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The KEY TO THEOSOPHY on "MAHATMAS"

Feb 20, 2006 06:55 AM
by W.Dallas TenBroeck


 

 

 

                The KEY TO THEOSOPHY on "MAHATMAS"

 

 

                ====================================

 

 

 

There has been a great deal of discussion regarding HPB's "THEOSOPHICAL
MAHATMAS."   

 

Though reference has been made to this section she devotes a good deal of
room to them in THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY, pp. 288-303.

 

Expressing her regrets that their Sacred names have become household ones,
she says she:  "...fervently wishes that they had been kept secret within a
small circle of trusted and devoted friends."

 

It is likely that H. P. Blavatsky's own words will carry to a greater extent
the energy and clarity of intent than any used by students of her doctrine.


 

Best wishes,

 

Dallas

 

============================================

 

 

                                KEY TO THEOSOPHY (HPB)    Chapter  XIV.

 

 

                                 THE  "THEOSOPHICAL  MAHATMAS"

                                 _________

                                                

   ARE  THEY  "SPIRITS  OF  LIGHT "  OR  "GOBLINS  DAMN'D" ?

 

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

 

ENQ.       Who are they, finally, those whom you call your "Masters" ?  Some
say they are "Spirits," or some other kind of supernatural beings, while
others call them "myths."

 

THEO.    They are neither.  I once heard one outsider say to another that
they were a sort of male mermaids, whatever such a creature may be.  but if
you listen to what people say, you will never have a true conception of
them.  in the first place they are living men, born as we are born, and
doomed to die like every other mortal.

 

 

ENQ.       Yes, but it is rumored that some of them are a thousand years
old.  Is this true ?

 

THEO.    As true as the miraculous growth of hair on the head of Meredith's
Shagpat.  Truly, like the "Identical," no Theosophical shaving has hitherto
been able to crop it.  the more we deny them, the more we try to set people
right, the more absurd do the inventions become. I have heard of Methuselah
being 969 years old; but, not being forced to believe in it, have laughed at
the statement, for which I was forthwith regarded by many as a blasphemous
heretic.

 

 

ENQ.       Seriously, though they outlive the ordinary age of men ?

 

THEO.    What do you call the ordinary age ?  I remember reading in the
Lancet of a Mexican who was almost 190 years old ;  but i have never heard
of mortal man, layman, or adept, who could live even half the years allotted
to Methuselah.  some adepts do exceed, by a good deal,  what you would call
the ordinary age ;  yet there is nothing miraculous in it, and very few of
them care to live very long.

 

 

ENQ.       But what does the word "Mahatma" really mean ? 

 

THEO.    Simply a "great soul," great through moral elevation and 

intellectual attainment.  If the title of great is given to a drunken 

soldier like Alexander, why should we not call those "great" who have 

achieved far greater conquests in nature's secrets, than Alexander ever 

did on the field of battle ?  Besides, the term is an Indian and a very 

old word.

 

 

ENQ.       And why do you call them "Masters" ?

 

THEO.    WE CALL THEM "MASTERS" BECAUSE THEY ARE OUR TEACHERS; and because 

FROM THEM WE HAVE DERIVED ALL THE THEOSOPHICAL TRUTHS, HOWEVER 

INADEQUATELY SOME OF US MAY HAVE EXPRESSED, AND OTHERS UNDERSTOOD, THEM.  

THEY ARE MEN OF GREAT LEARNING, WHOM WE TERM INITIATES, AND STILL 

GREATER HOLINESS OF LIFE.  THEY ARE NOT ASCETICS IN THE ORDINARY SENSE, 

THOUGH THEY CERTAINLY REMAIN APART FROM THE TURMOIL AND STRIFE OF YOUR 

WESTERN WORLD.

 

 

ENQ.       But is it not selfish thus to isolate themselves ?

 

THEO.    Where is the selfishness ?  DOES NOT THE FATE OF THE THEOSOPHICAL 

SOCIETY SUFFICIENTLY PROVE THAT THE WORLD IS NEITHER READY TO RECOGNISE 

THEM NOR TO PROFIT BY THEIR TEACHING ?  Of what use would Professor 

Clerk Maxwell have been to instruct a class of little boys in their 

multiplication-table ?  Besides, they isolate themselves only from the 

West.  In their own country they go about as publicly as other people 

do.

 

 

ENQ.       Don't you ascribe to them supernatural powers ?

 

THEO.    We believe in nothing supernatural, as I have told you already.  

Had Edison lived and invented his phonograph two hundred years ago, he 

would most probably have been burnt along with it, and the whole 

attributed to the devil.  

 

THE POWERS WHICH THEY EXERCISE ARE SIMPLY THE 

DEVELOPMENT OF POTENCIES LYING LATENT IN EVERY MAN AND WOMEN, AND THE 

EXISTENCE OF WHICH EVEN OFFICIAL SCIENCE BEGINS TO RECOGNISE.

 

 

ENQ.       Is it true that these men inspire some of your writers, and that 

many, if not all, of your Theosophical works were written under their 

dictation ?

 

THEO.    SOME HAVE.  THERE ARE PASSAGES ENTIRELY DICTATED BY THEM AND 

VERBATIM, BUT IN MOST CASES THEY ONLY INSPIRE THE IDEAS AND LEAVE THE 

LITERARY FORM TO THE WRITERS.

 

 

ENQ.       But this in itself is miraculous ;  is, in fact, a miracle. How
can 

they do it ?

 

THEO.    My dear Sir, you are labouring under a great mistake, and it is 

science itself that will refute your argument at no distant day.  Why 

should it be a  "miracle," as you call it ?  A miracle is supposed to 

mean some operation which is supernatural, whereas there is really 

nothing above or beyond NATURE and Nature's laws.  Among the many forms 

of the "miracle" which have come under modern scientific recognition, 

there is Hypnotism, and one phase of its power is known as "Suggestion," 

a form of thought transference, which has been successfully used in 

combating particular physical diseases, etc.  

 

THE TIME IS NOT FAR DISTANT WHEN THE WORLD OF SCIENCE WILL BE FORCED TO 

ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THERE EXISTS AS MUCH INTERACTION BETWEEN ONE MIND 

AND ANOTHER, NO MATTER AT WHAT DISTANCE, AS BETWEEN ONE BODY AND 

ANOTHER IN CLOSEST CONTACT.

  

WHEN TWO MINDS ARE SYMPATHETICALLY RELATED, AND THE INSTRUMENTS THROUGH 

WHICH THEY FUNCTION ARE TUNED TO RESPOND MAGNETICALLY AND ELECTRICALLY 

TO ONE ANOTHER, THERE IS NOTHING WHICH WILL PREVENT THE TRANSMISSION OF 

THOUGHTS FROM ONE TO THE OTHER, AT WILL ;  FOR SINCE THE MIND IS NOT OF 

A TANGIBLE NATURE, THAT DISTANCE CAN DIVIDE IT FROM THE SUBJECT OF ITS 

CONTEMPLATION, IT FOLLOWS THAT THE ONLY DIFFERENCE THAT CAN EXIST 

BETWEEN TWO MINDS IS A DIFFERENCE OF STATE.  SO IF THIS LATER HINDRANCE 

IS OVERCOME, WHERE IS THE "MIRACLE" OF THOUGHT TRANSFERENCE, AT WHATEVER 

DISTANCE ?

 

 

ENQ.       But you will admit the Hypnotism does nothing so miraculous or 

wonderful as that ?

 

THEO.    On the contrary, it is a well-established fact that a Hypnotist 

can affect the brain of his subject so far as to produce an expression 

of his own thoughts, and even his words, through the organism of his 

subject ; and although the phenomena attaching to this method of actual 

thought transference are as yet few in number, no one, I presume, will 

undertake to say how far their action may extend in the future, when the 

laws that govern their production are more scientifically established.  

And so, if such results can be produced by the knowledge of the mere 

rudiments of Hypnotism, 

 

WHAT CAN PREVENT THE ADEPT IN PSYCHIC AND 

SPIRITUAL POWERS FROM PRODUCING RESULTS WHICH WITH YOUR PRESENT LIMITED 

KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR LAWS, YOU ARE INCLINED TO CALL "MIRACULOUS"?

 

 

ENQ.       Then why do not our physicians experiment and try if they could
not 

do as much ?  *

 

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

   *     Such, for instance, as Prof. Bernheim and Dr. C. Lloyd Tuckey,  

of England ;  Professors Beaunis and Liégeois, of Nancy ;  Delbœuf of 

Liege ;  Burot and Bourru, of Rochefort ;  Fontain and Sigard, of 

Bordeaux ;  Forel, of  Zurich ;  and Drs. Despine, of Marseilles ;  Van 

Renterghem and Van Eeden, of Amsterdam ;  Wetterstrand, of Stockholm ;  

Schrenck-Notzing, of Leipzig, and many other physicians and writers of 

eminence.

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

 

 

THEO.    Because, first of all, they are not Adepts with a thorough 

understanding of the secrets and laws of psychic and spiritual realms, 

but materialists, afraid to step outside the narrow groove of matter; 

and,  secondly, because they must fail at present, and indeed until  

they  are  brought  to  acknowledge  such powers  are  attainable.

 

 

ENQ.       And could they be taught ?

 

THEO.    Not unless they were first of all prepared, by having the 

materialistic dross they have accumulated in their brains swept away to 

the very last atom.

 

 

ENQ.       This is very interesting.  Tell me, have THE ADEPTS THUS INSPIRED


OR DICTATED TO MANY OF YOUR THEOSOPHISTS ?

 

THEO.    NO, ON THE CONTRARY, TO VERY FEW.  SUCH OPERATIONS REQUIRE SPECIAL 

CONDITIONS.  An unscrupulous but skilled Adept of the Black Brotherhood 

("Brothers of the Shadow," and Dugpas, we call them )  has far less 

difficulties to labour under.  For, having no laws of the Spiritual kind 

to trammel his actions, such a Dugpa "sorcerer" will most 

unceremoniously obtain control over any mind, and subject it entirely to 

his evil powers.  

 

BUT OUR MASTERS WILL NEVER DO THAT.  THEY HAVE NO 

RIGHT, EXCEPT BY FALLING INTO BLACK MAGIC, TO OBTAIN FULL MASTERY OVER 

ANYONE'S IMMORTAL EGO, AND CAN THEREFORE ACT ONLY ON THE PHYSICAL AND 

PSYCHIC NATURE OF THE SUBJECT, LEAVING THEREBY THE FREE WILL OF THE 

LATTER WHOLLY UNDISTURBED.  Hence, unless A PERSON HAS BEEN BROUGHT INTO 

PSYCHIC RELATIONSHIP WITH THE MASTERS, AND IS ASSISTED BY VIRTUE OF HIS 

FULL FAITH IN,  AND DEVOTION TO, HIS TEACHERS, THE LATTER, WHENEVER 

TRANSMITTING THEIR THOUGHTS TO ONE WITH WHOM THESE CONDITIONS ARE NOT 

FULFILLED, EXPERIENCE GREAT DIFFICULTIES IN PENETRATING INTO THE CLOUDY 

CHAOS OF THAT PERSON'S SPHERE.  

 

But this is no place to treat of a subject of this nature.  

 

SUFFICE IT TO SAY, THAT IF THE POWER EXISTS THEN THERE ARE INTELLIGENCES 

(EMBODIED OR DISEMBODIED)  WHICH GUIDE THIS POWER, AND LIVING CONSCIOUS 

INSTRUMENTS THROUGH WHOM IT IS TRANSMITTED AND BY WHOM IT IS RECEIVED. 

 We have only to beware of black magic.

 

 

ENQ.       But what do you really mean by "black magic" ?

 

THEO.    Simply abuse of psychic powers, or of any secret of nature ; the 

fact of applying to selfish and sinful ends the powers of Occultism.  A 

hypnotiser, who, taking advantage of his powers of  "suggestion," forces 

a subject to steal or murder, would be called a black magician by us.  

 

The famous "rejuvenating system"  of Dr. Brown-Sequard, of Paris, 

through a loathsome animal injection into human blood-a discovery all 

the medical papers of Europe are now discussing-if true,  is unconscious 

black magic.

 

 

ENQ.       But this is mediæval belief in witchcraft and sorcery !  Even Law


itself has ceased to believe in such things ?

 

THEO.    So much the worse for law, as it has been led,  through such a 

lack of discrimination, into committing more than one judiciary mistake 

and crime.  It is the term alone that frightens you with its 

"superstitious" ring in it.  Would not law punish an abuse of hypnotic 

powers, as I just mentioned ?  Nay, it has so punished it already in 

France and Germany ;  yet it would indignantly deny that it applied 

punishment to a crime of evident sorcery. You cannot believe in the 

efficacy and reality of the powers of suggestion by physicians and 

mesmerisers ( or hypnotisers ), and then refuse to believe in the same 

powers when used for evil motives.  And if you do, then you believe in 

Sorcery.  You can- not believe in good and disbelieve in evil, accept 

genuine money and refuse to credit such a thing as false coin.  Nothing 

can exist without its contrast, and no day, no light, no good could have 

any representation as such in your consciousness, were there no night,  

darkness nor evil to offset and contrast them.

 

 

ENQ.       Indeed, I have known men, who, while thoroughly believing in that


which you call great psychic, or magic powers, laughed at the very 

mention of Witchcraft and Sorcery.

 

THEO.    What does it prove ?  Simply that they are illogical.  So much the 

worse for them again.  And we, knowing AS WE DO OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOOD 

AND HOLY ADEPTS, BELIEVE AS THOROUGHLY IN THE EXISTENCE OF BAD AND 

UNHOLY ADEPTS, OR-DUGPAS.

 

 

ENQ.       But if the Masters exist, why don't they come out before all men 

and refute once for all the many charges which are made against Mdme. 

Blavatsky and the Society ?

 

THEO.    What charges ?

 

 

ENQ.       THAT THEY DO NOT EXIST, AND THAT SHE HAS INVENTED THEM.  That
they 

are men of straw, "Mahatmas of muslin and bladders."  Does not all this 

injure her reputation ?

 

THEO.    In what way can such an accusation injure her in reality ?  Did 

she ever make money on their presumed existence, or derive benefit, or 

fame, therefrom ?  

 

I ANSWER THAT SHE HAS GAINED ONLY INSULTS, ABUSE, AND 

CALUMNIES, WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN VERY PAINFUL HAD SHE NOT LEARNED LONG 

AGO TO REMAIN PERFECTLY INDIFFERENT TO SUCH FALSE CHARGES.  

 

For what does it amount to,  after all ?  

 

Why, TO AN IMPLIED COMPLIMENT, WHICH, IF THE FOOLS, HER ACCUSERS, WERE NOT 

CARRIED AWAY BY THEIR BLIND HATRED THEY WOULD HAVE THOUGHT TWICE BEFORE 

UTTERING.  

 

TO SAY THAT SHE HAS INVENTED THE MASTERS COMES TO THIS :  

 

SHE MUST HAVE INVENTED EVERY BIT OF PHILOSOPHY THAT HAS EVER BEEN 

GIVEN OUT IN THEOSOPHICAL LITERATURE.

  

SHE MUST BE THE AUTHOR OF THE LETTERS FROM WHICH "ESOTERIC BUDDHISM" WAS 

WRITTEN ;  THE SOLE INVENTOR OF EVERY TENET FOUND IN THE "SECRET 

DOCTRINE," WHICH, IF THE WORLD WERE JUST, WOULD BE RECOGNISED AS 

SUPPLYING MANY OF THE MISSING LINKS OF SCIENCE, AS WILL BE, DISCOVERED A 

HUNDRED YEARS HENCE.  BY SAYING WHAT THEY DO, THEY ARE ALSO GIVING HER 

THE CREDIT OF BEING FAR CLEVERER THAN THE HUNDREDS OF MEN,  (MANY VERY 

CLEVER AND NOT A FEW SCIENTIFIC MEN,) WHO BELIEVE IN WHAT SHE 

SAYS-INASMUCH AS SHE MUST HAVE FOOLED THEM ALL !  

 

IF THEY SPEAK THE TRUTH, THEN SHE MUST BE SEVERAL MAHATMAS ROLLED INTO 

ONE like a nest of Chinese boxes ; since among the SO-CALLED "MAHATMA
LETTERS" ARE MANY IN 

TOTALLY DIFFERENT AND DISTINCT STYLES, ALL OF WHICH HER ACCUSERS DECLARE 

THAT SHE HAS WRITTEN.

 

 

ENQ.       It is just what they say.  BUT IS IT NOT VERY PAINFUL TO HER TO
BE 

PUBLICLY DENOUNCED AS "THE MOST ACCOMPLISHED IMPOSTOR OF THE AGE, whose 

name deserves to pass to posterity," as is done in the Report of the  

"Society for Psychical Research" ?

 

THEO.    It might be painful if it were true, or came from people less 

rabidly materialistic and prejudiced.  As it is, PERSONALLY SHE TREATS 

THE WHOLE MATTER WITH CONTEMPT, WHILE THE MAHATMAS SIMPLY LAUGH AT IT. 

IN TRUTH, IT IS THE GREATEST COMPLIMENT THAT COULD BE PAID TO HER.  I 

SAY SO, AGAIN.

 

 

ENQ.       But her enemies claim to have proved their case.

 

THEO.    Aye, it is easy enough to make such a claim when you have 

constituted yourself judge, jury, and prosecuting counsel at once, as 

they did.  But who, except their direct followers and our enemies, 

believe in it ?

 

 

ENQ.       But they sent a representative to India to investigate the
matter, 

didn't they ?

 

THEO.    They did, and their final conclusion rests entirely on the 

unchecked statements and unverified assertions of this young gentleman.  

A lawyer who read through his report told a friend of mine that in all 

his experience he had never seen "such a ridiculous and 

self-condemnatory document."  It was found to be full of suppositions 

and "working hypotheses" which mutually destroyed each other.  Is this a 

serious charge ?

 

 

ENQ.       Yet it has done the Society a great harm.  Why,  then, did she
not 

vindicate her own character, at least, before a Court of Law ?

 

THEO.    Firstly, because as a Theosophist, it IS HER DUTY TO LEAVE 

UNHEEDED ALL PERSONAL INSULTS.  Secondly, because neither the Society 

nor Mdme. Blavatsky had any money to waste over such a law-suit.  And 

lastly, because it would have been ridiculous for both to be untrue to 

their principles, because of an attack made on them by a flock of stupid 

old British wethers, who had been led to butt at them by an over 

frolicsome lambkin from Australia.

 

 

ENQ.       This is complimentary.  But do you not think that it would have 

done real good to the cause of Theosophy, if she had authoritatively 

disproved the whole thing once for all ?

 

THEO.    Perhaps.  But do you believe that any English jury or judge would 

have ever admitted the reality of psychic phenomena, even if entirely 

unprejudiced beforehand ?  And when you remember that they would have 

been set against us already by the  "Russian Spy" scare, the charge of 

Atheism and infidelity, and all the other calumnies that have been  

circulated against us, you cannot fail to see that such an attempt to 

obtain justice in a Court of Law would have been worse than fruitless !  

All this the Psychic Researchers knew well, and they took a base and 

mean advantage of their position to raise themselves above our heads and 

save themselves at our expense.

 

 

ENQ.       The S. P. R. Now denies completely the existence of  the
Mahatmas.  

They say that from beginning to end they were a romance which Madame 

Blavatsky has woven from her own brain ?

 

THEO.    Well, she might have done many things less clever than this.  At
any rate, we have not the 

slightest objection to this theory.  

 

AS SHE ALWAYS SAYS NOW, SHE ALMOST PREFERS THAT PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BELIEVE IN


THE MASTERS.  SHE DECLARES OPENLY THAT SHE WOULD RATHER PEOPLE SHOULD 

SERIOUSLY THINK THAT THE ONLY MAHATMALAND IS THE GREY MATTER OF HER 

BRAIN, AND THAT, IN SHORT,  SHE HAS EVOLVED THEM OUT OF THE DEPTHS OF 

HER OWN INNER CONSCIOUSNESS THAN THAT THEIR NAMES AND GRAND IDEAL SHOULD 

BE SO INFAMOUSLY DESECRATED AS THEY ARE AT PRESENT.  AT FIRST SHE USED 

TO PROTEST INDIGNANTLY AGAINST ANY DOUBTS AS TO THEIR EXISTENCE.  NOW 

SHE NEVER GOES OUT OF HER WAY TO PROVE OR DISPROVE IT. LET PEOPLE THINK 

WHAT THEY LIKE.

 

 

ENQ.       But, of course, these Masters do exist ?

 

THEO.    WE AFFIRM THEY DO.  Nevertheless, this does not help much.  Many 

people, even some Theosophists and ex-Theosophists, say that they have 

never had any proof of their existence.  Very well ;  then Mme. 

Blavatsky replies with this alternative : - 

 

IF SHE HAS INVENTED THEM, THEN SHE HAS ALSO INVENTED THEIR PHILOSOPHY AND 

THE PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE WHICH SOME FEW HAVE ACQUIRED ;  AND IF SO, WHAT 

DOES IT MATTER WHETHER THEY DO EXIST OR NOT, SINCE SHE HERSELF IS HERE, AND 

HER OWN EXISTENCE, AT ANY RATE, CAN HARDLY BE DENIED ?  

 

IF THE KNOWLEDGE SUPPOSED TO HAVE 

BEEN IMPARTED BY THEM IS GOOD INTRINSICALLY, AND IT IS ACCEPTED AS SUCH 

BY MANY PERSONS OF MORE THAN AVERAGE INTELLIGENCE, WHY SHOULD THERE BE 

SUCH A HULLABALOO MADE OVER THAT QUESTION ?  

 

The fact of her being an impostor has never been proved, and will always
remain sub judice ; 

whereas it is a certain and UNDENIABLE FACT THAT, BY WHOMSOEVER 

INVENTED, THE PHILOSOPHY PREACHED BY THE "MASTERS"  IS ONE OF THE 

GRANDEST AND MOST BENEFICENT PHILOSOPHIES ONCE IT IS PROPERLY 

UNDERSTOOD.  

 

Thus the slanderers,  while moved by the lowest and meanest 

feeling-those of hatred, revenge, malice, wounded vanity, or 

disappointed ambition, - seem quite unaware that they are paying the 

greatest tribute to her intellectual powers.  So be it, if the poor 

fools will have it so.  

 

REALLY, MME. BLAVATSKY HAS NOT THE SLIGHTEST 

OBJECTION TO BEING REPRESENTED BY HER ENEMIES AS A TRIPLE ADEPT,  AND A 

"MAHATMA" TO BOOT.  IT IS ONLY HER UNWILLINGNESS TO POSE IN HER OWN 

SIGHT AS A CROW PARADING IN PEACOCK'S FEATHERS THAT COMPELS HER TO THIS 

DAY TO INSIST UPON THE TRUTH.

 

 

ENQ.   But if you have such wise and good men to guide the Society, how 

is it that so many mistakes have been made ?

 

 

THEO.   THE MASTERS DO NOT GUIDE THE SOCIETY, NOT EVEN THE FOUNDERS ; 

and no one has ever asserted that they did :   they only WATCH OVER, AND 

PROTECT IT.  

 

This is amply proved by the fact that no mistakes have been 

able to cripple it, and no scandals from within, nor the most damaging 

attacks from without, have been able to overthrow it.  The Masters look 

at the future, not at the present, and every mistake is so much more 

accumulated wisdom for days to come.  The other "Master who sent the man 

with the five talents did not tell him how to double them, nor did he 

prevent the foolish servant from burying his one talent in the earth.  

Each must acquire wisdom by his own experience and merits. The Christian 

Churches, who claim a far higher "Master," the very Holy Ghost itself, 

have ever been and are still guilty not only of "mistakes," but of a 

series of bloody crimes throughout the ages.  Yet, no Christian would 

deny, for all that, his belief in that  "Master," I suppose ?  although 

his existence is far more hypothetical than that of the Mahatmas ;  as 

no one has ever seen the Holy Ghost, and his guidance of the Church, 

moreover, their own ecclesiastical history distinctly contradicts.  

Errare humanum est.  Let us return to our subject.

 

 

                 THE  ABUSE  OF  SACRED  NAMES  AND  TERMS.

 

 

ENQ.    Then, what I have heard, namely, that many of your Theosophical 

writers claim to have been inspired by these Masters, or to have seen 

and conversed with them, is not true ?

 

THEO.   It may or it may not be true.  How can I tell ?  The burden of 

proof rests with them.  Some of them, a few-very few, indeed-have 

distinctly either lied or were hallucinated when boasting of such 

inspiration ; OTHERS WERE TRULY INSPIRED BY GREAT ADEPTS.  THE TREE IS 

KNOWN BY ITS FRUITS ;  and as all Theosophists have to be judged by 

their deeds and not by what they write or say, SO ALL THEOSOPHICAL BOOKS 

MUST BE ACCEPTED ON THEIR MERITS, AND NOT ACCORDING TO ANY CLAIM TO 

AUTHORITY WHICH THEY MAY PUT FORWARD.

 

 

ENQ.       But would MDME. BLAVATSKY APPLY THIS TO HER OWN WORKS-THE SECRET 

DOCTRINE, FOR INSTANCE ?

 

THEO.   CERTAINLY ;  SHE SAYS EXPRESSLY IN THE PREFACE THAT SHE GIVES 

OUT THE DOCTRINES THAT SHE HAS LEARNT FROM  THE MASTERS, but claims no 

inspiration whatever for what she has lately written.  As for our best 

Theosophists, THEY WOULD ALSO IN THIS CASE FAR RATHER THAT THE NAMES OF 

THE MASTERS HAD NEVER BEEN MIXED UP WITH OUR BOOKS IN ANY WAY.  With few 

exceptions, most of such works are not only imperfect, but positively 

erroneous and misleading.  GREAT ARE THE DESECRATIONS TO WHICH THE NAME 

OF TWO OF THE MASTERS HAVE BEEN SUBJECTED.  

 

There is hardly a medium who has not claimed to have seen them.  Every bogus
swindling Society,  for 

commercial purposes, now claims to be guided and directed by "Masters," 

often supposed to be far higher than ours ! Many and heavy are the sins 

of those who advanced these claims, prompted either by desire for lucre, 

vanity, or irresponsible mediumship.  Many persons have been plundered 

of their money by such societies, which offer to sell the secrets of 

power, knowledge, and spiritual truth for worthless gold. 

 

 WORST OF ALL, THE SACRED NAMES OF OCCULTISM AND THE HOLY KEEPERS THEREOF 

HAVE BEEN DRAGGED IN THIS FILTHY MIRE, POLLUTED BY BEING ASSOCIATED WITH
SORDID 

MOTIVES AND IMMORAL PRACTICES, WHILE THOUSANDS OF MEN HAVE BEEN HELD 

BACK FROM THE PATH OF TRUTH AND LIGHT THROUGH THE DISCREDIT AND EVIL 

REPORT WHICH SUCH SHAMS, SWINDLES, AND FRAUDS HAVE BROUGHT UPON THE 

WHOLE SUBJECT. I SAY AGAIN,  EVERY EARNEST THEOSOPHISTS REGRETS TO-DAY, 

FROM THE BOTTOM OF HIS HEART, THAT THESE SACRED NAMES AND THINGS HAVE 

EVER BEEN MENTIONED BEFORE THE PUBLIC, AND FERVENTLY WISHES THAT THEY 

HAD BEEN KEPT SECRET WITHIN A SMALL CIRCLE OF TRUSTED AND DEVOTED 

FRIENDS.

 

 

ENQ.  The names certainly do occur very frequently now-a-days, and I 

never remember hearing of such persons as "Masters" till quite recently.

 

THEO.  It is so ;  and HAD WE ACTED ON THE WISE PRINCIPLE OF SILENCE, 

INSTEAD OF RUSHING INTO NOTORIETY AND PUBLISHING ALL WE KNEW AND HEARD, 

SUCH DESECRATION WOULD NEVER HAVE OCCURRED.  BEHOLD, ONLY FOURTEEN YEARS 

AGO, BEFORE THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY WAS FOUNDED, ALL THE TALK WAS OF 

"SPIRITS."  

 

THEY WERE EVERYWHERE, IN EVERYONE'S MOUTHS; AND NO ONE BY 

ANY CHANCE EVEN DREAMT OF TALKING ABOUT LIVING "ADEPTS,"  "MAHATMAS," OR 

"MASTERS."  ONE HARDLY HEARD EVEN THE NAME OF THE ROSICRUCIANS, WHILE 

THE EXISTENCE OF SUCH A THING AS "OCCULTISM" WAS SUSPECTED EVEN BUT BY 

VERY FEW.  NOW ALL THAT IS CHANGED.  WE THEOSOPHISTS WERE, 

UNFORTUNATELY, THE FIRST TO TALK OF THESE THINGS, TO MAKE THE FACT OF 

THE EXISTENCE IN THE EAST OF "ADEPTS"  AND "MASTERS" AND OCCULT 

KNOWLEDGE KNOWN ;  AND NOW THE NAME HAS BECOME COMMON PROPERTY.  IT IS 

ON US, NOW, THAT THE KARMA, THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE RESULTING 

DESECRATION OF HOLY NAMES AND THINGS, HAS FALLEN.  ALL THAT YOU NOW FIND 

ABOUT SUCH MATTERS IN CURRENT LITERATURE-AND THERE IS NOT A LITTLE OF 

IT-ALL IS TO BE TRACED BACK TO THE IMPULSE GIVEN IN THIS DIRECTION BY 

THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY AND ITS FOUNDERS.  

 

Our enemies profit to this day by our mistake.  The most recent book
directed against our teachings 

is alleged to have been written by an Adept of twenty years' standing.  

Now, it is a palpable lie.  We know the amanuensis and his inspirers (as 

he is himself too ignorant to have written anything of the sort ).  

These  "inspirers" are living persons, revengeful and unscrupulous in 

proportion to their intellectual powers ;  and these bogus Adepts are 

not one, but several.  The cycle of "Adepts,"  used as sledge-hammers to 

break the theosophical heads with, began twelve years ago,  with Mrs. 

Emma Hardinge Britten's "Louis" of Art Magic and Ghost-Land, and now 

ends with the "Adept"  and "Author" of The Light of Egypt, a work 

written by Spiritualists against Theosophy and its teachings.  

 

BUT IT IS USELESS TO GRIEVE OVER WHAT IS DONE, AND WE CAN ONLY SUFFER IN THE
HOPE 

THAT OUR INDISCRETIONS MAY HAVE MADE IT A LITTLE EASIER FOR OTHERS TO 

FIND THE WAY TO THESE MASTERS, WHOSE NAMES ARE NOW EVERYWHERE TAKEN IN 

VAIN, AND UNDER COVER OF WHICH SO MANY INIQUITIES HAVE ALREADY BEEN 

PERPETRATED.

 

 

ENQ.  Do you reject "Louise" as an Adept ?

 

THEO.  WE DENOUNCE NO ONE, LEAVING THIS NOBLE TASK TO OUR ENEMIES.  The 

spiritualistic author of Art Magic,  etc., may or may not have been 

acquainted with such an Adept-and saying this, I say far less than what 

that lady has said and written about us and Theosophy for the last 

several years-that is her own business.  Only when, in a solemn scene of 

mystic vision, an alleged  "Adept" sees "spirits" presumably at 

Greenwich England, through Lord Rosse's telescope, which was built in, 

and never moved from Parsonstown, Ireland, * I may well be permitted to 

wonder at the ignorance of that "Adept" in matters of science.  This 

beats all the mistakes and blunder committed at times by the chelas of 

our Teachers !  And it is this "Adept"  that is used now to break the 

teachings of our masters!

 

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

  *  Vide "Ghost Land," Part I., p. 133, et seq.

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

 

ENQ.   I quite understand your feeling in this matter, and think it only 

natural.  And now, in view of all that you have said and explained to 

me, there is one subject on which I should like to ask you a few 

questions.

 

 

THEO.   If I can answer them I will.  What is that ?

 

                END

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Dallas

 



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