Part 2

I have italicised a few passages which seem to be of special importance as showing that, _thirteen years ago_, Mr. Leadbeater's sinister hand had already grasped the Society and its infatuated President, and that his vile and immoral teachings, supported by her, had driven out some of the oldest and most clear-headed and clear-sighted of H. P. Blavatsky's friends and pupils; among them Mr. G. R. S. Mead, one of the Leadbeater Committee of Inquiry, who also resigned at the time Mrs. Besant became President for the same reasons as those stated by Mr. Kingsland. The "practice" to which he alludes in his Open Letter is of course now well known to be that taught and advocated by Mr. Leadbeater, who claims that in so doing he is acting on the advice and under the authority of one of the Masters of Wisdom. Could a more terrible infamy be perpetrated!

M. M. Schuré and Lévy on the Crisis of 1913.

Let us see, however, what others have to say seven years later on the state of the T. S. In 1913 another violent crisis convulsed this miserable travesty of a Society that once stood for the highest principles and ideals, but which even a Lake Harris might blush now to be associated with. As before, it centred round the shocking perverter of morals who had obtained complete ascendancy over Mrs. Besant. A book entitled _Mrs. Besant and the Present Crisis in the Theosophical Society_ was published in 1913 by M. Eugène Lévy, "with a Prefatory Letter by M. Edouard Schuré," the well-known author of _The Great Initiates_ and other mystical works. Writing to M. Charles Blech, General Secretary of the French T. S., M. Schuré states that he feels "compelled to retire officially from the T. S." and that it is his "duty" to give his "reasons straightforwardly." After alluding to the date (1907), when M. Blech had offered and he had accepted the honorary membership in the Society, M. Schuré goes on to speak of Mrs. Besant, as she had then appeared to him, in high terms, expressing the hope that "the nobility of her past career" was an augury "that the T. S. would continue in the broad way of tolerance, impartiality, _and veracity_ which forms an essential part of its programme." M. Schuré then continues:--

Unfortunately things turned out otherwise. The primary cause of this deviation lies in the close alliance of Mrs. Besant with Mr. Leadbeater, a learned occultist, but of an unsettled disposition and doubtful morality. After Mr. Leadbeater _had been found guilty_ by an advisory Committee of the T.S. Mrs. Besant publicly announced her reprobation of the educational methods with which he was charged.... By an inconceivable change of front she soon afterwards declared her intention of bringing Mr. Leadbeater into the T.S. again and she succeeded.... The excuses she gave for this recantation were charity and pardon. _The real reason was that the President needed Mr. Leadbeater for her occult investigations_, and that this collaboration appeared to her necessary to her prestige. To those who have followed her words and acts from that time onwards, it is clearly manifest _that Mrs. Besant has fallen under the formidable suggestive power of her dangerous collaborator, and can only see, think and act under his control_. The personality henceforward speaking through her is ... the questionable visionary, the skilful master of suggestion who no longer dares to show himself in London, Paris, or America, but in the obscurity of a summer-house at Adyar governs the T. S. through its President. The ill-omened consequences of this influence were soon to appear before the world through the affair of Alcyone and the founding of the Order of the Star in the East.... If a real Indian initiate, a Brahmin or otherwise, of ripe age, had come to Europe on his own responsibility or in the name of his Masters to teach his doctrines, nothing would have been more natural or interesting.... But it was not in this form that we beheld the new apostle from Adyar. A young Indian, aged thirteen, _initiated by Mr. Leadbeater_ ... is proclaimed and presented to the European public as the future teacher of the new era. Krishnamurti, now called Alcyone, has no other credentials than his master's injunctions and Mrs. Besant's patronage. His thirty-two previous incarnations are related at length, the early ones going back to the Atlantean period. _These narrations_, given as the result of Mr. Leadbeater's and Mrs. Besant's visions, _are for the most part grotesquely puerile_, and could convince no serious occultist. They are ostensibly designed to prove that for twenty or thirty thousand years the principal personages in the T. S. have been preparing for the "Great Work" which is soon to be accomplished. In the course of _their incarnations, which remind one of a newspaper novel_, these personages are decorated with the great names of Greek mythology, and with the most brilliant stars in the firmament. During a meeting at Benares, Krishnamurti presenting certificates to his followers, received honours like a divine being, many persons present falling at his feet. He does not, however, utter a word, but only makes a gesture of benediction, prompted by Mrs. Besant. In reporting this scene Mr. Leadbeater likens it to the descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost.

For this dumb prophet is founded the Order of the Star in the East, which the whole world is invited to join, and of which he is proclaimed the head ... this passive young prodigy, who has not yet given the world the least proof of having any mission at all [this is as true in 1922 as it was in 1913.--A. L. C.], becomes henceforth the centre and cynosure of the T. S., the symbol and sacred ark of _the orthodox faith at Adyar_. As to the doctrine preached by Mrs. Besant, it rests on a perpetual equivocation. She allows the English public at large, to whom she speaks of the coming Christ, to believe that he is identical with the Christ of the Gospels, whereas to her intimates she states what Mr. Leadbeater teaches, and what he openly proclaims in one of his books, _The Inner Life_--namely, that the Christ of the Gospels never existed, and was an invention of the monks of the second century. Such facts are difficult to characterise. I will simply say that they are saddening for all who, like myself, believed in the future of the T. S., for they can only repel clear-sighted and sincere minds.... In my eyes, one can no longer be an actual member of the T. S. without implicitly approving the deeds and words of the President, which flagrantly contradict the essential principle of the Society--I mean _scrupulous and absolute respect for truth_. For these reasons I regret that I must send you my resignation as a member of the Theosophical Society.

The italics throughout the foregoing quotations are mine, and serve again to emphasise essential points; points almost exactly similar to those raised by Mr. Kingsland, the most serious being the condonation by Mrs. Besant of immoral practices in a colleague whose collaboration, as M. Schuré shrewdly adds, has become a necessity to her, and under whose "formidable suggestive power" she has now completely fallen. If this was true in 1913, what may not be said in 1922, when the intervening nine years have given time for the growth and development of this deadly Upas Tree? I use the simile advisedly, for this teaching _is_ a "deadly" poison, not only from the ordinary moral standpoint, but especially from that of the esoteric teaching of H. P. B. and the Trans-Himâlayan Brotherhood, under whose authority it is falsely and blasphemously given out; I do not hesitate to declare it.

M. Schuré also emphasises an important and vital point which Mr. Kingsland seems to have felt equally deeply, _viz._--That Mrs. Besant has no use for any but those who accept everything she says and does with blind subservience, even when, in the eyes of such men as M. Schuré, Mr. Mead, Mr. Kingsland, and others, it merits strong condemnation as "untrue" and "misleading." In the pages of the recent numbers of the _Theosophist_ the talk about "freedom of opinion" within the Society is still repeated, although in actual practice, as I have shown, the exact opposite obtains. Much that emanates from this tainted source is so fantastic and puerile that ridicule ought long since to have killed it, as it did Oscar Wilde's Æsthetic movement.

Mrs. Besant's "return of the Christ."

To return to M. Lévy's book; it deals with "Mrs. Besant's Proceedings" under various headings. In the one entitled "Mrs. Besant's Return of the Christ" is to be found some of the most amazing balderdash--given out as serious teaching!--it has ever been my lot to encounter. For instance, a book called _Man: Whence, How, and Whither_, written by Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater in collaboration, is quoted from by M. Lévy at considerable length. He explains that "the substitution of a "false Christ" for the "Christ of the Gospels" is here supported by "_a new order of evidence_" (Italics mine). Specimens of this "evidence" follow, and I will here give some of it in order to show the almost unbelievably low level of intelligence to which this whole mischievous movement--miscalled Theosophical--has descended, and the sort of elements in human nature to which such an ill-conceived and fantastic production is designed to appeal. M. Lévy writes:--

In the course of their investigations these two occultists look up on the one side, the past incarnations of him whom Mrs. Besant calls the "Master Jesus," that is, of the "Jesus" born 105 B.C.; and on the other side, the past lives of the being whom she calls the "Lord Maitreya, the present Bodhisattva, the Supreme Teacher of the World"; whose ego at a given moment replaced that of "Jesus," this being the last incarnation of the Christ whose immediate return she is announcing.

Let us first quote from their account of the incarnations of the "Supreme Teacher" ... In the chapter headed "Early Times on the Moon Chain," p. 34, we read:--

"There is a hut in which dwell a Moon-Man, his wife and children; these we know in later times under the names of Mars and Mercury, the Mahaguru and Surya. A number of these monkey-creatures live round the hut, and give to their owners the devotion of faithful dogs; among them we notice the future Sirius, Herakles, Alcyone, and Mizar, to whom we may give their future names for the purpose of recognition, though they are still non-human."[4]

In the Fourth Root Race we again find the personage supposed to be "Maitreya" as the husband of the ego claimed by these authors as that of "Master K. H." Mrs. Besant is again incarnated in the family as daughter, the eldest sister of the "Master M."; "Maitreya," the future World-Teacher, being at this time the head of the tribe (p. 113)....

We have thus reached to somewhere about the year 15,000 B.C., and then--incredible as it seems--they give no further incarnations of him whom they nevertheless claim to have been the World-Teacher at the beginning of our era.

They give us his incarnations as husband, as father, as counsellor and priest, and are silent as to the only incarnation of fundamental and vital importance to the whole world.

Let us see if the incarnations of their "Jesus" will fill this gap in our knowledge, if they will throw light on this essential point, thus left in obscurity.

We meet this "Jesus" for the first time at the beginning of the Fifth Root Race, as daughter of Alcyone (Krishnamurti) and sister of "Maitreya" (p. 252.)

Then, on p. 328, as the wife of Julius Cæsar 18,878 B.C., he, or rather she, being at this time the widow of Vulcan (Known in his last incarnation as Sir Thomas More)....

He is later identified as daughter of Alcyone-Krishnamurti (his father) and Fabrizio Ruspoli (his mother),[5] parents at the same time of the future "World-Teacher, Maitreya," their young daughter. These incarnations took place 72,000 B.C., on the shores of the Lake of Gobi, we are told on p. 490.

In 15,910 B.C., we find "Jesus" as grandson of "Maitreya," and as father and grandfather of a large family composed, as in all cases investigated by these two authors, of _present_ members of the Theosophical Society _only_, and including the faithful friends of Adyar _to the exclusion of all others_.[6]

" ... In 12,800 B.C. the "Jesus" of these investigations again forms part of a very extensive family composed as usual of the selfsame elements, and including amongst the names known in the theosophic world that of Mme. Marie Louise Kirby (an Italian theosophist recently at Adyar) who was his sister. "Jesus" was then the father of Mrs. S. Maud Sharpe (General Secretary of the English Section), of Julius Cæsar, and of T. Subba Rao; the Teshu Lama being at that time his daughter, etc., etc. (p. 499)....

Once more have our hopes been betrayed, for an absolute silence broods over the Incarnations of "Jesus" later than this date of 13,500, as it reigned over those of the "World-Teacher"....

We cannot, however, conceive that this information gathered from occult investigation will be felt to be indispensable by anyone. Now that we know that Mrs. Besant's "World-Teacher" is an ordinary man of the lunar chain (to whom Mrs. Besant was first domestic animal and then sister, and who, in the early period of our earth, was daughter of the young Krishnamurti (or of M. Ruspoli), who could be found still to imagine that there could be here any question, save a mad or impious joke"....

Incredible as it may appear to those who know anything of H. P. Blavatsky's teachings, their comprehensive grandeur and sublimity, especially as given in _The Secret Doctrine_, this extraordinary mixture of clumsy fairy-tale and extravagant and even malicious mumbo-jumbo is apparently swallowed whole by the blind and credulous followers of this grotesque "Neo-Theosophy." Not so much for them do I write as for those who, while interested in these subjects, have neither the inclination nor the leisure to examine, for instance, such published Records as these from which I quote, for themselves. Such would naturally accept on their face value Mrs. Besant's own account of herself and of her Society, unaware that she is no longer anything but a "blind leader of the blind," incapable of distinguishing light from darkness, truth from falsehood. We have direct testimony to the truth of this statement in Mr. T. H. Martyn's now famous letter to Mrs. Besant.[7] In it he tells her:--"You have been relying upon C. W. L. as _sole intermediary between the Hierarchy_ [the Trans-Himâlayan Brotherhood, the Masters of Wisdom. Italics mine.--A. L. C.] and yourself for many years.... C. W. L.'s word is final and his seership infallible to you." The quality of this supposed "seership" bears a very close resemblance to a stupid and vulgar hoax. This is clearly shown by Mr. Martyn, who says:--"In 1919 I went to America. Young Van Hook was in New York. He talked freely of C. W. L.'s immorality and about _faking the 'lives' of people_" (Italics mine.) Mr. Martyn then puts together various pieces of evidence against this man, and tells Mrs. Besant that he finds "staring me in the face the conclusions that _Leadbeater is a sex pervert_, his mania taking a particular form which I have--though only lately--discovered, is a form well known and quite common in _the annals of sex criminology_." (Italics mine.) This sex criminal, then, is the creature whom Mrs. Besant has accepted "for many years" as "sole intermediary between" herself and--_the Masters of Wisdom_!! One almost hesitates to draw the obvious inference; for this is the man whom she has for years held up to and imposed upon their followers as a model of all the virtues--"a saint"--a person "on the threshold of divinity." (See also footnote _post_, p. 56.)

Why has it always been necessary for Mrs. Besant to have an "intermediary"? Before Mr. Leadbeater it was her Brahmin guide, and before him it was Mr. Judge. To each in turn she gave implicit belief in the matter of "messages" and directions from the Masters, while outwardly claiming "direct" communication. The fact is that, as I have come to believe, the plain psychology of the thing is--sheer femininity. With all her intellectual talents, her once clear brain, Mrs. Besant is (in her personality) just simple _woman_, relying upon male guidance and authority as instinctively as any of her humbler sisters. And what student of human nature will fail to recognise in her that purely feminine trait of blind and fanatical "obedience" which loves to receive and obey "orders" even though the result should be "a world in ruins"? The existence of this fundamental and essential quality in female human nature is the real reason why even the most broad-minded men shrink from giving women equality of power with themselves in wordly affairs.

Let me here declare what I believe to be the real truth; namely, that after H. P. Blavatsky's death in 1891, neither Mrs. Besant, nor Mr. Judge, nor Colonel Olcott, nor anyone else, could "communicate," because _H. P. B.'s withdrawal meant the withdrawal of her Masters as well_. It has always seemed strange to me that this was never realised by anyone, for in this pamphlet I have quoted quite enough from H. P. B. to make it perfectly clear. Does she not say in the 1890 letter to the Indians (see p. 2) that after she had to leave India in 1885 the Masters' influence at Adyar became a dead letter? Did not the Masters Themselves write as early as 1884 that they could only communicate through her or in places previously prepared magnetically by her presence? How, then, could They be expected to continue to communicate or direct the affairs of the T. S. (as They did in India until 1885), or the E. S. (as They did from 1888 to 1891), after They had withdrawn the Agent They had so carefully prepared and subjected to the severest trials and initiations in Tibet? Barely three years after this withdrawal the fatal "Split" took place owing to Mr. Judge giving out what purported to be "direct" communications, but which, as I discovered after working for a time under his inspirer and successor, Mrs. Tingley, _were obtained from her_. Mrs. Besant, in accusing him, did precisely the same, for she stated in her _Case against W. Q. Judge_ that she had received her orders direct from the Master, whereas (as I relate elsewhere, _post_, p. 56) she admitted to the Inner Group that they came "through" her Brahmin guide.

This, then, was the great and fundamental error committed by the leaders of the movement, after H. P. B. was withdrawn. It is responsible for all the subsequent troubles, and the appalling situation with which we are faced to-day. A great and world-wide organisation is being used to promulgate blasphemous, poisonous and absolutely anti-Theosophical and anti-Occult doctrines as emanating direct from the Masters who definitely withdrew Their chosen Agent in 1891. (See _ante_ p. 2.)

In any case, even had she lived, H. P. B. told the E. S. that the "last hour of the term" was December 31st, 1899, after which "no Master of Wisdom from the East will himself appear or send anyone to Europe or America." (See footnote, _ante_ p. 2.) She also said that the next Messenger would be sent out in 1975. Yet the fiction that the Masters are still directing the leaders and the movement is kept up, not only by Mrs. Besant, but also by Mrs. Tingley, 22 years after "the last hour of the term."

It is the same with all this wild talk about the imminent advent of a "World-Teacher." Is this in the least probable, in view of the above pronouncements? H. P. B. definitely states in _The Secret Doctrine_ the exact opposite; but all the Neo-Theosophists seem to prefer the Besant and Leadbeater books. H. P. B. says, with reference to this very Maitreya whose name they so lightly take in vain, that He is not due until the Seventh Sub-Race, _i.e._, several thousand years hence; and that, in any case, "it is not in the _Kali Yug_, our present terrifically materialistic age of Darkness, the 'Black Age,' that a new Saviour of Humanity can ever appear." (S. D. Third Ed., Vol. I, p. 510 _et seq._ See also _Theosophical Glossary_, "Kalki Avatar" and "Maitreya Buddha.") If we accept H. P. B.'s authority there is no evading this issue, and we must reject the Besant-Leadbeater pretensions _in toto_, for their absurdity is patent. Yet they claim to have been specially taught and prepared by her to carry on her message! (_Vide_ Mrs. Besant in the _Theosophist_, March, 1922; and also _post_ p. 68.)

FOOTNOTES:

[4] In these incarnations such names are used as; Mars for the "Master M."; Mercury for the "Master K. H."; Surya, the Lord Maitreya, the present Bodhisattva, the Supreme Teacher of the World"; Sirius for Mr. Leadbeater; Herakles for Mrs. Besant; Alcyone for Krishnamurti; Mizar for his young brother, etc. A list of these names and those to whom they apply is given in the Foreword of the book. [Italics mine. Here we see the bald and unabashed appeal to the personality and its ambitions and desires which is characteristic of this kind of charlatanism.--A. L. C.] We shall here substitute the names of the real persons as given in this list for the fancy names used to distinguish them in the body of the book, _Man: Whence, How and Whither_.

[5] M. Ruspoli is an Italian theosophist recently living at Adyar, with whom Mr. Leadbeater stayed in Italy.

[6] It is a remarkable fact that outside this little circle not a single being in our great world has ever entered into these family communities to whom the honour is given of being the pioneers of every civilisation of the past. Even though we are invited to assist at marriages running into thousands, _ever_ the same names appear and _all_ the members of _all_ the families are identified. This singular oligarchy of friends and devotees of Adyar perhaps merited to be signalised throughout the evolution of our earth, the more so that Mr. Leadbeater, writing in his bird's-eye view of the twentieth century and of the pioneers of the future sixth race, remarks maliciously: "We know who will _not_ be there." He puts in italics the word _not_; desirous doubtless to indicate the unworthiness of other theosophists.

[7] Mr. Martyn is the President of the Sydney Lodge, Australian Section T. S., a member of thirty years' standing. See Addendum.

Fundamental causes: Some Occult Methods.

Under this heading M. Lévy deals with what he calls "the pitiful climax of this parody":--