Theosophy

"Be resourceful - act! (291)"

"It was after the time of Origen’s disciples that the false religion of the priesthood began to spread.(268)"

"My Children, you are unaware of the battle that rages around you. Both secretly and openly do the dark forces fight. Your spirit, like a dam, is lashed by the waters. Your heart unfolds and will be flooded with knowledge. Fear not, O heart, you will conquer! (117)"

"The Teacher suffered for His words of Truth. Man resists the path to Light. Darkness is more pleasing to the eyes of moles, But love and knowledge will conquer all. Your spirit will ascend and you will pass by the uncomprehending ones swiftly, as you would mileposts on the way. Smile at the difficulties upon your path. I vouch, you will conquer! (116)"

"Beware of venomous vibrations. Strive for the future and succumb not to the spell of the present. Follow the simplest path as you ascend the mountain. Powerful, exalted visions require pure surroundings, and prana. Christ’s deeds were consummated amidst the beauties of nature. Never did He dwell for long in cities. (51)"

"My Friends! Happiness lies in serving the salvation of Humanity. Put aside all prejudices and, summoning your spiritual forces, aid mankind. Direct the unsightly towards the path of beauty. As the tree renews its leaves, so shall humanity flourish on the path of righteousness. (4)"

"Those who are obsessed with matters of the earthly world can receive no answers from the Heights. Fate can be overcome if you manifest the Christ, Who sacrificed Himself for Truth. (3)"

"By holiness in life, guard the precious Gem of Gems. Aum Tat Sat Aum! I am thou, thou art I — parts of the Divine Self. My Warriors! Life thunders — be watchful. Danger! The soul hearkens to its warning! The world is in turmoil — strive for salvation. I invoke blessings unto you. Salvation will be yours! Life nourishes the soul. Strive for the life glorified, and for the realization of purity. Put aside all prejudices — think freely. Be not downcast but full of hope. Flee not from life, but walk the path of salvation. You and We — here together in spirit. One Temple for all — for all, One God. Manifold worlds dwell in the Abode of the Almighty, And the Holy Spirit soars throughout. The Renovation of the World will come — the prophecies will be fulfilled. People will arise and build a New Temple. (1)"

"Into the New World my first message. You who gave the Ashram, And you who gave two lives, Proclaim. Builders and warriors, strengthen the steps. Reader, if you have not grasped—read again, after a while. The predestined is not accidental, The leaves fall in their time. And winter is but the harbinger of spring. All is revealed; all is attainable. I will cover you with My shield, if you but tend to your labors. I have spoken. (i)"

"My young friends, again you have been gathered in the name of the Teaching and again you have had an evening with guests. Whereas, it has been said and repeated that the hour of discourse about the Teaching must be devoid of ordinary gossip. Even though this hour may be more infrequent, yet its quality must be upheld. You approach by round-about ways, you surmount the fatigue of the working day, you bear a particle of the common good; but the accumulated objects of the familiar room break up your striving, and imperceptibly you become dusty boarders. Moreover, one of you, observing what is taking place, becomes a self-appointed overseer and sinks into the pettiest irritation. The fabric of the communion is torn and an unworthy mending is begun. We urge you, even if for only an hour, to be consciously responsible people. If an hour a week is difficult for you, then better meet only every fortnight. Learn how to exclude at that time all troublesome beastly habits—smoking, drinking, eating, shallow gossip, dealings in small affairs, censure, anger. Upon being assembled, remain seated several minutes in silence. If then one of you will not find the strength to enlighten his consciousness, let him silently go back into cold and darkness. We are enemies of all compulsive magic, but a natural control of consciousness must become the prerequisite of real construction. Surely for one hour one can dismiss personal ventures. If this be difficult, how then can you think about progress and growth of consciousness? An ox knows about chewing its cud but does not advance farther than digestion. Make an effort to give your discourses beauty, simplicity and purity. The most unusual problems of knowledge, the most audacious forms of beauty, should force you out of your musty corner. Understand, I wish to see you, at least for a while, particular and able to absorb. These seeds of cooperative thinking will give you the perseverance for attainments. Not only resolve but also persistence is needed. Understand concentration as a test of consciousness. Let Me see you proceeding aspiringly and consciously. I am speaking for immediate fulfillment. (125)"

"The new consciousness, supported by technical means, will give a powerful impetus to knowledge. Indeed, the community must be a most sensitive apparatus for the process of evolution. Indeed, in a conscious community no individual can make affirmation about an already molded world-study. Every dull barrier is swept away by the sharpened vibration of the collective. (121)"

"It is absurd to think that perspiration is only a physical manifestation. During mental work a particular emanation valuable for the saturation of space issues forth. If bodily perspiration can fertilize the earth, then that of the spirit restores prana by being chemically transformed in the rays of the Sun. Labor is the crown of Light. It is necessary that school pupils remember the significance of labor as a factor of world-creation. As a result of labor there will be steadfastness of consciousness. It is necessary to emphasize strongly the atmosphere of work. (117)"

"Shield children from everything false; guard them against worthless music; protect them from obscenity; protect them from false competitions; protect them from affirmation of selfhood. The more so, since it is necessary to inculcate a love for incessant learning. The muscles must not gain the upper hand over mind and heart. What sort of heart takes a liking to blows of the fist? (116)"

"Many warnings were given against selfhood. This deadly sister of ignorance smites and extinguishes the best fires. Do not consider a reminder about egoism out of place during the establishment of cooperatives. On the contrary, each statute must be written not for oneself but for others. Among various appellations the word “friend" will be a most hearty one. Indeed, the heart does not admit egoism. The heart lives in self-abnegation. Thus, strong is the heart when it is concerned about the future, not thinking about self. (111)"

"Among the school subjects let there be taught the fundamentals of astronomy, but let it be presented as the gateway to the far-off worlds. Thus schools will stimulate the first thoughts about life in the far-off worlds. Space will become alive, astrochemistry and rays will round out the presentation of the magnitude of the Universe. Young hearts will feel not as ants upon the earth's crust, but as bearers of spirit responsible for the planet. Let us fix our attention on schools, for from them will issue the affirmation of cooperation. There will be no construction without cooperation. There will be no security of state and union while outworn egoism holds sway. (110)"

"The schools will determine where is laziness, where an unusual structure of character, where madness and where the necessary understanding. (109)"

"The school will teach respect for useful inventions, but will warn against a machine slavery. All forms of slavery will be destroyed as signs of darkness. The teacher will be a guiding tutor—a friend who points out a shorter and better path. Not the process of compulsion, but the smile of summons. But, if into the schools of life treason will have seeped, then the severest judgment will put an end to such madness. {108}"

"When the family does not know how, let the school teach cleanliness in all ways of life. Dirt comes not from poverty but from ignorance. Cleanliness in life is the gateway to purity of heart. Who then is unwilling that people be pure? One should equip schools in such a way that they will be conservatories for the adornment of life. Each object can be considered from the standpoint of love. Each thing must be made a participant in the happy life. Cooperation will help to find a way for each household. Where one person alone does not find the solution, there the community will be of assistance. Not prizefighters but creators will be the pride of the country. (106}"

"It is difficult to renounce the feeling of ownership; it is like wise difficult to overcome babbling. (100)"

"Once a woman stopped between images of the Blessed Buddha and Maitreya, not knowing to Whom to offer her reverence. And the image of the Blessed Buddha uttered these words 'According to My Covenant, revere the future. Standing in defense of the past, direct your gaze toward the dawn' Remember how We labor for the future, and direct all your being into the future! In rays of knowledge We bring a Teaching strange to the world, for the light of the world is covered by darkness. (95)"

"It is wise to draw a line between past and future. It is impossible to calculate all that has been done—it is incommensurable. It is better to say: “Yesterday is past; let us learn how to meet a new dawn.” We all grow, and our works are expanding with us. After twenty-seven years no one is a youth, and we all can then understand the achievement of Service. It is unworthy to rummage in yesterday’s dust. Henceforth let us establish a new step. Let us begin to labor, surrounding ourselves with a thousand eyes. Let us acquire purity of thought and co-measurement of actions. Thus let us fill our days; let us become used to mobility and decisiveness. Likewise, let us not forget that there is nothing on Earth higher than the given Plan for the Common Good. Let us manifest understanding of the Teachings of life. As Moses brought forth human dignity, as Buddha impelled toward the broadening of consciousness, as Christ taught the good of giving, so now the New World is directed toward the far-off worlds! Ponder, what comparisons surround us! Ponder about the cornerstone. Reflect about the given path. Ponder how the boundaries of the Cosmos touch you. Recall the steps of wondrous tensions not in a book but in life. Reflect that so much has not been taken up and absorbed and yet you stand in your place. Therefore, be not disheartened by mistakes, but ascend by the Hierarchy of the Teaching. (81)"

"What then is Theosophy? It is the formulated system of natural Religion-Philosophy-Science, embracing the verities of infinite Nature, and teaching therefore of the structure, operations, and laws of Nature as they have been and are visioned, seen, experienced, witnessed by all the great Sages and Seers of the past and present."

"Of the Absolute, the Infinite, the All-embracing, we can at our present stage know nothing, except that It is; we can say nothing that is not a limitation, and therefore inaccurate."

"Theosophy is Divine Knowledge or Science..."

"Theosophy seeks to develop the human nature in man in addition to the animal, and at the sacrifice of the superfluous animality which modern life and materialistic teachings have developed to a degree which is abnormal for the human being at this stage of his progress."

"Our age, we say, is inferior in Wisdom to any other, because it professes, more visibly every day, contempt for truth and justice, without which there can be no Wisdom. Because our civilization, built up of shams and appearances, is at best like a beautiful green morass, a bog, spread over a deadly quagmire. Because this century of culture and worship of matter, while offering prizes and premiums for every "best thing" under the Sun, from the biggest baby and the largest orchid down to the strongest pugilist and the fattest pig, has no encouragement to offer to morality; no prize to give for any moral virtue."

"There is no religion higher than truth."

"F.T. Brooks left a deep impress upon me and I feel that I owe a debt to him and to Theosophy."

"We have not yet clearly grasped the fact that Western Theosophy is an amateurish imitation of the East."

"Theosophy brought to India yet another strain of sarva-dharma-samabhâva. It proclaimed that all religions were ultimately derived from and were distortions of the Original One Religion known to the ancient Mahatmas, who had kept themselves hidden for a long time. But so far as the prevalent religions are concerned, Theosophy never said that they were the same or equally true. In fact, the first Theosophists who came to South India showed a marked preference for Hinduism, and encouraged Hindus to ridicule and denounce Christianity, its totem, and its missions. Later on, Annie Besant founded the first Hindu College at Varanasi, and could never see eye to eye with Mahatma Gandhi when it came to Islam."

"Theosophy is the teaching of Madame Blavatsky. It is Hinduism at its best. Theosophy is the Brotherhood of Man. … Jinnah and other Moslem leaders were once members of the Congress. They left it because they felt the pinch of Hinduism patronizing. … They did not find the Brotherhood of Man among the Hindus. They say Islam is the Brotherhood of Man. As a matter of fact, it is the Brotherhood of Moslems. Theosophy is the Brotherhood of Man."

"I recall having read, at the brothers’ direction Madame Blavatsky’s Key to Theosophy. This book stimulated in me the desire to read books on Hinduism, and disabused me of the notion fostered by the missionaries that Hinduism was rife with superstition."

"The concept of love represented in the Ramayana appears to be the same as that current in later Indian literature. The feeling of love had been conceived as a god, who was known as Manmatha, Kama, Ananga and Kandarpa."

"Unlike the Mahabharata, which is specifically recognized as tradition to be a Kavya, a sastra, and a smriti all in one, the Ramayana is not regarded as anything other than a Kavya. But the Northern Recensions contain a stanza, which states that the reader of the Ramayana really learns the great science of Polity (Dandaniti), and also the three professions (Trayivarta), i.e., Agriculture, breeding of cattle and trade. Moreover it is said to teach the Artha and the Dharma, to which another verse adds Kama as well. It is an interesting problem that the Ramayana, although held with reverence by the Hindus, is not stated to be conducive to Moksha."

"The Sanskrit term kama also refers to one of the four proper aims of human life—pleasure and love. A classic textbook on erotic love and human pleasure, the Kama-sutra (5th century CE), is attributed to the sage Vatsyayana."

"That steadfast Kama, begotten of Vasudeva [Krsna] in Rukmini, that one who was known as the destroyer of Sambara, was the handsome Pradyumna who looked like Kama."

"This Shiva Purana variant establishes a specific power relationship between desire and discipline, as Kama becomes Shiva's gana, one of his troops, permanently attached to the great god."

"Without announcing himself, Kama pervades our environment and disturbs our equanimity. On another level, the revival of Kama as invisible establishes the dominance of Shiva over Kama, the possibility that ascetic discipline can conquer craving."

"Rather, after being struck and burning Kama, Shiva returns to the steadfast depth of his meditation. The message of these narratives is that asceticism is stronger than desire. The serious ascetic will defeat even the most powerful form of desire."

"Identifying desire with memory, passages from ancient texts such as the Atharva Vedas refer to Kama as Smara, and contemporary literature continues to use this epithet for the god of desire. Indeed, connections between desire and remembering are found throughout Sanskrit literary and philosophical texts."

"According to Brahma, in the moment the male and female beheld one another, desire simply happened. Overwhelmed with the beauty of Sandhya, Brahma looked up to see Kama, fully formed and well armed, with his own beauty, five flower arrows, and a seductive gaze."

"When the Indians describe Kama in terms of sexual relations they do not mean to restrict the operation of this attitude to just those objects with which one can come into a sexual relationship, but are rather pointing to sexual relationships as typically involving instances of the taking of this kind of attitude."

"Kama dies in the central story involving his struggle with Shiva, but is resuscitated out of his own ashes so that life can continue. A world without Kamadeva is shown repeatedly to be barren, dry, leafless — indeed, unbearable."

"This god of desire is known as Kamadeva, literally the god (deva) of desire/passion (Kama). Just as passion forms the backdrop for good stories everywhere, the passion evoked by Kamadeva promises captivating and amusing drama, as well as an exploration of the myriad ethical and philosophical questions raised by desire."

"In Atharva Veda, Kama is associated with the broad range of human desire; wanting enemies to be defeated; wanting lovers to reciprocate feelings of infatuation, lust, affection, wanting more money and more power; in short wanting to be successful in love and work."

"Man, the period of whose life is one hundred years, should practice Dharma, Artha, and Kama at different times and in such a manner that they may harmonize, and not clash in any way. He should acquire learning in his childhood; in his youth and middle age he should attend to Artha and Kama, and in his old age he should perform Dharma, and thus seek to gain Moksha, that is, release from further transmigration."

"When all three viz., Dharma, Artha, and Kama together, the former is better than the one which follows it, i.e., Dharma is better than Artha, and Artha is better than Kama. But Artha should be always practiced by the king, for the livelihood of men is to be obtained from it only. Again, Kama being the occupation of public women, they should prefer to the other two, and these are exceptions to the general rule."

"Kama is also learnt from the Kama Sutra (aphorisms on love) and from the practice of [[citizens."

"Karma is the enjoyment of appropriate objects by the five senses of hearing, feeling, seeing, tasting and smelling, assisted by the mind together with the soul. The ingredient in this is a peculiar contact between the organ of sense and its object, and the consciousness of pleasure which arises from that contact is called Kama."

"A person acquainted with the true principles of this science, who preserves his Dharma (virtue or religious merit), his Artha (worldly wealth) and his Kama (pleasure or sensual gratification), and who has regard to the customs of the people, is sure to obtain the mastery over his senses. In short, an intelligent and knowing person attending to Dharma and Artha and also to Kama, without becoming the slave of his passions, will obtain success in everything that he may do."