Zirkoff B. - The Esoteric Section: Difference between revisions

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Facsimile of the Document, transcription thereof, and all pertinent data, as far as known, may be found in Volume VI (pp. 250 et seq.) of the Collected Writings, to which the reader is referred.

Later the same year, namely in December of 1884, we hear of a Committee, proposed by T. Subba Row, and formed at Adyar to receive and direct further esoteric teachings and to transmit them to the “Inner Group” in London. It would appear that the Teachers had consented to detail a special group of their chelas to give material to this Committee through Subba Row and Damodar. The Committee was to be composed of Col. Henry S. Olcott, T. Subba Row, Mr. & Mrs. A. J. Cooper-Oakley, and S. Ramaswami Iyer.<ref>Cf. letters of Col. Olcott to Francesca Arundale, dated Dec. 31, 1884, and Jan. 7, 1885, and published in The Theosophist, September, 1932. Also The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, p. 363, and Josephine Ransom, A Short History of The Theosophical Society, p. 206.</ref> No further information concerning this effort is available, and it is reasonable to assume that nothing tangible came out of it.

{{Style P-Signature|William Q. Judge.”}}

“H.P.B. ... replied that I might go ahead without the paper and soon she would do something else. Later, at the time she was explaining in London the plan of the E.S.T. [Eastern School of Theosophy], I telegraphed her asking her to ‘make public the Inner Section.’ That telegram was received in the presence of Dr. Keightley and others. She then told me to come to London and help, which I did. The E.S. was founded on the exact lines of the above papers. I do not wish to place myself on the high level of H.P.B. ..., but in Occultism of Master’s Lodge a lower Chela is often used as the instrument for pointing out to such a great character as H.P.B. ... the times and seasons and sometimes the plan. That I did in this case, and by the direction of the Master. H.P.B.’s promulgations followed the ideas and also the words in part of my paper.”<ref>E.S.T. Circular entitled “By Master’s Direction,” dated from New York, November, 1894, and signed by William Q. Judge.</ref>

“I am not a pledged member of the E.S.T. and never made a pledge in it, as my pledges were long before to the Master direct; I was one of its founders, with H.P.B. ..., and she at the beginning made me manager and teacher in it from the first, under her, for the American part especially . . . . I wrote the rules of the E.S.T. myself in London in 1888 at H.P.B.’s request and under the direction of the Master. . . . .<ref>Op. cit., pp. 1-2.</ref>

The following Statement was published in Lucifer, Vol. III, on the last page of the October, 1888, issue:

Owing to the fact that a large number of Fellows of the Society have felt the necessity for the formation of a body of Esoteric students, to be organized on the ORIGINAL LINES devised by the real founders of the T.S., the following order has been issued by the President-Founder:––

{{Style P-Signature|(Signed) H. S. OLCOTT,

President in Council.}}

{{Style P-No indent|Attest:––H. P. BLAVATSKY.}}

“I have been asked as to the writing of The Book of Rules, and can only say that, to my knowledge, Mr. Judge wrote The Book of Rules under the guidance of Master M. and H.P.B. .:.; E. T. Hargrove and myself have both seen the original manuscript in Mr. Judge’s handwriting, with written additions in H.P.B.’s handwriting. This manuscript is in the possession of Mr. Judge. H.P.B. further told me that ‘all the Instructions should be studied by the light of The Book of Rules.’ I have seen letters from H.P.B. to Mr. Judge which show that he originated the idea of E.S.T.”<ref>E.S.T. Circular issued from 62, Queen Anne Street, Cavendish Square, London W., dated January 12, 1895, and signed by Dr. Archibald Keightley.</ref>

{{Style P-Signature|(Signed) H. P. Blavatsky.”<ref>Lucifer, London, Vol. V, January 15, 1890, p. 437; The Theosophist, Vol. XI Supplement to March, 1890, p. cv; H. S. Olcott, Old Diary Leaves, Series IV, p. 184.</ref>}}

Later, sometime after H.P.B. had formed her “Inner Group” in London, she issued an E.S. Order the text of which is as follows.<ref>Facsimile of this Order was published in The Theosophist, Vol. LIII, June 1932, pp. 230-31, the original being in the Adyar Archives.</ref>

<center><big>'''E.S.'''</big></center>

 

<center><big>'''ORDER'''</big></center>

“I hereby appoint in the name of the MASTER, Annie Besant Chief Secretary of the Inner Group of the Esoteric Section & Recorder of the Teachings.

{{Style P-Signature|H.B.P.∴}}

{{Style P-Signature|(Signed) Annie Besant.}}

{{Style P-Signature|William Q. Judge.”<ref>“Important Notice,” in the E.S.T. Circular entitled Suggestion and Aids, New Series No. 4, dated New York, March 29, 1892.</ref>}}

The first document issued by H.P.B. appears to have been a brief text entitled Preliminary Memorandum which was sent out in 1888, in a hectographed form, together with the Pledge folder. On December 14, 1888, a printed edition (which included the Rules) was issued.<ref>It was later published in The Theosophist, Vol. LII, August, 1931, pp. 591-99 with second paragraph deleted.</ref> Its text is as follows: