Writings
of H P Blavatsky
Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales
206 Newport Road, Cardiff, Wales, UK. CF24 -1DL
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831 – 1891)
The Founder of Modern Theosophy
A Year Of Theosophy
By
H
P Blavatsky
The dial of
Time marks off another of the world's Hours. . . .
And, as the Old
Year passes into Eternity, like a rain-drop falling
into the ocean,
its vacant place on the calendar is occupied by a
successor which
– if one may credit the ancient prophetic warnings
of Mother
Shipton and other seers – is to bring woe and disaster to
some portions
of the world. Let it go, with its joys and triumphs,
its badness and
bitterness, if it but leave behind for our
instruction the
memory of our experience and the lesson of our
mistakes. Wise
is he who lets "the dead Past bury its dead," and
turns with
courage to meet the fresher duties of the New Year; only
the weak and
foolish bemoan the irrevocable. It will be well to take
a brief
retrospect of those incidents of the year 1880 (A.D.) which
possess an
interest for members of the Theosophical Society. The
more so since,
in consequence of the absence from Bombay of the
President and
Corresponding Secretary, the anniversary day of the
Society was not
publicly celebrated.
It will not be
necessary to enter minutely into those details of
administration
which, however important in themselves as links, weak
or strong, in
the general chain of progress, and however they may
have taxed the
patience, nerve, or other resources of the chief
officers. do
not at all interest the public. It is not so much
explanation as
results that are demanded, and these, in our case,
abound. Even
our worst enemy would be forced to admit, were he to
look closely
into our transactions, that the Society is immeasurably
stronger
morally, numerically, and as regards a capacity for future
usefulness,
than it was a year ago. Its name has become most widely
known; its
fellowship has been enriched by the accession of some
very
distinguished men; it has planted new branch societies in
India, Ceylon and
elsewhere; applications are now pending for the
organization of
still other branches, in New South Wales, Sydney,
California.
India, Australia; its magazine has successfully entered
the second
volume; its local issues with the government of India
have been
finally and creditably settled; a mischievous attempt by a
handful of
malcontents at Bombay to disrupt it has miserably
failed.1 It has
made official alliances with the Sanskrit Samaj of
Benares, that
is to say, with the most distinguished body of
orthodox
Sanskrit pandits in the world, with the other Sabha of
which Pandit
Rama Misra Shastri is Manager, and with the Hindu
Sabha, of
Cochin State; while, at the same time, strengthening its
fraternal
relations with the Arya Samajas of the Punjab and
North-Western
Provinces. Besides all this, we can point with joy and
pride to the
results of the late mission to Ceylon, where, within
the space of
fifty-seven days, seven branch societies of Buddhist
laymen, one
Ecclesiastical Council of Buddhist priests, and one
scientific
society were organized, and some hundreds of new fellows
were added to
our list.
All this work
could not be accomplished without great labour,
mental anxiety
and physical discomfort. If to this be added the
burden of a
correspondence with many different countries, and the
time required
for making two journeys to Northern India and one to
Ceylon, our
friends at a distance will see that whatever other blame
may properly
attach to the Founders, who have never claimed
infallibility
of any sort, that of laziness is assuredly not to be
cast in their
teeth. Nor, when they learn that the work done since
leaving
America, the travelling expenses and the fitting and
maintenance of
the Headquarters establishment has cost some twenty
thousand
rupees, while the cash receipts of the Treasurer (exclusive
of those from
Ceylon, Rs. 2,440, which sum is set aside as a special
fund to be used
in the interest of Buddhism) have been only one
thousand two
hundred and forty rupees, all told, including one
donation of two
hundred rupees from the universally respected
Maharanee
Surnomoyee, and another of twenty rupees from a
well-wisher in
Bengal, will those who direct the Society's affairs
be regarded by
them as making money out of their offices. And these
figures, which
may most readily be verified, are our only answer to
the calumnies
which have been maliciously circulated by some who did
not, and others
who did, know the truth.
The trip to
Ceylon occupied seventy-seven days in all, the
second one to
Northern India one hundred and twenty-five days. Thus
the Founders
have been absent from Bombay on duty twenty-nine weeks
out of the
fifty-two; their travels extending through twenty-five
degrees of
latitude, from Lahore at the extreme north of India, to
Matara, the
southernmost point of ancient Lanka. Each of the Indian
Presidencies
has contributed a quota of new members; and at the
former capital
of the late lion-hearted Runjeet Singh, a branch was
recently
organized by Sikhs and Punjabis, under the title of the
"Punjab
Theosophical Society." During the twelvemonth, President
Olcott
delivered seventy-nine lectures and addresses, a majority of
which were
interpreted in the Hindi, Urdu, Guzerati and Sinhalese
languages.
Many misconceptions prevail as to the
nature and objects of the
Theosophical
Society. Some – Sir Richard Temple in the number –
fancy it is a
religious sect; many believe it is composed of
atheists; a
third party are convinced that its sole object is the
study of occult
science and the initiation of green hands into the
Sacred
Mysteries. If we have had one we certainly have had a hundred
intimations
from strangers that they were ready to join at once if
they could be sure
that they would shortly be endowed with siddhis,
or the power to
work occult phenomena. The beginning of a new year
is a suitable
time to make one more attempt – we wish it could be
the last – to
set these errors right. So then, let us say again: (1)
The
Theosophical Society teaches no new religion, aims to destroy no
old one,
promulgates no creed of its own, follows no religious
leader, and,
distinctly and emphatically, is not a sect, nor ever
was one. It
admits worthy people of any religion to membership, on
the condition
of mutual tolerance and mutual help to discover truth.
The Founders
have never consented to be taken as religious leaders,
they repudiate
any such idea, and they have not taken and will not
take disciples.
(2) The Society is not composed of atheists, nor is
it any more
conducted in the interest of atheism than in that of
deism or
polytheism. It has members of almost every religion, and is
on equally
fraternal terms with each and all. (3) Not a majority,
nor even a
respectable minority, numerically speaking, of its
fellows are
students of occult science or ever expect to become
adepts. All who
cared for the information have been told what
sacrifices are
necessary in order to gain the higher knowledge, and
few are in a
position to make one tenth of them. He who joins our
Society gains
no siddhis by that act, nor is there any certainty
that he will
even see the phenomena, let alone meet with an adept.
Some have
enjoyed both these opportunities, and so the possibility
of the
phenomena and the existence of "Siddhas" do not rest upon our
unverified
assertions. Those who have seen things have perhaps been
allowed to do
so on account of some personal merit detected by those
who showed them
the siddhis, or for other reasons known to
themselves and
over which we have no control.
For thousands
of years these things have, whether rightly or
wrongly, been
guarded as sacred mysteries, and Asiatics at least
need not be
reminded that often even after months or years of the
most faithful
and assiduous personal service, the disciples of a
Yogi have not
been shown "miracles" or endowed with powers. What
folly,
therefore, to imagine that by entering any society one might
make a short
cut to adeptship! The weary traveller along a strange
road is
grateful even to find a guide-post that shows him his way to
his place of
destination. Our Society, if it does naught else,
performs this
kindly office for the searcher after truth. And it is
much.
Before closing,
one word must be said in correction of an
unfortunate
impression that has got abroad. Because our pamphlet of
Rules mentions
a relationship between our Society and certain
proficients in
Occult Science, or "Mahatmas " many persons fancy
that these
great men are personally engaged in the practical
direction of
its affairs; and that, in such a case, being primarily
responsible for
the several mistakes that have occurred in the
admission of
unworthy members and in other matters, they can neither
be so wise, so
prudent, or so far-seeing as is claimed for them. It
is also
imagined that the President and Corresponding Secretary
(especially the
latter) are, if not actually Yogis and Mahatmas
themselves, at
least persons of ascetic habits, who assume superior
moral
excellence. Neither of these suppositions is correct, and both
are positively
absurd. The administration of the Society is, unless
in
exceptionally important crises, left to the recognized officials,
and they are wholly
responsible for all the errors that are made.
Many may
doubtless have been made, and our management may be very
faulty, but the
wonder is that no more have occurred, if the
multiplicity of
duties necessarily imposed upon the two chief
officers and
the world-wide range of activity be taken into account.
Colonel Olcott
and Madame Blavatsky do not pretend to ascetism, nor
would it be
possible for them to practise it while in the thick of
the struggle to
win a permanent foothold for the Society in the face
of every
possible obstacle that a selfish, sensuality-loving world
puts in the
way. What either of them has heretofore been, or either
or both may in
the future become, is quite a different affair. At
present they
only claim to be trying honestly and earnestly, so far
as their
natural infirmities of character permit, to enforce by
example and
precept the ideas which are embodied in the platform and
Rules of the
Theosophical Society. Once or twice ill-wishers have
publicly
taunted us with not having given practical proofs of our
alleged
affection for India. Our final vindication must be left to
posterity,
which always renders that justice that the present too
often denies.
But even now – if we may judge by the tone of our
correspondence,
as well as by the enthusiasm which has everywhere
greeted us in
the course of our journeyings – a palpably good effect
has been
produced by our appeals to the educated Indian public. The
moral
regeneration of India and the revival of her ancient spiritual
glories must
exclusively be the work of her own sons. All we can do
is to apply the
match to the train, to fan the smouldering embers
into a genial
warmth. And this we are trying to do. One step in the
right
direction, it will doubtless be conceded, is the alliance
effected with
the Benares pandits and attested in the subjoined
document:
[Here are printed the Articles of the
Union formed by the T.
S. and the Sanskrit Sabha of Benares,
agreeing to cooperation and
brotherly union between the two societies, in
the interests of the
promotion of Sanskrit Literature and Vedic
Philosophy and Science;
the agreement being signed by the officers
and members of the
Benares Samaj, and by Col. Olcott as
President of the Theosophical
Society. H.P.B.'s concluding comment follows:
These
custodians of Sanskrit learning have promised to put in
writing the
precious treasures of Aryan philosophy, and to cooperate
with us to give
the facts a worldwide circulation.
The London
Spiritualist remarked, the other day, that we were
doing much for
Spiritualism in India. It might rather be said we are
doing much to
make known the importance of mesmeric science, for
wherever we
have been we have spared no pains to show the close and
intimate
relationship that exists between our modern discoveries in
mesmerism,
psychometry, and odic force, and the ancient Indian
science of Yoga
Vidya. We look forward with confidence to a day when
the thorough
demonstration of this connection will give to both Asia
and Europe the
basis for a perfect, because experimentally
demonstrable,
science of Psychology.
Theosophist,
January, 1881
H. P. Blavatsky
1 Secret
letters by former members denouncing its Founders, sent to
Paris and other
Theosophists and pretending that the Bombay Society
was
virtually extinct (its best members having resigned), were sent
back to us
with new protestations of friendship and loyalty and
expressions
of scorn for the conspirators.-(Ed. Theos.)
back to text
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Preface
Theosophy and the Masters General Principles
The Earth Chain Body and Astral Body Kama – Desire
Manas Of Reincarnation Reincarnation Continued
Karma Kama Loka
Devachan
Cycles
Arguments Supporting Reincarnation
Differentiation Of Species Missing Links
Psychic Laws, Forces, and Phenomena
Psychic Phenomena and Spiritualism
Quick Explanations with
Links to More Detailed Info
What is Theosophy ? Theosophy Defined (More Detail)
Three Fundamental Propositions Key Concepts of Theosophy
Cosmogenesis Anthropogenesis Root Races
Ascended Masters After Death States
The Seven Principles of Man Karma
Reincarnation Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott William Quan Judge
The Start of the Theosophical
Society
History of the Theosophical
Society
Theosophical Society Presidents
History of the Theosophical
Society in Wales
The Three Objectives of the
Theosophical Society
Explanation of the Theosophical
Society Emblem
The Theosophical Order of
Service (TOS)
Glossaries of Theosophical Terms
Index of
Searchable
Full Text
Versions of
Definitive
Theosophical
Works
H P Blavatsky’s Secret Doctrine
Isis Unveiled by H P Blavatsky
H P Blavatsky’s Esoteric Glossary
Mahatma Letters to A P Sinnett 1 - 25
A Modern Revival of Ancient Wisdom
(Selection of Articles by H P Blavatsky)
The Secret Doctrine – Volume 3
A compilation of H P Blavatsky’s
writings published after her death
Esoteric Christianity or the Lesser Mysteries
The Early Teachings of The Masters
A Collection of Fugitive Fragments
Fundamentals of the Esoteric Philosophy
Mystical, Philosophical,
Theosophical, Historical
and Scientific
Essays Selected from "The Theosophist"
Edited by George Robert Stow Mead
From Talks on the Path of Occultism - Vol. II
In the Twilight”
Series of Articles
The In the
Twilight” series appeared during
1898 in The
Theosophical Review and
from 1909-1913
in The Theosophist.
compiled from
information supplied by
her relatives
and friends and edited by A P Sinnett
Letters and
Talks on Theosophy and the Theosophical Life
Obras
Teosoficas En Espanol
Theosophische
Schriften Auf Deutsch
An Outstanding
Introduction to Theosophy
By a student of
Katherine Tingley
Elementary Theosophy Who is the Man? Body and Soul
Body, Soul and Spirit Reincarnation Karma
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