrit Hinduism Dictionary III on Marichi (Mareechi)

Marichi (Mareechi). Mental son of Hiranyagarbha; one of the ten sages. King Dasaratha's ancestral line is traced back to Marichi.

Marichi: The chief of the Maruts.

Maruts: 'the flashing one's';

- Associates of king I n d r a.

- The gods of the wind.

- Gods or godheads in general.

- Children of Diti (wife of Kasyapa Muni see S.B. 3,14) seven or seven times seven in number (S.B. 6.18).

MARUTS, in Hindu mythology, storm-gods. In the Vedas they are called the sons of Rudra. They are the companions of Indra, and associated with him in the wielding of thunderbolts, sometimes as his equals, sometimes as his servants. They are armed with golden weapons and lightnings. They split drought (Vritra) and bring rain, and cause earthquakes. Various myths surround their birth. A derivative word, Maruti or Maroti, is the popular name throughout the Deccan for Hanuman (q.v.). 1911 encyclopeadia.

The Maruts were storm deities who in Vedic times were the sons of Rudra and the attendants of Indra. They were aggressive and violent in character. They were the drivers of the clouds, the bringers of wind, the fellers of trees, and the crushers of mountains. They sometimes accompanied Indra into battle, and attended him at his court.

In the Ramayana the story is told of their birth. Their mother, the goddess Diti, wanted to give birth to a son who would rival Indra in power, so she planned to remain pregnant for an entire century to accomplish this. Indra learned of this and was worried about it. To upset her plan, he hurled his thunderbolt at her womb while she was still pregnant, shattering it. The Maruts were born from the single, splintered fetus. MMV Encyclopedia Mythica

HYMN LVI. Maruts.

1. Wno are these radiant men in serried rank, Rudra's young heroes borne by noble steeds?

2 Verily no one knoweth whence they sprang: they, and they only, know each other's birth.

3 They strew each other with their blasts, these Hawks: they strove together, roaring like the wind.

4 A sage was he who knew these mysteries, what in her udder mighty Prsni bore.

5 Ever victorious, through the Maruts, be this band of Heroes, nursing manly strength,

6 Most bright in splendour, flectest on their way, close-knit to glory, strong with varied power.

7 Yea, mighty is your power and firm your strength: so, potent, with the Maruts, be the band.

8 Bright is your spirit, wrathful are your minds: your bold troop's minstrel is like one inspired.

9 Ever avert your blazing shaft from us, and let not your displeasure reach us here

10 Your dear names, conquering Maruts, we invoke, calling aloud till we are satisfied.

11 Well-armed, impetuous in their haste, they deck themselves, their forms, with oblations: to you, the pure, ornaments made of gold.

12 Pure, Maruts, pure yourselves, are your oblations: to you, the pure, pure sacrifice I offer.

By Law they came to truth, the Law's observers, bright by their birth, and pure, and sanctifying.

13 Your rings, O Maruts, rest upon your shoulders, and chains of gold are twined upon your bosoms.

Gleaming with drops of rain, like lightning-flashes, after your wont ye whirl about your weapons.

14 Wide in the depth of air spread forth your glories, far, most adorable, ye bear your titles.

Maruts, accept this thousandfold allotment of household sacrifice and household treasure.

15 If, Maruts, ye regard the praise recited here at this mighty singer invocation,

Vouchsafe us quickly wealth with noble heroes, wealth which no man uho hateth us may injure.

16 The Maruts, fleet as coursers, while they deck them like youths spectators of a festal meeting,

Linger, like beauteous colts, about the dwelling, like frisking calves, these who pour down the water.

17 So may the Maruts help us and be gracious, bringing free room to lovely Earth and Heaven.

Far be your bolt that slayeth men and cattle. Ye Vasus, turn yourselves to us with blessings.

18 The priest, when seated, loudly calls you, Maruts, praising in song your universal bounty.

He, Bulls! who hath so much in his possession, free from duplicity, with hymns invokes you.

19 These Maruts bring the swift man to a stand-still, and strength with mightier strength they break and humble

These guard the singer from the man who hates him and lay their sore displeasure on the wicked.

20 These Maruts rouse even the poor and needy: the Vasus love him as an active champion.

Drive to a distance, O ye Bulls, the darkness: give us full store of children and descendants.

21 Never, O Maruts, may we lose your bounty, nor, car-borne Lords! be hitidmost when ye deal it.

Give us a share in that delightful treasure, the genuine wealth that, Bulls! is your possession.

22 What time the men in fury rush together for running streams, for pastures, and for houses.

Then, O ye Maruts, ye who spring from Rudra, be our protectors in the strife with foemen.

23 Full many a deed ye did for our forefathers worthy of lauds which, even of old, they sang you.

lle strong man, with the Maruts, wins in battle, the charger, with the Maruts, gains the booty.

24 Ours, O ye Maruts, be the vigorous Hero, the Lord Divine of men, the strong Sustainer,

With whom to fair lands we may cross the waters, and dwell in our own home with you beside us.

25 May Indra, Mitra, Varuna and Agni, Waters, and Plants, and Trees accept our praises.

May we find shelter in the Marut's bosom. Preserve us evermore, ye Gods, with blessings.

HYMN XXXIV. Maruts

1. THE Maruts of resistless might who love the rain, resplendent, terrible like wild beasts in their strength,

Glowing like flames of fire, impetuous in career, blowing the wandering raincloud, have disclosed the kine.

2 They gleam with armlets as the heavens are decked with stars, like cloud-born lightnings shine the torrents of their rain.

Since the strong Rudra, O Maruts with brilliant chests, sprang into life for you in Prsni's radiant lap.

3 They drip like horses in the racings of swift steeds; with the stream's rapid cars they hasten on their way.

Maruts with helms of gold, ye who make all things shake, con e with your spotted deer, one-minded, to our food.

4 They have bestowed of Mitra all that live, to feed, they who for evermore cause their swift drops to flow;

Whose steeds are spotted deer, whose riches never fail, like horses in full speed, bound to the pole in work.

5 With brightly-flarning kine whose udders swell with milk, idth glittering lances on your unobstructed paths,

O Maruts, of one mind, like swans who seek their nests, come to the rapturous enjoyment of the meath.

6 To these our prayers, O Maruts, come unanimous, come ye to our libations like the praise of men.

Make it swell like a mare, in udder like a cow, and for the singer grace the song with plenteous strength.

7 Give us a steed, O Maruts migbty in the car; prevailing prayer that brings remembrance day by day;

Food to your praisers, to your bard in deeds of might give winning wisdom, power uninjured, unsurpassed.

8 When the bright-chested Maruts, lavish of their gifts, bind at the time bliss their horses to the cars,

Then, as the milch-cow feeds her calf within the stalls, they pour forth food for all oblation-bringing men.

9 Save us, O Maruts, Vasus, from the injurer, the mortal foe who makes us looked upon as wolves.

With chariot all aflame compass him round about: O Rudras, cast away the foeman's deadly bolt.

10 Well-known, ye Maruts, is that wondrous course of yours, when they milked Prsni's udder, close akin to her.

Or when to shame the bard who lauded, Rudra's Sons, ye O infallible brought Trita to decay.

11 We call youi such, great Maruts, following wonted ways, to the oblation paid to Visnu Speeder-on.

With ladles lifted up, with prayer, we seek of them preeminent, golden-hued, the wealth which all extol.

12 They, the Dasagvas, first of all brought sacrifice: they at the break of mornings shall inspirit us.

Dawn with her purple beams uncovereth the nights, with great light glowing like a billowy sea of milk.

13 The Rudras have rejoiced thern in the gathered bands at seats of worship as in purple ornaments.

They with impetuous vigour sending down the rain have taken to themselves a bright and lovely hue.

14 Soliciting their high protection for our help, with this our adoration we sing praise to them,

Whom, for assistance, like the five terrestrial priests. Trita hath brought to aid us hither on his car.

15 So may your favouring help be turned to us-ward, your kindness like a Iowing cow approach us,

Wherewith ye bear your servant over trouble, and free your worshipper from scoff and scorning. sacred-texts.com

Marichi: Spiritual - Theosophy Dictionary on Saptarshis, saptarsis

Saptarshis saptarsis [from sapta seven + rishi sage]

GH Maruts The storm gods, helpers of Indra: armed with lightning and thunderbolts, they ride on the whirlwind and direct storms. They are prominent in the Vedas, being called the sons of Rudra (the storm god), or again sons and brothers of Indra (god of the sky). In the Puranas it is related that the Maruts were born in the following manner: Did, the wife of Kasyapa, (one of the great Rishis) was about to give birth to a son, but the embryo was separated by Indra into seven portions, each portion when born being again separated into seven parts. Siva transformed these into boys, calling them Maruts. H. P. Blavatsky interprets this legend as follows: Diti "is the sixth principle of metaphysical nature, the Buddhi of Akasa. Diti the mother of the Maruts, is one of her terrestrial forms, made to represent, at one and the same time, the divine Soul in the ascetic, and the divine aspirations of mystic Humanity . . ." Indra represents the cosmic principle Mahat, in man "Manas in its dual aspect: as connected with Buddhi; and as allowing himself to be dragged down by his Kama-principle (the body of passions and desires)." The babe allegorizes "the divine and steady will of the Yogi -- determined to resist all such temptations, and thus destroy the passions within his earthly personality. Indra succeeds again, because flesh conquers spirit . . . He divides the 'Embryo' (of new divine adeptship, begotten once more by the Ascetics of the Aryan Fifth Race), into seven portions a reference not alone to the seven sub-races of the new Root-Race, in each of which there will be a 'Manu,' but also to the seven degrees of adeptship -- and then each portion into seven pieces -- alluding to the Manu-Rishis of each Root-Race, and even sub-race." (Secret Doctrine, II, pp. 614-5) "The Maruts represent (a) the passions that storm and rage within every candidate's breast, when preparing for an ascetic life -- this mystically; (b) the occult potencies concealed in the manifold aspects of Akasa's lower principles her body, or sthula sarira, representing the terrestrial, lower, atmosphere of every inhabited globe -- this mystically and sidereally; (c) actual conscious Existences, Beings of a cosmic and psychic nature. "At the same time, 'Maruts' is, in occult parlance, one of the names given to those EGOS of great Adepts who have passed away, and who are known also as Nirmanakayas;" (Secret Doctrine, II, p. 615). (Bhagavad-Gita, W. Q. Judge, p. 73)

The seven rishis are also said to mark the time and the duration of events in our septenary life cycle.

Marichi: Spiritual - Theosophy Dictionary on Kasyapa

Kasyapa (Sanskrit) A sage often mentioned in the Vedas. The son of Marichi, Brahma's mind-born son; the father of Vivasvat, the father of Manu, the progenitor of mankind; husband of Aditi, chief and father of the adityas -- who are the powers of the sun -- and one of the seven great cosmic rishis.

Father by Aditi's sisters of demons, nagas, reptiles, birds, and all living things. The Atharva-Veda says that the "self-born Kasyapa sprang from Time," time often being identified with Vishnu, the preserver. Thus Kasyapa represents one of the primordial spiritual-intellectual powers of the solar system, and is one of the main original solar logoi. Especially in his function as chief of the solar adaityas, cosmically he is the sun itself.

Being thus the cosmic head of his hierarchy -- a hierarchy necessarily represented on earth -- there is likewise in humanity a group of human beings who are, as it were, by spiritual-psychological affinity descendants of Kasyapa in the direct line, and in whom the powers of Kasyapa from time to time become strongly manifest. When such strongly manifested Kasapika powers appear in a person by all occult right and customary usage, such imbodiment of the powers of the hierarch Kasyapa is likewise called Kasyapa.

These seven, ten, or more prajapatis correspond likewise to the Mazdean Amesha-Spentas or Amshaspends and the Hindu Saptarshis. The name prajapati is most commonly given to ten rishis or sages known as the mind-born sons of Brahma: Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Vasishtha, Prachetas or Daksha, Bhrigu, and Narada. These are really collective names for the various classes of monads, each single prajapati representing also the spiritual-intellectual hierarch of his own particular hierarchy or class of monads. Hence the meaning of prajapati as lord or parent of offspring -- the ten classes of monads corresponding each to its own proper prajapati. Further the prajapatis are the parents of the seven or ten manus. The Puranic myths with their genealogies of the seven prajapatis, rishis, or manus are "but a vast detailed account of the progressive development and evolution of animal creation, one species after the other" (SD 2:253).

Marichi: Spiritual - Theosophy Dictionary on Maharshi, maharsi

Maharshi maharsi (Sanskrit) [from maha great + rishi sage, seer] www.experiencefestival.com/saptarshis

In The Secret Doctrine Amba is a term of mystical reverence applied to Aditi and akasa, "the celestial Virgin-Mother of the visible universe" (1:460). www.experiencefestival.com/saptarshis

Rudra(s) (Sanskrit) [from the verbal root rud to weep] A class of monads or dhyani-chohans belonging to the upper worlds of nature, whether of our solar system or planetary chain; virtually identical to the higher manasaputras or kumaras who refuse to create, i.e., imbody themselves in the then unprepared human vehicles. Certain individuals from among the highest of the class, however, were among the very first to obey karmic law, and they incarnated in chosen human vehicles of the third root-race during this present fourth round. The rudras are therefore equivalent to the solar lhas or pitris as contrasted with the lower four classes of monads, the lunar pitris.

The rudras are highly intellectual and spiritual entities, having through previous evolutionary periods attained self-consciousness by individually passing through the equivalent of the human kingdom. The rudras represent an aggregate of entities in the primary formation of worlds, as well as the intellectually informing principles of man. They are mythologically said to be at war with the shadowy entities and powers of the lower spheres, and hence are sometimes spoken of as the destroyers of outward forms. The Vishnu-Purana states that "at the end of a thousand periods of four ages, which complete a day of Brahma, the earth is almost exhausted. The eternal Avyaya (Vishnu) assumes then the character of Rudra (the destroyer, Siva) and re-unites all his creatures to himself. He enters the Seven rays of the Sun and drinks up all the waters of the globe; he causes the moisture to evaporate, thus drying up the whole Earth. . . . Thus fed with abundant moisture the seven solar rays become seven suns by dilation, and they finally set the world on fire. Hari, the destroyer of all things, who is 'the flame of time, Kalagni,' finally consumes the Earth. Then Rudra, becoming Janardana, breathes clouds and rain" (6:3).

The rudras here are collectively spoken of as an individual equivalent to Siva, who has always been recognized as the patron or chief of initiates and of occult training. He is often spoken of as the destroyer, whereas regenerator would be a better term. Rudra is truly the Siva of the Rig-Veda, and in many respects the Agni of later writings. Like Siva, Rudra is a beneficent deity (because regenerating), and a mistaken maleficent deity (because destroying falsehoods and imperfections at the same time). As the beneficent one or spiritual healer, Rudra is the higher human ego aspiring to its own spiritual pure state; and as the destroyer he is the same imprisoned higher human ego whose war against imperfection, evil, and sin make him the "roarer" or the "terrible."

Rudra is sometimes called the father of the maruts or Vedic storm gods. "To receive a name Rudra is said to have wept for it. Brahma called him Rudra; but he wept seven times more and so obtained seven other names -- of which he uses one during each 'period' " (SD 2:615n). The various names refer to the seven subordinate classes of the one generalized class.

"With regard to the origin of Rudra, it is stated in several Puranas that his (spiritual) progeny, created in him by Brahma, was not confined to either the seven Kumaras or the eleven Rudras, etc., but 'comprehends infinite numbers of beings in person and equipments like their (virgin) father. Alarmed at their fierceness, numbers, and immortality, Brahma desires his son Rudra to form creatures of a different and mortal nature.' Rudra refusing to create, desists, etc., hence Rudra is the first rebel" (SD 2:613n).

Thus the rudras are the sevenfold manifestations of Rudra-Siva, the seven subclasses of which Rudra-Siva is the hierarch; or again the seven intelligent subhierarchies of intellectual character in nature which reform or destroy in order to regenerate. They are also one of the classes of the "fallen" or intellectually incarnating gods, the progenitors of the true intellectual-spiritual self in man.

These extremely occult and important beings are connected with the kabeiroi because they are the intellectual offspring of these planetary deities; identical also with the 'elohim. Sometimes they are called in the ancient writings tushitas, jayas, adityas, asuras, vasus, rishis, kumaras, manus, and the spiritual rebels. They are even referred to as the ten vital breaths or pranas because these ten vital breaths are the ten varieties of intellectual energies or forces flowing from them, and which on the intellectual plane may be spoken of as the mental pranas.

Rudra-kumaras. See RUDRA(S)

Rudra-Siva (Sanskrit) Siva in the form of the regenerating god; also "the great Yogi, 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,' Trilochana, 'the three-eyed'; Pancha-anana, '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-Kronos, as his damaru (drum), 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" (SD 2:502n).

JPC.

August 2005.

Jeremy Condick. jpcondick@ntlworld.com