Theos-Talk Archives (December 1995 Message tl00075)

The idea that HPB was always correct is wrong IMHO.
She was usually right but sometimes what got published
is wrong and I can't say if she was really aware of
the errors or not.

For example lets look at the new Inner Group
Teachings. On page 180 we read "There are six or
seven Nadis or plexuses along the Spinal Cord; but
the term "Nadis" is not technical; it is used as
descriptive of any knot centre ganlion or similar
body" etc. Now as we all know today these lines
describe the chakras not the nadis. The chakras
are the centers or plexuses. The nadis are their
interconnecting channels. The author HPB? never
mentions "chakras" here and we must conclude that
the terminology used is erroneous and that the
author is discussing material that is not all that
familiar to him/her. For example the sushumna
ida and pingala are described with no mention
of the fact that these are the three primary nadis.
The paragraph on pages 181 and 182 is all
about the horrors of sex on the Path and concludes
"Therefore all sexual intercourse is forbidden to
the students of Practical Occultism." This
conclusion is either right or wrong depending on
exactly how we define "Practical Occultism." If
this is HPB's brand of theosophy then it is
probably true. But if it refers to occultism
in general as practiced for centuries in various
countries then it is false I give the Tibetan
use of a Karmamudra or female partner as only
one example. Sexual practices were employed in
both Hindu and Buddhist tantras and the tantras
are a valid school of occultism.
On page 131 we read about the Pratyeka-
Buddha the "rhinoceros" who "can never pass
beyond the third plane that of Jiva." This
is an error and is practically a slander to
Theravadin or Hinayanists. The average person
is able to explore the "third plane" which
is the mental plane the plane of the human
mind or manas which contains thoughts and
thought-forms. According to Ocean of Nectar
by Geshe Gyatso a Mahayanaist these
"rhinoceros-like Solitary Realizers" "dwell
in spiritual solitude" and so on far above
the third plane and the human mind. The
very fact that they are Buddhas requires
them to have crossed the Abyss into the fifth
plane which is where magical schools like
the OTO place them.

These three examples to me demonstrate
a danger in blindly accepting everything read
in theosophical literature. The theosophical
books were written by human beings and human
beings all make mistakes or their publishers
do.

Jerry S.