LARGER TIDES
Dec 26, 2006 12:43 PM
by carlosaveline
Dear Friends,
This is on the mystery of tides, or cycles of human events.
Upon studying William Judge’s Forum Answers (Theosophy Company, p. 06), once can see a key quotation from a Mahatma Letter. It’s on the cycles of historical evolution.
The Master says, in order to avoid certain “theosophical misconceptions”:
“... We never pretended to be able to draw nations in the mass to this or that crisis in spite of the general drift of the world’s cosmic relations. The cycles must run their rounds. . . . The major and minor yugas must be accomplished according to the established order of things. And we, borne along with the mighty tide, can only modify and direct some of its minor currents (.....). ”
The importance of those lines can’t be overstated. These words were first published in the book The Occult World, by A.P. Sinnett. Later one, they were included in the chronological edition of the Mahatma Letters. In this crucial paragraph, the process of the “mighty tide of Karma cycles” is described from the viewpoint of the Adepts. (1)
On the other hand, there is a celebrated poem by Longfellow, whose title is Santa Filomena – which describes the same “mighty tide” but now from the point of view of average human beings and students of the divine wisdom.
The poem might be said to complement the Master’s statement – from the student’s perspective. The really significant verses are in the first part of the poem. Some four lines of it have been actually used by Sylvia Cranston in the opening of her extraordinary book “HPB” – the best biography available of the main founder of the modern theosophical movement.
It is worthwhile to read and meditate on the first 12 lines of Longfellow’s poem, which really show the same fact described by the Mahatma – the common tide of human karma – yet from quite another perspective. It says:
Whene’er a noble deed is wrought,
Whene’er is spoken a noble thought,
Our hearts, in glad surprise,
To higher levels rise.
The tidal wave of deeper souls
Into our inmost being rolls,
And lifts us unawares,
Out of all meaner cares.
Honor to those whose words or deeds
Thus help us in our daily needs,
And by their overflow
Raise us from what is low! (2)
Indeed, the common efforts of the Sages help lift the whole of humanity along the immense sea of time. The fact that many human beings are completely unconscious of it does not make a difference. Those who know about that, though, can share a vision of great things – and thus better understand the work of the ‘elder brothers’ of our present humanity.
Regards, Carlos.
NOTES:
(1) The whole letter from which WQJ made his quotation is of extreme importance. It has not been published in the T.U.P. (Pasadena) edition of the Mahatma Letters, but it is in the Combined Chronology of the ‘Mahatma Letters’ & The ‘Letters of H.P. Blavatsky to A.P.S.’, by Margaret Conger, T.U.P., pp. 28-38; and also in the Chronological edition of the Mahatma Letters to A.P.Sinnett (TPH, Philippines, 1993, pp. 469-476).
(2) Favorite Poems, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Dover-Thrift-Editions, Dover Publications, Inc., New York, Copyright 1992, 85 pp., see p. 65.
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