Masters of Wisdom: The Mahatmas, Their Letters, and the Path - Softcover

Abdill, Edward

Softcover

ISBN 10: 039917107X ISBN 13: 9780399171079

Verlag: Penguin Publishing Group, 2015

Inhaltsangabe

A rigorous historical and philosophical examination of the controversial spiritual Masters who guided Madame H.P. Blavatsky in opening the world to Eastern and esoteric spirituality in the late nineteenth century.
 
In the late nineteenth century, Russian noblewoman and occult philosopher Madame H.P. Blavatsky enthralled the world with revelations of an ancient “secret doctrine” behind the major faiths and a cosmic theology that united the insights of religion and science.
 
Blavatsky said she was operating under the guidance of hidden Masters of wisdom, or mahatmas, who led her to reveal forgotten wisdom to modern people.
 
The mythos of Blavatsky’s Masters left a deep mark on Western culture and spawned more than a century of debate:  Were the Masters real? What did they teach? Are they reachable today?
 
Now, independent scholar of religion Edward Abdill provides an authoritative, historically reliable, and delightfully readable study of the background and ideas of the Masters – in particular highlighting their message and its enduring relevance.

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Edward Abdill, author of The Secret Gateway: Modern Theosophy and the Ancient Wisdom Tradition, joined the Theosophical Society in 1959. He was twice president of the New York branch and has served on the national board of the Theosophical Society in America. Abdill lives in New York City. His website is www.EdwardAbdill.com

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Who can say when it all began? The details are sketchy at best. If we are to believe Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, or H.P.B. as she was known to her friends, it began for her when, as a child, she had psychic visions of a tall Indian man she believed to be her protector. About 1845, when H.P.B. was thirteen, she was nearly killed when a horse she was riding “became frightened and bolted—with her foot caught in the stirrup. She felt someone’s arms around her body supporting her until the horse was stopped” (CW 1:xxxiii). She thought her protector had saved her. That is hardly convincing evidence for most, and certainly not convincing for anyone who believes there is no such thing as psychic ability. Yet, as Shakespeare wrote: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy” (Hamlet, Act I, Sc. 5, lines 167–168).

Over time, we all develop a worldview, and we most certainly do not all see the world in the same way. Rare are individuals whose minds are open to possibilities beyond what they believe to be true at any given time. Some set their views so firmly in proverbial stone that facts will never confuse them. In the mid-twentieth century, a college psychology major by the name of John Kunz reported that he assisted in a psychological experiment concerning what has been called “ESP” (extrasensory perception). Thousands of questionnaires concerning ESP were sent to psychologists all across the United States. One of the questions asked was, “Do you believe there is such a thing as ESP?” As was to be expected, many answered yes and many more answered no. There was one response, however, that stunned John Kunz and the professor in charge of the experiment. The respondent wrote, “No. I don’t believe there is any such thing as ESP. There is no evidence to support the claim, and if there were, I wouldn’t believe it.” Unfortunately, that response is more common than we might wish. An inquiring mind is neither gullible nor incredulous. Evidence and eyewitness accounts of phenomena and encounters with Masters presented in this book will undoubtedly challenge the worldview of many. A consideration of Blavatsky’s claims will begin that challenge.

Blavatsky claimed that, as a young adult, she met in the flesh the man of her childhood psychic visions and learned that he went by the name of “Morya.” Later she also met Morya’s close colleague, Koot Hoomi, and several other extraordinary men known as “Mahatmas,” “Adepts,” “Masters” (in the sense of teachers), or simply “the Brothers.” She reported that they had extraordinary powers, but that those powers were latent in everyone and, over many lifetimes, would be developed by all. In 1888, in an article in her magazine, Lucifer, Blavatsky explained that the names “Morya” and “Koot Hoomi” are pseudonyms because none of the Masters ever give out their real names to the public.1

If we had only the word of Blavatsky, we would have only hearsay evidence for the existence of these amazing men. Not only would hearsay evidence be unacceptable in a court of law, but it would not be sufficient evidence for any reasonable person, even an open-minded one. Fortunately, we do have some hard evidence that these men existed. We have letters written by them.

From their letters and from reports from Blavatsky and others, it is clear that the Masters wanted an organization formed that would spread their knowledge around the world. The central purpose of that organization was to form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity. In one of his letters, Koot Hoomi, who usually signed his name with the initials “K.H.,” wrote, “The Chiefs want a ‘Brotherhood of Humanity,’ a real Universal Fraternity started; an institution which would make itself known throughout the world and arrest the attention of the highest minds” (ML, letter 12, p. 39). That “Fraternity” became the Theosophical Society, whose principal founders were H. P. Blavatsky, Henry Steel Olcott, and William Quan Judge. The organization was officially launched in New York on November 17, 1875, with Olcott as its first president, Blavatsky as its corresponding secretary, and Judge as its legal counsel.

In his inaugural address, Olcott announced that the “declared objects” of the Society were “To collect and diffuse a knowledge of the laws which govern the universe.” Over the years these objectives were modified, but the goal of those original objectives was never fundamentally changed. The founders were convinced that if the laws governing the universe were understood, it would become clear that the universe, including humanity, arises out of a fundamental unity of substance and consciousness. Hence, universal brotherhood would be revealed as a fact in nature rather than simply as an ideal to be realized. Today, the first object of the Society emphasizes brotherhood, and the second and third objects suggest ways of realizing that brotherhood. The objectives of the Society today are:

   • To form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or color.
   • To encourage the comparative study of religion, philosophy, and science.
   • To investigate unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in humanity.

In a letter to Alfred Percy Sinnett, K.H. gives an abridged version of the view of his own superior, the Maha Chohan, on the Theosophical Society. In it there is a curious statement about the objectives of the Society. The Chohan points out that “the main objects of the T.S. are misinterpreted by those who are most willing to serve us” (LMW1:6). The objectives as stated seem easy enough to understand, so what might the Chohan have meant? The misunderstanding may have been due to what is meant by “a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity.”

One of the objectives of 1889 read: “To keep alive in man his spiritual intuitions.” Intuition, in the Theosophical sense, means insight, and insight comes from buddhi, an aspect of the inner self of every human being. When we are functioning in the state of consciousness called “buddhi,” we perceive unity. We perceive the whole, which is greater than the sum of its parts. That state of consciousness transcends the personal: it is a state of consciousness in which we perceive humanity as a whole. It is a state wherein the individual senses a unity with all and yet does not lose individuality. By effort, meditation, and an altruistic way of life, we can become one with that inner self from which all insights derive. In deep meditation, we can get a sense of humanity as a whole. When we do, we become aware of the influence streaming from our own inner connections to the One Self, rooted in buddhi. Those who get that sense and identify with it are forming a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity. Individuals even unknown to one another are forming a bond at the deepest level of their being. That bond of unity is a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity.

Those who sense that the consciousness in them is identical with the consciousness in all others are forming that nucleus. Those who sense the divine life in themselves, and sense that same divine life in others, are forming that nucleus. Those who identify with the inner self are forming that nucleus. Those who sense that the Self is one are forming that nucleus. When we sense those inner realities, buddhi itself is being...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Penguin Publishing Group
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2015
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 039917107X
• ISBN 13: 9780399171079
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 288
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar