by Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar

Book Presentation Overview Wisdom

We keep hearing the statement that I am to know myself but what is the effort that we make on a daily basis to know about ourselves. If we just receive information, it slips from us. That is why it is called secret, and not that we are not told! We have no understanding of secret. A true secret is that which we forget even when we are told. It is also called Raja Guhyam in Sanskrit. It is a kingly secret, not a small secret. It is a kingly secret because you are the king of your life and you have forgotten that. Each one of us is a king to our life. Because we have come from the king. We are the progeny of the one king of the universe. Therefore we are also kings. A lion's child is a lion. A king's son is the king to be, he is the prince. Any number of times we are told “That I am”, we don't remember, do we? We don't. So that is the secret.

It is a secret because even if we are told, we would forget. Do not think that it is not told. What is said in Secret Doctrine has been said before. It can be said again and again. I have myself told so many things relating to Secret Doctrine to all of you, but it still remains a secret. It remains a secret because we have fixed to ourselves a wrong identity. That is our basic problem. We never think that “I AM THAT I AM”. We may think anything other than that. How much during the day we remember “I am That I am”? Even in the prayer, we invoke a Master of Wisdom and then go on thinking about some kind of visions or some kind of listenings of some kind of mystical things. What you think as mystic, all that is a mistake.

Spiritual aspiration means what? Let us talk straight. Spiritual aspiration is aspiring for the Spirit. Spirit has nothing to do with anything other than Spirit. The light we think of is an offshoot of the Spirit, and the sound that we think of is also an offshoot of Spirit. The various phenomena are also offshoots, they are not really offshoots of Spirit, but they are offshoots of nature. From the spirit springs up nature and from nature springs up all phenomena. From the Spirit springs up the light we know. That is His nature. And that light is the source of all powers, big and small.

Spiritual pursuit is not the pursuit of powers. Spiritual pursuit is the pursuit of source of all that Is. That is what is called Brahman. The book Secret Doctrine gives ways and means to reach Brahman. Not only Secret Doctrine, every Upanishad gives the way to the Brahman; Bhagavad Gita gives the way to Brahman, Patanjali Yoga Sutras give the way to Brahman. The life of a Master of Wisdom also shows how Brahman functions through a human. What I wish to say is, in spite of our speaking of profound concepts that are presented in Secret Doctrine, we still forget them!

Why should we do an exercise, which we eventually forget? It is a temporary phenomenon, isn't it? Speaking on the Secret Doctrine, will it be great? We may say, “Oh! It is great, he spoke on Secret Doctrine”. If I speak on OM, it is no different from speaking on Secret Doctrine. Because the essence of it, is also THAT. Man's mind is always after great things. It is not after truth. But spiritual aspiration demands that we develop an attitude to pursue truth through simplicity, and not through grand means and creating a kind of aggrandizement about anything. In this group life, it is intended that we speak upon Secret Doctrine.

Speaking upon Secret Doctrine, I have been doing but I never told you that it is Secret Doctrine. And whatever is spoken in Secret Doctrine, is already spoken by Bhagavad Gita, Patanjali Yoga Sutras, Upanishads, Mahabharata and Bhagavata. It is only that we did not fix a label that it is Secret Doctrine of HPB. It is like we have been eating the same dish but we did not know the name. Somebody gave lot of advertisement about a name. For example, let me say, with a huge propaganda I create lot of awareness among people of an Indian pizza which is tastier than the Pizza of the Italians or the Pizza of Pizza Hut. Ultimately I serve you the same thing! Names do not make a difference but it is the taste that lets you know that it is all the same.

The very name Secret Doctrine says, it is secret. It is secret means, it is hidden. Where is it hidden? It is hidden in us. Unless we go into our-self, how can we realize the Secret Doctrine? The treasure is hidden in us and as we go inside, we find that treasure.