Where is Zhenren?

Book VI, Chapter III – Measure of Time

Three different kinds of dissolution. Duration of a Parārddha. The Clepsydra, or vessel for measuring time. The dissolution that occurs at the end of a day of Brahmā.

THE dissolution of existing beings is of three kinds, incidental, elemental, and absolute^[1]. The incidental is that which relates to Brahmā, and occurs at the end of a Kalpa: the elemental is that which takes place after two Parārddhas: the absolute is final liberation from existence.

Maitreya said:—

Tell me, excellent master, what is the enumeration of a Parārddha, the expiration of two of which is the period of elemental dissolution^[2].

Parāśara said:—

A Parārddha, Maitreya, is that number which occurs in the eighteenth place of figures, enumerated according to the rule of decimal notation^[3]. At the end of twice that period elemental dissolution occurs, when all the discrete products of nature are withdrawn into their indiscrete source. The shortest period of time is a Mātrā, which is equal to the twinkling of the human eye. Fifteen Mātrās make a Kāṣṭhā; thirty Kāṣṭhās, one Kalā; fifteen Kalās, one Nāḍikā. A Nāḍikā is ascertained by a measure of water, with a vessel made of twelve Palas and a half of copper, in the bottom of which there is to be a hole made with a tube of gold, of the weight of four Māṣas, and four inches long^[4]. According to the Māgadha measure, the vessel should hold a Prastha (or sixteen Palas) of water. Two of these Nāḍīs make one Muhūrtta; thirty of which are one day and night. Thirty such periods form a month; twelve months make a year, or a day and night of the gods; and three hundred and sixty such days constitute a year of the celestials. An aggregate of four ages contains twelve thousand divine years; and a thousand periods of four ages complete a day of Brahmā. That period is also termed a Kalpa, during which fourteen Manus preside; and at the end of it occurs the incidental or Brahmā dissolution. The nature of this dissolution is very fearful: hear me describe it, as well as that which takes place at the elemental dissolution, which I will also relate to you.

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Per aspera ad astra

Through adversity to the stars!

Job

(Hebrew איוב) A symbolic figure in the Jewish pantheon who represents a very high degree of spiritual development during which the initiate is receiving the final tests before complete awakening. This is revealed in the name as spelled in Hebrew, which is איוב, composed of אוב, which refers to magic, the work of a magi (priest), someone who works with the letter י iod, which represents Kether, the supreme spehirah on the Tree of Life.

Lao Tzu

A great sage, saint, and philosopher who preceded Confucius; the author of Tao Te Ching (Ch., “book of the perfectibility of Nature”). The text is based on a kind of cosmogony containing all the fundamental tenets of esoteric cosmogenesis. Thus, Lao Tzu writes that in the beginning there was nothing but limitless, boundless Space. All that lives and is, was born in it, from the “Principle which exists by Itself, developing Itself from Itself.” As its name is unknown and its essence is unfathomable, philosophers have called it Tao (Anima Mundi), the uncreate, unborn, and eternal energy of Nature, manifesting periodically. When reaching a state of purity, man, like Nature, will achieve rest and then become one with Tao, the source of all bliss and felicity. As in the Hindu and Buddhistic philosophies, such purity, bliss, and immortality can only be reached through the exercise of virtue and the perfect quietude of our worldly spirit; the human mind must control, subdue, and even crush the turbulent action of man’s physical nature. The sooner he reaches the necessary degree of moral purification, the happier he will feel.