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On September 7, 1875, Helena Petrovna
Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott founded the Theosophical
Society. They were directed to do so by two eastern Adepts
or Masters, Morya and Koot Hoomi.(1)
Besides
its three official objects (1a),
the mission of the Theosophical Society was to prepare the
world for the coming of a great spiritual teacher, expected
in the last quarter of the 20th century.(2)
Annie
Besant, Blavatsky’s successor as leader of the
Theosophical Society, and Charles Webster Leadbeater, mediator
between the Adepts and the Theosophical Society, were directed
to implement this project fifty years in advance.(3)
The
young Jiddu Krishnamurti was chosen and trained to be the
vehicle through whom the World Teacher Lord Maitreya would
reveal himself.(4) The
Order of the Star in the East was the worldwide organization
to draw together all those who expected the coming of this
great teacher. Krishnamurti became its Head. Not all Theosophists
were in agreement with these developments.(5)
Until about 1927 all went relatively well(6)
and starting on December 28, 1925 Krishnamurti
was overshadowed a few times by Lord Maitreya.(7)
Krishnamurti and other
Theosophists declared the project successful,(8)
others were of the opposite opinion.(9)
From about 1927 on Krishnamurti decided to go his own way
and irrevocably dissociated himself from the project by
dissolving the Order of the Star on August 3, 1929.
Through Theosophists Cyril Scott and
David Anrias, the Adepts communicated their evaluation of
the project and declared it an almost complete failure.(10)
Krishnamurti caused so much confusion in the ranks
of the Theosophists, that the Theosophical Society was disqualified
as the spearhead of the work of the Adepts. Nevertheless,
some Theosophists, such as C. Jinarajadasa
and Geoffrey Hodson, were still in contact with the Adepts(11),
and They kept a continuing interest in the affairs of the
Theosophical Society.(12) Furthermore
the Adepts worked also with Alice
Bailey, which was not successful (13),
and with Nicholas and Helena Roerich, which was.(14)
Three months after Krishnamurti had dissolved
the Order of the Star, the crash on the New York Stock Exchange
happened. This event was the starting point of an
unprecedented disastrous sixteen-year-cycle of economic
depression, militarism, fascism and war, culminating in
the Holocaust and the use of the atomic bomb. This
was no coincidence. One of its main causes was the earlier
mentioned confusion amongst many advanced souls.
They were not able anymore to keep the forces of darkness
at bay.(15)
In the summer of 1930, the Adept Saint Germain approached
Guy Ballard, an American mining engineer with an interest
in the occult, with the request to become messenger for
the Adepts. Ballard wrote Unveiled
Mysteries under the name Godfre Ray King and founded
the “I AM” Movement.(16)
Through Ballard the Adepts gave the revelations
deemed necessary for the Age of Aquarius, which originally
were intended to be given through Krishnamurti.(17)
These revelations included original
teachings about mantra yoga, the divine self or the I AM
Presence, and the initiation of the ascension.(18)
In the 1930s the “I AM”
Movement was very successful.(19)
Because of Guy Ballard’s passing in 1939, a string
of lawsuits and bad publicity, the movement experienced
a setback. Guy Ballard’s wife, Edna Ballard, succeeded
him.
In 1944 the Adept the Maha Chohan, the
chief of El Morya and Kuthumi, contacted “I AM”
member Geraldine Innocente.(20)
In April 1952 she founded anonymously
the Bridge to Freedom to spread some teachings by “Thomas
Printz,” pseudonym for El Morya.(21)
Mark Prophet, who was associated with the Bridge to Freedom,
was contacted by El Morya in the early 1950s. The
Adepts directed him to found The Summit Lighthouse, which
he did on August 8, 1958. This
organization, now also known as Church Universal and Triumphant,
has been a very successful organization in spreading the
revelations for the New Age of Aquarius.(22)
Its current
head is Elizabeth Clare Prophet, who was contacted in the
spring of 1961 by El Morya to join The Summit Lighthouse
in order to be trained as a messenger.(23)
She became its head in 1973 after the
passing of Mark Prophet to whom she was married.(24)
Among her students she is also known as Guru Ma or
just Mother. In 1997 the organization
lost its protection from El Morya (24a)
and unfortunately, in late 1998, Prophet was diagnosed with
Alzheimer's disease and soon after stopped transmitting
messages from the Masters.
Recent offshoots
of Church Universal and Triumphant are The Temple of The
Presence founded by Carolyn and Monroe Shearer; Ask the
Real Jesus by Kim Michaels and Shangra-la by Lorraine Michaels;
New Wisdom University by Marsha Covington; and The Hearts
Center by David Lewis. All were members of Prophet's organization
and claim to be contacted by the Masters to inaugurate new
Ascended Master organizations. (25)
The revelations given through the Ballards
and the Prophets on one side, and the philosophy of Krishnamurti
(and others) on the other side might both lead to either
the beginning of a transformation of already existing civilizations
like the Judeo-Christian and the Indic, both of which might
be stimulated to new levels of intellectual and spiritual
development, or--and this probably being the case with Krishnamurti’s
teachings--to the birth of a completely new, though deeply
flawed, religion and civilization.(26)
1.
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“So casting about we found in America the
man [H.S. Olcott] to stand as leader... . With him
we associated a woman [H.P. Blavatsky] of most exceptional
and wonderful endowments... . We sent her to America,
brought them together--and the trial began.”
Letter No.44, Morya to A.P. Sinnett, February 1882,
in A.T. Barker, compiler, The Mahatma Letters to
A.P. Sinnett (Adyar, India: Theosophical Publishing
House, 1972), p. 259.
And in 1975:
“In 1876, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was ordered
by the Master Kuthumi and me, then known as the Masters
K.H. and M., to write Isis Unveiled. Later
she was given the responsibility of imparting The
Secret Doctrine to the world.”El Morya, The
Chela and the Path (Corwin Springs MT: Summit
University Press, 1975), p. 122.
[Quotes in notes 1, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 23 and 24
were reprinted with permission from the publisher.
Copyright © 1975, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1994, Summit University
Press, P.O. Box 5000, Corwin Springs, Montana 59030-5000.
(406) 848-9500. Web site: http://www.tsl.org].
Both Masters took their fifth initiation, the Ascension,
at the close of the last century, thereby becoming
incorporeal Ascended Masters. And as Blavatsky has
written--referring to other saints, that, when “unburthened
of their terrestrial tabernacles, their freed souls,
henceforth united forever with their spirits, rejoin
the whole shining host, which is bound together in
one spiritual solidarity of thought and deed, and
called the ‘anointed,’ ”--the same
glad tidings could be told, not only about these two
illustrious Masters, but also about many other brave
souls who followed them. [H.P. Blavatsky, Isis
Unveiled (Pasadena CA: Theosophical University
Press, 1976 [1877]), II, p. 159]. For practical purposes
the difference between an Unascended Master and an
Ascended one is not very great. Both can work in the
physical as well as in the spiritual realm and both
have a wide array of occult powers at their command
to guide Their pupils and help mankind. The difference
is that an Unascended Master has its base of operations
in a physical body and an Ascended Master in a spiritual
body. To dismiss the latter as spooks, because They
do not conform to one’s idea of flesh-and-blood
Masters, is to deny oneself the great wisdom coming
from the 'anointed' or Ascended Masters.
[Blavatsky wrote about the concept of Nirmanakaya:
"As a Nirmanakaya, however, the adept leaves
behind him only his physical body, and retains every
other "principle" save the Kamic, for he
has crushed this out for ever from his nature during
life, and it can never resurrect in his post-mortem
state. Thus, instead of going into selfish bliss,
he chooses a life of self-sacrifice, an existence
which ends only with the life-cycle, in order to be
enabled to help mankind in an invisible, yet most
effective, manner."
The Key to Theosophy (London: Theosophical
Publishing Co., 1889), pp. 353-354]
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1a.
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The objects of the Theosophical
Society are the following:
-
To form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood
of humanity, without distinction of race, creed,
sex, caste, or color.
-
To encourage the comparative study of religion,
philosophy, and science.
-
To investigate unexplained laws of nature and
the powers latent in humanity.
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2.
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“If the
present attempt, in the form of our Society, succeeds
better than its predecessors have done, then it will
be in existence as an organized, living and healthy
body when the time comes for the effort of the XXth
century. The general condition of men’s minds
and hearts will have been improved and purified by
the spread of its teachings, and, as I have said,
their prejudices and dogmatic illusions will have
been, to some extent at least, removed. Not only so,
but besides a large and accessible literature ready
to men’s hands, the next impulse will find a
numerous and united body of people ready to
welcome the new torch-bearer of Truth. He will find
the minds of men prepared for his message, a language
ready for him in which to clothe the new truths he
brings, an organization awaiting his arrival, which
will remove the merely mechanical, material obstacles
and difficulties from his path. Think how much one,
to whom such an opportunity is given, could accomplish.
Measure it by comparison with what the Theosophical
Society actually has achieved in the last fourteen
years, with out any of these advantages and
surrounded by hosts of hindrances which would not
hamper the new leader. Consider all this, and then
tell me whether I am too sanguine when I say that
if the Theosophical Society survives and lives true
to its mission, to its original impulses through the
next hundred years--tell me, I say, if I go too far
in asserting that earth will be a heaven in the twenty-first
century in comparison with what it is now!”
H.P.
Blavatsky, The Key to Theosophy (London: Theosophical
Publishing Co., 1889), pp. 306-307.
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3.
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“It
may interest members to recall the fact that Mme.
H.P. Blavatsky, one of the founders of the T.S., regarded
it as the mission of the T.S. to prepare the world
for the coming of the next great Teacher, though she
put that event perhaps half a century later than I
do. Which of us is right as to date, only time can
show. I do not say that she was necessarily right
in making this its mission, but as she proclaimed
this view in the supposedly ‘uncolored’
days, under ‘the old régime,’ the repetition
of the statement by myself does not imply any change
of policy. She wrote: ‘The next impulse will
find a numerous and united body of people ready
to welcome the new torch-bearer of Truth. He will
find the minds of men prepared for his message, a
language ready for him in which to clothe the new
truths he brings, an organization awaiting his arrival,
which will remove the merely mechanical, material
obstacles and difficulties from his path.’ That
was the view of one of our Founders--really of both--as
to ‘the future of the Theosophical Society,’
and my crime is that I share it, and do what my poor
powers permit in preparing the minds of men for that
coming.”
Annie
Besant, “Freedom of Opinion in the T.S.,”
letter to The Vâhan 21\8 (March 1912), p. 153.
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4.
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“Shortly after meeting Krishna
for the first time, Leadbeater revealed to [Theosophist
Ernest] Wood that the boy was to be the vehicle for
the Lord Maitreya ‘unless something went wrong’
and that he, Leadbeater, had been directed to help
train him for that purpose.”
Mary Lutyens, Krishnamurti: The Years of Awakening,
(New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1975), p. 21.
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5.
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In particular the German Section
of the Theosophical Society, led by Rudolf Steiner,
expressed its intolerance towards members of the Order
of the Star, by stating that membership of both organizations
was mutually exclusive. This policy was obviously
contrary to the principle of freedom of thought and
association, a cornerstone of the Theosophical Society.
The defiant stand taken on this issue by the German
Section led eventually to the cancellation of their
charter.
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6.
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During the Jubilee Convention of
the Theosophical Society in 1925 a message originating
from an Adept was read to the participants. This happened
a few days before December 28, when the first overshadowing
of Krishnamurti by the Lord Maitreya occurred. A part
of the message reads:
“A second half-century of fine promise lies
before you. We say to you: You have the power to do
more in the immediate future than any other body of
men and women has ever achieved before. We say to
you: Within this next half century you can make Brotherhood
a living reality in the world. You can cause the warring
classes, castes, and nations to cease their quarreling,
the warring faiths to live once more in brotherhood,
respect and understanding. Make Theosophy a living
force in your lives, and through your example those
class and caste distinctions, which for so long have
bred hatred and misery, shall at no distant time come
to be but distinctions of function in the common service
of the nation-family and of the World-Brotherhood...
."
"It is the Law that Our Blessed Lord comes
among you, be His welcome what it may, though even
he may not outstay His welcome. And only at long intervals,
so far, has He been able to bestow upon you the priceless
benediction of His immediate presence in your midst.
We have to wait. So be it. Yet, if His welcome lasts,
perchance grows, He may dwell long with you, and the
doors thus be flung wide open between Our world and
your, and between other worlds and yours, that they
may become one world, Ourselves restored to Our natural
place among Our younger comrades, and Devas and mankind
be once more together in happy comradeship.”
Anonymous Master, “A
Message to the Members of the Theosophical Society
from an Elder Brother,” The Theosophist
47\4 (January 1926), supplement, pp. 3 and 4. And
what did Krishnamurti do? Instead of opening, he slammed
the door in Their face.
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7.
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“As he [Krishnamurti] speaks, the spirit of
the Christ descends, as a great collective inspiration,
into the hearts and minds of all. It draws nearer
and nearer in a great ring-shaped cloud of golden
light. It hovers over our heads, descends still lower,
slowly and gently, like a warm summer rain, till all
are enwrapped in its beauty, its peace and all-compelling
love... . Night after night, as he ceases to speak,
a miracle occurs. Two thousand sevenhundred people
remain perfectly still. In that silence the splendor
of splendors is revealed to the inner eyes. The figure
of the Lord appears above the head of Krishnaji. The
silence deepens. We are enfolded in His embrace, filled
with tenderness and compassion as he draws near.”
Geoffrey Hodson, Thus Have I Heard (Adyar,
India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1929), pp. 107-108.
Leadbeater wrote in 1930:
“This is He who should come, and there is no
need to look elsewhere; as I have said, I know that
the World-Teacher often speaks through Krishnaji,
but I also know that there are occasions when He does
not.”
C.W. Leadbeater, “Art Thou He That Should Come?”
The Theosophist 51\9 (June 1930), p. 472.
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8.
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“I know my destiny and my
work. I know with certainty and knowledge of my own,
that I am blending into the consciousness of the one
Teacher and that He will completely fill me.”
Letter from Krishnamurti to Leadbeater February
9, 1927, quoted in Lutyens, Krishnamurti: The Years
of Awakening, p. 241.
“I never said: I am the World Teacher; but
now that I feel I am one with my Beloved, I say it.”
Talk by Krishnamurti, August 2, 1927, quoted in
Lutyens, p. 250.
Annie Besant declared in 1927:
“The Divine Spirit has descended once more
on a man, Krishnamurti, one who in his life is literally
perfect, as those who know him can testify... . The
World Teacher is here.
”Annie Besant, “The Way of Sorrows and
the Way of Happiness: The New Message” The
Theosophist 48/7 (April 1927), p. 6d.
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9.
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“I had a talk with [Theosophist]
Jinarajadasa, who staggered me by saying that the
gathering at Eerde [in August 1927] had been a tragedy
and a failure and had almost wrecked the Plan of the
Brotherhood.”
Lady Emily Lutyens, Candles in the Sun (London:
Rupert Hart-Davis, 1957), p. 163.
“C.W.L. declared privately when in Adyar in
1927 that ‘The Coming had gone wrong.’”
Adrian G. Vreede, “An Attack on Bishop Leadbeater,”
The Liberal Catholic 34\7 (February 1964),
p. 150.
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10.
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“[His mission was] a success
while still overshadowed by the world-Teacher,.. a
failure afterwards.”
An
English Master, “Sir Thomas” in His
Pupil [Cyril Scott], The Initiate in the Dark Cycle
(London: Routledge, 1932), p. 141.
“It became all but impossible for him to be
used any longer as my medium.
”Lord
Maitreya in David Anrias [Brian Ross], Through
the Eyes of the Masters: Meditations and Portraits
(London: Routledge, 1932), p. 66.
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11.
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“State how... you received
the information from Brother Jinarajadasa--Our Agent
at that time--affirming that he had passed the Initiation
during the night that preceded your experience on
waking, at Mt Maunganui.”
Message from Master Polidorus Isurenus, June 30,
1975, to Geoffrey Hodson in Sandra Hodson (Comp.),
Light of the Sanctuary: The Occult Diary of Geoffrey
Hodson (Manila, Philippines: The Theosophical
Publisher, 1988), p. 265.
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12.
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“The Master M. [El Morya]
and K.H. [Kuthumi] together with the Maha Sahib [the
Maha Chohan] will renew the hundred-year cycle of
their service through the chelas at Adyar [the international
headquarters of the Theosophical Society].”
Goddess of Liberty, “The Mutable Soul is Entrusted
with the Immutable Spirit,” Pearls of Wisdom
23/12 (March 23, 1980), p. 66.
But the backing does not come without critical evaluation:
“Look at those who have had the dispensation
of the Ascended Masters in the Theosophical Society,
the Rosicrucian Order, the Agni Yoga Society, the
I AM movement and other forward movements that have
begun to unveil the presence and teachings of great
adepts in the earth. Look at the members of these
organizations, beloved. Some have almost become intellectual
snobs, for they do not use the teachings to challenge
the forces of Darkness in the earth but only to elevate
themselves as the wise ones, for they have such and
such teaching that other earthlings do not have. This
was never the Brotherhood’s intent in the founding
of esoteric organizations.”
Mighty Victory, “Becoming more of God Day by
Day,” Pearls of Wisdom 37/32 (August 7,
1994), pp. 376-377.
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13.
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Kuthumi wrote in 1975:
“In the past we have had to withdraw our support
from those who were given the opportunity to represent
us. The one who for a time had the opportunity of
representing the master Djwal Kul soon lost that authority
through intellectual pride and the brittleness of
the lower mental body, which can never be the channel
of the mind of God. Thus I expose to you the false
teachings subtly woven into the work of Alice Bailey,
whose failure to surrender totally rendered her unfit
as an instrument of the Tibetan Master.”
Kuthumi, “An Exposé of False Teachings”
Pearls of Wisdom 19/5 (February 1, 1976), p.
28. (Relevant
Paragraphs)
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14.
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“The Roerichs set forth the
word of Morya destined to reach both the Russian and
the American people with the energy and the enlightenment
that should deter the red dragon of World Communism.”
El Morya, The Chela and the Path, p. 122.
(Relevant
Paragraphs)
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15.
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Thus the stage was left for all
kinds of black magicians and their ilk to play out
their nefarious plots. Chief amongst them were the
German Nazis, whose involvement in the occult and
borrowing from Theosophy has been well documented.
See for example Nicholas Goodrick Clarke, The Occult
Roots of Nazism (New York: New York University
Press, 1985); Dusty Sklar, The Nazis and the Occult
(New York: Dorset Press, 1977); and the more speculative,
but from an esoteric point of view more interesting,
The Spear of Destiny (New York: Putnam, 1973)
by Trevor Ravenscroft. The contrast between the expectations
for humankind as presented in endnotes 2 and 6, and
what actually happened indicates that we have to face
up to a tragedy of immense proportions.
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16.
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For a basic overview of the history
and teachings of the “I AM” Movement see
Charles S. Braden, These Also Believe: A Study
of Modern American Cults and Minority Religious Movements
(New York: Macmillan, 1949), pp. 257-307.
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17.
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This is the pivotal statement
connecting on one side the story of the Adepts’
involvement with the Theosophical Society and Krishnamurti
from 1875 till 1929, and on the other side the story
of Their involvement with the Ballards, Innocente
and the Prophets from 1930 till the present. The rationale
of the Masters’ changing allegiance to their
embodied representatives is as follows:
“The Ascended Masters are the authority of
the true teacher and the true messenger. We release
the energy, the light, the teaching, the initiations,
and the discipline to and through our representatives.
If at any time the teacher or the messenger who has
surrendered his human will to the divine will should
elect to take back that human will, our dispensation
will terminate. The light...would be withdrawn and
the trained disciple would receive the certain sign
of hierarchy that the instrument had become a dry
reed, hollow and without the authentic vibration and
backing of the entire Spirit of the Great White Brotherhood...
. Stand beneath the waterfall and receive unreservedly
the flow of the hierarchy of Aquarius that comes through
our embodied messengers. When the waterfall ceases
to flow, move on, for hierarchy will not be stopped.
We will open another stream and prepare a channel
for the crystal-clear waters of life.”
Kuthumi, “An Exposé of False Teachings,”
Pearls of Wisdom 19/5 (February 1, 1976), p.
29. (Relevant
Paragraphs)
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18.
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“In the 1930s came the twin
flames Guy W. Ballard and Edna Ballard imparting the
sacred mystery of the law of the I AM, further knowledge
of hierarchy, the invocation of the sacred fire, and
the path of the ascension.”
El Morya, The Chela and the Path, p. 122.
(Relevant
Paragraphs)
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19.
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“At its apex in the late
thirties, it must have represented the greatest popular
diffusion Theosophical concepts ever attained... .
One cannot but admire the effectiveness with which
Ballard presented in a truly popular and American
manner the basic teaching and sense of wonder which
underlies Theosophy.”
Robert S. Ellwood, Jr., Religious and Spiritual
Groups in Modern America (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice
Hall, 1973), p. 121.
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20.
|
J. Gordon Melton, “The Church
Universal and Triumphant: Its Heritage and Thoughtworld,”
in Church Universal and Triumphant In Scholarly
Perspective, edited by. J.R. Lewis and J. Gordon
Melton (Stanford: Center for Academic Publication,
1994), pp. 13-14.
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21.
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“The condition of the consciousness of seekers
after Truth warranted the opportunity to find peace
in the comradeship of the Masters, without homage
to personality. It was my thought to give such opportunity,
letting the balm of the Presence, the joy of the Masters’
friendship and the freedom of conscience which such
an Open Door would allow, to flow freely to all life,
without requiring allegiance to any human form.”
Thomas Printz (El Morya), The First Ray (Mount
Shasta, CA: Ascended Master Teaching Foundation, 1986:
originally published by the Bridge to Freedom in 1954),
p.31.
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22.
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In an academic study, conducted
by a group of religious scholars, some notable conclusions
regarding Elizabeth Clare Prophet and Church Universal
and Triumphant were presented. In the introduction
one can read that “many of the contributions
to the present volume are shaped by, or at least address,
the various accusations that have been leveled against
Church Universal and Triumphant over the years. Some
of us, and perhaps most of us who participated in
the study, brought certain negative stereotypes along
with us on our first trip to Montana [where the Church
has its headquarters]. Yet, once there, our preconceptions
quickly evaporated in the encounter with a group of
generally very likable, intelligent, flesh-and-blood
human beings. ... Beyond simple positive intentions,
I think they have managed to establish one of the
most intrinsically interesting religious communities
to come into being in this century. The range and
complexity of their worldview, just to mention one
facet of the Church, deserves a half-dozen studies
of the length we have undertaken in the present volume.”
J.R. Lewis, “Introduction,” in Church
Universal and Triumphant In Scholarly Perspective,
pp. xii-xiii.
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23.
|
Elizabeth Clare Prophet said
in 1979:
“Within a matter of a few weeks [after having
met Mark Prophet], I was crossing a park to Boston
University to one of my courses. And there crossed
my path a being of Light that I had never heard of
or seen before. But the moment I saw him, I knew him.
It was the Ascended Master El Morya... . Morya said
to me ‘I have need of a female messenger. Go
to Washington and I will train you through Mark Prophet.
If you pass your initiations, Saint Germain will come
and anoint you as messenger for the Ascended Masters.’”
Elizabeth Clare Prophet, “I’m Stumping
for the Coming Revolution in Higher Consciousness,”
Audio-tape no. A7945, (Corwin Springs MT: The Summit
Lighthouse, 1979).
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24.
|
The History of the Summit Lighthouse
(Livingston MT: Church Universal and Triumphant, 1994),
p. 4.
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24a.
|
"I, El Morya Khan, Chief of the Darjeeling
Council, hereby announce the removal of the thread
that originates from my mantle to the heart of the
messenger to your hearts for the holding of the balance
of your lifestreams. The dispensation of this thread,
which is a thread of protection, was made possible
because of the codes of conduct established and sponsored
by me in the past. Your merit for intercession will
now be based upon your own decree momentum, your devotion
to your God Presence and your service to mankind.
May you pass every test!"
Read by Elizabeth Clare Prophet at a staff meeting
on May 13, 1997. [Last sentence added in 2001]
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25.
|
For some more background information
about these post-Prophet organizations see "Beyond
Guru Ma." [This paragraph was added in 2001
and revised in 2005]
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26.
|
For a philosophical-historical
discussion of the relationship between religion and
civilization, see Arnold J. Toynbee, Universal
Churches, vol. 7B, A Study of History (London:
Oxford University Press, 1954), pp. 381-544.
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