seem
entirely ignorant even of the existence of Bengal--if its date has to be
accepted as not earlier than 1280 B.C.! A scientific rule which is good
enough to apply to the case of Panini ought to be valid in other
chronological speculations. Or, perhaps, this is one of those poor rules
which will not "work both ways?"

--A Chela

THEOSOPHICAL

What is Theosophy?

According to lexicographers, the term theosophia is composed of two
Greek words--theos "god," and sophas "wise." So far, correct. But the
explanations that follow are far from giving a clear idea of Theosophy.
Webster defines it most originally as "a supposed intercourse with
God and superior spirits, and consequent attainment of superhuman
knowledge by physical processes, as by the theurgic operations of some
ancient Platonists, or by the chemical processes of the German
fire-philosophers."

This, to say the least, is a poor and flippant explanation. To
attribute such ideas to men like Ammonius Saccas, Plotinus, Jamblichus,
Porphyry, Proclus, shows either intentional misrepresentation, or
ignorance of the philosophy and motives of the greatest geniuses of the
later Alexandrian School. To impute to those, whom their contemporaries
as well as posterity styled "theodidaktoi," god-taught, a purpose to
develop their psychological, spiritual perceptions by "physical
processes," is to describe them as materialists. As to the concluding
fling at the fire-philosophers, it rebounds from them upon some of the
most eminent leaders of modern science; those in whose mouths the Rev.
James Martineau places the following boast: "Matter is all we want;
give us atoms alone, and we will explain the universe."

Vaughan offers a far better, more philosophical definition. "A
Theosophist," he says, "is one who gives you a theory of God or the
works of God, which has not revelation, but inspiration of his own for
its basis." In this view every great thinker and philosopher,
especially every founder of a new religion, school of philosophy, or
sect, is necessarily a Theosophist. Hence, Theosophy and Theosophists
have existed ever since the first glimmering of nascent thought made man
seek instinctively for the means of expressing his own independent
opinions.

There were Theosophists before the Christian era, notwithstanding that
the Christian writers ascribe the development of the Eclectic
Theosophical system to the early part of the third century of the