Franz
Hartmann lived in India for sixteen months in the headquarters of the
Theosophical Society located in Adyar, Madras.
He arrived on December 4, 1883,
and he witnessed many of the paranormal phenomena that occurred there. For
example, Hartmann received letters from the masters that materialized in
unusual ways. He also saw a silk ribbon materialize before his eyes when he
needed it.
He also saw Master Morya with two
of his disciples, and he also met a black magician.
And Hartmann
also surprised Asians by being one of the first Westerners to officially become
a Buddhist.
In February 1884, when Blavatsky
and Olcott went on tour in Europe, Hartmann was appointed president of the
Control Board, which was responsible for managing the affairs of the Theosophical
Society in India in the absence of its founders.
And ones
months later, taking advantage that the founders were outside India, began the
"Coulumb’s conspiracy". Blavatsky and Olcott had to return to India
to deal with the attacks from the Christian missionaries of Madras, who detested
that their plans to evangelize the Indians were hampered by the Theosophical
Society.
The events that followed, leading
President Olcott and Adyar's board to expelling Blavatsky from India.
And in April
1, 1885, Blavatsky accompanied by Hartmann and a small group of other
theosophists, left India to Europe.
Photo of Adyar Convention
in December 1884, Franz Hartmann appears below Colonel Olcott and to side Blavatsky.
On those
events that Franz Hartmann witnessed in India, he wrote two reports:
1) "Report
of Observations Made During a Nine Months Stay at the Headquarters of the
Theosophical Society at Adyar (Madras) India," written in late 1884 while
Hartmann was still in India.
2) "Some
Fragments of the Secret History of the Theosophical Society", written
shortly after returning to Europe in 1885.
He also related those events in his novel "Talking Image of Urur" written in 1889.
And some
people credit also to Hartmann the pamphlet "Truth & Fiction: the
Theosophical Society and the Miracle Cabinet of Adyar" written
probably after 1907, but a more meticulous analysis shows that this little book
is spurious and most likely was elaborated by some adversary of Theosophy.
I
have not found yet those documents, but meanwhile I put a summary that Franz Hartmann
wrote about it in his autobiography:
« I was immersed in the spiritualism for many years, and while my perplexity was at its
highest and I despaired of the possibility of knowing anything certain about phenomenal manifestations, a number of The Theosophist,
a journal edited by H.P. Blavatsky and published at Madras, fell into my
hands. It contained an article
describing the sevenfold constitution of man and the seven principles in the
universe.
This came to me like a
revelation, and seemed to furnish the key to those mysteries whose explanation
I had sought so long in vain. I was
delighted with this discovery, and my greatest desire now was to become personally
acquainted with Madame Blavatsky and to learn from her more of the secrets of
life and death.
I wrote to her, and a few weeks
afterwards I had a vivid dream. I dreamed I saw a letter with the address
written in a to me unknown handwriting and with a strange postage stamp stuck
on the wrong side of it. I went to the
Post Office, and there I found that identical letter in my box with the postage
stamp on the wrong side. It was a letter
from Adyar, written by Colonel H. S. Olcott, the President of the “Theosophical
Society,” who in the name of his "Master” invited me to come to India and
to collaborate with him. A few kind
words were added by H.P. Blavatsky.
Travel to India
Of course, after such an
invitation I had no desire to remain any longer in the United States of America
or to continue the practice of medicine, and in the month of September, 1883, I
left Colorado and started for California for the purpose of sailing to India. I stopped at Salt Lake City on my way to
study the life of the Mormons, en route to San Francisco.
It has always been my experience
that if a person desires to make a step forward on the way to progress in
spirituality some great and unforeseen internal and external obstacles will
arise to hinder him.
Thus it also happened to me on
that occasion; for while I was staying at San Francisco I fell desperately in
love with a young Spanish-American lady.
She was very beautiful and accomplished, and the very creature to tempt
an angel from heaven and still more to confound the good sense of a poor sinner
like myself.
She appeared to me just the very
ideal of a woman, such as I had only met in my dreams. "Conchita” (for this was her name) and
sensuality on one side, with old Madame Blavatsky and spirituality on the
other, it was for me a hard struggle to decide; but at last the desire for
occult knowledge gained the victory over love; I tore myself away from the
object of my passion, and on October 11, 1883, I left California on board of
the s.s. Coptic, bound for Hong Kong.
My adventures and experiences on
the voyage and during my stay in India have been described, to a certain
extent, in my novel The Talking Image of
Urur, a humorous story which appeared first in H. P. Blavatsky’s paper Lucifer and was afterwards published as
a book. This book, however, is now out
of print. It was written for the purpose of showing that “from the sublime to
the ridiculous there is only one step.”
On December 4, 1883, we arrived
at Madras, and I went to Adyar, where I was welcomed by Madame Blavatsky “to my
future home,” as she expressed it: The headquarters of the Theosophical
Society, where she lived, were beautifully located near the Adyar River and
only a short distance from the sea. They
consisted of a bungalow with some outbuildings and were surrounded by a park,
containing palms, mango, and other trees. The lower part of the two-story house
was for the use of the members of the Theosophical Society; the upper story was
occupied by Madame Blavatsky.
Besides myself there were present
at the headquarters Colonel H. S. Olcott, the president of the Theosophical Society,
a very serious-looking Scotchman by the name of W. T. Brown, some Hindu “chelas”
(Damodar K. Mavalankar, Bavadjee, Ananda, etc.), supposed to be in possession
of extraordinary psychic faculties, and last, but not least, a Frenchman and
his wife, Monsieur and Madame Coulomb, who were the managers and housekeepers
of the place.
Later on there arrived other
visitors, Mr. St. George Lane Fox, W. Q. Judge, Mr. Leadbeater, Mrs.
Cooper-Oakley, and others.
We also had frequent visits from
Mr. Subba Row, a great occultist and teacher of Madame Blavatsky; but as I am
not writing a history of the Theosophical Society of those times, and as
Colonel Olcott has considered it prudent not to refer in his Diary Leaves to that period of my
activity at Adyar, I will not enter into details, but merely mention the
above-named persons as witnesses of certain important events which took place
at that time.
Paranormal phenomena
This was the time of “occult
letters” supposed to have been written or sent by the Mahatmas of the
Himalayas. Such letters were seen to
form themselves suddenly in the air, or they were found unexpectedly upon the
table or in closed drawers, and they contained orders and directions for the
management of affairs.
I, as well as others, received
numerous letters of that kind, some written in red ink, others in blue, and
some in green. They usually appeared
when some advice was needed. The
following extracts may serve as an example. The subjoined letter was found in
my desk on February 5, 1884, while Colonel Olcott and H. P. Blavatsky were about
to sail on a visit to Europe:
« Friend! You seem to me the only fully rational being
among the Pelengs [Occidentals] now
left at headquarters. Therefore with an eye
to a variety of unexpected emergencies in future which I foresee, I must ask
you to show practically your devotion to the cause of truth by accepting the
rudder of the theosophical course. If I
know anything, I know you to be entirely free from those prejudices and
predilections that are generally in the way of a calm and dispassionate pursuit
of the chief aim of the Society, full equality among men as brothers and an
entire unconcern with the childish fairy tales they call their religion,
whether exoteric or esoteric.
If you kindly consent to take
care of theosophical interests during the absence of Henry Olcott and Upasika
(Blavatsky), I will cause him to write you an official letter, investing you
with more official power than any other “assistant,” so as to give you a firmer
hold of the rod of authority than you would otherwise have with an informal
title shared by so many others. . . . Your pucca
authority I ask you to make the best of it in the interests of Truth, Justice
and Charity. . . .— M. C. »
This letter was not received
under test conditions, but, as stated above, it was found in my desk, and it
may have been put there surreptitiously by Madame Coulomb; but if I had any
doubts in regard to the possibility of the “precipitation” of such letters from
the astral plane or the formation of physical objects by magical powers, the
following incident served to destroy my suspicions.
H. P. Blavatsky started on her
voyage to Europe and I accompanied her to Bombay. I went with her on board the steamship and
afterwards returned to my room. Before
leaving Adyar she had given me a keepsake as coming from the “Mahatma,” a sort of
amulet in the shape of a coin with inscriptions in Tibetan letters.
Now while I was alone in my room
at Bombay, I paced the floor, thinking of buying a gold chain or something with
which to wear that amulet around my neck.
Just then the thought struck me that a silk ribbon would answer the same
purpose, and as I meditated upon it, something fluttered through the air and fell
to the floor before my feet. It was a
rose-colored silk ribbon of exactly the required length, with the ends twisted and
ready for use. It was not a “phantasm”
and did not disappear; for I wore it for many months.
I may, perhaps, here mention some
occult phenomena witnessed on this voyage.
On one occasion two Yogis came and recited some mantrams. Their singing seemed to set the spiritual
part of the atmosphere in vibration, and the room was soon full of entities of
a curious kind, floating through the air like fishes swimming in water. Their forms were indistinct to my view but
sufficiently defined to see them change and assume different shapes of animals,
such as are not to be found in the natural history of our globe.
On another occasion a fakir took
two trumpets and, putting them each on one side of his neck, he gave us a
concert. Needless to say, there were no
holes in his neck; it must have been a "spiritual breath” from which the
sounding originated.
Again, on another occasion I was
invited with Mr. St. George Lane Fox and a Mr. Ezekiel to the house of Judge
Khandalavala, a Parsee at Poona, to see the performance of a fakir. The room was large and in the middle of it
there was a censer for burning incense, in front of which the fakir took his
seat. Before the ceremonies began, the
judge asked the fakir whether he would permit him to bring his ladies in the
room to see the exhibition.
This the fakir refused, saying
that the presence of women would hinder the production of the phenomena. The judge, however, perhaps supposing this to
be a mere prejudice on the part of the fakir, only partly obeyed the
injunction, for he placed the ladies in an adjoining room, at a window from
which they could see all that was going on without being seen by the fakir,
whose back was turned that way.
The fakir began his
incantations. He seemed to be unusually
excited and was perspiring freely. At
last he took a knife and pulling his tongue with his fingers out of his mouth, lie
cut off a large portion of it. This
portion he held over the burning coals, so as to keep it warm, while we
examined carefully the remaining stump of his tongue.
There was not a drop of blood, but
the tongue was certainly cut. After the
examination he replaced the cut piece and all was as sound as before, but he refused
to proceed with other phenomena, saying that a certain influence was present
which abstracted his power to such an extent that he dared not attempt any
more.
Now it seems to me that this circumstance
is even more satisfactory to prove the genuineness of those phenomena than the examination
of the fakir’s mouth, for we all know that women are attractive to men and what
they attract from them seem to be the very elements necessary for the
production of magic arts.
Of other phenomena which occurred
on this voyage, I will only mention that while I was travelling on the railway
with Madame Blavatsky she asked me to show her a manuscript which I had written
that morning and which was locked up in my satchel. I took it out and handed it to her. She looked it over without moving her hands,
but when she returned it to me, I saw that some remarks in black writing ink
had been added to it in some mysterious way.
Conspiracy against the Theosophical Society
I returned to Adyar in company
with Mr. Lane Fox, and now dark clouds began to gather over the Theosophical Society.
Madame Blavatsky had quarreled with Madame Coulomb and wished to send her away.
To this the latter would not
submit, and she took sides with the clergy, who made an onslaught upon Madame
Blavatsky, accusing her of producing her phenomena by sleight of hand tricks,
and as the accused person was absent the duty to defend her and the Theosophical
Society fell upon me, which was the more difficult as newly made trapdoors and
hidden recesses evidently constructed by Monsieur Coulomb for the purpose of
producing bogus phenomena were actually found, although the newness of these
constructions went to show that they had never been used; and to cap the
climax, Mr. Richard Hodgson was at that time sent to Adyar by the “Society for
Psychical Research ” for the purpose of investigating these phenomena and
convincing himself of the existence of the “Mahatmas,” if there were any in
existence.
He was, at that time, a great
sceptic and unbeliever, although some years afterwards he became a leader of
the spiritists in America and a defender of their faith; but at that time he
believed nothing except what he was told by Madame Coulomb, who accused Madame
Blavatsky of trickery, in which she claimed to have participated herself.
During all this time “occult
letters” arrived; they dropped from the ceiling or were found in locked drawers
and desks, and in one of these letters dated April 27, 1884, and before any suspicion
regarding the genuineness of the phenomena arose, it was said:
« For some time the woman
(Coulomb) has opened a communication with the enemies of the cause. Hence hints as to trapdoors and tricks. Moreover when needed trapdoors will be found,
as they have been forthcoming for some time.
They (the Coulombs) have full entrance to and control of the
premises. Monsieur is clever and cunning
at every handicraft, a good mechanic and carpenter and good at walls likewise.
. . .— M. C. »
It seems strange that if Madame
Blavatsky (although absent in Europe) should have had anything to do with the
writing of this letter and with the making of traps, she would have thus led us
upon the scent, but I cannot shake off the conviction that they were made by
order of somebody at the headquarters and for the purpose of being used after
Colonel Olcott’s return.
Upon receipt of the above letter
a search was made and the trapdoors were found and thus the “great exposure”
took place, which caused a scandal and made the existence of the Theosophical Society
and the theosophical teachings known all over the world, and the consequence
was that thousands procured and read the books of Madame Blavatsky and made
themselves acquainted with her views, while otherwise they might have remained
in ignorance of these things all their life.
On December 17, 1884, Colonel
Olcott and Madame Blavatsky returned from Europe. The attacks upon the latter continued, and
she fell very ill. Towards the end of
March her condition became so serious that a consultation of doctors from
Madras was called, and they decided that she could not live until the next day. Upon this Mr. Cooper-Oakley went to Madras
the same night to obtain a permit for the cremation of her body, but the next
morning Madame Blavatsky arose, feeling quite well. She said that during the night the Master had
visited her and given her a new lease of life.
The missionaries all the time
were desirous of finding charges against H.P.B., so as to bring her into a
Court of Justice, but finding none, they brought charges of calumny against a
prominent member of the Theosophical Society (General Morgan), hoping thus to
drag Madame Blavatsky as a witness before the Court, in which case she would,
undoubtedly, have been fined for contempt, because in view of her
uncontrollable temper she would be sure to have given just occasion for it.
Travel to Europe
To avoid such an unpleasant affair
it was considered wise to send her to Europe, and I was asked to take charge of
her. We therefore took passage on board
the Tibre of the Messageries
Maritimes, and on April 1, I started with her on a voyage to Naples,
accompanied by Mr. Bavadjee and Miss Mary Flynn.
During our voyage there was a
continuation of occult phenomena.
Frequently piles of sheets with notes referring to H. P. Blavatsky’s
writing of The Secret Doctrine were
found in the mornings upon her table.
Whether she wrote them herself in a somnambulic state or whether they
were brought to her by some occult means from Tibet, I am unable to say.
On October 23, 1885 we arrived at
Naples, where a “drummer” took us to the Hotel.
Madame Blavatsky, not feeling quite well, did not wish to ascend many
stairs and asked for a room on the ground floor or on the first (meaning only
one story higher). Such a one was not to be had, but the manager said he could
give us two rooms on the second floor for fifteen francs a day. We made the
bargain, and then the ascent began.
First the “Parterre,” next came the “High
Parterre,” then the “Mezzanin,”
next the “first” and afterwards the “second” floor, which was actually the
fifth. When I went to pay the bill next morning,
I found that I had forgotten to make the stipulation with “tutto compreso” (everything included), for they charged us not only
the fifteen francs for the rooms, but also a price for every piece of furniture
contained therein, so that the bill amounted to eighty-five francs, not
including the meal. Of course there was nothing else to be done, but to grumble
and pay.
We immediately left Naples and
found more hospitable quarters at the Hotel
Vesuvio at Torre del Greco, where we remained for one month. Madame
Blavatsky’s temper during that time was not of the sweetest; she was
continually irritated by letters concerning the scandals, she scolded the
servants, and abused her friends or praised them according to her changeable
moods.
The weather was cold, and to see
the fires of Vesuvius, that was in eruption, glow at a distance while we had no
stoves was somewhat provoking. After
some weeks had passed away Madame Blavatsky went to Wurzburg and I to Kempten
(Bavaria) to visit my relatives and have a look at the place where I spent my
youth.
For my friends and acquaintances
there of old I looked in vain, but I found their names in great numbers
inscribed upon the tombstones of the cemetery.
Subsequently I visited Madame Blavatsky repeatedly at Wurzburg and in
London, where she died on May 8, 1891, after a short illness and half an hour
after her physician had declared her to be out of danger. She remained a riddle
to everybody up to the last. »
(The Occult Review, January 1908, pp. 17-33)
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