DAWN
Official Organ of the T.S. Loyalty League
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Vol. 3 No. 16 May 1, 1924 Price Ninepence
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Editorial Notes
Lest there should he any misunderstanding regarding the relationship of the T.S. Loyalty League and Dawn with the Theosophical Society presided over by Mrs. Besant, we desire to state without equivocation that the expulsion of the Sydney Lodge from that body and the subsequent birth - or reincarnation - of The Independent Theosophical Society, has not altered in any way the constitution of the T.S. Loyalty League. The greater majority of its members are still members of Mrs. Besant's society, and the support for its maintenance is derived from within the T.S. The editorial policy is still to watch developments inside the T.S., and to see that a faithful report of them reaches the Theosophical world. The need for an absolutely impartial Theosophical newspaper was never greater, because the pseudo leaders of the T.S. are congratulating themselves that, following the rigorous expulsion of members who were troublesome because truth-seeking, and a determined censorship of all the T.S. magazines, they are able to assure their following that all is again in a state of peace, love, and harmony. We could wish that this was true. As it is, there are ominous signs in various Sections that all is not well. Mr. Jinarajadasa is being rushed from Section to Section in a frantic effort to ensure support for Mrs. Besant, while this lady digs an ever-widening grave for her reputation in the waterless desert of Indian politics. Mr. Jinarajadasa represents the "mobile artillery" of the T.S. and is moved to the ever-changing point of attack. Mrs. Besant is well served (and "Bishop" Leadbeater also) in having so highly-trained and so elastically minded a "second-in-command." We pay "Raja" - as he is affectionately known to his intimates - the compliment of recognizing the value of his work to his leaders. We only regret that his high ability and considerable talent is not being used for more worthy ends. He earns every penny of his not ungenerous allowance in his effort to hold back an ever growing tidal wave of discontent.
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A representative of Dawn sat throughout the dreary hours of the Melbourne Convention and remarked afterwards on the "frumpishness" of the whole affair. Consisting chiefly of women, many of whom wore that look of utter lack of intelligence which is the outcome of complete surrender to the domination of the Esoteric Section, there was amongst the delegates no outstanding figure of any importance. The speeches were poor and lacking in effect; the business arrangements were deplorable; the social side but little better. Elsewhere we give a brief account of the Convention. Here we may say that our representative carried away the marked feeling that the Australian Section has undertaken a much heavier burden than it can carry. The Blavatsky Lodge building and the Balmoral
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Stadium have depleted the funds, and the loss over Morven Garden School may be considerable.
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White Lotus Day - May 8th, 1924
In Memoriam - H.P. Blavatsky, 1831 - 1891
In life but few esteemed thee-now, the years
Conspire to build for thee a shrine; thy name
Is being carven in the Hall of Fame
By slow but mighty fingers. Bread and tears
Were for a time thy bitter portion. Fears
That Time thy harvest might untimely reap
Made trouble in thy soul. Now canst thou keep
Thy trust awhile with Death. The dawn-light clears
Into the glory of the wider day
When men, amazed, shall hear thy trumpet voice
Which being dead yet speaks; which bids rejoice
In knowledge of the Secret God Within.
Thou to thy rest - thy work all laid away,
We to the task thou wouldst have us begin.
- Jocelyn Underhill
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We regret to say that there is further evidence that Mr. Jinarajadasa is using the E.S. for the purpose of defending "Bishop" Leadbeater. In an impassioned speech at an E.S. meeting, he defended his mentor and depicted him as wise and pure beyond question or reproach. Dawn will endeavor to print in full Mr. Jinarajadasa's remarks, but in view of the privilege which a private meeting covers, it specifically challenges the Vice-President to repeat publicly to the T.S. the statements recently made. Then Dawn will undertake to reply in detail and show every statement to be untrue or open to debate. Impassioned defense in the E.S., with the certain knowledge that the information will be steadily inoculated into the non-E.S. members, with complete silence outside, is the present policy. As usual, it falls to Dawn to provide the antidote - publicity.
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The new General Secretary of the Australian Section is Mrs. Josephine Ransom. This lady is well known in Australia, where she lived prior to her departure for Ceylon, to teach for a period in Mrs. Higgins' school. As Miss Josephine Davies, she is well remembered, and also for her lecturing tour some years ago. She spent some years at Adyar with her husband, Mr. Sydney Ransom, and was an interested spectator in the Madras Courts during the trials of 1913. Consequently she has a first-hand knowledge of much that went on in that period. We welcome Mrs. Ransom because we feel that in addition to knowing much of the inner history of the T.S., she really has some knowledge of Occultism, and when once Occultism triumphs over place and position, she may be a valuable witness to the real cause of Theosophy.
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Dawn cannot allow the departure of Dr. Bean to the obscurity of private membership to pass without a valedictory paragraph. When all the present dust of conflict has settled down, it will be seen that Dr. Bean has acted throughout a difficult period in full accord with his limited view and his conscientious desire to do the right thing. He is an idealist in the best sense, and doubtless will play a part in establishing the high aims of the Seventh Root Race. For the position he held he was unsuited by Temperament, training, and ability. His knowledge of Theosophy was quite elementary, his first-hand acquaintance with Occultism a minus quantity. With no business training, and with a sensitive nature that continually shrank from pain, Dr. Bean found himself swept into a maelstrom of conflicting ideas and ideals, and - was carried away on the wrong current. His work in connection with the expulsion of the Sydney Lodge will forever remain a monument of his incapacity to deal with a difficult situation with honor and dignity, while his unreasoning loyalty to unworthy leaders and ideals bears witness to an inherent lack of acumen. All this, notwithstanding, many of our readers will retain their personal friendship with the Doctor, and wish him well. Our sincere hope is that a position will be found for him inside the scope of his abilities, and allowing him sufficient leisure to study Theosophy. To Mrs. Bean, Dawn extends the best of all wishes - that we may learn to mutually tolerate all work being done for the One Great Cause.
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In another column will be found an account of the official opening of The Blavatsky Association, recently formed in London. Perhaps to those who, with singleness of heart, are sacrificing so much for the maintenance of the "original impulses" of the
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Theosophical Movement, and who are determined to maintain them until the next great Torch Bearer can appear, no event of recent years is more important than the formation of this Association. That is in itself encouraging; but it becomes distinctly impressive, when one glances at the names which figure in the list of officials. No less than four of these, i.e., Mrs. A.L. Cleather, and Messrs. Wm. Kingsland, C.H. Collings, and F.L. Gardner, can be recognized as contemporaries of H.P.B., who knew her and worked with her; probably there are others also. Some of these have, like the 1923 martyrs to Neo-Theosophic blindness and tyranny, been long ago forced out of the ranks by the same influences which sectarianize the Movement today. The Association is fortunate in having The Hon. Mrs. A.J. Davey on its active list, and many a spontaneous, if silent, welcome will flow out towards such old landmarks as William Kingsland, whose address at the inauguration is summarized in the account of the official opening. Readers of Dawn will follow with great interest the progress of The Blavatsky Association, so opportunely launched.
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Dawn would like to thank many contributors who have sent in matter during the last few months which is well worthy of publication, but has not been printed. Unfortunately, owing to the limited space available, it is not possible to do more than make a selection of articles here and there. All the same, the editorial staff of Dawn hopes this will not serve to discourage contributors, but rather to induce them to trim down their matter or summarize it.
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Brief reference was made in our last issue to The Mahatma Letters, issued in book form, with an Introduction by Mr. A.T. Barker. All over the world this remarkable book is occupying the attention of Theosophical students. Dawn is indebted to some of those who have already written down their first impressions, and sent them for publication. What space is available in this issue is given - gladly given - to the discussion of this epoch-making book, and what cannot be published with this issue will easily keep for future ones, for it seems agreed that The Mahatma Letters, in their unedited purity, and as they were originally written to Mr. Sinnett and others, constitute a new message to the world just at the moment of its greatest need. The hands of the T.S. reformers everywhere have been strengthened by this espousal of their cause by those who sent H.P.B. into the world to rekindle the fire of true spirituality, and to warn an idolatrous generation away from its futile outer gods, and back to the appreciation of the glorious temple which the Supreme has molded for Himself in every human form. The Mahatma Letters force the attention back even from the veneration of Mahatmas to the only shrine worthy of approach, the shrine where dwells the Divine Spirit centered in every heart.
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On Some Theosophical Literature
By John M. Prentice
From where I sit writing I can just see the bookshelf whereon rest the volumes that represent something of the labor of Annie Besant's years in Theosophy. An imposing row, nearly forty volumes, comprising for the most part convention lectures and reprints of the countless articles that she has contributed to the equally countless journals that have, for the most part, flourished a little while, until cut down by sudden frost. Forty volumes representing years of labor, of severe study, of fixed purpose - and all to such little end! It is hard to write of Annie Besant with any suggestion of bitterness; memory comes flooding on memory of the years wherein she seemed so great, so noble, so inspired a teacher. Yet a close analysis, a review of the years, reveals a condition of affairs so extraordinary, so confusing, that one pauses to scan again and again the conclusions that emerge.
In the Theosophical Society the idea of the spiritual greatness of Annie Besant has been carefully cultivated until to even question it mentally produces a painful sense of something approaching spiritual wickedness. The average Theosophist has grown up in a tradition that has become part of the content of his mind, which cannot easily be made the subject of a question or an attack. Yet I am profoundly convinced that much of this tradition is legendary. During her actual lifetime, Mrs. Besant has become a myth. The real woman, splendid worker though she has been, with moments of high inspiration, with tireless energy, and an unequalled flow of golden oratory, is hidden behind clouds of adoration, of psychic magic, which:
"Like clouds that float before the sun,
Make her the greater seem - not greater grow."
The result of all this is to make the revelation of
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the true basis of Mrs. Besant's character something of a great shock. Later the time will come when a Lytton Strachey will deal with her life as has been done with that of Florence Nightingale in "Four Eminent Victorians." Meanwhile it is seasonable to regard some of the outstanding characteristics. I would emphasize that I write without bitterness and with a full regard to what I owe Mrs. Besant for all those ideas and ideals garnered in the years when I, too, accepted her as the greatest living exponent of Theosophy, and the Voice of the Master in the world.
A study of Mrs. Besant reveals three outstanding factors that have profoundly affected her life and career:
(a) An intense ego-centric factor that has been the driving- force in all the strange spiritual itinerary of her life, a factor which causes her to transmute any disagreement with her ideas or her teachings into a personal attack; a factor which has caused her to assume a hypocritical humility (as in signing E.S. and other letters "Your humble servant"), which was really an expression of her fierce personal pride.
(b) A peculiar faculty of absorbing ideas, coloring, and expression, from the personality which dominates the situation in which she finds herself, so that, while she has contributed nothing of value to the world's thinking, she has used her wonderful powers of expression, her amazing oratory, to expound other men's thoughts, thus creating for them a vehicle that their originators could never have commanded.
(c) The fact that the vast majority of people to whom Mrs. Besant's appeals have been made, has been poorly equipped to criticize or discriminate. Mrs. Besant's appeals have always been addressed to the "middle class" in education so that she has the ignorant and the highly educated equally indifferent to her impassioned appeals. In a word, and without the slightest offence, l would term Mrs. Besant's a "middle class" intellect. By reason of the factor (a), she has frequently endeavored to lift herself to the plane of true scholarship, and to appeal to the truly scholarly - but without enduring success.
Time and space forbid much elaboration of these three factors. However, one notes that the first factor has frequently lost for her the support of many of her best friends. It was first noted and commented on in her free-thought days by the late G.B. Foote. Any disagreement with her views was immediately construed into a personal attack of the bitterest nature. This characteristic is still predominant. We still have the clamorous "I speak as Occultist" screaming through that terrible recent article: "Whom will you serve." For many months the attack was made on Mrs. Besant's policy and leadership. But Mrs. Besant saw only the personal attack, and was immediately stung to measures of self-defense that were utterly uncalled for. Instance after instance floods the channel of memory, but those two insistent demons mentioned above speak in the voice of my chiming clock.
In regard to the second factor, much also might be written. To the student familiar with Mrs. Besant's life and books, every volume bears ample evidence of the inspiring force. Her first and best books were the fruit of her contact with H.P.B. and The Secret Doctrine. The Manuals, the early lectures, have all the mark of her studies in the Blavatsky literature. One or two volumes show the influence of William Q. Judge, but the first really formative influence was G.N. Chakravarti. This Indian gentleman was a power in the T.S. in those early days (1892-1899). Practically all Mrs. Besant's admirable studies in Hinduism bear evidence of his influence, and that of his immediate successor Upendranath Basu, whose own scholarly writings were published under the pen-name of "The Dreamer." During this period Mrs. Besant was truly concerned with the things of the spirit, and her interpretations of the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads were tinged by Mr. Chakravarti's influence. But later came a warring influence in the person of C.W. Leadbeater, whose psychism was most profoundly distrusted by Messrs. Chakravarti and Company. As Mr. Leadbeater's influence waxed, the spiritual outlook became ever more strongly tinged with psychism, and Mrs. Besant's lectures steadily deteriorated. There was an interlude when Esoteric Christianity was written - after a series of lectures inspired by the Gnostic studies of G.R.S. Mead, and a very close study of mystical Christian literature. ( I am constantly amazed by Theosophists who are kept so fully occupied in studying the ceaseless output of the Vasanta Press machines, that they have no time to read anything else, who assume that Mrs. Besant's books are all original, whereas many indicate to the student that others have said as much and some things better!) Then came a new (and temporary) influence in the person of Bhagavan Das, whose ideas are so eloquently expounded in A Study in Consciousness. This book has the mocking sub-title: "A contribution to the study of psychology," but its psychology is generally admitted to be faulty where not hopelessly wrong. Although this book has had an immense vogue as an E.S. study-book, it is probably the worst that Mrs. Besant has written. In it also is expounded Mrs. Besant 's self-admittedly greatest contribution to Theosophy - the permanent atoms. This teaching, logically considered, has the effect of producing new and formidable difficulties to an
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understanding of the physical process of reincarnation, involving great questions of embryology, etc. How the permanent physical atom is assimilated by one or other parents, and transferred to the fetus, has never been explained (although a brief and unsatisfactory hint was given in a footnote to The Pranara Vada by Bhagavan Das).
The later lectures have shown still greater deterioration by reason of hasty preparation in brief hours stolen from the all-absorbing topic of Indian politics. Notably in Man: How, Whence, and Whither; and in the articles on the return of the World Teacher. Mrs. Besant has reached a mental level that causes her earlier works to stand out with a freshness and a beauty now wholly lost. "Man" in particular is utterly hopeless, lacking in everything that makes a worthy book, yet in a recent letter Mrs. Besant does not hesitate to place it on the same plane as The Secret Doctrine! Of course it is only fair to say that most of it is the handiwork of Mr. Leadbeater.
I do not think that anything Mrs. Besant has written will live. In years to come she may be found, as are, for instance, Swedenborg and Andrew Jackson Davis, in a symposium. But that any serious student at the end of the twentieth century will consider it necessary to wade through volume after volume seems to me unthinkable. However, prophecy is dangerous at best. Of all that Mrs. Besant has written, the ones that seem to me most valuable are The Ancient Wisdom, which, curiously enough, reads better in the German translation (Die Ultrate Weisheit) than in English. The Introduction to Yoga, which has a fine and discriminating study of some of the Indian schools of philosophy; and The Wisdom of The Upanishads, which plumbs some of the shallower depths of those ancient wells of knowledge and speculation. But to the true Theosophist and the real student there is nothing to compare with the splendid source of all true Theosophy: The Secret Doctrine.
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Masters as Idols
"The invariable tendency of the human mind to make idols is almost unconquerable - especially with women! - and many once fervent Christians have simply replaced "God" and "Christ" with the Masters. A God they must have. They cannot conceive of a universe without one, and of the kind
they can make for themselves - bien intendu! Study Letter 22 of The Mahatma Letters; it is one of the most splendid things I have ever read. We have never had anything quite like it - even in the Secret Doctrine, which is also Their work, of course." (From the letter of a correspondent - Eds., Dawn)
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"THE MAHATMA LETTERS TO A.P. SINNETT FROM THE MAHATMAS M. AND K.H"
Transcribed, Compiled, and with an Introduction by A.T. Barker, 492 pages.
This remarkable book, a review of which appears in the March issue, will be of intense interest to all students of Theosophy, as it is the ONLY publication which includes ALL the letters the Masters M. and K.H. wrote to the late Mr. Sinnett. These are published in unabridged form.
The publication of this book is one of the most important events connected with the T.S. since its establishment in 1875.
Early application for copies is recommended. Place your order NOW. Obtainable from -
THE BOOK DEPOT, INDEPENDENT THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, 69 HUNTER STREET, SYDNEY PRICE 25/-, Posted 25/8.
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The Mahatma Letters
- Some Explanatory Notes by Basil Crump
In studying these remarkable and invaluable Letters, the reader must bear in mind that they were written to two men typical of the intellectual West, who were not in the least interested in the ethical and religious aspects of the great philosophy given out through H.P. Blavatsky, but desired, above all else, to study what they understood by the term "occult phenomena," and to obtain all the information they could from the Masters and use it for the benefit of the West. That the Masters had, as their main object, the promotion of Universal Brotherhood, and especially the moral and spiritual welfare of India (as Mrs. Cleather has shown in her book on H.P.B.'s Life and Work) is clearly set forth by the Masters themselves in these very Letters. Another most important point they make is that they are writing to these two Europeans virtually as "man to man." The Master K.H. makes this perfectly clear in Letter LXV, p. 364: "We are not infallible, all-foreseeing 'Mahatmas' at every hour of the day." And again at p. 324: "But I am far from being perfect, hence infallible in all I do; though it is not quite as you imagine having now discovered. For you know - or think you know, of one K.H. - and can know but of one, whereas there are two distinct personages answering to that name in him, you know. The riddle is only apparent and easy to solve were you only to know what a real Mahatma is. You have seen by the Kiddle incident - perchance allowed to develop to its bitter end for a purpose - that even an `adept,' when acting in his body, is not beyond mistakes due to human carelessness."
H.P.B. deals with the same question at great length in a letter to Dr. Franz Hartmann, who was a real mystic and understood. The following are a few passages from her letter:
"Well, in New York already, Olcott and Judge went mad over the thing; but they kept it secret enough then. When we went to India their very names were never pronounced in London or on the way. . . When we arrived, anti Master coming to Bombay bodily (This was Master M. in propria persona as a living man - an unusually tall Rajput. - B.C.) paid a visit to us at Girgaum . . Olcott became crazy. He was like Balaam's she-ass when she saw the angel! Then came Damodar, Servai, and several other fanatics, who began calling them 'Mahatmas' (Hindus apply this term to anyone they admire or respect, e.g., "Mahatma Gandhi." - B.C.) and, little by little, the Adepts were transformed into Gods on earth. They began to be appealed to, and made puja to, and were becoming with every day more legendary and miraculous. . . . Well, between this idea and Olcott's rhapsodies, what could I do? I saw with terror and anger the false track they were all pursuing. The 'Masters,' as all thought, must be omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent. If a Hindu or Parsi sighed for a son, or a Government office, or was in trouble, and the Mahatmas never gave a sign of life - the good and faithful Parsi, the devoted Hindu, was unjustly treated. The Masters knew all; why did they not help the devotee? If a mistake or a flapdoodle was committed in the Society - 'How could the Masters allow you or Olcott to do so?' we were asked in amazement. The idea that the Masters were mortal men, limited even in their great powers, never crossed anyone's mind, though they wrote this themselves repeatedly. It was `modesty and secretiveness' - people thought. 'How is it possible,' the fools argued, 'that the Mahatmas should not know all that was in every Theosophist's mind, and hear every word pronounced by each member?' That to do so, and find out what the people thought, and hear what they said, the Masters had to use special psychological means, to take great trouble for it at the cost of labor and time - was something out of the range of the perceptions of their devotees." (From The Path, of 1896.)
Mrs. Cleather, answering a pupil who was shocked at these Letters being published, and thought some of them of doubtful authenticity, wrote as follows: "On the whole, I am quite glad the book has come out. The Masters are men in one aspect: they have men's bodies, and most definite and distinct personalities. These bodies are the perfected instruments of the Adept or Mahatma, whose consciousness is on another and higher plane, and which does not, and cannot, function in a finite brain-mind. For even their brain-minds - perfected as they are - can not transcend the limits imposed by the point which has been reached by the race in its development. When in a higher state of consciousness (i.e., not the daily waking state), they have the Mahatmic condition - are in it - and bring back to their brain-minds the knowledge necessary at the moment, and for the particular work in hand. Read and study that magnificent Letter XXII on these points: - It is one of the finest things I have ever read, and is absolutely invaluable. The power of reading people's thoughts, of communicating with others instantaneously and at any distance - in fact, clairaudience, clairvoyance, etc. - developed to their fullest capacity, are not any part of the Mahatmic consciousness as such. They have all these minor 'powers' of course; but so have Dugpas; and even Chelas in training (not Probationary ones) soon develop the power to read thoughts. The Masters, in short, are perfected MEN - not 'gods' in any sense, except union with the Atma-Buddhi or Divine principle within (i.e., the Mahatmic condition or consciousness). Their omniscience, omnipresence, etc., are powers confined
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to that Mahatmic consciousness which is really one with the Universal Consciousness, and cannot be shared by their own finite brain-minds, dependent as they are - at least partially - on the senses, and limited to the conditions imposed by Space and Time - purely brain-mind conceptions, remember....
"You will have to read this book daily, and over and over again, before you will apprehend what it may come to mean to us, e.g., the hints, suggestions, implications contained in Letter XXII are almost blinding in their tremendous majesty and significance. Remember also what H.P.B. said about the E.S. Pledge, that it was taken by the students, 'not to me, H.P.B., but to their Higher Self and the Mahatmic aspect of the Masters' (Life and Work, p. 6-1). This Mahatmic aspect being Atma-Buddhi, is, of course, the same thing as our own Higher Self, but the living Adept is not in that consciousness all the time, as Master K.H. explains again and again. Many little touches show how human they are in their personalities; e.g., K.H. speaks of writing with 'frozen fingers,' and of his Chela Djual Khool hurting himself by bumping into something in a fit of abstraction; while M., who is far higher (K.H. was not yet a "full Adept" in 1882, see p. 129), often speaks of such mundane details as the nature of his dinner (p. 254). As K.H. says in Letter XXIV (1): `An adept - the highest as the lowest - is one only during the exercise of his occult powers. (2) Whenever these powers are needed, the sovereign will unlocks the door to the inner man - the adept - who can merge and act freely, but on condition that his jailor - the outer man - will be either completely or partially paralyzed - as the case may require; viz., either (a) mentally and physically; (b) mentally, but not physically; (c) physically but not entirely mentally; (d) neither - but with an akasic film interposed between the outer and the inner man; (3) . . . When the inner man rests the adept becomes an ordinary man, limited to his physical senses and the functions of his physical brain. Habit sharpens the intuitions of the latter, yet is unable to make them supersensuous. The inner adept is ever ready, ever on the alert, and that suffices for our purposes. At moments of rest, then, his faculties are at rest also. When I sit at my meals, or when I am dressing, reading or otherwise occupied, I am not thinking even of those near me; and Djual Khool can easily break his nose to blood, by running in the dark against a beam, as he did the outer night (just because instead of throwing a `film' he had foolishly paralyzed all his outer senses while talking to, and with a distant friend) - and I remained placidly ignorant of the fact. I was not thinking of him - hence my ignorance. From the aforesaid you may well infer, that an adept is an ordinary mortal, at all moments of his daily life but those - when the inner man is active.' Surely nothing could be clearer than this explanation by the Master himself!" - A.L.C.
With regard to the tone used in some of the later letters in speaking of H.P.B., Mrs. Cleather says: "The Masters are here merely answering the estimate which They see in the minds of Hume and Sinnett, both of whom are much too conceited to realize that they are being tested; and the whole series of letters give a hint in themselves of the gradual deterioration of Sinnett. In the Life and Work of H.P.B., I pointed out (p. 72) that she was an occult `mirror' reflecting all who came to her; and in a deeper and more subtle way the Masters are the same. This applies only to the reflection of H.P.B., as seen in the minds of these two men, for a mirror cannot reflect what is not there. Also, if, as Dr. Keightley said (Life and Work, p. 76), H.P.B. had `a purpose in all her acts and words, and that it depended on the observers how much they might profit by the lesson,' the same must be at least equally true of the Masters who taught her." - A.L.C.
Mrs. Cleather's explanation, that the Masters are reflecting the attitude of Hume and Sinnett towards H.P.B., is the only one that fits the facts. In her own close association with H.P.B. as a personal pupil for several years - and those the most trying of her life, when she was racked with physical, mental, and psychic torture - Mrs. Cleather never found her otherwise than as she depicts her in her books. Nor have I ever heard Dr. Keightley, Dr. Coryn, and others of her immediate circle, who saw her daily under all conditions in her closing years, speak of her in any other terms. Mr. Barker, in his Introduction, speaks very strongly on this point. He says she is completely justified in these letters, and that few have been more unjustly reviled. The real H.P.B. is depicted in Letter LIV, where the Master hints at the mystery and nobility of H.P.B.'s "true inner Self," and even when he uses terms about her outer self, reflecting Sinnett's mind, he is careful to emphasize her absolute devotion, selflessness, honesty, and truthfulness. All those closely associated with her realized to some extent the enormous difficulties she had to contend with; but there are passages in these letters which show that the magnitude of her achievement was far greater than was then imagined. For the Master speaks of her as one of the "higher and initiated chelas," who had "to work in the world, that all of us more or less avoid." How trying that world is to Them, he shows in another letter, in which he says he cannot stand the "stifling magnetism of my own countrymen," and soon has to return to Tibet after a brief visit to the Punjab. If that were so for one so high, what must it have been for H.P.B., not only
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hampered with the disabilities of a female organism and temperament, to which the Master refers frequently; but having to contend with the constant warring of good and evil in the natures of those around her, not to mention the active antagonism of the world at large. All these elements are clearly exhibited in full action throughout these letters, and those like Mrs. Cleather, who saw the struggle at close quarters for many years, recognize them as a truthful record of the sort of thing that went on all the time. But the most important information of all is contained in Letter XXVI., "K.H.'s confidential memo about Old Lady, Simla, 1881." The Master there explains that her "strange ways," which make in Sinnett's opinion "a very undesirable transmitter," are due to "a great Mystery," and "connected with her occult training in Tibet," and "being sent out alone into the world to gradually prepare the way for others. After nearly a century of fruitless search, our chiefs had to avail themselves of the only opportunity to send out a European body upon European soil, to serve as a connecting link between that country and our own. . . . Now, no man or woman, unless he be in initiate of the `fifth circle,' can leave the precincts of BodLas (Tibet) and return back into the world in his integral whole - if I may use the expression. One, at least, of his seven satellites (principles) has to remain behind for two reasons: the first to form the necessary connecting link, the wire of transmission; the second as the safest warrantor that certain things will never be divulged. . . . The bearing and status of the remaining six depend upon the inherent qualities, the psycho-physiological peculiarities of the person, especially upon the idiosyncrasies transmitted by what modern science calls `atavism.'" Therefore the Master describes her as "a psychological cripple," for she had to go forth to her tremendous task minus one of her seven principles! He adds that Master M. had offered to arrange that Sinnett should once have an interview with the complete sevenfold H.P.B., but apparently he failed to take advantage of it; yet, in spite of this explanation, he could bring himself to write of her as he did in his posthumous book, which I am glad I dealt with so severely in Mrs. Cleather's H.P. Blavatsky as I Knew Her. I am only sorry these Letters were not published in time to make use of, as they throw so much light on many points; but this glimpse into the Mystery we know as H.P.B., is absolutely new, and beside explaining much, can only increase our wonder and admiration.
The Mars and Mercury teaching is only one of the instances of how H.P.B.'s fundamental teachings were swamped under the mass of rubbish promulgated by the Besant-Leadbeater-Sinnett combination. That the present ecclesiastical tendencies were clearly foreseen by the Masters is shown in several letters where the menace of Rome is referred to, and it is even stated that the real ruler of India is the "Viceroy's confessor" (1882), and that "Protestant England will soon find itself suffocating in the coils of the Romish --," which can now be said to be true of the T.S., not to mention present developments in England and America. Leadbeater was the instrument chosen for this nefarious work, and soon after the recall of H.P.B. he had secured his position with Mrs. Besant, through whom he has succeeded in delivering the T.S., bound hand and foot, to Rome, under the guise of the Liberal Catholic Church. As these Letters point out again and again, all such developments are the work of the Dugpas, including the present influencing of some of the best minds of the day to espouse the cause of Spiritualism, in order to divert attention from the true Eastern teachings, and plunge humanity once again into the abyss of superstition and priestcraft.
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Free Literature
Why Mrs. Besant would like to suppress the Sydney Lodge.
Printed matter bearing directly on the present crisis in the T.S. will be forwarded to any reader on request. In each case a small donation should be sent to cover cost of postage. The following among other documents is available:
- The Martyn letter to Mrs. Besant.
- Farrar's Confession.
- Statement by Mr. Rupert Gauntlett (late of the L.C.C.).
- To "All Fellow Theosophists" (a statement by Mr. B.P. Wadia).
- "To Members of the Council, Australian Section, T.S." (a letter by Mr. T.H. Martyn).
- The Validity of Orders in the Liberal Catholic Church.
Address: Editor, Dawn, Box 1489, G.P.O., Sydney, Australia
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A Letter from H.P.B.
Note. - The following letter was written by H.P. Blavatsky in The Path, December, 1886. In view of the publication of The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett, and much that is therein contained, H.P.B.'s attitude will be understood - though if the reader only has the Leadbeater tradition to help him to understand it, he will get badly fogged. Dawn is indebted to The Beacon (February, 1924) for the letter, and comments thereon, and from which journal it reprints. - Eds.
I was the first in the United States to bring the existence of our Masters into publicity, and exposed the holy names of two Members of a Brotherhood hitherto unknown to Europe and America (save to a few Mystics and Initiates of every age), yet sacred and revered throughout the East, and especially India. Let no one think, withal, that I come out as a champion or a defender of those who most assuredly need no defense.
"Our Masters . . . are simply holy mortals, nevertheless, however, higher than any in this world, morally, intellectually, and spiritually. However holy and advanced in the science of the Mysteries, they are still men, members of a Brotherhood who are the first in it to show themselves subservient to its twice*-honored laws and rules." [[* sic - "time-honored" Letter possibly edited by The Beacon, considering later Bailey publications - dig ed]]
"The Society was founded at their wish, and under their orders."
"I know that I have, all my faults notwithstanding, Master's protection over me, and if I have it, the reason for it is simply this: for 35 years and more, ever since in 1851 I saw my Master bodily and personally for the first time, I have never once denied or even doubted Him, not even in thought . . . I was told that as soon as one steps on the Path leading to the Ashrama of the blessed Masters - the last and only custodians of primitive Wisdom and Truth - his Karma, instead of having to be distributed throughout his long life, falls upon him in a block - crushes him with its whole weight . . . I felt sure that Master would not permit that I should perish: that he would always appear at the eleventh hour - and so He did. Three times I was saved from death by Him, the last time almost against my will, when I went again into the cold, wicked world, out of love for Him, who has taught me what I know and made me what I am. Therefore, I do His work and bidding. Unswerving devotion to Him who embodies the duty traced for me and belief in the Wisdom - collectively, of that grand, mysterious, yet actual brotherhood of holy men - is my only merit."
"And now repeating after the Paraguru - my Master's MASTER - the words He had sent as a message to those who wanted to make of the Society a `miracle club' instead of a Brotherhood of Peace, Love and mutual assistance: `Perish, rather the T.S. and its hapless founders.'"
"Theosophists refusing to lead the life and then criticizing and throwing slurs on the grandest and noblest of men, because tied by Their wise laws - hoary with age and based on an experience of human nature millenniums old - those Masters refuse to interfere with Karma and to play second fiddle to every Theosophist who calls upon them, and whether he deserves it or not. All my love and aspirations belong to my beloved brothers, the Sons of old Aryavarta - the Motherland of my Master."
Again: -
"Our Society was founded at the direct suggestion of Indian and Tibetan Adepts, and in coming to this country (India) we but obeyed Their wishes." (Theosophist, Vol. III p. 243.)
On April 3rd, 1886. H.P.B. wrote to Dr. Hartmann: "I was sent to America on purpose, and sent to the Eddys. There I found Olcott in love with spirits, as he became in love with the Masters later on. I was ordered to let him know that spiritual phenomena without the philosophy of occultism were dangerous and misleading. I proved to him all that mediums could do through spirits, others could do at will without any spirits at all, that bells, and thought reading, raps and physical phenomena, could be achieved by any one who had a faculty of acting in his physical body through the organs of his astral body; and I had that faculty ever since I was four years old, as all my family know. I could make furniture move and objects fly apparently, and my astral arms that supported them remained invisible; all this before I knew even of Masters. Well, I told him the whole truth. I said to him that I had known Adepts, the 'Brothers,' not only in India and beyond Ladakh, but in Egypt and Syria - for there are `brothers' there to this day. The name of the `Mahatmas' were not even known at the time, since they are called so only in India. That, whether They were called Rosicrucians, Kabalists, or Yogis, Adepts were everywhere. Adepts, silent, secret, retiring and who would never divulge themselves entirely to any one unless one did as I did - passed seven and ten years' probation, and gave proofs of absolute devotion, and that he, or she, would keep silent even before a prospect and a threat of death. I fulfilled the requirements, and am what I am; and this no Hodson, no Coulomb, no Sellin, can take from me. All I was allowed to say was - the truth.
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There is beyond the Himalayas a nucleus of Adepts of various nationalities; and the Teschu Lama knows Them, and They act together, and some of Them are with Him and yet remain unknown in Their true character even to the average lamas who are ignorant fools mostly. My Master and K.H. and several others I know personally are there, coming and going, and They are all in communication with Adepts in Egypt and Syria, and even Europe. I said and proved that They could perform marvelous phenomena: but I also said that it was rarely They would condescend to do so to satisfy enquirers. ...When we arrived (in India) Master, coming to Bombay bodily, paid a visit to us at Girgaum, and several persons saw Him, Winbridge for one."
Mme. Blavatsky then describes the foolish ideas that arose about Them. "The idea that the Masters were mortal men, limited even in Their great powers, never crossed any one's mind, though They wrote this Themselves repeatedly. It was `modesty and secretiveness,' people thought. How is it possible, the fools argued, `that the Mahatmas should not know all that was in every Theosophist's mind; and hear every word pronounced by each member'.''
"That to do so, and find out what the people thought, and hear what they said, the Masters had to use special psychological means. To take great trouble for it at the cost of labor and time, was something out of the range of the perceptions of Their devotees."
The Countess Wachtmeister, repeating what H.P.B. had told her of the T.S. Movement, said that, "H.P.B. met her Master in 1851 in London, when He told her He had selected her for the work of a Society. She told her father, and got his consent to do what she was asked. She then went away and was taught, and after many years returned to the world, instructed to find a man named 'Olcott.' Coming to America, she asked everyone of such a man, and at last found him at the Eddy Farm."
In a letter dated December 6th, 1887, she speaks of "the Society created by the Masters, our Mahatmas." In this letter she also says: "Master sent me to the United States to see what could be done to stop necromancy and the unconscious black magic exercised by the Spiritualists. I was made to meet you (Olcott) and to change your ideas, which I have. The Society was formed, then gradually made to merge into and evolve hints of the teachings from the Secret Doctrine of the oldest school of Occult Philosophy in the whole world - a school to reform which, finally, the Lord Gautama was made to appear. These teachings could not be given abruptly. They had to be instilled gradually."
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Schools of Occultism
By Jocelyn Underhill.
Perhaps you can give me some advice regarding the various schools and methods of Occultism; I am desperately anxious to fit myself for service, but in this regard I feel so hopelessly ignorant...."
I turn from the letter which has just reached me and pause for a moment to see just what is best to write in reply. There is so much in the world today that passes for Occultism that at times one despairs in ever getting the average student to realize that Occultism is not easily taught or learnt, that many of the so-called schools are of little value, that the old, razor-edged path is as difficult and as narrow now as when the Upanishads were written, when men were really ready to make the supreme sacrifice, the renunciation of self. There are many who are "desperately anxious" for the service of Humanity who have no realization of what a complete self-surrender is required of those who strive to tread the ancient, narrow way. Yoga, the goal of all occultism, is not the easy and pleasant spiritual exercise that it has been represented in these latter years, when the very technical terms of the Kingly Science are all to be found in the mouths of little people, are flaunted before all the world. There are some of us who have made some small progress who have learnt to shrink from the very mention of sacred things, so foolishly popular have they been made, and with so little real understanding. Perhaps if I say that Yoga and Occultism is for the few, not because of any selfishness on the part of those who know, but, because few are able as yet to make the stupendous sacrifices demanded. I may strike the just key note. It is unfortunate that some so-called teachers, anxious to surround themselves with devoted pupils, have made the Sacred Science appear easy, have made the Great Attainment seem within easy reach. It is not so.
As I look back over the outer history of Occultism it appears to me as a winding path strewn with
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the dry bones of those who failed - for one life at least. For every one who comes within measurable distance of success there are a thousand who fail. Take for instance those who had the priceless opportunity in this present life of coming into touch with H.P. Blavatsky, the greatest Occultist of our day and generation, and see how few were they who made the best use of their opportunity and achieved! (I ignore, of course, the stupendous claims made on behalf of one or two who for a period were in contact with her, and whose lives and actions so utterly belie the claims made for and by them.) Of all those, and there were many, who tried with "desperate anxiety" to enter the Path, probably not more than one or two made a success. The personality-ties, the petty things that have amused for a time, the strayings from the strict path she pointed out - all these bear witness to the fact that her close associates really failed to take advantage of her presence and her teaching. Yet the efforts made are not in vain; the failures here are indeed a triumph's evidence in the fullness of the days. But if it so be that they are used to make the path seem easy and the effort light, then do they do us much harm, and lengthen the way.
In the outer world there have been hints, and an occasional echo, of the inner schools. In olden times it was easier to talk openly of schools and methods; the memories of the Mysteries were not wholly gone, and materialistic science had not darkened the portals to the Narrow Way. So that Pythagoras and others openly maintained schools wherein the last true hints of an inner wisdom were taught, but only to those who made strict preparation by silence and clean living, and by assimilating the learning of the time, who showed by a lifetime of effort that they were ready to pay the price. Nowadays, with Occultism a fashionable pastime, with Yoga a subject for discussion over afternoon tea-tables, it is not easy to find those who can conceive that the true Yoga means a life-time of effort, of agony. and bloody sweat, of failure and the final conquest of despair. It means the very renunciation of everything that belongs to the lower self, it means an altruism that expresses itself in deeds and not in high-sounding phrases, it means a Self-abnegation that few can conceive with comfort and fewer achieve. Yoga is not easy - rather is it the most difficult task in the whole world.
There have been the fullest possible expositions that may be given openly to the world made available for all who can read. Consider that priceless volume, Light on the Path, deliberately written down for those ignorant of the Eastern Wisdom, and who desire to know of it. There are four sentences written at the very outset that should warn of all intruders to the Sacred Science, yet every possible occasion has been found or made to whittle them away, to explain that they mean something different to what they say. They express the very first qualifications that the budding disciple must possess - and no one who says otherwise can claim to be a true teacher. "Eyes that are incapable of tears"; "feet that have been washed in the blood of the heart." It is not an easy prospect, a matter of attainment in day and months:
Let no man think that sudden, in a minute,
All is accomplished and the work is done
Though with thine earliest dawn thou shouldst begin it.
Scarce were it ended at the setting sun.
H.P.B. defined Occultism as the study of the Divine Mind in Nature. The Divine Mind is the outpouring of the third aspect of the Manifested Logos, and the very first thing to be learnt from such study is the essential unity of all things, all beings. So that Union with God, which is the ultimate end of all Yoga, implies no selfish union at all, but a recognition of Union with God by the realization of the Unity of the Self. And just, as when the half-gods go, the true Gods arrive, so it is the Supreme Unity grows out of the lesser sense of Union. Unless we can sink our lives in the lives of others, find our lives by the giving of them up, completely surrender our personal wills to the Divine Will, Yoga is not for us - in this life, at any rate. We can live splendid lives of self-sacrifice and service to Humanity; we may learn much of the science of the outer world. Not for nothing has it been called the Kingly Service - Raja-Yoga. And it is also the Kingly Secret. Much may be hinted at to the outer world, but the truest secret is that which is Self-known and Self-communicated.
Hence it is that Occultism is not so much a thing to be learnt as a life to be lived. As the Christ said that those who did His Will would know the truth of His doctrine, so is it with the young Occultist. As he lays every action on the altar of the Supreme, to be burnt up in the fire of the Divine Life, he learns something of the joy as well as the pain of the inner life. So to my correspondent I have said that he would do well to read again the little book of Wisdom called Light on the Path, and apply its teachings to his personal life. Do not mistake me: regard every precept as having a direct and personal application, not to the outer students, as a measure of their progress; but to oneself. And so also with The Voice of the Silence, for these two books are complementary, and explain and amplify each other; indeed, it is something more than a tradition with some of us that the same inspiration gave both to the world. Learn, then, that they are not merely to be read with the intellect, but pon-
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dered over in the heart and lived in the life. In so doing, everyone who is "desperately anxious" to help will learn the means and find the method best suited to their own development. In a real sense there is nothing esoteric in the world, save that we have not made ourselves ready to master it. The higher mathematics are esoteric to all save those who have studied them. They become the commonplace of the student's life - so with Occultism. There is not much that an outside teacher can give; we must find the way by seeking within.
Yet let no one be discouraged by what I have written here. If there is even the will and the desire to make the effort, the effort is worth while. Nothing is lost; what we fail to achieve in this life we shall attain to in another, and be all the better, wiser and humbler for our failure. I do not speak "comfortable words" merely to take out the sting of what has been written above. We are the better for our failures as well as our successes. Both are part of the occult life. And there is so much work to be done that we may easily miss some of it by dreaming of the occult life. For both Yoga and Occultism are very practical. There is no mere dreaming. The work of the world has to be done, and very often our willingness and our ability to work in the outer world is the criterion of our success in the Inner Life. I cannot conceive of an Initiate who is incapable in his dealings with the world around him; His charity in judgment may mislead us. His wide knowledge of men and things may make Him act differently to ourselves. His inner vision may show Him things concealed froth us - but His handling of each and every situation that may arise will be the best possible under the circumstances. Apply this, for instance, to H.P.B., and see how splendidly she will emerge. How she, with all the frailty of a weary and worn-out sickly body, dominates the lives of those who saw her spiritual greatness? Has there been such another in your lifetime and in mine? I think not. Yet her Path is not necessarily ours. For we are not of her stature. But we can learn of her, and by accepting the wisdom that she revealed, make progress, in even this materialistic and unspiritual age. The Christ told His disciples to be of good cheer, for He had overcome the world. Even so may we, if we will, do likewise. All paths lead to the Supreme, all schools of Yoga are feeders to the supreme school of Raja-Yoga, all methods serve us for a time until a better method is revealed, and the darkness of the outer world is illuminated by the inner light.
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The Coming of "The Lord"
Miss Clara Codd, after a lecturing tour in Australia, and some privileged interviews with "Bishop" Leadbeater, told the New Zealand folks at their last Convention that "it was her personal conviction that the Lord will be with us in about two years' time." Miss Codd will, we feel sure, agree that she, herself, has no means of acquiring any "personal conviction" on such a matter, and is merely repeating what the "Bishop" was telling the E.S. people in Sydney at their secret gatherings all last year.
The very near "coming" was prematurely hastened by the "Bishop," as a set-off to the disturbance in the T.S.; that was his contribution. This rash promise to produce "the Lord" by 1925 had to he accepted by Mrs. Besant, who proved equal to the occasion, and adroitly announced that the event had been indefinitely postponed owing to the Kenya decision. (See last issue Dawn.)
Dawn is able to again inform its readers that the "management" responsible for introducing this farcical adventist movement to the T.S. - that is "Bishop" Leadbeater, with Mrs. Besant a loudspeaker - are in a quandary. The hero of the piece is shy about assuming the part allotted to him; that is one difficulty. A year or two ago this difficulty became so menacing that it was announced (by judicious hints to the Esoteric Section) that another of the "Leadbeater boys" might, after all, be chosen by "the Lord" as his fleshly vehicle. Fears were felt, however, that this particular "boy" lacked the intelligence and dash requisite to success, and the previous selection was again brought into the limelight. The "Kenya Decision'' has afforded the necessary respite, and when Dr. Rocke returns to Sydney, and to ''Bishop" Leadbeater, from the Ojai Valley, it may be possible to reconstruct a policy which can be given out as coming direct from the lips of the World Teacher himself, on the Buddhic plane.
Meanwhile, Adventism is not confined to the Leadbeater dupes, but seems to flourish almost as vigorously as at any time during the last 1900 years. At Adelaide not long ago a prominent Salvationist declared that "he was firmly convinced that the Christ would come within the space of two or three years." What Mr. Booth-Tucker's authority was he did not say; perhaps he picked up the idea from
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Miss Clara Codd. As mentioned in March Dawn, Miss Pankhurst, in Canada, is expecting the Second Advent quite immediately. Canada, indeed, appears to have contracted the epidemic most seriously; the editor of one of the leading newspapers there recently sat up all night, so it is declared, waiting for the heavens to open, he having worked out the precise time and date. In a contemporary we read:
"Another Toronto gentleman who is expectant is Colonel McKendrick, who recently stated in public that `the British throne is the throne of God.' Mr. C.C. Harris, known as the Hermit of the Humber, has lately left for Palestine, where he expects the Messiah to appear. There appears to be a feeling in some quarters that there is not as much Second Advent sentiment in Canada as elsewhere. This is quite a mistake. The percentage is quite as high as anywhere. But Canadians are naturally modest and do not desire any exclusive privileges. If the event should come off in Toronto, all seats will be free."
If this is a hit at the Balmoral Stadium on the Sydney Harbor, it may be stated that since Christmas, when "the Lord" failed to drive up in his automobile, as was expected, that building has borne a very forlorn and half-baked appearance. Perhaps there is no need to hasten completion. If any buyer of a L100 seat wished to make use of it just now, he would find his little niche both cheerless, draughty, and lonely.
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A Falsehood and a "Correction"
By J. E. Greig.
Mrs. Besant, President of the Theosophical Society, and editor of The Theosophist, used the pages of that magazine to circulate the falsehood - a very deliberate one - that Mr. T.H. Martyn (President Sydney Lodge T.S.), used most insulting language about the Masters in a lecture. Her exact words, in The Theosophist, May, 1923, were:
"When I was in Australia last year, a Sydney paper, eager for sensation, made a violent attack on Bishop Leadbeater and myself, then on H.P.B., and on the Masters Themselves, most insulting language being used about Them in a lecture by Mr. Martyn in the Sydney Lodge. They finally drove the Sydney Government into a police investigation."
Later, one of her secret service agents in Sydney mailed to the President a copy of a Sydney newspaper, which contained a notice of the lecture in the form of three headlines and the briefest of summaries. The hour's talk was indeed compressed into the following
"THOSE MAHATMAS
"Mr. Martyn Explains
"Essentially Human
"If these Mahatmas have been the subject of levity, this does not prove that they do not exist. The Mahatmas have boon described as spirits of light or 'goblins damned'; have even been compared to a sort of male mermaid - (laughter) - but there is no doubt they are living men. They are born to live and to die."
- Mr. T.H. Martyn at the King's Hall
Quoting this in The Theosophist for August, 1923, Mrs. Besant took a header, as it were, adding: -
"The ribald laughter which greeted this 'insulting language' shows the character of the audience. Decent people can judge if my word `insulting' was too strong, and they will understand why it is impossible for me to enter into controversy with such assailants. I have never quoted this before. I feel that it soils the page on which it is written."
That in the same issue of The Theosophist, my letter appeared, denying the previous falsehood, and stating that Mr. Martyn had merely introduced his subject by quoting what H.P. Blavatsky says in The Key to Theosophy, did not trouble Mrs. Besant - here was a chance to injure her arch-enemy - in the minds of her E.S. following at any rate - and it was too good to be missed. Then Mrs. Besant had forgotten probably that such a book as The Key to Theosophy was ever written - she had allowed it to go out of print years ago. The words H.P.B. wrote in The Key to Theosophy, and which Mr. Martyn quoted to his audience with their context, appear at the head of Chapter xiv., First Edition, thus:
"THE 'THEOSOPHICAL MAHATMAS;
"Are they 'Spirits of Light' or Goblins Damn'd?"
Now: after many days, it seems to have been brought home to the unwilling consciousness of Mrs. Besant by some of her E.S. followers who were present at this particular lecture, that she has placed herself in a false position with them, and she writes in The Theosophist (February, 1924):
"I received a rather belated note, On my mention, in August last in the `Watch-Tower', of a very offensive statement touching the Masters, attributed to Mr. Martyn, of Sydney, Australia, in a report in a newspaper, of a lecture of his. It seems that the statement was not his, but a quotation made by him. Mr. correspondent writes:
"`I assure you that Mr. Martyn did not utter one disrespectful word about the Blessed Masters, much less "insulting language," apart from quoting H.P.B.'s Key to Theosophy, where the words "goblins
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damned" and "mermaids" are used. He quoted both the Key to Theosophy and Isis Very Much Unveiled, distinctly mentioning them both.'
"I gladly make the correction: I did not suspect the paper - which was thanked by the late Sydney Lodge of the T.S., for backing up its leaders in their attacks on Bishop Leadbeater and myself - of misrepresenting the speaker whose hands it was engaged in strengthening. Nor did I see in the journal any correction of the misstatement."
Dawn readers will find it difficult to believe that Mrs. Besant is any more truthful in now pretending to be "glad," than she was in telling the falsehood in the first instance, and exulting over it in her second reference to "ribald laughter," and "soiling the pages" of The Theosophist, etc.
The incident has its value chiefly in showing on what flimsy evidence Mrs. Besant is prepared to make definite statements of fact. If, as seems probable, she has been equally indifferent to truth on other occasions, the whole foundation on which Neo-Theosophy rests, can be regarded as hopelessly cracked from this bad habit of its illustrious publicist.
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The Adyar "Manifestations" of 1907
The recently-reported death of Miss Renda marks the passing of a T.S. notability of considerable historical interest. Miss Renda was, in conjunction with Mrs. Russak, responsible for the statements made regarding the appearance of two Masters at the deathbed of Col. Olcott, at Adyar, in January, 1907.
This lady was never a prominent member of the T.S., and outside of Adyar seems to have been little known to members. She is said to have had mediumistic tendencies. Perhaps one of the most suggestive statements made regarding these alleged appearances is that which asserts that the Colonel, Mrs. Russak, and Miss Renda, formed a "circle" at his bedside, and held seances, in which Miss Renda took the place of the medium. This report claims that it was in this way that the "communications" were "received." It is stated also that the asserted "communications" were written down by one of the circle, and afterwards typed by Miss Renda with certain alterations made by a prominent official in the text. It is asserted that the original message "received" directed that Mrs. Besant was to be President of the T.S., but as a condition, was to resign the headship of the E.S., Mrs. Russak being named as her successor to this position. Provision was to be made for the latter to occupy a specified residence at Benares.
It was - so the story runs - a statement of Mrs. Russak (who is herself "sensitive"), to the effect that she saw the forms of the Masters themselves, and heard their voices, that added the spice of awesomeness to an otherwise rather ordinary seance, such as occurs in thousands of homes every night of the year.
Dawn has been placed in possession of sworn testimony to the effect that the statement of the proceedings typed by Miss Renda contained the conditions that Mrs. Besant was to resign the headship of the E.S. and Mrs. Russak to take her place, so that the reports which gained currency at the time to this effect seem to have some foundation. It is very significant that Mr. Leadbeater, then in Sicily, was not able to accept as genuine the messages, or to endorse the "appearances." His own words at the time were:
"I do not like the look of some of the points connected with the Colonel's manifestation, and I rather suspect Madame Blavatsky of having engineered it - it is so exactly in her style, her physical body is just about the age which would make the effort easy for her, and in her last incarnation she was always saving situations!"
As indicated above, some very noteworthy evidence regarding those 1907 "phenomena'' has reached Dawn, which will be published when space permits.
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The Blavatsky Association
A Notable Revival
This association has been formed for the purpose of perpetuating the memory and work of H.P. Blavatsky, and is concerned only with her original teachings as contained in unaltered editions of her published works. A working centre has been formed in London, and the principal objects, besides the usual lectures, discussions, and study classes, are - To form a Lending Library; to publish suitable editions of H.P. Blavatsky's works, and others relating thereto; to help students all over the world by correspondence; and, finally, "To elucidate and endeavor to realize individually and collectively the great IDEALS which H.P. Blavatsky set forth in her life and teachings, especially the hope expressed by
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her that: `When the time comes for the effort of the Twentieth Century (due according to her in the last quarter of the century), besides a large and accessible literature ready to men's hands, the next impulse will find a numerous and united body of people ready to welcome the new torchbearer of Truth.'"
The inaugural meeting was held at the headquarters, 22 Craven Hill, London, W.2, on November 13th, 1923. The Hon. Mrs. A.J. Davey, in opening the proceedings, said that since the suggestion first arose, as a result of Mrs. Cleather's recent publications, that a movement of this nature should be started, Mr. William Kingsland had collaborated with Mrs. Cleather in drafting the Constitution, and they were, in fact, its founders. Mr. Kingsland then took the chair, and having spoken of the enthusiasm aroused among old pupils of whom many were present, continued:
"I am very glad to see Mr. Collings and Mr. Gardner here, with others, who, like myself, knew her personally, and look back with love and gratitude to a karma that enabled us to meet her and learn from her. Of the great literature she left us, perhaps none of us as yet know what will be thought of her greatest work, The Secret Doctrine, in 30 or 50 years; but it is sure to be more and more appreciated. Three unique things characterize that work, and I know no other that contains the representations or the subject-matter contained in it. First, there is the Science of The Secret Doctrine, which, in the year 1888, when the world was on the brink of Materialism, was a tremendous challenge to the scientific thought of the day, a challenge which was taken up; but H.P.B. showed that she had a much deeper knowledge of physical science and of biology than any of the scientists of that day, and in physical science especially her theories have been remarkably confirmed. I have never forgotten her determined attitude as to the disintegration of physical matter. Science held that matter was indestructible, and that you could not break up a physical atom; but she held that a physical atom was only a very low grade of a Universal Substance. Her theory of the atomic nature of electricity has since been confirmed very fully, for the electrons of modern science are nothing but her atoms of electricity. Moreover, she taught that there were other planes of substance and of matter beyond the physical and the etheric. The second great thing she put forward in The Secret Doctrine was to show that whatever we have had in Religion and Philosophy has been derived from the early esoteric teaching of the Gupta-Vidya; that it was in a remotely ancient time that this knowledge was given to the world by the Great Teachers whose traditions have been handed down to us in various forms; and she shows how these can be collated and unified. Thirdly, she raised one corner of the veil which hides the tremendous possibilities of our individual development by expounding the existence of living representatives of this Ancient Wisdom; and the great incontrovertible facts which she put before us cannot be explained in any other way than by her connection with such beings. She once said to me: 'If you believe in Evolution, you are bound to believe in those who have progressed as far beyond us as we have beyond an aborigine.' Every time I turn to The Secret Doctrine I find further information and fresh inspiration. Then there is the Voice of the Silence, which is still more of an inspiration. Since H.P.B. died, the teachings of the Theosophical Society have quite gone off the lines she laid down, as Mrs. Cleather has shown in her Great Betrayal, in which she has brought the whole thing to a focus. Moreover, it has split into a great many sections, and the cause has always been personalities and setting up one person against another as an authority. Seeing in advance how to avoid these disruptions, we wish to form an association which shall, if possible, be held together on the one basis of her Teachings and Ideals; thus carrying on the work she initiated until the last quarter of the present century, as she hoped the T.S. might do. Under the great Law of Cycles, the living representatives of the Esoteric Philosophy can only give out so much as the world is able to assimilate at the end of each century. Our ideal is before us as the inspiration of this Association; and we must try to realize it and to appreciate the priceless value of the knowledge which H.P.B. has left us in her works."
The Constitution was then put to the meeting and approved. During a discussion as to whether members of the Theosophical Society should be excluded, Mr. Kingsland said there was the risk of being swamped by T.S. members. He was obliged to leave himself in 1909 because he found it hopeless to try and reform it from inside, and he felt sure it would be ten times more difficult today. A lady who, until recently, held an important office in connection with the T.S., said: ''It is only one who - like myself - was in the T.S. for so many years, that can know what dreadful things go on in it. It is rotten all through." The rule excluding members of "existing Theosophical organizations" was passed.
In order to avoid personalities as much as possible, it was decided not to have a President, and even a proposal to make Mrs. Cleather and Mr. Kingsland Official Founders was rejected on the same ground. The following were elected members of the Council: - Mrs. Alice Leighton Cleather, Mr. William Kingsland, Mrs. Wallace Kidston, -Miss Elsie Higginbotham, and Miss Mary Garrett. The Hon. Mrs. A.J. Davey was elected Hon. Secretary, Mr. C.H. Collings, Hon.
Treasurer, Mr. F.L. Gardner, Hon. Auditor, and Mrs. Cleather, Corresponding Secretary for the East.
The Association has decided to discontinue the use of the term "Theosophy," because, since the death of H.P. Blavatsky - and even in the original Society - it has become associated with very much that is not merely foreign to the teachings and ideals which she put forward, but actually the direct opposite, both in teaching and practice.
The work which the Association proposes to do is stated as follows:
(1) To have a working centre in London with suitable premises.
(2) To hold meetings for lectures and discussions, and classes for the study of the teachings of H.P. Blavatsky.
(3) To gather information from literary and scientific sources bearing upon the teachings of H.P. Blavatsky.
(4) To form a Lending Library of suitable works in connection with the objects of the Association.
(5) To publish from time to time suitable editions of H.P. Blavatsky's works, or of works bearing upon her teachings, or in exposition thereof.
(6) To give help, by correspondence, to students of H.P. Blavatsky's works in all parts of the world.
(7) To elucidate and endeavor to realize individually and collectively the great IDEALS which H.P. Blavatsky set forth in her life and teachings, especially the hope expressed by her that: "When the time comes for the effort of the XXth century (due according to her in the last quarter of the century) besides a large and accessible literature ready to men's hands, the next impulse will find a numerous and united body of people ready to welcome the new torchbearer of Truth." *
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*See the Key to Theosophy, final paragraph.
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What One Hears
That Mr. Roy Mitchell advocates voluntaryism in T.S. work and among T.S. members, lecturers, and workers, and opens a campaign against the opposite system, which is growing up - or rather has grown up in the T.S., thus:
"For the first time now I am at a loss to find kindly words for one of the distortions which is creeping into our Theosophical Society, a distortion which will sooner than another reduce us to the level of a sect and destroy in us every vestige of that detachment which is the peculiar flower of true occultism, "
Perhaps it is not so generally known as it should be, that many of the Theosophical Society leaders are comfortably provided for with "allowances," "settlements," and so on. Mr. Mitchell is not the only honorary worker who sees danger ahead from this practice.
That after so much trouble has been taken to "simplify" Theosophy, the new lot of terms used in the Theosophical Church are not enlightening! Here is a recent advertisement: -
At the LIBERAL CATHOLIC CHURCH of St. Alban, Regent Street. - The Services on Sunday next, being Palm Sunday, will be:
10 a.m.: Blessing, Distribution, and Procession of the Palms.
10.30 a.m.: High Celebration with sermon by the Rt. Rev. F.W. Pigott, entitled "PALMS OF VICTORY."
7 p.m.: Address by the Rt. Roy. I.S. COOPER, entitled, "FUNDAMENTALS OF MODERNISM."
7.40 p.m.: Benediction.
MAUNDY THURSDAY:
10.30 a.m.: High Celebration with Blessing of Holy Oils.
7 p.m.: Choir Practice,
7.45 p.m.: Address by the Rt. Rev. IRVING S. COOPER, GOOD FRIDAY:
10.30 a.m.: Prime, Service of the Cross, and the Eucharist of the Presanctified.
HOLY SATURDAY:
10.30 a.m.: Prime, the Lighting of the New Fire, and the Eucharist of the Presanctified.
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That Krotona (Masters' Land) has now entirely passed out of existence by the sale of The Ternary for about L50,000 ($250,000). This sum, with Mrs. Besant's previous allocation of L10,000 ($50,000), leaves a comfortable nest-egg for Mrs., Besant's E.S. Rumor has it that Mrs. Besant has already given her sanction to the use of a portion of this money for the purchase of 180 acres of land in the Ojai Valley, California, for another attempt to form an E.S. community, under the management of Mr. A.P. Warrington.
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That the Toronto T.S. issued its 33rd annual report recently. This fine lodge is a year older than the big Sydney Lodge, which was born in 1891, and has evidently attracted to its ranks members who are proud to be associated with it. The gift of a farm of 100 acres has lately been gratefully accepted by the Trustees, as it naturally would be. The annual meeting held last February, warm-heartedly placed on record the deep gratitude of members to Mr. Albert E.S. Smythe (General Secretary Canadian Section), and to Mr. Roy Mitchell for the many able and inspiring lectures given in the past and previous years.
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That The Blavatsky Association recently formed in London aims at accumulating a lending library of suitable works, and to give help by correspondence, to students of H.P. Blavatsky's works in all parts of the world. Donations of books are invited, and any reader who possesses H.P.B. literature not in active demand, will be serving a good cause in posting it addressed to The Hon. Mrs. A.J. Davey, 22 Craven Hill, Bayswater, London, W. 2. as a present to the Lending Library.
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That The O.E. Library Critic (January 16. 1924) says: "Mr. C. Jinarajadasa says he would not soil his fingers by touching a copy of Dawn, while Mr. C.W. Leadbeater recommends his followers to throw it into the wastebasket unread. There could hardly be a higher recommendation for this fearless bi-monthly published by members of the Independent Theosophical Society at Sydney, Australia, which shows up these gentlemen and their Spookosophy completely. This office will receive and forward subscriptions at $1.25 a year, and will send sample copies (while they Last) for 4 cents in stamps.
Thanks, Critic! But Dawn is still published by The T.S. Loyalty League, not by The Independent T.S., which, if all accounts are true, intends to have its own magazine before very long.
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That a series of highly practical and useful Articles by Mr. Roy Mitchell has been appearing in The Canadian Theosophist for some months past. They are entitled Theosophy in Action, and should be widely read, As Dawn is unable to reprint for want of space, it would recommend readers to subscribe to The Canadian Theosophist. (Address, A.E. Smythe, 22 Glen Grove Avenue, Toronto, Subscription, about 6/-)
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That Mrs. Besant is now on her way to London, and will deliver a course of Sunday Evening Lectures at Queen's Hall during June. Subject, Civilization's Deadlocks and the Keys. The T.S. President will also, it is expected, preside at various Annual Conventions of the Society, and keep order in the absence in Australia of Mr. Jinarajadasa.
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That in 1888 H.P. Blavatsky wrote: "Night before last I was shown a bird's-eye view of the Theosophical Societies. I saw a few earnest reliable Theosophists in a death struggle with the world in general and with other - nominal and ambitious - Theosophists. The former are greater in number than you may think, and they prevailed - as you in America will prevail, if you only remain staunch to the Master's programme and true to yourselves. And last night I saw . . . The defending forces have to be judiciously - so scanty are they - distributed over the globe - wherever Theosophy is struggling with the powers of darkness."
Maybe this is the time of "death struggle."
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That a few of the members of the Vancouver Lodge, Canada, unable to convert their fellows to Leadbeaterism, left the Lodge and attached themselves directly to Adyar. They seem disappointed that even Mrs. Besant is unable to make them a present of the Lodge property and furniture, which is after appeal retained - in the terms of the Constitution - by the Vancouver Lodge.
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That The Star in the East, April, 1924, editorially announces that "Dr. Mary E. Rocke has deemed the moment
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opportune to make a flying visit to America for the purpose of presenting the building to our Head in person, and of obtaining from him his views upon the use that he desires shall be made of it, and the policy he wishes to be pursued with regard to it. Dr. Rocke felt that to discuss the future of the Amphitheatre with our Head would be far easier and more satisfactory than to conduct the lengthy correspondence that would otherwise be inevitable, and so on her return we shall have the inestimable benefit of his personal message and direction through her." Rumor adds also that the messenger hopes to be able to entice the "Head" to bid, at any rate, a brief farewell to the restful Ojai Valley, where he is stated to have acquired a residence and to solace the faithful of Australia with a glimpse of his person.
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That the member who is "psychic" seems common alike to all divisions and subdivisions of the Theosophic Movement. A recent writer is responsible for the statement that certain characteristics are common to the "psychics"; most of them have no hesitation in announcing themselves as "Initiates," though no doubt the meaning of that term differs with them. Many will describe the astral plane and all that goes on there with the utmost assurance. Others will record incidents in the "past lives" - either of themselves or of those who will give a patient hearing. And, generally speaking, all really have some streak of abnormality. This much being admitted, no sensible student of Blavatsky or of The Ancient Wisdom, proceeds the critic, will attach importance to any psychic's statements, they being as unreliable as the babbling of the infant when it begins to talk. The "psychic" of today, indeed, is an infant in another department. He is - suggests this writer - apt to be misled more by the bewildering cloud of his own thought-forms than by anything else, and this - for the most part - is what his just awakening new sense (or is it an old one?) actually sees; but he does not know that.
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That a visitor from Australia recently dropped in at T.S. Headquarters in Auckland, N.Z. They have a fine big Lodgeroom there, and one end was fitted up like a Roman Catholic Church - altar, altar cloth, candles, and the rest of it. "Beg pardon," quoth the surprised stranger, addressing the lady in charge, "I have made a mistake; they told me this was the address of the Theosophical Society." "So it is," replied the attendant, following the gaze of the visitor. "Oh! all that will be removed presently. Yesterday the Sacrament of the Holy Mass was celebrated."
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That H.P. Blavatsky was born in the south of Russia on July 30th, 1831, and died on May 8th, 1891, just thirty-three years ago. Should she again be the "torch-bearer of truth," promised towards the end of the present century, as is not improbable, if, as has been stated, she pioneered a T.S. movement at the end of the 18th century, then she may be within a few years of entering upon a new incarnation.
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English Lodges Alert
The English General Secretary, on the demand of seven English Lodges, seems to have been compelled to act, and called together a Special Convention of the English National Society T.S., to be held on Sunday, April 6th. No particulars of what transpired have reached us yet. We regret that space does not permit us quoting all the resolutions in full, but we summarize the essential points as follows:
SPECIAL CONVENTION - THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY IN ENGLAND.
(1) That this Special Convention of the Theosophical Society in England resolves that it re-affirms the democratic basis of the Constitution of the National Society and the right of its Members to have a voice in the management of its affairs.
That this Convention furthermore affirms the complete impartiality and neutrality of the Society in all matters concerning religion and politics, and that the Society has no connection, official or unofficial, with any religious or political Organization whatever.
(2) That this Special Convention of The Theosophical Society in England herein registers its profound regret that the state of the Theosophical Society at large is so unsatisfactory, and that disharmony within it is so rampant, rendering the Society incapable of performing the three-fold function declared in its Objects. This Special Convention attributes the paralysis of the Theosophical Society to the many grave errors of the Administration, its lack of courage in dealing with alleged delinquencies, and its reliance on autocratic and secret control, rather than on the cleansing democratic principles expressed in its Constitution and those of its component National Societies.
This Special Convention therefore resolves to appeal to the several National Societies in the above terms to throw off all secret control and to restore harmony by a reliance on the original democratic principles.
(3) That this Special Convention of the Theosophical Society in England requests the Administration to take immediately such steps as may be necessary to prevent in future any cause whatever being given to the public to associate the Society with any Sect, Cult, or Organization expounding, and propagating particular teachings and beliefs, such as "The Liberal Catholic Church" and "The Order of the Star In The East." Both of which are unfortunately at present associated and identified with the Theosophical Society to such an alarming extent that it will require continued effort for a considerable time on the part of the Administration and of all Lodges to counteract the injury which has already been done to the reputation of the Society. . . .
(4) That this Special Convention of The Theosophical Society in England requests the National Council to frame, and make immediately operative, a Rule under which it shall be prohibited that any Office should be held in the National Society, or its Lodges, by a Member who by pledges to any Organization is thereby rendered "not free" to carry out in an unbiased and impartial manner the duties of an official in the Theosophical Society, which is essentially a democratic one. In this connection this Special Convention declares that the pledge of unquestioning loyalty to Mrs. Besant "for any Object which she declares to be the work of the Masters" renders any pledged member of her Secret Organization known as the "E.S." unsuitable for the holding of any office whatever in the Society, especially in view of the fact that she has laid down that loyalty to herself must take precedence of duty as a Lodge Official.
(5) That this Special Convention of The Theosophical Society in England earnestly requests the President of The Theosophical Society to establish; or to authorize the establishment of, a Tribunal within the Society for the purpose of investigating and reporting upon several matters which are seriously affecting the good name of the Society, in order to make available for Members, both present and future, a trustworthy record of the actual facts in connection therewith while first-hand evidence be available, and thus to put an end to the many unpleasant rumors and statements which are causing so much uneasiness and loss of membership. This request to be regarded as not being in any sense an insinuation against any person or group of persons, but as providing the only possible means whereby unjust or malicious attacks can be satisfactorily refuted.
That such a Tribunal should he composed of Members of The Theosophical Society of undoubted impartiality, who shall not belong to the Secret Group known as the "E.S.," or to "The Order Of The Star In The East," or to "The
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Liberal Catholic Church," or to any body hampering freedom of thought or action in matters connected with The Theosophical Society; That it should consist of as many Sections as there are countries wherein to collect evidence; and That each Section should be empowered to interrogate personally, and to request sworn statements from, any Official or other Member of The Theosophical Society, as well as such other persons as might be willing to assist the Tribunal in its efforts to arrive at the true facts about any matter which it might be investigating.
That the personnel of the English Section of the Tribunal shall be subject to the approval and acceptance of The Special Convention Committee which has organized this Convention of The Theosophical Society in England.
That the whole of the evidence collected by each Section of the Tribunal shall be carefully preserved; That duly-attested copies thereof shall he sent to every General Secretary; and That, together with any summarizations of the Tribunal or our Section thereof, it shall be printed, and published at cost price, by the Theosophical Society as being a permanent record of first-hand evidence wherewith to meet and finally dispose of the numerous allegations, rumors, suspicious and accusations, which are seriously affecting the good name of the Society and exposing it to scorn in the eyes of the public, to such an extent that often Members are compelled to avoid using the label "Theosophical" at meetings if they would gain a sympathetic hearing for teachings that their audiences are anxious to consider. By having available such a collection of reliable evidence any repetition of slanderous or unjust accusations could be immediately met, if necessary by prosecution for libel.
That this Tribunal shall be empowered to investigate all matters whatsoever which are productive of harm to The Theosophical Society as a whole.
(6) That this Special Convention of The Theosophical Society in England ... regrets that the General Secretary and the Executive Committee have made grave errors of administration and failed repeatedly to observe the Rules.
(7) Resolves that the composition of the National Council be amended so that every Lodge be represented, and that the General Secretary be elected by a postal vote of the whole membership, and further that the decisions of Conventions are binding on the National Society.
(8) That this Special Convention of The Theosophical Society in England regrets to note an increasing tendency on the part of the Administration, in England and elsewhere, to use for controversial political ends and sectarian religious propaganda the Organization, Magazines, and influence of the Society, which, by the nature of its Constitution and its declared Objects, aims at inculcating in its Members a desire to protect those ideals of Political Freedom and Religious Liberty which must be attained before a Universal Brotherhood of Humanity can be realized, and therefore of necessity must sedulously avoid in any way identifying itself with political questions or religious sects.
That in particular it expresses its strong disapproval of the administration of this National Society having permitted the Register of its Members and the Society's officers and Staff being placed at the disposal of a Political Agent for the purpose of convening a public political meeting in London, and of having included in the published Programme of the last Annual Convention of this National Society a morning set apart for a "Devotional Meeting" taken by a priest of a particular religious sect.
That this Special Convention therefore requests the Administration of the National Society to take such steps as shall prevent the recurrence of such deplorable actions in the future.
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Australian Convention
The Australian Section, T.S., met in Melbourne on April 18th and 19th. Though an annual convention, it was not called together in 1923, as the T.S. officials had not matured their plans for getting rid of the Sydney Lodge and of members who opposed the introduction of the Theosophical Church. Mr. Jinarajadasa presided, and in an opening address, announced a heavy decline in the membership. He referred to what he termed the uncharitableness of disbanded members, and the troublous times through which the Society was passing, and naively admitted that ever since 1895 (when the Besant-Judge quarrel occurred), the collapse of the T.S. has been threatened. He alleged that the T.S. cannot be destroyed, and advised that a book to this effect was now in the printers' hands at Adyar.
Mr. Fritz Kunz conveyed from Bishop Leadbeater: "The very heartiest and warmest greetings, hoping the ideal of the convention would be harmony and peace." He also conveyed greetings from the American section, which he stated had weathered its storms, and had now found the sunshine.
Mr. Macro, President for the year, said that Australia had for the first time been the centre of a storm, and as was the case with the Judge storm, the Society had been divided into two parts. He referred to the Hobart Lodge as the most unsympathetic at present, but thought that this was owing to the personale of some of its members. "Although the Hobart Lodge was still attached to the section, it is not of us." As one of its prominent members was now in Melbourne, perhaps without his presence they may work more harmoniously. Hobart was now the only troublesome centre left in the Section. A new Lodge named "Dana" had now been founded in Hobart, which consisted of E.S. members. (Mr. Jinarajadasa later pointed out the inadvisability of referring to Lodges as consisting of E.S. or other special types of members.)
When the minutes had been read, a delegate stated that he considered that the constitution had been violated by the omission of the 1923 convention, and challenged the validity of this convention. Considerable discussion followed.
The General Secretary's report was read by Dr. Bean, and showed a decrease of members for the year of 713; 139 new members had joined. The total membership was now 1,806. After a long discussion the financial statement for the year was adopted.
Much time was devoted to a discussion on the affairs of Morven Garden School. Finally, it was decided to divide an anticipated winding-up deficit into quotas, according to the membership of the Lodges, and the Lodges through their delegates undertook to raise by concerts, etc., the required amounts.
It was decided not to increase the dues for the year, nor to appeal for propaganda funds, owing to the large amount to be raised on Morven Garden School.
A resolution was carried that the Australian Section Council be incorporated and registered as "The Australian Theosophical Trust Ltd.," mainly for the revelation of properties left by members to the Society, and on similar lines to that of the English Section.
Mrs. Josephine Ransom was elected General Secretary to the Section. Salary, L350 per annum.
The following were appointed to form the Section Executive: - Messrs. Mackay, Reid, Harding, Burt, Macro, James, and Dr. Bean; Mesdames Bean and Lang, together with four Lodge Presidents (Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, and Brisbane), Mr. Macro being President.
No attempt was made to move a vote of confidence in "Bishop" Leadbeater.
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Answers to Correspondents
S. (Stockholm): Change of address noted. -- Miss M.P. (Stockholm): Thanks for sub. -- L.K. (Cal.): Necessary alteration has been Made. -- Mrs. H. (Washington, D.C.): Thanks for renewal. -- Mrs. C. (Fremont, U.S.A.): Sub. received. Thanks. Back numbers posted. -- L.A.C. (Petosky, Mich.): Change of address registered. -- E.C.A. (Chicago, U.S.A.): Many thanks. -- B.O. (Brisbane): Thanks for your good wishes, also sub. and donation. -- C.G.J. (England): Money-order and letter appreciated. -- A.B.J. (Melbourne): Literature posted. Third volume not yet complete. -- Mrs. K. (Sydney): Thanks, you are fully prepaid. - H.S.K. (Pittsburgh, U.S.A.): Thanks. Sub. expires with No. 24. -- E.L.S. (Santa Fe, U.S.A.): Sub received; we appreciate your good wishes. -- E.P. (Zanesville, U.S.A.): Renewal Helpful. -- W.E.F. (Ballarat): Many thanks for subscription. Glad to know that Theosophy still holds a place in your city. -- R.S. (Wellington, N.Z.): Send us any material you have, and if it is of value, we can work it up for publication. -- Lover of Wisdom, Justice, and others: We thank you for your letters, but we are compelled to point out that ex-parte statements have no value whatever.The fact that you hold certain persons in high esteem, and believe them to be incapable of errors of judgment, etc., doesn't alter the hard fact that what we want is a straightout statement front them. -- L. A. Hudspeth (Winston-Salem, U.S.A.): Donation received with thanks. Your wishes will be complied with. "More subscribers" is the password to our inner-most heart. -- "Past-Master" (Adelaide): We are not prepared to discuss Co-Masonry from the point of view you suggest. Nevertheless, your suggestion has merit. -- A.C.L. (Boston, Mass.): The words were used by a Vice-President of the U.S.A. at the time of Lincoln's assassination. But please don't ask us to verify any more quotations; we are willing, but our time is precious. -- L.H.N. (Belfast, Ireland): Thanks for letter. Will act on suggestion. Please keep in touch. Hope to write you privately when time permits. -- L.C.C.: Sorry you thought our reply flippant, but no discourtesy was intended. Anyway, the initials do correspond, don't they? -- "Peanut" (Adelaide): Your writing is getting more and more appreciated when your big envelopes fall out of the mail-box. Keep it going. You are doing well. -- D.K.B. (Forest Gate, London): It is generally supposed that the lady comes to Australia seeking an official position. But the Convention will be over about the time we go to press. -- A.F. (Melbourne): Yes, we know that he is corresponding with every possible supporter, with a view to extended office-holding. It is the usage of some people to let a person do the dirty work and then consider discarding him. We may have something to say regarding this next issue. "The Mills of God," etc. -- F.R.D. (Hobart): The old idea that Cagliostro had anything to do with the case is now completely exploded. So far from such being the case, had the Prince-Cardinal taken his advice, the whole issue would have been different. Dumas appears to have drawn his information from very poisonous sources. -- T.B.G. (Sydney): Read Natures Finer Forces, by Rama Prasad. Another book in the older literature well worth reading is The Dream of Ravan. It is a fine outline of the Ramayana, with philosophical comments. -- T.H.L. (Parkville): Don't be afraid to ask questions; the policy of hiding things is not one that appeals to Dawn. -- "Don" (Cambridge, Eng.): The names of the writers of "Man: Fragments of Forgotten History," are Mrs. Holloway (now Langford) and Mohini Chatterji. Ours is a second edition copy, published in 1887. -- D.F.G. (Benares): We are certain that he holds an influential position at the University of Lucknow. Concerning the point raised, we have no information. -- F.G.S. (Sydney): The distinguished actress you mention was, and is, a good Theosophist. We have no recent information regarding Mrs. Brown-Potter. We understand that she retired from the world to study Yoga, but we may be mistaken. -- F.H.G. (New York City): Nothing could please us more. -- Y.M.K. (Paris): Yes. We understand that he says it is his intention to return and confront his so-called enemies. We shall be on the watch. -- T.N. (Melb.): The man is about the one man we know of who might really be a black magician. His teaching is terribly evil. He is a much greater danger than the other you mention; the Sydney gentleman is less dangerous than either. -- F.H.L.: Read the second discourse in the Gita. A rough way of dividing up the Gita is into three sections of six chapters. Then the first deals with Aspiration, the second with Realization (or Illumination), and the last with the life in the outer world. We do not recommend the verse by verse method of study unless each chapter is carefully read in full first. -- "Tingleyite" (San Diego, Cal.): Mr. Judge was not, as far as we know, a Sanscrit scholar. We understand that he took various translations and combined them so as to express fully the meaning. He was a fine writer of English. See the first volume of Letters That Have Helped Me. -- S.A.P. (Los Angeles, Cal.): He was not the only one who resorted to mediums after the blinding effects of H.P.B.'s death. One now world-famous leader tried the same dubious path. There can be no doubt that the lesser lights did not expect H.P.B. to be recalled so suddenly, and they were left in more or less complete darkness, because they had not assimilated her message. -- B.K.L. (Sydney): To say that Browning was not an Occultist is simply to show that either you have never studied him or that you haven't got the faintest idea of what Occultism is. -- The New Member: There is a certain significance in the dedication and the initials Z.X.Z. thinly conceal the personality of W.Q.J. The term "Greatest of the Exiles" had, and has, a deep meaning. The "exiles" are scattered abroad still, but they are all doing the Masters' work. Some day the full story of that "exile" will be written down, for the benefit of occult students for generations. But the time is not yet. - H.N.S. (Washington, D.C.): It is said that he has refused to go either to Adyar or to Sydney. Hence the desirability of sending the lady to apply soft inducements. She may also want to collect a little money. -- T.H.K. (Boston, Mass.): Quite apart from his questionable moral character, there is the fact that he has utterly distorted the whole teaching of Theosophy. Blavatsky would never have stood for such a church for one moment; moreover, you have only to compare the privately issued (E.S.) letter attributed to the Master K.H., in which the church was boosted with the genuine letters recently published, to see that something perilously close to forgery is going on. We are writing you privately. -- R.C.M. (Portsmouth): Nothing in book form since Education as Service. Perhaps it is as well. The last one fell from the press still-born. -- E.M.C.M. (Minhamite, Vic.): Change of address noted. Yes, your sub. expired with No. 13. -- Mrs. H. (Beverley, W.A.): Many thanks. -- E.M.D. (Hull, Eng.): Sub. registered and back numbers posted. Secretary's address noted. -- Miss R. (Ipswich): Literature posted. Sub. registered. -- Subscriber (Auckland, N.Z.): Cannot book your sub. You have forgotten to sign your name. -- E.S.L. (Florida, U.S.A.): Dawn has nothing to do with the organization you mention, but your letter has been forwarded.
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The Independent Theosophical Society
69 Hunter Street, Sydney
BOOK DEPOT
- The Works of H.P. Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Movement of the 19th Century
Special Offer to Students
The Book Depot of the Independent Theosophical Society is conducted for the propagation of Theosophical Literature, and, because of the small expenses incurred in its management, can afford to sell literature on Theosophical and allied subjects at lower prices than can be obtained elsewhere.
Students are advised to examine our stocks of books, and the prices asked for them. If you cannot call in person, write to the Hon. Manager, at the above address, and he will be pleased to forward a free Catalogue and Price List.
To mark the inauguration of the Independent Theosophical Society, we are offering the following complete list of books written by H.P.B. in order that students may have the opportunity of adding them to their collections at a reasonable charge:
The Secret Doctrine
We have both the American and English Editions of this famous work. The American Edition is published in four volumes, and is a true and unabridged copy of the original. The English Edition is in three volumes, with an index.
- American Edition.........L3 10 0 Post Free L3 13 0
- English Edition.........L3 3 0 Post Free L3 5 8
A Blavatsky Quotation Book
This is a handy and compact collection of extracts from the writings of H.P.B., and is just the right sort of present to give to one's friends. Compiled by an advanced student, this book contains much invaluable information for all grades of readers. - 2/6 Post Free 2/7
The Key to Theosophy
We have only the American Edition of this very valuable work, because, while it is more expensive than the English, the difference in price is not so marked, and we can guarantee this Edition to be a faithful reproduction of the original.
- American Edition (only).........10/6 Post Free 11/1
A Modern Panarion
Described by H.P.B. as "A Collection of Fugitive Fragments," and containing much information of a miscellaneous nature. Only Volume I is now in print, but this is complete in itself. - 9/- Post Free 9/10
The Voice of the Silence
This gem of occultism should be the inseparable companion of anybody who aspires to tread the Path which leads to the Masters of the Wisdom. The English Edition differs somewhat from the American, but advanced students are of the opinion that the alterations in this work are not so serious as those in the other works.
English Edition -
Paper Covers..........1/6 Post Free 1/7
Cloth Covers ........... 2/6 Post Free 2/7
Leather Binding .............. 5/6 Post Free 5/8
The American Edition contains, as a frontispiece, a fine portrait of H.P.B. and also incorporates her translation of The Stanzas of Dzyan, those marvelous relics of ancient Oriental Occultism, which form the basis of the Secret Doctrine.
- American Edition (Cloth Covers).......5/6 Post Free 5/8
Isis Unveiled
Here also we have both Editions, the American being in four volumes, and the English in two. While we recommend the American Edition, we have no hesitation in selling the English Edition to those who prefer the more portable version.
- American Edition.......... L3 10 0 Post Free L3 13 0
- English Edition...........L2 0 0 Post Free L2 1 4