I could not repress some homage to the sagacity of this unwitnessed
confession. Forewarned that I was coming, Madame had received from her
Guru a convenient prohibition against further use of the shrine as a
post-office; and now, by one clever stroke, she altogether forestalled
an inconvenient investigation. Obstruction to experiments, or evasion,
would have been such confession as I could use. Failure to obtain
phenomena that could be verified might subtly awaken skepticism in the
simple-hearted Hindus around her. But this secret confession, which
might be repudiated if necessary, raised my whole siege at once.[3]
And the confession itself, while it admitted the unreality of the
miracles, left a marvel,--namely, her power to cause the
hallucinations. I remembered the legend of Glam, from whom came our
word "glamour," and had a droll feeling of being defeated, like
Grettir, in the moment of his victory over that moonshine-giant. As
says the Saga, "even as Glam fell a cloud was driven from the moon,
and Glam said, Exceedingly eager hast thou sought to meet me, Grettir,
but no wonder will it be deemed, though thou gettest no good hap of
me." Even so it proved lately, when I told my friend, Anne Besant,
that Madame Blavatsky had admitted it was glamour. She reminded me of
the power still left unexplained, to cast the glamour.
[3] Although this interview is here printed for the first time,
I mentioned it to some of Madame Blavatsky's friends so that
she might have an opportunity of giving her version. I am
told that she said she gave me an answer as directed by her
Guru. I must conclude therefore that unless the Gurus are all
glamour, they must be raised by their superhuman merits above
the obligations of truth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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