ML16

HARRY - SKIP THIS ONE FOR THE MOMENT. I AM MUCKING AROUND WITH IT. Janet'

In Letter No. 16, Mahatma Koot Hoomi offers reassurance to A. P. Sinnett that he is trying to calm down the agitated Helena Blavatsky.

File:Quick Facts.jpg
People involved: Written by: Koot Hoomi Received by: A. P. Sinnett Sent via:
Dates: Written: Feb. 11-18, 1888 per Mary K. Neff Postmarked: Received: March 1, 1881 per Conger Other:
Places: Sent from: Received: Galle, Ceylon Via:

Page 1 transcription, image, and notes

My dear Ambassador --

To quiet the anxiety I see lurking within your mind, and which has even a more definite form than you have expressed, let me say that I will use my best endeavours to calm our highly sensitive - not always sensible old friend, and make her stop at her post. Ill health resulting from natural causes,and mental anxiety have made her nervous to an extreme degree and sadly impaired her usefulness to us. For a fortnight past she has been all but useless, and her emotions have sped along her nerves like electricity thro' a telegraphic

NOTES:

• "Old friend" refers to H. P. Blavatsky.

Page 2 transcription, image, and notes

wire. All has been chaos. I am sending these few lines by a friend to Olcott so that they may be forwarded without her knowledge. Consult freely with our friends in Europe and return with a good book in your hand and a good plan in your head. Encourage the sincere brethren a Galles to persevere in their work of education. Some cheering words from you will give them heart. Telegraph to Nicolas Dias Inspector of Police Galle that you a member of the Council of the T. S. are coming (the date and name of steamer given) and I will cause H. P. B. to do the same to another person. Think

NOTES:

• "...our friends in Europe, etc." Mr. Sinnett was about to depart for London in March 1881, where he published his first book The Occult World.
• Galles, now spelled Galle, is a city and district in southwest Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).

Page 3 transcription, image, and notes

on the way of your true friend.

K. H. and ___.

NOTES:

• Djual Khul, Koot Hoomi's chela, may have been implied in the signature line.

Context and background

Sinnett received this letter in Ceylon while en route to England. It was sent through Olcott and not HPB, who, at that time, was undergoing an emotional "storm". She had asked Olcott to cancel his trip to Ceylon and he refused, since he said he was going to Ceylon to further the education work there with the approval of the Mahatmas. (See LBS 363 and ODL 2:293) This letter was apparently meant to ask Sinnett to encourage the theosophists in Galle, Ceylon, to persevere on their education work.

Physical description of letter

The letter is in Folio 3 at the British Library.

Publication history

This letter is presented as number 107 in the first three editions of The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett transcribed and compiled by A. T. Barker.

Commentary of Joy Mills

Although very brief, Letter 16 is interesting for several reasons. First, it was received by Sinnett in Ceylon when he and his family were en route to England; however its transmittal was through Olcott rather than through HPB. The transmittal note accompanying the letter is found in LBS (page 363), with Sinnett's own record as to the day and time it was received. That note reads: "Dear O., Forward this immeditely to A. P. Sinnett, and do not breathe a word of it to HPB. Let her alone, and do not go near her for a few days. The storm will subside. K.H.L.S." The cause of the "storm" is found in Olcott's ODL (2:293). There the Colonel relates that arrangements had been made for his return visit to Ceylon to begin with "the collection of a National Education Fund to promote the education of Buddhist boys and girls." The "scheme," he writes, had the approval of both the Mahatmas and HPB. However, almost on the eve of his departure, HPB wanted him to cancel the engagement in order to assist her with editing The Theosophist. When Olcott refused, "she fell into a white rage" and . . .