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Is The Secret Doctrine Too Hard? A Letter to Self

Dear Self: We have heard from friends that the book, The Secret Doctrine (SD), is too hard, too metaphysical, too abstract, too intellectual.

In the world of the occultist seeking to realize the esoteric truths of eternal life, we simply say, these are useless words, concepts of a deceiving brain mind. In truth the SD is a mirror image, a part — of the sacred wisdom that is inherent in the fabric of our souls.

To know ourselves is to know the SD. To give up on the SD is to give up on ourselves. The SD is not a book necessarily to be approached by hard brain logic, for the “truth” which it contains is greater than logic. It is not a book to be approached through mystical jargon, or occult signs and decipherings.

It is simply the natural fundamental nature of our inner most being, just as the three fundamentals of Theosophical thought and action are inherent as the law of life in all things. In truth, the SD is but a reminder to Theosophists of their past lives during which time they were in pursuit of truth while they in some way served humanity.

It represents the many ways, languages, stories, and sacred myths which we have created in the past, to remind ourselves in the present and awaken humanity today and for the future to their truer inner and outer path of enlightened awareness, and the perfectability of wisdom in the service of all.

We must never forget we are the determinants of our paths; as we dare, so do we receive. We determine our karmas, our futures, and our awakening to supreme enlightenment and freedom, only to refuse such freedom in the service of all life, as indicated by the Quan Yin pledge.

As such self determinates, if we say The Secret Doctrine, as a book and work, is too hard, too metaphysical, too mystical, or too intellectual, so it will be, and our refusal to approach and assimilate it will be our failure, as initiates on the path to the living community of adepts, in a conscious and awaken manner.

If we put off the SD study for the so-called next life, this putting off will become a pattern, an eternal habit, and likewise, will we be forever chained to the wheel of life, death, procrastination, and eternal ignorance, forever wondering why we were not choosen to come face to face with our living teachers.

In truth, we must become the choosers. We must realize the SD as but the reflection of ourselves as living souls. We are the book of the SD and more, and to give up on it in its hard copy form is to give up on ourselves for this life and lives to come. Such is our lack of faith and understanding.

But — when we persist, even without knowing it, we change.

It is not words and meanings as understanding that equals knowledge but the change of mind, heart, soul and being, the change of vibration and resonance, the change of metanoia, the actual change into that which we want to know, a becoming of that which we seek to understand, that is the truer understanding.

HPB wrote in the TBL page 126,

“Your axioms of logic can be applied to the lower Manas only and it is from the perceptions of Kama Manas alone that you argue. . . . Occultism teaches only that which it derives from the cognition of the Higher Ego or the Buddhi Manas . . .”

And since the operation of the Buddhi Manas transcends words, sense objects and cognitions, to judge of understanding the SD by those deceiving standards is an error. We should and must persist in its study which is a study of ourselves and all life despite the appearance of not knowing or understanding, and as we do understanding will awaken within one in time.

To give up is to be deceived by the lower mind, the very instrument which survives for only one life, and remains ignorant, yet whose karmic ripples affect us for lives upon lives. Giving up, we lose the very opportunity we as Arjuna’s have pleaded for, for aeons.

As students of Theosophy we must not be fooled by the lower brain mind and its conceptualizations into a belief that the SD is too hard a study and life. For that is but a mayavic illusion. Imply one of many, the enemy called self, uses to deceive us.

We will close with an application of the Paramitas to this study of the SD, as to ourselves.

1. Dana – Charity — Be always charitable with your time and energy, devoting it to the study of the SD and learning to share your fruits, which will blossom in time, with others.

2. Shila – Morality — Live the life to know the doctrine, so that your awakening understanding of the truths within the SD and yourselves will be reflected forever in your words, acts, and deeds.

3. Kshanti – Patience — Be patient with yourselves and others, as with the teachings, deeply understanding that the patience of continuous endeavor will bear fruit in its right time and way.

4. Viraga – Indifference — Be indifferent to the whims and complaints of the lower mind, and forever keep your motive, vision and intent on the conquering of illusion and the establishment of truth, and truth will be revealed through the words of the SD and within oneself.

5. Virya – Having perseverance in vision, indifference and enduring patience, with the lack of understanding of the words of the SD, self and other will develop in you that perseverance and endurance which is the stability, giving birth to the enduring spiritual logoic rock of all ages within ones heart.

6. Dhyana – Meditation — Being mindful and meditative through the heart, on what one senses, knows, and does not know concerning the SD as book and the SD within as self, will bring one to a gradual awakening, like night seamlessly transitioning to a gentle day break, ever moving towards brightness, as rightful understanding.

Finally,

7. Prajna or Wisdom — And with such persistance, service, indifference, and mindful mediation on the SD and self, one will softly sense the gentle arisal of the eternal light of Prajna, which will illuminate the book of life or of the so-called SD, within, without and throughout all things.

It is only in this wisdom that one can sense and realize that the ideas — concerning the SD being too hard, too metaphysical, too intellectual, too mystical etc. are wrong and full of the blinding and binding lies of Maya.

Never give up on the SD, and it will never give up on you. Give up on the SD as being too hard, and you have simply given up on knowing your true selves.

— Theosophical Aspirant

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Cross Currents

Meditation, Concentration, Will

By William Quan Judge

These three, meditation, concentration, will, have engaged the attention of Theosophists perhaps more than any other three subjects. A canvass of opinions would probably show that the majority of our reading and thinking members would rather hear these subjects discussed and read definite directions about them than any others in the entire field. They say they must meditate, they declare a wish for concentration, they would like a powerful will, and they sigh for strict directions, readable by the most foolish theosophist. It is a western cry for a curriculum, a course, a staked path, a line and rule by inches and links. Yet the path has long been outlined and described, so that any one could read the directions whose mind had not been half-ruined by modem false education, and memory rotted by the superficial methods of a superficial literature and a wholly vain modern life.

Let us divide Meditation into two sorts. First is the meditation practiced at a set time, or an occasional one, whether by design or from physiological idiosyncrasy. Second is the meditation of an entire lifetime, that single thread of intention, intentness, and desire running through the years stretching between the cradle and the grave. For the first, in Patanjali’s Aphorisms will be found all needful rules and particularity. If these are studied and not forgotten, then practice must give results. How many of those who reiterate the call for instruction on this head have read that book, only to turn it down and never again consider it? Far too many.

The mysterious subtle thread of a life meditation is that which is practiced every hour by philosopher, mystic, saint, criminal, artist, artisan, and merchant. It is pursued in respect to that on which the heart is set; it rarely languishes; at times the meditating one greedily running after money, fame, and power looks up briefly and sighs for a better life during a brief interval, but the passing flash of a dollar or a sovereign recalls him to his modern senses, and the old meditation begins again. Since all theosophists are here in the social whirl I refer to, they can every one take these words to themselves as they please. Very certainly, if their life meditation is fixed low down near the ground, the results flowing to them from it will be strong, very lasting, and related to the low level on which they work. Their semi-occasional meditations will give precisely semi-occasional results in the long string of recurring births.

Theosophy is Divine Wisdom and?

Meditation

“O Arjuna, resolve thou to become a man of meditation.” This is one of the central admonitions of the Bhagavad Gita, The Song of the Lord, from the Indian Tradition. Meditation is central to the spiritual life and it can take many forms depending upon the temperament of the individual. Essentially it is a turning inward. In the grand quest it is the endeavor to reach up to the Self within. And in that regard could be considered a form of worship and a sacred obligation. Theosophy does not offer any formulas or panaceas for meditation. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali offers safe and sound guidelines for the student but essentially each individual must run their own experiments, listen to their heart and select their own path. In addition to the Bhagavad Gita, the seminal book The Voice of the Silence is invaluable in developing the right motive and philosophical foundation for meditation.  In fact, all the great scriptures and sacred texts of mankind offer guideposts for meditation whether it be “The Sermon on the Mount“, the Koran or the Tao Te Ching.

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