Theos-Talk Archives (May 1998 Message tt00419)

Jerry Schueler wrote:

> I too have a great deal of respect for HPB. Some of the words
> she used are quaint and out of date while others never existed
> (devachan, for example is made of the Sanskrit deva-god and
> Tibetan (?) chan-land). A few words like karma have made
> it into English (samadhi is getting there) but most have meaning
> only within the folds of the TSs.

Daniel Caldwell replies:

Jerry, it would be helpful if you gave us some examples of
words HPB used which you consider "quaint and out of date."
And why do you consider them "quaint" and "out of date"?

Concerning the term "devachan", you say that this word
doesn't exist?  What do you mean?  In THE RELIGIONS
OF TIBET by Giuseppe Tucci, p. 291, the glossary gives
a word:  bDe ba can   It is Tibetan and the
pronunciation of the word is given as:  Dewachen
It is defined as the "name of a heavenly world" and is
the equivalent of the Sanskrit word:  Sukhavati (name
of a paradise).

"Dewachen" is the phonetic spelling.  A careful reader
of THE MAHATMA LETTERS will notice that the writers
usually give the phonetic spelling of Sanskrit and
Tibetan terms.