Theos-Talk Archives (July 2004 Message tt00424)

Recent postings on this list refer to the approach to
Theosophy in the Adyar TS as being, among other
things, distorted by not coinciding with the teachings
of HPB and the Mahatmas.

Below is a brief collection of views on Theosophy by
some well-known members of the Adyar Society.


Pedro



“Theosophy is the wisdom arising from the
study of the evolution of life and form. This
wisdom already exists, because the study has been
pursued for long ages by properly equipped
investigators into nature’s mysteries. The
investigators, who are called the Masters of the
Wisdom, are souls who in the evolutionary processes
have passed beyond the stage of man to
that next higher, that of the “Adept”. As man evolves
to Adept, he gains knowledge by
investigation and experiment. The knowledge so far
gained by an unbroken line of Adepts is
Theosophy, the Ancient Wisdom. ...

It [Theosophy] cannot but be a hypothesis at first to
whomsoever it is offered; it can become
one’s own personal knowledge only by experiment and
experience.

In Theosophy to-day, we have not the fullness of
knowledge of all facts. Only a few main facts
and laws have been told us, sufficient to spur us on
to study and discovery; but innumerable
gaps remain to be filled. They are being filled in by
individual workers in our midst, but what
we have of knowledge is as a drop in the ocean to what
lies undiscovered or unrevealed.
Nevertheless, the little we have is of wonderful
fascination, and it reveals new inspiration and
beauty everywhere.”

(From
the Introduction of “First Principles of
Theosophy” by C. Jinarajadasa, 1938 ed., TPH Adyar)



“Theosophy, as the word indicates, is the Divine
Wisdom, and we can have some conception
of that Wisdom only in so far as it comes within our
purview. For our purposes, then , it may
be defined as the Wisdom declared in all things in
Nature, a Wisdom which must have a
relation to the things we observe, to our practical
experience of life. ...

Our knowledge of the Divine Wisdom must be necessarily
partial and limited. Our horizon,
from any eminence we can command, must be a tiny
segment of an infinite sphere. Yet the
view we obtain can be for us a complete, making a
rounded outline. That outline has been
given the name of Theosophy, and into it we can paint
whatever details or knowledge may
come to us. It puts all our knowledge into a certain
order, giving us an ever fuller idea of the
meaning of the processes in which we are involved.
This comprehension has to be of both life
and form. For life or Spirit is the synthesising
agent. And knowledge of life can come only
through awareness of others, a sensitive, sympathetic
and imaginative understanding free from
bondage to one’s limited and separated self.”



(From “Theosophy, A Comprehensive Synthesis” in “An
Approach to Reality” by N. Sri Ram, 1951 ed., TPH
Adyar)



“A great deal has been written, directly or
indirectly, by the leaders of the Theosophical
Society on this subject and many people in the Society
are inclined to think that it is
unnecessary to give any further thought to it. If we
want to know what Theosophy is, all we
have to do is to read what H. P. Blavatsky, Annie
Besant, C. W. Leadbeater and others have
written on the subject. This attitude is based on the
misconception that Theosophy is a set of
ideas which can be acquired by reading books or
hearing lectures and assimilated by deep
thought and reflection on them. A little careful
consideration of the nature of man, the
universe and the Reality which underlies both will
show that this kind of approach to the
problem of understanding Theosophy is quite
unsatisfactory and inadequate. It cannot by its
very nature lead us to a through knowledge of
Theosophy. On the other hand, by producing
confusion and complacence in our minds it will tend to
prevent us from adopting those means
which alone can lead us to true knowledge. The first
step in acquiring true knowledge is to
know that we do not know. ...

It hardly needs pointing out that this question [what
is Theosophy?] should never be
considered as closed, and if there are any members who
are inclined to consider it as such,
they should think over the problem deeply and see
whether it is not possible to adopt a more
flexible attitude towards it. In fact, it is the duty
of the Theosophical Society as a whole to
keep this question open and maintain an atmosphere
which will encourage every member to
answer this question himself, not once for all, in a
purely academic spirit, but in an unending
series of inner illuminations.”


(I. K. Taimni, “What is Theosophy?”, The Theosophist,
November 1963)



“Home I carried my burden, and sat me down to read. As
I turned over page after page the
interest became absorbing; but how familiar it seemed;
how my mind leapt forward to presage
the conclusions, how natural it was, how coherent, how
subtle, and yet how intelligible. I was
dazzled, blinded by the light in which disjointed
facts were seen as parts of a mighty whole,
and all my puzzles, riddles, problems, seemed to
disappear. The effect was partially illusory in
one sense, in that they all had to be slowly
unravelled later, the brain gradually assimilating
that which the swift intuition had grasped as truth.
But the light had been seen, and in that
flash of illumination I knew that the weary search was
over and the very Truth was found.”


(Annie Besant’s impressions after reading “The Secret
Doctrine” in “An Autobiography”, 1983 ed. TPH Adyar) 



“The broad ideas must be assimilated first, and they
must be realized as facts in Nature. The
most important thing about Theosophy is its effect
upon practical life; and to obtain that, a
man must put himself into the Theosophical attitude
towards his surroundings and should learn
to look at everything from the Theosophical point of
view.”

(From a letter by C. W. Leadbeater, written in January
1923, as an answer to an enquirer as to how to
undertake the study of Theosophy. Published in The
Theosophist, October 1967.) 





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