Theos-Talk Archives (November 2004 Message tt00217)

Soon after HPB died, in May 1891, a cult
started to developed around her memory and her works.
Attitudes that overemphasise her role as an agent from
the Mahatmas in trying to re-present the principles of
the Wisdom-Tradition to the world continue to grow in
the present day, unmindful of HPB’s warnings in this
regard. Nothing could be more contrary to the spirit
in which she worked and suffered for the Theosophical
movement than regarding her like a Roman Catholic
saint, to whom unceasing adoration is given. 

The following passages from the “H. P. Blavatsky
Collected Writings” present HPB speaking about herself
and may give an insight into what motivated her and
how she related to her own eventual faults and
mistakes. I apologise for the length of this post.


“And here a slight digression must come in. We are
sure to be told by some, that this is
precisely the objection taken to theosophical
expositions, from Isis Unveiled down to The
Secret Doctrine. Agreed. We are quite prepared to
confess that the latter work, especially,
surpasses in these defects all the other theosophical
works. We are quite ready to admit the
faults charged against it by its critics—that it is
badly arranged, discursive, over-burdened with
digressions into by-ways of mythology, etc., etc. But
then it is neither a philosophical system
nor the Doctrine, called secret or esoteric, but only
a record of a few of its facts and a witness
to it. It has never claimed to be the full exposition
of the system (it advocates) in its totality;
(a) because as the writer does not boast of being a
great Initiate, she could, therefore, never
have undertaken such a gigantic task; and (b) because
had she been one, she would have
divulged still less. It has never been contemplated to
make of the sacred truths an integral
system for the ribaldry and sneers of a profane and
iconoclastic public. The work does not
pretend to set up a series of explanations, complete
in all their details, of the mysteries of
Being; nor does it seek to win for itself the name of
a distinct system of thought—like the
works of Messrs. Herbert Spencer, Schopenhauer or
Comte. On the contrary, The Secret
Doctrine merely asserts that a system, known as the
WISDOM-RELIGION, the work of
generations of adepts and seers, the sacred heirloom
of pre-historic times—actually exists,
though hitherto preserved in the greatest secrecy by
the present Initiates; and it points to
various corroborations of its existence to this very
day, to be found in ancient and modern
works.” (Vol. XIII, p. 93)


“Holding Gautama Buddha higher in my veneration than
any other religious teacher the world
over, I yet publicly, and notwithstanding Buddhist
opposition to the Hindu Scriptures—profess a profound
admiration for the Vedas and the Vedanta teaching,
simply because I claim an undeniable right of thinking
for myself, untrammelled by any divine or
human teacher or teaching.” (Vol. III, p. 310)


“The pagani or pagans may have been ignoramuses in the
eyes of those more ignorant than
themselves—those who accepted for coined money the ass
of Balaam, the whale of Jonah, and
the snake that walked on its tail—but they were not
more ignorant for all that. As the most
serious books speak of Plato, Homer, Pythagoras,
Virgil, etc., etc., under the name of “pagan
philosophers and poets,” the Adepts are found in good
company. The little lesson is as useless
as it is far-fetched. I am a pagan to the Christians,
and I am proud of it. I have said it
elsewhere: I far prefer to be a pagan with Plato and
Pythagoras, than a Christian with the
Popes.—H. P. BLAVATSKY.” (Vol. IX, p. 386 fn.)


“And now a few words more before I close. I will be
asked: “And who are you to find fault
with us? Are you, who claim nevertheless, communion
with the Masters and receive daily
favors from Them; Are you so holy, faultless, and so
worthy?” To this I answer: I AM NOT.
Imperfect and faulty is my nature; many and glaring
are my shortcomings—and for this my
Karma is heavier than that of any other Theosophist.
It is—and must be so––since for so many
years I stand set in the pillory, a target for my
enemies and some friends also. Yet I accept the
trial cheerfully. Why? Because I know that I have, all
my faults notwithstanding, Master’s
protection extended over me. And if I have it, the
reason for it is simply this: for thirty-five
years and more, ever since 1851 that I saw my Master
bodily and personally for the first time,
I have never once denied or even doubted Him, not even
in thought. Never a reproach or a
murmur against Him has escaped my lips, or entered
even my brain for one instant under the
heaviest trials. From the first I knew what I had to
expect, for I was told that, which I have
never ceased repeating to others: as soon as one steps
on the Path leading to the Ashrum of
the blessed Masters—the last and only custodians of
primitive Wisdom and Truth—his Karma,
instead of having to be distributed throughout his
long life, falls upon him in a block and
crushes him with its whole weight. He who believes in
what he professes and in his Master,
will stand it and come out of the trial victorious; he
who doubts, the coward who fears to
receive his just dues and tries to avoid justice being
done—FAILS. He will not escape.” (Vol.
VII, p. 247)



Pedro









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