Theosophical Society,
H P Blavatsky
The Sages of the Himavat
By
Damodar K. Mavalankar
While
on my tour with Col. Olcott several phenomena occurred, in his
presence as well as in his absence, such as
immediate answers to
questions in my Master's handwriting, and over his
signature, put by a
number of our Fellows.
These occurrences took place before we reached
visited by him in the body, for three nights
consecutively, for about
three hours every time, while I myself retained full
consciousness, and,
in one case, even went to meet him outside the
house. To my knowledge
there is no case on the Spiritualist records of a
medium remaining
perfectly conscious, and meeting, by previous
arrangement, his
spirit-visitor in the compound,
re-entering the house with him, offering
him a seat, and then holding a long converse with
the "disembodied
spirit" in a way to give him the impression that
he is in personal
contact with an embodied entity. Moreover, him whom I saw in person at
Theosophical
Society, and again, the same whom I had seen in visions and
trances at his house, thousands of miles off,
which I reached in my
astral Ego by his direct help and protection. In those instances, with
my psychic powers hardly yet developed, I had
always seen him as a rather
hazy form, although his features were perfectly
distinct and their
remembrance was profoundly graven on my soul's eye
and memory, while now
at
In
the former cases, when making Pranam (salutation) my hands passed
through his form, while on the latter occasions
they met solid garments
and flesh. Here I saw a living man before me, the
original of the
portraits in Madame Blavatsky's possession and in
Mr. Sinnett's, though
far more imposing in his general appearance and
bearing. I shall not
here dwell upon the fact of his having been
corporeally seen by both
Col.
Olcott and Mr. Brown separately for two nights at
can do so better, each for himself, if they so
choose. At Jummoo again,
where we proceeded from
third day of our arrival there, and from him received
a letter in his
familiar handwriting, not to speak of his visits
to me almost every day.
And
what happened the next morning almost every one in Jummoo is aware
of. The
fact is, that I had the good fortune of being sent for, and
permitted to visit a sacred Ashrum, where I
remained for a few days in
the blessed company of several of the Mahatmas of
Himavat and their
disciples.
There I met not only my beloved Gurudeva and Col. Olcott's
master, but several others of the fraternity,
including one of the
highest.
I regret the extremely personal nature of my visit to those
thrice blessed regions prevents my saying more about
it. Suffice it
that the place I was permitted to visit is in the
fanciful
(physical body) and found my Master identical with the form I
had seen
in the earlier days of my Chelaship. Thus, I saw my beloved Guru not
only as a living man, but actually as a young one in
comparison with
some other Sadhus of the blessed company, only far
kinder, and not above
a merry remark and conversation at times. Thus on the second day of my
arrival, after the meal hour, I was permitted to
hold an intercourse for
over an hour with my Master. Asked by him smilingly what it was that
made me look at him so perplexed, I asked in my
turn:--"How is it,
Master,
that some of the members of our Society have taken into their
heads a notion that you were 'an elderly man,' and
that they have even
seen you clairvoyantly looking an old man past
sixty?" To which he
pleasantly smiled and said that this latest
misconception was due to the
reports of a certain Brahmachari, a pupil of a
Vedantic Swami in the
Lama, who was his (my Master's) traveling
companion at that time. The
said Brahmachari, having spoken of the encounter in
several persons to mistake the Lama for
himself. As to his being
perceived clairvoyantly as an "elderly
man," that could never be, he
added, as real clairvoyance could lead no one into
such mistaken
notions;
and then he kindly reprimanded me for giving any importance to
the age of a Guru, adding that appearances were
often false, &c., and
explaining other points.
Note
* See infra. Rajani
Kanta Brahmachai's
"Interview with a Mahatma."
These
are all stern facts, and no third course is open to the reader.
What
I assert is either true or false. In the
former case, no
Spiritualistic
hypothesis can hold good, and it will have to be admitted
that the Himalayan Brothers are living men, and
neither disembodied
spirits nor creations of the over-heated
imagination of fanatics. Of
course I am fully aware that many will discredit my
account; but I
write only for the benefit of those few who know me
well enough to see
in me neither a hallucinated medium, nor attribute
to me any bad motive,
and who have ever been true and loyal to their
convictions and to the
cause they have so nobly espoused. As for the majority who laugh at and
ridicule what they have neither the inclination
nor the capacity to
understand, I hold them in very small account. If these few lines will
help to stimulate even one of my brother-Fellows in
the Society, or one
right-thinking man outside of it, to
promote the cause of Truth and
Humanity,
I shall consider that I have properly performed my duty.
--Damodar
K. Mavalankar
Theosophical Society,