Theos-Talk Archives (March 2005 Message tt00575)

[ www.AnandGholap.net - Online Books on Theosophy ]
" STUDENTS OF OCCULTISM-- even those who have been students for many 
years-- sometimes seem to fail to realise the Masters as They truly 
are. I have often found people thinking of Them as some kind of 
angels or devas, or, at any rate, as so far removed from us by Their 
greatness that it is scarcely possible for us to derive much help 
from Them. Their greatness is indisputable, and from that point of 
view the gulf between Them and ourselves may well seem incalculable 
in its extent; and yet from another point of view They are very close 
to us, so that Their sympathy and help are very near and very real. 
That our thought on the subject may be clear, let us first of all try 
to define exactly what we mean by the term "Master." 
2. 
We mean by it always one who is a member of the Great White 
Brotherhood-- a member at such a level that He is able to take 
pupils. Now the Great White Brotherhood is an organization unlike any 
other in the world, and for that reason it has often been 
misunderstood. It has sometimes been described as the Himalayan or 
the Tibetan Brotherhood, and the idea has been conveyed of a body of 
Indian ascetics residing together in a monastery in some inaccessible 
mountain fastness. Perhaps this has risen largely from the knowledge 
of the facts that the two Brothers principally concerned in the 
foundation and work of the Theosophical Society happen at the moment 
to be living in Tibet, and to be wearing Indian bodies. To comprehend 
the facts of the case it may be better to approach its consideration 
from another point of view." 

Complete Book can be read at

http://www.anandgholap.net/Inner_Life_Vol_I-CWL.htm