Theos-Talk Archives (July 1995 Message tl00064)

Dear Paul,

I nearly finished IN SEARCH OF THE MASTERS and began reading THE
MASTERS REVEALED.  I'd like to comment on a quote which you made
on p.  50 of MR.

This letter from HPB was first published in 1947 and reads:

"My Masters and the Masters are Yogis and Munis de facto, not de
jure; in their life not in appearance.  They are members of an
occult brotherhood, not of any particular school in India.  One
of their highest Mahachohans lived in Egypt and went to Tibet
only a year before we did (in 1878) and he is neither a Tibetan
nor a Hindu....its origin is of untold antiquity, and is as much
Masonic as present Masonry is little Masonic."

You feel that when she says "we" she is referring to herself and
Olcott.  This struck me as an odd interpretation and so I did a
little research in regards to their whereabouts in 1879.  I found
a quote I think you might be interested in, but I also wish to
point out that she and Olcott are not subjects of this quote a
single time.  She does separate in a strange way her Masters from
The Masters, so "we" could easily be used to refer to "our side."
Her Masters are "we" as they are responsible for The Theosophical
Society in its early inception.  She also uses the term "its" to
refer to "the Brotherhood" and I think this is a little confusing
as she could easily be speaking of the Mahachohan.

Of course your main point is to compare HPB's whereabouts with
Afghani's whereabouts and to prove that they were always winding
up in the same place at the same time.  Places being India,
Tbilisi and area, Cairo, Paris, and India again.  Is there any
reason why India isn't pinpointed to a city and its area as the
others are? I'm not sure why you're trying to fit this quote in
here in regards to Afghani, but I found a reference in H.P.
BLAVATSKY AND THE THEOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT by Charles J.  Ryan.  My
copy is a 1975 edition published by Point Loma Publications and
on p.  95 states:

"They have no desire to start a new superstitious worship of
saints or godlings.

Owing to misconception of a statement by the Master K.H.  that he
could not endure "the stifling magnetism" of even his own
countrymen for any length of time and was obliged to return to
Tibet (M.L.  12), it was suggested that no Adepts remained in
India.  Apparently in order to correct this, H.P.Blavatsky wrote
the following explanation of the real conditions:

European and even Hindu students of Occultism are often deploring
and even wondering, why all the "Initiates" or "adepts" seem to
have died out in India? They have not "died" out, nor, is their
absence due to "Kali Yug" as popularly yet erroneously supposed.
The "adepts" have simply and gradually if not altogether forsaken
India, at least retired from its public populated portions,
keeping their knowledge and often their very existence as secret
as they can.  Many of them are gone beyond the Himalayas.  Some
yet remain--especially in Southern India, but few are the
privileged ones who know of them; still fewer those who could
point out their places of retreat.

--Theos., III, 135, Feb., 1882

One of these Southern Indian Adepts was the Master Narayan, who
telepathically dictated parts of ISIS UNVEILED when H.  P.
Blavatsky was in New York, and later," (the author lists some
additional material)......

It says in this book that the "Master Narayan lived at
Tiruvallum, a retired spot in Southern India, a landed proprietor
to all appearance," etc.

I was wondering if you had any information regarding this person
or had included him in your search.  To be honest, this is the
first time that I heard of this Master in over 20 years of
membership in the T.S.

Couldn't H.P.B.  be referring to this exodus from India when
speaking of an 1879 departure to Tibet? Were you aware of this?