Theos-Talk Archives (March 1995 Message tl00118)

Concerning John Mead's question on getting photographs of the MLs:

All of the Mahatma Letters in the British Library have been
photographed and put on microfilm.  Copies of the microfilm are
at Wheaton T.S.  and at Pasadena T.S.  Also colored slides of the
letters have been made.  Georgre {misspelling] George Linton of
Portland Oregon has a set and so does (i believe) Pasadena T.S.

Concerning copyright on the various editions of the Mahatma
Letters.

According to George Linton, the copyright on editions one and two
have expired.  These are now in the public domain.

The third edition, I understand, is still under copyright.

Under International Copyright Law, the Chronological edition (I
call it the 4th edition) is copyrighted as far as the arrangement
of the letters and the commentary by Virginia Hanson.

In summary, the text of the Mahatma Letters are now in the public
domain.

Concerning Paul Johnson's comments on the Mahatma Letters:

In his internet message he mentions the book *Who Wrote the
Mahatma Letters?8 by Harold and William Hare.  Every serious
student of the Mahatma Letters should read the Hare book, but
what Paul Johnson does NOT mention in his message and what he
does NOT mention in his book THE MASTERS REVEALED (see pp.
174-175) is that the Hare book is full of misinformation and
numerous mistakes.  If you read the Hare book, you should also
read the series of articles written by Dr.  H.N.  STokes in *The
O.E.  Library Critic* in 1936 and 1937.  There are many other
articles by several Theosophists which critique the Hares' book.
I find it somewhat misleading that Paul Johnson mentions the
Hares' book but is silent to the critiques written on the book.

The Hare brothers declared that they had examined the originals
of the Mahatma Letters and that they had discovered that HPB had
physically written the letters.  Their examination of the letters
was limited to just a few hours of inspection and as far as I
know the Hare brothers were not versed and were not experts in
handwriting.  In contrast, Dr.  Paul Kirk in 1963 (an individual
which Paul Johnson does not mention in his book) and Dr.  Vernon
Harrison in 1986 both declare that HPB did NOT physically write
the Mahatma Letters.  Both Dr.  Kirk and Dr.  Harrison are
handwrting experts.  Also concerning writing style and syntax of
the Mahatma Letters as compared to HPB's letters (for example, to
Sinnett), Charles Marshall in a paper entitled "The Mahatma
Letters---A Syntatic Investigation into the Possibilities of
`Forgery' by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky...", published in
*Viewpoint Aquarius, Oct.  1980, pp.  8-14, did a computer
analysis of the style and syntax of the Mahatma Letters and the
Letters of HPB to AP Sinnett.  His conclusion was that HPB did
not write the Mahatma Letters.

Unfortunately, Paul Johnson in THE MASTERS REVEALED does NOT
allow his readers to know about this study by Marshall.

I am planning to do a full-length critique of THE MASTERS
REVEALED and the most distressing observation I can make about
this book is that the author omits or downplays any evidence that
would throw a monkey wrench into his various theories and
hypotheses.  In his speculations on who the real historical
personages are behind the personae of Koot Hoomi and Morya, the
author omits probably more than 95% of the testimonies and
evidence concerning the existence of the Masters.  How many of
the readers of THE MASTERS REVEALED are knowledgable enought to
know exactly what is not mentioned in Johnson's book?

I have spent 25 years collecting all of the first hand accounts
concerning HPB's life and testimonies, etc.  concerning the HPB's
Masters.  In the last few years, I have discovered a number of
Koot Hoomi letters never published before as well as 2 MSS of HPB
never published before.  It is very important that interested
Theosophists and interested members of the public be made aware
of ALL the evidence both pro and con concerning HPB and the
Masters.  Unfortunately, THE MASTERS REVEAL, although a tresure
trove of information, omits or downplays evidence and information
that the reader should be aware of in order to make an informed
opinion as to the validity or falsity of Paul Johnson's
speculations and hypotheses.

My critique will document all of this and more in great detail.
I hope publish it as a pamphlet and also to make a copy avaialble
on Theos-L.

[Sorry for typos in the above text!!]

As far as the various comments that have been made about
so-called "anti-Christian" comments in the Mahatma Letters and
also in HPB's writings, no one has reallly defined what they mean
by "Christian" and "anti-Christian." Furthermore, the assumption
seems to be made that it is somehow "wrong" and "bad" that HPB
and the Masters made such criticisms! Maybe the criticisms are
valid! What's wrong with pointing out some of the fallacies of
certain "Christian" teachings? During the time HPB was in India
in the early 1889s, Christian missionaries of various churches
were active in India and Ceylon trying to convert the Hindu and
Buddhists from their "false", "pagan" religions to the "true",
"one and only religion"---Christianity!

[Correction: "...in the early 1880s..."

HPB and the Masters also made criticisms of exoteric Hinduism and
exoteric Buddhism.

Daniel H. Caldwell