ould be regarded by the occultists, and referred to
as "possessing all the earth," or all its knowledge. The names of
"Chandragupta" and "Kautilya" have also an esoteric significance. Let
our Brother ponder over their Sanskrit meaning, and he will perhaps see
what bearing the phrase--"for Kautilya will place Chandragupta upon the
throne"--has upon the Moryas possessing the earth. We would also remind
our Brother that the word Itihasa, ordinarily translated as "history,"
is defined by Sanskrit authorities to be the narrative of the lives of
some August personages, conveying at the same time meanings of the
highest moral and occult importance.

The Theory of Cycles

It is now some time since this theory--which was first propounded in the
oldest religion of the world, Vedaism--has been gradually coming into
prominence again. It was taught by various Greek philosophers, and
afterwards defended by the Theosophists of the Middle Ages, but came to
be flatly denied by the wise men of the West, the world of negations.
Contrary to the rule, it is the men of science themselves who have
revived this theory. Statistics of events of the most varied nature are
fast being collected and collated with the seriousness demanded by
important scientific questions. Statistics of wars and of the periods
(or cycles) of the appearance of great men--at least those who have been
recognized as such by their contemporaries; statistics of the periods
of development and progress of large commercial centres; of the rise
and fall of arts and sciences; of cataclysms, such as earthquakes,
epidemics; periods of extraordinary cold and heat; cycles of
revolutions, and of the rise and fall of empires, &c.: all these are
subjected in turn to the analysis of the minutest mathematical
calculations. Finally, even the occult significance of numbers in names
of persons and cities, in events, and like matters, receives unwonted
attention. If, on the one hand, a great portion of the educated public
is running into atheism and scepticism, on the other hand, we find an
evident current of mysticism forcing its way into science. It is the
sign of an irrepressible need in humanity to assure itself that there is
a power paramount over matter; an occult and mysterious law which
governs the world, and which we should rather study and closely watch,
trying to adapt ourselves to it, than blindly deny, and dash ourselves
vainly against the rock of destiny.