Theosophical Society,
H P Blavatsky
H.P.BLAVATSKY
to
A. P. SINNETT
and other
miscellaneous letters transcribed, compiled,
with an
introduction
By
A. Trevor
Barker
FORWORD and INDEX to LETTERS
First published in 1925
COMPILER’S
PREFACE
The
letters here presented to the reader, written by the Founder of the
Theosophical
Society between the years 1880-1888, are intended to form a
companion
volume to the recently published Mahatma Letters, and should be read in
conjunction with that work.
They
have been transcribed direct from the originals and without omission except for
the occasional deletion of a name where-ever for obvious reasons it was
absolutely necessary to do so. Contrary to the method employed in The Mahatma
Letters, the compiler has permitted himself to correct obvious errors of
spelling and punctuation, as these were too numerous to ignore, and no useful
purpose could be served by leaving them unedited. Here and there in the text a
word appears in square brackets.
This
always indicates that the word is either superfluous, or has been added by the
compiler to make the sentence comprehensible. It should be understood that all
footnotes are part of the original letters, unless signed “Ed.,” in which case
they have been added by the compiler. With these necessary exceptions the
letters are presented to the reader, as already stated, unaltered.
In
Section I are to be found exclusively the Letters of Madame Blavatsky
arranged
as far as possible in chronological order.
Section
II contains all the Miscellaneous Letters of interest left by Mr.
Sinnett,
arranged under the names of the different writers in numbered
sub-sections.
Some of these have additional value owing to the marginal comments by the
Mahatmas M. and K. H.
In
Sub-section VIII are included some short notes from M. and K. H. which were overlooked
in preparing The Mahatma Letters. They are now published not so much for their
intrinsic value, but because in his Introduction to that volume the compiler
stated that the whole of the Mahatma Letters left by Mr. Sinnett were then
published, and his statement, inaccurate to this extent is hereby made good.
The
Appendixes contain:
II.
Cosmological Notes from Mr. Sinnett’s MS. Book. One version of these notes
which does not agree exactly with the MS. book from which his copies were
presumably drawn, has already been published by Mr. Jinarajadasa.
Although
the differences may possibly not be regarded as serious, it is thought that
students would be glad to have the opportunity of reading them just as they
were left by Mr. Sinnett, and for that reason they are included in the present
volume. The material contained in the two volumes was left all together in one
box by Mr. Sinnett, and the whole of its contents are now in print with the
exception of some miscellaneous correspondence by various writers which is not
of sufficient interest to warrant publication. There must be, however,
scattered about the world a number of H.P.B.’s letters in the keeping of
different people, and it is greatly to be hoped that in the interest of the
Movement steps will be taken to publish them.
The
compiler takes this opportunity of acknowledging his indebtedness to several
friends for painstaking and careful work in checking the originals with the
printed proofs, and also for the compilation of the Index.
A.
T. B.
INTRODUCTION
Of
all the problems which confront the student of Theosophy, there is none more
vital in the present day than a thorough grasp and correct perspective not only
of the personal character of the Founder of the Theosophical Society, but of
the nature of the work she did and the true relationship it bears to the whole
fabric of the Theosophical Movement. It is now beginning to be recognised that
her writings contain the key to the profoundest mysteries of Man and the
Universe, and those who opposed her, finding themselves unable to disprove the
value and truth of her philosophy, sought by means of personal slander and
vilification to prejudice public opinion, and thus divert attention from the
treasure of knowledge which she was the means of giving to the world, and
which, if impartially considered on its merits, must have carried with it the
conviction
of the integrity of the writer.
In
The Secret Doctrine Mme. Blavatsky quoted the words of Gamaliel as being
particularly applicable to her own work: “If this doctrine is false it will
perish of itself, but if true then it cannot be destroyed.” Just as her work
has stood the test of time and public criticism, so will these two volumes
provide the means for the vindication of her personal character. The biassed
and untrustworthy nature of the Hodgson Report of the Society of Psychical
Research, which has provided the basis for so much ignorant and malicious
criticism even down to the present day, is clearly revealed in these pages.
Much fresh light is also thrown on the forgeries known as the Coulomb Letters,
and also of her relation with the notorious Solovioff, who, in his rage and
resentment at being refused the privilege of chelaship, did so much to injure
her reputation.
It
would require a volume to deal adequately with all the evidence on these important
questions; the reader is therefore left to form his own conclusions as to
whether the heroic figure which stands out so vividly in these pages was the
liar, the fraud, and worse than dishonest medium which the Society of Psychical
Research and the Spiritualists generally would have us believe, or whether she
was what she claimed to be—no medium indeed, but the conscious Agent of the
Masters who sent her forth, performing her prodigious task under conditions
which would make the bravest halt; an occultist pledged to silence as to the
true reasons for most of her actions, ever fearful of giving out too much, but
yet through it all labouring so fiercely and whole-heartedly for the sake of
the few who were entitled to her Master’s thanks. She wrote herself in Letter
No. XLV—“Those who see no discrepancy in the idea of filthy lying and fraud
even for the good of the Cause—being associated with work done for the
Masters—are congenital Jesuits . . . or natural born fools. Had I been guilty
once only—of a deliberately, purposely concocted fraud, especially when those
deceived were my best, my truest friends, no ‘love’ for such one as I! At best,
pity or eternal contempt. Pity if proved I was an irresponsible lunatic, a
hallucinated medium, made to trick by my ‘guides’ whom I was representing as
Mahatmas; contempt—if a conscious fraud.” Let those who are so limited as to
believe that the Masters and their teaching are the invention of H. P.
Blavatsky read the account of her journey into the wilds of
There
is hardly one of these pages that does not throw some unexpected light on the
mysteries of the relationship between Adept and chela, and it is thus
possible
to gain some comprehension of the life of those who, while living in the world,
serve the purposes of the Great Lodge of Adepts whose headquarters are beyond
the Himalayas of Northern India. Wherever those chelas may be, their hearts
will give a warmer and quicker throb as they read the story of H. P. B.’s
intimate association with her teachers. As they read further of the trials and
torments which inevitably befell those other chelas of forty years ago, it is
not they who will be tempted to condemn those who fell from their high estate,
dragged into the mire by one or other of the weaknesses of human nature. But
while there should be nothing but pity and compassion for the failures, let no
student of the Sacred Science fall into the blunder of seeking in the name of
“Brotherhood” to justify their indulgences, either ethically or morally.
There
are several references to the writing of The Secret Doctrine which show to how
great an extent the Masters were themselves responsible for that work. That is
why the teaching of H. P. B. “remains for us the test and criterion of
Theosophy,” by which all other teaching on the subject must be judged. After
all, if the Masters do not know what Theosophy is, no one does, because in its
essence, purity and completeness it is alone contained in the secret teaching
of which the Guardians are theMasters Themselves. That teaching, as stated by
H. P. B., “is not the fancy of one or several isolated individuals, but the
fruit of the work of thousands of generations of Adept Seers,”
I
through whom it was handed down from the first Divine Instructors of our Humanity.
It is the substratum and basis of all the world-religions and philosophies, but
its doctrines are the exclusive possession of none of them.
It
was the mission of Madame Blavatsky, under the instructions
of
those Adepts, to give to the world selected portions of that archaic
teaching.
It should be remembered that an Adept—a Master, is one who has
achieved
immortality, and therefore has the power to perceive truth as it is and at will
to reflect it without distortion. It is because no one of lesser degree can
claim that power always and with certainty that Their testimony must be
regarded as the highest authority on all matters of occult doctrine and
practice. And here it must be stated unequivocally that from the point of view
of the “original programme” of the Society, no theosophical association has any
raison d’etre if it does not remain true to the Masters and their teaching.
There
are some who seem to believe that it is possible to be faithful to the
Masters
while denying even the theoretical truth of their teaching. This is
where
the responsibility of the old Theosophical Society is so grave. In his
Introduction
to The Mahatma Letters the writer had occasion to point out in what important
particulars that Society showed by its actions a serious divergence from the
spirit and letter of the original teaching. That volume proves beyond question
that H. P. B.’s writings are absolutely consistent with the Masters’ teachings,
and in nothing is this more clearly discernible than in her exposition of the
doctrines relating to the Life after Death. It is not the least serious aspect
of the situation that the Theosophical Society bases its propaganda on this
important subject not, as the public has a right to expect, on the message of
H. P. B. and the Masters, but on the personal investigation of later students,
whose views, for example, on the post-mortem survival of personal consciousness
are so different as to represent the direct antithesis of the original
teaching.
No
serious students of H. P. B. will deny the force or the truth of these
arguments,
but there are many such who conceive it to be their duty to remain in the old
Theosophical Society and at the same time to stand by the original teaching.
They are at once faced with certain difficulties which have to be experienced
to be understood, but which, fortunately, the constitution of the Society does
not make it impossible to solve. Let the reader turn to Letter
I “That is to say, men who have perfected their
physical, mental, psychic. and spiritual organisations to the utmost possible
degree.”
No.
C in this volume, and he will there see how H. P. B. was faced with a very
similar situation and of the measures she recommended to deal with it. She lays
stress on the fact that the Society was founded as a Universal Brotherhood, in
which no one has the right to force his own views on another, but each must be
allowed free expression of opinion. She defines what a nucleus of Brotherhood
is by quoting Master K. H. almost word for word: “A group or branch, however
small, cannot be a theosophical society unless the members in it are
magnetically bound to each other by the same way of thinking, at least in some
one direction.” She urges that those who intend at all costs to remain true to
the original programme of the Society—i.e. to the Masters and their
teaching—should found Lodges devoted to that purpose alone. Exactly the same
should be done in our own day as a solution of present difficulties.
Therefore,
all the world over, let the lovers of the Wisdom of H. P. B. unite,
whether
they be in or out of the Theosophical Society; let them found Lodges which
shall be places apart, sanctified by devotion to the Truth and the Cause of the
Brotherhood of Humanity, while seeking their knowledge from her writings, I
which contain all and far more than is necessary for the instruction of
Theosophists, until the promised hour strikes at the beginning of the last
quarter of this century, when another Messenger from the Great Lodge may be
expected to appear and carry forward the work of H. P. Blavatsky to the next
stage of unfolding.
A. TREVOR BARKER.
December, 1924.
I That is to say, The Secret Doctrine, Isis
Unveiled, The Key to Theosophy, The Voice of the Silence, and her numerous
magazine articles in Lucifer and The Theosophist; care should be taken to study
these works wherever possible in the original editions or exact reprints of
them—the later Revised Editions have been considerably altered and, in the
opinion of many students, quite unwarrantably.
COMPILER’S
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
SECTION
I
THE
LETTERS OF H. P. BLAVATSKY
LETTERS
No I—CXX . . . 3-261
M.’s
Instructions to Sinnett . . . 5
H.
P. B.’s Attitude to K. H. . . . 7
K.
H.’s Correspondence . . . 9
The
Lamas of Toling . . . . 11
M.’s
Methods with H. P. B.. . . 13
A
Marriage is arranged . . . 15
“Confederate”
Damodar . . . 17
Prestige
of the Great Brotherhood . . . 19
The
stuff of which Chelas are made . . . 21
Stainton
Moses and Imperator . . . 23
The
Septenary Term of Trial . . . 25
K.
H.’s Portrait . . . 27
H.
P. B. curses her Fate . . . 29
Hume’s
Criticisms of H. P. B. . . . 31
The
T.S. the Hope of Mankind . . . 33
H.
P. B. is made to apologise . . . 35
M.
is angry with Hume . . . 37
H.
P. B. visits M. and K. H. . . . 39
Mr.
Hume must ride his own Donkey . . . 41
An
Infernal Power . . . 43
H.
P. B. in “Society” . . . 45
Master
K. H. . . . 47
The
Power of the Chohan . . . 49
H.
P. B. blames herself . . . 51
H.
P. B. on the “
Defence
.of Sterling Qualities . . . 55
Col.
Olcott’s Difficulties . . . 57
True
Theosophists wanted . . . 59
In
Praise of Col. Olcott . . . 61
The
Chohan’s Karma . . . . 63
H.
P. B. on Injustice . . . . 65
Ingratitude . . . 67
Comments
on a Letter from A. K. . . . 69
M.
and K. H. intervene . . . 71
Strange
Happenings . . . 73
The
Hodgson Investigations . . . 75
H.
P. B. arrives in
The
Masters and Their Teachings . . . 79
Anna
Kingsford and K. H . . . 81
Russian
Aristocrats and H. P. B . . . 83
Tibetan
Chelas . . . 85
The
Work of Mohini . . . 87
The
Secret Doctrine and
Mrs.
Holloway and K. H . . . 91
Mohini
and the Writing of” Man” . . . 93
Subba
Row lies about H. P. B . . . 95
The
Crime of divulging Sacred Things . .
. 97
The
Coulomb Letters . . . 99
The
Karma of an Occultist . . . l01
H.
P. B.’s Martyrdom . . . 103
An
Hour of Revelation . . . 105
On
Books and Characters . . . 107
False
Reasoning and Bigotry of S.P.R . .
. 109
The
Love of the Master . . . 111
Solovioff
resigns from S.P.R . . . 113
The
Forger Coulomb . . . 115
Solovioff
protests to S.P.R . . . II7
“Guilty
in One—Guilty in All” . . . 119
Dr.
F. Hartmann . . . 121
Pure
“ Vestals” . . . 123
M’s
Corroboration. . . 123
In
Defence of Mohini. . . 127
A
Double Untruth about H. P. B. . . 129
Missionaries
swear to ruin the T.S. . . 131
D.
N’s Reluctance to meet H. P. B. . . 133
A
List of Calumnies . . . 135
The
Treachery of Hodgson . . . 137
The
Truth about Hodgson and S.P.R . . . 139
The
“Vase” Phenomenon. . . 141
The
Metrovitch Incident. . . 143
The
Private Part of H. P. B.’s Life . . . 145
H.
P. B. never Mme. Metrovitch. . . 147
Myers
of the S.P.R . . . 149
H.
P. B. travels with the Master . . . 151
Mentana
. . . 153
H.
P. B. never a Medium . . . 155
The
Countess sees M . . . 157
D.N.nearlymad
. . . 159
The
Opinion of a Hindu . . . 161
Col.
Olcott’s”
The
Letter of Hurreesinjhee . . . 165
D.
N. a Fanatic . . . 167
Instructions
to Sinnett re D.N . . . 169
The
Laws of Occultism . . . 171
D.N.a”Chela”
. . . 173
The
Reason for Soloviofi’s Defection. . .
175
Medical
Evidence on H. P. B . . . 177
H.
P. B. like a Boar at Bay. . . 179
Bowaji’s
Deception . . . . 181
The
Influence of Bowaji. . . 183
Mohini’s
Indiscretions . . . . 185
The
Dweller on the Threshold . . . 187
A
Warning from Master Illarion . . . 189
Libels
and the Law . . . . 191
A
Family Embroglio . . . . 193
The
Writing of The Secret Doctrine. . . 195
Subba
Row and The Secret Doctrine . . . 197
The
Policy of Masterly Inactivity . . . 199
Mr.
Lane-Fox . . . 201
Valuable
Evidence from Subba Row. . . 203
Lethargy
in the London Lodge . . . 205
More
about Solovioff . . . . 207
Evidence
of the Berlin Graphologist . . . 209
A
Duchess, a Fairy Tale, and Money. . .
211
The
Last Alternative . . . . 213
Myers
and Solovioff . . . . 215
The
Memoirs . . . 217
Anna
Kingsford . . . 219
The
Purpose of the Masters’ Society . . .
221
The
T.S. and Masters’ Protection . . . 223
High
Opinion of Sir Wiffiam Crookes . . . 225
Sinnett
very young in Occult Matters. . . 227
Politics
and Opinions . . . . 229
The
Ethics of Jesuitry . . . 231
The
Will of the Jesuits . . . 233
“Those
Accursed Memoirs” . . . 235
Col.
Olcott acts like a Fool. . . 237
H.
P. B. gossips . . . . . 239
The
Buddha and Brahmanism . . . 241
Buddhas
and Bodhisatwas. . . . 243
The
Seven Worlds, Races, Globes . . . 245
Evolution
and Involution . . . 247
Planets,
Rings, Rounds . . . 249
Dimensions
and Rounds . . . 251
Maya
and Reality . . . . 252
Spirituality
of Good and Evil . . . 255
The
Power of Seeing and Knowing . . . 257
Man’s
Growth and Evolution . . . 259
A
Final Correction . . . . 261
SECTION
II
MISCELLANEOUS
LETTERS
I.—Countess
Wachimeiste,
LETTERS
No. CXXI-CLIV. . . 265/303
A
Scandalous Statement. . . 267
Trials
and Difficulties . . . . 269
The
Sancharacharya and the T.S. . . . 271
A
Chela’s Thanks . . . 273
The
“ Russian Spy” Calumny. . . 275
Perfection
is to be found Nowhere. . . 277
Babaji’s
Frenzy . . . 279
Criminal
Charges . . . 281
Babaji
and Hatha Yog . . . 283
H.
P. B.’s Enemies . . . . 285
H.
P. B.’s Second Marriage . . . 287
Continuous
Persecutions . . . 289
Professor
Selin makes Mischief . . . 291
H.
P. B.’s Indiscretions . . . 293
H.
P. B. must not be left alone. . . . 295
Personal
Feelings must go . . . 297
The
Cause of Walter Gebhard’s Death. . . 299
Foolish
Credulity. . . 301
The
T.S. throwing off its Linga Sarira . . .
303
II.—A.
0. Hume
LETTERS
CLV-CLVII . . . . 304/311
Mr.
Hume is dissatisfied . . . 305
H.
P. B.’s Missing Principle . . . 307
Hume
blasphemes . . . . 309
Hume
knows better than Masters. . . 311
III.—William
Q. Judge
LETTERS
CLVIII-CLX . . . . 312/315
Judge
received Letters from K. H. . . . 313
Persecutions
and Trials in America . . . 315
IV.—T.
Subba Row
LETTERS
CLXI-CLXIV . . . . 316/323
The
Adepts of India . . . . 317
Why
it is impossible to teach Hume . . .
319
Subba
Row’s Knowledge. . . 321
A
Proficient in Occult Science . . . 323
V.—H.
S. Olcott
LETTERS
CLXV-CLXXI. . . . 324/334
Sancaracharya
an Initiate . . . 325
Hume
goes into Polities . . . 327
Col.
Olcott “goes” for H. P. B. . . . 329
About
Babajee . . . . 331
H.
P. B.’s Expenses. . . 333
VI.—Babajee
D. Nath
LETTERS
CLXXII-CLXXIX . . . 335/344
Babajee
loyal to Theosophy . . . 337
The
“Mystic” Name of D. N. . . . 339
Brahman
Customs . . . . . 341
A
Letter through Babajee . . . 343
VII.—The
Gebhards.—Ernst Schutze.—Mohini.—Damodar.—Elliott Coues.— Anna
Kingsford.—Eglinton
LETTERS
CLXXX-CXCIV . . . . 345/362
Babajee’s
Influence . . . 347
The
Handwriting Expert’s Testimony. . . 349
H.
P. B.’s Health . . . 351
How
Hume received Letters . . . 353
Damodar
is indignant . . . 355
Elliott
Coues and H. P. B . . . 357
Anna
Kingsford and K. H. . . . 359
Puja
made to a personal God . . . 361
VIII.—Mahatma
Letters
LETTERS
CXCV-CCVIII . . . 363/366
Relative
and Absolute Truth . . . 365
APPENDIXES
II.—Cosmological
Notes. From A. P. Sinnett’s MS. Book . . . .
. 376—386
III.—Cures
effected by Col. Olcott in
387—389
INDEX
391—404
Cardiff Blavatsky Archive
Theosophical Society, Cardiff Lodge, 206 Newport Road,
Cardiff CF24 – 1DL