Theos-Talk Archives (November 2004 Message tt00282)

In a message dated 11/21/04 7:32:35 AM, AnandGholap@AnandGholap.org writes:

>Pedro,
>As you said it is difficult to understand how Buddhist teacher uses 
>terms like Atma and soul while explaining to Sinnette. It appears to 
>me that Theosophy as given by Annie Besant, Leadbeater and HPB is 
>more like what Vedas and Upanishats tell. First of all idea of the 
>God in Advait Vedanta is same as given by Annie Besant,Leadbeater and 
>HPB. Secondly Theosophy considers man had different bodies like 
>physical, astral, mental, buddhic which have equivalent terms in 
>Upanishats as Sthul Sharir, Vasanamay Kosha, Manomay Kosha and 
>Anandmaya Kosha. Thirdly Theosophy recognizes existence of Devas or 
>Angels (these should not be confused with God) Rituals or sacraments 
>form significant part of Hindu religion and they are there in 
>Christianity. These rituals depend on cooperation with Devas or 
>Angles. It appears that Buddhism denies existence of Devas and Angels.
>Fourthly Buddhism denies existence of God but the whole subject given 
>under the name of Theosophy which literally means wisdom of the God.
>So if one takes Buddhist philosophy, lot of most important questions 
>can not be answered. 
>
>Anand Gholap

Again, I have to butt in. 

What most important questions cannot be answered if one takes esoteric 
Buddhist (or its counterpart in theosophical) philosophy? 

Maybe we should make the distinction between the so called "God" of theosophy 
-- which can only refer to the *impersonal* Supreme Spirit (similar to the 
Buddha's teachings that reformed Hinduism) -- and the *personal* "God" of the 
Christians and Hindus... That lead to a Messianic religion with an interfering 
God-creator... And, by such association, justifies a dictatorial "New World 
Order" hierarchically governed religion -- as proposed by AAB -- with direct 
emulation of the LCC ideas put forth by AB and CWL (that was later discredited by 
Krishnamurti -- their proposed Messiah). 

The Masters specifically stated that their "Secret Doctrine" teaching is 
fundamentally Buddhist (in its esoteric aspects) and denies the existance of any 
personal God -- as falsely believed in by the Christians, Muslims, Hindus, etc. 
Besides, the word theosophy, while it could mean "Godlike Wisdom", actually 
means "Divine Wisdom" -- which has no personal attributes. Therefore, it 
cannot mean "Wisdom of the God" -- which implies a "personality." 

Maybe as Daniel suggested, you should read all the old literature prior to AB 
and CWL, compare, think, and find out for yourself what is and is not 
theosophy, and whether or not theosophy is closest to Hinduism or Buddhism, or in any 
way agrees with Messianic Christianity (besides the teachings of Jesus, the 
Christ which is essentially identical to those of Gautama, the Buddha)... All 
dead letter interpretations of the Vedas, Upanishads, and Bible, aside. (Even 
the Christian Bible doesn't agree with the original oral Hebraic Old Testament 
teachings.) Shows what happens when we arbitrarily slap a personal and 
vengeful God idea on top of a fundamentally impersonal metaphysics based on Karmic 
Law.:-) 

So, let's get real and start seeing theosophy for what it really is. And 
let's stop proselytizing our own personal exoteric religious views to serious 
students of theosophy (or what could be called, "Esoteric Budhiism"). In this 
light, theosophy could certainly be called the "Wisdom Religion" -- but it can 
never be called a God (based) Religion. 

LHM