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Welcome to the January issue of The New Journal of the Philosophical Research Society.The unquestioned star of the ‘Parliament of Religions’ at the Chicago's World's Fair of 1883 was Swami Vivekananda, an itinerant Hindu monk of powerful intellectual abilities, prodigious memory, and a profound understanding of Indian and Western esoteric traditions. When Vivekanda crossed the stage and turned toward the audience to introduce Vedanta and Hinduism to the gathered crowd of 7000, he spoke with such charisma and effective eloquence that he was applauded with a two-minute ovation simply for greeting them as “Sisters and Brothers of America…”. He was the first Hindu monk to speak about Indian religion in the United States.
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Vivekananda was welcomed so warmly because Indian spirituality was already an important force in the Western esoteric tradition, introduced by members of the Theosophical Society. The Society was founded in 1875 by Helena Blavatsky, Henry Olcott, and William Judge, who soon moved their headquarters to India, where their esoteric universalist beliefs became a popular movement.
The Society had a cordial friendship with Manly Hall, who wrote the introduction to the 1933 edition of Max Heindel's book, Blavatsky and The Secret Doctrine. In it he said, “While these groups are divided by emphasis, the fundamental purposes which they seek to attain are identical, for all enlightened religious movements have as their chief aim and purpose the regeneration of man, individual and collective.”
Huge numbers were in search of perennial wisdom when Hall wrote those words. It was not an accident that one year after the publication of the book, Hall founded the Philosophical Research Society and began its mission dedicated to the study of religion, mythology, metaphysics, and the occult, without the distractions of sectarian conflict. Now, huge numbers of the sisters and brothers of the globe turn to PRS again, hungry–in this age of uncertainty–for the great ideals and sources of wisdom which bring light to the darkness of fear.
East and West meet in the stream of esoteric understanding. Namaste.
The Society had a cordial friendship with Manly Hall, who wrote the introduction to the 1933 edition of Max Heindel's book, Blavatsky and The Secret Doctrine. In it he said, “While these groups are divided by emphasis, the fundamental purposes which they seek to attain are identical, for all enlightened religious movements have as their chief aim and purpose the regeneration of man, individual and collective.”
Huge numbers were in search of perennial wisdom when Hall wrote those words. It was not an accident that one year after the publication of the book, Hall founded the Philosophical Research Society and began its mission dedicated to the study of religion, mythology, metaphysics, and the occult, without the distractions of sectarian conflict. Now, huge numbers of the sisters and brothers of the globe turn to PRS again, hungry–in this age of uncertainty–for the great ideals and sources of wisdom which bring light to the darkness of fear.
East and West meet in the stream of esoteric understanding. Namaste.
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