Sven Eek – USA
The author
(special thanks to Kenneth Small)
The original founders of the 'Theosophical Movement who are known as Masters M. and K.H. decided well over a century ago to start a Society for the promulgation of certain aims and purposes along religious, philosophical and scientific lines. Throughout the entire period of the last century they were able to find only one person psychologically and spiritually fit to carry out the work they were planning. That person's role in history is yet to be fully established; she was Helena Petrovna Blavatsky.
It is not difficult to trace the outpourings of at least a hundred religious and pseudo-religious bodies to her teachings, or more correctly to the teachings which the Masters permitted her to give out. In the hierarchical structure to which M. and K.H. belonged there were superiors to them who issued solemn warnings against the giving out of India's sacred teachings to the as yet spiritually untutored minds of the white races beyond the waters of Kalapani (black waters). But the die was cast, and these men accepted the responsibility for The Theosophical Movement which has affected the lives of literally millions of people. The simple teachings of Karman (as thou sowest, so shalt thou also reap) and Reincarnation have again been brought to the Western world. Commonplace in the East, and during the first centuries of nascent Christianity, they have since been forgotten or obscured by dogmatic accretions of organized religions. The deeper teachings, the Yoga of living, the why's and wherefores’ of existence, have cautiously been taught those willing and ready to listen.
In the curious skein of the evolution of races, nations and individual men, we can discern the historical role played by greater and lesser teachers, the 'Saviors of Mankind.' All races and all cyclic time-periods have had them. These 'Saviors' had their disciples to whom certain teachings were entrusted. The Vedas of India, The Egyptian Book of the Dead, the Bible, the Koran, The Scandinavian Eddas constitute their written records. Strong religious bodies have been founded to spread the teachings, not always gently, and later generations decided that their revelation was the only one ever to have been presented to the world. As a result, the teachers have been deified and the masses crucified.
A spiritual inertia has been fostered by churches which claimed to be the mediators between their deities or God and the faithful. An impotent waiting for a new Christ or a mightier Buddha, for a Messiah who is going to turn the trick of leading man to salvation, has been setting the clock back. People do not seem to trust their own intuitions or their own spiritual strength; somebody else must do the job for them. They have not studied their own teachings exhorting them to look within for their 'immanent Christos' or 'inner Buddha.'
The god within is not concerned with niceties of doctrine but looks at the knowledge of man as more or as less complete. Religions are different facets of the same truth, but adapted to different peoples and civilizations. Like science they are being revealed or veiled as circumstances demand.
Do we need a Theosophical Society? One answer could be: 'In unity there is strength.' Let us remember that there is neither a religion nor any science higher than Truth. In essence they are one, as all men are one. Let us study the teachings of all Sacred Writings with an open mind. Let our Christ within be the Monitor, and let us work for knowledge and wisdom and thereby for a happier world.
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Article first published in THEOSOPHIA, Volume I, No. 6 - March-April 1945.
Sven Anders Carl Johan Eek was a Swedish-American Theosophist who is best known for his scholarly books about Damodar K. Mavalankar. He was a member of the Point Loma community.
He was born December 26,1900 in Hedvig Eleonora, Stockholm, Sweden to Carl Axel Vilhelm Ek (1866–1904) and his wife Siri Anna Sophie Ekenman (1875–1948).
In 1922 he traveled on the ship SS United States from Copenhagen to New York on his way to San Diego. Later that year he petitioned for naturalization, and on 21 Mar 1930 became an American citizen. In 1932 he married Alice Linnea Behm (1901–1982).
While at Point Loma in 1940 he was employed as Sales Manager at Theosophical University. He became a chiropractor and lived in Los Angeles.
Dr. Eek died in December 30, 1966.
Writings:
- Damodar The Writings of a Hindu Chela. Compiled by Sven Eek. Point Loma, Calif.: Theosophical University Press, 1940.
- Damodar and the Pioneers of the Theosophical Movement. Compiled by Sven Eek. Wheaton, Ill.: Quest Books, 1978. Includes many detailed biographies of important Theosophists who helped Madame Blavatsky.
- William Quan Judge: 1851-1896, The Life of a Theosophical Pioneer and Some of His Outstanding Articles. Wheaton, Ill.: Theosophical Publishing House, 1969.
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