The True Yogis Are Scarcely
Understood in Materialistic Societies

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An Editorial Note:
The following text is a fragment from the book
“From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan”,
by H. P. Blavatsky, T.P.H., USA, 1983, 719 pp.,
see pp. 314-315. In the transcription, longer
paragraphs have been divided into smaller ones,
in order to make a contemplative reading easier.
Boris de Zirkoff, the editor of the “Collected
Writings” of Helena P. Blavatsky, informs:
“It is quite possible that Captain Seymour may
have been one of the three Englishmen who,
according to Master Koot Hoomi’s statement
(‘The Mahatma Letters’, Letter V, p. 19) had been
‘brought across the threshold’ during the nineteenth
century, one of them being a Captain Remington.” [1]
(Carlos Cardoso Aveline)
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There [is] a very interesting and scholarly pamphlet, the contents of which were an affront to modern science. It was written in English and published in a small edition by a regimental physician and surgeon named N. C. Paul, G.B.M.C., [1] in Benares.
He was well known among his compatriots, the English, as a specialist in physiology and was at one time considered an authority in the world of medicine. The pamphlet treated of various instances of “hibernation” witnessed by the doctor among the ascetics, and the samadhi and other phenomena produced by the yogins.
Bearing the title “A Treatise on the Yoga Philosophy”, this pamphlet alarmed the representatives of European medicine in India, and a lively polemic between Anglo-Indian and native journalists ensued.
Dr. Paul had spent thirty-five years in studying the incredible, but for him entirely indubitable, facts of “yogism”. With perfect sincerity, and evident regret, he confesses the fact that he could never succeed in reaching the raja-yogins, but he established friendly ties with fakirs and lay yogins, i.e., such as do not hide their rank and upon occasion will consent to permit a European to witness certain phenomena. Dr. Paul not only described some of the strangest among those he had witnessed, but even explained them. Levitation, for instance, something that stands in direct opposition to the accepted laws of gravity and which was vehemently denied by the astronomer Babinet, is explained by him quite scientifically. But it was chiefly his warm friendship with Captain Seymour which enabled him to penetrate some mysteries which, until then, were supposed to be impenetrable.
Some twenty-five years ago, this captain produced in India, and more particularly in the Army, an unprecedented scandal. Captain Seymour, a wealthy and well-educated man, accepted the Brahmanical creed and became a yogin! Of course he was proclaimed insane and, being caught, was sent back to England. Seymour escaped and returned to India in the dress of a sannyasin. He was caught again, put on board a steamer, taken to London, and placed in a lunatic asylum.
Three days later, in spite of bolts and watchmen, he disappeared from the institution. Later, his acquaintances saw him in Benares, and the Governor-General received a letter from him from the Himalayas. He declared in this letter that he had never been insane, in spite of having been placed in a hospital. He advised the Governor-General not to meddle in his private affairs again and stated that he would never return to civilized society.
“I am a yogin”, he wrote, “and expect to attain what is the aim of my life - to become a raja-yogin before I die.”
The Governor did not understand, but dropped the matter. After this no European ever saw him except Dr. Paul, who, as it is reported, was in communication with him until his last days, and even went twice into the Himalayas - ostensibly on botanical excursions.
The chief inspector of the medical department, considering Dr. Paul’s pamphlet as “a direct slap in the face of science in its physiological and pathological fields”, ordered all published copies of it bought from private owners at a high price and publicly burned, as a sacrifice to science, no doubt. As a result of this, the pamphlet became a rarity. Of a few copies saved, one is to be found in the library of the Maharaja of Benares and another was given to me by the Thakur. [2]
NOTES:
[1] “G.B.M.C.” means “a graduate from the Bengal Medical College at Calcutta”. The book or pamphlet to which HPB refers is “A Treatise on the Yoga Philosophy”, 62 pp., Benares, India, 1851. (CCA)
[2] “Thakur”: a fictionalized character in the narratives published in the volume “From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan”. The character broadly corresponds to Helena Blavatsky’s spiritual Master. (CCA)
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The article “Yoga - the Story of Captain Seymour” was published on the websites of the Independent Lodge of Theosophists on 21 January 2025. It is also part of the January 2019 edition of The Aquarian Theosophist, where it will be found under the title of “The Story of Captain Seymour”.
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Read more:
* From Ritualism to Raja Yoga (by a Master of the Wisdom).
* The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali (by Manilal Nabhubhai Dvivedi).
* Raja Yoga or Mental Development (by Yogi Ramacharaka).
* The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali (by William Q. Judge).
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Print the texts you study from the websites of the Independent Lodge. Reading on paper helps us attain a deeper view of philosophical texts. When studying a printed text, the reader can underline sentences and make handwritten comments in the margins that link the ideas to his personal reality.
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Helena Blavatsky (photo) wrote these words: “Deserve, then desire”.
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