RECEPTIVITY AND SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE

Any man who hears the rumbling of a thunder cloud, the roar of the ocean, or the rush of the winds above a holy place, is truly blessed, because of the sacred undertaking to which the whole of nature has been consecrated under Karma. Anyone who goes anywhere and is responsive to the F-note of nature – the keynote of Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony – the one sound into which all sounds are resolved, even if he hears it only in the still hours of dawn, hears the song of the flute.

There is a critical sense in which our ability to hear the flute is a function of our receptivity, and receptivity requires spiritual knowledge. The Heart Doctrine springs from the heart and lights up the mind. It also involves all aspects of our lives. If, with our whole being, whether intermittently or continuously, we can sift within the stillness and solitude of our inmost calm, only then can we feel the presence, hear the sound, and share the divine joy of the dance of the Logos.

We might say that the message and meaning of the incarnation of Krishna, over five thousand and seventy-five years ago, was to bring into the lives of men the beauty, the vital relevance and the abundant hope of the eternal rhythm of the cosmos.

— Raghavan N. Iyer                    

THE IMPERSONAL STANDPOINT

“Viewed from the impersonal standpoint of collective Karma and cyclic evolution, Nature suffers fools not unkindly but with compassion.” — RNI

“The Secret Doctrine is really giving instruction concerning meditation and self-study, about how to understand other human beings, and how to make a constructive difference to the collective karma of the human race.” — RNI

“Karma has never sought to destroy intellectual and individual liberty, like the God invented by the Monotheists. It has not involved its decrees in darkness purposely to perplex man; nor shall it punish him who dares to scrutinise its mysteries. On the contrary, he who unveils through study and meditation its intricate paths, and throws light on those dark ways, in the windings of which so many men perish owing to their ignorance of the labyrinth of life, is working for the good of his fellow-men.” — HPB

 

THE CHRISTOS

“We say that Christos is not only one of the three higher principles, but all the three regarded as a Trinity.” — HPB, The Key to Theosophy

“Krishna stands metaphysically for the Ego made one with Atma-Buddhi, and performs mystically the same function as the Christos of the Gnostics…”

— HPB, Theosophical Glossary                   

“Osiris, Krishna, Buddha, Christ, will be shown as different means for one and the same royal highway of final bliss – Nirvana. Mystical Christianity teaches self-redemption through one’s own seventh principle, the liberated Paramatma, called by the one Christ, by others Buddha; this is equivalent to regeneration, or rebirth in spirit, and it therefore expounds just the same truth as the Nirvana of Buddhism. All of us have to get rid of our own Ego, the illusory, apparent self, to recognise our true Self, in a transcendental divine life.” — The Maha Chohan

 

ENTERING THE PATH

“Theosophy is the exact science of psychology, so to say; it stands in relation to natural, uncultivated mediumship, as the knowledge of a Tyndall stands to that of a school-boy in physics. It develops in man a direct beholding; that which Schelling denominates “a realization of the identity of subject and object in the individual”; so that under the influence and knowledge of hyponia man thinks divine thoughts, views all things as they really are…” — H.P. Blavatsky

“The person who revolves selfishly around himself as a center is in greater danger of delusion than any one else, for he has not the assistance that comes from being united in thought with all other sincere seekers… We must first dispel the inner darkness before trying to see into the darkness without; we must know ourselves before knowing things extraneous to ourselves.” — W.Q. Judge

“At the first portal of the Path, there is the fateful inscription: “Abandon hope all who enter here.” Abandon hope for the petty personality, abandon hope for ambition, pride and selfish desire. Abandon hope, above all, for one’s own salvation if one would enter the Path, which leads to a galaxy of Gurus, mighty men of meditation and lovers·of all humanity who are wholly dedicated to the sacred goal of universal enlightenment. They have said: ‘If you wish to know us, study our-philosophy. If you wish to serve us, serve our humanity. If you take one step in our direction, we will take one step in yours.'” — R.N. Iyer

INVOLUTION AND EVOLUTION

“Our model of the cosmos must be as inexhaustible as the cosmos, [with] a complexity that includes not only duration but creation, not only being but becoming, not only geometry but ethics.” — Ursula Le Guin, The Dispossessed 

 

“Just as there are periodical minor cataclysms or partial destructions, so, the doctrine holds, there is the universal evolution and involution. Forever the Great Breath goes forth and returns again. As it proceeds outwards, objects, worlds and men appear; as it recedes all disappear into the original source.” — William Q. Judge, The Ocean of Theosophy

 

“The place where the line of involution and evolution meet is in the incarnation of the descending gods—ourselves—in the highest evolved form. The analogy is seen in any reincarnation.” — Robert Crosbie, The Friendly Philosopher

 

QUINTESSENCE

We find Plato stating distinctly that everything visible was created or evolved out of the invisible and eternal WILL, and after its fashion. Our Heaven – he says – was produced according to the eternal pattern of the “Ideal World,” contained, like everything else, in the dodecahedron, the geometrical model used by the Deity. — H.P. Blavatsky, “Old Philosophers and Modern Critics”

Plato considered the dodecahedron to be the culmination of the hierarchy of five solids, alluding to a growth or development associated with the four elements plus Aether. Thus the dodecahedron contains all the other elements, framing, as Timaeus described, “one visible animal comprehending within itself all other animals” while remaining more fiery than anything else. — Helen Valborg, “The Dodecahedron”

If we can imagine Arjuna as seeing within the “divine form” all living lines of force and the forms produced by them, the four, the five, the six-pointed star, and the many-sided figures, all in motion and of wonderful brilliancy of light and of many colors, presenting the activities of all beings of every grade in the universe, we may obtain some conception of the descriptive parts of this chapter. — Robert Crosbie, Commentary on Chapter 11, Notes on the Bhagavad Gita

NOETIC DEVOTION

“Tell him, O Aspirant, that true devotion may bring him back the knowledge, that knowledge which was his in former births. The deva-sight and deva-hearing are not obtained in one short birth. Be humble, if thou would’st attain to Wisdom. Be humbler still, when Wisdom thou hast mastered.”

— H.P. Blavatsky, The Voice of the Silence                    

“This exhortation to devotion is at once the most simple and the most difficult. Some deride it because they want powers and “development”; others because they think it too simple; but the wise student, even when he cannot at first grasp its meaning, will revolve it in his mind, strive after it, and make it a thing to be attained by him.”

— William Q. Judge, Notes on the Bhagavad Gita                    

“You have had much of the intellectual side; there should be as much of the devotional; for what is desirable is the awakening of the spiritual consciousness, the intuition— Buddhi—and this cannot be done unless the thoughts are turned that way with power and purpose.”

— Robert Crosbie, The Friendly Philosopher                    

DIVINE DESCENT

“Starting upon the long journey immaculate; descending more and more into sinful matter, and having connected himself with every atom in manifested Space — the Pilgrim, having struggled through and suffered in every form of life and being, is only at the bottom of the valley of matter, and half through his cycle, when he has identified himself with collective Humanity. This, he has made in his own image. In order to progress upwards and homewards, the “God” has now to ascend the weary uphill path of the Golgotha of Life. It is the martyrdom of self-conscious existence. Like Vishvakarman he has to sacrifice himself to himself in order to redeem all creatures, to resurrect from the many into the One Life. Then he ascends into heaven indeed; where, plunged into the incomprehensible absolute Being and BIiss of Paranirvana, he reigns unconditionally, and whence he will redescend again at the next “coming”, which one portion of humanity expects in its dead-letter sense as the second advent and the other as the last ‘Kalki Avatar'” — H.P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine, i. 268

M.K. GANDHI ON NON-POSSESSION

“Non-possession is allied to Non-stealing. A thing not originally stolen must nevertheless be classified as stolen property, if we possess it without needing it. Possession implies provision for the future. A seeker after Truth, a follower of the law of Love cannot hold anything against tomorrow. God never stores for the morrow; He never creates more than what is strictly needed for the moment. If therefore we repose faith in His providence, we should rest assured that He will give us every day our daily bread, meaning everything that we require…” — Yeravda Mandir, 1945                    

“The poor man would fain become a millionaire, and the millionaire a multimillionaire. The rich should take the initiative in dispossession with a view to a universal diffusion of the spirit of contentment. If only they keep their own property within moderate limits, the starving will be easily fed, and will learn the lesson of contentment along with the rich…” — ibid

WHAT IS SUBJECTIVE IN ONE RELATION IS OBJECTIVE IN ANOTHER

“In the philosophy of mind, subjective denotes what is to be referred to as the thinking subject, the Ego; objective, what belongs to the object of thought, the Non-Ego….These correlative terms correspond to the first and most important distinction in philosophy; they embody the original antithesis in consciousness of self and non-self, a distinction which in fact involves the whole science of mind; for psychology is nothing more than a determination of the subjective and the objective in themselves, and in their reciprocal relations.”

— William Hamilton, Discussions of Philosophy and Literature (as cited in WQJ’s “Subjective and Objective”)                    

“The definition above quoted certainly gives the right use of these terms… But when they are used in Theosophical discussion, the further consideration must not be overlooked, that the Ego, the Non-Ego, and the bond between the two (the thinker, the object of thought, and the thought) are all one. This gives emphasis to the fact that the line between the subject and object is purely imaginary; the distinction is logical and not metaphysical. Thus the terms subjective and objective are seen to be wholly correlative, and what is subjective in one relation is objective in another, and vice versa.”

— William Q. Judge, “Subjective and Objective”                    

“Upon the development of the astral principle the relation appears; this is subjective as to the physical body, and the latter is objective as to the former. So when the kamic principle develops, or evolves from potentiality to potency, from a latent state to activity, this in turn becomes subjective, and to it the lower principles are objective. When the Lower Manas in its turn becomes active and subjective, it takes intelligent cognizance of the lower principles as objective, and recognizes their identity with itself, and then self-consciousness appears. And when, by evolution or training, the Higher Manas becomes active, then will the entire quaternary, or lower Ego, become in relation to this added faculty, objective.”

— William Q. Judge, “Subjective and Objective”                    

 

THE ESSENCE OF THEOSOPHY

“Even as you think, the thought burning in your brain becomes a living force for good or for evil in the mental atmosphere. As a man thinks, thoughts from him go out to mould the thoughts and lives of other men. Your thought power makes you creative gods in the world.”

— Annie Besant, 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions

“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, goodwill to all beings, and perfect justice to others as to one’s self, are its chief features.”

— H.P. Blavatsky, “Letter to the American Convention, 1888”

 

“He who does not practise altruism; he who is not prepared to share his last morsel with a weaker or poorer than himself; he who neglects to help his brother man, of whatever race, nation, or creed, whenever and wherever he meets suffering, and who turns a deaf ear to the cry of human misery; he who hears an innocent person slandered, whether a brother theosophist or not, and does not undertake his defence as he would undertake his own – is no theosophist.”

— H.P. Blavatsky, “Let Every Man Prove His Own Work”

THE MYSTERIOUS POWER OF KRIYASHAKTI

“Kriyasakti (Gk.). The power of thought; one of the seven forces of Nature. Creative potency of the Siddhis (powers) of the full Yogis.”

— H.P. Blavatsky, Theosophical Glossary

“In the thoughts of the real man, or the immortal “Individuality,” the pictures and visions of the Past and Future are as the Present; nor are his thoughts like ours, subjective pictures in our cerebration, but living acts and deeds, present actualities. They are realities, even as they were when speech expressed in sounds did not exist; when thoughts were things, and men did not need to express them in speeches; for they instantly realized themselves in action by the power of Kriya-Sakti, that mysterious power which transforms instantaneously ideas into visible forms, and these were as objective to the “man” of the early third Race as objects of sight are now to us.”

— H.P. Blavatsky, Transactions of the Blavatsky Lodge

“The ancients held that any idea will manifest itself externally if one’s attention (and Will) is deeply concentrated upon it; similarly, an intense volition will be followed by the desired result. A Yogi generally performs his wonders by means of Itchasakti (Will-power) and Kriyasakti.”

— H.P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine

 

On Spontaneous Generosity

“I am confident that, when the real nature of Theosophy is understood, the prejudice against it, now so unfortunately prevalent, will die out. Theosophists are of necessity the friends of all movements in the world, whether intellectual or simply practical, for the amelioration of the condition 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. We are the friends of those who exercise practical charity, who seek to lift a little of the tremendous weight of misery that is crushing down the poor. But, in our quality of Theosophists, we cannot engage in any one of these great works in particular. As individuals we may do so, but as Theosophists we have a larger, more important, and much more difficult work to do. People say that Theosophists should show what is in them, that “the tree is known by its fruit.” Let them build dwellings for the poor, it is said, let them open “soup kitchens” etc., etc., and the world will believe that there is something in Theosophy. These good people forget that Theosophists, as such, are poor, and that the Founders themselves are poorer than any, and that one of them, at any rate, the humble writer of these lines, has no property of her own, and has to work hard for her daily bread whenever she finds time from her Theosophical duties. 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 learned 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.” — H.P. Blavatsky, “Five Messages to American Theosophists”

 

GANDHIAN TRUSTEESHIP

Ideals must work in practice, otherwise they are not potent.
                  — Mahatma Gandhi

 Looking at Gandhian trusteeship more closely, we might ask what it actually means to be a trustee. A trustee is one who self-consciously assumes responsibility for upholding, protecting and putting to good use whatever he possesses, acquires or earns. For an individual to be a trustee in any meaningful sense implies that he is self-governing and morally sensitive. He is acutely aware of the unmet needs of others and, simultaneously, is capable of controlling and transmuting his own appropriating tendencies. He is deeply committed to cultivating his most generous feelings and altruistic hopes for others while consciously and patiently freeing himself from all recognized exploitative attitudes and relationships. He strives to become self-regulating, reliable and sacrificial. But he must become so in a courageous and intelligent way. He must learn to think and feel altruistically. He must learn by degrees the heart’s etiquette – to speak, touch and act with the utmost purity and solicitousness. He must become, by virtue of self-training, very attentive to every resource at his disposal – both inner and outer. It is precisely because he sees his abilities and possessions as belonging to God, mankind or to future generations that he is eager to use them to the maximum. His posture towards his overall resources is therefore not one of a lazy or selfish indifference. He is not concerned with hoarding nor is he fearful of multiplying his gifts, talents and possessions. Like the good servant in the New Testament, he wishes to increase his meagre “talents”, but not for his own sake, nor merely for his own family.

 The best trustee is indeed someone who has attained an inward moral balance. He is serenely detached, magnanimous and imaginative. But his detachment is never cold or narrow. It is an expression of his unshakeable confidence in the ontological plenty of Nature and the inexhaustible resourcefulness of Man. His steadfastness and trustworthiness are principally due to this broader focus of concentration. Likewise, his motive is benevolent and self-sustaining because it is not mixed with the turgid waters of personal aggrandizement. Instead, he expresses a quality of love and appreciation for what he has that enhances its moral and practical value for others. He might even possess little, but his sense of when, where and how to use what he has increases its potential good a hundredfold.

— Raghavan Iyer