Theos-Talk Archives (January 2002 Message tt00036)

H.P. Blavatsky on "Reincarnation"
by Daniel H. Caldwell
http://blavatsky.info

Concerning the various comments made concerning HPB
and "reincarnation", please note that in a letter
dated April 12, 1875 (i.e. very near the beginning of
her public career) HPB writes to Alexander Aksakof and
mentions in the course of her letter the name of Allan
Kardec.

After his name, she adds:

"(though I do not believe in reincarnation in the same
sense as the French spiritists)" Quoted in A MODERN
PRIESTESS OF ISIS, P. 249.

IN THE SAME SENSE. Hence from her own words in early
1875 it would appear that Blavatsky believed in
reincarnation but NOT in the same sense as Kardec and
the French spirtists.

Context is always needed as Jerry Ekins has
consistently pointed out. 

ALSO consider ALL of what HPB writes on
"reincarnation" in ISIS UNVEILED, for example, Volume
I, PP. 346-357 ---not just the few quotes recently
posted by Brigitte M. 

See:
http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/isis/iu1-10.htm

What is HPB commenting on when she writes about
"reincarnation" on p. 351 of this first volume of
ISIS? WHAT IS THE CONTEXT?? In what sense does
she use the term "reincarnation"? And she does
contrasts "this mysterious doctrine of reincarnation"
with "metempsychosis". What does she mean by this
latter term?

Compare what Brigitte quoted with the following on
page 346, volume I of ISIS:

". . . The cause of reincarnation is ignorance of our
senses, and the idea that there is any reality in the
world, anything except abstract existence. From the
organs of sense comes the 'hallucination' we call
contact; 'from contact, desire; from desire, sensation
(which also is a deception of our body); from
sensation, the cleaving to existing bodies; from this
cleaving, reproduction; and from reproduction,
disease, decay, and death.'

"Thus, like the revolutions of a wheel, there is a
regular succession of death and birth, the moral cause
of which is the cleaving to existing objects, while
the instrumental cause is karma (the power which
controls the universe, prompting it to activity),
merit and demerit. 'It is, therefore, the great desire
of all beings who would be released from the sorrows
of successive birth, to seek the destruction of the
moral cause, the cleaving to existing objects, or evil
desire.' They, in whom evil desire is entirely
destroyed, are called Arhats. . . . Freedom from evil
desire insures the possession of a miraculous power.
At his death, the Arhat is never reincarnated; he
invariably attains Nirvana -- a word, by the bye,
falsely interpreted by the Christian scholars and
skeptical commentators. Nirvana is the world of cause,
in which all deceptive effects or delusions of our
senses disappear. Nirvana is the highest attainable
sphere." 

Another point: In 1875 (the date I quote from memory)
Anna Blackwell translated one of Allan Kardec's books
into English. If one goes and reads the various issues
of the spiritualistic periodicals of that time, you
will find many articles written discussing Kardec's
views on reincarnation. It was a heated discussion
with lots of controversy. [See the pages of THE
SPIRITUALIST,THE BANNER OF LIGHT, THE
RELIGIO-PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL and THE SPIRITUAL
SCIENTIST.]

Isn't it therefore reasonable to view HP Blavatsky's
comments in ISIS in this context and from this
perspective? 

Concerning these pages in ISIS, Mahatma M. in THE
MAHATMA LETTERS writes:

"By-the-bye, I'll re-write for you pages 345 to 357,
Vol. I., of ISIS---much jumbled, and confused by
Olcott, who thought he was improving it."

This is ML #13 in the first 3 editions. M. was writing
in Jan. 1882 more than 10 years BEFORE Olcott's "Old
Diary Leaves" comments on HPB, ISIS and
"reincarnation" which Steve mentions.

Writers will quote Olcott but will NOT also quote and
compare what is said by Blavatsky herself in later
years about her "reincarnation" comments in ISIS. Also
one should carefully read and compare EVERYTHING
the Mahatmas wrote about ISIS and reincarnation in
their letters. 

All of this is very relevant to the subject and needs
to be considered if one is to have a BALANCED view on
the subject.

I will be bold enough to say that if HPB was alive
today she would probably write against "quickie
rebirth" being viewed as REAL reincarnation. In many
New Age books, in the readings of Edgar Cayce, and the
books of Dr. Ian Stevenson, one gains the impression
that "reincarnation" occurs quickly, i.e., within a
few months to several years from the death of the
"previous person". There is no kamaloka, no devachan.
In the writings of HPB and her Masters we get a quite
different picture involving karmaloka, devachan, etc.

I've only scratched the surface on this subject.
There is much more to be said on this subject.

I know of no published book or article that has dealt
COMPREHENSIVELY with the subject matter of this
posting.



=====
Daniel H. Caldwell
info@blavatskyarchives.com
BLAVATSKY ARCHIVES
http://blavatskyarchives.com
You can always access BLAVATSKY ARCHIVES 
by simply typing into the URL address bar 
the following 6 characters: hpb.cc

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