Theos-Talk Archives (December 2002 Message tt00615)

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "Steve Stubbs <stevestubbs@y...>" 
<stevestubbs@y...> wrote:
> 
> Wasn't Subba Rao of south Indian origin?

Yes, Tamilian.
> 
> > Mythologizing her other and later mentors protected her from any 
> such embarrassments down the road.
> 
> That is an ingenious theory. 

She had of course already decided to use made up names for Serapis, 
Tuitit, Hilarion, Morya, and Koot Hoomi before breaking with the 
Swami. So I don't theorize that she did so because of that, but 
rather that doing so saved her any further such embarrassment.

What do you make of the fact that she 
> concealed her association with P.B. Randolph's organization, while 
at the same time copying from his stuff? 

Not sure that it's established that she copied from him rather than 
that they drew on common sources?

> One other point of interest is that Blavatsky identified herself as 
> Buddhist while she was still in New York. That suggests she 
already had an Oriental preceptor in addition to Randolph

Prince Tumen of the Kalmucks had a Tibetan lama, and HPB met them 
both as a child. Without learning anything of substance about 
Tibetan Buddhism, this gave her a taste of it which may account for 
some of her sense of affiliation with it.

but there is no 
> evidence she knew anything of consequence about Buddhism at he time.

No, but hardly any other Westerners did either so she could say 
anything and call it Buddhism and no one was the wiser. (At the time 
of Isis anyhow.)

Paul