Theos-Talk Archives (April 2004 Message tt00270)

Quoting from Daniel's post: <<Also in 
the opening pages of HPB's first 
instruction to her esoteric students, 
she gives the following WARNING:

". . . A new and rapidly growing danger. 
. . is threatening . . . the spread of 
the pure Esoteric Philosophy and 
knowledge. . . . I allude to those 
charlatanesque imitations of Occultism 
and Theosophy. . . . By pandering to the 
prejudices of people, and especially by 
adopting the false ideas of a personal 
God and a personal, carnalized Saviour, 
as the groundwork of their teaching,
the leaders of this 'swindle' (for such 
it is) are endeavoring to draw men to 
them and in particular to turn 
Theosophists from the true path."

". . . A close examination will 
assuredly reveal. . . materials largely 
stolen . . . from Theosophical writings. 
. . [and] distorted and falsified so as 
to be palmed off on the unwary as 
revelations of new and undreamed of 
truths. But many will neither have the 
time nor the opportunity for such a 
thorough investigation; and before they
become aware of the imposture they may 
be led far from the Truth. . . . Nothing 
is more dangerous to Esoteric Truth than 
the garbled and distorted versions 
disfigured to suit the prejudices and 
tastes of men in general."

Notice HPB's key words: DANGER 
....CHARLATANESQUE IMITATIONS....FALSE 
IDEAS...DISTORTED AND FALSIFIED....

She warns her students that such 
imitations, such false ideas, such 
distorted and falsified teachings may 
TURN THEOSOPHISTS FROM THE TRUE 
PATH....THEY MAY BE LED FAR FROM THE TRUTH.

And HPB's last sentence in her quote 
bears repetition:

"Nothing is more dangerous to Esoteric 
Truth than the garbled and distorted 
versions disfigured to suit the 
prejudices and tastes of men in general."

NOTHING IS MORE DANGEROUS.....garbled 
and distorted versions...disfigured 
versions of Esoteric Truth or Theosophy.>>>>
==============================

I would add that since these "WARNINGS"
were directed at "her esoteric 
students," in particular, (rather than 
directed at the general public), one 
might wonder ... or, at any rate, I 
tend to wonder how such students could 
attain such an "esoteric" schooling 
classification under the tutelege of HPB 
if they were so naive that they were 
seen, by HPB herself, as in need of such 
special "WARNINGS." Are we to assume 
that HPB had decided that her students
were somehow cloistered from the real 
world around them, or was she just 
reminding her students about certain 
influences, as a formality, maybe ... 
Though people then didn't have the the 
multi-media resources of today, one 
might tend to assume, surely, that HPB's 
students weren't little childen, 
exactly. Seems to me that various kinds 
of manglings of "original teaching" is 
the norm on this planet, always has 
been, and is still going on much of the 
time.

Eg, just recently I looked up the word 
"Theosophy" in the 1968 Encyclopedia 
Britannica and, having read the article, 
felt that the author misunderstood the 
subject matter.

Not that HPB's "WARNINGS" might not have
represented (for all I know) her way of, 
say, reminding her students about 
concerns that she might have felt were 
perfectly familiar to all of them, all 
along. And then if HPB also knew, let's 
say, that her warnings were to be passed 
on in writing ... so that people like 
Daniel, etc, could, in turn, pass them 
on ...

Anyway, I tend to agree with Daniel's 
warnings about HPB's warnings, 
basically---though I can't help 
wondering about those "esoteric 
students" back then. Not that I don't 
wonder about "esoteric students" in 
general, among other things.

Speculatively
Mauri