Why Theosophy Excludes
The Practice of Ceremonialism
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
On the right, the manuscript of a letter from a
Mahatma
Being a universal philosophy, Theosophy transcends each and all of the sects,
religions and philosophies now existing.
From the point of view of
esoteric wisdom, the student himself is the very telescope through which he
must look at life. This is one of the practical reasons why, in order to
understand theosophy, the truth-seeker must have a clean life, an open mind and
a pure heart.
Wisdom can only be obtained
by merit. It is necessary to get rid of attachment to outer form, rituals and
superstitious beliefs. And while this tenet is central to the original
teachings of theosophy, it is totally ignored by the pseudo-theosophy
fabricated by some leaders of the Adyar Theosophical Society between 1900 and
1934.
In “The Mahatma Letters”,
one of the Raja-Yogis of the Himalayas mentions the illusion of “belief in the
efficacy of vain rites and ceremonies; in prayers and intercession.” [1]
While discussing the same
paragraph in the book “Early Teachings of the Masters”, C. Jinarajadasa adds
this information:
“Of the ten ‘Fetters’ on the
Path to liberation, the first three are: 1) Sakkayaditthi, the
delusion of self; 2) Vichikicheha, doubt; 3) Silabbataparamasa, belief
in the efficacy of rites and ceremonies.” [2]
In another paragraph of the
same letter, the raja-yogi refers to a rite performed by high lamas in Tibet,
many decades before the Chinese invasion of the 20th century, and a rite of
which he himself, a Mahatma, would be a part. And the Master clarifies that
even a ceremony of that level is no better than a meaningless superficiality,
whose usefulness is limited to childish and scarcely advanced souls. The Master
says:
“In about a week - new
religious ceremonies, new glittering bubbles to amuse the babies with, and once
more I will be busy night and day, morning, noon, and evening.” [3]
Esoteric philosophy gives
its students tools with which they can liberate themselves from such delusions.
In the famous Letter of 1900,
which was addressed to Annie Besant, a Master anticipates and warns against the
main mistakes that the Adyar society would make from that moment on.
He clarifies that the modern
theosophical movement was meant “to be the corner-stone of the future religions
of humanity”. In order to accomplish this object, “those who lead” it, says the
Master, “must leave aside their weak predilections for the forms and ceremonies
of any particular creed and show themselves to be true Theosophists both in
inner thoughts and outward observance”. [4]
The warning was useless to
Annie Besant.
A few years after the
warning, she adopted various rituals as tools to obtain political power in the
esoteric movement. Besant and other false clairvoyants combined theosophy with
masonry, promoted a “theosophical catholic church” and started organizing the
“return of the Christ” through the person of Jiddu Krishnamurti.
For almost two decades,
Krishnamurti willingly played the theatrical role of “Jesus Christ” while was
manipulated by Annie Besant. He finally abandoned the Society of Adyar in 1929,
closing the main and more visible part of the tragic comedy of a Besantian
Avatar.
Olcott, On
Attachment to Outer Forms
North-American
thinker Henry S. Olcott was one of the main founders of the Theosophical
Movement in 1875. In his book “Buddhist Catechism” one finds this question:
“What
was the Buddha’s estimate of ceremonialism?”
And
Olcott answers:
“From
the beginning, he condemned the observance of ceremonies and other external
practices, which only tend to increase our spiritual blindness and our clinging
to mere lifeless forms.” [5]
In
one of the Letters from Mahatmas, a Master says it is impossible to perform
good ceremonial magic in the West. He narrates the frustrating result of “the
last attempt” in that direction, in London around 1860, of which meetings the
master took part in “about half a dozen” occasions. The meetings were led by
Edward Bulwer-Lytton and included Eliphas Levi, Regazzoni and other occultists.
[6]
Vain Rituals and
Empty Ceremonials
While explaining the deeper
meaning of the word “Buddhist”, a sage of the Himalayas wrote:
“Many prefer to
call themselves Buddhists not because the word attaches itself to the
ecclesiastical system built upon the basic ideas of our Lord Gautama Buddha’s
philosophy, but because of the Sanskrit word ‘Buddhi’ - wisdom, enlightenment;
and as a silent protest to the vain rituals and empty ceremonials, which have
in too many cases been productive of the greatest calamities. Such also is the
origin of the Chaldean term Mage.” [7]
“Isis Unveiled” is among the
most important works written by Helena P. Blavatsky. There we can see her critical
approach regarding the modern masonic rites. HPB reveals that modern masonry
was widely infiltrated. Its rituals were changed and adulterated by the
Jesuits, which played the role of espionage agency in charge of undercover
operations for the Vatican.[8]
In the article “The
Beacon of the Unknown”, H.P. Blavatsky refers to the original Theosophical
Society (T.S.) which ceased to exist due to Annie Besant’s betrayal in the
1890s:
“Having neither dogma nor
ritual - these two being but fetters, a material body which suffocates the soul
- we do not employ the ‘ceremonial magic’ of the Western Kabalists; we know its
dangers too well to have anything to do with it. In the T.S. every Fellow is at
liberty to study what he pleases, provided he does not venture into unknown
paths which would of a certainty lead him to black magic, the sorcery against which Eliphas Levi so openly
warned the public.” [9]
In the first half of the
21st century, a large section of the theosophical movement still does not see
the importance of the words quoted above. However, a small and significant part
of the movement has remained away from blind belief and available to free thinking.
It is possible to imagine a future moment when most of theosophical
associations will have rejected ritualistic structures, being organized instead
in more spontaneous ways around the authentic teachings. This is how a few theosophical
groups see even now the future of the esoteric movement.
Even the Adyar Society is
making progress in that direction, although in such a slow way that cannot be
easily detected. According to an
old popular saying, “a lie has short legs”. While the false theosophy of Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater is gradually
abandoned, the number grows of Adyar theosophists who discover the permanent
value of true theosophical literature and focus their attention on the teachings of the Masters and Helena
Blavatsky.
As time passes,
the speed of this process undergoes an acceleration, which is beneficial to the
esoteric movement as a whole. There is no need to spend one hundred years more
in the process of abandoning the old illusions created by false clairvoyants
during the first half of the twentieth century.
NOTES:
[1] Letter XVI, page 111 in “The
Mahatma Letters”, TUP edition, Pasadena, CA, USA.
[2] “Early Teachings of the Masters (1881-1883)”, C.
Jinarajadasa, Kessinger Publishing Co., USA, facsimile edition of the TPH-India
1923 edition, 245 pp., see p. 61.
[3] Letter XVI, page 116 in “The Mahatma Letters”, TUP edition, Pasadena, CA,
USA.
[4] See in our associated
websites the article “The 1900 Letter From a Mahatma”. The Letter is also part
of the volume “Letters From the Masters of the Wisdom”, first series, edited by
C. Jinarajadasa, TPH, 1973, Letter 46.
[5] “Buddhist Catechism”, by H.
S. Olcott, various editions, question and answer number 184, in Part II.
[6] “The Mahatma Letters”, TUP
ed., Pasadena, CA, Letter XXVIII, pp. 209-210.
[7] “The Mahatma Letters”, TUP edition, Pasadena, CA, see
Letter LXXXV, p. 399. In the
chronological edition, see Letter 120.
[8] See “Isis Unveiled”, Theosophy Co., Los Angeles, volume
II, pp. 381-391, among others.
[9] “Collected Writings”, H.P.
Blavatsky, TPH, Adyar, India, volume XI, p. 266.
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On the role of the esoteric movement in the
ethical awakening of mankind during the 21st century, see the book “The Fire and Light of Theosophical Literature”, by
Carlos Cardoso Aveline.
Published in
2013 by The Aquarian Theosophist,
the volume has 255 pages and can be obtained through Amazon Books.
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