HPB-SB-13-88: Difference between revisions

{{Style P-No indent|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:—}}

{{Style P-No indent|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.}}

{{Style P-No indent|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:—}}

{{Style P-No indent|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.}}