Theos-Talk Archives (November 2002 Message tt00336)

THEOSOPHY AND THE THEOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT
Part II

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"There is a very great difference between the Theosophical Movement
and any Theosophical Society. The Movement is moral, ethical,
spiritual, universal, invisible save in effect, and continuous. A
Society formed for theosophical work is a visible organization, an
effect, a machine for conserving energy and putting it to use; It is
not nor can it be universal, nor is it continuous...


The Theosophical Movement being continuous, it is to be found at all
times and in all nations. Wherever thought has struggled to be free,
wherever spiritual ideas, as opposed to forms and dogmatism, have been
promulgated, there the great movement is to be discerned." WQJ -
"The Theosophical Movement" WQJ Articles, II, p. 124


"But let no man set up a popery instead of Theosophy, as this would be
suicidal and has ever ended most fatally. We are all fellow-students,
more or less advanced; but no one belonging to the T.S. ought to
count himself as more than that, at best, a pupil-teacher--one who has
no right to dogmatize." - - 1888 -- --HPB "Five Messages Amer.
Theosophists," p. 4


"It is just because we have devoted our whole life to the research of
truth...that we never accept on faith any authority upon any question
whatsoever; nor, pursuing, as we do, Truth and progress through a
full and fearless enquiry, untrammeled by any consideration, would we
advise any of our friends to do otherwise." --HPB "Notes on 'A Land
of Mystery'" HPB Art III 342-3 Theosophist, Vol. 1, p.
278-9


"Be what he may, once that a student abandons the old and trodden
highway of routine, and enters upon the solitary path of independent
thought--Godward--he is a Theosophist; an original thinker, a seeker
after the eternal truth with "an inspiration of his own" to solve the
universal problems." -- HPB " What are the Theosophists ?"
Theosophist, Oct. 1879. HPB Art. I p. 52


"It has always been held that a true Theosophist must have no personal
ends to serve, no favourite hobby to propagate, no special doctrine to
enforce or to defend. For, to merit the honorable title of
Theosophist one must be an altruist, above all; one ever ready to
help equally foe or friend; to act, rather than to speak; and urge
others to action, while never losing an opportunity to work himself.
But if no true Theosophist will ever dictate to his fellow, brother or
neighbor, what this one should believe or disbelieve in, nor force him
to act on lines which may be distasteful to him, however proper they
may appear to himself, there are other duties which he has to attend
to:

a) to warn his brother of any danger the latter may fail to see; and

b) to share his knowledge--if he has acquired such--with those who
have been less fortunate than himself in opportunities for acquiring
it...

Therefore, we say to-day to all: "If you would really help the noble
cause--you must do so now; for a few years more and your, as well as
our efforts, will be in vain."...

Unless we succeed in placing the T.S...on the safe side of the
spiritual current, it will be swept away irretrievably into the Deep
called "Failure." ...Thus will have ingloriously perished the only
association whose aims, rules and original purposes answer in every
particular and detail--if strictly carried out--to the innermost,
fundamental thought of every great Adept Reformer, the beautiful dream
of a Universal Brotherhood Of Man."
HPB "Why the Vahan ?" Dec. 1890 HPB Art. I
284-5


Authority in Theosophy


"The Authority which we recognize is not what men term authority,
which comes from outside and which demands obedience, but an internal
recognition of the value of that which flows through any given point,
focus, or individual. This is the authority of one's
Self-discrimination, intuition, the highest intellection. If we
follow what we recognize in that way, and still find it good, we
naturally keep our faces in that direction. This means no slavish
following of any person--a distinction which some are unable to grasp.
H.P.B. wrote: "Do not follow me or my path. Follow the path I show,
the Masters who are behind"...the most and best anyone can do is to
follow the lines laid down by H.P.B. regardless of any others." F.
P. p. 372-3 [ Reminiscences - C. Wachtmeister p. 122 ]


"It is above everything important to keep in mind that no theosophical
book acquires the least additional value from pretended authority."
S D I p. xix


"Its [Theosophical] doctrines, if seriously studied, call forth, by
stimulating one's reasoning powers and awakening the inner in the
animal man, every hitherto dormant power for good in us, and also the
perception of the true and the real, as opposed to the false and the
unreal.

"The Society, as such, has no authorities. It was founded with the
object of breaking down that reliance upon "authority" which has been
the bane of man for ages, and it would be strange now in we could
admit authority for theosophists...WE are engaged in trying to develop
a truer appreciation of the Light of Life which is hidden in every
man, and so the "final authority" is the man himself." -- WQJ
"Authority," The Path, Nov. 1887, WQJ Art. II 543, 575


"Experience has at last prompted the adoption of a better working
system, one embodying the true spirit of equality and parliamentary
justice more than the one in vogue. As an autonomous American section
had been in existence and successfully working for two years, and a
British section had just been formed in London, the fair thing was
evidently to extend the sectional scheme to all countries, keeping the
Head-quarters as the hub, and the President Founder as the axle, of
this wheel of many spokes under the car of Progress. [ Follows a
synopsis of the new and revised Rules for this. ] ...At the same
time, these and all future sections are or will be inseparably united
with the central point where the President Founder represents the
executive authority of the entire undivided body known as the
Theosophical Society." [ From the "General Report of the 13th
Convention and Report of the T.S. at the H.Q., Adyar, Madras, December
27th - 29th 1888. ] Lucifer Vol III, pp. 495-6


"Look around you, and behold our Universal Brotherhood so called !
The Society founded to remedy the glaring evils of Christianity, to
shun bigotry and intolerance, cant, and superstition and to cultivate
real universal love extending even to the dumb brute, what has it
become in Europe and America in these 11 years of trial [1886] ? In
one thing only we have succeeded ...we have made away with every dogma
and are now justly and wisely trying to make away with the last
vestige of even nominal authority..." -- HPB The Theosophical
Mahatmas" The Path, Dec. 1886. HPB Articles I 305


"...the undersigned [ HPB ] accepts for her views and walk in life no
authority dead or living, no system of philosophy or religion but
one--namely, the esoteric teachings of ethics and philosophy of those
she calls Masters--answers have to be given strictly in accordance
with these teachings...his first duty is to be ever ready to help if
he can, without stopping to philosophize...there may be those who are
starving for truth, in every department of the science of nature, and
who consequently are yearning to learn the esoteric views about
"cosmology, the evolution of man and of the Universe." ...

"...what I do believe in is:

1) the unbroken oral teachings revealed by living divine men
during the infancy of mankind to the elect among men;

2) that it has reached us unaltered; and

3) that the Masters are thoroughly versed in the science based
on such uninterrupted teaching." -- HPB HPB
Articles, I pp. 459-61


"The tree is known by its fruits; and as all Theosophists have to be
judged by their deeds and not by what they write or say, so all
Theosophical books must be accepted on their merits, and not according
to any claim to authority which they may put forward." --
HPB Key to Theosophy, p. 300



Autonomy and Interdependence


"...Master said to me. He [Olcott]...the Society has outgrown him.
Let him remain a nominal President--but let us active Presidents--one
in India, the other in Europe--the third in America, begin working
with that object. You alone ought to become the President in chief of
all the European Societies, and for life--who ever else may be the
year President of the L.L., or the Paris, or German Th. Societies.
Such is the desire of my Master--I know it. For myself--I am resolved
to remain sub rosa. I can do far more by remaining in the shadow than
by becoming prominent once more in the movement."
HPB to APS p. 111-12


"We have a reform in hand...what do you think of the idea of placing
the Branches on quite a different footing ?... What I want is simply a
paper on the advisability of remodeling the present formation of
branches and their privileges. Let them be all chartered and
initiated as heretofore by the Parent Society, and depend of it
nominally. At the same time, let every Branch before it is chartered,
choose some one object to work for, an object, naturally in sympathy
with the general principles of the T.S.--yet a distinct and definite
object of its own, whether in the religious, educational or
philosophical line. This would allow the Society a broader margin for
its general operations; more real, useful work would be done; and,
as every Branch would be so to say, independent in its modus
operandus, there would remain less room for complaint and par
consequence--for interference. At any rate this hazy sketch, I hope,
will find an excellent soil to germinate and thrive in..." M L pp
317-8


"...many are the things we shall have to talk over and foremost of all
the Mahatma's desire that the Branches of the T.S. especially the L.L.
[London Lodge] and the European should be made all autonomous under
one President. A sudden and efficient stop must be made to
"President's Camps," Poona, and "President's Camp, Lahore" and
"Special orders" and all that sort of thing. Ah well, who loves the
Cause--has to sacrifice himself, and I am ever ready. Au revoir. "
HPB Letters to APS, p. 129


"Explain to Olcott matters and claim from him and Council, that which
you of the L. L. virtually have: complete autonomy for the European
Branches, as many as there are groups of the same way of thinking.
Theosophy was founded as a nucleus for Univ. Brotherhood. So was
Christ. The latter was a complete failure and is a sham, only because
the R. Latin Church claims infallibility, absolute authority...Our
Society was established to bring together people as searchers after
truth, independent thinkers, one having no right to force his opinion
on the other: or meddle in his religious views." HPB Let to
APS, p. 221


"I must ask you to remember that the new Society shall not be allowed
to disconnect itself with the parent Body, though you are at liberty
to manage your affairs in your own way and without fearing the
slightest interference from its President so long as you do not
violate the general Rules." M L , p. 16


"...you will have--in case you organize--to put up with Olcott at the
head of the Parent Society, hence--nominally the president of all the
existing Branches. But he will be no more your "leader" than he is
the leader of the British Theos. Society, which has its own President,
its own Rules and Bye-laws. You will be chartered by him, and that's
all...yet he has no right to interfere either with your administration
or modes of action, so long as these do not clash with the general
Rules, and he certainly has neither the ability nor the desire of
being your leader." M L , pp. 20-1


"When the ancient founders of your philosophical schools came East, to
acquire the lore of our predecessors, they filed no claims, except
the single one of a sincere and unselfish hunger for the truth. If
any now aspire to found new schools of science and philosophy the same
plan will win--if the searchers have in them the elements of
success...H.S.Olcott has been trying to convert each of the Indian
Branches into such a school of research, but the capacity for
sustained independent study for knowledge's sake is lacking, and must
be developed..." M L, p. 342



"Solidarity of thought and action within the broad outline of the
chief and general principles of the Society there must always be
between the parent and Branch bodies; yet the latter must be allowed
each their own independent action in everything that does not clash
with those principles."
M L , p. 318-9


"The Theosophical Society was constituted on the model of its mother
country...they wanted to grant absolute equality in its laws to all
religions so that all would support the State and all in their turn
would be protected...each branch as well as each member, having the
right to profess the religion and to study the sciences or
philosophies it or he prefers, provided that the whole remains united
by bonds of solidarity and fraternity--our Society may be truly called
the "Republic of Conscience."...

"All of us must work for the liberation of human thought, for the
elimination of selfish and sectarian superstitions, and for the
discovery of all the truths that are within the reach of the human
mind. This goal cannot be attained with greater certainty than
through the culture of solidarity on the plane of mental work. No
honest worker, no serious seeker, has ever returned therefrom
empty-handed..." --HPB "The New Cycle" La Revue Theosophique, March
21, 1889. HPB Articles I 402


"No true Theosophist...would consent to become the fetish of a
fashionable doctrine, any more than he would make himself the slave of
a decaying dead-letter system, the spirit from which has disappeared
forever. Neither would he pander to anyone or anything, and therefore
would always decline to show belief in that in which he does not, nor
can he believe, which is lying to his own soul...we will keep to that
pure ray "that comes from above," from the light of the "Ancient."
--HPB "Dual Aspect of Wisdom", Lucifer, Sept. 1890, HPB Articles
I 36-7


"If one criticism is hurtful, so is another; so also is every
innovation, or even the presentation of some old thing under a new
aspect, as both have necessarily to clash with the views of this, or
another "authority."...criticism is the great benefactor of thought in
general; and still more so of those men who never think for
themselves but rely in everything upon acknowledged "authorities" and
social routine.

For what is an "authority" upon any question...No more...than a light
streaming upon a certain object through one single, more or less wide,
chink, and illuminating it from one side only. Such light, besides
being the faithful reflector of the personal views of but one
man--very often merely that of his special hobby--can never help in
the examination of a question or a subject from all its aspects and
sides...Criticism is the sole salvation from intellectual
stagnation...(391)To reject the infallibility of a man of Science is
not quite the same as to repudiate his learning. A specialist is one,
precisely because he has some one specialty, and is therefore less
reliable in other branches of Science, and even in the general
appreciation of his own subject. Official school Science is based
upon temporary foundations, so far...Truth belongs to all...excepting
always those few special branches of knowledge which should be
preserved ever secret, like those two-edged weapons that both kill and
save..." - HPB Literary Jottings by "Unpopular Philosopher"
Lucifer, Sept. 1892 (posthumous) HPB Art. II 389-391


"It is our duty, as it is that of physical Science...to throw light on
facts in Nature hitherto surrounded by the darkness of ignorance...But
natural Sciences are only one aspect of Science and Truth.
Psychological and moral Science, or Theosophy, the knowledge of divine
truth, wherever found, are still more important in human affairs, and
real Science should not be limited simply to the physical aspect of
life and nature. Science is an abstract of every fact, a
comprehension of every truth within the scope of human research and
intelligence.." -- H.P.Blavatsky "What's in a Name ?"
Lucifer, Sept. 1887, HPB Art III 374-5


[ HPB on criticism of Isis and the Secret Doctrine ]

"We are quite ready to admit the faults charged...that it is badly
arranged, discursive, over-burdened with digressions into by-ways of
mythology, etc., But then it is neither a philosophical system nor
the Doctrine, called secret or esoteric, but only a record of a few of
its facts and a witness to it. It has never claimed to be the full
exposition of the system...in its totality; a) because the writer
does not boast of being a great Initiate... b) because had she been
one, she would have divulged still less. It has never been
contemplated to make of the sacred truths an integral system for the
ribaldry and sneers of the profane and iconoclastic public...

The Secret Doctrine merely asserts that a system, known as the Wisdom
Religion, the work of generations of adepts and seers, the sacred
heirloom of pre-historic times--actually exists, though hitherto
preserved in the greatest secrecy by the present Initiates...

Giving a few fragments only, it there shows how these explain the
religious dogmas of the present day, and how they might serve Western
religions, philosophies and science, as sign-posts along the untrodden
paths of discovery...

No new philosophy is set up in the Secret Doctrine, only the hidden
meaning of some of the religious allegories of antiquity is
given...and the common source is pointed out...however divergent...the
agreement between all becomes perfect, so soon as the esoteric or
inner side of these beliefs and their symbology is examined...

It is also maintained that its doctrines and sciences, which form an
integral cycle of universal cosmic facts and metaphysical axioms and
truths, represent a complete and unbroken system; and that he who is
brave and persevering enough, ready to crush the animal in himself,
and forgetting the human self, sacrifices it to his Higher Ego, can
always find his way to become initiated into these mysteries. This is
all the Secret Doctrine claims." --HPB "The Babel of Modern
Thought," LUCIFER, Jan., Feb. 1891, HPB Articles III
43-44


"If any authority pertains to the Secret Doctrine, it must be sought
inside, not outside. It must rest on its comprehensiveness, its
completeness, its continuity and reasonableness; in other words, on
its philosophical synthesis, a thing missed alike by the superficial
and the contentious, by the indolent, the superstitious, and the
dogmatic."
-- WQJ "The Synthesis of Occult Science," WQJ Art I 36



[ Dr. Fisher quoted by HPB in Isis:

"One of the most formidable obstacles to the advancement of
science...has ever been a blind submission to authority...To untrammel
the mind from the influence of mere authority, that it may have free
scope in its investigation of facts and laws which exist and are
established in nature, is the grand antecedent necessary to scientific
discovery and permanent progress."
Dr. Fisher: "Trans. of Medical Science" Isis Unveiled I 396



Unity and the T.S. and Theosophy the Bond


"There is no longer a 'Parent Society;' it is abolished and replaced
by an aggregate body of Theosophical Societies, all autonomous...such
is the real state of things." - HPB
[ Lucifer, Vol. 4, p. 508 ] Thy. Mag. Vol 6, p. 477


"We are now to be like the Freemasons, who are one and all, in every
part of the world, Freemasons. Yet each Grand Lodge is independent,
autonomous...and yet every member a Freemason and traveling into every
Lodge if he follows the rule.

"You are quite right that Autonomy was agreed on as the method. There
would be very great clumsiness and friction in being part of the
American T.S. Each great territory, like an individual, stands on its
own feet, while all are united in aim...keep in mind that what we
ought to work for is to bring the truths of Theosophy before the
greatest number of persons and not that we seek office or honour, then
our best efforts must have good results." -- WQJ"
Letters That Have Helped Me, p. 171


The period which we have now reached in this cycle that will close
between 1897-98 is, and will continue to be, one of great conflict and
continued strain...No opportunity will be lost of sowing dissension,
of taking advantage of mistaken and false moves, of instilling doubt,
of augmenting difficulties, of breathing suspicions, so that by any
and every means the unity of the Society may be broken and the ranks
of our Fellows thinned and thrown into disarray. Never has it been
more necessary for the members of the T.S. to lay to heart the old
parable of the bundle of sticks than it is at the present time:
divided, they will inevitably be broken, one by one; united, there is
no force on earth able to destroy our Brotherhood ...Self-watchfulness
is never more necessary than when a personal wish to lead, and wounded
vanity, dress themselves in the peacock's feathers of devotion and
altruistic work; but at the present crisis of the Society a lack of
self-control and watchfulness may become fatal in every case...If
every fellow in the Society were content to be an impersonal force for
good, careless of praise or blame so long as he subserved the purposes
of the Brotherhood, the progress made would astonish the World and
place the Ark of the T.S. out of danger. Take for your motto in
conduct..."Peace with all who love Truth in sincerity." -- HPB
Five Messages, (1891) p. 29



In 1885 when HPB was exiled from Adyar, the Master wrote:

"The Society has liberated itself from our grasp and influence, and we
have let it go...It is now a soulless corpse, a machine run so far
well enough, but which will fall to pieces when...Out of the three
objects, the second alone is attended to; it is no longer a
Brotherhood, nor a body over the face of which broods the Spirit
beyond the Great Range." [ Theosophist, October 1907 ] Theosophy
Mag. Vol. 6, p. 477


"Let us then press forward together in the great work of the real
Theosophical Movement, which is aided by working organizations, but is
above them all...We will then each and all be members of that
Universal Lodge of Free and Independent Theosophists which embrace
every friend of the human race." -- W. Q. Judge Letter to European
Convention 1895 from the Theosophical Society in America --
Path Vol. 10, p. 136


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


ADDENDUM


On Autonomy

[ The following quotations deserve their place here in view of the
assertion still made in the T S, Adyar that The American Theosophists
and Mr. W.Q.Judge "seceded" from the T.S. --DTB ]



A 1893 Letter from Col. Olcott

Mr. A.E.S. Smythe, President TS in Canada, wrote the Editors of
Theosophy [ reported on p. 11 of the March 15th issue of Canadian
Theosophist, for 1923, Vol. 4, # 1 ] quoting a letter addressed in
1893 by Col. Olcott, P.T.S. to Mr. Judge in which he read the
following :

"If you want separate Theosophical Societies made out of the Sections,
have them by all means. I offered this years ago to H.P.B. and even
to A.P.S."


In the Canadian Theosophist, Vol. X, July 1929, pp 156-7 Mr.
A. E. S. Smythe, President wrote:

"The splitting of the Society was the act of Colonel Olcott who hated
Judge. Judge had expected that the Colonel would recognize the
autonomous T.S. in America and affiliate it with Adyar, but Olcott
changed his mind and refused to do this, and Judge...was much
disappointed with the Colonel's refusal. I was in the office at 144
Madison Avenue when Judge received a letter from Olcott postmarked and
stamped from Spain, and Judge remarked 'Now everything will be all
right.' But the letter was not what Judge expected and his
disappointment was very obvious. This phase of the situation has
never been explained, and I have never been able to learn whether
Judge counted with warrant on Olcott's support, or whether it was
really a right-about-face on Olcott's part, for Judge certainly
expected Olcott to support him. Judge had collected $ 17,000.00 in
America and sent it to Olcott when the Adyar treasurer embezzled that
amount...Judge and Besant were all right till H.P.B. died and we can
honour and depend upon them up till that point. After May 8, 1891 we
have had to depend upon ourselves and should be charitable to our
neighbours. -- A.E.S.Smythe. "



[ From HPB: "Why I do not Return to India" -- letter

April, 1890

"...the name alone of the holy Masters...has wrought a mighty change
for the better in your land [India]...so long as I remained at Adyar,
things went on smoothly enough, because one or other of the Masters
was almost constantly present among us, and their spirit ever
protected the T.S. from real harm...[1884] It was during that time and
Colonel Olcott's absence in Burma, that the seeds of all future
strifes, and...disintegration of the T.S., were planned by our
enemies... I say, at that critical moment, if the members of the
Society, and especially its leaders at Adyar, Hindu and European, had
stood together as one man, firm in their conviction of the reality and
power of the Masters, Theosophy would have come out more triumphantly
than ever, and none of their fears would have ever been realized...In
spite of my protests, I was hurried away from Headquarters...and
immediately intrigues and rumors began...it was rumored that I had
been abandoned by the Masters, been disloyal to Them...I was accused
of being, at best, a hallucinated medium, who had mistaken "spooks"
for living Masters...others declared that the real H.P.Blavatsky was
dead...and that the form had been forthwith seized upon by a Dugpa
Chela...I was a witch, a sorceress...In fact the powers of psychology
attributed to me by my enemies...are so great that they alone would
have made of me a most remarkable Adept--independently of any Masters
or Mahatmas. with the exception of Colonel Olcott, everyone seemed to
banish the Masters from their thoughts and Their spirit from
Adyar...since my departure...the activity of the movement there
gradually slackened...

Acting under Master's orders I began a new movement in the West on the
original lines; I founded Lucifer, and the Lodge which bears my
name...I learned that I was once more wanted in India--at any rate by
some. But the invitation came too late; neither would my doctor
permit it, nor can I, if I would remain true to my life-pledge and
vows, now live at the Headquarters from which the Masters and Their
spirit are virtually banished. The presence of Their portraits will
not help; They are a dead letter...no advice of mine on occult lines
seems likely to be accepted, as the fact of my relations with the
Masters is doubted, even totally denied by some...the spread of
Theosophy and of the T.S. in the West, during the last three years,
has been extraordinary...I was enabled and encouraged by the devotion
of an ever increasing number of members to the Cause and to Those who
guide it, to establish an Esoteric Section, in which I can teach
something of what I have learned to those who have confidence in me,
and who prove this by their disinterested work for Theosophy and the
T.S. (113) The only claim, therefore, which India could ever have
upon me would be strong only in proportion to the activity of the
Fellows there for Theosophy and their loyalty to the Masters.

Thenceforth let it be clearly understood that the rest of my life is
devoted only to those who believe in the Masters, and are willing to
work for Theosophy as They understand it, and for the T.S. on the
lines upon which They originally established it.
-- HPB "Why I do not Return to India,"

[ This letter from HPB was written and sent with B. Keightley, April
1890. Published in Theosophist, January 1922. HPB
Articles, Vol. I, pp 108 - 114 ]



"...the Esoteric Section has nothing whatever to do with the T.S., its
Council or officers. It is a Section entirely apart from the exoteric
body, and independent of it. H.P.B. alone being responsible for its
members...the E.S. as a body, owes no allegiance whatever to the T.S.,
as a Society, least of all to Adyar...H.P.B. is loyal to the death to
the Theosophical CAUSE, and those great Teachers whose philosophy can
alone bind the whole of Humanity into one Brotherhood...Therefore the
degree of her sympathies with the "T.S. and Adyar" depends upon the
degree of the loyalty of that Society to the CAUSE. Let it break away
from the original lines and show disloyalty in its policy to the CAUSE
and the original programme of the Society, and H.P.B. calling the T.S.
disloyal, will shake it off like dust from her feet.

And what does "loyalty to Adyar" mean, in the name of all wonders?
What is Adyar, apart from that CAUSE and the two (not one Founder) who
represent it ? ...


"There is no longer a "Parent Society;" it is abolished and replaced
by an aggregate body of Theosophical societies, all autonomous, as are
the States of America, and all under one Head President, who, together
with H.P.Blavatsky, will champion the Cause against the whole world.
Such is the real state of things...

"....Madame Blavatsky does not owe the slightest allegiance to a
Council which is liable at any moment to issue silly and
untheosophical ukases...in a Society which owes its life to them [she
and Col. Olcott], and for which they are both karmically
responsible...she will ever protest against the decision of the
General Council, were it composed of Archangels and Dhyan Chohans
themselves, if their decisions seem to her unjust or untheosophical,
or fails to meet with the approval of the majority of the Fellows. No
more than H.P.Blavatsky has the President Founder the right to
exercise autocracy or papal powers...It is the two Founders and
especially the President, who have virtually sworn allegiance to the
Fellows, whom they have to protect, and teach those who want to be
taught, and not to tyrannize and rule over them." -- H P B "A Puzzle
from Adyar" Lucif, Aug. 1889 HPB Articles I 219-220


"...Sections and Branches like the "London Lodge" and others which are
autonomous...Is not the Blavatsky Lodge, like the London, Dublin, or
any other "Lodge," a branch of, and a Theosophical Society ?"
HPB Articles I 221


On the Theosophical Society -- Its Future


"The Theosophical Society was chosen as the cornerstone, the
foundation of the future religions of humanity. To achieve the
proposed object, a greater, wiser, and especially a more benevolent
intermingling of the high and the low, the alpha and the omega of
society, was determined upon." Lucifer, Aug. 1896
"The Great Master's Letter" Theos. Art & Notes, p. 190


"The Society will never perish as an institution, although branches
and individuals in it may." M L . p. 245


"The Society in India is flourishing and can never die [ see also p.
366 ]. In America it is becoming a grand movement."
-- HPB M L . p. 483



In 1885 when HPB was exiled from Adyar, the Master wrote:

"The Society has liberated itself from our grasp and influence, and we
have let it go...It is now a soulless corpse, a machine run so far
well enough, but which will fall to pieces when...Out of the three
objects, the second alone is attended to; it is no longer a
Brotherhood, nor a body over the face of which broods the Spirit
beyond the Great Range." [ Theosophist, October 1907 ] Theosophy
Mag. Vol. 6, p. 477



"There is no longer a 'Parent Society;' it is abolished and replaced
by an aggregate body of Theosophical Societies, all autonomous...such
is the real state of things." - HPB
[ Lucifer, Vol. 4, p. 508 ] Thy. Mag. Vol 6, p. 477



[ As the President of the freshly constituted Theosophical
Society in America, Mr. Judge wrote:

"Let us then press forward together in the great work of the real
Theosophical Movement, which is aided by working organizations, but is
above them all...We will then each and all be members of that
Universal Lodge of Free and Independent Theosophists which embraces
every friend of the human race." -- WQJ Letter to European
Convention 1895 from the Theosophical Society in America -- Path
Vol. 10,



Masters on Theosophy & Universal Brotherhood


The Master wrote to A.P.Sinnett:

"Should we devote ourselves to teaching a few Europeans, fed on the
fat of the land...the rationale of bell-ringing, cup-growing,
spiritual telephone, etc., etc., and leave the teeming millions of the
ignorant, of the poor and the despised, the lowly and the oppressed,
to take care of themselves, and of their hereafter, the best they know
how? NEVER! Perish rather the Theosophical Society...than that we
should permit it to become no better than an academy of magic and a
hall of Occultism. That we, the devoted followers of the spirit
incarnate of absolute self-sacrifice, of philanthropy and divine
kindness as of all the highest virtues attainable on this earth of
sorrow, the man of men, Gautama Buddha, should ever allow the
Theosophical Society to represent the embodiment of selfishness, to
become the refuge of the few with no thought in them for the many, is
a strange idea...And it is we, the humble disciples of the perfect
Lamas, who are expected to permit the Theosophical Society to drop its
noblest title,
that of the Brotherhood of Humanity, to become a simple school of
Psychology. No ! No ! our brothers, you have been labouring under
the mistake too long already. Let us understand each other. He who
does not feel competent to grasp the noble idea sufficiently to work
for it, need not undertake a task too heavy for him...

To be true, religion and philosophy must offer the solution of every
problem...there must be somewhere a consistent solution, and if our
doctrines will show their competence to offer it, then the world will
be the first one to confess, that ours must be the true philosophy,
the true religion, the true light, which gives truth and nothing but
the TRUTH.

And this TRUTH is not Buddhism, but esoteric BUDHISM. "He that hath
ears to hear, let him hear..." HPB -- Lucifer August 1888, Vol. 2,
p. 421


"Theosophy is an all-embracing Science; many are the ways leading to
it...which began with the sublime in the days of Ammonius
Saccas...There were theosophists and Theosophical Schools for the last
2,000 years, from Plato down to the medieval Alchemists, who knew the
value of the term...

Belief in the Masters, was never made an article of faith in the T.S.
But for its Founders, the commands received from Them when it was
established have ever been sacred. And this is what one of them
wrote...:

"Theosophy must not present merely a collection of moral verities, a
bundle of metaphysical Ethics epitomized in theoretical dissertations.
Theosophy must be made practical, and has, therefore, to be
disencumbered of useless discussion ...It has to find objective
expression in an all-embracing code of life thoroughly impregnated
with its spirit--the spirit of mutual tolerance, charity, and
love...The problem of true theosophy and its great mission is the
working out of clear, unequivocal conceptions of ethic ideas and
duties which would satisfy most and best the altruistic and right
feelings in us; and the modeling of these conceptions for their
adaptation into such forms of daily life where they may be applied
with most equitableness...Such is the common work in view for all
those who are willing to act on these principles...none is held to
weed out a larger plot of ground than his strength and capacity will
permit him..." -- HPB "The Organization of the T.S."
Theosophist, August 1931, and Theosophist, June 1924. ]


"The society was founded to become the Brotherhood of Humanity--a
centre, philosophical and religious, common to all--not as a
propaganda for Buddhism merely...the T.S. is open to all, without
distinction of "origin, caste, nation, colour, or sex...or of creed."
HPB -- "The Theosophical Society," LUCIFER, Aug. 1888


HPB wrote an article "What is Truth ?" [ HPB Articles (ULT)
Vol. 1, p. 1. LUCIFER, February 1888, I - p. 425

It is well worth reading, as it covers most of the points raised as to
what is real TRUTH, and what is partial or variable "truth."


"HPB is loyal to the death to the Theosophical Cause, and those great
Teachers whose philosophy can alone bind the whole Humanity into one
Brotherhood...Therefore the degree of her sympathies with the
"Theosophical Society and Adyar" depends upon the degree of the
loyalty of that society to the CAUSE. Let it break away from the
original lines and show disloyalty in its policy to the CAUSE and the
original programme of the Society and HPB, calling the T.S. disloyal,
will shake it off like dust from her feet....There is no longer a
"Parent Society;" it is abolished and replaced by an aggregate body
of Theosophical Societies, all autonomous, as are the States of
America, and all under one Head President, who, together with
H.P.Blavatsky, will champion the CAUSE against the whole
world..." HPB - A PUZZLE FROM ADYAR, Lucifer, August 1889.

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


Source of Theosophy


The Teachings.... unbroken... un-altered .....
ninterrupted... -----Part I


H.P. Blavatsky wrote in October 1889 issue of LUCIFER:

"... what I do believe in is:

(1), the unbroken oral teachings revealed by living *divine* men
during the infancy of mankind to the elect among men;

(2), that it has reached us *unaltered; and

(3) that the MASTERS are thoroughly versed in the science based on
such uninterrupted teaching.."

(Blavatsky: Collected Writings, vol. 11, pages 466-467)


"The work now submitted to public judgment is the fruit of a somewhat
intimate acquaintance with Eastern Adepts and study of their SCIENCE
... we came into contact with certain men, endowed with such
mysterious powers and such profound knowledge that we may truly
designate them as the sages of the Orient. To their instructions we
lent a ready ear ... "
( ISIS I, v, vi) Caps added

"... from the first ages of man, the fundamental truths of all that we
are permitted to know on earth was in the safe keeping of the adepts
of the sanctuary ... those guardians of the PRIMITIVE DIVINE
REVELATION, who had solved every problem that is within the grasp
of human intellect, were bound together by a universal freemasonry of
science and philosophy, which formed one unbroken chain around the
globe."
(ISIS I, 37-38) Caps added


"There are, scattered throughout the world, a handful of thoughtful
and solitary students, who pass their lives in obscurity, far from the
rumors of the world, studying the great problems of the physical and
spiritual universes. They have their SECRET RECORDS in which are
preserved the fruits of the scholastic labors of the LONG LINE of
recluses whose successors
they are ... "(ISIS I, 557) caps added


... the Secret Doctrine is the Truth ... (II, 292)

"... many are those who ... will remain in doubt and mortal agony as
to whether, when man dies, he will live again, although the question
has been solved by long bygone generations of sages .... Except the
initiates, no one has understood the mystic writing. The key was in
the keeping of those who knew how to commune with the invisible
Presence, and who had received, from the lips of mother Nature
herself, her grand truths ... "( ISIS I, 573)


"... This 'secret doctrine' contains the alpha and omega of universal
SCIENCE; therein lies the corner and the keystone of all the ancient
and modern knowledge; and alone in this ... doctrine remains buried
the absolute in the philosophy of the dark problems of life and death
... "
( ISIS I, 511) caps added


"Thus is it that all the religious monuments of old, in whatever land
or under whatever climate, are the expression of the same identical
thoughts, the key to which is in the esoteric doctrine ... And the
clergy of every nation, though practicing rites and ceremonies which
may have differed externally, had evidently been initiated into the
same traditional mysteries which were taught all over the world ..."
( ISIS I, 561)


"... the Northern seer Swedenborg, advises people to search for the
lost word among the hierophants of Tartary, China and Thibet; for it
is there, and only there now ... " ( ISIS I 580 )


"... the four Vedas; the Books of Hermes; the Chaldean Book of
Numbers; the Nazarene Codex; the Kabala ... ; the Sepher Jezira; the
Book of Wisdom ... ; the Brahmanas; the Stan-gyour, of the Thibetans;
all these volumes have the same ground-work. Varying but in allegories
they teach the same secret doctrine which ... will prove to be the
Ultima Thule of true philosophy, and disclose what is this lost word."
( ISIS I, 580)


"... the 'secret doctrine' or wisdom was identical in every country
..." ( ISIS I, 444)


"... What we desire to prove is, that underlying every ancient popular
religion was the same ancient wisdom-doctrine, one and identical,
professed and practiced by the initiates of every country, who alone
were aware of its existence and importance ... A single glance ... is
enough to assure one that it could not have attained the marvelous
perfection in which we find it pictured to us in the relics of the
various esoteric systems, except after a succession of ages. A
philosophy so profound, a moral code so ennobling, and practical
results so conclusive and so uniformly demonstrable is not the growth
of a generation, or even a single epoch. Fact must have been piled
upon fact, deduction upon deduction, science have begotten science,
and myriads of the brightest human intellects have reflected upon the
laws of nature, before this
ancient doctrine had taken concrete shape. The proofs of this identity
of fundamental doctrine in the old religions are found in the
prevalence of a system of initiation; in the secret sacerdotal castes
who had the guardianship of mystical words of power, and a public
display of a phenomenal control over natural forces, indicating
association with preterhuman beings
... " ( ISIS II 90 )


"As we proceed, we will point out the evidences of this identity of
vows, formulas, rites, and doctrines, between the ancient faiths. We
will also show that not only their memory is still preserved in India,
but also that the SECRET ASSOCIATION is still alive and as
active as ever ... the chief pontiff and hierophant, the Brahmatma, is
still accessible to those 'who know,' though perhaps recognized by
another name; and that the ramifications of his influence extend
throughout the world ..."
( ISIS II, 99-100) Caps Added



"Our examination of the multitudinous religious faiths that mankind,
early and late, have professed, most assuredly indicates that they
have all been derived from one primitive source. It would seem as if
they were all but different modes of expressing the yearning of the
imprisoned human soul for intercourse with supernal spheres. As the
while ray of light is decomposed by the prism into the various colors
of the solar spectrum, so the beam of divine truth, in passing through
the three-sided prism of man's nature, has been broken up into
vari-colored fragments called religions. And, as the rays of the
spectrum, by imperceptible shadings, merge into each other, so the
great theologies that have appeared at different degrees of divergence
from the original source, have been connected by minor schisms,
schools, and off-shoots from the one side or the other. Combined,
their aggregate represents one eternal truth; separate, they are but
shades of human error and the signs of imperfection ... " "What has
been contemptuously termed Paganism, was ancient wisdom replete with
Deity; and Judaism and its offspring, Christianity and Islamism,
derived whatever of inspiration they contained from this ethic parent.
Pre-Vedic Brahmanism and Buddhism are the double source from which all
religions sprung; Nirvana is the ocean to which all tend." ISIS
II, 639)










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