Again and again in Madame Blavatsky's writings she stresses the brotherhood of man and the responsibility that rests on each for service of his fellow-men.
She laid great stress on altruism in her writings, and it may be helpful to bring together some of her statements bearing directly on the response which should be ours to others' woes and sorrows.
In her First Message to the American Theosophists, sent in 1888, she defined the essence of Theosophy as "the perfect harmonizing of the divine with the human in man, the adjustment of his god-like qualities and aspirations, and their sway over the terrestrial or animal passions in him." And she added: "Kindness, absence of every ill feeling or selfishness, charity, good-will to all beings, and perfect justice to others as to one's self, are its chief features. He who teaches Theosophy preaches the gospel of good-will; and the converse of this is true also—he who preaches the gospel of good-will, teaches Theosophy."
In The Theosophical Glossary, (in the entry for Kamadeva) she defined Kama as "the first conscious, all embracing desire for universal good, love, and for all that lives and feels, needs help and kindness, the first feeling of infinite tender compassion and mercy that arose in the consciousness of the creative ONE FORCE, as soon as it came into life and being as a ray from the ABSOLUTE."
And in The Voice of the Silence (p. 14) we are enjoined to let our Soul "lend its ear to every cry of pain," and to let "each burning human tear" drop on our heart and there remain; "nor ever brush it off, until the pain that caused it is removed."
In The Key to Theosophy (p. 53) she wrote: "...he who works for himself had better not work at all; rather let him work himself for others, for all. For every flower of love and charity he plants in his neighbour's garden, a loathsome weed will disappear from his own, and so this garden of the gods—Humanity—shall blossom as a rose."
In Lucifer for October 1889 she wrote: "Nothing of that which is conducive to help man, collectively or individually, to live, not 'happily,' but less unhappily in the world, ought to be indifferent to the Theosophist-Occultist. It is no concern of his whether his help benefits a man in his worldly or spiritual progress; his first duty is to be ever ready to help if he can, without stopping to philosophize."
In the closing paragraph of Isis Unveiled, "true faith" is defined as "the embodiment of divine charity."
What is due to humanity at large is said on page 194 of The Key to Theosophy to be "full recognition of equal rights and privileges for all, and without distinction of race, colour, social position, or birth," such due not being given when there is any failure to show another "the same justice, kindness, consideration or mercy which we desire for ourselves."
And H.P.B. practised what she preached.
Our true identity is neither physical nor psychological but a spiritual one. And this spiritual individuality is not opposed to other spiritual individualities but is conterminous with a sense of universality and oneness. It widens us and by widening liberates us from suffering and makes us more capable of receiving the peace and bliss that heal our maladies of body and mind. For spiritual health to emerge we have to dissolve the false sense of ego-self and replace it by the true "I," the soul in us. The emergence brings, as testified by all who have had the contact, its attendant effects of peace and fullness and joy, and openness towards truth and harmony and light, a freedom from the stress and strain of want and desire. This spiritual change has a positive effect on our entire constitution, bringing health and fitness in the body, quietude and goodwill in the vital, clarity of understanding, generosity and broadness as well as balance in the mind. Overall it results in progress and harmony and a general sense of well-being, security and satisfaction.
—Dr. Alok Pandey