Blavatsky's philosophy. The theory of races in the teachings of Helena Blavatsky

The Russian traveler and occultist claimed to have learned the secrets of lost civilizations and secret societies. Helena Blavatsky was one of the most enigmatic figures of the 19th century, and her views on the subjects of beings who control the fate of the Earth, forgotten history and the errors of faith in God are controversial to this day.

Many people share the views expressed by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky without even knowing it. This Russian occultist, writer, thinker and founder of the Theosophical movement was one of the most controversial personalities of the second half of the 19th century.

She was born into a wealthy family with esoteric traditions. Since childhood, she had been in contact with secret knowledge and had innate psychic abilities.

After escaping from her much older husband, she traveled the world, trying to penetrate the secrets of disappeared civilizations and secret societies.

She shared her knowledge with anyone who wanted to know, claiming that it came to her from the great masters who controlled the development of mankind. For some a guru, for others a charlatan, but, nevertheless, she became an icon and a legend. Who was she really?

Helena Blavatsky: from birth to secret teachings

Describing her biography briefly is like trying to retell “War and Peace” in a few sentences.

She was born in 1831 into an aristocratic family. Her mother, Elena Andreevna Fadeeva, was the daughter of Princess Elena Dolgorukova.

Blavatsky's birthplace was Dnepropetrovsk, which housed the unit of her father, Captain Peter Alekseevich von Hahn, born into a Russified German family. He was not present at the birth of his daughter because he was sent to Poland to suppress the November uprising.

Blavatsky's mother, a famous writer and translator of her time, died of tuberculosis at the age of 28. Elena's guardians were the Fadeevs, who lived in Saratov, where her grandfather was the governor.

As a child, Helena Blavatsky was spoiled and naughty. She also loved to read and make up stories. Just like her mother and grandmother, she received a good education at home.

Her desire to study the secret teachings and philosophies of the East had several sources. One of them was a library with a collection of esoteric books that belonged to her great-grandfather, a high-ranking Mason.

She was encouraged to pursue further spiritual quests, according to Professor Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, author of Blavatsky's biography, by Alexander Golitsyn, a friend of her family and a member of an influential princely family.

The beginning of changes in the life of Helena von Hahn was a bad relationship with Nikifor Blavatsky, 22 years older, the vice-governor of Yerevan in 1849. The young wife ran away and began a journey that would fill the rest of her life.

A description of her voyages would take up too much space, but it is worth emphasizing that their goal was to study the occult at its origins, including the study of ancient texts and Kabbalah. Initially, she was oriented towards Western Europe and the Middle East and always traveled in company (for example, prospective lovers).

As one story goes, in Egypt she met a Coptic man who told her about the books that were kept in Tibet and advised her on how to expand her knowledge and skills. Even more important was a meeting in London, where she met a Hindu Mahatma (spiritual teacher) named Morya. He said that Blavatsky has an extremely important mission to fulfill.

Moriah, she later wrote, was the man she saw in her dreams as a child. He lived in a monastery near Tashilhunpo Shigatse (Tibet), where he had a school for adepts together with another master Kut Hoomi. Both were West Indians and had traveled to Europe.

These were, however, not ordinary monks, but "more knowledgeable individuals" - representatives of the upper class of people known as the "Great White Brotherhood" who control the development of mankind.

Helena Blavatsky was chosen by these masters of ancient knowledge to impart certain transcendental truths to the people of the West.

After several trips, in particular to India and the USA, in 1868 Helena Blavatsky ended up in Tibet for two years and, most likely, was there secretly, since the country was practically inaccessible to white “aliens”.

Gary Lanchman, another Blavatsky biographer, says this achievement makes her one of the greatest travelers of the 19th century. Although he is not ready to give a 100% guarantee that she actually visited the Himalayas. But perhaps she got there disguised as a merchant or pilgrim. It is worth noting that this is not the first such case in her life. Blavatsky claimed that she had previously fought as a man dressed as Garibaldi's soldier.

What happened in Tibet is a legend that could have been created by Blavatsky herself. In addition to studying Buddhism, which became the core of her philosophy, there she learned about ancient secrets and trained psychic abilities in practice under the guidance of the monks mentioned above.

This included a "course" in telepathy, clairvoyance and even the materialization of objects. In later life, Elena demonstrated these capabilities, but opinions regarding them always differed.

In the Himalayas, Blavatsky also learned the Senzar language, which - as she wrote - is “unknown to philology” and is the speech of all “high adepts”. She did not specify what language she was talking about, although there are suspicions that it could be Sanskrit. She needed it for research on Dzyan, the contents of which were strictly protected. It consisted of rhyming stanzas, and its origin has been rejected by science.

Helena Blavatsky published comments on the book in her opus “The Secret Doctrine” (published in 1888 under the title “The Secret Science”). In turn, “Isis Revealed,” published a year earlier, presented Elena’s views on many controversial issues: from the nature of consciousness, thinking and reality (which she considered an illusion) to a description of secret societies and intelligent races that previously inhabited the planet.

Forgotten Civilizations and the Evil God

Blavatsky's views, like her life, are difficult to convey concisely (the two books mentioned together have about 2000 pages).

The axis of her concept was the belief in the existence of universal principles that formed the basis of the world's religions. They compete with each other, that's why they are bad, but they all come from the same "trunk".

Ultimately, all the great will fall, and there will be a return to the original truth. The closest thing to it is Hermeticism - an ancient religion based on the teachings of Hermes Trismegistus and which provided a theoretical basis for the philosophy of magicians and occultists.

Helena Blavatsky speaks of the brotherhood of all people, regardless of skin color, race or religion. This postulate is justified by the statement that we all carry within us the “core of divinity” and we are all connected to each other.

It is worth noting that one of the characteristic elements of Elena’s beliefs was the “Akashic Chronicles” - a non-physical collection of all information in the cosmos, access to which can only be obtained by a highly spiritual person.

In her system, everything in the Universe develops cyclically, as the Book of Dzyan teaches. If something was a stone, then in some next cycle it will become a person. The purpose of incarnations is to improve oneself. Over time, the soul begins to understand the principles that govern the Universe and becomes a being like the angels who live in a completely different dimension.

According to Blavatsky, there are seven levels of existence: from the lowest physical to the abstract Atma. Interestingly, she recognized that after achieving a certain level of self-awareness, a person can unlock the memory of past lives.

As for the personal Christian God, Blavatsky directly stated that such a thing does not exist, calling this concept “a collection of contradictions and impossibilities.”

She once even caused a significant scandal by exposing herself to the wrath of believers by saying that God was angry because he created man “impulsively,” as a being completely and blindly subject to him. And only Lucifer opened the eyes of people, so honor must be given to him. The reaction to these words was expected, and Blavatsky had to get used to all sorts of insults directed at her.

The Forgotten History of Humanity

The most original group of her views was associated with the “forgotten history” of humanity. “The discoveries of modern science do not contradict the oldest traditions, which indicate that our race is extremely mature,” she said, adding that before man on Earth there were many other intelligent species, often more advanced.

These were the so-called indigenous races, of which we are the fifth. There should be a total of seven, each with seven subclasses. The sixth should appear in the 28th century. It is interesting that on Earth - according to Blavatsky - it is still possible to find living “representatives” of older races.

According to what she learned from strictly kept records, the most ancient inhabitants of the planet were ethereal beings, reproducing by fission.

In the next eon after their disappearance, the Hyperboreans appeared - a yellow-skinned race living in the tropics, which were located where the Arctic and circumpolar regions are now located.

When they became extinct, the Lemurians appeared, inhabiting a now-defunct continent in the Indian Ocean, which disintegrated millions of years ago as a result of volcanic activity (their descendants are the Bigfoot).

The next race appeared 4.5 million years ago in Africa. These were dark-skinned people who later colonized Atlantis, developing advanced technologies. Some representatives of this race had psychic abilities. There were also .

When their civilization collapsed as a result of the war, these people moved to the territory of modern America, and their descendants are the Incas, Indians and peoples of the Mongoloid race. Refugees from Atlantis founded several ancient civilizations, including Egypt.

Indians

According to Blavatsky, the predecessor of the fifth root race was a man whom the Hindus call Manu. Over the millennia, different subgroups developed within its context, from Indians to Germans and Slavs.

According to Elena, a new group of people will appear in the near future and evolve in the United States.

Interestingly, in The Secret Doctrine she also writes about the “teacher of the fifth humanity.” She mentioned "the snakes that came down again and made peace with the fifths and were instructed." The memory of this is preserved in myths and legends.

Theosophical Society and death

After returning from Tibet with a baggage of esoteric knowledge, Blavatsky had to find a way to convey it to society. She was then a little-known person and, as Goodrick-Clark mentions, her big “debut” came around 1873, when she became close to the American spiritualists - supporters of contacts with other worlds through spiritualistic seances.

Elena’s main companion was lawyer and journalist Henry S. Alcott, with whom in 1875 they came up with a name for the direction of “spiritual knowledge” they promoted. It was theosophy (Greek: “divine knowledge”).

The fellowship founded by Blavatsky began to unite followers of the occult and parapsychology, including celebrities (for example, Thomas Edison and Jack London).

The traveler's character makes itself felt and soon Blavatsky went to India with Alscott, despite having previously received American citizenship. In 1882, the partnership acquired property in Adyar, where its headquarters were located, although the colonial authorities constantly monitored the occultists as a “suspicious element.”

Elena gradually lost her health and soon she was recommended to change the climate to a milder one. Meanwhile, the Theosophical movement and the work of its creator became more popular, although she herself was often criticized and condemned.

Blavatsky died suddenly in London in 1891 as a result of complications from influenza. Earlier in the city, she began publishing the scandalous magazine “Lucifer”.

There were many other scandals, schisms, accusations and supernatural phenomena in Blavatsky's life. The colorful nature is perhaps reflected in the eclectic nature of her views, in which hermetic, Hindu and Buddhist roots can be found, as well as inspiration from ancient philosophy, mythology and Kabbalah.

All this was put in the original order, but there was nothing new here. In addition, the French thinker and expert in esoteric traditions Rene Guenon said that it is difficult to find “something innovative” in her teachings. This is simply a synthesis of knowledge from many sources, which is not the effect of mystical illumination.

Today remains a somewhat forgotten figure, and her books, although readable, are already a little outdated. But several things, however, remained after it, and these are: the popularity of the idea of ​​reincarnation and cyclicity among Europeans, the renewal of the legend of Atlantis, the creation of the myth of Lemuria, as well as convincing people of the existence of a “forgotten history” and the need for scientific research into phenomena related to human consciousness. Theosophy, however, had a different fate.

It seems that her message was only partially understood and accepted by the generation living in the 21st century. The most important ideas of brotherhood, self-improvement, selfless service have not found recognition to such an extent as to become a tangible element of social life.

Blavatsky, it seems, foresaw this, emphasizing that the “eternal wisdom” to which Theosophy refers was able to survive all the cataclysms, which means that our civilization, focused on consumption, ego affirmation and materialism, is not completely lost. And we can only hope that it was a prophetic voice.

The theory of the origin of humanity according to the works of E. Blavatsky.

This theory was finally formed by October 1888.
This theory was developed on the basis of Esoteric Buddhism, ancient Indian, ancient Chinese, ancient Egyptian, ancient Greek myths and legends, in addition, myths and legends from many countries were used. Christian and Jewish religious books were used. This is the largest esoteric work that connected all worldviews into one single one. At the same time, E. Blavatsyakaya completely denies Darwin’s theory that man descended from apes. And vice versa, for the first time he proclaimed that the first Drenia people participated in the creation (appearance) of monkeys and other animals.
In her book The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky explains that all events in the Universe
They happen by the will of the Almighty (the Supreme Mind, its name is different in different legends).
The first people on Earth - the first race were the descendants of the “Lunar Ancestors” (intelligent beings sent to Earth from the Moon). She believes that the forms of life in the Universe are diverse; life exists not only on Earth, but also on the Moon, Sun, Venus, Mars, Mercury and other planets of the Universe. And all these life forms are connected with the Highest
Beings and the Supreme Mind. The first race of people was incorporeal (without physical bodies). The First Race gave birth to the second race (also incorporeal) by budding (separation from itself). The third race of people also arose from the second race by separating from it (budding, separating).
Gradually, the third race began to become denser, the etheric bodies of the people of the third race became denser (people began to develop physical bodies). People of the third race began to look a little like modern people, but they were very tall (up to 50 meters tall). This race was at first asexual, but by 18 million years ago people of this race were divided into men and women. By this time, people of this race (Blavatsky calls them Lemurians, although the name Asura is sometimes used). The Lemurians lived on the large continent of Lemuria. Lemurians
The Supreme Mind (Brahma), with the help of its assistants, created four categories of beings on Earth - gods, demons, ancestors and people. The gods (suras) are the first races of people on Earth (incorporeal races), demons (asuras) are the third race of people (also incorporeal), the progenitors are the third race (with physical bodies - Lemurians) and the fourth race (Atlanteans). Humans are the fifth race - the descendants of the Lemurians and Atlanteans who still live today. In addition, Blavatsky mentions various other forms of intelligent life on Earth - snakes, dragons, fallen angels, etc.
Blavatsky claims that the Lemurians, and especially the Atlanteans, had different skin colors - yellow, red, brown. The Lemurians received knowledge (intelligence) from the Sons of Wisdom (Sons of the Sun) and first lived together with them. The Sons of Wisdom became the first divine dynasties that led the lives of the Lemurians and Atlanteans.
Blavatsky’s book says that the Lemurians gravitated from the North Pole to the Hyperborean Continent, and the Atlanteans to the South Pole. The book says that Manu was not a man, but a representative of the first human races. The earliest representatives of the fourth race were not Atlanteans, just as they were not human Asuras and Rakshasas (these are different branches of the Lemurians). After the death of Lemuria from underground fires (Lemuria went under water), the Lemurians and Atlanteans began to continually decrease in stature. The largest flood, 850,000 years ago, drowned most of Atlantis and the remains of Lemuria. This flood was preserved in the memory of the Aryans (this is the name given to people of the fifth, modern race).
Our races testify to the same thing, that they originated from the Divine Races, no matter what name the latter were called. In addition to the Lemurians, other names were also used for the third race of people - Titans, Kabirs, Devas. Blavatsky's book says that our fifth race already existed about 1,000,000 years ago, based on the descendants of the Hyperboreans and Atlanteans.
According to her calculations, the Third Race already existed during the Triassic era, since several mammals already existed at that time. During the Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene epochs the Third Race now almost completely disappeared, carried away by the terrifying cataclysm of the Secondary Age, leaving behind only a few mixed races.
The Fourth, born millions of years before the said catastrophe, died during the Miocene period when the Fifth (our Aryan Race) already had a million years of independent existence.

I have studied (and am studying the works of Blavatsky) for a long time and consider this theory to be the most correct (although there are some points and interpretations that I do not like). But on the basis of this theory, it is possible to quite clearly explain the presence of many facts that are incomprehensible to academic science (archaeological finds 500-200 million years old)
According to this theory, man did not descend from a monkey, but on the contrary - the appearance of monkeys on Earth is the result of activities during the existence of the most ancient human civilizations.

The books of Helena Blavatsky are popular to this day among our contemporaries. The ideas presented in them have not lost their relevance, despite the fact that the knowledge of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was acquired by her more than a hundred years ago.

In the article:

Helena Blavatsky - books and ideas

The main sources of Helena Blavatsky were ancient religious texts and the orally retold theses of Mahatma Moriah, Tibetan monks and other teachers met during her travels.

Helena Blavatsky

Extremely saturated. The Theosophical Society created by Blavatsky enjoyed considerable popularity in India, Europe and America. Among the fans of her work were members of the Roerich family, widely known philosophers, orientalists and esotericists.

Helena Blavatsky became one of the first authors who clearly explained reincarnation and the theory of reincarnation. She sought to show that all world religious movements have common roots and the same origin. The original source is the same for all religions. Blavatsky tried to guide humanity towards self-development and argued for the need to study the secrets of the universe.

Helena Blavatsky - The Secret Doctrine

« Secret Doctrine Blavatsky consists of three volumes. In addition to them, there is a collection of commentaries on these works. The latter consists of notes from discussions of materials presented in The Secret Doctrine by members Blavatsky Lodge, or Theosophical Society. It is recommended to study these materials if questions arise while reading the three-volume book.

The Secret Doctrine is considered the most ambitious and significant work of Helena Blavatsky. The author’s goal in writing it was to save archaic knowledge by transferring it to humanity. She tried to prove that nature is not just a random combination of atoms.

With the help of Blavatsky's works, you can understand what is the basis for all world religions. She believed that their source was one. The book “The Secret Doctrine” also introduces the reader to the occult side of nature, which, according to the author, will not be available for scientific justification for several centuries.

The sources that Elena Petrovna used when creating this work are the writings of Asian religious teachings, as well as early European legends, myths and other folklore. Helena Blavatsky paid attention to the secret knowledge hidden with the help of hieroglyphs and symbols that people possessed several hundred and even thousands of years ago. With the help of this three-volume book, she tried to combine the knowledge of different cultures into one whole, as well as find answers to questions about what awaits people after death, why they come to this world and what is the meaning of existence.

Helena Blavatsky - Isis Unveiled

Blavatsky's Isis Unveiled makes clear the connection between 19th century occult practices and ancient schools of philosophy. The author will help each reader trace this connection and understand why this is generally needed and how it will help a person who studies esotericism.

Blavatsky's theories are supported by a lot of evidence that the author presents in his book. The book is considered one of the most understandable works of Helena Blavatsky. It was written during one of the first trips to Egypt. The book also reveals the mysterious knowledge found in this country, lost by generations of the 19th century.

Blavatsky's book "From the Caves and Wilds of Hindustan"

The book “From the Caves and Wilds of Hindustan” is dedicated to Eastern mysticism, in particular, the traditions and culture of India through the eyes of Helena Blavatsky. The book was written while traveling through this mysterious and vibrant country.

This book will explain to the reader what Hinduism and Buddhism look like in the author's understanding. With its help you can get acquainted with the esotericism and philosophy of eastern peoples. The book will appeal to any connoisseur of Eastern philosophy.

It is known that the esoteric writer often based her works on the knowledge gained during her travels in the countries of the East. With the help of this book the reader will be able to become acquainted with the ideas from which Blavatsky's later works were subsequently shaped.

Blavatsky's works - "The Key to Theosophy"

Blavatsky's Key to Theosophy is mistakenly called a textbook on Theosophy. This book cannot be called a complete collection of theosophical knowledge, however, it will become a real key that will fit the lock on the door behind which this knowledge is hidden. If you are interested in theosophy and the ideas of Helena Blavatsky, you should start studying from this source.

With the help of this book you can get acquainted with the religious ideas of the author. It is known that she tried to unite all the religions that exist in the countries of our world. It is possible to trace the general direction of this idea and understand what it is.

Spiritual development is something that every person should do independently. With the help of Blavatsky's book "The Key to Theosophy" you can try to understand various religious movements and understand their unity, despite the fact that it is considered one of the most difficult to understand works of this author. This is how the author talks about his ideas:

The Wisdom Religion was one in antiquity, and the identity of the original religious philosophy is demonstrated by the identical doctrines transmitted to the initiates during the Mysteries, an institution once universal. All ancient cults point to the existence of a single theosophy that preceded them. The key that opens one thing must open everything, otherwise it cannot be the right key.

Helena Blavatsky - "The Voice of Silence"

Blavatsky’s book “The Voice of Silence” is based on ancient Tibetan manuscripts, which the author translated during her stay in Tibet with the teacher Mahatma Morya. She also used excerpts from Hindu ethical literature.

In this book, the reader will find simple and accessible explanations of the meaning of all esoteric movements that are widespread in our time. We are talking about Kabbalah, Zoroastrianism, alchemy and some other areas. In “The Voice of Silence” the author also reveals the secret meaning of Buddhism. This knowledge was not available to Europeans before the birth of Elena Petrovna.

This book can become the first stage in the spiritual and philosophical search for the meaning of life. They will be useful in studying the theory of magic, and will also help every person lift the veil over the secrets of nature. A difficult and long path to knowledge awaits the reader of Blavatsky’s book:

The path before you is long and tedious, O student. The single thought of leaving behind the past will pull you down, and you will have to start climbing again. Kill all memories of previous experiences. Don't look back, otherwise you're lost.

"The Mysterious Tribes of the Blue Mountains" by Blavatsky

A book entitled “Mysterious Tribes in the Blue Mountains” is able to tell the reader about a wide variety of wonders of the East that were noticed by the author during his travels to India, Tibet, Japan and other eastern countries.

With the help of this book you can get acquainted with the world of magic and sorcery as imagined by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. The material will clarify your understanding of the supernatural abilities of man, the connection of each person with the other world, about magic and witchcraft. The author also talks about entities that live in other worlds.

From the title of the book it is clear that we will talk about the mysterious tribes of the East, who are carriers of mysterious esoteric knowledge. From it the reader learns about the life of magicians and shamans from distant countries. For several generations they have been passing on sacred knowledge, which until recently was not available to Europeans. Helena Blavatsky became one of the first inhabitants of Europe to whom this knowledge was revealed.

The book “Mysterious Tribes in the Blue Mountains” will be useful not only to people who are interested in esotericism, philosophy and culture of the East. It is also devoted to the history of some eastern countries and ethnic psychology.

Other books by Helena Blavatsky, her letters and articles

Helena Blavatsky left a rich legacy. The total number of works she wrote is more than forty. They all have a similar direction and are devoted to theosophy to one degree or another. For example, the book “The Enchanted Life” talks about the secrets of dreams, working with the subconscious, revealing natural gifts, paranormal abilities, and parapsychology.

A collection of instructions for students of the Theosophical Society has also been preserved. It was these rules that members of her society used during Elena Petrovna’s life. “Karmic Visions” is a collection of essays and travel notes by Blavatsky, which were made during her trip to India.

Writer Helena Blavatsky was born on July 31, 1831 in the city of Ekaterinoslav (present-day Dnepropetrovsk). She had a noble pedigree. Her ancestors were diplomats and famous officials. Elena's cousin, Sergei Yulievich Witte, served as Minister of Finance of the Russian Empire from 1892 to 1903.

Family and childhood

At birth, Helena Blavatsky had the German surname Hahn, which she inherited from her father. Due to the fact that he was a military man, the family had to constantly move throughout the country (St. Petersburg, Saratov, Odessa, etc.). In 1848, the girl was engaged to Nikifor Blavatsky, the governor of the Erivan province. However, the marriage did not last long. A few months after the wedding, Helena Blavatsky ran away from her husband, after which she went to wander around the world. The first point of her journey was Constantinople (Istanbul).

Helena Blavatsky remembered Russia and her childhood years in her homeland with warmth. The family provided her with everything she needed, providing her with a quality education.

Travels in youth

In the Turkish capital, the girl was engaged in performing as a rider in the circus. When, as a result of an accident, Elena decided to move to London. She had money: she earned money herself and received transfers sent to her by her father Pyotr Alekseevich Gan.

Since Helena Blavatsky did not keep diaries, her fate during her travels is tracked rather vaguely. Many of her biographers disagree on where she managed to visit, and which routes remained only in rumors.

Most often, researchers mention that in the late 40s the writer went to Egypt. The reason for this was his passion for alchemy and Freemasonry. Many members of the lodges had books in their libraries that were required reading, among which were volumes of the Egyptian “Book of the Dead”, “Code of the Nazarenes”, “Wisdom of Solomon”, etc. For Masons, there were two main spiritual centers - Egypt and India. It is with these countries that numerous of Blavatsky’s researches are connected, including “Isis Unveiled.” However, she will write books in old age. In her youth, the girl gained experience and practical knowledge by living directly in the environment of different world cultures.

Arriving in Cairo, Elena went to the Sahara Desert to study Ancient Egyptian civilization. This people had nothing in common with the Arabs, who had ruled the banks of the Nile for several centuries. The knowledge of the ancient Egyptians extended to a variety of disciplines - from mathematics to medicine. It was they who became the subject of scrupulous study by Helena Blavatsky.

After Egypt there was Europe. Here she devoted herself to art. In particular, the girl took piano lessons from the famous Bohemian virtuoso Ignaz Moscheles. Having gained experience, she even gave public concerts in European capitals.

In 1851, Helena Blavatsky visited London. There she managed to meet a real Indian for the first time. He was Mahatma Morya. True, to this day no evidence of the existence of this person has been found. Perhaps he was an illusion of Blavatsky, who practiced various esoteric and theosophical rituals.

One way or another, Mahatma Morya became a source of inspiration for Helen. In the 50s, she ended up in Tibet, where she studied local occultism. According to various estimates by researchers, Elena Petrovna Blavatsky stayed there for about seven years, periodically going on trips to other parts of the world, including the USA.

Formation of theosophical teaching

It was during these years that the doctrine that Elena Petrovna Blavatsky professed and propagated in her works was formed. It was a unique form of theosophy. According to it, the human soul is one with the deity. This means that there is some knowledge in the world beyond science that is available only to the chosen and enlightened. It was a form of religious syncretism - a cross between many cultures and myths of different peoples in one teaching. This is not surprising, because Blavatsky absorbed knowledge about many countries where she visited in her youth.

The biggest influence on Helen was that she developed in isolation over many millennia. Also, Blavatsky's theosophy included Buddhism and Brahmanism, popular among. In her teaching, Elena used the terms "karma" and "reincarnation." Theosophical teachings influenced such famous people as Mahatma Gandhi, Nicholas Roerich and Wassily Kandinsky.

Tibet

In the 50s, Elena Blavatsky visited Russia periodically (so to speak, on visits). The woman’s biography surprised the local public. She held crowded events that became popular in St. Petersburg. In the early 60s, the woman visited the Caucasus, the Middle East and Greece. Then she tried for the first time to organize a society of followers and like-minded people. In Cairo she got down to business. This is how the Spiritualist Society appeared. However, it did not last long, but it became another useful experience.

This was followed by another long trip to Tibet - then Blavatsky visited Laos and the Karakoram Mountains. She managed to visit closed monasteries where no European had ever set foot. But such a guest was Elena Blavatsky.

The woman's books contained many references to the culture of Tibet and life in Buddhist temples. It was there that valuable materials were obtained that were included in the publication “The Voice of Silence.”

Meet Henry Alcott

In the 70s, Helena Blavatsky, whose philosophy became popular, began her work as a preacher and spiritual teacher. Then she moved to the United States, where she received citizenship and went through the naturalization procedure. At the same time, Henry Steel Olcott became her main ally.

He was a lawyer who received the rank of colonel during the American Civil War. He was appointed as a special commissioner of the War Department to investigate corruption in companies supplying ammunition. After the war he became a successful lawyer and a respected member of the New York bar. His specialties included taxes, duties and property insurance.

Olcott's acquaintance with spiritualism occurred back in 1844. Much later, he met Helena Blavatsky, with whom he went to travel the world and teach. He also helped her launch her writing career when the woman began writing the manuscripts of Isis Unveiled.

Theosophical Society

On November 17, 1875, Helena Blavatsky and Henry Olcott founded the Theosophical Society. His main goal was the desire to unite like-minded people around the world, regardless of race, gender, caste and faith. For this purpose, activities were organized to study and compare various sciences, religions and philosophical schools. All this was done in order to understand the laws of nature and the universe unknown to mankind. All these goals were enshrined in the statutes of the Theosophical Society.

In addition to the founders, many famous people joined it. For example, it was Thomas Edison - entrepreneur and inventor, William Crookes (president of the Royal Society of London, chemist), French astronomer Camille Flammarion, astrologer and occultist Max Handel, etc. The Theosophical Society became a platform for spiritual disputes and disputes.

Beginning of writing activity

To spread the teachings of their organization, Blavatsky and Olcott went to India in 1879. At this time, Elena's writing activity was flourishing. Firstly, the woman regularly publishes new books. Secondly, she has established herself as a deep and interesting publicist. Her talent was also appreciated in Russia, where Blavatsky was published in Moskovskie Vedomosti and Russky Vestnik. At the same time she was the editor of her own magazine, Theosophist. In it, for example, a translation into English of a chapter from Dostoevsky’s novel “The Brothers Karamazov” appeared for the first time. It was the parable of the Grand Inquisitor - the central episode of the last book of the great Russian writer.

Blavatsky's travels formed the basis of her memoirs and travel notes, published in various books. Examples include the works “Mysterious Tribes on the Blue Mountains” and “From the Caves and Wilds of Hindustan.” In 1880, Buddhism became a new object of research conducted by Helena Blavatsky. Reviews of her works were published in a variety of newspapers and collections. In order to learn as much as possible about Buddhism, Blavatsky and Olcott went to Ceylon.

"Isis Unveiled"

Isis Unveiled was the first major book published by Helena Blavatsky. It was published in two volumes in 1877 and contained a huge layer of knowledge and reasoning about esoteric philosophy.

In addition, “Isis” examined religious teachings: Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism. At first the book was conceived as a review of Eastern schools of philosophy. The work began on the eve of the founding of the Theosophical Society. The organization of this structure delayed the release of the work. It was only after the establishment of the movement was announced in New York that intensive work began on writing the book. Blavatsky was actively helped by Henry Olcott, who at that time became her main ally and associate.

As the former lawyer himself recalled, Blavatsky had never worked with such zeal and endurance. In fact, she summarized in her work all the multifaceted experience gained over many years of traveling to different parts of the world.

At first, the book was supposed to be called “The Key to the Mysterious Gates,” which the author announced in a letter to Alexander Aksakov. Later it was decided to title the first volume as “The Veil of Isis.” However, the British publisher working on the first edition learned that a book with that title had already been published (this was a common theosophical term). Therefore, the final version, Isis Unveiled, was adopted. It reflected Blavatsky’s youthful interest in the culture of Ancient Egypt.

The book had many ideas and goals. Over the years, scholars of Blavatsky's work have formulated them in different ways. For example, the first publication in the UK included a foreword from the publisher. In it, he informed the reader that the book contained the largest number of sources on theosophy and occultism that had ever existed in literature before. And this meant that the reader could get as close as possible to the answer to the question about the existence of secret knowledge, which served as the source of all religions and cults of the peoples of the world.

Alexander Sienkiewicz (one of the most authoritative researchers of Blavatsky’s bibliography) formulated the main message of Isis Unveiled in his own way. In his work devoted to the biography of the writer, he explained that this book is an example of criticism of the church organization, a collection of theories about mental phenomena and the secrets of nature. "Isis" analyzes the secrets of Kabbalistic teachings, the esoteric ideas of Buddhists, as well as their reflection in Christianity and other world religions. Sienkiewicz also noted that Blavatsky managed to prove the existence of substances of an immaterial nature.

Particular attention is paid to secret societies. These are the Masons and Jesuits. Their knowledge became fertile soil that Helena Blavatsky used. Quotes from Isis later began to appear en masse in the occult and theosophical works of her followers.

If the first volume of the publication was focused on the study of science, then the second, on the contrary, examined theological issues. In the preface, the author explained that the conflict between these two schools is key in understanding the world order.

Blavatsky criticized the thesis of scientific knowledge that a person lacks a spiritual principle. The writer tried to find him with the help of various religious and spiritual teachings. Some researchers of Blavatsky's work note that in her book she offers the reader indisputable evidence of the existence of magic.

The second theological volume analyzes various (for example, the Christian Church) and criticizes them for their hypocritical attitude towards their own teaching. In other words, Blavatsky stated that the adherents betrayed their origins (the Bible, the Koran, etc.).

The author examined the teachings of famous mystics that contradicted world religions. By exploring these schools of thought, she tried to find a common root. Many of her theses were both anti-scientific and anti-religious. For this, Isis was criticized by a variety of readers. But this did not stop her from gaining cult popularity among another part of the audience. It was the success of Isis Unveiled that allowed Blavatsky to expand her Theosophical Society, which acquired members in all corners of the world, from America to India.

"Voice of Silence"

In 1889, the book “The Voice of Silence” was published, authored by the same Helena Blavatsky. The biography of this woman says that this was a successful attempt to combine numerous theosophical researches under one cover. The main thing for “The Voice of Silence” was the writer’s stay in Tibet, where she became acquainted with the teachings of Buddhists and the isolated life of local monasteries.

This time Blavatsky did not compare or evaluate several philosophical schools. She began to write a textured description of Buddhist teachings. It contains a detailed analysis of terms such as “Krishna”, or “Higher Self”. Most of the book was written in a Buddhist style. However, it was not an orthodox presentation of this religion. It contained the mystical component familiar to Blavatsky.

This work became especially popular among Buddhists. It went through many reprints in India and Tibet, where it became a reference book for many researchers. She was highly regarded by the Dalai Lamas. The last of them (by the way, now living) himself wrote the preface for “The Voice of the Silence” on the hundredth anniversary of the first edition. This is an excellent foundation for those who want to know and understand Buddhism, including the Zen school.

The book was presented by the writer to Leo Tolstoy, who in his last years intensively studied a variety of religions. The gift copy is still kept in Yasnaya Polyana. The author signed the cover, calling Tolstoy “one of the few who can comprehend and understand what is written there.”

The count himself spoke warmly about the gift in his publications, where he compiled wise excerpts from books that influenced him (“For Every Day,” “Thoughts of Wise People,” “Reading Circle”). Also, the writer, in one of his personal letters, said that “The Voice of Silence” contains a lot of light, but also touches on issues that a person is generally unable to understand. It is also known that Tolstoy read the journal “Theosophist” by Blavatsky, who greatly appreciated what he talked about in his diary.

"The Secret Doctrine"

“The Secret Doctrine” is considered Blavatsky’s last work, in which she summarized all her knowledge and conclusions. During the writer's lifetime, the first two volumes were published. The third book was published after her death in 1897.

The first volume analyzed and compared different views on the second looked at human evolution. It touches on racial issues and also explores the evolution of humans as a species.

The last volume was a collection of biographies and teachings of some occultists. The Secret Doctrine was greatly influenced by stanzas - verses from the Book of Dzyan, which were often quoted on the pages of the work. Another source of texture was the previous book, “The Key to Theosophy.”

The new publication was distinguished by its special language. The writer used a huge number of symbols and images generated by a variety of religions and philosophical schools.

The Secret Doctrine was a sequel to Isis Unveiled. Essentially, it was a deeper look at the issues outlined in the writer's first book. And Blavatsky’s Theosophical Society helped her work on the new edition.

Writing this monumental work was the most difficult test that Helena Blavatsky endured. Books published earlier did not take as much energy as this one. Numerous witnesses later noted in their memoirs that the author worked herself into a complete frenzy, when one page could be rewritten up to twenty times.

Archibald Keightley provided enormous assistance in the publication of this work. He had been a member of the Theosophical Society since 1884, and at the time of writing was General Secretary of its UK branch. It was this man who personally edited a stack of sheets one meter high. The corrections mainly affected punctuation and some points important for the future edition. Its final version was presented to the writer in 1890.

It is known that the great Russian composer Alexander Scriabin enthusiastically re-read The Secret Doctrine. At one time, Blavatsky's theosophical ideas were close to him. The man constantly kept the book on his desk and publicly admired the writer’s knowledge.

Last years

Blavatsky's activities in India were crowned with success. Branches of the Theosophical Society were opened there, which was popular among the local population. In her last years, Elena lived in Europe and stopped traveling due to deteriorating health. Instead, she began to actively write. That's when most of her books come out. Blavatsky died on May 8, 1891 in London after suffering from a severe case of influenza.

Theosophy of Helena Blavatsky

*THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY* (English: Theosophical Society) was founded by Helena Blavatsky and Colonel Henry Olcott in 1875 in New York with the goal of “forming the nucleus of a world brotherhood”, exploring the unexplored laws of nature and the hidden abilities of man based on the synthesis of the spiritual achievements of East and West .

The very word "theosophy" means "knowledge of God." It was also used by the Hellenes, who understood by this word the science of knowing the will of the gods and fate. *In the case of Blavatsky’s society, it served only as a new name for esotericism: Blavatsky chose to call her doctrine this way in order to emphasize its difference from others and even unobtrusively state its claim to the role of a new world religion.*

Theosophists themselves define their teaching in the following words:

“There are two types of knowledge: lower and higher. Everything that can be taught by one person to another, all science, all art, all literature, even the Holy Scriptures, even the Vedas themselves - all this was ranked among the forms of lower knowledge...

The highest knowledge is the knowledge of the One, knowing which, you know everything. Knowing Him is Theosophy. This is “the knowledge of God, which is eternal Life.”

Helena Blavatsky

*Elena Petrovna BLAVATSKAYA* was born on August 12, 1831 in the city of Ekaterinoslav (Ekaterinoslav province).

All researchers of Blavatsky's life especially note her more than noble origin. Indeed, her father belonged to the family of the hereditary princes of Mecklenburg von Rottenstern-Hahn, and her mother was the granddaughter of Prince Pavel Vasilyevich Dolgoruky.

Regarding the conditions of Blavatsky's childhood, we can get a very clear idea from her own memoirs.

“My childhood?” she writes. “It contains pampering and mischief, on the one hand, punishments and bitterness, on the other. Endless illnesses until the age of seven or eight, sleepwalking at the instigation of the devil. Two governesses: the Frenchwoman Madame Penier and Miss Augusta Sophia Jeffreys, an old maid from Yorkshire. Several nannies, and one half Tatar... My father's soldiers took care of me. My mother died when I was a child."

“We traveled with my father and his artillery regiment until I was eight or nine years old, sometimes visiting my grandparents. When I was eleven years old, my grandmother took me in with her. She lived in Saratov, where my grandfather was the governor, and before he held this position in Astrakhan and under his command there were several thousand Kalmyk Buddhists.

…As a child, I became acquainted with the Lamaism of Tibetan Buddhists. I spent months and years among the Lamaist Kalmyks of Astrakhan and with their high priest... I was in Semipalatinsk and in the Urals with my uncle, the owner of vast lands in Siberia near the border with Mongolia, where the residence of the Terahan Lama was located. I also traveled abroad, and by the age of fifteen I had learned a lot about lamas and Tibetans."

Already in her youth, the features of Helena Blavatsky’s mental constitution manifested themselves in full force.

This is evidenced by her own aunt, Nadezhda Andreevna Fadeeva, who was only three years older than Elena Petrovna:

“The phenomena produced by the mediumistic powers of my niece Elena are extremely remarkable, true miracles, but they are not the only ones... So many forces concentrated in one person, a combination of the most extraordinary manifestations coming from the same source, like hers, is, of course, , an unprecedented case, perhaps unparalleled. I have long known that she possesses the greatest mediumistic powers, but when she was with us, these powers did not reach the extent that they have reached now... She was raised as a good girl. family, but there was no talk of learning. But the extraordinary wealth of her mental abilities, the subtlety and speed of her thoughts, the amazing ease with which she understood, grasped and assimilated the most difficult subjects, an unusually developed mind, combined with a knightly, direct character, energetic and open - this is what raised her so high above the level of ordinary human society and could not help but attract general attention to her, consequently, the envy and enmity of all who, in their insignificance, could not stand the brilliance and gifts of this truly amazing nature.”

Just a miracle, not a child! But let's see what the amazing abilities of young Elena were. To do this, let us give the floor to Blavatsky herself:

“For about six years (from the ages of eight to fifteen), an old spirit came to me every evening to convey various messages in writing through my hand. This happened in the presence of my father, aunt and many of our friends, residents of Tiflis and Saratova This spirit (woman) called herself Tekla Lebendorf and spoke in detail about her life. She was born in Revel, she got married and told about her children: the fascinating story of her eldest daughter Z., who committed suicide. this son himself came and talked about his posthumous sufferings. The old lady said that she saw God, the Virgin Mary, two of the angels she introduced to us all, and, to the great joy of my relatives, the angels promised to protect me, etc. ., etc.".

Tell me, honestly, in a similar situation, would you not be concerned about the girl’s health? For some reason, Elena’s older relatives didn’t bother...

Blavatsky got married very early (July 7, 1848). For an old and unloved person. Already in October she runs away from him, and from that moment Blavatsky’s endless wanderings around the world begin, which could well become the basis for a whole series of adventure novels.

Let's take a geographical map and mark on it the movements of Elena Petrovna for the period from 1848 to 1872. The result will be the following picture: from 1848 to 1851 - a journey through Egypt, Athens, Smyrna and Asia Minor; the first failed attempt to enter Tibet; in 1851, Blavatsky travels to England, and there her first meeting takes place with the Teacher, who “appeared” to her in childhood and whom she called her Patron; from 1851 to 1853 - travel through South America and move to India, a second failed attempt to penetrate Tibet and return through China and Japan to America; from 1853 to 1856 - wandering around North and Central America and moving to England; from 1856 to 1858 - return from England through Egypt to India and the third failed attempt to penetrate Tibet.

In December 1858, Elena Petrovna unexpectedly appeared in Russia with her relatives and stayed first in Odessa, and then in Tiflis until 1863. In 1864, she finally entered Tibet, from where she left for a short time (1866) to Italy, then moved again to India and, through the Kum-lun Mountains and Lake Palti, returned to Tibet. In 1872, she travels through Egypt and Greece to her relatives in Odessa, and from there the following year, 1873, she leaves for America.

It is easy to see that the main goal in this twenty-year odyssey is Tibet. What drew Elena Petrovna to this region of the globe remote from the centers of civilization? Here is what her close friend Countess Wachmeister says about this:

“In her childhood, she often saw next to her an astral image, which always appeared to her in moments of danger in order to save her at critical moments. H.P.B. got used to considering him her guardian angel and felt that she was always under His protection and leadership.

In 1851 she was in London with her father, Colonel Hahn. One day, during one of the walks that she usually took alone, she was very surprised to see in a group of Indians the one who had appeared to her earlier in the astral plane. Her first impulse was to rush towards Him and speak to Him, but He signaled to her not to move, and she remained standing, dumbfounded, until the whole group had passed by.

The next day she went to Hyde Park to calmly think about what had happened in private. Looking up, she saw the same figure approaching her. And then the Teacher told her that he had come to London with the Indian princes to carry out some important task and wanted to meet her, since He needed her cooperation in some endeavor. He then told her about the Theosophical Society and told her that he would like to see her as its founder. He told her briefly about all the difficulties that she would have to overcome, and said that before that she would have to spend three years in Tibet in order to prepare for this very difficult task.

*It is very noteworthy that Elena Petrovna transfers the authorship of the idea of ​​​​creating the Theosophical Society to a person whose reality of existence, to put it mildly, has not been proven.*

One thing is certain - this meeting (maybe fictitious?) was enough for Elena Petrovna to go on a long and exhausting journey.

Let's make a small digression and try to figure out what the status of a Teacher means for Blavatsky and for Theosophists in general. To do this, let us turn to the works of Elena Pisareva, a researcher of the life and work of Blavatsky:

“For Europeans, who have lost all concept of esotericism, the very existence of Eastern Teachers, living a completely special life, somewhere among the inaccessible Himalayas, unknown to anyone except a handful of theosophical dreamers, seems like some kind of fairy tale. But this idea changes completely when you start to get acquainted with the inner meaning of the religious teachings of India. The difference in the mental and spiritual life of the materialistic West and the mystical East is very deep, and the misunderstanding on the part of the West of the most essential features of the East is quite natural. In the East, no one doubts the existence of high adepts of Divine Wisdom.

...But Western scientists, at least the most advanced ones, do not deny the possibility of supernormal psychic abilities, which in most people are in a latent state and will only develop over time to their full manifestation; and if this is so, it is completely illogical to deny the possibility of higher and higher stages of mental and spiritual evolution, and, consequently, the emergence of such “High Beings”, the spiritual powers and properties of which are still unknown at our lower stage of development.

Many people are confused by the mystery surrounding them. But there are important reasons for this, of which the most understandable to the European mind should be the natural refinement of the entire nervous system; to what extent such a refined organization must suffer from our modern conditions of life will be understood by all who have fine nerves.”

So, Helena Blavatsky preferred adventurous wanderings in search of “supermans” in the person of the Teachers who settled in the heart of the Himalayas over a boring life with an unloved husband. Well, it’s a very worthy occupation, if you don’t take into account the results it led to.

It may be objected to me that any teaching is not immune from the fact that it can be used for unscrupulous purposes. To this I will answer that the doctrine preached by the Theosophical Society literally begged to be used as an ideological basis for solving political problems. I will not be unfounded and will try to prove it. But a little lower, since we are already distracted. It's time to return to our heroine.

Soon after meeting the Teacher, Blavatsky leaves London and goes to India. She arrives there at the end of 1852. However, her attempt to penetrate through Nepal into Tibet was unsuccessful. She was detained by an English military patrol when she wanted to cross the Rangit River.

The next attempt (1856) was more successful, but due to mistakes made by the members of the expedition due to ignorance of local customs, this trip also did not achieve its goal.

“My comrades,” Blavatsky later recalled, “came up with an unreasonable plan for themselves to get into Tibet in disguise, but without understanding the local language. Only one of them (Kulvein) understood a little Mongolian and hoped that this would be enough. The rest did not know this either. It is clear that none of them ever got to Tibet.

Kuhlwein's companions were very politely led back to the border before they had gone 16 miles. Kulvein himself... did not survive this either, as he fell ill with a fever and was forced to return to Lahore through Kashmir."

Only eight years later will Elena Petrovna’s fanatical perseverance be rewarded. She will outline her impressions of Tibet in the book “Isis Unveiled”:

“In Western and Eastern Tibet, as in all other places where Buddhism is the predominant religion, there are actually two religions (the same can be said about Brahmanism): its generally popular form and the secret, philosophical one. The latter is adhered to by members of the Sutrantika sect (from the words Sutra - instructions, rules; and antika - close).

They closely convey the spirit of the original teachings of the Buddha, showing the need for an intuitive perception of them, from which they draw proper conclusions. These people do not proclaim their views and do not allow them to be disseminated publicly...

Many Lamaist monasteries have schools of magic, but the most famous in this regard is the monastic community in Shu-Tuktu, in which more than 30,000 monks live. It's a whole city. Some of the female nuns in this monastery have amazing psychic powers. We met several of them on their way from Lhasa to Kandy (Ceylon) - that Buddhist Rome with its wonderful temples and relics of Gautama. To avoid encounters with Muslims and other infidels, they traveled only at night, unarmed, but without the slightest fear of wild animals, for, as they said, no animal would touch them. At the first glimpses of dawn, they hid in caves and viharas, specially built for them by their coreligionists at certain distances from each other.

One of these poor wanderers, a bikshuni, showed us a very interesting occult phenomenon. This was many years ago, when such manifestations were still new to me. One of our friends, originally from Kashmir, but converted to Lamaist Buddhism, now permanently residing in Lhasa, took us with him to join such pilgrims.

Why carry this bunch of dead flowers with you? - asked one of the Bikshuni, an exhausted old woman of tall stature, pointing to a large bouquet of beautiful fresh fragrant flowers in my hand.

Dead? - I asked. - But they were just collected in the garden.

And yet they are dead,” she answered seriously. - To be born in this world, isn't it death? Look how they look in the world of eternal light, in the gardens of our blessed Foch.

Without leaving the place where she was sitting on the ground, she took one flower from the bouquet, put it on her lap and began, as it were, to scoop some invisible substance out of the air with her hands. A faint cloud began to form in the air. Gradually it took on shape and color, and finally a copy of the flower that was in her lap appeared in the air. The copy was exact, repeating every petal, every line of the flower, and lay on its side just like the flower itself on a woman’s lap, but it was thousands of times more magnificent in color, amazingly beautiful, like the human spirit is more beautiful than its physical shell. So, flower by flower, all the flowers of the bouquet were reproduced, including the smallest blades of grass in it. At our desire, even at just one thought, the flowers disappeared and reappeared...

In Buddha-la, or rather Fokht-la (Buddha Mountain), the most important of the many thousands of Lamaist monasteries in this country, there is a staff of Buddha, which floats in the air, unsupported by anything, and directs the activities of the monastic community. When a lama is called upon to give an account in the presence of the abbot of a monastery, he knows in advance that it is useless for him to utter a lie: the "administrator of justice" (Buddha's rod), by his hesitation, approving or rejecting his words, will immediately and unmistakably show his guilt. I cannot say that I myself was present at this, I have no such claims, but what I wrote is confirmed by such authorities that I am ready to subscribe to it without hesitation.”

Blavatsky's last remark speaks for itself. She really was inclined to take on faith everything that the Teachers told her...

Blavatsky's journey to Tibet and the years spent there are a key point in her biography as an esoteric "guru" of the Western world. Elena Petrovna became famous not only for her statement that she was “chosen” to the highest level of initiation in the occult hierarchy available to man, but that she owed her achievements to the Tibetan school, personified by the great “Mahatmas”. However, some skeptic researchers question the very fact of this journey. There is only one single piece of evidence on this matter. After Blavatsky's death, two British officers who served in those places confirmed that they had heard *(not seen, but "heard"!)* about a European woman who traveled alone through the mountains of Tibet in 1854 and 1867. But this is also highly unlikely. In those days, almost no one was allowed into Tibet except for rare travelers, whose actions were closely monitored by the Tibetans themselves, as well as by Chinese, Russian and British border patrols, whose duties included intercepting potential spies.

The next period of Elena Petrovna’s life, which she spent, starting in 1873, successively in America (1873-1878), in India (1878-1884) and in Europe (1884-1891), became her “star” period.

In 1873, at the direction of her Teacher, Blavatsky left Paris for New York. At the very beginning of her stay in America, Blavatsky had to suffer a lot, but she never lost heart and, until she received money from home, she was busy either sewing ties or making artificial flowers.

By the time Elena Petrovna appeared in North America, public attention was focused on the town of Chittenden (Vermont), where very strange phenomena were occurring. Eddie's two farmer brothers, completely uneducated and ignorant people, turned out to be such powerful mediums that strong spiritual phenomena were constantly observed in their presence, up to and including materialization. In their house, Elena Petrovna first met Colonel Henry Olcott, who conducted a journalistic investigation here and who, from the moment they met, became a faithful follower of Blavatsky.

Blavatsky Theosophical Society. Seventeen people gathered in Elena Petrovna’s modest apartment: several writers, a Jewish rabbi, the president of the New York Society for the Investigation of Spiritualism, two doctors and several other persons. Colonel Olcott gave a speech in which he outlined the current spiritual state of the world, the conflict between materialism and spirituality on the one hand, and religion and science on the other; The colonel contrasted their endless and ineffective bickering with the philosophy of the ancient Theosophists, who knew how to merge both poles of spiritual life. He then proposed to establish a Society of Occultists and with it a library for the study of the hidden laws of nature, which were known to the ancients, but are lost to us. Olcott's proposal was enthusiastically accepted and he was immediately elected president of the Theosophical Society.

The following year, 1876, Elena Petrovna began writing “Isis Unveiled,” and in 1877, “Isis” was already published.

Although not a professional scientist, Blavatsky was nevertheless quite educated. In particular, she was well versed in Asian sacred texts. Unlike the monotheism of Jews, Christians and Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists worship numerous deities, each of which plays a special role in the world plan. The central feature of their religious practice is the concept of adeptship (in Sanskrit “adept” - *MAHATMA*), which traces its ancestry to the primitive subculture of shamanism. Within this concept, it is believed that any person can achieve enormous occult power through training and dedication to the goal. According to Blavatsky, most Teachers (though not all) are former adepts who have reached an extremely high level.

The direct source of this idea in Western esotericism was undoubtedly the English novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873), with whose books Blavatsky was well acquainted. One could even say that her new religion actually grew out of the material of these books. One of Bulwer-Lytton's characters remarks:

“In dreams all human knowledge is born, in dreams it overcomes boundless space along the first fragile bridge between spirit and spirit - this world and other worlds...” Blavatsky’s dreams formed the basis of the esoteric renaissance of our time.

Bulwer-Lytton was not only a science fiction writer. He made a successful career in politics, becoming a Member of Parliament in 1831, and in 1858 Secretary of the Colonial Office (for his work he was awarded a peerage and became Lord Lytton in 1866).

However, now he is remembered only as a writer. Bulwer-Lytton's early stories were written in the spirit of the aristocratic school of fashionable novels (the so-called silver fork novels). Their heroes are dandy criminals in the style of Byron or Balzac.

Bulwer-Lytton later wrote a number of historical novels, including The Last Day of Pompeii (1834), and stories about the life and morals of the middle class. Achieving almost immediate success in all his endeavors, he aroused the envy, admiration and even imitation of such famous writers as Dickens and Thackeray. However, Bulwer-Lytton himself especially valued among his writings the occult novels Zanoni (1842), The Strange Case (1862) and The Coming Race (1871).

Bulwer read the works of alchemists and Neoplatonists, and was familiar with the work of contemporary spiritualist societies and circles. His occult stories combine modern scientific knowledge with ancient magic, a vivid imagination with amazing writing talent. These components create the image of a character who owns some dark secret. Bulwer-Lytton's magic was primarily attracted by analogies with modern science. Both magic and science are ways to achieve power over the world, but science is provable, and magic is not. Although a cautious and skeptical man who did not believe in most of the phenomena so brilliantly described in his own novels, Bulwer-Lytton did not rule out the possibility that sooner or later science would confirm the occultists' claims to such powers as extrasensory perception and prophecy.

While developing this idea, Bulwer-Lytton took part in magical experiments with his friend, Eliphas Levi (1810-1875). Eliphas Levi (pseudonym of Alphonse-Louis Constant), a defrocked French abbot, was the founder of the occult renaissance in France. He preached the existence of a certain “secret doctrine” that united all magical and religious systems. In his writings, Levi relies heavily on Eastern sources, especially the sacred scriptures of Hinduism. The result of his work was a mixture of Orientalism and occultism, which greatly influenced Bulwer-Lytton, and subsequently Blavatsky: both were especially struck by the theory of Eliphas Levi that the bearers of the secret teaching are immortal adepts endowed with magical powers.

*Helena Blavatsky’s “Isis Unveiled,” contrary to expectation, bore little resemblance to the catechism of a new religion. This book was a rather incoherent set of tirades directed against the rationalism and materialism of Western civilization.* Blavatsky's appeal to traditional esoteric sources was intended to discredit modern religious teachings and made the superiority of ancient religious truths over science and agnosticism “obvious.”

In 1878, the founders of the Theosophical Society decided to move to India. By this time, they had already established correspondence relations with several Hindu pandits, and they came to the conclusion that India should be the best soil for the revival of ancient Eastern spirituality.

There they begin to publish the magazine "Theosophist" and travel throughout the country, promoting Theosophy.

At the end of 1882, due to the damp climate of Bombay, which turned out to be very harmful to Elena Petrovna’s health, she became seriously ill. A series of illnesses that followed one after another forced Blavatsky to leave India for a while. In Europe, she begins work on a new book - the main work of her life called "The Secret Doctrine."

This new book, published in 1888, looked like a commentary on a sacred text called the Dzyan Verses, which the author allegedly saw in an underground Himalayan monastery. The Secret Doctrine contained a description of Divine activity, as Blavatsky imagined it, from the beginning of the period of creation to its end. The first volume (Cosmogenesis) covered the general plan according to which the one unmanifest God differentiates himself into the diversity of thinking beings constantly filling the world. God is first revealed through emanation and three successive forms of Mind - the three cosmic phases create time, space and matter and are symbolized in a series of sacred signs of Hinduism as follows: All subsequent creations occur in strict subordination to the divine plan, passing through seven rounds (evolutionary cycles) ). In the first circle the world is subject to the power of fire, in the second - air, in the third - water, in the fourth - earth and in the others - ether. This order reflects the gradual withdrawal of the world from divine grace in the first four circles and its redemption in the next three.

Helena Blavatsky illustrates the stages of the cosmic cycle with a variety of esoteric symbols: triangles, triskelions and swastikas. This last symbol was so popular in 19th-century Europe that Blavatsky included it in the design of the official seal of the Theosophical Society.

The swastika deserves special attention. In Helena Blavatsky's books it looks like this:

Pay attention to where the ends of the swastika are bent. They are bent clockwise, and this form of the symbol is well known to us from surviving newsreels and photographs from the archives of the Third Reich. It was this swastika that the German Nazis chose as their main symbol (Hitler considered this swastika a symbol of the “struggle for the victory of the Aryan man”). Helena Blavatsky understood the swastika as a symbol of the “fall of man into matter,” as well as the “Hammer of Thor” - a formidable mystical weapon with which Thor defeated people and gods.

What does a swastika really mean? Let's try to figure it out.

*SWASTIKA* (ancient Indian, from “su” - “associated with good”) is one of the most archaic symbols, found in the ornaments of many peoples in different parts of the world. Depicted as a cross with curved (angled or oval) ends.

The oldest swastikas were discovered in the Urals. They appear at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC in the ornament of vessels of the “Andronovo” culture (Bronze Age) as a simplified pattern of intersecting “ducks”. These swastikas were applied to the bottom of the vessels and symbolized the sun as the abode of the spirit of the patrons of waterfowl among primitive fishermen. Later, the meaning associated with fishing was lost - the swastika became a solar symbol.

The swastika cross can be found on Navajo tablecloths, on Greek pottery, Cretan coins, Roman mosaics, on objects recovered from the excavations of Troy, on the walls of Hindu temples, and in many other cultures throughout the ages.

Still later, the static solar symbol became dynamic, meaning the solar passage across the heavens, turning night into day - hence its broader meaning as a symbol of fertility and the rebirth of life; the ends of the cross are interpreted as symbols of wind, rain, fire and lightning. In Japan, the swastika is a symbol of long life and prosperity. In China, this is an ancient form of the sign “fan” (four parts of the world), later a symbol of immortality and a designation of the number 10,000 (this is how the Chinese represented infinity).

Early Christians depicted the swastika on their graves as a disguised form of the more orthodox cross, and in the Middle Ages it was painted on stained glass windows to fill the foot, hence its English name fylfot. In heraldry, the swastika is known as the crampone cross (from crampon - “iron hook”).

Writer Thomas Carr, in his article “The Swastika, Its Origin and Meaning,” writes about the connection of the swastika with the pole and polar rotation. Here are his main arguments.

1. This sign is not found either in the Stone Age, or in the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras.

2. But this sign became widespread in the Bronze Age.

3. In prehistory it was adopted by the Chinese, Japanese, Akkadians and some Egyptian dynasties, as well as by the builders of prehistoric fortifications in the Mississippi Valley and other pre-Columbian peoples of the American continent; it was adopted by the first Aryans of India, the Hittites, the Trojans who lived in the pre-Homeric era, the Etruscans, the Cretans, the Cypriots, the Myseaneans and the indigenous population of Greece and Asia Minor.

4. Since the beginning of the historical period, this sign was painted by the Chinese, Japanese, Indian Buddhists, the first Goths and Scandinavians and, later, the Romans.

5. In the modern era, the sign was painted by the Chinese, Japanese, Lapons, Finns, North American Indians, Indians in northern India and Scandinavians.

6. These ancient races are known to have worshiped the stars, and in almost every place where the swastika is found, peoples have been found who worshiped the North Star.

Based on the above, the following conclusions can be drawn:

a) the swastika appeared in the Bronze Age;

b) it was known and used by many peoples;

c) these peoples are of Turanian origin;

d) these peoples worshiped the stars, they especially revered the North Star and the seven stars of the Big Dipper;

e) the swastika was spread throughout the world by the Turanian peoples; at first it symbolized the North Star and the Big Dipper.

Regarding the swastika, we can assume the following:

At first it was a symbol of rotation around the earth's axis and as such represented the rotation of the seven stars of the Great Bear around the North Star;

Due to its original meaning, it became a symbol of Fire, it was considered as a symbol of the Sun;

It became a beneficial religious symbol, and in this sense it was used by prehistoric Buddhists and their future followers.

It only remains to note that a swastika with ends bent counterclockwise (sometimes called “sovastika”) in the East can cause the most negative associations, being a symbol of Kali - the god of death and destruction.

The second volume of The Secret Doctrine (Anthropogenesis) attempts to link the history of mankind with the evolution of the universe. It is clear that the idea of ​​history here goes beyond what is known to modern science. Blavatsky includes man directly in the scheme of cosmic, physical and spiritual development. Her theories are a fusion of the discoveries of paleontology of the late 19th century and the racial theory of evolution. She accompanies her cyclical concept with the statement that each circle is accompanied by the fall and rise of seven successive “root” races: in the first-fourth circle, races experience a decline in spiritual development, surrendering to the power of the material world (an obvious borrowing of Gnostic ideas), in the fifth-seventh circles, the higher races rise to the light.

According to Blavatsky, true “humanity” can only be created by the fifth root race, which is called the Aryan. It was preceded accordingly by: the astral race, which arose in the invisible and sacred earth; Hyperboreans who lived on the disappeared polar continent; the Lemurians, who flourished on an island in the Indian Ocean, and the race of Atlanteans who died as a result of a global catastrophe.

Another fundamentally important theosophical belief was the belief in reincarnation (transmigration of souls) and karma, also borrowed from Hinduism. The human individual was considered an insignificant part of the divine being. The idea of ​​reincarnation obliged everyone to embark on a cosmic journey through circles and root races, which should lead him to a final reunion with the god from whom he was torn. This path of countless reincarnations writes the story of gradual redemption. The process of reincarnation is carried out in accordance with the principles of karma: those who have done good deeds are reincarnated successfully, those who were evil are reincarnated into even lower forms.

In addition to racial emphases, Theosophy also emphasized principles of elitism and hierarchy. Like her Masters who supposedly sent her to impart the wisdom of centuries to the Aryan race, Helena Blavatsky claimed absolute authority based on her place in the occult hierarchy. In her accounts of human prehistory, she also often referred to the prominent role of the elite priests of the indigenous races of the past. So, when the Lemurians were mired in evil and vice, only the hierarchy of the chosen ones remained pure in spirit. These few formed the Lemuro-Atlantean dynasty of priest-kings, living in the legendary country of Shambhala in the Gobi Desert. They were also associated with Blavatsky's Masters, who were to serve as teachers of the fifth Aryan root race.

Despite the confusing and illiterate argumentation, frequent contradictions arising due to many pseudoscientific references, Blavatsky's theory aroused some interest among the educated European public. This is apparently explained by the vague promise of occult initiation, shining through countless borrowings from ancient beliefs, behind quotations from the lost apocrypha, traditional Gnostic sources. Theosophy offered an attractive mixture of ancient religious ideas and new scientific concepts for those whose conventional views were overturned, on the one hand, by the discredit of orthodox religion, on the other, by scientific and technological progress.

In May 1891, almost without any warning illness, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky died in her work chair. Her body was burned, and the remaining ashes were divided into three parts: one part is preserved in Adyar, the other in New York, and the third left in London.

This ended the earthly journey of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, but we will remember her again when the time comes to talk about those who wanted to revive the “greatness of the Aryan race.”

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