The Esoteric School Lobby

[Anand Gholap]

(Annie Besant was the head of the Esoteric School and Colonel Olcott was the President of TS.)
Mrs. Annie Besant wrote:
“In the T.S. we have a curious mixture. The Exoteric Society is purely democratic - it is only fair to admit this fully. On the other side we have an Esoteric body which is practically autocratic in its constitution ... The existence of a secret body to rule the outer Society made the constitution of the T.S. a mere farce, for it was at the mercy of the inner … All the differences that arose between the Colonel and myself were on this point; he could not believe that I was serious in saying that I would not use the E.S. against him, but slowly he came to understand it ... The greatest power will always be in the hands of the E.S., and not in the head of the Society ... I know that I exercise a quite unwarrantable power. This is what makes some people say there should not be an E.S.T. … We must recognize the danger and try to neutralize it. At any time during the last fifteen years I could have checkmated the Colonel on any point if I had chosen ...”

I could see frustration of some officers in TS regarding the results in Presidential elections. They were wondering how one person can get elected unopposed for around 30 years. It happened again and again in TS history. Different theories were offered to explain this phenomenon. I think all that mystery is solved by above passages of Annie Besant.
Best
Anand Gholap

[Pablo Sender]

Speculation has no end. I know ES members who voted against Radha Burnier. They will never suffer any consequence because they are allowed to do that. What you say simply doesn’t happen, and couldn’t happen. You are talking about Theosophists, who are probably among the most difficult people to tell them what to do. Local ES officers have no power whatsoever over ES members. They hold an administrative role. ES Head is not a guru, nor even close. Some ES members may love a particular ES head, others may be simply okay. The ES head instructions are always general, and regarding the spiritual life. Each ES member is free to follow the discipline or not.
It seems you are bent to see all kind of conspiracies. I’m sorry about that. You’ll have to live with them since you don’t trust what a person tells you out of his direct experience.

[Anand Gholap]

Pablo, you might be writing from your experience. But I am also writing from my experience. It is possible that environment in which you were did not have negative factors I mentioned. But I talk from experience. Anton and some others also told about their experience of ES members. Whether local ES head would act as a guru among other ES members in his group depends on that head. Situation in ES is not uniform everywhere. It is more likely that there are places where ES power is misused and there are places where ES power is justly used.
It appears that Pablo won't believe even when Annie Besant, herself an ES head for decades, admitted that TS democracy is a farce.
Anand Gholap

[William Vollrath]

The ES activities must be more open throughout TS. If "We are One" is to be lived, and not just preached, the path on resolving this controversy should be clear...

[William Vollrath]

I believe it was much more than just excessive intellectualization that Krisnamurti came to reject. My understanding is that, as he aged and grew, he concluded one cannot achieve their highest spiritual awareness by seeking to understand "The Path" promoted by any group or organization. It must instead be an individualized journey...

[Anand Gholap]

Dear Manohar,
This information is quite surprising. Thanks for sharing it. For protecting interests of Theosophical Society it is very important that members should share whatever TS related information they have. Thanks also to American Section of TS for running this discussion forum, which enables members to share important information.

[Anand Gholap]

Dear Manohar and Mary,
Why doesn't the General Council oppose such family control and alliance of TS with Krishnamurti Foundation? J. Krishnamurti had publicly rejected all major ideas given by Theosophy. So, worst thing that can happen to TS is to give control of TS to a Krishnamurtian.

[Konstantin Zaitzev]

And that's not all. Though it might be a hearsay, some people say that the circumstances of death of former president Coats and his closest associates J. Raymond and B. Mullik were somewhat mysterious.

[Pablo Sender]

"THE fundamental principle of occultism is that every idle word is recorded as well as one full of earnest meaning." Master K.H.

[Anand Gholap]

Dear Mary and All,
Here is one hypothesis. I am not in the ES, so others may correct this hypothesis.
Outer Head of ES has full control of ES hierarchy consisting of the O.H., Corresponding Secretaries in ES, ES Wardens and Members of ES.
ES hierarchy controls what happens in TS. In America condition may be different. But I think in many parts of TS, it is ES that controls TS. I was also told by an ES member that current O.H. controls TS through ES.
ES members do what O.H. tells them to do. Non-obedience of the orders of O.H. means getting expelled from the ES. Members of ES fear getting expelled from ES, and so they do whatever O.H. wants them to do.
These orders to members of ES are given through ES hierarchy. That means every order coming from O.H. need not be signed by the O.H. The Corresponding Secretaries and Wardens in ES know that they must do what O.H. wishes them to do. This wish may be expressed verbally or written. In any case obedience is demanded. Here again office in ES will be lost in case Warden or Corresponding Secretary does not do according to the wishes of O.H.
Many of the General Secretaries are also in ES and/or co-freemasonry. The head of both these organizations is current TS President. As ES and co-freemasonry are autocratic, their head can expel any member of these organizations any time. As General Secretaries know it, and as they don't want to get expelled from ES and/or co-masonry, they do what O.H. wishes them to do. They know that doing anything in TS work, against the wishes of O.H. means getting expelled from ES/co-masonry. So they don't challenge TS President in whatever decisions she takes.
Why do General Secretaries and ES members try to preserve their membership in ES and/or masonry by blind obedience? There could be at least two reasons. One is they know that true controlling power is in ES, and so if they lose position in ES, they might lose offices in TS also. Another reason behind trying to preserve ES/comasonry membership is they believe that if they remain in ES, they will be accepted as disciples by Masters of Wisdom. Because of these two reasons they try to preserve their ES membership, even if it meant blind obedience of orders of O.H., given through ES hierarchy.

[Anand Gholap]

Annie Besant herself wrote that in reality Esoteric School controls Theosophical Society. And as it is important matter, we would like to know why she said that. Above hypothesis is given to explain what might be happening, that gives TS control to ES. And as the Outer Head of ES is in control of ES, the result is TS control is given to the O.H.
1) TS is controlled by the ES. (Annie Besant confirmed this)
2) ES is controlled by the Outer Head of ES. (This is a fact well known to most of the serious members of TS)
3) The logical result of conditions 1 and 2 is TS is controlled by the Outer Head of ES.

[Janeth]

>"3) The logical result of conditions 1 and 2 is TS is controlled by the Outer Head of ES."<---Let us hope this will change should a provision/modification be a) presented; b) accepted; c) implemented in which no one single TS member will be allowed to occupy both, TS Presidency and ES Head, positions!!

[Janeth]

Re: >"Reply by Anand Gholap 1 day ago - Dear Manohar and Mary,
Why doesn't the General Council..."<---Do we see now and understand how important it is to make changes to TS archaic by-laws in order to bring our beloved TS into the 21st Century?