Masonic, Occult and Esoteric Online Library
H.P. Blavatsky The Light-Bringer
By GEOFFREY A. BARBORKA
H.P.Bs Message
SUCH has been the destiny of those who sought to benefit the human race. For H.P.B. was not the first one to bring the knowledge that there was a Divine Wisdom, which may be described as the basis upon which all religions are founded. This Theo-sophia—Divine Wisdom, or the Wisdom-Religion, as it is sometimes called—is not a system of belief formulated by an individual; instead it is the cumulative result of many ages of systematic search. It is not a religion in the ordinary meaning of the word, denoting formalized worship and devotional practices, rather is it the accumulated wisdom of innumerable eras.
In reviving the search for this Ancient Wisdom, as represented by Theosophy, its object was 'to reconcile all religions, sects and nations under a common system of ethics based on eternal verities.'f Furthermore,
The 'Wisdom-Religion' was one in antiquity; and the sameness of primitive religious philosophy is proven to us by the identical doctrines taught to the Initiates during the Mysteries, an institution once universally diffused.
What is also needed is to impress men with the idea that, if the root of mankind is one, then there must also be one truth which finds expression in all the various religions.
As to the message H. P. Blavatsky brought: it is based on fundamental concepts formulated^ into three propositions. These propositions form the basis for the presentation of the doctrines of the Ancient Wisdom, also known as the Esoteric Philosophy. Generations of sages and seers have had the opportunity of checking these doctrines by practical experience as well as by study. They have found that the teachings thus enunciated are in harmony with the philosophical system formulated by them. These three fundamental propositions are:
1. 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 the rootless root of 'all that was, is, or ever shall be'.
2. The Eternity of the Universe in toto as a boundless plane; periodically 'the playground of numberless Universes incessantly manifesting and disappearing,' called 'the manifesting stars,' and the 'sparks of Eternity'. 'The Eternity of the Pilgrim is like a wink of the Eye of Self-Existence.
3. The fundamental identity of all Souls with the Universal Over-Soul, the latter being itself an aspect of the Unknown Root; and the obligatory pilgrimage for every Soul—a spark of the former—through the Cycle of Incarnation (or 'Necessity') in accordance with Cyclic and Karmic law, during the whole term.
From time immemorial there have been human beings who have demonstrated superior faculties and abilities. Some have declared that they have come to assist humanity in one way or other. This was especially portrayed in the Mysteries of a ncient Greece. For instance, in the Eleusinian Mysteries certain families were selected as being representatives of carrying on the tradition of passing on the teachings and customs in a particular manner. Thus the Hierophants were chosen from one family living in Athens named the Eumolpidae; the Torchbearers were drawn from the family of Lycomidae, also living in Athens.
In similar manner to the torchbearers, who lit the way for the processions to and from the temple where the ancient wisdom was conveyed to the initiants by the Hierophants, so does H. P. Blavatsky illumine the path for those who are eager to pursue the quest for knowledge. And in what an incomparable manner has the age-old wisdom been presented by her ! Read the words she penned in regard to her search for the custodians of the ancient lore of the Orient:
When, years ago, we first travelled over the East, exploring the penetralia of its deserted sanctuaries, two saddening and everrecurring questions oppressed our thoughts : Where, who, what is God? Who ever saw the immortal Spirit of man, so as to be able to assure himself of man's immortality?
It was while most anxious to solve these perplexing problems that we came into contact with certain men, endowed with such mysterious powers and such profound knowledge that we may truly designate them as the sages of the Orient. To their instructions we lent a ready ear. They showed us that by combining science with religion, the existence of God and immortality of man's spirit may be demonstrated like a problem of Euclid. For the first time we received the assurance that the Oriental philosophy has room for no other faith than an absolute and immovable faith in the omnipotence of man's own immortal self. We were taught that this omnipotence comes from the kinship, of man's spirit with the Universal Soul—God ! The latter, they said, can never be demonstrated but by the former. Man-spirit proves God-spirit, as the one drop of water proves a source from which it must have come. Tell one who had never seen water, that there is an ocean of water, and he must accept it on faith or reject it altogether. But let one drop fall upon his hand, and he then has the fact from which all the rest may be inferred. After that he could by degrees understand that a boundless and fathomless ocean of water existed. Blind faith would no longer be necessary; he would have supplanted it with KNOWLEDGE.
We are not asked to accept on faith alone the message which H. P. Blavatsky brought to the western world. But we are requested to consider the fundamental propositions upon which her writings are based. Nevertheless, in due time we are expected to test the validity of each one of the doctrines which she presented. For, as stated by one of her teachers :
We tell you what we know, for we are made to learn it through personal experience.f One of the required experiences in this testing is that of passing through the portals of death while retaining full consciousness, and that of g oing through the after-death states fully conscious.
Not only did H. P. Blavatsky provide illumination upon what happens to man when he dies—thus enabling one to banish the fear of death—but she presented esoteric knowledge concerning the process of birth. Then, too, the reason for living nobly is stressed; so is the purpose of existence : why we are on earth and where we are going. Above all she expounded the inner meaning of life on earth and reaffirmed the knowledge of man's spiritual powers and faculties— which although at present dormant are available to him who would make the requisite effort to awaken them.
When presenting The Secret Doctrine to the western world, H. P. Blavatsky quoted these words : 'My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.'J Thus there is every assurance that she came as a messenger from the Fraternity representing the Sons of the Fire-Mist. In fact, she truly acted as a Light-bringer to the western world, ushering in a new age.
