KingdomCommentaries on Prophecies in Daniel,...
Tablet One
THE DREAM OF KING NEBUCHADNEZZAR
Daniel Chapter 2
"Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible." (Daniel 2:31)
<1>Daniel is describing the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the Chaldean Empire. Later on, he will give the interpretation of the dream.
<2>In his dream, the king saw an image which was very bright but terrible. The brightness of the image is a symbol of its attractiveness which is like the attractiveness of Maya (Maya is the excess attraction to the external world, illusion of separation from God.) <3>As the truth of pursuing the worldly desire is none but terrible, so was the image. Its true characteristic was terrible.
"This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,"
"His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay." (Daniel 2:32-33)
<4>So it was a metal image, with the head of gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and the thighs of brass, the legs of iron, and the feet partly of iron and partly of clay. <5>As the construction of the metal image comes down from the head to the feet, it loses its fineness. <6>Gold is precious, it is a symbol of warmness, and it is a very flexible metal (fine gold is very soft). The next metal is silver, still precious but not like gold; also it is not as flexible as gold. Then is brass, which is much lower in quality in comparison to gold and silver, next is iron, and the last is iron and clay.
"Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces." (Daniel 2:34)
<7>This terrible image was not as strong as it looked, because it had a very weak foundation (of clay and iron). So it would be broken from its feet by a stone which "was cut out without hands." This stone (truth) did not come from the hand of man, but from God.
"Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." (Daniel 2:35)
<8>Wind is the symbol for illusionary ideals. As the wind is caused by temperature differences in two places, which is a short-lived phenomena, and cannot be caught (even when the wind is caught it is not wind any longer because it stops), so are the illusionary ideals. That is why when the image was broken, it was carried away and was no more. It was an illusion which never was the truth.
<9>"The stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth": The symbol for showing organizational structure in management is a triangle upward (
). Also a mountain has the same shape as a triangle but in three dimensions, so it is much stronger than a triangle. <10>The organizational structure made by the human is shown as a triangle upward, and the organizational structure made by God is shown as a mountain (very strong and stable). <11>So the mountain means the Kingdom Of Heaven On Earth, which will fill "the whole earth."
Up to this point Daniel was describing what the dream was. Now God revealed its meaning through Daniel as below:
"Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory." (Daniel 2:37)
<12>Nebuchadnezzar was a great king, but his kingdom, power, strength, and glory all had been given to him by God. If God had not so desired, Nebuchadnezzar could not have had all these things.
"And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold." (Daniel 2:38)
<13>For understanding the significance and meaning of this verse completely, we should describe other subjects and even go ahead of ourselves to the verses in the following prophecies in Daniel (which will be described later).
<14>At the end of chapter 9 and in chapter 10 of Genesis in The Holiest Book, the symbolic meaning of the three sons of Noah -- Ham, Japheth, and Shem -- was described. <15>They are the symbols for the five types of humans after the flood of Noah.
<16>Ham is the symbol of those humans who try to benefit from the external world by their works and try to satisfy their basic needs through manual labor. They are the workers (Shudras). Also Ham is a symbol of those who try to control and dominate their environment by their strength and courage. They are the warriors or the leaders of the societies (Ksattriyas) (for more detail, read The Kingdom Of Heaven On Earth), like Nimrod who was the grandson of Ham and became a great king (Gen. 10:10).
<17>Japheth is the symbol of those who try to dominate their environment through their minds, either by intellectual administrative abilities and politics (Vipras), or by directing their intellect toward controlling the resources as businessmen (Vaeshyas).
<18>Shem is the symbol of the true spiritual people, those who become seers, Masters, Prophets, and so on. That is why Abram came from the generation of Shem. <19>They are not intellectual spiritualists who create superstitions and false doctrines so that they might be able to exploit and dominate the masses, but they are the real seekers of the truth and are the Elected Ones (Brahmins). (Although Abram was called by man "A-bram," which means not a Brahmin, still God chose him as such!)
<20>Therefore, there are five different kinds of people that can be recognized in the human race: the workers (Shudras), the warriors (Ksattriyas), the intellectuals (Vipras), the businessmen (Vaeshyas), and the true spiritual people (Brahmins).
<21>Also in the course of history some of these classes dominated other ones in a successive manner. The Ksattriyas dominated the Shudras, the intellectuals dominated the Shudras and Ksattriyas, and the Vaeshyas dominated the Shudras, Ksattriyas and Vipras. The period of domination of each of these classes is known as their era in history.
<22>Each of these kinds have a common general characteristic by which they can be recognized. The workers (Shudras) usually do manual work and are interested mostly in day-to-day events of life and the basic necessities and safety needs. As long as these needs are fulfilled, they usually have no further ambitions.
<23>The warrior types (Ksattriyas) are those who are courageous. Their want is to overcome physical obstacles and to conquer their enemies. They value fearlessness, valor, honor, discipline, and strength. <24>Because of these abilities, the Ksattriyan class assumed the leadership of the Shudras. These Ksattriyas in return felt a sense of duty toward their subjects and took some responsibility for the protection and welfare of the Shudras. <25>This era of the domination of the Ksattriyas is symbolized in the Bible by the appearance of Nimrod as the king (Gen. 10:10).
<26>These Ksattriyas were basically simple people and their greatness came from their ability to protect and create a good environment for their subjects. However, their era is marked by conquests and wars in order to bring peace and wealth to their territories. <27>Their intention to exploit others was not as subtle as intellectuals, but bold and direct.
<28>The intellectual types love to use their minds to penetrate the laws governing the social and physical spheres in order to control and dominate their environment. They dominate others by their administrative abilities, innovation of tools, ideas, and creation of superstitious and religious doctrines that bind man instead of freeing him.
<29>As the kingdoms of the Ksattriyas expanded and empires were created, the dependence of kings and emperors on their ministers (intellectuals) increased. This expansion of the rule of intellectuals slowly brought the domination of this class over the society. The kings became puppets, and their rule became symbolic. The real rulers became the ministers, and they cleverly gained control over all things without changing the monarchal structure of the past (a good example of this is in the Medieval times when the Catholic church was running Europe where there were kings and queens on their thrones).
<30>These prophecies in the book of Daniel are about the start of the domination of the intellectuals over the Ksattriyas and the era of intellectuals. <31>King Nebuchadnezzar is the head of the image, which is of gold. He had the ultimate characteristics of a Ksattriya. He was disciplined, benevolent, simple, concerned, and had great power over his subjects to such an extent that he built a large image and demanded all to worship it. <32>He believed he had obtained his kingdom and rights by Divine sanction (that is how Shudras used to think about kings), so he was the gold of his era. <33>He was also the king of kings and had domination over all his subjects.
<34>From here on, in the evolutionary process of man, the development of the intellect started toward its heights.