who offered themselves as candidates, but that only a very few were
found worthy; none were rejected, but all of them tried, and most found
to fail signally, as for example---and---. Some, instead of being
accepted and pledged this year, were now thrown off for a year. The
Mahatma, I found, speaks very little English--or at least it so seemed
to me--and spoke to me in my mother-tongue--Tamil. He told me that if
the Chohan permitted Madame Blavatsky to visit Parijong next year, then
I could come with her. The Bengali Theosophists who followed the
"Upasika" (Madame Blavatsky) would see that she was right in trying to
dissuade them from following her now. I asked the blessed Mahatma
whether I could tell what I saw and heard to others. He replied in the
affirmative, and that moreover I would do well to write to you and
describe all.
I must impress upon your mind the whole situation, and ask you to keep
well in view that what I saw was not the mere "appearance" only, the
astral body of the Mahatma, as we saw him at Bombay, but the living man,
in his own physical body. He was pleased to say when I offered my
farewell namaskarams (prostration) that he approached the British
territory to see the Upasika. Before he left me, two more men came on
horseback, his attendants I suppose, probably Chelas, for they were
dressed like lama-gylungs, and both, like himself, with long hair
streaming down their backs. They followed the Mahatma, when he left, at
a gentle trot. For over an hour I stood gazing at the place that he had
just quitted, and then I slowly retraced my steps. Now it was that I
found for the first time that my long boots had pinched my leg in
several places, that I had eaten nothing since the day before, and that
I was too weak to walk further. My whole body was aching in every limb.
At a little distance I saw petty traders with country ponies, carrying
burdens. I hired one of these animals. In the afternoon I came to the
Rungit River and crossed it. A bath in its cool waters revived me. I
purchased some fruit in the only bazaar there and ate heartily. I took
another horse immediately and reached Darjiling late in the evening. I
could neither eat, nor sit, nor stand. Every part of my body was
aching. My absence had seemingly alarmed Madame Blavatsky. She scolded
me for my rash and mad attempt to try to go to Tibet after that fashion.
When I entered the house I found with Madame Blavatsky, Bahu Parbati
Churn Roy, Deputy Collector of Settlements and Superintendent of Dearah
Survey, and his assistant, Babu Kanty Bhushan Sen, both members of our
Society. At their prayer and Madame Blavatsky's command, I recounted
all that had happened to me, reserving of course my private conversation
with the Mahatma. They were all, to say the least, astounded. After
all, she will not go this year to Tibet; for which I am sure she does
not care, since she has seen our Masters and thus gained her only
object.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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