Theosophy

Richard Hiltner – USA

[This talk was given during 15th Annual International Theosophy Conference held in August 2013 in New York. The theme title of the conference was “How to Awaken Compassion? - H. P. Blavatsky and the Eternal Secret Doctrine”]

The Secret Doctrine has three propositions: Boundlessness, Cyclic Appearance and Disappearance. As above, so below or the identity of all souls with the Universal Oversoul. Being a child of the Boundless, you carry boundless capacities in yourself.

Helena P. Blavatsky [H. P. B.] states in The Secret Doctrine that the elements are very important for our understanding of the Universe and in this paper emphasis is placed on human health.

In H. P. B.’s Collected Writings Volume 12, page 661 (the Esoteric Instructions), she states the seven elements, starting with the most divine Akaśa. It is stated very clearly that everything originates from the Boundless. There are no words that can express the Boundless; and, therefore, nothing can be specifically said in this context. However, when manifestation presents in whatever hierarchy, the Elements originate from the most divine, then the Divine Flame, followed by Ether. Since our senses or perception have no real experience with the preceding three, we will start with the lower four: Fire, Air, Water and Earth.

James LeFevour – USA

Modern Theosophy would not exist without Occultism. Not only were many of its most influential members in the early formative years occultists, most notably being the co-founder Helena Petrovna Blavatsky herself, but the very foundation of most of its teachings comes from occult knowledge.

The intention of the early members was that the Theosophical Society would not always rest upon any charismatic authority of occult ideas by blind faith, but that those original ideas would spur the public into using their own sense of logic, and even the scientific research available, to create their own opinions regarding the greater questions in life. The occult platform which the early Theosophical Society used to counteract dogmatism and popular spiritualism was taught as a starting point for the freedom of thought. Even if new members were to completely disagree with all occult ideas put forth, giving the public those true teachings would compel them to reflect and either agree or disagree. The hope remained that with the information the Society encouraged everyone to study, they could come to the willing conclusion that we are all brothers and sisters. The central influence early Theosophists wanted to impregnate all Western minds with was the idea of Brotherhood. We all belong to each other and should treat each other as such. If one were to disagree with that simple idea of connectedness and equality, regardless of one’s non-dogmatic methods, most T.S. members would conclude that person as misguided.

The Understood Greatness of True Occultism

The inherent problem with learning occult teachings as a backbone, or even just a starting point, toward open-minded inquiry is that, as the odds might indicate, the inquirer is not an occultist. To be more forthcoming, that hallowed achievement is likely not going to happen in this lifetime or the next for the average person. In the colorful phrasing of the “Old Lady”, Helena Blavatsky, “Some imagine that a master in the art, to show the way, is all that is needed to become a Zanoni...Will these candidates to Wisdom and Power feel very indignant if told the plain truth? It is not only useful, but it has now become necessary to disabuse most of them and before it is too late. This truth may be said in a few words: There are not in the West half-a dozen among the fervent hundreds who call themselves ‘Occultists,’ who have even an approximately correct idea of the nature of the Science they seek to master.” (from Occultism vs Occult Arts)

From a Student

Dharma is a Sanskrit word meaning righteousness, moral law, merit, and virtue.

Dharma is a sacred law. Dharma is also the natural property of all things. The Dharma of fire is to burn, that of a dog is to bark when it “smells” a stranger. In the case of man, Dharma is a pursuit of one’s regular duty in one’s stage of life. As the man advances in life, the sense of duty progresses in a continuous process. As one takes up new responsibility, one discovers new duty towards the family, profession, and religious, social, national. At every stage, one makes choices with the best understanding within the limitation of one’s knowledge in the given situation.

As one advances in the understanding of Karma, one becomes more conscious and responsible to apply the right thought and action in accomplishing one's Dharma. In others words, there is a continuity from philosophical thought to the application of the correct action in the right way, in a given context, i.e. Dharma.

Ananya Rajan - USA

[This talk was given during 15^th Annual International Theosophy Conference held in August 2013 in New York. The theme title of the conference was “How to Awaken Compassion? - H. P. Blavatsky and the Eternal Secret Doctrine”]

The theme of this conference is “How to Awaken Compassion: H.P. Blavatsky and the Eternal Secret Doctrine.” Keeping the theme of the conference in mind, I think it’s important for us to realize that we are the “Eternal Secret Doctrine.” Within us resides everything we need to know. Our bodies are a living library of ancient cultures and traditions despite not remembering on a conscious level. We come from the Eternal and we will eventually return to the Eternal. All we need to do is look harder. As H. P. B. showed us from her writings, we cannot evolve without understanding who we are. I do not mean from the scientific, psychological or philosophical point of view. These are views from an outside intellectual perspective. To understand the Self is work that must only be done by the individual alone. It is up to the individual to press on, looking harder into their sense of who they are. This can be intimidating for many. We want to believe we know ourselves, but often times we don’t.

Through her life, H. P. B. lived the example of her teachings. She showed us who she was, never gave up when ridiculed, wasn't afraid as a woman to show her emotions---which even in today’s modern world and almost 140 years later is still a source of conversation. A man can lose his temper and be considered justified while a woman is considered emotional. Of course in H. P. B.’s time, women didn't raise their voices. Yet, she courageously stood against the majority, despite being ridiculed. All she wanted to do was to share with us what she was taught and she did that through her life and her life’s work. She lived theosophy and in turn showed us that theosophy needs to be lived. When we live it, it becomes a part of our life and practical. In The Key to Theosophy under the heading of “What is Practical Theosophy,” H. P. B. states that members best help the movement by Theosophy being an example in their lives.

[This article appeared in the July 2013 issue of The Theosophical Movement. For more articles published in this excellent magazine follow this link: http://www.ultindia.org/previous_issues.html ]

According to World Health Organization figures, more than a million people commit suicide each year worldwide. There is a rising trend in youth suicide. Recently, a young actress of Indian cinema committed suicide because life seemed hopeless, as she was depressed over her career and her love life, making people wonder if suicide was the only remedy for pain.

If death obliterates pain, it also obliterates hope. If she had remembered to look over the hill she would have seen the rising sun just waiting to break through the dark clouds. It is only when things cannot get any worse that they start getting better. She forgot that time is a great healer, and if given a chance, it would work a great wonder. “They say there is no greater sin than that of suicide because you are kicking god’s gift of life in the face and proving you are not worth it. If you believe in afterlife and rebirth, books on the subject suggest that people who quit life voluntarily without learning their life lessons are bound to be born to such lives again and again till the lesson is learnt. Life is not always easy and it is the duty of parents to ground their children and instill values that will help them deal with the tougher moments. And, it is our duty to ourselves that we learn to accept the brickbats with the bouquets, that we learn to deal with difficulties just as we learn to enjoy the benefits of life and living. There is no greater cowardice than enjoying your spot in the sun and quitting the stage the moment life gets a little rough,” writes Vinita Dawra Nangia.

Some of the reasons for increase in suicide rates are breakdown in traditional family system, financial insecurity and unemployment—with the young, it is pressure to perform, and to prove themselves repeatedly. Nothing is worth ending your life for, and hence a person contemplating suicide would do well to remember that “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Try to think of those who are less fortunate than you. “Look at life in its entirety and understand the smallness of your present depression. Never take a drastic step in the darkest moment. Things will look better soon,” advises Vinita Nangia. (Times Life! [SundayTimes of India], June 16, 2013)

Ramu Sudarsan – India

[This talk was given during 15^th Annual International Theosophy Conference held in August 2013 in New York. The theme title of the conference was “How to Awaken Compassion? - H. P. Blavatsky and the Eternal Secret Doctrine”]

Yoga means attuning, literally. Attuning can be to any state of being. Fundamentally, each one of us is a being and there is a state of being. Yoga of Compassion is attuning to a compassionate state-of-being.

What is Compassion?

Compassion is keen awareness of, and sensitivity to, the suffering one witnesses coupled with a deep yearning to see it relieved. Compassion literally means “to suffer with,” which implies a basic mutuality in the experience of suffering. Compassion is loving kindness, expressed in the context of suffering.

Loving Kindness

Our attempts to awaken compassion have to be through sensitizing people to the suffering of others.

Buddha means the ‘awakened one’. He was awakened to compassion when he was sensitized to the suffering he witnessed.

“Compassion is not a relationship between the giver and the recipient. It's a relationship between equals. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.”  - Pema Chödrön

Compassion is not mere display of kindness or sympathy to someone in distress. It calls for complete identification with the suffering experienced by another and relieving that suffering as a means of relieving the agony experienced by himself. (Not possible without the realization of oneness of life.)

H. P. Blavatsky

H. P. Blavatsky

[This article was published in Lucifer 2.8 (April, 1888): 150-154, and reprinted in Collected Writings 9:155-162.]

important to students

As some of the letters in the Correspondence of this month show, there are many people who are looking for practical instruction in Occultism. It becomes necessary therefore, to state once for all:—

(a) The essential difference between theoretical and practical Occultism; or what is generally known as Theosophy on the one hand, and Occult science on the other, and:—

(b) The nature of the difficulties involved in the study of the latter.

It is easy to become a Theosophist. Any person of average intellectual capacities, and a leaning toward the meta-physical; of pure, unselfish life, who finds more joy in helping his neighbour than in receiving help himself; one who is ever ready to sacrifice his own pleasures for the sake of other people; and who loves Truth, Goodness and Wisdom for their own sake, not for the benefit they may confer — is a Theosophist.

But it is quite another matter to put oneself upon the path which leads to the knowledge of what is good to do, as to the right discrimination of good from evil; a path which also leads a man to that power through which he can do the good he desires, often without even apparently lifting a finger.

Alvin Ochanda – Kenya

[This article was a talk by Alvin Ochanda, at the Nairobi Lodge in Kenya, on July 24, 2013. Here it has been edited for style and coherence.]

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, [Keep silent for five minutes.]

That has been some silence. But have we really been silent? We were not talking, no one made a sound, and scientifically silence is the absence of sound, or relatively very low vibrations of sound. So, were we really silent? Superficially, yes, but when we look at that silence more closely, we realize that there was a lot going on in and outside us, so much so that what we have just experienced as silence was not silence in a deep sense. So what was going on? What is the purpose of noise on the outside?

Maybe, in our minds, we traveled home to attend to some chore, or maybe we even traveled great distances to the other side of this earth. Looking into someone’s eyes immediately starts a conversation, talking without making a sound. Is that what silence is?

Silence can at times be more disturbing than noise, probably even irritating or scary, because it reveals the complicated mechanisms of our thought patterns. Only through silence are we able to realize how our mind jumps from one thought to another, not being able to settle on one thought for a long period of time. That jumping about reveals the restlessness of the mind. It brings to surface our weakness in concentration. Therefore silence is a good thing because it is the great gate through which we are able to see our true behavior of mind, and thereby to hold the mind still so that it’s able to dwell on one thought for a longer while, whatever other thoughts may arise. Mental stillness gives us power because, when we are able to dwell on one thought for a long time, then we are able to understand completely the subject of that thought, thoroughly covering the subject of the thought and thereby mastering it. This is the quality of concentration.

Boris de Zirkoff – USA

In the crisis of our age is heralded the birth of a new civilization. Out of the ashes rises, Phoenix-like, the shape of things to come. The temporary dissolution of ethical standards, the wide-spread suppression of Truth, and the suicidal gospel of brute force and opportunism, are here neither denied nor disregarded. But to the eyes of a deeper observer they are only the scum rising to the surface of the boiling cauldron wherein is enacted the alchemical process of racial transmutation, a spiritual regeneration of the vital streams of Humanity.

That which seems to be the debasement of many a lofty ideal, or the stormy overthrow of once noble traditions, is but the clearing of the ground upon which nobler ideals and more enduring traditions will be erected in the course of cycling years. The psychical and intellectual conflagration which dissipates into impalpable ashes what some had mistaken for unshakable edifices of Thought and Conduct releases at the same time the pent-up flood of a new spiritual vigor with which to build a brighter future for all men. And while, in the dismal gloom of a temporary spiritual blackout, we see ancient and familiar lights going out one by one, greater and more effulgent Beacons already now pierce the enfolding darkness with their shafts of redeeming light.

The crisis we are in must be faced and overcome. None can seclude himself behind an imaginary wall of intellectual isolation. Humanity is one and indivisible. Every man or woman is an integral part of the Karman of the race, and has contributed his constructive or disruptive part towards the shaping of this or any other crisis. The appalling misery of today is our own handiwork. The World of Tomorrow will not be built for us by some Gracious divinities descending into our midst from a modern Olympus. If it is ever to become an actuality, it will have to be erected, stone by stone, through our own self-devised efforts and under the guidance of our own spiritual manhood. There is no other way!

John Algeo – USA

Silence

Fragment II of The Voice of the Silence is entitled “The Two Paths,” and that title identifies its dominant metaphor: a road that branches into two paths, between which a choice must be made. Neither path is wrong; and ultimately both lead to the same place, but they pass through different landscapes on the way. However, the choice between the two paths is not an inconsequential one, and the Fragment is clearly urging us to choose a particular one of the two.

The importance of choice in our lives cannot be overstressed. The doctrine of karma tells us that every action has an inevitable consequence. But karma does not determine what action we will take. When faced with the need to act, we, like Arjuna in the Gita, must choose what we will do. And our choice determines what follows; it also determines our own natures, for by choosing, we create or discover ourselves. In a fantasy story that is very popular around the world, a wizard guru tells a young boy who is in the process of discovering who and what he is, “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities” (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, p. 245). That statement is neither fiction nor fantasy but plain and sober truth. It is what Fragment II is about.

A. Verses [101-111].

One of the great teachers said, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matt. 7.7). So the candidates ask the teacher for instruction about how to proceed, just as Arjuna asks Krishna in the Gita, and the teacher tells them about the two paths:

Daniel Caldwell – USA

H.P. Blavatsky (1831-1891) was the first person in modern times to claim contact with the Theosophical Adepts, especially the Masters Morya and Koot Hoomi. She affirmed that in her writings she was giving out the teachings of the Adept Brotherhood.

In 1877 in Volume I of Isis Unveiled, Madame Blavatsky told her readers about these Adepts and her role in giving out the fundamentals of the Esoteric Science:

". . .we came into contact with certain men, endowed with such mysterious powers and such profound knowledge that we may truly designate them as the sages of the Orient. To their instructions we lent a ready ear." p. vi

"The work now submitted to public judgment is the fruit of a somewhat intimate acquaintance with Eastern adepts and study of their science." p. v

But in The Key to Theosophy published in 1889, H.P.B. pointed out that various people had made bogus claims to being in contact with her own Masters K.H. and M.:

John Algeo – USA

Silence

The final verses of the first fragment seek to describe the state of samadhi. The word samadhi has two main parts: sam “together” and dhi “put.” It is the state in which we finally have put it all together. And that is the goal of yoga. It is a state in which we realize our complete identity with everything else in the universe.

J. J. van der Leeuw – The Netherlands

Preface by Jerry Hejka-Ekins – USA

As part of regular discussion in the Theosophy list on the Internet, it was suggested that I might recommend a book or article that we might focus upon.

In response to this suggestion, I uploaded the scanned text of a very scarce Theosophical pamphlet written by J.J. van der Leeuw and published in 1930. The subject concerns the conflict between revelation and realization that has existed in the Theosophical Society since the beginning, which van der Leeuw (and I) believe is at the root of the failure of the Theosophical Society. For those who are part of the ULT and Point Loma traditions, I would suggest that the issues in this pamphlet also apply to these organizations, though he is only addressing Adyar theosophical history here.

To give a little background, the Adyar Theosophical Society was undergoing a crisis at the time this pamphlet was published. Krishnamurti had been for some time contradicting the Master's revelations and orders as given through Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater, and by the end of 1929 Krishnamurti ordered the dissolution of the Order of the Star and resigned from the Theosophical Society. The text I am posting was originally a talk given by J.J. van der Leeuw, where he analyzes the Theosophical Society in order to discover what went wrong. Though this pamphlet is over sixty years old, (in 1995) I believe that van de Leeuw's insights continue to be as relevant today as they were then, because the underlying problems that plagued the TS in 1930 are the same today.

Stephan A. Hoeller

Stephan A. Hoeller – USA

[Stephan A. Hoeller is associate professor of comparative religions at the College of Oriental Studies in Los Angeles. The author of two Quest books, The Royal Road and The Gnostic Jung, he has lectured for the Theosophical Society on three continents. Dr. Hoeller is director of studies for the Gnostic Society, a member of the lecturing faculty of the Philosophical Research Society founded by Manly P. Hall, and a bishop of the Ecclesia Gnostica, a church of Gnostic descent. This article was published in the American Theosophist, special spring issue, 1988. Changes have been made in accordance with Theosophy Forward style.]

[This article appeared in the March 2013 issue of The Theosophical Movement. For more articles published in this excellent magazine follow this link: http://www.ultindia.org/previous_issues.html ]

“Where has my mommy gone, grandmother? “Arthur’s lip trembled as he asked the question. For days he had not been allowed to go into his mother’s room. “Hush! Your mother is sleeping” or “Mother isn’t feeling well; you must be quiet.” Or, after school, he would be told to run down the street and play. That very morning a neighbor who had a car had taken Arthur for an all-day outing, it being Saturday, when there was no school, down to the sea, where he had always loved to go. He had waded and picked up shells and eaten sandwiches and fruit and little cakes. He had slipped a little pink-frosted cake into his pocket, to take home to his mother. They had waited to see the sunset before she had brought him home and he had run into the quiet house and been overjoyed to see the door of his mother’s room, kept closed all these days, standing open. Puzzled not to find her, he had run to his grandmother, who had come to live with them not very long before. She drew him to her when he asked his question. “You know your dear mother had been very sick, Arthur. She left her love for you but she has had to go away to rest.”

Boris de Zirkoff – USA

[THEOSOPHIA-A Living Philosophy for Humanity -Volume XXVIII No. 4 (130) - Spring 1972]

The spread of Theosophy in the world and the strength of the Theosophy Movement depend primarily upon unremitting and intelligent work.

Wherever, among students there burns the holy flame of spiritual enthusiasm for the dissemination of the ancient wisdom, there the work flourishes and Theosophy becomes known.

H. P. Blavatsky

This painting is exhibited in the H. P. B. museum in Dnepropetrovsk in Ukraine. It portraits Helena as a young girl with her mother and was received as a gift from one of the heirs of her family. The name of the artist is not known and some have doubts about the painting’s authenticity, while others ascribe it to H. P. B. herself.

From Lucifer 7.39 (November 1890): 177-185; Collected Writings 12.

“. . . . The knowledge of the past, present, and future, is embodied in Kshetrajna (the ‘Self’).” — Occult Axioms.

. . . memory has no seat, no special organ of its own in the human brain, but that it has seats in every organ of the body.
. . .
The seat of memory, then, is assuredly neither here nor there, but everywhere throughout the human body. To locate its organ in the brain is to limit and dwarf the Universal Mind and its countless Rays (the Manasaputra) which inform every rational mortal. As we write for Theosophists, first of all, we care little for the psychophobian prejudices of the Materialists who may read this and sniff contemptuously at the mention of “Universal Mind,” and the Higher noetic souls of men. But, what is memory, we ask? “Both presentation of sense and image of memory, are transitory phases of consciousness,” we are answered. But what is Consciousness itself? — we ask again.

John Algeo – USA

Silence

In its final verses, the first fragment returns explicitly to the theme of the eight stages of Yoga (as set forth, for example, in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali). The second verse referred to the necessity of learning the nature of dharana (concentration) if one wishes to hear the Voice of the Silence. Now in verse 87, we arrive at dharana, thus rounding out the first fragment of The Voice. The remaining verses of the first chapter treat the last two stages of the yogic process, dhyana and samadhi.

James Santucci – USA

[Dr. James A. Santucci is a Professor of Comparative Religion at California State University, Fullerton. He received his Ph.D. degree from the Australian National University (Canberra, Australia) in Asian Civilization with an emphasis on the Veda. He is the editor of Theosophical History and Theosophical History Occasional Papers and the author of La società teosofica and An Outline of Vedic Literature, articles and book chapters appearing, among others, in the Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism, Nova Religio, Alternative Christs, and The Cambridge Companion to New Religious Movements. He is also a contributor (the Sanskrit language) to the Intercontinental Dictionary Series (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig).

[This article appeared in the December 2012 issue of The Theosophical Movement. For more articles published in this excellent magazine follow this link: http://www.ultindia.org/previous_issues.html ]

PAKISTANI terrorist Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman, was convicted in May 2010 by a special judge in Mumbai city (India) for murdering seven people directly and 65 others in common intent with a fellow terrorist. On November 22, 2012 the nation woke up to the news of Kasab being hanged after the President of India rejected Kasab’s clemency petition. The general reaction of people was that hanging had brought closure to the trauma of terrorist attack on November 26, 2008. There were many and varied reactions to the execution. Some felt that at last, justice had been done, or that the homage was paid to the dead heroes. There were stray instances of people expressing pity and sympathy for the executed terrorist.

H. P. Blavatsky

Kama (Sk.) Evil desire, lust, volition; the cleaving to existence. Kama is generally identified with Mara, the tempter.

Kamadeva (Sk.). In the popular notions the god of love, a Visvadeva, in the Hindu Pantheon. As the Eros of Hesiod, degraded into Cupid by exoteric law, and still more degraded by a later popular sense attributed to the term, so is Kama a most mysterious and metaphysical subject. The earlier Vedic description of Kama alone gives the key-note to what he emblematizes. Kama is the first conscious, all embracing desire for universal good, love, and for all that lives and feels, needs help and kindness; the first feeling of infinite tender compassion and mercy that arose in the consciousness of the creative ONE FORCE, as soon as it came into life and being as a ray from the ABSOLUTE. Says the Rig Veda, “Desire first arose in IT, which was the primal germ of mind, and which Sages, searching with their intellect, have discovered in their heart to be the bond which connects Entity with non-Entity”, or Manas with pure Atma-Buddhi. There is no idea of sexual love in the conception. Kama is pre-eminently the divine desire of creating happiness and love; and it is only ages later, as mankind began to materialize by anthropomorphization its grandest ideals into cut and dried dogmas, that Kama became the power that gratifies desire on the animal plane. This is shown by what every Veda and some Brahmanas say. In the Atharva Veda, Kama is represented as the Supreme Deity and Creator. In the Tailarîya Brahmana, he is the child of Dharma, the god of Law and Justice, of Sraddha and faith. In another account he springs from the heart of Brahmâ. Others show him born from water, i.e., from primordial chaos, or the “Deep”. Hence one of his many names, Irâ-ja, “the water-born”; and Aja, “unborn”; and Atmabhu or “Self-existent”. Because of the sign of Makara (Capricornus) on his banner, he is also called “Makara Ketu”. The allegory about Siva, the “Great Yogin”, reducing Kama to ashes by the fire from his central (or third) Eye, for inspiring the Mahadeva with thoughts of his wife, while he was at his devotions--is very suggestive, as it is said that he thereby reduced Kama to his primeval spiritual form.

Joseph E. Ross – USA

[This article was published in the American Theosophist, special spring issue, 1988. Changes have been made in accordance with Theosophy Forward style.]

Who was HPB? Many veils hide the secret — "the well-hidden party," as she herself termed it — even today. Her bizarre inscription in her book The Voice of the Silence, which reads: "HPB to H. P. Blavatsky, with no kind regards," is a tantalizing paradox with deep implications. The inscription is written on the flyleaf of a presentation copy of the book, preserved in the Archives at Adyar. In an introduction to the 1939 edition, Arya Asanga (A. J. Hamerster) wrote of the "HPB to H. P. Blavatsky" inscription: "the latter [was] the outer form, which served the former as a vehicle." It is impossible to understand HPB, and they who knew her best were they who were most hopelessly puzzled. The larger the knowledge, the greater the perplexity. HPB must always remain the insoluble riddle.