Masonic, Occult and Esoteric Online Library
H.P. Blavatsky The Light-Bringer
By GEOFFREY A. BARBORKA
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky the light-bringer
THIS LECTURE commemorates the coming to the western world of one who was the representative of a great Brotherhood—a Brotherhood which is known by many names. One of its epithets, especially in connection with its origin, is a symbolic one : the Sons of Ad or Sons of the Fire-Mist. Little has been written about these Sons. However, the meaning associated with the term is clear enough; for it links up with the name given to those Divine Beings who came to the assistance of humanity during one of its most critical periods. These are the Agnishvatta Pitris, the awakeners of the fire—which signifies the mind-principle.
About the Sons of the Fire-Mist we read in The Secret Doctrine : In the first or earlier portion of the existence of this Third Race, while it was yet in its state of purity, the 'Sons of Wisdom,' who...incarnated in this Third Race, produced by Kriyasakti a progeny called the 'Sons of A d' or 'of the Fire-Mist,' the 'Sons of Will and Yoga,' etc. They were a conscious production, as a portion of the race was already animated with the divine spark of spiritual, superior intelligence. It was not a Race, this progeny. It was at first a wondrous Being, called the 'Initiator,' and after him a group of semi-divine and semi-human beings. 'Set apart' in Archaic genesis for certain purposes, they are those in whom are said to have incarnated the highest Dhyanis, 'Munis and Rishis from previous Manvantaras'—to form the nursery for future human adepts, on this earth and during the present cycle. These 'Sons of Will and Yoga' born, so to speak, in an immaculate way, remained, it is explained, entirely apart from the rest of mankind.*
The secret abiding place of the Sons of the Fire-Mist was an island situated in a vast inland sea, which extended over Middle Asia north of the Himalayas.
The 'Island', according to belief, exists to the present hour; now, as an oasis surrounded by the dreadful wildernesses of the great Desert, the Gobi—whose sands 'no foot hath crossed in the memory of man.
While the above account may be traditional, we have the authoritative statement of Mahatma K.H. about the existence of the Brotherhood in the nineteenth century, in a letter addressed to the London Lodge of The Theosophical Society, dated December 7, 1883, from Mysore :
There are even at the present moment three centres of the Occult Brotherhood in existence, widely separated geographically, and as widely exoterically—the true esoteric doctrine being identical in substance though differing in terms; all aiming at the same grand object. J
To one of these centres an injunction was given, in conformity with the purposes of the establishment of these centres. It reads :
Among the commandments of Tsong-Kha-pa there is one that enjoins the Arhats to make an attempt to enlighten the world, including the 'white barbarians,' every century, at a certain specified period of the cycle.
Apparently the last quarter of the nineteenth century was a propitious period for making an effort in compliance with the injunction of this great reformer of Buddhism in Tibet—especially so because this timeperiod nearly coincided with two other important cyclical periods, namely with one of the minor cyclical periods of the Kali-yuga and with the ushering in of a nother Messianic cycle. The Messianic Cycle referred to is that of the 2160-year period connected with the precession of the equinoxes. It marked the conclusion of the Piscean Age. With regard to the Kali-yuga cycle, The Secret Doctrine says :
In about nine years hence, the first cycle of t he first five millenniums, that began with the great cycle of the Kali-Yuga, will end. And then the last prophecy contained in that book (the first volume of the prophetic record for the Black Age) will be accomplished. We have not long to wait, and many of us will witness the Dawn of the New Cycle, at the end of which not a few accounts will be settled and squared between the races.
The ending of the nine-year period referred to took place on February 16, 1898. The Dawn of the New Cycle signifies the coming of the Aquarian Age.
In accordance with the injunction laid on the Brotherhood that an effort should be made every century to enlighten the western world, it would seem likely that some of the members of the Fraternity were given the task of finding a suitable individual who would act as a representative or vehicle for that purpose. Statements are on record to show that these ideas are not far-fetched. First, with regard to the notion that individuals are born with constitutions enabling them to act in unusual ways :
Some persons are born with organisations so exceptional that the door which shuts other people in from communication with the world of the astral light can be easily unbarred and opened, and their souls can look into, or even pass into, that world and return again. Those who do this consciously, and at will, are termed magicians, hierophants, seers, adepts; those who are made to do it, either through the fluid of the mesmerizer or of 'spirits,' are 'mediums'. The astral soul, when the barriers are once opened, is so powerfully attracted by the universal, astral magnet that it sometimes lifts its encasement with it and keeps it suspended in mid-air, until the gravity of matter reasserts its supremacy, and the body redescends again to earth.
The second statement deals with the search that was instituted for 'nearly a century', in the words of Mahatma K.FL :
Notwithstanding that the time is not quite ripe to let you entirely into the secret; and that you are hardly yet prepared to understand the great Mystery, even if told of it, owing to the great injustice and wrong done, I am empowered to allow you a glimpse behind the veil. This state of hers [H.P.B.'s] is intimately connected with her occult training in Tibet, and due to her being sent out alone into the world to gradually prepare the way for others. After nearly a century of fruitless search, our chiefs had to avail themselves of the only opportunity to send out a European body upon European soil to serve as a connecting link between that country and our own. You do not understand? Of course not. Please then, remember, what she tried to explain, and what you gathered tolerably well from her, namely the fact of the seven principles in the complete human being. Now, no man or woman, unless he be an initiate of the 'fifth circle,' can leave the precincts of Bod-Las and return back into the world in his integral whole —if I may use the expression. One, at least, of his seven satellites has to remain behind for two reasons : the first to form the necessary connecting link, the wire of transmission—the second as the safest warranter that certain things will never be divulged. She is no exception to the rule, and you have seen another exemplar—a highly intellectual man—who had to leave one of his skins behind; hence, is considered highly eccentric. The bearing and status of the remaining six depend upon the inherent qualities, the psycho-physiological peculiarities of the person, especially upon the idiosyncracies transmitted by what modern science calls 'atavism'.
When the information given in the above extract is read in connection with that which follows, there should be no doubt about the fact that H. P. Blavatsky was definitely sent to America for the purpose of founding a Society, to be a transmitter of the occult doctrine. Writing to A. P. Sinnett, Mathatma M. states :
I will tell you something you should know, and may derive profit from. On the 17th of November next the Septenary term of trial given the Society at its foundation in which to discreetly 'preach us' will expire. One or two of us hoped that the world had so far advanced intellectually, if not intuitionally, that the Occult doctrine might gain an intellectual acceptance, and the impulse given for a new cycle of o ccult research. Others—wiser as it would now seem—held differently, but consent was given for the trial. It was stipulated, however, that the experiment should be made independently of our personal management; that there should be no abnormal interference by ourselves. So casting about we found in America the man to stand as leader •—a man of great moral courage, unselfish and having other good qualities. He was far from being the best, but (as Mr Hume speaks in H.P.B.'s case)—he was the best one available. With him we associated a woman of most exceptional and wonderful endowments. Combined with them she had strong personal defects, but just as she was, there was no second to her living fit for this work. We sent her to America, brought them together—and the trial began. From the first both she and he were given to clearly understand that the issue lay entirely with themselves.
