Theosophist, Author, Linguist. Translator of the Upanishads, Gita, Yoga Sutras, etc. Bio: Charles Johnston
[Translation] There lived once Shvetaketu, Aruni’s grandson; his father addressed him, saying: —Shvetaketu, go, learn the service of the Eternal;… Read More »Chandogya Upanishad 6:1-7 (First Principles 1)
A satirical critic of our orientalists once said that their capacity, like the Word divine in the heavens, had three… Read More »Lovers of the East: Henry Thomas Colebrooke (1765-1837)
I. [Translation] Om Bless us Mitra; bless us Varuna; bless us Aryaman; bless us Indra, Vrhaspati; bless us wide-stepping Vishnu.… Read More »Taittiriya Upanishad 1 (The Lotus of the Teaching)
“I myself but write one or two indicative words for the future, I but advance a moment, only to wheel… Read More »A Poet Theosophist: Walt Whitman
Thousand-headed is Spirit, thousand-eyed, thousand-footed; he wrapping the world altogether, overpassed it by a space of ten fingers. Spirit verily… Read More »The Hymn of the Spirit
“There is a small white lotus bud in this house of the Soul; in it there is a firmament, and… Read More »The Opening Eyelids of the Morn
Not exactly a trap, though even if a very valuable truth has allowed itself to be caught therein. It happened… Read More »A Trap for a Friend
[Translation] Three, verily, were skilled in the up-singing Shilaka Shalavatya, Chaikitayana Dalbhya, Pravahana Jaivala. They said: In the up-singing, indeed,… Read More »Chandogya Upanishad 1:8-2:21 (The Mysteries of Sound 2)
One of the Buddhist Suttas is known as the Potthapada Sutta, so called in honour of the Brahman to whom… Read More »States of Consciousness
I. In the first two Gospels, there is a story of gentle irony at the expense of the non-discerning disciples.… Read More »Self-Glorification or Self-Conquest
I. [Translation] The Evolver first of the bright ones came into being, the maker of the whole, the guardian of… Read More »Mundaka Upanishad (The Two Wisdoms)
“When I was a child . . .” The religions of the Orient give us a wide view of life… Read More »The Childhood and Youth of St. Paul
Introduction This charming little treatise bears in Sanskrit the title Tattva Bodha, which means “The Awakening to Reality,” or, to… Read More »Tattva Bodha (Shankaracharya’s Catechism)
At the close of the nineteenth century, the scientific ideal was already visibly losing its power. Very strange; yet an… Read More »The Indian Renaissance
In the August number of this Magazine, in an essay entitled “Two Thousand Years Ago,” I endeavoured to show that… Read More »Materialistic Science (A Summary)
[Introduction] Among the great religions of the world, none has been so greatly misunderstood in our day as the teaching… Read More »The Buddha’s Former Births
Who opened the doors of the east to the west? Who brought to the west the light of the east?… Read More »Lovers of the East: Anquetil Duperron (1731-1805)
“He who, dwelling in the earth, is other than the earth. whom the earth knows not, for whom the earth… Read More »The Secret of Power
One whose memory of The Theosophical Society goes back for thirty-four years, of necessity recalls many deaths, and, unhappily, many… Read More »Reminiscences [Clement Griscom]
The understanding of Buddhism by Western scholars is in general marked by certain limitations. To begin with, they are inclined… Read More »Rajput and Brahman in Buddha’s Day
Have you ever stood on the shore, and watched the incoming tide? First a tiny ripple advances a few inches… Read More »“The Second Wave”
I. In the Bhagavad Gita, first translated and best known of all the Sacred Books of the East, there is… Read More »The Songs of the Master
. . . Beheld the Gods all, sweatless, steady-eyed, their flower-wreaths fresh and dust-free, as they stood, touching not the… Read More »The Books of Hidden Wisdom
In previous articles on Primeval Man,1 we have tried to outline and develop a view of the unfolding of history,… Read More »The Antiquity of India
For millenniums the Brahman community has dominated the religious and intellectual life of India. It may be added that, today,… Read More »The Buddha’s Teaching of the Logos
At the recent May Meeting of the Church Missionary Society, Sir M. Monier-Williams felt impelled to lay before the world… Read More »“Two Professors.” Christian and Skeptic.
Dream, wherein the Self is mirrored, has two, powers,—to extend and to envelope; enveloping the habitual self and its world,… Read More »The Dream of Life
The teaching of the Buddha, particularly where it is most profound and spiritual, is for all practical purposes identical with… Read More »The Buddha’s Cosmology
[Note: for some background, see: Classification of “Principles”] It seems a pity that the time and energies of our brothers… Read More »Classification of Principles
In these papers an attempt will be made to give a clear account of the theory of life and development… Read More »An Outline of the “Secret Doctrine”
Perhaps it would be an auspicious beginning, if we were to try to make clear what The Theosophical Society is,… Read More »Theosophy (Lecture)
It has been suggested that the principal purpose of the Buddha, in all that he did and taught, was the… Read More »The Ideal Brahman
The Peaks of Atlantis Frequent allusion is made, in the pages of the Secret Doctrine, to the reminiscences still existing… Read More »Gleams from the Dawn-Land
Mandukya Upanishad The unchanging Om is the All. Its expansion is, what has been, what is, what shall be. And… Read More »The Meaning of OM
[I.] We have heard much of the Sacred Books of the East. It is time to say something of the… Read More »The Early Races in the Popol Vuh
I. In studying the Teachings of Jesus, we shall do well ever to bear in mind his words to his… Read More »The Sermon on the Mount
The manner in which the Buddhist scriptures came into being has set its mark on them in two ways. First,… Read More »The Sevenfold Counsels of Perfection
There is one Lord, the inmost soul of all beings, who makes visible one power in many forms;—they who behold… Read More »[True Poverty and True Wealth]
“What is he Soul? The Soul is consciousness among the powers of life. It is the inner light in the… Read More »Dream and Dreamlessness
I. Atma, verily, Universal Self, alone was this in the beginning, nor was aught else with opening and closing eyes.… Read More »Aitareya Upanishad (Macrocosm and Microcosm)
Through her grandmother, Princess Dolgoruki, Madame Blavatsky was descended from Prince Yuri Dolgoruki, that is, Yuri the Long-armed, who founded… Read More »Madame Blavatsky’s Forbears
“The true desires are overlaid with false; though true, there is a false covering-up of them. For if any one… Read More »Occultism in the Upanishads
I. A Theosophical Need Mr. Judge writes, in one of the closing chapters of The Ocean of Theosophy, that “there… Read More »Eastern and Western Psychology
A number of short treatises, in verse and prose, are attributed to the great Indian Teacher, Shankaracharya, though it is… Read More »The Dangers of Psychism
According to the tradition of the Eastern Mysteries, the syllable Om is divided into three parts: a-u-m. These three parts… Read More »The Meaning of Om
E la sua volontate è nostra pace: Ella è quel mare, al qual tutto si move Ciò ch’ ella crea… Read More »The Logos and Life
Whither are gone the great lords of the earth, with their might of chariots and armies? The earth, that witnessed… Read More »“Vita Brevis”
“These are but passing vestures of the everlasting lord; he suffers no detriment, he is illimitable; therefore, son of warriors,… Read More »The Lord of the Will