Theos-Talk Archives (July 2011 Message tt00039)

In my last posting, I asked the question:

What is Theosophy & who is Madame Blavatsky?

In the early 1880s, Mr. A.P. Sinnett issued
two remarkable books.

The first book THE OCCULT WORLD was the
first book in the history of the modern
Theosophical Movement to introduce to the
public the woman known as H.P. Blavatsky
and her Adept Teachers.

The second book ESOTERIC BUDDHISM was the
first simple yet comprehensive introduction
to the teachings of Theosophy.  Anyone who
was a seeker and inquirer into unorthodox
ideas (such as spiritualism, occultism,
psychic phenomena, Eastern religions)
in the early 1880s would probably have
heard of (if not read) these two works.

Read together they certainly will introduce
the reader to who is Mme. Blavatsky and
what is Theosophy.

After reading these two books, one can more easily
read and understand HPB's own major works THE SECRET 
DOCTRINE, THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY and THE VOICE OF
THE SILENCE.

We have online at our site the two books
by Sinnett.  See:

THE OCCULT WORLD 1881 First Edition
http://blavatskyarchives.com/theosophypdfs/sinnett_the_occult_world_first_edition_1881.pdf
THE OCCULT WORLD 1882 SECOND EDITION
http://blavatskyarchives.com/theosophypdfs/sinnett_the_occult_world_2nd_edition_1882.pdf
THE OCCULT WORLD 1884 FOURTH EDITION
http://blavatskyarchives.com/theosophypdfs/sinnett_the_occult_world_fourth_edition_1884.pdf

I am listing the 2nd and 4th edition of this book too because Mr. Sinnett added helpful additional chapters/material to the later editions.

ESOTERIC BUDDHISM 1883 FIRST EDITION
http://blavatskyarchives.com/theosophypdfs/sinnett_esoteric_buddhism_first_edition_1883.pdf

Once Sinnett's works are read, the works of HPB that I mentioned above are more approachable.

THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY 
http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/key/key-hp.htm

THE VOICE OF THE SILENCE
http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/voice/voice.htm

THE SECRET DOCTRINE
http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/sd/sd-hp.htm 

For more complete listings of HPB's other writings, see
both of these links:

http://blavatskyarchives.com/theosophypdfs/early_theosophical_publications_authors.htm
http://blavatskyarchives.com/hpbwritings.htm

Daniel
Blavatsky Study Center / Blavatsky Archives
http://hpb.cc