Theos-Talk Archives (September 2008 Message tt00070)

Anand,

I am going to try to backtrack and see where the two of us agree and 
disagree.

I assume that both of us believe in the existence of the Master Koot 
Hoomi.  But it would appear that our beliefs differ significantly in 
many other aspects concerning Theosophy.

This is Part 1 of a series of postings in which I am going to try to 
ascertain with your cooperation where the two of us agree and 
disagree and more importantly will try to determine what our thinking 
and reasoning on these issues is.

Let me therefore start off with Mr. Sinnett's description of how he 
was introduced to the Master Koot Hoomi.

He writes:

--------------------------------------------------
With the arrival of the Founders [H.P. Blavatsky and Henry S. Olcott] 
in India the real development of the [Theosophical] Society may be 
regarded as beginning. The situation at the time was briefly as 
follows: ?

Madame Blavatsky is the central figure to be considered. She was the 
one person who knew of her own knowledge, that The Brothers, ? as she 
called them in those days ? were Beings, human in aspect, of flesh 
and blood, for she had been for a time in company with two of them in 
Tibet. She knew they had dazzling powers in dealing with the affairs 
of the world. She herself had faculties of a super-physical order 
that kept her in touch with them wherever she might be. She knew she 
had a mission to fulfil which had for the moment assumed the shape of 
the Theosophical Society. She must have been conscious of possessing 
wonderful powers the exercise of which was under restriction, to 
which she submitted in devotion to the great Brother whom she 
regarded as her own Master, in a pre-eminent degree. ?[Early Days of 
Theosophy, page 17]

The events attending the presence of Madame Blavatsky at Simla [in 
September and October 1880] are described for the most part in my 
book The Occult World?. The manifestations of occult power then 
freely given [by and through Madame Blavatsky] had a profound effect 
on my own mind. I felt that those who exhibited such marvelous power 
over natural forces unfamiliar to physical science must possess 
knowledge to correspond. ?I wished I could get into communication 
with one of the Brothers [Masters] she talked about.?Conversation 
showed that she thought this might not be impossible, and I wrote a 
letter addressed to A Brother and gave it to Madame Blavatsky for 
transmission. In due course I received a reply [from Master Koot 
Hoomi], and this was the first of a long series of letters from the 
Masters K. H. and M. which led to the preparation of The Occult World 
[published June 1881] and afterwards to Esoteric Buddhism [published 
June 1883]?. [Early Days of Theosophy, page 27]
--------------------------------------------------------

Anand, the FIRST letter from Master KH received by Mr. Sinnett in 
Simla, India around the middle of October 1880 can be found on the 
WWW at:

http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/mahatma/ml-1.htm

And as far as I can ascertain,  the LAST long letter from Master KH 
received by Mr. Sinnett in London soon after April 7, 1885 can be 
found online at:

http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/mahatma/ml-65.htm

Notice what Master KH says at the end of this 1885 letter:

"Once more, accept my blessing and parting greeting if they have to 
be my last."

Now it is important to point out here that Mr. Sinnett was NOT able 
to communicate directly with Mahatma K.H.  He himself --- unlike H.P. 
Blavatsky --- had no "faculties of a super-physical order" by which 
he could communicate directly with the Master.

Therefore, Mr. Sinnett communicated with the Master KH via 
correspondence from October 1880 to April 1885.  [I will ignore in 
this part 1 the Holloway Affair.]

After this correspondence ceased in 1885, Mr. Sinnett found himself 
no longer in communication whatsoever with the Master.

Although I am not aware of any text in which Mr. Sinnett expresses 
his state of mind and his thoughts about no longer having a means to 
communicate with the Master, I would imagine that he was not "happy" 
with this state of affairs.  And as far as I know, he never in 1885 
admitted at least to the public that his communication via letter 
with the Master had ceased.

But the next year -- 1886 -- , we find him trying to REESTABLISH SOME 
KIND OF COMMUNICATION with the Master KH.

In "The Autobiography of Alfred Percy Sinnett," he tells us:

"On the 26th of April 1886. . . we went . . . to the Albemarle 
Club . . . to meet a lady who was . . . desirous of making my 
acquaintance . . . . . I will give her a fictitious name and call her 
Mary. . . . shortly afterwards I tried a mesmeric experiment with her 
(in accordance with her wish) and obtained remarkable results - she 
went very easily into a trance in which she became unequivocally 
clairvoyant. . . .I became convinced that she clairvoyantly saw the 
mountain region in Tibet where the Master K.H. resided. . . . . It 
became obvious that Mary MIGHT BECOME A LINK between myself and the 
Master. . . . . Mary came to stay with
us . . . in February 1888 and our regular mesmeric sittings were 
resumed almost every evening, the Master [KH] talking to me THROUGH 
HER in most cases. In this way I gathered a great deal of 
miscellaneous occult information. . . . . Mary left us to go to her 
own home in May 1888 having had mesmeric sitting almost every evening 
while she was with us, at most of which the Master spoke to me, - or 
rather dictated to her what he wished to say. She would pass into a 
higher condition in which she could be in touch with him and be 
enabled to repeat his words to her in reply to my questions or 
remarks." pp 33 & 38-39 caps added

Again Anand, Mr. Sinnett's own words show that he himself was NOT 
able to communicate directly with the Master KH through some 
telepathic or clairvoyant means.

Instead he "mesmerized" Mary and as a result of this he came to 
believe that Mary had somehow established communication with the real 
Master KH.

Now the question comes to my mind:  Was Mr. Sinnett actually in 
communication with the SAME Mahatma Koot Hoomi that he had 
corresponded with from 1880 to 1885?  

Or could he have been in communication via Mary with some imaginary 
Master created in the subconscious mind of Mary?

Did Sinnett ever even seriously consider this latter possibility?

But it would appear that for whatever reason or reasons, Mr. Sinnett 
accepted/believed that he had reestablished a link of communication 
with the REAL Mahatma Koot Hoomi.

That is, he beleived that he was once again in communication with the 
original Koot Hoomi who had been introduced to him by Madame 
Blavatsky herself in 1880.

Therefore you can readily imagine his surprise or consternation that 
he must have experienced sometime in August/September/October 1888 
when Colonel Henry Olcott who had come to London from India showed 
Mr. Sinnett the letter from Master Koot Hoomi that Colonel Olcott had 
received in August 1888 while on board the SS Shannon in the 
Mediterranean.  In this letter, Mahatma Koot Hoomi had told Colonel 
Olcott:

"Since 1885 I have not written, nor caused to be written save thro' 
her [H.P. Blavatsky's] agency, direct or remote, a letter or line to 
anybody in Europe or America, nor communicated orally with, or thro' 
any third party. Theosophists should learn it. You will understand 
later the SIGNIFICANCE of this declaration so keep it in mind." caps 
added.

And in this same KH letter we find this warning to Olcott:

"Prepare, however, to have the authenticity of the present [letter] 
denied in certain quarters." 

Now Anand, did Mr. Sinnett accept what the Master KH says in this 
letter to Olcott?

Consider this....

If Mr. Sinnett had accepted the above statement in the letter from KH 
then what would he have had to conclude about the oral communications 
he believed he had been receiving during 1886, 1887 and 1888 
from "KH" through Mary?

I have a few more questions concerning this but will wait for you to 
reply to this posting first before continuing.

Daniel
http://hpb.cc