Anand Gholap
Theosophy
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Anand Gholap Theosophy
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by
THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING HOUSE ADYAR,
A member asked me a few
days ago :
Have we not as a Society rather neglected our Third Object? Very few have investigated the powers latent in man at first-hand. Is not the time coming when the Third Object should receive more attention?
1.
We, who are members of
the Society, have we attended to it? Perhaps not very, assiduously. There are
obviously two ways of investigating. People may make experiments for
themselves, or they may study the experiments made by others. The latter method
is that which is usually employed in the study of most sciences. It is only a
few of us who take up any science and actually experimentalize in it. All of us
at school long ago learnt something of astronomy; but I hardly imagine that many
of you bought a large telescope and went into the study at first-hand. It
happens that I did ; therefore I may say that I have a
little first-hand knowledge of astronomy. Naturally, most of my information on
the subject comes from books; I cannot pretend to have made astronomical
investigations in the sense of trying to discover anything new; but I have at
least confirmed something of what I have read in the books; and most people do
not even go so far as that. I suppose that it is the same with many sciences. A
person may know a great deal about any subject without having actually tackled
it himself.
2.
So you will be doing
something in order to learn about the powers latent in man if you read
carefully what has been written of them, if you try to understand what these
powers are, and to convince yourself of their reality by studying the enormous
mass of printed evidence. Of course, you can do a good deal more if you take
the thing in hand and try for yourself. A number of our members have been
encouraged to do this, and a great deal of instruction has been given in regard
to meditation, which is one of the safest of the methods of approaching this
subject experimentally. But not all methods are safe; we have to remember that
investigation at first-hand into the development of psychic powers has its
dangers, and the tradition of our Society has always been to discourage people
from rash experiments - I think quite rightly.
3.
Many books have been
written upon Yoga practices - some of them, I fear, by people who have little
practical acquaintance with the subject; and in a number of cases harm has
resulted from ill-judged attempts to follow the directions given. I am told
that there are Indian Yogis who give instruction in these arts; but the Yogi
usually teaches only those who are definitely his pupils and follow him
everywhere. He therefore has his experimenters always under observation, and
can at once check anyone who may be running into danger; whereas the man who
learns his Yoga from a book has no such safeguard. I have myself received a
large number of applications for help from persons who have seriously injured
their brains, their nervous system, and their constitution generally, by
plunging blindfold into this kind of psychism ; and,
sadly, often no effective help can be given. It is so easy to lose one's
balance - so terribly difficult to regain it. That is why our beloved President
[Annie Besant] has forbidden the sale of such books at any of the Theosophical
shops under her direction.
4.
The President at least
has been most careful not to give any dangerous advice, and has explained to
her pupils that they should at once stop all meditation if any dangerous
symptoms appear - even such as a headache. Those to whom psychic unfoldment
comes fairly naturally, who would therefore be in very little danger, have been
able to make progress along this line. But no one wants to be responsible for
people risking their lives or their reason, and consequently those who know
something about the subject have been exceedingly careful as to what they said.
I personally made no attempt in that direction at all, until it was suggested
to me by my Master that I might with advantage make certain experiments. I took
that to mean that he would watch over them, so I made the experiments and the
endeavour succeeded ; but I dare not advise any other
person to do the same thing. I suppose the Master satisfied himself that in my
case it could be done safely. I must not describe the method - indeed, I
promised not to do so; but I have written what little I may as to the later
stages of the training in my booklet "How Theosophy Came to Me".
5.
Still, there are
certain things that we can all try without danger. The scheme
of meditation which I have suggested in the final chapter of several of my books
is quite harmless; but remember that you must not overstrain. These
operations do involve a certain strain, whatever line is adapted; but they
should not involve direct pain of any sort. In all such cases, we are working
either with the higher vehicles altogether, or if we are using chiefly the
physical brain, we are trying to make it do a little more than it is intended
to do; and that is always a dangerous thing to attempt, so it must be done with
the greatest care, and very gradually.
6.
"Have we neglected
our Third Object?" We have always been told that the development of
psychic faculty is not a necessity till a certain rather advanced stage is
reached. Obviously, then, what we have to do first of all is to work at our
character. Most of us find that there is still something to do along that line.
My own plan, as I have already said, was to wait until I was directly told by
my Master to move. That is absolutely safe, of course. Many of us might be
willing to run a small risk for the sake of making some definite attempt in
that direction ; but that is, naturally, a man's own
responsibility.
7.
It is an uncertain
undertaking, for no one can tell when any result will be reached. Some people
with slight effort obtain at least indications that psychic powers may open;
others try for a long time without any observable effect. At any time the man
steadily working may break through, and no one ever knows how near he may be to
success. On the other hand, we are bound to tell enquirers that we do not know
how long or how difficult it will be. No person undertaking to train another
could promise anything; even if he could see the past karma of the
applicant, it would still be impossible to speak with certainty.
8.
The intermediate stage
of carefully studying the subject is always open to us, and is always useful.
Study the case of the people in whom such powers are
developed. I myself learnt a good deal about such things before I made any
attempt to advance in them myself. I went into the Highlands of Scotland to
examine cases of what is called "second-sight". That is a bad name
for it - it is really foresight. I examined very many cases, and absolutely
satisfied myself that this strange foresight is possible, though without trying
any experiments of my own. I think such a course might be called study of the
powers latent in man, and of course it is open to anyone.
9.
Then there are
experiments in telepathy or psychometry; many people can do something in that
way with a little practice. Then there is always spiritualism, although the
latter is chiefly concerned with trying to prove the return of the dead to
earth. A great deal in mediumship, however, indicates the possession of latent
powers by man ; though spiritualists preach the idea
from another side, and wish a man to be absolutely passive and lay himself open
to influences of all sorts, which we consider unsafe.
10.
The line recommended
to us has always been to try to develop your own powers; to be active, not
passive. It is true that the spiritualist tries first of all to engage a
"spirit-guide" - some dead person who will act as a sort of guardian
to the medium, and drive away all evil influences, while leaving him open to
what is good. But this is not always sufficient; I have seen one case, at
least, in which a spirit-guide was absolutely overpowered by an evil entity;
and if a certain great person had not been physically present at that stance,
it would have meant death for one or two people. So the spiritualistic method
of investigation is not to be unreservedly recommended.
11.
I am not attacking
spiritualism. I know that a vast amount of good has been done by it, though no
doubt some harm as well. I was told many years ago that there were over twenty
million people in the
12.
Has the Society
neglected its Third Object? If so, it is open to you to remove that reproach by
beginning to study it now. Classes may be formed to read and discuss the
voluminous literature on the subject, for before undertaking a serious and
long-sustained effort to attain these powers, it is well to be absolutely
convinced that there are powers to attain. When that stage of certainty is
reached, it may be worth while to consider their cultivation. There is no doubt
that one who is able and willing to enter upon that arduous course may be of
the greatest use to his fellow-men, but it is indeed hard to find one who
possesses all the necessary qualifications, for they are not only physical and
mental, but; moral. And uttermost unselfishness and lack of all personal pride
are among the first of these pro-requisites.
14. [During the sessions of the Geneva Congress of the Federation of National Societies in Europe, C.W. Leadbeater contributed, on the 1st July, 1910, the following to the Symposium on "The Future of the Theosophical Society". - Unrevised Notes]
15.
I am supposed to speak
to you on this subject of the Future of the T. S. which has been occupying the
interest of the members for some days. It is rather hard to be late on the list
to speak on a subject, as the previous speakers have already said so much worth
considering. Still I will see whether I can make one or two suggestions.
16.
The first question is,
Are we speaking of the distant future, or of the near future
?
17.
If we are thinking
about the distant future, well, I personally have no doubt whatever as to that.
The Theosophical Society will certainly continue its work, it will undoubtedly
increase very greatly, not only in numbers, but I hope in usefulness and in
influence. I have not the slightest hesitation in prophesying so far as that goes,
18.
But when you speak of
the near future, well, it seems to me that that depends
very largely upon ourselves who are members of that Society. We may all pull
together for its Objects and carry them out, or, I suppose, if we are less
wise, we may spend a great deal of time in arguing about the methods and
interpretations.
19.
Methods of course
change; they must change with the times. The best plan of doing the work half a
century ago may not be the best plan now; and really, I fancy that our
discussion is more about the best way of doing the work than about the work
that has to be done. We all know what are the Objects of our Society, and I
think we all agree that the Objects are good.
20.
No one is likely to
dispute that the idea of trying in every way to promote the Brotherhood of
Humanity is a good thing, and that to form a nucleus of that Brotherhood is a
step towards greatly increasing its influence. But how the thing is best to be
done is of course a question on which there may quite legitimately be many
opinions, and there is not the faintest objection to there being many opinions.
21.
It is that, I submit,
which keeps the Society alive and which we hope may prevent the crystallization
against which our revered Leader was warning us. Certainly we must not
crystallize, but must try to keep ourselves abreast of the times. But that
which we have to give to the people in its fundamentals, I don't think that has
changed or can change very greatly.
22.
You see, we have to
try to spread abroad this idea of Brotherhood, but at the same time to remember
that we are not creating a Brotherhood; it already, exists. But we want to
bring people to realize it, and that they do not realize it fully you
may see by looking around the world. Wars and rumors of wars, strikes and all
kinds of misunderstanding and trouble between capital and labor, and one party
and another, all these things are going on because brotherhood is not realized.
We must try to help people towards a realization of it, and that, we
know, is the principal object of the Society.
23.
I should regard the
second and third Objects as subsidiary to that. The second Object, the study of
comparative religions, is a very fine thing, because religious difficulties and
religious quarrels have been among the most dangerous and fruitful causes of
strife and separation. The study of comparative religions is intended to bring
people to realize that in serious, fundamental aspects all these religions
agree.
24.
Each has its own
presentation, which is suitable for some and not for others; but in the
fundamentals of what is the right line of conduct, what constitutes a noble and
true man, all these religions would agree, and that is perhaps the only thing
in religion that really matters. So that is a very long step towards
brotherhood if you can get people to realize that all their religions amount to
the same thing fundamentally.
25.
And then the third
Object of the Society, to investigate the unexplained laws of Nature and the
powers latent in man. That is also, I think, meant to give us a basis, a sound
basis, for our thought and life and actions generally, because Occultism is
simply the study of the inner side of Nature and man, and that study is
necessary so that you may see the whole of life and not merely a part.
26.
If you are dealing
with what you can see on the physical plane only, that is a very
superficial view. There is always an inner side to everything in connection
with the higher planes, and nearly always that inner side is a good deal more
important than the outer side. And so, if we are to have any sort of a
reasonable theory of life we must study that inner side of things. I think that
is the reason for the promulgation of the third Object.
27.
So that really all
these things are to help the great idea of Brotherhood. It is because we wish
to understand - those of us who are really in earnest - the whole and not only
a part, that this system which we call Theosophy has been revealed to
us.
28.
I hope I shall not
hurt the feelings of my friend * * * *, if I venture to think that the very
strong distinction, or even antithesis, which he makes between revelation
and realization is perhaps almost a little illusory. It seems to me as
though they were two stages of the same thing, because every new fact is a
literal revelation when it is first stated. It really must be so.
29.
When Professor
[Albert] Einstein propounds an entirely new theory you may accept it or you may
not; but, if you do for the moment it is a revelation. But then if it is to be
of any use, you must consider it for yourself and try to understand it. I don't
say that everyone who follows Professor Einstein thoroughly understands his
theories. I think there are distinct difficulties myself .
But every new theory, when it is first propounded, must be a revelation.
30.
Madame Blavatsky, who
was the revealer so far as Theosophists were concerned in those early days of
the Theosophical Society, always said to us: "Now here are the facts, but
don't believe them because I tell you. You must take them, turn them over in
your mind, see whether they appear reasonable to you,
whether they are the best way of accounting for life, and whether they solve
any of your problems. If you accept them you must do so not on my authority,
but because having examined them you think them to be the best hypotheses that
have yet been put before you."
H. P. B. used to insist upon this, and the Masters, from whom she in turn got
her facts, always insisted upon this too: 'A truth is no use to you unless you
have thought it out, thought around it, and turned it over in your mind, and
seen whether it is really the best explanation for you. We have never been
under the illusion (nor was she either) that We know
the whole truth. Most certainly not.
We are entirely incapable of knowing the entire truth about almost anything at
our present stage. We are very proud of our intellect in this Aryan Root-Race
whose special business it is to develop it. Certainly it has made wonderful
achievements. The discoveries of the scientific men of the present age are
marvelous, and they stand out greatly in advance of anything of the same kind
that was ever done before. Much of what they have discovered was known to the
ancients, but it was known to a very few only, and perhaps not tabulated in the
way in which in these days we try to tabulate all our knowledge. So that there
is something to be proud of in this development; but because it is the latest
thing, and it is our special business to develop it, we are just like a child
with a new toy, or a man with a new discovery; we think we know everything,
whereas there are higher levels to which mere reason does not reach.
Mind, you have to judge by your own reason, just as a man has to obey his own
conscience, even though, as has been said, it may sometimes be the conscience
of a fool. But it is all he has, and he has to stick to it. You cannot say that
you know anything which lies beyond reason, and yet there is sometimes
an inner conviction that you do know it.
In these days when there are many Theosophical books, so many that they would
fill half a library, I suppose you cannot imagine the way in which this system
of thought that we call Theosophy came to us in those early days - when there
were only two or three books. You cannot put yourself hack into the state of
mind of a man of reasonable religious disposition in the middle of the last
century when I was born, for example. The orthodox system of Christianity as it
was presented to us then was frankly incredible. It did not solve many of our
problems, but presented us with the most glaring injustice as being true of
God. We were like people living in a gloomy cave filled with a chaos of
inexplicable superstition. So the revelation Theosophy came to us like a great
light flashing out of the darkness, which enabled us to step out of that gloomy
cave into the sunlight of a reasonable theory. It was something that at least
explained a good deal and held out to us the promise that when we evolved and
knew more, all these difficulties would gradually dissolve in the light of
reason, common-sense, and more perfect powers.
31.
You can imagine what a
relief that was to a thinking man. We had had before then to put aside all
kinds of vital problems because we simply could not face them with the
religious teaching given that drove many of the greatest minds, many of the
keenest thinkers, into an atheistic, or at any rate an agnostic, position.
32.
The first time I had
the honor of hearing your present President speak in public was in the Hall of
Science in
33.
I was then a curate of
the Church of England, and I must admit that she hit us pretty hard. The worst
of it was that what she said was unquestionably true. I thought she pressed a
little unduly hard on some points, but very logically she pushed these things
to their conclusion. That was the first thing that started me to trying to get
the facts, because I saw from what she said that facts were the only things
that really mattered.
34.
I hope you won't have
my experience, any of you, because every effort you'd make to prove the
assertions of orthodox religion would fail. I don't believe that short of
actual evidence you could prove that Christ really lived in
35.
There was no question
of revelation to us in those early days, for Madame Blavatsky always
said: "Don't accept it because I say so, but think it out for yourself." We had good reason to see the wisdom of that
advice only a very little later, because I knew some estimable ladies who had
accepted Theosophy rather rapidly because Madame Blavatsky said so.
36.
Then came the report of the Society for Psychical Research, of
which no doubt you have heard because it is ancient history now, and which
stated that Madame Blavatsky was unreliable and a charlatan! So all the people
who had accepted Theosophy merely because of Madame Blavatsky reasoned - it was
the first time they did reason!- if she is unreliable
in these other points, the teaching may be unreliable also.
37.
Of course, that is not
logical, it is non sequitur, but they dropped the whole thing. I know
a good deal about that Report because I was at Adyar when Mr. Hodgson came
there, and I have my own opinion of his unscientific methods.
38.
At any rate, those who
accepted Theosophy merely because H. P. B. said so were terribly upset at his
Report and dropped the whole business. We did not. Why ?
Only because we had listened to what she said, and thought the thing over,
reasoned it out, and said; " Well, I can't tell
whether this is so or not, but I think it must be so because it answers the
questions, because it is the only reasonable hypothesis to account for life as
we see it."
39.
That is a good basis
to go on, for the very first time I heard the whole thing I somehow knew
inside that it was all true. I may say that my soul leapt out to grasp it and
take it with " open arms ". But I could not
have proved to you in any way why that was so. I did not know why it
was so then. I do know now.
40.
It was not a reasoning
acceptation only, it was an absolute subjective
certainty. You may say that might be all an illusion. Certainly it might, yet
when one has an intuitional conviction like that it is no use reasoning about
it. Somehow one knows, one feels. And we received it. I cannot begin to tell
you what it was to us. But it would not be quite fair to say that I accepted it
on cold reason only, because I had that certainty within.
41.
But when I have tried
to follow Madame Blavatsky's example in spreading the gospel of Theosophy I
always said, " Don't believe anything just
because I tell you, because I am liable to make mistakes just as any human
being can." I can only tell you what I have seen, what has been revealed.
It is perfectly real to me, and I have taken a good deal of trouble to convince
myself that it is not merely an illusion.
42.
Of course I know that
people sometimes come to the stage when they wonder whether anything is real or
not. I may be absolutely under an illusion when I think I am standing here and
talking to you ; and you may all be under a collective
hallucination when you think that you are sitting here and listening to me. But
if this is real, then all the other things are real too, and they have
a philosophy even greater than reality, which comes from the higher realization.
43.
That is only my
personal testimony in the matter, and I should not wish that any human being
should base his convictions on that. He may take it; if he will, as evidence,
but it is not proof; and he must remember that, and he must arrange his
thoughts accordingly all the way through.
44.
Our great leader,
Annie Besant, has borne testimony to what she has seen, but I feel sure that
she will agree with me when I say that she would wish no one to believe merely
on that. Take the thing, and consider it, and turn it over, and if it seems to
you the best and most reasonable thing, accept it. There is no reason why you
should not do that, that I can see, because we are all doing it in regard to
science every day. Very few of us have made the experiments upon which
scientific theories are based. It would be said, of course, that we could
repeat those experiments if we knew how. Of course, that is a large assumption,
and the scientific people do not invariably agree among themselves.
45.
We have to accept the
testimony of specialists in most cases. I think often of astronomy because that
is a subject that I happen to have studied. There we have to be always ready to
revise accepted opinions when any new fact is brought before us. We look
through our telescopes, and we see something remarkable taking place in some far-off
star, millions and millions of miles away, almost countless millions. First of
all we know that that thing which we actually see is not happening now, but
that it happened many years ago, in some cases thousands of light-years ago,
and we are seeing it now only because the light which left that star at that
period has taken all that time to reach us. We cannot tell what it is that has
caused the apparent explosion, if that is the particular phenomenon we happen
to be observing.
46.
We form our theory. We
try to account for what we see, but often later discoveries force us to modify
that theory. Take something quite close, for example, our own moon. Various
phenomena are to be observed in examining the moon. Only quite lately I notice
that there has been quite a considerable change as to the causes which produce
the conditions we see now.
47.
Always in science you
have to make hypotheses for these things which you cannot reach, and the best
hypothesis holds the field until something better is found, or until facts turn
up which cannot be reconciled with that, and then the hypothesis must either be
changed or extended.
48.
If you will ground
your belief in spiritual revelations on the same sort of scientific basis, I
don't think you will easily be shaken or troubled. New facts may be presented
to you, you may see the old facts in a new light, but that does not alter them.
Remember that facts are true as far as they go, but deductions from
them may always be revised. The facts may be imperfectly seen, but they
themselves are unaltered; we may learn more about them, learn how to see them
more clearly, and that, I think, we should always be ready to do in our
Theosophical teachings.
49.
Times change, and the
method of presentation of our doctrine, as I have said, may have to change with
it, but the broad outline of Theosophy simply is so. Don't imagine for a moment
that because that is so, and that some of us can say that we know it to be so,
don't imagine that we know the whole of it. There will always be wider and
wider vistas opening before us. Whether we shall ever arrive at a full
knowledge, how can one say ? But at any rate we try to
mould our lives by the things we do know, and surely that is a reasonable basis
to take.
50.
So, when you speak of
the future of our Society, I say the immediate future is very largely in our
own hands. If we can be liberal in our thought, ready to face new facets and
new presentations of the truth, then surely we shall be able to carry on and to
hold our rather heterogeneous crowd together.
51.
But remember that the
aspect from which you look at truth does not matter so long as you realize the
great central facts. We cannot allow ourselves to be swept by differences of
opinion into an attitude of hostility towards others of our brothers who are
seeking the same goal. Their path may be different. Well, there are many paths.
52.
I know quite well that
our Krishnaji [J.Krishnamurti] has been teaching that the highest of all is
pathless, either that there is no specified path or that every man must find
his own. That is true; but we have to remember, haven't we, that we are not all
at the heights where we can hew out some entirely new scheme for ourselves.
Nor, I think, would it be wise to ignore definite, recorded facts.
53.
I read some years ago
of a shepherd boy who, somewhere out with his sheep, gradually thought out for
himself the general rules of what we call geometry, and actually succeeded in
rediscovering, or at least in reproducing, by himself, many of the problems and
demonstrations in Euclid. I suppose that hard thinking with the right kind of
brain - he must have been something different from a shepherd boy in his past
life - can bring you to what has already been reached. But it is our principle
in civilization to take advantage of the labours, the revelations, of those who
have gone before.
54.
If every man has to
begin from the beginning, knowing nothing, it seems to me we should waste an
enormous amount of time. I suppose if we were to push that theory to its
extremity, you must never teach a child anything because you would be
prejudicing his mind. But of course that is not reasonable or logical. The
child comes newly into the world so far as his brain and vehicles are
concerned. I cannot see any reason why you should not acquaint him with the
conditions around him, while leaving him to discover anything new for himself.
55.
Well, that is what we
are doing in the Society, isn't it ? We are putting
before people a revealed system which appears to us to be the best. I think we
cannot do better than that. But if you endeavor to force your ideas
upon anybody you are violating one of the fundamental laws of life, and that
leads to persecutions and all the terrible things that the Christian Church did
in medieval times, and even now it is not entirely free from the persecuting
spirit.
56.
And so, it seems to
me, that the future of our Society will rest greatly upon our adaptability, for
one thing; and yet, on the other hand, on the adherence to our general
principles. We can make what we will of it. I do not think it ever will or can
be destroyed. Our Masters once said that if only three people remained faithful
to this inner teaching, " We shall still be with
them to help and to strengthen them." It will never come to that, but if
it did I can only say personally that I am going to be one of the three; that
is, if I am alive on this plane. But it won't come to that.
57.
Can't you see that
many of you have assimilated, or you think you have, the Theosophical teaching,
and you feel it is all the same story over and over again ?
A lecturer starts to speak about reincarnation and karma, and you say, " We know all about karma." Now it takes a great
deal to know all about karma. Our President [Annie Besant] herself has written
no less than three books on karma.
58.
What I want to say is,
don't despair of your future. Great and new aspects of the truth, new ways to
attain it, are being very beautifully, very poetically, very forcefully put
before you. Try them, and follow by all means, if that is the way it appeals to
you. I feel very strongly that every man must think for himself, and in
thinking for himself he must follow that which seems to him to be the best.
59.
I cannot quite hold
that there is only one Path, because, after all, we do see around us numbers of
people striving to be more than good and making progress along different lines
of teaching. I have myself seen personally, and I am sure you have too, men of
the most excellent life in every way, good, splendid, charitable, noble
gentlemen, everything that they should be; and I have seen them among Roman
Catholics, Baptists, Congregationalists, Buddhists, Hindus, Parsis, and all
sorts of religions.
60.
But being " good" has very little to do with the form of
your belief, it has a good deal to do with your putting it fully into practice.
And so I can hardly subscribe to the idea that there is only one path, but I
should most certainly say that they all converge to this extent, that you must
try to understand the truth for yourself and you must not accept it blindly.
61.
I do think that on
that point we can all agree. And, as I told you, Madame Blavatsky taught it
from the beginning, and our Masters have taught it from the beginning. But
remember, while there be scriptural texts which you can use on either side in a
discussion on that point, there is another older one which seems to cover the
point, for the Lord Himself is represented as saying, " Upon whichever
path a man approaches me, on that path do I meet him, because all the paths
from every side are Mine."
62.
If we recognize that,
then while being entirely true to our own convictions we shall also be
infinitely charitable towards the convictions of others. And that, I think, is
the most important thing of all in the many discussions about the existence or
non-existence of the mystic path, the occult path, and so on. Follow whichever
suits you, whichever pleases you, but don't revile or despise the brother who
is following the other.
63.
Recognize that they
also have and ought to have a place in the sun. Recognize that they, too, may
be right. It is quite possible for people to hold opposite opinions and yet
have a good deal to be said for them both. When we know the whole of the truth
we shall see that all these different paths do eventually converge.
64.
And so I would say,
"Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind," and the best way
to attain that full persuasion is to go ahead and work. You cannot be doing
wrong if you are working for the good of mankind. Of course, there will arise
the question, What is the good of mankind ? Well,
there are very many lines of activity about which no one can be in doubt. But
because you may be divided on the question as to what you think is nearest to
the truth, don't cease active work. Go on with whatever good work you have been
doing.
65.
You have not only your
own soul to save. You might hold out a helping hand to a brother who stands a
step lower than you, and you do not permit any useful activity because you are
not quite certain about some aspect of truth which you may be considering.
66.
It was
67.
Let us stand together
in brotherhood and carry on our work whatever that work may be. There is plenty
of time later on to argue exactly what this means and what that means, but, as
to the work, that is present and it ought to be done. Let us spread our
knowledge, as far as it goes, by every means in our power. And I think if we do
that, for one thing, we shall find ourselves so occupied in that that these
other things will perhaps cease to trouble us. And then, for another, we shall
be definitely helping in the scheme of evolution which, as Krishnaji said in ‘At
the Feet of the Master’, is God's plan for man.
68.
Don't let yourselves
be worried or troubled about differences of opinion. Why should you worry? Hold
your own opinion, keep perfectly steady and calm. Let us be Theosophical; we
are more likely to see the truth, and meanwhile we shall save ourselves worry.
69.
So I say let us stand
as brethren and work together. The Brotherhood of Man is the great reality and
wonderful reality. If we are to be a nucleus of a higher side of that, then
surely the brotherhood of this Society ought to mean a very great deal to us. I
hope and believe it does. I have had forty-seven years of it, I shall remain in
it until the end of this incarnation at any rate, and I hope that I may know
enough in the next incarnation to join it again.
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