The aim and object of her life were to strike off the shackles forged y priestcraft for the mind of man. She wished all men to know that they are God in fact, and that as men they must bear the burden of their own sins, for no one else can do it. Hence she brought forward to the West the old Eastern doctrine of karma and reincarnation. Under the first, the law of justice, and under the second make answer on the earth where all his acts were done. She also desired that science should be brought back to the true ground where life and intelligence are admitted to be within and acting and through the ground every atom in the universe. Hence her object was to make religion scientific and science religious, so that the dogmatism of each might disappear. . . . The theory of mans origin, powers and destiny brought forward by her, drawn from ancient Indian sources, places us upon a higher pedestal than that given either by religionor science, for it gives to each the possibility of developing the godlike powers within and of at last becoming a co-worker with nature. In a leading publication in the United States, The North American Review, H . P . Blavatsky wrote a long article entitled Recent Progress in Theosophy. Included were some remarks as to why Theosophy the arena of thought when it did, and as those reasons naturally relate to why it was believed propitious to introduce the theory of reincarnation to people in the West, we quote them here: Since it is undeniable that . . . . materialistic bias has been rapidly culminating under university influence during the past half century , it is too evident that the creation of the Theosophical Society at the time when it arose was most timely, and a step toward the defense of true science and true religion against a sciolism that was becoming more and more arrogant. The Theosophical movement was a necessity of the age, and it has spread under its own inherent impulsion, and owes nothing to adventitious methods. From the first it has had neither money, endowment, nor social or governmental patronage to count upon. It appealed to certain human instincts and aspirations, and held a certain lofty ideal of perfectibility, with which the vested extraneous interests of society conflicted, and against which these were foredoomed to battle. Its strongest allies were the human yearnings for light upon the problem of life , and for a nobler conception of the origin, destiny, and potentialities of the human being. . . . theosophy has aimed at uniting all broad religious people for research into the actual basis of religious and scientific proofs of the existence and permanence of the higher Self. Accepting thankfully the results of scientific study and exposure of theological error, and adopting the methods and maxims of science, its advocates try to save from the wreck of cults the precious admixture of truth to be found in each. Discarding the theory of miracle and super-naturalism, they endeavor to trace out the kinship of the whole family of world-faiths to each other, and their common reconciliation with science. Regarding the ideal of perfectibility theosophy teaches that to reach the highest degree possible in our world, many incarnations are required. That those who have achieved it are humanitys great teachers, beings like Jesus, Buddha, and Krishna, who as members of fraternity of highly evolved souls ceaselessly help mankind to the degree its karma and evolutionary development permit. There is a well-known belief in the East, says H .P . Blavatsky, that every additional Buddha or Saint is a new soldier n the army of those who work for the liberation or salvation of mankind.
Posted on: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 06:56:34 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015