Theos-Talk Archives (February 2011 Message tt00095)

We have discussed over the last several months about all the good that would
come to the theosophical movement if the recently published Secret Doctrine
Commentaries is made available as a PDF file on the Internet for free.

In the meanwhile, there are rumors that a new edition at half the price is
likely to come out this year, while we have not yet seen any official
confirmation.

The SD Commentaries are verbatim reports compiled by professional
stenographers and were paid for by H P Blavatsky herself. A facsimile of one
of the pages we have seen on Internet shows it is a hand written manuscript
in beautiful script. So it is easy for anyone to read it.

Since H P B paid for it, she is the owner and no one else can claim
ownership to it. Also, it was meant to benefit theosophists for the
posterity. Timing of its discovery now at a time when Internet makes
information available immediately, widely and at no expense is god send.

Now technology is available for quickly and inexpensively scan them and make
them available to everyone. According to the published information, several
people contributed to the publishing effort. So, in all likelyhood, photo
copies were made for the purpose of transcription and editing etc.

Would it not be a positive step to scan all the original transcripts and
make them available on the Internet. Conversion is easy to do. Resources are
available for free to get it done. If the custodians can send a set of
photocopies, I can arrange to get them converted to PDF files for free and
also make them available free on a website at no cost to anyone.

Such availability can allow each one of us to review the original manuscript
and may be, come up with our own comments on them and share them with our
fellow students. There are many unknown knowledgeable theosophists who have
necessary background and capacity to do this.

The question is when will the custodians take the first step.


MKR


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