Isa Upanishad

Our Hon. Treasurer, Bro. N. C. Raghava, will talk about one of the oldest Upanishads based on Shankara’s commentary. The talk will attempt to understand the paths taken by individuals to cultivate paths of Action and Knowledge as means to realize immortality. Note: This talk was originally scheduled for 24 July 2004.
 

  The Seven Rays

A talk by Chong Sanne on the Seven Human Temperaments, or what is often referred to as The Seven Rays, the seven divisions of Nature. Please note that this talk which is brought back by special request is for members only. Also note that the talk starts at 4 p.m.

It was in The Secret Doctrine of H. P. Blavatsky that the modern world was first presented with the phrase “The Seven Rays”. It went along with a statement that all things and beings in the world—all forms of mind and matter—arose from combinations of seven fundamental impulses.

“There are seven chief groups of such Dhyan Chohans, which groups will be found and recognised in every religion, for they are the primeval SEVEN Rays. Humanity, occultism teaches us, is divided into seven distinct groups…”

The essential thing to understand is that there is a certain sevenfold division of everything that exists in the manifested world, whether of life or matter. All life which exists in our chain of worlds passes through and belongs to one or other of Seven Rays, each having seven subdivisions. Relatively little has been written about the Seven Rays, and that little so guardedly expressed as not to be at all readily intelligible. The subject of the Seven Rays is therefore not as simple as one may think. We are told by C. W. Leadbeater that occult teachers are markedly reticent when questioned about it. Indeed, a Master once told a pupil, “Well, I cannot tell you all about them until you have reached a very high Initiation. Will you have what I can tell you, which will be partial and inevitably misleading, or will you wait until you can be told the whole thing?” One may naturally ask why is there this need for secrecy and reticence regarding the Seven Rays? It probably has something to do with the rules of Occultism. Bear in mind the aphorism, “Knowledge is power”, and that power may be abused. Presumably one engaged in practical occultism who has an in-depth knowledge of the Seven Rays could take advantage of it for selfish purposes.

So what we know about the Seven Rays may be necessarily fragmentary, but surely something is better than nothing at all. Perhaps, some knowledge of the Seven Rays will help you understand yourself better. More importantly, we would conceivably appreciate others better. We would know that humanity is divided into seven categories with distinctly different temperaments. So when the people around us appear to be very different from ourselves, we need not be too surprised or upset.

Would you care to know more about the Seven Rays? In the course of the lecture, you will also be given some tests to determine your probable personal ray. It may be of interest to know that this is only the third time we are conducting this lecture, with two-year intervals in between. Those who have previously ‘determined’ their rays may wish to go through the tests again and check if their conclusions are consistent after a lapse of two years.

The seven sets of six tests will be given in stages, progressively, during the lecture. So missing any part of the lecture will mean an incomplete assessment of yourself. As this session will take at least two hours, we will have to start on time at 4 p.m. In other words, for your own sake, don't be late.

Please take note that the lecture on The Seven Rays is for members only.
 

Q & A and Free Discussion

The Lodge will be open for a question and answer session and free discussion, with Chong Sanne as the moderator.
 

Henry Steel Olcott

Continuing his series of talks on the history of The Theosophical Society, our Hon. Assistant Secretary, Bro. Tang Kwok Choon, will give a biographical sketch of our President-Founder, Col. H. S. Olcott. This talk will give us a further glimpse into the early days of the Theosophical Society.