Published by Blavatsky Study Center. Online Edition copyright 2000.
Laura Carter Holloway (1848-1930) was an American author and journalist. She wrote a number of books including Ladies of the White House (1870) which sold over 100,000 copies. Mrs. Holloway was an associate editor (1870-1884) of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
In the spring of 1884 Laura Holloway met Madame Blavatsky in Paris. About this first meeting, Mrs. Holloway later wrote:
"The impelling motive that occasioned my trip to Europe in the spring of 1884 was the receipt of a letter from [Madame Blavatsky]. . . . But for Mr. Judge's many and insistent assurances of a welcome I would never have met her, for there was no allurement for me in an ocean voyage, and I had pen work to do that would occupy so much time I did not anticipate much if any of a summer vacation away from it. But I longed to know her, and to learn from her the meaning of some of the psychic experiences I had before Mr. Judge left America. Finally with a friend and her young son we went to Europe and the morning after our arrival in Paris accompanied by Mr. Judge, I called upon her. . . ." (From an unpublished autobiographical manuscript by Mrs. Holloway.)
In June of the same year, Mrs. Holloway left H.P. Blavatsky in Paris and went to London. In The Early Days of Theosophy in Europe, Mr. A.P. Sinnett gave some important details about Mrs. Holloway's visit to London:
"[In June 1884] we made the acquaintance of an American lady who was for a time very conspicuous amongst us — Mrs. [Laura] Holloway — a remarkable clairvoyant and pupil of the Master K.H. Her coming from America had been heralded by impressive stories concerning her psychic gifts and relationship with the Higher world and we found her an extremely attractive personality. She was a guest of Miss [Francesca] Arundale's in the first instance and in June came over to stay with us. . . . At first while staying with us she was to some extent a link between ourselves and the Master K.H. Madame Blavatsky returned to London (and to the Arundale's house) at the end of June and by degrees some troublesome friction ensued between her and ourselves. . . . On the evening of the 6th of July we had an interview with the Master K.H. through Mrs. Holloway. On this occasion he actually took possession of her and spoke to us in the first person. Previously she had merely a consciousness and repeated whatever he said. I well remember the conversation, through finding its date in the Diary. . . . And the situation became entangled by a new development of "fury", according to the Diary, on the part of the O.L. [the Old Lady, meaning Madame Blavatsky] . . . Evidently she had become angrily jealous of the way in which Mrs. Holloway was becoming a link between ourselves and the Master independently of her. She insisted on Mrs. Holloway leaving us and coming back to the Arundales. . . . Mrs. Holloway was frightened into obedience and returned to the Arundales. She had received a (spurious) letter apparently from K.H. ordering her to remain there, and declaring that we were deceived, that she was a medium and saw falsely. As days went on the situation became worse instead of better. Letters passed to and fro between ourselves and the Arundales, now pretty completely under Madame Blavatsky's influence. The name and handwriting of the Master were taken in vain more than once and I find in my wife's Diary for the 16th [of July] that we felt 'our theosophical career was approaching its end.' . . . The following morning Mrs. Holloway called on us and said 'she meant to give up the whole business in disgust.' " (The Early Days of Theosophy, pp. 58-62.)
The other side of the story is given in various sources including The Mahatma Letters (see letters for 1884-85). One extract from Master K.H.'s letter (dated July 18, 1884) to Mr. Sinnett reads:
"You ask me if you can tell Miss Arundale what I told you thro' Mrs.
H[olloway]. You are quite at liberty to explain to her the situation, and thereby justify in her eyes your seeming disloyalty and rebellion against us as she thinks. You can do so the more since I have never bound you to anything thro' Mrs. H.; never communicated with you or any one else thro' her — nor have any of my, or M.'s chelas, to my knowledge, except in America, once at Paris and another time at Mrs. A.'s house. She is an excellent but quite undeveloped clairvoyante. Had she not been imprudently meddled with, and had you followed the old woman's and Mohini's advice indeed, by this time I might have spoken with you thro' her — and such was our intention. It is again your own fault, my good friend. You have proudly claimed the privilege of exercising your own, uncontrolled judgment in occult matters you could know nothing about — and the occult laws — you believe you can defy and play with, with impunity — have turned round upon you and have badly hurt you. It is all as it should be. If, throwing aside every preconceived idea, you could TRY and impress yourself with this profound truth that intellect is not all powerful by itself; that to become "a mover of mountains" it has first to receive life and light from its higher principle — Spirit, and then would fix your eyes upon everything occult spiritually trying to develop the faculty according to the rules, then you would soon read the mystery right. . . . " (ML, Letter No. 62)This brief introduction should give some context to many of the following published and unpublished letters written by the Mahatmas K.H. and M. to Mrs. Holloway, Francesca Arundale, Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott. A number of endnotes have been added to give more historical information.
I've attempted to arrange the letters in chronological order but the arrangement is very tentative. More research still needs to be done on these letters and the history of these crucial months.
Some of these letters were first published in the Theosophical magazine The Word (New York; May and July 1912 issues) and later reprinted by C. Jinarajadasa in Series I of The Letters from the Masters of Wisdom (Adyar, Madras, India, TPH). All published and never before published letters found in this web edition are taken from copies preserved in my personal library. — Daniel H. Caldwell.
[Published in Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom,
Series I, Appendix, Letter XII]
[To Laura C. Holloway from Master K.H.;
received in London, early July 1884.]
Courage and fidelity, truthfulness and sincerity always win our regard. Keep on, child, as you have been doing. Fight for the persecuted and the wronged, those who through self-sacrifice have made themselves helpless whether in Europe or China. I will correspond with you through her, but not unless you keep to yourself faithfully the secret. You may show the letters but never reveal the way they come to you. You will have to pledge yourself solemnly to that effect before I begin. Blessings on you, child, and keep off shells.
K.H.
Letter 2
[Never published before.][To H.P.B. from Master K.H.;
received in London, early July 1884.]Give her [Mrs. Holloway] this as a help, now that she saw under my direct influence, something she never has when giving bogus and fancy messages to Mr. Sinnett purporting to come from me — she shall feel better and stronger. Let her know thro' this letter that it is we indeed who wanted her and have caused her to come to Europe. It is Darb. Nath again and two others who were commissioned to set her writing her book [Man: Fragments of a Forgotten History co-authored with Mohini Chatterji. (1) ]. It is all important she should write it and that it be published before the end of the year. But unless she does Mohini's bidding — who will have direct orders from me — and follows out strictly the path prepared for her under M's orders she will make of it a wretched failure. Every word that she repeated to you was said under my influence. Anything said to the contrary by student — or any bogus astral chela is — a lie. Unfortunately for her she sees men as they appear to her now — let her have patience and she will see things as they are without any direct help from us. You need not send the explanation of the term Upasika that has so misled Mrs. Sinnett — it has become useless. But let her realize tho' how mistaken she was when telling Mr. S[innett] that you had said the work begun by Mrs. H. was unimportant. I am sorry for Mr. S[innett], very sorry, but since he rejects those I send to him, "resents" words uttered by Mohini under my direct influence and refuses to be the "O.L.'s messenger" when the message comes from M., then his intuition is entirely at fault. Let Mrs. H[olloway] sit no more for anyone — for her clairvoyance is entirely untrustworthy owing to various bad influences: it will soon come back to her.
K.H.
Letter 3
[Published in Letters from the Masters of Wisdom,
Series I, Appendix, Letter VI.][To Laura C. Holloway from Master K.H.;
received in London, July 1884.]The feeble efforts of life are contemptible indeed when compared to the results of an eternity (a word of which you can hardly have a conception) and the sum total of all actions is of no account compared to the future. But shall you, because you have this future, in which to act and create, refuse to go forward now? Divided nature — hesitates before acting.
The book [Man: Fragments of Forgotten History (1) ] is a project undertaken; why not complete it? Its existence will depend upon you for you alone can create it, and the materials are in no other hands. But should you refuse to go on — do not deceive yourself with the false idea that you are unable to do what you have done.
The real reason is loss of confidence and you are responsible for the influence that you permit others to exert over you. Shall you be tried in the balance and be found wanting? Will you go back to the old conditions of things in America? It is our wish to take you out of them.
K.H.
Letter 4
[Never published before][To H.P.B. from Master K.H.;
received in London, July 1884.]Mrs. H[olloway] sees better than she hears.
She has either to allow herself to be developed gradually and listen to the advice of our chelas or — to give up the thing — which would be a pity. She does not discriminate well between the things shown to her by Chelas sent, and the transference of ideas from the mind of the one she sits for and which, of course, reflect that one's personal prejudices, preconceptions and interest, likes and dislikes. She too often forgets what she has read or learnt about the laws of "animal magnetism." And this because she is a very impressionable sensitive as well as a born clairvoyante.
K.H.
Letter 5
[Published in Letters from the Masters of Wisdom,
Series I, Appendix, Letter XI.][To H.P.B. from Master M.;
received in London, middle of July 1884.]It is impossible for K.H. to trouble every moment for the most unimportant matters. This must stop. Why should she [Mrs. Holloway] not have confidence in what you say, but must needs have autographs from Masters? She was told to publish it [the book Man: Fragments of Forgotten History] simultaneously here and across the water, but has still less confidence in herself. Had she been docile to advice given to her, had she avoided to fall daily under magnetic influence that, after first experiment, dragged her down from the lofty plane of seership to the low level of mediumship, she would have developed by this time sufficiently to trust in herself with her visions. All you women are "Zin Zin" fools to yourselves and to please a kind and affectionate friend, ready to sacrifice your own salvation.
The house-Upasika [Miss Francesca Arundale] will find that reverential friendship does not exclude pig-headedness, envy and jealousy. The Patal-Upasika [Mrs. Holloway] will soon ascertain the dangers during development of mixing a Western magnetism. Warn her once more, and if she does not heed — no more. You may tell her that if she stops for some time with you then I can help her on the behalf of K[oothoomi]. He surely has no time just now. Did not she, herself, feel that after she had sat near —— for half an hour or so her visions began changing character? Ought this not be a warning for her? Of course she is serving a purpose and knew it in Brooklyn, but was made to forget by the other two magnetisms.
Take her with you to Schmiechen and tell her to see. Yes, she is good and pure and chela-like; only flabby in kindness of heart. Say to Schmiechen that he will be helped. I myself will guide his hands with brush for K[oothoomi]'s portrait. (2)
M.
Letter 6
[Never published before][To H.P.B. from Master K.H.;
received in London, middle of July 1884.]There are many things done and said lately that I do not like. The suggestions made to Olcott by various persons, members and non-members, that you and he should have a reception to which many who are not yet within the Society yet have a certain interest and curiosity to learn about it, should be heeded; they echo a considerable popular feeling, and no agency favourable to its expansion, should be neglected while you two are in England.
I am indeed grieved to find that some among the best seem to want to undervalue it, and to imagine any plausible explanations for our sending you — especially H. Olcott here. The fact is that the presence of the "Founders" is palpable (and a necessary) proof of the existence of the Parent Society and has had a good effect, one that entered into our calculations before giving orders for the journey.
Excellent as are many individual members; superior as some may be in talent, education or character to both of you — they are not the Founders; so do not worry or allow yourself to imagine nonsense. None other than yourselves will ever be our chief, recognized agents; nor have they given in personal sacrifices and in individual absorbing devotion to our cause the same pledges of loyalty as Olcott has.
This matter of the reception (3) was broached at the last meeting; supported by some and referred to the Council of the Lodge. The London season approaches its close; this should not be neglected. O[lcott] was told to manage for a lecture by himself on Theosophical subjects but nothing is yet arranged. Why, please?
K.H.
Letter 7
[Never published before][To H.P.B. from Master K.H.;
received in London, middle of July 1884.]I reply that repulsive as our "Asiatic ways of looking at things" may seem to Mr. Sinnett — Upasika was right in declaring to him that such was the wish of both her Master and myself that the Lillie pamphlet (4) should be elaborately answered.
This must be done by neither Mr. Sinnett nor anyone else — but by the L[ondon]
L[odge] T[heosophical] Society. Unless our Asiatic advice is followed — as speedily and effectually as possible, and both worthies Lillie and Wyld (5) exposed — the one as to his ignorance, the other as to his malice — let not any one of the Society complain of the "Masters" leading them, or allowing them to be led into disagreeable complications.Mrs. H[olloway] saw clearly what was shown to her — namely that a new pamphlet was being prepared by Mrs. K[ingsford] (6) who is in friendly union with Wyld and Lillie — and to throw as much opprobrium and ridicule upon the Society as they possibly can.
K.H.
Letter 8
[Never published before][To H.P.B. from Master K.H.;
received in London, middle of July 1884.]She [Mrs. Holloway] has been playing with fire recently acting the medium for a bhuta in this house. Warn her of the danger to her no less than to others — and warn Mr. Sinnett.
The "unsatisfied desire" in this case is a bad one begotten of selfishness and bigotry; and to encourage a hope that it might be gratified would be to add to, not curtail the being's time in Kama-loka besides doing a perhaps irreparable harm to the innocent child, and the fond parent — the loving grandmother. Take care of the latter and I promise her my help. You may show the venerable good lady this.
Confirm to Mohini what by direct impression he ought to have learnt from me — the bad magnetism he is constantly collecting — tho' thrown off as rapidly — is much in the way — that he is right to try to stop Mrs. H[olloway]'s meddling in this business. MOHINI IS RIGHT AND SINNETT IS WRONG.
K.H.
Order him [Mohini] also to resume their writing seances for the book here, instead of at Mr. Sinnett's. Why should we be compelled to divide the current between the two places, instead of focusing it in one, and to neutralize two sets of local magnetism. (1)
Letter 9
[Only a few excerpts from this letter have ever appeared in print
in Letters from the Masters of Wisdom, First Series, Appendix, Letter IV.
A complete transcription of the entire letter is given below][To Francesca Arundale from Master K.H.;
received in London, latter part of July 1884.]Now that all of you have come to a better understanding, Mrs. H[olloway]'s letter requires no answer. Tell her from Mahatma K.H., repeating them as his authentic words "that he exonerates her entirely from any blame in this misunderstanding, and that even had there been unfortunate results — which would be unfortunate indeed — her karma would not have been in the least affected by them." For she was in all this merely the hand made to toss everything in a room in confusion when trying to clean the furniture which was getting dusty and to put it in better order than it was before.
Spiritual faculties demand instruction and regulation even more than our mental gifts, for intellect imbibes wrong far more easily than good. Mrs. H[olloway] ought to bear always in mind these lines of Tennyson:
"Self reverence, self knowledge, self control.
These three alone lead life to sovereign power." (7)But to remember at the same time the extreme danger of self will when it is not regulated by the three above mentioned qualities, especially in a question of spiritual development. Her chief mistake — one that leads her always into trouble — is the injudicious application and at wrong times of these three qualities which she tries to underrate in herself. And her loose attitude toward this one defect in her (self will), as also a lack of firmness in controlling her great natural sensitiveness.
Her flower is indeed a symbol:
"The heart that is soonest awake to the flower,
Is always the first to be touched by the thorns."Let her obtain self control over her self will and her too great sensibility and she may become the most perfect — as the strongest — pillar of the Theosophical Society.
Mahatma reiterates his assertion with regard to her book. (8) But it is not in the din and confusion of quarrels and conflicting passions that it can ever be written with its required perfection.
She was not as she thinks however, "doing nothing well and accomplishing little, for herself and others." Nothing of the kind. She had served a purpose and the unpleasant, painful scenes and events of the latter days have worked like wholesome physic on diseased bodies, and there were several such among you; with threatening germs in them of ugly mental sores, the full development of one of which might have proved mortal to the Theosophical Society at large.
If as Mrs. H. truly says, she has brought people who love her sincerely "into trouble," it is because these two were among the patients mentioned above. They had entered into a current full of magnetic contagion, full of germs of mental diseases that would have led them both — had they not been snatched from it with a strong hand—to their spiritual death. The operation could not be made without suffering and pain, but it was not the hand that was chosen for it, that inflicted it, nor was it the instrument it held—to be blamed or made responsible.
It is not Mrs. H. who compelled Mahatma K.H. to tell Mr. Sinnett that the things given him through her were false as to the source, as feeling it intuitively she had herself repeatedly warned him. The source of all the trouble comes from a few things given correctly, and Mr. Sinnett's mistake in consequence, in firmly believing that he had been in direct communication with Mahatma K.H. and his chelas through Mrs. Holloway. This, coupled with the fatal influence at work, one that even within the few last hours, and since the reconciliation has taken place, has again and once more reached Mr. Sinnett, was the real source of the poison spreading.
Loyal and devoted as he has ever been, it threatens him still, it surrounds him like a black cloud, and is approaching steadily Mrs. Holloway, as well as other members of the London Lodge. Let them all beware. Her duty toward Mr. Sinnett ought to be well known to her without asking the Mahatmas advice. Both he and his Lady [Mrs. Patience Sinnett] has overwhelmed her with kindness. She owes to them to support and encourage them with her presence; to console them in their mental suffering; to strengthen their oft-failing faith by her soul impressions. Those impressions that are made with open eyes and in the full possession of her consciousness. Never allowing herself to lose it for a single instant, for it is only then that they — the impressions — become full and trustworthy; coming as they do from the evil influences at work. Whether she will return back under their roof or not — is left entirely with her. She was told to remain in Col. Olcott's room during his absence and no more. Whether she will or not return to America now or two months later is also left to her own judgment. Remaining here she will finish the work successfully; by returning she is apt to fall under the power and influence of those who have already once misguided her and will have to lead the old life again.
She was permitted to entangle herself with another in beginning the book, by no one. It is her own weakness that did it. Her ignorance of the things said by her in trance, under the intense will of her two helpers; of orders often concealed from her when awake, and still others slightly altered when being noted down by them so as to better fit in with their desires. Mrs. B.'s feelings can hardly be soothed except by returning to the old program, and this would prove final ruin to Mrs. Holloways's spiritual development in the right direction. Without the slightest doubt could Mrs. Holloway be prevailed upon to separate herself for a few months from any contact with her old associations and their influence, she would come out triumphant from this fiery furnace of probation.
There is no falsity or deceit in her, nor is there any selfishness, only an exaggerated sensibility with an extreme want of prompt decision and firmness when any such decision is made, and a great want of self-reverence, and too much "reverence" to personalities often far beneath herself in intellect and judgment, and a great deal lower on the plane of spirituality and purity of motives than the person who reverences. Times of exaltation, when the higher intellect can express itself, never come in trance. Enthusiasm or another kind of exaltation is the genius of sincerity, and "Truth can accomplish no victories without it." Tell her to have patience. Let her tell Mr. Sinnett as coming from Mahatma K.H., that by his yesterday's action he has deserved well of him in every way, and that Mahatma K.H. thanks him as much as his friend K.H. does. The difference between the two will be given to Mrs. Holloway by Mahatma K.H. when the time comes.
K.H.
Letter 10
[Never published before.][To Laura C. Holloway from Master K.H.
received in London, late July or early August 1884.]I have written and explained the situation to Mr. Sinnett, my attitude towards both of you and had hoped that I would not have to return to the subject again. Your thought, however, clinging so persistently to that one question forces me to a still more determined course of action. I say plainly — if you care for your development you must say to Mr. Sinnett honestly and firmly this. His persistency to seek further interviews with you after I had told him that your magnetisms being so contrary — such interviews impeded your development and injured greatly its progress shows plainly that he cares very little for my advice.
I will not claim my right to "unswerving obedience" in everything concerning his spiritual progress. I never do: I will simply retire from this arena of [word missing] and stubborn opposition and say no more. As to yourself you are warned for the LAST TIME.
We have no time to lose in feeble controversies: either you desire further development under our guidance, or you do not. If the former you cannot meet Mr. Sinnett for some time — not till next year probably. You ask me to explain to him your situation: I have nothing further to explain nor is it in our habit to take that trouble. Your actions will determine whether this will be the last letter of instruction you will receive from me or not.
K.H
Letter 11
[Never published before.][To H.P.B. from Master K.H.;
received in London, late July or early August 1884.]If she [Mrs. Holloway] gives you her word of honour never to reveal to Sinnett that the advice or (as he would call it) orders come from me, then you may tell her this. If she goes with the Sinnetts before they are entirely rid of the bad influences that haunt them everywhere; or follows them out of England or stops with them she is lost, and they too as regards my meddling any more with them. Tell her that if she insists upon my saying so to S[innett] myself I will do so and then he will be lost to the L[ondon]
L[odge] and Theosophy.She is worse than a child — she would have proofs in us as a Christian would have his in Jesus.
K.H.
Letter 12
[Published in Letters from the Masters of Wisdom,
Series I, Appendix, Letter V.][To Laura C. Holloway from Master K.H.;
received in London, August 4, 1884. (9)]You want a definition, child, of "Spirit." Inflowing force will define it as well as any other term.
Why must you be so faint-hearted in the performance of your duty? Friendship, personal feelings, and gratitude are no doubt noble feelings, but duty alone leads to the development you so crave for. Try to show them [the Sinnetts] the truth for the last time. I desire you to go to Elberfeld [with H.P.B.]; I desire you to change magnetism as little as you can.
K.H.
Letter 13
[Never published before.][To Laura C. Holloway from Master K.H.;
received in London, early August 1884.]Private.
Make preface explaining the origin of the book [Man: Fragments of Forgotten History] enough to interest the reader without devoting the whole purpose to page of "Zanoni." Do not show this to the Sinnetts; keep all to yourself. Better go with them [H.P.B., Francesca Arundale and others] to Elberfeld. A month there outside the opposing influences will do more than six in B[rooklyn] by yourself.
K.H. (by order)
Letter 14
[Never published before.][To Laura C. Holloway and others from Master K.H.;
received in Cambridge, August 10, 1884.] (10)You came together why should you separate? You are wanted here for a purpose. (10)
K.H.
Letter 15
[Published in Letters from the Masters of Wisdom,
Series I, Appendix, Letter X.][To H.P.B. from Master K.H.;
received in London, first part of August 1884.]Let her strictly alone. You have no right to influence her either way. Whether she goes, or remains, her subsequent fate is in her own hands. I cannot answer the same questions over and over again. I said to her, Try, and shall say no more. You may tell her this, that for one so emphatically determined in some of her moods; one who asserted so often that she was ready at a moment's notice to go to Tibet in search of me, saying "Here I am, will you teach me, Master?", if only she knew she would thereby gain the knowledge sought; she acts with remarkable inconsistency. It is Sinnett's magnetism — the coming letter and the one received — that upsets her. I did not want to seem too hard to forbid all intercourse for the time, and these are the results.
If she has not learnt yet the fundamental principle in occultism that every idle word is recorded as well as one full of earnest meaning, she ought to be told as much, before being allowed to take one step further. I will not tell you her future; nor should you try to see. You know it is against the rules.
Anyhow you must not regret the three months lost, your and our own efforts, and Mohini's time wasted in the case, if it all ends in failure. You will have helped; the only sufferer will be herself. I regret it deeply. I would if I could develop this richly gifted nature, quiet and soothe in the bosom of the eternal Truth the sensitive soul ever suffering from self-inflicted wounds. I can do nothing, if she does not help me by helping herself. Try to make her realize that in occultism one can neither go back nor stop, that an abyss opens behind every step taken forward. Be kind and gentle with her, whatever happens. She suffers, and patience was never a word for her. She would be made a regular chela before she showed herself fit even for a probationary candidate. "I am not a chela, " she keeps on saying, ignorant of having pledged herself as one unconsciously and when out of the body.
"Oh, if I could have the assurance only that the book will be finished!" Indeed? Thus while fretting over the short period before her in the future, she loses hour after hour, day after day, instead of working at it in the present and thus finish it.
Poor, weak nature! Loving, good, truthful and honest to all but herself. Verily shall the forthcoming twenty-four hours bring on a great crisis in her tortured life. Meanwhile do your duty.
K.H.
Letter 16
[Published in Letters from the Masters of Wisdom,
Series I, Appendix, Letter VIII.][To Henry S. Olcott from Master K.H.;
received in Elberfeld, Germany, latter part of August 1884.] (11)L.C.H. should find in her own intuitions all the proof needed that we are satisfied with her book, her first attempt at expounding occult doctrine. Be kind and brotherly to her always. She is honest, candid, noble-minded and full of zeal. do not criticize; her faults are those of her — your country.
K.H.
Letter 17
[Only portions of this letter have ever been published. See Letters from the
Masters of the Wisdom, First Series where the incomplete text is
given as from two separate letters (I and II). A complete transcription
of the entire letter is given below.][To Laura C. Holloway from Master K.H.;
received in Elberfeld, Germany, latter part of August 1884.]When you are older in your chela life you will not be surprised if no notice is taken of your wishes, and even birthdays and other feasts and fasts. For you will have then learned to put a proper value on the carcass-sheath of the Self and all its relations. To the profane a birthday is but a twelve-month-stride toward the grave. When each new year marks for you a step of evolution, all will be ready with their congratulations; there will be something real to felicitate you upon. But, so far, you are not even one year old — and you would be treated as an adult! Try to learn to stand firm on your legs, child, before you venture walking. It is because you are so young and ignorant in the ways of occult life that you are so easily forgiven. But you have to attend ours ways and put —— and her caprices and whims far in the background before the expiration of the first year of your life as a chela if you would see the dawn of the second year. Now, the lake in the mountain heights of your being is one day a tossing waste of waters, as the gust of caprice or temper sweeps through your soul; the next a mirror as they subside and peace reigns in the "house of life." One day you win a step forward; the next you fall two back. Chelaship admits none of these transitions; its prime and constant qualification is a calm, even contemplative state of mind (not the mediumistic passivity) fitted to receive psychic impressions from without, and to transmit one's own from within. The mind can be made to work with electric swiftness in a high excitement; but the Buddhi — never. To its clear region, calm must ever reign. It is foolish to be thinking of outward Upasika in this connection. She is not a "chela." You wish confirmation of what has been told you about the cause and effect of your transfer from London to Elberfeld. Take it. The fact is as explained. You cannot acquire psychic power until the causes of psychic debility are removed. Your trouble is, that you "cannot take in" the doctrine of shells. You have scarcely learned the elements of self-control in psychism; your vivid creative imagination evokes illusive creatures, coined the instant before in the mint of your mind; unknown to yourself. As yet you have not acquired the exact method of detecting the false from the true, since you have not yet comprehended the doctrine of shells. Nevertheless it is not unreasonable emotionalism that can remove a fact from Nature. Your ex-friend is a shell, and one more dangerous for you than ten other shells — for his feeling for you was intense and earthly. The little of the spirituality in it is now in Devachan — and there remains in Kama-Loka but the dross he tried so vainly to repress. And now listen and remember:
Whether you sit for friends in America or London, or elsewhere as medium — though you now hate the word — or seeress, or revelator, since you have scarcely learned the elements of self-control, in psychism, you must suffer bad consequences. You draw to yourself the nearest and strongest influences — often evil — and absorb them, and are psychically stifled or narcotised by them. The airs become peopled with resuscitated phantoms.
They give you false tokens, misleading revelations, deceptive images. Your vivid creative fancy evokes illusive Gurus and chelas, and puts into their mouths words coined the instant before in the mint of your mind, unknown to yourself. The false appears as real, as the true, and you have no exact method of detection, since you are yet prone to force your communications to agree with your preconceptions. Mr. Sinnett against his own wish and unconsciously to himself has attracted about him a cloud of elementaries whose power is such over him as to make him miserably unhappy for the moment and shake his constance. He is actually in danger of loosing all he has gained, and of cutting himself off from me forever. Worse than all — he has severed himself from his protecting shield, his sweet child, through whom I could have acted (and have done so for a long time) to shelter him from the malignant influences about him. The pure boy is far away and no direct influence of mine can reach him. I cannot help him; he must help himself. I shall rejoice if he conquers; for by this practical experience his intuitions will have become sharpened and help him to distinguish truth from falsehood. At this moment he is enwrapped in a mist of maya, and whenever he approached you, you too were lost in it. I have denied — black on white communicating with him through you. I have never done so, and this I repeat; but he clings to his unwholesome illusion and by implication makes me a falsifier. (12) Poor friend, of India, to have been told such a deal and — learnt so little! (You may copy this and send her this if you like.)
How can you know the real from the unreal, the true from the false? Only by self-development. How get that? By first carefully guarding yourself against the causes of self-deception, and chief among them, the holding of intercourse with elementaries as before, whether to please friends (?), or gratify your own curiosity. And then by spending a certain fixed hour or hours each day, all alone in self-contemplation, writing, reading, the purification of your motives, the study and correction of your faults, the planning of your work in the external life. These hours should be sacredly reserved for this purpose, and no one, not even your most intimate friend or friends, should be with you then. Little by little your sight will clear, you will find the mists pass away, your interior faculties strengthen, your attraction toward us gain force, and certainty replace doubts. But beware of seeking or leaning too much upon direct authority. Our ways are not your ways. We rarely show any outward signs by which to be recognized or sensed. Do you think H.S.O., and Mohini, and Mad. Gerhard have been counselling you entirely without prompting from us? As for U[pasika], you love her more than you respect her advice. You do not realize that when speaking of, or as from us, she dares not mix up her own personal opinions with those she tells you are ours. None of us would dare do so, for we have a code that is not to be transgressed. Learn, child, to catch a hint through whatever agency it may be given. You were told ere now never to touch Mohini; you have done so out of sheer malice and brought upon yourself the displeasure of one of our chiefs. "Sermons may be preached even through stones." You will not be unwatched and uncared for, but you have to attract not to repel us and our chelas. Mohini's ideas about "judgement" etc., may sound unpleasant to the ears of Miss Arundale; but she has to accept things as he does if she would be taken notice of, at all. Do not be too eager for "instructions" any of you. You will always get what you need as you shall deserve them, but no more than you deserve or are able to assimilate. Your book is a good test in this direction.
And now the battle is set in array: fight a good fight even with your own friend, General H. (13) and may you win.
K.H.
Letter 18
[Published in Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom,
First Series, Appendix, Letter IX.][To Laura C. Holloway from Master K.H.;
received in Elberfeld, Germany, near end of August 1884.]Upasika [H.P.B.] is sick, so you must do as I tell you. Read them [the chapters of the book Man: Fragments of a Forgotten History] aloud to her, or, have Mohini do so, successively, to relieve you, and to H.S.O. "M" will follow it with D.K., and stop you through her when correction is needed. You have done good work, child. I am satisfied. Be strong; do not think of home; all is well that ends well. Trust to the future and be hopeful.
K.H.
Letter 19
[Never published before.][To Laura C. Holloway from Master K.H.;
received in Elberfeld, Germany, near end of September 1884.] (14)Better send for Mr. and Mrs. Sinnett as soon as you can. A general consultation is necessary. His [Sinnett's] own reputation is at stake. (14) I will make his visit harmless. He is a changed man.
K.H.
Letter 20
[Published in Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom,
First Series, Appendix, Letter VII.][To Laura C. Holloway from Master K.H.;
received in Elberfeld, Germany, sometime between
October 1 and 4, 1884.] (15)The greatest consolation in and the foremost duty of life, child, is not to give pain, and avoid causing suffering to man or beast. It requires no acute intelligence to put two and two in the present situation and see it makes four. On the one hand we have one [H.P.B.] who has suffered greatly to serve ourselves and cause; one ever suspected, ever condemned, and who is now being crucified by Public Opinion on the tree of infamy. (15) Right at her side stand one of those for whom she has so suffered; the indirect cause of it, yet one who at the first glimpse of false appearance would not hesitate to suspect her himself. Nevertheless this man [A.P. Sinnett] also has suffered, he merits consideration, and ought to have his doubts solved. To satisfy him and thus help the cause in its present very complicated situation, we who are forbidden to use our powers with Europeans can act but through our chelas or one like H.P.B. We can get at him but through those two channels. Where are the chelas strong enough to help us without the aid of our own powers? One is many thousand miles away, the other, the adept is here. An answer through the former would necessitate two months. But she refuses most positively to lend herself henceforth to such services. She is right. She demands it in the name of her Karma and therefore not to be ordered against her will. Her self sacrifices were so ill requited and it would be cruelty and abuse of power to subject her to new persecutions.
K.H.
Letter 21
[Never published before.][To Laura C. Holloway from Master K.H.;
received in Elberfeld, Germany, October 4, 1884.] (16)You are very wrong in making such answer to A.P. Sinnett. Mix no more her [H.P.B.'s] name with phenomena, if you would not injure her. If S[innett] gives you a letter addressed to me take it in silence and place it under the cloth on the spot you will have found the present and without attracting to this H.P.B.'s attention. I want from you silence, and no more. I will try during the day to have his letter taken, and send an answer. I will write to you in London. But Sinnett must never know that I do not correspond direct with you. Silence will do it. I want to protect H.P.B., who would not have you say an untruth. (16)
K.H.
Letter 22
[Never published before.][To H.P.B. from Master K.H.;
received in London, sometime
before October 18, 1884.] (17)Useless to go over the ground once more. You told her [Mrs. Holloway] what I thought of it, and there is an end of it. — No; I do not want her to sleep one single night at Sinnett's house or even stop there beyond an hour or so. The influence there is so strong that it would destroy at one sweep the labour of six weeks. We are not prepared to declare our policy; it depends on the attitude of certain members. I am sorry for that ——— business but --- it cannot be helped. I will answer him in London through Mohini or perhaps have the answer posted. You will have nothing to do with it, so do not get nervous over it. Yes; she better sail on the 18th. (17)
K.H.
Letter 23
[Never published before.][To H.P.B. from Master K.H.;
date of receipt unknown.]To Upasika,
You may tell L.C.H. the following — you may even leave her this present.
Djual Khoul is not allowed to correspond with female chelas — you will explain to her why. Her name not having been submitted as yet to ——- is another reason why a young —— should have no dealing, unless expressly ordered, with one of her sex.
But I have read her letter and the impressions in their collectivity I receive from it, may be summed up as follows:—
The Individuality we have and desire to deal with—ask us under compulsion of the feminine Personality known as L.C.H. nine questions: her strong individuality was dormant when writing these questions, and I repeat them so that the questioner may realize how much four pages of note paper may be made to contain—when the woman-child. . . .
Notes(1) In the summer of 1884, Laura C. Holloway and Mohini Chatterji were writing a book on Theosophy titled Man: Fragments of Forgotten History. Francesca Arundale in her book My Guest --- H.P. Blavatsky (1932) gave some reminiscences about this book:
"During the time that H.P.B. was with us, an American lady, Mrs. L.C. Holloway, came to see her, and H.P.B. found that Mrs. Holloway had certain psychic qualities which would enable her to be used for the Master's work; and although those very psychic qualities brought the danger of mistake, H.P.B. determined to try her. Mohini Chatterji and Mrs. Holloway were told to look back into the far past and sketch out the history of the long distant ages. They did so, and in the little upper room at Elgin Crescent the two new friends. . . gave day after day to the writing of Man: Fragments of Forgotten History. I was constantly with them, and found the delving into the shadows, most fascinating. There may be, I know there are, some mistakes in the book. . . . But the Teachers helped, and manuscript pages were placed before Them, and They made some corrections from time to time.
"One incident I remember: Mrs. Holloway and Mohini had been striving for some time to get a certain page of manuscript right, as they saw the facts, but they could not satisfy themselves. They were sitting at a square table, one at each side, and I was sitting at the third side, when at last Mrs. Holloway said: 'I cannot see it,' and pushed the papers away from her. The table was covered with sheets of foolscap on which they had been writing, and at last she or Mohini, which I do not remember, took up the page again, and on the margin was written in the clear handwriting of the Master in blue pencil the one word 'Try.'. . . A short time after the book was finished, psychic misunderstanding arose and Mrs. Holloway returned to America. I liked her very much and I saw her once astrally at night, but I have neither seen nor heard of her since." (pp. 42-44)
(2) See Mrs. Holloway's account of the painting of Master K.H.'s portrait.
(3) A reception was finally organized and held in London on July 21, 1884. Madame Blavatsky gave a graphic description of the event in a letter to one of her relatives:
"I shall never get well here... It’s not life I lead here, but a sort of mad turmoil from morning till night. Visitors, dinners, evening callers, and meetings every day. Our Olga N. assures me she feels a sort of adoration for me, and daily brings some of her friends to see me. She has already brought me the whole of celebrated London, except the great Minister Gladstone, who, according to the St. James Gazette, both fears and admires me — ‘is afraid of as much as he admires her’! To my mind this is simply a kind of glamor... On the 21st July there was a meeting — conversazione as they are called here — in honor of Madame Blavatsky and Col. Olcott, held in the Prince’s Hall. At first they printed five hundred invitation cards, and then there was such a rush for them that they had to add nearly as many again. Madame N. wrote asking for two tickets in the name of our Ambassador, and personally brought the Ambassadors of France, Holland, Germany, Turkey, Prince H. of Roumania, and nearly the whole of the staff of her devoted friend Gladstone. Lastly, Hitrovo, our Consul General in Egypt, who came here on business... I leave it to your own imagination to fancy the following picture: a huge hall, ladies in low dresses, costumes de gala of all nations — and I sitting in the place of honor, a kind of kingly throne out of a ballet performance, in my black velvet dress with a tail three yards long (which I hate), and Sinnett and Lord B. and Finch, the President of the London Lodge T.S., bringing and introducing to me, one by one, all who want to make my personal acquaintance. And of such there happened to be — I am trying not to exaggerate — about three hundred people. Just fancy, smiling and shaking hands with three hundred ladies and gentlemen during two hours. Oof!! Lord and Lady H. asked me to dine with them next day. After such an evening: just think of it! Cross, the Secretary for India, sat down beside me and complimented me to such an extent on the love of the Hindus for me that I simply got frightened: they might put a political coloring even on this! Besides all sorts of European notabilities, they introduced to me a heap of black and yellow Princes, Maori, Javanese, Malay — I don’t know who. Professor Crookes and his wife sat behind my arm-chair like a pair of adjutants, pointing out to me no end of their colleagues of the Royal Society, celebrated savants in physics, astronomy, and all kinds of ‘Dark Sciences’. Now, darling, do you see, do you feel, the working of Karma? English Science, intelligence, and aristocracy paying honors to me which I do not deserve in the least. Master declared to me beforehand it would be so, and now I am perfectly miserable getting lots of visits and invitations, especially after Sinnett’s speech in Prince’s Hall. He struck an attitude and began to oratorise: ‘Ladies and gentlemen! Before you you see a woman who has accomplished a world-wide work. She alone thought out and executed a colossal plan, the creation of a whole army of cultured people whose duty it is to fight against Materialism and Atheism as much as against superstition and an ignorant interpretation of the teaching of Christ (that is to say, against the one hundred and thirty-seven sects, Shakers, Quakers, howling Salvationists revelling in darkness) which is the shame of the Christian world... Ladies and gentlemen of cultured England, behold the woman who has shown the world what can be accomplished by the power of will, steadfastly pursuing a certain aim, and by a strongly realized ideal. All alone, ill, without means, without patronage, without help of any kind, with the sole exception of Col. Olcott, her first convert and apostle, Madame Blavatsky has planned to unite into one intellectual whole a universal brotherhood of all nations and of all races. She has accomplished this undertaking; she has overcome animosity, calumny, the opposition of fanatics, and the indifference of ignorant people... Even our liberal Anglo-Indian government mistakenly arose against her humanitarian mission. But happily it realized its mistake and stopped in time.’ And so on and on in the same strain. The applause was deafening. I tried to blush for modesty’s sake, but got pale instead of want of air. I nearly fainted, for I am still very weak; though my legs from that moment in the railway station have stopped aching altogether." http://blavatskyarchives.com/blavlet7.htm
(4) This is a reference to the following pamphlet: Koot Hoomi Unveiled; or, Tibetan "Buddhists" versus the Buddhists of Tibet by Arthur Lillie. London: The Psychological Press Association, 1884. 24 pp.
(5) George Wyld (1821-1906), Scottish physician, Spiritualist and Theosophist. In 1879 Wyld joined The Theosophical Society, but he resigned from the Society in 1882. In 1883 and 1884, he wrote several skeptical articles about Madame Blavatsky and the Mahatmas in Light, a spiritualistic journal published in London.
(6) Mrs. Anna Bonus Kingsford (1846-1888), English mystical writer and doctor of medicine, was the author (in collaboration with Edward Maitland) of The Perfect Way, or The Finding of the Christ (1882), an esoteric interpretation of Christianity.
(7) See Bartlett's Quotations, 1884 ed.
(8) In the summer of 1884, Laura C. Holloway and Mohini Chatterji were writing a book on Theosophy titled Man: Fragments of Forgotten History.
(9) Mrs. Holloway described how she received this note from Master K.H.in the following words:
"This message was written with blue pencil diagonally across a letter sealed in an envelope received in London, Aug. 4th, 1884, and mailed from Oaklands, Enfield, Aug. 2. It was delivered by the postman, and was handed to me with other letters addressed:
Mrs. Holloway
c/o Mrs. Arundale
77 Elgin Crescent
Notting Hill, London W.[The letter mentioned above reads:]
Oaklands
Enfield
Aug. 2, 1884Dear Mrs. Holloway,
We hope that you will come with Madame, Mohini and Miss Arundale. It will give us great pleasure to receive you and have you in our house. Leave a scrap of your mantle behind!
I hope that you can all come on Thursday; we shall be more at leisure.
With united kind remembrances,
Yours fraternallyIsabel Cooper-Oakley."
(From an unpublished autobiographical manuscript by Mrs. Holloway.)
(10) Bertram Keightley has left an account of how this K.H. letter was received:
"Cambridge, August 12, 1884
On Sunday, August 10th, at 2, St. Mary's Passage, at 6.30 p.m., the following occurrence took place: ---
We were sitting around the table having just finished tea, when a note fell bearing the initials of Mahatma K.H. The note was found under Mrs. X.'s [Holloway's ] chair, near whom it fell and whom it especially concerned. Something was seen to fall by Mrs. X. and Mohini, and on searching, the following note was found on the floor, where I saw it lying. It was picked up by Mohini.
[copy]
'You came together --- why should you separate before you are all ready. You are all wanted here for a purpose.
(Signed) K.H.'
Mrs. X. [Holloway] and myself had intended leaving Cambridge on the Monday, but in consequence we did not do so.
There were present in the room: Madame Blavatsky, Mr. Finch, Miss Z. [Miss Francesca Arundale], Mrs. Z, Mohini and myself.
I am acquainted with the handwriting of Mr. Sinnett's letters [from Master K.H.] and others having the same initials, and this note was in all respects in the same handwriting.
Further, the paper is unlike any I have ever seen in England."
Bertram Keightley, B.A., Cantab.
"The facts as stated are correct."
Miss Z.
Mrs. X.
Mohini M. Chatterji
H.P. Blavatsky[Quoted from an unpublished draft of the First Report of the Committee of the Society for Psychical Research, Appointed to Investigate the Evidence for Marvellous Phenomena offered by Certain Members of the Theosophical Society preserved in the Archives of the Society for Psychical Research.]
(11) Francesca Arundale in her book My Guest --- H.P. Blavatsky (1932) wrote:
"In the summer of 1884 we received an invitation from a kind friend at Elberfeld [Germany], Herr Gustav Gebhard, to come and spend a few weeks at his home. Not only did he invite Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky and Mr. Mohini, but he invited a large party to accompany them—my mother, myself, and my little George, Bertram Keightley, and some others [including Mrs. Holloway], and many joined the party later." (p. 44) Madame Blavatsky, Mrs. Holloway and the rest of the group arrived in Elberfeld on August 17, 1884.
(12) Compare these statements with what K.H wrote in Mahatma Letter No. 62 (TUP Online edition):
"You ask me if you can tell Miss Arundale what I told you thro' Mrs. H[olloway]. You are quite at liberty to explain to her the situation, and thereby justify in her eyes your seeming disloyalty and rebellion against us as she thinks. You can do so the more since I have never bound you to anything thro' Mrs. H.; never communicated with you or any one else thro' her — nor have any of my, or M.'s chelas, to my knowledge, except in America, once at Paris and another time at Mrs. A.'s house. She is an excellent but quite undeveloped clairvoyante. Had she not been imprudently meddled with, and had you followed the old woman's and Mohini's advice indeed, by this time I might have spoken with you thro' her — and such was our intention. It is again your own fault, my good friend. You have proudly claimed the privilege of exercising your own, uncontrolled judgment in occult matters you could know nothing about — and the occult laws — you believe you can defy and play with, with impunity — have turned round upon you and have badly hurt you. It is all as it should be."
(13) Major-General Oliver Otis Howard. See his Autobiography (1907), Volume Two, pp. 536-537 for a brief account of his trip to Elberfeld and his visit with Mrs. Holloway and Madame Blavatsky.
(14) Mr. A.P. Sinnett wrote of this period of time:
"Towards the close of this we got a telegram from Mrs. Holloway at Elberfeld begging us to come on there after all. We did not feel at all disposed to do so under the circumstances and replied accordingly. Telegrams poured in upon us both from Mrs. Holloway and Mrs. Gebhard. We were assured they were acting by the Master's wish in begging us to come." The Early Days of Theosophy in Europe (1922), p. 73.
At this time, the Coulomb "expose" had occurred in India and some details of the scandal had been telegraphed to England and Europe.
(15) In Sinnett's Autobiography (p.30), we find the following:
"We arrived [at Elberfeld] on the 1st of October and it was soon decided that Madame Blavatsky and Mrs. Holloway should return to London. They started on the 5th. . . . We stayed at Elberfeld till the 9th and then returned to London."
K.H.'s comment about Madame Blavatsky "being crucified by Public Opinion on the tree of infamy" refers to news of the Coulomb "expose" which had been publicized all over India and had now reached Europe.
(16) Concerning this letter from the Master, Mrs. Holloway wrote:
"This letter was addressed 'to L.C.H.' --- 'Read this and show it to no one. K.H.' It was on two pages. . . ."
"I disobeyed this instruction, and instead of doing as directed I went to Madame Blavatsky's room, handed her the letter and told her I declined to receive from Mr. Sinnett any letter, or to speak to him again on the subject of the Masters or their letters."
"She made no reply, and I left her presence. The next morning when I went downstairs prepared to start on my journey [for London], I was amazed to learn that Madame Blavatsky was going with us. A maid was hurriedly packing her boxes, and Mrs. Gebhard told me she could not prevail upon her to wait and come back with the Sinnetts. It was impossible to do more than complete my own preparations --- then to take leave of my host and hostess, and Mr. Sinnett, and to depart with Rudolph [Gebhard] and Madame Blavatsky for Cologne. . . . " (From an unpublished autobiographical manuscript by Mrs. Holloway.)
(17). Mrs. Holloway left London on Saturday, October 18, 1884 for her trip back to the United States.
Madame Blavatsky wrote of Mrs. Holloway's departure in a letter to Mr. Sinnett:
"Saturday morning.
"Dear Mr. Sinnett,
"Mrs. Holloway is just gone, and left me a few parting words for you, in the presence of Miss Arundale. 'Do me the justice,'she said -- 'to tell Mr. Sinnett, that to the last I was living here on two planes -- the physical and the spiritual. Judging me from the physical he could not, of course, understand me, for I was living on the spiritual. To the last I have been acting under the direct orders of Master, and could not therefore, do as he (Mr. Sinnett) would have liked me to. This he would never consent to fully realise.'
"And, as a corroboration on my side, (which of course will not go far with you, but I have promised her and must do it) let me tell you my dear Mr. Sinnett, that apart from what I may have told her, and letters of Master to me about her, she had direct orders from Him, and acted upon. She tells me that you said that I told you otherwise; namely that the injunction ended when you came to Elberfeld. I can only say that I have never told you so and that you again misunderstood me. I said that personally, it was a matter of perfect indifference to me whether she would stay at your house or not; but that I knew it was Master's express wish she should not; that it was she herself, who, determined to carry out His orders, refused to do so; and had made several appeals to me to support her in this statement. This I did several times but you would never believe me. She was greatly disturbed (mentally) all the time, and her development has suffered thereby. But I hope she will be calmer now and rest." http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/hpb-aps/bl-39.htm
In the following account Mrs. Holloway described a significant event that happened to her after her departure from London:
"I left H.P.B. in London. . . . The person I felt to be the one great hindrance to my advancement was Mr. Sinnett, and rebelliously I resented it in my heart.
"Going on board the steamer in the afternoon I retired at once to my stateroom and, later on, while reading quietly the room was filled with a blazing light that came like a flood upon me.
"Two Masters stood in the midst of this light and conversed with me. It was the most transcendent Vision I had ever seen, or shall hope to see again, and while these enlightened Beings were with me they instructed me regarding my future. . . ."
". . . One of the glorious Beings I saw on that never-to-be-forgotten evening at sea, was H.P.B., and then and there my vision was strengthened, and I was carefully instructed regarding my one gift --- the power to pass easily from the physical to the astral plane, and the tasks I was to perform on that plane, while living in the body and doing my duty according to my ability." (Excerpted from a letter written by Mrs. Holloway and dated September 11, 1923. This letter is preserved in the H.P.B. Library, Toronto, Canada.)