Marriage
General view
Marriage and Occultism
H. P. Blavatsky wrote:
Surely you cannot believe us so absurd and fanatical as to preach against marriage altogether? On the contrary, save in a few exceptional cases of practical Occultism, marriage is the only remedy against immorality.
But why cannot one acquire this knowledge and power when living a married life?
My dear sir, I cannot go into physiological questions with you; but I can give you an obvious and, I think, a sufficient answer, which will explain to you the moral reasons we give for it. Can a man serve two masters? No! Then it is equally impossible for him to divide his attention between the pursuit of Occultism and a wife. If he tries to, he will assuredly fail in doing either properly; and, let me remind you, practical Occultism is far too serious and dangerous a study for a man to take up, unless he is in the most deadly earnest, and ready to sacrifice all, himself first of all, to gain his end.[1]
C. W. Leadbeater commented upon this as follows:
In writing of the progress of the pupil, Madame Blavatsky advises strongly against marriage, maintaining that he cannot devote himself both to occultism and to a wife. It occurs to one that if the wife shared his devotion to occultism, this rather severe stricture would no longer be applicable. While it is true that the bachelor is in certain ways freer-- as, for example, to throw up his business and start off to take up work in some foreign country, which he could hardly do if he had the responsibility of a wife and family . . . Both types of work are needed, and there is room among the ranks of the disciples for both married and single. We find no condemnation of the married state in any of the three great guide-books which are given to us to light us on our way.[2]
Online resources
Articles
- Marriage, as it Was, as it Is, and as it Should be by Annie Besant
- Diagnoses and Palliatives by H. P. Blavatsky
- Marriage and Divorce—Religious, Practical and Political Aspects by H. P. Blavatsky
- On Hindu Widow-Marriage by H. P. Blavatsky
- Blavatsky on Marriage, Divorce, and Celibacy at Philaletheians website