Theosophy is the Aletheia of Occult Science and the Religion of Reason. Prerequisites and qualifications and for aspirants. The fundamental propositions of the Secret Doctrine. First proposition — Cosmogenesis. Second proposition — Law governs Cosmos and Man. Third proposition — Anthropogenesis. “Spiritual” nature cannot be “cultivated.” A sincere lover of the race can accomplish more in three incarnations during Kali-Yuga, than he could in a much greater number in any other age. What is the “moment of choice”? The elementals are spirits of the four elements of the terrestrial world. Our Earth is densely populated by these mystifying centres of energy. By coalescing around our thoughts, and being coloured by them, they act as impartial agents of karma. Curses, like chickens, come home to roost. As universal law contains within itself the means for its own accomplishment, and the punishment for its violation, it requires no further authority to carry out its decrees. The origin of man, his “original sin,” and his destiny. The doctrine of reincarnation. The inner constitution of man. The real hell is life on earth. The bliss of “paradise” is a delusion of the lower self stemming from the “heresy of individuality,” which heresy determines the monad’s future birth. Upheld through Eternity, Karma decrees harmony across the Universe. Since Compassion is the Spirit of Truth, karma follows its behests and manifests as the Law of ethical causation. It is the One Law that governs the World of Being impartially, to Cosmos, Man, and Angel alike. The universal onward march of evolutionary progress proceeds along contrary directions — spirit falling gradually into matter, and matter ascending to its original condition, that of a pure spiritual substance. Greatness is measured by the standard of genuine spiritual (not psychic) development, i.e., the acquirement of soul-wisdom by personal effort and merit. Heart-wisdom and head-learning are divergent paths. A mountain abyss separates the two, so hopelessly impassable and obstructive to the traveller. The law of spiritual development supersedes the purely intellectual growth; the latter is more of an impediment than of help. Theosophy, being the only system of true religion and philosophy, offers lucid explanations and solutions to the puzzles of life. A rebuke to the Theosophical Publication Society: We are not seeking to cater to fiction readers and curiosity hunters, but to the pressing needs of earnest minds. The United States contain more theosophists and possible subscribers and readers than the whole of Europe. They do not want fiction. They want no padding in their search for truth. They are perfectly able to grasp that which the Theosophical Publication Society in London deems to be “too advanced.”

The Secrets of Nature and of Occult Sciences cannot be revealed to the profane, who will desecrate them and turn into a weapon against humanity. They can only be imparted to a regular chela of many years’ standing, pledged to silence and secrecy during his successive initiations. Such Secrets do exist and are defended with one’s life. Occult Truth is Nature without the illusory veil of the Five Senses. Reason is purely human; instinct, an endowment of Deity. Sixth Sense is Reason over instinct, i.e., Mental Fire perceiving and registering the other Five. The Sixth Sense is spiritual clairvoyance, as opposed to psychic. The former is normal and real; the latter, abnormal and counterfeit. Not before developing his Sixth Sense, will the man of science concede the error of his theories as to the solar spectrum, unless he retracts his marked weakness for conditional and disjunctive syllogisms ending in eternal dilemmas. Appearances are deceitful, says a Master of Wisdom. While the astronomer has elucidated the visible relations of the orbs of space, he knows nothing of their inner constitution. Similarly, the knowledge of geologist and physiologist is confined to man’s outer shell. The Adept cannot cross bodily the limits of the solar system, yet he knows that far stretching beyond the telescopic power of detection there are systems upon systems, the smallest of which would, when compared with the system of Sirius, make the latter seem like an atom of dust imbedded in the great Gobi desert. Divine Wisdom alone can carry us to the perfect state of Jivanmukta, by teaching us what is true and what is false. Till then, the next best thing to learning what is true is to ascertain what is not true. With biographical notes on Frederick W.H. Myers, Sir William Crookes, and Johann Karl Friedrich Zöllner.

The Theosophical Society was founded in New York City, in 1875, in order to save humanity before the hour strikes; and before the crisis, brought about necromancy and other infernal arts, is deepened. The Society stands above human sects, for it has been established in the Spirit of Universal Brotherhood. Though an exoteric body, Its fount and source is the White Lodge of Masters of Wisdom which is wholly esoteric. The Light of Theosophy differs greatly from Its shadows on earth. Theosophy is Divine Soul; the Society, Its imperfect body; neither has anything to do with the frailties of individuals. Theosophy is neither national property, nor religion, but only the universal code of science and of the most transcendental ethics that were ever known; It lies at the root of every moral philosophy and religion. The raison d’être of the Society is not to gratify individual aspirations but to serve each and every individual on earth, and all that lives, without any distinction or condition. It asserts that only pristine love of humanity in thought and deed can free the masses from the despotism of the personal and ephemeral, and help all find the true happiness that lies in the impersonal and eternal. Whilst the Society supports educational initiatives that inculcate independent thinking, self-reliance, and right conduct, the Society as a body has no creed. Therefore, orthodoxy in Theosophy is neither possible nor desirable. “Theosophy first and organization after” — what golden words are these! The Society can only become a power for good if Its members co-operate to do something, no matter how modest, to help their fellow human beings by acting theosophy, rather than philosophising about it. Those who, while trying to solve the riddles of life by exploring the Occult forces in Nature, do sympathise with the suffering of their brothers, and are doing whatever they can to help out their neighbours and brothers, are born mystics or natural Theosophists. They are mankind’s true Brothers and Benefactors. Useless are those members of the Society who have neither an inclination nor the courage to live the life prescribed by Theosophy. “Be Theosophists, Work for Theosophy,” was Madame Blavatsky’s message a month before she passed away.

The dark cycle of Kali Yuga has brought back a Babel of modern thought, compared with which the “confusion of tongues” itself appears a harmony. · Let us summon disciples and fill them with sacred fire. · Let us establish mysteries and teach the Doctrine. · Let us build a temple tower whose top may reach unto heaven. A scientist is wiser in his own conceit than seven theosophists that can render a reason. No new philosophy is set up in The Secret Doctrine, only the hidden meaning of some of the religious allegories of antiquity is given, light being thrown on these by the esoteric sciences, and the common source is pointed out, whence all the world-religions and philosophies have sprung. Truth must represent an unbroken continuity. It must have no gaps and contradictions, no broken or missing links. And which of our modern religions, sciences or philosophies, is free from such defects? One who affirms that the Universe and Man are objects of the senses only, and who fatally chains thought within the region of senseless matter (as do the Darwinian evolutionists) is, at best, a sophiaphobe when not a philosophaster — never a philosopher. The period when nascent Humanity, following the law of the natural and dual evolution, was descending along with spirit into matter has been closed. We are now helping matter to ascend toward spirit; and to do that, we have to help substance to disenthrall itself from the viscous grip of sense. The so-called barbaric peoples, who stood before the present division of nations, had a much higher civilization than has yet been found in geological strata. The period when nascent human speech was preceded by gesture signs, anteceded the Sanskrit only by two thousand years or so. However, relics of social and psychological culture can hardly be found in layers of soil.

Progress review of the aims and mission of the Theosophical Society, September 1889, on the occasion of the fifth volume of “Lucifer.” 1. To establish a nucleus of universal brotherhood of man. The Indian National Congress was planned by our Anglo-Indian and Hindu members after the model and on the lines of the Theosophical Society, and has from the first been directed by our own colleagues, men among the most influential in the Indian Empire. From Ceylon the religion of Gautama streamed out to Cambodia, Siam, and Burma; and from this holy land the message of Brotherhood reached Japan. We depicted the chromatic vibrations of the aura of Gautama in the Buddhist Flag — sapphire blue, golden yellow, crimson, white, and scarlet. 2. To promulgate the study oriental philosophy and literature. Our magnificent achievements in India. The revival of Buddhism in Ceylon. Neither race, nor creed, nor colour, nor social class, nor old antipathies are irremovable obstacles to the grand ideals of altruism and brotherhood. 3. To investigate the occult laws and principles in nature and man. We work on the basis that the Higher Self in every man is colourless, cosmopolitan, unsectarian, sexless, and pre-eminently altruistic. The early fruits of the Theosophical Tree, August 1890, a year later. The Theosophical Society arose to defend true science and true religion against a sciolism that was becoming more and more arrogant, and to stem the headlong descent to materialism. The popularity of theosophical and mystical literature indicates the despair and hope of the churches — despair that science will ever read the puzzle of life; hope that the solution may be found in the secret doctrine. The modern Theosophical Movement is a necessity of the age. It has spread under its own inherent impulsion, and owes nothing to adventitious methods. Its strongest allies are the yearnings for light upon the problem of life, and for a nobler conception of the origin, destiny, and potentialities of the human being. Alone the organs of disembodied “angels” poured as unsuccessfully as ever their vials of wrath, mockery, and brutal slander, upon us. However, the utmost malignity and basest treachery have not been able either to controvert our ideas, belittle our objects, disprove the reasonableness of our methods, or fasten upon us a selfish or dishonest motive. The Adyar Library, founded by the loving labour of Colonel Olcott, is the crown and glory of the Theosophical Society. Progress review of the three objects of the Theosophical Society. The clear note of universal brotherhood was struck and the evangel of religious tolerance declared in India, where previously there had been only sectarian hatred and selfish class egotism. And by bringing the people of Ceylon, Burma, Siam, and Japan, into fraternal relations with the Hindus, and creating channels for international intercourse upon religious and educational subjects. In the East End of London we have founded the first Working-Women’s Club, wholly free from theological creeds and conditions. We have revived the study of oriental literature across the globe, thus opening up the vista of a new spiritual day for the world, the harbinger of a new marriage between science and religion, and of peace between the people of the most incongruous sects. We have placed before the thinking public a logical, coherent, and philosophical scheme of man’s origin, destiny, and evolution — a scheme pre-eminent above all for its rigorous adherence to justice. Theosophy, the universal solvent, is fulfilling its mission. For many a long year humanity, the “great orphan,” has been crying aloud in the darkness for guidance and light — but no more!