Theos-Talk Archives (November 1997 Message tt00418)

Hi

Here is an article by HPB touching upon some very important issues of
practical importance. Thanks to www.blavatsky.org for providing it on-lin. I
will be posting a follow-up msg commenting on some of the items discussed in
the article.

MKR
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D

LODGES OF MAGIC

Article by H. P. Blavatsky

 When fiction rises pleasing to the eye,
 Men will believe, because they love the lie;
 But Truth herself, if clouded with a frown,
 Must have some solemn proofs to pass her down.

 CHURCHILL.

ONE of the most esteemed of our friends in occult research, propounds the
question of the formation of "working Lodges" of the Theosophical Society,
for the development of adeptship. If the practical impossibility of forcing
this process has been shown once, in the course of the theosophical
movement, it has scores of times. It is hard to check one's natural
impatience to tear aside the veil of the Temple. To gain the divine
knowledge, like the prize in a classical tripos, by a system of coaching and
cramming, is the ideal of the average beginner in occult study. The refusal
of the originators of the Theosophical Society to encourage such false
hopes, has led to the formation of bogus Brotherhoods of Luxor (and Armley
Jail?) as speculations on human credulity. How enticing the bait for
gudgeons in the following specimen prospectus, which a few years ago caught
some of our most earnest friends and Theosophists.

"Students of the Occult Science, searchers after truth, and Theosophists who
may have been disappointed in their expectations of Sublime Wisdom being
freely dispensed by HINDU MAHATMAS, are cordially invited to send in their
names to ...., when, if found suitable, they can be admitted, after a short
probationary term, as Members of an Occult Brotherhood, who do not boast of
their knowledge or attainments, but teach freely" (at =A31 to =A35 per=
 letter?),
"and without reserve" (the nastiest portions of P. B. Randolph's "Eulis").
"all they find worthy to receive" (read: teachings on a commercial basis;
the cash going to
the teachers, and the extracts from Randolph and other "love-philter"
sellers to the pupils!)

If rumour be true, some of the English rural districts, especially
Yorkshire, are overrun with fraudulent astrologers and fortune-tellers, who
pretend to be Theosophists, the better to swindle a higher class of
credulous patrons than their legitimate prey, the servant-maid and callow
youth. If the "lodges of magic," suggested in the following letter to the
Editors of this Magazine, were founded, without having taken the greatest
precautions to admit only the best candidates to membership, we should see
these vile exploitations of sacred names and things increase an hundredfold.
And in this connection, and before giving place to our friend's letter, the
senior Editor of LUCIFER begs to inform her friends that she has never had
the remotest connection with the so-called "H (ermetic) B (rotherhood) of L
(uxor)," and that all representations to the contrary are false and
dishonest. There is a secret body--whose diploma, or Certificate of
Membership, is held by Colonel Olcott alone among modern men of white
blood--to which that name was given by the
author of "Isis Unveiled" for convenience of designation, but which is
known among Initiates by quite another one, just as the personage known to
the public under the pseudonym of "Koot Hoomi," is called by a totally
different name among his acquaintance. What the real name of that society
is, it would puzzle the "Eulian" phallicists of the "H. B. of L." to tell.
The real names of Master Adepts and Occult Schools are never, under any
circumstances, revealed to the profane; and the names of the personages who
have been talked about in connection with modern
Theosophy, are in the possession only of the two chief founders of the
Theosophical Society.

And now, having said so much by way of preface, let us pass on to our
correspondent's letter. He writes:

 A friend of mine, a natural mystic, had intended to form, with others,
a Branch T.S. in his town. Surprised at his delay, I wrote to ask the
reason. His reply was that he had heard that the T.S. only met and talked,
and did nothing practical. I always did think the T.S. ought to have Lodges
in which something practical should be done.
 Cagliostro Understood well this craving of humans for something before
their eyes, when he instituted the Egyptian Rite, and put it in practice in
various Freemason lodges. There are many readers of LUCIFER in __________
shire. Perhaps in it there might be a suggestion for students to form such
lodges for themselves, and to try, by their united wills, to develop certain
powers in one of the number, and then through the whole of them in
succession. I feel sure numbers would enter such lodges, and create a great
interest for Theosophy.

"A."

In the above note of our venerable and learned friend is the echo of the
voices of ninety-nine hundredths of the members of the Theosophical Society:
one-hundredth only have the correct idea of the function and scope of our
Branches. The glaring mistake generally made is in the conception of
adeptship and the path thereunto. Of all thinkable undertakings that of
trying for adeptship is the most difficult. Instead of being obtainable
within a few years or one lifetime, it exacts the unremittent struggles of a
series of lives, save in cases so rare as to be hardly worth regarding as
exceptions to the general rule. The records certainly show that a number of
the most revered Indian adepts became so despite their births in the lowest,
and seemingly most unlikely, castes. Yet it is well understood that they had
been progressing in the upward direction throughout many previous
incarnations, and, when they took birth for the last time, there was left
but the merest trifle of spiritual evolution to be accomplished, before they
became great living adepts. Of course, no one can say that one or all of the
possible members of our friend "A." 's ideal Cagliostrian lodge might not
also be ready for adeptship, but the chance is not good enough to speculate
upon: Western civilization seems to develop fighters rather than
philosophers, military butchers rather than Buddhas. The plan "A." proposes
would be far more likely to end in mediumship than adeptship. Two to one
there would not be a member of the lodge who was chaste from boyhood and
altogether untainted by the use of intoxicants. This is to say nothing of
the candidates' freedom from the polluting effects of the evil influences of
the average social environment. Among the indispensable pre-requisites for
psychic development, noted in the mystical Manuals of all Eastern religious
systems, are a pure place, pure diet, pure companionship, and a pure mind.
Could "A." guarantee these? It is certainly desirable that there should be
some school of instruction for members of our Society; and had the purely
exoteric work and duties of the Founders been less absorbing, probably one
such would have been established long ago. Yet not for practical
instruction, on the plan of Cagliostro, which, by-the-bye, brought direful
suffering upon his head, and has left no marked traces behind to encourage a
repetition in our days. "When the pupil is ready, the teacher will be found
waiting," says an Eastern maxim. The Masters do not have to hunt up recruits
in special __________ shire lodges, nor drill them through mystical
non-commissioned officers: time and space are no barriers between them and
the aspirant; where thought can pass they can come. Why did an old and
learned Kabalist like "A." forget this fact? And let him also remember that
the potential adept may exist in the White chapels and Five Points of Europe
and America, as well as in the cleaner and more "cultured" quarters; that
some poor ragged wretch, begging a crust, may be "whiter-souled" and more
attractive to the adept than the average bishop in his robe, or a cultured
citizen in his costly dress. For the extension of the theosophical movement,
a useful channel for the irrigation of the dry fields of contemporary
thought with the water of life, Branches are needed everywhere; not mere
groups of passive sympathisers, such as the slumbering army of churchgoers,
whose eyes are shut while the "devil" sweeps the field; no, not such.
Active, wide-awake, earnest, unselfish Branches are needed, whose members
shall not be constantly unmasking their selfishness by asking "What will it
profit us to join the Theosophical Society, and how much will it harm us?"
but be putting to themselves the
question "Can we not do substantial good to mankind by working in this good
cause with all our hearts, our minds, and our strength?" If "A." would only
bring his __________ shire friends, who pretend to occult leanings, to view
the question from this side, he would be doing them a real kindness. The
Society can get on without them, but they cannot afford to let it do so.

Is it profitable, moreover, to discuss the question of a Lodge receiving
even theoretical instruction, until we can be sure that all the members will
accept the teachings as coming from the alleged source? Occult truth cannot
be absorbed by a mind that is filled with preconception, prejudice, or
suspicion. It is something to be perceived by the intuition rather than by
the reason; being by nature spiritual, not material. Some are so constituted
as to be incapable of acquiring knowledge by the exercise of the spiritual
faculty; e.g. the great majority of physicists. Such are slow, if not wholly
incapable of grasping the ultimate truths behind the phenomena of existence.
There are many such in the Society; and the body of the discontented are
recruited from their ranks. Such persons readily persuade themselves that
later teachings, received from exactly the same source as earlier ones, are
either false or have been tampered with by chelas, or even third parties.
Suspicion and inharmony are the natural result, the psychic atmosphere, so
to say, is thrown into confusion, and the reaction, even upon the stauncher
students, is very harmful. Sometimes vanity blinds what was at first strong
intuition, the mind is effectually closed against the admission of new
truth, and the aspiring student is thrown back to the point where he began.
Having jumped at some particular conclusion of his own without full study of
the subject, and before the teaching had been fully expounded, his tendency,
when proved wrong, is to listen only to the voice of his self-adulation, and
cling to his views, whether right or wrong. 'Ihe Lord Buddha particularly
warned his hearers against forming beliefs upon tradition or authority, and
before having thoroughly inquired into the subject.

An instance. We have been asked by a correspondent why he should not "be
free to suspect some of the so-called 'precipitated' letters as being
forgeries," giving as his reason for it that while some of them bear the
stamp of (to him) undeniable genuineness, others seem from their contents
and style, to be imitations. This is equivalent to saying that he has such
an unerring spiritual insight as to be able to detect the false from the
true, though he has never met a Master, nor been given any key by which to
test his alleged communications. The inevitable consequence of applying his
untrained judgment in such cases, would be to make him as likely as not to
declare false what was genuine, and genuine what was false. Thus what
criterion has any one to decide between one
"precipitated" letter, or another such letter? Who except their authors, or
those whom they employ as their amanuenses (the chelas and disciples), can
tell? For it is hardly one out of a hundred "occult" letters that is ever
written by the hand of the Master, in whose name and on whose behalf they
are sent, as the Masters have neither need nor leisure to write them; and
that when a Master
says, "I wrote that letter," it means only that every word in it was
dictated by him and impressed under his direct supervision. Generally they
make their chela, whether near or far away, write (or precipitate) them, by
impressing upon his mind the ideas they wish expressed, and if necessary
aiding him in the picture-printing process of precipitation. It depends
entirely upon the chela's state of development, how accurately the ideas may
be transmitted and the writing-model imitated. Thus the non-adept recipient
is left in the dilemma of uncertainty, whether, if one letter is false, all
may not be; for, as far as intrinsic evidence goes, all come from the same
source, and an are brought by
the same mysterious means. But there is another, and a far worse condition
implied. For all that the recipient of "occult" letters can possibly know,
and on the simple grounds of probability and common honesty, the unseen
correspondent who would tolerate one single fraudulent line in his name,
would wink at an unlimited repetition of the deception. And this leads
directly to the
following. All the so-called occult letters being supported by identical
proofs, they have all to stand or fall together. If one is to be doubted,
then all have, and the series of letters in the "Occult World," "Esoteric
Buddhism," etc., etc., may be, and there is no reason why they should not be
in such a case-frauds, "clever impostures," and "forgeries," such as the
ingenuous though
stupid agent of the "S.P.R." has made them out to be, in order to raise in
the public estimation the "scientific" acumen and standard of his=
 "Principals."

Hence, not a step in advance would be made by a group of students given over
to such an unimpressible state of mind, and without any guide from the
occult side to open their eyes to the esoteric pitfalls. And where are such
guides, so far, in our Society? "They be blind leaders of the blind," both
falling into the ditch of vanity and self-sufficiency. The whole difficulty
springs from the
common tendency to draw conclusions from insufficient premises, and play the
oracle before ridding oneself of that most stupefying of all psychic
an=E6sthetics--IGNORANCE.


Lucifer, October, 1888

---------------------------------


You are right and your msg is timely.

As a matter of fact I posted a msg some time back which was an article by
HPB who clearly said TS was *not* started as a school for chelas. Let me
locate it and post it again.

mkr


At 10:10 AM 11/25/97 -0500, you wrote:
>Please give a reference to the statement that "HPB thought of the TS as
>a recruiting camp for Chelas". As I understand the history of the
>Theosophical Movement only HPB and the Mahatma was in communication with
>each other. How could any one else Know what was being planed for the TS
>in 1875 let alone in 1997. There has been to much on this site from
>people who are miss leading those who know very little about The Madam
>and the Mahatma she was under. Its is time for all true students of
>THEOSOPHY to defend this great soul against the insults of the SJ. And
>for the record this cycle of the Theosophical Movement and Tsong-Kha-Pa
>are very much connected since the 14th century.
> Spencer =09
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: "Bhive888 (Bruce)" <bhive888@pac.com.au>
>> Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 1997 12:27 AM
>> Subject: Re:The Mahatmas/soulless corpse
>>
>> Our learned friend MKR writes
>> > But couple of things are reasonable to consider. Firstly HPB having
>> been
>> > instrumental in launching the TS, I dont think we should ignore her
>> quotes
>> > as to why TS was launched and what the prime object was.
>>
>> The concepts of Motherhood and Brotherhood cannot reasonably argued
>> with.
>> They pre-date Theosophy by thousands of years. But just preaching
>> about
>> Brotherhood without the spiritual teachings in place is like telling
>> your
>> fireplace to get warm, without putting in the wood and lighting it.
>>
>> If 19th century materialistic thinking was allowed to continue on the
>> way
>> it
>> was going, unchecked by the spiritual revelations brought forward by
>> H.P.B., there would have been dire consequences for Humanity as a
>> whole.
>> These thoughts worked homeopathically as a salve, which helped herald
>> in a
>> new era.
>>
>> "Colonel Olcott thought of the Society as an organisation for
>> developing
>> Brotherhood and religious tolerance. H.P.B. thought of it not in that
>> light
>> alone, but also as a recruiting camp for Chelas who, after occult
>> training,
>> would carry on the work from generation to generation.....
>>
>> " This divergence in objective became most marked after the Couloumb
>> attack
>> in 1884. Colonel Olcott almost went out of his way to ignore the
>> occult
>> basis of the society; so far did he go that, about 1888, the Master
>> K.H.
>> told H.P.B. that
>> "the Society has liberated itself from our grasp and
>> influence and we have let it go- we make no unwilling slaves. He says
>> he
>> has saved it? He has saved its body, but he allowed through fear its
>> soul
>> to escape; it is now a soulless corpse, a machine run so far well
>> enough,
>> but will fall to pieces when he is gone. Out of the three objects the
>> second alone is attended to, but it is no longer either a
>> brotherhood, nor
>> a body over the face of which broods the spirit from beyond the Great
>> Range. His kindness and love of peace are great and truly Gautamic in
>> their
>> spirit; but he has misapplied that kindness."
>>
>> H.P.B.'s memorandum of this talk with the Master is at Adyar.
>> Foreword in Letters from the Masters of Wisdom, second series, C.
>> Jinarajadasa T.P.H. Adyar 1925
>> It was with these concerns that H.P.B. later formed the Esoteric
>> Section.
>>
>> Bruce
>>
>>
>>