Theosophical Texts

"They employed all methods to allure the Hindus and the Musulmans to embrace Christianity, and published tracts and books in Tamil and other languages. Such was the state of things when the great Emperor Akbar, desirous of inquiring into the nature of the Christian faith, invited the Jesuits to his Court, about the year 1582, and asked them for the life of Christ. The crafty priests, thinking that the simple life would not attract and captivate his Oriental imagination, attempted to palm upon the sovereign a false life stuffed with fables, such as are found in the mythological books of the Hindus. But the trick lost the game ! Akbar detected the fraud and dismissed them from his Court. Thus they used to conceal from the natives the essential peculiarities of the Gospel ; they accommodated its doctrines to the most absurd notions of the populace. Nor was this all. They brought from Rome heads and skulls of false saints, and rumours were artfully spread abroad of prodigies and miracles wrought by these relics ; images were moved by wires, which they pretended were miraculously moved by Heaven ; a certain tomb at Meliapur, on the Coromandel Coast was fraudulently given out for the sepulchre of St. Thomas, in allusion to an ancient tradition that the Apostle crossed the Indus and penetrated into the south as far as the Carnatic, and there, after preaching the glad tidings, suffered martyrdom. With the bones of such saints they fought ludicrous combats with the devils, and thus deceived the eyes of illiterate men. A large volume would be required to contain an enmumeration of the innumerable frauds which these artful priests practised to delude the people of India."

"‘The Theosophist made clear in its first edition that the paper would feature “the best native scholars of India."*! The motto of the society, “There is no religion higher than truth’ adopted from the Maharajah of Benares appeared across the banner of the journal and clearly telegraphed where their loyalties lay? A growing list of members of the Indian aristocracy were listed as subscribers in the end pages of each edition, While their own special role as mediators was made clear, Blavatsky ‘wrote in 1880 that Theosophists could assist in the process, but “the moral regen- eration of India and the revival of her ancient spiritual glories must exclusively be the work of her own sons”*® Skirmishes with Swami Dayananda Saraswati and the Arya Samaj also demonstrated the limits of cooperation between Theosophists and Hindu reformers."

"The tone of The Theosophist was distinctly pro-Indian and equally anti- Christian, stating plainly that Theosophy was an 'ancient Wisdom-Religion dating back to Ammonius Saccas and Plotinus of the Neoplatonic School at Alexandria, ..."

"At the time of Xavier’s death, in 1552, there were more than two hundred Jesuits in various missions established on both coasts of India. Their chief seat was Goa. Here, in the space of a few years, they erected ten princely churches on the ruins of Hindu temples, many of which were razed to the ground ; besides this, they founded religious schools for the young converts. But they were bad teachers of the Gospel."

"The Theosophist was an immediate success..."

"Its journal, The Theosophist, was widely circulated in Indian cities like Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta and even reached the Buddhist revivalists in Ceylon."

"Clairvoyant observation bears abundant testimony to the fact that when a man falls into a deep slumber the higher principles in their astral vehicle almost invariably withdraw from the body and hover in its immediate neighbourhood. Indeed, it is the process of this withdrawal which we commonly call 'going to sleep'. Chapter 4: The Condition of Sleep"

"Etheric. It is not alone through the brain to which we have hitherto been referring, however, that impressions may be received by the man. Almost exactly co-extensive with and interpenetrating its visible form is his etheric double (formerly called in theosophical literature the linga sharira), and that also has a brain which is really no less physical than the other, though composed of matter in a condition finer than the gaseous. Ch 2"

"I do not wish here to discuss the question, intensely interesting though it be, as to whether time can be said really to exist, or whether it is but a limitation of this lower consciousness, and all that we call time — past, present and future alike — is 'but one eternal Now'; I wish only to show that when the ego is freed from physical trammels, either during sleep, trance or death, he appears to employ some transcendental measure of time which has nothing in common with our ordinary physiological one. A hundred stories might be told to prove this fact... Ch 4"

"Another point very strongly brought out in our further investigations is the immense importance of the last thought in a man's mind as he sinks to sleep. This is a consideration which never occurs to the vast majority of people at all, yet it affects them physically, mentally, and morally. Ch 7 Conclusion"

"The teacher... and credited with miraculous powers, undertook to prove... to the doubting monarch that the story was, at any rate, not impossible. He had... the sultan just to dip his head into the water and... and to his intense surprise found himself at once in a place entirely unknown to him — on a lonely shore, near the foot of a great mountain... time passed on; he began to get hungry... After wandering about for some time, he found some men at work felling trees in a wood, and applied to them for assistance. They... eventually took him with them to the town where they lived. Here he resided and worked for some years, gradually amassing money, and at length contrived to marry a rich wife... he spent many happy years... bringing up a family of no less than fourteen children... One day, walking by the sea-side, he... plunged into the sea for a bath; and as he raised his head and shook the water from his eyes, he was astounded to find himself standing among his old courtiers, with his teacher of long ago at his side, and a basin of water before him. It was long... before he could be brought to believe that all those years of incident and adventure had been nothing but one moment's dream, caused by the hypnotic suggestion of his teacher, and that really he had done nothing but dip his head quickly into the basin of water... Chapter 4"

"Astral. Still another mechanism that we have to take into account is the astral body, often called the desire-body. As its name implies, this vehicle is composed exclusively of astral matter, and is, in fact, the expression of the man on the astral plane, just as his physical body is the expression of him on the lower levels of the physical plane. Ch 2"

"As I am writing in the main for students of theosophy, I shall feel myself at liberty to use, without detailed explanation, the ordinary theosophical terms, with which I may safely assume them to be familiar, since otherwise my little book would far exceed its allotted limits. Should it, however, fall into the hands of any to whom the occasional use of such terms constitutes a difficulty, I can only apologize to them, and refer them for these preliminary explanations to any elementary theosophical work, such as Mrs Besant's "The Ancient Wisdom", or "Man and his Bodies". Ch 1: Intro"

"If one guides his soul persistently upward, its inner senses will at last begin to unfold; the light within the shrine will burn brighter and brighter, until at last the full continuous consciousness comes, and then he will dream no more. To lie down to sleep will no longer mean for him to sink into oblivion, but simply to step forth radiant, rejoicing, strong, into that fuller, nobler life where fatigue can never come — where the soul is always learning, even though all his time be spent in service; for the service is that of the great Masters of Wisdom, and the glorious task They set before him is to help ever to the fullest limit of his power in Their never-ceasing work for the aiding and the guidance of the evolution of humanity. Ch 7 Conclusion"

"It seems that in the Koran there is a wonderful narrative concerning a visit paid one morning by the prophet Mohammed to heaven, during which he saw many different regions there, had them all very fully explained to him, and also had numerous lengthy conferences with various angels; yet when he returned to his body, the bed from which he had risen was still warm, and he found that but a few seconds had passed — in fact, I believe the water had not yet all run out from a jug which he had accidentally overturned as he started on the expedition! Ch 4"

"The first experiment tried was with an average man of small education and rough exterior — a man of the Australian shepherd type — whose astral form, as seen floating above his body, was externally little more than a shapeless wreath of mist. It was found that the consciousness of the body on the bed was dull and heavy, both as regards the grosser and the etheric parts of the frame. The former responded to some extent to external stimuli — for example, the sprinkling of two or three drops of water on the face called up in the brain (though somewhat tardily) a picture of a heavy shower of rain; while the etheric part of the brain was as usual a passive channel for an endless stream of disconnected thoughts, it rarely responded to any of the vibrations they produced, and even when it did it seemed somewhat sluggish in its action. Chapter 6 - Experiments on the Dream-State"

"All these different portions of the mechanism are in reality merely instruments of the ego [higher self/soul], though his control of them is as yet often very imperfect; for it must always be remembered that the ego is himself a developing entity, and that in the case of most of us he is scarcely more than a germ of what he is to be one day. Chapter 3: The Ego"

"The Confused Dream... by far the commonest of all, may be caused... in various ways. It may be simply a more or less perfect recollection of a series of the disconnected pictures and impossible transformations produced by the senseless automatic action of the lower physical brain; it may be a reproduction of the stream of casual thought which has been pouring through the etheric part of the brain; if sensual images of any kind enter into it, it is due to the ever-restless tide of earthly desire, probably stimulated by some unholy influence of the astral world; it may be due to an imperfect attempt at dramatization on the part of an undeveloped ego; or it may be (and most often is) due to an inextricable mingling of several or all of these influences. Ch 5"

"All earnest Theosophists should therefore make a special point of raising their thoughts to the loftiest level of which they are capable before allowing themselves to sink into slumber. For remember, through what seem at first but the portals of dream, entrance may perchance presently be gained into those grander realms where alone true vision is possible. Ch 7 Conclusion"

"The most convenient method in which we can arrange the various branches of our subject will perhaps be the following: first, to consider rather carefully the mechanism — physical, etheric and astral — by means of which impressions are conveyed to our consciousness; secondly, to see how the consciousness in its turn affects and uses this mechanism; thirdly, to note the condition both of the consciousness and its mechanism during sleep; and fourthly, to enquire how the various kinds of dreams which men experience are thereby produced. Chapter 1: Introductory"

"Physical. First, then, as to the physical part of the mechanism. We have in our bodies a great central axis of nervous matter, ending in the brain, and from this a network of nerve-threads radiates in every direction through the body. It is these nerve-threads, according to modern scientific theory, which by their vibrations convey all impressions from without to the brain, and the latter, upon receipts of these impressions, translates them into sensations or perceptions; so that if I put my hand upon some object and find it to be hot, it is really not my hand that feels, but my brain, which is acting upon information transmitted to it by the vibrations running along its telegraph wires, the nerve-threads. Chapter 2: The Mechanism"

"A stanza in the Book of Dzyan tells us: 'Those who received but a spark remained destitute of knowledge: the spark burned low'; and Madame Blavatsky explains that 'those who receive but a spark constitute the average humanity which have to acquire their intellectuality during the present manvantaric evolution'. ( The Secret Doctrine, ii, 167, 1979 ed.). In the case of most of them that spark is still smouldering, and it will be many an age before its slow increase brings it to the stage of steady and brilliant flame. Ch 3: The Ego"

"Surely these experiments show very clearly how the remembrance of our dreams becomes so chaotic and inconsequent as it frequently is. Incidentally they also explain why some people — in whom the ego is undeveloped and earthly desires of various kinds are strong — never dream at all, and why many others are only now and then, under a collocation of favourable circumstances, able to bring back a confused memory of nocturnal adventure; and we see, further, from them that if a man wishes to reap in his waking consciousness the benefit of what his ego [higher self/soul] may learn during sleep, it is absolutely necessary for him to acquire control over his thoughts, to subdue all lower passions, and to attune his mind to higher things. Chapter 7 Conclusion"

"The Prophetic Dream... Often the prophecy is evidently intended as a warning, and instances are not wanting in which that warning has been taken, and so the dreamer has been saved from injury or death. In most cases the hint is neglected, or its true signification not understood until the fulfillment comes. In others an attempt is made to act upon the suggestion, but nevertheless circumstances over which the dreamer has no control bring him in spite of himself into the position foretold. Stories of such prophetic dreams are so common that the reader may easily find some in almost any of the books on such subjects. Chapter 5: Dreams"

"Humanity is taking a long time to understand... the true problems that beset it today. But unless it understands these problems, there will be no hope for the future of the world. The tensions existing in this discrepancy of living standards have within them the seeds of a third world war. That war would be nuclear and would destroy all life on the planet."

"What the world needs now is the removal of fear and the renewal of hope. We are going through one of the greatest periods of tension since the end of the Cold War. This particular phase of tension and crisis began on 11 September 2001... That terrible, dramatic attack took America and the entire world by surprise and shock. The world has been in a state of shock ever since. But I suggest it should not have taken the world so much by surprise..."

"I am perfectly conscious that much of this information will appear strange and perhaps unbelievable to some of you. If that is the case, please be assured that I shall not be the slightest bit offended or even disappointed. But if this information at least allows you to hope for a better future... I shall be perfectly satisfied."

"The American, British and other governments have not recognized that the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and the foiled attack on the White House... is the effect of a cause. In other words, ...it is the result of the Law of Karma, the Law of Cause and Effect."

"The cause is complex, but put very simply, it is the extreme difference in living standards between the developed Western world and the developing world. One-third of the world — mainly America, Europe, Japan, Australia, and Canada — usurp and greedily waste three-quarters of the world’s food, and some 83 per cent of all other resources. The developing world, the so-called Third World, has to make due with the rest, distributed among two-thirds of the world’s population. This division is the result of greed, lack of compassion, and complacency. It is unfair and extraordinarily dangerous for the security of the world."

"The developing world will not for ever put up with this state of affairs. They will demand their fair share... The greatest danger is the discrepancy in living standards between the developed and the developing world."

"I am a very optimistic person by nature. I tend to look on the brighter side of life, and am not too depressed by gloomy thoughts of the world’s destruction. But if I did not know what I do know, I would have little hope that humanity would survive, little hope that in time humanity would awaken to the real problems that beset it, and begin to change. I am very doubtful that on our own we would do that."

"The coming of Maitreya was foretold 2,600 years ago by Gautama Buddha, Who said that at this time would come another great teacher, a Buddha like Himself by the name Maitreya Who, by dint of His colossal spiritual stature, would galvanize and inspire humanity to create a brilliant golden civilization based, as He put it, on righteousness and truth. Every manifestation of a Teacher that has occurred from the earliest times has been a disciple overshadowed by the Teacher. Historically they are known as Hercules, Hermes, Rama, Mithra, Vyasa, Confucius, Zoroaster, Krishna, Shankaracharya, Gautama, Jesus and Mohammed. These have all been disciples overshadowed by the teacher Himself. Just as the Buddha worked through the Prince Gautama, so in Palestine Maitreya worked through Jesus of Nazareth."

"Much of what I have to say is already known, or if not known, easily available. Beginning in 1875, some of this information has already been published in books translated into many languages, and is available to anyone who takes the trouble to read them. ...Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society, began the dissemination of this information...followed in 1924 by...Helena Roerich, through whom the Agni Yoga teachings were given to the world, and by...Alice A. Bailey, between 1919 and 1949. I have been able to bring these teachings up to date, to show what is actually happening in the process of the return of the Masters to the everyday world."

"Maitreya is the embodiment of what we call the Christ Principle, the energy of Love. Maitreya is so advanced, so pure, He can embody in His own being, and not simply channel, the energy of Love, the second aspect of God. Through Jesus He showed that Love of God in its perfection in a man for the first time, just as through the Prince Gautama, the Buddha showed the Wisdom aspect of God in its perfection in a man for the first time. Now, for the first time in history, the Teacher has come into the world Himself."

"Correctly applied, daily, weekly, yearly, the teachings transform us, bit by bit... We bring more subatomic matter into our bodies, so changing them, spiritualizing and gradually perfecting them. That is saving yourself — growing into the likeness of the soul."

"There has stood behind humanity, from the earliest days of its existence, a group of men of extraordinary insight and wisdom, called the Masters of Wisdom, the Spiritual Hierarchy of our planet... This group of men have gone ahead of us in evolution. They have come to a point where They need no further incarnational experience on Earth, but nevertheless remain to act as a kind of inner government of the world."

"The soul seeks to express itself through its vehicle, the man or woman, but they have to respond to the teachings. That is why the Teacher comes, to remind us once again of the Laws: the Law of Karma, the Law of Rebirth, the Law of Harmlessness."

"We have to apply these laws correctly, dynamically to our lives, not just as an idea that remains in the head but does not do anything. If it is only a memory in the brain, it does not do anything at all. We have to actually apply it and make it into a yeast so that it changes us. It lifts us and changes us."

"The war in Iraq is part of a wider war in the Middle East between two opposing forces, the forces of light and the forces of darkness, or evil. The forces of evil have replicated themselves from the Axis Powers in the war from 1939 to 1945. There are three such points of deep evil in the present situation. One is in this country, America, centered in the Pentagon; one is in Israel; and one is in Eastern Europe. These three points make a triangle which potentizes all the energy which is sent through them. This is the same energy — although luckily at a lower potency — as drove Hitler, Mussolini, and the groups around them, and the warmongers in Japan, from 1939 to 1945. It is the energy of the forces of evil on this planet. It is not less than that. The Masters have said it will take all the strength and awareness of humanity, plus that of Hierarchy itself, to contain. It will be contained, but in the meantime Israel is making mischief, terrible menace, in the Middle East, and America is waging the same mischief in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is ready to do the same wherever the ‘need’ arises. p. 44-45"

"The decade before 9/11 was one of growing calm, growing change for the better. Extraordinary things happened: the end of the Cold War, for example, an extraordinary happening, the greatest event in the world since the end of World War II. It lifted from humanity the fear of sudden death — not just the possibility of it, almost the likelihood of a catastrophic end of everything. p.19"

"When enough people are responding to what He has to say, Maitreya will be asked to speak to the entire world. On that day, the Day of Declaration, as it will be known, you will see a now-familiar face on television, that of Maitreya. The television networks of the world will be linked together by satellite, which are actually in place for this event. And then an extraordinary thing will happen. Simultaneously throughout the world people will see Maitreya’s face on their television sets [and smartphones, computers]. Maitreya is omniscient and omnipresent, and everyone above the age of 14 will hear His words, His thoughts, His ideas inwardly, silently, telepathically in their own language..."

"If we are not aware, we become like a machine, antagonistic and destructive, the opposite of what we need and what we are, which is a co-operative, creative person who longs to create co-operatively with others and demonstrate the unity of the world. Everyone without exception at some level has that ideal because we are all part of the one humanity."

"Maitreya will give a short history of the long history of the world, and show the height from which humanity has fallen into the materialism of today. He will introduce the fact of His group, the Spiritual Hierarchy of Masters. He will show the future, and outline some of the extraordinary scientific marvels that will open up new life for humanity. He will make His appeal for justice, for sharing as the only way to justice, and so to peace in the world. While this is taking place His energy, the energy of Love, will flow out in tremendous potency through the hearts of all. This will invoke an intuitive, heartfelt response to the message. He has said: “It will be as if I embrace the whole world. People will feel it even physically.” On the dense-physical plane there will be hundreds of thousands of spontaneous miracle healings, cures throughout the world. p. 15"

"Highly placed and influential, there are those in varied walks of life who know Him to be here, know His plans and priorities, have listened to His words and believe them to be true. From diverse backgrounds and many countries do these prepared ones come, alike in their desire to serve Maitreya and the world. With their detailed knowledge of His plans they will speak for Him, awakening their colleagues and citizens to the task ahead. In this fashion will He work through them, pointing the way to a better future.” (‘The emergence of Maitreya’)... Despite His readiness for spontaneous action, everything that Maitreya does, as with all the Masters, is done with meticulous care. They spend years and tremendous amounts of directed energy to make sure that a plan works out... p. 20"

"In these three ways you will know that that Man and, of course, only that Man, is the World Teacher awaited by the Christians as the Christ, by Muslims as the Imam Mahdi, by Jews as the Messiah, by Hindus as Krishna or Kalki Avatar, by Buddhists under His name, Maitreya Buddha, by people of no religious affiliation who simply wish for a better life for all. p. 16"

"When He visits groups — of course, not dressed or looking like Maitreya (but in various disguises) — they know Who He is because He has been confirmed by my Master to have been Maitreya. Then He comes again looking just like the same gentleman and they ask Him questions and He replies — and then they say: “But oh, it takes so long! What gets me is the state of the world, and it is so long a wait. How do I explain to people that it has to take time?” He says: “What are you talking about? You can be as anxious as you like, but it is foolish. There is nothing to be anxious about... The world is fine, full of promise. Maitreya is here. He has returned. You do not have anything to wait for; it is done — the plan is working well.” p. 18"

"Maitreya’s advice will bring humanity to a simple choice between two lines of action: to ignore His recommendations and continue in our present mode of life, and so face self destruction; or to accept gladly His counsel to inaugurate a system of sharing and justice which will guarantee a peaceful and prosperous future for humanity, and the creation of a civilization based on the inner divinity of all men. Maitreya is in no doubt of the choice we will make and looks forward to the open continuation of His mission on our behalf (Preface)"

"It is from my own personal experiences and contacts that I make these assertions. But I am not asking you to believe me. I am simply presenting my information to you for your consideration. If it appears to you to be reasonable and rational... if in a word it has for you the ring of truth, then by all means believe it, but otherwise not."

"As Maitreya, the World Teacher, stands poised ready to emerge into full public work, we have brought together in this book an overview of the background to this momentous event... The book details the planned return of our planetary Hierarchy and the descent of Maitreya from His Himalayan retreat in July 1977 and of His work in the world, albeit behind the scenes, since then. It speaks too of the enormous changes that His presence has brought about; of His plans and projects, and His priorities and recommendations in the immediate future time. It shows Him as a great and powerful Avatar and, at the same time, as a friend and brother of humanity. (Preface)"

"If we listen to our intuition, if we listen to the heart, we can learn to live in a way that is harmless, that does not cause this greedy, selfish, antagonistic pull between ourselves and society, between our country and another country."