Masonic, Occult and Esoteric Online Library
The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett - 1923
By A. T. Barker
Letter No VI
Received at Allahabad about December loth, 1880.
No—you do not ** write too much." I am only sorry to haveso little time at my disposal ; hence—to find myself unabletoanswer you as speedily as I otherwise would. Of course, / haveto read every word you write : otherwise I would make a finemess of it. And whether it be through my physical or spiritualeyes the time required for it is practically the same. As muchmay be said of my replies. For, whether I ** precipitate " or dic-tate them or write my answers myself, the difference in timesaved is very minute. I have to think it over, to photographevery word and sentence carefully in my brain before it canberepeated by '* precipitation." As the fixing on chemically pre-pared surfaces of the images formed by the camera requiresaprevious arrangement within the focus of the object to be repre-sented, for otherwise—as often found in bad photographs—thelegs of the sitter might appear out of all proportion with the head,and so on, so we have to first arrange our sentences and impressevery letter to appear on paper in our minds before it becomesfitto be read. For the present, it is all I can tell you. Whenscience will have learnt more about the mystery of the lithophyl(or lithobiblion) and how the impress of leaves comes originallyto take place on stones, then will I be able to make you betterunderstand the process. But you must know and rememberonething : we but follow and servilely copy nature in her works.
No ; we need argue no longer upon the unfortunate questionofa ** Day with Mad. B." It is the more useless, since you say,you have no right to crush and grind your uncivil and oftenblackguardly opponents in the " Pioneer "—even in your owndefence—your proprietors objecting to the mention of occultismaltogether. As they are Christians it is no matter of greatwonder. Let us be charitable and hope they will get their ownreward : Die and become angels of light and Truth—wingedpaupers of the Christian heaven.
Unless you join several, and organize somehow or other, I amafraid I will prove but of little help for you practically. Mydearfriend, I have my ** proprietors " also. For reasons best knownto themselves they have set their foot upon the idea of teachingisolated individuals. I will correspond with you and give youproofs from time to time of my existence and presence. Toteachor instruct you—is altogether another question. Hence to sitwith your lady is more than useless. Your magnetisms aretoosimilar and—you will get nothing.
I will translate my Essay and send it to you as soon as I can. Your idea of corresponding- with your friends and fellows is the next best thing- to do. But do not fail to write to Lord Lindsay.
I am a little ** too hard " upon Hume, you say. Am I? His is a highly intellectual and, I confess, a spiritual nature too. Yet, he is every bit of him " Sir Oracle." It may be that it is, the very exuberance of that great intellect which seeks issue throug-h every chink, and never loses an opportunity to relieve the fulness of the brain, which overflows with thought. Finding in his quiet daily life too meagre a field with but ** Mossy and Davison to sow upon—his intellect bursts the dam and pounces upon every imagined event, every possible though improbable fact his imagination can suggest, to interpret it in his own conjectural way. Nor do I wonder that such a skilled workman in intellectual mosaic as he, finding suddenly, the most fertile of quarries, the most precious of colour—stored in this idea of our Fraternity and the T.S. —should pick out ingredients from it to daub our faces with. Placing us before a mirror which reflects us as he finds us in his own fertile imagination he says : " Now, you mouldy relics of a mouldy Past look at yourselves how you really are ! " A very, very excellent man our friend Mr. Hume, but utterly unfit for moulding into an adept.
As little, and far less than yourself does he seem to realize our real object in the formation of an A. I. Branch. The truths and mysteries of occultism constitute, indeed, a body of the highest spiritual importance, at once profound and practical for the world at large. Yet, it is not as a mere addition to the tangled mass of theory or speculation in the world of science that they are being given to you, but for their practical bearing on the interests of mankind. The terms " unscientific," " impossible," "hallucination," ** impostor," have hitherto been used in a very loose, careless way, as implying in the occult phenomena something either mysterious and abnormal, or a premeditated imposture. And this is why our chiefs have determined to shed upon a few recipient minds more light upon the subject, and to prove to them that such manifestations are as reducible to law as the simplest phenomena of the physical universe. The wiseacres say : " the age of miracles is past," but we answer, " it never existed !" While not unparallelled, or without their counterpart in universal history, these phenomena must and will come with an overpowering influence upon the world of sceptics and bigots. They have to prove both destructive and constructive—destructive in the pernicious errors of the past, in the old creeds and superstitions which suffocate in their poisonous embrace like the Mexican weed nigh all mankind ; but constructive of new institutions of a genuine, practical Brotherhood of Humanity where all will become co-workers of nature, will work for the good of mankind ivith and through the hig-her planetary Spirits—the only *' Spirits " webelieve in. Phenomenal elements, previously unthought of—undreamt of—will soon begin manifesting- themselves day by daywith constantly augmented force, and disclose at last the secretsof their mysterious workings. Plato was right : ideas rule theworld, and, as men's minds will receive new ideas, laying asidethe old and effete, the world will advance : mighty revolutions willspring from them ; creeds and even powers will crumble beforetheir onward march crushed by the irresistible force. It will bejust as impossible to resist their influx, when the time comes, asto stay the progress of the tide. But all this will come graduallyon, and before it comes we have a duty set before us ; that ofsweeping away as much as possible the dross left to us by ourpious forefathers. New ideas have to be planted on clean places,for these ideas touch upon the most momentous subjects. It isnot physical phenomenon but these universal ideas that we study,as to comprehend the former, we have to first understand thelatter. They touch man's true position in the universe, in rela-tion to his previous and future births ; his origin and ultimatedestiny ; the relation of the mortal to the immortal ; of the tem-porary to the eternal ; of the finite to the infinite ; ideas larger,grander, more comprehensive, recognising the universal reign ofImmutable Law, unchanging and unchangeable in regard to whichthere is only an Eternal Now, while to uninitiated mortals timeis past or future as related to their finite existence on this materialspeck of dirt. This is what we study and what may have solved.
And now it is your province to decide which will you have : thehighest philosophy or simple exhibitions of occult powers. Ofcourse this is by far not the last word between us and—you willhave time to think it over. The Chiefs want a ** Brotherhood ofHumanity," a real Universal Fraternity started; an institutionwhich would make itself known throughout the world and arrestthe attention of the highest minds. I will send you my Essay.Will you be my co-worker and patiently wait for minorphenomena? I think I foresee the answer. At all events the holylamp of spiritual light burning in you (however dimly) there is hope for you, and—for me, also. Yes ; put yourself in searchafter natives if there are no English people to be had. But thinkyou, the spirit and power of persecution gone from this enlightenedage? Time will prove. Meanwhile, being human I have to rest. I took no sleep for over 60 hours.
Ever yours truly,
KOOT HOOMI.
