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In the last chapter we alluded to a certain relationship that exists between light and rain, inasmuch as both of them symbolise celestial or spiritual influences. This symbolism is obvious as far as light is concerned; as to rain, we have said as much for it elsewhere,^[1] specifying that it is always a question of the descent of these influences into the terrestrial world, and pointing out that this is in reality the deeper meaning of the very widespread rites which have 'rain-making' as their purpose^[2] —a meaning that is entirely indepen- dent of any 'magical' application. Furthermore, light and rain both have a 'vivifying' power that well represents the action of the influences in ques- tion.^[3] The symbolism of dew, closely connected with that of rain by its very nature, is likewise related more especially to the giving of life; and this sym- bolism is common to numerous traditional forms—Hermetism,^[4] the Hebrew Kabbala,^[5] and to the Far Eastern tradition.^[6]

It is important to note that light and rain, when they are considered from this point of view, are not only related to the heavens in a general way, but more especially to the sun; and this is strictly in conformity with the nature of the corresponding physical phenomena, that is, to light and rain themselves, understood in their literal sense. In fact, the sun is on the one hand the direct source of light in our world, and on the other hand it is also the sun which, causing the evaporation of water, draws it so to speak to the upper regions of the atmosphere whence it falls again as rain upon the earth. What must be further noted in this respect is that the action of the sun in its production of rain is due to its heat. We thus find the two complementary terms, light and heat, into which the igneous element is polarised, as we have said on other occasions; and this remark provides the explanation of the double meaning of a symbolic representation which seems to have been, in general, poorly understood.

In very different times and places and even into the Western Middle Ages, the sun has often been represented with two kinds of rays, straight and undulating by turns. A remarkable example of this depiction is to be found on an Assyrian tablet in the British Museum, (_figure 20_) dating from the ninth century before the Christian era,^[7] where the sun appears as a kind of Figure 21

star with eight rays.^[8] Each of the four vertical and horizontal rays is constituted by two straight lines forming between them a very acute angle, and each of the four intermediary rays is made up of three undulating parallel lines. In other equivalent figurations the undulating rays are formed, as are the straight rays, by two lines meeting at their extremities, which then reproduce the well known aspect of the 'flaming sword'. In all cases, it goes without saying that the essential elements to consider are, respectively, the straight line and the undulating line, to which the two kinds of rays can finally be reduced in the most simplified representations. But what exactly is the meaning of these two lines in this context?

First of all, according to the meaning which may seem the most natural when it is a question of a representation of the sun, the straight line represents light and the undulating line represents heat. Furthermore, this corresponds to the symbolism of the two Hebraic letters _resh_ and _shin_, as respective elements of the roots _ar_ and _ash_ which express precisely these two complementary modalities of fire.^[10] But what seems to complicate things, on the other hand, is the very general acceptance of the undulating line as a symbol of water; in this same Assyrian tablet, the waters are represented by a series of undulating lines just like those seen in the rays of the sun. The truth is that, as a consequence of what we have already explained, there is no contradiction here at all: the rain, to which the general symbol of water is naturally appropriate, can really be considered as proceeding from the sun; and besides, being an effect of solar heat, its representation can legitimately merge with that of the heat itself.^[11] Thus, the double radiation which we were considering is indeed light and heat in a certain respect; but at the same time and in another respect it is also light and rain, by which the sun exercises its vivifying action on all things.

In connection with the same question, this should be noted: fire and water are two opposed elements, this opposition, moreover, being only the outward appearance of a complementarity; but beyond the domain where these oppositions are affirmed, they must, like all contraries, be joined and somehow united. In the principle itself, of which the sun is a sensible image, they are in a way identified, which justifies even more completely the representation that we have just been studying; and even at levels lower than that of the Principle but corresponding to states of manifestation higher than the corporeal world to which fire and water belong in their 'gross' aspect that gives rise to their opposition, there can still be between them an association equivalent, so to speak, to a relative identity. This is true for the 'upper waters', the possibilities of supraformal manifestation which, in a certain sense, are symbolically represented by the clouds whence the rain descends upon the earth,^[12] and wherein at the same time there is fire in the form of lightning;^[13] and it is still the same, in the realm of formal manifestation, for certain possibilities pertaining to the subtle domain. It is particularly interesting to observe in this connection that the alchemists 'understand by the waters, the rays and the glimmer of their fire', and that they give the name 'ablution', not to the 'act of washing something with water or other liquor' but to a purification effected by fire, so that 'the ancients have hidden this ablution under the enigma of the salamander, said to live on fire, and under that of the incombustible flax, ^[14] which is there purified and whitened without being consumed'. ^[15] We can understand by this why so many allusions should be made in Hermetic symbol-ism to a 'fire that does not burn' and a 'water which does not wet the hands', and also why 'animated' mercury, that is, mercury vivified by the action of sulphur, should be described as an 'igneous water', and sometimes even as a 'liquid fire'. ^[16]To return to the symbolism of the sun, we will only add that the two kinds of rays of which we have spoken are to be found in certain symbolic figu-rations of the heart, and the sun, or what it represents, is in fact considered as the 'Heart of the World', so much so that here also it is really a question of one and the same thing; but this, insofar as the heart appears simultaneously as a centre of light and of heat, will give rise to yet other considerations. ^[17]## 63 § The Chain of the WorldsIN the _Bhagavad Gītā_ it is said: 'All this is threaded on Me, as rows of pearls on a string'. ^[1] This is the symbolism of the _sūtrātmā_ of which we have spoken on other occasions: it is _Atmā_ who, like a thread (_sūtra_), penetrates and joins together all the worlds, while at the same time being also the 'breath' which, according to other texts, sustains them and keeps them in existence, and without which they could not have the least reality nor exist in any way whatsoever. We speak here of the worlds, adopting the macrocosmic point of view; but it must be clearly understood that one could just as well consider the states of manifestation of a single being from the microcosmic perspective, and that the symbolism would be exactly the same in both of these applications.Each world, or each state of existence, can be represented here by a sphere through which the thread passes diametrically in such a way as to form the axis joining the two poles of this sphere. Thus, it can be seen that the axis of this world is, strictly speaking, only a portion of the axis of universal manifestation itself in its entirety, and it is in this way that the actual continuity of all states included in manifestation is established. Before going further in the examination of this symbolism, we must first dispel an unfortunate confusion relating to what, in such a representation, is to be considered as 'up' and 'down'. In the domain of physical appearances, if one starts from any point on the surface of a sphere, downwards is always the direction towards the centre of this sphere. It has however been noted that this direction does not stop at the centre, but continues down towards the opposite point on the surface of the sphere, then beyond the sphere itself; and some have thought that the descent itself could be said to continue in like manner, whence they have concluded that not only would there be a 'descent towards matter', that is to say, as regards our world, towards what is most gross in the corporeal order, but also a 'descent towards the spirit',^[3] so that—if such a conception were admitted—the spirit itself would have a malefic aspect. In reality, things must be considered in a completely different way. In such a figuration, it is the centre that is the lowest point,^[4] and beyond this one can only ascend again, as Dante reascended from Hell, continuing to follow the same direction by which his descent had first been accomplished, or at least what appears geometrically to be the same direction,^[5] inasmuch as the mountain of the Earthly Paradise, according to its spatial symbolism, is at the antipodes of Jerusalem.^[6] Besides, a moment's reflection is enough to show that otherwise the representation could not be coherent, for it would in no way agree with the symbolism of weight, the consideration of which is particularly important here. And how could that which is lowest for one point on the sphere at the same time be the highest for the point diametrically opposite to it? And how could these things have been visualised if on the contrary one had set out from this last point?^[7] The only truth in all this confusion is that the stopping point of the descent is not situated in the corporeal order, for there are, in all reality, 'infra-corporeal'

components in the prolongations of our world; but this 'infracorporeal' is the lower psychic domain which, far from being assimilable to anything spiritual whatsoever, is precisely what is furthest from all spirituality, to the point that it would appear to be its contrary in all respects, if indeed the spirit could be said to have a contrary. This confusion is nothing other than a particular case of the all too widespread confusion between the psychic and the spiritual.^[8]

To what we have just said it could be objected that since the states of manifested existence are in hierarchy, some being higher than others, there must be also, on the very 'thread' which unites them, a direction going upwards and an opposite direction going downwards. This is true in a certain sense, but it must be added, first of all, that this distinction in no way affects the _sūtrātmā_, which is everywhere and always identical with itself, whatever the nature of the quality of the states which it penetrates and sustains. Secondly, this objection concerns the concatenation of the worlds and not each of these worlds taken by itself and considered in isolation from the others. In fact, any one of these worlds, in all its possible extension, is no more than an infinitesimal element in the totality of universal manifestation, so that in all rigour it could only be represented by a point. It would thus be possible to make use of the geometrical symbolism of the vertical and horizontal directions and to represent the worlds by an indefinite series of horizontal discs strung on a vertical axis. This at least makes it clear that within the limits of each world, the axis can really be reached only at a single point, so that it is only outside these limits that there can be any question of an up and down, or a descending direction.

According to another symbolism which has already been mentioned, the axis in question can be assimilated to the 'seventh ray' of the sun. If a world is represented by a sphere, this axis could not then be any of the sphere's diameters, since as to the three diameters that form, at right angles to each other, the axes of a three-dimensional coordinate system, the six mutually opposed directions that they determine can only be the six other rays of the sun. The 'seventh ray' must be equally perpendicular to all of them, for it alone, as axis of universal manifestation, is what could be called the absolute vertical, in relation to which the axes of the coordinates of the world in^[9] question are all relatively horizontal. Obviously, this cannot be represented geometrically, ^[10] which shows that every representation is necessarily inadequate. In any event, the 'seventh ray' cannot really be represented except by a single point which coincides with the very centre of the sphere, so that for every being enclosed within the limits of a given world, that is, within the special conditions of a determined state of existence, the axis itself is in truth 'invisible', and the only thing that can be perceived of it is the point which is its 'trace' in that world. It goes without saying, moreover, that this last observation, which is necessary in order that the symbolism of the axis and of its relations with the worlds it links together might be understood as completely as possible, in no way prevents the 'chain of the worlds' being most commonly represented, as we mentioned at the outset, by a series of spheres ^[11] strung like the pearls of a necklace. ^[12]

What it is important to note also is that the 'chain' cannot in reality be traversed except in one direction, corresponding to what we have called the ascending direction of the axis. This is particularly clear when a temporal symbolism is used, assimilating the worlds or the states of existence to successive cycles, so that with respect to a given state the previous cycles represent lower states and the subsequent cycles the higher states, which implies that their series must be conceived as irreversible. Moreover, this irreversibility is also implicit in the conception of this same chain as having a strictly 'causal' character, even though such a concatenation essentially supposes simultaneity and not succession, for in a relation between cause and effect, the two terms can never be inverted; and basically, this notion of a causal series constitutes the true meaning of what is expressed symboli- cally by the appearances of a cyclic succession, the perspective of simultaneity always corresponding to a deeper order of reality than that of succession.

The 'chain of the worlds' is generally represented in a circular form, ^[13] for if each world is considered as a cycle and symbolised as such by a circular or spherical figure, manifestation in its entirety, that is, the totality of all the worlds, will itself appear as a kind of 'cycle of cycles'. Thus, not only can the chain be transited continuously from beginning to end, but then it can be traversed again, always in the same direction, which in the deployment of manifestation corresponds to a level other than that wherein the simple passage from one world to another is situated; ^[14] and since this traversal can be made indefinitely, the very indefinity of manifestation itself is thereby expressed all the more clearly. It is essential to add, however, that if the chain is closed, ^[15] the very point at which it closes is in no way comparable to its other points, for it does not belong to the series of manifested states. The beginning and the end meet and coincide, or rather they are one and the same thing in reality, but this can only be so because they are situated not at just any level of manifestation but beyond it and in the Principle itself. ^[16]

In the different traditional forms the most common symbol of the 'chain of the worlds' is the rosary; and with regard to this we will say first of all, in connection with what we said at the outset about the 'breath' which sustains the worlds, that the formula pronounced on each bead corresponds, at least in principle if not always in fact, to one respiration, the two phases of which, the out-breath and the in-breath, symbolise respectively the production of a world and its reabsorption. The interval between two respirations naturally corresponds to the passage from one bead to another, as well as to an instant of silence, and it thus represents a _pralaya_. The general sense of this symbolism is, therefore, clear enough, whatever may be the particular forms in which it may be clothed as the case may have it. It must be noted also that the most essential element is, in reality, the thread which links the beads to each other; this may seem perfectly obvious as there can be no rosary if there is not first this thread on which the beads are then strung, 'as the pearls on a necklace'. If, however, it is necessary to draw attention to this, it is because from an outward point of view, it is the beads that are seen rather than the thread; and this itself is also very significant, as it is the beads that represent manifestation, while the _sūtrātmā_, represented by the thread, is itself unmanifested.

In India, the rosary is called _aksha-mālā_, or 'garland of _akshas_' (and also _aksha-sūtra_). But what exactly must be understood by _aksha_? This question is, in fact, somewhat complex;^[17] the verbal root _aksh_, from which this word is derived, means to attain, to penetrate, to pass through, whence, for _aksha_, the primary sense of 'axis'. Moreover, this word, and the word 'axis' itself are manifestly identical. Referring to the considerations we have already given, one can see there at once a direct connection with the essentially 'axial' meaning of the _sūtrātmā_. But how is it that _aksha_ has come to denote no longer the thread of the rosary but the beads themselves? In order to understand this, it must be realised that in most of its secondary applications, this designation has in a way been transferred (by a passage, it might be said, from the active to the passive sense) from the axis itself to what it traverses and, more particularly, to its point of penetration. It is thus, for example, that the _aksha_ is the 'eye' of a wheel, that is, its nave;^[18] and the idea of the 'eye' (a sense that the word _aksha_ has quite frequently in its composites) leads us back to the symbolic conception of the axis as 'solar rays', illuminating the worlds even as it penetrates them. _Aksha_ is also a die to be thrown, apparently because of the 'eyes' or points with which its different faces are marked;^[19] and it is also the name of a kind of seed from which rosaries are commonly made, because the perforation of the rosary beads is also an 'eye', destined precisely to allow the passage of the axial thread.^[20] That further confirms what we said just now about the primordial importance of the thread in the symbol of the 'chain of the worlds', for it is from it that the beads which compose the chain receive secondarily their designation, just as the worlds, one could say, are not really 'worlds' except insofar as they are penetrated by the _sūtrātmā_.^[21]

The number of the beads of the rosary varies according to the traditions, and even according to certain more specialised applications. But in the Oriental forms, at least, it is always a cyclic number. Thus in India and Tibet for example, the most common number is 108. In reality, the states which constitute universal manifestation are indefinitely multitudinous, but it is obvious that this multitude could not be adequately represented in a symbol of the sensible order such as that which is in question here, and it is necessary that the beads be definite in number.^[22] This being the case, a cyclic number is naturally quite fitting for a circular figure such as we have in view here and which itself represents a cycle, or rather, as we said previously, a 'cycle of cycles'.

In the Islamic tradition, the number of beads is 99, a number which is likewise 'circular' by its factor of 9 and which here, beyond that, refers to the divine Names.^[23] As each seed represents a world, this may also be related to the angels considered as 'rectors of the spheres', ^[24] each angel representing or somehow expressing a divine attribute, ^[25] to which that world of which it is the 'spirit' will be more particularly related. On the other hand, it is said that a bead is lacking to complete the hundred (which is the equivalent of bringing multiplicity back to unity), for 99 = 100 - 1, and that this bead which is that of the 'Name of the Essence' (_Ismu dh-Dhāt_) can be found only in Paradise.^[26] This is a point that demands several further explanations.

The number 100, like 10 of which it is the square, normally can refer only to a rectilinear measure, and not to a circular one,^[27] so that it cannot be counted on the circumference of the 'chain of the worlds'; but the missing unity corresponds precisely to what we have called the point of junction of the extremities of this chain, a point which, we repeat, does not pertain to the series of manifested states. In geometric symbolism, this point, instead of being on the circumference which represents the whole of manifestation, will be at the very centre of this circumference, the return to the Principle always being represented as a return to the centre.^[28] The Principle, in fact, cannot appear in manifestation except by its attributes, that is, according to Hindu idiom, except by its 'non-supreme' aspects which are, to revert to our initial symbol the forms donned by the _sūtrātmā_ in relation to the different worlds that it traverses (even though, in reality, the _sūtrātmā_ is not in any way affected by these forms which are, in fact, only appearances due to manifestation itself). But the Principle in itself, that is, the Supreme Self (_Paramātmā_ and no longer _sūtrātmā_), or the Essence considered as absolutely independent of any attribution or determination whatever, could not be considered as entering into relation with manifestation, even in illusory mode, although manifestation proceeds from it and depends entirely upon it in all that it is—otherwise it would not be real in any degree whatsoever.^[29]

Footnotes

[15]See 'The Eye of the Needle' [57 above].

[16]See 'Traversing the Waters' [58 above].

[17]See 'Some Aspects of the Symbolism of the Fish' [24 above]. Instead of the 'devourer' aspect of the crocodile, the Makara is then invested with that of the dolphin 'saviour'.

[18]In certain traditions the symbols of Love and of Death correspond to the duality _Mitrāvarunau_, as we have had occasion to note in connection with the _Fedeli d'Amore_. This same duality is also, in a certain sense, that of the 'two hemispheres' to which the symbolism of the Dioscuri, for example, refers. See "The Double Spiral', ch. 5. _The Great Triad_. [It may be mentioned here that the Makara, vehicle of Varuna, is also associated with Kama-deva, the god of love. Tr.]

[19]_Jaiminīya Upanishad Brāhmana_ 1, 6, 1.

[1]The Great Triad, ch. 14.

[2]This symbolism of rain has been preserved, through the Hebraic tradition, even in the Catholic liturgy itself; Rorate, cæli, desuper, et nubes pluant Justum (Isaiah 45: 8 [from the Introit for Wednesday in Ember Week of Advent, of the liturgy as it existed prior to Vatican II. Tr.]

[3]As for light in this context, see Aperçus sur l'Initiation, chapter 47.

[4]The Rosicrucian tradition associates dew and light in a very special way, establishing a parallel by assonance between Ros-Lux and Rosa-Crux.

[5]We will also recall in this connection that the name Metatron, by the different interpret- ations given it, is linked both to 'light' and to 'rain'; and the strictly solar character of Metatron puts this in direct relationship with the considerations that will follow.

[6]See The Lord of the World, ch. 3, and The Symbolism of the Cross, ch. 9.

[7]Reproduced with permission of the British Museum.

[8]This number 8 may have in this context a certain connection with the Christian symbolism of the Sol Justitiæ (cf., the symbolism of the eighth card of the Tarot). The solar God, before whom this representation is placed, furthermore holds in one of his hands 'a disc and a bar which are the conventional representations of the measuring line and of the rod of justice'. On the subject of the first of these two emblems, we will recall the relationship that exists between the symbolism of 'measurement' and that of the 'solar rays' (See _The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times_, ch. 3).

[9]We will point out incidentally that this undulating form is sometimes also a representation of lightning which is likewise related to rain insofar as this appears to be a result of the action of the thunderbolt on the clouds which frees the waters contained in them.

[10]See Fabre d'Olivet, _La Langue hébraïque restituée_.

[11]In the language of the Far Eastern tradition, light being _yang_, heat considered as dark is _yin_ in relation to it, just as water on the other hand is _yin_ in relation to fire. The straight line here is therefore _yang_, and the undulating line _yin_, from both these two points of view.

[12]Rain, in order to represent spiritual influences, must in fact be regarded as a 'celestial' water, and it is known that the Heavens correspond to the supraformal states. The evaporation of terrestrial waters by solar heat is, moreover, the image of a 'transformation', so that we have here as it were an alternating passage from the 'lower waters' to the 'upper waters' and _vice versa_.

[13]This is to be compared with the remark we made above on the subject of lightning, and it completes the justification of the resemblance existing between its representation and the symbol of water. In the ancient Far Eastern symbolism, there is only a very slight difference between the representation of thunder (_lei-wen_) and that of clouds (_yun-wen_); both consist of series of spirals, sometimes rounded and sometimes square. The first are commonly said to be _yun-wen_ and the second _lei-wen_, but intermediary forms exist which blunt this distinction in reality; and both are moreover likewise connected with the symbolism of the Dragon (cf., H. G. Creel, _Studies in Early Chinese Culture_, pp. 236-37). Let us also note that this representation of thunder by spirals further confirms what we have said elsewhere of the relation existing between the symbol of the double spiral and that of the _vajra_ (_The Great Triad_, chapter 6).

[14]This 'incombustible flax' is really asbestos.

[15]Dom A-J Pernéty, _Dictionnaire mytho-hermetique_, p. 2.

[16]See _The Great Triad_, ch. 11.

[17][See 71 below, 'The Radiant Heart and the Flaming Heart'.]

[1]_Sarvam idam_, 'this all', that is, the totality of manifestation, including all the worlds, and not only 'all that is in this world' as is stated in a translation published recently 'after Shri Aurobindo'.

[2]_Bhagavad Gītā_ VII: 7.

[3]Rev. V. Poucel, _La Parabole du Monde_, 3. The abuse too often made in our day of the words 'spirit' and 'spiritual' certainly plays a part in this misunderstanding; but this abuse ought rightly to have been exposed instead of being accepted, as it seems to have been with the erroneous consequences thus drawn from it.

[4]It is on the contrary, the highest point when there is occasion to effect a kind of reversal of the figure in order to apply the 'inverse sense'—which, moreover, is that which corresponds to the true function of the centre as such.

[5]We make this reservation because the very passage through the centre or the lowest point implies in reality a 'rectification' (represented with Dante by the way he passes around the body of Lucifer), that is, a change of direction; or still more precisely, a change in the 'qualitative' sense in which this direction is travelled.

[6]See _L'Esotérisme de Dante_, ch. 8.

[7]It is by a similar error, though one limited to the physical order and to the literal meaning, that the inhabitants of the antipodes have sometimes been represented with their heads downwards.

[8]In this connection let us add that, contrary to what the author we have just cited has also said in the same passage, there can be no 'spiritual illusion'; the constant (and, it must be said, too often justified) fear that most mystics have of being deceived by the devil proves very clearly that they do not go beyond the psychic domain, for, as we have already explained elsewhere, the devil can have no direct grasp except on that domain (and indirectly thereby on the corporeal domain), and all that belongs to the spiritual order is, by its very nature, absolutely closed to him. [The above mentioned limitation to the psychic domain is moreover inevitable for the Lesser Mysteries which are concerned with the purification of the soul. But the rites are none the less in themselves a purely spiritual presence in that domain and therefore potentially an unfailing protection. In this connection see what is said of Hindu *mantra* and Islamic *dhikr* in 'The Language of the Birds', 9 above. Ed.]

[9]This representation also shows clearly that since continuity is established only by the axis and by nothing else, communication between the different states can be actualised only through their respective centres.

[10]Some might be tempted to intrude the 'fourth dimension' here, but this is itself not representable because it is really only an algebraic construction expressed in geometric language.

[11]In certain cases these spheres are replaced by small rings perforated at their centre and which correspond to discs, considered as horizontal in relation to the axis of which we have just spoken.

[12]It is moreover legitimate to conceive that such a necklace must itself have originally been nothing other than a symbol of the 'chain of the worlds'; for as we have often said, the fact of considering an object as merely decorative or ornamental is always the result of a certain degeneration which entails a failure to grasp the traditional point of view.

[13]This circular form is in no way opposed to the 'verticality' of the axis or of the thread that depicts it; for as the thread is naturally considered to be of indefinite length, it can be assimilated, in each of its portions, to a straight line that is always vertical, that is, perpendicular to the domain of existence constituted by the world it traverses, a domain which, as we have already said, is only an infinitesimal element of manifestation, which necessarily comprises an indefinite multitude of such worlds.

[14]In terms of the Hindu tradition, this passage from one world to another is a _pralaya_, and the passage through the point where the extremities of the chain meet is a _mahāpralaya_; moreover, this could be applied analogically to a more specified degree if, instead of considering the worlds in relation to the totality of manifestation, we consider only the different modalities of a certain world in relation to the integrality of that same world.

[15]Perhaps it would be more exact in one sense to say that it seems to close, in order to avoid the supposition that a new traversal of this chain might be only a kind of repetition of the previous one, which is an impossibility. But in another sense or in another respect, it indeed truly closes, inasmuch as from the principial point of view (and no longer from the perspective of manifestation) the end is necessarily identical with the beginning.

[16]Reference can be made to what we have said in 'La jonction des extrêmes' [in *Etudes Traditionnelles*, May 1940, and also ch. 29 of *Initiation et Réalisation spirituelle*].

[17]We are indebted to Coomaraswamy for the following data on this subject.

[18]What we said previously about several related symbols—the 'eye' of the dome, the 'eye' of the needle—will be recalled here.

[19]What is to be noted also from the point of view of the doctrine of the cycles, is that the designations of these faces, according to the number of their points, are the same as those of the Yugas.

[20]The name of the seed, _rudrāksha_, is explained as 'having a red eye' (naturally, and before the perforation); the rosary is also called _rudrāksha-valaya_, ring or circle of _rudrākshas_.

[21]The Sanskrit word _loka_, world, is related etymologically to light and sight, and is consequently also related to the symbolism of the 'eye' and that of the 'solar ray'.

[22]Likewise, moreover, even in language, indefinity is often expressed by a number such as ten thousand, as we have explained elsewhere (cf., _Les Principes du Calcul infinitésimal_, ch. 9).

[23]Furthermore, the 99 beads are divided into three series of 33. Thus one finds here the multiples whose symbolic importance we have already noted.

[24]It will be remembered that likewise in the West, St Thomas Aquinas expressly taught the doctrine that _angelus movet stellam_. This doctrine, moreover, was quite widely held in the Middle Ages; but it is one of those that men of today, even when they call themselves 'Thomists', prefer to pass over in silence in order not to run too much counter to the commonly accepted 'mechanistic' notions.

[25]Although we have already pointed this out on various occasions, we propose to return to it more specifically in a forthcoming article.

[26]In the angelic correspondence that we just mentioned, this hundredth bead must be related to the 'Angel of the Face' (who is in reality more than an angel), _Metatron_ or _ar-Rūh_.

[27]Cf., _The Great Triad_, ch. 8.

[28]This is the return which is expressed in the _Qur'ān_ (2: 156) by the words _innā li Llāhi wa innā ilayhi rāji'ūn_. [Verily we are for God, and verily unto Him are we returning.]

[29]The absolute transcendence of the Principle in itself necessarily involves the 'irreciprocity of relationship' which, as we have explained elsewhere, formally excludes any 'pantheistic' or 'immanentist' conception.

62 § Light and Rain

Footnotes