ESOTERIC: Theosophy

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BOOK "THE OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY" BY WILLIAM JUDGE

This is a small book that was originally published in New York in June 1893 and in which William Judge gives a summary of theosophical teaching.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: THEOSOPHY AND THE MASTERS

Chapter 2: GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Chapter 3: THE EARTH CHAIN

Chapter 4: SEPTENARY CONSTITUTION OF MAN

Chapter 5: BODY AND ASTRAL BODY

Chapter 6: KAMA

Chapter 7: MANAS

Chapter 8: OF REINCARNATION

Chapter 9: REINCARNATION CONTINUED

Chapter 10: ARGUMENTS SUPPORTING REINCARNATION

Chapter 11: KARMA

Chapter 12: KAMA LOKA

Chapter 13: DEVACHAN

Chapter 14: CYCLES

Chapter 15: DIFFERENTIATION OF SPECIES — MISSING LINKS

Chapter 16: PSYCHIC LAWS, FORCES, AND PHENOMENA

Chapter 17: PSYCHIC PHENOMENA AND SPIRITUALISM

ONLINE

Preface

An attempt is made in the pages of this book to write of theosophy in such a manner as to be understood by the ordinary reader. Bold statements are made in it upon the knowledge of the writer, but at the same time it is distinctly to be understood that he alone is responsible for what is therein written: the Theosophical Society is not involved in nor bound by anything said in the book, nor are any of its members any the less good Theosophists because they may not accept what I have set down. The tone of settled conviction which may be thought to pervade the chapters is not the result of dogmatism or conceit, but flows from knowledge based upon evidence and experience.

Members of the Theosophical Society will notice that certain theories or doctrines have not been gone into. That is because they could not be treated without unduly extending the book and arousing needless controversy.

The subject of the Will has received no treatment, inasmuch as that power or faculty is hidden, subtle, undiscoverable as to essence, and only visible in effect. As it is absolutely colorless and varies in moral quality in accordance with the desire behind it, as also it acts frequently without our knowledge, and as it operates in all the kingdoms below man, there could be nothing gained by attempting to enquire into it apart from the Spirit and the desire.

I claim no originality for this book. I invented none of it, discovered none of it, but have simply written that which I have been taught and which has been proved to me. It therefore is only a handing on of what has been known before.

William Q. Judge

New York, May 1893.

Chapters

Chapters with my comments

· Chapter 1: The masters, their powers and their teachings

· Chapter 2a: The planes of existence

· Chapter 2b: Ancient chronologies

· Chapter 3a: The planetary chains

· Chapter 3b: The rounds

· Chapter 4: The theosophical constitution of man

· Chapter 5a: The physical body

· Chapter 5b: The astral body

· Chapter 6: The body of passions and desires

· Chapter 7: The mental

· Chapter 8: Reincarnation

· Chapter 9: Arguments against reincarnation

· Chapter 10: Arguments supporting reincarnation

· Chapter 11: Karma

· Chapter 12: The Kama-Loka

· Chapter 13: The Devachan

· Chapter 14: The cycles (found in the second part of the text)

· Chapter 15: The evolution of humans and animals

· Chapter 16: Psychic powers

· Chapter 17: Spiritism

Summary of the chapters

CHAPTER 1: THEOSOPHY AND THE MASTERS

Theosophy generally defined. The existence of highly developed men in the Universe. These men are the Mahatmas, Initiates, Brothers, Adepts. How they work and why they remain now concealed. Their Lodge. They are perfected men from other periods of evolution. They have had various names in history. Apollonius, Moses, Solomon, and others were members of this fraternity. They had one single doctrine. They are possible because man may at last be as they are. They keep the true doctrine and cause it to reappear at the right time.

CHAPTER 2 GENERAL PRINCIPLES

A view of the general laws governing the Cosmos. The sevenfold division in the system. Real Matter not visible and this always known to the Lodge. Mind the intelligent portion of the Cosmos. In the universal Mind the sevenfold plan of the Cosmos is contained. Evolution proceeds upon the plan in the universal Mind. Periods of Evolution come to an end; this is the Night of Brahma. The Mosaic account of Cosmogenesis has dwarfed modern conceptions. The Jews had merely one part of the doctrine taken from the ancient Egyptians. The doctrine accords with the inner meaning of Genesis. The general length of periods of Evolution. Same doctrine as Herbert Spencer's. The old Hindu chronology gives the details. The story of Solomon's Temple is that of the evolution of man. The doctrine far older than the Christian one. The real age of the world. Man is over 18,000,000 years old. Evolution is accomplished solely by the Egos within that at last become the users of human forms. Each of the seven principles of man is derived from one of the seven great divisions of the Universe.

CHAPTER 3: THE EARTH CHAIN

The doctrine respecting the Earth. It is sevenfold also. It is one of a chain of seven corresponding to man. The whole seven are not in a chain separated as to members, but they interpenetrate each other. The Earth chain is the reincarnation of a former old and now dead chain. This old chain was one of which our moon is the visible representative. Moon now dead and contracting. Venus, Mars, etc., are living members of other similar chains to ours. A mass of Egos for each chain. The number, though incalculable, is definite. Their course of evolution through the seven globes. In each a certain part of our nature is developed. At the fourth globe the process of condensation is begun and reaches its limit.

CHAPTER 4: SEPTENARY CONSTITUTION OF MAN

The constitution of man. How the doctrine differs from the ordinary Christian one. The real doctrine known in the first centuries of this era, but purposely withdrawn from a nation not able to bear it. The danger if the doctrine had not been withdrawn. The sevenfold division. The principles classified. The divisions agree with the chain of seven globes. The lower man is a composite being. His higher trinity. The lower four principles transitory and perishable. Death leaves the trinity as the only persistent part of us. What the physical man is, and what the other unseen mortal man is. A second physical man not seen but still mortal. The senses pertain to the unseen man and not to the visible one.

CHAPTER 5: BODY AND ASTRAL BODY

The body and life principle. The mystery of life. Sleep and death are due to excess of life not bearable by the organism. The body an illusion. What is the cell. Life is universal. It is not the result of the organism. The Astral Body. What it is made of. Its powers and functions. As a model for the body. It is possessed by all kingdoms of nature. Its power to travel. The real sense organs are in the astral body. The place the astral body has at spiritualistic seances. The astral body accounts for telepathy, clairvoyance, clairaudience, and all such psychical phenomena.

CHAPTER 6: KAMA — DESIRE

The fourth principle. Kama Rupa. In English, the Passions and Desires. Kama Rupa is not produced by the body but is the cause for body. This is the balance principle of the seven. It is the basis of action and mover of the will. Right desire leads to right act. This principle has a higher and a lower aspect. The principle is in the astral body. At death it coalesces with the astral body and makes of it a shell of the man. It has powers of its own of an automatic nature. This shell is the so-called "spirit" of seances. It is a danger to the race. Elementals help this shell at seances. No soul or conscience present. Suicides and executed criminals leave very coherent shells. The principle of desire is common to all the organized kingdoms. It is the brute part of man. Man is now a fully developed quaternary with the higher principles partially developed.

CHAPTER 7: MANAS

Manas the fifth principle. The first of the real man. This is the thinking principle and is not the product of brain. Brain is only its instrument. How the light of mind was given to mindless men. Perfected men from older systems gave it to us as they got it from their predecessors. Manas is the storehouse of all thoughts. Manas is the seer. If the connection between Manas and brain is broken the person is not able to cognize. The organs of the body cognize nothing. Manas is divided into upper and lower. Its four peculiarities. Buddha, Jesus, and others had Manas fully developed. Atma the Divine Ego. The permanent individuality. This permanent individuality has been through every sort of experience in many bodies. Manas and matter have now a greater facility of action than in former times. Manas is bound by desire, and this makes reincarnation a necessity.

CHAPTER 8: OF REINCARNATION

Why is man as he is, and how did he come. What the Universe is for. Spiritual and physical evolution demand reincarnation. Reincarnation on the physical plane is reimbodiment or alteration of form. The whole mass of matter of the globe will one day be men in a period far distant. The doctrine ancient. Held by the early Christians. Taught by Jesus. What reincarnates. Life's mysteries arise from incomplete incarnation of the higher principles. It is not transmigration to lower forms. Explanation of Manu on this.

CHAPTER 9: REINCARNATION CONTINUED

Objections urged. Desire cannot alter law. Early arrivals in heaven. Must they wait for us. Recognition of the soul not dependent on objectivity. Heredity not an objection. What heredity does. Divergences in heredity not recognized. History goes against heredity. Reincarnation not unjust. What is justice. We do not suffer for another's but for our own deeds. Memory. Why we do not remember other lives. Who does? How to account for increase of population.

CHAPTER 10: ARGUMENTS SUPPORTING REINCARNATION

From the nature of the soul. From the laws of mind and soul. From differences in character. From the necessity for discipline and evolution. From differences of capacity and start in life at the cradle. Individual identity proves it. The probable object of life makes it necessary. One life not enough to carry out Nature's purposes. Mere death confers no advance. A school after death is illogical. The persistence of savagery and the decay of nations give support to it. The appearance of geniuses is due to reincarnation. Inherent ideas common to man show it. Opposition to the doctrine based solely on prejudice.

CHAPTER 11: KARMA

Definition of the word. An unfamiliar term. A beneficent law. How present life is affected by past acts of other lives. Each act has a thought at its root. Through Manas they react on each personal life. Why people are born deformed or in bad circumstances. The three classes of Karma and its three fields of operation. National and Racial Karma. Individual unhappiness and happiness. The Master's words on Karma.

CHAPTER 12: KAMA LOKA

The first state after death. Where and what are heaven and hell? Death of the body only the first step of death. A second death after that. Separation of the seven principles into three classes. What is Kama Loka Origin of Christian purgatory. It is an astral sphere with numerous degrees. The Skandhas. The astral shell of man in Kama Loka. It is devoid of soul, mind, and conscience. It is the "spirit" of the seance rooms. Classification of shells in Kama Loka. Black magicians there. Fate of suicides and others. Pre-devachanic unconsciousness.

CHAPTER 13: DEVACHAN

The meaning of the term. A state of Atma-Buddhi-Manas. Operation of Karma on Devachan. The necessity for Devachan. It is another sort of thinking with no physical body to clog it. Only two fields for operation of causes — subjective and objective. Devachan is one. No time there for the soul. Length of stay therein. Mathematics of the soul. Average stay therein is 1500 mortal years. Depends on psychic impulses of life. Its use and purpose. On the last thoughts at death the devachanic state is fashioned. Devachan not meaningless. Do we see those left behind? We bring their images before us. Entities in Devachan have a power to help those they love. Mediums cannot go to those in Devachan except in rare cases and when the person is pure. Adepts only can help those in Devachan.

CHAPTER 14: CYCLES

One of the most important doctrines. Corresponding words in the Sanskrit. Few cycles known to the West. They cause the reappearance of former living personages. They affect life and evolution. When did the first moment come. The first rate of vibration determines the subsequent ones. When man leaves the globe the forces die. Convulsions and cataclysms. Reincarnation and karma intermixed with cyclic law. Civilizations cycle back. The cycle of Avatars. Krishna, Buddha, and others come under cycles. Minor personages and great leaders. Intersection of cycles causes convulsions. The Moon, Sun, and Sidereal cycles. Individual cycles and that of reincarnation. The motion through the constellations, and the meaning of the story of Jonah. The Zodiacal clock. How the ideas are impressed and preserved by nations. Cause for earthquakes, Cosmic Fire, Glaciation, and Floods. The Brahmanical Cycles.

CHAPTER 15: DIFFERENTIATION OF SPECIES — MISSING LINKS

Ultimate origin of man not discoverable. Man not derived from a single pair, nor from the animals. Seven races of men appeared simultaneously on the globe. They are now amalgamated and will differentiate. The Anthropoid Apes. Their origin. They came from man. They are the descendants of offspring from unnatural union in the third and fourth races. The Delayed Races. The secret books on the question. Human features of apes accounted for. The lower kingdoms from other planets. Their differentiation by intelligent interference by the Dhyanis. The midway point of evolution. Astral forms of old rounds solidified in physical rounds. Missing links, what they are and why Science cannot discover them. The aim of Nature in all this work.

CHAPTER 16: PSYCHIC LAWS, FORCES, AND PHENOMENA

No true psychology in the West. It exists in the Orient. Man the mirror of all forces. Gravitation only a half law. Importance of polarity and cohesion. Rendering objects invisible. Imagination all powerful. Mental telegraphy. Reading minds is burglary. Apportation, clairvoyance, clairaudience, and second-sight. Pictures in the Astral Light. Dreams and visions. Apparitions. Real clairvoyance. Inner stimulus makes outer impression. Astral Light the Register of everything.

CHAPTER 17: PSYCHIC PHENOMENA AND SPIRITUALISM

Spiritualism wrongly named. Should be called necromancy and the worship of the dead. This cult did not originate in America. The practice long known in India. The facts recorded deserve examination. Theosophists admit the facts but interpret them differently from the "spiritualist." The examination confined to the question of whether the dead return. The dead do not return thus. The mass of communications are from the astral shell of man. Objections stated to the claims made by mediums. The record justifies the ridicule of science. Materialization and what it is. A mass of electric magnetic matter with a picture upon it from the astral light. Or it is the astral body of the medium extruded from the living body. Analysis of the laws to be known before the phenomena can be understood. The timbre of the "independent voice." Importance of the astral realm. The Dangers of mediumship. Attempt to get these powers for money or selfish ends also dangerous. Cyclic law ordains the slackening of the force at this time. The purpose of the Lodge.

MY OPINION

It is a good book and I do recommend reading it.

THEOSOPHY IS DIFFERENTLY PERCEIVED IN WEST AND EAST

In this article William Judge indicates the difference how theosophy is perceived by Westerners and Orientals.

The Rev. Mr. Ashburner, in the Independent of a recent date, indulged in very congratulatory reflections upon the collapse in India of theosophy since the learned report of the London Psychical Research Society. Mr. Ashburner styles himself. a missionary to the heathen of the blessed religion of Jesus the Jew, and pleasantly supposes that because the London expert, in a truly British style, declares that Madame Blavatsky invented the Mahatmas and adepts, therefore the Hindus will now abandon this new delusion called theosophy.

This idea, although ridiculous, leads us to a point which ought to be cleared up in our inquiry into the cultivation of theosophy in Hindustan. Theosophy presents itself in one aspect to the Hindu, and in quite a different one to the European and American.

In this country and in Europe, the doctrines which have filtered out to the world, through theosophical literature, seem to us new. They are in fact quite novel to us, so they color our conception of what theosophy is, representing themselves to us to be theosophy. And, as we have nothing in our past, in our literature, or in our ideas like them, it is quite natural that an ignorant missionary, learned in Christian rhetoric, should imagine, when a reputable Englishman declares the Mahatmas to have been evolved from Blavatsky’s brain, that therefore there are no Mahatmas, because his first knowledge of them came from her.

Even the learned Swedenborg, who saw many things clearly, did not speak of these great Beings. He only said that, “if the Freemasons desired to find the lost word, they must search for it in the deserts of Tibet.” However, he did not explain himself; and our only conclusion must be, that in some way he found out that in Tibet exist persons who are so far advanced in knowledge that they are acquainted with that much-sought-for lost word.

The aspect in which theosophy presents itself to the Oriental is quite different from our appreciation of it. He sees in it that which will help him to inquire into his own religion and philosophy. The numerous books which have issued from our various presses here, would make him laugh in their endeavors to lay before readers, subjects which, with him, have been household words for ages.

If Marion Crawford’s novels, Mr. Isaacs, and Zoroaster, were respectively translated into Persian and Sanskrit or Singhalese, the Hindus, Ceylonese, and Parsees would burst with laughter at such struggling with an ancient plot, as if it were new.

So a thousand reports of the Psychical Society would not for an instant shake the faith of Hindus that there are Mahatmas. The word is a common one, derived from two others (Maha and Atma) meaning together Great Soul. In some parts of India, it grew so common, in the lapse of centuries, that now and then it is used in derision of blusterers or those who are given to placing themselves on a pinnacle.

Many Hindus have told me of various Mahatmas whom they had heard of in various parts of India. One lived on an island, another in a forest, another in a cave, and so on.

In Bombay, a Hindu related to me a story, whether false or true I know not, of a man whose wife was dying. In despair, he went into the forest where a Mahatma was said to live, and had the happiness to meet a man of calm and venerable aspect. Convinced that this was the one he had heard of, he implored him to cure his wife. The sage repulsed him; and, in sorrow, he returned home, to find that the wife had suddenly completely recovered at the time when he had been refused by the sage. Next day, he returned to the forest to offer thanks, but the so-called Mahatma had disappeared.

This is only one of a thousand such stories, many of them being filled in with details of a highly sensational character, and all of them very old. The very children know that their forefathers believed in Mahatmas or Arhats or Rishees, or whichever be the name, all meaning the same.

If, then, we assume, as some malignant persons have asserted, that Blavatsky, aided by Olcott, introduced this cult into India with a design of mere personal aggrandizement, it must be further admitted that they displayed a deep knowledge of Indian life and manners in thus adopting the Mahatmas. But neither of them can be proved to have been in India before 1878. Certainly, Olcott had, up to that year, to my certain knowledge, but a limited knowledge of the subject.

Yet at the same time there were many Brahmins who had about given up beliefs in Mahatmas now; for they said, “This is Kali Yuga (the dark age), and no Mahatmas will work with men until the next yuga.” So, of course, they, while thoroughly appreciating the object which theosophy had in the revivification of Aryan thought, remained agnostics as to Arhats and Mahatmas being in the society.

Others had never lost their faith in them; and a great body of Hindus, unknown before the advent of the society, for years had had personal knowledge of those great beings, had been in their company, and now have, in several instances, publicly declared their belief. Some of these declarations are contained in protests published in India, deprecating the constant degradation of the names of their teachers. To this last class belonged a Brahmin friend of mine, who said to me, in Central India, “I have been for fifteen years personally convinced of the existence of Mahatmas, and have had messages from them.”

And the class of agnostics mentioned above, is fitly described in a letter, now in print, from a Brahmin holding an official position, running thus:

“Many of my friends, out of sheer love to me, take me to task for being a member of the Theosophical Society. ... Theosophy means “a science of divine things.” ... The society has no Pope, no Grand Lama, no Saviour, no Mohammed, no Buddha, no Sankara Chariar, no Ramanuja Chariar, no Madhwa Chariar. ... It is a society for the inculcation of universal brotherhood and its actual practice. Of this society I am a member, and shall continue one so long as the object of the society is not changed, whether I be blamed or pitied or loved in consequence.”

Among this class of men, then, the society was hailed as a benefactor just as soon as they became convinced by deeds of the founders, that it was not another European trick for acquiring money, or territory, or power. And, in consequence of the old-time knowledge of the various doctrines which seem new to the Western mind, the Hindu section of our society regards theosophy as a power which has begun to make it respectable once more to be an Aryan who believes in Aryan literature.

It rose upon the devoted minds of India as a lamp which would help them and their fellows to unearth the ancient treasures of the golden age, and has now become, for even the young men who had begun to follow the false gods of English money and English culture, a society, the initials of which, “F.T.S.” (Fellow of the Theosophical Society) can be appended to their names as an honorable title.

(Boston Index, June 3, 1886; Echoes III, p.129-132)

THERE ARE TWO SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT IN ADYAR

(Boris de Zirkoff was the compiler of Blavatsky Collected Writings, and in this article he spoke about Theosophy and Neo-Theosophy.)

TWO SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT

Within the ranks of the organized Theosophical Movement, there have existed for a number of years past two schools of thought vastly different from each other.

1) One of them is primarily based upon the writings of H.P. Blavatsky, the chief founder of the Theosophical Society, and the pronouncements of her own superiors in the occult hierarchy. To these may be added a considerable number of essays and articles written by some of the direct pupils of the Teachers, and frequently under their own direction.

2) The other school is based upon claimed psychic investigations and clairvoyant revelations of several individuals whose claims have remained unsupported and unchecked by any collateral authority, and have been accepted on their own say-so, without any subsidiary corroboration.

The teachings of these two schools of thought diverge from, and very often contradict, each other on various important points. In the very nature of things, they cannot be harmonized.

Personal attachments of students to one or another "authority," genuine or claimed, is of course no guarantee, and therefore cannot decide either the nature or the implications of one or the other approach to the subject of occultism. Something more is required than emotional reactions or the tendency to overlook essentials and disregard fundamental differences.

It is quite probable that in a Movement like ours, no matter what historical era it may manifest itself, there will arise from time to time individuals whose psychic tendencies will be the basis for various claims of special knowledge, and groups of followers will always be found to give them the emotional support which they desire - a support devoid of any intellectual basis or independent analysis of the claims made. This seems to be the fate of all occult and pseudo-occult movements whose history has come down to us, however imperfectly.

It is a curious commentary upon human confusion in general, and the psycho-mental uncertainty of some students of Theosophy, that Publishing Houses within the organized Theosophical Movement sell indiscriminately various works belonging to the two diametrically opposite schools of thought mentioned above, and often advertise them on the same page of their publications. Considering this fact, the accusation made by some hostile critics that the organized Movement is not vitally interested in spreading truth (as it understands it), but in merely selling books on the general subject of occultism, is not without foundation, and should be sympathetically considered and analyzed.

There is, however, a very important fact which must not be overlooked by students. It is concerned with science and scientific discoveries and developments of recent years.

It so happens that scores of the most up-to-date scientific pronouncements concerning the nature and structure of the universe support and uphold many of the statements contained in the writings of H. P. Blavatsky and her own Teachers, while the same pronouncements go contrary to, and disavow the claims of psychic investigators and the results of their research. This fact is of primary importance and should be given most careful consideration by students of Theosophy.

Recent developments in the field of astronomy, chemistry, physics, anthropology, biology and, above all, in the newly developed area of parapsychology, present a long list of discoveries, as well as theories, which were foreshadowed in The Secret Doctrine and other contemporary writings from high occult sources. The scientific achievements and conclusions have thrown further doubt, however, on a number of psychic speculations the nature of which had been suspect for some years past.

There is a serious warning contained in this fact of observation.

It would be regrettable if the reader were to jump to the totally unwarranted conclusion that no reliance whatever should be given to the pronouncements of psychics and clairvoyants, on the ground that they are, allegedly, always wrong. This is not true.

Psychic vision can be objective and reliable, but only in the case of those extremely rare individuals who have received severe and sustained occult training, maybe for more than one lifetime, under the guidance of a competent Teacher, himself a genuine Initiate. Many are those who have psychic vision, or psychic sensitivity of one type or another; many are those who are to some extent clairvoyant or clairaudient. But the overwhelming majority of them do not know what they see or hear and, jumping to conclusions, ascribe what they perceive to totally wrong causes, and interpret them in accordance with one or another theory or pet illusion which gives a special bent to their mind and their emotions. Hence the unreliability of otherwise kindly and friendly folk claiming to be the custodians of higher knowledge.

The only way in which truth can be sifted from a lot of psychic rubbish, as far as students of Theosophy are concerned, is by a calm analysis of the teachings of the two schools referred to above. Compare their pronouncements on the basic occult subjects. Consider their implications. Do not jump to conclusions on the basis of an inadequate research. Find out whether the propositions under consideration are logical, reasonable and universal; whether they fit together into a harmonious whole; whether they follow one from the other and support one another. If they do not, reserve your judgement and remain alert. A more prolonged study may be required before you can arrive at a conclusion that will satisfy you in every way.

On the eve of the centenary of the modern Theosophical Movement, we are called upon to purify the Theosophical atmosphere of unfortunate delusions and to abide as closely as possible by the original teachings as a sacred trust in our care.

(Theosophia, Summer, 1971)

OBSERVATIONS

I have extensively investigated the original Theosophy transmitted by Blavatsky, the Masters, and William Judge, and I have also extensively investigated the neo-Theosophy of Charles Leadbeater and Annie Besant; I have compared them, and also analyzed them with the latest discoveries made by science. And I have come to the conclusion that original Theosophy is very likely a genuine esoteric teaching that possibly reveals the hidden truth of the universe and existence. Meanwhile, the neo-Theosophy of Leadbeater and Besant is full of errors and lies.