Theos-Talk Archives (November 2006 Message tt00816)

Friends, 
 
 In a text presented as autobiographical (1),  C. W. Leadbeater describes a revolt organized by ?ferocious Indians? who only existed in his own mind,  and who were allegedly against the building of a railway by Englishmen in South America.  
 
CWL was a  brave boy, of course. Thjere was no mother around, and Father Leadbeater seems to have  thought that such a  revolt was a suitable adventure for  his young children to live. The boys had their personal fire weapons.    
 
CWL?s younger brother, Gerald, is killed by the Indians in the fictitious  story,  and was born again soon afterwards in Ceylon (Sri Lanka)  under the name of C. Jinarajadasa. So says CWL. Describing the moment when the would-be revolt started,  Bishop Leadbeater writes:
 
?... My father took his rifle from the corner where it leaned, and started to see what was the matter. I snatched my rifle too ? for I also had on; in  that wild country even little Gerald never went out without his tiny revolver stuck in his belt, and I habitually carried a brace of Colts, and took a rifle with me whenever I went out for a walk. And these precautions  were by no means unnecessary...? 
 
At 13 years of  age, whenever he went out for a walk  to relax for a while, CWL would have to take one rifle and two Colts  with him?    And Gerald used his ?tiny revolver?? 
  
At page 182, the armed conflict is on and CWL is already happy to have produced many corpses of  Indians: 
 
?So far we had escaped unhurt, while quite a number of corpses lay round the hut,  for even little Gerald had taken his part bravely, and had shot at least two of  the savages, besides wounding another. On my side a fierce-looking fellow had thrust the muzzle of his rifle  through one of the cracks.  I leaped to one side, seized it  just as he discharged it,  and fired my revolver over it straight in the  face of its owner, who fell back with a groan, leaving the rifle projecting through the crack.? 
 
The psychological violence and cruelty  is clear in the text.  On the other hand, in spite of the fact  that the  revolt started as ?a surprise?, at page 185 of t his ?theosophical? book the Leadbeaters are far from being short of ammunition,  and  CWL  is killing many more: 
 
?( ...) the silence changed into a pandemonium of sounds, the savages rushing yelling upon the hut once more, madly and uselessly discharging their rifles at it as they ran  forward. As before, we fired as rapidly as we could, and had already accounted for several  of the attacking party when my father shouted  across to me: ?Here, this  way. Aim only at those men with the log?.  (...) We concentrated the fire of our revolvers upon those who were bearing the tree-trunk, and when they had gone half the distance already half of  them were down, and the remainder found the weight too great for them.? 
 
Here CWL stated he fired unarmed, weaponless men (since they were occupied in carrying the log).  
 
In  the page 219 of  the  ?Theosophical Yearbook of 1937?, published in Adyar, it is stated ( probably by C. Jinarajadasa) that the events narrated ?Saved By a Ghost? took place in the Brazilian State of Bahia.
 
In 1999, with the help of the Lodge of the Adyar TS in Bahia State, I consulted local Historian Desidério Bispo de Mello, who accepted to help worked with the assistance of  Ms. Monica da Fonseca.  In his written statement dated November 1999, Mr. De Mello says that in the period of 1860-1862 there was indeed  a railway being built in Bahia.  There  were Englishmen involved in such a work. But  there was no  such revolt  as described by CWL,  and indeed there was no revolt whatsoever.  He underlines the fact that Brazil was an organized State.  Bahia  was one of the most important provinces in the Empire by then.  The killing of a foreigner, a young Englishman, would be an international issue.  There is nothing about that, nor any revolts. 
 
In 1999-2000, when I distributed among theosophists in Brazil my correspondence with Joy Mills on  this and other issues,  the document included the Historian?s testimony. Upon reading it, an LCC priest and Leadbeaterian said:
 
?Well, the Historian?s statement proves it did not happen in Bahia state. It may have  happened in some other State?. 
 
This is not true.  
 
There are no records of important revolts of Brazilian Indians against Brazilian authorities, much less during 19th century. Brazilian Indians did not use fire weapons.  They used to get drunk and die with influenza,  venereal diseases or starvation; but they offered no resistance to white man. 
 
As to Ms. Joy Mills, she wrote back to me admitting the obvious fact that Leadbeater never came to Brazil. 
 
The facts remain, though,  that while Leadbeater claims to have been initiated and accepted as a disciple by Masters several lives ago, he also claims, not without some personal proud, to have killed many Indians in his 19th / 20th century life. 
 
Both ideas (occult learning and proudly despising and killing Indians) cannot coexist; because Ahimsa, Non-Violence, in  feelings as in deeds,   is a pre-condition for occult learning.   
 
Both ideas seem to be but products of CWL?s intense imagination.  
 
But his racist contempt for, and his derogatory comments on the South American Indians and black people,  reveal the presence of  unbrotherly feelings in his  consciousness.   
 
Regards,  Carlos Cardoso Aveline. 
 
 
NOTE:
 
(1)  ?The Perfume of  Egypt?, by C. W. Leadbeater, sixth edition, TPH Adyar, 265 pp., 1978.   
 
 
oooooooooooooooo
 
 


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