Mahatma Letter to Unknown - LMW 2 No. 82

Quick Facts
People involved
Written by:	unknown
Received by:	unknown
Sent via:	unknown
Dates
Written on:	1 February 1882
Received on:	1 February 1882
Other dates:	unknown
Places
Sent from:	unknown
Received at:	Bombay
Via:	unknown

This letter is Letter No. 82 in Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom, Second Series. In it, an unidentified Mahatma responds to a Christian member of the Theosophical Society who had objected to the study of Oriental religions.

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Page 1 transcription, image, and notes

. . . You have no right to such a title. You are only a philo-Theosophist, as one who has reached to the full comprehension of the name and nature of a Theosophist will sit in judgment on no man or action . . . You claim that your religion is the highest and final step toward Divine Wisdom on this earth, and that it has introduced into the arteries of the old decaying world new blood and life and verities that had remained unknown to the heathen? If it were so indeed, then your religion would have introduced the highest truths into all the social, civil and international relations of Christendom. Instead of that, as any one can perceive, your social as your private life is not based upon a common moral solidarity but only on constant mutual counteraction and purely mechanical equilibrium of individual powers and interests . . . If you would be a Theosophist, you must not do as those around you do who call on a God of Truth and Love and serve the dark Powers of Might, Greed and Luck. We look in the midst of your Christian civilisation and see the same sad signs of old: the realities of your daily lives are diametrically opposed to your religious ideal, but you feel it not; the thought that the very laws that govern your being, whether in the domain of politics or social economy, clash painfully with the origins of your religion do not seem to trouble you in the least. But if the nations of the West are so fully convinced that the ideal can never become practical and the practical will never reach the ideal – then, you have to make your choice: either it is your religion that is impracticable, and in that case it is no better than a vainglorious delusion, or it might find a practicable application, but it is you, yourselves, who do not care to apply its ethics to your daily walk in life . . . Hence, before you invite other nations “to the King’s festival table” from which your guests arise more starved than before, you should, ere you try to bring them to your own way of thinking, look into the repasts they offer to you . . . Under the dominion and sway of exoteric creeds, the grotesque and tortured shadows of Theosophical realities, there must ever be the same oppression of the weak and the poor and the same typhonic struggle of the wealthy and the mighty among themselves . . . It is esoteric philosophy alone, the spiritual and psychic blending of man with Nature, that, by revealing fundamental truths, can bring that much desired mediate state between the two extremes of human Egotism and divine Altruism, and finally lead to the alleviation of human suffering.

Theosophy must not represent merely a collection of moral verities, a bundle of metaphysical Ethics epitomized in theoretical dissertations. Theosophy must be made practical, and has, therefore, to be disencumbered of useless discussion . . . It has to find objective expression in an all embracing code of life thoroughly impregnated with its spirit—the spirit of mutual tolerance, charity and love. Its followers have to set the example of a firmly outlined and as firmly applied morality before they get the right to point out, even in a spirit of kindness, absence of a like ethic Unity and singleness of purpose in other associations and individuals. As said before – no Theosophist should blame a brother whether within or outside of the association, throw slur upon his actions or denounce him lest he should himself lose the right of being considered a Theosophist. Ever turn away your gaze from the imperfections of your neighbour and centre rather your attention upon your own shortcomings in order to correct them and become wiser . . Show not the disparity between claim and action in another man but, whether he be brother or neighbour, rather help him in his arduous walk in life . . . The problem of true Theosophy and its great mission is the working out of clear, unequivocal conceptions of ethic ideas and duties which would satisfy most and best the altruistic and right feeling in us; and the modelling of these conceptions for their adaptation into such forms of daily life where they may be applied with most equitableness . . . Such is the common work in view for all who are willing to act on these principles. It is a laborious task and will require strenuous and persevering exertion, but it must lead you insensibly to progress and leave no room for any selfish aspirations outside the limits traced . . . Do not indulge in unbrotherly comparisons between the task accomplished by yourself and the work left undone by your neighbour or brother, in the field of Theosophy, as none is held to weed out a larger plot of ground than his strength and capacity will permit him. . . .Do not be too severe on the merits or demerits of one who seeks admission among your ranks, as the truth about the actual state of the inner man can only be known to and dealt with justly by KARMA alone. Even the simple presence amidst you of a well-intentioned and sympathizing individual may help you magnetically . . . You are the Free-workers on the Domain of Truth, and as such, must leave no obstructions on the paths leading to it.

. . . The degree of success or failure are the landmarks we shall have to follow, as they will constitute the barriers placed with your own hands between yourselves and those whom you have asked to be your teachers. The nearer your approach to the goal contemplated, the shorter the distance between the student and the Master.

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NOTES:

Context and background

Mr. Jinarajadasa provided this background information:

THE letter with which I close this volume is one of the most important. I have not found any reference showing to whom it was sent, nor by which of the Masters. We have H.P.B.’s word that it came from a Master, in a paper now among the records at Adyar. I have transcribed from this manuscript, which is in her handwriting. Another version, with changes and additions, appeared later in Lucifer, Vol. I, 1889, under the title, “Some Words on Daily Life,” but with no indication as to who was the writer. H.P.B. in her manuscript, written in 1885, introduces the letter as follows:

A liberal Christian member of the T.S. having objected to the study of Oriental religions and doubted whether there was room left for any new Society – a letter answering his objections and preference to Christianity was received and the contents copied for him, after which he denied no longer the advisability of such a Society as the professed Theosophical Association. A few extracts from this early letter will show plainly the nature of the Society as then contemplated, and that we have tried only to follow, and carry out in the best way we could the intentions of the true originators of the Society in those days. The pious gentleman having claimed that he was a theosophist and had a right of judgment over other people was told [what follows as Letter 82].

The gaps in the letter shown by dots exist in H.P.B.’s manuscript. Sometimes however H.P.B. put a succession of dots, not to indicate any omission, but merely as the beginning of sentences.

Physical description of letter

The original of this letter is not extant. Madame Blavatsky's transcription of the letter is preserved at the Theosophical Society, Adyar, Chennai, India.

Publication history

According to Mr. Jinarajadasa, "Another version, with changes and additions, appeared later in Lucifer, Vol. I, 1889, under the title, 'Some Words on Daily Life,' but with no indication as to who was the writer."