Helena P. Blavatsky

James Morgan Pryse (d. 1942) recalls HPB:

https://universaltheosophy.com/jmp/memorabilia-of-hpb/

"As a personality “the Old Lady,” as we affectionately called her, was like a mother to me; but if my reminiscences were to be confined to that personality, dealing only with happenings and doings in the physical world, they would be of little interest and would convey an utterly false impression of the real H. P. B. with whom I was acquainted. So I must tell this tale of two worlds, however strange and incredible it may seem to many, if not most, theoretical Theosophists. It is a true narrative, but those who are unable to accept it as such are at perfect liberty to regard it as a romance or a fairy-tale, and let it go at that. Whether they believe it or not is no concern of mine. But there are some Theosophists who have passed beyond the stage of theoretical study, and my story is especially for them."
 
The doom of Atlantis and the war between the sorcerers and the good Adepts:

"And the 'great King of the Dazzling Face,' the chief of all the Yellow-faced, was sad, seeing the sins of the Black-faced.

" He sent his air-vehicles (Vimanas) to all his brother-chiefs [chiefs of other nations and tribes] with pious men within, saying: 'Prepare. Arise ye men of the good law, and cross the land while [yet] dry.'

' The Lords of the storm are approaching. Their chariots are nearing the land. One night and two days only shall the Lords of the Dark Face [the Sorcerers] live on this patient land. She is doomed, and they have to descend with her. The nether Lords of the Fires [the Gnomes and fire Elementals] are preparing their magic Agneyastra [fire-weapons worked by magic]. But the Lords of the Dark Eye ["Evil Eye"] are stronger than they [the Elementals] and they are the slaves of the mighty ones. They are versed in Ashtar [Vidya, the highest magical knowledge]. *Come and use yours [i.e., your magic powers, in order to counteract those of the Sorcerers]. Let every Lord of the Dazzling Face [an adept of the White Magic] cause the Vimana of every lord of the Dark Face to come into his hands [or possession], lest any [of the Sorcerers] should by its means escape from the waters, avoid the rod of the Four [Karmic deities] and save his wicked [followers, or people].

'May every yellow-face send sleep from himself [mesmerize?] to every black face. May even they [the Sorcerers] avoid pain and suffering. May every man true to the Solar Gods bind [paralyze] every man under the lunar gods, lest he should suffer or escape his destiny.
'And may every yellow face offer of his life-water [blood] to the speaking animal of a black face, lest he awaken his master.
'The hour has struck, the black night is ready, etc., etc.
...............................................
'Let their destiny be accomplished. We are the servants of the great Four. May the Kings of light return.' "[/quote

From Secret Doctrine 2:427
 
Atlantis doomed continued:

" The great King fell upon his dazzling Face and wept . .. .
" When the Kings assembled the waters had already moved. .. .
" [But] the nations had now crossed the dry lands. They were beyond the water mark. Their Kings reached them in their Vimanas, and led them on to the lands of Fire and Metal [East and North]."
*********************************************
Still, in another passage, it is said:
" ... Stars [meteors] showered on the lands of the black Faces; but they slept.
" The speaking beasts [the magic watchers] kept quiet.
" The nether lords waited for orders, but they came not, for their masters slept.
" The waters arose, and covered the valleys from one end of the Earth to the other.
High lands remained, the bottom of the Earth [the lands of the antipodes] remained dry. There dwelt those who escaped; the men of the yellow-faces and of the straight eye [the frank and sincere people].

" When the Lords of the Dark Faces awoke and bethought themselves of their Vimanas in order to escape from the rising waters, they found them gone."
Then a passage shows some of the more powerful magicians of the " Dark Face "- who awoke earlier than the others- pursuing those who had "spoilt them·" and who were in the rear guard, for-" the nations that were led away, were as thick as the stars of the Milky Way," says a more modern Commentary written in Sanskrit only.
"Like as a dragon-snake uncoils slowly its body, so the Sons of men, led on by the Sons of Wisdom, opened their folds, and spreading out, expanded like a running stream of sweet waters . . . many of the fainthearted among them perished on their way. But most were saved."

Yet the pursuers, "whose heads and chests soared high above the water," chased them "for three lunar terms" until finally reached by the rising waves, they perished to the last man, the soil sinking under their feet and the earth engulfing those who had desecrated her.

SD 2:428
 
In 1931 or thereabouts G. de Purucker gave a talk titled The Exoteric and Esoteric H. P. B.. It was published in a 1944 book Wind of the Spirit, a collection of his talks. Some excerpts from it are given:

"Instead of talking to you about what our beloved H. P. B.'s work was, and what she has done, it might be interesting to try to give you a few important thoughts regarding H. P. B. herself: who she was, what she was, and why she came; and I shall try briefly to do this.

First, then, I shall talk to you on the exoteric H. P. B. There were two in one in that great woman - an outside which met the world and had to face the conditions of the world into which she came to work; and an inside, a living flame of love and intelligence, a flame of inspiration and holy light, and this latter was the esoteric side of H. P. B.

Behind these outer lineaments which some artists have actually called ugly, we see an ethereal beauty which no human words will easily describe, but which every human heart can sense, and which every human eye which is spiritually opened can also see. There is inspiration in that face which is beautiful to look upon; there is self-dedication; there are thoughts divine because there is truth, and truth is Nature's own divine heart; and it is these spiritual qualities which shine out of the face of our beloved H.P. B. when we look at her picture, and which proclaim to us that behind the outer person there was the inner living esoteric fire.

Does any Theosophist who has studied the wonderful Wisdom Religion of Antiquity imagine for a moment that H. P. B. came to the Occidental world by chance, outside of Nature's laws and rigid concatenation of cause and effect which produce everything in due order? Does anyone imagine therefore that whatever is, has not its ordered and concerted place in the cosmic harmony? Of course not. This therefore means that H.P. B. came in obedience to a law, one of Nature's laws about which the ignorant West knows all too little, and therefore doubts, and because of doubting is blind - for doubt always veils the inner vision."
 
As I already stated "Madman Blavatsky screwed up the terms Left Hand Path, Black Magic as well as perpetuated misinformation regarding Lucifer. She is in my opinion a menace."
 
The Theosophical Society was begun in USA & HPB kept America in mind, wherever she lived. Here are some excerpts from her 1888 letter to the TS Convention:

"It must be remembered that the Society was not founded as a nursery for forcing a supply of Occultists — as a factory for the manufactory of Adepts. It was intended to stem the current of materialism, and also that of spiritualistic phenomenalism and the worship of the Dead. It had to guide the spiritual awakening that has now begun, and not to pander to psychic cravings which are but another form of materialism.

For by "materialism" is meant not only an anti-philosophical negation of pure spirit, and, even more, materialism in conduct and action — brutality, hypocrisy, and, above all, selfishness — but also the fruits of a disbelief in all but material things, a disbelief which has increased enormously during the last century, and which has led many, after a denial of all existence other than that in matter, into a blind belief in the materialization of Spirit.

Men cannot all be Occultists, but they can all be Theosophists. Many who have never heard of the Society are Theosophists without knowing it themselves; for the essence of Theosophy is the perfect harmonizing of the divine with the human in man, the adjustment of his godlike qualities and aspirations, and their sway over the terrestrial or animal passions in him. Kindness, absence of every ill feeling or selfishness, charity, good-will to all beings, and perfect justice to others as to one’s self, are its chief features. He who teaches Theosophy preaches the gospel of good-will; and the converse of this is true also — he who preaches the gospel of good-will, teaches Theosophy."

Here are all of HPB's Convention letters:

https://www.philaletheians.co.uk/st...s/open-letters-to-the-american-convention.pdf
 
Last edited:
More from the 1888 letter:

"Theosophists are of necessity the friends of all movements in the world, whether intellectual or simply practical, for the amelioration of the conditions of mankind. We are the friends of all those who fight against drunkenness, against cruelty to animals, against injustice to women, against corruption in society or in government, although we do not meddle in politics.

The function of Theosophists is to open men’s hearts and understandings to charity, justice, and generosity, attributes which belong specifically to the human kingdom and are natural to man when he has developed the qualities of a human being. Theosophy teaches the animal-man to be a human-man; and when people have learnt to think and feel as truly human beings should feel and think, they will act humanely, and works of charity, justice, and generosity will be done spontaneously by all.

Whether I be in England or in India, a large part of my heart and much of my hope for Theosophy lie with you in the United States, where the Theosophical Society was founded, and of which country I myself am proud of being a citizen."
 
From her letter to the 1889 Convention:

"You in America: Your Karma as a nation has brought Theosophy home to you. The life of the Soul, the psychic side of nature, is open to many of you. The life of altruism is not so much a high ideal as a matter of practice. Naturally, then, Theosophy finds a home in many hearts and minds, and strikes a resounding harmony as soon as it reaches the ears of those who are ready to listen. There, then, is part of your work; to lift high the torch of the liberty of the Soul of Truth that all may see it and benefit by its light.
Therefore it is that the Ethics of Theosophy are even more necessary to mankind than the scientific aspects of the psychic facts of nature and man.

The experiments made in Hypnotism and Mesmerism at the present time are experiments of unconscious, when not of conscious, Black Magic. The road is wide and broad which leads to such destruction; and it is but too easy to find; and only too many go ignorantly along it to their own destruction. But the practical cure for it lies in one thing. That is the course of study which I mentioned before. It sounds very simple, but is eminently difficult; for that cure is “ALTRUISM.” And this is the keynote of Theosophy and the cure for all ills; this it is which the real Founders of the Theosophical Society promote as its first object — UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD.

Many are the energetic members of the Theosophical Society who wish to work and work hard. But the price of their assistance is that all the work must be done in their way and not in any one else’s way. And if this is not carried out they sink back into apathy or leave the Society entirely, loudly declaring that they are the only true Theosophists. Or, if they remain, they endeavour to exalt their own method of working at the expense of all other earnest workers. This is fact, but it is not Theosophy. There can be no other end to it than that the growth of the Society will soon be split up into various sects."
 
The 1889 letter ends with this quotation from Masters:

". . . Let not the fruit of good Karma be your motive; for your Karma, good or bad, being one and the common property of all mankind, nothing good or bad can happen to you that is not shared by many others. Hence your motive, being selfish, can only generate a double effect, good and bad, and will either nullify your good action, or turn it to another man’s profit. . . . There is no happiness for one who is ever thinking of Self and forgetting all other Selves.”
“The Universe groans under the weight of such action (Karma), and none other than self-sacrificial Karma relieves it . . . How many of you have helped humanity to carry its smallest burden, that you should all regard yourselves as Theosophists. Oh, men of the West, who would play at being the Saviours of mankind before they even spare the life of a mosquito whose sting threatens them, would you be partakers of Divine Wisdom or true Theosophists? Then do as the gods when incarnated do. Feel yourselves the vehicles of the whole humanity, mankind as part of yourselves, and act accordingly . . . ”

These are golden words; may you assimilate them!
 
Our Ego, that which lives and thinks and feels independently of us in our mortal casket, does more than believe. It knows that there exists a God in nature, for the sole and invincible Artificer of all lives in us as we live in Him. No dogmatic faith or exact science is able to uproot that intuitional feeling inherent in man, when he has once fully realized it in himself.

—Isis Unveiled, I, 36
 
The coming of Christ,” means the presence of CHRISTOS in a regenerated world, and not at all the actual coming in body of “Christ” Jesus; this Christ is to be sought neither in the wilderness nor “in the inner chambers,” nor in the sanctuary of any temple or church built by man; for Christ – the true esoteric SAVIOUR – is no man, but the DIVINE PRINCIPLE in every human being. He who strives to resurrect the Spirit crucified in him by his own terrestrial passions, and buried deep in the “sepulchre” of his sinful flesh; he who has the strength to roll back the stone of matter from the door of his own inner sanctuary, he has the risen Christ in him.”

The Esoteric Character of the Gospels, HPB
 
Nicholas Weeks said:
Christ – the true esoteric SAVIOUR – is no man, but the DIVINE PRINCIPLE in every human being. He who strives to resurrect the Spirit crucified in him by his own terrestrial passions, and buried deep in the “sepulchre” of his sinful flesh; he who has the strength to roll back the stone of matter from the door of his own inner sanctuary, he has the risen Christ in him.”
Click to expand...
Still, without the rituals and scriptures of the Church nobody would still be discussing Christ on internet forums 2000 years later. The church is the shell of the nut. Do away with the church and the inner essence would soon be lost.

Blavatsky and others are only able to consider the esoteric character of Christ because the church has preserved the exoteric text and the sacraments down 2000 years?
 
Last edited:
I'd say, in that sense, Christ is the personified Logos of God – it's often the case that esoterists cannot get their heads round that.
 
This compilation of daily gems of wisdom was done by HP Blavatsky in Summer of 1890:

https://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/gems/gems.htm

This quote leads the entries for January:

Rise! Awake!
Seek the great Teachers, and attend! The road
Is narrow as a knife-edge! Hard to tread!"
"But whoso once perceiveth HIM that IS; —
Without a name, Unseen, Impalpable,
Bodiless, Undiminished, Unenlarged,
To senses undeclared, without an end,
Without beginning, Timeless, Higher than height,
Deeper than depth! Lo! Such an one is saved!
Death hath not power upon him!"
— Katha Upanishad
 
[Commenting on a correspondent’s letter, (CW IV:297-98) H.P. Blavatsky wrote:]

We fear our correspondent is labouring under various misconceptions. We will not touch upon his very original views of Karma — at its incipient stage — since his ideas are his own, and he is as much entitled to them as anyone else. But we will briefly answer his numbered questions at the close of the letter.

1 Spirit got itself entangled with gross matter for the same reason that life gets entangled with the fœtus matter. It followed a law, and therefore could not help the entanglement occurring.

2 We know of no eastern philosophy that teaches that “matter originated out of Spirit.” Matter is as eternal and indestructible as Spirit and one cannot be made cognizant to our senses without the other — even to our, the highest, spiritual sense. Spirit per se is a non-entity and non-existence. It is the negation of every affirmation and of all that is.

3 No one ever held — as far as we know that Spirit could be annihilated under whatever circumstances. Spirit can get divorced of its manifested matter, its personality, in which case, it is the latter that is annihilated. Nor do we believe that “Spirit breathed out Matter”; but that, on the contrary, it is Matter which manifests Spirit. Otherwise, it would be a puzzle indeed.

4 Since we believe in neither “God” nor “Satan” as personalities or entities, hence there is neither “Heaven” nor “Hell” for us, in the vulgar generally accepted sense of the terms. Hence also — it would be a useless waste of time to discuss the question.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top