Theos-Talk Archives (April 1994 Message tl00009)

Arvind,

[re. Bowen's article]
AK>I read the article and understand 'where you are coming from'.
> BTW, the reference for the '7 meanings of occult books' that
> you had asked me to find is in TCF p. 110 footnote (I believe
> it is footnote 48 or 49).  There are some references in this
> footnote to TSD as well, which I'd like to read (but can't)
> due to lack of a 'concordance'(you may like to check them out).

     Your replies in the past have been so full of misreadings of
what I have been trying to communicate, you might understand why
I would appreciate it if you would "feed back" to me what it is
that you "understand" concerning where I'm coming from.

     The quote I asked for was where AAB says that her books have
seven keys (or meanings if you would rather).  The footnote on p.
110 of TCF is of course AAB's notations of references in TSD to
the seven keys in the SD.  Thus, this reference doesn't answer my
question.  The transcriptions of these references that Brenda
sent you on 3/16 are correct, so you can read them for yourself.
Brenda is also correct in surmising that AAB used the 1893
edition of TSD.  Since I haven't yet found my concordance, I
suggest that you ask Brenda for a copy of hers.

     While you are at it, you might compare AAB's list (TCF p.
110 fn) with the more complete one that I posted several months
ago.  AAB cited all the same quotes that I used (though I had
three more).  If AAB had added the anthroposophical, metrical and
theogonic from my list, and dropped the psychological (HPB
doesn't call it a key, even in the quote AAB gave), she would
have had twelve terms, instead of ten.  Interesting.

AK> The discussion on Wesak festival and other items related to
> the AAB autobiography leads me to this next question:  what
> are your impressions/opinions about AAB after having read
> the autobiography? It appears to me that she has written some
> of the most wonderful stuff alongwith some other stuff that
> may be questionable or speculative, as in the case of the
> Wesak festival.  Perhaps her own writing may be somewhat
> less reliable as compared to what she put down with the
> Tibetan.  I also think the same about HPB after reading
> your comment about the discussion of Devachan by HPB being
> not consistent with the Tibetan Buddhism tradition.  It appears
> that all of these wonderful authors in the 'theosophic'
> tradition have made some mistakes.  Seeing that you have such
> extensive background in HPB material (and the fact that I have
> the highest regard for what HPB wrote) I'd be extremely
> interested in a 'no holds barred' or free discussion by you
> of what you thought of AAB's autobiography and the person that
> comes through the book.

     Considering your "hypothesis" and your "objective"
concerning an investigation of AAB's writings, such an inquiry
(in my opinion) would be impossible to carry out in a fair,
unbiased manner.  With this in mind, I assume that we have
shifted direction again, and the investigation is off, since we
can't agree upon a methodology.  Therefore, I can discuss my
observations more freely without worrying about them "skewing"
the investigation:

     My reading of the Autobiography left me with a lot of
questions, most of which I felt were answerable.  I felt that AAB
was sincere in her belief that she was in touch with "The
Tibetan" but her belief did not make it a fact, so I suspended
judgement on this matter, pending further investigation.

     I was also quite impressed with her childhood experiences as
her description is a very well written account of an upper middle
class Victorian upbringing.  Her divorce and plunge into poverty
was also a rather common occurrence under the old marriage laws.

     Her experiences at Krotona, of course, was fleshed out in my
reading, because of my own historical knowledge of this period.
Therefore I was able to compare her attitudes and impressions of
what was going on with documentation concerning what was really
going on around her.  In this area, I still have a lot of
questions, and have been exploring them through another source.

     Concerning her psychic experiences: seances, telepathic
communications, visions and visitations, we only know what she
says concerning these experiences.  The trouble with experiences
of these types is that they can't be collaborated by witnesses.
Also, it is well known that what one experiences psychically is
highly subjective.  We have no way to compare what happened with
what she experienced.  Since I felt that there was no inclination
on her part to deceive her readers, I would conclude that AAB was
of a psychic nature.  The reliability of her experiences and her
ability to interpret what she experienced is another question
that cannot be answered just by reading her Autobiography.

     Like you, I also question AAB's writings concerning issues
like Wesak.  That is why I asked you how important Wesak is in
her teachings.  The source of this teaching is from Leadbeater
and was part of the ES teachings during AAB's time.  It should be
clear to you by now that I find any clairvoyant teachings of
Leadbeater questionable.  I have already given you some of my
reasons for taking this position.  The next question, however, is
whether AAB's DK also has the same teachings concerning the Wesak
festival.  If he does, then this throws into question the
authenticity of the communications between AAB and DK.

     As for HPB's errors, we have to ask the same questions that
we would of AAB's--where did she get the information?  But it
seems that the answers we get may be quite different.  In TSD,
HPB's references are to hundreds of books, journals, scriptures
etc.  It is all referenced, so in most cases, finding where she
got the information is easy.  We just find the book (if its
available).  For TCF, on the other hand, better than 90 percent
of the references are to TSD.  The rest are to the same Indian
scriptures that HPB refers to in TSD (thus, these citations may
be unacknowledged liftings from TSD.  This is something I need to
check out).  Therefore, based upon the citations, one would guess
that AAB's basic source for TCF is TSD.  The complication with
AAB comes with her unacknowledged usage of Leadbeater ES
material.  If one isn't familiar with the Leadbeater ES material
(most people are not), then how can we tell which is Leadbeater
and which is DK?

     Yes, all theosophical writers make "mistakes."  The
important questions are: What kind of mistakes do they make?
What are the sources of their mistakes?  How do the "mistakes"
affect the rest of the teachings?  When a student points out a
passage in HPB's writings and says to me "how can HPB have made a
dumb statement like that?,"  I know that student is on the way to
becoming a real student of theosophy.

     Coming back to the focus of your question: What I thought of
AAB's Autobiography and of the person that comes through the
book--I think I have now covered your question concerning the
Autobiography.  As for the person that comes through--I get the
image of a very sincere Christian woman who lived a very
privileged first half of her life, and a very difficult and
impoverished second half.  I see a very psychic woman who found
many personal answers though her study of Theosophy.  Whether she
was a "channel" for the Masters--nothing in the Autobiography
convinces me one way or the other.   It just leaves questions,
and invites me to investigate further--as I have been doing.

> 3.Have you heard of the Seth material (was it channeled by
> Jane Roberts?)?  What do you think about it?  I was reading
> about it in some theosophical magazine and was very curious
> about what type of information is contained in it.

     I find this form of "channeling" suspect regardless of the
quality of the information.  Many find "Seth's" messages
inspirational.  Otherwise, I have no opinion.

> 5.There is a show called 'Ancient Prophecies' or something like
> that which is supposed to re-air on NBC on April 10 (Sunday). I
> was asked by a couple of people to watch it and I am just
> passing on that info to you here; it may be of interest to us
> all.

     Thanks, but we will be out of town Sunday. Maybe it will air
at a different time here.

> 6.I saw your post on the 'Post Modern Theosophical Dialogue'..
> best wishes for its success!  And the idea of serving Vegan
> food is wonderful.

     It's going to be an interesting weekend.  There will be
activities never before done at a theosophical gathering.

Fraternally
Jerry Hejka-Ekins