Theos-Talk Archives (September 2003 Message tt00212)

"LET EVERY MAN PROVE HIS OWN WORK" by H. P. Blavatsky
H P B Articles Vol. I pp 69 -- 78



The following seemed to be important statements made:


P. 78	…he who does not practise altruism; he who is not prepared to
share his last morsel with a weaker or poorer than himself; he who
neglects to help his brother man, of whatever race, nation, or creed,
whenever and wherever he meets suffering, and who turns a deaf ear to
the cry of human misery; he who hears an innocent person slandered,
whether a brother theosophist or not, and does not undertake his defence
as he would undertake his own--is no theosophist. 

P. 69	Fiat justitia, ruat cœlum! [Be just, though heaven falls !]

P. 69 footnote "Believe not in ME, but in the truths I utter."
(Buddha's Aphorism.) 
 
P. 69 footnote	This "Theosophy” is not a religion, but rather the
RELIGION-- if one. 
So far, we prefer to call it a philosophy; one, moreover, which contains
every religion, as it is the essence and the foundation of all. 

P. 71	The only saving principle dwells in man himself, and has never
dwelt outside of his immortal divine self, i.e., it is the true
Christos, as it is the true Buddha, the divine inward light which
proceeds from the eternal unmanifesting unknown ALL. And this light can
only be made known by its works--faith in it having to remain ever blind
in all, save in the man himself who feels that light within his soul. 

P. 71	…creeds…fail to supply the intellectual light, and the true
wisdom which are needed to make the practical philanthropy carried out
…a reality. 

P. 72-3	…practical charity is not one of the declared objects of the
Society. It goes without saying, and needs no "declaration," that every
member of the Society must be practically philanthropic if he be a
theosophist at all…Theosophy creates the charity which afterwards, and
of its own accord, makes itself manifest in works.

P. 73	Theosophy teaches the spirit of "non separateness,"… inculcates
universal love and charity for all mankind without distinction of race,
colour, caste or creed"

P. 73	None would slander his brother, none let a needy man go
unhelped, none offer fine talk instead of practical love and charity. 

P. 74	Those few who are ever ready to sacrifice their time and labour
to work for the poor, and who do, unrecognised and unthanked for it,
good work wherever they can,

P. 74	…the Christ-life is undeniably the ideal of every one worthy in
any sense of the name of a Theosophist, and that if it is not lived it
is because there are none strong enough to carry it out. 

P. 75	The religious philanthropist…does not do good merely for the
sake of doing good, but also as a means towards his own salvation. This
is the outcome of the selfish and personal side of man's nature

P. 75	The secular philanthropist is really at heart a socialist, and
nothing else; he hopes to make men happy and good by bettering their
physical position. No serious student of human nature can believe in
this theory for a moment...the causation which produced human nature
itself produced poverty, misery, pain, degradation, at the same time
that it produced wealth, and comfort, and joy and glory. 

P. 75	…misery cannot be relieved. It is a vital element in human
nature, and is as necessary to some lives as pleasure is to
others…misery is not only endurable, but agreeable to many who endure
it….They prefer the savage life of a bare-foot, half-clad creature, with
no roof at night and no food by day, to any comforts which can be
offered them. 

P. 76	The Theosophist is placed in a different position…none…can be
called in any serious sense Theosophists, until they have begun to
consciously taste in their own persons, this same mystery…a law
inexorable, by which man lifts himself by degrees from the state of a
beast to the glory of a God. The rapidity with which this is done is
different with every living soul; and the wretches who hug the primitive
taskmaster, misery, choose to go slowly through a tread-mill course
which may give them innumerable lives of physical sensation --whether
pleasant or painful, well-beloved because tangible to the very lowest
senses. 

P. 76-7	The Theosophist who desires to enter upon occultism takes some
of Nature's privileges into his own hands, by that very wish, and soon
discovers that experiences come to him with double-quick rapidity. His
business is then to recognise that he is under a…new and swifter law of
development, and to snatch at the lessons that come to him. 

P. 77	He sees that it takes a very wise man to do good works without
danger of doing incalculable harm. A highly developed adept in life
may…by his great intuitive powers, know whom to relieve from pain and
whom to leave in the mire that is their best teacher. 

P. 77	Kindness and gentle treatment will sometimes bring out the worst
qualities of a man or woman who hassled a fairly presentable life when
kept down by pain and despair….As soon as he begins to understand what a
friend and teacher pain can be, the Theosophist stands appalled before
the mysterious problem of human life, and though he may long to do good
works, equally dreads to do them wrongly until he has himself acquired
greater power and knowledge.

P. 77	None of us know the darkness which lurks in the depths of our
own natures until some strange and unfamiliar experience rouses the
whole being into action

P. 77	The ignorant doing of good works may be vitally injurious,

P. 77	…it is not the spirit of self-sacrifice, or of devotion, or of
desire to help that is lacking, but the strength to acquire knowledge
and power and intuition, so that the deeds done shall really be worthy
of the "Buddha-Christ" spirit. 

P. 77 Theosophists…profess to be a body of learners merely, pledged
to help each other and all the rest of humanity, so far as in them lies,
to a better understanding of the mystery of life, and to a better
knowledge of the peace which lies beyond it. 

P. 78	Theosophists are obliged to work in the world unceasingly, and
very often in doing this to make serious mistakes, as do all workers who
are not embodied Redeemers. Their efforts may not come under the title
of good works…yet they are an outcome and fruition of this particular
moment of time, when the ideas which they hold are greeted by the crowd
with interest; and therefore their work is good

P. 78	…good works are necessary; only these cannot be rightly
accomplished without knowledge. 

P. 78	Yet it is an absolute fact that without good works the spirit
of brotherhood would die in the world; and this can never be. Therefore
is the double activity of learning and doing most necessary; we have to
do good, and we have to do it rightly, with knowledge. 

P. 78	…the first rule of the society is to carry out the object of
forming the nucleus of a universal brotherhood. 

P. 78	The practical working of this rule was explained by those who
laid it down, to the following effect:-- 

he who does not practise altruism; he who is not prepared to share his
last morsel with a weaker or poorer than himself; he who neglects to
help his brother man, of whatever race, nation, or creed, whenever and
wherever he meets suffering, and who turns a deaf ear to the cry of
human misery; he who hears an innocent person slandered, whether a
brother theosophist or not, and does not undertake his defence as he
would undertake his own--is no theosophist. 

H P B


Offered by D T B







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