Before Saying “Thanks” to Helena
Blavatsky, One Must Understand Her Mission
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
Partial view of a
statue of Helena
P. Blavatsky, made by Alexey Leonov
Disloyal
politicians often pay ceremonial homage to the very ideals they betray.
Soon after the
death of Helena P. Blavatsky on the 8th of May 1891, Henry S. Olcott was
getting ready to start his struggle for power against those who were loyal to
her, when he created the “White Lotus Day”, which should be celebrated every 8 of
May as a homage to the founder of the modern esoteric movement.[1]
Olcott was
deluded.
Although
fundamentally honest, he had poor ethical discernment. He should know the
“homage” which Helena Blavatsky expected was no personal adulation. Such a practice
would be contrary to the vows she made and her choice for self-forgetfulness
and impersonal dedication to Truth.
Blavatsky wanted
people to have ethics and loyalty towards the Teachings of the Mahatmas,
instead. And that was something Olcott and his political partner Annie Besant
did not have: their main goal was largely to obtain institutional power.
There is one
aspect, however, in which the name “White Lotus Day” is ironically right for the date chosen by the
Adyar Theosophical Society to “pay tribute” to HPB. The name given by H. S. Olcott coincides with
the title of a classic book by Mabel Collins, “The Idyll of the White Lotus”.
The volume narrates the sad story of high treason in an esoteric organization.[2]
The lust for power
will sometimes hide behind a homage.
In spite of short
term appearances, however, every form of disloyalty is self-defeating. In due
time, ethics and love for truth win the day. The theosophical movement has
started already to free itself like a Phoenix, gradually raising from the ashes
of pseudo-esoteric illusion. This is
possible because HPB’s mission, acting on the higher planes of consciousness,
constituted in the 19th century a turning point in the life of present civilization.
Thanks to it the course of human events was decisively changed in the 20th and
21st centuries.
The Importance of the Eighth of May
The Second World
War is a watershed in the Karma of our mankind, and its end with the victory of
Democracy is numerologically related to the theosophical effort. [3]
The seventy years’
cycle is important in advanced theosophy because it combines the number Seven
with the Pythagorean Decad.
Precisely seven
decades after the foundation of the theosophical movement in 1875, on the
eighth of May 1945 peace on Europe was established with the victory of the
Allies and Democracy against Nazi-Fascism. The mission of H. P. Blavatsky, in
sowing the seeds of universal brotherhood, had as one of its goals to reduce
the effects of 20th century wars and prevent humanity’s fall under the complete
dominion of organized unspiritual ignorance.
On the eighth of
May 1891 HPB concluded her mission. On the eighth of May 1945, an important
victory of mankind against obscurantism was officialized. In the same year the
United Nations Organization was created, whose goal is the harmony among
nations.
How to Celebrate HPB’s Mission
The right way to
express admiration for Helena Blavatsky’s mission remains the same. It has
never changed.
It consists in
understanding and supporting, in the first place, the original proposal of the
theosophical effort, which aims at helping mankind to free itself from
ritualism, war and superstition. In order for this to occur one must leave
aside both individually and collectively the fear of being sincere, and start
paving the way to the future civilization, whose conscious basis is the law of
universal brotherhood.
The eighth of May
is the right time to renew our decisions to try our best at every moment in
life.
It is an occasion
to be sincerely thankful to the Masters of the Wisdom and their closest
disciples. We can then silently say thanks to all beings, especially those who
are more advanced than us - and reaffirm our vows to lead ethical lives.
Along each month
of May, and on its Full Moon, it is easier for human beings to expand the contact
with the wordless voice of their higher selves, whose substance is universal.
NOTES:
[1] On what happened
in political terms immediately after HPB died in May 1891, see the
well-documented article “The Wills of Helena P. Blavatsky”, by Ernest
Pelletier. The text is available in our websites.
[2] “The Idyll of the
White Lotus”, by Mabel Collins. Subtitle: “A Mystical Novel”. Published by
Quest Books, TPH in the USA, 1974, 142 pp. Although the book contains some
points of theosophical teaching, it dwells too much on treason and negative
thinking; in a way it anticipates the trajectory of Mabel Collins, who betrayed
ethical precepts and abandoned the theosophical movement soon after it was
published. Mr. T. Subba Row, who
made a vehement defense of “The Idyll”, also had not a loyal or happy ending in
his short career as a theosophist. As to how Mabel Collins abandoned ethics and
the theosophical movement, see Letters 45-A and 45-B in “Letters From the Masters of the Wisdom”,
edited by C. Jinarajadasa, First Series, TPH, India, 183 pp., 1973, pp. 96-98. In
the Letter 45-A, a Master warns HPB that M.C. has chosen falsity.
[3] See in our
associated websites the articles “Theosophy and the Second World War”, “Blavatsky,
United Nations and Democracy”, and “The
Theosophical Movement, 1875-2075”, all by C. C. Aveline.
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An
initial version of the above article was published in the May 2015 edition of “The Aquarian Theosophist”. Its title
was “Reexamining The White Lotus Day”, and it had no indication as to the name
of the author.
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See also
the article “The Full Moon of May”,
which is available in our associated websites.
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In September 2016, after
a careful analysis of the state of the esoteric movement worldwide, a group of students
decided to form the Independent Lodge of
Theosophists, whose priorities include the building of a better future in
the different dimensions of life.
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