Happy New Year!

This being a public holiday, the lodge will be closed.
 

3rd January 2005

Near Death Experiences

Mrs. Betty Bland, President of the TS in America gives us a Theosophical Perspective on NDE. The phenomenon of near-death experiences has been a subject of intense interest, treated in best-selling books, on talk shows, and by scientific study. Theosophy has many insights to give us both in understanding the other side of death and in the implication for dealing with our lives. Betty had a near-death experience herself, which brought her to finding theosophy. Personal examples of near-death experiences and discussion will be included.

Informal Study Group: Cataclysm

The devastation of the recent tsunami has made many students think. We have received several questions from students of theosophy regarding cataclysms of nature. The inaugural meeting of the informal study group will discuss natural calamities and the theosophical view of such acts of Nature. We shall ponder over the purpose, if any, of such calamities. And we shall try to understand if God has anything to do with such seemingly widespread sufferings of His creatures, bearing in mind that the recent cataclysm affects followers of all the major religions including Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and Christians.

The Nature of Psychic Abilities

A talk by Chong Sanne on psychic abilities including various levels of clairvoyance and how to tell true occultists from charlatans.

According to the “Ancient Wisdom”, students and investigators have turned their attention to super-physical research from the earliest days of human history on this planet. The results of their investigations have been preserved, and are available for those who sincerely seek an understanding of the deeper truth of life and of the powers latent in man. From the study of this vast source of learning a rational explanation of the faculty of clairvoyance can be gained. The so-called psychic faculties of man are shown to have a natural place in his constitution and their activities, and even their sporadic appearance in individuals to be governed by exact law. Psychic faculties exist in embryo in every man—as also in every animal—and will one day be unfolded into their full and complete expression.

In the words of one who knows:

“Man, by virtue of his divinity, possesses the capacity for the deepest of all researches, that into the divine behind the material; as by the material the material is known, so, by the divine must the divine be discovered. Man must learn to see the God in Nature, through the God within himself.

“First he must find that God; this task should not be difficult for the determined mind, for that inner God is his true self, his very self, the ego which inspires his life. The blending of the material and the spiritual, the secular and the sacred, is the keynote of the research of the future. When this is achieved, the limitations of the material man will be transcended and the powers of the spiritual man will be released. By their aid, his vision may be telescopic or microscopic, may pass beyond the range of any external instrument, however powerful, however delicate. He may enlarge the atom, or examine the smallest detail of the sister planets of the earth. He may study all things, passing from external vision to a blending of his mind with the Mind which created him and them, and therefore know them from within. Distance will cease to limit him, and he will destroy the illusion of size. From the quiet of his own study he may explore both the surface and the interior of the globe, may range the aerial spaces, visit sun, moon, and stars. With this interior vision the hidden processes of Nature may be observed in all Her kingdoms; by it, the veil which separates the living from the dead may be drawn aside, and the regions of the underworld, the abodes of the blessed, and the egoic home of man may be explored.”

We are, of course, referring to psychic powers or psychic abilities above. Since the founding of the Theosophical Society, people have gravitated towards the Society because of the attraction of psychic powers. Even today many people still come to the TS, hoping to gain some psychic abilities. Come and listen to our annual talk on “The Nature of Psychic Abilities” and the truth about psychic powers.
 

The Occult Hierarchy

A glimpse into the Inner Government of the World. An insight into Initiations and the Pathway to Perfection . An annual talk by Chong Sanne.

An occultist wrote:

“THE existence of Perfected Men is one of the most important of the many new facts which Theosophy puts before us. It follows logically from the other great Theosophical teachings of karma and evolution by reincarnation. As we look round us we see men obviously at all stages of their evolution—many far below ourselves in development, and others who in one way or another are distinctly in advance of us. Since that is so, there may well be others who are very much further advanced; indeed, if men are steadily growing better and better through a long series of successive lives, tending towards a definite goal, there should certainly be some who have already reached that goal. Some of us in the process of that development have already succeeded in unfolding some of those higher senses which are latent in every man, and will be the heritage of all in the future; and by means of those senses we are enabled to see the ladder of evolution extending far above us as well as far below us, and we can also see that there are men standing upon every rung of that ladder. …

“…The logical consequence of all this is that there must be Perfected Men, and there are not wanting signs of the existence of such Men in all ages who, instead of leaving the world entirely, to pursue a life of their own in the divine or superhuman kingdoms, have remained in touch with humanity, through love of it, to assist its evolution in beauty and love and truth, to help, as it were, to cultivate the Perfect Man—just as here and there we find a botanist who has special love for plants, and glories in the production of a perfect orange or a perfect rose.

“…The records of every great religion show the presence of such Supermen, so full of the Divine Life that again and again they have been taken as the very representatives of God Himself. In every religion, especially at its founding, has such an One appeared, and in many cases more than one. The Hindus have their great Avataras or divine incarnations, such as Shri Krishna, Shri Shankaracharya, and the Lord Gautama Buddha, whose religion has spread over the Far East, and a great galaxy of Rishis, of Saints, of Teachers; and these Great Ones took interest not only in awakening men’s spiritual natures, but also in all affairs that made for their well-being on earth. All who belong to the Christian world know, or ought to know, much about the great succession of prophets and teachers and saints in their own dispensation, and that in some way (perhaps not clearly understood) their Supreme Teacher, the Christ Himself, was and is Man as well as God. And all the earlier religions (decadent as some of them may be amid the decay of nations), down even to those of primitive tribes of men, show as outstanding features the existence of Supermen, helpers in every way of the childlike people among whom They dwelt. …”
 

116th Anniversary Celebration

Talk on The Purpose of The Theosophical Society

This is one of our most important days in our calendar. This year we shall be celebrating our 116th anniversary. On this day, we shall remind ourselves of the Purpose of the Theosophical Society and reaffirm our dedication to it. Do come and join the merriment and rejoice together.

Diplomas of Fellowship will also be presented to the new members. See article on January Programme in this month's newsletter.
 

Kingdom of the Devas

Angels and fairies—do they exist? This interesting talk is presented by our Hon. Secretary, Lily Chong. See story in this month's newsletter.