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Henry Olcott's Testimony of His Encounters with Masters & Adepts

Aug 17, 2007 11:45 AM
by danielhcaldwell


Some of Henry S. Olcott's Testimony 
of His Encounters with Masters and Adepts
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CASE A: OLCOTT'S ACCOUNT OF MEETING OOTON LIATTO IN NEW YORK CITY 

"...I was reading in my room yesterday (Sunday) when there came a tap 
at the door---I said 'come in' and there entered the [younger] Bro
[ther] with another dark skinned gentleman of  about fifty....We took 
cigars and chatted for a while....[Then Olcott relates that a rain 
shower started in the room. Olcott continues the account:] They sat 
there and quietly smoked their cigars, while mine became too wet to 
burn....finally the younger of the two (who gave me his name as Ooton 
Liatto) said I needn't worry nothing would be damaged....I asked 
Liatto if he knew Madam B[lavatsky]....the elder Bro[ther]...[said] 
that with her permission they would call upon her. I ran downstairs---
rushed into Madams parlour---and---there sat these same two identical 
men smoking with her and chatting....I said nothing but rushed up 
stairs again tore open my door and---the men were not there---I ran 
down again, they had disappeared--- I . . . looked out the window---
and saw them turning the corner...." (Olcott's account is given in 
full in Theosophical History, Jan., 1994.) 

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CASE B: OLCOTT'S ACCOUNT OF MEETING MORYA IN CEYLON 

"...on the night of that day [Sept. 27th, 1881] I was awakened from 
sleep by my Chohan (or Guru, the Brother [Morya] whose immediate 
pupil I am)....He made me rise, sit at my table and write from his 
dictation for an hour or more. There was an expression of anxiety 
mingled with sternness on his noble face, as there always is when the 
matter concerns H.P.B., to whom for many years he has been at once a 
father and a devoted guardian. . . ." (Quoted in Hints On Esoteric 
Theosophy, No. 1, 1882, pp. 82-83.) 

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CASE C: OLCOTT'S ACCOUNT OF MEETING MORYA AT BOMBAY 

In his diary for Jan. 29, 1882, Colonel Olcott pens this brief entry: 

"M[orya] showed himself very clearly to me & HPB in her garden.... 
she joining him they talked together...." 

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CASE D: OLCOTT'S ACCOUNT OF SEEING MORYA AT BOMBAY WITH SIX OTHER 
WITNESSES 

"We were sitting together in the moonlight about 9 o'clock upon the 
balcony which projects from the front of the bungalow. Mr. Scott was 
sitting facing the house, so as to look through the intervening 
verandah and the library, and into the room at the further side. This 
latter apartment was brilliantly lighted. The library was in partial 
darkness, thus rendering objects in the farther room more distinct. 
Mr. Scott suddenly saw the figure of a man step into the space, 
opposite the door of the library; he was clad in the white dress of a 
Rajput, and wore a white turban. Mr. Scott at once recognized him 
from his resemblance to a portrait [of Morya] in Col. Olcott's 
possession. Our attention was then drawn to him, and we all saw him 
most distinctly. He walked towards a table, and afterwards turning 
his face towards us, walked back out of our sight...when we reached 
the room he was gone....Upon the table, at the spot where he had been 
standing, lay a letter addressed to one of our number. The 
handwriting was identical with that of sundry notes and letters 
previously received from him...." 

The above statement is signed by: 

"Ross Scott, Minnie J.B. Scott, H.S. Olcott, H.P. Blavatsky, M. 
Moorad Ali Beg, Damodar K. Mavalankar, and Bhavani Shankar Ganesh 
Mullapoorkar." 

(Quoted from Hints On Esoteric Theosophy, No. 1, 1882, pp. 75-76.) 

>From Olcott's diary for Jan. 5, 1882, 

"Evening. Moonlight. On balcony, HPB, Self, Scott & wife, Damodar....
[etc]...M[orya] appeared in my office. First seen by Scott, then 
me....Scott clearly saw M's face....M left note for me on table in 
office by which he stood...." 

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CASE E: MORYA COMES TO BOMBAY ON AUGUST 4, 1880 

On August 4, 1880, Olcott writes that: 

". . . a Mahatma visited H.P.B., and I was called in to see him 
before he left.  He dictated a long and important letter to an 
influential friend of ours at Paris, and gave me important hints 
about the management of current Society affairs. I left him [the 
Mahatma] sitting in H.P.B.'s room...." [Old Diary Leaves, Volume II, 
1972 printing, p. 208]" 

And Olcott's actual handwritten diary for August 4, 1880 reads: 

"M [orya] here this evening & wrote to Fauvety of Paris. He says 5000 
English troops killed in Afghanistan in the recent battle. . . ." 

---------------------------------------------------

CASE F: MORYA COMES ON HORSEBACK TO BOMBAY IN JULY, 1879 

"This same Brother once visited me in the flesh at Bombay, coming in 
full day light, and on horseback. He had me called by a servant into 
the front room of H.P.B.'s bungalow (she being at the time in the 
other bungalow talking with those who were there). He [Morya] came to 
scold me roundly for something I had done in T.S. matters, and as 
H.P.B. was also to blame, he telegraphed to her to come, that is to 
say, he turned his face and extended his finger in the direction of 
the place she was in. She came over at once with a rush, and seeing 
him dropped to her knees and paid him reverence. My voice and his had 
been heard by those in the other bungalow, but only H.P.B. and I, and 
the servant saw him." (Extract from a letter written by Colonel 
Olcott to A.O. Hume on Sept. 30, 1881. Quoted in Hints On Esoteric 
Theosophy, No. 1, 1882, p. 80.) 

"[I] had visit in body of the Sahib [Morya]!! [He] sent Babula to my 
room to call me to H.P.B.'s bungalow, and there we had 
a most important private interview...." (Extract from Olcott's 
handwritten diary for Tuesday, July 15, 1879.) 

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CASE G: OLCOTT'S ACCOUNT OF MEETING A MASTER AT THE GOLDEN TEMPLE IN 
AMRITSAR ON OCTOBER 26, 1880: 

"'...at a shrine where the swords, sharp steel discs, coats of mail, 
and other warlike weapons of the Sikh warrior priests are exposed to 
view in charge of the akalis, I was greeted, to my surprise and joy, 
with a loving smile by one of the Masters, who for the moment was 
figuring among the guardians, and who gave each of us a fresh rose, 
with a blessing in his eyes...." (Old Diary Leaves, Volume III, pp. 
254-255, 1974 printing.) 

In Olcott's own handwritten diary, the entry for October 26, 1880 
reads: 

"...In the afternoon we went to the Golden Temple again & found it as 
lovely as before. Saw some hundreds of fakirs & gossains 
more or less ill-favored. A Brother there saluted H.P.B. and me & 
gave us each a rose." 

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CASE H: OLCOTT'S ACCOUNT OF MEETING MASTER KOOT HOOMI IN NOVEMBER, 
1883 ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF LAHORE, INDIA. 

"I was sleeping in my tent, the night of the 19th, when I rushed back 
towards external consciousness on feeling a hand laid on me.. . . I 
clutched the stranger by the upper arms, and asked him in Hindustani 
who he was and what he wanted. It was all done in an instant, and I 
held the man tight, as would one who might be attacked the next 
moment and have to defend his life. But the next moment a kind, sweet 
voice said: 'Do you not know me? Do you not remember me?' It was the 
voice of the Master K.H. . . .I relaxed my hold on his arms, joined 
my palms in reverential salutation, and wanted to jump out of bed to 
show him respect. But his hand and voice stayed me, and after a few 
sentences had been exchanged, he took my left hand in his, gathered 
the fingers of his right into the palm, and stood quiet beside my 
cot, from which I could see his divinely benignant face by the light 
of the lamp that burned on a packing-case at his back. Presently I 
felt some soft substance forming in my hand, and the next minute the 
Master laid his kind hand on my forehead, uttered a blessing, and 
left my half of the large tent to visit Mr. W.T. Brown, who slept in 
the other half behind a canvas screen that divided the tent into two 
rooms. When I had time to pay attention to myself, I found myself 
holding in my left hand a folded paper enwrapped in a silken cloth. 
To go to the lamp, open and read it, was naturally my first impulse. 
I found it to be a letter of private counsel. . . On hearing an 
exclamation from [Brown's] side of the screen, I went in there and he 
showed me a silk-wrapped letter of like appearance to mine though of 
different contents, which he said had been given him much as mine had 
been to me, and which we read together. . . ."

"The next evening. . .we two and Damodar sat in my tent, at 10 
o'clock, waiting for an expected visit from Master K.H. . . .We sat 
on chairs at the back of the tent so as not to be observed from the 
camp: the moon was in its last quarter and had not risen. After some 
waiting we heard and saw a tall Hindu approaching from the side of 
the open plain. He came to within a few yards of us and beckoned 
Damodar to come to him, which he did. He told him that the Master 
would appear within a few minutes, and that he had some business with 
Damodar. It was a pupil of Master K.H. Presently we saw the latter 
coming from the same direction, pass his pupil. . .and stop in 
front of our group, now standing and saluting in the Indian fashion, 
some yards away. Brown and I kept our places, and Damodar went and 
conversed for a few minutes with the Teacher, after which he returned 
to us and the king-like visitor walked away. I heard his footsteps on 
the ground. . . .Before retiring, when I was writing my Diary, the 
pupil lifted the portiere, beckoned to me, and pointed to the figure 
of his Master [K.H.], waiting for me out on the plain in the 
starlight. I went to him, we walked off to a safe place at some 
distance where intruders need not be expected, and then for about a 
half-hour he told me what I had to know. . . There were no miracles 
done at the interview. . .just two men talking together, a meeting, 
and a parting when the talk was over. . . ." (Old Diary Leaves, 
Volume III, pp. 37-39, 43-45, 1972 reprinting.) 
---------------------------------------------------

Daniel
Blavatsky Study Center
http://hpb.cc
http://blavatsky.info
http://theosophy.info







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