Mahatma Letter to A Member - LMW 1 No. 45
| 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. 45 in Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom, First Series. Mahatma Koot Hoomi is a brief extract of a letter that advises "an unknown member" about spheres of influence.[1] In all editions before the First Series was resequenced in 1988, this was called Letter 32. In Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom, Second Series, the complete message is printed as Letter No. 68.
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Page 1 transcription, image, and notes
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Spheres of influence can be found everywhere. The first object of the T.S. is philanthropy. The true Theosophist is a philanthropist — ‘not for himself but for the world he lives’. This, and philosophy, the right comprehension of life and its mysteries, will give the ‘necessary basis’ and show the right path to pursue. Yet the best ‘sphere of influence’ for the applicant is now in [...]
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NOTES:
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Context and background
Mr. Jinarajadasa provided these notes about this letter:
Reprinted from The Theosophist, November 1907, p. 167. This letter and the following are printed in The Theosophist as if making one letter; as it seems to me that they are extracts from two distinct letters, I have separated them.[2]
Daniel H. Caldwell notes:
Reprinted from The Link, November 1908. The date, from the context, is evidently the end of 1883. This ‘P.S.’ occurs as the first part of Letter 6, and so it would seem that the Master used here as a postscript what he had said in answer to the question of Pandit Pran Nath.
Antonios writes:
This appears to be an edited extract from a letter to Hubbe Schleiden, received August 1, 1884 in Germany and consequently published by Jinarajadasa in his volume 2 of LMOW as Letter #68. Italics are missing in this version. Also note that the phrase "Spheres of usefulness" has been substituted with "spheres of influence" throughout this version. Finally, the quotes accompanying the phrase's first appearance have been elided. Jinarajadasa completed the last sentence gap with "his own land" when he transcribed it, although the original letter of course continued with "Germany".
The observation made by Jinarajadasa that the rest of the text published in "The Theosophist" of November 1907 constitutes an independent extract not originally associated with what constitutes Letter #45 is corroborated by its absence from Schleiden's letter.
Physical description of letter
The original of this letter is not extant.
Publication history
The letter was quoted in The Path issue of February 1893.[3] It was also printed in The Theosophist, November 1907, p. 167, and in The Link November, 1908.
This letter was published in 1919 as Letter 32 in the first edition of Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom, 1881-1888, later known as the First Series.[4]
Commentary about this letter
Additional resources
Notes
- ↑ C. Jinarajadasa, Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom, First Series (Adyar, Chennai, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 2011), 101, 163-164.
- ↑ C. Jinarajadasa, 163-164.
- ↑ One of the Recipients, "What the Masters Have Said" The Path 7.11 (February, 1893), 333-335.
- ↑ Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom, 1881-1888. Adyar, Madras, India; London: Theosophical Publishing House, 1919. Foreword by Annie Besant; transcribed and compiled by C. Jinarajadasa.