Theos-Talk Archives (November 2002 Message tt00489)

All those books, like most religions, are based on the fundamental teachings 
of theosophy... And, as HPB pointed out in her numerous references to many of 
them, they can be considered as valid parts of the overall teachings -- since 
their conclusions all result in the same ethics and morals, as well as, in 
some cases, confirm various aspects of theosophical metaphysics. 

In the ULT, I understand that reading such books is highly recommended. 
Especially, the Bhagavad Gita, Lao Tse, etc. -- that are even sold at their 
book tables -- with most of the others located in their library for public 
reading or study. A number of these books were also referred to in the SD as 
well as in HPB's other writings. They are all, therefore, grist for the mill 
for most serious students of theosophy. In fact, I remember a theosophical 
study class many years ago where we analyzed the references to theosophical 
ideas in Shakespeare's plays. So, you might as well add to your list, 
Dosteovsy and Plato, along with many other ancient and modern writers with a 
spiritual bent. Its also nice to see how all such authors use theosophical 
ideas in their stories and poems.

As far as most students I know in America, there are no forbidden books, 
although William Judge says that if you want to find out everything there is 
to know about theosophy, you could limit your study to only three books -- 
one of which is the Secret Doctrine, and the other two, either the Bhagavad 
Gita and Patanjali's Yoga Aphorisms or, the Tao Te Ching and The Dammapada. 

LHM

In a message dated 11/14/02 1:58:10 PM, global-theosophy@adslhome.dk writes:

>Hi Daniel and all of you,
>
>I have to ask to clarify:
>But Daniel is Theosophy really ONLY that MUCH about scriptures from HPB,
>W.Q. Judge, etc...?
>Does books like The Upanishads, The New Testament, The Quran, The Bhagavad
>Gita, etc... and books like those from Ibn Arabi, Jalal-Uddin Rumi, Saadi
>Shiraz etc... or Geoffrey Higgins, Idries Shah, Doctor Maximus (>:-)),
>Sir
>Francis Bacon, Shakespeare, etc... and books like those from T. D. Suzuki,
>Lao Tze etc... NOT have any theosophical value ??? Are there important
>difference between the latter books and the former , and what are they
>if
>any ?
>
>Try for instance: www.sirbacon.org
>
>
>from
>M. Sufilight with a very excited look in his head...