The Society's seal incorporated the Swastika, Star of David, Ankh, Aum and Ouroboros symbols.
Theosophical Society, Adyar, India, 1890 The Theosophical Society is an organization formed in 1875 to advance the spiritual principles and search for Truth known as Theosophy. The original organization, after splits and realignments has (as of 2011) several successors. Theosophy is an active philosophical school today, and through a process of schism has also given rise to other mystical, philosophical and religious beliefs and organizations.[1]
Contents
1 History o 1.1 Formation o 1.2 The Hidden Masters o 1.3 Schisms 2 The "World Teacher" o 2.1 Jiddu Krishnamurti 3 Controversy and racial beliefs 4 Related individuals and organizations
History
Formation
Notes of meeting proposing the formation of the Theosophical Society, New York City, 8 September 1875 The Theosophical Society was officially formed in New York City, United States, in November 1875 by Helena Blavatsky, Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan Judge and others. Its initial objective was the "study and elucidation of Occultism, the Cabala etc."[2] After a few years Olcott and Blavatsky moved to India and established the International Headquarters at Adyar, in Madras (Chennai). They were also interested in studying Eastern religions, and these were included in the Society's agenda.[3] After several iterations the Society's objectives evolved to be: 1. To form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or colour. 2. To encourage the study of comparative religion, philosophy, and science. 3. To investigate the unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in man. The Society was organized as a non-sectarian entity. The following was stated in the Constitution and Rules of the Theosophical Society ARTICLE I: Constitution 4. The Theosophical Society is absolutely unsectarian, and no assent to any formula of belief, faith or creed shall be required as a qualification of membership; but every applicant and member must lie in sympathy with the effort to create the nucleus of an Universal Brotherhood of Humanity ...
ARTICLE XIII Offences 1. Any Fellow who shall in any way attempt to involve the Society In political disputes shall be immediately expelled. 2. No Fellow, Officer, or Council of the Theosophical Society, or of any Section or Branch thereof, shall promulgate or maintain any doctrin[e ]as being that advanced, or advocated by the Society. [4] The Society reformulated this view in a resolution passed by the General Council of the Theosophical Society on December 23, 1924.[5]
Schisms
After Helena Blavatsky's death in 1891, the Society's leaders seemed at first to work together peacefully. This did not last long. Judge was accused by Olcott and then prominent Theosophist Annie Besant of forging letters from the Mahatmas; he ended his association with Olcott and Besant in 1895 and took most of the Society's American Section with him. The original organisation led by Olcott and Besant remains today based in India and is known as the Theosophical Society - Adyar. The group led by Judge further splintered into a faction led by Katherine Tingley, and another associated with Judge's secretary Ernest Temple Hargrove. While Hargrove's faction no longer survives, the faction led by Tingley is today known as the Theosophical Society with the clarifying statement, "International Headquarters, Pasadena, California". A third organization, the United Lodge of Theosophists or ULT, in 1909 split off from the latter organization. In 1902, Rudolf Steiner became General Secretary of the German/Austrian division of the Theosophical Society. He maintained a Western-oriented course, relatively independent from the Adyar headquarters. After serious philosophical conflicts with Annie Besant and other members of the International leadership on the spiritual significance of Christ and on the status of the young boy Jiddu Krishnamurti (see
section below), most of the German and Austrian members split off in 1913 and formed the Anthroposophical Society. The latter remains active today and has branches in several countries, including the US and Canada.
Jiddu Krishnamurti
One of the people who expected the imminent reappearance of the Maitreya as World Teacher was Charles Webster Leadbeater, then an influential Theosophist and occultist. In 1909 he "discovered" Jiddu Krishnamurti, an adolescent Indian boy, who he proclaimed as the most suitable candidate for the "vehicle" of the World Teacher.[11][12] Krishnamurti's family had relocated next to the Theosophical Society headquarters in Adyar, India, a few months earlier.[13] Following his "discovery", Krishnamurti was taken under the wing of the Society, and was extensively groomed in preparation for his expected mission. However, by 1925 Krishnamurti had begun to move away from the course expected of him by the leaders of the Theosophical Society in Adyar and by many Theosophists. In
1929 he publicly dissolved the Order of the Star, a worldwide organization created by the leadership of the Theosophical Society to prepare the world for the Coming of the Maitreya, and abandoned his assumed role as the "vehicle" for the World Teacher.[14] He eventually left the Theosophical Society altogether, yet remained on friendly terms with individual members of the Society.[15] He spent the rest of his life traveling the world as an independent speaker, becoming widely known as an original thinker on spiritual, philosophical, and psychological subjects.
Agni Yoga Ananda College Anthroposophy Alice Bailey The Bridge to Freedom Brother XII Church Universal and Triumphant James Cousins Halcyon, California
Hugh Dowding "I AM" Activity Anna Kingsford Liberal Catholic Church Order of the Temple of the Rosy Cross Elizabeth Clare Prophet Nilakanta Sri Ram Jorge ngel Livraga Rizzi Schola Philosophicae Initiationis Share International Theosophical Society of the Arya Samaj
See also
Annie Besant Aryan race Theosophy Ascended Masters Charles Webster Leadbeater Jiddu Krishnamurti Religion and mythology Rudolf Steiner G R S Mead William Quan Judge
References
1. ^ Melton, Gordon J. (Sr. ed.) (1990). "Theosophical Society". New Age Encyclopedia. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale Research. pp. 458461. ISBN 0-8103-7159-6. "No single organization or movement has contributed so many components to the New Age Movement as the Theosophical Society. ... It has been the major force in the dissemination of occult literature in the West in the twentieth century." In same, see sections "Theosophy" and "Theosophical Offshoots", pp. xxvxxvi [in "Introductory Essay: An Overview of the New Age Movement"]. Note "Chronology of the New Age Movement" pp. xxxvxxxviii in same work, starts with the formation of the Theosophical Society in 1875. 2. ^ See photographic reproduction of the "Notes of meeting proposing the formation of the Theosophical Society, New York City, 8 September 1875" on this page. File:St1ata.jpg. Wikimedia Commons. 3. ^ Kirby, W. F. (January 1885). "The Theosophical Society". Time (London) XII (1): 47-55. (London: Swan Sonnenschein). OCLC 228708807. Google Books Search. Retrieved 2011-01-12. Profile by the entomologist and folklorist William Forsell Kirby. 4. ^ Olcott, H. S. (January 1891). "Constitution and Rules of the Theosophical Society". The Theosophist 12 (4): 65-72. (Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House). ISSN 00405892. "As Revised in Session of the General Council, all the Sections being represented, at Adyar, December 27, 1890". 5. ^ "About the TS" [see section "Freedom of Thought"]. ts-adyar.org. Adyar: Theosophical Society Adyar. Retrieved 2011-01-11. 6. ^ Blavatsky, Helena (1888). "The Three Postulates of the Secret Doctrine". The Secret Doctrine: The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and Philosophy. Volume I: Cosmogenesis. pp. 1420 [in "Proem"]. London: The Theosophical Publishing Company. OCLC 8129381. Phoenix, Arizona: United Lodge of Theosophists. 2005.
7. 8.
9. 10.
11.
20.
Retrieved 2011-01-29. "This electronic version of The Secret Doctrine follows the pagination and style of the A FACSIMILE OF THE ORIGINAL EDITION OF 1888" [webpage editor's description (excerpt)]. Also in same, see "The pith and marrow of the Secret Doctrine". pp. 273285 [in "Summing Up"]. ^ Blavatsky 1888. "Our Divine Instructors". Volume II: Anthropogenesis. pp 365 378. Phoenix, Arizona: United Lodge of Theosophists. 2005. Retrieved 2011-01-29. ^ Blavatsky, Helena (1889). "The Future of the Theosophical Society". The Key to Theosophy. London: The Theosophical Publishing Company. pp. 304307 [context at pp. 306-307. Emphasis in original]. OCLC 315695318. Wheaton, Maryland: Theosophy Library Online. Retrieved 2011-01-29. "Scanned Reproduction from a Photographic Reproduction of the Original Edition as First Issued at London, England: 1889". ^ Lutyens, Mary (1975). Krishnamurti: The Years of Awakening. New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux. p. 12. ISBN 0-374-18222-1. ^ Blavatsky 1889 p. 306. Wheaton, Maryland: Theosophy Library Online. Blavatsky, Helena (1966). "Esoteric Instructions (EI): The Esoteric Section: Introduction by the Compiler". Collected Writings. Series. Volume XII. Wheaton, Illinois: Quest Books. pp. 478511 [context at p. 492]. ISBN 978-0-8356-0228-0. Groningen, Netherlands: katinkahesselink.net. Links retrieved 2011-01-29. ^ Washington, Peter (1995) [Originally published 1993]. "Boys and Gods". Madame Blavatsy's Baboon: A History of the Mystics, Mediums, and Misfits Who Brought Spiritualism to America. New York: Schocken Books. Hardcover. pp. 126144. ISBN 978-0-8052-4125-9. ^ Lutyens pp. 20-21. ^ Lutyens p. 7. ^ Jiddu, Krishnamurti (1929). "Order of the Star Dissolution Speech". J. Krishnamurti Online. Krishnamurti Foundations. Retrieved 2010-04-27. ^ Lutyens pp. 276, 285. Krishnamurti left the Society in 1931; Lutyens considered the "last tie" severed with the death of Besant in 1933. ^ Blavatsky 1888. Volume II: Anthropogenesis. Phoenix, Arizona: United Lodge of Theosophists. 2005. Retrieved 2011-01-29. The entire volume constitutes a detailed description of the Theosophical doctrines of the evolution of Humankind, and related subjects. (Chakras references: pp. 465, 466, 483, 546). ^ Blavatsky 1889. "The Objects of the Society" pp. 3941. Wheaton, Maryland: Theosophy Library Online. Retrieved 2011-01-12. ^ Blavatsky 1966 "Neo-Buddhism" pp. 478511 [context at p. 341]. Groningen, Netherlands: katinkahesselink.net. Retrieved 2011-01-29. ^ Spielvogel, Jackson; David Redles (1986). "Hitler's Racial Ideology: Content and Occult Sources.". Simon Wiesenthal Center Annual 3: Chapter 9. ISSN 0741-8450. http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/site/pp.asp?c=gvKVLcMVIuG&b=395043. Retrieved 2007-08-22. ^ Blavatsky 1889 "What the Modern Theosophical Society is not" pp. 1620 [context at p. 19. Emphasis in original]. Wheaton, Maryland: Theosophy Library Online. Retrieved 2011-01-12.
External links
The Theosophical Society in England The Theosophical Society in America A Modern Revival of Ancient Wisdom (PDF). Beginnings of the Theosophical Society. Blavatsky and The Theosophical Society. FAQ on the Theosophical Movement. Skeptics Dictionary: entry on Theosophy.
Esoteric schools of thought Magical organizations Theosophy Organizations established in 1875 Theosophical Society
Part of a series on
Theosophy
Founders of the Theosophical Society
Theosophists
Annie Besant Abner Doubleday Geoffrey Hodson Archibald Keightley C. W. Leadbeater G. R. S. Mead Isabel Cooper-Oakley William Scott-Elliot Alfred Percy Sinnett Brian Stonehouse Katherine Tingley Ernest Wood
Philosophical concepts
Round
Organisations
Theosophical Society TS Adyar TS Pasadena TS Point Loma-Covina TSA Hargrove United Lodge of Theosophists
Theosophical texts
Isis Unveiled
Theosophical Masters
Related topics
Agni Yoga Alice Bailey Anthroposophy Ascended masters Ascended Master Teachings Benjamin Creme Esotericism Jiddu Krishnamurti Liberal Catholic Church Living Ethics Neo-Theosophy Order of the Star in the East