< The Occult World (continued from page 11-118) >
have been delivered at Amritsur on the same day the message was sent. Madame Blavatsky assuredly was herself at Amritsur on that date, seeing large numbers of people there in connection with the work of the Theosophical Society, and the handwriting of Koot Hoomi’s letters, nevertheless, appears on a telegram undeniably handed in at the Jhelum office on that date.
“So, although some of Koot Hoomi’s letters passed through her hands to me, she is proved not to be their writer, as she is certainly not the producer of their handwriting.”
While the matter was yet fresh in the minds of all concerned, a description by the telegraph clerk at Jhelum of the person who sent the message, would have been interesting. The next best thing to actually seeing a brother, is to be acquainted with someone else who has had that privilege. Has Colonel Olcott ever seen one? Mr. Sinnett says but little about him in his book.
Our respected occasional contributor, J. K., has published that he is an Adept. Is he then on of the Occultist Brothers, and a colleague of Koot Hoomi, for if so we have had the privilege of seeing one of the Brothers here in London, far from his Himalayan retreat. He strongly objects to and writes against the taking of animal food, salt, drugs, spices, condiments, alcohol, and fermented liquids, so we Presume that by these signs a true Theosophist may he known. He says that “every tobacco smoker has an aura peculiar to himself, created by his habit; like the drunkard, he is surrounded by depraved earth-bound spirits, and continually prompted in the habit which gives them gratification. Whatever he thinks he does for his own pleasure, he really does for these Spirits and for their pleasure, and after his, death he too will influence individuals to indulge in the depraved habit which gives him the sensual gratification to which he has become accustomed. The man attracts the spirit, and the spirit excites the man.” If this be so, how about Madame Blavatsky and her cigarettes, and how about all those Theosophists who smoke? On the authority of an Adept they mediums under the influence of the lower spirits.
Koot Hoomi, not being able to meet Mr. Sinnett himself, tried to send to him a mystical ambassador, and wrote Mr. Sinnett the fol’owing exceedingly curious particulars about the circumstances:
“I desired Madame Blavatsky to select, among the two or three Aryian Punjabees who Yog Vidya and are natural mystics, one whom, without disclosing myself to him too much, I could designate as an agent between yourself and us, and whom I was anxious to despatch to you with a letter of introduction, and have him to speak to you of Yoga and its practical effects. This young gentleman, who is as pure as purity itself, whose aspirations and thoughts are of the most spiritual, ennobling kind, and who, merely through self- exertion, is able to penetrate into the regions of the formless world—this young man is not fit for a drawing-room. Having explained to him that the greatest good might result for his country if he helped you to organize a branch of English mystics, by proving to them practically to what wonderful results led the study of Yog, Madame Blavatsky asked him, in guarded and very delicate terms, to change his dress and turban before starting for Allahabad; for—though she did not give him this reason—they were very dirty and slovenly. You are to tell Mr. Sinnett, she said, that you bring him a letter from the Brother, with whom he corresponds; but if he asks you anything either of him or the other Brothers, answer him simply and truthfully that you are not allowed to expatiate upon the subject. Speak of Yog, and prove to him what powers you have attained. This young man, who had consented, wrote later on the following curious letter:—‘Madame,’ he said, ‘ you who preach the highest standard of morality, of truthful ness, &c., you would have me play the part of an impostor. You ask me to change my clothes at the risk of giving a false idea of my personality and mystifying the gentleman you send me to...’ Here is an illustration of the difficulties under which we have to labour. Powerless to send you a neophyte before you have pledged yourself to us, we have to either keep back or despatch to you one who, at best, would shock, if not inspire, you at once with disgust.”
Is it the duty of initiates to object to clean linen? Are dirtiness and slovenliness among the occult virtues?
When the news reached us, long ago, of the carriage of small objects over long distances through the mediumship or powers of Madame Blavatsky, we asked if the powers could carry a daily newspaper several thousands of miles on the day of its publication, since that would be evidence. Mr. Sinnett, in his first letter to Koot Hoomi Lal Singh, made the same request, and he says about the reply:—
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