Its Members Differed On Many Points, Much As Do The
Members Of Any Other Society, Geographical Or Archeological, Which
Fights For Years Over The Sources Of The Nile, Or The Hieroglyphs
Of Egypt.
But everyone is unanimously agreed that, as long as
there is water in the Nile, its sources must exist somewhere.
So
much about the phenomena of spiritualism and mesmerism. These
phenomena were still waiting their Champollion - but the Rosetta
stone was to be searched for neither in Europe nor in America,
but in the far-away countries where they still believe in magic,
where wonders are performed daily by the native priesthood, and
where the cold materialism of science has never yet reached - in
one word, in the East.
The Council of the Society knew that the Lama-Buddhists, for instance,
though not believing in God, and denying the personal immortality
of the soul, are yet celebrated for their "phenomena," and that
mesmerism was known and daily practised in China from time immemorial
under the name of "gina." In India they fear and hate the very
name of the spirits whom the Spiritualists venerate so deeply, yet
many an ignorant fakir can perform "miracles" calculated to turn
upside-down all the notions of a scientist and to be the despair
of the most celebrated of European prestidigitateurs. Many members
of the Society have visited India - many were born there and have
themselves witnessed the "sorceries" of the Brahmans. The founders
of the Club, well aware of the depth of modern ignorance in regard
to the spiritual man, were most anxious that Cuvier's method of
comparative anatomy should acquire rights of citizenship among
metaphysicians, and, so, progress from regions physical to regions
psychological on its own inductive and deductive foundation.
"Otherwise," they thought, "psychology will be unable to move
forward a single step, and may even obstruct every other branch
of Natural History." Instances have not been wanting of physiology
poaching on the preserves of purely metaphysical and abstract knowledge,
all the time feigning to ignore the latter absolutely, and seeking
to class psychology with the positive sciences, having first bound
it to a Bed of Procrustes, where it refuses to yield its secret
to its clumsy tormentors.
In a short time the Theosophical Society counted its members, not
by hundreds, but by thousands. All the "malcontents" of American
Spiritualism - and there were at that time twelve million Spiritualists
in America - joined the Society. Collateral branches were formed
in London, Corfu, Australia, Spain, Cuba, California, etc.
Everywhere experiments were being performed, and the conviction
that it is not spirits alone who are the causes of the phenomena
was becoming general.
In course of time branches of the Society were in India and in
Ceylon. The Buddhist and Brahmanical members became more numerous
than the Europeans. A league was formed, and to the name of the
Society was added the subtitle, "The Brotherhood of Humanity."
After an active correspondence between the Arya-Samaj, founded by
Swami Dayanand, and the Theosophical Society, an amalgamation was
arranged between the two bodies. Then the Chief Council of the
New York branch decided upon sending a special delegation to India,
for the purpose of studying, on the spot, the ancient language of
the Vedas and the manuscripts and the wonders of Yogism. On the
17th of December, 1878, the delegation, composed of two secretaries
and two members of the council of the Theosophical Society, started
from New York, to pause for a while in London, and then to proceed
to Bombay, where it landed in February, 1879.
It may easily be conceived that, under these circumstances, the
members of the delegation were better able to study the country
and to make fruitful researches than might, otherwise, have been
the case. Today they are looked upon as brothers and aided by
the most influential natives of India. They count among the
members of their society pandits of Benares and Calcutta, and
Buddhist priests of the Ceylon Viharas - amongst others the learned
Sumangala, mentioned by Minayeff in the description of his visit
to Adam's Peak - and Lamas of Thibet, Burmah, Travancore and elsewhere.
The members of the delegation are admitted to sanctuaries where,
as yet, no European has set his foot. Consequently they may hope
to render many services to Humanity and Science, in spite of the
illwill which the representatives of positive science bear to them.
As soon as the delegation landed, a telegram was despatched to
Dayanand, as everyone was anxious to make his personal acquaintance.
In reply, he said that he was obliged to go immediately to Hardwar,
where hundreds of thousands of pilgrims were expected to assemble,
but he insisted on our remaining behind, since cholera was certain
to break out among the devotees. He appointed a certain spot,
at the foot of the Himalayas, in the jab, where we were to meet
in a month's time.
Alas! all this was written some time ago. Since then Swami
Dayanand's countenance has changed completely toward us. He is,
now, an enemy of the Theosophical Society and its two founders -
Colonel Olcott and the author of these letters. It appeared that,
on entering into an offensive and defensive alliance with the
Society, Dayanand nourished the hope that all its members, Christians,
Brahmans and Buddhists, would acknowledge His supremacy, and become
members of the Arya Samaj.
Needless to say, this was impossible. The Theosophical Society
rests on the principle of complete non-interference with the
religious beliefs of its members. Toleration is its basis and
its aims are purely philosophical. This did not suit Dayanand.
He wanted all the members, either to become his disciples, or to
be expelled from the Society. It was quite clear that neither
the President, nor the Council could assent to such a claim.
Englishmen and Americans, whether they were Christians or Freethinkers,
Buddhists, and especially Brahmans, revolted against Dayanand, and
unanimously demanded that the league should be broken.
However, all this happened later. At the time of which I speak
we were friends and allies of the Swami, and we learned with deep
interest that the Hardwar "mela," which he was to visit, takes
place every twelve years, and is a kind of religious fair, which
attracts representatives from all the numerous sects of India.
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