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UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD
The Core Work of the Theosophical Society
The first Object of The Theosophical Society is
“To form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity without distinction
of race, creed, sex, caste or colour.” In this Study Paper we include excerpts from
articles on the theme of Universal Brotherhood, the core work of the TS.
The Future of Brotherhood
C. Jinarajadasa
(The American
Theosophist, March 1943)
Sad
as our present lot is, there is not a journalist, a writer, a lecturer, or
worker for social service, who is not dreaming and hoping for a future. And
through all their dreams there runs a golden thread; it is Brotherhood –
Brotherhood not only within the nation, but throughout the whole world,
excluding none, be he black or white or brown or yellow, including all, the
criminal as the law-abiding, the poor as the rich, the peasant as the
aristocrat…
Our
work as Theosophists is above all things to proclaim this message of
Brotherhood. But we proclaim it not as an ideal, as some beautiful dream born
in the imagination of tender-hearted men, but as reality, as a law of nature.
Just as by the law of gravity all of us are held to the surface of the earth,
in every place on its surface, so all of us are bound in the chains of one Brotherhood.
To know ourselves as divine is the supreme task before us all. All else
follows. When we have as our motto: “Divinity, Equality, Fraternity”, Liberty follows as a consequence. For how should I ever dream of coercing my brother who
shares my Divinity?
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Our Knowledge of Brotherhood
N.
Sri Ram
(The American Theosophist, June 1950)
We
may not know any other truth directly for ourselves, but we can know the truth
of Universal Brotherhood and know it in part, presumably, since we have
accepted it. But our knowledge of that Brotherhood is as yet but the germ of a
dark nucleus, destined to grow into an all-inclusive pattern of light, which
will be a perfect vesture of that truth as expressed in our lives.
If
we accept Universal Brotherhood, that acceptance presupposes the principle that
each is related to all. All persons and things share our life at different
levels, but they must share our hearts. When that takes place, we shall know
not only that each is linked to all, but also, that the others, in some
mysterious way, sustain the very nature of one’s being. To know a person even
outwardly is a dim registration of an inner unity, the shadow on the material
plane of an unperceived spiritual light.
A
Theosophical Convention is an unique opportunity to explore this truth, to
which are linked many other truths – all to be comprehended not by the
restless, superficial mind, but by an inner perception which has to emerge from
self-oblivion to self-realization. The Theosophical Society is dedicated to
Universal Brotherhood. To know the nature of the Brotherhood is to experience
that harmony in the universe of which all its most divine laws and forms are
parts and expressions, in which they are all perfectly synthesized.
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A Nucleus of Universal Brotherhood
V.
Wallace Slater
(The Theosophical Journal, May-June 1963)
It
has often been pointed out that the strength of The Theosophical Society lies
in the fact that its members are strong individualists, not afraid to express
their own opinions because of the over-riding brotherliness among them. Brotherhood
does not mean all thinking alike, but rather agreeing to differ. This results
in a unity without uniformity.
As
a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity the Society is an experiment
in being friendly and co-operative without having a set of agreed dogmas in
thought and behaviour. The United Nations is a similar experiment in
co-operation without loss of national freedom – a most difficult task. Let us
show the world that in our smaller body we can achieve this objective
among ourselves and embrace within that sense of warm brotherhood all with whom
we come into contact: inquirer, visitor, stranger.
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The Seamless Garment of Brotherhood
Georges
Tripet
(The American Theosophist, November 1967)
Brotherhood
is friendship generalized and exalted; it asks for nothing; it does not lend,
it gives. It sometimes receives also, and it is not ashamed to receive. It
receives with simplicity, without any feeling of inferiority, of regret, as it
also gives with simplicity, without any feeling of pride or superiority. It
knows that to receive is sometimes more difficult than to give. …
Brotherhood
is a fact in nature; it is the seamless garment of the Divine. It is
everywhere, like the air, and we can practice it in everything. Whatever may be
one’s profession, one’s degree of development, one’s individual
characteristics, he can be brotherly at each moment, for brotherhood is not
only practiced toward a particular being and in that being’s presence, but also
in all the circumstances which may help that being. One even begins to ask
whether there is a difference – if so, it is very subtle – between brotherhood,
friendship, and love – “love” being of course used here as meaning not violent
sensual feeling but perfection, affection, and complete, active understanding.
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Depths in Brotherhood
N.
Sri Ram
(The American Theosophist, November 1967)
It
may be said without any exaggeration that if there is one key to the solution
of all problems in human relations, it is the simple yet profound truth of
human brotherhood, flowing from the fact that all human beings spring from the
same roots and are essentially of the same nature, however much this fact may
be veiled and eclipsed by the modifications which this nature undergoes, thus
presenting differences in mental and physical characteristics. Let all the
existing social and political systems remain as they are, however imperfect and
unsatisfactory they might be, given a genuine sense and feeling of brotherhood
among the people who constitute those systems, the world will witness a
miraculous change; instead of being, as it is very largely, a surging chaos,
and for innumerable people whose sorrows are hidden from our sight a near hell,
it will become almost a paradise.
Every
word which has a beautiful meaning tends in course of usage to become a trite
and empty thing, a practically valueless coin. Turned into a conventionalism, a
mere sign, an indication of an idea, not the reality, it becomes a handy
counter that covers our lack of sensibility and ignorance. Every concept that
holds a value which is spiritual in a fundamental sense, that is, devoid of any
element of self-interest and self-satisfaction, is degraded and materialized; it
is translated in practice in terms that deny its original significance. Thus
religion becomes an empty form, a label of exclusiveness and respectability,
besides being a means of deluding oneself and a cause of antagonisms. Charity
turns into a means of self-display and of winning regard and support for
oneself, also a slave to conscience.
Similarly,
brotherhood, even when it is considered as a practical doctrine, and not merely
suffered as an innocuous idea, is translated in terms of co-existence which
asks only for the sufferance and toleration of those with whom one disagrees
and whom one dislikes. Merely to exist simultaneously on this planet with
another, without either attacking the other, may be an improvement on the law
of the jungle, but it is the poorest of poor aims for a human being,
constituted as he is as a fountain of energies that can flower into manifold
forms of beauty, acting upon others and producing manifold blessings and
happiness. He has also in him energies, perhaps the same fundamental energy led
into self-distorting patterns, that explode in violence and catastrophe. Nature
does not permit a vacuum in space without its being hemmed in with pressures.
Walls of isolation do not exist for long, without generating and provoking
forces outside those walls to marshal themselves and attack them. History
affords numerous examples of this law. Where there are legally or customarily
protected privileges, based on no just principles, there are also forces of
envy and discontent; and when these privileges either deny legitimate opportunities,
or cause hardship, to those excluded from them, they create also resentment and
violence. Thus are revolutions born and bred, the law of action and reaction
working blindly and catastrophically in human relations and psychology as much
as in the field of natural phenomena. …
Sympathy
for a person is generated by a knowledge of his feelings, his needs and
experiences, and normally affection is generated by sympathy. But the hectic
pace at which life is lived because of the attractions that exist in the world
today, which is so different from previous times, allows no time for such
knowledge. When we make some superficial or conventional remark on some
phenomenon of significance or some event of importance affecting human lives,
or some object of beauty, and quickly pass on to some other things, obviously
we have not been touched by it. We are preoccupied with our own ideas, ends,
and objectives. The mind is rarely clear of them and therefore only to a slight
extent open. Our ideas of ourselves and all things generally are partly shaped
by reactions which we do not pause to examine, and partly derived from readings
and the various mediums of propaganda; and these keep us at a distance from the
actuality of things. It is only rarely that we come into direct touch with
another human being without this barrier.
Brotherhood
has a meaning in the reality of things which we miss when it becomes an
academic doctrine. It means, on the psychological plane, a positive interest in
and feeling for others, also an understanding of them. From that base, rising
to deeper and subtler realizations, it can become an expression of all the
beauty which St. Paul conveys in his letters to the Romans and Corinthians. St. Paul speaks of charity of heart or, as translated by some, of love, which is always
beautiful. Love as well as affection is real when it exists, because it is
definite and pointed. It is as real as a ray that penetrates or as a current of
electricity which rearranges a magnetic field and sparks various physical
reactions. But the word brotherhood, because it applies to plurality of beings,
becomes a sentiment that is ineffective because of its diffuseness, an
amorphous vagueness lacking sharpness of focus and outline. This is because it
is a concept placed on some shelf in our thinking and not a force that changes
our thinking and behaviour in definite and positive ways. If there is the same
essence with the same energies, metaphorically the same blood, in different
individuals, in some layer of their being, it can develop a capacity in them to
know each other as kin and respond to each other with affection and beauty. It
is in this knowledge and in such response that the true meaning of Brotherhood
is to be discovered.
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What is a Nucleus of Universal Brotherhood?
John
B. S. Coats
(The Theosophist, April 1974)
There
is an equality of a basic nature in that all men come from the same source and
are wending their way to the same goal; but in a practical sense, each man is
an individual and has to have individual attention. We may never push aside a
person that karma has put in our way, but rather be prepared to help, or to
listen to everyone, including those who do not appear to be important. For this
is the real practice of brotherhood. …
The
practice of brotherhood implies that we have the highest principles active in
our lives, principles of compassion, justice, chivalry, consideration for the
feelings of others, and a constant attention to what we are doing to the people
around us. The strength and usefulness of our organisation depends on this
understanding of differentiated brotherhood. It depends on our ability to
cooperate, on our understanding of the law. Without all this, the nucleus
cannot work; it can neither attract nor can it transmit.
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Brotherhood and Freedom
Radha
Burnier
(The Theosophist, June 1968)
Brotherhood
means something profound and lasting. It is a truth which each has to
understand and realize for himself. The great teachers of the world did not
speak about the numerous problems with which men concern themselves in the
world. They went to the fundamental questions, the knowledge by which “all else
is known”. The realization of the basic, essential things in life brings about
that state of mind which is able to solve all problems. To go to the depth of
understanding of what brotherhood is, is the task of a lifetime or more. It is
a vast field, as vast as life itself. If the world is full of maladies, of
illnesses from the spiritual point of view, surely we do not want merely to
alleviate the suffering. Every disease has to be treated at its source; the
cause has to be known. It is the real cause of man’s ailments that we should
primarily deal with. …
Brotherhood
has a much greater meaning than, let us say, being affectionate to one’s immediate
family and friends. We all love our children, husbands, wives, particular
individuals, but not other people. We love our country, our fellow nationals.
But to realize universal brotherhood may be different from the worldly
affections so commonly experienced. Universal brotherhood has a quality into
which the feeling of “my” does not enter at all. To have a brotherly feeling
towards all people irrespective of the external relationship which they have to
us is a way of exploring brotherhood. …
The
Theosophical Society has a place for everyone, whatever may be his approach, or
the methods he wants to apply for himself. Although the Society states its
Objects, it does not say how the Objects shall be carried out, or delineate the
way to engage in the search for truth. Nobody in the Theosophical Society is
given the authority to say: This is the way, and you shall follow (or not
follow) this particular path; not even H. P. Blavatsky is to be considered as
someone whose words have to be followed implicitly. There is room for every
type of thought and every approach. No one person or group of people can set
themselves up as teachers or instructors and tell the others: This is what you
should do in the Theosophical Society; you should confine yourself to such and
such activities in order to promote the three Objects, or otherwise you are not
really suitable to be in the Theosophical Society. …
In
the Society it is very important, I feel, to have openness, not only of mind
but of heart. It is easy sometimes to have an open mind but it is not so easy
to have an open heart. There are people who are clever and who will accept
theoretically that freedom must exist, but they do not open themselves inwardly
to respond to another’s ways, to appreciate him from a heart which is free of
reaction. What we need is an understanding heart and if we have that, which
means having the right attitude, we can do a great deal.
The
Lord Buddha said that a little love is worth very much more than a great deal
of good works which are done without love. It is worth a great deal more than
talking, which we all do. To have love which is the same as realizing the
deepest meaning of Brotherhood is not easy. Theosophists have often been
described as pioneers. Can we be pioneers in the sincerity we show in
practicing Brotherhood, which implies helping others and yet allowing them to
grow in their own way? If we can be pioneers in the quality of our living, in
the depth of our thinking, in the sincerity of our being, then we shall surely
make progress.
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Our Objects
Hugh
Shearman
(The Theosophist, November 1996)
The
first Object is “To form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity,
without distinction of race, creed, sex, cast or colour’. This is clearly the
most important. It is the only one that demands from members a definite belief,
for it asserts that there is a universal brotherhood of humanity. Of this, when
we join, we undertake to participate in forming a nucleus. It is on the
fullness and adequacy with which we implement that undertaking that our success
as a Society or as a Lodge or branch of the Society depends.
There
are many organizations which profess various forms of brotherhood. Some of
these are relatively limited and shallow, often restricted to handshakes and affabilities
and perhaps cups of tea. The brotherhood referred to in the first Object of the
Theosophical Society is not defined beyond the fact that we do not opt out of
it on grounds of race, creed, sex, caste or colour. Because the word
‘brotherhood’ is widely used to indicate something that is often commonplace
and conventional, it can easily be given little care or attention beyond the
cups of tea or some equivalent emblem.
But
brotherhood implies membership of a united and caring family. When a member of
the Society enters a meeting of other members, can he feel that he is entering
a family to which he belongs, interested in all the others and enjoying that
ease and freedom which can be had only among those whom we love? Can he feel
that he is at home?
The
writer remembers a small incident that seemed to illustrate this aspect of our
work. An old member, under stress, arrived at a Lodge meeting, sat down and
burst into tears. To the honour of the Lodge, all the other members at once
understood that this was the most natural thing, for the Lodge was home and
offered sympathy and understanding.
It
could be well to ask ourselves if the theosophical meeting to which we usually
go is a place where we or any other could easily and naturally burst into tears
and where we could be confident of help and sympathy. If it is not, perhaps
some opening up of our sympathies and attitudes would be appropriate.
Brotherhood requires an ample degree of mutual acceptance regardless of
personal pieties or beliefs. As inner life is deepened, we come to know that
inwardly we are all made of the same stuff and have ultimately the same purpose
and have to help one another along the same path within that purpose. …
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A Vision of Brotherhood
Johan
van Manen
(The Theosophist, April 1909)
Some
years ago in meditation I tried several experiments with myself, and some of
these led to results which I found rather interesting. When meditating on a
single idea, such as purity, love, or unity, there would often come to me a
sudden and vivid internal vision symbolising that idea, accompanied by a
spontaneously-arising sonnet, the contents of which were always a poetic
commentary on the vision.
For
example, one day when meditating on brotherhood there suddenly leaped into
existence before my internal vision a magnificent temple, apparently Egyptian
or Grecian in style. It had no outer walls, but consisted of an immense number
of pillars, supporting a graceful roof, and surrounding a small walled shrine,
into which I did not see. I cannot express the vividness with which I felt that
the building was instinct with meaning – impregnated, as it were, with a
magnetism of intelligence which made it no mere vision, but an object-lesson
containing the very highest teaching. Simultaneously the explanatory sonnet
unfolded itself, and described in its few terse compact lines how this was a
symbol of true brotherhood – how all these pillars, all in different places,
some bathed in the glorious sunlight, some for ever in the half shade of the
inner lines, some thick, some thin, some exquisitely decorated, some equally
strong yet unadorned, some always frequented by devotees who used to sit near
them, others always deserted – how all of them silently, ungrudgingly,
perseveringly and equally bore together the one roof, protecting the inner hall
and its shrine – all different and yet so truly all the same. And the sonnet
ended: “In this see brotherhood.”
I
could not reproduce it now, but the richness and fullness of its meaning, the
deep wisdom so neatly wrapped up in those few words, made me see as if in the
gleam of a search-light what true brotherhood really means – the sharing of
service, the bearing one’s part, regardless of all else but the work to be
done. …
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