HPB-SB-8-280

H. P. Blavatsky Scrapbooks

from Adyar archives of the International Theosophical Society

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vol. 8, p. 280	volume 8, page 280 vol. title: Vol Four of The Theosophical Society of The Arya Samaj of Arya-wart vol. period: Sept 1878 – Sept 1879 pages in vol.: 350
Legend HPB note HPB highlighted HPB underlined HPB crossed out <Editors note> <Archivist note> Lost or unclear SBT, DT Restored

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eng • рус

Native Opinion. Sunday, 10th August 1879.

Sir,—I am glad to see Colonel Olcott coming forward and condescending to give a reply to my “hint to the Society over which he presides.” But I am only sorry that he waxes hot over it. No! Colonel! I am not at all surprised at it, for I know very well you have too much fire in you and your secretary to allow any body to approach it with impunity—for, down it comes on my “gastric” philosophy.

Col. Olcott’s letter is a sort of “Lament.” For he bitterly complains therein of the many misfortunes that came over him since he placed his foot on this “fatalistic” land. I sincerely sympathize with him and his comrades. Ill-luck would have it—that Col. Olcott and his staff should meet with no better stuff in India than Hurrichunders, ignorant, lazy, and selfish Bania merchants, all manner of swindlers; Jeypore Brahmins willing to join them if paid for it, and people, in short, ready to choke them to death with sugar and gulab. Alas! Pity it is that they should not fare better. That they should continually meet with swindlers and cheats is really a pity. But whose fault is that? Not theirs—but fate would have it so—for, we are “fatalists.” But are you justified in making a general assertion that because Hurrichand Chintamon and people of his stamp proved to be your “dear brethren” that therefore the whole lot of Indians must be chips of the same block! It seems Col. Olcott and his comrades have not yet met with good and honest society—for otherwise they would not slander us all that way.

Taking it for granted that we are a bad people, apathetic, fatalistic, routine-going; that the sole ambition of our educated young men is to become public servants; that a fatalistic dispair widely prevails among us; and that our capitalists are unenterprizing—granting all this, what then? Did you come from America to tell us this? We are but too conscious of our defects and therefore eagerly look up to other nations—nations that are full of philanthropy—for support. If, as you say, you have come here to work for the material as well as the spiritual good of the Hindus—what are the means you are adopting for achieving that good? Is it by talking about philosophy? Our Pandits, Shastrees and Yogees have and know enough of it. What I mean is not that you should get a ship-load of Rupees from America to be distributed among our clerk-ship-hunting well-wishers. Oh no. You did me injustice by taking such a narrow view of it. What I want you to do is not to give us philosophy when we have it to suffocation. Do but what you promise—some thing that will materially improve us. If you come here for teaching us philosophy—say that you come as teachers of philosophy; if to learn what philosophy we have, say you come as pupils of philosophy. You once did say so, I remember well, under H. C. Photographic canopy. You say you want to do us spiritual and material good. The country of your adoption after some experience you find to be a tremendous something going to ruin. Well then if you come as philanthropists do what you can to improve us. And if you consult us in the matter, we will protest against your giving us large or even small dozes of philosophy which has already made us idle thinkers. We had great hopes about you and you had great hopes about us. But it now seems you are mistaking the characteristics of us Indians. But I have yet hopes that when you read us correctly you will not consider us a bad people after all. There are black sheep among every nation and for utter strangers it is not easy to come across good society. Even the rulers of the country who have been for centuries here are scarcely acquainted with our feelings and characteristics. You have not been in India even a year yet and therefore it is impossible for you to know us well. I therefore pray, judge us not on such slender grounds as you seem to think to be strong evidence of your badness. But if you come really to do us good consult our best men, make yourself better acquainted with our society and have correct notions of us and then utilize their influence and utilize their ‘large incomes’ in a manner which will assuredly benefit us materially and regenerate the country. So that not only the “Well Wisher” but the whole country of Bharat will be laid under your deep obligations and Col. Olcott’s name will ring from land to land.

“Well Wisher.”

Cock and Bull Stories in Newspapers

Often paragraphs are copied and circulated freely in many papers, which prove on examination to be either pure inventions or absurdities. Such are the stories of gigantic gooseberries, cabbages, monstrous births of human beings with two heads, cows with six legs &c. which are of extremely rare occurrence but are periodically reproduced; these stories are generally imitations of old ones. Another kind of imitation is the habit which unscrupulous correspondents of papers have fallen into to concoct accounts of interviews which they had with great men. Dr. W. Russel, Archibald Forbes and a few other correspondents actually possess influence enough to be admitted to audiences with highly placed men and the public very properly accepts their communications with some confidence, but often obscure writers anonymously print conversations which they pretend to have held with great men; these interviews are pure inventions but concocted with great plausibility after a study of the public utterances, well known habits and character of certain great men. The description of such an interview requires not only talent, but also great care in the treatment of details without which it will at once appear to be a forgery. Thus for instance an account of an interview with the Duke of Edinburgh was given when he lately paid a visit to New York; it was very well described, but had one flaw which at once stamped it as an invention, because certain strong expressions were attributed to the Duke, said to have been uttered by him with reference to Lord Beaconsfield, which expressions he certainly could not have used.

Recently a detailed account of an operation appeared in an Australian paper, the Brisbane Courier according to which the animation of sheep could be suspended for months, or even years, if required, and then again revived. This process would have greatly benefitted sheep-farmers, who could thus import dead sheep to England, or keep them at home when food was scarce, in a state of suspended animation, and again bring them to life whenever they liked. The article had been concocted with great skill and made more attractive by expatiating on the feasibility of extending the process to the human species so that a person could get himself put to sleep for thirty or forty years, or if wanting the means to support a family, suspend its animation till better times. The most ludicrous feature in the account was that the sheep upon which the experiment was performed had thereby been rendered as brittle as glass, so that it became necessary to take precautions lest they should be broken! The operation was said to have been very successful and lauded to the sky; but alas, the disenchantment came soon, and the whole affair was admitted to be a hoax. Hindus are just as credulous as others, if not more so; hence it is no great wonder that a correspondent of the Induprakash fully believed in the above mentioned account, to which he added likewise his own comments. Some Indian papers which gave currency to the article, now publish also its nature, although somewhat late. We find in the Amrita Bazar Patrika of the 17 July the following notice of it:—

The Editor of the Brisbane Courier has admitted that the account of Signor Rotura’s discovery of how to suspend animation was a hoax. It must be admitted by those who have read it to have been one of the cleverest things of the kind which has appeared since the discovery of men in the moon.

Editors take in all sorts of news, not seldom false ones, and it behoves discriminating readers to weigh them. From the following which appeared in the above mentioned correspondence of the Indu-prakash of the 12th July, it would appear that Mr. Rotura is not the only experimenter who suspended animation, or rather imposed upon the public by pretending to do so:—

The British Government tested it (viz. the possibility of suspending life) by hermetically sealing up the physical body a Hindoo in a glass coffin in which it was kept for months, continually watched night and day by a military guard. When it was taken from the coffin the astral body and the soul rejoined the physical body and the apparent life was restored.

The Indu-
Prakash August 11th, 1879

We failed for want of space to inform our readers in our last issue that the Theosophic Society, of which Col. Olcott is the President, is going to bring out a new monthly Journal to be styled “the Theosophist.” The object of this journal will be to explain the principles of the Society and encourage an unbiassed enquiry into the Oriental Mysteries. The journal will be edited by Madame H. P. Blavatsky, Pandit Daya Nand Saraswati and others having promised to contribute to it. We wish the projectors of the Journal every success—especially because its appearance will give an opportunity to the public to know what the aims and principles of the Theosophists are more definitely than they have been able to know hitherto.

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☞ The popular prejudice against Spiritualism operates as a special convenience at times. An effort is being made, it is said, to obtain the release from prison of John S. Morton, of Philadelphia, who was convicted of frauds as president of a railway in that city, on the ground that he was a Spiritualist, and as a consequence irresponsible for his conduct. Poor Mr. Kiddle, who wrote a book on Spiritualism after faithful service as school superintendent in New York for twenty-five years, was compelled for a similar reason to resign his office. It is strange that it is not more frequent to suspect those of unsound mind who believe in the Orthodox theories; certainly the cases are not altogether uncommon which look very much like it.—Boston Index.

Editor's notes