THE THEOSOPHIST

VOL. 129 NO. 6 MARCH 2008

CONTENTS

On the Watch-Tower 203 Radha Burnier The Perennial Philosophy 207 Dara Tatray Abiding in the Heart 213 Maria Parisen Studies in The Voice of the Silence, 10 216 John Algeo Theosophy and Eastern Wisdom 221 Sundari Siddhartha Are We Enquirers? 225 G. Ramanathan Adyar, the Hub of the Movement 228 Carin Citroen The Mystery of All Time 231 Anon Theosophical Work around the World 234 Index 236 International Directory 238

Editor: Mrs Radha Burnier

NOTE: Articles for publication in The Theosophist should be sent to the Editorial Office. Cover Picture: Close-up of the unusual Cephalocereus palmeri blossoms — by J. Suresh

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

Becoming More Materialistic? anything which he felt was damaging to It is clear that the present day is one of life, because life is one. But, when on great difficulty. Life has become more business, he ate meat because his com- complicated, but, more than that, human panions expected him to do so. So his activity is becoming more materialistic. standard was one outside, and another It is important that we do not get caught when he was with his family and friends. unconsciously in this movement towards This may be called half ethical. The greater materialism. ethical way is practised when con- Those of us who are interested in the venient, and not otherwise. We have to Theosophical Society should be aware of see, without immediately pointing our this trend. For instance, the whole idea of finger at these people, in what way we profit-making is against living a spirit- are, to some extent or another, following ual life. We can make enough to live in their footsteps. decently, and some more may come by There is really no such thing as half chance, but if the aim of life becomes ethical, but we tend to think that there is. profit-making, in small or big ways, then In a statement by HPB (Lucifer, January it becomes an obstacle to spiritual living. 1890) quoted in the Bulletin of Singapore Yet this is what almost everybody is taught Lodge, she says: to do: to make a profit. It would be easy for each one of us to say ‘I am not profit- A Happy New Year to all! This seems minded’, but this may not be a fact. In easy enough to say, and every one expects small things we like to take advantage some such greeting. Yet, whether the of situations. But ethical ideas are very wish, though it may proceed from a important, and we have to consider care- sincere heart, is likely to be realized even fully what is ethical and what is not, in in the case of the few — is more difficult this world which is full of non-ethical to decide. According to our Theosophical action. By being half ethical, should we tenets, every man or woman is endowed, feel we are on the way? more or less, with a magnetic potentiality, A gentleman who happened to be which, when helped by a sincere and a Jain was conscious that ethics are especially by an intense and indomitable important, so at home he did not eat will, is the most effective of magic levers

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placed by Nature in human hands — for Experiments like this are constantly woe as for weal. Let us then, Theosophists, being done. This article relates that use that will to send a sincere greeting soldiers were taken in a plane and not and a wish of good luck for the New Year told of their destination. All of a sudden to every living creature under the sun — the pilot announced that the engine had enemies and relentless traducers included. stalled, the landing gear was not func- Let us try and feel especially kindly and tioning, and that he was going to ditch forgiving to our foes and persecutors, the plane in the ocean. The men were honest or dishonest, lest some of us should almost sure to die. Then they were handed send unconsciously an ‘evil eye’ greeting out insurance forms and asked to com- instead of a blessing. plete them. The whole thing was a drama; it was acted out to test what would be It is important for us to notice that the reaction of the men. Briefly, the false HPB says that we should send out good- emergency had made them undergo great will. Real goodwill is not an easy thing stress. This article cites a number of (but easy to talk about), especially to- experiments being carried out even today wards those whom we really do not like by people who think they are helping the and to the non-human beings whom HPB progress of mankind. Some knowledge includes in this passage. of this kind, providing bits of information, can be useful for coming to scientific What is Good? conclusions, but is it worthwhile? Some of the worst things in the world In ancient India, they believed that are considered to be good. For instance, all knowledge comes to someone whose in an issue of the Guardian Weekly (9 Nov. mind is capable of receiving knowledge. 2007) a report says that in Oklahoma, This was more important than actually USA, an elephant which did no harm was getting little bits of information. Nobody killed by the Director of the Park by can live long enough to get knowledge shooting into him a cartridge full of of all the world or worlds, if we like to hallucinogenic drugs (LSD). The poor think of the whole universe. Then what animal had no idea what was happening is worth learning? Is knowledge of ethics to him. The LSD was three thousand in general important, or knowledge of times more than what would normally be how every animal, every creature, every given to a human. As soon as it entered human being reacts to what we are doing? his body, the elephant charged around, If ethics are important, that is, right be- trumpeted loudly, behaved madly for a haviour and conduct in life, the whole few minutes and fell down dead. It was problem will be solved in one stroke. a ‘little experiment’ to find out whether Right knowledge has nothing to do with the elephant would become aggressive the behaviour of an elephant when a and secrete a sticky fluid from his glands. huge amount of LSD is pumped into it.

204 Vol. 129.6 On the Watch-Tower Therefore, in India they spoke of for all people, that is, to open out what the lower, or lesser, knowledge and the is hidden inside — the divine conscious- higher knowledge. The lesser knowledge ness. That is the only thing that mat- has to do with the few things in life that ters. If that is understood, everything are important. But we can look at our- else is arranged accordingly. So I think selves and realize that almost all of us we have to divorce ourselves from a great believe in lesser knowledge. If a person deal of modern thinking. Some people has a lot of useless knowledge about have, through science and modern know- various things we think that he is a ledge in general, entered into a whole new special person, that he is better than realm of understanding, but the average other people. But is it true? person has not done so. Most people are Certain important pieces of know- leading a foolish life, based on the idea ledge are more important than all the that only the physical matters. Are we lesser knowledge. For instance, to know different? If the question is a real one, what is and what is not ethical, to know we will find the answer to human growth. what is truly spiritual or not, is important for the human being. We are all travel- Clear Vision and Action ling in that direction. Even those people In what does rightness consist? If who feel hurt go through incarnations perception is not right, then action can- in which they will realize that the kind not be right. According to the Buddha’s of knowledge that they obtain will not teaching, rightness exists when action — help them. This will be very difficult for which may be physical, mental, or verbal them, because they believe in lesser — brings about the well being, happi- knowledge even after they are dead. ness, and wisdom of people. There are It takes incarnations before they get a various depths at which this can be glimpse of what is true; every kind of understood. The teaching of Krishnaji life has its own value. We ourselves was not very far from the core of Buddhist have had some incarnations when we teaching: you see, and then you act. This were not in the same position as we are refers to seeing things as they really are, today, and tomorrow we will be in an- not according to one’s prejudices, the other condition. If we realize this, not just images in the mind of past experiences, talk about it, then we have learned some- and so on. This is difficult, because it thing worthwhile. It is very important means not just seeing what is visible to for us, as students of life, to realize what the physical or mental eye, but what is knowledge we want. But knowledge is in the subtlest, purest vision. not limited if we gain something out of There are varying dimensions to it which affects us very deeply and realize things. When Blake wrote that in a grain what to reject and what to understand. of sand there is the whole world, it may The true purpose of life is the same be strictly true, although it sounds like

March 2008 205 The Theosophist romantic poetry. To see things as rightly one or several of many outer circum- as possible, it is very important to do stances, then we do not see correctly. The what is right, but we do not. We may be whole world looks different when we do spreading darkness and believing that not become conscious that the poison is we are soldiers of light. Believing is very within ourselves. So much of our time much in one’s viewpoint, and is the bone is spent in correcting other people, blam- of contention in many disputes. In the ing them, and criticizing them. So there disagreement between religions, one’s is need for complete tolerance. The real religious understanding has either div- core of Islamic teaching is tolerance, and ided one from teachers and scriptures, one of the essential points in Jaina teach- or it contains the truth and therefore one ing is never to conclude that one knows, believes ‘this only is the truth’. A lot of even if the mind is open. Then it can see people in a subtle way believe that what further and further, at more subtle levels, they see is the truth, and this becomes and become more sensitive. Right per- one of the problems. ception is very important, because wrong If we see suffering as something which perception is one of the basic causes of is not caused by what is within, but by wrong action. ²

To be aware is to see the total process of the mind, not only of the conscious mind, but also of the mind which is hidden and which reveals itself through dreams. . . .

If the mind can be aware of all its own activities, both conscious and unconscious, then there is a possibility of going beyond. To go beyond, the mind must be completely still, but a still mind is not one that is disciplined. A mind that is held in control is not a still mind; it is a stale mind. The mind is still, tranquil, only when it understands the whole process of its own thinking, and then there is a possibility of going beyond.

J. Krishnamurti

206 Vol. 129.6 The Perennial Philosophy: Self and cosmos in the ancient wisdom tradition

DARA TATRAY

THE perennial philosophy might be de- and assumptions of just one or two cultures scribed as a group of spiritual but not and climes. But if the words are not taken sectarian philosophies found in the East too literally we might see through to the and the West, in which contemplation underlying meaning, in which case we and self-examination play a significant will in fact be getting to the heart of the part. It is called ‘perennial’ because of matter as understood by most, if not all, its age, universality, and consistency. exponents of the perennial philosophy. As Madame H. P. Blavatsky and many Let us begin with a very brief over- others have noted, it has existed in an view. The first thing you will find when unbroken line since time immemorial studying the perennial philosophy is that and will most likely remain long after the whole thing revolves around unity. passing fads and fashions have come and It is believed that there is a unity in the gone in the world of philosophy. Its chief cosmos that is deeply real, although not aim is the transformation in consciousness immediately obvious. This unity exists sometimes referred to as Enlightenment, not only in a spiritual and metaphoric Liberation or Self-realization. Thus, the sense, but physically as well; it is the truth perennial philosophy is not just con- of matter as much as it is the truth of spirit. cerned with different ways of seeing the However, it takes training and insight to world, but also with different ways of see this. As a result, a great deal of atten- being in the world. tion is paid to various methods of attaining Here I propose to give a brief outline this insight. of this ancient tradition, but focusing on Another thing that is obvious quite its treatment of the self, that is, the human early on, is that there is a particular attitude being. We have to keep in mind, however, towards the human being: at once realistic that because this tradition spans literally and grand. It is understood that the human thousands of years and has Eastern and being is bodily, and even to some extent Western variants, whatever I say is inev- mentally, an animal. Yet there is more to itably going to be couched in the language us than might be assumed from the

Dr Dara Tatray is a National Lecturer of the Australian Section of the Theosophical Society.

March 2008 207 The Theosophist biological and mental processes taking of our seeing. According to Aldous place in the body/mind complex. The Huxley, the perennial philosophy is: human being is regarded as a microcosm ♦ a metaphysic that recognizes a divine or reflection of the totality, with the unique Reality substantial to the world of things potential of realizing this fact. But there is and lives and minds; something about human consciousness a psychology that finds in the soul that makes it dull, unreceptive, resistant ♦ something similar to, or even identical to change, and intractably stubborn. That with, divine Reality; and something is thought — our nemesis. The trick is for us to balance two equally real ♦ an ethic that places man’s final end but opposing forces: our inherent limita- in the knowledge of the immanent and tions and our unique potential. As the transcendent Ground of all being. (Huxley, Islamic scholar Seyyed Hossein Nasr 1947, p. 1) put it: ‘There is within us a reality that Thus we can see that aside from broad is the source of the cosmos itself.’ cosmological and metaphysical questions, Because the human being is the sum the perennial philosophy is also concerned total of both these realities, a great deal with human nature and specifically with of the ‘psychology’ of the perennial philo- psychology, or better still, pneumatology sophy comes down to a very profound — from pneuma, meaning breath or spirit. kind of self-examination, which leads to We would then have something like the actual realization of our inherent one- psyche-ology instead of psychology: the ness with the totality of life, the underlying science of the soul rather than just of the reality. Basically, although this may sound mind, as modern psychology conceives prosaic in the circumstances, it all comes of it. Of concern here, in the broadest and down to order in consciousness: a place deepest possible sense, is the question: for everything and everything in its place. What is a human being? Order in consciousness implies that we In contrast to the perennial philosophy, understand the structure of consciousness modern science and analytic philosophy and the process of thought, and that we are based on the assumption that the can tell the real from the unreal, the chang- human being is a thinking animal and that ing from the eternal, the finite from the reason is our highest capacity. They tend infinite. Then things sacred and profane to ignore the other two chief functions of fall into place quite naturally. the mind: namely, the higher reaches of To put thought into that sort of order human intelligence or buddhi, and the requires that we pay attention to it. Thus, I-making principle, ahamkâra. Various contemplation is paramount in this trad- schools of Hindu metaphysics make it ition. Whether in consciousness or in quite clear that rational, linear thought is terms of the environment, order depends just one function of the mind. The mind largely on the quality, extent, and depth is also capable of direct intuitive per-

208 Vol. 129.6 The Perennial Philosophy ception, and, at the human level, it also that need not concern us here.) Neuro- constantly engages in the practice of scientists have treated the brain as largely I-making. A focus on only one aspect of triune in composition. The oldest part the mind, the rational, has arguably left of the brain, the brain stem, is known as modern analytic philosophy impover- the ‘reptilian cortex’, and is said to be ished and without clear direction. responsible for territoriality, aggression, Unless we have a grip on both our and ritual (Ferris, 1993, p. 73). Situated divine potential and our inherent limi- above that is the limbic system respon- tations, we have no sure guide through sible for sexual instincts and powerful the vicissitudes of life. To again quote emotions. The most recent and ‘human’ Seyyed Hossein Nasr: part of the brain is the neocortex. This Modern science may enable man to know is the seat of language, geometry, and how he is constituted chemically or bio- abstract thought. All these phases of logically or where he is in galactic space. brain development trace our history as But this form of science cannot tell man human beings. But there is something who he is, where he was before his earthly more. In some respects the brain or the existence, and where he will be after it. mind is still developing. Evidence of this It cannot reveal to man where he stands is to be found in studies of meditation. in what has been called existential space, A fairly recent talk on meditation at the in the hierarchy of universal existence. Theosophy Science Conference at Spring- It therefore cannot provide for man brook, Australia, showed that scientists ‘orientation’, for to orient man’s life studying meditation have discovered that means to know where he comes from, during meditation gamma waves con- where he is to go, and, most of all, who nect all the different parts of the brain, he is. (Nasr, 1974, pp. 205-6) so that they all work more efficiently So where have we come from, what are (Kwitko, 2006). Meditation also has an we, and where are we to go? observable effect on the left prefrontal Bodily and mentally we have much in lobe, which is responsible for positive common with the animal, vegetable, and emotions such as happiness. mineral domains. Yet there is more to us What scientists have observed taking than might be supposed, judging by the place in the brain during meditation — chemical, biological, mental, and emo- and their exploration has only just tional processes taking place in the begun — may indicate that the brain body and the mind as they are so far also reflects what we might call our understood. divine or full potential, and not just our Various aspects of our nature are re- historic development. flected in the structure of the brain. (Most The Hermetic and Platonic traditions scientists would probably say they are point out that there is something specific- caused by the structure of the brain, but ally human in the brain that does not arise

March 2008 209 The Theosophist from our animal nature, but, as Paracelsus breath. This has not been by accident, as once remarked, comes from the stars: it is very important to take those two together. We are limited beings with a Everything that comes from the flesh is potential that is almost limitless. That animal and follows an animal course; may be paradoxical, but I think it is true. heaven has little influence on it. Only that Furthermore, unless we recognize and which comes from the stars is specifically understand both our limitations and our human in us; this is subject to their influence. But that which comes from the potential we are not likely to reach the spirit, the divine part of man, has been latter. For instance, before we can see formed in us in the likeness of God, and for ourselves whether or not there is a upon this neither earth nor heaven has any Ground of Being, an ultimate Truth, influence. (Paracelsus, 1951/1995, p. 39) God, or anything of that kind, we must understand our own minds and all the Let us not take ‘the stars’ too literally — forces active therein that propel us away we may or may not have come from an- from ‘what is’, away from reality. other planet; there is more than one way Another interesting aspect of the to be a celestial being. But the above dynamic relationship between our pos- remark certainly reflects a common tri- sibilities and our limitations — and it is partite classification of the human being a dynamic relationship, always in move- into body, soul, and spirit — with the ment — concerns the fact that our po- body taking an animal course, the spirit tential lies in what has traditionally been existing in complete freedom in the like- regarded as our divine or theomorphic ness of God under the influence of neither nature, whilst our limitations lie in the heaven nor earth, and somewhere in things with which we normally tend to between, the soul, our ethereal, celestial, identify, such as the body and the mind. or psychic nature. The bodily element I recently came across a wonderful ex- is commonly represented by the earth, pression of this teaching in the Islamic the ethereal nature by the moon, and the tradition as portrayed by Seyyed Hossein spirit, which is the ultimate source of Nasr, already quoted in this paper. Nasr life and light, is often symbolized by the explains that Islam is based on ‘the sun. This representation may be limited, encounter between God considered in his but it well expresses the relationship ex- absoluteness’ AND MAN CONSIDERED IN isting between the various states of being HIS FULL NATURE. All creatures mirror open to each of us (Burckhardt, 1974, the divine in some way, but, as the teach- p.159). This type of scheme gives us ing goes, the human being is unique in some degree of orientation in the wide being the mirror of all of God’s qualities. world of possibilities and limitations. As Nasr put it: I have already mentioned our pos- Only man reflects all of the divine names sibilities and limitations in the same and qualities, and this moreover in a cen-

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tral and conscious manner. By virtue of physical world as if we were God’s little this relation . . . he is a ‘central being’ in deputies. We tend to lord it over creation this world, always located in an ‘existential without first submitting to our real mas- space’ in which the vertical, transcendent ter, whether conceived as God ‘above’ dimension is present. Whether he is or the âtman within; without submitting aware of it or not, man’s situation in this either to God or to our true potential. ‘space’ is not just horizontal and material. Nasr points out that if we are central beings The vertical, spiritual axis stands always or microcosms, it is only because of our before him. Reality for man is always theomorphic or God-derived nature. We three-dimensional, whether man chooses are not microcosms because we have egos to live in a two-dimensional, material the size of the great outdoors. And he world devoid of the dimension of depth or height . . . or whether he realizes fully points out that: the infinite third dimension beyond the When man boasts most about conquering limited horizontal surface of existence. Nature, the reverse process has taken (Nasr, 1974, pp. 206-7) place, namely an apparent and outward conquest . . . combined with complete lack So here we have the idea that the of asceticism, spiritual discipline, and human being is a central being unique in self-negation, which therefore makes all of creation. But if we are unique it is man more than ever a prisoner of his only because in us the vertical trans- own passions and natural inclinations. cendent dimension is always present, (Nasr, 1974, p. 211) whether we are aware of it or not, and because in us there is the possibility, Another important teaching concerns indeed the destiny, of becoming fully the limits to reason. Nasr explains that aware of it. Thus, the teaching is not just reason is the shadow of the intellect. a pat on the back for humanity, it also It should not be running the show. strongly implies the need for some action In common parlance reason and intellect on our part. Something must yet be done are more or less synonymous terms. by us before we can fully taste or ex- But in this tradition, the word ‘intellect’ perience the wonder of human nature, is sometimes used to refer to a higher which is ultimately divine or limitless. intelligence, as in the Platonic term We may be three-dimensional spiritual intellectus, which is not rational, linear, beings largely defined by the vertical analytic thought, but more like intuition spiritual axis — as every version of the or insight. In this vein, Nasr continues: perennial philosophy would have it — but If it remains subservient to the intel- in practice we tend to ignore the spiritual lect...then it is a positive instrument that element and deny our theomorphic or can aid man to journey from multiplicity God-derived nature. At the same time, to Unity. But if it rebels against however, we still seek to dominate the its own source, against both the intellect

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and revelation, then it becomes the source ‘borrowed’. This is an important teaching of disharmony and dissolution . . . . If because it emphasizes not only the divine modern man has been able to dominate potential within the human being, but also but at the same time destroy Nature the way to it, which is not via the human and himself more than men of all other being as generally conceived, not through civilizations, it is precisely because with the ego or the intellect, but through our him, more than ever before, reason has higher natures. We must penetrate beneath been made independent of its principle. the surface of the mind to come to that In such a condition reason becomes like which is divine in us. We must submit to an acid burning through the tissues of the real master of Nature before we can the cosmos. (Nasr, 1974, pp. 213-14) safely dominate Nature, or even interact That last sentence deserves to be con- with Nature without causing monumental templated at some length, but, putting the harm, as is presently the case. whole argument in a more modern idiom, This and numerous other teachings we might say that it is only when the brain along similar lines, East and West, com- or thought is subservient to insight or prise the perennial philosophy, which is intelligence that we act rightly or know not so much a body of knowledge as a what it is good to do. A similar idea was Way of Wisdom. It is concerned with the expressed by J. Krishnamurti and David nature of the measurable, the existence Bohm in one of their dialogues. Address- of the Immeasurable, and the relationship ing the relationship between the brain between the two. Above all, it seeks to and intelligence, they agreed that the brain help us overcome the general lack of can be an instrument of intelligence, insight into what is eternal and what is thought can be a pointer to intelligence; transitory, what is Real and what is only but in itself thought is barren, it has no imagined. This is the domain of the true value without intelligence (Dialogue with philosophy and spiritual ethics that are Bohm in Krishnamurti, 1986, p. 520). In the chief subject matter of the peren- this sense, too, our power is at best only nial philosophy. ²

Works consulted Burckhardt, T., (1974), ‘Cosmology and modern science’, The Sword of Gnosis, Jacob Needleman, Baltimore, Maryland, Penguin Books, pp. 122-78. Ferris, T., (1993), The Mind’s Sky: Human Intelligence in a Cosmic Context, New York and London, Bantam. Huxley, A., (1947), The Perennial Philosophy, London, Chatto & Windus. Krishnamurti, J., (1986), The Awakening of Intelligence, London, Victor Gollancz. Kwitko, A., (2006), The Science of Meditation, Theosophy Science Retreat, Springbrook, Queensland. Nasr, S. H., (1974), ‘Who is Man? The perennial answer of Islam’, The Sword of Gnosis, Jacob Needleman, Baltimore, Maryland, Penguin Books, pp. 203-17. Paracelsus, (1951/1995), Paracelsus Selected Writings, Edited with an introduction by Jolande Jacobi, Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press.

212 Vol. 129.6 Abiding in the Heart (Convention Symposium Talk, Adyar, 27 December 2007)

MARIA PARISEN

THE heart holds a central place in Theo- heart so fully that nothing can satisfy ex- sophy, where its spiritual importance is cept bringing it to life. The wholeness of often mentioned. As the essence and human nature is encoded here: the story centre of our being, heart wisdom flows of evolution, patterns yet latent, the through body, soul, and spirit. The heart guiding influence of superior beings. is at once a physical organ of perception HPB is clear about the heart’s role in and action, dynamic field of empathic spiritual practice (CW, XII, 695-6). She relations, radiant intuitive sphere, and points out that the heart and brain are seat of the innermost Self. Light on the linked energetically in polarity. In the Path (II: 9-11) counsels, ‘Regard earnest- ordinary person, the heart’s activity is ly all the life that surrounds you. Learn negative in relation to the brain, centre of to look intelligently into the hearts of kâma-manas. As electrical current flows men. Regard most earnestly your own from positive to negative, impressions heart.’ Recent scientific research has flow from brain to heart. Thus we live begun to confirm the theosophical view, primarily through thinking coloured by helping to bring the heart’s role in con- desire, with intuition and will mostly sciousness to a receptive public. latent. A Master of the Wisdom observes: HPB states that of all the body’s organs, ‘The world teems with the results of the heart is the only one of spiritual intellectual activity and spiritual decrease’ consciousness. The Spiritual Self, Âtmâ- (ML No. 14 /66). HPB notes that spiritual Buddhi-Manas, is seated in seven modes consciousness can prevail when we of heart intelligence, seven ‘brains’ with- reverse the existing polarity, when our in the Heart; these correspond to seven heart is pure and positive. Hierarchies. HPB states, ‘The Eastern The effort should be continually made Secret School knows each minute por- to centre the Consciousness in the Heart, tion of the Heart, and has a name for and to listen for the promptings of each portion. It calls them by the names the Spiritual Consciousness, for though of the Gods’ (CW, XII, 694-6). Divine success be far off, a beginning must be intelligence and love pervade the human made, and the path opened up.

Mrs Maria Parisen is a National Lecturer for the Theosophical Society in America and is a staff member of the Krotona Institute of Theosophy in Ojai, California.

March 2008 213 The Theosophist Current research affirms what mystics Feelings of kindness, compassion, and and occultists have long known: the heart’s gratitude produce a smooth, rolling heart intelligence is subtle but powerful. The rhythm that researchers call ‘coherent’, electromagnetic (EM) field of the physical while anger, fear, and frustration produce heart is 5,000 times stronger than that of a ‘jagged and capricious — “incoherent” the brain. Its EM field can be detected ten — image’ (Kamp, 25). During coherence, feet from the body and extends indefinitely the heart’s EM field gains depth and into space. As the heart connects directly power. Large groups of cells in the brain with brain intellectual centres, its percep- begin to vibrate to the heart’s rhythm, tions help us find meaning in sensation, and the brain waves ride on top of the store emotional memory, problem-solve, heart waves. As heart and brain functions reason and learn (Buhner, 40-1). The shift, so does our perception and action heart’s action field, boundless in potential, (Buhner, 41). Medical practice is chang- may influence others nearby. Scientists ing in the light of these findings, slowly now echo the wisdom of the ancients: turning towards harmonious living. As for health and healing, centre conscious- we centre in love, the lower emotional ness in the heart. Through refined emo- field may be as steady as a pendulum. tion (kindness, compassion, aspiration), Meditations deepening love and com- strengthen the heart’s telligence. passion are central to the path, as a Human evolution involves awakening sure foundation for equanimity, self- to wise action in many worlds. The phys- knowledge, brotherhood, and service. ical world, where apparent separateness Metaphysical and religious images for and individuality prevail, exerts a very heart consciousness include our familiar strong pull. The realm of universal con- interlaced triangles, the holy cross, and a sciousness, where unity is primary, like- fully opened rose or lotus. All convey wise calls us to itself. Between these harmony and wholeness in the midst of realities stretch vast middle worlds, where great activity. In Eastern occultism, the spiritual perception may be gradually un- heart chakra is the fourth of seven major veiled. The student of occultism must find centres which bridge the physical body an emotional and mental equilibrium as it and subtle fields. The heart chakra is encounters the wide-ranging forces in named anâhata, a Sanskrit term meaning these worlds. As it opens to suffering and ‘unstruck’. The sound of the heart, its joy, darkness and light, good and evil, sacred song or voice, arises not from delight and terror, the heart must be two things striking together. Rather, the steadied in goodwill, in love. Our emo- heart’s song affirms an eternal harmony, tional and mental fields must change from the wisdom of love. an unsettled turmoil to a rhythmic state, Scientists confirm another principle as storm-tossed waves when calmed be- of occultism, that the heart interacts come regular and reflective. with other fields, entering into a kind of

214 Vol. 129.6 Abiding in the Heart dialogue. When two heart fields vibrate heart must ‘thrill in response to every in unison, they exchange information; sigh and thought of all that lives and one may lead or capture the other’s in- breathes’ (vv. 217, 225). clination, a relation termed ‘entrainment’. The heart knows and acts through During many months in the womb, an aesthetic participation, through inspir- infant’s heart entrains with information ation. A brilliant sunset, a child’s pure and meaning in the mother’s heart, in- smile, a puppy bounding to us for play: cluding how she feels about her baby; simple things may bring a gasp of delight. the exchange continues after birth. Purified and awake, the heart merges Stephen Harrod Buhner writes (40-2): with something beautiful and good in We all live immersed in meaning-filled whatever it beholds. The heart is stilled in fields of information. These fields flow reverence before messengers of spiritual into us from the moment of our birth. power, whatever forms they take; it lends We experience these fields not as a stream itself to cries of pain as easily as the lotus of words on a page but as emotions, the seeks the sun. The heart nurtures, and is touch of life upon us. This interchange, renewed, through giving of itself. The rooted in our hearts, alters our lives, disciple must be eager for a dialogue shapes its quality, reminds us that we are never alone. It reconnects us to the not of words, but of one’s whole being. ground of being from which we come HPB speaks of a heart-space of silence, and nurtures in us a natural empathy where in hours of meditation we may find with the world around us . . . we are made refuge, a measure of calmness (CW,VIII, for the unique nature of each thing to 127-9). Sink your consciousness deep in pass into us through our hearts, which the heart, she advises, and you will reach store memories of this thing, and engage this place. Even in the midst of turmoil, it in dialogue. confusion, doubt, weariness, the silent Heart wisdom is aesthetic. In Greek sanctuary holds. But HPB reminds us thought, sensation and perception were that even as we rest, we must not lose termed aisthesis, taking life into oneself, sight of the battle. Until all is silence breathing it in. The Voice of the Silence within and without, until we have come uses similar imagery. At the threshold to a place of complete self-forgetfulness, of the path, the disciple must ‘live in the the journey continues. As we seek out eternal . . . live and breathe in all, as the way, let us serve that Great Heart, all that thou perceivest breathes in thee, the Supreme Soul whose love-wisdom to feel thyself abiding in all things, all blesses every step and whose eternal things in Self ’ (v. 217). And, again, the peace welcomes each pilgrim home. ²

Stephen Harrod Buhner, ‘The Heart as an Organ of Perception’, Spirituality & Health, March-April 2006, pp. 38-43. Jurriaan Kamp, ‘A Change of Heart Changes Everything’, Ode, June 2005, pp. 23-7.

March 2008 215 The Theosophist Studies in The Voice of the Silence, 10

JOHN ALGEO

VERSES 135 to 141 continue the call [139] If thou wouldst reap sweet peace to action of the altruistic verses 123-134 and rest, disciple, sow with the seeds of and introduce a new metaphor, that of the merit the fields of future harvests. Accept ‘three vestures’, which becomes a major the woes of birth. expression of the call to action in the rest [140] Step out from sunlight into shade, of the Voice. to make more room for others. The tears that water the parched soil of pain and VERSES [135-141]: sorrow bring forth the blossoms and fruits of Karmic retribution. Out of the furnace [135] Sow kindly acts and thou shalt reap of man’s life and its black smoke, winged their fruition. Inaction in a deed of mercy flames arise, flames purified, that soar- becomes an action in a deadly sin. Thus ing onward, ’neath the Karmic eye, weave saith the Sage. in the end the fabric glorified of the three [136] Shalt thou abstain from action? vestures of the Path.20 Not so shall gain thy soul her freedom. [141] These vestures are: Nirmânakâya, To reach Nirvâna one must reach Self- Sambhogakâya, and Dharmakâya, robe knowledge, and Self-knowledge is of sublime.21 loving deeds the child.

[137] Have patience, candidate, as one COMMENT. Verses 135 and 136 treat the who fears no failure, courts no success. subject of karma. The word karma means Fix thy Soul’s gaze upon the star whose literally ‘action’ but is generally under- 17 ray thou art, the flaming star that shines stood as referring to the results that within the lightless depths of ever-being, inevitably follow any action. And so the boundless fields of the Unknown. verse 135 begins with a reminder that [138] Have perseverance as one who doth being kind to others will result in kind- for evermore endure. Thy shadows live ness coming to you. This is the most basic 18 and vanish; that which in thee shall live and practical moral principle, one that for ever, that which in thee knows, for it is the subject of the opening chapter of is knowledge,19 is not of fleeting life: it is the Dhammapada: the man that was, that is, and will be, for whom the hour shall never strike. All that we are is the result of what we

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

216 Vol. 129.6 Studies in The Voice of the Silence, 10

have thought: it is founded on our we know the real Self within are we free. thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. And how do we achieve that knowledge? If a man speaks or acts with an evil Not, as we might suppose, by study or thought, pain follows him, as the wheel meditation (good as those are), but rather follows the foot of the ox that draws by a third thing: service or, as the Voice the wagon. . . . If a man speaks or acts calls it, ‘loving deeds’, that is, right with a pure thought, happiness follows action — action prompted by love. him, like a shadow that never leaves him. When we act out of love, we discover Immediately after that observation who we are. When we know who we are, about karma as the fruit of action, the we are free of the bonds that tie us to this Voice considers the nature of action and world. What the world regards as success inaction — a false dichotomy because or failure is irrelevant to that freedom, ‘inaction’, as a decision not to act, is in which is the only thing that really mat- fact a kind of action. The Voice tells us ters. Verse 137 goes on to compare our that negative virtues have little to rec- real Self to a star, of which our personal ommend them. If we have the opportun- identity is only a ray of light. In the ity to do good, the failure to respond to Theosophical tradition, it is said that when that opportunity has bad consequences. a disciple becomes an adept, the Star of The second sentence in verse 135, Initiation blazes forth. That is a symbol ‘Inaction in a deed of mercy becomes of the discovery of who we really are — an action in a deadly sin’, resumes the the blazing star that shines through our theme of verse 126 and echoes the plight personality, or as HPB puts it in a gloss: of Arjuna in the Bhagavadgitâ. Being Gloss 17. Every spiritual Ego is a ray confused about what he should do, Arjuna of a Planetary Spirit, according to decided he would do nothing. But K·shna esoteric teaching. pointed out to him that the very decision The esoteric teaching referred to here not to act was an action, and thus he had is doubtless that of the cosmic seven committed himself by seeking to avoid Rays; each of us is a ray of one of those commitment. Rays. Ultimately we are all rays of the Verse 136 continues the examination one eternal central Sun. Or, as verse 138 of this subject by looking on the positive puts it, our temporary personalities are side. If we do not become free by avoiding shadows of that one light. Shadows come action, but only more entangled, how do and go, being impermanent: we become free? Verse 136 says that free- dom depends on Self-knowledge, that is, Gloss 18. ‘Personalities’ or physical on knowing who we really are. When we bodies are called ‘shadows’, as they are are ignorant of our true nature, we are evanescent. bound by all the limitations of the per- It is notable that our personality is sonality and its conditioning. Only when here equated with our physical body,

March 2008 217 The Theosophist in and through which our personality and indeed even across the periods of develops. A physical body with its per- cosmic rest called ‘pralaya-s’ that separate sonality is of one lifetime only; neither one period of manifestation from another. survives that lifetime. What survives Thus, practically speaking, our indi- and is permanent (or as permanent as viduality (âtmâ-buddhi-manas) never anything in a world that is always ceases to be, but is our inner Self ‘that changing) is the individuality, which is was, that is, and will be, for whom the encapsulated in the principle of pure hour [of ending] shall never strike’. (or higher) mind within us. That prin- This Theosophical view is that the ciple is the faculty by which we know relationship between the absolute One and what really is and especially who we are. the relative Many is a mystery and a It is also what we know, both the means paradox. We are both all one and yet and the object of knowledge: individually distinct. This paradoxical mystery is expressed in a poem by Kabir, Gloss 19. Mind (manas), the thinking a saintly poet from India, who uses a Principle or Ego in man, is referred to familiar metaphor for it, namely, the as Knowledge itself, because the human Egos are called Mânasa-putra-s, the sons relationship between the sea and a drop of (universal) Mind. of water that comes from it: One of the characteristic features of I went looking for Him And lost myself; Theosophical thought is its teaching that The drop merged with the Sea — our individuality, expressed through the Who can find it now? principle of manas or mind, will never cease to be. Some forms of Indic thought Looking and looking for Him, emphasize that, since we are expressions I lost myself; The Sea merged with the drop — of the Ultimate Reality (whether it is Who can find it now? called Brahman or Nirvâna or some- thing else), any separate identity is mere On the one hand, we can say that we illusion. Hence everything about us, are drops of water which come from the including our individuality, is unreal. sea and are finally merged into it, so that A typical Theosophical response is we, as separate realities, are lost in the that, although in truth only one ultimate sea, returning to our source and ceasing Reality exists (Parabrahman or whatever to be, as separate units. ‘Who can find it we call it), the ultimate One is unknow- [the separate drop] now?’ able but manifests in the relative world But, on the other hand, we can also in a multitude of forms, some of which say that when we find that Ultimate are evanescent and some of which (name- Reality for which we are searching, it ly the individual expressions of the becomes us. We do not lose our sense of monad) abide throughout manifestation identity, but instead are immeasurably

218 Vol. 129.6 Studies in The Voice of the Silence, 10 and inconceivably enriched by the know- woeful and sweet, shady and sunny, ledge (the gnosis) that we and it are one. parched and blossoming, smoky and In this sense, the drop does not merge bright with light. into the sea; rather the sea merges into the Verse 140 introduces another meta- drop and thus realizes its identity, both phor, that of the ‘three vestures’, which is One and Many, both united and distinct. an important theme in this and the last ‘Who can find it [the sea separate from Fragment of the book. The three vestures the drop] now?’ are identified by name in verse 141 and This Theosophical view thus resolves two glosses refer to a gloss in Fragment 3 the dichotomy of the Hindu teaching that discusses the subject in some detail. that at the core of our being there is an We will come to that gloss in its proper ‘âtm⒠or Self, and the Buddhist teaching place, but here we can consider an over- that at our core there is only anâtman or view of these vestures. no (an-) self (âtman). Both are true, but The concept of the three vestures is in different ways. We are not ultimately a Buddhist one, though interpreted and absolutely separate from the One somewhat differently in various schools Reality (the only Ultimate and Absolute), of Buddhism. Blavatsky also thought so there is no separate self, but only an- that the way Western scholars generally âtman. However, we are an individualized understood the concept was inadequate. expression in the relative world of the Because it is such an important concept ultimate and absolute Reality, so there in the Voice, it is worth considering in is a Self at the heart of our being — the some detail. Even the literal sense of the same Self as at the heart of every other words is noteworthy. being, though expressed in relatively The general term for the concept in different ways in each of us. The paradox Sanskrit is trikâya, from tri ‘three’ and is that these apparently contradictory kâya, literally ‘body’, but in this context statements are both true: We are the Self, usually translated ‘sheath’ or ‘vesture’. and we have no self. The word kâya also refers to the trunk Eastern, and especially Indic, thought of a tree, among other uses. The Buddha is full of paradoxes like this. Another (not just the historical Siddhârtha Gau- related one is the teaching of Buddhism tama, but the metaphysical Buddha nature that all life is duhkha, usually translated or Buddha-ness that manifests in all ‘pain’ or ‘suffering’ but perhaps more historical Buddhas) is said to have three adequately rendered as ‘frustration’, ‘in- bodies or vestures. security’, or ‘dissatisfaction’, versus the The first of these is the nirmânakâya, Hindu teaching that all life is an expres- the body or vesture of transformation. sion of ânanda, ‘bliss’, ‘delight’, or ‘joy’. Nirmâna as an independent word means Both are true. As verses 139 and 140 say ‘measuring’ and hence ‘building’, ‘mak- in a series of metaphors, life is both ing’, or ‘creating’, and, since all acts of

March 2008 219 The Theosophist creation involve change, it also means such as the bodhisattvas; it is expressed ‘transformation’. The nirmânakâya, or by all the archetypal, symbolical Buddhas. body of transformation and change, is The nirmânakâya or ‘body of making and usually said to be the historical Buddha changing’ is the empirically manifested in incarnation, as ordinary human beings Buddha, the historical incarnations of might see him. the Buddha nature, such as Siddhârtha The second is the sambhogakâya, the Gautama. body or vesture of enjoyment. Sambhoga Understood in this way, the doctrine means basically ‘pleasure’, ‘delight’, ‘love of the trikâya or three bodies is that there leading to union’. The sambhogakâya is are three levels of existence: (1) one we usually understood as a heavenly or arche- are all aware of and experience, an outer typal manifestation of the Buddha, as reality in which the Buddha nature in- Bodhisattvas or other heavenly beings carnates as a human being, a teacher might see him, that is, as an idealized form. (the nirmânakâya); (2) one that can be The third is the dharmakâya, the body seen by ‘the eye of faith’ or experienced or vesture of dharma — a word for which by the imagination, an inner reality in no single English equivalent exists. It is which the Buddha nature is expressed usually translated ‘law’, but has many in great archetypal forms (the sambhoga- meanings, all related but depending on kâya); and (3) one beyond all experience, the context. In this context, perhaps we the ultimate reality, which is the very can think of dharma as that which abides, Buddha nature (the dharmakâya). the Ground of all existence, the ultimate Blavatsky’s presentation of the three Reality, the Absolute. All of the Buddhas vestures in subsequent verses and in or enlightened beings exist in that the last Fragment is somewhat different, Reality, indeed are that Reality. The as we shall see. dharmakâya is said to be the Buddha as the Buddha really is, in pure Buddha MEDITATION. 1. Meditate on verse nature. It is beyond perception but mani- 136: ‘Shalt thou abstain from action? fests itself as the other two bodies. Not so shall gain thy soul her freedom. Thus, these three bodies are usually To reach Nirvâna one must reach Self- understood as three ways in which the knowledge, and Self-knowledge is of Buddha reality can be understood, or three loving deeds the child.’ ways in which it is expressed. As such, 2. Envision a blazing star that beams the dharmakâya or ‘body of the Absolute’ a ray of light into the profound dark- is unmanifest; it is the Buddha nature ness of space. See yourself as a spark as the ultimate, ineffable reality, the of light at the very end of that ray. Then Ground of all things. The sambhogakâya follow the path of the ray back to its or ‘body of realized love’ is the Buddha origin — to the flaming star — and say nature as it is seen by enlightened beings, to yourself, ‘I am That’. ²

220 Vol. 129.6 Theosophy and Eastern Wisdom

S. SIDDHARTHA

THEOSOPHY is a school of thought — Philosophy that rose in the West and was yet another recent offshoot of the peren- given the name ‘Theosophy’, was greatly nial philosophy sought after by Man influenced by Eastern Wisdom. It was an since he came into existence. This phil- amalgamation of Eastern and Western osophy is many-streamed and varied, and thought which took place first in the continues to be divided into types, thought process of HPB. Later, with the branches, sections, and subsections, help of Olcott — or the other way round: forming an infinite mass of thoughts, Olcott with the guidance of HPB — gave opinions, principles, and theories, rather it a concrete shape for people to study, like the banyan tree at Adyar. accept, and follow. I quote from his Old A hermit in the Himalayas explained Diary Leaves, First Series: these revelations with the sun as an analogy: ‘Behold the Sun! It shines The spiritualism she was sent to America indiscriminately on all the days of the to profess, and ultimately bring to replace week. Its light is not marked “Monday” the cruder Western mediumism, was or “Tuesday”.’ We have given names to Eastern spiritualism, or Brahma Vidyâ. the days of the week for convenience. So The West not being prepared to accept also does the ‘Sun of revealed wisdom’ it, her first assigned work was to defend shine in all periods of history and pre- the real phenomena from that prejudiced history without calling itself by this or that and militant enemy of spiritual belief — name. Yet for the sake of convenience, materialistic, scholastic, physical science, we talk of Hinduism here or Islam there, with its votaries and leaders. The one now of Judaism, then of Christianity, and necessary thing for the age was to check so on. The so-called varieties of religious materialistic scepticism and strengthen experience are the fingers of God pointing the spiritual basis of the religious yearn- to that unity underlying their diversity. ing. Therefore, the battle being joined, she Newness, difference, is only in the took her stand beside the American spiritu- form. This form, this new look, this yet alists, and for the moment made common another incarnation of the Perennial cause with them.

Mrs Sundari Siddhartha, MA, PhD, works in the Editorial Office at Adyar. This article is based on a talk given to the Adyar Lodge on 13 October 2004.

March 2008 221 The Theosophist East different from West Theosophy, one might say, became a This is a significant point because door to Eastern wisdom. the opinions of the East and the West on There was in the West a generally extraordinary phenomena and miracles prevalent opinion that philosophy be- were very different. In the East such longed in an ivory tower with which happenings were looked down upon practical men of the world had nothing as misfortunes, the work of evil spirits; to do, whereas in the East philosophy and the eyewitnesses scarcely ever was the very way of life. Another point dreamt of making them the subjects of of difference was the approach of the scientific research: on the contrary, they two to Philosophy. The West prefers to considered it proof that the dead are not know the method by which a given happily dissevered from earthly con- conclusion is reached. The East wants cerns, and thus are hampered in their the answer first. Moreover, the average normal evolution towards the condition Westerner reads everything critically. of pure spirit. On the other hand, the West This is an excellent attitude, but it considered the future life as an extension leads to chaos when reading what is of this life in time — and in space too, written symbolically or esoterically. To a if one comes to consider its physical certain extent Westerners do appreciate conceptions of heaven and hell. symbolism. For instance, take Shelley’s Such phenomena were to the people famous line: ‘Like a poet hidden in the of Asia but evidences of the possession light of thought.’ of a low order of psychical power by those The light cannot hide a poet. But very who showed them. Actually, many Indians few will complain that Shelley is wrong felt that it was a great pity that HPB saying ‘light does not hide, it only reveals’. showed phenomena, for it went to prove They understand, but most of them go that she had not reached a high stage of no further than such romantic poetry, yoga. Of course we all know that HPB, whereas the Eastern mindset is open to even while working her wonders, warned such subtle things. This also explains us all that they were a very subordinate why the Bible is better understood and and insignificant part of Theosophy. therefore more revered in the East. And — what is more — with her miracles It is true that the critical attitude of she convinced some who were thus in- the West is not always right. But this fluenced, to do good work for this great does not mean that in the East every- movement of Theosophy; and some of thing so written is accepted as the gospel the most tireless of that class came truth. It is only that the reader sus- into Eastern out of Western Spiritualism, pends his inquiring faculty for the time over the bridge of psychical phenomena, being and thus gives his subconscious and went on to better understand the mind a chance to vibrate in harmony with oriental theories of spiritual science. the subconscious mind of the writer.

222 Vol. 129.6 Theosophy and Eastern Wisdom Criticism is not outlawed, it is only That is because scientific inventions are postponed. As the best of Eastern Wis- objective and physical. But the essence dom is written esoterically, its meaning of philosophy for an individual includes, can be revealed only if it is approached of necessity, the why and wherefore of as if it were a friend, instead of a book. his own existence. This has sometimes This different approach of the East has led to an unjust accusation against East- been imbibed by Theosophy. ern Wisdom, namely, that it is a study Another point that has been empha- devoid of progress. In philosophy, as in sized by Theosophy is the idea of death religion, progress is attained by each in as an integral part or phase of life. Our himself and usually by means of suffer- time on earth being limited and the ing. Philosophy cannot be enjoyed at number of things one can know being the expense of somebody else’s mental comparatively unlimited, the average effort. Perhaps that is why people have Easterner prefers to concentrate on the an aversion to it! But Theosophy has relevant answers, provided they are cor- toned down Western religion, science, and rect or at least capable of being found cerebral philosophy, to come together correct by personal realization. In East- with the spiritual wisdom of the East. ern philosophy, the burden of proof is on the side which denies the truth of a Eastern Wisdom — one and many given statement. The measure of proof We have been referring to Eastern required for its acceptance is a balance Wisdom as one unit. This is only to dis- of probability in its favour. Examples tinguish it as a whole from the relatively of two such great but unproved hypo- more different Western knowledge. But, theses are Karma and Reincarnation. actually, Eastern thought too has its It is said that even the Buddha refused manifold varieties: the Sufism of Persia, to answer when asked about the exist- Zen and Shinto in Japan, Confucianism ence of God. His contention was: ‘As our and Taoism in China, Lamaism in lifespan is limited, only those answers Tibet, Vedânta in India and, of course, should be given or sought first, which Buddhism, which spread far and wide, are essential, relevant, or immediately donning the garb of the country which it applicable.’ So we have to concentrate entered. on the ultimate goal, namely spiritual Vedânta seems to have been accepted Enlightenment. The other doubts will as the most outstanding representative of be cleared by and by. Eastern Wisdom with which the West Western thought is science-oriented, has become familiar. Thus Theosophy but in philosophy you cannot expect has imbibed the tenets of Vedânta and posterity to continue your researches woven its threads into the fabric of where you left off. The work of a scien- Theosophy. Primarily Vedânta is based tist can be continued by his successor. on a spiritual experience of contact with

March 2008 223 The Theosophist

the Higher Self present in each of us. emotions, and in our actions. . . . All Though the impact of Buddhism was great over the world, but especially in India, and led to the study of books like The Light although people may attend Church or of Asia and the Dhammapada, Vedânta Pujâ every day, the worship, the devo- — a developed form of the ancient Vedic tion they feel then, is not applied with Sanâtana Dharma — was and became the intelligence and common sense to the things of daily life. But then the West- major base for Theosophy. ern nations came here. They brought When two persons or things come the scientific knowledge of matter, together, the exchange of thoughts and precision, exact observation, together ideas is rarely one-sided. So while the with tidiness on the physical plane. founders affected modern philosophical thought to an extraordinary degree by The well-to-do intelligentsia from all popularizing certain noble Eastern ideas, over the country, seemed to get the answer Easterners were also impressed and in- to their problems and became Theo- fluenced by the approach and under- sophists. They could have their cake and standing of the founders. Why? The East, eat it too. How? They could discard what especially India, while being proud of its they thought was superfluous and yet con- Wisdom, was quite frustrated with the tinue to perform the Sanâtana-dharma-s. pseudo-religious superstitions and cere- Their conscience was clear and their monials that had crept into the Hindu reason was satisfied. The rust that had way of life slowly and unobtrusively over formed on one part of Eastern Wisdom thousands of years, since the time of was as if scraped off by Theosophy. the Veda-s. The irony of the situation There is another major contribution of was that it was this very Religion which Theosophy to the East — the translation had supported and sustained our civiliza- into English of books in Sanskrit, Pali, tion through the vicissitudes, trials, and Chinese, Japanese, Persian and so on. tribulations of over two thousand years The West had the money, power, and of foreign invasions and occupations. initiative. Even then we cannot dis- What went wrong? J. Krishnamurti, in count the significance of their effort. The his pamphlet ‘Temple Talks’, says: Sanskrit language was no longer easily In India, religion is like a vast tree with comprehensible and yet most of the its roots and branches spreading all works were in Sanskrit. So translations over, giving protection. But religion into English, though no substitute for the only achieves its purpose when it be- original, also helped the Easterners to comes a reality in our thoughts, in our better understand their own Wisdom. ²

Forgiveness is tapas, forgiveness is purity; this world is upheld by forgiveness. Sanatana Dharma

224 Vol. 129.6 Are We Enquirers?

G. RAMANATHAN

THE spirit of enquiry is the hallmark with it faith’. Occult teachings have been of a Theosophist. In one of the letters to given by HPB herself through her clas- A. P. Sinnett, former Vice-President of sical Theosophical literature. So also the the Theosophical Society, Mahatma KH President-Founder, Col. H. S. Olcott, and stated that ‘the Adept is the rare ef- other great Theosophists like Dr Annie florescence of a generation of enquirers’ Besant, C. W. Leadbeater, and others, (Letter No. 2). This shows how essential have written about their enlightened per- it is to have an enquiring nature. The ceptions on the nature of the Universe and founders of the Society and those who the evolution of man. All these are the associated with them during the early fruits of enlightened perceptions, and period of the TS were real enquirers. careful and sustained enquiries. They observed the phenomenal world But the real question is whether the with an open mind and were receptive ordinary members of the TS simply to that which was poured down from the subscribe to these statements, or deeply higher dimensions. They did not believe meditate upon them and really learn. blindly what was told by others or reject In the Letters from the Masters of the it outright, but learnt the truth by careful Wisdom (First Series), Letter No. 59, observation and meditation. addressed to Dr Annie Besant by HPB, in an article on ‘Mahatmas Mahatma KH in 1900 (nine years after and Chelas’ (HPB Teaches by Michael the death of HPB), KH says: Gomes), clearly describes ‘blind belief and faith’. She states: ‘Blind faith is an The TS and its members are slowly expression sometimes used to indicate manufacturing a creed. Says a Tibetan belief without perception or understand- proverb ‘credulity breeds credulity and ing; while the true perception of the Manas ends in hypocrisy’. How few are they is that enlightened belief which is the real who can know anything about us. Are meaning of the word “faith”.’ This belief we to be propitiated and made idols should at the same time be accompanied of. . . . The crest-wave of intellectual by knowledge, for ‘true knowledge brings advancement must be taken hold of and

Mr G. Ramanathan is President of Trissur Theosophical Lodge and Executive Committee member of the Kerala Theosophical Federation, India.

March 2008 225 The Theosophist

guided into spirituality. It cannot be conveyed through books remains elusive. forced into beliefs and emotional wor- The Voice of the Silence says (I.26): ship. The essence of the higher thoughts ‘The name of Hall the second is the Hall of the members in their collectivity must of Learning. In it thy soul will find the guide all action in the TS. blossoms of life, but under every flower a serpent coiled.’ Blind belief and a The modern Theosophical Society was dogmatic approach can only help us to founded on the guidelines and instruc- become hypocrites, and not bring about tions given by the Masters of the Wisdom a fundamental transformation in our life. through their letters and in other occult The wonderful teachings revealed about ways. In this context, the statement of the existence of higher dimensions, the Mahatma KH assumes great importance, unity of existence in the universe, and the and there is no place for blind worship grand evolutionary scheme explained in and superstition in the Theosophical Theosophy are subjects to be investigated movement. and perceived. Existence in the visible When the enlightened perceptions physical dimension is only the tip of the of the great ones are put into words, iceberg, and there are deeper dimensions obviously there is severe limitation. which are yet to be unfolded. These con- J. Krishnamurti, one of the greatest stitute matter which a serious student spiritual thinkers of the twentieth century, of Theosophy should neither accept has time and again cautioned that ‘the blindly nor reject, but approach with description is not the described’. Unless an enquiring mind. we meditate and develop intuitive per- A pure and open mind is a prerequisite ceptions on the Theosophical teachings for delving deeply into these questions of given through books, nothing worthwhile life. Mind is the link between spirit and is going to happen. Forming new con- matter, and can be a reflection of what is cepts and ideations at the mental level in the spiritual dimension and receptive based on information received from books to the profound wisdom conveyed can only help us to form illusion after through the Theosophical teachings, illusion. After becoming disenchanted which are not of the earth. The student with the outer world, the spiritual seeker of Theosophy must develop insight into may have fantastic ideas about the spirit- the wisdom underlying words by con- ual life based on mere information trolling the thought process. Observation gathered from books, and may seek re- of the mind will elevate the discriminat- fuge in it. The mind attached to earthly ing faculty, so as to put an end to wild comforts and craving for security is per- and unruly thoughts. J. Krishnamurti vaded by sensual desires, and there- has repeatedly stated the importance of fore cannot go beyond the physical observing one’s thought process and dimensions of our existence. The wisdom finding out the truth of things without

226 Vol. 129.6 Are We Enquirers? depending upon authority, interpretations, life, there are occasions when our image and books. His teachings are an ex- about ourselves is challenged. Instead hortation to humanity to enquire. of buttressing ourselves with excuses In books, we see views and inter- and justifications, if we observe our- pretations which clearly indicate that selves as a witness, it will provide a we cannot depend upon knowledge wonderful opportunity to perceive how as the last word on truth. For example, far we are slaves to fear, the opinions in Esoteric Writings by the great oc- of others, tradition, and so on. These are cultist T. Subba Row, we come across the moments when we can come out different opinions on ªankarâchârya’s of our shell and have a glimpse beyond. date and doctrine, which highlights the Only a mind which does not cling to fact that we cannot take the opinions any belief or desire, and is fearless, is and views of others as the last word or able to observe and learn during such blindly believe them to be the Truth. moments, and the profound truths veiled In the same book, he writes that ‘the in the great teachings of Theosophy Society does not constitute a body of are unfolded. religious teachers, but is simply an asso- This is the wonderful teaching im- ciation of investigators and inquirers’. parted to us by Krishnamurti, who The student of Theosophy has to emphasized the importance of an en- approach these teachings with an in- quiring mind. True enquiry and learning vestigative mind. Learning takes place flourish only in an atmosphere where only when the mind is free from all freedom of thought exists. The resolution inhibitions and fetters. The deepening stating ‘Freedom of Thought’ as a awareness of how much we depend upon fundamental principle governing the tradition, blind belief, superstition and, activities of the Theosophical Society, generally speaking, external circum- passed by the General Council of the stances, will help us to transcend the Society, is a clear declaration that it is shackles of the mind. In our day-to-day a centre of Learning. ²

Distinguishing between the essential and the non-essential, you have to cultivate a gentle yielding, a sweet courtesy, on all matters that are not essential. It is well to yield in little things that do not matter, in order that you may follow perfectly those things that do matter. . . . You have to learn to distinguish in everything around you, and in every one around you, between the permanent element and the impermanent, between the surface and the content, as it were, between the eternal and the transitory. Annie Besant

March 2008 227 The Theosophist Adyar, the Hub of the Movement

CARIN CITROEN

THIS is the title of my talk, but I hope words ‘oasis’ and ‘wilderness’ because the to be able to convey to you that it is not same words were mentioned once by only the title, but that it is what Adyar is Krishnaji in 1924 (Adyar Notes and News, meant to be in the structure of the Society. 12 April, 1928): A hub is a point within a circle. Radiat- It is essential for the individual member ing from the hub to the periphery are and for the Society that Adyar, as a great the spokes; in this case they symbolize spiritual centre, should be maintained, the spiritual forces spreading out from worthy and dignified. The importance of the Centre throughout the world. These this is so obvious that few can doubt it. forces should be picked up and Adyar is, and always has been, a spiritual reinforced — if we are functioning pro- oasis to which the weary traveller looks perly — by many nuclei, such as Centres, for comfort and repose. Though it may not Lodges, study groups, and so on, all over be the privilege of each member in the the globe, thus creating, unbeknown to Society to go there from the world of wil- mankind, a network of a beneficial nature, derness, yet the mere existence of such a whereby the noble points in the human centre gives hope and encouragement. character — such as love, compassion, understanding, and so forth — may be The world at present is going through stimulated and grow. a period fraught with difficulties. The god Outsiders who visit the compound of vengeance seems to reign these days often come under the influence of Adyar’s and not the Lord of Peace and Good Will. beautiful atmosphere. Sometimes, when So I cannot help thinking that the Great one has a friendly chat with visitors, one Ones must have known of the terrible will hear them say that they did not know times the world would be facing in the not that there existed such an oasis as ours, too distant future and therefore wanted to where people live quietly together. It is establish — perhaps a little prematurely such a contrast, they say, with the wilder- — an instrument through which beneficial ness outside. I was rather interested in the forces could be poured forth, in order to

Miss Carin Citroen was Secretary to the international President for many years. This article was given as a talk during the Adyar Day celebration at Adyar on 17 February 2008.

228 Vol. 129.6 Adyar, the Hub of the Movement avert a disaster, which would not only who are in consonance with it. At first a seriously affect the whole earth, but small number of members trickled in could also destroy it. And I am very much from the already existing Theosophical strengthened in that thought when read- Lodges in America, England and Europe, ing what H. P. Blavatsky stated in 1887: to lend a helping hand. But slowly, when ‘If you could see what I foresee, you Theosophy was taking root in ever- would begin heart and soul to spread the widening circles, more member-workers teaching of Universal Brotherhood. It is arrived. And when facilities to accom- the only safeguard.’ modate students, workers, and visiting Mr C. W. Leadbeater tells us that after members were provided, the trickle HPB left in 1885, there were only a hand- changed into a steady flow. This is ful of people who threw themselves into exactly — according to Annie Besant — the gigantic task before them, with great what HPB intended Adyar to be. dedication, determination, and devotion A little excerpt from Annie Besant’s to their Elder Brethren, the Inner Founders. article, reprinted in the October 1947 There were only Colonel Olcott, who Theosophist, follows: worked mainly upstairs in the head- HPB always seemed to bear in mind the quarters building when he was not on method by which she could prepare a place tour, Mr Leadbeater himself, working in which people, coming to it for a short and living in the octagonal room in the time, would receive real help in the River Bungalow, and Mrs Cooper Oakley, spiritual life. And so she dwelt, at her who worked and lived somewhere in Master’s wish, in Adyar for some con- the Headquarters building and whom siderable time, in order that this place Mr Leadbeater said he saw perhaps once might become consecrated to Their a day, if even that. They all worked hard service, and inspire all who came to it with at their own activities, as it was not the desire to draw nearer to Them. possible in those days to have regular meetings in the hall, since there were so Mr Jinarâjadâsa tells us, though, that few of them. Mrs Besant was the one who made the And look at our Headquarters today! special arrangements for the accommo- Had it not been for those very few lead- dation of such as cared to come for one ing members, who, inspired by their year or more, both to study and to help Elders, gave their lives to building the with the work. This necessitated the structure through which our philosophy erection of special students’ quarters, and aims could be disseminated, this and these are the present Bhojanasala, Centre or Hub would never have been able Old Quadrangle, and Leadbeater Cham- to develop the spokes — or those spiritual bers, all finished in 1910. In this way, and magnetic forces — which drew then, Mrs Besant fulfilled the wish of her and still are drawing today, those people revered teacher, HPB.

March 2008 229 The Theosophist Naturally, in HPB’s time members they also are mini nuclei, transmitting could stay in Adyar only for a short time Adyar’s beneficial and unifying force all because of the lack of accommodation. over the world. Nowadays members can stay much longer, Adyar Day exists to remind the mem- and, when returning to their home coun- bers of this glorious place and to urge tries, some of them will probably take them to do their very best to make with them some of that intangible some- Adyar a worthy and dignified centre. thing of Adyar, which will hopefully Adyar lives and works for the world. bring about a change within themselves, Thrice happy they to whom Karma such as a deepening understanding of gives the privilege of coming to Adyar, the purpose of life in general and a more and blessed indeed among their gener- sensitive approach in their relationship ation, if they receive from Adyar what with all sentient beings. In this way, Adyar has to give them. ²

Power, wisdom, beauty: each shines in the rainbow of ADYAR’s awakening into the many from rest in the white light of the One. Each kingdom of Nature is full of ADYAR. But the human kingdom has to conquer Adyar, so that Adyar and ADYAR may become one. Yet even Adyar, the Adyar of the daily living of her residents, with all their shortcomings, failures, difficulties, the Adyar which sometimes proves too great a strain for one or two, has her own wonders, as every resident will tell you. As Adyar is part of ADYAR, so in the life of each dweller at Adyar there is a touch of ADYAR — little or much as is the individual himself. We cannot separate the two selves so very much, after all. Just as is ‘every common bush afire with God’, so is every fragment of Adyar afire with ADYAR. ADYAR touches each one of us here at Adyar with her three wands — of power, of wisdom, of beauty — and however much we may be of Adyar, ADYAR lies about us, within us. While we are here we are changed, a little or much. When we go away, something of ADYAR goes with us, for one touch of ADYAR changes us forever. G. S. Arundale

230 Vol. 129.6 The Mystery of All Time

ANON

THE inner light which guides men to from us? It is this which makes life so greatness, and makes them noble, is a unbearable to the emotional natures, mystery through all time and must re- and which develops selfishness in nar- main so while Time lasts for us; but there row hearts. come moments, even in the midst of If there is no certainty and no per- ordinary life, when Time has no hold manence in life, then it seems to the upon us, and then all the circumstance Egotist that there is no reasonable course of outward existence falls away, and but to attend to one’s own affairs, and be we find ourselves face to face with the content with the happiness of the first mystery beyond. In great trouble, in person singular. There are many persons great joy, in keen excitement, in serious sufficiently generous in temperament to illness, these moments come. After- wish others were happy also, and who, wards they seem very wonderful, look- if they saw any way to do it, would gladly ing back upon them. redress some of the existing ills — the What is this mystery, and why is it so misery of the poor, the social evil, the veiled, are the burning questions for sufferings of the diseased, the sorrow of anyone who has begun to realize its those made desolate by death. These existence. Trouble most often rouses things the sentimental philanthropist men to the consciousness of it, and forces shudders to think of. He does not act them to ask these questions when those, because he can do so little. Shall he take whom one has loved better than oneself, one miserable child and give it comfort are taken away into the formless abyss of when millions will be enduring the same the unknown by death, or are changed, fate when that one is dead? The inexorable by the experiences of life, until they are cruelty of life continues on its giant course, no longer recognizable as the same; then and those who are born rich and healthy comes the wild hunger for knowledge. live in pleasant places, afraid to think Why is it so? What is it that surrounds of the horrors life holds within it. Loss, us with a great dim cloud into which despair, unutterable pain, comes at last, all loved things plunge in time and and the one who has hitherto been for- are lost to us, obliterated, utterly taken tunate is on a level with those to whom

From Lucifer, 15 September 1887.

March 2008 231 The Theosophist misery has been familiarized by a life- beyond the grave as he is on this side time of experience. For trouble bites of it. Has he entered the eternal thought? hardest when it springs on a new victim. If not, the mystery is a mystery still. Of course, there are profoundly selfish To one who is entering occultism in natures which do not suffer in this sense, earnest, all the trouble of the world seems which look only for personal comfort and suddenly apparent. There is a point of are content with the small horizon visible experience when father and mother, wife to one person’s sight; for these, there is and child, become indistinguishable, and but little trouble in the world, there is when they seem no more familiar or none of the passionate pain which exists friendly than a company of strangers. The in sensitive and poetic natures. The born one dearest of all may be close at hand artist is aware of pain as soon as he is and unchanged, and yet is as far as if death aware of pleasure; he recognizes sadness had come between. Then all distinction as a part of human life before it has between pleasure and pain, love and hate, touched on his own. He has an innate have vanished. A melancholy, keener than consciousness of the mystery of the ages, that felt by a man in his first fierce ex- that thing stirring within man’s soul and perience of grief, overshadows the soul. which enables him to outlive pain and It is the pain of the struggle to break the become great, which leads him on the shell in which man has prisoned himself. road to the divine life. This gives him Once broken there is no more pain; all ties enthusiasm, a superb heroism indifferent are severed, all personal demands are to calamity; if he is a poet he will write his silenced forever. The man has forced heart out, even for a generation that has himself to face the great mystery, which no eyes or ears for him; if he desires to is now a mystery no longer, for he has help others personally, he is capable of become part of it. It is essentially the mys- giving his very life to save one wretched tery of the ages, and these have no longer child from out of a million miserable ones. any meaning for him to whom time and For it is not his puny personal effort in space and all other limitations are but the world that he considers — not his little passing experiences. It has become to show of labour done; what he is conscious him a reality, profound, indeed, because of is the over-mastering desire to work it is bottomless; wide, indeed, because with the beneficent forces of super- it is limitless. nature, to become one with the divine He has touched on the greatness of life, mystery, and when he can forget time which is sublime in its impartiality and and circumstances, he is face to face with effortless generosity. He is friend and that mystery. Many have fancied they lover to all those living beings that come must reach it by death; but none have within his consciousness, not to the one come back to tell us that this is so. We or two chosen ones only — which is in- have no proof that man is not as blind deed only an enlarged selfishness. While

232 Vol. 129.6 The Mystery of All Time a man retains his humanity, it is certain touches it, even the darkest. Solitude is a that one or two chosen ones will give him great teacher, but society is even greater. more pleasure by contact than all the rest It is so hard to find and take the highest of the beings in the Universe and all the part of those we love, that in the very heavenly host; but he has to remember difficulty of the search there is a serious and recognize what this preference is. education. We realize when making that It is not a selfish thing which has to be effort, far more clearly what it is that crushed out, if the love is the love that creates the mystery in which we live, and gives; freedom from attachments is not makes us so ignorant. It is the swaying, a meritorious condition in itself. The vibrating, never-resting desires of the freedom needed is not from those who animal soul in man. The life of this part cling to you, but from those to whom you of man’s nature is so vigorous and strongly cling. The familiar phrase of the lover developed from the ages during which he ‘I cannot live without you’ must be, to the has dwelt in it, that it is almost impossible occultist, words which cannot be uttered. to still it so as to obtain contact with the If he has but one anchor, the great tides noble spirit. This constant and confusing will sweep him away into nothingness. life, this ceaseless occupation with the But the natural preference which must trifles of the hour, this readiness in sur- exist in every man for a few persons is face emotion, this quickness to be pleased, one form of the lessons of Life. amused, or distressed, is what baffles our By contact with these other souls he sight and dulls our inner senses. Till we has other channels by which to pene- can use these the mystery remains in its trate to the great mystery, for every soul Sphinx-like silence. ²

When the unit thinks only of itself, the whole, which is built of units, perishes, and the unit itself is destroyed. So it is throughout Nature on every plane of life. This, therefore, is the first lesson to be learnt. ______

What the true occultist seeks, is not knowledge, or growth, or happiness, or power, for himself; but having become conscious that the harmony of which he forms part is broken on the outer plane, he seeks the means to resolve that discord into a higher harmony. This harmony is Theosophy — Divine or Universal Wisdom — the root whence have sprung all ‘religions’, that is, all ‘bonds which unite men together’, which is the true meaning of the word religion. Therefore, Theosophy is not a ‘religion’, but Religion itself, the very ‘binding of men together’ in one Universal Brotherhood. Anon

March 2008 233 The Theosophist Theosophical Work around the World

The Divya-jñâna Deepikâ On the morning of 9 February, before The Divya-jñâna Deepikâ is the Telugu the end of the Conference, there was a journal which goes to the members of symposium on the life of Col. H. S. the Telugu and Rayalaseema Feder- Olcott, his vision, and the future of the ations, both of which use the Telugu lan- Theosophical Society. The Conference guage. On the afternoon of 9 February closed with a much-appreciated ses- 2008, the international President, Mrs sion of questions and answers by Mrs Radha Burnier, was the chief guest at Radha Burnier, translated by Mr K. a programme featuring the release of Krishna Phani. the special Centenary number of the The programme closed with the cele- Divya-jñâna Deepikâ. In the evening, bration of the 125th Anniversary of she gave a public lecture on ‘The Bellary Sanmarga Theosophical Lodge. Deeper Truths We Need’, which was On this occasion, Mr P. Thanga Raj, followed by dinner. gave a talk on Theosophy, and Mr The importance of reaching out to Krishna Phani also spoke, after which members, especially large numbers (the proceedings came to an end in peace Telugu-speaking Federations have about and harmony. 1,600 members), cannot be overstressed. The magazine is one of the ways to con- Adyar Day Celebrations tact them and keep them in touch with Adyar Day has been celebrated on 17 Theosophical views through articles February for many years. In fact, it was drawing attention to important points called Adyar Day even before the death in the Theosophical outlook. of Col. H.S. Olcott, our first internation- al President, who was elected for life. Rayalaseema Federation Conference He died not only in the presence of those This Conference preceeded the above who looked after him (Annie Besant, centenary celebration, and was held in the Mrs Russak, and others), but also in that presence of well-known members and of his Master. others. Mr K. Narasimha Rao, a respected On 17 February 2008 members and member of Guntur Lodge and Guest of friends came together in the Headquarters Honour, was particularly welcomed at the Hall at Adyar to mark this occasion. Mrs opening. The President of the Federation, Radha Burnier, international President, Mr P. Thanga Raj, Mr K. Krishna Phani, spoke about the history of Adyar Day Dr K. V. K. Nehru, Mr A. C. Vatcha, before introducing the three speakers: and the Chief Guest, Mrs Radha Burnier, Mrs Parvati Gopalaratnam, who has lived were notable participants. and worked at Adyar for many years

234 Vol. 129.6 Theosophical Work around the World and is one of the oldest residents on Ontario, at 76. He joined the Theosophical the estate; Miss Carin Citroen, another Society in 1957, and was active for fifty equally long-standing worker and resi- years in various positions and Lodges. dent of the Adyar compound; and Mr In the late 1950’s he served as Treasurer Shailendra Agrawal, a new addition to of Montreal Lodge, and as lecturer and the volunteers for the Society’s work. publicity coordinator for Isis Lodge. (His grandfather and father were mem- In the early 1970’s, at the suggestion of bers and contributed to the work of the Mr John Coats, he helped to establish Indian Section for many years.) Shailendra Christos Lodge in Montreal for French- is carrying out work in various honorary speaking members. In 1988 he served as capacities, including making improve- Regional Secretary for the Canadian ments in the Garden Department, and Federation. In 2000, after retirement, he is also a computer software expert. The was elected Regional Secretary of the three speakers talked about the history, Canadian Federation. purpose, and future of Adyar. At the con- In 2001, he played a key role in writ- clusion of the meeting, members who ing the by-laws and overseeing the in- wished to do so were invited to offer corporation of the Canadian Theosophical flowers in front of the Founders’ statues. Association, whose first President he became. He did much fine work until his George Duguay death, attending to the printing and dis- George Duguay, a key worker for the tribution of The Light Bearer and con- Canadian Theosophical Society, passed tinuing to serve as Secretary/Treasurer away on 29 January 2008 in Brampton, of York Lodge, Toronto. ²

THE THEOSOPHIST Statement about ownership and other particulars

1. Place of Publication : The Theosophical Publishing House, The Theosophical Society, Adyar, Chennai 600 020 2. Periodicity : Monthly 3. Printer’s Name : S. Harihara Raghavan, Manager, Vasanta Press (whether citizen of India?) : Yes Address : The Theosophical Society, Adyar, Chennai 600 020 4. Publisher : S. Harihara Raghavan 5. Editor’s Name : Radha S. Burnier (whether citizen of India?) : No (if foreigner, the country of origin) : Switzerland Address : The Theosophical Society, Adyar, Chennai 600 020 6. Name and addresses of individuals who own the : The President of the Theosophical Society, newspaper and partners or shareholders holding Adyar, Chennai 600 020 more than one percent of the total capital I, S. Harihara Raghavan hereby declare that the particulars given above are true to the best of my knowledge and belief. Dated: 29 February 2008 S. HARIHARA RAGHAVAN, PUBLISHER

March 2008 235 The Theosophist Index OCTOBER 2007 TO MARCH 2008

Abiding in the Heart 213 BURNIER, RADHA Maria Parisen On the Watch-Tower 43, 83,163, 203 Presidential Address 123 Adyar, the Hub of the Movement 228 Theosophical Philosophy 3 Carin Citroen ALGEO, JOHN CITROEN, CARIN Annie Besant as Instructor and Educator 13 Adyar, the Hub of the Movement 228 Olcott and Blavatsky: Theosophical Twins 47 Col. H. S. Olcott’s Leadership Qualities 189 From Within Outwards: The Way of S. Ramu the Universe 138 Studies in The Voice of the Silence, 8-10 Colonel Olcott’s Selfless Life 74 91, 180, 216 Preethi Muthiah Altruism’s Inextinguishable Fire: Annie Besant’s Testimony 24 Convention Programme 114 Pedro Oliveira C. W. Leadbeater in Brazil: The Evidence 185 ANDERSON, MARY Pedro Oliveira Damodar K. Mavalankar 61 Damodar K. Mavalankar 61 Look Within — Thou art Buddha 167 Mary Anderson Annie Besant as Instructor and Educator 13 Dawning of Self-Illumination, The 173 John Algeo Linda Oliveira ANON The Mystery of All Time 231 Foundation Day 144 A. P. Shah Are We Enquirers? 225 G. Ramanathan From Within Outwards: The Way of 138 the Universe BESANT, ANNIE John Algeo Practical Work for Theosophists 32 Future of the Media, The — I and II 6, 68 BLAND, BETTY N. S. Jagannathan The Perennial Question according to Colonel Olcott 56 GATFIELD, WAYNE The Nature of Love 87 BLAVATSKY, H. P. An Unpublished Discourse of Buddha 111 JAGANNATHAN, N. S. The Future of the Media — I and II 6, 68 Books of Interest The Golden Thread 196 KIND, TEREZINHA Morton Dilkes Understanding, Sharing, Loving 30 Buddhist Life is a Green Life, A 107 Look Within — Thou art Buddha 167 K. Krishna Murthy Mary Anderson

236 Vol. 129.6 Index

Man and His Environment 193 RAMANATHAN, G. Sharmila S. Parulkar Are We Enquirers? 225 MAVALANKAR, DAMODAR K. RAMU, S. The Work of the Branches 152 Col. H. S. Olcott’s Leadership Qualities 189 Mystery of All Time, The 231 Religious Harmony: The Need of Anon the 21st Century 18 Samdhong Rinpoche MURTHY, K. KRISHNA A Buddhist Life is a Green Life 107 RINPOCHE, SAMDHONG Religious Harmony: The Need of MUTHIAH, PREETHI the 21st Century 18 Colonel Olcott’s Selfless Life 74 SENDER, PABLO Nature of Love, The 87 What is Theosophy? 100 Wayne Gatfield SHAH, A. P. Olcott and Blavatsky: Theosophical Twins 47 Foundation Day 144 John Algeo SIDDHARTHA, SUNDARI OLIVEIRA, LINDA Theosophy and Eastern Wisdom 221 The Dawning of Self-Illumination 173 SPETS, PERTTI Understanding, Sharing, Loving 150 OLIVEIRA, PEDRO Altruism’s Inextinguishable Fire: Annie Studies in The Voice of the Silence, 8–10 91, Besant’s Testimony 24 John Algeo 180, 216 C. W. Leadbeater in Brazil: TATRAY, DARA The Evidence 185 The Perennial Philosophy 207 On the Watch-Tower 43, 83,163, 203 Theosophical Philosophy 3 Radha Burnier Radha Burnier PARISEN, MARIA Theosophical Work around the World 36, 116, Abiding in the Heart 213 156, 197, 234 PARULKAR, SHARMILA S. Theosophy and Eastern Wisdom 221 Man and His Environment 193 Sundari Siddhartha Understanding, Sharing, Loving 30 Perennial Philosophy, The 207 Terezinha Kind Dara Tatray Understanding, Sharing, Loving 150 Perennial Question according Pertti Spets to Colonel Olcott, The 56 Unpublished Discourse of Buddha, An 111 Betty Bland H. P. Blavatsky Practical Work for Theosophists 32 What is Theosophy? 100 Annie Besant Pablo Sender Presidential Address 123 Work of the Branches, The 152 Radha Burnier Mavalankar, Damodar K.

March 2008 237