Geoffrey A. Barborka

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The American Theosophist and writer Geoffrey Avery Barborka (1897-1982) was a serious and deep student of H.P. Blavatsky's life, work and teachings. He conducted for many years classes on Madame Blavatsky's magnus opus The Secret Doctrine. Probably his most well-known books are The Divine Plan (an in depth commentary on The Secret Doctrine), H.P. Blavatsky, Tibet and Tulku and The Mahatmas and Their Letters.

Biography

Geoffrey A. Barborka

Geoffrey Avery Barborka, was born September 6, 1897, in Chicago, only son of Bessie and Vaclav (of Czechoslovakia). Vaclav, employed in the family horological business, was a musician and Freemason. In December 1900 he moved his family to the Theosophical Headquarters, Point Loma, enrolling his son in the Raja Yoga school, and began teaching violin, harp, organ, and other instruments. Geoffrey progressed to first grade 1903, high school 1911, and college 1915, receiving his degree 1920. In 1923, being over 18 he became an official member of the TS Pt Loma. He earned a BA 1929, and MA 1935 from Theosophical University, specializing in Languages. Inheriting his father's musical ability, he took up the violin, and The San Diego Union of April 27, 1908 reported that a violin solo by him was the highlight of the evening's performance by the Raja Yoga orchestra and chorus, and brought vociferous applause. Within a few years he began work at the Press, as a stenographer and monotype compositor, among other duties. He was solely responsible for typesetting the entire Point Loma edition of Isis Unveiled, and The Secret Doctrine, published in 1917, and again in 1925; the proof readers marveling at the absence of typographical errors. About this time he began language studies, developing a proficiency that would later serve him well as scholar, author, and lecturer.

On April 2, 1938, he married Helen Ila Beale, who had come to Pt. Loma in the early 1920's from her native England. Her father, Dr Arthur A. Beale, a long time theosophist, was author of The Evolution of Man's Mind. Geoffrey's sanscrit studies resulted in a collaboration with the Merganthaler Co. to produce the only sanscrit linotype machine in America, 1940. In 1941, after 40 years at Pt. Loma, the family moved to Oak Park, Illinois, where his father became a concert violinist with the Chicago Symphony orchestra, and Geoffrey was employed as a linotype operator. He joined the TS, Wheaton, and began classes and talks, introducing them to the study of The Secret Doctrine.

After the war, with the death of his father in 1946, and an inheritance from a cousin, he planned to return to California, but his work on The Divine Plan delayed his arrival in Ojai, CA until 1962, when he purchased a modest house. His mother Bessie died there in 1965, Ila died in January 1977, and Geoffrey passed on September 30, 1982. During his lifetime he authored 11 books, and made several trips to England, Canada and elsewhere giving lectures. In 1970 he gave the Blavatsky Lecture in London, H.P. Blavatsky the Light Bringer.

In temperament he was very reserved, and early on embraced a degree of asceticism, demonstrating extraordinary self discipline with total commitment to his studies. He was seldom known to engage in casual conversation, remaining attentive and silent. Always extremely tolerant of non-theosophical groups, he took the time to lecture to a wide variety of new age types. Though reticent, he was kind, helpful, and was never known to say an unkind word about anyone. He loved tranquility, and Ila deferred to his wishes, whispering to overnight guests to be hushed in the house. She, was charming, congenial, and sociable, and it might be said that she was Geoffrey's liaison with the mundane world. That world was, while he was at Point Loma, remote, for he restrained himself to it's 350 acres, seldom venturing beyond it's confines. Deliberate and focused, he lived his life as he played the violin, with careful precision, sans vibrato.

Writings

• The Divine Plan. A commentary on The Secret Doctrine.
• H.P. Blavatsky, Tibet and Tulku.
• The Mahatmas and Their Letters.
• A Glossary of Sanskrit Terms and Key to Their Correct Pronunciation.
• Secret Doctrine Questions & Answers.
• The Peopling of the Earth.
• The Story of Human Evolution. A commentary on the Stanzas of Dzyan.

• Gods and Hero's of the Bhagavad Gita. TUP Point Loma, 1939.
• Man's Potent Force. Greenwich Books, NYC, 1956.
• The Divine Plan. TPH, 1961; 6th ed.,1998.
• A Christmas Story. TPH, 1966.
• H.P. Blavatsky, Tibet, and Tulku. TPH, 1966.
• The Pearl of the Orient. TPH Quest book, 1968
• H.P. Blavatsky the Light Bringer. TPH London, 1970
• Glossary of Sanskrit Terms, and Guide to their Pronounciation. (also, two audio cassettes) Point Loma Pubs, 1972, and later eds.
• Mahatmas and their Letters. TPH, 1973, 1989.
• Peopling of the Earth. TPH, 1975.
• The Story of Human Evolution. TPH, 1979.
• Secret Doctrine Questions & Answers, Wizards Bookshelf, 2003