(a) As this subject—the fourth great Deluge on our Globe in this Round—is fully treated in the Sections that follow the last Stanza, to say anything more at present would be a mere anticipation. The seven Great Islands (Dvîpas) belonged to the Continent of Atlantis. The Secret Teachings show that the Deluge overtook the Fourth, Giant Race, not on account of its depravity, or because it had become “black with sin,” but simply because such is the fate of every Continent, which—like everything else under our Sun—is born, lives, becomes decrepit, and dies. This was when the Fifth Race was in its infancy.
(b) Thus the Giants perished—the Magicians and the Sorcerers, adds the fancy of popular tradition. But “all holy saved,” and alone the “unholy” were “destroyed.” This was due, however, as much to the prevision of the “holy” ones, who had not lost the use of their Third Eye, as to Karma and Natural Law. Speaking of the subsequent Race, our Fifth Humanity, the Commentary says:
Alone the handful of those Elect, whose Divine Instructors had gone to [pg 366]inhabit that Sacred Island—“from whence the last Saviour will come”—now kept mankind from becoming one-half the exterminator of the other [as mankind is now—H. P. B.]. It [mankind] became divided. Two-thirds of it were ruled by Dynasties of lower, material Spirits of the Earth, who took possession of the easily accessible bodies; one-third remained faithful, and joined with the nascent Fifth Race—the Divine Incarnates. When the Poles moved [for the fourth time] this did not affect those who were protected, and who had separated from the Fourth Race. Like the Lemurians—alone the ungodly Atlanteans perished, and “were seen no more”...!
Stanza XII. The Fifth Race And Its Divine Instructors.
47. The remnants of the first two Races disappear for ever. Groups of the various Atlantean races saved from the Deluge along with the Forefathers of the Fifth. 48. The origins of our present Race, the Fifth. The first Divine Dynasties. 49. The earliest glimmerings in history, now pinned to the allegorical chronology of the Bible, and “universal” history slavishly following it. The nature of the first Instructors and Civilizers of mankind.
47. Few[784] remained. Some yellow, some brown and black, and some red remained. The moon-coloured[785] were gone for ever (a).
48. The Fifth[786] produced from the holy stock remained; it was ruled over by the first Divine Kings.
49. ... The Serpents who re-descended, who made peace with the Fifth,[787] who taught and instructed it (b)....
(a) This Shloka relates to the Fifth Race. History does not begin with it, but living and ever-recurring tradition does. History—or what is called history—does not go back further than the fantastic origins of our fifth sub-race, a “few thousands” of years. It is the sub-divisions of the first sub-race of the Fifth Root-Race which are referred to in the sentence, “Some yellow, some brown and black, and some red remained.” The “moon-coloured”—i.e., the First and the Second Races—were gone for ever; ay, without leaving any traces whatever—and that, so far back as the third “Deluge” of the Third Lemurian [pg 367] Race, that “Great Dragon,” whose tail sweeps whole nations out of existence in the twinkling of an eye. And this is the true meaning of the verse in the Commentary which says: