Quotes:Chatterji, Mohini Mohun

Zirkoff, Boris

Chatterjee, Mohini Mohun (1858-1936). Mohini, as he was usually referred to, was a personal pupil of Master K.H. and one of the most brilliant Hindu members of the early Theosophical Society. He was a descendant of the Râjâ Rammohun Roy, a great Hindu reformer, and was also related to Debendra Nâth Tagore; he was a native of Calcutta and a Brahmana.

Being by profession an attorney-at-law, he proved an able defender, during the 1884-85 crisis in Europe, of H.P.B. and her phenomena, testifying at several hearings before the Society for Psychical Research. He lectured extensively in Europe and America where his clarity of exposition and intellectual grasp of Theosophical and Vedic teachings greatly contributed to the success of the Society.

In January, 1884, Master K.H. wrote to A. P. Sinnett: “He [Olcott] will be accompanied by Mohini, whom I have chosen 639 as my chela and with whom I sometimes communicate directly.” (The Mahatma Letters, Letter No. 84.)

Unfortunately, the adulation which was bestowed upon him in London and Paris went to his head and he failed to exercise proper judgment in his relations to some of the members. This caused a great deal of trouble and additional worry for H.P.B. Mohini did not take her stricture philosophically and this eventually caused a break between the two.

Mohini had also been very critical of Col. Olcott and the manner in which the business of the T.S. was conducted. In collaboration with Arthur Gebhard, he wrote a memorandum entitled “A Few Words on the Theosophical Organization.” On the back of this Manuscript, now in the Adyar Archives, Col. Olcott wrote: “Manifesto of Mohini and Arthur Gebhard about my despotism. H.P.B.’s cutting reply. 1886.” H.P.B.’s powerful reply to this “Manifesto” was later called “The Original Programme of the Theosophical Society,” though at first it did not bear any title. The text of both Mohini’s declaration and of H.P.B.’s reply, together with all pertinent historical information, may be found in Vol. VII of the present Series, pp. 135 et seq.

Later on, Mohini wrote a small volume in collaboration with Laura C. Holloway-Langford, an American Chela who was a sensitive and possessed a considerable degree of clairvoyance. This work, entitled Man: Fragments of Forgotten History (London: Reeves and Turner, 1885, xxvi, 165 pp.; 2nd ed., 1887; 3rd ed., 1893), did not receive the plaudits of either Master K.H. or H.P.B., and the latter prepared a number of corrections and emendations which she wanted to have inserted in a second edition of the work (See The Letters of H. P. Blavatsky to A. P. Sinnett, Letter No. CXX). However, none of these corrections found their way into subsequent editions, all of which are now extremely scarce.

Mrs. Holloway and Mohini also selected certain articles from the early Theosophist and published them as Five Years of Theosophy (same Publisher, 1885; 575 pp. incl. Glossary and Index; 2nd ed., 1894). All the articles from H.P.B.’s pen, included in this work, are now in the Collected Writings.

Mohini also wrote an excellent rendering of the Bhagavad-Gita, with a Preface and marginal notes giving parallel passages in the New Testament.

In 1887, Mohini resigned from the T.S. and returned to Calcutta, where he resumed his practice of law. At the time of his death in 1936, he was almost blind from cataract.

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 4, pp. 638-639

Mohini. See Chatterji.

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 4, p. 658