Welcome to the May Supplement in which you will find all the letters written to the President of the TS Adyar in support of the campaign for Justice to be done in the “Judge Case” – this comes together with an article describing practices in “Buddhist Meditation”, published in two parts starting this month.

Happy reading – here’s the index, and just click on the link below to download the PDF.

And do have a look at Radha Burnier’s reply to these letters . . . . . . . . .  on p 4

Justice to Judge Letters 2011 …………………… p 1

ON BUDDHIST MEDITATION ……………….. p 2

The 2011 Letters on Justice and Ethics……….. p 5

Resources at on-line groups ……………………… p 19

Commentary on the 2011 Letters to India …… p 20

For those who can’t wait till the next instalment, the complete article on Buddhist Meditation is available at http://www.ultindia.org/tm_magazine/TMJune2011.pdf

The conference season is once again upon us, and if you attend these things and are going to the ITC (http://www.theosconf.org/) in California (from 11th to 14th August) here’s a greeting and best wishes for an enjoyable event – it’s not so often one has the opportunity to meet with so many like minded fellows!

Yours always,

The AQ Editors

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Extract from   The Past and the Future

                           by Radha Burnier

Recently several letters have been addressed to the President asking that justice be done to Mr Judge.  About one and a quarter centuries have passed since he was prominent among members.  There are some who favour the actions that he took, and others who do not; are we going to make a judgement on behalf of all the members at this point?  Is this really feasible?  The decision in favour or not, will be only on paper, and people will continue to think of what is possible as they wish and see.  The Society cannot regulate this, and is not called upon to do so.

So, the best thing is to discriminate to the extent that our own intelligence lets us, which may be right or wrong.  What does it matter to others?  Since one cannot shape, or want to shape, what other people think, the Theosophical Society cannot, after one hundred and thirty years, decide what its members should see or think about past happenings.  There is the case of C. W. Leadbeater, who I think was much misunderstood and maligned.  Others may think he was a bad character.  Will our thinking change what he was?  There are many people who, being human, had faults and weaknesses.  By finding out what exactly was the matter, it helps neither them nor us.  Our present attitude towards things is what matters, not the conclusions we may make about what people in the past did.

[ There is a comment in response to this reply on page 1. ]

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Venus - the morning and evening star

The Supplement contains the full text of the new play about the  three Theosophical Founders in 1875 – in it William Q Judge is given a leading role with a monologue at the end that finishes:

“Brothers and Sisters… this Society must not fail.  It will not fail. 

As you’ve just heard, we are entering a New Cycle with all the opportunities that it offers! Humanity has a choice; it can either move further down that road to where its goals are wealth, possessions and selfish gratification, or up towards a Golden Age of compassionate love and the true joy that comes from an awareness that none of us are separate but integral parts of the whole of Nature…

So, though many attempts will be made to break our resolve through slander, malice and deliberate distortions of what we are attempting to teach – and, more importantly, to show by the way we live – it is only indifference that can seriously weaken our cause.  

To study what The Masters have given us is a privilege.  What individually you do with that privilege is up to you.

Remember, when we have gone on, you will be the Society’s advocates; you will be its emissaries.  And remember too that wonderful phrase – our “Inner Abiding Presence”. Draw comfort from the thought of its existence, or – dare I say – from its realisation.”

The play is written by Alan Hughes from the London Adyar TS and its even-handed view of the founders is most warmly welcomed to the AQ. 

Justice for Judge:

The Supplement also contains a so far unreported letter from Canada to the Adyar TS’s International President  from Bruce Mac Donald, that unpicks some of the obstacles at Adyar in restoring Judge’s good name. 

Further it points out the responsibilities of the TS to ‘live the life’ - through impersonal and enlightened leadership which is so clearly needed as an example in these days of drab materialism: in it is asked:

“What is Adyar doing in order to point people in the right direction [not more material progress but a spiritual message]?   William Q. Judge could very well hold the key of a Theosophical Renaissance.”

With best wishes,

The Editors

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• new play about the three founders of the TS in 1875 (extract below from page 1)
• Root Causes ”The Error of Violence” on p 3
• Experiences of a Chela on p 5
• Franklin on Humility & the Virtues p 7
• B.P.Wadia and the early ULT p 8… and don’t miss
• the book review of  the excellent “Is there no other way? – The search for a nonviolent future” p 11

on the founding of the TS –

opens with Narrator, H.P.Blavatsky and Col H.S.Olcott

 extract from Part 1:

 Narrator: … but first, there’s someone else I want to introduce to you all.    So if you’d take a seat.   Colonel, I would like to call forward (raises voice) Mr. William Quan Judge!

          (HSO sits next to HPB as WQJ comes forward, bows to HPB, shakes hands with HSO and turns to face the audience)

         Mr. Judge, we think of you now as the third member of the theosophical ‘trinity’, but am I not right in saying that your doctor many years ago would not have believed such a career as yours would be possible.

  WQJ: He pronounced me dead.

 Narr: Could you elaborate a little, please?

 WQJ:  Not really. I was dead. The doctor had said to my parents who were at the bedside: “I’m deeply sorry, but your son is dead”.

 Narr: (pause) I suspect that everyone in this room feels there’s something more you have to tell us.

WQJ: Well, you can imagine my parents’ surprise when I not only opened my eyes but then started to tell them of having been somewhere else. 

Narr: And in the following months this visiting “somewhere else” continued each time you slept?

WQJ: My mother was a strict Methodist and hated any talk about mysticism and things like reincarnation or the religions of the East.

Narr: And your dreams were of places in the East?

WQJ: Yes, in India. But they weren’t dreams. I was there  – as a boy – a boy of noble birth. Then - (pause)

Narr: Yes?

WQJ: Then he – or rather I – that is, the I in India, died too (pause) Well, actually he didn’t die but he became one with me; or I became one with him. (turns to HPB) Please, Madame, can you explain this better?

HPB: Use your intuition, Judge, and try to understand.

WQJ: To this day I’m not really sure why it was but when I recovered after that near death in Ireland, I found I had an intense interest in books on occultism, and mesmerism and such like. Poor Mother. She felt she’d brought some sort of changeling into the world. And it was doubly “poor Mother” as she exhausted herself giving birth to seven children.

HSO: Didn’t you tell me she died soon after that seventh birth?

WQJ: (pause) Yes. (pause) Father decided that perhaps we’d have a better life in America, so to the United States we came.

————–from Part 4: —————

 HPB: (still writing) That One religion of Nature from which every dogma has grown and – and become sadly materialised, (pretends to gather up papers, stands up, kisses WQJ and follows HSO, waving as she goes)

         (pause)

 Narr: Our revels now are – almost – ended. To round off the story of the formation of our Society this evening, I would like to ask Mr Judge if he would care to say a few closing words – Mr Judge.

 WQJ: (to Narr.) Thank you, Mr – er – thank you. (faces audience)

 Brothers and Sisters, it is surely unnecessary to say to you – members of the T.S. as you all are – that this Society must not fail. It will not fail. As you’ve just heard, we are entering a New Cycle with all the opportunities that it offers!

  Humanity has a choice; it can either move further down that road to where its goals are wealth, possessions and selfish gratification, or up towards a Golden Age of compassionate love and the true joy that comes from an awareness that none of us are separate but integral parts of the whole of Nature.

We have been assured by The Masters that in this task, as long as The Theosophical Society exists, the link between them and ourselves will be maintained.

So, though many attempts will be made to break our resolve through slander, malice and deliberate distortions of what we are attempting to teach -and, more importantly, to show by the way we live – it is only indifference that can seriously weaken our cause.

To study what The Masters have given us is a privilege. What individually you do with that privilege is up to you.

Remember, when we have gone on, you will be the Society’s advocates; you will be its emissaries. And remember too that wonderful phrase - our “Inner Abiding Presence”. Draw comfort from the thought of its existence, or – dare I say – from its realisation.

Therefore, dear friends, whatever your achievements or failures; whenever come your times of happiness or sorrow; wherever you go, may your Inner Abiding Presence always guide you.  (puts hands together)  Namaste.

              (turns to Narr:) Namaste.

              Narr: Namaste.

THE END

 Permission to reprint these extracts were kindly given by the author, Alan Hughes, from the Adyar TS in London UK.

The full text will be reprinted in the May Supplement.

 [...]

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Dear Readers and Correspondents

Some of the items in this month’s edition are a letter calling for your support for the Justice for Judge campaign for 13th April, his birthday. The letter is on p 4 – just send an email to lutbr@terra.com.br to ask about supporting this important action (or use the clickable links which now work in the PDF).

- a frank and honest letter from a serving police officer on the lack of incentive to cure of many of society’s ills. This is the first of a series on root causes which you are invited to contribute suggestions to – just reply to Jerome or me.

- an account by the late Dallas TenBroeck of how B.P.Wadia and others formed the early ULT Lodges in the US, India and Europe

- the lead article on the great feelings of unity and brotherhood that were brought about by the first 10 years of theosophical work of India, such as breaking down caste and race barriers and the formation of the Indian National Congress. Perhaps we can reflect on this to provide context for what are today’s challenges.

The Editors and Contributors

“If your brain wavers, then give it a long rest and do simple constant acts of kindness for others” - W. Q. Judge, Letters 1:179

The First 10 Years in India & Now?

As a student of theosophy one should know what has been achieved through it’s influence. 
Looking at the years 1879 to 1889 we see the Theosophical Society made a significant impression on the lives of many, not only in America and Europe, but perhaps nowhere more so than in India, Ceylon and the Far East.
In late 1878 Mme H.P.Blavatsky and Col Olcott left the 27 year old William Judge  alone in the USA but for General Doubleday and some other figures, all of whom later dropped out of active work.  

“Our Three Objects” No.1 on Brotherhood
“When we arrived in India, in February, 1879, there was no unity between the races and sects of the Peninsula, no sense of a common public interest, no disposition to find the mutual relation between the several sects of ancient Hinduism, or that between them and the creeds of Islam, Jainism, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism. [... continued in PDF]

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ONE night in the year 407 B.C., Socrates had a dream.

He saw a graceful white swan flying toward him with a melodious song trilling from its throat. The next morning Plato came to him and asked to become his pupil.

Socrates saw before him a handsome youth of twenty years, with the broad shoulders of an athlete, the noble brow of a philosopher and the limpid eyes of a poet. He knew that Plato belonged to one of the most illustrious families of  Greece, being descended, on his mother’s side, from the house of Solon, and with the blood of the ancient Kings of Attica flowing through his veins.

This was the beginning of a tender and intimate relationship which lasted until the day of Socrates’ death. While other pupils formulated one-sided systems which but partially represented the ideas of Socrates, Plato used those ideas as seeds which he planted, nourished and developed in the rich soil of his own superior mind, making the full-blown blossoms a memorial offering to the simple nobility of his teacher.

After the death of Socrates, Plato went to Megara and joined the Socratic School of Euclid (not the famous geometer, who lived in Alexandria in the time of Ptolemy I, but a disciple of Socrates who excelled in logical disputation).
From there he went to Cyrene, where Theodorus instructed him in mathematics. Thence to southern Italy, where he studied the science of numbers under the three most famous Pythagoreans of the day. Then into Egypt, to
receive the instructions of the learned doctors and priests of that ancient land.

Some say that he visited Persia and Babylonia, where he was initiated into the Chaldean Mysteries. Others say that he went as far as India. [... continued]

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