By Harry Young
From a talk given at Glasgow Friends House, 16th June 2001

To describe Theosophical books, the source literature in particular, is to consider the very purpose of the Theosophical teachings and the Theosophical Society: to help bring awareness to Mankind about his spiritual origin, to renew hope in Man's destiny, and to open up new possibilities for self-discovery and breakthroughs in understanding in all areas of religion, and science. By source literature I mean books and articles by the Founders of the TS and their successors in this Society. Of course there are other Societies and many books on Theosophy and to talk about them all would be impossible. But this will be a look at a selection of TS Pasadena's source literature written by those who pursued the Original Programme of the TS as laid out by its Founders.

Despite the fact that modern printing is only 4-500 years old, engravings and collections of parchment have been used in conjunction with the spoken word for millennia in passing on esoteric teachings. Tradition and the natural order of things prescribes that a student is given only that which is useful to him at a particular time and only that which he is capable of understanding. As with the case of the modern Theosophical University Press catalogue each book or publication serves a specific purpose for the newcomer to theosophy through to the intermediate and advanced students.

Theosophical books say as much about those who wrote them as about the subjects contained in them. H.P. Blavatsky wrote primarily for the intellectuals of her day so that they would influence and inspire the masses by their oratory and by their discoveries based on what they had learned through their contact with theosophy. Books such as The Secret Doctrine and Isis Unveiled are written in what could be considered a scientific style but she also wrote for the layman. Such books as The Key To Theosophy with its Question & Answer style was aimed at those who wanted further explanation and clarification of what she wrote about in The Secret Doctrine. A work like The Voice Of The Silence on the other hand appeals to the heart rather than to the mind.

If Blavatsky wrote for the intellectuals then William Quan Judge was on the other side of the coin. He wrote about technical theosophy in a deceptively simple style that is very warm and friendly. In addition he wrote about putting theosophical ideals of altruism, patience, courage, and contemplation into practice.

Katherine Tingley, the third Leader of the TS, put both technical theosophy and ethical theosophy into the context of the global and real life situations and social issues such as world peace, raising a family and prison reform, and her books deal mainly with how to integrate theosophical ideas and ideals with the mystical beauty and simplicity of real life situations.

Gottfried De Purucker, or G de P, is most recognised for furthering understanding of H.P. Blavatsky's work by lecturing and writing about how theosophical ideas such as karma, reincarnation, inner worlds, and man's psychic and spiritual powers actually work and their place in the grand scheme of Nature.

Subsequent Leaders of the TS, from about the middle of the twentieth century, have consolidated all previous theoretical teachings into inspirational living of the theosophical life, and their writings encourage "living the life", in other words the daily practice of altruism and compassion which is true theosophy.

Introductions To Theosophy

Expanding Horizons
With such a wealth of material to choose from, a common dilemma facing anyone interested in wanting to study theosophy is where to start. William Quan Judge in his book The Ocean Of Theosophy, which is a really a detailed summary of the core theosophical teachings, says that:

"Theosophy is that ocean of knowledge which spreads from shore to shore of the evolution of sentient beings; unfathomable in its deepest parts, it gives the greatest minds their fullest scope, yet, shallow enough at its shores, it will not overwhelm the understanding of a child."

So like any serious study it's best to start with the basics and work up. James Long's (Leader from 1951 to 1971) Expanding Horizons is often used for this and indeed it's used as the first book in the Correspondence Course that the TS runs. It is a collection of edited transcripts of roundtable discussions and starts by asking the question "What is Truth" and then where we would look to find it. One of the first central teachings in Expanding Horizons is that each of us is really a divine spark and because of this we can never be separated from a source of spiritual guidance should we need it. All we have to do is recognise our inner voice when it speaks to us. This leads on to discussions about what we are and where we've come from, and the universal ethical laws, such as karma and compassion, that govern our lives. Throughout the whole book there runs a thread of practical ethical teaching and a surprising amount of the deeper philosophy which isn't apparent at first.

The Ocean Of Theosophy
Another book used as an introduction to Theosophy is William Quan Judge's The Ocean Of Theosophy. This book was written with the beginner in mind and deals with theosophical subjects such as karma, reincarnation, after-death states, the seven principles, hierarchies, cycles, evolution, and psychic phenomena. Judge has a knack of explaining very complex ideas in simple language and this book is recommended to anyone who wants a clear, relatively succinct picture of the vast range of ideas that theosophy encompasses.

Technical Theosophy - Works to help understand the theoretical workings of Nature

The Secret Doctrine
H.P. Blavatsky says in the Preface of The Secret Doctrine that it was intended to be "an amended and enlarged version of Isis Unveiled", her first major work. She also says that the "mystic lore contained in it is made public for the first time in the world's history"; the purpose in doing this is to synthesise the oldest, but still relevant, spiritual, scientific and philosophical ideas and make them into a harmonious and unbroken whole. In her words:
"The aim of this work … [is] to show that Nature is not a "fortuitous concurrence of atoms," and to assign to man his rightful place in the Universe; to rescue from degradation the archaic truths which are the basis of all religions; and to uncover, to some extent, the fundamental unity from which they all spring; finally, to show that the occult side of Nature has never been approached by the Science of modern civilisation" - Vol. 1 p.viii.

The first volume, titled Cosmogenesis, starts with a description of the Universe in a latent condition then goes on to reveal that the gods, or forces of Nature, gradually awakened and sought to manifest through various ethereal planes until the material plane, our physical universe, was reached. At this point nebulae became visible, followed by comets, then stars, then planets. She also covers forces in Nature such as gravity, rotation, elements and the atomic worlds, the planets and the zodiac, and karma. Volume 2 is titled Anthropogenesis and charts the development of Man on this planet. She states that Man was present at a time when the Earth was still an ethereal ball not yet manifest on this plane and contributed to the building of its inner structure. As the Earth became more material so did man and gradually formed physical bodies although vastly different to those we have now. Also in Vol. 2 is an account of the era when Man gained self-awareness and freewill, and his struggle to fulfil his divine duty to come to know his true nature through self-discipline and self-devised efforts. HPB takes us through the earlier Races of man describing the Lemurian and Atlantean Races and how they laid the foundation for the present Race, and even hints at some future possibilities.
It should be mentioned that there is a very comprehensive Secret Doctrine Index of approximately 430 pages. The original edition of The Secret Doctrine contained an index that was limited in its scope, so in 1997 The Secret Doctrine Index was published and has been described as an index of ideas rather than of subjects, works, persons, and proper names.
TUP also publish a small book called An Invitation To The Secret Doctrine which includes notes on how to study The Secret Doctrine, and key sections of the book such as The Stanzas of Dzyan, The Three Fundamental Propositions, the conclusions which HPB draws at the end of each volume, and an essay on the writing of The Secret Doctrine.

Fountain-Source Of Occultism
The Theosophical Society's fourth Leader, G de Purucker, was perhaps best known for teaching expanded explanations of H.P. Blavatsky's original teachings, with the result that most of his published work can be considered technical theosophy, for example, exactly how reincarnation works, or exactly how a star is formed.
I think Fountain-Source of Occultism is a good general example of his work and covers everything that the man stood for, fundamentally the need for altruism and self-sacrifice coupled with constant aspiration needed to understand the deepest mysteries of life. The first two chapters deal with the ethics and self-discipline required of anyone who wishes to study theosophy seriously or enter the path to spiritual enlightenment. He traces these requirements back to the Mystery Schools and details the explanations why the virtues contained in the Buddhist Eightfold Path and the Paramitas such as Patience, Dispassion, and Charity are such potent weapons in the fight against the lower nature, and also why the development of psychic powers is discouraged. These first two chapters, The Primeval Wisdom-Teaching and Discipline Precedes The Mysteries, were taken to comprise the TUP book The Path of Compassion which is a concise summary of the inner preparation than anyone must choose to undergo if they wish to tread the spiritual path.
The remaining ten chapters of Fountain-Source covers such a vast range of teachings that I like to think of it as The Secret Doctrine in miniature…..and then some! It is technical theosophy which covers the genesis and nature of galaxies and solar systems, invisible planes and their inhabitants, the sacred planets, Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, the processes of sleep and death, heredity, to name a few.

Devotional Theosophy - Works to encourage the living of theosophical ethics

The Voice Of The Silence
The Voice Of The Silence was the second last book H.P. Blavatsky wrote. It is a translation from The Book Of Golden Precepts, which is the same series from which the Stanzas of Dzyan are taken, upon which The Secret Doctrine is based. It is essentially a mystical Buddhist text which HPB crafted into an account of the journey a soul must make to achieve Enlightenment, the journey that we are all on. The first section - The Voice Of The Silence - describes the problems at hand:

"The Mind is the great Slayer of the Real. Let the Disciple slay the Slayer. For:- When to himself his form seems unreal, as do on waking all the forms he sees in his dreams; When he has ceased to hear the many, he may discern the ONE - the inner sound which kills the outer."

The rest of the section describes what it is within us that holds us back and blinds us from the truth.
The second section - The Two Paths - tells of the two paths which are presented to us at a certain point along the way - do we choose the path of the Pratyeka Buddha and gain Enlightenment for selfish reasons, or the path of the Bodhisattwa and turn our backs on Perfection at its threshold to help Mankind as its struggles through material existence.
The third section is called The Seven Portals. It offers wisdom on how the paths are to be trodden by outlining The Paramitas - the Six Noble Virtues that one has to master before spiritual perfection can be reached. They are, in essence, charity and love, harmony in word and act, patience, indifference to pain and pleasure, dauntless energy, and contemplation - total absorption in the carrying out of the Paramitas.

Katherine Tingley
Katherine Tingley, the Society's third Leader, was what we now would call "a people person". She totally changed the face of the TS earlier last century by moving the International HQ to Point Loma near San Diego and built a complex of houses, temples, theatres, orchards and gardens. She specialised in galvanising people into action to produce wonderful works of art, international peace conferences, pioneering methods of teaching children, and inspiring the San Diego community with ideas of Brotherhood in action, such as speaking out against the death penalty and calling for more humane ways of dealing with criminals and all those shunned by society. All this was done with the theosophical philosophy firmly rooted as a motivational force. Her books - Theosophy-The Path Of the Mystic, The Wine Of Life, and The Gods Await - all reflect her vision of bringing spiritual grandeur to the most humble of everyday tasks as well as the most important issues of the day.

Biographies and Letters

Biographies, such as The Extraordinary Life And Influence Of Helena Blavatsky by Sylvia Cranston and H.P. Blavatsky and the Theosophical Movement by Charles Ryan, and collections of letters such as The Letters of H.P. Blavatsky to A.P. Sinnett and The Mahatma Letters to A.P Sinnett contain not only historical data concerning the TS, but insights into motivations and thoughts of H.P. Blavatsky and other leading theosophists. In particular, in the two books mentioned, there are many examples of the relationship between the Masters and their chelas, and the nature of the work of those who help to raise the consciousness of humanity. They also show the human qualities in HPB and the Masters, such as their sense of humour, and how they dealt with the depth of the challenge of bringing these teachings to the world.

Sunrise - For a better understanding among all peoples

Sunrise magazine has been published since 1951. It's bimonthly and contains articles on science, religion and philosophy. Every article contains some kind of theosophical thread, hence the magazine's subtitle Theosophic Perspectives. As well as general and specialised pieces Sunrise also prints review articles of modern books which are often at the cutting edge of science or religious ideology, and often prints extracts from speeches and other magazine articles which have a theosophical bent.

The books cited in this article can be purchased here or viewed online here.