The Theosophist
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The Third Object of the Theosophical Society
March 2011 THE THIRD OBJECT OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY To investigate unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in humanity. ― Third Object of the Theosophical Society The wording of the Theosophical Society’s three Objects was revised a number of times during the early years of the Society, but they have remained essentially unchanged since 1896. Many of our members associate this Object primarily with psychic powers such as clairvoyance, clairaudience, precognition, telepathy and the like. Certainly the scope of the third Object includes these types of interesting phenomena, but it really goes much deeper than that. In the March 1953 issue of The American Theosophist (AT) , seventy-eight years after the founding of the Society, the Theosophical writer Rohit Mehta observed, “We have yet to understand the full significance of the third Object.” Oddly enough, this may still be the case today. Over the years, deep students of Theosophy have given us hints as to the inner meaning of the third Object. In Human Regeneration , Radha Burnier suggests that “we must see the connection between the three Objects . to the unfoldment of the human consciousness.” In the October 1970 issue of the AT , Joy Mills suggested that the third Object relates to both “a way of knowing” and “a way of living.” By knowing she meant, not an accumulation of intellectual data, but rather a “process of inner comprehension.” Another insight was given by Hugh Shearman in his AT article of June 1949: “Occult truths are never hidden from us by anybody. We reveal or conceal them ourselves individually by what we are and what we are not yet.” In other words, the methods used to gain ordinary knowledge are not sufficient to compre- hend the hidden laws of nature and unfold the latent powers within. -
Painting the Masters. the Mystery of Hermann Schmiechen
Painting the Masters The Mystery of Hermann Schmiechen Massimo Introvigne (UPS, Torino, Italy) Besançon’s Forbidden Image One of the first books where sociology of religion met history of art was L’image interdite. Une histoire intellectuelle de l’iconoclasme, published by French social historian Alain Besançon in 1994 Iconoclasm vs Iconodulism The controversial book argued that Western art history is defined by opposition between iconoclasm (i.e the idea that the sacred should not be represented visually) and iconodulism (i.e support for sacred images) Although the terminology dates back to the Byzantine iconoclastic riots of the 8th century (right), modern Western iconoclasm originated with John Calvin (1509-1564) and became culturally dominant after the Enlightenment Iconoclasm: not against art, but against an art representing God or divine spirits Besançon’s definition of iconoclasm is not identical with some dictionary definitions of the same word. For him, iconoclasm is not against art and may even promote it. It only excludes from the field of art the representation of God and divine spirits or beings Image of Byzantine Emperor Leo III (685-741) on a coin: Leo, a leading iconoclast, was obviously not against representing himself Abstract Art as Iconoclasm Besançon* also argued that: 1. Iconoclasm is a distinctive trait of modernity, and abstract art is its most mature fruit 2. Symbolism, at first sight anti-iconoclastic, by substituting the Christian foundations of sacred art with a very different esoteric spirituality, in fact prepared the way for abstract iconoclasm 3. Several abstract painters, including Piet Mondrian (1872- 1944) passed at one stage through symbolism (Evolution, 1910-1911, left) * … with whom I do not necessarily agree Besançon and Theosophy Besançon claimed to be among the first social historians to devote serious attentions to Madame Blavatsky (1831-1891) and other Theosophical classics. -
The Theosophist
THE THEOSOPHIST VOL. 135 NO. 7 APRIL 2014 CONTENTS On the Watch-Tower 3 M. P. Singhal The many lives of Siddhartha 7 Mary Anderson The Voice of the Silence — II 13 Clara Codd Charles Webster Leadbeater and Adyar Day 18 Sunita Maithreya Regenerating Wisdom 21 Krishnaphani Spiritual Ascent of Man in Secret Doctrine 28 M. A. Raveendran The Urgency for a New Mind 32 Ricardo Lindemann International Directory 38 Editor: Mr M. P. Singhal NOTE: Articles for publication in The Theosophist should be sent to the Editorial Office. Cover: Common Hoope, Adyar —A. Chandrasekaran Official organ of the President, founded by H. P. Blavatsky, 1879. The Theosophical Society is responsible only for official notices appearing in this magazine. 1 THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY Founded 17 November 1875 President: Vice-President: Mr M. P. Singhal Secretary: Dr Chittaranjan Satapathy Treasurer: Mr T. S. Jambunathan Headquarters: ADYAR, CHENNAI (MADRAS) 600 020, INDIA Secretary: [email protected] Treasury: [email protected] Adyar Library and Research Centre: [email protected] Theosophical Publishing House: [email protected] & [email protected] Fax: (+91-44) 2490-1399 Editorial Office: [email protected] Website: http://www.ts-adyar.org The Theosophical Society is composed of students, belonging to any religion in the world or to none, who are united by their approval of the Society’s Objects, by their wish to remove religious antagonisms and to draw together men of goodwill, whatsoever their religious opinions, and by their desire to study religious truths and to share the results of their studies with others. Their bond of union is not the profession of a common belief, but a common search and aspiration for Truth. -
It Will Be My Greatest Happiness to Know That in Its Own Humble Way, Kalakshetra Is Helping to Make More Beautiful, More A
"It will be my greatest happiness to know that in its own humble way, Kalakshetra is helping to make more beautiful, more artistic, the lives of all - that in the education of the young, creative reverence for that spirit of the beautiful which knows no distinction of race, nation or faith has a pre-eminent place..." Rukmini Devi Arundale INTRODUCTION RUKMINI DEVI COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS BHARTANATYAM REPERTORY CARNATIC MUSIC VISUAL ARTS MAP OF KALAKSHETRA PART TIME COURSES SCHOOLS MUSEUM LIBRARIES, ARCHIVES AND PUBLICATIONS PERFORMANCE SPACES CONTACT DETAILS ABOUT OUR FOUNDER RUKMINI DEVI ARUNDALE 1904 -1986 ukmini Devi was born in the temple town of Madurai in Rthe erstwhile Madras Presidency, now in Tamil Nadu. She spent her early years there along with her eight siblings. Her father Neelakanta Sastry who was very “forward thinking” initiated the family into the philosophy of the Theosophical Society, which freed religion from superstition. She grew up in the environment of the Theosophical Society, influenced and inspired by people like Dr. Annie Besant, Dr. George Sydney Arundale, C. W. Leadbeater and other thinkers and theosophists of the time. In 1920, she married Dr. George Sydney Arundale. Although they faced a great deal of opposition from the conservative society of Madras, they stayed firm in their resolve and worked together in the years that followed. KALAKSHETRA'S ORIGINS n August 1935, Rukmini Devi along with her husband Dr. IGeorge Sydney Arundale and her brother Yagneswaran met with a few friends to discuss a matter of great importance to her – the idea of establishing an arts centre where some of the arts, particularly music and dance, could thrive under careful guidance. -
Theosophy and Krishnamurti: Harmonies and Tensions
Theosophy and Krishnamurti: Harmonies and Tensions Hand-out for 2004 Lecture at The Theosophical Society in America Perceptions of the Relationship of the Teachings of Krishnamurti and Theosophy 1) 2) K/T K/T None Besant/Burnier 3) 4) K T K T Anrias/Scott/Hodson/ Krishnamurti/Prophet v.d. Leeuw Theosophical Perceptions of World Teacher Project Genuine Not Genuine Annie Besant K (1980s) Rom Landau Radha Burnier Ouspensky Jean Overton Fuller uccessful Aryel Sanat S C.W. Leadbeater Rudolf Steiner Geoffrey Hodson A. Smythe Scott/Anrias E.L. Gardner Alice Bailey K (1930’s) Failed Ballard/Prophet Comparison between Theosophy and Krishnamurti Category Theosophy Krishnamurti Motto "There is no religion higher "Truth is a pathless land" than truth" Aspects of truth "some portions … "truth has no aspects" proclaimed" Theoretical vs. personal "truth by direct experience" "… through observation" Comparison "Contrast alone …" " … is not understanding " Higher and lower selves 3-fold nature of Self "an idea, not a fact" Reincarnation Part of "pivotal doctrine" "immaterial" Spiritual path(s) Many or One "Truth is a pathless land" (Spiritual) Evolution "perpetual progress for each "Doesn’t exist" "Life can incarnating Ego" not have a plan" Ladders "No single rung of the ladder "the ladder of hierarchical … can be skipped" achievement, is utterly false" Masters "undeniable existence" "Your own projections" Mediators Send out periodically Exploiters Nationalism/Patriotism To be awakened Absurd and cruel Ceremonies "have their place … [and] use "illusions" -
145 1 Empire and Occultism
NOTES 1 Empire and Occultism 1. Eric Mahoney, Religious Syncretism (London: SCM Press, 2006). 2. Quoted from Speech Genres, 2, by Joseph Roach, Cities of the Dead: Circum-Atlantic Performance (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), 187. 3. For magic and the marvellous, Gordon in Valerie Flint, Richard Gordon, Georg Luck and Daniel Ogden, The Athlone History of Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, vol. 2, Ancient Greece and Rome (London: Athlone Press 1999), 168ff. 4. Roger Griffin, Modernism and Fascism: The Sense of a Beginning under Mussolini and Hitler (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007). 5. Griffin’s introduction to Ben Hutchinson, Modernism and Style (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), xii; idem, Terrorist’s Creed: Fanatical Violence and the Human Need for Meaning (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), 53, 73. Key terms from Griffin’s work will intermittently recur in this study. 6. Suzanne Marchand, German Orientalism in the Age of Empire: Religion, Race, and Scholarship (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010). 7. Ibid., 256 for the ‘reconvergence’ point. 8. Mahoney, Syncretism, 118. 9. Gary Lachman, Madame Blavatsky: The Mother of Modern Spirituality (New York: Tarcher/Penguin USA, 2012); Stephen Prothero, The White Buddhist: The Asian Odyssey of Henry Steel Olcott (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2012); Joscelyn Godwin, The Theosophical Enlightenment (Albany: SUNY Press, 1994). 10. Martha Shuchard, Restoring the Temple of Vision: Cabalistic Freemasonry and Stuart Culture (Leiden: Brill, 2002). There are Masonic ‘survivals’ and Cabalistic allusions in Theosophy, but these did not greatly impact on the art world. 11. Catherine Wessinger, Annie Besant and Progressive Messianism, 1874–1933 (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1988); Gregory Tillett, The Elder Brother: A Biography of Charles Webster Leadbeater (London: Routledge Kegan Paul, 1982). -
The Light Bearer
THE LIGHT BEARER SUMMER - 2014 National Library of Canada reference No. 723428. Canada Post Publication mail Agreement number: 40040169 The Light Bearer Satyat Nasti Paro Dharma—There is no Religion Higher than Truth `` the Logo is the Egyptian cross, or Ankh, whispering of the breath of life. It is the resurrection of the Spirit. Volume 20.7 Any and all opinions, ideas, and concepts expressed in this magazine are strictly those of the authors. If I have put in something of yours for which I did not give credit, please let me know that I might do so. May every Theosophical Student find inner wholeness. Copyright © 2014 Canadian Theosophical Association. All Rights Reserved. Theosophy is not a religion, nor a philosophy, but ‘Divine Wisdom’ . Our Seal has 7 elements which represent the spiritual unity of all life. “Om”, at the edit Compiler-Margaret Mason top, is a word which “creates, sustains, and Johnson transforms”. Remember this as you use it in your meditations. Very ancient is the whirling cross or how How the Universe is ‘Swastika’ within the circle below the ‘Om’. Manifested – H.P.B. (Swastika is a compound of SU—a particle meaning Tim Congratulations Tim Boyd! ‘auspicious,’ blessed,’ ‘virtuous,’ ‘beautiful’ and ‘rightly’; and ‘astika’ derived from the verb-root AS— quest The Question – Helen to be; hence ‘that which is blessed and excellent.’- Pearl (poem) ‘Swa’ is one’s Self.) Inside the whirling energy of the Swastika, all is the stillness we hope to find Canada Canada – S.E. Price within our meditations. Our serpent swallows its tail conv Conversations with Radha to the right, representing constant new beginnings. -
Theosophist Oct
THE INDIAN THEOSOPHIST OCT. & NOVEMBER VOL. 113 NO. 10 & 11 CONTENTS MESSAGES 291-292 A STEP FORWARD 293 S.Sundaram PRACTICAL THEOSOPHY 294-299 Radha Burnier THE SECRET OF REGENERATION 300-304 Rohit Mehta THEOSOPHY: ORTHODOXY OR HERESY? 305-307 Joy Mills THEOSOPHY IN DAILY LIFE 308-313 Chittaranjan Satapathy FOUNDERS’ TRAVELS IN INDIA: BEGINNINGS OF THE INDIAN SECTION 314-320 Pedro Oliveira LOOKING AHEAD 321-329 G. Dakshina Moorthy EDUCATION IN THE LIGHT OF THEOSOPHY AND PRESENT DAY CHALLENGES 330-335 Sushila Singh THE TOS IN INDIA 336-342 T.K. Nair EMPOWERING THE VISION 343-346 S.Sundaram NEWS AND NOTES 347-356 Editor S. SUNDARAM Cover Page : The Path to SHANTI KUNJ MESSAGE Dear Brother Sundaram On the significant occasion of the 125th anniversary of the Indian Section , I send my best wishes to all the programmes planned for its commemoration, particularly the seminar on “Looking Ahead” and your special double issue of The Indian Theosophist. The world in which we are living is in crisis, a crisis created by the inadequate unfoldment of our consciousness. New ways of seeing and interacting with each other are forming and require responsible, stable individuals to bring them into their daily lives in order to create a new world. It is my hope that in your time together at the seminar and other functions, and also through your journal, you can develop the mind capable of calling forth that “New World” already in our midst. Peace and blessings, Tim Boyd International President THE INDIAN THEOSOPHIST, Oct. & Nov./2015/ 291 MESSAGE 292/ THE INDIAN THEOSOPHIST, Oct. -
The Theosophist
THE THEOSOPHIST VOL. 136 NO. 6 MARCH 2015 CONTENTS Address to New Members 3 Tim Boyd On Relationship, Part I —Discovering Our Divinity 6 Raphael Langerhorst Transcending Science —A New Dawn - II 12 Jacques Mahnich The Theosophical Society — Finding its Aim? 19 Robert Kitto Weaving the Fabric Glorious 25 Joy Mills Books of Interest 31 Theosophical Work around the World 32 Index 37 International Directory 40 Editor: Mr Tim Boyd NOTE: Articles for publication in The Theosophist should be sent to the Editorial Office. Cover: Nicholas Roerich. ‘Monhegan, Maine’, USA, 1922 Official organ of the President, founded by H. P. Blavatsky, 1879. The Theosophical Society is responsible only for official notices appearing in this magazine. THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY Founded 17 November 1875 President: Mr Tim Boyd Vice-President: Dr Chittaranjan Satapathy Secretary: Ms Marja Artamaa Treasurer: Mr K. Narasimha Rao Headquarters: ADYAR, CHENNAI (MADRAS) 600 020, INDIA Vice-President: [email protected] Secretary: [email protected] Treasurer: [email protected] Adyar Library and Research Centre: [email protected] Theosophical Publishing House: [email protected] & [email protected] Editorial Office: [email protected], Website: http://www.ts-adyar.org The Theosophical Society is composed of students, belonging to any religion in the world or to none, who are united by their approval of the Society’s Objects, by their wish to remove religious antagonisms and to draw together men of goodwill, whatsoever their religious opinions, and by their desire to study religious truths and to share the results of their studies with others. -
The Theosophist
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. -
Differences and Sameness
Diferences and Sameness: Abstract Secularity in the Case of Nicholas Roerich1 The article explores the conceptual structures behind secularity and associated concepts such as immanence versus transcendence and progress versus anachronism by drawing on the life and Mi You and Eszter Szakács activities of Nicholas Roerich (1874–1947). Roerich was a Russian painter, theosophist and archaeolo- gist. He established his reputation both as a spiritual leader and as a painter mixing syncretic religious symbols, from Orthodox Mi You (由宓) is a curator, researcher, and academic staff member at the Academy of Christianity, Theosophy to Tibetan Buddhism. Together with his Media Arts in Cologne. Her long-term research and curatorial project takes the Silk Road as a figuration for deep-time, deep-space, de-centralised and nomadic imageries. Under wife, he pursued—and ultimately failed—to establish Shambhala this theme she has curated a series of performative programmes at the Asian Culture (paradise in Tibetan Buddhism) in the area from Tibet to South- Center Theatre in Gwangju, South Korea, and the inaugural Ulaanbaatar International ern Siberia, in a time of great geopolitical tension. Media Art Festival, Mongolia (2016). Her academic interests lie in performance philoso- phy, science and technology studies, as well as philosophy of immanence in Eastern and Western traditions. She is a Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Germany) We argue that Roerich’s enterprise emerges from the ruins of and serves as advisor to The Institute for Provocation (Beijing). multiple broken orders: the empire/transnationalism, tradi- Eszter Szakács is a curator and editor based in Budapest. She has worked at tranzit.hu tionalism, mysticism, religiosity and Communism on the one since 2011. -
Modernism and the Spiritual in Russian Art New Perspectives
Modernism and the Spiritual in Russian Art New Perspectives EDITED BY LOUISE HARDIMAN AND NICOLA KOZICHAROW https://www.openbookpublishers.com © 2017 Louise Hardiman and Nicola Kozicharow. Copyright of each chapter is maintained by the author. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work; to adapt the work and to make commercial use of the work providing attribution is made to the authors (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information: Louise Hardiman and Nicola Kozicharow, Modernism and the Spiritual in Russian Art: New Perspectives. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2017, https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0115 In order to access detailed and updated information on the license, please visit https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/609#copyright Further details about CC BY licenses are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ All external links were active at the time of publication unless otherwise stated and have been archived via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine at https://archive.org/web Digital material and resources associated with this volume are available at https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/609#resources Every effort has been made to identify and contact copyright holders and any omission or error will be corrected if notification is made to the publisher. The publication of this volume has been made possible by a grant from the Scouloudi Foundation in association with the Institute of Historical Research at the School of Advanced Study, University of London.