Theosophy is Divine Wisdom, the universal spiritual heritage of all humanity – past, present and future. It is the core teaching at the heart of all religious traditions and philosophical systems of the world. It is referred to as Ancient Wisdom, Perennial Philosophy, Wisdom-Tradition, Esoteric Philosophy or Wisdom-Religion. Its antiquity predates all known religions and philosophies.
"Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others." Plato
It is a world wide organisation, established in New York in 1875 by Helena P Blavatsky, Henry S Olcott and others, which has its international Headquarters at Adyar, Chennai (Madras), India. It is represented in about 60 countries. The Society seeks to promote the practical realisation of the universal brotherhood of humanity without any distinctions, to encourage the study of comparative religion, philosophy and science, and to investigate unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in the human being.
No. The Society encourages a free and fearless search for Truth and for this reason freedom of thought is one of the central principles in its work. There is no opinion, no doctrine, no teaching which is binding on any member. The Society has an international President, who is elected by the membership worldwide and who shares his or her views with the members as a fellow-student of Theosophy. The Society encourages its members to enquire for themselves into the deeper aspects of life.
As we said before, Theosophy is Divine Wisdom, and wisdom is different from knowledge. One of the core principles in Theosophy is the undivided oneness of all life. It means that deep down, beyond appearances and opinions, all life is one. When such a principle is meditated upon with attentive awareness, its understanding expresses itself as compassion, selflessness, service and reverence for all expressions of life. The same is true of every other theosophical principle, like karma, reincarnation, evolution, the multidimensional levels in the human consciousness, and others.
The Society as such doesn’t, for it has a neutral platform and doesn’t affiliate with any other organisation, any group and any cause, save its own Objects, which represent the essence of its policy and its action. But it leaves its members entirely free to engage in any individual activity – humanitarian, social or political – that they may choose. Many members work through the Theosophical Order of Service (TOS), founded in 1908 by Annie Besant. Its motto is "The union of all who love, in the service of all that suffers." The TOS does very commendable practical work in many countries in the areas of social work, education, promotion of world peace, animal welfare and healing, among others.
Madame Blavatsky was once called "the grandmother of the New Age", probably because it was through her books and articles that ideas which are now so popular, like karma and spiritual evolution, were first introduced to a skeptical and materialistic world. The founding of the TS in 1875 was indeed the ushering of a new era in which the Ancient Wisdom became widely available to all seekers all over the world.