Theos-Talk Archives (April 2003 Message tt00168)

Daniel


Hugh Shearman's views on historical matters are always worthy of respect,
and it is useful to see them being reconsidered. His books and articles were
among the few historical contributions in the Adyar Society after the death
of C.Jinarajadasa.

But as an adherent( a priest?) of the Liberal Catholic Church, he did have
an interest in minimising those parts of early Theosophy which were opposed
to religion. He also continued to defend Leadbeater quite late in the day,
even when it was apparent that Leadbeater's account of his early life would
have to be considered inoperative.

The message of " The Secret Doctrine" and of " The Key to Theosophy" is
opposed to theism, that is belief in and worship of a personal God.

Leslie Price

-----Original Message-----
From: Daniel H. Caldwell [mailto:inquire@blavatskyarchives.com]
Sent: 26 April 2003 15:38
To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Theos-World Belief in God and the Mahatma Letters


Belief in God and the Mahatma Letters 

BELIEF IN GOD
By HUGH SHEARMAN 
The Theosophist Jan 1965 

Among some members of the Theosophical Society the
idea seems to have been current over many years that
to believe in God is in some fashion to commit an
impropriety. To believe in a "Divine Plenum" or
"absolute and abstract Ens" or some other metaphysical
expression is felt to be permissible, but not a belief
in "God". The reason for this dismissal of one term in
favor of another is probably based largely upon
certain passages which can be found in The Mahatma
Letters to A.P. Sinnett and elsewhere. 

In Letter 10 of that volume there appears the
frequently quoted passage:" Neither our philosophy nor
ourselves believe in a God, least of all in one whose
pronoun necessitates a capital H". The letter explains
clearly the philosophical absurdity of an infinite and
unchangeable God being at the same time an agent in
human events. Later the letter refers to evil and
says, 

"I will point out the greatest, the chief cause of
nearly two-thirds of the evils that purpose humanity
ever since that cause became a power. It is religion
under what ever form and in whatsoever nation. It is
the sacerdotal caste, the priesthood and the churches;
it is in those illusions that man looks upon as
sacred, that he has to search out the source of that
multitude of evils which is the great curse of
humanity and that almost overwhelms mankind. Ignorance
created Gods and cunning took advantage of the
opportunity."

The writer then goes to claim, rather implausibly and,
some may feel, rather smugly, that the lamas of Tibet
were altogether an exception to the adversely critical
things he has to say about the priesthoods of other
lands and religions, that they never accumulate wealth
or exploit anybody. 

Most of this letter was also published by C
Jinarajadasa in his book The Early Teaching of the
Master 18981- 1883, which appeared actually slightly
before Barker's edition of The Mahatma Letters to A.P.
Sinnett. We have not, of course, got the original
script of this letter which presumably once existed.
All we have is a transcript in the handwriting of A.
P. Sinnett, how accurate we do not know. This
transcript is moreover healed with the word
"Abridged".

Another passage to the same effect is published in The
Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett as letter 134. It
contains much the same repudiation of "faith in the
gods and God and other superstitions," "the gods the
Hindus and Christians and Mahomed (ans) and all others
of bigoted religious and sects worship" and appears to
imply that to earn the writer's approbation one would
have to become a Buddhist. 

But Letter 134 is not really a Mahatma Letter at all,
though sometimes quoted as such. The editors of the
volume indicate that it is a letter written by Madame
Blavatsky and never did exist in one of the well-known
Mahatma scripts. It was first published by WQ Judge in
1893, and was repudiated by Colonel Olcott as not
authentic. In the supplement to The Theosophist for
April, 1895, Colonel Olcott said that this message was
"a false one" and one which "grossly violates that
basic principle of neutrality and eclecticism on which
the T. S has built itself from the beginning". 

As against these two passages, which cannot be
authenticated as coming from holograph Mahatma
scripts, there are extant at Adyar the original
Serapis letters addressed to Colonel Olcott; and a
high proportion of these piously invoke the name of
God. They also advocate prayer. They are reproduced in
Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom (Second
Series), edited by C Jinarajadasa.

To complete the confusion of anybody who seeks in
these early writings the authority of a Master of the
Wisdom for belief or unbelief in God, Madame Blavatsky
herself repudiated the accuracy and authority of much
that appeared in the Mahatma letters, because they
were normally written or precipitated by persons other
than the Masters whose names were signed to them and
whose handwriting was reproduced in them. In 1886 she
wrote about the letters of the Masters M. and K. H, 

"How many a time was I (no Mahatma ) shocked and
startled, burning with shame, when shown notes written
in Their two handwritings - exhibiting mistakes in
science, grammar and thoughts, expressed in such
language that it perverted entirely the meaning
originally intended". 

What she wrote is reproduced in the introduction to
The Early Teaching of the Masters, 1881- 1883, and in
The Theosophist for August, 1931. And in 1888 she
declared in print in Lucifer (vol.iii, p.93) that

"It is hardly one out of hundred occult letters that
is ever written by the hand of the Master in whose
name and on whose behalf they are sent". 

. . . All this is not to say that the Mahatma letters do not
contain illuminating passages on this subject as on
many others, whatever the real provenance of the
individual letters may be. . . . 

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




Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 



****************************************************************************


SMOKE ALARMS SAVE LIVES

Go to London Fire at www.london-fire.gov.uk/firesafety 

This email is confidential to the addressee only. If you do not believe that
you are the intended addressee, do not use, pass on or copy it in any way.
If you have received it in error, please delete it immediately and telephone
the number given, reversing the charges if necessary.