Bahman Pestonji Wadia was a relevant Indian
theosophist and about Blavastky's books he wrote the following:
« The book, The Secret Doctrine, is a
ray of the SECRET DOCTRINE, eternal and unevolving, constant and unchanging,
consistent and unvarying. The soul and substance of the SECRET DOCTRINE have to
be looked for in the body of The Secret Doctrine, with its material
organs and organisms. Not the soul in its completion, nor the substance in its
entirety have incarnated in the book.
Further, let the student
make note of the very important fact that the Message of H.P.B.’s Secret
Doctrine is not her whole message. Four eternal basic principles
have come into incarnation in Isis Unveiled, The Secret Doctrine,
The Key to Theosophy, and The Voice of the Silence.
The first is like the
human voice of conscience, warning and advising us to beware of the dangers of
the lower self of the world of matter; then came the monumental volumes which
enlighten the human head to think spiritually. The Key to Theosophy
enables our hands to act in terms of that thinking, and, lest one-sided
activity engendered should push the student into exaggerations, The Voice of
the Silence was given.
A
proper study of the soul and substance of these four works will not only enable
the student to assign proper valuations to the material in which they clothe
themselves, but will also help him to appraise H.P.B.’s innumerable articles,
descriptive narratives of strange happenings in strange caves and jungles of
this world, and thrilling reports of nightmares in the world of dreams.
Just
as to understand the nature of the soul of one life is to understand the nature
of the same soul in other lives, so also a proper valuation of the soul and
substance of H.P.B.’s Message brings a correct appreciation of the nature of
the Wisdom-Religion – the undying SECRET DOCTRINE.
It
is necessary to emphasize the fact of the coherent kinship existing between the
different writings of H.P.B. A ludicrous view prevails that there are serious
mistakes and significant omissions in Isis Unveiled. On the other hand
how many are there who, in studying or applying the golden precepts of The
Voice of the Silence, bear in mind the serious and significant fact
divulged in the preface of that little volume, that less than half of these
deep and profound sayings have been sung?
The
student of today has to guard himself against certain disadvantages under which
he is laboring. During the lifetime of H. P. Blavatsky, and especially after
her passing, false notions, wrong thoughts and incorrect teachings – all
inconsistent in themselves – have sprung up.
Exactly
as we suffer from wrong habits contracted in childhood, modern students of
Theosophy labour in an atmosphere charged with notions and innovations. One of
these is the peculiar heresy of separateness between the component parts of a
complete whole – the division made between the books of H.P.B.
The
process leads to its inevitable nemesis – division between the Message and the
Messenger, and then, alas! between different sets of life-activities of the
Messenger herself, so that by turn Isis “full of mistakes” is pitted
against The Secret Doctrine which is found “inconsistent,” and H.P.B. is
parceled into white, grey and black – the spiritual teacher, the questionable
medium and the fraudulent trickster, rolled into one.
Therefore,
it is essential to strike a note of warning against this prevailing heresy.
H.P.B.’s Message is consistent in itself, provided, of course, that the whole
Message is taken as a unit.
Secondly,
between that Message and the Messenger, there subsists a consistency. In the
first series was labored the point of H.P.B.’s Message being an incarnation of
the Ageless Wisdom, in harmony with its previous incarnations. The object of
the present series is to show the dovetailing of the teachings of all the
writings of H.P.B. The Secret Doctrine cannot be comprehended without an
adequate understanding of Isis Unveiled and other writings from the same
pen.
Isis
Unveiled is a much neglected
study. If for many The Secret Doctrine has remained a sealed mystery, or
if, for an equally large number of readers, it is but an abracadabra, one of
the chief reasons is this neglect of the previous work – a veritable
Forerunner, a magnificent “attempt to aid the student to detect the vital
principles which underlie the philosophical systems of old.”
These
statements ought to urge any reader on to a vigorous study of Isis Unveiled.
The same in reference to the Key, which is a book of practical
application, as it deals with principles in the light of which our own actions
can be directed along the lines laid down. Similarly, in reference to the Voice.
The Secret Doctrine cannot be comprehended unless the life is lived according
to the golden precepts.
Let
us see if a system cannot be elaborated for such a study, as recommended by her
in “Mistaken Notions on the ‘Secret Doctrine,'” to find out the relationship which
exists between Isis and The Secret Doctrine. The former clears
the ground of the weeds and dead roots of science and theology. It hints at,
suggests and in several places conclusively shows the danger which awaits their
sickly and deformed child – spiritualistic and psychical research which
inherits the bigotry, conceit and materialism of its father, science, the
fanaticism, credulity and superstition of its mother, “revealed” religion.
Isis
Unveiled is written on the basis
that “the next best thing to learning what is true is to ascertain what is not
true.” These Volumes show what is false in science, in religion, in psychical
phenomena, and thus uncover what is genuine and noble and true. It prepares us
to receive “all that can be given out to the world in this century,” which is
done in The Secret Doctrine.
Just
as in Isis exposure of mistakes and falsehoods unveils some wonderful
truths, so also in The Secret Doctrine, through the constructive and
positive teachings are laid bare the fictions and defects of all three –
science, religion and spiritualism. Science deals with Nature primarily;
theology with man; each deals partially with both nature and man.
Thus
science deals with matter and makes man its product. Theology deals with soul,
unrelated to material evolution. The psychical creeds are superphysical in
their materialism, and unscientific in their dogmatic belief. The cosmogenesis
and the anthropogenesis of The Secret Doctrine remove these absurdities
and teach how man is part of Nature – which is material, intellectual and
spiritual – matter which is living, intelligence which is evolving and spirit
which is ensouling – these three making the substance of space,
beginningless and endless in manifestation which is periodic.
The
higher science of living matter, the true psychism of man, the Thinker, the
noble religion of Universal Immortality, to which man and matter alike are
subservient – these are the sacred themes of the Message of H.P.B.
To
study with her these holy subjects so that our minds may be knit closer
together and all feel the beneficence and the grace of our common immortality,
and realize, however dimly, that within us is the Secret Doctrine – to that
great task and noble enterprise all are invited.
To
learn from the Message of H.P.B. is possible only as we serve it and the
present task is, then, to inspire as many as possible to participate in the
vindication and recognition of The Secret Doctrine. This can only be
done as earnest minds ponder over its contents, and earnest hearts grow aflame
to serve. »
Note: these are excerpts from the chapter “The Message of H.P.B.” in
the book “Studies in The Secret Doctrine” by B.P. Wadia.
(Source:
www.blavatskytheosophy.com/bp-wadia-on-blavatskys-books)
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