Theos-Talk Archives (July 2007 Message tt00067)

Frank,

You wrote:

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Daniel, flapdoodle, the speculations Algeo makes.

I object in quick response the following claims:

1. Theosophy does not derive from HPB alone, there was Theosophy 
before her (Boehme, Paracelsus, Hegel, Fichte, Schelling etc.) and 
even Theosophical Societies.

.....
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But did Dr. Algeo actually write that there was no Theosophy 
[whatsoever} before HPB???

It is true that Master KH wrote to Sinnett:

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Theosophy is no new candidate for the world's attention, but only the 
restatement of principles which have been recognised from the very 
infancy of mankind.
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But at the same time notice what the Master also emphasized: 

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. . . Our [esoteric and theosophical] doctrine . . . is now being 
partially taught to Europeans FOR THE FIRST TIME....

. . . We have broken THE SILENCE OF CENTURIES . . . . 
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caps added.

Compare these TWO statements by K.H. to what you Frank wrote 
about:  "Boehme, Paracelsus, Hegel, Fichte, Schelling etc".

Could it be Frank that you are mistaken on this point just as 
apparently Mr. Judge was in 1884?

Mr. Judge wrote in a letter to the editor of THE THEOSOPHIST (Feb. 
1884, p. 122):

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The only fault I have to find with Mr. Sinnett's book [ESOTERIC 
BUDDHISM] is that he too often says that: "this knowledge is now 
being given out for the first time." He does not do this because he 
wants glory for himself, but because he makes a mistake.

Nearly all the leading portions of the doctrine are to be found 
broadly stated in the Bhagavad-Gita. 

The obscuration periods are most clearly spoken of (chap. VIII, p. 
42):* "Those men who know the day of Brahma, which ends after a 
thousand ages, and the night which comes on at the end of those 
thousand ages, know day and night indeed . . . This collective mass 
itself of existing things, thus existing again and again, is 
dissolved at the approach of that night. At the approach of that day 
it emanates spontaneously."

And in chap. IX, p. 44: "At the conclusion of a Kalpa all existing 
things re-enter nature which is cognate with me. But I cause them to 
come forth again at the beginning of a Kalpa."

Dhyan-Chohan state is given in the same chapter. "This they call the 
highest walk. Those who obtain this never return. This is my supreme 
abode."

Re-incarnation is stated at chap. IV, p. 24: "I and thou have passed 
through many transmigrations." And the return of Buddha in the 
same. "For whenever there is a relaxation of duty, I then reproduce 
myself for the protection of the good, and the destruction of evil 
doers."

Devachan is to be found in chap. IX, p. 45: "These, obtaining their 
reward . . . Having enjoyed this great world of heaven, they re-enter 
the world of mortals, when the reward is exhausted . . . they indulge 
in their desires, and obtain a happiness which comes and goes.

That knowledge is more important than mere religious devotion, see 
chap. IV, p. 26, "If thou wert even the most sinful of all sinners, 
thou wouldst cross over all sin in the bark of spiritual knowledge."
For those who will see, it is all in this wonderful book.
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But notice now what H.P. Blavatsky replied to what Mr. Judge had 
written:

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We do not believe our American brother is justified in his remarks. 

The knowledge given out in Esoteric Buddhism is, most 
decidedly, "given out for the first time," inasmuch as the allegories 
that lie scattered in the Hindu sacred literature are now for the 
first time clearly explained to the world of the profane. 

Since the birth of the Theosophical Society and the publication of 
Isis, it is being repeated daily that all the Esoteric Wisdom of the 
ages lies concealed in the Vedas, the Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita. 
Yet, unto the day of the first appearance of Esoteric Buddhism, and 
for long centuries back, these doctrines remained a sealed letter to 
all but a few initiated Brahmans who had always kept the spirit of it 
to themselves. The allegorical text was taken literally by the 
educated and the uneducated, the first laughing secretly at the 
fables and the latter falling into superstitious worship, and owing 
to the variety of the interpretations?splitting into numerous sects. 

Nor would W. Q. Judge have ever had the opportunity of comparing 
notes so easily and, perhaps, even understanding many a mystery, as 
he now evidently shows he does by citing relevant passages from the 
Bhagavad-Gita, had it not been for Mr. Sinnett's work and plain 
explanations. Most undeniably, not "nearly all"?but positively all 
the doctrines given in Esoteric Buddhism and far more yet untouched, 
are to be found in the Gita, and not only there but in a thousand 
more known or unknown MSS. of Hindu sacred writings. 

But what of that? Of what good to W. Q. Judge or any other is the 
diamond that lies concealed deep underground? Of course every one 
knows that there is not a gem, now sparkling in a jeweller's shop but 
pre-existed and lay concealed since its formation for ages within the 
bowels of the earth. Yet, surely, he who got it first from its finder 
and cut and polished it, may be permitted to say that this particular 
diamond is "given out for the first time" to the world, since its 
rays and lustre are now shining for the first in broad day-light.
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Quoted from:  
http://tonh.net/theosofie/hpb_cw_online/articles/v6/y1884_008.htm

Daniel
http://hpb.cc