Alice A. Bailey, H.P. Blavatsky
and Helena Roerich

Cleavages between the followers of three traditions:
The Theosophical Society, The Arcane School, The Agni Yoga Society 

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The Masters of Wisdom

Morya
“Under the first great group of which the Manu is the Head, can be found two Masters, the Master Jupiter, and the Master Morya. Both of them have taken more than the fifth initiation, and the Master Jupiter, Who is also the Regent of India, is looked up to by all the Lodge of Masters as the oldest among Them.

He dwells in the Nilgherry Hills in Southern India, and is not one of the Masters Who usually takes pupils, for He numbers amongst His disciples initiates of high degree and quite a number of Masters. In His hands are the reins of government for India, including a large part of the Northern frontier, and to Him is committed the arduous task of eventually guiding India out of her present chaos and unrest, and of welding her diverse peoples into an ultimate synthesis.

The Master Morya, Who is one of the best known of the Eastern adepts, and Who numbers amongst His pupils a large number of Europeans and Americans, is a Rajput Prince, and for many decades held an authoritative position in Indian affairs. He works in close co-operation with the Manu, and will Himself eventually hold office as the Manu of the sixth root-race.

He dwells, as does His Brother, the Master K.H., at Shigatse in the Himalayas, and is a well-known figure to the inhabitants of that far-away village. He is a man of tall and commanding presence, dark hair and beard and dark eyes, and might be considered stern were it not for the expression that lies in His eyes. He and His Brother, the Master K.H., work almost as a unit, and have done so for many centuries and will, on into the future, for the Master K.H. is in line for the office of World Teacher when the present holder of that office vacates it for higher work, and the sixth root-race comes into being. The houses in which They both dwell are close together, and much of Their time is spent in the closest association.

As the Master M. is upon the first Ray, that of Will or Power, His work largely concerns itself with the carrying out of the plans of the present Manu. He acts as the Inspirer of the statesmen of the world, He manipulates forces, through the Mahachohan, that will bring about the conditions desired for the furthering of racial evolution.

On the physical plane those great national executives who have far vision and the international ideal are influenced by Him, and with Him co-operate certain of the great devas of the mental plane, and three great groups of angels work with Him on mental levels, in connection with the lesser devas who vitalise thoughtforms, and thus keep alive the thoughtforms of the Guides of the race for the benefit of the whole of humanity. The Master M. has a large body of pupils under His instruction, and works in connection with many organisations of an esoteric and occult kind, as well as through the politicians and statemen of the world.”1

Djwhal Khul
“The Master Djwhal Khul, or the Master D. K. as He is frequently called, is another adept on the second Ray of Love-Wisdom. He is the latest of the adepts taking initiation, having taken the fifth initiation in 1875, and is therefore occupying the same body in which He took the initiation, most of the other Masters having taken the fifth initiation whilst occupying earlier vehicles. His body is not a young one, and He is a Tibetan.

He is very devoted to the Master K.H. and occupies a little house not far distant from the larger one of the Master, and from His willingness to serve and to do anything that has to be done, He has been called “the Messenger of the Masters.” He is profoundly learned, and knows more about the rays and planetary Hierarchies of the solar system than anyone else in the ranks of the Masters. He works with those who heal, and co-operates unknown and unseen with the seekers after truth in the world’s great laboratories, with all who definitely aim at the healing and solacing of the world, and with the great philanthropic world movements such as the Red Cross.

He occupies Himself with various pupils of different Masters who can profit by His instruction, and within the last ten years has relieved both the Master M. and the Master K.H. of a good deal of Their teaching work, taking over from Them for certain stated times some of Their pupils and disciples. He works largely, too, with certain groups of the devas of the ethers, who are the healing devas, and who thus collaborate with Him in the work of healing some of the physical ills of humanity. He it was Who dictated a large part of that momentous book The Secret Doctrine, and Who showed to H. P. Blavatsky many of the pictures, and gave her much of the data that is to be found in that book.”2

Koot Hoomi
“The Master Koot Humi, Who is also very well known in the occident, and has many pupils everywhere, is of Kashmiri origin, though the family originally came from India. He is also an initiate of high degree, and is upon the second, or the Love-Wisdom Ray.

He is a man of noble presence, and tall, though of rather slighter build than the Master M. He is of fair complexion, with golden-brown hair and beard, and eyes of a wonderful deep blue, through which seem to pour the love and the wisdom of the ages. He has had a wide experience and education, having been originally educated at one of the British universities, and speaks English fluently. His reading is wide and extensive, and all the current books and literature in various languages find their way to His study in the Himalayas.

He concerns Himself largely with the vitalising of certain of the great philosophies, and interests Himself in a number of philanthropic agencies. To Him is given the work very largely of stimulating the love manifestation which is latent in the hearts of all men, and of awakening in the consciousness of the race the perception of the great fundamental fact of brotherhood.”3

On Alice Bailey and Helena Roerich
by James Davis

The following texts are extractions from correspondence between Sergey, a Russian student of Agni Yoga and myself. It includes various translations by Sergey of some Russian texts which are by Helena Roerich, that are not available in English. These texts are interspersed with parts of my letters to Sergey. Sergey s English is rough, but the meaning is clear. The conversation concerns, among other things, Helen Roerich s rejection and condemnation of Alice Bailey as a force of darkness.

First text from me to Sergey:

Lets pause a moment and consider what it is we are speaking of. What are the D.K. books all about? Fundamentally, they teach love and self-less service to humanity. They advocate the meditative (Agni Yoga’s “communion) training and evolution of the mind and heart as an instrument of this service. They emphasize the unity of all things and teach the evolution of the spirit: in terms of the seven rays this means the evolution of spiritual will, love-wisdom, creative intelligence, harmony and beauty, spiritual devotion, and order inspired by spirit.

Now I ask myself, is there any way that this teaching could be a debased illusion and the tool of the dark forces? I ask myself if there is any way that the many faces of the friends I have known on this path are actually dupes of the dark forces? And, of course, the answer is no. Such a thought is irrational, inconceivable, and contrary to intuition.

So what could account for this remarkable fact of Helena Roerich taking such a dark view of Alice Bailey and her work? The answer, which I am forced to, is that Helena Roerich was simply wrong about this, and mistakenly attributed it to her Master. She may have been correct about negative Arcane School politics, and apparently had a bad experience with the followers of Bailey about some of this. And I myself, was disappointed with the Arcane School, or rather with my personal contact there, back in 1965. But the identification of the whole Bailey/D.K. teaching with the dark side is absurd and clearly incorrect.

This brings up an interesting question, which under the impress of your translations, I have now thought through more closely–namely, the whole concept of the perfection which we idealistically expect in our great, but still human level, teachers. Freedom exists. Free will exists. The high Teachers may guard their teachings and bring them through with relative perfection–but not so all aspects of the personal lives of their channels.

The great disciples, like Helena Roerich, Alice Bailey, and H.P.Blavatsky, are allowed to make mistakes, and they do make them. I do not believe that the boundary between their own thought and the thought of the Teachers of Light is always clear to them. My overall respect for the fundamental principles enunciated by Helena Roerich and Bailey is undiminished. But I am reminded that any incarnate personality, even those who are very near the Masters may, nevertheless, have serious lapses in judgment and attribute it to inspiration.

The teachings that came through Helena Roerich and Alice Bailey are largely in fundamental agreement, and though expressed in different forms, are of the same spirit. An example of this is the concept of meditation. Bailey s meditation, truly understood is the same as Helen Roerich s communion. I think the soul of D.K’s message and the soul of Agni Yoga are facets of the same truth. Their form is different, and their emphasis somewhat different. Philosophically, they are intimately aligned.

Agni Yoga appeals directly to the heart and intuition. The Agni Yoga teaching is directed at disciples of the Will, of the fiery element. The disciples of fire are strong-minded; the “head” is more developed in them. For them, appeals to the heart are in order, as this brings balance.

By contrast, the D.K./Bailey students are softer types, being of the heart line of energies. They are not so independent and are more apt to fall into the glamour of the emotions. For these, appeals to the mind are needed as this brings balance. The Alice Bailey teaching cautions strongly against the glamour of devotion and the emotional nature.It advocates mental control as preparation for spiritual illumination.

The needs of these two groups are reflected in the wording of their teachings. The language of Agni Yoga is more figurative, poetic, metaphorical, symbolic – this makes a powerful appeal to the emotions. Agni Yoga advocates the way of higher devotion. In contrast, the language of the D.K./Bailey is more abstracted, mental, or “dry.” It deliberately avoids overstimulting the emotional nature of its heart-line students.

Contrast these two passages, keeping in mind what I suggested above:

“This inner realization grows with the development of power in meditation whether it is individual meditation or group work. Meditation is essential for establishing a freer inner spiritual interplay – again whether as a soul in relation to the personality or a group of disciples in relation to their Master or each other.”4

“You know how the voice of the Teacher is transmitted; but there can be a coming together in consciousness, not using words but transporting one’s consciousness instantaneously into the consciousness of the Teacher. One almost ceases to be aware of oneself; but the Chalice is filled up to the brim with straight-knowledge. Such union will surpass words, for it nurtures straight-knowledge. Of course it is not easy to attain such a state; but with expansion of consciousness it comes by itself if not hindered by ignorance. Such consciousness embraces all aspects of communion.”5

In contrast to Helen Roerich s condemnation, in the Bailey/D.K. books there is a very positive and respectful reference to the book “Agni Yoga.” And to Helena’s discomfort, the Arcane School, and related Bailey groups, adopted Agni Yoga as a complimentary teaching to extends and enriches the education of the Bailey/D.K. students

In Helena’s letters she speaks about the consistent authenticity of the Agni Yoga teaching and how the Teacher could correct any mistakes. Interestingly, Alice Bailey makes similar comments about the reliability of her work in her “Unfinished Autobiography.”

The weakness in Helena Roerich is nowhere so apparent as in her prophecies. For instance, Helena Roerich writes:

Armageddon – The great decisive Battle between the Forces of Light and darkness. It was predicted in all the ancient scriptures, and the name, “Armageddon” as well as the description of it, can be found in the Apocalypse. The year 1936 is indicated as most significant.

The year 19366 does not seem to be the most significant. It does not look more significant than the two previous years. (click previous/next) under the large 1936. Likely, those living the year did not see it as Armageddon. Of course, more might have perceived 1939 as the year. So perhaps we should correct for astral reversal and turn the “6” upside down. It would not be the first time we have encountered a reversal of an objective fact in a great disciples pronouncement.

Earlier, I pointed to the “lost prophecy” via Alice Bailey about the churches and suggested that the great War itself may have been involved in disruption of the unfolding time-line. But AAB’s record at prophecy shines compared to Helena Roerich’s. But AAB/D.K. was usually, and perhaps wisely, more general in statements about the future. A list of specific H.R prophecy’s supplied me by a Russian student of Agni Yoga (from texts not published in English) indicate H.R. was not trustworthy with respect to prophecy.

Only with easier more generic statements do the predictions approach the truth:

“I see clouds over Europe – The Abyss has shown its depths.”7

I notice that the great teachings, via the aura of trusted disciples, is golden and in broad accord with respect to fundamental principles. Assessment of statements about objective events and personalities seems to require a more careful assessment and should evoke our benign skepticism.

Sergey provides the following translation of some of Helena Roerich’s specific prophecies that did not make it into English translation (Though some passages of a somewhat in a similar spirit appear in in the recent English text, At the Threshold of the New World.)

Sergey:

“In the letters of 1928 was spoken about an opportunity of planetary accident in 1977, in the autumn 1948 – about an opportunity of earthquakes and floods in California and Florida. 12.07.1950.” The new mark of approaching accident will appear in Europe above Britain at the end of this year, 3 months after a sign will be moved in a direction of your country [USA].” “25 years back, in Kashmir, Were told that in 25 years, means at the end of this year, can be right at the beginning of the future, the exact number was not named, England will cease to exist.” In the same letters was mentioned really past earthquakes in Assam, hurricanes and floods in 1950 in USA and shift of a magnetic pole 6.10.1950.”

I sought verification of the above prophecies and failed as follows:

“In the letters of 1928 was spoken about an opportunity of planetary accident in 1977”

1977 was not unusual compared to surrounding years.

I see nothing outstanding about 1977 in a scan of the Microsoft chronology timeline.

The Grolier’s Encyclopedia time line of about 50 events for 1977 shows nothing unusual for 1977.

“in the autumn 1948 – about an opportunity of earthquakes and floods in California and Florida.”

Another list of major quakes from 1906 to 1996 shows nothing in the vicinity of 1948.

No disasters are listed for 1948.

The Grolier’s Encyclopedia time line of events shows nothing unusual for 1948.

“12.07.1950 The new mark of approaching accident will appear in Europe above Britain at the end of this year, 3 months after a sign will be moved in a direction of your country [USA].”

The reference is vague, but I found nothing to related to it The Grolier’s Encyclopedia time line of events for 1950 and 1951.

“shift of a magnetic pole 6.10.1950.”

Exploration of several internet sites with information on this topic did not turn up any reference to major pole change in 1950.

For reference, here are additional Sergey translations from the writings of Helena Roerich: (These passages with some different interpretors are also at this location: Helena Roerich s Letters About Alice Bailey)

“Letters to America” III vol. p. 274-275  7.12.1951

“About Ussakovskaya did not hear from our collaborators. … Under condition of her withdrawal from Arcane School she may have the Help. It is necessary to warn her how many dark is going around of light. And first of all it is necessary to warn against the spouse [Foster Bailey] of the founder [Alice Bailey]. He is definitely a deceiver and dishonest man. Raging ones use our books – from here are hints on One Source. But I assert by the Name to me Innermost that mentioned by them D.K. and anybody from the Great Brotherhood never had and has no contact to Arcane School. Founder (she) was certain medium. But any Teaching can not be displayed by a medium. Purest (cleanest) of them can be displayed on small books, but not of the whole series of the books of the Teaching!

p. 259 16.09.1951 “Would not have the attitudes(relations) with school, for they are displayed as the latent enemies”.

p.284 1.01.1952 “Don’t be anxious about Arcane School. Such outgrowths were available and are available per all centuries and in all Doctrines. Where are from such number of different schisms? They are inevitable, and frequently help better to shade true pearls.”

Next fragments from Z.G.Fosdik diary “My Teachers. Encounters with Roerichs”(1922-1934),8

p. 168 3.03.1923 “Then H.I. (Helena Roerich initials) has told, that … spoke about the book of Mrs. Bailey, which H.I. recently has bought, because she speaks about the Masters, and as if one Master was brought up at an english university, and another knows about planets most. H.I. was indignant certainly of it, and has told them “nobody could learn about the White Brotherhood, it is true I speak, faster Shafran will see, than Bailey”.”

p.537 25.11.1929 “Was today at N.K. (Nicholay Roerich) Alice Bailey, spoke about cooperation, and that all great people must meet in our House.”

H.I. Roerich Letters to America, in 3 vol. Moscow: Sphera, 1996.9.

Vol I.,Letter to A.M. Aseev, 17.02.1934 “In America exists theosophical the Arcane School, that is very prospering now, has special classes dedicated to Agni Yoga book study.”

Vol. III p. 297, 27.03.1952 “Of course, give no rights and copyright to people, connected with the Arcane School. Say definitely to Branschtedter and Rentz that we never have been connected with the Arcane School or with its founder and cannot cooperate with them. But you should not explain them causes of our temperance, the less of explanations, the better. Every your word – as a red kerchief before the infuriated bull! Great Master definitely does not permit us to cooperate with A. Bailey followers. How many are these attempts with anything to darken, to pollute clean fundamentals of Teaching!!”

p.312, 10.05.1952 “Teaching of Living Ethics or, as it Rentz names now, Teaching of Life, cannot be associated with any other teaching or teacher. Branschtedter must comprehend, that we had not and have not anything common with representatives of the Arcane School. They used our Teaching, but we affirm severely, that Teaching of <Living Ethics> was given by definite Great Master M., and it cannot go under the banner of the Arcane School or even stand equally with them. Vehemently don’t give any right for publication of new books. It is necessary to stop madness of Rentz and intrigues of Bailey with Branschtedter. They want to take possession of all publications. We cannot allow that Living Ethics was an object of quarrels and legal proceedings. Teaching cannot be taken by persons, that don’t realize difference between Great Master M. And Tibet Master of Miss Bailey.”

This letter was published in “Letters of Helena Roerich” book in 2 vol., but without this fragment.

The Letters of Helena Roerich. 1932-1955. p. 54. Novosibirsk, “Viko” & “Algim”, 1993. 23.08.1934 “Many naive people believe, that the dark forces work only with evil, debauch and crimes. How they are mistaken. So the rough forces and forces of small degrees work only. Much more dangerous are those who comes under a mask of light of the Teaching. You already know such example.

In America there is a very extensive society, and the head of it receives the doctrine from the teacher, which does not open his name, naming himself by the Tibetan Brother. We know, who disappears under this pseudonym. The force of him is great. And purpose of this teacher, personificates as though a Teacher of the White Brotherhood, is to attract in his staff so many as possible of the good and useful people, which otherwise could help effectively to the Great Plan of Masters, Plan of rescue of a planet.

And these unfortunate ones, not having true recognition of fires of heart, fly as moths on black fire that turns them to ashes. Ignorance, lack of sense-knowledge pushes them in embraces of darkness and deprives for a long time, if not forever, salutary influence and attraction of Beams of a Great Stronghold of Light. Armageddon is terrible, you see the forces of darkness struggling for their existence, the despair makes them so rallied and persistent in achievement of their purpose.

Prince of the World has a lot of talented, conscious and unconscious accomplices, and it is naive to think, that they are not able to work delicate. They are very refined and inventive and work on consciousness of the victims. But all of them are deprived of heat of heart. I have books of this Tibetan Teacher, they are dry up extremely. One book is called as “White Magic” [A Treatise on White Magic]. To me is told, that the best pages are borrowed from the Doctrine of a White Brotherhood. It is interesting to note, that the head of this society for the greater prestige and attracting of the supporters of our books recommends them to their members and has founded classes for study of Agny Yoga books. So is bound the darkness with Light on the Earth”.

Vol. III p. 297, 27.03.1952 “…A. Bailey followers. How many are these attempts with anything to darken, to pollute clean fundamentals of Teaching!!”

For additional reference, below is a compilation of some passages from Alice Bailey/D.K. on the theme of dark and white magic. They may be relevant for contrast with Helen’s assertions about Bailey being dark. The reader may thus be better able to form his own conclusion about the truth.

Treatise on White Magic:

But with the work of the black magician we have naught to do. That which they do is powerful in transient effect, using the word transient in its cyclic sense; but these effects must in due time cease, and be subordinated to the claims and the work of the bringers of light and of life.

It is right here, in the use of thought, that the difference between black and white magic can be seen. Selfishness, ruthlessness, hatred, and cruelty characterize the worker in mental substance whose motives are, for many lives, centered around his own aggrandizement, focused on his personal acquisition of possessions, and directed entirely to the attainment of his own pleasure and satisfaction, no matter what the cost to others. Such men are happily few, but the way to such a point of view is easy to achieve, and many need to guard themselves lest they tread unthinkingly the way towards materiality.

A gradual and steady growth in group consciousness and responsibility, a submergence of the wishes of the personal self and the manifestation of a loving spirit characterize those who are oriented towards the life side of the divine whole. It might be said that human beings fall into three main groups:

1. The vast majority, who are neither good nor bad, but simply unthinking, and entirely submerged in the evolutionary tide, and in the work of developing a true self consciousness, and the needed equipment.

2. A small, a very small number, who are definitely and consciously working on the side of materiality or (if you prefer so to express it) on the side of evil. Potent are they on the physical plane, but their power is temporal and not eternal. The law of the universe, which is the law of love, is eternally against them, and out of the seeming evil good will come.

3. A goodly number who are the pioneers into the kingdom of the soul, who are the exponents of the new age ideas, and the custodians of that aspect of the Ageless Wisdom which is next to be revealed to mankind. This group is constituted of the unselfish and intelligent men and women in every field of human endeavor, of the aspirants and disciples, of the initiates who sound the note for the various groups and types, and of the Occult Hierarchy itself. The influence of this band of mystics and knowers is exceedingly great and the opportunity to work in cooperation with it at this time is easier of attainment than at any other time in racial history.

1. Only the soul has a direct and clear understanding of the creative purpose and of the plan. 2. Only the soul, whose nature is intelligent love can be trusted with the knowledge, the symbols and the formulas which are necessary to the correct conditioning of the magical work. 3. Only the soul has power to work in all three worlds at once, and yet remain detached, and therefore karmically free from the results of such work. 4. Only the soul is truly group-conscious and actuated by pure unselfish purpose.

5. Only the soul, with the open eye of vision, can see the end from the beginning, and can hold in steadiness the true picture of the ultimate consummation.

You ask, whether workers in black magic possess not an equal power? I answer, no. They can work in the three worlds, but they work from and in the plane of mind, and do not function, therefore, outside their field of endeavor, as does the soul. They can achieve, from their proximity and identification with their working materials, results more potent temporarily and more rapid in accomplishment than the worker in the White Brotherhood, but the results are ephemeral; they carry destruction and disaster in their wake, and the black magician is eventually submerged in the resulting cataclysm.

Magic does not mean doing curious things: true magic is the expression of the soul through the medium of the form. Black magic is the use of form in order to gain what we want for the form. Black magic is unadulterated selfishness. White magic is use of the soul for purposes of human uplift, utilising the personality.”

“a. Black Magicians and White

The white magician has for motive that which will be of benefit to the group for whom he is expending his energy and time. The magician of the left hand path ever works alone, or if he at any time co-operates with others, it is with a hidden selfish purpose. The exponent of white magic interests himself in the work of constructive endeavor in order to co-operate in hierarchical plans, and to further the desires of the planetary Logos. The Brother of Darkness occupies himself with that which lies outside the plans of the Hierarchy and with that which is not included in the purpose of the Lord of the planetary Ray.

The white magician, as has been earlier said, works entirely through the greater Deva Builders, and through sound and numbers he blends their work, and thus influences the lesser Builders who form the substance of their bodies, and therefore of all that is. He works through group centers and vital points of energy, and from thence produces, in substance, the desired results. The dark brother works directly with substance itself, and with the lesser builders; He does not co-operate with the forces which emanate from egoic levels.

The lesser cohorts of the “Army of the Voice” are his servants, and not the directing Intelligences in the three worlds, and he therefore works primarily on the astral and physical planes, only in rare cases working with the mental forces, and only in a few special cases, hidden in cosmic karma, is a black magician found working on the higher mental levels. Yet the cases which are there to be discovered are the main contributing causes of all manifesting black magic.

The Brother of Light works ever through the inherent force of the second aspect (i.e. love, J. D) as long as he is functioning in connection with the three lower planes. After the third Initiation, he works increasingly with spiritual energy, or with the force of the first aspect. He impresses the lower substances, and manipulates the lesser building lives with the vibration of love, and the attractive coherency of the Son, and through wisdom the forms are built. He learns to work from the heart, and therefore to manipulate that energy which streams from the “Heart of the Sun” until (when he becomes a Buddha) he can dispense somewhat the force emanating from the “Spiritual Sun.” Therefore, the heart center in the Brother of the right hand path is the transmitting agency for the building force…”10

Helena Roerich embraces the writings of H. P. Blavatsky. On this point, as on so many others, they agree:

“Dedicated with Gratitude to Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, that great disciple who lighted her torch in the east and brought the light to Europe and America in 1875.”

Bailey/D.K. in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire – Foreword [xii]

James Davis

jim@bookreader.org

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D.K. and Agni Yoga in Concordance
by James Davis

Below, are paragraphs from the books of Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul laid along side related paragraphs of Helena Roerich & M. It is a small sampling of a much larger body of concordance. The focus is on fundamentals, as it is in the foundation of things that unity most shines. Let those who would see differences, look more deeply and ponder instead the essence of things. The teachings are one, despite the vicissitudes of personalities who embody them.Let us unite on common ground, and learn to appreciate the underlying unity of those who have sought to offer us guidance.

The Brotherhood, Service, Humanity, the Plan

“The Brotherhood is a community of souls who are swept by the desire to serve, urged by a spontaneous impulse to love, illumined by one pure Light, devotedly fused and blended into groups of serving Minds, and energized by one Life. Its Members are organized to further the Plan which they consciously contact and with which they deliberately cooperate.”11

“Travelers could tell about the Great Souls who dwell in unfailing service beyond the far-off deserts, beyond the mountains, beyond the snows… The Sowers of Good go about the world when humanity is atremble. People wish to hear about the Stronghold, the Citadel. If they will not learn about the statutes, they will nevertheless grow stronger at the mere message that the Stronghold of Knowledge does exist.”12

“It is necessary to keep in mind that here, in the Earthly Stronghold of the Brotherhood, the Arhats remain in solitude, as the service to humanity demands. Each one of Them undertakes his specific mission and carries out most difficult tasks. The souls nearest to Them, who are karmically connected with Them, incarnate on earth during the fulfillment of a new plan of evolution; and they, while moving the human consciousness along the new evolutionary lines, preserve the bond with the Arhats and fulfil their Will… Verily, the burden of their work for the General Good is beyond imagination! The principle of self-sacrifice in all its grandeur and beauty is completely adopted by these Servants of Truth and of the General Good. In tremendous tension, on eternal vigil, in great patience, and at the cost of terrible strain, Thy direct the course of the ship of humanity. They sacrifice their lives for their fellow men; They straighten the heeling of the ship and steer it along the right channel.”13

Love

“Love is the incentive of our aspiration on the Path; Love is the substance of our living in the world.Love is the light and the light of freedom for all creatures;Love pulses through the universe in a divine rhythm.Love is the consciousness of God.”14

“My mouth shall be speechless, And I shall be unable to comprehend the Shield of Mercy, if love fly from me. I shall be earthbound at morning if my wings droop uring the night. And what shall I outspread to hail the morning sun? My smile, where art thou?And what mark brands my forehead? What is the luminous word with which to greet the light? What is precious? I shout, I affirm–Love. I said it!”15

Fire

“Fire is the most perfect and unadulterated reflection, in Heaven as on earth, of the One Flame. It is life and death, the origin and the end of every material thing. It is divine Substance.”16

“Fire is the best symbol of the Teaching.”17

“Fire is the highest element, and the approach to it must be by way of the higher consciousness. One can understand and learn to love Fire only through this higher consciousness.”18

“The centers, therefore, when functioning properly, form the “body of fire” which eventually is all that is left, first to man in the three worlds, and later to the Monad. This body of fire is “the body incorruptible19 or indestructible, spoken of by St. Paul, and is the product of evolution, of the perfect blending of the three fires, which ultimately destroy the form. When the form is [167] destroyed there is left this intangible spiritual body of fire, one pure flame, distinguished by seven brilliant centers of intenser burning. This electric fire is the result of the bringing together of the two poles and demonstrates at the moment of complete at-one-ment, the occult truth of the words “Our God is a consuming Fire.”20

Face to face 

“Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face”; now we catch glimpses through the occasional windows we pass in our ascension of the ladder, of other and greater Beings than ourselves; They hold out to us helping hands, and call to us in clarion tones to struggle bravely on if we hope to stand where They are now standing.”21

“Across the deserts, seas and mountains,You transport yourselves in one breath. And there, face to face we meet. There is no space. Time exists not. The power of knowledge is manifested.”22

Meditative Contact

“We sense beauties and glories surrounding us that as yet we cannot revel in; they flit into our vision, and we touch the glory at a lofty moment only again to lose the contact and to sink back again into the murky gloom that envelopes. But we know that outside and further on is something to be desired; we learn also the mystery that that external wonder can only be contacted by withdrawing within, till the center of consciousness is found that vibrates in tune with those dimly realized wonders, and with those radiant Souls Who call Themselves our Elder Brothers.”23

“When we touch upon the true path, we sense the power of joy. Our heart rejoices, feeling that our striving is the right one. One can be much grieved, wandering about outside of applicable reflections. But when the consciousness pictures truth, it is filled with joy. Such joy will be wise, for it is based on Hiero-inspiration.”24

The Bodies

“Only by trampling on the external sheaths that veil and hide the inner center do we achieve the goal, and find the Ones we seek. Only by the domination of all forms, and the bringing of those forms under the rule of the God within, can we find the God in all, for it is only the sheaths in which we move upon the plane of being that hide from us our inner God, and that shut us off from Those in Whom the God transcends all outer forms.”25

Amidst the highest vibrations the body will be transformed.

“The body cowers before the spirit–the slave before its master.”26

The Watchers

“The future holds for each and all who duly strive, who unselfishly serve and occultly meditate, the promise of knowing Those Who already have full knowledge of the struggler. Therein lies the hope for the student of meditation; as he struggles, as he fails, as he perseveres, and as he laboriously reiterates from day to day the arduous task of concentration and of mind control, there stand on the inner side Those Who know him, and Who watch with eager sympathy the progress that he makes.”27

“One may notice to what an extent aspiring people, even under the most unfavorable conditions, find strength to discover the Light. We watch over such light-bearers who overcome the most incredible difficulties. The Law has been sent; the Path has been indicated; let him who seeks find.”28

Alice A. Bailey: Various Viewpoints

Editor’s note: The following websites represent a small cross-section of mainly
anti-Alice Bailey views, ranging through to pro-views, with one or two neutral angles.

Academic
http://www.f.waseda.jp/buda/texts/armageddon.html

Bailey Groups

Benjamin Creme http://www.shareintl.org/

Christian Fundamentalist
http://kenraggio.com/KRPN-DevilinNWO.htm

Elizabeth Clare Prophet

http://www.alpheus.org/html/source_materials/krishnamurti/kh_on_k.html

Theosophical

http://www.teosofiskakompaniet.net/BlavatskyvsBailyALC.htm
http://www.katinkahesselink.net/other/Eric_2.htm

A Typical ‘Theosophist’s’ Argument

The following theosophical argument represents the views of many ‘theosophists’ who simply seem to not tolerate AAB because her teachings are different than HPB’s. She is labelled a ‘pseudo-theosophist’ like Leadbeater was labelled – as in the Crump, Cleather, Weeks and Endersbie letters on the links provided above.29

From The High Country Theosophist
Vol. 16 No. 4 Boulder, Colorado April, 2001

Continuation of De Sordo Letter: De Sordo writes:

Concerning the Rays

Of course there are many topics not covered by H.P.B. and her Masters. In the S.D. it is stated that: … The outline of a few fundamental truths from the Secret Doctrine of the Archaic ages is now permitted to see the light, after long millenniums of the most profound silence and secrecy. I say `a few truths, advisedly, because that which must remain unsaid could not be contained in a hundred such volumes, nor could it be imparted to the present generation of Sadducees. (6) Thus, there are many things that cannot be imparted to our generation of Sadducees. But, I don’t think it is fair towards H.P.B. to say that the topic on rays was not covered to any meaningful extent by her or her Masters.

As matter of fact, in the Secret Doctrine we find more than forty references to the rays, (7) in the Collected Writings more than thirty (8) and in the Inner Group Teachings, thirty. (9) To that we should add S. Row references. The problem is, that until now, [for] most of us, we havent yet made any thorough study and collection of all these more than one hundred references, if we would, we wouldn’t need to fill up the gap with material not consonant with Theosophy.

The gap is the product of our own lack of study of Theosophy. Going through the pages of your HCT, we find along the years, many statements for, and against Alice Bailey, and so far you have managed to stay behind as a moderator. But now, you abandoned your role as an unbiased moderator as you express it. In your point number three, you choose to call alleged divergences … the Alice Bailey teachings, thus taking a definite view as an editor. To me, and to many other students, which try to understand and follow the teachings of H.P.B. and her Masters, these are not alleged divergences, but real ones.

Suffice it to read the booklet by Alice Leighton Cleather (10) or the paper by Victor Endersby on the Arcane School (11) to see that the Bailey exposition is a very subtle way to distort the Secret Doctrine. The alleged Tibetan is probably a Jesuit priest, or some one akin to it, who preaches very freely about the coming of the Christ, and so far, he has been able to divert a great number of good students into his clerical and anthropomorphic views.

The thorough study of the Mahatma Letters and the Classical Theosophical Literature is enough to show unmistakably that Alice Bailey is not a development of H.P.B. but its antithesis Djual Khool, the real disciple of Mahatma K.H. would never talk and teach something contrary to the philosophy of his Master. By the way, did you notice that Djual Khool, although referred to as a Tibetan, was in reality a tall Hindu in race, like his master?30

Now, the ideas used by Alice Bailey are so similar to those of Mr. Leadbeater, that it is very easy to see that her system is a variation on the same theme of Leadbeater’s.

C.W. Leadbeater started his psychic interpretation of Theosophy, after he went back to England, from Ceylon, in December 1889, residing in Mr. A.P. Sinnett’s house. Since then, he became a prominent member of Sinnett’s London Lodge. By 1891 we know that he was the Secretary of the London Lodge. Mrs. Annie Besant participated for the first ntime in the psychic experiments of the London Lodge in the summer of 1893. In 1895, the Theosophical Publishing Society, published Leadbeater’s The Astral Plane, and since then, with the support and endorsement of Mrs. Besant he became the main source of a pseudotheosophy generated in the T.S. Adyar.

Although Leadbeater’s The Masters and the Path(12) and Bailey’s A Treatise on Cosmic Fire (13) were issued in the same year, in 1925, Leadbeater’s ideas are much older. His Masters and the Path was based on talks to members of the Theosophical Society.31 His The Science of the Sacraments was published in 1920 (14) and we can see how Mrs. Bailey reproduces in her Cosmic Fire, several diagrams from Annie Besant and Leadbeater taken from The Theosophist of December 189932 and January 190033. In these diagrams we already see the new classification of Cosmic Planes and Human Principles started by Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater and which Mrs. Bailey will follow faithfully.

[For a full analysis of discrepancies between the terminology of Theosophy and the new one used by the new system, see The Etheric Double? The far reaching effects of a false assumption by Geoffrey Farthing]

Responses to Concerns of Rays:

“In the quote from S.D., sadducees means: a member of a Jewish party of the intertestamental period consisting of a traditional ruling class of priests and rejecting doctrines not in the Law. The alleged Tibetan who our writer refers to as a probable Jesuit priest is probably Alice Bailey’s Tibetan as opposed to the real Djual Khool. We are not aware of Djual Khool being referred to as the Tibetan in any Theosophical teachings although he is referred to as the disinherited, a nickname given him when he became the chela of KH.34

We concur and admit that we as well as other Theosopists have not studied the H.P.B. teachings on the rays in depth. I, (DS) consciously, although mistakenly, chose the word alleged to indicate the fact that I had not studied the Alice Bailey teachings sufficiently to form an opinion as to their consistency or lack of such with those of the SD. In other words, I meant alleged in the sense that their consistency was unproven as far as I was concerned.

Therefore, I felt unqualified to affirm or deny the consistency of the Bailey teachings with SD. We have a considerable number of readers of the HCT who are staunch followers of the Bailey teachings, especially regarding the God concept and the seven rays. Many of these are doing important work in the Theosophical Movement and we respect their efforts. I have therefore been relunctant to critize the Bailey teachings on points I have been unsure of myself… ” 35

Sordo’s letter continues: The Discrepancies

“There is also a very similar flavor concerning the role of the church between Mrs. Bailey and Mr. Leadbeater.36 Before many centuries pass the old mysteries will be restored, and an inner body will exist in the church. … The nucleus is already forming … At this ceremony those ready for initiation will be publicly admitted .. by one of its members, authorized … by the great Hierophant himself. C.W. Leadbeater, The Theosophist Year 1917 The future is with the Church for the Seventh Ray – The Ray of Ceremonial Magic- is beginning to dominate the world. The Lord Himself, who founded the Church is coming to visit once more (15) Let us compare some ideas in both systems on the topic of the Rays.

(1) Both take as the source of their information an alleged Tibetan.37

(2) Both put a Master at the head of each Ray.

(3) The alleged qualities of each Ray are the same in both systems.

(4) They both emphasize the 6th Ray of alleged devotion and the 7th of alleged ceremonial magic as a way to support their common views of the coming of the Christ. On the other hand, Mr. Leadbeater claimed that Mr. T. Subba Row was one of his Teachers, and even Mr. C. Jinarajadasa in the foreword to section VII of The Esoteric Teachings of T. Subba Row (16) says that Mr. Subba Row’s talks to an intimate circle were taken down by some of them. Among his listeners were Dr. S. Subramania Iyer, C.W. Leadbeater, A.J. Cooper-Oakley. …

As among Subba Row’s teachings the topic of Rays is prominent, can we trace Leadbeater’s ideas to the writings of Subba Row? Let us see: C.W. Leadbeater Characteristic Magic: VII: Ceremonial Magic (cooperation with the Deva Kingdom) Last Religion: Elemental worship’.”38

“It is necessary to say a few words in this connection as regards the real nature of souldeath and the ultimate fate of a black magician.39 While the Seventh Ray man would use elaborate ceremonial magic, and probably invoke the assistance of non human spirits if possible.40 There are three ways in which a soul may cease to retain its special individuality. … [when he] place itself en rapport with a spiritual or elemental existence by evoking it. … in such a case it transfers its individuality to such existence and is sucked up into it. … [He] lives in such a being, and as such a being he continues till the end of the Manvantara. … in some respects this amounts to acquiring immortality in evil.”41

“Incensing, each candle, the Priest should think of the Ray with … a resolve to try to develop within oneself the quality specially belonging to that Ray. … 1. strength, 2. wisdom, 3. Adaptability or tact, … 4. Beauty, 5. Science (detailed knowledge) 6. Devotion, 7. Ordered Service (ceremonial which invokes angelic help. S. of Sacraments page 90. … It is impossible to say that the fact of belonging to one of these rays indicates the presence in a man of any particular moral or mental quality, such as patience, honesty, or courage on the one hand, or the poetic or artistic faculty on the other.”42

In this very short comparison of ideas, between Leadbeater and his alleged teacher, Subba Row, we not only see a difference in ideas but also in the Path followed by each one. In the view of Subba Row, the elemental worship and the invocation of non-human spirits, attributed by Mr. Leadbeater as the Religion and quality of the seventh Ray, is one of the three ways which may lead to soul-death and black magic. And as Mrs. Bailey adheres almost to the letter to these ideas, it is clear that her system, unconsciously to her students, leads to the same fatal goal.

The presence of Leadbeater is all throughout her writings especially in her A Treatise On Cosmic Fire, where we meet at every page concepts and terminology borrowed from him. Like Geoffrey Hodson, she uses terms like etheric double, group soul, the concept of a Deva evolution apart from, and running in parallel lines with the human43, the Rays, and the importance of the Church and the Coming. All these ideas are completely at variance with Theosophy as taught by H.P.B. and her Masters.

More about Ceremonial and the Rays: C.W. Leadbeater The Masters and the Path page 248. Alice Bailey A.T. on Cosmic Fire page 911.

The Ray that is now coming into force is very largely one of ceremonial.

With the coming in of the ceremonial ray of violet, we have the amplification therefore of the violet vibration.

If you analyze the next quotation, I don’t see how we could fill the alleged gap left by Theosophy, using materials from Mr. Leadbeater and Mrs. Bailey – their concepts are totally opposed.

C.W. Leadbeater The Masters and the Path page 258. H.P.B. C.W. XIII page 72.

The possibility of changing one’s Ray by the firm determination to do so leaves all paths alike open to the occult student.The star under which a human entity is born says the occult teachings, will remain for ever its star, throughout the whole cycle of its incarnations in one Manvantara.

Qualities of the Rays C.W. Leadbeater The Science of the Sacraments page 90-1. Alice Bailey A.T. on Cosmic Fire page 5

I. Strength
II. Wisdom
III. Adaptability or Tact
IV. Beauty and Harmony
V. Science (detailed knowledge)
VI. Devotion
VII. Ordered Service (ceremonial which invokes angelic help).

I. Will or Power
II. Wisdom
II. Active Intelligence
IV. Harmony, Beauty and Art.
V. Concrete knowledge or science.
VI. Devotion
VII. Ceremonial magic, order

Mark well that Science for both systems is only concrete knowledge, i.e. material science, but for Theosophy Knowledge and Science cannot be pursued altogether on the Baconiam methods.44

They don’t refer to knowledge as Gnosis or Theosophic, Divine Knowledge or Science. In pages 879-80 of A Treatise On Cosmic Fire, Mrs. Bailey gives her one definition of knowledge: Knowledge: she says: Is the right apprehension of the laws of energy, of the conservation of force, of the sources of energy, of its qualities, its types and its vibrations. It involves an apprehension of:

a) The different key vibrations.
b) The centers where by force enters.
c) The channels along which it circulates.

So, she is talking about the use and manipulation of energy: 1. laws, 2. conservation, 3. sources, 4. qualities, 5. types, 6. vibrations. She is in the realm of the practical and concrete, not physically concrete, but psychically. She is concerned with the circulation of energy through centers and channels, and with a certain key of vibration. Her definition of Love in the next page 881, round out the concept, because for her:

Love is the right apprehension of the uses and purposes of form.

Again, we still are in the realm of the concrete and material. Her definition belongs to the rupa levels of the Cosmos, and even if later on she talks of the Laws of Attraction and Repulsion. … she finishes her idea saying that love involves an understanding of all forms, form purposes, and form relationships.

Having given her own concrete definition of knowledge, she then resorts to theS.D. for support. Pages 879 and 880 are crammed with more than six references to the S.D., and I say to the S.D. advisedly because they are not quite from the S.D., due to the way they are presented. These references are: 1. without quotation marks, 2. incomplete in most cases and 3. some are not faithful notations but re-interpretations. For instance: A.T. on Cosmic Fire 2. The Gnosis, the hidden knowledge, is the seventh principle, the six schools of Indian philosophy are the six principles.45

This is the view of every one of the six great schools of Indian philosophy – the six principles of that unit body of wisdom of which the “Gnosis, the hidden knowledge, is the seventh”.46 Some of the quotations are systematically altered with a profusion of interpolatiions. See for instance in page 880 of Cosmic Fire her reference to S.D. I, 3rd edition page 192, in which she interpolates her comments on each Vidya without quotation marks. But in the case of the fourth Atma Vidya she only quotes True spiritual wisdom, forgetting to add:

… It is only the last one, “Atma Vidya, or the true spiritual and divine wisdom, which can throw absolute and final light upon the teachings of the three first named. …”47

Let us see now the definition of knowledge according to H.P.B.:

“Knowledge, in the true sense of the term, is the capacity of the Intellect, i.e., it is spiritual perception. In short, the higher individuality of man, composed of his higher Manus, the sixth and the seventh principles, should work as a unity, and then only can it obtain “divine wisdom, for divine things can be sensed only by divine faculties”.48 But not till the unit is merged in the All, whether on this or any other plane, and subject and object alike vanish in the absolute negation of the Nirvanic state (negation, again only from our plane), is scaled that peak of “Omniscience – the knowledge of things – in – themselves.”49

“True knowledge is of Spirit and in Spirit alone, and cannot be acquired in any other way except through the reign of the higher mind, the only plane from which we can penetrate the depths of all pervading Absoluteness.”50

“Thus we are in front of two different systems of thought, of training and goals. One uses the spiritual perception, the other the psychic apprehension, one uses the higher mind the other the lower and concrete one, one puts his reliance on the divine faculties, the other in Ceremonial Magic, the church, the coming and the invocation of elementals. Food for thought.”51

In conclusion to this portion of the letter, we concur that there are significant discrepancies and the writer has demonstrated that the Alice Bailey teachings are in accord with the Leadbeater teachings and are thus at variance with Subba Row, H.P.B. and the Masters. An excellent job of researching Then, is it fair to say that Bailey followers cannot be true theosophists because of these discrepancies?

Theosophy means Divine Wisdom but is the realm of the concrete, material, and psychic not divine?

Part IV

1. Initiation, Human and Solar, Alice Bailey, pp53-55 [↩]
2. Initiation, Human and Solar, Alice Bailey, pp57-58 [↩]
3. Initiation, Human and Solar, Alice Bailey, p.55 [↩]
4. Alice Bailey/D. K. [↩]
5. AGNI YOGA/Helena Roerich [↩]
6. http://www.infoplease.com/year/1936.html [↩]
7. LEAVES OF MORYA’S GARDEN I 1924 Paragraph 386 [↩]
8. “Sphera”, Moscow, 1998 [↩]
9. Manuscripts of letters from the archive of Roerich Museum in New York [↩]
10.  A Treatise on Cosmic Fire [↩]
11. Discipleship in the New Age I , page 24 [↩]
12. Brotherhood, 610 [↩]
13. LETTERS OF HELENA ROERICH Volume I Page 459 [↩]
14. Discipleship in the New Age I, 228 [↩]
15. LEAVES OF MORYA’S GARDEN I 1924 Paragraph 301 [↩]
16. Secret Doctrine I. 146, as quoted in Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul – A Treatise on Cosmic Fire [↩]
17. AGNI YOGA 1929 Paragraph 468 [↩]
18. FIERY WORLD I (1933) paragraph 13 [↩]
19. Bible, I Cor., XV, 53. [↩]
20. (Bible, Deut. IV, 24; Hebrews XII, 29.) Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul – A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, p. 166 [↩]
21. Letters on Occult Meditation, 257 [↩]
22. LEAVES OF MORYA’S GARDEN I 1 1924 Paragraph 327 [↩]
23. Letters on Occult Meditation, 257 [↩]
24. FIERY WORLD II 1934 Paragraph 371 [↩]
25. Letters on Occult Meditation, 257 [↩]
26. LEAVES OF MORYA’S GARDEN I 1924 Paragraph 115 [↩]
27. Letters on Occult Meditation, 257 [↩]
28. AUM 1936 Paragraph 139 [↩]
29. Editor [↩]
30. But about this later. [↩]
31. Publisher’s note. [↩]
32. A.T. on Cosmic Fire pp. 56, 1230 [↩]
33. A.T. on C.F. page 94 [↩]
34. ML #15. Chronological edition, page 50 or ML # 8 3rd edition [↩]
35. DS, ed.HCT [↩]
36. A. Bailey, Initiation, Human and Solar Chapter I, pg. 9 year published 1922 [↩]
37. Masters and the Path, p 228; A.T. on C. Fire p IX [↩]
38. Masters and Path page 229. T. Subba Row [↩]
39. … Esoteric Writings pages 267-8. [↩]
40. Masters and Pathpage 236. [↩]
41. Esoteric Writings pages 267-8. [↩]
42. Esoteric Writings page 108 [↩]
43. pp. 910-11 [↩]
44. M.L. p. 355 [↩]
45.  S.D. I, 299 [S.D. I, 278 Ed 1888] S.D. I 3rd Edition page 299 [↩]
46. S.D. I, 278, Ed. 1888 [↩]
47. S.D. I page 169 [↩]
48. C.W. VI, page 241 [↩]
49. D.S. I. page 330 [↩]
50. C.W. XII, page 537 [↩]
51. DS and ML [↩]