Theos-Talk Archives (January 1999 Message tt00351)

Tony,

In light of what you write below, I certainly think we are in agreement.  But
what I still don't understand is why you labelled Rich's "approach" as a
"distraction."  I'm not trying to be difficult or dense, I just don't understand
what you exactly meant to convey by that .

Daniel

alpha@dircon.co.uk wrote:

> Dear Daniel
>
> Perhaps it is easier for someone rather than ourselves, to see what we are
> saying?
> What Dallas writes on the Bagavad-Gita is relavent and interesting.
>
> And what you say here is where we agree:
> >I certainly agree with the statement that HPB's writings can help us to
> understand
> >the inner meaning of Norse mythology.
>
> So lets focus on this and make it absolutely clear.
>
> A says:
> Because of Theosophy I am now able to have some understanding of Norse
> Mythology.
> I have just read a Norse myth, and because I have done some theosophical
> study, the myth wasn't just a tale, it had a deeper level of meaning to it.
> It was an allegory.
>
> B says:
> Because of Norse mythology I am now able to have some understanding of
> Theosophy.
>
> These are two very clear statements.
>
> Now if you can accept that these two statements can also be applied to the
> Bagavad Gita,
> (i.e. Because of Theosophy I am now able to have some understanding of the
> Bagavad Gita.), the following fully explains our agreement, if indeed this
> is necessary.
>
> When Judge criticised "Esoteric Buddhism," stating that "Nearly all the
> leading portions of the doctrine are to be found broadly stated in the
> Bagavad-Gita,  HPB in Editor's Note responded: ". . .Since the birth of The
> Theosophical Society and the publication of *Isis,* it is being repeated
> daily that all the Esoteric Wisdom of the ages lies concealed in the Vedas,
> the Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita. Yet, unto the day of the first appearance
> of *Esoteric Buddhism,* and for long centuries back, these doctrines
> remained a sealed letter to all but a few initiated Brahmans who had always
> kept the spirit of it to themselves. The allegorical text was taken
> literally by the educated and uneducated . . . It is worth turning to to get
> the rest of the quote: "...Most undeniably, not "nearly all" - but
> positively *all* the doctrines given in *Esoteric Buddhism* and far more yet
> untouched, are to be found in the Gita, and not only there but in a thousand
> more known or unknown MSS. of Hindu sacred writings.  But what of that?  Of
> what good to W.Q. Judge or any other is the diamond that lies concealed deep
> underground?  Of course every one knows that there is not a gem, now
> sparkling in a jeweller's shop but pre-existed and lay concealed since its
> formation for ages within the bowels of the earth.  Yet surely, he who got
> it first from its finder and cut and polished it, may be permitted to say
> that this particular diamond is "given out for the first time" to the world,
> since its rays and lustre are now shining for the first in broad day-light."
> ("The Theosophist,1884, vol. V, no. 5, p. 122)
>
> Tony
>
>