Theos-Talk Archives (August 2009 Message tt00009)

Dear friends

My views are:

I write the below in all friendliness.
Has TS become less Eastern and too much Messiah Western?


******* A. *******
THE REASON FOR THE CHANGED OBJECTS OF THE TS???

On the TS Adyar website we have the following words regarding the Objects of the TS.

" To form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or color.
To encourage the study of Comparative Religion, Philosophy and Science.
To investigate unexplained laws of Nature and the powers latent in man."

- - -

Now I ask: What are the differences and why where they created between the above and the words given by H. P. Blavatsky and the TS in jan. 1891 on the objects?


"Constitution

1. The title of this Society, which was formed at New York, United States of America, on the 17th of November 1875, is the "Theosophical Society."

2. The Theosophical Society is an International Body.

3. The objects of the Theosophical Society are: First. - To form the nucleus of a Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or colour. Second. - To promote the study of Aryan and other Eastern literatures, religions, philosophies and sciences, and to demonstrate their importance to Humanity. Third. - To investigate unexplained laws of Nature and the psychic powers latent in man.

4. The Theosophical Society is absolutely unsectarian, and no assent to any formula of belief, faith or creed shall be required as a qualification of membership; but every applicant and member must lie in sympathy with the effort to create the nucleus of an Universal Brotherhood of Humanity.

5. The Society does not interfere with caste rules, nor other social observances, nor with politics, and any such interference in its name is a breach of the constitution. The Society is not responsible for the personal opinions of its Fellows."

- - -

Now why were the objects changed?
And was that change healthy?

- - -
******* B. *******
WHY THE OBJECTS AUGHT NOT TO HAVE BEEN CHANGED

We have that H. P. Blavatsky wrote the following about the three objects and the purpose of the TS...

* OUR THREE OBJECTS [Lucifer, Vol. V. No. 25, September, 1889, pp. 1-7]
 http://www.katinkahesselink.net/blavatsky/articles/v11/y1889_054.htm

The above was written officially in Lucifer in 1889 at the begining of the volume. It had three paragraphs referring to the three objects; I. BROTHERHOOD., II. ORIENTAL PHILOSOPHY, LITERATURE, ETC.; III. OCCULTISM. 

A. 
H. P. Blavatsky said...
 "Our Society is a nucleus, around which cluster only those who, besides appreciating the theoretical importance, as the philosophical significance, of the Idea of a strongly united intellectual Brotherhood, are ready to carry out this idea practically: to concede to others all that they would claim for themselves; to regard as a brother any man, whether he be white, black or yellow, heathen or Christian, theist or atheist; to show, at least, an outward regard for the respective religions not only of our members, but of any man; and, to protect, in case of need, the creeds of the former from the unjust assault and persecution of other religionists. Finally, never to preach to, or force upon an unwilling ear our own personal, least of all sectarian, views."
http://www.katinkahesselink.net/blavatsky/articles/v4/y1883_046.htm


B.
H. P. Blavatsky said...

RECENT PROGRESS IN THEOSOPHY
[The North American Review, Vol. CLI, No. 405,
August, 1890, pp. 173-86]
..."The three officially-declared objects of our society are:
(1) To form the nucleus of a universal brotherhood of humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or color.
(2) To promote the study of Aryan and other Eastern literatures, religions, philosophies, and sciences.
(3) A third object, pursued by a portion of the fellows of the society, is to investigate the unexplained laws of nature and the psychic powers of man."
.......

"The second of our declared objects speaks so plainly for itself that I need not dwell upon it, save in the most casual way. The founders of the Theosophical Society thought they had the best reason to believe that there existed, locked up in the ancient literatures of India, Ceylon, Tibet, China, Japan, and other Eastern countries, a very large body of truth which would be most important and valuable to the present generation, if it could be got at. The best agents to employ in this work were the Oriental scholars who knew the ancient languages, especially those--if any could be found --who had learned the concealed meaning of the names, figures, and expressions with which Asiatic writings teem, and which are the despair of our Western Orientalists."
.......
"..., a Theosophist being one who seeks after divine wisdom-i.e., the comprehension of the ultimate causes of force, correlation, and psychic development, the method of solving all life's riddles. Persons of this temperament cannot be bigots; they chafe under the sectarian yoke, and their hearts warm with sympathy for all who suffer, who groan under the social burdens resulting from ignorance, for all of any race, creed, or color, who aspire after knowledge."
........
"As regards the revival of Oriental literature, the whole press of India, Ceylon, and Japan unqualifiedly gives us the credit of having done more in that direction than any other agency of modern times. We have not only helped to revive in India the ancient Tols, or pandit-schools of Sanskrit literature and philosophy, and to reawaken reverence for the class of real Yogis, or saintly devotees, but we have created a demand for reprints and translations of ancient Sanskrit classics, which is being met by the frequent issues of works of this class at Calcutta, Bombay, Benares, Lucknow, Lahore, Madras, and other Indian literary centres."

"Among the most important are the Vedas, Bhagavad-Gita the writings of Sankara, Patañjali, and other renowned Aryan philosophers and mystics. The Asiatic people have publicly testified most unqualifiedly their gratitude and respect to us for what we have done on the lines of the second of our declared objects Nor should it be overlooked that the prevalent interest in Theosophy and mystical Oriental philosophy in general, which the most casual observer is forced to see throughout Europe and America, is directly or indirectly the result of our society's activity. With thirty-eight branches in the United States, and others in various European countries, among whose members are men and women of high culture, including many writers for the press, it is easy enough to comprehend the justness of the above claim. Of course it is not for me to say how much, if anything, the books I have myself written, and the magazines I have edited and am editing in English and French, have helped to cause this new bent of the Western mind. Suffice it that it exists. For Theosophists it is the presage of the dawn of a new religious day for the world, the harbinger of a new marriage between science and religion, and of peace between the good people of the most incongruous sects-as the world thinks them."
........
"In one word, our whole aim and desire are to help, in at least some degree, toward arriving at correct scientific views upon the nature of man, which carry with them the means of reconstructing for the present generation the deductive metaphysical or transcendental philosophy which alone is the firm, unshakable foundation of every religious philosophy. Theosophy, the universal solvent, is fulfilling its mission; the opalescent tints of the dawn of modern psychology are blending together, and will all be merged into the perfect daylight of truth, when the sun-orb of Eastern esotericism has mounted to its noon-stage."
........
"Only the Masters of the Eastern wisdom can set that foundation, can satisfy at once the intellect and the spirit, can guide Humanity safely through the night to "the dawn of a larger day."
Such is the goal which Theosophy has set itself to attain; such is the history of the modern movement; such is the work which Theosophy has already accomplished in this nineteenth century."
http://www.katinkahesselink.net/blavatsky/articles/v12/y1890_033.htm


Now I sincerely ask: 
What has deemed these word by Blavatsky and original words of the Second of the objects of the TS to become invalid since that time and now year 2009???


******* Appendix *******
AND I REPEAT HPB:
""In one word, our whole aim and desire are to help, in at least some degree, toward arriving at correct scientific views upon the nature of man, which carry with them the means of reconstructing for the present generation the deductive metaphysical or transcendental philosophy which alone is the firm, unshakable foundation of every religious philosophy. Theosophy, the universal solvent, is fulfilling its mission; the opalescent tints of the dawn of modern psychology are blending together, and will all be merged into the perfect daylight of truth, when the sun-orb of Eastern esotericism has mounted to its noon-stage.""

Now it must, as far as I am concerned, be clear from this that modern psychology today aught to be much more  - OFFICIALLY - blended with the TS activtities. 

_________________________________




M. Sufilight

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