Theos-Talk Archives (October 2008 Message tt00479)

In the following narrative by Colonel Henry Olcott one sees that 
Mahatma Koot Hoomi himself comes in his own physical body to visit 
Olcott and Brown.  He delivers also to them two of his own letters.  
An excellent facsimile of KH's letter to Olcott is given in HPB's 
Collected Writings.  I believe in Volume VI.

Daniel
http://hpb.cc
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Henry S. Olcott
Nov. 19?20, 1883
Lahore, India 
[Olcott's OLD DIARY LEAVES 1929, 3: 37?9, 43?5] 

[In Colonel Olcott's diary for Tuesday, November 20, 1883, the entry 
reads: "1:55 a.m. Koot Hoomi came in body to my tent. Woke me 
suddenly out of sleep, pressed a note (wrapped in silk) into my left 
hand, and laid his hand upon my head. He then passed into Brown's 
compartment and integrated another note in his hand (Brown's). He 
spoke to me." ? Daniel.]

My camp was thronged with visitors during the three days of our stay, 
and I gave two lectures under the largest shamiana to multitudes, 
with great pots of fire standing along the sides to modify the biting 
November cold.

I was sleeping in my tent, the night of the 19th, when I rushed back 
towards external consciousness on feeling a hand laid on me. The camp 
being on the open plain, and beyond the protection of the Lahore 
Police, my first instinct was to protect myself from some possible 
religious fanatical assassin, so I clutched the stranger by the upper 
arms, and asked him in Hindustani who he was and what he wanted. It 
was all done in an instant, and I held the man tight, as would one 
who might be attacked the next moment and have to defend his life. 
But the next instant a kind, sweet voice said: "Do you not know me? 
Do you not remember me?" It was the voice of the Master K.H. A swift 
revulsion of feeling came over me, I relaxed my hold on his arms, 
joined my palms in reverential salutation, and wanted to jump out of 
bed to show him respect. But his hand and voice stayed me, and after 
a few sentences had been exchanged, he took my left hand in his, 
gathered the fingers of his right into the palm, and stood quiet 
beside my cot, from which I could see his divinely benignant face by 
the light of the lamp that burned on a packing case at his back. 
Presently I felt some soft substance forming in my hand, and the next 
minute the Master laid his kind hand on my forehead, uttered a 
blessing, and left my half of the large tent to visit Mr. W. T. 
Brown, who slept in the other half behind a canvas screen that 
divided the tent into two rooms. 

When I had time to pay attention to myself, I found myself holding in 
my left hand a folded paper enwrapped in a silken cloth. To go to the 
lamp, open and read it, was naturally my first impulse. I found it to 
be a letter of private counsel [from Mahatma Koot Hoomi]. 

On hearing an exclamation from [Brown's] side of the screen, I went 
in there and he showed me a silk-wrapped [Koot Hoomi] letter of like 
appearance to mine though of different contents, which he said had 
been given him much as mine had been to me, and which we read 
together.

The next evening, after the visits to Mr. Brown and myself, we two 
and Damodar sat in my tent, at 10 o'clock, waiting for an expected 
visit from Master K.H. The camp was quiet, the rest of our party 
dispersed through the city of Lahore. We sat on chairs at the back of 
the tent so as not to be observed from the camp: the moon was in its 
last quarter and had not risen. After some waiting we heard and saw a 
tall Hindu approaching from the side of the open plain. He came to 
within a few yards of us and beckoned Damodar to come to him, which 
he did. He told him that the Master would appear within a few 
minutes, and that he had some business with Damodar. It was a pupil 
of Master K.H. Presently we saw the latter coming from the same 
direction, pass his pupil?who had withdrawn to a little distance?and 
stop in front of our group, now standing and saluting in the Indian 
fashion, some yards away. Brown and I kept our places, and Damodar 
went and conversed for a few minutes with the Teacher, after which he 
returned to us and the king-like visitor walked away. I heard his 
footsteps on the ground. Before retiring, when I was writing my 
diary, the pupil lifted the portiere, beckoned to me, and pointed to 
the figure of his Master, waiting for me out on the plain in the 
starlight. I went to him, we walked off to a safe place at some 
distance where intruders need not be expected, and then for about a 
half hour he told me what I had to know. There were no miracles done 
at the interview, just two men talking together, a meeting, and a 
parting when the talk was over.