Hi all,

Are the Masters known to TS the only 'Masters' or 'Adepts' in existence? Is the Great White Brotherhood the only organization of 'Masters' and 'Adepts'?

I am asking this because there are many people outside TS who claim to have received teachings from their own masters--a search in Google or in Amazon will return many of them.

CWL wrote in The Inner Life that some of them "bear no good will to our Masters." Who was he referring to? How did the various 'camps' come about and are they in any kind of competition? How can people who have attained Adeptship harbour ill will?

Thanks

The Occult Brotherhood (HPB did not use GWB) has three main branches, and several branchlets. HPB knew members from all three main ones and some from the smaller ones. All members of this Great Lodge (another name) foster and help the altruistic, spiritual nature of mankind to bear fruit. There are other groups, outside the Lodge, whose members develop powers & some wisdom, but are either openly selfish or indifferent to humanity in the mass. I would confine the use of Adept, Master or Brother (the latter term is what they call themselves) to the Occult Brotherhood.

Do not know what he meant; but there is no competition or hostility among real Brothers.

There are sorcerers, of course, and some do pester the Brothers, but they do not deserve to be called "adepts" etc.

Yes, "Master" can be used for one's guru; which is one reason I do not care for using it for Adepts or Brothers or Initiates.

What about beings, similar to the Masters that the early Theosophical leaders were in touch with, but from other places?

I'll try to elaborate on my question(s). By tradition, the Masters of the "Occult Brotherhood" are held to be basically humans who have reached an advanced stage in their evolution, if I understand correctly. Being of an altruistic nature, they have made the choice to use their attained position to help humanity.

However, it's a pretty big universe. Astronomers haven't found one yet, but I imagine there must be some planet somewhere else in the universe (maybe even in our galaxy) on which intelligent life has evolved. If so, that particular race's evolution probably has its own "Masters" as well.

So where do these Masters stand in the spiritual hierarchy? If, purely for the sake of speculation, we take the following as givens:

-There are multiple planets which bear self-conscious, intelligent life
-Some members of each of those intelligent species have attained Mastery

Could it then be said that what we are talking about are "Planetary" Masters? From here, let us not assume the hierarchy ends at that level. There must be far more than overseeing the affairs of one planet. Is it possible that there are beings so advanced that they serve the same role as these "Planetary Masters," but for entire solar systems? Entire galaxies?

It's just a thought. What spurred it on was the mention, by Nicholas, of adepts who are "indifferent to humanity in the mass." Could such beings be Masters of different levels? While I'm sure the Masters of the class that we are accustomed to talking about don't bear any ill will towards ants, for example, would they spend a great deal of time and energy looking after ants? In like manner, would such higher Masters as "Galactic Masters" spare a great deal of attention to humans, unless that attention connected in some way with matters on a Galactic scale?


Really this is just speculation, but I like to push the boundaries of ideas.

Here is what I wrote:

I did not use "adepts" to refer to those non-altruistic members of groups outside the Lodge. Adepts are only those within the Occult Brotherhood.

My usage of terms may be slightly different from yours, and if I fail to replicate your usage precisely, I apologize for any confusion that may arise. You'll have to forgive me, for prior to reading your post, the words "Master," "Adept" and "Mahatma" have been interchangeable in my own usage.

I don't believe this issue of semantics settles my question, however.

EDIT: As a matter of fact, now that I've read through my own post, I have found only one instance in which I used the term "adept," and in that instance, my usage was compatible with your own, since I used in reference to a party other than the official "Masters" who are members of "The Occult Lodge." Throughout the rest of my post, I did use the term "Masters."

So what I glean from this is that you are saying that only the local, Earth-based Masters who oversee humanity are members of The Occult Lodge? In other words, The Occult Lodge is only concerned with the welfare of those on the planet Earth? Or do I misunderstand?

It has nothing to do with semantics Dan.

The first sentence calls these selfish ones "members" of a "group" (not adepts, masters etc). They are sorcerers, shamans etc. but not Adepts.

The 2nd sentence gives the opposing notion that Adepts in the Occult Brotherhood are ONLY altruistic.

Clear now?

Yes, crystal clear. Adept, Master and Brother are your terms for those in the occult brotherhood, but no others. I still don't see how my post indicated that I had any understanding other than that. I don't see any discrepancy that should prevent meaningful discussion on the issue I brought up.

At any rate, my questions still stand, having so far gone completely unaddressed:

If there were such a thing as galactic-level Masters, would they be included in The Occult Brotherhood, or does The Occult Brotherhood, in your mind, restrict its activities to Earth and humanity? And, if we were to assume that there were Masters who operate in spheres beyond the scope of Earth itself, is it at all possible that we humans, comparatively puny in intellect by comparison, might misunderstand their actions? In your most recent post, you zero in on the "selfish ones," but in an earlier post, you also used the term "indifferent." It is these "indifferent" ones I am talking about. I am imagining beings so great in stature that they may come off, to us, as totally indifferent, though they may simply be involved in things bigger than us.

This point may seem silly, my imagination in this regard childish and playful, but I bring these questions up for a reason. It seems to me that many people, both inside and outside the respectable limits of what we would call Theosophical thought, are quick to draw lines in realms we barely comprehend, categorizing beings we scarcely understand into neat little groups.

The word "Lodge" is an interesting one to use in this regard, as it means so many different things. In more earthly terms, a Lodge can refer any of a plethora of different groups. There are Rosicrucian Lodges, Masonic Lodges, Theosophical Lodges, and more. Some of these groups have more in common than others, though if we look through history, we see many examples of overlap--people who belonged to both Masonic and Rosicrucian Lodges, for example. The explanation I see most often is that the Occult Brotherhood is the One True Lodge which lays behind them all. Looking at the self-professed histories of each, it's easy enough to connect the dots and draw that conclusion.

So we have this one, single Occult Brotherhood (or Lodge) of Masters who are totally altruistic, and then everybody else. At the same time, even those who claim to have been in touch with these Masters readily admit that the Masters themselves are but students of even higher beings. It is just interesting to me, in light of so much mystery, how some feel confident in drawing lines matter-of-factly in higher realms; or even letting other beings from higher realms draw them for us. Here's an analogy:

Let's say I take it upon myself to educate a pack of dogs. We can suppose I find some way of communicating meaningfully to them, on their level. My ideas are way too big for them to wrap their heads around, but nonetheless, I decide I'm going to teach them about politics. "I am a member of the Democratic Party," I tell them, "and we are all good guys. And girls. We care a lot about equality, you see. Now, as for those Republicans over there, stay away from them. They directly oppose all that we represent and are to be shunned. Hope that you never wind up like them! Now, those Green Party folks? They aren't all that bad, but they don't have their platform straight. They are still working things out and will only confuse you, detracting from the strength of our own agenda. Better to stick with us Democrats for the time being."

And so on.

This is by no means a criticism of the Masters or The Brotherhood, but simply an attempt to pose the possibility that they represent one point of view only. It was very nice of them to come down to our level to help us out, and they may have the very best of intentions, but after all, we are very limited compared with them, and they themselves admit their own limitations, god-like as those may be in comparison with our own.

These bolded words were what I was correcting. I guess I should have quoted them earlier.

As to your big question - as far as HPB & her Gurus teachings say, all Adepts, Brothers, Buddhas, Dhyani-Buddhas & beyond are rooted in Great Compassion. There is no indifference, but there is equanimity and no favoritism toward any group of lower lives.

There is also the idea of hierarchies. The Lodge on this globe (all the terms I use are HPB's language) is a small hierarchy. It is connected to higher ones. Lower ones are connected to it. The extent of linked hierarchies is very vast - but not without limits - in this manifested universe.

Thanks, Nicholas. Very simple and elegant explanation. I like that. :)

In reading that post, I can see where I overcomplicated matters. It's far too easy for me to do that. Sometimes I feel like a dog chasing its tail.

Or maybe a snake...