Theos-Talk Archives (June 2011 Message tt00060)

Can you email me the PDF of the first chapter, please? Thanks in advance.

Your comments support the "Back To Blavatsky" movement in Theosophy.

John W.

--- On Sun, 12/6/11, MKR <mkr777@ZZxBLkdL5aVXnCBbUE5VejqT7ojffYg1EJPAkYURH1HsBHveL8sOlkjUR4RiQpucWz0uoKqx.yahoo.invalid> wrote:
From: MKR <mkr777@ZZxBLkdL5aVXnCBbUE5VejqT7ojffYg1EJPAkYURH1HsBHveL8sOlkjUR4RiQpucWz0uoKqx.yahoo.invalid>
Subject: theos-talk Krotona, Theosophy & Krishnamurti by Joseph Ross - A brief review
To: "theos-talk" <Theos-talk@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Sunday, 12, June, 2011, 5:09 PM







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      I was able to access the first chapter of the book and found the material in

it very valuable and interesting. The author should be congratulated in

coming out with a book which is well put together and excellent editing. It

is a very valuable addition that any historian of Theosophical Society

should read. Here are some of my observations.



The book has been organized by years 1927 to 1931. First chapter deals with

the events in 1927 even though there are references to materials of later

years.



In the introduction, the author says âThis book us written in chronological

order in the format of a diary, using rare archival documents describing

entirely authentic and factual events taking place in Krotona, giving

insight behind the scenes that have never been made public.â



The archival material that the author has used is priceless and should be

congratulated for his efforts in securing them and presenting them in his

books.



We need to remind ourselves that After Annie Besant took over from Olcott,

one notices a gradual lack of transparency in TS which continues even today.

Also, there is a tendency to unnecessarily keep original material secret

even though of great importance to the TS and its members.



The classic example is the famous 1900 letter from Mahatma KH where he

warned Besant about âMisleading secrecy has given the death blow to numerous

organizations.â and this warning was among the material redacted in the

original publication and the full letter was only published in 1987 in the

Eclectic Theosophist which is outside the control of Adyar TS.



The first chapter has a lot of material on the happenings behind the scenes

which led to the purchase of land in Ojai and establishment of Krotona ES

Center.



One of the important accounts contained in the book was George Arundaleâs

conversation with Besant concerning the predictions of the World-Teacherâs

coming. I think this is important and valuable information since there has

been arguments by some theosophists claiming that the World-Teacher project

centered around Krishnamurti had failed because He did not repeat the

sequence of events that took place when Lord Christ made His appearance 2000

years ago. Here is an excerpt:



âIn August 1927 I stayed at Eerde Castle for a month before the Ommen Camp.

It was the first year during which difficulties became serious, or took a

serious tum between

Krishnamurti's teaching and the predictions made for 15 years previously by

the leaders of the T.S. and particularly Dr. Besant and C.W.L. According to

these predictions, a

recurrence was to take place of what had been before, the Lord Christ was to

"occupy" Krishnamurti's body and give out the new message through his lips.

Indeed, some corroboration of these predictions had already taken place at

Benares in 1911, at Adyar in 1925, at Ommen in 1926. For a short time while

Krishnaji was speaking he seemed to lose consciousness, a mighty voice

seemed to speak through his lips and a tremendously powerful influence was

felt by all those who listened, yet in 1927 all was changed. We knew that in

January 1927 important occult events had taken place in Ojai when changes

had been brought about in Krishnaji's physical and inner being, we knew that

he

had reached union with the lord and we could see, and he told us that no

occupation of his body was taking place, nor would take place any more, that

whenever he spoke it was

he, Krishnaji, and no other who experienced the thought and thought out the

words. The turmoil and confusion during that month were great. There were

those who, knowing of the change, resented the faulty description given by

our leaders and expressed their resentment bitterly; there were those who

not perceiving the difference, or uninformed as to changes, spoke high in

their loyalty to the leaders. Endless discussions took place between them

and Krishnaji finally asked me to go to Dr. Besant and tell her definitely

all the truth, such as it was, and therefore of the error made until then.â



In the archival documents, there are discussions about some well known

theosophists put on Probation by the Masters. All them are from the United

States. This raises the question are not theosophists in other parts of the

world put on Probation by the Masters. Logic tells us that many from various

parts of the world would have been put on probation. If any information is

currently available in Adyar archives, disclosure will be of interest to

theosophists.



The market for the book is going to be small, mainly consisting of

theosophists and a few historians. The book is priced at US$30 and this is

very pricey for most theosophists outside the West. There is no easy way to

break even on publishing the book unless it is going to be made available as

print on demand book. The only way to quickly ensure very wide distribution

is to make a pdf file available for download for $1.99 so that even casual

reader would be inclined to download it and by the volume one can make a

profit. This has been demonstrated by the download of songs and Android

programs. Another practical fact of life is that in a short time after

publication, books are scanned and exchanged under the radar.



As the author is a long time theosophist, I am sure he is very much

motivated in getting widest possible distribution around the world.

Hopefully, we will hear from him on this topic.



MKR



 





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