An issue of the Australian magazine Dawn from September 1, 1922, caught his eye yesterday—mostly because of the graphics on the front cover. It bills itself as “A Magazine Devoted to the Promotion of Universal Brotherhood.”
So, as you may imagine, the entire issue is devoted to exposing the wickedness going on in the Theosophical Society, an organization devoted to the promotion of universal brotherhood.
It is necessary for Dawn to expose a great deal of cant and humbug, which unhappily is at the moment rampant in the Theosophical Society. The trouble is, that a small coterie, consisting of Mrs. Besant, Mr. Leadbeater, and Mr. Jinarajadasa (with power to add to their number), usurp the sole right to interpret the will of “Masters” who, they claim, wish to direct the activities of the Society through them.
This coterie has broken entirely away from the original aims of the Society, and is deliberately introducing all sorts of fads into it, with the result that a state of ferment is now chronic.
And so on. We shall quote a few paragraphs more or less at random from the magazine, just to give our readers an idea of what universal brotherhood looks like.
Some of the Canadian Lodges have been greatly disturbed by the astounding claims made by, and on behalf of, theosophical “leaders.” They evidently wonder what is to happen next, and, by way of self-assertion and protest, several Lodges are issuing pamphlets on topical subjects.
In 1894, Mrs. Besant and Mr. Judge openly quarrelled, and as the Canadian circular points out, Mr. Judge asserted his authority, and expelled Mrs. Besant from the E.S. News reaches us as we go to press that no less an authority than Mr. B. P. Wadia (one who has always been predisposed to support Mrs. Besant’s interests, and was for years her business manager) has, while in America, carefully reviewed the old causus belli between Mr. Judge and Mrs. Besant, with the result that he now declares Mr. Judge to have been a valiant servant of the Masters, who has been wronged in the Theosophical Society, and whose teachings remain unknown to this day to its members.
Judging from the evidence immediately available, one is tempted to suppose that the definition of Brotherhood which would find widest acceptance in the T.S. at the present time is that “Brotherhood is the ability of other people to agree with ME.”
This, then, is evidently the secret cause of our President’s—shall we say eccentric?—policy. H.P.B. looked for the establishment of a nucleus of Universal Brotherhood without distinction of Race, Caste, Creed, Colour, etc., and a careful elimination of all tendency to sectarianism, so that when the next great Torch Bearer came at the end of this century, there would be something solid for him to work with and through. Mrs. Besant has other ideas—she is the Moses who is to gather together a little band of followers who will subserve everything to the capacity to follow her into the wilderness, or anywhere else, and become the nucleus of a new race.
From an open letter to Mrs. Besant: You have yourself placed the rock which is dividing the Theosophical stream, upon which the Theosophical ship may split in pieces. You have placed loyalty to personality above loyalty to principle, and in supporting Leadbeater you are ruining the T.S.…
In bidding you farewell, and leaving the E.S., I choose to serve no personality, but turn with eyes of faith to the unchanging, eternal Spirit of Truth.
The Sectional Offices in Sydney seem to have been most upset by the recent readjustment, and the General Secretary evidently considers that “loyalty to our leaders” consists of disloyalty to everybody else. Aided by the Vice-President, a systematic course of mis-representation of Sydney Lodge now seems to be the order of the day, and some very remarkable efforts in this direction have been made.…
The General Secretary admitted recently that he was working against the Sydney Lodge, and that he was spreading what amounts to malicious gossip against certain of its members, all of which, of course, we hear. Doubtless he is qualifying for an early “initiation” by these tactics, but the Sydney Lodge (which contributes the lion’s share towards his maintenance) has a right to an impartial service from him, and should consider its attitude towards the section if it does not get it.
So the next time someone offers you the promise of universal brotherhood, you may wish to refuse it—with thanks for the offer, of course. “It’s very kind of you,” you might explain, “but I don’t think I have what it takes for universal brotherhood. I haven’t made enough enemies yet.”