With Adam and Eve, original sin enters which consisted of one being dissimilar to the generation which had gone before. Lucifer had intended from his nature to speed along human evolution; to give to humanity too soon the sense of an ego within the soul. Expulsion from Paradise meant that Earth forces could now intermingle with their Heavenly forces; separation from God occurred. Awareness and shame of being different arose. Between Adam and Seth unfolds the drama of Cain and Abel. Through these dramas, a new principle entered into mankind, the principle of heredity, of bloodline. Keep in mind, that Cain and Abel represent not just individuals but streams. Not all of those belonging to the Abel line were eradicated; there still remain some Sons of God.
To the question: ‘Where is Abel, thy brother?’ Cain answered: ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ Cain reveals with this reply something new in humanity coming with the Cain stream – egoism. No man would have said that previously. Now the principle of opposition is added to the principle of love from the Father; now, through Lucifer’s deed, egoism is born: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
What happens to those who were still of the Abel line? They were known as Sons of God for they remained akin to the divine. To protect this divine nature and the gifts it brought, they now had to guard themselves against allowing the earthly forces to enter them. From this resulted what was to later become the principle of asceticism. They dedicated their lives to the service of God and in time a dedicated one would have nothing to do with those who were soiled, who had committed themselves to the affairs of earth. It was a sin when ‘The Sons of God saw the daughters of men, saw that they were ‘fair’ and took from them wives.’ They took wives from the daughters of Cain.
According to the Akashic Record research done by Rudolf Steiner, this union resulted a race of men hinted at in the Old Testament; a race that is not perceptible to physical eyes. This race is called ‘Rakshasas’ in occult language and is similar to the ‘Asuras’ of Indian lore. These Rakshasas worked as seducers of mankind. They continued to influence human desires until the time when Christ incarnated in Jesus of Nazareth and the Buddhi principle, the Life Spirit itself became present on the earth in a human body.
Steiner makes this point about the Rakshasas, “now you may believe it or not: this is something of cosmic significance, of significance which reaches beyond the earthly plane. It is not for nothing that the Bible expresses it thus: ‘Christ descended into the forecourts of Hell.’ It was not human beings He met there, He was confronted by spiritual beings. The Rakshasa beings were brought thereby into a state of paralysis and lethargy! They were at the same time kept in check so that they became unable to move. They could only be lamed in this manner because they were being opposed from two sides. That would not have been possible if there had not been two natures combined together in Jesus of Nazareth: on the one hand the old Chela nature, deeply connected with the physical plane, which could also work effectively on the physical plane and through its power could hold it in balance: on the other hand there was Christ Himself who was a purely spiritual being. That is the cosmic problem which is fundamental to Christianity. Something occurred at that time in occult spheres; it was the banishment of the enemies of mankind which has its echo in the Saga of the Antichrist, who was put in chains but will make his appearance again, if not opposed once more by the Christian principle in its primal force.
The whole occult striving of the Middle Ages was directed towards nullifying the effect of the Rakshasas. Those whose vision
extends to the higher planes have long foreseen that the moment when this could happen might be at the end of the nineteenth century, at the transition from the nineteenth to the twentieth century. Nostradamus, who worked from a tower which was open to the heavens, who brought succor during the Great Plague, was able to foretell the future. He wrote a number of prophetic verses in which you can read about the war of 1870 and several prophecies about Marie-Antoinette which have already been fulfilled. In these ‘Centuries’ by Nostradamus (Century 10, 75) the following prophecy can be found: At the close of the nineteenth century a Hermes Brother will come from Asia and bring unity to mankind. Through Madame Blavatsky, the Theosophical Society was intended to be nothing less than a fulfillment of this prophecy of Nostradamus. The annulment of the Rakshasas and the reestablishment of the primal mysteries was an aim of the Theosophical Society.” (see Rudolf Steiner, The Temple Legend, Berlin, June 10, 1904, Lecture 2)