Theos-Talk Archives (June 2004 Message tt00062)

June 12 2004

Dear Friends:

I notice that recently an opinion was offered that HPB's "phenomena"
was untrustworthy. Further that THEOSOPHY was suspect.

THEOSOPHY can take care of itself on the basis of its logical
presentation. It requires of students that they study it most
analytically.  

THEOSOPHY is not a matter of credence or of belief. It is, however
to be most vigorously investigated and checked by every student and
inquirer who approaches it, 

The further offering of a review of the evolutionary progress of our
Earth (compiled from the records of the Ancient and Venerable Lodge of
the Masters of Wisdom) is on careful reading, most compelling. It
takes into accounts all those missing elements, gaps, "missing links"
and other areas of speculation which our Science has erected in order
to explain (with no full evidence) our present condition. It starts
with the assemblage of material from the primordial nebular stage, and
reviews the sweep of , and growth, of individual intelligence
thereafter, over an immense period covering millions and even billions
of years. 

This view is complete in all aspects and leaves no "gaps" or "missing
links." In the course of the many years (115) since the SECRET
DOCTRINE was written, many of its statements have been fund correct
and have been verified. 

In this short essay, -- May we offer for consideration the following
extracts from "A MODERN PANARION " in which, are reprinted a number
of the early articles by
H P B.

H P B writes concerning the Eddy and Holmes manifestations in 1874:


"Let Dr. Beard rise and explain the following fact if he can: I
remained fourteen days at the Eddys’. In that short period of time I
saw and recognized fully, out of 119 apparitions, seven “spirits.” 

I admit that I was the only one to recognize them, the rest of the
audience not having been with me in my numerous travels throughout the
East, but their various dresses and costumes were plainly seen and
closely examined by all.

The first was a Georgian boy, dressed in the historical Caucasian
attire, the picture of whom will shortly appear in The Daily Graphic.
I recognized and questioned him in Georgian upon circumstances known
only to myself. I was understood and answered. Requested by me in his
mother tongue (upon the whispered suggestion of Colonel Olcott) to
play the Lezguinka, a Circassian dance, he did so immediately upon the
guitar.

Second—A little old man appears. He is dressed as Persian
merchants generally are. His dress is perfect as a national costume.
Everything is in its right place, down to the “babouches” that are off
his feet, he stepping out in his stockings. He speaks his name in a
loud whisper. It is “Hassan Aga,” an old man whom I and my family have
known for twenty years at Tiflis. He says, half in Georgian and half
in Persian, that he has got a “big secret to tell me,” and comes at
three different times, vainly seeking to finish his sentence.

Third—A man of gigantic stature comes forth, dressed in the
picturesque attire of the warriors of Kurdistan. He does not speak,
but bows in the oriental fashion, and lifts up his spear ornamented
with bright-coloured feathers, shaking it in token of welcome. I
recognize him immediately as Jaffar Ali Bek, a young chief of a tribe
of Kurds, who used to accompany me in my trips around Ararat in
Armenia on horseback, and who on one occasion saved my life. More, he
bends to the ground as though picking up a handful of mould, and
scattering it around, presses his hand to his bosom, a gesture
familiar only to the tribes of the Kurdistan.

Fourth—A Circassian comes out. I can imagine myself at Tiflis, so
perfect is his costume of “nouker” (a man who either runs before or
behind one on horseback). This one speaks more, he corrects his name,
which I pronounced wrongly on recognizing him, and when I repeat it he
bows, smiling, and says in the purest guttural Tartar, which sounds so
familiar to my ear, “Tchoch yachtchi” (all right), and goes away.

Fifth—Au old woman appears with Russian headgear. She comes out
and addresses me in Russian, calling me by an endearing term that she
used in my childhood. I recognize an old servant of my family, a nurse
of my sister.

Sixth—A large powerful negro next appears on the platform. His
head is ornamented with a wonderful coiffure something like horns
wound about with white and gold. His looks are familiar to me, but I
do not at first recollect where I have seen him. Very soon he begins
to make some vivacious gestures, and his mimicry helps me to recognize
him at a glance. It is a conjurer from Central Africa. He grins and
disappears.

Seventh and last—A large, grey-haired gentleman comes out attired
in the conventional suit of black. The Russian decoration of St. Ann
hangs suspended by a large red moiré ribbon with two black stripes— a
ribbon, as every Russian will know, belonging to the said decoration.
This ribbon is worn around his neck. I feel faint, for I think I
recognize my father. But the latter was a great deal taller. In my
excitement I address him in English, and ask him: “Are you my father?”
He shakes his head in the negative, and answers as plainly as any
mortal man can speak, and in Russian, “No; I am your uncle.” The word
“diadia” was heard and remembered by all the audience. It means
“uncle.” But what of that? 

Dr. Beard knows it to be but a pitiful trick, and we must submit in
silence. People that know me know that I am far from being credulous.
Though an Occultist of many years’ standing, I am more sceptical in
receiving evidence from paid mediums than many unbelievers. 

But when I receive such evidences as I received at the Eddys’, I feel
bound on my honour, and under the penalty of confessing myself a moral
coward, to defend the mediums, as well as the thousands of my brother
and sister Spiritualists against the conceit and slander of one man
who has nothing and no one to back him in his assertions. 

I now hereby finally and publicly challenge Dr. Beard to the amount of
$500 to produce before a public audience and under the same
conditions the manifestations herein attested, or failing this, to
bear the ignominious consequences of his proposed exposé
 
H. P. BLAVATSKY.
I2 East Sixteenth Street, New York City,
October 27th, 1874

A MODERN PANARION. Pp 1 - 5
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2

"I will add but a few words before ending my debate with Dr. Beard
for ever. All that he says about the lamp concealed in a bandbox, the
strong confederates, etc., exists only in his imagination, for the
mere sake of argument, we suppose. “False in one, false in all,” says
Dr. Beard in column the sixth. These words are a just verdict on his
own article.

Here I will briefly state what I reluctantly withheld up to the
present moment from the knowledge of all such as Dr. Beard. The fact
was too sacred in my eyes to allow it to be trifled with in newspaper
gossiping. But now, in order to settle the question at once, I deem it
my duty as a Spiritualist to surrender it to the opinion of the
public.

On the last night that I spent with the Eddys I was presented by
Georgo Dix and Mayflower with a silver decoration, the upper part of a
medal with which I was but too familiar. I quote the precise words of
the spirit: “We bring you this decoration, for we think you will value
it more highly than anything else. You will recognize it, for it is
the badge of honour that was presented to your father by his
Government for the campaign of 1828, between Russia and Turkey. We got
it through the influence of your uncle, who appeared to you here this
evening. We brought it from your father’s grave at Stavropol. You will
identify it by a certain sign known to yourself.”

These words were spoken in the presence of forty witnesses. Col.
Olcott will describe the fact and give the design of the decoration.

I have the said decoration in my possession. I know it as having
belonged to my father. More, I have identified it by a portion that,
through carelessness, I broke myself many years ago, and, to settle
all doubt in relation to it, I possess the photograph of my father (a
picture that has never been at the Eddys’, and could never possibly
have been seen by any of them) on which this medal is plainly visible.

Query for Dr. Beard: How could the Eddys know that my father was
buried at Stavropol; that he was ever presented with such a medal, or
that he had been present and in actual service at the time of the war
of 1828?"
H P BLAVATSKY

23, Irving Place, New York City,
November 10th, 1874

A MODERN PANARION, Pp. 10-11

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3

"Colonel Olcott is here and has begun investigations. His first tests
with Mrs. Holmes alone, for Mr. Holmes is lying sick at Vineland, have
proved satisfactory enough, in his eyes, to induce Mr. Owen to return
to the spot of his first love, namely, the Holmeses’ cabinet. He began
by tying Mrs. Holmes up in a bag, the string drawn tightly round her
neck, knotted and sealed in the presence of Mr. Owen, Col. Olcott and
a third gentleman. After that the medium was placed in the empty
cabinet, which was rolled away into the middle of the room, and it was
made a perfect impossibility for her to use her hands. The door being
closed, hands appeared in the aperture, then the outlines of a face
came, which gradually formed into the classical head of John King,
turban, beard and all. He kindly allowed the investigators to stroke
his beard, touch his warm face, and patted their hands with his. After
the séance was over, Mrs. Holmes, with many tears of gratitude in the
presence of the three gentlemen, assured Mr. Owen most solemnly that
she had spoken many a time to Dr. Child about “Katie” leaving her
presents in the house and dropping them about the place, and that
she—Mrs. Holmes—wanted Mr. Owen to know it; but that the doctor had
given her most peremptory orders to the contrary, forbidding her to
let the former know it, his precise words being, “Don’t do it, it’s
useless; he must not know it I leave the question of Mrs. Holmes’
veracity as to this fact for Dr. Child to settle with her."...

	
H. P. BLAVATSKY.
1111, Girard Street, Philadelphia.


A MODERN PANARION. Pp. 17-18

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4

Col. Olcott offers a full account of the tea cup produced in a remote
area of Simla in the foothills of the Himalayas.
All show that trickery was impossible. (See OLD DIARY LEAVES Vol. 1)

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Much more can be adduced and if anyone is interested there is a full
account of H P B's phenomena in Sylvia Cranston's Biography: H P B
(Dutton, New York , 1992)

5

Here is an account of HPB's phenomena in France at Enghien in 1884:



H.P.B. AT ENGHIEN


IN the spring of 1884, H.P.B. was staying in Rue Notre Dame des
Champs, Paris, and in the house were living Col. Olcott, Mohini M.
Chatterji and the writer. Part of the time Bertram Keightley was also
there. As always since I have know H.P.B. during the past seventeen
years, she was there as elsewhere engaged daily with her writing, save
for an occasional drive or visit. Many visitors from all classes were
constantly calling, and among the rest came the Countess d'Adhémar,
who at once professed a profound admiration for H.P.B. and invited her
to come to the Château owned by the Count at Enghien, just outside the
city, including in her invitation myself and Mohini Chatterji. Bertram
Keightley was also invited for a few days. The invitation was accepted
and we all went out to Enghien, where H.P.B. was given two large rooms
downstairs and the others slept in rooms on the upper floors. Every
convenience was given to our beloved friend, and there she continued
her writing, while I at her request carefully read over, sitting in
the same room, Isis Unveiled, making indices at the foot of each page,
as she intended to use it in preparing the Secret Doctrine.

A lake was at one side of the house and extensive grounds covered with
fine timber hid the building from the road, part being a well kept
fruit and flower garden. A slight description of the rooms is
necessary. Wide stairs led up to the hall; on one side, which we may
call the road front, was the billiard room, the high window of which
opened upon the leaden roof of the porch; the dining room looked out
at the back over the edge of the lake, and the drawing room opened
from it on the other side at right angles to the side of the billiard
room. This drawing room had windows opening on three sides, so that
both garden and lake could be seen from it. In it was the grand piano
at the end and side opposite the dining room door, and between the two
side windows was a marble slab holding ornaments; between the windows
at the end near the piano, was the fireplace, and at that corner was
one of the windows giving a view of the lake, Every evening it was the
custom to spend some time in the drawing room in conversation, and
there, as well as in the dining room, took place some phenomena which
indeed were no more interesting than the words of H.P.B., whether
those were witty, grave or gay. Very often Countess d'Adhémar's sister
played the piano in a manner to delight even H.P.B., who was no mean
judge. I remember well one melody, just then brought out in the world
of Paris, which pleased her immensely, so that she often asked for its
repetition. It was one suggestive of high aspiration and grandiose
conceptions of nature. Many lively discussions with the Count on one
side and H.P.B. on the other had place there, and often in the very
midst of these she would suddenly turn to Mohini and myself, who were
sitting listening, to repeat to us the very thoughts then passing in
our brains.

Count d'Adhémar did not ask for the production of phenomena, but often
said that could he and a few of his friends be convinced about
Theosophy perhaps much good would result in France. Some us desired in
our hearts that in the home of such kind friends phenomena might
occur, but none suggested it to H.P.B. But one day at dinner, when
there were present the Count and Countess, their son Raoul, H.P.B.,
Mohini, the Countess' sister, myself, and one other, the strong and
never-to-be-forgotten perfume which intimate friends of H.P.B. knew so
well as often accompanying phenomena or coming of itself, floated
round and round the table, plainly perceptible to several and not
perceived either before or afterwards. Of course many skeptics will
see nothing in this, but the writer and others well know that this of
itself is a phenomenon, and that the perfume has been sent for many
miles through the air as a message from H.P.B. or from those hidden
persons who often aided in phenomena or in teachings. At this dinner,
or at some other during the visit, we had all just come in from the
flower garden. I had plucked a small rosebud and placed it upon the
edge of the tumbler between myself and the Countess' sister who was on
my left, H.P.B. being seated on my right. This lady began to talk of
phenomena, wondering if H.P.B. could do as related of the Indian
yogis. I replied that she could if she would, but did not ask her, and
added that she could make even that small rosebud bloom at once. Just
then H.P.B. stretched her hand out towards the rose, not touching it,
and said nothing, continuing at once her conversation and the dinner.
We watched the bud until the end of the meal and saw that it grew in
that space of time much larger and bloomed out into a rose nearly full
grown.

On another evening after we had all been in the drawing room for some
time, sitting without lights, the moon shining over the lake and all
nature being hushed, H.P.B. fell into a thought state. Shortly she
rose and stood at the corner window looking over the water, and in a
moment a flash of soft light shot into the room and she quietly
smiled. Reminding me of this evening the Countess d'Adhémar writes in
this month of June:-

H.P.B. seemed wrapped in thought, when suddenly she rose from her
chair, advanced to the open window, and raising her arm with a
commanding gesture, faint music was heard in the distance, which
advancing nearer and nearer broke into lovely strains and filled the
drawing room where we were all sitting. Mohini threw himself at
H.P.B.'s feet and kissed the hem of her robe, which action seemed the
appropriate outcoming of the profound admiration and respect we all
felt toward the wonderful being whose loss we will never cease to
mourn.

This astral music was very plain to us all, and the Count especially
remarked upon its beauty and the faintness of it as it sank away into
the unknown distance. The whole house was full of these bell sounds at
night when I was awake very late and others had retired, They were
like signals going and coming to H.P.B.'s room downstairs. And on more
than one occasion as we walked in the grounds under the magnificent
trees, have they shot past us, sometimes audible to all and again only
heard by one or two. 

The lead roof of the portico was a place where after dinner we
sometimes sat, and there on some of those delightful evenings we were
joined by the Countess Wachtmeister, who afterwards did so much for
the comfort of H.P.B. at Würzburg and other places. Many chats were
held there about occultism. In one of these we were speaking of images
in the Astral Light and H.P.B. said: "Well, you know that it moves as
other things in Kosmos do, and that the time comes when it floats off,
as it were, letting another mass of the same 'light' take its place."

It was with a feeling of some regret that we left this delightful
place where such quiet reigned and where H.P.B. was able to work amid
the beauty and the stillness of nature. It cannot be blotted from the
memory, because there our friend and teacher was untroubled by the
presence of curiosity seekers, and thus was free to present to us who
believed in her a side of her many-sided nature which pleased,
instructed and elevated us all.

One incident remains to be told for which we must depend on others. I
took away with me a book which could not be finished there, and just
before leaving France went out to Enghien to return it. There I met
the Countess d'Adhémar, who said that the peculiar and unmistakable
perfume of which I spoke above had come in the house after we had all
left. It was one evening about two days after H.P.B.'s departure and
the d'Adhémars had some friends to dinner. After dinner they all went
into the drawing room and soon noticed the perfume. It came, as they
said to me, in rushes, and at once they began to hunt it out in the
room, coming at last to the marble slab described, where, from one
spot in the stone, they found the perfume rushing out in volumes. Such
was the quantity of it that, as the Countess said to me, they were
compelled to open the windows, since the odor was overpowering in
larger masses. In returning to Paris I told H.P.B. of this and she
only said: "It sometimes happens."

William Q. Judge. Lucifer, July, 1891
 
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Many more pieces of evidence can be advanced if desired.

				
Best wishes,


Dallas