« Having received a
letter from my countrywoman, Madame Helena Blavatsky, in which she informed me
of her bad health and begged me to go to see her at Elberfeld (Germany), I
decided to take the journey. But as the state of my own health obliged me to be
careful, I preferred to stop at Brussels (Belgium), which town I had never
seen, to rest, the heat being unbearable.
I left Paris on the 24th of
August. Next morning, at the Grand Hotel in Brussels, where I was staying, I
met Mlle. Justine de Glinka (daughter of a Russian ambassador and maid of honour
to the Empress of Russia).
Hearing that I was going to
Elberfeld to see Mme. Blavatsky, whom she knew and for whom she had much
respect, she decided to come with me. We spent the day together expecting to leave
in the morning by the nine o’clock train.
At eight o’clock, being quite
ready to depart, I go to Miss de Glinka’s room and find her in a great state of
perplexity. All her keys, which she always kept about her person in a little
bag and that she had in this bag on going to bed, had disappeared during the
night, although the door was locked.
Thus, as all her baggage was
locked, she could not put away the things she had just been using and wearing.
We were obliged to postpone our departure to the one o’clock train and called a
locksmith to open the largest trunk.
When it was opened, all the keys
were found in the bottom of the trunk, including the key of this trunk itself,
attached as usual to the rest.
Having all the morning to spare,
we agreed to take a walk, but suddenly I was overcome by weakness and felt an
irresistible desire to sleep. I begged Miss de Glinka to excuse me and went to
my room, and threw myself on the bed.
But I could not sleep and lay
with my eyes shut, but awake, when suddenly I saw before my closed eyes a
series of views of unknown places that my memory took in to the finest detail.
And when this vision ceased, I felt no more weakness and went to Miss de Glinka,
to whom I related all that had happened to me and described to her in detail
the views I had seen.
We left by take the one o’clock
train and after about half an hour’s journey, Miss de Glinka, who was looking
out of the window, said to me:
-
"Look, here is
one of your landscapes!"
I recognized it at once, and all
that day until evening, I saw, with open eyes, all that I had seen in the
morning with closed eyes, and I was pleased that I had described to Miss de Glinka
all my vision in detail.
Map of the route taken by
Vsevolod Solovyov.
The route between Brussels and
Elberfeld is completely unknown to me, for it was the first time in my life that
I had visited Belgium and this part of Germany.
On arriving at Elberfeld in the
evening, we took rooms in a hotel and then hurried off to see Madame Blavatsky
at Mr. Gebhard’s house.
The same evening, the members of
the Theosophical Society who were there with Mme. Blavatsky showed us two
superb oil paintings of the Mahatmas Morya and Kuthumi painted by Mr.
Schmiechen.
The portrait of Morya especially
produced on us an extraordinary impression, and it is not surprising that on
the way back to the hotel, we talked on about him and had him before our eyes.
Miss de Glinka may be left to
relate her own experience during that night, but this is what happened to me:
Tired by the journey, I lay
peacefully sleeping when suddenly I was awakened by the sensation of a warm
penetrating breath. I open my eyes and in this feeble light that entered the
room through the three windows, I see before me a tall figure of a man, dressed
in a long white floating garment.
At the same time I heard or felt
a voice that told me, in I know not what language, although I understood
perfectly, to light the candle. I should explain that, far from being afraid, I
remained quite tranquil, only I felt my heart beat rapidly.
I lit the candle, and in lighting
it, saw by my watch that it was two o’clock. The vision did not disappear. There
was a living man in front of me. And I recognized
instantly the beautiful original of the portrait we had seen during the evening
before.
He sat down near me on a chair
and began to speak. He
talked for a long time. Among other things,
he told me that in order to be fit to see him in his astral body I had had to
undergo much preparation, and that the last lesson had been given me that
morning when I saw, with closed eyes, the landscapes that I was to see in
reality the same day.
Then he said that I possess great
magnetic power, now being developed. I asked him what I ought to do with this
force. But without answering, he vanished.
I was alone, the door of my room
locked. I
thought I had had a hallucination and even told myself with fright that I was
beginning to lose my mind. Hardly had this idea arisen when once again I saw
the superb man in white robes. He shook his head and, smiling, said to me:
-
"Be sure that I
am no hallucination and that your reason is not quitting you. Blavatsky will
prove to you tomorrow before everyone that my visit is real."
Then
he disappeared.
I saw by my watch that it was
three o’clock. I
put out the candle and immediately went into a deep sleep.
Next morning, on going with Miss de
Glinka to meet Madame Blavatsky, and the first thing she said to us with an
enigmatical smile was:
-
"Well! How have
you passed the night?"
-
"Very
well," I replied and I added, "Haven't you anything to tell me?"
-
"No," she
replied, "I only know that the Master was with you and with one of his
pupils."
That same evening, Mr. Olcott found
in his pocket a little note that all the Theosophists said was in the
handwriting of Morya, and the note said:
"Certainly I was there, but who can open the eyes of him who will
not see."
This was the reply to my doubts,
because all the day I had been trying to persuade myself that it was only a
hallucination. »
(Source: Beatrice Hastings, “Solovyoff's
Fraud”, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: Edmonton Lodge of the Theosophical Society
in Canada, 1988, p.27-29)
And later, the following year Solovyov went back to visit
Blavatsky when she was in Würzburg (Germany) and on that occasion he received a
Master Kuthumi’s letter which was materialized.
(And his story, you can read here.)
_ _ _
The Masters Kuthumi and Morya had approached to Vsevolod Solovyov because
they saw a great potential in him, but unfortunately Solovyov failed to appreciate this great opportunity that was given to him and ended up deflecting himself from the path as I detail it in this other article (link).
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