l, and worldly prosperity of small
importance.
In 1912 and 1913 Mrs. Tingley visited Europe and made numerous converts
in England, Italy, France, Germany and the Scandinavian countries,
while the Theosophical Conference held at Point Loma in 1915, in the
interests of peace and universal brotherhood, was an immense success.
The Theosophists have always been ardent workers in the cause of
international peace, and while awaiting the dawn of a New Age when war
shall be unknown, they strive to forestall its advent in their
Californian paradise.
Dramatic and musical performances are given in theatres built in the
Greek style; there is a college of Raja-Yoga, where thousands of pupils
of all races are initiated into the mysteries of Karma and
Reincarnation; a School of Antiquity, "temple of the living light,"
where the secret of living in harmony with nature is taught; frequent
lectures, conferences, sports and games; while animated conversations
concerning memories of past lives have an undying fascination for the
adherents of this doctrine which sends so many missionaries out into
the world every year.
Unlike other sects, the Theosophists do not seem anxious to publish
their numbers abroad--whether because they make too many converts, or
too few, it is impossible to say!--but there must certainly be hundreds
of thousands scattered throughout the United States, India, and the
Anglo-Saxon countries.
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE
The foregoing chapter scarcely seems complete without some reference to
the other two centres where an attempt has been made to express the
ideals of Theosophy in concrete form--one in the East, at Adyar,
Madras, the other in the West, at Krotona, near Los Angeles,
California. The former came into being in 1882 under Madame
Blavatsky's own leadership, and has grown from a small property of only
27 acres to one of 263 acres. With its many fine buildings it has a
river-frontage (on the Adyar river) of one mile, and a sea-frontage of
two-fifths of a mile. Here Mrs. Besant--World-President of the
Theosophical Society, apart from Mrs. Tingley's followers--makes her
home, leaving it only for periodical lecturing tours throughout India,
or for visits to London and other European centres. Her lectures at
Queen's Hall, London, in the years immediately preceding the war, and
again in 1919, were remarkable for the crowds who flocked to listen to
one who, whether her views find agreement or not, is unive
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