Mahatma Letter to Hübbe-Schleiden - LMW 2 No. 68
| Quick Facts | |
|---|---|
| People involved | |
| Written by: | Koot Hoomi |
| Received by: | Wilhelm Hübbe-Schleiden |
| Sent via: | Henry Steel Olcott |
| Dates | |
| Written on: | unknown |
| Received on: | 1 August 1884 |
| Other dates: | unknown |
| Places | |
| Sent from: | unknown |
| Received at: | aboard railway car to Dresden |
| Via: | unknown |
This letter is Letter No. 68 in Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom, Second Series. Mahatma Koot Hoomi instructs Dr. Wilhelm Hübbe-Schleiden on aspects of chelaship, and that he should listen to advice from Henry Steel Olcott on the subject.[1] An excerpt of this letter was published as Letter No. 45 in Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom, First Series.
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Page 1 transcription, image, and notes
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FOR DR. HÜBBE SCHLEIDEN VIA H.S.O. To be accepted as a chela on probation – is an easy thing. To become an accepted chela – is to court the miseries of “probation”. Life in the ordinary run is not entirely made up of heavy trials and mental misery: the life of a chela who offers himself voluntarily is one long sacrifice. He, who would control hereafter the events of his life here and beyond, has first of all to submit himself to be controlled, yet triumph over every temptation, every woe of flesh and mind. The Chela “on probation” is like the wayfarer in the old fable of the sphinx; only the one question becomes a long series of every day riddles propounded by the Sphinx of Life, who sits by the wayside, and who, unless her ever changing and perplexing puzzles are successfully answered one after the other, impedes the progress of the traveller and finally destroys him. Let H.S.O. explain what he knows of chelaship. We refuse no one. “Spheres of usefulness” can be found everywhere. The first object of the Society is philanthropy. The true theosophist is the Philanthropist who – “not for himself, but for the world he lives.” In this direction much is already achieved by Dr. Hübbe Schleiden. This, and philosophy – the right comprehension of life and its mysteries – will give “the necessary basis” and show the right pathway to pursue. Yet the best sphere of usefulness for the applicant is now in Germany. When complications arise and there comes a new development, he will be advised. His health will be looked after: for the present as little writing as possible. “Der Vater M” is in no mood of answering. I do so for him. K.H. |
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Context and background
Mr. Jinarajadasa provided this foreword to the Hübbe-Schleiden letters:
THE four letters which next follow were received by Dr. Hübbe Schleiden, one of the first members of the T.S. in Germany. I have copied them direct from the originals which are in Germany, and which were kindly loaned to me by Herr Driessen to whom they were left by Dr. Hübbe Schleiden. The first letter was received in the train, on August 1, 1884, as he and Colonel Olcott were travelling to Dresden. It is evident that the other letters were received after the issue by the Society for Psychical Research of their report charging H.P.B. with forging the script of the Masters.[3]
Physical description of letter
The original of this letter was in the possession of Herr Driessen as of 1925. It is not known whether the letter is still extant.
Publication history
An excerpt of this letter was published as Letter No. 45 in Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom, First Series. That excerpt was quoted in The Path issue of February 1893.[4] It was also printed in The Theosophist, November 1907, p. 167, and in The Link November, 1908.