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THE THEOSOPHIST

CONTENTS

Editor: Mrs Radha Burnier

Official organ of the President, founded by H. P. Blavatsky, 1879. The Theosophical Societyis responsible only for official notices appearing in this magazine.

VOL. 132 NO. 11 AUGUST 2011

On the Watch-Tower 3Radha Burnier

Without Loving Care, I am Nothing 7Marcos Resende

The Nature and Role of Love in Life — Some Reflections 11Surendra Narayan

The Other Shore 15Mary Anderson

The Future of the Theosophical Society 21C. W. Leadbeater

Journey of the Soul 24D. P. Sabnis

Nature and Us 29Avantika Mehta

Science and Spirituality 33S. K. Nanda

Convention Rates 35

Theosophical Work around the World 36

International Directory 38

NOTE: Articles for publication in The Theosophist should be sent to the Editorial Office.

Cover Picture: Bas-relief at Headquarters Hall — Richard Dvorak

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The Theosophical Society is composed of students, belonging to any religion inthe world or to none, who are united by their approval of the Society’s Objects,by their wish to remove religious antagonisms and to draw together men of goodwill,whatsoever their religious opinions, and by their desire to study religious truthsand to share the results of their studies with others. Their bond of union is not theprofession of a common belief, but a common search and aspiration for Truth.They hold that Truth should be sought by study, by reflection, by purity of life,by devotion to high ideals, and they regard Truth as a prize to be striven for, notas a dogma to be imposed by authority. They consider that belief should be theresult of individual study or intuition, and not its antecedent, and should rest onknowledge, not on assertion. They extend tolerance to all, even to the intolerant,not as a privilege they bestow but as a duty they perform, and they seek to removeignorance, not punish it. They see every religion as an expression of the DivineWisdom and prefer its study to its condemnation, and its practice to proselytism.Peace is their watchword, as Truth is their aim.

Theosophy is the body of truths which forms the basis of all religions, andwhich cannot be claimed as the exclusive possession of any. It offers a philosophywhich renders life intelligible, and which demonstrates the justice and the lovewhich guide its evolution. It puts death in its rightful place, as a recurring incidentin an endless life, opening the gateway to a fuller and more radiant existence.It restores to the world the Science of the Spirit, teaching man to know the Spirit ashimself and the mind and body as his servants. It illuminates the scriptures anddoctrines of religions by unveiling their hidden meanings, and thus justifying themat the bar of intelligence, as they are ever justified in the eyes of intuition.

Members of the Theosophical Society study these truths, and theosophistsendeavour to live them. Everyone willing to study, to be tolerant, to aim high, andto work perseveringly, is welcomed as a member, and it rests with the member tobecome a true theosophist.

THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETYFounded 17 November 1875

President: Mrs Radha Burnier Vice-President: Mrs Linda OliveiraSecretary: Mrs Kusum Satapathy Treasurer: Miss Keshwar Dastur

Headquarters: ADYAR, CHENNAI (MADRAS) 600 020, INDIA

Secretary: secy.hq@ts-adyar.orgTreasury: ts_treasury@sify.com

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Theosophical Publishing House: tphindia@gmail.com & tphindia@adyarbooks.com

Fax: (+91-44) 2490-1399

Editorial Office: editorialoffice@gmail.com

Website: http://www.ts-adyar.org

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On the Watch-Tower

On the Watch-Tower

RADHA BURNIER

The Two Worlds: Mâyâ and LightOne of the statements in The Mahatma

Letters refers to their world being differentfrom the human world, our world. Thisby itself is a very big subject. It becomeseasier for us to understand if we think forexample of a person who has been blindfrom birth. He cannot see all the thingsthat we see, the beauty of the earth, thecolours of the sky, nothing of that. But heor she still perceives sounds, smells, tasteand so on, and he experiences the worldin a completely different way from us. Andthere is no way of conveying to him theexperiences which we feel, which we gothrough, because we have eyesight.

Similarly we can take the example ofvarious creatures, animals, birds and soon who live in their own world. In theirworld there is very little of reasoning andall the experiences which have to do withreasoning in the human life, have nomeaning for them. The human beingreceives affection from them but theycannot understand most of the humanexperience. And the human being,similarly, cannot understand them whollybecause they live by instinct, which is adifferent kind of awareness fromreasoning. By analogy we can try tounderstand that there may be people who

lead a life which is very different fromours. Their world is not the same as ourworld, because what is essential and vitalin Their world is not important in ourworld. What seems important to us hasno relevance at all to the world in whichThey live.

Let us consider some points which willperhaps indicate the enormous differencebetween the world of illusion or mâyâ inwhich we live and the world of Mahatmas.In the human world, time is very import-ant; in the modern world, much more thanin the ancient world. All our organiza-tions and institutions depend on time tofunction, and if human beings were notconscious of time, these organizationswould collapse. But that is only at theouter level.

This illusion of time makes uspsychologically face the world in a certainway. The first rule in Light on the Path is:‘Kill out ambition.’ Ambition exists onlybecause we are under the control of time.Ambition is the desire for achievement;to get something done within a certaintime.

Everything in Nature grows and existsand dies according to the dictates ofNature. A child is born and you do nothave to do anything about it growing. You

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plant a seed and if the conditions are rightit sprouts, becomes a little seedling andthen maybe a big tree; it bears flowers andfruits; all this happens by itself.

One can give numerous examples ofhow expansion takes place, not onlythrough physical growth, but the growthof faculties. Each human being has ex-traordinary faculties, not only the facultyof reasoning but the faculties whichawaken the sense of beauty in him, makehim aware of peace, and so on.

These faculties exist in the humanbeing; they have grown into the humanconsciousness by themselves. But we donot accept that growth, expansion and allthat is connected with that can come bythemselves. Because of the sense of time,we feel that within our particular lifetime,we must reach somewhere, get somethingand so on.

And time is an illusion. Time passesdifferently if you are happy, and in anotherway if you are in distress. If you arestanding in a queue, the time passes veryslowly. If you have reached the top of thequeue, then time does not go so slowly.

So we see that this has something todo with our desire. If you are at the backof the queue, and you want very badly tobe in front, time goes very slowly. But ifyou are at the top of the queue, then youare not conscious that time is goingslowly.

This was perhaps the reason whyKrishnamurti made such statements as:‘Desire is time.’ And ambition is a kind ofdesire. It is intense desire. And ambitionproduces all kinds of difficulties in

relationships. The wars that have takenplace in the world and caused misery formillions of people are the products ofambition in the human mind. Ambitionmakes people want more and more thingsto satisfy them. We may be ambitiousabout small things or apparently greatthings. We may be ambitious to derivespiritual satisfaction, or intellectual satis-faction, not only sensory satisfaction. Butit is all the same thing. It is caused by thefeeling of the desire for achievement inthis lifetime, or even within one part ofa lifetime.

Animals do not have ambition,because they have no time-sense. Unlikehuman beings, they live freely and spon-taneously and they do not want otheranimals to recognize that they have goneahead more than their friends.

But the ambitious human being wantsthe whole world to know that he has donebetter than others. Part of the satisfactionthat ambition gives is comparing oneselfwith everybody else. I have run faster thaneverybody else and I have got the Olympicgold medal. But the animal runs very fast,unconsciously, not trying to impress any-body else. And competition in this worldis the source of enormous evil. In one ofthe essays of Madame Blavatsky, printedin the booklet Practical Occultism, shepoints out how competition in the modernworld is the source of evil.

All this is part of the world in whichthe illusion of time is strong. Ambition,desire, achievement, all these areexpressive of the human mind being underthe illusion of time. But in the Master’s

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On the Watch-Tower

world, this sense of time does not oppressany of Them. The Masters know how towait for things to grow according to theflow of Nature.

Sometimes people ask: ‘Why don’tthey intervene, and put things right? Can’tthey remove quickly some of the badcharacteristics in the human being?’ Thisis like saying, why is the small plant not abig tree? If we are not thinking in termsof time, we will just be watching the plantgrowing into a tree. We will realize thatwhat we call a bad man will slowlybecome a good man and we do not haveto force him, model him, change him,all those things that human beings wantto do.

So what we call patience is one of thegreat characteristics which prevails in thatworld of light, which is the Masters’ world.They know what has happened and whatwill happen, because everything alreadyexists in eternity. We are imprisoned intime, psychologically. They live in theeternal.

In Light on the Path, this contrastbetween that world of light and the worldof illusion has not been explained. Fourtimes we are told: ‘Live in the eternal.’ Andfrom that eternal point of view all theactivities, particularly the psychologicalchanges and attitudes, which exist in thehuman being, based on time, are false.That is why it is mâyâ.

The Future depends on the PresentFrom the Compassionate Friend of

the Beauty Without Cruelty organizationwe understand that the only all-Vegan

Supermarket in Europe is in Dortmund,Germany. It occupies more than a hundredsquare metres in the centre of the city,which is important, because it has becomea large marketing centre. The store, weare told, is offering a variety of food to anumerous clientele. The use of soya spicesand other supplements has made it pos-sible to stack the shelves with about onethousand five hundred products. The flowof customers reaches up to a hundred andfifty per day. And this is growing, whichis very encouraging.

The world is disproportionately div-ided because people either belong to thelarge number who seek more and more,or the few who are conscious of the prob-lem which will undoubtedly arise in thefuture because of this tendency. Theworld is in general greedy. But the profitsgo to the rich and others have merely tolook on.

The minority are doing their best toremedy the situation. In America, thenumber of vegetarians and vegans isgrowing, not because all of them areconcerned with the condition of thepoor victims, the animals and birds, butmainly out of fear about the future. Landis being grabbed, as in Brazil, wherehuge areas of the vast Brazilian forestare being destroyed in order to createfarms. The profits will no doubt go to thevery rich.

There is need for people to wake up tofacts, because only facts will convincethem that we are going to face a tremen-dous problem unless a change is made.The disposal of the vast number of

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animals kept impounded is itself a greatdanger, because it is polluting the environ-ment, creating disease and so on.

Britain is the only country which isconscious to some extent of the wayhuman beings are using animals forgastronomic pleasure. In about five yearsmost of the animals now in captivity willbe free to walk around. This will make amajor difference to them. In the continentof Europe they have strict rules aboutanimals in captivity, but this effort seemsto be not so successful because largecompanies which are producing animalproducts are merely transferring them tocountries like India, where hardly anyrules exist to protect them.

Global realization of the problemsinvolved and quick action in the rightdirection are called for. Any movementworking for protection of living creatures,and aware of the merit of not usinganimals for food, is urgently needed.

What is Theosophy?It has become common nowadays to

use the word ‘Theosophy’ for whateverone understands for the time being bythat word. So it is becoming, like theword ‘religion’ a word which denotesalmost anything that the user means.C. Jinarâjadâsa wrote in 1941:

The word is of course now used by all,

including the public, as a label to describe

a set of ideas held by a body of peo-

ple who profess (so thinks the public) a

new faith.

He also points out that in the early daysof the Society, the word ‘Theosophy’appears very rarely as the designation ofthe teachings which the Mahatmas offered,‘merely a few times in their letters’. Infact, in the extensive letters of two of theMasters of the Wisdom, compiled by MrBarker, the word appears seven times.

But it is clear, as we read the letters of the

Adepts, that it is not the name that matters,

but truths and principles which are eternal

and unchanging, whatever label is given

to them in successive civilizations.

We are asked to take into considerationthe fact that the Theosophical Society itselfis a concept which has undergone manychanges in its chequered career. In theConstitution of the Society there is nomention of the word ‘Theosophy’; andthere is no official definition of what isTheosophy. So every member can saywhat Theosophy is or is not.

It is very important that we realize thatthe work of the Society is to establish aUniversal Brotherhood, not to proclaimwhat is Theosophy.

True enlightenment is to man like sunlight to the soil.

N. F. S. Grundtvig

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Without Loving Care, I am Nothing

Without Loving Care,I am Nothing

MARCOS RESENDE

Mr Marcos Resende is General Secretary of the Brazilian Section of the TS. Talk given at the internationalConvention, Adyar, 2010.

THE biggest challenge in life is tounderstand it, not just intellectually, butin the essence of its movement of mani-festation and retraction.

Who am I? If I answer it by my name,I will see that it is a mere superficial record.If I think I am the body, I will realize that,at some point, near or more distant, it issomething that will inevitably disintegrate.All my knowledge, career, everything thathas been acquired and accumulated overtime, will disappear at some moment intime. The psychological ego itself is a self-image that nature will take care of byerasing it. If I say I am the higher Self thatreincarnates, this intellectual explanationdoes not make me different. One of themost beautiful things in life is to realizethat I am nothing except a focus of obser-vation of life, nature, manifestation andrelationships.

What place has love in the complexmovement called life? What is love, whatis its nature?

Love is one of the most importantTheosophical teachings for the spiritualpath, maybe the most important. HPB said

that Theosophy is essentially altruismand, without love, it is not possible to bealtruistic.

The Dalai Lama once said that man isthe son of compassion. In nature, animalsgenerally require a certain maternal pro-tection while they are young. But none ofthem depends, as human beings whilethey are babies, on the compassion ofothers, without which they would notsurvive.

It is not difficult to see that love is anenergy present in nature. When you seethe beauty of a flower, feel its scent, thebeauty of a baby squirrel, the most beau-tiful colours and sounds that manifestthemselves, you will realize that love isalways present, if you have sensitivity toperceive it.

The word ‘love’ is widely used foralmost everything, even advertising. Theword, so often misrepresented by thehuman egocentrism, will never express theinfinite energy that is love.

In the words of Brother N. Sri Ram:

Love for humanity, for each thing that

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exists, is the ruling passion of the

Adept. What characterizes him is a flam-

ing altruism — a love which draws no

boundaries and is focused upon every

individual living being. It is a love to

which everything else in life is

subordinate.

Why is love not present in our lives?Why is there no room for such a con-tagious, aggregating, unifying andbeneficial energy as love? The aridity ofour lives derives from the simple fact thatwe are self-centred, continually focusedon ourselves and our interests. Even whenwe try to leave the strictly personal sphere,we expand our centre of interest to ourfamily, our group of friends, our country,always expanding and reinforcing ouregocentricity through a divisive andseparatist mental attitude.

We are neither capable of seeing lifewithout a division in our minds, nor ofobserving its vast movement and theprofound beauty and suffering it contains.As one of the Mahatmas, who were thefounders of the Theosophical Society,said: ‘Nature is devoid of goodness orbadness. It follows the laws that have anantidote for each poison, a reward forevery suffering.’ But we, human beings,do not understand the laws governingthe material and spiritual life, and livefor ourselves or for our people, with in-terests always limited, and thereforewe suffer.

While the human consciousness — ourconsciousness — is self-centred, operatingsolely on the basis of personal interests,there will be no room for the endless and

beneficial energy which is love. It will notfind space for manifesting itself. Even inthe Theosophical Society, which has asits first Object brotherhood, we are seeinghow difficult it is to make it a reality, dueto our lack of love.

‘Love your neighbour as yourself’,said Jesus Christ. ‘Be like the sandalwoodwhich perfumes the axe that wounds it’,said the Buddha. Is this a reality amongus? Where is our love?

A Society like ours is a vast experi-mental field to know ourselves, to testour capacity to love. The first challenge,which is related to brotherhood, is alwayspresent, showing us how egocentrismdegrades our relations, in a contagiousway. And if we want to regenerate them,we must perceive ourselves by seeingthe division and separateness in our ownminds, in order to break out of thesedisaggregating delusions.

We are not perfect, but we must havesufficient self-perception to avoid theforces which are present in our ego to actagainst the laws of unity and harmony.

Harmony does not mean equality oruniformity of thought but absence ofdivision or separation in our minds. Whenthe differences are not taken in a personalway, they can expand our field of vision,enriching our comprehension. On theother hand, when we take them person-ally, we act against each other and causea split.

Is it possible, here and now, to die toall personal interests so that in this singlemoment love can manifest itself? Is itpossible for us to embrace each other

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Without Loving Care, I am Nothing

internally, so that deep affection touchesus and makes us, together, channels forthe waters of life that we may benefitthe world?

Let us awake to the perception thatonly by observing our own heart will webe capable of cleaning and purifying itfrom all egocentrism, accumulated bydecades of self-centred and unconsciousthoughts.

Love and wisdom are two sides of thesame coin. One cannot exist without theother. Love may show itself in a hardway, but it will always be beneficial andhealing. Wisdom, in its turn, always bringsa vision of the whole, of the unity behindall things, which is essentially, love. Theo-sophy, which is wisdom, is also love.

Love conquers all. This is a spiritualtruth which governs the subtlest planes ofnature. Our mission is to make this subtleenergy get to the mental, astral and phy-sical planes, in order to deeply transformour relations, which will be no morebelligerent or selfish, but naturally trueand affectionate. For this to happen wemust perceive ourselves, not allowingourselves to be fooled by all the trickscreated by our thinking and by thispernicious and unconsciously-nurturedthing called self-image.

This wonderful thinking machine,given to us by nature, cannot be allowedto be the greatest ruler of our lives. It existsonly for practical things, concerned withour civilized life.

In order to allow the presence of loveas a force that conquers all, that brings uscloser to the centre of life and allows us,

united, to be channels of the most elevatedblessings that can diminish human ignor-ance and suffering, we must know howto put this machine aside, quietly, calmingdown its instinctively divisive and specu-lative movement.

Our Theosophical Society is a fertilefield, an extremely useful space for learn-ing about life and about ourselves, as wellfor the practical and effective exercise ofbrotherhood. But to make this a reality,we must perceive the divisive and perni-cious thoughts present in our relations,and radically change our attitude.

For us to be a light in the world, wemust be united. Unity is not made withwords but with an inner attitude of sym-pathy, goodwill and love, with no barriers.

Hatred does not cease with hatred.Hatred can only be extinguished by love.These are the words of Lord Buddha.Likewise, antipathies and antagonismsare only overcome by a deep affectionwhich chooses nothing, asks for nothing,does not judge, but simply loves.

Our dear Theosophical Society isalready so brilliantly consolidated withregard to the lack of racial and religiousprejudice. We must reflect on the personalprejudices that still affect us and that domuch harm to our work.

May we realize ourselves, by obser-ving our ego, with its likes and dislikes,so we can leave them aside, making ourrelationships, not just in the TS, butwherever we are, healthy, harmonious anddeeply spiritual relations.

When self-centred living ceases, lovebegins to emerge as the morning sun,

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dispelling the darkness of unconscious-ness and ignorance. And when thiswonderful energy begins to rule our lives,everything changes.

Without love life is sterile, colourlessand scentless. We must die to the self, withits array of egotistic interests, by theperception of this self-centred mentalstructure in us, so that life can be simpler,with care for others and with all that lives,with affection, respect and deep com-prehension.

Without love we are poor mortals wholive without beauty. Dying to the ego andopening ourselves to that energy that

permeates everything and that keeps theuniverse alive and united, we are life itself,a blossom in nature.

I close with the wise words of St Paul:

Though I speak with the tongues of men

and of angels, and have not love, I am

become as sounding brass, or a tinkling

cymbal. And though I have the gift of pro-

phecy, and understand all mysteries, and

all knowledge; and though I have all faith,

so that I could move mountains, and have

not love, I am nothing. And though I be-

stow all my goods to feed the poor, and

though I give my body to be burned, and

have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

Love gives beauty to everything it touches. Not greed and utility; they produceoffices, but not dwelling houses. To be able to love material things, to clothethem with tender grace, and yet not be attached to them, this is a great service.Providence expects that we should make this world our own, and not live in itas though it were a rented tenement. We can only make it our own throughsome service, and that service is to lend it love and beauty from our soul. Yourown experience shows you the difference between the beautiful, the tender, thehospitable, and the mechanically neat and monotonously useful.

Rabindranath Tagore

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The Nature and Role of Love in Life — Some Reflections

The Nature and Role ofLove in Life — Some Reflections

SURENDRA NARAYAN

Mr Surendra Narayan was for many years international Vice-President of the Theosophical Society, andprior to that held an important government position in finance.

IN that beautiful booklet, At the Feet of

the Master, the last chapter is on ‘Love’and it starts by mentioning that of all thequalifications, Love is the most importantfor when love pervades one’s nature, theother qualifications or virtues are spon-taneously acquired. But, that love has tobe pure and not so-called love which isbased on selfishness, self-centredness andpersonal identity. In pure love dualitymerges into oneness. The gap between amember of the Theosophical Society anda theosophist also arises for the samereason — the presence of a degree ofselfishness, self-centredness and personalor self-identity, which prevent growth inrefinement and thus, in pure loving action.

Madame Blavatsky had once pointedlycautioned the members of the Theo-sophical Society of an important Section,who had gathered for their AnnualConvention, against this trait of self-centredness:

Now, I have marked with pain a tendency

among you . . . to quarrel over trifles and

to allow your very devotion to the cause

of Theosophy to lead you into disunion.

Self-watchfulness is never more necessary

than when a personal wish to lead and

wounded vanity dress themselves in pea-

cock’s feathers of devotion and altruistic

work.

J. Krishnamurti once observed: ‘Loveis the total absence of the “Me”. If youhave got it, you have drunk of the fountainof life.’ Angelus Silesius, a poet and priestof the seventeenth century, similarlycautioned: ‘God, whose love and joy arepresent everywhere, cannot come to visityou unless you are not there.’

Life if attempted to be lived in such I-lessness surely begins to flower into bliss,beauty and goodness — which are allqualities of love.

Religions and great Teachers of theworld have all stressed oneness of life,based on its divine origin, divine essence— ‘One Flame and countless undetachedsparks shining in it.’ Love is a naturalexpression of a life lived in such aware-ness. In the B·hadâranyaka Upanishad,Sage Yâjñavalkya speaks to his wifeMaitreyi thus:

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Behold! not for the love of the husband is

the husband dear but for the love of the

Self is the husband dear. Behold! not for

the love of all the all is dear; but for the

love of the Self all is dear!

Modern science has also lately begunrecognizing first, the interdependence,interrelatedness of all life and later mov-ing on to refer to wholeness and evenoneness of life. One may like to repeathere the following well-known statementby Albert Einstein:

A human being is part of the whole. He

experiences himself, his thoughts and

feelings, as something separate from the

rest — a kind of optical delusion of his

consciousness. This delusion is a kind of

prison for us, restricting us to our personal

desires and to affection for a few persons

nearest us.

Love, an aspect of which is total self-lessness, does not, however, mean neglectof the self. Selflessness does not meanignoring one’s own normal needs whileliving in a physical body. Thomas àKempis in The Imitation of Christ states:

Grant that I may use such things with

moderation (eating, drinking, clothing and

other necessities appertaining to the

support of the body) and not be entangled

with any inordinate affection. It is not

lawful to cast them all away, for nature

must be supported; but to require super-

fluities and such things as are most

delightful thy holy law forbids; for

otherwise the flesh would grow insolent

against the spirit.

When a man of unmeasured wealthapproached the Buddha for advice on howhe could lead a life of goodness and lovefor all, the Buddha advised that it is notwealth and power which enslave us butthe clinging to them.

A very simple but beautiful statementabout love and service — selfish andselfless — is a piece from the Greekphilosopher Marcus Aurelius which runsas under:

There is one type of person who whenever

he does a kind deed, will not hesitate to

ask for some reward. Another type of

person, though not so bold, will keep track

of everything he has done for you, feeling

deep down that you are in his debt. Then

there are those who give without any

remembrance of what they have done.

They are like the vine that brought forth a

cluster of grapes and having once borne

its delicious fruit, seeks nothing more . . .

So should a man be when he has done an

act of kindness, not seeking reward, not

proclaiming his virtues, but passing on to

the next act, as the vine passes on to bear

another cluster of summer grapes.

It has also been stressed that forengaging in loving deeds one should notwait for big opportunities. These can bedone well in small ways in our everydaylives. C. W. Leadbeater in The Masters

and the Path quotes, in this context, apiece from one of the New Thoughtbooks:

Knead love into the bread you bake; wrap

strength and courage in the parcel you tie

for the woman with the weary face; hand

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The Nature and Role of Love in Life — Some Reflections

trust and candour with the coin you pay to

the man with the suspicious eyes.

He further adds:

All who can think can send out kindly and

helpful thoughts and no such thought has

failed, or ever can fail, while the laws of

the universe hold. You may not see the

result but the result is there and you know

not what fruit may spring from that tiny

seed that you sow in passing along your

path of peace and love.

In addition, as we send out kind andpure thoughts to others, traces of impur-ities of selfishness and self-centrednessstill remaining in us also gradually be-gin to disappear. As Madame Blavatskyputs it:

For every flower of love and charity he

plants in his neighbour’s garden, a

loathsome weed will disappear from his

own, and so this garden of the gods —

Humanity — shall blossom as a rose.

Living and working in this world, wesometimes find that persons whom wehave helped selflessly, friends with whomwe have lived closely and worked to-gether, turn against us, even try to harmus when it comes to their self-interest. Weget shocked and often deeply disappoint-ed. Comes to our minds the opposition,accusation and insults Madame Blavatskyand Col. Olcott had to suffer in theirbeneficent work for Theosophy and theTheosophical Society. A passage fromMarie Russak Hotchener in her articlewhich appears in Reminiscences of

Colonel H. S. Olcott published by the

Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar,is worth mentioning here. It relates tothe visits of the two Masters to Adyarwhen Olcott was confined to bed beforehe passed away. Long, important andprofoundly impressive were the conver-sations among them and many were thewords of praise and gratitude utteredby the Masters. At another of their visitsthe Colonel complained feelingly to theMaster M about one of the members whohad caused him and the Society a greatdeal of trouble, and ended by saying thatthe person was a very dangerous, evilenemy. The Master KH put his hand onthe Colonel’s shoulder and with a divinetenderness in his voice said: ‘Then he hasall the more need of your love andcompassion.’ Annie Besant once wrote inthe autograph booklet of a young Theo-sophist: ‘Work so that the world may bethe better for your living in it. Love all,but love most those who are unloving, fortheir need is the greatest.’

The Buddha and Jesus Christ wereknown for their boundless love and com-passion for all. George Grimm in his bookThe Doctrine of the Buddha beautifullyelucidates the nature of deep and purelove thus:

When we speak of love, even of the purest

love, we connect with it inseparably the

conception of something due to feelings

and affections. In other words, we always

think of inclination towards some or all

men, or towards beings in general . . . But

everything that is inclination or feeling

is nothing more than a stirring of thirst,

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perhaps thirst in its most noble form, but

nevertheless of thirst . . . Love is some-

thing free from all kind of inclination.

But what remains if everything of the

nature of inclination is separated from

love? Kindness remains, pure kindness.

Kindness is love purified by insight from

the dross of passion.

Mystic poet Tagore mentions thatwhen insight or understanding dawns(sometimes called inward flowering):‘All my illusions will burn into illumin-ation of joy, and all my desires ripen intofruits of love.’

We may end by reminding ourselves

about a piece in a letter from a Master ofthe Wisdom:

Become blended into one universal feeling,the only true and holy, the only unselfishand Eternal one — Love, an immense Lovefor humanity — as a Whole! For it is‘Humanity’ which is the great Orphan, theonly disinherited one upon this earth, myfriend. And it is the duty of every manwho is capable of an unselfish impulseto do something, however little, for itswelfare.

Then follows a quotation:

Since there is hope for man only in man

I would not let one cry whom I could save!

Bright but hidden, the Self dwells in the heart.Everything that moves, breathes, opens, and closesLives in the Self. He is the source of loveAnd may be known through love but not through

thought.He is the goal of life. Attain this goal!

The shining Self dwells hidden in the heart.Everything in the cosmos, great and small,Lives in the Self. He is the source of life,Truth beyond the transcience of this world.He is the goal of life. Attain this goal!

Mundaka Upanishad, II.2.1–2

15August 2011

The Other Shore

The Other Shore

MARY ANDERSON

Ms Mary Anderson is a former international Vice-President of the Theosophical Society and has lecturedwidely in several languages.

WHAT do the words ‘the other shore’convey to us? We may think of a river, alake, a sea or an ocean, separating tworiver banks or two shores, even two con-tinents. The other shore may be quitedifferent from the shore where we areor which we know. A river may form thefrontier between two countries withdifferent languages, customs, etc., forexample, the Rhine, when it flows partlybetween France and Germany, the Oder-Neisse between Germany and Poland, theMekong between Thailand and Laos.Even the Seine in Paris divides two bankswith different ‘cultures’: the Left Bank, theworld of students, artists, ‘la Bohème’, andthe Right Bank, the world of ‘Society’,commerce, affluence, ‘la Bourgeoisie’. Ariver may also separate two differentlandscapes, like the Gangâ at Varanasi.On the one bank we see numerous build-ings, many people, great activity, on theother shore marshland, unoccupied, ap-parently hostile territory. The shores of alake may be still further apart, so that onecan hardly see the far shore. A Germanlady, who had never left home before,travelled to Switzerland and exclaimed,passing Lake Zurich: ‘How wide the

Rhine is here!’ Let us consider the shoresof a sea: The Mediterranean separatesdifferent cultures — those of Europe,Africa, Asia Minor. The same can be saidof an ocean. If we cross the Atlantic fromEurope to America or the Pacific fromAmerica to the Far East, what differenceswe find! Such differences in landscapes,cultures, languages and countries contri-bute to the wonderful diversity of ourearth. But that diversity leads only toooften to misunderstandings, to quarrelling.The other shore often seems to us alien,far off and frightening.

Yet all the shores on our earth havephysically something in common. Theyare all made of solid matter, on which wecan survive, and separating them is liquidmatter, in which, contrary to the fish, wecannot survive for long. A river or a seamay divide those who are alike, who areattracted to each other, who love eachother. This was a theme in romantic poetryin Germany: ‘There were two royal chil-dren. They loved each other so dearly. Butthey could not meet. The water was muchtoo deep.’ An alien element separates twowho are not alien to each other.

Let us remember all this when we

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consider the symbolic meaning of a river,a sea, etc., and different shores, especiallywith reference to the spiritual life, for heretoo a river, even an ocean, seems to sepa-rate two worlds which are apparentlyforeign to each other. Thus the conceptof the other shore is used symbolicallyin a religious context. In negro spiritualsthe River Jordan separates the miser-able world of the slave from the ElysianFields. In Buddhism they speak of theother shore. In Christendom we speak ofthis world and the ‘hereafter’, the worldbeyond. We know the former. We do notknow the latter, although we may beattracted to it or frightened by it or indif-ferent to it. Thus we speak of earth andheaven, Samsâra and Nirvâna, time andEternity — and a river seems to dividethem. People wonder: How can we crossthe river?

There are two types of answer to thatquestion: The first is the answer of themind, the only instrument that we possessconsciously for such a search, and thesecond is the answer of the intuition. Themind says : The two shores are separatedby a river. You must swim across the riveror cross in a boat. One who is on his wayis said to have ‘entered the stream’. Thatis the answer of the mind, of logic, theanswer of theology, of orthodox religion,of Theravâda Buddhism. The intuitionwonders: Are the two shores perhaps not

different? In that case you do not need togo to the other shore, for you are alreadythere. You only have to realize it, reallyknow it, not just believe it in theory! Butin order to know it a quantum jump is

needed. That is the answer of the intuition,of mysticism, of Zen Buddhism.

There is a joke about an Englishmantravelling in Ireland. He asked a tramp theway to Cork. The tramp replied: ‘If I wereyou, I would start from here, from whereyou are.’ That is the logical answer of themind: We must use what we have, that is,the mind. But this joke was once misun-derstood: The reply of the tramp was saidto be: ‘If I were you, I would not start fromhere, from where you are.’ That is theanswer of the intuition, for the intuition isalready in Cork, is already on the othershore. It is the answer of Krishnamurtiwhen he says that to cross the river youmust start not from this shore but fromthe other shore! Otherwise you will remainon this shore, on the shore of the mind, ofconcepts, of duality, of speculations, ofprejudices. All that has nothing to dowith the other shore. Somehow or otherone must already be on the other shore.We are indeed already there, but notconsciously!

The question was asked: what is thedifference between Buddha and theaverage person? The answer given was:There is no difference, except that Buddhaknows that he is Buddha! This type ofknowing is not theoretical. It is real know-ledge, not a matter of opinion.

Do we have here again two separateshores? That is, between the intellectualand the mystic, the saint, the sage? Butwe are both: the intellectual and themystic, that is, at the same time we havean intellect, with which we are conscious,and wisdom, intuition, which is asleep in

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The Other Shore

us. This may remind us of the two birdson one tree in the Indian tradition. Onebird is hopping around, nibblingconstantly, restless. The other observescalmly. This calm observation is insight.But both birds are one. We are both birds.

We may suddenly stand on the othershore, having taken a quantum jump, but

this is possible only if certain conditionsare fulfilled. We try to fulfil these con-ditions. But that is difficult, because itmeans our way of thinking and our wayof life must be transformed. We mustbecome unselfish, even selfless, andcompletely honest with ourselves andwith others. That is the quantum jump.How can this transformation come about?

On the shore where we are there aremany tradesmen, many vendors, offeringenticing bargains: ‘I will carry you acrossthe river’ or ‘I will take you over in myboat’. ‘You do not need to do anything. Iwill do everything for you. You haveonly to pay the price.’ For such mer-chants demand a price, if not in Euros,Dollars or Rupees, then in any case wemust pay as Faust almost had to: with oursoul, with our independence, with ourinner freedom. These merchants are, forexample, the numerous false gurus. Someof them are benevolent and relativelyharmless. Perhaps many are, withoutalways knowing it, harmful to themselvesand to others. But we must admit thatsome are helpful. They say: ‘I will helpyou to learn to swim, but you yourselfmust be willing and able to learn to swimand you yourself must actually swimacross.’ Gurus are helpful only when one

does the work oneself and when one for-gets the teacher and swims oneself. Evenif one drowns, one has learned something!

Everyone must probably try out someof the enticing bargains of false gurus,either in this life or in past or future lives,until we learn their lesson, see throughthem and reject them.

So what distinguishes the two shores,this shore and that, this world and thehereafter, Heaven and Earth, Samsâra andNirvâna? For the logical mind the two havenothing in common. For deeper insightthere is no difference. Since we are con-scious above all at the level of the mind,let us examine this question first with themind. Let us begin where we are, withwhat we have, and that is the mind.

The mind demands and finds a path withmany stages, leading to the other shore.These stages are depicted differently invarious religions and traditions, sometimesas conditions to be fulfilled or as qualitiesto be acquired, sometimes as stages on theway, sometimes as both. In Hinduism theconditions or steps are described, forexample, in the first seven of the eightlimbs of Râja Yoga: moral prohibitions,moral rules, right posture, right breathing,withdrawal of the senses, concentration,meditation. These first seven limbs of RâjaYoga clear away outer and inner obstacles.The eighth limb follows: the quantum jumpto samâdhi or knowing by being one withwhat is known, that is, knowing there is

no other — also, there is no other shore!In ªankarâchârya’s Viveka-chudâmani

the conditions for crossing the stream aredescribed almost as in At the Feet of the

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Master: viveka, the ability to distinguishbetween the Real and the unreal, theimportant and the unimportant, etc.;vairâgya, desirelessness, non-attachment,non-possessiveness; good conduct; andmumukshutva: the strong desire for libera-tion. One must long for liberation as adrowning man longs for air. In At the Feet

of the Master this qualification is calledLove. ‘When it (love) is strong enough ina man, it forces him to acquire all the rest,and all the rest without it would never besufficient.’ Love is the quantum jump.

In Buddhism the Noble Eightfold Pathis taught: Right Insight or Perception,Right Thought, Right Speech, RightAction, Right Means of Livelihood, RightEffort, Right Mindfulness or Memory, andagain there follows the quantum jumpto Oneness with all, that is, samâdhi. InBudhism too we are told of the followingsteps: the stages of one who has enteredthe stream; one who will be born againonly once; one who will attain liberationin this life; and the Arhat.

In Christianity virtues like Faith,Hope and Charity are extolled, but: ‘Thegreatest of these is charity’ — or love(1 Cor.,13:13). Here too love representsthe quantum jump to the other shore. Andin Christian mysticism the steps on thePath are described roughly as follows:1. Conversion, awakening, the turningpoint, the realization that one cannotdo otherwise than follow that path;2. Purification; 3. Enlightenment; 4. Thedark night of the soul and 5. The quantumjump: Unification.

But there are certain dangers in the

concept of steps on the path, whether wesee these steps as qualities to be acquired,conditions to be fulfilled or virtues to bedeveloped or as stages of development onthe way. The very concepts of a path, ofindividual qualities, of stages, are mentalimages and one is tempted to conceive ofthem mentally, that is, in a literal or worldlyway — from the point of view of this shore.For the Path, steps on the Path and evenqualities are not to be understood mentallyor literally or in a worldly fashion, butintuitively, symbolically, in depth.

What does it mean when one con-ceives of the Path, qualities and stepsmentally, literally and in a worldlymanner? If we do so we may understandthem as if we were at school, at universityor doing an apprenticeship. We have tolearn certain lessons, acquire certain skills,pass certain examinations. Later, in ourprofession or job we have certain experi-ences: we are successful and unsuccessful.Seen in this way, the spiritual pathbecomes a career. We forget what isimportant. We are still selfish. And weremain definitely on this shore.

Even the development of virtues canbe counterproductive. A friend toldBenjamin Franklin that he practised adifferent virtue every day of the week andthat he was pleased with the result. OnMonday, for example, he practised hon-esty, on Tuesday courage, on Wednesdaycompassion, etc. Benjamin Franklinpointed out that he had forgotten animportant virtue: Humility. And what ishumility? Humility does not mean havinga poor opinion of oneself, repeating: ‘I am

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The Other Shore

a poor sinner’, etc., which is really a formof pride or at least egocentricity. Humilitymeans not thinking of oneself at all, for-getting oneself. Can one resolve or makean effort to forget oneself? The more onetries, the less one succeeds! Wanting toforget oneself is ambition, which has noplace on the spiritual path. Thus we remainon this shore. We cannot make thequantum jump. So the attempt to developvirtues contains many traps. If we try todevelop virtues one at a time, we are ledastray. We can over-develop one virtueat the expense of others. If a virtue is exag-gerated, it may become a vice.

On the other hand the quantum jumpcan succeed only if certain conditions arealready fulfilled, so that we are not evenconscious of them, so that we are virtuouswithout realizing it. But if we realize it andambition appears on the scene, we are nolonger on the spiritual path. If we learnfor example to speak a language or play amusical instrument, there is a learningprocess. First we make an effort: We learnindividual words or sentences, grammat-ical rules, etc. We practise. In learningmusic too we practise an instrument, welearn from our mistakes. The quantumjump comes only later, sometimes quitesuddenly. Then we speak the languagewithout mistakes, without thinking of themeaning of individual words or of therules of grammar. Or suddenly our playingis fluent, even inspired, but we do notthink of the notes. The music simply playsin us! The quantum jump has taken place.The other shore is there. We are no longerconscious of ourself, although this is

mostly only a temporary state, and werevert to our former condition as soon asthought intervenes.

What is the characteristic of the othershore? One might say: Unity, Oneness.What is the characteristic of this shore?Duality, multiplicity. But unity is thesource, the origin of duality and ofmultiplicity. This duality and multiplicityform the outer characteristics of thewonderful world in which we live. Theinner Oneness is present in Nature andexpresses itself in harmony as long as mandoes not interfere. Unfortunately dualityand multiplicity are also the inner charac-teristics of our being, the characteristicsof our consciousness. Inwardly we dividethe world into I and the others.

We no longer perceive our inner one-ness with all beings and with all things.We are beings who are inwardly sepa-rated, isolated, lonely. This leads to fear,insecurity, jealousy, suspicion and aggres-sion. Because we are unhappy in this stateof division, we seek to recover oneness,but we seek it in the wrong places. Weunite ourselves with possessions, be theyriches, knowledge or other people. Webecome dependent on them. Not only areour feelings split but also our thinking.We tend to think in black and white, inconcepts which are contradictory. Liber-ation does not lie in binding ourselves, butin relinquishing, in giving up — inwardly.

The Zen Buddhist sage Huang Po dis-tinguishes between three kinds of seeker:

1. When everything inside and outside,bodily and mental, has been relinquished;when, as in the Void, no attachments are

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left; when all action is dictated purely byplace and circumstance; when subjectivityand objectivity are forgotten — that is thehighest form of relinquishment.

2. When, on the one hand, the Way isfollowed by the performance of (con-sciously) virtuous acts; while on the other,reward is entertained — that is the mediumform of relinquishment.

3. When all sorts of virtuous actionsare performed in the hope of reward, bythose who, nevertheless, know of theVoid by hearing the Dharma and aretherefore unattached (that is, who shouldknow better) — that is the lowest form ofrelinquishment.

The first (the highest form of relin-quishment) is like a blazing torch held tothe front, which makes it impossible tomistake the Path; the second (the mediumform of relinquishment) is like a blazing

torch held to one side, so that it is some-times light and sometimes dark; the third(the lowest form of relinquishment) is likea blazing torch held behind, so that pitfallsin front are not seen.

‘What is the Way and how must it befollowed?’ ‘What sort of thing do yousuppose the Way to be that you shouldwish to follow it?’

‘ “Studying the Way” is just a figureof speech. It is a method of arousingpeople’s interest in the early stages of theirdevelopment.’

So is the other shore only a symbol toawaken our interest?

Must we renounce outer life? No!Huang Po advises: ‘Do not permit theevents of your daily lives to bind you butnever withdraw yourselves from them.’Then you will already be on the othershore without noticing it!

The true light is that which emanates from within man, and reveals thesecrets of the heart to the soul, making it happy and contented with life.Truth is like the stars; it does not appear except from behind obscurity ofthe night. Truth is like all beautiful things in the world; it does notdisclose its desirability except to those who first feel the influence offalsehood. Truth is a deep kindness that teaches us to be content in oureveryday life and share with the people the same happiness.

Kahlil Gibran

21August 2011

The Future of the Theosophical Society

The Future of theTheosophical Society

C. W. LEADBEATER

Reprinted from The Theosophist, August 1930.

I AM supposed to be speaking to you ona subject occupying the minds of many— the future of the Theosophical Society.The first question is, are we considering adistant or a near future? I have no doubtabout the distant future of the Society. Itwill increase in numbers, usefulness andinfluence. But when speaking of the near

future I must say that it depends on our-selves, the members of the Society. Wemay carry out the ideals of the Society,or, if less wise, spend our time in arguingthe matter.

Now, methods must change with thetimes. The methods of fifty years ago arenot ours today. Our discussions concernnot the work to be done, but the way todo it. The Objects of the Society are good,but there are many opinions regarding theway to carry them out, and this variety ofopinion is good, for it will prevent us fromcrystallizing. The fundamentals that wehave to popularize do not change. Wemust spread the idea of Brotherhood.Brotherhood exists, but people do notrealize it, and we must try to help them tothis realization. That is the main aim ofthe Society.

The other two aims are good also. The

comparative study of religion shows usthat in fundamentals all religions agree;and that is perhaps the only thing aboutreligion that matters. Get the people torealize this.

The third Object, the study of thepowers latent in man, is to give us a soundbasis for our knowledge. Occultism ismerely the study of the inner side of man— but the inner side of things is generallymore important than the outer.

All these studies help towards the greatidea of Brotherhood.

We used to say that this great studyof Theosophy has been ‘revealed’ to us.The antithesis between revelation andrealization seems to me to be elusive, forthey are two stages of the same process.Every great idea is, when first given out,a revelation, and then we begin to un-derstand it.

Madame Blavatsky, when teaching us,used to say: ‘These are the facts, but donot take them because I say so; examineand accept them only if you have foryourself found them to be the best ex-planation.’ I have never been under thedelusion, nor was she, that we know thewhole truth. We in the Fifth Root Race

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are very proud of our intellect, andcertainly what we have found — the factsformerly known only to the few — ismarvellous. But because the discovery forus is so new, we are somewhat like a child,proud of its new toy.

But reason is not everything. You haveno conception of the conditions underwhich Theosophy came to us in the earlydays. The orthodox form of Christianityhad become impossible for many. Wewere as though living in a gloomy cage,filled with superstitions, and Theosophyhelped us to step out into the sunlight. Wehad to put away many things that wereunbelievable. This brought many peopleto Atheism. The first time I had the honourof hearing our great President — it wasin London — she spoke against theorthodox Christianity of that day. I as acurate was staggered, but could not denythe truth of her points, which she pushedto an absolute conclusion. That was thefirst thing that showed me that facts werethe only things worth finding. There seemsto be no proof, short of Occultism, of any-thing taught in the orthodox Church —not even that Christ lived in Palestine.

Madame Blavatsky told us to acceptnothing merely because she had ex-pressed it: many, however, did. And whena Report of the Society for PsychicalResearch claimed that Madame Blavatskywas a charlatan, many people droppedthe cause. Others, however, who had rea-soned it out, and had found it the onlyreasonable hypothesis of life to workupon, were not shaken.

The first time I heard of Theosophy

my whole soul went out to it. It was aninner certainty for me, an intuition. So,you see, I had felt it, and I had reasoned itout. I have taken the trouble to convincemyself of the reality — but of courseeverything may be an illusion, even mystanding here and your seeing me! Everyday we have to accept things without proof— the word of Science and the testimonyof experts. In astronomy we must alwaysbe ready to revise our old conceptionswhen new discoveries are made. Factsare true as far as they go: they themselvesare unalterable, but we may see themdifferently. Thus the broad outlines ofTheosophy remain, though conditionsmay change. There will always be widervistas before us. We mould our lives bythe things we do. The immediate futureof the Society is in our hands. If we canbe liberal in our thought, we shall holdour rather heterogeneous crowd together.

Realize the central facts of Theosophy,and show no hostility towards others ofour brethren who tread paths differentfrom our own. Our Krishnaji says that thehighest is pathless. Still we are not all soevolved as to work out the way for our-selves. It is our privilege to take advan-tage of the labour of those who have gonebefore. We do teach the child, acquainthim with the conditions around him,without leaving him to find everything forhimself. Well, that is what we are tryingto do in our Society, by advising people;but by no means may we force our opinionupon them.

Our Masters say that if only threepeople remain faithful to this inner

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The Future of the Theosophical Society

teaching, They will be with them to helpthem. It will not come to that. Do notdespair of the future. I cannot hold thatthere is only one way, for around us wesee noble men struggling along manypaths. A Great Teacher has said, ‘Uponwhichever path a man approaches meupon that path do I meet him, for all pathsare mine.’ When we know the whole truth,we shall see all paths converging in onepoint. Let every man be fully persuadedin his own mind, and the best way to bepersuaded is to go forth and work for thegood of mankind. Here below we have

but the broken arch; only in heaven shallwe have the perfect round.

Let Brotherly Love prevail, then weshall be helping in the evolution whichKrishnaji said in At the Feet of the Master

is God’s plan for man. Let us stand to-gether as brethren, and work together.The brotherhood of man is a great reality;the brotherhood of this Society ought tobe a great reality to us. I have had forty-seven years of it and shall stay in it to theend of this incarnation, and I hope I shallknow enough in the next incarnation tojoin again.

MARIA VON KRUSENSTIERNA

‘On this happy occasion I wish to thank my beloved husband Sten for hisinfinite patience, and our son Axel for his loyalty. Gratitude to my friendsin the TS, LCC and Co-M for all they gave to me.“God be with you till we meet again.”RieNo flowersPrivately cremated.’

This newspaper notice was arranged by Mrs Maria (Rie) von Krusenstiernain advance of her passing in Adelaide, Australia, on 2 June 2011. Born inthe Netherlands in 1909, Rie married Mr Sten von Krusenstierna, a fellowTheosophist whom she met in Adyar in 1946. They moved to Sydney andhe later became the Presiding Bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church. Avibrant, strong and down-to-earth person, Rie was a stalwart member ofthe TS.

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Journey of the Soul

D. P. SABNIS

Mr D. P. Sabnis is a member of Blavatsky Lodge, Mumbai, Indian Section of the TS.

BEFORE we undertake a journey weneed to find out all that it will involve andto seek advice from those who know thedifficulties and pitfalls on the way. Wealso need to look at ourselves and see ifwe possess the strength and ability toundertake the journey.

Therefore Fragment I of The Voice of

the Silence contains instruction as to whatthe journey we are contemplating is likelyto involve, what it leads to, and whatqualities and capacities we must possessbefore starting out.

From this Fragment we learn that theone quality which it is necessary to possessif we would be instructed is the capacityto listen carefully to what is being said.Otherwise we may give our own inter-pretation to what is said, we may evendistort the words to suit our own concep-tions, and thus miss the real meaning.What, for example, is the meaning to begiven to the word ‘mind’, or to the word‘soul’, as used in The Voice of the Silence?We need accuracy in listening in order toplace the words in their proper contextbefore we can see clearly.

Listening carefully, therefore, to whatis said in the book about ourselves, what

do we learn? First, we learn that we haveto change many things in ourselves, andto do so we must admit that we needchanging. The major change to be madeis to learn not to be deceived by whatwe see or hear. This is most important,because as we progress on the inner Paththe awakening inner senses give us powerswhich we may not know how to useproperly, and we may encounter onepitfall after another.

Admitting that we have to changeourselves, admitting that we shall meetwith pitfalls, we come to see the necessityof having a guide on the journey. Thisguide we shall not see or hear at firstthough He is with us, unseen and unheard.The next important fact, therefore, is toknow that we do have a guide all the time.He shows himself to us in terms of ourunderstanding, if we can recognize him.

If we look at ourselves as we are today,we find that our main characteristic isawareness of our surroundings, of ourbody, feelings, desires and thoughts, butwe also find that we have within us anurge to be better in every way; we realizethat there is something we strive to reachup to, some ideal — whether of being a

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Journey of the Soul

better businessman or professional, abetter father or mother or husband orwife, or of acquiring a better character.Where does this urge come from? Let usrecognize, mentally at least, that it comesfrom somewhere higher than our ordin-ary desires and thoughts. The nearestapproach we have to it is our conscience,which though it does not give positiveguidance, at least warns us not to do thisor that, that one course or another is not‘right’. To cultivate an awareness of thisconscience is the first step which takes themind away from excessive awareness ofsense-objects, personal desires, etc.

In time, as we become more and moreaware of this inner monitor, we shall findthat it is not enough just to know what weought not to do; we also need to knowwhat we ought to do. This calls for know-ledge, but we must first learn that muchof what we know at present is false,deceptive, illusory, incomplete. An effortto become aware of a higher code of mor-ality and knowledge will help us to seethat we are something other than thatwhich our present mode of awarenessmakes us believe we are.

Thus we begin to feel a touch of theInner Guide or Master. A constant effortto remember the Wise Ones of all timewill help, for we shall then have a modelto copy, and shall see what is right action,right feeling, right thought as taughtby them.

Our books, the words of those whohave passed this way and learnt; ourconscience; our Inner Master or Ruler; andthe Bridge, the Great Ones who embody

the Path and the Goal — all these are ourteachers and guides. As we progress, weshall reach a point where we have to travelon alone. We have been taught; now wemust apply. The only reliance at this stageis on the Inner Master. We must merge inhim, become one with him. Steps as tohow this is to be done are given. We musttake those steps. Masters stand andbeckon, but only our unhelped effort willbring the necessary strength to hold theposition once it is attained. Only he whohas conquered by his unaided efforts isthe victor. We must be taught, but we mustpractise what we are taught.

It is necessary, therefore, at the verybeginning, to have a view of this Path andits Goal. Once we reach the stage whenwe realize (which means more than mentalacceptance) that the Goal is within us, thatthe Master is a higher aspect of ourselves,we find our way lit by a flood of light,and we hear the Voice of Compassionwhich thrills through all and everything.We and the Light and the Sound are One.We are changeless and eternal:

Thou art THYSELF the object of thy search:

the Voice unbroken, that resounds through-

out eternities, exempt from change, from

sin exempt, the Seven Sounds in one.

The whole object of our search,therefore, is to find out who and what weare — to become that which we are. Thisis the goal.

Our first endeavour in practice is tolearn to separate the mind from the sensesand sensations, from the emotions andfrom self-centredness. ‘Thyself and mind,

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like twins upon a line, the star which isthy goal burns overhead.’ We must acceptthe fact that as we are now, we are veryignorant, ignorant as regards knowledge,yes, but more ignorant of our own char-acter and lower psychic faculties. Also,of just what the goal of life is.

We learn that our faculties are of twokinds, the lower and the higher. The lowerare those we have at present — to think,desire, feel and perform deeds. The higherfaculties we do not know, but they can beknown if we train our spiritual powers,powers which give us strength, abilityand energy.

If we have these higher powers some-where, why do they not function today?Because they have to function throughthe vehicles of the body and brain, throughthe capacities and energies we possess,and these being untrained as yet, cannotbe used by the high powers. In fact, it is atwo-way effort, for the lower has to riseto the higher aspect of ourselves, and thehigher has to subdue the lower. It is theconstant struggle that goes on betweenour two natures. Unless we know thecharacter and powers of both, we cannotundertake the necessary preparation, andwill be misled by what our senses,thoughts and desires present to us.

Many teachers have given rules for thesubjection of the lower mind and itsconcentration upon the higher. In The

Voice of the Silence we are asked to cut itoff from all external sights and sounds, asalso from internal images. This, we aretold, is dhâranâ — the stage of ‘intenseand perfect concentration of the mind

upon some interior object, accompaniedby complete abstraction from everythingpertaining to the external Universe, or theworld of the senses’. This requires thetraining of the memory, for it is only whenthe outer is effaced from the mind andmemory that the ONE can be discerned atthe back or centre of all. This ONE is theeternal and changeless. Hence no changemust be allowed to affect the mind; it mustremain unchanged through all changes.

This naturally gives us a different senseof Time and of the conditions of life.When we have attained this, we shall belike the wise man described in the secondchapter of the Bhagavadgitâ.

In this struggle not only do we need toexert the mind or awareness consciously;we must also analyse why and how thesenses affect the mind. We learn that whatwe see — and it is equally true of theimpressions given by the other senses —is not a true picture of things because thesenses have for long enjoyed a world oftheir own making. According to theknowledge we already possess, weanalyse and accept the impressions. Wehave to be more particular now andanalyse all that comes to us. We shall seethat the eyes are often disturbed and giveus distorted pictures. To avoid beingaffected by them, the mind must be in astate of peace and harmony. In fact, wemust learn to use the eyes to see with, notlet them bring us impressions that forcethemselves on our attention. The earshave to be trained in a similar manner sothat they remain unaffected by either the‘cries of bellowing elephants’ or the

27August 2011

Journey of the Soul

‘silvery buzzing of the golden firefly’.When, therefore, in time, we have learnt

to use the senses and the mind as theyshould be used, we can begin to hear theSilent Speaker. We begin to live within,and though we see outer sights and hearouter sounds, we are under no illusion asto their character. We begin to live as innerentities and not as lower forms of matter.We begin to see the One in the many, tohear the One Sound in the many sounds.Instead of desiring and feeling for our-selves, we desire and feel for the WHOLE.Our mind is cleansed and its functions onthe plane of senses paralysed. Our heart,our whole motive, is purified.

One of the difficulties in our way is that,having started on the journey, we are aptto look back. There must not be anylonging for what has been left behind, orany grief for our loss. We have a glimpseof the importance of this idea in the Biblestory of Lot’s wife. When she had to leavethe city where she had lived, she waswarned not to look back; it was a doomedcity. But she did look back, and waschanged into a pillar of salt.

Let us learn that we can never satisfylongings by their fulfilment; for, if onekind of longing is indulged in to saturationpoint, the point of longing will still be alive,will in fact be strengthened, and will onlychange its form.

We learn next that there are two goals— Liberation and Renunciation, betweenwhich we have to choose. The secondFragment prepares us for the decision. Thethird Fragment deals with the steps we haveto take after the decision is reached.

The pupil asks the Teacher what heshould do to reach Wisdom and to gainPerfection, and he is told to look at himselffirst and ask himself whether his heart isclean, whether he can discern the real fromthe false, the impermanent from thepermanent, Head-learning from Soul-wisdom, the ‘Eye’ from the ‘Heart’doctrine. There are two ways of lookingat actions; one is that of the head andthe other of the heart; one leads to thecessation of sin and faults through non-action; the other to Self-knowledgethrough action, through loving deeds.The end of both Paths is Bliss; in thecase of those who seek the Path ofLiberation, the bliss comes at once; in thecase of those who choose the path ofRenunciation, it comes at the close ofkalpa-s without number.

The decision has to be reached. Butsuch a great decision can only be thelegitimate result of minor decisions allalong the Path.

In Fragment III we are led further, forthe choice is made. It is Renunciation thatwe seek, not Liberation. The way thatleads to the goal is through seven gates,to pass each of which we need the key ofa particular developed virtue. We aregiven the keys and an idea of the diffi-culties to be surmounted. Some importanthints are given to us. For instance:

Thou shall not let thy senses make a

playground of thy mind. . . . thou must

have mastered all the mental changes in

thy Self and slain the army of the thought

sensations that, subtle and insidious, creep

unasked within the Soul’s bright shrine.

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From the Heart point of view we learn:‘Thou shalt not separate thy being fromBEING and the rest, but merge the Oceanin the drop, the drop within the Ocean.’To put this into practice we must be ‘infull accord with all that lives; bear love tomen as though they were thy brother-pupils, disciples of one Teacher, the sonsof one sweet mother’.

This is so important that we are againasked whether we have attuned our ‘heartand mind to the great mind and heart ofall mankind’.

Then we must learn the pitfalls of thePâramita Path so that we can be preparednot to succumb to them. Let us keep in

mind that we must be prepared if wewould be free from fear. To us, strugglingwould-be neophytes, the message is —BE PREPARED. If we ‘remain unselfish tillthe endless end’, we are bound to succeed.

Lest we lose ourselves in the treadmillof life and the struggles to achieve, wehave been given a description of the endof the Path. Light and sound unite withthe fourfold manifested Powers to blendin one glorious ‘wordless’ proclamatic‘Peace to all Beings’.

The vision is necessary, or we lose theimpetus to make the effort. Hence eachFragment ends with the Vision Beautifulof accomplishment.

If you truly wish to attain enlightenment, lose no time in practising‘zazen’. Cast off all bonds, calm the ten thousand things, think notof good and evil, judge not concerning right and wrong, arrestthe flow of consciousness, put a stop to the activity of wishing,imagining, judging, think not of becoming a Buddha!

Dogen Zenji (1200–1253)

29August 2011

Nature and Us

Nature and Us

AVANTIKA MEHTA

Mrs Avantika Mehta is President of the Gujarat Federation, Indian Section of the TS. Talk given at theinternational Convention, Adyar, 2010.

THE purpose of our life is to realize unityamong diversity by encouraging the studyof comparative religion, philosophy andscience and by investigating the self andnature, the path less trodden. Natureremains a great mystery for mankind solet us observe and understand ‘Nature’.

There is a saying attributed to Platowhich is full of significance; it says ‘GodGeometrizes’, a proclamation of the DivineWisdom that there exists a God of theUniverse and that all Nature is a creationby him after a plan.

The Ancient Wisdom, in no hesitat-ing voice, proclaims that every part ofNature’s design reflects the plan of a DivineMind. ‘God’s Plan’, which is evolution, isnot mechanical. What seems ‘a casualconcourse of atoms’ is caused by theLogos and their quantity and directionas they operate are determined by himeach moment.

We usually mean by Nature the worldof lifeless things. In the common use ofthe word, we mean by Nature the sky, thesea, the woods and the forests; and we saythat we long to go out to Nature, meaningthereby away from man’s habitations.Sometimes, we also mean by the term

Nature, the subhuman life of plants andthe animals. There is however a third useof the word Nature — when we look atthe stars and the planets, when we seemighty cosmic forces at work; we then usethe word Nature to signify the totality ofan evolutionary process.

What is this Nature which is on everyside of us, of which we are a part andwhich sometimes so dominates us that wefeel utterly helpless before her? What isthe meaning of Nature, how is it thatbehind it there is a Builder at work? Wefind in ancient India, in a very graphicform, the ideas of One who builds and un-builds and builds again. This greatpersonage is called Prajâpati, the ‘Lordof Creatures’.

In the beginning, the universe wasnon-existent. Then, Lord Prajâpati de-sired: ‘May I be more than one, may I bereproduced.’ He toiled, he practisedausterity. Step by step he then createdeverything. All of this universe appearedas one form only, namely water; then hecreated foam, clay, mud, saline soil andsand, pebbles, rocks, ore, gold, plantsand trees.

Having created worlds, he desired:

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‘May I create such creatures as shall bemine in these worlds.’ And he created All.He placed them in their quarters. Sincewe are men, we think that right and wrongcan only be taught to us by men who havetried to live rightly and have suffered byliving wrongly. But in ancient days, forinstance in Greece, Nature herself wasconsidered the teacher of what is rightand wrong.

The Divine vision towards Naturebegins in several ways. One way is by theworship of Nature. We will find that allprimitive men sense something mysteriousin Nature that must be worshipped. Thesavage has an attitude of true reverenceand he is able to put aside his personalityand see for a fragment of time what isoutside of himself ‘as it is’. He regardsNature with awe, for Nature is indeedterrifying. It is one of the characteristicsof the highest civilization that the moremen are cultured, the more they begin tofeel by intuition that Nature is instinct witha Mighty Power and Mighty Wisdom. Thehighest of mankind also worship Nature.Although they may have within the minda clear scientific understanding of whatNature is, yet when the higher part of theirnature is called upon, they then feel thatrocks and clouds take on another mean-ing, a meaning which impels them toutmost admiration.

Tennyson’s poem, ‘The HigherPantheism’ speaks beautifully of thatwhich he who lives in fullness, feels. Withthe worship of Nature, man begins to treadthe first step on the journey to a gloriousDivine Vision.

However, there is another avenue ofapproach and that is by the study ofNature. The different departments ofscience, as they work today to discoverknowledge, are adding a little morewisdom towards the comprehension ofthe wonderful process of the universe.Whether it be biology, astronomy, physicsor chemistry, men will come to the visionof a Divine Mind at work.

The third way of vision about Natureis possible by loving Nature. In the wor-ship of Nature, there is, as it were, a littlebarrier between man, the worshipper,and Nature, the object of worship, butwhen we come to the love of Nature, thenman delights in a kinship with the sky,the clouds and the animals. Each littlething in Nature speaks of a brotherliness,of a tenderness, that of a younger brothertowards an elder. Wordsworth, the dis-tinguished English poet, says in his poemsthere is an intense truthfulness to Natureand a linking of man to it.

As we go out into Nature and loveNature, we feel a sense of utmost closenessas a child to a mother, as brother to sister,friend to a friend. We come to a newvision, the Divine Vision of Nature. Weare like waves in the ocean looking at otherwaves but missing the ocean in ourperception.

Therefore, be like a tree. The tree givesshade even to one who cuts its branches.It asks not of water from anyone thoughit be withering for want of it. Rain andstorm and the burning rays of the sunmake it suffer yet it continues to give sweetscented flowers and delicious fruits.

31August 2011

Nature and Us

Patiently, it serves others, ever as a tree.Our revered J. Krishnamurti has given usthe real clue to the dilemma. He says: ‘Justlook’. We have no need to analyse, tojustify, to defend. But we cannot take thesmallest step on the path until we havelearned ‘to look’.

Einstein once asked the question: didGod have any choice when he created theuniverse? The law of growth, of devel-opment, of evolution, is also the law ofbeauty, proportion and harmony, and allare integral parts of that Supreme Law ofLove. So we must love Nature.

Then comes the fourth way to

approach the Divine Vision and that is

by refashioning Nature. RefashioningNature means, when a man has looked atmany sunsets, sunrises, etc., with theartistic nature keen in him, he is inspiredby one particular sunrise or sunset, andpaints a picture. He paints, not that aspectof Nature which he sees or has seen andwhich a camera could reproduce withgreater accuracy. Though he makes apicture of a sunset or sunrise which isnever the same in Nature, yet his creationis a picture of that permanent Elementwhich does not change.

Whether we come through worship orlove, through study or refashioning, weshall begin to discover certain greatmysteries in Nature. And of those, onewhich is easy to discover is her tremen-dous power which seems at times utterlyruthless — when we stand before somemighty aspect of Nature, say the NiagaraFalls, the Himalayas or a storm at sea,when all seems powerful, before which

man seems nothing indeed. But passbeyond that stage and we will begin tofeel one with that power. The NiagaraFalls, Himalayas or a storm, and otherstoo, tell us that there is both power andpeace within you. The storm at sea willtell us the mystery of our own storms oflove and despair. Nature releases fromwithin us the sense of power. So in Naturethere are neither rewards nor punishment.There are consequences! Now we can un-derstand that Nature is neither good norevil and manifestation follows only un-changing and impersonal law.

By study and observation we begin tofeel the rhythm in life. This rhythm isobvious to us with an understanding ofTheosophy. How life comes, possesses aform and grows in it and then when it hascome to the limit of its growth, vanishes,and then after an interval, comes backagain. Nature has a law of cycles and inus too there are cycles, for there is rhythmin all things. All beings and things havetheir birth and death cycles, because birthand death are the gates of life. The rhythmis not mechanical, not merely a crash offate, but indeed the Dance of Life.

Nature is alive, for if we look deeply atthe clouds, at the hills and the waves andmany other things, they are not merelythings of matter. They are life veiled indes-cribably in matter and so we need to study,understand. An individual will feel every-where in Nature the mysterious quality oflife. Nature will then reveal to him a littleof her meaning and then shall show some-thing of her own hidden power.

The man who loves Nature can go out

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into the woods and fields, though he besaddened by all the suffering which manhas inflicted on animals and by the uglinesswith which man has blighted the face ofNature. He can give a blessing, with love,care and compassion towards her. Alwayshe who has lived with Nature is enabledto release his own fellowman. Naturecomes to us then as a mother, as a brother,as a sister or as a friend. She leads us toour own Beloved, the ideal one has placedbefore ourselves.

It is a wonderful mystery that life tellsus: all the majesty of the world is ours andall its joys are somewhere hidden withinus. Nature has given them to us all, andwe shall find if we will seek the DivineVision of Nature, with that Divine Visioncomes at-onement with Man, God and thatindescribable truth, that the All returns tothe All.

Life within all forms is One life and alldeliberate actions produce correspondingreactions. Without relationships, no matterhow much wealth, fame, power, prestigeand seeming success by the standards andopinions of the world one has, happinesswill constantly elude one. So we musthave right relationship to the world be-

cause we are after all a product of a longevolutionary process of life and are re-sponsible for the correct use of thesefacilities which we possess.

There are no weeds in a wilderness orwood. Where Nature’s purpose and waysprevail without interference by man,everything, even a single atom, has sig-nificance and a purpose. Our respectedRadhaji says that it is time to look intothe worth of the wood, weed, the earth.Perhaps we may experience that there areno woods, weeds, but only secret gardens.

In one of the Theosophical classics,The Voice of the Silence, invaluable toaspirants on the spiritual path, it is said ifwe help Nature and work on with her,She shall regard us as one of her creatorsand make obeisance. A feeling of friendlysympathy towards animals, plants andeven minerals and towards the Nature-spirits, deva-s, is equally important, if notmore so, for the progress of man. The manwho faces life with a feeling of kindlinessto all living things will not only see andlearn more than others but will have asmoother passage on life’s sea. We aretherefore not apart from Nature but weare one with her.

As we penetrate deeper and deeper into Nature, we have to abandon more andmore of the images and concepts of ordinary language. . . . Like the mystics,physicists are now dealing with a non-sensory experience of reality and, likethe mystics, they have to face the paradoxical aspects of this experience.

Fritjof CapraThe Tao of Physics

33August 2011

Science and Spirituality

Science and Spirituality

S. K. NANDA

Dr S. K. Nanda is a member of the Utkal Theosophical Federation, Bhubaneswar, India.

MATTER and Spirit are two parts onthe spiritual Path through which a seekerhas to progress for the merger with theAbsolute. In the Gitâ, ªri K·shna says:‘My material nature is divided into eightparts; earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind,intellect and ego (VII.4). All beings areborn from Me and have these two natures— higher as spirit or soul and lower asmatter or prak·ti. I am the source of allorigin and all dissolution’ (VII.6).

Matter in different forms like gases,liquids and solids are woven together byspiritual energy to retain its consistency.For example, water in different types ofexistence are water vapour (looselywoven), water (a bit more thickly woventhan gas), ice (more densely woven thanwater). The spiritual force is the basis,which sustains all these in different forms.Similarly, whatever we see around is eitherdensely woven like earth, metal, wood,etc., or loosely woven, the subtlest beingthe mind, intellect and ego. There are inbetween stages.

Men of wisdom, through their constantlink with the Supreme, know the Brahmanas the ultimate spiritual power in matter,the source of cosmic intelligence (Gitâ,VII.30). Men of wisdom, who go beyond

matter, attain Brahman, the ultimatespiritual force.

The matter–spirit relationship exists inscience. Spirit is expanded to put thematter into motion. This spirit–fohat–matter is the trinity governing the wholeuniverse. We see out of five elements innature, four elements like water, fire, airand ether flow from one place to another,having different proportions of spirit andmatter; whereas the earth element is totallygross and its flow is very little or almostnegligible. Similarly, electricity, magnet-ism, heat, light and sound are the mainbasis of most of the utility products thatcome out of scientific technology, forexample, the radio, TV, computer, tele-phone, diagnostic and therapeutic articleslike X-ray and Ultrasound machines, thelaser beam, scanners like the C.T. Scanand M.R.I. (Magnetic Resonance Imag-ing), etc. These are nothing but the activ-ity of spirit on matter. The gravitationalforce which pulls the cosmic matter, themovement of oceanic currents, of cloudsand rain, occurrence of seasons, geo-magnetism, placement of stars, planets,geo-synchronic satellites and their move-ment in perfect order are some of theexamples of the spiritual force acting

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within the universe, which no science hasexplained yet.

Cosmogenesis is still in the darkrelative to scientific exploration. Variousscientific explanations have been putforward for the origin of cosmic matterand life on earth, which have not yet beenscientifically demonstrated. So, we havecome to the conclusion that the SupremeConsciousness is the regulatory force forall these occurrences, which have no otherexplanation. The creatures in the universe,like plants, animals and birds, and in-cluding men, are matter in which the lifeforce and the spirit play a vital role in theirday-to-day activities.

The whole universe and its contentsexist on spirit–matter, i.e. sat–chit relation-ships of varying degrees and the funniestplay of this relationship is science. In otherwords, science is the unfoldment of spirit-uality in varying degrees.

Scientific experimentation is carriedout with a deep insight either for con-structive or destructive purposes by man.The procedures undertaken are:

1. Deep concentration to draw out theparticular experiments.

2. Experimentation: That is the workthrough sacrificial action with reliabilityand accuracy and viveka.

3. Analysis of observations to evaluatethe different components of truth.

4. Inferences drawn through deep in-sight, logic, reasoning and discriminatory

intelligence which is a part of the vastknowledge of the Absolute.

All branches of knowledge are drawnfrom the mystic power of the Absolute.Even the animals and birds show somedegree of intelligence through their adap-tation in nature, although they arepropelled by impulse. Dogs, dolphins,gorillas, and wild animals in circusesunderstand the commands of men. Aweaver bird builds her beautiful nest atthe top of the tree to protect it from thesun, rain and strong winds. Rats are verywary of poison bait. Mosquitoes attackthe back and lower portion of man to es-cape the counterattack of men. Aggressivebehaviour is seen in animals and birdsduring their search for food and in sex-play. Day-to-day knowledge is divinelygifted for our management, inventionsand discoveries.

As we concentrate our mind towardsachieving scientific goals, we proceedthrough a type of meditation and expandthe laws of nature, i.e. we attain the real-ization of the laws concerning matter.Newton’s Law of Motion, the Theory ofRelativity, etc., are some of the lawsalready expounded. All the laws anddoctrines derived scientifically are fromthe fohat linking spirit and matter, whichregulate the whole universe.

Material science and the spiritual scien-ces are integral parts of the same AbsoluteTruth out of which they are derived.

Lord! Invaluable are Thy Blessings;Without extent is His bounty.

Adi Granth

35August 2011

The 136th International Convention of the Theosophical Society will be held at theInternational Headquarters, Adyar, from 26 to 31 December 2011.

All members of the Society in good standing are welcome to attend as delegates.Non-members may attend by obtaining permission from the President. Requests for suchpermission, together with a recommendation from an officer of the Federation, should be sent tothe Convention Officer before 15 November 2011.

(Half rates will be charged for children under ten. No charge for children under three.) * (or Euro or Pound Sterling equivalent)

ACCOMMODATIONFactors considered in allocating accommodation are active membership, health, age,

priority of registration, size of family, etc. Rooms and bathrooms cannot be made availablefor anyone’s exclusive use. Non-members and young persons should be prepared to stay indormitories. No special facilities can be provided for members who are ill or for women withbabies. Mosquito nets and bedding will not be available. No kitchens are available. Ordinarymedical attention will be available for minor complaints but there will be no provision forserious or infectious illness. Such cases will have to be shifted from the compound.

Accommodation is available for delegates from 24 December 2011 to 1 January 2012,both days inclusive, but can be guaranteed only to those whose registration andaccommodation payments are received before 1 December 2011. Delegates from India requiringaccommodation should send both the registration and accommodation charges together,but not before 1 September 2011.

Please note that in the event of cancellation there will be no refund of registration fees,but other charges will be refunded if application is received before 10 December 2011.

All communications and remittances should be addressed to the Convention Officer,The Theosophical Society, Adyar, Chennai 600 020. Remittance by bank drafts, duly crossed,should be made payable to the Treasurer, The Theosophical Society, but sent to the ConventionOfficer. Money Orders should be sent only to the Convention Officer. No cheques otherthan those drawn in Chennai will be accepted.

Mrs KUSUM SATAPATHY International Secretary

THE 136TH INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION

IndiaRs 50 20 100 60

India(Members)

Rs 80 150

2,000

Other Countries US$ 30 *

...

...

...

India(Non-members)

Rs 160 300

3,000

Other Countries(Members)

...

...

US$ 100 *

REGISTRATION FEESMembersMembers under 21Non-membersNon-members under 21

ACCOMMODATION CHARGES (SHARING)(From 24 December 2011to 1 January 2012 inclusive)

Accommodation with matAccommodation with cotLeadbeater Chambers (including service,furniture, and bedding, but no blankets)

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Theosophical Work around the World

SloveniaThe work in Slovenia seems to be

going on happily. In May they had fourwell-attended public lectures in the townof Koper, Ljubljana, Celje and Maribor,with Ms Damjana Gec giving two ofthem and Mrs Breda Zagar the other two.Some new people among them are youngones, and there are others who havebecome very interested. After some time,some more public lectures will be givenin these towns and perhaps in some othersas well.

The Summer School took place from10 to12 June in Kranjska Gora with ‘Lighton the Path’ as the theme. About twentymembers attended. Mrs Breda Zagar hastranslated some parts of Talks on the Path

of Occultism and they were taken upfor study in a very harmonious spirit. Aprofessor showed a film about the uni-verse, which was wonderful we are told,and this gave rise to deep thought. Theparticipants also made a trip to the top ofa hill where three countries, Italy, Austriaand Slovenia, meet, and had a meditationon unity. It is to be hoped that this will bethe beginning of a new phase.

Israel — Interfaith ConventionThis was organized by the Israel

Lodge in Tel Aviv to bring together rep-resentatives from different religions and

a good programme was drawn up in-cluding speakers from the Jewish,Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Sufi and otherreligions.

The President, Mrs Radha Burnier, wasasked to give a brief introduction to thosewho participated. Among other thingsshe said:

Brotherhood as a fact is non-existent if it

applies only to part of humanity. A truly

spiritual brotherhood includes not only

all human beings, but all living things:

animals, birds, plants, insects and so-called

non-living objects, all the elements which

give the feeling of sacredness and spirit-

uality. ‘Religion’ which does not share in

this Universal Brotherhood, and which

does not help people to know that all life

is blessed and protected by the Universal

Spirit, is not religion.

The whole of the meeting was intendedto bring greater understanding between thereligions. We are very glad to hear thatabout two hundred people attended theproceedings.

Children’s CampThe UP Federation of the Indian

Section organized a camp for theIntegrated Development of Children in avillage near Kanpur, one of the big citiesin the country. This was the third camp of

37August 2011

Theosophical Work around the World

this kind. The UP Federation is attemptingin these camps to expose the young mindsof the children to simple Theosophicalteachings, particularly those related togood conduct, good citizenship, the evolu-tion of man, concentration and training ofphysical, emotional and mental bodies.Whether a person becomes a member ofthe TS or not is considered unimportant.An attempt is also being made to interestthose in other groups such as those meantfor impaired persons, social workers andso on. We hope that the camps will havesome impact.

Come, bhikku-s, abide pervading one quarter with a mind imbuedwith loving-kindness, likewise the second, likewise the third,likewise the fourth; so above, below, around, and everywhere, andto all as to yourselves, abide pervading the all-encompassing worldwith a mind imbued with loving-kindness, abundant, exalted,immeasurable, without hostility and without ill will. Abidepervading one quarter with a mind imbued with compassion . . .with a mind imbued with altruistic joy . . . with a mind imbuedwith equanimity abundant, exalted, immeasurable, without hostilityand without ill will.

Majjhima Nikaya

East and Central AfricaThe 45th Convention of the East and

Central African Section was held inKitwe, Zambia, from 22 to 24 April 2011.The theme was ‘Oneness as a NaturalLaw’ and the guest speaker was MissMary Anderson, former internationalVice-President. She also gave talks inKenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Her topicsincluded ‘Many Lives in One’, ‘TheGarden of Theosophy’, ‘Love ConquersAll’ and ‘The True Work of Man’. Therecently completed Kitwe Lodge Hall wasopened at the Convention.

38

Date Section General Secretary, etc. Address Magazine Email address

1947 Africa, East and … Mr Navin B. Shah … PO Box 14804, 00800-Westlands, Nairobi, … The Theosophical Light navinmeera@hotmail.comCentral Kenya

1909 Africa, South … Mr Tom Davis … 22 Buffels Road, Rietondale, Pretoria, 0084 … The South African Theosophist thosgdavis@icon.co.za1956 Africa, West … Mr P. B. Kwakyi … PO Box 720, Accra, Ghana … The West African Theosophist tswafrica@gmail.com1929 America, … Mrs Ligia Gutiérrez S. … Rept. Los Arcos # 43, Ent. Princ. 1 c. Sur ligusimpson@hotmail.com

Central * 2 c. Abajo, 1 c. Sur, Distrito 2,Managua, Nicaragua

1920 Argentina … Mr Jorge Garcia … Santiago 257 — 2000, Rosario … Teosofía en Argentina stargentina@sociedad-teosofica.com.ar

1990 Asia, Southeast † … The Theosophical Society theossoc@dataone.inAdyar, Chennai 600 020, India

1895 Australia … Dr Dara Tatray … 4th fl., 484 Kent St., Sydney, NSW 2000 … Theosophy in Australia tshq@austheos.org.au1912 Austria * … Mr Herbert Fuchs … Joseph Gaubyweg 7, A - 8010 Graz … Theosofie Adyar herbert.f.fuchs@gmail.com1911 Belgium … Mr Jan Jelle Keppler … Place des Gueux 8, B1000 Brussels … Le Lotus Bleu jan.keppler@telenet.be1965 Bolivia † … Mrs Teresa W. de Nuñez … Casilla de Correo 3911, Cochabamba saidita_2945@hotmail.com1920 Brazil … Mr Marcos L. B. de Resende … SGAS Quadra 603, N. 20, … Sophia tsbrazil@sociedadeteosofica.org.br

CEP 70200-630 Brasilia (DF)1924 Canada * … Mr Medardo Martinez Cruz … 3162 Rue de la Bastille … The Light Bearer MMartinez@manhattaninc.com

Boisbriand QC., J7H 1K71920 Chile * … Mr Maximiliano Aguilera … Casilla 3603, Santiago 21 … Revista Teosófica Chilena sociedad.teosofica@gmail.com1937 Colombia † … Mrs Julia Ballesteros … Carrera. 6, No. 56-27 Apto. 201, Bogotá-2 … Selección Teosófica julitaballesteros@gmail.com1997 Costa Rica † … Ms Maria Orlich … Apartado 8-6710-1000, San José orlichsm@yahoo.com2007 Croatia … Mrs Nada Tepeš … Krajiška ulica 24, 10000 Zagreb … Teozofija z.zemlja@gmail.com1905 Cuba … Mr Gaspar Torres … Apartado de Correos 6365, La Habana 10600 teocuba.sociedad@gmail.com1987 Dominican Rep. † … Mrs Magaly Polanco … 1652 Calle Sta. Agueda, C7 Les Chalets Court polancomagaly@yahoo,com

Aptdo. 23, San Juan, PR 00926, USA1888 England … Mr Eric McGough … 50 Gloucester Place, London W1U 8EA … Insight office@theosoc.org.uk1907 Finland … Ms Marja Artamaa … Teosofinen Seura, Vironkatu 7 C 2, Fin 00170, … Teosofi teosofinen.seura@netti.fi

Helsinki1899 France … Ms Trân-Thi-Kim-Diêu … 4 Square Rapp, 75007 Paris … Le Lotus Bleu trankimdieu@sfr.fr1902 Germany … Mrs Manuela Kaulich … Hauptstr. 39, 93138 Lappersdorf … Adyar theosophie-adyar@gmx.de1928 Greece … Mr Theodoros Katsifis … 25 Voukourestiou St., 106 71-Athens … Ilisos info@theosophicalsociety.gr1907 Hungary † … Mr Thomas Martinovich … Hunyadi Janos ut 17. II. 8, H-1011 Budapest … Teozófia tshutau7@hu.inter.net1921 Iceland … Ms Anna Valdimarsdóttir … PO Box 1257 Ingolfsstraeti 22, 121 Reykjavik … Gangleri ts@gudspekifelagid.is1891 India … Mr S. Sundaram … The Theosophical Society, Varanasi 221 010 … The Indian Theosophist theosophy_vns@yahoo.com1912 Indonesia … Mr Herry Ispoernomo … Jalan Anggrek Nelimurni A-104, … Theosofi theosofi.indonesia@gmail.com

Jakarta 11410, Timur1919 Ireland * … Mrs Marie Harkness … 97 Mountsandel Road, Coleraine, … Insight marieharkness@yahoo.co.uk

Co. Londonderry, UK BT52 ITA

I N T E R N A T I O N A L D I R E C T O R Y

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1954 Israel … Mr Abraham Oron … PO Box 4014, Ramat-Gan, Israel 52140 … Or mail@theosophia.co.il1902 Italy … Mr Antonio Girardi … Viale Quintino Sella, 83/E, … Rivista Italiana di Teosofia sti@teosofica.org

36100 Vicenza1997 Ivory Coast * … Mr Pierre-Magloire Kouahoh … Yopougon, 23 Rue Princesse … Sophia pm_kouahoh@hotmail.com

B. P. 3924, Abidjan 231971 Japan … Mr Taichi Yamaguchi … 2-5-25 Tozukahigashi, Kawaguchi-shi tsjp@hte.highway.ne.jp

Saitama-ken 333-08021919 Mexico … Mrs Lissette Arroyo Jiménez … Ignacio Mariscal 126, Col. Tabacalera sociedadteosofica@prodigy.net.mx

Mexicana, Mexico, D.F. 060301897 Netherlands, The … Ms Els Rijneker … Tolsraat 154, 1074 VM Amsterdam … Theosofia info@theosofie.nl1896 New Zealand … Ms Sandy Ravelli … 18, Belvedere Street, Epsom, Auckland 1051 … TheoSophia hq@theosophy.org.nz1913 Norway * … Mrs Agnes Gaasemyr … Stadionvei 9, N - 5162 Laksevaag post@teosofisksamfunn.no1924 Peru † … Mr Julio Gerardo Pomar … Jr. Republica de Portugal 152, Breña, Lima 5 … Búsqueda teosoficaperu@hotmail.com1933 Philippines, The … Mr Rosel Doval-Santos … Corner P. Florentino and Iba Streets, … The Philippine Theosophist philtheos@gmail.com

Quezon City, Manila1921 Portugal … Mr Carlos Guerra … Rua Passos Manoel no. 20 cave … Osiris geral@sociedadeteosoficadeportugal.pt

1150 - 260 Lisboa1925 Puerto Rico † … Mrs Magaly Polanco … P.O. Box 36-1766 … Heraldo Teosófico polancomagaly@yahoo.com

609 Calle Miramar PR Hoare,San Juan, PR 00936, USA

1910 Scotland * … Mr Gary Kidgell … 28 Great King Street, Edinburgh, EH3 6QH … Circles garykidgell@hotmail.com1889 Singapore … Mr Chong Sanne … 540 Sims Avenue, No 03-04 … Newsletter sanne@singaporelodge.org

Sims Avenue Centre, Singapore 3876031992 Slovenia * … Mrs Breda Zagar … Kunaverjeva 1 SLO-1000 Ljubljana … Teozofska Misel zagarbreda@gmail.com1921 Spain … Mrs Clarisa Elósegui … Arenys de Mar, n.14, 1ro - 1ra … Sophia clarisaelo@gmail.com

E - 08225 Terrassa - Barcelona1926 Sri Lanka † … Mr S. M. Jayatilleke … 20/13, Race Course Road, Badulla (BD) 90000 … The Sri Lanka Theosophist smjbadulla@gmail.com1895 Sweden … Mr Pertti Spets … Henriksdalsringen 23, SE - 131 32 Nacka … Tidlös Visdom teosofiska.samfundet.adyar@telia.com1910 Switzerland † … Mrs Eliane Gaillard … 17 Chemin de la Côte, CH -1282 Dardagny, … The Lotus egaillard@bluewin.ch

Genève1997 Togo * … Mr Kouma Dakey … S.O., A.R.T.T., BP 76, Adeta2007 Ukraine … Mrs Svitlana Gavrylenko … Office 3, 7-A Zhylianska St., Kiev 01033 … Svitoch kiev@theosophy.in.ua1886 USA … Mr Tim Boyd … PO Box 270, Wheaton, IL 60187-0270 … The Quest admin@theosophical.org1925 Uruguay * … Mrs Dolores Gago … Javier Barrios Amorín 1085,

Casilla de Correos 1553, Montevideo st.uruguay@gmail.com1922 Wales * … Ms Julie Cunningham … Tan y fron, Red Wharf Bay, Pentraeth … Insight j.ecunningham@yahoo.co.uk

Angelsey, Gwynedd LL75 8HJ UK

Date refers to the date of formation * Regional Association † Presidential Agency Lodge attached to Adyar

The Council of the European Federation of National Societies: Chairman: Miss Trân-Thi-Kim-Diêu, 67 Rue des Pommiers, F-45000 Orleans, France. Email: trankimdieu@msn.comInter-American Theosophical Federation: President: Mrs Terezinha Kind, SHIS QI 28 Conjunto 1, casa 29 - Lago Sul, Brasilia DFF - 71.670-210, Brazil. Email: t.kind@terra.com.brIndo-Pacific Theosophical Federation: President: Mr John Vorstermans, 60B Riro Street, Point Chevalier, Auckland 1022, New Zealand. Email: john@theosophy.org.nzPan-African Theosophical Federation: Chairman: Mr Kiran H. Shah, 55A Third Parklands Avenue, PO Box 40149, Nairobi 00100, Kenya. Email: kirankh33@gmail.com

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