Incidents in the Life of Henry Steel Olcott

Paul Zwollo

Mr Paul Zwollo is a stalwart member of the Dutch Section, having held various positions in Holland and at Adyar. This article is taken from his Convention talk at Adyar on 29 December 2006.

On 17 November 1875, Henry Steel Olcott delivered his inaugural address as President-Founder of the Theosophical Society at the Mott Memorial Hall in New York, some salient points from which follow:

The present small number of its members is not to be considered at all in judging of its probable career. I feel that behind us, behind our feeble, newborn organization, there gathers a MIGHTY POWER that nothing can withstand -the power of truth!

Let the future take care of itself, it is for us to shape the present. In the economy of Nature, an impulse, however slight, once given to matter, is eternal; and an act once performed, its consequences, be they great or small, must be worked out sooner or later. The society in general has reached a point where something must be done; it is for us to indicate where that something may be found.

The meeting of the two Founders, H. P. Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott,

in America did not take place by chance. The Mahatmas have made it clear that they had been instrumental in bringing these two together in order to start what They called 'the Theosophical Movement', a movement of which the Theosophical Society has become the most important exponent, and with which it has been identified. Such a movement or spiritual impulse occurs, according to the Mahatmas, in the fast quarter of every century, and is meant to prepare humankind's further development in the next century.

In The Theosophist of March 1907, soon after Olcott's passing, Annie Besant wrote the following lines:

This is the man to whom Madame Blavatsky was sent by her Master to the United States to find, chosen by Them lo found with her the Theosophical Society, and then to spend the remainder of his life in organizing it all over the world.

Our two agents were given the task, and left to do the best they could under the circumstances. (ML, 15)

But from the beginning the Mahatmas had made it clear that carrying out the experiment lay entirely with the two Founders who had offered themselves for the trial.

Standing up for Olcott, the Master KH, in one of his Letters to Mr A. P. Sinnett, wrote:

Him we can trust under all circumstances, and his faithful service is pledged to us come well, come ill. My dear Brother, my voice is the echo of impartial justice. Where can we find an equal devotion? He is one who never questions, but obeys; who may make innumerable mistakes out of excessive zeal but never is unwilling to repair his fault even at the cost of the greatest self-humiliation; who esteems the sacrifice of comfort and even life something to be cheerfully risked whenever necessary; who will eat any food, or even go without; sleep on any bed, work in any place, fraternize with any outcast, endure any privation for the cause. (ML, 5)

Numerous are the examples in the life of the President-Founder which prove that the Master was right. Elsewhere the Master M. said to Mr Sinnett: 'It is a lifelong task you have chosen. . . . The task is difficult' (ML, 42). Doesn't that apply to all of us?

The place where Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott met in 1874 for the first time was the Eddy Homestead in the township of Chittenden in the State of Vermont. Olcott had determined to go and witness the incredible spiritualistic phenomena which were taking place at the farmhouse. He wrote an account of his observations for the New York Sun. Thereupon, the editor of the New York Daily Graphic proposed to Olcott to return to Chittenden to undertake a thorough investigation of the affair. His letters for the Daily Graphic, describing what he was experiencing in the seance-room, attracted the attention of Madame Blavatsky and brought them together.

In his inaugural address Olcott referred to how in 1859, long before the Theosophical Society had been founded, he went, at the risk of his life, to report for the New York Tribune the execution of John Brown. This kind of bravery the Colonel would show under the most difficult circumstances throughout his life.

It was in New York that the President-Founder had the privilege of being visited by the Master M. and having a long conversation with him. This must have been an incentive for Olcott to cope with all the crises and opposition he would meet during his presidentship later on. The Master left his turban on the table to dispell any doubt on the part of HPB that he had been there.

On 17 December 1878, HPB and Olcott left New York for India to settle at Bombay, launching the Society in India and reviving the ancient Eastern Wisdom. By so doing, they but obeyed the wishes of the Masters and fulfilled a prophecy of Ramalinga Swami.

Not long after, they received the help of Damodar Mavalankar, a young Brahmin, interested in nothing but the search for occult knowledge and spiritual development, showing promising spiritual qualities and exceptional zeal. The Founders also contacted Mr and Mrs Sinnett, who lived in Allahabad. Mr Sinnett, editor of the Pioneer, an influential newspaper, was eager to meet them after having read HPB's Isis Unveiled. The acquaintance of the two Founders with the Sinnetts would eventually lead to a correspondence of the Mahatmas with Sinnett, which in 1923 resulted in the publication of The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett.

Olcott's merits during his long sojourn in India, interrupted by extensive journeys abroad to visit Sections and Lodges in countries on all the continents, are too many to be enumerated, I can mention only a few. On 1 October 1879, when the Headquarters was still in Bombay, the first issue of The Theosophist appeared, inspired by several Masters. Using pseudonyms, the Masters contributed articles from time to time. The magazine provided Olcott and HPB with enough money to live on.

In 1880, staying in Galle, Ceylon (today's Sri Lanka), Olcott and HPB both became Buddhists, adopting the religion to which their Masters belonged. They 'took pansil' by making the statement of belief in the Three Refuges — the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha — and pledging themselves to observe the Pancha Sila, the Five Precepts, long ago instituted by the Buddha for his lay disciples, and still adhered to by many esotericists. However, the fact that they had become Buddhists did not in any way alter their universal impartial approach to the work they were doing as leaders of the Theosophical Society.

The work Olcott did for Buddhism during this first visit to Ceylon initiated the so-called Buddhist Revival, which consisted in later years in the setting up of hundreds of Buddhist schools and several colleges. It also inspired him to write The Buddhist Catechism, which became a texbook in Buddhist Schools. It was in Ceylon that Olcott became known as the 'White Buddhist'.

It stands to reason that the Colonel had Adyar in his heart and that he did everything to make it a Flaming Centre. In 1894 he established several Panchama Schools for the education of the most underprivileged in society in and around Madras. After his death, the school in the Adyar compound was renamed in his honour 'The Olcott Memorial School', now known as the Olcott Memorial High School. The School is sponsored by the TS and the well-qualified and dedicated teachers are in sympathy with the Theosophical ideals.

Of equal importance to the international Headquarters and to students and scholars of occult lore all over the world was the founding by Olcott of the Adyar Library and Research Centre in 1886, being a non-sectarian centre of research in Eastern civilization, philosophy, and religion. This year the institution is celebrating its 120th birthday. Its collection of old Tamil manuscripts written on palm leaves is not only vast but also absolutely unique, not to mention costly and rare manuscripts in many languages.

In 1892, a year after the passing of HPB, it was Colonel Olcott who suggested naming 8 May 'White Lotus Day', in memory of his comrade for many years and her immense and unimaginable contribution to the cause of Theosophy.

In the six volumes of the Old Diary Leaves series, covering the years from 1874 until 1898, Olcott reminds us that the number 7, his fateful number, always played an important role in his personal life as well as in the history of the TS. Was it therefore a mere coincidence that the Colonel died on the morning of 17 February 1907, at 17 minutes past 7? The report of Marie Russak, at that time Olcott's honorary private secretary, is beyond question.

As to his last days, Howard Murphet, a former resident of Adyar, in his Hammer on the Mountain: The Life of Henry Steel Olcott, reported extensively what happened during the Colonel's last weeks. Olcott was not able to greet the guests himself at the international Convention in December 1906, as he was confined to bed. Annie Besant had come down from Benares to fill the role of Acting President. She read his Opening Address. At the close of the Convention, Olcott read his inaugural address of 1875, given in New York, after which he bade all the 700 delegates farewell.

What worried the Colonel most during his last days was the question of his successor. Annie Besant seemed to him the most suitable one, but he had some doubts. 'The Masters must settle it', he wrote in his diary of 4 January 1907, sending out some fervent mental calls to the Great Ones beyond the Himalayas, who responded. The same evening Olcott was visited by the Masters M. and KH in their Mayavi Rupa, that is, astrally, in his bedroom on the first floor of our Headquarters building. Marie Russak and her maid-companion, Miss Renda, were present and witnessed the conversation between the two Mahatmas and the Colonel.

After the Masters had vanished, Miss Russak wrote down an account of the questions Olcott had asked and the answers he had received. In summary, the Mahatmas agreed that Annie Besant would become his successor and that They, the Mahatmas, would oversee her. So Olcott appointed Mrs Besant to succeed him as President. This had only to be ratified by a vote of the members. As Annie Besant was very popular all over the world, the Colonel had little fear this would not happen.

On 11 January the two Mahatmas again visited Olcott to clarify another question which had worried him. They reassured Olcott that Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater had not been deluded when doing occult investigations on the higher planes, the outcome of which later on, among other things, resulted in the book Occult Chemistry. The answer of the Masters was quite clear: Besant and Leadbeater had worked under the Masters' instructions.

After some discussions about Leadbeater, the Master M. concluded by saying: 'He, Leadbeater, has been a light in the Society.' They also pointed out that 'if they, the Masters, were to wait for perfect human beings before giving out esoteric knowledge, no such knowledge would ever be given out'. As it was impossible for the Mahatmas to find perfect instruments to do their work, they took the best ones available whose karma permitted it. They, the Masters, were still behind and supporting the Society. They had worked through Besant and Leadbeater, precisely as these two had believed. An article of this purport had to be published for members of the Society in The Theosophist. At the close of this interview both the Masters held up their hands in blessing and disappeared. During the next two days the Colonel dictated the article to Marie Russak, but the end was dictated by the Master M. himself, and runs as follows:

Should any event bring forth seeming injustice, have faith in the Law that never fails to adjust matters. Cease rushing headlong into strife, or taking part in dissensions! Hold together in brotherly love, since you are part of the Great Universal Self. — Peace! Trust in us.

The article appeared in The Theosophist of February 1907. Referring to that Law that never fails, HPB called it in her magnum opus, The Secret Doctrine, 'The Law of Righteousness'. A Law identical to the Law of Karma.

In his last days Olcott blessed all those who had served him and was anxious to make peace with everyone. He had asked Miss Russak, called by him 'Little Mother', to read to him Chapter 12 from Edwin Arnold's The Song Celestial, containing Krishna's advice to Arjuna, ending with the phrase that 'worship better is than knowing, and renouncing better still. Near to renunciation — very near — dwelleth Eternal Peace!'

Another visit from HPB and Damodar took place on 3 February, followed by a visit of four Masters — their last visit during his conscious life on earth. They told Olcott that his work was over and thanked him for his loyalty and work in their interests. This made Olcott rise out of his bed and prostrate himself before them. It has been said that their last words were: 'Well done, Brother.'

When on 17 February the end was at hand, Mrs Besant, Miss Russak, and Miss Renda sat beside Olcott's bed. The three Masters who had been nearest in his life and his old comrade HPB were there in their astral bodies when Olcott passed away at 7:17 a.m. Then, at 7:27, HPB said: 'The cord is broken.'

In the afternoon of that day the body was carried to the Headquarters Hall, his national flag and the six-coloured Buddhist flag, designed by Olcott himself, had been draped over the body. Representatives of several religions spoke words of thanks for all that the Colonel had done, after which Mrs Besant, the new President-elect, read the Colonel's last message, signed by him on 2 February:

To my beloved brothers in the physical body: I bid you all farewell. In memory of me, carry on the grand work of proclaiming and living the Brotherhood of Religions.

To my beloved Brothers on the higher planes: I greet and come to you, and implore you to help me to impress all men on earth, that 'there is no religion higher than Truth', and that in the Brotherhood of Religions lies the peace and progress of humanity.

Thereupon the bier was taken to a spot near the bank of the Adyar River, where the body was cremated, against a background of coconut palms, the place where now the Olcott Memorial Statue is situated. The next morning his ashes were collected; half of them were placed in a casket to be dropped into the Ganges; the other half was, at the Colonel's own request, given to the sea. As the sun rose over the Bay of Bengal, a small boat moved up the shallow Adyar River to take the last remains of Henry Steel Olcott and cast them far away into the ocean.

For many years 17 February was called 'Olcott Day' in commemoration and in honour of our President-Founder. Annie Besant wrote in 1916 in her 'Watch-tower Notes'; 'We gathered as usual at 7:10 a.m. in the large Hall and stood in a large semicircle in front of the alcove in which are the statues of our Founders.' Exactly at 7:17 a.m. Mrs Besant spoke, followed by representatives from various religions, after which flowers were offered.

Mr Fritz Kunz, from America, after returning from an extended stay in India, had conceived the Adyar Fund in 1922. to raise money to be sent overseas to Adyar. Following a suggestion from a French lady, Madame de Manziarly, in 1925, the first official 'Adyar Day' was celebrated in February 1926.

Countless are the incidents in the life of Henry Steel Olcott, and quite a few of them had far-reaching and lasting influence. In this article I could mention only a few. For those who are interested, I recommend Olcott's Old Diary Leaves.

I would like to end by paraphrasing Olcott's statement in his inaugural address of 1875, quoted earlier: 'Behind our Theosophical Society there gathers a MIGHTY POWER that nothing can withstand — the power of TRUTH'! Let us all be loyal to that TRUTH!

 

Religious truth is not a thing for physical observation, but one for psychical intuition. One who has not developed this psychical power can never know religion as a fact; he can only accept it as a creed, or paint it to himself as an emotional sentimentality.                                                                                                 H.S.Olcott