Bhavani Shankar Ganesh Mullapoorkar was one of the early Indian members
of the Theosophical Society when it headquarter was in Bombay.
In 1881, when the journalist Alfred Sinnett published his book "The Occult World" in which he
mentioned to the Western public the existence of the Transhimalayan Masters,
some spiritualists claimed that these beings were disembodied spirits.
And to testify that this affirmation was not true, Bhavani Shankar and Babaji
Nagnath (another member of the Theosophical Society), wrote an answer to the
London spiritist magazine "Spiritualist"
saying:
« In common with some other Theosophists of
Bombay, we have had, on several occasions, the honor to see these “Brothers” of
our Society’s First Section. We have thus been led to know that they represent
a class of living, not “disembodied” men or ghosts — as the Spiritualists would
insist upon; that they are in possession of the highest virtues and psychic
capabilities, and have, as we are assured from the opportunities we have been
permitted to enjoy, ever exerted such powers for beneficent purposes, regarding
the whole humanity as a Universal Brotherhood, but keeping aloof from the world
for reasons best known to themselves. »
(This answer was published in "Theosophist",
August, 1881, p.230)
And later when he was questioned about those encounters with the
Masters, Bhavani Shankar mentioned the following:
« The recent attack made by the Christian
Missionaries connected with the "Christian College Magazine," to
prove the falsity of occult phenomena by imputing them to the fraudulent tricks
of Madame Blavatsky, forces upon me the duty of relating some of my
experiences, so that the educated public may have a fair opportunity to draw
their own conclusions concerning these phenomena after weighing all the evidences
for and against their genuineness. My experience of these phenomena commenced
so early as 1881, when the Head-quarters of the Theosophical Society were not
removed from Bombay to Adyar, Madras. While I was at Bombay, I have had several
occasions to visit its Head-quarters at Breach Candy.
First experience
In a bright moonlight, on the night of the 13th July 1881, we were engaged
in a talk with Madame Blavatsky as usual in the same verandah. Monsieur Coulomb
and Madame Coulomb were present on the spot as also all the persons of the
house and Madame Blavatsky's servant.
While we were conversing with Madame B., the Mahatma, known as Mr.
Sinnett's Correspondent and the Author of the letters published in "The Occult World," made his
appearance in his "Mayavi Rupa" or "Double," for a few
minutes.
He was clad in the white dress of a "Punjabee" and wore a
white turban. All of those, who were present at that time, saw his handsome
features clearly and distinctly, as it was a bright moonlight night.
On the same night, a letter was drafted to the "London
Spiritualist" about our having seen the Mahatmas. As we were reading the
letter in question, the same Mahatma showed himself again.
The second time when he made his appearance, he was very near us, say at
the distance of a yard or two. At that time, Monsieur and Madame Coulomb said,
"Here is our Brother," meaning the Mahatma. He then came into Madame
Blavatsky's room and was heard talking with her and then disappeared.
Mr. Coulomb and Mrs. Coulomb signed the letter drafted to the London "Spiritualist," testifying to the fact of their having seen the
"Mahatma." Since Madame Coulomb now says that the Mahatmas are but
"crafty arrangements of muslin and bladders" and her husband
represented the Mahatmas.
How are we to reconcile this statement with the fact that in the London "Spiritualist" of the 19th August 1881, appeared a letter
signed by five witnesses, including myself, testifying to the fact of their
having seen a Mahatma, while they were writing that letter; and that this
document is signed by both the Coulombs?
There is, therefore, no doubt that they were with the company who signed
the paper. Who was it then that appeared on that occasion as a Mahatma? Surely
neither Mr. nor Mrs. Coulomb with their "muslin and bladders" nor
Madame Blavatsky's servant who was also present, but the "double" of
a person living on the other side of the Himalayas.
The figure in coming up to Madame Blavatsky's room was seen by us
"to float through the air," and we also distinctly heard it talking
to her, while all of us, including her
servant and the Coulombs, were at the time, together, in each other's
presence.
Second experience
One night while I was sitting with some of my friends near Madame
Blavatsky in the open verandah close to her writing room, a Mahatma, who was
then near Bombay, came walking through the garden attached to Colonel Olcott's
bungalow and stood silent near a tree the distance of some eight or ten yards
away from us.
Madame Blavatsky then went down the wooden staircase leading into the
garden, approached the Mahatma and saluted him by touching the back of his
hands with both of her open palms. He delivered a packet to her and then
disappeared.
Madame Blavatsky came up afterwards and opened the packet and in it
there was a letter from Allahabad. The envelope in question was quite
unaddressed, but it bore the official stamp of the Allahabad Post Office of
December the 3rd, 1881, and the official stamp of the Bombay Post Office of the
same date, viz., 3rd December.
The two places are 1,000 miles apart!
Third experience
In the month of March 1882, while I was stopping at Mr. Sinnett's house at Allahabad, some occult phenomena occurred
independent of Madame Blavatsky, who
was then at Bombay.
One evening, Mr. Sinnett gave me a note addressed to my Master,
"K.H." I took it to my room and kept it near my pillow. Every care
was taken in bolting and fastening all the glass doors of the room where my bed
was. I placed a lamp by my bed and began to read the article "Elixir of
Life." But I was not able to devote my attention to the study of the
article in question as it became wholly directed to the letter addressed to the
Mahatma.
It was between 10 and 11 P.M. that this letter disappeared and I saw my
Master while he was leaving the room with the letter which was placed near my
pillow. The doors of the room were well closed, and a light was burning by my
bedside and there was no one else in the room. When I got up the morning next
day, I found a reply from my Master to the address of Mr. Sinnett under my
pillow and gave it to him.
During my short stay at Allahabad with Mr. Sinnett, I had had
independent communication with my Master while Madame Blavatsky was in another
part of India.
From Allahabad I returned to Bombay. After stopping at the Bombay
Head-quarters for a week or so, I left the place for the north in April 1882. Since
then, I have been working in the north. As a pilgrim, I had to travel from
one place to another. Purposely I did not keep Madame Blavatsky or Colonel
Olcott informed of my movements on account of some private reasons. During my
travels in the north, I have received communications from my Master direct,
independent of anybody else and have seen the Mahatmas in their
"double".
Fourth experience
On the 8th November, 1883, I was at Bans Bareilly in N.W.P. and was engaged
in a private talk with a European friend of mine on some theosophical subjects.
At that time, I had a courier bag with me suspended across my shoulder, which I
did not allow any one to touch as there was some private correspondence in it.
I took particular care to lock it up in a carpet bag of mine whenever I removed
it from my shoulder.
While I was conversing with that friend, I received a direct
communication from my Master in a Chinese envelope which I found in that
courier bag which was always with me. It related to some subject of which I was
thinking that day, and contained some instructions to me how I should work, etc.
I showed it to some of my friends who were then present. The contents of
that letter were in his well-known blue pencil handwriting. All the
communications whether received by me direct or through anybody else from him,
bear the same handwriting.
Fifth experience
In the month of January 1884, I was at Jubbulpore and putting up with
Brother Nivaran Chandra Mookerjee, who was then the Secretary of the Bhrigu
Kshetra Theosophical Society. One night, while I was with him, I was explaining
to some twenty-seven members of that Branch, the article "Elixir of
Life" and they were listening to me with great attention.
On a sudden, there was death-like silence for some time. I then felt the
influence of Madame Blavatsky's Venerated Master, and it was so strong that I
could not bear it. The current of electricity generated by an electro-magnetic
battery is nothing when compared with that current generated by the trained
Will of an Adept. When a Mahatma means to show himself to a Chela, he sends off
a current of electricity to the Chela indicating his approach. It was this
influence which I felt at that time.
A few minutes after, the Master Morya (Madame Blavatsky's Master) was
actually present in the room where the meeting of the members was held and was
seen by me and Brother Nivaran while some of the members only felt the
influence. All the members would have seen him much more vividly, had it not
been for the fact that he did not materialize himself much more objectively.
I have seen the same Mahatma, viz., Madame Blavatsky's Master, several times in his double
during my travels in the North. Not only have I seen Madame B's Master in his
double but also my Venerated Guru Deva "K.H." I have also seen the
latter, viz., my Master in his physical body and recognized him.
~ * ~
All the above experiences which I had gained in the North, independent
of Madame Blavatsky or Col. Olcott, who knew nothing about my movements,
are sufficient to show to the impartial and educated public that these occult
phenomena are genuine. It is immaterial to me whether the statement of these
bare facts will carry conviction to those who, instead of being inquirers after
the truth, are ready to suppress it and persecute those who give it to the
world. »
(This
statement was first published in Report of the Result of an Investigation into
the Charges against Madame Blavatsky Brought by the Missionaries of the
Scottish Free Church of Madras, and Examined by a Committee Appointed for That
Purpose by the General Council of the Theosophical Society. Madras, India: Theosophical Society, 1885, p.75-80.)
(Note: Several of these events were also witnessed by
Pandit Babaji Nagnath whose narration can be read in the article before this
one.)
Annual Convention of the
Theosophical Society in Adyar in December 1883. Standing to the right is
Colonel Olcott, under him are Blavatsky and Doctor Franz Hartmann and in the
first row on the left is Bhavani Shankar.
LAURA FINCH'S TESTIMONY
In a letter she wrote to the editor of the magazine "The Occult Review," she detailed
more about the experiences that Bhavani Shankar had:
« Sir,
With reference to the
correspondence concerning Madame Blavatsky appearing in the Occult Review, the following information
may interest some of your readers:
I have received, from first-hand,
several instances of the receipt of Mahatma Letters by others than
Madame Blavatsky, under conditions which preclude the possibility of fraud or
of the intervention, either psychic or otherwise, of Blavatsky.
The phenomena which accompanied
the foundation of the Theosophical Society ceased, after a time, the Masters themselves explaining that
the phenomena they had permitted had been but a means to an end, which had been
attained.
Among the original and close
workers with Mme. Blavatsky in India was Pandit Bhavani Shankar. It is my
privilege to know Panditji, and I have shown him some of this correspondence.
He tells me that not only was
that period, 1884-1887, extremely rich in phenomena, and the Masters frequently
visible, but that some of those in closest contact with Madame Blavatsky were
themselves the centres of psychic manifestations. I select the following four
facts which possess a certain importance in view of recent assertions
concerning the non-existence of the Masters.
Statement by Bhavani Shankar
1. "I was staying with
Sinnett at Allahabad. Madame Blavatsky was at Bombay. One night, Sinnett asked
me to try and get a letter through to ‘Master K.H.’ He gave me the sealed
letter. I went to bed, putting the letter under my pillow. I was trying to
read, but my curiosity made me look under my pillow once — the letter was still
there — twice — the letter was still there — but the third time I looked it had
gone, and I distinctly saw the shadowy outlines of the ‘Master K.H.’
"The next morning, Mr.
Sinnett received the answer under my pillow, from ‘K.H.’ (This phenomenon is
recorded in The Occult World.)
2. "I was alone in
Berabanki, near Lucknow, Oudh. Madame Blavatsky was in Bombay, when I received
a letter from the ‘Master K.H.’ bidding me go and see him in Kashmir. I recognized
the Master’s writing. . . . I went to Kashmir, and I saw the Master in his
physical body.
3. "Madame Blavatsky again
absent. I was in the train with Colonel Olcott and Damodar. A letter from
Master K.H. was — by no normal means — put inside my leather satchel-purse, the
strap of which was around my neck, the bag itself being in a deep pocket of my
costume. The letter was not there when we started. The letter was addressed to
me.
4. "Madame Blavatsky in
Bombay. I was in Bankipur (Behar) with Colonel Olcott. He received a letter,
posted in America, which when opened was found to contain a letter from Master
M. written in Telugu, a South-Indian language which Colonel Olcott did not
know. I translated the letter to him: it contained advice and directions for
the work."
"A grand woman she was . .
." says Pandit Bhavani Shankar.
~ * ~
Many Indian scholars, who had
gathered around Madame Blavatsky and who left the Theosophical Society after
Colonel Olcott’s death, are still with us. I would like to suggest that Mr.
Loftus Hare should visit India and seek first-hand information from these
learned men.
I am, yours faithfully,
LAURA I. FINCH.
LAURA I. FINCH.
What is stated in this letter is
correct. — BHAWANI SHANKAR, Benares. »
(This letter was published in "The Occult Review", June, 1927, p.404-405)
CONFIRMATION OF THE MASTER KUTHUMI
On December 15, 1883, Bhavani
Shankar wrote a letter to Damodar from Moradabad informing him that he had met
Master Kuthumi in his physically body (and when I find this letter, I will
transcribe it). But the interesting thing is that Master Kuthumi himself
confirmed that meeting in a letter he wrote to Pandit Pran Nath:
« To yours questions:
Do I tread the right path? Is my
present way of life conducive to spiritual advancement? Am I capable of greatly influencing my next
birth by good karmas in this life by strenuously following the bent of my heart
as it is at present?
My answer is that the process of self-purification
is not the work of a moment, nor of a few months, but of years — nay extending
over a series of lives. The later a human begins the living of a higher life,
the longer must be his period of probation, for he has to undo the effects of a
long number of years spend in objects diametrically opposed to the real goal. The
more strenuous one’s efforts and the brighter the result of his work, the
nearer he comes to the threshold.
If his aspiration is genuine — a
settle conviction and not a sentimental flash of the moment — he transfers from
one body to another the determination, which finally leads him to the
attainment of his desires. Bh. Sh. [Bhavani Shankar] has seen me in my own physical body and he can point out the way to
others. He has been working unselfishly for his fellowmen thro’ the
Theosophical Cause and his is having his reward thro’ he may not always notice
it.
K.H. »
(This letter was received by
Pandit Pran Nath of Gwalior in January, 1884, and published in the book “Letters
from the Masters of the Wisdom”, 1st Serie, letter N°6)
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