The False “HPB Letter”
Which Dr. John Algeo and His
Experts Published as Letter
Seven
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
“In
each instance the individual traitor and enemy was
given
his chance, and but for his moral obliquity might have
derived
incalculable good from it to his personal Karma.”
(A Master of the Wisdom, in
“The Mahatma
Letters”, Letter XCI-b, T.U.P.
edition, p. 416)
“If
we would look at the bodily H.P.B. as a mirror
which
reflected from above and from below as well,
giving
back to each who confronted it his own reflection
according
to his nature and power to perceive, we might get
a
better understanding of her nature. To the discriminative,
it
was a well of inspiration; in it the commonplace, the
Judas,
the critic, and every other saw himself reflected.”
(Robert Crosbie, in the book “The
Friendly Philosopher”)
It
has been shown already that in the volume called “The Letters of H.P. Blavatsky
- Volume I”, which was edited by John Algeo, some 20 per cent of the supposed
letters are not only fake, but also libellous.
One can only wonder why, as he was including those fake texts in his
volume, Mr. Algeo felt he should not consult with the international president
of the Adyar Society, Mrs. Radha
Burnier. At the time he was still the international
vice-president of the Society, and Mrs. Burnier could have helped him make
better decisions. In her view, those texts are “obviously spurious”. [1]
It is possible that in the future Dr. Algeo’s volume will be remembered
as a clever attempt - almost scholarly in appearance - to include in the
theosophical literature, and in the very works of H.P.B., the letters clumsily forged
by two outstanding enemies of the theosophical movement, Vsevolod Solovyof and Eleanor
Sidgwick.
One of the shining pieces of forgery in that volume
deserves special attention. The famous Solovyof letter in which HPB is presented as offering
her services to the Russian secret police constitutes Letter seven in the Algeo
collection. Since its absurd publication as part of the very “Collected
Writings of H.P. Blavatsky” required a high degree of political courage
and astuteness, it may be said that in one sense at least this action
constitutes a masterpiece of pseudo-theosophical forgery and slandering.
It is not the purpose of the present text to discuss which intentions motivated
Dr. John Algeo and his Editorial Committee, as they decided to include such a
letter in their unfortunate volume. [2]
As to intentions, each student should rather observe his own. It is useless to
condemn this or that personality. We must discuss facts, although we may infer
parts of causes and aspects of motives.
It is the whole school of thought of pseudo-theosophy and its editorial “procedures”
that we must investigate and understand in order to get rid of it, at least in
those circles where there is a significant respect for truth and for theosophy.
And this naturally includes the Adyar Society.
Vsevolod Solovyof, Eleanor Sidgwick, Alex Coulomb, Emma Coulomb and
others fabricated much more than just false letters. They created an alternative Helena Blavatsky,
a fraudulent and dishonest “double” of hers, a sort of astral voodoo doll through
which to attack the heart of the theosophical movement.
What Dr. John Algeo and his Committee of theosophical pundits are trying
to do is something different from what Solovyof did. They are only trying to
revive and to adopt those old falsehoods in the name of the theosophical
movement, and to give them a semblance of legitimacy, by publishing that sort
of material as if it had been indeed written by Helena Blavatsky.
Thus, they are humbly trying to accommodate in the center of the
magnetic aura of the movement that strange subtle voodoo doll - an “alternative”
image of H.P.B. created to attack her real image, and to isolate and cause harm
to the sacred skandhas present in the center of that aura. Of course, the spiritual ignorance of such
editors will be in the future their best defense in the Legal Court of their
own consciences.
Dr. Algeo and his Committee are, therefore, only acting as an auxiliary
line for those who despise both truth and the Cause of the theosophical movement.
It must be said in their defense that they did not make the forgeries
themselves. They have chosen to play a role which is more subtle than that.
They but try to spread and legitimize those lies among brother theosophists, and
they do this using the name of a theosophical society and a theosophical
publishing house.
Those false texts are weapons in an attempt to promote a character
assassination, as anyone who takes the trouble to see them will know. Perhaps unconsciously to themselves, Dr.
Algeo and his assistants are helping the enemies of the theosophical movement.
Although they have created a difficult karmic situation for themselves, it is
not too late for them to redeem their trajectory. It is not too difficult, either, as this
article is being published in 2010. One first step for them to recover their
common sense could be making a sincere meditation upon these words by Robert
Crosbie:
“If we would look at the bodily H.P.B. as a mirror which reflected from
above and from below as well, giving back to each who confronted it his own
reflection according to his nature and power to perceive, we might get a better
understanding of her nature. To the discriminative, it was a well of
inspiration; in it the commonplace, the Judas, the critic, and every other saw
himself reflected.” [3]
These are useful sentences for Dr. Algeo and his assistants to meditate
upon. Dr. Radha Burnier should also think about them and reflect upon the karma
of letting the main founder of the movement be freely slandered by her close colleague,
her own international vice-president - at the time. For Karma Law is still operating: a few years
after the omission of president Radha Burnier, there was a fraudulent attempt
of electoral coup d’etat against her leadership in Adyar. It was not by mere
coincidence that it was organized by Dr. Algeo’s followers.
The book “The Voice of the Silence” teaches this lesson to all theosophists:
“Sow kindly acts and thou shalt reap their fruition. Inaction in a deed
of mercy becomes an action in a deadly sin. Thus saith the Sage. Shalt thou
abstain from action? Not so shall gain thy soul her freedom.” [4]
It is not necessary to have mercy in this case. It is enough to have
respect for truth and for the readers. But Mrs. Radha Burnier said and did nothing
besides admitting that those letters are spurious. No clear defense of HPB has
come yet from Adyar or, for that matter, from the Pasadena Society. To interrupt this silence, perhaps we may
listen to HPB herself. It is not too difficult to know what the Old Lady would
have to say about the situation. Indeed, while commenting upon this very same
kind of under-cover attacks, H.P.B wrote
in a letter to a friend:
“While my enemies tear me to pieces the Adyar people play at ‘hide and
seek’ - they pretend to be dead - oh!
the poor miserable cowards! ! (…..) I
tell you I suffer more from theosophical traitors
than from the Coulomb, Patterson or even the S.P.R.” [5]
According to the Letter seven in the Algeo volume, the founder of the
modern theosophical movement wanted to work for the “Third Section”, the
infamous Russian secret police.
As soon as the Algeo book was printed,
the corporate leaders of the Adyar Theosophical Society in the United
States were proud to announce the
inclusion in the volume of such a letter. In its edition of January / February
2004, “The Quest” (the magazine of the Society in the U.S.A.) announced in a
double-page advertisement:
“This collection contains controversial and colorful letters such as:
one written to the director of the Russian secret police in which HPB offers to
join their ranks...” [6]
Dr. Maria Carlson, professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University
of Kansas-Lawrence, wrote this about that text ascribed to HPB:
“In 1988, in the archival section of the respected Moscow journal Literaturnoe obozrenie (Literary
Revue), two Russian scholars published a highly provocative letter
purporting to be from Helena Blavatsky to the Chief of the Russian secret
police, written at the very end of 1872.” [7]
The scholars are B. L. Bessonov and V.I. Mil’don. Mr. Bessonov claimed
to have located the letter in the Moscow’s Central State Archives of the
October Revolution, but he apparently did not explain why should such a letter
be in a Museum dedicated to facts starting in 1917.
Although the article by Dr. Maria is clearly hostile to H.P. Blavatsky,
she had to admit, referring to the two scholars:
“Unfortunately, nothing is said in Mil’don’s and Bessonov’s publication
about the verification of handwriting, the provenance of the letter (how did it
end up in an archive devoted to events following 1917?), or any other attempts
at authentication”. [8]
That makes perfect sense from the viewpoint of this kind of scholarship.
An investigation about the origin of the “letter” would lead to the conclusion
that it was forged, and that is clearly not
the intention of such “scholars”. They distinguish themselves for being
unconcerned with the truth or falseness of what they publish.
In the letter, the would-be Helena Petrovna says she fakes contacts with
spirits and, “by means of this little trap”, she is able to discover “the
hopes, plans and secrets of the most reserved and serious individuals”. This,
then, would be useful for the secret police. [9]
The fictional “Helena Blavatsky” tells the Russian secret police she had
been offered during long negotiations with the Vatican an annual bribe of
20,000 to 30,000 francs in exchange for working as a secret agent to the
Pope. As there was not a final
agreement, the “Blavatsky” of Mr. Algeo took 5,000 francs as a bribe from a
Roman Cardinal, while promising him she
would work for the Pope in the future. Then she mellifluously adds that she would
prefer to take money from Russia’s secret police, out of love for her country. [10]
The strange astral voodoo doll created by Mr. Solovyof and used
as a tool to cause harm to the movement confesses being a thief and a gambler.
Mr. Algeo seems to have an affinity with this fiction character (perhaps
only at the editorial level), for he still refuses to admit - in 2010 - that it is obviously false. The voodoo doll writes:
“In 1853 in Baden-Baden, having lost at roulette, I acquiesced to the
request of an unknown gentleman, a Russian who had already shown interest in my
activities. He offered me 2,000 francs if I could find a way to obtain two
German letters (the contents of which were unknown to me) which had been very
cleverly hidden by the Polish Count Kailecki, then in the service of the
Prussian king. The gentleman was a military man. I was penniless, any Russian
had my sympathy, I was unable to return to Russia at that time, and that was
horribly bitter to me. I agreed, and in three days I obtained those letters,
with great difficulty and considerable danger. Then the gentleman informed me
that it would be better for me to return to Russia, that I had sufficient talent to be of use to my country, and
that should I at some point choose to change my life style and embark upon
serious work, I had but to approach the Third Section and leave my name and
address.” [11]
It is evident that the amount of common sense that Mr. Algeo and his
Committee had was not enough to lead them to the conclusion that such a letter
is false. One must believe that publishing these lies expresses their best
judgement. There is no need to reproduce here the whole collection of slanders
gathered in that “letter”. It suffices to say that the text goes on along the
same level as in the examples shown above.
All significant theosophical biographers of H.P.B. and historians of the
Adyar Society show that Vsevolod Solovyof tried to infiltrate the theosophical movement
and that - upon failing - he turned against it, and more especially against
HPB.
No theosophical historian gives credit to Vsevolod Solovyof’s “stories” against
H.P. Blavatsky. Henry Olcott, Sylvia Cranston, Jean Overton Fuller, Howard
Murphet and Josephine Ransom, all have a
similar position with regard to Solovyof. [12] No important Adyar leader before John Algeo
showed such a public disrespect for her.
Solovyof accused H.P. Blavatsky of having invented the whole idea of
Mahatmas and the teachings of theosophy. Such an accusation is self-contradictory, for that
would mean that H.P.B. had the wisdom
necessary to write by herself “The
Secret Doctrine”, “Isis Unveiled”, “The Voice of the Silence” and other works of
almost unfathomable depth and wisdom.
According to Solovyof, H.P.B. made frauds, lied all the time and had an
immoral life. And he also raised the idea of her being a Russian spy. This is the man Mr. John Algeo believes to be
a good source of historical documents. Dr. Algeo and his Committee probably
avoided reading the volume “Letters of H.P. Blavatsky to A.P. Sinnett”. It
would be too risky for their editorial policy to do that, for in that volume one
can easily see the truth about the matter.
Referring to the “Russian Spy” theory, H. P.
Blavatsky wrote in February 1887, in a letter to Mr. Alfred P. Sinnett, who was
an Englishman:
“And to think (…..)
that your Govt. here and in India is so stupidly short sighted as not to see,
that not only I am not, nor even was a
Russian Spy - but that the very prosperity, progress and welfare of the
T.S. depends on everything in India being quiet for years to come. (…..) I love my countrymen and country dearly - but
I love India and Master still more, and my contempt
for the stupidity of Russian Govt. and diplomacy knows no
bounds.” [13]
H.P.B. herself commented on the Solovyof letter which
she was accused of having written and having sent to the Russian secret service:
“He [Solovyof]
said that he had seen in the Secret Dept., documents in which I had offered
myself as a Spy of the Russian
Govt. (.....) He pretends to have translated verbatim my Russian letters to him and Mad. De Morsier has them in
a large dossier. Now I wrote to him only three letters from Würzburg in
answer to his - and what Mr. G.----d says about the text, is all an invention
from beginning to the end. Solovyof is either crazy or acts so because having
compromised himself with his offer of espionage
to me he is now afraid I should speak and compromise him at St. Petersburg. And
so I will, I swear.” [14]
Then HPB reveals
the level of personal ethics of Mr. Solovyof:
“I will make
the story of the man who accuses me
of immorality in my youth, known to the whole world - and show him living with
his wife’s sister whom he seduced, and passing her off for a legitimate wife!” [15]
Elsewhere,
H.P.B. made some frank commentaries about people who believe, or
pretend to believe, in that “fraud and spy theory”. She wrote:
“Those (…..) will have to explain
what even my traducers of even the Padri class and Psychical Research Society
have been unable to explain to this day, viz.,
the motive for such fraud. They will have to explain why, instead of taking and making money, I
gave away to the Society every penny I earned by writing for the papers, why at
the same time I nearly killed myself with overwork and incessant labour year
after year, until my health gave way, so that but for my Master’s repeated
help, I should have died long ago from the effects of such voluntary hard
labour. For the absurd Russian spy theory, if it still finds credit in some
idiotic heads, has long ago disappeared, at any rate from the official brains
of the Anglo-Indians.” [16]
As to the false letters ascribed to H.P.B. , one of the Mahatmas warned
Mr. Alfred Sinnett about them in 1884. Writing about the attacks which were being
made by the “Ecclesiastical England and the official Anglo India” against the
theosophical movement, a Master wrote:
“The air is full of the pestilence of treachery (.....). Every infamous
device is to be employed in the future as it has in the present to discredit us as its promoters, and yourselves as
its supporters. For the opposition represents enormous vested interests, and
they have enthusiastic help from the Dugpas - in Bhootan and in the Vatican!”
A few lines below, the Master clarifies:
“They may try to shake still more than they already have your confidence
with pretended letters alleged to have come from H.P.B.’s laboratory, and
others, or with forged documents showing and confessing fraud and planning to
repeat it.” [17]
As to the
creation of an artificial anti-theosophical image of HPB - an astral voodoo
doll for the sake of attacking this Initiate and her mission to help
mankind, one must remember H.P.B.’s own words to the Countess Wachtmeister:
“You cannot
imagine what it is to feel so many adverse thoughts and currents directed
against you; it is like the prickings of a thousand needles, and I have
continually to be erecting a wall of protection around me.” [18]
H.P.B.’s higher
self has still a karma with the theosophical movement. There is no doubt about
this. So there are various practical reasons for protecting her subtle magnetism
in the center of the aura of the theosophical movement.
There is no need
for us to allow treason to endlessly repeat itself. In the first half of 21st
century, it is the time for theosophists - including those who belong to the
Adyar Society - to establish much higher levels of truthfulness and ethics in
every area of the movement. This should not be too difficult. There are reasons
to be optimistic.
An impartial
observation shows that the theosophical movement has great and sacred
potentialities to be developed in this century.
Every true theosophist, wherever and however situated, can TRY and help
develop them.
The theosophical
movement is one and the same, all over the world. There is no possible
separation within it, except in the outer plane of maya or illusion.
Solidarity, an
honest dialogue on difficult issues and a common ethical responsibility are
some of the best guidelines for the future of the movement.
NOTES:
[1] See the article
“Defending the Old Lady”, by Carlos Cardoso Aveline, in www.Esoteric-Philosophy.com , www.TheosophyOnline.com and www.FilosofiaEsoterica.com.
[2] The edition of
“The Letters of H. P. Blavatsky - Volume I” (TPH, USA, December 2003, 634
pp.) was made by John Algeo, assisted by
Adele S. Algeo and an Editorial Committee which included Daniel H. Caldwell,
Dara Eklund, Robert Elwood, Joy Mills, and Nicholas Weeks. It must be said that Dara Eklund and Nicholas
Weeks did try to warn the Editor against the use of false letters. The Editor
decided he did not want to hear them. A few years after the publication of the
volume with false letters, Michael Gomes
wrote that he had joined such an editorial committee. Gomes made this
announcement in his pamphlet “Colonel Olcott & The Healing Arts”, Blavatsky
Lecture 2007, TPH, London, 52 pp., 2007, p. 49.
[3] Robert Crosbie, in
“The Friendly Philosopher”, The Theosophy Co., Los Angeles, 1945, see p. 150.
[4] “The Voice of the
Silence”, Translated and annotated
by H.P.B., Theosophy Co., Los Angeles, 1987, Fragment II, p. 33.
[5] “The Letters of
H.P. Blavatsky to A. P. Sinnett”, facsimile edition, T.U.P., Pasadena, CA, USA,
1973, 404 pp., see Letter XLVI, p. 114.
[6] “The Quest”
magazine, Philosophy, Science, Religion, The Arts, volume 92, number 1,
January-February 2004, final pages of the edition.
[7] “To Spy or Not to
Spy: ‘The Letter’ of Mme. Blavatsky to the Third Section”, an article by Dr.
Maria Carlson, “Theosophical History”
magazine, July 1995, p. 225.
[8] “Theosophical
History”, July 1995, p. 226.
[9] “Theosophical
History”, July 1995, p. 227.
[10] “Theosophical
History”, July 1995, p. 228-229.
[11] “Theosophical
History”, July 1995, p. 230.
[12] For
evidences on what the historians say about Vsevolod Solovyof, see the article “Defending the Old Lady”. A
reference to this article is made at note [1]
above.
[13] “The Letters of H.P. Blavatsky to A.P.
Sinnett”, T.U.P., Pasadena, California, 1992, p. 206.
[14] “The Letters of H.P. Blavatsky to A.P. Sinnett”, T.U.P., Pasadena, p. 208.
[15] “The Letters of H.P. Blavatsky to A.P. Sinnett”, T.U.P., Pasadena, same p. 208.
[14] “The Letters of H.P. Blavatsky to A.P. Sinnett”, T.U.P., Pasadena, p. 208.
[15] “The Letters of H.P. Blavatsky to A.P. Sinnett”, T.U.P., Pasadena, same p. 208.
[16] “Why I Do Not Return
to India”, by HPB, in “H.P. Blavatsky Collected Writings”, TPH, India, Volume XII, 1980, 859 pp., see pp.
161-162. See also “Theosophical
Articles”, H. P. Blavatsky, a 3-volume collection published by Theosophy Co.,
Los Angeles, volume I, pp. 109-110.
[17] “The Mahatma
Letters to A.P. Sinnett”, T.U.P. edition, Pasadena, California, 1992, 493 pp.,
see letter LV, p. 322. This is letter
130 in the Chronological edition (THP-Philippines).
[18] These words by
H.P.B. are quoted by the Countess Wachtmeister in her book “Reminiscences of
H.P. Blavatsky and ‘The Secret Doctrine’ ”. See “HPB - The Extraordinary Life
and Influence of Helena Blavatsky, Founder of the Modern Theosophical
Movement”, Sylvia Cranston, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1993, 648 pp., see p.
296.
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