The Authentic Letters of
H.P.B., As Edited by One
Of the Main Founders of the
Theosophical Movement
William Q. Judge
William Q. Judge
H.P.
Blavatsky and W.Q. Judge
Introduction to Chapter 11
of the Present Online Edition:
In this Chapter of
her private letters to her family, H.P.B. says she hardly loves any individual at
the personal level, except for her family members, and this because they are “of
her own blood”. She says she is sacrificing her life for Theosophy, not for
theosophists personally.
This is directly related to the fact that impersonality is a
precondition for students who want to take any real steps along the path of
Raja Yoga and esoteric wisdom. As we have seen at the Introduction to Chapter
8, every Pilgrim must accept the fact that in reality “no man is his enemy, no man is his friend, all alike are his teachers”.
[1]
Personal ties are obstacles, since the Pilgrim must identify himself
with the Karma Law, and Karma, as Robert Crosbie wrote, is “an undeviating and unerring tendency in the
Universe to restore equilibrium, which operates incessantly”.
Crosbie adds:
“Karma is inherent law and its operation must therefore be impersonal.
Some might take this to be ‘merciless,’ but that would only be because they
desire escape from consequences that are unpleasant.” [2]
Any form of personal love and attachment (or rejection) is therefore a
hindrance for the disciple, and H.P.B. was well aware of that, although parts
of her lower self still had intense personal ties.
In this chapter H.P.B. examines her own impersonal mission and work from
the point of view of her lower self and partly with the eyes of her relatives,
who happened to have a very limited understanding of theosophy. Humour is also present.
The “ninth wave” mentioned by H.P.B. is a traditional giant sea wave
which can swallow whole ships leaving no trace of them. Its existence has a
mythical dimension.
By the end of the chapter she compares the Christian adversaries of the
theosophical movement to Balaam. This was a Mesopotamian diviner. When
commanded to curse the Israelites, Balaam could not do that. Instead he blessed
them and uttered favorable prophecies about them, after being rebuked by the
ass he rode. [3]
(Carlos Cardoso Aveline)
NOTES:
[1] “Light on the
Path”, written down by M.C., Theosophy
Company (India), Bombay (Mumbai), 1991,
90 pp., see p. 24.
[2] “The Friendly
Philosopher”, Robert Crosbie, Theosophy Company, Los Angeles, 1945 / 2008, 416
pp., see p. 30.
[3] “Webster’s
Unabridged Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English Language”, Portland House,
1989 edition.
Letters of H.P. Blavatsky [1]
Chapter XI
[THE PATH, Volume X, New York, October 1895, pp. 203-206.]
In
letters and conversation alike, H.P.B. often referred to the debt of gratitude
she owed to the Countess Wachtmeister, Madame Gebhard, and especially Doctor Ashton Ellis, for their devotion and
self-abnegation during her illness. In one of the last letters she wrote to
Madame Jelihovsky from Ostende, she spoke as follows:
“I really do not know what to
think! What am I to them? Why should the Countess be so devoted to me,
as to be ready to give her life for mine?
What am I to Ellis, who never saw
me before, that he should think nothing of the risk, when leaving the hospital without
permission, for a whole week for my sake ; now he has lost his
place, his handsome pay, and his rooms at the Westminster Dispensary. He went
home and returned here laughing: he does not care a bit, he says! He will have more time to spend on Theosophy,
with his practice alone. . . . . . Well, what does all this mean? What do they find in me? Why should it be my fate to influence the
destinies of other people? I tell you
seriously, I feel frightened! I cease
understanding causes and feel lost. The
only thing I know is that I have called forth an unknown power which ties the
destinies of other people to my destiny, to my life . . . . . . . I know also to my great relief, that many amongst those devoted to me look up
to me as their rescuer. Many were heartless egotists, faithless materialists, lightheaded
sensualists, and many have become serious people, working indefatigably,
sacrificing everything to the work:
position, time, money, and
thinking but of one thing: their spiritual and intellectual development. They have become in a way the victims of
self-sacrifice, and live only for the
good of others, seeing their salvation
and light in me. And what am I? I am
what I always was. At least so far as
they are concerned, seriously. I am
ready to give the last drop of my blood for Theosophy, but as for
Theosophists I hardly love anyone amongst them personally. I cannot love anyone personally, but you of
my own blood. . . . . . . What a blind tool I am, I must own, in the hands of
the one whom I call my Master! . . . . . . I do not know, I do not know, I do not know.
For me, as for anyone else, the phenomenal birth of our Society, on my initiative, its daily and hourly
growth, its indestructibility, in spite of the many blows from its enemies - are an unsolved riddle. I do not know any logical cause for it, but I
see, I know, that the Theosophical
Society is preordained to have a world-wide importance. It will become one of the events of the world!
It possesses a moral and psychical power, the weight of which, like the
ninth wave, will submerge, sweep away and drown all that the lesser waves of
human thought left on the shore ; all foreign sediments, all shreds and patches
of systems and philosophies. I am its
blind motor, but a great power rests with it.”
When finally settled in London Madame Blavatsky wrote to her sister:
“Here I am planted among the fogs of Albion. Literally planted,
because I did not come here of my own free will. I have been dragged over by my admirers, nearly in my bed or in their
arms. They make a regular hobby of
me. To their mind, they won’t be able to
find their way to the Kingdom of Heaven without me. They sent a deputation with a petition from
seventy-two Theosophists who have firmly made up their minds to deprive poor
Ostende of my ‘ennobling’ presence and
‘beneficent magnetic fluid’ - excuse du
peu! I grumble at them, I drive
them away, I shut myself off from all
these mystical vampires, who suck all
the moral strength out of me - no! All the same they rush to me, like flies to honey. ‘We have become aware’, they say, ‘of the
spirit of holiness and moral perfection in your atmosphere. You alone can
enlighten us and give life to the hybernating and inactive London
Society.’ Well, now they have got what
they wanted; I have come and thrown more fuel to the furnace - I hope they
won’t repent it. I sit at my table and
write, whilst they all jump about and dance to my music. Yesterday we had a meeting at which was
formed a new branch of the Theosophical Society, and - just fancy that - they unanimously called it ‘The Blavatsky
Lodge of the T.S.’! . . . . . . This I
call hitting the Psychical Research Society straight in the face; let them
learn of what stuff we are made! . . . .
. . We are about to found a magazine of our own, Lucifer. Don’t allow
yourself to be frightened: it is not the devil, into which the Catholics have
falsified the name of the Morning Star, sacred to all the ancient world, of the
‘bringer of light’, Phosphoros, as the Romans often called the Mother of God
and Christ. And in St. John’s Revelation does it not say ‘I, Jesus,
the morning star’? I wish people would
take this to mind, at least. It is
possible that the rebellious angel was
called before his fall, but after his
transformation he must not be called so . . . . . . It is simply frightful what a lot of work I
have. They write from Paris that the Society is also divided there. They refuse
to acknowledge the Branch under the presidency of Lady Caithness, Duchesse of Pomar, and ask for a representative of mine; just
like those here, who want me to take the place of Sinnett . . . . . . . They
insisted upon my tearing myself to pieces for them! I am to play at being a kind of ‘omnipresent’
General Booth with his Salvation Army! Thank
you very much! And a new magazine
- Le Lotus - they intend to start
too. I have refused the editorship point
blank; and so look at the title page - I enclose the specimen copy – ‘Sous l’inspiration de Mme. H. P. Blavatsky’. How do you like that now? Am I do send
magnetic fluids to Gaboriau, its editor, and to his collaborators? It appears that your sister is getting to be the fashion in Europe also. Look at Hartmann dedicating his book to ‘my genius.’ But how am I to get time for everything -
magazines, lessons in occultism, the Secret
Doctrine, the first part of which is not ready yet - I do not know myself!”
During this eventful time Madame Blavatsky was in excellent spirits and very
hopeful as to the future of her Society,
as is shown by the following letter to her sister:
“A whole Society of Catholic clergy
and High-Church fanatics has been formed here against your sister. They already have had three meetings. During the first they tried to prove that I am no more and no less than
the very Devil in petticoats. But my
Theosophists protested, and having asked
for the right of speech proved very neatly on the spot that these Catholics
were Jesuits, sorry Christians, worshippers of Baal and Mammon. During the
second, they tried to take up the old story:
she is a spy, an agent of the Russian government and is dangerous to
British interests. . . . . . . Here
arose Lane Fox, Sinnett and Sir W. Grove
and proved to the public that the enemies of Theosophy, who fear my Russian
patriotism, are near relatives to Balaam’s ass, though it saw an angel, at
least, and could talk, and they see only
small blue devils everywhere, in their bigotry, and can’t speak, in the
bargain. At the third meeting was
discussed the question: can it be that I am Antichrist? Here the young Lord P. got up and read out my
answer, in which I laconically but
clearly inform the world that if twice two equals four, all these people are
blank ignoramuses and calumniators. . . . . . . The effect exceeded expectation as you will
see from the reports, so great was the enthusiasm of my friends . . . . . .
. Now they are going to cry still
louder: Lucifer will kill our
opposers! Even my personal enemies are
full of praises for it . . . . . . . .
And yet I feel sad, oh so sad!
Oh, if I only could see you.”
NOTE:
[1] Copyright,
1895.
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On the role of the esoteric movement in the
ethical awakening of mankind during the 21st century, see the book “The Fire
and Light of Theosophical Literature”, by Carlos Cardoso Aveline.
Published in 2013 by The Aquarian Theosophist, the volume has 255 pages and can be
obtained through Amazon Books.
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