THE INDIAN THEOSOPHIST APRIL 2018 VOl. 116 NO. 4 CONTENTS A STEP FORWARD 147-148 Pradeep H. Gohil THE DIVINE SEED 149-153 Tim Boyd A CENTENARY TRIBUTE 154-156 Achyut Patwardhan GERONTOLOGY: THE SCIENCE OF AGEING 157-158 Ajai Kumar Rai G.S. ARUNDALE ON EDUCATION 159 NEWS AND NOTES 160-168 Editor PRADEEP H. GOHIL THE INDIAN THEOSOPHIST, April./ 2018 / 145 146/ THE INDIAN THEOSOPHIST, April./ 2018 PRADEEP H. GOHIL (Supplement, p.ix). Col. H. S. Olcott made the following official order and recommendation: * 1. “At noon on 8 May 1892 and on the same day in each A STEP FORWARD succeeding year there will be held a commemorative meeting at the Headquarters at which extracts from the afore-men- tioned works will be read and brief addresses made by the In her last will H.P. Blavatsky requested that ‘some of her friends’ Chairman of the meeting and others who may volunteer.” meet together on the anniversary of her passing and read selected pas- sages from the Bhagavadgita and The Light of Asia. Later on, readings 2. “A dole of food will be given in her name to the poor fisher- from The Voice of the Silence, HPB’s last published book, was also men of Adyar and their families.” included in it. She passed away on 8 May 1891. This day is observed every year by the Theosophical Society in all its Sections all over the 3. “The flag will be half-masted from sunrise until sunset and world. The title ‘White Lotus Day’ came from an observation by Colo- the Convention Hall decorated with White Lotus flowers.” nel Olcott that, one year after H.P. Blavatsky’s passing, white lotuses 4. “Members living outside Madras can arrange for their food were seen to grow in unusual profusion at Adyar. by applying to the Recording Secretary at least one week in White Lotus Day is a celebration that encourages meditation about advance.” the metaphor of the lotus. The lotus is born under the mud, growing 5. “The undersigned recommends to all Sections and Branches through the water to achieve the surface, and therefore the air and the (i.e. Lodges) throughout the world to meet annually on the light of sun. This growth is identified with man’s life, born on earth but anniversary day, and in some unsectarian yet dignified way, desiring the elevation to the air — representing his middle stage between avoiding all slavish adulation and empty compliments, express animals and the ultimate reality. Even before they germinate, the seeds the general feeling of loving regard for her who brought us the of lotus contain perfectly formed leaves, a miniature shape of what they chart of the climbing Path which leads to the summits of would ultimately become. The Lotus has been from ancient times a Knowledge.” favourite simile for the Cosmos itself, and also for man as seen from the H.S. Olcott fact that the Lotus Plant grows up through water, having its root in mud and spreading its flower in the air above. Thus, it typifies the life of man For the last several years, the White Lotus Day is being observed and also that of the Cosmos. The Secret Doctrine teaches us that the at the Indian Section Headquartes, Varanasi. The meeting starts with elements of both are the same, and that both are developing in the same the Prayers of All Faiths followed by the reading of excerpts form the direction. The root of the Lotus sunk in the mud represents material life, three books mentioned in the beginning. Then, one or two members the stalk passing up through the water typifies existence in the astral are requested to speak on this occasion. Poor people are fed in the world, and the flower floating on the water and opening to the sky is morning for which the members donate money. emblematical of spiritual being, as described in The Secret Doctrine. So, on 8 May 2018, let us by all means remember and respect One has to remember that the Theosophical Society does not that Great Soul, HPB. Besides, let us also absorb the lesson of the believe in any ‘hero worship” with respect to either of the Founders or White Lotus into our innermost being. Let us strive, as she did, to unify anyone else. Rather, “holiness” is associated with the symbolic meaning the opposites, to become what all of us are destined to be – whole and of White Lotus, with a proper understanding of what “holy” means – holy. That will be a step forward in our evolution. the study of what is true. The Executive Notice of 17 April, 1892 ex- plained how exactly was the White Lotus Day to be celebrated. The first *The Handbook of The Indian Section, The Theosophical Society, The Indian official reference to it was published in The Theosophist, May 1892 Bookshop, TS, Varanasi, 2000, pp.76-77. THE INDIAN THEOSOPHIST, April./ 2018 / 147 148/ THE INDIAN THEOSOPHIST, April./ 2018 TIM BOYD trillions of cells, each with its own individual consciousness. They form into larger organs within the body, with a more expanded conscious- ness, and on and on. At a certain point, these different wholes of con- sciousness become imbued with the soul, or the spiritual dimension, THE DIVINE SEED and then we have a “complete package”, an “I”, but it is a collective process. I would like to consider some questions about the spiritual life, H. P. Blavatsky (HPB), in The Secret Doctrine makes more explicit and life in general. One of the things that characterizes the life and direc- the nature of the cooperative basis of who we are. She describes the tion of anyone who takes on a genuine spiritual practice, is that it human being as a threefold endeavour. She says that we are composed necessarily puts one in touch with big questions. The smaller things of three different evolutionary streams: spiritual, intellectual, and physi- never do go away, but somehow it seems that the larger ones include cal. The way she describes them is that each of these is composed of, the smaller details of life. The kind of big issues that we keep coming directed, and guided by the highest Dhyanis, or spiritual intelligences, back to again and again, are those such as the injunction of the Oracle at each of these streams with different laws and different directions. But Delphi: “Know Thyself.” somehow, where these three streams meet, the cooperative endeavour In our theosophical approach we think in terms of self- of these three evolutions is what becomes humanity, and the human knowledge, self-transformation, or self-awareness, but in some sense it being. On a profound level, we are not a unit, but more of the nature of all comes back to the seminal question of “Who am I?” In part, the a project. reintroduction of Theosophy was to provide deeper avenues to explore What do we know about the spiritual dimension of our being? these kinds of questions. When we think in terms of our constitution: spirit, soul, and mind (âtmâ, In The Maha Chohan’s Letter we find that the two debilitating buddhi, manas), and so on. But what do we know about that spiritual states of mind that had come to characterize human consciousness were component? HPB describes the âtmâ as no principle at all in the human aptly described. In one case, it was “brutal materialism”, and the force constitution. It is a universal presence which irradiates the human be- that was in the vanguard of rooting that approach in the minds of hu- ing, but it is not a participant. manity was science, or more correctly, scientism. The other condition Often when we talk about spiritual things, we use the analogy of of human thinking that Theosophy was intended to address was what Light. Although it probably does not coincide with what we normally was described as “degrading superstition”, or the rein over the minds of think, light, by its very nature, is invisible. For example, if someone is in humanity of a dead-letter religiosity. These are the two trends that The- space, even though it seems dark, light is continually shining every- osophy has had to address. where. Interplanetary space is filled with light, but we do not become Generally we all have a clear sense of who we are; from moment aware of the light until there is some object upon which it can strike, to moment we require it just to operate. When anybody is asked the something that can reflect it. Until this happens, we cannot perceive it question “Who are you?” our response generally begins with pointing to even though it is all around us. the most familiar component of self — the body. Even at this most Theosophical teachings speak about the vehicle (upâdhi) for âtmâ. fundamental level we know, at least intellectually, that there is no such The vehicle for spirit is of a nature that permits the capacity to perceive thing as an individual self, a unit of consciousness that could be called the light of spirit shining upon it. In our parlance we talk about buddhi. “me”. The human body, by virtue of its physical composition, is a group We can only become aware of the ever-invisible and ever-present spirit effort, a collective project that takes place on many different levels. as it interacts with those principles that are capable of reflecting its Just at the level of pure biology, we know we are composed of presence. In reality we know nothing of spirit.