The Theosophical Society was founded in New York City, USA, in 1875 by Helena Blavatsky, Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan Judge and others. Its initial objective was the investigation, study and explanation of mediumistic phenomena. After a few years Olcott and Blavatsky moved to India and established the International Headquarters at Adyar, Madras (Chennai).
There, they also became interested in studying Eastern religions, and these were included in the Society's agenda. After several iterations the Society's objectives have evolved to be:
1. to form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or colour.
2. to encourage the study of comparative religion, philosophy, and science.
3. to investigate the unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in man.
In addition to the stated objectives, as early as 1889 Blavatsky purportedly, but not at all documented, had told a group of Theosophical students that the real purpose of establishing the Society was to prepare humanity for the reception of the World Teacher when he appeared again on earth. This was a rumour repeated again more publicly by Annie Besant in 1896, five years after Blavatsky's death. In Blavatsky's own writings, the only reference to a similar idea indicated that it would not be for at least a century[2]. And in another reference, that this person may be send to give "irrefutable proofs that there exists a Science called Gupta-Vidya.
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The world headquarters of the Theosophical Society was formed to facilitate and encourage the study of comparative religions, philosophy and science and rational thought. It is situated in the beautiful and sylvan surroundings of the Adyar River. This society was founded by Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott in the U.S.A and transferred to Adyar in 1882. Apart from shrines of all faiths and the peaceful Garden of Remembrance, there is a 95 years old library which has a very good collection of rare Oriental manuscripts written on palm leaf and parchment.
Schisms
After Helena Blavatsky's death in 1891, the Society's leaders seemed at first to work together peacefully.
This did not last long. Judge was accused by Olcott and Annie Besant of forging letters from the Mahatmas; he ended his association with Olcott and Besant in 1895 and took most of the Society's American Section with him. The original organisation led by Olcott and Besant remains today based in India and is known as the Theosophical Society - Adyar. The group led by Judge further splintered into a faction led by Katherine Tingley, and another associated the Judge's secretary Ernest Temple Hargrove. While Hargrove's faction no longer survives, the faction led by Tingley is today known simply as the Theosophical Society, but often with the clarifying statement, "international headquarters, Pasadena, California". A third organization, the United Lodge of Theosophists or ULT, in 1909 split off from the latter organization.
In 1902, Rudolf Steiner became General Secretary of the German/Austrian division of the Theosophical Society. He maintained a Western-oriented course, relatively independent from the Adyar headquarter led by Besant and Olcott. After serious philosophical conflicts, primarily on the spiritual significance of Christ and on the status of the young boy Krishnamurti (see below), most of the German and Austrian members split off in 1913 and formed the Anthroposophical Society. The latter remains very active and influential today and has branches in almost all western communities, including the US and Canada.
Theosophical Society Emblem
There are many symbols which constitute the emblem of the Theosophical Society. The emblem of the society has the following symbols:
• The Ankh
• The Serpent
• The Interlaced Triangles
• The Aum
• The Swastika
Basic Theosophical beliefs
Evolution and Race
Theosophists believe that religion, philosophy, science, the arts, commerce, and philanthropy, among other "virtues", lead people ever closer to "the Absolute." Planets, solar systems, galaxies, and the cosmos itself are regarded as conscious entities, fulfilling their own evolutionary paths. The spiritual units of consciousness in the universe are the Monads, which may manifest as angels, human beings or in various other forms. According to Blavatsky, the Monad is the reincarnating unit of the human soul, consisting of the two highest of the seven constituent parts of the human soul. All beings, regardless of stature or complexity, are informed by such a Monad.
Theosophical writings propose that human civilizations, like all other parts of the universe, develop cyclically through seven stages. Blavatsky posited that the whole humanity, and indeed every reincarnating human monad, evolves through a series of seven "Root Races". Thus in the first age, humans were pure spirit; in the second age, they were sexless beings inhabiting the now lost continent of Hyperborea; in the third age the giant Lemurians were informed by spiritual impulses endowing them with human consciousness and sexual reproduction. Modern humans finally developed on the continent of Atlantis. Since Atlantis was the nadir of the cycle, the present fifth age is a time of reawakening humanity's psychic gifts. Blavatsky said: "these two other senses on the ascending arc be on the same respective planes as hearing and touch", or perhaps rather intuition and telepathy as the reference seems to say.The term psychic here really means[says who?] the realization of the permeability of consciousness as it had not been known earlier in evolution, although sensed by some more sensitive individuals of our species. Blavatsky mentioned the psychic to be "the super-ethereal or connecting link between matter and pure spirit, and the physical."
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