Theos-Talk Archives (October 2004 Message tt00077)

Hallo Steve and all,

This reminds of the following book by Steiner:
"The Bhagavad Gita and the Epistles of St. Paul", 1913

In this book, which was written shortly after the break with
Adyar, - Steiner makes a few very interesting claims about this break with
Adyar.

Now I don't have the book with me. But it is interesting to see,
that Steiner uses some time on Shankara's teaching just after
his remarks about the Adyar break away or in connection with it.

One can familiarise oneself with Shankara, which is a branch of AtmaVidya
teachings
at http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp/ (It is only a branch of AtmaVidya
and Theosophy)



from
M. Sufilight

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "stevestubbs" <stevestubbs@yahoo.com>
To: <theos-talk@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, October 04, 2004 4:27 AM
Subject: Theos-World Training wheels for the mind


>
>
> Someone posted a question recently about how Leadbeater developed
> his "psychic powers." So far as I know, Leadbeater never put any
> methods in writing, although Brigitte Muehlegger said he did teach
> people personally, including Dora Kunz, who did claim to be psychic.
> Brigitte would not say what the methods were and the other parties
> are all dead as doornails, so there is no way to confirm any of
> this. I used to talk to doornails but tried to avoid doing so in
> public, heh, heh. The way he "taught" Besant to look at atoms
> clairvoyantly is clearly a clever use of hypnotic suggestion, which
> anyone can do with no occult power at all.
>
> It has occurred to me that in his book CHAKRAS Leadbeater made a
> comment about how his clairvoyance had "cost me more work than most
> people would be willing to expend" or something to that effect. That
> statement has the ring of truth to it. I do not believe for a moment
> that Leadbeater was the great seer he pretended to be. But it is
> possible he was introduced to some development methods, worked hard
> at it, was unable to get much in the way of results, and became a
> charlatan rather than let failure or meager result get in the way of
> his ambitions. I am speculating here but that does fit the known
> facts. He claimed to have studied under two teachers in Burma, which
> suggests they would have belonged to the southern school of Buddhism,
> and there were teachers of this nature in Burma then. Whether the
> art has survived all the political turmoil there is impossible to
> say. If memory serves me correctly, I think Jack Kornfield said this
> sort of thing is still taught there.
>
> Perhaps of more interest is Steiner, who both claimed to be
> clairvoyant and had the courage to share his presumed methods. That
> puts Steiner in a different class from Leadbeater. Steiner may have
> been a crank, or he may not, but he at least believed his methods
> could be disclosed without he himself being disclosed as a
> charlatan. It is questionable whether Leadbeater had that same
> degree of confidence.
>
> It also puts him in a different class from Blavatsky, although in her
> case there are enough statements to make it clear she developed her
> clairvoyance with mirror gazing. By the time she visited
> Wachtmeister it appears she could dispense with a physical mirror and
> concentrate her gaze at a point in space, along with certain other
> practices which Wachtmeister briefly discusses. There are some other
> methods Blavatsky is known to have used, but she left no detailed
> description of how her followers could follow her path.
>
> Steiner started describing his methods such as they were with THE WAY
> OF INITIATION and then INITIATION AND ITS RESULTS, then combining
> those into KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHER WORLDS AND ITS ATTAINMENT. THE
> STAGES OF HIGHER KNOWLEDE was published as an extension of the latter
> work. Later he seems to have edited this information and published A
> ROAD TO SELF-KNOWLEDGE. All except the first two titles are
> available at:
>
> http://www.elib.com/Steiner/Holdings/books.php
>
> There is also a book out entitled GUIDANCE IN ESOTERIC TRAINING which
> is a paperback and includes his formerly secret ES materials. I
> cannot say that I care much for Steiner's methods and have not worked
> with them. I therefore cannot say whether they work or not.
> Brigitte Muehlegger said one time that Steiner's methods did NOT
> work, but one thinks if they were completely useless that information
> would have come out in the century since they were published and that
> the Anthroposophists would have swept them under the rug. If anyone
> has any information about this (i.e., whether they work or not)
> please share.
>
> It also may be worth mentioning in connection with Frank's recent
> reference to the so called "Adyar Manifestation" that it was this
> incident, the politlcal shenanigans that followed, and the
> Krishnamurti nonsense, which allegedly motivated Steiner to break
> with the society, taking the German section with him.
>
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> Yahoo! Groups Links
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