THEOSOPHY, Vol. 19, No. 12, October, 1931 (Pages 529-531; Size: 8K)
IDEAL PROGRESSION"IN this path there is only one single object, and this of a steady constant nature; but widely branched is the faith and infinite are the objects of those who follow not this system."
What is that single Object which inspired the mission of Krishna more than fifty centuries ago, as it inspired others both before and since? Is this constant Object of every Divine mission and message on earth beyond the vision and the scope of the humblest man?
These are questions which every sincere Theosophist should, above all other men, ask himself, nor rest until that path is made his own. No doubt all of us have asked and answered these same questions many times, in other lives as well as in this. No doubt all sincere men of every persuasion have asked and answered these questions for themselves. Have they found Krishna's answer? Have they entered the Path?
Whether we look at the past or at the present, whether we observe the world at large or only that small segment of humanity which calls itself Theosophist -- the answer is all too apparent. Not to speak of any other than Theosophists, "widely branched is the faith and infinite are the objects" among those attracted to the mission and the message of H. P. Blavatsky and her Masters. None, we think, can be found who would deny this.
Of all known Scriptures, the Bhagavad-Gita is the oldest, the briefest, the least corrupted, and excites to-day, as it has excited for long millenniums, the profound reverence of able as well as sincere men. In India alone there have been for ages six great schools of philosophy founded upon it, not to speak of the hundreds of minor systems of an endless succession of Gurus. Countless religious sects and sub-sects rely upon it or include it in their dogmas and doctrines. Is not the faith and are not the objects of all of them widely branched and infinite? Have they, then, succeeded, or have they failed to gain the vision of the one single Object of Krishna?
It requires but the slightest survey of the results attendant upon the mission and the message of Buddha, to learn that the same state of facts everywhere obtains among the followers of Gautama. And so with the mission and message of Christ. In each and every case, out of the one Object of the Teacher has grown a multitude of objects among his followers; out of the one Teaching has grown a multitude of faiths -- the followers of each wide-eyed to the failure of the others, stone blind and stone deaf to its own failure. Is there no lesson in all this for sincere Theosophists of no matter what society, for sincere Theosophists of every shade of opinion and belief?
There are to-day three wholly distinct, three wholly antagonistic associations, each calling itself The Theosophical Society; there are a dozen or more in addition using names referring to Theosophy; there are hundreds whose foundation and whose ideas are derived from the Teachings of Theosophy. They have, one and all, made use of the writings of H.P.B. and of the Objects of her Parent Theosophical Society. Have they succeeded or have they failed?
Aside from the membership of these many associations with their conflicting faiths, their partisan objects, it is probable that there are far more Theosophists not members of any association at all than there are in the register of all the theosophical bodies combined. One fact is certain, that the lapses far exceed the membership over the second generation of the Movement. It is equally certain that throughout Europe, America, and the Occident generally, there are multitudes of believers in the doctrines of Karma, of Reincarnation, in one or more of the Objects of the Parent Theosophical Society who neither call themselves Theosophists nor engage in any concerted theosophical activities. Have these, any more than the members of the various theosophical bodies, achieved the vision of the great Object?
The ideal progression of humanity was and is the Object of the Masters of Wisdom: not the progress of a favored few, but of all mankind. That object has never been achieved by any science, by any religion, by any philosophy, by any individual or group of individuals, however determined, outside the Path pointed out by those Masters who have Themselves achieved it. That Path is Universal Brotherhood -- intelligent altruism. It is not the brotherhood of the family, the tribe, the nation, the caste, the sect, the brotherhood of saints or the brotherhood of sinners. All these exist in it, but it does not exist in them. It is the Brotherhood of Souls.
Entrance to that Path is spiritual, ethical, moral, intellectual -- all these and more, much more. "The whole nature of man must be used wisely by the one who desires to enter the way." It requires more than sincerity -- it requires Knowledge of the Soul, and the use of that knowledge in every area of heart and mind and body, in all the relations of daily life. The Knowledge is in the Theosophy of H. P. Blavatsky; its application lies with every sincere Theosophist. If he does not know it he cannot apply it. If he does not study he cannot know it, and hence cannot share in the ideal progression of humanity.
COMPILER'S NOTE: The following is a separate item which followed the above article but was on the same page. I felt it was useful to include it here:
FROM A STUDENT'S NOTEBOOKNo man acts directly upon any other, for all of the fact that the whole of waking existence is the sum of human relations. Man is the Sovereign Lord who "draweth together the five senses and the mind," and it is through these agents that waking life is conducted. However age-old in wisdom and transcendental in power, every Man is dependent upon his agents for his expression here. How essential, then, the development of controlled and reliable agents; how necessary sound philosophy for mind, and mind-directed, will-energized use of the senses! Only thus can Man contact Man, and the whole of embodied nature; only thus can any Man be really awake here. Sense-existence, dream-existence give way to vision when the agents are clarified, controlled, synchronized. This is the real purpose of evolution: a set of perfect "agents," permanently formed and retained. Such a Man may obtain a body and leave it again at will as a mere incident in what to him is continuous life. His existence is Soul-existence. This is the heritage of every human being, but each has to struggle into his inheritance.
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