It was at Simla that the events took place which eventually led to the letters published in the volume, The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett. H.P.B. performed some amazing phenomena which she attributed to the Mahatmas with whom she was in more or less constant psychic contact. Sinnett was convinced of the genuineness of these phenomena, and in his book The Occult World he was at great pains to stress their authenticity.
He was also of a practical and scientific turn of mind, and he wished to know more about the laws which governed these manifestations. Specifically, he wished to know about those powerful beings whom H.P.B. called "Masters" and claimed were responsible for the phenomena. He asked her if it would be possible for him to get in touch with them and receive instructions from them.
H.P.B. told him that it was doubtful but said she would try. She first approached her own Master, the Mahatma Morya, with whom she was primarily linked through the occult training she had undergone earlier in Tibet, but he refused point blank to have anything to do with such an undertaking. (Later, however, he took over the correspondence for several months under very special circumstances.)
Apparently H.P.B. tried several others without success. Finally, the Mahatma Koot Hoomi agreed to undertake a limited correspondence with Sinnett.
Mr. Sinnett addressed a letter "To the Unknown Brother" and gave it to H.P.B. to transmit. As a matter of fact, he was so eager to argue his case convincingly that he wrote a second letter before he received a reply to the first one. Then followed the remarkable series of letters which went on for several years and which, among other far-reaching results, eventually found their way into the published volume.
VIRGINIA HANSON
Illustrations and Specimen Letters
A specimen of "M.'s" handwriting and signature, which appears in all the letters either in red ink, or red pencil.
A specimen of the handwriting of "K.H." precipitated in blue ink. Beneath a note from Damodar K. Mavalankar. The majority of the "K.H." Letters are written either in blue ink or blue pencil.
I. Fragment found in the envelope of Letter No. 96 (ML-92).
II, III, IV. Reproductions of the signatures of Letters No. 1 (ML-1) 5 (ML-4) and 59 (ML-132) respectively.
Key to Abbreviations
A.O.H.
Allan O. Hume
A.P.S.
Alfred P. Sinnett
D.K. or Dj. K.
Djual Khul
H.P.B.
Helena P. Blavatsky
H.S.O.
Henry Steel Olcott
Isis
Isis Unveiled by H.P. Blavatsky
K.H.
Mahatma Koot Hoomi
LBS
Letters of H.P. Blavatsky to A.P. Sinnett,
transcribed and compiled by A.T. Barker
L.L. or L.L.T.S.
London Lodge of the Theosophical Society
LMW-I
Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom, First Series,
edited by C. Jinarajadasa
M
ML
Mahatma Morya
Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett,
transcribed and compiled by A.T. Barker
ODL
Old Diary Leaves by H.S. Olcott
OW
The Occult World by A.P. Sinnett
T.S.
Theosophical Society
THE MAHATMA LETTERS
Letter No. 1 (ML-1) October 17, 1880
In The Occult World, (pp. 81-83) Sinnett explains what he wrote in his first letter to the Mahatma and why he wrote it. In spite of his conviction of the genuineness of the phenomena performed by H.P.B. during the summer of 1880 at Simla, he felt that they were not always surrounded by the necessary safeguards and that it would not be very difficult for any thoroughgoing skeptic to cast doubt on their validity. He was eager to have some phenomenon produced which would, as he expressed it, "leave no opening for even the suggestion of imposture." He wondered whether the "Brothers" themselves might not always realize the necessity for rendering their test phenomena unassailable in every minor detail.
So, Sinnett decided that in his first letter to the Mahatma, he would suggest a test which he was sure would be absolutely fool-proof and which could not fail to convince the most profound skeptic. This was the simultaneous production in Simla (in the presence of the group there) of one day' s editions of the London Times and The Pioneer.
At that time, London and India were at least a month apart by all means of communication other than telegraph, and it would obviously have been impossible for the entire contents of the Times to have been telegraphed to India in advance of its publication in London, and to appear in print in India at the same time that it appeared in print in London. Further, such a project could not have been undertaken without the whole world knowing about it.
After he had written the letter and delivered it to H.P.B., a day or so passed before he heard anything about its fate. Finally, H.P.B. told him he was to have an answer. This so encouraged him that he sat down and wrote a second letter, feeling that perhaps he had not made his first letter quite strong enough to convince his correspondent. After the lapse of another day or so, he found on his writing table, one evening, his first letter from the Mahatma K.H. It answered both of his letters.
Received Simla about October 15th, 1880.
Esteemed Brother and Friend,
Precisely because the test of the London newspaper would close the mouths of the skeptics — it is unthinkable. See it in what light you will — the world is yet in its first stage of disenthralment if not development, hence — unprepared. Very true, we work by natural not supernatural means and laws. But, as on the one hand Science would find itself unable (in its present state) to account for the wonders given in its name, and on the other the ignorant masses would still be left to view the phenomenon in the light of a miracle, everyone who would thus be made a witness to the occurrence would be thrown off his balance and the results would be deplorable. Believe me, it would be so — especially for yourself who originated the idea, and the devoted woman who so foolishly rushes into the wide open door leading to notoriety. This door, though opened by so friendly a hand as yours, would prove very soon a trap — and a fatal one indeed for her. And such is not surely your object?
Madmen are they, who, speculating but upon the present, wilfully shut their eyes to the past when made already to remain naturally blind to the future! Far be it from me, to number you with the latter — therefore will I endeavour to explain. Were we to accede to your desires know you really what consequences would follow in the trail of success? The inexorable shadow which follows all human innovations moves on, yet few are they who are ever conscious of its approach and dangers. What are then to expect they who would offer the world an innovation which, owing to human ignorance, if believed in, will surely be attributed to those dark agencies the two-thirds of humanity believe in and dread as yet? You say — half London would be converted if you could deliver them a Pioneer on its day of publication. I beg to say that if the people believed the thing true they would kill you before you could make the round of Hyde Park; if it were not believed true, the least that could happen would be the loss of your reputation and good name, — for propagating such ideas.