Theos-Talk Archives (February 2002 Message tt00006)

PART I Adepts - Masters -- Mahatmas = THEIR WORK


Saturday, February 02, 2002


Dear Friends:

Some mention of the Masters of Wisdom and their influence on the
world came up this week. I seemed to me interesting to look into
what was said by the original writers on Theosophical subjects.

Here are some of their views Divided into Part I and Part II

Best wishes,

Dallas



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PART I


PART I	Adepts -- Masters - Mahatmas = THEIR WORK

A few quotations on:--
A D E P T W O R K

I

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INSPIRING EXAMPLE OF H P B and MASTERS BEHIND HER


"...the [ Theosophical ] movement has grown in consequence of the
effort of those who are devoted to an ideal, inspired by
enthusiasm, filled with a lasting gratitude to H. P. Blavatsky.
Their ideal is the service of Humanity, the ultimate potential
perfectibility of man as exemplified by the Masters and Adepts of
all ages, including the present."	WQJ ART II 21



NATURE OF ADEPTS' WORK -- "CYCLES OF WOE"


"...the cycles of woe (undergone by the Arhan who remains to help
mankind), it is easy to understand...terms must be used which the
reader will understand...hence...(from our standpoint) it must be
said that there are such cycles of woe...just as the fact that I
[W.Q.Judge] have no amusements, and nothing but work in the T.S.,
seems a great penance to those who like their pleasures. I, on
the contrary, take pleasure and peace in the "self-denial," as
they call it. Therefore, it must follow that he who enters the
secret Path finds his peace and pleasure in endless work for ages
for Humanity. But, of course with his added sight and knowledge,
he must always be seeing the self-inflicted miseries of men. The
mistake you make is to give the person thus "sacrificed" the
small qualities and longings as we now have, whereas the wider
sweep and power of soul make what we call sacrifice and woe
something different."	WQJ LETTERS p. 116



MASTERS TO MANAGE "RESULTS"


"...what was long ago said--that the Master would manage
results. You must not manage, precipitate, nor force...By
gentleness, detachment, strict attention to duty, and retiring
now and then to the quiet place, bring up good
currents...Remember it is through the little things the work is
done through, for they are not noticed, while the lager ones draw
the eyes and minds of all...A steady mind and heart stands still
and quiet until the muddy stream rolls clear."	WQJ LETTERS p. 84



THE "ROYAL KNOWLEDGE" -- [ of the RAJA-RISHEES ]
from the GITA


"This is the royal knowledge, the royal mystery, the most
excellent purifier, clearly comprehensible, not opposed to sacred
law, easy to perform and inexhaustible..."All this universe is
pervaded by me in my invisible form; all things exist in me, but
I do not exist in them. Nor are all things in me; behold this
my divine mystery: myself causing all things to exist and
supporting them all but dwelling not in them. Understand that
all things are in me even as the mighty air which passeth
everywhere is in space...at the end of a kalpa all things return
into my nature, and then again at the beginning of another kalpa
I cause them to evolve again. Taking control of my own nature I
emanate again and again this whole assemblage of beings, without
their will, by the power of the material essence (Prakriti)..."
GITA P. 64-5


"There dwelleth in the heart of every being...the
Master--Ishwara--who by his magic power causeth all things and
creatures to revolve, mounted upon the universal wheel of time.
Take sanctuary with him alone..."	GITA p. 130


"There is nothing...in the three regions of the universe which it
is necessary for me to perform, nor anything possible to obtain,
which I have not obtained; and yet I am constantly in action.
If I were not indefatigable in action, all men would presently
follow my example ... If I did not perform actions these
creatures would perish; I should be the cause of confusion of
castes, and should have slain all these creatures."	GITA 25


ADEPT ASSISTANCE

"...Masters are working in many ways, and through many
organizations as well as with individuals. There are no barriers
to Their assistance, except such as personalities impose upon
themselves. Their work is universal; let our view be as much in
that direction as possible. So shall we best serve and know."
RC FP p. 5


MASTERS' PROGRAM

"There must be an adherence to the program of the Masters. That
can only be ascertained by consulting her [HPB] and the letters
given out by her as from Those to whom she refers. There is not
much doubt about that program."..."This is the moment to guide
the recurrent impulse which must soon come and which will push
the age toward extreme atheism or drag it back to extreme
sacerdotalism, if it is not led to the primitive, soul-satisfying
philosophy of the Aryans."..."We must follow this program and
supply the world with a system of philosophy which gives a sure
and logical basis for ethics, and that can only be gotten from
those to which I have adverted."..."By our unity the smallest
effort made by us will have ten-fold the power of any obstacle
before us or any opposition offered by the world."..."Our destiny
is to continue the wide work of the past in affecting literature
and thought throughout the world, while our ranks see many
changing quantities but always holding those who remain true to
the program, and refuse to become dogmatic or give up common
sense in Theosophy. Thus we will wait for the new messenger,
striving to keep the organization alive that he may use it."
WQJ - THE FUTURE AND THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY -
quoted by RC, FP p. 153 -- [WQJ ART II p. 145-6]



HPB ON ADEPT WORK

"The real ones [Adepts] have a wide work to do in many
departments of life and in preparing certain persons who have a
future work to do. Though their influence is wide they are not
suspected, and that is the way they want to work for the present.
There are some also who are at work with certain individuals in
some of the aboriginal tribes in America, as among those are Egos
who are to do still more work in another incarnation, and they
must be prepared for it now. Nothing is omitted by these Adepts.
in Europe it is the same way, each sphere of work being governed
by the time and the place."	WQJ ART I 432-3



TOTAL EVOLUTION : -- THE INDIVIDUAL CHOICE FOR THE GOAL --
SPIRITUAL TRAINING


"The process of evolution up to reunion with the Divine is and
includes successive elevation from rank to rank of power and
usefulness. The most exalted beings still in the flesh are known
as Sages, Rishis, Brothers, Masters. Their great functions being
the preservation at all times, and when cyclic laws permit, the
extension of spiritual knowledge and influence.

As to the process of spiritual development, Theosophy teaches:

1.	That the essence of the process lies in the securing of
supremacy to the highest, the spiritual, element of man's nature.

2.	That this is attained along 4 lines, among others, --

A.	The entire eradication of selfishness in all forms, and the
cultivation of broad, generous sympathy in, and effort for the
good of others.

B.	The absolute cultivation of the inner, spiritual man by
meditation, by reaching to and communion with the Divine
[within], and by exercise of the kind described by Patanjali,
i.e., incessant striving to an ideal end.

C.	The control of fleshly appetites and desires, all lower,
material interests being deliberately subordinated to the behests
of the spirit.

D.	The careful performance of every duty belonging to one's
station in life, without desire for reward, leaving results for
Divine law.

3.	That while the above is incumbent on and practicable by all
religiously disposed men, a yet higher plane of spiritual
attainment is conditioned upon a specific course of training,
physical, intellectual and spiritual, by which the internal
faculties are first aroused and then developed.

4.	That an extension of this process is reached in Arhatship,
Mahatmaship, or the states of Rishis, Sages and Dhyan Chohans,
which are all exalted stages, attained by laborious
self-discipline and hardship protracted through possibly many
incarnations, and with many degrees of initiation and preferment,
beyond which are yet other stages ever approaching the Divine.

As to the rationale of spiritual development it asserts:

1.	That the process takes place entirely within the individual
himself, the motive, the effort, and the result proceeding from
his own inner nature, along the lines of self-evolution.

2.	That still more is gained by a career of duty, piety and
beneficence.

3.	That a still greater advance is attained by the attentive and
devoted use of the means to spiritual culture heretofore stated.

4.	That every race and individual of it reaches in evolution a
period known as "the moment of choice," when they decided for
themselves their future by a deliberate and conscious choice
between eternal life and death, and that this right of choice is
the
peculiar appanage of the free soul. It cannot be exercised until
the man has realized the soul within him, and until that soul has
attained some measure of self-consciousness in the body. The
moment of choice is not a fixed period of time; it is made up of
all moments. It cannot come unless all previous lives have led
up to it. For the race as a whole it has not yet come. Any
individual can hasten the advent of this period for himself under
the previously stated law of the ripening of Karma. Should he
then fail to choose right he is not wholly condemned, for the
economy of nature provides that he shall again and again have the
opportunity of choice when the moment arrives for the whole
race..."	WQJ -- AN EPITOME 25-27



ADEPT COMMUNICATIONS -- INNER EYE & EAR

"They have disciples with whom communication is already
established and carried on, most generally through the inner ear
and eye, but sometimes through the prosaic mail...no one else is
involved and no one else has the right to put questions...To
spread broadcast a mass of written communications among those who
are willing to accept them without knowing how to judge them
would be the sheerest folly, only productive of superstition and
blind credulity. This is not the aim of the Adepts, nor the
method they pursue."	WQJ ART I 452



WHERE ARE THE ADEPTS ?

"Now, as the great Adepts live in the plane of our inner nature,
it must follow that they might be actively helping every one of
us after the date [1897-98] referred to, and we, as physical
brain men, not be conscious of it on this plane."	WQJ ART II
506


"Fix your thoughts again on Those Elder Brothers, work for Them,
serve Them, and They will help through the right appropriate
means and no other. To meditate on the Higher Self is difficult.
Seek, then, the bridge--the Masters... Those who know the Truth
will teach it. Give up doubt..."	WQJ LETTERS p. 112


DISCIPLES' ATTITUDE


"I am glad that you have such faith in the Great workers who are
behind us. They are behind us, to my personal knowledge, and not
behind me only, but behind all sincere workers. I know that
their desire is that each should listen to the voice of his inner
self and not depend too much on outside people, whether they be
Masters, Eastern disciples or what not. By a dependence of that
kind you become at last thoroughly independent, and then the
unseen helpers are able to help all the more."
WQJ LETTERS p. 112-3


"Those who can to any extent assimilate the Master, to that
extent they are the representative of the Master, and have the
help of the Lodge in its work."	WQJ LETTERS p. 113



AVATARS WORK TO RESTORE BALANCE AND
THRUST OF EVOLUTION

"...the doctrine, well-known in India, of the reappearance of
Avatars...all admit that the true doctrine is stated by Krishna
[see above]. These appearances among men for the purpose of
restoring the equilibrium are not the same as the rule of
Vivaswata and Manu first spoken of, but are the coming to earth
of Avatars or Saviors. That there is a periodicity to them is
stated in the words "from age to age." He is here speaking of
the great cycles about which hitherto the Masters have been
silent except to say that there are such great cycles. It is
very generally admitted now that the cyclic law is of the highest
importance in the consideration of evolution and Man's destiny.
But the coming of an Avatar must be strictly in accordance with
natural law,--and that law demands that at the time of such an
event there also appears a being who represents the other pole--,
for, as Krishna says, the great law of the two opposites is
eternally present it the world... The number of magicians
developed among the nations at such a time is very great, but one
towers above them all, making the rest pay tribute...[this is] a
sober truth, and the present prevalence of self-seeking and
money-getting is exactly the sort of training of certain
qualities that black magicians will exemplify in ages to come.
The Krishna--or howsoever named--appears "in visible shape, a man
with men." His power is as great as the evil one, but he has on
his side what the others have not--spirit, preservative,
conservative forces. With these he is able to engage in conflict
with the black magicians, and in it he is assisted by all of us
who are really devoted to Brotherhood. The result is a victory
for the good and destruction for the wicked." WQJ GITA NOTES
pp. 106-9



ADEPT WORK: ASSISTING ALL GOOD MOVEMENTS and INDIVIDUALS


Q.:--	"What then are the Adepts doing?

A.:-- (a) Assisting all good movements by acting on men from
behind the scenes through mental influence.

(b) Preparing as many men and women who are fit for it
so that they may, in their next incarnation, appear in the world
as active devotees to the good of the Human Family.

(c) Spreading now, through impulses given in many
places which must not be mention, a philosophy of life which will
gradually affect the race mind, and in particular the active,
conquering Western peoples, thus preparing the whole people to
change and evolve yet further and further until evils disappear
and better days and people reappear." WQJ ARTICLES II 53-4


THE ETERNAL EXAMPLE OF ACHIEVEMENT: THE GREAT SACRIFICE


"...he is the mysterious (to the profane--the ever invisible) yet
ever present Personage about whom legends are rife in the East,
especially among the Occultists and the students of the Sacred
Science. It is he who changes form, yet remains ever the same.
And it is he again who holds spiritual sway over the initiated
Adepts throughout the whole world. He is, as said, the "Nameless
One" who has so many names, and yet whose names and whose very
nature are unknown. He is the "Initiator," called the "GREAT
SACRIFICE." For sitting at the threshold of LIGHT, he looks into
it from within the circle of Darkness, which he will not cross;
nor will he quit his post till the last day of this life-cycle.
Why...Because the lonely, sore-footed pilgrims on their way back
to their home are never sure to the last moment of not losing
their way in this limitless desert of illusion and matter called
Earth-Life. Because he would fain show the way to that region of
freedom and light, from which he is a voluntary exile himself, to
every prisoner who has succeeded in liberating himself from the
bonds of flesh and illusion. Because, in short, he has
sacrificed himself for the sake of mankind, though but a few
Elect may profit by the GREAT SACRIFICE. It is under the direct,
silent guidance of this MAHA--(great)--GURU that all the other
less divine Teachers and instructors of mankind became, from the
first awakening of human consciousness, the guides of early
Humanity. It is through these "Sons of God" that infant humanity
got its first notions of all the arts and sciences, as well as of
spiritual knowledge; and it is they who have laid the first
foundation-stone of those ancient civilizations that puzzle so
sorely our modern generation of students and scholars."
SD I 207-8


LIGHTING UP OF MANAS ( The HUMAN MIND )	-- DEVOTION


"...divine man dwelt in his animal--though externally
human--form; and, if there was instinct in him, no
self-consciousness came to enlighten the darkness of the latent
5th principle [Manas]. When moved by the law of Evolution, the
Lords of Wisdom infused into him the spark of consciousness, the
first feeling it awoke to life and activity was a sense of
solidarity, of one-ness with his spiritual creators. As the
child's first feeling is for its mother and nurse, so the first
aspirations of the awakening consciousness in primitive man were
for those whose element he felt within himself, and who yet were
outside, and independent of him. DEVOTION arose out of that
feeling, and became the first and foremost motor in his nature;
for it is the only one which is natural in our heart, which is
innate in us, and which we find alike in human babe and the young
of the animal. This feeling of irrepressible, instinctive
aspiration in primitive man ..."	SD I 210



INNATE - INHERENT IDEAS FROM "PLANETARY SPIRITS"


"Up to the period marked by the first earthly King called
Ikshwaku, the Ruler was a spiritual Being whom all men knew to be
such, for his power, glory, benevolence, and wisdom were evident.
He lived an immense number of years, and taught men not only Yoga
but also arts and sciences. The ideas implanted then, having
been set in motion by one who knew all the laws, remain as
inherent ideas to this day...(105) They are preserved by the
uneducated masses, who, having no scholastic theories to divert
their minds, keep up what is left of the succession of ideas."
GITA NOTES p. 104-5


"Alone the adepts, i.e., the embodied spirits--are forbidden by
our wise and intransgressible laws to completely subject to
themselves another and weaker will,--that of free born man. The
latter mode of proceeding is the favorite one resorted to by the
"Brothers of the Shadow," the Sorcerers, the Elementary Spooks,
and, as an isolated exception--by the highest Planetary (41)
Spirits, those, who can no longer err. But those appear on Earth
but at the origin of every new human kind; at the junction of,
and close of the two ends of the great cycle. And, they remain
with man no longer than the time required for the eternal truths
they teach to impress themselves so forcibly upon the plastic
minds or the new race as to warrant them from being lost or
entirely forgotten in ages hereafter, by the forthcoming
generations. The mission of the planetary Spirits is but to
strike the KEY-NOTE OF TRUTH. Once he has directed the vibration
of the latter to run its course uninterruptedly along the
catenation of that race and to the end of the cycle--the denizen
of the highest inhabited sphere disappears from the surface of
our planet--till the following "resurrection of flesh." The
vibrations of the Primitive Truth are what your philosophers name
"innate ideas."	M.L. 40-1


"...the primeval one Truth, taught humanity in the infancy of its
races by every First Messenger--the Planetary Spirit mentioned
[above]--and whose (49) remembrance lingered in the memory of man
as Elu of the Chaldees, Osiris the Egyptian, Vishnu, the first
Buddhas and so on." M.L. 48-9


"...Truth is One, and cannot admit of diametrically opposite
views; and pure Spirits who see it as it is, with the veil of
matter entirely withdrawn from it cannot err. Now, if we allow
of different aspects or portions of the Whole Truth being visible
to different agencies or intelligences, each under various
conditions, as for example various portions of the one landscape
develop themselves to various persons at various distances and
from various standpoints--if we admit the fact of...individual
Brothers for instance endeavoring to develop the Egos of
different individuals, without subjecting entirely their wills to
their own (as it is forbidden) but by availing themselves of
their physical, moral, and intellectual idiosyncrasies; if we
add the countless kosmical influences which distort and deflect
all efforts to achieve definite purposes; if we remember,
moreover, the direct hostility of the Brethren of the Shadow
always on the watch to perplex and haze the neophyte's brain, I
think we shall have no difficulty in understanding how even a
definite spiritual advance may to a certain extent lead different
individuals to apparently different conclusions and theories."
M.L. 49



INCARNATION AN ACT OF SACRIFICE FOR THE MIND-MEN TO BE


"...The Host of Dhyanis, whose turn it was to incarnate as the
Egos of the immortal, but, on this plane, senseless monads--that
some "obeyed" (the law of evolution) immediately when the men of
the 3rd Race became physiologically and physically ready, i.e.,
when they had separated into sexes. These were those early
conscious Beings who, now adding conscious knowledge and will to
their inherent Divine purity, created by Kriyasakti the
semi-Divine man, who became the seed on earth for future adepts.
Those, on the other hand, who, jealous of their intellectual
freedom (unfettered as it then was by the bonds of matter),
said:--"We can choose...we have wisdom,"...and incarnated far
later--these had their first Karmic punishment prepared for them.
They got bodies (physiologically) inferior to their astral
models, because their chhayas had belonged to progenitors of an
inferior degree in the 7 classes. As to those "Sons of Wisdom"
who had "deferred" their incarnation till the 4th Race, which was
already tainted (physiologically) with sin and impurity, they
produced a terrible cause, the Karmic result of which weighs on
them to this day...the bodies they had to inform had become
defiled through their own procrastination...This was the "Fall of
the angels," because of their rebellion against Karmic Law. The
"fall of man" was no fall, for he was irresponsible..."	SD II 228


"CREATION" and the "CREATORS"

"...as the work of each Round is said to be apportioned to a
different group of so-called "Creators" or "Architects," so is
that of every globe; i.e., it is under the supervision and
guidance of special "Builders" and "Watchers"--the various
Dhyan-Chohans...It becomes the task of the 5th Hierarchy--the
mysterious beings that preside over the constellation
Capricornus, Makara, or "Crocodile" in India as in Egypt--to
inform the empty and ethereal animal form and make of it a
Rational Man...Many are those among the Spiritual Entities, who
have incarnated bodily in man, since the beginning of his
appearance, and who, for all that, still exist as independently
as they did before, in the infinitudes of Space...the invisible
Entity may be bodily present on earth without abandoning,
however, its status and functions in the supersensuous
regions..."	SD I 233


"...this philosophy of cycles...was allegorized by the Egyptian
Hierophants in the "circle of necessity," explains at the same
time the allegory of the "Fall of man." ...each of the 7 chambers
of the Pyramids...was known by the name of a planet. The
peculiar architecture of the Pyramids shows in itself the drift
of the metaphysical thought of their builders. The apex is lost
in the clear blue sky...and typifies the primordial (297) point
lost in the unseen universe from which started the first race of
the spiritual prototypes of man...Divine spirit being considered
a unity, however numerous the rays of the great spiritual sun,
man has still had his origins like all other forms, whether
organic or otherwise, in this one Fount of Eternal Light..."
ISIS I 296 - 297


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