May 2015 Newsletter
The following articles are reproduced from the May 2015 Newsletter to members. Non-members may or may not be able to relate to the contents.
Lord Buddha
“I will first say that there can be no Planetary Spirit that was not once material or what you call human. When our great Buddha — the patron of all the adepts, the reformer and the codifier of the occult system, reached first Nirvana on earth, he became a Planetary Spirit; i.e. — his spirit could at one and the same time rove the interstellar spaces in full consciousness, and continue at will on Earth in his original and individual body. For the divine Self had so completely disfranchised itself from matter that it could create at will an inner substitute for itself, and leaving it in the human form for days, weeks, sometimes years, affect in no wise by the change either the vital principle or the physical mind of its body. By the way, that is the highest form of adeptship man can hope for on our planet.”
A Master of the Wisdom
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. There are several entries in Geoffrey Hodson’s occult diary, Light of the Sanctuary, chronicling his attendance at the Wesak Festival. In his entry of May 30, 1949 he writes “This is a most vivid conscious experience and completely satisfies me concerning C.W. Leadbeater’s account”.
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, falls on Monday, 4 May 2015 while the official Wesak Day public holiday is on 1 June 2015. We shall hold our traditional annual Wesak Day celebration on the public holiday on Monday, 1 June, 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 124th 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".
39th Edition of A Course in Theosophy & Meditation
As part of our continuing effort to achieve our twin-object of popularizing a knowledge of theosophy and induction of new members, we will be starting our 39th edition of A Course in Theosophy & Meditation on Thursday, 21 May 2015.
Theosophy encompasses the science of life and the philosophy of living and has helped many people in the world. All members can help in the mission of popularizing a knowledge of theosophy. You will be doing humanity a great service by reaching out and bringing newcomers to the Society, to expose them to the theosophical teachings. As the Master has said, “Spheres of usefulness can be found everywhere. The first object of the Society is philanthropy. The true Theosophist is a philanthropist who—‘not for himself but for the world he lives’…” “This, and philosophy—the right comprehension of life and its mysteries—will give the ‘necessary basis’ and show the right pathway to pursue. Yet the best ‘sphere of usefulness’ for the applicant is now in his own land.”
You would have received our email appeal to publicize this course by appending the following course information to the end of all your out-going emails between now and the commencement of the course on 21st May 2015. That way we can collectively reach out to as many people as possible.
Once again, the theosophy course will be combined with the popular meditation course, both to optimize our resources and also to give attendees the benefit of two courses at the same time.
The schedule of the next combined course is posted on our website at singaporelodge.org/btc_dates.htm.
Do them a service, get your relatives and friends to enroll online for A Course in Theosophy & Meditation.
Study Class on Light on the Path
Members would be happy to take note that we will be commencing our study class on the third of the three theosophical classics, Light on the Path, in August 2015.
The study class will use as its textbook “Talks on the Path of Occultism”, Volume III, the commentary by Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater on the Light on the Path. Annie Besant says:
“Light on the Path is one of a number of different occult treatises which are in the care of the great Teachers and are used in the instruction of disciples. It is a part of The Book of the Golden Precepts, which contains many treatises which were written in different ages of the world, but have one characteristic in common, that they contain occult truth, and have therefore to be studied in a different way from ordinary books. The understanding of these treatises depends upon the capacity of the reader, and when any one of them is published to the world only distorted views of its teaching will be acquired, if it is taken literally.
Definitely intended for the quickening of the evolution of those who are on the Path, this book puts forward ideals which people of the world are rarely prepared to accept. Only as far as a man is able and willing to live the teaching, will he be able to understand it. If he does not practise it, it will remain a sealed book to him. Any effort to live it will throw light upon it; but if the reader makes no effort, he will not only gain very little, but he will turn against the book and say that it is useless.
This treatise falls naturally into certain divisions. It was given to the Western world by the Master Hilarion, one of the great Teachers belonging to the White Lodge—a Master who played a great part in the Gnostic and Neo-Platonic movements, one of the great persons who made attempts to keep Christianity alive. His incarnations have run very much in Greece and Rome, and He takes special interest in guiding the evolution of the Western world. He obtained the book as we have it, without the notes, from the Venetian Master, one of the greater Teachers whom H.P.B. spoke of as Chohans."
Those who have found the study classes on At the Feet of the Master and The Voice of the Silence useful will no doubt find Light on the Path equally inspiring. The Study Class on Light on the Path was last conducted from 14 February to 24 July 2004. The study class is restricted to members.