Book: Five Years Of Theosophy

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The evidence now laid before the public was collected by me during the
months of October and November, 1882, and was at the time placed before
some of the leading members of the Theosophical Society, Mr. Sinnett
among others. The account of Bro. Ramaswamier's interview with his Guru
in Sikkhim being then ready for publication, there was no necessity, in
their opinion, for the present paper being brought to light. But since
an attempt has been made in some quarters to minimize the effect of Mr.
Ramaswamier's evidence by calling it most absurdly "the hallucinations
of a half-frozen strolling Registrar," I think something might be gained
by the publication of perfectly independent testimony of, perhaps,
equal, if not greater, value, though of quite a different character.
With these words of explanation as to the delay in its publication, I
resign this paper to the criticism of our sceptical friends. Let them
calmly consider and pronounce upon the evidence of the Tibetan pedlar at
Darjiling, supported and strengthened by the independent testimony of
the young Brahmachari at Dehradun. Those who were present when the
statements of these persons were taken, all occupy very respectable
positions in life--some in fact belonging to the front ranks of Hindu
Society, and several in no way connected with the Theosophical movement,
but, on the contrary, quite unfriendly to it. In those days I again say
I was rather sceptical myself. It is only since I collected the
following evidence and received more than one proof of the actual
existence of my venerated master, Mahatma Koothoomi, whose presence--
quite independently of Madame Blavatsky, Colonel Olcott or any "alleged"
Chela--was made evident to me in a variety of ways, that I have given up
the folly of doubting any longer. Now I believe no more--I KNOW; and
knowing, I would help others to obtain the same knowledge.

During my visit to Darjiling I lived in the same house with several
Theosophists, all as ardent aspirants for the higher life, and most of
them as doubtful with regard to the Himalayan Mahatmas as I was myself
at that time. I met at Darjiling persons who claimed to be Chelas of
the Himalayan Brothers and to have seen and lived with them for years.
They laughed at our perplexity. One of them showed us an admirably
executed portrait of a man who appeared to be an eminently holy person,
and who, I was told, was the Mahatma Koothoomi (now my revered master),
to whom Mr. Sinnett's "Occult World" is dedicated. A few days after my
arrival, a Tibetan pedlar of the name of Sundook accidentally came to
our house to sell his things. Sundook was for years well-known in
Darjiling and the neighbourhood as an itinerant trader in Tibetan
knick-knacks, who visited the country every year in the exercise of his
profession. He came to the house several times during our stay there,
and seemed to us, from his simplicity, dignity of bearing and pleasant
manners, to be one of Nature's own gentlemen. No man could discover in
him any trait of character even remotely allied to the uncivilized
savages, as the Tibetans are held in the estimation of Europeans. He
might very well have passed for a trained courtier, only that he was too
good to be one. He came to the house while I was there. On the first
occasion he was accompanied by a Goorkha youth, named Sundar Lall, an
employee in the Darjiling News office, who acted as interpreter. But we
soon found out that the peculiar dialect of Hindi which he spoke was
intelligible to some of us without any interpreter, and so there was
none needed on subsequent occasions. On the first day we put him some
general questions about Tibet and the Gelugpa sect, to which he said he
belonged, and his answers corroborated the statements of Bogle, Turnour
and other travelers. On the second day we asked him if he had heard of
any persons in Tibet who possessed extraordinary powers besides the
great lamas. He said there were such men; that they were not regular
lamas, but far higher than they, and generally lived in the mountains
beyond Tchigatze and also near the city of Lhassa. These men, he said,
produce many and very wonderful phenomena or "miracles," and some of
their Chelas, or Lotoos, as they are called in Tibet, cure the sick by
giving them to eat the rice which they crush out of the paddy with their
hands, &c. Then one of us had a glorious idea. Without saying one word,
the above-mentioned portrait of the Mahatma Koothoomi was shown to him.
He looked at it for a few seconds, and then, as though suddenly
recognizing it, he made a profound reverence to the portrait, and said
it was the likeness of a Chohan (Mahatma) whom he had seen. Then he
began rapidly to describe the Mahatma's dress and naked arms; then
suiting the action to the word, he took off his outer cloak, and baring
his arms to the shoulder, made the nearest approach to the figure in the
portrait, in the adjustment of his dress.

He said he had seen the Mahatma in question accompanied by a numerous
body of Gylungs, about that time of the previous year (beginning of
October 1881) at a place called Giansi, two days' journey southward of
Tchigatze, whither the narrator dad gone to make purchases for his
trade. On being asked the name of the Mahatma, he said to our unbounded
surprise, "They are called Koothum-pa." Being cross-examined and asked
what he meant by "they," and whether he was naming one man or many, he
replied that the Koothum-pas were many, but there was only one man or
chief over them of that name; the disciples being always called after
the names of their guru. Hence the name of the latter being Koot-hum,
that of his disciples was "Koot-hum-pa." Light was shed upon this
explanation by a Tibetan dictionary, where we found that the word "pa"
means "man;" "Bod-pa" is a "man of Bod or Thibet," &c. Similarly
Koothum-pa means man or disciple of Koothoom or Koothoomi. At Giansi,
the pedlar said, the richest merchant of the place went to the Mahatma,
who had stopped to rest in the midst of an extensive field, and asked
him to bless him by coming to his house. The Mahatma replied, he was
better where he was, as he had to bless the whole world, and not any
particular man. The people, and among them our friend Sundook, took
their offerings to the Mahatma, but he ordered them to be distributed
among the poor. Sundook was exhorted by the Mahatma to pursue his trade
in such a way as to injure no one, and warned that such was the only
right way to prosperity. On being told that people in India refused to
believe that there were such men as the Brothers in Tibet, Sundook
offered to take any voluntary witness to that country, and convince us,
through him, as to the genuineness of their existence, and remarked that
if there were no such men in Tibet, he would like to know where they
were to be found. It being suggested to him that some people refused to
believe that such men existed at all, he got very angry. Tucking up the
sleeve of his coat and shirt, and disclosing a strong muscular arm, he
declared that he would fight any man who would suggest that he had said
anything but the truth.

On being shown a peculiar rosary of beads belonging to Madame Blavatsky,
the pedlar said that such things could only be got by those to whom the
Tesshu Lama presented them, as they could be got for no amount of money
elsewhere. When the Chela who was with us put on his sleeveless coat
and asked him whether he recognized the latter's profession by his
dress, the pedlar answered that he was a Gylung and then bowing down to
him took the whole thing as a matter of course. The witnesses in this
case were Babu Nobin Krishna Bannerji, deputy magistrate, Berhampore,
M.R. Ry. Ramaswamiyer Avergal, district registrar, Madura (Madras), the
Goorkha gentleman spoken of before, all the family of the first-named
gentleman, and the writer.

Now for the other piece of corroborative evidence. This time it came
most accidentally into my possession. A young Bengali Brahmachari, who
had only a short time previous to our meeting returned from Tibet and
who was residing then at Dehradun, in the North-Western Provinces of
India, at the house of my grandfather-in-law, the venerable Babu
Devendra Nath Tagore of the Brahmo Samaj, gave most unexpectedly, in the
presence of a number of respectable witnesses, the following account:--

On the 15th of the Bengali month of Asar last (1882). being the 12th day
of the waxing moon, he met some Tibetans, called the Koothoompas, and
their guru in a field near Taklakhar, a place about a day's journey from
the Lake of Manasarawara. The guru and most of his disciples, who were
called gylungs, wore sleeveless coats over under-garments of red. The
complexion of the guru was very fair, and his hair, which was not parted
but combed back, streamed down his shoulders. When the Brahmachani
first saw the Mahatma he was reading in a book, which the Brahmachari
was informed by one of the gylungs was the Rig Veda.

The guru saluted him, and asked him where he was coming from. On
finding the latter had not had anything to eat, the guru commanded that
he should be given some ground gram (Sattoo) and tea. As the
Brahmachari could not get any fire to cook food with, the guru asked
for, and kindled a cake of dry cow-dung--the fuel used in that country
as well as in this--by simply blowing upon it, and gave it to our
Brahmachari. The latter assured us that he had often witnessed the same
phenomenon, produced by another guru or chohan, as they are called in
Tibet, at Gauri, a place about a day's journey from the cave of Tarchin,
on the northern side of Mount Kailas. The keeper of a flock, who was
suffering from rheumatic fever came to the guru, who gave him a few
grains of rice, crushed out of paddy, which the guru had in his hand,
and the sick man was cured then and there.

Before he parted company with the Koothumpas and their guru, the
Brahmachari found that they were going to attend a festival held on the
banks of the Lake of Manasarawara, and that thence they intended to
proceed to the Kailas mountains.

The above statement was on several occasions repeated by the Brahmachari
in the presence (among others) of Babu Dwijender Nath Tagore of
Jorasanko, Calcutta; Babu Cally Mohan Ghose of the Trigonometrical
Surcey of India, Dehradun; Babu Cally Cumar Chatterij of the same
place; Babu Gopi Mohan Ghosh of Dacca; Babu Priya Nath Sastri, clerk to
Babu Devender Nath Tagore, and the writer. Comments would here seem
almost superfluous, and the facts might very well have been left to
speak for themselves to a fair and intelligent jury. But the averseness
of people to enlarge their field of experience and the wilful
misrepresentation of designing persons know no bounds. The nature of
the evidence here adduced is of an unexceptional character. Both
witnesses were met quite accidentally. Even if it be granted, which we
certainly do not for a moment grant, that the Tibetan pedlar, Sundook,
had been interviewed by some interested person, and induced to tell an
untruth, what can be conceived to have been the motive of the
Brahmachari, one belonging to a religious body noted for their
truthfulness, and having no idea as to the interest the writer took in
such things, in inventing a romance, and how could he make it fit
exactly with the statements of the Tibetan pedlar at the other end of
the country? Uneducated persons are no doubt liable to deceive
themselves in many matters, but these statements dealt only with such
disunited facts as fell within the range of the narrator's eyes and
ears, and had nothing to do with his judgment or opinion. Thus, when
the pedlar's statement is coupled with that of the Dehradun Brahmachari,
there is, indeed, no room left for any doubt as to the truthfulness of
either. It may here be mentioned that the statement of the Brahmachari
was not the result of a series of leading questions, but formed part of
the account he voluntarily gave of his travels during the year, and that
he is almost entirely ignorant of the English language, and had, to the
best of my knowledge, information and belief, never even so much as
heard of the name of Theosophy. Now, if any one refuses to accept the
mutually corroborative but independent testimonies of the Tibetan pedlar
of Darjiling and the Brahmachari of Dehradun on the ground that they
support the genuineness of facts not ordinarily falling within the
domain of one's experience, all I can say is that it is the very miracle
of folly. It is, on the other hand, most unshakably established upon
the evidence of several of his Chelas, that the Mahatma Koothoomi is a
living person like any of us, and that moreover he was seen by two
persons on two different occasions. This will, it is to be hoped,
settle for ever the doubts of those who believe in the genuineness of
occult phenomena, but put them down to the agency of "spirits." Mark
one circumstance. It may be argued that during the pedlar's stay at
Darjiling, Madame Blavatsky was also there, and, who knows, she might
have bribed him (!!) into saying what he said. But no such thing can be
urged in the case of the Dehradun Brahmachari. He knew neither the
pedlar nor Madame Blavatsky, had never heard of Colonel Olcott, having
just returned from his prolonged journey, and had no idea that I was a
Fellow of the Society. His testimony was entirely voluntary. Some
others, who admit that Mahatmas exist, but that there is no proof of
their connection with the Theosophical Society, will be pleased to see
that there is no a priori impossibility in those great souls taking an
interest in such a benevolent Society as ours. Consequently it is a
gratuitous insult to a number of self-sacrificing men and women to
reject their testimony without a fair hearing.

I purposely leave aside all proofs which are already before the public.
Each set of proofs is conclusive in itself, and the cumulative effect of
all is simply irresistible.

--Mohini M. Chatterji




Interview with a Mahatma


At the time I left home for the Himalayas in search of the Supreme
Being, having adopted Brahmacharyashrama (religious mendicancy), I was
quite ignorant of the fact that there was any such philosophical sect as
the Theosophists existing in India, who believed in the existence of the
Mahatmas or "superior persons." This and other facts connected with my
journey are perfectly correct as already published, and so need not be
repeated or contradicted. Now I beg to give a fuller account of my
interview with the Mahatmas.

Before and after I met the so-called Mahatma Koothum-pa, I had the good
fortune of seeing in person several other Mahatmas of note, a detailed
account of whom, I hope, should time allow, to write to you by-and-by.
Here I wish to say something about Koothum-pa only.

When I was on my way to Almora from Mansarowar and Kailas, one day I had
nothing with me to eat. I was quite at a loss how to get on without
food. There being no human habitation in that part of the country, I
could expect no help, but pray to God, and take my way patiently on.
Between Mansarowar and Taklakhal, by the side of a road, I observed a
tent pitched and several Sadhus (holy men), called Chohans, sitting
outside it who numbered about seventeen in all. As to their dress, &c.,
what Babu M.M. Chatterji says is quite correct. When I went to them
they entertained me very kindly, and saluted me by uttering, "Ram Ram."
Returning their salutations, I sat down with them, and they entered upon
conversation with me on different subjects, asking me first the place I
was coming from and whither I was going. There was a chief of them
sitting inside the tent, and engaged in reading a book. I inquired
about his name and the book he was reading from, one of his Chelas, who
answered me in rather a serious tone, saying that his name was Guru
Koothum-pa, and the book he was reading was Rig Veda. Long before, I
had been told by some Pundits of Bengal that the Tibetan Lamas were
well-acquainted with the Rig Veda. This proved what they had told me.
After a short time, when his reading was over, he called me in by one of
his Chelas, and I went to him. He, also bidding me "Ram Ram," received
me very gently and courteously, and began to talk with me mildly in pure
Hindi. He addressed me in words such as follows:--"You should remain
here for some time and see the fair at Mansarowar, which is to come off
shortly. Here you will have plenty of time and suitable retreats for
meditation, &c. I will help you in whatever I can." He spoke as above
for some time, and I replied that what he said was right, and that I
would gladly have stayed, but there was some reason which prevented me.
He understood my object immediately, and then, having given me some
private advice as to my spiritual progress, bade me farewell. Before
this he had come to know that I was hungry, and so wished me to take
some food. He ordered one of his Chelas to supply me with food, which
he did immediately. In order to get hot water ready for my ablutions, he
prepared fire by blowing into a cow-dung cake, which burst into flames
at once. This is a common practice among the Himalayan Lamas. It is
also fully explained by M.M. Chatterji, and so need not be repeated.

As long as I was there with the said Lama, he never persuaded me to
accept Buddhism or any other religion, but only said, "Hinduism is the
best religion; you should believe in the Lord Mahadeva--he will do good
to you. You are still quite a young man--do not be enticed away by the
necromancy of anybody." Having had a conversation with the Mahatma as
described above for about three hours, I at last took leave and resumed
my journey.

I am neither a Theosophist nor a sectarian, but am the worshipper of the
only Om. As regards the Mahatma I personally saw, I dare say that he is
a great Mahatma. By the fulfilment of certain of his prophecies, I am
quite convinced of his excellence. Of all the Himalayan Mahatmas with
whom I had an interview, I never met a better Hindi speaker than he. As
to his birth-place and the place of his residence, I did not ask him any
question. Neither can I say if he is the Mahatma of the Theosophists.
As to the age of the Mahatma Koothum-pa, as I told Babu M. M. Chatterji
and others, he was an elderly looking man.

--Rajani Kant Brahmachari




The Secret Doctrine


Few experiences lying about the threshhold of occult studies are more
perplexing and tormenting than those which have to do with the policy of
the Brothers as to what shall, and what shall not, be revealed to the
outer world. In fact, it is only by students at the same time tenacious
and patient--continuously anxious to get at the truths of occult
philosophy, but cool enough to bide their time when obstacles come in
the way--that what looks, at first sight, like a grudging and miserly
policy in this matter on the part of our illustrious teachers can be
endured. Most men persist in judging all situations by the light of
their own knowledge and conceptions, and certainly by reference to
standards of right and wrong with which modern civilization is familiar
a pungent indictment may be framed against the holders of philosophical
truth. They are regarded by their critics as keeping guard over their
intellectual possessions, declaring, "We have won this knowledge with
strenuous effort and at the cost of sacrifice and suffering; we will
not make a present of it to luxurious idlers who have done nothing to
deserve it." Most critics of the Theosophical Society and its
publications have fastened on this obvious idea, and have denounced the
policy of the Brothers as "selfish" and "unreasonable."

It has been argued that, as regards occult powers, the necessity for
keeping back all secrets which would enable unconscientious people to do
mischief, might be granted, but that no corresponding motives could
dictate the reservation of occult philosophical truth.

I have lately come to perceive certain considerations on this subject
which have generally been overlooked; and it seems desirable to put
them forward at once; especially as a very considerable body of occult
philosophical teaching is now before the world, and as those who
appreciate its value best, will sometimes be inclined to protest all the
more emphatically against the tardiness with which it has been served
out, and the curious precautions with which its further development is
even now surrounded.

In a nutshell, the explanation of the timid policy displayed is that the
Brothers are fully assured that the disclosure of that actual truth
(which constitutes the secret doctrine) about the origin of the World
and of Humanity--of the laws which govern their existence, and the
destinies to which they are moving on--is calculated to have a very
momentous effect on the welfare of mankind. Great results ensue from
small beginnings, and the seeds of knowledge now being sown in the world
may ultimately bear prodigious harvest. We, who are present merely at
the sowing, may not realize the magnitude and importance of the impulse
we are concerned in giving, but that impulse will roll on, and a few
generations hence will be productive of tremendous consequences one way
or the other.

For occult philosophy is no shadowy system of speculation like any of
the hundred philosophies with which the minds of men have been
overwhelmed; it is the positive Truth, and by the time enough of it is
let out, it will be seen to be so by thousands of the greatest men who
may then be living in the world. What will be the consequence? The
first effect on the minds of all who come to understand it, is terribly
iconoclastic. It drives out before it everything else in the shape of
religious belief. It leaves no room for any conceptions belonging even
to the groundwork or foundation of ordinary religious faith. And what
becomes then of all rules of right and wrong, of all sanctions for
morality? Most assuredly there are rules of right and wrong thrilling
through every fibre of occult philosophy really higher than any which
commonplace theologies can teach; far more cogent sanctions for
morality than can be derived at second-hand from the distorted doctrines
of exoteric religions; but a complete transfer of the sanction will be
a process involving the greatest possible danger for mankind at the
time. Bigots of all denominations will laugh at the idea of such a
transfer being seriously considered. The orthodox Christian--confident
in the thousand of churches overshadowing all western lands, of the
enormous force engaged in the maintenance and propagation of the faith,
with the Pope and the Protestant hierarchy in alliance for this broad
purpose, with the countless clergy of all sects, and the fiery Salvation
Army bringing up the rear--will think that the earth itself is more
likely to crumble into ruin than the irresistible authority of Religion
to be driven back. They are all counting, however, without the progress
of enlightenment. The most absurd religions die hard; but when the
intellectual classes definitively reject them, they die, with throes of
terrible agony, may be, and, perhaps, like Samson in the Temple, but
they cannot permanently outlive a conviction that they are false in the
leading minds of the age. Just what has been said of Christianity may
be said of Mahomedanism and Brahminism. Little or no risk is run while
occult literature aims merely at putting a reasonable construction on
perverted tenets--in showing people that truth may lurk behind even the
strangest theologic fictions. And the lover of orthodoxy, in either of
the cases instanced, may welcome the explanation with complacency. For
him also, as for the Christian, the faith which he professes--
sanctioned by what looks like a considerable antiquity to the very
limited vision of uninitiated historians, and supported by the
attachment of millions grown old in its service and careful to educate
their children in the convictions that have served their turn--is
founded on a rock which has its base in the foundations of the world.
Fragmentary teachings of occult philosophy seem at first to be no more
than annotations on the canonical doctrine. They may even embellish it
with graceful interpretations of its symbolism, parts of which may have
seemed to require apology, when ignorantly taken at the foot of the
letter. But this is merely the beginning of the attack. If occult
philosophy gets before the world with anything resembling completeness,
it will so command the assent of earnest students that for them nothing
else of that nature will remain standing. And the earnest students in
such eases must multiply. They are multiplying now even, merely on the
strength of the little that has been revealed. True, as yet--for some
time to come--the study will be, as it were, the whim of a few; but
"those who know," know among other things that, give it fair-play, and
it must become the subject of enthusiasm with all advanced thinkers. And
what is to happen when the world is divided into two camps--the whole
forces of intellectuality and culture on the one side, those of
ignorance and superstitious fanaticism on the other? With such a war as
that impending, the adepts, who will be conscious that they prepared the
lists and armed the combatants, will require some better justification
for their policy before their own consciences than the reflection that,
in the beginning, people accused them of selfishness, and of keeping a
miserly guard over their knowledge, and so goaded them with this taunt
that they were induced to set the ball rolling.

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