Articles related to Blavatsky/Secret Doctrine

The Secret Doctrine, H. P. Blavatsky’s 1888 magnum opus, is based on stanzas allegedly translated from a secret “Book of Dzyan.” In 125 years, not a single one of these stanzas has been traced in any known book. On the expectation that a Sanskrit or Tibetan original would become available in my lifetime, I have devoted the past few decades to preparing for this. In the course of doing so, I…

1. Technical Terms in Stanza I (1995-1999)

Most people today have heard of the Druids, at least in the parts of the world where the Druids once thrived, namely England,

The Blavatsky Lecture - 1935

Among the many works that Madame Blavatsky brought before the public, The Voice of the Silence was unique in its appeal to the heart and spirit of humanity.

The books of Kiu-te, as most Theosophists know, are said to be the source from which the Stanzas of Dzyan in The Secret Doctrine were translated. We are told that besides the secret books of Kiu-te from which the Stanzas of Dzyan were translated, there exist public books of Kiu-te, found in the libraries of Tibetan monasteries.1 Yet these public books of Kiu-te remained, for all practical…

The Universal Æther was not, in the eyes of the ancients, simply a tenantless something, stretching throughout the expanse of heaven; it was for them a boundless ocean, peopled like our familiar earthly seas, with Gods, Planetary Spirits, monstrous and minor creatures, and having in its every molecule the germs of life from the potential up to the most developed.

Those who knew Mme. Blavatsky at all are divided into two opposing camps: there is no third party of indifference. Such is the penalty of force of character, and even her enemies could not deny that to Mme. Blavatsky. Even among her friends are some who shake their heads over what they call the Blavatsky or "H. P. B. Legend."

As a personality “the Old Lady”, as we affectionately called her, was like a mother to me; but if my reminiscences were to be confined to that personality, dealing only with happenings and doings in the physical world, they would be of little interest and would convey an utterly false impression of the real H. P. B. with whom I was acquainted.

"A few days after Madame Blavatsky died, H.P.B. awoke me at night. I raised myself, feeling no surprise, but only the sweet accustomed pleasure. She held my eyes with her leonine gaze. Then she grew thinner, taller, her shape became masculine; slowly then her features changed, until a man of height and rugged powers, stood before me, the last vestige of her features melting into his, until…

n 1885 a committee of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) issued a report by Hodgson condemning Madame Blavatsky. It caused substantial damage to her reputation and was assumed by many to be the official opinion of the SPR. The damage to Blavatsky's reputation and that of Theosophy due to the falsehoods of that report has lingered on still today. One hundred years later, in 1986, the SPR…

My sister, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, nee de Hahn, better known in our country under the nom de plume of Radha-Bai, which she adopted for her writings in Russia, was a sufficiently remarkable person, even in these days, when striking personalities abound. Although her works are but little known to the general public, nevertheless they have given birth to a spiritual movement, to an…

Before the soul can see, the Harmony within must be attained, and fleshly eyes be rendered blind to all illusion.

If thy soul smiles while bathing in the Sunlight of thy Life; if thy soul sings within her chrysalis of flesh and matter; if thy soul weeps inside her castle of illusion; if thy soul struggles to break the silver thread that binds her to the master (1); know, o Disciple, thy…

In 1897, Annie Besant published what she called the third volume of The Secret Doctrine, which had been announced by H. P. Blavatsky but left unpublished during the author's life. Received opinion at the present time is that what Besant published was not Blavatsky's third volume, but instead something assembled out of various documents left by HPB.

Before the reader proceeds to the consideration of the Stanzas from the Book of Dzyan which form the basis of the present work, it is absolutely necessary that he should be made acquainted with the few fundamental conceptions which underlie and pervade the entire system of thought to which his attention is invited. These basic ideas are few in number, and on their clear apprehension depends…

It is only the knowledge of the constant re-births of one and the same individuality throughout the life-cycle; the assurance that the same MONADS have to pass through the "Circle of Necessity," rewarded or punished by such rebirth for the suffering endured or crimes committed in the former life.

Science knows as little as of the men from other planets. With the exception of Flammarion and a few mystics among astronomers, even the habitableness of other planets is mostly denied. Yet such great adept astronomers were the Scientists of the earliest races of the Aryan stock, that they seem to have known far more about the races of Mars and Venus than the modern Anthropologist knows of…

It would be difficult to find a book presenting more difficulties to the "reviewer with a conscience" than these handsome volumes bearing the name of Mdme. Blavatsky as author --- or, perhaps, it would be more accurate to say, as compiler and annotator. The subject-matter is so far away from the beaten paths of literature, science, and art; the point of view so removed from our Occidental…

Letter from H. P. Blavatsky, dated April 7, 1889. Read by William Q. Judge, morning session, April 28, 1889 to the Third Annual Convention of the American Section

 

A letter from H. P. Blavatsky, dated April 3, 1888. Read by William Q. Judge, afternoon session, April 22, 1888.

This leaflet is intended as resource material for Theosophical Branches. It is available in Microsoft Word format so that your own branch contact details can be added and provided to people interested in this topic. Anyone, however is welcome to download this document.

Nature in religion is not new. The sun in his majestic daily journey and the silvery moon at night have ever been objects of veneration and worship. All the planets in our system have their god names. The Elements of Earth, Water, Air and Fire are in the Indian pantheon of gods. Mercury is the messenger of the gods, planetary Neptune is also the god of the sea. Pan is the god of all Nature. So…

n the early Theosophical writings, H. P. Blavatsky used the term “dugpa” for the various non-Gelugpa orders of Tibetan Buddhism, namely, for the Kagyupa, Nyingmapa, and Sakyapa orders. In doing this, she followed the usage of Western writers of the time. These writers indiscriminately termed all of these orders as “Red Caps,” “Shammars,” and “Dugpas,” or “Dukpas.” Blavatsky additionally used…

Magazine Article: The American Theosophist, July 1974

“The trouble with the three fundamental propositions is that they are way up there in the blue somewhere. They don’t answer any of my problems. Why should I bother to study them?”

Being extracts from the notes of personal teachings given by H. P. Blavatsky to private pupils during the years 1888 to 1891, included in a large manuscript volume left to me by my father, who was one of the pupils.

Since the split up of the Theosophical Society into various lineages after the death of Helena P. Blavatsky, foundress of the Aryan Theosophical Society at New York in 1875 and Head of its Esoteric School there is quarrel until today about the if, how, why and to whom of HPB’s occult successorship, beginning with the 1894 controversy between TS co-founder William Q. Judge and Annie Besant…

Comments on "The Voice of the Silence"

by Clara Codd

Part-1-

I think this is the most sublime and splendid scripture that ever was written. Everybody has a favourite. Dr. Arundale, I remember, liked At the Feet of the Master, that was his beloved, and Dr. Besant The Bhagavad Gita,…