Theos-Talk Archives (April 2003 Message tt00133)

Friday, April 25, 2003

Dear Friends:

Friends and visitors to H PB left us their impressions of her .
Here is an important one from the pen of Dr. Franz Hartmann.

Best wishes,
Dallas

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Dr. Franz Hartmann on H.P.B.



" left California on board of the S.S. Coptic, bound for Hong
Kong...On December 4, 1883, we arrived at Madras, and I went to
Adyar, where I was welcomed by Madame Blavatsky "to my future
home," as she expressed it. The headquarters of the
"Theosophical Society," where she lived, were beautifully located
near the Adyar River and only a short distance from the sea.

A great deal has already been written about H.P.Blavatsky, and I
might, perhaps, be excused from now adding something to it,
especially as I am quite certain that no one will ever be able to
judge her extraordinary character correctly, unless he has been
intimately acquainted with her. To an occultist, capable of
seeing "beyond the veil," her personality was extremely
interesting.

To me she always appeared as a great spirit, a sage and initiate
inhabiting the body of a grown-up capricious child, very amiable
on the whole...and caring nothing for conventionalities of any
kind.

In her higher aspect she seemed to be in possession of the
highest occult wisdom and of a knowledge obtained not by the
reading of books or ratiocination, but an interior illumination
and direct perception of truth. She seemed to know everything
without having ever read anything, and as if the whole universe
was to her like an open book.

She seemed to be at home on the astral plane as much as on the
physical plane. Nevertheless she did not claim to be an adept,
but only a conscious instrument of an intelligent power higher
than her own personality.

She used to say: "My learning is my Master's. I am nothing but
a reflector of some one else's luminous light."

To me it seems that this, "Master" was her own higher self and
that everybody has such a light hidden within his own soul but
not everybody is conscious of it. Men and women may be compared
to lanterns in which such a light exists; in some it is only a
spark that has not yet been discovered, in others the wick sheds
but a dim glow, while in rare cases it gives a bright light that
shines through the crystal.

Many of those who presumed to judge the character of
H.P.Blavatsky could only see the polish of the "lantern," but
were blind to the light contained in it. Thus Madame Blavatsky
appeared to be two or even more different persons manifesting
themselves in one body, and I have no doubt that her inner real
or permanent self was in communication with other higher
intelligences existing on the same plane, and that they were able
to communicate their knowledge through her instrumentality or
agency to the outside world.

These intelligences, or "Masters," she claimed were certain
adepts still living in Tibet and in possession of great occult
powers, such as impressing suitable minds at a distance by what
is now called "telepathy," going out in their astral forms or
"thought bodies" and materializing themselves, using the organism
of H.P.Blavatsky and other "disciples" for the production of
"occult phenomena," etc.

All such things, which some years ago appeared incredible, now
appear quite possible in the light which recent investigations in
occult science have thrown upon that subject. My own experience
in this line has convinced me that such Masters exist.

I have been present on certain occasions when "the Master"
appeared to her and she spoke with him. I could not see him with
my eyes, but I felt his presence. His influence pervaded my
whole being and filled me with a sensation of indescribable bliss
which lasted for several days. This power, awakening within me a
higher state of consciousness made me feel on such occasions as
if it were my own and I the Master myself.

A great deal of nonsense has been written about the "occult
phenomena" produced by Madame Blavatsky, by her enemies and
others giving undue importance to them.

She was not a "spiritual medium," producing phenomena under test
conditions for the purpose of proving their reality, neither did
she receive any money for it. All the phenomena which I
witnessed in her presence were undoubtedly genuine...her only
purpose was to induce the people to study the higher laws of
life, to raise them up to a higher conception of eternal truth,
and teach them to do their own thinking.

She wanted to call the attention of the world by all means to the
higher teachings which originated from the adepts, and the
phenomena were to her nothing else but the sweets, which with one
coaxes the children to come to school and to learn.

It may be noted that the demands made upon her by ignorant and
unspiritual people were often of an incredible absurdity and
extremely selfish...

Already on the first day after my arrival at Adyar I received
through Madame Blavatsky an unsought and unexpected test. I went
to her room and found her writing. Not wishing to disturb her, I
sat down near the window and thought of a lady friend of mine who
had died at Galveston some years ago, wondering what had become
of her "principles."

I noticed that Madame Blavatsky turned her paper and seemed to
play with her pencil in a state of absentmindedness with a
faraway look. She then handed me the paper. It contained the
answer to my question in a drawing, representing the corpse of my
friend extended upon the ground and an elemental standing by its
side watching for the escape of the astral soul, while the
passage of her spirit to higher spheres was indicated by a
rainbow.

Similar evidences of occult power I often received through
H.P.Blavatsky. Sometimes it was direct writing produced by some
invisible entity; whole letters written in that way were found
in my closed desk; but these phenomena were nothing new to me,
as I had seen them often in America. I did not look at them with
suspicion of trickery...I was interested only in the contents of
the letters and not in the way in which they were written and
forwarded to me...

This was the time of "occult letters" supposed to have been
written or sent by the "Mahatmas" of the Himalayas. Such letters
were seen to form themselves suddenly in the air, or they were
found unexpectedly upon the table or in closed drawers, and they
contained orders and directions for the management of affairs.
I, as well as others, received numerous letters of that kind,
some written in red ink, others in blue, and some in green. They
usually appeared when some advice was needed.


From: Dr. Franz Hartmann's Autobiography

Occult Review, January 1908.