One morning in the year 1883, Dr. Hartmann dreamt while he rested half-awake and saw a
letter, in a handwriting which was unknown to him. Also, unknown foreign postage stamps
were pasted on, not as is commonly done on the addressed side of the letter, but on the
sealed flap side. After breakfast he proceeded to the post office and found in his box the above actual described letter. It was
in the writing of Colonel Olcott, which contained an invitation to Dr. Hartmann to come to
India and take part in the control of the theosophical movement. A feeling of inner mental
conviction, more reliable than all outward motives, said to him that this is the right one
and that he can dedicate his future activity towards no better purpose than this.
Therefore, he prepared for his departure and left Georgetown [Colorado] on September 21,
1883. (1)
"India!—O, what magic dwells within this word!—India! the country of
wisdom, the land of magic! What was European science other than a child’s game in
comparison with the higher knowledge among the best of Brahmans? Was it not discoursed
upon through all the world by Col. Olcott, that at the
nose tip of an Indian fakir there sits more true knowledge than in the heads of all our
scholars!? The ‘Theosophical Society’ did not begin to awaken until the
appearance in India of the glorious Aryavarta, awakening through the breath of freedom,
which travailed across to America! India, the land of the mysteries, the realm of the
adepts; what precious mysteries may be hidden in your womb, which is our determination to
bring into clear focus." (2)
This may have been an approximation of Dr. Hartmann’s sensations, as the steamboat
neared the Indian coast. First a faint ill-defined stripe appeared upon the horizon, which
continued to become clearer, then the white houses and palaces of Madras became visible.
Yet in a short time the people on the bank could now be clearly seen, men with white robes
and variegated turbans; women with dazzlingly colored cloth dresses, between them
half-naked coolies.
Stop!—The machine, which had worked so long day and night, stopped
to pant, the ship stood still and the anchor rattled in the depths.
II. INDIA
Before we continue with our report, it is necessary to mention some specific but
general things concerning the theosophical movement and to mention the "Theosophical
Society" in particular.
It is known to every mystic, that ever since primeval times an alliance of philosophers
has existed, i.e. illuminated people, who have attained a higher degree of
self-knowledge and are dedicated to the deeper mysteries of nature. Their effort is to
help mankind and wherever the opportunity allows, to disseminate light and enlightenment
through the world. Eckartshausen says pretty much the same:
"Few people dedicate themselves to true wisdom;
thus there is so much error in the world; wisdom requires truth, and truth goodness, and
this is rare among scholars. Thus is their pride, thus is their wisdom a folly. Learn,
above all, to know the futility of your self. You gain nothing through the self. Never be
proud of your own knowledge; everything comes from God, (3) which is
wisdom itself.
"There were always people who searched for wisdom in the purity of their heart;
but they lived in secret and did good works without ostentation. Many of them were laughed
at while others became the sacrifice of prejudice and error, but the wisdom always
remained wisdom and their followers worked towards the great plan of divinity into the
activity of human welfare. Seas separate the land which inhabit the Ways of those
countries from those of the children of error. Their island lies removed from any
discovered areas and will remain undetected until human eyes can endure the light of the
divine sun. Rarely is a mortal granted access to their holy
shores. But at certain time periods their ambassadors become dispatched to the known
continents. Their work is to disseminate light, to look for light, wherever it may flow
out. These emissaries were sent out to disseminate God-wisdom in calm ways; they are known
as the most hidden mysteries of nature; they join with men, who are on the path of
excellence and truth, informing them of the hidden sciences and leading them to the light,
to tranquillity and to wisdom." (4)
This partial, allegorically-held description has become clear to us through our own
experiences, to grasp the fact that the society of the Way or "adepts" is a
spiritual community, to which all people, who have attained a certain degree of
self-knowledge, meet in the spirit, even if they are bodily separated from each other by
the oceans. The "island," which is mentioned, is the realm of knowledge, which
indeed is surrounded by the sea of ignorance on which the storms of passion rule and
remains undetected and cannot be found. But this talk is also not entirely based on purely
spiritual things; for the adepts, of whom the author speaks, are men who live as such on
earth and, as it is said, in Tibet and Egypt near lonely, remote places. There are
unfolded "powers" in them which are "spiritual" or rather
"divine," from which modern psychology knows yet nothing, through which they are
capable of seeing and working at distances. Since
they have accomplished the method of self-controlling the power over the elemental-beings,
they may effect magical "wonders" such as, e.g. the so-called
"spirit-writings" phenomena and consummated other things, over which one
"wonders" only because one does not understand them.(6) The
method which they use to unite with veracious beings is through the long-distance effect
of thought. Whoever can arise to their sphere can partake of their influences.
The existence of the adepts has been widely contested, but the author has come, through
his personal experiences, to the entire conviction that such wise people really live on
earth (readied with magical powers), which one calls "Adepts," or
"Mahatmas" (great souls) are also known as the "Illuminated," really
live on earth; that some of them live in Tibet, and that H. P. Blavatsky, just as she
always maintained, was their student. In order to be such a student they did not need her
to be a perfect saint or a fully educated Adept. And then there are all the errors
disseminated about her, due in part to a lack of judgment, which lead, in part, back to
her enemies and their envy of her.
Just as water flows everywhere where canals are present so that one may find one’s
way, so too does divine wisdom flow, which is the sum total of the supreme intelligences
in the universe and disseminates light into all hearts where no insurmountable resistance
is found. It penetrates into all churches and systems and always brings more enlightenment
everywhere, even though gradually. The spirit of wisdom is therefore not the monopoly and
property of any society, but is the driving force of that movement, which now is
disseminated over the entire earth and throughout all the branches of science and art,
asserting itself within social relationships. One can rightly call this movement
"theosophical," because it is based upon the knowledge of truth. When this
knowledge has not yet consciously shown itself everywhere, it is only felt like a dark
feeling within the human heart. The "Theosophical Society" however was called
into existence by H. P. Blavatsky in order to be a radiatory force-center of this
movement. It should, so was it the intent of the adepts, exist from noble, good, loving,
intelligent and energetic persons, from people whose souls are great enough in order to
embody in love the whole world where their spirit illuminates enough in order to be a
light unto itself, disseminating the light received by the sun of wisdom throughout the
world. As well, the light of enlightenment and the warmth of love should emanate from this
center and gradually penetrate through all classes; the strong helping the weaker and the
weaker helping those who are still weaker than he is. And since not every person is
capable of receiving the light directly from the sun of wisdom and taking it in to himself
(since he would be blinded by its direct light) so too are the teachers of wisdom the
moon, who return back to us the light of the sun in a milder form to illuminate the
darkness of ignorance, passed down to that of the human, who becomes accustomed to the
soothing light and eventually is capable of enduring the light of the sun himself. So
should the sun of wisdom be the central sun at the heaven of the Theosophical Society, the
adepts the moon and each member attain to the self-knowledge of a star, a light for all.
The purpose of the Society is threefold. Above all it is to be a nucleus of a universal
brotherhood of humanity, irrespective of religious and other disagreements, imbued with
the spirit of tolerance.
As such, it was put forth as an almost impossible condition. Because most humans have
such little tolerance, their Society can not be imbued with their spirit. Indeed, it is
exactly the diversity of opinions which cause people to mutually tear themselves to
pieces. It is because of this tendency which can not be easily shaken off, that one can be
entered on the list of members of a Theosophical Society. Because of the diversity of
opinions no general agreement can be set up and even when all people were to assume one
and the same opinion, so would such an opinion no longer be a true perception. Such a
condition would be the greatest misfortune for mankind, for with the blind acceptance of
truth of an idea resting on ignorance all one’s thoughts and searches would have an
end. Only then can equality of view unite all people, if they all concurred toward the
same point of view and all have come to a state of self-knowledge. Such a society would
then no longer be only "theosophical," but a society of real Theosophists.
However if the diversity of knowledge and imagination can not unite the person, the
love of the True can. The love of the True however is the belief in the supreme ideal,
which is not in the head or in the realm of the imagination, but in the heart. Where the
love of the good in each person recognizes good, which is also still hidden, it is there
the person recognizes his own divine self; there this divine love unites all people in
God. Therefore the revival of divine love in the heart and not empty knowledge, should be
the first object of the Theosophical Society.
However, standing against this divine-realization (Theosophy) there existed the
reversed world-view, which takes the light for the essence and substitutes self-delusion
in place of the exclusive indivisible deity. Thus it now required, above all, to instruct
those who searched after the truth and self-knowledge, so that they could free themselves
from their errors. Since it would have been better to show an example through the study of
the writings of the Paths, philosophers and initiates of antiquity, above all however,
what would have been better than to give the explanations through those of the
"adepts," i.e. by those humans who had attained to the level of divine
self-knowledge? Through them the hidden sense of the allegories and fables as found in the
religious books of the people was revealed through the light of truth. Therefore the study
of theology and philosophy was the second objective of the Theosophical Society.
Unfortunately many people forgot and passed over the first objective. They wanted to
satisfy their bare scientific curiosity; everything possible concerning the origin of the
world, to know about the afterlife and so forth, to enrich their own earthly knowledge,
but only a few aspired to that love which recognizes God in all nature. Thus, the name
"Theosophy" often became merely the designation for another metaphysical or
theological speculation.
In fact no one can become a real Theosophist, if Theosophy, that is, the
spiritually-divine self-knowledge, has not been felt and becomes within him a living
power. This divine-realization ascribes to the inner divine person, not however the
earth-born earthly humans. The spiritually divine person must be realized in the
consciousness of the individual; then his knowledge can illuminate the earthly spirit of
the person. For this reason, the third object of the Society was the research of occult
powers, and the unfoldment of the hidden nature of the higher soul powers in the
consciousness of the person. It should teach every person to know his own higher nature,
which can only be brought about through the exercise of virtue, justice, truth, goodness, etc.
But how little does the world and especially the scholars understand these three aims
of the Theosophical Society, despite all that has been said and written about it.
Particularly the third object attracted a certain quantity of fanatics and dreamers who
believed that, for that reason, they could concern themselves to learn sorcery and
conjuring, or to attain in an easy way the possession of occult powers and use them for
selfish purposes.
If H. P. Blavatsky had not supported her doctrines through facts, she would have set
them in motion only in the realm of theory and no doubt some centuries would have passed
before the world would have considered more closely the important question of a higher
world-view. Now, since she was in possession of mystical powers, she was able to give
frequent tests of this teaching. For her, the souls of many people were read like an open
book; she could give answers as to the contents of sealed letters and she could give the
correct answer to previously asked questions; the astral-world appeared right at home to
her, just like the physical world. She could arbitrarily produce different phenomena
similar to the media of the spiritualists without their knowing how it happens, as if they
were produced involuntarily. All these phenomena naturally had the sole purpose of making
people to more attentively study the theosophical doctrines and the higher science, and to
excite in them the ability of self-thought. Even when H. P. Blavatsky, as it was
maintained by her enemies, would have produced such phenomena through sleight of hand, she
still would have fulfilled her aim and cheated no one. They cost nothing. It was the bell
ringing which proclaimed the existence of the school of wisdom.
But there were always a number of people, especially among the half-learned, who were
only interested in the bell-ringing and did not trouble themselves with the school; they
racked their brains over how well the phenomena would be produced and lost their minds
over it. Because they could not understand the purpose of the process and were not
familiar with it, they confused the end with the means, and thus considered the production
of occult feats as the purpose of the society and the feats themselves as deceit or
fraudulence.
It is easy to comprehend, that if an earthworm could think and saw an eagle fly, it
would hold this for deceit or deception; for since it can not fly, flight is altogether an
impossibility for it. So it is also with everything and everyone, which can never raise
themselves above the level of the seeming, beliefs and imaginings. For it is the inductive
conclusion based on false requirements the supreme; of the divine powers hidden in the
soul they know nothing, because they do not profess trust.
Still, it was the mysterious which was the great magnet which attracted large numbers
around H. P. Blavatsky. Their mystical nature was roused, but so too were the many
so-called dreamers and fanatics. Wherever Colonel Olcott beat his clamorous drum, it was
there one spoke of miracles and the reputation of phenomena attracted many curiosity
seekers who often found something better than the expected marvels.
In India, however, something else contributed to the fast growth of the Theosophical
Society. There was the subjugation by foreigners for centuries, which splintered a nation
by the prejudice of caste. With the scorns of Europeans whose feet trodded over others, in
cowardly fear they wounded as a tyrant, no doubt knowing the trod upon did not have the
force to help themselves. No doubt it was mostly the Christian missionaries who
contributed to the corruption of morality; for although many among the Indians had lost
the key to the understanding of their theology, there also had remained among them enough
of those who still had the requisite knowledge to see that in the allegories taught to
them by the missionaries and their perverted interpretations, it was a caricature of their
own [East Indian] doctrines; so much so that some Brahmans could instruct the Christian
missionaries in their Christian religion, but not conversely. Naturally this could not be
so, as to scorn the religious ignorance of the Europeans and no doubt they guarded
themselves well, taking note to desist from doing so. Thus emerged hypocrisy, cowardice
and a cringing of the stomach. The English were outwardly considered and honored as
unapproachable higher beings and secretly hated as the devil.
There the American Colonel Olcott appeared like a saving angel and preached the
doctrine of equality among all people. In exuberant words he praised the glory of splendid
Aryavarta (old India), which maintained the same superiority over the European
civilization and the worthlessness of the European world-view in comparison with the
ancient-Indian learning, indeed he maintained to have been an Indian in his last
incarnation. He explained to the Indians the secret meaning of the Christian symbols and
thereby publicly exposed the ignorance of the missionaries. He showed that the doctrine of
Christ is the same as the doctrine of Krishna, only changed in its outer form; that the
basis of all great religion-systems is the one and same knowledge of the truth, and that
in order to attain to the true religion, one need only discover the truth in his own
religion.
Even after a cold rainy day when the sun suddenly appears before an anthill, everything
becomes alive. If one pushes in with the stick, everything runs through a course of
confusion. The newly opened light roused patriotic feelings in the hearts of the Indian,
and some, who did not understand the equality all people and had fear before the
Europeans, now believed at least just as well as an Englishman, if not much better. Olcott
was considered by many as the savior of India. Many pupils of the European schools had
interpreted that it would no longer be necessary to study European natural science. They
applied for favors from the master and expected from them such advice with regard to their
personal affairs. They wanted to save themselves the trouble of having to learn something
or having to work. Instead, they wanted to lead a tranquil life and become a
"Yogi" (saint).
Because the Protestant missionaries saw their reputations and incomes threatened by
this excitement, they became angered themselves, and it is conceivable, since they could
accomplish nothing with the weapons of the spirit, that they had to take refuge through
the personal attacks on the character of H. P. Blavatsky.
Thus, this is how the conditions were at the headquarters upon Dr. Hartmann’s
arrival in India and we now return to this point in time.
The ship threw out the anchor and soon there appeared on board a deputation of natives,
members of the T.S. [Theosophical Society], to festively receive the newly arrived, and to
deliver to him a writing from H. P. Blavatsky, wherein she called to welcome him "to
his home." He then climbed from the very well-built boats (because of the surrounding
surf) on to a carriage which is used in the country. The journey went along the shore;
first past palatial buildings, then through the narrow streets of the quarters of the
natives, then along the country road planted with bread trees, groups of houses, coconut
palms, Moslem cherry courts and individually lying graves varied with meadows, ponds and
forest. Then it went over a large bridge across the Adyar River and after a few minutes
the carriage pulled in through the gateway of the wall which enclosed the park, which
separated the headquarters of the Theosophical Society from the entire orb of the outside
world.
This headquarters was located in the Adyar district, a suburb of Madras, and belonged
to a village named Urur, which was inhabited by fishermen. The building consisted of a
delightfully convenient bungalow with a portico adorned with columns. At the back of the
house flowed the Adyar River, which flowed a modest distance to the sea. Because of its
proximity to the sea, the ebb and flow of the tide caused it to alternately flux twice a
day with sweet and salty water as a bath, and the spacious park was occupied with mangos,
coconut palms and the larch-surrounding Casuarina trees.
Some, although cautious, remarks which were made to him along the way by the
accompanying Brahmans, appeared to imply that not everything at the headquarters was just
as one would have wished it and that really neither the president, nor H. P. Blavatsky,
but a certain Madame C. . . . was the mistress of the house.
She had known H. P. Blavatsky in Egypt and after she had become impoverished there, had
come with her man to Adyar, where both of them were hospitably taken in by H. P.
Blavatsky. Monsieur C, a Frenchman, whose trade was a carpenter, supervised the servants,
took care of repairs and other things, while his wife not only took her place as a
housekeeper but also as a companion of H. P. Blavatsky and as an adviser to Col. Olcott
and chief-overseer over everything else having to do with housekeeping. She understood
fortune-telling and had learned various skills in an Egyptian harem, e.g. learned the
manufacture of magic mirrors and could prophesize well, and had so acquired the favor of
the president that in his absence no one was allowed to enter his room but her; for, as he
maintained, no one other than herself diffused "a good magnetism."
Dr. Hartmann had come to India with great enthusiasm. His main purpose was H. P.
Blavatsky, whose spirit (her writings) inspired him with so much admiration that he came
to learn directly from her. But also, the headquarters was the center of the world to him;
the "Rome"—not of churchianity —but of the divine-wisdom, Col. Olcott
appeared to him as the Hierophant, the chelas (a pupil of the Adept) as the apostles, free
from all human passions, fulfilling all humanity out of divine love, full of high
intelligence and radiating the light of truth; for how could they be otherwise than the
disciples of wisdom? The study of Theosophy was for him a serious, high and holy matter,
which had nothing to create with the frippery of this world. How astonished he was, just
as he made entrance in the park, to see by the entrance on the right and left a large
manufactured elephant made from blue packing paper. The blue elephants should be symbols
of power and wisdom, but they were unfortunately only a caricature. Was this an omen? Dr.
Hartmann had hoped to find gods, should he also find here human weaknesses?
Indeed he has also found here many human weaknesses, however we are only concerned in
these papers with memorable memories.
Concerning his acquaintance with H. P. Blavatsky the author says the following:
"Similar to my arrival in Adyar, I was greeted by H. P. Blavatsky, who from the
first moment I laid eyes on her possessed my fullest sympathy. With that sympathy I stood
on a friendly footing up to the end of her life, even though we had on chance occasions to
anger one another. It is now put before me the difficult task to make an attempt to give a
picture of H. P. Blavatsky; an attempt which has already been made by many, although up
until now none have been successful. She has been indulged like many other mystics; they
have foolishly raised that person (with skin and hair) upwards to heaven; while others
have unjustifiably crucified and condemned her; none have completely understood her and
none can fully understand and describe such person , because there are often contradictory
natures in her which are quite distinctive; namely the wavering spirit of the earth, the
always changeable and mortal personality, and the immortal, individual, illuminated soul.
With an ordinary person one finds as a rule little diversity in his character; he
remains rather constant in his virtues and weaknesses; he follows today perhaps this mood
and tomorrow another; however the moods never come out. He always remains small in his
pettiness, even though this shows itself in various forms; he is rarely great. Compared to
this, an Adept, whose personality is always imbued by his higher consciousness, is also
always the same, but on a much higher level. He is, in comparison to the routine person, a
god. H. P. Blavatsky was neither a god, nor a commonplace person, for she hovered, so to
say, between heaven and earth. Soon she flew up to the supreme regions and had concourse
with the gods; not in her imagination, but with full consciousness; then she descended to
earth and was like a stubborn child with multifarious moods that were difficult to
satisfy.
This is different than mediumism. Every occultist knows there are distinct conditions
of consciousness, where each has his own abilities of perception and memories; in each
type of perception there is a completely other person. A drunk remembers what he has done
during his last intoxication, even though at the interim he knew nothing of it during his
sobriety; a somnambulist communicates with the spiritual world while his body sleeps and
knows nothing from that world upon awakening as to what he saw and heard there. H. P.
Blavatsky was neither drunk nor somnambulistic as she could displace her consciousness on
a higher level of existence and when she again descended she was reminded at to what had
happened there.
No doubt there is in every person a double nature, the higher and the personal
"I." But in the commonplace person the higher lies dormant, or the light of the
consciousness of the god-being is only like a twilight in the consciousness of the earthly person. In H. P. Blavatsky she was awakened to the
higher "I" consciousness; she was at the same time both an inhabitant of the
higher world and an inhabitant of the earth. Therefore she has been understood by no one.
She had not only spirit, but there was in her a spiritual individuality, which is called
upasika, (7) tied to a lively and recalcitrant organism furnished with
a fiery and difficult to dominate tempered Russian lady by the name of H. P. Blavatsky.
Whoever wants to know the character of upasika, they must look for the spirit in H. P.
Blavatsky’s written works. The personality of H. P. Blavatsky was only an instrument
of her interior "I"; her personal errors have nothing to do with her work
towards the welfare of humanity. The biographers, who have written books on H. P.
Blavatsky, have described only an illusion; they have never known upasika, but only the
house in which it inhabited.
But also the views which are disseminated concerning the personal character of H. P.
Blavatsky, rest for the greater part on error; the errors which she did not have were
imputed, and the errors which she did have were exaggerated. She appeared unpredictable;
unpretentious and again demanding, patient and impatient, meek and hot-tempered, concealed
and a tendency to gossip, good-natured and quarrelsome, and so on, depending on what was
correct. Due to her lively imagination she was bent towards exaggerations, she raising her
friends to heaven or at the next moment sending them, because of any displeasure, to the
abyss of hell. But neither the one nor the other was meant to be taken serious. Heavenly
quiet ruled in upasika; Blavatsky was like a soap-blister with an always changing
opalescence. The defamations however, which were disseminated over Blavatsky, come
entirely from persons who believe that they are thoroughly made to be the same as the
adepts and could arrive at that state with high honors and wealth, without comprehending
that their own megalomania barred their way. Disappointed, they swept the fang of
defamation against their benefactress. Now upasika and H. P. Blavatsky have separated
themselves from each other and the latter has no more interest for us. Her works have
given mankind enough food for thought for the next centuries. Upasika however has not
died, but works onward, even though in another way, still to the betterment of mankind.