THE THEOSOPHIST VOL. 134 NO. 8 MAY 2013 CONTENTS Beauty and Goodness 3 Radha Burnier The Future is Now 7 P. Krishna The Eternal Now 15 Marcos Resende The Study of The Secret Doctrine 19 Mary Anderson Work for the Common Cause 25 H. P. Blavatsky Core Teachings of Buddhism 26 Binay Krishna Why Be Vegetarian 32 Jan Jelle Keppler; Vimal Balachander Theosophical Work around the World 36 International Directory 38 Editor: Mrs Radha Burnier NOTE: Articles for publication in The Theosophist should be sent to the Editorial Office. Cover: A squirrel sips nectar from a Cork Tree flower — www.ts.adyar.org Official organ of the President, founded by H. P. Blavatsky, 1879. The Theosophical Society is responsible only for official notices appearing in this magazine. 1 THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY Founded 17 November 1875 President: Mrs Radha Burnier Vice-President: Mr M. P. Singhal Secretary: Mrs Kusum Satapathy Treasurer: Mr T. S. Jambunathan Headquarters: ADYAR, CHENNAI (MADRAS) 600 020, INDIA Secretary: [email protected] Treasury: [email protected] Adyar Library and Research Centre: [email protected] Theosophical Publishing House: [email protected] & [email protected] Fax: (+91-44) 2490-1399 Editorial Office: [email protected] Website: http://www.ts-adyar.org The Theosophical Society is composed of students, belonging to any religion in the world or to none, who are united by their approval of the Society’s Objects, by their wish to remove religious antagonisms and to draw together men of goodwill, whatsoever their religious opinions, and by their desire to study religious truths and to share the results of their studies with others. Their bond of union is not the profession of a common belief, but a common search and aspiration for Truth. They hold that Truth should be sought by study, by reflection, by purity of life, by devotion to high ideals, and they regard Truth as a prize to be striven for, not as a dogma to be imposed by authority. They consider that belief should be the result of individual study or intuition, and not its antecedent, and should rest on knowledge, not on assertion. They extend tolerance to all, even to the intolerant, not as a privilege they bestow but as a duty they perform, and they seek to remove ignorance, not punish it. They see every religion as an expression of the Divine Wisdom and prefer its study to its condemnation, and its practice to proselytism. Peace is their watchword, as Truth is their aim. Theosophy is the body of truths which forms the basis of all religions, and which cannot be claimed as the exclusive possession of any. It offers a philosophy which renders life intelligible, and which demonstrates the justice and the love which guide its evolution. It puts death in its rightful place, as a recurring incident in an endless life, opening the gateway to a fuller and more radiant existence. It restores to the world the Science of the Spirit, teaching man to know the Spirit as himself and the mind and body as his servants. It illuminates the scriptures and doctrines of religions by unveiling their hidden meanings, and thus justifying them at the bar of intelligence, as they are ever justified in the eyes of intuition. Members of the Theosophical Society study these truths, and theosophists endeavour to live them. Everyone willing to study, to be tolerant, to aim high, and to work perseveringly, is welcomed as a member, and it rests with the member to become a true theosophist. 2 Beauty and Goodness Beauty and Goodness RADHA BURNIER IN Plato’s works, Socrates is described innocence in a child as art. Art is the arti- as teaching the disciples by questioning ficial creation of man as opposed to the them as to the meaning of words of fund- works and wonders of nature. amental importance, like love and beauty. In the museums of the world, many As definitions were offered, he critically curious works find a place among objects examined them and pointed out the of art — patches of colour jumbled up, a fallacies in the conceptions leading to the caricature of the human figure with an eye definitions. Such a method and critical in the stomach, or a nose at the back of evaluation was also adopted by the Buddha the head, and works of so-called sculpture and other teachers of ancient times. which are incomprehensibly unattractive Most of us, if we were asked to do so, to all except the few. There is also music would find it difficult to define such words which sounds like noise, or shatters the as beauty and goodness, so as to take nerves. A modern poet remarked: in the depth of implication and the true He fiddles with the works of God import of the terms. But an attempt along And makes them look uncommon odd. this direction can be extremely rewarding, enabling us to journey into fields of thought In many of these cases, one may find till now unknown and into a validity of an exhibition of ingenuity or skill and experience which brooks no contradiction, the desire for intellectual or emotional for it is only meditative experience of the stimulation, resulting in ugliness, not quality in question which makes it possible beauty. A true work of art may show to give a true definition. extraordinary skill, but in addition it has We will briefly try to examine what is to arise from a state of mind which is aware art and what is the place of beauty in it. of beauty and is able to communicate it to One could say that ordinarily art refers to others. Where the quality of beauty is creations by man intended to be beautiful. lacking, although there may be intellectual It is obvious that all that is beautiful is not or moral satisfaction, the pleasure of the art, for we do not refer to natural beauties emotions, the fulfilment of self-expression such as the trees and the flowers, the sky or anything else, the activity or creation and the stars, or the beauty of character is not art. in a human being or the loveliness of Poetry has been described as ‘lyrical May 2013 3 The Theosophist intuition’ — lyrical because it is imbued delight of the branches which droop and with feeling. Vâlmiki, the first among poise deliciously in midair. We extend poets in the Sanskrit tradition, was able equally to lifeless things these feelings to create his magnificent work of art, the which lend them meaning. And by such epic Râmâyana, when he was moved by feelings we transform the inert masses of a strong feeling for the sorrow of a bird a building into so many limbs of a living which had lost its mate. The at-one-ment body, a body experiencing inner strains he experienced with the bird led him into which we transport back into ourselves. a meditation out of which resulted the (Lotze) poem which has inspired and still inspires So the artist has the capacity to feel millions of people all over India. Such an from the inside. But as we all know, he outflow of sympathetic feeling can exist can do this without being a thinker, for even the inanimate things of Nature. without understanding what he does, and It is possible in some way to enter into the without manifesting a virtue he portrays. very being of things. He may sing of a courageous soul in To imagine things as they are for inspiring tones although ‘he may not be themselves is tantamount to imagining endowed with great practical courage; he what they would be if they had an obscure may even betray signs of timidity and consciousness of their own existence. cowardice’; but for the time being he feels Now we have only one way of thus the dignity of courage. imagining things from inside, and that is, This ‘lyrical intuition’ or feeling of one- to put ourselves inside them. (Souriau) ness is a limited form of goodness. It exists adulterated with a desire for fame or im- The possibility of putting ourselves mortality, envy and jealousy, instability ‘inside’ things and feeling as they do, is and insensitivity, and other traits com- not limited to creatures which are akin monly found in artists. The artistic to us, that is, other human beings. Even temperament is well known to be volatile birds which sing in flight may seem akin and uncontrolled. It is also a curious thing to us, or a tree which grows and expands, that an artist who sees and creates beauty enjoys the warmth of the sun or is buffeted in a particular object or field can be totally by a storm. But it is possible to enter into incapable of responding to beauty in other the inward being even of a rock or stone, things or in another field. He can be quite or the earth as it receives rain after a insensitive to the charm of Nature. Even parched day. within a particular field, whether it be We [can] project ourselves not merely into that of music, painting, or any other art, the forms of the tree, identifying our life his response may be limited to a form or with that of the slender shoots which swell style to which he is accustomed. and stretch forth, feeling in our soul the We have to conclude that art arises out 4 Vol. 134.8 Beauty and Goodness of seeing the truth of a thing from the the One Beauty is envisaged as satisfied inside, but it is also the product of a con- by the production of entities other than ditioned consciousness.