Theos-Talk Archives (April 2004 Message tt00220)

Hallo Pedro and all,

My views are:

I would say to you: A Well written email.

I just have one thing I would continue to
put forward about CWL.¨

a) His reputation will always be a dilemma to the theosophical cause.
b) And to me the book "Man: Whence, How and Whither" is nonsense
and are filled with way to many errors. It will NEVER be accepted by me
unless I am allowed as a "christian Thomas" to get a clear proof of that his
predictions in it
were absolutely true and didn't stimulate uwanted fanatical behaviour.
I think, that Remarks about the future really never were Leadbeaters strong
side.

But yes, he did indeed write some good books even if some of them had some
faults,
which for instance Daniel Caldwell rightly has pointed somewhat out at his
website.


from
M. Sufilight with peace and love...

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Pedro Oliveira" <prmoliveira@yahoo.com>
To: <theos-talk@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2004 4:09 PM
Subject: Theos-World CWL


> In Brazil, where I come from, theosophical literature
> was translated from English since the beginning of the
> twentieth century. And the most popular authors have
> been C.W. Leadbeater and Annie Besant. "The Secret
> Doctrine" had its first Portuguese edition only in the
> mid 1960s.
>
> Besant and Leadbeater books were an integral part of
> my theosophical education. When my knowledge of
> English started to improve (am still acclimatising to
> it) I began reading other theosophical authors, like
> Barborka, van der Leeuw, Taimni, and many
> international magazines. In 1981, I got my first copy
> of "The Mahatma Letters" (I had read a Mexican edition
> before). It was a turning point in my theosophical
> studies. I remember having struggled for years with
> "Letter 10" ("we deny God both as Philosophers and as
> Buddhists"), and discussing it with Virginia Hanson,
> Joy Mills and other senior students. But what really
> interested me in the Letters were not the
> philosophical and theoretical teachings, though
> fascinating, but the section on probation and
> chelaship, which contains, imo, real pearls of
> spiritual instruction.
>
> Probably this is the reason why when I became aware of
> the controvesies surrounding "Theosophy and
> Neo-Theosophy" I didn't give them much attention,
> although I am familiar with the main arguments. And
> that is still my point of view. Theosophical
> historians may argue any way they want to try to prove
> that Besant and Leadbeater "betrayed" HPB, that they
> distorted the her teachings. That left me and leaves
> me perfectly cold, for I know, from my earliest
> association with theosophical studies, that the
> essence of their contribution to theosophical
> literature is a message of altruism and selfless
> service. And this is the essence of Theosophy
> according to HPB.
>
> I have had the great privilege of working in India, at
> the International Headquarters at Adyar, for four and
> a half years (1992-1996). I visited several TS Lodges
> in that country. The public prestige the TS enjoys in
> India, which is probably second to none, it owes to
> one woman: Annie Besant. She maintained that India is
> the spiritual mother of the world, and I feel this be
> true with every fibre of my heart. Besant was far from
> perfect, but she embodied in her life the soul of
> Theosophy: selfless service to the "poor orphan",
> suffering humanity.
>
> I read "The Elder Brother" in 1989, while attending
> the School of the Wisdom at Adyar. I was familiar with
> the accusations against CWL since I had read
> Krishnamurti: Years of Awakening, by Mary Lutyens. But
> another privilege was given to me: to meet some of his
> former pupils who had lived with him at The Manor in
> Sydney, in the 1920s: Herre and Marie van der Veen at
> Taormina community, Ojai, California; Mat van Thiel in
> Auckland, besides others in India who knew him. They
> all confirmed to me how vibrant, joyous and happy life
> around CWL was and that they never saw anything
> improper in his behaviour at any time. Rukmini Devi
> Arundale, for example, once remarked that she could
> see how the girls and young women living at The Manor
> would come out of that period of residence there
> strong and with a great sense of inner beauty. She
> said he touched so many lives.
>
> Needless to say, I don't speak on behalf of the Adyar
> Society. I am just a member. I don't wish to deny the
> long-standing and historical accusations against him.
> I only wish Dr Tillet had included some of the many
> positive testimonies about CWL from people who were
> still alive when "The Elder Brother" was being
> written. And that includes Dora van Gelder Kunz. That
> probably would have produced a more balanced view.
> Personally, I think the case against him has not been
> conclusively proven.
>
> There are critical writings of Leadbeater in the Adyar
> TS. One of them (mentioned in Dr Tillet's book) is
> "There is no Religion Higher than Truth" by E.L.
> Gardner(1963), a former General Secretary of the
> English Section of the TS, member of the General
> Council, and a staunch student of HPB's writings. A
> copy of it is in practically every theosophical
> library in the English-speaking world that I know. One
> of the things he says is that the "Masters" Leadbeater
> claimed to be in contact with were creations of his
> own mind. Interstingly enough, this argument of a
> member of the Adyar TS became truly paradigmatic with
> many theosophical historians!
>
> N. Sri Ram, international President at that time,
> commented on Gardner's work (The Theosophist, February
> 1964) and even agreed with him in his attitude of
> scepticism about certain things, for example "the
> discrepancy between the view of the Masters on
> religion, God, etc., as stated in "The Mahatma
> Letters", and the statement that the Liberal Catholic
> Church ritual and various details of ecclesiatical
> procedure had Their approval."
>
> Another article which presents a good overview of the
> original literature and is critical of Leadbeater is
>
> http://www.austheos.org.au/topics/Lauppert.htm
>
> Both Besant and Leadbeater again and again referred
> their readers to "The Secret Doctrine", which is the
> source of modern Theosophy. They took very seriously
> the mandate given by the Maha-Chohan in his
> communication via KH (1881): "To popularise a
> knowledge of Theosophy". As Besant explained in the
> preface to the Theosophical Manuals:
>
> "&#65279;Some have complained that our literature is
> at once too abstruse, too technical, and
> too expensive for the ordinary reader, and it is our
> hope that the present series may
> succeed in supplying what is a very real want.
> Theosophy is not only for the learned;
> it is for all. It may be that among those who in these
> little books catch their first
> glimpse of its teachings, there may be a few who will
> be led by them to penetrate
> more deeply into its philosophy, its science, and its
> religion, facing its abstruser
> problems with the student's zeal and the neophyte's
> ardour. But these manuals are
> not written for the eager student, whom no initial
> difficulty can daunt; they are
> written for the busy men and women of the work-a-day
> world, and seek to make
> plain some of the great truths that render life easier
> to bear and death easier to
> face."
>
> My experience in the Adyar TS is that the original
> teachings are very much valued and studied. I conduct
> a weekly study class in Spanish on "The Key to
> Theosophy" at the Blavatsky Lodge, Sydney. There is
> also in the Lodge a study group on Barborka's "The
> Divine Plane", an introduction to "The Secret
> Doctrine" and a discussion group on Shirley
> Nicholson's "Ancient Wisdom - Modern Insight", which
> is based on "The Secret Doctrine".
>
> Perhaps part of the negative reaction generated by
> "The Elder Brother" is due to the fact that there was,
> and I think there still is, a great deal of gratitude
> to CWL in the Adyar Society for his many years of
> dedicated service, his many books and his overall
> contribution. Some of his books have ceased to be
> reprinted, like "Man: Whence, How and Whither", "The
> Lives of Alcyone", among others. But the fact that
> there is still demand for his books may indicate that
> his message is found useful. In Brazil, for example, I
> have seen his books for sale in bus terminals in very
> remote areas of the country.
>
> Pedro
>
>
>
>
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Small Business $15K Web Design Giveaway
> http://promotions.yahoo.com/design_giveaway/
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>