Theos-Talk Archives (July 2004 Message tt00343)

July 25 2004

Re: H P B 

Dear R.

A story I read many years ago concerning HPB and her supposed irascibility
ran as follows:

Mead or one of the Keightleys had made an error of some kind, and the
onlooker (who told this story) said she upbraided that person seemingly
unmercifully.

She had in her hand a very full cup of tea.

He observed that for all her agitation, not a drop of that tea spilled over
the brim.

Later she told him that the person she was dealing with was a student of
occultism under her training and he had a fault of careless action which
ought to be eliminated. She was driving home this point.

Apocryphal? Maybe. But it always struck me that she was NEVER out of
control. It was a deliberate action.

Also in the MAHATMA LETTERS we find the Master speaking of her to A P S and
saying that a psychologist could spend days even years trying to unravel H P
B's nature and character, but They examining her work found marvelous depths
of care and compassion for those she dealt with in operation all the time.
(I am paraphrasing the statement.) 

Here are some actual statements:


Regarding HPB, the Adepts wrote: 


"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


"...imperfect as may be our visible agent...yet, 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."
MAHATMA LETTERS , p. 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


"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


"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


"...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)  


"...imperfect as may be our visible agent...yet, 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."
MAHATMA LETTERS , p. 9-10


H.P.B. on herself


"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, Vol. 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..."
Letters of HPB to APS, p. 104



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 ] 



How Others Look On H.P.B.



"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


"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 hope this is of help


Best wishes,

Dallas

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

-----Original Message-----
From: Ruf
Sent: Sunday, July 25, 2004 8:28 AM
To: 
Subject: On H P B -- Critical works


Members can write a book showing defects in HPB, mistakes in her work, how
she was smoker, her short temper etc.

And what is wrong with this ???/ most geniuses are very short tempered
with other people , as they are so superior to the others in their area of
genius . also there is a fine line between genius and insanity . was HPB a
saint , or ever claimed to be ?? not that I know of , so why are you trying
to put her into that peg ? just the difference in general knowedge from
the last 125 years since she was writing , will give a natural change in how
we think of things compared to her time .

Hale
Atlanta