Theos-Talk Archives (March 1998 Message tl00057)

March 24th 1998

Dear "Bodhijack":

For this era, Mme. Blavatsky's writings convey the information from
the Great Lodge of the Adepts who make themselves responsible for the
preservation, research, and promulgation of the information that
every department of Nature (the Whole Universe, and our Earth)
provides.

Her writings start with articles which she sent to various journals
during her life work.  She edited three magazines herself:

	THEOSOPHIST -- from 1879 issued in India
		she was co-editor with Col. Olcott for 9 volumes
	LUCIFER  -- from 1887 to her death in 1891
		Annie Besant was made co-editor with her in 1889
	THE VAHAN  -- from 1891 for a few weeks  -- a journal in which
questions
		were answered

These articles and other writings of hers have been gathered by
several publishers into the compass of a few volumes, such as a 3
volume edition (Published by Theosophy Company, . 245 W 33rd St., Los
Angeles, Ca.) and COLLECTED WORKS, BLAVATSKY in 15 volumes (Published
by Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar, London, Wheaton).

2 other books were published that contained a grouping of her
articles during her life:
	A MODERN PANARION	(Photographic reprint - Theosophy Company, LA)
	FIVE YEARS OF THEOSOPHY	( ditto )

In addition Mme. Blavatsky published several books:

	ISIS UNVEILED (1877)  (Photographic copy from Theosophy Company, LA)
		Vol. I:  Science;  Vol. II:  Religion  -- a marvelous compendium of

		information drawn from classical literature on the subject of
occultism
		and the origins and inter-relations of religions.

	THE SECRET DOCTRINE (1888)	( ditto )
		2 Volumes in one.  Vol. 1 on Cosmogenesis -- the fundamental
principles
		of evolution starting with Universal manifestation, its scope and
goal.
		Vol. 2 deals with the evolution of Man as a Mind-being, and traces
is on
		our Earth from its inception.  This includes spiritual,
intellectual, and 		physical changes as time rolled by, up to the
present.

		After Mme. Blavatsky's death this book was reissued in a "Third and

		Revised Edition."  There are over 40,000 alterations in this book
which
		Mme. Blavatsky did not supervise or authorize.

		In the course of writing the first 2 volumes of the S D, Mme.
Blavatsky
		referred to a 3rd and a 4th volume which were under preparation.
Her
		close students and collaborators in the production on the S D in 2
Vols.
		stated that the manuscripts for such additional volumes had been
		written, but not finally edited by her.

		After her death a number of articles which she had prepared for
publishing were issued in LUCIFER in 1891-3.  In 1897 there was
issued
		under the editing of Mrs. A. Besant a "THIRD VOLUME OF THE SECRET
DOCTRINE" -- on scrutiny it is found to consist of further unedited
articles
		which Mme. Blavatsky had under preparation, and additional matter,
	which, apparently received editorial changes under the hand of Mrs.
A. 		Besant.  But this "THIRD VOL. S D" is not the "third volume" to
which
		HPB referred in the first 2 volumes of the SD.

	THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY  (1889)  (ditto )  Basic principles and
application of
		practical Theosophy in dialog form between an "Enquirer," and a
		"Theosophist," ( H.P.Blavatsky )  A basic book on Theosophy which
all
		ought to be thoroughly acquainted with.

	THE VOICE OF THE SILENCE (1889)  (ditto )  A book that relates to
the discipline
		of a student under occult or esoteric instruction -- the ethics and
practice
		of the "higher life."

	THE THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY ( ditto )  This was under editing in 1891
when 		Mme. Blavatsky died.  Her secretary, Mr. G.R.S.Mead was
assisting her
		in this.  She edited the firs 32 pages, and Mr. Mead added
definitions
		drawn from various sources in Theosophical Literature.  He stated
that
		the book was only partially edited by HPB.  It does however in
various
		places contain information not to be found any where else.  It
gives
		definitions for over 2300 religious and theosophical words used in
		Theosophical literature by Mme. Blavatsky, chiefly.

	THE MAHATMA LETTERS  were originally published in 1925, and are
compended
		from original manuscripts deposited with the British Museum by Mr.
A.P. 		Sinnett, their recipient.  Those letters were the result of a
	correspondence carried on between 1880 and 1885 with several of the
		Adepts (Mahatmas--Great Souls) who were Mme. Blavatsky's Teachers,
	and whose duty was is to launch the Theosophical Movement of this
era.

		This book was edited by Mr. Sinnett's friend Trevor Barker after
his
		death.  In several places among the Letters, the Mahatmas state
that
		they were NOT TO BE PUBLISHED.

	Mme. Blavatsky repeatedly declared that the wisdom which she set
down in her writings was not "hers," but Theirs.  There also exists a
"certificate" from two of the Mahatmas stating that THE SECRET
DOCTRINE is the joint product of their three-fold collaboration [ THE
PATH, Vol. 8, p.1-3 "The Authorship of the SECRET DOCTRINE" ]

	Excuse this somewhat lengthy answer, but it is given so you will
have the facts, as I presently know them concerning these writings.
							Dallas

==========================================

| From: theos-l@vnet.net
| To: Multiple recipients of list <theos-l@vnet.net>
| Subject: THEOS-L digest 1473
| |
| Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 15:20:44 EST
| From: Bodhijack <Bodhijack@aol.com>
| To: theos-l@vnet.net
| Subject: Re: THEOS-L digest 1472
| Message-ID: <7b7727a.3516c41e@aol.com>
|
| dallas,thank you for your eloquent answer; it did help.  is it
correct to say
| that the 2 primary sources of info for theosophy are the secret
doctrine & the
| mahatma letters?