The Great Wesak Blessing

Bishop Charles W. Leaderbeater a renowned theosophist and occultist writes:

"The Lord Gautama Buddha, instead of devoting Himself wholly to other and higher work after His Mahaparanirvana, has remained sufficiently in touch with our world to be reached by the invocation of His successor when necessary, so that His advice and help can still be obtained in any great emergency. He also undertook to return to the world once in each year and shed upon it a flood of blessing.

The Lord Buddha has His own special type of force, which He outpours when He gives His blessing to the world, and this benediction is a unique and very marvellous thing; for by His authority and position, a Buddha has access to planes of nature which are altogether beyond our reach, hence He can transmute and draw down to our level the forces peculiar to those planes. Without this mediation of the Buddha these forces would be of no use to us here in physical life; their vibrations are so tremendous, so incredibly rapid, that they would pass through us unsensed at any level we can reach, and we should never even know of their existence. But as it is, the force of the blessing is scattered all over the world; and it instantly finds for itself channels through which it can pour (just as water instantly finds an open pipe), thereby strengthening all good work and bringing peace to the hearts of those who are able to receive it.

The occasion selected for this wonderful outpouring is the full moon day of the Indian month of Vaisakh (Wesak), and usually corresponding to the month of May,  the anniversary of  all the momentous occurrences of His last earthly life—His birth, His attainment of Buddhahood and His departure from the physical body.

In connection with this visit of His, and quite apart from its tremendous esoteric significance, an exoteric ceremony is performed in the physical plane at which the Lord actually shows Himself in the presence of a crowd of ordinary pilgrims. All Members of the Great Occult Hierarchy, except the Lord of the World and the three Kumaras, usually attend this ceremony.

The place selected for this stupendous occasion is a small plateau surrounded by low hills, which lies on the northern side of the Himalayas, not far from the frontier of Nepal, about 400 miles west of Lhasa. This location is commonly referred to as the Wesak Valley and the occasion is referred to as the Wesak Festival."

Bishop C. W. Leadbeater gave a first-hand account from his personal participation and the Wesak Festival is described in great detail in his book The Masters And The Path which was first published in 1925. Geoffrey Hodson verified the account of the Wesak Festival, as described by CWL, when he attended it on May 30, 1949 as entered in his occult diary (Light of the Sancuary).

Normally this day coincides with the 15th (full-moon) day of the Fourth Month in the Chinese Lunar calendar, which is always a public holiday in Singapore. This year, Wesak Day, as we know it esoterically, coincides with the official Wesak Day public holiday on 9 May 2009. We shall hold our traditional annual Wesak Day celebration on the public holiday on Saturday, 9 May 2009 at 11 a.m.

White Lotus Day

Madame H. P. Blavatsky has always been a tremendous source of inspiration for all students of occultism. Not only was she well loved and remembered by members of the original Theosophical Society, she also had many friends and followers outside of the Theosophical Society. Indeed, many movements were founded outside the Theosophical Society to study her teachings. Even today, more than a century after her death, new movements are still being formed pledging personal allegiance to H.P.B. and faithfully adhering to her original teachings. This is especially true in the cyberworld of the Internet. We could almost say that many people are fiercely loyal to our founder, Madame Blavatsky.

We join all these followers and students  throughout the world to commemorate the passing of Madame H.P. Blavatsky on May 8. This is the 118th anniversary of  the death of one of the greatest occultists in recent history. We call this day White Lotus Day to remember with fondness the founder of the Theosophical­ Society. White Lotus Day was declared­ by the co-founder and President Col. H. S. Olcott in 1892 as a Day of Remembrance to "express the feeling of loving regard for her who brought us the chart of the climbing Path which leads to the summit of knowledge". 

Wesak Celebration

We shall celebrate Wesak Day on Saturday 9 May at 11 a.m. As we normally do, we will have a talk giving a detailed account of the esoteric Wesak Festival including a video recording made by an Australian TV station of pilgrims gathering at the legendary Wesak Valley. We will then have group meditation for 49 mins. A vegetarian buffet lunch will be served thereafter.

2009 SLTS Theosophical Retreat

We are happy to confirm the choice of venue for the 2009 SLTS Theosophical Retreat. This year we will be holding our retreat at the Turi Beach Resort in the Indonesian island of Batam in the weekend of 27/28 June 2009. The resort is located in the Nongsa area of Batam, Indonesia. Nestled on the north-eastern side of the island, Turi Beach Resort is a 5 level resort spread over 18 hectares of land facing the ocean. Balinese bungalows are conveniently situated and surrounded by natural jungle greenery with a striking view of the deep blue ocean. For more information go to www.turibeach.com.

The retreat will incorporate an appropriate spiritual programme including two workshops cum lectures. The central theme for the 2009 Theosophical Retreat at Turi Beach Resort is “Self-realization and Development”.

The retreat is only open to members and their families. The cost for members is $240 per person for twin-sharing and $325 for single. Children aged 3 – 11 will be charged $155 each whilst infants less than 3 years old will pay $42. The cost includes accommodation at the Turi Beach Resort, two lunches, one dinner, one breakfast, workshop handouts, two tea breaks, return ferry tickets from Tanah Merah to Nongsa Point including fuel surcharge and taxes and two-way transfer from Nongsa ferry terminal to the resort. Also included are transportation for two excursions, one to a 7-course lunch and sight-seeing at the Vihara Duta Maitreya Temple and the second to the Batam Centre Mega Mall for shopping. This is excellent value for money, considering that it is during a peak-period—the last weekend of the June school holidays. The Turi Beach Resort is an up-market resort and we will be staying in the new Tirta Wing, the long awaited addition to Turi Beach Resort. Each beautifully designed resort room has a private balcony which offers a spectacular panoramic view of the sea and the all new Emerald Pool. For your information, the ferry ticket, surcharge and taxes alone cost $46 per person.

More importantly, the workshops will be helpful for the participant to improve his/her life and gain spiritual progress. A few words about the theme of the forthcoming retreat — we all know that the purpose of life is evolution. Evolution implies growth or changes — changes, in the early stages, from the lowest level of consciousness of the elementals, to that of the mineral, vegetable and animal, and from the primitive man eventually to the Perfected Man, and beyond. Simply put, evolution implies changes for the better. Initially, evolution is concerned with matter, the changes in form—to a better and ever better form for the indwelling life. At a later stage, in particular for the human kingdom, evolution involves the unfoldment of the spiritual potential in man. However, man changes ever so slowly. This is a fact we all recognize.

Changes, naturally, are dependent firstly on evolutionary impulses, but significantly augmented by the will of the individual. Indeed, the will of the man to change determines the speed of his evolution. But how many of us are consciously willing ourselves to change for the better? How do we change when we know no better? Indeed, how many of us even realize that we are far from perfect? And that there are aspects of us that are far from desirable? So, firstly, do we know if there is anything about ourselves that needs changing for the better? If we do not realize or have not identified any area for improvement, how could we expect to change?

Most of us could readily recognize the desirable as well as the undesirable qualities in other people. We often see the shortcomings in others and wonder how we might change them, especially those who are close to us, because we care and wish to improve them. But we realize soon enough that we could never succeed in changing another person without his or her own effort. On the other hand, there are also people we admire and regard as role models. These people inspire us, and we wish we might have some of their noble qualities. But how many of us ever succeed in changing as a direct inspiration of others? Sadly, it seems easier to admire than to develop the desirable qualities ourselves. The truth of the matter is, no one can change us but ourselves and not without determined effort and the will to do so. Especially, while it is easy to see the faults in others, it is not often that we could see the faults in ourselves. So the first step towards progress is self-awareness and self-realization, whether of our own flaws or the desirable qualities we have not attained. We must be able to identify the areas where changes must be made in order for us to make spiritual progress. This is the theme of the forthcoming retreat—“Self-realization and Development”. The two workshop modules are intended to take us through the ideals, introspection, identification of desired changes and the will to change.

Bring your family along, so that they can be part of our theosophical activities. Children above 12 will benefit from the workshops. We will have time for work and play. There are optional sea sports and city tour/shopping. More than 60 of us were at our last retreat in Sebana Cove in 2005. We hope to see a larger group this year, the more the merrier. Because of the peak period and another group intending to go to Turi Beach during the same weekend we have to pay our deposit soon to secure the rooms in the Tirta Wing. As such, we need your registration and 50% deposit to be paid by Saturday, 2 May 2009. You may send a cheque payable to “SLTS” or pay by cash on or before 2 May 2009.