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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of H. P. Blavatsky, by Alice Leighton Cleather
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: H. P. Blavatsky
+       A Great Betrayal
+
+Author: Alice Leighton Cleather
+
+Release Date: June 11, 2011 [EBook #36373]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK H. P. BLAVATSKY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David E. Brown, Margo Romberg, Bryan Ness and
+the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive/American
+Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+    H. P. BLAVATSKY
+
+    A GREAT BETRAYAL
+
+    BY
+
+    ALICE LEIGHTON CLEATHER
+
+    One of Her Pupils
+
+
+    PRICE
+
+    _One Rupee, Fifty cents, or
+    One Shilling Six Pence_
+
+    PUBLISHED BY
+    THACKER, SPINK & CO
+    CALCUTTA
+    1922
+
+
+WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
+
+=H. P. Blavatsky:=--_Her Life and Work for Humanity._ CALCUTTA: THACKER,
+SPINK & CO., 1922.
+
+=In Collaboration with Mrs. Laura Langford:=--_Helena Petrovna
+Blavatsky. Personal Recollections by Old Friends._ New York, 1922.
+
+=In Collaboration with Mr. Basil Crump:= _Richard Wagner's Music
+Dramas._ Embodying Wagner's own interpretations based upon his studies
+of Oriental Philosophy.
+
+LONDON: METHUEN & CO., 4 VOLS.
+
+
+
+
+    H. P. BLAVATSKY
+
+
+"Behold the truth before you! a clean life, an open mind, a pure heart,
+an eager intellect, an unveiled spiritual perception, a brotherliness
+for one's co-disciple, a readiness to give and receive advice and
+instruction, a loyal sense of duty to the Teacher, a willing obedience
+to the behests of TRUTH, once we have placed our confidence in, and
+believe that Teacher to be in possession of it; a courageous endurance
+of personal injustice, a brave declaration of principles, a valiant
+defence of those who are unjustly attacked, and a constant eye to the
+ideal of human progression and perfection which the secret science
+(_Gupta Vidya_) depicts--these are the golden stairs up the steps of
+which the learner may climb to the Temple of Divine Wisdom. Say this to
+those who have volunteered to be taught by you."
+
+    Letter to H. P. B. from her Master
+    (concerning her E. S. students.)
+
+
+
+
+    H. P. BLAVATSKY
+
+    A GREAT BETRAYAL
+
+    BY
+
+    ALICE LEIGHTON CLEATHER
+
+    _One of Her Pupils_
+
+    _Published by_
+
+    THACKER, SPINK & CO
+    CALCUTTA
+    1922
+
+
+
+
+"Tell them ...; As pure water poured into the scavenger's bucket is
+befouled and unfit for use, so is divine truth when poured into the
+consciousness of a Sensualist.... Observe, that the first of the steps
+of gold which mount towards the Temple of Truth is--A CLEAN LIFE. This
+means a purity of body, and a still greater purity of mind, heart and
+spirit."
+
+    Letter to H. P. B. from her Master
+    (concerning her E. S. students.)
+
+
+
+
+    CONTENTS.
+
+                                                              PAGE
+
+    FOREWORD                                                   vii
+
+    INTRODUCTORY                                                 1
+
+    MR. WILLIAM KINGSLAND ON THE CRISIS OF 1906                  7
+
+    M. M. SCHURÉ AND LÉVY ON THE CRISIS OF 1913                 11
+
+    MRS. BESANT'S "RETURN OF THE CHRIST"                        15
+
+    FUNDAMENTAL CAUSES: SOME OCCULT METHODS                     23
+
+    H. P. BLAVATSKY ON TRUE OCCULTISM                           31
+
+    MRS. BESANT'S RESPONSIBILITY AND THE MADRAS LAW-SUITS       39
+
+    THE CENTRAL HINDU COLLEGE: AN INDIAN CRITICISM              43
+
+    MRS. BESANT'S LATEST ASSERTIONS AND CLAIMS EXAMINED         51
+
+    TAMPERING WITH H. P. BLAVATSKY'S WRITINGS                   71
+
+    "ANNIE BESANT'S CORRUPTION OF THE SECRET DOCTRINE"          76
+
+    THE TRUTH ABOUT THE E. S. COUNCIL AND THE INNER GROUP       83
+
+    CONCLUSION                                                  89
+
+
+    ADDENDUM.
+
+    THE AUSTRALIAN CRISIS                                       92
+
+    AN INDICTMENT OF MRS. BESANT BY A RESIGNING MEMBER OF
+    HER E. S.                                                   95
+
+    BIBLIOGRAPHY                                                97
+
+
+
+
+"There is a very, very ancient maxim, far older than the time of the
+Romans or the Greeks.... It is a maxim all of them ought to
+remember--and live accordingly ... a sound and pure mind requires a
+sound and pure body. Bodily purity every adept takes precautions to
+keep.... Most of them know this.... But though they have been repeatedly
+told of this _sine qua non_ rule on the Path of Theosophy and
+_Chelaship_, how few of them have given attention to it.... Behold, how
+many of them are ... debauchees, GUILTY OF SECRET IMMORALITY in more
+than one form.... Though such a person with any of the faults as above
+declared [others are named] should fill the world with his charities,
+and make his name known throughout every nation, he would make no
+advancement in the practical occult sciences, but be continually
+slipping backward. The 'six and ten transcendental virtues,' the
+Paramitas[1], are not for full grown Yogis and priests alone, but for
+all those who would enter the 'Path.'"
+
+
+    Letter to H. P. B. from her Master
+    (concerning her E. S. students.)
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _See "The Voice of the Silence," by H. P. Blavatsky._
+
+
+
+
+FOREWORD.
+
+
+This Protest has been undertaken at the earnest and repeated requests of
+Theosophical friends of long standing. They feel strongly that the time
+has come for one of H. P. Blavatsky's old pupils, who was a member of
+her Inner Group, to demonstrate as clearly as possible that the
+teachings promulgated for nearly twenty years past by the present
+leaders of the "Theosophical Society" have departed more and more from
+H. P. B.'s, and are now their direct antithesis, particularly on the
+fundamental question of sex morality.
+
+Since Mr. G. R. S. Mead, one of my fellow-members of the Inner Group,
+spoke out at the Leadbeater Inquiry of 1906, and resigned, no other
+surviving member, so far as I have been able to ascertain, has attempted
+to stem the awful and ever increasing tide of horror and delusion, that
+is, engulfing--one might almost say _has_ engulfed--Mrs. Besant's
+Society. If Mr. Mead could say in 1906;--"We stand on the brink of an
+abyss," what is to be said now? The enquiries and researches I have
+undertaken to enable me to write this pamphlet have revealed the present
+state of things to be far worse than I could have imagined possible.
+
+From the time I left Mrs. Besant in 1895 and Mrs. Tingley in 1899, I
+have been out of touch with these two movements, each calling itself
+"theosophical" and each leader claiming to be H. P. B.'s "successor."
+This is the reason why I have hitherto kept silent; in fact, it was not
+until I came to live in India in 1918, after spending some years on the
+Continent, and met some of the members--both Indian and European--who
+had left Mrs. Besant in more recent years, that I learnt of the
+appalling developments since she became President and installed the sex
+pervert Leadbeater as supreme esoteric teacher.
+
+I feel that I should be failing in my duty, and false to the solemn
+Pledges I have taken, if I did not now do my utmost to clear H. P. B.'s
+name from these horrible associations, and demonstrate that they have
+nothing whatever to do with her Masters (the Trans-Himâlayan
+Brotherhood) or Their Esoteric doctrine.
+
+I therefore PROTEST with all my strength, and _in Their sacred Names_,
+against what is to me a desecration and a blasphemy.
+
+
+    _September, 1922._
+    A. L. C.
+
+
+
+
+_Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad._
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY.
+
+
+For the past fifteen years, despite repeated scandals, exposures, and
+even the damning evidence produced in various court cases, Mrs. Besant
+still persists in her blind and fanatical support of the sex pervert and
+pseudo-occultist C. W. Leadbeater, and the promulgation of his delusive,
+immoral, and poisonous teachings among the members of the Theosophical
+Society she rules, and the public at large, to whom she is known chiefly
+as an able speaker and an astute politician. Goaded by a revival of the
+well-known evidence against Mr. Leadbeater, and a severe criticism of
+her own actions, Mrs. Besant published in her official organ
+(_Theosophist_, March, 1922.) an article entitled "Whom Will Ye Serve?"
+and a long Supplement addressed to the members, reiterating her support
+of Mr. Leadbeater, and making statements in justification of him and
+herself that call imperatively for a dispassionate review of the history
+of this ill-omened partnership, and the strongest possible protest
+against the complete stultification and perversion of H. P. Blavatsky's
+life-work and teaching that it involves.
+
+I have no personal quarrel with Mrs. Besant, whose brilliant
+intellectual gifts we all so much admired in the early days, and who
+accomplished such splendid work for the Cause during H. P. Blavatsky's
+lifetime. I had already been a member of the Society for four years when
+Mrs. Besant joined in 1889; and as we both subsequently became members
+of the Inner Group of H. P. B.'s personal pupils, I feel I am in a
+position to review the facts, and entitled to utter this protest. In
+fact, I can no longer remain silent in the face of so much that is
+abhorrent to every true Theosophist, to every devoted follower of H. P.
+Blavatsky, her Masters, and Their teachings.
+
+In a private letter to Mr. Judge, in or about 1887, H. P. B. writes: "I
+am the mother and creator of the Society; it has my magnetic fluid....
+Therefore I alone and to a degree ... can serve as a lightning conductor
+of Karma for it. I was asked whether I was willing, when on the point of
+dying--and I said 'Yes'--for it was the only means to save it. Therefore
+I consented to live...." Obviously, the only possible conclusion to be
+drawn from this is that, when in 1891 H. P. Blavatsky passed away (or
+rather was "recalled") nine years before the limit of time within which
+the Masters' help could be given,[2] it was because They saw that the T.
+S. had definitely failed, that it could no longer be kept alive.
+
+A long and, in this connection, very important letter was written by H.
+P. Blavatsky in 1890 "To my Brothers in Aryavarta," giving the real
+reason why she did not return to India. Among other significant
+statements which she makes (_Theosophist_, January, 1922.), there is one
+which shows that she must clearly have foreseen the ultimate
+disintegration of the Society, which occurred in 1895. Writing of the
+shameful way in which she was thrown overboard, like a second Jonah, by
+Colonel Olcott and the T. S. Council at Adyar in their cowardly panic
+during the crisis of 1884-85, H. P. B. says: "It was during that time
+... that the seeds of all future strifes, and--let me say at
+once--_disintegration of the Theosophical Society_ [Italics mine.--A. L.
+C.] were planted by our enemies.... In a letter received from Damodar in
+1886 [He had been called by his Master to Tibet the previous year.--A.
+L. C.] he notified me that the Masters' influence was becoming with
+every day weaker at Adyar." Further on in the letter H. P. B. again
+refers to Adyar, and to an invitation to return to India which "came too
+late ... nor can I, if I would be true to my life-pledge and vows, now
+live at the Headquarters _from which the Masters and Their spirit are
+virtually banished. The presence of Their portraits will not help; They
+are a dead letter._" [Italics mine. Yet Mrs. Besant asks us to believe
+that They returned when she was elected President in 1907, and even
+nominated her!--A. L. C.]
+
+In the same letter H. P. B. says that she was pledged never to reveal
+"the whole truth" about the Masters to anyone, "excepting to those who
+like Damodar, had been finally selected and called by Them." She also
+speaks of him as "that one future Adept who has now the prospect of
+becoming one day a Mahatma, Kali Yuga notwithstanding." It is he again
+of whom she spoke four years earlier, when she wrote: "During the eleven
+years of the existence of the Theosophical Society I have known, out of
+the seventy-two regularly accepted _chelas_ on probation and the
+hundreds of lay candidates--only _three_ who have not hitherto failed,
+and _one only_ who had a full success." ("The Theosophical Mahatmas."
+_Path_, December, 1886.) Damodar is the only _chela_ she ever spoke of
+as a "full success" in her lifetime; and it is worthy of special note
+that he was a high caste Brahmin who did not hesitate to give up caste
+and become a Buddhist (so Colonel Olcott states).
+
+In the late spring Mrs. Besant paid a hasty visit to Australia, whither
+her "brother-initiate" had to flee from India some time since, as
+previously from London, Paris, and America. The cause is always the
+same; scandals inevitably arise, and Australia has proved no exception.
+Mr. Leadbeater is a "Bishop" of the "Liberal Catholic Church," an
+anomalous body warmly supported and encouraged within and without the T.
+S. by Mrs. Besant. Other of its bishops have incurred similar odium and
+a "priest" has quite recently confessed in writing and implicated the
+"Presiding Bishop" and others. It has been stated that all these men are
+being watched by the police, who are only waiting to secure enough
+evidence. Matters cannot go on much longer like this; and a pamphlet
+published at New York last February says that "with difficulty a delay
+of a few months has been obtained in a pending arraignment and exposure
+in the Public Press in America." When it comes it will be a far graver
+indictment than that which precipitated the 'Besant _v._ Judge' crisis
+in 1894-95, and rent the T. S. in twain. _Then_ Mrs. Besant accused her
+colleague Mr. Judge of "giving a misleading material form to messages
+received psychically from the Master in various ways ..." (_Enquiry_ at
+London, July, 1894); but _now_ she is deliberately condoning, if not
+actually supporting, something far worse which was investigated and
+found true by a T. S. committee of enquiry in 1906.[3]
+
+For those unfamiliar with the events succeeding H. P. Blavatsky's death
+in 1891, I must add that those of us who supported Mr. Judge against
+Mrs. Besant's charges came under the sway, after his death a year later,
+of an equally masterful, able, and ambitious woman having very similar
+characteristics and methods. This was Mrs. Katherine Tingley, formerly a
+New York professional psychic and trance medium, from whose organisation
+("The Universal Brotherhood") I resigned in 1899. Her activities are now
+mainly confined to a colony in California.
+
+A point to which I think attention has not hitherto been drawn is the
+striking similarity in the fate which befell Mrs. Besant and Mr. Judge
+respectively after the death of H. P. Blavatsky. Being left as the most
+obvious leaders of the European and American Sections respectively
+(neither of them were in England when she died), the E. S. Council
+decided that they should carry on the Esoteric School as joint Outer
+Heads in place of H. P. B., oblivious of the fact that one of them (Mrs.
+Besant) was untrained, and both were unfit to fill such a high occult
+office (see _post_ p. 86). This soon became evident when each in turn
+fell an easy prey to external influences which first separated them, and
+then disrupted the Society and E. S.
+
+Among the old T. S. and E. S. papers now lying before me I find not a
+few which throw a most illuminating light on Mrs. Besant's activities in
+recent years. Before dealing with her latest statements I will quote
+extracts from these papers in support and elucidation of the points I
+wish to make, _viz_:--
+
+     (_a_) That under Mrs. Besant's guidance the T. S. has long
+     ceased to represent H. P. Blavatsky's teaching, or the thought
+     of its Founders.
+
+     (_b_) That it is now completely dominated by the deluded,
+     impure, and poisonous ideas of an acknowledged sex pervert, to
+     whom this unhappy and misguided woman believes and openly
+     declares herself to be bound by indissoluble and age-long ties.
+
+     (_c_) That in adopting and conniving at the promulgation of the
+     teachings of this man, and allowing him virtually to control
+     her Society, Mrs. Besant most impiously gives out that she is
+     acting under the orders of the Trans-Himâlayan Masters of
+     Wisdom, and H. P. Blavatsky's directions.
+
+This last point (_c_) is the real gravamen of my Protest. It would be of
+relative unimportance--Mrs. Besant having already wrecked the Society in
+1895--that it had descended to the level of any existing sect, Christian
+or other (as much a close corporation as the Adventists or New
+Jerusalemites), had its two present leaders dropped the _title_, and
+ceased to claim any connection with the "real Founders." But, on the
+contrary, Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater use Their sacred names and
+declare themselves to be under Their direct guidance. Such proceedings
+merit the sternest possible moral condemnation in view of the facts.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[2] " ... there remain but a few years to the last hour of the
+term--namely, till December the 31st, 1899. Those who will not have
+profited by the opportunity (given to the world in every last quarter of
+a century) ... will advance no further than the knowledge already
+acquired. No Master of Wisdom from the East will himself appear or send
+anyone to Europe or America after that period.... Such is the law, for
+we are in _Kali-Yuga_--the Black Age--and the restrictions in this
+cycle, the first 5,000 years of which will expire in 1897, are great and
+almost insuperable." (H. P. Blavatsky in the "Book of Rules, E. S. T."
+1888.)
+
+[3] For later and fuller particulars from Australia, see Addendum.
+
+
+
+
+Mr. William Kingsland on the Crisis of 1906.
+
+
+The first of the old papers I shall quote from is by my old friend and
+fellow-Councillor Mr. William Kingsland, author of _The Esoteric Basis
+of Christianity_ and kindred works. He was one of the leading members in
+the early days under H. P. B. who, when Mrs. Besant on securing the
+Presidency after Colonel Olcott's death in 1907 reinstated Mr.
+Leadbeater, resigned their membership. Mrs. Besant had reviewed a new
+book by Mr. Kingsland, and took the opportunity to refer to his
+resignation. Replying in "An Open Letter to Annie Besant" dated
+December, 1909, he tells her:
+
+     You have dragged in a perfectly irrelevant, uncalled-for and
+     untrue statement which I cannot allow to pass unchallenged...."
+     The words I refer to are these: "We have here a very excellent
+     Theosophical book, with an evasion of all recognition of the
+     source whence the ideas are drawn. When Theosophy becomes
+     fashionable, how those who refuse to walk with her in the days
+     of scorning will crowd to claim her as theirs when she walks in
+     the sunshine amid applause!" Now these words convey the
+     implication, in the first place, that there is a connection
+     between the form in which my book is presented, and recent
+     events in the Theosophical Society which have led me as well as
+     many others, to sever our connection with that Society; and, in
+     the second place, that we now "refuse to walk with her"
+     because, forsooth, she is not now "fashionable," but "in the
+     days of scorning." Neither of these statements is true, and the
+     implication is most unworthy of you.... That, however, is a
+     small matter compared with the implication that I and others
+     have turned our backs on Theosophy for so unworthy a reason.
+
+     Let me ask you to look at the names of the old and tried
+     workers whom you have forced out of the Society by your
+     disastrous policy, and then ask yourself in the Great Presence
+     whether it is true that any of them have deserted Theosophy--or
+     rather the Theosophical Society--because it is less
+     "fashionable" now than it was in the old days when you and I
+     and these others stood side by side and fought the battle for
+     H. P. Blavatsky. Did any of us shirk obloquy then, and do you
+     really think we are less ready to face it now? It is one thing,
+     however, to incur obloquy for the sake of Truth, and quite
+     another thing to be asked to do it _in support of immoral
+     teachings_.... What I want to point out now more particularly,
+     and in the interest of true Theosophy, is, that you are now
+     making the grand mistake--one never made by H. P. Blavatsky--of
+     thinking, writing, and speaking as if Theosophy and the
+     Theosophical Society were one and the same thing, absoutely
+     identical; and that there can be no Theosophy in the world
+     without the Theosophical Society, and no Theosophists outside
+     of it.... You must know that in leaving the Theosophical
+     Society, the great majority of us at all events have not given
+     up Theosophy, even if we may feel compelled to teach it under
+     another name, and though we can no longer work with or through
+     the Theosophical Society, we are none the less carrying on the
+     great work which H. P. Blavatsky initiated.
+
+     But in the old days we did at least think that the Theosophical
+     Society stood for pure Theosophy and pure Morality. _We cannot
+     think or say this any longer._ The "Theosophy" of the
+     Theosophical Society is now a definite creed and dogma based
+     upon authoritative psychic pronouncements, from which those who
+     dare to differ are first of all squeezed out of office by the
+     President, and finally compelled to leave the Society, being
+     denounced in the strongest language as "persecutors" and
+     "haters." I am quite aware that all the time you are preaching
+     freedom of opinion; but that is one of the farcical aspects of
+     the _régime_ which you inaugurated.... Whatever you may preach,
+     it is now notorious that your practice has been the exact
+     reverse. You commenced by turning out the Vice-President for
+     daring to hold a different opinion from your own as to the
+     inception of the Society; and you then proceeded so to
+     manipulate matters that several old and tried officials who had
+     been in opposition to your pronouncements and policy, were
+     ousted from their positions as General Secretaries of
+     Sections.... Well, you succeeded in getting your own supporters
+     appointed--and in losing many hundreds of old members.
+
+     Doubtless you will now have complete control and be able to
+     mould the Society to your own will and liking, and train it to
+     "obedience" to your psychic authority and visions. At what
+     expense and sacrifice of principles you have already done this,
+     we all know. But let none imagine that this is the basis on
+     which H. P. Blavatsky founded the Society; or that it will thus
+     fulfil the mission for which it was intended; or that it can
+     thereby become other than _a narrow and exclusive sect_. And if
+     perchance your statement is true that the Theosophical
+     Sciety--which you so mistakenly identify with Theosophy--is now
+     "in the days of scorning," possibly even more than it was in
+     the old days; What and who is it that has made it so?
+
+     Is it not because the President and General Council have set
+     their seal and official condonation to a "theosophy" _which
+     countenances the grossest immorality_, and which can
+     advocate--as a means of "discharging [_sic_] thought-forms"
+     (see Van Hook's pamphlet)--a practice which you yourself once
+     characterised as being "when taught under the name of Divine
+     Wisdom, essentially earthly, sensual, devilish?" Yet it is thus
+     taught and justified--with an appeal to the laws of
+     reincarnation and _karma_--in Van Hook's pamphlet, which you
+     and the General Council have refused to repudiate, and have
+     thereby condoned.
+
+     And now, since you have had your own way, and have cleared the
+     Society of the elements of the so-called "hatred and
+     persecution"; can you not at least refrain from hitting behind
+     our backs? Nothing is sadder for your old friends and comrades
+     than to see you stoop to veiled insinuations, and even direct
+     untruths; missing no opportunity--not even in the review of a
+     book--of striking unjustly and falsely at those who have
+     recently been your opponents, and who have now no direct means
+     of answering you, or of refuting your statements within the
+     Society itself.
+
+I have italicised a few passages which seem to be of special importance
+as showing that, _thirteen years ago_, Mr. Leadbeater's sinister hand
+had already grasped the Society and its infatuated President, and that
+his vile and immoral teachings, supported by her, had driven out some of
+the oldest and most clear-headed and clear-sighted of H. P. Blavatsky's
+friends and pupils; among them Mr. G. R. S. Mead, one of the Leadbeater
+Committee of Inquiry, who also resigned at the time Mrs. Besant became
+President for the same reasons as those stated by Mr. Kingsland. The
+"practice" to which he alludes in his Open Letter is of course now well
+known to be that taught and advocated by Mr. Leadbeater, who claims that
+in so doing he is acting on the advice and under the authority of one of
+the Masters of Wisdom. Could a more terrible infamy be perpetrated!
+
+
+
+
+M. M. Schuré and Lévy on the Crisis of 1913.
+
+
+Let us see, however, what others have to say seven years later on the
+state of the T. S. In 1913 another violent crisis convulsed this
+miserable travesty of a Society that once stood for the highest
+principles and ideals, but which even a Lake Harris might blush now to
+be associated with. As before, it centred round the shocking perverter
+of morals who had obtained complete ascendancy over Mrs. Besant. A book
+entitled _Mrs. Besant and the Present Crisis in the Theosophical
+Society_ was published in 1913 by M. Eugène Lévy, "with a Prefatory
+Letter by M. Edouard Schuré," the well-known author of _The Great
+Initiates_ and other mystical works. Writing to M. Charles Blech,
+General Secretary of the French T. S., M. Schuré states that he feels
+"compelled to retire officially from the T. S." and that it is his
+"duty" to give his "reasons straightforwardly." After alluding to the
+date (1907), when M. Blech had offered and he had accepted the honorary
+membership in the Society, M. Schuré goes on to speak of Mrs. Besant, as
+she had then appeared to him, in high terms, expressing the hope that
+"the nobility of her past career" was an augury "that the T. S. would
+continue in the broad way of tolerance, impartiality, _and veracity_
+which forms an essential part of its programme." M. Schuré then
+continues:--
+
+     Unfortunately things turned out otherwise. The primary cause of
+     this deviation lies in the close alliance of Mrs. Besant with
+     Mr. Leadbeater, a learned occultist, but of an unsettled
+     disposition and doubtful morality. After Mr. Leadbeater _had
+     been found guilty_ by an advisory Committee of the T.S. Mrs.
+     Besant publicly announced her reprobation of the educational
+     methods with which he was charged.... By an inconceivable
+     change of front she soon afterwards declared her intention of
+     bringing Mr. Leadbeater into the T.S. again and she
+     succeeded.... The excuses she gave for this recantation were
+     charity and pardon. _The real reason was that the President
+     needed Mr. Leadbeater for her occult investigations_, and that
+     this collaboration appeared to her necessary to her prestige.
+     To those who have followed her words and acts from that time
+     onwards, it is clearly manifest _that Mrs. Besant has fallen
+     under the formidable suggestive power of her dangerous
+     collaborator, and can only see, think and act under his
+     control_. The personality henceforward speaking through her is
+     ... the questionable visionary, the skilful master of
+     suggestion who no longer dares to show himself in London,
+     Paris, or America, but in the obscurity of a summer-house at
+     Adyar governs the T. S. through its President. The ill-omened
+     consequences of this influence were soon to appear before the
+     world through the affair of Alcyone and the founding of the
+     Order of the Star in the East.... If a real Indian initiate, a
+     Brahmin or otherwise, of ripe age, had come to Europe on his
+     own responsibility or in the name of his Masters to teach his
+     doctrines, nothing would have been more natural or
+     interesting.... But it was not in this form that we beheld the
+     new apostle from Adyar. A young Indian, aged thirteen,
+     _initiated by Mr. Leadbeater_ ... is proclaimed and presented
+     to the European public as the future teacher of the new era.
+     Krishnamurti, now called Alcyone, has no other credentials than
+     his master's injunctions and Mrs. Besant's patronage. His
+     thirty-two previous incarnations are related at length, the
+     early ones going back to the Atlantean period. _These
+     narrations_, given as the result of Mr. Leadbeater's and Mrs.
+     Besant's visions, _are for the most part grotesquely puerile_,
+     and could convince no serious occultist. They are ostensibly
+     designed to prove that for twenty or thirty thousand years the
+     principal personages in the T. S. have been preparing for the
+     "Great Work" which is soon to be accomplished. In the course of
+     _their incarnations, which remind one of a newspaper novel_,
+     these personages are decorated with the great names of Greek
+     mythology, and with the most brilliant stars in the firmament.
+     During a meeting at Benares, Krishnamurti presenting
+     certificates to his followers, received honours like a divine
+     being, many persons present falling at his feet. He does not,
+     however, utter a word, but only makes a gesture of benediction,
+     prompted by Mrs. Besant. In reporting this scene Mr. Leadbeater
+     likens it to the descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost.
+
+     For this dumb prophet is founded the Order of the Star in the
+     East, which the whole world is invited to join, and of which he
+     is proclaimed the head ... this passive young prodigy, who has
+     not yet given the world the least proof of having any mission
+     at all [this is as true in 1922 as it was in 1913.--A. L. C.],
+     becomes henceforth the centre and cynosure of the T. S., the
+     symbol and sacred ark of _the orthodox faith at Adyar_. As to
+     the doctrine preached by Mrs. Besant, it rests on a perpetual
+     equivocation. She allows the English public at large, to whom
+     she speaks of the coming Christ, to believe that he is
+     identical with the Christ of the Gospels, whereas to her
+     intimates she states what Mr. Leadbeater teaches, and what he
+     openly proclaims in one of his books, _The Inner Life_--namely,
+     that the Christ of the Gospels never existed, and was an
+     invention of the monks of the second century. Such facts are
+     difficult to characterise. I will simply say that they are
+     saddening for all who, like myself, believed in the future of
+     the T. S., for they can only repel clear-sighted and sincere
+     minds.... In my eyes, one can no longer be an actual member of
+     the T. S. without implicitly approving the deeds and words of
+     the President, which flagrantly contradict the essential
+     principle of the Society--I mean _scrupulous and absolute
+     respect for truth_. For these reasons I regret that I must send
+     you my resignation as a member of the Theosophical Society.
+
+The italics throughout the foregoing quotations are mine, and serve
+again to emphasise essential points; points almost exactly similar to
+those raised by Mr. Kingsland, the most serious being the condonation by
+Mrs. Besant of immoral practices in a colleague whose collaboration, as
+M. Schuré shrewdly adds, has become a necessity to her, and under whose
+"formidable suggestive power" she has now completely fallen. If this was
+true in 1913, what may not be said in 1922, when the intervening nine
+years have given time for the growth and development of this deadly Upas
+Tree? I use the simile advisedly, for this teaching _is_ a "deadly"
+poison, not only from the ordinary moral standpoint, but especially from
+that of the esoteric teaching of H. P. B. and the Trans-Himâlayan
+Brotherhood, under whose authority it is falsely and blasphemously given
+out; I do not hesitate to declare it.
+
+M. Schuré also emphasises an important and vital point which Mr.
+Kingsland seems to have felt equally deeply, _viz._--That Mrs. Besant
+has no use for any but those who accept everything she says and does
+with blind subservience, even when, in the eyes of such men as M.
+Schuré, Mr. Mead, Mr. Kingsland, and others, it merits strong
+condemnation as "untrue" and "misleading." In the pages of the recent
+numbers of the _Theosophist_ the talk about "freedom of opinion" within
+the Society is still repeated, although in actual practice, as I have
+shown, the exact opposite obtains. Much that emanates from this tainted
+source is so fantastic and puerile that ridicule ought long since to
+have killed it, as it did Oscar Wilde's Æsthetic movement.
+
+
+
+
+Mrs. Besant's "return of the Christ."
+
+
+To return to M. Lévy's book; it deals with "Mrs. Besant's Proceedings"
+under various headings. In the one entitled "Mrs. Besant's Return of the
+Christ" is to be found some of the most amazing balderdash--given out as
+serious teaching!--it has ever been my lot to encounter. For instance, a
+book called _Man: Whence, How, and Whither_, written by Mrs. Besant and
+Mr. Leadbeater in collaboration, is quoted from by M. Lévy at
+considerable length. He explains that "the substitution of a "false
+Christ" for the "Christ of the Gospels" is here supported by "_a new
+order of evidence_" (Italics mine). Specimens of this "evidence" follow,
+and I will here give some of it in order to show the almost unbelievably
+low level of intelligence to which this whole mischievous
+movement--miscalled Theosophical--has descended, and the sort of
+elements in human nature to which such an ill-conceived and fantastic
+production is designed to appeal. M. Lévy writes:--
+
+     In the course of their investigations these two occultists look
+     up on the one side, the past incarnations of him whom Mrs.
+     Besant calls the "Master Jesus," that is, of the "Jesus" born
+     105 B.C.; and on the other side, the past lives of the being
+     whom she calls the "Lord Maitreya, the present Bodhisattva, the
+     Supreme Teacher of the World"; whose ego at a given moment
+     replaced that of "Jesus," this being the last incarnation of
+     the Christ whose immediate return she is announcing.
+
+     Let us first quote from their account of the incarnations of
+     the "Supreme Teacher" ... In the chapter headed "Early Times
+     on the Moon Chain," p. 34, we read:--
+
+     "There is a hut in which dwell a Moon-Man, his wife and
+     children; these we know in later times under the names of Mars
+     and Mercury, the Mahaguru and Surya. A number of these
+     monkey-creatures live round the hut, and give to their owners
+     the devotion of faithful dogs; among them we notice the future
+     Sirius, Herakles, Alcyone, and Mizar, to whom we may give their
+     future names for the purpose of recognition, though they are
+     still non-human."[4]
+
+     In the Fourth Root Race we again find the personage supposed to
+     be "Maitreya" as the husband of the ego claimed by these
+     authors as that of "Master K. H." Mrs. Besant is again
+     incarnated in the family as daughter, the eldest sister of the
+     "Master M."; "Maitreya," the future World-Teacher, being at
+     this time the head of the tribe (p. 113)....
+
+     We have thus reached to somewhere about the year 15,000 B.C.,
+     and then--incredible as it seems--they give no further
+     incarnations of him whom they nevertheless claim to have been
+     the World-Teacher at the beginning of our era.
+
+     They give us his incarnations as husband, as father, as
+     counsellor and priest, and are silent as to the only
+     incarnation of fundamental and vital importance to the whole
+     world.
+
+     Let us see if the incarnations of their "Jesus" will fill this
+     gap in our knowledge, if they will throw light on this
+     essential point, thus left in obscurity.
+
+     We meet this "Jesus" for the first time at the beginning of the
+     Fifth Root Race, as daughter of Alcyone (Krishnamurti) and
+     sister of "Maitreya" (p. 252.)
+
+     Then, on p. 328, as the wife of Julius Cæsar 18,878 B.C., he,
+     or rather she, being at this time the widow of Vulcan (Known in
+     his last incarnation as Sir Thomas More)....
+
+     He is later identified as daughter of Alcyone-Krishnamurti (his
+     father) and Fabrizio Ruspoli (his mother),[5] parents at the
+     same time of the future "World-Teacher, Maitreya," their young
+     daughter. These incarnations took place 72,000 B.C., on the
+     shores of the Lake of Gobi, we are told on p. 490.
+
+     In 15,910 B.C., we find "Jesus" as grandson of "Maitreya," and
+     as father and grandfather of a large family composed, as in all
+     cases investigated by these two authors, of _present_ members
+     of the Theosophical Society _only_, and including the faithful
+     friends of Adyar _to the exclusion of all others_.[6]
+
+     " ... In 12,800 B.C. the "Jesus" of these investigations again
+     forms part of a very extensive family composed as usual of the
+     selfsame elements, and including amongst the names known in the
+     theosophic world that of Mme. Marie Louise Kirby (an Italian
+     theosophist recently at Adyar) who was his sister. "Jesus" was
+     then the father of Mrs. S. Maud Sharpe (General Secretary of
+     the English Section), of Julius Cæsar, and of T. Subba Rao;
+     the Teshu Lama being at that time his daughter, etc., etc. (p.
+     499)....
+
+     Once more have our hopes been betrayed, for an absolute silence
+     broods over the Incarnations of "Jesus" later than this date of
+     13,500, as it reigned over those of the "World-Teacher"....
+
+     We cannot, however, conceive that this information gathered
+     from occult investigation will be felt to be indispensable by
+     anyone. Now that we know that Mrs. Besant's "World-Teacher" is
+     an ordinary man of the lunar chain (to whom Mrs. Besant was
+     first domestic animal and then sister, and who, in the early
+     period of our earth, was daughter of the young Krishnamurti (or
+     of M. Ruspoli), who could be found still to imagine that there
+     could be here any question, save a mad or impious joke"....
+
+Incredible as it may appear to those who know anything of H. P.
+Blavatsky's teachings, their comprehensive grandeur and sublimity,
+especially as given in _The Secret Doctrine_, this extraordinary mixture
+of clumsy fairy-tale and extravagant and even malicious mumbo-jumbo is
+apparently swallowed whole by the blind and credulous followers of this
+grotesque "Neo-Theosophy." Not so much for them do I write as for those
+who, while interested in these subjects, have neither the inclination
+nor the leisure to examine, for instance, such published Records as
+these from which I quote, for themselves. Such would naturally accept on
+their face value Mrs. Besant's own account of herself and of her
+Society, unaware that she is no longer anything but a "blind leader of
+the blind," incapable of distinguishing light from darkness, truth from
+falsehood. We have direct testimony to the truth of this statement in
+Mr. T. H. Martyn's now famous letter to Mrs. Besant.[7] In it he tells
+her:--"You have been relying upon C. W. L. as _sole intermediary between
+the Hierarchy_ [the Trans-Himâlayan Brotherhood, the Masters of Wisdom.
+Italics mine.--A. L. C.] and yourself for many years.... C. W. L.'s word
+is final and his seership infallible to you." The quality of this
+supposed "seership" bears a very close resemblance to a stupid and
+vulgar hoax. This is clearly shown by Mr. Martyn, who says:--"In 1919 I
+went to America. Young Van Hook was in New York. He talked freely of C.
+W. L.'s immorality and about _faking the 'lives' of people_" (Italics
+mine.) Mr. Martyn then puts together various pieces of evidence against
+this man, and tells Mrs. Besant that he finds "staring me in the face
+the conclusions that _Leadbeater is a sex pervert_, his mania taking a
+particular form which I have--though only lately--discovered, is a form
+well known and quite common in _the annals of sex criminology_."
+(Italics mine.) This sex criminal, then, is the creature whom Mrs.
+Besant has accepted "for many years" as "sole intermediary between"
+herself and--_the Masters of Wisdom_!! One almost hesitates to draw the
+obvious inference; for this is the man whom she has for years held up to
+and imposed upon their followers as a model of all the virtues--"a
+saint"--a person "on the threshold of divinity." (See also footnote
+_post_, p. 56.)
+
+Why has it always been necessary for Mrs. Besant to have an
+"intermediary"? Before Mr. Leadbeater it was her Brahmin guide, and
+before him it was Mr. Judge. To each in turn she gave implicit belief in
+the matter of "messages" and directions from the Masters, while
+outwardly claiming "direct" communication. The fact is that, as I have
+come to believe, the plain psychology of the thing is--sheer femininity.
+With all her intellectual talents, her once clear brain, Mrs. Besant is
+(in her personality) just simple _woman_, relying upon male guidance and
+authority as instinctively as any of her humbler sisters. And what
+student of human nature will fail to recognise in her that purely
+feminine trait of blind and fanatical "obedience" which loves to receive
+and obey "orders" even though the result should be "a world in ruins"?
+The existence of this fundamental and essential quality in female human
+nature is the real reason why even the most broad-minded men shrink from
+giving women equality of power with themselves in wordly affairs.
+
+Let me here declare what I believe to be the real truth; namely, that
+after H. P. Blavatsky's death in 1891, neither Mrs. Besant, nor Mr.
+Judge, nor Colonel Olcott, nor anyone else, could "communicate," because
+_H. P. B.'s withdrawal meant the withdrawal of her Masters as well_. It
+has always seemed strange to me that this was never realised by anyone,
+for in this pamphlet I have quoted quite enough from H. P. B. to make it
+perfectly clear. Does she not say in the 1890 letter to the Indians (see
+p. 2) that after she had to leave India in 1885 the Masters' influence
+at Adyar became a dead letter? Did not the Masters Themselves write as
+early as 1884 that they could only communicate through her or in places
+previously prepared magnetically by her presence? How, then, could They
+be expected to continue to communicate or direct the affairs of the T.
+S. (as They did in India until 1885), or the E. S. (as They did from
+1888 to 1891), after They had withdrawn the Agent They had so carefully
+prepared and subjected to the severest trials and initiations in Tibet?
+Barely three years after this withdrawal the fatal "Split" took place
+owing to Mr. Judge giving out what purported to be "direct"
+communications, but which, as I discovered after working for a time
+under his inspirer and successor, Mrs. Tingley, _were obtained from
+her_. Mrs. Besant, in accusing him, did precisely the same, for she
+stated in her _Case against W. Q. Judge_ that she had received her
+orders direct from the Master, whereas (as I relate elsewhere, _post_,
+p. 56) she admitted to the Inner Group that they came "through" her
+Brahmin guide.
+
+This, then, was the great and fundamental error committed by the leaders
+of the movement, after H. P. B. was withdrawn. It is responsible for all
+the subsequent troubles, and the appalling situation with which we are
+faced to-day. A great and world-wide organisation is being used to
+promulgate blasphemous, poisonous and absolutely anti-Theosophical and
+anti-Occult doctrines as emanating direct from the Masters who
+definitely withdrew Their chosen Agent in 1891. (See _ante_ p. 2.)
+
+In any case, even had she lived, H. P. B. told the E. S. that the "last
+hour of the term" was December 31st, 1899, after which "no Master of
+Wisdom from the East will himself appear or send anyone to Europe or
+America." (See footnote, _ante_ p. 2.) She also said that the next
+Messenger would be sent out in 1975. Yet the fiction that the Masters
+are still directing the leaders and the movement is kept up, not only by
+Mrs. Besant, but also by Mrs. Tingley, 22 years after "the last hour of
+the term."
+
+It is the same with all this wild talk about the imminent advent of a
+"World-Teacher." Is this in the least probable, in view of the above
+pronouncements? H. P. B. definitely states in _The Secret Doctrine_ the
+exact opposite; but all the Neo-Theosophists seem to prefer the Besant
+and Leadbeater books. H. P. B. says, with reference to this very
+Maitreya whose name they so lightly take in vain, that He is not due
+until the Seventh Sub-Race, _i.e._, several thousand years hence; and
+that, in any case, "it is not in the _Kali Yug_, our present
+terrifically materialistic age of Darkness, the 'Black Age,' that a new
+Saviour of Humanity can ever appear." (S. D. Third Ed., Vol. I, p. 510
+_et seq._ See also _Theosophical Glossary_, "Kalki Avatar" and "Maitreya
+Buddha.") If we accept H. P. B.'s authority there is no evading this
+issue, and we must reject the Besant-Leadbeater pretensions _in toto_,
+for their absurdity is patent. Yet they claim to have been specially
+taught and prepared by her to carry on her message! (_Vide_ Mrs. Besant
+in the _Theosophist_, March, 1922; and also _post_ p. 68.)
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[4] In these incarnations such names are used as; Mars for the "Master
+M."; Mercury for the "Master K. H."; Surya, the Lord Maitreya, the
+present Bodhisattva, the Supreme Teacher of the World"; Sirius for Mr.
+Leadbeater; Herakles for Mrs. Besant; Alcyone for Krishnamurti; Mizar
+for his young brother, etc. A list of these names and those to whom they
+apply is given in the Foreword of the book. [Italics mine. Here we see
+the bald and unabashed appeal to the personality and its ambitions and
+desires which is characteristic of this kind of charlatanism.--A. L. C.]
+We shall here substitute the names of the real persons as given in this
+list for the fancy names used to distinguish them in the body of the
+book, _Man: Whence, How and Whither_.
+
+[5] M. Ruspoli is an Italian theosophist recently living at Adyar, with
+whom Mr. Leadbeater stayed in Italy.
+
+[6] It is a remarkable fact that outside this little circle not a single
+being in our great world has ever entered into these family communities
+to whom the honour is given of being the pioneers of every civilisation
+of the past. Even though we are invited to assist at marriages running
+into thousands, _ever_ the same names appear and _all_ the members of
+_all_ the families are identified. This singular oligarchy of friends
+and devotees of Adyar perhaps merited to be signalised throughout the
+evolution of our earth, the more so that Mr. Leadbeater, writing in his
+bird's-eye view of the twentieth century and of the pioneers of the
+future sixth race, remarks maliciously: "We know who will _not_ be
+there." He puts in italics the word _not_; desirous doubtless to
+indicate the unworthiness of other theosophists.
+
+[7] Mr. Martyn is the President of the Sydney Lodge, Australian Section
+T. S., a member of thirty years' standing. See Addendum.
+
+
+
+
+Fundamental causes: Some Occult Methods.
+
+
+Under this heading M. Lévy deals with what he calls "the pitiful climax
+of this parody":--
+
+     What a contrast to the great traditions of the Theosophical
+     movement, formulated by H. P. Blavatsky in _The Key to
+     Theosophy_ (Third Edition, p. 191);--"As for our best
+     Theosophists, they would also far rather that the names of the
+     Masters had not been mixed up with our books in any way." And
+     later, on p. 192;--"I say again, every earnest Theosophist
+     regrets to-day, from the bottom of his heart, that these sacred
+     names and things have ever been mentioned before the public."
+     And this would be the moment to say with Mme.
+     Blavatsky;--"Great are the desecrations to which the names of
+     two of the Masters have been subjected." ... But when all is
+     said and done, what _is_ this occultism which produces _such
+     disregard of truth, such calumny in daily life, such diastrous
+     confusion in the domain of clairvoyance_, and finally, _advice
+     of such a kind as to arouse universal disgust_? [Italics
+     mine.--A. L. C.]
+
+     This occultism has its methods, as all schools of occultism
+     have; for occultism consists in a methodical training and the
+     awakening of consciousness to superior worlds; and where a
+     method produces such results, may we not regard it as
+     legitimate to ask what is the source of such serious and such
+     numerous aberrations?... On this question, as on all those that
+     we have examined, we will cite as witnesses original documents,
+     the appraisements of those who teach their own methods. It is
+     well known that Mr. Leadbeater is the inventor and manipulator
+     of the Adyar occultism. In the _Inner Life_ (Vol. I, p. 450),
+     in speaking of the centres, the awakening of which, as we
+     know, developes clairvoyance, he expresses himself in these
+     terms;--"I have heard it suggested that each of the different
+     petals of these force-centres represents a moral quality, ... I
+     have not yet met with any facts which confirm this ... _their
+     development seems to me to have no more connection with
+     morality than has the development of the biceps_." [Italics
+     mine. A little later I shall quote some very definite
+     pronouncements of H. P. Blavatsky's which teach the exact
+     opposite.--A. L. C.]
+
+     Further, it is of interest to find Mrs. Besant and Mr.
+     Leadbeater, in the first lines of the Preface to _Man; Whence
+     How, and Whither_, expressing the same view as regards the
+     connection between morality and clairvoyance--"It is not
+     generally accepted, nor indeed is it accepted to any large
+     extent ... [clairvoyance] is a power latent in all men ... it
+     can be developed by any one who is able and willing to pay the
+     price demanded for its forcing, ahead of the general
+     evolution."
+
+     Mrs. Besant is no less positive. A price is demanded for the
+     "forcing" of clairvoyance, but this price is neither "high
+     spirituality" nor "lofty intelligence," nor even "purity of
+     character" ... she fully shares the views of Mr. Leadbeater....
+
+     Thus the calumny, sectarianism, the disregard of truth in daily
+     life, the increasingly serious aberrations in the spiritual
+     life, have gradually revealed the main source of all these
+     facts, _i. e._, the defect of the method.
+
+     All becomes clear. Mr. Leadbeater is probably right, and it may
+     be possible to develop, as he claims, a certain clairvoyance
+     (an inferior clairvoyance, it must be said) without the
+     concurrence of a moral and mental training.... But who will
+     maintain that without moral purification we shall possess that
+     moral sense that inspires gracious and noble conduct, and
+     teaches us to hate falsehood?... be able to distinguish
+     illusions from reality in our astral visions?
+
+     Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater are most certainly not ignorant
+     of the dangers of occult development without morality. But it
+     is quite another matter to profess this theory, or even to lean
+     towards morality in the course of occult development, _by means
+     of ... generous aspirations perpetually evoked in eloquent
+     language_, from setting to work on the development of these
+     centres by means of exercises arranged with the express purpose
+     of bringing in the _practice_ of morality, of truth, and of
+     logic as powerful factors in the reorganisation of the subtle
+     bodies--which produces clairvoyance.... That method which
+     dissociates moral and intellectual aspiration from occult
+     development, and seeks to cultivate them separately, will not
+     achieve moral progress since _the inner nature is not
+     transmuted_; but this method will produce a very debauch of
+     phrases invoking these aspirations. For, instead of penetrating
+     by means of the appropriate practice into the inner regions of
+     the soul, these aspirations swirl, so to say, perpetually on
+     the surface of the mind. Their presence there will produce a
+     kind of psychic intoxication, sometimes rousing in the
+     occultist thoughts so much above his own mental and moral
+     standard, that he may come to regard himself as a saint, while
+     at the same time performing the most despicable actions.
+     Indeed, during such times the conduct shows a moral
+     retrogression very noticeable when compared with the conduct
+     before this occult development For this latter _increases and
+     intensifies all the temptations_, as every occultist will
+     admit. An increase of active morality is therefore, required if
+     we would avoid this most dangerous lack of balance....
+
+     We find constantly in Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater, under a
+     great show of high moral aspirations, the reality of an actual
+     moral and intellectual fall. Much emphasis is placed on
+     "liberty of thought" [see p. 14 A. L. C.], and at the same time
+     the intellectual desertion of this principle is preached in
+     counselling members to give blind obedience to "the least hint
+     which falls from the lips of Mrs. Besant," and to follow her
+     implicitly whether she is understood or not....
+
+     We see clearly that the fruits are precisely those we should
+     expect from the seed; the terrible danger of this method can
+     neither be misunderstood nor denied ... [we must] never lend
+     ear to the words which in this school quite naturally take the
+     place of the honest and right act, and so turn attention from
+     the moral ugliness of the actions performed.... _Acts alone
+     show forth morality, not attractive formulas flowing from
+     literary or oratorical talent._ The constant declaration of
+     liberty of thought, of human brotherhood, cannot impress us
+     when the actions of those who delight in them enslave thought,
+     persecute merit, seek to poison souls by flimsy and deceptive
+     spiritual pronouncements....
+
+     It is a painful duty to have to press this point with such
+     insistence. But now that we are facing the consequences of the
+     Leadbeater method on the mental character of the clairvoyant,
+     our warnings in reference to still more serious harm will not
+     appear exaggerated.
+
+     We know that the higher regions of the invisible worlds are
+     those in which "consciousness" manifests itself principally in
+     the most intense awareness of moral beauty.
+
+     Since this is so, the cultivation of the non-moral clairvoyance
+     could only attain results in the lower regions of the astral
+     world ... the organ of clairvoyant sight, when developed
+     according to certain methods, will be blind to the moral
+     outline of subtle worlds, _and will thus be cut off from all
+     their truly spiritual content. The field of their experiences
+     will be limited to the lower regions of the astral plane._
+
+     And it is these lower visions, more frequently experienced
+     because of _their affinity to elements in the vehicles of the
+     investigator not yet purified, that will be presented as the
+     most sublime images of the higher worlds_. For such a
+     clairvoyant is deprived of the high morality which is the force
+     leading our "bodies" by affinity towards truly spiritual Beings
+     [_e.g._, the Masters in Their Mahatmic "bodies".--A. L. C.]
+     Deprived of the standard of comparison that these provide, _he
+     will be the_ _victim of all the illusions of a world that is
+     the veritable motherland of illusions, for human errors are but
+     the faint reflection of these_. Since the sense of
+     responsibility, which is essentially moral in origin [H. P.
+     Blavatsky says; "_The sense of Responsibility is the beginning
+     of Wisdom._" A. L. C.] will equally fail him, _he will have no
+     scruple in sharing his illusions with all in making known his
+     misleading experiences_--the less since the forces, whose sport
+     he is, push him irresistibly to this. Are they not in truth the
+     adversaries of the divine scheme of evolution, _the servants
+     and sowers of error and immorality the world over_?
+
+In these clear and logical arguments M. Lévy expresses, even in a
+translation, so much better than I could have done, the dangers of the
+way leading to the path of "error" which Mrs. Besant is now treading,
+that I have quoted at greater length than I originally intended.
+Although written nine years ago, they are more than ever true to-day. M.
+Lévy then continues:--
+
+     We have thus sketched in their broad hypothetical outlines _the
+     incalculable reactions that the defect in the Leadbeater method
+     brings into the inner life, into the words and actions of those
+     who yield their souls to him_.
+
+     In demonstrating the fatal effects of this method we have shown
+     the real meaning of the faults and failings of all kinds as
+     exhibited by Mrs. Besant, who is its most fervent adherent. The
+     right interpretation of the known facts seems to us so entirely
+     in conformity with the consequences, as implied in our
+     hypothesis, as to make it possible to some extent to foresee
+     these facts with scientific certainty--which is precisely what
+     has happened....
+
+     We recall the "Leadbeater Case," which in 1906 [this was the
+     Committee of Inquiry in London, above referred to.--A. L. C]
+     called forth within the Theosophical Society, no less than
+     outside, unanimous moral censure.... Resigning from the
+     Theosophical Society in consequence of this affair, Mr.
+     Leadbeater has since returned, at the invitation of Mrs.
+     Besant.... Have the principles and methods of Mr. Leadbeater
+     changed since he has returned to his place amongst us? He
+     himself informs us on this point in a letter written after the
+     "affair," at the express desire of Mrs. Besant that he should
+     "define his position" at the time she started the well-known
+     campaign in favour of his re-admission (_Theosophist_, February
+     1908.)
+
+     "You ask me," says Mr. Leadbeater, "to write you a clear letter
+     that you may show at need, expressing my real views on the
+     advice I gave some time ago to certain young boys. I need
+     hardly say that I keep my promise not to repeat the advice, for
+     I defer to your opinion that it is dangerous. I also recognise,
+     as fully as yourself, that it would be if it were promiscuously
+     given, but I have never thought of so giving it."
+
+     In this declaration Mr. Leadbeater first recognises the danger
+     of his advice, then immediately retracts this confession by
+     reservations which imply its harmlessness in just those cases
+     for which he is blamed. He has not, as we see from this letter,
+     then, changed his views; but the important fact is that he only
+     speaks of "danger," and never of "immorality." _His moral
+     standpoint remains, then, unaltered--is precisely the same as
+     before the exposé._
+
+     And what is this point of view? Mrs. Besant thus gives it in a
+     letter dated July, 1906 (_Theosophic Voice_, May, 1908):--
+
+     "Mr. Leadbeater appeared before the Council of the British
+     Section, representatives from the French and the American
+     Sections being present and voting. Colonel Olcott in the chair.
+     _He denied none of the charges_, but in answer to questions,
+     very much strengthened them, for he alleged.... _So that the
+     advice ... became advice putting foul ideas into the minds of
+     boys innocent of all sex impulses.... It was conceivable that
+     the advice, as supposed to have been given, had been given with
+     pure intent, and the presumption was so in a teacher of
+     theosophical morality; anything else seemed incredible. But
+     such advice as was given in fact, such dealing with boys_
+     _before sex passion had awakened, could only be given with pure
+     intent if the giver were, on this point, insane._" [Italics
+     mine. The details omitted cannot be put in print.--A. L. C.]
+
+     "Let me here place on record my opinion that such teaching as
+     this, given to men, let alone to innocent boys, is worthy of
+     the sternest reprobation. It distorts and perverts the sex
+     impulse ... degrades the ideas of marriage, fatherhood and
+     motherhood ... befouls the imagination, pollutes the emotions,
+     and undermines the health. Worst of all that it should be
+     taught under the name of Divine Wisdom, being essentially
+     'earthly', 'sensual', 'devilish.'"
+
+Mrs. Besant's last sentence contains the whole _raison d'être_ of this
+my Protest. She has expressed precisely the views I hold; but in this
+fervid condemnation she herself must now be included, since she condones
+and thus supports this horror. M. Lévy graphically portrays for us on
+what road it is that this once apparently sane and normal woman, with
+all her great gifts, is descending--a road that, as H. P. Blavatsky puts
+it in the concluding paragraph of _Occultism_ versus _the Occult Arts_,
+"can lead only to Dugpa-ship." (see _post_ p. 33.) He continues:--
+
+     Mrs. Besant then deemed Mr. Leadbeater's morality so defective
+     as to be accounted for only by mental derangement.
+     Nevertheless, the promise contained in the letter just quoted
+     and which expresses no shadow of moral repentance whatsoever,
+     nor anything approaching it, was sufficient, in Mrs. Besant's
+     eyes, to justify her in bringing back into the Theosophical
+     Society a teacher she has judged thus. Could one ask a clearer
+     proof of the anarchy produced by such occultism?
+
+     A recent suit, instituted by the parent of the young
+     Krishnamurti, re-claiming the custody of his child, brings
+     forward again this question of morality ... reminding us of the
+     exposé. In fact, the present case clearly formulates the
+     accusation of immoral conduct testified to by witnesses ... In
+     such a discussion, this attempt [by Mrs. Besant] to play upon
+     the political interests of the judges is unexpected,
+     amazing,--and, alas! significant. We see clearly that a mind
+     that shows itself capable of throwing into the balance
+     political (and racial) appeals in a matter of conduct, is
+     utterly blind to the question of human consideration [a Brahmin
+     father re-claiming his young sons] that overshadows this whole
+     case.
+
+     Clear and unmistakable through all these actions shows the
+     consistent distortion of the moral outlook, more serious since
+     the esoteric ethics should be an extension, a purification, an
+     exaltation of exoteric morality, and in no circumstances its
+     decline, its degradation, its negation. And if we would realise
+     to what extent this moral outlook can be warped under certain
+     influences, we need but to hear Mrs. Besant say of Mr.
+     Leadbeater:--"By hard, patient work he has won rewards ...
+     until he stands perhaps the most trusted of his Master's
+     disciples on the threshold of Divinity." (_Theosophist_,
+     November, 1911, p. 308.)
+
+     This conception of the "Divinity" that should be the the final
+     expression of morality has no need of comment other than that
+     same "deification" by his colleague--who five years earlier
+     regarded his teaching as so utterly immoral as to suggest
+     mental derangement as the only explanation.... Perhaps we shall
+     understand these things a little better if we remember that
+     this occultist, if he contradicts the Buddha, on the other hand
+     almost deifies Mrs. Besant. Possibly taking into consideration
+     this exchange of admiration, the meaning of the "deifications"
+     will become sufficiently clear.
+
+
+
+
+H. P. Blavatsky on true Occultism.
+
+
+Before giving some fine passages from M. Lévy's concluding chapters I
+will quote from H. P. Blavatsky's _Practical Occultism: Occultism_
+versus _the Occult Arts_, mentioned a few pages back. In its original
+form it is a booklet containing a reprint of two articles which she
+wrote for _Lucifer_ in 1888, shortly before she founded the Esoteric
+Section. These extracts will show the "true" teaching in this matter of
+Occultism, as contrasted with the "false," or Mrs. Besant's and Mr.
+Leadbeater's. H. P. B. begins by declaring that: "There are not in the
+West half-a-dozen among the fervent hundreds who call themselves
+'Occultists' who have even an approximately correct idea of the nature
+of the Science they seek to master. With a few exceptions, they are all
+on the highway to sorcery.... Let them first learn the true relation in
+which the Occult Sciences stand to Occultism.... [It] differs from Magic
+and other secret sciences as the glorious sun does from a rush-light, as
+the immutable and immortal Spirit of Man--the reflection of the
+absolute, causeless and unknowable ALL--differs from the mortal
+clay--the human body.... [The word] OCCULTISM is certainly misleading,
+translated as it stands from the compound word _Gupta-Vidya_ (Secret.
+Knowledge.) But the knowledge of what? Some of the Sanskrit terms may
+help us.
+
+"There are four (out of the many other) names of the various kinds of
+Esoteric Knowledge or Sciences given, even in the exoteric Purânas.
+There is (1) _Yajna-Vidya_, knowledge of the occult powers awakened in
+Nature by the performance of certain religious ceremonies and rites. (2)
+_Mahavidya_, the 'great knowledge,' the magic of the Kabalists and of
+the _Tantrika_ worship, often Sorcery of the worst description. (3)
+_Guhya-Vidya_, knowledge of the mystic powers residing in Sound (Ether),
+hence in the Mantras (chanted prayers or incantations), and depending on
+the rhythm and melody used; in other words, a magical performance based
+on knowledge of the Forces of Nature and their correlation; and (4)
+_Atma-Vidya_, a term which is translated simply 'Knowledge of the Soul,'
+_true Wisdom_ by the Orientalists, but which means far more.
+
+"This last is the only kind of Occultism that any Theosophist who
+admires 'Light on the Path,' and who would be wise and unselfish, ought
+to strive after. All the rest is some branch of the 'Occult Sciences,'
+_i.e._, arts based on the knowledge of the ultimate essence of all
+things in the kingdoms of Nature--such as minerals, plants and
+animals--hence of things pertaining to the realm of _material_ nature,
+however invisible that essence may be, and howsoever much it has
+hitherto eluded the grasp of Science.... _Siddhis_ (or the Arhat powers)
+are only for those who are able to 'lead the life,' and to comply with
+the terrible sacrifices required for such a training, and to comply with
+them _to the very letter_. Let them know at once and remember always,
+that true Occultism or Theosophy is the 'Great Renunciation of SELF,'
+unconditionally and absolutely, in thought as in action. It is ALTRUISM,
+and it throws him who practises it out of the ranks of the living
+altogether. 'Not for himself, but for the world he lives,' as soon as he
+has pledged himself to the work. Much is forgiven during the first years
+of probation. But, no sooner is he 'accepted' than his personality must
+disappear, and he has to become a _mere beneficent force in Nature_.
+There are two poles for him after that, two paths, and no midway place
+of rest. He has either to ascend laboriously step by step, often through
+numerous incarnations and _no Devachanic break_, the golden ladder
+leading to Mahatmaship (the _Arhat_ or _Bodhisattva_ condition), or--he
+will let himself slide down the ladder at the first false step, and roll
+down into _Dugpa-ship_....[8]
+
+"All this is either unknown or left out of sight altogether. Indeed, one
+who is able to follow the silent evolution of the preliminary
+aspirations of the candidates often find strange ideas quietly taking
+possession of their minds. There are those whose reasoning powers have
+been so distorted by foreign influences that they imagine that animal
+passions can be so sublimated and elevated that their fury, force and
+fire can, so to speak, be turned inwards ... _until their collective and
+unexpanded strength enables their possessor to enter the true Sanctuary
+of the Soul_, and stand therein in the presence of the _Master_--the
+HIGHER SELF.... Oh, poor blind visionaries!... Strange aberration of the
+human mind. Can it be so? Let us argue.
+
+"The 'Master' in the Sanctuary of our souls is 'the Higher Self'--the
+divine spirit whose consciousness is based upon and derived solely (at
+any rate during the mortal life of the man in whom it is captive) from
+the mind, which we have agreed to call the _Human Soul_ (the 'Spiritual
+Soul' being the vehicle of the Spirit.) In its turn the former (the
+_personal_ or human soul) is a compound, in its highest form of
+spiritual aspirations, volitions and divine love; and in its lower
+aspect, of animal desires and terrestrial passions imparted to it by its
+association with its vehicle, the seat of all these ... the _inner
+animal_. [It] is the instinctual 'animal soul,' and is the hotbed of
+those passions which ... are lulled instead of being killed, ... And
+where, on what neutral ground, can they be imprisoned so as not to
+affect man?
+
+"The fierce passions of love and lust are still alive, and they are
+allowed to still remain in the place of their birth--_that same animal
+soul_.... It is thus the mind alone--the sole link and medium between
+the man of earth and the Higher Self--that is the only sufferer, and
+which is in incessant danger of being dragged down by those passions,
+that may be re-awakened at any moment and perish in the abyss of
+matter.... How can harmony prevail and conquer, when the soul is stained
+and distracted with the turmoil of passions and the terrestrial desires
+of the bodily senses, or even of the 'Astral man'?
+
+"For this 'Astral'--the shadowy 'double' (in the animal as in man) is
+not the companion of the _divine Ego_ but of the _earthly body_. It is
+the link between the personal self, the lower consciousness of _Manas_,
+and the Body, and is the vehicle of _transitory, not of immortal
+life_.... It is only when the power of the passions is dead altogether,
+and when they have been crushed and annihilated in the retort of an
+unflinching will; when not only all the lusts and longings of the flesh
+are dead, but also the recognition of the personal Self is killed out
+and the 'Astral' has been reduced in consequence to a cipher, that the
+Union with the 'Higher Self' can take place. Then when the 'Astral'
+reflects only the conquered man, the still living but no more the
+longing, selfish personality, then the brilliant _Augœides_, the
+divine SELF, can vibrate in conscious harmony with both the poles of the
+human Entity--the man of matter purified, and the ever pure Spiritual
+Soul--and stand in the presence of the MASTER SELF, the Christos of the
+mystic Gnostic, blended, merged into, and one with IT for ever.[9]
+
+"How, then, can it be thought possible for a man to enter the 'strait
+gate' of occultism when his daily and hourly thoughts are bound up with
+worldly things, desires of possession and power, with lust, ambition,
+and duties which, however honourable, are still of the earth, earthy?
+Even the love for wife and family--the purest as the most unselfish of
+human affections--is a barrier to _real_ occultism.... While the heart
+is full of thoughts for a little group of _selves_, near and dear to us,
+how shall the rest of mankind fare in our souls? What percentage of love
+and care will there remain to bestow on the 'great orphan' [Humanity]?
+And how shall the 'still small voice' make itself heard in a soul
+entirely occupied with its own privileged tenants?... yet, he who would
+profit by the wisdom of the universal mind, has to reach it through _the
+whole of Humanity_, without distinction of race, complexion, religion,
+or social status. It is _altruism,_ not _ego_-ism even in its most legal
+and noble conception, that can lead the unit to merge its little Self in
+the Universal Selves. It is to _these_ needs and to this work that the
+true disciple of true Occultism has to devote himself if he would obtain
+_theo_-sophy, divine Wisdom and Knowledge.
+
+"The aspirant has to choose absolutely between the life of the world and
+the life of Occultism.... It would be a ceaseless, a maddening struggle
+for almost any married man, who would pursue _true_ practical Occultism,
+instead of its _theoretical_ philosophy. For he would find himself ever
+hesitating between the voice of the impersonal divine love of Humanity,
+and that of the personal, terrestrial love.... Worse than this. For,
+_whoever indulges, after having pledged himself to_ OCCULTISM, _in the
+gratification of a terrestrial love or lust_, must feel an almost
+immediate result--that of being irresistibly dragged from the impersonal
+divine state down to the lower plane of matter. Sensual, or even mental,
+self-gratification involves the immediate loss of the powers of
+spiritual discernment; the voice of the MASTER can no longer be
+distinguished from that of one's passions, or _even that of a Dugpa_;
+the right from wrong; sound morality from mere casuistry. The Dead Sea
+fruit assumes the most glorious mystic appearance ... although it is the
+intention that decides primarily whether _white_ or _black_ magic is
+exercised, yet the results even of involuntary sorcery cannot fail to be
+productive of bad Karma.... _Sorcery is any kind of evil influence
+exercised upon other persons, who suffer, or make other_ persons to
+suffer, in consequence ... such causes produced have to call forth
+effects, and these are evidenced in the just laws of Retribution.
+
+"Much of this may be avoided if people will only abstain from rushing
+into practices neither the nature nor importance of which they
+understand.... We are in the Kali-Yuga and its fatal influence is a
+thousand-fold more powerful in the West than it is in the East; _hence
+the easy preys made by the Powers of the Age of Darkness in this cyclic
+struggle, and the many delusions under which the world is now
+labouring_." (Italics mine--A. L. C.)
+
+Applying this high and absolutely uncompromising moral standard, these
+grand and stern words, to the two pseudo-occultists under discussion, it
+is not difficult--even in the light of the little I have already
+given--to see that they themselves, and their actions, bear _no sort of
+relation_ to real "Occultism" as here briefly outlined by H. P.
+Blavatsky. Their teaching concerning sex is indeed its antithesis, which
+inevitably leads to Dugpa-ship, as H. P. B. definitely states. The issue
+is clear, and cannot be evaded or explained away.
+
+It is true that Mrs. Besant started well, even splendidly, in H. P. B.'s
+lifetime, and just after her death wrote a series of simple explanatory
+manuals which were of great value to beginners and enquirers. But only
+two years later she began, under Brahmin[10] inspiration, to make
+serious alterations in H. P. B.'s own works, and even to throw doubt on
+her occult knowledge (_e.g._, Mrs. Besant's Preface to the so-called
+Vol. III of _The Secret Doctrine_.) Unfortunately larger and more
+ambitious works which followed were vitiated by the same influences, and
+I well remember marking many passages in _The Ancient Wisdom_ which were
+not in accordance with H. P. B.'s teachings. But the radical departure
+from them began when Mrs. Besant definitely threw in her lot with C. W.
+Leadbeater, the sex pervert, and thereby alienated and caused such deep
+sorrow to her former friends and supporters.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[8] DUGPAS. (_Tibetan_). Lit., "Red Caps," a sect in Tibet. Before the
+advent of Tsong-ka-pa in the fourteenth century, the Tibetans, whose
+Buddhism had deteriorated and been dreadfully adulterated with the
+tenets of the old _Bhon_ religion--were all Dugpas. From that century,
+however, and after the rigid laws imposed upon the _Gelukpas_ (Yellow
+Caps) and the general reform and purification of Buddhism (or Lamaism),
+the Dugpas have given themselves over more than ever to sorcery,
+immorality, and drunkenness. Since then the word _Dugpa_ has become a
+synonym of "sorcerer", "adept of black magic" and everything vile. There
+are few, if any, Dugpas in Eastern Tibet, but they congregate in Bhutan,
+Sikkim, and the borderlands generally.--_The Theosophical Glossary_, by
+H. P. Blavatsky.
+
+[9] Man is a trinity composed of Body, Soul, and Spirit; but _man_ is
+nevertheless _one_, _and_ is surely not his body. The three 'Egos' are
+MAN in his three aspects on the astral, intellectual or psychic, and
+Spiritual planes, or states.
+
+[10] In making use of the word "Brahmin" in this connection, I mean only
+to indicate that "sacerdotal" spirit of the Brahmin caste which has
+always resisted (and quite reasonably, _from their point of view_) any
+revealing of esoteric teaching to the multitude, and especially to the
+West. The particular Brahmin whom Mrs. Besant followed at that period
+(see _post_ p. 56 Footnote) induced her to adopt a line of action which
+disrupted the Society created by H. P. B., and diverted attention from
+her works.
+
+
+
+
+Mrs. Besant's responsibility and the Madras Law-suits.
+
+
+M. Lévy's concluding chapter, from which I will now quote, is obviously
+written from the heart. He says that it is his "imperative duty" to
+resign his membership in Mrs. Besant's Society, referring to the pain
+caused to her old friends by the opinion expressed by the police court
+magistrate in the defamation cases ... for he considered that the facts
+before him, and the documentary evidence, supported the view that Mrs.
+Besant had known of and even countenanced the practices of Mr.
+Leadbeater....
+
+     "In restoring to Mr. Leadbeater his influence over herself and
+     over the destinies of the Theosophical Society [she] has proved
+     her failure in moral vigilance and her lack of intellectual
+     discrimination as regards methods to which she thus fails the
+     first victim. And the sorry contradictions that this brings
+     into her spiritual message, the utter disregard of truth
+     resulting from this, impel her to words and actions that now
+     involve an incalculable number of victims, misled by their
+     devoted trust in her. Her responsibility is in truth a very
+     terrible one.... I have come to regard the actions of Mrs.
+     Besant--and of Mr. Leadbeater equally, of course--as the
+     _leaven of destruction, of disintegration in the Theosophical
+     Society_.
+
+     We cannot rid ourselves of a growing disquiet in seeing Mrs.
+     Besant, in her monthly articles in the _Theosophist_, entitled
+     "On the Watch-Tower," so tirelessly expressing such great and
+     manifest satisfaction in every smallest material increase,
+     improvement and enrichment of the Adyar Headquarters.
+
+     Mr. Leadbeater shares in this joy. Speaking of Mrs. Besant in
+     the _Adyar Album_, p. 7, he praises at great length the
+     material improvements of the Headquarters:--"In her reign have
+     been added to the estate no less than six valuable pieces of
+     property." Thus temporal power would clearly seem to be the
+     main concern of Adyar. And we involuntarily turn to the words
+     of Christ, who so well described the spiritual splendours:--"My
+     kingdom is not of this world." _Not thus does Mrs. Besant
+     understand spirituality_ since she "reigns" as a prince of this
+     world, over a kingdom that grows by her conquests.... A like
+     concern follows Mr. Leadbeater even into his occult
+     investigations into the twenty-eighth century, in which he sees
+     "a kind of gorgeous palace with an enormous dome, the central
+     part of which must be an imitation of the Taj Mahal at Agra,
+     but on a much larger scale. In this great building they mark as
+     memorials certain spots by pillars and inscriptions, such as
+     ... here such and such a book was written ... they even have
+     statues of _some of us_ [_sic!!_] ...--_Man; Whence, How, and
+     Whither._
+
+Truly may one here repeat the somewhat banal phrase "Comment is
+needless"; indeed one might add, "impossible," in the face of such an
+amazing manifestation of megalomania. But this is not the most serious
+disease from which C. W. Leadbeater and his colleague are suffering. As
+M. Lévy has already shown, there is much worse behind of which this
+megalomania is only one symptom. In an "Addendum" given at, the end of
+his book, M. Lévy says that since the publication of his brochure
+judgment has been pronounced on the case he mentions (see p. 29), the
+judge ruling that the children should be removed from the care of Mrs.
+Besant and given back to the father within a fixed time." He then
+continues:--
+
+     Further legal proceedings have confirmed, with yet more
+     precision, the infamous immorality of which Mr. Leadbeater
+     stands accused. (see report in _The Hindu_, Madras, May 9th,
+     1913.) A Madras medical review called _The Antiseptic_ had
+     pubished an article in which apprehension of the establishment
+     of a 'Temple of Onanism" ["unnatural sin." See Dr. Hartmann's
+     _Paracelsus_, p. 90] at Adyar was expressed. _The Hindu_
+     newspaper reprinted the scandal. Mrs. Besant took proceedings
+     aga nst the author of the article and the publisher of _The
+     Antiseptic_; and the Treasurer of the Theosophical Society was
+     moved at the same time to action against _The Hindu_. _All
+     three cases were dismissed._ The gravity of the position is
+     evident. Mr. Leadbeater's methods have been proved by his own
+     admissions as well as by documents before the Court to be
+     subversive of morality....
+
+     These facts [I omit the worst details that M. Lévy feels
+     obliged to quote] condemn Mr. Leadbeater without possibility of
+     appeal; they reveal to us, with regard to Mrs. Besant, a truly
+     degrading complaisance, by reason of her desire to hide a crime
+     as patent as it is abominable ... the members of the
+     Theosophical Society are not only kept in complete ignorance
+     regarding these facts, but the administration of Adyar, through
+     its extensive propaganda, has a great influence over new
+     members in all conditions, while concealing and perverting the
+     truth.... The existence of persons like Mr. Leadbeater, who
+     admit and practise the worst perversities, is a sad reminder of
+     the darker side of human nature; yet the attitude of simply
+     ignoring that such things exist seems indefensible when these
+     persons pretend to the highest morality and represent
+     themselves as guides towards spiritual development ... claiming
+     to stand "on the threshold of divinity.".. The danger that such
+     persons may continue to extend their empire over the souls of
+     others is an increasing one....
+
+In view of these "facts" M. Lévy's restraint of language is remarkable,
+his condemnation hardly sufficiently scathing. His concluding words,
+however, explain much; he has evidently greatly admired Mrs. Besant in
+earlier years, and the last paragraph of his book eloquently attests his
+personal grief:--"The feeling which here arrests my pen, and prevents me
+from saying more on the matter, will be understood by those who have
+followed me so far, and they may hear across my silence the voice of
+their own sorrow." I deeply respect M. Lévy's feelings; but for me--who
+have never had any illusions regarding Mrs. Besant from the time of the
+disruption of the Society in 1894-5--the matter assumes a more sinister
+aspect. His pages have rendered me most invaluable help in putting
+before the general public matter not personally known to my own
+experience. I left Colonel Olcott's Society in 1895, M. Lévy left Mrs.
+Besant's in 1913; and when we remember that this was its condition nine
+years ago, my previous remarks (see p. 14) may be better appreciated now
+that more evidence has been adduced
+
+
+
+
+The Central Hindu College. An Indian Criticism.
+
+
+In a pamphlet published at Benares about the same date (1913) by Pandit
+Bhagavan Das, "a former General Secretary of the Indian Section T. S."
+we possess still further evidence of Mrs. Besant's extraordinary
+aberrations under C. W. Leadbeater's guidance and control. Mr. Das's
+pamphlet is addressed to the editor of the London _Christian
+Commonwealth_, and is entitled "The Central Hindu College and Mrs.
+Besant." It is a reply to some "remarks" by her on this College, which
+appeared in that paper in June, 1913. Mr. Das writes:--
+
+     [Mrs. Besant's] remarks on the Central Hindu College [Benares]
+     in your paper are illustrations of this sad change in her. This
+     Institution, for which she has done more than anyone else
+     perhaps, she now openly and obviously tries to injure most
+     deeply in the minds of the public by wild suggestions that it
+     and the Hindu University, into which it is proposed to be
+     expanded, are mixed up with political seditionists and
+     extremists ... that such an educational movement is in any way
+     mixed up with seditionism and extremism is an idea ...
+     fatuously ludicrous.... The reckless, incoherent,
+     self-contradictory, incorrect and misleading statements that
+     Mrs. Besant has been freely making latterly in the public
+     press, have only injured her own reputation.... The C. H. C.
+     was founded in July, 1898, in order to do for the numerous
+     sects and sub-divisions of Hinduism what the T. S. was
+     endeavouring to do for all views and religions.... The College
+     grew and prospered year by year, under the Presidentship of
+     Mrs. Besant, and won the confidence ... of Hindus of almost all
+     shades of opinion.... But with the transfer of Mrs. Besant
+     from Benares to Adyar in 1907, as President of the T. S.,
+     elected _under very peculiar circumstances_ [as I learnt
+     recently from a very old member present in Adyar when Colonel
+     Olcott was on his deathbed. Italics mine.--A. L. C.]
+     foreshadowing the coming policies, a change began to come over
+     the spirit of all her work and surroundings. Despite the
+     suggestions, advice, entreaties, expostulations, and warnings
+     of her old colleagues and counsellors _who had made her work in
+     India possible_ [Italics mine.--A. L. C.], she developed more
+     and more and beyond all due bounds, the germ of person-worship
+     so long held in restraint. Entirely proofless claims to
+     superphysical powers and experiences, to being an Initiate, an
+     Arhat, a Mukta and what not; claims to read Mars and Mercury
+     and the whole Solar System, past, present and future (but with
+     careful avoidance of even the most easy test, such as reading a
+     given page of a closed book) claims to be the authorised agent
+     of "the Great White Brotherhood which guides Evolution on
+     earth" and to be in communication with the Supreme Director of
+     the world and with "the World-Teacher," etc., in short, all the
+     elements of sensationalism and emotionalism--which were
+     subdominant and private (confined mostly to the "inner" E. S.
+     T. organisation within the T. S.) now began to be predominant
+     and public.... In the spring of 1909, a "brother Initiate" of
+     Mrs. Besant's "discovered" the boy, now nicknamed Alcyone, as
+     the future vehicle of the Coming Christ ... _"neo-theosophy"
+     was started more or less definitely_ [Italics mine.--A. L.
+     C.]....
+
+     In January 1911 was started publicly by the then Principal of
+     the C. H. C., as the chief member of the "Group" an "Order"
+     called The Order of the Rising Sun, with the idea of "preparing
+     for a coming World-Teacher "as its publicly avowed central
+     idea, and the creed that the boy J. K. (Alcyone) would be the
+     "vehicle" of the "Coming Christ--Maitreya-Bodhisattva," etc.,
+     as its privately understood creed, to spread which amongst the
+     students was the duty of the inner "pledged group.' ... [See
+     _ante_ p. 21.
+
+In short, Mrs. Besant cleverly utilised an already existing
+organisation, founded for quite other objects and aims, to spread this
+crazy and pernicious "neo-theosophy," under cover of secrecy, pledges,
+etc., which she and C. W. Leadbeater--the real inspirer--well knew to be
+almost irresistible baits for sensitive and imaginative youths at a
+highly impressionable age.
+
+In April, 1911, on remonstrance by the older members of the Managing
+Committee, Mrs. Besant arranged that the Order of the Rising Sun should
+be disbanded. But this was mere show. When the disbandment was announced
+to the managers, it had already been arranged to replace the O. R. S. on
+a larger scale by _The Order of the Star in the East_ with the
+Principal, Head Master, and various Professors of the C. H. C. as the
+Private and other secretaries, of the boy J. K. as Head of the Order,
+and Mrs. Besant as Protectress of the whole....
+
+In the summer of 1911, side by side with this public activity, there was
+started by Mrs. Besant _within_ the E. S. T. ... A WRITTEN PLEDGE OF
+ABSOLUTE OBEDIENCE TO HERSELF. This fact, "private and confidential" at
+the time, is now public property since the Madras law suits....
+
+In August, 1911, the Trustees of the C. H. C., to allay the apprehension
+in the public mind that the C. H. C. was being diverted from its
+constitutional broad and liberal Hinduism into a bizarre and unhealthy
+personal-cult and bigoted Second-Adventism, passed formal resolutions to
+the effect that the Institution had nothing to do with any such Orders
+as those of the _Rising Sun_ or the _Star in the East_.
+
+On December 24th, 1911, resolutions were passed by the Trustees,
+agreeing that the C. H. C. should become part of the Hindu
+University.... The neo-theosophic propagandism within (as without) the
+C. H. C. continued ... in a score of evasive and elusive forms. Inner
+"Groups" and "Esoteric Section Groups" of persons formally pledged to
+obedience to Mrs. Besant, "Leagues of Service" of various kinds,
+"Orders of S. E." and "S. I." and "I. L.," "Co-Masonry Lodges," "Temple
+of the R. C.," and corresponding badges, bands, "regalia," "jewels,"and
+"pink," and "blue," and "yellow" scarves; "magnetized ribbons," and
+"stars" in pin, brooch, and button forms, etc. [for all the world like
+the Kindergarten games for developing infant intelligences!--A. L. C.]
+multiplied and replaced one another in interest like mushrooms in the
+rain time, a very fever of restless sound and movement hiding lack of
+substance and of wise purpose. Fuss of the most absurd and mischievous
+kind became rampant. Lectures, meetings, night classes, outside the
+college rooms and buildings, took place perpetually in the neighbouring
+T. S. premises and private residences, for expounding the doctrines of
+neo-theosophy and especially the book called _At the Feet of the Master_
+alleged to have been written down by Alcyone (J. Krishnamurti), as the
+embryonic scriptures and revelation of "the Embryo of a New Religion,"
+as Mrs. Besant declares the O. S. E. to be. Resident students were
+advised, and a number of them began to keep photos of Alcyone, as the
+"vehicle" of the "Coming Christ" and himself an "Initiate of the Great
+White Brotherhood" (and Mrs. Besant and one or two other living persons)
+"on the threshold of divinity," and to worship them with flowers,
+incense, etc. Old and young believers prostrating and genuflecting,
+literally, at the feet of the living original when within reach.... The
+then Principal of the College (who had founded the O. R. S.) proclaimed
+in his lectures in the neighbouring T. S. Hall, and elsewhere, that he
+was a "High Disciple of the Master"; and that the C. H. C. was "founded
+to prepare for the Advent of the World-Teacher"....
+
+[Mrs. Besant] has publicly stated [that] all of the members of the
+General Council of the T. S. now belong, with one or two exceptions
+perhaps, to the "Esoteric Section," prime condition of membership of
+which is, THE FORMAL WRITTEN PLEDGE OF ABSOLUTE OBEDIENCE TO MRS.
+BESANT; and so while the loud profession is freedom of thought "for all"
+the practice is sedulously "for herself," and her pledged votaries
+only; while the theory is that the O. S. E. "must not be identified with
+the T. S.," the practice is that the T. S. must be merged in the O. S.
+E.
+
+Let us turn to the C. H. C. to bring the narrative up to date. In March
+and April 1913 there came into the hands of another Manager and Trustee,
+a printed "letter," covering some three foolscap pages, bearing the
+signature of the gentleman who was then Principal of the C. H. C., the
+date October 25th, 1912, and the imprint of Mrs. Besant's _Vasanta
+Press_, Adyar, Madras, and not bearing any word like "private" or
+"personal," or "confidential." In this "letter" amazingly extravagant
+and fantastic statements are made as regards Mrs. Besant; she is hailed
+repeatedly as one who is "_to become one of the greatest Rulers of the
+World of Gods and men_" [This is sheer insanity.--A. L. C.]; mention is
+made of the "recognition of the God without us, which made us members of
+this Group from which we draw our life to-day"; it is said "that her
+light to ours was and is as the rays of the sun at noon-time to the rays
+of a lamp at night, and we did not desire to examine the Sun to see
+under what conditions it might possibly ray forth a more dazzling
+brilliance." The members of the Group are reminded that "we pledged
+ourselves in our hearts that we should strive to become _her true and
+loyal servants ...,_" etc.
+
+Thus complete was the hypnosis and surrender of reason which was sought
+to be effected amongst the votaries. It was a case of emotionalism run
+amuck...."
+
+It is, unfortunately, "a case" of something infinitely more mischievous;
+of evil "magic" and "sorcery" (cf. H. P. B.'s definition, _ante_ p. 36.)
+Whether Mrs. Besant knows it or not, Mr. Leadbeater undoubtedly must be
+well aware that life and strength can be drawn, on inner planes of
+being, from the blind devotion of a solid body of fanatical votaries.
+"Magicians" of a certain school--I need hardly specify which--thus
+prolong their lives through the magnetic and vita emanations of their
+nearest and most devoted followers. In a word, it is _Vampirism_, pure
+and simple, on the psychic plane. (I found that Mrs. Tingley well
+understood this form of Sorcery.) This, if true in Mrs. Besant's case is
+probably unconscious; but in Mr. Leadbeater's it is done consciously and
+with knowledge. That the secret acts and teachings of this man are far
+worse than most people have ever suspected is confirmed in a "Letter in
+reply to Mrs. Besant" by "Dreamer" which appeared in _The Theosophic
+Voice_ (Chicago), November, 1908, under the title "India Speaks." This
+scholarly Hindu Theosophist writes:--
+
+     If we are to believe the stenographic report of the Inquiry in
+     1906, then instead of holding that Mr. Leadbeater denied the
+     charges, we must come to the conclusion that not only did he
+     teach the solitary vice, but further he did things which would
+     have brought him within the pale of the criminal laws for the
+     foulest and most indecent offence which brute man may commit.
+     This is our latter day saint who must be re-admitted, nay,
+     invited back, into the Theosophical Society.
+
+Note that this was written fourteen years ago! The subject is a
+revolting one, but in the interests of that public whom these people are
+still misleading and deceiving, and who have no idea of the extreme
+gravity of the menace, it is necessary to be explicit.
+
+To return to the "Letter" mentioned by Mr. Das; he continues:--
+
+     The Trustee and Manager into whose hands a copy of the
+     astonishing document came, with the information that _it had
+     been circulated_ amongst a number of the C. H. C. students,
+     informed the secretaries of the College, and sent the letter
+     with the comments on the same for publication in a daily paper,
+     in order to show the public how the person-worship-creeds of
+     Mrs. Besant's "neo-theosophy" were being sown and grown within
+     the C. H. C. despite the resolutions of the Trustees.
+
+     On publication of the rhapsody, a great outcry in the name of
+     "injured innocence" was raised.... As to the
+     "dishonourableness" of the publication, competent judges of
+     such matters have pronounced that it was dishonourable only if
+     it be dishonourable to expose what cannot be called other than
+     _gross treason_ to the Constitution and ideals of the C. H. C.,
+     and to bring to light, and the bar of public opinion, underhand
+     or half-concealed or openly defiant efforts to convert students
+     to a grotesque person-worship and demoralizing and
+     soul-stunting blind obedience to Mrs. Besant.... The asking
+     for, and the receiving of the pledges of obedience to herself,
+     etc., is an act of over-weening presumption against the God in
+     every man.... Ever since she encouraged and started them, her
+     mind has worked less and less correctly and confusion has
+     fallen ever worse and worse upon her work, losing to the T. S.
+     many thousands of old members, alienating from her all her old
+     co-workers and co-founders of the C. H. C. and destroying the
+     confidence in her of the Indian public.
+
+Towards the end of his most illuminating pamphlet Mr. Das has occasion
+to speak of Mrs. Besant's "wildly reckless statements," some of which he
+quotes. They relate to the C. H. C. and he stigmatises them as "_all
+simply and utterly untrue_." "Her mind," he says a little further on, is
+working "incoherently." Finally, he writes:--
+
+     Let us conclude; when a person like Mrs. Besant, with a
+     biography full of remarkable changes, full of fine work as well
+     as bad blunders, having established herself, in her own belief,
+     and that of her pledged band, as the present chief Spiritual
+     Teacher and Saviour of Mankind, as "the God within us" now, and
+     as the future "greatest Ruler of the World of Gods and men,"
+     suddenly adds on the role of political saviour of India in
+     particular, and pre-determined martyr in constant danger of
+     assassination [strangely enough, this was also one of Mrs.
+     Tingley's obsessions] by anarchist miscreants ... and proclaims
+     that those who differ from her are in league with those
+     miscreants--when this happens, what explanation can be offered
+     to their own minds by her old friends ...?
+
+     The only sad explanation that they can postulate is that she is
+     suffering from mental delusions.
+
+Alas! this lenient and charitable judgment by no means covers the ground
+as a complete explanation of Mrs. Besant's mischievous and almost
+irresponsible activities. Mr. Das fails to see as clearly as MM. Lévy
+and Schuré the sinister influence behind all these manifestations; the
+source and inspiration of all this evil.
+
+
+
+
+Mrs. Besant's latest Assertions and claims examined.
+
+
+We now come to the examination of two articles in the _Theosophist_ for
+March, 1922, in which the President of the T. S. makes some attempt to
+deal with recent criticism. One is a Supplement, or Manifesto, addressed
+"To all Members of the Theosophical Society," and couched in Mrs.
+Besant's present style--flamboyant, a trifle bombastic, often Biblical
+in phraseology, and running throughout it, her usual fervid and
+disingenuous appeal to sentimental emotionalism, instead of the
+instinctive sense of justice latent in all beings. This latter, a
+feature of her best days, she has entirely abandoned; it no longer
+serves her ends. What those "ends" are one almost hesitates to
+formulate, so impious and almost insane do they appear. Even taking into
+consideration the tangled mass of evasions, misstatements and
+hypocritical equivocations presented in this manifesto, these "ends"
+emerge with sufficient clearness. But, in the first place, and before
+going further, one must ask on what basis this amazing claim to almost
+deific powers and knowledge rests. Let me here call M. Lévy into the
+witness box once more; for he also had put the same question to himself
+nine years ago, and will provide the answer. It occurs in his chapter on
+"Mrs. Besant's 'Return of the Christ,'" where he is dealing with her
+position and actions in regard to Dr. Steiner, the German occultist and
+Christian Theosophist--with whose ideas, I should add, I am not in
+personal agreement. My teacher is H. P. Blavatsky and she alone: I
+follow no lesser light. M. Lévy says:--
+
+     Our reason forces us to confess that all goes to suggest that
+     Mrs. Besant, having herself ceased to believe in the identity
+     of her Jesus with the Christ [of the Gospels.--A. L. C.], would
+     still continue to make others believe it.... Her pride ... her
+     dominating mind, have driven her on this crusade of
+     extermination of Dr. Steiner's teachings; it has induced her to
+     collect, _without the least regard for truth, justice, or
+     theosophic principles, no matter what weapons if they do but
+     serve against her opponent; calumny, abuse of power,
+     misstatement of facts, all combined in a subtle strategy_.
+
+Italics are mine; for we find Mrs. Besant using precisely the same
+methods to-day, only in a form fortunately neither so "subtle" nor so
+Jesuitically plausible. Her powers are failing, as the manifesto under
+consideration clearly proves. M. Lévy proceeds:--
+
+     And when she falls victim of some error in the course of her
+     occult investigations--of which in theory she is always
+     proclaiming the fallibility--it is again her pride that bars
+     the way to admission, and makes her the slave of the most
+     pitiful machinations ... which ... will shatter to fragments in
+     all directions the confidence she had formerly inspired. For if
+     she is not consciously defending her mistake, then what kind of
+     a break-up of all her faculties are we witnessing?... The more
+     deeply we study this [_i.e._, the "neo-theosophy" already
+     described by M. Lévy and Pandit Bhagavan Das.--A. L. C.], the
+     more terrible appear the responsibilities of Adyar in this
+     deplorable scheme; for we would still seek the origin of such
+     fearless confidence [in Mrs. Besant's followers.--A. L. C.]
+     refusing, as it does, to be shaken by the eloquent appeal of
+     the facts here set forth, and of which some, if not all, have
+     been within the reach and open to examination of those members
+     who profess such an enthusiastic confidence in Mrs. Besant. The
+     result of our search is a yet further culpability, as
+     overwhelming as it is unexpected.
+
+     For this confidence is not in the case of all the victims the
+     result of the free use of their own inner faculties. It is in
+     the case of the greater number, due to the influence of a
+     strong suggestion _deliberately organised and cleverly carried
+     out by the authors of this mystification themselves; by Mr.
+     Leadbeater who wrote, and by Mrs. Besant who published_, the
+     following lines in the _Adyar Album_, p. 45: "What can I say to
+     you of your President that you do not know already? Her
+     colossal [_sic_] intellect, her unfailing wisdom, her
+     unrivalled eloquence, her splendid forgetfulness of self, her
+     untiring devotion to work for others--all these are familiar to
+     you. Yet these qualities, these powers, are but a small part of
+     her greatness; they are on the surface, they may be seen by
+     all, they leap to the eyes. But there are other qualities,
+     other powers, of which you cannot know, because they pertain to
+     the secrets of Initiation. She is a pupil of our Masters; from
+     the fount of Their archaic wisdom she derives her own, the
+     plans which she is carrying out are Their plans for the welfare
+     of the world. Think, therefore, how great an honour it is for
+     you that you should be permitted to work under her, for in
+     doing so you are virtually working under Them. Think how
+     watchful you should be to miss no hint which falls from her
+     lips, to carry out exactly whatever instructions she may give
+     you. Remember that because of her position as an Initiate she
+     knows far more than you do; and precisely because her knowledge
+     is occult, given under the seal of Initiation, she cannot share
+     it with you. Therefore her actions must certainly be governed
+     by considerations of which you have no conception. There will
+     be times when you cannot understand her motives, for she is
+     taking into account many things which you cannot see and of
+     which she must not tell you. But whether you understand or not,
+     you will be wise to follow her implicitly, just because she
+     knows. This is no mere supposition on my part, no mere flight
+     of the imagination; I have stood beside your President in the
+     presence of the Supreme Director of evolution on this globe,
+     and I know whereof I speak. Let the wise hear my words, and act
+     accordingly."
+
+     It is easy to see how minds not gifted with a highly developed
+     critical faculty, or the instinctive sense that discriminates
+     the true from the false, would yield hopelessly to such a
+     formidable assault. They cannot see that he who thus guarantees
+     the infallibility of Mrs. Besant has himself need of
+     guarantee.... _I do not think that any religion or man-made
+     cult, even in the earliest ages, has ever promulgated
+     superstition in its grossest form so openly and boldly as this
+     ..._ [Italics mine.--A.L.C.]. Mr. Leadbeater ... demands
+     _deliberate_ suppression of thought.... And having extolled
+     such a deliberately induced mental torpor for Mrs. Besant's
+     benefit, he immediately demands it for himself when he speaks
+     of the "Supreme Director of evolution on this globe." Who is
+     this administrative person? With whom is he to be identified in
+     the scheme of evolution as it has been given to us by Mrs.
+     Besant and Mr. Leadbeater themselves?... What avenging God will
+     come to confound this impious prophet who seeks to reduce
+     humanity to the level of a troop of obedient automata!... A
+     gentle and winning voice, infinitely reassuring, rises out of
+     the depths of my being ... a great light breaks forth,
+     triumphant. Mr. Leadbeater hears the words of a judgment
+     immediate and without appeal, pronounced by the Buddha
+     himself:--
+
+     "Believe not what you have heard said; believe not in
+     traditions merely because they have been transmitted through
+     many generations; believe not merely because a thing is
+     repeated by many persons; ... believe not conjectures ...
+     _believe not solely upon the authority of your Masters and
+     elders_. WHEN UPON OBSERVATION AND ANALYSIS A PRINCIPLE
+     CONFORMS TO REASON AND LEADS TO THE BENEFIT AND WELFARE OF ALL,
+     ACCEPT IT AND HOLD IT."--(Buddha, _Anguttura Nikaya_.)
+
+     What a royal refuge, what a noble support are the words of
+     those who are the truly great! They are the perpetual safeguard
+     of humanity.
+
+     We have seen that upon "observation and analysis" the
+     "unfailing" wisdom of Mrs. Besant is no more than a mass of
+     inconsistencies, injustices, sectarian tactics in
+     administration, error and mystification in esoteric
+     announcements. Far from leading to "the benefit and welfare of
+     all," this "unfailing" wisdom is leading to the ... most
+     miserable slavery of souls, the emasculation of minds, the
+     creation of a terrible heresy. And at the present time we are
+     all feeling that we shall not be living up to the wise
+     exhortations of that great Being who was the Buddha, unless we
+     clearly denounce the lamentable aberrations of these two
+     occultists in the hope of drawing all the souls we possibly can
+     away from their pernicious influence. With this end in view,
+     and faithful to this duty, we shall calmly and firmly continue
+     our investigation of facts.
+
+     Fortunately, the assertions of Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater
+     have lately reached to such a pitch of extravagance and have so
+     utterly defied common sense that they will rouse even the least
+     critical minds and the most compliant hearts.
+
+Then follows the section of M. Lévy's book in which he quotes from _Man;
+Whence, How, and Whither_; much of this I have given earlier in this
+pamphlet. And M. Lévy, one must remember, wrote all this _nine years
+ago_!
+
+At this point it may serve a useful purpose if I specifically define my
+own position in regard to Mrs. Besant's claims. _I entirely and most
+emphatically reject them all._ Mr. Leadbeater's I was not even aware of,
+until I came to collect and examine the material for this pamphlet. They
+are so monstrous as not even to merit a specific "rejection"--it goes
+without saying. I practically lost all faith in Mrs. Besant when she
+dissimulated and tried to mislead the Inner Group Council on her return
+from her first visit to India in 1894. She then informed us that she had
+been "ordered by the Master to accuse Judge." On being closely
+cross-examined, however, she finally admitted that she had not received
+this "Order" _direct_, as she would have had us believe, but _through_
+the Brahmin whom she then followed blindly[11], exactly as she now
+follows Leadbeater. But later, when taxed with this in public, she
+pretended that he had had nothing whatever to do with it! This is a
+typical example of Mrs. Besant's idea of a 'truthful' statement in a
+matter of the most vital importance involving the fate of a leader and
+many thousands of members. What confidence can be placed in such a
+woman--one whose mental processes are so warped, and whose ideas of
+'truth' and 'honesty' are so peculiar? To inspire confidence a leader
+must be the very soul of truth and uprightness. Mrs. Besant has always
+been remarkable for asserting herself to be this, and people have
+believed her. But a truly upright and honest person (even if aware of
+it, as in Occultism he has to be) would never draw attention to it--and
+that publicly and in print.
+
+Because, for Mrs. Besant, Mr. ---- was _at this period_ her mouthpiece
+for the Master, she expected her colleagues to take the same view
+without question. This attitude is typical, and can be applied to all
+that she now says about Leadbeater (see _ante_ p. 19.) From this time I
+found it impossible to believe in her or her statements; such, for
+instance, as that H. P. B. had reincarnated in Mr. ----'s little
+daughter!![12]--or in anyone else for that matter. H. P. B. herself,
+when someone asked her about reincarnating, jokingly replied--"Yes, in
+some mild Hindu youth with half a lobe to his brain!" _H. P. B. has not
+reincarnated._ On the ridiculous belief above mentioned Mrs. Besant
+based her "authority" for doing things in H. P. B.'s name after her
+death (see _post_ p. 71 for examples). It follows also that I absolutely
+reject her claim to be an "agent" of the Masters (_i.e._, the
+Trans-Himâlayan Brotherhood), neither do I believe that she has had any
+communication whatsoever with Them since H. P. B.'s death.[13] Finally,
+I reject her most presumptuous claim that she is able, or in anyway
+fitted, to "expand," "verify," or "check" by psychic faculties H. P.
+B.'s statements and teachings; still less to carry on independent occult
+investigations on the same, or any similar plane of consciousness.
+Whether Mrs. Besant, in making these claims, is acting under the glamour
+of Mr. Leadbeater's "clairvoyant" delusions, as MM. Lévy and Schuré
+suggest, or is fully conscious and responsible, is not my part to judge,
+nor does it really matter. For me, her life may be summed up in some
+words she applied recently to Mr. Gandhi (_Theosophist_, April, 1922).
+It is "the tragedy of a soul." Her criticisms on what she calls his
+"failure" apply fully and literally to _her own_.
+
+There is really very little in the Manifesto (_Theosophist_, March,
+1922), that is not sufficiently answered by the various extracts I have
+quoted from previous critics. Mrs. Besant opens with the usual
+disingenuous statements about the "Liberal Catholic Church." Her
+argument that all religions are on an equal footing in the T. S.
+carries no weight when it is widely known that L. C. C. agents are
+everywhere at work pushing its interests.
+
+Coming next to Mr. Leadbeater, Mrs. Besant states that he was "cleared
+by a Committee in England"! But it is really a little too much, and
+altogether too brazen,[14] when she dares to compare his case with that
+of H. P. B. in the matter of slander. _There can be no possible
+comparison._ The worst ever suggested against H. P. B. was what has been
+said of many other women, including Mrs. Besant herself, who have had to
+work in the glare of publicity and champion an unpopular cause. No
+evidence was ever brought forward, and the New York _Sun_ promptly
+apologised for publishing such statements on being shown that they were
+unfounded.[15] The grave charges against Mr. Leadbeater were supported
+by documentary evidence _which has never been rebutted_, and they have
+to do with something far worse than personal moral laxity, as we have
+seen. Mrs. Besant knows she cannot meet these charges, and so seeks to
+brush them aside by voluble talk about "hatred," "defamation," and
+"vilification." The only _justification_ she offers for having
+reinstated him in 1907 is that she had discovered that it was "a cruel
+lie that he had confessed to wrongdoing"! This is to argue that the
+"accused" should be "acquitted" because he refused to confess--in the
+face of evidence of no matter how damning a nature! Did Mrs. Besant
+follow this procedure in her "Case against W. Q. Judge"? Not at all; far
+from "acquitting" him when he refused to "confess to wrongdoing" and
+asked for production of the incriminating documents, she calmly
+confessed that she had destroyed them! But _now_ that it is a case of
+her own guide and "intermediary" in the dock, her attitude is entirely
+different, and it is quite enough for her that the "accused" did not
+"confess" his crime!
+
+As Dr. Stokes, Editor of the _O. E. Critic_ (Washington, D.C.) has been
+fearlessly stating the facts and encouraging the "Back to Blavatsky"
+movement for some time past, she next devotes a paragraph to an attempt
+to discredit him by suggesting his connection with an old enemy of H. P.
+B.'s. Dr. Stokes's championship of H. P. B., and relentless exposure of
+the Besant-Leadbeater imposture is the more effective since he persists
+in retaining his membership in the T. S.
+
+The next to be dealt with is Pandit Bhagavan Das, and his criticisms
+about the Central Hindu College. Here again, all I have quoted from his
+pamphlet about the secret sections, underhand work, pledges, etc., are
+entirely ignored.
+
+Mr. T. H. Martyn's letter, which has caused such a sensation in the
+Society (Holland alone asking for 500 copies) is dismissed as full of
+"untrue" statements. Truly a very simple method of dealing with matter
+which Mrs. Besant finds compromising or unpleasant (see _ante_ p. 18);
+but she can hardly believe it to be convincing.
+
+It is when this profoundly disingenuous woman comes to an explanation of
+the motive behind her political work in India, that we find a typical
+specimen of the peculiar form of megalomania already so ably
+demonstrated by M. Lévy. What must be the mental condition of a person
+who can sit down and solemnly write the following?
+
+     The work entrusted to me directly by the great Rishi who is--as
+     one may say [_sic_]--the spiritual Viceroy[16] for India of the
+     King of Kings of our world--is the bringing about of Home Rule
+     in India, in close union with Great Britain, as part of a great
+     Federation of Free Nations, a model of the future World
+     Commonwealth...."
+
+Why such a very mundane and political idea should need an order from a
+Rishi is not explained. The patent appeal both to the Government and
+the Indian people in this portentous announcement is not very happily
+conceived.
+
+It is unfortunate for Mrs. Besant that her indignant denial that another
+of the notorious "Bishops" (Wedgwood) is "wanted" by the police was
+immediately followed by a priest's confession and the Bishop's
+resignation from the L. C. C., the T. S., and the Co-masons![17]
+
+Finally we come to the most ominous part of the whole document, where
+Mrs. Besant refers to the present condition of the sex problem, and
+indicates that Mr. Leadbeater's vile teachings to, and practices with
+boys--trying "to wean lads from evil practices" is her version of
+it--are part of a process necessary "to save mankind in the near
+future." The "lessening of the sex impulse" on the "line of higher
+mental evolution" is "too slow." "Early marriage and
+birth-control"--preceded, one must assume, by Leadbeaterism--are now
+Mrs. Besant's inspired panaceas.
+
+The appalling menace to _the evolution of the spiritual nature in man_,
+of the secret Leadbeater teaching known as the "X-system," is shown by
+the evidence of Dr. Eleanor M. Hiestand-Moore (M.D.), Editor of the
+_Theosophic Voice_ (Chicago), in which all the Leadbeater proceedings of
+1906 were reported and discussed. In the August number, 1908, Dr.
+Hiestand-Moore writes:--
+
+     During the winter of 1906-7 the Editor [herself] was in Chicago
+     and in order to combat the widespread tendency to uphold
+     self-abuse on the lines indicated by Mr. Leadbeater, a series
+     of lectures on the psychology of sex was given. There were
+     members in the E. S., and out of it who upheld the X-system.
+     One person declared ... that _this system would, before many
+     years, be taught in our public schools_. Still another insisted
+     that _by self-abuse humanity was to return to the
+     hermaphroditic type_ and that _this practice would be universal
+     among Fifth Round Humanity_. A number declared that, while they
+     did not pretend to know anything about such matters, they had
+     understood this was _a highly occult teaching given to would-be
+     disciples_! We could lay hands on a letter setting forth the
+     claim that this teaching is purely "esoteric" and not to be
+     estimated by exoteric standards--this, too, from a Branch
+     president! [Italics mine.--A. L. C.].
+
+     These instances are sufficiently appalling in themselves. But
+     what can we say now that _The Voice_ has elicited a
+     correspondence which is simply a brazen defence of these
+     "teachings"?[18]
+
+What, then, must be the moral condition of this horrible travesty of the
+old T.S. _now_, fourteen years after Dr. Hiestand-Moore wrote the
+foregoing? Mrs. Besant is thus seen to have now returned practically to
+the Neo-Malthusianism of her earlier, pre-theosophic association with
+the late Charles Bradlaugh. It may not be generally known that H. P. B.
+_refused to accept her as a pupil_ until she had published a recantation
+of all she and Bradlaugh had advocated in _The Fruits of Philosophy_. It
+is a sinister omen that under C. W. Leadbeater, the sex pervert, Mrs.
+Besant has abandoned H. P. Blavatsky's imperative requirement for
+becoming a student of _White_ Occultism, and has returned to the
+essentially materialistic doctrine of "birth-control," in direct
+contravention of the true Occult teaching. In other words, her assertion
+amounts to this:--_Self_-control is not possible (or is "too slow "),
+therefore we must control _results_. How different is the Occult
+teaching is well-known to all who have taken the trouble to read H. P.
+B.'s articles from which I have already quoted (see _ante_ p. 31) and
+the splendid chapter in Vol. II of _The Secret Doctrine_ entitled "The
+Curse from a Philosophical Point of View." And H. P. B. told me herself
+that she included the following verse in _The Voice of the Silence_ with
+the express object of combating such teachings and placing the Occult
+doctrine beyond possibility of misinterpretation:--
+
+"Do not believe that lust can ever be killed out if gratified or
+satiated, for this is an abomination inspired by Mâra. It is by feeding
+vice that it expands and waxes strong, like to the worm that fattens on
+the blossom's heart."
+
+In a note H. P. B. explains that Mâra is "personified temptation through
+men's vices, and translated literally means 'that which kills' the
+Soul." Far from "saving" mankind, therefore, these professed 'expanders'
+and 'expounders' of H. P. B.'s doctrines are in reality doing their best
+to hasten its end. Better far, from the Occult standpoint, that a race
+should be wiped out by "outraged Nature," as were the Atlanteans for the
+same sins, than that it should be kept alive only to sink lower and
+lower until "Mâra" kills its Soul.
+
+In the "Watch-Tower" (_Theosophist_, March, 1922,) Editorial mention is
+made of a display at Adyar of "treasures of the most varied kinds,"
+which have just been unearthed from "all the old locked-up boxes" at the
+headquarters. Why, one may not unreasonably enquire, has Mrs. Besant
+waited until 1922 to disinter, for instance, a long and valuable letter
+from H. P. B. herself? Why have such "treasures" been _kept back for
+over thirty years_; just as "Letters" from the Masters (the
+Trans-Himâlayan Brotherhood) were kept hidden away for an even longer
+period--nearly forty years? The reasons are so ridiculously transparent
+that they would hardly deceive an intelligent child. Mrs. Besant is
+becoming seriously discomposed, even alarmed, by the growing strength of
+the "Back to Blavatsky" movement, which is in itself a reaction against
+her own neglect. Hence all this "burrowing" (her own word) in order to
+make a brave show of these "treasures" for which she had no sort of use
+until, disturbed by alarming rumours, she hastily resorts to them for
+purposes of camouflage and disguise. For she is a skilful opportunist
+and clever actress, assuming successive parts with as convincing an air
+as any "star"; neither does she scruple to employ every device of the
+party politician.
+
+Does Mrs. Besant seriously believe that this attempt to drag the red
+herring of an unexplained and suddenly awakened interest in these
+"treasures" across the trail of Mr. Leadbeater's infamies will deceive
+anyone save their blind and infatuated followers? Has she forgotten that
+when, _only two years_ after H. P. Blavatsky's death, she came under the
+direct hypnotic control of Brahmin influence, she threw doubts upon her
+old Teacher's _bona fides_ and her occult knowledge; and, in the course
+of formulating her charges against her fellow-disciple (a _chela_ of
+many years' standing before she ever even heard of Theosophy) suggested
+to Mr. Judge that, "_misled by a high example_" (H. P. B.), he had
+fallen "a victim." For, as she then told him, her "theory was _first_,
+that H. P. B. had committed several frauds for good ends and made bogus
+messages; _second_, that [he] was misled by her example; and _third_,
+that H. P. B. had given [him] permission to do such acts. She then,"
+continues Mr. Judge, "asked me to confess thus, and that would clear up
+all. I peremptorily denied such a horrible lie, and warned her that
+everywhere I would resist such attack on H. P. B. These are the facts,
+and the real issue is around H. P. B." (_The Path_, March, 1895.)
+
+With the complete disruption of the Society the Brahmin period of
+dominance over Mrs. Besant came to an end. Then followed the Leadbeater
+_régime_, the first phase of which culminated in the crisis of 1906. But
+on Colonel Olcott's death in the following year, she contrived the
+realisation of her great ambition, and became President of the Society.
+At this point in her career, however, there were two serious
+difficulties which she had to meet:--_first_, the Leadbeater scandal
+which raised a storm of horror and protest from those old and tried
+members who had remained in the Society up to that time, but who then
+practically withdrew in a body Deprived of their support, and having
+reinstated the infamous Leadbeater, Mrs. Besant realised that, as
+President, she could no longer risk appearing half-hearted over H. P.
+Blavatsky; nay more, she _needed_ the support of her venerated name;
+_second_, as President of the Society created by H. P. B., she must, for
+the sake of her own prestige, take some definite action which would
+remove all possibility of suspicion that she was no longer the follower
+of the Teacher whom she had, _in fact_, already "denied" and "betrayed"
+only two years after her death. Mrs. Besant realised, in short, that she
+had gone too far, and must now retrieve the position. Accordingly, in
+1907, she issued a pamphlet entitled _H. P. Blavatsky and the Masters of
+the [sic] Wisdom_, in which, with all her accustomed ability, she dealt
+once more with the famous (or rather infamous) Report of the Society for
+Psychical Research, published in 1885. But the concluding eulogy strikes
+a false note, coming from one who, as I have shown, was capable of being
+persuaded that H. P. B. had concocted messages from those Masters Whom
+she so faithfully served for two-thirds of her life.
+
+It was at this time also (1907), so Mrs. Besant later declared, that
+"the T. S. fully regained its original position, with the Masters of the
+[_sic_] Wisdom as once more the 'First Section' of the Society." This
+bold assertion was made in 1919, when, under pressure of some fresh
+scare connected with Mr. Leadbeater, Mrs. Besant published a small
+volume of the Masters' Letters (most of which had presumably been lying
+in the archives of the Society at Adyar for nearly forty years!),
+obviously for no other reason than because among them are two alleged to
+have been received by Mr. Leadbeater. This she did in order to bolster
+up the extravagant claims she now makes for him as a "Great Teacher."
+But there were many who received Letters in the early days, and there is
+no reason why similar claims should not be made for all the recipients!
+
+In the article entitled "Whom will ye Serve?" (_Theosophist_, March,
+1922,) Mrs. Besant says that H. P. B. "formed an inner circle of her
+pupils, that it might bear witness to the truth and reality of the inner
+side of life." This was the "Inner Group" of which she and I were two of
+the six women members. But as, unfortunately Mr. Leadbeater was not
+included, although he had become a member of the T. S. some years
+before, she adds:--"And behold! ere she passed away, she had led others
+to the Light, and bade them bear witness to it...." Considering that she
+"passed away" _less than a year_ after forming the Inner Group in the
+summer of 1890, and that we were constantly with her and never heard of
+these "others," this statement is manifestly untrue. Mrs. Besant also
+refers to Mr. Leadbeater as "one of H. P. B.'s nearest and most trusted
+pupils [Absolutely untrue.--A. L. C.] whom she had led to his Master of
+many lives, and in whom she had awakened the powers since so splendidly
+used in the service of the Society that he might become a great
+Teacher...."
+
+I challenge Mrs. Besant to produce anything in writing by H. P. B. to
+warrant this audacious assertion. I was a pupil of H. P. B. (and
+through her was accepted as "a _chela_ on probation," in 1889) before
+Mrs. Besant joined the T. S., and saw her expel one of her most gifted
+and valued workers from the Esoteric Section for offences against the
+occult and moral law similar to those with which Mr. Leadbeater's name
+has now been associated for nearly twenty years. H. P. B. was always
+extremely strict on this particular point, and many would-be aspirants
+for _chelaship_ were refused on this one ground alone, while others who
+had been accepted "on probation" failed almost immediately afterwards.
+
+When I joined the T. S. in 1885 my diploma was signed by Colonel Olcott
+as President and C.W. Leadbeater as Secretary (he was then at Adyar),
+but I never heard him mentioned by H. P. B. or anyone else at the London
+Headquarters, as a person of any importance whatever, in the occult
+sense. Mrs. Besant goes on to say that H. P. B. left "the twain of us
+[Leadbeater and herself] to bear personal witness to the truth when she
+had gone"! Where is her _evidence_ that Mr. Leadbeater was ever one of
+H. P. B.'s pupils? There is none, save this bare, unsupported assertion
+of a highly interested party. How could these two, to the exclusion of
+all H. P. B.'s pupils--some of them "regularly accepted _chelas_ on
+probation"--be specially selected, taught, and prepared, (and above all,
+to promulgate the sort of "teachings" of which I have given a few
+specimens), without any of us hearing even a hint of it! Moreover, I
+never saw, or even heard of Mr. Leadbeater at the London Headquarters
+while H. P. B. was alive. I might just as well claim such a mission for
+myself, or Mr. Mead, or Dr. Keightley, or any other member of the Inner
+Group who has remained true to the pledge and the Teacher; and with
+greater justice, for Mrs. Besant has _not_. The truth is that Mr.
+Leadbeater was never heard of in connection with occult teaching until
+he was taken up and foisted on the unfortunate T. S. and E. S. as a
+"Great Teacher" by Mrs. Besant who was herself never more than a
+"_chela_ on probation"--_during H. P. B.'s lifetime_.
+
+Let me refer again to H. P. B.'s article "The Theosophical Mahatmas"
+from which I have already quoted (_ante_ p. 3), in which she deals with
+the members of the T. S. who were "regularly accepted _chelas_ on
+probation," and the subsequent failure of nearly all of them. If this
+was true at that time, it can certainly now be applied to the case of
+Mrs. Besant, who, in my judgment and that of many others, conspicuously
+failed under two great tests. The first failure occurred when she went
+to India in 1893, became an orthodox Hindu, and was induced to entertain
+those doubts of her Teacher that I have already alluded to. (_ante_ p.
+66.) Bound up with this failure--the doubt of the Teacher--was her
+attack on her fellow _chela_, Mr. Judge.
+
+The second failure was a far worse one when, in 1906, after having
+publicly endorsed the finding of the Advisory Committee on Leadbeater's
+crimes (see footnote _ante_ p. 59), she suddenly turned round and
+secured his reinstatement. In thus condoning and even endorsing
+immorality of the vilest description, she denied one of the strictest
+occult laws binding upon a _chela_.
+
+This double failure had far more serious results in her case than in
+those of which H. P. B. wrote in 1886, because, owing to her commanding
+position as a leader, the fate of the many thousands of earnest souls in
+the Society who believed in and followed her implicitly, was involved.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[11] This Brahmin is the person referred to in the following passage
+from Mr. T. H. Martyn's letter to Mrs. Besant of May 20th, 1921 (see
+_ante_ p. 18):--"Like many of the older members I have known how you and
+others for quite a long time regarded ---- as _a Master in the flesh_ and
+later had to repudiate him when certain facts indicated the mistake."
+Italics mine. This is absolutely new to me. In 1894 none of us (so far
+as I was then aware) regarded Mr. ---- as anything more than a _chela_,
+so what Mr. Martyn here states must have been a later development, and
+explains much.
+
+I suppress the gentleman's name out of regard for his present official
+position in India and his dissociation from Mrs. Besant.
+
+[12] I did not learn the actual facts of this foolish fable until I came
+to India in 1918, and found they were common knowledge among leading
+members of that time. Naturally, when Mrs. Besant transferred her
+allegiance to Mr. Leadbeater, she had to find another "body" for H. P.
+B. So, in the _Theosophist_ for January, 1922. she writes the following
+typical effusion for the benefit of the faithful:--" ... alas! she
+passed away, and took rebirth in the north of India, and though we have
+lived for twenty-eight years in the same land so dear to beth of us, we
+have never met physically face to face. Yet close ties bind us to each
+other, and may be we shall yet greet each other in the flesh." Observe
+the suggestion that she has always been in close touch with H. P. B.
+_out of the body_, and that later they may meet "in the flesh." This
+prepares the ground for producing this new "incarnation" when the
+suitable moment comes; just as the boy Krishnamurti was brought forward
+as the "body" for the coming "World-Teacher." Mrs. Besant's new version
+must be amusing reading for those familiar with the earlier theory, as
+she was certainly "face to face" with the "little daughter" constantly,
+and even persuaded Countess Wachtmeister to resume her former care of H.
+P. B. in her new body. Needless to say the poor Countess was sadly
+disillusioned, and died not long afterwards bitterly bewailing the ruin
+of the T. S.
+
+[13] As showing the absurdity of such a claim, I may mention that Mrs.
+Besant actually visited mediums through whom H. P. B. was supposed to
+communicate. In 1892, only a year after her death, my colleague Mr.
+Basil Crump, Barrister-at-Law, was investigating the phenomena of a
+certain trance medium shortly before he joined the T. S. He was present
+at a private sitting with this medium in the studio of an artist friend,
+to which Mrs. Besant came with another member of H. P. B.'s Inner Group,
+Miss Emily Kislingbury, in order to speak with her deceased teacher. An
+intelligence calling itself "Madame Blavatsky" controlled the medium,
+and Mrs. Besant held a conversation with it. Later, when Mr. Crump
+became acquainted with H. P. B.'s explanation of Spiritualistic
+phenomena, and her express denial that the true immortal Ego ever
+communicated in this manner, he was naturally astonished that one of her
+most learned pupils should for a moment entertain such a possibility and
+waste her valuable time in attending a séance. But now he sees that it
+was only an early symptom of the astounding credulity and ignorance of
+occult science she has since exhibited, as shown in these pages. H. P.
+B.'s explanations of psychic phenomena are rapidly being endorsed and
+followed by the modern scientific school of investigation, which has
+succeeded not only in proving the genuineness of the phenomena, but also
+the important part played by the _will and imagination_ both of the
+medium and the sitters in their production.
+
+[14] Her latest move, is to draw a distinction between the "Advisory
+Committee of 1906" which she accuses of "unjust action," and what she
+calls "the prolonged investigation of 1907-08," which of course was
+engineered by her after she became President, in order to white-wash Mr.
+Leadbeater and secure his reinstatement. (See _Theosophist_, July,
+1922). See Addendum for the Australian views on this.
+
+[15] The importance of this case lies in the fact that it constituted an
+absolute vindication of H. P. B., for every slander ever circulated
+directly or indirectly was covered by it. Although the libel action came
+to an end with her death, the paper was so impressed by the evidence
+produced, in rebuttal, by Mr. Judge, that it not only retracted all that
+it had published, but also invited Mr. Judge to write a long article
+entitled "The Esoteric She" which they said "disposes of all questions
+relating to Madame Blavatsky." That Mrs. Asquith and Count Witte should
+both have seen fit to revive some of these old slanders in their books
+of reminiscences does not redound to their credit.
+
+[16] Mrs. Besant's "Spiritual Viceroy" has certainly nothing to do with
+Those who were directing H. P. B. when she founded the Indian T. S. OR
+U. B. in 1879; for a special clause was included in the Constitution
+stating that "The Society repudiates all interference on its behalf with
+the Governmental relations of any nation or community, confining its
+attention exclusively to the matters set forth in the present
+document...." H. P. B. also wrote in the _Theosophist_, for October,
+1879--"Unconcerned about politics; hostile to the insane dreams of
+Socialism and Communism, which it abhors--as both are but disguised
+conspiracies of brutal force and sluggishness against honest labour; the
+Society cares but little about the outward human management of the
+material world. The whole of its aspirations are directed toward the
+occult truths of the visible and invisible worlds. Whether the physical
+man be under the rule of an empire or a republic, concerns only the man
+of matter. His body may be enslaved; as to his Soul, he has the right to
+give to his rulers the proud answer of Socrates to his Judges. They have
+no sway over the _inner_ man." There speaks the true Mystic whose
+"Kingdom is not of this world." Three years later H. P. B. and Colonel
+Olcott published a further disclaimer, in which they said--"Before we
+came to India, the word Politics had never been pronounced in connection
+with our names; for the idea was too absurd to be even entertained, much
+less expressed...."
+
+[17] The original documents appear in the _O. E. Critic_ for June 21st,
+1922, and include a confession signed by a priest of the L. C. C. who
+states that he was "led astray by those whom I considered to be my
+superiors both morally and spiritually" adding "Wedgwood absolutely
+declines to give up the mal-practice." Wedgwood fled to Algeria at the
+end of March. A cable from Sydney dated May 30th states that "Mrs.
+Besant refused to answer any enquiry in reference to Wedgwood. Police
+now holding an enquiry into the charges against Leadbeater." Dr. Stokes
+concludes his comments on the documents as follows:--"And Annie Besant,
+having repeatedly been informed of the facts, not only refused to look
+into them, but launched her anathemas against those who criticised, even
+threatening them with expulsion from the E. S., and even very recently
+cabling to Wedgwood that he made a mistake in resigning!--It is on Annie
+Besant, more than on any other one person, that the responsibility for
+the present scandalous condition in the T. S. rests. The best of
+societies may have its black sheep and it is not to be blamed if it does
+its best to purge itself. But it is Annie Besant, with her tools and
+sycophants, who has ever concealed and denied the palpable facts, or,
+where they could not be denied, has palliated, excused and even defended
+them, throwing over them a veil of esoteric glamour, supporting such
+scoundrels as Leadbeater and Wedgwood, apparently in order the better to
+serve her ambitions. A vote of confidence in Annie Besant to-day either
+betrays total ignorance of the facts, or associates those who give it
+with the grossest forms of moral rottenness." See Addendum for Mr.
+Piddington, K. C's opinion on Mrs Besant's conduct in Australia last
+May; also Mr. Hugh Gillespie's evidence of her use of the Esoteric
+School as a "_political machine_" to secure her "ascendancy in the
+various bodies to which E. S. members have gained access."
+
+[18] As to the methods employed to suppress criticism, Dr.
+Hiestand-Moore says in the same issue:--"Slander, falsehood, deceit,
+treachery, all have been summoned to the support of Mr. Leadbeater's
+cause. Anonymous communications have been written to confound the
+prosecution, letters have been stolen and threats made. The Editor of
+_The Voice_ has been compelled to call upon the Secret Service to
+protect her mails." [An entire issue in proof with copy and unset matter
+disappeared, and had to be rewritten!] Again, the Editor of the _O. E.
+Critic_ writes:--"It is understood, and I have the direct testimony of
+the publisher to the fact, that the entire edition of the Brooks' books
+[_Esoteric Bogeydom_ and _Neo-Theosophy Exposed_] was corralled by Mrs.
+Besant in order to suppress their circulation. They tell too much about
+her."
+
+
+
+
+Tampering with H. P. Blavatsky's writings.
+
+
+The result of Mrs. Besant's first failure, through harbouring doubts of
+her Teacher's _bona fides_ and esoteric knowledge, was soon manifested
+when she began to publish new editions of H. P. B.'s works. The first
+noteworthy example was her excision from _The Voice of the Silence_ of
+passages and notes, presumably out of deference to Brahmin sentiment,
+which then governed her actions. One of the last verses in "The Two
+Paths" (the second of the "Three Fragments" forming the little book) in
+the original edition (1889) begins thus:--"He who becomes Pratyeka
+Buddha, makes his obeisance but to his Self." In a footnote H. P. B.
+explains that "Pratyeka Buddhas are those Bodhisattvas who strive after
+and often reach the Dharmakaya robe after a series of lives. Caring
+nothing for the woes of mankind or to help it, but only for their own
+_bliss_, they enter Nirvana and--disappear from the sight and the hearts
+of men. In Northern Buddhism a 'Pratyeka Buddha' is a synonym of
+spiritual Selfishness."
+
+In Mrs. Besant's edition both the passage and the footnote I have quoted
+are omitted. Her reason for this unscrupulous proceeding is given in a
+footnote on p. 416 of the so-called "third volume" of _The Secret
+Doctrine_. In this note Mrs. Besant, from the heights of her then
+newly-acquired Brahmanical wisdom, adopts the following dictatorial and
+censorious tone towards her late Teacher:--
+
+     The Pratyeka Buddha stands on the level of the Buddha [!], but
+     His work for the world has nothing to do with its teaching,
+     and His office has always been surrounded with mystery. The
+     preposterous [_sic_] view that He, at such superhuman height of
+     power, wisdom and love could be selfish, is found in the
+     exoteric books, though it is hard to see how it can have
+     arisen. H. P. B. _charged me to correct the mistake, as she
+     had, in a careless moment, copied such a statement
+     elsewhere_.--A. B.
+
+Observe the assumption of superior knowledge to H. P. B.'s, and the use
+of the words "preposterous" and "careless." To any real Oriental _chela_
+such an attitude towards his _Guru_ would be simply unthinkable; but we
+have seen how very quickly Mrs. Besant believed herself to have soared
+far above the "chela on probation" state of her H. P. B. days into that
+of an "Initiate" and future "Supreme Ruler of the World of Gods and
+men." To such vanity and self-delusion everything is possible. How
+different was the attitude of the _real_ Occultist who was spoken of by
+the Masters as "Our Brother H. P. B.," yet called herself "a Chela of
+one of Them"!
+
+The passage I have italicised in the above footnote by Mrs. Besant is
+untrue on the face of it to anyone who knew, as I did, the loving care
+with which H. P. B. prepared this unique little book of "Golden
+Precepts." Moreover, she states in her Preface that the verses given are
+selected from a much larger number which she "learnt by heart." Further,
+H. P. B. _not only repeated but greatly amplified_ this statement about
+the Pratyeka Buddha in her _Theosophical Glossary_, a fact which Mrs.
+Besant had evidently forgotten when she concocted the footnote quoted
+above.[19] The Pratyeka Buddha is doubtless much that Mrs. Besant claims
+for him, but she does not seem to know, or has probably forgotten, that
+there are _two_ classes of Masters, _two_ "Paths" (as this very section
+of _The Voice of the Silence_ shows); that the "Pairs of Opposites"
+obtain on all planes of Manifestation and Being, right up to the
+threshold of the _Un_manifested--the ONE; that, while there are _Masters
+of_ COMPASSION, there must of necessity exist also the opposite
+pole--the wearers of the "Dharmakâya robe," with all the power and
+knowledge which that state implies, but without that _Compassion_ which
+alone makes a Master of the "Right Hand Path."[20]
+
+It was a great and valuable feature of H. P. B.'s, method that she
+taught us to reason on these lines, checking everything by the Law of
+Correspondences. But Mrs. Besant has evidently long since abandoned
+this, and prefers the sacerdotal plan of accepting everything on
+"authority," which in her present phase means Leadbeater or her own
+psychic delusions. The "World Teacher" dogma is a case in point. She
+asserts it as a fact to be accepted because she says it; whereas, as I
+have shown, it is untenable in the light of _The Secret Doctrine_ (see
+_ante_ p. 2), which endorses Oriental tradition and cyclic law.
+
+Mrs. Besant's partiality for the Pratyeka Buddha, however, may possibly
+be explained by some words that H. P. B. once wrote of her to Mr.
+Judge:--"She is not psychic or spiritual in the least--all intellect."
+For H. P. B. opens her paragraph in the _Theosophical Glossary_ on the
+Pratyeka Buddha with these words:-- "The Pratyeka Buddha is a degree
+which belongs exclusively to the Yogâchârya school ... one of _high
+intellectual development with no true spirituality_". (Italics mine.)
+Moreover, we have the authority of the Maha Chohan Himself (the Head of
+the Trans-Himâlayan Brotherhood) for the statement that even Nirvâna is,
+"after all, but an exalted and glorious selfishness."
+
+In the _Theosophist_ for March, 1922, Mrs. Besant says, in her
+"Watch-Tower" notes:--
+
+     A wild theory has just been started in the U. S. A. that _The
+     Secret Doctrine_, brought out by the London T. P. H. after H.
+     P. B.'s death, was not as H. P. B. wanted it. The _insinuation_
+     is made that _H. P. B._ was "edited" by those in charge of _the
+     second edition_. The _trustees_ to whom she left _the
+     safeguarding of her printed books and unpublished manuscripts_
+     were all her own pupils who had _lived with her for years_, and
+     they made only _such changes as she had herself directed_,
+     which consist mainly in the correction of verbal and
+     grammatical errors, and the _arrangement of the material of
+     Vol._ III.
+
+I have italicised the statements requiring explanation or correction.
+The "second edition," as Mrs. Besant must be well aware, was merely a
+re-print to meet an unexpected demand, and bears the same date as the
+original edition, _viz._, 1888. But as Mrs. Besant only joined the T. S.
+early in 1889, and was led to seek an interview with H. P. Blavatsky
+_after_ reviewing _The Secret Doctrine_ for the late Mr. W. T. Stead,
+then Editor of the _Pall Mall Gazette_, clearly she can know absolutely
+nothing of the preparation of its first _or_ of its "second edition"! As
+to the alleged "trustees," I can only say that I never heard of their
+existence. _Mrs. Besant_ only "lived with" H. P. B. for rather more than
+eighteen months. H. P. B. left 17, Lansdowne Road, London, W., in the
+summer of 1889, the Headquarters being moved to Mrs. Besant's house in
+Avenue Road, N.W., where she died in May 1891, _while Mrs. Besant was on
+her way back from a lecture tour in America_.
+
+Take next the alleged "safeguarding" of H. P. B.'s "unpublished
+manuscripts." Those who were responsible for the so-called Volume III,
+had a strange and unusual conception of the meaning of the word
+"safeguarding." It so happens that while it was being set up I was able
+actually to peruse one or two of the familiar long foolscap sheets which
+H. P. B. always covered with her small fine handwriting. They were
+mutilated almost beyond recognition, few of her sentences remaining
+intact; and there were "corrections" not only in the handwritings of the
+editors, Mrs. Besant and Mr. Mead, but also in that of others which I
+was able to identify. More than this I cannot say without abusing
+confidence; but the wrong done to my Teacher compels me to say this
+much.
+
+Those who were H. P. B.'s untiring and unfailing helpers in the
+preparation of _The Secret Doctrine_ for the press in 1887-88, Dr.
+Archibald and Mr. Bertram Keightley, have, fortunately for posterity,
+put on record their experiences of those days. They have made statements
+of the utmost value in connection with the facts I am here dealing with,
+which they wrote specially for Countess Wachtmeister's _Reminiscences of
+H. P. Blavatsky and "The Secret Doctrine,"_ published in 1893. Moreover,
+Dr. Keightley wrote an account of H. P. B.'s manifold literary
+activities at this time, which appeared in the _Theosophist_ for July
+1889, in which he states that "_the Third Volume of The Secret Doctrine
+is in MS. ready to be given to the printers_. [Italics mine.--A. L. C.]
+It will consist mainly of a series of sketches of the great Occultists
+of all ages, and is a most wonderful and fascinating work."
+
+In the face of this clear and definite statement, made by one whose word
+I know to be unimpeachable, and who lived and worked with H. P. B. at
+that time, what becomes of H. P. B.'s alleged "directions" for the
+"arrangement of the material of Vol. III" which Mrs. Besant speaks of
+above, and the statement in the Preface to _her_ version of Vol.
+III:--"The task of preparing this volume for the press has been a
+difficult and anxious one.... The papers given to me by H. P. B. were
+quite unarranged, and had no obvious order...."? This volume, given by
+Mrs. Besant to the world in 1897, is most certainly _not_ the one Dr.
+Keightley speaks of as "ready" for "the printers" in 1889, as I will
+prove. WHAT THEN BECAME OF THAT VOLUME?
+
+But first I will quote Dr. Stokes, Editor of the _O. E. Critic_, whose
+most specific charges and plain statements of fact hardly come under the
+purposely misleading term "insinuations," used by Mrs. Besant! Dr.
+Stokes "_insinuates_" nothing; he heads his most damaging accusation as
+follows:--
+
+
+     "ANNIE BESANT'S CORRUPTION OF THE SECRET DOCTRINE."
+
+     In all probability Annie Besant's "revision" of H. P.
+     Blavatsky's original edition of _The Secret Doctrine_
+     constitutes the most colossal case of corruption of an original
+     text to be found in history. A group of students is comparing
+     the original edition with the "third and revised edition,"
+     edited by Annie Besant and G. R. S. Mead, after the author's
+     death.... I am informed by those making the comparison [that]
+     ... the actual changes will be far more than twenty thousand.
+     Many of these changes are trivial and one wonders at the
+     impertinence or conceit which inspired them. Some of the
+     changes--those which might have put students on their guard
+     against the so-called Third Volume--can only be construed as
+     deliberate and intentional suppressions and corruptions of the
+     original text. And this in a work of which the Master K. H.
+     wrote: "Every mistake or erroneous notion corrected and
+     explained by her from the works of other Theosophists was
+     corrected by me or under my instruction." The true title of the
+     "third and revised edition" should be "_The Secret Doctrine_,
+     written by H. P. Blavatsky, corrected and approved by the
+     Master K. H., and corrupted by Annie Besant." It is almost
+     impossible to comprehend the colossal conceit, the limitless
+     contempt for common literary decency which could have inspired
+     such an act of vandalism, to say nothing of such disrespect for
+     the Master whom she professes to venerate. And all of this is
+     put forth as the work of H. P. Blavatsky herself, with the mere
+     apology in the preface that "Had H. P. Blavatsky lived to issue
+     the new edition, she would doubtless have corrected and
+     enlarged it to a very considerable extent." What a specious
+     excuse? [Repeated in the preface to the alleged Vol. III.--A.
+     L. C.] Had H. P. B. "corrected and enlarged it" it would
+     without doubt have been done under the same guidance and
+     authority which directed and corrected the first edition. It is
+     enough to cast suspicion on each and every quotation of
+     original sources made by Mrs. Besant, and her emendation of the
+     Theosophy of H. P. B. as well. (October 12th, 1921.)
+
+     As for the third volume, edited and published after the death
+     of H. P. B. from manuscripts left by her, nobody knows, in the
+     absence of a previous edition issued by her, how much of it is
+     H. P. B.'s and how much is not, but there is good evidence that
+     much of it is not, which is the more likely in view of the
+     vandalisms the same editors perpetrated in the first two
+     volumes. In no sense can the "third and revised edition" be
+     said to be a re-print of the original _Secret Doctrine_ of H.
+     P. Blavatsky. (December 21st, 1921.)
+
+I most fully endorse all that Dr. Stokes so ably demonstrates, and I can
+quite believe that, in regard to Vol. III, some of the contents are not
+by H. P. B.-- the style in places is not hers at all. But I can
+enlighten him as to those portions of the contents of which I have
+actual knowledge. I may here add that, when my own group of students
+were checking the "third and revised edition" of the first and second
+volumes of _The Secret Doctrine_ by the original edition of 1888, they
+came across no less than four specific references by H. P. B. to Vols.
+III and IV as being practically completed, _viz._, Vol. I, Preface, and
+p. 11; Vol. II, pp. 437, 798, 1st Ed., 1888. Mrs. Besant coolly deleted
+all these without a word of explanation!
+
+How unnecessary nearly all of this so-called "revision" was, can be
+realised in the Keightleys' accounts (see Countess Wachtmeister's book)
+of the care taken over the proofs of the first edition. Mr. Bertram
+Keightley says they first "read the whole mass of MSS.--a pile over
+three feet high--most carefully through, correcting the English and
+punctuation where absolutely indispensable." (Contrast this modesty and
+respect for the author with the spirit that perpetrated the thirty
+thousand corrections in the "third edition"!) It was then arranged under
+H. P. B.'s supervision in Sections, etc., and professionally
+typewritten. This first copy was again revised and any obscurities
+explained. It should be noted here that Mr. Keightley says they laid
+before H. P. B. "a plan, suggested by the character of the matter
+itself, _viz._, to make the work consist of four volumes ... to follow
+the natural order of exposition and begin with the Evolution of Cosmos,
+to pass from that to the Evolution of Man, then to deal with the
+historical part in a third volume treating of the lives of some great
+Occultists, and of 'Practical Occultism' in a fourth." This proves that
+at least the whole of the material for Vol. III was actually there (Dr.
+Keightley elsewhere states that it was _ready for the printer_.)
+Finally the Keightleys themselves set to work to type out a fair copy
+of Vols. I and II for the printer. "H. P. B. read and corrected two sets
+of galley proofs, then a page proof, and finally a revise in sheet,
+correcting, adding, and altering up to the very last moment."
+
+Dr. A. Keightley says:--" ... no work and no trouble, no suffering or
+pain could daunt her from her task. Crippled with rheumatism, suffering
+from a disease which had several times nearly proved fatal, she still
+worked on unflaggingly, writing at her desk the moment her eyes and
+fingers could guide the pen.... We had to carry on the general scheme
+... to act as watch-dogs and help her to make the meaning as clear as
+possible. But all the work was hers ... it went through three or four
+other hands besides H. P. B.'s in galley proof, as well as in revise.
+She was her own most severe corrector...."
+
+Another able helper was Mr. E. Douglas Fawcett, the well-known author of
+_The Riddle of the Universe_, of whom both the Keightleys speak in terms
+of high praise. His profound knowledge of science, philosophy, and
+metaphysics was invaluable. "He supplied many of the quotations from
+scientific works, as well as many confirmations of the occult doctrines
+derived from similar sources."
+
+And this monumental work, produced with such meticulous care and
+precautions against errors, is subjected to some thirty thousand
+corrections by its subsequent "editors"! In all my study of the original
+edition I have never found more than a few errors that matter in the
+least, and these are mostly typographical and quite obvious to any
+person of average intelligence. The marvel is that there are so few in a
+work of such magnitude and scope. Those of my students who possess only
+the "third and revised edition" (the first and second now being
+scarce), have re-corrected it to agree with the first; and to look at
+the pages covered with these re-corrections brings home to one, as
+nothing else can, the force and justice of Dr. Stokes's indictment. Let
+us hope that when H. P. B.'s great work is understood and accepted
+seriously at its true worth, an indignant posterity will pass judgment
+on one of the worst examples of literary vandalism in the nineteenth
+century.
+
+In her Preface to Vol. III, Mrs. Besant boldly states that, in regard to
+the Sections entitled "The Mystery of Buddha," there are "very numerous
+errors of fact, and many statements based on exoteric writings, not on
+esoteric knowledge"! If her own statement with which I have dealt,
+regarding the Pratyeka Buddha is to be taken as the measure of her
+capacity to judge of the merit or demerit of H. P. B.'s work, all that
+Mrs. Besant says, or skilfully suggests, in this Preface can be
+dismissed as absolutely worthless. But in view of the fact that she then
+believed herself to be acting under the direction of "a Master in the
+flesh" (see Mr. Martyn's letter, _ante_ pp. 18-19 and footnote p. 56),
+who happened to be _an orthodox Brahmin_, these unfounded pronouncements
+which I quote with regard to the Sections on the Lord Buddha are perhaps
+not so surprising. I use the word "unfounded" advisedly, for she makes
+two separate statements as to the way in which she obtained the material
+for this so-called Vol. III. She opens the Preface with the first
+one:--"The task of preparing this volume for the press has been a
+difficult and anxious one, and it is necessary to state clearly what has
+been done." This is one of her usual formulas, after which she proceeds
+to do the exact opposite. She thus continues, in fact:--"The papers
+given to me by H. P. B...." But Mrs. Besant was not in England when H.
+P. B. died, _quite unexpectedly_, and with only three of her pupils
+present, namely, Mr. Claude Wright, Mr. Walter Old and Miss Laura Cooper
+(now Mrs. G. R. S. Mead.) We were all summoned by telegram, and I was at
+Avenue Road within a few hours. I never heard of any evidence that she
+gave Mrs. Besant papers, or directions about papers, before the latter
+left for America on a lecture tour; and most certainly H. P. B. never
+formally "appointed" her, or anyone else, as her "successor," for the
+very good reason that I have given elsewhere--that the movement had
+definitely failed, and she was "recalled." (see _ante_ p. 2.)
+
+To return to Mrs. Besant's Preface. Her second statement is that the
+papers for the Sections on "The Mystery of the Buddha" were "given into
+my hands to publish, as part of the Third Volume of _The Secret
+Doctrine_...." _By whom_ were they "given"? Certainly not by H. P. B.;
+and why does Mrs. Besant speak of these Sections on the Buddha as if
+they were something apart from the "papers" she alleges she received
+_from H. P. B._? Clearly any further analysis is useless, for in all
+probability the truth about what really happened to all H. P. B.'s MSS.
+after her death _will never be known_, since the few who do know will,
+naturally, never speak.
+
+Brushing aside, therefore, Mrs. Besant's "explanatory" Preface, Volume
+III, as given to the public in 1897, appears to be simply a collection
+of fugitive articles which, as I have shown, were obviously freely
+edited. To pad out the volume (the MSS. spoken of by H. P. B. in Vols. I
+and II, as already existing, having mysteriously vanished) Mrs. Besant
+prints both the _E. S. T._ and the _Inner Group Instructions_, despite
+the pledge of secrecy taken by her and all other recipients of these
+teachings. In justification of this she states--_six years after H. P.
+B.'s death_--that H. P. B. instructed her to do so! The worthlessness of
+such "instructions" is palpable in the light of her naïve belief in the
+alleged reincarnation of her Teacher in Mr. ----'s little daughter.
+(Needless to add that, under Leadbeater, she has another version of this
+idea!) We have the usual misleading and disingenuous statement in a
+"Note" which is prefixed to these Instructions. Mrs. Besant
+says:--"Papers I, II and III ... were written by H. P. B. and were
+circulated privately during her lifetime"
+
+_These "Papers" are the E. S. Instructions._ She calls those given to
+the Inner Group "Notes of some Oral Teaching." But, with two exceptions,
+almost _every word of both E. S. and I. G. Instructions are given
+intact_, just as we received them; I possess them all. The two
+exceptions are, first, the practical teachings, given at the first
+meeting of the _I. G._, for Yoga development, which even Mrs. Besant had
+not the hardihood to publish; and, second, a very long "Preliminary
+Memorandum" to Instructions III.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[19] See also _An Introduction to Mahayâna Buddhism_, by W. M. McGovern,
+1922. Kegan Paul. He confirms H. P. B.'s definition.
+
+[20] It was ... during the highest point of civilisation and knowledge,
+as also of human intellectuality, of ... the Atlantean Race that ...
+humanity branched off into its two diametrically opposite paths; the
+Right and the Left-hand paths of knowledge or of Vidya. "_Thus were the
+germs of the White and the Black Magic sown in those days. The seeds lay
+latent for some time, to sprout only during the early period of the
+Fifth (our Race)._" (_Commentary_).--_The Secret Doctrine._ First
+Edition, Vol. I, p. 192.
+
+
+
+
+The Truth about the E. S. Council, and the Inner Group.
+
+
+The E. S. Instructions were written by H. P. B. during the winter of
+1888-89. The I. G. Teachings were given orally by H. P. B. at its
+meetings in 1890-91. It was the duty of the two secretaries, Mrs. Besant
+and Mr. Mead, to write these Teachings up, from notes sent in by _all of
+us_, after each meeting, and record them in a book. This record was
+dealt with at each succeeding meeting, corrected and often amplified by
+H. P. B. All these _might_, therefore, have been included in Vol. IV of
+_The Secret Doctrine_, according to the general plan of the work adopted
+by H. P. B., if she had lived and had permitted it. Mrs. Besant's
+statement that they were written with that in view is incorrect, and was
+obviously made to justify her action in using them for her version of
+Vol. III.
+
+In the _Theosophist_ for March, 1922, Mrs. Besant published an article
+in which several false statements are made concerning the history of the
+E. S. The writer, a Mr. Fritz Kunz, quotes Colonel Olcott's _Old Diary
+Leaves_ as authority for saying that "the first move towards founding
+the E. S. was made in 1881," that it was "organised steadily through the
+trials of 1884-85," and merely "announced" in 1888. The actual facts
+(see _Theosophist_, April, 1880) are, that when H. P. B. established the
+real THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OR UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD at Benares in 1879
+(the T. S. founded at New York in 1875 was only a "Miracle Club," as
+Colonel Olcott says, with no "brotherhood plank"), it was on a purely
+esoteric basis. It was under the direct guidance of the Trans-Himâlayan
+Brotherhood, Who formed the First Section; the second and third being
+for "accepted" and "probationary" _chelas_ respectively. When I joined
+the T. S. in 1885, these rules were still in force in the London Lodge.
+But Colonel Olcott insisted on an exoteric organisation with "the
+occultism more in the background"; and the crisis of 1884-85, which
+drove H. P. B. from India (see her letter of 1890, _ante_ p. 2), was the
+natural result of this policy. Far from the E. S. being "organised
+steadily" at that time, as Mr. Kunz asserts, H. P. B. makes it clear in
+her letter that the Master's influence was "virtually banished" from
+Adyar through lack of faith in Them, and failure to support her, and
+that she had been ordered to "establish the Esoteric Section," at
+London, which she did in 1888, because the necessary faith in the
+Masters still existed there and in America.
+
+Mr. Kunz then makes the astonishing assertion that the E. S. was
+"transferred to Mrs. Annie Besant in due course by H. P. B. in 1891." As
+I was a member of H. P. B.'s Inner Council which was responsible for
+what was done after her death, I am in a position to state the true
+facts as known to me, and as they appear in the E. S. documents in my
+possession. These _facts_ are:--When H. P. B. died--suddenly and
+unexpectedly, on May 8th, 1891[21]., Mr. Judge at once came over from
+New York, and after much consultation and informal meetings of the E. S.
+Council (composed of the I. G. members) and two others, Mr. Wm.
+Kingsland and Dr. W. Wynn Westcott), a formal and "full meeting of the
+Council" was held at Headquarters on May 27th, 1891, when "Bro. Wm. Q.
+Judge attended _as the representative of H. P. B._ under a general power
+given as below." (Italics mine.--A. L. C.)
+
+"As Head of the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society, I hereby
+declare that William Q. Judge, of New York, U.S., in virtue of his
+character as a _chela_ of thirteen years' standing, and of the trust and
+confidence reposed in him, is my only representative for said Section in
+America, and he is the sole channel through whom will be sent and
+received all communications between the members of said Section and
+myself, and to him full faith, confidence and credit in that regard are
+to be given, ⁂ Done at London this fourteenth day of December, 1888,
+and in the fourteenth year of the Theosophical Society.
+
+    [Seal]               H. P. Blavatsky,
+
+" ... The Council passed the following minute....
+
+That it was resolved and recorded that the highest officials in the
+School for the present are Annie Besant and William Q. Judge, in
+accordance with the above-quoted order to William Q. Judge of December,
+1888, and with the order of April 1st, 1891, to Annie Besant, as well as
+with the written declaration of H. P. B. in a letter to William Q. Judge
+dated March 27th, 1891, which we now here have read, in which she wrote
+that Annie Besant should be so considered. The order of April 1st, 1891,
+is as follows:--
+
+     I hereby appoint, in the name of the Master, Annie Besant Chief
+     Secretary of the Inner Group of the Esoteric Section and
+     Recorder of the Teachings.[22]
+
+     H. P. B., ∴
+
+Finally, we--the Council--declared over our signatures that "from
+henceforth with Annie Besant and William Q. Judge rest the full charge
+and management of the School."
+
+Thus did _the Council_ establish the "Dual Headship," and until her
+meeting with Mr. ----, two years later, and her subsequent visit to
+India, Mrs. Besant continued to work harmoniously with Mr. Judge in the
+management of the School.
+
+A full report of this Council meeting was immediately sent out to the
+whole E. S., bearing the date May 27th, 1891. Attached to it was an
+"Address" signed by Mrs. Besant and Mr. Judge as joint "Outer Heads,"
+declaring that these "changes in the Constitution of the School" having
+been "made _by the joint Councils of the_ E. S. T." (Italics mine.--A.
+L. C.), they considered it their "duty" to issue this address to each
+member.
+
+_The one error_, and the foundation of all subsequent ones, as I
+subsequently realised, was that of speaking of themselves as H. P. B.'s
+"agents and representatives after her departure"; for there is nothing
+whatever in the wording of the abovementioned official appointments
+which even suggests such a contingency. _Both_ obviously could refer to
+the holders of them only _during_ H. P. B.'s _life-time_. Indeed, Mr.
+Judge's was made when the School was founded, and had been operative
+ever since; while Mrs. Besant's was merely an official confirmation of a
+secretarial office she had filled since the formation of the I. G.
+scarcely nine months previously (thus giving her the precedence of Mr.
+Mead.) It will be seen, however, that Mr. Judge's appointment was a far
+more important one than Mrs. Besant's, and was conferred on him "in
+virtue of his character as _a chela of thirteen years' standing_";
+whereas Mrs. Besant had been "on probation" _only_, for barely a year.
+Moreover, when Mr. Judge became the object of attacks in 1889, H. P. B.
+issued the following very significant notice:--
+
+    "LONDON,
+    _October 23rd, 1889_.
+
+     "The Esoteric Section and its life in the U. S. A. depends upon
+     W. Q. J. remaining its agent and what he is now. The day W. Q.
+     J. resigns H. P. B. will be virtually dead for the Americans.
+     W. Q. J. is the Antaskarana between the two _Manas(es)_, the
+     American thought and the Indian--or rather the trans-Himâlayan
+     esoteric knowledge. _Dixi._
+
+     H. P. B. ∴
+
+     "_P. S._--W. Q. J. had better show and impress _this_ on the
+     mind of _all those it may concern_."
+
+This notice appeared in an E. S. paper issued by Mrs. Besant and Mr.
+Judge, dated July 18th, 1894, when Mrs. Besant was already implicated in
+the plot against Mr. Judge.
+
+Mrs. Besant's appointment, given above, was the only official one she
+ever received from H. P. B. in either the E. S. or T. S. Certainly I
+never heard of anything else. The absolutely Jesuitical nature of her
+methods is patent, in that she _completely ignores_ the documentary
+facts set forth above. To read the present statements it might be
+imagined that Mr. Judge hardly existed at that time, except as an
+obscure person who, as Mr. Kunz tactfully (!) puts it, made an
+"unfortunate blunder." As I have shown elsewhere (see _ante_ pp 5, 70);
+it is the fact that "blunders"--and worse than blunders--were made after
+H. P. B.'s death (see _ante_ p. 86); but Mrs. Besant's "blunders" were
+far more serious than Mr. Judge's; though both of them were, in the
+first instance, misled by others, whose real aim was to disrupt the
+Society and defeat H. P. B.'s work.
+
+I possess a copy of the previously mentioned most valuable "Preliminary
+Memorandum" to Instructions III, as issued by H. P. B. to her students;
+and a prefatory note states:--
+
+     The following "Preliminary Memorandum" was written by H. P. B.
+     at the time of a grave crisis, or rather series of crises,
+     through which the T. S. passed in 1889-90. Treachery within the
+     E. S. itself, and persistent and relentless attacks on the T.
+     S. from without, especially in America necessitated the
+     striking of a fresh keynote and giving directions for the
+     closing up of the ranks of the E. S. At the time of reprinting
+     the Instructions in London in 1890-91, certain portions of this
+     "Preliminary Memorandum" dealing with the details of the matter
+     were purposely omitted by those of H. P. B.'s pupils who were
+     constituted the editors [Mrs. Besant and Mr. Mead], these
+     portions being deemed by them of too personal a character to
+     remain. This was done when H. P. B. was too ill to supervise,
+     without her sanction, and, as she afterwards said, much against
+     her wishes. [Some of the details omitted related to attacks on
+     Mr. Judge, and the duty of defending him "when the time
+     comes."]
+
+Similarly, Mr. Mead omitted from his "third and revised edition" of H.
+P. B.'s _Key to Theosophy_, published in 1893, most of the part in
+which the author deals with the Report of the Society for Psychical
+Research, classing it with "passages of a controversial nature, which
+are no longer of general interest." Yet the public at large still accept
+this Report as a proof that H. P. B. was a fraud, a charlatan, and a
+Russian spy!
+
+Another feature of this edition, as of others of her works produced after
+her death, is what he calls "a systematic use of italics and capitals."
+This means that he abandons H. P. B.'s extremely effective use of large
+and small capitals and italics to emphasise the importance of words like
+MYSTERIES, OCCULTISM, WISDOM-RELIGION, etc., or SELF, ~Self~, and _Self_
+to indicate the three different selves in man, and so robs her text of
+much of its emphasis and meaning. One has to compare her editions with
+these posthumos ounes to realise the extent to which this has been done.
+It is particularly noticeable in _The Voice of the Silence_, where the
+exact meaning often depends on the distinctions H. P. B. thus makes. (See
+her article on Occultism quoted _ante_ p. 31).
+
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+If the "Back to Blavatsky" movement accomplishes nothing else, let us
+hope it may succeed in getting rid of all this vandalism and
+re-establishing H. P. B.'s works on their original basis, that she may
+go down to posterity on her own merits and not altered and distorted by
+the brain-mind notions of her followers. Some of this work is already
+being done by organisations or private enterprise, but it needs to be
+systematised and co-ordinated.[23] Although the "door" had to be "shut"
+at the end of 1899, H. P. B. in her last paragraph of the _Key to
+Theosophy_ expressed the hope that, "when the time comes for the effort
+of the twentieth century [_i.e._, in 1975], besides a large and
+accessible literature ready to men's hands, the next impulse will find a
+numerous and _united_ body of people ready to welcome the new
+Torch-bearer of Truth."
+
+It has been my painful task to show how lamentably we have failed to
+realise her hopes. The "_united_ body" she sacrificed so much to create
+and hold together, was disrupted barely four years after her death; the
+main body under the Besant-Leadbeater _régime_ is following strange
+gods; while the great literary legacy left by H. P. B. has not only been
+seriously tampered with, but even largely superseded and obscured by
+books which will certainly not be of any assistance to the next
+"Torch-Bearer."
+
+Some years ago I founded an H. P. B. Lending Library with my original
+editions of her works, and others that are reliable and in line with her
+teaching. It has already done much good, especially among those who have
+been misled and kept in ignorance of them. If others would do the same
+we can in time hope to stem the tide of evil and error, and preserve H.
+P. B.'s message untainted until 1975. It is now within the life-span of
+our younger students, many of whom, as the children of Theosophists,
+have been brought up on the teachings and will bridge the gap for us.
+
+The bridging of this gap, however, has been rendered more difficult than
+it should have been; first, by the failure of the T. S. as _a living
+spiritual force in the world_; and second, by the sinister activities of
+this "ill-omened partnership" which almost immediately followed. The
+whole tragic and dreadful history, fragments only of which I have been
+able to give in this brief examination, proves what incalculable harm
+"Leadbeaterism" is working on the minds of the rising generation. Not
+only is he the virtual director of Mrs. Besant's Society, but he has
+completely infected _her_ mind with his soul-destroying teachings. Hers
+is the real responsibility, therefore[24]; and hers the _karma_ of
+ruining H. P. B.'s life-work, and carrying with her in her fall
+thousands upon thousands of honest, but too credulous and easily
+deceived souls along the broad and flowery road "leading to
+destruction."
+
+As H. P. B. says in concluding her "Occultism _versus_ the Occult
+Arts":--"If, while turning their backs on the narrow gate, they are
+dragged by their desire for the Occult one step in the direction of the
+broad and more inviting Gates of that golden mystery which glitters in
+the light of illusion, woe to them! It can lead only to Dugpa-ship, and
+they will be sure to find themselves very soon landed on that _Via
+Fatale_ of the _Inferno_, over whose portal Dante read the words:--
+
+    "_Per me si va nella cittá dolente
+    Per me si va nell'eterno dolore
+    Per me si va tra la perduta gente._"
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[21] _How_ "unexpected" was the manner of her passing may be gathered
+from the fact that she was, at that very time, building a little
+"occult" room next to her own, of a particular shape and structure, in
+which each of her pupils was to "sit"--alone--"for development," under
+special conditions and "under observation." The tiny roof was to be of
+dark blue glass, of which I still possess a small piece of the colour H.
+P. B. had finally selected.
+
+[22] These orders are here reproduced exactly as printed in the E. S.
+paper. It should be noted that the one relating to Mr. Judge is in
+larger type than the other. The triangle formed of asterisks ⁂ after
+the words "regard are to be given" indicates that H. P. B. is there
+endorsed by an Initiate of a higher grade. It will also be noticed that
+the dots forming the triangle after her signature differ in size in the
+two orders. In a note in the _Voice of the Silence_ to the words
+"Thyself and mind, like twins upon a line, the star which is thy goal
+burns overhead" H. P. B. says "Every stage of development in _Raja-Yoga_
+is symbolised by a geometrical figure. This one is the sacred _Triangle_
+[_i.e._, ∴] and precedes Dharana. The ∆ is the sign of the high _chelas_,
+while another kind of triangle is that of high Initiates." The
+∴ is also used in Freemasonry to denote certain high degrees.
+
+[23] It is only fair to give Mrs. Tingley's Organisation credit for the
+good work it is doing in publishing accurate reprints of H. P. B.'s
+works with all the references carefully checked, but none of her own
+writing tampered with. Now that the 1888 edition of _The Secret
+Doctrine_ is so scarce, students will be glad to know that an unaltered
+reprint can now be had instead of the Besant corruption. The reprint of
+_Isis Unveiled_, with the addition of an excellent Index, has long been
+wanted; and the original paging has been preserved, so that the Index
+also serves for the original edition. It is to be regretted that these
+reprints are prefaced by an account of the Theosophical Movement from
+Mrs. Tingley's point of view, which is inaccurate and misleading.
+However, this is easily removed.
+
+[24] In a letter from a Master to a friend occur these words:--"You are
+responsible for the influence that you permit others to exert over you."
+
+
+
+
+_ADDENDUM._
+
+=The Australian Crisis.=
+
+
+The official account of the events in Australia last spring reached me
+too late to include in its proper place (_ante_, p. 4), but its
+importance as the latest phase of the Leadbeater scandal demands
+quotation of the principal details. Australia has been the scene of Mr.
+Leadbeater's activities since the Madras lawsuits (_ante_, p. 39) made
+India too hot for him in 1913. Needless to say, the same scandals were
+repeated there, and finally brought about a crisis at the T. S.
+Convention last Easter in Sydney. Two of Mr. Leadbeater's Indian
+"pupils," Krishnamurti (see _ante_, p. 12) and Jinarajadasa, secured a
+vote of confidence in Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater which roused strong
+opposition. I quote from a long circular letter issued to the members by
+one of the opposition, Mr. J. M. Prentice, of Hobart, who is evidently a
+leading officer. It is dated May 28, 1922.
+
+
+     MRS. BESANT REFUSES AN ENQUIRY.
+
+     Soon after Convention Mrs. Besant arrived in Sydney [from
+     India] a very worried and angry woman. At the Sydney Lodge she
+     spoke on the lines of "Judge not that ye be not judged," and
+     made it thoroughly apparent that she was not in favour of
+     anything in the nature of an Enquiry. During the Convention
+     Leadbeater had issued a special statement to the E. S. T. which
+     led to its expulsion from the Sydney Lodge building. It was
+     this that had finally angered Mrs. Besant to boiling point....
+     She expressed a wish to meet the Lodge Committee and talk over
+     the difficulties. There was a three-hour conference that led
+     nowhere. I am told that she was helpless to a point of pathos.
+     She denied everything as far as Leadbeater and Wedgwood [see
+     _ante_, p. 62] were, concerned, and refused to consider
+     anything in the nature of an Enquiry. She read from old files
+     of the _Theosophist_ how Leadbeater had been rehabilitated, but
+     a member of the Executive challenged her with more recent
+     happenings, to which she could only reply that she did "not
+     believe them."
+
+
+     A TERRIFIC PRESS CRITICISM.
+
+     Two days later the _Daily Telegraph_ came out with a tremendous
+     attack on the "Liberal Catholic Church." The result was
+     terrific. At the members' meeting that night feeling ran very
+     high. The _Telegraph_ had a reporter present and came out with
+     six or seven columns under heavily leaded headlines. Moreover
+     this information was disseminated to all the papers the
+     _Telegraph_ is correspondent for. The result is that
+     irreparable damage has been done to Theosophy and the Society;
+     although the ablest papers are willing to admit that there is
+     still a minority genuinely fighting for sanity and cleanness in
+     the T. S.
+
+
+     GOVERNMENT ENQUIRY INSTITUTED.
+
+     The Government has now instituted an Enquiry, but so far I do
+     not know the scope of its intention. I have been told by
+     telegram that the Leadbeater boys have been examined or
+     interrogated.... One of the latest developments was when Mr. A.
+     B. Piddington, a leading barrister and K. C. of Sydney,
+     resigned from the Presidency of the Public Questions Society of
+     Sydney University rather than meet Mrs. Besant at a public
+     address which she proposed to give to the members. He has
+     addressed a scathing letter to the _Telegraph_, or rather
+     released for publication his letter of resignation, which is a
+     remarkable summing-up of the position.
+
+
+MR. PIDDINGTON, K. C.'S OPINION.
+
+The following are the chief points made by this gentleman, who is not a
+member of the T. S., and therefore represents an impartial legal and
+public view of the moral issue at stake:--
+
+     My resignation is based on the ground that the Society ought to
+     withdraw its invitation to Mrs. Besant until the matters
+     involved in her defence of Mr. C. W. Leadbeater have been
+     settled by a trustworthy tribunal.
+
+     Grave allegations were recently made against Mr. Leadbeater by
+     Mr. Martyn [see _ante_, p. 18,] for his letter to Mrs. Besant,
+     and Mr. Leadbeater's precept and practice in the training of
+     boys have been quoted. Mr. Martyn is supported by other
+     reputable Australians.
+
+     Before landing here, and since, Mrs. Besant has refused any
+     inquiry into these matters, and taken up positions which, in a
+     teacher of morals disentitle her to be heard by an
+     undergraduate society which exists for the pursuit of truth.
+     These positions are:--
+
+     1. That there is a class of beings so high in the religious
+     order that to accuse them is presumption on the part of the
+     common people. Indeed accusations are 'persecution,' which
+     proves the sanctity of these higher beings, and is (in Mrs.
+     Besant's words) the "seal of their apostolate."
+
+     2. Mrs. Besant refers Mr. Leadbeater's challengers to the
+     courts, though to propagate in private the abominable tenet
+     held by him does not constitute an offence against any law, but
+     only against common decency as understood by ordinary men.
+
+     3. She writes that she does not believe, and will not discuss
+     Mr. Martyn's allegations, though she writes from India of what
+     Mr. Martyn says happened in his own home in Sydney.
+
+     If these are good reasons for refusing to hold an inquiry, then
+     immorality can be safely taught and practised in high places so
+     long as the teacher belongs to Mrs. Besant's way of thinking.
+     From the public point of view such a claim cuts the ground from
+     all morals.
+
+     In her letter to the _Daily Telegraph_ [of Sydney] for May 18,
+     Mrs. Besant asks the public to believe that Mr. Leadbeater has
+     to meet charges relating to 1906 [see _ante_, p. 27], and
+     disposed of [?] by some private investigation in 1908. The fact
+     is ignored that Mr. Martyn's accusations relate to conduct
+     since 1914, Worse than this, the fact is suppressed that Mrs.
+     Besant in 1913 was herself ordered by the Madras High Court to
+     return to their father two boys whom she insisted in placing in
+     Mr. Leadbeater's care, in spite of the father's protest. [See
+     _ante_, p. 40] ... Mr. Justice Bakewell said that, from
+     Leadbeater's evidence, he was "certainly an immoral person, and
+     highly unfit to be in charge of the boys." He also found that
+     Mrs. Besant had violated her stipulation made with the father
+     before parting with the boys, that they should have nothing to
+     do with Mr. Leadbeater. (London _Times_, March 8, 1913.)
+
+     In the following year Mr. Leadbeater came to Australia and now
+     "trains" Australian boys.
+
+     Mrs. Besant lent herself and her oratory to the acquittal,
+     without evidence, of Mr. Leadbeater at a public meeting ... In
+     my view it is as bad to rescue a man from public justice (which
+     is a wider term than criminal law) by the exercise of a
+     dominating personal veto, as it is to do it by money or social
+     or any other 'influence'--'influence' which is the bane of any
+     system of justice.... She may effect a master-stroke of
+     salvage, but she offends every canon of fairplay, let alone of
+     that ordinary morality by which all men, high or humble, must
+     be content to be judged. These sombre facts stand out:--
+
+     1. Mrs. Besant's chief colleague has stated as late as 1913 in
+     open court that he still believed in teaching a detestable vice
+     to boys, which he had previously taught them.
+
+     2. An English Judge for this reason declared him to be an
+     immoral person.
+
+     3. Mr. Martyn accused Mr. Leadbeater of being still what the
+     English judge said of him, and alleged fact upon fact in
+     support of this.
+
+     4. Mrs. Besant has shielded Mr. Leadbeater from inquiry.
+
+     5. Mr. Leadbeater says nothing.
+
+
+AN INDICTMENT OF MRS. BESANT BY A RESIGNING MEMBER OF HER E. S.
+
+Further very recent testimony and criticism is furnished by a letter of
+resignation from Mrs. Besant's Esoteric School by Mr. Hugh R. Gillespie,
+of Krotona, California, one of the strongholds of the "Liberal Catholic
+Church." The letter, dated May 29, is printed in the _O. E. Critic_ of
+August 16, and the Editor in a prefatory note says:--
+
+     The writer ... is well-known to Theosophists of three
+     continents as a lecturer and as a fearless, persistent and
+     uncompromising fighter for honesty and cleanness in the T. S.
+     For almost three years he was attached to Adyar as architect
+     and sanitary engineer.... He was at Adyar during the trial of
+     the "Cases" in the Madras courts and saw the whole sordid drama
+     in action. During this period he had abundant opportunity for
+     getting light, as well as sidelights, on the working of the
+     Adyar machine and on the personal peculiarities of the gods and
+     demigods of the Theosophical Olympus. Later he was resident
+     three years at Krotona, where similar opportunities were not
+     lacking.
+
+Mr. Gillespie writes that he resigns as a protest against the actions
+and utterances of Mrs. Besant as "Outer Head" of the E. S. and President
+of the T. S., and continues:--
+
+     These actions and utterances have, since her assumption of the
+     above mentioned positions, been of such a character that, to
+     use the words of H. P. B., the Theosophical Society is
+
+     " ... being made a spectacle to the world through the
+     exaggerations of some fanatics, and the attempt of various
+     charlatans to profit by a ready-made programme. These, by
+     disfiguring and adapting Occultism to their own filthy and
+     immoral ends bring disgrace on the whole movement."
+
+     As a result of Mrs. Besant's methods we learn that the T. S.
+     and E. S. in almost every section is seething with dissension.
+     England, Australia and America are racked and torn; Germany is
+     split; Finland is shattered, and the closing of the E. S. for
+     some four years in Switzerland indicates the conditions there.
+
+     Mrs. Besant's arrogance and vanity in office and her lack of
+     dignity, as exemplified in her ridiculous "Whom will ye serve?"
+     tirade, and her letter of March, 1922, have drawn the attention
+     of the great London weekly _Truth_, and in its pages the T. S.
+     is held up to the scorn and ridicule of the world. [I have
+     dealt with these under the heading of "Mrs Besant's Latest
+     Assertions and Claims Examined."--A. L. C.]
+
+     So far as the E. S. is concerned, my experience of its working
+     under Mrs. Besant in Australia, Adyar, England, and America
+     enable me to assert that it is nothing but a political machine
+     used for the purpose of securing the ascendancy of Mrs. Besant
+     in the various bodies to which E. S. members have gained
+     access. [I would draw particular attention to this important
+     statement. It is especially true of India, which is the
+     principal scene of her political activities.--A. L. C.]
+
+     ... Mrs. Besant's parade of thrusting the L. C. C. out of the
+     T. S. door while bringing it in by the E. S. window, added to
+     her condonement of the vile practices of the L. C. C. bishops
+     and priests, fall little short of a betrayal of the T S. and
+     could only be adequately met by her resignation from all
+     office....
+
+
+
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY.
+
+
+_The Secret Doctrine._ London, 1888. _The Key to Theosophy and The Voice
+of the Silence._ London 1889. _The Theosophical Glossary._ London, 1892.
+_Practical Occultism_ Reprint, London, 1921.--H. P. Blavatsky.
+
+_Mrs. Besant and the Present Crisis in the Theosophical Society._ With a
+Prefatory Letter by M. Edouard Schuré. London, 1913.--Eugène Lévy.
+
+_The Central Hindu College and Mrs. Besant. (The Rise of the Alcyone
+Cult.)_ Chicago, 1913.--Bhagavan Das.
+
+_Reminiscences of H. P. Blavatsky and "The Secret Doctrine."_ London,
+1893--Countess Constance Wachtmeister.
+
+
+
+
+    PRINTED BY
+
+    THACKER, SPINK & CO
+
+    CALCUTTA
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
+
+This text is full of typographical errors (wrong spelling and unmatched
+brackets and quotation marks, reference to italics when there are none).
+Since these are really a characteristic of the text, I have left them
+unchanged.
+
+Words in bold are indicated by the markup = =.
+
+The word Self in small capitals is indicated by the markup ~Self~.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's H. P. Blavatsky, by Alice Leighton Cleather
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diff --git a/36373-0.zip b/36373-0.zip
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+++ b/36373-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3812 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of H. P. Blavatsky, by Alice Leighton Cleather
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: H. P. Blavatsky
+       A Great Betrayal
+
+Author: Alice Leighton Cleather
+
+Release Date: June 11, 2011 [EBook #36373]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK H. P. BLAVATSKY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David E. Brown, Margo Romberg, Bryan Ness and
+the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive/American
+Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+    H. P. BLAVATSKY
+
+    A GREAT BETRAYAL
+
+    BY
+
+    ALICE LEIGHTON CLEATHER
+
+    One of Her Pupils
+
+
+    PRICE
+
+    _One Rupee, Fifty cents, or
+    One Shilling Six Pence_
+
+    PUBLISHED BY
+    THACKER, SPINK & CO
+    CALCUTTA
+    1922
+
+
+WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
+
+=H. P. Blavatsky:=--_Her Life and Work for Humanity._ CALCUTTA: THACKER,
+SPINK & CO., 1922.
+
+=In Collaboration with Mrs. Laura Langford:=--_Helena Petrovna
+Blavatsky. Personal Recollections by Old Friends._ New York, 1922.
+
+=In Collaboration with Mr. Basil Crump:= _Richard Wagner's Music
+Dramas._ Embodying Wagner's own interpretations based upon his studies
+of Oriental Philosophy.
+
+LONDON: METHUEN & CO., 4 VOLS.
+
+
+
+
+    H. P. BLAVATSKY
+
+
+"Behold the truth before you! a clean life, an open mind, a pure heart,
+an eager intellect, an unveiled spiritual perception, a brotherliness
+for one's co-disciple, a readiness to give and receive advice and
+instruction, a loyal sense of duty to the Teacher, a willing obedience
+to the behests of TRUTH, once we have placed our confidence in, and
+believe that Teacher to be in possession of it; a courageous endurance
+of personal injustice, a brave declaration of principles, a valiant
+defence of those who are unjustly attacked, and a constant eye to the
+ideal of human progression and perfection which the secret science
+(_Gupta Vidya_) depicts--these are the golden stairs up the steps of
+which the learner may climb to the Temple of Divine Wisdom. Say this to
+those who have volunteered to be taught by you."
+
+    Letter to H. P. B. from her Master
+    (concerning her E. S. students.)
+
+
+
+
+    H. P. BLAVATSKY
+
+    A GREAT BETRAYAL
+
+    BY
+
+    ALICE LEIGHTON CLEATHER
+
+    _One of Her Pupils_
+
+    _Published by_
+
+    THACKER, SPINK & CO
+    CALCUTTA
+    1922
+
+
+
+
+"Tell them ...; As pure water poured into the scavenger's bucket is
+befouled and unfit for use, so is divine truth when poured into the
+consciousness of a Sensualist.... Observe, that the first of the steps
+of gold which mount towards the Temple of Truth is--A CLEAN LIFE. This
+means a purity of body, and a still greater purity of mind, heart and
+spirit."
+
+    Letter to H. P. B. from her Master
+    (concerning her E. S. students.)
+
+
+
+
+    CONTENTS.
+
+                                                              PAGE
+
+    FOREWORD                                                   vii
+
+    INTRODUCTORY                                                 1
+
+    MR. WILLIAM KINGSLAND ON THE CRISIS OF 1906                  7
+
+    M. M. SCHUR� AND L�VY ON THE CRISIS OF 1913                 11
+
+    MRS. BESANT'S "RETURN OF THE CHRIST"                        15
+
+    FUNDAMENTAL CAUSES: SOME OCCULT METHODS                     23
+
+    H. P. BLAVATSKY ON TRUE OCCULTISM                           31
+
+    MRS. BESANT'S RESPONSIBILITY AND THE MADRAS LAW-SUITS       39
+
+    THE CENTRAL HINDU COLLEGE: AN INDIAN CRITICISM              43
+
+    MRS. BESANT'S LATEST ASSERTIONS AND CLAIMS EXAMINED         51
+
+    TAMPERING WITH H. P. BLAVATSKY'S WRITINGS                   71
+
+    "ANNIE BESANT'S CORRUPTION OF THE SECRET DOCTRINE"          76
+
+    THE TRUTH ABOUT THE E. S. COUNCIL AND THE INNER GROUP       83
+
+    CONCLUSION                                                  89
+
+
+    ADDENDUM.
+
+    THE AUSTRALIAN CRISIS                                       92
+
+    AN INDICTMENT OF MRS. BESANT BY A RESIGNING MEMBER OF
+    HER E. S.                                                   95
+
+    BIBLIOGRAPHY                                                97
+
+
+
+
+"There is a very, very ancient maxim, far older than the time of the
+Romans or the Greeks.... It is a maxim all of them ought to
+remember--and live accordingly ... a sound and pure mind requires a
+sound and pure body. Bodily purity every adept takes precautions to
+keep.... Most of them know this.... But though they have been repeatedly
+told of this _sine qua non_ rule on the Path of Theosophy and
+_Chelaship_, how few of them have given attention to it.... Behold, how
+many of them are ... debauchees, GUILTY OF SECRET IMMORALITY in more
+than one form.... Though such a person with any of the faults as above
+declared [others are named] should fill the world with his charities,
+and make his name known throughout every nation, he would make no
+advancement in the practical occult sciences, but be continually
+slipping backward. The 'six and ten transcendental virtues,' the
+Paramitas[1], are not for full grown Yogis and priests alone, but for
+all those who would enter the 'Path.'"
+
+
+    Letter to H. P. B. from her Master
+    (concerning her E. S. students.)
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _See "The Voice of the Silence," by H. P. Blavatsky._
+
+
+
+
+FOREWORD.
+
+
+This Protest has been undertaken at the earnest and repeated requests of
+Theosophical friends of long standing. They feel strongly that the time
+has come for one of H. P. Blavatsky's old pupils, who was a member of
+her Inner Group, to demonstrate as clearly as possible that the
+teachings promulgated for nearly twenty years past by the present
+leaders of the "Theosophical Society" have departed more and more from
+H. P. B.'s, and are now their direct antithesis, particularly on the
+fundamental question of sex morality.
+
+Since Mr. G. R. S. Mead, one of my fellow-members of the Inner Group,
+spoke out at the Leadbeater Inquiry of 1906, and resigned, no other
+surviving member, so far as I have been able to ascertain, has attempted
+to stem the awful and ever increasing tide of horror and delusion, that
+is, engulfing--one might almost say _has_ engulfed--Mrs. Besant's
+Society. If Mr. Mead could say in 1906;--"We stand on the brink of an
+abyss," what is to be said now? The enquiries and researches I have
+undertaken to enable me to write this pamphlet have revealed the present
+state of things to be far worse than I could have imagined possible.
+
+From the time I left Mrs. Besant in 1895 and Mrs. Tingley in 1899, I
+have been out of touch with these two movements, each calling itself
+"theosophical" and each leader claiming to be H. P. B.'s "successor."
+This is the reason why I have hitherto kept silent; in fact, it was not
+until I came to live in India in 1918, after spending some years on the
+Continent, and met some of the members--both Indian and European--who
+had left Mrs. Besant in more recent years, that I learnt of the
+appalling developments since she became President and installed the sex
+pervert Leadbeater as supreme esoteric teacher.
+
+I feel that I should be failing in my duty, and false to the solemn
+Pledges I have taken, if I did not now do my utmost to clear H. P. B.'s
+name from these horrible associations, and demonstrate that they have
+nothing whatever to do with her Masters (the Trans-Him�layan
+Brotherhood) or Their Esoteric doctrine.
+
+I therefore PROTEST with all my strength, and _in Their sacred Names_,
+against what is to me a desecration and a blasphemy.
+
+
+    _September, 1922._
+    A. L. C.
+
+
+
+
+_Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad._
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY.
+
+
+For the past fifteen years, despite repeated scandals, exposures, and
+even the damning evidence produced in various court cases, Mrs. Besant
+still persists in her blind and fanatical support of the sex pervert and
+pseudo-occultist C. W. Leadbeater, and the promulgation of his delusive,
+immoral, and poisonous teachings among the members of the Theosophical
+Society she rules, and the public at large, to whom she is known chiefly
+as an able speaker and an astute politician. Goaded by a revival of the
+well-known evidence against Mr. Leadbeater, and a severe criticism of
+her own actions, Mrs. Besant published in her official organ
+(_Theosophist_, March, 1922.) an article entitled "Whom Will Ye Serve?"
+and a long Supplement addressed to the members, reiterating her support
+of Mr. Leadbeater, and making statements in justification of him and
+herself that call imperatively for a dispassionate review of the history
+of this ill-omened partnership, and the strongest possible protest
+against the complete stultification and perversion of H. P. Blavatsky's
+life-work and teaching that it involves.
+
+I have no personal quarrel with Mrs. Besant, whose brilliant
+intellectual gifts we all so much admired in the early days, and who
+accomplished such splendid work for the Cause during H. P. Blavatsky's
+lifetime. I had already been a member of the Society for four years when
+Mrs. Besant joined in 1889; and as we both subsequently became members
+of the Inner Group of H. P. B.'s personal pupils, I feel I am in a
+position to review the facts, and entitled to utter this protest. In
+fact, I can no longer remain silent in the face of so much that is
+abhorrent to every true Theosophist, to every devoted follower of H. P.
+Blavatsky, her Masters, and Their teachings.
+
+In a private letter to Mr. Judge, in or about 1887, H. P. B. writes: "I
+am the mother and creator of the Society; it has my magnetic fluid....
+Therefore I alone and to a degree ... can serve as a lightning conductor
+of Karma for it. I was asked whether I was willing, when on the point of
+dying--and I said 'Yes'--for it was the only means to save it. Therefore
+I consented to live...." Obviously, the only possible conclusion to be
+drawn from this is that, when in 1891 H. P. Blavatsky passed away (or
+rather was "recalled") nine years before the limit of time within which
+the Masters' help could be given,[2] it was because They saw that the T.
+S. had definitely failed, that it could no longer be kept alive.
+
+A long and, in this connection, very important letter was written by H.
+P. Blavatsky in 1890 "To my Brothers in Aryavarta," giving the real
+reason why she did not return to India. Among other significant
+statements which she makes (_Theosophist_, January, 1922.), there is one
+which shows that she must clearly have foreseen the ultimate
+disintegration of the Society, which occurred in 1895. Writing of the
+shameful way in which she was thrown overboard, like a second Jonah, by
+Colonel Olcott and the T. S. Council at Adyar in their cowardly panic
+during the crisis of 1884-85, H. P. B. says: "It was during that time
+... that the seeds of all future strifes, and--let me say at
+once--_disintegration of the Theosophical Society_ [Italics mine.--A. L.
+C.] were planted by our enemies.... In a letter received from Damodar in
+1886 [He had been called by his Master to Tibet the previous year.--A.
+L. C.] he notified me that the Masters' influence was becoming with
+every day weaker at Adyar." Further on in the letter H. P. B. again
+refers to Adyar, and to an invitation to return to India which "came too
+late ... nor can I, if I would be true to my life-pledge and vows, now
+live at the Headquarters _from which the Masters and Their spirit are
+virtually banished. The presence of Their portraits will not help; They
+are a dead letter._" [Italics mine. Yet Mrs. Besant asks us to believe
+that They returned when she was elected President in 1907, and even
+nominated her!--A. L. C.]
+
+In the same letter H. P. B. says that she was pledged never to reveal
+"the whole truth" about the Masters to anyone, "excepting to those who
+like Damodar, had been finally selected and called by Them." She also
+speaks of him as "that one future Adept who has now the prospect of
+becoming one day a Mahatma, Kali Yuga notwithstanding." It is he again
+of whom she spoke four years earlier, when she wrote: "During the eleven
+years of the existence of the Theosophical Society I have known, out of
+the seventy-two regularly accepted _chelas_ on probation and the
+hundreds of lay candidates--only _three_ who have not hitherto failed,
+and _one only_ who had a full success." ("The Theosophical Mahatmas."
+_Path_, December, 1886.) Damodar is the only _chela_ she ever spoke of
+as a "full success" in her lifetime; and it is worthy of special note
+that he was a high caste Brahmin who did not hesitate to give up caste
+and become a Buddhist (so Colonel Olcott states).
+
+In the late spring Mrs. Besant paid a hasty visit to Australia, whither
+her "brother-initiate" had to flee from India some time since, as
+previously from London, Paris, and America. The cause is always the
+same; scandals inevitably arise, and Australia has proved no exception.
+Mr. Leadbeater is a "Bishop" of the "Liberal Catholic Church," an
+anomalous body warmly supported and encouraged within and without the T.
+S. by Mrs. Besant. Other of its bishops have incurred similar odium and
+a "priest" has quite recently confessed in writing and implicated the
+"Presiding Bishop" and others. It has been stated that all these men are
+being watched by the police, who are only waiting to secure enough
+evidence. Matters cannot go on much longer like this; and a pamphlet
+published at New York last February says that "with difficulty a delay
+of a few months has been obtained in a pending arraignment and exposure
+in the Public Press in America." When it comes it will be a far graver
+indictment than that which precipitated the 'Besant _v._ Judge' crisis
+in 1894-95, and rent the T. S. in twain. _Then_ Mrs. Besant accused her
+colleague Mr. Judge of "giving a misleading material form to messages
+received psychically from the Master in various ways ..." (_Enquiry_ at
+London, July, 1894); but _now_ she is deliberately condoning, if not
+actually supporting, something far worse which was investigated and
+found true by a T. S. committee of enquiry in 1906.[3]
+
+For those unfamiliar with the events succeeding H. P. Blavatsky's death
+in 1891, I must add that those of us who supported Mr. Judge against
+Mrs. Besant's charges came under the sway, after his death a year later,
+of an equally masterful, able, and ambitious woman having very similar
+characteristics and methods. This was Mrs. Katherine Tingley, formerly a
+New York professional psychic and trance medium, from whose organisation
+("The Universal Brotherhood") I resigned in 1899. Her activities are now
+mainly confined to a colony in California.
+
+A point to which I think attention has not hitherto been drawn is the
+striking similarity in the fate which befell Mrs. Besant and Mr. Judge
+respectively after the death of H. P. Blavatsky. Being left as the most
+obvious leaders of the European and American Sections respectively
+(neither of them were in England when she died), the E. S. Council
+decided that they should carry on the Esoteric School as joint Outer
+Heads in place of H. P. B., oblivious of the fact that one of them (Mrs.
+Besant) was untrained, and both were unfit to fill such a high occult
+office (see _post_ p. 86). This soon became evident when each in turn
+fell an easy prey to external influences which first separated them, and
+then disrupted the Society and E. S.
+
+Among the old T. S. and E. S. papers now lying before me I find not a
+few which throw a most illuminating light on Mrs. Besant's activities in
+recent years. Before dealing with her latest statements I will quote
+extracts from these papers in support and elucidation of the points I
+wish to make, _viz_:--
+
+     (_a_) That under Mrs. Besant's guidance the T. S. has long
+     ceased to represent H. P. Blavatsky's teaching, or the thought
+     of its Founders.
+
+     (_b_) That it is now completely dominated by the deluded,
+     impure, and poisonous ideas of an acknowledged sex pervert, to
+     whom this unhappy and misguided woman believes and openly
+     declares herself to be bound by indissoluble and age-long ties.
+
+     (_c_) That in adopting and conniving at the promulgation of the
+     teachings of this man, and allowing him virtually to control
+     her Society, Mrs. Besant most impiously gives out that she is
+     acting under the orders of the Trans-Him�layan Masters of
+     Wisdom, and H. P. Blavatsky's directions.
+
+This last point (_c_) is the real gravamen of my Protest. It would be of
+relative unimportance--Mrs. Besant having already wrecked the Society in
+1895--that it had descended to the level of any existing sect, Christian
+or other (as much a close corporation as the Adventists or New
+Jerusalemites), had its two present leaders dropped the _title_, and
+ceased to claim any connection with the "real Founders." But, on the
+contrary, Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater use Their sacred names and
+declare themselves to be under Their direct guidance. Such proceedings
+merit the sternest possible moral condemnation in view of the facts.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[2] " ... there remain but a few years to the last hour of the
+term--namely, till December the 31st, 1899. Those who will not have
+profited by the opportunity (given to the world in every last quarter of
+a century) ... will advance no further than the knowledge already
+acquired. No Master of Wisdom from the East will himself appear or send
+anyone to Europe or America after that period.... Such is the law, for
+we are in _Kali-Yuga_--the Black Age--and the restrictions in this
+cycle, the first 5,000 years of which will expire in 1897, are great and
+almost insuperable." (H. P. Blavatsky in the "Book of Rules, E. S. T."
+1888.)
+
+[3] For later and fuller particulars from Australia, see Addendum.
+
+
+
+
+Mr. William Kingsland on the Crisis of 1906.
+
+
+The first of the old papers I shall quote from is by my old friend and
+fellow-Councillor Mr. William Kingsland, author of _The Esoteric Basis
+of Christianity_ and kindred works. He was one of the leading members in
+the early days under H. P. B. who, when Mrs. Besant on securing the
+Presidency after Colonel Olcott's death in 1907 reinstated Mr.
+Leadbeater, resigned their membership. Mrs. Besant had reviewed a new
+book by Mr. Kingsland, and took the opportunity to refer to his
+resignation. Replying in "An Open Letter to Annie Besant" dated
+December, 1909, he tells her:
+
+     You have dragged in a perfectly irrelevant, uncalled-for and
+     untrue statement which I cannot allow to pass unchallenged...."
+     The words I refer to are these: "We have here a very excellent
+     Theosophical book, with an evasion of all recognition of the
+     source whence the ideas are drawn. When Theosophy becomes
+     fashionable, how those who refuse to walk with her in the days
+     of scorning will crowd to claim her as theirs when she walks in
+     the sunshine amid applause!" Now these words convey the
+     implication, in the first place, that there is a connection
+     between the form in which my book is presented, and recent
+     events in the Theosophical Society which have led me as well as
+     many others, to sever our connection with that Society; and, in
+     the second place, that we now "refuse to walk with her"
+     because, forsooth, she is not now "fashionable," but "in the
+     days of scorning." Neither of these statements is true, and the
+     implication is most unworthy of you.... That, however, is a
+     small matter compared with the implication that I and others
+     have turned our backs on Theosophy for so unworthy a reason.
+
+     Let me ask you to look at the names of the old and tried
+     workers whom you have forced out of the Society by your
+     disastrous policy, and then ask yourself in the Great Presence
+     whether it is true that any of them have deserted Theosophy--or
+     rather the Theosophical Society--because it is less
+     "fashionable" now than it was in the old days when you and I
+     and these others stood side by side and fought the battle for
+     H. P. Blavatsky. Did any of us shirk obloquy then, and do you
+     really think we are less ready to face it now? It is one thing,
+     however, to incur obloquy for the sake of Truth, and quite
+     another thing to be asked to do it _in support of immoral
+     teachings_.... What I want to point out now more particularly,
+     and in the interest of true Theosophy, is, that you are now
+     making the grand mistake--one never made by H. P. Blavatsky--of
+     thinking, writing, and speaking as if Theosophy and the
+     Theosophical Society were one and the same thing, absoutely
+     identical; and that there can be no Theosophy in the world
+     without the Theosophical Society, and no Theosophists outside
+     of it.... You must know that in leaving the Theosophical
+     Society, the great majority of us at all events have not given
+     up Theosophy, even if we may feel compelled to teach it under
+     another name, and though we can no longer work with or through
+     the Theosophical Society, we are none the less carrying on the
+     great work which H. P. Blavatsky initiated.
+
+     But in the old days we did at least think that the Theosophical
+     Society stood for pure Theosophy and pure Morality. _We cannot
+     think or say this any longer._ The "Theosophy" of the
+     Theosophical Society is now a definite creed and dogma based
+     upon authoritative psychic pronouncements, from which those who
+     dare to differ are first of all squeezed out of office by the
+     President, and finally compelled to leave the Society, being
+     denounced in the strongest language as "persecutors" and
+     "haters." I am quite aware that all the time you are preaching
+     freedom of opinion; but that is one of the farcical aspects of
+     the _r�gime_ which you inaugurated.... Whatever you may preach,
+     it is now notorious that your practice has been the exact
+     reverse. You commenced by turning out the Vice-President for
+     daring to hold a different opinion from your own as to the
+     inception of the Society; and you then proceeded so to
+     manipulate matters that several old and tried officials who had
+     been in opposition to your pronouncements and policy, were
+     ousted from their positions as General Secretaries of
+     Sections.... Well, you succeeded in getting your own supporters
+     appointed--and in losing many hundreds of old members.
+
+     Doubtless you will now have complete control and be able to
+     mould the Society to your own will and liking, and train it to
+     "obedience" to your psychic authority and visions. At what
+     expense and sacrifice of principles you have already done this,
+     we all know. But let none imagine that this is the basis on
+     which H. P. Blavatsky founded the Society; or that it will thus
+     fulfil the mission for which it was intended; or that it can
+     thereby become other than _a narrow and exclusive sect_. And if
+     perchance your statement is true that the Theosophical
+     Sciety--which you so mistakenly identify with Theosophy--is now
+     "in the days of scorning," possibly even more than it was in
+     the old days; What and who is it that has made it so?
+
+     Is it not because the President and General Council have set
+     their seal and official condonation to a "theosophy" _which
+     countenances the grossest immorality_, and which can
+     advocate--as a means of "discharging [_sic_] thought-forms"
+     (see Van Hook's pamphlet)--a practice which you yourself once
+     characterised as being "when taught under the name of Divine
+     Wisdom, essentially earthly, sensual, devilish?" Yet it is thus
+     taught and justified--with an appeal to the laws of
+     reincarnation and _karma_--in Van Hook's pamphlet, which you
+     and the General Council have refused to repudiate, and have
+     thereby condoned.
+
+     And now, since you have had your own way, and have cleared the
+     Society of the elements of the so-called "hatred and
+     persecution"; can you not at least refrain from hitting behind
+     our backs? Nothing is sadder for your old friends and comrades
+     than to see you stoop to veiled insinuations, and even direct
+     untruths; missing no opportunity--not even in the review of a
+     book--of striking unjustly and falsely at those who have
+     recently been your opponents, and who have now no direct means
+     of answering you, or of refuting your statements within the
+     Society itself.
+
+I have italicised a few passages which seem to be of special importance
+as showing that, _thirteen years ago_, Mr. Leadbeater's sinister hand
+had already grasped the Society and its infatuated President, and that
+his vile and immoral teachings, supported by her, had driven out some of
+the oldest and most clear-headed and clear-sighted of H. P. Blavatsky's
+friends and pupils; among them Mr. G. R. S. Mead, one of the Leadbeater
+Committee of Inquiry, who also resigned at the time Mrs. Besant became
+President for the same reasons as those stated by Mr. Kingsland. The
+"practice" to which he alludes in his Open Letter is of course now well
+known to be that taught and advocated by Mr. Leadbeater, who claims that
+in so doing he is acting on the advice and under the authority of one of
+the Masters of Wisdom. Could a more terrible infamy be perpetrated!
+
+
+
+
+M. M. Schur� and L�vy on the Crisis of 1913.
+
+
+Let us see, however, what others have to say seven years later on the
+state of the T. S. In 1913 another violent crisis convulsed this
+miserable travesty of a Society that once stood for the highest
+principles and ideals, but which even a Lake Harris might blush now to
+be associated with. As before, it centred round the shocking perverter
+of morals who had obtained complete ascendancy over Mrs. Besant. A book
+entitled _Mrs. Besant and the Present Crisis in the Theosophical
+Society_ was published in 1913 by M. Eug�ne L�vy, "with a Prefatory
+Letter by M. Edouard Schur�," the well-known author of _The Great
+Initiates_ and other mystical works. Writing to M. Charles Blech,
+General Secretary of the French T. S., M. Schur� states that he feels
+"compelled to retire officially from the T. S." and that it is his
+"duty" to give his "reasons straightforwardly." After alluding to the
+date (1907), when M. Blech had offered and he had accepted the honorary
+membership in the Society, M. Schur� goes on to speak of Mrs. Besant, as
+she had then appeared to him, in high terms, expressing the hope that
+"the nobility of her past career" was an augury "that the T. S. would
+continue in the broad way of tolerance, impartiality, _and veracity_
+which forms an essential part of its programme." M. Schur� then
+continues:--
+
+     Unfortunately things turned out otherwise. The primary cause of
+     this deviation lies in the close alliance of Mrs. Besant with
+     Mr. Leadbeater, a learned occultist, but of an unsettled
+     disposition and doubtful morality. After Mr. Leadbeater _had
+     been found guilty_ by an advisory Committee of the T.S. Mrs.
+     Besant publicly announced her reprobation of the educational
+     methods with which he was charged.... By an inconceivable
+     change of front she soon afterwards declared her intention of
+     bringing Mr. Leadbeater into the T.S. again and she
+     succeeded.... The excuses she gave for this recantation were
+     charity and pardon. _The real reason was that the President
+     needed Mr. Leadbeater for her occult investigations_, and that
+     this collaboration appeared to her necessary to her prestige.
+     To those who have followed her words and acts from that time
+     onwards, it is clearly manifest _that Mrs. Besant has fallen
+     under the formidable suggestive power of her dangerous
+     collaborator, and can only see, think and act under his
+     control_. The personality henceforward speaking through her is
+     ... the questionable visionary, the skilful master of
+     suggestion who no longer dares to show himself in London,
+     Paris, or America, but in the obscurity of a summer-house at
+     Adyar governs the T. S. through its President. The ill-omened
+     consequences of this influence were soon to appear before the
+     world through the affair of Alcyone and the founding of the
+     Order of the Star in the East.... If a real Indian initiate, a
+     Brahmin or otherwise, of ripe age, had come to Europe on his
+     own responsibility or in the name of his Masters to teach his
+     doctrines, nothing would have been more natural or
+     interesting.... But it was not in this form that we beheld the
+     new apostle from Adyar. A young Indian, aged thirteen,
+     _initiated by Mr. Leadbeater_ ... is proclaimed and presented
+     to the European public as the future teacher of the new era.
+     Krishnamurti, now called Alcyone, has no other credentials than
+     his master's injunctions and Mrs. Besant's patronage. His
+     thirty-two previous incarnations are related at length, the
+     early ones going back to the Atlantean period. _These
+     narrations_, given as the result of Mr. Leadbeater's and Mrs.
+     Besant's visions, _are for the most part grotesquely puerile_,
+     and could convince no serious occultist. They are ostensibly
+     designed to prove that for twenty or thirty thousand years the
+     principal personages in the T. S. have been preparing for the
+     "Great Work" which is soon to be accomplished. In the course of
+     _their incarnations, which remind one of a newspaper novel_,
+     these personages are decorated with the great names of Greek
+     mythology, and with the most brilliant stars in the firmament.
+     During a meeting at Benares, Krishnamurti presenting
+     certificates to his followers, received honours like a divine
+     being, many persons present falling at his feet. He does not,
+     however, utter a word, but only makes a gesture of benediction,
+     prompted by Mrs. Besant. In reporting this scene Mr. Leadbeater
+     likens it to the descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost.
+
+     For this dumb prophet is founded the Order of the Star in the
+     East, which the whole world is invited to join, and of which he
+     is proclaimed the head ... this passive young prodigy, who has
+     not yet given the world the least proof of having any mission
+     at all [this is as true in 1922 as it was in 1913.--A. L. C.],
+     becomes henceforth the centre and cynosure of the T. S., the
+     symbol and sacred ark of _the orthodox faith at Adyar_. As to
+     the doctrine preached by Mrs. Besant, it rests on a perpetual
+     equivocation. She allows the English public at large, to whom
+     she speaks of the coming Christ, to believe that he is
+     identical with the Christ of the Gospels, whereas to her
+     intimates she states what Mr. Leadbeater teaches, and what he
+     openly proclaims in one of his books, _The Inner Life_--namely,
+     that the Christ of the Gospels never existed, and was an
+     invention of the monks of the second century. Such facts are
+     difficult to characterise. I will simply say that they are
+     saddening for all who, like myself, believed in the future of
+     the T. S., for they can only repel clear-sighted and sincere
+     minds.... In my eyes, one can no longer be an actual member of
+     the T. S. without implicitly approving the deeds and words of
+     the President, which flagrantly contradict the essential
+     principle of the Society--I mean _scrupulous and absolute
+     respect for truth_. For these reasons I regret that I must send
+     you my resignation as a member of the Theosophical Society.
+
+The italics throughout the foregoing quotations are mine, and serve
+again to emphasise essential points; points almost exactly similar to
+those raised by Mr. Kingsland, the most serious being the condonation by
+Mrs. Besant of immoral practices in a colleague whose collaboration, as
+M. Schur� shrewdly adds, has become a necessity to her, and under whose
+"formidable suggestive power" she has now completely fallen. If this was
+true in 1913, what may not be said in 1922, when the intervening nine
+years have given time for the growth and development of this deadly Upas
+Tree? I use the simile advisedly, for this teaching _is_ a "deadly"
+poison, not only from the ordinary moral standpoint, but especially from
+that of the esoteric teaching of H. P. B. and the Trans-Him�layan
+Brotherhood, under whose authority it is falsely and blasphemously given
+out; I do not hesitate to declare it.
+
+M. Schur� also emphasises an important and vital point which Mr.
+Kingsland seems to have felt equally deeply, _viz._--That Mrs. Besant
+has no use for any but those who accept everything she says and does
+with blind subservience, even when, in the eyes of such men as M.
+Schur�, Mr. Mead, Mr. Kingsland, and others, it merits strong
+condemnation as "untrue" and "misleading." In the pages of the recent
+numbers of the _Theosophist_ the talk about "freedom of opinion" within
+the Society is still repeated, although in actual practice, as I have
+shown, the exact opposite obtains. Much that emanates from this tainted
+source is so fantastic and puerile that ridicule ought long since to
+have killed it, as it did Oscar Wilde's �sthetic movement.
+
+
+
+
+Mrs. Besant's "return of the Christ."
+
+
+To return to M. L�vy's book; it deals with "Mrs. Besant's Proceedings"
+under various headings. In the one entitled "Mrs. Besant's Return of the
+Christ" is to be found some of the most amazing balderdash--given out as
+serious teaching!--it has ever been my lot to encounter. For instance, a
+book called _Man: Whence, How, and Whither_, written by Mrs. Besant and
+Mr. Leadbeater in collaboration, is quoted from by M. L�vy at
+considerable length. He explains that "the substitution of a "false
+Christ" for the "Christ of the Gospels" is here supported by "_a new
+order of evidence_" (Italics mine). Specimens of this "evidence" follow,
+and I will here give some of it in order to show the almost unbelievably
+low level of intelligence to which this whole mischievous
+movement--miscalled Theosophical--has descended, and the sort of
+elements in human nature to which such an ill-conceived and fantastic
+production is designed to appeal. M. L�vy writes:--
+
+     In the course of their investigations these two occultists look
+     up on the one side, the past incarnations of him whom Mrs.
+     Besant calls the "Master Jesus," that is, of the "Jesus" born
+     105 B.C.; and on the other side, the past lives of the being
+     whom she calls the "Lord Maitreya, the present Bodhisattva, the
+     Supreme Teacher of the World"; whose ego at a given moment
+     replaced that of "Jesus," this being the last incarnation of
+     the Christ whose immediate return she is announcing.
+
+     Let us first quote from their account of the incarnations of
+     the "Supreme Teacher" ... In the chapter headed "Early Times
+     on the Moon Chain," p. 34, we read:--
+
+     "There is a hut in which dwell a Moon-Man, his wife and
+     children; these we know in later times under the names of Mars
+     and Mercury, the Mahaguru and Surya. A number of these
+     monkey-creatures live round the hut, and give to their owners
+     the devotion of faithful dogs; among them we notice the future
+     Sirius, Herakles, Alcyone, and Mizar, to whom we may give their
+     future names for the purpose of recognition, though they are
+     still non-human."[4]
+
+     In the Fourth Root Race we again find the personage supposed to
+     be "Maitreya" as the husband of the ego claimed by these
+     authors as that of "Master K. H." Mrs. Besant is again
+     incarnated in the family as daughter, the eldest sister of the
+     "Master M."; "Maitreya," the future World-Teacher, being at
+     this time the head of the tribe (p. 113)....
+
+     We have thus reached to somewhere about the year 15,000 B.C.,
+     and then--incredible as it seems--they give no further
+     incarnations of him whom they nevertheless claim to have been
+     the World-Teacher at the beginning of our era.
+
+     They give us his incarnations as husband, as father, as
+     counsellor and priest, and are silent as to the only
+     incarnation of fundamental and vital importance to the whole
+     world.
+
+     Let us see if the incarnations of their "Jesus" will fill this
+     gap in our knowledge, if they will throw light on this
+     essential point, thus left in obscurity.
+
+     We meet this "Jesus" for the first time at the beginning of the
+     Fifth Root Race, as daughter of Alcyone (Krishnamurti) and
+     sister of "Maitreya" (p. 252.)
+
+     Then, on p. 328, as the wife of Julius C�sar 18,878 B.C., he,
+     or rather she, being at this time the widow of Vulcan (Known in
+     his last incarnation as Sir Thomas More)....
+
+     He is later identified as daughter of Alcyone-Krishnamurti (his
+     father) and Fabrizio Ruspoli (his mother),[5] parents at the
+     same time of the future "World-Teacher, Maitreya," their young
+     daughter. These incarnations took place 72,000 B.C., on the
+     shores of the Lake of Gobi, we are told on p. 490.
+
+     In 15,910 B.C., we find "Jesus" as grandson of "Maitreya," and
+     as father and grandfather of a large family composed, as in all
+     cases investigated by these two authors, of _present_ members
+     of the Theosophical Society _only_, and including the faithful
+     friends of Adyar _to the exclusion of all others_.[6]
+
+     " ... In 12,800 B.C. the "Jesus" of these investigations again
+     forms part of a very extensive family composed as usual of the
+     selfsame elements, and including amongst the names known in the
+     theosophic world that of Mme. Marie Louise Kirby (an Italian
+     theosophist recently at Adyar) who was his sister. "Jesus" was
+     then the father of Mrs. S. Maud Sharpe (General Secretary of
+     the English Section), of Julius C�sar, and of T. Subba Rao;
+     the Teshu Lama being at that time his daughter, etc., etc. (p.
+     499)....
+
+     Once more have our hopes been betrayed, for an absolute silence
+     broods over the Incarnations of "Jesus" later than this date of
+     13,500, as it reigned over those of the "World-Teacher"....
+
+     We cannot, however, conceive that this information gathered
+     from occult investigation will be felt to be indispensable by
+     anyone. Now that we know that Mrs. Besant's "World-Teacher" is
+     an ordinary man of the lunar chain (to whom Mrs. Besant was
+     first domestic animal and then sister, and who, in the early
+     period of our earth, was daughter of the young Krishnamurti (or
+     of M. Ruspoli), who could be found still to imagine that there
+     could be here any question, save a mad or impious joke"....
+
+Incredible as it may appear to those who know anything of H. P.
+Blavatsky's teachings, their comprehensive grandeur and sublimity,
+especially as given in _The Secret Doctrine_, this extraordinary mixture
+of clumsy fairy-tale and extravagant and even malicious mumbo-jumbo is
+apparently swallowed whole by the blind and credulous followers of this
+grotesque "Neo-Theosophy." Not so much for them do I write as for those
+who, while interested in these subjects, have neither the inclination
+nor the leisure to examine, for instance, such published Records as
+these from which I quote, for themselves. Such would naturally accept on
+their face value Mrs. Besant's own account of herself and of her
+Society, unaware that she is no longer anything but a "blind leader of
+the blind," incapable of distinguishing light from darkness, truth from
+falsehood. We have direct testimony to the truth of this statement in
+Mr. T. H. Martyn's now famous letter to Mrs. Besant.[7] In it he tells
+her:--"You have been relying upon C. W. L. as _sole intermediary between
+the Hierarchy_ [the Trans-Him�layan Brotherhood, the Masters of Wisdom.
+Italics mine.--A. L. C.] and yourself for many years.... C. W. L.'s word
+is final and his seership infallible to you." The quality of this
+supposed "seership" bears a very close resemblance to a stupid and
+vulgar hoax. This is clearly shown by Mr. Martyn, who says:--"In 1919 I
+went to America. Young Van Hook was in New York. He talked freely of C.
+W. L.'s immorality and about _faking the 'lives' of people_" (Italics
+mine.) Mr. Martyn then puts together various pieces of evidence against
+this man, and tells Mrs. Besant that he finds "staring me in the face
+the conclusions that _Leadbeater is a sex pervert_, his mania taking a
+particular form which I have--though only lately--discovered, is a form
+well known and quite common in _the annals of sex criminology_."
+(Italics mine.) This sex criminal, then, is the creature whom Mrs.
+Besant has accepted "for many years" as "sole intermediary between"
+herself and--_the Masters of Wisdom_!! One almost hesitates to draw the
+obvious inference; for this is the man whom she has for years held up to
+and imposed upon their followers as a model of all the virtues--"a
+saint"--a person "on the threshold of divinity." (See also footnote
+_post_, p. 56.)
+
+Why has it always been necessary for Mrs. Besant to have an
+"intermediary"? Before Mr. Leadbeater it was her Brahmin guide, and
+before him it was Mr. Judge. To each in turn she gave implicit belief in
+the matter of "messages" and directions from the Masters, while
+outwardly claiming "direct" communication. The fact is that, as I have
+come to believe, the plain psychology of the thing is--sheer femininity.
+With all her intellectual talents, her once clear brain, Mrs. Besant is
+(in her personality) just simple _woman_, relying upon male guidance and
+authority as instinctively as any of her humbler sisters. And what
+student of human nature will fail to recognise in her that purely
+feminine trait of blind and fanatical "obedience" which loves to receive
+and obey "orders" even though the result should be "a world in ruins"?
+The existence of this fundamental and essential quality in female human
+nature is the real reason why even the most broad-minded men shrink from
+giving women equality of power with themselves in wordly affairs.
+
+Let me here declare what I believe to be the real truth; namely, that
+after H. P. Blavatsky's death in 1891, neither Mrs. Besant, nor Mr.
+Judge, nor Colonel Olcott, nor anyone else, could "communicate," because
+_H. P. B.'s withdrawal meant the withdrawal of her Masters as well_. It
+has always seemed strange to me that this was never realised by anyone,
+for in this pamphlet I have quoted quite enough from H. P. B. to make it
+perfectly clear. Does she not say in the 1890 letter to the Indians (see
+p. 2) that after she had to leave India in 1885 the Masters' influence
+at Adyar became a dead letter? Did not the Masters Themselves write as
+early as 1884 that they could only communicate through her or in places
+previously prepared magnetically by her presence? How, then, could They
+be expected to continue to communicate or direct the affairs of the T.
+S. (as They did in India until 1885), or the E. S. (as They did from
+1888 to 1891), after They had withdrawn the Agent They had so carefully
+prepared and subjected to the severest trials and initiations in Tibet?
+Barely three years after this withdrawal the fatal "Split" took place
+owing to Mr. Judge giving out what purported to be "direct"
+communications, but which, as I discovered after working for a time
+under his inspirer and successor, Mrs. Tingley, _were obtained from
+her_. Mrs. Besant, in accusing him, did precisely the same, for she
+stated in her _Case against W. Q. Judge_ that she had received her
+orders direct from the Master, whereas (as I relate elsewhere, _post_,
+p. 56) she admitted to the Inner Group that they came "through" her
+Brahmin guide.
+
+This, then, was the great and fundamental error committed by the leaders
+of the movement, after H. P. B. was withdrawn. It is responsible for all
+the subsequent troubles, and the appalling situation with which we are
+faced to-day. A great and world-wide organisation is being used to
+promulgate blasphemous, poisonous and absolutely anti-Theosophical and
+anti-Occult doctrines as emanating direct from the Masters who
+definitely withdrew Their chosen Agent in 1891. (See _ante_ p. 2.)
+
+In any case, even had she lived, H. P. B. told the E. S. that the "last
+hour of the term" was December 31st, 1899, after which "no Master of
+Wisdom from the East will himself appear or send anyone to Europe or
+America." (See footnote, _ante_ p. 2.) She also said that the next
+Messenger would be sent out in 1975. Yet the fiction that the Masters
+are still directing the leaders and the movement is kept up, not only by
+Mrs. Besant, but also by Mrs. Tingley, 22 years after "the last hour of
+the term."
+
+It is the same with all this wild talk about the imminent advent of a
+"World-Teacher." Is this in the least probable, in view of the above
+pronouncements? H. P. B. definitely states in _The Secret Doctrine_ the
+exact opposite; but all the Neo-Theosophists seem to prefer the Besant
+and Leadbeater books. H. P. B. says, with reference to this very
+Maitreya whose name they so lightly take in vain, that He is not due
+until the Seventh Sub-Race, _i.e._, several thousand years hence; and
+that, in any case, "it is not in the _Kali Yug_, our present
+terrifically materialistic age of Darkness, the 'Black Age,' that a new
+Saviour of Humanity can ever appear." (S. D. Third Ed., Vol. I, p. 510
+_et seq._ See also _Theosophical Glossary_, "Kalki Avatar" and "Maitreya
+Buddha.") If we accept H. P. B.'s authority there is no evading this
+issue, and we must reject the Besant-Leadbeater pretensions _in toto_,
+for their absurdity is patent. Yet they claim to have been specially
+taught and prepared by her to carry on her message! (_Vide_ Mrs. Besant
+in the _Theosophist_, March, 1922; and also _post_ p. 68.)
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[4] In these incarnations such names are used as; Mars for the "Master
+M."; Mercury for the "Master K. H."; Surya, the Lord Maitreya, the
+present Bodhisattva, the Supreme Teacher of the World"; Sirius for Mr.
+Leadbeater; Herakles for Mrs. Besant; Alcyone for Krishnamurti; Mizar
+for his young brother, etc. A list of these names and those to whom they
+apply is given in the Foreword of the book. [Italics mine. Here we see
+the bald and unabashed appeal to the personality and its ambitions and
+desires which is characteristic of this kind of charlatanism.--A. L. C.]
+We shall here substitute the names of the real persons as given in this
+list for the fancy names used to distinguish them in the body of the
+book, _Man: Whence, How and Whither_.
+
+[5] M. Ruspoli is an Italian theosophist recently living at Adyar, with
+whom Mr. Leadbeater stayed in Italy.
+
+[6] It is a remarkable fact that outside this little circle not a single
+being in our great world has ever entered into these family communities
+to whom the honour is given of being the pioneers of every civilisation
+of the past. Even though we are invited to assist at marriages running
+into thousands, _ever_ the same names appear and _all_ the members of
+_all_ the families are identified. This singular oligarchy of friends
+and devotees of Adyar perhaps merited to be signalised throughout the
+evolution of our earth, the more so that Mr. Leadbeater, writing in his
+bird's-eye view of the twentieth century and of the pioneers of the
+future sixth race, remarks maliciously: "We know who will _not_ be
+there." He puts in italics the word _not_; desirous doubtless to
+indicate the unworthiness of other theosophists.
+
+[7] Mr. Martyn is the President of the Sydney Lodge, Australian Section
+T. S., a member of thirty years' standing. See Addendum.
+
+
+
+
+Fundamental causes: Some Occult Methods.
+
+
+Under this heading M. L�vy deals with what he calls "the pitiful climax
+of this parody":--
+
+     What a contrast to the great traditions of the Theosophical
+     movement, formulated by H. P. Blavatsky in _The Key to
+     Theosophy_ (Third Edition, p. 191);--"As for our best
+     Theosophists, they would also far rather that the names of the
+     Masters had not been mixed up with our books in any way." And
+     later, on p. 192;--"I say again, every earnest Theosophist
+     regrets to-day, from the bottom of his heart, that these sacred
+     names and things have ever been mentioned before the public."
+     And this would be the moment to say with Mme.
+     Blavatsky;--"Great are the desecrations to which the names of
+     two of the Masters have been subjected." ... But when all is
+     said and done, what _is_ this occultism which produces _such
+     disregard of truth, such calumny in daily life, such diastrous
+     confusion in the domain of clairvoyance_, and finally, _advice
+     of such a kind as to arouse universal disgust_? [Italics
+     mine.--A. L. C.]
+
+     This occultism has its methods, as all schools of occultism
+     have; for occultism consists in a methodical training and the
+     awakening of consciousness to superior worlds; and where a
+     method produces such results, may we not regard it as
+     legitimate to ask what is the source of such serious and such
+     numerous aberrations?... On this question, as on all those that
+     we have examined, we will cite as witnesses original documents,
+     the appraisements of those who teach their own methods. It is
+     well known that Mr. Leadbeater is the inventor and manipulator
+     of the Adyar occultism. In the _Inner Life_ (Vol. I, p. 450),
+     in speaking of the centres, the awakening of which, as we
+     know, developes clairvoyance, he expresses himself in these
+     terms;--"I have heard it suggested that each of the different
+     petals of these force-centres represents a moral quality, ... I
+     have not yet met with any facts which confirm this ... _their
+     development seems to me to have no more connection with
+     morality than has the development of the biceps_." [Italics
+     mine. A little later I shall quote some very definite
+     pronouncements of H. P. Blavatsky's which teach the exact
+     opposite.--A. L. C.]
+
+     Further, it is of interest to find Mrs. Besant and Mr.
+     Leadbeater, in the first lines of the Preface to _Man; Whence
+     How, and Whither_, expressing the same view as regards the
+     connection between morality and clairvoyance--"It is not
+     generally accepted, nor indeed is it accepted to any large
+     extent ... [clairvoyance] is a power latent in all men ... it
+     can be developed by any one who is able and willing to pay the
+     price demanded for its forcing, ahead of the general
+     evolution."
+
+     Mrs. Besant is no less positive. A price is demanded for the
+     "forcing" of clairvoyance, but this price is neither "high
+     spirituality" nor "lofty intelligence," nor even "purity of
+     character" ... she fully shares the views of Mr. Leadbeater....
+
+     Thus the calumny, sectarianism, the disregard of truth in daily
+     life, the increasingly serious aberrations in the spiritual
+     life, have gradually revealed the main source of all these
+     facts, _i. e._, the defect of the method.
+
+     All becomes clear. Mr. Leadbeater is probably right, and it may
+     be possible to develop, as he claims, a certain clairvoyance
+     (an inferior clairvoyance, it must be said) without the
+     concurrence of a moral and mental training.... But who will
+     maintain that without moral purification we shall possess that
+     moral sense that inspires gracious and noble conduct, and
+     teaches us to hate falsehood?... be able to distinguish
+     illusions from reality in our astral visions?
+
+     Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater are most certainly not ignorant
+     of the dangers of occult development without morality. But it
+     is quite another matter to profess this theory, or even to lean
+     towards morality in the course of occult development, _by means
+     of ... generous aspirations perpetually evoked in eloquent
+     language_, from setting to work on the development of these
+     centres by means of exercises arranged with the express purpose
+     of bringing in the _practice_ of morality, of truth, and of
+     logic as powerful factors in the reorganisation of the subtle
+     bodies--which produces clairvoyance.... That method which
+     dissociates moral and intellectual aspiration from occult
+     development, and seeks to cultivate them separately, will not
+     achieve moral progress since _the inner nature is not
+     transmuted_; but this method will produce a very debauch of
+     phrases invoking these aspirations. For, instead of penetrating
+     by means of the appropriate practice into the inner regions of
+     the soul, these aspirations swirl, so to say, perpetually on
+     the surface of the mind. Their presence there will produce a
+     kind of psychic intoxication, sometimes rousing in the
+     occultist thoughts so much above his own mental and moral
+     standard, that he may come to regard himself as a saint, while
+     at the same time performing the most despicable actions.
+     Indeed, during such times the conduct shows a moral
+     retrogression very noticeable when compared with the conduct
+     before this occult development For this latter _increases and
+     intensifies all the temptations_, as every occultist will
+     admit. An increase of active morality is therefore, required if
+     we would avoid this most dangerous lack of balance....
+
+     We find constantly in Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater, under a
+     great show of high moral aspirations, the reality of an actual
+     moral and intellectual fall. Much emphasis is placed on
+     "liberty of thought" [see p. 14 A. L. C.], and at the same time
+     the intellectual desertion of this principle is preached in
+     counselling members to give blind obedience to "the least hint
+     which falls from the lips of Mrs. Besant," and to follow her
+     implicitly whether she is understood or not....
+
+     We see clearly that the fruits are precisely those we should
+     expect from the seed; the terrible danger of this method can
+     neither be misunderstood nor denied ... [we must] never lend
+     ear to the words which in this school quite naturally take the
+     place of the honest and right act, and so turn attention from
+     the moral ugliness of the actions performed.... _Acts alone
+     show forth morality, not attractive formulas flowing from
+     literary or oratorical talent._ The constant declaration of
+     liberty of thought, of human brotherhood, cannot impress us
+     when the actions of those who delight in them enslave thought,
+     persecute merit, seek to poison souls by flimsy and deceptive
+     spiritual pronouncements....
+
+     It is a painful duty to have to press this point with such
+     insistence. But now that we are facing the consequences of the
+     Leadbeater method on the mental character of the clairvoyant,
+     our warnings in reference to still more serious harm will not
+     appear exaggerated.
+
+     We know that the higher regions of the invisible worlds are
+     those in which "consciousness" manifests itself principally in
+     the most intense awareness of moral beauty.
+
+     Since this is so, the cultivation of the non-moral clairvoyance
+     could only attain results in the lower regions of the astral
+     world ... the organ of clairvoyant sight, when developed
+     according to certain methods, will be blind to the moral
+     outline of subtle worlds, _and will thus be cut off from all
+     their truly spiritual content. The field of their experiences
+     will be limited to the lower regions of the astral plane._
+
+     And it is these lower visions, more frequently experienced
+     because of _their affinity to elements in the vehicles of the
+     investigator not yet purified, that will be presented as the
+     most sublime images of the higher worlds_. For such a
+     clairvoyant is deprived of the high morality which is the force
+     leading our "bodies" by affinity towards truly spiritual Beings
+     [_e.g._, the Masters in Their Mahatmic "bodies".--A. L. C.]
+     Deprived of the standard of comparison that these provide, _he
+     will be the_ _victim of all the illusions of a world that is
+     the veritable motherland of illusions, for human errors are but
+     the faint reflection of these_. Since the sense of
+     responsibility, which is essentially moral in origin [H. P.
+     Blavatsky says; "_The sense of Responsibility is the beginning
+     of Wisdom._" A. L. C.] will equally fail him, _he will have no
+     scruple in sharing his illusions with all in making known his
+     misleading experiences_--the less since the forces, whose sport
+     he is, push him irresistibly to this. Are they not in truth the
+     adversaries of the divine scheme of evolution, _the servants
+     and sowers of error and immorality the world over_?
+
+In these clear and logical arguments M. L�vy expresses, even in a
+translation, so much better than I could have done, the dangers of the
+way leading to the path of "error" which Mrs. Besant is now treading,
+that I have quoted at greater length than I originally intended.
+Although written nine years ago, they are more than ever true to-day. M.
+L�vy then continues:--
+
+     We have thus sketched in their broad hypothetical outlines _the
+     incalculable reactions that the defect in the Leadbeater method
+     brings into the inner life, into the words and actions of those
+     who yield their souls to him_.
+
+     In demonstrating the fatal effects of this method we have shown
+     the real meaning of the faults and failings of all kinds as
+     exhibited by Mrs. Besant, who is its most fervent adherent. The
+     right interpretation of the known facts seems to us so entirely
+     in conformity with the consequences, as implied in our
+     hypothesis, as to make it possible to some extent to foresee
+     these facts with scientific certainty--which is precisely what
+     has happened....
+
+     We recall the "Leadbeater Case," which in 1906 [this was the
+     Committee of Inquiry in London, above referred to.--A. L. C]
+     called forth within the Theosophical Society, no less than
+     outside, unanimous moral censure.... Resigning from the
+     Theosophical Society in consequence of this affair, Mr.
+     Leadbeater has since returned, at the invitation of Mrs.
+     Besant.... Have the principles and methods of Mr. Leadbeater
+     changed since he has returned to his place amongst us? He
+     himself informs us on this point in a letter written after the
+     "affair," at the express desire of Mrs. Besant that he should
+     "define his position" at the time she started the well-known
+     campaign in favour of his re-admission (_Theosophist_, February
+     1908.)
+
+     "You ask me," says Mr. Leadbeater, "to write you a clear letter
+     that you may show at need, expressing my real views on the
+     advice I gave some time ago to certain young boys. I need
+     hardly say that I keep my promise not to repeat the advice, for
+     I defer to your opinion that it is dangerous. I also recognise,
+     as fully as yourself, that it would be if it were promiscuously
+     given, but I have never thought of so giving it."
+
+     In this declaration Mr. Leadbeater first recognises the danger
+     of his advice, then immediately retracts this confession by
+     reservations which imply its harmlessness in just those cases
+     for which he is blamed. He has not, as we see from this letter,
+     then, changed his views; but the important fact is that he only
+     speaks of "danger," and never of "immorality." _His moral
+     standpoint remains, then, unaltered--is precisely the same as
+     before the expos�._
+
+     And what is this point of view? Mrs. Besant thus gives it in a
+     letter dated July, 1906 (_Theosophic Voice_, May, 1908):--
+
+     "Mr. Leadbeater appeared before the Council of the British
+     Section, representatives from the French and the American
+     Sections being present and voting. Colonel Olcott in the chair.
+     _He denied none of the charges_, but in answer to questions,
+     very much strengthened them, for he alleged.... _So that the
+     advice ... became advice putting foul ideas into the minds of
+     boys innocent of all sex impulses.... It was conceivable that
+     the advice, as supposed to have been given, had been given with
+     pure intent, and the presumption was so in a teacher of
+     theosophical morality; anything else seemed incredible. But
+     such advice as was given in fact, such dealing with boys_
+     _before sex passion had awakened, could only be given with pure
+     intent if the giver were, on this point, insane._" [Italics
+     mine. The details omitted cannot be put in print.--A. L. C.]
+
+     "Let me here place on record my opinion that such teaching as
+     this, given to men, let alone to innocent boys, is worthy of
+     the sternest reprobation. It distorts and perverts the sex
+     impulse ... degrades the ideas of marriage, fatherhood and
+     motherhood ... befouls the imagination, pollutes the emotions,
+     and undermines the health. Worst of all that it should be
+     taught under the name of Divine Wisdom, being essentially
+     'earthly', 'sensual', 'devilish.'"
+
+Mrs. Besant's last sentence contains the whole _raison d'�tre_ of this
+my Protest. She has expressed precisely the views I hold; but in this
+fervid condemnation she herself must now be included, since she condones
+and thus supports this horror. M. L�vy graphically portrays for us on
+what road it is that this once apparently sane and normal woman, with
+all her great gifts, is descending--a road that, as H. P. Blavatsky puts
+it in the concluding paragraph of _Occultism_ versus _the Occult Arts_,
+"can lead only to Dugpa-ship." (see _post_ p. 33.) He continues:--
+
+     Mrs. Besant then deemed Mr. Leadbeater's morality so defective
+     as to be accounted for only by mental derangement.
+     Nevertheless, the promise contained in the letter just quoted
+     and which expresses no shadow of moral repentance whatsoever,
+     nor anything approaching it, was sufficient, in Mrs. Besant's
+     eyes, to justify her in bringing back into the Theosophical
+     Society a teacher she has judged thus. Could one ask a clearer
+     proof of the anarchy produced by such occultism?
+
+     A recent suit, instituted by the parent of the young
+     Krishnamurti, re-claiming the custody of his child, brings
+     forward again this question of morality ... reminding us of the
+     expos�. In fact, the present case clearly formulates the
+     accusation of immoral conduct testified to by witnesses ... In
+     such a discussion, this attempt [by Mrs. Besant] to play upon
+     the political interests of the judges is unexpected,
+     amazing,--and, alas! significant. We see clearly that a mind
+     that shows itself capable of throwing into the balance
+     political (and racial) appeals in a matter of conduct, is
+     utterly blind to the question of human consideration [a Brahmin
+     father re-claiming his young sons] that overshadows this whole
+     case.
+
+     Clear and unmistakable through all these actions shows the
+     consistent distortion of the moral outlook, more serious since
+     the esoteric ethics should be an extension, a purification, an
+     exaltation of exoteric morality, and in no circumstances its
+     decline, its degradation, its negation. And if we would realise
+     to what extent this moral outlook can be warped under certain
+     influences, we need but to hear Mrs. Besant say of Mr.
+     Leadbeater:--"By hard, patient work he has won rewards ...
+     until he stands perhaps the most trusted of his Master's
+     disciples on the threshold of Divinity." (_Theosophist_,
+     November, 1911, p. 308.)
+
+     This conception of the "Divinity" that should be the the final
+     expression of morality has no need of comment other than that
+     same "deification" by his colleague--who five years earlier
+     regarded his teaching as so utterly immoral as to suggest
+     mental derangement as the only explanation.... Perhaps we shall
+     understand these things a little better if we remember that
+     this occultist, if he contradicts the Buddha, on the other hand
+     almost deifies Mrs. Besant. Possibly taking into consideration
+     this exchange of admiration, the meaning of the "deifications"
+     will become sufficiently clear.
+
+
+
+
+H. P. Blavatsky on true Occultism.
+
+
+Before giving some fine passages from M. L�vy's concluding chapters I
+will quote from H. P. Blavatsky's _Practical Occultism: Occultism_
+versus _the Occult Arts_, mentioned a few pages back. In its original
+form it is a booklet containing a reprint of two articles which she
+wrote for _Lucifer_ in 1888, shortly before she founded the Esoteric
+Section. These extracts will show the "true" teaching in this matter of
+Occultism, as contrasted with the "false," or Mrs. Besant's and Mr.
+Leadbeater's. H. P. B. begins by declaring that: "There are not in the
+West half-a-dozen among the fervent hundreds who call themselves
+'Occultists' who have even an approximately correct idea of the nature
+of the Science they seek to master. With a few exceptions, they are all
+on the highway to sorcery.... Let them first learn the true relation in
+which the Occult Sciences stand to Occultism.... [It] differs from Magic
+and other secret sciences as the glorious sun does from a rush-light, as
+the immutable and immortal Spirit of Man--the reflection of the
+absolute, causeless and unknowable ALL--differs from the mortal
+clay--the human body.... [The word] OCCULTISM is certainly misleading,
+translated as it stands from the compound word _Gupta-Vidya_ (Secret.
+Knowledge.) But the knowledge of what? Some of the Sanskrit terms may
+help us.
+
+"There are four (out of the many other) names of the various kinds of
+Esoteric Knowledge or Sciences given, even in the exoteric Pur�nas.
+There is (1) _Yajna-Vidya_, knowledge of the occult powers awakened in
+Nature by the performance of certain religious ceremonies and rites. (2)
+_Mahavidya_, the 'great knowledge,' the magic of the Kabalists and of
+the _Tantrika_ worship, often Sorcery of the worst description. (3)
+_Guhya-Vidya_, knowledge of the mystic powers residing in Sound (Ether),
+hence in the Mantras (chanted prayers or incantations), and depending on
+the rhythm and melody used; in other words, a magical performance based
+on knowledge of the Forces of Nature and their correlation; and (4)
+_Atma-Vidya_, a term which is translated simply 'Knowledge of the Soul,'
+_true Wisdom_ by the Orientalists, but which means far more.
+
+"This last is the only kind of Occultism that any Theosophist who
+admires 'Light on the Path,' and who would be wise and unselfish, ought
+to strive after. All the rest is some branch of the 'Occult Sciences,'
+_i.e._, arts based on the knowledge of the ultimate essence of all
+things in the kingdoms of Nature--such as minerals, plants and
+animals--hence of things pertaining to the realm of _material_ nature,
+however invisible that essence may be, and howsoever much it has
+hitherto eluded the grasp of Science.... _Siddhis_ (or the Arhat powers)
+are only for those who are able to 'lead the life,' and to comply with
+the terrible sacrifices required for such a training, and to comply with
+them _to the very letter_. Let them know at once and remember always,
+that true Occultism or Theosophy is the 'Great Renunciation of SELF,'
+unconditionally and absolutely, in thought as in action. It is ALTRUISM,
+and it throws him who practises it out of the ranks of the living
+altogether. 'Not for himself, but for the world he lives,' as soon as he
+has pledged himself to the work. Much is forgiven during the first years
+of probation. But, no sooner is he 'accepted' than his personality must
+disappear, and he has to become a _mere beneficent force in Nature_.
+There are two poles for him after that, two paths, and no midway place
+of rest. He has either to ascend laboriously step by step, often through
+numerous incarnations and _no Devachanic break_, the golden ladder
+leading to Mahatmaship (the _Arhat_ or _Bodhisattva_ condition), or--he
+will let himself slide down the ladder at the first false step, and roll
+down into _Dugpa-ship_....[8]
+
+"All this is either unknown or left out of sight altogether. Indeed, one
+who is able to follow the silent evolution of the preliminary
+aspirations of the candidates often find strange ideas quietly taking
+possession of their minds. There are those whose reasoning powers have
+been so distorted by foreign influences that they imagine that animal
+passions can be so sublimated and elevated that their fury, force and
+fire can, so to speak, be turned inwards ... _until their collective and
+unexpanded strength enables their possessor to enter the true Sanctuary
+of the Soul_, and stand therein in the presence of the _Master_--the
+HIGHER SELF.... Oh, poor blind visionaries!... Strange aberration of the
+human mind. Can it be so? Let us argue.
+
+"The 'Master' in the Sanctuary of our souls is 'the Higher Self'--the
+divine spirit whose consciousness is based upon and derived solely (at
+any rate during the mortal life of the man in whom it is captive) from
+the mind, which we have agreed to call the _Human Soul_ (the 'Spiritual
+Soul' being the vehicle of the Spirit.) In its turn the former (the
+_personal_ or human soul) is a compound, in its highest form of
+spiritual aspirations, volitions and divine love; and in its lower
+aspect, of animal desires and terrestrial passions imparted to it by its
+association with its vehicle, the seat of all these ... the _inner
+animal_. [It] is the instinctual 'animal soul,' and is the hotbed of
+those passions which ... are lulled instead of being killed, ... And
+where, on what neutral ground, can they be imprisoned so as not to
+affect man?
+
+"The fierce passions of love and lust are still alive, and they are
+allowed to still remain in the place of their birth--_that same animal
+soul_.... It is thus the mind alone--the sole link and medium between
+the man of earth and the Higher Self--that is the only sufferer, and
+which is in incessant danger of being dragged down by those passions,
+that may be re-awakened at any moment and perish in the abyss of
+matter.... How can harmony prevail and conquer, when the soul is stained
+and distracted with the turmoil of passions and the terrestrial desires
+of the bodily senses, or even of the 'Astral man'?
+
+"For this 'Astral'--the shadowy 'double' (in the animal as in man) is
+not the companion of the _divine Ego_ but of the _earthly body_. It is
+the link between the personal self, the lower consciousness of _Manas_,
+and the Body, and is the vehicle of _transitory, not of immortal
+life_.... It is only when the power of the passions is dead altogether,
+and when they have been crushed and annihilated in the retort of an
+unflinching will; when not only all the lusts and longings of the flesh
+are dead, but also the recognition of the personal Self is killed out
+and the 'Astral' has been reduced in consequence to a cipher, that the
+Union with the 'Higher Self' can take place. Then when the 'Astral'
+reflects only the conquered man, the still living but no more the
+longing, selfish personality, then the brilliant _Auoeides_, the
+divine SELF, can vibrate in conscious harmony with both the poles of the
+human Entity--the man of matter purified, and the ever pure Spiritual
+Soul--and stand in the presence of the MASTER SELF, the Christos of the
+mystic Gnostic, blended, merged into, and one with IT for ever.[9]
+
+"How, then, can it be thought possible for a man to enter the 'strait
+gate' of occultism when his daily and hourly thoughts are bound up with
+worldly things, desires of possession and power, with lust, ambition,
+and duties which, however honourable, are still of the earth, earthy?
+Even the love for wife and family--the purest as the most unselfish of
+human affections--is a barrier to _real_ occultism.... While the heart
+is full of thoughts for a little group of _selves_, near and dear to us,
+how shall the rest of mankind fare in our souls? What percentage of love
+and care will there remain to bestow on the 'great orphan' [Humanity]?
+And how shall the 'still small voice' make itself heard in a soul
+entirely occupied with its own privileged tenants?... yet, he who would
+profit by the wisdom of the universal mind, has to reach it through _the
+whole of Humanity_, without distinction of race, complexion, religion,
+or social status. It is _altruism,_ not _ego_-ism even in its most legal
+and noble conception, that can lead the unit to merge its little Self in
+the Universal Selves. It is to _these_ needs and to this work that the
+true disciple of true Occultism has to devote himself if he would obtain
+_theo_-sophy, divine Wisdom and Knowledge.
+
+"The aspirant has to choose absolutely between the life of the world and
+the life of Occultism.... It would be a ceaseless, a maddening struggle
+for almost any married man, who would pursue _true_ practical Occultism,
+instead of its _theoretical_ philosophy. For he would find himself ever
+hesitating between the voice of the impersonal divine love of Humanity,
+and that of the personal, terrestrial love.... Worse than this. For,
+_whoever indulges, after having pledged himself to_ OCCULTISM, _in the
+gratification of a terrestrial love or lust_, must feel an almost
+immediate result--that of being irresistibly dragged from the impersonal
+divine state down to the lower plane of matter. Sensual, or even mental,
+self-gratification involves the immediate loss of the powers of
+spiritual discernment; the voice of the MASTER can no longer be
+distinguished from that of one's passions, or _even that of a Dugpa_;
+the right from wrong; sound morality from mere casuistry. The Dead Sea
+fruit assumes the most glorious mystic appearance ... although it is the
+intention that decides primarily whether _white_ or _black_ magic is
+exercised, yet the results even of involuntary sorcery cannot fail to be
+productive of bad Karma.... _Sorcery is any kind of evil influence
+exercised upon other persons, who suffer, or make other_ persons to
+suffer, in consequence ... such causes produced have to call forth
+effects, and these are evidenced in the just laws of Retribution.
+
+"Much of this may be avoided if people will only abstain from rushing
+into practices neither the nature nor importance of which they
+understand.... We are in the Kali-Yuga and its fatal influence is a
+thousand-fold more powerful in the West than it is in the East; _hence
+the easy preys made by the Powers of the Age of Darkness in this cyclic
+struggle, and the many delusions under which the world is now
+labouring_." (Italics mine--A. L. C.)
+
+Applying this high and absolutely uncompromising moral standard, these
+grand and stern words, to the two pseudo-occultists under discussion, it
+is not difficult--even in the light of the little I have already
+given--to see that they themselves, and their actions, bear _no sort of
+relation_ to real "Occultism" as here briefly outlined by H. P.
+Blavatsky. Their teaching concerning sex is indeed its antithesis, which
+inevitably leads to Dugpa-ship, as H. P. B. definitely states. The issue
+is clear, and cannot be evaded or explained away.
+
+It is true that Mrs. Besant started well, even splendidly, in H. P. B.'s
+lifetime, and just after her death wrote a series of simple explanatory
+manuals which were of great value to beginners and enquirers. But only
+two years later she began, under Brahmin[10] inspiration, to make
+serious alterations in H. P. B.'s own works, and even to throw doubt on
+her occult knowledge (_e.g._, Mrs. Besant's Preface to the so-called
+Vol. III of _The Secret Doctrine_.) Unfortunately larger and more
+ambitious works which followed were vitiated by the same influences, and
+I well remember marking many passages in _The Ancient Wisdom_ which were
+not in accordance with H. P. B.'s teachings. But the radical departure
+from them began when Mrs. Besant definitely threw in her lot with C. W.
+Leadbeater, the sex pervert, and thereby alienated and caused such deep
+sorrow to her former friends and supporters.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[8] DUGPAS. (_Tibetan_). Lit., "Red Caps," a sect in Tibet. Before the
+advent of Tsong-ka-pa in the fourteenth century, the Tibetans, whose
+Buddhism had deteriorated and been dreadfully adulterated with the
+tenets of the old _Bhon_ religion--were all Dugpas. From that century,
+however, and after the rigid laws imposed upon the _Gelukpas_ (Yellow
+Caps) and the general reform and purification of Buddhism (or Lamaism),
+the Dugpas have given themselves over more than ever to sorcery,
+immorality, and drunkenness. Since then the word _Dugpa_ has become a
+synonym of "sorcerer", "adept of black magic" and everything vile. There
+are few, if any, Dugpas in Eastern Tibet, but they congregate in Bhutan,
+Sikkim, and the borderlands generally.--_The Theosophical Glossary_, by
+H. P. Blavatsky.
+
+[9] Man is a trinity composed of Body, Soul, and Spirit; but _man_ is
+nevertheless _one_, _and_ is surely not his body. The three 'Egos' are
+MAN in his three aspects on the astral, intellectual or psychic, and
+Spiritual planes, or states.
+
+[10] In making use of the word "Brahmin" in this connection, I mean only
+to indicate that "sacerdotal" spirit of the Brahmin caste which has
+always resisted (and quite reasonably, _from their point of view_) any
+revealing of esoteric teaching to the multitude, and especially to the
+West. The particular Brahmin whom Mrs. Besant followed at that period
+(see _post_ p. 56 Footnote) induced her to adopt a line of action which
+disrupted the Society created by H. P. B., and diverted attention from
+her works.
+
+
+
+
+Mrs. Besant's responsibility and the Madras Law-suits.
+
+
+M. L�vy's concluding chapter, from which I will now quote, is obviously
+written from the heart. He says that it is his "imperative duty" to
+resign his membership in Mrs. Besant's Society, referring to the pain
+caused to her old friends by the opinion expressed by the police court
+magistrate in the defamation cases ... for he considered that the facts
+before him, and the documentary evidence, supported the view that Mrs.
+Besant had known of and even countenanced the practices of Mr.
+Leadbeater....
+
+     "In restoring to Mr. Leadbeater his influence over herself and
+     over the destinies of the Theosophical Society [she] has proved
+     her failure in moral vigilance and her lack of intellectual
+     discrimination as regards methods to which she thus fails the
+     first victim. And the sorry contradictions that this brings
+     into her spiritual message, the utter disregard of truth
+     resulting from this, impel her to words and actions that now
+     involve an incalculable number of victims, misled by their
+     devoted trust in her. Her responsibility is in truth a very
+     terrible one.... I have come to regard the actions of Mrs.
+     Besant--and of Mr. Leadbeater equally, of course--as the
+     _leaven of destruction, of disintegration in the Theosophical
+     Society_.
+
+     We cannot rid ourselves of a growing disquiet in seeing Mrs.
+     Besant, in her monthly articles in the _Theosophist_, entitled
+     "On the Watch-Tower," so tirelessly expressing such great and
+     manifest satisfaction in every smallest material increase,
+     improvement and enrichment of the Adyar Headquarters.
+
+     Mr. Leadbeater shares in this joy. Speaking of Mrs. Besant in
+     the _Adyar Album_, p. 7, he praises at great length the
+     material improvements of the Headquarters:--"In her reign have
+     been added to the estate no less than six valuable pieces of
+     property." Thus temporal power would clearly seem to be the
+     main concern of Adyar. And we involuntarily turn to the words
+     of Christ, who so well described the spiritual splendours:--"My
+     kingdom is not of this world." _Not thus does Mrs. Besant
+     understand spirituality_ since she "reigns" as a prince of this
+     world, over a kingdom that grows by her conquests.... A like
+     concern follows Mr. Leadbeater even into his occult
+     investigations into the twenty-eighth century, in which he sees
+     "a kind of gorgeous palace with an enormous dome, the central
+     part of which must be an imitation of the Taj Mahal at Agra,
+     but on a much larger scale. In this great building they mark as
+     memorials certain spots by pillars and inscriptions, such as
+     ... here such and such a book was written ... they even have
+     statues of _some of us_ [_sic!!_] ...--_Man; Whence, How, and
+     Whither._
+
+Truly may one here repeat the somewhat banal phrase "Comment is
+needless"; indeed one might add, "impossible," in the face of such an
+amazing manifestation of megalomania. But this is not the most serious
+disease from which C. W. Leadbeater and his colleague are suffering. As
+M. L�vy has already shown, there is much worse behind of which this
+megalomania is only one symptom. In an "Addendum" given at, the end of
+his book, M. L�vy says that since the publication of his brochure
+judgment has been pronounced on the case he mentions (see p. 29), the
+judge ruling that the children should be removed from the care of Mrs.
+Besant and given back to the father within a fixed time." He then
+continues:--
+
+     Further legal proceedings have confirmed, with yet more
+     precision, the infamous immorality of which Mr. Leadbeater
+     stands accused. (see report in _The Hindu_, Madras, May 9th,
+     1913.) A Madras medical review called _The Antiseptic_ had
+     pubished an article in which apprehension of the establishment
+     of a 'Temple of Onanism" ["unnatural sin." See Dr. Hartmann's
+     _Paracelsus_, p. 90] at Adyar was expressed. _The Hindu_
+     newspaper reprinted the scandal. Mrs. Besant took proceedings
+     aga nst the author of the article and the publisher of _The
+     Antiseptic_; and the Treasurer of the Theosophical Society was
+     moved at the same time to action against _The Hindu_. _All
+     three cases were dismissed._ The gravity of the position is
+     evident. Mr. Leadbeater's methods have been proved by his own
+     admissions as well as by documents before the Court to be
+     subversive of morality....
+
+     These facts [I omit the worst details that M. L�vy feels
+     obliged to quote] condemn Mr. Leadbeater without possibility of
+     appeal; they reveal to us, with regard to Mrs. Besant, a truly
+     degrading complaisance, by reason of her desire to hide a crime
+     as patent as it is abominable ... the members of the
+     Theosophical Society are not only kept in complete ignorance
+     regarding these facts, but the administration of Adyar, through
+     its extensive propaganda, has a great influence over new
+     members in all conditions, while concealing and perverting the
+     truth.... The existence of persons like Mr. Leadbeater, who
+     admit and practise the worst perversities, is a sad reminder of
+     the darker side of human nature; yet the attitude of simply
+     ignoring that such things exist seems indefensible when these
+     persons pretend to the highest morality and represent
+     themselves as guides towards spiritual development ... claiming
+     to stand "on the threshold of divinity.".. The danger that such
+     persons may continue to extend their empire over the souls of
+     others is an increasing one....
+
+In view of these "facts" M. L�vy's restraint of language is remarkable,
+his condemnation hardly sufficiently scathing. His concluding words,
+however, explain much; he has evidently greatly admired Mrs. Besant in
+earlier years, and the last paragraph of his book eloquently attests his
+personal grief:--"The feeling which here arrests my pen, and prevents me
+from saying more on the matter, will be understood by those who have
+followed me so far, and they may hear across my silence the voice of
+their own sorrow." I deeply respect M. L�vy's feelings; but for me--who
+have never had any illusions regarding Mrs. Besant from the time of the
+disruption of the Society in 1894-5--the matter assumes a more sinister
+aspect. His pages have rendered me most invaluable help in putting
+before the general public matter not personally known to my own
+experience. I left Colonel Olcott's Society in 1895, M. L�vy left Mrs.
+Besant's in 1913; and when we remember that this was its condition nine
+years ago, my previous remarks (see p. 14) may be better appreciated now
+that more evidence has been adduced
+
+
+
+
+The Central Hindu College. An Indian Criticism.
+
+
+In a pamphlet published at Benares about the same date (1913) by Pandit
+Bhagavan Das, "a former General Secretary of the Indian Section T. S."
+we possess still further evidence of Mrs. Besant's extraordinary
+aberrations under C. W. Leadbeater's guidance and control. Mr. Das's
+pamphlet is addressed to the editor of the London _Christian
+Commonwealth_, and is entitled "The Central Hindu College and Mrs.
+Besant." It is a reply to some "remarks" by her on this College, which
+appeared in that paper in June, 1913. Mr. Das writes:--
+
+     [Mrs. Besant's] remarks on the Central Hindu College [Benares]
+     in your paper are illustrations of this sad change in her. This
+     Institution, for which she has done more than anyone else
+     perhaps, she now openly and obviously tries to injure most
+     deeply in the minds of the public by wild suggestions that it
+     and the Hindu University, into which it is proposed to be
+     expanded, are mixed up with political seditionists and
+     extremists ... that such an educational movement is in any way
+     mixed up with seditionism and extremism is an idea ...
+     fatuously ludicrous.... The reckless, incoherent,
+     self-contradictory, incorrect and misleading statements that
+     Mrs. Besant has been freely making latterly in the public
+     press, have only injured her own reputation.... The C. H. C.
+     was founded in July, 1898, in order to do for the numerous
+     sects and sub-divisions of Hinduism what the T. S. was
+     endeavouring to do for all views and religions.... The College
+     grew and prospered year by year, under the Presidentship of
+     Mrs. Besant, and won the confidence ... of Hindus of almost all
+     shades of opinion.... But with the transfer of Mrs. Besant
+     from Benares to Adyar in 1907, as President of the T. S.,
+     elected _under very peculiar circumstances_ [as I learnt
+     recently from a very old member present in Adyar when Colonel
+     Olcott was on his deathbed. Italics mine.--A. L. C.]
+     foreshadowing the coming policies, a change began to come over
+     the spirit of all her work and surroundings. Despite the
+     suggestions, advice, entreaties, expostulations, and warnings
+     of her old colleagues and counsellors _who had made her work in
+     India possible_ [Italics mine.--A. L. C.], she developed more
+     and more and beyond all due bounds, the germ of person-worship
+     so long held in restraint. Entirely proofless claims to
+     superphysical powers and experiences, to being an Initiate, an
+     Arhat, a Mukta and what not; claims to read Mars and Mercury
+     and the whole Solar System, past, present and future (but with
+     careful avoidance of even the most easy test, such as reading a
+     given page of a closed book) claims to be the authorised agent
+     of "the Great White Brotherhood which guides Evolution on
+     earth" and to be in communication with the Supreme Director of
+     the world and with "the World-Teacher," etc., in short, all the
+     elements of sensationalism and emotionalism--which were
+     subdominant and private (confined mostly to the "inner" E. S.
+     T. organisation within the T. S.) now began to be predominant
+     and public.... In the spring of 1909, a "brother Initiate" of
+     Mrs. Besant's "discovered" the boy, now nicknamed Alcyone, as
+     the future vehicle of the Coming Christ ... _"neo-theosophy"
+     was started more or less definitely_ [Italics mine.--A. L.
+     C.]....
+
+     In January 1911 was started publicly by the then Principal of
+     the C. H. C., as the chief member of the "Group" an "Order"
+     called The Order of the Rising Sun, with the idea of "preparing
+     for a coming World-Teacher "as its publicly avowed central
+     idea, and the creed that the boy J. K. (Alcyone) would be the
+     "vehicle" of the "Coming Christ--Maitreya-Bodhisattva," etc.,
+     as its privately understood creed, to spread which amongst the
+     students was the duty of the inner "pledged group.' ... [See
+     _ante_ p. 21.
+
+In short, Mrs. Besant cleverly utilised an already existing
+organisation, founded for quite other objects and aims, to spread this
+crazy and pernicious "neo-theosophy," under cover of secrecy, pledges,
+etc., which she and C. W. Leadbeater--the real inspirer--well knew to be
+almost irresistible baits for sensitive and imaginative youths at a
+highly impressionable age.
+
+In April, 1911, on remonstrance by the older members of the Managing
+Committee, Mrs. Besant arranged that the Order of the Rising Sun should
+be disbanded. But this was mere show. When the disbandment was announced
+to the managers, it had already been arranged to replace the O. R. S. on
+a larger scale by _The Order of the Star in the East_ with the
+Principal, Head Master, and various Professors of the C. H. C. as the
+Private and other secretaries, of the boy J. K. as Head of the Order,
+and Mrs. Besant as Protectress of the whole....
+
+In the summer of 1911, side by side with this public activity, there was
+started by Mrs. Besant _within_ the E. S. T. ... A WRITTEN PLEDGE OF
+ABSOLUTE OBEDIENCE TO HERSELF. This fact, "private and confidential" at
+the time, is now public property since the Madras law suits....
+
+In August, 1911, the Trustees of the C. H. C., to allay the apprehension
+in the public mind that the C. H. C. was being diverted from its
+constitutional broad and liberal Hinduism into a bizarre and unhealthy
+personal-cult and bigoted Second-Adventism, passed formal resolutions to
+the effect that the Institution had nothing to do with any such Orders
+as those of the _Rising Sun_ or the _Star in the East_.
+
+On December 24th, 1911, resolutions were passed by the Trustees,
+agreeing that the C. H. C. should become part of the Hindu
+University.... The neo-theosophic propagandism within (as without) the
+C. H. C. continued ... in a score of evasive and elusive forms. Inner
+"Groups" and "Esoteric Section Groups" of persons formally pledged to
+obedience to Mrs. Besant, "Leagues of Service" of various kinds,
+"Orders of S. E." and "S. I." and "I. L.," "Co-Masonry Lodges," "Temple
+of the R. C.," and corresponding badges, bands, "regalia," "jewels,"and
+"pink," and "blue," and "yellow" scarves; "magnetized ribbons," and
+"stars" in pin, brooch, and button forms, etc. [for all the world like
+the Kindergarten games for developing infant intelligences!--A. L. C.]
+multiplied and replaced one another in interest like mushrooms in the
+rain time, a very fever of restless sound and movement hiding lack of
+substance and of wise purpose. Fuss of the most absurd and mischievous
+kind became rampant. Lectures, meetings, night classes, outside the
+college rooms and buildings, took place perpetually in the neighbouring
+T. S. premises and private residences, for expounding the doctrines of
+neo-theosophy and especially the book called _At the Feet of the Master_
+alleged to have been written down by Alcyone (J. Krishnamurti), as the
+embryonic scriptures and revelation of "the Embryo of a New Religion,"
+as Mrs. Besant declares the O. S. E. to be. Resident students were
+advised, and a number of them began to keep photos of Alcyone, as the
+"vehicle" of the "Coming Christ" and himself an "Initiate of the Great
+White Brotherhood" (and Mrs. Besant and one or two other living persons)
+"on the threshold of divinity," and to worship them with flowers,
+incense, etc. Old and young believers prostrating and genuflecting,
+literally, at the feet of the living original when within reach.... The
+then Principal of the College (who had founded the O. R. S.) proclaimed
+in his lectures in the neighbouring T. S. Hall, and elsewhere, that he
+was a "High Disciple of the Master"; and that the C. H. C. was "founded
+to prepare for the Advent of the World-Teacher"....
+
+[Mrs. Besant] has publicly stated [that] all of the members of the
+General Council of the T. S. now belong, with one or two exceptions
+perhaps, to the "Esoteric Section," prime condition of membership of
+which is, THE FORMAL WRITTEN PLEDGE OF ABSOLUTE OBEDIENCE TO MRS.
+BESANT; and so while the loud profession is freedom of thought "for all"
+the practice is sedulously "for herself," and her pledged votaries
+only; while the theory is that the O. S. E. "must not be identified with
+the T. S.," the practice is that the T. S. must be merged in the O. S.
+E.
+
+Let us turn to the C. H. C. to bring the narrative up to date. In March
+and April 1913 there came into the hands of another Manager and Trustee,
+a printed "letter," covering some three foolscap pages, bearing the
+signature of the gentleman who was then Principal of the C. H. C., the
+date October 25th, 1912, and the imprint of Mrs. Besant's _Vasanta
+Press_, Adyar, Madras, and not bearing any word like "private" or
+"personal," or "confidential." In this "letter" amazingly extravagant
+and fantastic statements are made as regards Mrs. Besant; she is hailed
+repeatedly as one who is "_to become one of the greatest Rulers of the
+World of Gods and men_" [This is sheer insanity.--A. L. C.]; mention is
+made of the "recognition of the God without us, which made us members of
+this Group from which we draw our life to-day"; it is said "that her
+light to ours was and is as the rays of the sun at noon-time to the rays
+of a lamp at night, and we did not desire to examine the Sun to see
+under what conditions it might possibly ray forth a more dazzling
+brilliance." The members of the Group are reminded that "we pledged
+ourselves in our hearts that we should strive to become _her true and
+loyal servants ...,_" etc.
+
+Thus complete was the hypnosis and surrender of reason which was sought
+to be effected amongst the votaries. It was a case of emotionalism run
+amuck...."
+
+It is, unfortunately, "a case" of something infinitely more mischievous;
+of evil "magic" and "sorcery" (cf. H. P. B.'s definition, _ante_ p. 36.)
+Whether Mrs. Besant knows it or not, Mr. Leadbeater undoubtedly must be
+well aware that life and strength can be drawn, on inner planes of
+being, from the blind devotion of a solid body of fanatical votaries.
+"Magicians" of a certain school--I need hardly specify which--thus
+prolong their lives through the magnetic and vita emanations of their
+nearest and most devoted followers. In a word, it is _Vampirism_, pure
+and simple, on the psychic plane. (I found that Mrs. Tingley well
+understood this form of Sorcery.) This, if true in Mrs. Besant's case is
+probably unconscious; but in Mr. Leadbeater's it is done consciously and
+with knowledge. That the secret acts and teachings of this man are far
+worse than most people have ever suspected is confirmed in a "Letter in
+reply to Mrs. Besant" by "Dreamer" which appeared in _The Theosophic
+Voice_ (Chicago), November, 1908, under the title "India Speaks." This
+scholarly Hindu Theosophist writes:--
+
+     If we are to believe the stenographic report of the Inquiry in
+     1906, then instead of holding that Mr. Leadbeater denied the
+     charges, we must come to the conclusion that not only did he
+     teach the solitary vice, but further he did things which would
+     have brought him within the pale of the criminal laws for the
+     foulest and most indecent offence which brute man may commit.
+     This is our latter day saint who must be re-admitted, nay,
+     invited back, into the Theosophical Society.
+
+Note that this was written fourteen years ago! The subject is a
+revolting one, but in the interests of that public whom these people are
+still misleading and deceiving, and who have no idea of the extreme
+gravity of the menace, it is necessary to be explicit.
+
+To return to the "Letter" mentioned by Mr. Das; he continues:--
+
+     The Trustee and Manager into whose hands a copy of the
+     astonishing document came, with the information that _it had
+     been circulated_ amongst a number of the C. H. C. students,
+     informed the secretaries of the College, and sent the letter
+     with the comments on the same for publication in a daily paper,
+     in order to show the public how the person-worship-creeds of
+     Mrs. Besant's "neo-theosophy" were being sown and grown within
+     the C. H. C. despite the resolutions of the Trustees.
+
+     On publication of the rhapsody, a great outcry in the name of
+     "injured innocence" was raised.... As to the
+     "dishonourableness" of the publication, competent judges of
+     such matters have pronounced that it was dishonourable only if
+     it be dishonourable to expose what cannot be called other than
+     _gross treason_ to the Constitution and ideals of the C. H. C.,
+     and to bring to light, and the bar of public opinion, underhand
+     or half-concealed or openly defiant efforts to convert students
+     to a grotesque person-worship and demoralizing and
+     soul-stunting blind obedience to Mrs. Besant.... The asking
+     for, and the receiving of the pledges of obedience to herself,
+     etc., is an act of over-weening presumption against the God in
+     every man.... Ever since she encouraged and started them, her
+     mind has worked less and less correctly and confusion has
+     fallen ever worse and worse upon her work, losing to the T. S.
+     many thousands of old members, alienating from her all her old
+     co-workers and co-founders of the C. H. C. and destroying the
+     confidence in her of the Indian public.
+
+Towards the end of his most illuminating pamphlet Mr. Das has occasion
+to speak of Mrs. Besant's "wildly reckless statements," some of which he
+quotes. They relate to the C. H. C. and he stigmatises them as "_all
+simply and utterly untrue_." "Her mind," he says a little further on, is
+working "incoherently." Finally, he writes:--
+
+     Let us conclude; when a person like Mrs. Besant, with a
+     biography full of remarkable changes, full of fine work as well
+     as bad blunders, having established herself, in her own belief,
+     and that of her pledged band, as the present chief Spiritual
+     Teacher and Saviour of Mankind, as "the God within us" now, and
+     as the future "greatest Ruler of the World of Gods and men,"
+     suddenly adds on the role of political saviour of India in
+     particular, and pre-determined martyr in constant danger of
+     assassination [strangely enough, this was also one of Mrs.
+     Tingley's obsessions] by anarchist miscreants ... and proclaims
+     that those who differ from her are in league with those
+     miscreants--when this happens, what explanation can be offered
+     to their own minds by her old friends ...?
+
+     The only sad explanation that they can postulate is that she is
+     suffering from mental delusions.
+
+Alas! this lenient and charitable judgment by no means covers the ground
+as a complete explanation of Mrs. Besant's mischievous and almost
+irresponsible activities. Mr. Das fails to see as clearly as MM. L�vy
+and Schur� the sinister influence behind all these manifestations; the
+source and inspiration of all this evil.
+
+
+
+
+Mrs. Besant's latest Assertions and claims examined.
+
+
+We now come to the examination of two articles in the _Theosophist_ for
+March, 1922, in which the President of the T. S. makes some attempt to
+deal with recent criticism. One is a Supplement, or Manifesto, addressed
+"To all Members of the Theosophical Society," and couched in Mrs.
+Besant's present style--flamboyant, a trifle bombastic, often Biblical
+in phraseology, and running throughout it, her usual fervid and
+disingenuous appeal to sentimental emotionalism, instead of the
+instinctive sense of justice latent in all beings. This latter, a
+feature of her best days, she has entirely abandoned; it no longer
+serves her ends. What those "ends" are one almost hesitates to
+formulate, so impious and almost insane do they appear. Even taking into
+consideration the tangled mass of evasions, misstatements and
+hypocritical equivocations presented in this manifesto, these "ends"
+emerge with sufficient clearness. But, in the first place, and before
+going further, one must ask on what basis this amazing claim to almost
+deific powers and knowledge rests. Let me here call M. L�vy into the
+witness box once more; for he also had put the same question to himself
+nine years ago, and will provide the answer. It occurs in his chapter on
+"Mrs. Besant's 'Return of the Christ,'" where he is dealing with her
+position and actions in regard to Dr. Steiner, the German occultist and
+Christian Theosophist--with whose ideas, I should add, I am not in
+personal agreement. My teacher is H. P. Blavatsky and she alone: I
+follow no lesser light. M. L�vy says:--
+
+     Our reason forces us to confess that all goes to suggest that
+     Mrs. Besant, having herself ceased to believe in the identity
+     of her Jesus with the Christ [of the Gospels.--A. L. C.], would
+     still continue to make others believe it.... Her pride ... her
+     dominating mind, have driven her on this crusade of
+     extermination of Dr. Steiner's teachings; it has induced her to
+     collect, _without the least regard for truth, justice, or
+     theosophic principles, no matter what weapons if they do but
+     serve against her opponent; calumny, abuse of power,
+     misstatement of facts, all combined in a subtle strategy_.
+
+Italics are mine; for we find Mrs. Besant using precisely the same
+methods to-day, only in a form fortunately neither so "subtle" nor so
+Jesuitically plausible. Her powers are failing, as the manifesto under
+consideration clearly proves. M. L�vy proceeds:--
+
+     And when she falls victim of some error in the course of her
+     occult investigations--of which in theory she is always
+     proclaiming the fallibility--it is again her pride that bars
+     the way to admission, and makes her the slave of the most
+     pitiful machinations ... which ... will shatter to fragments in
+     all directions the confidence she had formerly inspired. For if
+     she is not consciously defending her mistake, then what kind of
+     a break-up of all her faculties are we witnessing?... The more
+     deeply we study this [_i.e._, the "neo-theosophy" already
+     described by M. L�vy and Pandit Bhagavan Das.--A. L. C.], the
+     more terrible appear the responsibilities of Adyar in this
+     deplorable scheme; for we would still seek the origin of such
+     fearless confidence [in Mrs. Besant's followers.--A. L. C.]
+     refusing, as it does, to be shaken by the eloquent appeal of
+     the facts here set forth, and of which some, if not all, have
+     been within the reach and open to examination of those members
+     who profess such an enthusiastic confidence in Mrs. Besant. The
+     result of our search is a yet further culpability, as
+     overwhelming as it is unexpected.
+
+     For this confidence is not in the case of all the victims the
+     result of the free use of their own inner faculties. It is in
+     the case of the greater number, due to the influence of a
+     strong suggestion _deliberately organised and cleverly carried
+     out by the authors of this mystification themselves; by Mr.
+     Leadbeater who wrote, and by Mrs. Besant who published_, the
+     following lines in the _Adyar Album_, p. 45: "What can I say to
+     you of your President that you do not know already? Her
+     colossal [_sic_] intellect, her unfailing wisdom, her
+     unrivalled eloquence, her splendid forgetfulness of self, her
+     untiring devotion to work for others--all these are familiar to
+     you. Yet these qualities, these powers, are but a small part of
+     her greatness; they are on the surface, they may be seen by
+     all, they leap to the eyes. But there are other qualities,
+     other powers, of which you cannot know, because they pertain to
+     the secrets of Initiation. She is a pupil of our Masters; from
+     the fount of Their archaic wisdom she derives her own, the
+     plans which she is carrying out are Their plans for the welfare
+     of the world. Think, therefore, how great an honour it is for
+     you that you should be permitted to work under her, for in
+     doing so you are virtually working under Them. Think how
+     watchful you should be to miss no hint which falls from her
+     lips, to carry out exactly whatever instructions she may give
+     you. Remember that because of her position as an Initiate she
+     knows far more than you do; and precisely because her knowledge
+     is occult, given under the seal of Initiation, she cannot share
+     it with you. Therefore her actions must certainly be governed
+     by considerations of which you have no conception. There will
+     be times when you cannot understand her motives, for she is
+     taking into account many things which you cannot see and of
+     which she must not tell you. But whether you understand or not,
+     you will be wise to follow her implicitly, just because she
+     knows. This is no mere supposition on my part, no mere flight
+     of the imagination; I have stood beside your President in the
+     presence of the Supreme Director of evolution on this globe,
+     and I know whereof I speak. Let the wise hear my words, and act
+     accordingly."
+
+     It is easy to see how minds not gifted with a highly developed
+     critical faculty, or the instinctive sense that discriminates
+     the true from the false, would yield hopelessly to such a
+     formidable assault. They cannot see that he who thus guarantees
+     the infallibility of Mrs. Besant has himself need of
+     guarantee.... _I do not think that any religion or man-made
+     cult, even in the earliest ages, has ever promulgated
+     superstition in its grossest form so openly and boldly as this
+     ..._ [Italics mine.--A.L.C.]. Mr. Leadbeater ... demands
+     _deliberate_ suppression of thought.... And having extolled
+     such a deliberately induced mental torpor for Mrs. Besant's
+     benefit, he immediately demands it for himself when he speaks
+     of the "Supreme Director of evolution on this globe." Who is
+     this administrative person? With whom is he to be identified in
+     the scheme of evolution as it has been given to us by Mrs.
+     Besant and Mr. Leadbeater themselves?... What avenging God will
+     come to confound this impious prophet who seeks to reduce
+     humanity to the level of a troop of obedient automata!... A
+     gentle and winning voice, infinitely reassuring, rises out of
+     the depths of my being ... a great light breaks forth,
+     triumphant. Mr. Leadbeater hears the words of a judgment
+     immediate and without appeal, pronounced by the Buddha
+     himself:--
+
+     "Believe not what you have heard said; believe not in
+     traditions merely because they have been transmitted through
+     many generations; believe not merely because a thing is
+     repeated by many persons; ... believe not conjectures ...
+     _believe not solely upon the authority of your Masters and
+     elders_. WHEN UPON OBSERVATION AND ANALYSIS A PRINCIPLE
+     CONFORMS TO REASON AND LEADS TO THE BENEFIT AND WELFARE OF ALL,
+     ACCEPT IT AND HOLD IT."--(Buddha, _Anguttura Nikaya_.)
+
+     What a royal refuge, what a noble support are the words of
+     those who are the truly great! They are the perpetual safeguard
+     of humanity.
+
+     We have seen that upon "observation and analysis" the
+     "unfailing" wisdom of Mrs. Besant is no more than a mass of
+     inconsistencies, injustices, sectarian tactics in
+     administration, error and mystification in esoteric
+     announcements. Far from leading to "the benefit and welfare of
+     all," this "unfailing" wisdom is leading to the ... most
+     miserable slavery of souls, the emasculation of minds, the
+     creation of a terrible heresy. And at the present time we are
+     all feeling that we shall not be living up to the wise
+     exhortations of that great Being who was the Buddha, unless we
+     clearly denounce the lamentable aberrations of these two
+     occultists in the hope of drawing all the souls we possibly can
+     away from their pernicious influence. With this end in view,
+     and faithful to this duty, we shall calmly and firmly continue
+     our investigation of facts.
+
+     Fortunately, the assertions of Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater
+     have lately reached to such a pitch of extravagance and have so
+     utterly defied common sense that they will rouse even the least
+     critical minds and the most compliant hearts.
+
+Then follows the section of M. L�vy's book in which he quotes from _Man;
+Whence, How, and Whither_; much of this I have given earlier in this
+pamphlet. And M. L�vy, one must remember, wrote all this _nine years
+ago_!
+
+At this point it may serve a useful purpose if I specifically define my
+own position in regard to Mrs. Besant's claims. _I entirely and most
+emphatically reject them all._ Mr. Leadbeater's I was not even aware of,
+until I came to collect and examine the material for this pamphlet. They
+are so monstrous as not even to merit a specific "rejection"--it goes
+without saying. I practically lost all faith in Mrs. Besant when she
+dissimulated and tried to mislead the Inner Group Council on her return
+from her first visit to India in 1894. She then informed us that she had
+been "ordered by the Master to accuse Judge." On being closely
+cross-examined, however, she finally admitted that she had not received
+this "Order" _direct_, as she would have had us believe, but _through_
+the Brahmin whom she then followed blindly[11], exactly as she now
+follows Leadbeater. But later, when taxed with this in public, she
+pretended that he had had nothing whatever to do with it! This is a
+typical example of Mrs. Besant's idea of a 'truthful' statement in a
+matter of the most vital importance involving the fate of a leader and
+many thousands of members. What confidence can be placed in such a
+woman--one whose mental processes are so warped, and whose ideas of
+'truth' and 'honesty' are so peculiar? To inspire confidence a leader
+must be the very soul of truth and uprightness. Mrs. Besant has always
+been remarkable for asserting herself to be this, and people have
+believed her. But a truly upright and honest person (even if aware of
+it, as in Occultism he has to be) would never draw attention to it--and
+that publicly and in print.
+
+Because, for Mrs. Besant, Mr. ---- was _at this period_ her mouthpiece
+for the Master, she expected her colleagues to take the same view
+without question. This attitude is typical, and can be applied to all
+that she now says about Leadbeater (see _ante_ p. 19.) From this time I
+found it impossible to believe in her or her statements; such, for
+instance, as that H. P. B. had reincarnated in Mr. ----'s little
+daughter!![12]--or in anyone else for that matter. H. P. B. herself,
+when someone asked her about reincarnating, jokingly replied--"Yes, in
+some mild Hindu youth with half a lobe to his brain!" _H. P. B. has not
+reincarnated._ On the ridiculous belief above mentioned Mrs. Besant
+based her "authority" for doing things in H. P. B.'s name after her
+death (see _post_ p. 71 for examples). It follows also that I absolutely
+reject her claim to be an "agent" of the Masters (_i.e._, the
+Trans-Him�layan Brotherhood), neither do I believe that she has had any
+communication whatsoever with Them since H. P. B.'s death.[13] Finally,
+I reject her most presumptuous claim that she is able, or in anyway
+fitted, to "expand," "verify," or "check" by psychic faculties H. P.
+B.'s statements and teachings; still less to carry on independent occult
+investigations on the same, or any similar plane of consciousness.
+Whether Mrs. Besant, in making these claims, is acting under the glamour
+of Mr. Leadbeater's "clairvoyant" delusions, as MM. L�vy and Schur�
+suggest, or is fully conscious and responsible, is not my part to judge,
+nor does it really matter. For me, her life may be summed up in some
+words she applied recently to Mr. Gandhi (_Theosophist_, April, 1922).
+It is "the tragedy of a soul." Her criticisms on what she calls his
+"failure" apply fully and literally to _her own_.
+
+There is really very little in the Manifesto (_Theosophist_, March,
+1922), that is not sufficiently answered by the various extracts I have
+quoted from previous critics. Mrs. Besant opens with the usual
+disingenuous statements about the "Liberal Catholic Church." Her
+argument that all religions are on an equal footing in the T. S.
+carries no weight when it is widely known that L. C. C. agents are
+everywhere at work pushing its interests.
+
+Coming next to Mr. Leadbeater, Mrs. Besant states that he was "cleared
+by a Committee in England"! But it is really a little too much, and
+altogether too brazen,[14] when she dares to compare his case with that
+of H. P. B. in the matter of slander. _There can be no possible
+comparison._ The worst ever suggested against H. P. B. was what has been
+said of many other women, including Mrs. Besant herself, who have had to
+work in the glare of publicity and champion an unpopular cause. No
+evidence was ever brought forward, and the New York _Sun_ promptly
+apologised for publishing such statements on being shown that they were
+unfounded.[15] The grave charges against Mr. Leadbeater were supported
+by documentary evidence _which has never been rebutted_, and they have
+to do with something far worse than personal moral laxity, as we have
+seen. Mrs. Besant knows she cannot meet these charges, and so seeks to
+brush them aside by voluble talk about "hatred," "defamation," and
+"vilification." The only _justification_ she offers for having
+reinstated him in 1907 is that she had discovered that it was "a cruel
+lie that he had confessed to wrongdoing"! This is to argue that the
+"accused" should be "acquitted" because he refused to confess--in the
+face of evidence of no matter how damning a nature! Did Mrs. Besant
+follow this procedure in her "Case against W. Q. Judge"? Not at all; far
+from "acquitting" him when he refused to "confess to wrongdoing" and
+asked for production of the incriminating documents, she calmly
+confessed that she had destroyed them! But _now_ that it is a case of
+her own guide and "intermediary" in the dock, her attitude is entirely
+different, and it is quite enough for her that the "accused" did not
+"confess" his crime!
+
+As Dr. Stokes, Editor of the _O. E. Critic_ (Washington, D.C.) has been
+fearlessly stating the facts and encouraging the "Back to Blavatsky"
+movement for some time past, she next devotes a paragraph to an attempt
+to discredit him by suggesting his connection with an old enemy of H. P.
+B.'s. Dr. Stokes's championship of H. P. B., and relentless exposure of
+the Besant-Leadbeater imposture is the more effective since he persists
+in retaining his membership in the T. S.
+
+The next to be dealt with is Pandit Bhagavan Das, and his criticisms
+about the Central Hindu College. Here again, all I have quoted from his
+pamphlet about the secret sections, underhand work, pledges, etc., are
+entirely ignored.
+
+Mr. T. H. Martyn's letter, which has caused such a sensation in the
+Society (Holland alone asking for 500 copies) is dismissed as full of
+"untrue" statements. Truly a very simple method of dealing with matter
+which Mrs. Besant finds compromising or unpleasant (see _ante_ p. 18);
+but she can hardly believe it to be convincing.
+
+It is when this profoundly disingenuous woman comes to an explanation of
+the motive behind her political work in India, that we find a typical
+specimen of the peculiar form of megalomania already so ably
+demonstrated by M. L�vy. What must be the mental condition of a person
+who can sit down and solemnly write the following?
+
+     The work entrusted to me directly by the great Rishi who is--as
+     one may say [_sic_]--the spiritual Viceroy[16] for India of the
+     King of Kings of our world--is the bringing about of Home Rule
+     in India, in close union with Great Britain, as part of a great
+     Federation of Free Nations, a model of the future World
+     Commonwealth...."
+
+Why such a very mundane and political idea should need an order from a
+Rishi is not explained. The patent appeal both to the Government and
+the Indian people in this portentous announcement is not very happily
+conceived.
+
+It is unfortunate for Mrs. Besant that her indignant denial that another
+of the notorious "Bishops" (Wedgwood) is "wanted" by the police was
+immediately followed by a priest's confession and the Bishop's
+resignation from the L. C. C., the T. S., and the Co-masons![17]
+
+Finally we come to the most ominous part of the whole document, where
+Mrs. Besant refers to the present condition of the sex problem, and
+indicates that Mr. Leadbeater's vile teachings to, and practices with
+boys--trying "to wean lads from evil practices" is her version of
+it--are part of a process necessary "to save mankind in the near
+future." The "lessening of the sex impulse" on the "line of higher
+mental evolution" is "too slow." "Early marriage and
+birth-control"--preceded, one must assume, by Leadbeaterism--are now
+Mrs. Besant's inspired panaceas.
+
+The appalling menace to _the evolution of the spiritual nature in man_,
+of the secret Leadbeater teaching known as the "X-system," is shown by
+the evidence of Dr. Eleanor M. Hiestand-Moore (M.D.), Editor of the
+_Theosophic Voice_ (Chicago), in which all the Leadbeater proceedings of
+1906 were reported and discussed. In the August number, 1908, Dr.
+Hiestand-Moore writes:--
+
+     During the winter of 1906-7 the Editor [herself] was in Chicago
+     and in order to combat the widespread tendency to uphold
+     self-abuse on the lines indicated by Mr. Leadbeater, a series
+     of lectures on the psychology of sex was given. There were
+     members in the E. S., and out of it who upheld the X-system.
+     One person declared ... that _this system would, before many
+     years, be taught in our public schools_. Still another insisted
+     that _by self-abuse humanity was to return to the
+     hermaphroditic type_ and that _this practice would be universal
+     among Fifth Round Humanity_. A number declared that, while they
+     did not pretend to know anything about such matters, they had
+     understood this was _a highly occult teaching given to would-be
+     disciples_! We could lay hands on a letter setting forth the
+     claim that this teaching is purely "esoteric" and not to be
+     estimated by exoteric standards--this, too, from a Branch
+     president! [Italics mine.--A. L. C.].
+
+     These instances are sufficiently appalling in themselves. But
+     what can we say now that _The Voice_ has elicited a
+     correspondence which is simply a brazen defence of these
+     "teachings"?[18]
+
+What, then, must be the moral condition of this horrible travesty of the
+old T.S. _now_, fourteen years after Dr. Hiestand-Moore wrote the
+foregoing? Mrs. Besant is thus seen to have now returned practically to
+the Neo-Malthusianism of her earlier, pre-theosophic association with
+the late Charles Bradlaugh. It may not be generally known that H. P. B.
+_refused to accept her as a pupil_ until she had published a recantation
+of all she and Bradlaugh had advocated in _The Fruits of Philosophy_. It
+is a sinister omen that under C. W. Leadbeater, the sex pervert, Mrs.
+Besant has abandoned H. P. Blavatsky's imperative requirement for
+becoming a student of _White_ Occultism, and has returned to the
+essentially materialistic doctrine of "birth-control," in direct
+contravention of the true Occult teaching. In other words, her assertion
+amounts to this:--_Self_-control is not possible (or is "too slow "),
+therefore we must control _results_. How different is the Occult
+teaching is well-known to all who have taken the trouble to read H. P.
+B.'s articles from which I have already quoted (see _ante_ p. 31) and
+the splendid chapter in Vol. II of _The Secret Doctrine_ entitled "The
+Curse from a Philosophical Point of View." And H. P. B. told me herself
+that she included the following verse in _The Voice of the Silence_ with
+the express object of combating such teachings and placing the Occult
+doctrine beyond possibility of misinterpretation:--
+
+"Do not believe that lust can ever be killed out if gratified or
+satiated, for this is an abomination inspired by M�ra. It is by feeding
+vice that it expands and waxes strong, like to the worm that fattens on
+the blossom's heart."
+
+In a note H. P. B. explains that M�ra is "personified temptation through
+men's vices, and translated literally means 'that which kills' the
+Soul." Far from "saving" mankind, therefore, these professed 'expanders'
+and 'expounders' of H. P. B.'s doctrines are in reality doing their best
+to hasten its end. Better far, from the Occult standpoint, that a race
+should be wiped out by "outraged Nature," as were the Atlanteans for the
+same sins, than that it should be kept alive only to sink lower and
+lower until "M�ra" kills its Soul.
+
+In the "Watch-Tower" (_Theosophist_, March, 1922,) Editorial mention is
+made of a display at Adyar of "treasures of the most varied kinds,"
+which have just been unearthed from "all the old locked-up boxes" at the
+headquarters. Why, one may not unreasonably enquire, has Mrs. Besant
+waited until 1922 to disinter, for instance, a long and valuable letter
+from H. P. B. herself? Why have such "treasures" been _kept back for
+over thirty years_; just as "Letters" from the Masters (the
+Trans-Him�layan Brotherhood) were kept hidden away for an even longer
+period--nearly forty years? The reasons are so ridiculously transparent
+that they would hardly deceive an intelligent child. Mrs. Besant is
+becoming seriously discomposed, even alarmed, by the growing strength of
+the "Back to Blavatsky" movement, which is in itself a reaction against
+her own neglect. Hence all this "burrowing" (her own word) in order to
+make a brave show of these "treasures" for which she had no sort of use
+until, disturbed by alarming rumours, she hastily resorts to them for
+purposes of camouflage and disguise. For she is a skilful opportunist
+and clever actress, assuming successive parts with as convincing an air
+as any "star"; neither does she scruple to employ every device of the
+party politician.
+
+Does Mrs. Besant seriously believe that this attempt to drag the red
+herring of an unexplained and suddenly awakened interest in these
+"treasures" across the trail of Mr. Leadbeater's infamies will deceive
+anyone save their blind and infatuated followers? Has she forgotten that
+when, _only two years_ after H. P. Blavatsky's death, she came under the
+direct hypnotic control of Brahmin influence, she threw doubts upon her
+old Teacher's _bona fides_ and her occult knowledge; and, in the course
+of formulating her charges against her fellow-disciple (a _chela_ of
+many years' standing before she ever even heard of Theosophy) suggested
+to Mr. Judge that, "_misled by a high example_" (H. P. B.), he had
+fallen "a victim." For, as she then told him, her "theory was _first_,
+that H. P. B. had committed several frauds for good ends and made bogus
+messages; _second_, that [he] was misled by her example; and _third_,
+that H. P. B. had given [him] permission to do such acts. She then,"
+continues Mr. Judge, "asked me to confess thus, and that would clear up
+all. I peremptorily denied such a horrible lie, and warned her that
+everywhere I would resist such attack on H. P. B. These are the facts,
+and the real issue is around H. P. B." (_The Path_, March, 1895.)
+
+With the complete disruption of the Society the Brahmin period of
+dominance over Mrs. Besant came to an end. Then followed the Leadbeater
+_r�gime_, the first phase of which culminated in the crisis of 1906. But
+on Colonel Olcott's death in the following year, she contrived the
+realisation of her great ambition, and became President of the Society.
+At this point in her career, however, there were two serious
+difficulties which she had to meet:--_first_, the Leadbeater scandal
+which raised a storm of horror and protest from those old and tried
+members who had remained in the Society up to that time, but who then
+practically withdrew in a body Deprived of their support, and having
+reinstated the infamous Leadbeater, Mrs. Besant realised that, as
+President, she could no longer risk appearing half-hearted over H. P.
+Blavatsky; nay more, she _needed_ the support of her venerated name;
+_second_, as President of the Society created by H. P. B., she must, for
+the sake of her own prestige, take some definite action which would
+remove all possibility of suspicion that she was no longer the follower
+of the Teacher whom she had, _in fact_, already "denied" and "betrayed"
+only two years after her death. Mrs. Besant realised, in short, that she
+had gone too far, and must now retrieve the position. Accordingly, in
+1907, she issued a pamphlet entitled _H. P. Blavatsky and the Masters of
+the [sic] Wisdom_, in which, with all her accustomed ability, she dealt
+once more with the famous (or rather infamous) Report of the Society for
+Psychical Research, published in 1885. But the concluding eulogy strikes
+a false note, coming from one who, as I have shown, was capable of being
+persuaded that H. P. B. had concocted messages from those Masters Whom
+she so faithfully served for two-thirds of her life.
+
+It was at this time also (1907), so Mrs. Besant later declared, that
+"the T. S. fully regained its original position, with the Masters of the
+[_sic_] Wisdom as once more the 'First Section' of the Society." This
+bold assertion was made in 1919, when, under pressure of some fresh
+scare connected with Mr. Leadbeater, Mrs. Besant published a small
+volume of the Masters' Letters (most of which had presumably been lying
+in the archives of the Society at Adyar for nearly forty years!),
+obviously for no other reason than because among them are two alleged to
+have been received by Mr. Leadbeater. This she did in order to bolster
+up the extravagant claims she now makes for him as a "Great Teacher."
+But there were many who received Letters in the early days, and there is
+no reason why similar claims should not be made for all the recipients!
+
+In the article entitled "Whom will ye Serve?" (_Theosophist_, March,
+1922,) Mrs. Besant says that H. P. B. "formed an inner circle of her
+pupils, that it might bear witness to the truth and reality of the inner
+side of life." This was the "Inner Group" of which she and I were two of
+the six women members. But as, unfortunately Mr. Leadbeater was not
+included, although he had become a member of the T. S. some years
+before, she adds:--"And behold! ere she passed away, she had led others
+to the Light, and bade them bear witness to it...." Considering that she
+"passed away" _less than a year_ after forming the Inner Group in the
+summer of 1890, and that we were constantly with her and never heard of
+these "others," this statement is manifestly untrue. Mrs. Besant also
+refers to Mr. Leadbeater as "one of H. P. B.'s nearest and most trusted
+pupils [Absolutely untrue.--A. L. C.] whom she had led to his Master of
+many lives, and in whom she had awakened the powers since so splendidly
+used in the service of the Society that he might become a great
+Teacher...."
+
+I challenge Mrs. Besant to produce anything in writing by H. P. B. to
+warrant this audacious assertion. I was a pupil of H. P. B. (and
+through her was accepted as "a _chela_ on probation," in 1889) before
+Mrs. Besant joined the T. S., and saw her expel one of her most gifted
+and valued workers from the Esoteric Section for offences against the
+occult and moral law similar to those with which Mr. Leadbeater's name
+has now been associated for nearly twenty years. H. P. B. was always
+extremely strict on this particular point, and many would-be aspirants
+for _chelaship_ were refused on this one ground alone, while others who
+had been accepted "on probation" failed almost immediately afterwards.
+
+When I joined the T. S. in 1885 my diploma was signed by Colonel Olcott
+as President and C.W. Leadbeater as Secretary (he was then at Adyar),
+but I never heard him mentioned by H. P. B. or anyone else at the London
+Headquarters, as a person of any importance whatever, in the occult
+sense. Mrs. Besant goes on to say that H. P. B. left "the twain of us
+[Leadbeater and herself] to bear personal witness to the truth when she
+had gone"! Where is her _evidence_ that Mr. Leadbeater was ever one of
+H. P. B.'s pupils? There is none, save this bare, unsupported assertion
+of a highly interested party. How could these two, to the exclusion of
+all H. P. B.'s pupils--some of them "regularly accepted _chelas_ on
+probation"--be specially selected, taught, and prepared, (and above all,
+to promulgate the sort of "teachings" of which I have given a few
+specimens), without any of us hearing even a hint of it! Moreover, I
+never saw, or even heard of Mr. Leadbeater at the London Headquarters
+while H. P. B. was alive. I might just as well claim such a mission for
+myself, or Mr. Mead, or Dr. Keightley, or any other member of the Inner
+Group who has remained true to the pledge and the Teacher; and with
+greater justice, for Mrs. Besant has _not_. The truth is that Mr.
+Leadbeater was never heard of in connection with occult teaching until
+he was taken up and foisted on the unfortunate T. S. and E. S. as a
+"Great Teacher" by Mrs. Besant who was herself never more than a
+"_chela_ on probation"--_during H. P. B.'s lifetime_.
+
+Let me refer again to H. P. B.'s article "The Theosophical Mahatmas"
+from which I have already quoted (_ante_ p. 3), in which she deals with
+the members of the T. S. who were "regularly accepted _chelas_ on
+probation," and the subsequent failure of nearly all of them. If this
+was true at that time, it can certainly now be applied to the case of
+Mrs. Besant, who, in my judgment and that of many others, conspicuously
+failed under two great tests. The first failure occurred when she went
+to India in 1893, became an orthodox Hindu, and was induced to entertain
+those doubts of her Teacher that I have already alluded to. (_ante_ p.
+66.) Bound up with this failure--the doubt of the Teacher--was her
+attack on her fellow _chela_, Mr. Judge.
+
+The second failure was a far worse one when, in 1906, after having
+publicly endorsed the finding of the Advisory Committee on Leadbeater's
+crimes (see footnote _ante_ p. 59), she suddenly turned round and
+secured his reinstatement. In thus condoning and even endorsing
+immorality of the vilest description, she denied one of the strictest
+occult laws binding upon a _chela_.
+
+This double failure had far more serious results in her case than in
+those of which H. P. B. wrote in 1886, because, owing to her commanding
+position as a leader, the fate of the many thousands of earnest souls in
+the Society who believed in and followed her implicitly, was involved.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[11] This Brahmin is the person referred to in the following passage
+from Mr. T. H. Martyn's letter to Mrs. Besant of May 20th, 1921 (see
+_ante_ p. 18):--"Like many of the older members I have known how you and
+others for quite a long time regarded ---- as _a Master in the flesh_ and
+later had to repudiate him when certain facts indicated the mistake."
+Italics mine. This is absolutely new to me. In 1894 none of us (so far
+as I was then aware) regarded Mr. ---- as anything more than a _chela_,
+so what Mr. Martyn here states must have been a later development, and
+explains much.
+
+I suppress the gentleman's name out of regard for his present official
+position in India and his dissociation from Mrs. Besant.
+
+[12] I did not learn the actual facts of this foolish fable until I came
+to India in 1918, and found they were common knowledge among leading
+members of that time. Naturally, when Mrs. Besant transferred her
+allegiance to Mr. Leadbeater, she had to find another "body" for H. P.
+B. So, in the _Theosophist_ for January, 1922. she writes the following
+typical effusion for the benefit of the faithful:--" ... alas! she
+passed away, and took rebirth in the north of India, and though we have
+lived for twenty-eight years in the same land so dear to beth of us, we
+have never met physically face to face. Yet close ties bind us to each
+other, and may be we shall yet greet each other in the flesh." Observe
+the suggestion that she has always been in close touch with H. P. B.
+_out of the body_, and that later they may meet "in the flesh." This
+prepares the ground for producing this new "incarnation" when the
+suitable moment comes; just as the boy Krishnamurti was brought forward
+as the "body" for the coming "World-Teacher." Mrs. Besant's new version
+must be amusing reading for those familiar with the earlier theory, as
+she was certainly "face to face" with the "little daughter" constantly,
+and even persuaded Countess Wachtmeister to resume her former care of H.
+P. B. in her new body. Needless to say the poor Countess was sadly
+disillusioned, and died not long afterwards bitterly bewailing the ruin
+of the T. S.
+
+[13] As showing the absurdity of such a claim, I may mention that Mrs.
+Besant actually visited mediums through whom H. P. B. was supposed to
+communicate. In 1892, only a year after her death, my colleague Mr.
+Basil Crump, Barrister-at-Law, was investigating the phenomena of a
+certain trance medium shortly before he joined the T. S. He was present
+at a private sitting with this medium in the studio of an artist friend,
+to which Mrs. Besant came with another member of H. P. B.'s Inner Group,
+Miss Emily Kislingbury, in order to speak with her deceased teacher. An
+intelligence calling itself "Madame Blavatsky" controlled the medium,
+and Mrs. Besant held a conversation with it. Later, when Mr. Crump
+became acquainted with H. P. B.'s explanation of Spiritualistic
+phenomena, and her express denial that the true immortal Ego ever
+communicated in this manner, he was naturally astonished that one of her
+most learned pupils should for a moment entertain such a possibility and
+waste her valuable time in attending a s�ance. But now he sees that it
+was only an early symptom of the astounding credulity and ignorance of
+occult science she has since exhibited, as shown in these pages. H. P.
+B.'s explanations of psychic phenomena are rapidly being endorsed and
+followed by the modern scientific school of investigation, which has
+succeeded not only in proving the genuineness of the phenomena, but also
+the important part played by the _will and imagination_ both of the
+medium and the sitters in their production.
+
+[14] Her latest move, is to draw a distinction between the "Advisory
+Committee of 1906" which she accuses of "unjust action," and what she
+calls "the prolonged investigation of 1907-08," which of course was
+engineered by her after she became President, in order to white-wash Mr.
+Leadbeater and secure his reinstatement. (See _Theosophist_, July,
+1922). See Addendum for the Australian views on this.
+
+[15] The importance of this case lies in the fact that it constituted an
+absolute vindication of H. P. B., for every slander ever circulated
+directly or indirectly was covered by it. Although the libel action came
+to an end with her death, the paper was so impressed by the evidence
+produced, in rebuttal, by Mr. Judge, that it not only retracted all that
+it had published, but also invited Mr. Judge to write a long article
+entitled "The Esoteric She" which they said "disposes of all questions
+relating to Madame Blavatsky." That Mrs. Asquith and Count Witte should
+both have seen fit to revive some of these old slanders in their books
+of reminiscences does not redound to their credit.
+
+[16] Mrs. Besant's "Spiritual Viceroy" has certainly nothing to do with
+Those who were directing H. P. B. when she founded the Indian T. S. OR
+U. B. in 1879; for a special clause was included in the Constitution
+stating that "The Society repudiates all interference on its behalf with
+the Governmental relations of any nation or community, confining its
+attention exclusively to the matters set forth in the present
+document...." H. P. B. also wrote in the _Theosophist_, for October,
+1879--"Unconcerned about politics; hostile to the insane dreams of
+Socialism and Communism, which it abhors--as both are but disguised
+conspiracies of brutal force and sluggishness against honest labour; the
+Society cares but little about the outward human management of the
+material world. The whole of its aspirations are directed toward the
+occult truths of the visible and invisible worlds. Whether the physical
+man be under the rule of an empire or a republic, concerns only the man
+of matter. His body may be enslaved; as to his Soul, he has the right to
+give to his rulers the proud answer of Socrates to his Judges. They have
+no sway over the _inner_ man." There speaks the true Mystic whose
+"Kingdom is not of this world." Three years later H. P. B. and Colonel
+Olcott published a further disclaimer, in which they said--"Before we
+came to India, the word Politics had never been pronounced in connection
+with our names; for the idea was too absurd to be even entertained, much
+less expressed...."
+
+[17] The original documents appear in the _O. E. Critic_ for June 21st,
+1922, and include a confession signed by a priest of the L. C. C. who
+states that he was "led astray by those whom I considered to be my
+superiors both morally and spiritually" adding "Wedgwood absolutely
+declines to give up the mal-practice." Wedgwood fled to Algeria at the
+end of March. A cable from Sydney dated May 30th states that "Mrs.
+Besant refused to answer any enquiry in reference to Wedgwood. Police
+now holding an enquiry into the charges against Leadbeater." Dr. Stokes
+concludes his comments on the documents as follows:--"And Annie Besant,
+having repeatedly been informed of the facts, not only refused to look
+into them, but launched her anathemas against those who criticised, even
+threatening them with expulsion from the E. S., and even very recently
+cabling to Wedgwood that he made a mistake in resigning!--It is on Annie
+Besant, more than on any other one person, that the responsibility for
+the present scandalous condition in the T. S. rests. The best of
+societies may have its black sheep and it is not to be blamed if it does
+its best to purge itself. But it is Annie Besant, with her tools and
+sycophants, who has ever concealed and denied the palpable facts, or,
+where they could not be denied, has palliated, excused and even defended
+them, throwing over them a veil of esoteric glamour, supporting such
+scoundrels as Leadbeater and Wedgwood, apparently in order the better to
+serve her ambitions. A vote of confidence in Annie Besant to-day either
+betrays total ignorance of the facts, or associates those who give it
+with the grossest forms of moral rottenness." See Addendum for Mr.
+Piddington, K. C's opinion on Mrs Besant's conduct in Australia last
+May; also Mr. Hugh Gillespie's evidence of her use of the Esoteric
+School as a "_political machine_" to secure her "ascendancy in the
+various bodies to which E. S. members have gained access."
+
+[18] As to the methods employed to suppress criticism, Dr.
+Hiestand-Moore says in the same issue:--"Slander, falsehood, deceit,
+treachery, all have been summoned to the support of Mr. Leadbeater's
+cause. Anonymous communications have been written to confound the
+prosecution, letters have been stolen and threats made. The Editor of
+_The Voice_ has been compelled to call upon the Secret Service to
+protect her mails." [An entire issue in proof with copy and unset matter
+disappeared, and had to be rewritten!] Again, the Editor of the _O. E.
+Critic_ writes:--"It is understood, and I have the direct testimony of
+the publisher to the fact, that the entire edition of the Brooks' books
+[_Esoteric Bogeydom_ and _Neo-Theosophy Exposed_] was corralled by Mrs.
+Besant in order to suppress their circulation. They tell too much about
+her."
+
+
+
+
+Tampering with H. P. Blavatsky's writings.
+
+
+The result of Mrs. Besant's first failure, through harbouring doubts of
+her Teacher's _bona fides_ and esoteric knowledge, was soon manifested
+when she began to publish new editions of H. P. B.'s works. The first
+noteworthy example was her excision from _The Voice of the Silence_ of
+passages and notes, presumably out of deference to Brahmin sentiment,
+which then governed her actions. One of the last verses in "The Two
+Paths" (the second of the "Three Fragments" forming the little book) in
+the original edition (1889) begins thus:--"He who becomes Pratyeka
+Buddha, makes his obeisance but to his Self." In a footnote H. P. B.
+explains that "Pratyeka Buddhas are those Bodhisattvas who strive after
+and often reach the Dharmakaya robe after a series of lives. Caring
+nothing for the woes of mankind or to help it, but only for their own
+_bliss_, they enter Nirvana and--disappear from the sight and the hearts
+of men. In Northern Buddhism a 'Pratyeka Buddha' is a synonym of
+spiritual Selfishness."
+
+In Mrs. Besant's edition both the passage and the footnote I have quoted
+are omitted. Her reason for this unscrupulous proceeding is given in a
+footnote on p. 416 of the so-called "third volume" of _The Secret
+Doctrine_. In this note Mrs. Besant, from the heights of her then
+newly-acquired Brahmanical wisdom, adopts the following dictatorial and
+censorious tone towards her late Teacher:--
+
+     The Pratyeka Buddha stands on the level of the Buddha [!], but
+     His work for the world has nothing to do with its teaching,
+     and His office has always been surrounded with mystery. The
+     preposterous [_sic_] view that He, at such superhuman height of
+     power, wisdom and love could be selfish, is found in the
+     exoteric books, though it is hard to see how it can have
+     arisen. H. P. B. _charged me to correct the mistake, as she
+     had, in a careless moment, copied such a statement
+     elsewhere_.--A. B.
+
+Observe the assumption of superior knowledge to H. P. B.'s, and the use
+of the words "preposterous" and "careless." To any real Oriental _chela_
+such an attitude towards his _Guru_ would be simply unthinkable; but we
+have seen how very quickly Mrs. Besant believed herself to have soared
+far above the "chela on probation" state of her H. P. B. days into that
+of an "Initiate" and future "Supreme Ruler of the World of Gods and
+men." To such vanity and self-delusion everything is possible. How
+different was the attitude of the _real_ Occultist who was spoken of by
+the Masters as "Our Brother H. P. B.," yet called herself "a Chela of
+one of Them"!
+
+The passage I have italicised in the above footnote by Mrs. Besant is
+untrue on the face of it to anyone who knew, as I did, the loving care
+with which H. P. B. prepared this unique little book of "Golden
+Precepts." Moreover, she states in her Preface that the verses given are
+selected from a much larger number which she "learnt by heart." Further,
+H. P. B. _not only repeated but greatly amplified_ this statement about
+the Pratyeka Buddha in her _Theosophical Glossary_, a fact which Mrs.
+Besant had evidently forgotten when she concocted the footnote quoted
+above.[19] The Pratyeka Buddha is doubtless much that Mrs. Besant claims
+for him, but she does not seem to know, or has probably forgotten, that
+there are _two_ classes of Masters, _two_ "Paths" (as this very section
+of _The Voice of the Silence_ shows); that the "Pairs of Opposites"
+obtain on all planes of Manifestation and Being, right up to the
+threshold of the _Un_manifested--the ONE; that, while there are _Masters
+of_ COMPASSION, there must of necessity exist also the opposite
+pole--the wearers of the "Dharmak�ya robe," with all the power and
+knowledge which that state implies, but without that _Compassion_ which
+alone makes a Master of the "Right Hand Path."[20]
+
+It was a great and valuable feature of H. P. B.'s, method that she
+taught us to reason on these lines, checking everything by the Law of
+Correspondences. But Mrs. Besant has evidently long since abandoned
+this, and prefers the sacerdotal plan of accepting everything on
+"authority," which in her present phase means Leadbeater or her own
+psychic delusions. The "World Teacher" dogma is a case in point. She
+asserts it as a fact to be accepted because she says it; whereas, as I
+have shown, it is untenable in the light of _The Secret Doctrine_ (see
+_ante_ p. 2), which endorses Oriental tradition and cyclic law.
+
+Mrs. Besant's partiality for the Pratyeka Buddha, however, may possibly
+be explained by some words that H. P. B. once wrote of her to Mr.
+Judge:--"She is not psychic or spiritual in the least--all intellect."
+For H. P. B. opens her paragraph in the _Theosophical Glossary_ on the
+Pratyeka Buddha with these words:-- "The Pratyeka Buddha is a degree
+which belongs exclusively to the Yog�ch�rya school ... one of _high
+intellectual development with no true spirituality_". (Italics mine.)
+Moreover, we have the authority of the Maha Chohan Himself (the Head of
+the Trans-Him�layan Brotherhood) for the statement that even Nirv�na is,
+"after all, but an exalted and glorious selfishness."
+
+In the _Theosophist_ for March, 1922, Mrs. Besant says, in her
+"Watch-Tower" notes:--
+
+     A wild theory has just been started in the U. S. A. that _The
+     Secret Doctrine_, brought out by the London T. P. H. after H.
+     P. B.'s death, was not as H. P. B. wanted it. The _insinuation_
+     is made that _H. P. B._ was "edited" by those in charge of _the
+     second edition_. The _trustees_ to whom she left _the
+     safeguarding of her printed books and unpublished manuscripts_
+     were all her own pupils who had _lived with her for years_, and
+     they made only _such changes as she had herself directed_,
+     which consist mainly in the correction of verbal and
+     grammatical errors, and the _arrangement of the material of
+     Vol._ III.
+
+I have italicised the statements requiring explanation or correction.
+The "second edition," as Mrs. Besant must be well aware, was merely a
+re-print to meet an unexpected demand, and bears the same date as the
+original edition, _viz._, 1888. But as Mrs. Besant only joined the T. S.
+early in 1889, and was led to seek an interview with H. P. Blavatsky
+_after_ reviewing _The Secret Doctrine_ for the late Mr. W. T. Stead,
+then Editor of the _Pall Mall Gazette_, clearly she can know absolutely
+nothing of the preparation of its first _or_ of its "second edition"! As
+to the alleged "trustees," I can only say that I never heard of their
+existence. _Mrs. Besant_ only "lived with" H. P. B. for rather more than
+eighteen months. H. P. B. left 17, Lansdowne Road, London, W., in the
+summer of 1889, the Headquarters being moved to Mrs. Besant's house in
+Avenue Road, N.W., where she died in May 1891, _while Mrs. Besant was on
+her way back from a lecture tour in America_.
+
+Take next the alleged "safeguarding" of H. P. B.'s "unpublished
+manuscripts." Those who were responsible for the so-called Volume III,
+had a strange and unusual conception of the meaning of the word
+"safeguarding." It so happens that while it was being set up I was able
+actually to peruse one or two of the familiar long foolscap sheets which
+H. P. B. always covered with her small fine handwriting. They were
+mutilated almost beyond recognition, few of her sentences remaining
+intact; and there were "corrections" not only in the handwritings of the
+editors, Mrs. Besant and Mr. Mead, but also in that of others which I
+was able to identify. More than this I cannot say without abusing
+confidence; but the wrong done to my Teacher compels me to say this
+much.
+
+Those who were H. P. B.'s untiring and unfailing helpers in the
+preparation of _The Secret Doctrine_ for the press in 1887-88, Dr.
+Archibald and Mr. Bertram Keightley, have, fortunately for posterity,
+put on record their experiences of those days. They have made statements
+of the utmost value in connection with the facts I am here dealing with,
+which they wrote specially for Countess Wachtmeister's _Reminiscences of
+H. P. Blavatsky and "The Secret Doctrine,"_ published in 1893. Moreover,
+Dr. Keightley wrote an account of H. P. B.'s manifold literary
+activities at this time, which appeared in the _Theosophist_ for July
+1889, in which he states that "_the Third Volume of The Secret Doctrine
+is in MS. ready to be given to the printers_. [Italics mine.--A. L. C.]
+It will consist mainly of a series of sketches of the great Occultists
+of all ages, and is a most wonderful and fascinating work."
+
+In the face of this clear and definite statement, made by one whose word
+I know to be unimpeachable, and who lived and worked with H. P. B. at
+that time, what becomes of H. P. B.'s alleged "directions" for the
+"arrangement of the material of Vol. III" which Mrs. Besant speaks of
+above, and the statement in the Preface to _her_ version of Vol.
+III:--"The task of preparing this volume for the press has been a
+difficult and anxious one.... The papers given to me by H. P. B. were
+quite unarranged, and had no obvious order...."? This volume, given by
+Mrs. Besant to the world in 1897, is most certainly _not_ the one Dr.
+Keightley speaks of as "ready" for "the printers" in 1889, as I will
+prove. WHAT THEN BECAME OF THAT VOLUME?
+
+But first I will quote Dr. Stokes, Editor of the _O. E. Critic_, whose
+most specific charges and plain statements of fact hardly come under the
+purposely misleading term "insinuations," used by Mrs. Besant! Dr.
+Stokes "_insinuates_" nothing; he heads his most damaging accusation as
+follows:--
+
+
+     "ANNIE BESANT'S CORRUPTION OF THE SECRET DOCTRINE."
+
+     In all probability Annie Besant's "revision" of H. P.
+     Blavatsky's original edition of _The Secret Doctrine_
+     constitutes the most colossal case of corruption of an original
+     text to be found in history. A group of students is comparing
+     the original edition with the "third and revised edition,"
+     edited by Annie Besant and G. R. S. Mead, after the author's
+     death.... I am informed by those making the comparison [that]
+     ... the actual changes will be far more than twenty thousand.
+     Many of these changes are trivial and one wonders at the
+     impertinence or conceit which inspired them. Some of the
+     changes--those which might have put students on their guard
+     against the so-called Third Volume--can only be construed as
+     deliberate and intentional suppressions and corruptions of the
+     original text. And this in a work of which the Master K. H.
+     wrote: "Every mistake or erroneous notion corrected and
+     explained by her from the works of other Theosophists was
+     corrected by me or under my instruction." The true title of the
+     "third and revised edition" should be "_The Secret Doctrine_,
+     written by H. P. Blavatsky, corrected and approved by the
+     Master K. H., and corrupted by Annie Besant." It is almost
+     impossible to comprehend the colossal conceit, the limitless
+     contempt for common literary decency which could have inspired
+     such an act of vandalism, to say nothing of such disrespect for
+     the Master whom she professes to venerate. And all of this is
+     put forth as the work of H. P. Blavatsky herself, with the mere
+     apology in the preface that "Had H. P. Blavatsky lived to issue
+     the new edition, she would doubtless have corrected and
+     enlarged it to a very considerable extent." What a specious
+     excuse? [Repeated in the preface to the alleged Vol. III.--A.
+     L. C.] Had H. P. B. "corrected and enlarged it" it would
+     without doubt have been done under the same guidance and
+     authority which directed and corrected the first edition. It is
+     enough to cast suspicion on each and every quotation of
+     original sources made by Mrs. Besant, and her emendation of the
+     Theosophy of H. P. B. as well. (October 12th, 1921.)
+
+     As for the third volume, edited and published after the death
+     of H. P. B. from manuscripts left by her, nobody knows, in the
+     absence of a previous edition issued by her, how much of it is
+     H. P. B.'s and how much is not, but there is good evidence that
+     much of it is not, which is the more likely in view of the
+     vandalisms the same editors perpetrated in the first two
+     volumes. In no sense can the "third and revised edition" be
+     said to be a re-print of the original _Secret Doctrine_ of H.
+     P. Blavatsky. (December 21st, 1921.)
+
+I most fully endorse all that Dr. Stokes so ably demonstrates, and I can
+quite believe that, in regard to Vol. III, some of the contents are not
+by H. P. B.-- the style in places is not hers at all. But I can
+enlighten him as to those portions of the contents of which I have
+actual knowledge. I may here add that, when my own group of students
+were checking the "third and revised edition" of the first and second
+volumes of _The Secret Doctrine_ by the original edition of 1888, they
+came across no less than four specific references by H. P. B. to Vols.
+III and IV as being practically completed, _viz._, Vol. I, Preface, and
+p. 11; Vol. II, pp. 437, 798, 1st Ed., 1888. Mrs. Besant coolly deleted
+all these without a word of explanation!
+
+How unnecessary nearly all of this so-called "revision" was, can be
+realised in the Keightleys' accounts (see Countess Wachtmeister's book)
+of the care taken over the proofs of the first edition. Mr. Bertram
+Keightley says they first "read the whole mass of MSS.--a pile over
+three feet high--most carefully through, correcting the English and
+punctuation where absolutely indispensable." (Contrast this modesty and
+respect for the author with the spirit that perpetrated the thirty
+thousand corrections in the "third edition"!) It was then arranged under
+H. P. B.'s supervision in Sections, etc., and professionally
+typewritten. This first copy was again revised and any obscurities
+explained. It should be noted here that Mr. Keightley says they laid
+before H. P. B. "a plan, suggested by the character of the matter
+itself, _viz._, to make the work consist of four volumes ... to follow
+the natural order of exposition and begin with the Evolution of Cosmos,
+to pass from that to the Evolution of Man, then to deal with the
+historical part in a third volume treating of the lives of some great
+Occultists, and of 'Practical Occultism' in a fourth." This proves that
+at least the whole of the material for Vol. III was actually there (Dr.
+Keightley elsewhere states that it was _ready for the printer_.)
+Finally the Keightleys themselves set to work to type out a fair copy
+of Vols. I and II for the printer. "H. P. B. read and corrected two sets
+of galley proofs, then a page proof, and finally a revise in sheet,
+correcting, adding, and altering up to the very last moment."
+
+Dr. A. Keightley says:--" ... no work and no trouble, no suffering or
+pain could daunt her from her task. Crippled with rheumatism, suffering
+from a disease which had several times nearly proved fatal, she still
+worked on unflaggingly, writing at her desk the moment her eyes and
+fingers could guide the pen.... We had to carry on the general scheme
+... to act as watch-dogs and help her to make the meaning as clear as
+possible. But all the work was hers ... it went through three or four
+other hands besides H. P. B.'s in galley proof, as well as in revise.
+She was her own most severe corrector...."
+
+Another able helper was Mr. E. Douglas Fawcett, the well-known author of
+_The Riddle of the Universe_, of whom both the Keightleys speak in terms
+of high praise. His profound knowledge of science, philosophy, and
+metaphysics was invaluable. "He supplied many of the quotations from
+scientific works, as well as many confirmations of the occult doctrines
+derived from similar sources."
+
+And this monumental work, produced with such meticulous care and
+precautions against errors, is subjected to some thirty thousand
+corrections by its subsequent "editors"! In all my study of the original
+edition I have never found more than a few errors that matter in the
+least, and these are mostly typographical and quite obvious to any
+person of average intelligence. The marvel is that there are so few in a
+work of such magnitude and scope. Those of my students who possess only
+the "third and revised edition" (the first and second now being
+scarce), have re-corrected it to agree with the first; and to look at
+the pages covered with these re-corrections brings home to one, as
+nothing else can, the force and justice of Dr. Stokes's indictment. Let
+us hope that when H. P. B.'s great work is understood and accepted
+seriously at its true worth, an indignant posterity will pass judgment
+on one of the worst examples of literary vandalism in the nineteenth
+century.
+
+In her Preface to Vol. III, Mrs. Besant boldly states that, in regard to
+the Sections entitled "The Mystery of Buddha," there are "very numerous
+errors of fact, and many statements based on exoteric writings, not on
+esoteric knowledge"! If her own statement with which I have dealt,
+regarding the Pratyeka Buddha is to be taken as the measure of her
+capacity to judge of the merit or demerit of H. P. B.'s work, all that
+Mrs. Besant says, or skilfully suggests, in this Preface can be
+dismissed as absolutely worthless. But in view of the fact that she then
+believed herself to be acting under the direction of "a Master in the
+flesh" (see Mr. Martyn's letter, _ante_ pp. 18-19 and footnote p. 56),
+who happened to be _an orthodox Brahmin_, these unfounded pronouncements
+which I quote with regard to the Sections on the Lord Buddha are perhaps
+not so surprising. I use the word "unfounded" advisedly, for she makes
+two separate statements as to the way in which she obtained the material
+for this so-called Vol. III. She opens the Preface with the first
+one:--"The task of preparing this volume for the press has been a
+difficult and anxious one, and it is necessary to state clearly what has
+been done." This is one of her usual formulas, after which she proceeds
+to do the exact opposite. She thus continues, in fact:--"The papers
+given to me by H. P. B...." But Mrs. Besant was not in England when H.
+P. B. died, _quite unexpectedly_, and with only three of her pupils
+present, namely, Mr. Claude Wright, Mr. Walter Old and Miss Laura Cooper
+(now Mrs. G. R. S. Mead.) We were all summoned by telegram, and I was at
+Avenue Road within a few hours. I never heard of any evidence that she
+gave Mrs. Besant papers, or directions about papers, before the latter
+left for America on a lecture tour; and most certainly H. P. B. never
+formally "appointed" her, or anyone else, as her "successor," for the
+very good reason that I have given elsewhere--that the movement had
+definitely failed, and she was "recalled." (see _ante_ p. 2.)
+
+To return to Mrs. Besant's Preface. Her second statement is that the
+papers for the Sections on "The Mystery of the Buddha" were "given into
+my hands to publish, as part of the Third Volume of _The Secret
+Doctrine_...." _By whom_ were they "given"? Certainly not by H. P. B.;
+and why does Mrs. Besant speak of these Sections on the Buddha as if
+they were something apart from the "papers" she alleges she received
+_from H. P. B._? Clearly any further analysis is useless, for in all
+probability the truth about what really happened to all H. P. B.'s MSS.
+after her death _will never be known_, since the few who do know will,
+naturally, never speak.
+
+Brushing aside, therefore, Mrs. Besant's "explanatory" Preface, Volume
+III, as given to the public in 1897, appears to be simply a collection
+of fugitive articles which, as I have shown, were obviously freely
+edited. To pad out the volume (the MSS. spoken of by H. P. B. in Vols. I
+and II, as already existing, having mysteriously vanished) Mrs. Besant
+prints both the _E. S. T._ and the _Inner Group Instructions_, despite
+the pledge of secrecy taken by her and all other recipients of these
+teachings. In justification of this she states--_six years after H. P.
+B.'s death_--that H. P. B. instructed her to do so! The worthlessness of
+such "instructions" is palpable in the light of her na�ve belief in the
+alleged reincarnation of her Teacher in Mr. ----'s little daughter.
+(Needless to add that, under Leadbeater, she has another version of this
+idea!) We have the usual misleading and disingenuous statement in a
+"Note" which is prefixed to these Instructions. Mrs. Besant
+says:--"Papers I, II and III ... were written by H. P. B. and were
+circulated privately during her lifetime"
+
+_These "Papers" are the E. S. Instructions._ She calls those given to
+the Inner Group "Notes of some Oral Teaching." But, with two exceptions,
+almost _every word of both E. S. and I. G. Instructions are given
+intact_, just as we received them; I possess them all. The two
+exceptions are, first, the practical teachings, given at the first
+meeting of the _I. G._, for Yoga development, which even Mrs. Besant had
+not the hardihood to publish; and, second, a very long "Preliminary
+Memorandum" to Instructions III.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[19] See also _An Introduction to Mahay�na Buddhism_, by W. M. McGovern,
+1922. Kegan Paul. He confirms H. P. B.'s definition.
+
+[20] It was ... during the highest point of civilisation and knowledge,
+as also of human intellectuality, of ... the Atlantean Race that ...
+humanity branched off into its two diametrically opposite paths; the
+Right and the Left-hand paths of knowledge or of Vidya. "_Thus were the
+germs of the White and the Black Magic sown in those days. The seeds lay
+latent for some time, to sprout only during the early period of the
+Fifth (our Race)._" (_Commentary_).--_The Secret Doctrine._ First
+Edition, Vol. I, p. 192.
+
+
+
+
+The Truth about the E. S. Council, and the Inner Group.
+
+
+The E. S. Instructions were written by H. P. B. during the winter of
+1888-89. The I. G. Teachings were given orally by H. P. B. at its
+meetings in 1890-91. It was the duty of the two secretaries, Mrs. Besant
+and Mr. Mead, to write these Teachings up, from notes sent in by _all of
+us_, after each meeting, and record them in a book. This record was
+dealt with at each succeeding meeting, corrected and often amplified by
+H. P. B. All these _might_, therefore, have been included in Vol. IV of
+_The Secret Doctrine_, according to the general plan of the work adopted
+by H. P. B., if she had lived and had permitted it. Mrs. Besant's
+statement that they were written with that in view is incorrect, and was
+obviously made to justify her action in using them for her version of
+Vol. III.
+
+In the _Theosophist_ for March, 1922, Mrs. Besant published an article
+in which several false statements are made concerning the history of the
+E. S. The writer, a Mr. Fritz Kunz, quotes Colonel Olcott's _Old Diary
+Leaves_ as authority for saying that "the first move towards founding
+the E. S. was made in 1881," that it was "organised steadily through the
+trials of 1884-85," and merely "announced" in 1888. The actual facts
+(see _Theosophist_, April, 1880) are, that when H. P. B. established the
+real THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OR UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD at Benares in 1879
+(the T. S. founded at New York in 1875 was only a "Miracle Club," as
+Colonel Olcott says, with no "brotherhood plank"), it was on a purely
+esoteric basis. It was under the direct guidance of the Trans-Him�layan
+Brotherhood, Who formed the First Section; the second and third being
+for "accepted" and "probationary" _chelas_ respectively. When I joined
+the T. S. in 1885, these rules were still in force in the London Lodge.
+But Colonel Olcott insisted on an exoteric organisation with "the
+occultism more in the background"; and the crisis of 1884-85, which
+drove H. P. B. from India (see her letter of 1890, _ante_ p. 2), was the
+natural result of this policy. Far from the E. S. being "organised
+steadily" at that time, as Mr. Kunz asserts, H. P. B. makes it clear in
+her letter that the Master's influence was "virtually banished" from
+Adyar through lack of faith in Them, and failure to support her, and
+that she had been ordered to "establish the Esoteric Section," at
+London, which she did in 1888, because the necessary faith in the
+Masters still existed there and in America.
+
+Mr. Kunz then makes the astonishing assertion that the E. S. was
+"transferred to Mrs. Annie Besant in due course by H. P. B. in 1891." As
+I was a member of H. P. B.'s Inner Council which was responsible for
+what was done after her death, I am in a position to state the true
+facts as known to me, and as they appear in the E. S. documents in my
+possession. These _facts_ are:--When H. P. B. died--suddenly and
+unexpectedly, on May 8th, 1891[21]., Mr. Judge at once came over from
+New York, and after much consultation and informal meetings of the E. S.
+Council (composed of the I. G. members) and two others, Mr. Wm.
+Kingsland and Dr. W. Wynn Westcott), a formal and "full meeting of the
+Council" was held at Headquarters on May 27th, 1891, when "Bro. Wm. Q.
+Judge attended _as the representative of H. P. B._ under a general power
+given as below." (Italics mine.--A. L. C.)
+
+"As Head of the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society, I hereby
+declare that William Q. Judge, of New York, U.S., in virtue of his
+character as a _chela_ of thirteen years' standing, and of the trust and
+confidence reposed in him, is my only representative for said Section in
+America, and he is the sole channel through whom will be sent and
+received all communications between the members of said Section and
+myself, and to him full faith, confidence and credit in that regard are
+to be given, .*. Done at London this fourteenth day of December, 1888,
+and in the fourteenth year of the Theosophical Society.
+
+    [Seal]               H. P. Blavatsky,
+
+" ... The Council passed the following minute....
+
+That it was resolved and recorded that the highest officials in the
+School for the present are Annie Besant and William Q. Judge, in
+accordance with the above-quoted order to William Q. Judge of December,
+1888, and with the order of April 1st, 1891, to Annie Besant, as well as
+with the written declaration of H. P. B. in a letter to William Q. Judge
+dated March 27th, 1891, which we now here have read, in which she wrote
+that Annie Besant should be so considered. The order of April 1st, 1891,
+is as follows:--
+
+     I hereby appoint, in the name of the Master, Annie Besant Chief
+     Secretary of the Inner Group of the Esoteric Section and
+     Recorder of the Teachings.[22]
+
+     H. P. B., [asterism dots]
+
+Finally, we--the Council--declared over our signatures that "from
+henceforth with Annie Besant and William Q. Judge rest the full charge
+and management of the School."
+
+Thus did _the Council_ establish the "Dual Headship," and until her
+meeting with Mr. ----, two years later, and her subsequent visit to
+India, Mrs. Besant continued to work harmoniously with Mr. Judge in the
+management of the School.
+
+A full report of this Council meeting was immediately sent out to the
+whole E. S., bearing the date May 27th, 1891. Attached to it was an
+"Address" signed by Mrs. Besant and Mr. Judge as joint "Outer Heads,"
+declaring that these "changes in the Constitution of the School" having
+been "made _by the joint Councils of the_ E. S. T." (Italics mine.--A.
+L. C.), they considered it their "duty" to issue this address to each
+member.
+
+_The one error_, and the foundation of all subsequent ones, as I
+subsequently realised, was that of speaking of themselves as H. P. B.'s
+"agents and representatives after her departure"; for there is nothing
+whatever in the wording of the abovementioned official appointments
+which even suggests such a contingency. _Both_ obviously could refer to
+the holders of them only _during_ H. P. B.'s _life-time_. Indeed, Mr.
+Judge's was made when the School was founded, and had been operative
+ever since; while Mrs. Besant's was merely an official confirmation of a
+secretarial office she had filled since the formation of the I. G.
+scarcely nine months previously (thus giving her the precedence of Mr.
+Mead.) It will be seen, however, that Mr. Judge's appointment was a far
+more important one than Mrs. Besant's, and was conferred on him "in
+virtue of his character as _a chela of thirteen years' standing_";
+whereas Mrs. Besant had been "on probation" _only_, for barely a year.
+Moreover, when Mr. Judge became the object of attacks in 1889, H. P. B.
+issued the following very significant notice:--
+
+    "LONDON,
+    _October 23rd, 1889_.
+
+     "The Esoteric Section and its life in the U. S. A. depends upon
+     W. Q. J. remaining its agent and what he is now. The day W. Q.
+     J. resigns H. P. B. will be virtually dead for the Americans.
+     W. Q. J. is the Antaskarana between the two _Manas(es)_, the
+     American thought and the Indian--or rather the trans-Him�layan
+     esoteric knowledge. _Dixi._
+
+     H. P. B. [asterism dots]
+
+     "_P. S._--W. Q. J. had better show and impress _this_ on the
+     mind of _all those it may concern_."
+
+This notice appeared in an E. S. paper issued by Mrs. Besant and Mr.
+Judge, dated July 18th, 1894, when Mrs. Besant was already implicated in
+the plot against Mr. Judge.
+
+Mrs. Besant's appointment, given above, was the only official one she
+ever received from H. P. B. in either the E. S. or T. S. Certainly I
+never heard of anything else. The absolutely Jesuitical nature of her
+methods is patent, in that she _completely ignores_ the documentary
+facts set forth above. To read the present statements it might be
+imagined that Mr. Judge hardly existed at that time, except as an
+obscure person who, as Mr. Kunz tactfully (!) puts it, made an
+"unfortunate blunder." As I have shown elsewhere (see _ante_ pp 5, 70);
+it is the fact that "blunders"--and worse than blunders--were made after
+H. P. B.'s death (see _ante_ p. 86); but Mrs. Besant's "blunders" were
+far more serious than Mr. Judge's; though both of them were, in the
+first instance, misled by others, whose real aim was to disrupt the
+Society and defeat H. P. B.'s work.
+
+I possess a copy of the previously mentioned most valuable "Preliminary
+Memorandum" to Instructions III, as issued by H. P. B. to her students;
+and a prefatory note states:--
+
+     The following "Preliminary Memorandum" was written by H. P. B.
+     at the time of a grave crisis, or rather series of crises,
+     through which the T. S. passed in 1889-90. Treachery within the
+     E. S. itself, and persistent and relentless attacks on the T.
+     S. from without, especially in America necessitated the
+     striking of a fresh keynote and giving directions for the
+     closing up of the ranks of the E. S. At the time of reprinting
+     the Instructions in London in 1890-91, certain portions of this
+     "Preliminary Memorandum" dealing with the details of the matter
+     were purposely omitted by those of H. P. B.'s pupils who were
+     constituted the editors [Mrs. Besant and Mr. Mead], these
+     portions being deemed by them of too personal a character to
+     remain. This was done when H. P. B. was too ill to supervise,
+     without her sanction, and, as she afterwards said, much against
+     her wishes. [Some of the details omitted related to attacks on
+     Mr. Judge, and the duty of defending him "when the time
+     comes."]
+
+Similarly, Mr. Mead omitted from his "third and revised edition" of H.
+P. B.'s _Key to Theosophy_, published in 1893, most of the part in
+which the author deals with the Report of the Society for Psychical
+Research, classing it with "passages of a controversial nature, which
+are no longer of general interest." Yet the public at large still accept
+this Report as a proof that H. P. B. was a fraud, a charlatan, and a
+Russian spy!
+
+Another feature of this edition, as of others of her works produced after
+her death, is what he calls "a systematic use of italics and capitals."
+This means that he abandons H. P. B.'s extremely effective use of large
+and small capitals and italics to emphasise the importance of words like
+MYSTERIES, OCCULTISM, WISDOM-RELIGION, etc., or SELF, ~Self~, and _Self_
+to indicate the three different selves in man, and so robs her text of
+much of its emphasis and meaning. One has to compare her editions with
+these posthumos ounes to realise the extent to which this has been done.
+It is particularly noticeable in _The Voice of the Silence_, where the
+exact meaning often depends on the distinctions H. P. B. thus makes. (See
+her article on Occultism quoted _ante_ p. 31).
+
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+If the "Back to Blavatsky" movement accomplishes nothing else, let us
+hope it may succeed in getting rid of all this vandalism and
+re-establishing H. P. B.'s works on their original basis, that she may
+go down to posterity on her own merits and not altered and distorted by
+the brain-mind notions of her followers. Some of this work is already
+being done by organisations or private enterprise, but it needs to be
+systematised and co-ordinated.[23] Although the "door" had to be "shut"
+at the end of 1899, H. P. B. in her last paragraph of the _Key to
+Theosophy_ expressed the hope that, "when the time comes for the effort
+of the twentieth century [_i.e._, in 1975], besides a large and
+accessible literature ready to men's hands, the next impulse will find a
+numerous and _united_ body of people ready to welcome the new
+Torch-bearer of Truth."
+
+It has been my painful task to show how lamentably we have failed to
+realise her hopes. The "_united_ body" she sacrificed so much to create
+and hold together, was disrupted barely four years after her death; the
+main body under the Besant-Leadbeater _r�gime_ is following strange
+gods; while the great literary legacy left by H. P. B. has not only been
+seriously tampered with, but even largely superseded and obscured by
+books which will certainly not be of any assistance to the next
+"Torch-Bearer."
+
+Some years ago I founded an H. P. B. Lending Library with my original
+editions of her works, and others that are reliable and in line with her
+teaching. It has already done much good, especially among those who have
+been misled and kept in ignorance of them. If others would do the same
+we can in time hope to stem the tide of evil and error, and preserve H.
+P. B.'s message untainted until 1975. It is now within the life-span of
+our younger students, many of whom, as the children of Theosophists,
+have been brought up on the teachings and will bridge the gap for us.
+
+The bridging of this gap, however, has been rendered more difficult than
+it should have been; first, by the failure of the T. S. as _a living
+spiritual force in the world_; and second, by the sinister activities of
+this "ill-omened partnership" which almost immediately followed. The
+whole tragic and dreadful history, fragments only of which I have been
+able to give in this brief examination, proves what incalculable harm
+"Leadbeaterism" is working on the minds of the rising generation. Not
+only is he the virtual director of Mrs. Besant's Society, but he has
+completely infected _her_ mind with his soul-destroying teachings. Hers
+is the real responsibility, therefore[24]; and hers the _karma_ of
+ruining H. P. B.'s life-work, and carrying with her in her fall
+thousands upon thousands of honest, but too credulous and easily
+deceived souls along the broad and flowery road "leading to
+destruction."
+
+As H. P. B. says in concluding her "Occultism _versus_ the Occult
+Arts":--"If, while turning their backs on the narrow gate, they are
+dragged by their desire for the Occult one step in the direction of the
+broad and more inviting Gates of that golden mystery which glitters in
+the light of illusion, woe to them! It can lead only to Dugpa-ship, and
+they will be sure to find themselves very soon landed on that _Via
+Fatale_ of the _Inferno_, over whose portal Dante read the words:--
+
+    "_Per me si va nella citt� dolente
+    Per me si va nell'eterno dolore
+    Per me si va tra la perduta gente._"
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[21] _How_ "unexpected" was the manner of her passing may be gathered
+from the fact that she was, at that very time, building a little
+"occult" room next to her own, of a particular shape and structure, in
+which each of her pupils was to "sit"--alone--"for development," under
+special conditions and "under observation." The tiny roof was to be of
+dark blue glass, of which I still possess a small piece of the colour H.
+P. B. had finally selected.
+
+[22] These orders are here reproduced exactly as printed in the E. S.
+paper. It should be noted that the one relating to Mr. Judge is in
+larger type than the other. The triangle formed of asterisks .*. after
+the words "regard are to be given" indicates that H. P. B. is there
+endorsed by an Initiate of a higher grade. It will also be noticed that
+the dots forming the triangle after her signature differ in size in the
+two orders. In a note in the _Voice of the Silence_ to the words
+"Thyself and mind, like twins upon a line, the star which is thy goal
+burns overhead" H. P. B. says "Every stage of development in _Raja-Yoga_
+is symbolised by a geometrical figure. This one is the sacred _Triangle_
+[_i.e._, [asterism dots] and precedes Dharana. The [triangle] is the
+sign of the high _chelas_, while another kind of triangle is that of
+high Initiates." The [asterism dots] is also used in Freemasonry to
+denote certain high degrees.
+
+[23] It is only fair to give Mrs. Tingley's Organisation credit for the
+good work it is doing in publishing accurate reprints of H. P. B.'s
+works with all the references carefully checked, but none of her own
+writing tampered with. Now that the 1888 edition of _The Secret
+Doctrine_ is so scarce, students will be glad to know that an unaltered
+reprint can now be had instead of the Besant corruption. The reprint of
+_Isis Unveiled_, with the addition of an excellent Index, has long been
+wanted; and the original paging has been preserved, so that the Index
+also serves for the original edition. It is to be regretted that these
+reprints are prefaced by an account of the Theosophical Movement from
+Mrs. Tingley's point of view, which is inaccurate and misleading.
+However, this is easily removed.
+
+[24] In a letter from a Master to a friend occur these words:--"You are
+responsible for the influence that you permit others to exert over you."
+
+
+
+
+_ADDENDUM._
+
+=The Australian Crisis.=
+
+
+The official account of the events in Australia last spring reached me
+too late to include in its proper place (_ante_, p. 4), but its
+importance as the latest phase of the Leadbeater scandal demands
+quotation of the principal details. Australia has been the scene of Mr.
+Leadbeater's activities since the Madras lawsuits (_ante_, p. 39) made
+India too hot for him in 1913. Needless to say, the same scandals were
+repeated there, and finally brought about a crisis at the T. S.
+Convention last Easter in Sydney. Two of Mr. Leadbeater's Indian
+"pupils," Krishnamurti (see _ante_, p. 12) and Jinarajadasa, secured a
+vote of confidence in Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater which roused strong
+opposition. I quote from a long circular letter issued to the members by
+one of the opposition, Mr. J. M. Prentice, of Hobart, who is evidently a
+leading officer. It is dated May 28, 1922.
+
+
+     MRS. BESANT REFUSES AN ENQUIRY.
+
+     Soon after Convention Mrs. Besant arrived in Sydney [from
+     India] a very worried and angry woman. At the Sydney Lodge she
+     spoke on the lines of "Judge not that ye be not judged," and
+     made it thoroughly apparent that she was not in favour of
+     anything in the nature of an Enquiry. During the Convention
+     Leadbeater had issued a special statement to the E. S. T. which
+     led to its expulsion from the Sydney Lodge building. It was
+     this that had finally angered Mrs. Besant to boiling point....
+     She expressed a wish to meet the Lodge Committee and talk over
+     the difficulties. There was a three-hour conference that led
+     nowhere. I am told that she was helpless to a point of pathos.
+     She denied everything as far as Leadbeater and Wedgwood [see
+     _ante_, p. 62] were, concerned, and refused to consider
+     anything in the nature of an Enquiry. She read from old files
+     of the _Theosophist_ how Leadbeater had been rehabilitated, but
+     a member of the Executive challenged her with more recent
+     happenings, to which she could only reply that she did "not
+     believe them."
+
+
+     A TERRIFIC PRESS CRITICISM.
+
+     Two days later the _Daily Telegraph_ came out with a tremendous
+     attack on the "Liberal Catholic Church." The result was
+     terrific. At the members' meeting that night feeling ran very
+     high. The _Telegraph_ had a reporter present and came out with
+     six or seven columns under heavily leaded headlines. Moreover
+     this information was disseminated to all the papers the
+     _Telegraph_ is correspondent for. The result is that
+     irreparable damage has been done to Theosophy and the Society;
+     although the ablest papers are willing to admit that there is
+     still a minority genuinely fighting for sanity and cleanness in
+     the T. S.
+
+
+     GOVERNMENT ENQUIRY INSTITUTED.
+
+     The Government has now instituted an Enquiry, but so far I do
+     not know the scope of its intention. I have been told by
+     telegram that the Leadbeater boys have been examined or
+     interrogated.... One of the latest developments was when Mr. A.
+     B. Piddington, a leading barrister and K. C. of Sydney,
+     resigned from the Presidency of the Public Questions Society of
+     Sydney University rather than meet Mrs. Besant at a public
+     address which she proposed to give to the members. He has
+     addressed a scathing letter to the _Telegraph_, or rather
+     released for publication his letter of resignation, which is a
+     remarkable summing-up of the position.
+
+
+MR. PIDDINGTON, K. C.'S OPINION.
+
+The following are the chief points made by this gentleman, who is not a
+member of the T. S., and therefore represents an impartial legal and
+public view of the moral issue at stake:--
+
+     My resignation is based on the ground that the Society ought to
+     withdraw its invitation to Mrs. Besant until the matters
+     involved in her defence of Mr. C. W. Leadbeater have been
+     settled by a trustworthy tribunal.
+
+     Grave allegations were recently made against Mr. Leadbeater by
+     Mr. Martyn [see _ante_, p. 18,] for his letter to Mrs. Besant,
+     and Mr. Leadbeater's precept and practice in the training of
+     boys have been quoted. Mr. Martyn is supported by other
+     reputable Australians.
+
+     Before landing here, and since, Mrs. Besant has refused any
+     inquiry into these matters, and taken up positions which, in a
+     teacher of morals disentitle her to be heard by an
+     undergraduate society which exists for the pursuit of truth.
+     These positions are:--
+
+     1. That there is a class of beings so high in the religious
+     order that to accuse them is presumption on the part of the
+     common people. Indeed accusations are 'persecution,' which
+     proves the sanctity of these higher beings, and is (in Mrs.
+     Besant's words) the "seal of their apostolate."
+
+     2. Mrs. Besant refers Mr. Leadbeater's challengers to the
+     courts, though to propagate in private the abominable tenet
+     held by him does not constitute an offence against any law, but
+     only against common decency as understood by ordinary men.
+
+     3. She writes that she does not believe, and will not discuss
+     Mr. Martyn's allegations, though she writes from India of what
+     Mr. Martyn says happened in his own home in Sydney.
+
+     If these are good reasons for refusing to hold an inquiry, then
+     immorality can be safely taught and practised in high places so
+     long as the teacher belongs to Mrs. Besant's way of thinking.
+     From the public point of view such a claim cuts the ground from
+     all morals.
+
+     In her letter to the _Daily Telegraph_ [of Sydney] for May 18,
+     Mrs. Besant asks the public to believe that Mr. Leadbeater has
+     to meet charges relating to 1906 [see _ante_, p. 27], and
+     disposed of [?] by some private investigation in 1908. The fact
+     is ignored that Mr. Martyn's accusations relate to conduct
+     since 1914, Worse than this, the fact is suppressed that Mrs.
+     Besant in 1913 was herself ordered by the Madras High Court to
+     return to their father two boys whom she insisted in placing in
+     Mr. Leadbeater's care, in spite of the father's protest. [See
+     _ante_, p. 40] ... Mr. Justice Bakewell said that, from
+     Leadbeater's evidence, he was "certainly an immoral person, and
+     highly unfit to be in charge of the boys." He also found that
+     Mrs. Besant had violated her stipulation made with the father
+     before parting with the boys, that they should have nothing to
+     do with Mr. Leadbeater. (London _Times_, March 8, 1913.)
+
+     In the following year Mr. Leadbeater came to Australia and now
+     "trains" Australian boys.
+
+     Mrs. Besant lent herself and her oratory to the acquittal,
+     without evidence, of Mr. Leadbeater at a public meeting ... In
+     my view it is as bad to rescue a man from public justice (which
+     is a wider term than criminal law) by the exercise of a
+     dominating personal veto, as it is to do it by money or social
+     or any other 'influence'--'influence' which is the bane of any
+     system of justice.... She may effect a master-stroke of
+     salvage, but she offends every canon of fairplay, let alone of
+     that ordinary morality by which all men, high or humble, must
+     be content to be judged. These sombre facts stand out:--
+
+     1. Mrs. Besant's chief colleague has stated as late as 1913 in
+     open court that he still believed in teaching a detestable vice
+     to boys, which he had previously taught them.
+
+     2. An English Judge for this reason declared him to be an
+     immoral person.
+
+     3. Mr. Martyn accused Mr. Leadbeater of being still what the
+     English judge said of him, and alleged fact upon fact in
+     support of this.
+
+     4. Mrs. Besant has shielded Mr. Leadbeater from inquiry.
+
+     5. Mr. Leadbeater says nothing.
+
+
+AN INDICTMENT OF MRS. BESANT BY A RESIGNING MEMBER OF HER E. S.
+
+Further very recent testimony and criticism is furnished by a letter of
+resignation from Mrs. Besant's Esoteric School by Mr. Hugh R. Gillespie,
+of Krotona, California, one of the strongholds of the "Liberal Catholic
+Church." The letter, dated May 29, is printed in the _O. E. Critic_ of
+August 16, and the Editor in a prefatory note says:--
+
+     The writer ... is well-known to Theosophists of three
+     continents as a lecturer and as a fearless, persistent and
+     uncompromising fighter for honesty and cleanness in the T. S.
+     For almost three years he was attached to Adyar as architect
+     and sanitary engineer.... He was at Adyar during the trial of
+     the "Cases" in the Madras courts and saw the whole sordid drama
+     in action. During this period he had abundant opportunity for
+     getting light, as well as sidelights, on the working of the
+     Adyar machine and on the personal peculiarities of the gods and
+     demigods of the Theosophical Olympus. Later he was resident
+     three years at Krotona, where similar opportunities were not
+     lacking.
+
+Mr. Gillespie writes that he resigns as a protest against the actions
+and utterances of Mrs. Besant as "Outer Head" of the E. S. and President
+of the T. S., and continues:--
+
+     These actions and utterances have, since her assumption of the
+     above mentioned positions, been of such a character that, to
+     use the words of H. P. B., the Theosophical Society is
+
+     " ... being made a spectacle to the world through the
+     exaggerations of some fanatics, and the attempt of various
+     charlatans to profit by a ready-made programme. These, by
+     disfiguring and adapting Occultism to their own filthy and
+     immoral ends bring disgrace on the whole movement."
+
+     As a result of Mrs. Besant's methods we learn that the T. S.
+     and E. S. in almost every section is seething with dissension.
+     England, Australia and America are racked and torn; Germany is
+     split; Finland is shattered, and the closing of the E. S. for
+     some four years in Switzerland indicates the conditions there.
+
+     Mrs. Besant's arrogance and vanity in office and her lack of
+     dignity, as exemplified in her ridiculous "Whom will ye serve?"
+     tirade, and her letter of March, 1922, have drawn the attention
+     of the great London weekly _Truth_, and in its pages the T. S.
+     is held up to the scorn and ridicule of the world. [I have
+     dealt with these under the heading of "Mrs Besant's Latest
+     Assertions and Claims Examined."--A. L. C.]
+
+     So far as the E. S. is concerned, my experience of its working
+     under Mrs. Besant in Australia, Adyar, England, and America
+     enable me to assert that it is nothing but a political machine
+     used for the purpose of securing the ascendancy of Mrs. Besant
+     in the various bodies to which E. S. members have gained
+     access. [I would draw particular attention to this important
+     statement. It is especially true of India, which is the
+     principal scene of her political activities.--A. L. C.]
+
+     ... Mrs. Besant's parade of thrusting the L. C. C. out of the
+     T. S. door while bringing it in by the E. S. window, added to
+     her condonement of the vile practices of the L. C. C. bishops
+     and priests, fall little short of a betrayal of the T S. and
+     could only be adequately met by her resignation from all
+     office....
+
+
+
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY.
+
+
+_The Secret Doctrine._ London, 1888. _The Key to Theosophy and The Voice
+of the Silence._ London 1889. _The Theosophical Glossary._ London, 1892.
+_Practical Occultism_ Reprint, London, 1921.--H. P. Blavatsky.
+
+_Mrs. Besant and the Present Crisis in the Theosophical Society._ With a
+Prefatory Letter by M. Edouard Schur�. London, 1913.--Eug�ne L�vy.
+
+_The Central Hindu College and Mrs. Besant. (The Rise of the Alcyone
+Cult.)_ Chicago, 1913.--Bhagavan Das.
+
+_Reminiscences of H. P. Blavatsky and "The Secret Doctrine."_ London,
+1893--Countess Constance Wachtmeister.
+
+
+
+
+    PRINTED BY
+
+    THACKER, SPINK & CO
+
+    CALCUTTA
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
+
+This text is full of typographical errors (wrong spelling and unmatched
+brackets and quotation marks, reference to italics when there are none).
+Since these are really a characteristic of the text, I have left them
+unchanged.
+
+The asterisms on p. 85 and in footnote 22 are represented in the text
+version as .*. and the "asterisms-with dots" on the same page and in the
+same footnote are represented by [asterism dots]; the triangle on p. 86
+is indicated by [triangle] in the text version.
+
+Words in bold are indicated by the markup = =.
+
+The word Self in small capitals is indicated by the markup ~Self~.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's H. P. Blavatsky, by Alice Leighton Cleather
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of H. P. Blavatsky: a Great Betrayal, by Alice Leighton Cleather.
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of H. P. Blavatsky, by Alice Leighton Cleather
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: H. P. Blavatsky
+       A Great Betrayal
+
+Author: Alice Leighton Cleather
+
+Release Date: June 11, 2011 [EBook #36373]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK H. P. BLAVATSKY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David E. Brown, Margo Romberg, Bryan Ness and
+the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive/American
+Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 366px;">
+<img src="images/cover.png" width="366" height="600" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 66%;" />
+
+<p class="center">WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><b>H. P. Blavatsky:</b>&mdash;<i>Her Life and Work for Humanity.</i><br />
+<span class="smcap">Calcutta: Thacker, Spink &amp; Co., 1922.</span><br /></p>
+
+<p class="center"><b>In Collaboration with Mrs. Laura Langford:</b>&mdash;<br /><i>Helena
+Petrovna Blavatsky. Personal Recollections by Old Friends.</i> <br />New York, 1922.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><b>In Collaboration with Mr. Basil Crump:</b> <br /><i>Richard
+Wagner's Music Dramas.</i> <br />
+Embodying Wagner's own interpretations based upon his studies of
+Oriental Philosophy.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">London: Methuen &amp; Co., 4 Vols.</span></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 66%;" />
+<p><br /></p>
+
+
+<p class="center">H. P. BLAVATSKY<br /><br /><br />
+</p>
+<hr style="width: 66%;" />
+
+<p>"Behold the truth before you! a clean life, an open mind,
+a pure heart, an eager intellect, an unveiled spiritual perception,
+a brotherliness for one's co-disciple, a readiness to give
+and receive advice and instruction, a loyal sense of duty to the
+Teacher, a willing obedience to the behests of TRUTH,
+once we have placed our confidence in, and believe that
+Teacher to be in possession of it; a courageous endurance of
+personal injustice, a brave declaration of principles, a valiant
+defence of those who are unjustly attacked, and a constant
+eye to the ideal of human progression and perfection which
+the secret science (<i>Gupta Vidya</i>) depicts&mdash;these are the
+golden stairs up the steps of which the learner may climb to
+the Temple of Divine Wisdom. Say this to those who have
+volunteered to be taught by you."</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Letter to H. P. B. from her Master</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">(concerning her E. S. students.)</span><br /><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 66%;" />
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+<h1>H. P. BLAVATSKY</h1>
+
+<h1>A GREAT BETRAYAL<br /><br /></h1>
+
+<h4>BY</h4>
+
+<h3>ALICE LEIGHTON CLEATHER</h3>
+
+<h3><i>One of Her Pupils</i><br /><br /><br /></h3>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Published by</i></p>
+
+<p class="center">THACKER, SPINK &amp; CO<br />
+CALCUTTA<br /><br />
+1922<br /><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 66%;" />
+
+
+<p>"Tell them ...; As pure water poured into the scavenger's
+bucket is befouled and unfit for use, so is divine truth when
+poured into the consciousness of a Sensualist.... Observe,
+that the first of the steps of gold which mount towards the
+Temple of Truth is&mdash;A CLEAN LIFE. This means a purity
+of body, and a still greater purity of mind, heart and spirit."</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Letter to H. P. B. from her Master<br /></span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">(concerning her E. S. students.)<br /></span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h2><br />CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<table id="toc" summary="Table of Contents">
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="right smcap">Page</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="smcap">Foreword</td>
+<td class="right"><a href="#FOREWORD">vii</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="smcap">Introductory</td>
+<td class="right"><a href="#INTRODUCTORY">1</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="smcap">Mr. William Kingsland on the Crisis of 1906</td>
+<td class="right"><a href="#Kingsland">7</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="smcap">M. M. Schur&eacute; and L&eacute;vy on the Crisis Of 1913</td>
+<td class="right"><a href="#Crisis">11</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="smcap">Mrs. Besant's "Return of the Christ"</td>
+<td class="right"><a href="#Return">15</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="smcap">Fundamental Causes: Some Occult Methods</td>
+<td class="right"><a href="#Occult">23</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="smcap">H. P. Blavatsky on True Occultism</td>
+<td class="right"><a href="#Occultism">31</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="smcap">Mrs. Besant's Responsibility and The Madras Law-suits</td>
+<td class="right"><a href="#Madras">39</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="smcap">The Central Hindu College: an Indian Criticism</td>
+<td class="right"><a href="#Central">43</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="smcap">Mrs. Besant's latest Assertions and Claims examined</td>
+<td class="right"><a href="#Claims">51</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="smcap">Tampering with H. P. Blavatsky's Writings</td>
+<td class="right"><a href="#Tampering">71</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="smcap">"Annie Besant's Corruption of the Secret Doctrine"</td>
+<td class="right"><a href="#Secret">76</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="smcap">The Truth about the E. S. Council and the Inner Group</td>
+<td class="right"><a href="#Truth">83</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="smcap">Conclusion</td>
+<td class="right"><a href="#Conclusion">89</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<h3>ADDENDUM.</h3>
+
+<table id="toc1" summary="Table of Contents1">
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="smcap">The Australian Crisis</td>
+<td class="right"><a href="#Australian">92</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="smcap">An Indictment of Mrs. Besant by a Resigning Member of her E. S.</td>
+<td class="right"><a href="#Indictment">95</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="smcap">Bibliography</td>
+<td class="right"><a href="#Bibliography">97</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><br />There is a very very ancient maxim far older than the
+time of the Romans or the the Greeks .... It is a maxim all of them
+them ought to remember&mdash;and live accordingly ... a sound
+and pure mind requires a sound and pure body. Bodily
+purity every adept takes precautions to keep.... Most of
+them know this.... But though they have been repeatedly
+told of this <i>sine qua non</i> rule on the Path of Theosophy
+and <i>Chelaship</i>, how few of them have given attention to
+it.... Behold, how many of them are ... debauchees, GUILTY
+OF SECRET IMMORALITY in more than one form....
+Though such a person with any of the faults as above declared
+[others are named] should fill the world with his charities,
+and make his name known throughout every nation, he would
+make no advancement in the practical occult sciences, but
+be continually slipping backward. The 'six and ten
+transcendental virtues,' the Paramitas<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>, are not for full
+grown Yogis and priests alone, but for all those who would
+enter the 'Path.'"</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Letter to H. P. B. from her Master</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">(concerning her E. S. students.)</span><br />
+<br /></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><b>FOOTNOTES:</b></span>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a>
+<i>See</i> "<i>The Voice of the Silence,</i>" <i>by H. P. Blavatsky.</i></p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><br /><br /> <a name="FOREWORD" id="FOREWORD"></a>FOREWORD.</h2>
+
+
+<p>This Protest has been undertaken at the earnest
+and repeated requests of Theosophical friends of
+long standing. They feel strongly that the time
+has come for one of H. P. Blavatsky's old pupils,
+who was a member of her Inner Group, to
+demonstrate as clearly as possible that the
+teachings promulgated for nearly twenty years
+past by the present leaders of the "Theosophical
+Society" have departed more and more from
+H. P. B.'s, and are now their direct antithesis,
+particularly on the fundamental question of sex
+morality.</p>
+
+<p>Since Mr. G. R. S. Mead, one of my fellow-members
+of the Inner Group, spoke out at the
+Leadbeater Inquiry of 1906, and resigned, no
+other surviving member, so far as I have been
+able to ascertain, has attempted to stem the
+awful and ever increasing tide of horror and
+delusion, that is, engulfing&mdash;one might almost say
+<i>has</i> engulfed&mdash;Mrs. Besant's Society. If Mr. Mead
+could say in 1906;&mdash;"We stand on the brink of
+an abyss," what is to be said now? The enquiries
+and researches I have undertaken to enable me
+to write this pamphlet have revealed the present
+state of things to be far worse than I could have
+imagined possible.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span>
+From the time I left Mrs. Besant in 1895
+and Mrs. Tingley in 1899, I have been out of
+touch with these two movements, each calling
+itself "theosophical" and each leader claiming to
+be H. P. B.'s "successor." This is the reason
+why I have hitherto kept silent; in fact, it was
+not until I came to live in India in 1918, after
+spending some years on the Continent, and met
+some of the members&mdash;both Indian and European&mdash;who
+had left Mrs. Besant in more recent years,
+that I learnt of the appalling developments
+since she became President and installed the sex
+pervert Leadbeater as supreme esoteric teacher.</p>
+
+<p>I feel that I should be failing in my duty,
+and false to the solemn Pledges I have taken,
+if I did not now do my utmost to clear H. P. B.'s
+name from these horrible associations, and
+demonstrate that they have nothing whatever
+to do with her Masters (the Trans-Him&acirc;layan
+Brotherhood) or Their Esoteric doctrine.</p>
+
+<p>I therefore <span class="smcap">Protest</span> with all my strength,
+and <i>in Their sacred Names</i>, against what is to
+me a desecration and a blasphemy.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>September, 1922.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A. L. C.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><i>Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.</i></h4>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+<h2>
+<br /><br /><a name="INTRODUCTORY" id="INTRODUCTORY"></a>INTRODUCTORY.</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">F</span>OR the past fifteen years, despite repeated scandals,
+exposures, and even the damning evidence produced
+in various court cases, Mrs. Besant still persists
+in her blind and fanatical support of the sex pervert and
+pseudo-occultist C. W. Leadbeater, and the promulgation
+of his delusive, immoral, and poisonous teachings among
+the members of the Theosophical Society she rules, and the
+public at large, to whom she is known chiefly as an able
+speaker and an astute politician. Goaded by a revival
+of the well-known evidence against Mr. Leadbeater, and
+a severe criticism of her own actions, Mrs. Besant
+published in her official organ (<i>Theosophist</i>, March, 1922.)
+an article entitled "Whom Will Ye Serve?" and a long
+Supplement addressed to the members, reiterating her
+support of Mr. Leadbeater, and making statements in
+justification of him and herself that call imperatively
+for a dispassionate review of the history of this ill-omened
+partnership, and the strongest possible protest
+against the complete stultification and perversion of
+H. P. Blavatsky's life-work and teaching that it involves.</p>
+
+<p>I have no personal quarrel with Mrs. Besant, whose
+brilliant intellectual gifts we all so much admired in the
+early days, and who accomplished such splendid work
+for the Cause during H. P. Blavatsky's lifetime. I had
+already been a member of the Society for four years when
+Mrs. Besant joined in 1889; and as we both subsequently
+became members of the Inner Group of H. P. B.'s personal
+pupils, I feel I am in a position to review the facts, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>
+entitled to utter this protest. In fact, I can no longer
+remain silent in the face of so much that is abhorrent
+to every true Theosophist, to every devoted follower
+of H. P. Blavatsky, her Masters, and Their teachings.</p>
+
+<p>In a private letter to Mr. Judge, in or about 1887,
+H. P. B. writes: "I am the mother and creator of the
+Society; it has my magnetic fluid.... Therefore I
+alone and to a degree ... can serve as a lightning
+conductor of Karma for it. I was asked whether I was
+willing, when on the point of dying&mdash;and I said 'Yes'&mdash;for
+it was the only means to save it. Therefore I
+consented to live...." Obviously, the only possible
+conclusion to be drawn from this is that, when in 1891
+H. P. Blavatsky passed away (or rather was "recalled")
+nine years before the limit of time within which the
+Masters' help could be given,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> it was because They
+saw that the T. S. had definitely failed, that it could
+no longer be kept alive.</p>
+
+<p>A long and, in this connection, very important
+letter was written by H. P. Blavatsky in 1890 "To my
+Brothers in Aryavarta," giving the real reason why she
+did not return to India. Among other significant
+statements which she makes (<i>Theosophist</i>, January, 1922.),
+there is one which shows that she must clearly have
+foreseen the ultimate disintegration of the Society, which
+occurred in 1895. Writing of the shameful way in which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>
+she was thrown overboard, like a second Jonah, by
+Colonel Olcott and the T. S. Council at Adyar in their
+cowardly panic during the crisis of 1884-85, H. P. B.
+says: "It was during that time ... that the seeds of
+all future strifes, and&mdash;let me say at once&mdash;<i>disintegration
+of the Theosophical Society</i> [Italics mine.&mdash;A. L. C.] were
+planted by our enemies.... In a letter received from
+Damodar in 1886 [He had been called by his Master
+to Tibet the previous year.&mdash;A. L. C.] he notified me
+that the Masters' influence was becoming with every
+day weaker at Adyar." Further on in the letter H. P. B.
+again refers to Adyar, and to an invitation to return
+to India which "came too late ... nor can I, if I
+would be true to my life-pledge and vows, now live at
+the Headquarters <i>from which the Masters and Their
+spirit are virtually banished. The presence of Their
+portraits will not help; They are a dead letter.</i>" [Italics
+mine. Yet Mrs. Besant asks us to believe that They
+returned when she was elected President in 1907, and
+even nominated her!&mdash;A. L. C.]</p>
+
+<p>In the same letter H. P. B. says that she was pledged
+never to reveal "the whole truth" about the Masters
+to anyone, "excepting to those who like Damodar, had
+been finally selected and called by Them." She also
+speaks of him as "that one future Adept who has now
+the prospect of becoming one day a Mahatma, Kali
+Yuga notwithstanding." It is he again of whom she
+spoke four years earlier, when she wrote: "During the
+eleven years of the existence of the Theosophical Society
+I have known, out of the seventy-two regularly accepted
+<i>chelas</i> on probation and the hundreds of lay candidates&mdash;only
+<i>three</i> who have not hitherto failed, and <i>one only</i>
+who had a full success." ("The Theosophical Mahatmas."
+<i>Path</i>, December, 1886.) Damodar is the only <i>chela</i>
+she ever spoke of as a "full success" in her lifetime;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>
+and it is worthy of special note that he was a high caste
+Brahmin who did not hesitate to give up caste and
+become a Buddhist (so Colonel Olcott states).</p>
+
+<p>In the late spring Mrs. Besant paid a hasty visit to
+Australia, whither her "brother-initiate" had to flee
+from India some time since, as previously from London,
+Paris, and America. The cause is always the same;
+scandals inevitably arise, and Australia has proved no
+exception. Mr. Leadbeater is a "Bishop" of the
+"Liberal Catholic Church," an anomalous body warmly
+supported and encouraged within and without the T. S.
+by Mrs. Besant. Other of its bishops have incurred
+similar odium and a "priest" has quite recently
+confessed in writing and implicated the "Presiding
+Bishop" and others. It has been stated that all
+these men are being watched by the police, who
+are only waiting to secure enough evidence. Matters
+cannot go on much longer like this; and a
+pamphlet published at New York last February says
+that "with difficulty a delay of a few months has been
+obtained in a pending arraignment and exposure in the
+Public Press in America." When it comes it will be a
+far graver indictment than that which precipitated the
+'Besant <i>v.</i> Judge' crisis in 1894-95, and rent the T. S.
+in twain. <i>Then</i> Mrs. Besant accused her colleague
+Mr. Judge of "giving a misleading material form to
+messages received psychically from the Master in various
+ways ..." (<i>Enquiry</i> at London, July, 1894); but <i>now</i>
+she is deliberately condoning, if not actually supporting,
+something far worse which was investigated and found
+true by a T. S. committee of enquiry in 1906.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p>For those unfamiliar with the events succeeding
+H. P. Blavatsky's death in 1891, I must add that those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>
+of us who supported Mr. Judge against Mrs. Besant's
+charges came under the sway, after his death a year
+later, of an equally masterful, able, and ambitious
+woman having very similar characteristics and methods.
+This was Mrs. Katherine Tingley, formerly a New York
+professional psychic and trance medium, from whose
+organisation ("The Universal Brotherhood") I resigned
+in 1899. Her activities are now mainly confined to a
+colony in California.</p>
+
+<p>A point to which I think attention has not hitherto
+been drawn is the striking similarity in the fate which
+befell Mrs. Besant and Mr. Judge respectively after the
+death of H. P. Blavatsky. Being left as the most obvious
+leaders of the European and American Sections respectively
+(neither of them were in England when she died),
+the E. S. Council decided that they should carry on the
+Esoteric School as joint Outer Heads in place of H. P. B.,
+oblivious of the fact that one of them (Mrs. Besant) was
+untrained, and both were unfit to fill such a high
+occult office (<a href="#Page_86">see <i> post</i> p. 86</a>). This soon became evident
+when each in turn fell an easy prey to external influences
+which first separated them, and then disrupted the
+Society and E. S.</p>
+
+<p>Among the old T. S. and E. S. papers now lying
+before me I find not a few which throw a most illuminating
+light on Mrs. Besant's activities in recent years.
+Before dealing with her latest statements I will quote
+extracts from these papers in support and elucidation
+of the points I wish to make, <i>viz</i>:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>(<i>a</i>) That under Mrs. Besant's guidance the T. S.
+has long ceased to represent H. P. Blavatsky's
+teaching, or the thought of its Founders.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>b</i>) That it is now completely dominated by the
+deluded, impure, and poisonous ideas of an
+acknowledged sex pervert, to whom this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>
+unhappy and misguided woman believes and
+openly declares herself to be bound by indissoluble
+and age-long ties.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>c</i>) That in adopting and conniving at the promulgation
+of the teachings of this man, and allowing
+him virtually to control her Society, Mrs.
+Besant most impiously gives out that she is
+acting under the orders of the Trans-Him㭡yan
+Masters of Wisdom, and H. P. Blavatsky's
+directions.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>This last point (<i>c</i>) is the real gravamen of my Protest.
+It would be of relative unimportance&mdash;Mrs. Besant
+having already wrecked the Society in 1895&mdash;that it had
+descended to the level of any existing sect, Christian or
+other (as much a close corporation as the Adventists or
+New Jerusalemites), had its two present leaders dropped
+the <i>title</i>, and ceased to claim any connection with the
+"real Founders." But, on the contrary, Mrs. Besant
+and Mr. Leadbeater use Their sacred names and declare
+themselves to be under Their direct guidance. Such
+proceedings merit the sternest possible moral condemnation
+in view of the facts.<br /><br /></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><b>FOOTNOTES:</b></span>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a>
+" ... there remain but a few years to the last hour of the
+term&mdash;namely, till December the 31st, 1899. Those who will not
+have profited by the opportunity (given to the world in every last
+quarter of a century) ... will advance no further than the knowledge
+already acquired. No Master of Wisdom from the East will himself
+appear or send anyone to Europe or America after that period....
+Such is the law, for we are in <i>Kali-Yuga</i>&mdash;the Black Age&mdash;and the
+restrictions in this cycle, the first 5,000 years of which will expire
+in 1897, are great and almost insuperable." (H. P. Blavatsky in the
+"Book of Rules, E. S. T." 1888.)</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a>
+For later and fuller particulars from Australia, <a href="#Australian">see Addendum</a>.<br /><br /></p></div>
+
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p>
+<h2><br /><br /><a name="Kingsland" id="Kingsland"></a>Mr. William Kingsland on the Crisis of 1906</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE first of the old papers I shall quote from is by my old
+friend and fellow-Councillor Mr. William Kingsland,
+author of <i>The Esoteric Basis of Christianity</i>
+and kindred works. He was one of the leading members
+in the early days under H. P. B. who, when Mrs. Besant
+on securing the Presidency after Colonel Olcott's death
+in 1907 reinstated Mr. Leadbeater, resigned their membership.
+Mrs. Besant had reviewed a new book by Mr.
+Kingsland, and took the opportunity to refer to his
+resignation. Replying in "An Open Letter to Annie
+Besant" dated December, 1909, he tells her:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>You have dragged in a perfectly irrelevant, uncalled-for
+and untrue statement which I cannot allow to pass
+unchallenged...." The words I refer to are these:
+"We have here a very excellent Theosophical book, with
+an evasion of all recognition of the source whence the
+ideas are drawn. When Theosophy becomes fashionable,
+how those who refuse to walk with her in the days of
+scorning will crowd to claim her as theirs when she walks
+in the sunshine amid applause!" Now these words
+convey the implication, in the first place, that there is a connection
+between the form in which my book is presented, and
+recent events in the Theosophical Society which have led me
+as well as many others, to sever our connection with that
+Society; and, in the second place, that we now "refuse to
+walk with her" because, forsooth, she is not now "fashionable,"
+but "in the days of scorning." Neither of these statements
+is true, and the implication is most unworthy of you....
+That, however, is a small matter compared with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>
+implication that I and others have turned our backs on Theosophy
+for so unworthy a reason.</p>
+
+<p>Let me ask you to look at the names of the old and tried
+workers whom you have forced out of the Society by your
+disastrous policy, and then ask yourself in the Great Presence
+whether it is true that any of them have deserted Theosophy&mdash;or
+rather the Theosophical Society&mdash;because it is less
+"fashionable" now than it was in the old days when you
+and I and these others stood side by side and fought the battle
+for H. P. Blavatsky. Did any of us shirk obloquy then,
+and do you really think we are less ready to face it now? It
+is one thing, however, to incur obloquy for the sake of Truth,
+and quite another thing to be asked to do it <i>in support of
+immoral teachings</i>.... What I want to point out now more
+particularly, and in the interest of true Theosophy, is, that
+you are now making the grand mistake&mdash;one never made by
+H. P. Blavatsky&mdash;of thinking, writing, and speaking as if
+Theosophy and the Theosophical Society were one and the
+same thing, absoutely identical; and that there can be no
+Theosophy in the world without the Theosophical Society,
+and no Theosophists outside of it.... You must know that
+in leaving the Theosophical Society, the great majority of us
+at all events have not given up Theosophy, even if we may
+feel compelled to teach it under another name, and though
+we can no longer work with or through the Theosophical
+Society, we are none the less carrying on the great work
+which H. P. Blavatsky initiated.</p>
+
+<p>But in the old days we did at least think that the Theosophical
+Society stood for pure Theosophy and pure Morality.
+<i>We cannot think or say this any longer.</i> The "Theosophy"
+of the Theosophical Society is now a definite creed and dogma
+based upon authoritative psychic pronouncements, from
+which those who dare to differ are first of all squeezed out of
+office by the President, and finally compelled to leave the
+Society, being denounced in the strongest language as "persecutors"
+and "haters." I am quite aware that all the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>
+time you are preaching freedom of opinion; but that is one
+of the farcical aspects of the <i>r&eacute;gime</i> which you inaugurated....
+Whatever you may preach, it is now notorious that
+your practice has been the exact reverse. You commenced
+by turning out the Vice-President for daring to hold a different
+opinion from your own as to the inception of the Society;
+and you then proceeded so to manipulate matters that
+several old and tried officials who had been in opposition
+to your pronouncements and policy, were ousted from
+their positions as General Secretaries of Sections.... Well,
+you succeeded in getting your own supporters appointed&mdash;and
+in losing many hundreds of old members.</p>
+
+<p>Doubtless you will now have complete control and be
+able to mould the Society to your own will and liking, and
+train it to "obedience" to your psychic authority and visions.
+At what expense and sacrifice of principles you have already
+done this, we all know. But let none imagine that this is
+the basis on which H. P. Blavatsky founded the Society; or
+that it will thus fulfil the mission for which it was intended;
+or that it can thereby become other than <i>a narrow and exclusive
+sect</i>. And if perchance your statement is true that the
+Theosophical Sciety&mdash;which you so mistakenly identify with
+Theosophy&mdash;is now "in the days of scorning," possibly even
+more than it was in the old days; What and who is it that
+has made it so?</p>
+
+<p>Is it not because the President and General Council have
+set their seal and official condonation to a "theosophy"
+<i>which countenances the grossest immorality</i>, and which can
+advocate&mdash;as a means of "discharging [<i>sic</i>] thought-forms"
+(see Van Hook's pamphlet)&mdash;a practice which you yourself
+once characterised as being "when taught under the name of
+Divine Wisdom, essentially earthly, sensual, devilish?" Yet
+it is thus taught and justified&mdash;with an appeal to the laws of
+reincarnation and <i>karma</i>&mdash;in Van Hook's pamphlet, which
+you and the General Council have refused to repudiate, and
+have thereby condoned.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>
+And now, since you have had your own way, and have
+cleared the Society of the elements of the so-called "hatred
+and persecution"; can you not at least refrain from hitting
+behind our backs? Nothing is sadder for your old friends
+and comrades than to see you stoop to veiled insinuations,
+and even direct untruths; missing no opportunity&mdash;not
+even in the review of a book&mdash;of striking unjustly and falsely
+at those who have recently been your opponents, and who
+have now no direct means of answering you, or of refuting
+your statements within the Society itself.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>I have italicised a few passages which seem to be
+of special importance as showing that, <i>thirteen years ago</i>,
+Mr. Leadbeater's sinister hand had already grasped
+the Society and its infatuated President, and that his
+vile and immoral teachings, supported by her, had
+driven out some of the oldest and most clear-headed
+and clear-sighted of H. P. Blavatsky's friends and
+pupils; among them Mr. G. R. S. Mead, one of the
+Leadbeater Committee of Inquiry, who also resigned at
+the time Mrs. Besant became President for the same
+reasons as those stated by Mr. Kingsland. The
+"practice" to which he alludes in his Open Letter is
+of course now well known to be that taught and advocated
+by Mr. Leadbeater, who claims that in so doing he is
+acting on the advice and under the authority of one
+of the Masters of Wisdom. Could a more terrible
+infamy be perpetrated!<br /><br /></p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p>
+<h2><br /><br /><a name="Crisis" id="Crisis"></a>M. M. Schur&eacute; and L&eacute;vy on the Crisis of 1913</h2>
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">L</span>ET us see, however, what others have to say seven
+years later on the state of the T. S. In 1913 another
+violent crisis convulsed this miserable travesty
+of a Society that once stood for the highest principles
+and ideals, but which even a Lake Harris might blush
+now to be associated with. As before, it centred round
+the shocking perverter of morals who had obtained
+complete ascendancy over Mrs. Besant. A book entitled
+<i>Mrs. Besant and the Present Crisis in the Theosophical
+Society</i> was published in 1913 by M. Eug&egrave;ne L&eacute;vy,
+"with a Prefatory Letter by M. Edouard Schur&eacute;," the
+well-known author of <i>The Great Initiates</i> and other
+mystical works. Writing to M. Charles Blech, General
+Secretary of the French T. S., M. Schur&eacute; states that
+he feels "compelled to retire officially from the T. S."
+and that it is his "duty" to give his "reasons straightforwardly."
+After alluding to the date (1907), when
+M. Blech had offered and he had accepted the honorary
+membership in the Society, M. Schur&eacute; goes on to speak
+of Mrs. Besant, as she had then appeared to him, in
+high terms, expressing the hope that "the nobility of
+her past career" was an augury "that the T. S. would
+continue in the broad way of tolerance, impartiality,
+<i>and veracity</i> which forms an essential part of its programme."
+M. Schur&eacute; then continues:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>Unfortunately things turned out otherwise. The primary
+cause of this deviation lies in the close alliance of Mrs. Besant
+with Mr. Leadbeater, a learned occultist, but of an unsettled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>
+disposition and doubtful morality. After Mr. Leadbeater
+<i>had been found guilty</i> by an advisory Committee of the T.S.
+Mrs. Besant publicly announced her reprobation of the
+educational methods with which he was charged.... By
+an inconceivable change of front she soon afterwards declared
+her intention of bringing Mr. Leadbeater into the T.S. again
+and she succeeded.... The excuses she gave for this recantation
+were charity and pardon. <i>The real reason was that the
+President needed Mr. Leadbeater for her occult investigations</i>,
+and that this collaboration appeared to her necessary
+to her prestige. To those who have followed her words
+and acts from that time onwards, it is clearly manifest
+<i>that Mrs. Besant has fallen under the formidable suggestive
+power of her dangerous collaborator, and can only see, think
+and act under his control</i>. The personality henceforward
+speaking through her is ... the questionable visionary,
+the skilful master of suggestion who no longer dares to show
+himself in London, Paris, or America, but in the obscurity
+of a summer-house at Adyar governs the T. S. through its
+President. The ill-omened consequences of this influence
+were soon to appear before the world through the affair of
+Alcyone and the founding of the Order of the Star in the
+East.... If a real Indian initiate, a Brahmin or otherwise,
+of ripe age, had come to Europe on his own responsibility
+or in the name of his Masters to teach his doctrines, nothing
+would have been more natural or interesting.... But it was
+not in this form that we beheld the new apostle from Adyar.
+A young Indian, aged thirteen, <i>initiated by Mr. Leadbeater</i> ...
+is proclaimed and presented to the European public as the
+future teacher of the new era. Krishnamurti, now called
+Alcyone, has no other credentials than his master's injunctions
+and Mrs. Besant's patronage. His thirty-two previous incarnations
+are related at length, the early ones going back to the
+Atlantean period. <i>These narrations</i>, given as the result of
+Mr. Leadbeater's and Mrs. Besant's visions, <i>are for the most
+part grotesquely puerile</i>, and could convince no serious occultist.
+They are ostensibly designed to prove that for twenty
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>
+or thirty thousand years the principal personages in the T. S.
+have been preparing for the "Great Work" which is soon
+to be accomplished. In the course of <i>their incarnations,
+which remind one of a newspaper novel</i>, these personages are
+decorated with the great names of Greek mythology, and
+with the most brilliant stars in the firmament. During a
+meeting at Benares, Krishnamurti presenting certificates to
+his followers, received honours like a divine being, many
+persons present falling at his feet. He does not, however,
+utter a word, but only makes a gesture of benediction,
+prompted by Mrs. Besant. In reporting this scene Mr. Leadbeater
+likens it to the descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost.</p>
+
+<p>For this dumb prophet is founded the Order of the Star
+in the East, which the whole world is invited to join, and of
+which he is proclaimed the head ... this passive young
+prodigy, who has not yet given the world the least proof of
+having any mission at all [this is as true in 1922 as it was in
+1913.&mdash;A. L. C.], becomes henceforth the centre and cynosure
+of the T. S., the symbol and sacred ark of <i>the orthodox
+faith at Adyar</i>. As to the doctrine preached by Mrs. Besant,
+it rests on a perpetual equivocation. She allows the English
+public at large, to whom she speaks of the coming Christ, to
+believe that he is identical with the Christ of the Gospels,
+whereas to her intimates she states what Mr. Leadbeater
+teaches, and what he openly proclaims in one of his books,
+<i>The Inner Life</i>&mdash;namely, that the Christ of the Gospels never
+existed, and was an invention of the monks of the second
+century. Such facts are difficult to characterise. I will
+simply say that they are saddening for all who, like myself,
+believed in the future of the T. S., for they can only repel
+clear-sighted and sincere minds.... In my eyes, one can no
+longer be an actual member of the T. S. without implicitly
+approving the deeds and words of the President, which flagrantly
+contradict the essential principle of the Society&mdash;I
+mean <i>scrupulous and absolute respect for truth</i>. For these
+reasons I regret that I must send you my resignation as a
+member of the Theosophical Society.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>
+The italics throughout the foregoing quotations are
+mine, and serve again to emphasise essential points;
+points almost exactly similar to those raised by Mr.
+Kingsland, the most serious being the condonation by
+Mrs. Besant of immoral practices in a colleague whose
+collaboration, as M. Schur&eacute; shrewdly adds, has become
+a necessity to her, and under whose "formidable
+suggestive power" she has now completely fallen. If
+this was true in 1913, what may not be said in 1922,
+when the intervening nine years have given time for
+the growth and development of this deadly Upas Tree?
+I use the simile advisedly, for this teaching <i>is</i> a "deadly"
+poison, not only from the ordinary moral standpoint,
+but especially from that of the esoteric teaching of
+H. P. B. and the Trans-Him&acirc;layan Brotherhood, under
+whose authority it is falsely and blasphemously given
+out; I do not hesitate to declare it.</p>
+
+<p>M. Schur&eacute;lso emphasises an important and vital
+point which Mr. Kingsland seems to have felt equally
+deeply, <i>viz.</i>&mdash;That Mrs. Besant has no use for any but
+those who accept everything she says and does with
+blind subservience, even when, in the eyes of such men
+as M. Schur&eacute;, Mr. Mead, Mr. Kingsland, and others, it
+merits strong condemnation as "untrue" and "misleading."
+In the pages of the recent numbers of the
+<i>Theosophist</i> the talk about "freedom of opinion" within
+the Society is still repeated, although in actual practice,
+as I have shown, the exact opposite obtains. Much that
+emanates from this tainted source is so fantastic and
+puerile that ridicule ought long since to have killed it,
+as it did Oscar Wilde's &aelig;sthetic movement.<br /><br /></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p>
+<h2><br /><br /><a name="Return" id="Return"></a>Mrs. Besant's "return of the Christ."</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>O return to M. L&eacute;vy's book; it deals with "Mrs.
+Besant's Proceedings" under various headings.
+In the one entitled "Mrs. Besant's Return of the
+Christ" is to be found some of the most amazing balderdash&mdash;given
+out as serious teaching!&mdash;it has ever been my lot
+to encounter. For instance, a book called <i>Man: Whence,
+How, and Whither</i>, written by Mrs. Besant and Mr.
+Leadbeater in collaboration, is quoted from by M. L&eacute;vy
+at considerable length. He explains that "the substitution
+of a "false Christ" for the "Christ of the Gospels"
+is here supported by "<i>a new order of evidence</i>" (Italics
+mine). Specimens of this "evidence" follow, and I will
+here give some of it in order to show the almost unbelievably
+low level of intelligence to which this whole mischievous
+movement&mdash;miscalled Theosophical&mdash;has descended,
+and the sort of elements in human nature to
+which such an ill-conceived and fantastic production is
+designed to appeal. M. L&eacute;vy writes:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>In the course of their investigations these two occultists
+look up on the one side, the past incarnations of him whom
+Mrs. Besant calls the "Master Jesus," that is, of the
+"Jesus" born 105 B.C.; and on the other side, the past lives
+of the being whom she calls the "Lord Maitreya, the present
+Bodhisattva, the Supreme Teacher of the World"; whose
+ego at a given moment replaced that of "Jesus," this being
+the last incarnation of the Christ whose immediate return
+she is announcing.</p>
+
+<p>Let us first quote from their account of the incarnations
+of the "Supreme Teacher" ... In the chapter
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>
+headed "Early Times on the Moon Chain," p. 34, we
+read:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"There is a hut in which dwell a Moon-Man, his wife
+and children; these we know in later times under the names
+of Mars and Mercury, the Mahaguru and Surya. A number
+of these monkey-creatures live round the hut, and give to
+their owners the devotion of faithful dogs; among them we
+notice the future Sirius, Herakles, Alcyone, and Mizar, to
+whom we may give their future names for the purpose of
+recognition, though they are still non-human."<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the Fourth Root Race we again find the personage
+supposed to be "Maitreya" as the husband of the ego
+claimed by these authors as that of "Master K. H." Mrs.
+Besant is again incarnated in the family as daughter, the eldest
+sister of the "Master M."; "Maitreya," the future World-Teacher,
+being at this time the head of the tribe (p. 113)....</p>
+
+<p>We have thus reached to somewhere about the year
+15,000 B.C., and then&mdash;incredible as it seems&mdash;they give
+no further incarnations of him whom they nevertheless claim
+to have been the World-Teacher at the beginning of our era.</p>
+
+<p>They give us his incarnations as husband, as father, as
+counsellor and priest, and are silent as to the only incarnation
+of fundamental and vital importance to the whole world.</p>
+
+<p>Let us see if the incarnations of their "Jesus" will fill
+this gap in our knowledge, if they will throw light on this
+essential point, thus left in obscurity.</p></blockquote>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>We meet this "Jesus" for the first time at the beginning
+of the Fifth Root Race, as daughter of Alcyone (Krishnamurti)
+and sister of "Maitreya" (p. 252.)</p>
+
+<p>Then, on p. 328, as the wife of Julius C&aelig;sar 18,878 B.C.,
+he, or rather she, being at this time the widow of Vulcan
+(Known in his last incarnation as Sir Thomas More)....</p>
+
+<p>He is later identified as daughter of Alcyone-Krishnamurti
+(his father) and Fabrizio Ruspoli (his mother),<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> parents
+at the same time of the future "World-Teacher, Maitreya,"
+their young daughter. These incarnations took place 72,000
+B.C., on the shores of the Lake of Gobi, we are told on p. 490.</p>
+
+<p>In 15,910 B.C., we find "Jesus" as grandson of
+"Maitreya," and as father and grandfather of a large family
+composed, as in all cases investigated by these two authors,
+of <i>present</i> members of the Theosophical Society <i>only</i>, and
+including the faithful friends of Adyar <i>to the exclusion of all
+others</i>.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p>" ... In 12,800 B.C. the "Jesus" of these investigations
+again forms part of a very extensive family composed
+as usual of the selfsame elements, and including amongst
+the names known in the theosophic world that of Mme. Marie
+Louise Kirby (an Italian theosophist recently at Adyar)
+who was his sister. "Jesus" was then the father of Mrs.
+S. Maud Sharpe (General Secretary of the English Section), of
+Julius C&aelig;sar, and of T. Subba Rao;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>
+the Teshu Lama being at that time his daughter, etc., etc. (p. 499)....</p>
+
+<p>Once more have our hopes been betrayed, for an absolute
+silence broods over the Incarnations of "Jesus" later than
+this date of 13,500, as it reigned over those of the "World-Teacher"....</p>
+
+<p>We cannot, however, conceive that this information
+gathered from occult investigation will be felt to be indispensable
+by anyone. Now that we know that Mrs. Besant's
+"World-Teacher" is an ordinary man of the lunar chain (to
+whom Mrs. Besant was first domestic animal and then sister,
+and who, in the early period of our earth, was daughter of
+the young Krishnamurti (or of M. Ruspoli), who could be
+found still to imagine that there could be here any question,
+save a mad or impious joke"....</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Incredible as it may appear to those who know
+anything of H. P. Blavatsky's teachings, their comprehensive
+grandeur and sublimity, especially as given in
+<i>The Secret Doctrine</i>, this extraordinary mixture of clumsy
+fairy-tale and extravagant and even malicious mumbo-jumbo
+is apparently swallowed whole by the blind and
+credulous followers of this grotesque "Neo-Theosophy."
+Not so much for them do I write as for those who,
+while interested in these subjects, have neither the
+inclination nor the leisure to examine, for instance,
+such published Records as these from which I quote,
+for themselves. Such would naturally accept on
+their face value Mrs. Besant's own account of herself
+and of her Society, unaware that she is no longer
+anything but a "blind leader of the blind," incapable of
+distinguishing light from darkness, truth from falsehood.
+We have direct testimony to the truth of this statement
+in Mr. T. H. Martyn's now famous letter to Mrs. Besant.
+<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>
+In it he tells her:&mdash;"You have been relying upon
+C. W. L. as <i>sole intermediary between the Hierarchy</i>
+[the Trans-Him&acirc;layan Brotherhood, the Masters of
+Wisdom. Italics mine.&mdash;A. L. C.] and yourself for
+many years.... C. W. L.'s word is final and his
+seership infallible to you." The quality of this
+supposed "seership" bears a very close resemblance to
+a stupid and vulgar hoax. This is clearly shown by
+Mr. Martyn, who says:&mdash;"In 1919 I went to America.
+Young Van Hook was in New York. He talked freely
+of C. W. L.'s immorality and about <i>faking the 'lives'
+of people</i>" (Italics mine.) Mr. Martyn then puts together
+various pieces of evidence against this man, and tells
+Mrs. Besant that he finds "staring me in the face the
+conclusions that <i>Leadbeater is a sex pervert</i>, his mania
+taking a particular form which I have&mdash;though only
+lately&mdash;discovered, is a form well known and quite
+common in <i>the annals of sex criminology</i>." (Italics mine.)
+This sex criminal, then, is the creature whom Mrs. Besant
+has accepted "for many years" as "sole intermediary
+between" herself and&mdash;<i>the Masters of Wisdom</i>!! One
+almost hesitates to draw the obvious inference; for this
+is the man whom she has for years held up to and imposed
+upon their followers as a model of all the virtues&mdash;"a
+saint"&mdash;a person "on the threshold of divinity."
+(<a href="#Footnote_11_11">See also footnote <i>post</i>, p. 56</a>.)</p>
+
+<p>Why has it always been necessary for Mrs. Besant
+to have an "intermediary"? Before Mr. Leadbeater
+it was her Brahmin guide, and before him it was Mr.
+Judge. To each in turn she gave implicit belief in the
+matter of "messages" and directions from the Masters,
+while outwardly claiming "direct" communication. The
+fact is that, as I have come to believe, the plain psychology
+of the thing is&mdash;sheer femininity. With all her intellectual
+talents, her once clear brain, Mrs. Besant is
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>
+(in her personality) just simple <i>woman</i>, relying upon
+male guidance and authority as instinctively as any of
+her humbler sisters. And what student of human nature
+will fail to recognise in her that purely feminine trait
+of blind and fanatical "obedience" which loves to receive
+and obey "orders" even though the result should be
+"a world in ruins"? The existence of this fundamental
+and essential quality in female human nature is the real
+reason why even the most broad-minded men shrink
+from giving women equality of power with themselves
+in wordly affairs.</p>
+
+<p>Let me here declare what I believe to be the real
+truth; namely, that after H. P. Blavatsky's death in
+1891, neither Mrs. Besant, nor Mr. Judge, nor Colonel
+Olcott, nor anyone else, could "communicate," because
+<i>H. P. B.'s withdrawal meant the withdrawal of her Masters
+as well</i>. It has always seemed strange to me that this
+was never realised by anyone, for in this pamphlet I
+have quoted quite enough from H. P. B. to make it
+perfectly clear. Does she not say in the 1890 letter to
+the Indians (<a href="#Page_2">see p. 2</a>) that after she had to leave
+India in 1885 the Masters' influence at Adyar became
+a dead letter? Did not the Masters Themselves write
+as early as 1884 that they could only communicate
+through her or in places previously prepared magnetically
+by her presence? How, then, could They be expected
+to continue to communicate or direct the affairs of the
+T. S. (as They did in India until 1885), or the E. S.
+(as They did from 1888 to 1891), after They had withdrawn
+the Agent They had so carefully prepared and
+subjected to the severest trials and initiations in Tibet?
+Barely three years after this withdrawal the fatal "Split"
+took place owing to Mr. Judge giving out what purported
+to be "direct" communications, but which, as I discovered
+after working for a time under his inspirer and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>
+successor, Mrs. Tingley, <i>were obtained from her</i>. Mrs.
+Besant, in accusing him, did precisely the same, for
+she stated in her <i>Case against W. Q. Judge</i> that she had
+received her orders direct from the Master, whereas
+(as I relate elsewhere, <a href="#Page_56"><i>post</i>, p. 56</a>) she admitted to the
+Inner Group that they came "through" her Brahmin
+guide.</p>
+
+<p>This, then, was the great and fundamental error
+committed by the leaders of the movement, after H. P. B.
+was withdrawn. It is responsible for all the subsequent
+troubles, and the appalling situation with which we are
+faced to-day. A great and world-wide organisation is
+being used to promulgate blasphemous, poisonous and
+absolutely anti-Theosophical and anti-Occult doctrines
+as emanating direct from the Masters who definitely
+withdrew Their chosen Agent in 1891. (<a href="#Page_2">See <i>ante</i> p. 2.</a>)</p>
+
+<p>In any case, even had she lived, H. P. B. told the
+E. S. that the "last hour of the term" was December
+31st, 1899, after which "no Master of Wisdom from the
+East will himself appear or send anyone to Europe or
+America." (<a href="#Footnote_2_2">See footnote, <i>ante</i> p. 2.</a>) She also said that
+the next Messenger would be sent out in 1975. Yet
+the fiction that the Masters are still directing the leaders
+and the movement is kept up, not only by Mrs. Besant,
+but also by Mrs. Tingley, 22 years after "the last hour
+of the term."</p>
+
+<p>It is the same with all this wild talk about the
+imminent advent of a "World-Teacher." Is this in the
+least probable, in view of the above pronouncements?
+H. P. B. definitely states in <i>The Secret Doctrine</i> the
+exact opposite; but all the Neo-Theosophists seem to
+prefer the Besant and Leadbeater books. H. P. B. says,
+with reference to this very Maitreya whose name they so
+lightly take in vain, that He is not due until the Seventh
+Sub-Race, <i>i.e.</i>, several thousand years hence; and that,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>
+in any case, "it is not in the <i>Kali Yug</i>, our present
+terrifically materialistic age of Darkness, the 'Black
+Age,' that a new Saviour of Humanity can ever appear."
+(S. D. Third Ed., Vol. I, p. 510 <i>et seq.</i> See also <i>Theosophical
+Glossary</i>, "Kalki Avatar" and "Maitreya
+Buddha.") If we accept H. P. B.'s authority there is
+no evading this issue, and we must reject the Besant-Leadbeater
+pretensions <i>in toto</i>, for their absurdity is
+patent. Yet they claim to have been specially taught
+and prepared by her to carry on her message! (<i>Vide</i>
+Mrs. Besant in the <i>Theosophist</i>, March, 1922; and also
+<a href="#Page_68"><i>post</i> p. 68</a>.)<br /><br /></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><b>FOOTNOTES:</b></span>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> In these incarnations such names are used as; Mars for the
+"Master M."; Mercury for the "Master K. H."; Surya, the Lord
+Maitreya, the present Bodhisattva, the Supreme Teacher of the
+World"; Sirius for Mr. Leadbeater; Herakles for Mrs. Besant;
+Alcyone for Krishnamurti; Mizar for his young brother, etc. A list
+of these names and those to whom they apply is given in the Foreword
+of the book. [Italics mine. Here we see the bald and unabashed
+appeal to the personality and its ambitions and desires which is
+characteristic of this kind of charlatanism.&mdash;A. L. C.] We shall
+here substitute the names of the real persons as given in this list for
+the fancy names used to distinguish them in the body of the book,
+<i>Man: Whence, How and Whither</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> M. Ruspoli is an Italian theosophist recently living at Adyar,
+with whom Mr. Leadbeater stayed in Italy.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> It is a remarkable fact that outside this little circle not a
+single being in our great world has ever entered into these family
+communities to whom the honour is given of being the pioneers of
+every civilisation of the past. Even though we are invited to assist
+at marriages running into thousands, <i>ever</i> the same names appear
+and <i>all</i> the members of <i>all</i> the families are identified. This singular
+oligarchy of friends and devotees of Adyar perhaps merited to be
+signalised throughout the evolution of our earth, the more so that
+Mr. Leadbeater, writing in his bird's-eye view of the twentieth century
+and of the pioneers of the future sixth race, remarks maliciously:
+"We know who will <i>not</i> be there." He puts in italics the word <i>not</i>;
+desirous doubtless to indicate the unworthiness of other theosophists.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a>
+Mr. Martyn is the President of the Sydney Lodge, Australian
+Section T. S., a member of thirty years' standing. <a href="#Australian">See Addendum</a>.<br /><br /></p></div>
+
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p>
+<h2><br /><br /><a name="Occult" id="Occult"></a>Fundamental causes: Some Occult Methods</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">U</span>NDER this heading M. L&eacute;vy deals with what he calls
+"the pitiful climax of this parody":&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>What a contrast to the great traditions of the Theosophical
+movement, formulated by H. P. Blavatsky in <i>The Key to
+Theosophy</i> (Third Edition, p. 191);&mdash;"As for our best
+Theosophists, they would also far rather that the names of
+the Masters had not been mixed up with our books in any way."
+And later, on p. 192;&mdash;"I say again, every earnest Theosophist
+regrets to-day, from the bottom of his heart, that these sacred
+names and things have ever been mentioned before the
+public." And this would be the moment to say with Mme.
+Blavatsky;&mdash;"Great are the desecrations to which the names
+of two of the Masters have been subjected." ... But when
+all is said and done, what <i>is</i> this occultism which produces
+<i>such disregard of truth, such calumny in daily life, such diastrous
+confusion in the domain of clairvoyance</i>, and finally, <i>advice
+of such a kind as to arouse universal disgust</i>? [Italics
+mine.&mdash;A. L. C.]</p>
+
+<p>This occultism has its methods, as all schools of occultism
+have; for occultism consists in a methodical training and
+the awakening of consciousness to superior worlds; and
+where a method produces such results, may we not regard
+it as legitimate to ask what is the source of such serious
+and such numerous aberrations?... On this question, as
+on all those that we have examined, we will cite as witnesses
+original documents, the appraisements of those who teach
+their own methods. It is well known that Mr. Leadbeater is
+the inventor and manipulator of the Adyar occultism. In
+the <i>Inner Life</i> (Vol. I, p. 450), in speaking of the centres, the
+awakening of which,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>
+as we know, developes clairvoyance,
+he expresses himself in these terms;&mdash;"I have heard it
+suggested that each of the different petals of these force-centres
+represents a moral quality, ... I have not yet met
+with any facts which confirm this ... <i>their development
+seems to me to have no more connection with morality than has
+the development of the biceps</i>." [Italics mine. A little later
+I shall quote some very definite pronouncements of H. P.
+Blavatsky's which teach the exact opposite.&mdash;A. L. C.]</p>
+
+<p>Further, it is of interest to find Mrs. Besant and Mr.
+Leadbeater, in the first lines of the Preface to <i>Man; Whence
+How, and Whither</i>, expressing the same view as regards
+the connection between morality and clairvoyance&mdash;"It
+is not generally accepted, nor indeed is it accepted to any
+large extent ... [clairvoyance] is a power latent in all men
+... it can be developed by any one who is able and willing
+to pay the price demanded for its forcing, ahead of the general
+evolution."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Besant is no less positive. A price is demanded
+for the "forcing" of clairvoyance, but this price is neither
+"high spirituality" nor "lofty intelligence," nor even
+"purity of character" ... she fully shares the views of Mr.
+Leadbeater....</p>
+
+<p>Thus the calumny, sectarianism, the disregard of truth
+in daily life, the increasingly serious aberrations in the spiritual
+life, have gradually revealed the main source of all
+these facts, <i>i. e.</i>, the defect of the method.</p>
+
+<p>All becomes clear. Mr. Leadbeater is probably right,
+and it may be possible to develop, as he claims, a certain
+clairvoyance (an inferior clairvoyance, it must be said) without
+the concurrence of a moral and mental training.... But
+who will maintain that without moral purification we shall
+possess that moral sense that inspires gracious and noble
+conduct, and teaches us to hate falsehood?... be
+able to distinguish illusions from reality in our astral
+visions?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>
+Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater are most certainly not
+ignorant of the dangers of occult development without
+morality. But it is quite another matter to profess this
+theory, or even to lean towards morality in the course
+of occult development, <i>by means of ... generous aspirations
+perpetually evoked in eloquent language</i>, from setting to work
+on the development of these centres by means of exercises
+arranged with the express purpose of bringing in the <i>practice</i>
+of morality, of truth, and of logic as powerful factors in
+the reorganisation of the subtle bodies&mdash;which produces
+clairvoyance.... That method which dissociates moral and
+intellectual aspiration from occult development, and seeks
+to cultivate them separately, will not achieve moral progress
+since <i>the inner nature is not transmuted</i>; but this method will
+produce a very debauch of phrases invoking these aspirations.
+For, instead of penetrating by means of the appropriate
+practice into the inner regions of the soul, these aspirations
+swirl, so to say, perpetually on the surface of the mind.
+Their presence there will produce a kind of psychic intoxication,
+sometimes rousing in the occultist thoughts so much
+above his own mental and moral standard, that he may come
+to regard himself as a saint, while at the same time performing
+the most despicable actions. Indeed, during such times the
+conduct shows a moral retrogression very noticeable when
+compared with the conduct before this occult development
+For this latter <i>increases and intensifies all the temptations</i>, as
+every occultist will admit. An increase of active morality is
+therefore, required if we would avoid this most dangerous lack
+of balance....</p>
+
+<p>We find constantly in Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater,
+under a great show of high moral aspirations, the reality of
+an actual moral and intellectual fall. Much emphasis
+is placed on "liberty of thought" [<a href="#Page_14">see p. 14</a> A. L. C.], and at
+the same time the intellectual desertion of this principle is
+preached in counselling members to give blind obedience to
+"the least hint which falls from the lips of Mrs. Besant," and
+to follow her implicitly whether she is understood or not....</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>
+We see clearly that the fruits are precisely those we
+should expect from the seed; the terrible danger of this
+method can neither be misunderstood nor denied ... [we
+must] never lend ear to the words which in this school quite
+naturally take the place of the honest and right
+act, and so turn attention from the moral ugliness of the
+actions performed.... <i>Acts alone show forth morality, not
+attractive formulas flowing from literary or oratorical talent.</i>
+The constant declaration of liberty of thought, of human
+brotherhood, cannot impress us when the actions of those who
+delight in them enslave thought, persecute merit, seek to
+poison souls by flimsy and deceptive spiritual pronouncements....</p>
+
+<p>It is a painful duty to have to press this point with such
+insistence. But now that we are facing the consequences of
+the Leadbeater method on the mental character of the clairvoyant,
+our warnings in reference to still more serious harm
+will not appear exaggerated.</p>
+
+<p>We know that the higher regions of the invisible worlds
+are those in which "consciousness" manifests itself principally
+in the most intense awareness of moral beauty.</p>
+
+<p>Since this is so, the cultivation of the non-moral clairvoyance
+could only attain results in the lower regions of the
+astral world ... the organ of clairvoyant sight, when developed
+according to certain methods, will be blind to the moral
+outline of subtle worlds, <i>and will thus be cut off from all their
+truly spiritual content. The field of their experiences will be
+limited to the lower regions of the astral plane.</i></p>
+
+<p>And it is these lower visions, more frequently experienced
+because of <i>their affinity to elements in the vehicles of the investigator
+not yet purified, that will be presented as the most sublime
+images of the higher worlds</i>. For such a clairvoyant is deprived
+of the high morality which is the force leading our "bodies"
+by affinity towards truly spiritual Beings [<i>e.g.</i>, the Masters
+in Their Mahatmic "bodies".&mdash;A. L. C.] Deprived of the
+standard of comparison that these provide, <i>he will be the</i>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>
+<i>victim of all the illusions of a world that is the veritable motherland
+of illusions, for human errors are but the faint reflection of
+these</i>. Since the sense of responsibility, which is essentially
+moral in origin [H. P. Blavatsky says; "<i>The sense of Responsibility
+is the beginning of Wisdom.</i>" A. L. C.] will equally
+fail him, <i>he will have no scruple in sharing his illusions with all
+in making known his misleading experiences</i>&mdash;the less since
+the forces, whose sport he is, push him irresistibly to this.
+Are they not in truth the adversaries of the divine scheme
+of evolution, <i>the servants and sowers of error and immorality
+the world over</i>?</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>In these clear and logical arguments M. L&eacute;vy
+expresses, even in a translation, so much better than
+I could have done, the dangers of the way leading
+to the path of "error" which Mrs. Besant is now treading,
+that I have quoted at greater length than I originally
+intended. Although written nine years ago, they are
+more than ever true to-day. M. L&eacute;vy then continues:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>We have thus sketched in their broad hypothetical outlines
+<i>the incalculable reactions that the defect in the Leadbeater
+method brings into the inner life, into the words and actions of
+those who yield their souls to him</i>.</p>
+
+<p>In demonstrating the fatal effects of this method we
+have shown the real meaning of the faults and failings of all
+kinds as exhibited by Mrs. Besant, who is its most fervent
+adherent. The right interpretation of the known facts seems
+to us so entirely in conformity with the consequences, as
+implied in our hypothesis, as to make it possible to some
+extent to foresee these facts with scientific certainty&mdash;which
+is precisely what has happened....</p>
+
+<p>We recall the "Leadbeater Case," which in 1906 [this was
+the Committee of Inquiry in London, above referred to.&mdash;A. L. C]
+called forth within the Theosophical Society, no
+less than outside, unanimous moral censure.... Resigning
+from the Theosophical Society in consequence of this affair,
+Mr. Leadbeater has since returned, at the invitation of Mrs.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>
+Besant.... Have the principles and methods of Mr. Leadbeater
+changed since he has returned to his place amongst us?
+He himself informs us on this point in a letter written after
+the "affair," at the express desire of Mrs. Besant that he
+should "define his position" at the time she started the
+well-known campaign in favour of his re-admission (<i>Theosophist</i>,
+February 1908.)</p>
+
+<p>"You ask me," says Mr. Leadbeater, "to write you a
+clear letter that you may show at need, expressing my real
+views on the advice I gave some time ago to certain young
+boys. I need hardly say that I keep my promise not to
+repeat the advice, for I defer to your opinion that it is dangerous.
+I also recognise, as fully as yourself, that it would be
+if it were promiscuously given, but I have never thought of
+so giving it."</p>
+
+<p>In this declaration Mr. Leadbeater first recognises the
+danger of his advice, then immediately retracts this confession
+by reservations which imply its harmlessness in just
+those cases for which he is blamed. He has not, as we see
+from this letter, then, changed his views; but the important
+fact is that he only speaks of "danger," and never of "immorality."
+<i>His moral standpoint remains, then, unaltered&mdash;is
+precisely the same as before the expos&eacute;.</i></p>
+
+<p>And what is this point of view? Mrs. Besant thus gives
+it in a letter dated July, 1906 (<i>Theosophic Voice</i>, May, 1908):&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Leadbeater appeared before the Council of the
+British Section, representatives from the French and the
+American Sections being present and voting. Colonel Olcott
+in the chair. <i>He denied none of the charges</i>, but in answer to
+questions, very much strengthened them, for he alleged....
+<i>So that the advice ... became advice putting foul ideas into
+the minds of boys innocent of all sex impulses.... It was
+conceivable that the advice, as supposed to have been given, had
+been given with pure intent, and the presumption was so in a
+teacher of theosophical morality; anything else seemed incredible.
+But such advice as was given in fact, such dealing with boys</i>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>
+<i>before sex passion had awakened, could only be given with pure
+intent if the giver were, on this point, insane.</i>" [Italics mine.
+The details omitted cannot be put in print.&mdash;A. L. C.]</p>
+
+<p>"Let me here place on record my opinion that such
+teaching as this, given to men, let alone to innocent boys, is
+worthy of the sternest reprobation. It distorts and perverts
+the sex impulse ... degrades the ideas of marriage, fatherhood
+and motherhood ... befouls the imagination, pollutes
+the emotions, and undermines the health. Worst of all that
+it should be taught under the name of Divine Wisdom, being
+essentially 'earthly', 'sensual', 'devilish.'"</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Mrs. Besant's last sentence contains the whole
+<i>raison d'&ecirc;tre</i> of this my Protest. She has expressed
+precisely the views I hold; but in this fervid condemnation
+she herself must now be included, since she
+condones and thus supports this horror. M. L&eacute;vy
+graphically portrays for us on what road it is that this
+once apparently sane and normal woman, with all her
+great gifts, is descending&mdash;a road that, as H. P. Blavatsky
+puts it in the concluding paragraph of <i>Occultism</i> versus
+<i>the Occult Arts</i>, "can lead only to Dugpa-ship." (<a href="#Page_33">see <i>post</i>
+p. 33.</a>) He continues:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>Mrs. Besant then deemed Mr. Leadbeater's morality so
+defective as to be accounted for only by mental derangement.
+Nevertheless, the promise contained in the letter just quoted
+and which expresses no shadow of moral repentance whatsoever,
+nor anything approaching it, was sufficient, in Mrs.
+Besant's eyes, to justify her in bringing back into the
+Theosophical Society a teacher she has judged thus. Could
+one ask a clearer proof of the anarchy produced by such
+occultism?</p>
+
+<p>A recent suit, instituted by the parent of the young
+Krishnamurti, re-claiming the custody of his child, brings
+forward again this question of morality ... reminding us
+of the expos&eacute;. In fact, the present case clearly formulates
+the accusation of immoral conduct testified to by witnesses ...
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>
+In such a discussion, this attempt [by Mrs. Besant] to
+play upon the political interests of the judges is unexpected,
+amazing,&mdash;and, alas! significant. We see clearly that a
+mind that shows itself capable of throwing into the balance
+political (and racial) appeals in a matter of conduct, is utterly
+blind to the question of human consideration [a Brahmin
+father re-claiming his young sons] that overshadows this
+whole case.</p>
+
+<p>Clear and unmistakable through all these actions shows the
+consistent distortion of the moral outlook, more serious since
+the esoteric ethics should be an extension, a purification, an
+exaltation of exoteric morality, and in no circumstances its
+decline, its degradation, its negation. And if we would
+realise to what extent this moral outlook can be warped under
+certain influences, we need but to hear Mrs. Besant say of
+Mr. Leadbeater:&mdash;"By hard, patient work he has won rewards
+... until he stands perhaps the most trusted of his Master's
+disciples on the threshold of Divinity." (<i>Theosophist</i>,
+November, 1911, p. 308.)</p>
+
+<p>This conception of the "Divinity" that should be the
+the final expression of morality has no need of comment other
+than that same "deification" by his colleague&mdash;who five
+years earlier regarded his teaching as so utterly immoral as to
+suggest mental derangement as the only explanation....
+Perhaps we shall understand these things a little better if
+we remember that this occultist, if he contradicts the Buddha,
+on the other hand almost deifies Mrs. Besant. Possibly
+taking into consideration this exchange of admiration, the
+meaning of the "deifications" will become sufficiently clear.<br /><br /></p></blockquote>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p>
+<h2><br /><br /><a name="Occultism" id="Occultism"></a>H. P. Blavatsky on true Occultism.</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">B</span>EFORE giving some fine passages from M. L&eacute;vy's
+concluding chapters I will quote from H. P. Blavatsky's
+<i>Practical Occultism: Occultism</i> versus <i>the
+Occult Arts</i>, mentioned a few pages back. In its original
+form it is a booklet containing a reprint of two articles
+which she wrote for <i>Lucifer</i> in 1888, shortly before she
+founded the Esoteric Section. These extracts will show
+the "true" teaching in this matter of Occultism, as
+contrasted with the "false," or Mrs. Besant's and Mr.
+Leadbeater's. H. P. B. begins by declaring that: "There
+are not in the West half-a-dozen among the fervent
+hundreds who call themselves 'Occultists' who have
+even an approximately correct idea of the nature of the
+Science they seek to master. With a few exceptions,
+they are all on the highway to sorcery.... Let them
+first learn the true relation in which the Occult Sciences
+stand to Occultism.... [It] differs from Magic and
+other secret sciences as the glorious sun does from a
+rush-light, as the immutable and immortal Spirit of
+Man&mdash;the reflection of the absolute, causeless and
+unknowable ALL&mdash;differs from the mortal clay&mdash;the
+human body.... [The word] OCCULTISM is certainly
+misleading, translated as it stands from the compound
+word <i>Gupta-Vidya</i> (Secret. Knowledge.) But the knowledge
+of what? Some of the Sanskrit terms may
+help us.</p>
+
+<p>"There are four (out of the many other) names of
+the various kinds of Esoteric Knowledge or Sciences
+given, even in the exoteric Pur㯡s. There is (1) <i>Yajna-Vidya</i>,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>
+knowledge of the occult powers awakened in
+Nature by the performance of certain religious ceremonies
+and rites. (2) <i>Mahavidya</i>, the 'great knowledge,' the
+magic of the Kabalists and of the <i>Tantrika</i> worship,
+often Sorcery of the worst description. (3) <i>Guhya-Vidya</i>,
+knowledge of the mystic powers residing in Sound
+(Ether), hence in the Mantras (chanted prayers or incantations),
+and depending on the rhythm and melody used;
+in other words, a magical performance based on knowledge
+of the Forces of Nature and their correlation;
+and (4) <i>Atma-Vidya</i>, a term which is translated simply
+'Knowledge of the Soul,' <i>true Wisdom</i> by the Orientalists,
+but which means far more.</p>
+
+<p>"This last is the only kind of Occultism that any
+Theosophist who admires 'Light on the Path,' and who
+would be wise and unselfish, ought to strive after. All
+the rest is some branch of the 'Occult Sciences,' <i>i.e.</i>,
+arts based on the knowledge of the ultimate essence
+of all things in the kingdoms of Nature&mdash;such as minerals,
+plants and animals&mdash;hence of things pertaining to the
+realm of <i>material</i> nature, however invisible that essence
+may be, and howsoever much it has hitherto eluded the
+grasp of Science.... <i>Siddhis</i> (or the Arhat powers)
+are only for those who are able to 'lead the life,' and to
+comply with the terrible sacrifices required for such
+a training, and to comply with them <i>to the very letter</i>.
+Let them know at once and remember always, that true
+Occultism or Theosophy is the 'Great Renunciation of
+SELF,' unconditionally and absolutely, in thought as in
+action. It is ALTRUISM, and it throws him who
+practises it out of the ranks of the living altogether.
+'Not for himself, but for the world he lives,' as soon as he
+has pledged himself to the work. Much is forgiven
+during the first years of probation. But, no sooner is
+he 'accepted' than his personality must disappear, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>
+he has to become a <i>mere beneficent force in Nature</i>. There
+are two poles for him after that, two paths, and no
+midway place of rest. He has either to ascend laboriously
+step by step, often through numerous incarnations and
+<i>no Devachanic break</i>, the golden ladder leading to
+Mahatmaship (the <i>Arhat</i> or <i>Bodhisattva</i> condition),
+or&mdash;he will let himself slide down the ladder at the first
+false step, and roll down into <i>Dugpa-ship</i>....<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
+
+<p>"All this is either unknown or left out of sight
+altogether. Indeed, one who is able to follow the silent
+evolution of the preliminary aspirations of the candidates
+often find strange ideas quietly taking possession of their
+minds. There are those whose reasoning powers have
+been so distorted by foreign influences that they imagine
+that animal passions can be so sublimated and elevated
+that their fury, force and fire can, so to speak, be turned
+inwards ... <i>until their collective and unexpanded strength
+enables their possessor to enter the true Sanctuary of the
+Soul</i>, and stand therein in the presence of the <i>Master</i>&mdash;the
+HIGHER SELF.... Oh, poor blind visionaries!...
+Strange aberration of the human mind. Can it be so?
+Let us argue.</p>
+
+<p>"The 'Master' in the Sanctuary of our souls is
+'the Higher Self'&mdash;the divine spirit whose consciousness
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>
+is based upon and derived solely (at any rate during the
+mortal life of the man in whom it is captive) from the
+mind, which we have agreed to call the <i>Human Soul</i> (the
+'Spiritual Soul' being the vehicle of the Spirit.) In its
+turn the former (the <i>personal</i> or human soul) is a
+compound, in its highest form of spiritual aspirations,
+volitions and divine love; and in its lower aspect, of
+animal desires and terrestrial passions imparted to it
+by its association with its vehicle, the seat of all these ...
+the <i>inner animal</i>. [It] is the instinctual 'animal soul,'
+and is the hotbed of those passions which ... are
+lulled instead of being killed, ... And where, on what
+neutral ground, can they be imprisoned so as not to
+affect man?</p>
+
+<p>"The fierce passions of love and lust are still alive,
+and they are allowed to still remain in the place of their
+birth&mdash;<i>that same animal soul</i>.... It is thus the mind
+alone&mdash;the sole link and medium between the man of
+earth and the Higher Self&mdash;that is the only sufferer,
+and which is in incessant danger of being dragged down by
+those passions, that may be re-awakened at any moment
+and perish in the abyss of matter.... How can harmony
+prevail and conquer, when the soul is stained and distracted
+with the turmoil of passions and the terrestrial
+desires of the bodily senses, or even of the 'Astral man'?</p>
+
+<p>"For this 'Astral'&mdash;the shadowy 'double' (in
+the animal as in man) is not the companion of the <i>divine
+Ego</i> but of the <i>earthly body</i>. It is the link between the
+personal self, the lower consciousness of <i>Manas</i>, and the
+Body, and is the vehicle of <i>transitory, not of immortal
+life</i>.... It is only when the power of the passions
+is dead altogether, and when they have been crushed and
+annihilated in the retort of an unflinching will; when not
+only all the lusts and longings of the flesh are dead,
+but also the recognition of the personal Self is killed out
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>
+and the 'Astral' has been reduced in consequence to
+a cipher, that the Union with the 'Higher Self' can
+take place. Then when the 'Astral' reflects only the
+conquered man, the still living but no more the longing,
+selfish personality, then the brilliant <i>Aug&#339;ides</i>, the
+divine SELF, can vibrate in conscious harmony with
+both the poles of the human Entity&mdash;the man of
+matter purified, and the ever pure Spiritual Soul&mdash;and
+stand in the presence of the MASTER SELF, the
+Christos of the mystic Gnostic, blended, merged into,
+and one with IT for ever.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<p>"How, then, can it be thought possible for a man to
+enter the 'strait gate' of occultism when his daily and
+hourly thoughts are bound up with worldly things,
+desires of possession and power, with lust, ambition,
+and duties which, however honourable, are still of the
+earth, earthy? Even the love for wife and family&mdash;the
+purest as the most unselfish of human affections&mdash;is a
+barrier to <i>real</i> occultism.... While the heart is full of
+thoughts for a little group of <i>selves</i>, near and dear to us,
+how shall the rest of mankind fare in our souls? What
+percentage of love and care will there remain to bestow
+on the 'great orphan' [Humanity]? And how shall the
+'still small voice' make itself heard in a soul entirely
+occupied with its own privileged tenants?... yet,
+he who would profit by the wisdom of the universal
+mind, has to reach it through <i>the whole of Humanity</i>,
+without distinction of race, complexion, religion,
+or social status. It is <i>altruism,</i> not <i>ego</i>-ism even in
+its most legal and noble conception, that can lead the
+unit to merge its little Self in the Universal Selves. It
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>
+is to <i>these</i> needs and to this work that the true disciple
+of true Occultism has to devote himself if he would
+obtain <i>theo</i>-sophy, divine Wisdom and Knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>"The aspirant has to choose absolutely between the
+life of the world and the life of Occultism.... It would
+be a ceaseless, a maddening struggle for almost any
+married man, who would pursue <i>true</i> practical Occultism,
+instead of its <i>theoretical</i> philosophy. For he would
+find himself ever hesitating between the voice of the
+impersonal divine love of Humanity, and that of the
+personal, terrestrial love.... Worse than this. For,
+<i>whoever indulges, after having pledged himself to</i> OCCULTISM,
+<i>in the gratification of a terrestrial love or lust</i>,
+must feel an almost immediate result&mdash;that of being
+irresistibly dragged from the impersonal divine state
+down to the lower plane of matter. Sensual, or even
+mental, self-gratification involves the immediate loss
+of the powers of spiritual discernment; the voice of the
+MASTER can no longer be distinguished from that of
+one's passions, or <i>even that of a Dugpa</i>; the right from
+wrong; sound morality from mere casuistry. The Dead
+Sea fruit assumes the most glorious mystic appearance ...
+although it is the intention that decides primarily whether
+<i>white</i> or <i>black</i> magic is exercised, yet the results even of
+involuntary sorcery cannot fail to be productive of bad
+Karma.... <i>Sorcery is any kind of evil influence exercised
+upon other persons, who suffer, or make other</i> persons to
+suffer, in consequence ... such causes produced have to
+call forth effects, and these are evidenced in the just laws
+of Retribution.</p>
+
+<p>"Much of this may be avoided if people will only
+abstain from rushing into practices neither the nature
+nor importance of which they understand.... We are
+in the Kali-Yuga and its fatal influence is a thousand-fold
+more powerful in the West than it is in the East;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>
+<i>hence the easy preys made by the Powers of the Age of
+Darkness in this cyclic struggle, and the many delusions
+under which the world is now labouring</i>." (Italics mine&mdash;A.
+L. C.)</p>
+
+<p>Applying this high and absolutely uncompromising
+moral standard, these grand and stern words, to the two
+pseudo-occultists under discussion, it is not difficult&mdash;even
+in the light of the little I have already given&mdash;to see
+that they themselves, and their actions, bear <i>no sort of
+relation</i> to real "Occultism" as here briefly outlined by
+H. P. Blavatsky. Their teaching concerning sex is
+indeed its antithesis, which inevitably leads to Dugpa-ship,
+as H. P. B. definitely states. The issue is clear, and
+cannot be evaded or explained away.</p>
+
+<p>It is true that Mrs. Besant started well, even splendidly,
+in H. P. B.'s lifetime, and just after her death wrote
+a series of simple explanatory manuals which were of
+great value to beginners and enquirers. But only two
+years later she began, under Brahmin<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> inspiration, to
+make serious alterations in H. P. B.'s own works, and
+even to throw doubt on her occult knowledge (<i>e.g.</i>, Mrs.
+Besant's Preface to the so-called Vol. III of <i>The Secret
+Doctrine</i>.) Unfortunately larger and more ambitious
+works which followed were vitiated by the same influences,
+and I well remember marking many passages in <i>The
+Ancient Wisdom</i> which were not in accordance with H. P.
+B.'s teachings. But the radical departure from them
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>
+began when Mrs. Besant definitely threw in her lot with
+C. W. Leadbeater, the sex pervert, and thereby alienated
+and caused such deep sorrow to her former friends and
+supporters.<br /><br /></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><b>FOOTNOTES:</b></span>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <span class="smcap">Dugpas.</span> (<i>Tibetan</i>). Lit., "Red Caps," a sect in Tibet.
+Before the advent of Tsong-ka-pa in the fourteenth century, the
+Tibetans, whose Buddhism had deteriorated and been dreadfully
+adulterated with the tenets of the old <i>Bhon</i> religion&mdash;were all Dugpas.
+From that century, however, and after the rigid laws imposed upon
+the <i>Gelukpas</i> (Yellow Caps) and the general reform and purification
+of Buddhism (or Lamaism), the Dugpas have given themselves over
+more than ever to sorcery, immorality, and drunkenness. Since then
+the word <i>Dugpa</i> has become a synonym of "sorcerer", "adept of
+black magic" and everything vile. There are few, if any, Dugpas
+in Eastern Tibet, but they congregate in Bhutan, Sikkim, and the
+borderlands generally.&mdash;<i>The Theosophical Glossary</i>, by H. P.
+Blavatsky.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Man is a trinity composed of Body, Soul, and Spirit; but
+<i>man</i> is nevertheless <i>one</i>, <i>and</i> is surely not his body. The three 'Egos'
+are <span class="smcap">MAN</span> in his three aspects on the astral, intellectual or psychic, and
+Spiritual planes, or states.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> In making use of the word "Brahmin" in this connection,
+I mean only to indicate that "sacerdotal" spirit of the Brahmin
+caste which has always resisted (and quite reasonably, <i>from their
+point of view</i>) any revealing of esoteric teaching to the multitude,
+and especially to the West. The particular Brahmin whom Mrs.
+Besant followed at that period (<a href="#Footnote_11_11">see <i>post</i> p. 56 Footnote</a>) induced
+her to adopt a line of action which disrupted the Society created by
+H. P. B., and diverted attention from her works.<br /><br /></p></div>
+
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p>
+<h2><br /><br /><a name="Madras" id="Madras"></a>Mrs. Besant's responsibility and the Madras Law-suits.</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">M.</span> L&eacute;vy's concluding chapter, from which I will
+now quote, is obviously written from the heart. He
+says that it is his "imperative duty" to resign his
+membership in Mrs. Besant's Society, referring to the
+pain caused to her old friends by the opinion expressed
+by the police court magistrate in the defamation cases ...
+for he considered that the facts before him, and the
+documentary evidence, supported the view that Mrs.
+Besant had known of and even countenanced the practices
+of Mr. Leadbeater....</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"In restoring to Mr. Leadbeater his influence over
+herself and over the destinies of the Theosophical Society
+[she] has proved her failure in moral vigilance and her lack
+of intellectual discrimination as regards methods to which
+she thus fails the first victim. And the sorry contradictions
+that this brings into her spiritual message, the utter disregard
+of truth resulting from this, impel her to words and actions
+that now involve an incalculable number of victims, misled
+by their devoted trust in her. Her responsibility is in truth
+a very terrible one.... I have come to regard the actions
+of Mrs. Besant&mdash;and of Mr. Leadbeater equally, of course&mdash;as
+the <i>leaven of destruction, of disintegration in the Theosophical
+Society</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We cannot rid ourselves of a growing disquiet in seeing
+Mrs. Besant, in her monthly articles in the <i>Theosophist</i>,
+entitled "On the Watch-Tower," so tirelessly expressing
+such great and manifest satisfaction in every smallest material
+increase, improvement and enrichment of the Adyar Headquarters.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>
+Mr. Leadbeater shares in this joy. Speaking of Mrs.
+Besant in the <i>Adyar Album</i>, p. 7, he praises at great length
+the material improvements of the Headquarters:&mdash;"In her
+reign have been added to the estate no less than six valuable
+pieces of property." Thus temporal power would clearly
+seem to be the main concern of Adyar. And we involuntarily
+turn to the words of Christ, who so well described the spiritual
+splendours:&mdash;"My kingdom is not of this world." <i>Not thus
+does Mrs. Besant understand spirituality</i> since she "reigns"
+as a prince of this world, over a kingdom that grows by her
+conquests.... A like concern follows Mr. Leadbeater even
+into his occult investigations into the twenty-eighth century,
+in which he sees "a kind of gorgeous palace with an enormous
+dome, the central part of which must be an imitation of the
+Taj Mahal at Agra, but on a much larger scale. In this
+great building they mark as memorials certain spots by
+pillars and inscriptions, such as ... here such and such a
+book was written ... they even have statues of <i>some of us</i>
+[<i>sic!!</i>] ...&mdash;<i>Man; Whence, How, and Whither.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Truly may one here repeat the somewhat banal phrase
+"Comment is needless"; indeed one might add,
+"impossible," in the face of such an amazing manifestation
+of megalomania. But this is not the most serious
+disease from which C. W. Leadbeater and his colleague
+are suffering. As M. L&eacute;vy has already shown, there is
+much worse behind of which this megalomania is only
+one symptom. In an "Addendum" given at, the end
+of his book, M. L&eacute;vy says that since the publication
+of his brochure judgment has been pronounced on the
+case he mentions (<a href="#Page_29">see p. 29</a>), the judge ruling that the
+children should be removed from the care of Mrs. Besant
+and given back to the father within a fixed time." He
+then continues:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>Further legal proceedings have confirmed, with yet
+more precision, the infamous immorality of which Mr. Leadbeater
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>
+stands accused. (see report in <i>The Hindu</i>, Madras,
+May 9th, 1913.) A Madras medical review called <i>The Antiseptic</i>
+had pubished an article in which apprehension of the
+establishment of a 'Temple of Onanism" ["unnatural sin."
+See Dr. Hartmann's <i>Paracelsus</i>, p. 90] at Adyar was expressed.
+<i>The Hindu</i> newspaper reprinted the scandal. Mrs. Besant
+took proceedings aga nst the author of the article and the
+publisher of <i>The Antiseptic</i>; and the Treasurer of the
+Theosophical Society was moved at the same time to action
+against <i>The Hindu</i>. <i>All three cases were dismissed.</i> The
+gravity of the position is evident. Mr. Leadbeater's methods
+have been proved by his own admissions as well as by documents
+before the Court to be subversive of morality....</p>
+
+<p>These facts [I omit the worst details that M. L&eacute;vy feels
+obliged to quote] condemn Mr. Leadbeater without possibility
+of appeal; they reveal to us, with regard to Mrs. Besant,
+a truly degrading complaisance, by reason of her desire to
+hide a crime as patent as it is abominable ... the members
+of the Theosophical Society are not only kept in complete
+ignorance regarding these facts, but the administration of
+Adyar, through its extensive propaganda, has a great influence
+over new members in all conditions, while concealing and
+perverting the truth.... The existence of persons like Mr.
+Leadbeater, who admit and practise the worst perversities,
+is a sad reminder of the darker side of human nature; yet
+the attitude of simply ignoring that such things exist
+seems indefensible when these persons pretend to the highest
+morality and represent themselves as guides towards spiritual
+development ... claiming to stand "on the threshold of
+divinity.".. The danger that such persons may continue
+to extend their empire over the souls of others is an increasing
+one....</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>In view of these "facts" M. L&eacute;vy's restraint of
+language is remarkable, his condemnation hardly sufficiently
+scathing. His concluding words, however, explain
+much; he has evidently greatly admired Mrs. Besant
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>
+in earlier years, and the last paragraph of his book
+eloquently attests his personal grief:&mdash;"The feeling
+which here arrests my pen, and prevents me from saying
+more on the matter, will be understood by those who
+have followed me so far, and they may hear across my
+silence the voice of their own sorrow." I deeply respect
+M. L&eacute;vy's feelings; but for me&mdash;who have never had
+any illusions regarding Mrs. Besant from the time of the
+disruption of the Society in 1894-5&mdash;the matter assumes
+a more sinister aspect. His pages have rendered me
+most invaluable help in putting before the general public
+matter not personally known to my own experience.
+I left Colonel Olcott's Society in 1895, M. L&eacute;vy left Mrs.
+Besant's in 1913; and when we remember that this was
+its condition nine years ago, my previous remarks
+(<a href="#Page_14">see p. 14</a>) may be better appreciated now that more
+evidence has been adduced<br /><br /></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p>
+<h2><br /><br /><a name="Central" id="Central"></a>The Central Hindu College. An Indian Criticism.</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">I</span>n a pamphlet published at Benares about the same date
+(1913) by Pandit Bhagavan Das, "a former General
+Secretary of the Indian Section T. S." we possess still
+further evidence of Mrs. Besant's extraordinary aberrations
+under C. W. Leadbeater's guidance and control.
+Mr. Das's pamphlet is addressed to the editor of the
+London <i>Christian Commonwealth</i>, and is entitled "The
+Central Hindu College and Mrs. Besant." It is a reply
+to some "remarks" by her on this College, which
+appeared in that paper in June, 1913. Mr. Das writes:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>[Mrs. Besant's] remarks on the Central Hindu College
+[Benares] in your paper are illustrations of this sad change
+in her. This Institution, for which she has done more than
+anyone else perhaps, she now openly and obviously tries to
+injure most deeply in the minds of the public by wild suggestions
+that it and the Hindu University, into which it is
+proposed to be expanded, are mixed up with political seditionists
+and extremists ... that such an educational movement
+is in any way mixed up with seditionism and extremism
+is an idea ... fatuously ludicrous.... The reckless, incoherent,
+self-contradictory, incorrect and misleading statements
+that Mrs. Besant has been freely making latterly in
+the public press, have only injured her own reputation....
+The C. H. C. was founded in July, 1898, in order to do for
+the numerous sects and sub-divisions of Hinduism what the
+T. S. was endeavouring to do for all views and religions....
+The College grew and prospered year by year, under the
+Presidentship of Mrs. Besant, and won the confidence ...
+of Hindus of almost all shades of opinion.... But with
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>
+the transfer of Mrs. Besant from Benares to Adyar in 1907,
+as President of the T. S., elected <i>under very peculiar circumstances</i>
+[as I learnt recently from a very old member present
+in Adyar when Colonel Olcott was on his deathbed. Italics
+mine.&mdash;A. L. C.] foreshadowing the coming policies, a change
+began to come over the spirit of all her work and surroundings.
+Despite the suggestions, advice, entreaties, expostulations,
+and warnings of her old colleagues and counsellors <i>who had
+made her work in India possible</i> [Italics mine.&mdash;A. L. C.],
+she developed more and more and beyond all due bounds,
+the germ of person-worship so long held in restraint. Entirely
+proofless claims to superphysical powers and experiences, to
+being an Initiate, an Arhat, a Mukta and what not; claims
+to read Mars and Mercury and the whole Solar System, past,
+present and future (but with careful avoidance of even the
+most easy test, such as reading a given page of a closed book)
+claims to be the authorised agent of "the Great White
+Brotherhood which guides Evolution on earth" and to be
+in communication with the Supreme Director of the world
+and with "the World-Teacher," etc., in short, all the
+elements of sensationalism and emotionalism&mdash;which were
+subdominant and private (confined mostly to the "inner"
+E. S. T. organisation within the T. S.) now began to be
+predominant and public.... In the spring of 1909, a
+"brother Initiate" of Mrs. Besant's "discovered" the boy,
+now nicknamed Alcyone, as the future vehicle of the Coming
+Christ ... <i>"neo-theosophy" was started more or less definitely</i>
+[Italics mine.&mdash;A. L. C.]....</p>
+
+<p>In January 1911 was started publicly by the then
+Principal of the C. H. C., as the chief member of the "Group"
+an "Order" called The Order of the Rising Sun, with the
+idea of "preparing for a coming World-Teacher "as its
+publicly avowed central idea, and the creed that the boy
+J. K. (Alcyone) would be the "vehicle" of the "Coming
+Christ&mdash;Maitreya-Bodhisattva," etc., as its privately understood
+creed, to spread which amongst the students was the
+duty of the inner "pledged group.' ... [<a href="#Page_21">See <i>ante</i> p. 21</a>.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>
+In short, Mrs. Besant cleverly utilised an already
+existing organisation, founded for quite other objects
+and aims, to spread this crazy and pernicious "neo-theosophy,"
+under cover of secrecy, pledges, etc., which
+she and C. W. Leadbeater&mdash;the real inspirer&mdash;well
+knew to be almost irresistible baits for sensitive and
+imaginative youths at a highly impressionable age.</p>
+
+<p>In April, 1911, on remonstrance by the older members
+of the Managing Committee, Mrs. Besant arranged that the
+Order of the Rising Sun should be disbanded. But this was
+mere show. When the disbandment was announced to the
+managers, it had already been arranged to replace the
+O. R. S. on a larger scale by <i>The Order of the Star in the East</i>
+with the Principal, Head Master, and various Professors of
+the C. H. C. as the Private and other secretaries, of the boy
+J. K. as Head of the Order, and Mrs. Besant as Protectress
+of the whole....</p>
+
+<p>In the summer of 1911, side by side with this public
+activity, there was started by Mrs. Besant <i>within</i> the E. S. T.
+<span class="smcap"> ... A WRITTEN PLEDGE OF ABSOLUTE OBEDIENCE TO HERSELF.</span>
+This fact, "private and confidential" at the time, is now
+public property since the Madras law suits....</p>
+
+<p>In August, 1911, the Trustees of the C. H. C., to allay
+the apprehension in the public mind that the C. H. C. was
+being diverted from its constitutional broad and liberal
+Hinduism into a bizarre and unhealthy personal-cult and
+bigoted Second-Adventism, passed formal resolutions to the
+effect that the Institution had nothing to do with any such
+Orders as those of the <i>Rising Sun</i> or the <i>Star in the East</i>.</p>
+
+<p>On December 24th, 1911, resolutions were passed by
+the Trustees, agreeing that the C. H. C. should become part
+of the Hindu University.... The neo-theosophic propagandism
+within (as without) the C. H. C. continued ...
+in a score of evasive and elusive forms. Inner "Groups"
+and "Esoteric Section Groups" of persons formally pledged
+to obedience to Mrs. Besant, "Leagues of Service" of various
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>
+kinds, "Orders of S. E." and "S. I." and "I. L.," "Co-Masonry
+Lodges," "Temple of the R. C.," and corresponding
+badges, bands, "regalia," "jewels,"and "pink," and "blue,"
+and "yellow" scarves; "magnetized ribbons," and "stars"
+in pin, brooch, and button forms, etc. [for all the world like
+the Kindergarten games for developing infant intelligences!&mdash;A.
+L. C.] multiplied and replaced one another in interest
+like mushrooms in the rain time, a very fever of restless
+sound and movement hiding lack of substance and of wise
+purpose. Fuss of the most absurd and mischievous kind
+became rampant. Lectures, meetings, night classes, outside
+the college rooms and buildings, took place perpetually in
+the neighbouring T. S. premises and private residences, for
+expounding the doctrines of neo-theosophy and especially the
+book called <i>At the Feet of the Master</i> alleged to have been
+written down by Alcyone (J. Krishnamurti), as the embryonic
+scriptures and revelation of "the Embryo of a New Religion,"
+as Mrs. Besant declares the O. S. E. to be. Resident students
+were advised, and a number of them began to keep photos
+of Alcyone, as the "vehicle" of the "Coming Christ" and
+himself an "Initiate of the Great White Brotherhood" (and
+Mrs. Besant and one or two other living persons) "on the
+threshold of divinity," and to worship them with flowers,
+incense, etc. Old and young believers prostrating and genuflecting,
+literally, at the feet of the living original when
+within reach.... The then Principal of the College (who had
+founded the O. R. S.) proclaimed in his lectures in the
+neighbouring T. S. Hall, and elsewhere, that he was a "High
+Disciple of the Master"; and that the C. H. C. was "founded
+to prepare for the Advent of the World-Teacher"....</p>
+
+<p>[Mrs. Besant] has publicly stated [that] all of the members
+of the General Council of the T. S. now belong, with one or
+two exceptions perhaps, to the "Esoteric Section," prime
+condition of membership of which is, <span class="smcap">the formal written
+pledge of absolute obedience to Mrs. Besant</span>; and so
+while the loud profession is freedom of thought "for all"
+the practice is sedulously "for herself," and her pledged
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>
+votaries only; while the theory is that the O. S. E. "must
+not be identified with the T. S.," the practice is that the
+T. S. must be merged in the O. S. E.</p>
+
+<p>Let us turn to the C. H. C. to bring the narrative up to
+date. In March and April 1913 there came into the hands
+of another Manager and Trustee, a printed "letter," covering
+some three foolscap pages, bearing the signature of the
+gentleman who was then Principal of the C. H. C., the date
+October 25th, 1912, and the imprint of Mrs. Besant's <i>Vasanta
+Press</i>, Adyar, Madras, and not bearing any word like "private"
+or "personal," or "confidential." In this "letter" amazingly
+extravagant and fantastic statements are made as
+regards Mrs. Besant; she is hailed repeatedly as one who is
+"<i>to become one of the greatest Rulers of the World of Gods and
+men</i>" [This is sheer insanity.&mdash;A. L. C.]; mention is made
+of the "recognition of the God without us, which made us
+members of this Group from which we draw our life to-day";
+it is said "that her light to ours was and is as the rays of
+the sun at noon-time to the rays of a lamp at night, and we
+did not desire to examine the Sun to see under what conditions
+it might possibly ray forth a more dazzling brilliance."
+The members of the Group are reminded that "we pledged
+ourselves in our hearts that we should strive to become
+<i>her true and loyal servants ...,</i>" etc.</p>
+
+<p>Thus complete was the hypnosis and surrender of reason
+which was sought to be effected amongst the votaries. It
+was a case of emotionalism run amuck...."</p>
+
+<p>It is, unfortunately, "a case" of something infinitely
+more mischievous; of evil "magic" and "sorcery"
+(cf. H. P. B.'s definition, <a href="#Page_36"><i>ante</i> p. 36</a>.) Whether Mrs.
+Besant knows it or not, Mr. Leadbeater undoubtedly
+must be well aware that life and strength can be drawn,
+on inner planes of being, from the blind devotion of a
+solid body of fanatical votaries. "Magicians" of a
+certain school&mdash;I need hardly specify which&mdash;thus
+prolong their lives through the magnetic and vita
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>
+emanations of their nearest and most devoted followers.
+In a word, it is <i>Vampirism</i>, pure and simple, on the
+psychic plane. (I found that Mrs. Tingley well understood
+this form of Sorcery.) This, if true in Mrs.
+Besant's case is probably unconscious; but in Mr.
+Leadbeater's it is done consciously and with knowledge.
+That the secret acts and teachings of this man are far
+worse than most people have ever suspected is confirmed
+in a "Letter in reply to Mrs. Besant" by "Dreamer"
+which appeared in <i>The Theosophic Voice</i> (Chicago),
+November, 1908, under the title "India Speaks." This
+scholarly Hindu Theosophist writes:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>If we are to believe the stenographic report of the
+Inquiry in 1906, then instead of holding that Mr. Leadbeater
+denied the charges, we must come to the conclusion that not
+only did he teach the solitary vice, but further he did things
+which would have brought him within the pale of the criminal
+laws for the foulest and most indecent offence which brute
+man may commit. This is our latter day saint who must
+be re-admitted, nay, invited back, into the Theosophical
+Society.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Note that this was written fourteen years ago!
+The subject is a revolting one, but in the interests of that
+public whom these people are still misleading and deceiving,
+and who have no idea of the extreme gravity of
+the menace, it is necessary to be explicit.</p>
+
+<p>To return to the "Letter" mentioned by Mr. Das;
+he continues:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>The Trustee and Manager into whose hands a copy of
+the astonishing document came, with the information that
+<i>it had been circulated</i> amongst a number of the C. H. C.
+students, informed the secretaries of the College, and sent
+the letter with the comments on the same for publication
+in a daily paper, in order to show the public how the person-worship-creeds
+of Mrs. Besant's "neo-theosophy" were being
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>
+sown and grown within the C. H. C. despite the resolutions
+of the Trustees.</p>
+
+<p>On publication of the rhapsody, a great outcry in the
+name of "injured innocence" was raised.... As to the
+"dishonourableness" of the publication, competent judges of
+such matters have pronounced that it was dishonourable
+only if it be dishonourable to expose what cannot be called
+other than <i>gross treason</i> to the Constitution and ideals of
+the C. H. C., and to bring to light, and the bar of public
+opinion, underhand or half-concealed or openly defiant efforts
+to convert students to a grotesque person-worship and
+demoralizing and soul-stunting blind obedience to Mrs.
+Besant.... The asking for, and the receiving of the pledges
+of obedience to herself, etc., is an act of over-weening presumption
+against the God in every man.... Ever since she
+encouraged and started them, her mind has worked less
+and less correctly and confusion has fallen ever worse and
+worse upon her work, losing to the T. S. many thousands
+of old members, alienating from her all her old co-workers
+and co-founders of the C. H. C. and destroying the confidence
+in her of the Indian public.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Towards the end of his most illuminating pamphlet
+Mr. Das has occasion to speak of Mrs. Besant's "wildly
+reckless statements," some of which he quotes. They
+relate to the C. H. C. and he stigmatises them as "<i>all
+simply and utterly untrue</i>." "Her mind," he says a
+little further on, is working "incoherently." Finally, he
+writes:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>Let us conclude; when a person like Mrs. Besant, with
+a biography full of remarkable changes, full of fine work
+as well as bad blunders, having established herself, in her
+own belief, and that of her pledged band, as the present
+chief Spiritual Teacher and Saviour of Mankind, as "the
+God within us" now, and as the future "greatest Ruler of
+the World of Gods and men," suddenly adds on the role of
+political saviour of India in particular, and pre-determined
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>
+martyr in constant danger of assassination [strangely enough,
+this was also one of Mrs. Tingley's obsessions] by anarchist
+miscreants ... and proclaims that those who differ from
+her are in league with those miscreants&mdash;when this happens,
+what explanation can be offered to their own minds by her
+old friends ...?</p>
+
+<p>The only sad explanation that they can postulate is
+that she is suffering from mental delusions.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Alas! this lenient and charitable judgment by no
+means covers the ground as a complete explanation of
+Mrs. Besant's mischievous and almost irresponsible
+activities. Mr. Das fails to see as clearly as MM. L&eacute;vy
+and Schur&eacute; the sinister influence behind all these manifestations;
+the source and inspiration of all this evil.<br /><br /></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p>
+<h2><br /><br /><a name="Claims" id="Claims"></a>Mrs. Besant's latest Assertions and claims examined.</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">W</span>E now come to the examination of two articles
+in the <i>Theosophist</i> for March, 1922, in which the
+President of the T. S. makes some attempt to deal
+with recent criticism. One is a Supplement, or Manifesto,
+addressed "To all Members of the Theosophical Society,"
+and couched in Mrs. Besant's present style&mdash;flamboyant,
+a trifle bombastic, often Biblical in phraseology, and
+running throughout it, her usual fervid and disingenuous
+appeal to sentimental emotionalism, instead of the
+instinctive sense of justice latent in all beings. This
+latter, a feature of her best days, she has entirely
+abandoned; it no longer serves her ends. What those
+"ends" are one almost hesitates to formulate,
+so impious and almost insane do they appear. Even
+taking into consideration the tangled mass of evasions,
+misstatements and hypocritical equivocations presented
+in this manifesto, these "ends" emerge with sufficient
+clearness. But, in the first place, and before going
+further, one must ask on what basis this amazing claim
+to almost deific powers and knowledge rests. Let me
+here call M. L&eacute;vy into the witness box once more; for
+he also had put the same question to himself nine years
+ago, and will provide the answer. It occurs in his
+chapter on "Mrs. Besant's 'Return of the Christ,'"
+where he is dealing with her position and actions in regard
+to Dr. Steiner, the German occultist and Christian
+Theosophist&mdash;with whose ideas, I should add, I am not
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>
+in personal agreement. My teacher is H. P. Blavatsky
+and she alone: I follow no lesser light. M. L&eacute;vy
+says:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>Our reason forces us to confess that all goes to suggest
+that Mrs. Besant, having herself ceased to believe in the
+identity of her Jesus with the Christ [of the Gospels.&mdash;A. L. C.],
+would still continue to make others believe it.... Her pride
+... her dominating mind, have driven her on this crusade
+of extermination of Dr. Steiner's teachings; it has induced
+her to collect, <i>without the least regard for truth, justice, or
+theosophic principles, no matter what weapons if they do but
+serve against her opponent; calumny, abuse of power, misstatement
+of facts, all combined in a subtle strategy</i>.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Italics are mine; for we find Mrs. Besant using
+precisely the same methods to-day, only in a form
+fortunately neither so "subtle" nor so Jesuitically
+plausible. Her powers are failing, as the manifesto
+under consideration clearly proves. M. L&eacute;vy proceeds:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>And when she falls victim of some error in the course
+of her occult investigations&mdash;of which in theory she is always
+proclaiming the fallibility&mdash;it is again her pride that bars
+the way to admission, and makes her the slave of the most
+pitiful machinations ... which ... will shatter to fragments
+in all directions the confidence she had formerly
+inspired. For if she is not consciously defending her mistake,
+then what kind of a break-up of all her faculties are we
+witnessing?... The more deeply we study this [<i>i.e.</i>, the
+"neo-theosophy" already described by M. L&eacute;vy and Pandit
+Bhagavan Das.&mdash;A. L. C.], the more terrible appear the
+responsibilities of Adyar in this deplorable scheme; for we
+would still seek the origin of such fearless confidence [in
+Mrs. Besant's followers.&mdash;A. L. C.] refusing, as it does, to
+be shaken by the eloquent appeal of the facts here set forth,
+and of which some, if not all, have been within the reach
+and open to examination of those members who profess such
+an enthusiastic confidence in Mrs. Besant. The result of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>
+our search is a yet further culpability, as overwhelming as
+it is unexpected.</p>
+
+<p>For this confidence is not in the case of all the victims
+the result of the free use of their own inner faculties. It is
+in the case of the greater number, due to the influence of a
+strong suggestion <i>deliberately organised and cleverly carried out
+by the authors of this mystification themselves; by Mr. Leadbeater
+who wrote, and by Mrs. Besant who published</i>, the following
+lines in the <i>Adyar Album</i>, p. 45: "What can I say to you
+of your President that you do not know already? Her
+colossal [<i>sic</i>] intellect, her unfailing wisdom, her unrivalled
+eloquence, her splendid forgetfulness of self, her untiring
+devotion to work for others&mdash;all these are familiar to you.
+Yet these qualities, these powers, are but a small part of
+her greatness; they are on the surface, they may be seen
+by all, they leap to the eyes. But there are other qualities,
+other powers, of which you cannot know, because they
+pertain to the secrets of Initiation. She is a pupil of our
+Masters; from the fount of Their archaic wisdom she derives
+her own, the plans which she is carrying out are Their plans
+for the welfare of the world. Think, therefore, how great an
+honour it is for you that you should be permitted to work
+under her, for in doing so you are virtually working under
+Them. Think how watchful you should be to miss no hint
+which falls from her lips, to carry out exactly whatever
+instructions she may give you. Remember that because of
+her position as an Initiate she knows far more than you do;
+and precisely because her knowledge is occult, given under
+the seal of Initiation, she cannot share it with you. Therefore
+her actions must certainly be governed by considerations of
+which you have no conception. There will be times when
+you cannot understand her motives, for she is taking into
+account many things which you cannot see and of which
+she must not tell you. But whether you understand or not,
+you will be wise to follow her implicitly, just because she
+knows. This is no mere supposition on my part, no mere
+flight of the imagination; I have stood beside your President
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>
+in the presence of the Supreme Director of evolution on this
+globe, and I know whereof I speak. Let the wise hear my
+words, and act accordingly."</p>
+
+<p>It is easy to see how minds not gifted with a highly
+developed critical faculty, or the instinctive sense that
+discriminates the true from the false, would yield hopelessly
+to such a formidable assault. They cannot see that he who
+thus guarantees the infallibility of Mrs. Besant has himself
+need of guarantee.... <i>I do not think that any religion or
+man-made cult, even in the earliest ages, has ever promulgated
+superstition in its grossest form so openly and boldly as this ...</i>
+[Italics mine.&mdash;A.L.C.]. Mr. Leadbeater ... demands
+<i>deliberate</i> suppression of thought.... And having extolled
+such a deliberately induced mental torpor for Mrs. Besant's
+benefit, he immediately demands it for himself when he
+speaks of the "Supreme Director of evolution on this globe."
+Who is this administrative person? With whom is he to
+be identified in the scheme of evolution as it has been given
+to us by Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater themselves?...
+What avenging God will come to confound this impious
+prophet who seeks to reduce humanity to the level of a
+troop of obedient automata!... A gentle and winning
+voice, infinitely reassuring, rises out of the depths of my
+being ... a great light breaks forth, triumphant. Mr.
+Leadbeater hears the words of a judgment immediate and
+without appeal, pronounced by the Buddha himself:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Believe not what you have heard said; believe not in
+traditions merely because they have been transmitted through
+many generations; believe not merely because a thing is
+repeated by many persons; ... believe not conjectures ...
+<i>believe not solely upon the authority of your Masters and elders</i>.
+<span class="smcap">When upon observation and analysis a principle conforms
+to reason and leads to the benefit and welfare of
+all, accept it and hold it.</span>"&mdash;(Buddha, <i>Anguttura Nikaya</i>.)</p>
+
+<p>What a royal refuge, what a noble support are the words
+of those who are the truly great! They are the perpetual
+safeguard of humanity.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>
+We have seen that upon "observation and analysis"
+the "unfailing" wisdom of Mrs. Besant is no more than
+a mass of inconsistencies, injustices, sectarian tactics in
+administration, error and mystification in esoteric announcements.
+Far from leading to "the benefit and welfare of all,"
+this "unfailing" wisdom is leading to the ... most miserable
+slavery of souls, the emasculation of minds, the creation
+of a terrible heresy. And at the present time we are all
+feeling that we shall not be living up to the wise exhortations
+of that great Being who was the Buddha, unless we clearly
+denounce the lamentable aberrations of these two occultists
+in the hope of drawing all the souls we possibly can away
+from their pernicious influence. With this end in view, and
+faithful to this duty, we shall calmly and firmly continue
+our investigation of facts.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately, the assertions of Mrs. Besant and Mr.
+Leadbeater have lately reached to such a pitch of extravagance
+and have so utterly defied common sense that they will
+rouse even the least critical minds and the most compliant
+hearts.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Then follows the section of M. L&eacute;vy's book in which
+he quotes from <i>Man; Whence, How, and Whither</i>;
+much of this I have given earlier in this pamphlet. And
+M. L&eacute;vy, one must remember, wrote all this <i>nine years
+ago</i>!</p>
+
+<p>At this point it may serve a useful purpose if I
+specifically define my own position in regard to Mrs.
+Besant's claims. <i>I entirely and most emphatically reject
+them all.</i> Mr. Leadbeater's I was not even aware of,
+until I came to collect and examine the material for this
+pamphlet. They are so monstrous as not even to merit a
+specific "rejection"&mdash;it goes without saying. I practically
+lost all faith in Mrs. Besant when she dissimulated
+and tried to mislead the Inner Group Council on her
+return from her first visit to India in 1894. She then
+informed us that she had been "ordered by the Master to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>
+accuse Judge." On being closely cross-examined,
+however, she finally admitted that she had not received
+this "Order" <i>direct</i>, as she would have had us believe,
+but <i>through</i> the Brahmin whom she then followed
+blindly<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a>, exactly as she now follows Leadbeater.
+But later, when taxed with this in public, she pretended
+that he had had nothing whatever to do with it! This
+is a typical example of Mrs. Besant's idea of a 'truthful'
+statement in a matter of the most vital importance
+involving the fate of a leader and many thousands of
+members. What confidence can be placed in such a
+woman&mdash;one whose mental processes are so warped, and
+whose ideas of 'truth' and 'honesty' are so peculiar?
+To inspire confidence a leader must be the very soul of
+truth and uprightness. Mrs. Besant has always been
+remarkable for asserting herself to be this, and people
+have believed her. But a truly upright and honest
+person (even if aware of it, as in Occultism he has to be)
+would never draw attention to it&mdash;and that publicly
+and in print.</p>
+
+<p>Because, for Mrs. Besant, Mr. &mdash;&mdash; was <i>at
+this period</i> her mouthpiece for the Master, she expected
+her colleagues to take the same view without question.
+This attitude is typical, and can be applied to all that she
+now says about Leadbeater (<a href="#Page_19">see <i>ante</i> p. 19</a>.) From
+this time I found it impossible to believe in her or her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>
+statements; such, for instance, as that H. P. B. had
+reincarnated in Mr. &mdash;&mdash;'s little daughter!!<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a>&mdash;or
+in anyone else for that matter. H. P. B. herself,
+when someone asked her about reincarnating, jokingly
+replied&mdash;"Yes, in some mild Hindu youth with half a
+lobe to his brain!" <i>H. P. B. has not reincarnated.</i> On
+the ridiculous belief above mentioned Mrs. Besant based
+her "authority" for doing things in H. P. B.'s name after
+her death (<a href="#Tampering">see <i>post</i> p. 71 for examples</a>). It follows also
+that I absolutely reject her claim to be an "agent"
+of the Masters (<i>i.e.</i>, the Trans-Him&acirc;layan Brotherhood),
+neither do I believe that she has had any communication
+whatsoever with Them since H. P. B.'s death.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> Finally,
+I reject her most presumptuous claim that she
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>
+is able, or in anyway fitted, to "expand," "verify,"
+or "check" by psychic faculties H. P. B.'s statements
+and teachings; still less to carry on independent occult
+investigations on the same, or any similar plane of
+consciousness. Whether Mrs. Besant, in making these
+claims, is acting under the glamour of Mr. Leadbeater's
+"clairvoyant" delusions, as MM. L&eacute;vy and Schur&eacute;  suggest, or is fully conscious and responsible, is not my
+part to judge, nor does it really matter. For me, her
+life may be summed up in some words she applied
+recently to Mr. Gandhi (<i>Theosophist</i>, April, 1922). It is
+"the tragedy of a soul." Her criticisms on what she calls
+his "failure" apply fully and literally to <i>her own</i>.</p>
+
+<p>There is really very little in the Manifesto (<i>Theosophist</i>,
+March, 1922), that is not sufficiently answered
+by the various extracts I have quoted from previous
+critics. Mrs. Besant opens with the usual disingenuous
+statements about the "Liberal Catholic Church." Her
+argument that all religions are on an equal footing in the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>
+T. S. carries no weight when it is widely known that
+L. C. C. agents are everywhere at work pushing its
+interests.</p>
+
+<p>Coming next to Mr. Leadbeater, Mrs. Besant states
+that he was "cleared by a Committee in England"!
+But it is really a little too much, and altogether too
+brazen,<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> when she dares to compare his case with that
+of H. P. B. in the matter of slander. <i>There can be no
+possible comparison.</i> The worst ever suggested against
+H. P. B. was what has been said of many other women,
+including Mrs. Besant herself, who have had to work
+in the glare of publicity and champion an unpopular
+cause. No evidence was ever brought forward, and the
+New York <i>Sun</i> promptly apologised for publishing
+such statements on being shown that they were
+unfounded.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> The grave charges against Mr. Leadbeater
+were supported by documentary evidence <i>which has
+never been rebutted</i>, and they have to do with something
+far worse than personal moral laxity, as we have seen.
+Mrs. Besant knows she cannot meet these charges,
+and so seeks to brush them aside by voluble talk about
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>
+"hatred," "defamation," and "vilification." The only
+<i>justification</i> she offers for having reinstated him in 1907
+is that she had discovered that it was "a cruel lie
+that he had confessed to wrongdoing"! This is to
+argue that the "accused" should be "acquitted"
+because he refused to confess&mdash;in the face of evidence
+of no matter how damning a nature! Did Mrs. Besant
+follow this procedure in her "Case against W. Q. Judge"?
+Not at all; far from "acquitting" him when he refused
+to "confess to wrongdoing" and asked for production
+of the incriminating documents, she calmly confessed
+that she had destroyed them! But <i>now</i> that it is a
+case of her own guide and "intermediary" in the dock,
+her attitude is entirely different, and it is quite enough
+for her that the "accused" did not "confess" his
+crime!</p>
+
+<p>As Dr. Stokes, Editor of the <i>O. E. Critic</i> (Washington,
+D.C.) has been fearlessly stating the facts and encouraging
+the "Back to Blavatsky" movement for some time past,
+she next devotes a paragraph to an attempt to discredit
+him by suggesting his connection with an old enemy
+of H. P. B.'s. Dr. Stokes's championship of H. P. B.,
+and relentless exposure of the Besant-Leadbeater imposture
+is the more effective since he persists in retaining
+his membership in the T. S.</p>
+
+<p>The next to be dealt with is Pandit Bhagavan Das,
+and his criticisms about the Central Hindu College.
+Here again, all I have quoted from his pamphlet about
+the secret sections, underhand work, pledges, etc., are
+entirely ignored.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. T. H. Martyn's letter, which has caused such a
+sensation in the Society (Holland alone asking for 500
+copies) is dismissed as full of "untrue" statements.
+Truly a very simple method of dealing with matter
+which Mrs. Besant finds compromising or unpleasant
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>
+(<a href="#Page_18">see <i>ante</i> p. 18</a>); but she can hardly believe it to be
+convincing.</p>
+
+<p>It is when this profoundly disingenuous woman
+comes to an explanation of the motive behind her political
+work in India, that we find a typical specimen of the
+peculiar form of megalomania already so ably demonstrated
+by M. L&eacute;vy. What must be the mental condition
+of a person who can sit down and solemnly write the
+following?</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>The work entrusted to me directly by the great Rishi
+who is&mdash;as one may say [<i>sic</i>]&mdash;the spiritual Viceroy<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> for
+India of the King of Kings of our world&mdash;is the bringing
+about of Home Rule in India, in close union with Great
+Britain, as part of a great Federation of Free Nations, a
+model of the future World Commonwealth...."</p></blockquote>
+
+
+<p>Why such a very mundane and political idea should
+need an order from a Rishi is not explained. The patent
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>
+appeal both to the Government and the Indian people
+in this portentous announcement is not very happily
+conceived.</p>
+
+<p>It is unfortunate for Mrs. Besant that her indignant
+denial that another of the notorious "Bishops"
+(Wedgwood) is "wanted" by the police was
+immediately followed by a priest's confession and the
+Bishop's resignation from the L. C. C., the T. S., and the
+Co-masons!<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p>
+
+
+<p>Finally we come to the most ominous part of the
+whole document, where Mrs. Besant refers to the present
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>
+condition of the sex problem, and indicates that Mr.
+Leadbeater's vile teachings to, and practices with boys&mdash;trying
+"to wean lads from evil practices" is her version
+of it&mdash;are part of a process necessary "to save mankind
+in the near future." The "lessening of the sex impulse"
+on the "line of higher mental evolution" is "too slow."
+"Early marriage and birth-control"&mdash;preceded, one
+must assume, by Leadbeaterism&mdash;are now Mrs. Besant's
+inspired panaceas.</p>
+
+<p>The appalling menace to <i>the evolution of the spiritual
+nature in man</i>, of the secret Leadbeater teaching known
+as the "X-system," is shown by the evidence of
+Dr. Eleanor M. Hiestand-Moore (M.D.), Editor of the
+<i>Theosophic Voice</i> (Chicago), in which all the Leadbeater
+proceedings of 1906 were reported and discussed.
+In the August number, 1908, Dr. Hiestand-Moore
+writes:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>During the winter of 1906-7 the Editor [herself] was
+in Chicago and in order to combat the widespread tendency
+to uphold self-abuse on the lines indicated by Mr. Leadbeater,
+a series of lectures on the psychology of sex was given. There
+were members in the E. S., and out of it who upheld the
+X-system. One person declared ... that <i>this system would,
+before many years, be taught in our public schools</i>. Still
+another insisted that <i>by self-abuse humanity was to return to
+the hermaphroditic type</i> and that <i>this practice would be universal
+among Fifth Round Humanity</i>. A number declared that,
+while they did not pretend to know anything about such
+matters, they had understood this was <i>a highly occult teaching
+given to would-be disciples</i>! We could lay hands on a letter
+setting forth the claim that this teaching is purely "esoteric"
+and not to be estimated by exoteric standards&mdash;this, too,
+from a Branch president! [Italics mine.&mdash;A. L. C.].</p>
+
+<p>These instances are sufficiently appalling in themselves.
+But what can we say now that <i>The Voice</i> has elicited a correspondence
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>
+which is simply a brazen defence of these
+"teachings"?<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<p>What, then, must be the moral condition of this
+horrible travesty of the old T.S. <i>now</i>, fourteen years after
+Dr. Hiestand-Moore wrote the foregoing? Mrs. Besant
+is thus seen to have now returned practically to the Neo-Malthusianism
+of her earlier, pre-theosophic association
+with the late Charles Bradlaugh. It may not be generally
+known that H. P. B. <i>refused to accept her as a pupil</i> until
+she had published a recantation of all she and Bradlaugh
+had advocated in <i>The Fruits of Philosophy</i>. It is a
+sinister omen that under C. W. Leadbeater, the sex
+pervert, Mrs. Besant has abandoned H. P. Blavatsky's
+imperative requirement for becoming a student of <i>White</i>
+Occultism, and has returned to the essentially materialistic
+doctrine of "birth-control," in direct contravention of
+the true Occult teaching. In other words, her assertion
+amounts to this:&mdash;<i>Self</i>-control is not possible (or is
+"too slow "), therefore we must control <i>results</i>. How
+different is the Occult teaching is well-known to all
+who have taken the trouble to read H. P. B.'s articles
+from which I have already quoted (<a href="#Occultism">see <i>ante</i> p. 31</a>) and
+the splendid chapter in Vol. II of <i>The Secret Doctrine</i>
+entitled "The Curse from a Philosophical Point of View."
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>
+And H. P. B. told me herself that she included the
+following verse in <i>The Voice of the Silence</i> with the
+express object of combating such teachings and placing
+the Occult doctrine beyond possibility of misinterpretation:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Do not believe that lust can ever be killed out if
+gratified or satiated, for this is an abomination inspired
+by M&acirc;ra. It is by feeding vice that it expands and
+waxes strong, like to the worm that fattens on the
+blossom's heart."</p>
+
+<p>In a note H. P. B. explains that M&acirc;raacirc;ra is "personified
+temptation through men's vices, and translated literally
+means 'that which kills' the Soul." Far from "saving"
+mankind, therefore, these professed 'expanders' and
+'expounders' of H. P. B.'s doctrines are in reality doing
+their best to hasten its end. Better far, from the Occult
+standpoint, that a race should be wiped out by "outraged
+Nature," as were the Atlanteans for the same sins, than
+that it should be kept alive only to sink lower and lower
+until "M&acirc;ra" kills its Soul.</p>
+
+<p>In the "Watch-Tower" (<i>Theosophist</i>, March, 1922,)
+Editorial mention is made of a display at Adyar of
+"treasures of the most varied kinds," which have just
+been unearthed from "all the old locked-up boxes"
+at the headquarters. Why, one may not unreasonably
+enquire, has Mrs. Besant waited until 1922 to disinter,
+for instance, a long and valuable letter from H. P. B.
+herself? Why have such "treasures" been <i>kept back
+for over thirty years</i>; just as "Letters" from the Masters
+(the Trans-Him&acirc;layan Brotherhood) were kept hidden
+away for an even longer period&mdash;nearly forty years?
+The reasons are so ridiculously transparent that they
+would hardly deceive an intelligent child. Mrs. Besant
+is becoming seriously discomposed, even alarmed, by the
+growing strength of the "Back to Blavatsky" movement,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>
+which is in itself a reaction against her own neglect.
+Hence all this "burrowing" (her own word)
+in order to make a brave show of these "treasures"
+for which she had no sort of use until, disturbed by
+alarming rumours, she hastily resorts to them for
+purposes of camouflage and disguise. For she is a
+skilful opportunist and clever actress, assuming successive
+parts with as convincing an air as any "star";
+neither does she scruple to employ every device of the
+party politician.</p>
+
+<p>Does Mrs. Besant seriously believe that this attempt
+to drag the red herring of an unexplained and suddenly
+awakened interest in these "treasures" across the trail
+of Mr. Leadbeater's infamies will deceive anyone save
+their blind and infatuated followers? Has she forgotten
+that when, <i>only two years</i> after H. P. Blavatsky's death,
+she came under the direct hypnotic control of Brahmin
+influence, she threw doubts upon her old Teacher's <i>bona
+fides</i> and her occult knowledge; and, in the course of
+formulating her charges against her fellow-disciple (a
+<i>chela</i> of many years' standing before she ever even heard
+of Theosophy) suggested to Mr. Judge that, "<i>misled by
+a high example</i>" (H. P. B.), he had fallen "a victim."
+For, as she then told him, her "theory was <i>first</i>, that
+H. P. B. had committed several frauds for good ends and
+made bogus messages; <i>second</i>, that [he] was misled by
+her example; and <i>third</i>, that H. P. B. had given [him]
+permission to do such acts. She then," continues Mr.
+Judge, "asked me to confess thus, and that would
+clear up all. I peremptorily denied such a horrible lie,
+and warned her that everywhere I would resist such
+attack on H. P. B. These are the facts, and the real
+issue is around H. P. B." (<i>The Path</i>, March, 1895.)</p>
+
+<p>With the complete disruption of the Society the
+Brahmin period of dominance over Mrs. Besant came
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>
+to an end. Then followed the Leadbeater <i>r&eacute;gime</i>, the
+first phase of which culminated in the crisis of 1906.
+But on Colonel Olcott's death in the following year, she
+contrived the realisation of her great ambition, and
+became President of the Society. At this point in her
+career, however, there were two serious difficulties which
+she had to meet:&mdash;<i>first</i>, the Leadbeater scandal which
+raised a storm of horror and protest from those old and
+tried members who had remained in the Society up to
+that time, but who then practically withdrew in a body
+Deprived of their support, and having reinstated the
+infamous Leadbeater, Mrs. Besant realised that, as
+President, she could no longer risk appearing half-hearted
+over H. P. Blavatsky; nay more, she <i>needed</i>
+the support of her venerated name; <i>second</i>, as President
+of the Society created by H. P. B., she must, for the sake
+of her own prestige, take some definite action which
+would remove all possibility of suspicion that she was
+no longer the follower of the Teacher whom she had,
+<i>in fact</i>, already "denied" and "betrayed" only two
+years after her death. Mrs. Besant realised, in short,
+that she had gone too far, and must now retrieve the
+position. Accordingly, in 1907, she issued a pamphlet
+entitled <i>H. P. Blavatsky and the Masters of the [sic]
+Wisdom</i>, in which, with all her accustomed ability, she
+dealt once more with the famous (or rather infamous)
+Report of the Society for Psychical Research, published
+in 1885. But the concluding eulogy strikes a false note,
+coming from one who, as I have shown, was capable of
+being persuaded that H. P. B. had concocted messages
+from those Masters Whom she so faithfully served for
+two-thirds of her life.</p>
+
+<p>It was at this time also (1907), so Mrs. Besant later
+declared, that "the T. S. fully regained its original
+position, with the Masters of the [<i>sic</i>] Wisdom as once
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>
+more the 'First Section' of the Society." This
+bold assertion was made in 1919, when, under
+pressure of some fresh scare connected with Mr. Leadbeater,
+Mrs. Besant published a small volume of the
+Masters' Letters (most of which had presumably been
+lying in the archives of the Society at Adyar for nearly
+forty years!), obviously for no other reason than because
+among them are two alleged to have been received by
+Mr. Leadbeater. This she did in order to bolster up
+the extravagant claims she now makes for him as a
+"Great Teacher." But there were many who received
+Letters in the early days, and there is no reason why
+similar claims should not be made for all the recipients!</p>
+
+<p>In the article entitled "Whom will ye Serve?"
+(<i>Theosophist</i>, March, 1922,) Mrs. Besant says that H. P.
+B. "formed an inner circle of her pupils, that it might
+bear witness to the truth and reality of the inner side
+of life." This was the "Inner Group" of which she
+and I were two of the six women members. But as,
+unfortunately Mr. Leadbeater was not included, although
+he had become a member of the T. S. some years before,
+she adds:&mdash;"And behold! ere she passed away, she had
+led others to the Light, and bade them bear witness
+to it...." Considering that she "passed away" <i>less
+than a year</i> after forming the Inner Group in the summer
+of 1890, and that we were constantly with her and
+never heard of these "others," this statement is manifestly
+untrue. Mrs. Besant also refers to Mr. Leadbeater
+as "one of H. P. B.'s nearest and most trusted pupils
+[Absolutely untrue.&mdash;A. L. C.] whom she had led to
+his Master of many lives, and in whom she had awakened
+the powers since so splendidly used in the service of the
+Society that he might become a great Teacher...."</p>
+
+<p>I challenge Mrs. Besant to produce anything in
+writing by H. P. B. to warrant this audacious assertion.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>
+I was a pupil of H. P. B. (and through her was accepted
+as "a <i>chela</i> on probation," in 1889) before Mrs. Besant
+joined the T. S., and saw her expel one of her most
+gifted and valued workers from the Esoteric Section for
+offences against the occult and moral law similar to
+those with which Mr. Leadbeater's name has now been
+associated for nearly twenty years. H. P. B. was
+always extremely strict on this particular point, and
+many would-be aspirants for <i>chelaship</i> were refused on
+this one ground alone, while others who had been
+accepted "on probation" failed almost immediately
+afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>When I joined the T. S. in 1885 my diploma was
+signed by Colonel Olcott as President and C.W. Leadbeater
+as Secretary (he was then at Adyar), but I never
+heard him mentioned by H. P. B. or anyone else at
+the London Headquarters, as a person of any importance
+whatever, in the occult sense. Mrs. Besant goes on to
+say that H. P. B. left "the twain of us [Leadbeater
+and herself] to bear personal witness to the truth when
+she had gone"! Where is her <i>evidence</i> that Mr. Leadbeater
+was ever one of H. P. B.'s pupils? There is
+none, save this bare, unsupported assertion of a highly
+interested party. How could these two, to the exclusion
+of all H. P. B.'s pupils&mdash;some of them "regularly
+accepted <i>chelas</i> on probation"&mdash;be specially selected,
+taught, and prepared, (and above all, to promulgate
+the sort of "teachings" of which I have given a few
+specimens), without any of us hearing even a hint
+of it! Moreover, I never saw, or even heard of Mr.
+Leadbeater at the London Headquarters while H. P. B.
+was alive. I might just as well claim such a mission for
+myself, or Mr. Mead, or Dr. Keightley, or any other
+member of the Inner Group who has remained true to
+the pledge and the Teacher; and with greater justice,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>
+for Mrs. Besant has <i>not</i>. The truth is that Mr. Leadbeater
+was never heard of in connection with occult
+teaching until he was taken up and foisted on the
+unfortunate T. S. and E. S. as a "Great Teacher" by
+Mrs. Besant who was herself never more than a "<i>chela</i>
+on probation"&mdash;<i>during H. P. B.'s lifetime</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Let me refer again to H. P. B.'s article "The
+Theosophical Mahatmas" from which I have already
+quoted (<a href="#Page_3"><i>ante</i> p. 3</a>), in which she deals with the members
+of the T. S. who were "regularly accepted <i>chelas</i> on
+probation," and the subsequent failure of nearly all of
+them. If this was true at that time, it can certainly
+now be applied to the case of Mrs. Besant, who, in my
+judgment and that of many others, conspicuously failed
+under two great tests. The first failure occurred when
+she went to India in 1893, became an orthodox Hindu,
+and was induced to entertain those doubts of her Teacher
+that I have already alluded to. (<a href="#Page_66"><i>ante</i> p. 66</a>.) Bound up
+with this failure&mdash;the doubt of the Teacher&mdash;was her
+attack on her fellow <i>chela</i>, Mr. Judge.</p>
+
+<p>The second failure was a far worse one when, in
+1906, after having publicly endorsed the finding of the
+Advisory Committee on Leadbeater's crimes (<a href="#Footnote_14_14">see footnote
+<i>ante</i> p. 59</a>), she suddenly turned round and secured his
+reinstatement. In thus condoning and even endorsing
+immorality of the vilest description, she denied one of
+the strictest occult laws binding upon a <i>chela</i>.</p>
+
+<p>This double failure had far more serious results in
+her case than in those of which H. P. B. wrote in 1886,
+because, owing to her commanding position as a leader,
+the fate of the many thousands of earnest souls in the
+Society who believed in and followed her implicitly,
+was involved.<br /><br /></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><b>FOOTNOTES:</b></span>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> This Brahmin is the person referred to in the following passage
+from Mr. T. H. Martyn's letter to Mrs. Besant of May 20th, 1921
+(<a href="#Page_18">see <i>ante</i> p. 18</a>):&mdash;"Like many of the older members I have known
+how you and others for quite a long time regarded &mdash;&mdash; as
+<i>a Master in the flesh</i> and later had to repudiate him when certain
+facts indicated the mistake." Italics mine. This is absolutely new
+to me. In 1894 none of us (so far as I was then aware) regarded
+Mr. &mdash;&mdash; as anything more than a <i>chela</i>, so what Mr. Martyn
+here states must have been a later development, and explains much.
+</p><p>
+I suppress the gentleman's name out of regard for his present
+official position in India and his dissociation from Mrs. Besant.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> I did not learn the actual facts of this foolish fable until I
+came to India in 1918, and found they were common knowledge
+among leading members of that time. Naturally, when Mrs. Besant
+transferred her allegiance to Mr. Leadbeater, she had to find another
+"body" for H. P. B. So, in the <i>Theosophist</i> for January, 1922. she
+writes the following typical effusion for the benefit of the faithful:&mdash;" ... alas!
+she passed away, and took rebirth in the north of India,
+and though we have lived for twenty-eight years in the same land
+so dear to beth of us, we have never met physically face to face. Yet
+close ties bind us to each other, and may be we shall yet greet each
+other in the flesh." Observe the suggestion that she has always
+been in close touch with H. P. B. <i>out of the body</i>, and that later they
+may meet "in the flesh." This prepares the ground for producing
+this new "incarnation" when the suitable moment comes; just as
+the boy Krishnamurti was brought forward as the "body" for the
+coming "World-Teacher." Mrs. Besant's new version must be
+amusing reading for those familiar with the earlier theory, as she
+was certainly "face to face" with the "little daughter" constantly,
+and even persuaded Countess Wachtmeister to resume her former
+care of H. P. B. in her new body. Needless to say the poor Countess
+was sadly disillusioned, and died not long afterwards bitterly bewailing
+the ruin of the T. S.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> As showing the absurdity of such a claim, I may mention
+that Mrs. Besant actually visited mediums through whom H. P. B.
+was supposed to communicate. In 1892, only a year after her death,
+my colleague Mr. Basil Crump, Barrister-at-Law, was investigating
+the phenomena of a certain trance medium shortly before he joined
+the T. S. He was present at a private sitting with this medium in
+the studio of an artist friend, to which Mrs. Besant came with another
+member of H. P. B.'s Inner Group, Miss Emily Kislingbury,
+in order to speak with her deceased teacher. An intelligence calling
+itself "Madame Blavatsky" controlled the medium, and Mrs. Besant
+held a conversation with it. Later, when Mr. Crump became acquainted
+with H. P. B.'s explanation of Spiritualistic phenomena, and her
+express denial that the true immortal Ego ever communicated in this
+manner, he was naturally astonished that one of her most learned
+pupils should for a moment entertain such a possibility and waste
+her valuable time in attending a s&eacute;ance. But now he sees that it
+was only an early symptom of the astounding credulity and ignorance
+of occult science she has since exhibited, as shown in these pages.
+H. P. B.'s explanations of psychic phenomena are rapidly being
+endorsed and followed by the modern scientific school of investigation,
+which has succeeded not only in proving the genuineness of the
+phenomena, but also the important part played by the <i>will and
+imagination</i> both of the medium and the sitters in their production.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Her latest move, is to draw a distinction between the "Advisory
+Committee of 1906" which she accuses of "unjust action," and what
+she calls "the prolonged investigation of 1907-08," which of course
+was engineered by her after she became President, in order to white-wash
+Mr. Leadbeater and secure his reinstatement. (See <i>Theosophist</i>,
+July, 1922). <a href="#Australian">See Addendum</a> for the Australian views on this.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> The importance of this case lies in the fact that it constituted
+an absolute vindication of H. P. B., for every slander ever circulated
+directly or indirectly was covered by it. Although the libel action
+came to an end with her death, the paper was so impressed by the
+evidence produced, in rebuttal, by Mr. Judge, that it not only
+retracted all that it had published, but also invited Mr. Judge to
+write a long article entitled "The Esoteric She" which they said
+"disposes of all questions relating to Madame Blavatsky." That
+Mrs. Asquith and Count Witte should both have seen fit to revive
+some of these old slanders in their books of reminiscences does not
+redound to their credit.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Mrs. Besant's "Spiritual Viceroy" has certainly nothing to
+do with Those who were directing H. P. B. when she founded the
+Indian T. S. <span class="smcap">OR</span> U. B. in 1879; for a special clause was included in
+the Constitution stating that "The Society repudiates all interference
+on its behalf with the Governmental relations of any nation or community,
+confining its attention exclusively to the matters set forth
+in the present document...." H. P. B. also wrote in the <i>Theosophist</i>,
+for October, 1879&mdash;"Unconcerned about politics; hostile to the
+insane dreams of Socialism and Communism, which it abhors&mdash;as
+both are but disguised conspiracies of brutal force and sluggishness
+against honest labour; the Society cares but little about the outward
+human management of the material world. The whole of its aspirations
+are directed toward the occult truths of the visible and invisible
+worlds. Whether the physical man be under the rule of an empire
+or a republic, concerns only the man of matter. His body may be
+enslaved; as to his Soul, he has the right to give to his rulers the
+proud answer of Socrates to his Judges. They have no sway over
+the <i>inner</i> man." There speaks the true Mystic whose "Kingdom
+is not of this world." Three years later H. P. B. and Colonel Olcott
+published a further disclaimer, in which they said&mdash;"Before we came
+to India, the word Politics had never been pronounced in connection
+with our names; for the idea was too absurd to be even entertained,
+much less expressed...."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> The original documents appear in the <i>O. E. Critic</i> for June
+21st, 1922, and include a confession signed by a priest of the L. C. C.
+who states that he was "led astray by those whom I considered to
+be my superiors both morally and spiritually" adding "Wedgwood
+absolutely declines to give up the mal-practice." Wedgwood fled to
+Algeria at the end of March. A cable from Sydney dated May 30th
+states that "Mrs. Besant refused to answer any enquiry in reference
+to Wedgwood. Police now holding an enquiry into the charges against
+Leadbeater." Dr. Stokes concludes his comments on the documents
+as follows:&mdash;"And Annie Besant, having repeatedly been informed
+of the facts, not only refused to look into them, but launched her
+anathemas against those who criticised, even threatening them with
+expulsion from the E. S., and even very recently cabling to Wedgwood
+that he made a mistake in resigning!&mdash;It is on Annie Besant, more
+than on any other one person, that the responsibility for the present
+scandalous condition in the T. S. rests. The best of societies may
+have its black sheep and it is not to be blamed if it does its best to
+purge itself. But it is Annie Besant, with her tools and sycophants,
+who has ever concealed and denied the palpable facts, or, where they
+could not be denied, has palliated, excused and even defended them,
+throwing over them a veil of esoteric glamour, supporting such
+scoundrels as Leadbeater and Wedgwood, apparently in order the
+better to serve her ambitions. A vote of confidence in Annie Besant
+to-day either betrays total ignorance of the facts, or associates those
+who give it with the grossest forms of moral rottenness." <a href="#Piddington">See
+Addendum</a> for Mr. Piddington, K. C's opinion on Mrs Besant's
+conduct in Australia last May; also Mr. Hugh Gillespie's evidence
+of her use of the Esoteric School as a "<i>political machine</i>" to secure
+her "ascendancy in the various bodies to which E. S. members have
+gained access."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> As to the methods employed to suppress criticism, Dr.
+Hiestand-Moore says in the same issue:&mdash;"Slander, falsehood, deceit,
+treachery, all have been summoned to the support of Mr. Leadbeater's
+cause. Anonymous communications have been written to confound
+the prosecution, letters have been stolen and threats made. The
+Editor of <i>The Voice</i> has been compelled to call upon the Secret Service
+to protect her mails." [An entire issue in proof with copy and unset
+matter disappeared, and had to be rewritten!] Again, the Editor
+of the <i>O. E. Critic</i> writes:&mdash;"It is understood, and I have the direct
+testimony of the publisher to the fact, that the entire edition of the
+Brooks' books [<i>Esoteric Bogeydom</i> and <i>Neo-Theosophy Exposed</i>] was
+corralled by Mrs. Besant in order to suppress their circulation. They
+tell too much about her."<br /><br /></p></div>
+
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p>
+<h2><br /><br /><a name="Tampering" id="Tampering"></a>Tampering with H. P. Blavatsky's writings.</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE result of Mrs. Besant's first failure, through
+harbouring doubts of her Teacher's <i>bona fides</i> and
+esoteric knowledge, was soon manifested when she
+began to publish new editions of H. P. B.'s works. The
+first noteworthy example was her excision from <i>The Voice
+of the Silence</i> of passages and notes, presumably out of
+deference to Brahmin sentiment, which then governed
+her actions. One of the last verses in "The Two Paths"
+(the second of the "Three Fragments" forming the
+little book) in the original edition (1889) begins thus:&mdash;
+"He who becomes Pratyeka Buddha, makes his obeisance
+but to his Self." In a footnote H. P. B. explains that
+"Pratyeka Buddhas are those Bodhisattvas who strive
+after and often reach the Dharmakaya robe after a
+series of lives. Caring nothing for the woes of mankind
+or to help it, but only for their own <i>bliss</i>, they enter
+Nirvana and&mdash;disappear from the sight and the hearts
+of men. In Northern Buddhism a 'Pratyeka Buddha'
+is a synonym of spiritual Selfishness."</p>
+
+<p>In Mrs. Besant's edition both the passage and the
+footnote I have quoted are omitted. Her reason for this
+unscrupulous proceeding is given in a footnote on p. 416
+of the so-called "third volume" of <i>The Secret Doctrine</i>.
+In this note Mrs. Besant, from the heights of her then
+newly-acquired Brahmanical wisdom, adopts the following
+dictatorial and censorious tone towards her late
+Teacher:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>The Pratyeka Buddha stands on the level of the Buddha [!],
+but His work for the world has nothing to do with its teaching,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>
+and His office has always been surrounded with
+mystery. The preposterous [<i>sic</i>] view that He, at such
+superhuman height of power, wisdom and love could be
+selfish, is found in the exoteric books, though it is hard to
+see how it can have arisen. H. P. B. <i>charged me to correct
+the mistake, as she had, in a careless moment, copied such a
+statement elsewhere</i>.&mdash;A. B.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Observe the assumption of superior knowledge to
+H. P. B.'s, and the use of the words "preposterous"
+and "careless." To any real Oriental <i>chela</i> such an
+attitude towards his <i>Guru</i> would be simply unthinkable;
+but we have seen how very quickly Mrs. Besant believed
+herself to have soared far above the "chela on probation"
+state of her H. P. B. days into that of an "Initiate"
+and future "Supreme Ruler of the World of Gods and
+men." To such vanity and self-delusion everything is
+possible. How different was the attitude of the <i>real</i>
+Occultist who was spoken of by the Masters as "Our
+Brother H. P. B.," yet called herself "a Chela of one
+of Them"!</p>
+
+<p>The passage I have italicised in the above footnote
+by Mrs. Besant is untrue on the face of it to anyone
+who knew, as I did, the loving care with which H. P.
+B. prepared this unique little book of "Golden Precepts."
+Moreover, she states in her Preface that the verses given
+are selected from a much larger number which she
+"learnt by heart." Further, H. P. B. <i>not only repeated
+but greatly amplified</i> this statement about the Pratyeka
+Buddha in her <i>Theosophical Glossary</i>, a fact which Mrs.
+Besant had evidently forgotten when she concocted the
+footnote quoted above.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> The Pratyeka Buddha is
+doubtless much that Mrs. Besant claims for him, but
+she does not seem to know, or has probably forgotten,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>
+that there are <i>two</i> classes of Masters, <i>two</i> "Paths"
+(as this very section of <i>The Voice of the Silence</i> shows);
+that the "Pairs of Opposites" obtain on all planes of
+Manifestation and Being, right up to the threshold of
+the <i>Un</i>manifested&mdash;the ONE; that, while there are
+<i>Masters of</i> <span class="smcap">Compassion</span>, there must of necessity exist
+also the opposite pole&mdash;the wearers of the "Dharmak&acirc;ya
+robe," with all the power and knowledge which that
+state implies, but without that <i>Compassion</i> which alone
+makes a Master of the "Right Hand Path."<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p>
+
+<p>It was a great and valuable feature of H. P. B.'s,
+method that she taught us to reason on these lines,
+checking everything by the Law of Correspondences.
+But Mrs. Besant has evidently long since abandoned
+this, and prefers the sacerdotal plan of accepting everything
+on "authority," which in her present phase means
+Leadbeater or her own psychic delusions. The "World
+Teacher" dogma is a case in point. She asserts it as
+a fact to be accepted because she says it; whereas, as
+I have shown, it is untenable in the light of <i>The Secret
+Doctrine</i> (<a href="#Page_2">see <i>ante</i> p. 2</a>), which endorses Oriental tradition
+and cyclic law.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Besant's partiality for the Pratyeka Buddha,
+however, may possibly be explained by some words
+that H. P. B. once wrote of her to Mr. Judge:&mdash;"She
+is not psychic or spiritual in the least&mdash;all intellect."
+For H. P. B. opens her paragraph in the <i>Theosophical
+Glossary</i> on the Pratyeka Buddha with these words:
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>&mdash;
+"The Pratyeka Buddha is a degree which belongs
+exclusively to the Yog㤨㳹a school ... one of <i>high
+intellectual development with no true spirituality</i>". (Italics
+mine.) Moreover, we have the authority of the Maha
+Chohan Himself (the Head of the Trans-Him&acirc;layan
+Brotherhood) for the statement that even Nirv㯡 is,
+"after all, but an exalted and glorious selfishness."</p>
+
+<p>In the <i>Theosophist</i> for March, 1922, Mrs. Besant
+says, in her "Watch-Tower" notes:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>A wild theory has just been started in the U. S. A. that
+<i>The Secret Doctrine</i>, brought out by the London T. P. H.
+after H. P. B.'s death, was not as H. P. B. wanted it. The
+<i>insinuation</i> is made that <i>H. P. B.</i> was "edited" by those
+in charge of <i>the second edition</i>. The <i>trustees</i> to whom she
+left <i>the safeguarding of her printed books and unpublished
+manuscripts</i> were all her own pupils who had <i>lived with her
+for years</i>, and they made only <i>such changes as she had herself
+directed</i>, which consist mainly in the correction of verbal and
+grammatical errors, and the <i>arrangement of the material of
+Vol.</i> III.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>I have italicised the statements requiring explanation
+or correction. The "second edition," as Mrs. Besant
+must be well aware, was merely a re-print to meet an
+unexpected demand, and bears the same date as the
+original edition, <i>viz.</i>, 1888. But as Mrs. Besant only
+joined the T. S. early in 1889, and was led to seek an
+interview with H. P. Blavatsky <i>after</i> reviewing <i>The
+Secret Doctrine</i> for the late Mr. W. T. Stead, then Editor
+of the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>, clearly she can know absolutely
+nothing of the preparation of its first <i>or</i> of its "second
+edition"! As to the alleged "trustees," I can only say
+that I never heard of their existence. <i>Mrs. Besant</i> only
+"lived with" H. P. B. for rather more than eighteen
+months. H. P. B. left 17, Lansdowne Road, London, W., in
+the summer of 1889, the Headquarters being moved to Mrs.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>
+Besant's house in Avenue Road, N.W., where she died
+in May 1891, <i>while Mrs. Besant was on her way back
+from a lecture tour in America</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Take next the alleged "safeguarding" of H. P.
+B.'s "unpublished manuscripts." Those who were
+responsible for the so-called Volume III, had a strange
+and unusual conception of the meaning of the word
+"safeguarding." It so happens that while it was being
+set up I was able actually to peruse one or two of the
+familiar long foolscap sheets which H. P. B. always
+covered with her small fine handwriting. They were
+mutilated almost beyond recognition, few of her sentences
+remaining intact; and there were "corrections" not
+only in the handwritings of the editors, Mrs. Besant
+and Mr. Mead, but also in that of others which I was
+able to identify. More than this I cannot say without
+abusing confidence; but the wrong done to my Teacher
+compels me to say this much.</p>
+
+<p>Those who were H. P. B.'s untiring and unfailing
+helpers in the preparation of <i>The Secret Doctrine</i> for
+the press in 1887-88, Dr. Archibald and Mr. Bertram
+Keightley, have, fortunately for posterity, put on record
+their experiences of those days. They have made statements
+of the utmost value in connection with the facts
+I am here dealing with, which they wrote specially for
+Countess Wachtmeister's <i>Reminiscences of H. P. Blavatsky
+and "The Secret Doctrine,"</i> published in 1893. Moreover,
+Dr. Keightley wrote an account of H. P. B.'s manifold
+literary activities at this time, which appeared in the
+<i>Theosophist</i> for July 1889, in which he states that "<i>the
+Third Volume of The Secret Doctrine is in MS. ready to
+be given to the printers</i>. [Italics mine.&mdash;A. L. C.] It
+will consist mainly of a series of sketches of the great
+Occultists of all ages, and is a most wonderful and
+fascinating work."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>
+In the face of this clear and definite statement,
+made by one whose word I know to be unimpeachable,
+and who lived and worked with H. P. B. at that time,
+what becomes of H. P. B.'s alleged "directions" for
+the "arrangement of the material of Vol. III" which Mrs.
+Besant speaks of above, and the statement in the Preface
+to <i>her</i> version of Vol. III:&mdash;"The task of preparing
+this volume for the press has been a difficult and anxious
+one.... The papers given to me by H. P. B. were
+quite unarranged, and had no obvious order...."? This
+volume, given by Mrs. Besant to the world in 1897, is
+most certainly <i>not</i> the one Dr. Keightley speaks of as
+"ready" for "the printers" in 1889, as I will prove.
+<span class="smcap">What then became of that volume?</span></p>
+
+<p>But first I will quote Dr. Stokes, Editor of the
+<i>O. E. Critic</i>, whose most specific charges and plain
+statements of fact hardly come under the purposely
+misleading term "insinuations," used by Mrs. Besant!
+Dr. Stokes "<i>insinuates</i>" nothing; he heads his most
+damaging accusation as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><a name="Secret" id="Secret"></a>"<span class="smcap">Annie Besant's Corruption of the Secret
+Doctrine.</span>"</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>In all probability Annie Besant's "revision" of H. P.
+Blavatsky's original edition of <i>The Secret Doctrine</i> constitutes
+the most colossal case of corruption of an original text
+to be found in history. A group of students is comparing the
+original edition with the "third and revised edition," edited
+by Annie Besant and G. R. S. Mead, after the author's
+death.... I am informed by those making the comparison
+[that] ... the actual changes will be far more than twenty
+thousand. Many of these changes are trivial and one wonders
+at the impertinence or conceit which inspired them. Some
+of the changes&mdash;those which might have put students on
+their guard against the so-called Third Volume&mdash;can only be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>
+construed as deliberate and intentional suppressions and
+corruptions of the original text. And this in a work of which
+the Master K. H. wrote: "Every mistake or erroneous notion
+corrected and explained by her from the works of other Theosophists
+was corrected by me or under my instruction." The true
+title of the "third and revised edition" should be "<i>The
+Secret Doctrine</i>, written by H. P. Blavatsky, corrected and
+approved by the Master K. H., and corrupted by Annie
+Besant." It is almost impossible to comprehend the colossal
+conceit, the limitless contempt for common literary decency
+which could have inspired such an act of vandalism, to say
+nothing of such disrespect for the Master whom she professes
+to venerate. And all of this is put forth as the work of
+H. P. Blavatsky herself, with the mere apology in the
+preface that "Had H. P. Blavatsky lived to issue the new
+edition, she would doubtless have corrected and enlarged it
+to a very considerable extent." What a specious excuse?
+[Repeated in the preface to the alleged Vol. III.&mdash;A. L. C.]
+Had H. P. B. "corrected and enlarged it" it would without
+doubt have been done under the same guidance and authority
+which directed and corrected the first edition. It is enough
+to cast suspicion on each and every quotation of original
+sources made by Mrs. Besant, and her emendation of the
+Theosophy of H. P. B. as well. (October 12th, 1921.)</p>
+
+<p>As for the third volume, edited and published after the
+death of H. P. B. from manuscripts left by her, nobody
+knows, in the absence of a previous edition issued by her,
+how much of it is H. P. B.'s and how much is not, but there
+is good evidence that much of it is not, which is the more
+likely in view of the vandalisms the same editors perpetrated
+in the first two volumes. In no sense can the "third and
+revised edition" be said to be a re-print of the original <i>Secret
+Doctrine</i> of H. P. Blavatsky. (December 21st, 1921.)</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>I most fully endorse all that Dr. Stokes so ably
+demonstrates, and I can quite believe that, in regard
+to Vol. III, some of the contents are not by H. P. B.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>&mdash;
+the style in places is not hers at all. But I can enlighten
+him as to those portions of the contents of which I have
+actual knowledge. I may here add that, when my own
+group of students were checking the "third and revised
+edition" of the first and second volumes of <i>The Secret
+Doctrine</i> by the original edition of 1888, they came
+across no less than four specific references by H. P. B.
+to Vols. III and IV as being practically completed, <i>viz.</i>,
+Vol. I, Preface, and p. 11; Vol. II, pp. 437, 798, 1st
+Ed., 1888. Mrs. Besant coolly deleted all these without
+a word of explanation!</p>
+
+<p>How unnecessary nearly all of this so-called
+"revision" was, can be realised in the Keightleys'
+accounts (see Countess Wachtmeister's book) of the care
+taken over the proofs of the first edition. Mr. Bertram
+Keightley says they first "read the whole mass of MSS.&mdash;a
+pile over three feet high&mdash;most carefully through,
+correcting the English and punctuation where absolutely
+indispensable." (Contrast this modesty and respect for
+the author with the spirit that perpetrated the thirty
+thousand corrections in the "third edition"!) It was
+then arranged under H. P. B.'s supervision in Sections,
+etc., and professionally typewritten. This first copy was
+again revised and any obscurities explained. It should
+be noted here that Mr. Keightley says they laid before
+H. P. B. "a plan, suggested by the character of the
+matter itself, <i>viz.</i>, to make the work consist of four
+volumes ... to follow the natural order of exposition
+and begin with the Evolution of Cosmos, to pass from
+that to the Evolution of Man, then to deal with the
+historical part in a third volume treating of the lives
+of some great Occultists, and of 'Practical Occultism'
+in a fourth." This proves that at least the whole of
+the material for Vol. III was actually there (Dr. Keightley
+elsewhere states that it was <i>ready for the printer</i>.) Finally
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>
+the Keightleys themselves set to work to type out a
+fair copy of Vols. I and II for the printer. "H. P. B.
+read and corrected two sets of galley proofs, then a
+page proof, and finally a revise in sheet, correcting,
+adding, and altering up to the very last moment."</p>
+
+<p>Dr. A. Keightley says:&mdash;" ... no work and no
+trouble, no suffering or pain could daunt her from her
+task. Crippled with rheumatism, suffering from a
+disease which had several times nearly proved fatal,
+she still worked on unflaggingly, writing at her desk
+the moment her eyes and fingers could guide the pen....
+We had to carry on the general scheme ... to
+act as watch-dogs and help her to make the meaning
+as clear as possible. But all the work was hers ...
+it went through three or four other hands besides H.
+P. B.'s in galley proof, as well as in revise. She was
+her own most severe corrector...."</p>
+
+<p>Another able helper was Mr. E. Douglas Fawcett,
+the well-known author of <i>The Riddle of the Universe</i>,
+of whom both the Keightleys speak in terms of high
+praise. His profound knowledge of science, philosophy,
+and metaphysics was invaluable. "He supplied many
+of the quotations from scientific works, as well as many
+confirmations of the occult doctrines derived from
+similar sources."</p>
+
+<p>And this monumental work, produced with such
+meticulous care and precautions against errors, is
+subjected to some thirty thousand corrections by its
+subsequent "editors"! In all my study of the original
+edition I have never found more than a few errors that
+matter in the least, and these are mostly typographical
+and quite obvious to any person of average intelligence.
+The marvel is that there are so few in a work of such
+magnitude and scope. Those of my students who
+possess only the "third and revised edition" (the first
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>
+and second now being scarce), have re-corrected it to
+agree with the first; and to look at the pages covered
+with these re-corrections brings home to one, as nothing
+else can, the force and justice of Dr. Stokes's indictment.
+Let us hope that when H. P. B.'s great work is understood
+and accepted seriously at its true worth, an indignant
+posterity will pass judgment on one of the worst
+examples of literary vandalism in the nineteenth century.</p>
+
+<p>In her Preface to Vol. III, Mrs. Besant boldly states
+that, in regard to the Sections entitled "The Mystery
+of Buddha," there are "very numerous errors of fact,
+and many statements based on exoteric writings, not
+on esoteric knowledge"! If her own statement with
+which I have dealt, regarding the Pratyeka Buddha is
+to be taken as the measure of her capacity to judge of
+the merit or demerit of H. P. B.'s work, all that Mrs.
+Besant says, or skilfully suggests, in this Preface can be
+dismissed as absolutely worthless. But in view of the
+fact that she then believed herself to be acting under
+the direction of "a Master in the flesh" (<a href="#Page_18">see Mr. Martyn's
+letter, <i>ante</i> pp. 18-19</a> and <a href="#Footnote_11_11">footnote p. 56</a>), who happened
+to be <i>an orthodox Brahmin</i>, these unfounded pronouncements
+which I quote with regard to the Sections on the
+Lord Buddha are perhaps not so surprising. I use the
+word "unfounded" advisedly, for she makes two
+separate statements as to the way in which she obtained
+the material for this so-called Vol. III. She opens the
+Preface with the first one:&mdash;"The task of preparing
+this volume for the press has been a difficult and anxious
+one, and it is necessary to state clearly what has been
+done." This is one of her usual formulas, after which
+she proceeds to do the exact opposite. She thus
+continues, in fact:&mdash;"The papers given to me by
+H. P. B...." But Mrs. Besant was not in England
+when H. P. B. died, <i>quite unexpectedly</i>, and with only
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>
+three of her pupils present, namely, Mr. Claude Wright,
+Mr. Walter Old and Miss Laura Cooper (now Mrs. G. R.
+S. Mead.) We were all summoned by telegram, and I
+was at Avenue Road within a few hours. I never heard
+of any evidence that she gave Mrs. Besant papers, or
+directions about papers, before the latter left for America
+on a lecture tour; and most certainly H. P. B. never
+formally "appointed" her, or anyone else, as her
+"successor," for the very good reason that I have
+given elsewhere&mdash;that the movement had definitely
+failed, and she was "recalled." (<a href="#Page_2">see <i>ante</i> p. 2</a>.)</p>
+
+<p>To return to Mrs. Besant's Preface. Her second
+statement is that the papers for the Sections on "The
+Mystery of the Buddha" were "given into my hands
+to publish, as part of the Third Volume of <i>The Secret
+Doctrine</i>...." <i>By whom</i> were they "given"? Certainly
+not by H. P. B.; and why does Mrs. Besant speak of
+these Sections on the Buddha as if they were something
+apart from the "papers" she alleges she received <i>from
+H. P. B.</i>? Clearly any further analysis is useless, for
+in all probability the truth about what really happened
+to all H. P. B.'s MSS. after her death <i>will never be known</i>,
+since the few who do know will, naturally, never speak.</p>
+
+<p>Brushing aside, therefore, Mrs. Besant's "explanatory"
+Preface, Volume III, as given to the public in
+1897, appears to be simply a collection of fugitive articles
+which, as I have shown, were obviously freely edited.
+To pad out the volume (the MSS. spoken of by H. P. B.
+in Vols. I and II, as already existing, having mysteriously
+vanished) Mrs. Besant prints both the <i>E. S. T.</i> and the
+<i>Inner Group Instructions</i>, despite the pledge of secrecy
+taken by her and all other recipients of these teachings.
+In justification of this she states&mdash;<i>six years after H. P.
+B.'s death</i>&mdash;that H. P. B. instructed her to do so! The
+worthlessness of such "instructions" is palpable in the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>
+light of her na&iuml;ve belief in the alleged reincarnation of her
+Teacher in Mr. &mdash;&mdash;'s little daughter. (Needless to add that,
+under Leadbeater, she has another version of this idea!)
+We have the usual misleading and disingenuous statement
+in a "Note" which is prefixed to these Instructions. Mrs.
+Besant says:&mdash;"Papers I, II and III ... were written by
+H. P. B. and were circulated privately during her lifetime"</p>
+
+<p><i>These</i> "<i>Papers</i>" <i>are the E. S. Instructions.</i> She
+calls those given to the Inner Group "Notes of some
+Oral Teaching." But, with two exceptions, almost <i>every
+word of both E. S. and I. G. Instructions are given intact</i>,
+just as we received them; I possess them all. The
+two exceptions are, first, the practical teachings, given
+at the first meeting of the <i>I. G.</i>, for Yoga development,
+which even Mrs. Besant had not the hardihood to
+publish; and, second, a very long "Preliminary Memorandum"
+to Instructions III.<br /><br /></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><b>FOOTNOTES:</b></span>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a>
+See also <i>An Introduction to Mahay&acirc;na Buddhism</i>, by W. M.
+McGovern, 1922. Kegan Paul. He confirms H. P. B.'s definition.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> It was ... during the highest point of civilisation and knowledge,
+as also of human intellectuality, of ... the Atlantean Race
+that ... humanity branched off into its two diametrically opposite
+paths; the Right and the Left-hand paths of knowledge or of
+Vidya. "<i>Thus were the germs of the White and the Black Magic sown
+in those days. The seeds lay latent for some time, to sprout only during
+the early period of the Fifth (our Race).</i>" (<i>Commentary</i>).&mdash;<i>The Secret
+Doctrine.</i> First Edition, Vol. I, p. 192.<br /><br /></p></div>
+
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p>
+<h2><br /><br /><a name="Truth" id="Truth"></a>The Truth about the E. S. Council, and the Inner Group.</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE E. S. Instructions were written by H. P. B.
+during the winter of 1888-89. The I. G. Teachings
+were given orally by H. P. B. at its meetings in
+1890-91. It was the duty of the two secretaries,
+Mrs. Besant and Mr. Mead, to write these Teachings up,
+from notes sent in by <i>all of us</i>, after each meeting, and
+record them in a book. This record was dealt with at
+each succeeding meeting, corrected and often amplified by
+H. P. B. All these <i>might</i>, therefore, have been included
+in Vol. IV of <i>The Secret Doctrine</i>, according to the
+general plan of the work adopted by H. P. B., if she
+had lived and had permitted it. Mrs. Besant's statement
+that they were written with that in view is incorrect,
+and was obviously made to justify her action in using
+them for her version of Vol. III.</p>
+
+<p>In the <i>Theosophist</i> for March, 1922, Mrs. Besant
+published an article in which several false statements
+are made concerning the history of the E. S. The
+writer, a Mr. Fritz Kunz, quotes Colonel Olcott's <i>Old
+Diary Leaves</i> as authority for saying that "the first
+move towards founding the E. S. was made in 1881,"
+that it was "organised steadily through the trials of
+1884-85," and merely "announced" in 1888. The
+actual facts (see <i>Theosophist</i>, April, 1880) are, that when
+H. P. B. established the real <span class="smcap">Theosophical Society or
+Universal Brotherhood</span> at Benares in 1879 (the T. S.
+founded at New York in 1875 was only a "Miracle
+Club," as Colonel Olcott says, with no "brotherhood
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>
+plank"), it was on a purely esoteric basis. It was under
+the direct guidance of the Trans-Him㭡yan Brotherhood,
+Who formed the First Section; the second and third
+being for "accepted" and "probationary" <i>chelas</i>
+respectively. When I joined the T. S. in 1885, these
+rules were still in force in the London Lodge. But
+Colonel Olcott insisted on an exoteric organisation with
+"the occultism more in the background"; and the
+crisis of 1884-85, which drove H. P. B. from India (<a href="#Page_2">see
+her letter of 1890, <i>ante</i> p. 2</a>), was the natural result
+of this policy. Far from the E. S. being "organised
+steadily" at that time, as Mr. Kunz asserts, H. P. B.
+makes it clear in her letter that the Master's influence
+was "virtually banished" from Adyar through lack of
+faith in Them, and failure to support her, and that she
+had been ordered to "establish the Esoteric Section,"
+at London, which she did in 1888, because the necessary
+faith in the Masters still existed there and in America.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Kunz then makes the astonishing assertion that the
+E. S. was "transferred to Mrs. Annie Besant in due course
+by H. P. B. in 1891." As I was a member of H. P. B.'s
+Inner Council which was responsible for what was done
+after her death, I am in a position to state the true
+facts as known to me, and as they appear in the E. S.
+documents in my possession. These <i>facts</i> are:&mdash;When
+H. P. B. died&mdash;suddenly and unexpectedly, on May 8th,
+1891<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a>., Mr. Judge at once came over from New York,
+and after much consultation and informal meetings of the
+E. S. Council (composed of the I. G. members) and two<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>
+others, Mr. Wm. Kingsland and Dr. W. Wynn Westcott), a
+formal and "full meeting of the Council" was held at
+Headquarters on May 27th, 1891, when "Bro. Wm. Q.
+Judge attended <i>as the representative of H. P. B.</i> under a
+general power given as below." (Italics mine.&mdash;A. L. C.)</p>
+
+<p>"As Head of the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical
+Society, I hereby declare that William Q. Judge, of
+New York, U.S., in virtue of his character as a <i>chela</i>
+of thirteen years' standing, and of the trust and confidence
+reposed in him, is my only representative for said
+Section in America, and he is the sole channel through
+whom will be sent and received all communications
+between the members of said Section and myself, and
+to him full faith, confidence and credit in that regard
+are to be given, &#8258; Done at London this fourteenth
+day of December, 1888, and in the fourteenth
+year of the Theosophical Society.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">[Seal]&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;  H. P. Blavatsky, &there4;</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>" ... The Council passed the following minute....</p>
+
+<p>That it was resolved and recorded that the highest
+officials in the School for the present are Annie Besant
+and William Q. Judge, in accordance with the above-quoted
+order to William Q. Judge of December, 1888,
+and with the order of April 1st, 1891, to Annie Besant,
+as well as with the written declaration of H. P. B. in
+a letter to William Q. Judge dated March 27th, 1891,
+which we now here have read, in which she wrote that
+Annie Besant should be so considered. The order of
+April 1st, 1891, is as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>I hereby appoint, in the name of the Master, Annie Besant
+Chief Secretary of the Inner Group of the Esoteric Section and
+Recorder of the Teachings.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p>
+
+<p>
+H. P. B., &there4;<br />
+</p>
+
+</blockquote>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Finally, we&mdash;the Council&mdash;declared over our signatures
+that "from henceforth with Annie Besant and
+William Q. Judge rest the full charge and management
+of the School."</p>
+
+<p>Thus did <i>the Council</i> establish the "Dual Headship,"
+and until her meeting with Mr. &mdash;&mdash;, two years
+later, and her subsequent visit to India, Mrs. Besant
+continued to work harmoniously with Mr. Judge in the
+management of the School.</p>
+
+<p>A full report of this Council meeting was immediately
+sent out to the whole E. S., bearing the date May 27th,
+1891. Attached to it was an "Address" signed by
+Mrs. Besant and Mr. Judge as joint "Outer Heads,"
+declaring that these "changes in the Constitution of
+the School" having been "made <i>by the joint Councils
+of the</i> E. S. T." (Italics mine.&mdash;A. L. C.), they considered
+it their "duty" to issue this address to each member.</p>
+
+<p><i>The one error</i>, and the foundation of all subsequent
+ones, as I subsequently realised, was that of speaking
+of themselves as H. P. B.'s "agents and representatives
+after her departure"; for there is nothing whatever in
+the wording of the abovementioned official appointments
+which even suggests such a contingency. <i>Both</i> obviously
+could refer to the holders of them only <i>during</i> H. P. B.'s
+<i>life-time</i>. Indeed, Mr. Judge's was made when the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>
+School was founded, and had been operative ever since;
+while Mrs. Besant's was merely an official confirmation
+of a secretarial office she had filled since the formation
+of the I. G. scarcely nine months previously (thus giving
+her the precedence of Mr. Mead.) It will be seen, however,
+that Mr. Judge's appointment was a far more
+important one than Mrs. Besant's, and was conferred on
+him "in virtue of his character as <i>a chela of thirteen
+years' standing</i>"; whereas Mrs. Besant had been "on
+probation" <i>only</i>, for barely a year. Moreover, when
+Mr. Judge became the object of attacks in 1889, H. P.
+B. issued the following very significant notice:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>
+"<span class="smcap">London</span>,<br />
+<i>October 23rd, 1889</i>.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"The Esoteric Section and its life in the U. S. A.
+depends upon W. Q. J. remaining its agent and what
+he is now. The day W. Q. J. resigns H. P. B. will be
+virtually dead for the Americans. W. Q. J. is the
+Antaskarana between the two <i>Manas(es)</i>, the American
+thought and the Indian&mdash;or rather the trans-Him&acirc;layan
+esoteric knowledge. <i>Dixi.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+H. P. B. &there4;<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"<i>P. S.</i>&mdash;W. Q. J. had better show and impress <i>this</i>
+on the mind of <i>all those it may concern</i>."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>This notice appeared in an E. S. paper issued by
+Mrs. Besant and Mr. Judge, dated July 18th, 1894,
+when Mrs. Besant was already implicated in the plot
+against Mr. Judge.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Besant's appointment, given above, was the
+only official one she ever received from H. P. B. in
+either the E. S. or T. S. Certainly I never heard of
+anything else. The absolutely Jesuitical nature of her
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>
+methods is patent, in that she <i>completely ignores</i> the
+documentary facts set forth above. To read the present
+statements it might be imagined that Mr. Judge hardly
+existed at that time, except as an obscure person who,
+as Mr. Kunz tactfully (!) puts it, made an "unfortunate
+blunder." As I have shown elsewhere (<a href="#Page_5">see <i>ante</i> pp 5</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>);
+it is the fact that "blunders"&mdash;and worse than blunders&mdash;were
+made after H. P. B.'s death (<a href="#Page_86">see <i>ante</i> p. 86</a>);
+but Mrs. Besant's "blunders" were far more serious
+than Mr. Judge's; though both of them were, in the
+first instance, misled by others, whose real aim was to
+disrupt the Society and defeat H. P. B.'s work.</p>
+
+<p>I possess a copy of the previously mentioned most
+valuable "Preliminary Memorandum" to Instructions
+III, as issued by H. P. B. to her students; and a prefatory
+note states:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>The following "Preliminary Memorandum" was written
+by H. P. B. at the time of a grave crisis, or rather series
+of crises, through which the T. S. passed in 1889-90.
+Treachery within the E. S. itself, and persistent and relentless
+attacks on the T. S. from without, especially in America
+necessitated the striking of a fresh keynote and giving
+directions for the closing up of the ranks of the E. S. At
+the time of reprinting the Instructions in London in 1890-91,
+certain portions of this "Preliminary Memorandum" dealing
+with the details of the matter were purposely omitted by
+those of H. P. B.'s pupils who were constituted the editors
+[Mrs. Besant and Mr. Mead], these portions being deemed by
+them of too personal a character to remain. This was done
+when H. P. B. was too ill to supervise, without her sanction,
+and, as she afterwards said, much against her wishes. [Some
+of the details omitted related to attacks on Mr. Judge, and
+the duty of defending him "when the time comes."]</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Similarly, Mr. Mead omitted from his "third and
+revised edition" of H. P. B.'s <i>Key to Theosophy</i>, published
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>
+in 1893, most of the part in which the author deals with
+the Report of the Society for Psychical Research, classing
+it with "passages of a controversial nature, which are
+no longer of general interest." Yet the public at large
+still accept this Report as a proof that H. P. B. was
+a fraud, a charlatan, and a Russian spy!</p>
+
+<p>Another feature of this edition, as of others of her
+works produced after her death, is what he calls "a
+systematic use of italics and capitals." This means that
+he abandons H. P. B.'s extremely effective use of large
+and small capitals and italics to emphasise the importance
+of words like MYSTERIES, OCCULTISM, WISDOM-RELIGION,
+etc., or SELF, <span class="smcap">Self</span>, and <i>Self</i> to indicate
+the three different selves in man, and so robs her text
+of much of its emphasis and meaning. One has to
+compare her editions with these posthumos ounes to
+realise the extent to which this has been done. It is
+particularly noticeable in <i>The Voice of the Silence</i>, where
+the exact meaning often depends on the distinctions
+H. P. B. thus makes. (<a href="#Occultism">See her article on Occultism
+quoted <i>ante</i> p. 31</a>).<br /><br /></p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><a name="Conclusion" id="Conclusion"></a><span class="smcap">Conclusion.</span></p>
+
+<p>If the "Back to Blavatsky" movement accomplishes
+nothing else, let us hope it may succeed in getting rid
+of all this vandalism and re-establishing H. P. B.'s works
+on their original basis, that she may go down to posterity
+on her own merits and not altered and distorted by the
+brain-mind notions of her followers. Some of this work
+is already being done by organisations or private enterprise,
+but it needs to be systematised and co-ordinated.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>
+Although the "door" had to be "shut" at the end
+of 1899, H. P. B. in her last paragraph of the <i>Key to
+Theosophy</i> expressed the hope that, "when the time
+comes for the effort of the twentieth century [<i>i.e.</i>, in
+1975], besides a large and accessible literature ready
+to men's hands, the next impulse will find a numerous
+and <i>united</i> body of people ready to welcome the new
+Torch-bearer of Truth."</p>
+
+<p>It has been my painful task to show how lamentably
+we have failed to realise her hopes. The "<i>united</i> body"
+she sacrificed so much to create and hold together, was
+disrupted barely four years after her death; the main
+body under the Besant-Leadbeater <i>r&eacute;gime</i> is following
+strange gods; while the great literary legacy left by
+H. P. B. has not only been seriously tampered with,
+but even largely superseded and obscured by books
+which will certainly not be of any assistance to the
+next "Torch-Bearer."</p>
+
+<p>Some years ago I founded an H. P. B. Lending
+Library with my original editions of her works, and
+others that are reliable and in line with her teaching.
+It has already done much good, especially among those
+who have been misled and kept in ignorance of them.
+If others would do the same we can in time hope to
+stem the tide of evil and error, and preserve H. P. B.'s
+message untainted until 1975. It is now within the
+life-span of our younger students, many of whom, as
+the children of Theosophists, have been brought up on
+the teachings and will bridge the gap for us.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>
+The bridging of this gap, however, has been rendered
+more difficult than it should have been; first, by the
+failure of the T. S. as <i>a living spiritual force in the world</i>;
+and second, by the sinister activities of this "ill-omened
+partnership" which almost immediately followed. The
+whole tragic and dreadful history, fragments only of
+which I have been able to give in this brief examination,
+proves what incalculable harm "Leadbeaterism" is
+working on the minds of the rising generation. Not only
+is he the virtual director of Mrs. Besant's Society, but
+he has completely infected <i>her</i> mind with his soul-destroying
+teachings. Hers is the real responsibility,
+therefore<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a>; and hers the <i>karma</i> of ruining H. P. B.'s
+life-work, and carrying with her in her fall thousands
+upon thousands of honest, but too credulous and easily
+deceived souls along the broad and flowery road "leading
+to destruction."</p>
+
+<p>As H. P. B. says in concluding her "Occultism
+<i>versus</i> the Occult Arts":&mdash;"If, while turning their
+backs on the narrow gate, they are dragged by their
+desire for the Occult one step in the direction of the
+broad and more inviting Gates of that golden mystery
+which glitters in the light of illusion, woe to them!
+It can lead only to Dugpa-ship, and they will be sure
+to find themselves very soon landed on that <i>Via Fatale</i> of
+the <i>Inferno</i>, over whose portal Dante read the words:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 5em;">"<i>Per me si va nella cittᡤolente</i><br /></span>
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;"><i>Per me si va nell'eterno dolore</i><br /></span>
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;"><i>Per me si va tra la perduta gente.</i>"<br /><br /></span></p>
+
+
+<div class="footnotes"><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><b>FOOTNOTES:</b></span>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <i>How</i> "unexpected" was the manner of her passing may be
+gathered from the fact that she was, at that very time, building a
+little "occult" room next to her own, of a particular shape and
+structure, in which each of her pupils was to "sit"&mdash;alone&mdash;"for
+development," under special conditions and "under observation."
+The tiny roof was to be of dark blue glass, of which I still possess a
+small piece of the colour H. P. B. had finally selected.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> These orders are here reproduced exactly as printed in the
+E. S. paper. It should be noted that the one relating to Mr. Judge
+is in larger type than the other. The triangle formed of asterisks &#8258;
+after the words "regard are to be given" indicates that H. P. B. is
+there endorsed by an Initiate of a higher grade. It will also be
+noticed that the dots forming the triangle after her signature differ
+in size in the two orders. In a note in the <i>Voice of the Silence</i> to the
+words "Thyself and mind, like twins upon a line, the star which
+is thy goal burns overhead" H. P. B. says "Every stage of development
+in <i>Raja-Yoga</i> is symbolised by a geometrical figure. This one
+is the sacred <i>Triangle</i> [<i>i.e.</i>,&there4;] and precedes Dharana. The &Delta; is
+the sign of the high <i>chelas</i>, while another kind of triangle is that of
+high Initiates." The &there4; is also used in Freemasonry to denote certain
+high degrees.]</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> It is only fair to give Mrs. Tingley's Organisation credit for
+the good work it is doing in publishing accurate reprints of H. P. B.'s
+works with all the references carefully checked, but none of her own
+writing tampered with. Now that the 1888 edition of <i>The Secret
+Doctrine</i> is so scarce, students will be glad to know that an unaltered
+reprint can now be had instead of the Besant corruption. The
+reprint of <i>Isis Unveiled</i>, with the addition of an excellent Index, has
+long been wanted; and the original paging has been preserved, so
+that the Index also serves for the original edition. It is to be regretted
+that these reprints are prefaced by an account of the Theosophical
+Movement from Mrs. Tingley's point of view, which is inaccurate
+and misleading. However, this is easily removed.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> In a letter from a Master to a friend occur these words:&mdash;"You
+are responsible for the influence that you permit others to
+exert over you."<br /><br /></p></div>
+
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p>
+<h2><br /><br /><a name="Australian" id="Australian"></a><i>ADDENDUM.</i></h2>
+
+<p class="center"><b>The Australian Crisis.</b></p>
+
+
+<p>The official account of the events in Australia last spring
+reached me too late to include in its proper place (<a href="#Page_4"><i>ante</i>, p. 4</a>),
+but its importance as the latest phase of the Leadbeater
+scandal demands quotation of the principal details. Australia
+has been the scene of Mr. Leadbeater's activities since the
+Madras lawsuits (<a href="#Madras"><i>ante</i>, p. 39</a>) made India too hot for him
+in 1913. Needless to say, the same scandals were repeated
+there, and finally brought about a crisis at the T. S. Convention
+last Easter in Sydney. Two of Mr. Leadbeater's Indian
+"pupils," Krishnamurti (<a href="#Page_12">see <i>ante</i>, p. 12</a>) and Jinarajadasa,
+secured a vote of confidence in Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater
+which roused strong opposition. I quote from a long
+circular letter issued to the members by one of the opposition,
+Mr. J. M. Prentice, of Hobart, who is evidently a
+leading officer. It is dated May 28, 1922.<br /><br /></p>
+
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Mrs. Besant Refuses an Enquiry.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Soon after Convention Mrs. Besant arrived in Sydney [from India]
+a very worried and angry woman. At the Sydney Lodge she spoke on
+the lines of "Judge not that ye be not judged," and made it thoroughly
+apparent that she was not in favour of anything in the nature of an
+Enquiry. During the Convention Leadbeater had issued a special
+statement to the E. S. T. which led to its expulsion from the Sydney
+Lodge building. It was this that had finally angered Mrs. Besant to
+boiling point.... She expressed a wish to meet the Lodge Committee
+and talk over the difficulties. There was a three-hour conference that
+led nowhere. I am told that she was helpless to a point of pathos. She
+denied everything as far as Leadbeater and Wedgwood [<a href="#Page_62">see <i>ante</i>, p. 62</a>]
+were, concerned, and refused to consider anything in the nature of an
+Enquiry. She read from old files of the <i>Theosophist</i> how Leadbeater
+had been rehabilitated, but a member of the Executive challenged her
+with more recent happenings, to which she could only reply that she
+did "not believe them."<br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">A Terrific Press Criticism</span>.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Two days later the <i>Daily Telegraph</i> came out with a tremendous
+attack on the "Liberal Catholic Church." The result was terrific. At
+the members' meeting that night feeling ran very high. The <i>Telegraph</i>
+had a reporter present and came out with six or seven columns under
+heavily leaded headlines. Moreover this information was disseminated
+to all the papers the <i>Telegraph</i> is correspondent for. The result is that
+irreparable damage has been done to Theosophy and the Society;
+although the ablest papers are willing to admit that there is still a
+minority genuinely fighting for sanity and cleanness in the T. S.<br /><br /></p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Government Enquiry Instituted</span>.</p>
+
+<p>The Government has now instituted an Enquiry, but so far I do not
+know the scope of its intention. I have been told by telegram that the
+Leadbeater boys have been examined or interrogated.... One of the
+latest developments was when Mr. A. B. Piddington, a leading barrister
+and K. C. of Sydney, resigned from the Presidency of the Public
+Questions Society of Sydney University rather than meet Mrs.
+Besant at a public address which she proposed to give to the members.
+He has addressed a scathing letter to the <i>Telegraph</i>, or rather released for
+publication his letter of resignation, which is a remarkable summing-up
+of the position.<br /><br /></p></blockquote>
+
+
+<p class="center"><a name="Piddington" id="Piddington"></a><span class="smcap">Mr. Piddington, K. C.'s Opinion</span>.</p>
+
+<p>The following are the chief points made by this gentleman,
+who is not a member of the T. S., and therefore represents
+an impartial legal and public view of the moral issue at
+stake:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>My resignation is based on the ground that the Society ought to
+withdraw its invitation to Mrs. Besant until the matters involved in her
+defence of Mr. C. W. Leadbeater have been settled by a trustworthy
+tribunal.</p>
+
+<p>Grave allegations were recently made against Mr. Leadbeater by Mr.
+Martyn [<a href="#Page_18">see <i>ante</i>, p. 18</a>,] for his letter to Mrs. Besant, and Mr. Leadbeater's
+precept and practice in the training of boys have been quoted.
+Mr. Martyn is supported by other reputable Australians.</p>
+
+<p>Before landing here, and since, Mrs. Besant has refused any inquiry
+into these matters, and taken up positions which, in a teacher of morals
+disentitle her to be heard by an undergraduate society which exists for
+the pursuit of truth. These positions are:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>1. That there is a class of beings so high in the religious order that to
+accuse them is presumption on the part of the common people. Indeed
+accusations are 'persecution,' which proves the sanctity of these higher
+beings, and is (in Mrs. Besant's words) the "seal of their apostolate."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>2. Mrs. Besant refers Mr. Leadbeater's challengers to the courts,
+though to propagate in private the abominable tenet held by him does
+not constitute an offence against any law, but only against common
+decency as understood by ordinary men.</p>
+
+<p>3. She writes that she does not believe, and will not discuss Mr.
+Martyn's allegations, though she writes from India of what Mr.
+Martyn says happened in his own home in Sydney.</p>
+
+<p>If these are good reasons for refusing to hold an inquiry, then immorality
+can be safely taught and practised in high places so long as the
+teacher belongs to Mrs. Besant's way of thinking. From the public
+point of view such a claim cuts the ground from all morals.</p>
+
+<p>In her letter to the <i>Daily Telegraph</i> [of Sydney] for May 18, Mrs.
+Besant asks the public to believe that Mr. Leadbeater has to meet
+charges relating to 1906 [<a href="#Page_27">see <i>ante</i>, p. 27</a>], and disposed of [?] by some
+private investigation in 1908. The fact is ignored that Mr. Martyn's
+accusations relate to conduct since 1914, Worse than this, the fact is
+suppressed that Mrs. Besant in 1913 was herself ordered by the Madras
+High Court to return to their father two boys whom she insisted in
+placing in Mr. Leadbeater's care, in spite of the father's protest.
+[<a href="#Page_40">See <i>ante</i>, p. 40</a>] ... Mr. Justice Bakewell said that, from
+Leadbeater's evidence, he was "certainly an immoral person, and
+highly unfit to be in charge of the boys." He also found that Mrs.
+Besant had violated her stipulation made with the father before
+parting with the boys, that they should have nothing to do with Mr.
+Leadbeater. (London <i>Times</i>, March 8, 1913.)</p>
+
+<p>In the following year Mr. Leadbeater came to Australia and now
+"trains" Australian boys.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Besant lent herself and her oratory to the acquittal, without
+evidence, of Mr. Leadbeater at a public meeting ... In my view it is
+as bad to rescue a man from public justice (which is a wider term than
+criminal law) by the exercise of a dominating personal veto, as it is to do
+it by money or social or any other 'influence'&mdash;'influence' which is the
+bane of any system of justice.... She may effect a master-stroke of
+salvage, but she offends every canon of fairplay, let alone of that ordinary
+morality by which all men, high or humble, must be content to be
+judged. These sombre facts stand out:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>1. Mrs. Besant's chief colleague has stated as late as 1913 in open
+court that he still believed in teaching a detestable vice to boys, which
+he had previously taught them.</p>
+
+<p>2. An English Judge for this reason declared him to be an immoral
+person.</p>
+
+<p>3. Mr. Martyn accused Mr. Leadbeater of being still what the
+English judge said of him, and alleged fact upon fact in support of this.</p>
+
+<p>4. Mrs. Besant has shielded Mr. Leadbeater from inquiry.</p>
+
+<p>5. Mr. Leadbeater says nothing.<br /><br /></p></blockquote>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><a name="Indictment" id="Indictment"></a><span class="smcap">An Indictment of Mrs. Besant by a Resigning Member
+Of Her E. S.</span></p>
+
+<p>Further very recent testimony and criticism is furnished
+by a letter of resignation from Mrs. Besant's Esoteric School
+by Mr. Hugh R. Gillespie, of Krotona, California, one of the
+strongholds of the "Liberal Catholic Church." The letter,
+dated May 29, is printed in the <i>O. E. Critic</i> of August 16,
+and the Editor in a prefatory note says:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>The writer ... is well-known to Theosophists of three continents
+as a lecturer and as a fearless, persistent and uncompromising fighter for
+honesty and cleanness in the T. S. For almost three years he was
+attached to Adyar as architect and sanitary engineer.... He was at
+Adyar during the trial of the "Cases" in the Madras courts and saw
+the whole sordid drama in action. During this period he had abundant
+opportunity for getting light, as well as sidelights, on the working of the
+Adyar machine and on the personal peculiarities of the gods and
+demigods of the Theosophical Olympus. Later he was resident three
+years at Krotona, where similar opportunities were not lacking.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Mr. Gillespie writes that he resigns as a protest against
+the actions and utterances of Mrs. Besant as "Outer Head"
+of the E. S. and President of the T. S., and continues:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>These actions and utterances have, since her assumption of the
+above mentioned positions, been of such a character that, to use the
+words of H. P. B., the Theosophical Society is</p>
+
+<p>" ... being made a spectacle to the world through the exaggerations
+of some fanatics, and the attempt of various charlatans to profit
+by a ready-made programme. These, by disfiguring and adapting
+Occultism to their own filthy and immoral ends bring disgrace on the
+whole movement."</p>
+
+<p>As a result of Mrs. Besant's methods we learn that the T. S. and
+E. S. in almost every section is seething with dissension. England,
+Australia and America are racked and torn; Germany is split; Finland
+is shattered, and the closing of the E. S. for some four years in
+Switzerland indicates the conditions there.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Besant's arrogance and vanity in office and her lack of dignity,
+as exemplified in her ridiculous "Whom will ye serve?" tirade, and her
+letter of March, 1922, have drawn the attention of the great London
+weekly <i>Truth</i>, and in its pages the T. S. is held up to the scorn and
+ridicule of the world. [I have dealt with these under the heading of
+"Mrs Besant's Latest Assertions and Claims Examined."&mdash;A. L. C.]</p>
+
+<p>So far as the E. S. is concerned, my experience of its working under
+Mrs. Besant in Australia, Adyar, England, and America enable me to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>
+assert that it is nothing but a political machine used for the purpose of
+securing the ascendancy of Mrs. Besant in the various bodies to which
+E. S. members have gained access. [I would draw particular attention
+to this important statement. It is especially true of India, which is
+the principal scene of her political activities.&mdash;A. L. C.]</p>
+
+<p>... Mrs. Besant's parade of thrusting the L. C. C. out of the
+T. S. door while bringing it in by the E. S. window, added to her condonement
+of the vile practices of the L. C. C. bishops and priests, fall
+little short of a betrayal of the T S. and could only be adequately met
+by her resignation from all office....<br /><br /></p></blockquote>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><br /><a name="Bibliography" id="Bibliography"></a>BIBLIOGRAPHY.</h2>
+
+
+<p><i>The Secret Doctrine.</i> London, 1888. <i>The Key to Theosophy
+and The Voice of the Silence.</i> London 1889. <i>The
+Theosophical Glossary.</i> London, 1892. <i>Practical Occultism</i>
+Reprint, London, 1921.&mdash;H. P. Blavatsky.</p>
+
+<p><i>Mrs. Besant and the Present Crisis in the Theosophical
+Society.</i> With a Prefatory Letter by M. Edouard Schur&eacute;,
+London, 1913.&mdash;Eug&egrave;ne L&eacute;vy.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Central Hindu College and Mrs. Besant. (The Rise
+of the Alcyone Cult.)</i> Chicago, 1913.&mdash;Bhagavan Das.</p>
+
+<p><i>Reminiscences of H. P. Blavatsky and "The Secret
+Doctrine."</i> London, 1893&mdash;Countess Constance Wachtmeister.<br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 60%;" />
+
+
+<h6><br /><br />PRINTED BY</h6>
+
+<h5>THACKER, SPINK &amp; CO</h5>
+
+<h6>CALCUTTA<br /><br /></h6>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 60%;" />
+
+<p class="center"><br /><b>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES</b></p>
+
+<p>This text is full of typographical errors (wrong spelling and unmatched
+brackets and quotation marks, reference to italics when there are none).
+Since these are really a characteristic of the text, I have left them
+unchanged.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's H. P. Blavatsky, by Alice Leighton Cleather
+
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+++ b/36373.txt
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of H. P. Blavatsky, by Alice Leighton Cleather
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: H. P. Blavatsky
+       A Great Betrayal
+
+Author: Alice Leighton Cleather
+
+Release Date: June 11, 2011 [EBook #36373]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK H. P. BLAVATSKY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David E. Brown, Margo Romberg, Bryan Ness and
+the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive/American
+Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+    H. P. BLAVATSKY
+
+    A GREAT BETRAYAL
+
+    BY
+
+    ALICE LEIGHTON CLEATHER
+
+    One of Her Pupils
+
+
+    PRICE
+
+    _One Rupee, Fifty cents, or
+    One Shilling Six Pence_
+
+    PUBLISHED BY
+    THACKER, SPINK & CO
+    CALCUTTA
+    1922
+
+
+WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
+
+=H. P. Blavatsky:=--_Her Life and Work for Humanity._ CALCUTTA: THACKER,
+SPINK & CO., 1922.
+
+=In Collaboration with Mrs. Laura Langford:=--_Helena Petrovna
+Blavatsky. Personal Recollections by Old Friends._ New York, 1922.
+
+=In Collaboration with Mr. Basil Crump:= _Richard Wagner's Music
+Dramas._ Embodying Wagner's own interpretations based upon his studies
+of Oriental Philosophy.
+
+LONDON: METHUEN & CO., 4 VOLS.
+
+
+
+
+    H. P. BLAVATSKY
+
+
+"Behold the truth before you! a clean life, an open mind, a pure heart,
+an eager intellect, an unveiled spiritual perception, a brotherliness
+for one's co-disciple, a readiness to give and receive advice and
+instruction, a loyal sense of duty to the Teacher, a willing obedience
+to the behests of TRUTH, once we have placed our confidence in, and
+believe that Teacher to be in possession of it; a courageous endurance
+of personal injustice, a brave declaration of principles, a valiant
+defence of those who are unjustly attacked, and a constant eye to the
+ideal of human progression and perfection which the secret science
+(_Gupta Vidya_) depicts--these are the golden stairs up the steps of
+which the learner may climb to the Temple of Divine Wisdom. Say this to
+those who have volunteered to be taught by you."
+
+    Letter to H. P. B. from her Master
+    (concerning her E. S. students.)
+
+
+
+
+    H. P. BLAVATSKY
+
+    A GREAT BETRAYAL
+
+    BY
+
+    ALICE LEIGHTON CLEATHER
+
+    _One of Her Pupils_
+
+    _Published by_
+
+    THACKER, SPINK & CO
+    CALCUTTA
+    1922
+
+
+
+
+"Tell them ...; As pure water poured into the scavenger's bucket is
+befouled and unfit for use, so is divine truth when poured into the
+consciousness of a Sensualist.... Observe, that the first of the steps
+of gold which mount towards the Temple of Truth is--A CLEAN LIFE. This
+means a purity of body, and a still greater purity of mind, heart and
+spirit."
+
+    Letter to H. P. B. from her Master
+    (concerning her E. S. students.)
+
+
+
+
+    CONTENTS.
+
+                                                              PAGE
+
+    FOREWORD                                                   vii
+
+    INTRODUCTORY                                                 1
+
+    MR. WILLIAM KINGSLAND ON THE CRISIS OF 1906                  7
+
+    M. M. SCHURE AND LEVY ON THE CRISIS OF 1913                 11
+
+    MRS. BESANT'S "RETURN OF THE CHRIST"                        15
+
+    FUNDAMENTAL CAUSES: SOME OCCULT METHODS                     23
+
+    H. P. BLAVATSKY ON TRUE OCCULTISM                           31
+
+    MRS. BESANT'S RESPONSIBILITY AND THE MADRAS LAW-SUITS       39
+
+    THE CENTRAL HINDU COLLEGE: AN INDIAN CRITICISM              43
+
+    MRS. BESANT'S LATEST ASSERTIONS AND CLAIMS EXAMINED         51
+
+    TAMPERING WITH H. P. BLAVATSKY'S WRITINGS                   71
+
+    "ANNIE BESANT'S CORRUPTION OF THE SECRET DOCTRINE"          76
+
+    THE TRUTH ABOUT THE E. S. COUNCIL AND THE INNER GROUP       83
+
+    CONCLUSION                                                  89
+
+
+    ADDENDUM.
+
+    THE AUSTRALIAN CRISIS                                       92
+
+    AN INDICTMENT OF MRS. BESANT BY A RESIGNING MEMBER OF
+    HER E. S.                                                   95
+
+    BIBLIOGRAPHY                                                97
+
+
+
+
+"There is a very, very ancient maxim, far older than the time of the
+Romans or the Greeks.... It is a maxim all of them ought to
+remember--and live accordingly ... a sound and pure mind requires a
+sound and pure body. Bodily purity every adept takes precautions to
+keep.... Most of them know this.... But though they have been repeatedly
+told of this _sine qua non_ rule on the Path of Theosophy and
+_Chelaship_, how few of them have given attention to it.... Behold, how
+many of them are ... debauchees, GUILTY OF SECRET IMMORALITY in more
+than one form.... Though such a person with any of the faults as above
+declared [others are named] should fill the world with his charities,
+and make his name known throughout every nation, he would make no
+advancement in the practical occult sciences, but be continually
+slipping backward. The 'six and ten transcendental virtues,' the
+Paramitas[1], are not for full grown Yogis and priests alone, but for
+all those who would enter the 'Path.'"
+
+
+    Letter to H. P. B. from her Master
+    (concerning her E. S. students.)
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _See "The Voice of the Silence," by H. P. Blavatsky._
+
+
+
+
+FOREWORD.
+
+
+This Protest has been undertaken at the earnest and repeated requests of
+Theosophical friends of long standing. They feel strongly that the time
+has come for one of H. P. Blavatsky's old pupils, who was a member of
+her Inner Group, to demonstrate as clearly as possible that the
+teachings promulgated for nearly twenty years past by the present
+leaders of the "Theosophical Society" have departed more and more from
+H. P. B.'s, and are now their direct antithesis, particularly on the
+fundamental question of sex morality.
+
+Since Mr. G. R. S. Mead, one of my fellow-members of the Inner Group,
+spoke out at the Leadbeater Inquiry of 1906, and resigned, no other
+surviving member, so far as I have been able to ascertain, has attempted
+to stem the awful and ever increasing tide of horror and delusion, that
+is, engulfing--one might almost say _has_ engulfed--Mrs. Besant's
+Society. If Mr. Mead could say in 1906;--"We stand on the brink of an
+abyss," what is to be said now? The enquiries and researches I have
+undertaken to enable me to write this pamphlet have revealed the present
+state of things to be far worse than I could have imagined possible.
+
+From the time I left Mrs. Besant in 1895 and Mrs. Tingley in 1899, I
+have been out of touch with these two movements, each calling itself
+"theosophical" and each leader claiming to be H. P. B.'s "successor."
+This is the reason why I have hitherto kept silent; in fact, it was not
+until I came to live in India in 1918, after spending some years on the
+Continent, and met some of the members--both Indian and European--who
+had left Mrs. Besant in more recent years, that I learnt of the
+appalling developments since she became President and installed the sex
+pervert Leadbeater as supreme esoteric teacher.
+
+I feel that I should be failing in my duty, and false to the solemn
+Pledges I have taken, if I did not now do my utmost to clear H. P. B.'s
+name from these horrible associations, and demonstrate that they have
+nothing whatever to do with her Masters (the Trans-Himalayan
+Brotherhood) or Their Esoteric doctrine.
+
+I therefore PROTEST with all my strength, and _in Their sacred Names_,
+against what is to me a desecration and a blasphemy.
+
+
+    _September, 1922._
+    A. L. C.
+
+
+
+
+_Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad._
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY.
+
+
+For the past fifteen years, despite repeated scandals, exposures, and
+even the damning evidence produced in various court cases, Mrs. Besant
+still persists in her blind and fanatical support of the sex pervert and
+pseudo-occultist C. W. Leadbeater, and the promulgation of his delusive,
+immoral, and poisonous teachings among the members of the Theosophical
+Society she rules, and the public at large, to whom she is known chiefly
+as an able speaker and an astute politician. Goaded by a revival of the
+well-known evidence against Mr. Leadbeater, and a severe criticism of
+her own actions, Mrs. Besant published in her official organ
+(_Theosophist_, March, 1922.) an article entitled "Whom Will Ye Serve?"
+and a long Supplement addressed to the members, reiterating her support
+of Mr. Leadbeater, and making statements in justification of him and
+herself that call imperatively for a dispassionate review of the history
+of this ill-omened partnership, and the strongest possible protest
+against the complete stultification and perversion of H. P. Blavatsky's
+life-work and teaching that it involves.
+
+I have no personal quarrel with Mrs. Besant, whose brilliant
+intellectual gifts we all so much admired in the early days, and who
+accomplished such splendid work for the Cause during H. P. Blavatsky's
+lifetime. I had already been a member of the Society for four years when
+Mrs. Besant joined in 1889; and as we both subsequently became members
+of the Inner Group of H. P. B.'s personal pupils, I feel I am in a
+position to review the facts, and entitled to utter this protest. In
+fact, I can no longer remain silent in the face of so much that is
+abhorrent to every true Theosophist, to every devoted follower of H. P.
+Blavatsky, her Masters, and Their teachings.
+
+In a private letter to Mr. Judge, in or about 1887, H. P. B. writes: "I
+am the mother and creator of the Society; it has my magnetic fluid....
+Therefore I alone and to a degree ... can serve as a lightning conductor
+of Karma for it. I was asked whether I was willing, when on the point of
+dying--and I said 'Yes'--for it was the only means to save it. Therefore
+I consented to live...." Obviously, the only possible conclusion to be
+drawn from this is that, when in 1891 H. P. Blavatsky passed away (or
+rather was "recalled") nine years before the limit of time within which
+the Masters' help could be given,[2] it was because They saw that the T.
+S. had definitely failed, that it could no longer be kept alive.
+
+A long and, in this connection, very important letter was written by H.
+P. Blavatsky in 1890 "To my Brothers in Aryavarta," giving the real
+reason why she did not return to India. Among other significant
+statements which she makes (_Theosophist_, January, 1922.), there is one
+which shows that she must clearly have foreseen the ultimate
+disintegration of the Society, which occurred in 1895. Writing of the
+shameful way in which she was thrown overboard, like a second Jonah, by
+Colonel Olcott and the T. S. Council at Adyar in their cowardly panic
+during the crisis of 1884-85, H. P. B. says: "It was during that time
+... that the seeds of all future strifes, and--let me say at
+once--_disintegration of the Theosophical Society_ [Italics mine.--A. L.
+C.] were planted by our enemies.... In a letter received from Damodar in
+1886 [He had been called by his Master to Tibet the previous year.--A.
+L. C.] he notified me that the Masters' influence was becoming with
+every day weaker at Adyar." Further on in the letter H. P. B. again
+refers to Adyar, and to an invitation to return to India which "came too
+late ... nor can I, if I would be true to my life-pledge and vows, now
+live at the Headquarters _from which the Masters and Their spirit are
+virtually banished. The presence of Their portraits will not help; They
+are a dead letter._" [Italics mine. Yet Mrs. Besant asks us to believe
+that They returned when she was elected President in 1907, and even
+nominated her!--A. L. C.]
+
+In the same letter H. P. B. says that she was pledged never to reveal
+"the whole truth" about the Masters to anyone, "excepting to those who
+like Damodar, had been finally selected and called by Them." She also
+speaks of him as "that one future Adept who has now the prospect of
+becoming one day a Mahatma, Kali Yuga notwithstanding." It is he again
+of whom she spoke four years earlier, when she wrote: "During the eleven
+years of the existence of the Theosophical Society I have known, out of
+the seventy-two regularly accepted _chelas_ on probation and the
+hundreds of lay candidates--only _three_ who have not hitherto failed,
+and _one only_ who had a full success." ("The Theosophical Mahatmas."
+_Path_, December, 1886.) Damodar is the only _chela_ she ever spoke of
+as a "full success" in her lifetime; and it is worthy of special note
+that he was a high caste Brahmin who did not hesitate to give up caste
+and become a Buddhist (so Colonel Olcott states).
+
+In the late spring Mrs. Besant paid a hasty visit to Australia, whither
+her "brother-initiate" had to flee from India some time since, as
+previously from London, Paris, and America. The cause is always the
+same; scandals inevitably arise, and Australia has proved no exception.
+Mr. Leadbeater is a "Bishop" of the "Liberal Catholic Church," an
+anomalous body warmly supported and encouraged within and without the T.
+S. by Mrs. Besant. Other of its bishops have incurred similar odium and
+a "priest" has quite recently confessed in writing and implicated the
+"Presiding Bishop" and others. It has been stated that all these men are
+being watched by the police, who are only waiting to secure enough
+evidence. Matters cannot go on much longer like this; and a pamphlet
+published at New York last February says that "with difficulty a delay
+of a few months has been obtained in a pending arraignment and exposure
+in the Public Press in America." When it comes it will be a far graver
+indictment than that which precipitated the 'Besant _v._ Judge' crisis
+in 1894-95, and rent the T. S. in twain. _Then_ Mrs. Besant accused her
+colleague Mr. Judge of "giving a misleading material form to messages
+received psychically from the Master in various ways ..." (_Enquiry_ at
+London, July, 1894); but _now_ she is deliberately condoning, if not
+actually supporting, something far worse which was investigated and
+found true by a T. S. committee of enquiry in 1906.[3]
+
+For those unfamiliar with the events succeeding H. P. Blavatsky's death
+in 1891, I must add that those of us who supported Mr. Judge against
+Mrs. Besant's charges came under the sway, after his death a year later,
+of an equally masterful, able, and ambitious woman having very similar
+characteristics and methods. This was Mrs. Katherine Tingley, formerly a
+New York professional psychic and trance medium, from whose organisation
+("The Universal Brotherhood") I resigned in 1899. Her activities are now
+mainly confined to a colony in California.
+
+A point to which I think attention has not hitherto been drawn is the
+striking similarity in the fate which befell Mrs. Besant and Mr. Judge
+respectively after the death of H. P. Blavatsky. Being left as the most
+obvious leaders of the European and American Sections respectively
+(neither of them were in England when she died), the E. S. Council
+decided that they should carry on the Esoteric School as joint Outer
+Heads in place of H. P. B., oblivious of the fact that one of them (Mrs.
+Besant) was untrained, and both were unfit to fill such a high occult
+office (see _post_ p. 86). This soon became evident when each in turn
+fell an easy prey to external influences which first separated them, and
+then disrupted the Society and E. S.
+
+Among the old T. S. and E. S. papers now lying before me I find not a
+few which throw a most illuminating light on Mrs. Besant's activities in
+recent years. Before dealing with her latest statements I will quote
+extracts from these papers in support and elucidation of the points I
+wish to make, _viz_:--
+
+     (_a_) That under Mrs. Besant's guidance the T. S. has long
+     ceased to represent H. P. Blavatsky's teaching, or the thought
+     of its Founders.
+
+     (_b_) That it is now completely dominated by the deluded,
+     impure, and poisonous ideas of an acknowledged sex pervert, to
+     whom this unhappy and misguided woman believes and openly
+     declares herself to be bound by indissoluble and age-long ties.
+
+     (_c_) That in adopting and conniving at the promulgation of the
+     teachings of this man, and allowing him virtually to control
+     her Society, Mrs. Besant most impiously gives out that she is
+     acting under the orders of the Trans-Himalayan Masters of
+     Wisdom, and H. P. Blavatsky's directions.
+
+This last point (_c_) is the real gravamen of my Protest. It would be of
+relative unimportance--Mrs. Besant having already wrecked the Society in
+1895--that it had descended to the level of any existing sect, Christian
+or other (as much a close corporation as the Adventists or New
+Jerusalemites), had its two present leaders dropped the _title_, and
+ceased to claim any connection with the "real Founders." But, on the
+contrary, Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater use Their sacred names and
+declare themselves to be under Their direct guidance. Such proceedings
+merit the sternest possible moral condemnation in view of the facts.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[2] " ... there remain but a few years to the last hour of the
+term--namely, till December the 31st, 1899. Those who will not have
+profited by the opportunity (given to the world in every last quarter of
+a century) ... will advance no further than the knowledge already
+acquired. No Master of Wisdom from the East will himself appear or send
+anyone to Europe or America after that period.... Such is the law, for
+we are in _Kali-Yuga_--the Black Age--and the restrictions in this
+cycle, the first 5,000 years of which will expire in 1897, are great and
+almost insuperable." (H. P. Blavatsky in the "Book of Rules, E. S. T."
+1888.)
+
+[3] For later and fuller particulars from Australia, see Addendum.
+
+
+
+
+Mr. William Kingsland on the Crisis of 1906.
+
+
+The first of the old papers I shall quote from is by my old friend and
+fellow-Councillor Mr. William Kingsland, author of _The Esoteric Basis
+of Christianity_ and kindred works. He was one of the leading members in
+the early days under H. P. B. who, when Mrs. Besant on securing the
+Presidency after Colonel Olcott's death in 1907 reinstated Mr.
+Leadbeater, resigned their membership. Mrs. Besant had reviewed a new
+book by Mr. Kingsland, and took the opportunity to refer to his
+resignation. Replying in "An Open Letter to Annie Besant" dated
+December, 1909, he tells her:
+
+     You have dragged in a perfectly irrelevant, uncalled-for and
+     untrue statement which I cannot allow to pass unchallenged...."
+     The words I refer to are these: "We have here a very excellent
+     Theosophical book, with an evasion of all recognition of the
+     source whence the ideas are drawn. When Theosophy becomes
+     fashionable, how those who refuse to walk with her in the days
+     of scorning will crowd to claim her as theirs when she walks in
+     the sunshine amid applause!" Now these words convey the
+     implication, in the first place, that there is a connection
+     between the form in which my book is presented, and recent
+     events in the Theosophical Society which have led me as well as
+     many others, to sever our connection with that Society; and, in
+     the second place, that we now "refuse to walk with her"
+     because, forsooth, she is not now "fashionable," but "in the
+     days of scorning." Neither of these statements is true, and the
+     implication is most unworthy of you.... That, however, is a
+     small matter compared with the implication that I and others
+     have turned our backs on Theosophy for so unworthy a reason.
+
+     Let me ask you to look at the names of the old and tried
+     workers whom you have forced out of the Society by your
+     disastrous policy, and then ask yourself in the Great Presence
+     whether it is true that any of them have deserted Theosophy--or
+     rather the Theosophical Society--because it is less
+     "fashionable" now than it was in the old days when you and I
+     and these others stood side by side and fought the battle for
+     H. P. Blavatsky. Did any of us shirk obloquy then, and do you
+     really think we are less ready to face it now? It is one thing,
+     however, to incur obloquy for the sake of Truth, and quite
+     another thing to be asked to do it _in support of immoral
+     teachings_.... What I want to point out now more particularly,
+     and in the interest of true Theosophy, is, that you are now
+     making the grand mistake--one never made by H. P. Blavatsky--of
+     thinking, writing, and speaking as if Theosophy and the
+     Theosophical Society were one and the same thing, absoutely
+     identical; and that there can be no Theosophy in the world
+     without the Theosophical Society, and no Theosophists outside
+     of it.... You must know that in leaving the Theosophical
+     Society, the great majority of us at all events have not given
+     up Theosophy, even if we may feel compelled to teach it under
+     another name, and though we can no longer work with or through
+     the Theosophical Society, we are none the less carrying on the
+     great work which H. P. Blavatsky initiated.
+
+     But in the old days we did at least think that the Theosophical
+     Society stood for pure Theosophy and pure Morality. _We cannot
+     think or say this any longer._ The "Theosophy" of the
+     Theosophical Society is now a definite creed and dogma based
+     upon authoritative psychic pronouncements, from which those who
+     dare to differ are first of all squeezed out of office by the
+     President, and finally compelled to leave the Society, being
+     denounced in the strongest language as "persecutors" and
+     "haters." I am quite aware that all the time you are preaching
+     freedom of opinion; but that is one of the farcical aspects of
+     the _regime_ which you inaugurated.... Whatever you may preach,
+     it is now notorious that your practice has been the exact
+     reverse. You commenced by turning out the Vice-President for
+     daring to hold a different opinion from your own as to the
+     inception of the Society; and you then proceeded so to
+     manipulate matters that several old and tried officials who had
+     been in opposition to your pronouncements and policy, were
+     ousted from their positions as General Secretaries of
+     Sections.... Well, you succeeded in getting your own supporters
+     appointed--and in losing many hundreds of old members.
+
+     Doubtless you will now have complete control and be able to
+     mould the Society to your own will and liking, and train it to
+     "obedience" to your psychic authority and visions. At what
+     expense and sacrifice of principles you have already done this,
+     we all know. But let none imagine that this is the basis on
+     which H. P. Blavatsky founded the Society; or that it will thus
+     fulfil the mission for which it was intended; or that it can
+     thereby become other than _a narrow and exclusive sect_. And if
+     perchance your statement is true that the Theosophical
+     Sciety--which you so mistakenly identify with Theosophy--is now
+     "in the days of scorning," possibly even more than it was in
+     the old days; What and who is it that has made it so?
+
+     Is it not because the President and General Council have set
+     their seal and official condonation to a "theosophy" _which
+     countenances the grossest immorality_, and which can
+     advocate--as a means of "discharging [_sic_] thought-forms"
+     (see Van Hook's pamphlet)--a practice which you yourself once
+     characterised as being "when taught under the name of Divine
+     Wisdom, essentially earthly, sensual, devilish?" Yet it is thus
+     taught and justified--with an appeal to the laws of
+     reincarnation and _karma_--in Van Hook's pamphlet, which you
+     and the General Council have refused to repudiate, and have
+     thereby condoned.
+
+     And now, since you have had your own way, and have cleared the
+     Society of the elements of the so-called "hatred and
+     persecution"; can you not at least refrain from hitting behind
+     our backs? Nothing is sadder for your old friends and comrades
+     than to see you stoop to veiled insinuations, and even direct
+     untruths; missing no opportunity--not even in the review of a
+     book--of striking unjustly and falsely at those who have
+     recently been your opponents, and who have now no direct means
+     of answering you, or of refuting your statements within the
+     Society itself.
+
+I have italicised a few passages which seem to be of special importance
+as showing that, _thirteen years ago_, Mr. Leadbeater's sinister hand
+had already grasped the Society and its infatuated President, and that
+his vile and immoral teachings, supported by her, had driven out some of
+the oldest and most clear-headed and clear-sighted of H. P. Blavatsky's
+friends and pupils; among them Mr. G. R. S. Mead, one of the Leadbeater
+Committee of Inquiry, who also resigned at the time Mrs. Besant became
+President for the same reasons as those stated by Mr. Kingsland. The
+"practice" to which he alludes in his Open Letter is of course now well
+known to be that taught and advocated by Mr. Leadbeater, who claims that
+in so doing he is acting on the advice and under the authority of one of
+the Masters of Wisdom. Could a more terrible infamy be perpetrated!
+
+
+
+
+M. M. Schure and Levy on the Crisis of 1913.
+
+
+Let us see, however, what others have to say seven years later on the
+state of the T. S. In 1913 another violent crisis convulsed this
+miserable travesty of a Society that once stood for the highest
+principles and ideals, but which even a Lake Harris might blush now to
+be associated with. As before, it centred round the shocking perverter
+of morals who had obtained complete ascendancy over Mrs. Besant. A book
+entitled _Mrs. Besant and the Present Crisis in the Theosophical
+Society_ was published in 1913 by M. Eugene Levy, "with a Prefatory
+Letter by M. Edouard Schure," the well-known author of _The Great
+Initiates_ and other mystical works. Writing to M. Charles Blech,
+General Secretary of the French T. S., M. Schure states that he feels
+"compelled to retire officially from the T. S." and that it is his
+"duty" to give his "reasons straightforwardly." After alluding to the
+date (1907), when M. Blech had offered and he had accepted the honorary
+membership in the Society, M. Schure goes on to speak of Mrs. Besant, as
+she had then appeared to him, in high terms, expressing the hope that
+"the nobility of her past career" was an augury "that the T. S. would
+continue in the broad way of tolerance, impartiality, _and veracity_
+which forms an essential part of its programme." M. Schure then
+continues:--
+
+     Unfortunately things turned out otherwise. The primary cause of
+     this deviation lies in the close alliance of Mrs. Besant with
+     Mr. Leadbeater, a learned occultist, but of an unsettled
+     disposition and doubtful morality. After Mr. Leadbeater _had
+     been found guilty_ by an advisory Committee of the T.S. Mrs.
+     Besant publicly announced her reprobation of the educational
+     methods with which he was charged.... By an inconceivable
+     change of front she soon afterwards declared her intention of
+     bringing Mr. Leadbeater into the T.S. again and she
+     succeeded.... The excuses she gave for this recantation were
+     charity and pardon. _The real reason was that the President
+     needed Mr. Leadbeater for her occult investigations_, and that
+     this collaboration appeared to her necessary to her prestige.
+     To those who have followed her words and acts from that time
+     onwards, it is clearly manifest _that Mrs. Besant has fallen
+     under the formidable suggestive power of her dangerous
+     collaborator, and can only see, think and act under his
+     control_. The personality henceforward speaking through her is
+     ... the questionable visionary, the skilful master of
+     suggestion who no longer dares to show himself in London,
+     Paris, or America, but in the obscurity of a summer-house at
+     Adyar governs the T. S. through its President. The ill-omened
+     consequences of this influence were soon to appear before the
+     world through the affair of Alcyone and the founding of the
+     Order of the Star in the East.... If a real Indian initiate, a
+     Brahmin or otherwise, of ripe age, had come to Europe on his
+     own responsibility or in the name of his Masters to teach his
+     doctrines, nothing would have been more natural or
+     interesting.... But it was not in this form that we beheld the
+     new apostle from Adyar. A young Indian, aged thirteen,
+     _initiated by Mr. Leadbeater_ ... is proclaimed and presented
+     to the European public as the future teacher of the new era.
+     Krishnamurti, now called Alcyone, has no other credentials than
+     his master's injunctions and Mrs. Besant's patronage. His
+     thirty-two previous incarnations are related at length, the
+     early ones going back to the Atlantean period. _These
+     narrations_, given as the result of Mr. Leadbeater's and Mrs.
+     Besant's visions, _are for the most part grotesquely puerile_,
+     and could convince no serious occultist. They are ostensibly
+     designed to prove that for twenty or thirty thousand years the
+     principal personages in the T. S. have been preparing for the
+     "Great Work" which is soon to be accomplished. In the course of
+     _their incarnations, which remind one of a newspaper novel_,
+     these personages are decorated with the great names of Greek
+     mythology, and with the most brilliant stars in the firmament.
+     During a meeting at Benares, Krishnamurti presenting
+     certificates to his followers, received honours like a divine
+     being, many persons present falling at his feet. He does not,
+     however, utter a word, but only makes a gesture of benediction,
+     prompted by Mrs. Besant. In reporting this scene Mr. Leadbeater
+     likens it to the descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost.
+
+     For this dumb prophet is founded the Order of the Star in the
+     East, which the whole world is invited to join, and of which he
+     is proclaimed the head ... this passive young prodigy, who has
+     not yet given the world the least proof of having any mission
+     at all [this is as true in 1922 as it was in 1913.--A. L. C.],
+     becomes henceforth the centre and cynosure of the T. S., the
+     symbol and sacred ark of _the orthodox faith at Adyar_. As to
+     the doctrine preached by Mrs. Besant, it rests on a perpetual
+     equivocation. She allows the English public at large, to whom
+     she speaks of the coming Christ, to believe that he is
+     identical with the Christ of the Gospels, whereas to her
+     intimates she states what Mr. Leadbeater teaches, and what he
+     openly proclaims in one of his books, _The Inner Life_--namely,
+     that the Christ of the Gospels never existed, and was an
+     invention of the monks of the second century. Such facts are
+     difficult to characterise. I will simply say that they are
+     saddening for all who, like myself, believed in the future of
+     the T. S., for they can only repel clear-sighted and sincere
+     minds.... In my eyes, one can no longer be an actual member of
+     the T. S. without implicitly approving the deeds and words of
+     the President, which flagrantly contradict the essential
+     principle of the Society--I mean _scrupulous and absolute
+     respect for truth_. For these reasons I regret that I must send
+     you my resignation as a member of the Theosophical Society.
+
+The italics throughout the foregoing quotations are mine, and serve
+again to emphasise essential points; points almost exactly similar to
+those raised by Mr. Kingsland, the most serious being the condonation by
+Mrs. Besant of immoral practices in a colleague whose collaboration, as
+M. Schure shrewdly adds, has become a necessity to her, and under whose
+"formidable suggestive power" she has now completely fallen. If this was
+true in 1913, what may not be said in 1922, when the intervening nine
+years have given time for the growth and development of this deadly Upas
+Tree? I use the simile advisedly, for this teaching _is_ a "deadly"
+poison, not only from the ordinary moral standpoint, but especially from
+that of the esoteric teaching of H. P. B. and the Trans-Himalayan
+Brotherhood, under whose authority it is falsely and blasphemously given
+out; I do not hesitate to declare it.
+
+M. Schure also emphasises an important and vital point which Mr.
+Kingsland seems to have felt equally deeply, _viz._--That Mrs. Besant
+has no use for any but those who accept everything she says and does
+with blind subservience, even when, in the eyes of such men as M.
+Schure, Mr. Mead, Mr. Kingsland, and others, it merits strong
+condemnation as "untrue" and "misleading." In the pages of the recent
+numbers of the _Theosophist_ the talk about "freedom of opinion" within
+the Society is still repeated, although in actual practice, as I have
+shown, the exact opposite obtains. Much that emanates from this tainted
+source is so fantastic and puerile that ridicule ought long since to
+have killed it, as it did Oscar Wilde's AEsthetic movement.
+
+
+
+
+Mrs. Besant's "return of the Christ."
+
+
+To return to M. Levy's book; it deals with "Mrs. Besant's Proceedings"
+under various headings. In the one entitled "Mrs. Besant's Return of the
+Christ" is to be found some of the most amazing balderdash--given out as
+serious teaching!--it has ever been my lot to encounter. For instance, a
+book called _Man: Whence, How, and Whither_, written by Mrs. Besant and
+Mr. Leadbeater in collaboration, is quoted from by M. Levy at
+considerable length. He explains that "the substitution of a "false
+Christ" for the "Christ of the Gospels" is here supported by "_a new
+order of evidence_" (Italics mine). Specimens of this "evidence" follow,
+and I will here give some of it in order to show the almost unbelievably
+low level of intelligence to which this whole mischievous
+movement--miscalled Theosophical--has descended, and the sort of
+elements in human nature to which such an ill-conceived and fantastic
+production is designed to appeal. M. Levy writes:--
+
+     In the course of their investigations these two occultists look
+     up on the one side, the past incarnations of him whom Mrs.
+     Besant calls the "Master Jesus," that is, of the "Jesus" born
+     105 B.C.; and on the other side, the past lives of the being
+     whom she calls the "Lord Maitreya, the present Bodhisattva, the
+     Supreme Teacher of the World"; whose ego at a given moment
+     replaced that of "Jesus," this being the last incarnation of
+     the Christ whose immediate return she is announcing.
+
+     Let us first quote from their account of the incarnations of
+     the "Supreme Teacher" ... In the chapter headed "Early Times
+     on the Moon Chain," p. 34, we read:--
+
+     "There is a hut in which dwell a Moon-Man, his wife and
+     children; these we know in later times under the names of Mars
+     and Mercury, the Mahaguru and Surya. A number of these
+     monkey-creatures live round the hut, and give to their owners
+     the devotion of faithful dogs; among them we notice the future
+     Sirius, Herakles, Alcyone, and Mizar, to whom we may give their
+     future names for the purpose of recognition, though they are
+     still non-human."[4]
+
+     In the Fourth Root Race we again find the personage supposed to
+     be "Maitreya" as the husband of the ego claimed by these
+     authors as that of "Master K. H." Mrs. Besant is again
+     incarnated in the family as daughter, the eldest sister of the
+     "Master M."; "Maitreya," the future World-Teacher, being at
+     this time the head of the tribe (p. 113)....
+
+     We have thus reached to somewhere about the year 15,000 B.C.,
+     and then--incredible as it seems--they give no further
+     incarnations of him whom they nevertheless claim to have been
+     the World-Teacher at the beginning of our era.
+
+     They give us his incarnations as husband, as father, as
+     counsellor and priest, and are silent as to the only
+     incarnation of fundamental and vital importance to the whole
+     world.
+
+     Let us see if the incarnations of their "Jesus" will fill this
+     gap in our knowledge, if they will throw light on this
+     essential point, thus left in obscurity.
+
+     We meet this "Jesus" for the first time at the beginning of the
+     Fifth Root Race, as daughter of Alcyone (Krishnamurti) and
+     sister of "Maitreya" (p. 252.)
+
+     Then, on p. 328, as the wife of Julius Caesar 18,878 B.C., he,
+     or rather she, being at this time the widow of Vulcan (Known in
+     his last incarnation as Sir Thomas More)....
+
+     He is later identified as daughter of Alcyone-Krishnamurti (his
+     father) and Fabrizio Ruspoli (his mother),[5] parents at the
+     same time of the future "World-Teacher, Maitreya," their young
+     daughter. These incarnations took place 72,000 B.C., on the
+     shores of the Lake of Gobi, we are told on p. 490.
+
+     In 15,910 B.C., we find "Jesus" as grandson of "Maitreya," and
+     as father and grandfather of a large family composed, as in all
+     cases investigated by these two authors, of _present_ members
+     of the Theosophical Society _only_, and including the faithful
+     friends of Adyar _to the exclusion of all others_.[6]
+
+     " ... In 12,800 B.C. the "Jesus" of these investigations again
+     forms part of a very extensive family composed as usual of the
+     selfsame elements, and including amongst the names known in the
+     theosophic world that of Mme. Marie Louise Kirby (an Italian
+     theosophist recently at Adyar) who was his sister. "Jesus" was
+     then the father of Mrs. S. Maud Sharpe (General Secretary of
+     the English Section), of Julius Caesar, and of T. Subba Rao;
+     the Teshu Lama being at that time his daughter, etc., etc. (p.
+     499)....
+
+     Once more have our hopes been betrayed, for an absolute silence
+     broods over the Incarnations of "Jesus" later than this date of
+     13,500, as it reigned over those of the "World-Teacher"....
+
+     We cannot, however, conceive that this information gathered
+     from occult investigation will be felt to be indispensable by
+     anyone. Now that we know that Mrs. Besant's "World-Teacher" is
+     an ordinary man of the lunar chain (to whom Mrs. Besant was
+     first domestic animal and then sister, and who, in the early
+     period of our earth, was daughter of the young Krishnamurti (or
+     of M. Ruspoli), who could be found still to imagine that there
+     could be here any question, save a mad or impious joke"....
+
+Incredible as it may appear to those who know anything of H. P.
+Blavatsky's teachings, their comprehensive grandeur and sublimity,
+especially as given in _The Secret Doctrine_, this extraordinary mixture
+of clumsy fairy-tale and extravagant and even malicious mumbo-jumbo is
+apparently swallowed whole by the blind and credulous followers of this
+grotesque "Neo-Theosophy." Not so much for them do I write as for those
+who, while interested in these subjects, have neither the inclination
+nor the leisure to examine, for instance, such published Records as
+these from which I quote, for themselves. Such would naturally accept on
+their face value Mrs. Besant's own account of herself and of her
+Society, unaware that she is no longer anything but a "blind leader of
+the blind," incapable of distinguishing light from darkness, truth from
+falsehood. We have direct testimony to the truth of this statement in
+Mr. T. H. Martyn's now famous letter to Mrs. Besant.[7] In it he tells
+her:--"You have been relying upon C. W. L. as _sole intermediary between
+the Hierarchy_ [the Trans-Himalayan Brotherhood, the Masters of Wisdom.
+Italics mine.--A. L. C.] and yourself for many years.... C. W. L.'s word
+is final and his seership infallible to you." The quality of this
+supposed "seership" bears a very close resemblance to a stupid and
+vulgar hoax. This is clearly shown by Mr. Martyn, who says:--"In 1919 I
+went to America. Young Van Hook was in New York. He talked freely of C.
+W. L.'s immorality and about _faking the 'lives' of people_" (Italics
+mine.) Mr. Martyn then puts together various pieces of evidence against
+this man, and tells Mrs. Besant that he finds "staring me in the face
+the conclusions that _Leadbeater is a sex pervert_, his mania taking a
+particular form which I have--though only lately--discovered, is a form
+well known and quite common in _the annals of sex criminology_."
+(Italics mine.) This sex criminal, then, is the creature whom Mrs.
+Besant has accepted "for many years" as "sole intermediary between"
+herself and--_the Masters of Wisdom_!! One almost hesitates to draw the
+obvious inference; for this is the man whom she has for years held up to
+and imposed upon their followers as a model of all the virtues--"a
+saint"--a person "on the threshold of divinity." (See also footnote
+_post_, p. 56.)
+
+Why has it always been necessary for Mrs. Besant to have an
+"intermediary"? Before Mr. Leadbeater it was her Brahmin guide, and
+before him it was Mr. Judge. To each in turn she gave implicit belief in
+the matter of "messages" and directions from the Masters, while
+outwardly claiming "direct" communication. The fact is that, as I have
+come to believe, the plain psychology of the thing is--sheer femininity.
+With all her intellectual talents, her once clear brain, Mrs. Besant is
+(in her personality) just simple _woman_, relying upon male guidance and
+authority as instinctively as any of her humbler sisters. And what
+student of human nature will fail to recognise in her that purely
+feminine trait of blind and fanatical "obedience" which loves to receive
+and obey "orders" even though the result should be "a world in ruins"?
+The existence of this fundamental and essential quality in female human
+nature is the real reason why even the most broad-minded men shrink from
+giving women equality of power with themselves in wordly affairs.
+
+Let me here declare what I believe to be the real truth; namely, that
+after H. P. Blavatsky's death in 1891, neither Mrs. Besant, nor Mr.
+Judge, nor Colonel Olcott, nor anyone else, could "communicate," because
+_H. P. B.'s withdrawal meant the withdrawal of her Masters as well_. It
+has always seemed strange to me that this was never realised by anyone,
+for in this pamphlet I have quoted quite enough from H. P. B. to make it
+perfectly clear. Does she not say in the 1890 letter to the Indians (see
+p. 2) that after she had to leave India in 1885 the Masters' influence
+at Adyar became a dead letter? Did not the Masters Themselves write as
+early as 1884 that they could only communicate through her or in places
+previously prepared magnetically by her presence? How, then, could They
+be expected to continue to communicate or direct the affairs of the T.
+S. (as They did in India until 1885), or the E. S. (as They did from
+1888 to 1891), after They had withdrawn the Agent They had so carefully
+prepared and subjected to the severest trials and initiations in Tibet?
+Barely three years after this withdrawal the fatal "Split" took place
+owing to Mr. Judge giving out what purported to be "direct"
+communications, but which, as I discovered after working for a time
+under his inspirer and successor, Mrs. Tingley, _were obtained from
+her_. Mrs. Besant, in accusing him, did precisely the same, for she
+stated in her _Case against W. Q. Judge_ that she had received her
+orders direct from the Master, whereas (as I relate elsewhere, _post_,
+p. 56) she admitted to the Inner Group that they came "through" her
+Brahmin guide.
+
+This, then, was the great and fundamental error committed by the leaders
+of the movement, after H. P. B. was withdrawn. It is responsible for all
+the subsequent troubles, and the appalling situation with which we are
+faced to-day. A great and world-wide organisation is being used to
+promulgate blasphemous, poisonous and absolutely anti-Theosophical and
+anti-Occult doctrines as emanating direct from the Masters who
+definitely withdrew Their chosen Agent in 1891. (See _ante_ p. 2.)
+
+In any case, even had she lived, H. P. B. told the E. S. that the "last
+hour of the term" was December 31st, 1899, after which "no Master of
+Wisdom from the East will himself appear or send anyone to Europe or
+America." (See footnote, _ante_ p. 2.) She also said that the next
+Messenger would be sent out in 1975. Yet the fiction that the Masters
+are still directing the leaders and the movement is kept up, not only by
+Mrs. Besant, but also by Mrs. Tingley, 22 years after "the last hour of
+the term."
+
+It is the same with all this wild talk about the imminent advent of a
+"World-Teacher." Is this in the least probable, in view of the above
+pronouncements? H. P. B. definitely states in _The Secret Doctrine_ the
+exact opposite; but all the Neo-Theosophists seem to prefer the Besant
+and Leadbeater books. H. P. B. says, with reference to this very
+Maitreya whose name they so lightly take in vain, that He is not due
+until the Seventh Sub-Race, _i.e._, several thousand years hence; and
+that, in any case, "it is not in the _Kali Yug_, our present
+terrifically materialistic age of Darkness, the 'Black Age,' that a new
+Saviour of Humanity can ever appear." (S. D. Third Ed., Vol. I, p. 510
+_et seq._ See also _Theosophical Glossary_, "Kalki Avatar" and "Maitreya
+Buddha.") If we accept H. P. B.'s authority there is no evading this
+issue, and we must reject the Besant-Leadbeater pretensions _in toto_,
+for their absurdity is patent. Yet they claim to have been specially
+taught and prepared by her to carry on her message! (_Vide_ Mrs. Besant
+in the _Theosophist_, March, 1922; and also _post_ p. 68.)
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[4] In these incarnations such names are used as; Mars for the "Master
+M."; Mercury for the "Master K. H."; Surya, the Lord Maitreya, the
+present Bodhisattva, the Supreme Teacher of the World"; Sirius for Mr.
+Leadbeater; Herakles for Mrs. Besant; Alcyone for Krishnamurti; Mizar
+for his young brother, etc. A list of these names and those to whom they
+apply is given in the Foreword of the book. [Italics mine. Here we see
+the bald and unabashed appeal to the personality and its ambitions and
+desires which is characteristic of this kind of charlatanism.--A. L. C.]
+We shall here substitute the names of the real persons as given in this
+list for the fancy names used to distinguish them in the body of the
+book, _Man: Whence, How and Whither_.
+
+[5] M. Ruspoli is an Italian theosophist recently living at Adyar, with
+whom Mr. Leadbeater stayed in Italy.
+
+[6] It is a remarkable fact that outside this little circle not a single
+being in our great world has ever entered into these family communities
+to whom the honour is given of being the pioneers of every civilisation
+of the past. Even though we are invited to assist at marriages running
+into thousands, _ever_ the same names appear and _all_ the members of
+_all_ the families are identified. This singular oligarchy of friends
+and devotees of Adyar perhaps merited to be signalised throughout the
+evolution of our earth, the more so that Mr. Leadbeater, writing in his
+bird's-eye view of the twentieth century and of the pioneers of the
+future sixth race, remarks maliciously: "We know who will _not_ be
+there." He puts in italics the word _not_; desirous doubtless to
+indicate the unworthiness of other theosophists.
+
+[7] Mr. Martyn is the President of the Sydney Lodge, Australian Section
+T. S., a member of thirty years' standing. See Addendum.
+
+
+
+
+Fundamental causes: Some Occult Methods.
+
+
+Under this heading M. Levy deals with what he calls "the pitiful climax
+of this parody":--
+
+     What a contrast to the great traditions of the Theosophical
+     movement, formulated by H. P. Blavatsky in _The Key to
+     Theosophy_ (Third Edition, p. 191);--"As for our best
+     Theosophists, they would also far rather that the names of the
+     Masters had not been mixed up with our books in any way." And
+     later, on p. 192;--"I say again, every earnest Theosophist
+     regrets to-day, from the bottom of his heart, that these sacred
+     names and things have ever been mentioned before the public."
+     And this would be the moment to say with Mme.
+     Blavatsky;--"Great are the desecrations to which the names of
+     two of the Masters have been subjected." ... But when all is
+     said and done, what _is_ this occultism which produces _such
+     disregard of truth, such calumny in daily life, such diastrous
+     confusion in the domain of clairvoyance_, and finally, _advice
+     of such a kind as to arouse universal disgust_? [Italics
+     mine.--A. L. C.]
+
+     This occultism has its methods, as all schools of occultism
+     have; for occultism consists in a methodical training and the
+     awakening of consciousness to superior worlds; and where a
+     method produces such results, may we not regard it as
+     legitimate to ask what is the source of such serious and such
+     numerous aberrations?... On this question, as on all those that
+     we have examined, we will cite as witnesses original documents,
+     the appraisements of those who teach their own methods. It is
+     well known that Mr. Leadbeater is the inventor and manipulator
+     of the Adyar occultism. In the _Inner Life_ (Vol. I, p. 450),
+     in speaking of the centres, the awakening of which, as we
+     know, developes clairvoyance, he expresses himself in these
+     terms;--"I have heard it suggested that each of the different
+     petals of these force-centres represents a moral quality, ... I
+     have not yet met with any facts which confirm this ... _their
+     development seems to me to have no more connection with
+     morality than has the development of the biceps_." [Italics
+     mine. A little later I shall quote some very definite
+     pronouncements of H. P. Blavatsky's which teach the exact
+     opposite.--A. L. C.]
+
+     Further, it is of interest to find Mrs. Besant and Mr.
+     Leadbeater, in the first lines of the Preface to _Man; Whence
+     How, and Whither_, expressing the same view as regards the
+     connection between morality and clairvoyance--"It is not
+     generally accepted, nor indeed is it accepted to any large
+     extent ... [clairvoyance] is a power latent in all men ... it
+     can be developed by any one who is able and willing to pay the
+     price demanded for its forcing, ahead of the general
+     evolution."
+
+     Mrs. Besant is no less positive. A price is demanded for the
+     "forcing" of clairvoyance, but this price is neither "high
+     spirituality" nor "lofty intelligence," nor even "purity of
+     character" ... she fully shares the views of Mr. Leadbeater....
+
+     Thus the calumny, sectarianism, the disregard of truth in daily
+     life, the increasingly serious aberrations in the spiritual
+     life, have gradually revealed the main source of all these
+     facts, _i. e._, the defect of the method.
+
+     All becomes clear. Mr. Leadbeater is probably right, and it may
+     be possible to develop, as he claims, a certain clairvoyance
+     (an inferior clairvoyance, it must be said) without the
+     concurrence of a moral and mental training.... But who will
+     maintain that without moral purification we shall possess that
+     moral sense that inspires gracious and noble conduct, and
+     teaches us to hate falsehood?... be able to distinguish
+     illusions from reality in our astral visions?
+
+     Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater are most certainly not ignorant
+     of the dangers of occult development without morality. But it
+     is quite another matter to profess this theory, or even to lean
+     towards morality in the course of occult development, _by means
+     of ... generous aspirations perpetually evoked in eloquent
+     language_, from setting to work on the development of these
+     centres by means of exercises arranged with the express purpose
+     of bringing in the _practice_ of morality, of truth, and of
+     logic as powerful factors in the reorganisation of the subtle
+     bodies--which produces clairvoyance.... That method which
+     dissociates moral and intellectual aspiration from occult
+     development, and seeks to cultivate them separately, will not
+     achieve moral progress since _the inner nature is not
+     transmuted_; but this method will produce a very debauch of
+     phrases invoking these aspirations. For, instead of penetrating
+     by means of the appropriate practice into the inner regions of
+     the soul, these aspirations swirl, so to say, perpetually on
+     the surface of the mind. Their presence there will produce a
+     kind of psychic intoxication, sometimes rousing in the
+     occultist thoughts so much above his own mental and moral
+     standard, that he may come to regard himself as a saint, while
+     at the same time performing the most despicable actions.
+     Indeed, during such times the conduct shows a moral
+     retrogression very noticeable when compared with the conduct
+     before this occult development For this latter _increases and
+     intensifies all the temptations_, as every occultist will
+     admit. An increase of active morality is therefore, required if
+     we would avoid this most dangerous lack of balance....
+
+     We find constantly in Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater, under a
+     great show of high moral aspirations, the reality of an actual
+     moral and intellectual fall. Much emphasis is placed on
+     "liberty of thought" [see p. 14 A. L. C.], and at the same time
+     the intellectual desertion of this principle is preached in
+     counselling members to give blind obedience to "the least hint
+     which falls from the lips of Mrs. Besant," and to follow her
+     implicitly whether she is understood or not....
+
+     We see clearly that the fruits are precisely those we should
+     expect from the seed; the terrible danger of this method can
+     neither be misunderstood nor denied ... [we must] never lend
+     ear to the words which in this school quite naturally take the
+     place of the honest and right act, and so turn attention from
+     the moral ugliness of the actions performed.... _Acts alone
+     show forth morality, not attractive formulas flowing from
+     literary or oratorical talent._ The constant declaration of
+     liberty of thought, of human brotherhood, cannot impress us
+     when the actions of those who delight in them enslave thought,
+     persecute merit, seek to poison souls by flimsy and deceptive
+     spiritual pronouncements....
+
+     It is a painful duty to have to press this point with such
+     insistence. But now that we are facing the consequences of the
+     Leadbeater method on the mental character of the clairvoyant,
+     our warnings in reference to still more serious harm will not
+     appear exaggerated.
+
+     We know that the higher regions of the invisible worlds are
+     those in which "consciousness" manifests itself principally in
+     the most intense awareness of moral beauty.
+
+     Since this is so, the cultivation of the non-moral clairvoyance
+     could only attain results in the lower regions of the astral
+     world ... the organ of clairvoyant sight, when developed
+     according to certain methods, will be blind to the moral
+     outline of subtle worlds, _and will thus be cut off from all
+     their truly spiritual content. The field of their experiences
+     will be limited to the lower regions of the astral plane._
+
+     And it is these lower visions, more frequently experienced
+     because of _their affinity to elements in the vehicles of the
+     investigator not yet purified, that will be presented as the
+     most sublime images of the higher worlds_. For such a
+     clairvoyant is deprived of the high morality which is the force
+     leading our "bodies" by affinity towards truly spiritual Beings
+     [_e.g._, the Masters in Their Mahatmic "bodies".--A. L. C.]
+     Deprived of the standard of comparison that these provide, _he
+     will be the_ _victim of all the illusions of a world that is
+     the veritable motherland of illusions, for human errors are but
+     the faint reflection of these_. Since the sense of
+     responsibility, which is essentially moral in origin [H. P.
+     Blavatsky says; "_The sense of Responsibility is the beginning
+     of Wisdom._" A. L. C.] will equally fail him, _he will have no
+     scruple in sharing his illusions with all in making known his
+     misleading experiences_--the less since the forces, whose sport
+     he is, push him irresistibly to this. Are they not in truth the
+     adversaries of the divine scheme of evolution, _the servants
+     and sowers of error and immorality the world over_?
+
+In these clear and logical arguments M. Levy expresses, even in a
+translation, so much better than I could have done, the dangers of the
+way leading to the path of "error" which Mrs. Besant is now treading,
+that I have quoted at greater length than I originally intended.
+Although written nine years ago, they are more than ever true to-day. M.
+Levy then continues:--
+
+     We have thus sketched in their broad hypothetical outlines _the
+     incalculable reactions that the defect in the Leadbeater method
+     brings into the inner life, into the words and actions of those
+     who yield their souls to him_.
+
+     In demonstrating the fatal effects of this method we have shown
+     the real meaning of the faults and failings of all kinds as
+     exhibited by Mrs. Besant, who is its most fervent adherent. The
+     right interpretation of the known facts seems to us so entirely
+     in conformity with the consequences, as implied in our
+     hypothesis, as to make it possible to some extent to foresee
+     these facts with scientific certainty--which is precisely what
+     has happened....
+
+     We recall the "Leadbeater Case," which in 1906 [this was the
+     Committee of Inquiry in London, above referred to.--A. L. C]
+     called forth within the Theosophical Society, no less than
+     outside, unanimous moral censure.... Resigning from the
+     Theosophical Society in consequence of this affair, Mr.
+     Leadbeater has since returned, at the invitation of Mrs.
+     Besant.... Have the principles and methods of Mr. Leadbeater
+     changed since he has returned to his place amongst us? He
+     himself informs us on this point in a letter written after the
+     "affair," at the express desire of Mrs. Besant that he should
+     "define his position" at the time she started the well-known
+     campaign in favour of his re-admission (_Theosophist_, February
+     1908.)
+
+     "You ask me," says Mr. Leadbeater, "to write you a clear letter
+     that you may show at need, expressing my real views on the
+     advice I gave some time ago to certain young boys. I need
+     hardly say that I keep my promise not to repeat the advice, for
+     I defer to your opinion that it is dangerous. I also recognise,
+     as fully as yourself, that it would be if it were promiscuously
+     given, but I have never thought of so giving it."
+
+     In this declaration Mr. Leadbeater first recognises the danger
+     of his advice, then immediately retracts this confession by
+     reservations which imply its harmlessness in just those cases
+     for which he is blamed. He has not, as we see from this letter,
+     then, changed his views; but the important fact is that he only
+     speaks of "danger," and never of "immorality." _His moral
+     standpoint remains, then, unaltered--is precisely the same as
+     before the expose._
+
+     And what is this point of view? Mrs. Besant thus gives it in a
+     letter dated July, 1906 (_Theosophic Voice_, May, 1908):--
+
+     "Mr. Leadbeater appeared before the Council of the British
+     Section, representatives from the French and the American
+     Sections being present and voting. Colonel Olcott in the chair.
+     _He denied none of the charges_, but in answer to questions,
+     very much strengthened them, for he alleged.... _So that the
+     advice ... became advice putting foul ideas into the minds of
+     boys innocent of all sex impulses.... It was conceivable that
+     the advice, as supposed to have been given, had been given with
+     pure intent, and the presumption was so in a teacher of
+     theosophical morality; anything else seemed incredible. But
+     such advice as was given in fact, such dealing with boys_
+     _before sex passion had awakened, could only be given with pure
+     intent if the giver were, on this point, insane._" [Italics
+     mine. The details omitted cannot be put in print.--A. L. C.]
+
+     "Let me here place on record my opinion that such teaching as
+     this, given to men, let alone to innocent boys, is worthy of
+     the sternest reprobation. It distorts and perverts the sex
+     impulse ... degrades the ideas of marriage, fatherhood and
+     motherhood ... befouls the imagination, pollutes the emotions,
+     and undermines the health. Worst of all that it should be
+     taught under the name of Divine Wisdom, being essentially
+     'earthly', 'sensual', 'devilish.'"
+
+Mrs. Besant's last sentence contains the whole _raison d'etre_ of this
+my Protest. She has expressed precisely the views I hold; but in this
+fervid condemnation she herself must now be included, since she condones
+and thus supports this horror. M. Levy graphically portrays for us on
+what road it is that this once apparently sane and normal woman, with
+all her great gifts, is descending--a road that, as H. P. Blavatsky puts
+it in the concluding paragraph of _Occultism_ versus _the Occult Arts_,
+"can lead only to Dugpa-ship." (see _post_ p. 33.) He continues:--
+
+     Mrs. Besant then deemed Mr. Leadbeater's morality so defective
+     as to be accounted for only by mental derangement.
+     Nevertheless, the promise contained in the letter just quoted
+     and which expresses no shadow of moral repentance whatsoever,
+     nor anything approaching it, was sufficient, in Mrs. Besant's
+     eyes, to justify her in bringing back into the Theosophical
+     Society a teacher she has judged thus. Could one ask a clearer
+     proof of the anarchy produced by such occultism?
+
+     A recent suit, instituted by the parent of the young
+     Krishnamurti, re-claiming the custody of his child, brings
+     forward again this question of morality ... reminding us of the
+     expose. In fact, the present case clearly formulates the
+     accusation of immoral conduct testified to by witnesses ... In
+     such a discussion, this attempt [by Mrs. Besant] to play upon
+     the political interests of the judges is unexpected,
+     amazing,--and, alas! significant. We see clearly that a mind
+     that shows itself capable of throwing into the balance
+     political (and racial) appeals in a matter of conduct, is
+     utterly blind to the question of human consideration [a Brahmin
+     father re-claiming his young sons] that overshadows this whole
+     case.
+
+     Clear and unmistakable through all these actions shows the
+     consistent distortion of the moral outlook, more serious since
+     the esoteric ethics should be an extension, a purification, an
+     exaltation of exoteric morality, and in no circumstances its
+     decline, its degradation, its negation. And if we would realise
+     to what extent this moral outlook can be warped under certain
+     influences, we need but to hear Mrs. Besant say of Mr.
+     Leadbeater:--"By hard, patient work he has won rewards ...
+     until he stands perhaps the most trusted of his Master's
+     disciples on the threshold of Divinity." (_Theosophist_,
+     November, 1911, p. 308.)
+
+     This conception of the "Divinity" that should be the the final
+     expression of morality has no need of comment other than that
+     same "deification" by his colleague--who five years earlier
+     regarded his teaching as so utterly immoral as to suggest
+     mental derangement as the only explanation.... Perhaps we shall
+     understand these things a little better if we remember that
+     this occultist, if he contradicts the Buddha, on the other hand
+     almost deifies Mrs. Besant. Possibly taking into consideration
+     this exchange of admiration, the meaning of the "deifications"
+     will become sufficiently clear.
+
+
+
+
+H. P. Blavatsky on true Occultism.
+
+
+Before giving some fine passages from M. Levy's concluding chapters I
+will quote from H. P. Blavatsky's _Practical Occultism: Occultism_
+versus _the Occult Arts_, mentioned a few pages back. In its original
+form it is a booklet containing a reprint of two articles which she
+wrote for _Lucifer_ in 1888, shortly before she founded the Esoteric
+Section. These extracts will show the "true" teaching in this matter of
+Occultism, as contrasted with the "false," or Mrs. Besant's and Mr.
+Leadbeater's. H. P. B. begins by declaring that: "There are not in the
+West half-a-dozen among the fervent hundreds who call themselves
+'Occultists' who have even an approximately correct idea of the nature
+of the Science they seek to master. With a few exceptions, they are all
+on the highway to sorcery.... Let them first learn the true relation in
+which the Occult Sciences stand to Occultism.... [It] differs from Magic
+and other secret sciences as the glorious sun does from a rush-light, as
+the immutable and immortal Spirit of Man--the reflection of the
+absolute, causeless and unknowable ALL--differs from the mortal
+clay--the human body.... [The word] OCCULTISM is certainly misleading,
+translated as it stands from the compound word _Gupta-Vidya_ (Secret.
+Knowledge.) But the knowledge of what? Some of the Sanskrit terms may
+help us.
+
+"There are four (out of the many other) names of the various kinds of
+Esoteric Knowledge or Sciences given, even in the exoteric Puranas.
+There is (1) _Yajna-Vidya_, knowledge of the occult powers awakened in
+Nature by the performance of certain religious ceremonies and rites. (2)
+_Mahavidya_, the 'great knowledge,' the magic of the Kabalists and of
+the _Tantrika_ worship, often Sorcery of the worst description. (3)
+_Guhya-Vidya_, knowledge of the mystic powers residing in Sound (Ether),
+hence in the Mantras (chanted prayers or incantations), and depending on
+the rhythm and melody used; in other words, a magical performance based
+on knowledge of the Forces of Nature and their correlation; and (4)
+_Atma-Vidya_, a term which is translated simply 'Knowledge of the Soul,'
+_true Wisdom_ by the Orientalists, but which means far more.
+
+"This last is the only kind of Occultism that any Theosophist who
+admires 'Light on the Path,' and who would be wise and unselfish, ought
+to strive after. All the rest is some branch of the 'Occult Sciences,'
+_i.e._, arts based on the knowledge of the ultimate essence of all
+things in the kingdoms of Nature--such as minerals, plants and
+animals--hence of things pertaining to the realm of _material_ nature,
+however invisible that essence may be, and howsoever much it has
+hitherto eluded the grasp of Science.... _Siddhis_ (or the Arhat powers)
+are only for those who are able to 'lead the life,' and to comply with
+the terrible sacrifices required for such a training, and to comply with
+them _to the very letter_. Let them know at once and remember always,
+that true Occultism or Theosophy is the 'Great Renunciation of SELF,'
+unconditionally and absolutely, in thought as in action. It is ALTRUISM,
+and it throws him who practises it out of the ranks of the living
+altogether. 'Not for himself, but for the world he lives,' as soon as he
+has pledged himself to the work. Much is forgiven during the first years
+of probation. But, no sooner is he 'accepted' than his personality must
+disappear, and he has to become a _mere beneficent force in Nature_.
+There are two poles for him after that, two paths, and no midway place
+of rest. He has either to ascend laboriously step by step, often through
+numerous incarnations and _no Devachanic break_, the golden ladder
+leading to Mahatmaship (the _Arhat_ or _Bodhisattva_ condition), or--he
+will let himself slide down the ladder at the first false step, and roll
+down into _Dugpa-ship_....[8]
+
+"All this is either unknown or left out of sight altogether. Indeed, one
+who is able to follow the silent evolution of the preliminary
+aspirations of the candidates often find strange ideas quietly taking
+possession of their minds. There are those whose reasoning powers have
+been so distorted by foreign influences that they imagine that animal
+passions can be so sublimated and elevated that their fury, force and
+fire can, so to speak, be turned inwards ... _until their collective and
+unexpanded strength enables their possessor to enter the true Sanctuary
+of the Soul_, and stand therein in the presence of the _Master_--the
+HIGHER SELF.... Oh, poor blind visionaries!... Strange aberration of the
+human mind. Can it be so? Let us argue.
+
+"The 'Master' in the Sanctuary of our souls is 'the Higher Self'--the
+divine spirit whose consciousness is based upon and derived solely (at
+any rate during the mortal life of the man in whom it is captive) from
+the mind, which we have agreed to call the _Human Soul_ (the 'Spiritual
+Soul' being the vehicle of the Spirit.) In its turn the former (the
+_personal_ or human soul) is a compound, in its highest form of
+spiritual aspirations, volitions and divine love; and in its lower
+aspect, of animal desires and terrestrial passions imparted to it by its
+association with its vehicle, the seat of all these ... the _inner
+animal_. [It] is the instinctual 'animal soul,' and is the hotbed of
+those passions which ... are lulled instead of being killed, ... And
+where, on what neutral ground, can they be imprisoned so as not to
+affect man?
+
+"The fierce passions of love and lust are still alive, and they are
+allowed to still remain in the place of their birth--_that same animal
+soul_.... It is thus the mind alone--the sole link and medium between
+the man of earth and the Higher Self--that is the only sufferer, and
+which is in incessant danger of being dragged down by those passions,
+that may be re-awakened at any moment and perish in the abyss of
+matter.... How can harmony prevail and conquer, when the soul is stained
+and distracted with the turmoil of passions and the terrestrial desires
+of the bodily senses, or even of the 'Astral man'?
+
+"For this 'Astral'--the shadowy 'double' (in the animal as in man) is
+not the companion of the _divine Ego_ but of the _earthly body_. It is
+the link between the personal self, the lower consciousness of _Manas_,
+and the Body, and is the vehicle of _transitory, not of immortal
+life_.... It is only when the power of the passions is dead altogether,
+and when they have been crushed and annihilated in the retort of an
+unflinching will; when not only all the lusts and longings of the flesh
+are dead, but also the recognition of the personal Self is killed out
+and the 'Astral' has been reduced in consequence to a cipher, that the
+Union with the 'Higher Self' can take place. Then when the 'Astral'
+reflects only the conquered man, the still living but no more the
+longing, selfish personality, then the brilliant _Auoeides_, the
+divine SELF, can vibrate in conscious harmony with both the poles of the
+human Entity--the man of matter purified, and the ever pure Spiritual
+Soul--and stand in the presence of the MASTER SELF, the Christos of the
+mystic Gnostic, blended, merged into, and one with IT for ever.[9]
+
+"How, then, can it be thought possible for a man to enter the 'strait
+gate' of occultism when his daily and hourly thoughts are bound up with
+worldly things, desires of possession and power, with lust, ambition,
+and duties which, however honourable, are still of the earth, earthy?
+Even the love for wife and family--the purest as the most unselfish of
+human affections--is a barrier to _real_ occultism.... While the heart
+is full of thoughts for a little group of _selves_, near and dear to us,
+how shall the rest of mankind fare in our souls? What percentage of love
+and care will there remain to bestow on the 'great orphan' [Humanity]?
+And how shall the 'still small voice' make itself heard in a soul
+entirely occupied with its own privileged tenants?... yet, he who would
+profit by the wisdom of the universal mind, has to reach it through _the
+whole of Humanity_, without distinction of race, complexion, religion,
+or social status. It is _altruism,_ not _ego_-ism even in its most legal
+and noble conception, that can lead the unit to merge its little Self in
+the Universal Selves. It is to _these_ needs and to this work that the
+true disciple of true Occultism has to devote himself if he would obtain
+_theo_-sophy, divine Wisdom and Knowledge.
+
+"The aspirant has to choose absolutely between the life of the world and
+the life of Occultism.... It would be a ceaseless, a maddening struggle
+for almost any married man, who would pursue _true_ practical Occultism,
+instead of its _theoretical_ philosophy. For he would find himself ever
+hesitating between the voice of the impersonal divine love of Humanity,
+and that of the personal, terrestrial love.... Worse than this. For,
+_whoever indulges, after having pledged himself to_ OCCULTISM, _in the
+gratification of a terrestrial love or lust_, must feel an almost
+immediate result--that of being irresistibly dragged from the impersonal
+divine state down to the lower plane of matter. Sensual, or even mental,
+self-gratification involves the immediate loss of the powers of
+spiritual discernment; the voice of the MASTER can no longer be
+distinguished from that of one's passions, or _even that of a Dugpa_;
+the right from wrong; sound morality from mere casuistry. The Dead Sea
+fruit assumes the most glorious mystic appearance ... although it is the
+intention that decides primarily whether _white_ or _black_ magic is
+exercised, yet the results even of involuntary sorcery cannot fail to be
+productive of bad Karma.... _Sorcery is any kind of evil influence
+exercised upon other persons, who suffer, or make other_ persons to
+suffer, in consequence ... such causes produced have to call forth
+effects, and these are evidenced in the just laws of Retribution.
+
+"Much of this may be avoided if people will only abstain from rushing
+into practices neither the nature nor importance of which they
+understand.... We are in the Kali-Yuga and its fatal influence is a
+thousand-fold more powerful in the West than it is in the East; _hence
+the easy preys made by the Powers of the Age of Darkness in this cyclic
+struggle, and the many delusions under which the world is now
+labouring_." (Italics mine--A. L. C.)
+
+Applying this high and absolutely uncompromising moral standard, these
+grand and stern words, to the two pseudo-occultists under discussion, it
+is not difficult--even in the light of the little I have already
+given--to see that they themselves, and their actions, bear _no sort of
+relation_ to real "Occultism" as here briefly outlined by H. P.
+Blavatsky. Their teaching concerning sex is indeed its antithesis, which
+inevitably leads to Dugpa-ship, as H. P. B. definitely states. The issue
+is clear, and cannot be evaded or explained away.
+
+It is true that Mrs. Besant started well, even splendidly, in H. P. B.'s
+lifetime, and just after her death wrote a series of simple explanatory
+manuals which were of great value to beginners and enquirers. But only
+two years later she began, under Brahmin[10] inspiration, to make
+serious alterations in H. P. B.'s own works, and even to throw doubt on
+her occult knowledge (_e.g._, Mrs. Besant's Preface to the so-called
+Vol. III of _The Secret Doctrine_.) Unfortunately larger and more
+ambitious works which followed were vitiated by the same influences, and
+I well remember marking many passages in _The Ancient Wisdom_ which were
+not in accordance with H. P. B.'s teachings. But the radical departure
+from them began when Mrs. Besant definitely threw in her lot with C. W.
+Leadbeater, the sex pervert, and thereby alienated and caused such deep
+sorrow to her former friends and supporters.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[8] DUGPAS. (_Tibetan_). Lit., "Red Caps," a sect in Tibet. Before the
+advent of Tsong-ka-pa in the fourteenth century, the Tibetans, whose
+Buddhism had deteriorated and been dreadfully adulterated with the
+tenets of the old _Bhon_ religion--were all Dugpas. From that century,
+however, and after the rigid laws imposed upon the _Gelukpas_ (Yellow
+Caps) and the general reform and purification of Buddhism (or Lamaism),
+the Dugpas have given themselves over more than ever to sorcery,
+immorality, and drunkenness. Since then the word _Dugpa_ has become a
+synonym of "sorcerer", "adept of black magic" and everything vile. There
+are few, if any, Dugpas in Eastern Tibet, but they congregate in Bhutan,
+Sikkim, and the borderlands generally.--_The Theosophical Glossary_, by
+H. P. Blavatsky.
+
+[9] Man is a trinity composed of Body, Soul, and Spirit; but _man_ is
+nevertheless _one_, _and_ is surely not his body. The three 'Egos' are
+MAN in his three aspects on the astral, intellectual or psychic, and
+Spiritual planes, or states.
+
+[10] In making use of the word "Brahmin" in this connection, I mean only
+to indicate that "sacerdotal" spirit of the Brahmin caste which has
+always resisted (and quite reasonably, _from their point of view_) any
+revealing of esoteric teaching to the multitude, and especially to the
+West. The particular Brahmin whom Mrs. Besant followed at that period
+(see _post_ p. 56 Footnote) induced her to adopt a line of action which
+disrupted the Society created by H. P. B., and diverted attention from
+her works.
+
+
+
+
+Mrs. Besant's responsibility and the Madras Law-suits.
+
+
+M. Levy's concluding chapter, from which I will now quote, is obviously
+written from the heart. He says that it is his "imperative duty" to
+resign his membership in Mrs. Besant's Society, referring to the pain
+caused to her old friends by the opinion expressed by the police court
+magistrate in the defamation cases ... for he considered that the facts
+before him, and the documentary evidence, supported the view that Mrs.
+Besant had known of and even countenanced the practices of Mr.
+Leadbeater....
+
+     "In restoring to Mr. Leadbeater his influence over herself and
+     over the destinies of the Theosophical Society [she] has proved
+     her failure in moral vigilance and her lack of intellectual
+     discrimination as regards methods to which she thus fails the
+     first victim. And the sorry contradictions that this brings
+     into her spiritual message, the utter disregard of truth
+     resulting from this, impel her to words and actions that now
+     involve an incalculable number of victims, misled by their
+     devoted trust in her. Her responsibility is in truth a very
+     terrible one.... I have come to regard the actions of Mrs.
+     Besant--and of Mr. Leadbeater equally, of course--as the
+     _leaven of destruction, of disintegration in the Theosophical
+     Society_.
+
+     We cannot rid ourselves of a growing disquiet in seeing Mrs.
+     Besant, in her monthly articles in the _Theosophist_, entitled
+     "On the Watch-Tower," so tirelessly expressing such great and
+     manifest satisfaction in every smallest material increase,
+     improvement and enrichment of the Adyar Headquarters.
+
+     Mr. Leadbeater shares in this joy. Speaking of Mrs. Besant in
+     the _Adyar Album_, p. 7, he praises at great length the
+     material improvements of the Headquarters:--"In her reign have
+     been added to the estate no less than six valuable pieces of
+     property." Thus temporal power would clearly seem to be the
+     main concern of Adyar. And we involuntarily turn to the words
+     of Christ, who so well described the spiritual splendours:--"My
+     kingdom is not of this world." _Not thus does Mrs. Besant
+     understand spirituality_ since she "reigns" as a prince of this
+     world, over a kingdom that grows by her conquests.... A like
+     concern follows Mr. Leadbeater even into his occult
+     investigations into the twenty-eighth century, in which he sees
+     "a kind of gorgeous palace with an enormous dome, the central
+     part of which must be an imitation of the Taj Mahal at Agra,
+     but on a much larger scale. In this great building they mark as
+     memorials certain spots by pillars and inscriptions, such as
+     ... here such and such a book was written ... they even have
+     statues of _some of us_ [_sic!!_] ...--_Man; Whence, How, and
+     Whither._
+
+Truly may one here repeat the somewhat banal phrase "Comment is
+needless"; indeed one might add, "impossible," in the face of such an
+amazing manifestation of megalomania. But this is not the most serious
+disease from which C. W. Leadbeater and his colleague are suffering. As
+M. Levy has already shown, there is much worse behind of which this
+megalomania is only one symptom. In an "Addendum" given at, the end of
+his book, M. Levy says that since the publication of his brochure
+judgment has been pronounced on the case he mentions (see p. 29), the
+judge ruling that the children should be removed from the care of Mrs.
+Besant and given back to the father within a fixed time." He then
+continues:--
+
+     Further legal proceedings have confirmed, with yet more
+     precision, the infamous immorality of which Mr. Leadbeater
+     stands accused. (see report in _The Hindu_, Madras, May 9th,
+     1913.) A Madras medical review called _The Antiseptic_ had
+     pubished an article in which apprehension of the establishment
+     of a 'Temple of Onanism" ["unnatural sin." See Dr. Hartmann's
+     _Paracelsus_, p. 90] at Adyar was expressed. _The Hindu_
+     newspaper reprinted the scandal. Mrs. Besant took proceedings
+     aga nst the author of the article and the publisher of _The
+     Antiseptic_; and the Treasurer of the Theosophical Society was
+     moved at the same time to action against _The Hindu_. _All
+     three cases were dismissed._ The gravity of the position is
+     evident. Mr. Leadbeater's methods have been proved by his own
+     admissions as well as by documents before the Court to be
+     subversive of morality....
+
+     These facts [I omit the worst details that M. Levy feels
+     obliged to quote] condemn Mr. Leadbeater without possibility of
+     appeal; they reveal to us, with regard to Mrs. Besant, a truly
+     degrading complaisance, by reason of her desire to hide a crime
+     as patent as it is abominable ... the members of the
+     Theosophical Society are not only kept in complete ignorance
+     regarding these facts, but the administration of Adyar, through
+     its extensive propaganda, has a great influence over new
+     members in all conditions, while concealing and perverting the
+     truth.... The existence of persons like Mr. Leadbeater, who
+     admit and practise the worst perversities, is a sad reminder of
+     the darker side of human nature; yet the attitude of simply
+     ignoring that such things exist seems indefensible when these
+     persons pretend to the highest morality and represent
+     themselves as guides towards spiritual development ... claiming
+     to stand "on the threshold of divinity.".. The danger that such
+     persons may continue to extend their empire over the souls of
+     others is an increasing one....
+
+In view of these "facts" M. Levy's restraint of language is remarkable,
+his condemnation hardly sufficiently scathing. His concluding words,
+however, explain much; he has evidently greatly admired Mrs. Besant in
+earlier years, and the last paragraph of his book eloquently attests his
+personal grief:--"The feeling which here arrests my pen, and prevents me
+from saying more on the matter, will be understood by those who have
+followed me so far, and they may hear across my silence the voice of
+their own sorrow." I deeply respect M. Levy's feelings; but for me--who
+have never had any illusions regarding Mrs. Besant from the time of the
+disruption of the Society in 1894-5--the matter assumes a more sinister
+aspect. His pages have rendered me most invaluable help in putting
+before the general public matter not personally known to my own
+experience. I left Colonel Olcott's Society in 1895, M. Levy left Mrs.
+Besant's in 1913; and when we remember that this was its condition nine
+years ago, my previous remarks (see p. 14) may be better appreciated now
+that more evidence has been adduced
+
+
+
+
+The Central Hindu College. An Indian Criticism.
+
+
+In a pamphlet published at Benares about the same date (1913) by Pandit
+Bhagavan Das, "a former General Secretary of the Indian Section T. S."
+we possess still further evidence of Mrs. Besant's extraordinary
+aberrations under C. W. Leadbeater's guidance and control. Mr. Das's
+pamphlet is addressed to the editor of the London _Christian
+Commonwealth_, and is entitled "The Central Hindu College and Mrs.
+Besant." It is a reply to some "remarks" by her on this College, which
+appeared in that paper in June, 1913. Mr. Das writes:--
+
+     [Mrs. Besant's] remarks on the Central Hindu College [Benares]
+     in your paper are illustrations of this sad change in her. This
+     Institution, for which she has done more than anyone else
+     perhaps, she now openly and obviously tries to injure most
+     deeply in the minds of the public by wild suggestions that it
+     and the Hindu University, into which it is proposed to be
+     expanded, are mixed up with political seditionists and
+     extremists ... that such an educational movement is in any way
+     mixed up with seditionism and extremism is an idea ...
+     fatuously ludicrous.... The reckless, incoherent,
+     self-contradictory, incorrect and misleading statements that
+     Mrs. Besant has been freely making latterly in the public
+     press, have only injured her own reputation.... The C. H. C.
+     was founded in July, 1898, in order to do for the numerous
+     sects and sub-divisions of Hinduism what the T. S. was
+     endeavouring to do for all views and religions.... The College
+     grew and prospered year by year, under the Presidentship of
+     Mrs. Besant, and won the confidence ... of Hindus of almost all
+     shades of opinion.... But with the transfer of Mrs. Besant
+     from Benares to Adyar in 1907, as President of the T. S.,
+     elected _under very peculiar circumstances_ [as I learnt
+     recently from a very old member present in Adyar when Colonel
+     Olcott was on his deathbed. Italics mine.--A. L. C.]
+     foreshadowing the coming policies, a change began to come over
+     the spirit of all her work and surroundings. Despite the
+     suggestions, advice, entreaties, expostulations, and warnings
+     of her old colleagues and counsellors _who had made her work in
+     India possible_ [Italics mine.--A. L. C.], she developed more
+     and more and beyond all due bounds, the germ of person-worship
+     so long held in restraint. Entirely proofless claims to
+     superphysical powers and experiences, to being an Initiate, an
+     Arhat, a Mukta and what not; claims to read Mars and Mercury
+     and the whole Solar System, past, present and future (but with
+     careful avoidance of even the most easy test, such as reading a
+     given page of a closed book) claims to be the authorised agent
+     of "the Great White Brotherhood which guides Evolution on
+     earth" and to be in communication with the Supreme Director of
+     the world and with "the World-Teacher," etc., in short, all the
+     elements of sensationalism and emotionalism--which were
+     subdominant and private (confined mostly to the "inner" E. S.
+     T. organisation within the T. S.) now began to be predominant
+     and public.... In the spring of 1909, a "brother Initiate" of
+     Mrs. Besant's "discovered" the boy, now nicknamed Alcyone, as
+     the future vehicle of the Coming Christ ... _"neo-theosophy"
+     was started more or less definitely_ [Italics mine.--A. L.
+     C.]....
+
+     In January 1911 was started publicly by the then Principal of
+     the C. H. C., as the chief member of the "Group" an "Order"
+     called The Order of the Rising Sun, with the idea of "preparing
+     for a coming World-Teacher "as its publicly avowed central
+     idea, and the creed that the boy J. K. (Alcyone) would be the
+     "vehicle" of the "Coming Christ--Maitreya-Bodhisattva," etc.,
+     as its privately understood creed, to spread which amongst the
+     students was the duty of the inner "pledged group.' ... [See
+     _ante_ p. 21.
+
+In short, Mrs. Besant cleverly utilised an already existing
+organisation, founded for quite other objects and aims, to spread this
+crazy and pernicious "neo-theosophy," under cover of secrecy, pledges,
+etc., which she and C. W. Leadbeater--the real inspirer--well knew to be
+almost irresistible baits for sensitive and imaginative youths at a
+highly impressionable age.
+
+In April, 1911, on remonstrance by the older members of the Managing
+Committee, Mrs. Besant arranged that the Order of the Rising Sun should
+be disbanded. But this was mere show. When the disbandment was announced
+to the managers, it had already been arranged to replace the O. R. S. on
+a larger scale by _The Order of the Star in the East_ with the
+Principal, Head Master, and various Professors of the C. H. C. as the
+Private and other secretaries, of the boy J. K. as Head of the Order,
+and Mrs. Besant as Protectress of the whole....
+
+In the summer of 1911, side by side with this public activity, there was
+started by Mrs. Besant _within_ the E. S. T. ... A WRITTEN PLEDGE OF
+ABSOLUTE OBEDIENCE TO HERSELF. This fact, "private and confidential" at
+the time, is now public property since the Madras law suits....
+
+In August, 1911, the Trustees of the C. H. C., to allay the apprehension
+in the public mind that the C. H. C. was being diverted from its
+constitutional broad and liberal Hinduism into a bizarre and unhealthy
+personal-cult and bigoted Second-Adventism, passed formal resolutions to
+the effect that the Institution had nothing to do with any such Orders
+as those of the _Rising Sun_ or the _Star in the East_.
+
+On December 24th, 1911, resolutions were passed by the Trustees,
+agreeing that the C. H. C. should become part of the Hindu
+University.... The neo-theosophic propagandism within (as without) the
+C. H. C. continued ... in a score of evasive and elusive forms. Inner
+"Groups" and "Esoteric Section Groups" of persons formally pledged to
+obedience to Mrs. Besant, "Leagues of Service" of various kinds,
+"Orders of S. E." and "S. I." and "I. L.," "Co-Masonry Lodges," "Temple
+of the R. C.," and corresponding badges, bands, "regalia," "jewels,"and
+"pink," and "blue," and "yellow" scarves; "magnetized ribbons," and
+"stars" in pin, brooch, and button forms, etc. [for all the world like
+the Kindergarten games for developing infant intelligences!--A. L. C.]
+multiplied and replaced one another in interest like mushrooms in the
+rain time, a very fever of restless sound and movement hiding lack of
+substance and of wise purpose. Fuss of the most absurd and mischievous
+kind became rampant. Lectures, meetings, night classes, outside the
+college rooms and buildings, took place perpetually in the neighbouring
+T. S. premises and private residences, for expounding the doctrines of
+neo-theosophy and especially the book called _At the Feet of the Master_
+alleged to have been written down by Alcyone (J. Krishnamurti), as the
+embryonic scriptures and revelation of "the Embryo of a New Religion,"
+as Mrs. Besant declares the O. S. E. to be. Resident students were
+advised, and a number of them began to keep photos of Alcyone, as the
+"vehicle" of the "Coming Christ" and himself an "Initiate of the Great
+White Brotherhood" (and Mrs. Besant and one or two other living persons)
+"on the threshold of divinity," and to worship them with flowers,
+incense, etc. Old and young believers prostrating and genuflecting,
+literally, at the feet of the living original when within reach.... The
+then Principal of the College (who had founded the O. R. S.) proclaimed
+in his lectures in the neighbouring T. S. Hall, and elsewhere, that he
+was a "High Disciple of the Master"; and that the C. H. C. was "founded
+to prepare for the Advent of the World-Teacher"....
+
+[Mrs. Besant] has publicly stated [that] all of the members of the
+General Council of the T. S. now belong, with one or two exceptions
+perhaps, to the "Esoteric Section," prime condition of membership of
+which is, THE FORMAL WRITTEN PLEDGE OF ABSOLUTE OBEDIENCE TO MRS.
+BESANT; and so while the loud profession is freedom of thought "for all"
+the practice is sedulously "for herself," and her pledged votaries
+only; while the theory is that the O. S. E. "must not be identified with
+the T. S.," the practice is that the T. S. must be merged in the O. S.
+E.
+
+Let us turn to the C. H. C. to bring the narrative up to date. In March
+and April 1913 there came into the hands of another Manager and Trustee,
+a printed "letter," covering some three foolscap pages, bearing the
+signature of the gentleman who was then Principal of the C. H. C., the
+date October 25th, 1912, and the imprint of Mrs. Besant's _Vasanta
+Press_, Adyar, Madras, and not bearing any word like "private" or
+"personal," or "confidential." In this "letter" amazingly extravagant
+and fantastic statements are made as regards Mrs. Besant; she is hailed
+repeatedly as one who is "_to become one of the greatest Rulers of the
+World of Gods and men_" [This is sheer insanity.--A. L. C.]; mention is
+made of the "recognition of the God without us, which made us members of
+this Group from which we draw our life to-day"; it is said "that her
+light to ours was and is as the rays of the sun at noon-time to the rays
+of a lamp at night, and we did not desire to examine the Sun to see
+under what conditions it might possibly ray forth a more dazzling
+brilliance." The members of the Group are reminded that "we pledged
+ourselves in our hearts that we should strive to become _her true and
+loyal servants ...,_" etc.
+
+Thus complete was the hypnosis and surrender of reason which was sought
+to be effected amongst the votaries. It was a case of emotionalism run
+amuck...."
+
+It is, unfortunately, "a case" of something infinitely more mischievous;
+of evil "magic" and "sorcery" (cf. H. P. B.'s definition, _ante_ p. 36.)
+Whether Mrs. Besant knows it or not, Mr. Leadbeater undoubtedly must be
+well aware that life and strength can be drawn, on inner planes of
+being, from the blind devotion of a solid body of fanatical votaries.
+"Magicians" of a certain school--I need hardly specify which--thus
+prolong their lives through the magnetic and vita emanations of their
+nearest and most devoted followers. In a word, it is _Vampirism_, pure
+and simple, on the psychic plane. (I found that Mrs. Tingley well
+understood this form of Sorcery.) This, if true in Mrs. Besant's case is
+probably unconscious; but in Mr. Leadbeater's it is done consciously and
+with knowledge. That the secret acts and teachings of this man are far
+worse than most people have ever suspected is confirmed in a "Letter in
+reply to Mrs. Besant" by "Dreamer" which appeared in _The Theosophic
+Voice_ (Chicago), November, 1908, under the title "India Speaks." This
+scholarly Hindu Theosophist writes:--
+
+     If we are to believe the stenographic report of the Inquiry in
+     1906, then instead of holding that Mr. Leadbeater denied the
+     charges, we must come to the conclusion that not only did he
+     teach the solitary vice, but further he did things which would
+     have brought him within the pale of the criminal laws for the
+     foulest and most indecent offence which brute man may commit.
+     This is our latter day saint who must be re-admitted, nay,
+     invited back, into the Theosophical Society.
+
+Note that this was written fourteen years ago! The subject is a
+revolting one, but in the interests of that public whom these people are
+still misleading and deceiving, and who have no idea of the extreme
+gravity of the menace, it is necessary to be explicit.
+
+To return to the "Letter" mentioned by Mr. Das; he continues:--
+
+     The Trustee and Manager into whose hands a copy of the
+     astonishing document came, with the information that _it had
+     been circulated_ amongst a number of the C. H. C. students,
+     informed the secretaries of the College, and sent the letter
+     with the comments on the same for publication in a daily paper,
+     in order to show the public how the person-worship-creeds of
+     Mrs. Besant's "neo-theosophy" were being sown and grown within
+     the C. H. C. despite the resolutions of the Trustees.
+
+     On publication of the rhapsody, a great outcry in the name of
+     "injured innocence" was raised.... As to the
+     "dishonourableness" of the publication, competent judges of
+     such matters have pronounced that it was dishonourable only if
+     it be dishonourable to expose what cannot be called other than
+     _gross treason_ to the Constitution and ideals of the C. H. C.,
+     and to bring to light, and the bar of public opinion, underhand
+     or half-concealed or openly defiant efforts to convert students
+     to a grotesque person-worship and demoralizing and
+     soul-stunting blind obedience to Mrs. Besant.... The asking
+     for, and the receiving of the pledges of obedience to herself,
+     etc., is an act of over-weening presumption against the God in
+     every man.... Ever since she encouraged and started them, her
+     mind has worked less and less correctly and confusion has
+     fallen ever worse and worse upon her work, losing to the T. S.
+     many thousands of old members, alienating from her all her old
+     co-workers and co-founders of the C. H. C. and destroying the
+     confidence in her of the Indian public.
+
+Towards the end of his most illuminating pamphlet Mr. Das has occasion
+to speak of Mrs. Besant's "wildly reckless statements," some of which he
+quotes. They relate to the C. H. C. and he stigmatises them as "_all
+simply and utterly untrue_." "Her mind," he says a little further on, is
+working "incoherently." Finally, he writes:--
+
+     Let us conclude; when a person like Mrs. Besant, with a
+     biography full of remarkable changes, full of fine work as well
+     as bad blunders, having established herself, in her own belief,
+     and that of her pledged band, as the present chief Spiritual
+     Teacher and Saviour of Mankind, as "the God within us" now, and
+     as the future "greatest Ruler of the World of Gods and men,"
+     suddenly adds on the role of political saviour of India in
+     particular, and pre-determined martyr in constant danger of
+     assassination [strangely enough, this was also one of Mrs.
+     Tingley's obsessions] by anarchist miscreants ... and proclaims
+     that those who differ from her are in league with those
+     miscreants--when this happens, what explanation can be offered
+     to their own minds by her old friends ...?
+
+     The only sad explanation that they can postulate is that she is
+     suffering from mental delusions.
+
+Alas! this lenient and charitable judgment by no means covers the ground
+as a complete explanation of Mrs. Besant's mischievous and almost
+irresponsible activities. Mr. Das fails to see as clearly as MM. Levy
+and Schure the sinister influence behind all these manifestations; the
+source and inspiration of all this evil.
+
+
+
+
+Mrs. Besant's latest Assertions and claims examined.
+
+
+We now come to the examination of two articles in the _Theosophist_ for
+March, 1922, in which the President of the T. S. makes some attempt to
+deal with recent criticism. One is a Supplement, or Manifesto, addressed
+"To all Members of the Theosophical Society," and couched in Mrs.
+Besant's present style--flamboyant, a trifle bombastic, often Biblical
+in phraseology, and running throughout it, her usual fervid and
+disingenuous appeal to sentimental emotionalism, instead of the
+instinctive sense of justice latent in all beings. This latter, a
+feature of her best days, she has entirely abandoned; it no longer
+serves her ends. What those "ends" are one almost hesitates to
+formulate, so impious and almost insane do they appear. Even taking into
+consideration the tangled mass of evasions, misstatements and
+hypocritical equivocations presented in this manifesto, these "ends"
+emerge with sufficient clearness. But, in the first place, and before
+going further, one must ask on what basis this amazing claim to almost
+deific powers and knowledge rests. Let me here call M. Levy into the
+witness box once more; for he also had put the same question to himself
+nine years ago, and will provide the answer. It occurs in his chapter on
+"Mrs. Besant's 'Return of the Christ,'" where he is dealing with her
+position and actions in regard to Dr. Steiner, the German occultist and
+Christian Theosophist--with whose ideas, I should add, I am not in
+personal agreement. My teacher is H. P. Blavatsky and she alone: I
+follow no lesser light. M. Levy says:--
+
+     Our reason forces us to confess that all goes to suggest that
+     Mrs. Besant, having herself ceased to believe in the identity
+     of her Jesus with the Christ [of the Gospels.--A. L. C.], would
+     still continue to make others believe it.... Her pride ... her
+     dominating mind, have driven her on this crusade of
+     extermination of Dr. Steiner's teachings; it has induced her to
+     collect, _without the least regard for truth, justice, or
+     theosophic principles, no matter what weapons if they do but
+     serve against her opponent; calumny, abuse of power,
+     misstatement of facts, all combined in a subtle strategy_.
+
+Italics are mine; for we find Mrs. Besant using precisely the same
+methods to-day, only in a form fortunately neither so "subtle" nor so
+Jesuitically plausible. Her powers are failing, as the manifesto under
+consideration clearly proves. M. Levy proceeds:--
+
+     And when she falls victim of some error in the course of her
+     occult investigations--of which in theory she is always
+     proclaiming the fallibility--it is again her pride that bars
+     the way to admission, and makes her the slave of the most
+     pitiful machinations ... which ... will shatter to fragments in
+     all directions the confidence she had formerly inspired. For if
+     she is not consciously defending her mistake, then what kind of
+     a break-up of all her faculties are we witnessing?... The more
+     deeply we study this [_i.e._, the "neo-theosophy" already
+     described by M. Levy and Pandit Bhagavan Das.--A. L. C.], the
+     more terrible appear the responsibilities of Adyar in this
+     deplorable scheme; for we would still seek the origin of such
+     fearless confidence [in Mrs. Besant's followers.--A. L. C.]
+     refusing, as it does, to be shaken by the eloquent appeal of
+     the facts here set forth, and of which some, if not all, have
+     been within the reach and open to examination of those members
+     who profess such an enthusiastic confidence in Mrs. Besant. The
+     result of our search is a yet further culpability, as
+     overwhelming as it is unexpected.
+
+     For this confidence is not in the case of all the victims the
+     result of the free use of their own inner faculties. It is in
+     the case of the greater number, due to the influence of a
+     strong suggestion _deliberately organised and cleverly carried
+     out by the authors of this mystification themselves; by Mr.
+     Leadbeater who wrote, and by Mrs. Besant who published_, the
+     following lines in the _Adyar Album_, p. 45: "What can I say to
+     you of your President that you do not know already? Her
+     colossal [_sic_] intellect, her unfailing wisdom, her
+     unrivalled eloquence, her splendid forgetfulness of self, her
+     untiring devotion to work for others--all these are familiar to
+     you. Yet these qualities, these powers, are but a small part of
+     her greatness; they are on the surface, they may be seen by
+     all, they leap to the eyes. But there are other qualities,
+     other powers, of which you cannot know, because they pertain to
+     the secrets of Initiation. She is a pupil of our Masters; from
+     the fount of Their archaic wisdom she derives her own, the
+     plans which she is carrying out are Their plans for the welfare
+     of the world. Think, therefore, how great an honour it is for
+     you that you should be permitted to work under her, for in
+     doing so you are virtually working under Them. Think how
+     watchful you should be to miss no hint which falls from her
+     lips, to carry out exactly whatever instructions she may give
+     you. Remember that because of her position as an Initiate she
+     knows far more than you do; and precisely because her knowledge
+     is occult, given under the seal of Initiation, she cannot share
+     it with you. Therefore her actions must certainly be governed
+     by considerations of which you have no conception. There will
+     be times when you cannot understand her motives, for she is
+     taking into account many things which you cannot see and of
+     which she must not tell you. But whether you understand or not,
+     you will be wise to follow her implicitly, just because she
+     knows. This is no mere supposition on my part, no mere flight
+     of the imagination; I have stood beside your President in the
+     presence of the Supreme Director of evolution on this globe,
+     and I know whereof I speak. Let the wise hear my words, and act
+     accordingly."
+
+     It is easy to see how minds not gifted with a highly developed
+     critical faculty, or the instinctive sense that discriminates
+     the true from the false, would yield hopelessly to such a
+     formidable assault. They cannot see that he who thus guarantees
+     the infallibility of Mrs. Besant has himself need of
+     guarantee.... _I do not think that any religion or man-made
+     cult, even in the earliest ages, has ever promulgated
+     superstition in its grossest form so openly and boldly as this
+     ..._ [Italics mine.--A.L.C.]. Mr. Leadbeater ... demands
+     _deliberate_ suppression of thought.... And having extolled
+     such a deliberately induced mental torpor for Mrs. Besant's
+     benefit, he immediately demands it for himself when he speaks
+     of the "Supreme Director of evolution on this globe." Who is
+     this administrative person? With whom is he to be identified in
+     the scheme of evolution as it has been given to us by Mrs.
+     Besant and Mr. Leadbeater themselves?... What avenging God will
+     come to confound this impious prophet who seeks to reduce
+     humanity to the level of a troop of obedient automata!... A
+     gentle and winning voice, infinitely reassuring, rises out of
+     the depths of my being ... a great light breaks forth,
+     triumphant. Mr. Leadbeater hears the words of a judgment
+     immediate and without appeal, pronounced by the Buddha
+     himself:--
+
+     "Believe not what you have heard said; believe not in
+     traditions merely because they have been transmitted through
+     many generations; believe not merely because a thing is
+     repeated by many persons; ... believe not conjectures ...
+     _believe not solely upon the authority of your Masters and
+     elders_. WHEN UPON OBSERVATION AND ANALYSIS A PRINCIPLE
+     CONFORMS TO REASON AND LEADS TO THE BENEFIT AND WELFARE OF ALL,
+     ACCEPT IT AND HOLD IT."--(Buddha, _Anguttura Nikaya_.)
+
+     What a royal refuge, what a noble support are the words of
+     those who are the truly great! They are the perpetual safeguard
+     of humanity.
+
+     We have seen that upon "observation and analysis" the
+     "unfailing" wisdom of Mrs. Besant is no more than a mass of
+     inconsistencies, injustices, sectarian tactics in
+     administration, error and mystification in esoteric
+     announcements. Far from leading to "the benefit and welfare of
+     all," this "unfailing" wisdom is leading to the ... most
+     miserable slavery of souls, the emasculation of minds, the
+     creation of a terrible heresy. And at the present time we are
+     all feeling that we shall not be living up to the wise
+     exhortations of that great Being who was the Buddha, unless we
+     clearly denounce the lamentable aberrations of these two
+     occultists in the hope of drawing all the souls we possibly can
+     away from their pernicious influence. With this end in view,
+     and faithful to this duty, we shall calmly and firmly continue
+     our investigation of facts.
+
+     Fortunately, the assertions of Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater
+     have lately reached to such a pitch of extravagance and have so
+     utterly defied common sense that they will rouse even the least
+     critical minds and the most compliant hearts.
+
+Then follows the section of M. Levy's book in which he quotes from _Man;
+Whence, How, and Whither_; much of this I have given earlier in this
+pamphlet. And M. Levy, one must remember, wrote all this _nine years
+ago_!
+
+At this point it may serve a useful purpose if I specifically define my
+own position in regard to Mrs. Besant's claims. _I entirely and most
+emphatically reject them all._ Mr. Leadbeater's I was not even aware of,
+until I came to collect and examine the material for this pamphlet. They
+are so monstrous as not even to merit a specific "rejection"--it goes
+without saying. I practically lost all faith in Mrs. Besant when she
+dissimulated and tried to mislead the Inner Group Council on her return
+from her first visit to India in 1894. She then informed us that she had
+been "ordered by the Master to accuse Judge." On being closely
+cross-examined, however, she finally admitted that she had not received
+this "Order" _direct_, as she would have had us believe, but _through_
+the Brahmin whom she then followed blindly[11], exactly as she now
+follows Leadbeater. But later, when taxed with this in public, she
+pretended that he had had nothing whatever to do with it! This is a
+typical example of Mrs. Besant's idea of a 'truthful' statement in a
+matter of the most vital importance involving the fate of a leader and
+many thousands of members. What confidence can be placed in such a
+woman--one whose mental processes are so warped, and whose ideas of
+'truth' and 'honesty' are so peculiar? To inspire confidence a leader
+must be the very soul of truth and uprightness. Mrs. Besant has always
+been remarkable for asserting herself to be this, and people have
+believed her. But a truly upright and honest person (even if aware of
+it, as in Occultism he has to be) would never draw attention to it--and
+that publicly and in print.
+
+Because, for Mrs. Besant, Mr. ---- was _at this period_ her mouthpiece
+for the Master, she expected her colleagues to take the same view
+without question. This attitude is typical, and can be applied to all
+that she now says about Leadbeater (see _ante_ p. 19.) From this time I
+found it impossible to believe in her or her statements; such, for
+instance, as that H. P. B. had reincarnated in Mr. ----'s little
+daughter!![12]--or in anyone else for that matter. H. P. B. herself,
+when someone asked her about reincarnating, jokingly replied--"Yes, in
+some mild Hindu youth with half a lobe to his brain!" _H. P. B. has not
+reincarnated._ On the ridiculous belief above mentioned Mrs. Besant
+based her "authority" for doing things in H. P. B.'s name after her
+death (see _post_ p. 71 for examples). It follows also that I absolutely
+reject her claim to be an "agent" of the Masters (_i.e._, the
+Trans-Himalayan Brotherhood), neither do I believe that she has had any
+communication whatsoever with Them since H. P. B.'s death.[13] Finally,
+I reject her most presumptuous claim that she is able, or in anyway
+fitted, to "expand," "verify," or "check" by psychic faculties H. P.
+B.'s statements and teachings; still less to carry on independent occult
+investigations on the same, or any similar plane of consciousness.
+Whether Mrs. Besant, in making these claims, is acting under the glamour
+of Mr. Leadbeater's "clairvoyant" delusions, as MM. Levy and Schure
+suggest, or is fully conscious and responsible, is not my part to judge,
+nor does it really matter. For me, her life may be summed up in some
+words she applied recently to Mr. Gandhi (_Theosophist_, April, 1922).
+It is "the tragedy of a soul." Her criticisms on what she calls his
+"failure" apply fully and literally to _her own_.
+
+There is really very little in the Manifesto (_Theosophist_, March,
+1922), that is not sufficiently answered by the various extracts I have
+quoted from previous critics. Mrs. Besant opens with the usual
+disingenuous statements about the "Liberal Catholic Church." Her
+argument that all religions are on an equal footing in the T. S.
+carries no weight when it is widely known that L. C. C. agents are
+everywhere at work pushing its interests.
+
+Coming next to Mr. Leadbeater, Mrs. Besant states that he was "cleared
+by a Committee in England"! But it is really a little too much, and
+altogether too brazen,[14] when she dares to compare his case with that
+of H. P. B. in the matter of slander. _There can be no possible
+comparison._ The worst ever suggested against H. P. B. was what has been
+said of many other women, including Mrs. Besant herself, who have had to
+work in the glare of publicity and champion an unpopular cause. No
+evidence was ever brought forward, and the New York _Sun_ promptly
+apologised for publishing such statements on being shown that they were
+unfounded.[15] The grave charges against Mr. Leadbeater were supported
+by documentary evidence _which has never been rebutted_, and they have
+to do with something far worse than personal moral laxity, as we have
+seen. Mrs. Besant knows she cannot meet these charges, and so seeks to
+brush them aside by voluble talk about "hatred," "defamation," and
+"vilification." The only _justification_ she offers for having
+reinstated him in 1907 is that she had discovered that it was "a cruel
+lie that he had confessed to wrongdoing"! This is to argue that the
+"accused" should be "acquitted" because he refused to confess--in the
+face of evidence of no matter how damning a nature! Did Mrs. Besant
+follow this procedure in her "Case against W. Q. Judge"? Not at all; far
+from "acquitting" him when he refused to "confess to wrongdoing" and
+asked for production of the incriminating documents, she calmly
+confessed that she had destroyed them! But _now_ that it is a case of
+her own guide and "intermediary" in the dock, her attitude is entirely
+different, and it is quite enough for her that the "accused" did not
+"confess" his crime!
+
+As Dr. Stokes, Editor of the _O. E. Critic_ (Washington, D.C.) has been
+fearlessly stating the facts and encouraging the "Back to Blavatsky"
+movement for some time past, she next devotes a paragraph to an attempt
+to discredit him by suggesting his connection with an old enemy of H. P.
+B.'s. Dr. Stokes's championship of H. P. B., and relentless exposure of
+the Besant-Leadbeater imposture is the more effective since he persists
+in retaining his membership in the T. S.
+
+The next to be dealt with is Pandit Bhagavan Das, and his criticisms
+about the Central Hindu College. Here again, all I have quoted from his
+pamphlet about the secret sections, underhand work, pledges, etc., are
+entirely ignored.
+
+Mr. T. H. Martyn's letter, which has caused such a sensation in the
+Society (Holland alone asking for 500 copies) is dismissed as full of
+"untrue" statements. Truly a very simple method of dealing with matter
+which Mrs. Besant finds compromising or unpleasant (see _ante_ p. 18);
+but she can hardly believe it to be convincing.
+
+It is when this profoundly disingenuous woman comes to an explanation of
+the motive behind her political work in India, that we find a typical
+specimen of the peculiar form of megalomania already so ably
+demonstrated by M. Levy. What must be the mental condition of a person
+who can sit down and solemnly write the following?
+
+     The work entrusted to me directly by the great Rishi who is--as
+     one may say [_sic_]--the spiritual Viceroy[16] for India of the
+     King of Kings of our world--is the bringing about of Home Rule
+     in India, in close union with Great Britain, as part of a great
+     Federation of Free Nations, a model of the future World
+     Commonwealth...."
+
+Why such a very mundane and political idea should need an order from a
+Rishi is not explained. The patent appeal both to the Government and
+the Indian people in this portentous announcement is not very happily
+conceived.
+
+It is unfortunate for Mrs. Besant that her indignant denial that another
+of the notorious "Bishops" (Wedgwood) is "wanted" by the police was
+immediately followed by a priest's confession and the Bishop's
+resignation from the L. C. C., the T. S., and the Co-masons![17]
+
+Finally we come to the most ominous part of the whole document, where
+Mrs. Besant refers to the present condition of the sex problem, and
+indicates that Mr. Leadbeater's vile teachings to, and practices with
+boys--trying "to wean lads from evil practices" is her version of
+it--are part of a process necessary "to save mankind in the near
+future." The "lessening of the sex impulse" on the "line of higher
+mental evolution" is "too slow." "Early marriage and
+birth-control"--preceded, one must assume, by Leadbeaterism--are now
+Mrs. Besant's inspired panaceas.
+
+The appalling menace to _the evolution of the spiritual nature in man_,
+of the secret Leadbeater teaching known as the "X-system," is shown by
+the evidence of Dr. Eleanor M. Hiestand-Moore (M.D.), Editor of the
+_Theosophic Voice_ (Chicago), in which all the Leadbeater proceedings of
+1906 were reported and discussed. In the August number, 1908, Dr.
+Hiestand-Moore writes:--
+
+     During the winter of 1906-7 the Editor [herself] was in Chicago
+     and in order to combat the widespread tendency to uphold
+     self-abuse on the lines indicated by Mr. Leadbeater, a series
+     of lectures on the psychology of sex was given. There were
+     members in the E. S., and out of it who upheld the X-system.
+     One person declared ... that _this system would, before many
+     years, be taught in our public schools_. Still another insisted
+     that _by self-abuse humanity was to return to the
+     hermaphroditic type_ and that _this practice would be universal
+     among Fifth Round Humanity_. A number declared that, while they
+     did not pretend to know anything about such matters, they had
+     understood this was _a highly occult teaching given to would-be
+     disciples_! We could lay hands on a letter setting forth the
+     claim that this teaching is purely "esoteric" and not to be
+     estimated by exoteric standards--this, too, from a Branch
+     president! [Italics mine.--A. L. C.].
+
+     These instances are sufficiently appalling in themselves. But
+     what can we say now that _The Voice_ has elicited a
+     correspondence which is simply a brazen defence of these
+     "teachings"?[18]
+
+What, then, must be the moral condition of this horrible travesty of the
+old T.S. _now_, fourteen years after Dr. Hiestand-Moore wrote the
+foregoing? Mrs. Besant is thus seen to have now returned practically to
+the Neo-Malthusianism of her earlier, pre-theosophic association with
+the late Charles Bradlaugh. It may not be generally known that H. P. B.
+_refused to accept her as a pupil_ until she had published a recantation
+of all she and Bradlaugh had advocated in _The Fruits of Philosophy_. It
+is a sinister omen that under C. W. Leadbeater, the sex pervert, Mrs.
+Besant has abandoned H. P. Blavatsky's imperative requirement for
+becoming a student of _White_ Occultism, and has returned to the
+essentially materialistic doctrine of "birth-control," in direct
+contravention of the true Occult teaching. In other words, her assertion
+amounts to this:--_Self_-control is not possible (or is "too slow "),
+therefore we must control _results_. How different is the Occult
+teaching is well-known to all who have taken the trouble to read H. P.
+B.'s articles from which I have already quoted (see _ante_ p. 31) and
+the splendid chapter in Vol. II of _The Secret Doctrine_ entitled "The
+Curse from a Philosophical Point of View." And H. P. B. told me herself
+that she included the following verse in _The Voice of the Silence_ with
+the express object of combating such teachings and placing the Occult
+doctrine beyond possibility of misinterpretation:--
+
+"Do not believe that lust can ever be killed out if gratified or
+satiated, for this is an abomination inspired by Mara. It is by feeding
+vice that it expands and waxes strong, like to the worm that fattens on
+the blossom's heart."
+
+In a note H. P. B. explains that Mara is "personified temptation through
+men's vices, and translated literally means 'that which kills' the
+Soul." Far from "saving" mankind, therefore, these professed 'expanders'
+and 'expounders' of H. P. B.'s doctrines are in reality doing their best
+to hasten its end. Better far, from the Occult standpoint, that a race
+should be wiped out by "outraged Nature," as were the Atlanteans for the
+same sins, than that it should be kept alive only to sink lower and
+lower until "Mara" kills its Soul.
+
+In the "Watch-Tower" (_Theosophist_, March, 1922,) Editorial mention is
+made of a display at Adyar of "treasures of the most varied kinds,"
+which have just been unearthed from "all the old locked-up boxes" at the
+headquarters. Why, one may not unreasonably enquire, has Mrs. Besant
+waited until 1922 to disinter, for instance, a long and valuable letter
+from H. P. B. herself? Why have such "treasures" been _kept back for
+over thirty years_; just as "Letters" from the Masters (the
+Trans-Himalayan Brotherhood) were kept hidden away for an even longer
+period--nearly forty years? The reasons are so ridiculously transparent
+that they would hardly deceive an intelligent child. Mrs. Besant is
+becoming seriously discomposed, even alarmed, by the growing strength of
+the "Back to Blavatsky" movement, which is in itself a reaction against
+her own neglect. Hence all this "burrowing" (her own word) in order to
+make a brave show of these "treasures" for which she had no sort of use
+until, disturbed by alarming rumours, she hastily resorts to them for
+purposes of camouflage and disguise. For she is a skilful opportunist
+and clever actress, assuming successive parts with as convincing an air
+as any "star"; neither does she scruple to employ every device of the
+party politician.
+
+Does Mrs. Besant seriously believe that this attempt to drag the red
+herring of an unexplained and suddenly awakened interest in these
+"treasures" across the trail of Mr. Leadbeater's infamies will deceive
+anyone save their blind and infatuated followers? Has she forgotten that
+when, _only two years_ after H. P. Blavatsky's death, she came under the
+direct hypnotic control of Brahmin influence, she threw doubts upon her
+old Teacher's _bona fides_ and her occult knowledge; and, in the course
+of formulating her charges against her fellow-disciple (a _chela_ of
+many years' standing before she ever even heard of Theosophy) suggested
+to Mr. Judge that, "_misled by a high example_" (H. P. B.), he had
+fallen "a victim." For, as she then told him, her "theory was _first_,
+that H. P. B. had committed several frauds for good ends and made bogus
+messages; _second_, that [he] was misled by her example; and _third_,
+that H. P. B. had given [him] permission to do such acts. She then,"
+continues Mr. Judge, "asked me to confess thus, and that would clear up
+all. I peremptorily denied such a horrible lie, and warned her that
+everywhere I would resist such attack on H. P. B. These are the facts,
+and the real issue is around H. P. B." (_The Path_, March, 1895.)
+
+With the complete disruption of the Society the Brahmin period of
+dominance over Mrs. Besant came to an end. Then followed the Leadbeater
+_regime_, the first phase of which culminated in the crisis of 1906. But
+on Colonel Olcott's death in the following year, she contrived the
+realisation of her great ambition, and became President of the Society.
+At this point in her career, however, there were two serious
+difficulties which she had to meet:--_first_, the Leadbeater scandal
+which raised a storm of horror and protest from those old and tried
+members who had remained in the Society up to that time, but who then
+practically withdrew in a body Deprived of their support, and having
+reinstated the infamous Leadbeater, Mrs. Besant realised that, as
+President, she could no longer risk appearing half-hearted over H. P.
+Blavatsky; nay more, she _needed_ the support of her venerated name;
+_second_, as President of the Society created by H. P. B., she must, for
+the sake of her own prestige, take some definite action which would
+remove all possibility of suspicion that she was no longer the follower
+of the Teacher whom she had, _in fact_, already "denied" and "betrayed"
+only two years after her death. Mrs. Besant realised, in short, that she
+had gone too far, and must now retrieve the position. Accordingly, in
+1907, she issued a pamphlet entitled _H. P. Blavatsky and the Masters of
+the [sic] Wisdom_, in which, with all her accustomed ability, she dealt
+once more with the famous (or rather infamous) Report of the Society for
+Psychical Research, published in 1885. But the concluding eulogy strikes
+a false note, coming from one who, as I have shown, was capable of being
+persuaded that H. P. B. had concocted messages from those Masters Whom
+she so faithfully served for two-thirds of her life.
+
+It was at this time also (1907), so Mrs. Besant later declared, that
+"the T. S. fully regained its original position, with the Masters of the
+[_sic_] Wisdom as once more the 'First Section' of the Society." This
+bold assertion was made in 1919, when, under pressure of some fresh
+scare connected with Mr. Leadbeater, Mrs. Besant published a small
+volume of the Masters' Letters (most of which had presumably been lying
+in the archives of the Society at Adyar for nearly forty years!),
+obviously for no other reason than because among them are two alleged to
+have been received by Mr. Leadbeater. This she did in order to bolster
+up the extravagant claims she now makes for him as a "Great Teacher."
+But there were many who received Letters in the early days, and there is
+no reason why similar claims should not be made for all the recipients!
+
+In the article entitled "Whom will ye Serve?" (_Theosophist_, March,
+1922,) Mrs. Besant says that H. P. B. "formed an inner circle of her
+pupils, that it might bear witness to the truth and reality of the inner
+side of life." This was the "Inner Group" of which she and I were two of
+the six women members. But as, unfortunately Mr. Leadbeater was not
+included, although he had become a member of the T. S. some years
+before, she adds:--"And behold! ere she passed away, she had led others
+to the Light, and bade them bear witness to it...." Considering that she
+"passed away" _less than a year_ after forming the Inner Group in the
+summer of 1890, and that we were constantly with her and never heard of
+these "others," this statement is manifestly untrue. Mrs. Besant also
+refers to Mr. Leadbeater as "one of H. P. B.'s nearest and most trusted
+pupils [Absolutely untrue.--A. L. C.] whom she had led to his Master of
+many lives, and in whom she had awakened the powers since so splendidly
+used in the service of the Society that he might become a great
+Teacher...."
+
+I challenge Mrs. Besant to produce anything in writing by H. P. B. to
+warrant this audacious assertion. I was a pupil of H. P. B. (and
+through her was accepted as "a _chela_ on probation," in 1889) before
+Mrs. Besant joined the T. S., and saw her expel one of her most gifted
+and valued workers from the Esoteric Section for offences against the
+occult and moral law similar to those with which Mr. Leadbeater's name
+has now been associated for nearly twenty years. H. P. B. was always
+extremely strict on this particular point, and many would-be aspirants
+for _chelaship_ were refused on this one ground alone, while others who
+had been accepted "on probation" failed almost immediately afterwards.
+
+When I joined the T. S. in 1885 my diploma was signed by Colonel Olcott
+as President and C.W. Leadbeater as Secretary (he was then at Adyar),
+but I never heard him mentioned by H. P. B. or anyone else at the London
+Headquarters, as a person of any importance whatever, in the occult
+sense. Mrs. Besant goes on to say that H. P. B. left "the twain of us
+[Leadbeater and herself] to bear personal witness to the truth when she
+had gone"! Where is her _evidence_ that Mr. Leadbeater was ever one of
+H. P. B.'s pupils? There is none, save this bare, unsupported assertion
+of a highly interested party. How could these two, to the exclusion of
+all H. P. B.'s pupils--some of them "regularly accepted _chelas_ on
+probation"--be specially selected, taught, and prepared, (and above all,
+to promulgate the sort of "teachings" of which I have given a few
+specimens), without any of us hearing even a hint of it! Moreover, I
+never saw, or even heard of Mr. Leadbeater at the London Headquarters
+while H. P. B. was alive. I might just as well claim such a mission for
+myself, or Mr. Mead, or Dr. Keightley, or any other member of the Inner
+Group who has remained true to the pledge and the Teacher; and with
+greater justice, for Mrs. Besant has _not_. The truth is that Mr.
+Leadbeater was never heard of in connection with occult teaching until
+he was taken up and foisted on the unfortunate T. S. and E. S. as a
+"Great Teacher" by Mrs. Besant who was herself never more than a
+"_chela_ on probation"--_during H. P. B.'s lifetime_.
+
+Let me refer again to H. P. B.'s article "The Theosophical Mahatmas"
+from which I have already quoted (_ante_ p. 3), in which she deals with
+the members of the T. S. who were "regularly accepted _chelas_ on
+probation," and the subsequent failure of nearly all of them. If this
+was true at that time, it can certainly now be applied to the case of
+Mrs. Besant, who, in my judgment and that of many others, conspicuously
+failed under two great tests. The first failure occurred when she went
+to India in 1893, became an orthodox Hindu, and was induced to entertain
+those doubts of her Teacher that I have already alluded to. (_ante_ p.
+66.) Bound up with this failure--the doubt of the Teacher--was her
+attack on her fellow _chela_, Mr. Judge.
+
+The second failure was a far worse one when, in 1906, after having
+publicly endorsed the finding of the Advisory Committee on Leadbeater's
+crimes (see footnote _ante_ p. 59), she suddenly turned round and
+secured his reinstatement. In thus condoning and even endorsing
+immorality of the vilest description, she denied one of the strictest
+occult laws binding upon a _chela_.
+
+This double failure had far more serious results in her case than in
+those of which H. P. B. wrote in 1886, because, owing to her commanding
+position as a leader, the fate of the many thousands of earnest souls in
+the Society who believed in and followed her implicitly, was involved.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[11] This Brahmin is the person referred to in the following passage
+from Mr. T. H. Martyn's letter to Mrs. Besant of May 20th, 1921 (see
+_ante_ p. 18):--"Like many of the older members I have known how you and
+others for quite a long time regarded ---- as _a Master in the flesh_ and
+later had to repudiate him when certain facts indicated the mistake."
+Italics mine. This is absolutely new to me. In 1894 none of us (so far
+as I was then aware) regarded Mr. ---- as anything more than a _chela_,
+so what Mr. Martyn here states must have been a later development, and
+explains much.
+
+I suppress the gentleman's name out of regard for his present official
+position in India and his dissociation from Mrs. Besant.
+
+[12] I did not learn the actual facts of this foolish fable until I came
+to India in 1918, and found they were common knowledge among leading
+members of that time. Naturally, when Mrs. Besant transferred her
+allegiance to Mr. Leadbeater, she had to find another "body" for H. P.
+B. So, in the _Theosophist_ for January, 1922. she writes the following
+typical effusion for the benefit of the faithful:--" ... alas! she
+passed away, and took rebirth in the north of India, and though we have
+lived for twenty-eight years in the same land so dear to beth of us, we
+have never met physically face to face. Yet close ties bind us to each
+other, and may be we shall yet greet each other in the flesh." Observe
+the suggestion that she has always been in close touch with H. P. B.
+_out of the body_, and that later they may meet "in the flesh." This
+prepares the ground for producing this new "incarnation" when the
+suitable moment comes; just as the boy Krishnamurti was brought forward
+as the "body" for the coming "World-Teacher." Mrs. Besant's new version
+must be amusing reading for those familiar with the earlier theory, as
+she was certainly "face to face" with the "little daughter" constantly,
+and even persuaded Countess Wachtmeister to resume her former care of H.
+P. B. in her new body. Needless to say the poor Countess was sadly
+disillusioned, and died not long afterwards bitterly bewailing the ruin
+of the T. S.
+
+[13] As showing the absurdity of such a claim, I may mention that Mrs.
+Besant actually visited mediums through whom H. P. B. was supposed to
+communicate. In 1892, only a year after her death, my colleague Mr.
+Basil Crump, Barrister-at-Law, was investigating the phenomena of a
+certain trance medium shortly before he joined the T. S. He was present
+at a private sitting with this medium in the studio of an artist friend,
+to which Mrs. Besant came with another member of H. P. B.'s Inner Group,
+Miss Emily Kislingbury, in order to speak with her deceased teacher. An
+intelligence calling itself "Madame Blavatsky" controlled the medium,
+and Mrs. Besant held a conversation with it. Later, when Mr. Crump
+became acquainted with H. P. B.'s explanation of Spiritualistic
+phenomena, and her express denial that the true immortal Ego ever
+communicated in this manner, he was naturally astonished that one of her
+most learned pupils should for a moment entertain such a possibility and
+waste her valuable time in attending a seance. But now he sees that it
+was only an early symptom of the astounding credulity and ignorance of
+occult science she has since exhibited, as shown in these pages. H. P.
+B.'s explanations of psychic phenomena are rapidly being endorsed and
+followed by the modern scientific school of investigation, which has
+succeeded not only in proving the genuineness of the phenomena, but also
+the important part played by the _will and imagination_ both of the
+medium and the sitters in their production.
+
+[14] Her latest move, is to draw a distinction between the "Advisory
+Committee of 1906" which she accuses of "unjust action," and what she
+calls "the prolonged investigation of 1907-08," which of course was
+engineered by her after she became President, in order to white-wash Mr.
+Leadbeater and secure his reinstatement. (See _Theosophist_, July,
+1922). See Addendum for the Australian views on this.
+
+[15] The importance of this case lies in the fact that it constituted an
+absolute vindication of H. P. B., for every slander ever circulated
+directly or indirectly was covered by it. Although the libel action came
+to an end with her death, the paper was so impressed by the evidence
+produced, in rebuttal, by Mr. Judge, that it not only retracted all that
+it had published, but also invited Mr. Judge to write a long article
+entitled "The Esoteric She" which they said "disposes of all questions
+relating to Madame Blavatsky." That Mrs. Asquith and Count Witte should
+both have seen fit to revive some of these old slanders in their books
+of reminiscences does not redound to their credit.
+
+[16] Mrs. Besant's "Spiritual Viceroy" has certainly nothing to do with
+Those who were directing H. P. B. when she founded the Indian T. S. OR
+U. B. in 1879; for a special clause was included in the Constitution
+stating that "The Society repudiates all interference on its behalf with
+the Governmental relations of any nation or community, confining its
+attention exclusively to the matters set forth in the present
+document...." H. P. B. also wrote in the _Theosophist_, for October,
+1879--"Unconcerned about politics; hostile to the insane dreams of
+Socialism and Communism, which it abhors--as both are but disguised
+conspiracies of brutal force and sluggishness against honest labour; the
+Society cares but little about the outward human management of the
+material world. The whole of its aspirations are directed toward the
+occult truths of the visible and invisible worlds. Whether the physical
+man be under the rule of an empire or a republic, concerns only the man
+of matter. His body may be enslaved; as to his Soul, he has the right to
+give to his rulers the proud answer of Socrates to his Judges. They have
+no sway over the _inner_ man." There speaks the true Mystic whose
+"Kingdom is not of this world." Three years later H. P. B. and Colonel
+Olcott published a further disclaimer, in which they said--"Before we
+came to India, the word Politics had never been pronounced in connection
+with our names; for the idea was too absurd to be even entertained, much
+less expressed...."
+
+[17] The original documents appear in the _O. E. Critic_ for June 21st,
+1922, and include a confession signed by a priest of the L. C. C. who
+states that he was "led astray by those whom I considered to be my
+superiors both morally and spiritually" adding "Wedgwood absolutely
+declines to give up the mal-practice." Wedgwood fled to Algeria at the
+end of March. A cable from Sydney dated May 30th states that "Mrs.
+Besant refused to answer any enquiry in reference to Wedgwood. Police
+now holding an enquiry into the charges against Leadbeater." Dr. Stokes
+concludes his comments on the documents as follows:--"And Annie Besant,
+having repeatedly been informed of the facts, not only refused to look
+into them, but launched her anathemas against those who criticised, even
+threatening them with expulsion from the E. S., and even very recently
+cabling to Wedgwood that he made a mistake in resigning!--It is on Annie
+Besant, more than on any other one person, that the responsibility for
+the present scandalous condition in the T. S. rests. The best of
+societies may have its black sheep and it is not to be blamed if it does
+its best to purge itself. But it is Annie Besant, with her tools and
+sycophants, who has ever concealed and denied the palpable facts, or,
+where they could not be denied, has palliated, excused and even defended
+them, throwing over them a veil of esoteric glamour, supporting such
+scoundrels as Leadbeater and Wedgwood, apparently in order the better to
+serve her ambitions. A vote of confidence in Annie Besant to-day either
+betrays total ignorance of the facts, or associates those who give it
+with the grossest forms of moral rottenness." See Addendum for Mr.
+Piddington, K. C's opinion on Mrs Besant's conduct in Australia last
+May; also Mr. Hugh Gillespie's evidence of her use of the Esoteric
+School as a "_political machine_" to secure her "ascendancy in the
+various bodies to which E. S. members have gained access."
+
+[18] As to the methods employed to suppress criticism, Dr.
+Hiestand-Moore says in the same issue:--"Slander, falsehood, deceit,
+treachery, all have been summoned to the support of Mr. Leadbeater's
+cause. Anonymous communications have been written to confound the
+prosecution, letters have been stolen and threats made. The Editor of
+_The Voice_ has been compelled to call upon the Secret Service to
+protect her mails." [An entire issue in proof with copy and unset matter
+disappeared, and had to be rewritten!] Again, the Editor of the _O. E.
+Critic_ writes:--"It is understood, and I have the direct testimony of
+the publisher to the fact, that the entire edition of the Brooks' books
+[_Esoteric Bogeydom_ and _Neo-Theosophy Exposed_] was corralled by Mrs.
+Besant in order to suppress their circulation. They tell too much about
+her."
+
+
+
+
+Tampering with H. P. Blavatsky's writings.
+
+
+The result of Mrs. Besant's first failure, through harbouring doubts of
+her Teacher's _bona fides_ and esoteric knowledge, was soon manifested
+when she began to publish new editions of H. P. B.'s works. The first
+noteworthy example was her excision from _The Voice of the Silence_ of
+passages and notes, presumably out of deference to Brahmin sentiment,
+which then governed her actions. One of the last verses in "The Two
+Paths" (the second of the "Three Fragments" forming the little book) in
+the original edition (1889) begins thus:--"He who becomes Pratyeka
+Buddha, makes his obeisance but to his Self." In a footnote H. P. B.
+explains that "Pratyeka Buddhas are those Bodhisattvas who strive after
+and often reach the Dharmakaya robe after a series of lives. Caring
+nothing for the woes of mankind or to help it, but only for their own
+_bliss_, they enter Nirvana and--disappear from the sight and the hearts
+of men. In Northern Buddhism a 'Pratyeka Buddha' is a synonym of
+spiritual Selfishness."
+
+In Mrs. Besant's edition both the passage and the footnote I have quoted
+are omitted. Her reason for this unscrupulous proceeding is given in a
+footnote on p. 416 of the so-called "third volume" of _The Secret
+Doctrine_. In this note Mrs. Besant, from the heights of her then
+newly-acquired Brahmanical wisdom, adopts the following dictatorial and
+censorious tone towards her late Teacher:--
+
+     The Pratyeka Buddha stands on the level of the Buddha [!], but
+     His work for the world has nothing to do with its teaching,
+     and His office has always been surrounded with mystery. The
+     preposterous [_sic_] view that He, at such superhuman height of
+     power, wisdom and love could be selfish, is found in the
+     exoteric books, though it is hard to see how it can have
+     arisen. H. P. B. _charged me to correct the mistake, as she
+     had, in a careless moment, copied such a statement
+     elsewhere_.--A. B.
+
+Observe the assumption of superior knowledge to H. P. B.'s, and the use
+of the words "preposterous" and "careless." To any real Oriental _chela_
+such an attitude towards his _Guru_ would be simply unthinkable; but we
+have seen how very quickly Mrs. Besant believed herself to have soared
+far above the "chela on probation" state of her H. P. B. days into that
+of an "Initiate" and future "Supreme Ruler of the World of Gods and
+men." To such vanity and self-delusion everything is possible. How
+different was the attitude of the _real_ Occultist who was spoken of by
+the Masters as "Our Brother H. P. B.," yet called herself "a Chela of
+one of Them"!
+
+The passage I have italicised in the above footnote by Mrs. Besant is
+untrue on the face of it to anyone who knew, as I did, the loving care
+with which H. P. B. prepared this unique little book of "Golden
+Precepts." Moreover, she states in her Preface that the verses given are
+selected from a much larger number which she "learnt by heart." Further,
+H. P. B. _not only repeated but greatly amplified_ this statement about
+the Pratyeka Buddha in her _Theosophical Glossary_, a fact which Mrs.
+Besant had evidently forgotten when she concocted the footnote quoted
+above.[19] The Pratyeka Buddha is doubtless much that Mrs. Besant claims
+for him, but she does not seem to know, or has probably forgotten, that
+there are _two_ classes of Masters, _two_ "Paths" (as this very section
+of _The Voice of the Silence_ shows); that the "Pairs of Opposites"
+obtain on all planes of Manifestation and Being, right up to the
+threshold of the _Un_manifested--the ONE; that, while there are _Masters
+of_ COMPASSION, there must of necessity exist also the opposite
+pole--the wearers of the "Dharmakaya robe," with all the power and
+knowledge which that state implies, but without that _Compassion_ which
+alone makes a Master of the "Right Hand Path."[20]
+
+It was a great and valuable feature of H. P. B.'s, method that she
+taught us to reason on these lines, checking everything by the Law of
+Correspondences. But Mrs. Besant has evidently long since abandoned
+this, and prefers the sacerdotal plan of accepting everything on
+"authority," which in her present phase means Leadbeater or her own
+psychic delusions. The "World Teacher" dogma is a case in point. She
+asserts it as a fact to be accepted because she says it; whereas, as I
+have shown, it is untenable in the light of _The Secret Doctrine_ (see
+_ante_ p. 2), which endorses Oriental tradition and cyclic law.
+
+Mrs. Besant's partiality for the Pratyeka Buddha, however, may possibly
+be explained by some words that H. P. B. once wrote of her to Mr.
+Judge:--"She is not psychic or spiritual in the least--all intellect."
+For H. P. B. opens her paragraph in the _Theosophical Glossary_ on the
+Pratyeka Buddha with these words:-- "The Pratyeka Buddha is a degree
+which belongs exclusively to the Yogacharya school ... one of _high
+intellectual development with no true spirituality_". (Italics mine.)
+Moreover, we have the authority of the Maha Chohan Himself (the Head of
+the Trans-Himalayan Brotherhood) for the statement that even Nirvana is,
+"after all, but an exalted and glorious selfishness."
+
+In the _Theosophist_ for March, 1922, Mrs. Besant says, in her
+"Watch-Tower" notes:--
+
+     A wild theory has just been started in the U. S. A. that _The
+     Secret Doctrine_, brought out by the London T. P. H. after H.
+     P. B.'s death, was not as H. P. B. wanted it. The _insinuation_
+     is made that _H. P. B._ was "edited" by those in charge of _the
+     second edition_. The _trustees_ to whom she left _the
+     safeguarding of her printed books and unpublished manuscripts_
+     were all her own pupils who had _lived with her for years_, and
+     they made only _such changes as she had herself directed_,
+     which consist mainly in the correction of verbal and
+     grammatical errors, and the _arrangement of the material of
+     Vol._ III.
+
+I have italicised the statements requiring explanation or correction.
+The "second edition," as Mrs. Besant must be well aware, was merely a
+re-print to meet an unexpected demand, and bears the same date as the
+original edition, _viz._, 1888. But as Mrs. Besant only joined the T. S.
+early in 1889, and was led to seek an interview with H. P. Blavatsky
+_after_ reviewing _The Secret Doctrine_ for the late Mr. W. T. Stead,
+then Editor of the _Pall Mall Gazette_, clearly she can know absolutely
+nothing of the preparation of its first _or_ of its "second edition"! As
+to the alleged "trustees," I can only say that I never heard of their
+existence. _Mrs. Besant_ only "lived with" H. P. B. for rather more than
+eighteen months. H. P. B. left 17, Lansdowne Road, London, W., in the
+summer of 1889, the Headquarters being moved to Mrs. Besant's house in
+Avenue Road, N.W., where she died in May 1891, _while Mrs. Besant was on
+her way back from a lecture tour in America_.
+
+Take next the alleged "safeguarding" of H. P. B.'s "unpublished
+manuscripts." Those who were responsible for the so-called Volume III,
+had a strange and unusual conception of the meaning of the word
+"safeguarding." It so happens that while it was being set up I was able
+actually to peruse one or two of the familiar long foolscap sheets which
+H. P. B. always covered with her small fine handwriting. They were
+mutilated almost beyond recognition, few of her sentences remaining
+intact; and there were "corrections" not only in the handwritings of the
+editors, Mrs. Besant and Mr. Mead, but also in that of others which I
+was able to identify. More than this I cannot say without abusing
+confidence; but the wrong done to my Teacher compels me to say this
+much.
+
+Those who were H. P. B.'s untiring and unfailing helpers in the
+preparation of _The Secret Doctrine_ for the press in 1887-88, Dr.
+Archibald and Mr. Bertram Keightley, have, fortunately for posterity,
+put on record their experiences of those days. They have made statements
+of the utmost value in connection with the facts I am here dealing with,
+which they wrote specially for Countess Wachtmeister's _Reminiscences of
+H. P. Blavatsky and "The Secret Doctrine,"_ published in 1893. Moreover,
+Dr. Keightley wrote an account of H. P. B.'s manifold literary
+activities at this time, which appeared in the _Theosophist_ for July
+1889, in which he states that "_the Third Volume of The Secret Doctrine
+is in MS. ready to be given to the printers_. [Italics mine.--A. L. C.]
+It will consist mainly of a series of sketches of the great Occultists
+of all ages, and is a most wonderful and fascinating work."
+
+In the face of this clear and definite statement, made by one whose word
+I know to be unimpeachable, and who lived and worked with H. P. B. at
+that time, what becomes of H. P. B.'s alleged "directions" for the
+"arrangement of the material of Vol. III" which Mrs. Besant speaks of
+above, and the statement in the Preface to _her_ version of Vol.
+III:--"The task of preparing this volume for the press has been a
+difficult and anxious one.... The papers given to me by H. P. B. were
+quite unarranged, and had no obvious order...."? This volume, given by
+Mrs. Besant to the world in 1897, is most certainly _not_ the one Dr.
+Keightley speaks of as "ready" for "the printers" in 1889, as I will
+prove. WHAT THEN BECAME OF THAT VOLUME?
+
+But first I will quote Dr. Stokes, Editor of the _O. E. Critic_, whose
+most specific charges and plain statements of fact hardly come under the
+purposely misleading term "insinuations," used by Mrs. Besant! Dr.
+Stokes "_insinuates_" nothing; he heads his most damaging accusation as
+follows:--
+
+
+     "ANNIE BESANT'S CORRUPTION OF THE SECRET DOCTRINE."
+
+     In all probability Annie Besant's "revision" of H. P.
+     Blavatsky's original edition of _The Secret Doctrine_
+     constitutes the most colossal case of corruption of an original
+     text to be found in history. A group of students is comparing
+     the original edition with the "third and revised edition,"
+     edited by Annie Besant and G. R. S. Mead, after the author's
+     death.... I am informed by those making the comparison [that]
+     ... the actual changes will be far more than twenty thousand.
+     Many of these changes are trivial and one wonders at the
+     impertinence or conceit which inspired them. Some of the
+     changes--those which might have put students on their guard
+     against the so-called Third Volume--can only be construed as
+     deliberate and intentional suppressions and corruptions of the
+     original text. And this in a work of which the Master K. H.
+     wrote: "Every mistake or erroneous notion corrected and
+     explained by her from the works of other Theosophists was
+     corrected by me or under my instruction." The true title of the
+     "third and revised edition" should be "_The Secret Doctrine_,
+     written by H. P. Blavatsky, corrected and approved by the
+     Master K. H., and corrupted by Annie Besant." It is almost
+     impossible to comprehend the colossal conceit, the limitless
+     contempt for common literary decency which could have inspired
+     such an act of vandalism, to say nothing of such disrespect for
+     the Master whom she professes to venerate. And all of this is
+     put forth as the work of H. P. Blavatsky herself, with the mere
+     apology in the preface that "Had H. P. Blavatsky lived to issue
+     the new edition, she would doubtless have corrected and
+     enlarged it to a very considerable extent." What a specious
+     excuse? [Repeated in the preface to the alleged Vol. III.--A.
+     L. C.] Had H. P. B. "corrected and enlarged it" it would
+     without doubt have been done under the same guidance and
+     authority which directed and corrected the first edition. It is
+     enough to cast suspicion on each and every quotation of
+     original sources made by Mrs. Besant, and her emendation of the
+     Theosophy of H. P. B. as well. (October 12th, 1921.)
+
+     As for the third volume, edited and published after the death
+     of H. P. B. from manuscripts left by her, nobody knows, in the
+     absence of a previous edition issued by her, how much of it is
+     H. P. B.'s and how much is not, but there is good evidence that
+     much of it is not, which is the more likely in view of the
+     vandalisms the same editors perpetrated in the first two
+     volumes. In no sense can the "third and revised edition" be
+     said to be a re-print of the original _Secret Doctrine_ of H.
+     P. Blavatsky. (December 21st, 1921.)
+
+I most fully endorse all that Dr. Stokes so ably demonstrates, and I can
+quite believe that, in regard to Vol. III, some of the contents are not
+by H. P. B.-- the style in places is not hers at all. But I can
+enlighten him as to those portions of the contents of which I have
+actual knowledge. I may here add that, when my own group of students
+were checking the "third and revised edition" of the first and second
+volumes of _The Secret Doctrine_ by the original edition of 1888, they
+came across no less than four specific references by H. P. B. to Vols.
+III and IV as being practically completed, _viz._, Vol. I, Preface, and
+p. 11; Vol. II, pp. 437, 798, 1st Ed., 1888. Mrs. Besant coolly deleted
+all these without a word of explanation!
+
+How unnecessary nearly all of this so-called "revision" was, can be
+realised in the Keightleys' accounts (see Countess Wachtmeister's book)
+of the care taken over the proofs of the first edition. Mr. Bertram
+Keightley says they first "read the whole mass of MSS.--a pile over
+three feet high--most carefully through, correcting the English and
+punctuation where absolutely indispensable." (Contrast this modesty and
+respect for the author with the spirit that perpetrated the thirty
+thousand corrections in the "third edition"!) It was then arranged under
+H. P. B.'s supervision in Sections, etc., and professionally
+typewritten. This first copy was again revised and any obscurities
+explained. It should be noted here that Mr. Keightley says they laid
+before H. P. B. "a plan, suggested by the character of the matter
+itself, _viz._, to make the work consist of four volumes ... to follow
+the natural order of exposition and begin with the Evolution of Cosmos,
+to pass from that to the Evolution of Man, then to deal with the
+historical part in a third volume treating of the lives of some great
+Occultists, and of 'Practical Occultism' in a fourth." This proves that
+at least the whole of the material for Vol. III was actually there (Dr.
+Keightley elsewhere states that it was _ready for the printer_.)
+Finally the Keightleys themselves set to work to type out a fair copy
+of Vols. I and II for the printer. "H. P. B. read and corrected two sets
+of galley proofs, then a page proof, and finally a revise in sheet,
+correcting, adding, and altering up to the very last moment."
+
+Dr. A. Keightley says:--" ... no work and no trouble, no suffering or
+pain could daunt her from her task. Crippled with rheumatism, suffering
+from a disease which had several times nearly proved fatal, she still
+worked on unflaggingly, writing at her desk the moment her eyes and
+fingers could guide the pen.... We had to carry on the general scheme
+... to act as watch-dogs and help her to make the meaning as clear as
+possible. But all the work was hers ... it went through three or four
+other hands besides H. P. B.'s in galley proof, as well as in revise.
+She was her own most severe corrector...."
+
+Another able helper was Mr. E. Douglas Fawcett, the well-known author of
+_The Riddle of the Universe_, of whom both the Keightleys speak in terms
+of high praise. His profound knowledge of science, philosophy, and
+metaphysics was invaluable. "He supplied many of the quotations from
+scientific works, as well as many confirmations of the occult doctrines
+derived from similar sources."
+
+And this monumental work, produced with such meticulous care and
+precautions against errors, is subjected to some thirty thousand
+corrections by its subsequent "editors"! In all my study of the original
+edition I have never found more than a few errors that matter in the
+least, and these are mostly typographical and quite obvious to any
+person of average intelligence. The marvel is that there are so few in a
+work of such magnitude and scope. Those of my students who possess only
+the "third and revised edition" (the first and second now being
+scarce), have re-corrected it to agree with the first; and to look at
+the pages covered with these re-corrections brings home to one, as
+nothing else can, the force and justice of Dr. Stokes's indictment. Let
+us hope that when H. P. B.'s great work is understood and accepted
+seriously at its true worth, an indignant posterity will pass judgment
+on one of the worst examples of literary vandalism in the nineteenth
+century.
+
+In her Preface to Vol. III, Mrs. Besant boldly states that, in regard to
+the Sections entitled "The Mystery of Buddha," there are "very numerous
+errors of fact, and many statements based on exoteric writings, not on
+esoteric knowledge"! If her own statement with which I have dealt,
+regarding the Pratyeka Buddha is to be taken as the measure of her
+capacity to judge of the merit or demerit of H. P. B.'s work, all that
+Mrs. Besant says, or skilfully suggests, in this Preface can be
+dismissed as absolutely worthless. But in view of the fact that she then
+believed herself to be acting under the direction of "a Master in the
+flesh" (see Mr. Martyn's letter, _ante_ pp. 18-19 and footnote p. 56),
+who happened to be _an orthodox Brahmin_, these unfounded pronouncements
+which I quote with regard to the Sections on the Lord Buddha are perhaps
+not so surprising. I use the word "unfounded" advisedly, for she makes
+two separate statements as to the way in which she obtained the material
+for this so-called Vol. III. She opens the Preface with the first
+one:--"The task of preparing this volume for the press has been a
+difficult and anxious one, and it is necessary to state clearly what has
+been done." This is one of her usual formulas, after which she proceeds
+to do the exact opposite. She thus continues, in fact:--"The papers
+given to me by H. P. B...." But Mrs. Besant was not in England when H.
+P. B. died, _quite unexpectedly_, and with only three of her pupils
+present, namely, Mr. Claude Wright, Mr. Walter Old and Miss Laura Cooper
+(now Mrs. G. R. S. Mead.) We were all summoned by telegram, and I was at
+Avenue Road within a few hours. I never heard of any evidence that she
+gave Mrs. Besant papers, or directions about papers, before the latter
+left for America on a lecture tour; and most certainly H. P. B. never
+formally "appointed" her, or anyone else, as her "successor," for the
+very good reason that I have given elsewhere--that the movement had
+definitely failed, and she was "recalled." (see _ante_ p. 2.)
+
+To return to Mrs. Besant's Preface. Her second statement is that the
+papers for the Sections on "The Mystery of the Buddha" were "given into
+my hands to publish, as part of the Third Volume of _The Secret
+Doctrine_...." _By whom_ were they "given"? Certainly not by H. P. B.;
+and why does Mrs. Besant speak of these Sections on the Buddha as if
+they were something apart from the "papers" she alleges she received
+_from H. P. B._? Clearly any further analysis is useless, for in all
+probability the truth about what really happened to all H. P. B.'s MSS.
+after her death _will never be known_, since the few who do know will,
+naturally, never speak.
+
+Brushing aside, therefore, Mrs. Besant's "explanatory" Preface, Volume
+III, as given to the public in 1897, appears to be simply a collection
+of fugitive articles which, as I have shown, were obviously freely
+edited. To pad out the volume (the MSS. spoken of by H. P. B. in Vols. I
+and II, as already existing, having mysteriously vanished) Mrs. Besant
+prints both the _E. S. T._ and the _Inner Group Instructions_, despite
+the pledge of secrecy taken by her and all other recipients of these
+teachings. In justification of this she states--_six years after H. P.
+B.'s death_--that H. P. B. instructed her to do so! The worthlessness of
+such "instructions" is palpable in the light of her naive belief in the
+alleged reincarnation of her Teacher in Mr. ----'s little daughter.
+(Needless to add that, under Leadbeater, she has another version of this
+idea!) We have the usual misleading and disingenuous statement in a
+"Note" which is prefixed to these Instructions. Mrs. Besant
+says:--"Papers I, II and III ... were written by H. P. B. and were
+circulated privately during her lifetime"
+
+_These "Papers" are the E. S. Instructions._ She calls those given to
+the Inner Group "Notes of some Oral Teaching." But, with two exceptions,
+almost _every word of both E. S. and I. G. Instructions are given
+intact_, just as we received them; I possess them all. The two
+exceptions are, first, the practical teachings, given at the first
+meeting of the _I. G._, for Yoga development, which even Mrs. Besant had
+not the hardihood to publish; and, second, a very long "Preliminary
+Memorandum" to Instructions III.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[19] See also _An Introduction to Mahayana Buddhism_, by W. M. McGovern,
+1922. Kegan Paul. He confirms H. P. B.'s definition.
+
+[20] It was ... during the highest point of civilisation and knowledge,
+as also of human intellectuality, of ... the Atlantean Race that ...
+humanity branched off into its two diametrically opposite paths; the
+Right and the Left-hand paths of knowledge or of Vidya. "_Thus were the
+germs of the White and the Black Magic sown in those days. The seeds lay
+latent for some time, to sprout only during the early period of the
+Fifth (our Race)._" (_Commentary_).--_The Secret Doctrine._ First
+Edition, Vol. I, p. 192.
+
+
+
+
+The Truth about the E. S. Council, and the Inner Group.
+
+
+The E. S. Instructions were written by H. P. B. during the winter of
+1888-89. The I. G. Teachings were given orally by H. P. B. at its
+meetings in 1890-91. It was the duty of the two secretaries, Mrs. Besant
+and Mr. Mead, to write these Teachings up, from notes sent in by _all of
+us_, after each meeting, and record them in a book. This record was
+dealt with at each succeeding meeting, corrected and often amplified by
+H. P. B. All these _might_, therefore, have been included in Vol. IV of
+_The Secret Doctrine_, according to the general plan of the work adopted
+by H. P. B., if she had lived and had permitted it. Mrs. Besant's
+statement that they were written with that in view is incorrect, and was
+obviously made to justify her action in using them for her version of
+Vol. III.
+
+In the _Theosophist_ for March, 1922, Mrs. Besant published an article
+in which several false statements are made concerning the history of the
+E. S. The writer, a Mr. Fritz Kunz, quotes Colonel Olcott's _Old Diary
+Leaves_ as authority for saying that "the first move towards founding
+the E. S. was made in 1881," that it was "organised steadily through the
+trials of 1884-85," and merely "announced" in 1888. The actual facts
+(see _Theosophist_, April, 1880) are, that when H. P. B. established the
+real THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OR UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD at Benares in 1879
+(the T. S. founded at New York in 1875 was only a "Miracle Club," as
+Colonel Olcott says, with no "brotherhood plank"), it was on a purely
+esoteric basis. It was under the direct guidance of the Trans-Himalayan
+Brotherhood, Who formed the First Section; the second and third being
+for "accepted" and "probationary" _chelas_ respectively. When I joined
+the T. S. in 1885, these rules were still in force in the London Lodge.
+But Colonel Olcott insisted on an exoteric organisation with "the
+occultism more in the background"; and the crisis of 1884-85, which
+drove H. P. B. from India (see her letter of 1890, _ante_ p. 2), was the
+natural result of this policy. Far from the E. S. being "organised
+steadily" at that time, as Mr. Kunz asserts, H. P. B. makes it clear in
+her letter that the Master's influence was "virtually banished" from
+Adyar through lack of faith in Them, and failure to support her, and
+that she had been ordered to "establish the Esoteric Section," at
+London, which she did in 1888, because the necessary faith in the
+Masters still existed there and in America.
+
+Mr. Kunz then makes the astonishing assertion that the E. S. was
+"transferred to Mrs. Annie Besant in due course by H. P. B. in 1891." As
+I was a member of H. P. B.'s Inner Council which was responsible for
+what was done after her death, I am in a position to state the true
+facts as known to me, and as they appear in the E. S. documents in my
+possession. These _facts_ are:--When H. P. B. died--suddenly and
+unexpectedly, on May 8th, 1891[21]., Mr. Judge at once came over from
+New York, and after much consultation and informal meetings of the E. S.
+Council (composed of the I. G. members) and two others, Mr. Wm.
+Kingsland and Dr. W. Wynn Westcott), a formal and "full meeting of the
+Council" was held at Headquarters on May 27th, 1891, when "Bro. Wm. Q.
+Judge attended _as the representative of H. P. B._ under a general power
+given as below." (Italics mine.--A. L. C.)
+
+"As Head of the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society, I hereby
+declare that William Q. Judge, of New York, U.S., in virtue of his
+character as a _chela_ of thirteen years' standing, and of the trust and
+confidence reposed in him, is my only representative for said Section in
+America, and he is the sole channel through whom will be sent and
+received all communications between the members of said Section and
+myself, and to him full faith, confidence and credit in that regard are
+to be given, .*. Done at London this fourteenth day of December, 1888,
+and in the fourteenth year of the Theosophical Society.
+
+    [Seal]               H. P. Blavatsky,
+
+" ... The Council passed the following minute....
+
+That it was resolved and recorded that the highest officials in the
+School for the present are Annie Besant and William Q. Judge, in
+accordance with the above-quoted order to William Q. Judge of December,
+1888, and with the order of April 1st, 1891, to Annie Besant, as well as
+with the written declaration of H. P. B. in a letter to William Q. Judge
+dated March 27th, 1891, which we now here have read, in which she wrote
+that Annie Besant should be so considered. The order of April 1st, 1891,
+is as follows:--
+
+     I hereby appoint, in the name of the Master, Annie Besant Chief
+     Secretary of the Inner Group of the Esoteric Section and
+     Recorder of the Teachings.[22]
+
+     H. P. B., [asterism dots]
+
+Finally, we--the Council--declared over our signatures that "from
+henceforth with Annie Besant and William Q. Judge rest the full charge
+and management of the School."
+
+Thus did _the Council_ establish the "Dual Headship," and until her
+meeting with Mr. ----, two years later, and her subsequent visit to
+India, Mrs. Besant continued to work harmoniously with Mr. Judge in the
+management of the School.
+
+A full report of this Council meeting was immediately sent out to the
+whole E. S., bearing the date May 27th, 1891. Attached to it was an
+"Address" signed by Mrs. Besant and Mr. Judge as joint "Outer Heads,"
+declaring that these "changes in the Constitution of the School" having
+been "made _by the joint Councils of the_ E. S. T." (Italics mine.--A.
+L. C.), they considered it their "duty" to issue this address to each
+member.
+
+_The one error_, and the foundation of all subsequent ones, as I
+subsequently realised, was that of speaking of themselves as H. P. B.'s
+"agents and representatives after her departure"; for there is nothing
+whatever in the wording of the abovementioned official appointments
+which even suggests such a contingency. _Both_ obviously could refer to
+the holders of them only _during_ H. P. B.'s _life-time_. Indeed, Mr.
+Judge's was made when the School was founded, and had been operative
+ever since; while Mrs. Besant's was merely an official confirmation of a
+secretarial office she had filled since the formation of the I. G.
+scarcely nine months previously (thus giving her the precedence of Mr.
+Mead.) It will be seen, however, that Mr. Judge's appointment was a far
+more important one than Mrs. Besant's, and was conferred on him "in
+virtue of his character as _a chela of thirteen years' standing_";
+whereas Mrs. Besant had been "on probation" _only_, for barely a year.
+Moreover, when Mr. Judge became the object of attacks in 1889, H. P. B.
+issued the following very significant notice:--
+
+    "LONDON,
+    _October 23rd, 1889_.
+
+     "The Esoteric Section and its life in the U. S. A. depends upon
+     W. Q. J. remaining its agent and what he is now. The day W. Q.
+     J. resigns H. P. B. will be virtually dead for the Americans.
+     W. Q. J. is the Antaskarana between the two _Manas(es)_, the
+     American thought and the Indian--or rather the trans-Himalayan
+     esoteric knowledge. _Dixi._
+
+     H. P. B. [asterism dots]
+
+     "_P. S._--W. Q. J. had better show and impress _this_ on the
+     mind of _all those it may concern_."
+
+This notice appeared in an E. S. paper issued by Mrs. Besant and Mr.
+Judge, dated July 18th, 1894, when Mrs. Besant was already implicated in
+the plot against Mr. Judge.
+
+Mrs. Besant's appointment, given above, was the only official one she
+ever received from H. P. B. in either the E. S. or T. S. Certainly I
+never heard of anything else. The absolutely Jesuitical nature of her
+methods is patent, in that she _completely ignores_ the documentary
+facts set forth above. To read the present statements it might be
+imagined that Mr. Judge hardly existed at that time, except as an
+obscure person who, as Mr. Kunz tactfully (!) puts it, made an
+"unfortunate blunder." As I have shown elsewhere (see _ante_ pp 5, 70);
+it is the fact that "blunders"--and worse than blunders--were made after
+H. P. B.'s death (see _ante_ p. 86); but Mrs. Besant's "blunders" were
+far more serious than Mr. Judge's; though both of them were, in the
+first instance, misled by others, whose real aim was to disrupt the
+Society and defeat H. P. B.'s work.
+
+I possess a copy of the previously mentioned most valuable "Preliminary
+Memorandum" to Instructions III, as issued by H. P. B. to her students;
+and a prefatory note states:--
+
+     The following "Preliminary Memorandum" was written by H. P. B.
+     at the time of a grave crisis, or rather series of crises,
+     through which the T. S. passed in 1889-90. Treachery within the
+     E. S. itself, and persistent and relentless attacks on the T.
+     S. from without, especially in America necessitated the
+     striking of a fresh keynote and giving directions for the
+     closing up of the ranks of the E. S. At the time of reprinting
+     the Instructions in London in 1890-91, certain portions of this
+     "Preliminary Memorandum" dealing with the details of the matter
+     were purposely omitted by those of H. P. B.'s pupils who were
+     constituted the editors [Mrs. Besant and Mr. Mead], these
+     portions being deemed by them of too personal a character to
+     remain. This was done when H. P. B. was too ill to supervise,
+     without her sanction, and, as she afterwards said, much against
+     her wishes. [Some of the details omitted related to attacks on
+     Mr. Judge, and the duty of defending him "when the time
+     comes."]
+
+Similarly, Mr. Mead omitted from his "third and revised edition" of H.
+P. B.'s _Key to Theosophy_, published in 1893, most of the part in
+which the author deals with the Report of the Society for Psychical
+Research, classing it with "passages of a controversial nature, which
+are no longer of general interest." Yet the public at large still accept
+this Report as a proof that H. P. B. was a fraud, a charlatan, and a
+Russian spy!
+
+Another feature of this edition, as of others of her works produced after
+her death, is what he calls "a systematic use of italics and capitals."
+This means that he abandons H. P. B.'s extremely effective use of large
+and small capitals and italics to emphasise the importance of words like
+MYSTERIES, OCCULTISM, WISDOM-RELIGION, etc., or SELF, ~Self~, and _Self_
+to indicate the three different selves in man, and so robs her text of
+much of its emphasis and meaning. One has to compare her editions with
+these posthumos ounes to realise the extent to which this has been done.
+It is particularly noticeable in _The Voice of the Silence_, where the
+exact meaning often depends on the distinctions H. P. B. thus makes. (See
+her article on Occultism quoted _ante_ p. 31).
+
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+If the "Back to Blavatsky" movement accomplishes nothing else, let us
+hope it may succeed in getting rid of all this vandalism and
+re-establishing H. P. B.'s works on their original basis, that she may
+go down to posterity on her own merits and not altered and distorted by
+the brain-mind notions of her followers. Some of this work is already
+being done by organisations or private enterprise, but it needs to be
+systematised and co-ordinated.[23] Although the "door" had to be "shut"
+at the end of 1899, H. P. B. in her last paragraph of the _Key to
+Theosophy_ expressed the hope that, "when the time comes for the effort
+of the twentieth century [_i.e._, in 1975], besides a large and
+accessible literature ready to men's hands, the next impulse will find a
+numerous and _united_ body of people ready to welcome the new
+Torch-bearer of Truth."
+
+It has been my painful task to show how lamentably we have failed to
+realise her hopes. The "_united_ body" she sacrificed so much to create
+and hold together, was disrupted barely four years after her death; the
+main body under the Besant-Leadbeater _regime_ is following strange
+gods; while the great literary legacy left by H. P. B. has not only been
+seriously tampered with, but even largely superseded and obscured by
+books which will certainly not be of any assistance to the next
+"Torch-Bearer."
+
+Some years ago I founded an H. P. B. Lending Library with my original
+editions of her works, and others that are reliable and in line with her
+teaching. It has already done much good, especially among those who have
+been misled and kept in ignorance of them. If others would do the same
+we can in time hope to stem the tide of evil and error, and preserve H.
+P. B.'s message untainted until 1975. It is now within the life-span of
+our younger students, many of whom, as the children of Theosophists,
+have been brought up on the teachings and will bridge the gap for us.
+
+The bridging of this gap, however, has been rendered more difficult than
+it should have been; first, by the failure of the T. S. as _a living
+spiritual force in the world_; and second, by the sinister activities of
+this "ill-omened partnership" which almost immediately followed. The
+whole tragic and dreadful history, fragments only of which I have been
+able to give in this brief examination, proves what incalculable harm
+"Leadbeaterism" is working on the minds of the rising generation. Not
+only is he the virtual director of Mrs. Besant's Society, but he has
+completely infected _her_ mind with his soul-destroying teachings. Hers
+is the real responsibility, therefore[24]; and hers the _karma_ of
+ruining H. P. B.'s life-work, and carrying with her in her fall
+thousands upon thousands of honest, but too credulous and easily
+deceived souls along the broad and flowery road "leading to
+destruction."
+
+As H. P. B. says in concluding her "Occultism _versus_ the Occult
+Arts":--"If, while turning their backs on the narrow gate, they are
+dragged by their desire for the Occult one step in the direction of the
+broad and more inviting Gates of that golden mystery which glitters in
+the light of illusion, woe to them! It can lead only to Dugpa-ship, and
+they will be sure to find themselves very soon landed on that _Via
+Fatale_ of the _Inferno_, over whose portal Dante read the words:--
+
+    "_Per me si va nella citta dolente
+    Per me si va nell'eterno dolore
+    Per me si va tra la perduta gente._"
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[21] _How_ "unexpected" was the manner of her passing may be gathered
+from the fact that she was, at that very time, building a little
+"occult" room next to her own, of a particular shape and structure, in
+which each of her pupils was to "sit"--alone--"for development," under
+special conditions and "under observation." The tiny roof was to be of
+dark blue glass, of which I still possess a small piece of the colour H.
+P. B. had finally selected.
+
+[22] These orders are here reproduced exactly as printed in the E. S.
+paper. It should be noted that the one relating to Mr. Judge is in
+larger type than the other. The triangle formed of asterisks .*. after
+the words "regard are to be given" indicates that H. P. B. is there
+endorsed by an Initiate of a higher grade. It will also be noticed that
+the dots forming the triangle after her signature differ in size in the
+two orders. In a note in the _Voice of the Silence_ to the words
+"Thyself and mind, like twins upon a line, the star which is thy goal
+burns overhead" H. P. B. says "Every stage of development in _Raja-Yoga_
+is symbolised by a geometrical figure. This one is the sacred _Triangle_
+[_i.e._, [asterism dots] and precedes Dharana. The [triangle] is the
+sign of the high _chelas_, while another kind of triangle is that of
+high Initiates." The [asterism dots] is also used in Freemasonry to
+denote certain high degrees.
+
+[23] It is only fair to give Mrs. Tingley's Organisation credit for the
+good work it is doing in publishing accurate reprints of H. P. B.'s
+works with all the references carefully checked, but none of her own
+writing tampered with. Now that the 1888 edition of _The Secret
+Doctrine_ is so scarce, students will be glad to know that an unaltered
+reprint can now be had instead of the Besant corruption. The reprint of
+_Isis Unveiled_, with the addition of an excellent Index, has long been
+wanted; and the original paging has been preserved, so that the Index
+also serves for the original edition. It is to be regretted that these
+reprints are prefaced by an account of the Theosophical Movement from
+Mrs. Tingley's point of view, which is inaccurate and misleading.
+However, this is easily removed.
+
+[24] In a letter from a Master to a friend occur these words:--"You are
+responsible for the influence that you permit others to exert over you."
+
+
+
+
+_ADDENDUM._
+
+=The Australian Crisis.=
+
+
+The official account of the events in Australia last spring reached me
+too late to include in its proper place (_ante_, p. 4), but its
+importance as the latest phase of the Leadbeater scandal demands
+quotation of the principal details. Australia has been the scene of Mr.
+Leadbeater's activities since the Madras lawsuits (_ante_, p. 39) made
+India too hot for him in 1913. Needless to say, the same scandals were
+repeated there, and finally brought about a crisis at the T. S.
+Convention last Easter in Sydney. Two of Mr. Leadbeater's Indian
+"pupils," Krishnamurti (see _ante_, p. 12) and Jinarajadasa, secured a
+vote of confidence in Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater which roused strong
+opposition. I quote from a long circular letter issued to the members by
+one of the opposition, Mr. J. M. Prentice, of Hobart, who is evidently a
+leading officer. It is dated May 28, 1922.
+
+
+     MRS. BESANT REFUSES AN ENQUIRY.
+
+     Soon after Convention Mrs. Besant arrived in Sydney [from
+     India] a very worried and angry woman. At the Sydney Lodge she
+     spoke on the lines of "Judge not that ye be not judged," and
+     made it thoroughly apparent that she was not in favour of
+     anything in the nature of an Enquiry. During the Convention
+     Leadbeater had issued a special statement to the E. S. T. which
+     led to its expulsion from the Sydney Lodge building. It was
+     this that had finally angered Mrs. Besant to boiling point....
+     She expressed a wish to meet the Lodge Committee and talk over
+     the difficulties. There was a three-hour conference that led
+     nowhere. I am told that she was helpless to a point of pathos.
+     She denied everything as far as Leadbeater and Wedgwood [see
+     _ante_, p. 62] were, concerned, and refused to consider
+     anything in the nature of an Enquiry. She read from old files
+     of the _Theosophist_ how Leadbeater had been rehabilitated, but
+     a member of the Executive challenged her with more recent
+     happenings, to which she could only reply that she did "not
+     believe them."
+
+
+     A TERRIFIC PRESS CRITICISM.
+
+     Two days later the _Daily Telegraph_ came out with a tremendous
+     attack on the "Liberal Catholic Church." The result was
+     terrific. At the members' meeting that night feeling ran very
+     high. The _Telegraph_ had a reporter present and came out with
+     six or seven columns under heavily leaded headlines. Moreover
+     this information was disseminated to all the papers the
+     _Telegraph_ is correspondent for. The result is that
+     irreparable damage has been done to Theosophy and the Society;
+     although the ablest papers are willing to admit that there is
+     still a minority genuinely fighting for sanity and cleanness in
+     the T. S.
+
+
+     GOVERNMENT ENQUIRY INSTITUTED.
+
+     The Government has now instituted an Enquiry, but so far I do
+     not know the scope of its intention. I have been told by
+     telegram that the Leadbeater boys have been examined or
+     interrogated.... One of the latest developments was when Mr. A.
+     B. Piddington, a leading barrister and K. C. of Sydney,
+     resigned from the Presidency of the Public Questions Society of
+     Sydney University rather than meet Mrs. Besant at a public
+     address which she proposed to give to the members. He has
+     addressed a scathing letter to the _Telegraph_, or rather
+     released for publication his letter of resignation, which is a
+     remarkable summing-up of the position.
+
+
+MR. PIDDINGTON, K. C.'S OPINION.
+
+The following are the chief points made by this gentleman, who is not a
+member of the T. S., and therefore represents an impartial legal and
+public view of the moral issue at stake:--
+
+     My resignation is based on the ground that the Society ought to
+     withdraw its invitation to Mrs. Besant until the matters
+     involved in her defence of Mr. C. W. Leadbeater have been
+     settled by a trustworthy tribunal.
+
+     Grave allegations were recently made against Mr. Leadbeater by
+     Mr. Martyn [see _ante_, p. 18,] for his letter to Mrs. Besant,
+     and Mr. Leadbeater's precept and practice in the training of
+     boys have been quoted. Mr. Martyn is supported by other
+     reputable Australians.
+
+     Before landing here, and since, Mrs. Besant has refused any
+     inquiry into these matters, and taken up positions which, in a
+     teacher of morals disentitle her to be heard by an
+     undergraduate society which exists for the pursuit of truth.
+     These positions are:--
+
+     1. That there is a class of beings so high in the religious
+     order that to accuse them is presumption on the part of the
+     common people. Indeed accusations are 'persecution,' which
+     proves the sanctity of these higher beings, and is (in Mrs.
+     Besant's words) the "seal of their apostolate."
+
+     2. Mrs. Besant refers Mr. Leadbeater's challengers to the
+     courts, though to propagate in private the abominable tenet
+     held by him does not constitute an offence against any law, but
+     only against common decency as understood by ordinary men.
+
+     3. She writes that she does not believe, and will not discuss
+     Mr. Martyn's allegations, though she writes from India of what
+     Mr. Martyn says happened in his own home in Sydney.
+
+     If these are good reasons for refusing to hold an inquiry, then
+     immorality can be safely taught and practised in high places so
+     long as the teacher belongs to Mrs. Besant's way of thinking.
+     From the public point of view such a claim cuts the ground from
+     all morals.
+
+     In her letter to the _Daily Telegraph_ [of Sydney] for May 18,
+     Mrs. Besant asks the public to believe that Mr. Leadbeater has
+     to meet charges relating to 1906 [see _ante_, p. 27], and
+     disposed of [?] by some private investigation in 1908. The fact
+     is ignored that Mr. Martyn's accusations relate to conduct
+     since 1914, Worse than this, the fact is suppressed that Mrs.
+     Besant in 1913 was herself ordered by the Madras High Court to
+     return to their father two boys whom she insisted in placing in
+     Mr. Leadbeater's care, in spite of the father's protest. [See
+     _ante_, p. 40] ... Mr. Justice Bakewell said that, from
+     Leadbeater's evidence, he was "certainly an immoral person, and
+     highly unfit to be in charge of the boys." He also found that
+     Mrs. Besant had violated her stipulation made with the father
+     before parting with the boys, that they should have nothing to
+     do with Mr. Leadbeater. (London _Times_, March 8, 1913.)
+
+     In the following year Mr. Leadbeater came to Australia and now
+     "trains" Australian boys.
+
+     Mrs. Besant lent herself and her oratory to the acquittal,
+     without evidence, of Mr. Leadbeater at a public meeting ... In
+     my view it is as bad to rescue a man from public justice (which
+     is a wider term than criminal law) by the exercise of a
+     dominating personal veto, as it is to do it by money or social
+     or any other 'influence'--'influence' which is the bane of any
+     system of justice.... She may effect a master-stroke of
+     salvage, but she offends every canon of fairplay, let alone of
+     that ordinary morality by which all men, high or humble, must
+     be content to be judged. These sombre facts stand out:--
+
+     1. Mrs. Besant's chief colleague has stated as late as 1913 in
+     open court that he still believed in teaching a detestable vice
+     to boys, which he had previously taught them.
+
+     2. An English Judge for this reason declared him to be an
+     immoral person.
+
+     3. Mr. Martyn accused Mr. Leadbeater of being still what the
+     English judge said of him, and alleged fact upon fact in
+     support of this.
+
+     4. Mrs. Besant has shielded Mr. Leadbeater from inquiry.
+
+     5. Mr. Leadbeater says nothing.
+
+
+AN INDICTMENT OF MRS. BESANT BY A RESIGNING MEMBER OF HER E. S.
+
+Further very recent testimony and criticism is furnished by a letter of
+resignation from Mrs. Besant's Esoteric School by Mr. Hugh R. Gillespie,
+of Krotona, California, one of the strongholds of the "Liberal Catholic
+Church." The letter, dated May 29, is printed in the _O. E. Critic_ of
+August 16, and the Editor in a prefatory note says:--
+
+     The writer ... is well-known to Theosophists of three
+     continents as a lecturer and as a fearless, persistent and
+     uncompromising fighter for honesty and cleanness in the T. S.
+     For almost three years he was attached to Adyar as architect
+     and sanitary engineer.... He was at Adyar during the trial of
+     the "Cases" in the Madras courts and saw the whole sordid drama
+     in action. During this period he had abundant opportunity for
+     getting light, as well as sidelights, on the working of the
+     Adyar machine and on the personal peculiarities of the gods and
+     demigods of the Theosophical Olympus. Later he was resident
+     three years at Krotona, where similar opportunities were not
+     lacking.
+
+Mr. Gillespie writes that he resigns as a protest against the actions
+and utterances of Mrs. Besant as "Outer Head" of the E. S. and President
+of the T. S., and continues:--
+
+     These actions and utterances have, since her assumption of the
+     above mentioned positions, been of such a character that, to
+     use the words of H. P. B., the Theosophical Society is
+
+     " ... being made a spectacle to the world through the
+     exaggerations of some fanatics, and the attempt of various
+     charlatans to profit by a ready-made programme. These, by
+     disfiguring and adapting Occultism to their own filthy and
+     immoral ends bring disgrace on the whole movement."
+
+     As a result of Mrs. Besant's methods we learn that the T. S.
+     and E. S. in almost every section is seething with dissension.
+     England, Australia and America are racked and torn; Germany is
+     split; Finland is shattered, and the closing of the E. S. for
+     some four years in Switzerland indicates the conditions there.
+
+     Mrs. Besant's arrogance and vanity in office and her lack of
+     dignity, as exemplified in her ridiculous "Whom will ye serve?"
+     tirade, and her letter of March, 1922, have drawn the attention
+     of the great London weekly _Truth_, and in its pages the T. S.
+     is held up to the scorn and ridicule of the world. [I have
+     dealt with these under the heading of "Mrs Besant's Latest
+     Assertions and Claims Examined."--A. L. C.]
+
+     So far as the E. S. is concerned, my experience of its working
+     under Mrs. Besant in Australia, Adyar, England, and America
+     enable me to assert that it is nothing but a political machine
+     used for the purpose of securing the ascendancy of Mrs. Besant
+     in the various bodies to which E. S. members have gained
+     access. [I would draw particular attention to this important
+     statement. It is especially true of India, which is the
+     principal scene of her political activities.--A. L. C.]
+
+     ... Mrs. Besant's parade of thrusting the L. C. C. out of the
+     T. S. door while bringing it in by the E. S. window, added to
+     her condonement of the vile practices of the L. C. C. bishops
+     and priests, fall little short of a betrayal of the T S. and
+     could only be adequately met by her resignation from all
+     office....
+
+
+
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY.
+
+
+_The Secret Doctrine._ London, 1888. _The Key to Theosophy and The Voice
+of the Silence._ London 1889. _The Theosophical Glossary._ London, 1892.
+_Practical Occultism_ Reprint, London, 1921.--H. P. Blavatsky.
+
+_Mrs. Besant and the Present Crisis in the Theosophical Society._ With a
+Prefatory Letter by M. Edouard Schure. London, 1913.--Eugene Levy.
+
+_The Central Hindu College and Mrs. Besant. (The Rise of the Alcyone
+Cult.)_ Chicago, 1913.--Bhagavan Das.
+
+_Reminiscences of H. P. Blavatsky and "The Secret Doctrine."_ London,
+1893--Countess Constance Wachtmeister.
+
+
+
+
+    PRINTED BY
+
+    THACKER, SPINK & CO
+
+    CALCUTTA
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
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+This text is full of typographical errors (wrong spelling and unmatched
+brackets and quotation marks, reference to italics when there are none).
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