Theos-Talk Archives (September 2006 Message tt00162)

Carlos,

You write:

"Now, the specific issue which the 1900 Letter to A. Besant 
addressed refers to the fancies that HPB was AT THAT PRECISE MOMENT 
[caps added] in the very young body of Mr. Chacravarti's daughter." 

"In 1900, there were 'magic expectations' about that 'divine child'."

"Leadbeater was not the 'acting inner head' at the time. It was G.N. 
Chacravarti."

Although I want to do more research on some of these points, I am of 
the opinion that a few things you state are not quite accurate.

I don't believe that Mrs. Besant in 1900 STILL believed that "HPB 
was...in the very young body of Mr. Chacravarti's daughter."

First consider what Gregory Tillett writes in his biography of 
Leadbeater:

"In the summer of 1896 Mrs Besant, Leadbeater and Jinarajadasa spent 
a holiday at the summer home of Mr and Mrs Bright at Shepperton on 
the Thames; with them were Professor and Mrs. Chakravarti.  Mrs. 
Besant was at this time very much under the influence of 
Chakravarti, whom she came to regard as a 'Master in the flesh', and 
who had been her 'earthly plane' teacher for some years.  She 
believed, UNTIL LEADBEATER ENLIGHTENED HER WITH HIS OWN 
INVESTIGATION ON THE SUBJECT, that H.P.B. had reincarnated as 
Chakravarti's daughter, then three years old.  As in life, so in 
death, H.P.B. was to prove restless, and the vehicle of her alleged 
reincarnation changed according to who was in favour at the time.  
The daughter of the 'Master in the flesh' SOON lost her exalted 
position [as the reincarnation of Madame Blavatsky.]...." caps 
added.  THE ELDER BROTHER, p. 65.

Dr. Tillett doesn't tell us HOW SOON the young daughter lost her 
status as the reincarnation of HPB.  

But from what we find in THE THEOSOPHIST for May 1897, it must have 
been sometime BETWEEN the summer of 1896 AND March 1897 that Mr. 
Leadbeater "enlightened" Mrs. Besant with "his own investigation" of 
Madame Blavatsky's reincarnation.  Or was it Madame Blavatsky 
who "enlightened" Mrs. Besant of her own reincarnation?

>From the above issue of THE THEOSOPHIST, we gather that apparently 
when arriving in New York City on March 18, 1897, Mrs. Besant told
reporters:

"...Madame Blavatsky has been reincarnated in the person of a young 
Brahman, now about nineteen years old...."

Mrs. Besant assures the reporters that "I knew from Mme. Blavatsky 
of this reincarnation before it was consummated...."  [!!??]

Compare this story of 1897 told by Mrs. Besant with what Mr. 
Leadbeater said in 1917:

"Madame Blavatsky lives now in a masculine body, which she took 
directly [after] she left the other one. When she left that body, she
stepped into the body of an Indian boy then about fourteen years 
old...."  THEOSOPHY IN AUSTRALIA, Sept. 1917

So it appears that at least as early as March 1897, Mrs. Besant NO 
LONGER believed that HPB had reincarnated as Chakravarti's daughter 
but instead had reincarnated into "the person of a young Brahman, 
now about nineteen years old...."

Another important point to make is that all readers of THE 
THEOSOPHIST would have then known as of May 1897 what Mrs. Besant 
was telling reporters in America about Madame 
Blavatsky's "reincarnation".

What indeed was Mrs. Besant's initial reaction and thoughts 
when she picked up the 1900 K.H. letter and FIRST read:

"The intense desire to see Upasika reincarnate at once has raised a 
misleading mayavic ideation. Upasika has useful work to do on higher 
planes and cannot come again so soon. The T.S. must safely be 
ushered into the new century. You have for some time been under 
deluding influences. Shun pride, vanity and love of power. Be not
guided by emotion but learn to stand alone. Be accurate and critical 
rather than credulous."

Daniel
http://hpb.cc