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re Daniel's warnings re HPB's warnings re Pedro's speculations re ...

Apr 08, 2004 09:23 PM
by Mauri




Quoting from Daniel's post: <<Also in the opening pages of HPB's first instruction to her esoteric students, she gives the following WARNING:

". . . A new and rapidly growing danger. . . is threatening . . . the spread of the pure Esoteric Philosophy and knowledge. . . . I allude to those charlatanesque imitations of Occultism and Theosophy. . . . By pandering to the prejudices of people, and especially by adopting the false ideas of a personal God and a personal, carnalized Saviour, as the groundwork of their teaching,
the leaders of this 'swindle' (for such it is) are endeavoring to draw men to them and in particular to turn Theosophists from the true path."

". . . A close examination will assuredly reveal. . . materials largely stolen . . . from Theosophical writings. . . [and] distorted and falsified so as to be palmed off on the unwary as revelations of new and undreamed of truths. But many will neither have the time nor the opportunity for such a thorough investigation; and before they
become aware of the imposture they may be led far from the Truth. . . . Nothing is more dangerous to Esoteric Truth than the garbled and distorted versions disfigured to suit the prejudices and tastes of men in general."

Notice HPB's key words: DANGER ....CHARLATANESQUE IMITATIONS....FALSE IDEAS...DISTORTED AND FALSIFIED....

She warns her students that such imitations, such false ideas, such distorted and falsified teachings may TURN THEOSOPHISTS FROM THE TRUE PATH....THEY MAY BE LED FAR FROM THE TRUTH.

And HPB's last sentence in her quote bears repetition:

"Nothing is more dangerous to Esoteric Truth than the garbled and distorted versions disfigured to suit the prejudices and tastes of men in general."

NOTHING IS MORE DANGEROUS.....garbled and distorted versions...disfigured versions of Esoteric Truth or Theosophy.>>>>
==============================

I would add that since these "WARNINGS"
were directed at "her esoteric students," in particular, (rather than directed at the general public), one might wonder ... or, at any rate, I tend to wonder how such students could attain such an "esoteric" schooling classification under the tutelege of HPB if they were so naive that they were seen, by HPB herself, as in need of such special "WARNINGS." Are we to assume that HPB had decided that her students
were somehow cloistered from the real world around them, or was she just reminding her students about certain influences, as a formality, maybe ... Though people then didn't have the the multi-media resources of today, one might tend to assume, surely, that HPB's students weren't little childen, exactly. Seems to me that various kinds of manglings of "original teaching" is the norm on this planet, always has been, and is still going on much of the time.

Eg, just recently I looked up the word "Theosophy" in the 1968 Encyclopedia Britannica and, having read the article, felt that the author misunderstood the subject matter.

Not that HPB's "WARNINGS" might not have
represented (for all I know) her way of, say, reminding her students about concerns that she might have felt were perfectly familiar to all of them, all along. And then if HPB also knew, let's say, that her warnings were to be passed on in writing ... so that people like Daniel, etc, could, in turn, pass them on ...

Anyway, I tend to agree with Daniel's warnings about HPB's warnings, basically---though I can't help wondering about those "esoteric students" back then. Not that I don't wonder about "esoteric students" in general, among other things.

Speculatively
Mauri





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