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Contact

Members' newsletter of the Brisbane Theosophical Society

2015 Issue 2 May, June, July, Aug

A ‘Marian column’, one of many erected all over Eastern Europe, in thanks to Mary for deliverance

from the plague. This one is at Telc in Moravia, Czech Republic. (© G Harrod)

Brisbane Theosophical Society p 2 CONTACT Magazine May 2015

Brisbane Theosophical Society 355 Wickham Terrace, Brisbane (opp. top of Albert St) Tel: (07) 3839 1453 (library times) Fax: (07) 3831 3692 Web: http://www.theosophyqld.org.au Email: [email protected]

BOOKSHOP & LIBRARY: (Closed on Public Holidays)

Monday, Tue, Wed, Thurs ….……………..10.30 am to 2.30 pm Friday……………… 1.00 pm to 4.00 pm & 6.30 pm to 7.25 pm Saturday ……….…………………..…………..9.00 am to 12 noon

The programme of Lodge meetings is enclosed and is also placed on the Lodge website which will always be the most up-to-date source of information.

The Theosophical Society has no official statements of belief. It encourages members to seek the truth by various avenues, but always subject to respect for others. All views expressed in these pages are entirely those of the authors – not of the Society.

PRESIDENT’S RAVINGS

Quite a lot has happened since my last Rave back in January. First I would like to record the passing in January of our long-time member and friend, Astrid, beloved wife of Dr Arunachalam (Aru) – see Tribute in this issue. As a relative newcomer to Brisbane, I met Astrid only in recent years. However, I remember well as I crossed the room to greet her, feeling that I was in the presence of a superior wisdom. She always greeted me with a lovely smile, a firm hand and kindly affection. That smile will be sorely missed. And, since Aru has now moved to

Melbourne, he also will be greatly missed. The contribution to the work of BTS made by these two has been enormous.

On much more mundane matters, you may not be aware that your Committee works hard behind the scenes to keep BTS functioning. We do much more than run meetings and serve tea! In recent months, we have experienced some serious problems with our lovely building.

Not only do we continue to have water penetration whenever we get heavy rain, but the outside steps (on the left as you look from the street) have given us concerns about safety. We have had them looked at by three builders, including one who is expert in heritage buildings. Most recently, an architect who was involved in the building restoration some years ago, now retired, has inspected them and is going to approach the Heritage Commission for us for advice. In the meantime, for insurance and safety reasons, please to do not use these stairs – they will be boarded off as soon as our handyman can do

it. If there were an accident, we are advised that the insurance company could well refuse a claim, which could jeopardise our whole existence even.

The roof has also been inspected and we are seeking advice and quotes for repair. Members and friends should be careful, when the back internal stairs are wet especially.

Next, over the years, we have experienced difficulties with internet access and even phone connectivity in the basement Office. This is one reason the Lodge is not well served by new technologies. The Committee has decided that there is nothing else for it but to move the Office upstairs. Reception there will be far better, and the room will be more airy and less damp. Details are being worked out and when the time comes, we will need some muscle to do the lifting – so be prepared! And won’t it be great to have wifi throughout the building!

Finally, we are introducing an eftpos facility in the bookshop. This was investigated some years ago and we did not proceed. Now, however, costs are much less and technology improved. What’s more, this facility has become essential to avoid losing a great many book sales.

On a really positive note, we are again able to open Mon-Fri as well as Saturday mornings, thanks to more volunteers coming forward to help. But we need still more as backups in case of holidays or sickness. So please put your hands up! Talk to Phillipa who kindly manages the rosters for us. Many thanks also to those who, unasked, assist John in the clearing up after our Friday meetings.

Well, what a lot of hum-drum stuff!! It may not at first sight seem very spiritually uplifting. But remember that an important aspect of the Path is Karma Yoga, the Way of Action. This is all part of our work for Theosophy in Brisbane.

With peace and good wishes to you all,

In this issue...

President’s Ravings - Brian Harding ........................ 2

Brisbane Lodge News .............................................. 3

Leading the theosophical life (1) - Brian Parry ......... 5

Leading the theosophical life (2) - Marie Bertelle .... 7

Theosophy as the essence of all religions - Brian Harding ................................................................... 9

Tribute to Astrid Arunachalam .............................. 11

HPB’s Diagram of Meditation – Mary Anderson ... 12

TOS News .............................................................. 16

A different world cannot be built by indifferent people.

- Author unknown


BRISBANE LODGE NEWS

Brisbane Theosophical Society Executive Committee for 2015

President: Brian Harding

Vice Presidents: Phillipa Rooke, John Harris

Secretary: Phoebe Williams

Treasurer: Patricia Ossenberg

Committee: Christine Gwin, Robyn Rizzo, Geoff Harrod, Dianne Manning

Sub-Committees for 2015

Library: Patricia, Phillipa, Phoebe, Robyn

Bookshop: Brian, Patricia, Phoebe

TOS representative: Geoff

Finance: Brian, John, Patricia, Phillipa, Phoebe

Program: Brian, Phillipa, Phoebe

Property & Equipment: Phillipa, Dianne, John

Publicity: Dianne, Christine, Robyn

Program Listing

The Lodge program is in the form of a 3-fold A4 sheet as a pocket sized leaflet like the various Theosophical Society brochures. The weekly groups are included in sequential context between the Friday night meetings, so that it is clearer what is on and when. The programme is enclosed with this newsletter. It can also be seen on the website, and the pocket document version can be downloaded as an Acrobat PDF file. If your printer can print double sided, set it to do so with landscape orientation and to flip on the left, short, side.

Special Events

Visit by National President, Linda Oliveira

Public Talk - Friday 12th June, 7.30 pm – "On Simplicity: a Key to Inner Spiritual Ecology" Summary: The world today has become a complicated place in which to live. Humanity in general has moved a long way from a lifestyle in which simple things are given meaning and importance. This talk deals with inner spiritual ecology and explores several ideas from the Wisdom Tradition, along with some issues surrounding the concept of simplicity in today’s world.

(Advance notice) Vic Hao Chin, noted theosophical speaker from the Phlippines, will be visiting most

Australian TS centres in September. He visits Brisbane Lodge on Tues 1 Sept. His talk will be ‘Six Ingredients of a Happy Life’. BYO supper at 6:30pm for the talk at 7:30pm.

Then on Thurs 3 Sep Vic will speak at Atherton Lodge

This tour is being organised by Jean Carroll of Sunshine Coast Lodge, who was a travel agent and groups organiser before retirement. Her tour following the Adyar School of the Wisdom was highly successful.

To find out more, contact Jean by email at [email protected] or by phone at (07)5443 4733

Details and itinerary are available on-line at http://australia.theoserve.org

International President’s video blog –

Tim Boyd produces a video each month on the USA TS website. It is well worth watching. If you have signed up for the American TS Newsletter you will see it. Otherwise go to the USA TS website at

https://www.theosophical.org/ and click on the menu: ‘About us’ and ‘Meet the President’. To

subscribe to the e-newsletter, go to the menu: ‘Publications’ and ‘Subscribe to e-newsletter’.


The Australian TS National website now has a brighter new look.

That is where you can download the Theosophy in Australia magazine if you have elected not to

receive it on paper by post. http://austheos.org.au/

Library News

Brisbane Lodge Members-only Library and Reference Library

The Members-only Library and the Reference Library are great resources for TS members looking for deeper theosophical insights. They are upstairs and hold a fine collection of old and new books. These collections are available for the use of members during library opening hours. Ask for the key at the Reception Desk, for access to these collections. The reference library contains some very old and rare books. Reference library books cannot be borrowed .

Books of Interest on the Sale Table in the Bookshop:

I Ching Roberta Peters $10 Ways of Work –Dynamic Action (Nyingma in the West) No Author $5 Visions of Knowledge Tarthang Tulku $5 The Four Leaves of Healing Shakti Gawain $15 Some Basic Concepts of Theosophy Eunice & Felix Layton $2 A Blavatsky Quote Book Winifred Parley $5 Godseed Jean Houston $15 Tenth Insight James Redfield $8 Stardust Yildez Sethi $5 A Search in Secret India Paul Brunton $5 Footsteps on the Diamond Path Crystal Mirror Series 1-3 $15 A Gallery of Reflections; The Nativity of Christ Richard Harries $10 The Seven Human Temperaments Geoffrey Hodson $1 A Cry From Afar-- To Students of ‘Light on the Path’ Mabel Collins $1 Christ & Buddha Jinarajadasa $1 The Greatest Thing in the World Henry Drummond $1

New Additions to the Library

Son of Man Andrew Harvey Saved Tibetan Teachings on Death & Liberation Giaconella Orofino The Shaman John Grim In Search of the Medicine Buddha David Crour Ancient Egypt 39,000 BCE Edward Malkowski The Art of Meditation Joel Goldsmith Light on Enlightenment Christopher Titueess Music, its Secret Influence throughout the Ages Cyril Scott The Book of Life Marsilio Ficino Survival Greenhouse James DeKorne The Shamanic Healer Ikuko Osumi & Malcom Ritchie Unbounded Light William E Williams Living Word of St John No Author The Making of Mankind Richard Leakey The Way of Passion Andrew Harvey The Illustrated Book of Signs & Symbols Miranda Bruce-Milford The Grail Engine Laurence Gardner Pranic Healing Choa Koj Sici The Light of the Mysteries Edward Schure Sacred Contracts Caroline Myss Zen Therapy David Brazier Karma Annie Besant The Wizard’s Apprentice Herbie Brennan Rosicrucian Principles for the Home & Business H Spencer Lewis The Return of the Mother Andrew Harvey In the Name of the Gods David Elkington Finding the Energy to Heal Maggie Phillips The Sign & The Seal Graham Hancock An A to Z of Atlantis Simon Cox, Mark Foster The Crystal Connection Randall & Vicki Baer Hidden History of the Human Race M Cramo & R Thompson

http://austheos.org.au/


Leading the Theosophical Life -

Reflections on the Nature and Necessity of Deep

Transformation (Part1)

By Brian Parry From a talk given at Brisbane Lodge on 20/3/2015 (Part 2 follows on page 7.)

The Theosophical Society’s Freedom of Thought statement declares, amongst other things, that:

…..there is no doctrine, no opinion, by whomsoever taught or held, that is in any way binding on any member of the Society………No teacher, or writer, from H.P. Blavatsky onwards, has any authority to impose his or her teachings or opinions on members. Every member has an equal right to follow any school of thought, but has no right to force the choice on any other.

This vitally important point is often misunderstood. It is sometimes interpreted to mean that each individual is free to believe anything or anyone she or he chooses and of course you are. You can believe the moon is made of green cheese if you like. When I was out walking the other day I was thinking about beliefs and noticed some ants rushing around their nest entrance and the surrounding ant sand. Suddenly I had this wonderful and profitable marketing idea; “ant sand for building energy”! There are probably many people who would buy it and some would perhaps even insist that they felt much more energetic as a result. There are many, many beliefs and each person is free to believe or disbelieve --- BUT ----

There are no beliefs associated with living a theosophical life – no commandments – no codes of practice – no formulae – no preconditions. The deeper meaning of the Freedom of Thought statement relates to the need to be free of all beliefs. Why? Because it is only the free, quiet mind that can be transformed.

Beliefs lead to change but change is not necessarily the same as transformation. We find ourselves in a difficult or unhappy situation and so we want to change it but the change we desire is not, can never be, transformation. Merely altering the externals does not necessarily transform who we are. Rupert Murdoch owned half of Australia but he wanted half of the USA as well so he changed his nationality and added American citizenship. Now he owns half of America as well – but what has really changed? He is still dissatisfied – still seeking more power – more influence. He still believes he needs more.

You might believe that your appearance is unsatisfactory so you decide to change that – a nip here, a tuck there – a squirt of Botox under the eyelids and lips to retain my youthful look. Shane Warne did all that and more and he does still look young – but there is a price – his face has become a frozen mask – a caricature of the once handsome young athlete. What has changed is the outer man but the inadequate, uncertain inner man remains.

You can change your religion – become a Muslim or a Presbyterian, a Mormon or a Buddhist – new commandments, new rituals, even more new beliefs; but what has really changed? Are you transformed or merely modified? Many of us believe life would be better, easier, more secure, if we had much more money. Some months ago a woman in Melbourne won 30 million in the lottery. Yes, life will now be different – she will discover that she has a lot more friends, she will live in a better house but what has really changed about the person she is in herself? Will she be happier – will there now be nothing that she needs to change? Ask Jamie Packer if he is totally happy, desirous of nothing else.

Some people believe, sometimes for very good reasons, that they should change their gender and there certainly will be

significant change but the same person, perhaps with a different set of problems, will remain.

I call the mind that drives these desires for change, the “me mind”. The classic examples of the individual ‘me’ mind in full stereophonic, technicolour can be seen in our Prime Ministers, Fraser, Hawke, Keating, Howard, Rudd, Gillard, Rudd and now Abbott. Each fought hard and strong, collaborating with enemies, betraying allies, making promises they knew could not be kept, making excuses they knew were misleading - any action, any falsity to allow them to stay on top. On top of what? On top of their ‘me’ need, to be on top.

Recently I received an email from a friend criticising Australia’s attitude to Muslim migrants. His favourite complaint is that they ask that food be labelled as ‘halal’ so that they could eat it. How dare they (he said)? What about the hijab or even worse the burqa? It is all so un-Australian (he felt). But the real question does not relate to Muslims. The real question is - why does the ordinary ‘me’ who sends the emails feel so threatened? Why is he so insecure?

There is another, even more dangerous manifestation of the ‘me’ mind. We might label it the ‘collective me’ mind. The ‘collective me’ arises when a number of ‘me’s’ share a common belief or nationality or life style or even football team and then feel that ‘we’ are threatened. The most obvious recent examples are ISIS in Iraq and Syria and the Taliban in Afghanistan or Yemen or similar groups in North Africa. No atrocity is too great if done in the name of the collective. The Buddhist clergy in Sri Lanka & Myanmar urging the persecution of Muslim minorities are other disgraceful examples.

History is full of collective ‘me’s’. Our society is full of collective ‘me’s’. It can be a rude shock to find that sometimes one’s own views arise from a collective – a ‘me’ writ large. And so change goes on and on. We are unhappy, unfulfilled, always believing that we should try this or that change that seems to offer something better – BUT – the essential problem always remains. The mind that is unhappy always believes that a change into something opposite (or different), will bring contentment – but it never does. Any such change brings no transformation in any fundamental sense – just a rearrangement of the belief furniture.

Now we can see why the Freedom of Thought statement is so important. It deals with the need for us to be free of all beliefs – all beliefs – not just those concerned with religion or world-view or political preferences. This is why there are no codes, no beliefs attached to living a theosophical life.

In about the year 410CE St Augustine in his famous Confessions diagnosed the essential human problem when he wrote, “our hearts are always restless until they find their rest in You”. The “You” in this saying does not refer to a God as a separate being or even to Being itself. Augustine would have loved Paul Tillich’s 20

th saying of that same ‘You’ as the

“Ground of all Being”.

The restless heart or mind is the one that seeks escape through change of circumstance, or belief or status, or whatever. The restless heart or mind needs change that it can only conceive in terms of opposites. My life is too quiet - I need stimulation. I’m overactive - I need to quieten down. I’m bored - I need a new activity. I’m sick of TV - I need to join something: I, I, I – it is always the ‘I’ that has the problem that can be fixed by a change --- a change,


tomorrow……..Tomorrow! During a speech in London, the Dalai Lama said that there are only two days in the whole year when compassionate action is not possible - yesterday and tomorrow. How wonderfully self-evidently true!

Similarity we might remind ourselves that there are only two times in which transformation is not possible – the past and the future. Living, real living, theosophical living, is only possible NOW – in the present moment. The past is gone – the future yet unborn – only now is available to us.

Obeying commandments, seeking change, following the urgings of the restless heart – none of these are involved with the living of a theosophical life. A theosophical life is not focused on changes but on transformation. The desire for change involves movement away from here and now to there and then – a tomorrow that never comes. Transformation does not involve movement away from but rather a quiet stillness with what is. Transformation is not about a movement but is rather a growing awareness of what is. Transformation is about being that which we already truly are. It is not about escape – escape from the unsatisfactory past into a problematic, imagined future. Transformation, theosophical living is about here and now.

This is why theosophical teachers, ever since Madame Blavatsky, have been so keen on meditation and why so many of our Lodges run meditation programmes.

1 If I am

aware of each breath then I am truly present at that moment. In that moment there is no thought, no restless heart, no beliefs, no fantasies. There is not even an I that is aware that it is aware of itself. In that moment there is no sense of location, street, city, state, country, planet, etc. Each breath is here, exactly where I am. Each breath is now, at this moment. There is no past with a trail of nostalgia or fear. Here and now – the only place and time where reality is present, can ever be present.

But someone might object. What about “theosophy” as a body of teaching? Surely theosophists believe in that? Well yes; some do; but many would regard theosophy as much more than a set of ideas to be believed or not, particularly as we have seen the problems that beliefs, any beliefs, can create. Aldous Huxley coined the expression “The Perennial Philosophy” and that term has been taken over by the Traditionalists. Personally I prefer “Perennial Wisdom”, pointing to actual experiences over centuries of dedicated folk like us, in many religious, spiritual and occult groups. Philosophy sounds like propositions, ideas, beliefs. But one doesn’t have to believe anything. One can just humbly note the universality of these insights, how one’s own experience resonates, even at a low level, with the greater knowledge. Again, personally, I prefer to be agnostic about overly detailed teachings of anyone. Whilst some might be attractive for a moment, any belief of disbelief of mine is of no relevance. Any words will only take me further from reality.

The transforming moment is not an idea, not a teaching, not a dogma. It is not even a word. It is the here and now breaking into the stream of ideas and words that so often fill and feed the restless mind. Blavatsky once reminded us that we need to be aware that we are ceaselessly self-

1 Brisbane Lodge runs a meditation meeting every Friday from 6 -

6.45 pm in the upstairs auditorium, and also two annual weekend meditation retreats at the Theosophical Education and Retreat Centre, Springbrook. Enquiries can be directed to the Secretary on 3839 1453, [email protected] ed.

deceived. The word I use is clearly not the thing itself and usually what I think a thing is, is wrong. Why? Because my opinions are all based on me – my experience – my prejudice – my needs and the thing in itself has no necessary relationship to me at all.

In the famous diagram of meditation inspired by Blavatsky 2

we are asked to meet each new person without love or hate or indifference. Any desire I feel towards a new person will, as usual, be centred on me; similarly any hate or antipathy. Both arise from my past. However, to meet a new person without love or hate frees me from my past and allows me to be open to that person as they are now – in themselves. Such a meeting in the present moment, without expectations, can be a transforming moment – one allowing the here and now to break into the wearing old cycle of opinion and prejudice always arising in the ‘me’ mind. Similarly, with the first Object of the Theosophical Society, (viz. ‘To form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or colour.’

3) - to be able

to see, really see, all the differences, religion, caste, colour, gender, rich or poor in people and yet make no distinctions, no value judgments arising from my, my, my……

The Voice of The Silence 4 was Blavatsky’s final gift to us.

She wrote it from memory having been taught it from a Tibetan text. It is for all earnestly seeking the reality beyond all the noise of me and mine. It says that:

Having become indifferent to objects of perception, the pupil must seek out the rājah of the senses, the Thought-Producer, he who awakens illusion.

5

She asks us to identify, not as a belief or in words, but as a moment to moment experience, the illusion creating activity of that which produces thought. Then in one of the most quoted, and often misunderstood, statements in the whole book she says:

The mind is the Slayer of the Real. Let the Disciple slay the slayer.

6

This does not mean that we should try to become mindless. There are already too many people like that in Parliament! Here she is referring to the ‘me mind’, sometimes called the ‘lower mind’. This is the source of our beliefs and desires. This aspect of mind sees opposites – not unities, all based on the belief that I am fundamentally separate from all others. But the reality is totally different. There is an underlying unity of all things. This is the reality to which the ‘me mind’ is oblivious- so it is here that our journey must begin.

(See Part 2 on the next page, which was given on the same evening)

2 Blavatsky’s Diagram of Meditation was published in Spierenburg,

Henk The Inner Group Teachings of HPB, Point Loma Publications, San Diego, 1985. It can also be viewed at:: http://austheos.org.au/articles/articles-essays/diagram-meditation/ 3 The Three Objects of The Theosophical Society are:

1. To form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or colour. 2. To encourage the study of Comparative Religion, Philosophy and Science. 3. To investigate unexplained laws of Nature and the powers latent in the human being.

4 Blavatsky, H.P The Voice of the Silence, The Theosophical

Publishing House, Adyar 1959 5, Ibid., Fragment 1, verse 3, p 117

6 Ibid, Fragment 1, verses 4-5, p 117

NOTE: H P Blavatsky’s Diagram of Mediation is printed on page 12 with explanations by Mary Anderson


Leading the Theosophical Life – Reflections on

the Nature and Necessity of Deep Transformation (Part 2)

By Marie Bertelle from a talk given at Brisbane Lodge, March 20, 2015

This talk followed on from Part 1 by Brian Parry, on page 5.

What follows are a series of reflections on the nature and necessity of deep transformation, in leading the Theosophical Life.

What is Theosophy? Theosophy – Theo-Sophia or Divine

Wisdom as it is literally translated. It is something that is difficult to pin down, to define, fundamentally, because it can’t be. Divine wisdom is not something to be found in words, or forms, or even evocations – divine wisdom is not a thing, a

thing by its very definition is something that is measured, delineated, limited, marked off in some way – divine wisdom will always transcend such containment. Which is why, it is important that we approach it, with no set beliefs or pre-conceptions.

Consider the first proposition, the fundamental proposition on which H. P Blavatsky’s The Secret Doctrine rests – that there is

An Omnipresent, Eternal, Boundless, and Immutable PRINCIPLE on which all speculation is impossible, since it transcends the power of human conception and could only be dwarfed by any human expression or similitude. It is beyond the range and reach of thought – in the words of Māṇḍūkya Upanishad, “unthinkable and unspeakable.” (verse 7)

“Unthinkable and unspeakable” – this is the absolute fountainhead of divine wisdom or truth; the absolute source; it is the fundamental proposition on which all theosophy rests. It is (thus) the shining light by which, and in which, we would live the theosophical life.

What is a ‘theosophical life’? A ‘theosophical life’ is one that is actually lived. It is not one in which we simply learn a set of teachings – for unless those teachings transform us into a living embodiment of divine wisdom, we will continue living the same type of life – a life of distraction, boredom, addiction, of searching, or worse – for it has been said that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing and we see many examples of what happens when people get hold of a little bit of the truth, of a little bit of their truth (as if such a thing where

possible).

Nor is a theosophical life simply a matter of performing appropriate actions and I include here, not just the more obvious ‘outward’ actions – the ‘good works’, helping thy neighbour and so on, but also the more inward actions, such as meditation and ceremonial. For again, unless such actions actually transform us or grow out of a transformed self – then what we do, is still done out of the same old (limited) me; just because we go through certain motions, doesn’t make it real, despite the new age hype. Also and fundamentally, if we (only) act out of a limited self, then the consequences of our actions, may not be as we expect. We risk in the case of doing ‘good works’ for a neighbour for example, of actually hindering where we mean to help. Or in the case of meditation, for example, we risk, at least, kidding ourselves that we are getting somewhere, we risk, at worst, madness.

None of which is to say that I am advocating inaction, any more than I am advocating not studying teachings (itself a type of action – indeed we cannot, not act). I am moreover stating that a ‘theosophical life’ requires a certain orientation or context, that is not to be found in teachings, or moral, or

spiritual codes per se, it is rather something that blossoms forth from a state of being.

To encounter theosophy - divine wisdom, and have it work its alchemy on us, we need fundamentally to look beyond our everyday, limited self. We must put aside the stories that we tell ourselves about who this particular person is, and about how they understand the world (practically, morally, spiritually), because those stories will always be partial, limited, by the fact that they always revolve around a particular point, the ‘me, me, me’. Put simply, if we seek divine wisdom, we will not find it through our thinking, reasoning faculty alone. As the sage, J. Krishnamurti states

…thought can never find that state (ie that Reality)……thought can never find it because thought is essentially not free.

For thought is always beholden to a particular point of view – ours. Divine Truth is beyond all particular points of reference (though it also contains all of them).

On this note, Sri Krishna Prem makes a useful distinction between thought and divine knowledge. He suggests that while the former always extends from a point, and is always relative therefore, the latter (divine knowledge) is a unity, which can be perhaps grasped symbolically as relating to the circumference rather than the point, he states that:

The mind picks out a single point in the complex of experience and traces from that point a network of relationships. Such relating of all experience to and from a single point is the very essence of the mind which is itself a single Point within the Whole. But the divine Knowledge is of a different nature. It is a synthetic Knowledge which we may symbolically refer to the circumference rather than the centre of a circle, a knowledge of things in their all-togetherness rather than in their separateness.

The mind (the thinking mind) thus can never grasp divine wisdom, because the mind is always self-referential; it is always essentially separate and limited.

Nor is it the case and it should perhaps be said, that thought is only limited by virtue of the fact that we don’t know everything yet. In other words, that once we have gathered to ourselves, all knowledge, then we will somehow know the universe in its wholeness. (For) as Krishna Prem goes on to say:

As long as we confine ourselves to the purely mental mode we are condemned to chase our own tails forever. Starting from a point, we may wander from point to point all over the surface of the heavenly sphere; in the end to that very point we must come back. No matter with how fine a network of lines we try cover and map out the sphere, we cannot do so, for the unity which is its most fundamental characteristic forever eludes this point-to-point mode.

It is indeed the unity which forever eludes thought, for thought is essentially bound to a particular point, it is, to use Krishnamurti’s phrase, essentially ‘not free’. It is the unity, in

its unbound glory, which is the source of divine wisdom.

How do we approach that unity? Krishnamurti has suggested, that in order to find that, thought must cease:


..to find that which must be something totally unperceived, unknowable, unrecognizable, thought must be completely quiet…

The great Indian yogi and saint, Ramana Maharshi has similarly said that it is only with the quiescence of the mind (of thought) that the Real (what he usually terms the Self), becomes visible. The Self is always there, he suggests, but is obscured when the mind is drawn outward, towards the gross world. As he so beautifully says

when the world appears (to be real)…the Self does not….and when the Self appears (shines) …the world does not.

Of course, Krishnamurti and Ramana Maharshi are not alone in suggesting that it’s the movement of the mind outwards towards the play of external objects that distracts us from and obscures the greater Life and reality which we seek. It’s at the heart of many teachings. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras for example talk of the need to still the modifications of the mind. The Voice of the Silence states that:

The Mind is the great Slayer of the Real. Let the Disciple slay the Slayer.

Another example is found in Plato’s Republic, in his famous analogy of the cave – in this scenario, prisoner’s are chained in a cave, watching the shadowy forms cast on the wall by the firelight, which they come to mistake for reality (they start giving the forms names etc) – while all the time there is a real world with a Greater Light shining outside, it’s just they’re facing the wrong direction to see it.

If we seek Divine Truth then, we must be prepared to still the thinking mind and come to rest more deeply in our real state. We need to look into the nature of our own consciousness, but not via the thinking mind. To do this, Ramana Maharishi for example, advocates a process of Self-enquiry. He suggests that we repeatedly and sincerely ask the question “Who am I” – what is this “I’, what is the real source of this “I”: Then, he says:

When one persistently inquires …….. the mind will end leaving the Self (as the residue). And the mind will end, because as he says elsewhere, it really only arises in response to the gross world mind (he says) always exists only in dependence on something gross; it cannot stay alone

In other words, if our attention is directed, really directed towards the source of the I, then the mind must subside, because our attention is no longer directed outward toward external things, towards the shadow-play on the cave walls. Then the real Self, the Real world, the source of divine wisdom, becomes visible.

This is what Maharishi suggests we do. Krishnamurti also, though certainly not in so many words, suggests a similar thing, for he is constantly directing the enquirer back, back beyond thought, beyond words, beyond expectations, to find out what is really there. And of course, there are other methods of stilling the mind, but such explorations are beyond the scope of this enquiry. The point I would make here, is that we need to do it. If we would start to lead a theosophical

life, a life in which our lives and the lives we touch stand to be transformed, then we need to encounter the source, and the only way to so that is first hand, within ourselves. As Krishnamurti says:

If one is at all serious, really concerned with the whole phenomenon of existence, it is important to learn for oneself whether there is something unnameable, beyond time, not put together by thought, and which is not an illusion of the human mind, craving beyond experience. One must learn about it, because that gives an astonishing depth to life - not only a significance but great beauty - in which there is no conflict, but a great sense of wholeness, a completeness, total sufficiency.

To encounter this ‘total sufficiency’, we must take time to still the mind, to let go of the things that normally consume us, we must have the courage to ask in all seriousness, along with Ramana Maharshi, Who am I?, Who, what is this “I’ ness when we drop all of the appellations? That doesn’t mean our everyday lives stop, or that we cease in our relationships, our work and so on, the ‘shadow-play’ goes on, though our relationship to it changes. No longer so caught up, no longer so infatuated with the little self, we can stand back and enjoy the stories we tell ourselves, and we can paradoxically enough, become more effective, and more discriminatory in our actions. As we become clearer in ourselves, life becomes clearer also and in this way we gradually more toward a more truly theosophical life.

We need to do this. It sounds simple. But it is easier said than done – the mind exerts a powerful fascination for us – for not only does the mind tell us about the world around us, it is the mind, with its constant referring back to itself, that actually creates our sense of self. It’s the mind that spins these stories about who are, and our place in the world. Without its constant ‘phoning-home’, then who are we? Who are we indeed……

And besides making time to still the mind through some kind of formal practise, we can also take advantage of those quiet, still moments that come to us, unbidden, as they do from time to time – it may be in presence of nature, or of Art, or more simply in a quiet moment with family or friends. At their most heightened, these moments have been called moments of ‘Grace’. Grace is an interesting thing. Maharishi has said that Grace is “the Lord’s presence or revelation” and as the Lord for Maharishi actually denotes the Self, there is in fact therefore “no time when the Lord remains unknown”. We are, in other words, always in a state of Grace.

So by extension therefore, our lives are potentially full of such moments, are in fact, nothing but such moments. So, we should finally harvest this also. In other words, besides making time for a more formal meditative/contemplative practise, besides taking advantage of unlooked for moments of communion, which are actually moments of clear seeing, we can also practise a kind of constant ‘recollectedness’ – a communion with Self (‘do this in remembrance of me” – as Christ said, at the Last supper); this is real transformation, this is leading the ‘theosophical life’.

I think there is a point in our lives, when we start to awaken, when we start to become aware that there really is “more” to life, when we’ve had enough of ‘me, me, me’. And this happens, not necessarily because we have searched and searched, but more because we have stopped. Often, but not always, this can because something has happened that makes us stop, take pause. But it is in the action of the stopping, the letting go, the relinquishing of our expectations, that the moment of transformation occurs. In letting go of the incessant movement of the mind, that we begin know our true selves. Paradoxically, in becoming less, we become more, we become All. It is then that we actually start to live, the divine wisdom.

Some closing words from Sri Krisha Prem:

We are to look within our hearts to find That which is constant amid the flux of thoughts, feelings and sensations, the psychic states that come and go incessantly like clouds that float in the sky. What is the inner Sky in which float all these psychic clouds, what that unchanging Blue in which they have their being? Whence comes that conscious Light that lights them all as they sweep through the heavens of the psyche? Each thought, each feeling, each sensation as it passes is lit up with the light of consciousness. Whose is that consciousness and from what mystic Fount within us does it stream forth?


THEOSOPHY

AS THE ESSENCE OF ALL RELIGIONS

From a talk by Brian Harding, Brisbane Feb 2015

1. Introduction

It has been claimed, in a rather simplistic way, that “all religions are the same.” A recent poll found that four out of ten American adults think that “When Christians, Jews, Buddhists, and others pray to their god, all of those individuals are actually praying to the same god, but simply using different names for that deity.” Mahatma Gandhi once said “God has no religion,” and the Bahá'í web site says “In reality, there is only one religion, the religion of God.”

These views have attracted considerable criticism, especially from those who see their particular belief system as the only true one. All such criticisms seem to me to arise from a superficial understanding of what religions teach us. Very few people seem to appreciate the deeper aspects of the World religions. But, as Theosophists will know, it’s these inner, esoteric teachings that exhibit a common thread.

So let’s look at some writings that speak the existence of this common thread. I will then go on to ask how we can discover that inner essence for ourselves.

2. Theosophy and the esoteric

Theosophists recognise the existence of an inner underlying truth behind the teachings of all the Masters and Founders of the world’s religions. In the Maha Chohan’s Letter (1881), we read:

“Once unfettered, delivered from their deadweight of dogmatic interpretations, personal names, anthropomorphic conceptions and salaried priests, the fundamental doctrines of all religions will prove identical in their esoteric meaning. Osiris, Krishna, Buddha, Christ, will be shown as different names for the one and the same royal highway to final bliss: Nirvana.”

In Vol I No 1 of The Theosophist (1879), H P Blavatsky wrote:

Theosophy is, then, the archaic Wisdom-Religion, the

esoteric doctrine once known in every ancient country having claims to civilization. This “Wisdom” in all the old writings shows us as an emanation of the divine Principle; and the clear comprehension of it is typified in such names as the Indian Buddha, the Babylonian Nebo, the Thoth of Memphis, the Hermes of Greece; in the appellations, also, of some goddesses—Metis, Neitha, Athena, the Gnostic Sophia, and finally—the Vedas, from the word “to know.”

Under this designation, all the ancient philosophers of the East and West, the Hierophants of old Egypt, the Rishis of Aryavarta, the Theodidaktoi of Greece, included all knowledge of things occult and essentially divine.

Again in The Theosophist of November, 1883, a Christian Minister and early Theosophist, the Rev C H A Dall, says:

all religions divested of their man-made theologies and superlatively human ecclesiasticism rest on one and the same foundation, converge towards one focus: an ineradicable, congenital belief in an inner Nature reflected in the inner man, its microcosm; on this our earth, … The Divine Principle, the Whole, can be manifested to our consciousness … Hence, the true theosophist, of whatever religion … accepts this actual existence of a Logos, whether in the Buddhist, Adwaitee, Christian Gnostic or Neo-Platonic esoteric sense ….

In modern times, one of our pamphlets (“The Theosophical Society: What is it All About?”) tells us “Theosophy is the essence of the great religions and philosophies of the world.”

The pamphlet continues: “Its principles have been restated in different ways by seers and sages throughout human history… They were present in teachings such as those of ancient India and China, the Egyptian Thoth or the Greek Hermes, the neo-Platonists, and Gnostics of the early Christian era.”

Theosophy does not require individuals to give up their religion if they do not wish to. Rather does Theosophy enhance our understanding of religions. In reading Sylvia Cranston’s biography of HPB, I came across this extract from a letter by Damodar K Mavalankar (p207), an important early member of the TS and a frequent contributor to The Theosophist in its early days. Damodar writes:

“The study of theosophy has thrown a light over me in regard to my country, my religion, my duty. I have become a better [Hindu] than I ever was. I have similarly heard my Parsi brothers say that they have been better Zoroastrians since they joined the Theosophical Society. I have also seen the Buddhists write often to the Society that the study of theosophy has enabled them to appreciate their religion the more. And thus this study makes every man respect his religion the more. It furnishes to him a sight that can pierce through the dead letter and clearly see the spirit … If we view all the religions in their popular sense, they appear strongly antagonistic to each other in various details. None agrees with the other. … There must … be one common ground on which all the religious systems are built. And this ground which lies at the bottom of all, is truth.”

The emphasis here is mine. Let’s now look at what we can find to support these ideas in the writings of teachers of the different religions themselves.

3. The Esoteric in Different Religions

Christianity is the religion in which many of us have been brought up and which many have abandoned. To Theosophists, exoteric Christianity doesn’t make much sense: it is easy to cast it aside and consider it no further. But the Maha Chohan, in the letter previously mentioned, says of Christianity:

Mystical Christianity, that is to say that Christianity which teaches self-redemption through our own seventh principle – the liberated Para-atma (Augoeides) called by one Christ, by others Buddha, and equivalent to regeneration or rebirth in spirit – will be found just the same truth as the Nirvana of Buddhism..”

Jesus himself points to the existence of the esoteric. In Gospel of Mark (4:10, 11), he says to his inner circle:

“To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; in order that they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand...’”

There are similar hints in the writings of St Paul. For example, in 1 Corinthians 2:6, 7 Paul says:


“...we speak wisdom among them that are perfect; yet not the wisdom of this world ... But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world...

In a book by Matthew Fox, entitled “One River, Many Wells,” we find the author saying:

“I begin with an observation from Meister Eckhart, who says that ‘Divinity is an underground river that no one can stop and no one can dam up.’ There is one underground river – but there are many wells into that river: an African well, a Taoist well, a Buddhist well, a Jewish well, a Muslim well, a goddess well, a Christian well, and aboriginal wells. Many wells but one river.”

“Well” is used here in the sense of “source” or “spring,” of course. A famous well in England is Chalice Well at Glastonbury

Turning to Hinduism, we find the mystic, Rajjab (b.1567), writing:

The worship of the different religions, which are like so many small streams, move together to meet God, who is like the ocean.

And in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says:

“Those who worship other gods with faith and devotion also worship me, Arjuna, even if they do not observe the usual forms. I am the object of all worship, its enjoyer and Lord.”

And again: “All paths, Arjuna, lead to me.” And: “All the scriptures lead to me; I am their author and their wisdom.”

And from Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273), the Sufi poet of Islam:

All religions,all this singing,is one song. The differences are just illusion and vanity. The sun’s light looks a little different on this wall than it does on that wall … but it’s still one light.

We have seen testament to the existence of an inner essence in all religions. Now I want to explore how we may find that essence, that esoteric core.

4. Finding the Essence

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna: “Unwavering in devotion, always united with me, the man or woman of wisdom surpasses all the others” and “the goal of all work is spiritual wisdom.” That spiritual wisdom is found by turning within oneself. Wisdom is knowing the Self.

Canon Peter Spink, wrote (Beyond Belief, 1996) of “moving

beyond belief into direct knowledge” of “the full potential within yourself, a potential which I call the ‘God dimension’….” Canon Peter goes on “…crossing the barriers separating the conflicting belief systems there is a universal experience of God.” Canon Peter often referred to what he called “experiential wisdom” as opposed to book knowledge.

Bede Griffiths, a Benedictine monk who lived for over fifty years in India, said:

“We get to the core of religion by going to the heart experience, not by dwelling on doctrines that so easily divide … when one comes to the level of interior experience, that is where the meeting takes place …”

So we come closer to the inner essence of religions by putting aside intellect and entering the “cave of the heart.” In the Buddhist tradition, Thich Nhat Hanh says “Through the practice of deep looking and deep listening, we become free, able to see the beauty and value in our own and others’ traditions.” Again he says: “When you touch someone who authentically represents a tradition, you not only touch his or her tradition, you also touch your own.”

We have already met one of the greatest of the Sufi mystics in the Islamic tradition, Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273). Quoting from Matthew Fox (One River, Many Wells) again, he tells us “Rumi grounds the likeness found in every mystical tradition to the depth of the experience of the Divine one touches in a particular tradition. Love is the key.

For those in love, Muslim, Christian, and Jew do not exist … Why listen to those who see it another way? - if they’re not in love their eyes do not exist.

In Sufi poetry, as in the Song of Songs in the Old Testament, the divine is often seen as The Beloved for which the individual soul yearns. Some of the most beautiful poetry using this metaphor is by Rabi’a of Bagdad. She writes:

O God, the stars are shining: All eyes have closed in sleep; The kings have locked their doors. Each lover is alone, in secret, with the one he loves. And I am here too: alone, hidden from all of them - With You.

One of the great pieces of Theosophical literature is the little book by HPB, The Voice of the Silence. William James, in The Varieties of Religious Experience, selects the following:

He who would hear the voice of Nada, “the Soundless Sound,” and comprehend it, he has to learn the nature of Dharana. … When to himself his form appears unreal, as do on waking all the forms he sees in dreams; When he has ceased to hear the many, he may discern the ONE – the inner sound which kills the outer … For then the soul will hear, and will remember. And then to the inner ear will speak – THE VOICE OF THE SILENCE. … And now thy Self is lost in SELF, thyself unto THYSELF, merged in THAT SELF from which thou first didst radiate. … Behold! Thou hast become the Light, thou hast become the Sound, thou art thy Master and thy God. Thou art THYSELF the object of thy search: The voice unbroken, that resounds throughout eternities, exempt from change, from sin exempt, the seven sounds in one, THE VOICE OF THE SILENCE.

Esoteric understanding cannot be taught in the way that science or languages can be taught. It comes usually after long periods of meditation and contemplation. It comes perhaps after a lifetime of experience rather than earlier in life. It can come slowly or in a blinding flash.

In The Mahatma Letters to A P Sinnett, the Master KH writes about this (Letter 20);

The occult science is not one in which secrets can be communicated of a sudden, by written or even verbal communication. If so, all the ‘Brothers’ would have to do would be to publish a Handbook of the art which might be taught in schools as grammar is. … The truth is that till the neophyte attains to the condition necessary for that degree of Illumination to which, and for which, he is entitled and fitted, most if not all of the secrets are incommunicable. The receptivity must be equal to the desire to instruct. The illumination must come from within.

6. Conclusion

We are often asked: What is Theosophy? And we often find ourselves floundering and groping for words. Well, maybe now the reason for our difficulty is clear. I close with words from the Kena-Upanishad:

Who says that Spirit is not known, knows: who claims that he knows, knows nothing. The ignorant think that Spirit lies within knowledge, the wise man knows It lies beyond knowledge. Spirit is known through revelation. The living man who finds Spirit, finds Truth.

Brisbane Theosophical Society p 11 CONTACT Magazine 2014 -2

A Tribute to

Astrid Arunachalam

Our dear friend and long-time member, Astrid Arunachalam, beloved wife of Aru, passed away in January. This news didn’t make it into Contact then as it

had to be prepared before we went to Convention.

Her funeral took place on January 30th at Albany Creek Crematorium. It was attended by a good number of members and friends from Brisbane Theosophical Society. Those who were away in Adelaide at Convention, plus others there who knew Astrid, including our National President, National Secretary and Education Co-Ordinator, gathered at the convention to hold a quiet memorial meditation, timed to coincide with the funeral. Several tributes from members were read, both at Convention and at the funeral.

Astrid and Aru came to Australia many years ago from Sri Lanka. Astrid was brought up Roman Catholic while Aru was Hindu – and it was a very harmonious combination as they respected each other’s faiths.

Astrid’s interest in theosophy grew as her husband, Aru, became more deeply involved in the Society. Many of us were impressed by the way in which she thought through the new ideas she encountered. For instance, when asked about a possible conflict with her religious upbringing and beliefs she commented that coming into contact with theosophical ideas had actually deepened her understanding of her inherited religion.

Within a fairly short space of time, Astrid became not only a regular participant in meetings, but also a volunteer in the library. She was often the first person that visitors met as they came into the library and her warm welcome encouraged them to stay and explore the collection. Astrid was generous with her time and was interested in people and their spiritual journeys, so was always willing to give visitors and new members her full attention. As a kind and helpful volunteer library worker she always found the time to assist anyone whether they were returning library books or requiring assistance in selecting material to borrow.

Astrid also became a dedicated member of the Theosophical Order of Service and participated actively in all its activities. She served as President for a year and her warmth and personal connection with members made us all feel like a family.

Many of us have warm memories of her at the annual working bees at the national TS retreat centre at Springbrook and participants always looked forward to the wonderful Sri Lankan food that she and Aru cooked for the meditation retreats. Over the years, this culinary expertise was also shared with people who stayed for lunch between the two TS study groups that Aru conducted on Wednesdays. In fact, some of us suspected that people attended events especially because of the taste treats on offer. Other recollections were appreciating her creative lunch meals which were delivered with love for Phoebe and Lynette on Mondays.

Astrid, with her husband, Aru, became firm friends with many fellow TS volunteers, and enjoyed attending National Conferences of the Theosophical Society with them as well as many other outings. We can remember Carolyn’s mother regularly sharing accounts of their many exploits together.

With Astrid’s passing to the next phase of her life, we will remember her charm and wit with great fondness.

Aru has moved to live with his family in Sydney, so we will regrettably not see much of him in Brisbane now.

- Rabindranath Tagore

Aru and Astrid receiving Life Membership of Brisbane Lodge in 2003


H P Blavatsky’s ‘Diagram of Meditation’

Explanations by Mary Anderson, who was the International Secretary for many years.

From The Theosophist, August 2002. Reprinted in: Theosophy in Australia, March 2003 and available on

http://austheos.org.au/articles/articles-essays/diagram-meditation/ The Diagram of Meditation below is reproduced from The Inner Group Teachings of HPB, Henk Spierenburg, Point Loma Publications, San Diego, 1985.

In 1887-88 Madame Blavatsky dictated a Diagram of Meditation to E. T. Sturdy. This Diagram is interesting to study and useful to try to follow in meditation — and also in daily life.

Here are my comments on this valuable resource…

Conceiving of Unity

It begins with the words: First conceive of Unity. How are we to do so? We may think of the Unity of all things as something ‘other-worldly’, rejecting the world of diversity that we know. But Mme Blavatsky goes on to cite two things we know and of which we can easily conceive: space and time. All the objects we know are located in space and all the events we know take place in time. Space is the background of objects and time is the background of events. So, being familiar with objects and events, we can easily conceive of space and time. Indeed, we cannot conceive of objects existing and events taking place in emptiness, that is, without or outside the background of space and time.

Conceiving of Space and Time

But can we conceive of space and time existing without objects and events? If we can do so, then let us continue with this meditation!

We are to conceive of ‘Expansion in Space and Infinite in Time’, that is, we are to transcend the space and time familiar to us. This expansion and transcending lead to what may be thought of as the noumena of the phenomena of the limited space and time we know, that is, the root ideas or archetypes behind the appearance of space and time or mayavic space and time — indeed their Divine Source.

The noumenon of time is sometimes called Eternity. HPB spoke of ‘Duration’ in this connection. The noumenon of space is ‘the Eternal Parent’ or the Great Mother. There are some beautiful passages concerning Space in The Secret Doctrine: ‘What is that

which was, is and will be, whether there is a Universe or not, whether there be gods or none?’ … And the answer made is — ‘Space’.[1] Here we have a reference to space without gods and so without objects of any kind. ‘That which ever is is one, that which ever was, is one, that which is ever being and becoming is also one and this is Space’.[2]

Let us not forget the object of this exercise, which is to conceive of Unity. But conceiving of expansion and infinity implies a widening, expanding process and we may think of Unity as a narrowing down. It depends on how we view Unity — that oneness which is also called ‘the Absolute’. Unity may seem to mean a narrowing down to a single point, which by definition has no dimensions. Like a ‘Black Hole’, things may seem to disappear in it. It is zero, a void, an emptiness. This is the path of ‘neti, neti’. By denying all we can know, we approach that which cannot be known. But if Unity implies an expansion to include all, it means we are viewing it as a sort of infinite sphere, again dimensionless in that it is beyond all dimensions. It is the Plenum, or fullness. This is the approach expounded here.

Considered as a plenum, infinite space includes all separate ‘spaces’, three dimensional and more —‘multi-dimensional’, ‘outer space’ and ‘inner space’, et cetera, in One Space. Considered as infinite time, Eternity includes all time, past, present and future, psychological time, the time of our dreams, et cetera, in One Infinite Time.

Unity implies of course both a void and a plenum. The Absolute is both. It is at once the circumference which is nowhere and the central point which is everywhere.

Space and time are always connected. For example, time has been considered the fourth dimension. So also, ultimately, infinite Space and Eternity are one. Space, the Great Mother, is the root of matter (mulaprakriti). Time is the setting for movement, the primordial movement being ‘the Great Breath’, the origin of Consciousness. Thus, by going back in thought to the origin of al l objects in space, that is, the origin of substance or matter, and by going back in thought to the basis of all events in time, that is, the origin of the movement of consciousness or spirit, we approach the Unity of which they are aspects. According to the ‘First Fundamental Proposition’, when manifestation is to take place, the Absolute shows forth the two aspects of primordial matter and primordial spirit or consciousness.[3]

http://austheos.org.au/articles/articles-essays/diagram-meditation/#fn1




The Diagram of Meditation Reproduced from The Inner Group Teachings of HPB,

Henk Spierenburg, Point Loma Publications, San Diego, 1985.


With or Without Self-Identification

A further element is now added to the meditation: We are to conceive of expanding space and the infinity beyond time either with or without self-identification. Thus, depending on our temperament, we may imagine infinite expansion (infinite Space) and infinity in time (Eternity or Duration) objectively, with no reference to ourselves, or subjectively, feeling ourselves to be infinite space and infinite time. The latter approach may remind us of the method expounded in Geoffrey Hodson´s ‘Yoga of Light’:

I am not the physical body, I am the spiritual self. I am not the emotions, I am the spiritual self. I am not the mind, I am the spiritual self.

Thus, I am unlimited space, I am infinity. This approach is dangerous if we consciously or unconsciously identify the personality with the Spiritual Self. But we shall not do so if we are able to follow HPB´s further instruction: ‘There is no risk of self-delusion if the personality is deliberately forgotten.’ So the Meditation begins with inspiring concepts. It also ends with inspiring concepts, as we shall see.

Let us summarise what has been said so far. In this meditation we start with what we know: daily objects and daily events. Then we go behind or beyond such daily objects and events, to their sources in space and time respectively and to that of which these sources are but aspects. Thus, the beginning of the meditation is inspiring whether we identify ourselves with or lose ourselves in Infinite Space and Time.

The Spiritual Path

All spiritual paths begin with inspiration, for example, the Christian Mystical Path begins with conversion: a turning about. All has changed. Nothing can be the same again. Such inspiration is the beginning and the end of the spiritual path. As a beginning, it inspires us to go on. Even in times when that first inspiration seems to fade, the memory that ‘I have known’ may still draw us on towards the inconceivable goal, reflected in this case at the end of the meditation in the words: ‘I am all Space and Time’. We shall revert to this.

But between the beginning and the end of any spiritual Path, there lie much hard effort and many discouraging apparent failures. Let us look briefly at the hard work that comes after the initial inspiration and before the final Realisation.

This hard work and personal effort is divided into ‘Deprivations’ and ‘Acquisitions’, that is, what we must renounce or cease to do in thought and what we must do in thought respectively, akin to the yama-s and the niyama-s in Raja Yoga. Why ‘in thought’? Because thought precedes and results in action (although we may deceive ourselves in thought!). And thought is in itself an act.

The ‘Deprivations’

The ‘Deprivations’ consist in ‘the constant refusal to think of the reality of’certain things. The things mentioned (which are all temporary and illusory or only relatively real) all imply possession. Thus the refusal to think of them as being real means non-attachment.

Thus the ‘Deprivations’ or renunciations mean refusing to think of the reality of:

o Separations and meetings and the association with places, times and forms; o The distinction between friend and foe; o Possessions; o Personality; o Sensations.

These must, then, be realised to be unreal. This implies non-attachment at various levels of our experience and our being. If something is really perceived to be unreal, we shall no longer be attached to it.

The people to whom we are attached may include our relatives, our friends, those we revere, et cetera. We are also attached to certain places — where we were born, where we have been happy — and to certain times, perhaps ‘the good old times’ in the past or an imaginary ‘Golden Age’ in the future. Other attachments are to certain outer forms (objects or routines in our daily life), our possessions, our ‘little’ self and its sensations.

What do these types of attachment mean to us? They all cause an expansion of the personality. Possessing many things makes us feel bigger; they swell our personality. Likewise, having a large family or many friends causes our feeling of self to expand. Our sensations widen the scope of our perception, which may be a beautiful experience but at the same time may increase our feeling of self-importance. Thus we are attached in all these ways, either through pleasure, which makes us seek them, or through suffering, which makes us fear them and seek to avoid them. We even glorify our suffering: ‘Parting is such sweet sorrow’, ‘Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought’.[4]



It is pointed out that out of these attachments there arise certain feelings. From attachment to people, places and forms, arise futile longings, expectations, sad memories and broken-heartedness, depending upon separations and meetings. From the illusion of the distinction between friend and foe arise anger and bias. Greed, selfishness and ambition result from the illusion of the reality of possessions. The illusion of the personality gives rise to vanity on the one hand and remorse on the other. From the illusion that sensation is real there arise gluttony and lust. These are only examples: ‘The Diagram gives only general hints.’

How do we go about these deprivations or renunciations? First we may realise that the various attachments mentioned are the source of bondage, ignorance and strife. Bondage means being deprived of freedom, including our free will; ignorance is lack of wisdom; strife is the absence of love. It is interesting that at the end of At the Feet of the Master these three — will, wisdom and love — are mentioned as being the qualifications for the Path of Holiness.[5]

Secondly, if we have actually realised the nature of these attachments, we can say, in the words of the Diagram, ‘I am without’ them. Indeed, if we realise their true nature, they will simply drop away, like leaves falling in autumn. We are reminded of the words in The Light of Asia:

If ye lay bound upon the wheel of change, And no way were of breaking from the chain, The Heart of boundless Being is a curse, The Soul of Things fell Pain. Ye are not bound! The Soul of Things is sweet.[6]

But if we do not actually realise the transitory nature of those attachments and yet say ‘I am without them’, we shall be deceiving ourselves by assuming that we — as the personality — are ‘without’ them. We shall be deceiving ourselves, for they are the personality!

The third step is the realisation that one is without any attributes. Such realisation belongs ultimately to Atma.

The ‘Acquisitions’

Let us now turn to the ‘Acquisitions’. They are of three kinds: within ourselves, outside ourselves and linking ourselves and that which is outside.

◊ Within ourselves: ‘Perpetual presence in imagination in all space and time is realised.’. From this realisation ‘originates a substratum of memory which does not cease in dreaming or waking’ — perhaps the memory, deep in our hearts, of what we are: the spark of the One Flame — indeed, that Flame itself, and resultant fearlessness.

◊ Outside ourselves: we perceive in all embodied beings limitation only. Knowing that ‘nothing is perfect’ or complete, that the world in which we live is only ‘relatively real’, we are able to criticise impersonally, without assigning praise or blame.

◊ And the link between within and without is summed up in the ‘continued attempt at an attitude of mind to all existing things which is neither love, hate nor indifference’.

Love and hate are both attachment, of a positive and of a negative nature respectively. Indifference is attachment to non-attachment, to the avoidance of attachment. If we are without (personal) love, without hate and without indifference, we are without personal attachment and thus without desires. As a result we can see all things clearly and objectively and react appropriately in each individual case with discrimination, while realising that the same inner divinity dwells in all things. This means that we remain calm, unruffled and harmonious. Thus virtue develops spontaneously. ‘Benevolence, sympathy, justice, et cetera, arise from the intuitive identification of the individual with others, although unknown to the personality.’

The opening theme — ‘Conceive of Unity by Expansion in Space and Infinite in Time’ — is taken up and completed by the closing words of the Meditation: ‘The acquisitions are completed by the conception I am all Space and Time.’ Let us remember that this can be said truthfully only when there is perfect implementation of the deprivations and acquisitions. Then it is not the personality which conceives itself as all Space and Time, but the Spiritual Nature which indeed knows itself as one with all.

The text is completed by the words ‘Beyond that . . . (It cannot be said)’. This is the end of the text of the Diagram of Med itation, but perhaps only the beginning of Meditation .What lies beyond is unspeakable and even unthinkable – impossible for the mind to conceive.

‘The rest is silence.’ And in that silence true meditation may take place.

---------------- [1] Abridgement of The Secret Doctrine, E. Preston and C. Humphreys (eds), TPH, London, 1968, p.7. [2] Ibid, p.8. [3] Ibid, p.11. [4] Shelley, P.B., ‘To a Skylark’. [5] At the Feet of the Master, TPH, Wheaton, 1974, p.71. [6] Arnold, Edwin, The Light of Asia, TPH, Wheaton, 1969, p.138.



http://austheos.org.au/articles/articles-essays/diagram-meditation/#fr1







T.O.S. news Brisbane Theosophical Order of Service, 355 Wickham Terrace, Brisbane Q 4000 Phone: (07) 3839 1453 FAX: (07) 3831 3692 Email: [email protected] National website: http://australia.theoservice.org/ President: Geoff Harrod Vice-President: Dianne Manning

Dates for your diary

All interested people are invited to attend the planning meetings which are held quarterly from 10.00 to 11:30 am in

the T.S. rooms. Meeting dates in 2015 are: Saturday 6 June Saturday 5 September and Saturday 5 December (AGM).

The Healing Meditation Group meets on the first Saturday of

the month between 9:30 and 10:00 in the upstairs room at the TS. All are welcome. Dates are: 2 May, 6 June, 4 July, 1 August, 5 September, 3 October, 7 November and 5 December.

Altruistic Projects

Brisbane TOS members recently donated $1,000 to the Vanuata Appeal, following Cyclone Pam.

We are excited about a new project to help enhance

the well-being of victims of domestic violence and young women at risk of homelessness. We are offering free places in the cooking classes organised by celebrity chef, Dominique Rizzo, the daughter of Brisbane TS member, Robyn Rizzo. Dominique is generously giving us a reduced price for the classes to enable us to provide places for more women.

Concert to benefit the Women’s Education Project in Kenya ….. Sunday 14 June at 2:30 pm

Funds raised will provide short vocational training courses in hairdressing, manicure and pedicure to help women become independent.

Concert to benefit the Home-schools in Pakistan ….. Sunday 11 October at 2:3 0 pm.

You are invited to Music for Sunday Afternoon:

Paths of love

The program The program for this concert offers a wonderful selection of arias, duets and instrumental pieces by great composers from the 17th to

20th centuries including Bach, Brahms, Fauré, Johann Strauss II, Wagner, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Henry Mancini, Franz Lehár, Andrew Lloyd Webber and others.

Performed by well-known Brisbane musicians: Beth McBride and Dana Kingsford – Sopranos

Tim Marchmont – Tenor

Robert Manley Piano and Cello

Devised and produced by Barbara Damska Hosted by the Brisbane Theosophical Order of Service

When: Sunday 14 June at 2:30 pm

Where: The Theosophical Society Auditorium, 355 Wickham Tce., Brisbane

Cost: Adults: $25, concession $20 (afternoon tea included)

Tickets: available from Carolyn Harrod ([email protected])

All proceeds are going to the women’s education project in Kenya

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