Theos-Talk Archives (June 2005 Message tt00118)

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "Anand Gholap" <AnandGholap@A...> 
wrote:

> Secrete Doctrine also was far from satisfactory. 


I know you have read quite a great deal of theosophical literature, 
but maybe you haven't read this statement by Annie Besant. Among 
other things, it is a powerful disclaimer and warning for anyone who 
would set herself or any teacher as an infallible authority on 
Theosophy. 


(From "Investigations into the Superphysical", Adyar Pamphlets No. 
36, Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar, Madras, 1913.)


"Before dealing with investigations, let me make clear my own 
position with regard to all questions of opinion and belief within 
the Theosophical Society itself. Some of our members echo the 
statements of one seer or another, and seem to consider that such a 
statement ought to preclude further discussion. But no one in the 
TS has any authority to lay down what people shall think, or not 
think, on any subject. We are not in the position of an orthodox 
Church, which has certain definite articles of faith, which imposes 
certain definite creeds in which all faithful members are bound to 
believe. The only point which we must accept is Universal 
Brotherhood, and even as to that we may differ in our definition of 
it. Outside that, we are at perfect liberty to form our own 
opinions on every subject; and the reason of that policy is clear 
and an exceedingly good one. No intellectual opinion is worth the 
holding unless it is obtained by the individual effort of the person 
who holds that opinion. It is far healthier to exercise our 
intelligence, even if we come to a wrong conclusion and form an 
inaccurate opinion, than simply, like parrots, the echo what other 
people say, and so put out of all possibility intellectual 
development.

In fact, differences of opinion among the members ought to be 
regarded as safeguards to the Society rather than as menaces, for 
our one greater danger, as HPB recognised, is the danger of getting 
into a groove, and so becoming fossilised in the forms of belief 
that many of us hold today; this will make it difficult for people 
in the future to shake off these forms, and thus will involve 
posterity in the same troubles which so many of us have experienced 
with regard to the teachings among which we were born. The Society 
is intended, always has been intended, to be a living body and not a 
fossil, and a living body grows and develops, adapting itself to new 
conditions; and if it be a body which is spiritually alive, it 
should be gaining continually a deeper and fuller view of truth. It 
is absurd for us to pretend, at our present stage of evolution, that 
we have arrived at the limit of the knowledge which it is possible 
for men to obtain. It is absurd for us to say that the particular 
form into which we throw our beliefs at this moment is the form 
which is to continue for ever after us, and to be accepted by those 
who follow us in time. All of us who study deeply must be fully 
aware that our conceptions of truth are continually deepening and 
widening, that, as we might reasonably expect, we find new avenues 
opening up before us; and nothing could be more fatal to a Society 
like ours than to hallmark as true special forms of belief, and then 
look askance at anyone challenging them, trying to impose these upon 
those who will come after us. If the Society is to live far into 
the future, as I believe it will, then we must be prepared to 
recognise now, quite frankly and freely, that our knowledge is 
fragmentary, that it is partial, that it is liable to very great 
modifications as we learn more and understand better; and especially 
is this true of everything which goes under the name of 
investigation.

Even if we take a broad truth, like that of reincarnation, which is 
perennial, even then it is unwise to insist upon putting it into one 
particular form, and to treat it as though it could have no other. 
We ought to recognise that this vital doctrine has been taught in 
many forms in the past, and is likely to be taught in many other 
forms in the future. The one important thing to recognise is the 
evolution of man, the inner Man who has continually grown and is 
capable of attaining perfection; but it is certain that in the 
course of time we shall gain much knowledge on all subjects that at 
present we do not possess, and that even with regard to fundamental 
truths, there ought to be fullest discussion, the freest pointing 
out of weak places in the arguments with which they are supported; 
there ought to be a continual attempt to add to the amount of the 
truth which we already possess, for if one thing becomes clearer 
than another to those who are opening up in themselves the finer 
faculties of man, it is that all our conceptions are so immensely 
below the truth, so much narrower than the truth, that they seem 
like the mere prattlings of children compared with the arguments of 
philosophers. Hence it is wise to be humble as well as studious, 
and always to be willing to hold the form with a comparatively loose 
hand, while clinging to the essence of that which is inspiring and 
really nutritious to the spiritual life."


In the Adyar TS we have had quite a number of serious and 
distinguished students of HPB's writings. They include Geoffrey 
Barborka, Alfred Taylor, Geoffrey Farthing, Virginia Hanson, Joy 
Mills, E. Lester Smith, V. Wallace Slater, Corona Trew, Mary 
Anderson, Adam Warcup, among many others. Their books and articles 
are a notable collection of scholarship about The Secret Doctrine as 
well as The Mahatma Letters. Some of them were quite critical of the 
teachings presented by Besant and Leadbeater but decided to remain 
in the Adyar TS and contribute to its work. 

There may be good advice on this subject in the words of Sri Krishna 
in the Bhagavad Gita:

"Children, not Sages, speak of the Sankhya and the Yoga as 
different; he who is duly established in one obtained the fruits of 
both." (V,4)

There is an ancient saying from your country that may be worthwhile 
to meditate upon: "Truth is one; the sages speak about in different 
ways."


pedro