Theos-Talk Archives (April 2007 Message tt00118)

The following "essay" was originally posted on Theos-Talk
in January 2005.
-------------------------------------------------

VITAL DIFFERENCE(S) between
the claims of Blavatsky & Leadbeater

Pedro,

I have collated BELOW several statements from some
of your recent postings on Leadbeater.

IF what you say is correct then I think there is
at least one VITAL difference or distinction between what
Blavatsky claimed she was doing and what
Leadbeater claimed he was doing.

FIRST the quotes from your previous postings and FOLLOWING
those are several quotes from HPB and her Teachers:


PEDRO'S STATEMENTS

++++++++++++++++++++++

He [Leadbeater] claimed he was a clairvoyant but I have never found a
claim of his that he was an Adept. But then, I haven't read
everything he wrote.

++++++++++++++++++++++

As I already said, he took responsibility for what he wrote. I also
never found any claim by him that the Masters had validated, certified
and authenticated what he wrote. But then again, one's time for
reading is limited.

I think he was left to his own counsel. See what K.H. wrote to him:

TAKE courage. I am pleased with you. Keep your own counsel, and
believe in your better intuitions. The little man has failed and will
reap his reward. Silence meanwhile.
++++++++++++++++++++++++

I have posted two quotes recently - one from the Introduction to THE
ASTRAL PLANE and the other from MAN: WHENCE, HOW AND WHITHER - showing
that both AB and CWL took responsibility for their books and publicly
took the weaknesses and errors in them upon themselves, having stated
that "there is no certainty that the idea presented before the
hearer's mind will be an adequate representation of the truth."

Would they have written that if their books had been certified,
validated or authenticated by the Masters?

++++++++++++++++++++++++

I have read it and I can't find any indication that he claimed that
the book THE ASTRAL PLANE, or for that matter, any of his books, was
certified, validated or authenticated by a Master! The books were
written under his name and were the results of his own investigations.
Regarding the subject of training on the astral plane, he is basically
offering an opinion. I have said many times here on this list that
Leadbeater did not expect people to believe his clairvoyant
descriptions.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Why should he do this [that is, point out to his readers and
followers how his teachings clashed with those of the Adept teachers
of Blavatsky]?

He was presenting the results of his own studies. And

"The fact is, that to the last and supreme initiation every chela -
(and even some adepts) - is left to his own device and counsel." (ML
92, chronological)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

END of Pedro's quotes.

Now ....

STATEMENTS FROM HPB AND THE MAHATMAS

The sole advantage which the writer has over her predecessors, is
that she need not resort to personal speculations and theories. For
this work is a partial statement of what she herself has been taught
by more advanced students, supplemented, in a few details only, by
the results of her own study and observation. HPB
------------------------------------

When the present work was commenced, the writer, feeling sure that
the speculation about Mars and Mercury was a mistake, applied to the
Teachers by letter for explanation and an authoritative version. Both
came in due time, and verbatim extracts from these are now
given....Again, here are more extracts from another letter written by
the same authority. This time it is in answer to some objections laid
before the Teachers. HPB

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

I have also noted, your thoughts about the "Secret Doctrine". Be
assured that what she has not annotated from scientific and other
works, we have given or suggested to her. Every mistake or erroneous
notion, corrected and explained by her from the works of other
theosophists was corrected by me, or under my instruction. It is a
more valuable work than its predecessor [Isis], an epitome of occult
truths that will make it a source of information and instruction for
the earnest student for long years to come. -- Master K.H.

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

...The Secret Dcotrine when ready, will be the triple production
of M, Upasika and the Doctor's most humble servant. K.H.

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

...portions of the Secret Doctrine have been copied by the pen
of Upasika into its pages, though without quotation marks,
from my own manusript.... K.H.

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

". . . we employ agents ? the best available. Of these for the
past
thirty years the chief has been the personality known as H.P.B. to
the world (but otherwise to us). Imperfect and very troublesome, no
doubt, she proves to some, nevertheless, there is no likelihood of
our finding a better one for years to come ? and your
theosophists
should be made to understand it. Since 1885 I have not written, nor
caused to be written save thro' her agency, direct and remote, a
letter or line to anybody in Europe or America, nor communicated
orally with, or thro' any third party. Theosophists should learn
it.
You will understand later the significance of this declaration so
keep it in mind. Her fidelity to our work being constant, and her
sufferings having come upon her thro' it, neither I nor either of
my
Brother associates will desert or supplant her. . . . This you must
tell to all: ? With occult matters she has everything to do. . .
.
She is our direct agent. . . . " KH
----------------------------------------------------------

. . . every word of [esoteric] information found in this work [Isis
Unveiled] or in my later writings, comes from the teachings of our
Eastern Masters; and . . . many a passage in these works has been
written by me under their dictation. HPB.

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


SUMMARY:

These statements by HPB and KH indicate that HPB's "mission" was
to present the esoteric teachings of the Adepts. And the Masters
worked closely with her in this endeavor. Notice that in the Mars-
Mercury issue, HPB did NOT try to use her own clairvoyance to
ascertain if Mars and Mercury were part of the Earth chain. She asked
the Adepts. She was in effect a "transmitter".

I don't get the impression that she was trying to clairvoyantly
investigate nature herself. She was simply unveiling "The Secret
Doctrine" ALREADY in the custody of the Adepts:

"The Secret Doctrine is the accumulated Wisdom of the Ages....The
facts have actually occupied countless generations of initiated seers
and prophets to marshal, to set down and explain. The flashing gaze
of those seers has penetrated into the very kernel of matter, and
recorded the soul of things there....No vision of one adept was
accepted till it was checked and confirmed by the visions --- so
obtained as to stand as independent evidence --- of other adepts, and
by centuries of experiences."

Pedro, what you write about Leadbeater appears to be a totally
different kind of claim.

Daniel
http://hpb.cc