Examining The Political Crisis
of 2007-2011
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
No door can remain closed before the Law
“Misleading secrecy has given the
death blow to numerous organizations.”
A Master of the
Wisdom [1]
There is nothing new under
the Sun. Life evolves in cycles. Good or bad, the inevitable results of every
action can only be postponed for a limited amount of time, before they appear
at the door of those who are responsible.
The Law of Karma has been
knocking at the door of the Theosophical Society (Adyar) ever since the 1890s,
when Annie Besant obtained political power by abandoning the steep and narrow,
uphill path taught by H. P. Blavatsky and the Masters of the Wisdom. [2]
After several crises
which included messianic farces as “the return of the Christ” and other
unfortunate events, in the year 1934 C. Jinarajadasa inaugurated a period of
seven decades of relative stability, which led Adyar up to the year 2004. Then
the knocking at the door got stronger again.
It was in December 2003
that Dr. John Algeo, while still the international vice-president, published a
collection of slanders against H.P. Blavatsky, making the public believe they
were confessions written by H.P.B. herself. That was a karmic accelerator,
since H.P.B’s powerful magnetism is that of an Initiate, and constitutes the
primordial center of the movement’s aura.
As a result of this, in
2007 Dr. Algeo was even more self-confident when he started his failed operation
to promote an electoral “coup d’etat”.
This time he aimed at
overthrowing Ms. Radha Burnier (1923-2013) from the presidency of the Society.
His failure was only partial, though, since the institutional crisis he created
took roots and perpetuated itself.
1. Destructive Effects of Misleading Secrecy
The power crisis provoked
by Dr. Algeo was not deep enough to induce Adyar leaders to open the door to a more
intelligent perception of the law of Karma and of Truth. However, no door can remain closed before the
Law.
The policy of misleading
secrecy - inspired by a naive view of theosophy - has been the tradition since
H.P. Blavatsky’s death in the 1890s. As a consequence, the knocking at the door
- which occurs through facts - has been steadily increasing in energy. Since
2008, the very walls of Annie Besant’s Society are shaken. The old policy
according to which truth must be accepted only as long as it is politically
profitable has been no longer efficient as a means of controlling political power.
The fact that Radha
Burnier was the seventh international president means that she closed a whole septenary
cycle from the point of view of the outer and bureaucratic shell of the
Adyar movement. There is a spiritual vacuum, so to say, and the uncomfortable
situation being faced by Adyar theosophists (and by members of other
associations as well) is deeper than its political aspect.
2. Contributing to the Aerobic Process
Why should independent websites discuss the power
struggle and crisis at Adyar?
Theosophy needs a probationary camp where people
can consciously test the teaching in their lives and work. The theosophical
movement constitutes such a magnetic field, and the importance of Adyar is
undeniable for it. Some 80 to 90 per cent of nominal theosophists around the
world belong to Adyar or are somehow linked to it. In a sense, Adyar makes or
breaks for the outer movement as a whole. The exception to this is but that
small, inner, intangible nucleus of workers whose vision transcends every outer
form.
Besides, transparency is truthfulness: an honest
dialogue and the sincere examination of one’s premises and viewpoints are
important factors if we want to have any clear visions about the movement’s
future.
Karmic chains of action and reaction follow similar
patterns in mind and in nature. The anaerobic decomposition of organic pollution
in the waters of a stagnant river stinks because of the absence of oxygen. Aerobic
decomposition in a moving river does not have a bad smell because of the abundant
presence of oxygen.
At the mental level, truthfulness is oxygen. It
allows people to see through the waters. It makes life possible in rivers and
in minds. That’s why the motto of the theosophical movement states the simple
fact that there’s no religion (or politics) above truth. Life is
imperfect, but it can be improved as long as there is open-mindedness and good
faith. Theosophists must be able to discuss their problems openly - or they
will be slaves to deceit and jesuitry.
Organizations use to get self-protective. Their
leaders often think they can protect them through imposed silence, but the
tactics can’t last long. The life of the movement must be inevitably discussed
on the basis of a shared respect for truth and for common duty.
It is also not practical to say that the Adyar
crisis is limited to Adyar members. It is too late for that now. Any apparent walls
between this and that theosophical association are illusory. Beneath
appearances, the theosophical movement is one. Theosophical leaders must
overcome political fear. The logic of organizations is not the logic of truth,
and one must make a choice between the inner life and the outer shell of the
movement.
3. A Crisis of Struggle for Power
Just before the
World Congress of the Adyar Society in Rome in July 2010, Ms. Betty Bland, who then
presided the Society in the United States, organized an informal meeting with
some members of the General Council, the assembly of general secretaries or
presidents in each country. Ms. Bland discussed things over with the leaders of
Adyar in France, Germany, Sweden, South Africa, Finland and Portugal. The group
decided to officially question the validity of Ms. Linda Oliveira’s election as
international vice-president, which had occurred on October 29, 2008.
Soon after the
World Congress, Ms. Betty Bland wrote in the magazine of the Adyar T.S. in the
USA:
“While there [in
Rome], I did have an opportunity to meet with our T.S. international president
Radha Burnier. Although frail, she was amazingly strong in demeanor. Our
meeting was cordial, but she has apparently been affected by some of the
malefic accusations that have flown around the Internet against the American
Section in general and me in particular. Be that as it may, we had good
conversation and parted in peace.” [3]
An experienced theosophist
made a summary of the situation. On the condition of remaining anonymous and
thus avoid political revenge, it was said:
“The conspiracy
against Mrs. Radha Burnier started in 2007, involving international directors
of the Society and various Secretary Generals. In an attempt to grab the
international presidency, they disseminated false statements about the health
condition of the President. They failed, as their lies became known; but they
did not cease to conspire. Betty Bland and her supporters now aim at new goals.”
The same person added:
“Those who circulated
false rumours about the health of Mrs. Burnier have morally destroyed their
condition of Theosophists. The e-mails they sent to hundreds of members around
the world were part of an attempt to destroy the very fabric of brotherhood within
the Society.”
Meanwhile the
political opposition, led by the seven national secretaries from Western
countries, was preparing at least one candidate to vice-presidency and, in the
future, for presidency. The candidate was Mr. C. V. K. Maithreya, who belongs to
a traditional family of Theosophists in India. Mr. Maithreya has links to the
Theosophical Order of Service.
Ms. Betty Bland, Ms.
Kim Dieu (president of the European Federation), and Ms. Susan Kachula (TS
president in South Africa), were among the most active opposition leaders between
2008 and 2010.
4. The 2007-2011 Challenge
In 2011, the
strength of the opposition was already not enough to obtain any short term
victories. Opposition leaders probably wanted to strengthen their positions
with an eye to the future. It was a well-known fact that some Adyar leaders
consider their masonic rituals to be far more “occult” than their Society.
Not many years ago,
John Algeo provoked and organized the first split of the “theosophical masonry”
since Besant time. Dr. Algeo had the blessings of Mrs. Burnier to play a
central role in that split, an event which is undoubtedly connected to the
astral aura of Besant’s Society.
Ritualism involves
a great amount of elementals, most of which are harmful to true theosophy in
the present cycle, as H.P.B. warned. The
division of the Masonic aura in the Besant Society had to have karmic consequences
involving elementals, perhaps elementaries; and now the same team responsible
for the ritualistic split seemed to feel tempted to provoke the division in the
“outer body” of the Adyar Society. There is a karmic link, therefore, between
the split of the Masonic Order “Le Droit Humain” made years ago and the 2007-2011
risk of splitting in the Society.
What was then, one might ask, the
real depth of the 2007-2011 crisis? The popish authority that
every International President had since Annie Besant has been destroyed for
good. Seen in its aspect as a top-down and authoritarian power structure, the
Adyar Society is undergoing a silent implosion, which got accelerated
after the death of Radha Burnier in 2013. The fact that the implosion occurs in
a gradual way is not enough to make it possible to prevent it. The root-cause
of the phenomenon is that the false notions at the basis of this
power-structure are no longer valid.
From 2014 on, the good
law of karma invites the leaders of the Adyar Society to open their eyes and
look beyond any short term power struggle. They have the time to do that. They
will need the courage to face the underlying facts, and to take steps along the
path that leads to an open dialogue and to real theosophy. Otherwise the spiritual
and ethical paralysis will remain the same.
5. Future Scenarios for the Adyar Society
For Radha Burnier, it was easy to see that
ritualism had no future.
Since 1980, she made an effort to renew the Adyar
Society by adopting Jiddu Krishnamurti’s teachings as her main reference. At
first, things seemed to go well: problems started by the mid-1990s. The real
and ultimate obstacle, though, was the conceptual framework.
Krishnamurti tried to get rid of ritualism
and pseudo-theosophy by abandoning theosophy as a whole. Talking about a vague
“pathless land”, he rejected the main theosophical concepts, including the
ideas of law of karma, reincarnation, adepthood, discipleship, paramitas,
esoteric tradition, and even ethics. His followers were led to a dead end.
Ms. Burnier, it must be said, was an honest
woman. She was a devoted theosophist and an able thinker who deserved utmost
respect from everyone. She did her best at all times, and did well in many
aspects. She was finely intuitive and had a pure, noble heart. She tried to
make a synthesis between Krishnamurti and theosophy. Yet the traps created by
Maya are tremendously complex during the present cycle. She did not know how to
go beyond Adyar’s popish structure. By adopting Krishnamurti, Ms. Burnier was
in fact unconsciously giving up Theosophy into a great extent, and losing
connection to the center of the movement’s aura.
It is clear by now that the thesis according
to which “Krishnamurti is the avatar, after all” has failed. To adopt Krishnamurti
was a too timid attempt to get rid of the Besant period. It didn’t work. The
number now grows of those who can already see that access to the only sane
future available to Adyar Society depends on getting back to real Theosophy.
However, it is not enough to get rid of the
books written by A. Besant and similar authors. It is also necessary to
get rid of the power structures created by those false clairvoyants of
the period 1900-1934. Such structures
are based in “masonic”, “liberal catholic” and “esoteric” ritualism
and dead letter. They are also popish in every sense of the word. Krishnamurti
is no theosophical solution to the problem.
Common sense points to the alternative: there
is no need to let another century pass by before getting back to the original
lines set by HPB and her Teachers. It is necessary, though, to understand what
is the actual meaning of the expression “getting back to Blavatsky”.
To go “Back to H.P.B.” is not the same as traveling
back in time. It is not making an effort to know by heart every word written by
H.P.B. It is not repeating always the same quotations from her books. Getting
back to Blavatsky is in fact getting forward and rescuing Theosophy as a living factor in the everyday life of
the theosophical movement in this century. That includes actively challenging
the different forms of organized ignorance wherever they are.
It is the movement’s dharma to openly discuss the
mistakes of exact Science, Religion, Psychology, Sociology and Philosophy. The
movement must teach the principle of universal brotherhood in a way that makes
it not only understandable to millions of people around the globe, but also
invites each individual to try and live up to it.
Of course, the inner
dimension of the movement cannot be ignored. Its real vitality depends on the
Few whose sole aim in life is to work for the good of mankind and who thus
forget their own lower selves. H.P.B. and the Masters never made a secret of
that condition.
The movement has
several levels of consciousness: in order for it to have an inner life, it
needs a certain number of people who are sincere aspirants to discipleship, and
who, if still members of the Adyar Society, must be free from the delusional garbage
accumulated under the leadership of Annie Besant. That mental and astral
material is toxic and must be removed with care. Its magnetism has dire effects
which now are getting more visible than ever before.
The present moment
gradually closes the Besant-phase in the aura of the Adyar movement. It may open room for a new spring of true
theosophy, and this is excellent news. Yet the old bottles of dogmatism will
not be able to contain the new wine of original theosophy. There is a passage
in the New Testament which shows the difference between form and contents, and
demonstrates the need for an ever-renewed vehicle at the service of sacred
Wisdom:
“No man puts a
piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up
takes from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine
into old bottles: else these bottles break, and the wine runs out, and the
bottles perish; but they pour new wine into new bottles, and both are
preserved.” (Matthew, 9: 16-17.)
Masonry,
Krishnamurtianism and the pseudo-theosophical version of Catholic Church are
old bottles. So is the popish view of
the theosophical movement. As to the philosophy taught by H. P. Blavatsky, it
is as brand new today as it was in 1891.
The weight of the
responsibility over the future of the theosophical movement belongs to those hundreds
and thousands of anonymous students all over the world who make a daily effort
to expand their antahkaranas, the bridge with the higher self. That expansion
is impossible within the conceptual framework still adopted by Adyar leaders.
During its first
years and up to 1891, the basis of the movement was created so as to be responsive
to its original magnetism. Each time it is misled by illusions, it takes some
time for such mistakes to destroy themselves, before room is opened again to
the essential Dharma of the movement. This happens through natural karmic
processes.
The non-corporative
view of the movement as expressed in the 1909 Declaration of the United Lodge
of Theosophists is quietly influential and belongs to the movement as a whole. It
constitutes a true key to the future. It inspires the Independent Lodge of
Theosophists and many a self-responsible student around the world. Simple as it
seems to be, that Declaration is a powerful description of the original lines of
the movement as they were established - not by
H.P. Blavatsky, but through her - by
Those who know.
NOTES:
[1] This sentence belongs
to the full text - never published by Adyar - of the “1900 letter to Annie
Besant”. Part of the text is published as Letter 46, first series, in “Letters
From the Masters of the Wisdom”, TPH, Adyar, 1973, pp. 99-100. Its full text
was published at “Theosophical History” magazine, London, October 1987, pp.
116-117. It can be seen at our associated websites under the title of “The
1900 Letter From a Mahatma”, and having as name of author “A Master of
the Wisdom”. The letter anticipates
the whole cycle of pseudo-theosophy at Adyar, including the “death blow” to it.
[2] Annie Besant then adopted the easy and
wide way of ritualism and delusion. She failed to see that Theosophy
is inseparable from Ethics. Whenever loyalty to truth is abandoned, the
teaching becomes a mere collection of empty words. From that moment on, the
teaching can be changed at will according to short term and selfish goals.
[3] “Quest” magazine, Wheaton, USA, Fall 2010 edition.
000
The above article was first published
on October 18th, 2010. It was updated in 2017.
000
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.
000
