THE THEOSOPHIST

VOL. 130 NO. 9 JUNE 2009

CONTENTS

On the Watch-Tower 323 Radha Burnier Right Action is Creation without Attachment 327 Ricardo Lindemann The Religion of the Artist 332 C. Jinarajadasa Studies in The Voice of the Silence, 17 341 John Algeo Fragments of the Ageless Wisdom 348 Comments on Viveka-chudamani 349 Sundari Siddhartha Brother Raja — Our Fourth President 353 A TS Member Theosophical Work around the World 357 International Directory 358

Editor: Mrs Radha Burnier

NOTE: Articles for publication in The Theosophist should be sent to the Editorial Office. Cover: C. Jinarajadasa, fourth President of the Theosophical Society — Adyar Archives

Official organ of the President, founded by H. P. Blavatsky, 1879. The Theosophical Society is responsible only for official notices appearing in this magazine. On the Watch-Tower

RADHA BURNIER

Seeing is an Art When we observe fully — which we It is necessary to look at ordinary do very rarely or perhaps not at all — the things with new eyes. When we look mind is no more present and working. properly, ordinary things cease to be Then the person comes into fuller con- ordinary. This is part of art, but it can be sciousness of what is around him and practised even by people who cannot before him. The beauty which is every- draw, paint or do the many things that where is known. The object of beauty is people who are called artists do. This is not important in the same way, because one of the main points in the article on art everything becomes part of the one beauty (printed later in this issue) written by our which encompasses all things. Alas, we former President Mr Jinarâjadâsa. He do not generally see beauty, feel it in our points out that everyone can experience heart and lose ourselves in it. Beauty beauty, sense of proportion and so forth, surrounds all things, and is all things. If as a real artist does, but to do this he must only we could sense it even for a short learn to look. Then he can see better and time, at that moment the world becomes better than at present. other than what it is normally — it is part There is a story told of a religious leader of the Divine Existence. who gave talks. Perhaps many readers may Relationship is not usually real. It find this story familiar, but all the same it seems real to us at the moment, which contains a great truth. It is said that the moment may stretch over a whole life- teacher, before he began his talk, heard a time or into several lifetimes. We imagine bird who sang from the window sill, and that our image-making brings the real the many others who sat in the hall to hear to us, but truth is not made of images. It him, heard the song. The teacher did not is known in an inner state of silence begin his talk, but listened with full and of relinquishment of self, of which attention. When the singing ended, he we do not know yet. But we can know said: ‘Today’s teaching is over; the sermon it from perception from a distance. Self- is finished, and you can go home.’ This is abandonment is silence, the silence the heart of real teaching: to let the within. There may be sounds around us, listeners hear fully with all their heart and some uplifting, some penetrating into the being, and not only with a part of the mind. heart, and some which are superficial and

June 2009 323 The Theosophist not real. Self-abandonment means the goodwill and so forth. This is the ordinary deep silence which one experiences meaning which many people accept, within, whatever may be the outer but it can also mean a deep and un- conditions. breakable bond which in the beginning We cannot know truth in reality or we call brotherhood (or if you like by beauty or love, which are ever present some other word). Brotherhood is dif- everywhere, simply because we come to ferent from what we are usually attracted know these words. We think we know to when we speak of this quality. We when we do, but the words can be ex- have to learn to look at it in a different tremely misleading. Beauty, for example, way, to understand its real meaning. The is used in connection with what a person universal brotherhood, that is one of the imagines for the moment; it is a small objects of the Theosophical Society, self-centred feeling. For the time being a stated as a preliminary to many other slight expansion makes it seem as if things, is at a certain level, but it can grow there is a great opening of consciousness. into something which comes from the That is the magic of these immortal immortal nature of life. If we know this qualities of beauty, truth, love, wisdom, we are indeed blessed. etc. They exist in a timeless state beyond Perhaps when we really know what all measurement, but they deceive people Brotherhood means we learn to perceive into thinking that they know what the the universal and divine spirit every- words mean. But the vast vista is looked where. It is one of those words conveying at from the spiritual point of view only by to each person what may be the next step those who have reached a state of deep spiritually from where he is. The meaning inner felicity; those who have seen the known from different aspects, includes vista have ‘eyes to see’. truth, knowledge, immortality, deep joy, As we learn to see more and more, our the eternal, etc. These are all terms eyes, both the outer eyes and much more which arise out of a real knowledge of the inner eyes, have to be made sensitive. brotherhood. The word ‘brotherhood’ can mean many Brotherhood is not something which things depending on who uses the word. we come to know only by caring for It seems like an ordinary word, and may life in certain objects. It is a universal mean only comradeship and goodwill term. This is part of a relationship, for towards the people one knows. But when example, which can be felt for the stone. people in general are included, it can C.W. Leadbeater writes about the feel- convey something much deeper and more ing that was created in those who were real to others. It can lead to spiritual sensitive to a particular rock. Uncon- understanding, which is love. scious though they were, a brotherhood We generally mean by ‘love’ a sense developed between them; the stone and of comfort, security and friendship, the person began to have a new feeling

324 Vol. 130.9 On the Watch-Tower when looking at each other. So brother- The amusements often become a form hood can exist comprehending everything, of torture for other creatures, but man stone or rock, leaves or trees, birds or does not care. All this is recognized as fish, human beings, as well as non- futile and leading nowhere from the human beings and many other things spiritual point of view when he moves which we cannot mention here. on spiritually. The few who are spiritually inclined Vaisâkha Full Moon at least in theory, though not wholly, The month of May usually brings the realize that these amusements and other full moon of Vaisâkha to delight the activities pulling the human being to hearts of people. But it is more than a the earth are of little value. The Buddha delightful happening. It is for many and other truly advanced people demon- Buddhists, significant in a very special strated this in their own lives, and brought way. Vaisâkha was the Buddha’s entry to those who had eyes to see a new vision into the realm of higher life and he was of what man could be. Human beings the first human being (it was said), to have can become more than human in the experienced this wonderful state. But it ordinary sense of the term. People like is open to all human beings. He remains the Buddha were glorious examples of in touch with humanity to a certain extent, what the destiny of man in the future will and once a year sends out his blessing on be. All this is implied in the rising of the full moon of the month of Vaisâkha. the full moon on the day of Vaisâkha It is important that human beings and much more. should begin to recognize that they are at The Buddha had of course through the beginning of a grand journey which many lives shed all the animalistic is enlightenment. They are not at the end tendencies and wishes of the human as most people are inclined to believe. being. Such a pure heart and mind are The average human being passes through needed by those who would follow the life as best as he can. There are many path and reach that stage even now, false ideas, conclusions and temptations which all people must reach when the which hold him down at the human level. New Age really begins. Many are led Half of him is still at the semi-animal the false way by merely speaking of a stage, which means wanting the pleasures New Age, but it is a reality to those who of the physical world and nothing more. prepare themselves by leaving behind Man has of course extended the idea of those tendencies, craving and other pleasure to all kinds of activities and mental and moral habits which belong things, which the lesser creatures are to the pre-human stage. They have to rise not capable of doing. For instance, he beyond these to become truly advanced. creates amusements for himself — the We have been given from time to time cinema, various kinds of sport and so on. a glimpse of a different stage, when

June 2009 325 The Theosophist illumined individuals have taken birth and a path. So at least some are inspired and spoken because of their power to to live a life which is becoming gradually a large number of people in that par- or quickly more spiritual. They will ticular life. But after that is over, the spirit become ready to cross over the boundary. of their teaching remains, so we see now The month of Vaisâkha when the full the inspiration of the Buddha and the moon shines bright is a sign of the future Christ, and others who have come back of all human beings whether they believe to earth to teach men that there is a way in it at present or not. ²

The World of the ignorant is observed as the continuation of birth and death, whereby dualisms are nourished and because the perversion is not perceived. There is just one truth, which is Nirvana — it has nothing to do with intellection. The world seen as subject to discrimination resembles a plantain tree, a dream, a mirage.

The Mind as norm is the abode of self-nature which has nothing to do with the realm of causation; of this norm, which is perfect existence and the highest Absolute, I speak. Of neither existence nor non-existence do I speak, but of Mind-only which has nothing to do with existence and non-existence, and which is thus free from intellection. Suchness, emptiness, Absolute Truth . . . these I call Mind-only. Lankavatara Sutra, 63, 64

326 Vol. 130.9 Right Action is Creation without Attachment

RICARDO LINDEMANN

THE Sanskrit word vairâgya, which is lasting] and the unreal [or transitory] translated as ‘detachment’, has also the which leads men to enter the Path’.1 In fact, meaning ‘colourless’. This could be discrimination and detachment are so interpreted as a transparency of the mind, interdependent that any development of through which alone we can see things as one will produce the awakening of the they really are — which is a definition of other, and vice versa. wisdom. Detachment is a qualification of We can find another similar way to impartiality needed to develop wisdom. develop detachment in the Christian There is a special exercise to develop tradition where, in many countries, there detachment in the Tibetan Buddhist is the custom of creating religious images tradition, which is to create beautiful on the streets, in the form of a big carpet mandala-s with sand of many different of flower petals of different colours. This colours. These demand perhaps many can demand much time to make, just to weeks to make, but are destroyed the very be destroyed when the procession of moment they are finished. This exercise people participating in the religious can be seen as a somewhat meaningless festival walks over it. One may ask, what waste of time, but detachment comes is the meaning of creating or making naturally in proportion to the transitori- anything which will be destroyed at the ness, because when we are able to see that very moment it is completed. something is transitory, it becomes easier Perhaps the very meaning of life is to to be less involved with it. create universes, either small or big, only This capacity to perceive transitoriness for the development of this faculty of is designated by the Sanskrit word viveka, creativeness itself, as well as to be able to generally translated as ‘discrimination’. It see them being destroyed by time with is defined in At the Feet of the Master as absolute detachment. It should be obvious ‘the discrimination between the real [or to us as an inevitable fact that time,

Mr Ricardo Lindemann is a National Lecturer of the Brazilian Section of the TS. Talk given in 2008 at the international Convention, Adyar.

June 2009 327 The Theosophist sooner or later, will destroy everything in Having abandoned attachment to the the universe. fruit of action, always content, nowhere Joy can be experienced when a person seeking refuge, he is not doing anything, sings while taking a shower, and we sup- although doing actions (IV.20).2 pose that in such a case there will be no recording or any other result, other than Thy business is with the action only, never this joy of singing itself. If there is no with its fruits; so let not the fruit of action recording taking place the intangible be thy motive, nor be thou to inaction beauty of music will be destroyed at the attached. . . . therefore cleave thou to yoga; very moment that the singing comes to an yoga is skill in action (II.47). end. So, it seems that there is a joy in the On the other hand, if we misuse our expression of creativeness itself, without creative power by performing action with attachment to any other result than to the expectation of recognition, gratitude perform that action. The purity of an action or other results or rewards, or for satisfying can be perceived when it is performed for ambitions, indulgence in the senses, or itself and there is no further demand or possession of material comforts in the search for repetition, result or reward. realm of transitoriness, suffering will come In other words, an action is pure when in the same proportion as our attachments. it is performed for its significance in itself As ªri K·shna also says: without attachment or expectation of possible results. When we are able to love The delights that are contact-born, they are for the sake of love alone, do what is just verily wombs of pain, for they have for the sake of justice alone, fulfil duty for beginning and ending, O Kaunteya; not in the sake of duty without any attachment them may rejoice the wise (V.22). or expectation of reward or secondary gain, then our action is pure; it fulfils itself Suffering comes every time we are without any other intention. It is, therefore, attached to the castles of sand that we right action, a perfect action without create, because sooner or later they will attachment that has no karmic residues. be destroyed by the inevitable transitory It is fully in the present moment and effect of time. We find wise advice in therefore, is timeless. As it is not attached At the Feet of the Master: to time it generates no anxieties for future You must give up all feeling of possession. results. In that kind of action there is joy Karma may take from you the things which because it is an expression of creativeness, you like best — even the people whom a pure act of creation. you love most. Even then you must be This right action can be seen indeed cheerful — ready to part with anything as a kind of skill or a work of art offered and everything.3 to the Supreme, as ªri K·shna says in the Bhagavadgitâ: In fact, Karma regulates the use or

328 Vol. 130.9 Right Action is Creation without Attachment misuse of the creative power we particu- idea that our human consciousness has the larly have in our minds and actions. same creative potentialities as the Divine According to the Holy Bible, we were Consciousness, as we find in the created in the image of God: ‘God said, Pratyabhijñâ H·dayam: Let us make man in our image, after our It is the ultimate reality which becomes likeness.’4 Indeed, that power of creation the individual soul, involved in worldly is so great that the Holy Bible also says illusions, by the simultaneous limitation we are all gods: ‘Dii estis’ (‘Ye are gods’).5 of divine power and obscuration of divine But God is not responsible for the possible consciousness, when working through an misuse of the power of creation He gave individualized centre in Reality. to us. As Plato says: ‘The responsibility is with the chooser — God is justified.’6 Even under these limitations the micro- More than that, therefore, we also have cosmic soul in bondage performs the five the power to create universes and divine functions like the macrocosmic meanings, though generally we are still Over-Soul. learning how to use its infinite potential, These five divine functions which are and Karma protects us from destroying performed by the microcosmic soul in a ourselves by its misuse. We find in The limited and veiled form are manifestation, Idyll of the White Lotus the words: attachment or involvement, ideation, The soul of man is immortal, and its future proliferation and dissolution.9 is the future of a thing whose growth and splendour has no limit. Each man is his The power of manifestation is related own absolute lawgiver, the dispenser of to the creation of a universe. Proliferation glory or gloom to himself; the decreer of is also related to creation in its factor of his life, his reward, his punishment.7 multiplication, but the power of dissolu- We are all creating our own future and tion is related more to detachment. the quality of the relations that we will have According to this scripture, we are all in that small universe we create. As learning how to use these divine powers Dr Besant points out: we inherit, and perhaps this is the objective of life, though we have them now in a Thus far we see as definite principles limited, potential or latent form proportion- of karmic law, working with mental ate to our still microcosmic functions. images as causes, that: aspirations and Madame Blavatsky also emphasized desires become capacities; repeated that: ‘Man is the MICROCOSM. As he is so, thoughts become tendencies; wills to then all the Hierarchies of the Heavens perform become actions; experiences exist within him. But in truth there is become wisdom; painful experiences neither Macrocosm nor Microcosm but 8 become conscience. ONE EXISTENCE. Great and small are Also the Hindu tradition considers the such only as viewed by a limited

June 2009 329 The Theosophist consciousness. . . . As is the Inner, so is mankind, thought must result in action. the Outer; as is the Great, so is the Small; There must be no laziness, but constant as it is above, so it is below: there is but activity in good work.’12 ONE LIFE AND LAW, and he that worketh it This quality of right action is our is ONE. Nothing is Inner, nothing is Outer; compass giving the right direction on the nothing is Great, nothing is Small; nothing spiritual path to Nirvâna, according to the is High; nothing is Low, in the Divine Noble Eightfold Path that Lord Buddha Economy.’10 taught us. Our failures are the conse- Similarly, Dr Annie Besant says about quences of a temporary lack of attention our responsibility in relation to the small to the challenge of the present moment, universes that we are creating around us: created by the escape into fancy or imagination into a non-existent future If we cannot do great things, let us do situation projected by the mind. There- small things perfectly: for perfection lies fore, another way to consider right action in the perfection of every detail and not in is through awareness, which is related to the size of the act. There is nothing great, that divine power of involvement men- nothing small, from the standpoint of the tioned before. Awareness or full attention Self. The act of the king whose will shapes gives life to what we are doing, which is a nation is no more great from the another form of creation. Awareness in the standpoint of the Self than the act of the actions of the present protects the mind mother who nurses a crying child. Each is from any deviation, and therefore is the necessary, is part of the divine activity. path to Nirvâna or to the Supreme. Because necessary, it is great in its own Krishnaji said ‘the first step is the last place, and the whole, not any part, is the step’, and the direction taken with the first life of the Self. It is like a mighty mosaic, step is what matters. The first step must and any fragment which is not in its own have in itself the nature of the last one; place makes a blot on the perfection of the otherwise we will mistake the path to whole. Our lives are perfect as they fill the goal. It is not possible to reach the the appointed gap in the great mosaic, and Supreme Truth walking in falsehood. It if we leave our work undone while we is not possible to reach the peace of yearn after some other, two places may be Nirvâna walking in contradiction and left empty, and the whole ill-done.11 conflict. The quality of peace must be It is only through right action and so present to some extent from the very first fulfilling our duties and using our power step if we want to reach Nirvâna; such of creation in action that we really affinity with the nature of the goal we wish progress in spiritual learning. That is why to reach should be our compass, otherwise service is so important on the spiritual we will lose the path. This is also why path. We find in At the Feet of the Master: J. Krishnamurti said: ‘the means determine ‘Yet remember that, to be useful to the end’.13 If there is no coherence among

330 Vol. 130.9 Right Action is Creation without Attachment the steps taken, i.e., the means used, and performing action without attachment, the goal to be reached, we will lose the man verily reacheth the Supreme.14 goal. Indeed, we will reach only another Once this blessed illumination is destiny determined by the nature or attained, man becomes a Mahatma, as ‘a quality of the means used. The common pillar in the temple of my God, and he saying so often used in the world shall go no more out’,15 as the Holy Bible nowadays, that ‘the end justifies the says of the splendrous triumph over all means’, is the very road to lose the real human suffering. According to goal and to find suffering. It indicates deep Pratyabhijñâ H·dayam, then there would ignorance of the Law of Karma, for we be no further limit to this Divine Power of always reap only that which we sow. Creativeness latent in us. The text says: In the Vedânta philosophy as well, we find that through right action we may reach Then is attained that all-inclusive aware- the Supreme. For an action to be right it ness of ultimate reality which is the essence must have a quality of detachment, and of consciousness and bliss, in which is to develop detachment we must have inherently present the integrated power of developed some degree of discrimination. sound capable of creation and destruction This is the way to develop joyfully the of any kind, anywhere and at any time, creative powers in our nature. As ªri K·shna which confers lordship over the hierarchy said in beautiful and inspiring words: of deities functioning in the particular Therefore, without attachment, constantly manifested system, which, in short, is the perform action which is duty, for, by ultimate reality referred to as ªiva.16 ²

References 1. Krishnamurti, J., At the Feet of the Master, The Theosophical Publishing House (TPH), Chennai, 2001, p. 3. 2. Besant, Annie, Bhagavadgitâ, tr., TPH, Chennai, 2004. 3. Krishnamurti, J., op. cit., p. 60–1. 4. King James Version, Gen., I:26. 5. John., X:34. 6. Plato, The Republic, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Chicago, 1984, v. 7. 7. Collins, Mabel, The Idyll of the White Lotus, TPH, 2000, Chennai, p. 161–2. 8. Besant, Annie, Karma, TPH, Chennai, 2002, p. 41. 9. Taimni, I. K., The Secret of Self-Realization, TPH, Chennai, 1997, st. 9–11. 10. Blavatsky, H. P., Foundations of Esoteric Philosophy, TPH, Chennai, 2005, pp. 81–2. 11. Besant, Annie, The Theosophic Life, TPH, Chennai, 2002, pp. 48–50. 12. Krishnamurti, op. cit., p. 52. 13. Krishnamurti, J., Education and the Significance of Life, KFI, Chennai, 2008, p. 31. 14. Bhagavadgitâ, op. cit., III.19. 15. The Holy Bible, Rev., III:12. 16. Taimni, I. K., op. cit., st. 20.

June 2009 331 The Theosophist The Religion of the Artist

C. JINARAJADASA

MANY people when they hear the true, then there are as many religions as phrase, ‘The Religion of the Artist’, ask: there are individuals, and I think that is ‘Have artists any religion at all? In what perfectly the case. Nevertheless, since way can the religion of the artist be mankind can be grouped into various considered different from what we know types, we can say that there are types of as religion?’ transformation. There is a type of trans- The answer to this question depends formation which we recognize under the very largely on what we mean by religion. term Religion, and that is the transforma- If by religion we mean some particular tion under the force of character of a great creed which an individual professes, then personality. The true Christian is he who Art cannot be said to have any special transforms life according to the technique religion of its own, because artists belong of Christ, for Christ had a technique — to all nations and to all times. But if by the way He felt, thought, surveyed and religion we mean the way a man bodies acted — and the Christian is he who forth, in his thoughts and feelings and accepts that technique as his highest deeds, his realization of the universe, then model. Similarly is it with the Buddhist, the artist has a religion of his own. There for when a man becomes a Buddhist he is only one universe in which we all live; accepts the technique of the Buddha. And it reveals itself to us as facts and events. so religion after religion teaches us the But this changing universe must always technique of a great Personality. be translated by each one of us in some But, quite apart from the particular term of intelligibility. We are not mere transformation which we make of life mirrors of what is happening outside us, through the spirit of religion, there is an- we are rather transformers of the energies other transformation, adapted to another of the universe. type of soul, and it is that which reflects Now, the way that the individual itself as Science. The scientist is interested transforms the changing universe is his in grouping facts and laws, and in stating religion. If that definition of religion is that grouping through his personality,

A lecture delivered in Sydney in 1922. Reprinted from The Theosophist, March 1923.

332 Vol. 130.9 The Religion of the Artist because there is no such thing to be found through which Wagner went, as he began in practice as abstract theoretical science. to realize his work more and more It always comes to us through individual profoundly. To him, at first, Art was ‘the scientists. The great scientist is one who pleasure one takes in being what one is’. has a great personality, who gives us his In other words, it was a joy in living. But, vision of Nature, grouped into categories as he lived and created and transformed, and laws which fascinate the mind. he began to see deeper, and then to him There is another group still, of those Art was the ‘highest manifestation of the who transform life, and that is composed communal life of man’. It was, as it were, of souls whose keenest interest is in modes a synthetic manifestation of our common of Organization. These are those who are humanity. As he lived and felt his work drawn to political science; and in the more, he came to the conclusion that Art political sciences, with their branches of was ‘the most powerful momentum in economics and statecraft, and so on, we human life’, that is, something within the have an expression of the way the universe soul of man which, when once started, transforms itself through a type of per- goes on with undiminishing vigour for sonality. Similarly is it with regard to the eternity. Art can best, I think, be thought philosopher. He is more interested in the of as the only form of expression which, relation between the individual and the even if only inadequately, tells us whole of which he is a part; and the something of the expression of his power to transform comes as his philosophy. But life is Infinite passion, and the pain Of finite hearts that yearn. always one, and in its finalities indivisible; all these statements — religion, science, There is no other form of transmutation philosophy, political science — are state- which brings us so near to the inmost heart ments of one Reality. of humanity, in its travail, as Art. Now another statement of reality, other It is quite true that we have in Art many than religion or science or philosophy, is branches — painting, sculpture, music, Art. But what is Art? What do we mean the dance, and so on. All these branches by Art? For it is only when we have some of Art have an intensely ethical meaning. general ideas of what Art is, that we shall That unfortunately is something not be able to conceive of the religion of the realized today by the artists themselves. artist. I can only here give you just a few It is the fashion for many of them to talk definitions of what Art is, which you will of ‘Art for Art’s sake’, as if Art could be find in the writings of great artists. Goethe conceived of as some kind of transmu- called it ‘the magic of the soul’. Schiller tation of sensation or imagination, called it ‘that which gives to man his lost irrespective of its relation to the welfare dignity’. I think perhaps we can see the of mankind. You will find, if you study conception of Art best in the stages Art in any one of its branches, that when

June 2009 333 The Theosophist that department of Art is at its highest, it Art as the ‘soul of things’. Wagner well is most ethical. That is to say, it has a expresses this quality of getting at the soul direct message to man. of things through music, when he says Take, for instance, the most glorious that what music expresses is eternal, period of Greek Art, just at the time when inifinite and ideal. It does not tell us of Phidias created the Parthenon. Greece any one individual’s passion, love, or was then full of the statues of the gods. regret, in this or that particular situation, Each of these statues was created from a but it tells us of Passion and Love and living model, but to the artist each statue Regret themselves. embodied a cosmic concept. Pallas We go behind then, in Art, from the Athena, the maiden Goddess of Wisdom, particular-in-time to the general-in-eternity. was not to the artist merely a beautiful You will note that same quality of eternity maid, but an intensely ethical concept of with regard to landscape painting, when a Divine Wisdom that was militant, the you contemplate a great painting. You wisdom which ‘mightily and sweetly look through that painting into a vision of ordereth all things’. Apollo at that epoch Nature, which is still, in eternity, which was not just a handsome youth, but rather reflects the mind of a cosmic Creator. The the Divine Inspiration in the heart of man. painter looks at the view, but he selects The great artists of the time, when they from it as paintable only what his worked in stone, attempted to embody imagination can grasp of that particular ethical concepts in stone. That is why the conformation of light, shade and form Greek civilization of that period stands out which as a mirror reflects a divine ideal. still in such a unique fashion. That is why, It is the same with regard to great as we read the plays of the time, the poetry. Take one of the greatest poems philosophies, as we look at the sculpture, which the world contains, the Divine we feel that we are moving in an age Comedy of Dante. Carlyle says of that where men seem to be larger than they magic structure that it is ‘a great are today. Soon after this great climax, supernatural world cathedral, piled up when Art was seen in its ethical revelation, there, stern, solemn, awful; Dante’s world we have the decline, beginning in a of souls’. However small be the size of sculptor like Praxiteles. Though Praxiteles the thing the true artist creates, there is in is intensely graceful, yet in him the ethical that thing something of the totality of the concept gives place to individualized universe. It is because of this quality of figures; mere sentiment is emphasized, and Art that Blake so truly said that the whole the artist does not dream of expressing a creation ‘groans to be delivered’, for the cosmic concept through his sculpture. artist is in many ways he who helps to Ethical concepts are inseparable from bring forth the newer Humanity. Therefore Art, when Art gives its true message. That it is that Carlyle, who was not an artist, is why we can in some ways truly define but a profound philosopher who could

334 Vol. 130.9 The Religion of the Artist understand the message of Art, thus has to come into play, for the artist must speaks of Art: ‘In all true works of Art wilt transform, he must not merely reproduce. thou discern Eternity looking through A camera with the help of a lens can time, the Godlike rendered visible.’ reproduce a scene in Nature more accur- Because the artist is dealing with the ately than the artist; but the artist has to totality of things, therefore his particular transform what he sees with the faculty of transformation, which may be a poem, or the emotions, the mind, the imagination, a statue, or a symphony, is related to all the intuitions, the Spirit itself. The whole possible transformations. A poem is nature of the artist has to be brought to expressible in a song, in a statue, in a bear on the work of transformation. That painting, in some rhythmic music. The is why the artist, if he is to do his work dance and music are related as many rightly, must see that his mind is trained, know by experience. There is a subtle that his emotions are delicate, sensitively unity underlying all Art’s various balanced, that his intuitions are awake, branches. So in Art, then, we have another that the power of the Spirit within him is revelation of what life is, other than the not dormant, but quick and active. revelation which religion gives, or which Therefore, if the artist is to do his work science gives, or which the philosophies of creation, he needs to have an openness give. It is a revelation unique to Art itself. of mind to science, to philosophy, to How is this particular revelation to be religion, to all the problems as they are sensed by the artist? He can only sense it transmuted by the various great depart- by grasping the reality. He must train ments of life. For all these are related. The himself to know ‘things as they are’; he more there is of religion, the more fully must visibly and invisibly see the relation the message of science can be understood. of the part to the whole. The artist’s judge- The more a man knows of science, the ment must be the truest judgement, if he higher and nobler is his conception of is to be a real artist. To the artist, before religion. I know no one among the poets he can create, the outer universe must pour so in touch with the scientific conception in through his senses. It must pour into as Tennyson. He was intensely scientific him in a larger measure than with ordinary in his observation of Nature, and that is men. It is for the artist to see shades of why, before Darwin formulated some of colour that the ordinary eye does not see, his ideas, Tennyson intuited them and told to see beauty in line which passes us of Nature that was ‘so careful of the unnoticed before the ordinary man’s eye. type’, but ‘so careless of the single life’. He has to have a keener sensitiveness; the Tennyson describes flowers as the botanist sensorium of the artist must be more sees them, and yet his exquisite imagina- delicately organized than that of the ordin- tion throws prismatic colours round his ary man. But you do not make the artist description, till we get, not the flower, but merely by refining his senses. His mind the soul of the flower.

June 2009 335 The Theosophist You can be intensely realistic, without which is to remain in eternity. Now the losing anything whatever of the quality artist’s message is not to the universe in of Art. All of the departments of life are the abstract; it is distinctly to mankind. related, so that as you have more of the Therefore the artist has to take as his life of God within you, you have a larger motto what Carlyle so well described: love of man. And especially are Religion ‘Wouldst thou plant for Eternity, then and Art inseparable. Almost all the plant into the deep infinite faculties of greatest periods of artistic creation have man, his Fantasy and Heart.’ been only when there have been great The work of the artist is not the work spiritualizing influences from religion. of the scientist, which appeals to the Religion was a vital thing to the Greek in reason, nor the work of the philosopher, the time of Pericles; it was powerful in the but his own work, whereby he appeals to Middle Ages when the great artists of the infinite faculty of ‘fantasy’, as Carlyle Europe created. calls it, which is inseparable from the The artist, then, if he is to do his work inmost heart of man. But if the artist is to rightly, must be a rounded being in his appeal to this infinite faculty of man, the inner nature. He must be sensitive, not first thing necessary for him is a serenity only with his sensorium, but also with among his ideas. In all the great periods the intuition, the mind, the emotions. of Art there is a serenity. There was a Especially must he be sensitive to all kinds serenity of ideas in the generation of of ideas. Hence, therefore, one can say Phidias. Men were then sure of that each artist must profess all the Faiths themselves, of their own drift to the end and philosophies in the world, and yet of time. There are no doubts befogging none. He must have a warm sympathy for the mind of an artist like Fra Angelico; every form of human discovery in the there is balance and serenity in him, and domain of religion, science, philosophy. that is the reason he stands as one of the Yet, because he is going to discover for greatest painters. Unfortunately in our himself something which was never days there is little serenity in ideas for discovered before, he cannot be identified anyone. The average man, busy with his as the believer exclusively in any one ordinary interests in life, can afford to go religion or cult. He must belong to the about with an uncertain mind, with many world, to life as it is in its totality. problems unsolved; but not the artist. So The religion of the artist, then, is to long as the artist goes on from year to year, accept the universe as it pours into him uncertain as to what he is himself, and from all the avenues of religion, science, what is the purpose of the world, the philosophy, political organization, and transformation which he bodies forth in ideals of service. With all these things he his art has only a temporary merit, a must identify himself, if in his own meaning which is for his generation or particular branch he is to give a message century only. If he is to create something

336 Vol. 130.9 The Religion of the Artist which is to last for eternity, then he must ambitions and his jealousies are reflected find serenity among his ideas. It is not for in the tones which he brings out from his me to point out how he is to do it. I can violin. You cannot separate the personal only point out to you that without serenity nature of the artist as he bodies forth. That in ideas you cannot have this eternal is why sometimes you get a purer mes- quality in the thing which you are going sage of Art from some boy or girl who is to create. playing or singing some simple thing, Everything which the artist is, as an than when the same thing is played by a individual, is reflected in the thing which virtuoso or sung by a prima donna. You he creates. This is not realized by all artists are nearer to the heart of the thing, because today. They think that they can paint a the boy or girl is less spoiled by life; the picture, and think and feel what they like personality which bodies forth, which about the world. We owe a great debt of reflects it, is purer, and so you come one gratitude to Ruskin, who pointed out the step nearer to the eternal realm of Art. intensely ethical relation between the thing So close is this relation between Art created by the artist and what the artist is and the artist’s own personality — what as man. The narrowness of mind of an he calls his ‘private life’ — that I would artist is reflected in the phrases of his say distinctly that, much as most Western music, in the colours which he lays on; artists are meat-eaters, they would be everything which the artist creates reflects better artists if they were vegetarians. The his smallness or bigness of soul. very fact that a cruelty is imposed upon There is no such thing as an art which animals through one’s eating meat reflects can be separated from the artist as a man. itself in one’s art. You may not be ‘found He is a transformer, but if his character out’ in this generation, but you will is coarse his art is coarse. It may not be certainly be found out when the whole recognized as such, in his own generation. world is vegetarian, for it will then say: You may have profligates creating in ‘This picture was painted by a meat-eating music or in painting, and commanding artist.’ I am putting this forcibly, so that you success; but, when the world passes on a may understand the subtle relation which generation or two, and profligacy is no exists between every cell of the artist’s longer seen in the old light, but as some- body and the thing which he creates. thing derogatory to the dignity of the soul, The artist’s religion is a very wonderful then all those creations are seen as mere one, unique, telling us of something which empty forms without an eternal life. we did not know, either through religion Because of this intimate relation between or science or philosophy. What that the artist’s nature as a man, and what he message is, I cannot reveal to you. The creates, there can be nothing in the artist’s beauty of Art is that each one of us can life which is not important. A violinist’s get Art’s own message, suited to our thoughts, his words, his deeds, his needs, and suited to the occasion and our

June 2009 337 The Theosophist stage in growth. You will observe, then, fashioning, the creating of a civilization from this standpoint of Art, what an inti- is done through Art. So powerful is this mate relation Art has to the individual. It subtle influence of Art, to awaken the is quite true that few of us are creative hidden best in the individual, that I go so artists, in the technical sense; but all of us far as to say what may seem nonsense — are transmuters of life. So, if we can learn that the more Art there is in a nation the to transmute a little also through the more business there is too. For when each faculty of Art, our realization of life is individual is artistic, and responds to the fuller than it was when we were merely message of life which Art can give, he is religious, or when we were religious and a bigger individual, he is a more powerful scientific, or religious, scientific and dynamo of the forces of life. When philosophical. Add to your nature a thereafter he turns his mind to the sensitiveness to Art, and then you can development of the nation’s resources, he understand life with a fuller meaning. sees the problem of business in a larger Obviously there is a very close relation way. At once you can see what an utter between Art and the community, and this calamity you are courting if you let your close relation has been very strikingly put State Orchestra disband, for want of in a Chinese proverb. In China they put money. The wealth of Sydney is not in its things in a quaint way, but what they say Wool Exchange alone, it is also in this you never forget. The proverb is this: ‘If place, the Conservatorium of Music. you have two loaves, sell one and buy a Thousands come here to find a little bit of lily.’ That is a magnificent saying; it is a themselves as souls, and a little discovery statement of the greatness of a nation. of yourself as a soul, even if it is only once Our modern statesmen think of the great- or twice in three months or so, is quite ness of a people merely by the worldly enough to last you for the rest of the year. possessions, the ‘loaves and the fishes’, For all must grapple with the problem of which the nation has for its own. But in life in a more dignified and grander way a true ideal State, where every man is at as they grow. We have to realize a new his best, the ideal which a statesman will ideal with regard to prosperity. The have before him for his country is that the prosperity of a nation is not to be judged State’s organization should be such that by its bank balances, but by the ‘soul every man is given an opportunity to be force’, as we say in India, which the nation at his best. contains, by that spiritual content which Now, science cannot do that. Science is in each individual in the nation. The can never appeal directly to the individual, true contribution to his nation’s strength but Art can. It is Art which moulds the by a citizen is not the taxes which he pays, soul of a people and creates and civilizes. but the quality of artistic appreciation Science comes merely to crown a which he has. Indeed, when we begin to civilization, but the moulding, the see the true values in life, then a well

338 Vol. 130.9 The Religion of the Artist nurtured child, singing, dancing, playing, himself again as that permanent, un- reveals more of the universe than a changeable spiritual Entity, as he bodies powerful savage who carves out for forth Art. himself a kingdom. Indeed, such a ‘little Creative Art, in other words, is a new child’ shall lead mighty empires. way of stating what life is for ourselves. To each one of us Art has its message, To us, as we create, it will seem a novel even though not all of us are creative way, though the critics may say it is an artists. In this life which we are living, old way; but it is a way which starts from there is a curious duality, of the totality whatever is our interest. Are we religiously and the unit, of the general and the minded; then we can find Art in religion. particular, of God and man. And these two Are we interested in political work; then parts of existence are as two great deeps we can find Art in the higher ideals of calling to each other, and when the great statecraft. Are we busy housewives; we deep from above sounds and the great can then find Art starting to erect its deep down here, which is man, responds, wonderful structure from the home. then begins real life. We delude ourselves When we find these structures begin- in thinking that we are now living; many ning, then we understand life with a new of us are but as shadows flickering through meaning. And what is that meaning? life. But the time comes when we can take Who shall say? That is the glory of Art, hold of life in a true and forceful way; that each one of us can state what is the then we do not doubt, we do not need to meaning of Art. We are indeed all creative go from creed to creed; and, instead of artists, because into us the whole world looking for the meaning of life, we know of Art is pouring, and we can transmute we are ourselves that meaning. Indeed, it, if we only understand how. We can be Wagner, a great creative artist, sensed all dull diamonds straight from the mine, this, for thus he describes Art: ‘Art is the reflecting very little, or we can be ‘cut’ accomplishment of our desire to find diamonds with many facets which flash ourselves again among the phenomena of out the many colours of the one light. the external world.’ What Art can do for us is to ‘cut’ and polish We are the source of power in the our natures, and bring out facet after facet universe, but we have to find ourselves, from the hidden qualities within ourselves and Art enables us to find. It is there that of thinking and intuiting. Art can make Art joins hands with the profoundest us centres of serenity. Mysticism. In India we have said from the I hardly know how to conclude this beginning of time that the only religion lecture on a subject about which I feel so which a man should profess is — So’ham, profoundly, because to me, who am not ‘I am God’. That is the proclamation of an artist in the ordinary sense, Art means Hinduism. But it is the proclamation of so much. It supplements every other phase all genuine Art, for the individual finds of knowledge or being which I have

June 2009 339 The Theosophist found in life. It leads us ever onwards; it of the great Art structure of the world. If is that screen on which one throws the only each of you will strive to bring that lights and shadows of one’s own nature. element out of yourselves, you who at It is a wonderful thing to add to one’s least understand the need of Art in the knowledge of life even a little bit of the growth of the person, then the time will way of feeling life as the artist feels it. I not be so far away when all your fellow only wish every child in our schools could men can be induced to love Art, when be taught to feel life in this new way. We the whole world will have a newer under- tell them now of science, we tell them of standing of the greatness of life. We all history, but we do not yet tell them of that have to live; but why need we live like subtle new way of sensing life and men when we can live like angels? It is transmuting it which is Art. for Art to show us that there is a way to I close by pointing out to you once live, not in time, but in eternity, not more that it is worth your while to develop dogged by mortality but with deathless- that part of yourself which is the artistic ness as our crown. And that crown is for instinct in you. You do not need to be a all of us here and now, if only we will creative artist, in the ordinary sense of the seek it; and the way of the seeking is term. Be at least an appreciative artist, and through Art. For Art is one way of giving, create with your appreciation one element and to give is to live. ²

O lead my spirit, O raise it from these heavy depths, transported by Thy Art that fearlessly and joyfully it soar up to Thee. For Thou, Thou knowest all things, Thou alone canst inspire. Ludwig van Beethoven

340 Vol. 130.9 Studies in The Voice of the Silence, 17

JOHN ALGEO

HAVING passed the midpoint, the fiends before he reach the Vale of Refuge fourth Portal of Virâga or dispassion, the — Jñâna-Mârga, ‘path of pure know- third Fragment on ‘The Seven Portals’ ledge’ named. continues to the final three Portals, which deal with the inner or higher self. Verses [261] Ere thou canst settle in Jñâna- 18 258 to 271 describe the approach to the Mârga, and call it thine, thy Soul has to fifth gate, which represents the mind. become as the ripe mango fruit; as soft and sweet as its bright golden pulp for VERSES [258–271]: others’ woes, as hard as that fruit’s stone for thine own throes and sorrows, O [258] Thou hast removed pollution from conqueror of weal and woe. thy heart and bled it from impure desire. But, O thou glorious combatant, thy task [262] Make hard thy Soul against the is not yet done. Build high, lanoo, the snares of self; deserve for it the name of wall that shall hedge in the Holy Isle,* ‘Diamond-Soul’.19 the dam that will protect thy mind from [263] For, as the diamond buried deep pride and satisfaction at thoughts of the within the throbbing heart of earth can great feat achieved. never mirror back the earthly lights, so are [259] A sense of pride would mar the thy mind and Soul; plunged in Jñâna- work. Aye, build it strong, lest the fierce Mârga, these must mirror nought of rush of battling waves, that mount and beat Mâyâ’s realm illusive. its shore from out the great world Mâyâ’s [264] When thou hast reached that state, ocean, swallow up the pilgrim and the isle the Portals that thou hast to conquer on the — yea, even when the victory is achieved. Path fling open wide their gates to let thee [260] Thine Isle is the deer, thy thoughts pass, and Nature’s strongest mights possess the hounds that weary and pursue his no power to stay thy course. Thou wilt be progress to the stream of Life. Woe to master of the sevenfold Path; but not till the deer that is o’ertaken by the barking then, O candidate for trials passing speech.

Dr John Algeo is a former international Vice-President of the TS and Professor Emeritus at the University of Georgia, USA, with many academic distinctions to his credit.

June 2009 341 The Theosophist

[265] Till then, a task far harder still awaits thy great foe. This change will fight thee thee: thou hast to feel thyself ALL- off, and throw thee back, out of the Path THOUGHT, and yet exile all thoughts from thou treadest, deep into viscous swamps out thy Soul. of doubt.

[266] Thou hast to reach that fixity of mind COMMENT. Having passed the fourth gate, in which no breeze, however strong, can that of desire — whose key is virâga, waft an earthly thought within. Thus desirelessness or seeing the world as it is, purified, the shrine must of all action, uncoloured by emotional states — the sound, or earthly light be void; e’en as the pilgrim has cleansed the heart, butterfly, o’ertaken by the frost, falls traditionally a symbol of feelings or lifeless at the threshold — so must all emotions, of ‘impure desires’. But the earthly thoughts fall dead before the fane. journey is not over. Next to be passed is Behold it written: the fifth gate, that of the mind. Verses 258–9 change the metaphor [267] ‘Ere the gold flame can burn with from gates to an island in the middle of steady light, the lamp must stand well the stream or ocean of life. The mind is guarded in a spot free from all wind.’* such a ‘Holy Isle’*: Exposed to shifting breeze, the jet will flicker and the quivering flame cast shades HPB note: *The Higher Ego, or Think- deceptive, dark and ever-changing, on the ing Self. Soul’s white shrine. The new metaphor is appropriate [268] And then, O thou pursuer of the because the emotions are often truth, thy mind-soul will become as a mad symbolized as a body of water that elephant that rages in the jungle. Mistak- threatens to flow over and submerge the ing forest trees for living foes, he perishes conscious mind. The pilgrim must there- in his attempts to kill the ever-shifting fore build a wall, a dam, to protect the shadows dancing on the wall of sunlit island of the mind from being engulfed rocks. by the oceanic stream of life, and especially by the emotions of pride and [269] Beware, lest in the care of Self thy self-satisfaction, to which the mind is Soul should lose her foothold on the soil especially prone. of Deva-knowledge. With verse 260, the metaphor changes again. The mind has become, not an [270] Beware, lest in forgetting Self, thy island threatened by flood, but a deer Soul lose o’er its trembling mind control, pursued by the hounds of thought. This and forfeit thus the due fruition of its metaphor highlights a concept that is conquests. foreign to the way we usually talk about [271] Beware of change! For change is our mind and thoughts and gives us the

342 Vol. 130.9 Studies in The Voice of the Silence, 17 possibility of a different view. We usually gnosis. But what is jñâna or gnosis know- imagine the mind to be a sort of machine ledge of ? It is knowledge of paramârtha, that produces thoughts — so that thoughts which means ‘the highest truth or most are the product of the mind. This metaphor valuable thing in the world’. And what is views thoughts as things that come from that? It is svasamvedanâ, which means outside of the mind and attack it, as ‘self-knowledge, knowing who or what we vicious hounds attack a gentle deer. are’. So to protect itself from the hounds The metaphor of the mind as a deer of thought, the mind must reach know- and thoughts as pursuing hounds may ledge of who we really are. seem bizarre to us at first. We assume that To reach self-knowledge, however, all the thoughts we ‘have’ are ‘our’ requires a certain toughness about thoughts — that they have been created ourselves combined with a softness or by us. But an old Theosophical tradition sympathy for others. And so the metaphor holds that thoughts are things, quite changes yet again in verse 261, where the literally. They are realities independent of soul becomes a mango fruit, soft and us. The mental atmosphere is full of sweet in its outer pulp, but hard as a stone thoughts, and if our minds are in tune with in its inner core. We must be the diamond thoughts of a certain kind, if they are on soul, concerning which, a gloss reads: the same wavelength, those thoughts will Gloss 19. ‘Diamond-Soul’ or Vajradhara be attracted to our minds as hounds are presides over the Dhyâni-Buddhas. attracted to a deer. We must therefore guard against attacks by such thoughts, In an earlier gloss (number 4 in the just as we guard the island of the mind second fragment, to verse 114), ‘Diamond from inundation by the emotions. Soul’ is said to be ‘a title of the supreme To be safe from being overtaken by Buddha’ or Âdi-Buddha (âdi meaning the hound-like thoughts, the deer of the ‘first, original’). The expression also mind must reach a place of refuge — the echoes the Tibetan mantra Om mani Jñâna-Mârga. HPB comments upon it in padme hum, which might be translated a gloss: as ‘Oh, the jewel in the lotus, ah!’ The combination of a jewel, specifically a Gloss 18. Jñâna-mârga is the ‘Path of diamond, inside a lotus is a striking Jñâna’, literally; or the Path of pure image. The diamond is one of the hardest knowledge, of paramârtha or (Sanskrit) of all substances, and the lotus is a fragile svasamvedanâ, ‘the self-evident or self- blossom. Yet the adamantine jewel is analysing reflection’. found in the heart of the delicate flower. Mârga is a ‘path’ and so, metaphorical- That image thus echoes the message of ly, a way of living or of reaching one’s the mango fruit. We must be tough inside, goal. Jñâna means direct insight or ‘pure that is, with respect to ourselves, but gentle knowledge’ and is cognate with the Greek outside, with respect to others.

June 2009 343 The Theosophist Verses 265–70 return to the distinction against the illusory threat of the shadows, between the mind and the thoughts we may forget the great Self, which is the associated with it. A distinction is made very light, and thus lose what we have so between ALL-THOUGHT, that is, Con- far gained. The ‘change’ we are warned sciousness itself, and particular thoughts. against in verse 271 is the flickering We are the former, not the latter. In a changes of the shadows, when we mistake footnote HPB identifies the image of the them for permanent realities. ‘lamp . . . in a spot free from all wind’ as from the Bhagavadgitâ (VI.19: ‘As a lamp MEDITATION. Consider the relationship in a windless place flickereth not, to such between mind and thoughts by thinking is likened the Yogi of subdued thought, about some of the metaphors used in these absorbed in the yoga of the SELF’). But verses to illustrate that relationship: an that image may also suggest the Western island protected from flooding waters legend of Christian Rosenkreutz, the by a dam, a deer pursued by hounds, a eponymous founder of the Rosicrucian diamond deep within the earth where tradition, who was said to be buried in a none of the surface lights can reach it, and sealed tomb in which a lamp burned a lamp in a place where no breeze can continuously in an airless vacuum without disturb it. exhausting its fuel. Hold any one of these images steady When the inconstant and fickle breezes in your mind and let it speak to you. disturb that flame, it flickers, casting Verses 272 through 280 describe the fantastic shadows on the walls, which are final approach to and passage through the mistaken by the observer for dangers and fifth and sixth gates. These are an threats. They are, of course, illusions. An interesting pair of gates — in some ways illusion is not a delusion of something that apparently contradictory, but actually they does not exist. Rather it is a misperception complement and supplement each other. of something that is real, but is not what The fifth gate is that of virya, meaning the observer perceives it to be. The ‘strength, zeal, heroism’, an active and shadows represent realities, but because vigorous concept. The fifth gate the flame is flickering, they are distorted corresponds with the principle of manas, and so misinterpreted by the observer. In the mind. The sixth gate is that of dhyâna, a similar way, when the still light of meaning ‘meditation’, a quiet and self- consciousness is disturbed by wandering reflective process. The sixth gate thoughts, which come to us from outside corresponds with the principle of buddhi, our own minds, they distort what we see the intellect or faculty that discriminates. around us and lead us to respond like ‘a They are respectively outgoing and mad elephant’, charging this way and that inward looking: the warrior and the against the flickering shadows. contemplative — one who spends life in In our concern to defend ourselves fighting and one who spends it in prayer

344 Vol. 130.9 Studies in The Voice of the Silence, 17 or meditation. Together they represent a way that leadeth to the Dhyâna haven, the balance, of precisely the kind one must sixth, the Bodhi Portal. have to pass through these two gates. [277] The Dhyâna gate is like an alabaster VERSES [272–280]: vase, white and transparent; within there burns a steady golden fire, the flame of [272] Prepare, and be forewarned in time. Prajñâ that radiates from Âtman. If thou hast tried and failed, O dauntless fighter, yet lose not courage: fight on and [278] Thou art that vase. to the charge return again, and yet again. [279] Thou has estranged thyself from [273] The fearless warrior, his precious objects of the senses, travelled on the ‘Path life-blood oozing from his wide and of seeing’, on the ‘Path of hearing’, and gaping wounds, will still attack the foe, standest in the light of Knowledge. Thou 22 drive him from out his stronghold, hast now reached Titikshâ state. vanquish him, ere he himself expires. [280] O Naljor, thou art safe. Act then, all ye who fail and suffer, act ...... like him; and from the stronghold of your Soul, chase all your foes away — COMMENT. As the pilgrim approaches the ambition, anger, hatred, e’en to the shadow fifth gate, that of the mind, the metaphor of desire — when even you failed. . . . in verses 272–5 changes to that of a warrior. This new metaphor is appropriate, [274] Remember, thou that fightest for for the key to the fifth portal is virya. Virya 20 man’s liberation, each failure is success, is a Sanskrit word that comes from a root and each sincere attempt wins its reward vir ‘to be powerful’, which English has also in time. The holy germs that sprout and (from Latin) in virile and virtue. Virtue grow unseen in the disciple’s soul, their originally meant, not a passive goodness, stalks wax strong at each new trial, they but an active and virile power for good. bend like reeds but never break, nor can So also, the Sanskrit word vira means a they e’re be lost. But when the hour has ‘heroic warrior’, as in the name of the 21 struck they blossom forth. founder of Jainism, Mahâvira, which ...... means ‘great hero’. Similarly, the Latin word vir, from which virile and virtue are [275] But if thou camest prepared, then derived, means a ‘manly man’. have no fear. The warrior metaphor is ancient and ...... universal. St Paul speaks of leading a life of holiness as fighting the good fight. And [276] Henceforth thy way is clear right a sword is a traditional symbol of the through the Virya gate, the fifth one of mind. In her diagram on meditation, HPB the Seven Portals. Thou art now on the speaks of ‘courage’ as what we gain from

June 2009 345 The Theosophist contemplating the unity of all life. HPB of transcendental virtues may germinate. explains the expression ‘thou that fightest Pre-existing or innate virtues, talents or for man’s liberation’ in a gloss: gifts are regarded as having been acquired in a previous birth. Genius is without Gloss 20. This is an allusion to a well- exception a talent or aptitude brought known belief in the East (as in the West, from another birth. too, for the matter of that) that every addi- tional Buddha or Saint is a new soldier in The Masters echo this same idea. One the army of those who work for the liber- of them wrote, ‘We have one word for all ation or salvation of mankind. In Northern aspirants: TRY’ (Mahatma Letters, Buddhist countries, where the doctrine of chronological ed. 54, 3rd ed. 35). The only Nirmânakâya-s — those Bodhisattvas failure is not to try. If we are prepared, by who renounce well-earned Nirvâna or the trying, verse 275 tells us that we have Dharmakâya vesture (both of which shut nothing to fear. them out for ever from the world of men) In verse 276 we learn that, having in order to invisibly assist mankind and fought the good fight, we have passed lead it finally to Paranirvâna — is taught, through the fifth gate of virya and are on every new Bodhisattva or initiated great our way to the sixth. The sixth gate is said Adept is called the ‘liberator of mankind’. to be the Bodhi (or Wisdom) Portal. It The statement made by Schlagintweit in corresponds to the principle of buddhi his Buddhism in Tibet to the effect that (intuitive intelligence), and the key that Prulpai Ku or Nirmânakâya is ‘the body unlocks it is dhyâna or meditation. in which the Buddhas or Bodhisattvas Echoing the image of the mind as a appear upon earth to teach men’ — is lamp in a windless place (verse 267), the absurdly inaccurate and explains nothing. buddhi is said (verse 277) to be a transparent white vase of alabaster in Verse 274 gives an assurance that, in which burns the golden flame of prajñâ fighting this battle or walking the Path, or ‘intuitive wisdom’ radiating from the there are no failures. Every effort is One Self (Âtman). The similarity of the assured sooner or later of producing an images is significant, for when the mind effect. When we make an effort, we lay is energized by buddhi, the two principles the groundwork for future success. That form a unit, and then the lamp of the mind success may come later in this life or in a is not disturbed by the wandering breezes future one, but no effort is ever wasted. and its light is steady. We ourselves are All bear fruit, as HPB says: then that vase (verse 278) and stand in Gloss 21. A reference to human passions the light of calm indifference to the and sins which are slaughtered during the vagaries and illusory changes of the trials of the novitiate, and serve as well- shadow world. We are then in the state fertilized soil in which holy germs or seeds called titikshâ:

346 Vol. 130.9 Studies in The Voice of the Silence, 17

Gloss 22. Titikshâ is the fifth state of Râja what they are, and not being disturbed by Yoga — one of supreme indifference, them. In this state, we are safe (verse 280). submission, if necessary, to what is called Naljor (as the aspirant is addressed in ‘pleasures and pains for all’, but deriving verse 280) is a Tibetan word for a saintly neither pleasure nor pain from such person. It is used especially of those who submission — in short, the becoming have reached the sixth gate, that is, who physically, mentally, and morally have achieved intuitive insight into the indifferent and insensible to either plea- nature of things and into themselves. sure or pain. Titikshâ is the condition of being MEDITATION. Think about the images of indifferent to the fluctuations of the the warrior and the contemplative. Whereas opposites. Life consists of an unending a number of different metaphors were used succession of changes: yin and yang each to talk about the discursive mind (the continually turn into the other. Pain and island, the deer, the diamond, the lamp), pleasure succeed each other, hunger and only one is used for the intuitive satiety, night and day, life and death. If intelligence or buddhi (the alabaster vase we want the changes to stop, if we want with a golden light). How does that to hang on to some transitory state, we difference correlate with the images of will be continually frustrated. But warrior and contemplative? In what ways accepting the fluctuations of the world is the mind like a warrior, and the intuitive and rising above them is the condition of intelligence like a contemplative? Think titikshâ. It is seeing the fluctuations for on these things. ²

Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise From outward things, whate’er you may believe. There is an inmost centre in us all Where truth abides in fullness . . . and to KNOW Rather consists in opening out a way Whence the imprisoned splendour may escape, Than in effecting entry for a light Supposed to be without. Robert Browning Paracelsus

June 2009 347 The Theosophist Fragments of the Ageless Wisdom

In the ancient days, when the first quiver of speech came to my lips, I ascended the holy mountain and spoke unto God, saying, ‘Master, I am thy slave. Thy hidden will is my law and I shall obey thee for ever more.’

But God made no answer, and like a mighty tempest passed away.

And after a thousand years I ascended the holy mountain and again spoke to God, saying, ‘Creator, I am thy creation. Out of clay hast thou fashioned me and to thee I owe mine all.’

And God made no answer, but like a thousand swift wings passed away.

And after a thousand years I climbed the holy mountain and spoke unto God again, saying, ‘Father, I am thy son. In pity and love thou hast given me birth, and through love and worship I shall inherit thy kingdom.’

And God made no answer, and like the mist that veils the distant hills he passed away.

And after a thousand years I climbed the sacred mountain and again spoke unto God, saying, ‘My God, my aim and my fulfilment; I am thy yesterday and thou art my tomorrow. I am thy root in the earth and thou art my flower in the sky, and together we grow before the face of the sun.’

Then God leaned over me, and in my ears whispered words of sweetness, and even as the sea that enfoldeth a brook that runneth down to her, he enfolded me. And when I descended to the valleys and the plains God was there also.

Kahlil Gibran

348 Vol. 130.9 Comments on Viveka-chudamani

SUNDARI SIDDHARTHA

ªANKARÂCHÂRYA, the apostle of bondage?’ A very interesting reason is Advaita Vedânta, wrote scholastic and given by the commentator for taking up technically complex commentaries on the the fourth question first. He says: ‘When Brahma Sutra, the Bhagavadgitâ and the a man is caught in a house on fire, his Upanishad-s. For those with a lesser first impulse will be to douse the flames technical grasp, he wrote other treatises, and escape death. He will not be interested presenting the Truth in a simpler form. In in knowing how the fire was caused, what this genre, the pride of place goes to its extent is, etc.’ Viveka-chudâmani. In 580 mellifluous The Master makes another significant verses, ªankarâchârya narrates a point. There are many things others can sustained dialogue between a master and do for you, but the effort for liberation his disciple on the human predicament, must come from yourself. Others may take the nature of the Ultimate Reality, and the the burden from your head and remove means of attaining freedom from the your suffering, but the suffering that results trammels of samsâra. The pupil humbly from hunger, etc. cannot be appeased by approaches the guru and submits seven anyone but yourself alone. questions (Verse 51). Verses 18 to 27 are also very appealing 1. What is bondage? and popular. They enumerate and define 2. How does it arise? the four qualifications which 3. How does it continue to exist? ªankarâchârya considers essential for a 4. How is one released from it? person aspiring for liberation. These occur 5. What is that which is not the true in most of his shorter treatises. So they self ? are considered an essential part of the 6. Who is the True self ? method of that great Master ªankara. We 7. How is one to distinguish between may think of them as ªankara’s Rules. the two — the true and the untrue self ? Charles Johnston added an appendix to The Master takes up the fourth question his translation of the Viveka-chudâmani, first, namely — ‘How is one released from in which he compares these four

Dr Sundari Siddhartha, MA, PhD, works in the Editorial Office at Adyar.

June 2009 349 The Theosophist prerequisites for Moksha, with parallel no unfitting ones used. Let thy speech be passages from Western mystics, including short, simple and calm’ (A Short Rule, The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à p.58). Kempis, The Spiritual Guide by Miguel These four qualifications, too, must be de Molinos, A Short Rule by the Abbot acquired by the disciple by his own efforts. Ludovicus Blosius of the Order of Saint Though from the beginning the footsteps Benedict and A Serious Call to a Devout of the aspirant have been guided by the and Holy Life by William Law, the Master, yet the conviction of the supreme Anglican mystic. We shall thus have a reality and worth of the spiritual life must sufficiently representative view of the be his own conviction. Western teachings which cover the same One’s own effort is followed by iden- ground as ªankara’s Rules. tification with the Master in heart and The four qualifications are: thought and will. This concept of the 1. Discernment between the Eternal Master or the guru exists in Theosophy and the non-eternal. too. But the Masters are there only till you 2. Freedom from self-indulgence in are well entrenched on the Path. Beyond the fruits of works here and above. that point, you are on your own, of course 3. A group of six virtues — well-equipped with the qualities that have Quietude, Control, Cessation, Endurance, been cultivated and the guidance that has Faith, Concentration. been given by the Master. The foreword 4. Desire for Liberation. to At the Feet of the Master demarcates The book A Short Rule says: ‘When the steps of the aspirant, very much like shall I die to myself and to all created Viveka-chudâmani. The very first words things? When shall nothing live within me are from the Bible: ‘To those who Knock.’ but only thou?’ Then it says, ‘To look at food and say that The Imitation of Christ says: ‘It is no it is good will not satisfy a starving man; hard matter to despise human comfort, he must put forth his hand and eat.’ And when we have that which is divine.’ for that he must know that this is the food Light on the Path says: ‘Learn now that which will appease his hunger. So to hear there is no cure for desire, no cure for the the Master’s words is not enough; we must love of reward, no cure for the misery of do what He says. At the Feet of the Master longing, save in the fixing of the sight and also gives four qualifications, like hearing upon that which is invisible and Viveka-chudâmani. And the very first one soundless. Begin even now to practise it, is viveka. Alcyone uses the word and so a thousand serpents will be kept Discrimination. The numbers and types from your path. Live in the eternal.’ of viveka elucidated there, make it seem Regarding control — ‘Great watchful- as if he is talking to you personally about ness and caution are needful in speaking, your shortcomings and problems. At the that too many words may be avoided and Feet of the Master, to put it in a nutshell,

350 Vol. 130.9 Comments on Viveka-chudamani gives the gist of many of the books of we recite the Git⠗ Arjuna saying ‘O, Eastern Wisdom in simple English. Lord! I perceive everything in you’ (The Viºvarupa in ch.XI). Why the Quest? So what is common to both is ‘the In the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan feeling of wonder’. In the book Sophie’s Publication of Viveka-chudâmani, the World, the philosopher is defined thus: translator P. Sankaranarayanan has pre- ‘the only thing we require to be good sented in his introduction two questions philosophers, is the faculty of wonder’. which can be raised in all sincerity by If you fail to wonder or do not have modern seekers. They may genuinely the scientist’s curiosity to know, you are question the purpose and value of such a but a vegetable. And Alberto describes metaphysical quest in this technological these sedate, run-of-the mill people to age, when man sets himself no limit to the Sophie in a delightful way. He says: conquest of Nature. The translator is himself deep into the quest for spirituality. The whole universe is a source of wonder. So he has an answer ready. ‘The meta- It is, in a way, the white rabbit that the physical quest in the privacy of one’s magician pulls out of his empty hat. And being is no less arduous in its preparation we who live here in the world are and execution and no less exhilarating and microscopic insects existing deep down in fruitful in its result than the adventures of the rabbit’s fur. But philosophers are modern man to set foot on the Moon, and always trying to climb up the fine hairs of now on Mars. Both are adventures of the the fur, in order to stare right into the magi- Spirit to explore the infinite, the one of cian’s eyes. The vegetables are content in ‘The Spirit of Man’, the other of ‘The remaining deep down in the rabbit’s fur. Spirit that is Man’. One really wonders: Who is greater? Jivanmukta The Creator who created this world and In the last part of Viveka-chudâmani Man in it? OR the Creator’s creation — — around Verse 430 — we have a detailed Man, who is so intent on unravelling the expostulation of the man who is free even mystery and intricacies of that creation? in life. He is called Jivanmukta. The The other day my physiotherapist refrain goes on from verse 428 to 441. mentioned that after twenty years’ re- ‘He whose wisdom thus stands firm, search, two scientists have recorded that whose bliss is unbroken, by whom this ‘of the twelve pairs of cranial nerves, the world is well-nigh forgotten, he is said to first — the olfactory nerve, is capable of be free even in life.’ experiencing ten thousand types of The translator raises a question about smells’. I am a student of the Humanities. these Jivanmukta-s and provides an So I was quite thunderstruck. And those answer. The question is: ‘Of what use to scientists in turn are thunderstruck when the world are these Jivanmukta-s? They

June 2009 351 The Theosophist might have secured their own moksha, but reveals to him the steps by which he what good do they do to the world? Even may rise to the self which is without a philanthropist or a social worker is better separateness. than them.’ The Master, in fact, leads the disciple He himself answers, giving the up to and through the first initiation example of Bhagavan Ramana of which opens the arduous road to adept- Tiruvannamalai and says: ‘Have we not ship. Thereafter the disciple sees and must seen him effecting, by his very presence, faithfully follow the ancient, narrow path a Copernican revolution withdrawing stretching away, the path the seers tread men’s minds from things material and towards the goal of divinity. centring them in the âtman?’ I am tempted In the Sanskrit language there is a to quote once again from At the Feet of famous drama, Abhijñâna ªâkuntalam, the Master. In the chapter on Discrimina- written by the great poet Kâlidâsa. It is tion, it is said: ‘You must distinguish not generally believed that Goethe, the great only the useful from the useless, but the dramatist and poet of Germany, was more useful from the less useful. To feed impressed by Kâlidâsa’s ªâkuntalam. the poor is a good and noble and useful Goethe’s work Faust bears the impression work; yet to feed their souls is nobler and of it. I want to conclude with a quotation more useful than to feed their bodies. Any from that Faust: rich man can feed the body, but only those Besinne dich doch! who know can feed the soul. If you know, Nur einen Schritt, it is your duty to help others to know.’ So bist du frei. Just like the Masters of Theosophy, the Master of Viveka-chudâmani reveals to In English, the disciple all the secrets of the complex, Reflect, consider, remember, separated self, in wise and eloquent words, (Resort to introversion), with practical illustrations drawn from Then one step more. our common experience; and further he And thou art free!

The tree which needs two arms to span its girth sprang from the tiniest shoot. Yon tower, nine storeys high, rose from a little mound of earth. A journey of a thousand miles began with a single step. Tao Te King

352 Vol. 130.9 Brother Raja — Our Fourth President

A TS MEMBER

CURUPPUMULLAGE JINARÂJADÂSA (CJ) at the end of the century. It was during was born in 1875 in Ceylon, now this period that Mr Jinarâjadâsa went up Sri Lanka. At the age of thirteen, he to Cambridge. He took up the study of met C. W. Leadbeater. Leadbeater had Sanskrit and Philology. It was his intention organized in 1886 an English School for to qualify in Law as well, but unfortu- boys in Ceylon, which CJ joined that nately his health failed, and he was unable same year. This School grew to become to appear for the Law Tripos examination, the important Ananda College with over though he had done the requisite study a thousand boys. and had gained a high place in the ‘Mays’, In 1889, CJ went to England with the trial examination conducted by the CWL, who assumed responsibility for the College. He also bore a prominent part in boy’s education up to the time he entered another side of the University life, for he St John’s College, Cambridge. CWL joined the Lady Margaret Rowing Club, recalls their arrival in London: and steered his College boat one year in the Lent races to a fourfold victory, there- We reached London the day after by winning for it the headship of the River. Christmas — a glorious season of He took a very good degree in 1900, and happiness and goodwill, no doubt, but almost immediately afterwards returned hardly the best time of the year to transfer to Ceylon, as we had the idea that his a boy from the splendid sunshine of lifework might lie among his own Ceylon to the chilly fogs of London. countrymen. He seems to have been well At the first opportunity I presented Râjâ received, for he was shortly made Vice- to Madame Blavatsky, who was then Principal of the Ananda College, but I staying at 17 Lansdowne Road, and she fancy he soon found that there was but received her future Vice-President very very limited scope there for his talent, and graciously. . . . In 1895 Mrs Besant most felt that he could do more effective work kindly invited us to join the Headquarters in Western countries. (The Theosophist, Staff, which was then established in her November 1993) house at 19 Avenue Road, St John’s Wood, Brother Râjâ, as he was affectionately and we resided there until she sold the lease known, began his career as an

June 2009 353 The Theosophist international lecturer for the TS in 1904. in Tibet, China and Japan, the same mystic He occupied various positions in the truth is proclaimed. The teaching is given Society, including that of international to all, that in each human being exists a Vice-President between 1921 and 1928. Bodhisattva Principle, so that each who He was Director of the Adyar Library desires to tread the Way of the Buddhas, (1930–32) and was awarded the T. Subba necessitating heroic efforts life after life Row Medal in 1913 for his contribution for hundreds of lives, in order to teach to Theosophical literature. He addressed mankind the Great Law, can achieve the audiences in many countries of the world stupendous height of being a Tathâgata, a in English, French, Italian, Spanish and Saviour of mankind, for Bodhi, Supreme Portuguese. He is the author of many Wisdom and Compassion, is at the root books, including First Principles of of his being. Theosophy, Practical Theosophy, The It is by basing our work on this truth, New Humanity of Intuition, What Shall We the eternal Rock of Ages, that we Theo- Teach and Art as Will and Idea. sophists can help mankind. If I have the In his inaugural address as the fourth nature of God within me, if somewhere President of the Theosophical Society, in the recesses of my heart and mind, I Brother Râjâ said on 17 February 1946 at can see a Divine Light shining within me Adyar: . . . it follows that Divine Happiness also We know that divine Truth well here in resides within me, I am then not only ‘the India in the proclamation of the sages that Way, the Truth and the Life’, I am also God and man are one, not two. Tat tvam the fount of Happiness. Convince men that asi, ‘THAT art thou’, is still found written the fount of Happiness is within them- in the scriptures. selves, then little by little the struggle for life diminishes . . . This same truth that God and man are one exists in some other religions also, but Suppose in addition, every Theosophist in mostly as an esoteric doctrine. Said Jesus every Theosophical Lodge were to say Christ, ‘I am the Vine, ye are the branches,’ softly to himself as he meets friend or ‘At that day ye shall know that I am in stranger, ‘THAT art thou, the Vision of My Father, and ye, in Me, and I in you.’ God that I seek, the goal of Mukti which I Said His greatest disciple, St Paul, ‘Christ long for, art thou.’ All our Theosophical in you, the hope of glory.’ Traditions of studies then are a mere accompaniment, an this wonderful revelation, that there is no elaboration in harmonies, of the glorious eternal chasm between the nature of God chant of Unity which rings throughout the and the nature of man, are found universe, linking angel and man, beast everywhere. and plant, in one joyous embrace. Thus, in Buddhism also, as it is understood My Brothers, we shall succeed in our

354 Vol. 130.9 Brother Raja — Our Fourth President

stupendous task. We shall achieve our accompany the true student. There can be dream. For we work, but not alone. With no Wisdom which is unaccompanied by us stand the Great Saviours of the World an ever-increasing sense of Wonder. who have gone before us. Their Blessing His view of Theosophy was dynamic, is with us. Their Strength will uphold us, non-dogmatic, passionate and full of hope as, in Their name and for the love of for the future of humanity. In The mankind, we go forth into the world to Theosophist, ‘Ever New Theosophy’, lessen the load of human misery. March, 1941, we read: It was during Brother Râjâ’s presidency . . . Theosophy is not a system of thought that the School of the Wisdom was started that is concluded. There is no textbook of at Adyar. At its inaugural session, on 17 Theosophy which can say: ‘All Theosophy November 1949, he said: is here.’ There is an important distinction between We, who are old students, must not Wisdom and knowledge. Wisdom will imagine, because we have read many embrace within her field of operations books, attended many study classes, or every form of knowledge; but all even are Theosophical lecturers and knowledge in its entirety does not authors, that we know everything about constitute Wisdom. Theosophy. If we have studied well, we It is the purpose of a School of the realize that there are innumerable new Wisdom to bring each student to survey aspects of Theosophy awaiting discovery things ‘from the centre’. by us. It is just that fact of new dis- coveries in Theosophy which makes The aim of a true School of the Wisdom Theosophy so intensely fascinating. . . . is to enable the individual to cease from being one who gives his intellectual In addition to all these aspects of adherence to a particular school of Theosophy, we have during the last few philosophy, and become by himself one years discovered a new field for who little by little surveys the problem of Theosophical research. It is the domain of life directly from his own standpoint. It is Art. We are beginning to realize that, the School’s purpose to equip its students without an understanding of the inner to become, each according to his own meaning which underlies the creations of temperament and aptitude, philosophers, art, it is not possible for a student of scientists, ethical teachers, artists, givers Theosophy to survey accurately all the of economic law, statesmen, educators, creations of the Divine Mind. town planners and every other possible type How many new and inspiring aspects of of server of humanity. . . . Theosophy, which succeeding generations This intense sense of Life must always of Theosophists will discover, who shall

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say? We are only at the beginning of the identifying ourselves with them by our discovery of Theosophy. imagination and sympathy.

In all these remarks of mine, I want to Brother Râjâ passed away on 18 June make clear my thought that Theosophy 1953, at ‘Olcott’, the Headquarters of is not a philosophy which is static or the Theosophical Society in America. fixed, but one that grows. And therefore Mr N. Sri Ram, who had succeeded him we who are old Theosophists must as President of the TS, in his speech at recollect that Theosophy is for us ever the memorial meeting held in the new. Though we have read Madame Headquarters Hall at Adyar on the Blavatsky’s Secret Doctrine a dozen following day, said of Brother Râjâ: times, we are only at the beginning of There is no aspect of the Theosophical our Theosophical discoveries. For, there work with which he has not been is another Secret Doctrine which many intimately associated during the long of us Theosophists have not so far learned period of his labours for the Society. . . . or read. It is the book of Nature. The sea, the hill, the great mountain range, the He had his own vision of Truth in his cloud, the lake, the tree, the flower, the presentation of Theosophy, which had the pebble, each one of these is one page of a characteristics both of a mystic and an new Secret Doctrine; we must learn to occultist. He was both practical and read those pages also one by one, by idealistic. ²

OFFICIAL NOTICE CONVENTION 2009

In accordance with Rule 46 of the Rules and Regulations of the Theosophical Society, the Executive Committee has determined that the 133rd international Convention of the Theosophical Society will be held at the international Headquarters, Adyar, Chennai, India, from 26 to 31 December 2009.

Dr C. V. Agarwal International Secretary

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East and Central Africa Surrey. The theme was ‘Reincarnation, The 44th Convention of the East and Karma and the Spiritual Path’. The talks Central African Section was hosted by the presented included ‘Reincarnation: the Nile Lodge, Kampala, Uganda, 10–12 Evidence and the Implications’ by Mr April 2009. The theme was ‘Unity in a Peter Barton, ‘Reincarnation: A Personal Changing World’. The guest speaker was Odyssey’ by Mr John Holden, and Mr C. V. K. Maithreya from Chennai, ‘Alchemical Wedding of Soul and Spirit’ India. He also toured Tanzania, Uganda, by Mr George Wood. Kenya and Zambia. The programme India included talks, etc., a question and answer session and a symposium on the subject The 80th Annual Conference of the ‘Unity — A Necessity in the Changing Kerala Theosophical Federation was held World’. Members in Kampala are in Calicut, 2–3 May 2009. The confident of reviving Lodges closed down Conference theme was ‘A Life of Action, in 1972 due to the problems prevailing in Not of Reaction’. The international Vice- Uganda at that time. President, Mrs Linda Oliveira, was the Mr Kiran H. Shah, a past General chief guest and delivered a talk on ‘Karma Secretary of the Section, was elected as and Dharma’. Dr P. Sivadasan, a historian Chairman of the Pan-African Theosophical of the Calicut University, delivered a Federation at the Federation meeting held public lecture on ‘The Theosophical in Kampala during the Convention. He Society and the Social Renaissance in succeeds Mr Tom Davis in that position. Kerala’, which was much appreciated. Mr Navin B. Shah was re-elected as The 89th anniversary of the Bengal General Secretary. Theosophical Federation took place on 4–5 April 2009, followed by a TOS England Conference. The international President, The Southern Federation Spring Mrs Radha Burnier, presided over both Conference, which is organized by the functions. The guest speakers included Mr Foundation of Theosophical Studies in S. Sundaram, General Secretary of the conjunction with the Southern Federation Indian Section, Mr H. K. Sharan, National of the TS in England, was held on 1–3 Lecturer, Indian Section, and Mrs Manju May 2009 at Tekels Park, Camberley, Sundaram. ²

The Divine Wisdom in knowing itself will know all things. Dionysius the Areopagite

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