Correspondence by “Sirius” | Reply by H.P.B. & Annie Besant [Editors of Lucifer]
I. In the “Secret Doctrine” it is said that Neptune does not belong to the solar system, but is “mayavic”. What is meant by this? Neptune was discovered independently by two mathematicians, and not by the telescope directly. It obeys the law of gravity, and produced perturbations upon Uranus, which led to its discovery.
II. It is said somewhere in the “Secret Doctrine” that the solar system is unique, and that throughout the universe there is nothing like it. Is this really so? As our sun is a star, it is reasonable to suppose that some of the other stars are centres of other solar systems.
Sirius.
I. The passage in the “Secret Doctrine” so loosely referred to will be found in vol. 1, p. 102. It runs as follows: “Neptune does not belong to it (our solar system), his apparent connexion with the sun and the influence of the latter upon Neptune notwithstanding. This connexion is mayavic, imaginary, they say.” Notice that the supposed connexion is said to be mayavic, and not the fact of the existence of the planet.
II. Every system is sui generis, as every planet.
—Eds. [H.P.B. & A.B.]