Theosophical Society,
H P Blavatsky
"The Theosophical Mahatmas"
by
H. P. Blavatsky
IT
is with sincere and profound regret-though with no surprise, prepared as I am
for
years for such declarations-that I have read in the Rochester Occult Word,
edited
by Mrs. J. Cables, the devoted president of the T.S. of that place, her
joint
editorial with Mr. W. T. Brown. This sudden revulsion of feeling is
perhaps
quite natural in the lady, for she has never bad the opportunities given
her
as Mr. Brown has; and her feeling when she writes that after "a great
desire
.
. . to be put into communication with the Theosophical Mahatmas we (they) have come
to the conclusion that it is useless to strain the Psychical eyes towards the
manifesto.
Condensed
and weeded of its exuberance of Biblical expressions it
comes
to this paraphrastical declaration: "We have knocked at their door, and
they
have not answered us; we have prayed for bread, they have denied us even a stone."
The charge is quite serious; nevertheless, that it is neither just nor
fair-is
what I propose to show. As I was the first in the
the
existence of our Masters into publicity; and, having exposed the holy names
of
two members of a Brotherhood hitherto unknown to Europe and America (save to a
few mystics and Initiates of every age), yet sacred and revered throughout the East,
and especially India, causing vulgar speculation and curiosity to grow around
those blessed names, and finally leading to a public rebuke, I believe it my
duty to contradict the fitness of the latter by explaining the whole situation,
as I feel myself the chief culprit. It may do good to some,
perchance,
and will interest some others. Let no one think withal, that I come
out
as a champion or a defender of those who most assuredly need no defense.
What
I intend, is to present simple facts, and let after this the situation be
judged
on its own merits. To the plain statement of our brothers and sisters
that
they have been "living on husks," "hunting after strange
gods" without
receiving
admittance, I would ask in my turn, as plainly: "Are you sure of
having
knocked at the right door? Do you feel certain that you have not lost
your
way by stopping so often on your journey at strange doors, behind which lie in
wait the fiercest enemies of those you were searching for?" Our MASTERS
are not a jealous god"; they are simply holy mortals, nevertheless,
however, higher than any in this world, morally, intellectually and
spiritually.
However
holy and advanced in the science of the Mysteries -they are still men, members
of a Brotherhood, who are the first in it to show themselves subservient to its
time-honored laws and rules. And one of the first rules in it demands that
those who start on their journey Eastward, as candidates to the notice and
favors of those who are the custodians of those Mysteries, should proceed by
the straight road, without stopping on every side-way and path, seeking to join
other "Masters" and professors often of the Left Hand Science; that
they should have confidence and show trust and patience, besides several other
conditions to fulfill.
Failing
in all of this from first to last, what right has any man or woman to complain
of the liability of the Masters to help them? Truly " 'The Dwellers of the
threshold' are within!" Once that a theosophist would become a candidate
for either chelaship or favors, he must be aware of the mutual pledge, tacitly,
if not formally offered and accepted between the two parties, and, that such a
pledge is sacred. It is a bond of seven years of probation. If during that
time, notwithstanding the many human shortcomings and mistakes of the candidate
(save two which it is needless to specify in print) he remains throughout every
temptation true to the chosen Master, or Masters (in the case of lay
candidates), and as faithful to the Society founded at their wish and under
their orders, then the theosophist will be initiated into ______thence-forward
allowed to communicate with his guru unreservedly, all his failings, save this
one, as specified, may be overlooked: they belong to his future Karma, but are
left for the present, to the discretion and judgment of the Master. He alone
has the power of judging whether even during those long seven years the chela
will be favoured regardless of his mistakes and sins, with occasional
communications with, and from, the guru. The latter thoroughly posted as to the
causes and motives that led the candidate into sins of omission and commission
is the only one to judge of the advisability or inadvisability of bestowing
encouragement; as he alone is entitled to it, seeing that he is himself under
the inexorable law of Karma, which no one from the Zulu savage up to the
highest archangel can avoid--and that he has to assume the great responsibility
of the causes created by himself.
Thus,
the chief and the only indispensable condition required in the candidate or
chela on probation, is simply unswerving fidelity to the chosen Master and his
purposes. This is a condition sine qua non; not as I have said, on account of
any jealous feeling, but simply because the magnetic rapport between the two
once broken, it becomes at each time doubly difficult to re-establish it again;
and that it is neither
just
nor fair, that the Masters should strain their powers for those whose future
course and final desertion they very often can plainly foresee. Yet, how many
of those who, expecting as I would call it "favours by anticipation,"
and being disappointed, instead of humbly repeating mea culpa, tax the Masters
with selfishness and injustice? They will deliberately break the thread of
connection ten times in one year, and yet expect each time to be taken back on
the old lines! I know of one theosophist-let him be nameless though it is hoped
he will recognize himself--a quiet, intelligent young gentleman, a mystic by
nature, who, in his ill-advised enthusiasm and impatience, changed Masters and
his ideas about half a dozen times in less than three years. First he offered
himself, was accepted on probation and took the vow of chelaship; about a year
later, he suddenly got the idea of getting married, though he had several
proofs of the corporeal presence of his Master, and had several favours
bestowed upon him.
Projects
of marriage, failing, he sought "Masters" under other climes, and
became
an enthusiastic Rosicrucian; then be returned to theosophy as a Christian mystic;
then again sought to enliven his austerities with a wife; then gave up the idea
and turned a spiritualist. And now having applied once more "to be taken
back as a chela" (I have his letter) and his Master remaining silent-he
renounced
him altogether, to seek in he words of the above manifesto-his old
"Essenian
Master and to test the spirits in his name." The able and respected
editor
of the Occult Word and her Secretary are right, and have chosen the only
true
path in which with a very small dose of blind faith, they are sure to
encounter
no deceptions or disappointments. "It is pleasant for some of us,"
they
say, "to obey the call of the 'Man of Sorrows' who will not turn any away,
because
they are unworthy or have not scored up a certain percentage of personal merit."
How do they know? unless they accept the cynically awful and pernicious dogma
of the Protestant Church, that teaches the forgiveness of the blackest crime,
provided the murderer believes sincerely that the blood of his
"Redeemer" has saved him at the last hour-what is it but blind
unphilosophical faith?
Emotionalism
is not philosophy; and Buddha devoted his long self-sacrificing
life
to tear people away precisely from that evil breeding superstition. Why
speak
of Buddha then, in the same breath? The doctrine of salvation by personal
merit,
and self-forgetfulness is the comer-stone of the teaching of the Lord
Buddha.
Both the writers may have and very likely they did" hunt after strange
gods";
but these were not our MASTERS. They have "denied Him thrice" and now
propose "with bleeding feet and prostrate spirit" to "pray that
He (Jesus) may take us (them) once more under his wing," etc. The
"Nazarene Master" is sure to oblige them so far. Still they will be
"living on husks" plus "blind faith." But in this they are the
best judges, and no one has a Tight to meddle with their
private
beliefs in our Society; and heaven grant that they should not in their
fresh
disappointment turn our bitterest enemies one day. Yet, to those
Theosophists,
who are displeased with the Society in general, no one has ever
made
to you any rash promises; least of all, has either the Society or its
founders
ever offered their "Masters" as a chromo-premium to the best-behaved.
For
years every new member has been told that he was promised nothing, but bad everything
to expect only from his own personal merit. The Theosophist is left free and
untrammeled in his actions. Whenever displeased--alia tentanda via
est--no
harm in trying elsewhere; unless, indeed one has offered himself and is
decided
to win the Masters' favors. To such especially, I now address myself and ask:
Have you fulfilled your obligations and pledges? Have you, who would fain lay
all the blame on the Society and the Masters-the latter the embodiment of
charity,
tolerance, justice and universal love-have you led the life requisite,
and
the conditions required from one who becomes a candidate? Let him who feels in
his heart and conscience that he has,--that he has never once failed
seriously,
never doubted his Master's wisdom, never sought other Master or
Masters
in his impatience to become an Occultist with powers; and that he has
never
betrayed his theosophical duty in thought or deed,-let him, I say, rise
and
protest. He can do so fearlessly; there is no penalty attached to it, and he
will
not even receive a reproach, let alone be excluded from the Society-the
broadest
and most liberal in its views, the most catholic of all the Societies
known
or unknown. I am afraid my invitation will remain unanswered. During the
eleven
years of the existence of the Theosophical Society I have known, out of
the
seventy-two regularly accepted chelas on probation and the hundreds of lay
candidates-only
three who have not hitherto failed, and one only who had a full
success.
No one forces anyone into chelaship; no promises are uttered, none
except
the mutual pledge between Master and the would-be chela. Verily, Verily,
many
are the called but few are chosen-or rather few who have the patience of
going
to the bitter end, if bitter we can call simple perseverance and
singleness
of purpose. What about the Society, in general, outside of
Who
among the many thousands of members does lead the life? Shall anyone say
because be is a strict vegetarian-elephants and cows are that or happens to
lead a celibate life, after a stormy youth in the opposite direction; or
because he
studies
the Bhagavad-Gita or the "Yoga philosophy" upside down, that he is a
theosophist
according to the Masters' hearts? As it is not the cowl that makes
the
monk, so, no long hair with a poetical vacancy on the brow are sufficient to
make
of one a faithful follower of divine Wisdom. Look around you, and behold
our
UNIVERSAL Brotherhood so called! The Society founded to remedy the glaring evils
of Christianity, to shun bigotry and intolerance, cant and superstition and to
cultivate real universal love extending even to the dumb brute, what has it
become in
selfishness--with
kicks and scandals? Truly we are an example to the world, and
fit
companions for the holy ascetics of the snowy Range! And now a few words
more
before I close. I will be asked: "And who are you to find fault with us?
Are
you, who claim nevertheless communion with the Masters and receive daily
favors
from Them; Are you so holy, faultless, and so worthy?" To this I answer:
I
AM NOT. Imperfect and faulty is my nature; many and glaring are my
shortcomings--and
for this my Karma is heavier than that of any other
Theosophist.
It is--and must be so--since for so many years I stand set in the
pillory,
a target for my enemies and some friends also. Yet I accept the trial
cheerfully.
Why? Because I know that I have, all my faults notwithstanding,
Master's
protection extended over me. And if I have it, the reason for it is
simply
this: for thirty-five years and more, ever since 1851 that I saw any
Master
bodily and personally for the first time, I have never once denied or
even
doubted Him, not even in thought. Never a reproach or a murmur against Him has
escaped my lips, or entered even my brain for one instant under the heaviest trials.
From
the first I knew what I had to expect, for I was told that, which I
have
never ceased repeating to others: as soon as one steps on the Path leading
to
the Ashrum of the blessed Masters--the last and only custodians of primitive
Wisdom
and Truth--his Karma, instead of having to be distributed throughout his long
life, falls upon him in a block and crushes him with its whole weight. He
who
believes in what he professes and in his Master, will stand it and come out
of
the trial victorious; he who doubts, the coward who fears to receive his just
dues
and tries to avoid justice being done--FAILS. He will not escape Karma just the
same, but he will only lose that for which he has risked its untimely
visits.
This is why, having been so constantly, so mercilessly slashed by my
Karma
using my enemies as unconscious weapons, that I have stood it all. I felt
sure
that Master would not permit that I should perish; that he would always
appear
at the eleventh hour--and so he did. Three times I was saved from death
by
Him, the last time almost against my will; when I went again into the cold,
wicked
world out of love for Him, who has taught me what I know and made me what I am.
Therefore, I do His work and bidding, and this is what has given me the lion's
strength to support shocks--physical and mental, one of which would have killed
any theosophist who would go on doubting of the mighty protection.
Unswerving
devotion to Him who embodies the duty traced for me, and belief in
the
Wisdom--collectively, of that grand, mysterious, yet actual Brotherhood of
holy
men--is my only merit, and the cause of my success in Occult philosophy.
And
now repeating after the Paraguru--my Master's MASTER--the words He had sent as
a message to those who wanted to make of the Society a "miracle club"
instead of a Brotherhood of Peace, Love and mutual assistance--"Perish
rather, the Theosophical Society and its hapless Founders," I say perish
their twelve years' labour and their very lives rather than that I should see
what I do today: theosophists, outvying political "rings" in their
search for personal power and
authority;
theosophists slandering and criticizing each other as two rival
Christian
sects might do; finally theosophists refusing to lead the life and
then
criticizing and throwing slurs on the grandest and noblest of men, because
tied
by their wise laws--hoary with age and based on an experience of human
nature
millenniums old--those Masters refuse to interfere with Karma and to play
second
fiddle to every theosophist who calls upon Them and whether he deserves it or
not. Unless radical reforms in our American and European Societies are speedily
resorted to--I fear that before long there will remain but one centre of
Theosophical Societies and Theosophy in the whole world--namely, in
H.P.
BLAVATSKY
Theosophical Society,