Death and Necromancy: The Pro6fem Mediums Pro6 Within · 2018-03-08 · WINTER 2005 77...

Volume IX, Number 4 Winter 2005

Intuition aru! Instinct - Part II

Death and Necromancy: The Pro6fem

with Mediums

Pro6ation: Overcoming the

Darkness Within

A Rare Letter from

Franz Hartmann

AVehicle for the Ancient Wisdom Tradition

TS in America goes after the NARADA TS in Tacoma, Washington

Here is what we know:

1. The Narada TS is one of the oldest lodges in America dating back to 1890. It sees itself in the tra-dition of Blavatsky and Judge following the original lines as set down by the Masters. This is notin accordance with the spirit of the movement that now exists at Wheaton.

2. The Narada bylaws have it that should the lodge dissolve for any reason its property is left toWheaton.

3. In 1989, Narada TS voted not to change its bylaws so as to be in conformance with those ofWheaton. The records indicate that Narada rejected administrative authority from Wheaton.

4. In October 2004, Betty Bland, President of TS in America, once again asked Narada to change itsbylaws and was told by the Narada president that such a change would not happen.

5. On October 18, 2005, a group of individuals unrelated to the Narada lodge went to the state capi-tal and had the lodge name changed from Narada Theosophical Society to Theosophical Societyin Tacoma and had the lodge officials changed from the elected officials to five people apparentlysupported by Wheaton.

6. On October 22, 2005, Betty Bland and her entourage (which included the five self-appointed of-ficials) went to Tacoma to meet with members of the Narada lodge. The Narada lodge was notaware of the subterfuge that had transpired at the state capital nor were they made aware dur-ing this meeting. Betty Bland’s sole object seemed to be to have the Narada lodge accept thesefive individuals as members of the lodge. When she felt her objective had been obtained sheended the meeting.

7. Among the five new members are certain people known to be disruptive to the harmony of theNarada lodge.

8. A letter postmarked October 31, 2005 was received November 4, 2005 by a member of the Boardof the Narada lodge. Clearly TS in America incorrectly believed that they might receive somesupport from this member. The letter begins, “Hopefully this letter arrives on the same day thata lawsuit filed on behalf of the Theosophical Society in America is served to John Scott.” JohnScott is the president of the Narada lodge. After asking for certain assistance the letter contin-ues, “I hope this letter clarifies matters and if you have any questions or concerns, please directthem to my office . . . or to Betty Bland . . . .” The letter was on TS in America letterhead andsigned by Jeffrey S. Forth.

9. On November 17, 2005 in response to questions put to her by the editor of the Aquarian Theoso-phist, Betty Bland responded that “the Theosophical Society in America is not filing a lawsuit.The situation to which you refer involves litigation by disaffected members of the Tacoma lodge.”The disaffected members are of course the five individuals that she had recently forced theNarada lodge to accept.

Is Wheaton afraid of the Judge tradition continuing within one of its member organizations? Whatconclusions can we draw from the above? We could imagine some terrible scenarios. In one ofthese, Wheaton is having problems with a particular lodge that refuses to fall into line. Perhapsthere are money problems within the American TS. It knows this problem lodge is rich in propertyand if the lodge were disbanded, the property would be turned over to them. A scheme is thereforehatched to parachute five agitators into the lodge, have the agitators form the Board and then driveall the current members away. The problem lodge could then be disbanded and the propertyturned over to Wheaton. Perhaps money is not an issue and these Judgites simply make Wheatonnervous. Perhaps neither is the case and Wheaton is simply irrational. Perhaps for their own fu-ture well-being, the remaining lodges of TS in America should find out.

��

FOHATA Quarterly Publication of Edmonton Theosophical Society

Contents��

Robert Bruce MacDonald

�� JoAnne MacDonald

�� Rogelle PelletierDolorese Brisson

��Edmonton Theosophical

Society

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Volume IX, No. 4Winter 2005

Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Letters to the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Two Spiritual Forces: Intuition and Instinct -

Part II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

��

Path of Probation: The Unwanted Blessing . . . . . . 81

��

Death: The Dying Process and Thereafter . . . . . . . 84

��

Franz Hartmann: Introduction to “Theosophy

and Theosophists” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

What I Think of Theosophy and Theosophists.

Summing Up.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

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76 FOHAT

A Few Hints From the MastersIn this issue different aspects of the human condi-tion are looked at, especially in respect to being aTheosophist. Several individuals received lettersfrom the Masters during the Theosophical Society’sinception at the end of the 19�� century. Not leastamong these individuals was Franz Hartmann. Let-ters from the Masters are frequently to the point anddemonstrate great clarity on how one should proceedalong the Path. The following are a collection of snip-pets from various letters to Franz Hartmann ��

�� on how to makeoneself useful to the Theosophical Cause.

On December 25, 1883, Master M. wrote the follow-ing to Hartmann in answer to a question of his posedshortly after his arrival at Adyar:

Were we to employ in our service a man of no intel-ligence, we would have to point out to him, as you

say in the West, chapter and verse, ie., give himspecial assignments and definite orders; but amind like yours, with a background of much expe-rience, can find the way by itself, when given a hintin regard to the direction which leads to the goal.Make for yourself a clear picture of what a man is,in what relation this particular life stands to thesum-total of his former existences, and that his fu-ture is entirely within his own power, and you willnot be in doubt any longer as to what you shoulddo. . . . Make known without reservations the prin-ciples of the philosophy which speaks the loudestin your own heart. Help others, so that you may behelped yourself. . . . Live according to the highestIdeal of Manhood. Think and work. In this lie theconditions of satisfaction for both yourself andothers. . . . ��

If self-responsibility is the key to personal progress,what might be some of the obstacles along the way?Later, on February 5, 1884, Master M. touches onthis when he writes to Hartmann that:

I know you to be entirely free from those preju-dices and predilections that are generally in theway of a calm and dispassionate pursuit of thechief aim of the Society, full equality among menas brothers and an entire unconcern with thechildish fairy tales they call their religion, whetherexoteric or esoteric. . . .

. . . Let me give you an advice. Never offer yourselfas a chela, but wait until chelaship descends by it-self upon you. Above all, try to find yourself, andthe path of knowledge will open itself before you . . .��

Universal Brotherhood is the “chief aim of the Soci-ety” and consequently we have to guard against un-

fair judgement of others at times. On August 2, 1884Hartmann again received counsel, this time fromK.H. on this topic:

It must however be remembered that inadequateas our ‘instruments’ may be, to our full purpose,they are yet the best available since they are butthe evolutions of the times. It would be most desir-able to have better ‘mediums’ for us to act thro;and it rests with the well-wishers of the Theosoph-

ical Cause how far they will work unselfishly to as-sist in her higher work and thus hasten theapproach of the eventful day. ��

Later M. picks up on this theme of judging others andhow to behave towards one another in difficult cir-cumstances. On January 12, 1885, Master M. writeshis final letter to Hartmann:

In such a great work as this Movement no oneshould expect to find his associates all congenial,intuitive, prudent or courageous. One of the firstproofs of self-mastery is when one shows that hecan be kind and forbearing and genial with com-panions of the most dissimilar characters andtemperaments. One of the strongest signs of ret-rogression when one shows that he expects othersto like what he likes and act as he acts. . . .

. . . . I do not have to explain to you first . . . . as youhave studied the laws of Karma, although notwithout some help having been given to you inthis. For this reason, you do not receive more of-ten instructions from me. We are leaders but notchild-nurses. The weak ones, not the strong ones,are in constant need of definite ‘Orders,’ and attimes our chelas satisfy their wishes. This is will-ing slavery, but no healthy growth. Step forwardand try to see clearly yourself what is most neededfor the Society. Seek out what your duty may be,and carry it out. If you do the right thing, I will be atyour side; but I will not give any advice, and will notinvolve myself in anything, unless it be unavoid-ably required, and you were in great doubt. . . .

. . . An infinite field of activity lies before you; thewhole world is open to you. . . . Great obstacles areto be overcome; the greater is the power requiredto overcome them, the greater is the growth thatcomes from it. A constant restraint of passions, asleepless watch over, and patient forbearance of,human weakness, will help towards victory.��

Theosophists are not told what to do, they become bydoing what is in their heart. If you want to become aMaster of Wisdom, learn to think as a Master thinks.The above hints demonstrate that the future of eachman is pregnant with uncountable possibilities de-pending only on how he acts here and now.

Editorial

WINTER 2005 77

Letters to the Editor:

The issue of Fohat, Fall 2005, again places the vol-ume The Esoteric World of Madame Blavatskyeditedby Daniel Caldwell under discussion. The sametype of arguments are used against The Letters ofH.P. Blavatsky as edited by John Algeo. What theeditors and some contributors to Fohat seem to failto understand is that neither book is written to de-fend or attack anybody. Both give a collection ofsources from which the unbiased observer can drawtheir own conclusions on both Madame Blavatskyherself and her contemporaries. This is the kind ofsourcebook that historians love. In the case ofCaldwell’s book — it is merely a selection of themany documents on H.P. Blavatsky’s life that hehas collected on his website ‘Blavatsky Archives’.

Daniel Caldwell is a dominant personality on theinternet. His discussions on Madame Blavatskyshow a determined wish to make it clear that herMasters were real. His recurrent arguments withPaul Johnson were infamous in their time.

In light of this fact, he must be rather shocked to seehis historical labours being treated as some sort oftreason.

It is the refrain Fohat seems glad to repeat: “How dareone question? How dare one make an issue clearerby showing conflicting testimony?” It is from thework of people like Caldwell and Algeo that the realBlavatsky can perhaps be seen. Blavatsky DID per-form phenomena. She also probably faked a few.Does that limit her work? No, her books and articleswill likely stand the test of time — at least the comingcentury that is, if her own prophesy is to come true,which it seems likely to do. Blavatsky was no saintand never claimed to be one. My guess is she strug-gled between her eastern and her western side andwho knows what occult influences were added in themix. She was a very complex person and her place inhistory as ground breaking esotericist and one of thetwo first western Buddhists (Olcott being the other) isstarting to get recognized. Within that context bothbooks under discussion are of great importance.And if the belated advice as handed out in Fohat hadbeen followed, neither of these books would havebeen as useful to scientists as they are now.

Someone like Blavatsky was (and remarkably: stillis in a sense) so much in the public light, that it is in-

evitable that people judge her. She knew this her-self well enough to let Annie Besant read theHodgson report. Only after Besant had judged it tobe trash was she accepted as a student ofBlavatsky’s. Cushioning people isn’t going to lead tothe truth. If we are going to select material based onthe image we want Blavatsky to have, then we aren’tinto the business of trying to find truth, but in thebusiness of advertising. Happily, despite the beau-tiful books Quest publishing produces, the contenthas not been censored based on ideas on how itmakes Blavatsky look. Her reputation is mixed any-how, one might as well read the material her mixedreputation is based on.

If I may add one more comment: it seems to me to bean absolute waste of time, energy and money to re-print the Blavatsky Letters while deleting a few ofthose letters. There is a good, well edited bookwhich meets the scientific standards and it has goodexplanations and an index/glossary. So it can behanded out to anybody seriously interested inBlavatsky and those that want to can warn prospec-tive readers about the Solovyov material. The wholefuss seems to me to be totally out of proportion.

Katinka HesselinkThe Netherlands

Since Mr. Daniel Caldwell now sees that publishinglibels against H.P. Blavatsky is no longer acceptedas “just normal” in theosophical circles, it is quitenatural for him to try to criticize those who come upto defend the founder of the TheosophicalMovement.

As to me, he is welcome to do so. I would be proud tobe attacked instead of her. To be criticized for de-fending HPB is good karma, not only to me, but to allthose who have the opportunity and the privilege todo this. I also happen to be among those studentswho have a heartfelt commitment with their soulsnot to be silent while utter lies and libels are publi-cized against their sacred Teacher.

The way Daniel Caldwell and John Algeo — editorsof The Esoteric World of Madame Blavatsky and ofThe Lettersof H.P. Blavatsky,volume I — see Theoso-phy is based in a certain moral relativism.

��

78 FOHAT

It seems that for this kind of editor everything can betrue and everything can be false, according to theirown interests. Will publishing libels against HPBmake a book “hotter” in the market? May belittlingHPB help keep the structure of the Adyar Society theway it is now, Leadbeaterian, churchlike and ritual-istic? They won’t think twice. They do not seem tocare too much about truth.

Before starting with this practice of adopting as truethe same old and proved lies against an Initiate, Dan-iel Caldwell had already surrendered to the little edi-torial “paparazzi” pleasures of that which Ms. Radha

Burnier once called “keyhole curiosity” — that is,an exaggeration of, and an undue attention to, outer,smaller details about the life of great beings. Fromthat level of editorial practice to actively promotingfalsehoods about HPB’s life, at least one or two fur-

ther unfortunate steps were taken by Algeo andCaldwell.

[I will not accept discussing the karma of publishingabuses against the very names of sacred Ad-ept-Teachers, which Caldwell also did upon publiciz-ing the libels fabricated by Emma Coulomb againstHPB.]

As to attacking HPB, though, not everybody in theAdyar TS thinks like Mr. Algeo and Mr. Caldwell. Iam happy to see that Ms. Radha Burnier and severalother members of the Adyar TS do not seem to en-tirely agree with Caldwell’s and Algeo’s policy of cir-culating libels.

While it is always disagreeable to go into minor andexternal details of other peoples lives (except per-haps for paparazzi readers) — it is not always uselessor harmful. Years ago, Walter Carrithers, Jr., for in-stance, did go into details in HPB’s life in order toprove her innocent — and he succeeded. DanielCaldwell is going the other way around. He is walk-

ing in the opposite direction — and he will not suc-ceed. The recent, now growing movement in defenseof HPB will prove that there are still those who defendTruth in the Esoteric Movement. And Truth prevails.

Now, should we get personally angry at DanielCaldwell, John Algeo and at those who make similarchoices in life? Not at all.

Those of us who may be tempted by feelings of angershould meditate in the stoic philosophy of Epictetus,a freed slave and sage in the Roman Empire, a manwho taught:

The untrained response to robbers and thugs andto those who otherwise err is outrage and retribu-

tion. Wrongdoers need to be rightly understood toform the correct response to their behaviour. Theappropriate response to bad deeds is pity for theperpetrators, since they have adopted unsoundbeliefs and are deprived of the most valuable hu-man capacity: the ability to differentiate betweenwhat is truly good and bad for them. Their originalmoral intuitions have been distorted, so they haveno chance at inner serenity. Whenever someonedoes something foolish, pity him rather than yieldto hatred and anger as so many do.�

As to Mr. Caldwell’s arguments in his more recent

letters published in Fohat �� , Iam not sure that I have the required patience to an-swer every one of his minor issues and gossipy de-

tails — a kind of patience that only that keyhole

curiosity mentioned above can provide. Yet thereare a few things I can say.

Mr. Caldwell refuses to see the radical, oceanic dif-ference between “negative accounts” and “proved liesand libels”. Negative accounts about HPB are wel-come in my view, but not lies. Not Libels. Enemies,when sincere, teach us a lot. Liars, and those whopublicize lies, are made of a different stuff, whetherthey praise or blame. Mr. Caldwell accepts Solovyovand the Coulombs as historical sources. His positionis outdated. He does not want to accept the fact thatthe Society for Psychical Research, SPR, abandonedin 1986 all charges against HPB, so no one now, ex-cept Caldwell and Algeo, will take Solovyov or theCoulombs as “historical sources” as to HPB’s life.

With regard to the publication done by the EdmontonTheosophical Society — it was made in a correct wayand it has nothing to do whatsoever with Mr.Caldwell’s “editorial” work.

Mr. Caldwell and I seem to agree that the esotericmovement should not be afraid of contrast and po-lemics when necessary. I would say that a certain

amount of rajas (movement) will serve to go beyond

tamas, inertia, and sooner or later can open room for

satwa, a higher harmony and rhythm.

Yet Caldwell defends the contrast between liars andsincere people, that is, he wants the disguised “con-trast” of Solovyov, Coulomb and their followersagainst the teaching, the teacher and the ElderBrothers.

That is not what HPB meant by contrast. The con-trast she meant — also recommended by the Mahat-mas — was the paradox between different aspects ofreality, as honestly seen by different people.

� The Art of Living� �� !�

. . . continued on page 92

WINTER 2005 79

Two Spiritual Forces: Intuition and Instinct

��

Karin Smith

If intuition has helped man to discover truths, to re-veal his spiritual source, what has instinct done forus? Does instinct then work in a different plane ofexistence compared to intuition?

Instinct is the sister of intuition, if we may use suchan expression. Its source is not Buddhi, but thelower principles in man and the senses, yet it is still aspiritual faculty. In Isis H.P.B. describes instinct as“the universal endowment of nature by the Spirit ofthe Deity itself” �� . So how does it happen thenthat a child is more in peril, when left alone than ananimal? Did we lose our instinct when we gained ourreasoning faculties, i.e. mind? A child lacks reason,it is still latent in him and that is what makes himmore vulnerable, but whatever instinct he has is notas active as that of the animals, since for severalthousand incarnations whatever instinct the humanbeing had, has been slowly replaced by the use ofreason. As a child starts his education, it is expectedof him to develop reason, intelligence and logic; theybecome the survival functions in his life. Reasonparalyzes instinct and intuition, unless man makesan effort to develop them, to use them as much aspossible. The more we advance in our sophisticatedmental development, the more we close down thegate to our divine spark and to the functions ofintuition and instincts.

Nature herself “prescribes” the instincts to the ani-mal kingdom according to their own nature, evolu-tion and development. This type of instinct in theanimal is what one would call an automatic re-sponse. A beaver knows how to build dams to sur-vive in an area where there are no lakes, and buildsits own lake that will hold his home. A bee knowshow to build a beehive and so on. An animal knowsfrom birth that fire is a danger to run away from, buta child has to be taught. As we develop mind, manhas to be taught again what comes naturally to theanimals, and if we are not taught we must learn thehard way, through direct experience. Then memorybecomes our guide in this lesson, not instinct.

In order to understand instinct better, we have to un-derstand the different types of consciousness whichare shared by the different kingdoms in Nature.

H.P.B. describes the different states of conscious-ness in the Prakritic plane as:

1. Objective Sensuous Consciousness. — The con-sciousness that pertains to the five physicalsenses in man and rules in animals, birds,fishes, some insects, etc. Here are the “Lives”;

their consciousness is in �tma-Buddhi; theyare entirely without Manas.

2. Astral Instinctual Consciousness. — The con-sciousness of sensitive plants, of ants, spiders,and some night-flies (Indian), but not of bees.Among other animals the non-mammalian ver-tebrates are without this consciousness, butthe placental mammals have all the potentiali-ties of human consciousness, though of coursedormant, or latent, at present. On this plane isthe consciousness of idiots. The commonphrase, “he has lost his mind,” is an occulttruth; for when, through fright or other cause,the lower mind becomes paralyzed, then theconsciousness acts on the astral plane. Thestudy of lunacy will throw much light on thispoint. . . .

3. K �ama-Pr �a �nic, or Physiological-Emotional Con-sciousness. — This is the general life-con-sciousness which belongs to the objectiveworld, even to the stone; for if the stones werenot living they could not decay, crumble away,or emit a spark. Affinity between chemical ele-

ments is a manifestation of this K�ama-Pr�a �nicconsciousness. To this plane, also, belong thelife-preservative instincts, as for instance thatwhich prevents a kitten going into the waterand getting drowned. . . .

4. K �ama-M �anasic, or Psychic, or Passional-Emo-tional Consciousness. — In animals and idiotsthe instinctual consciousness on the lowerplanes of sensation is in this state; in man theseare rationalized. . . . The highest degrees of this

K�ama-M�anasic consciousness are psychic,there being within this sub-plane, as with all

others, seven degrees from the instinctual [em-phasis mine] and psychic.

5. M �anasic or Mental-Emotional Consciousness. —From this plane Manas stretches up to Mahat.

6. Buddhic, or Spiritual Emotional Consciousness.— The plane of Buddhi or of the Auric Envelope.From this plane consciousness goes to the “Fa-

ther in Heaven,” �tman, reflecting all that is in

the Auric Envelope. The M�anasic and Buddhic

80 FOHAT

states cover the planes from the Noëtic to theDivine, but it is impossible at this stage to de-fine them intelligibly. . . . ��

��

There are definitely other states of consciousness be-sides these, yet these do point out to us where our in-stincts come from. “The astral form itself is thenucleus, now, as then, instinct with the principle oflife” �� . The body receives a bombardment ofenergetic waves which it must try to separate intosome form of information and then channel it to thebrain through the nervous system. These waves ofinformation are taken up by the senses in the astralbody, and by every cell, and are then transmitted toour physical body. Each cell has a memory, and thatmemory is an instinct.

The Kama-Pranic consciousness bestows thelife-preserving instincts, very developed in most ani-mals and somewhat subdued in humans who guidetheir lives by their desires, emotions and mental ac-tivity. The instinct for survival is one of the strongestwhich everyone has, from the small insect, to a hu-man being, and it makes a lot of sense that it comesfrom the Kama-Pranic principles. The Kama princi-ple gives us the desire to live, while the prana gives usthe energy to accomplish and fulfill all those desiresand needs. Also the instinct of reproduction is part ofthis group, which in the animal and vegetable king-doms are guided by a natural impulse and controlledby nature’s cycles, and it is this impulse which hasbrought the fall of man who, instead of followingsome instinctive cycle, has abused his impulse ofreproduction and sensuality.

As for the Kama-Manasic principle which is far moredeveloped in humans than in animals, it impartsman with his reasoning and observation faculties. Inthe animal kingdom this “Kama-Manasic” principlegives rise to instinctual consciousness. So it is thatthrough our principles we broaden our states of con-sciousness, and instinct, as well as intuition, arepart of that consciousness.

To further understand how instinct functions withinthe body, H.P.B. explains that

Instinct, as a divine spark, lurks in the uncon-scious nerve-centre of the ascidian mollusk, andmanifests itself at the first stage of action of itsnervous system as what the physiologist terms thereflex action. . . . it grows and develops accordingto the law of the double evolution, physically and

spiritually; . . . It is the divine instinct in its cease-less progress of development. ��

This, then, is a hint to fathom the functions of in-stinct. It lies concealed in the “unconscious nerve-centre” as part of spirit. Then is it the Fohatic forcethat travels through the physical body, a spark in-deed from the Divine, which carries the informationto adapt and protect the animal from nature’s preda-tors, to give the animal and man all the tools theyneed for their progress and survival? This reflex ac-tion is part of the physical evolution of each species,but also the spiritual, for they must move together intheir spiral progression.

We can ask ourselves what ceaseless developmentand spiritual progress could a mollusc go through?All of nature is in constant change, so a mollusc willobtain certain “experiences” which with time willgenerate a more perfected mollusc that has instinc-tively learned how to survive and then transmits this“learning” to the whole species. Progress must go onas our material bodies become less dense, as we passfrom one sphere to another. Again we read:

The phenomena of sensation and volition, of intel-lect and instinct, are, of course, all manifestedthrough the channels of the nervous centres, themost important of which is the brain. ��

��

Hence, man and animals all follow the same course,i.e. obtain knowledge, sensations, and reflex actionsthrough the spark of spirit, or instinct that travelsthrough our nervous system and especially in thebrain.

Another key to understanding instinct is whenH.P.B. tells us in Isis that instinct is “the spiritualunity of the five senses” �� . Each sense gives usspecific emotions, information, knowledge, andthrough the combination of all five we derive morecomplex instincts. We know that the senses can becommingled; we also know that they have to go firstthrough the astral body in order to get to our physicalbody, and this tells us that the unity is in the astralbody, through its instinctual consciousness. InH.P.B.’s article “Occult or Exact Science” we readhow certain senses commingle:

there are sensitives in whom the sight of coloursevokes immediately that of sounds, and othersagain, in whom a triple phenomenon is producedby one special sense generating two other senses.A certain sensitive cannot hear a brass band with-out a taste “like copper in the mouth” during theperformance, and seeing dark golden clouds. ��

��

And again in Isis she tells us:

Therefore, an animal devoid of reasoning powers

has in its inherent instinct an unerring faculty

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. . .continued on page 92

WINTER 2005 81

Path of Probation:

The Unwanted Blessing

Carlos Cardoso Aveline

Each particular existence is but a ripple in the eter-nal, unlimited ocean.

From an atom to a galaxy, everything in the universepulsates. Most beings vibrate for a time and thensimply dissolve. It may take a long time before theyemerge again, dressed in different forms or enve-lopes.

Pulsations are everywhere and have their ownrhythms. In ancient Greece, Pythagoreans taughtthat all beings are really made of vibration patterns.Each aspect of the one universal reality consists ofwaves, or rather is a combination of various rhythmsof undulatory movement.

Any learning process in human mind follows thesame lawof universal vibration. In order to grasp newrealities, we have to adapt our own rhythms to newways of pulsating. Each aspect of human knowledgehas its own ways of using the unlimited diversity ofwavelengths present everywhere in life.

Something similar occurs with the process by whichwe can learn divine wisdom. Classical books of eso-teric philosophy really bring to us tips and hints ofthe vibration rates operating at higher levels of real-

ity. Actually taking advantage of these hints is only apossibility. It depends on how we read these books.

The overwhelming challenge confronting the studentis much beyond getting acquainted with words andideas. It is to incorporate those wiser life-patterns inhis daily existence, while eliminating vibration rateswhich are not compatible with that wisdom. Ofcourse, such a task tends to take a long time. Learn-ing esoteric philosophy challenges skandhas accu-mulated for several lives. As the student learnsabout Theosophy, he has to change himself in a grad-ual but complete way. Each step along the pathmeans adopting some new pattern, for which he hasto forget some older rhythm or habit which he used toconsider his own. The past sense of identity is aban-doned together with old vibration patterns. He seesthat true self-knowledge can only be obtained by for-

getting himself. The same challenge is expressed inLight on the Path:

Desire only that which is beyond you. It is beyondyou, because when you reach it you have lostyourself.�

How, then, can we make a bridge to that which is be-yond ourselves? That is a question of no small im-portance.

The core of the modern esoteric philosophy can besaid to be in The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, inLetters from The Masters of the Wisdom, in the booksand texts signed or written by H.P.B., and in otherclassical works in line with these. On the other hand,we also have the actual life-examples of H.P.B. andother disciples or lay disciples who lived in the 19��

century or before. Many of these life lessons can befound in the texts of the Letters written or dictated byAdepts. H.P.B. had her reasons for intending tostudy lives of Initiates at length in the third volume ofThe Secret Doctrine. Although such a volume nevercame to light, we do have several texts by her aboutthe subject.�

As we look at these two aspects of esoteric teachingsfrom the central viewpoint of vibration patterns, wecan see at least three clusters of rhythms, whose keysare present in them and available to us:

1) As each human being is a microcosmic coun-terpart of the universe, he can literally know him-self by studying the cosmos. The mental wave-lengths of a sublime philosophical Jnana Yogacan be found in The Secret Doctrine and otherwritings, including the Mahatma Letters. Theypowerfully expand Manas and Buddhi-Manas inthe learner’s consciousness.�

2) A second cluster of higher conscious-ness-rhythms emerges as a result of the previousone. It brings about an outwardly silent, be-yond-thought, heartfelt perception of the cosmo-logical processes in their dynamic unity anddiversity. Such group of vibration patterns

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82 FOHAT

deeply changes the student’s consciousness as awhole. It operates independently from thoughtsor words, even if words can stimulate it into ac-tion. As a metaphor, it can be said to float slightlyabove the first cluster.

3) Another chain of opportunities seems to be anunwanted blessing. For many students, it is adisgusting and shocking process to have anycontact whatsoever with the third main cluster ofvibration-patterns present in the core of the eso-

teric philosophy. Yet this cluster is of the es-sence in the learning process. It gives itsfoundation. It connects it to the soil. It produces

the selflessness and the discernment withoutwhich the two previous general lines of vibrationare impossible to sustain.

This group of consciousness-waves brings with it

those probationary possibilities present in thepractice of challenging spiritual ignorance and dog-matism in every form and — in making Theosophy aliving power in one’s life. It provokes an inner revolu-tion in the student’s life. It puts the student in theuncomfortable outskirts of real Occult learning.

The three clusters of vibration patterns areinseparable. Probation can’t really be avoided in life,for any knowledge brings with it some degree of re-sponsibility and tests. Students face probations ac-cording to the strength and purity of their will, andaccording to the content and “colour” of their pastkarma. It is useless, therefore, to ask when andwhere does probation begin. Probation is part of life.It never starts or ends. Its intensity is always in di-rect proportion to the often changing speed anddepth of the learning process.

Tests are unavoidable because we can’t live wisdomwithout eliminating mechanisms of spiritual blind-ness. These mechanisms are not only inside our-selves. They are also collectively present in any city,country, group or institution to which we maybelong.

Many people see the spiritual path as a way of ob-taining peace and comfort at the personal level. Intheir deeds, if not in words, they try to reject proba-tion. When these people learn about H.P.B.’s strug-gle against theological dogmatism and other forms ofcollective ignorance, they feel that the main teacherof the esoteric philosophy was excessively polemist.They think that H.P.B. had a temper and that shewas less peaceful than she should have been. Think-

ing like this may help us disguise our own tamasiclove for routine and ommision. Those who challengecollective ignorance are fiercely attacked in variousways — so it is convenient for us to have some handyexplanations and excuses as to why we do not try tofollow the example and the vibration pattern ofInitiates.

Hence ill-informed people believe that H.P.B. chal-lenged the dogmas of her time because she was anx-ious, neurotic — or perhaps because she had ‘amissing principle’ in her inner consciousness. Thefact of the matter is that she couldn’t avoid challeng-ing the dogmas of her time because she was a greatsoul. The same happened to many Messengers,great and small, since Pythagoras, Buddha andLao-Tzu. Messengers don’t care about establisheddogmas or personal well-being. Seen as an exampleof a vibration pattern, H.P.B.’s life and suffering con-tain an example to be followed. She was a willing in-strument to open a new road and to establish a betterpattern. More than one century after she left herbody in 1891, her life is still a living metaphor illus-trating the path which we might take courage totread one of these days. The inner aspect of the prog-

ress along this road is radiant with eternal bliss —while, at the outer level, the learner’s personality un-

dergoes a painful psychological crucifixion.

One Mahatma described this process in a letter to alay chela:

You were told (. . .) that the path to Occult Scienceshas to be trodden laboriously and crossed at thedanger of life; that every new step in it leading tothe final goal, is surrounded by pit-falls and cruelthorns; that the pilgrim who ventures upon it is

made first to confront and conquer the thousandand one furies� who keep watch over its adaman-tine� gates and entrance — furies called Doubt,Skepticism, Scorn, Ridicule, Envy and finallyTemptation — especially the latter; and that he,

who would see beyond had to first destroy this liv-ing wall; that he must be possessed of a heart andsoul clad in steel, and of an iron, never failing de-termination and yet be meek and gentle, humbleand have shut out from his heart every humanpassion, that leads to evil.�

Big things reflect themselves in smaller ones, andeven now every student can have a taste of real disci-pleship if he TRIES to live up to the teaching. Yetconsciously or unconsciously many prefer to ignorethe fact that the way to true learning is a dangerouspath. Fear, love for comfort and attachment to rou-tine usually cover themselves with beautiful ideas.

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WINTER 2005 83

When the sacred path is transformed into something

to be seen by others, people give priority to outer qui-etness. Then the student may fall into the theosoph-ical variety of quietism, which is kindly defined in

the MahatmaLetters as “that utter paralysis of the

soul”.

Esoteric “quietists” cannot understand the vast op-portunities present even in the outer regions of theprobationary path, which leads to real knowledge.As a consequence, they usually refuse to defendthose who are unjustly attacked.

When they hear that H.P.B.’s work faces new andgreat dangers in the first decade of the 21� century,and that the libels made against her in the 19�� cen-tury have been recently adopted as true by a coupleof “theosophical” editors, they naively shrug theirshoulders. They think it has nothing to do with themor with their spiritual learning.

Perhaps these outwardly peaceful souls try to locatethemselves above every “mundane”, conflicting is-sue. They certainly deserve a chance to follow theirfancies. For those who will defend truth, though,there is the tremendous potentiality of referring theirlives in a more direct way to the sacred teachingswhich they study, and to the sacred source of thoseteachings.

No doubt, such a direct combination of theory andpractice is dangerous. To be peaceful is one thing: toseem peaceful is another, entirely different one. Tobe spiritual is often to seem un-spiritual. The deceiv-ing contrast between outer image and inner realitymakes every flower along the way hide at least one ortwo thorns which can easily make the pilgrim bleed.The Voice of the Silence says of such a learning: “Thename of Hall the second is the Hall of [Probationary]Learning. In it thy Soul will find the blossoms of life,but under every flower a serpent is coiled.”�

Indeed, the outer, easy way is the false one. It is theinner motives and intentions that determine whichway we are going. Hence soft words are often the in-strument of hypocrisy. In one of his New Testamentlessons, the gentle Master Jesus helps us under-stand H.P. Blavatsky’s teachings on the need for usto defend Truth against liars, instead of doing ourbest to look like saints in the eyes of others:

How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Phar-isees! You hypocrites! You clean the outside ofyour cup and plate, while the inside is full of whatyou have obtained by violence and selfishness.Blind Pharisee! Clean what is inside the cup first,and then the outside will be clean too! �� !

� ��

Those who find H.P.B.’s manners too aggressiveshould regularly come back to these strong words ofJesus, who is often misrepresented as a man capableof using only kind words:

How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Phar-isees! You hypocrites! You are like whitewashedtombs, which look fine on the outside but are fullof bones and decaying corpses on the inside. Inthe same way, on the outside you appear good toeverybody, but inside you are full of hypocrisy andsins. �� ! ��

Thus we can start to understand the profound differ-ence between the outward show of peace continu-

ously staged by all kinds of whitewashed tombs —theosophical or not — and the inner spiritual proba-tion faced by those who volunteer to make some realself-sacrifice. Perhaps that is the reason why in theMahatmaLettersstudents are invited to act like “spir-itual warriors”�.

In the first years of the modern esoteric movement,the task confronting theosophists was described by a

Mahatma as a forlorn hope. According to the Web-ster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary� , itmeans an undertakingalmostcertain to fail, a perilousor desperate enterprise. A Master explained his useof such an expression in a letter to a lay chela:

What I meant by the ‘Forlorn Hope’ was that whenone regards the magnitude of the task to be under-taken by our theosophical volunteers, and espe-cially the multitudinous agencies arrayed, and tobe arrayed, in opposition, we may well compare it,to one of those desperate efforts against over-whelming odds that the true soldier glories to at-tempt. You have done well to see the ‘largepurpose’ in the small beginning of the T.S.��

If we look at the problems of our civilization in thefirst decade of the 21� century, or make any seriousevaluation of the theosophical movement worldwide,it is not difficult to understand why the Master had to

use the expression forlorn hope to describe the task

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84 FOHAT

Death: The Dying Process

and ThereafterRogelle Pelletier

Oh blind fools! They forget — or never knew that he who holds the keys to the secrets of Death is possessed of the

keys of Life. — The Mahatma Letters, 2�� Edition, TUP, p.365.

Death and the process surrounding it persist assome of the deepest mysteries for the average west-erner. Thoughts regarding the process of dying con-jure up the most anxiety, while questions about theawareness of the ‘dearly departed on the other side’brings up the most interest and intrigue. Fortu-nately, theosophical writings shed much light intothis dark area of mystery.

Death is defined in Webster’s Dictionary� as “the actor fact of dying; permanent cessation of life in a per-son, animal, or plant, in which all vital functionscease permanently”. While this definition gives aprecise description of the result of death, death per seis not explained and when researched further is in-variably referred to only in physical terms. Theoso-phy, on the other hand, investigates death as“essentially the study of man’s consciousness, andonly secondarily the study of the destinies of the vari-ous vehicles in which this fundamental Ray of con-sciousness is temporarily imbodied”.�

Esoteric teachings demonstrate that the UniversalLaw of cycles governs life and death — but what pro-cess leads to death? As with sleep, it is not a lack ofvitality which brings about physical fatigue butrather “an excess of vitality, which finally succeedsthrough the years in wearing out the organs of thebody . . . . [T]his excess of pranic activity . . . so weak-ens the organs by the stress and strain put uponthem . . . that their cohesion and molecular and evenatomic power to perform their respective ‘duties’ orfunctions are finally destroyed”� and the body beginsto decay. In addition, each individual is born withonly a certain amount of vitality or ‘power of resis-tance’ which has been exhausted at the time of natu-ral death. The ‘life-atoms’ composing the body are atone time builders and preservers, and at other timesdestroyers or disintegrators.

William Q. Judge, one of the original Founders of theTheosophical Society, makes a brilliantly simplecomparison to explain this ‘power of resistance’:

Man may be compared to an electric lamp, com-posed of carbon interposed at a break in the wire.The current, caused to flow through this wire,

reaches the carbon, is resisted and broken untilthe carbon is exhausted. Man is a carbon stand-ing in a current of life, consisting of moleculesunited in such a manner that he is capable of liv-ing — burning — just so long. That is, carrying thetheory into everyday life, he is capable of remain-ing active just so many hours, when he becomesfatigued because life is so strong he cannot longerresist it. In the morning he awakens, to once morerenew the contest, and keeps on so doing fromyear to year, until life has grown too strong for himand he is compelled to give up the fight and aban-don his home in the body.�

One of the fundamental teachings of Theosophystates that evolution of the universe and man un-folds through the sevenfold division of the principlesor planes of consciousness. These are divided intothe three ‘upper’ and the four ‘lower’ principles.Briefly stated, in man these are:

1. Atma (Spirit; One with the Absolute)

2. Buddhi (Intuition; the vehicle of pure UniversalSpirit)

3. Manas (Mind, which is further subdivided intoHigher and Lower Mind).

Together these three principles (Atma, Buddhi andHigher Manas) form the ‘permanent’ Individuality(the Ego) of man.

The four lower principles are:

4. Kama (desire body)

5. Prana (life, vitality)

6. Astral (the EthericDouble or phantom body) and

7. Physical body.

Together these form the principles which, followingthe death of the physical, experience their own‘deaths’ as they eventually dissolve. The physicalbody “is considered by the Masters of Wisdom to bethe most transitory, impermanent, and illusionary ofthe whole series of the constituents in man”.�

G. de Purucker expounds that as the Higher Triad ofman is a native of spiritual divine spheres there istherefore a constant spiritual-intellectual attraction

WINTER 2005 85

or pull upwards to these superior planes acting onthe intermediate nature of the human constitution.Combined with the progressive decay of the astral-vi-tal-physical vehicle, these are the two main causescontributing to physical death, which “takes placeboth causatively and instrumentally from within,and thus works outwards”.� In the majority of cases,the withdrawal of the Ego “from self-conscious par-ticipation in the affairs of earth-life” takes place overa period of time varying from months to years beforephysical death.

The process of disembodiment, as a general rule, oc-curs through the withdrawal of the auric essence ofthe body beginning at the lower extremities. It “as-cends from the feet through the knees and thighsand viscera to the heart, where it pauses briefly andthen ascends along the spinal cord into the brain.”The brain is the last organ to die but even after theheart “dies” there remains a point of connection inthe heart to “the active Akasa still functioning in thebrain and producing the panorama of the past life’sexperiences”. Every orifice of the body becomes avent for its corresponding prana. The astral leavesthe physical vehicle mainly through the mouth andnostrils like a cloud of vapor. Additionally, “the partof the astral man which, while imbodied, has beenthe organ of the spiritual and nobler intellectual ele-ments of the constitution, leaves the body through . .. an aperture or suture or mystical opening in the topof the head in the vicinity of the pineal gland”.� Thepoint in the heart vanishes an instant before the laststrand of the life-thread is irrevocably snapped anddisappears. The polarity of the body then changesand disintegration begins.

The “moment of death” is described as “the actualmoment of transition when the senses have closed tothis world and not yet opened to the other. This is en-tirely different to the moment before death when themind is filled with ideas of terrestrial origin. . . . Whenthe last breath has been drawn . . . a moment of in-tense mental activity occurs before the spirit finallyleaves the body. All the past life rushes with graphicvividness before the mind.”�

The panorama of the past life’s experiences deter-mines the length of time required for actual and realdeath. The following passage from The MahatmaLet-ters best summarizes the process of the panoramicreview:

At the last moment, the whole life is reflected inour memory and emerges from all the forgottennooks and corners picture after picture, one eventafter the other. The dying brain dislodges memorywith a strong supreme impulse, and memory re-stores faithfully every impression entrusted to itduring the period of the brain’s activity. That im-pression and thought which was the strongestnaturally becomes the most vivid and survives so

to say all the rest which now vanish and disappearfor ever, to reappear but in Deva Chan. No mandies insane or unconscious — as some physiolo-

gists assert. Even a madman, or one in a fit of delir-

ium tremens will have his instant of perfect lucidityat the moment of death, though unable to say so tothose present. The man may often appear dead.Yet from the last pulsation, from and between thelast throbbing of his heart and the moment whenthe last spark of animal heat leaves the body — the

brain thinks and the Ego lives, over in those fewbrief seconds his whole life over again. Speak inwhispers, ye, who assist at a death-bed and findyourselves in the solemn presence of Death. Espe-cially have you to keep quiet just after Death haslaid her clammy hand upon the body. Speak inwhispers, I say, lest you disturb the quiet ripple ofthought, and hinder the busy work of the Past,casting on its reflection upon the Veil of the Fu-ture.�

Every cell of the body retains memory, and it is mem-ories from every level of the individual’s being thatthe panorama, the result of automatic action on thepart of the human monad (consciousness centre),emerges: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.True death occurs when the last thought, emotionaland intuitive impression has been viewed. Theamount of time required for this review by the“watching eye of the inner man” varies from a fewhours for the more spiritual individuals and up totwelve hours, possibly longer for others. G. dePurucker suggests about six hours for the averageperson. In cases of extreme old age the panoramabegins in a vague manner for some days, possiblyweeks, before physical death occurs.��

Once death has occurred the higher principles areseparated from the physical bodies, visible and invis-ible. Over time the physical aspects and life forcesreturn to nature: the coarser physical body, com-posed of solids, liquids and gases disintegrates intothe elements of which it is composed; the other moreethereal physical (phantom) body lingers in theneighborhood of the corpse and then is dissipated,blending with the ethers surrounding our earth.This latter body, before disintegration, is sometimesseen as a nebulous apparition by sensitive persons.

At the moment of death ‘life’ in a different conscious-ness begins. The body, life force (prana) and the as-tral (three lower principles) are lost. The middleprinciple (Kama-rupa), together with the HigherTriad (Manas-Buddhi-Atma) and what has been ap-propriated from the lower mind are in Kama-loka.Roughly defined, Kama-loka is a semi-materialplane, state or condition (not a place) — the realm ofthe kama-rupas or desire bodies of defunct entities,animals and men, awaiting the ‘second death’, whicharrives with the fading out or disintegration of the ve-hicle of desire. This is a time of (mostly) unconscious

86 FOHAT

condition during which period the process of separa-tion between the upper triad (the immortal spiritualpart of man) and the lower principles is accom-plished. The Higher Triad withdraws into a higherstate of consciousness (Devachan), leaving the lowerprinciples to slowly disintegrate, atom by atom in thesurrounding elements.

For those left behind, the time shortly following thedemise of a loved one is the most intriguing aspect ofdeath, and it is generally at this point that contactwith the dearly departed is attempted. So, what isthe state or degree of awareness of the entity inKama-loka?

Duration of the stay in Kama-loka depends upon thenature of the life just ended. A spiritual person willpass through this state quite rapidly, and the aver-age person over a period of time ranging from monthsto years. Evil or grossly materialistic persons will ex-perience more difficulty separating their principlesdue to having focussed too much of their attention tophysical appetites during their lifetime and will ac-cordingly spend a longer period of time inKama-loka. During the dissolution process the aver-age human is unaware, or at most only partiallyaware of what is going on.

Kama-loka intermingles in its various phases, higherand lower, with the thought atmosphere of our worldand is thickly populated with the kama-rupas (desirebodies) or shells of the deceased. These shells arealso called elementaries (kama-rupic shades). Theshell is a ‘double’, a replica in appearance and appar-ent character of the personality that was. Composedof the life atoms of the recently deceased person, theshell therefore includes automatic memories of thepast life which were discarded at death, but it has noself-awareness. As explained in the earlier quotationfrom The Mahatma Letters, only the loftiest, mostspiritual memories�� survive and reappear inDevachan following the ‘second death’ in theKama-loka. The ‘second death’ involves a panoramicvisioning of the past life, similar to the first review butless vivid and to a less complete degree. At this pointthe kama-rupa is left behind and Devachan, a stateof bliss and peace where all the unfulfilled spiritualhopes of the past incarnation are fulfilled, begins.This is a period of digestion and assimilation,recuperation and recompense between incarnations.

The ‘consciousness’ of the excarnate entity in itskama-lokic sojourn, according to de Purucker,“ranges from perfect temporary obliteration ofself-consciousness in unconsciousness, through allintermediate degrees, to the astral low-type self-con-sciousness that Elementaries�� and ‘lost souls’ have.. . . The purer the man, the deeper the unconscious-ness.” For the average human, consciousness in

Kama-loka is “shadowy, vague, diffuse, indefinite,and distinctly dreamlike” with perhaps brief inter-vals of hazy reawakening, much as during sleep,“until the Second Death in Kama-loka takes placeand the human ego enters the ‘dreaming’ ofDevachan.”��

In their longing to communicate with a dead relativeor friend, people resort to mediumship, more re-cently referred to as channelling. Some people areborn with mediumistic powers and others, having aslight tendency in that direction, develop these ten-dencies, ignorantly supposing that a heaven-sent gifthas been conferred upon them. They are convincedthat communication with the deceased has in factbeen established and that the contact is genuine.Some channellers see the entities, others hear theirvoices. H.P. Blavatsky warns of the dangers in nouncertain terms:

Whether conscious or unconscious, all this deal-

ing with the dead is necromancy, and a most dan-gerous practice. For ages before Moses suchraising of the dead was regarded by all the intelli-gent nations as sinful and cruel, inasmuch as itdisturbs the rest of the souls and interferes withtheir evolutionary development into higher states.The collective wisdom of all past centuries has everbeen loud in denouncing such practices. . . . Whilesome of the so-called “spirits” do not know whatthey are talking about, repeating merely — likepoll-parrots — what they find in the mediums’brains, others are most dangerous, and can onlylead one to evil.��

The supposed ‘returning spirit’ is in fact “but the as-tral simulacra, the reliquiae, of human beings . . . the‘shades’ as the ancients called them — decaying psy-cho-astral entities, therefore mortal and dying, andin a spiritual sense filthy, and therefore utterly unfitto commerce with.”�� It is explained in Mahatma Let-ter XVI �� "�#� �

��$�% %�� that those who were ma-

terialistic while in incarnation and whose thirst forlife attracts them to mediums/channellers, set upnew Skandhas (karmic attributes) far worse than thebody left behind, resulting in “a series of untold evilsfor the new Ego”. The consequences for the mediumextending the invitation are also dire. An elementarycan draw vitality from a medium and thus prolong itsexistence. In extreme cases a medium can bevampirized of their life energy, “sometimes leavingthem as deficient as if they had severe anaemia”.�

Man is mercifully protected (by an akashic/auric veilsurrounding his physical body) from too close con-tact with the pernicious influences of the lower astrallight. It is not wise to break that barrier and open adoor which cannot thereafter be closed.

W.Q. Judge summarizes it most succinctly in TheOcean of Theosophy:


WINTER 2005 87

Franz Hartmann: Introduction to“Theosophy and Theosophists”

In July 1895, Franz Hartmann had published inthe pages of Borderland magazine a letter detail-

ing his experiences and understanding of Theosophyand Theosophists. This letter was in response to var-ious acquaintances of H.P. Blavatsky who had com-mented in Borderland on her work and her character.All this was precipitated by a review of Lillie’s Ma-dame Blavatsky and her Theosophy, and a review ofthe translation of Solovyoff’s A Modern Priestess ofIsis. These reviews and commentaries displayedmuch ignorance and lost faith towards Theosophyand its founder, to which Dr. Hartmann felt need torespond. One of the commentators, St. George Lane-Fox spoke of his time at Adyar with Hartmann whenthe Coulomb affair was unfolding. Dr. Hartmannuses this commentary as a means to present theother side. His letter, in full, follows this.

After detailing his appointment to a “Board of Con-trol” along with Hartmann and several others, tomake day-to-day decisions at Adyar during Olcott’sand Blavatsky’s absence, Lane-Fox tells us ofBlavatsky’s distrust of the Coulombs and of his owndiscovery of Madame Coulomb’s mercenary nature.Lane-Fox then goes on to say:

On their expulsion from the Society, the Coulombs

proceeded to make terms with the Madras Chris-

tian College Magazine for the publication of a se-ries of articles attacking Madame Blavatsky andthe Society. In these articles it was stated that theCoulombs had, on their own confession, con-spired with Madame Blavatsky in the fraudulentproduction of “Occult Phenomena.” To what ex-tent this story of the Coulombs is correct I am un-able exactly to say; but of this there can be nodoubt that they were manifestly untrustworthywitnesses; and that their motives for making theattack were of the lowest. It was no love of truth orjustice that actuated them; they appealed for sup-port to sectarian prejudice and hatred; and theytraded on that vulgar superstition which assumesthat all abnormal psychic phenomena are obvi-ously impossible, and that it is only fools thatcould ever think them otherwise.

With regard to Madame Blavatsky’s character, Imaintain to this day that she had many noblequalities and aspirations; that in spite of numer-ous aberrations her purpose was in the main, loftyand benevolent. Her life presented many strikingparadoxes, for she had but imperfectly brokenloose from the bonds of conventional usage, thuslosing its guidance and support without havingpreviously gained the strength of character or pu-rity of heart necessary to enable her to steer a clearcourse independently. By her strange experiences

her mind had become unbalanced; while she wasso imbued with the Eastern doctrine of the illusorynature of the phenomenal world, that she hadbrought herself to believe that a little deception,more or less, was a matter of no great conse-quence. I maintain, moreover, notwithstandingall that has been said to the contrary, that she wasa “physical medium”; that she had to deal at timeswith psychic phenomena of an extraordinary kind,and she not infrequently fell a victim to an error ofwhich she was fond of warning others, that of as-suming all abnormal communications from anunseen world to be, of necessity, infallible revela-tions from on high. All these are considerationswhich make me pause before proceeding to judgeher. . . . The point, therefore, upon which I wish toinsist is this, Madame Blavatsky’s career as a spir-itual teacher was a failure merely, not a living lie.

Let me add a few words about “The Talking Imageof Urur,” from which Mr. Lillie quotes largely in hisbook. I saw a good deal of Dr. Hartmann, both be-fore and after I left the society — soon after theCoulomb business. I tried to persuade him that heought properly to leave the society, as I had done. Ipointed out that my faith in Madame Blavatsky as

a philosopher had been completely shattered, and

I could, therefore, no longer accept her as a guide.I pointed out that inasmuch as the society andMadame Blavatsky were inextricably mixed up,they must stand or fall together. Dr. Hartmann,however, said that, for his part, he should stick tothe society, as he thought it might yet be redeemedand become a great power for good; and it was withthis purpose in view that he was then writing theamusing satire from which you have quoted.When finished, “The Talking Image of Urur” wassent by the author to Madame Blavatsky, and, in-deed, it is to her credit that she should have had

the courage to publish it in Lucifer, a monthlymagazine of which she was the editor and founder.

The vagaries of the Theosophical Society have, nodoubt, been instrumental in disgusting many ear-nest seekers after spiritual light; no doubt, too,that superficial thinkers have found in them addi-tional reasons for proclaiming all spiritual inquiry,mischievous or futile; but I cannot help thinkingthat, in spite of all this, the work of the society andof its exposers, has done much to prepare theground for a new movement with similar aims,which, let us hope, will be conducted by noblerand purer methods.

Franz Hartmann remained faithful to the Theosophi-cal Cause as founded by H.P.B. and to his friendshipwith her right up to his death. He wrote prolificallyand worked tirelessly in order to encourage people tostart their own journey along the Path.

88 FOHAT

What I Think of Theosophy and Theosophists.

Summing Up.*

Franz Hartmann, M.D.

A Letter to the Editor of B&'�$'()*�.

D$)' S�',— I am living in a small town located in acorner of the Austrian Alps, where I seldom see one ofthe English newspapers, and I know, therefore, verylittle in regard to the interest which the public inEngland take concerning the storm in a tea-kettle go-ing on within the ranks of the Theosophical Society;nor do I care much to meddle with it to a great extent,for I believe that life is too short and too valuable towaste much of it with threshing mere straw, and withworthless disputations. However, having received,through the kindness of a friend, a couple of copies ofB&'�$'()*�, and finding my name frequently men-tioned therein, I feel called upon to send you a few re-marks, hoping that they may be instructive andamusing to some of your readers.

The Point of View

First of all, allow me to preface my communication bysaying that I have no personal interest in this matter.I worship no person, and hate none; I have no one topraise, and none to condemn. I regard the personalattributes of a human being, his instincts, tenden-cies, intellectual and moral qualifications, as somany endowments given to him by nature — quali-ties belonging to the mortal house which the immor-tal spirit inhabits; and I blame nobody for his faults,but consider them as so many diseases or imperfec-tions on the road of evolution, over which every one ofus has to pass before he can arrive at his destination,which is divine self-knowledge (theosophia), andwhich can be attained in no other way than byovercoming one’s own selfish inclinations, and ob-taining the mastery over self through the power ofwisdom. Therefore, instead of blaming and vilifyingeach other, we ought to assist one another in under-standing and overcoming our faults. The objects ofTheosophy is [sic] not to manufacture a god out of thepersonal self, but to aid the divinity in man to mani-fest its power and wisdom; and this can be done, notby strengthening the sense of self and developingegotism, but by rising superior to self, through thepower of unselfish love, and recognising the suprem-acy of the eternal spirit over matter and form.

But I must begin at the beginning.

Where Is Theosophy?

“Theosophy” means “divine wisdom,” and wisdom isthe realisation of truth. I have always been of asceptical turn of mind; but, nevertheless, desirous ofrecognising the truth in whatever system it was to befound, and, having become deeply impressed withthe profundity of thought and the exalted ideas con-tained in the writings of H. P. Blavatsky, I went to In-dia in the year 1883, on invitation of Colonel Olcott,for the purpose of finding the way to the attainmentof wisdom; for where could anybody expect to find it ifnot at the “headquarters of divine wisdom”(theosophia) itself.

Difficulties of the Search

I have never regretted that voyage. By the aid of H. P.Blavatsky, I found the starting-point; but as to the in-dividuals who at that time constituted the “Theosoph-ical Society,” I did not find many who were alreadydivinely wise. There were some very good, unselfishand intelligent men, but also a great many deludedones, fanatics and dreamers, people whose brainswere haunted by a sickly mysticism, some sufferingfrom vanity and conceit, some “meaning well,” but, inspite of their good intentions, making one blunder af-ter another, and perhaps the majority seeking not thetruth itself, but personal salvation, the fulfilment ofpersonal desires, the gratification of personal scien-tific curiosity, the acquisition of personal excellencies,by which they might have their own personal ambi-tion or vanity gratified. All that my esteemed friend,St. George Lane-Fox, said in regard to myself in theApril number of B&'�$'()*� I am willing to endorseand subscribe. I do not claim to be better than others,and I do not doubt that there were some members ofthe Theosophical Society who knew more than I; but Ialso knew that in some things I had more experiencethan some of the others, and for this reason I did notresign my membership in the Theosophical Society, inspite of all the petty annoyances to which I was sub-mitted, owing to the jealousy of some of the Hindus,and the ignorance of some of the Europeans; but be-lieving that I might do some good by remaining withthem, I did not consider it the proper way to begin mytreatment of those whom I considered my patients byrunning away from the hospital, and leaving the sickto themselves.

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WINTER 2005 89

The Talking Image of Urur

My adventures at Adyar have been graphically de-scribed in my “Talking Image of Urur” (alluded to inB&'�$'()*�), and the adventures described thereinare all essentially true, I myself being the hero andmaking fun at my own expense; only the events toldin that story are sometimes a little exaggerated, asmay be properly done in a novel, so as to make thelessons more drastic, and to produce a more lastingimpression on the mind of the reader. This storycaused a great deal of amusement to H. P. Blavatsky,who published it in Lucifer, and she frequently wroteto me in regard to it, as she received the manuscriptof the succeeding chapters. In fact the story calledforth a series of letters from H. P. Blavatsky to me,which are very instructive, and will soon be pub-lished in the Path.

The Disadvantages of Human Nature

That which ailed the majority of the would-be theoso-phists at Adyar was, that they were not able to graspthe fundamental idea upon which the “TheosophicalSociety” rests, and which is held up in article I. of itsconstitution; namely, the “Universal Brotherhood ofall Souls”; in other words “divine,” that is to say infi-nite, unlimited, unselfish, eternal and immortal love,such as results from the recognition of all beings be-ing fundamentally and essentially one, differing fromeach other not in regard to their essence and origin,but only in regard to the attributes of their natures,which are the outcome of each one’s individualKarma. The incapacity of some of the members andleaders of the Theosophical Society has been thecause of all the trouble in the Theosophical Societyfrom the time that it began to grow up to this presenthour; and if these members of the Theosophical Soci-ety did not understand this great truth which H. P.Blavatsky taught, it was not the fault of H. P.Blavatsky, but the fault of the incapacity of thosewho were not able to grasp it. These members had allbeen human beings before they applied for member-ship in the Theosophical Society; the conferring of adiploma did not change their human nature; and aslong as folly and selfishness are predominating pow-ers among humanity, they will necessarily occupy apredominant place in every society, be it called “theo-sophical” or otherwise.

The Real H. P. B.

A great deal of paper and printer’s ink has been, andis still, wasted by the friends of H. P. Blavatsky,as-well as by her enemies, in disputing about herpersonal qualities, and nevertheless this whole sub-ject has nothing whatever to do with Theosophy, andis not an object of the Theosophical Society; on thecontrary, no one can properly be called a “Theoso-phist” unless he realises that the personality, with itspersonal virtues and personal vices, which all belongto the illusion of self, is illusive and impermanent,

and that there is nothing of any permanent value inman, except that which is permanent, divine, andimmortal in him, and which is above and beyond hisself-delusion, self-conceit, self-righteousness, etc.,belonging not to his mortal body nor to his earthlymind, but to the spiritual and divine principle, striv-ing for manifestation and expression through themental and physical organism that constitutes histerrestrial personality. It is not the candlestick butthe flame of the candle that gives light; not the bottlebut the wine contained therein which intoxicates.Those who seek only H. P. Blavatsky may be inter-ested in her personal traits, but to the seeker fortruth, only the truth that was revealed to her is of anyimportance; her personal idiosyncrasies are of nomore interest to him than would be the information ofher chambermaid in regard to the clothes she wore.

If H. P. Blavatsky had been a learned woman, full ofher own theories and adopted opinions, she wouldhave been entirely unfit to fulfil her mission, whichwas to communicate to her disciples the teachings ofher teachers, the adepts. All that she needed for thatpurpose was the organization required for receivingthe mental impressions by means of which the in-struction took place; the power to understand thoseteachings, and the faculty to give expression to themin a proper form. The adulation of H. P. Blavatsky byher worshippers was as foolish as the attacks of herenemies. She was an exceedingly talented and verygood woman, but with a great many faults; but thefollower of wisdom has nothing to do with her virtuesnor with her vices (if any); all that concerns him is thetruth contained in the teachings coming throughher. This truth is first of all to be understood, and af-terwards it may be proved; but when it is once under-stood, it will invariably be found to be self-evidentand to require no further proof. As to her occult phe-nomena, they were never intended to serve as a testfor the truth of her teachings, nor could any phenom-ena ever prove a truth beyond the possibility of adoubt. Such phenomena, whether “genuine” or“false” (which means whether they originate in theway they are supposed to originate, or in some otherway), are always illusive; they serve at best to attractattention, and this they do, be they spurious or not.

Mahatma Letters

I have been in almost daily intercourse with H. P.Blavatsky for about two years, but I never saw herproduce an occult phenomena for the purpose of giv-ing a “test.” I have received quite a number of “occultletters,” supposed to come from Mahatmas, and I re-ceived them even while H. P. Blavatsky was in Eu-rope; but these letters did not have the purpose ofastonishing me, but to give me the information whichI wanted. The writing of a letter is generally not donefor the purpose of proving that the writer can write, orthat he can send a letter, but for the purpose of com-

90 FOHAT

municating ideas when they cannot be communi-cated directly by words or, still more directly, bymental impression. This is just that which the criticsof these phenomena never could see. It is very proba-ble, however, that the occurrence of such phenom-ena that would astonish the ignorant was asnecessary as the ringing of bells is necessary to callpeople’s attention to worship; for if H. P. Blavatsky’steachings, or, to speak more correctly, the teachingsgiven through her, had been left entirely to becomeknown by their intrinsic merit, it would have takenperhaps hundreds of years before the world wouldhave paid any attention to them, and they wouldhave probably remained the exclusive property of afew. These phenomena are not theosophy, no morethan the ringing of church bells is religion, or the ad-vertisement of a theatrical performance the perfor-mance itself.

Theosophical Tomfoolery

The occult phenomena which I witnessed had noth-ing incredible or astonishing or repulsive for me; butI was very much astonished at the incredible amountof tomfoolery that was mixed up in India with thepropagation of those high and exalted teachings, andit is this profanation and vulgarization of truths con-sidered sacred which I found repulsive, and which Itried to satirize in my “Talking Image of Urur.” Thistomfoolery was due partly to the puerile spirit of themajority of the Indian members of the TheosophicalSociety, and partly to the excessive zeal of ColonelOlcott. There was a great deal of show and beating ofdrums and blowing of horns, bombast and playingsoldiers, “presidential orders,” “Subba Prow [sic]medals” to tickle personal vanity, blue paper ele-phants, decorations, processions, tom-toms, and“tamasha.” In this way the Theosophical Society at-tracted to its ranks a great many superficial mindsand lovers of play, and it is these elements that kept,and still keeps, many serious thinkers away fromjoining the Theosophical Society, as they do not wishto be found in such company owing to their own ad-miration of self.

For all that, I do not blame Colonel Olcott. His mis-sion was to organize a society extending all over theworld, and there is probably no man who could havefulfilled that mission so well. If he had been lesscredulous, he would have been less enthusiastic; ifhe had been more dignified and in possession ofmore tact, he would have been more reserved. It isthe fanatics who give the impulse to great move-ments, and even if they overshoot the mark, they domuch better service than those who remain idle,wrapped up in their own dignity. A magnet has twopoles and each thing two sides; excellent qualitiesare often found bound up with great faults. If we dis-miss a good servant on account of his faults, we notonly get rid of his faults, but also lose his good ser-

vices. I know of no man who would have been so welladapted to help the birth and growth of such a soci-ety. It is true that in gathering so much, he gathereda great deal of worthless material; but on the “Day ofJudgment,” which means the day on which the pos-session of a true understanding will be necessary tomake one desire to remain any longer a member ofthe Theosophical Society, and to enter with the“elected” few the temple of wisdom, the dross will de-part and return to their leaders and dogmas, theblind following the blind.

The Coming to Judgment

This Day of Judgment seems to have come at pres-ent, and some great stars may fall. Not that they willbe expelled by anybody, nor asked to resign; buttheir own mental blindness will exclude them fromseeing the light. There are many good and virtuousmen and women, who for all their admirable qualitieshave no real knowledge; but only accept a truth onthe strength of some accepted authority. They be-lieve, for instance, the doctrine of reincarnation, notbecause they have awakened to that state of spiritualconsciousness, in which the spirit of man beholdsand remembers the various forms in which he hasbecome manifest on his way to his present stage ofevolution; but they believe it to be true, because thisor that person whom they believe respectable andentitled to credibility, has said that it was true, orthey assume it to be probably true, owing to the ap-parent soundness of the arguments supporting sucha theory. All this is very good and recommendable.In the absence of real knowledge, such as resultsfrom one’s own experience, we must be satisfied witharguments, theories, suppositions, supported by ex-ternal proofs; but it is not theosophy, it is not the di-rect possession of truth.

Truth or Self

This possession of truth cannot be obtained by anyman who clings to the delusion of “self,” for the truthis one, and cannot be divided or appropriated by anyperson exclusively, however well-meaning and self-righteous he may be. He who desires to possess eter-nal truth must give up the delusion of self, and enterinto the spirit of truth. This is the great final lesson,taught by all great religions, by the doctrine ofNirana, which means the entering into all conscious-ness, as well as by the sacrifice on Mount Calvary,the symbol of entering into Divinity by sacrificing selffor humanity. This self-sacrifice is not a merely ex-ternal one, such as consists in doing benevolent ac-tions with a feeling of personal superiority, or doingfavours to others with an air of condescension ; but itconsists in the inward abandonment of all that origi-nates from the idea of self and exclusiveness, thetrue self-sacrifice in which no loss of self is experi-enced or regretted, and which results from the recog-nition of the unity of all being through the power of

WINTER 2005 91

divine (because unlimited) love. (See Article I. of theConstitution of the Theosophical Society.)

What Theosophy Is

Theosophy, in its proper sense, does, therefore, notconsist in making fine speeches, working upon peo-ple’s imagination, or stirring up their emotions, norin doing charitable acts with a view of advancingone’s personal progress, nor in knowing a greatmany theories in regard to metaphysics and occultscience, nor in believing this or that doctrine on thestrength of the credibility of a witness; but it consistsin partaking in the Divine wisdom of God, by becom-ing united with Him in His Divine love, where allsense of self, all personal attributes, all self-righ-teousness, self-morality, and conventionalism dis-appears. Those who cannot free themselves from theidea of “self,” may for all that be very good and moraland virtuous people; they may be very learned, elo-quent speakers and admirable actors; they mayimagine themselves to be in possession of truth, andothers may cling to them as their leaders; but stillthey are not real theosophists, because a theosophistmeans an individual who has sacrificed his personal-ity and entered into ��, the wisdom of God.Such persons, still in the clutches of self, may do agreat deal of good by promulgating the doctrines theyhave learned from H. P. Blavatsky; but not beingtruly theosophists, and having no real, spiritualself-knowlege [sic], to apply the term “theosophy” totheir system is a misapplication; nor is it the object ofthe Masters to start a new sect or a new creed, or toconvert people from one set of opinions to another setof theories; but to indicate to them the way, how eachmay establish conditions under which this awaken-ing may take place through the power and influenceof the holy spirit of truth.

The Mahatmas

This brings us to another point, which is very muchmisunderstood inside and outside of the Theosophi-cal Society, namely, the “Mahatmas.”

The light of divine wisdom radiates from the soul ofthe universe, and the spiritual soul of the universemeans the sum of all great souls and spiritualintelligences that have attained to the direct recogni-tion of eternal truth; be they incarnated in still livinghuman forms, disincarnated as “spirits,” or existingin the selfless state of Nivana [sic]. They constitutethe great spiritual lodge, or what is called in Chris-tianity “the communion of saints,” or the Sangha ofthe Buddhists. It is, therefore, not a question of wor-shipping or adulating the personalities of “Mahat-mas” (great souls), but of recognising the truth that iscontained in their teachings.

That which eminently distinguishes the Theosophi-cal Society from any other body of scientific research-

ers or speculative philosophers, is the influence ofthe Mahatmas. To do away with that influence wouldbe the same as doing away in Christianity with theinfluence of the Holy Ghost, for both are identical.We may do away with personal saints or personal“Mahatmas”; but we cannot progress or develop spir-itually without the influence of the spirit of truth, norare we to worship the personalities of the saints orMahatmas, but the truth that comes through themand of which they bear witness. Such living wit-nesses are the personalities of the masters whotaught through the mouth and pen of H. P. Blavatskyand who are still ready to teach the knowledge theyhave attained by their own experience through thosewho are capable to receive their teachings and to un-derstand them; but as an ignorant boor worships thepersonalities of the saints and knows nothing of thespirit of sanctity, so there are many shortsightedpeople and dreamers in the Theosophical Societyand among their opponents, who can grasp only theidea of personal Mahatmas, but know nothing of thespirit of wisdom that is manifested through them.

This is the key to the many misunderstandings in re-gard to H. P. Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society,and the cause why Theosophy is turned into theo-sophical tomfoolery when it comes into contact withthe fool, be he inside or outside of the TheosophicalSociety.

The Wise Man

Theosophy is not a matter of belief, nor a theory, nora thing of the imagination, but a living power, towhich no one can be “persuaded” or “converted,” butwhich one must possess. The way to arrive at it is notonly the development of the intellect, but the eleva-tion and the expansion of the soul, by which themental horizon becomes widened, and divine love be-comes a power which embraces the all of existence.This power of divine love is that which binds togethernot only God and man, but also the Master and hisdisciple. The disciple may have many imperfections,if he has only one thing in abundance, namely, un-selfish love. Therefore, the masters do not selecttheir disciples according to the degree of theirself-righteousness, or according to the amount oftheir learning and cleverness, or according to theirsocial position, good manners or worldly posses-sions; but according to the degree of unselfishnessand divine love, which alone fits them for the recep-tion of eternal truth. To such the masters will sendthe influence of their thoughts, and aid them in theattainment of spiritual perception of truth, whilethose who are not qualified for the reception of truthwill remain in the realm of opinion, and liable to acontinual change of system and change of mind; buteternal truth is not subject to change; it is uncreatedand immortal, and those who rise to it and embrace itwith their whole heart will be immortal in it.

92 FOHAT

Surprising as it may sound to Mr. Caldwell and to Mr.

Algeo — HPB did not mean to defend the free circula-

tion of proved offensive lies in a movement whose

motto is “there is no religion higher than truth”.

As to the origin of libels against HPB which were fab-ricated under the form of letters ascribed to herself —the same libels now enthusiastically accepted as“possibly true” by John Algeo and Daniel Caldwell —I must invite students to meditate upon some wordsof an Adept-Teacher.

In a letter dated October 1884, a Master announcesthat the enemies of the theosophical movement —having an active support from dugpas and liars —aim at presenting false letters to attack H.P.Blavatsky. The Master says that these texts are “pre-tended letters alleged to have come from HPB’s labo-ratory”, and that they consist of “forged documentsshowing and confessing fraud and planning to repeatit”. The Adept-Teacher explains that the false textswere made with an “enthusiastic help from theDugpas, in Bootan and the Vatican!”�

This is the kind of stuff Mr. Caldwell and Mr. Algeohave been surreptitiously circulating as if they weretrue, while more and more theosophists fortunatelyopen their eyes worldwide and start defending, first,the Truth, second, the inner core of the movement,and third — HPB.

Important as it is, HPB’s personality is perhaps theleast decisive of the three factors mentioned above.The key element here is that behind the attack toHPB there is an attack to the core of the esotericmovement, to the subtle magnetic connection be-tween the Sacred Adept-Teachers and the Studentsas a whole, at the living link or connection which shehelped create and establish.

One aspect of this sacred magnetic connection is re-ferred to in Bulwer-Lytton’s well-known occult novelZanoni.

At the end of chapter four (book one), a sincere friendof Zanoni’s says that he considers “this illustriousgentleman” his friend and, in future, he will take anywhisperings against Zanoni’s honour and reputationas an insult against himself.

Indeed, esoteric tradition states that sincere stu-dents have no option left but valiantly defend theirTeachers against unjust attacks — if such attacksare indeed unjust. If the students see the attacks,examine it, see that the attacks are false and yet theydo not defend the source of their learning, their innermagnetic link to the source of the sacred teachingwill wither away in a process of which they may havescarce brain-consciousness.

Hence comes the occult test or “probation” present insuch whispering attacks.

As to Mr. Caldwell and Mr. Algeo, they can still thinkonce more and abandon the practice of publishing li-bels against HPB. It may be unlikely to occur, per-haps — yet it is still in their hands to do that.

And every student of Theosophy has some degree ofactual responsibility with regard to the adoption andcirculation of such dugpa-libels as if they were partof Theosophical literature. It is up to us to investi-gate the meaning and importance of this episode,and then to follow our own hearts.

Carlos Cardoso Aveline(email: [email protected])

�� The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett� 3�� -�� -��)�� !� �� $� � �!!�

. . . Letters continued from page 78

which is but that spark of the divine which lurksin every particle of inorganic matter — itself ma-terialized spirit. ��

Instinct functions through our senses, helping ani-mals and man to survive with the unerring facultyof spirit. The fact that it is an “unerring faculty” forthe animals is because they let nature workthrough them, without resistance. Their develop-ment is dictated by the laws of nature, and by thespirit of their species. While an animal will find hismedicine through his instincts, this is not the case

with man, who at one time did use instinct to find hisfirst remedies but no more now.

What of the future senses which man will be develop-ing? We are given a few hints as to what we could ex-pect with these new senses some time in the future:

“The two future senses are almost impossible to de-scribe, because the one following the present fifth,smell, has not yet even manifested its presence, ex-

cept by an occasional instinct of its functioning. Itwill partake somewhat of the nature of the faculty orsense belonging to touch; but instead of being phys-

. . . Instinct continued from page 80

WINTER 2005 93

ical touch, it will be an interior sense, and the intu-

ition of it, or the instinct of it, is occasionally foundeven among men today –– shadows of comingevents. Just as touch contacts the outer world, sowill these two other senses on the ascending arc beon the same respective planes as hearing andtouch; but, because they will exist in a moreevolved entity, they will manifest themselves atfirst through an interior physical organ. An inti-mation of the sixth sense is what we call hunchesthat such a thing is right or wrong, or the thing to

do or not to do. This is not intuition, however, for it

is lower than intuition: it is a hunch or a feeling ofthings that are coming. It might in one sense bespoken of as a form of clairvoyance.” +� ��%,- .%�/0

��

Instinct in not limited to our waking state, it is alsopart of our sleeping state of consciousness. Duringsleep our physical senses are not active, but our spir-itual senses are and they take over, no more impededby the physical body, and man can see visions, travelastrally, hear counsel, and learn. Sometimes, whenthe body is weak, or if the person is very spiritual,they can remember where they were during theirsleep, and remember visions they saw, or bring withthem knowledge they were taught. The ever wakefulEgo can transfer the information to the brain of thedreamer, and it depends on his memory how muchhe will remember. Most of our dreams are guided bythe functions of the cerebellum, with the exception ofthose which come from the higher Ego, for:

The instinctual mind finds expression through thecerebellum, and is also that of the animals. Withman during sleep the functions of the cerebrumcease, and the cerebellum carries him on to theAstral plane, a still more unreal state than eventhe waking plane of illusion; for so we call thisstate which the majority of you think so real. Andthe Astral plane is still more deceptive, because itreflects indiscriminately the good and the bad,and is so chaotic. +� ��%,- .%�/0 �"1��-� ��

With most of us, after death, our shells will remain inthe earth’s atmosphere, with “half the personalmemory gone, and the more brutal instincts fullyalive for a certain period — an ‘Elementary’ in short”��( 2 �� . This means that certain instincts sur-vive our physical body, and somehow they are leftwith the astral and the Kamic body after the persondies; in some cases, it is this instinct that seeks outthe mediums and vampirizes them. But there arealso some good spirits where the law of spiritual evo-lution has not yet developed their instinct into intelli-gence, and other bad spirits who live in the loweratmosphere, and especially around tombs, swamps,slaughter houses, where “rottenness and decay arefound”. These spirits “hold the middle between manand the brute and participate of the faculties of both.They have all the vices of man and every dangerousinstinct of the animal” ��

��. So we can con-

clude that the spark that gives us our instinct is thesame in the spirit world, regardless of the level andsphere in which these spirits live, it will be found inthe different planes and in different states ofconsciousness.

We know, then, that instinct has to do with states ofconsciousness, with nerve-centres, and with oursenses, each aspect carrying information from theDivine Spark. Every effort we make to develop fur-ther our instincts and intuition is an effort well made.For this state of man’s being will last “till man’s spiri-tual intuitions are fully opened, which will not hap-pen before we fairly cast off our thick coats of matter;until we begin acting from within, instead of ever fol-lowing impulses from without; namely those pro-duced by our physical senses and the gross selfishbody” �� . We must also keep in mind that

It is a law of occult dynamics, that “a given amountof energy expended on the spiritual or astral planeis productive of far greater results than the sameamount expended on the physical objective planeof existence.” ��3%��

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94 FOHAT

which waited for theosophists. But there is no im-possible task in the long run. Practical work in theright direction brings the tests which in due time willallow students to attain wisdom in a safe andsustainable way.

The path of spiritual probation invites us to forget ap-pearances in order to enhance and protect the tem-ple of Truth in our own hearts and minds. By doingthis we can start getting ready, perhaps, to acceptthe uncomfortable blessings of lay discipleship. AnAdept-Teacher explains:

He who would lift up high the banner of mysticismand proclaim its reign near at hand, must give theexample to others. He must be the first to change

his modes of life; and, regarding the study of the

occult mysteries as the upper step in the ladder ofKnowledge must loudly proclaim it such despiteexact science and the opposition of society. ‘TheKingdom of Heaven is obtained by force’, say theChristian mystics. It is but with armed hand, andready to either conquer or perish that the modernmystic can hope to achieve his object.��

Along the way towards the “kingdom of heaven

within”, we’ve got to try hundreds of times, makingall the while painful mistakes and only gradually cor-recting the greater part of them. But if we do perse-vere, we may see that once the good karma starts toget ripe, a new dawn announces itself and real learn-ing starts to be a central part of the journey. By thattime, the outer side-effects of inner blessings willprobably get to be less painful than ever before.

. . . Blessing continued from page 83

�� The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett� 3��-�� ##� �<:6�

When the body dies the astral man is released . . .the immortal man — the Triad — flies away to an-other state, the astral becomes the shell of theonce living man and requires time to dissipate. Itretains all the memories of the life lived by theman, and thus reflexly and automatically can re-peat what the dead man knew, said, thought, andsaw. It remains near the deserted physical bodynearly all the time until that is completely dissi-pated, for it has to go through its own process ofdying. It may become visible under certain condi-

tions. It is the spook of the spiritualistic seancerooms, and is there made to masquerade as thereal spirit of this or that individual. Attracted bythe thoughts of the medium and the sitters, itvaguely flutters where they are, and then is galva-nized into a factitious life by a whole host of ele-mental forces and by the active astral body of the

medium who is holding the seance or of any othermedium in the audience. From it (as from a photo-graph) are then reflected into the medium’s brainall the boasted evidences which spiritualists claimgo to prove identity of deceased friend or relative.��

Judge further explains it thus:

We know that the souls of good men who have dieddo not trouble the world. They leave behind them. . . what wickedness they were unable to dispersein life. This unsavory remainder is worshipped bythe medium-hunter, and because out of the astrallight it reports facts and words not thought of bythe sitters, the real man is accused, and by defaultconvicted, of returning here. Such spiritualists asbelieve thus are consecrating corpses and makingGods of the demons of the air.��

Unfortunately, with each attempt to summon the as-tral remains, “the real deceased one in his blissful

state after death feels a twinge every time his shade iscalled up in the charnel house of a living medium’sbody”.� Elsie Benjamin provides an analogy regard-ing this disruption:

Suppose a dear friend comes to your home, verytired and needing a night’s rest. He retires tosleep; but you are very fond of him and want to talkto him, so you go to his room and continually wakehim up so you can enjoy his company. Actuallywhat happens to him in the after-death states isfar more cruel than that.��

In The Key to Theosophy �45� ��, elaborating on sub-jective communication with a deceased loved one,Blavatsky notes that there is hardly a human beingwhose Ego (Higher Triad) does not commune freelywith that of a departed loved one during sleep. Thephysical brain (lower Mind) however does not retain avivid recollection of it.

The sages of all times have preserved the records ofall knowledge, and millenniums of observations andexperience have proven the reality of unseen realms.Having experienced the post-mortem states duringtheir initiation into the deeper aspects of EsotericScience, there have been no discrepancies in the de-scriptions given by initiates who have been throughthe experience. Many details can be garnered fromstudying The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett inparticular.

As to death itself, the ancient Rishis of India have ex-plained periodic dissolution as: “Nothing is begun orended; everything is changed, and that which we calldeath is only a transformation”.�� H.P. Blavatsky

. . . Death continued from page 86

writes that “Physical death, or the death of the body,was a provision of the divine economy for the benefitof man, a provision by means of which he attainedthe higher ends of his being”.�� Paracelsus is cred-ited with the statement that Death gives back to manwhat Birth took away.

William Q. Judge provides a wonderfully peaceful de-scription of death:

A natural death is like the falling of a leaf near thewinter time. The time is fully ripe, all the powers ofthe leaf having separated; those acting no longer,its stem has but a slight hold on the branch and theslightest wind takes it away. So with us; we beginto separate our different inner powers and partsone from the other because their full term hasended, and when the final tremor comes the vari-ous inner component parts of the man fall awayfrom each other and let the soul go free.��

�Webster’s NewTwentiethCenturyDictionary,Unabridged� ��) �)�� ;��' �� F;��) -��7 �� #�� 65�

�G� )� -��8�� Esoteric Teachings, XI: Death and the Circulationsof the Cosmos — I� ��!� -�� '� -�� &��7�� 46�

�Ibid. ��:�5�

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��"�� '��)�%� Echoes of the Orient� $��#� �� ' ��) � &�� 8��)� -�� '� -�� #�� &��7�� 65�

� Ibid��

��Corresponding Fellows’ Lodge of Theosophists� �)��) � �� (��H�'�� E��4!� >�� 64�

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30hat is the Steed, 71wught is the 2?ider

,Jtis the "bridge" by which the ",Jdeas" existing in the "rnivine 71wught" are impressed on Cosmic substance as the "laws of ::Nature." 30hat is thus the dynamic eneroy of Cosmic ,Jdeation; or, regarded from the other side, it is the intelligent medium, the guiding power ofall mani~station. ... 7hus from Spirit, or Cosmic ,Jdeation, comes our consciousness; from Cosmic Substance the several vehicles in which that consciousness is individualized and attains to self - or r4f.ective - consciousness; while 30hat, in its various manifestations, is the mysterious link between ~ind and ~tter, the animating principle electrifying every atom into life. - Secret rnoctrine I, 16

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