The Commitment of The ULT

[Reproduced from The Theosophical Movement magazine for June 2001, published by Theosophy Company India – www.ultindia.org]

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Associates and friends of the United Lodge of Theosophists all the world over will celebrate U.L.T. Day on June 25. They will remember with gratitude the debt that they owe to the Friendly Philosopher, Robert Crosbie, for salvaging genuine Theosophy from the debris of personality politics and successorship disputes, and for presenting to generations to come a line of endeavour calculated to keep the Original Impulse and Original Teaching intact. The time is opportune for self-examination and right resolves. Self-examination enables us to see in retrospect whether we have studied, practised and promulgated Theosophy in the right spirit and with the right motive, and our resolutions for the future help us to act in terms of the U.L.T. Declaration, which, with its signature by the Associates, has been described as “a wide departure from anything that exists as an organization.”

But what is U.L.T.? U.L.T. is not a society or organization in the ordinary sense. On the contrary, it is “a School of Theosophy—an informal and wholly voluntary association of students of Theosophy, and is no more concerned with the various theosophical organizations than it is with similar societies and sects of the various popular religions. It deals only with individuals who are, or may become, interested in Theosophy and the Theosophical Movement.” Again, “U.L.T. is a name given to certain principles and ideas; those who associate themselves with those principles and ideas are attracted and bound by them only – not by their fellows who do likewise or refrain or who cease to consider themselves so bound.”

U.L.T. is an integral part of the larger Theosophical Movement, which has itself been described as a “Universal Lodge of Free and Independent Theosophists which embraces every friend of the human race.” The emphasis here, be it noted, is on freedom and independence. U.L.T., it may be said, trains students to become wise and compassionate, and not “ceremony-masters”: it increases their devotion, not observances.

U.L.T. is committed to the “dissemination of the Fundamental Principles of the Philosophy of Theosophy, and the exemplification in practice of those principles, through a truer realization of the SELF; a profounder conviction of Universal Brotherhood.”

U.L.T. is committed to the study, practice and promulgation of Theosophy as given out in the writings of H. P. Blavatsky and W. Q. Judge. There is a valid reason for regarding what these two gave out as the authentic teachings of Theosophy. As Robert Crosbie says, we have to understand clearly that Theosophy is “a gift to mankind by more progressed beings than ourselves,” and he advises that “we must learn and apply the fundamental principles which underlie that grand philosophy, and understand the operation of law as disclosed therein.” It is under that law that H.P.B. was chosen as the Masters’ Messenger. It follows, therefore, that only that which is in full accord with her teachings and writings deserves to be called Theosophy, for that is the name she gave to the Wisdom she made public. U.L.T. is committed to uphold H.P.B. and W.Q.J. all the time

The way in which W.Q.J. upheld H.P.B. is an object-lesson for all those who have a tendency to waver and wander from the path. If we follow the example of W.Q.J., we shall find where H.P.B. pointed. “In effect it comes to this, that those who professed or who profess to look to H.P.B. as their Teacher, do not do so unless they also look on Judge as she looked on him. If they minimize or vilify Judge, they have to minimize and vilify H.P.B.” In other words, we cannot accept the philosophy taught by Sri Krishna in the Gita and reject his estimate of Arjuna. We have always to draw attention by every means in our power to the indisputable fact of the existence of the Masters of Wisdom, to their messenger H.P.B., to the body of knowledge she named Theosophy, and to her colleague and co-worker W.Q.J. All the upheavals that occurred in the Theosophical Movement within the 30 years since it was launched, were a result of either ignorance or deliberate non-recognition of these facts. Students of U.L.T. are committed to see that history does not repeat itself in this regard.

As an integral part of the Theosophical Movement, U.L.T. is committed to further the three objects of the Movement, which are:

(1) To form the nucleus of a Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or colour;

(2) The study of ancient and modern religions, philosophies and sciences, and the demonstration of the importance of such a study;

(3) The investigation of the unexplained laws of Nature and the psychical powers latent in man.

We must bear in mind the aims and objects of the Masters, to carry out which is the bounden duty of U.L.T. and its Associates. These are stated in “The Great Master’s Letter” (U.L.T. Pamphlet No. 33) and can be briefly paraphrased as follows:

(1) To preach and popularize a knowledge of Theosophy so that its doctrines may practically react upon the so-called moral code of the people, or the ideas of truthfulness, purity, self-denial, charity, etc.

(2) To give a rational basis on which the intellectual classes can reconstruct their crumbling faith and avoid the extreme of bigotry and superstition on the one hand, and that of brutal materialism on the other.

(3) To arouse in the ruling nations and the upper classes a sense of their responsibility to protect and guide the so-called despised nations and classes.

(4) To show that all religions teach self-redemption through one’s own seventh principle, the liberated Atma. One should not seek redemption for oneself alone, but strive to make all other people see that truth and recognize the reality of the transcendental Self.

(5) To teach people that life on earth, even the happiest, is but a burden and an illusion; that it is one’s own Karma, the cause producing the effect; and to lessen the intensity of that struggle for existence which is the prolific parent of most woes and sorrows, and of all crimes.

(6) To offer the right and logical explanations of the great dual principles of right and wrong, good and evil, liberty and despotism, pain and pleasure, egotism and altruism.

In conclusion, Associates and students of U.L.T. should consider themselves “fortune’s favoured soldiers” in that genuine Theosophy has come down to them intact, and it is up to them to study, practise, assimilate and promulgate its teachings so that the message of Theosophy may spread over the entire world.