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Henry S. Olcott's
Testimony: compiled by Daniel H. Caldwell CASE A: Olcott's Account of Meeting Ooton Liatto in New York City CASE B: Morya Comes on Horseback to Bombay in July, 1879 to Visit Olcott CASE C: Morya Comes to Bombay on August 4, 1880 CASE D: Olcott's Account of Meeting a Master at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on October 26, 1880 CASE E: Olcott's Account in His Diary of Hilarion Visiting Bombay CASE F: Olcott's Account of Meeting Morya in Ceylon CASE I: Olcott's Account of Meeting Master Morya in Train Approaching Rome, Italy in October, 1888 Extract from Olcott's Testimony to the S.P.R. Committee in London in 1884 CASE A: OLCOTT'S ACCOUNT OF MEETING OOTON LIATTO IN NEW YORK CITY "...I was reading in my room yesterday (Sunday) when there came a tap at the door---I said 'come in' and there entered the [younger] Bro[ther] with another dark skinned gentleman of about fifty....We took cigars and chatted for a while....[Then Olcott relates that a rain shower started in the room. Olcott continues the account:] They sat there and quietly smoked their cigars, while mine became too wet to burn....finally the younger of the two (who gave me his name as Ooton Liatto) said I needn't worry nothing would be damaged....[Olcott also relates at this point that several other phenomena occurred. Olcott then continues the account:] I asked Liatto if he knew Madam B[lavatsky]....the elder Bro[ther]...[said] that with her permission they would call upon her. I ran downstairs---rushed into Madams parlour---and---there sat these same two identical men smoking with her and chatting....I said nothing but rushed up stairs again tore open my door and---the men were not there---I ran down again, they had disappeared--- I . . . looked out the window---and saw them turning the corner...." [A fuller account is given at Henry S. Olcott's Account of Meeting Ooton Liatto. A complete transcript of Olcott's account is given in the January 1994 issue of Theosophical History.] CASE B: MORYA COMES ON HORSEBACK TO BOMBAY IN JULY, 1879 TO VISIT OLCOTT "This same Brother once visited me in the flesh at Bombay, coming in full day light, and on horseback. He had me called by a servant into the front room of H.P.B.'s bungalow (she being at the time in the other bungalow talking with those who were there). He [Morya] came to scold me roundly for something I had done in T.S. matters, and as H.P.B. was also to blame, he telegraphed to her to come, that is to say, he turned his face and extended his finger in the direction of the place she was in. She came over at once with a rush, and seeing him dropped to her knees and paid him reverence. My voice and his had been heard by those in the other bungalow, but only H.P.B. and I, and the servant saw him." [Extract from a letter written by Colonel Henry S. Olcott to A.O. Hume on Sept. 30, 1881. Quoted in Hints On Esoteric Theosophy, No. 1, 1882, p. 80.] "[I] had visit in body of the Sahib [Morya]!! [He] sent Babula to my room to call me to H.P.B.'s bungalow, and there we had a most important private interview...." [Extract from Olcott's handwritten diary for Tuesday, July 15, 1879.] CASE C: MORYA COMES TO BOMBAY ON AUGUST 4, 1880 Olcott writes that on August 4, 1880: ". . . a Mahatma visited H.P.B., and I was called in to see him before he left. He dictated a long and important letter to an influential friend of ours at Paris, and gave me important hints about the management of current Society affairs. I left him [the Mahatma] sitting in H.P.B.'s room...." [Old Diary Leaves, Volume II, 1972 printing, p. 208] Olcott's actual handwritten diary for August 4, 1880 reads: "M [orya] here this evening & wrote to Fauvety of Paris. He says 5000 English troops killed in Afghanistan in the recent battle. . . ." CASE D: OLCOTT'S ACCOUNT OF MEETING A MASTER AT THE GOLDEN TEMPLE IN AMRITSAR ON OCTOBER 26, 1880: "'...at a shrine where the swords, sharp steel discs, coats of mail, and other warlike weapons of the Sikh warrior priests are exposed to view in charge of the akalis, I was greeted, to my surprise and joy, with a loving smile by one of the Masters, who for the moment was figuring among the guardians, and who gave each of us a fresh rose, with a blessing in his eyes...." [Old Diary Leaves, Volume III, pp. 254-255, 1974 printing.] In Olcott's own handwritten diary, the entry for October 26, 1880 reads: "...In the afternoon we went to the Golden Temple again & found it as lovely as before. Saw some hundreds of fakirs & gossains more or less ill-favored. A Brother there saluted H.P.B. and me & gave us each a rose." CASE E: OLCOTT'S ACCOUNT IN HIS DIARY OF HILARION VISITING BOMBAY In his handwritten diary for February 19, 1881, Olcott writes: "Hilarion is here en route for Tibet and has been looking over, in, and through the situation. [He] finds Bombay something morally awful. [Hilarion's] views on India, Bombay, the T.S. in Bombay, Ceylon. . ., England and Europe, Christianity and other subjects [are] highly interesting." CASE F: OLCOTT'S ACCOUNT OF MEETING MORYA IN CEYLON "...on the night of that day [Sept. 27th, 1881] I was awakened from sleep by my
Chohan (or Guru, the Brother [Morya] whose immediate pupil I am)....He made me rise, sit
at my table and write from his dictation for an hour or more. There was an expression of
anxiety mingled with sternness on his noble face, as there always is when the matter
concerns H.P.B., to whom for many years he has been at once a father and a devoted
guardian. . . ." [Quoted in Hints On Esoteric Theosophy, CASE G: OLCOTT'S ACCOUNT OF MEETING MASTER KOOT HOOMI IN NOVEMBER, 1883 ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF LAHORE, INDIA. "I was sleeping in my tent, the night of the 19th, when I rushed back towards external consciousness on feeling a hand laid on me.. . . I clutched the stranger by the upper arms, and asked him in Hindustani who he was and what he wanted. It was all done in an instant, and I held the man tight, as would one who might be attacked the next moment and have to defend his life. But the next moment a kind, sweet voice said: 'Do you not know me? Do you not remember me?' It was the voice of the Master K.H. . . .I relaxed my hold on his arms, joined my palms in reverential salutation, and wanted to jump out of bed to show him respect. But his hand and voice stayed me, and after a few sentences had been exchanged, he took my left hand in his, gathered the fingers of his right into the palm, and stood quiet beside my cot, from which I could see his divinely benignant face by the light of the lamp that burned on a packing-case at his back. Presently I felt some soft substance forming in my hand, and the next minute the Master laid his kind hand on my forehead, uttered a blessing, and left . . . Before retiring [on the night of Nov. 20th] , when I was writing my Diary, the pupil lifted the portiere, beckoned to me, and pointed to the figure of his Master [K.H.], waiting for me out on the plain in the starlight. I went to him, we walked off to a safe place at some distance where intruders need not be expected, and then for about a half-hour he told me what I had to know. . . There were no miracles done at the interview. . .just two men talking together, a meeting, and a parting when the talk was over. . . ." [Old Diary Leaves, Volume III, pp. 37-39, 43-45, 1972 reprinting.] CASE H: OLCOTT' ACCOUNT OF CHELA "D.K.' VISITING T. S. HEADQUARTERS AT ADYAR, MADRAS, INDIA ON JANUARY 8, 1885. "During the night, chela 'D.K.' visited and talked with me about persons and things. [C.W.] Leadbeater sleeping in another bed in my room heard his voice and mine and saw a phosphorescent light by my bed but could not see his form. M[orya] and five chelas were at the place together. H.P.B. saw them all." [Old Diary Leaves, Volume III, p. 208.] In his handwritten diary for Jan. 8, 1885, Colonel Olcott wrote: "During the night. . . I was visited by Dj.K... who talked with me about sundry pesons and things. Mr. Leadbeater. . . sleeping on another charpai in the same room, heard the two voices and saw a column of light by my bedside, but could not distinguish the form of my visitor." CASE I: OLCOTT'S ACCOUNT OF MEETING MASTER MORYA IN TRAIN APPROACHING ROME, ITALY IN OCTOBER, 1888. "[I had] the most unexpected and splendid visit from M[orya] in the train. I felt so rejoiced. . . . He was so kind, so loving and compassionate; despite all my faults and shortcomings, he bears with me and holds to me because of the useful work I have now and then done, and of my fervent desire to do my duty. If he has not told you already, he will; so I shall not flog my tired brain to describe how he came, talked, looked and went. Goodnight, Chum -- to you and to all . . . . " [Extract from letter dated Oct. 26, 1888 from Henry Olcott to H.P. Blavatsky; quoted in Hammer on the Mountain, Howard Murphet, Wheaton, Illinois, Theosophical Publishing House, 1972, p. 236] In his handwritten diary for Oct. 25, 1888, Henry Olcott penned the following: "At 9:30 [I] took train for Rome via Pistoia and Pisa. In train all night. . . . [I] had a most encouraging visit from M[orya] in the train." EXTRACT FROM OLCOTT'S TESTIMONY TO THE S.P.R. COMMITTEE IN LONDON IN 1884 "MR. MYERS: Was the Hindu [Morya] you saw in New York
indisputably the same as you subsequently saw in India? |