What can man's heritage be except the sum total of all that has been known and experienced by him from time immemorial—i.e., the accumulated Wisdom of the ages?
But man is born into a civilization which, though heir to that accumulated Wisdom, has forgotten it or covered it over with dross, and he does not know his real heritage. Therefore it is that throughout history and legend we read of great teachers, philosophers, leaders of men and others who reiterate the old knowledge which percolates through the dross, so that those who will can avail themselves of their inheritance.
Every man has, therefore, two types of inheritance: one pertaining to the time and the clime in which he is born, and the other pertaining to the accumulated Wisdom of the ages.
But he has also a third inheritance: "He cometh, reaper of the things he sowed." That is, each one comes to reap the effects of what he has done in past births. His character is such an effect, his knowledge and experience are such effects. As life follows life, he builds in the present for the future.
If we can understand these inheritances in our lives we shall have made considerable progress in understanding life and ourselves. This is one of the purposes of Theosophy, to awaken in each one the knowledge of these aspects of our heritage, to point to the knowledge gained in our own day, to refer to the greater heritage embodied for us in the sacred books of the past, the essence of which has been and still is being reiterated by those great of soul who have made that knowledge their own.
One important point comes out as we think on these things, namely, that though Humanity seems an "orphan," it has "never been without a friend." What are such characters as Krishna, the Buddha, the Christ, and other extraordinary men of power and compassion who have worked openly or secretly, but such "friends"? Though we may and do miss the vitality of their physical presence, we can benefit by the vitality of their teachings if we will. These teachers and benefactors of mankind but taught the same "exhaustless doctrine" of which Krishna speaks in the Fourth Discourse of the Bhagavad-Gita.
The fundamental question asked by each thinking man at some time or other is, What is the meaning of life? This leads to the query, Why do we take birth? What is the prime source or mover of it all? The answers to these questions are to be found in our day and generation in the writings of Madame H. P. Blavatsky, for it is the same "exhaustless doctrine" that she was taught and has recorded for our benefit. Known as Theosophy today, it gives us what we need for our time and era, but, as with other precepts down the ages, it has been covered over with dross, so that much going under that name is not the Theosophy taught by her.
There is no religion higher than Truth and Righteousness. Let me explain what I mean by religion. It is not just the Hindu religion, but the religion which transcends Hinduism, which changes one's very nature, which binds one indissolubly to the truth within and which ever purifies....
True religion and true morality are inseparably bound up with each other. Religion is to morality what water is to the seed that is sown in the soil.
As soon as we lose the moral basis, we cease to be religious. There is no such thing as religion overriding morality. Man, for instance, cannot be untruthful, cruel and incontinent and claim to have God on his side.
—Gandhiji