Reprinted by Blavatsky Study Center

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On "Founders" of Religion

Theosophy:

"But we must resume the thread of our narrative with Buddha. Neither he nor Jesus ever wrote one word of their doctrines." (Isis Unveiled II, p. 559)

"Our examination of the multitudinous religious faiths that mankind, early and late, have professed, most assuredly indicates that they have all been derived from one primitive source. ...Combined, their aggregate represents one eternal truth; separate, they are but shades of human error and the signs of imperfection." (Isis Unveiled, II, p. 639)

Neo-Theosophy:

"According to this view, the Founders of the great religions are members of  the one Brotherhood . . . As Theosophy of old gave birth to religions, so in modern times does it justify and defend them." (Annie Besant, Ancient Wisdom, pp. 3, 5)

". . . the Guardians of humanity . . . From time to time, one of them comes forth into the world of men, as a great religious teacher, to carry on the task of spreading a new form of the Eternal Verities, a form suitable to a new race or civilization. Their ranks include all the greatest Prophets of the Faiths of the world, and while a religion lives one of these Great Ones is ever at its head, watching over it as His special charge." (Annie Besant, The Masters, p. 52 Adyar edition, p. 79 Krotona edition)