As the use of the term “Western Occultism” in the following passages by William Q. Judge (1851-1896, a co-founder of the modern Theosophical Movement) can potentially be easily misunderstood – and has been misunderstood and thus misrepresented by some Theosophists among his critics, past and present – it’s important to clearly understand from the outset that he is not referring to a revival or regeneration of historical western occultism (such as alchemy, Kabbalah, Rosicrucianism, Hermeticism, Freemasonry, etc.) but instead is speaking of the establishing of a new type of Occultism for the West and in the West.

This new Western Occultism, which he first began mentioning in 1892, the year after H. P. Blavatsky passed away, was to be initially largely derived from the Theosophical teachings of the 1875-1900 Cycle (i.e. those given by Blavatsky and also those complementary and supportive presentations and practical applications of her teachings formulated by Judge himself) but was expected – as we shall see towards the end – to greatly expand in both content and public prominence with the dawning of the 1975 Cycle.

To all appearances, this did not happen, and what was said to have been the Masters’ or Mahatmas’ great aim for the West in the latter part of the 20th century was seemingly thwarted. Some possible reasons and factors involved with this may be found in the compilation titled The Centennial Effort of The Masters of Wisdom (Theosophical Light on The 1775, 1875, 1975 Cycles and Beyond). But as the main essence of what is said below relates to a large evolutionary picture and a lengthy period of time which is still in its early stages, we assume that it still has important relevance for today.

It is no secret that the Theosophy of HPB and her Adept-Teachers is distinctly Eastern in philosophical ideology, metaphysical terminology, general character or flavour, and in the main sources drawn upon. William Judge did not deny any of this or attempt to downplay it. He promulgated that same Theosophy and, unlike many others, did not introduce a new “Theosophy” of his own. But he did point out, perfectly in line with HPB’s teachings and principles, that –

“It is not the desire of the Brotherhood that those members of the Theosophical movement who have, under their rights, taken up a belief in the messengers and the message should become pilgrims to India. To arouse that thought was not the work nor the wish of H.P.B. Nor is it the desire of the Lodge to have members think that Eastern methods are to be followed, Eastern habits adopted, or the present East made the model or the goal. The West has its own work and its duty, its own life and development.”

The New Western Occultism promoted by William Q. Judge was to be Theosophy itself but promulgated and popularised in a form comprehensible and meaningful to – and, most importantly, readily practically applicable in daily life by – ordinary Westerners. And it meant the common sense and moderate, balanced approach that Judge (a USA-based Irishman) so constantly emphasised, such as there being no need or obligation to become vegetarian, no need for special yogic meditation postures, nor to become fixated on specific “practices,” “methods,” or “techniques,” least of all to start dressing like an Indian, or following Hindu or other Eastern gurus, yogis, or swamis.

Judge was always the first to agree with the old adage that “The Light comes from the East” but as we will see here, he was eager to point out that the Light – i.e. the Light of spiritual Truth and genuine Knowledge and understanding – is not shining from the modern East. It shines from what we could call the mystic East, the ideal East, the esoteric East, the inner East, and not from today’s India or today’s anywhere. The vast majority of today’s Indians will readily admit that their great nation is sinking increasingly and seemingly hopelessly into deeper and deeper materialism and moral darkness and degradation, whilst the majority of the Hindu priests and religious teachers continue to hold the sincere and unsuspecting devotees in ignorance, superstition, and ritualistic idolatry.

As was once written by the Master K.H. or Koot Hoomi, himself an Indian or rather a Kashmiri, belonging to the Trans-Himalayan Brotherhood and Esoteric School: “India has been going down for thousands of years. She must take equally long for her regeneration. . . . It is always wiser to work and force the current of events than to wait for time – a habit which has demoralized the Hindus and degenerated the country.” (“Letters from The Masters of the Wisdom” First Series, p. 99-100)

Judge’s “Western Occultism” statements in the last few years of his life can potentially be seen as a reaction against the ideas and activities being engaged in at that time by Annie Besant, who – a couple of years after the passing of HPB – had fallen under the influence of an Orthodox Hindu Brahmin named G. N. Chakravarti, been officially received into the fold of orthodox Hinduism on a visit to India, begun to criticise and belittle HPB on a frequent basis, and started to distort and even suppress and reject HPB’s teachings in favour of the new and quite different teachings she was receiving from Chakravarti and his friends.

As the Master K.H. was to inform Besant in The Final Mahatma Letter of 1900, “You have been under deluding influences for quite some time.”

Under Chakravarti’s influence, the India and Indians of the present day were held aloft by Besant as being virtually perfect, divine, supremely spiritual, and to be looked up to and emulated by all. As well as starting to dress like an Indian, often being seen in a sari, she began adopting various Hindu customs and rituals, defended and praised the caste system, and encouraged other Theosophists to do the same. Seeing the madness and danger in all this, WQJ felt compelled to speak out, only to be met by Besant and Chakravarti with accusations of not properly understanding and appreciating the East and trying to cause disharmony and conflict within the Theosophical Society.

However, his “New Era of Western Occultism” was more than simply a reaction. He first began to refer to it in 1892, a year before Besant had even first met Chakravarti.

And as “the center, the top, the force of the cyclic wave of evolution is [now] in the West – including Europe and America” (and which student of H. P. Blavatsky’s teachings can deny this, in light of what is taught in “The Secret Doctrine” about the coming Sixth Sub-Race and Root Race and reiterated in her “Five Messages to The American Theosophists,” besides what is said about the present Fifth Sub-Race?) attention has to be put on providing the Western world with the Occultism that is best suited and fitted for it, so that its unfolding evolution and development can proceed in the right direction.

There is also the significant fact that Judge was affirmed by H. P. Blavatsky and the Masters to be a trusted chela or disciple of the Master M., i.e. Mahatma Morya, and that HPB frequently spoke about him and his occult status in higher and more glowing terms than she did anyone else. (See Who was William Quan Judge?, Understanding The Importance of William Q. Judge, and William Q. Judge and The Masters of Wisdom for examples.) So when Judge declares that what he is relating about the New Era of Western Occultism comes from or originates with the Master, one can reasonably deduce that that is indeed so and therefore reliable. The assertions by Alice Leighton Cleather – at one time a loyal supporter of Judge – that his “New Era of Western Occultism” was derived from mediumistic communications received via Katherine Tingley have been debunked in an article here, as have Cleather’s misrepresentations or misunderstandings of what “Western Occultism” actually meant in this case.

Since large parts of the Theosophical Movement were effectively derailed in the years following Judge’s death, and seeing as most spiritual seekers in the West have taken a very different or even entirely opposite path to that referred to below, it is uncertain what Theosophists of today can practically do with these statements and insights. But it is certainly worth being aware of them and letting others know about this noble vision for the spiritual welfare of the West and, through it, the world at large.

~ * ~

FROM “LETTERS THAT HAVE HELPED ME”

“The Theosophical movement was begun as a work of the Brotherhood of which H.P.B. is a member, and in which the great Initiate, who was by her called Master, is one of the Chiefs.

“It was started among Western people by Western people, the two chief agents being H.P.B., a Russian, and H. S. Olcott, an American. The place where it was started was also Western – the City of New York. . . .

“The fact is significant that the Theosophical movement was thus, as said, begun in the Western world, in the country where the preparations for the new root race are going on, and where that new root is to appear. This was not to give precedence to any one race or country over another, or to reduce any race or country, but was and is according to the law of cycles, which is a part of evolution. In the eye of that great Law no country is first or last, new or old, high or low, but each at the right time is appropriate for whatever the work is that must be performed. Each country is bound up with all the others and must assist them.

“This movement has, among others, an object which should be borne in mind. It is the union of the West with the East, the revival in the East of those greatnesses which once were hers, the development in the West of that Occultism which is appropriate for it, so that it may, in its turn, hold out a helping hand to those of older blood who may have become fixed in one idea, or degraded in spirituality.

“For many centuries this union has been worked towards and workers have been sent out through the West to lay the foundations. But not until 1875 could a wide public effort be made, and then the Theosophical Society came into existence because the times were ripe and the workers ready. . . .

“It is not the desire of the Brotherhood that those members of the Theosophical movement who have, under their rights, taken up a belief in the messengers and the message should become pilgrims to India. To arouse that thought was not the work nor the wish of H.P.B. Nor is it the desire of the Lodge to have members think that Eastern methods are to be followed, Eastern habits adopted, or the present East made the model or the goal. The West has its own work and its duty, its own life and development. Those it should perform, aspire to and follow, and not try to run to other fields where the duties of other men are to be performed. If the task of raising the spirituality of India, now degraded and almost suffocated, were easy, and if thus easily raised it could shine into and enlighten the whole world of the West, then, indeed, were the time wasted in beginning in the West, when a shorter and quicker way existed in the older land. But in fact it is more difficult to make an entry into the hearts and minds of people who, through much lapse of time in fixed metaphysical dogmatism, have built in the psychic and psycho-mental planes a hard impervious shell around themselves, than it is to make that entry with Westerners who, although they may be meat eaters, yet have no fixed opinions deep laid in a foundation of mysticism and buttressed with a pride inherited from the past.

“The new era of Western Occultism definitely began in 1875 with the efforts of that noble woman who abandoned the body of that day not long ago. This does not mean that the Western Occultism is to be something wholly different from and opposed to what so many know, or think they know, as Eastern Occultism. . . . It has, as its mission, largely entrusted to the hands of the Theosophical Society, to furnish to the West that which it can never get from the East; to push forward and raise high on the circular path of evolution now rolling West, the light that lighteth every man who cometh into the world – the light of the true Self, who is the one true Master for every human being; all other Masters are but servants of that true One; in it all real Lodges have their union. . . .

“She [i.e. H. P. Blavatsky] knew, and you have been told before, that high and wise servants of the Lodge have remained with the West since many centuries for the purpose of helping it on to its mission and destiny. That work it would be well for the members of the Theosophical Movement to continue without deviating, without excitement, without running to extremes, without imagining that Truth is a matter of either longitude or latitude: the truth of the soul’s life is in no special quarter of the compass, it is everywhere round the whole circle; and those who look in one quarter will not find it.” (p. 73-76)

“Now, this is, as I said, an era. I called it that of Western Occultism, but you may give it any name you like. But it is Western.” (p. 95)

“NEW YORK, October 11th, 1892. – This is the era of Western Occultism. We are now to stand shoulder to shoulder in the U.S. to present it and enlarge it in view of coming cussedness – attacks which will be in the line of trying to impose solely Eastern disciples on us. The Masters are not Eastern nor Western, but universal.” (p. 109)

“It may be possible to usher in a new era of western occultism devoid of folly. We should all be ready for that, if it be possible.” (p. 122)

FROM “THE TRUTH ABOUT EAST AND WEST”
(Article, April 1895)

“When we examine into what, if anything, India has done for the great East of which she is a part, we find that for hundreds of years she has done nothing whatever, and apparently has no intention of doing anything. Her dominant religion – Brahmanism – is crystallized and allows for no propaganda. Other nations may die in their sins, unless, perchance, they are fortunate enough to be born among the Brahmins for good conduct. . . .

“Let us refer to the published record which is in The Occult World, by Mr Sinnett, where K.H. says what I quote:

“I had come for a few days, but now find that I myself cannot endure for any length of time the stifling magnetism even of my own countrymen. [Italics mine. – J] I have seen some of our proud old Sikhs drunk and staggering over the marble pavement of their sacred temple. . . . I turn my face homeward tomorrow.” (pp. 120, 121)

“Imagine, then, that since we are all convinced that the degradation of India is largely due to the suffocation of her ancient spirituality. . . . But you know, as any man who has read history, that patriots may burst their hearts in vain if circumstances are against them. Sometimes it has happened that no human power, not even the force and fury of the loftiest patriotism, has been able to bend an iron destiny aside from its fixed course, and nations have gone out like torches dropped into water, in the engulfing blackness of ruin. Thus, we who have the sense of our country’s fall, though not the power to lift her up at once, cannot do as we would. . . .” (p. 126)

“The present tendency of education is to make them [Hindus] materialistic and root out spirituality. With a proper understanding of what their ancestors meant by their writings, education would become a blessing, whereas now it is often a curse.” (p. 136)

“(Declares himself a follower of Buddha, whom he calls “our great Patron.” – p. 153)

“He finds the magnetism of his countrymen too stifling to be borne; asserts that India is spiritually degraded; hints that her destiny is to go out “in the engulfing blackness of ruin,” unless she is raised up, which would arouse a doubt as to her ability to uplift any other nation. It also explains why she has not, for so many centuries, done anything to help other countries. He says the Hindus are getting materialistic – referring to those who take English education – and ends by declaring himself a follower of his Patron, Buddha. The Letter to some Brahmins, published in The Path, enforces the point about Buddhism, and also shows how dense is the surrounding aura of those Brahmins who are strictly orthodox, and how much easier it is for the Adepts to affect the Westerners than the Hindus. And if the wall around the educated Brahmin is impenetrable, how much more so is that surrounding the mass of ignorant, superstitious people who take their religion from the Brahmin! The spiritual degradation of India to which the Master referred is an indisputable fact. The great majority of Brahmins are theologically and metaphysically as fixed and dogmatic as the Romish Church; they also keep up idol-worship and a great number of degrading caste observances. The poor, uneducated, common people, forming the core of the Hindu population, are gentle, it is true, but they are ignorant and superstitious. Their superstitions are theological; the Brahmin fosters this. The other class, consisting of those who take up English, have lost faith and are, as the Masters wrote, materialized.

“This is Master’s picture. It is also the actual picture. Now where is the wrong in knowing the fact, and in asserting that such an India of today, no matter how glorious it may have been 10,000 years ago, is not the teacher of the West. Rather is it that the West is to lead the reform and raise up the fallen country with all others. . . .

“The Theosophical movement was founded and flourishes in the West pre-eminently and under Western influence. It began in America, farthest West, started there by the Masters. A very pertinent question here is, why it was not begun in India if that country is the one of all we are to look to? Very evidently the beginning was made so far West because, as so often stated by H.P.B., the next new race is to appear in the Americas, where already preparations in nature for the event are going on. This means that the center, the top, the force of the cyclic wave of evolution is in the West – including Europe and America – and all the observable facts support the contention.

“This evolutionary wave is not a mere theoretical thing, but is a mass of revolving energy composed of human egos from all the ancient ages of the past. It cannot be stopped; it should not be hindered in any way. This is what makes the importance of the West. The Masters work scientifically, and not sentimentally or by hysterical impulse. Hence they take advantage of such a cyclic wave, well knowing that to have begun in the East would have been child’s play. They desired, one can see by viewing the history and the words from them of the last twenty years, the new and growing West to take from all the East whatever philosophy and metaphysics were needed; to assimilate them, to put them into practice; to change the whole social and economic order; and then react back, compulsorily, upon the East for its good and uplifting. . . .

“Now in the face of all these facts, and of many more which could be brought forward, where is the brotherliness, the Theosophy, the truth in starting against me a charge that I wish or try to set the East and West against each other? If in India are initiates – which H.P.B. often denied, if there is the highest spiritual wisdom, why so many Hindus trying to reform it; why so many Hindus at the feet of H.P.B. asking for truth and how to find the Master; why so many Hindus in the E.S.T. for the purpose of getting teaching from Westerners? The answers are easy. Let those who are not carried away by a mere name, who can calmly examine facts, see that the West is the advancing conqueror of human destiny; that the Eastern lands, both India and other places, are storehouses for the world, holding from the past treasures that the West alone can make avail of and teach the East how to use. Let sectional jealousy cease, and let us all be careful that we do not inject into the mental sphere of the Theosophical Society any ideas, arising from sentiment or from insufficient reflection, which might become a hindrance, however slight, to the evolutionary impulse, or which might tend concretely to limit the expansion of the great work begun by H.P.B. To create such a hindrance is an act, the gravity of which, though it may be not appreciated, is nevertheless very great.

“It is the destiny of the West to raise the East from its darkness, superstition, and ignorance, to save the world; it is its destiny to send Theosophical principles, literature, and teachers into even such a remote land as Tibet, whose language we as yet can scarcely learn.”

FROM “FORUM ANSWERS” p. 115-116 (1895 or 1896)

“Doubtless India is now the most ancient storehouse of Aryan philosophy which may be called theosophical . . . Beyond question also, the Hindus of today have more metaphysical acumen than we have. But the West is creeping up. And intellectual, metaphysical gifts are not spiritual gifts. We have all the intellect we need, active and latent. The Hindu of today is a talker, a hair-splitter, and when he has not been altered by contact with Western culture he is superstitious. Such we do not want as teachers. We will hail them as brothers and co-workers but not as our Magisters. But those Hindus who come here are not teachers. They have come here for some personal purpose and they teach no more nor better than is found in our own theosophical literature: their yoga is but half or quarter yoga, because if they knew it they would not teach a barbarian Westerner. What little yoga they teach is to be read at large in our books and translations.

“The craze for present-day India is an eminently foolish one. If one will calmly examine the facts he will find the nation as a whole superstitious to the last degree; the few theosophists and Englishized ones being but as a drop in the ocean. It is not a united nation and cannot itself help the West. For centuries it has helped no one outside itself. As a whole – there are grand exceptions – the Brahmins keep up the superstition and proud isolation. We have the words of Master K.H. – an Indian – that India is spiritually degraded. Fakirs and wonder-workers and hypnotizers do not prove spirituality. It is the destiny of India to hold as a storehouse good things to come out later; the West, as newest, youngest, and hence least degraded spiritually, has to work and learn so as to help the East. . . .

“It is time to call a halt, and for theosophists to broaden their conception of what and where the East is, and to stop talking as if the sun in the morning shone only on India.” 

FROM “THE CLOSING CYCLE”
(Article, January 1895)

“We have entered on the dim beginning of a new era already. It is the era of Western Occultism and of special and definite treatment and exposition of theories hitherto generally considered. We have to do as Buddha told his disciples: preach, promulgate, expound, illustrate, and make clear in detail all the great things we have learned. That is our work, and not the bringing out of surprising things about clairvoyance and other astral matters, nor the blinding of the eye of the science by discoveries impossible for them but easy for the occultist. The Master’s plan has not altered. He gave it out long ago. It is to make the world at large better, to prepare a right soil for the growing out of the powers of the soul, which are dangerous if they spring up in our present selfish soil. It is not the Black Lodge that tries to keep back psychic development; it is the White Lodge. The Black would fain have all the psychic powers full flow now, because in our wicked, mean, hypocritical, and money-getting people they would soon wreck the race.”

FROM “BY MASTER’S DIRECTION”
(Private esoteric circular letter, November 1894)

“The Master says that the T.S. [i.e. Theosophical Society] movement was begun by Them in the West by western people, and that it is not Their desire to turn it into a solely eastern movement nor to have us run after the present East and its exoteric teachers; . . . cyclic law requires the work in the West for the benefit of the world; . . . They find it very hard to break down the walls of theological and other prejudices in the East; that the Egos of the West include many who helped to make the religion, the philosophy, and the civilization of the ancient East; that the new race is being prepared for in the West, and to divert thought back to the teachers of to-day in the East would be dangerous; that many Initiates have remained with the West as Nirmanakayas [i.e. Bodhisattvas] for its help in its destiny, and that through the great work in the West the whole East as well as West will be benefited. . . . They also say that Nature’s laws have set apart woe for those who spit back in the face of their teacher, for those who try to belittle her work and make her out to be part good and part fraud; those who have started on the path through her must not try to belittle her work and aim. They do not ask for slavish idolatry of a person, but loyalty is required. They say that the Ego of that body she used was and is a great and brave servant of the Lodge, sent to the West for a mission with full knowledge of the insult and the obloquy to be surely heaped upon that devoted head; and they add: “Those who cannot understand her had best not try to explain her; those who do not find themselves strong enough for the task she outlined from the very first had best not attempt it”. The T.S. and its devoted members should so pursue the aim that the great work may at last be accomplished, so that when the next great Messenger shall arrive the obstacles that were found in 1875 will not be there, to be again overcome only through long years of effort.

“A distinct object H.P.B. ∴ had in view I will now on the authority of the Master tell you. The work of the dark powers and their conscious and unconscious agents is against this object. They wish to defeat it. It is an object of the highest value and of the greatest scope, unrevealed before by H.P.B. ∴ to anyone else that I know of, though possibly there are those to whom she hinted it. All her vast work in the West, with western people, upon western religions and modern science, was toward this end, so that when she comes again as Messenger — as hinted at in the Key to Theosophy — much of the preparatory work should have been done by us and our successors. It is, the establishment in the West of a great seat of learning where shall be taught and explained and demonstrated the great theories of man and nature which she brought forward to us, where western occultism, as the essence combined out of all others, shall be taught. This stupendous object the Black Lodge would prevent. And even the exoteric theological Brahman would also prevent it, because it will in the end obliterate that form of caste which depends alone on birth, for there will be developed those whose inner vision will see the real caste of the inner man and put him down in a lower one for his discipline if he is not truly in his place. . . . Shall her great object be worked against by us and its foundations overthrown? Never, if the vast powers of the Masters can be drawn to its support; never, if we are faithful to our pledges and to our trust.

“I also state, on the same authority, that H.P.B. ∴ has not reincarnated. That Ego is quite conscious and working toward the final accomplishment of the end in view, which depends very largely upon the members of the Theosophical Society, and on their loyalty. If the plotters succeed, the Black Lodge will win by turning our thoughts to the modern East with its Yogis and Fakirs, its hide-bound castes, its subtle and magnificently intellectual theology, its Hatha Yoga and all the dangers attending that.” 

FROM “THEOSOPHICAL DON’TS”
(Article, December 1894)

“Don’t think or say that the only true occultism is found in the East, or that we must go to the East for it, or that the West has none of it. Remember that the greatest known Adept was a Western woman, a Russian [i.e. H. P. Blavatsky], and that the energy of the lodge of Masters was first expended here in the West in this age. If so, is it not reasonable to suppose that the West has its occultists even though hidden? Recollect also that H.P.B. received in her house in New York before witnesses Western men of occult science who worked wonders there at times. Perhaps it is as has been hinted many a time, that the true thing is to be found in a union of the East and the West. The terms Guru and Chela have been misused so that all too many are looking to India for help, from which they will get but little until the West is itself full of wise students of occultism who know the meaning of being placed by karma in the West. The fact is, again, that in the East the men are looking to the great Russian woman for the very spiritual help that first shed its rays upon the West unmistakably. Again, there is extant a letter from the Mahatma K. H. to a Western man wherein it said that he should work in his own land and forget not that Karma so demanded.”

~ * ~

“The West is the future of occult science.” (William Q. Judge, “Subjects for Discussion” p. 5, from the entry for “Occultism”)

“As in universal action force flows from hierarchy to hierarchy, from world to world, from cell-unit to cell-unit by established channels only, so the guardians of the Secret Wisdom, followers of Nature’s laws, have everywhere their posts. Not alone in the East. It is not only Eastern Occultism, but Eastern and Western, two objective poles of one spiritual hierarchy, with a great teacher, twin-brothers in work and duty, in each division, with spiritual chiefs “above,” and followers and helpers of all degrees in succession. “The Lodge is everywhere.” Such Teachers take bodies of Eastern or Western heredity for their temporary habitations; the force generated through these bodies or physical bases for projection upon the physical plane must be magnetically and psychically homogeneous to the ray or sphere of the work. . . . The human mind has a tendency to exalt what is distant [Note: And, we could add, a tendency to equate the exotic with the esoteric]. . . . The young in occultism are sometimes drawn eastward by this trait, which has its root in the attraction of contraries. The tendency is toward forgetfulness of this linked succession, and that our soul chose for its next step the environment where we now are. Prophets may have a mission to other lands, but the dweller in cities may find rich rewards close to his hand. 

“The Eastern race had earlier fruitage, and the coronal flowers of her achievement are those perfect souls who are as the pole-star to heaven-aspiring minds. Such men are not confined to bodies of that nation in which they first attained, but take such houses in such lands as the great work of human service may demand. Today the West is the hope of the future race as of the present. Today the elder brothers of men look to that West for objective aid as for racial evolutionary development. Individual men may still pass on to perfection everywhere, but the evolutionary forces tend westward now and must thence react back upon the East.

“H.P.B., true to her mission of breaking up old moulds of mind, fixed modes of thought, attacked all forms from which the spirit had fled. The nascent Manas of the new race must not be smothered in the musty cradle of old forms. The husks of all creeds were in turn by her assailed. Readers of the early numbers of the Theosophist will find her dealing with the materialized dogmatic forms of the East just as she dealt with those of the West. She encountered the hostility of eminent Brahmins and prominent Christians then as now. This must inevitably occur when the spiritual pride of a race or the “modern spirit” of a nation is touched by a mordant [i.e. a corrosive substance that leaves a permanent imprint] such as hers. . . .

“The East lies almost dead, almost paralyzed by Western materialism. The West is waking to the greatness and value of the ancient Aryan [i.e. Indian] philosophy; it has the energy to appreciate and use it under new conditions; when made a part of Western thought, it will react back to the East, when an awakening will take place — it will not take place till then. . . . There is no division of races [involved] in it. He who says that those who insist on Western destiny and point to the current flowing West are trying to make discord between the East and West, is blind when not malicious. . . . 

“What battles were fought by H.P.B. with the Brahmans of modern India, and how she faced the opposition of their inherited conservatism! She had to deal with priests, for, as everyone should know by now, the Brahmans were the priestly caste of India. They were horrified with her unfamiliar methods, for they had grown hard-cased in a form and they overlooked the spirit in the letter. In all her writings, especially in the Secret Doctrine and the Voice of the Silence, she had much to say about the “Tîrthikas, the unbelievers” — the Brahman ascetics, as she carefully explained. But, needless to say, she was not so foolish as to think that all Brahmans were of this kind. Was not Damodar a Brahman? Though he had to lay down his caste before achieving the aim and hope of his life. There are of course many good and noble-minded men amongst the members of that caste, as amongst those of other castes. One may study the characteristics of a nation with profit and without the slightest harshness, . . . It would be still more ridiculous for every native of that country to take the criticism as a personal insult to himself. He would be self-condemned at once.” (Julia Keightley, also known by her pen name Jasper Niemand, “On The Screen of Time,” “The Path” magazine, December 1894, February and April 1895)

“It is useless for Theosophical students to go to India in search of “deeper knowledge,” or “higher teachings.” The way for all Westerners is through H. P. Blavatsky, said Mr. Judge. The way for the world is through H. P. Blavatsky; for Westerners, through Mr. Judge. [Note: Crosbie – a friend and pupil of William Judge, and the founder in 1909 of the United Lodge of Theosophists – is not suggesting that HPB’s works are not suitable for Westerners; he is instead referring to the fact that her mission and writings were aimed at the whole world, the West included, whereas, as he writes in a letter in “The Friendly Philosopher,” “We consider the writings of W. Q. J. to be particularly designed for the needs of the Western people.”] India has lost her spirituality. Seeking private, individual salvation, and caring nothing for the rest of the world, she has become separated from the world of men — which means a separation from the power to do good. This spiritual selfishness has brought about the declining cycle in India . . . India will indeed again become a great nation, but that can only be when the wave of civilization rolls back again from its Western confines, mentally, morally, and spiritually. . . . The Western nations . . . will acquire the knowledge, and will have the disposition to bring back to the older peoples the ancient knowledge, for under true Western occultism they will have become beings of another kind, and of a higher nature than they now possess.” (Robert Crosbie, “Shall We Go To India?,” “Theosophy” magazine, October 1921)

Some readers might understandably think that there is no basis for these ideas in the writings of H. P. Blavatsky and that they are merely a post-Blavatsky development among some of her supporters in the USA. It is true that she never placed any particular emphasis on points such as these but she did once state:

“At present the Brahmins are as ignorant of the occult sciences as the Buddhists of Ceylon [i.e. Sri Lanka]! . . . In India, among the 150,000,000 Brahmins of every degree, one would not find 150 initiates, including the Yogis and Paramahamsas. . . . their temples have become cemeteries where lie the corpses of their once beautiful symbols and where reign supreme superstition and exploitation. If it were different, why would American Theosophists have gone to India? . . . Brahmins . . . those at least who have remained ultra-orthodox and who fight every benevolent reform – persecute us and hate us as much as do the Christian clergy and the missionaries. We break their idols; they endeavour to smash our reputations . . . The brotherhood of the Theosophists throughout India are the only ones to see the haughty Englishman sitting down at the same table with equally arrogant Brahmins, mellowed and humanized by the example and the lessons of the Theosophists who serve the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom, the descendants of those Rishis and Mahatmas which Brahmanism has always revered, though it has ceased to understand them. . . . it is not the “priesthood of India” that attempts to bring the Occident [i.e. the West] back to the ancient wisdom, but rather a few Occidentals from Europe-America who, led by their Karma to the happiness of knowing certain Adepts of the secret Himalayan Brotherhood, attempt, under the inspiration of these Masters, to lead the priesthood of India back to the primitive and divine esotericism.” (“Misconceptions”)

It is extremely important that the whole subject and idea presented throughout this present article not be interpreted as a form of “Western chauvinism,” for it is not that at all and such an approach would be diametrically opposed to the fundamental principles of Theosophy, the first and foremost of which is the UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD of all humanity. Theosophy does not claim that the Western peoples are in any way “spiritually superior” to those of the East; quite the opposite in fact! But the crucial point is that the primary focus of humanity’s progress and development right now is not in the East but in the West, and that this will remain the case for centuries and millennia to come. India has had her day and will again have her day, but for the present moment the periodically recurring cyclic force of evolution is focused in the West. “Such are the falls and rises of the Karmic Law in Nature.”

~ BlavatskyTheosophy.com ~

This article may have raised more questions about various things. Please make use of the site search function (the magnifying glass symbol at the top of the page) and visit the Articles page to see the complete list of over 400 articles covering all aspects of Theosophy and the Theosophical Movement. The articles linked to within this one may also help to clarify various points.