| Very
few historical persons have exercised
as deep an influence on Indian
thought and spiritual life as
Adi Shankara (AD 788 – 820).
He established four seats of spiritual
learning in India, the principle
being at Sringeri in the South
of India. To this day, it has
had an unbroken line of succession.
The thirty second Acharya of Sringeri,
Jagadguru Sri Narasimha Bharati
VIII, was Pontiff from 1817 until
1879. He was a great yogi through
intense meditation and spent over
forty years traveling through
India. |
| One
of Sri Narasimha Bharati’s
disciples was Paramahansa
Krishnananda Swami. As an
elderly man, this disciple
attended a remarkable gathering
of Rishis (Holy men) in
the Himalayas in 1855. The
event is described in the
preface to the book, The
Heart of the Eastern Mystical
Teaching,
by Hari Prasad Shastri.
It was said that for the
previous 150 years (ie from
about 1800), Europe had
been gradually awakening
to the spiritual thought
of India through the work
of scholars from France,
Germany, and Great Britain.
However none of these scholars
had actually practised the
yoga necessary to confirm
from their own personal
experience the release from
the sufferings and anxiety
of life and the attainment
of the everlasting bliss
of spiritual illumination
pledged by the Holy Rishis.
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Paramahansa
Krishnananda Swami |
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The prologue
went on to elucidate further
that in the year 1855 a group
of Rishis, spiritually perfect
beings, had gathered together
in the Himalayas. They waited
for the arrival of two great
sages, Rishi Vyasa and Paramahansa
Krishnananda Swami. One of the
Rishis then stated:
Holy Guardians
of Dharma! Illustrious Rishis!
A new sub-cycle in this Yuga
is ending. A new light of the
torch of Eternal Truth is to
be ushered into the world. The
West has to live according to
the Law which the Lord gave
her nearly 2,000 years ago.
Optimism and activity, ambition
and love of power have stifled
the growth of the spirit of
the West. Now let a new era
open. A tributary of the holy
Ganga of the Gita is winding
its way to Angala Desha (England).
Thus it has been decreed. This
holy and venerable Sage, this
representative of the great
Shankara, this saint is undertaking
the great task. Give your blessings,
holy Sages.
Although the
scene is described at one level,
a true understanding of what
took place is not really known
except by looking at the effect.
The analogy of the river Ganges
is understandable. In the Advaita
Vedanta tradition it is said
that the Ganges begins its journey
in the causal world and comes
through the subtle to its physical
manifestation. It carries the
Truth. In stating that a tributary
of the Ganges is winding its
way to Angala Desha, the Sages
were speaking of the Advaita
Vedanta Philosophy being made
available to the West. So what
happened, and how did this impetus
play out? Did the impulse put
out by Paramhansa Krishnananda
Swami and the other assembled
Rishis take place?
About this time England saw
the rise of the period known
as the start of modern spiritualism.
There was a great interest in
séances, connecting with
the dead and manifesting ectoplasm
etc. The Society for Psychical
Research was formed in 1882.
But already the next step was
taking place with the emergence
on the scene of Madam H P Blavatsky
and the Theosophical Society.
"Theosophia" was a
term used by the Neoplatonists
which literally meant "knowledge
of the divine". As with
the statement in The Heart of
the Eastern Mystical Teaching,
Madam Blavatsky also maintained
that the Wise, who she referred
to as the Masters of Theosophy
had been searching for a century
for the next messenger to preserve
and extend the ancient wisdom
and finally in the 1800’s
they chose her. She saw the
master who would be her teacher
in her dreams as a child. She
said she met him in Hyde Park
in London when she was 20. Apparently
Madam Blavatsky entered Tibet
and according to her, was trained
by these masters from 1868 to
1870. She spread this teaching
around the world from 1875 until
her death in 1891.
This was done through the formation
of the Theosophical Society
in New York City in 1875. The
founders were Madam Blavatsky,
Henry Steel Olcott and William
Quan Judge. The initial objective
was the study of mediumistic
phenomena, but Madam Blavatsky
and Olcott moved to India and
began studying Eastern religions.
These were included in the Society’s
agenda. In 1889 when Blavatsky
wrote Key to Theosophy, the
Society's objectives had evolved
into
1. To form
the nucleus of a Universal Brotherhood
of Humanity without distinction
of race, colour, or creed.
2. To promote the study of Aryan
and other Scriptures, of the
World's religion and sciences,
and to vindicate the importance
of old Asiatic literature, namely,
of the Brahmanical, Buddhist,
and Zoroastrian philosophies.
3. To investigate the hidden
mysteries of Nature under every
aspect possible, and the psychic
and spiritual powers latent
in man especially. (p. 39, Key
to Theosophy)
Blavatsky died in 1891. Initially
it appeared the Society's leaders
worked together peacefully in
her memory. This did not last
long. By this time Annie Besant
had become a prominent member
of the Society. She and Olcott
accused Judge of forging letters
from the Mahatmas. Judge ended
his association with them in
1895 and set up his own faction
taking most of the American
section with him. Today it is
known as the Theosophical Society
and has its headquarters in
Pasadena California. The faction
headed by Olcott and Besant
is still based in India and
known as the Theosophical Society
– Adyar. A third organisation
split off from Judge’s
group in 1909 and became known
as the United Lodge of Theosophists
or ULT. Many believe that in
some sense the original society
ceased to exist after the 1895
schism – perhaps it in
fact ceased to exist following
the death of Madam Blavatsky.
Detractors regard Blavatsky
as a charleton, but it would
appear she made quite a spiritual
journey from her early interest
in mediumship to the investigation
into Eastern, and particularly
Indian philosophy.
J Krishnamurti was born in 1895.
His father wrote to Annie Besant
of the Theosophical Society
seeking employment. He was taken
on as a clerk by the Society
in 1909. Krishnamurti came to
the attention of Leadbeater
and others who thought he would
be the next World Leader. In
1911 the Theosophical leadership
formed an organisation called
the Order of the Star with the
young Krishnamurti as its head.
This caused controversy in the
Theosophical Society, in Hindu
circles and the Indian press.
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Another
major figure to emerge was
G I Gurdjieff, an interesting
man born about 1866. Not
a lot about his early life
is known, except that he
was a member of a group
who called themselves The
Seekers of the Truth. They
traveled widely through
the Near and Far East looking
for the Ancient Tradition.
He was the real pioneer
of the Schools of the Fourth
Way and his exploits would
put many present day seekers
to shame, making them look
like armchair philosophers.
He emerged from Russia fleeing
the Bolshevik revolution
with a few followers including
Thomas and Olga de Hartmann.
Olga kept a diary of this
period. She used this diary
as the basis for her book
Our Life With Mr. Gurdjieff.
Thomas wrote the music under
Gurdjieff’s direction
to accompany the “movements”
that Gurdjieff devised.
Gurdjieff is credited with
coining the phrase “The
Fourth Way”. The Fourth
Way is the way of the Householder.
The other three ways were
known as the ways of the
Yogi, Fakir and Monk. The
Fourth Way was the way a
householder could follow
a spiritual path while living
in the world.
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Perhaps one of Gurdjieff’s
best known pupils was P D Ouspensky.
Ouspensky was in the Theosophical
Society in St Petersburg. He
had already written Tertium
Organum by this time. According
to Anna Butkovsky, whom he met
in the Society, he left the
Theosophical Society because
he had ceased to believe in
its effectiveness. She later
wrote in her book With Gurdjieff
in St Petersburg and Paris:
(p 17)
He had been
invited to join the inner circle
which he had been told was very
different from the meeting we
had just attended. In the inner
circle meetings, it was alleged,
one experienced a degree of
enlightenment not accessible
to ordinary members. “These
ordinary members are just sheep!”
he told me scornfully. “But
I feel there are even bigger
sheep in the inner circles.”
Bob Hunter
in his book P D Ouspensky: Pioneer
of the Fourth Way (p 80) went
further to comment about Ouspensky:
He was fond
of joking about the three level
cast system adopted there (in
the Theosophical Society) with
nondescript followers, hangers
on and parasites confined to
the ground floor; well to do
well wishers entertained on
the second floor; and initiates
allowed to take their place
at the top. What Ouspensky found
especially worth remarking was
that, although he had publicly
criticized the Theosophy founder,
Helena Blavatsky, he was immediately
ushered up to the level of the
inner circle.
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| When
Gurdjieff and Ouspensky
first met in 1915, Ouspensky
was already a writer, thinker
and philosopher. Ouspensky
and Anna Butkovsky met Gurdjieff
in St Petersburg and joined
his small group which with
them totaled six. They met
almost daily. The reason
for their subsequent falling
out was Ouspensky’s
belief that Gurdjieff went
against his own principles.
In 1924 Ouspensky made his
final decision to part company
with Gurdjieff, but it was
not until 1931 that he started
his own group meetings in
London. In the early days
Ouspensky’s groups
could only be entered by
way of introduction. One
had to have read A New Model
of The Universe, and Tertium
Organum, showing a serious
interest in the work before
being invited to attend
the meetings. By all accounts
Ouspensky did not try to
encourage all and sundry
to attend his meetings,
to the contrary he made
things difficult to ensure
only those genuinely committed
to the work would attend.
This is also the mark of
a number of traditions which
test the resolve of aspirants
before they are taken on
as disciples. |
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P
D Ouspensky |
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About 1960, the
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi started his
mission incorporating transcendental
meditation, and a little later the
Hari Krishna’s started under
the guidance of Sri Prabhu Pada. There
were other Indian Teachers such as
Swami Vivekananda who came to the
West, but the aim of this essay is
not to cover all of them. The offshoot
was the whole hippy movement and meditation
became fashionable.
The school Ouspensky
headed ultimately became the Study
Society after his death. Dr Roles
who took over the leadership was a
contemporary of Leon MacLaren.
Leon MacLaren was
born in 1910. At the age of sixteen,
he read the book Progress and Poverty
by Henry George.
A little later, sitting
by a lake, having read from the book,
it became very clear to me that there
was such a thing as Truth and there
was such a thing as Justice and that
they could be found and being found,
could be taught. It seemed to me that
that was the most valuable thing one
could pursue. So I resolved to pursue
this when I was twenty one.
He studied law and
was admitted to the bar. In addition
to the law he had a great interest
in Economics inherited from his father,
and with the aid of his father started
the School of Economic Science (SES).
This operated for a number of years
but he came to the point of realizing
that economics did not have all the
answers. A quantum jump to philosophy
had to be made. Mr MacLaren commenced
studying the Fourth Way Teaching and
attended the Study Society run by
Dr Roles. He introduced philosophy
into the SES and it quickly became
the main area of study.
Dr Roles met the
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and was invited
by him to India to meet His Holiness
Sri Shantanand Saraswati who at that
stage was the Shankaracharya of the
North of India. Dr Roles subsequently
offered to take questions to His Holiness
from Mr MacLaren but Mr MacLaren declined
the offer and wrote directly to Shantanand
himself. His Holiness Sri Shantanand
Saraswati then invited Leon MacLaren
to visit him.
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You can pick up
the alternative therapies directory
and be overwhelmed by any number of
options ranging from Chakra realignment
and cleansing, crystals, massage etc
to a myriad of other options. Virtually
anything can be found. But what does
this all mean really in terms of real
spiritual development?
If the seed planted
in the 1800’s by those Rishis
in the Shankara Tradition in the Himalayas
was to bring an appreciation of Eastern
philosophy to the West, then it could
be said that the flowering of that
seed has been achieved. Their message
of the East has certainly become widely
available in the West, and so it would
appear their aim has been fulfilled.
From the initial impetus put into
the creation by the Rishis in the
Himalayas, the Teaching did come to
the West through the agency of a few
remarkable people. Indeed Dr Roles
of the Study Society spoke to His
Holiness Shantanand Saraswati about
the Fourth Way Teaching asking if
it was indeed the same as the Advaita
Vedanta and was told that it was the
same system.
Each of the people
mentioned above brought the Teaching
in their own particular way, but if
this is looked at from a larger perspective,
each brought aspects according to
their own predisposition and understanding
which has combined to give a good
overall appreciation.
This is not
the end of that story, though how
it will continue to play out will
be seen in its own good time.
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