Blavatsky’s Message and Teaching

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky’s (HPB) task was to act as a messenger to bring the knowledge that there is a Divine Wisdom – Theo-sophia as the root and basis upon which all philosophies, sciences and religions are founded and which guides the cosmos, nature and human life.

This Divine Wisdom is variously known as the Ancient Wisdom, or Wisdom-Religion, or Esoteric Philosophy, or Perennial Philosophy, or Occult Science. All these terms allude to the fact that Theo-sophia is not a system of belief formulated by an individual, nor a religion in the ordinary meaning of the word denoting formalized worship and ritual; instead it is the accumulated wisdom of innumerable ages that has been systematically checked by generations of sages the world over.

What then is Occult Science?

It is a generic term referring to the Hermetic or Esoteric Sciences, which explore the essential, or hidden secrets of Nature – physical and psychic, mental and spiritual – rather than, but not excluding, Her outward appearance and mechanical behavior which Western science studies to virtual perfection.

For example, that Swedenborg came to the Occult teachings in his general conceptions is shown by his essay on the Vortical Theory.

HPB’s message

As to the message that HPB brought: it is based on fundamental axioms formulated into three propositions that cannot be thought of independently from the whole, meaning that no aspect, no principle and no law can be properly considered in isolation: the Universe and all that is in it constitute a WHOLE.

Furthermore, it cannot be too strongly emphasized that these propositions are not the invention of HPB or anyone else. They form the basis of the presentation of the doctrines of the Divine Wisdom. Countless generations of sages have checked these doctrines by study as well as practical experience in a manner akin to the inductive method of science whereby a hypothesis put forward is checked by repeatable experiments and only when there is a sufficient corroboration between hypothesis and experimental verification is the former elevated to a theory.

In similar vein these sages have found the teachings enunciated to be in consonance with the overriding philosophy formulated by them. But it was HPB who synthesized the diverse and scattered fragments of this doctrine into a coherent system and body of knowledge made available for the first time to, and in a suitable idiom for, the Western world at large.

But it is as well to point out here HPB’s counsel ‘that no human-born doctrine, no creed, however sanctified by custom and antiquity, can compare in sacredness with the religion of Nature. The Key of Wisdom that unlocks the massive gates leading to the arcana of the innermost sanctuaries can be found hidden in her bosom only: and that bosom is in the countries pointed to by the great seer of the past century Emanuel Swedenborg. There lies the heart of nature, that shrine whence issued the early races of primeval Humanity, and which is the cradle of physical man’.

The Cards of Destiny have dealt humankind a jewel beyond price in HPB’s message of spiritual uplift and universal brotherhood to be attained by a knowledge of the eternal verities of our existence. Have we used this sublime gift with gratitude, understanding and love? Who is to say? All spiritual teachers are but messengers. They proffer no initiations and perform no miracles at our behest. All that they can do is to say, with H. P.Blavatsky: ‘I can tell you how to find those who will show you the secret gateway that leads inward only, and closes fast behind the neophyte for evermore. For those who win onwards, there is reward past all telling: the power to bless and save humanity. For those who fail, there are other lives in which success may come.’

Edi Bilimoria is the Director of the Theoversity Project. He has authored books dealing with Science Mysticism Spirituality titled Mirages in Western Science Resolved by Occult Science and The Snake and the Rope.