Its Sources, Its
Essential Nature, and Its Future
Aspasia Papadomichelaki
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Ms. Aspasia
Papadomichelaki is
an associate of the
United Lodge of
Theosophists, ULT, in Athens , Greece
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Modern Theosophy is the portion of the ancient wisdom-religion promulgated to
us by H. P. Blavatsky toward the end of the 19th century, as transferred to her
by the ever-existing Masters of Wisdom.
Ancient Wisdom has existed from time immemorial as it
has kept the knowledge of all laws governing the spiritual, the moral, and the
material alongside with the vast
knowledge about ourselves, our purpose in life, nature, the universe, the
sublime spiritual principles, and man's
pre-history on this earth.
The reappearance of ancient wisdom was decided upon by
the Masters of Wisdom, who considered the time ripe for the revival of esoteric
knowledge in the West. A sort of knowledge that brings to the core of the “One
becoming Many”, the essence of which is
“divine ethics”.
Τhe challenge Theosophy offers is to set our “lower selfish ego” to
thinking about its roots in immortality and
linking it to our “buddhic unselfish nature”.
It offers us a transcendental
science of universe and of man which is founded upon knowledge
acquired by those Beings, called Mahatmas, who keep
the knowledge they have gained of the laws of nature in all departments, and
are ready when cyclic law permits to use it for the benefit of mankind. They
have always existed as a body, all knowing each other, no matter in what part
of the world they may be, and all working for the race in many different ways. [1]
Their higher students claim that this knowledge is not imagined or inferred, but that it is a knowledge of facts seen and known by those who are willing to comply with the conditions requisite for spiritual vision and divine wisdom.
According to H. P. Blavatsky, theosophy “... has existed eternally throughout the endless cycles upon cycles of the Past, so it will ever exist throughout the infinitudes of the Future, because Theosophy is synonymous with EVERLASTING TRUTH.”[2]
It directs our attention to ethical preparation which
alone can help us approach eternal verities.
As H. P. Blavatsky declared, the Mahatmas were the leaders and the protectors of the movement, while she was their messenger and their link to humanity. The Secret Doctrine, modern Theosophy’s “magnum opus”, composing the basis of the theosophical teaching, is the joint work of the two Adepts and Η.P.B. and this is what gives it its unique authenticity.
As H. P. Blavatsky declared, the Mahatmas were the leaders and the protectors of the movement, while she was their messenger and their link to humanity. The Secret Doctrine, modern Theosophy’s “magnum opus”, composing the basis of the theosophical teaching, is the joint work of the two Adepts and Η.P.B. and this is what gives it its unique authenticity.
HPB’s Mission
HPB’s mission was to restore the link with the
wisdom of antiquity and to help revive the knowledge of the ancient
oriental wisdom that had been recorded. She established a bridge of
understanding between modern thought, based on observation of our physical and
psychic environment, and the ancient source-record of scientific thought, study
and work preserved in the East.
Intersection of Three Cycles
At HPB’s time three cycles were intersected:
a) The cycle of the first five thousand-year period of Kali Yuga, which began with the
death of Krishna was completed in 1897-98;
b) The hundred years’ cycle
or century, at the last twenty-five years of which an effort is made by the
Masters of the Great Lodge, so as to present the Ideas before mankind;
c) The third period is the
cycle of the new sign; during this period the sun passed from Pisces into
Aquarius and this cycle coincided with the other two.
Ιt is also said that the Great Cycle gives out the main Ideal; the cycle
of the last twenty five years of a century gives the Adepts the opportunity to
look at the good or bad applications of the Ideal and to restore it; and the Zodiac cycle represents
the period of spreading It into society and turning It into a culture which
influences all the levels of physical life, i.e. religion, ethics, science,
education, art and occult tradition.
The intersection of these three cycles, then, meant
several things, but one signification was that in or about that period a Great
Personage would appear on the earth, with such knowledge as the civilization
and the mind of the time would allow. The being known to the world as H. P.
Blavatsky was known to the Masters by quite another name, as They stated, and
the knowledge put forward by Her, or by Him, is what we know as Theosophy. [3]
Early days of the Theosophical
Society
H. P. Blavatsky was sent by the Masters to New York
“(1)Universal Brotherhood;
“(2) No distinction
to be made by the members between races, creeds, or social positions, but every
member had to be judged and dealt by on his personal merits;
“(3) To study the
philosophies of the East--those of India
“(4) To oppose
materialism and theological dogmatism in every possible way, by demonstrating
the existence of occult forces unknown to Science, in Nature, and the presence
of psychic and s piritual powers in
Man; trying, at the same time, to enlarge the views of the Spiritualists by
showing them that there are other, many other agencies at work in the
production of phenomena besides the ‘Spirits’ of the dead. Superstition had to
be exposed and avoided; and occult forces, beneficent
and maleficent- ever surrounding us and manifesting their presence in
various ways - demonstrated to the best of our ability.
Such was the
programme in its broad features. The two chief Founders were not told what they
had to do, how they had to bring about and quicken the growth of the Society
and results desired; nor had they any definite ideas given them concerning the
outward organization - all this being left entirely with themselves.
(….)
“But if the two
Founders were not told what they had to
do, they were distinctly instructed about what they should never do, what they had
to avoid, and what the Society should never become. Church organizations,
Christian and Spiritual sects were shown as the future contrasts to our
Society.” [4]
It would be helpful for the reader to look up the
original constitution of the Society, as described in this text, and then to
look up the propositions later announced in the Adyar Society. It is obvious
there are differences between the original intention and the subsequent
constitution but what is more than obvious is the suppression of the “initial
rules” owing to the diametrically opposite attitude of the “ones in charge” in
the Society.
Here follow the commonly known objects of the
Theosophical Society:
1)Brotherhood of man, without distinction of race,
colour, religion, or social position;
2)The serious study of the ancient world-religions for
purposes of comparison and the selection therefrom of universal ethics;
3)The study and development of the latent divine
powers in man ...
That’s how the Theosophical Movement started and
functioned till H.P.B.’s death in 1891. After that and up to 1895, the Movement
swayed to and fro to finally split into two, one section composing the American
T.S. under W. Q. Judge and a second one the Adyar T.S. under A. Besant and H.S.
Olcott.
The
Theosophical Movement in the 20th century
During the 20th century, the Theosophical
Society underwent all those trials which
resulted from personal interventions, where the authenticity of purpose
and the honest and right conduct of the founders literally vanished under the
tide of irrepressible vanity and antagonism towards the founders of the
Movement.
Annie Besant, having managed to secure her position in
the society through accusing its co-founder and great theosophist W.Q. Judge,
tailored her own changes forgetting about the previous program of the society,
because, as she said from day one, “she
would follow her own personal truth”. In her lecture on “Why I Became a Theosophist” she
described her loyalty to truth as she saw it.
“An imperious necessity forces me to
speak the Truth, as I see it, whether the speech please or displease, whether
it bring praise or blame…”[5]
The teaching of the Movement was replaced by texts of
her own choice, completely leaving aside both the Masters and the Society’s
founders. Her closest collaborator was now a speculator spiritualist, Charles
Leadbeater, who claimed to be bishop of a Liberal Catholic Church. Under the
auspices of A. Besant, he established s piritualism
i. e communication with his astral masters and formally pronounced his church-oriented s tructure. Besant and Leadbeater announced the
re-appearance of Christ via Jiddu Krishnamurti, whom they adopted and s chooled for his mission. Of course the idea of
such a “re-appearance” faded away as is the case with anything not authentic;
the most important part in this story is that “the myth” was done away with by
Krishnamurti himself, who quit the society working ever after on the basis of
his own philosophy. That was Annie Besant’s “Waterloo
Against the “personal truth” of the then president
stood the real theosophists, those who had remained faithful to the original
program of the society. The T.S. was
turned into a bureaucratic organization, used by Besant in a “popish” way
gratifying her personal illusions. Whatever had to do with the real objects of
the Movement and its founders was meticulously concealed while personal
speculations and pseudo-prophecies were being projected and imposed.
An excerpt from a text by Alice Leighton Cleather
shows what was happening following the founders’ absence.
“ . . . You must know
that in leaving the Theosophical Society, the great majority of us at all
events have not given up Theosophy, even if we may feel compelled to teach it
under another name, and though we can no longer work with or through the
Theosophical Society, we are none the less carrying on the great work which H.
P. Blavatsky initiated.
But in the old days we did at least think that the Theosophical Society stood for pure Theosophy and pure Morality. We cannot think or say this any longer. The ‘Theosophy’ of the Theosophical Society is now a definite creed and dogma based upon authoritative psychic pronouncements, from which those who dare to differ are first of all squeezed out of office by the President, and finally compelled to leave the Society, being denounced in the strongest language as ‘persecutors’ and ‘haters’. I am quite aware that all the time you are preaching freedom of opinion; but that is one of the farcical aspects of the régime which you inaugurated . . . Whatever you may preach, it is now notorious that your practice has been the exact reverse…” [6]
The two excerpts that follow illustrate A. Besant’s
real feelings concerning the founder H.P.B., who had entrusted her with her
aspirations. In the preface to her own 1897 version of the “The Secret
Doctrine, A. Besant says:
“… This volume completes the papers left by H.P.B….. Her pupils are well aware that few will be found in the present generation to do justice to the occult knowledge of H.P.B. and to her magnificent sweep of thought, but as she can wait to future generations for the justification of her greatness as a teacher, so can her pupils afford to wait for the justification of their trust.” [7]
In the same preface Besant says:
“It is (….) with some hesitation that I include the
following Sections in ‘The Secret Doctrine’. Together with some most suggestive
thought, they contain very numerous errors of fact, and many statements based
on exoteric writings, not on esoteric knowledge. They were given into my hands
to publish as part of the Third Volume of the Secret Doctrine, and I therefore
do not feel justified in coming between the author and the public, either by
altering the statements, to make them consistent with fact, or by suppressing
the Sections. She says she is acting entirely on her own authority, and it will
be obvious to any instructed reader that she makes - possibly deliberately -
many statements so confused that they are mere blinds, and other statements -
probably inadvertently - that are nothing more than the exoteric
misunderstandings of esoteric truths. The reader must here, as everywhere, use
his own judgment, but, feeling bound to publish these Sections, I cannot let
them go to the public without a warning that much in them is certainly erroneous.”
[8]
I think there is no need for any special comment
regarding that paragraph, as the text reflects Annie Besant's “brotherly
feelings” towards the founder who welcomed her within the bosom of the Society.
Unfortunately enough for the T.S., the fiery message of the “brotherhood of
men” lost its meaning, already as early as the Society was making its first
steps in the 20th century.
Yet, there have been some elect and enlightened
Theosophists in contact with the Society, men like Boris de Zirkoff, Geoffrey
Barborka, Geoffrey Farthing, who fiercely fought to preserve original Theosophy
and its teaching. G. Farthing’s “Manifesto” [9] remains a historical text
as to his forewarnings concerning the situation of the society and
the dissolution danger it faces since
the suppression of its initial scope.
Two latest events - : a) John Algeo’s and his
collaborators’ effort to slander the founder through publishing Solovioff's
forged letters as authentic and, b) the refusal of the present International President
of Adyar, Mrs. Radha Burnier, to recognize the co-founder of the Movement, W.
Judge and his most important work - have further cut off Adyar Theosophical
Society from the Theosophical Cause.
Nowadays, T.S. is an “empty dark building without the
Theosophical Idea shedding light on it.”
Robert
Crosbie and the ULT
After Blavatsky’s passing
away, the parent organization split into two:
a) The Society following H. S. Olcott and Annie Besant
which retained its international headquarters at Adyar, Madras, India. The Adyar Society adopted in very large measure the “second
generation” literature of Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater and others;
b) The
other branch of the Society followed W. Q. Judge, Vice President of the T.S. and
General Secretary of its American Section, with international headquarters
established at first in New York City and later in Point Loma and in Pasadena. The Society at Pasadena Pasadena
c) In 1909 a group spearheaded by Robert Crosbie
formed another major theosophical association, the United Lodge of
Theosophists, based in Los Angeles ,
California
The founder of the U.L.T., Robert Crosbie, having
found out distortions of the teaching due to antagonistic aspirations among
members of the Theosophical Society, thought it appropriate for the
Theosophists to focus on the original teaching as given by the Masters of the
Movement. This move, we might say, has rescued
both the teaching as well as the objects of
the Theosophical Movement working as “the ark of the theosophic testament”.
In 1932 the “ULT Day Letter” - issued from
“Pseudo-theosophy and pseudo-theosophists have at all
times wrought havoc to the Movement by deceiving and misleading the sincere but
unwary. Efforts conscious and unconscious on the part of individuals to make
capital for themselves by exploiting the teachings of Theosophy continue now
as during the lifetime of H.P.B. and Mr. Judge. And to-day the same need
exists to distinguish between genuine and spurious attempts at fraternity
among Theosophical Societies as to discern between genuine and s purious Theosophy.”
The Renewal of the Movement
“There is a very great difference between the Theosophical Movement and
any
Theosophical Society. The Movement is moral, ethical,
spiritual, universal, invisible save in effect, and continuous.” [10]
It differs greatly from the Society. “One is, as an ideal, divine Wisdom, perfection itself; the other a poor, imperfect
thing, trying to run under, if
not within, its shadow on Earth.”
And also:
“Theosophy is the
soul of its Society; the latter the gross and imperfect body of the former”. [11]
H. P. Blavatsky
herself said that it would be better to do away with the Society rather than to
destroy Brotherhood, and she declared the European part of it free and
independent.
The power inherent in THEOSOPHY is seen to be a
constant radiation from the original writings of the Mahatmas and of HPB. A
“Theosophist” is one who lives and practises it, without necessarily being a
“member” of any organization that calls itself “theosophical”.
Theosophy is no creed or dogma invented by
theologians, men prone to error, but it is “the cumulative testimony
of an endless series of Seers who have testified to this.”
Theosophical Education in the 21st Century
Theosophical Education in the 21st Century
Theosophy implies EDUCATION. It concerns an education
in the great purpose of life and the means of its orderly fulfillment.
The present moment, a very difficult one for humanity,
is badly in need of “THEOSOPHY”. Mankind and the systems it has applied for the
gratification of personal ego and its unrestrained greed, have brought our
planet's communities to a dead-end. In order to overcome this situation, we need
to realize that there exists another reality surpassing our physical senses,
our limited mind and established man-made rules.
The infallible laws of karma and reincarnation, the
existence of the soul, the purpose of our earthly life, the moral values and their
application, states presently left in the margin due to our having become one
with our temporary personality, will have to be necessarily re-orientated. Theosophy is the invaluable gem that
can transmute today’s man and outline his mould for the future.
Theosophy, in our times, includes the Movement started
in 1875, and established by our Elder Brothers. It continues to be the “Theosophical
Movement, founded in 1875”.
“Individuals and nations in definite streams return in
regularly recurring periods to the earth, and thus bring back to the globe the
arts, the civilization, the very persons who were,
once on it at work (… ) Therefore the souls who made
the most ancient civilizations will come back and bring the old civilization
with them in idea and essence (… ) the soul ever retaining in Manas
the knowledge it once gained and always pushing to completer development the
higher principles and powers. (… ) And along this road are the points when the
small and large cycles of Avatars bring out for man’s benefit the great
characters who mould the race from time to time.” [12]
We are all here, under the law of cycles and justice,
workers devoted to the Theosophical Idea and its Movement. It is our duty:
* to keep spreading original Theosophy,
*to make its teaching easier to grasp,
*to make it accessible to as many people as possible,
*to build hot-beds of instructor-theosophists.
Mistakes are corrected during the flow of cycles.
Every cycle, under the law of ethical causation, provides the opportunity of
restoring the IDEA and bringing about its fuller realization. Human initiative,
restricted by its own illusions, cannot alter the divine will, the LAW. In the present cycle of the 21st
century, we definitely have to reinstate the Movement.
As more and more people become independent from
corporations, we can use more flexible forms of communication through the
Internet, such as interlodges and inter-associations broad alliances like the already existing e-group E-Theosophy.
It could be made somehow easier if better organized
through:
1) More study centers around the
world either via physical meetings or electronically,
2) Regular schools that would function at specific
periods annually so that those interested could be able to program their
attendance beforehand,
3) Collecting the original texts and works under an
online theosophical library, (already in effect)
4) A classification of theosophical topics in a
concise and clear way accompanied by relevant excerpts under each topic, which
would really help researchers and active theosophists-instructors,
5) Conferences, seminars, symposiums, and teaching
locations where the topics could be elaborated, discussed and any theosophical
students’ questions could be answered on the spot.
Theosophy believes in the “soul of things”; it is the
pith and the marrow of occultism. It is the acquired wisdom of the soul and
spirit; it is transcendental science and one can only understand it if
well-aware that, higher and more inwardly than personal ego, there exists the
spiritual nature of the universe and man, eternal Truth, glimpses of which can
reach our mind.
It aims at bringing about the synthesis of the Many
into ONE. It is over and above the critical and analytical mind - it is not
intellectualism - using the mind only as a tool for expression on the physical
plane and a means to join the personal with its higher eternal and impersonal
nature.
In order for it not to be misunderstood or distorted,
the researcher must have a mystical
disposition, a respect towards the divine ethics and a steadfast will to get to know “his real
Self”. To attain his self-knowledge he will need to “develop
and perfect his physical, mental, psychic, and spiritual organisation to the
utmost possible degree”. [13]
It is comforting that during the last one hundred
years, despite all persecution it suffered, modern Theosophy has managed to
remain intact from outer interferences. This is something that suggests lots of
hope and expectations for the future.
NOTES:
[1] “Isis Unveiled”, Helena P.
Blavatsky, Theosophy Co., Los Angeles
[2] “The
Key to Theosophy”, H. P. Blavatsky, Theosophy Co., Los Angeles
[3] See Robert
Crosbie, “Answers and Questions on the Ocean
of Theosophy ”, Theosophy Co., Los Angeles
[4] See
“Theosophical Articles”, H. P. Blavatsky, Theosophy Co., Los Angeles
[5] “A Short History of the Theosophical Society”, Josephine Ransom, TPH, India
[6] See the text “An Open Letter to Annie Besant, How in 1909 William Kingsland
Denounced Annie Besant’s Farce”, by Alice Leighton Cleather, published
on www.TheosopohyOnline.com
. It can be easily found in that website
through the List of Texts by Alphabetical Order or through the List
of Texts by Author.
[7] “The Secret Doctrine”, H. P. Blavatsky, TPH, Adyar, six-volumes edition, 1971, Volume 5, p. 8.
[8]
“The Secret Doctrine”, six-volumes edition, TPH, 1971,
Volume 5, p. 7.
[9] See
“A Theosophical Manifesto -1996” and “A Manifesto - Supplement 1997”, by
Geoffrey A. Farthing. Both texts can be found
at www.TheosophyOnline.com through the List of Texts by
Alphabetical Order or through the List of Texts by Author.
[10] W.Q. Judge, in his article “The Theosophical Movement”. See
“Theosophical Articles”, William Q. Judge, Theosophy Co., Los Angeles
[11] See the article “Is Theosophy a Religion?”, in “Collected Writings of
H.P. Blavatsky”, TPH, volume X, p. 166.
[12] “The Ocean
of Theosophy Los Angeles
[13] “The Secret Doctrine”, H. P. Blavatsky, Theosophy Co., Los Angeles
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Always
visit www.Esoteric-Philosophy.com , www.TheosophyOnline.com and www.FilosofiaEsoterica.com .
If you want to have access to a daily study of the
original teachings of Theosophy, write to
lutbr@terra.com.br and ask for information on the
e-group E-THEOSOPHY.
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