Quest Magazine

Originally printed in the Summer 2011 issue of Quest magazine. 
Citation: Pablo D. Sender. "Mahatmas versus Ascended Masters." Quest  99. 3 (Summer 2011): 107 - 111.

by Pablo D. Sender

H. P. Blavatsky was the first person to introduce the concept of the Mahatmas (also called adepts or Masters) to the West. At first she talked about them privately, but after a few years two of these adepts, known by the pseudonyms of Koot Hoomi (K. H.) and Morya (M.), agreed to maintain a correspondence with a couple of British Theosophists—A. P. Sinnett and A. O. Hume. This communication took place from 1880 to 1885, and during those years the knowledge about the Mahatmas became more and more public. The original letters are currently kept in the British Library in London as a valuable historical item, and have been published under the title of The Mahatma Letters. This book remains an unparalleled first-hand source of information about the Mahatmas and their teachings.

In 1930, fifty years after this correspondence began, Guy Ballard, a former student of Theosophy, was allegedly contacted during a hike on California's Mount Shasta by a mysterious nonphysical character. This figure identified himself as one of the Theosophical Mahatmas, the eighteenth-century occultist known as the Comte de St. Germain. He charged Ballard with the task of transmitting the lessons of "the Great Law of Life," giving rise to what became called "the I AM movement."

Ballard and his wife Edna soon gained a wide following with their version of St. Germain's teachings, creating the Saint Germain Foundation in 1932. The I AM movement reached its heyday in the late 1930s; Guy Ballard's death in 1939, combined with subsequent legal challenges, including a suit launched by the federal government alleging postal fraud, caused it to diminish. The organization continues to exist today, but keeps a low profile (Hanegraaff, 2:587).

The Ascended Master movement reached another stage in 1958, when Mark Prophet, a former student of the Saint Germain Foundation, claimed he was commissioned by "the Ascended Master El Morya" to transmit the teachings of the Great White Brotherhood through an organization called the Summit Lighthouse. Upon Mark Prophet's death in 1973, leadership of the organization was taken over by his wife, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, who changed its name to the Church Universal and Triumphant. In 1999, Prophet retired from her activities with the church; she died in 2009 (Hanegraaff, 2:1093—96).

Today, largely as a result of the I AM movement and the Prophets' activities, the idea of the Ascended Masters is prevalent in the New Age. Since the Ballards and the Prophets used the names and portraits of the Theosophical Mahatmas for their Ascended Masters, many people assume that they are the same. However, as we are going to see in this article, they differ in some very important respects.

Ascended or Living?

The Ascended Masters, as their name suggests, are supposed to be Masters who have experienced the miracle of ascension, as it is said Jesus did. The original teaching, channeled by Guy Ballard, was that a new Ascended Master would not die but would take the body up with him. This teaching of ascension is in direct opposition to the Theosophical teachings. Mahatma K. H. refers to the idea disparagingly in one of his letters to Sinnett: "There was but one hysterical woman alleged to have been present at the pretended ascension, and . . . the phenomenon has never been corroborated by repetition" (Barker and Chin, 5). HPB also rejects ascension as a fact, calling it "an allegory as old as the world" (Blavatsky, Collected Writings 8:389; see also 4:359-60).

After Ballard (who was supposed to have reached the stage of ascension) died of cardiac arterial sclerosis but did not take his body with him, his wife, Edna, said that one could actually ascend after the body died. Thus the idea of ascension changed during the years, and today Ascended Masters are regarded as disembodied spirits, having transcended their physical bodies. This, again, is contrary to the Theosophical teaching about the Mahatmas. In the early days of the TS, before people in the West knew anything about the Masters, Henry Steel Olcott began to receive letters from some of them. In one early letter, the Master Serapis wrote: "The time is come to let thee know who I am. I am not a disembodied spirit, brother. I am a living man" (Jinarajadasa [2002], 2:23). That they are living men was verified by HPB, who lived with some of them near Tibet for several years while undergoing her occult training. Later Olcott and several other Theosophists also met some Mahatmas in their physical bodies at different times and in different parts of the world.

The fact that the Mahatmas retain their bodies is of great importance. They are enlightened yogis, similar in certain respects to those traditionally known in the East. But there is a difference. An enlightened one, after having realized Truth, has gained the right to merge with the All in a state of absolute bliss (called moksha or nirvana). This prevents him from being in touch with humanity, since he has to abandon the lower vehicles of consciousness. By contrast, the Theosophical Masters, out of compassion, decide to give up entering into nirvana so that they remain able to help us in our struggle to realize Truth: 

The Master must be in a human body, must be incarnate. Many who reach this level no longer take up the burden of the flesh, but using only "the spiritual body" pass out of touch with this earth, and inhabit only loftier realms of existence. (Besant, 49)

The Mahatmas are in this respect what the Mahayana Buddhists call bodhisattvas. They choose to retain the body, not because of any fault in their development but as an act of self-sacrifice. Possessing a physical body subjects the adepts to certain unavoidable limitations. As Blavatsky said, they "are living men, born as we are born, and doomed to die like every mortal" (Blavatsky [1987], 288). Being perfect yogis, they have learned how to take care of their bodies so that they can live much longer than ordinary human beings; nevertheless, the bodies must eventually die.

The Mahatma Letters have several statements about the limitations intrinsic in leading a physical existence. For example, Mahatma K. H. wrote: "I was physically very tired by a ride of 48 hours consecutively" (Barker and Chin, 398). He also stated that he is limited to his physical senses and the functions of his brain "when I sit at my meals, or when I am dressing, reading or otherwise occupied" (Barker and Chin, 257).

But the physical body is where the Masters' evolutionary development is the least apparent. It is said that if we see an adept on the physical plane, we may not even recognize him as anything more than a good and wise man. Yet on the inner planes, his nature is far beyond that of those who are still caught in the illusion. In their letters, the Mahatmas differentiate between the "inner man" (the spiritual Self of the adept which is relatively omniscient and beyond limitations) and "the outer man," which is a very limited expression of the spiritual Self working through the psychophysical personality. This is why K. H. wrote: "We are not infallible, all-foreseeing ‘Mahatmas' at every hour of the day" (Barker and Chin, 450). As he explained: "An adept—the highest as the lowest—is one only during the exercise of his occult powers" (Barker and Chin, 257).

These adepts, then, are not like the Ascended Masters of the New Age, who are said to become godlike, all-powerful beings beyond the laws of nature. In their teachings, the Mahatmas even denied that such beings exist. K. H. wrote: "If we had the powers of the imaginary Personal God, and the universal and immutable laws were but toys to play with, then indeed might we have created conditions that would have turned this earth into an Arcadia for lofty souls" (Barker and Chin, 474). In their letters, the Mahatmas constantly talk about the "immutable laws" of the universe, and say that they can help humanity only within the limits of these laws. They cannot produce a New Age magically; whether we like it or not, this is our job.

Proponents of the Ascended Masters sometimes attempt to account for these discrepancies by claiming that when the TS was founded most of the Theosophical Mahatmas were still "unascended Masters." This leaves room to detach the Ascended Masters from the limitations that all the Mahatmas, "the highest as the lowest," are said to have. But according to the Theosophical teachings, the higher the adept, the less we are likely to hear from him:

The more spiritual the Adept becomes, the less can he meddle with mundane, gross affairs and the more he has to confine himself to a spiritual work. . . . The very high Adepts, therefore, do help humanity, but only spiritually: they are constitutionally incapable of meddling with worldly affairs. (Blavatsky, Collected Writings, 6:247)

Another feature of the Ascended Masters teachings is that they are mainly concerned with the "form aspect" of the Masters (their appearance, names, character, etc.). The Theosophical view, when properly understood, is very different. Blavatsky wrote, "The real mahatma is then not his physical body but that higher Manas [the spiritual Mind] which is inseparably linked to the Atma [the real Self] and its vehicle [the spiritual Soul]." And she adds that whoever wants to "see" a Mahatma has to elevate his perception to the spiritual planes, because "higher things can be perceived only by a sense pertaining to those higher things." The spiritual planes, where forms and separation vanish and unity prevails, are far higher than the psychic planes, which are the ones contacted by natural seers. Those who can reach the high state of consciousness that transcends all sense of separateness "will see the mahatma wherever he may be, for, being merged into the sixth and the seventh principles, which are ubiquitous and omnipresent, the mahatmas may be said to be everywhere" (Blavatsky, Collected Writings, 6:239).

The real Mahatma is thus seen mainly as a spiritual state of consciousness, and the forms assumed by his personal aspect are just shadows. To be sure, we can find descriptions of the form aspect of the Mahatmas in the Theosophical literature, not because this aspect is important in itself, but because it provides something for our limited minds to grasp and comprehend. But this personal aspect is meant to be transcended, and whoever is content with it is stuck in the world of illusion.

The Masters' Work for Humanity

Today thousands of people claim they are channeling the Ascended Masters. It is clear that these Ascended Masters have their attention focused on this physical plane, doing little more than communicating with us through channels. This is, again, another basic difference with the Theosophical teachings. In Theosophy, as well as in most serious spiritual traditions, this physical plane is seen as an illusion. The Maha Chohan, one of the highest adepts, said: "Teach the people to see that life on this earth, even the happiest, is but a burden and an illusion" (Jinarajadasa [1988], 1:6-7). This concept echoes the teachings of Plato, who said this world is just the shadow of Reality. It is also related to the first Noble Truth the Buddha taught after his enlightenment: "All is dukkha (suffering) in this world."

Consequently, as Annie Besant said of the Masters, "the least part of their work is done here," in connection with the physical plane (quoted in Codd [1988], 45). This is one reason why they live in seclusion—most of their activity takes place on the higher planes. This, in fact, is based on a profound knowledge of the structure of the cosmos:

It will be easily seen by any one who examines the nature of occult dynamics, that a given amount of energy expended on the spiritual or astral plane is productive of far greater results than the same amount expended on the physical objective plane of existence. (Blavatsky, Collected Writings, 5:338-39)

So what is the Masters' work on these higher planes? This complex subject is beyond the scope of this article. When asked about this, Blavatsky answered: "You would hardly understand, unless you were an Adept. But they keep alive the spiritual life of mankind" (Blavatsky, Collected Writings, 8:401).

By contrast, channeled communications from the Ascended Masters display a great concern with the physical lives and desires of their followers. The Ascended Master literature is filled with promises of magical miracles of health, limitless wealth, and perfect happiness, and "decrees" are given to enable people to "manifest" these things in their lives. This attitude is the exact opposite of the Theosophical one.

Theosophy says that the psychological ego is false, that the idea that we are this body, emotions, and mind is a mistake of perception and the source of sorrow. It says that real happiness comes only as an unsought by-product of reducing rather than increasing our attachment and identification with the personal. This is why Blavatsky wrote that "Occultism is not . . . the pursuit of happiness as man understands the word; for the first step is sacrifice, the second renunciation" (Blavatsky, Collected Writings, 8:14). K. H. agreed with this when he wrote: "We—the criticized and misunderstood Brothers—we seek to bring men to sacrifice their personality—a passing flash—for the welfare of the whole humanity" (Barker and Chin, 222). The Theosophical Mahatmas would never pay attention to personal desires. During the early times of the Theosophical Society, some members, completely misunderstanding the nature of the Mahatmas, would bring HPB some personal requests to ask of them. In a letter Blavatsky explained:

The Masters would not stoop for one moment to give a thought to individual, private matters relating but to one or even ten persons, their welfare, woes and blisses in this world of Maya [illusion], to nothing except questions of really universal importance. It is all you Theosophists who have dragged down in your minds the ideals of our Masters; you who have unconsciously and with the best of intentions and full sincerity of good purpose, desecrated Them, by thinking for one moment, and believing that They would trouble Themselves with your business matters, sons to be born, daughters to be married, houses to be built, etc. etc. (Jinarajadasa [1923], iv; emphasis here and in other quotations is from the original)

And yet this is exactly the kind of thing the Ascended Masters seem to be concerned with. They even teach alleged ways to dissolve unpleasant karma, a conception that the Theosophical Mahatmas emphatically opposed. K. H. wrote:

Bear in mind that the slightest cause produced, however unconsciously, and with whatever motive, cannot be unmade, or its effects crossed in their progress—by millions of gods, demons, and men combined. (Barker and Chin, 77-78)

The Ascended Masters are portrayed as cosmic fathers who will take care of their followers' problems. In contrast, Mahatma M. said: "We are leaders but not child-nurses" (Eek, 605). The adepts are impersonal, universal forces, and respond only to those who are developing in that direction:

Although the whole of humanity is within the mental vision of the mahatmas, they cannot be expected to take special note of every human being, unless that being by his special acts draws their particular attention to himself. The highest interest of humanity, as a whole, is their special concern, for they have identified themselves with that Universal Soul which runs through Humanity, and he, who would draw their attention, must do so through that Soul which pervades everywhere. (Blavatsky, Collected Writings, 6:240)

The Mahatmas do not communicate indiscriminately with people who fail to realize the illusion of the personal self, or who are driven by desires, fears, and ambitions:

They work on this plane through two kinds of agents: direct and indirect. Any person sincere and unselfish working in the line of the Masters' work may receive their inspiration even if they do not know it. Their direct agents are their accepted disciples, who work consciously with the Masters. (Codd, [2000], 9)

Their influence is always available for those of us acting with selflessness and compassion, even though we may be completely unaware of this. As K. H. wrote to Annie Besant: "At favorable times we let loose elevating influences which strike various persons in various ways" (Jinarajadasa [1988], 1:123-24). Thus any philanthropic act we perform may be part of the Mahatmas' work. However, only accepted disciples have a conscious and personal relationship with them. The moral and spiritual qualifications needed to be an accepted disciple are very deep and demanding, and very few in humanity are at the level of spiritual maturity to achieve this.  (For a description of these qualifications see At the Feet of the Master and Light on the Path.)

The teachings of the Mahatmas are calculated to help people rise above the personal ego and realize the spiritual Self. Approaches like those we see in the New Age have been characterized by the Tibetan lama Chögyam Trungpa as "spiritual materialism." While not denying the reality of the spiritual, these individuals attempt to put it at the service of the personal and material. This approach is appealing for many who are not ready to try to transcend the personal ego, and has turned the New Age into an important business.

Who Are the Ascended Masters?

Who, then, are these Ascended Masters that are communicating with thousands of channels around the world? We cannot be sure. But to appreciate this question it is necessary to realize that the inner planes are inhabited by all kinds of entities (elementals, thought-forms, deceased people, living people whose bodies are sleeping, etc.). Many of these entities enjoy impersonating Masters, saints, and other important historical figures. (For more on this subject see The Astral Plane and the pamphlet Difficulties in Clairvoyance, both by Charles W. Leadbeater.)

Even in the early days of the TS, mediums and sensitives began to channel messages from fake Mahatmas. For example, after a sensitive by the name of Oxley declared that K. H. had "thrice visited him ‘by the astral form' and . . . that he had a conversation with Mr. Oxley," the Mahatma had to ask his disciple, Djual Kool, to write to Mr. Sinnett saying: "Whomsoever Mr. Oxley may have seen and conversed with at the time described, it was not with Koot Hoomi" (Barker and Chin, 253).

In another instance, there was a medium who claimed to be in touch with characters such as Jesus, John the Baptist, Hermes, and Elijah. In a letter to Mr. Sinnett referring to this kind of psychic communication, K. H. wrote:  "Mystery, mystery will you exclaim. ignorance we answer; the creation of that we believe in and want to see" (Barker and Chin, 109).

We have to keep in mind that "the Psychic World of super-sensuous perceptions and of deceptive sights—the world of Mediums . . . is the world of the Great Illusion" (Blavatsky, [1992], 75-76). In that realm different entities can assume any form according to what they find in the seer's mind. Deep powers of clairvoyance, long training, and a strong spiritual maturity, are needed not to be fooled by these entities, because

The slightest wish-fulfillment there [on the psychic plane] takes shape and form. Such a thought-form can be ensouled by a Nature-spirit . . . and thus appear as an angel of light, telling us just what we want to hear. CWL [i.e., Leadbeater] always warned us to be wary of any vision or voice which flattered us. (Codd, [1988], 66)

In support of this, Blavatsky offers a suggestive historical fact. Writing in 1889, she observes:

Fourteen years ago, before the Theosophical Society was founded, all the talk [by mediums] was of "Spirits" . . . and no one by any chance even dreamt of talking about living "Adepts," "Mahatmas," or "Masters." . . . Now all that is changed. We Theosophists were, unfortunately, the first to talk of these things . . . and now the name has become common property. . . .

There is hardly a medium who has not claimed to have seen them. Every bogus swindling Society, for commercial purposes, now claims to be guided and directed by "Masters," often supposed to be far higher than ours! (Blavatsky [1987], 301-302)

The idea of the Ascended Masters is hard to believe for many spiritually minded people, who see in them nothing more than a reemergence of the tribal gods of old. Let us hope this article serves to remove some misconceptions.

References

Barker, A. T., and Vicente Hao Chin Jr., eds. The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett from the Mahatmas M. and K. H. in Chronological Sequence. Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 1998.

Besant, Annie. The Masters. Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 1985.

Blavatsky, H. P. Collected Writings. 15 vols. Wheaton: Theosophical Publishing House, 1977-91.

——. The Key to Theosophy. London: Theosophical Publishing House, 1987.

——. The Voice of the Silence. Wheaton: Theosophical Publishing House, 1992.

Codd, Clara. The Way of the Disciple. Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 1988.

——. Theosophy as the Masters See It. Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 2000.

Eek, Sven, ed. Damodar and the Pioneers of the Theosophical Movement. Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 1965.

Hanegraaff, Wouter J., et al. Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism. Two volumes. Leiden: Brill, 2005.

Jinarajadasa, C. Early Teachings of the Masters. Chicago: Theosophical Press, 1923.

——. Letters from the Masters of Wisdom. Two volumes. Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 1988, 2002.

Pablo D. Sender has given Theosophical lectures, seminars, and classes in India, Spain, the U.S., and several countries in Latin America. He has published articles in Spanish and English in several Theosophical journals. They can also be found on his Web site, www.pablosender.com. His article "The Theosophical Path of Meditation" appeared in Quest, Winter 2011.

Originally printed in the Summer 2011 issue of Quest magazine. 
Citation: Ed Abdill. "Working as Colleagues of the Masters." Quest  99. 3 (Summer 2011): 98 - 100.

by Ed Abdill

 In the late nineteenth century, H. P. Blavatsky introduced to the Western world a modern statement of a system of thought that has been called the Ancient Wisdom, the perennial philosophy, or Theosophy. She insisted that what she was teaching was not something she had originated. Rather, she claimed, it was the accumulated wisdom of the ages, preserved from the dawn of humanity and passed on by certain extraordinary individuals.

 Although personal acquaintance with these individuals was not widespread, several Easterners and Westerners were privileged to meet and correspond with two of them, known as Morya and Koot Hoomi. Blavatsky claimed that Morya was her personal teacher and that it was he who asked her to publish their teachings in the West. He warned her that the task would be arduous and that she would reap no personal benefit. In fact, she would be attacked by religious leaders, scientists, and others. Personal difficulties rather than good fortune could be expected. Yet if she wanted to cooperate in this venture, she could help to lift some of the burden of ignorance and suffering from humanity. She agreed, and the work began.

Because the West had no single term to describe the nature of such individuals as Morya and Koot Hoomi, Blavatsky referred to them in a number of ways. In addition to the term "adepts," she sometimes called them Mahatmas, the Brothers, or the Masters.

Unfortunately, the use of the term "Masters" has led many to believe that the adepts are masters in the sense of godlike individuals who are omnipotent and omniscient. While their powers and knowledge are amazing to us, the adepts insist that they are human beings and not gods. They teach that over the long course of evolution we will also obtain their knowledge, develop their powers, and join their ranks as workers for the good of humanity. Although the adepts are far more knowledgeable and developed than most of humanity, they do not think of themselves as superior. If we are the parents of a four-year-old child, we don't think of ourselves as superior to that child. We simply realize that we know much more about the world. It is a little like that with the adepts and us.

 In a 1900 letter to Annie Besant  Koot Hoomi noted a tendency toward a worshipful attitude toward the Masters and wrote: "Are we to be propitiated and made idols of. . . . Let the devotion and service be to that Supreme Spirit alone of which each one is a part." On another occasion K. H. wrote, "Learn to be loyal to the Idea, rather than to my poor self" (Barker and Chin, 432). The Masters prefer that we think of them and ourselves as colleagues. That is a very different attitude from regarding them as saints or gods. Despite the differences in our ability and knowledge, if we want to, we can become colleagues in the work for humanity. What they want from us is a commitment to work for the good of the human race. That work does not have to be in some glorious form that the world will acknowledge. Everyone can do something, and we have their word that a watchful attitude for opportunities to do such work brings us into magnetic rapport with them.

From their letters, one gets a sense that the Masters are especially interested in the future of humanity. Yet it would seem that they do not understand the future as we do. In one of his letters K. H. finds himself frustrated at having to use the English words "past, present, and future." He calls them "miserable concepts of the objective phases of the Subjective Whole" and says, "They are about as ill adapted for the purpose as an axe for fine carving" (Barker and Chin, 46).

 It is said that time is an illusion caused by our perception of motion in an eternal now. Yet time seems very real to us. History speaks of the past, and to some extent we can predict future events. So why do the adepts say that there is only an eternal now? While it is not easy for us to experience the eternal now, we may perhaps see the truth of it intellectually. It can also become real to us in meditation, even if only in flashes of insight.

What is the past, present, and future that so dominate our perception of time? In one sense past, present, and future do exist now. The past exists as the effects of causes that have already been set into motion. What we are now is the past. Even memory of past events exists in our mind in the present. We cannot go back in time to change anything. Even those who claim that they can "read" the past are not actually going back in time. If indeed they can see the past, they are not seeing past events themselves. Rather, they are seeing the effect of causes on the fabric of the cosmic "mind," called akasha in Theosophical literature. The akasha might be thought of in the same way that we think of the brain. It is possible to stimulate the brain to bring back memories long gone from our conscious mind. That memory is a vibratory quality in the brain. It is not the past itself. The memory is a temporary condition now.

Similarly, what we call the future is the potential of all of the causes we and nature have been and are still setting in motion. We might think of that potential as a subtle superphysical energy that exists here and now. That "future" can be changed if we introduce new causes to counteract those existing. Say that police have set up a highway roadblock to prevent motorists from driving over a recently washed-out bridge that spans a river. You are driving down the highway at 65 miles per hour and you see the roadblock ahead. At that moment you could easily crash through the roadblock and drive into the river. The potential exists now, but you introduce a new cause. You brake slowly and come to a stop. Your action in the now has changed the potential future, which also exists now.

It is easy to see how we can change the future by braking before danger. It may not be so easy to see that we can change the future in a much more subtle and powerful way. From a Theosophical perspective, energy is not only a physical but also an emotional, mental, and spiritual reality. Physical energy can be measured with physical instruments, but as yet we have no universally acceptable way to demonstrate the existence of more subtle emotional, mental, and spiritual energies except through subjective experience.

Theosophical theory suggests that physical energy is the densest of all forms of energy. Emotional energy is less so, mental energy is even more rarified, and spiritual energy is the most subtle of all. The more rarified energies are far more powerful. After all, if someone suddenly becomes very angry with us, we feel as though we have been hit with a bolt of violent energy. Conversely, we feel enveloped in a benevolent power when someone feels affection towards us. It is these subtle, powerful energies that the adepts claim to use in their work. They say that they influence people to do what is right, but they never force anyone to act against their own free will.

One example of how the Masters work to mold the future is given in Mahatma Letter 5, in which Koot Hoomi, writing in 1880, tells Sinnett that "Russia is gradually massing her forces for a future invasion of [Tibet] under the pretext of a Chinese war." He goes on to say, "If she does not succeed it will be due to us" (Barker and Chin, 15). This would imply that the adepts were using mental and emotional power to change the future by working to change the minds of the Russians at that moment. Such a possibility may not seem so implausible if we reflect on times when we have been strongly influenced by the ideas of others. Mental energy is indeed powerful. History is packed with ideas that have changed the destiny of nations.

     How, then, can we become colleagues of the Masters?

In a document known as The Golden Stairs, one of the adepts gives some clues to the requirements for becoming their colleagues. Among the requirements are a clean life, an open mind, a pure heart, an eager intellect, a courageous endurance of personal injustice, a brave declaration of principles, and a valiant defense of those who are unjustly attacked. Behind all of these lies the need for an altruistic life. In fact, altruism is the hallmark of the true Theosophist. If we are making every effort to live altruistic lives, the adepts have assured us that we are automatically within the sphere of their influence. We are not required to do great things for humanity. We are not required to cure the world's ills singlehandedly. Rather, we are required to be become conscious of how our actions affect others and the environment. We need to make sure that our thoughts, feelings, and actions do not harm others. In addition, we can be on the alert for opportunities to take positive, selfless action for the benefit of others, our community, or the world. Such a simple thing as avoiding environmentally harmful products is one example. Keeping our thoughts pure and refraining from polluting the psychological atmosphere with the violent energy of anger are other examples. The task set before us is not easy, but as a Chinese proverb puts it, "To remove a mountain, one begins by carrying away small pebbles."

In addition to living altruistically, there is something that we can do through the power of meditation. Many people of goodwill meditate daily, and during their meditations they try to send peace to the world. If, as some evidence suggests, we are all interconnected, then such meditations must have a positive effect on the whole. Because we do not necessarily know what is truly right for ourselves, let alone for humanity, it is best not to meditate on our own personal ideas of what the future should be. Instead we might first empty our minds of the "me" and center in the still point within that is beyond the ego. Then we can add our love and compassion to the Masters' work, confident that they will use that energy in the most appropriate way.

Obviously the effect of one person meditating will not bring world peace. Nevertheless, even a miniscule amount of peaceful energy could help to neutralize some of the hostile energy being sent out daily by so many. The peaceful energy you send out in meditation might reach someone who is prone to rage and calm him or her just enough to prevent violent action. In that way, you have helped to change the future by acting now.

The adepts always work for the good of humanity as a whole. They do not want to be worshiped, and they do not want people constantly thinking of them in a personal way. In his 1900 letter to Mrs. Besant, Koot Hoomi wrote, "Namelessly and silently we work and the continual references to ourselves and the repetition of our names raises up a confused aura that hinders our work." They, like us, are affected by thoughts.

 Unfortunately, some members of the Theosophical Society believe that the adepts do not want us to think of them at all. Yet if we are to work with them as colleagues, we must think of them. The seeming paradox may be resolved if we understand that there is a way to help them in their work by getting in rapport with them, but not in a personal way. Since their concern is always with humanity in the mass, it is reasonable to assume that if we become conscious of our unity with humanity at the deepest level, we will enter into the stream of their influence. We could then offer our peaceful energy to help them change the future for the better.

The Masters have made it clear that they only work with people who have the welfare of humanity at heart. If we live altruistically and meditate daily for the good of humanity, we will come into rapport with them. We will be working with them as colleagues.

Reference 

Barker, A. T., and Vicente Hao Chin Jr., eds. The Mahatma Letters from the Mahatmas M. and K. H. in Chronological Sequence. Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 1998. 

Ed Abdill, author of The Secret Gateway, is vice-president of the Theosophical Society in America and past president of the New York Theosophical Society. His article "Desire and Spiritual Selfishness" Desire and Spiritual Selfishnessappeared in the Winter 2011 Quest.

Originally printed in the Summer 2011 issue of Quest magazine. 
Citation: Richard Smoley. "Original Instructions." Quest  99. 3 (Summer 2011): 101 - 106.

An Interview with Peter Kingsley

Peter Kingsley is one of a rare class of people: a scholar with a sense of the truths that lie beyond the realm that scholarship can penetrate. A classicist with impeccable credentials "including a Ph.D. from the University of London" he has made a career of venturing past the shores of conventional academics.

 Kingsley has devoted much of his attention to the Presocratic philosophers "the collection of thinkers who flourished in ancient Greece roughly between 600 and 430 bc. Every philosophy student has been introduced to these figures, who include Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Parmenides, and Empedocles, but the standard view of them" abetted by the fact that their writings survive only in fragments"is that they were crude materialistic thinkers whose merit lies chiefly in serving as precursors to modern science.

Kingsley's view of the Presocratics is radically different. He contends that their successors, notably Plato and Aristotle, have given us incomplete and distorted views of them. In works such as Ancient Philosophy, Mystery, and Magic: Empedocles and Pythagorean Tradition, In the Dark Places of Wisdom, and Reality, Kingsley argues that the Presocratics"the intellectual fathers of Western thought"were not purveyors of primitive scientific systems but visionaries and esotericists, whose view of the universe went much broader and deeper than the mere workings of the material world.

 In his latest book, A Story Waiting to Pierce You: Mongolia, Tibet, and the Destiny of the Western World, published in November 2010, Kingsley focuses on a little-known figure from antiquity named Abaris, who, he says, represents a missing link between the wisdom of Central Asia and the knowledge at the heart of Western civilization.

I have known Peter for a number of years, and have always been impressed not only by his scholarly rigor but his capacity for seeing old texts and figures with completely new eyes"as well as his remarkable ability to explain his ideas in simple, direct language. I discussed his work with him in an e-mail interview conducted in February-March, 2011.

To find out more about Peter and his work, visit his Web site: www.peterkingsley.org.

 - Richard Smoley

Richard Smoley: Your work has focused on the Presocratic philosophers of ancient Greece. Could you begin by telling us a bit about this work? What is the conventional view of the Presocratics, and where do you think it is wrong?

Peter Kingsley: My work on the Presocratics began when I was still a teenager, although I would prefer to say that this is the time when they started working in earnest on me. And it began not as some intellectual or historical inquiry but as a consuming longing"as a burning need to try and discover what is missing in our modern Western world. Friends of mine were immersing themselves in Buddhism and other Eastern religions, but an inner voice that deeply impressed me with its constant clarity and logic instructed me to stay focused on the West. The intuitive understanding formed itself in me that a true solution to our contemporary ills and restlessness has to be found at the heart of the problem, not by looking somewhere else. And so I was drawn to go back, as far as I could, to the dawn and pre-dawn of what we call Western philosophy: back to the "Presocratics."

     The name "Presocratic" is of course a label for the earliest philosophers who lived before the time of Socrates. And if you go back to Plato, who considered himself Socrates" direct disciple and successor, you will already find germs of all the various attitudes that have defined how people related to these "Presocratics" ever since: amusement and fascination, a certain mysteriously irresistible attraction coupled with an attitude of intellectual superiority which tends to become more and more unquestioned with the passing of time. God forbid that we really have something to learn from those naive Presocratics! At the very best they are nothing but a perfect foil for our infinitely advanced refinement.

     But as I was drawn back into the world of the Presocratics, as I became absorbed into the ancient Greek texts they had left behind, I soon started discovering something totally different. These so-called philosophers weren"t theoretical thinkers or speculators, and they were nothing like rationalists in the modern sense. Many of them were immensely powerful spiritual beings. Greek texts which I was soon to realize had been misunderstood and mistranslated for centuries reveal, when the distortions and mistaken interpretations are blown away, extraordinary spiritual teachings and extremely potent meditation techniques that can still be applied and practiced nowadays. I practiced them myself, and was transformed. I had been brought into direct contact with the lineage and teachings of the ancient Masters who, at the dawn of our civilization, helped shape the Western world and bring our culture into being.

     For me, the first few years of these discoveries were incalculably significant in a personal sense. Over time, though, I came to realize their much vaster implications"not only for how we approach Western history but also for how we understand ourselves and the destiny of our culture. These so-called "Presocratics" were not the primitive fools they are often presented as. On the contrary, some of them were among the founding fathers of Western civilization who consciously brought it into existence to serve a sacred purpose. The price for our illusions of sophistication is that we have completely forgotten this sacred purpose, and one direct result is all the chaos and confusion of the modern world. Just as Native Americans have their venerated ancestors who gave them their "original instructions" that must never be forgotten, we in the West also have our original instructions and the great Masters who gave them to us: people such as Pythagoras, Parmenides, Empedocles. The trouble is that we no longer have the intellectual humility to acknowledge our ancestors or remember where we came from; and the law in this respect is very simple. When we forget, when we become so caught up in our complicated ideas that we lose sight of the bigger picture, we suffer.

     But it"s not only that we in the West have lost any memory of our own sacred roots. Eventually I began to uncover an even more devastating indictment of our forgetfulness, which is that our sacred history had been remembered outside of Western culture. For years I felt entirely on my own in the mystery of what I had encountered. But then to my amazement I began to discover how medieval Persian Sufis, Arab alchemists, mystics who were teaching all the way from Spain through Egypt to Mecca and into Central Asia, had preserved the essential awareness of what I had experienced directly for myself: that in fact many of the so-called Presocratics were great Masters of wisdom and guides of humanity, major prophets and lawgivers who had laid down the spiritual laws for what Western civilization was originally meant to be. Some of these remarkable figures from the Middle Ages even considered themselves devoted followers and initiatic disciples in the lineage of Presocratic philosophers who had died two thousand years before their time"an astonishing story which I started telling in my first book, Ancient Philosophy, Mystery, and Magic. And gradually everything fell into place as I found what it means to be part of a tradition which is just as alive now, just as intensely vital and relevant to the present moment, as it was at the beginnings of our culture.

Smoley: In your books, you"ve stated that Western philosophy got off on the wrong track at a very early stage of its history. Could you explain what you mean by this, and what you think the consequences have been?

Kingsley: With our minds we can invent any number of theoretical approaches to history: evolutionary explanations and so on. But we will never be able to understand the realities of history by staying on the level of theory. We can only understand it through our own experience, because everything exists inside us right now. And everything depends on how sincere we are willing to be.

   If we are truly honest with ourselves, we will start to see how much we have received from life. But we will also see how irresistibly we are drawn as humans to trivialize those extraordinary gifts by taking them for granted"by transforming the miraculous into something ordinary and expected, safe and routine. The process, unless we live constantly on an exceptional level of consciousness, is just as inevitable as our bodies becoming feebler with age or the tires on our car losing their tread.

     This explains why, and how, Western philosophy got off on the wrong track so quickly. The word "philosophy" itself means the love of wisdom; and such a love is immensely dangerous because it means one has to be willing to sacrifice everything for wisdom, even be willing to die for it if necessary. You can see this happen, quite literally, with Socrates"and also with some earlier "Presocratics" who suffered terribly because of their refusal to compromise. But we as humans soon become frightened of such passion and integrity. There is too much intensity required, and the risks at every stage can seem daunting, so we start cutting corners and looking for a safer route. Instead of our primary focus being on the reality of the sacred, on something irresistibly attractive beyond ourselves, we become more and more centered on our own little thoughts and concerns. Before we know what has happened, something that once was unimaginably real has been transformed into just a turn of speech; what originally would have involved the whole of our being has become nothing but an opportunity for empty speculation in the imagined security of our academies; and we then cheat ourselves by explaining all these changes as proofs of our "evolution." In other words, what started out as the love of wisdom becomes institutionalized to the point where any true wisdom has been excluded. And, without even realizing it, we have lived out one of the great principles taught by a number of Presocratics: that, with the passing of time, everything is inevitably transformed into its opposite.

Aside from the word "philosophy" itself, there are hundreds of other examples one could mention. Take, for instance, the expression "common sense." Now, nobody has the faintest idea what it means. Frustrated parents will yell, "Use your common sense!" at youngsters even though they are as clueless as their children about what this mysterious common sense really is. And, as I have explained in my book Reality, it is a mystery: a profound mystery. In fact it refers back to what at the dawn of Western philosophy, among Presocratics such as Empedocles, was the extraordinary practice of becoming conscious simultaneously through all our different senses. This was a very rare, and very esoteric, technique used in certain circles for awakening the spiritual powers fast asleep inside each of us and starting to trigger the evolutionary process of becoming a conscious human being. But by the time Aristotle picked up on the expression "common sense" and started throwing it around as if he knew what it meant, everything that could go wrong had gone wrong. In his arrogance he assumed this common sense (which already was just the dimmest of memories for his teacher Plato) must be something fully active in every human being, himself included. He no longer realized that it"s only the very rare fruit of an extremely arduous initiatory training, because he no longer had the humility to test out Empedocles" teaching in his own experience. And this is the harsh reality involved in trying to convey esoteric truths: those who see no need for them can never imagine there might be something they are missing, because they assume they have it already.

You can also see this same basic process unfolding in the history of what we cheerfully refer to as logic. Nowadays we all tend to assume we have a fair enough idea of what logic is, and that we even know how to be very logical when we want. But with Parmenides, generally considered the founding father of Western logic and perhaps the most influential Presocratic of all, everything was almost the exact opposite of what it is now. For him, logic was a divine gift offered to us humans by the goddess at the heart of all existence so as to help guide us back to the realization of true oneness which is our ultimate source. To him it was sacred in every possible respect: in its origin, even in the sacredness of the incantatory poetry that he used for communicating it, and also in its overall purpose. Of course you could say all his talk about the divine is nothing but mythological clothing that we more knowledgeable moderns need to strip away"until you start to see exactly what this logic was meant to achieve. In Parmenides" hands, as in the hands of his famous successor Zeno, it was an infinitely potent tool for shredding all our human illusions about ourselves and about the nature of reality. And this same destructive force of logic is dramatically evident in the figure of Socrates, who became famous at Athens for paralyzing people"s minds and stunning them into absolute silence.

But then, subtly at first with Plato and then much more crudely with Aristotle, everything begins to change. Logic is pressured into performing functions quite at odds with what it was designed for, like using a fine sword for chopping vegetables. Rather than allowing the divine to penetrate us with its all-knowing wisdom, logic starts being used to prove our human cleverness. As a result, it completely loses the sharpness of its original focus. Instead of helping us to free ourselves, it ends up being made to bolster and reinforce our illusions; instead of cutting straight through our human imaginings and deceits and discriminations, it tangles us up inside them even more than before.  In other words logic, too, turns into the opposite of itself"just as surely as a ball falling, step by step, down a flight of stairs. It becomes more and more a purely mental, masculine discipline while the feminine mystery at its origin is buried deeper and deeper. Here too we have tried to make everything safe and manageable for ourselves, but at a terrible cost.

     In each single one of these cases"philosophy, common sense, logic"we can see how something profoundly esoteric is stripped of its sacred meaning and discarded in the marketplace, trampled, misused. And the consequences of this process are, very simply, what we see all around us. The end result is the world we now live in, where we have lost any connection with reality and try to get by in a strangely lifeless existence that never is able to satisfy us. We are taught as children that when we grow up we will become real human beings, whereas in fact even the oldest adults are no more than tentative seeds of humanity: seeds that no one knew how to plant or grow. We all lay claim to faculties and abilities that are far beyond our reach"thinking we already have logic, wisdom, common sense, instead of remembering that we need to strive for them and that we need help to find them. We have become very adept in the West at getting rid of the Masters.

     And the other consequence is that anybody growing up in this seemingly hollow world of ours who feels even the slightest longing for a fuller reality is almost bound to be drawn to search for that reality somewhere else"in another, more spiritual realm or in the welcoming bosom of some exotic culture that calls to us with its fascinating customs and rituals. But to look elsewhere for the reality we have lost at home risks turning out to be the biggest trap of all. There is no greater spiritual adventure than to turn back to our own, apparently empty shell of a culture and prize it open until we find the jewels and pearls at its core. Then we have served a purpose larger than ourselves and, by connecting the beginning to the end, have done the work of a noble human being.

Smoley: Maybe you could speak a little more to the issue of Western scholarship, and why it has presented a picture so at odds with what you are describing.

Kingsley: One could be tempted to say Western scholarship is a failed experiment, but that would be untrue and unfair. In fact it has stayed remarkably faithful to its initial function and purpose. The term "scholar" derives originally from an ancient Greek word for people who have nothing better to do with their time than to sit around all day talking. Nothing could better describe the basic dynamic that powers the endless wheelings of scholarly research and discussion nowadays. But at the same time, nothing could be further removed from the impulse that guided the greatest of the Presocratics"who constantly drew attention to the infinite fragility of our fleeting lives and emphasized the urgency of finding reality before we die.

     And this is where the crux of the problem lies. Scholars have a wonderful array of tools and instruments available to them; but the irony is that they have very little idea of how to use them rightly. This is because they function only on the level of the mind, most often without any awareness of what lies behind the mind or of what is needed to make the mind work wisely. And the mind, you may have noticed, always deceives us into believing we have time. It tricks us into forgetting the urgency of life, because the reality is that we have no time to spare. Now this happens to be truer than ever, not only because each of us is going to die but because our whole culture is dying around as well as inside us. Whenever such a phase is reached in the life span of a culture, it always brings with it a tremendously pressing need to gather the essence of the past into the present moment for the sake of the planet"s future. Unfortunately"as I explain in my new book A Story Waiting to Pierce You"most scholars are quite clueless about this essential dynamic behind our, and any other, culture.

     Everything becomes clear once we accept the fact that scholarship as a whole is not concerned with finding, or even looking for, the truth. That"s just a decorative appearance. It"s simply concerned with protecting us from truths that might endanger our security; and it does so by perpetuating our collective illusions on a much deeper level than individual scholars are aware of. This is why"when it comes to the Presocratics"there is no point in arguing rationally with most scholars, because they will misunderstand whatever you try to say, ignore the obvious, cover over or manipulate the evidence they have been entrusted with, and come up with the most absurd pseudoarguments in the hope of pleasing their peers while appearing to sound rational. This whole bizarre charade is nothing more than the human mind gone hopelessly out of control, because scholars have never learned to submit to the rigors of the search for wisdom or logic or common sense as it once was taught.

     And this brings me back to my very first point, which is that how we understand or misunderstand the so-called Presocratics is not just a matter of intellectual or historical concern. To obscure or distort the reality of what they represent is to cut off the breath, the lifeblood, of our Western world: is to separate us from the sacred source and purpose of our culture. This is why, at the very beginning of my book In the Dark Places of Wisdom, I point out that scholars entrusted with understanding the Presocratics have become like the scribes and Pharisees denounced by Jesus: "They hold the keys of knowledge but hide them; and they don"t go in themselves or open the doors for anyone else." There is a tremendous need for truth in the modern world. Scholars are not innocent if, however unconsciously, they play a role in helping us to forget.

Smoley: Your latest book, A Story Waiting to Pierce You, has the subtitle Mongolia, Tibet, and the Destiny of the Western World. Clearly it reaches far beyond the confines of Greek philosophy, or even of Western civilization as a whole. Can you say a little bit about why you were drawn in this particular direction?

Kingsley: On the most obvious level this new book has to do with the origins of our Western world. The received wisdom is that either Western culture was conceived through some kind of virgin birth in complete isolation from life on the rest of the planet, or that if there were any external influences they must have come only from other "high cultures" such as Egypt or Babylonia or Persia. In fact there certainly were influences from these sources, as I myself have documented over many years. But when we look at all the evidence carefully, patiently, open-mindedly, another even vaster picture also emerges"a picture of Presocratics such as Pythagoras in very real contact with the regions we now refer to as Central Asia and Mongolia. There is no longer any need to place all one"s faith in occultists" intuitions about the historical importance for humanity of areas such as the Altai Mountains or Gobi Desert: the tangible evidence is there, in the written texts and archaeological records. But as for how all this evidence affects our understanding of Western civilization or its origins, no one has been willing to connect the dots and put the story together.

And it happens to be a story of tremendous oneness"not some nice sentimental oneness which allows us to keep all our prejudices intact or a refined spiritual oneness only accessible on some elevated plane of consciousness but a deep, raw, vibrant oneness which is the soil our entire reality is built on. This is a story that embraces the neglected shamanic cultures of Central Asia, Mongolia, Tibet, not to mention the traditions of Native Americans. At the same time it also is our story, the story of how our own civilization came into being as well as of spiritual life on the planet as a whole.

But being able to show that East and West have always been intimately interconnected, and that Western civilization has from the start been inextricably linked to the cultures of eastern Asia, is only the outermost shell of this book. The beauty is that when you start to observe very closely how any culture such as our own came into being, you begin to be shown the spiritual principles according to which all civilizations come into existence: how and why they are seeded, germinated, tended. You also begin to see why they eventually are allowed to fade away"and how the people who grow up inside a particular culture either rise to the occasion by working respectfully with what they have been given or end up squandering the divine seed.

So on a much deeper level this is what A Story Waiting to Pierce You is really about: the fact that every single culture, even our seemingly materialistic Western world, has a sacred source and destiny. And I should emphasize that"aside from all the labor involved in sifting and understanding the historical evidence"everything I am saying can be experienced directly inside oneself by accessing the consciousness that brought our Western civilization into being.

But then, on an even deeper level, one comes to a place where the book is not about anything at all. And this is something we have completely forgotten in the West: that certain texts are not about anything because their words speak straight from the reality they are describing in a way our minds, obsessed as they are with facts and information, may not understand or even notice. I find it particularly interesting that the first person who realized this about my book was not a Westerner at all, but a Native American"Joseph Rael, who wrote the book"s foreword and saw that it was written as an incantation intended to work directly on the reader"s being.

This means that as far as I am concerned, the less I say about the book, the better. But there is just one thing I should mention, which of course connects back to the book"s title. A Story Waiting to Pierce You is not a safe book, just as there is nothing safe about reality or about the wisdom that brings us to it. Reality is not something we can think about, or discuss, because we are reality; and we gain wisdom not through a process of accumulating anything but simply through being touched and pierced by the consciousness that lies behind everything and keeps everything going. This is what gives access to the greatest privilege and delight possible for a human being: the opportunity, strange as such a thing might sound, to participate in the cosmic process that lies behind even the birth and death of civilizations.

Then we can start to remember what it means to cooperate with the great ones rather than working against them, and to help the waters of life to flow again in the desert of the Western world. The only problem is that, just as we have forgotten the original meaning of logic or philosophy or common sense, we have forgotten even what it means to remember. Really to re-member is not to clutter our minds with complicated facts and data but to bring all the scattered parts of ourselves back together into the present moment in an utter simplicity that allows us to move forward into the future"unburdened, free of regrets, leaving no trace of the past behind.

Originally printed in the Summer 2011 issue of Quest magazine. 
Citation: Koot Hoomi. The Cant about "Masters". Quest  99. 3 (Summer 2011): 96 - 97.

Koot Hoomi's Last Letter to Annie Besant

      In 1900 one B. W. Mantri of India wrote a letter to Annie Besant, dated August 22. When Besant opened it, she found on the back a letter written in blue pencil and in the handwriting of the Master Koot Hoomi. This is K. H.'s last letter.

     The letter has been reprinted in part in C. Jinarajadasa's Letters from the Masters of Wisdom, first series (Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 1919), pp. 123—24. But Jinarajadasa published the letter in an abridged form, leaving out some of the more strongly worded passages. He claimed, somewhat incorrectly, that these parts "refer to the occult life of Dr. Besant which only the Master could have known."

     The letter was reprinted unabridged in The Eclectic Theosophist (Sept.-Oct. 1987), page 1. We are reproducing it in full below, including the passages omitted in Jinarajadasa's edition. Spelling and punctuation follow the original.

     The letter is noteworthy for several reasons. In the first place, it dates from 1900, nine years after the death of H. P. Blavatsky, which strongly suggests that Blavatsky could not have been the author of the Mahatma Letters, as current academic scholars argue. It also warns against worship of the Masters, credulity in spiritual matters, and outmoded forms of religious observance. The disparaging opening reference to the writer of the original letter is rather amusing.
—Richard Smoley

      A psychic and a pranayamist¹ who has got confused by the vagaries of the members. The T. S. and its members are slowly manufacturing a creed. Says a Thibetan proverb 'credulity breeds credulity and ends in hypocrisy'. How few they are who know anything about us. Are we to be propitiated and made idols of. Is the worship of a new Trinity made up of the Blessed M. Upasika and yourself to take the place of exploded creeds.² We ask not for the worship of ourselves. The disciple should in no way be fettered. Beware of Esoteric Popery. The intense desire to see Upasika reincarnate at once has raised a misleading Mayavic³ ideation. Upasika has useful work to do on higher planes and cannot come again so soon. The T. S. must safely be ushered into the new century. You have for some time been under deluding influences. Shun pride, vanity and love of power. Be not guided by emotion but learn to stand alone. Be accurate and critical rather than credulous. The mistakes of the past in the old religions must not be glossed over with imaginary explanations. The E. S. T.⁴ must be reformed so as to be as unsectarian and creedless as the T. S. The rules must be few and simple and acceptable to all. No one has a right to claim authority over a pupil or his conscience. Ask him not what he believes. All who are sincere and pure minded must have admittance. The crest wave of intellectual advancement must be taken hold of and guided into spirituality. It cannot be forced into beliefs and emotional worship. The essence of the higher thoughts of the members in their collectivity must guide all action in the T. S. and E. S. We never try to subject to ourselves the will of another. At favourable times we let loose elevating influences which strike various persons in various ways. It is the collective aspect of many such thoughts that can give the correct note of action. We show no favours. The best corrective of error is an honest and open-minded examination of all facts subjective and objective. Misleading secrecy has given the death blow to numerous organizations. The cant about "Masters" must be silently but firmly put down. Let the devotion and service be to that Supreme Spirit alone of which one is a part. Namelessly and silently we work and the continual references to ourselves and the repetition of our names raises up a confused aura that hinders our work. You will have to leave a good deal of your emotions and credulity before you become a safe guide among the influences that will commence to work in the new cycle. The T. S. was meant to be the cornerstone of the future religions of humanity. To accomplish this object those who lead 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 thought and outward obedience. The greatest of your trials is yet to come. We watch over you but you must put forth all your strength.

K. H.