Theos-Talk Archives (September 2004 Message tt00155)

Sept 3 2004

	  

The THEOSOPHICAL MAHATMAS


Dear Friends:


It seems to me that if the Masters of Wisdom ( the Mahatmas) did not exist
we would have nothing of their writings to consider. No controversy would
exist.  

We however are faced with writings and other testimony from contemporaries
claiming their existence. We are now about 100+ years or so further away
from those times, and all we have are the writings and the written
testimony. Lets then consider those and see if what was offered makes
sense.

Remember that HPB called herself Their "messenger," and in MAHATMA LETTERS
(I assume you have studied those letters ?) You will find Their opinion
about her work for Them.

----------------------------------

* They wrote:


"We have offered to exhume the primeval strata of man's being, his basic
nature, and lay bare the wonderful complications of his inner Self...and
demonstrate it scientifically...It is our mission to plunge and bring the
pearls of Truth to the surface...For countless generations hath the adept
builded a fane of imperishable rocks, a giant's Tower of INFINITE THOUGHT,
wherein the Titan dwelt...emerging from it but at the end of every cycle, to
invite the elect of mankind to cooperate with him and help in his turn
enlighten superstitious man...until that day when the foundations of a new
continent of thought are so firmly built that no amount of opposition and
ignorant malice guided by the Brethren of the Shadow will be found to
prevail. But until that day of final triumph, someone has to be
sacrificed--though we accept but voluntary victims. The ungrateful task did
lay her [HPB] low and desolate in the ruins of misery, misapprehension, and
isolation: but she will have her reward in the hereafter for we never were
ungrateful..." M L 51


H P B -- Her Mission and "Position"


"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 [Barker Edn.]


"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 [Barker Edn.]


"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 [Barker Edn.]


"...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."	M L 9-10


"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 LETTERS to APS 376


"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


"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


"I think that the way for all western theosophists is through H.P.B. I mean
that as she is the T.S. incarnate--its mother and guardian, its creator--the
Karmic laws would naturally provide that all who drew this life through her
belonged to her, and if they denied her, they need not hope to reach
[Masters], for how can they deny her who gave this doctrine to the western
world? They share her Karma to little purpose if they think they can get
round this identification and benefit, and [Masters] want no better proof
that a man does not comprehend their philosophy. This would, of course, bar
him from [Masters] by natural laws (of growth)...[those] who undervalue her
gift and her creation, have not imbibed the teaching and cannot assimilate
its benefits. She must be understood as being what she is to the T.S., or
Karma...is not understood, nor the first laws of occultism."	
WQJ -- LETTERS 110


"...we believe that H.P.B. will be for some time occupied in training a new
instrument, and one not so young as to be useless at the present cyclic
crisis...she left everything in order. All things were planned out, and
evidence was abundantly had to the effect that she knew her departure was
near... looking upon her as an Adept, whose chief work was done outside of
the objective body, it was reasonable to suppose that she is now enabled to
use, upon higher (or inner) planes of being, the power previously expended
in the maintenance of that body."	LETTERS 155


"That for several years I will not be able to help it [the T S ] on, and
steer its course, because I will have to act in a body which will have to be
assimilated to the Nirmanakaya, because even in occultism there are such
things as a failure and a retardment and a misfit..."	-- HPB LETTERS
281


"[H. P. B.] Those who cannot understand her had best not try to explain
her...she knew...that high and wise servants of the Lodge have remained with
the West since many centuries for the purpose of helping it on its mission
and destiny. That work it would be well for members of the T. Mvt. to
continue without deviating, without excitement, without running to
extremes...the truth of the soul's life is in no special quarter of the
compass..." 
LETTERS 76


"...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

	
"...when the great leader is H.P.Blavatsky, a whole host of principles and
postulates as to certain laws of nature cluster around her name. For not
only was she one who brought to us from the wiser brothers of the human
family a consistent philosophy of the solar system, but in herself she
illustrated practically the existence of the supersensuous world and of the
powers of the inner and astral man...and theory or assertion touching on her
relations with the unseen and with the Masters she spoke for inevitably
opens up the discussion of some law or principle. Many things were said
about H.P.B. in her lifetime by those who tried to understand her, some of
them being silly and some positively pernicious. The most pernicious was
that made by [A.P.S.] in London in the lifetime of H.P.B. and before the
writing of the Secret Doctrine, that she was deserted by the Masters and was
the prey of elementals and elemental forces...if true, then anything she
might say as from the Masters which did not agree with the opinion of the
one addressed could be disposed of as being only the vaporing of some
elementals."
WQJ ART II 13


"...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


"...if it had not been for her the T.S. with its literature would not have
come into existence."	WQJ ART II 20


"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 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..."	HPB LETTERS to APS p. 104


"H.P.Blavatsky was the head, front, bottom, top, outskirts, past and future
of the theosophical society...Not only was H.P.B. predominant with us in
1875, but she is yet." WQJ Art II 161	"A Reminiscence" - 
WQJ Path, Feb. 1893 / Mar. 1895


"[ According to HPB ]...there are certain persons on this earth, living and
working as ordinary human beings and members of society, whose informing
divine part is so immeasurably high in development that they as such high
beings have a definite status and function in the "supersensuous
regions."...she herself was such a case, and that "H P B" whether hourly in
the day or at night when all around was still, had a "status and function"
in other spheres where she consciously carried on the work of that high
station, whatever it was...[She wrote in one place] " I am conscious day
and night, and have much to do and to endure in both these existences from
which you, being half-conscious, are happily saved."	WQJ ART I 616


"...but H.P.Blavatsky, who then as afterwards was really the central figure,
has for the present left this life. The first great change, then, between
seventeen years ago and now is the removal from the scene of th personage
who, for so long was the pivot of the whole movement...[ in 1879 ] upon the
advent of the two pioneers in Asia [HPB and Col. Olcott, who went to India]
...in order that the influence of the mysterious and distant East might
react upon the West and enable us to bring to light again important
religious and philosophical truths. This reaction came, and manifesting in
America with full force, a host of Branches began to arise...all with one
accord must draw their chief inspiration from the life, the labors, and the
words of that wonderful and still faintly understood woman, Helena, P.
Blavatsky."	WQJ Art. II 148 -- "Seventeen Years Ago"
Path, Nov. 1892


"...the movement has grown most in consequence of the effort of those who
are devoted to an ideal, inspired by enthusiasm, filled with a lasting
gratitude to H.P.Blavatsky. Their ideal is the service of Humanity, the
ultimate potential perfectibility of man as exemplified by the Masters and
Adepts of all ages, including the present."	WQJ ART II 21


"...for those who have studied in the right way plenty of proof has been
offered; for others that proof exists within themselves The former class
has had tangible evidence in the way of letters and appearances of the
Adepts before their eyes; the latter concluded long ago that the Masters
are necessities of evolution...in the West the idea of the existence of the
Adepts and of Their connection with our movement was first brought forward
in this century and in our Society by H.P.Blavatsky, who, consistently
throughout her career, has declared that the Adepts--whom she was pleased to
call her Masters--directed her to engage in this work and have always helped
and directed her throughout... They have adopted the TS as one of Their
agents in this century for disseminating the truth about man and
nature...Their motive is to help the moral--and hence external -- progress
of humanity, and their methods to work from behind the scenes by means of
agents suited for the work...the agency is not restricted to one person, but
that all sincere lovers of truth are used to that end, whether they know it
or not...the personal effort put forth by the members will not account for
the spreading of the movement...As the Masters exist, so They help us; and
as we deserve, so will They repay."	WQJ ART II 79-80


"...while the T S movement of today was distinctly under the care of the
Adepts, it was not the only one through which effect was sought to be made
on the race-thought and ethics, but that in many different ways efforts were
constantly put forward ...she insisted that the T S wears the badge...of the
Eastern and Ancient Schools...the old and united Lodge of Adepts ...[It
would be reasonable to say]...that Brotherhood has the knowledge and
power... to use every agency which is in touch with humanity." 
WQJ ART I 244



ON THE SECRET DOCTRINE


"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 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 ] 



MASTERS AND THEIR "POSITION"


"the Master-Soul is one"... [Thou art THAT.]	VOICE 54


"...the light of the ONE MASTER, the one unfading golden light of Spirit,
shoots its effulgent beams on the Disciple from the very first. Its rays
thread through the thick dark clouds of matter..."	VOICE 19


" the best and most important teacher is one's seventh principle [ATMA]
centred in the sixth [Buddhi]."	LETTERS p. 96


"The Masters are not Eastern nor Western, but universal."	
LETTERS p. 109


"And whoever therefore wants to see the real MAHATMA, must use his
intellectual sight. He must so elevate his Manas that its perception will
be clear...His vision will then be bright and he will see the MAHATMAS
wherever he may be, for, being merged into the sixth and seventh principles,
which are ubiquitous and omnipresent, the MAHATMAS may be said to be
everywhere."	HPB ART I 294


"...our true progress lies in fidelity to Masters as ideals and facts."...I
think a constant reliance on Masters as such ideals and facts--or
either--will lead the T S on to greater work...I belong to that class of
persons in the T S who out of their own experience know that the Masters
exist and actually help the T S...I am not acting impulsively in my many
public statements as to the existence of Masters and help from Them. It is
done under an old order of Theirs and under a law of mind. The existence of
Masters being a fact, the assertion of that fact so often made in America
has opened up channels in men's minds which would have remained closed had
silence been observed about the existence of those Beings...Experience has
shown that a springing up of interest in Theosophy has followed declaration,
and men's minds are more powerfully drawn away from the blank Materialism
teaching."	WQJ ART II 43


"Concentrate the mind upon the Masters as ideals and facts--living, active,
beneficent Beings, working in and on the plane of causes. Meditate upon
this exclusively, and try to reach up to Them in thought." F P 13-14


"...no worker, however feeble or insignificant, is outside the range of
Master's eye and help."	WQJ ART II 47


"...I can swear it, the Masters are watching us all, and, without fail, when
we come to the right point and really deserve, They manifest to us. At all
times I know They help and try to aid us as far as we will let Them. Why,
the Masters are anxious (to use a word of our own) that as many as possible
may reach to the state of power and love They are in. Why, then, suppose
They help not? As They are Atman and therefore the very law of Karma
itself, They are in everything in life, and in every phase of our changing
days and years. If you will arouse your faith on this line you come nearer
to help from Them than you will recognize."	LETTERS 68


"...fix your thoughts again on Those Elder Brothers, work for Them, serve
Them, and They will help through the right appropriate means and no other.
To meditate on the Higher Self is difficult. Seek, then, the bridge--the
Masters."	LETTERS 112


"...the great Adepts live in the plane of our inner nature, it must follow
that they might be actively helping every one of us after the date referred
to, and we, as physical brain men, not be conscious of it on this plane."
LETTERS 115

"Just now the best and biggest work by us poor children is on this plane
with the great aid of Master, Whose simple single will keeps the whole
organization [in being], and acts as its support and shield." 
LETTERS 87


"the image of the Master is the best protection against lower influences;
think of the Master as a living man within you."	LETTERS 164


"The whole sweep, meaning, and possibility of evolution are contained in the
word Mahatma...those great souls who have triumphed before us...but just
because they are of the human race." WQJ ART II 39

"...between adept and chela--Master and Pupil--there gradually forms a
closer tie; for the psychic interchange is regulated scientifically...as
the water in a full tank runs into an empty one which it is connected with;
and as the common level will be sooner or later reached according to the
capacity of the feed-pipe, so does the knowledge of the adept flow to the
chela; and the chela attains the adept-level according to his receptive
capacities. At the same time the chela, being an individual, a separate
evolution, unconsciously imparts to the Master the quality of his
accumulated mentality. [ we ] always ascertain independently and for
ourselves whether the ideas so reflected in us are right or wrong."	LMW
(I) p. 82-3


"A Mahatma is not only an Adept, but much more...This does not mean a
noble-hearted man merely, but a perfected being, one who has attained to the
state...when time and space are no obstacles to sight, to action, to
knowledge or to consciousness...to possess information of a decidedly
practical character concerning the laws of nature, including that mystery
for science --the meaning, operation and constitution of life itself..." 
ECHOES 23


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

Another witness on the scene also wrote:


ARE WE DESERTED?


FOLLOWING on the departure of H.P.B. from the scene of action, some weak
voices in the Society have asked, "Have the Adepts deserted us?" This
question has also come from those who are not weak in character, but who
certainly do not understand very clearly what the Adepts are or how They
work. And in the use of the term "Adept" are included also "Mahatmas,"
"Brothers," "Masters."

That these beings exist we have no manner of doubt, since for those who have
studied in the right way plenty of proof has been offered; for others the
proofs exist within themselves. The former class has had tangible evidence
in the way of letters and appearances of the Adepts before their eyes; the
latter long ago concluded that the Masters are necessities of evolution.
Those who received proof palpable were those whose karma and past work
entitled them to it; the others, having in previous lives gone through the
experience and the argument, now quickly decided that, inasmuch as there are
grades of intelligence and wisdom and power below ourselves, so there must
beyond us be still other grades, all leading up, ex necessitate rei, to the
Adept or Master of whatever degree.

Now in the Society's ranks there have always been three mental positions
held in respect to the question whether or not the Adepts - once admitted as
existing - have anything in particular to do with the Theosophical Society.
These are, first, that they have; second, that they have not; third,
sometimes doubt about it, at others surety that they have, - in fact,
wavering.

Those who think that the T.S. movement is merely a natural development of
thought cannot be affected by the present discussion; the first and third
classes are interested in the matter. 

To those it should at once occur that in the West the idea of the existence
of the Adepts and of Their connection with our movement was first brought
forward in this century and in our Society by H.P. Blavatsky, who,
consistently throughout her career, has declared that the Adepts - whom she
was pleased to call her Masters - directed her to engage in this work and
have always helped and directed her throughout. 

That They should so direct her and then desert the Society she founded
merely because her body came to its dissolution seems so illogical as to be
unthinkable. Many persons have affirmed to the reception of messages in
writing from the same Masters, in which They said that some of Their efforts
were for the benefit of the T.S. 

Among these persons we may mention Mr. A.P. Sinnett, who has never abandoned
that position, and who today possesses a great number of such letters. Why
should the unseen founders withdraw Their help when the work of the Society
has but just begun to have its due effect upon the age? There seems to be no
reasonable reply.

Once that we admit the existence of the Adepts and that They have adopted
the T.S. as one of Their agents in this century for disseminating the truth
about man and nature, we are bound to suppose that ordinary common-sense
rules would govern as to the continuance of help or its withdrawal. Now one
of the most obvious conclusions is that the Society should not be deserted
until it had accomplished its mission or had utterly failed. Sixteen years
of steady work show an enormous effect produced upon the thought of America,
Europe, and Asia; but that portion of the work has been in the line of
fighting against odds and breaking down of opposition, with a beginning in
this sixteenth year of an interest in the doctrines brought to the attention
of the West by the efforts of our members. 

>From that we must, as reasonable and foresighted beings, deduce the
necessity for continuance of assistance. It is plain that our work of clear
promulgation and wise building-up is still before us. Why then should the
Adepts desert us? Still no reasonable reply can be found.

But considering what we know of the motives and methods held and pursued by
the Adepts, we cannot for a moment suppose our real founders and constant
helpers could yet leave us to fight alone. In letters and messages from Them
we read that Their motive is to help the moral - and hence external -
progress of humanity, and Their methods to work from behind the scenes by
means of agents suited for the work. 

Those letters and messages also say that the agency is not restricted to one
person, but that all sincere lovers of truth are used to that end, whether
they know of it or not. The departure of H.P.B. does not remove the other
sincere lovers of truth from the scene, nor does it prevent the Adepts from
sending messages if needed. Such messages have been received before H.P.B.'s
departure by persons in no way connected with her, and have since that sad
event also come to encourage those who are entitled to such encouragement.
The contents of these are not for the public, nor indeed for any one save
those to whom they have come.

Yet even if no such messages had been received, there is ample evidence, for
those who are not blind, of the help of the Masters. For, as They said long
ago that the work would be helped, so it has been; no other reason can be
given for the increase of the work in America, since their personal effort
put forth by the members will not account for the spreading of the movement.


And now let it stand as a prophecy made in the messages spoken of, that in
the kingdom of Great Britain and in Europe there will in five years be seen
a similar spreading of Theosophy. Let no one of us, then, be in any way cast
down. As the Masters exist, so They help us; and as we deserve, so will they
repay.

W.Q.J.	PATH, August, 1891

-----------------------------

Best wishes, 

Dallas
 
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