Theos-Talk Archives (March 2009 Message tt00007)

After having studied most if not all of the primary sources on 
Blavatsky, and the early Theosophical Society/Movement, it is my 
understanding that it was H.P. Blavatsky who FIRST came on the PUBLIC 
scene in 1874 and declared in the following years that she was in 
contact with Adepts and Masters.

As far as I know, Madame Blavatsky was the first person to reveal
that the Masters Morya and Koot Hoomi actually existed. She also
declared that she was a disciple of these Masters.

In New York City, she introduced in the 1870s both Henry Olcott and 
William Q. Judge to these Masters and to the Theosophical teachings.

Later in India she introduced A.P. Sinnett to Theosophy and the
Masters.

Sinnett learned about the Theosophical teachings THROUGH letters from 
Koot Hoomi and Morya AND ALSO FROM what Madame Blavatsky orally 
taught him and what he found in HPB's ISIS UNVEILED.

As a result of receiving scores of letters from the Masters Koot
Hoomi and Morya VIA H.P. Blavatsky --- A.P. Sinnett (again at the
encouragement of Koot Hoomi in these letters) wrote two books THE
OCCULT WORLD and ESOTERIC BUDDHISM.

A.P. Sinnett's book ESOTERIC BUDDHISM published 1883 was the first
SIMPLE and popular exposition of Theosophy given to the modern world. 

C.W. Leadbeater in England in the early 1880s read these 2 books and 
became extremely interested in Theosophy.  Mr. Leadbeater writes that 
he reread and reread these 2 books. This is how he was introduced to 
Theosophy.

Then when H.P. Blavatsky herself came to England in 1884, Mr.
Leadbeater wanted to meet H.P. Blavatsky and then wanted to get in
touch with the Master Koot Hoomi through Madame Blavatsky.

It was in the late 1880s when Madame Blavatsky came to live in
England that Annie Besant read HPB's magnum opus THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
Mrs. Besant was greatly impressed with the teachings contained in the
SD and wanted to go see Madame Blavatsky herself. She sought out HPB
and wanted to become her disciple.

So it was Madame H.P. Blavatsky who was the first person to talk 
about these Masters Koot Hoomi and Morya. She declared herself as 
giving out the teachings of these two Masters. It was also thru her 
that Henry Oloctt, William Judge, A.P. Sinnett, Damodar K. Mavlankar, 
Subba Row, Mohini Chatterji, Laura Holloway, C.W. Leadbeater, Annie 
Besant and others learned of  Theosophy and these Masters. 

So the historical record shows us that from 1875 to 1891 HPB wrote 
and wrote and wrote and gave out what she claimed were the teachings 
of the Masters.

And from 1880 to 1885 Masters Morya and Koot Hoomi gave out teachings 
in their letters to A.P. Sinnett.

So we see that during the lifetime of HPB and the beginning years of
the Theosophical Society (1875-1891) the two main sources for the
Theosophical teachings of the Masters were Mme. Blavatsky's writings 
and the letters of the Masters to Sinnett.

But AFTER Mme. Blavatsky died in 1891, NUMEROUS persons claimed to be 
in FURTHER contact and communication with the same Mahatmas as HPB 
claimed she had been in contact with.

I give below a list of the people who made such claims:

William Q. Judge, A.P. Sinnett, Maude Travers, Annie Besant, C. W. 
Leadbeater, Katherine Tingley, Ernest Hargrove, G. de Purucker, Alice 
Bailey, Francia A. La Due, Guy Ballard, Helena Roerich, Mark Prophet, 
Elizabeth Clare Prophet, Earlyne Chaney, Nada-Yolanda, Brother 
Philip, Cyril Scott, David Anrias, Geraldine Innocente, Carolyn 
Shearer and Monroe Shearer, and many others.

In most cases I am aware of, Theosophical students and readers have 
for one reason or another been impressed with the writings of one or 
two of the names I gave in the list above. They furthermore then 
assume that that person whether it be Judge or Bailey or Purucker (I
could name others but won't) continued Blavatsky's work and/or was 
the messenger of the Masters. 

Various students believe that Prophet or Leadbeater or Purucker or 
some other claimant "expanded" and "improved" on HPB's work and 
teachings. But most of these students haven't really read widely, 
looking at and actually COMPARING the various claims and books of the 
individuals I've listed above. Instead they just ASSUME OR BELIEVE 
that Leadbeater or Bailey or Purucker or one of the others claimants 
is correct or just accept that Bailey, Roerich, Hargrove, etc. 
continued in HPB's footsteps.

Unfortunately in most cases, students appear to know nothing or 
vitually nothing about what the other names I gave in the list wrote 
or taught or claimed.

In summary, AFTER HPB DIED in 1891, there was --- over the ensuing 
decades --- AN EXPLOSION and PROLIFERATION of claims, teachings and 
books from a variety of individuals.  The books by these various 
claimants number in the hundreds and thousands.

In summary, we have a morass of such claims, teachings, beliefs and 
books.

Daniel
http://hpb.cc