The Secret Doctrine is the accumulated Wisdom of the Ages ... such is the mysterious power of Occult symbolism, that the facts which have actually occupied countless generations of initiated seers and prophets to marshal, to set down and explain in the bewildering series of evolutionary progress, are all recorded on a few pages of geometrical signs and glyphs. The flashing gaze of those seers has penetrated into the very kernel of matter, and recorded the soul of things there ... It is useless to say that the system in question is no fancy of one or several isolated individuals. That it is the uninterrupted record covering thousands of generations of Seers whose respective experiences were made to test and to verify the traditions passed orally by one early race to another, of the teachings of higher and exalted beings, who watched over the childhood of Humanity. That for long ages, the "Wise Men" of the Fifth Race, of the stock saved and rescued from the last cataclysm and shifting of continents, had passed their lives in learning, not teaching. How did they do so? It is answered: by checking, testing, and verifying in every department of nature the traditions of old by the independent visions of great adepts;i.e., men who have developed and perfected their physical, mental, psychic, and spiritual organisations to the utmost possible degree. No vision of one adept was accepted till it was checked and confirmed by the visions - so obtained as to stand as independent evidence - of other adepts, and by centuries of experience. -Secret Doctrine by Blavatsky, Vol I, page 273.+ G2 }' W/ c# F! ^2 b) DWilliam Q. Judge, the very close student and colleague of Blavatsky, summarized the source of Theosophy:
Theosophy is not a new invention but the essential underlying truth of all philosophies; it is a body of doctrine in philosophy, science, and ethics, principally derived from the Eastern archaic sacred Theories, which were worked out by a brotherhood of devotees and initiates who used every method of scientific investigation known to us, as well as their own highly developed practices of observation, experiment, concentration, and meditation to reach the truth. They traced all phenomena by every possible means from their significance to their source, and by comparison of their independent searches and observations recorded their conclusions and accepted such results only as could stand the test of applicability and verification from every point and in every conceivable direction.Blavatsky was taught by two of the Masters who were part of this body of initiated seers referred to above. So she once answered a question as follows:( X) A( |+ @5 S @! |, t' b
This slowly accumulating body of facts furnished the basis for these great universal doctrines, and the psychic development of these devotees and students gave them great power over nature and insight into the mystic side of the universe and man. These doctrines were handed down from generation to generation since time immemorial, and were guarded by the most sacredly pledged disciples, who had devoted their whole lives to the development of their psychic and spiritual faculties. The reason why these doctrines had been so strenuously guarded from the profane and unripe is because the possession of their knowledge gives great power for use or abuse. It embraces the science of the finer forces in nature, their relation and correspondences in themselves, and the knowledge of their uses and application for the benefit or destruction of humanity.* Although this transcendental knowledge was accessible at all times to those who were ripe and who felt the craving for it strong enough to make the unremitting sacrifice, it would be acquired only by those whose supreme intensity of excitement and enthusiasm made it possible in those times to incur the self-denial and renunciation of worldly concerns necessary to initiation. Nor is it any different now, and never will be, except that portions of the doctrine are given out from time to time, such as may be safely trusted to an advancing age, because to penetrate into the mystery of nature requires a state of the greatest purity and perfection, and this final perfection is not a gift to be expected from without, but is to be worked for by those who desire it. (From Theosophy and The Theosophical Society, an article by W. Q. Judge)
What I do believe in is (1), the unbroken oral teachings revealed by living divine men during the infancy of mankind to the elect among men; (2), that it has reached us unaltered; and (3) that the M[size=-1]ASTERS are thoroughly versed in the science based on such uninterrupted teaching. (FromWhat Shall We Do For Our Fellow-Men? by H.P. Blavatsky)+ H. Y5 d' p9 T4 u3 I$ s
1831 Born August 12 at Dnepropetrovsk (Ekaterinoslav), Ukraine. Daughter of Col. Peter von Hahn and Helena Andreyevna, nee de Fadeyev, renowned novelist who died young. Granddaughter on maternal side of Privy Councilor Audrey de Fadeyev and Princess Helena Pavlovna Dolgorukov, who supervised her education at Saratov and Tiflis, Caucasus. Endowed from childhood with remarkable psychic powers.9 \9 |* h: j6 L5 n: f
1849 Married Nikifor Blavatsky, a State Official, very much her senior.) O# }( H; l4 c
1849-50 Left him and traveled in Turkey, Greece, Egypt, and France.7 Q2 w. ]5 ^- w i6 {/ R6 y
1851 Met her Master in London. ; |0 [3 U Y* T% W7 l, P) r
1852 Embarked for Canada later in the year; went to New Orleans, Mexico, South America, West Indies, thence via the Cape and Ceylon to India.& M+ i' e+ e9 L. g% B
1853 Attempted but failed to enter Tibet. Returned to England via Java.& B, A# |& {' [% r- k; V
1854 Came to America again, crossing the Rockies with a caravan of immigrants. May have visited South America again.
1855 Left for India late in the year, via Japan and the Straits.
1856-57 Traveled throughout India, Kashmir, Ladakh, parts of Tibet, Burma.
1858 Returned to Europe via Java, staying in France and Germany. Then returned to Russia, reaching Pskov on Christmas Night., [' X5 I( \3 m7 N5 C1 K# E
1860 Left for the Caucasus early in the year, where she traveled among the native tribes, remaining there until 1864-65. Experienced severe physical and psychic crisis acquiring complete control over her occult powers.
1866-67 Left Russia again and traveled extensively in Balkans, Egypt, Syria, Italy. Returned to Italy in 1867 and paid a short visit to southern Russia. Was present at the battle of Mentana, November 3, 1867, and was wounded.1 Y( d& T) x. Q1 Z% B7 ~( x& I
1868 Went to India and Tibet with her Master.
1870 Returned to Greece.
1871 Embarked for Egypt and was shipwrecked near the island of Spetsai, July 4.
1871-72 Settled in Cairo. Traveled to Syria, Palestine, Lebanon in 1872, returning for a short time to Odessa.' j! O. m/ e6 j( J1 M9 \. s
1873 After brief travels in Eastern Europe, went to Paris in spring. On her Master's orders left for New York, landing July 7.
1874 Met Col. Henry Steel Olcott at the Eddy farmhouse, Chittenden, Vermont, October 14.
1875 September 8, founded the Theosophical Society, together with Col. Olcott, William Q. Judge, and others. Inaugural address of Col. Olcott delivered November 17.
1877 Published her first great work, Isis Unveiled, in the fall.
1878 Became an American citizen, July 8. Left for India with Col. Olcott, December 17, settling at Bombay." B# j/ [5 j. ?2 L9 V
1879 Launched her first magazine, The Theosophist, in October, which resulted in rapid growth of Theosophical work in India, 1879-83.
1882 Transferred headquarters to Adyar, Madras, India on December 19.$ l+ w) @" {& p( M
1884 Left for Europe, February 20, accompanied by Olcott and others. After visiting Nice, settled for a while in Paris to work on The Secret Doctrine. Briefly visited London. Moved to Elberfeld, Germany, in the fall. Went to London in October and soon after sailed to India, reaching Adyar December 21.. F7 i3 k; `8 G; ~
1885 Gravely ill, February. Sailed for Naples March 31, leaving India for good. After a brief stay at Torre del Greco, settled at Wurzburg, Germany, where she wrote a large part of The Secret Doctrine./ r8 Z3 i" `- O8 a# U8 ] @+ d
1886 Moved to Ostende in July, visiting Elberfeld on her way.. W( H& O1 z. {7 ^* @- ~# M
1887 Transferred her residence to London in May, where the Blavatsky Lodge was established, and her second magazine, Lucifer was launched in September.: B b6 G9 u2 S* Z% d+ b
1888 Published The Secret Doctrine, late fall. Founded the Esoteric School.3 E/ J+ S; p- R
1889 Published The Key to Theosophy and The Voice of the Silence.7 ~' E j7 ]* O& f3 k$ p& N" |
1890 Established European headquarters of the Theosophical Society, at 19 Avenue Road, London, where she died.
1891 Died May 8. Cremated at Woking Crematorium, Surrey, England.Note: Chronology taken from "H.P.B.: The Extraordinary Life and Influence of Helena Blavatsky, Founder of the Modern Theosophical Movement" by Sylvia Cranston - the best biography of Madame Blavatsky.) Unfortunately this book is now out of print.
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