Masters of Wisdom: The Mahatmas, Their Letters, and the Path

JEREMY P. TARCHER/PENGUIN

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Copyright © 2015 by Edward Abdill

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Abdill, Edward.

Master of wisdom : the mahatmas, their letters, and the path / Edward Abdill.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-698-16362-1

1. Theosophy—History. 2. Blavatsky, H.P. (Helena Petrovna), 1831–1891. 1. Title.

BP530.A23 2015 2015000005

299'.93409—dc23

Version_1

To Our Elder Brothers

In profound gratitude for all they have done for humanity

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

It should be obvious that a book such as this could never come to light without the valuable advice and help of a select few. Following are those who have my thanks for making a major contribution to this work.

Dr. John Algeo, Distinguished Professor of English emeritus from the University of Georgia, did an initial edit of the manuscript with such skill that only a few minor changes were necessary. John is past president of the Theosophical Society in America, past international vice president of the Theosophical Society (Adyar, India), and a friend for many years. His assistance has been invaluable.

Joy Mills, an international speaker for the Theosophical Society, past president of the Theosophical Society in America, and a past vice president of the International Society (Adyar), pointed out that Madame Blavatsky may have had a private meeting with Morya in the Shell Grotto in Margate, rather than in Hyde Park. I frequently draw upon her encyclopedic knowledge of Theosophy.

Michael Gomes, a Theosophical historian and author of several books and articles on Theosophical history, has willingly supplied me with whatever information I needed for this book and for my previous book, The Secret Gateway.

Dr. Brian Harding, a physicist from Brisbane, Australia, and a Theosophist, provided invaluable assistance on the science chapter of this book.

My wife of forty years, Mary, whose computer expertise saved me from more than one disaster, has provided loving support and encouragement. Her suggestions have frequently helped me to better phrase concepts, and on occasion to add a point to the book that I would otherwise have missed.

Janet Kerschner, the archivist at the Theosophical Society in America, sent me printable copies of one of the original Mahatma Letters, the spirit picture of Stainton Moses, and the portraits of Masters Koot Hoomi and Morya that are included in the book.

Mitch Horowitz, editor in chief and vice president of Tarcher/Penguin, asked me to write this book.

The debt I owe to two Theosophical luminaries, Fritz Kunz, from whom I learned Theosophical metaphysics, and Dora Kunz, his wife, from whom I learned how to meditate, can only be repaid by doing whatever I can to bring the light of Theosophy to others.

Finally, thanks to all others who have assisted in any way that they could. These include but are not limited to Pablo Sender, Nicholas Weeks, Terry Hunt, and Denise O’Keefe.

CONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Introduction

PART I

THE MAHATMAS AND THEIR LETTERS

1. Blavatsky and the Mahatmas

2. The Mahatmas: What Are They? Who Are They?

3. Early Letters

4. God, Evil, and Occult Philosophy

5. Karma

6. Our Sevenfold Nature

7. From Death to Rebirth

8. Science

9. Working to Mold the Future

10. Founding of the Theosophical Society

11. Alleged Encounters with Masters

12. Forgery and Plagiarism

PART II

THE PATH

13. There Is a Road

14. The Search for Meaning

15. The Golden Stairs

16. Pitfalls on the Path

17. Selfishness, Pride, and Egoism

18. Desire and Attachment

19. Study, Meditation, and Service

20. Lay Chelas and Chelas

21. Working as Colleagues with the Masters

Appendix 1: The Masters and the Path

Appendix 2: Meditation

Abbreviations

Sources

Index

About the Author

INTRODUCTION

Who can say when it all began? The details are sketchy at best. If we are to believe Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, or H.P.B. as she was known to her friends, it began for her when, as a child, she had psychic visions of a tall Indian man she believed to be her protector. About 1845, when H.P.B. was thirteen, she was nearly killed when a horse she was riding became frightened and bolted—with her foot caught in the stirrup. She felt someone’s arms around her body supporting her until the horse was stopped (CW 1:xxxiii). She thought her protector had saved her. That is hardly convincing evidence for most, and certainly not convincing for anyone who believes there is no such thing as psychic ability. Yet, as Shakespeare wrote: There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy ( Hamlet , Act I, Sc. 5, lines 167–168).

Over time, we all develop a worldview, and we most certainly do not all see the world in the same way. Rare are individuals whose minds are open to possibilities beyond what they believe to be true at any given time. Some set their views so firmly in proverbial stone that facts will never confuse them. In the mid-twentieth century, a college psychology major by the name of John Kunz reported that he assisted in a psychological experiment concerning what has been called ESP (extrasensory perception). Thousands of questionnaires concerning ESP were sent to psychologists all across the United States. One of the questions asked was, Do you believe there is such a thing as ESP? As was to be expected, many answered yes and many more answered no. There was one response, however, that stunned John Kunz and the professor in charge of the experiment. The respondent wrote, No. I don’t believe there is any such thing as ESP. There is no evidence to support the claim, and if there were, I wouldn’t believe it. Unfortunately, that response is more common than we might wish. An inquiring mind is neither gullible nor incredulous. Evidence and eyewitness accounts of phenomena and encounters with Masters presented in this book will undoubtedly challenge the worldview of many. A consideration of Blavatsky’s claims will begin that challenge.

Blavatsky claimed that, as a young adult, she met in the flesh the man of her childhood psychic visions and learned that he went by the name of Morya. Later she also met Morya’s close colleague, Koot Hoomi, and several other extraordinary men known as Mahatmas, Adepts, Masters (in the sense of teachers), or simply the Brothers. She reported that they had extraordinary powers, but that those powers were latent in everyone and, over many lifetimes, would be developed by all. In 1888, in an article in her magazine, Lucifer, Blavatsky explained that the names Morya and Koot Hoomi are pseudonyms because none of the Masters ever give out their real names to the public.¹

If we had only the word of Blavatsky, we would have only hearsay evidence for the existence of these amazing men. Not only would hearsay evidence be unacceptable in a court of law, but it would not be sufficient evidence for any reasonable person, even an open-minded one. Fortunately, we do have some hard evidence that these men existed. We have letters written by them.

From their letters and from reports from Blavatsky and others, it is clear that the Masters wanted an organization formed that would spread their knowledge around the world. The central purpose of that organization was to form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity. In one of his letters, Koot Hoomi, who usually signed his name with the initials K.H., wrote, "The Chiefs want a ‘Brotherhood of Humanity,’ a real Universal Fraternity started; an institution which would make itself known throughout the world and arrest the attention of the highest minds (ML, letter 12, p. 39). That Fraternity" became the Theosophical Society, whose principal founders were H. P. Blavatsky, Henry Steel Olcott, and William Quan Judge. The organization was officially launched in New York on November 17, 1875, with Olcott as its first president, Blavatsky as its corresponding secretary, and Judge as its legal counsel.

In his inaugural address, Olcott announced that the declared objects of the Society were To collect and diffuse a knowledge of the laws which govern the universe. Over the years these objectives were modified, but the goal of those original objectives was never fundamentally changed. The founders were convinced that if the laws governing the universe were understood, it would become clear that the universe, including humanity, arises out of a fundamental unity of substance and consciousness. Hence, universal brotherhood would be revealed as a fact in nature rather than simply as an ideal to be realized. Today, the first object of the Society emphasizes brotherhood, and the second and third objects suggest ways of realizing that brotherhood. The objectives of the Society today are:

To form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or color.

To encourage the comparative study of religion, philosophy, and science.

To investigate unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in humanity.

In a letter to Alfred Percy Sinnett, K.H. gives an abridged version of the view of his own superior, the Maha Chohan, on the Theosophical Society. In it there is a curious statement about the objectives of the Society. The Chohan points out that the main objects of the T.S. are misinterpreted by those who are most willing to serve us (LMW1:6). The objectives as stated seem easy enough to understand, so what might the Chohan have meant? The misunderstanding may have been due to what is meant by a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity.

One of the objectives of 1889 read: To keep alive in man his spiritual intuitions. Intuition, in the Theosophical sense, means insight, and insight comes from buddhi, an aspect of the inner self of every human being. When we are functioning in the state of consciousness called buddhi, we perceive unity. We perceive the whole, which is greater than the sum of its parts. That state of consciousness transcends the personal: it is a state of consciousness in which we perceive humanity as a whole. It is a state wherein the individual senses a unity with all and yet does not lose individuality. By effort, meditation, and an altruistic way of life, we can become one with that inner self from which all insights derive. In deep meditation, we can get a sense of humanity as a whole. When we do, we become aware of the influence streaming from our own inner connections to the One Self, rooted in buddhi. Those who get that sense and identify with it are forming a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity. Individuals even unknown to one another are forming a bond at the deepest level of their being. That bond of unity is a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity.

Those who sense that the consciousness in them is identical with the consciousness in all others are forming that nucleus. Those who sense the divine life in themselves, and sense that same divine life in others, are forming that nucleus. Those who identify with the inner self are forming that nucleus. Those who sense that the Self is one are forming that nucleus. When we sense those inner realities, buddhi itself is being strengthened as its influence extends more and more into our brain consciousness and life. When that happens in the consciousness of even one person, it becomes a powerful influence on others who have not yet sensed it.

The Theosophical Society was meant to be an organization in which members from every culture would unite and work together to help all people realize their underlying unity with humanity as a whole and to experience that unity as the divine spark of life in all of us. We often identify ourselves as Christians, Jews, Hindus, Americans, Asians, Africans, Russians, atheists, and even Theosophists. Yet none of those labels describes who we really are. In fact, we are just basically human beings. The labels do no more than describe our beliefs, cultures, conditioning, places of birth, preferences for one religion or another—or for none. Many recognize the truth of that concept, but few feel with every fiber of their being that they are, at root, one with humanity as a whole.

Even those among us who respect all cultures may not sense the divine spark of life in every person they meet. We are likely to judge others by their appearances. We see only a Polaroid snapshot of those we meet, and we tend to judge them by the tiny bit of information that the photo provides. We human beings are extraordinarily complex. One moment we may appear as saints and in the next moment as devils. It is easy to feel unity with someone who is displaying their saintly side, but not so easy to feel it when they are showing their diabolical side.

The Theosophical Society has no required beliefs. No matter what a person believes, anyone in sympathy with its three objectives is welcome to join the Society. Members are not required to believe even in the existence of the Masters. It must be pointed out, however, that there is a huge difference between being a member of the Society and being a true Theosophist. The number of members is always greater than the number of true Theosophists, and many who have never heard of the Society are Theosophists in spirit. Blavatsky pointed out that

Any person of average intellectual capacities, and a leaning toward the meta-physical; of pure, unselfish life, who finds more joy in helping his neighbour than in receiving help himself; one who is ever ready to sacrifice his own pleasures for the sake of other people; and who loves Truth, Goodness and Wisdom for their own sake, not for the benefit they may confer—is a Theosophist. (CW 9:155)

According to the Masters and H.P.B., that kind of life leads to wisdom and eventually to adeptship.

In 1879, H.P.B. and Olcott moved the headquarters of the Society from New York to Bombay (now Mumbai), India. At that time, A. P. Sinnett, a well-educated and prominent Englishman living in India, was editor of The Pioneer, a leading English-language newspaper published in Allahabad. Sinnett was intrigued by Theosophical philosophy and the phenomena reportedly produced by Blavatsky, so he wrote to Olcott to invite him and Blavatsky to visit him and his wife. In December 1879, Olcott and Blavatsky accepted the invitation and spent some time with the Sinnetts in Allahabad. During that visit, the Sinnetts joined the Theosophical Society.

Like many other well-placed Englishmen in India at that time, the Sinnetts had a summer home in Simla (a city north of Delhi and the summer capital of India at the time of the Raj). In 1880, the founders paid a second visit to the Sinnetts at their summer home there. It was in Simla that H.P.B. performed some amazing phenomena that she attributed to the Masters. Sinnett was duly impressed and accepted the phenomena as valid. Later he wrote a book, The Occult World, in which he emphasized the authenticity of the phenomena H.P.B. performed.

Sinnett was a practical man with a scientific mind. He wanted to know more about the laws that governed the amazing phenomena he had witnessed, and he wanted to know more about the Masters who, according to H.P.B., had produced the phenomena. In fact, it was not the Masters who produced most of the phenomena, but H.P.B. herself. In her zeal and admiration for her Teachers, she attributed the most amazing phenomena to them. K.H. told Sinnett that, by attributing the phenomena to the Masters, H.P.B. thought she was adding to their glory, but K.H. said:

by attributing to us very often phenomena of the most childish nature, she but lowered us in the public estimation and sanctioned the claim of her enemies that she was but a medium! But it was of no use. In accordance with our rules, M. was not permitted to forbid her such a course. . . . She had to be allowed full and entire freedom of action, the liberty of creating causes that became in due course of time her scourge, her public pillory. He could at best forbid her producing phenomena, and to this last extremity he resorted as often as he could, to her friends’ and theosophists’ great dissatisfaction. . . . The stereotyped phrase: "It is not I; I can do nothing by myself . . . it is all they—the Brothers . . . I am but their humble and devoted slave and instrument" is a downright fib. She can and did produce phenomena, owing to her natural powers combined with several long years of regular training, and her phenomena are sometimes better, more wonderful and far more perfect than those of some high, initiated chelas [students], whom she surpasses in artistic taste and purely Western appreciation of art. (ML, letter 92, pp. 295–296)

Having witnessed the amazing phenomena that he believed the Brothers had produced and being desirous of getting in touch with those Brothers and learning about the laws that enabled such phenomena to be produced, Sinnett asked Blavatsky if she thought they would respond to him if he wrote them a letter. She doubted that any of them would consent to that, but she promised Sinnett she would try, and she did.

First, she went to her own teacher, the Mahatma Morya, often known as the Master M. He flat out refused, even though later he did engage in some correspondence with Sinnett. Blavatsky tried several other adepts and finally got one to say he would take up the challenge. That was the Mahatma Koot Hoomi, known usually as K.H. Although the names of Morya and Koot Hoomi are anonyms, they used those names in their letters and have been known by them ever since.

Sinnett wrote his first letter To the Unknown Brother and gave it to H.P.B. to deliver. He was so anxious to get answers to his questions that he wrote a second letter before getting a reply to his first. He did finally get a reply, however, and the correspondence between him and K.H. went on for several years. Sinnett kept all the letters from K.H. and Morya, and after Sinnett’s death the letters were edited in 1921 by the English Theosophist A. Trevor Barker. They were published in 1923 as The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett. Since that date there have been several editions of the letters, the most recent being the Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett from the Mahatmas M. and K.H. in Chronological Sequence, edited by Vicente Hao Chin, Jr. Earlier editions of the letters attempted to group them by subject matter. That was a noble attempt to gather together letters on a given topic, but it presented a serious problem. Individual letters cover more than one topic. So a large part of one letter may deal with the spiritual life, but it may also include comments about science or philosophy.

Because we do not have the original letters that Sinnett sent to the Brothers, we must rely solely on the letters that Sinnett received. From those letters we can only infer what questions Sinnett asked and what comments he may have made. It is much like hearing one side of a telephone conversation. Also, the letters contain much that was pertinent at the time but that is irrelevant now. The adept may have been warning Sinnett about someone whose motives were impure and who might have harmed the Theosophical movement. That was important then but not now. Some letters are primarily about individuals who were either useful or harmful to the movement. Yet in the same letter we may find a line of priceless advice for us today.

The advantage of the chronological edition of the letters is twofold. First, it avoids the inevitable confusion that comes from reading things out of sequence. Second, the chronological edition provides a wealth of historical