The Voice of the Silence by H P Blavatsky
The following pages are derived from The Book of the Golden Precepts, one of the works put into the hands of mystic students in the East. The knowledge of them is obligatory in that school, the teachings of which are accepted by many Theosophists. Therefore, . . ., the work of translating has been relatively an easy task. It is well known that, in India, the methods of psychic development differ with the Gurus (teachers or masters), not only because of their belonging to different schools of philosophy, of which there are six, but because every Guru has his own system, which he generally keeps very secret. But beyond the Himalayas the method in the Esoteric Schools does not differ, unless the Guru is simply a Lama, but little more learned than those he teaches. The work from which from which this book is translated] forms part of the same series as that from which the Stanzas of the Book of Dzyan were taken, on which The Secret Doctrine is based. Together with the great mystic work called Paramartha, which, the legend of Nagarjuna tells us, was delivered to the great Arhat by the Nagas or Serpents (in truth a name given to the ancient Initiates), the Book of the Golden Precepts claims the same origin. Yet its maxims and ideas, however noble and original, are often found under different forms in Sanskrit works, such as the Dnyaneshvari, that superb mystic treatise in which Krishna describes to Arjuna in glowing colors the condition of a fully illumined Yogi; and again in certain Upanishads. This is but natural, since most, if not all, of the greatest Arhats, the first followers of Gautama Buddha were Hindus and Aryans, not Mongolians, especially those who emigrated into Tibet. The works left by Aryasanga alone are very numerous. The original Precepts are engraved on thin oblongs (squares); copies very often on discs. These discs, or plates, are generally preserved on the altars of the temples attached to centres where the so-called contemplative or Mahayana (Yogacharya) schools are established. They are written variously, sometimes in Tibetan but mostly in ideographs. The sacerdotal language (Senzar), besides an alphabet of its own, may be rendered in several modes of writing in cypher characters, which partake more of the nature of ideographs than of syllables.
Like a comet across the horizon of complacent Western civilization, MADAME HELENA PETROVNA BLAVATSKY (1831-1891) appeared on the American scene in the early 1870s and almost single-handedly revived interest in the occult and esoteric, and also introduced many Westerners to the religious ideas of the East, particularly Hinduism and Buddhism. The world-traveled Russian noblewoman founded the Theosophical Society in New York City in 1875 to study the esoteric ideas behind the world's religions. She relocated to India in 1878, where she and her collaborator, Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, a retired Civil War officer, helped inaugurate India's independence movement. Blavatsky moved to London in 1885, where she began writing her magnum opus, The Secret Doctrine--a vast, two-volume compendium of occult philosophy and a cosmological vision of humanity's lost history and secret destiny. Published in 1888, The Secret Doctrine became a formative influence on avant-garde artists and intellectuals, and propelled the dawning occult revival and alternative spiritual culture. Blavatksy died two years after its publication.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780835606806 |
| ISBN 10 | 0835606805 |
| Title | The Voice of the Silence |
| Author | H P Blavatsky |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Quest Books,U.S. |
| Year published | 1992-03-01 |
| Number of pages | 173 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |