HPB-SB-13-88

H. P. Blavatsky Scrapbooks

from Adyar archives of the International Theosophical Society

T i

vol. 13, p. 88	volume 13, page 88 vol. title: vol. period: 1882 pages in vol.: 229
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< Theosophy in Calcutta (continued from page 13-87) >

have gone to Madras; and we heartily wish them every success there. We shall, however, take this opportunity to record some more phenomena, which we witnessed while Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott were staying in Calcutta. At the outset, we may say that we are more interested in the principles than in the phenomena of Theosophy.

We were one day seated with Madame Blavatsky, Colonel Olcott, a distinguished Native nobleman, and two Native gentlemen in the apartments occupied by the leading Theosophists during their visit to Calcutta. While we were talking, a piece of paper dropped in. One of the Native gentlemen in the company noticed it as it fell. It had evidently come down from the ceiling, for in the direction of the room from which it dropped, there was no window, or other opening in the wall. The piece of paper was of the sort known as China paper. It contained some writing in red ink, which had immediate reference to the conversation we were then engaged in. The handwriting was peculiar, and rather Native in its style. The contents of the paper ran as follows:—

Olcott is right. Our brother —— has done much towards the establishment of the branch at Calcutta, and done it with a whole heart. Yet he has to do something more before he can hope to reap the reward. He has to infuse into the new branch the spirit of independent Theosophical research to make the members begin their work as though the founders were no longer living persons, and the burden of continuing this movement rested entirely upon their own shoulders. —— has such a chance. Will he accept this mission?

On another day a letter came by post to the address of Colonel Olcott. The letter was opened by a Native friend; and he found in it two catseyes enclosed in an inner envelope. This envelope which was not of the ordinary description, was rather peculiar; it contained a card of the gentleman for whom the catseyes were intended as a talisman, and it bore the initials of one of the Himalayan Brothers.

The third phenomenon was as follows:—A gentleman, who is a Theosophist, wrote a letter to the address of one of the Himalayan Brothers, and put it into an envelope which he closed without superscribing. The name of the Himalayan Brother, for whom the letter was intended, was written within it. The cover remained in Colonel Olcott’s box several hours, but without any answer being received. As the envelope bore no superscription, the gentleman who wrote the letter was anxious to see whether it had been addressed to him (the addresser) by the addressee, the Himalayan Brother, as in that case he would know whether his letter had been replied to or not. He found the envelope as blank as he left it in Colonel Olcott’s box. Scarcely, however, had five minutes elapsed, when Madame Blavatsky came up to the box, and asked Colonel Olcott to open it, as she had just been told by one of the Himalayan Brothers that he had written the answer. When Madame Blavatsky came up, the envelope was still without any writing on it. But she magnetised it for a minute or two, when lo! the envelope was found addressed to the gentleman, who was expecting the answer. The superscription, as well as the reply within the envelope, appeared to have been written with a red pencil. The reply was to the following effect:—

A constant sense of abject dependence upon a deity which he regards as the sole source of power makes a man lose all self-reliance, and the spurs to activity and initiative. It makes of man a selfish and moral coward. Having begun by creating a father and a guide unto himself, he becomes like a boy, and remains so to his old age, expecting to be led by the hand on the smallest as well as the greatest events of life. The saying “Help thyself and God will help thee” he so interprets that when an undertaking results to his own advantage, he credits it to himself only; when a failure, he charges it to the will of his God. The founders prayed to no deity in beginning the Theosophical Society, nor asked His help since. Are we expected to become the nursing mothers of the Bengal Theosophical Society? Did we help the Founders? No; they were helped by the inspiration of self-reliance, and sustained by their reverence for the rights of man, and their love for a country whose national honor has long been trampled into the mud under the feet of her meek and lazy sons, indifferent to her woes, unmindful of her dying glory.

Your sins? The greatest of them is your fathering upon your God the task of purging you of them. This is no creditable piety, but an indolent and selfish weakness. Though vanity would whisper to the contrary, heed only your common sense. * * * *

We do not pretend to understand, nor can we therefore explain the nature of the agency, by which these phenomena were worked. They may not appear quite satisfactory, but we have stated what not only we but other gentlemen have seen with their own eyes. It is evident that what we witnessed was brought about by natural causes, which we have not yet been able to ascertain, and that what has been done through the intermediation of Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott may be done just as well through the intermediation of other people acting under the same conditions. For these reasons we think that the study of Theosophy should be diligently pursued till those mysteries, which now seem almost inscrutable to ordinary minds, shall become as clear as the light of the sun.

Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky in Madras.

(Madras Standard.)

The attention of the Native public of Madras has during the whole of the past week been chiefly centred in Theosophy. Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky, it was stated in our issue of Monday last, would arrive almost immediately. The founders of Theosophy, who have made some impression upon all classes of people wherever they went, were in Madras on Sunday, and ever since they have been holding meetings, initiating members, and addressing crowded audiences. Putcheappah’s hall was literally crammed on Wednesday evening last by all classes of Hindus, from the humble schoolboy seeking knowledge—thanks to the benevolence of Putcheappah Mudeliar, Govinda Naidu, and Chengalroy Naidu—to the full blown learned aristocrats. It was said the house of some of the Hindu schools in Madras had filled the hall at 3½ P.M. long before the hour of meeting, and when the “humble President of the Theosophical Society,” as Colonel Olcott called himself, and the fair “Corresponding Secretary” made their appearance, the applause that greeted them must have made a favorable impression upon the adherents of the Theosophy, many of whom are in Madras, and have been here for some time advocating the cause in the columns of the Philosophical Inquirer. Colonel Olcott does not advocate the cause of Christianity, atheism, materialism, rationalism, theism, pantheism, agnosticism, or other isms to be found in Webster, but what that gentleman takes to be the pure and simple worship of the spirit. A few European gentlemen attended the lecture with the object no doubt of hearing Theosophy explained, but the crowded audience and the inconvenience of being cabined and confined in a hot room induced them to beat a retreat. Colonel Olcott seems a man of fifty-five, he has a commanding appearance, a fine voice, and expresses himself well—it was suggested to some of the gentlemen who took a leading part in getting up the meeting, that the Esplanade opposite Putcheappah’s hall would be about the best place for a meeting to advocate the cause of Theosophy. The rules and lists of members were freely circulated, and it is pretty certain that Colonel Olcott will not leave Madras till he has established a branch of his Society here. He has a Singalese companion who joined the party when Colonel Olcott visited Ceylon, and where, it is said, he has succeeded in obtaining a large following. Will Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky give Madras something as startling as that which took place in Simla last year in respect to so-called occult phenomena?

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<Untitled> (On Friday last, a meeting was held...)

On Friday last, a meeting was held at Colonel Olcott’s residence at Mylapore, Madras, when several members of the Native community were formally enrolled as members of the new Theosophical Society in that city, on their signing the usual covenants and obligations of the Society and paying a fee of ten rupees each. It is said that Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky will shortly proceed to some of the districts in Madras to inaugurate similar institutions in them.

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<Untitled> (At the last meeting of the Bengal Theosophical Society...)

At the last meeting of the Bengal Theosophical Society, a highly interesting and instructive lecture in Bengali on the “Yoga Philosophy” was delivered by Pundit Kshetra Nath Vidyaratna of Benares. The Society, we hear, is about to import some valuable books for the formation of a library for the use of its members.

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<Untitled> (A friend writes to us from Madras...)

A friend writes to us from Madras to say that Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott have had a perfect success in that city. They have got a Branch Society established there under the presidency of a distinguished Hindu gentleman. Many members are still flocking in. Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott, with a delegation from the Branch Society, have left Madras for Nellore by the Buckingham Canal. They may go thence to Guntur direct, or return to Madras and take steamer. Madame Blavatsky is then to go to Ceylon, and Colonel Olcott to Bombay. The Colonel lectured twice at Madras to immense crowds. The Madras Native Opinion writes:—

Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky have proved themselves, beyond all shadow of doubt, to be thoroughly honest, pure-living people, completely above any selfish motives, and imbued with a deep love of the Indian people and a sincere desire to promote their best interests. Add these good qualities and kind feelings of the Colonel and Madame to the really praiseworthy objects of the Theosophical Society, and it is no wonder that we find both these good people immensely popular, and the Society whose cause they cherish so dearly in a fair way to take root and flourish in our Presidency (as in India) generally, and in the city of Madras particularly.

As we had the pleasure of announcing in our last issue, Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky arrived in Madras on the morning of Sunday before last; and were met on the pier by an enthusiastic if not very numerous deputation of the Hindu inhabitants of Madras, who accompanied them to the house (at Mailapore) selected for their temporary residence. Colonel Olcott has since then given two lectures at Putcheappah’s Hall (which we hope to have the pleasure of reviewing directly they are published); a “Madras Branch” of the Theosophical Society has been founded; and upwards of a hundred of our Native fellow-citizens of the most respectable, if not the highest, social status have been formally initiated and enrolled members of the same.

Editor's notes