Theos-Talk Archives (June 1996 Message tl00187)

>It was during the time of Annie Besant and C W Leadbeater, the
>membership of the Theosophical Society, Adyar grew enormously
>until the drop after J Krishnamurti made his famous "Truth is a
>Pathless Land" statement.

True.  The TS was originally a provocative philosophical movement
until 1908 when AB and CWL changed it into a cult dedicated to
the worship of Krishnamurti as the World Teacher.  After the
"Pathless land" speech and K's resignation, the TS membership
dropped dramatically and steadily.

>If you look at the current statistics of the various
>organizations in the Theosophical Movement, the membership and
>the number of countries in which branches are active, TS, Adyar
>is the largest. All the other Theosophy organizations have
>membership which are very small and the countries in which they
>are active are few. (If anyone has statistical information to
>support or dispute this, I would welcome it).

What is your point?

>But for the contributions of AB and CWL, IMHO, TS, Adyar would
>now have the membership and geographical coverage similar to
>that of the other TS organizations.

How can you compare?  The Pasadena Society closed all of their
Lodges in 1904.  They rechartered new Lodges in 1930 and closed
them again in 1951.  So of course the Adyar TS has more
membership, they have been a membership Organization dedicated to
building a large membership from the beginning.  The Pasadena TS
has not been so dedicated for most of its history.  ULT has no
membership and no dues--it never had any.  If you were talking
about three membership Organizations that have been continuously
operating as such, then I would say that you have a fair bases of
comparison upon which to make your above statement.  But this is
not the case.

>While Olcott established branches far and wide, it is the
>lectures and books of AB and CWL which introduced Theosophy to
>most of the members. I am one of those who benefitted by reading
>the books and lectures of AB and CWL.

True.  They flooded the market with their own books and promoted
them while leaving HPB's writings to be forgotten tombs.

>As the facts speak for themselves, and each can draw their own
>conclusions about the contributions of AB and CWL.

True. And depending upon which selection of "facts" you want to
present, one can make them say almost anything.

>As one Adept said "Ingratitude is not one of our vices,", let us
>ponder over what AB and CWL have contributed to Theosophy and
>TS.
OK--I'm pondering........I give up.  What have they contributed
for which I should be grateful?

JHE

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   |Jerry Hejka-Ekins,                      |
      |Member TI, TSA, TSP, ULT                |
         |Please reply to: jhe@toto.csustan.edu   |
            |and CC to jhejkaekins@igc.apc.org       |
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