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Contents of
First S.P.R. Report on H.P.B.
APPENDIX XII.
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Though in the following statement Mr. Mirza Moorad Alee Beg gives us no
details, his assertions are very strong, and commit him nearly as fully as Madame
Blavatsky and Mr. Damodar are committed, to the existence and powers of the Mahatmas apart
from the Theosophical Society.
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From The Theosophist, August, 1881, p. 230.
“THE OCCULT WORLD” AND THE “SPIRITUALIST.”
“Having just read in the London Spiritualist a review of Mr. Sinnett’s
book, ‘The Occult World,’ I find in it more than a doubt expressed as to the
reality of the ‘Brothers,’ that body of mystics to which the personage known as
‘Koot Hoomi Lal Singh’ belongs. The Editor of the paper would have his
readers believe that the said person is a creation of Madame Blavatsky’s fancy.
‘Mr. Sinnett,’ he says, ‘has never seen Koot Hoomi, nor does he mention
that any other Theosophist in India has had that privilege.’
“As some persons may express the same doubts, and also some, while admitting their
genuine character, may attribute them to agency other than that to which Madame Blavatsky
refers them (the so-called ‘Brothers,’ &c.), I hereby declare that not only
have I within the last few days seen one of the persons so designated at the
Headquarters of the Society at Bombay, but that I have very good reasons (which I cannot
go into more fully now) to know that the said persons are not ‘spirits’
but real human beings exercising powers out of the ordinary. Both before and after
my connection with the Theosophical Society I have known and conversed with them personally
and witnessed the most wonderful results (which would ordinarily be described as
miraculous), but I must emphasise my declaration that I do not regard them as supernatural
and am altogether materialistic (or rather naturalistic) in my conceptions of the
agency producing them. Further I testify that I have the strongest conviction, based
on reasons which, though authoritative, are purely natural and physical, that the said
‘Brothers’ are a mysterious fraternity, the ordinary location of which is the
regions north of the Himalayas.
“MIRZA MOORAD ALEE BEG, F.T.S.,
“Acting President of the ‘Saorashtr Theosophical
“ ‘Society’ at Bhaunagar.”
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“The criticisms upon Mr. Sinnett’s book ‘The Occult World’ force
upon me the duty of testifying from personal experience and knowledge to the fact
that those whom we call our ‘Brothers of the First Section,’ of whom ‘Koot
Hoomi Lal Singh’ is one, and who possess the so-called ‘miraculous’ powers,
are real and living beings and not disembodied spirits as the Editor of the Spiritualist
would have his readers think. It is but by a long course of study and training
that such can be attained. It is not belief with me but knowledge,
for, if I have seen one of them, I have at least seen about half a dozen on various
occasions, in broad daylight, in open places, and have talked to them, not only when
Madame Blavatsky was in Bombay but even when she was far away and I here. I have
also seen them at time when I was travelling. I was taken to the residences of some
of them and once when Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky were with me. Further than
that I cannot say, and shall not give any more information either about them or the places
they reside in, for I am under a solemn obligation of secrecy and the subject is too
sacred for me to be trifled with. I may, however, mention that I know ‘Koot
Hoomi Lal Singh’ personally and have seen and conversed with him when Madame
Blavatsky was here as also when she was far away. But under what circumstances I am
not at liberty to disclose.
“We Hindus who know the ‘Brothers’ think it equally absurd and
ridiculous to insinuate that either Madame Blavatsky is a lunatic or an impostor, or that
persons like Mr. Sinnett could have ever become her dupes. Neither is she a medium,
nor are the ‘Brothers’ ‘disembodied Spirits.’
“DAMODAR K. MAVALANKAR, F.T.S.
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“I have had the honour to be a member of the Theosophical Society for upwards of
two years, and during that period my relations with the Founders have been so cordial and
intimate that I can with confidence leave myself entirely to their guidance, so deep is my
trust in the purity of their motives and the steadfastness to the cause they
represent. Not this alone. They have not once raised false hopes which only
end in vain regrets. What they have asserted they have proved abundantly. And
I have to thank Madame Blavatsky in a very especial degree for having given me
opportunities to realise, --- what is generally supposed to be the mere creatures of that
lady’s imagination --- the existence of the ‘Brothers.’ Other
deserving Fellows of our Society have had the same felicity as myself. So long as I
live I shall continue to offer my heart-felt homage to the Himalayan Brotherhood, who from
their far retreat condescend to watch the progress of this Society, and even the interests
of some of its individual Fellows.
“S. J. PADSHAH, F.T.S.
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“We, the undersigned Theosophists, having read in the London Spiritualist
the review of Mr. Sinnett’s book ‘The Occult World’ and the doubts thrown
therein upon the actual existence of a Brother of our First Section known as Koot Hoomi
Lal Singh, with the sole object, as we infer, of supporting the theory of
‘disembodied Spirits,’ consider it our duty to protest.
“In common with some other Theosophists of Bombay, we have had, on several
occasions, the honour to see these ‘Brothers’ of our Society’s First
Section. We have thus been led to know that they represent a class of living, not
‘disembodied’ men or ghosts - as the Spiritualists would insist upon; that they
are in possession of the highest virtues and psychic capabilities, and have, as we are
assured from the opportunities we have been permitted to enjoy, ever exerted such powers
for beneficent purposes, regarding the whole humanity as a Universal Brotherhood, but
keeping aloof from the world for reasons best known to themselves.
“MARTUNDROW BABAJEE NAGNATH, F.T.S.
“BHAVANISHANKAR GANESH MULLAPOORCAR, F.T.S.”
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