Lettter to A.O. Hume . . . . . . . . . . . . . (LMW I-30) Oct. 1882
Appedix III: Letters or Notes Found in Letters of H.P.B. to A.P. Sinnett
LBS-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . Mar. 25, 1882
LBS-4 . . . . . . . . . . . . Sept. 1881
LBS-5 . . . . . . . . . . . . Dated Nov. 2, 1880
LBS-20 . . . . . . . . . . . Dec. 11, 1881
LBS-29 . . . . . . . . . . . Nov. 17, 1883
LBS-30 . . . . . . . . . . . Dec. 1883
LBS-34 . . . . . . . . . . . Mar. 1884
LBS-50 . . . . . . . . . . . Sent Oct. 9th
LBS-155 . . . . . . . . . . Sept. 1882
LBS-156 . . . . . . . . . . Jan. 4, 1881
LBS-192 . . . . . . . . . . Oct. 1883
LBS-193 . . . . . . . . . . May 1882
LBS-193A. . . . . . . . . May 1882
LBS-194 . . . . . . . . . . 1882
LBS-195 . . . . . . . . . . Mar. 1882
LBS-198 . . . . . . . . . . Rec. 1881
LBS-199 . . . . . . . . . . July 24, 1882
LBS-200 . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 1882
LBS-201 . . . . . . . . . . Rec. Aug. 22, 1882
LBS-202 . . . . . . . . . . Jan., 1883
LBS-203 . . . . . . . . . . Jan. 7, 1882
LBS-204 . . . . . . . . . . Nov. 25, 1880
LBS-205 . . . . . . . . . . Oct. 24, 1880
LBS-206 . . . . . . . . . . No date
LBS-207 . . . . . . . . . . No date
LBS-Appendix I . . . . October 1881
LBS-Appendix II . . . .Jan. 1882
LBS-Appendix III . . . No date
Introductory Notes
The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett is considered one of the more difficult texts in theosophical literature. It touches on many tangled situations and contains many profound concepts; these are made more abstruse by the fact that, at that time, no nomenclature had been developed through which the Mahatmas could communicate their deeply occult philosophy to English-speaking persons. It is, nevertheless, a drama of tremendous power and insight, a drama of human aspiration, of success and failure. It is a story in time but its message is timeless, whether we regard it as narrative, as occult philosophy, or as revelation.
What is a Mahatma?
In an article by H. P. Blavatsky entitled "Mahatmas and Chelas," (The Theosophist, July, 1884), she tells us the meaning of the term:
A Mahatma is a personage who, by special training and education, has evolved those higher faculties and has attained that spiritual knowledge which ordinary humanity will acquire after passing through numberless series of incarnations during the process of cosmic evolution, provided, of course, that they do not go, in the meanwhile, against the purposes of Nature. . .
She goes on into a discussion of what it is that incarnates and how the process is used as an agent of evolution, resulting in the attainment of Adeptship.
In a letter written to a friend on July 1, 1890, H.P.B. has some other interesting things to say about Mahatmas:
"They are members of an occult Brotherhood [but] not of any particular school in India." This brotherhood, she adds, did not originate in Tibet, and some of its members live outside of Tibet, but "most of its members and some of the highest are, and live constantly, in Tibet."
Then, speaking of the Mahatmas, she says: "They are living men, not 'spirits' or even Nirmanakayas.1 . . Their knowledge and learning are immense, and their personal holiness of life is still greater — still they are mortal men and none of them 1,000 years old, as imagined by some."
In a conversation in 1887 with the author Charles Johnston (husband of H.P.B.'s niece, Vera), when Mr. Johnston asked H.P.B. something about her Master's age (the Mahatma Morya), she replied, "My dear, I cannot tell you exactly, for I do not know. But this I will tell you. I met him first when I was twenty. He was at the very prime of manhood then. I am an old woman now, but he has not aged a day. He is still in the prime of manhood. That is all I can say. You may draw your own conclusions." When Mr. Johnston persisted and asked whether the Mahatmas had discovered the elixir of life, she replied seriously: "That is no fable. It is only the veil hiding a real occult process, warding off age and dissolution for periods which would seem fabulous, so I will not mention them. The secret is this: for every man there is a climacteric, when he must draw near to death: if he has squandered his life-powers, there is no escape for him; but if he has lived according to the law, he may pass through and so continue in the same body almost indefinitely."2
How Did the Letters Come to be Written?
The authors of the letters are the Mahatmas Koot Hoomi and Morya, usually designated simply by their initials.
The Mahatma K.H. was a Kashmiri Brahman, but the time we meet him in the letters, he was a monk of the Gelugpa or "Yellow Hat" division of Tibetan Buddhism. He refers to himself in the letters as a "Cis- and Trans-Himalayan cave-dweller." H.P.B. says in Isis Unveiled that Cis-Himalayan is a very ancient Aryan doctrine, sometimes called Brahmanical, but really having nothing to do with Brahmanism as we now understand it. Trans-Himalayan is a Tibetan esoteric doctrine, pure, or "old Buddhism." Both Cis- and Trans-Himalayan come from one source originally — the universal Wisdom Religion.
The name "Koot Hoomi" is a mystical name which he instructed H.P.B. to use in connection with the correspondence with A.P. Sinnett. He spoke and wrote French and English fluently.
There are statements in theosophical literature to the effect that the Mahatma K.H. was educated in Europe. He was familiar with European ways and European thinking. He was most erudite and occasionally wrote passages of great literary beauty.
The Mahatma Morya was a Rajput prince — the Rajputs being the ruling caste of northern India at the time. He was "a giant, six feet eight, and splendidly built; a superb type of manly beauty."3
Well known is the fact of the establishment of the Theosophical Society in New York in 1875. In 1879, the two principal founders of the Society, H.P. Blavatsky and Col. Henry Steel Olcott, moved the headquarters of the Society to Bombay, India and, in 1882, to Adyar, Madras, in southern India, where it remains.
There was in India at the time a very fine, educated English gentleman named Alfred Percy Sinnett. He was editor of The Pioneer, a leading English newspaper published in Allahabad. He became interested in the philosophy being expounded by the two Theosophists and was curious about the remarkable happenings that seemed to be taking place wherever H.P.B. was.
On February 25, 1879, nine days after the founders arrived in Bombay, Sinnett wrote to Col. Olcott expressing a desire to become acquainted with him and H.P.B. and stating that he would be willing to publish any interesting facts about their mission in India.
On February 27, 1879, Olcott replied to this letter. Thus began what Olcott terms "a most valuable connection and gratifying friendship." The founders were invited to visit the Sinnetts in Allahabad, which they did in December of 1879. There the Sinnetts joined the Theosophical Society, and the founders met other visitors who were to play some part in the affairs of the Society: A.O. Hume and his wife Moggy, from Simla, and Mrs. Alice Gordon, wife of Lt. Col. W. Gordon of Calcutta.
The following year, the founders visited the Sinnetts at their summer home in Simla, at that time the summer capital of India. There they became better acquainted with the Humes and their daughter, Marie Jane (usually called Minnie). Hume's consuming hobby was ornithology and he maintained an ornithological museum in his large home, which he called Rothney Castle, on Jakko Hill in Simla; he also published a periodical on ornithology which he called "Stray Feathers." Professionally he had been for some time an influential member of the Government.