FOOTNOTES:
[19] See also An Introduction to Mahayâna Buddhism, by W. M. McGovern, 1922. Kegan Paul. He confirms H. P. B.'s definition.
[20] It was ... during the highest point of civilisation and knowledge, as also of human intellectuality, of ... the Atlantean Race that ... humanity branched off into its two diametrically opposite paths; the Right and the Left-hand paths of knowledge or of Vidya. "Thus were the germs of the White and the Black Magic sown in those days. The seeds lay latent for some time, to sprout only during the early period of the Fifth (our Race)." (Commentary).—The Secret Doctrine. First Edition, Vol. I, p. 192.
The Truth about the E. S. Council, and the Inner Group.
THE E. S. Instructions were written by H. P. B. during the winter of 1888-89. The I. G. Teachings were given orally by H. P. B. at its meetings in 1890-91. It was the duty of the two secretaries, Mrs. Besant and Mr. Mead, to write these Teachings up, from notes sent in by all of us, after each meeting, and record them in a book. This record was dealt with at each succeeding meeting, corrected and often amplified by H. P. B. All these might, therefore, have been included in Vol. IV of The Secret Doctrine, according to the general plan of the work adopted by H. P. B., if she had lived and had permitted it. Mrs. Besant's statement that they were written with that in view is incorrect, and was obviously made to justify her action in using them for her version of Vol. III.
In the Theosophist for March, 1922, Mrs. Besant published an article in which several false statements are made concerning the history of the E. S. The writer, a Mr. Fritz Kunz, quotes Colonel Olcott's Old Diary Leaves as authority for saying that "the first move towards founding the E. S. was made in 1881," that it was "organised steadily through the trials of 1884-85," and merely "announced" in 1888. The actual facts (see Theosophist, April, 1880) are, that when H. P. B. established the real Theosophical Society or Universal Brotherhood at Benares in 1879 (the T. S. founded at New York in 1875 was only a "Miracle Club," as Colonel Olcott says, with no "brotherhood plank"), it was on a purely esoteric basis. It was under the direct guidance of the Trans-Him㭡yan Brotherhood, Who formed the First Section; the second and third being for "accepted" and "probationary" chelas respectively. When I joined the T. S. in 1885, these rules were still in force in the London Lodge. But Colonel Olcott insisted on an exoteric organisation with "the occultism more in the background"; and the crisis of 1884-85, which drove H. P. B. from India ([see her letter of 1890, ante p. 2]), was the natural result of this policy. Far from the E. S. being "organised steadily" at that time, as Mr. Kunz asserts, H. P. B. makes it clear in her letter that the Master's influence was "virtually banished" from Adyar through lack of faith in Them, and failure to support her, and that she had been ordered to "establish the Esoteric Section," at London, which she did in 1888, because the necessary faith in the Masters still existed there and in America.
Mr. Kunz then makes the astonishing assertion that the E. S. was "transferred to Mrs. Annie Besant in due course by H. P. B. in 1891." As I was a member of H. P. B.'s Inner Council which was responsible for what was done after her death, I am in a position to state the true facts as known to me, and as they appear in the E. S. documents in my possession. These facts are:—When H. P. B. died—suddenly and unexpectedly, on May 8th, 1891[21]., Mr. Judge at once came over from New York, and after much consultation and informal meetings of the E. S. Council (composed of the I. G. members) and two others, Mr. Wm. Kingsland and Dr. W. Wynn Westcott), a formal and "full meeting of the Council" was held at Headquarters on May 27th, 1891, when "Bro. Wm. Q. Judge attended as the representative of H. P. B. under a general power given as below." (Italics mine.—A. L. C.)
"As Head of the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society, I hereby declare that William Q. Judge, of New York, U.S., in virtue of his character as a chela of thirteen years' standing, and of the trust and confidence reposed in him, is my only representative for said Section in America, and he is the sole channel through whom will be sent and received all communications between the members of said Section and myself, and to him full faith, confidence and credit in that regard are to be given, ⁂ Done at London this fourteenth day of December, 1888, and in the fourteenth year of the Theosophical Society.