William Brown was a young Scottish man who became interested in Theosophy
and he was living at the Headquarters of the Theosophical Society, in Adyar,
when the commissioner of the SPR (The Society for Psychical Researc) went to India to investigate Blavatsky and the phenomena that occurred
there,
And about this commissioner (i.e., Richard Hodgson), Mr. Brown pointed
out the following:
« In the first place, let me say that I am well qualified to pass an
important judgment on this matter, as I am acquainted with all the parties
concerned. Being impressed by the truth and beauty of the Koot Hoomi letters in
the Occult World, and having made Mr. Sinnett’s acquaintance in London,
I went out to India in the latter part of 1883, for the express purpose of
testing the truth of the Occult Philosophy and of the Theosophical phenomena.
I went out at my own expense and
greatly against the wishes of my brothers and Scotch Presbyterian friends who
wished me to go on with my profession, which is that of the law. I went out to
the East in a quiet impartial spirit, neither pre-disposed to bolster up Madam
Blavatsky nor to have satisfaction in proving her to be a fraud.
I remained in India fifteen
months; travelled over the country; lived at head-quarters with Blavatsky and
Olcott; became friendly with Damodar and the rest of the chelas;
compared notes from time to time, with my fellow investigator, Dr. Hartmann, of
Munich; made the acquaintance of Mr. Hodgson of the London S.P.R. when he came
out to India, and tried to assist him in his investigations; and was a member
of the Board of Control which dismissed the Coulombs from the Theosophical
Society on the ground of fraud and corruption.
As regards the philosophy of
self-moral culture and development, no one calls that in question. It is the
same now as when Jesus worked his "miracles"; for natural laws do not
change, though, for periods of time, they may escape human perception. Thus the
task which lies before me is to dispose of the personalities in the case, if I
can, in such a way as to show that the principles are unimpaired and to absolve
the personalities themselves from false and unjust accusations.
So, to
continuation I mention the facts:
On their own confession and
statement the Coulombs are fraudulent deceivers. They were justly expelled from
the Theosophical Society and their statements are out of court.
Mr. Hodgson of the S.P.R. is a
young man of my own age (28), cultured and truth-loving. But he was quite
unprepared to pass serious judgment regarding psychic facts and occult
phenomena, for the reason that he did not recognize the existence of psychic
faculties with which to see the psychic facts. A well meaning man, like the
majority of the materialistic school he had no explanation for anything in the
occult aspect of Nature but non-existence or fraud.
Colonel Olcott made a great
mistake when he invited a member of a society of beginners to pronounce
judgment upon the "miraculous" verities. He and the society have had
good cause to realize his error in judgment and to profit by the experience.
No one calls the good faith of
Colonel Olcott in question. My opinion of him is that he is a just, an eloquent
and an honorable man.
Damodar, however, is supposed by
some to have been an accomplice in deceit of Madam Blavatsky. To one who knows
Damodar, as I do, this is simply absurd. Damodar is a vegetarian and total
abstainer, and his writings show great truth and earnestness of purpose. He had
to make great caste and pecuniary sacrifices on joining the Theosophical
Society.
And for what?
For no visible reward. Not a
single official of the T. S. receives a fraction of salary, and Damodar worked
7 hours a day as Joint Recording Secretary. Verily Damodar can say that virtue
is its own reward and that it is a royal thing to do good and have evil spoken
of one. »
(The
Religio-Philosophical Journal, October 16, 1886, p.2)
« When Dr.
Richard Hodgson, of the Society for Psychical Research, declared that Madame
Blavatsky was an arch-imposter; and when, at Madras, in India, Mr. and Mrs.
Coulomb revealed to myself and others the trap-doors and sliding-panels, which
they declared were prepared for the production of “phenomena,” under Madame
Blavatsky’s own directions, I felt and knew that the ground had not been
covered, and that there were psychical phenomena which neither Mr. Hodgson nor
Mr. and Mrs. Coulomb could in any way explain. »
(The
Religio-Philosophical Journal, July 23, 1887, p.2)
« And though Colonel Olcott, Madame Blavatsky and
Coulomb were not in the Headquarters of Adyar, we keep getting letters from masters.
For example, there were received
on August 2nd, 1884, two letters in the well-known writing, one to
Dr. Hartmann, F.T.S., and Mr. Lane-Fox, F.S.T., jointly, and the other to Mr.
Lane-Fox alone. Copies of these letters taken by myself at the time are in my
hands.
The letter to Dr. H. and Mr. L.
F. refers to a dispute which had arisen between Damodar (the neophyte
aforesaid) and myself.
« Damodar has undoubtedly many faults and weaknesses as others have. But
he is unselfishly devoted to us and to the cause and has rendered himself
extremely useful to Upasika (Blavatsky’s occult name). His presence and
assistance are indispensably necessary at the Head Quarters. His inner self has
no desire to domineer, though the outward acts now and then get that coloring
from his excessive zeal, which he indiscriminately brings to bear upon
everything whether small or great. It must, however, be remembered that inadequate
as our ‘instruments’ may be to our full purpose they are yet the best
available, since they are but the evolutions of the times. It would be most
desirable to have better ‘mediums’ for us to act through; and it rests with the
well wishers of the Theosophical cause how far they will work unselfishly to
assist in her higher work, and thus hasten the approach of the eventful day.
Blessings to all the faithful
workers at the Headquarters.
KH »
The following passage is from the
letter to Mr. Lane-Fox:
« Yes, you are right in your supposition. We leave each man to exercise
his own judgment and manage his affairs as he thinks fit. Every man is the
maker of his own Karma, and the Master of his own destiny. Every human being
has his own trials to get through and his own difficulties to grapple with in
this world; and these very trials and difficulties assist his self-development
by calling his energies into action, and ultimately determine the course of his
higher evolution. »
Now it is interesting to inquire:
Where was Madame Blavatsky when these notes were received?
She was in Europe.
Where was Col. Olcott?
He was in Europe also.
Where were Mrs. and Mr. Coulomb?
Coulomb had been
expelled from the Theosophical premises.
Did Damodar write them?
Damodar is not the man to admit that he has any "faults and
weaknesses" whatever.
So all those
accusations that have been made that they wrote the teachers' letters are
false.
_ _ _
I remained in India till January,
1885, and along with other investigators received the fullest satisfaction. Of
the existence of the adept Koot Hoomi I obtained all the proof desirable, and
was convinced of the soundness of the Theosophical teaching.
It only remains to add that I
left India about the same time as Mr. Hodgson, the investigator from the
English Psychical Research Society. I believe Mr. Hodgson to be quite sincere
in the report which he prepared regarding the phenomena of the Theosophical
Society, but am sorry that, by his incompetence for dealing with occult and
psychic subjects (probably arising from a materialistic training), he has
totally misled a very important body of thinkers. »
(The
Religio-Philosophical Journal, January 29, 1887, p.2)
SUBSEQUENT STATEMENTS
Unfortunately
Mr. Brown later joined a very dogmatic Catholic congregation, and influenced by
his new mentors, he totally changed his discourse, but contradicting a lot with
his new assertions:
« It was in the year 1884 that the “Theosophists” came outright to grief.
They were settled at this period about seven miles from the City of Madras in a
bungalow, for which some Theosophists had paid when Blavatsky and Olcott
resolved to take a trip to Europe. They left the “shrine,” as it appears, in
charge of a housekeeper, by name Coulomb, who, while her employers were in
England, disclosed to the Madras public certain “trap-doors” and “sliding
panels” connected with the sacred edifice.
(Here
Brown has already forgotten that he himself in his previous articles testified
that Mrs. and Mr. Coulomb were expelled because it was discovered that they
were constructing these traps to blame Blavatsky, and that although neither the
Coulombs nor Blavatsky nor Olcott were in the following days in the Adyar
Headquarters, even so he and the other members continued to receive the letters
of the masters in a paranormal way.)
Indeed so many disclosures bearing on the subject did
this domestic make that the Mahatmas or Magi concluded to withdraw
altogether to Tibet, and, strange to say, have not since been heard from. Such
estimation did Madame thereby secure in Madras that her return to that city
would probably give occasion to public investigations which no right-minded
Theosophist could contemplate without regret.
The “Society for Psychical
Research,” is an association of well-meaning ladies and gentlemen, some of them
having a reputation for learning. It owes its existence to the curiosity
excited by Theosophy and other cults of the kind. Professor Sidgwick of
Cambridge, Professor Barrett of Dublin, and other Psychical Researchers, were
puzzled by the marvels of Tibetan magic, and they resolved to test, to the best
of their ability, the pretentions of the magicians. To a great many persons
their conscientious inquiries may have seemed superfluous — a waste of useful
energy upon a transparently worthless subject. But they deserve whatever praise
is due to the exposure of a delusion, which deluded no one except the utterly
fatuous.
In the summer of the fatal year
1884, one of the “Psychicers,” Dr. Hodgson, of Cambridge University, for whose
honesty and fairness of purpose we can vouch.
(Here
Brown is contradicting himself because in his previous articles, he pointed out
that Hodgson was very incompetent to investigate these phenomena, since he was
a staunch materialist who classified everything paranormal as fraud.)
He left England for the East, armed
with a mandate from his Society, to investigate the Hindu marvels. He was
instructed to make himself acquainted with the Hindu neophytes, to hear all
witnesses, to examine in person the Madras “shrine,” the Indian depot of the Tibetan
phenomena.
Dr. Hodgson pursued his investigations as directed,
obtained a variety of testimonies, more or less trustworthy, examined in person
the “shrine” with its “sliding panels,” and, after some months, returned to
England to make known the result of his inquiries. »
(The Catholic Lyceum of Dublin, November 1889, p.54-57)
This
last thing that William Brown says is also false because the shrine had already disappeared months before
Mr. Hodgson arrived, as William Judge pointed out:
« I went to India expressly to
be concerned in the coming exposure by the Coulombs, and I took charge of
everything the moment I arrived there. I had the final and exhaustive
examination made. I myself removed the shrine to an adjoining room, from which
that night it disappeared. This was months before Hodgson arrived in India. If
he saw what he thought was a part of the shrine, it was a joke put on him by
Dr. Hartmann, who would be pleased to lead such a wild investigator into a
trap. No part of it was retained by Hartmann.
Again, he describes a hole in the
wall behind the shrine. There was none, and he gets it all at second hand.
There was an unfinished opening in the second wall, behind the shrine, having
jagged projections of lath ends all around it, just as Coulomb had to leave it,
when we stopped him. »
(Index
Boston, March 11, 1886)
OBSERVATION
The falsehoods and contradictions that William Brown
says in his last article, make me consider that there he is no longer being
sincere, as instead it seems that he was in his first statements, which also
coincide with other witnesses who also were in Adyar during that period.
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