Theos-Talk Archives (June 2006 Message tt00151)

Dear Friends, 
 
 
HOW DO HISTORIANS LOOK AT VSEVOLOD SOLOVIOF? 
 
 
Dear Friends, 
 
No theosophical historian gives credit to Vsevolod Soloviof?s stories against H.P. Blavatsky, the Masters and the theosophical movement as a whole.   

Only slanderers ( or Vatican agents) could, in fact, give even half credit to him. 
 
 According to the facts shown by Sylvia Cranston in her book ?HPB, The Extraordinary Life & Influence of Helena Blavatsky?, his many accusations are false. (1) 
 
 In ?Blavatsky and Her Teachers? the English writer Jean Overton Fuller states that Soloviof forged and published several letters, which he ascribed to HPB. (In one of the "letters", Soloviof makes HPB ?confess? that she invented the whole idea of the Masters.) (2) 
 
 More information about Mr. Soloviof?s slanders against HPB can be seen in a third well-known biography of the Old Lady, ?When Daylight Comes?, by Howard Murphet. There we read ? p. 193 ? that Soloviof played the role of ?a muckracking journalist looking for a good story at any cost to truth?. (3) 
 
 On the same page 193, Howard Murphet quotes Henry S. Olcott, the president-founder of the Theosophical Society. According to HSO, the fact that Soloviof?s texts against HPB were published only after her death, which ?made it safe for him to tell his falsehoods about her, shows him to be as heartless and contemptible, though fifty times more talented, than the Coulombs?. (4) 
 
 Josephine Ransom, perhaps the main Adyar TS historian, has a similar position with regard to Soloviof. (5) C. Jinarajadasa actively defended H.P.B. from her slanderers and no Adyar leader before John Algeo showed public disrespect for her or adopted libels against her as pa rt of ?theosophical literature?. 

 John Algeo and Daniel Caldwell silently started using Vsevolod Soloviof (and the Coulombs) as sources of historical information, without ever defending his legitimacy. 
 
 That misleading and ambiguous position can be well understood, since it would impossible for them to show Soloviof as a legitimate source. Thje inevitable conclusion is that they chose to publicize lies. 
 
 Best regards, Carlos Cardoso Aveline
 
 
 
 NOTES:
 
 (1) ?HPB, The Extraordinary Life & Influence of Helena Blavatsky?, by Sylvia Cranston, published by Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam Books, N.Y., USA, 1994, 648 pp. See Chapter 2 in Part 6, pp. 298-310. 
 
 (2) ?Blavatsky and Her Teachers?, by Jean Overton Fuller, East-West Publications, 1988, 270 pp., see Chapter 67, pp. 186-188. 
 
 (3) ?When Daylight Comes?, by Howard Murphet, TPH, Quest Books, USA, copyright 1975, 277 pp. See Chapter 22, pp. 191-194. 
 
 (4) The sentence comes from H.S. Olcott?s ?, vice-president of the T.S,the letter enclosed and e the book The Letters of H.tters of H. learn so much during more than twoOld Diary Leaves? (TPH-India, 1972, volume III, p. 185). 
 
 (5) ?A Short History of The Theosophical Society?, by Josephine Ransom, with a preface by George Arundale, TPH, Adyar, 1938, first reprint, 1989, see pp. 214-215 and 235. 
 
 
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