Theos-Talk Archives (February 2005 Message tt00542)

Parbati Churn Roy 
September-October 1882, 
Darjeeling, India and later in Dacca, India. 

Abridged from:
Roy, Parbati Churn. From Hinduism to 
Hinduism. Calcutta, India: Printed by 
W. Newman Co., 1896.

I felt great interest in Spiritualism from 
the time that it first came to India from 
America. The arrival, in 1879, of Madame 
H.P. Blavatsky in Bombay, and the accounts 
of her wonderful doings, awakened in my 
mind fresh interest towards it. What I 
would not accept as true from Hindus, whom 
I looked upon as too credulous and superstitious, 
I was prepared to accept as such when it 
came from Europeans. I had read about the 
performances of Eglinton in Calcutta, and 
thought that she must be like him. I once 
intended to go to Bombay to satisfy my 
curiosity, but through some cause or other, 
chiefly because my scepticism was increasing 
more and more, I did not carry out my 
intention. I could not, however, rest quiet; 
something within always prompted me to continue my spiritual 
inquiries, and so I wished I could have an interview with Madame 
Blavatsky. I had not to wait long before I had an opportunity of 
seeing her, and that too in my own house. 

She was at first suspected by the Government to be a Russian spy, 
but, far from being a spy, she was an admirer of the British Rule. 
In her opinion it was the best Government that India could have in 
her present condition. 

In the autumn of 1882, Madame Blavatsky, accompanied by several of 
her disciples, came to Darjeeling, a hill station in Bengal, in the 
course of her Theosophical tour. As she would not go to the house 
of any European, or to any European hotel, some Hindu friends, who 
were looking for a place for her accommodation, asked me if I could 
not put her up in my house for a few days. I had longed for an 
opportunity to see her, and nothing could be more desirable than 
that I should do so in my own house, and so I readily complied with 
the request of my friends. 

Though I had adopted the English way of living, I was quite ignorant 
of English manners and customs, and, therefore, I felt somewhat 
anxious as to the manner in which Madame Blavatsky was to be 
entertained during her stay at my cottage. My anxieties were, 
however, put to rest, as soon as I met her. 

There could not be a more simple, unostentatious, open-hearted, and 
unceremonious person than H.P.B. Her heart was full of love and 
kindness for others. Her dress was plain and simple; her food and 
drink also being of the simplest possible description. In the 
morning she made a hearty breakfast of coffee, milk, and bread, 
which she provided for herself. The milk was brought from a 
distance, fresh from the cow, every morning by one of her 
disciples. After breakfast, she shut herself up in her room, and 
spent till luncheon, at 1:00 P.M., in reading and writing. Neither 
at luncheon nor at dinner did she eat a full meal, and ate but very 
little meat. At tea-time she again had her coffee, milk, and bread; 
in fact, her chief meals were taken at breakfast and tea. As is 
well known, she was a great smoker of cigarettes, at the making of 
which she was an expert. She always wore a kind of loose gown, over 
which she sometimes put a yellow robe like what is used by the 
Buddhist nuns. She often had a rosary in her hand, which she 
counted as she inaudibly repeated to herself certain words. 

On the night of her arrival, in fact, the very moment that she 
stepped inside my threshold, I began to talk disparagingly of 
everything spiritual, while I lauded to the skies the teachings of 
the Materialists and Agnostics. She smiled, and touching a pane of 
glass with her hand, produced a soft tinkling sound, which she asked 
me to explain. Of course, I was not able to explain, nor could I 
find any explanation of it in any of my scientific books. She gave 
an explanation which was quite unintelligible to me. So far as I 
remember now, she said something about Akas (ether). She also sent 
down, from the tips of her fingers, something like electric currents 
to the head of my cousin Babu Kali Mohun Das, Vakeel of the Calcutta 
High Court, without touching it. Babu Kali Mohun Das said that he 
felt a sort of burning sensation in his head by the very fact of 
Madame Blavatsky's fingers being pointed towards it. I watched her 
hand carefully, and saw that the tips of her fingers were two or 
three inches above the head. 

On the day follow Madame Blavatsky's arrival at "Willow Dale," the 
cottage occupied by me, as we were sitting at luncheon, we heard in 
the air a soft tinkling sound as that of a bell. No sooner she 
heard the sound than she rose up hurriedly from her chair, 
saying, "I am called, I am called," and, in a most agitated manner, 
proceeded towards her room. As she was going out of the dining 
room, another sound like the first was heard immediately over her 
head. She then shut herself in her room for some time. When she 
came out, she looked somewhat fatigued. All the above-described 
phenomena were witnessed by myself, my cousin, and Babu Kanti 
Bhushan Sen, my assistant, who was then living with me. 

In the course of conversation, on the very night of her arrival, 
Madame Blavatsky inquired if I knew anything about Theosophy. I 
replied in the negative, and she then ordered from Calcutta some 
books for me. When the books came, she would not let me touch them 
until she had written my name therein. She afterwards presented me 
Mr. A.O. Hume's "Hints on Esoteric Theosophy," and Mr. A.P. 
Sinnett's "Occult World." In the first page of the latter, she 
wrote these words -- "To my sceptic and quarrelsome brother." 
Though she was hardly more than forty-eight hours in my house, I had 
already begun to quarrel with her. In my admiration for the 
civilisation of the English, I cried down that of the Hindu. I also 
had no sympathy for the exclusiveness of the Thibetans, who would 
not let any foreigners visit their country, and so I wished that the 
English might go and conquer them, and throw their country open to 
us. She felt greatly pained at my then attitude of mind, and said 
that I was an unworthy descendant of the great Aryans. 

I had no time to read the books on the night I received them; but 
when I went to sleep, I had most interesting dreams, in the course 
of which I found myself in the presence of Yogis, working in 
furtherance of the cause of Theosophy. I, of course, treated these 
dreams as no better than others, and laid them to the account of my 
imagination having been worked up through the influence of Madame 
Blavatsky; but now, after the lapse of twelve years, I am beginning 
to understand their real significance and importance. 

Having read the "Occult World," I felt somewhat serious on the 
subject. Mr. Sinnett was the editor of the leading newspaper in 
India, namely, The Pioneer. Was it likely that he should have been 
so easily deceived by Madame Blavatsky, especially as it was not a 
single but a series of acts of fraud, if fraud it was? Again, Mr. 
Sinnett was an Englishman --- an Anglo-Indian --- whose attitude 
towards the Yogis, or Mahatmas, could not naturally be very 
friendly. How could all these doubts be reconciled, unless on the 
supposition that the writer honestly described facts which really 
happened? But still, the things related to have happened, could not 
be explained by any known laws of nature --- laws known to the great 
scientists of the West; and, therefore, I argued, they could not be 
accepted as true. Though there was a sort of impulse from within to 
believe that the book gave an account of things that actually 
happened, I hesitated to act on my intuition, and so told Madame 
Blavatsky that I could not be a member of the Theosophical Society, 
as I could not believe in Mahatmas. On this she said that a belief 
in Mahatmas was not essential for becoming a Theosophist. She then 
gave me the Rules, from which I found that the following were the 
objects of the Society: 

1. To form the nucleus of a Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, 
without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or colour. 

2. To promote the study of Aryan and other Eastern literatures, 
religions, philosophies, and sciences, and demonstrate the 
importance of that study. 

3. To investigate unexplained laws of nature, and the psychic 
powers latent in man. 

I had no objection to the first object, but I strongly protested 
against attaching any importance to objects 2 and 3. Madame 
Blavatsky said that if I believed in the importance of forming a 
Society to promote brotherly feelings, that would be sufficient, 
that I might put off the two others until I was convinced of their 
importance. As I felt that by standing aloof, I should be wounding 
the feelings of a lady who was, according to her light, working for 
the good of humanity, and was in my house as a guest, I signed 
a "Form of Application," and H.P.B. granted me a Diploma of 
Membership of the Theosophical Society. I had not to pay admission 
fees. 

As has already been said, Madame Blavatsky used to shut herself up 
in her room, whence she came out only during meal hours, or to see 
visitors. Three or four days after her arrival at Willow Dale, I 
had occasion one morning suddenly to enter her study with a telegram 
that had come for her. After reading the telegram, she showed me a 
letter that I saw lying on her table. She said that it had been 
precipitated only a few minutes before I entered the room, and that 
I could read it if I liked. On looking at the letter, I was greatly 
struck by the economy, as regards space, practised by the writer. 
The letter was written on both sides of half a sheet of note paper, 
without any margin being left. The writing commenced at the very 
top of the first page, and ended at the bottom of the second. There 
was no sender's address and no date. The subject matter treated of, 
related to the Theosophical Society, and there were words in it 
which referred to persons and things unknown to me. The handwriting 
was quite different from that of H.P.B.'s. There was not the least 
ground for suspecting that the letter was not genuine, or that it 
was an act of imposition practised by Madame Blavatsky, but the 
precipitation theory was so novel, and so opposed to the teachings 
of science, that I could not persuade myself to believe that a 
letter could be disintegrated by the sender, and then reintegrated 
by him at the place to which it was directed. I was, therefore, not 
prepared to accept as true the statement of Madame Blavatsky, and so 
quietly came out of her room without expressing either belief or 
unbelief. 

Before the arrival of Madame Blavatsky at my cottage, I invited two 
friends to come up from Calcutta, and spend with me a few days 
during the Court vacation. One of these was my cousin, Babu Bhuban 
Mohan Das, brother to Babu Kali Mohan Das, mentioned in the 
preceding chapter, who was editor of the Brahmo Public Opinion: and 
the other was my friend Babu Tariny Kumar Ghose, a graduate of the 
Calcutta University. The former was a leading member of the 
Sadharan Brahmo-Somaj, or the Constitutional Theistic Church; and 
the latter, a very learned Agnostic. When these guests arrived, we 
were pressed for room, and Madame Blavatsky was put to much 
inconvenience, but she did not mind it. These friends, however, did 
not like her presence, as they looked upon her as an impostor. And, 
though I myself had noticed nothing against her conduct, I began to 
doubt my own senses, especially as I believed my friends to be men 
of very sound judgment. I gradually began to think that it would be 
well if H.P.B. were to leave Willow Dale. 

It has been said that Madame Blavatsky was accompanied by some 
disciples. These were Babu Nobeen Krishna Bannerjea, Manager under 
the Court Wards at Berhampore; two Pleaders of the Judge's Court at 
Berhampore; one Madrassee, a District Registrar; one Ceylonese, a 
Magistrate; and one Burmese, whose antecedents were not known. Babu 
Nobeen Krishna Bannerjea had followed H.P.B. to Darjeeling with his 
wife and family, leaving his work. He was a highly educated man, 
and possessed varied experience. 

One night, when my feelings against the Mahatmas had been worked up 
by the sneers and taunts of my Theistic and Agnostic friends 
mentioned above, I had a most heated discussion with Nobeen Babu. 
The quarrel, for so it was, arose in this wise; I began by finding 
fault with the Mahatmas for not coming forward before the public and 
explaining their doctrines by means of experiments like the 
scientists in the West. If what they were said to be capable of 
doing was true, surely truth would not suffer by being publicly made 
known to the world. To this Nobeen Babu replied by saying, that the 
truths taught by the Mahatmas were far too transcendental to be 
understood and appreciated by anyone who had not gone through a 
course of preparatory training; that just as a boy, who had no 
knowledge of chemistry and physics, would be incapable of 
understanding the highest teachings of those sciences; as one whose 
knowledge of mathematics was confined only to arithmetic would be 
incapable of appreciating the high mathematical teachings of Sir W. 
Thomson's vortex theory, so a person, uninitiated in the mysteries 
of the spiritual world, would be incapable of understanding the 
teachings of the Mahatmas. And that, even if the Mahatmas were to 
appear before the public and exhibit their powers, they would be 
considered as no better than jugglers, who often perform tricks, 
which baffle the understanding of even men of science. This nettled 
my temper, as I thought that I, as a student of science, was not to 
be treated in this disrespectful manner. I took it as an insult. 
Now, in a calmer state of mind, I understand that Nobeen Babu did 
not mean in any way to underrate my scientific knowledge, but that 
his object in making the comparison was to illustrate the difficulty 
of following the teachings of the Mahatmas on the spiritual plane, 
the laws of which, though not antagonistic to those of the known 
sciences, were quite different from them, and that, howsoever 
proficient one might be in the latter he must begin the study of the 
former like a child, and advance step by step up the spiritual 
ladder before he can attain to the height of the Mahatmas. As I 
have said, I lost my temper, and began to speak loudly and angrily, 
while Nobeen Babu continued calm and dignified. Just as I was 
speaking disparagingly of the Mahatmas, the soft tinkling sound of a 
bell, like that which was heard on the day following Madame 
Blavatsky's arrival, was heard over our head. On hearing this, 
Madame Blavatsky, who was quietly listening to our discussion in a 
lounging chair in the adjoining room, desired us to shut the door 
opening into it. This was immediately done. We were quite startled 
by this bell phenomenon, and an end was put to the discussion. A 
little while after, the door was again opened by H.P.B.'s desire. 
She did not tell us what took place in the room when the door was 
closed, but it is believed that she had a visit from her Guru 
(Teacher) in his astral body. Next morning H.P.B. left my house. 
To my entreaties for her to stay, she said that she had been ordered 
to leave, and that her stay at Willow Dale was causing inconvenience 
to the friends whom I had invited to come up before I expected her 
arrival. 

When Madame Blavatsky was gone, I felt somewhat uncomfortable in 
mind. In spite of my scepticism, and the sneers and taunts of my 
friends, I could not get over the impression that her conduct was 
far different from that of an impostor; that she was earnest and 
sincere in the cause for which she was working; and that there was 
no earthly motive associated with her work. I was anxious to know 
more about her, but was afraid that my Agnostic friend would regard 
me as a dupe and a fool. I was also ashamed to appear before H.P.B. 
after the disgraceful squabble I had with Nobeen Babu, which was the 
immediate cause of her leaving my house. 

Some days after H.P.B. had removed to her new house, which was the 
one occupied by Nobeen Babu and his family, my friend, Tariny Babu, 
and I went one afternoon to pay her a call. This house was much 
smaller than mine, and was situated in a crowded part of the town, 
and I could easily perceive that she had there to put up with much 
inconvenience. She was in her room busy with writing when we went, 
but, on learning of our arrival, she came out into the sitting room 
and talked about various matters. She seemed to be very happy in 
her new quarters. It being tea-time, Nobeen Babu entertained us 
with tea. Besides ourselves, there were several other visitors 
present. There not being sufficient accommodation for all of us at 
the table, Madame Blavatsky, Tariny Babu, and myself took our tea 
there, while Nobeen Babu and other friends, amongst whom was Babu 
Chattra Dhar Ghose, Manager of the Burdwan Raj Estate, had theirs in 
the verandah in front of us. They sat on the floor at a distance of 
ten or twelve feet from us. When the tea was over, and my friend 
and I were about to take leave, H.P.B. asked us to stay a little 
while longer as she felt that some news was coming from Thibet. We 
waited in an expectant attitude, when the friends in the verandah 
suddenly cried out -- "A letter, a letter!" We immediately turned 
our eyes to the verandah, and saw a letter standing in the tea-cup 
of Nobeen Babu who, at the desire of Madame Blavatsky, brought it to 
us. The letter was addressed to "Babu Nobeen" in the same 
handwriting as that of the one I saw in Madame Blavatsky's room at 
my house! We were at a loss how to account for the appearance of 
this letter, which had, so to speak, dropped from the air before our 
very eyes. It is true that none of us saw it while in the act of 
falling, but the time taken in dropping from the ceiling into the 
tea-cup could not have been even half a second, as the distance was 
only six or seven feet. The letter could not have been thrown into 
the tea-cup by Madame Blavatsky, as we were looking at her. But 
even supposing that she managed to throw it without our being able 
to observe the act, it was impossible that the letter could fall 
perpendicularly into the tea-cup, seeing that she was sitting only 
about two feet higher than Nobeen Babu, at a distance of ten or 
twelve feet. This was a puzzle to me, sceptic as I was. My friend 
Babu Tariny Kumar Ghose afterwards pointed out to me that the 
address on the envelope was sufficient against the supposition that 
the letter came from an Indian. If an Indian Mahatma had written 
it, he would have addressed "Nobeen Babu," and not "Babu Nobeen;" 
the former being the familiar way in which one Bengali gentleman 
addresses another. Though he could not explain how the letter came 
to be in the tea-cup, he had no doubt that it was the doing of 
Madame Blavatsky, and I believed at the time that he was right. But 
I have since come across two letters written to me by H.P.B., from 
which it appears that she was not ignorant of the familiar mode of 
addressing a Bengali gentleman. In a letter dated "Allahabad, 
November 15, 1882," and in another dated "Madras, November, 17, 
1883," which will be found later on, Madame Blavatsky, when speaking 
of a brother Theosophist, calls him "Kanti Babu," and not "Babu 
Kanti." The writer of the address must, therefore, have been not 
Madame Blavatsky, but someone else. It is not unusual for Hindus in 
the Upper Provinces of India to call a Bengali gentleman "Babu so 
and so," and not "so and so Babu." As the Mahatmas are said to come 
from those Provinces, it is quite reasonable to suppose that they 
would very naturally address the letter as it was addressed. The 
contents of the letter we could not know, as they were especially 
meant for Nobeen Babu. 

On returning home from the above visit to Madame Blavatsky, I found 
a telegram waiting for me with the news that my wife was seriously 
ill at Dacca. I had, therefore, to leave Darjeeling by the next 
down train; but before leaving I wrote a letter to H.P.B. informing 
her of my sudden departure, to which she replied as follows: 

"My Dear Brother, -- I am sorry to lose you. I hope you will allow 
us to hear from you occasionally. You are a member of our Society, 
hence no real evil can befall you, and I do fervently hope and pray 
that some day will find you a good Aryan, and in your Dhoti (Indian 
dress) again. 

"Take care of yourself. Thanking you for the brotherly services 
rendered, and all your attentions. 

Believe me, 
Yours sincerely and fraternally, 

H.P. BLAVATSKY."

Though I left H.P.B. without being in the least shaken in my 
scepticism, I felt greatly interested in the Occultism preached or 
taught by her, and so resolved on making further inquiries on the 
subject. On my arrival at Dacca, I spoke to my friends about what I 
had witnessed, and what were the objects of Theosophy. They 
expressed great interest in the subject, and were anxious to form a 
branch at Dacca. 

With the help of my friends, foremost amongst whom were Babu Dina 
Nath Sen, at present Inspector of Schools, Dacca Circle, and Babu 
Anath Bandhu Mullick, the requisite number of members was soon 
secured. 

Colonel Olcott arrived at Dacca, on March 15th, 1883, to open the 
branch Theosophical Society established there. A large number of 
persons of all classes and ranks had assembled at the steamer 
station to receive him. They gave him a most cordial and 
enthusiastic reception on landing. Many persons said that his 
appearance was that of a Yogi. 

Colonel Olcott stayed with me during the short time that he was at 
Dacca. His mode of living was quite as simple as that of Madame 
Blavatsky. He possessed to a large extent the magnetic healing 
power, and treated successfully several patients by making passes. 
His kind and sympathetic disposition was admired by all those that 
came in contact with him. On looking at my library, he said he was 
greatly struck by the absence of books on religion, psychology, or 
spirituality, though there were many on mathematics, physics, and 
other natural sciences. I made no secret of my scepticism and 
materialism. I told him that I did not believe in any spiritual 
substance apart from the material. 

The fact is that I was quite saturated with the teachings of Huxley, 
Spencer, and Tyndall, and could not believe in the existence of 
anything that was not capable of being experimented upon by 
scientists. With such an attitude of mind, I did not benefit more 
by the presence of Colonel Olcott than I had done by that of Madame 
Blavatsky. I, however, worked for the establishment of the branch 
Theosophical Society in the same way as I would have done had I been 
a sincere believer. The Dacca Branch Society was duly opened by 
Colonel Olcott, and its office-bearers were elected. As I had taken 
the principal part in its organisation, I was asked to be one of the 
office-bearers. But I thought that by thus identifying myself with 
Theosophy, I should be compromising my position as a student of 
science, so I excused myself of the honour on the ground that the 
state of my health, and the nature of my duties, compelled me to 
remain away from Dacca for the greater part of the year, which also 
was true. 

During his short stay at Dacca, Colonel Olcott delivered a lecture, 
one evening, in the Town Hall, in which he praised the Aryan Rishis 
of old, and advocated the more general study of Sanskrit. But the 
same spirit of hostility towards the Rishis and their teachings 
which had induced me to deliver, at Darjeeling, in 1881, a 
counterlecture in answer to Babu Protap Chunder Mozoomdar, roused me 
up again, and at the conclusion of Colonel Olcott's address I said 
all manner of things against the ancient Hindus. I attributed our 
present degraded condition to the too great importance they attached 
to the spiritual side at the expense of the material. The study of 
the Sanskrit language and literature, which had such charms for Sir 
William Jones, T. Colebrooke, Max Muller, and others, meant to me a 
mere waste of time. Sanskrit, I argued, was a dead language, and 
contained none of the sciences and arts which had contributed to the 
greatness of the Europeans, and so it deserved no revival. My 
remarks wounded the feelings of the audience, who were mostly 
Hindus, and must have also wounded those of Colonel Olcott, though 
he was far too good to betray any sign of being hurt. He was too 
noble to take offence at my rudeness and want of patriotic feelings. 

On the evening following Colonel Olcott's departure from Dacca, I 
lay on a couch contemplating about the Theosophical movement. In 
the course of this contemplation, I gradually fell into a sort of 
calm and passive state of mind, when to my utter surprise and 
bewilderment, I saw, with my closed eyes, appearing from either side 
of me, two persons --one of whom had a long grey beard, wore white 
flowing robes, and a turban like a respectable Brahmin of Upper 
India, while the other was a young man dressed in white dhoti and 
shirt like an ordinary Hindu gentleman. They said, "We are with 
you." No sooner I heard these words, than the active state of my 
mind returned, and the figures vanished. I did not, before that 
time, believe in spiritual eyes or ears, but what I had seen and 
heard that evening were not through any physical organs. The two 
persons who thus appeared were quite strangers to me. It was after 
some time that I recognised, from a photograph, the younger 
gentleman to have been Damodar Mavalankar, a Madrasee, who was a 
highly-advanced Chella (disciple) of the Mahatmas. A photograph of 
Colonel Olcott's Guru (Master), which I subsequently saw, bore some 
resemblance to the elder gentleman. But the resemblance was not 
complete, and I am up to this day quite ignorant as to who my other 
visitor was. 

The subjective effect of the above vision was most remarkable. I 
could not get over the fact that I had, through other than physical 
ears and eyes, both heard and seen the persons who appeared before 
me, and who were quite strangers to me, and the vision could not 
have been a creation of my imagination. There must exist spiritual 
counterparts of the physical organs, and my visitors must have 
possessed the power of appearing in spiritual bodies at a distance 
from their physical bodies, and of communicating spiritually. I was 
not given to seeing visions, and this was the first of its kind. 
Under these circumstances, I could not help believing that there 
were persons who were capable of manifesting themselves, and of 
communicating spiritually. I also came to believe that there was a 
spiritual counterpart of our material body. But I kept this belief 
within myself. I spoke about the vision to several of my friends at 
the time it occurred, amongst whom was Babu Dinanath Sen. I also 
spoke subsequently to Babu Chhatra Dhar Ghose and others at 
Darjeeling. Two years after, I spoke about it to Colonel Olcott 
when he came up to that place. I never made any mention of it in my 
letters to Madame Blavatsky, fearing lest she should make out a 
strong case in favour of the occult powers alleged to be possessed 
by the adepts from this incident. Madame Blavatsky had left India 
when Colonel Olcott showed me the photographs referred to above, on 
my telling him of the vision. 

Quoted from the Blavatsky Archives
http://blavatskyarchives.com/compitems3.htm

Daniel H. Caldwell