Fundamentals of the Esoteric Philosophy

Dr. De. Purucker. The present Leader of The Theosophical Society, which has its International Headquarters at Point Loma, California, delivered the lectures contained in this volume to members of the Esoteric Section during the years 1924-1927. They were given under the direction o Katherine Tingley, then Leader of The Theosophical Society, in fulfilment of a long cherished plan to give to the world a work which would serve not only as a commentary upon The Secret Doctrine of H. P. Blavatsky, but at the same time would be the means o giving out certain esoteric keys, which would enable students to unlock for themselves the treasure of knowledge therein contained. Many are the educated men and women who have been forced to lay aside The Secret Doctrine as too abstruse and difficult, because they had no instruction and therefore no understanding of the fundamental conceptions upon which the Esoteric Philosophy is based. To those who hunger for truth and spiritual knowledge, and who bring an open mind to the study of this book, it is not too much to say that in asking they will receive, and in seeking they will find. The original stenographic report of these lectures was corrected by the author, but he has not had the time to read the proofs, the responsibility for which he left to the Editor. The book owes much to the collaboration of Dr. J. H. Fussell who, in addition to doing some of the preliminary work of preparing the MS. For publication, undertook the selection of the quotations, which appear at the head of each chapter. It should be mentioned that all references to The Secret Doctrine are to the original Edition (1888) of that work. A certain amount of criticism was aroused among students of Theosophy by the announcement that Dr. de Purucker had given in these pages teaching which is not contained in the works of H. P. Blavatsky. Moreover, these critics appear to base their objections upon isolated quotations from Mme Blavatsky, in an endeavour to show that it is impossible at this time that further genuine teaching can be given, and ipso facto anything that is given must be false. But students will recognise that anything in the nature of dogmatism is contrary to the spirit of the Esoteric Philosophy, and for that reason should be avoided. Inevitable child of crystallized thought, it begins its lethal work by laying a shadow on the mind, and ends by producing a sect. The tendency of the dogmatist is to read only those parts of the teaching which suit his own peculiar purpose, and the rest of the Teacher’s writings are pushed into the back-ground and thus prevented from doing their beneficent work. Shall we not see for ourselves how H. P. Blavatsky regarded the problem? In her five Messages to the American Theosophists, she wrote.