In February 1884, to respond to the accusations made to Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society to be inventing the existence of the Masters, Franz Hartmann wrote a letter relating the experiences he had during his stay at the Headquarters, and the reasons why he was convinced that the trans-Himalayan Masters they are real. And below I transcribe that letter:
« Somebody of old has said:
-
"Give ye not that which is sacred to the dogs,
neither cast ye your pearls before swine, for the swine will tread them under
their feet and the dogs will turn and rend you."
It is therefore with a great deal of hesitation and reluctance that I
make up my mind to pen the following account of my experiences. If this article
were destined to go into the public papers, it would certainly never have been
written; for not only is it disagreeable to throw one’s name to be devoured by
the vultures of criticism; but especially because it pains me to see the names
of our revered Masters bandied about by fashionable dandies and unfashionable
dunces.
In a public paper I would have three classes of readers:
1) The first class would read it as they would read the market report
about the price of potatoes and lay the paper aside without giving the subject
a further thought, and this class I consider a very amiable one.
2) The second class would conclude that I was "one of the
ring," that I had come all the way from America to amuse myself by
concocting ghost stories, for no perceptible purpose except to fool them. This
class I consider very stupid and I pity them.
3) The third class are men and women of intelligence, who neither accept
nor reject anything without sufficient reason. They probably have heard
of such things before; still they may have some lingering doubts, which they
desire to have removed. This class I consider my friends, and only for
their benefit, and to try to help to guide them along on their tedious path
through the mists of doubt and disbelief, did I consent to have this printed in
the Journal of our Society – a paper published for the special use of the
members of our Association.
On the twenty-first of September, 1883, I left my home in Colorado in
the United States to go to India; partly for the purpose of representing the
Theosophical Societies of America at our eighth Anniversary, partly because
being of a very skeptical nature, I was anxious to investigate more fully the
subject of Occultism and to remove my doubts. And how could I expect to do this
better than by going to the Headquarters?
It would have been easier and cheaper for me to go by way of New York
and Marseilles, than by way of California, Japan and China; but I had a certain
business to perform in San Francisco, which is of too delicate and private a
nature to be mentioned even in this paper.
So I went to San Francisco. But, alas! For the weakness of the human nature, of even
an occultist in embryo! The charm of a pair of beautiful black eyes proved
almost too strong for the would-be ascetic.
Saint Anthony’s temptation was as nothing, if compared to mine, and my
trip to the promised land came very near to be a delusion and a snare.
However, I succeeded in tearing myself away, left, and went to China.
A week or two after my arrival at Adyar, seeing that several others,
strangers as well as members of our Society, occasionally received letters from
the Masters either by having them dropped from the air, whirled at them through
solid walls or sent them through the “Shrine.”
I thought by myself that it was about time that I should be equally favored;
for although considering myself a sinner, I could not see that I was a great
deal worse and therefore less worthy of consideration than the majority of
those that received letters.
Encouraged by this thought, I concluded to see whether a letter of mine
would elicit an answer from the Masters.
Accordingly I wrote the following lines:
« Revered Master! The undersigned offers you his
services. He desires that you would kindly examine his mental capacity
and if desirable give him further instructions.
Respectfully yours, etc. »
I copy this letter verbatim, so that the kind reader may not think me so
silly as to trouble the Adepts of the Himalayas with my little private affairs,
which, however interesting to me, can be of no possible interest to them.
Besides this, I am in the habit of keeping my own counsel, and there was no one
in India or outside of San Francisco that knew anything about the said affairs.
I gave my letter to Colonel Olcott and he put it into the shrine.
A couple of days afterwards, I reasoned with myself about this matter,
and thought that, if the Masters should find it worth the while to say anything
to me, they would undoubtedly do so without my asking, and I therefore begged
Colonel Olcott to return me my letter.
Colonel Olcott would have done so, but my letter had disappeared in a
mysterious manner in spite of locks and keys and was never seen again. But in
place of my letter I received another in the well known handwriting of our
revered Master, the contents of which showed not only a complete knowledge of
myself and a knowledge of some of the events in my past life, but it also said:
-
"You have committed an act of great imprudence
while in San Francisco"
And then went into details about that very private and delicate business
to which I referred above, and the details of which I will give to our kind
Theosophists, if he or she will call on me and promise, of course, never to
reveal it.
Now such a "test" ought to be satisfactory to anybody; but
having had a twenty years’ experience with Spiritualism, my doubts were not yet
fully conquered. Could Col. Olcott have
written this letter? What did he know of
my private affairs? How could anyone
know anything about it, as there was no mail received from San Francisco since
I arrived by the last steamer, and who in America would take the trouble to
write or telegraph anything, and who could do so, as I am almost as much a
stranger in San Francisco as I am in Adyar.
But again: might not Colonel Olcott or somebody else have become
clairvoyant and read my mind, and then by some unconscious cerebration, or
somehow or other, some spirit or something might have written it, and who knows
but I might have been taken in after all.
These thoughts, in spite of all reasoning, were left lingering in my
mind, until I was so fortunate as to see the Master myself in his astral body,
when, of course, they were silenced for ever.
But something more wonderful was in store for me; and although it did
not surprise me at all after all I had seen and heard, it will be interesting
to those who have no personal experience in such matters.
This morning at half-past eleven I went upstairs to Madame Blavatsky’s
room and had a conversation with her in regard to society matters. After this
conversation the thought came in my mind to ask her opinion in regard to a
certain subject of which I had been thinking.
Madame Blavatsky advised me to apply to the Master himself, to ask him
mentally, and that the Master himself would surely answer my question. A few
minutes later she said she felt his presence, and that she saw him writing. I
must say that I too felt his influence and seemed to see his face, but of course
this circumstance will carry conviction to no one but myself.
Just then another lady came in, to my great annoyance, and expressed her
wish to have a pair of pincers, which she needed for some purpose, and
remembering that I had such a pair of pincers in the drawer of my writing desk,
I went downstairs into my room to get them.
I opened the drawer, saw the pincers and a few other things in there,
but no vestige of any letter, as I had removed my papers the day before to
another place. I took the pincers and was about to close the drawer, when there
lay in the drawer a great
envelope, addressed to me in the well-known handwriting of the Master and
sealed with the seal bearing his initials in Tibetan characters.
On opening it, I found a long, very kind and somewhat complimentary
letter, treating of the identical questions, about which I had just been
talking with Madame Blavatsky, besides giving a detailed and satisfactory
answer to the very question which had so perplexed my mind, and a satisfactory
explanation of certain matters, which for some time had been foremost in my
mind, but of which I had said nothing at all.
Moreover, there was in the same envelope a photograph, cabinet-size, of
the Master’s face, with a dedication to me at the back. This picture will
henceforth be considered as the greatest treasure in my possession.
Now, if I know anything at all, I know that my drawer contained no such
letter, when I opened it, and that there was nobody visible in my room at that
time.
The letter, giving a detailed answer to my question, must have been
written, sealed and put into the drawer in less than four minutes, while it
took exactly forty minutes to copy it the next day; and finally, it treated a
very difficult problem in such an elaborate and yet concise manner, that only
an intelligence of the highest order could have done the same.
Any further comment I consider unnecessary.
SAPIENTI SAT.
FRANZ HARTMANN, M.D.
Adyar (Madras, India),
February 5, 1884. »
Observation: the reason why Master Morya could
elaborate that letter so quickly is because he did not physically write it, but
by a hidden technique known as “precipitation” and which I will detail in
another article.
(Note: this letter was printed in The Theosophist magazine,
Supplement, March 1884, p.52-53)
Later, when the Society for
Psychical Research (S.P.R.) was investigating Blavatsky, Franz Hartmann again
gave his testimony which is transcribed below:
« On the evening of December 4, 1883, I arrived at
Madras and was kindly received by Mr. G. Muttuswami Chettyar, who conducted me
to his carriage, and away we went towards Adyar, situated in a suburb of the
city of Madras, about six miles from the landing place of the steamer.
Before retiring to rest, I
expressed a desire to see the pictures of the Mahatmas, these mysterious
beings, superior to man, of whom I had heard so much, and I was taken upstairs,
to see the “shrine” in which those pictures were kept. The pictures represented
two men with oriental features and in corresponding dress. The expression of
their faces was mild and yet serene.
Some time later I saw Mahatma Morya
in his astral form. He appeared to me, accompanied by the astral forms of two
chelas. His presence left an exhilarating and elevating influence, which did
not fade away until several days after.
The impaired health of Madame
Blavatsky had rendered it desirable that she should have a change of air, and
the physicians which were consulted, advised her to go to Europe, where Col.
Olcott was called on account of some official business. Madame Blavatsky therefore
resolved to accompany Colonel Olcott.
Two days before Madame Blavatsky
left, February 5th, 1884, I went unasked up to her room to speak with her in
regard to Society matters.
After this conversation, the
thought came in my mind to ask her opinion in regard to a certain subject of
which I had been thinking. Madame Blavatsky advised me to apply to the Master
Morya himself, to ask him mentally, and that the Master himself would answer my
question.
A few seconds later she said she
felt his presence, and that she saw him writing. I must say that I too felt his
influence and seemed to see his face, but of course this circumstance will
carry conviction to no one but myself.
Just then another lady came in,
to my great annoyance, and expressed her wish to have a pair of pincers, which
was needed for some purpose, and remembering that I had such a pair of pincers
in the drawer of my writing desk, I went downstairs into my room to get them.
I opened the drawer, saw the
pincers and a few other things in there, but no vestige of any letter, as I had
removed my papers the day before to another place.
I took the pincers and was about
to close the drawer, when — there lay in the drawer a great envelope, addressed
to me in the well-known handwriting of the Master and with the seal bearing his
initials in Tibetan characters.
On opening it, I found a long,
very kind letter treating of the identical questions about which I had just
been talking with Madame Blavatsky, besides giving a detailed and satisfactory
answer to the very question which had so perplexed my mind, and a satisfactory
explanation of certain matters, which for some time had been foremost in my
mind, but of which I had said nothing at all.
Moreover, there was in the same
envelope a photograph, cabinet-size, of the Master’s face, with a dedication to
me at the back.
Now, if I know anything at all, I
know that my drawer contained no such letter, when I opened it, and that there
was nobody visible in my room at that time.
The letter, giving a detailed
answer to my question, must have been written, sealed and put into the drawer
in less than four minutes, while it took exactly forty minutes to copy it the
next day; and finally, it treated a very difficult problem in such an elaborate
and yet concise manner, that only an intelligence of the highest order could have
done the same. »
(Source: Report of observations made
by Franz Hartmann during his nine month stay at the Headquarters of the
Theosophical Society at Adyar, Madras, India. Printed at the Scottish Press by
Graves, Cookson, and Co., 1884, p.11-15, 28-30)
And
in his autobiography, Dr. Franz Hartmann gave more details about the others encounters
his had with Master Morya, apart from the one he had directly with him:
« These intelligences, or “Masters,” she claimed were
certain adepts still living in Tibet and in possession of great occult powers,
such as impressing suitable minds at a distance by what is now called
“telepathy,” going out in their astral forms or thought bodies and
materializing themselves, using the organism of H. P. Blavatsky and other disciples
for the production of “occult phenomena,” etc.
All such
things, which some years ago appeared incredible, now appear quite possible in
the light which recent investigations in occult science have thrown upon that
subject. My own experience in this line
has convinced me that such Masters exist.
I have been
present on certain occasions when “the Master” appeared to her and she spoke
with him. I could not see him with my
eyes, but I felt his presence. His
influence pervaded my whole being and filled me with a sensation of
indescribable bliss which lasted for several days. »
(This
text was published in the Occult Review, January 1908, p.20)
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