Theos-Talk Archives (October 2008 Message tt00712)

"...there are schools, under appointed living adepts...."

In 1882, Colonel Henry S. Olcott testified:

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...I know the Brothers [H.P. Blavatsky's Masters or Mahatmas] to be 
living men and not Spirits; and they have told me that there are 
schools, under appointed living adepts, where their Occult science is 
regularly taught....
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Quoted from: http://blavatskyarchives.com/olcott11.html

In 1881, Damodar K. Mavalankar wrote about the "Chief Central
Place" of the Mahatmas and Initiation as follows:

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...Brother K -- [Koot Hoomi] ordered me to follow him. After going a
short distance of about half a mile we came to a natural
subterranean passage which is under the Himalayas. The path is very
dangerous. There is a natural causeway on the River Indus which
flows underneath in all its fury. Only one person can walk on it at
a time and one false step seals the fate of the traveller. Besides
this causeway there are several valleys to be crossed. After walking
a considerable distance through this subterraneous passage we came
into an open plain in L-----k. There is a large massive building
thousands of years old. In front of it is a huge Egyptian Tau. The
building rests on 7 big pillars in the form of pyramids. The
entrance gate has a large triangular arch. Inside are various
apartments. The building is so large that I think it can easily
contain twenty thousand people. I was shown some of these
compartments. This is the Chief Central Place where all those of our
Section who are found deserving of Initiation into Mysteries have to
go for their final ceremony and stay there the requisite period. I
went up with my Guru to the Great Hall. The grandeur and serenity of
the place is enough to strike any one with awe. The beauty of the
Altar which is in the centre and at which every candidate has to
take his vows at the time of his Initiation is sure to dazzle the
most brilliant eyes. The splendour of the CHIEF'S Throne is
uncomparable. Every thing is on a geometrical principle & containing
various symbols which are explained only to the Initiate. But I
cannot say more now as I come now under an obligation of Secresy
which K---- took from me there. While standing there I do not know
what happened but suddenly I got up & found myself in my bed. It was
about 8 in the morning. What was that I saw? Was it a dream or a
reality? If a reality, how could I traverse the whole of the
Himalayas even in my astral body in so short a time? Perplexed with
these ideas I was sitting silent when down fell a note on my nose. I
opened it and found inside that it was not a dream but that I was
taken in some mysterious way in my astral body to the real place of
Initiation where I shall be in my body for the Ceremony if I show
myself deserving of the blessing. My joy at that moment can be
easily conjectured than described -- But enough....
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Quoted from:
http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/damodar/dam5.htm#wqj

In an issue of THE THEOSOPHIST for 1884, C. Ramiah wrote:

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In the middle part of the year 1883, one night, I was carried in my
dream to a great chain of mountains when some one led me into their
recesses. There I found a great rock temple in the form of a hall of
oblong size, and I perceived the same Mahatma [Koot Hoomi], who had
shown himself to me on the two previous occasions, seated on a low
stool with a shrine opposite to him, and there were two rows of
Mahatmas, one on each side, all dressed in Buddhist's gown except
the Chief. I prostrated as usual and was ordered to rise. I was then
told to go round the shrine, and some one led me round, and there I
found two or three ladies in deep devotion. On the shrine I observed
a very brilliant substance resembling phosphorus, in a dark place
irregularly coiled like a serpent, and I expressed a wish to know
what it was; and one of the ladies then opening her eyes told me
that the shrine is earth, to which state all our physical bodies
must be brought down sooner or later, and the brilliant substance is
the spirit, or essence, or "Jyoti" which moves all universe. I came
back to the Chief, and after prostrating before him once more, I
left the place which was said to be "Harthayery", by one of the
Mahatmas standing.
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To the above paragraph the Editor of The Theosophist (probably T.
Subba Row as acting editor while HPB was visiting Europe in 1884,) 
wrote:

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"The correspondent probably means an altar and not a shrine. But the
details he gives of the Jyoti (flame) seem to correspond to what is
alleged to exist in a certain temple in Thibet. The flame symbolises
what the Hindu philosophers know as paramjyoti, which is sometimes
represented by the Buddhists as the "yellow Sun in the lotus." --
(Ed.)"
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Mr. Ramiah had another experience later. He wrote:

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....they took me to the rock temple in "Husthagerry" [previously
described] ... where to my surprise and infinite joy I found the
Mahatma K. H. seated before the altar on the same low stool as
before. We all prostrated before him, and thus ended this
interesting vision....
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In regards to this series of "dreams" and "visions" that Mr. Ramiah
had, he also wrote:

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...In my dream again about two months ago, I was told to go to Mr.
T. Subba Row, the worthy President of the Madras Branch of the
Theosophical Society, and to him I went after the voice repeated
itself a second time. To him I explained my whole experience, and he
kindly asked me to call at the Head-Quarters of the Theosophic
Society in order to see if I could recognize the features of the
Mahatma who appeared to me in my dream.

I went thither the same evening, and at about 4 P.M., the "Shrine"
doors were opened, and to my surprise I identified in the photo of
the Illustrious Mahatma K. H. the exact features of the Mahatma of
my dreams....an hour afterwards I became a fellow of the Theosophic 
Society.
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Quoted from:
http://blavatskyarchives.com/ramiah1.htm
and
http://blavatskyarchives.com/ramiah2.htm

Daniel
http://hpb.cc