Theos-Talk Archives (July 2002 Message tt00299)

July 31 2002

Re: SECRET DOCTRINE, Volume III

Dear Ian:

It has been my suspicion for many years that G R S Mead
exercised discretion and did not always say all he knew.

I am quite sure that if he physical MSS of the Vols. III and
IV existed, the only place where they continue to exist is
of course in the ASTRAL light. -- and the living Mind of H
P B -- who, in my opinion is not "dead" at all but very much
alive, though unknown to us now. (some of the writers about
the time of her "departure" have said as much -- in view of
Reincarnation and what is written in SECRET DOCTRINE II
175fn and 181-2 I would say this is a fair surmise)
continues to overview the THEOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT all the
time.

And why not? Why would the Masters of Wisdom disappear?
Because we have no Physical contact does not mean they
vanished. It merely means we have not yet achieved the
ability and the level where useful contact between Them and
ourselves has no been established.

As a corollary: why not consider that all those who work
strenuously for THEOSOPHY are so changing there own personal
natures so as to attune themselves, gradually to such a
condition.? But this need not result in any kind of
personal claims -- as that would obscure the actual work of
promulgation which is focused on the "original teachings'
and not on any one or several individuals alive today.

H P B and Judge drew our attention to the fact that we are
all "pupil-teachers" We are pupils of H P B having a debt
due to her because we have studied her works. In turn we
all try to pass on those teachings (unchanged), so that
those who succeed us in time, have the same opportunities we
have had. We try to make of ourselves clear passageways.

Best wishes,

Dallas

=================

-----Original Message-----
From: Ian
Sent:	Wednesday, July 31, 2002 2:18 AM
To:
Subject:	Secret Doctrine

Thank you, Dallas, for throwing some more light on the
subject of Volume III

> Should the present volumes meet with a
> favourable reception, no efforts will be spared to carry
out
> the scheme of the work in its entirety. The third volume
is
> entirely ready; the fourth almost so."

This is precisely the wording, at the beginning of the
Preface to The Secret
Doctrine, which aroused my curiosity about Volume III.
Even at that stage
HPB said, in 1888, that Volume III was "entirely ready".
This was two and
a half years before her death. The thing I find baffling is
that GRS Mead,
who was her personal secretary during the last two years of
her life, made
no mention of seeing the correct manuscript of Volume III.
He states, as
Daniel points out in his paper, that he has edited almost
all of what HPB
had written in English, with the exception of Isis Unveiled,
but had never
seen what was published as Volume III. One would have
thought that if
there was a Volume III extant at the time, which HPB said
was "entirely
ready" in 1888, then Mead would have seen it. If this were
the case why did
he not say that the Volume III which was published was not
the correct one ?

> Consequently it
> depends upon the reception with which Volumes I and II
will
> meet at the hands of Theosophists and Mystics, whether
these
> last two volumes will ever be published, though they are
> almost completed."

This may be a crucial statement. If the reception of the
Masters were that
HPB had gone a little too far, then perhaps Volumes III & IV
were, as some
have suggested, deliberately suppressed.

> A copy of the "third Vol. S D " as originally issued by
the
> Theosophical Publishing House is available in most good
> Lodge or Branch libraries.

That answers a question I could feel rising, the more I read
of Volume III.


> Mr. Daniel Caldwell is of the opinion that the "3rd.
Volume
> as issued i1897 is in fact the 3rd Volume that H P B had
> written.

I have read Daniel's research paper, and find his arguments
convincing,
except for the curious anomaly of the statement by GRS Mead,
wheich I
mentioned earlier.

>Years ago I heard the following story, but could
> not authenticate it: An old student contemporary with H P
B
> and her secretaries recalls hearing from Mr. A.. Keightley
> that very shortly before her death, H P B walked into the
> room where he worked, and asked where the MSS for the 3rd
> and 4th volumes was. The pile was pointed out to her.
She
> then said: "I have just received instructions to destroy
> that." They there and then set to work and with the help
of
> others, they tore up all that pile of MSS.

This would certainly explain a lot, but not Mead's lack of
knowledge of the
true Volume III manuscript. Unless Mead was himself privy
to what had
happened and was maintaining secrecy.

Orra Best,
Ian




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