Guru Purnima and Spiritual Rebirth

Transcript ~ Guru Purnima and Spiritual Rebirth

A Podcast by Kirk Gradin

Shiva destroys the passions and egotism of the lunar mind to awaken and provide rebirth in the Universal Mind.

A Podcast by Kirk Gradin

Studio Vach ~  July 2026

…O Disciple! Before thou wert made fit to meet thy Teacher face to face, thy MASTER light to light, what wert thou told? Before thou canst approach the foremost gate thou hast to learn to part thy body from thy mind, to dissipate the shadow, and to live in the eternal. For this, thou hast to live and breathe in all, as all that thou perceivest breathes in thee; to feel thyself abiding in all things, all things in SELF.

Thou shalt not let thy senses make a playground of thy mind. Thou shalt not separate thy being from BEING, and the rest, but merge the Ocean in the drop, the drop within the Ocean. So shalt thou be in full accord with all that lives; bear love to men as though they were thy brother-pupils, disciples of one Teacher, the sons of one sweet mother.

Of teachers there are many; the MASTER-SOUL is one, Alaya, the Universal Soul. Live in that MASTER as Its ray in thee. Live in thy fellows as they live in It…Thou hast to be prepared to answer Dharma, the stern law, whose voice will ask thee at thy first, at thy initial step: "Hast thou complied with all the rules, O thou of lofty hopes? Hast thou attuned thy heart and mind to the great mind and heart of all mankind? For as the sacred River's roaring voice whereby all Nature-sounds are echoed back, so must the heart of him 'who in the stream would enter,' thrill in response to every sigh and thought of all that lives and breathes.”

                                                                                         The Voice of the Silence 

A theme such as we are considering today would not be properly addressed without first acknowledging the Teachers from whose wisdom we have drawn. Besides The Voice of the Silence, and The Secret Doctrine, there are several articles by H.P. Blavatsky which are pertinent, though we are only mentioning three here: "Practical Occultism", "Chelas" and a third titled "Chelas and Lay Chelas". Despite dubious claims to the contrary, W.Q. Judge's own life was an exemplary discipleship from the time he met HPB. Among his many priceless pieces, there are at least two articles of extreme value on this theme titled "Living the Higher Life" and "The Allegorical Umbrella". And finally, we have drawn heavily from the writings of Shri Raghavan Iyer, in particular, the third volume of The Gupta Vidya in which we find an entire section on "The Guruparampara". This collection of his talks brilliantly covers seven of the worlds great spiritual traditions including articles on "Jnana Yoga", "Shiva and Self-Regeneration" and "The Rebirth of Humanity". All articles by all three Teachers can be found and downloaded online at TheosophyTrust.org. Students should also know that many of the articles by Shri Raghavan found in this section of The Gupta Vidya were also printed as introductory essays in a series called 'Sacred Texts', first published in the 1980's by Concord Grove Press. Some of these can still be purchased via their online store. Finally, for those of you who are interested after hearing this talk, a short biography of Shri Raghavan Iyer and the replaying of his all-embracing inaugural address for the Institute of World Culture in Santa Barbara can be found recently uploaded at the IWC YouTube channel: IWCinsantabarbara.

Most students of Theosophy are familiar with the central importance of the guru, the spiritual preceptor, the guide or Teacher as found in many of the great religious, philosophical and spiritual traditions of humanity. While the modern Western intellect proudly asserts its self-reliance, its ability to pull itself up by its own bootstraps, Eastern and esoteric traditions regard the Teacher-Disciple or Guru-Chela relationship as the most sacred, vital and consequential of all, exceeding in importance even that between parent and child. This is because the upward arc of soul evolution now facing humanity, is in fact, a life or death struggle with many tragic casualties. Just as without the nurturing protection and watchful guidance of the parent, the child would perish, so too without true Masters of Wisdom, the Brotherhood of Bodhisattvas, Adepts or Seers and their disciples, the human family would be lost.

At the same time, in the darkness of Kali Yuga where everything is inverted, there are many false teachers as well as crowds of pseudo- and failed disciples. Many wish to be thought of as teachers and awakened spiritual leaders without having been put through the fire, without undergoing the long self-less discipline of studentship let alone the terrible trials and training of true discipleship. Our inability to recognize true servants of humanity in our midst or understand the vital function they fulfilling human evolution only underlines our present blindness. Teachers and Messengers who constitute the noble trustees of Theosophia, are exceedingly rare but vital logoic links in the great Guruparampara chain. The spiritual rebirth they offer is not only a baptismal immersion in universal compassion, altruism and higher states of noetic universal consciousness and intelligence, but an opportunity to crush the personal ego—to train ourselves to participate in an endless labor on behalf of the whole of evolving life. The aspiration to enter this banyan tree of divine wisdom begins with the joyous study of their teachings in circles of harmony, genuine sanghas of love and mutual respect devoted to universal brotherhood. In brief, this is what B.P. Wadia referred to as transforming ourselves into the steady burning flame of the Nachiketas fire, symbol of the disciple.

In the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions, teachers of every kind are specially celebrated and remembered on a holy day each year known as Guru Purnima. The Sanskrit word Purnima refers to the full moon day of every lunar cycle, marking a transition point of abundance, completion and fulfillment. Guru Purnima occurs every year in the lunar month Ashadha, which usually falls in the Gregorian calendar in June or July. This year (2026) the event falls on July 29th, pointing to the timeliness of our theme. While H.P. Blavatsky repeatedly describes the nefarious astral influence the full moon can have upon the unwary, for the initiate who has begun transforming the lunar vestures to reflect the purposes of the Higher Self, the mysterious spiritual elixir called Soma derived from the invisible moon can be used to illuminate the way for others. Concentrated adoration and abiding gratitude for those unseen hierarchies of beings and countless teachers of eternal wisdom reaching back into the night of time, of which the true Guru is the living agent, is one of the keys to discovering our way to a second or inner birth.

Perhaps the oldest known origin associated with Guru Purnima is contained in the Shiva Purana. Here it is depicted as the day in which Shiva became the Adi Guru, the first or primordial Guru. Similar to what is said of Krishna in the Gita, in the early verses of the Shata-Rudra Samhita, Shiva is described as incarnating in every Dvapara Yuga to embody and preserve the science of Yoga, that discipline by which the individuated soul reunites with the Supreme Spirit, the Jivatma with Paramatma. According to the Purana, from the time Shiva appeared in permanent residence on Mount Kailas, his extraordinarily radiant presence attracted many devotees. But because he never spoke or moved, people soon drifted away except for seven aspiring rishis. In time, he opened his eyes and due to their pleading gave a single beginning meditative instruction. Seven disciples devotedly practiced the proscribed practice for another 84 years (12x7). On the summer solstice that marks the advent of Dakshinayana, the southern course of the sun, Shiva opened his eyes once again. He saw how the Rishis had become shining receptacles, wonderfully receptive. He could not ignore them any longer. On the very next full moon day, the supreme yogin turned south in order to impart the secrets of his wisdom to these seven men. This is Shiva as Dakshinamurti, he who sitting at the northern most point or pinnacle of ascent, faces south, down the mountain, in order to impart divine wisdom. The seven who sat at his feet became known as the Saptarishis and were given the duty of sharing the science of yoga across the world.

         H.P. Blavatsky referred to such ancient myths as an allegorical science rich with many levels of meaning, both cosmic and human. In the original facsimile 1888 edition of The Secret Doctrine, Shiva, in addition to being a symbolic representation of the triune logos in the Vedic tradition, is also one of the many names of that nameless ever-living presence who seeks "neither rest nor Nirvana remaining constantly on Earth" for the salvation of humanity.

He is the “Initiator,” called the “great sacrifice.” For, sitting at the threshold of light, he looks into it from within the circle of Darkness, which he will not cross; nor will he quit his post till the last day of this life-cycle. Why does the solitary Watcher remain at his self-chosen post? Why does he sit by the fountain of primeval Wisdom, of which he drinks no longer, as he has naught to learn which he does not know — aye, neither on this Earth, nor in its heaven? Because the lonely, sore-footed pilgrims on their way back to their home are never sure to the last moment of not losing their way in this limitless desert of illusion and matter called Earth-Life. Because he would fain show the way to that region of freedom and light, from which he is a voluntary exile himself, to every prisoner who has succeeded in liberating himself from the bonds of flesh and illusion. Because, in short, he has sacrificed himself for the sake of mankind, though but a few Elect may profit by the great sacrifice.

It is under the direct, silent guidance of this Maha — (great) — Guru that all the other less divine Teachers and instructors of mankind became, from the first awakening of human consciousness, the guides of early Humanity. It is through these “Sons of God” that infant humanity got its first notions of all the arts and sciences, as well as of spiritual knowledge; and it is they who have laid the first foundation-stone of those ancient civilizations that puzzle so sorely our modern generation of students and scholars.

The Secret Doctrine, i, 208

Shri Raghavan adds that to meditate on such a being is to immerse oneself in a universal tradition which includes and transcends all traditions, all sectarian claims, isms, and dogmas as well as all limiting states of consciousness and finite conditions of self-identity.

 Thus, Dakshinamurti, the Initiator of Initiates, the paradigm of all Sages, the supreme incarnation of Maheshwara, is himself unthinkable and unspeakable like the Absolute. To speak of the one is to speak of the other, which is why wise human beings use meditation upon the Guruparampara, the sacred lineage of true Sages, as a way of coming closer to the Absolute. Every child uses the help of its mother or father or an adult to learn how to walk. That is Nature's way. That is what comes naturally to the human being, and it is that which is ultimately the Only Way, the only door to greater knowledge, greater experience, profounder apprehension, deeper comprehension and, even more, to a taste or a foretaste of Satchitananda.

                                                                                                                     The Gupta Vidya I, p 26

In the Hymn to Dakshinamurti, the famous ten verses attributed to Shankaracharya, the realization of the Supreme Being and its grace, is embodied and transmitted through the living and auspicious guru. Just as a mirror seems to reflect something inside itself, but is really outside, so too does the guru appear outside, but is really inside. Such a being does not impart something from the outside, but like a spiritual mirror, activates that which is latent or which otherwise cannot be accessed by the conscious mind of the disciple. Like the Perennial Philosophy, they can waken soul memories impacted within the boundless memory of the karana sharira within every human being. If the disciple is ready, this is often preceded by timely adjustments revealing profound character defects, mental misconceptions and vain egoistic impurities which otherwise would take lifetimes to discover or resolve. In the Gospel According to Thomas, considered the secret teachings of Jesus: "He who is close to me is close to fire, he who is far from me is far from the Kingdom." To come into the presence of such a being is to invite a battle, an intense struggle within oneself which is part of a necessary fiery purification. Shiva destroys the passions and egotism of the lunar mind to awaken and provide rebirth in the Universal Mind. As Socrates pointed out, the true Teacher is both gadfly and midwife.

In the Hindu tradition, Guru Purnima also commemorates Vyasa, the legendary sage, poet and author who is credited with compiling the Vedas and writing the longest poem known to history, the great epic of the Mahabharata, which includes the Bhagavad Gita. It is also taught that Vyasa composed 18 Puranas and 108 Upanishads, finally distilling their core ideas into the concise Brahma Sutras and later expanding them into the 18 volumes of the Bhagavata Purana. Legend further recounts that he then went on to teach many famous disciples. Because of his immense contributions to Hindu philosophy and literature, today, the same full-moon day, is also known as Vyasa Purnima. H.P.B. affirms, as the Vishnu Puranas do, that there have been at least 28 incarnations of Vishnu as Vyasa, preserving and dispensing Vedic wisdom in their respective eras. The Bhagavata Purana mentions twenty-two Avatars of Vishnu, but after enumerating them, adds: “The incarnations of Vishnu are innumerable, like the rivulets flowing from an inexhaustible lake…” H.P.B. says the same, equating Avatars, Buddhas and Mahatmas as the self-conscious descent of the divine logos—"the Word made flesh.” Shri Raghavan Iyer adds that each such incarnation is accompanied by a host of unseen Bodhisattvas.

Mahatmas are always present in the orbit of the Avatar and his true disciples on earth. They ever move in their invisible forms and are known by infallible signs. This is an arena wherein there is no room for delusion or pretense. It may well be that the Bodhisattvas are recognized only by a few, but this does not alter the fact that they are sometimes more numerous as shining witnesses to the critical events of history than the visible and volatile participants.

                                                                                                                              Shri Raghavan Iyer

                                                                                                               The Gupta Vidya, Vol II, p. 20

Irrespective of religion, in India, Tibet and many parts of Southeast Asia, Guru Purnima became the universally recognized day for disciples whether of music and dance, mathematics, astronomy or yoga, to express gratitude to their spiritual and academic mentors for "dispelling the darkness of ignorance". Indian academics in many schools, colleges and universities have events in which students thank their teachers and remember past scholars. This practice could simply become a mere ritualistic formality, or it could be an authentic outer representation of the constant unuttered hum of the heart. A deep and abiding sense of the dept owed to the sacrificial efforts of all our teachers, whether those who taught us to eat, to walk and to read, to count and to add, to pronounce the alphabet, to write and express ourselves legibly, as well as those who taught and guided us through higher forms of education, of spiritual wisdom and creative expression, all belong to the Guruparampara chain. The elementals of base ingratitude for mentors, predecessors and ancestors must be dispelled if we would be worthy links in that chain and contributors to the welfare of the unborn humanity of the future. In the writings of Shri Raghavan, the crucial test of whether a person is nearing the portals of the Mysteries, or is distant from them, is the posture of gratitude and reverence towards teachers, or lack thereof. Those who have entered the portals of what The Voice of the Silence calls the "Heart Doctrine" the Bodhisattva path of sacrificial wisdom-service are ever repeating "Thus Have I Heard", ever acknowledging those from whom they have derived their illumination and understanding.

A striking example of this posture is that of the extraordinary mystic George William Russell, also known as the Irish Theosophist. Having had a series of golden visionary experiences as a young man, when he read Isis Unveiled he realized he was not unique, that many mystics throughout the ages, from the Rishis of ancient India, the lamas of Tibet, to the Greek Pythagoreans, had repeatedly confirmed what he was seeing. A key figure in the Irish literary renaissance, he was both painter, writer, and orator. Over a 41 year period of his adult life, he published 16 books of poetry, a play, a handful of pamphlets, many letters of correspondence and over 120 articles for 3 philosophical journals. In addition, he wrote extensively for two of the most widely read and influential weekly periodicals of his day. All this while he was also serving the poor through the revival of Celtic mythology and the development of communal farming cooperatives across rural Ireland. Still, at the end of his life, he wrote:

            I had no private doctrine: nothing but H.P.B. eked out, for beginners by W.Q. Judge;
the Bhagavad Gita; Upanishads; Patanjali; and one or two other classics… My own writing is trivial, and whatever merit is to be found in it is due to its having been written in a spiritual atmosphere generated by study of H.P.B. and the sacred books of the East.

The Canadian Theosophist, XVI, 163-4, Aug. 1935

 Jains too, observe Guru Purnima to honor Lord Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara and spiritual founder of their tradition. He is revered as having perfected the seven soul qualities of: Infinite Perception (Anant Darshana), Infinite Knowledge (Anant Jnana), Dauntless Spiritual Energy (Anant Virya) and Infinite, unshakable, eternal bliss and joy independent of any external or material conditions (Anant Sukha). He perpetually manifested an imperturbable forbearance and patience (Kshama), absolute non-violence (Ahimsa) and complete detachment (Aparigraha).Practitioners of Jainism believe that Mahavira accepted Gautama Swami as his first disciple on this same full-moon day. The event marked the re-enactment of the guru-disciple relationship in the Jain tradition, the ineffable passing on of spiritual wisdom and guidance.

Guru Purnima is also deeply significant in the Buddhist tradition, celebrated as marking the day upon which Shakyamuni, the historic Buddha, delivered the First Turning of the Wheel, the first discourse on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path to the five ascetics at Sarnath. According to Tsong-Kha-Pa and the Dalai Lama, the entire corpus of the Tibetan canon, now forming over 100 volumes are summarized in this short, first sermon. Through the spoken teaching sounded, Kaundinya, one of the five ascetics who was present, had the wisdom eye opened, thus establishing on earth all Three Jewels: the Buddha, Dharma and the Sangha again upon this day.

 In the Gelugpa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism especially, Guru Yoga plays a central and indispensable role in the Bodhisattva path where through a process of purification and meditative self-transformation, one's chosen teacher is recognized as a living embodiment of the Buddha lineage. This is why such great care and discrimination is advised in determining one's spiritual guide. There is a golden, cosmic or archetypal element in the guru's chosen paradigm of disciples as witnessed in the seven Rishis of the Shiva Purana, the five ascetics of the Buddha and the twelve disciples of Jesus. These guru-chela mandalas do not arise by chance, but are cultivated bonds of spiritual alignment established, reinforced and tested over lifetimes. This is evidenced in the tulku tradition of Tibet, where even by the age of two or three, a reincarnating lama will recognize and identify his teachers from a former life. As depicted in Mathew, Ch 4, the first disciples, namely Peter, Andrew, James and John, were engaged in their profession when Jesus encountered them at the Sea of Galilee. He simply said: "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." They dropped their nets and obeyed. Apparently, there was an immediate recognition, a soul memory activated by the hidden dimensions of the spoken words of the living presence of logoic light. This superceded all earthly concerns. No doubt the first moment of recognition was confirmed again and again over the months and years that the disciples spent in the company of their guru.

         Many Theosophical students rightly emphasize self-reliance, "self-induced and self-devised effort". No one can walk the path for another. No one can purify our motive or dispense our own karmically induced mental, moral or spiritual inertia. There is no substitute for noetic self-discipline, continuous daily and concentrated efforts at sacred study, meditation, self-study and ethical self-reform. But it is illogical to think that every devoted aspirant is not continuously aided by those who watch over and aid the progress of humanity as a whole. No one is exempt from such aid except the self-excluded. When the disciple is ready, the indispensable Teacher appears. H.P.B. herself, pointed to the vital need for the true Teacher on the Bodhisattva Path of Theosophia:

I am enough of an occultist to know that before we find the Master within our own hearts and seventh principle - we need an outside Master. As the Chinese Alchemist says, speaking of the necessity of a living teacher: 'Every one seeks long life (spiritual), but the secret is not easy to find. If you covet the precious things of Heaven you must reject the treasures of the earth. You must kindle the fire that springs from the water and evolve the Om contained within the Tong: One word from a wise Master and you possess a draught of the golden water.' I got my drop from my Master (the living one)he is a Saviour, he who leads you to finding the Master within yourself.

                                                                                                                                             HP Blavatsky 

                                                                                                      Letter to Dr. Franz Hartmann, c. 1885 

                                                                                                            Published in The Path, March 1896

In the esoteric teachings outlined in The Secret Doctrine., each disciple is understood as a ray of the same Dhyani Buddha, the same Father in Heaven of which the Teacher is a living embodiment. H.P.B. states that the Dhyani known as Amitabha, the Buddha of Boundless Time and Infinite Light, who incarnated as Gautama Buddha, also incarnated as Tsong-Kha-Pa, the 14th century Tibetan adept. Tsong-Kha-Pa was founder of the Gelugpa tradition and is also credited with initiating the Seven-Century Plan of the modern Theosophical Movement. His direct disciple became the first Dalai Lama. Amidst his voluminous writings is the Lamrin Chenmo, The Great Exposition on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. In the Lamrin, a famous prayer called 'The Foundation of All Good Qualities', Tsong-Kha-Pa offers a concise and stirring outline of instructions on the central importance of the Guru (only portions of which are quoted here).

The foundation of all Good Qualities is the kind and venerable guru;

Correct devotion to him is the root of the path.

By clearly seeing this and applying great effort.

Please bless me to rely upon him with great respect

Just as I have fallen into the sea of samsara,

So have all mother migratory beings.

Please bless me to see this, train in supreme bodhichitta,

And bear the responsibility of freeing migratory beings

Please bless me to practice the bodhisattva vows with great fervor

In all my lives, never separated from perfect gurus,

May I enjoy the magnificent Dharma.

By completing the Qualities of the stages and path,

May I quickly attain the state of Vajradhara.

                                                    Lamrin Instructions, Jor Cho booklet

                                                         Translated by Jampal Lhundrup

Vajradhara literally means "diamond holder" or "the holder of the Vajra." It is the ultimate or primordial Buddha, also called Adi-Buddha, who is "awake since beginningless time." It is equated by H.P.B. with Maha-Vishnu (see "Mystery of the Buddha") and the first Logos, the highest unmanifested essence or Dharmakaya. It is a vesture of such universal purity that it cannot manifest and so sends into the world its heart, the Diamond Heart called Vajrasattva. In The Voice of the Silence, Vajrasattva is a symbol of the full Mahatma, holder of both Bell and Dorje, the highest union of Compassion and Wisdom. The third logos is Mahat, the Universal Mind, who in turn emanates the five or seven Dhyani Buddhas pervading and sustaining all of nature. This is a sublime impersonal alignment and unfoldment also represented in The Gupta Vidya by the Nirmanakaya vesture. According to Shri Raghavan, it is the most difficult of all perfections to gestate.

The nirmanakaya involves perfection of the capacity to create out of the subtler vestures an astral form which is devoid of qualities. This alchemically regenerated form enables one to move anywhere invisibly and to assist human beings unknown to them. It also enables one consciously to take whatever body is necessary or available for the purpose of extending the work of universal enlightenment. Most Nirmanakayas are unseen, anonymous and disguised. One cannot discern them from outside, because they have chosen to come in ways in which they can perfect right livelihood and, at the same time, maximize the work they do in the realm of contemplation, ideation, true theurgy, healing and, above all, beneficent meditation.

Greater love hath no man than that he lay down his life for another" is one of the greatest mantrams of all times. Here is the authentic accent of that particular kind of spiritual perfection which is the highest and holiest in human evolution. It is much harder than everything else because it involves overcoming the ego, while at the same time remaining in a world which, as depicted in the Allegory of the Cave, remains a dungeon whose language is egotism.

Shri Raghavan Iyer

The Gupta Vidya, Vol II, p 21

While the Dalai Lama series of reincarnations has been one in which each successive rebirth follows within a year or two upon the death of the previous, in the West, the appearance and Teachings of Messengers of the Masters has followed the 100 year cycle of centuries. This great impulse, occurring in the last 25 years of each century was most explicitly given by H.P. Blavatsky in The Key to Theosophy, the last book written by her before her passing.

I must tell you that during the last quarter of every hundred years an attempt is made by those 'Masters,' of whom I have spoken, to help on the spiritual progress of Humanity in a marked and definite way. Towards the close of each century you will invariably find that an outpouring or upheaval of spirituality — or call it mysticism if you prefer — has taken place. Some one or more persons have appeared in the world as their agents, and a greater or less amount of occult knowledge and teaching has been given out “If you care to do so, you can trace these movements back, century by century, as far as our detailed historical records extend.

In a private letter to her sister Vera, written in 1851, H.P. Blavatsky described the day she met, for the first time in the flesh, her Master and Guru who had watched over her and protected her since childhood. At age 20, it was a definitive turning point in her life and in the spiritual history of the globe. It occurred in Hyde Park, London, at the World's Fair and near the Crystal Palace, the same year and location in which the famed Kohinoor diamond was first publicly displayed. Delegations from all over the world were gathered together. Amidst the crowd was a tall Indian gentlemen who she immediately recognized from childhood visions. “He spoke of a work he was about to undertake which required her cooperation” and for which she would be attacked and defamed in the court of public opinion. “To prepare for it she would need to spend three years in Tibet.” From that day forward, she later narrated, everything was done in strict obedience to her Teacher. From that moment her extraordinary energies and indomitable will were focused upon one aim: to serve the Masters without fail. It was at their behest and under their guiding hand and influence, that HPB's great literary output took place. Everything she wrote or translated was done on behalf of or with the assistance of Masters, the true Gurus who stood behind her.

This is confirmed in Mahatma K.H’s letter to Colonel Olcott (delivered phenomenally while he was on the S.S Shannon ship at sea) about H.P Blavatsky being their "direct agent" and warning him against suspicions about her.

…But this you must tell to all: — With occult matters she has everything to do. We have not abandoned her; she is not "given over to chelas". She is our direct agent. I warn you against permitting your suspicions and resentment against "her many follies" to bias your intuitive loyalty to her… I have also noted your thoughts about the Secret Doctrine. Be assured that what she has not annotated from scientific and other works, we have given or suggested to her. Every mistake or erroneous notion, corrected and explained by her from the works of other theosophists was corrected by me, or under my instruction… Since 1885 I have not written, nor caused to be written save thro’ her agency, direct and remote, a letter or line to anybody in Europe or America, nor communicated orally with, or thro’ any third party. Theosophists should learn it. You will understand later the significance of this declaration so keep it in mind.

Mahatma K.H.

Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom

Letter no. 19

The Secret Doctrine, for example, was called "a triple production", for that reason. It was through her tireless writing hand that the bare but alchemical outlines of the esoteric Science of Spirituality, also called Theo-sophia, Divine Wisdom, or the Wisdom Religion, was given for the first time in history in the English language. It was and is the same esoteric or secret Wisdom-Science, called philo-sophia by Pythagoras, which animates the dialogues of Plato, the inner teaching of the Buddha, of Jesus, of Krishna, Lao Tse, Zarathustra, Hermes-Thoth and many other great teachers, known and unknown throughout the ages. She goes on to explain at the end of The Key:

If the present attempt, in the form of our Society, succeeds better than its predecessors have done, then it will be in existence as an organized, living and healthy body when the time comes for the effort of the XXth century. The general condition of men's minds and hearts will have been improved and purified by the spread of its teachings, and, as I have said, their prejudices and dogmatic illusions… will have been, to some extent at least, removed…“Not only so, but besides a large and accessible literature ready to men's hands, the next impulse will find a numerous and united body of people ready to welcome the new torch-bearer of Truth. He will find the minds of men prepared for his message, a language ready for him in which to clothe the new truths he brings, an organization awaiting his arrival, which will remove the merely mechanical and material obstacles and difficulties from his path. Think how much one, to whom such an opportunity is given, could accomplish.

The outpouring that occurred in last quarter of the 20th century, the seventh impulsion initiated by Tsong-Kha-Pa, 5,000 years since the time of Krishna, and the culminating 2 x 10 in the cycle of centuries since the time of Christ, is evident to one who cares to discover it. Many sacred texts from diverse traditions have been made available through the Tibetan diaspora, the efforts of Sanskrit, Greek and Arabic scholars, Gnostic researchers and professors of comparative religion. But most importantly for those seeking discipleship and the tutelage of Masters, there emerged since 1975 through the writing and editing of Shri Raghavan Iyer, a magnificent restatement in contemporary English. Not only is there a deep and abiding appreciation and confirmation of the centrality of the writings of H.P.B. and Judge, but also an effervescent elaboration and luminous commentary upon the meta-physical architectonics and meta-psychological application of Blavatsky's magnum opus for both beginning and advanced students. In the absence of a visible living teacher mystic encounters with logoic light can arise through the written word. All aspirants moved by the suffering and chaos seen all around us, who are seeking spiritual self-transformation and rebirth in the service of humanity, should at least test the warmth of the fires by entering into circles of study with other students of The Gupta Vidya so that as many as possible may cross the threshold into the small, old, but now very evident Bodhisattva path of Divine Wisdom.

Kirk Gradin

July 29th, 2026

Guru Purnima