Theos-Talk Archives (May 2008 Message tt00703)

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "univ7x7" <tony.gateway@...> wrote:

> H.P.B. wrote:
> ". . . and then I learned that I was once more wanted in India - at 
> any rate by some.  But the invitation came too late; neither would 
my 
> doctor permit it, nor can I, if I would be true to my life-pledge 
and 
> vows, now live at the Headquarters from which the Masters and Their 
> spirit are virtually banished.  The presence of Their portraits 
will 
> not help; They are a dead letter.  The truth is that I can never 
> return to India in any other capacity than as Their faithful agent. 
> And as, unless They appear among the Council *in propria persona* 
> (which They will certainly never do now), no advice of mine on 
occult 
> lines seems likely to be accepted . . ." ("Why I do Not Return to 
> India", Collected Writings, volume XII: pages, 164-165)
> 
> Don't you think that Annie Besant's take on H.P.B's views of Adyar 
> runs counter to what H.P.B. herself is writing above?
> 
> Best regards
> Tony


Dear Tony.

Thank you for your reply. I think Besant was referring to the time 
when HPB was living at Adyar (1882-1885). In the letter which you 
quoted, writen in 1890, HPB comments about the change in the attitude 
of Adyar staff members and other Indian members towards her after the 
publication of the Hodgson Report by the SPR (Society for Psychical 
Research) in London. 

However, in the letter referred to above, HPB makes some remarks that 
seem to coincide with Annie Besant's remarks quoted by me earlier:

"Thus it was that, so long as I remained at Adyar, things went on 
smoothly enough, because one or the other of the Masters was almost 
constantly present among us, and their spirit ever protected the 
Theosophical Society from real harm."

In a letter from 1886, she wrote:

"At Adyar alone, at the Head-Quarters of the Theosophical Society, 
the Theosophists are that which they ought to be everywhere else: 
true theosophists and not merely philosophers and Sophists. In that 
centre alone are now grouped together the few solitary, practically 
working Members, who labor and toil, quietly and uninterruptedly, 
while those Brothers for whose sake they are working, sit in the 
dolce far niente of the West and criticise them. Is this "true 
theosophical and brotherly work," to advise to put down and 
disestablish the only "centre" where real brotherly, humanitarian 
work is being accomplished?" (H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings, 
vol. vii)

Writing to her aunt Nadyezhda A. de Fadeyev (letter published in The 
Path, September 1895), HPB described the beautiful quiet that is one 
of the enduring aspects of Adyar as a spiritual centre:

"It is simply delightful. What air we have here; what nights! And 
what marvellous quiet! No more city noises and street yells. I am 
sitting quietly writing, and now and then gaze over the ocean 
sparkling all over as if a living thing ? really. I am often under 
the impression that the sea breathes, or that it is angry, roaring 
and hurling itself about in wrath... But when it is quiet and 
caressing, there can be nothing in the world as fascinating as its 
beauty, especially on a moonlight night. The moon here against the 
deep dark-blue sky seems twice as big and ten times brighter than 
your European little mother-of-pearl ball."

She also commented why the Founders went to India and decided to 
establish the Headquarters of the TS in that country:

"While at Madras [May,1882], we were told that a well-known Tamil 
scholar, a Pandit in the Presidency College, desired to have a 
private conversation with us. The interview occurred in the presence 
of Mr Singaravelu, President of the Krishna Theosophical Society, and 
another trustworthy Theosophist, Mr C. Aravamudu Ayangar, a 
Sanskritist, of Nellore. We are no more at liberty to repeat here all 
the questions put to us by the interviewer than we are to divulge 
certain other facts, which would still more strongly corroborate our 
repeated assertions that (1) our Society was founded at the direct 
suggestion of Indian and Tibetan Adepts; and (2) that in coming to 
this country we but obeyed their wishes. But we shall leave our 
friends to draw their own inferences from all the facts." 
(The Theosophist, July 1882)  

With best wishes,

Pedro


> > . . . In connection with the things for which she [H.P.Blavatsky]
> wished, there is one of 
> > which she seldom speak, but I should like to suggest it to you. 
It 
> is 
> > about Adyar, the place which was some years earlier chosen by the 
> > Masters for the Centre, to which They sent her, that she might 
live 
> > there for some time and create an atmosphere which would make it 
> easy 
> > for it to receive Their influence, or any spiritual influence 
which 
> > was sent. She loved Adyar deeply. That is one reason which is 
> strong 
> > in the minds of many of us, as to the value of Adyar; and another 
> is 
> > that there is a direct communication between Adyar and the place 
> that 
> > will be familiar to all of you who are Hindus, as a spot of 
special 
> > sanctity, Shamballa, the great City which was once on the "White 
> > Island". She always seemed to bear in mind the method by which 
she 
> > could prepare a place in which people, coming to it for a short 
> time, 
> > would receive real help in the spiritual life. And so she dwelt, 
at 
> > her Master's wish, in Adyar for some considerable time, in order 
> that 
> > that place might become consecrated to Their service, and inspire 
> all 
> > who came to it with the desire to draw nearer to Them."