Theos-Talk Archives (July 2005 Message tt00189)

July 25 2005	

RE: Treading the path THEOSOPHICAL STUDY AND WORK


This is offered because of present discussions. It offers sound advice.

Best wishes,

Dallas

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------

 
THEOSOPHICAL STUDY AND WORK


The birth and life of a Branch of the Theosophical Society are very like to
those of an individual. As with persons so with a body of theosophists
engaged in theosophical endeavor and study, the parentage and the subsequent
environment have much to do with the continuance of life and with the power
of the influence exerted over the units which compose the association, as
well as that which radiates from the Branch to others outside. And in a
Theosophical Society its authorship is divided among all those who come
together in order to start and carry it on. 

If the authors of its being are unintelligent, or confused, or uncertain, or
self-seeking in the formation of the Society, its life and work will be the
same. Growth will be stopped, influence hindered, and results - nothing. The
work and influence of a Branch hinge upon the knowledge of theosophical
doctrine, upon the motives, ideas, and ideals of the members, and so we have
to consider what is the knowledge required and what should be the aims,
ideas, and ideals of those who form and are to work in a Branch T.S. An
inquiry should also be made into the methods which ought to be adopted as
well as those that are to be avoided.

The work of a Branch has two objective points where it is intended, in the
theosophical order of things, that its help and influence are to be felt.
The first is in and among its members, and the other upon that portion of
the world which lies within its purview. If, as I firmly believe, the theory
of universal brotherhood is based upon a law - a fact in nature that all men
are spiritual beings who are indissolubly linked and united together in one
vast whole, then no Branch, no individual theosophist, can be regarded as
without significance and influence, nor is any member justified in supposing
that he or she is too obscure, too unprogressed, to be of any benefit to the
movement and thus to mankind at large.

The fact that a branch T.S. is a body of individuals makes stronger the
certainty that by means of the subtile link which, under the law of unity,
connects together all the men who are on this planet, a wider and more
potent influence for good or evil may be exerted through a Branch than
through any single individual. For just as man is composed of atoms
descended to him in various lines from many forefathers, all of which have a
part in the influence he exerts, so a Branch is a being composed of the
atoms - its members - included within its borders. And it is no fancy, no
fantastic dream, to say that this being may be intelligent, or forceful, or
weak, or wicked as a whole, just as it is made the one or the other by its
component parts. And the declarations made by the adepts respecting
individual theosophists should have weight with such a body. Those Beings
have said that each member can aid the movement by explaining its
fundamental doctrines or at least by doing away with misconceptions, and
that no single unit in the whole should be so ignorant as to suppose that he
or she has a special karma of his own unconnected with the rest. Not a
single good example in theosophic life is lost, They say, but every one of
us affects not only the immediate associates but also projects into the
great universal current an influence that has its weight in the destiny of
the race. Some of these golden words are as follows:


"Let not the fruit of good karma be your motive; for your karma, good or
bad, being one and the common property of all mankind, nothing good or bad
can happen to you that is not shared by many others." Hence, if the motive
be for yourself it is selfish and can only generate a double effect - good
and bad - and will either nullify your good actions or turn them to some
other man's profit. "There is no happiness for one who is ever thinking of
self and forgetting other selves."


This is all applicable to a Branch in its totality, for it is an intelligent
being quite as much under the government of karma as any individual. It will
feel the karma of its actions, and the responsibility will rest upon the
members who have neglected or obeyed the dictates of theosophic duty. And
the karma of the entire international body will react upon it for benefit or
the reverse, according to the good, bad, or indifferent karma which the
Branch may have acquired by its course of action. It is a part of the whole,
and no portion can be exempt from the influences belonging to the total mass
of workers. Thus a Branch which has been indifferent, or selfish, or full of
doubt or disloyalty regarding the ideals it promised to follow, will attract
out of the international theosophic karma just enough to accentuate its
weakness and doubt, and on the other hand a Branch which has worked hard,
unselfishly, and earnestly will attract the good from the whole sum of
karma, and that, added to its own, will enable it to resist bad effects and
will further strengthen the vital elements in its own corporate body.

The good or bad karma of the whole Theosophic Society may be figured as
surrounding it from one end of the world to the other in the shape of layers
or spheres of light or darkness. The light is good karma and the darkness is
bad. Those units - Branches - which contain the elements of light within
them will attract from the sphere of light as much of that as they are
capable of holding, and the darkness will be drawn in by those which have
darkness already. 

Thus we are all, theosophically speaking, keepers and helpers of each other,
not only in the United States but in England, in Bombay, in Calcutta, in
Madras. If we do not do our duty it may happen that some struggling Branch
in some far off place will by reason of its newness or weakness be the
recipient, not of help but of damage from us. 

Each Branch is separately responsible for its own actions, and yet every one
is helped or injured by every other. These reciprocating influences work on
the real though unseen plane where every man is dynamically united to every
fellow man.

And I am not uncharitable in saying that if the Indian Branches had worked
more for the far-distant United States when it was unable to stand alone, we
should now be the possessors of more in the way of elucidation and
statistics and other aids from that far-distant land than we can show. But
even if the early-formed United States' Branches had worked with more zeal
and energy toward the real ends of the Society, we should have been able
earlier to materially aid and comfort our sincere brother and sacrificing
worker, Col. H. S. Olcott. And now the newer Branches of the Society in this
country have a better opportunity than others in the past, for all the
fighting has been done and much work is ready to their hand.

So the most obscure has a place in the scheme as important as the one that
is large and well known, while those that are lazy or doubting or selfish
must compensate some time or another for their acts of commission, as well
as for any failure to add to the general sum of good.

With this in view we may conclude that a single Branch has the power to
efficiently aid and benefit not only its members but also the whole
theosophic body corporate. This may be made clearer by remembering how often
in the history of the world a family or even a man has sometimes been for
the nation or race a power for the greatest good or evil.

Under this doctrine of unity and selflessness the work of a Branch ought to
be entered into by all the members with an unselfish spirit which will lead
them to have patience with the weaker brethren, for a chain is no stronger
than its weakest link, and therefore endeavor should be made to bring to the
minds of the weakest the truths that the others see with less difficulty. 

And next, every individual, by eliminating the desire to get knowledge for
himself, will thereby make the Branch as a whole open and porous to the
unseen but real and powerful influences managed from behind the scenes by
the great personages who have as a part of their work in the world the
theosophic movement, and who are constantly at work among us for the purpose
of aiding those who are sincere and unselfish. 

If the testimony of those who have been long in the Society is to be
believed, then, as they assert, there are among us every day many disciples
(who are known in our literature by the name of "Chelas") who are engaged in
fanning the flame of spiritual illumination wherever they find it among the
members. Their influence in not exerted because of wealth or personal
prominence, but upon any one of any class who has tried to understand
theosophy for the sake of others and in order that he may communicate to
others in his turn. Not only has this been asserted by the leaders in the
movement, but in the experience of many of us we have seen help extended to
those who are in earnest for their fellow-man.

And this is peculiarly and more strongly applicable to those members who
have as one of their aims the acquisition of psychic and abnormal powers.
These powers cannot be safely found and used by the man who desires them for
himself, and his mere statement in his heart or in words that he desires
them for others goes for naught unless the deeper and inner motive and
object coincide with the high one which is expressed. Our members, new and
old, might as well become acquainted with the bald and naked truth on this
subject now, as to wait for years of bitter experience to burn it into them.
There are such powers and man may acquire them, but each age and each race
has its limitations that it is not possible for the average man to overcome.


Hardly any member who has desires for these would admit that he would be
willing to become a black magician in order to acquire them, that is, would
sacrifice his chances for emancipation for their sake. Yet without altruism
one cannot get them except as a black magician. One has to deliberately make
up his mind that he will sacrifice everything and everybody else to his
design if it is his intention to obtain them without following the rules
laid down by the White Adepts inculcating truth, purity, charity, and all
the virtues - in fact, altruism. 

There is no secret about the fact that two ways and no more lie open to the
one who wishes for the powers of an adept, and those are on the right hand,
that of virtue and altruism, and on the left - the black side - that of
intense and unrelenting selfishness. 

No compromise, no mere dabbling, is allowed or possible, and more so in the
selfish path, for there every one's hand is against every other one; none
will help at any crisis, and, when the hour arrives that the student in that
school is in peril from the unseen and terrible forces of nature, his
companions on the road will but sneer at his weakness and rejoice at his
downfall. 

And indeed, the line of demarcation between these two ways, for students of
the grade of most of the members of our Society, is very thin. It is like
the hair line which the Mohammedan mystic says divides the false from the
true. One has to be very careful so as to know if his motive is really so
unselfish as he pretends it to himself to be. But it can always be tested by
the reality of the feeling of brotherhood that he has in him. A mere
intellectual longing to know and to discover further in this field is
selfish and of the black variety, for unless every desire to know the truth
is in order that one may give it to others, it is full of taint. Moreover,
it will lead to no powers and to no real knowledge, for success on either
side depends upon the burning of desire in the heart. With the white school
this is for the sake of fellow-man, and on the dark hand the same fierce
desire is for self alone.

Many persons, however, think that they can belong to the Society, and while
negatively selfish, that is, ready and willing to sit down and hear others
expound theosophical doctrine and never work for the body themselves, they
may receive benefit in the way of comprehension of the doctrines of man and
nature which are promulgated among us. But they forget a law in these
matters of great importance, one, indeed, that they may not be willing to
admit, and which is much opposed to our modern ideas of the powers and
functions of the human mind. It is that such an attitude by reason of its
selfishness builds up a hard wall between their minds and the very truths
they wish to know. I speak of an actual dynamic effect which is as plain to
the eye of the trained seer as is any object to the healthy eye.

We have been so accustomed for many years to vague ideas about the human
mind, what it is, and what its powers really are, that people in general
have no definite notion whether there be or not any material effect in the
human economy from thoughts, or whether they are like what is usually called
"imagination," a something very unreal and wholly without objectivity. But
it is a fact that the mind of the selfish person is always making about
itself a hard reflecting surface which throws off and away from its grasp
the very knowledge the man himself would take if he but knew the reason why
he fails.

This brings us naturally to the proposition that the aims of the members in
a Branch should be to eradicate selfishness and to promulgate and illustrate
the doctrine of universal brotherhood, basing the explanation upon the
actual unity of all beings. This of itself will lead to the explanation of
many other doctrines, as it underlies them all, great and small. And in
order to do this the members ought to study the system as a whole, so that
its parts may be comprehended. It is for the want of such study that we so
often hear members, when asked to explain their theosophy, saying, "Well, to
tell the truth, I know how it all is, but am not able to make it clear to
you." They are not clear because they have not taken the time and trouble to
learn the few fundamental propositions and how to apply them to any and
every question.

A very common error is the supposition that new men, new enquirers, can be
converted to theosophy and brought into its ranks by taking up and enforcing
phenomena. In the term "phenomena" I include all such as spiritualism,
clairvoyance, clairaudience, psychometry, hypnotism, mesmerism,
thought-reading, and the like. These convert but few if any, because there
is not much known about them and so many proofs are required before belief
is induced. And even a belief in these things gives no sound basis of a
theosophical character. 

A perfect illustration of this is seen in the history of H. P. Blavatsky,
who for many years has permitted phenomena to occur with herself for the
benefit of certain specific persons. These have been talked about by the
whole world, and the Psychical Society saw fit to send a man to look into
them after they had taken place, but although the very persons who saw them
happen testified to their genuineness, they were denied by him and all laid
to fraud and confederation. Everyone who was inclined from the first to
believe in them continued to so believe, and those who never believed
remained in the same state as before.

The best attested phenomena are ever subject to doubt so long as the
philosophy on which they depend is not understood.
Furthermore, the mass of men and women in the world are not troubled about
phenomena. These they think can be left alone for the present because more
pressing things engage their attention and call for solution. 

The great problems of life: why we are here, why we suffer, and where may
justice be found that will show the reason for the sufferings of the good
man, or, indeed, for the sufferings of any one, press upon us. For each man
thinks he is unjustly borne hard upon by fate when his cherished plans go
for nothing, or his family is carried off by death, or his name is disgraced
by a wayward child, or when, as is very often the case, he is unjustly
accused and injured by his fellow-men. There are many who find themselves
born poor when others less worthy are rich, and they ask why it is all thus
and get no reply from the common religious systems of the day. It is the
life and its sorrows that destroy our peace, and every human heart wants to
know the reason for it.

We must therefore offer theories that will give the answer, and these
theories are the great doctrines of karma and reincarnation. These show
justice triumphant in the world, meting out reward or punishment as it is
deserved in any state of life. After an experience of fifteen years in the
Society's work I have seen that more good and useful men and women have been
attracted to our movement by these doctrines than have ever come to it by
reason of phenomena, and that a great many have left our ranks who began on
the phenomenal side. The members in general may not be aware of the fact
that when the Society was formed the greater number of its New York members
were spiritualists and that they nearly all left us long ago.

There is a mysterious power in these doctrines of karma and reincarnation
which at last forces them upon the belief of those who take them up for
study. It is due to the fact that the ego is itself the experiencer of
rebirth and karma and has within a clear recollection of both, and rejoices,
as it were, when it finds the lower mind taking them up for study. Each
person is the concentration and result of karma, and is compelled from
within to believe. The ethics of theosophy as enforced and illuminated by
these twin doctrines should therefore be the object of our search and
promulgation.

Furthermore, this course is authorized, for those who believe in the Adepts,
by their words written about us. I quote:
"It is the insatiable craving for phenomena made so often degrading that has
caused you so much trouble. Let the Society henceforth flourish upon its
moral worth and the study of philosophy and ethics put into practice."


The next question is how to carry all this out in practice.

First, by having the Branch open to the public and never private.

Second, by regular attendance and meetings.

Third, by establishing a library, at first with the few important
books, which few can be added to by the members from time to time through
donations of books which they have read.

Fourth, by always having an article, original or otherwise,
for reading and discussion. If literary talent is not available, its want
can be supplied from the great quantity of articles which have come out in
the Society's magazines during the last fifteen years. In those nearly every
subject of theosophical interest has been written upon and explained. They
can be looked up with very little labor, and used at each meeting. And they
can be carried on upon settled lines so as to go over each subject fully. It
will be found that nearly all the questions that now puzzle new members have
been at one time or another illustrated and explained in these articles.

Fifth, by a careful elementary study of our doctrines from one or
two books until the main outline of all is grasped. 

Take, for instance, Esoteric Buddhism. This gives the system in the main,
and many persons have read it, but a great many of these have done this but
once. For them there often arise questions they might easily solve if they
had made the system as a whole a part of their mental furniture. This book
can be corrected by the SECRET DOCTRINE, in which Mme. Blavatsky has said
that Esoteric Buddhism is in the main correct, and she gives the means for
supplying its deficiencies. 

Then there is that most useful book, FIVE YEARS OF THEOSOPHY, containing
some of the most valuable articles that appeared in the Theosophist.

Sixth, by a method of discussion which does not permit any one
person in the Branch to assert that his or her views are the correct ones.
We cannot get at truth by assertion, but only by calm consideration of views
advanced, and the self-asserting person is very nearly always close to
error. I know this view is contrary to that of American independence, which
leads us on forever to assert ourselves. 

The true philosophy annuls this and teaches that it is only from the
concurrence of investigation that the truth can be arrived at. And the
deeper occultism says that the self-asserter debars himself from truth
forever. No one mind has all the knowledge possible, and each one is
naturally capable of seeing but the one side that is easy for him by reason
of his race inheritance and the engrafted tendencies of his education.


Seventh, by remembering that we cannot at once alter the
constitutional tendencies of the atoms of our brains, nor in a flash change
ourselves. We are insensibly affected by our education, by the ideas of our
youth, by the thought, whatever it was, that preceded our entrance upon
theosophy. We require to have patience, not with the system of theosophy,
but with ourselves, and be willing to wait for the gradual effect of the new
ideas upon us.


The taking up of these ideas is, in effect, a new mental incarnation, and
we, just as is the case of a new manvantara, have to evolve from the old
estate and with care gradually eradicate the former bias. It is taught in
the Secret Doctrine that the moon is the parent of the earth and has given
to us all that we are now working over in our world. It is the same in the
case under consideration. Our former mental state is our mental moon, and
has given us certain material which we must work over, for otherwise we
attempt to go contrary to a law of nature and will be defeated.

Some may ask if there is not any sort of study that will enable us to shave
off these old erroneous modes of thought. To them I can only give the
experience of many of my friends in the same direction. They say, and they
are supported by the very highest authority, that the one process is to
enquire into and attempt to understand the law of spiritual unity and the
fact that no one is separate but that all are one in the plane of spirit,
and that no single person has a particular spirit of his own, but that
atman, called the "seventh Principle," is, in fact, the synthesis of the
whole and is the common property of every being high and low, human, animal,
animate, inanimate, or divine. This is the teaching of the MUNDAKA UPANISHAD
of the Hindus, and the meaning of the title "Mundaka" is "Shaving," because
it shaves off the errors which stand in the way of truth, permitting then
the brilliant lamp of spiritual knowledge to illuminate our inner nature.

And for those who desire to find the highest ethics and philosophy condensed
in one book, I would recommend the BHAGAVAD GÎTÂ, studied with the aid of
such lectures as those of our Hindu brother - now deceased - Subba Row of
Madras. They have been reprinted from the Theosophist and can be procured by
any one. In the Secret Doctrine Mme. Blavatsky says: "The best metaphysical
definition of primeval theogony in the spirit of the Vedantins may be found"
in these lectures.

In the conclusion of THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY H. P. Blavatsky, speaking of the
future of the Theosophical Society, writes:

"Its future will depend almost entirely upon the degree of selflessness,
earnestness, devotion, and last but not least, upon the amount of knowledge
and wisdom possessed by those members on whom it will fall to carry on the
work and to direct the Society after the death of the Founders. If they
cannot be free from the bias of theological education, the result can only
be that the Society will drift off on to some sandbank of thought or
another, and there remain a stranded carcass to moulder and die. But if that
danger be averted the Society will live on into and through the twentieth
century. It will burst asunder the iron fetters of creed and caste. The West
will learn to understand and appreciate the East at its full value. The
development of psychic powers will proceed healthily and normally, and
mankind will be saved from terrible bodily and mental dangers which are
inevitable where those powers develop in a hotbed of selfishness and passion
as they now threaten to do.

At the last quarter of every century one or more persons appear in the world
as the agents of the masters, and a greater or less amount of occult
knowledge is given out."

She concludes by stating that the present T. S. is one of those attempts to
help the world, and the duty of every member is made plain that they should
preserve this body with its literature and original plans so as to hand it
on to our successors who shall have it ready at the last quarter of the next
century for the messenger of the Masters who will then, as now, reappear.

Failure or success in this duty presents no obscure outcome. 

If we succeed, then in the twentieth century that messenger will find the
materials in books, in thought and in popular terms, to permit him or her to
carry forward the great work to another stage without the fierce opposition
and the tremendous obstacles which have frowned upon us during the last
fifteen years just closed. If we fail, then the messenger will waste again
many precious years in re-preparing the ground, and ours will be the
responsibility.

WILLIAM Q. JUDGE

Aryan Branch Paper, November, 1890
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--