by H. P. Blavatsky
compiled by Daniel H. Caldwell
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UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Table of Contents (Only major items listed below; extracts from letters, etc. not listed):
• Introduction
• The Blavatsky Lodge and the Esoteric Section of the T.S. by Katherine A. Beechey
• A Memorandum of the Master's Remarks
• The Meaning of the Pledge by Archibald Keightley
• Lodges of Magic: Extracts by H.P. Blavatsky
• The Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society -- Official Announcement of Formation by Henry S. Olcott
• The Formation of the Esoteric Section by Alice Cleather
• Pledge Card sent by H.P. Blavatsky to an Applicant (Facsimile of 1888 original)
• Certificate of Membership signed by H.P. Blavatsky (Facsimile of 1888 original)
• H.P.B.'s Appointment of W.Q. Judge (Facsimile of 1888 original)
• The Rules of the E.S.T.S.
• Preliminary Memorandum of the E.S.T.S. (Facsimile of 1888 original)
• Letter to E.S.T.S. Members in U.S.A. by William Q. Judge (Facsimile of 1889 original)
• The Printing of the E.S. Instructions
• E.S. Instructions No. I by H.P. Blavatsky (Facsimile of 1890 Aryan Press Edition)
• E.S.T.S. Document signed by Bertram Keightley
• E.S. Instructions No. II by H.P. Blavatsky (Facsimile of 1890 Aryan Press Edition)
• E.S.T.S. Document signed May 14, 1889 by H.P. Blavatsky
• E.S.T.S. Document signed May 27, 1889 by William Q. Judge (Facsimile of original)
• E.S.T.S. Document signed May 27, 1889 by American E.S. Council
• "A Voice from Over the Seas" by H.P. Blavatsky
• To All Theosophists: "The Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society: and Its Enemies by H.P. Blavatsky
• The Work of the "Esoteric Section of the T.S.": To All the "Pledged" Theosophists by H.P. Blavatsky
• The Key to Theosophy: Extracts on the E.S.T.S. and its Members
• The Esoteric Section T.S.: Reorganization of the Section in America (Facsimile of September 1889 original)
• Preliminary Explanations to No. III of the Instructions by H.P.B.
• To the Members of the Esoteric Section T.S. by J.D. Buck (Facsimile of October 1889 original)
• Letter of H.P. Blavatsky dated Oct. 23, 1889
• To the Members of the E.S. of the T.S. by H.P. Blavatsky
• E.S.T.S. Document dated Nov. 29, 1889 by H.P. Blavatsky (Facsimile of original)
• E.S. Instructions No. III by H.P. Blavatsky
• Colonel Henry S. Olcott and the Esoteric Section
• Charter of the Dzyan Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society
• Suggestions and Aids, No. 1: Correspondence Group, Series A1 (Facsimile of original)
• Suggestions and Aids, No. 1: Correspondence Group, Series A2 (Facsimile of original)
• Examination Paper No. 1 dated June 12, 1890 (Facsimile)
• Notice dated July 1890 by William Q. Judge (Facsimile of original)
• Notice from H.P.B. dated August 9, 1890 (Facsimile of original)
• The Inner Group Teachings -- Introduction
• Criticisms and Remarks by the Head of the Section Concerning Answers to Examination Paper No. 1 (Facsimile of original)
• Pledge Card (Revised Edition) (Facsimile of 1890 original)
• Preliminary Memorandum (new 1890 document)
• Book of Rules (Revised Edition of Preliminary Memorandum) (Facsimile of 1890 original)
• Notice dated Jan. 1, 1891 by H.P. Blavatsky (Facsimile of 1891 original)
• On Changing the Name of the E.S.T.S. by H.P. Blavatsky et al.
• H.P. Blavatsky on Annie Besant
• E.S. Order by H.P.B. Appointing Annie Besant Chief Secretary of the Inner Group
• Form of Admission and Order of Business for an E.S. Lodge (Facsimile of original)
• Reprint of Instructions I, II and III: Notice (Facsimile of original)
• Notice about E.S. Members Sending Their Photographs to H.P.B. (Facsimile of 1891 original)
• Notice that H.P.B. Has Departed This Life signed by William Q. Judge (Facsimile of 1891 original)
• Declaration about H.P.B. by Members of the Inner Group (Facsimile of 1891 original
• Letter, Pledge, Minutes and Address Concerning Continuation of Esoteric School after H.P.B.'s Death signed by Annie Besant, William Q. Judge et al (Facsimile of 1891 originals)
• Appendix I
o 1891 Revised Edition of H.P.B.'s Instructions I, II and II (Facsimile of originals)
Instruction No. I
Instruction No. II
Instruction No. III
Notes on Instructions I, II and III
• Appendix II
o The Inner Group Teachings: Complete Transcription
• Appendix III
o The Occult Room
• Appendix IV
o Instructions Nos. IV, V, and VI (Facsimile of originals)
Instruction No. IV
First Supplementary Paper to Instruction No. IV
Instruction No. V
Instructions No. VI
In short, Kabalistic Astrology, as now practiced in Europe, is the semi-esoteric secret science, adapted for the outer and not for the inner circle. It is, furthermore, often left incomplete and not infrequently distorted to conceal the real truth. While it symbolizes and adopts its correspondences on the mere appearances of things. Esoteric philosophy, concerning itself preeminently with the essence of things, accepts only such symbols as cover the whole ground, i.e., such symbols as yield a spiritual as well as a psychic and physical meaning. Yet even Western Astrology has done excellent work, for it has helped to carry the knowledge of the existence of a Secret Wisdom throughout the dangers of the Medieval Ages and dark bigotry up to this day, when all danger has disappeared.
***
"'It is written,' said Simon in his ......., 'that there are two kinds of AEons having neither beginning nor end, issued both from the same Root -- the invisible and incomprehensible Potentiality -- named Silence [Sige.] One of these [series of AEons] appears to us superior to the other. This one is the "Great Intelligence" [Universal Mind, or divine Ideation] of all things; it rules all and is male [it is the Mahat of the Hindus). The other is much inferior, for it is [manifested] Thought, the great female AEon: these two kinds of AEons, intercommunicating with each other, form and manifest the intermediate [the middle sphere, or plane], the incomprehensible Air which has neither beginning nor end'."
***
Esotericism, pure and simple, speaks of no personal God; therefore are we considered as Atheists. But Occult Philosophy, as a whole, is based in reality and absolutely on the ubiquitous presence of God, i.e., the Absolute Deity; and if IT is not speculated upon (because too sacred and absolutely incomprehensible as a Unit to the finite intellect) the entire philosophy is based upon its divine Powers as sources of all that breathes and lives and has its existence, not merely its being. In every ancient religion the ONE was demonstrated by the many. In Egypt and India, as also in Chaldea and Phoenicia and finally in Greece, the ideas about Deity were expressed by multiples of three, five and seven; also of eight, nine and twelve great Gods -- symbolizing the powers and properties of the Only and Sole; it was related to that infinite subdivision by irregular and odd numbers that the metaphysics of these nations subjected their ONE DIVINITY to. Thus constituted, the cycle of the Gods had all the qualities and attributes of the "ONE SUPREME AND UNKNOWABLE;" for in this collection of divine personalities -- or rather of symbols personified -- dwells the ONE GOD, the GOD ONE, that God which, as in India, has no Second: "Oh God Ani (the Spiritual Sun), thou residest in the agglomeration of thy divine personages."
***
The member desiring to ascertain whether another person belongs to the E.S. will first say “Dhyani” to which the person addressed (if a member of the E.S. will reply “Pura”. The questioner must then say “Satri”, to which the reply will be “Asoph”.
***
The "Inner Lodge" of the Dzyan is the name by which the Master's Lodge in the inner Lamasery is known. All the adepts, chelas etc. in that part of the country are known among Lamas as Dzyan-pas. The "we" does not refer to me but to myself & staff. -- Secretary chosen by Council -- besides which, you W.Q.J. as the Chief & only agent of the "Dzyan" in America have to add your signature under mine on each Charter. The Charters may be prolix & high faluting -- perhaps, but they were written out by High Masons those of the Horus Lodge & Rosicrucians.
***
In the affairs of the Theosophical Society and of the E. S. there is an important cycle which comes to a conclusion in about ten years. It is broadly mentioned in the Key to Theosophy from p. 304 to 307.
The law is that the Adepts work with men (of the Caucasian race) directly and in large masses during the last twenty-five years of every century, and then stop for seventy-five
years, beginning again in the fourth quarter of the next century.
***
An examination of the method pursued by our teacher, H. P. B., shows that since she is not permitted to give out the complete teaching, nor to make known even a perfect outline of the doctrine on any one plane, she omits such parts and mixes up the remainder to a certain extent, like the pieces of a child's puzzle. For were she to state all that she gives out in its correct relation and order, we could readily fill in the gaps ourselves, and men would thus obtain knowledge, and therefore power, on the occult side of nature, before their moral natures were fitted for the trust. Therefore she conceals the clue by removing the pieces of the puzzle from their proper context, and so obliging us to have recourse to the light of intuition in order to restore them to their proper places in the perfect scheme.
***
Those willing and anxious to be our "enemies on the other side of the river" have fiercely assailed our teacher. They see only her personality, but they feel blindly the truth that blinds and binds where it cannot liberate and enlighten. They think that by bringing her into discredit and disgrace they will prevent the truth from appearing. They are unaware of their own motive because blinded by self-interest. If you touch their purse or their profits, or the creed or scheme under which they work, they hang their banners on the outer wall, and the sound of war is heard in their streets.
Try to imagine one the center of an angry mob bent on his destruction. They are deaf to every appeal; they drown his voice by their cries of vengeance, -- human beings, yet tigers, thirsting for blood. Imagine a human being thus at bay: his soul like a mirror; a focus for every surging wave of passion and every impulse of murder. "Away With him!" "Crucify him!" "Kill him!" Read the story of Hypatia, torn limb from limb by howling demons in the garb of priests, stifling humanity, and profaning at every breath the name of Christ. For fourteen years H. P. Blavatsky, a nervous, sensitive woman, has been the center toward which have poured from every direction these waves of hatred, of misrepresentation, of slander, and of ridicule. From churchman and scientist hatred and ridicule alike, and now from spiritualists the most unreasoning blind hatred from any. Have any of these answered her arguments or disproved her propositions? No, they have simply abused her.
***
In spite of the emphatic manner in which H. P. B. speaks of the Auric Egg, it does not seem to have received as much study and thought at the hands of Esotericists as it deserves. Philosophically, its importance lies in the fact that it is the "principle of individuality," since it is only in virtue of the limiting function of the Auric Egg that man can be said to possess any individuality whatever, whether on the physical or any higher plane. For the Auric Egg is the abstract root, the germ of all limitation and finiteness, i.e., of that distinction between units which we term individualization. All the principles in man differ in no respect from their macrocosmic prototypes except by being enclosed in the Auric Egg, and were that ever to cease to exist, the "principles" that compose us would merge back into the general stock, and we should cease to have any existence as individuals. It is this function of the Auric Egg which would seem to be pointed at in the beautiful Buddhist simile for the attainment of Nirvana, -- "the dewdrop slips into the shining sea." This shows that Nirvana is attained not, as some think, by the annihilation of the individuality, but by its indefinite expansion. In other words, when Nirvana is attained, the Auric Egg, the boundary of the individuality, expands until its limits become coextensive with those of "Brahma's Egg" -- which last is the particular Universe on which that individual has been performing his cyclic pilgrimage.
***
To be in Svarloka is to be completely abstracted on this plane, leaving only instinct to work, so that on the material plane you would behave as an animal. Yogîs are known who have become crystallized in this state, and then they must be nourished by others. A Yogî near Allahabad had been for fifty-three years sitting on a stone; his Chelâs plunge him into the river every night and then replace him. During the day his consciousness returns to Bhûrloka, and he talks and teaches. A Yogî was found on an island near Calcutta round whose limbs the roots of trees had grown. He was cut out, and in the endeavour to awaken him so many outrages were inflicted on him that he died....
The student, who is not naturally psychic, should fix the fourfold consciousness in a higher plane and nail it there. Let him make a bundle of the four lower and pin them to a higher state. He should centre on this higher, trying not to permit the body and intellect to draw him down and carry him away. Play ducks and drakes with the body, eating, drinking and sleeping, but living always on the ideal.
***
H.P.B said that thought should be centred on the highest, the seventh, and then an attempt to transcend this will prove that it is impossible to go beyond it on this plane. There is nothing in the brain to carry the thinker on, and if thought is to rise yet further it might be thought without a brain. Let the eyes be closed, the will set not to let the brain work, and then the point may be transcended and the student will pass to the next plane. All the seen stages of perception come before Antahkarana; if you can pass beyond them you are on the Mânasic Plane.
Try to imagine something which transcends your power of thought, say, the nature of the Dhyân Chohans. Then make the brain passive, and pass beyond; you will see a white radiant light, like silver, but opalescent as mother of pearl; then waves of colour will pass over it, beginning in the tenderest violet, and through bronze shades of green to indigo with metallic lustre, and that colour will remain. If you see this you are on another plane. You should pass through seven stages.
When a colour comes, glance at it, and if it is not good reject it. Let your attention be arrested only on the green, indigo and yellow. These are good colours. The eyes being connected with the brain, the colour you see most easily will be the colour of the personality. If you see red, it is merely physiological, and is to be disregarded. Green-bronze is the Lower Manas: yellow-bronze the Antahkarana, (Page 582) indigo-bronze is Manas. These are to be observed, and when the yellow-bronze merges into the indigo you are on the Mânasic Plane.
On the Mânasic Plane you see the Noumena, the essence of phenomena. You do not see people or other consciousnesses, but have enough to do to keep your own. The trained Seer can see Noumena always. The Adept sees the Noumena on this plane, the reality of things, so cannot be deceived.
In meditation the beginner may waver backwards and forwards between two planes. You hear the ticking of a clock on this plane, then on the astral—the soul of the ticking. When clocks are stopped here the ticking goes on on higher planes, in the astral, and then in the ether, until the last bit of the clock is gone. It is the same as with a dead body, which sends out emanations until the last molecule is disintegrated.
There is no time in meditation, because there is no succession of states of consciousness on this plane.
Violet is the colour of the Astral. You begin with it, but should not stay in it; try to pass on. When you see a sheet of violet, you are beginning unconsciously to form a Mâyâvi Rûpa. Fix your attention, and if you go away keep your consciousness firmly to the Mâyâvic Body; do not lose sight of it, hold on like grim death.
***
If we could remember our dreams in deep sleep, then we should be able to remember all our past incarnations.
***
The Manas can pass its essence to several vehicles, e.g., the Mâyâvi Rûpa, etc., and even to Elementals which it can ensoul, as the Rosicrucians taught. The Mâyâvi Rûpa may be sometimes so vitalized that it goes on to another plane and unites with the beings of that plane and so ensouls them. People who bestow great affection upon animal pets are ensouling them to a certain extent, and such animal souls progress rapidly; in return such persons get back the animal vitality and magnetism. It is, however, against Nature to thus accentuate animal evolution, and on the whole is bad.
***
QUESTION No. 1. -- "What are the Pitris?" ...
Note. -- This question was -- with rare exceptions -- very badly answered. A large number of Esotericists simply replied, "I do not know," or, "I am not very clear," -- a confession of ignorance which no one, after a year of study, should have been obliged to make. An Esotericist has the duty of right-thinking as well as right-living, and a lamentable want of study is shown in most of the papers. It is wholly impossible to give more advanced teaching to those who are not even familiar with the broad outlines of the doctrines given to the world in the Secret Doctrine. Even the Notes on the Secret Doctrine, given monthly in Lucifer, would have enabled Esotericists to answer this question.
Q. (2) -- "What is Kama Rupa?" ...
NOTE. -- Many students answered this question by merely translating Kama-Rupa into "body of desire" -- an answer that could have been given by any outsider who had picked up a Theosophical publication dealing with the seven principles. Only a very small minority stated that the Rupa was formed after death -- a fact which seems to imply, that great majority of Esotericists have not taken the trouble to read the third Instructions. Such gross ignorance as the the confounding of Kama-Rupa with Kama-Loca is also shown in some of the answers. The mistake in some cases was probably due to the acceptation by the students of Mr. Sinnett's classification, without any analysis. Kama-Rupa must be included in the classification, because potentially it exists, although it is not concentrated or collected into a definite form until death breaks up the body. This may be understood in the same way as when we say that in such-and-such a man's body there are so many ounces of carbon, which, however, we know will not reveal themselves as carbon until released from the other elements.
Q. (3) -- "What is the difference between the Higher and the Lower Self?" ...
Note. -- Scarcely any avoided a confusion between the Higher Self and the Higher Ego. Some fell into the most hopeless blunders, showing that they had no clear ideas of the septenary constitution of man. Serious mistakes were also made as to the meaning of the "Lower Self;" one wild guess identifying it with the Auric Egg. Yet every Esotericist has invoked the Higher Self, and ought surely to have taken the trouble to make clear to himself what it was he invoked.
Q. (4) -- "What is the Astral Light?" ...
Note. -- That the Astral Light contains the record of earth was generally stated, although one student informed his surprised teacher that the Astral Light was the divine spark within us. This particular student is required to study more and think more. Few, however, understood the relation of the Astral Light to the earth as its Linga Sarira.
Q. (5) -- "Give reasons for joining the E.S."
Note. -- This question was, on the whole, very well answered, the replies showing earnestness and sincerity.
Q. (6) -- "What Theosophical book do you consider has most helped you?"
Note. -- If the books named are carefully studied, knowledge will be rapidly acquired.
Q. (7) -- "What is Occultism; and what do you consider to be Practical Occultism?" ...
Note. -- Badly answered. Hardly anyone had caught the central idea of Occultism.
***
The real Head of the Esoteric Section is a Master, whom H. P. Blavatsky is the mouthpiece for this Section. He is one of those Adepts referred to in theosophical literature, and concerned in the formation of the Theosophical Society. It is through H. P. Blavatsky that each member of this Section will be brought more closely than hitherto under His influence and care if found worthy of it. No student, however, need inquire which of the Masters it is. For it does not matter in reality; nor is there any necessity for creating one more chance for indiscretion. Suffice it to say, such is the law in the East.
Each person will receive in the way of enlightenment and assistance, just as much as he or she deserves and no more; and it is to be distinctly understood that in this Section and these relations no such thing is known as favour -- all depends upon the person's merits -- and no member has the power or knowledge to decide what either he or another is entitled to. This must be left to those who know -- alone. The apparent favour shown to some, and their consequent apparent advancement, will be due to the work they do, to the best of their power, in the cause of Universal Brotherhood and the elevation of the Race....
The Masters can give but little assistance to a Body not thoroughly united in purpose and feeling, and which breaks its first fundamental rule -- universal brotherly love, without distinction of race, creed, colour or caste, i.e., the social distinctions made in the world; nor to a Society, many members of which pass their lives in judging, condemning, and often reviling other members in a most untheosophical, not to say disgraceful, manner.
For this reason it was decided to gather the "elect" of the T.S. and to call them to action. It is only by a select group of brave souls, a handful of determined men and women hungry for genuine spiritual development and the acquirement of soul-wisdom, that the Theosophical Society at large can be brought back to its original lines....
Disappointment is sure to come to those who join this Section for the purpose of learning "magic arts" or acquiring "occult training" for themselves, quite regardless of the good of other people less determined. Abnormal, artificially-developed powers -- except those which crown the efforts of the Black Magician -- are only the culmination of and reward for, labors bestowed unselfishly upon humanity, upon all men, whether good or bad. Forgetfulness of the personal Self and sincere altruism are the first and indispensable requisites in the training of those who are to become "White Adepts" either in this or a future incarnation....
Let every member know, moreover, that the time for such priceless acquisition is limited. The writer of the present is old; her life is well-nigh worn out, and she may be summoned "home" any day and almost any hour. And if her place is even filled up, perchance by another worthier and more learned than herself, still there remain but twelve years to the last hour of the term -- namely, till December the 31st, 1899. Those who will not have profited by the opportunity (given to the world in every last quarter of a century), those who will not have reached a certain point of psychic and spiritual development, or that point from which begins the cycle of adeptship, by that day -- those will advance no further than the knowledge already acquired. No Master of Wisdom from the East will himself appear or send any one to Europe or America after that period, and the sluggards will have to renounce every chance of advancement in their present incarnation -- until the year 1975. Such is the Law, for we are in Kali Yuga -- the Black Age -- and the restrictions in this cycle, the first 5000 years of which will expire in 1897, are great and almost insuperable....
To achieve this, the attitude of mind in which the teachings given are to be received is that which shall tend to develop the faculty of intuition. The duty of members in this respect is to refrain from arguing that the statements made are not in accordance with what other people have said or written, or with their own ideas upon the subject, or that, again, they are apparently contrary to any accepted system of thought or philosophy. Practical esoteric science is altogether sui generis. It requires all the mental and psychic powers of the student to be used in examining what is given, to the end that the real meaning of the Teacher may be discovered, as far as the student can understand it. He must endeavor as much as possible to free his mind, while studying or trying to carry out what is given him, from all the ideas which he may be impressed upon him apart from the words in which they are clothed. Otherwise, there is constant risk of his ideas becoming colored with preconceived notions as those of the writers of certain otherwise excellent works upon esoteric subjects who have made the occult tenets more subservient to modern Science than to occult truth....
Repetition of statements or gossip derogatory of others must be avoided. But condemnation of crime, of social evils and corrupt systems of every description, in the abstract, is a duty of every "Fellow." Above all, the duty of every member is to fight against cant, hypocrisy, and injustice in every shape....
If a member, whether falsely or truly, asserts that he has received letters of communications from Masters, unless directed to divulge the same, he will ipso facto, cease to derive any benefit from the teachings, whether the fact be known or unknown to himself or to others. A repetition of such offence gives the Head of the Section the right to expel the offender in discretion. In every case where a member shall receive a letter or communication purporting to come from Master or Masters, and which directs the divulgation of its contents or a part thereof, the same before being divulged shall be communicated to H.P.B. directly, if the recipient is in Europe, to William Q. Judge, if in America, and to Col. Olcott, if in India, for transmission to the said H.P.B. For deception is easy, and, without great experience, members are not able to decide whether such a communication is genuine or not....
No member shall pretend to the possession of psychic powers that he has not, nor boast of those which he may have developed. Envy, jealousy, and vanity are insidious and powerful foes to progress, and it is known from long experience that, among beginners especially, the boasting of, or calling attention to, their psychic powers almost invariably causes the development of these faults and increases them when present....
No member of this Section shall belong to any other body, association, or organization for the purpose of mystic study or occult training (Masonry excepted), as this would interfere with their progress in the Eastern Esoteric Teachings....
It is not the individual or determined purpose of attaining oneself Nirvana, which is, after all, only an exalted and glorious selfishness, but the self-sacrificing pursuit of the best means to lead our neighbour on the right path, and cause as many of our fellow creatures as we possibly can to benefit by it, which constitutes the true Theosophist....
In consequence of the different rates of progress of members, it has been found necessary to form an inner circle of Esotericists, who are deemed to have progressed sufficiently to receive more advanced teaching than those of the outer circle, and who are accordingly pledged to secrecy even as regards other members of the E.S. as well as conforming to a stricter mode of life.
***
The Esoteric Section, its qualification 'of the T.S.' notwithstanding, does not represent the latter, and in future it will drop the additional words altogether. From the very beginning its second rule stated, that the 'Esoteric Section has no official or corporate connection with the Exoteric Society' (see Lucifer of October, 188[8]). Henceforth it will be called 'the Esoteric School of Theosophy'.
***
I telegraphed to wait three days for this proposed change and again that "new name is the same as the one of Butler." This means that the name "Esoteric School of Theosophy," is precisely the title adopted by the infamous Hiram Butler affair for their school in which they had and have pupils, and get and get money in it for the rot they give out. They are not out of existence, as Butler when hunted out of Boston went to California and there has more followers and carries on his trade in the same way. It seems to me that to adopt his name is the very worst possible fate that could come to the E.S. Besides I cannot see the necessity for any change of name. If it is from a desire to cut the E.S. off from the T.S. that will not accomplish the end, for the reason that you can never do so, as every one still will think it a part of the inside work of the T.S. as long as you are alive and stay in the Society. And why there should be any wish or desire to cut the E.S. off from the T.S., I cannot see, and as all members of the E.S. have first to be F.T.S. it cannot be done without a complete and unnecessary back down. For another reason also and that is, that you have distinctly shown over and over again that the object of the E.S. is to strengthen and support the T.S., and as a fact it has already done so and has been of the very greatest benefit to the Society. Why then should any unnecessary distrust be created by altering the name?...
I would like also to call attention to the mass of stuff in the way of pretty but useless decorations put on the matter which has just been gotten out on the press. It is a jumble of everything, from gods acting as mortals to assortments of snakes out of place, and used with other symbols with which they never had any unity or correspondence. Is it not, and has it not always been a grievous thing to mix the symbols? And are they not all mixed up on this new title page? There is the two pillared hall, and then a style of pillar that has nothing to do with that hall; and then snakes who never appeared in that hall by any chance for they belonged to another degree; then there is the winged globe which truly belongs to the two pillared hall but not in the form taken in your seal which is for another purpose, and represents a different thing; then there is the hindu symbol with the sanskrit letters in the centre -- this certainly has nothing to do with the two pillared hall; then, and least of all, there is on the top a whole line of snakes with balls on head across the top, and they were never used in a mere apprentice degree: other sorts of snakes and other objects have place there. In fact it is all mixed up, and, while very well drawn, has no place whatever in the E.S. at this time, judging from what I have learned. I make bold to give these views because I am sure you in person did not make these up for use, but that someone else has made them who has not a real acquaintance with the use and meaning of the symbols....
Referring again to the pictures. Look at the initial word and say if anyone ever heard of a god representing reincarnation dressed as one and, being osirified, has the right to the crown of both upper and lower Egypt? It does not represent silence at all -- it attempts to show reincarnation but fails of its object. My practical opinion is that for the present section of the E.S. the less there is of these ornaments and symbols the better and the more unmixed the effect on the members.
***
Georges Caminade (d'Anger), Paris, has resigned from the E.S., stating that he has burnt his papers. He has since openly joined Papus (Geraud [Gerard] Encausse), the editor of L'Initiation and La Voile d'Isis, who has been publicly expelled from the T.S. for foul slander and persistent injury to the Society and its members in France.
***
Knowing moreover, that accusations of plagiarism, want of method and inaccuracy, are now being made and will in the future be brought against her literary work, we make the following statement for the benefit of all Fellows of the Theosophical Society and for the information of others:
H.P. Blavatsky's writings, owing to her imperfect knowledge of English and literary methods, have been invariably revised, recopied or arranged in MS., and the proofs corrected, by the nearest "friends" available for the time being (a few of whom have occasionally supplied her with references, quotations, and advice). Many mistakes, omissions, inaccuracies, &c., have consequently crept into them.
These works, however, have been put forward purely with the intention of bringing certain ideas to the notice of the Western world, and with no pretension on her part to scholarship or literary finish.
In order to support these views, innumerable quotations and references had to be made (in many cases without the possibility of verification by her), and for these she has never claimed any originality or profound research whatever.
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"Let not the Fruit of your 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 your motive, being selfish, can only generate a double effect, good and bad, and will either nullify your good action, or turn it to another man's profit.... There is no happiness for one who is ever thinking of self and forgetting other selves."
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In the eyes of truth and nature, no one organ is more noble or ignoble than another. The ancients considered as the most holy, precisely those organs which we associate with feelings of shame and secrecy: for they are the creative centres corresponding to the Creative Forces of the Kosmos.
The Esotericists are therefore warned that unless they are prepared to take everything in the spirit of truth and nature, and forget the code of false propriety bred by hypocrisy and the shameful misuse of primeval functions, which were once considered divine -- they had better not study Esotericism.
"OM," says the Aryan Adept, the son of the Fifth Race, who with this syllable begins and ends his salutation to the human being, his conjuration of, or appeal to, non-human PRESENCES.
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[S]ince a key-note is required to analyze and comprehend any combination of differentiations of sound, we must never lose sight of the Platonic method, which starts with one general view of all, and descends from the universal to the individual. This is the method adopted in Mathematics -- the only exact science that exists in our day.
Let us study Man, therefore; but if we separate him for one moment from the Universal Whole, or view him in isolation, from a single aspect, apart from the "Heavenly Man " -- the Universe symbolized by Adam Kadmon or his equivalents in every philosophy -- we shall either land in black magic or fail most ingloriously in our attempt.
Thus the mystic sentence, "Om Mani Padme Hum," when rightly understood, instead of being composed of the almost meaningless words, "O the Jewel in the Lotus," contains a reference to this indissoluble union between Man and the Universe, rendered in seven different ways and having the capability of seven different applications to as many planes of thought and action.
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Let those, I say again, who feel themselves too much the children of our age to approach the many mysteries which have to be revealed, in a truly reverential spirit, even though references be made to such subjects and objects as are deemed improper and, to use the correct term, indecent, in our modern day -- let such abandon these teachings at once. For I shall have to use terms and refer, especially in the beginning, to the most secret organs and functions of the human body, the bare mention of which is certain to provoke either a feeling of disgust and shame or an irreverent laugh.
It is such feelings which have invariably led the generations of writers on symbology and religions, ever since the day of Kircher, to materialize every natural emblem and ideograph in their impure thought, and finally to sum up all religions, Christianity included, as phallic worship. It is quite true that ever since the days of Pythagoras and Plato the exoteric cults gradually began to deteriorate, until they debased the symbolism into the most shameful practices of sexual worship. Hence the horror and contempt with which every true Occultist regards the so-called "personal God" and the exoteric ritualistic worship of the Churches -- be they Heathen or Christian. But even in the days of Plato it was not so. It was the persecution of the true Hierophants and the final suppression of those mysteries, which alone purified man's thoughts, that led to Tantrika sexual worship and, through the forgetting of divine truth, to BLACK MAGIC whether conscious or otherwise.
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The mathematical Point, called the "Cosmic Seed," the Monad of Leibnitz; which contains the whole Universe, as the acorn the oak. This is the first bubble on the surface of boundless homogeneous Substance, or Space, the bubble of differentiation in its incipient stage. It is the beginning of the Orphic or Brahma's Egg. It corresponds in Astrology and Astronomy to the Sun.
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It has often been explained that neither the cosmic planes of substance nor even the human principles -- with the exception of the lowest material plane or world and the physical body, which, as has been said, are no "principles," -- can be located or thought of as being in Space and Time. As the former are seven in ONE, so are we seven in ONE -- that same Absolute Soul of the World, which is both matter and non-matter, spirit and non-spirit, being and non-being. Impress yourselves well with this idea, all those of you who would study the mysteries of SELF.
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Meanwhile we have to recapitulate what has been said. (1) Each human being is an incarnation of his God, in other words, one with his "Father in Heaven," just as Jesus, an Initiate, is made to say. As many men on earth, so many Gods in Heaven; and yet these Gods are in reality ONE, for at the end of every period of activity, they are withdrawn, like the rays of the setting sun, into the Parent Luminary, the Non-Manifested Logos, which in its turn is merged into the One Absolute. Shall we call these "Fathers" of ours, whether individually or collectively, and under any circumstances, our personal God? Occultism answers, Never. All that an average man can know of his "Father" is what he knows of himself, through and within himself. The soul of his "Heavenly Father" is incarnated in him. This soul is himself, if he is successful in assimilating the divine individuality while in his physical, animal shell. As to the spirit thereof, as well expect to be heard by the Absolute. Our prayers and supplications are vain, unless to potential words we add potent acts, and make the aura which surrounds each one of us so pure and divine that the God within us may act outwardly, or, in other words, become as it were an extraneous Potency. Thus have Initiates, Saints, and very holy and pure men been enabled to help others as well as themselves in the hour of need, and produce what are foolishly called "miracles," each by the help and with the aid of the God within himself, which he alone has enabled to act on the outward plane.
(2) The word AUM or OM, which corresponds to the upper triangle, if pronounced by a very holy and pure man, will draw out, or awaken, not only the less exalted potencies residing in the planetary spaces and elements, but even his Higher Self, or the "Father" within him. Pronounced by an averagely good man, in the correct way, it will help to strengthen him morally, especially if between two "AUMS" he meditates intently upon the AUM within him, concentrating all his attention upon the ineffable glory. But woe to the man who pronounces it after the commission of some far-reaching sin: he will only thereby attract to his own impure photosphere invisible presences and forces which could not otherwise break through the divine envelope. All the members of the Esoteric School, if earnest in their endeavour to learn, are invited to pronounce the divine word before going to sleep and the first thing upon awakening. The right accent, however, should be first obtained from one of the officers of the E. S.
AUM is the original of Amen. Now, Amen is not a Hebrew term, but, like the word Halleluiah, was borrowed by the Jews and Greeks from the Chaldees. The latter word is often found repeated in certain magical inscriptions upon cups and urns among the Babylonian and Ninivean relics. Amen does not mean "so be it," or "verily," but signified in hoary antiquity almost the same as AUM. The Jewish Tanaim (Initiates) used it for the same reason as the Aryan Adepts use AUM, and with a like success, the numerical value of AMeN in Hebrew letters being 91, the same as the full value of YHVH, 26, and ADoNaY, 65, or 91. Both words mean the affirmation of the being, or existence, of the sexless "Lord" within us.
(3) Esoteric Science teaches that every sound in the visible world awakens its corresponding sound in the invisible realms, and arouses to action some force or other on the occult side of nature. Moreover, every sound corresponds to a colour and a number (a potency spiritual, psychic or physical) and to a sensation on some plane. All these find an echo in every one of the so-far developed elements, and even on the terrestrial plane, in the Lives that swarm in the terrene atmosphere, thus prompting them to action.
Thus a prayer, unless pronounced mentally and addressed to one's "Father" in the silence and solitude of one's "closet," must have more frequently disastrous than beneficial results, seeing that the masses are entirely ignorant of the potent effects which they thus produce. To produce good effects, the prayer must be uttered by "one who knows how to make himself heard in silence," when it is no longer a prayer, but becomes a command. Why is Jesus shown to have forbidden his hearers to go to the public synagogues? Surely every praying man was not a hypocrite and a liar, nor a Pharisee who loved to be seen praying by people! He had a motive, we must suppose: the same motive which prompts the experienced Occultist to prevent his pupils from going into crowded places now as then, from entering churches, seance rooms, etc, unless they arc in sympathy with the crowd....
He who carries out only those laws established by human minds, who lives that life which is prescribed by the code of mortals and their fallible legislation, chooses as his guiding star a beacon which shines on the ocean of Maya, or of temporary delusions, and lasts for but one incarnation. These laws are necessary for the life and welfare of physical man alone. He has chosen a pilot who directs him through the shoals of one existence, a master who parts with him, however, on the threshold of death. How much happier that man who, while strictly performing on the temporary objective plane the duties of daily life, carrying out each and every law of his country, and rendering, in short, to Caesar what is Caesar's, leads in reality a spiritual and permanent existence, a life with no breaks of continuity, no gaps, no interludes, not even during those periods which are the halting-places of the long pilgrimage of purely spiritual life. All the phenomena of the lower human mind disappear like the curtain of a proscenium, allowing him to live in the region beyond it, the plane of the noumenal, the one reality. If man by suppressing, if not destroying, his selfishness and personality, only succeeds in knowing himself as he is behind the veil of physical Maya, he will soon stand beyond all pain, all misery, and beyond all the wear and tear of change, which is the chief originator of pain. Such a man will be physically of matter, he will move surrounded by matter, and yet he will live beyond and outside it. His body will be subject to change, but he himself will be entirely without it, and will experience everlasting life even while in temporary bodies of short duration. All this may be achieved by the development of unselfish universal love of Humanity, and the suppression of personality, or selfishness, which is the cause of all sin, and consequently of all human sorrow.
-- The Esoteric Papers of Madame Blavatsky, by H. P. Blavatsky