Theos-Talk Archives (July 1996 Message tl00702)

Frank:
>Dr. de Purucker addressed this issue in his respnse to a question at the
>European Convention of the Point Loma TS in October, 1932. He commented that
>yoga practices are not necessary and can be injurious to an individual from the
>West.

In my personal experience that it is rather difficult to do many yoga practices
while living a Western life style.  The pressures of job, family, relationships,
etc. are all distractions, but also duties that must be attended to.  There must
be some kind of Western yoga (like the one that Keith described while slapping
on labels) that is going on while we attend our duties.  My experience with yoga
teachers or gurus is that they expected you to do time-consuming yoga practices
while being active in the Western world and also volunteer in the yoga
organization, contribute large sums of cash and attend every class.  There just
wasn't enough time for most of us to do all this unless we slept three hours a
day, which is what our teacher claimed to do.  He never passed on his secret as
to how one got to the level where he needed so little sleep.  My guess was
regular deep meditation.

It my conclusion that to really follow this path, one had to retreat to the
forests of India or live on the banks of the Ganges.

I agree that studying Theosophy creates changes (for the better, usually) in the
person who approaches the material with humility and a spirit of service to
humanity, rather than an attempt to heighten their intellectual pride and
prowess.

I will never forget the booklet that was sent to me when first I joined the TSA.
It was called The Mysteries of Existence and was put out by the New Zealand
Section.  There was one phrase, "the seed is slowly developing", that threw
light on the dark corners of my soul and answered  questions that I had been
struggling with for years.  I felt I owed TS something just for that phrase.

> His tag line in this passage is beautiful:
>"...all of these other different kinds of yoga --Karma Yoga, and Bhakti Yoga,
>and all the rest of them--don't amount to a snap of the fingers as contarsted
>with the actual spiritual and intellectual training under our Masters. All
these
>things are but crutches for men who do not know anything better. Do you
>understand? Is the answer responsive?"

Once a person is under the guidance of the Higher Self and/or Master, the yogas
do look that way.  Once reason I believe is that there is no refusal.  If an
order or message comes down, you just get up and do it.  The link with that
power is so strong that one wouldn't even think of saying, "later, dude."

>Of course, I would not lay that entire rap on a potential new member. ;-{) 

Probably scare the newbie away.  

>There are certainly many other New Age type
>activities that those who are not presently ready can engage in so that at some
>point in the future they will be able to differentiate between spiritual
pabulum
>and teachings that have real substance.

This smacks of an arrogance that has no place next to brotherhood.  Although it
may be true, it is best left unspoken. 

>Anyway, doesn't it give you a sense of continuity that they were talking about
>these things at a TS convention in 1932? Talk about the Eternal Return!

Or how about it says that we haven't really gotten very far since then?  We've
experienced the Eternal Return of the SOP - same old problems. : - )

- Ann E. Bermingham