Theos-Talk Archives (May 2008 Message tt00693)

Thanks, Pedro. More later.
Ramadoss

On 5/21/08, prmoliveira <prmoliveira@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> [A number of those who wrote about the history of TS (Adyar) during
> Annie Besant's presidency (1907-1933) have said that she was probably
> senile from 1925 onwards, if not before. I reproduce below excerpts
> of her Presidential Address delivered in Varanasi, India, December
> 1930, during the TS international Convention, shortly three years
> before she passed away. They give an idea of what was occupying her
> mind when she was 83 years old. PO]
>
> "Each can judge for himself how far he cares to come nearer Them [the
> Masters], with all the implications that go with that approach;
> whether he is willing to accept those implications, to make the
> changes demanded by Them, and thus to learn gradually how to co-
> operate with the Elder Brothers in our world. There are few subjects
> more fascinating, more attractive; but it is also necessary that we
> should realize the truth of that which I just quoted from one of
> Them: "You must come out of your world into Ours." They are not going
> to come down to the level of our world; we have to climb up, however
> slowly; we have to climb up nearer to Them, and to however
> infinitesimally small a degree, to recognize the value of Their work
> for Humanity, and try in our own childish way to give some form of co-
> operation to Them.
>
> There are two of those Masters, as you know, or as you have heard,
> who have a special relationship with the Theosophical Society. You
> may have read that once a discussion arose among Themselves as to
> exactly when it was best to start the Theosophical Society. It is
> just as well to realize that They are not always of the same opinion
> with each other, although in the discussion They may come to a unity
> of thought. There are differences of opinion, and, what is startling
> at first and very significant, is that They encourage Their
> disciples, even the youngest and least experienced of them, to state
> fully and clearly his own opinion. They do not check the statement,
> despite the imperfection of the opinion of some young disciples. On
> the contrary, They use extraordinary words of condescension: "We need
> your opinion; the world needs it." There is Their full recognition of
> the responsibility of each, and of the fact that each individual has
> his own gift to give; each individual has some particular quality;
> and when he is thinking how best approach the Master, let him try as
> far as he possibly can to empty himself of any desire for his own
> advantage, and to try merely to co-operate in Their wonderful service
> to the world, remembering the fact that all of us can render a
> definite service.
>
> There is one statement which struck me forcibly when I first read it,
> and it has always remained with me as a sort of continuous reminder
> in daily life; that was that "the so-called small services in daily
> life count as much with Us as the so-called greater services" ? a
> very instructive and significant statement. When I first heard it, I
> thought over it a great deal, trying to realize what lay at the back
> of those words. Why should these small services of daily life count
> with a Master as though they were some great service done to mankind?
> And the conclusion to which I came was an obvious one, that the big
> opportunities come only now and then, generally at long intervals of
> time. Therefore, they will never lead to the growth of a habit. But
> the little things of daily life come every day and all day long, and
> therefore we create the habit of service if we render any service
> that comes our way, looking on every contact with another as an
> opportunity to serve that person. As that becomes our habitual
> attitude to every one whom we meet, we shall gradually find that
> everyone is profoundly interesting, and that the giving of service is
> the greatest joy in life.
>
> There has been in our Society, I think, perhaps in some form a
> tendency to a different policy with most us from that which was
> pursued by H.P.B. I do not think you could be in the room of H.P.B.,
> talking with her on any subject, without finding in a short time some
> words about the Masters coming into the conversation. They were
> generally related to the Master's wish, the Master's desire, the
> Master's work in life; those were the things which, to her, made the
> supremest claim, and we learned to realize, if we had the privilege
> of living with her for a time, however short, how to serve her Master.
>
> For one thing, that was always in her mind ? not always the talking
> about him, but always the being actively alive to any possibility of
> service. The desire to do what He wished done seems always to have
> been in her mind. People sometimes asked foolish questions. I heard a
> person once ask her the question so often asked: "If a Master told
> you to tell a lie, would you do it?" Her answer was that no Master
> could ask her to tell a lie; a silly question, an absurd question!
> She was not impatient if she saw a person was in earnest, and really
> wanted to know and understand. I do not think I ever met anyone who
> was more sensitive to the wish of another person to do some little
> service, than H.P.B. was in her ordinary life.
>
> In connection with the things for which she wished, there is one of
> which she seldom speak, but I should like to suggest it to you. It is
> about Adyar, the place which was some years earlier chosen by the
> Masters for the Centre, to which They sent her, that she might live
> there for some time and create an atmosphere which would make it easy
> for it to receive Their influence, or any spiritual influence which
> was sent. She loved Adyar deeply. That is one reason which is strong
> in the minds of many of us, as to the value of Adyar; and another is
> that there is a direct communication between Adyar and the place that
> will be familiar to all of you who are Hindus, as a spot of special
> sanctity, Shamballa, the great City which was once on the "White
> Island". She always seemed to bear in mind the method by which she
> could prepare a place in which people, coming to it for a short time,
> would receive real help in the spiritual life. And so she dwelt, at
> her Master's wish, in Adyar for some considerable time, in order that
> that place might become consecrated to Their service, and inspire all
> who came to it with the desire to draw nearer to Them."
>
> Pedro
>
>
> 
>


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