When disaster strikes our fellow men and women, whether in the form of natural disasters, terrorist attacks, fatal accidents, war, or indeed any catastrophe of any kind, what can we – who view ourselves as spiritual people – do about it?

Does it help the sufferers and others affected by such tragedies if we pray for them or send positive thoughts or “visualisations” in their direction?

Depending on which Theosophists you ask, you may get different answers. Those who follow Robert Crosbie (the founder of the United Lodge of Theosophists) unquestioningly are likely to confidently answer that it does not help anyone except the one who is doing the thinking, i.e. ourselves, and is thus of extremely limited and non-altruistic value. This is the assertion Crosbie makes in “Answers To Questions on The Ocean of Theosophy” p. 234. He says there that even the Masters are unable “to affect humanity by their thoughts” and thus “have to write books” instead. Since many mistakenly believe that Crosbie’s explanation of Theosophical teachings is always perfectly in accord with those of HPB and WQJ, they assume that the rather severe and iconoclastic approach he often took to things – including our above question – must be accurately representative of the Theosophical stance on the matter.

But often it is not. Here’s what William Judge (HPB’s most trusted colleague) actually had to say about it:

“Here is something, then, for you to do:— to think strong helpful thoughts for all the members of the T. S. [i.e. Theosophical Society] and for your friends, and then for the whole of humanity. It may be that when a bright helpful thought comes into your own life, it has been sent forth from some other, who is trying to lighten the load of the world’s suffering, and all the loving helpful thoughts that you can send out will help to lighten someone’s sadness, and bring a ray of hope into someone’s life. Each thought is a seed, and will bear fruit in due season.” (“Letters That Have Helped Me” p. 173-174)

That is a positive, constructive, and hopeful answer, and a reassurance that it “will help,” it “will bear fruit.” He naturally does not promise that it will solve all the problems or fix anything completely, but it is at least bound to help.

Some Theosophists might respond, “That may be so but Theosophy definitely draws a line at praying for people. Petitionary prayer is untheosophical.” It may be that some of us have demonised the terms “prayer” and “petitionary prayer” to such an extent that we have not even stopped to reflect and realise that any verbal prayer is merely the outermost clothing of a thought, an intention, a wish, a desire, etc.

If one imagines that one will achieve beneficial results for the welfare of others by formally and swiftly reciting a standard ecclesiastical prayer, or by sending a halfhearted wish up to one’s conception of a God in Heaven, or by essentially telling God what He should do in a particular situation, this is indeed as misguided as to believe that one can get whatever one wants for oneself by petitioning God for it. Petitions made for one’s own selfish benefit, or whose result would involve harm to another (such as praying for one side to slaughter the enemy in a battle) – these are what H. P. Blavatsky strongly condemns when she denounces petitionary prayer, such as in “The Key to Theosophy.” Most Theosophists would not make prayerful petitions anyway but she says nothing against those whose petitions are in reality a selfless, humble outpouring of love, compassion, and a will to help and heal those who are suffering or in danger. Such petitionary prayer is absolutely Theosophical and the words the individual formulates it in are largely irrelevant, for in such a case it is quite literally “the thought that counts.”

Damodar K. Mavalankar notes:

“We act upon the principle that what is meat for one is death for another. While, therefore, some people may not be able to develop their latent psychic capacities without prayer, there are others who can. We set no value upon the words uttered. For, if the words had any effect, how is it that different religionists, although using different forms of expression, obtain the same result? Again, those who pray silently and intensely gain their object, while those who merely mumble some formula without understanding the meaning, get no answers to their prayers. As has been said in Isis Unveiled, we believe prayer is the giving of expression to the desire, which generates Will. And this WILL is all-powerful; its effect depending, of course, upon all the surrounding conditions. . . . We cannot expect the ordinary mortals, whose sensuous perceptions and avocations do not permit them to penetrate behind the mask, to do without the help of some external process.” (“On Prayer”)

But it is true, according to the Esoteric Philosophy, that there will always be a limit – sometimes a very big and significant limit – to the degree and extent that our good thoughts and/or prayers can help another or ourselves. That limit is the limit placed by Karma.

It is maintained that everything proceeds unfailingly according to the Law of Karma, meaning that in the past we created our present and in the present we are creating our future. The Law of self-created destiny which is known as Karma (the law of cause and effect, action and reaction, sequence and consequence) is the means whereby the universe maintains its constant balance, harmony, and equilibrium.

Nothing can ever happen outside of Karma. Everything that happens to us in life is either karmically destined or karmically permitted. It cannot be otherwise. By “karmically destined” we mean those things that had to happen in this present life of ours due to the powerful force of old causes generated by us in a prior existence. By “karmically permitted” we mean those things which were not actually destined for us but whose manifestation is permissible or “allowable” within the confines or limits of our overall Karma for this life. For example, you may not be karmically destined to have lung problems in this incarnation but if you become a long-term smoker it is quite likely that you will, and you may even die from that. That is simple physical cause and effect. But there is an additional factor involved, for we have all known people who smoked extremely excessively for 60-70+ years and lived healthily into their eighties or nineties. Their lungs would still surely have been affected but not in a way that actually manifested itself in their life situation, health, or experience.

So by all means, we should “think [and] send out . . . strong helpful thoughts” to any and all, as Judge advises, and we should do so with confidence that it will help. But just as Christians should ideally always remember to include the proviso “Thy will be done; not my will but Thine be done” in their petitions, one ought always to remember that even the most perfect and potent thoughts – and this does indeed apply even to the Mahatmas or Masters of Wisdom – will reach an “invisible barrier,” for want of a better expression, beyond which they cannot take any further or greater effect. Rather than this being a cause for discouragement, it can serve to humble us and remind us of the grandeur, majesty, and power that is inherent within all planes of this Universe, and which is in reality perfect Justice. For perfect justice necessitates that we must reap what we sow, and that what we reap is what we have sown. There is no divine favouritism, no cosmic unfairness, involved. There is also always the potential to deeply learn and spiritually grow from even the worst and most challenging situations. “And we know that all things work together for good to those that love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

Sadly, many who pride themselves on their alleged spirituality are also often some of the least generous of people in terms of giving practical, direct, material help and assistance to those in need.

When disaster of whatever kind strikes, it should go without saying that we need to contribute in whatever way we can – be it by donation of finances, direct practical assistance, offering a comforting and helpful support to the sufferers, etc. – to the relief of those affected by the tragedy. “Inaction in a deed of mercy becomes an action in a deadly sin,” says H. P. Blavatsky’s “The Voice of The Silence,” where it is also stated that Enlightenment “is of loving deeds the child.”

A minority of people are literally unable to help in any way at all beyond their thoughts and that is perfectly fine. They are themselves often in need of practical assistance. Most of us, however, can always spare at least a few £ and some minutes or hours of our time.

So even when we finally accept that there is in fact no real injustice in the world and that everything a soul reaps is as a direct result of what it has itself sown, let none of us neglect for even one moment the practical and sincere application of compassion – of LOVE – for all who suffer. We are always able to help others to the exact extent that their Karma will permit and thus we must always do our utmost.

It is not enough for us just to know and talk about the importance of compassion and selfless service . . . we must DO it, we must PROVE it, we must LIVE it . . . and until spiritual people become “doers of the Word, not just hearers only,” they can never expect to be taken seriously by the world at large.

“Thou canst not travel on the Path before thou hast become that Path itself.

“Let thy Soul lend its ear to every cry of pain like as the lotus bares its heart to drink the morning sun.

“Let not the fierce Sun dry one tear of pain before thyself hast wiped it from the sufferer’s eye.

“But let each burning human tear drop on thy heart and there remain, nor ever brush it off, until the pain that caused it is removed.”

– “The Voice of the Silence,” translated by H. P. Blavatsky from The Book of the Golden Precepts

~ BlavatskyTheosophy.com ~

For a more detailed and comprehensive study of prayer from the Theosophical perspective, you may wish to read

THEOSOPHY ON PRAYER