The Present And Future Readers Have to
Swim Through
And Collect the Scintillating Diamonds In HPB’s
Writings
N. C.
Ramanujachary
Helena P.
Blavatsky (1831-1891) and Dr. N. C.
Ramanujachary
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Dr. N. C. Ramanujachary is the author
of various books, including “A
Lonely
Disciple – Monograph on T. Subba Row”.
He is a long-standing member of the
Adyar
Theosophical Society and lives in
Chennai, India.
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There is
need to have a clear understanding on the Teachings of Helena P. Blavatsky,
their origin and expansion. It must be remembered that she herself mentioned
many a time that all her work was restatement of forgotten and extraordinarily
treasured facts. When asked to say how the Teachings were divided into two
classes viz., Exoteric and Esoteric, she clearly answered:
“The WISDOM-Religion was ever one, and being the
last word of possible human knowledge, was, therefore, carefully preserved. It
preceded by long ages the Alexandrian Theosophists, reached the modern, and
will survive every other religion and philosophy.” (“The Key to Theosophy”, Theosophy
Co., India, p. 7)
It was so preserved, she says, “among Initiates of
every country; among profound seekers after truth – their disciples; and in
those parts of the world where such topics have always been most valued and pursued;
in India, Central Asia, and Persia.” (p. 8)
She
mentions two main reasons for secrecy:
“1.The perversity of average human nature and its
selfishness, always tending to the gratification of personal desires to
the detriment of neighbours and next of kin. Such people can never be entrusted
with divine secrets. 2.Their unreliability to keep the sacred and divine
knowledge from desecration.” (p. 12)
As
to why “this system did come to be put forward just now”, she has the following
to say:
“Just because the time was found to be ripe, which
fact is shown by the determined effort of so many earnest students to reach the
truth, at whatever cost and wherever it may be concealed. Seeing this, its
custodians permitted that some portions at least of that truth should be
proclaimed.”
Her
teaching was, therefore, the “anciently universal Wisdom-Religion”, as the only
possible key to the Absolute in science and theology. (“Isis Unveiled”, Theosophy
Co., vol. I, p. vii)
She
quotes from her own preface to The Secret Doctrine, “she gave out the doctrines
that she has learnt from the Masters, but claims no inspiration whatever for
what she has lately written.” (“The Secret Doctrine”, Theosophy Co., Vol. I, p.
viii & “The Key”, p. 298)
Her
writings were coupled by her own study, observation and experimentation.
She
clearly explains the differences between Theosophy and Occultism, spiritualism
etc. she was affirmative that Theosophy is not an admixture of Hinduism (Brahmanism)
and Buddhism, as many thinkers have felt.
She
refers to the six systems of Indian Philosophy and clearly states that they are
incomplete without the seventh viz., the Occult (Esoteric) doctrines.
While
commenting on the book Esoteric Buddhism by A P Sinnett, she unambiguously
stated:
“The spelling of the word (Buddhism) had only to be
altered, and by common consent both pronounced and written ‘Budhism’ instead of
‘Buddhism’. Nor is the latter term correctly spelt and pronounced, as it ought
to be called, in English, Buddha-ism, and its votaries ‘Buddha-ists’.” (S.D.,
Vol. I, p. xviii)
She
quotes many systems, Chaldean, Egyptian, Kabala, Indian etc. in substantiation
of what she teaches. She suggests that “hints” and “blinds” are already
available there but they are not integrated or synthesized. She cites from over
1200 of earlier texts, more than a hundred from Vishnupurana, many times
correcting the wrong interpretations they carry and incidental
misunderstandings thus cropping. She explains the inadequacy of English, any
language for that matter, in explaining the aphorisms (Sutra-s) of
metaphysical, philosophic ideas besides showing how indecisive and misleading
they could be. Teachings were given by
the earlier teachers, when there was no printing or copying was available. The
student had to memorize, deeply reflect upon the short statements till it
totally sinks into him and then prepare himself for further lesson.
She
relied on the texts of Indian Upanishads and their English versions available
in her time, used many “ideas” expressed by T. Subba Row which had leaning
towards the Adwaita system, more specifically the Taraka Raja Yoga. But it
cannot be said that she was not aware of the other systems, such as of Ramanuja
and Madhava. When someone commented that her teaching in the Isis was
moving substantially towards the doctrines of Visishtadwaita, she had the
following to say:
“A sceptic in my early life, I had sought and
obtained through the Masters the full assurance of the existence of a principle
(not Personal god) –‘a boundless and unfathomable ocean’ of which my ‘soul’ was
a drop. Like the Adwaitees, I made no difference between my Seventh Principle
and the Universal Spirit, or Parabrahm; nor did, or do I believe in an
individual, segregated spirit in me, as a something apart from the whole. Whether it be orthodox Adwaita or not, I
maintain as an occultist, on the authority of the Secret Doctrine, though
merged entirely into Parabrahm, man’s spirit while not individual per se, yet
preserves its distinct individuality in Paranirvana, owing to the accumulation
in it of the aggregates, or skandhas that have survived after each death,
from the highest faculties of the Manas. Ii the most spiritual - i.e.,
the highest and divinest aspirations of every personality follow
Buddhi and the Seventh Principle into Devachan (Swarga) after the death of each
personality along the line of rebirths, and become part and parcel of the Monad.” (Article
in “The Theosophist”, January, 1886)
When
W.Q. Judge said: “The only fault with
Sinnett’s book (Esoteric Buddhism) is that he too often says - ‘this knowledge
is now being given out for the first time’. He does not do this because he
wants glory for himself, but because he makes a mistake”, Helena Blavatsky
elucidated the point thus:
“The knowledge given out in Esoteric Buddhism is,
most decidedly, ‘given out for the first time’, inasmuch as the allegories that
lie scattered in the Hindu sacred literature
are now for the first time clearly explained to the world of the profane.
Since the birth of the Theosophical Society and the publication of Isis,
it is being repeated daily that all Esoteric wisdom of the ages lies concealed
in the Vedas, the Upanishad and Bhagavad-Gita. Yet, unto
the day of first appearance of Esoteric Buddhism, and for long centuries
back, these doctrines remained a sealed letter to all but a few initiated
Brahmans who had always kept the spirit of it to themselves. (…) Yet, surely,
he who got it first from its finder and cut and polished it, may be permitted
to say that the particular diamond is ‘given out for the first time’ to the
world, since its rays and luster are now shining for the first in broad
day-light.” (Coll. Writ. Vol. VI, pp. 146-148)
Discussing
“The Masks of Science” and of “Forces”, she highlights the Visishtadwaita
Vedantins thus:
“Ramanujacharya, being born in AD 1017, at a time
when European ‘Science’ still believed in the squareness and flatness of the
Earth, of Cosmos-Indicopleustes of the 6th century taught: Before evolution
began, Prakriti (Nature) was in a condition of laya or absolute
homogeneity, as ‘matter exists in two conditions, the sukshma, or latent
and undifferentiated, and the sthula or differentiated condition’. Then
it became Anu, atomic. It (the Vedanta) teaches of suddha-sattwa
- a substance not subject to the qualities of matter, from which it is
quite different, and adds that out of that substance the bodies of the
inhabitants of Vaikuntaloka (the heaven of Vishnu), the gods, are formed. That
every particle or atom of Prakriti contains Jiva (divine life), and is
the sarira (body) of that Jiva which it contains, while every
Jiva in its turn the sarira of the supreme spirit, as ‘Parabrahm
pervades every Jiva, as well as every particle of matter’. Dualistic and
anthropomorphic as may be the philosophy of the Visishtadwaita, when compared
with that of the Adwaita - the non-dualists -, it is yet supremely higher in
logic and philosophy than the cosmology accepted by either Christianity, or its
great opponent, modern Science.” (“The Secret Doctrine”, Vol. I, p. 522)
Helena
Blavatsky was and is a Teacher, in her own right, for reestablishing the Guru-sishya
parampara, informing the public of an Occult Hierarchy, introducing a
Path-Proper to enlighten oneself and sequentially/eventually to receive the
rays of Divinity. She laid a “Golden Staircase” for those interested in
climbing up the ladder to the Temple of Divine Wisdom.
Her
presentation of the classified Human Principles with their exoteric meanings
and explanations, by itself, happens to be a great source for stimulation
leading to a scrupulous insight. (“The Key”, p. 90)
Similar
is her literal translation of the terms, viz., The Higher self; The Spiritual divine
Ego; The Inner, or Higher “Ego” and The Lower, or Personal ego, from the
Occult Eastern texts, for “future use” to “settle on some definite
nomenclature.” (“The Key”, pp. 173-174)
For
ready comprehension, they are reproduced below:
“The Higher Self is: Atma, the imperishable ray of
the Universal and One Self. It is the God above, more than within, us.
Happy is the man who succeeds in saturating his inner Ego with it.”
“The Spiritual divine Ego is: the Spiritual
soul or Buddhi, in close union with Manas, the mind-principle, without
which it is no Ego at all, but only the Atmic Vehicle.”
“The Inner, or Higher ‘Ego’ is: Manas, the ‘fifth’
Principle, so called, independently of Buddhi. The Mind-Principle is only the
Spiritual-Ego when merged into one with Buddhi, - no materialist being
supposed to have in him such an Ego, however great his intellectual
capacities. It is the permanent Individuality or the ‘Reincarnating
Ego’.”
“The lower or Personal ‘Ego’ is: the physical man in
conjunction with his lower Self, i.e., animal instincts, passions, desires,
etc. It is called the ‘false personality’, and consists of the lower Manas combined
with Kama-rupa, and operating through the Physical body and its phantom or ‘double’.”
“The remaining ‘Principle’, ‘Prana’ or ‘Life’, is,
strictly speaking, the radiating force or energy of Atma - as the Universal
Life and the One self - its lower or rather (in its effects) more physical,
because manifesting, aspect. Prana or Life permeates the whole being of the
objective Universe; and is called a ‘principle’ only because it is an
indispensable factor and the dues ex
machine (=light in operation) of the
living man.”
The
esoteric and occult doctrines are her main pillars of support and she informs
the discerning seekers and leads to that specific interest. The essential unity
of all constituents of nature, the oneness of manifestation are the key-points
which she, radically and well-substantiated, presents. Her main contention is
that that there is a Divine Order (Divya-ajna) which surpasses in rule (administering) and becomes relevant
for all Time, Space and State of Being; it moves on from strength to strength,
undisturbed in modifications and undaunted in courage.
Her
Teaching is primarily based upon the Occult Doctrines, catechisms and Esoteric
Texts; her citing the numerous scriptural texts of the world is only to show
that the statements are suggestively available earlier but “forgotten” or “got
eclipsed” for recorded and unrecorded historical reasons.
Her
literary period is limited to 16 years (1875-1891) and is backed by “knowledge not
her own.” Her out-put is amazingly
enormous and profusely abundant. As she did from the hitherto concealed
records, the present and future reader too has to swim through and collect the
scattered and scintillating pearls and diamonds from her bulky volumes. One
needs to be reminded, again, that “it but needs the right perception of things
objective to finally discover that the only world of reality is the
subjective.” (“Isis”, Vol. II, p. 639)
The
Teaching needs to be read and reflected upon, not merely textually but more
contextually for the simple reason the History and Philosophy are inseparably
interwoven. She often says, “my English is poor” and “book-writing novice”. It
is good to take such wordings for example of her modesty than anything else.
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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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