Theos-Talk Archives (December 2004 Message tt00304)

Dec 22 2004

Dear Anand :

I don't know what basis you choose to write from.  

There is plenty of evidence in the THEOSOPHY literature on the Mahatmas. But
you have to know where to go to secure it.

Here are some ideas to consider



"THE THEOSOPHICAL MAHATMAS" 

by H. P. Blavatsky
H P B Articles I p. 301



Some of the statements made herein seem important :


P. 302	Our MASTERS are simply holy mortals, nevertheless, however,
higher than any in this world, morally, intellectually and spiritually. 

P. 302	However holy and advanced in the science of the
Mysteries--they are still men, members of a Brotherhood, who are the first
in it to show themselves subservient to its time-honored laws and rules. 

P. 302	.one of the first rules in it demands that those who start
on their journey.should proceed by the straight road, without stopping on
every side-way and path.that they should have confidence and show trust and
patience, besides several other conditions to fulfill. 

P. 302	Once that a theosophist would become a candidate for either
chelaship or favors, he must be aware of the mutual pledge, tacitly, if not
formally offered and accepted between the two parties, and, that such a
pledge is sacred. It is a bond of seven years of probation. 

P. 203	.the chief and the only indispensable condition required in
the candidate or chela on probation, is simply unswerving fidelity to the
chosen Master and his purposes. 

P. 203	.the magnetic rapport between the two once broken, it
becomes at each time doubly difficult to re-establish it again; and that it
is neither just nor fair, that the Masters should strain their powers for
those whose future course and final desertion they very often can plainly
foresee. 

P. 304	Emotionalism is not philosophy; and Buddha devoted his long
self-sacrificing life to tear people away precisely from that evil breeding
superstition. 

P. 304	For years every new member has been told that he was
promised nothing, but bad everything to expect only from his own personal
merit. The Theosophist is left free and untrammeled in his actions. 

P. 306	.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.This is why, having been so constantly, so
mercilessly slashed by my Karma.that I have stood it all. I felt sure that
Master would not permit that I should perish; that he would always appear at
the eleventh hour--and so he did. Three times I was saved from death by Him,
the last time almost against my will; when I went again into the cold,
wicked world out of love for Him, who has taught me what I know and made me
what I am. Therefore, I do His work and bidding, and this is what has given
me the lion's strength to support shocks--physical and mental, one of which
would have killed any theosophist who would go on doubting of the mighty
protection.

P. 307	Unswerving devotion to Him who embodies the duty traced for
me, and belief in the Wisdom--collectively, of that grand, mysterious, yet
actual Brotherhood of holy men--is my only merit, and the cause of my
success in Occult philosophy. 


P. 307	[GREAT MASTER] : Perish rather, the Theosophical Society
and its hapless Founders," 

[H P B] : I say perish their twelve years' labour and their very lives
rather than that I should see what I do today: theosophists, outvying
political "rings" in their search for personal power and authority;
theosophists slandering and criticizing each other as two rival Christian
sects might do; finally theosophists refusing to lead the life and then
criticizing and throwing slurs on the grandest and noblest of men, because
tied by their wise laws--hoary with age and based on an experience of human
nature millenniums old--those Masters refuse to interfere with Karma and to
play second fiddle to every theosophist who calls upon Them and whether he
deserves it or not. 

CAN THE MAHATMAS BE SELFISH ? by H. P. Blavatsky
H P B Articles I, p. 321

Here are some statements that appear important to me:


P. 321	unselfishness is a sine qua non for success in occultism. 
the development of an unselfish feeling is in itself the primary training
which brings with it "knowledge which is power" as a necessary accessory. It
is not, therefore, "knowledge," as ordinarily understood, that the occultist
works for, but it comes to him as a matter of course, in consequence of his
having removed the veil, which screens true knowledge from his view. 

The basis of knowledge exists everywhere, since the phenomenal world
furnishes or rather abounds with facts, the causes of which have to be
discovered. 

We see only the effects in the phenomenal world, for each cause in that
world is itself the effect of some other cause, and so on; and, therefore,
true knowledge consists in getting at the root of all phenomena, and thus
arriving at a correct understanding of the primal cause, the "rootless
root," which is not an effect in its turn. 

To perceive anything correctly, one can use only those senses or instruments
which correspond to the nature of that object. Hence, to comprehend the
noumenal, a noumenal sense is a pre-requisite; while the transient phenomena
can be perceived by senses corresponding to the nature of those phenomena. 

Occult Philosophy teaches us that the seventh principle is the only eternal
Reality, while the rest, belonging as they do to the "world of forms" which
are non-permanent, are illusive in the sense that they are transient. To
these is limited the phenomenal world which can be taken cognisance of by
the senses corresponding to the nature of those six principles. It will thus
be clear that it is only the seventh sense, which pertains to the noumenal
world, that can comprehend the Abstract Reality underlying all phenomena. 

As this seventh principle is all-pervading, it exists potentially in all of
us; and he, who would arrive at true knowledge, has to develop that sense in
him, or rather he must remove those veils which obscure its manifestation. 

All sense of personality is limited only to these lower six principles, for
the former relates only to the "world of forms." Consequently, true
"knowledge" can be obtained only by tearing away all the curtains of Maya
raised by a sense of personality before the impersonal Atma. 

It is only in that personality that is centered selfishness, or rather the
latter creates the former and vice versa, since they mutually act and react
upon each other. 

For, selfishness is that feeling which seeks after the aggrandisement of
one's own egotistic personality to the exclusion of others. If, therefore,
selfishness limits one to narrow personalities, absolute knowledge is
impossible so long as selfishness is not got rid of. 

So long, however, as we are in this world of phenomena, we cannot be
entirely rid of a sense of personality, however exalted that feeling may be
in the sense that no feeling of personal aggrandisement or ambition remains.


We are, by our constitution and state of evolution, placed in the "World of
Relativity," but as we find that impersonality and non-duality is the
ultimate end of cosmic evolution, we have to endeavor to work along with
Nature, and not place ourselves in opposition to its inherent impulse which
must ultimately assert itself. To oppose it, must necessitate suffering,
since a weaker force, in its egotism, tries to array itself against the
universal law. 

All that the occultist does, is to hasten this process, by allowing his Will
to act in unison with the Cosmic Will or the Demiurgic Mind, which can be
done by successfully checking the vain attempt of personality to assert
itself in opposition to the former. 

And since the MAHATMA is but an advanced occultist, who has so far
controlled his lower "self" as to hold it more or less in complete
subjection to the Cosmic impulse, it is in the nature of things impossible
for him to act in any other but an unselfish manner. No sooner does he allow
the "personal self" to assert itself, than he ceases to be a MAHATMA. 

Those, therefore, who being still entangled in the web of the delusive sense
of personality charge the MAHATMAS with "selfishness" in withholding
"knowledge"--do not consider what they are talking about. The Law of Cosmic
evolution is ever operating to achieve its purpose of ultimate unity and to
carry the phenomenal into the noumenal plane, and the MAHATMAS, being en
rapport with it, are assisting that purpose.

They therefore know best what knowledge is best for mankind at a particular
stage of its evolution, and none else is competent to judge of that matter,
since they alone have got to the basic knowledge which can determine the
right course and exercise proper discrimination.
 
For us who are yet struggling in the mire of the illusive senses to dictate
what knowledge MAHATMAS shall impart to us and how they shall act, is like a
street-boy presuming to teach science to Prof. Huxley or politics to Mr.
Gladstone. 

For, it will be evident that, as soon as the least feeling of selfishness
tries to assert itself, the vision of the spiritual sense, which is the only
perception of the MAHATMA, becomes clouded and he loses the "power" which
abstract "knowledge" alone can confer. 

Hence, the vigilant watch of the "Will" we have constantly to exercise to
prevent our lower nature from coming up to the surface, which it does in our
present undeveloped state; and thus extreme activity and not passivity is
the essential condition with which the student has to commence. 

First his activity is directed to check the opposing influence of the "lower
self"; and, when that is conquered, his untrammelled Will centered in his
higher (real) "self," continues to work most efficaciously and actively in
unison with the cosmic ideation in the "Divine Mind." 

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


Best wishes,


Dallas
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Anand 
Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2004 2:40 PM
To: 
Subject: Masters


" THERE has been among Theosophical students a great deal of vagueness and
uncertainty about the Masters, so perhaps it may help us to realize how
natural Their lives are, ....CUT