Theos-Talk Archives (January 2003 Message tt00084)

Jan 6 2003


Dear Friends :

In the light of some recent postings I though the following might be
of interest if one desires to know what has been written in the
literature on this important subject: MASTERS, ADEPTS, TEACHERS,
MAHATMAS

--------------

H P B and the MASTERS


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


"...for those who have studied in the right way plenty of proof has
been offered; for others that proof exists within themselves The
former class has had tangible evidence in the way of letters and
appearances of the Adepts before their eyes; the latter concluded
long ago that the Masters are necessities of evolution...in the West
the idea of the existence of the Adepts and of Their connection with
our movement was first brought forward in this century and in our
Society by H.P.Blavatsky, who, consistently throughout her career, has
declared that the Adepts--whom she was pleased to call her
Masters--directed her to engage in this work and have always helped
and directed her throughout... They have adopted the TS as one of
Their agents in this century for disseminating the truth about man and
nature...Their motive is to help the moral--and hence external --
progress of humanity, and their methods to work from behind the scenes
by means of agents suited for the work...the agency is not restricted
to one person, but that all sincere lovers of truth are used to that
end, whether they know it or not...the personal effort put forth by
the members will not account for the spreading of the movement...As
the Masters exist, so They help us; and as we deserve, so will They
repay."	WQJ ART II 79-80


"...while the T S movement of today was distinctly under the care of
the Adepts, it was not the only one through which effect was sought to
be made on the race-thought and ethics, but that in many different
ways efforts were constantly put forward ...she insisted that the T S
wears the badge...of the Eastern and Ancient Schools...the old and
united Lodge of Adepts ...[It would be reasonable to say]...that
Brotherhood has the knowledge and power... to use every agency which
is in touch with humanity." WQJ ART I 244


as...our visible agent...she [HPB] is the best available at present,
and her phenomena have for about half a century astounded and baffled
some of the cleverest minds of the age."
M L 9-10


"After nearly a century of fruitless search, our chiefs had to avail
themselves of the only opportunity to send out a European body upon
European soil to serve as a connecting link between that country and
our own...my brother M. made to you through her a certain offer...you
had but to accept it, and at any time you liked, you would have had
for an hour or more, the real baitchooly to converse with, instead of
the psychological cripple you generally have to deal with now."	M L
203-4


"You can never know her [HPB] as we do, therefore--none of you will
ever be able to judge her impartially or correctly. You see the
surface of things; and what you would term "virtue," holding but to
appearances, we--judge but after having fathomed the object to its
profoundest depth, and generally leave the appearances to take care of
themselves. In your opinion H.P.B. is...a quaint, strange woman, a
psychological riddle...We on the other hand, under the garb of
eccentricity and folly--we find a profounder wisdom in her inner Self
than you will ever find yourselves able to perceive...we...light daily
upon traits of her inner nature the most delicate and refined, and
which would cost an uninitiated psychologist years of constant and
keen observation, and many an hour of close analysis and efforts to
draw out of the depth of that most subtle of mysteries--human
mind--and one of the most complicated machines,---H.P.B.'s mind--and
thus learn to know her true inner Self."	M L 314


"H.P.B. was the Messenger from the Great Lodge to the western world.
W.Q.J. was a co-founder and co-worker with H.P.B. from the beginning.
It will be well to remember that HPB and WQJ were not accorded the
positions They held through any authority, but through recognition of
Their knowledge and power. They were sui generis; all others are but
students. Those who belittle Judge will also be found belittling
HPB." F P 5


"HPB was the Direct Agent of the Lodge--and this is explicitly stated
to be the fact by the Master K.H. ...then we must go to the records
left by Her and Her Colleague, W.Q.J., for direction in all matters
pertaining to the Theosophical Movement."	F P 34


"The Lhas or adept alone possesses the real, his mind being en rapport
with the Universal Mind. The Lhas has made a perfect junction of his
soul with the Universal Mind in its fullness, which makes him for the
time a divine being existing in the region of absolute intelligence,
knowledge of natural laws or Dgyu..."	HPB to APS 376




H P B -- HER MISSION AND "POSITION"


"I think that the way for all western theosophists is through H.P.B.
I mean that as she is the T.S. incarnate--its mother and guardian, its
creator--the Karmic laws would naturally provide that all who drew
this life through her belonged to her, and if they denied her, they
need not hope to reach [Masters], for how can they deny her who gave
this doctrine to the western world? They share her Karma to little
purpose if they think they can get round this identification and
benefit, and [Masters] want no better proof that a man does not
comprehend their philosophy. This would, of course, bar him from
[Masters] by natural laws (of growth)...[those] who undervalue her
gift and her creation, have not imbibed the teaching and cannot
assimilate its benefits. She must be understood as being what she is
to the T.S., or Karma...is not understood, nor the first laws of
occultism."
WQJ -- LETTERS 110


"...we believe that H.P.B. will be for some time occupied in training
a new instrument, and one not so young as to be useless at the present
cyclic crisis...she left everything in order. All things were planned
out, and evidence was abundantly had to the effect that she knew her
departure was near... looking upon her as an Adept, whose chief work
was done outside of the objective body, it was reasonable to suppose
that she is now enabled to use, upon higher (or inner) planes of
being, the power previously expended in the maintenance of that body."
LETTERS 155


"That for several years I will not be able to help it [the T S ] on,
and steer its course, because I will have to act in a body which will
have to be assimilated to the Nirmanakaya, because even in occultism
there are such things as a failure and a retardment and a misfit..."
HPB -	LETTERS 281


"[H. P. B.] Those who cannot understand her had best not try to
explain her...she knew...that high and wise servants of the Lodge have
remained with the West since many centuries for the purpose of helping
it on its mission and destiny. That work it would be well for members
of the T. Mvt. to continue without deviating, without excitement,
without running to extremes...the truth of the soul's life is in no
special quarter of the compass..." LETTERS 76


"...They say that the Ego of that body she uses was and is a great and
brave servant of the Lodge, sent to the West with a mission with full
knowledge of the insult and obloquy to be surely heaped upon that
devoted head; and they add: 'Those who cannot understand her had
best not try to explain her; those who do not find themselves strong
enough for the task she outlined from the very first had best not
attempt it.'"	WQJ ART II 18



"[ According to HPB ]...there are certain persons on this earth,
living and working as ordinary human beings and members of society,
whose informing divine part is so immeasurably high in development
that they as such high beings have a definite status and function in
the "supersensuous regions."...she herself was such a case, and that
"H P B" whether hourly in the day or at night when all around was
still, had a "status and function" in other spheres where she
consciously carried on the work of that high station, whatever it
was...[She wrote in one place] " I am conscious day and night, and
have much to do and to endure in both these existences from which you,
being half-conscious, are happily saved."	WQJ ART I 616


"...when the great leader is H.P.Blavatsky, a whole host of principles
and postulates as to certain laws of nature cluster around her name.
For not only was she one who brought to us from the wiser brothers of
the human family a consistent philosophy of the solar system, but in
herself she illustrated practically the existence of the supersensuous
world and of the powers of the inner and astral man...and theory or
assertion touching on her relations with the unseen and with the
Masters she spoke for inevitably opens up the discussion of some law
or principle. Many things were said about H.P.B. in her lifetime by
those who tried to understand her, some of them being silly and some
positively pernicious. The most pernicious was that made by [A.P.S.]
in London in the lifetime of H.P.B. and before the writing of the
Secret Doctrine, that she was deserted by the Masters and was the prey
of elementals and elemental forces...if true, then anything she might
say as from the Masters which did not agree with the opinion of the
one addressed could be disposed of as being only the vaporing of some
elementals."	WQJ ART II 13


"...if it had not been for her the T.S. with its literature would not
have come into existence."	WQJ ART II 20


"...the movement has grown most 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



"In the introduction to the SECRET DOCTRINE, H.P.Blavatsky boldly
affirms the existence of a great Fraternity of Men, Adepts, who
preserve the true philosophy through all changes, now revealing it,
and again, at certain eras, withdrawing it from a degraded age; and
emphatically she says that the doctrine is never a new one, but only a
handing on again of what was always the system... [Further she adds]
in the twentieth century of our era scholars will begin to recognize
that the S.D. has neither been invented nor exaggerated, but, on the
contrary, simply outlined; and finally, that its teachings antedate
the Vedas."


"...the Messenger from the great Fraternity--she herself being the one
for this Century--she observes significantly: that "In Century the
20th some disciple more informed, and far better fitted, may be sent
by the Masters of Wisdom to give final and irrefutable proof that
there exists a science called Gupta-Vidya; and that, [it] the source
of all religions and philosophies now known to the world...is at last
found."	WQJ ART II 81-2


"I never gave myself out for a full-blown occultist, but only for a
student of Occultism for the last thirty or forty years. Yet I am
enough of an occultist to know that before we find the Master within
our own hearts and seventh principle--we need an outside Master...I
got my drop from my Master (the living one)...He is a Saviour, he who
leads you to finding the Master within yourself. It is ten years
already that I preach the inner Master and God and never represented
our Masters as Saviours in the Christian sense."	[ HPB to Dr.
Hartmann ]	PATH X p. 367


"...as I venerate the Master, and worship MY MASTER--the sole creator
of my inner Self which but for His calling it out, awakening it from
its slumber, would never have come to conscious being--not in this
life, at all events..."	HPB to APS p. 104


"H.P.Blavatsky was the head, front, bottom, top, outskirts, past and
future of the theosophical society...Not only was H.P.B. predominant
with us in 1875, but she is yet." WQJ Art II 161
"A Reminiscence" - WQJ Path, Feb. 1893 / Mar. 1895


"...but H.P.Blavatsky, who then as afterwards was really the central
figure, has for the present left this life. The first great change,
then, between seventeen years ago and now is the removal from the
scene of th personage who, for so long was the pivot of the whole
movement...[ in 1879 ] upon the advent of the two pioneers in Asia [
HPB and Col. Olcott, who went to India ]...in order that the influence
of the mysterious and distant East might react upon the West and
enable us to bring to light again important religious and
philosophical truths. This reaction came, and manifesting in America
with full force, a host of Branches began to arise...all with one
accord must draw their chief inspiration from the life, the labors,
and the words of that wonderful and still faintly understood woman,
Helena, P. Blavatsky."	WQJ Art. II 148 -- "Seventeen Years Ago"	Path,
Nov. 1892


"On the 17th of November next [1882] the septenary term of trial given
the Society at its foundation in which to discreetly "preach us" will
expire. One or two of us hoped that the world had so far advanced
intellectually, if not intuitionally, that the Occult doctrine might
gain an intellectual acceptance, and the impulse given for a new cycle
of occult research...consent was given for the trial. It was
stipulated, however, that the experiment should be made independently
of our personal management; that there should be no abnormal
interference by ourselves. So casting about we found in America the
man to stand as leader--a man of great moral courage, unselfish, and
having other good qualities. He was far from being the best, but...he
was the best available. With him we associated a woman of most
exceptional and wonderful endowments. Combined with them she had
strong personal defects, but just as she was, there was no second to
her living fit for this work. We sent her to America, brought them
together--and the trial began. From the first both he and she were
given to clearly understand that the issue lay entirely with
themselves. And both offered themselves for the trial...For 6 1/2
years they have been struggling against such odds as would have driven
off any one who was not working with the desperation of one who stakes
life and all he prizes on some desperate supreme effort. Their
success has not equaled the hopes of their original backers,
phenomenal as it has been in certain directions. In a few more months
the term of probation will end. If by that time the status of the
Society as regards ourselves --the question of the "Brothers" be not
definitely settled (either dropped out of the Society's programme or
accepted on our own terms) that will be the last of the "Brothers" of
all shapes and colors, sizes or degrees. We will subside out of
public view like a vapour into the ocean. Only those who have proved
faithful to themselves and to Truth through everything, will be
allowed further intercourse with us..."	M L 263-4



ON THE SECRET DOCTRINE


"The Secret Doctrine was the universally diffused religion of the
ancient and prehistoric world." [ SD I xxxiv ] "These truths are in
no sense put forward as a revelation, nor does the author claim the
position of a revealer of mystic lore now made public for the first
time in the world's history." [ SD I vii ]


"We give facts and show land-marks: let the wayfarer follow them.
What is given here is amply sufficient for this century."


[ SD II 742 ] "There are more secrets of Initiation given out in the
Introductory Chapter than in all Isis...Fancy Masters giving out the
secret of the "Divine Hermaphrodite" even ! and so on."	[ HPB Letters
to A.P.Sinnett, p. 172-3 ]




MASTERS AND THEIR "POSITION"


"We have offered to exhume the primeval strata of man's being, his
basic nature, and lay bare the wonderful complications of his inner
Self...and demonstrate it scientifically...It is our mission to plunge
and bring the pearls of Truth to the surface...For countless
generations hath the adept builded a fane of imperishable rocks, a
giant's Tower of INFINITE THOUGHT, wherein the Titan dwelt...emerging
from it but at the end of every cycle, to invite the elect of mankind
to cooperate with him and help in his turn enlighten superstitious
man...until that day when the foundations of a new continent of
thought are so firmly built that no amount of opposition and ignorant
malice guided by the Brethren of the Shadow will be found to prevail.
But until that day of final triumph, someone has to be
sacrificed--though we accept but voluntary victims. The ungrateful
task did lay her [HPB] low and desolate in the ruins of misery,
misapprehension, and isolation: but she will have her reward in the
hereafter for we never were ungrateful..." M L 51


"...our true progress lies in fidelity to Masters as ideals and
facts."...I think a constant reliance on Masters as such ideals and
facts--or either--will lead the T S on to greater work...I belong to
that class of persons in the T S who out of their own experience know
that the Masters exist and actually help the T S...I am not acting
impulsively in my many public statements as to the existence of
Masters and help from Them. It is done under an old order of Theirs
and under a law of mind. The existence of Masters being a fact, the
assertion of that fact so often made in America has opened up channels
in men's minds which would have remained closed had silence been
observed about the existence of those Beings...Experience has shown
that a springing up of interest in Theosophy has followed declaration,
and men's minds are more powerfully drawn away from the blank
Materialism teaching."	WQJ ART II 43


"Concentrate the mind upon the Masters as ideals and facts--living,
active, beneficent Beings, working in and on the plane of causes.
Meditate upon this exclusively, and try to reach up to Them in
thought." F P 13-14


"...no worker, however feeble or insignificant, is outside the range
of Master's eye and help."	WQJ ART II 47


"...I can swear it, the Masters are watching us all, and, without
fail, when we come to the right point and really deserve, They
manifest to us. At all times I know They help and try to aid us as
far as we will let Them. Why, the Masters are anxious (to use a word
of our own) that as many as possible may reach to the state of power
and love They are in. Why, then, suppose They help not? As They are
Atman and therefore the very law of Karma itself, They are in
everything in life, and in every phase of our changing days and years.
If you will arouse your faith on this line you come nearer to help
from Them than you will recognize."
LETTERS 68


"...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."	LETTERS 112


"...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 referred to, and we, as physical brain men, not be conscious of
it on this plane."	LETTERS 115


"...between adept and chela--Master and Pupil--there gradually forms a
closer tie; for the psychic interchange is regulated
scientifically...as the water in a full tank runs into an empty one
which it is connected with; and as the common level will be sooner or
later reached according to the capacity of the feed-pipe, so does the
knowledge of the adept flow to the chela; and the chela attains the
adept-level according to his receptive capacities. At the same time
the chela, being an individual, a separate evolution, unconsciously
imparts to the Master the quality of his accumulated mentality. [
we ] always ascertain independently and for ourselves whether the
ideas so reflected in us are right or wrong."	LMW (I) p. 82-3


"the Master-Soul is one"...	[Thou art THAT.]	VOICE 54


"...the light of the ONE MASTER, the one unfading golden light of
Spirit, shoots its effulgent beams on the Disciple from the very
first. Its rays thread through the thick dark clouds of matter..."
VOICE 19


" the best and most important teacher is one's seventh principle
[Atma] centred in the sixth [Buddhi]."	LETTERS 96


"The Masters are not Eastern nor Western, but universal."	LETTERS 109


"And whoever therefore wants to see the real MAHATMA, must use his
intellectual sight. He must so elevate his Manas that its perception
will be clear...His vision will then be bright and he will see the
MAHATMAS wherever he may be, for, being merged into the sixth and
seventh principles, which are ubiquitous and omnipresent, the MAHATMAS
may be said to be everywhere."	HPB ART I 294


"Just now the best and biggest work by us poor children is on this
plane with the great aid of Master, Whose simple single will keeps the
whole organization [in being], and acts as its support and shield."
LETTERS 87


"the image of the Master is the best protection against lower
influences; think of the Master as a living man within you."	LETTERS
164


"The whole sweep, meaning, and possibility of evolution are contained
in the word Mahatma...those great souls who have triumphed before
us...but just because they are of the human race." WQJ ART II 39


"A Mahatma is not only an Adept, but much more...This does not mean a
noble-hearted man merely, but a perfected being, one who has attained
to the state...when time and space are no obstacles to sight, to
action, to knowledge or to consciousness...to possess information of a
decidedly practical character concerning the laws of nature, including
that mystery for science --the meaning, operation and constitution of
life itself..." ECHOES 23


"...more help could be given to the movement in America because the
fact of their existence was not concealed from motives of either fear
or doubt...Occult help from Masters requires a channel just as much as
any other help does...the persons to be acted on must take part in
making the channel or line for the force to act, for if we will not
have it they cannot give it.
Now as we are dealing with the mind and nature of man, we have to
throw out the words which will arouse the ideas connected with the
forces we desire to have employed. In this case the words are those
which bring up the doctrine of the existence of Adepts, Mahatmas,
Masters of wisdom. Hence the value of the declaration of our
beliefs."	WQJ ART II 41


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 mentioned, 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


"...if it were possible to alter the state of things and to make a
peaceful earth and a right humanity without following the law of
evolution, they would willingly do it, but mankind can only be altered
step by step. [The Masters] have also stated that they do not make
themselves objectively known to believers in them except in those
cases where those believers are ready in all parts of their nature,
are definitely pledged to them, with the full understanding of the
meaning of the pledge. But they have also stated that they help all
earnest seekers after truth, and that it is not necessary for those
seekers to know from where the help comes so long as it is
received...The Masters do help powerfully, though unseen, all those
who earnestly work and sincerely trust in their higher nature, while
they follow the voice of conscience without doubt or cavil."	FORUM
ANSWERS 75-76


"...remember what was long ago said--that the Master would manage
results. You must not manage, precipitate, nor force...As chelas and
students conceal rather than give out your inner psychic life, for by
telling of it your proper progress is hindered...By gentleness,
detachment, strict attention to duty, and retiring now and then to the
quiet place, bring up good currents and keep back all evil ones...A
steady mind and heart stands still and quiet until the muddy stream
rolls clear."	WQJ LETTERS 84


"The Occult Science is not one in which secrets can be communicated of
a sudden...till the neophyte attains to the condition necessary for
that degree of illumination to which, and for which, he is entitled
and fitted, most if not all of the Secrets are incommunicable. The
receptivity must be equal to the desire to instruct. The illumination
must come from within...Fasting, meditation, chastity of thought word
and deed; silence for certain periods to enable nature herself to
speak to him who comes to her for information; government of the
animal passions and impulses; utter unselfishness of intention, the
use of certain incense and fumigations for physiological purposes,
have been published as the means since the days of Plato and
Iamblichus in the West..."	M L 282-3