A cyclic attempt is made by the Preservers of the knowledge of Theosophy—the age-old Divine Wisdom or Wisdom-Religion—to present it to the world of men. Theosophy is declared by them to be as old as thinking man, i.e., it has been taught on earth since man became a self-conscious thinker and chooser, over 18 million years ago, and thus reached an important stage in his evolution. The knowledge of Theosophy could only be given to beings having the light of mind. Before the lighting up of Manas, this knowledge was in the custody of those beings who had perfected themselves in previous cycles of evolution.

The purpose of evolution, as far as the macrocosm is concerned, is for each globe to become a man-bearing globe. There are therefore in the cosmos two types of worlds: those on which there is no human evolution proceeding, and those on which intelligent beings are evolving. Our earth is not the only man-bearing world; there are others also. And so the Divine Wisdom and Divine Ethics are not the monopoly of our earth.

There are two ways in which the wisdom of Theosophy can be gained: (1) from the inner planes of being—intuitively; and (2) through the unadulterated record of the teachings of the Wisdom-Religion, given out at certain definite cyclic points. Sometimes a portion of these teachings has been given out openly; at other times, in a veiled manner. Always there have been the exoteric and esoteric aspects of the teachings—the one for the laity, the other for the intimate circle of disciples. The Buddha and Jesus, for example, taught the multitude by means of simple ethical precepts, allegories and parables, but the deeper mystic teachings were reserved for the "inner circle."

The teachings of the Bhagavad-Gita, given out by Sri Krishna 5,000 years ago, just when Kali Yuga, the black age, was about to begin, contain the ethics and the metaphysics which are needed for the whole of the Kali-Yuga cycle of 432,000 years. Theosophy as given to us by H.P.B. for this era is also as complete a system of ethics and metaphysics as could be given to our present era. The teachings are given according to the needs of the cycle. We human beings make the cycles, and the Masters of Wisdom respond if we put forth the effort and our Karma as individuals, or as a Race, permits.

When Manas was lit up, the first great instalment of Theosophia or the Wisdom-Religion was presented. The one, universal Wisdom antedates the Vedas. It is referred to in The Secret Doctrine as the "ancient Lemuro-Atlantean Wisdom." The Fourth-Race Atlanteans misused it and went mad with pride bringing destruction to their civilization. The few who were "saved" set themselves apart, so to say, and spent their time in learning and verifying the system, not in teaching. They became the Instructors of the early Fifth, the Aryan Race.

From those saved from the great Atlantean cataclysm, two great branches, two great efforts emanated: one took root and flourished in India (the India of those days was very different in its geographical boundaries from the India of today), and the other in and around Persia. Sanskrit and Avesta are two sister languages, born of the mother language, Senzar, which is now lost to the outer world. Of these two surviving branches, very little of the wisdom of ancient Persia is known today; from this fragmentary record we cannot now reconstruct the whole of the original system.

In Isis Unveiled (II, 123) H.P.B. has written:

We can assert, with entire plausibility, that there is not one of all these sects—Kabalism, Judaism, and our present Christianity included—but sprung from the two main branches of that one mother-trunk, the once universal religion, which antedated the Vedaic ages—we speak of that prehistoric Buddhism which merged later into Brahmanism.

Here is a direct assertion that Hinduism emerged from prehistoric, pre-Vedic Buddhism, or rather Bodhism, the doctrine of the Wise Ones in whom Bodha-Wisdom manifested, both in terms of compassionate acts and in terms of discriminative wisdom.

The Vedas were first taught orally for thousands of years and later reduced to writing. The Great Teachers and reformers that the world has produced, all taught Bodhism. Of this secret, eternal and universal doctrine, H. P. Blavatsky wrote:

...the secret doctrines of the Magi, of the pre-Vedic Buddhists, of the hierophants of the Egyptian Thoth or Hermes, and of the adepts of whatever age and nationality, including the Chaldean kabalists and the Jewish nazars, were identical from the beginning. When we use the term Buddhists, we do not mean to imply by it either the exoteric Buddhism instituted by the followers of Gautama-Buddha, nor the modern Buddhistic religion, but the secret philosophy of Sakyamuni, which in its essence is certainly identical with the ancient wisdom-religion of the sanctuary, the pre-Vedic Brahmanism....By Buddhism, therefore, we mean that religion signifying literally the doctrine of wisdom, and which by many ages antedates the metaphysical philosophy of Siddhartha Sakyamuni. (Isis, II, 142-43)

This pre-Vedic Buddhism as also pre-Vedic Brahmanism existed long before the Rig-Vedic hymns were chanted on the banks of the Ganga millennia ago. H.P.B. makes the position clearer by saying:

We repeat again, Buddhism is but the primitive source of Brahmanism. It is not against the primitive Vedas that Gautama protests. It is against the sacerdotal and official state religion of his country....Gautama Buddha's philosophy was that taught from the beginning of time in the impenetrable secrecy of the inner sanctuaries of the pagodas. (Isis, II, 169)

Buddhism as taught by Gautama the Buddha was a protest against Brahmanical orthodoxy. He taught the masses the original and pure philosophy without any intermediaries. His disciples went East and West. In the West, they were responsible for movements of reform in Egypt and Judaea. The Essenes and the Nazarenes were taught by Buddhist reformers; from them Jesus learned, and from his teachings has Christianity been derived.

The present Theosophical Movement is in line with these great movements of the past. It presents to the logical, reasoning mind of today the philosophy and mysticism, myth and legend, theogony and ethics of the ancients. Wrote H.P.B:

What we desire to prove is, that underlying every ancient popular religion was the same ancient wisdom-doctrine, one and identical, professed and practised by the initiates of every country, who alone were aware of its existence and importance. To ascertain its origin, and the precise age in which it was matured, is now beyond human possibility. A single glance, however, is enough to assure one that it could not have attained the marvellous perfection in which we find it pictured to us in the relics of the various esoteric systems, except after a succession of ages. A philosophy so profound, a moral code so ennobling, and practical results so conclusive and so uniformly demonstrable is not the growth of a generation, or even a single epoch. Fact must have been piled upon fact, deduction upon deduction, science have begotten science, and myriads of the brightest human intellects have reflected upon the laws of nature, before this ancient doctrine had taken concrete shape. (Isis, II, 99)

We have been given the priceless opportunity, as well as the profound responsibility, to see that this record is presented, sustained and perpetuated. It has been reiterated, not for our sole advantage, but also for the benefit of future generations, who, it is hoped, will be inspired, as we are, by the scope and the grandeur of the WISDOM-RELIGION.

What the people long for to carry them through the twenty-first century is not reorganization of external forms alone. They desire a sound revolution carried out within themselves gradually and in an atmosphere of peace founded upon the philosophy and beliefs of each individual. This calls for farsighted judgments and a profound system of principles. This is what I would name a total revolution.

—Daisaku Ikeda