There are no ancient symbols, without a deep and philosophical meaning attached to them; their importance and significance increasing with their antiquity. (The Secret Doctrine, I, 379)

The Ancients, Madame Blavatsky wrote, knew "that nothing could be preserved in human memory without some outward symbol."

The subjective can hardly be expressed by the objective. Therefore, since the symbolic formula attempts to characterise that which is above scientific reasoning, and as often far beyond our intellects, it must needs go beyond that intellect in some shape or other, or else it will fade out from human remembrance. (S.D., I, 473)

Such a symbolic formula as she refers to seems to be the designation given to the "Root-Base" from which the Hierarchy of "the Arhats of the 'fire-mist' of the 7th rung"—the highest on earth—is "but one remove." That designation—in English translation "the ever-living-human-Banyan"—we may perhaps profitably consider.

This "Root-Base" is also described as a "Wondrous Being" that, before the separation of the sexes in the Third Race, is said to have descended from a "high region." This Wondrous Being, called the "Initiator," is described as "the Tree from which, in subsequent ages, all the great historically known Sages and Hierophants, such as the Rishi Kapila, Hermes, Enoch, Orpheus, etc., have branched off." A passage of great beauty and appeal thus describes this Being:

As objective man, he is the mysterious (to the profane—the ever invisible) yet ever present Personage about whom legends are rife in the East, especially among the Occultists and the students of the Sacred Science. It is he who changes form, yet remains ever the same. And it is he again who holds spiritual sway over the initiated Adepts throughout the whole world....He is the "Initiator," called the "GREAT SACRIFICE."

The name is most appropriate, for, sitting at the threshold of LIGHT, he looks into it from within the circle of Darkness, which he will not cross; nor will he quit his post till the last day of this life-cycle. Why does he sit by the fountain of primeval Wisdom, of which he drinks no longer, as he has naught to learn which he does not know—aye, neither on this Earth, nor in its heaven? Because the lonely, sore-footed pilgrims on their way back to their home are never sure to the last moment of not losing their way in this limitless desert of illusion and matter called Earth-Life. Because he would fain show the way to that region of freedom and light, from which he is a voluntary exile himself, to every prisoner who has succeeded in liberating himself from the bonds of flesh and illusion. (S.D., I, 207-8)

He sets what may be called the archetypal pattern followed by all who at the journey's end forgo Nirvana, electing to remain with suffering mankind until the "endless end."

It is said that "it is under the direct, silent guidance of this MAHA—(great)—GURU that all the other less divine Teachers and instructors of mankind became, from the first awakening of human consciousness, the guides of early Humanity."

The Secret Doctrine tells us that

there never yet was a great World-reformer, whose name has passed into our generation, who (a) was not a direct emanation of the LOGOS (under whatever name known to us), i.e., an essential incarnation of one of "the seven," of the "divine Spirit who is sevenfold"; and (b) who had not appeared before, during the past Cycles. (II, 358-59)

When men have become sufficiently spiritualized, Madame Blavatsky writes, they will know this, and also recognize why "Krishna and Buddha speak of themselves as re-incarnations."

The esoteric doctrine explains...that each of these (as many others) had first appeared on earth as one of the seven powers of the LOGOS individualized as a God or "Angel" (messenger); then, mixed with matter, they had re-appeared in turn as great sages and instructors who "taught the Fifth Race," after having instructed the two preceding races, had ruled during the Divine Dynasties, and had finally sacrificed themselves, to be reborn under various circumstances for the good of mankind, and for its salvation at certain critical periods; until in their last incarnations they had become truly only "the parts of a part" on earth, though de facto the One Supreme in nature. (S.D., II, 359)

Consider also, in the light of the teaching about "the ever-living-human-Banyan," the following prophecy from the Vishnu Purana, quoted by H.P.B. in The Secret Doctrine (I, 378):

When the close of the Kali age shall be nigh, a portion of that divine being which exists, of its own spiritual nature...shall descend on Earth...(Kalki Avatar)....He will re-establish righteousness on earth....

In the light of these quotations, does not the significance of the banyan tree symbol appear almost self-evident? Without attempting to develop here the symboliism underlying the reference to the banyan tree as "the Tree orf Knowledge and the Tree of Life," let us turn our attention to the tree itself, under the mighty shade of which Vishnu, in one of his incarnations, is said to have reposed and there taught to men philosophy and sciences. It seems appropriate that, as Madame Blavatsky tells us,

under the protecting foliage of this king of the forests, the Gurus teach their pupils their first lessons on immortality and initiate them into the mysteries of life and death. (S.D., II, 215)

A mighty shade indeed an ancient banyan spreads, though yielding here and there a glimpse of sky. Its leafy vault sometimes extends over a very large area, sometimes more than a leaf-carpeted, sun-flecked acre. One can pass unhindered through the tree from side to side in any of several directions. Many small rooms, however, are outlined by the numerous aerial roots, stretching downward from nearly horizontal branches high above the ground. These roots have sometimes 20 feet or more to go before they reach and penetrate the soil. That once achieved, they thicken and form supporting pillars, indistinguishable in appearance from trunks. And ever from these, as well as from the upper branches, there spring fresh roots, sometimes in a cluster, sometimes intertwined, expressions of the exuberant vitality of the tree.

How easily can one imagine such a grove sheltering ancient teachers who, retiring to the forest, yet attracted pupils from near and far! And who knows whether the noble vault of such a giant tree might not from time to time have been the meeting place of Adepts from different quarters?

Apparently, even for the root that has reached and penetrated the soil, its contact with the branch or bole from which it sprang is vital, for here and there under the great tree's vault one sees a slender stump or huddled group of stumps standing erect, all bare and gaunt in contrast to the leafy verdure of the living tree.

A reflection of Marcus Aurelius seems sadly apposite in this connection. He wrote:

A branch lopped from its adjacent branch must of necessity be severed from the whole tree at the same time. And in exactly the same way, the man who sunders himself from any single one of his fellow-creatures drops out of the community.

Fortunately, though the root's severance is final and almost irrevocable, there is still hope for man. Marcus Aurelius recognizes a difference between "the branch that has from the first grown with the parent tree and continued to share one common life with it" and the branch once lopped off and then regrafted. But "it is in our power to grow once more to the branch we quitted, and resume our place as active members of the Whole."

Keept a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come.

—Chinese Proverb