Here is an online booklet on the subject of Masters & disciples:

http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/gdpman...t_ch/m_c-hp.htm

On the source of Theosophy & great Gurus:

Masters & Occultism

I -- INTRODUCTORY

There is a hunger in the human heart for beauty; there is a longing in the human soul for harmony and for peace; there is an unceasing aspiration in the human mind for an understanding of the problems of the Universe; and all these qualities of heart and soul and mind are fundamentally one, arising out of that amazing spiritual fire which dwells in the inmost of the inmost of every human being, and which is a reflexion in his human character of the Divine Flame which is fundamentally the Spiritual Man; and this flame is the core of his being.

Men yearn for truth; they yearn for light; they yearn for peace and happiness; and alas, in how slight a degree is this divine hunger satisfied! It is unsatisfied because men will not self-consciously realize who they are, what they are, in the core of themselves; their human consciousness refuses to recognise the living existence in them of this Divine Flame of the spirit. Never the less, there is through the ages a pressure towards this realization, and when recognition comes, then indeed breaks the splendor of the spirit on the mind and illuminates it divinely. The man's soul is then moved: and the very depths of his being are stirred, for he recognises not only his kinship with -- in the abstract sense -- but his fundamental oneness with, the Universe of which he is a child, an inseparable part.

There is light to be had, because there is system and order in the Universe, the results of flaming intelligences and cosmic compassion, and anyone whose heart impels him to carry on the search indefatigably and with a mental refusal to take discouragement at any time, but to carry on, will receive that light.

When this recognition of his inner spiritual grandeur comes to him, then he recognises also that there is spiritual grandeur outside of him, existing in other human beings. Then he recognises the kinship of other human spirits with his own. Thus the man who is spiritually awakened, recognises that other men also can be grand, and great, and that their hearts are filled, as is his, with an innate and instinctive spiritual nobility. In other words he recognises that the divine is working in other human beings also, and that possibly in some of these other fellows of his, there throbs a heart which is more or less fully cognisant of its spiritual powers. The man then realizes that he may find others higher than himself: one or more who have become more or less at one with the inner flame of divinity, with the inner god, with the divine spirit stirring within.

Such intimations or intuitions of the living divinity within us all persuade us beyond cavil or argument that our noblest aspirations are true, are based on fact; for in very truth there are such greatly awakened hearts in the world. There are indeed such wondrous men in the world, men who have evolved to the point where the divine flame within, the inner god of them, is expressing itself more or less fully and according to the evolutionary stage of advancement of the individual.

Such Great Men it has been customary from immemorial time to speak of as 'Saviors' of their fellows. They are indeed the spiritual Saviors of men, the great and outstanding human spiritual geniuses of the human race; they have shaken men's hearts by the magic of their teaching and by the example of their lives, and by their power to explain life's mysteries to inquiring minds hungering for truth and light.

Look at history. See the Great Men that the human race has produced: Gautama the Buddha, the very imbodiment of wisdom and love; Jesus the Avatara, another imbodiment of love and wisdom; and others of these Great Ones, whose names perhaps are less well known; and we realize as we survey these human imbodiments of spiritual light that our intuitions and intimations are true. Then, as all men know, beneath these genii of the spirit and of the intellect there are, and there have been, and there will be in the future, other men whom we call geniuses, men of wondrous ability, men of high and vaulting talent, whose souls commune with the very stars, and pluck from heaven heaven's own flame of truth, and tell it in phrase and in teaching to their fellows. We know that these men exist: we know that the records of these genii of the race are written in living flame across the pages of history. Where then shall we pause and say that human genius cannot go higher than this level, or than that level, or than the mediocre plane which average mankind already has attained in its evolution?

It is our Theosophical teaching that greater men even than those geniuses to whom I have last above alluded exist in the world at the present time and existed in past times; and they have lived and taught and guided their fellowmen; and these Great Ones compose a spiritual Brotherhood of the Great Sages and Seers of the human race. These are what are called the Theosophical Mahatmans. They are the Elder Brothers of mankind. They are men, not spirits. They are men who have evolved through self-devised efforts in individual evolution, always advancing forwards and upwards until they attained the lofty supremacy that now they hold. They were not so created by any extra-cosmic Deity, but they are men who have become what they are by means of inward spiritual striving, by spiritual and intellectual yearning, by aspiration to be greater and -- better, nobler and higher. They are not what they are by any favoritism either of a god or of Fate, but have merely run ahead of the great multitude of men. There they stand; they are Helpers, they are Seers, they are Sages. They have naught that they have by way of gift. All that they have -- which means all that they are -- all that they have evolved to, all that they have become, they have gained by self-devised efforts in individual evolutionary growth.

The drive to understand what Theosophy is, and what its proponents, the Brothers, are -- is strong among many. To seek wisdom in spiritual matters is always good. But clear, exclusive definitions, however comforting to the churning mind, may not be of much practical use in the long run.

Here is part of a letter of HPB to Olcott written in 1885:

"Master [M] is a thorough-going Vedantin, an Adwaitee as good as S[ubba] R[ow]; and Mah[atma] K.H. a true Esotericist of the Buddhist school -- as MEN they may differ in the way of putting it; as MAHATMAS -- they AGREE."

As long as the Brothers are incarnate (whether in fleshy or astral forms) They will have individual minds and appearances. To say a particular Adept is a Mongolian Buddhist or a Gujurati Jain or a Saivite Hindu is perfectly legitimate and true. To say They are also Theosophical Brothers is also true. To try to put Theosophy apart-- "pure and simple" from how it is taught or presented to we -- the unenlightened, uninitiated -- is profitless.

The author of part of the "Tibetan Teachings" article was a Buddhist monk (Gelong in Tibetan). Yet he was also a member of the Brotherhood. JeTsongkhapa was (and maybe still is,) the Mahachohan. Yet he was a fully "exoteric" Buddhist who founded a Secret school within the Geluk order which is part of the Occult Brotherhood of Theosophy. HPB mentioned that most of the Adepts she knew were members of the Gelukpa order.

I have always thought that being a Theosophist was generally supposed to be a
hyphenated affair-- Theosophist-Xtian or Theo.-Jew or Theo.-Hermeticist or Theo.-Buddhist. etc., with only a minority following the "Chaldeo-Tibetan" Trans-Himalayan school put forth by HPB. How can we be a leavening force within existing society if we are always defining ourselves as separate & not any thing but Theosophy?

Would it not be better and truer to say Theosophy includes any or all traditional religious paths but is deeper or greater -- rather than it is not this or not that? A description of a person from a particular point of view does not mean that is a full or the only definition.

In another old letter (1890) of HPB she says:

"My Masters and the Masters are Yogis and Munis de facto not de jure; in their life, not in appearance. They are members of an Occult Brotherhood, not of any particular School in India... [The Occult Brotherhood's] origin is of untold antiquity, and is as much Masonic as present Masonry is little Masonic..."

So in addition to some Brothers being Buddhists or Budhists or Adwaitees or Jains or Hermeticists -- they are all Masons!

The exoteric does not oppose the esoteric, it is only through it that the esoteric is revealed.

Nicholas,

You said,

"I have always thought that being a Theosophist was generally supposed to be a
hyphenated affair-- Theosophist-Xtian or Theo.-Jew or Theo.-Hermeticist or
Theo.-Buddhist. etc., with only a minority following the "Chaldeo-Tibetan"
Trans-Himalayan school put forth by HPB. How can we be a leavening force
within existing society if we are always defining ourselves as separate & not
any thing but Theosophy?"

--> You have brought up a two-sided dilemma that we all must face.

On the one hand, we know that a Christian Theosophist will be comfortable with one set of terms, while a Hindu Theosophist will be comfortable with another. (I believe HPB spent a great deal of energy putting equivalent terms into The Secret Doctrine, for this very reason.)

I have also found that I approach Christian Theosophists in a "gingerly" way, because I find the topic of "Who is Jesus" to be something that must be treated carefully. I have also found myself speaking gingerly when talking to Buddhist Theosophists, because exoteric Buddhism clearly teaches there is no Atman (while Theosophy does.) Specific religions have specific "gingerly" topics, and we need to be sensitive to these during Theosophical discussions.

On the other hand, you said,

"Would it not be better and truer to say Theosophy includes any or all
traditional religious paths but is deeper or greater -- rather than it is not
this or not that?"

--> Theosophy is the very commonality between all religions. This is the message we wish to get across. We must explore the deeper and greater commonalities of all religions (a basic purpose of Theosophy) while maintaining a sensitivity to these "gingerly" topics.

"So in addition to some Brothers being Buddhists or Budhists or Adwaitees or
Jains or Hermeticists -- they are all Masons!"

--> I suppose you are being facetious. I guess she was just saying the Brothers are more masonic than the Masons themselves. (To me, this is a perfect example of HPB telling it just like it is, without pulling any punches. Should she have refused to pull such punches? Everyone needs to make up their own opinion. Occultism knows no compromise, and indeed occultists should not pull punches. The trick is to do it without offending people unnecessarily.)

"The exoteric does not oppose the esoteric, it is only through it that the
esoteric is revealed."

--> I agree. The trick is to show it is not confrontive, even though it sure seems to come across that way at times.

"So in addition to some Brothers being Buddhists or Budhists or Adwaitees or
Jains or Hermeticists -- they are all Masons!"

--> I suppose you are being facetious.

Nope Nick. When HPB first came to the USA her mission was focused on Masonry. She tried to get Masonic groups to discover their esoteric roots. No success; so she began to aim at general society.

There are other places in the literature of theosophy where the Masonic nature of the ancient Lodge of Brothers is mentioned. There is an Oriental Masonry that long pre-dates the modern version.

Here is G Farthing's compilation on the subject:

http://www.theosophical.ca/TheRightAngle.htm

Nicholas,

That is fascinating, the idea that HPB was originally focused on Masonry in the USA. One of the most important things HPB taught was that religious institutions become self-preserving and anti-change as the centures go by. Unfortunately, it is no surprise these same things natually prevented her from having any success with Masonry.

What was the name of HPB's first society in France or Egypt that failed?

CF Wright, in his Modern Theosophy wrote:

Ryan's history says:

Ah, yes, the Societe Spirite.

This reminds me of the inital search for a person to do the work of HPB. I heard a rumor that the Mahatmas searched for over 100 years to find someone, and finally decided on HPB. It was said she was not perfect, but she was the best they could find.

Certainly, HPB was not perfect, and the Mahatmas complained about her from time to time. (I am reminded of them calling her the "old lady" in The Mahatma Letters.)

The story of this first direct release of the Ancient Wisdom (and the logistical problems involved) in fascinating. (I have heard that even other members of the Brotherhood were opposed to the whole idea.) We must commend Masters M. & K. H. for taking on such a difficult task.

I have a deep respect for this Occult Brotherhood that is if they are not selfish and deceitfull which the Trans Himalayan Brotherhood seemed to exhibit in the so called letters to A. P. Sinnett.

My biggest problem is with the so called Brothers of the Shadow the so called Illuminati and their Pyramidical Structure of Control and Brainwashing. They want to rule the world that is the few to rule the many. But I don't think they will achieve this but probably make our country unbearable to live in as a Fascist Dictatorship.
http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Brothe...Shadow/id/69007

They have pretty much infiltrated most orgainizations in order to control us. Many want to bury their heads in the sand.

They are playing us like a game of Chess. I don't mean to detract from the main thread on the subject of The Occult Brotherhood. But it is very important to me since the Illuminati are the same reincarnated fools that brought Atlantis down. They just don't get it and are very selfish individuals and looking to enrich themselfs at the price of their fellow Pilgrims who also are traveling the journey from Maya to more toward the True Reality and the One Life. They are one of the Biggest obstacles to our pursuing this goal and helping others as well. I say their is a cause to everything we have seen since entering this this world as reincarnated beings. All the Wars are created by these fools who call themselfs illuminated thinking they are the chosen ones to lead mankind but into their trap. Maybe they lay the trap for us thinking they have caught us but in reality they will shoot themselfs in the foot in this reincarnation and seal their doom but who knows what their final fate will be but it is up to each of these fools to admit their errors and change their erroneous path to the correct one to avoid destruction.

But I understand things that have happened like World War 1, War2 , Iraq and Now possibly a war with Iran and her Illuminati Puppet to play the part like Illuminati Puppet Lenin did in Russia and this did not happen by accident but was created to bring about a intended result that is to their benifit. The US economy is about to crash but is delayed and kept together only when the Illuminati decide to let it crash. Our Country is being torn apart by the eventual uniting of Canada and Mexico to North America. People just don't see it because they are a sleep or refuse to see it. But when they do see it well be too late.

I know their is no such thing as absolute Good or Evil but it is the price to pay in our evolution toward Higher states of existance with powerfull forces of nature at work in our evolving. Some will choose Evil due to overwhelmings forces of nature since they have not mastered these and brought them under control to bring about harmony into their lives and others will become enlightened to the true path that leads the Pilgrim to Salvation and the greater Life then he could have ever imagined or thought possible.

Doug

Sovereign,

You said,

"...they are not selfish and deceitfull which the Trans Himalayan Brotherhood seemed to exhibit in the so called letters to A. P. Sinnett."

--> Feel free to give examples of such Trans-Himalayan-Brotherhood selfishness in Sinnett's book.

Although I have heard of this, Doug, I can't place where. When I rediscover the source, as I usually go back and reread my materials, I will add to this.

Thanks,
Christian

Christian,

The Mahatmas themselves use the term Brothers of the Shadow.

"Alone the adepts, i.e. the embodied spirits -- are forbidden by our wise and intransgressible laws to completely subject to themselves another and a weaker will, -- that of free born man. The latter mode of proceeding is the favourite one resorted to by the "Brothers of the Shadow," the Sorcerers, the Elementary Spooks, and, as an isolated exception -- by the highest Planetary Spirits, those, who can no longer err." (Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, letter 9)

http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/mahatma/ml-9.htm

OK, thanks. I think I read the passage before viewing the term descriptively, and not an actual group.

Many wild notions about the nature of Adepts abound; here is a passage that helps to clarify; from Mahatma Letter 24b:

“This is my Master,” she said, “whom we call Mahatma Morya. I have his picture here.” And she showed me a small panel in oils. If ever I saw genuine awe and reverence in a human face, it was in hers, when she spoke of her Master. He was a Rajput by birth, she said, one of the old warrior race of the Indian desert, the finest and handsomest nation in the world. Her Master was a giant, six feet eight, and splendidly built; a superb type of manly beauty. Even in the picture, there is a marvellous power and fascination;the force, the fierceness even, of the face; the dark, glowing eyes, which stare you out of countenance; the clear-cut features of bronze, the raven hair and beard—all spoke of a tremendous individuality, a very Zeus in the prime of manhood and strength. I asked her something about his age.

She answered:
“My dear, I cannot tell you exactly, for I do not know. But this I will tell you. I met him first when I was twenty,—in 1851. He was in the very prime of manhood then. I am an old woman now, but he has not aged a day. He is still in the prime of manhood. That is all I can say. You may draw your own conclusions.”

“Have the Mahatmas discovered the elixir of life?”
“That is no fable,” said H. P. B. seriously. “It is only the veil hiding a real occult process, warding off age and dissolution for periods which would seem fabulous so I will not mention them. The secret is this: for every man, there is a climacteric, when he must draw near to death; if he has squandered his life-powers, there is no escape for him; but if he has lived according to the law, he may pass through and so continue in the same body almost indefinitely.”

Then she told me something about other Masters and adepts she had known,—for she made a difference, as though the adepts were the captains of the occult world, and the Masters were the generals. She had known adepts of many races, from Northern and Southern India, Tibet, Persia, China, Egypt; of various European nations, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, English; of certain races in South America, where she said there was a Lodge of adepts. “It is the tradition of this which the Spanish Conquistadores found,” she said, “the golden city of Manoah or El Dorado. The race is allied to the ancient Egyptians, and the adepts have still preserved the secret of their dwelling-place inviolable.

There are certain members of the Lodges who pass from centre to centre, keeping the lines of connection between them unbroken. But they are always connected in other ways.”
“In their astral bodies?”
“Yes,” she answered, “and in other ways still higher. They have a common life and power. As they rise in spirituality, they rise above difference of race, to our common humanity. The series is unbroken.”
“Adepts are a necessity in nature and in supernature. They are the links between men and the gods; these ’gods’ being the souls of great adepts and Masters of bygone races and ages, and so on, up to the threshold of Nirvana. The continuity is unbroken.”
“What do they do?”
“You would hardly understand, unless you were an adept. But they keep alive the spiritual life of mankind.”

[From Charles Johnston interview of HPB in CW 8, 392-409]

Did I Meet A Mahatma? This is the title of an experience reported on page 660 ff of the Theosophical Path, Dec. 1929. Cutting & Pasting yields too much mangled text for my laziness to face, so just go to the page in the pdf magazine and enjoy.

http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/ttp/ttp_v36n12.pdf

Mahatma of the Circle on TS & HPB

The following is from a letter lately received from an Indian brother...[B.K. Lahiri] and is recommended to your attention as independent evidence of the position of H.P.B. and the connection of the Masters with the T.S.
Annie Besant, William Q. Judge

March, 1893.

THE LETTER

K.B., a Brahman Yogi, recently went up to the Himalayas: on his way down to Deccan, he was kind enough to stop at my place for some days... I must mention here also that this gentleman did not know much of H.P.B. before nor of the Theosophical Society, and whenever I spoke to him about them he used to say, as it were passively, that it was a good work, no doubt, and that H.P.B. must have known the occult philosophy... that whenever the Rakshasas [demons] became powerful some goddess is sent to destroy them, and so she was sent to destroy the materialism of the all-powerful western Rakshasas. However, now I shall relate what he told me when he came back from the Himalayas. The first thing he said was: "Go on! go on! go on! Fit yourself; you have much to do: go on, go on, and go on." The next thing he told me was, that this time he considered himself thrice blessed by the sight of a Mahatma... in the snow-covered and impassable cave of the Himalayas...
The Mahatma, he said, he saw perfectly naked; that no living soul could venture to look at his eyes; his color appeared to be of such a peculiar hue that it is not like anything worldly, but when he touched his hand (K.B.'s) between the third and fourth fingers, the latter could not stand the electric shock that ran up to his head from the extreme parts of his feet... He became almost unconscious, although he himself is a real yogi of 22 years' standing... He said the body of the Mahatma, though it looked like butter, proved to be hard as steel, and that it was impossible for him to say of what it is made. The Mahatma does not speak, and
with him only spoke where he could not make the latter understand his thought perfectly well. After he received his instruction, whatever was necessary for him, he asked: "that in India there they have established a society called the Theosophical Society, and that Madame Blavatsky started it with Col. Olcott. What is this? Is there anything real in it? Who was H.P.B.? Was she a yogi? Is Col. Olcott a yogi? What will be end of all this? Is anybody to come in the place of H.P.B.? My certain friend B.K.L. who takes much interest in the T.S. pressed me for the latter information."
...He said, "The T.S. was their work: it was established to change the present current of the human mind and destroy Nastikism, [materialistic atheism]... that he was present when H.P.B. was sent by her Master from the Manasarovara Hills in Tibet... she was sent to carry out the work of the Mahatmas; -- that she was very high up there is not the least doubt, that he himself was one of the Circle, although not so high as the Guru of H.P.B.; that Col. Olcott is a good man no doubt but no yogi, he is entirely different from H.P.B. with whose name you cannot mention Olcott. That what was necessary was done by H.P.B. and the Society is successful... that hitherto the T.S. followed a particular line, but in India there should be a change in that line, but there will be no change in the West, they must go on as they do now."
Since the Svamiji has come back from the Himalayan Hills his ideas about the T.S. and H.P.B. are entirely different; instead of passive tolerance he simply says:
"...Oh! I like to worship the portrait of H.P.B.; no one has done so much good for humanity, especially for India, after Buddha and Shankaracharya... The T.S. is ours, established for certain purposes by our Mahatmas; go on and go on, work and work."
...I must tell you that the Svamji never knew any of these informations about the T.S., the West, or H.P.B. before he went up to the Hills. The Svamji showed me his hand where the Mahatma held it with his two fingers -- there is the white sign of inflammation still existing, and subsequently the skin was off from that place. These are the facts that are revealed to me... It appeared also that the Svamji is the chela of one of the chelas or grand chelas of a Mahatma of the Circle.
*********************************************

[Slightly abridged; from Echoes of the Orient vol. III, 431-32.]

"...no one has done so much good for humanity, especially for India, after Buddha and Shankaracharya in his reincarnation."

--> Wow, that is saying a lot.

Sri Aurobindo on Master KH:

"Once when I was practising yoga, He whom the Theosophists call Master K.H. came and stood before me and watched my yoga. I requested him to accept me
as his disciple; but he said, 'Your Master is different.'"

Quoted on p. 214 of Hammer on the Mountain (Olcott's biography) by Howard Murphet.

In Aurobindo's collected writings you can find a poem of his titled "The Mahatma Kuthumi." Here is part of that poem:

And I [Kuthumi] walk
Amid men choosing my instruments,
Testing, rejecting, confirming souls,
Vessels of Spirit for the Golden Age (which) in Kali comes.

See Mahayogi Sri Aurobindo by RR Diwaker, Appendix III, pp. 248-9

Synesius (ca. 410) On Providence trans. by Thomas Taylor, 1817; on the "sacred tribe of heroes".

Do not request the Gods to be your associates, since their precedaneous employment consists in contemplation and the government of the first parts of the world. They also dwell in the heavens, and are at a great distance from the earth. Yet you must not think that they are without employment, or that their descent hither is perpetual. For they descend according to orderly periods of time, for the purpose [By the descent of the Gods to the earth, nothing more is meant than the aptitude of terrestrial natures to receive their illuminations. For the Gods always contemplate, and always energize providentially, but earthly natures are not always adapted to receive their beneficent energies in a becoming manner] of imparting the principle of a beneficent motion in the republics of mankind, after the example of the framers of machines. But this happens when they harmonize a kingdom, and send hither for this purpose souls allied to themselves. For this providence is divine and most ample, which frequently through one man pays attention to a countless multitude of men. These, therefore, in providentially inspecting human affairs must also necessarily at the same time be attentive to their own. It is requisite, however, that you who are engaged in foreign concerns, should remember whence you are derived, and that you engage in this superintendence of the affairs of others, as in a certain servitude to the world. But you should endeavour to elevate yourself, and not to draw down the Gods. You should likewise pay every possible attention to yourself, as if living in a camp among foreigners, and as a divine soul among [evil] daemons, whom it is reasonable to suppose, as they are earth-begotten, will be hostile to and indignant with any one who within their boundaries observes laws that belong to another tribe of beings. You must be satisfied, therefore, in being vigilant both by night and by day, and in making this the only object of your care, that you being but one may not be vanquished by many, a stranger by natives. For there is indeed in this terrestrial abode, the sacred tribe of heroes who pay attention to mankind, and who are able to give them assistance, even in the smallest concerns, and there is also a more ancient good. This heroic tribe is as it were a colony, established here, in order that this terrene abode may not be left destitute of a better nature. These heroes also extend their hands in those things in which they are able to give assistance. But when Matter excites her own proper blossoms (i.e., progeny) to war against the soul, the resistance made by the heroic tribe is but small when the Gods are absent. For everything is strong in its appropriate place.

From NOTEBOOKS OF PAUL BRUNTON, Vol. 10

The Secret Doctrine of the Khmers

I leave the thorny jungle and mount a frail bamboo ladder. The few wooden steps lead to a large grass-roofed hut. The latter is built on timber piles some six feet from the ground--a mode of domestic architecture which prevails throughout the interior villages of Cambodia. In the regions where a feeble effort to cultivate the land is made with the help of the River Mekong, both dwelling and dwellers would be overwhelmed by the great annual floods were it not for this elevated style of living. And in the large forest tracts it is equally efficacious against fierce tigers, which do not hesitate to claw their way into the lightly built huts.

This little clearing amidst thick trees and undergrowth was made by monks who have lately returned--after hundreds of years' absence--to settle near the shadow of the Wat, the great temple of Angkor. They have put up a tiny village and today, after waiting for the oppressive heat of the afternoon to abate, I enter as their guest.

The bonzes squat smilingly around the floor, their eyes narrow slits, their Mongoloid cheekbones set high, their slim short bodies wrapped tightly in cheerful yellow cloth. Some hold fans in their small hands, while others bend their shaven heads over palm-leaf books. Copper spittoons are placed here and there for their relief, because the moist hot climate creates asthmatic tendencies. A wild-looking man approaches me and mutters something unintelligible. Long ago he gave himself the title of "King of Angkor" and now everyone calls him by the name in good-humoured derision. His mind is half-unhinged, poor fellow, and he illustrates in its wreckage the serious dangers in incorrectly practised yoga.

On the ground outside, a boy heaps together a pile of dead branches and sets them alight. Another servant fills two round vessels at a pool close by, ties one to each end of a flexible pole which rests across his shoulders, and then bears them to the hut. The first boy pours some of the water into a black iron bowl and rests it over the fire. Before long he appears among us with tea. It is a fragrantly scented milkless infusion which we sip from tiny bowls. The life of these men is primitive indeed, for they have hardly any possessions. They are the historic descendants of the Khmers who had built Angkor, but my repeated questions reveal that they now keep but a pitiful remnant of their old culture. It consists of a few scraps of tradition mingled with an imperfect knowledge of the Hinayana form of Buddhism which was brought to the country from Ceylon not long before the Cambodian empire approached its final fall. The oldest of the bonzes tells me some more of their curious lore.

"Our traditions say that three races have mixed their blood in Kambaja [Cambodia]. The first dwellers were unlettered savages, whose tribes still live in parts where no white man's foot has trod. They are guarded by poisoned darts stuck all over the ground, let alone by the huge tigers, rhinoceros, and wild elephants which fill their forests. Our primitive religion survives among them in the form of ruined temples which are cherished as mascots. This religion, together with a government, was given us by the great sage ruler Svayambuva, who came across the western sea. He established the worship of BRA, the Supreme Being. The other races who settled here were the Indian and Chinese. Brahmin priests became powerful and taught our kings to add the worship of the gods Shiva and Vishnu and to make Sanskrit a second court language. Such was their power that even today, after our country has been purely Buddhist for many hundreds of years, their direct descendants conduct all important ceremonials for our king according to Hindu rituals. You have seen in the royal palace in Phnom Penh a sword made of dark steel inlaid with gold. It is guarded day and night by these Brahmins. We believe that if the slightest rust appears on the blade, disaster will come to the Khmer people. That sword belonged to our great king Jayavarman, who built the grand temple of Angkor, spread the limits of our empire far and wide, yet kept his mind in control like a sage. He knew the secrets of both Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism, which dwelled in friendship side by side in our country. Indeed, the Mahayana was spread among us even before it reached China."

The afternoon passes. The magic of the evening sun begins to work. A stream of reddening light pierces the grotesquely tiny windows and plays upon the uneven floor. It reveals the teeth of the smiling monks, some glittering but most betel-stained. We adjourn to a larger structure for the evening rites. While joss sticks burn freely before the gilded image of their faith and long litanies are softly chanted, I leave the assembly and settle down in the great Temple of Angkor to savour its sanctified darkness.

I hold to the modern attitude, which has proved so significant in science, that the era of mystery-mongering is past, that knowledge which is not verifiable cannot be received with certitude, and that overmuch profession of the possession of secrets opens the door of imposture and charlatanry. He who is unable to offer adequate evidence has no right to the public ear. I have generally followed this line of conduct in all my writing, even though it has compelled me in the past to leave undescribed that which I consider the most valuable of personal encounters and to record the minor mystics as though they were the highest sages. If therefore I now reluctantly break my own rule, it is for two reasons: that it would be a pity to withhold information which many might appreciate, and that political enmity has put my informant's head in danger. Let it suffice to say that somewhere in Southeast Asia I met a man who wears the High Lama's robe, who disclaims any special knowledge at first, but who breaks his reticence in the end. A part of what he tells me about Angkor is worth reconstructing here, but the statements are his, not mine.

"You are the first white man to prostrate himself before me for many years. I am deeply moved. . . . The key which unlocks understanding of Angkor's mystery needs to be turned thrice. There is first a secret tradition which has combined and united Hinduism, the religion of many Gods, and Buddhism, the religion without a God. There is next an unbroken line of sages who held and taught this doctrine as being the real and final truth about life. There is thirdly a connection between Angkor and, on one side, South India, on the other side, Tibet. In all three lands there was a time when both faiths even dwelled outwardly together in complete harmony, with interchangeable rites, symbols, and dogmas. The tradition itself was limited by the mental incapacity of the masses to the circle of a few sages and their immediate disciples. Vedanta and Mahayana are corruptions of this pure doctrine, but of all known systems they come closest to it.

"Its chief tenet was the demonstration to ripe seekers of the existence of a single universal Life-Principle which sages named the `First' or the `Origin'. In itself it has no shape, cannot be divided into parts, and is quite impersonal--like a man's mind when in a state of deep sleep. Yet it is the root of every shaped thing, creature, person, and substance which has appeared in the universe. Even mind has come out of it. There is no room or necessity for a personal God in the Khmer secret doctrine, but the popular religion accepted diverse gods as limited beings who were themselves as dependent on the First as the weakest man. Apart from these gods, the sages gave the people symbols suitable for worship. These symbols had to represent the First as faithfully as possible. They were three in number. The sun was chosen because everybody could easily understand that it created, sustained, and destroyed the life of this planet. From the tiny cell to the great star, everything is in a state of constant growth or decay thanks to the sun's power. Even substances like stone, wood, and metal come into existence through the working of the sun force. The sages knew also, however, that even the human mind gets its vitality from the same force, causing it to reincarnate again and again upon the earth. The people of Angkor worshipped Light as a very god, and the rite of sun-worship was carried on in vast stone-paved courts which were open to the sky and faced the temples.

"The second symbol was the male organ of sex. It appeared as a cone-like tower on some temples and as a tapering single column set up in the centre of the building. To Western eyes it is a strange and unsuitable symbol. But the people were plainly taught to look upon it as a picture of the Source of Life. Orientals in general and primitive people everywhere feel less shame about natural organs and functions than Westerners. Anyway the temples of Angkor never linked this symbol with the worship of lust. Its existence never degraded them. The Khmer people were so pure-minded that Sulayman, an Arab merchant who wrote an account of a voyage in which he ventured as far as China in the year 851, wrote of his visit to Cambodia: `All fermented liquors and every kind of debauchery were forbidden there. In the cities and throughout the empire one would not be able to find a single person addicted to debauchery!'

"The third symbol is also thought of in the West as connected with evil, but the adepts of Angkor held a different view. They gave the previous symbol because hardly a man escapes seeing the miracle of sex, whereby a tiny seed slowly grows into a fully matured human being composed of different parts, thus teaching the possibility of the First becoming the Many. They also gave the serpent as an emblem of worship for three reasons. In the course of a single lifetime its skin periodically dies and is thrown off, permitting new skin to appear each time. The constant transformations, reincarnations, and reappearances of the First as Nature are thus represented. And when a snake lies in its hole, it usually coils itself into the shape of a circle. It is not possible to mark where and when a circle begins. In this point the reptile indicates the infinity and eternity of the First. Lastly, there is a strange mesmeric influence in the glittering eyes of the snake which is found in no other animal. During the operation of the mysteries, which have now been lost to the Western world, the adept initiated the seeker into the elementary stage by a mesmeric process which enables him to get a glimpse of his origin. Therefore, the carvings of every temple in Angkor showed the serpent, while on the lake Pra Reach Dak nearby there is an islet on which a small shrine stands entirely encircled by two great stone snakes.

"The line of sages which had penetrated into the secret of the First and gave these symbolic religions to the masses has shifted its headquarters from epoch to epoch. From the sixth to the thirteenth centuries it flourished in Angkor, but for seven hundred years before that period it flourished in South India. Reminders of this earlier centre exist in plenty in the architectural forms and sculptural details. Even the Sanskrit used by the Brahmin priests in Cambodia is of Pallava (South Indian) origin. But the wheel of karma turned, the Cambodian empire declined and disappeared with a rapidity which outran the fall of the Romans. The rulers were dazzled by wealth and conquest and failed to heed the advice of the sages. The latter withdrew and migrated to Tibet.

"You ask me if they are the same adepts as those spoken of by H.P. Blavatsky. When she was a girl and fled from her husband, she accidentally met a group of Russian Buddhist Kalmucks who were proceeding by a roundabout route on pilgrimage to the Dalai Lama of Tibet. She joined the caravan as a means of escape from her husband. One of them was an adept. He took care of her and protected her and brought her to Lhasa. She was initiated in due course into the secret tradition. She visited other parts of Tibet and also India. Before the existence of the Angkor ruins was known in the West, she was sent there to continue her studies and to receive a certain contact by meditation in the temples. H.P.B. went but experienced great difficulty in travelling through the uncleared jungle; however, she bravely suffered all discomforts. Later, she was introduced to a co-disciple, who eventually became a High Lama and a personal advisor to the Dalai Lama. He was the son of a Mongolian prince, but for public purposes took the name of `The Thunderbolt'--that is,`Dorje.' On account of his personal knowledge of and interest in Russia, he gradually altered it to `Dorjeff.' Before their guru died, he instructed Blavatsky to give a most elementary part of the secret tradition to the Western people, while he instructed Dorjeff to follow her further career with watchful interest. Dorjeff gave her certain advice; she went to America and founded the Theosophical Society. Her guru had forbidden her to give out his name. Moreover, she knew much more of the teachings than she revealed. But she was always fearful of saying too much, so she constantly created what she called `blinds' and wrapped her truthful secrets in imaginary clothes. I may say no more. However, the poor woman was unjustly maligned by her enemies. Her sole desire was to help humanity. They could never understand her peculiar character nor her Oriental methods. Her society did an enormous service to white people by opening their eyes to Eastern truths. But its real mission is over; hence its present weak condition. A new instrument will take up the work in 1939 and give a higher revelation to the world, which is now better prepared. But the beginning of this work will be as quiet and unnoticed as the planting of a seed. It is 108 years since H.P.B.'s birth. There are 108 steps on the path to Nirvana. Amongst all the yogis of the Himalaya, 108 is regarded as the most sacred number. It is also kabbalistically connected with the year 1939 in a most important way. Therefore, this year will witness the departure of the adepts from Tibet. Their location was always a secret; even most of the High Lamas never knew it. Tibet has lost its value for them; its isolation had begun to disappear rapidly and its rulers no longer respond faithfully to them. They leave Tibet seven hundred years after their arrival."

.....

9
Sir Francis Younghusband crossed the Gobi Desert on foot and explored it again on a later occasion. Mongolia, where it is positioned, as a Lamaistic Buddhist country, owed spiritual fealty to the Dalai Lama in Tibet. Sir Francis told me one day of a mysterious Mongolian whom he had met and who without uttering a single word aloud, purely by telepathic contact, had powerfully influenced his mind and given it a greatly broader spiritual outlook. Many years later I met this same adept, then an exile in Cambodia from his native land which had fallen to the Communist-atheist regime. Through the services of an educated Chinese disciple who was with him, we were able to converse about Buddhism and other matters. He gave out a teaching which formed the basis of mentalism and which was occasionally so subtle that it went above my head, but which I understood sufficiently to revolutionize my outlook. Some of its tenets were incorporated in the mentalism explained in my books The Hidden Teaching Beyond Yoga and The Wisdom of the Overself.(P)

Paul Brunton's account about HPB meeting her Master and going to Tibet doesn't fit with her own account. . . She met her Master for the first time in England, and only after that she went to Tibet.

Are you assuming the "adept" who "took care of her" was M? Are you also assuming being "taken to Lhasa" occurred in her physical body, at the same time the caring adept first met her?

Even without allowing for Brunton or his High Lama's memory being a tad off, there are other ways to read this excerpt.

I also abridged it quite a bit, read the whole thing sometime.

UPDATE: I deleted the abridgement above, & put in the entire Brunton passage.

I'm not an expert in this subject and I have a general knowledge from my general readings.
The idea I have is that before HPB contacted her Master in England, she had no idea about the existence of the Adepts, or the Brotherhood. She had had visions of her Master before, and he saved her life a couple of times, but she thought that person was "Jesus", or something like that.
It was only after meeting him in the physical body that she began a relationship with the Adepts...

HPB was asked by a New York Sun reporter, just before Isis Unveiled was published, how many adepts there were in the world. HPB replied "several thousand" but nearly all were in Asia. She said maybe the Americas & Europe had less than ten adepts between them.

So it is no wonder Theosophy has an Eastern flavor.

See Gomes' Dawning of the Theosophical Movement, page 8 for the full quote.